Treasure Hunt: (image) of an easel or two in what I presume is an art studio.
Assignment #2: write about a person who unnecessarily worries too much about a certain situation that turns out fine in the end.
Extra prompt: (action) giggle
A/N: It's in my headcanon that Draco and Luna are cousins through his dad and her mum. What I imagine Pansy looks like: www . pinterest . co . uk /pin/198721402288244591/
Muggle!AU
Word Count: 2863
paint my picture (and I'll paint your heart)
Luna tucks a pencil behind her ear before adjusting an easel so that it is easy for her to reach when she needs to, placing a blank canvas onto it like it's a second nature, despite the fact her hands were shaking harder than they had ever done before. She glares at her pale hands, trying to steady them. She has never been this nervous over a painting before. To be fair, she has never been paid for a painting before, nor has she painted someone whilst they were in the room, nor has she met any of her cousin's friends. All three of those things combined could be enough to make Luna uncharacteristically nervous.
She takes a deep breath in. Remembers all of her meditation techniques. Lets a breath out.
The doorbell rings through her house, singing a Christmas song that is quite out-of-season for the middle of March, but Luna never found herself changing it. She flies out of her art studio, running on her tiptoes into the main hall before she stops, catching her breath. What if Draco's friend takes one look at her before deciding she is not professional enough to buy a portrait from, leaving her stranded on her own doorstep. Pushing those thoughts aside, Luna throws open the door, beaming out at the girl she found waiting there. She has brown, small eyes and warm beige skin, with a heart-shaped face framed by short dark brown hair. "Are you Luna Lovegood?" the girl asks, every bit as posh as her cousin: it must be due to the fact they went to a private school.
"Yes, I am," she replies, pushing the pencil back onto her ear as it threatens to fall. "You're Draco's friend, right? Pandora?"
"Please, if you're a kind person, call me Pansy." Luna is secretly relieved, as she doesn't want the constant reminder of her mother's death to hang over her head.
"Okay, Pansy. Do you need anything before I begin to draw you? A drink, some food? The bathroom is across the hall if you need to pee…"
"I do not need anything right now, Miss Lovegood."
Luna wrinkles her nose but does not comment on the obvious abuse of her name. "Okay, then." Luna wipes her sweaty hands on her overalls, trying and failing to hide her fears. "If you would like to follow me…"
Luna leads Pansy through her house, quickly reaching the art studio. Several paintings are on the walls waiting to be given to the charity shops near her house, and one painting of a cat is leaning against a table, separate from the others so she does not forget to give it to her cousin's private school's caretaker. "There's a sofa over there you can sit on if you want, or you could stand if your legs are up to it. I also have a stool in the corner if you want that instead."
"The sofa shall be fine, thank you."
Pansy settles herself down onto the sofa almost delicately. Luna takes the pencil and twirls it around her fingers. "What kind of pose do you want to do? Who are you going to give this painting to?"
Smirking rather maliciously, Pansy says, "I'm going to give it to my ex, to remind her of what she's lost. She broke up with me on Saturday after three years."
Luna blinks, bewildered. 'The petty things rich people do in revenge…' she thinks to herself, but says, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I'm glad to get rid of her. Still, that doesn't mean she could break up with me."
Luna shakes her head, still confused. However, she isn't going to complain too much, as Pansy is paying her for this. "So what pose were you thinking of?"
Pansy doesn't reply with words; instead, she sticks up her middle finger and smiling enthusiastically. Luna refrains from rolling her eyes. "Okay. So, did you want a full-body portrait or just from the torso and up?"
"Torso and up, please."
"Can you get into the position? I will begin to draw you today. I might finish the outline by the time the session is over."
She quickly gets to work, following the shape of Pansy's head with her eyes and trying to recreate it with her pencil. Art is like a way of escaping reality for Luna. Her mother died when she was nine when she was experimenting, and Luna was watching through the door at the time. She went slightly mad after that experience, seeing things that weren't there, and people at the local school began to call her Loony when she tried to tell people about them. Her father ended up taking her to a hospital, despite the fact she did not need help. She spent a few months there, before being released with some medicine and some new friends.
It is late in the afternoon when Luna finally finishes the pencil drawing. "You can move, now," Luna says, and Pansy does, wriggling her bottom and stretching her fingers.
"I have to be here the same time tomorrow, correct?"
"If that is alright with you," Luna replies, smiling. "I think I'll only need two days to paint it—one to paint the base colour and another to add shadows and highlights. Can you wear something like that," she gestures at Pansy's hoodie and choker, "tomorrow, please?"
"Of course, Miss Lovegood."
"It's just Luna," she mutters in a half-hearted reply, leading the older girl out of her house. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, tomorrow."
