Chapter Three: Possessed

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"It seems to me that I'm inside of you. Or you're inside of me. Strange really." Luna said in her usual dreamy, calm voice.

"How the hell are you talking to me?" Ryan yelled angrily. When she woke up inside of this strange body she assumed that its original owner passed away when she entered it. She thought that when she took over, it was a complete possession with all traces of the other girl vanishing. How wrong she was

"I have no idea. It is rather unheard of, having someone in your head." She said, sounding amused.

"Yea no shit it's unheard of!" Ryan began pacing back and forth along the edge of the hill, crushing flowers under her bare feet as she went. "I can't have a voice inside of me! I'm not crazy!" She stopped abruptly and sat on the grass with a thud.

It was if fate bitch slapped her across the face. How cruel it was to be given a life of suffering and just when she was becoming accustomed to a new life, just beginning to be happy, to be then thrown out of it. Fate used her as its cruel play thing, making her suffer for his amusement.

Shaking now, her eyes glazed over with tears once again and rested her forehead on top of her knees to hide her face. This entire thing was so fucked up.

"You're sad." Luna said softly.

Ryan guffawed once harshly. It wasn't a laugh from amusement, but one used to mask pain. "Yeah Luna, I'm sad." The voice in her head was silent for a moment letting her struggle through the emotions tumbling about inside her. After a while Ryan straightened out her legs and laid on her back, looking up into the cloudless sky. She took one shaky breath and lifted her arm into the air studying the hand attached to it curiously. This arm, this hand didn't belong to her; it was Luna's. She stole it and even if she had no control over what happened, it didn't make the fact any less true. She curled her hand into a fist momentarily before uncurling it, flexing the muscles underneath pale flesh. "If this is your body, your hand, how am I controlling it?"

"I don't know." After a moment's pause Luna continued, "Are you a Giddymoon Sprite? I know they can temporarily take over a person's body when the full moon is out, causing them to run about naked. They like to share sweet drinks and if you accidentally swallow one then you'll have the urge to take off your clothes and go for a jog. Father has tried to explain this problem to the ministry because muggles tend to swallow them at their sporting events." When talking about the mysterious creatures that fascinated the girl, Luna seemed to glow with happiness which Ryan was surprised she could feel herself. There was a dull warmth that started to form in her chest, over her heart, that slowly begin to seep out to the rest of her body. When Luna stopped talking her body was filled to the brim with happiness.

Ryan couldn't help but to snort with laughter at Luna. "No. I'm not a Sprite thing. I'm a person. A human being." Her lips twitched upward momentarily before falling again in sadness. In the books the main characters chastised Luna for her love of magical creatures that they didn't believe existed. Even though she seemed perfectly happy in the books, Ryan wondered if she actually was. The students stole her things and hid them for goodness sake. They were bullies and none of the main characters, the so called 'heroes', did nothing to prevent it. They were nice enough she guessed, but were standoffish sometimes towards the strange girl. At this thought Ryan pursed her lips. These were the supposed 'good guys', so why didn't they do anything?

"A human? Humm" Luna contemplated, tearing Ryan from the path her thoughts took her. "Well that's even stranger now isn't it?"

'Like something-moon whatever's weren't weird enough' Ryan scoffed inwardly.

"How exactly did this happen?" asked Luna. "What do you remember before you entered my body?"

"Everything. I had a family, a life. I was happy." She sighed and rolled over on her stomach, supporting her head with her left arm, not caring if the bright yellow sun dress she wore got grass stains because of it. She was never a fan of wearing dresses anyway.

"You miss them." She said simply. "That's quite alright. I'd miss my family and friends if I didn't get to see them."

"I do. It took me so long to find them. What ever happened….whatever this is -" She put a hand on her chest, resting it over the heart they shared. "- I hope it doesn't last long and I can go home."

There was another brief moment of silence between the two girls before Luna broke it. "I'm terribly sorry. Where are my manners? I have yet to ask you your name." She sounded disappointed in herself for just now realizing to ask.

"Ryan...Ryan Jackson."

"Hello Ryan Ryan Jackson. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Luna said, sounding amused with herself.

Laughing at that she replied, "You're making fun of me Luna? You know my name is just Ryan Jackson." The teasing raised her mood more than she expected it would, which was a welcomed surprise.

"I do not, but I figured you needed a pick me up for Ryan was so very sad."

This simple gesture from Luna gave Ryan some hope that this would not be as bad as she assumed. Luna was so unbelievably kind and understanding for someone who should be upset with what's happened to them. Right then Ryan vowed to protect the girl whose body she snatched from any type of harm. Even if that means disappointing Gran to put others in there place.

"The voice inside my head is comforting me." Ryan chuckled to herself softly. "I really hope I'm not crazy, but if I am I guess it's good that it's not telling me go out and kill babies or something." Feeling better she stood up and brushed off the grass on her dress quickly before walking back towards the weirdly shaped house.

Then Luna laughed for the first time. The simple, sweet melody vibrated through Ryan's mind causing her to smile in return. It was a sweet laugh; simple, yet genuine. It was one that Ryan could easily get used to and hey, raising her mood is the least she could do. "Well I'm glad you're not going to kill babies in my body. That would be bad."

"That it would Luna. That it would."

