Big thank you and virtual cookies to Ninja for betaing! Also sorry for this absolute trainwreck of a fic, it was written in roughly 30 minutes.
IWSC Round 5 - School: Mahoutokoro, Year: 1, Theme: Zonko's Joke Shop, Main Prompt: (word) revenge, Additional prompts: (emotion) anticipation, (setting) an empty classroom
Word count: 1109
"What's wrong, Ginny?" The sound echoed through the classroom, sounding strangely foreign to the Gryffindor girl's ears. She raised her head from where it had been resting on her knees to turn towards the unwelcome guest.
"Luna?" Ginny's eyes narrowed at the unexpected appearance of the blonde. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I sometimes come to this classroom when I feel sad. Usually, when the other girls do something mean to me. You know, this classroom is always empty. I read it somewhere that they used to hold language classes in Goblin and Mermish here, but they discontinued them," Luna mused.
"I see," Ginny replied. "So, you're sad now?"
"Kind of." Luna tapped her chin. "I came here to ponder about Dumbledore's death, but I think you're sadder than me right now."
Ginny raised an eyebrow.
"Your head was buried in your arms when I came in, and your eyes look red and puffy. I thought you must be feeling depressed. If you want, I can leave, though. I don't want to intrude on anything."
"No! I mean, actually…" Ginny bit her lip.
"If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay," Luna said.
"No, it's just…" Ginny paused again. "Harry broke up with me. I was just… I just feel a bit depressed about it, I guess."
After a few seconds, she continued. "I feel so angry. Not at him, but… You know, all those wretched Slytherins and Death Eaters, this is because of them!" She felt wrath boil in her veins. She was still feeling depressed, but it was now mixed with an uncontrollable anger, heating her face up so that it now matched the colour of her hair.
Luna moved closer and lowered herself to the floor, crossing her legs next to Ginny. "What do you want to do?" she asked.
"I… I want to fight. I want to get revenge. I want to show them that I'm not some little damsel in distress that needs protection from the outside world. Is that so difficult to understand?" Ginny felt desperate. Anything to get Harry back. Anything to show people she was not somebody to be toyed with. Anything to take revenge on anyone who thought she was not good enough to fight.
"Hm," Luna hummed. "I have an idea."
Ginny perked up. Anything to get her revenge on whoever was responsible for her feelings of depression.
"Well, it's not really fighting," the blonde began, "but we could prank some of the Slytherins you were talking about."
"Pranking?" Ginny stopped her train of thoughts to digest the proposition. It didn't sound like revenge enough, but it was something she knew how to execute. And truth be told, she was looking forward to it somewhat. "What kind of prank?"
"Well, I have an idea."
Ginny was now squatting next to Luna behind a tapestry, down in the dungeons. The Ravenclaw had cast some sort of charm Ginny was unfamiliar with that had made the tapestry see-through from their side, but apparently not from the outside.
"Just to make sure, this is going to work, right?" Ginny said, glancing at Luna. She was filled with anticipation already, even though no one had walked past them since the two girls had set up their prank.
"I don't know," Luna shrugged. "I think it will. The thread is not visible from here, at least."
"Great," Ginny replied, rolling her eyes. Maybe it was just the frustration she was feeling, but she was not in the mood to converse with Luna, of all people, in that moment. She was waiting, just waiting for somebody to walk past, so that she could get some sort of revenge.
After what felt like hours spent behind the tapestry, Ginny finally caught a glimpse of emerald green in her peripheral vision. She turned her head in that instant, to find Crabbe and Goyle turning the corner and starting down in the direction where Luna and her had set their trap up.
"Luna!" Ginny whisper-shouted, shaking the Ravenclaw's shoulder violently. "They're here!"
"Oh," the other girl turned to face the two Slytherins as well.
Ginny's limbs were almost shaking. She had never been so excited about a prank before, and she fully relished in the anticipatory feeling. Finally, after days of agonising over what had gone wrong with her and Harry, there was a hint of something else. Not just depression, not just anger, not just the yearning, both for Harry and for revenge, but something else. Even if it was just the anticipation of a petty laugh.
As Crabbe and Goyle walked past and neared the trap, Ginny's hold on Luna's shoulder tightened, though the smaller girl did not appear to notice it.
Would it work? Or would it be a complete failure? There was one thing Ginny did not want, and that was to go back to her brooding self. She felt bad when she was brooding. No more of that, thank you very much.
Crabbe and Goyle reached the approximate area of the trip. As one of them took a step forward, there was a soft pop above the two of them. In the next instant, there was a loud 'BANG!' and for a second, everything around the two Slytherins turned black. Ginny waited in anticipation for the smoke to dissipate.
As it did, it revealed the two Sytherins, covered in the remnants of the well-placed dungbombs that had exploded when they tripped the spiderweb-thin thread Luna and Ginny had set up.
Ginny's mouth curved into a smile. Then, she started laughing, almost hysterically. She didn't even notice Luna's low snicker next to her. She just kept laughing, not even sure at what. Was she laughing because the scene was funny? Maybe. Was it because of the small, teeny-tiny satisfaction she felt, having pranked two of her most hated Slytherins? Maybe.
Or maybe, just maybe, it was a laugh of desperation. No matter how much time she put into this prank, no matter how much she tried to distract herself from the reality of her situation, it lingered there. It had not changed; there was still a war, and she was still seen as a fragile girl who cannot fight by many. She had gotten revenge, but she had not gotten revenge, just yet. Maybe it was just comical, how badly she was handling this.
Even so, she kept laughing. Even though her world was being torn apart right in front of her eyes, she would allow herself to not care. She would laugh away the pain, before going back to it and struggling to understand and overcome it. Just this once.
