Author's Note: I do not and never will own Harry Potter.
Written for the Occasion-a-Day Competition/Challenge. Prompt: Use commas, full-stops, exclamation points, question marks, colons, semi-colons, hyphens/dashes, and speech marks.
It's a secret-
Luna fastens xyr binder with trembling fingers, the velcro closing around xyr rib cage like a cage, but it's one xe feels safe in. More than safe- Luna feels free, and the thought is heady.
"Are you ready?" Ginny shouts through the stall door and Luna yelps, nearly tripping over the heap of robes tangled around xyr feet.
"Not yet!" xe shouts back. The robes are a shield; the trembling smile on xyr face is a vulnerability.
"You look wonderful," Ginny grins, enfolding the Ravenclaw in a hug. Luna trembles as Ginny gently pushes xem toward the door.
It's only been two weeks since Luna first admitted to xyr best friend that xe was agender, that xe hated the girls' dormitory, hated being called 'she' and 'ma'am' and told to line up with the girls. You should wear some makeup, you'd be such a pretty girl-
To xyr relief, Ginny doesn't care. Well, Ginny cares, but it's the supportive kind: a binder in support form.
The hallway is nearly empty when Luna tiptoes out, xyr shoelaces trailing behind xem. A few older boys give xem incurious looks, not noticing the new flatness beneath the enshrouding robes. That's all right. Luna doesn't want people to notice necessarily. It's enough that xe does.
"You can breathe, right?" Ginny asks in a low voice, right in xyr ear, and Luna jumps, pulse pounding.
"Yeah, it's fine," Luna reassures xyr friend. "Brilliant, actually."
The smile on xyr face is blinding.