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Back in the house Ryan tip-toed passed Luna's father without him noticing her presence and walked up the stairs to her (or Luna's) room. She strode over to the bed and sat down tucking her right leg under the other, contemplating the situation that she was in. She was in Luna's body; Luna, the girl who goes to the same school as Harry Potter. There is no denying it now; she is in the wizarding world she read so much about. She could do magic now...can't she? Luna can do magic and she was currently inside her body, so does that mean that she can do it as well? On her hands and knees Ryan crawled on her (or Luna's) bed over to the dresser grabbing a quill and returned to her previous spot. Grasping her wand in one hand, she placed the quill on the soft mattress in front of her.

"Tell me what I did wrong." she demanded sternly.

"Of course."

There was a moment of silence before Ryan said, "well", agitated now from the lack of response.

"I would be happy to help if I knew to what you were referring."

"The spell! The spell I was trying before." Ryan exclaimed in exasperation. "You said that the wand movement was wrong before, so tell me how to do it." "…please" she added at the end knowing she was acting a bit snarky. She wanted to know if she could actually perform magic. Yes she was in Luna's body, but that doesn't necessarily mean that she herself could do it. She needed the reassurance.

"Your wand movement was too big and you started with your wrist pointing to the left, it should be pointed downwards the entire time." Ryan thought that her instructions were too simple, too basic for her to really be able to do it.

Fear has always been a driving force in her life, the reason she did things the way she did. Who she is today is the result of a combination of fear and the belief that she needed to do what she must to survive in a world that seemed to throw all the shit it could at her. One day she finally broke, shattered like glass, reflecting all the sinful decisions she's ever made. This was no exception. The fear of weakness in a world where the strong and the brave survive, in a world at war, she needed to have magic. The thought of not being able to do it scared her more than she would care to admit.

"Like this?" She circled the wand in front of her in a half moon shape careful to keep her wrist pointed downwards the entire time and flicked it once in the direction of the quill.

"Much better. I would suggest trying it again, but I am underage, so I'm not allowed to perform magic outside of school." Luna reminded her softly.

"Well I'm not." replied Ryan simply, ignoring the rule breaking. She was really never one to follow the rules and this entire underage thing was a load of crap. If you are in school to learn about magic, you should be allowed to practice it at home. Her mouth quirked into a mischievous smile as she remembered a loophole in the law; if someone is in a magical house, they could not tell who performed the spell, only that one was cast. For all they know her father could be the one using magic. Taking a deep breath, she gathered as much courage as she could muster. She raised her (or Luna's) wand to attempt the spell again, concentrating on her instructions. Relief flooded through her as she watched the quill levitate a foot off the bed, hovering for a few moments, and then falling back on the bed softly. She could use magic! It made sense because she was in the body of a wizard, but she was reluctant to hold onto hope if none existed, she needed the proof. Now she has what she's been denied her whole life; power. A smile crept slowly on her face, spreading as far as her new lips would allow, eyes twinkling with desire. She had the tools, now it's time to hone them. One of the biggest problems she will face is going to Hogwarts where she will be expected to already have four years of knowledge already ingrained in her. Will she be able to pull off acting like Luna? Their personalities are as different from each other as they possibly could be, so she doubted her ability to succeed.

"I wonder what Ryan is thinking to make her to feel so many different emotions" said Luna, pulling her again from her stray thoughts.

"You know what I'm feeling?" The idea of this made her nervous. Sharing a body with someone is going to be hard enough, let alone allowing someone to slip past her defenses enough to know how she feels.

"This is my body. I can feel everything you do. When you got the spell right my heart started beating faster, then it stopped altogether, but only for a moment before it sunk. I'm guessing joy, excitement, then anxiousness and fear." Luna guessed.

Ryan froze. Shit Luna really was perceptive enough to tell what she was feeling. She was spot on with the whirlwind of emotions that just swept through her, predicting each one correctly. This is going to be hard.

"Fear again. Am I that scary?" Luna inquired, sounding upset. It was difficult to decipher the different emotions that Luna herself was going through because her facial expressions could not be seen, so Ryan could only go off the pitch of her voice.

"No Luna it isn't you. It's just..." She paused and sighed trying to find the exact words for the emotions rolling around inside her. "I'm just not used to having someone so close to me. I realized that you are...in me. Literary."

"I think it is you who is inside of me."

Pausing, Ryan took a moment to think about this. Somehow unknown to her, she was inside of someone else's body. She was nothing more than a spirit who has strayed from their path to possess the body of some poor unsuspecting girl. She did not pause to think about how this would affect Luna. The girl could not control her own body and was forced to watch as someone else lived her life for her. It must be a form of hell. Empathy was not one of Ryan's strongest suits, no doubt she could achieve it eventually, but during her life she rarely felt the need for it. She only truly cared for her mother and the small family she created in the last four years of her life. She did not need it, so she tossed the feeling aside without a thought until now. "You're right Luna, I'm sorry. I didn't even ask, what it's like for you...being possessed by me that is."

"Not as bad as one might think." she remarked softly. "It appears that I can see what you see and feel what you feel, but I'm not in control."

"That must be hard." Ryan thought about what it would be like and shuttered, sickened by the mere thought of it.

"O not so bad really. Maybe a break will be nice."

"A break from what Luna? Your life? This is your life...YOURS and I just..." The feeling of being trapped in a life that is uncontrollable is all too familiar to the orphan. Pausing for a moment to reel in her feelings that she knew Luna would sense herself, she took a shuttering breath. A single tear ran down her unfamiliar face, disappearing down her neck as one small proof of her true feelings. It disappeared so quickly it would have been unnoticed if there was someone to witness the crack in the wall she hid her feelings behind. "I'm so sorry."

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A/N: Getting clearer now? Would love to hear what you think.