Luna sits at the table with her best friend Ginny the next morning, her hands wrapped around a steaming mug of hot chocolate as her friend retells the events that happened to her the night before. Luna is only half-listening, instead thinking about how much they've grown in the past few years.
Luna met the redheaded girl in the hospital. The freckled beauty was in there because a man named Tom Riddle messed with her mind, making her paranoid to the extent where her parents had to go to the police about it. He had played mind games with her when she was just eleven years old, and even when he was locked up she continued imagining things. It took a long time within the hospital to untrain her paranoia, but even when she was released Ginny carried on glancing at windows and the like. It took months for her to go out in the day with any close acquaintances, but now she haunts many local clubs at night with her newest partner, Daphne Greengrass, and their mutual friend Tracey Davis.
Luna grins mindlessly at her friend as she finishes her story, ending on a, "And then Daph punched the dude in the nose for even daring to talk to Tracey!"
Luna nods very seriously. "How much of this one did you listen to, Luna?" Ginny asks, knowing all about her friend's inability to pay attention to many things at once.
"Enough to know that Daphne punched a dude because he said something to Tracey," she replies, shrugging. "I tried."
"You're fine, Luna. It's nice to have someone to talk to even if they're not listening." Ginny glances at her watch, wincing at the time. "Crap. I was meant to meet with Ron for coffee ten minutes ago. I best be going, then."
They stand up together. "I'll show you out," Luna says, tucking her chair in.
Ginny knows her way around the house like it's her own, but Luna just wants to be polite. She hasn't seen her friend for a few days, anyway, and probably won't see her again for another few. They stop outside the door, Luna handing her friend her coat after she slips her shoes on. "I'll see you later, then," Ginny says, kissing her friend lightly on the cheek before throwing open the door.
Luna is the only one who does not look surprised when Pansy Parkinson is revealed when the door is fully open, stretching up to ring the doorbell. Her small mouth is opened in what seems to be an expression of shock, her body frozen in her elegant position.
"Hello, Pansy," Luna says, breaking the two girls out of their positions. "Nice to see you again."
"And you," she replies, glancing at Ginny with something unreadable in her expression. "And you are?"
"Luna's friend, Ginny." She steps around Pansy and looks at Luna. "I'll call you later."
She enters her car and, after a few seconds, drives away.
"Do you need anything before we begin?" Luna asks, but she gets no reply. Luna glances at the girl, who appears deep in thought. "Pansy?"
"Sorry. I feel like I've seen her before somewhere. We can start straight away."
Once in the studio, Pansy settles herself into the position, and Luna fills up a palette with many different colours. She likes colours. The many different ways one could make them are interesting. They could be vibrant, or they could be calm. Colours appear to have many different personalities, just like humans.
"I've finished your face," Luna says after a while, swirling the paint brush in the water pot, knowing that Pansy must be eager to ask questions. "If you want to move your mouth, that is."
"Okay." She managed to talk without moving the rest of her body. "So, where did you go to school?"
"I didn't." Luna doesn't elaborate, instead beginning to colour painting-Pansy's hoodie in a dark green.
"Okay. How do you know Draco, then?"
"I'm his cousin."
"Of course. You've got his eyes."
Luna blinks them, peering out at Pansy. "I always thought I had my father's eyes."
"Ah." Pansy is silent for a few moments before speaking again. "I never see you at the Malfoy Christmas party, though."
"My father and Uncle do not get along. I do not go in respect for my father."
"I see." She probably doesn't.
They are silent for a while, Luna concentrating on her painting whilst Pansy seems to be deep in thought. It carries on that way until Luna places the last base colour onto the easel, saying, "you can relax now, Pansy."
She does so, flinging her body over the sofa almost dramatically. Luna raises her eyebrows, so Pansy says, "It's been a long day."
She does not offer more explanation, so Luna does not ask. Instead, she sits down next to her. "You're overly trusting of someone you've only met twice," Luna comments, crossing her legs.
"You do not seem the type to disabuse my trust," Pansy replies, but she straightens herself, sitting up on the sofa like her cousin does.
Luna hums but says no more on the matter. "You don't have to come in tomorrow if you don't want to. I only have to make you seem more realistic, so whilst you being there would help me know where the lighting falls I don't technically need you here. If you want to go out with any friends, that is."
"No, that's alright: Blaise and Theo are on holiday in Portugal and Draco will not do anything in less than a day's notice. Tracey's been avoiding me. I might as well come here."
