Prompt: Halloween
Any time period/pairing/era
Word count: 500-5000
Note: The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.
Disclaimer: the author of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rolling.
Story Title : The Year That Love Won
Rating : PG maybe PG-13?
Genre: Romance
Fanfic name : Midnight Moon
Pairing if any: Druna
Ocs if any: None
Summary : Halloween is upon Hogwarts, and its another year for all the students. Little did Luna know that this year things would be different. This year would be the year that love won.
The Year That Love Won
How does one love another so deeply? She thought to herself. Her mind wandering into the echo of the sunset. Wrapped in a cardigan, she swayed to the beat of the song. As her love wrapped his hand around her waist, he slowly moved her blonde curls from her ear and whispered "I love you." The corners of her mouth turned up just a touch. She whispered back to him, "Always."
It was September 1, 1996, when they both boarded the train in Kings Cross Station. Students file into the cars and scramble to find a spot to make the journey with their friends. Harry, Hermione, and Ron hunkered down in their normal room, and started the conversation with each other about how their summers went. Luna made her way through the train lightly skipping. She was passing out Quibblers as she did most days. She made it all the way to back of the train when she spotted a familiar face. She greeted Neville and nodded. "Quibbler, Neville?" she said. Neville smiled and dug some change out of his pockets. "Here you go Luna, and thank you." She closed the door behind her and entered into the room that was covered in bats and streamers. After she batted away the decorations, she landed in the area where Slytherin usually sat. She walked towards the tables still clutching the Quibbler and proceeded forward. Draco was in an intense conversation with Crabbe and Goyle as Luna came to their table. Draco looked up ever so gently with his head cocked to the side. His glistening greyish blue eyes locked onto Luna's. He gave her a half smile and went back to dominating the conversation. Luna blushed intensely. Her cheeks were a rosy red, which complimented her curly blonde hair. She swiftly made her way back to her seat.
The train made the final blow of its horn to signal that they were approaching the last stop. All the students in their house robes filed out of the train. A familiar sight was upon them, Hagrid greeting all the first years. Luna maneuvered her way through the crowd when she got off. She had her hand tightly gripped over the final Quibblers and pulled her snazzy pink glasses to the top of her head. As she passed Hagrid, she knew that it was the end of the line before making her way to the departure area for Hogwarts. Little did she know that this year at Hogwarts would be different. Little did she know this would be the year that love won.
Several weeks went by as the school year was in full swing. Halloween was upon the students at Hogwarts and you could tell. The air felt cooler, the leaves started to change into majestic colors, and the dining hall was being prepared for the annual Halloween feast. Students made their way back to their common rooms to get ready for the festivities that night. As Neville went up to the portrait to open the door to the common room, he had a confused look on his face. Yup! Yet again Mr. Longbottom forgot the password. As Ron rounded the corner to enter, he smirked and looked at Neville. "Hocus Pocus, ala-docious," Ron spoke. The door to the Gryffindor common room swung open. They entered and got their costumes on for dinner.
In the Ravenclaw common room, Luna was putting her costume on. It was an option this year to go to the Halloween feast dressed up. She tied her long blonde curls up into a bun, and let the front tendrils flow freely. She zippered up her sequined royal blue dress and put her stockings on. Luna put the final touch on her costume with a green emerald pin on her shoulder. She was going to be a flapper this year. Pulling the costume off perfectly.
Over in the Slytherin common room, Draco found his costume hanging on his bed post. He had to hang it up for two days to let out the wrinkles that seemed to consume his outfit. He slowly took the costume off the hanger and continued to get dressed. He put on his royal purple tie, and buttoned up his green jacket. He grinned in the mirror making sure his face painting was perfectly in the shape of an eye mask. His bowler hat was placed on top of his head. He walked out and headed to the dining hall. His Riddler costume seemed to suit him well.
Mr. Filch was putting the final touches in the dining hall for all sorts of activities. Bobbing for fingers, green booger toss, and a few other fun games. They were strategically placed into the northeast corner of the room until the feast was over. Hagrid was as tall as tall could be, yet he couldn't seem to finish up his side of the decorations. He was struggling to get the jack o lanterns to stay put on the ceiling. Dumbledore chuckled and pulled out his wand. "Flambocious percocious", Dumbledore said as his wand pointed towards the enchanted ceiling. All of the jack o lanterns rose up and took their positions in the night sky. Hagrid wiped the sweat from his brow and carefully placed his feet on each rung of the ladder slowly descending to the ground. Students started to file into the dining hall. They each took their places at the house tables provided to them.
Dumbledore was standing at the podium greeting everyone as he normally would; half waves and a happy smile came from his eyes, behind his half-moon shaped glasses. As the last of the students took their seats, Dumbledore clapped and the lanterns on either side of the hall burst into a glowing oozy green color. He waved his hands and platters upon platters of food appeared. Ron was ecstatic about this, as he likes to eat. Glasses became full with some orangey liquid and the kids all cheered. Turkey legs, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and numerous other dishes took up most of the tables.
Luna positioned herself in between Harry and Neville when she sat down. She didn't realize what big eaters they were. She slowly picked at each platter and made a nice, neat pile of food on her plate. The hall was bustling with garbled chit chat as the students conversed about the semester so far. Halfway through her meal, Luna's eyes averted to the Slytherin table. She caught a glimpse of Draco stuffing his face with mashed sweet potatoes. She was reminiscing about the look Draco gave her earlier that day en route to Hogwarts. She began to blush again. After an hour of eating and talking, the feast finally ended. Everyone was full to the brim and a little bloated. Poof! The platters on the table disappeared one by one, along with the silverware and cups that vanished into thin air. As the students got up from their respective tables to join the party; the speakers turned on and boomed with the sound of the Monster Mash. Luna politely waved goodbye to her friends and headed for the games.
