Written for Round 3 of the IWSC.
Story Title/Link: To Help a Friend in Need
School and Theme: Durmstrang - Plant Poisoning (For your theme you should look at how wizards and witches use plants as weapons and cures.)
I interpreted this prompt by using the tea that Luna makes for Ginny to have the main ingredient as plants. This is a recipe that I made up for this story but is based off of the Calming Draught and the Draught of Peace which have some of the same ingredients as this tea. It was a recipe that her mother had invented during the Wizarding War for helping people who had been traumatized although it later helped both her husband and daughter after her death. This tea is a cure for Ginny because it makes her feel so much better and she doesn't have to pretend to be okay anymore.
Main Prompt: 10. [Platonic Pairing] Ginny Weasley/Luna Lovegood
Additional Prompts: 4. [Quote] "It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up" - V Lombardi & 12. [Emotion] Fear
Year: 2
Wordcount (google docs): 2899
As a side note, the things about the Blibbering Humdinger are things that were made up for this story and aren't from canon. This is because this creature came from Luna's imagination and she made the creature resemble her and how she felt when her mother died. Something else that I think I should mention is that Luna and Ginny have not met before, they have met briefly but aren't familiar with each other.
Edit: Thank you to the judges for getting this story to win one of the JPs at the IWSC! I was so shocked and very pleased.
Ginny prodded at her steak-and-kidney pie, cutting it into many more pieces. It was her first-ever End-of-Term Feast and she knew she ought to be more excited. Yet, the only thing on her mind—day and night—was how she had been possessed by Tom's diary.
The whole memory was horrifying. The way Tom had taken control of her and made her follow his evil commands. She had thought that he was her friend—that he cared for her. And he had betrayed her.
"Ginny," Percy said, reaching for more potatoes, "how are you enjoying the Feast?"
Ginny plastered a smile on her face and scooped some of her mashed pie into her mouth. "Oh, it's wonderful, Percy. I'm having a lovely time."
He smiled at her. "I'm glad to hear it, Ginny. It's nice to see you having fun."
The moment Percy turned away, Ginny let the smile drop from her face. It was exhausting to have to pretend like she was okay. Like she didn't spend every waking moment absorbed in the memory of Tom Riddle. Like she didn't see Tom's face laughing at her every time she closed her eyes, mocking her for thinking that he meant no harm.
She hated him.
"Oi, Ginny!"
It was Fred; he and George were laughing at some joke.
"Hey, Ginny," George said, grinning. He pointed at Harry. "Where do you think he's going after the Feast?"
Ginny frowned. Usually, when they tried to make her laugh, their jokes actually seemed to be going somewhere. "I don't know."
"Come on, Gin," Fred laughed, "It's really easy."
She huffed. "Well, I don't know."
"He's going to the Chamber of Secrets! To save another damsel in distress, of course." They laughed, seemingly thinking that their joke was funny.
"Fred! George!" Percy snapped. "That's enough. Stop teasing her!"
"Relax Perce," Fred said, "it was only a joke."
But Ginny hardly heard him. Memories of the chamber were flooding her, coming at her fast. The cold, the dizziness, the fear she felt when she realized she had been played for a fool.
Naive little fool.
"Ginny," George said, "we're just joking. You do know that, right?"
Ginny forced herself to look calm even though she felt like she might start shaking.
"Whatever." She turned away from the table. "I don't care about your dumb jokes anyway."
As soon as Ginny turned, she regretted looking through the Great Hall's open doors.
Something yellow was glowing from the entrance hall. Ginny stood so she could see better.
It was Mrs. Norris.
The cat's yellow eyes focused on Ginny and the cat gave her a horrified look. Mrs. Norris jumped and yowled before darting away. Something about it seemed oddly familiar…
At that moment it was as though all the air had been sucked out of the room. Ginny sank back onto the bench, trembling. She couldn't breathe. She bit down on her lip, trying to force the image of Mrs. Norris' startled face away. The cat had done the exact same thing before she had been petrified. Before Ginny had petrified her.
Ginny gasped, desperate for air. But there was nothing.
She could feel the blood pounding in her ears as her heart thudded against her chest.
The fork she was still holding clattered to her plate from her shaking hands. She glanced around wildly, trying to calm down. Everything was blurred, as though someone had cast a Bubblehead Charm on the Great Hall.
"Ginny." She could hear Percy's worried voice echoing in the very back of her mind. Perhaps that was the only sane part of her left. "Ginny, are you alright?"
She jerked back as Percy touched her shoulder. She had to leave. She couldn't stay here, not in the crowd of happy people. What if she petrified someone again?
Ginny stumbled out from behind the bench and ran, ignoring her brothers' shouts of surprise.
She ran—out the Great Hall, up the main staircase—and kept running until she was halfway across the school.
Outside the Charms classroom, she stopped and sank to her knees, her chest heaving as she tried to suck in enough air. She choked back a sob and put her head in her shaking hands, trying in vain to calm herself down.
She was dangerous. How could she have let Tom control her? She was just as bad as the Death Eaters.
Why hadn't she fought back? How could she have put everyone in danger?