Luna nods absently. She lost the conversation halfway through, but nevertheless got the general gist of 'there is no one to do anything with and I don't like to spend my time alone.' Luna can relate: that is why she spends so much time with her colours, after all, and why she makes paintings for people so that she could talk to them. However, the results of when she is left to her thoughts have proven to be drastic, therefore she has to talk to people. Distract herself. Even if she doesn't listen back.
Distract herself… right. She is completely ignoring her guest. Maybe Pansy will complain about her to her cousin. That is sure to be a lovely lecture from her cousin, about how she should pay more attention to some of the dearest people in his life. It is not her fault that Theo Nott is so boring he makes her want to tear her eyes out.
Maybe Pansy won't pay her and then she would be stuck with a rude painting of a girl she is sure is perfectly nice. She doesn't want that to happen, not really, because although she is sure that someone would take the painting she wouldn't want them to think that is all that there is to the small girl beside her.
That is when she realises that Pansy has been talking to her for the past minute, and is now watching her patiently. "Sorry, what did you say?" Luna asks, smiling apologetically. "I'm afraid that I didn't catch it."
"I was just telling you how I got to know your cousin, in case you had wanted to know. It's fine."
"I can listen," Luna offers, placing her hands in her lap and turning her head to face Pansy.
"It's stupid, really." Pansy shakes her head. "I used to be one of the biggest bullies in Hogwarts—that is, my old school. I was regularly in trouble for bullying this boy in my year called Ron and his friend Hermione. Draco grew up before I did, however, and as his duty as a Prefect he had to reshape me into a nice person. Not entirely sure it completely worked, but I'm sitting here talking civilly, so perhaps."
Luna grins. "You're a lovely person, Pansy."
"Thanks, I guess. You don't really know me, though."
"Well, then, tell me more about yourself."
The next morning, Luna finds herself anticipating Pansy's arrival. She had talked to the girl some more the night before, and even found herself able to pay attention. She wants to see if she can do it again.
When Pansy arrives Luna almost shoves her into the studio, allowing her to settle into her position before breezing through the painting. Once she finishes, she tells Pansy, "You can have the painting tomorrow, if you like. It'll be dry and ready by then."
"Okay. Do you want to… go grab something to eat?" Pansy looks up at her, face so full of hope, that Luna cannot refuse.
They go to a small cafe near Luna's house, which serves the nicest pasta she has ever tried. Luna orders the food, smiling at the cashier in her dreamy way that makes everyone smile back. However, when she sits opposite Pansy again she is suddenly nervous—what is it with that girl and making her nervous? Why did Pansy ask her out? Is this some kind of long plot to make her suffer? Because she is certain she has suffered enough. Maybe Pansy hasn't grown out of her bullying ways after all. Maybe…
Then Pansy smiles at her like she is the centre of the world, and all of Luna's worries melt away. They exchange giggles and more stories over what Luna thinks is lunch as the world around them seems to slow down. This is what Luna likes: distractions from the thoughts in her mind. And Pansy seems to be the biggest distraction yet.
Luna sits nervously at her table, waiting for Pansy to arrive. This might be the last time she sees Pansy. Having gotten to know the girl over the past three days, she doesn't find herself looking forward to that notion. How could she, when Pansy has been nothing but nice? Even if the painting is ruder than Draco when he is drunk, Luna has found out that the girl is anything but. It would be a shame for that hard-earned friendship to go to waste once the painting is over.
Would Pansy be offended if Luna offered her the painting in exchange for her number? Probably; and besides, Luna couldn't afford that. She needed the money so she could finally move. However, if she just asks for her number then it may seem like she's coming on to her, and she's not: she just wants to be her friend.
The doorbell rings. Luna races to get it, smiling happily at Pansy. "The painting is in the kitchen. I'll go get it."
She runs back through the house, trying not to think of how desperate she must look. Walking slower with the canvas in her hand, she notices that Pansy had walked into the house and is looking at the pictures on the wall as if it's the first time she has seen them. To be fair, it probably is, as Luna always rushed her into the studio before she could do more than breathe. "Here we are!"
"Oh, wow," Pansy says breathlessly. "Daphne is going to adore it."
Luna is not as sure that Pansy's ex would do any such thing. However, she doesn't say anything, instead grinning at the girl. "How much is it?"
"Um," it's now or never for Luna, "it's fifty pounds… and your phone number, please."
Pansy rolls her eyes, causing Luna to shuffle back slightly. "I was going to give you my phone number anyway, you dolt. I've liked getting to know you."
Luna sighs in relief. Maybe everything will be fine after all.
Bleh. Safe to say Ginny and Daphne were dating when Pansy and Daphne were, making Daphne a cheat and Ginny oblivious. Daphne liked Ginny more. Pansy and Luna both trying to disguise feelings for love into friendship.
~Buttercat