Luna spotted the metal bucket that was holding all the fingers for bobbing. She proceeded to the back of the line. There were only a few students before her. She waited patiently for her turn. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle all fought for the spot behind her. Draco won as per usual. There seemed to not be enough room for all of them as they tried to file in behind her. Draco was standing so close that the front of his shoes melted into her heels. Her perfume radiated off of her. He took a deep breath and his nose was blasted with the scent of chocolate and cherries. When he opened his eyes he was drawn to her neck; longing to move the piece of hair that fell out of her bun, but did not. He wasn't sure what it was about her that intrigued him so much. The line scooted forward and it became Luna's turn. She held her breath and plunged her face into the metal bucket. She opened her eyes to try and find the fingers she was supposed to be catching. She found one finally. She moved her head to the right and gripped the finger in her mouth tightly, and rose up from the bucket for air. Everyone clapped because she seemed to be the only who was successful so far. It was Draco's turn to take a stab at getting the finger. He happened to trip and ended up covered in water. Everyone proceeded to laugh until he got his footing again. Luna, her face and hair soaking wet, headed over to the next table with Draco and the boys in tow.
The booger toss was next. However, it was not real boogers because that would be gross. Instead the green slime looked more like gak from the ever so popular 90's muggle show, Double Dare. The object of the game was to toss the booger like substance and try and get it into a tub. Luna went first. She missed the tub by inches. She shrugged it off, and stepped to the side to see if anyone else would fair. Draco was next. He managed to get into the tub. While he was releasing the boogers his hand brushed up against Lunas. She clapped excitedly for him when he managed to get it in. He bowed towards her and whispered something into her ear. She nodded and took his hand. He told Crabbe and Goyle he was taking a break and asked them to save him a spot for the next game.
Draco holding Luna's hand, made their way towards the front entrance hall. He dropped her hand which she let fall to her side. "I like your costume Luna. You look elegant." Draco said softly. "Thank you Draco." Luna said shyly. They moved closer to one another. They both looked up to figure out what that sound was. They realized it was music coming from the dining hall. It was a romantic song, a slow song. "Would you like to dance?" Draco asked. Luna smiled and nodded. He proceeded to grab her waist and sway to the music. Her head rested on his shoulder and she couldn't imagine a more magical moment. She lifted her head half way through. Draco noticed and his eyes locked onto hers. They sat there for a moment lost in the sea of their thoughts. Draco leaned in and passionately kissed her. She reciprocated without hesitation. This was Luna's first kiss. She didn't want it end. What felt like hours in this blissful moment, ended up only being mere minutes. Their kiss got interrupted by Fred and George who had been hiding on the stairwell adjacent to them. The Weasley twins being the pranksters that they are, sent up sparks into the air, which eventually became fireworks. All the students rushed out of the dining hall to see what all the uproar was about. They both laughed hysterically; from this moment on Luna and Draco were inseparable.
Weeks turned into months and each day they would spend every waking moment together. Draco would walk Luna to class. If they happened to not be in the same class, there was always a present waiting for Luna when she arrived. A little token of his love for her. She always received something unique to bring out her quirky side. One day Luna received an origami bird painted in intricate colors. She opened it and it read: "My dearest Luna, I love you to the ends of the earth and don't want to be away from you this summer. You would give me the greatest honor if you came with me to my family's home. Please say yes as I could not bear living one day without you. Yours always in infinite love, Draco." She held the unwrapped bird up to her chest. A thousand thoughts rushed through her mind. Only then did she realize she couldn't be without him either. After class Draco met her in the hallway. She agreed to go with him this summer.
As summer approached, the students filed out of the dormitories. One by one saying goodbye to their friends. It was the first day of new adventures that awaited all of them until next year. Luna and Draco made their way out and onto the train from Hogwarts. After a few hours and a nap, they made it out on to the platform at King's Cross Landing. They departed and approached Draco's home about thirty minutes later. As they got to the front door, Narcissa was there to welcome them. She embraced Draco with a big hug and kindly gave a handshake to Luna. Dinner was being finished when they walked through the threshold. Dinner came and went. All of them were full from the gourmet meal and were quite tired from their long journey back. Draco asked if he could be excused and went upstairs to wash up. Luna happened to feel a little chilly so she excused herself as well to go and grab her cardigan. They met back up in the upstairs corridor and decided to relax a little more before the night came to an end. Draco escorted her to the dining area which had a sliding glass door to the patio out back.
As they entered the patio area, Draco led her to a table where some hot cocoa and cookies were laid out. They sat in silence for a while. Draco opted to put on the same romantic, slow song they had their first dance to. He grabbed her hand and gave her a twirl as they came together as one. How does one love another so deeply? She thought to herself. Her mind wandering into the echo of the sunset. Wrapped in a cardigan, she swayed to the beat of the song. As her love wrapped his hand around her waist, he slowly moved her blonde curls from her ear and whispered "I love you." The corners of her mouth turned up just a touch. She whispered back to him, "Always."
He let go of her waist and dropped to one knee. Flabbergasted, she put her hands over her mouth. Draco dug out a small black velvet box from his pocket. He opened it and held it out. There inside that box was a beautiful ring. The ring was silver and in the gem had a dark blue raven and emerald green snake intertwined. He lifted his head and said, "My Luna, my love. I couldn't see myself with anyone but you. Will you marry me?" She had a stream of tears flooding her cheek. She released her hands from her mouth and said, "Yes!" He got up from his kneeling position and kissed her. It was the year that love won.
Please Review!
