Round 6 Reserve Chaser 1 for the Falmouth Falcons
Season 10, The Quidditch League Competition
Prompts:
CHASER 1: The Bear and the Maiden Fair (ASoIaF song)
Bonus Prompts:
[pairing] Ginny/Luna
[object] a cursed piece of jewellery
[relationship type] friends with benefits
Warnings: one joke about drowning oneself, overuse of em dash
Beta: Many thanks to WeasleyObsession for catching all my late-night mistakes!
Before this, I'd never read or written Ginny/Luna, but that prompt was what sparked an idea for a fic somewhat inspired by The Bear and the Maiden Fair. I decided right away that my take on this song would be a Butch/Femme relationship. Then this fic proceeded to fight me tooth and nail for days, so finishing and posting it (even after the deadline, sorry!) feels like I've won a hard-fought battle.
This said, please enjoy!
Ginny would love to say that she spent her childhood playing with Luna. They were the only girls of their age group in all Ottery St Catchpole, and witches should stick together.
The problem was that Ginny couldn't claim that, because they didn't.
It wasn't for lack of trying on her mum's part. She repeatedly invited Pandora Lovegood to the Burrow and tried to set their daughters up on hundreds of playdates. It was Ginny's fault that it didn't work out. Her mum had certain expectations about her only daughter, and Ginny couldn't fulfil them. She didn't enjoy dressing up and playing at having tea with her toys—she wasn't calm and quiet and demure. She was a little sorry to make her mum worry when she ran and played and fought with her brothers in the garden and farther out, in the fields and the woods behind their house, but that was what she enjoyed. Going on adventures, getting into messes, roughhousing with her brothers... She grew up quick and strong, and it was a point of pride for her not to slow them down.
Still, Ginny was a leader, not a follower. Her mum wouldn't believe it, but it was she who, more often than not, egged on her brothers and took their games a little too far, so that they returned home knackered and so dirty they needed to scrub themselves like they'd spent a week rolling in mud.
Ginny was wild and couldn't be contained, but her mum wanted her and Luna to stay in and play with dolls.
It was lucky for everyone that Mrs Lovegood recognised Ginny's longing and encouraged Luna to follow her outside. Anything else wouldn't have ended half as well.
And it wasn't like Luna minded being in the garden or exploring the woods, but while Ginny played Aurors and Dark Wizards with Percy, Fred, George, and Ron, Luna liked to look for creatures and pick flowers. Luna always found the nicest spots, too—groves with the softest grass, where the canopy of trees let through enough sunlight to warm them to the bone. After hours of rolling in the dirt and running after her brothers with a pretend wand, Ginny knew she could find Luna, sit with her and rest her tired limbs in the best spot around.
It was nice to lie down next to Luna. She always smelled good and she would hum as she braided flowers into rings, bracelets, necklaces, and crowns.
Sometimes it made Ginny think that her mum was right about dressing up and being gentler as a way to make people like her. Luna wore pretty dresses and never raised her voice, and Ginny enjoyed being near her. But sitting with Luna also highlighted their differences. Collapsing next to her, puffing and panting, with exertion reddening her already-freckled face, grass stains on her second-hand clothes, and dirt under her nails made Ginny feel like a beast. Like some half-dead, wild creature the cat dragged in to show its mistress, who would scream in fright as soon as she got a good look.
But Luna never shied away from her, never recoiled even when Ginny was dripping in sweat and caked with mud.
So Ginny couldn't say they played together as children—but she remembered those quiet moments when they existed next to each other.
/\
Then Mrs Lovegood died, and Ginny didn't see Luna for a long time. She didn't know what happened exactly—her mum had been sending homemade food to the Rook since they heard the news, but it took her going to their house in person for Luna to start coming by again. Perhaps Luna was quieter and more pensive, but things didn't change between them. Not until Hogwarts.
/\
Being sorted into different houses wasn't a surprise, and it shouldn't have been a problem. Hogwarts's grounds were extensive, after all, and it wouldn't have been too hard to meet up.
Except that Ginny got possessed and sort of… lost track of things. When that was over, she barely had time to recover before her family left for Egypt.
Her second year should, by all accounts, have been better. It wasn't like she could have gotten possessed again. However, she hadn't really understood what her dad meant when he talked about the Azkaban guards until she tried to sleep in a castle surrounded by Dementors. It felt like she would never be warm again, and she relived her struggle against Tom almost nightly.
It was only in July, with the sun bright and overwhelming overhead as she walked farther into the orchard, that Ginny thought she would start feeling normal again.