And why couldn't she breathe?
"Are you alright?"
Ginny's head snapped up. She squinted, her vision blurry from tears. Standing in front of her was a girl with blonde hair. She seemed to be the same age as Ginny was. From what she could see of her, Ginny noticed that the girl had a rather concerned, yet still dreamy look on her face.
"Are you okay?" the girl asked, crouching down to get on Ginny's level.
She thought about saying yes, that she was fine, that the girl ought to go back and enjoy the feast. But the fact that she was crying and gasping for air wouldn't make her lie sound even a little convincing.
She shook her head violently and the girl frowned. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"
Ginny shook her head again. Then, realizing that the girl didn't understand her, she forced some words out of her mouth. "No. I can't—I can't breathe right."
The girl gave a soft smile and put a comforting hand on Ginny's trembling shoulder. "Do you know about the Blibbering Humdinger?"
Ginny frowned. "The what?"
"The Blibbering Humdinger," the girl said while sitting down on the floor next to Ginny.
"Don't worry, not many people know about it. My daddy studies them and writes about them in his magazine, The Quibbler. They got their name because if they don't get to be by themselves at least once every three weeks, they end up making a rather loud blibber sound."
Ginny leaned forward—for some reason, she was fascinated by the idea of such a creature. "Really?"
"Yes." The girl looked off into the distance dreamily. "They remind me of humans sometimes."
The pressure around Ginny's chest was fading. She could already feel her panic shrinking.
The girl looked at Ginny, knowing shining in her eyes. "Sometimes, all we need is to hide away for some time and then we feel better again. Just imagine how it would feel to be a Blibbering Humdinger."
Even though it felt silly, Ginny closed her eyes. She imagined hiding away from everyone, from their concern and their questions. But only for a little while. Then she could come back stronger and wouldn't feel so scared all the time. She would be weightless, like how she felt soaring over her house on her brothers' broomsticks.
When she opened her eyes, she was glad to see that the girl was still there.
"Do you feel better?" she asked, offering Ginny a hand to get up.
Ginny smiled back at her and took the hand. "I do. Thank you. How did you know how to help?"
The girl smiled sadly, "It's what I used to do when I was younger. My mum had just died and I wanted to get away from it all."
Ginny couldn't imagine life without her mum. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"
"Don't be. It happened two years ago and I'm mostly over it by now." She held her hand out for Ginny to shake. "I'm Luna, by the way, Luna Lovegood."
"I'm Ginny Weasley."
The two girls started to walk back to the Great Hall.
Luna turned to look at her. "Maybe you'd like to come to my house over the summer? We could have a sleepover."
Ginny grinned, feeling happier and at peace than she had felt in weeks. "I would love to."
xxx
"Daddy?"
Luna sat down on the couch next to her dad. He was writing again, probably a new article for The Quibbler.
Her dad looked up, smiling as he saw his daughter. "Yes?"
"Do you remember the tea you made for me? After mum died?"
His eyes grew concerned. "Why do you ask, sweetie? Do you need me to make some more for you?"
"No, it's not that. It's just that my friend went through something really bad and I think she needs it."
"Is it for the youngest Weasley? The one who's coming here next week?"
"Yes, do you think I can get it ready before then?"
He stood up and walked over to their bookshelf. He ran his fingers along the spines before stopping on a lilac one. Luna stood behind her dad as he pulled out the book and started rifling through it. She noticed that it was a handmade recipe book. Her dad stopped on a page which was titled, 'Recovering Potion'.
"This is the potion, darling," he said, showing her the page. It didn't seem too hard and Luna, who was fairly good at Potions, was sure that she would be able to pull it off. Luna smiled as she saw the beautiful drawings that were made for each ingredient. It was as though pieces of her mother still shone in her artwork.
Luna took the book from her dad. "Thank you, Daddy."
"Do you need any help?"
"It's okay, I want to do this on my own."
Back in her room, Luna spent hours poring over the recipe, which was enough for two weeks' worth of the draught. It seemed quite simple but Luna knew that there were a lot of plants and complicated instructions. She was glad that her potions kit had a nearly full set of ingredients.
Luna looked over the ingredients first so she could make sure she had them all.
4 tsp of powdered Moonstone
3 tsp of syrup of Hellebore
1 Valerian root
3 sprigs of lavender
2 cups of water
2 sprigs of peppermint
She smiled, she had all of those ingredients in her kit except for lavender, which luckily grew in the garden behind her house.
After going to her backyard and grabbing three sprigs of lavender, Luna started her potion.
First, she crushed the Valerian root until it was a fine powder and put both it and two teaspoons of the Powdered Moonstone into her cauldron. She then mixed the Syrup of Hellebore with the water before adding it to her concoction. Her mother's recipe said to let it simmer for 10 minutes before stirring seven times clockwise and twice counter-clockwise.
As Luna waited, she wrote out a short letter to Ginny.
Dear Ginny,
How are you? I am doing well, I am very excited for you to come over next week. There will be a surprise ready for you once you get here!
Your friend,
Luna
After sending the letter with her father's owl, she returned to her draught and stirred it according to the instructions.
