Title: A Human Reaction
Character(s): Luna Lovegood
Prompt: the effect of impact on stationary objects
Rating: PG
Word Count: 442
Summary: She had trained herself, after her first year at Hogwarts, to show reaction to nothing. To never be embarrassed. To never become hurt. To never let those other people- her peers- see any kind of human reaction. She thought it made her strong.
Author's Notes: There is no beta. So, there are probably many errors. Sorry. There's also a character death. Sorry about that too. Written for 7spells on LiveJournal.
THE HUMAN REACTION
Luna Lovegood was nothing but an object. She was completely blank.
She had trained herself, after her first year at Hogwarts, to show reaction to nothing. To never be embarrassed. To never become hurt. To never let those other people- her peers- see any kind of human reaction. She thought it made her strong.
The amazing power that she had served her well. Although the girls in her dormitory relentlessly stole her things, she didn't let it bother her, because they always turned up at the end of the year. Always. And, even if they didn't, they were still just material objects. None of the things that people stole from her were worth enough for her to cause a fuss.
Until it happened. The inevitable, she supposes now. Then, however, it didn't seem inevitable. It was harsh, cruel, unfair, and he was much too young to die.
He fought valiantly, she guesses. That's what his friends told her. Luna wouldn't know. She wasn't there. He wouldn't let her come to the big battle, he said it was too important. That she was too important. He also said that he would come home, then, didn't he? But he didn't.
The first few hours after Ronald and Hermione came home, she still had high hopes. After all it was the Boy Who Lived. Why shouldn't he make it through this? Doesn't good triumph over evil? Doesn't this story have a happy ending?
Voldemort was defeated. As was Harry. The Death Eaters scurried, now unorganized and afraid. The Death Eaters were smart to think that, even though the great Harry Potter was defeated, they would still have to deal with those loyal to him. His friends. Those who were vengeful and merciless. Because it wasn't as though Harry was the only one killed in the War. Wives, husbands, sons, daughters: all were caught in the crossfire. All would be dearly missed.
Luna convinced herself that she would never show that she missed them. That she would never be hurt, or unforgiving, or sad, or angry. She would never be anything. That is what she had promised herself the second she heard suspicions of his death. She had been through this before. She needed to be strong for everyone around her.
Luna didn't realize that her world would come crashing down when his body was found. Luna didn't realize that the façade that she worked so hard to produce, in the end, meant nothing. Luna didn't realize that sometimes you don't have to be strong. It took Luna a long time to realize that, sometimes, a human reaction can make a person feel just that.
Human.