And the moment hope—carefully, warily—sprung in her, a gleam of gold caught her eyes. Luna sat in what was surely the best spot in all the woods, sunlight making her long, golden hair shine like treasure. She looked good. The colourful skirt of her dress covered her legs, but Ginny could make out her naked toes digging in the grass, nail polish bright and cheery, a different hue on every toe. She was braiding flowers into a crown, pale hands working quickly and bracelets tinkling with her movements. Her wide eyes were focused and serious, but it was clear she was enjoying her task thoroughly because of her relaxed brow and tiny smile. It could have been one of a thousand scenes Ginny witnessed throughout her childhood. It was idyllic. Ginny felt wretched.
She hesitated on the edge of the small clearing Luna had claimed, struggling between the Gryffindor instinct to run straight into confrontation and the tight ball of shame in her chest that wanted her to turn around and stop walking only when she found a body of water large enough to drown in. Luna looked up and the choice was ripped away from her.
In three long strides, Ginny was at Luna's side. Her legs folded on her before she could consciously decide that she wanted to kneel.
She stopped herself from reaching out, the backs of her hands resting on her knees, and she held Luna's gaze firmly even though she wanted to squirm and hide from the consequences of her actions. Even swallowing was a trial with her suddenly-dry throat, but she forced herself to start speaking.
"I've been a terrible friend. I've as good as ignored you for two years, I don't remember the last time we saw each other outside of classes, and I never reached out while the Dementors were wreaking havoc. Not even once!"
Slowly, unobtrusively, Luna put her hands in Ginny's larger ones, stopping her from tying herself up in further knots. She smiled, looking dreamy and lenient as she bestowed unmerited forgiveness and a crown made of flowers on her prodigal childhood friend.
"You're my best friend, Ginny," she said with utter sincerity, and Ginny bit her lip bloody to keep in her reaction. The shame in her chest turned into rage so fast it left her dizzy and wrong-footed. That rage howled for blood at the idea that Luna had been a Ravenclaw for two years and no one—no one in the house that should have been Luna's family—picked up Ginny's slack. She recognised that part of her fury was fueled by self-recrimination, but if they had been at Hogwarts that wouldn't have stopped her from going after Luna's housemates with her wand drawn.
She let go of Luna's hands to throw her arms around her shoulders and hug her once, tightly. Then she adjusted the flower crown on her head and, with a truly forbidding expression, swore to herself she would be a better friend, starting right then and there.
/\
In keeping with her vow, Ginny sent Luna a short letter with Pigwidgeon right after coming home from the disaster the Quidditch World Cup turned into. Her mum wouldn't have wanted her to go gallivanting off to the Rook after the fright they gave her, so Ginny stayed in with Ron, Harry, and Hermione, but she let Luna know that she was alright, and asked for the same reassurance. Luna and her dad had been camping near the stadium for a week or so, and Ginny hadn't seen them queuing for a portkey that morning, but Ginny hoped they'd gotten home without issue. After all, Mr Lovegood was resourceful, if a little weird, and Ginny included in her letter a request to meet Luna in the orchard that afternoon—only if her dad would let her go, of course.
Ginny only managed to lose her suddenly-overprotective brothers several hours after lunch. She'd forgotten what it was like to have them all at the Burrow at the same time, and having to sneak around her own home wasn't making her miss it! Finally, she left Ron, Harry, and Hermione to confabulate in secret as they clearly wanted to and headed straight for the little clearing where she and Luna had first rekindled their friendship.
She found Luna swaying in the breeze, arms waving at her sides and blond hair swirling around her, getting caught in her skirt's embroidery only to slip away in the next twirl. Ginny picked up her pace and joined Luna, placing both hands at her waist so she could follow her rhythm while leaving Luna free to move her arms around.
"Are we dancing?" Luna asked with her dreamy voice.
"Do you want to be?" Ginny replied, biting back a smile.
Luna turned her big, silvery eyes on her.
"I didn't think I liked dancing very much. This is nice though."
"To be fair, we're mostly swaying in place," Ginny allowed. "Not really dancing."
Luna giggled—happy she could go on not liking dancing very much, Ginny guessed—then she let herself fall, forcing Ginny to grab her hips tighter and bend down quickly to support her on the way to the ground. After having slowed down Luna's fall, Ginny lay down half on top of her, just basking in the fact that both of them made it home after the attack on the World Cup.
They started talking about the electives they were most looking forward to, which turned into a long meandering conversation that touched on the previous night's unrest only briefly, but enough to reassure each of them about the other's well-being.
Luna was staring off into the distance and Ginny was lying on her almost fully, one arm across her shoulders to pick at the grass on Luna's other side, when the twins barged in on them. Ginny's muscles twitched but she was too comfortable to jump up in indignation.
"It's not what it looks like," she deadpanned, eyes ready to roll at the first hint of teasing on the twins' part.
"Nu-uh," Fred started.
"Of course it—"
"—isn't. You've clearly got a—"
"—friends with benefits thing going on," concluded George, only for Fred to pick the thread of conversation back up.
