Hey guys, sorry I've been out for a while. Had some medical stuff that was taking up most of my time. I should also take the time to say that I don't own anything of this universe. It's all the wonderful work of Rowling. Also if you guys want to leave me some reviews that'd be great. Always happy to get some feedback :)
I really don't like it when the house is empty. It just reflects what I feel most days in my twisted body: cold, hollow, and useless. But Harry's getting prepped for his first year of teaching, Ginny's training, and Luna? Luna is God knows where doing God knows what just like she's always been inclined to do.
I woke up late and I could feel the emptiness of the flat around me, and when I had finally come down from my panicked screaming from the barrage of night terrors, I was filled with that familiar sadness. One thing that we all had in common after the war: we really hated to be separated. When they're gone, when they're away from home, all I can think about is if they're safe, if they're okay, do they need help, are they alone, are they alive?
Call through the fireplace? No…We don't have one and I don't even know where Luna is, and I'm pretty sure they don't keep a communal pyre in the middle of a Quidditch training pitch. I grumbled to myself while making myself a nice cup of tea and sitting down with my books to get some studying done. I had my qualification exams coming up in only two months and I didn't want to be underprepared. Maybe I could send a Patronus? No, too rash. They're probably fine. I shouldn't bug them anyway.
A quick glance at my watch told me it was getting to be around noon, and still no sign of Luna. Of all of my flatmates she was the least likely to be out at this time, preferring to dawdle in the early morning or late at night, spending her afternoons nestled in a book or that horrid magazine of hers.
"Uuugh." I grumbled as I paced around the living room, still in my pajamas and a bath robe. "Doesn't wake me, doesn't leave a note. Flaky, inconsiderate, unreliable…" Just as I spun myself into a very insane inner dialog involving all of the words to describe the actions of one Luna Lovegood, the lady in question walked right through the door.
"Where the hell have you been?" I shouted with a pointed finger and a hand firmly on my hip. "Flat empty, no note, car's gone!…" I start off before a shocked expression took over my features. "Oh my god I sound like Mrs. Weasley." I stalked back over to the couch and plopped down, head lolling back so that I may gaze upon the lovely ceiling in defeat.
Luna giggled at me and sat down by my side.
"It's my mother's birthday. I went to say hello." She told me easily.
"Oh…" I responded lamely, sort of uncomfortable with the frankness with which she spoke, especially about visiting her dead mother on her birthday. One usually wasn't so chipper about visiting dead parents. "I-I'm sorry…"
"It's alright. I like to visit her as often as I can." She responded.
"Really?" I responded bluntly before quickly covering my mouth. "I'm sorry I didn't mean-"
"Oh it's fine." She replied kindly. "It does seem a bit weird, but it helps. I talk to her, tell her about my life, what dad's doing, tell her I miss her, like we're still a family." She smiled soberly off into the distance, a bit sadly, but with a sort of tranquility I was envious of. I reached over a bit awkwardly and tried my best to rub her shoulder in what I considered to be a comforting manner. She patted my hand and I considered the gesture well received and retrieved my hand awkwardly.
"Well…" I cleared my throat. "Please leave a note next time. I was worried."
"Really?" She stared me down with those daunting, unblinking blue eyes.
"Yes, er, well it's not like you to be gone this early in the day, and, well it was cause for concern." I responded stiffly, feeling a bit flush and highly aware of the coloring I was probably taking on.
"Well I'll try not to worry you so much in the future Hermione."
I really like the way she says my name. Wait, What?!
I shook my head a bit and stood abruptly.
"Well see to it you don't." I responded briskly before charging my way into the kitchen to tend to some dishes or something, anything really to not be in the living room anymore.
I spent the rest of the day huddling away from my odd flatmate, doing dishes, cleaning the one tiny bathroom, doing my laundry, Harry's laundry, really everyone's laundry. I swept and mopped the floors, organized my three bookcases twice, ate some supper and read one of my magical maladies textbook before finally settling down for the evening, just as Harry burst through the door with a loud bang and a bit of a smug grin on his face.
"We," He called through the apartment at the two of us sitting in the living room. "Are going to the movies."
Ginny followed behind him, looking slightly embarrassed and a bit angry.
"Great." Luna said from her place upside down on the couch. "What's that?"
"Apparently pictures that move without magic." Ginny responded slightly causticly from behind her husband.
"Why?" I asked from my place slightly curled into myself on my rocking chair in the corner next to the sliding glass door.
"Because my lovely, wonderful, love-of-my-life wife has never been, and quite frankly if I spend one more evening in this tiny flat I will literally go insane so we are all going to the movies. Don't argue, grab your coats, and let's go."
And without further ado, because none of us really had a good reason not to, we left our building to head down to the nearest muggle theatre to watch some movie. Along the way Harry went through the painstaking process of telling the girls what movies were, what they did, and why they existed.
