A/N – Day 10! The days seem to be going by so quickly!
Prompt – Friendship
Luna dipped her brush into the paint and began painstakingly following the outline she had drawn in pencil. She hummed to herself as she painted, floating on her back a foot away from the ceiling. She'd asked her father to perform the floating charm on her before he had gone out that morning, so she wasn't even breaking the 'no magic outside of Hogwarts' rule.
As she painted, she thought about each of her friends. First Ginny, who she'd known for the longest. They had stood together in line for their sorting and Luna had told Ginny all about the Wrackspurts that infested the Sorting Hat, making the wearer's brain fuzzy and unfocused so the Hat could better access their deeper personality traits. Ginny had giggled but not in a cruel way like the other children. From that moment on Luna knew she would be friends with Ginny.
And for the last four years Ginny had continued to be nice to Luna, never calling her Loony, like the entire rest of the fourth year did, she even tried to stop them doing so. And she never said Luna was odd for talking about Nargles and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. Ginny even asked questions about the creatures, smiling at Luna as she did.
Next Luna thought about Ginny's brother, Ron. He was funny. She still remembered the first day she had met him on the Hogwarts Express her fourth year. He had made a joke about one of the Slytherin boys looking like a baboon's backside and it had made her laugh until she choked. Even thinking about it made her laugh and she had to pause in her painting so her portraits weren't ruined as she shook with mirth.
Ron wasn't as kind as Ginny, sometimes he made fun of Luna, but she knew that he was a loyal friend. The way he had fought in the Department of Mysteries left her in no doubt that he was someone she wanted as a friend.
That brought her onto Neville. He was also a fiercely loyal boy, and he had fought as hard as any of them at the Ministry. Luna felt more of a kinship towards Neville than she did any of the others; he was more like her, a bit of an outcast. But she liked him dearly.
Luna stretched her arms, shaking them out a little before she continued with her painting, still carefully dipping her brush into the paint pots floating next to her and meticulously colouring the picture, bringing it to life.
She thought of Hermione next. At first she hadn't been particularly fond of the older girl; she was narrow-minded and always telling Luna she was wrong about the creatures and stories her father told her about. And she had said The Quibbler was rubbish. She was disparaging and unwilling to believe anything she hadn't read in an ancient textbook.
But then she had come to Luna with the idea that The Quibbler publish an interview with Harry about the true story of You-Know-Who's return and as the story swept through the school like wildfire, Luna had warmed to Hermione. Hermione seemed content that the two of them must agree to disagree but that was no reason they could not be friends.
And lastly Harry. Harry was such a wonderful person. From the very moment she had heard his story at age four, she had wanted to be his friend. And when she finally met him on the train in her fourth year, the want solidified even more. He was kind and brave, he always put others before himself. He didn't call her weird or laugh at her. And at the very end of the year, despite him having just lost his godfather and being so sad, he had offered to help her find her lost possessions. She did not think she would ever meet a purer, friendlier wizard than he.
She pushed off from the ceiling, floating down a few feet so she could admire her painting, smiling. And then dipped her brush in the gold ink and carefully wove one word over and over around the five people she had drawn.
friends … friends … friends …
A/N – That prompt just had to be about Luna and her ceiling painting. I always found that idea heart-wrenchingly beautiful. I hope I did it justice… let me know what you thought.