Appleby Arrows Round 9
Chaser 3: Focus on a necessity for your character/pairing
Pairing: Neville and Luna
Prompts: (song) State Champs - Stick Around; (restriction) No using the word 'Hogwarts' ; (emotion) Lonely
And puts my feet right back on the ground
We'll fly together and jump to the second stone
Oh and she brings me to life
Knowing what's inside
State Champs - Stick Around
You know that horrible feeling of being the only person trapped in a world that was utterly full, yet completely out of the reach of your terribly short arms. It wasn't only your shortcomings that had separated you from the beautiful world, but also a barrier, a rift that had grown to become a chasm, that had been torn between you and everyone else. The other side was now only a barely visible vision in the distance.
You reached a point where you no longer cared. You expect nothing from the people who continued with their lives, overlooking you and your predicament.
You only feel slightly guilty for those bridges you sometimes caught a glimpse of as they tumbled brokenly towards the distant ground. Those half-broken fragments meant that somewhere, far away, someone was actually bothering to try.
It didn't matter though. It hadn't worked. You were still been stuck on your little piece of nowhere with no escape, and no chance at changing anything.
"You've got Wrackspurts flying around your head."
You glance up, startled. You hadn't noticed anyone approach you.
You see a dirty blonde Ravenclaw watching something just above your head curiously. Your hand swipes over your head, trying to get off whatever she was looking at. You feel nothing but air moving against your hand, no strange foreign body like you had been expecting.
Looking at her questioningly gets you no answer either. She's still fascinatedly looking at that something that you can't seem to find, even after you attempt to swipe at it again, and again.
"You shouldn't do that. The Wrackspurts will get angry with you, and make you confused for the rest of the day. They tend to be awfully vindictive when angered."
There was nothing there. You were certain of that now as you see some of the other Ravenclaws walk past, giggling behind their hands. Your swiping motion stops.
You had heard of Luna "Looney" Lovegood in the common room. The Gryffindors in the year below you always talked about her, laughing at something she had said or done. You were sure she had noticed, no one could not notice, with how everyone talked but you know now that she had somehow never changed. She had found something in herself that she liked more than the attention of everyone else.
"Are they angered easily?"
You're genuinely curious now. Maybe not exactly about these 'Wrackspurts' but about the girl who saw them. How was someone able to brush off other people's harsh words just for something no one else saw or believed in? What was so special about them?
"No, but when they do get angry, they're really awful."
For a moment, you almost envy her for her ability to brush everyone else off, to act however she wished and not to have expectation of people shoved onto her.
That was only a moment though, until you realized just how lonely that would be. Never caring about anyone's opinions also meant there was no one you cared enough about to respect their opinion. That didn't mean that the words didn't affect her at all either. It just mean that she was better at hiding it than anyone else, which was a terrible thought.
You realized at that moment that you weren't the only one living in an isolated world that was completely your own. You were simply the only person you had noticed. There could have been many people you had met that were similar, or had been looking to share their world with someone, anyone, just like you had.
You hadn't noticed them, but you noticed her.
"Oh, it looks like the Wrackspurts are leaving now. How strange, they stay with some people for days."
She made a motion to leave you to your silence, but you knew in that moment that you wanted her to show you her wondrous, yet isolated world, and you wanted to show her your own, not so impressive, and quite frankly boring, one.
You doubted it would make that much of a difference though. Her world seemed to be crazy enough for the both of you. Your world could just be the break from the craziness when it grew too much.
"Wait!"
She turned around curiously. Her grey eyes were completely focused on you, and you were momentarily startled by their intensity. You could see why she was a Ravenclaw despite all her oddities. She was constantly thinking, constantly curious, constantly wondering about things no one saw.
"I'm Neville, by the way, and you are?"
Introducing yourself to other people had always been difficult, you always wondered what that person really thought about you behind the polite smile they wore and the words of pleasantries no one believed on. You could never tell just by looking at them, and you sometimes wished you could. For once you didn't have to.
"Oh, I thought most people had heard of me already. I hear of myself often enough. I'm Luna. Some people call me 'Looney'. They seem to think I'm mad."
She sounded as if being called 'mad' was something she had never thought of calling herself. She seemed almost uncertain of whether it was good or bad.
"I'd definitely prefer being mad to being whatever they are."
She paused at your words, turning them carefully over in her mind. You watched as her eyes turned thoughtful before she smiled.
"Of course. I wouldn't want to offend creatures that I can't even see. I saw someone being attacked by a Heliopath once. Fudge has an army of them, you know?"
You look interested at the mention of some other creature you had never heard of. You doubted Minister Fudge had an army of anything though, he didn't look like the type that could lead one.
"A Heliopath?"
You may be unable to see it, but that did not mean that it was not there. After all, you couldn't prove that it wasn't there.
Perhaps you just needed to be a little different to see them, a little unusual.