"So basically, they're stories being told by people pretending to be other people through pictures that move without magic?" Ginny said with an arched eyebrow. "Well I don't really see what the big deal is."
"It's supposed to be fun. You know, you go out with your mates, you watch a movie, good or bad, you laugh about it, you talk about it, it's a good time." Harry responded as we rounded the corner onto the theater.
I left the couple to bicker as I went and paid for the tickets, picking out a silly rom-com to start the girls off, them dragging behind as we came upon the concession stand.
"Ah, one of the greatest things about going to the movies." Harry said cheerily. "Junk food. So who wants popcorn. How about a pretzel? What about those jujubes I've heard so much about?"
"You've never been to the movies have you?" I asked, pulling him aside.
"Never in my life." He responded honestly. "So this should be fun." He added a bit sarcastically.
"Tell me why we're doing this, really." I said as I picked up the largest tub of popcorn they had, Harry grabbing two barrel-size cups of soda.
"Because we needed to get out of the flat." Harry replied in earnest. "Ginny hasn't gone a day without crying, you're a nervous wreck, and Luna, well, Luna's being Luna but I doubt she's really as unaffected as she seems."
"And you?" I responded as we walked through the doors of theater six and took seats in one of the middle rows.
"Yeah," He replied. "And me."
Luna sat next to me with a slight smile, flashing me the large box of Bottlecaps she had acquired from concessions.
"So what do these do?" She asked as the opening trailers rolled on screen, fully capturing the attention of Ginny on the opposite side of Harry, but Luna seemed more interested in talking to me about muggle candy.
"What do you mean?" I asked with a responding grin.
"Well, do they fizz, do the blow up, do they sprout little bottles that pour soda down your throat?"
"N-no. They're just candy." I responded, still smiling softly.
"Oh, well, that's alright I guess." She responded breezily, popping a few into her mouth. "At least they taste good."
We spent the rest of the movie trying our best to enjoy ourselves, laughing along to the stupid jokes and scenarios along with the way Luna and Ginny sat transfixed in utter fascination, and for what it was worth, Harry's plan was working. I was actually enjoying myself, the girls seemed to be thoroughly enamored with the film, and Harry just seemed happy to have his friends around him not sulking around in their pajamas. Luna and I developed a silent yet in sync way of exchanging bottlecaps and popcorn. Ginny clung to Harry's arm, head resting on his shoulder adorably. By the time we left, it had to be said that everyone's mood had increased immensely.
The night was dark as we left the bright theater, really the only sign beyond the movie that time had past. We started off the long way back to our building, enjoying the cold night air and the starshine. None of us really wanted to go back there, to be back in that stagnant hole, but it was home so off we went.
"Alright," Ginny huffed with Harry's smug eyes still on her. "I'll admit it wasn't so bad."
"I could go again." Luna said with a nod and Harry grinned even more triumphantly.
As we entered the flat, the lovey-dovey couple branched off down the hall that lead to the bedrooms, and Luna and I went into the living room to settle. We'd rather wait until they were asleep to tarry down to our own beds. The walls are very thin in this apartment.
As soon as I sat down, Luna draped her legs over mine and rested her head on the arm of the plush sofa, sighing contentedly and returning to that awful magazine of hers. I stared down at the pale, soft looking calves now weighing down my thighs. Luna, for all her eccentricities, was not an excessively touchy person. It was quite befuddling and a bit maddening, as I am brave enough to admit, that she would be so bold as to use me as a leg rest. I cleared my throat a bit huffily, but Luna only glanced briefly my way with her wide blue eyes before ducking back into her magazine.
I settled myself back into the couch, closing my eyes lightly, arms crossed against my chest, trying desperately not to accidentally graze any of that perfect skin.
Wait, what?! My eyes snapped open as I sat up, stiff as a board as the runaway thought of Luna's soft skin tripped through my mind. The woman in question sat up herself, looking at me curiously, with a slight frown. I could feel myself blushing.
"Is everything alright?" She questioned breezily, tossing the magazine onto the coffee table, pulling her legs to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "You seem tense. Tense is never good; it beckons bad spirits."
"I-I'm fine." I lied, not even daring to look in her direction. "I think I'm going to head to bed." I blurted out before scampering down the hall to my room, slamming the door behind me.
What the hell? I asked myself as I changed. I asked it again as I brushed my teeth and washed my face, and again as I finally sank beneath the covers of my overly comfy bed, forcing all such thoughts related to Luna Lovegood out of my head in the hopes that some cosmic flook would be the explanation for my sudden infatuation with that woman's skin. Tomorrow everything would be back to normal. She would go back to being Looney Lovegood and I could put this weird evening behind me.
I was wrong.