Next, she added the remaining powdered Moonstone slowly and watched it turn the draught to turn into a baby blue colour. When it did, she quickly dropped in the lavender and smiled as the potion immediately turned deep blue. She stirred it five times counter-clockwise before putting her unused ingredients away; her draught was almost done.
Finally, Luna waited for the potion to stop simmering before she added the Peppermint. Luna took a whiff of the draught and realized that it now smelled amazing. She grinned to herself.
Looking down at the recipe book, she thought about how she could serve this draught to Ginny. The words scrawled at the bottom gave her a great idea.
This draught can be combined with any normal drink or food without any side effects. Helpful for those either reluctant to take the draught or those who wish for even more flavour.
Luna carefully poured her completed draught into a large bottle and went to the kitchen. She placed it on the counter and looked through the cupboards. Although Ginny would surely be happy to receive this draught the way it was, Luna still wanted to make it special.
She grabbed all the ingredients for her favourite chocolate cookie recipe and set them on the far side of the counter. She could make cookies before Ginny came over and add the draught into some tea. If she used up all of it, Luna could just make more.
Luna smiled and hummed to herself as she worked, happy that she had a way to help her friend.
xxx
On the morning of the day of their sleepover, Ginny couldn't keep herself from smiling. She was just so excited!
When it was finally time for Ginny to be at Luna's house, her mum offered to take her there. At first, Ginny was hesitant, Luna's mum was dead after all. Wouldn't she be sad to see Ginny with her mum? But, there was no other way and Luna would probably be very happy to see her that it didn't really matter.
Ginny and her mum decided to walk the way there, it was a lovely day outside anyway. Even though she was excited, Ginny couldn't help but feel the same nervousness that seemed to follow her everywhere. Maybe a day with her friend would help her feel better.
When she caught sight of Luna's house, Ginny excitedly ran up to the door and gave it a hard knock.
The door opened to reveal a man with shoulder-length whitish-blond hair and Luna's silvery eyes.
"Hello," he said, shaking Ginny's hand. "You must be Ginny Weasley. Luna's told me all about you."
Ginny grinned, "Really? Where is she?"
"She's just in the kitchen. Why don't you head on over there while I talk to your mum?"
"Okay."
Ginny waited until her mum was near the door, then walked into the house.
"Luna?"
She saw her friend's blonde hair peek out from behind one of the rooms. "Ginny!" Luna pulled her into a tight embrace. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you."
"Me too. I've been waiting all month to see you."
Luna smiled, "Come, let's go into the kitchen. My surprise is in there."
Ginny followed her into the kitchen with a feeling of nervous excitement. She wondered what Luna could be so excited to show her.
The Lovegood kitchen was beautiful. The walls were covered in drawings and the cabinets were themed with pastel colours. But the thing that caught Ginny's eye was the table. On it, there was a teapot and a platter of delicious-looking chocolate chip cookies.
Luna pointed at the treats. "These are my surprises."
Ginny took a seat at the table. "They look very good."
Luna poured two cups of tea and handed one to her. "It isn't the cookies that are the main surprise. It's really the tea that I wanted to show you."
"Oh, is it a special kind?"
Luna gestured for her to try some of it. "It was my mum's recipe. It's a mind-relaxing draught that she invented. It heals you."
Ginny smiled, "You made this just for me?"
"Of course. You're my friend. It is working?"
Ginny sipped some more tea and then drank it until the cup was empty. Up until now, the background feeling of nervousness was building its way up her body, threatening to suffocate her. Yet now, all the bad feelings seemed to disappear. Ginny closed her eyes, feeling all those bad thoughts seemingly waft away. She saw the truth, that the Chamber wasn't her fault and that she did deserve to be happy. It was the most freeing thing she had ever felt.
"Ginny?"
She opened her eyes to look at the girl who just helped her in the biggest way imaginable. "It's working. I don't feel so trapped anymore. How can something as simple as tea do this?"
Luna smiled, "My mum was really good at these sorts of draughts. She always knew which plants would go together to help people in the best way possible. I'm glad it's working."
"It's amazing. How often do I need to take it?"
"You only have to take it once, but if you need more you can always come back."
Ginny grinned, a draught that only had to be taken once? This was far better than the calming draughts that she had had to take daily when she was in the Hospital Wing.
Luna got a far away look in her eyes. "It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up."
"Where is that from?"
"My mom used to tell me that. It means that you have to choose to get back up, to keep trying."
Ginny had never heard words so touching before. "I'll never forget that."
The rest of the day went by in a flurry of fun and happiness. They went for a walk in the sun, drew some pictures, and even went for a ride on Luna's dad's broomstick. By the end of the day, Ginny had multiple drawings of creatures from Luna and Luna discovered a new joy in flying her dad's broomstick so high, she felt as though she were flying.
After a lot of leading, Luna's dad agreed to let them sleep outside, under the stars. Ginny snuggled into her sleeping bag as Luna pointed out all the stars that she could see. When the moon was high into the sky, Ginny turned to her friend, her best friend.
"Luna?"
"Yes, Ginny?"
"Thank you."