"Where Luna's benefits are your steadfast protection and yours are—"
"A soft pillow?" George raised an eyebrow in her direction and Ginny imagined stuffing his mouth full of the grass in her hand. Her imagination was vivid.
"The chance to enjoy the presence of such a goddess, surely," Fred corrected.
"Indeed! Don't know how I could have missed it," George agreed, making a big spectacle of bowing to his twin's understanding of the situation.
"Yeah, it's just so obvious that that's what's going on and it's got nothing to do with the fact that you're—"
"—radically—"
"—irrevocably—"
"—madly—"
"—in love!" They chorused, leaning their backs against each other and clasping their hands in front of their chests with identical sappy looks on their identical faces. Fred even pretended to swoon. And Ginny couldn't let that go, lest they think they could tease them and go unpunished. So she tore herself from Luna's side and threw her handful of grass at the twins, launching herself at them while they were still laughing about what they thought was her first attempt at retribution but was just a distraction. Ginny bit Fred, got her hair pulled, and kicked George in the shin before they all collapsed on the ground. That wasn't to her advantage, considering how bloody heavy they were, and she soon resorted to scratching and screaming their ears off while Luna rolled around laughing like their fight was the funniest thing she'd ever seen.
When the sufficient amount of time to preserve everyone's pride had passed, Ginny, Fred, and George sprawled out on the soft grass in a mess of limbs.
"What are you even doing out here?" Ginny asked in a very steady and not at all fatigued voice after surreptitiously recovering her breath.
"What do you think?"
"We're on sister-watching duty."
Ginny hit him in the side and smirked at the strangled oof! It was a matter of principle by that point.
/\
Things settled down. The last few days of summer passed too quickly, but at least her mum calmed down about their safety. That wasn't very surprising considering that most of her kids were going to Hogwarts, the safest place in the world except maybe Gringotts. That was what she'd heard, at least. Ginny couldn't attest to it, as she'd been possessed in her first year there and had had to put up with Dementors on the school grounds during her second year. Who knew what third year could bring?
The answer, of course, was new electives, and the Triwizard Tournament.
If that weren't enough, Fred and George's words haunted her. Did Luna need her protection? Had she been needing it all along and Ginny had selfishly not noticed? She was already mad about the fact that apparently none of the Ravenclaws had been proper friends to Luna—thinking that may not even be the worst of it set her teeth on edge. She resolved to keep her eyes open and learn some new hexes for good measure.
Some students called her Loony, but they stopped doing it in Ginny's presence if they knew what was good for them. It wasn't enough, but Ginny didn't know how to change people's minds, so threatening them into compliance would have to do.
It worked out while all of Hogwarts was distracted by the Tournament, but in their fourth year things escalated. Merlin, Ginny hoped things escalated and it wasn't a case of her having been too blind to notice the worst of it.
Ginny and Luna had commandeered one of the inner courtyards for an impromptu picnic when Ginny decided enough was enough. She was braiding Luna's hair, caressing the blond locks away from her face. She was admiring it more than anything when she noticed that Luna was missing one of her radish earrings. She tapped her lobe with a finger.
"What happened?"
"People have been hiding some of my possessions," Luna stated matter-of-factly.
Ginny growled.
She left the braid she'd been working on half-done and gently turned Luna so they faced each other.
"How long?"
Luna just stared at her serenely. Ginny expelled a great sigh, trying to think past her first impulse to hex half of Ravenclaw.
"I know I really dropped the Quaffle in first and second year, getting distracted instead of looking after you, but no more. I'm taking care of this."
Luna nodded placidly, wide, silvery eyes already wandering, and Ginny settled down to think this through.
Ginny wasn't used to premeditated action. Fred and George were the sneaky ones. They enjoyed the process of coming up with convoluted schemes, setting a trap, and waiting for it to go off at the perfect moment. Ginny usually retaliated at the first offence she witnessed—she'd found that swift retribution was a great long-term deterrent. The problem was that she couldn't be glued to Luna's side 24/7, although that'd reduce her anxiety, so she had to get creative.
It wasn't hard to come up with an idea, then she researched how to make it happen. If people chose to take Luna's things that would be their downfall.
Luna had been making jewellery since she was tiny, and Ginny only had to chant over each piece for a few seconds to embed a "fair retribution" curse into it. It was considered a curse instead of a jinx because the boundaries of "fair retribution" were decided by the caster, which meant the repercussions could be downright nasty. Ginny wasn't too mean about it. She just wanted the people who messed with Luna to experience what they forced her through, so the moment they touched one of the pieces of jewellery, they would start losing everything they owned. Ginny also wanted to recognise them on sight, so all their hair would fall out. And finally, she didn't want them to be able to ignore their fate, so big, stag-like horns would grow out of their bald heads. Keeping all that fixed in her mind as she cast was the hard part while catching the offenders became a non-issue. She didn't even have to go after them and shake them down—the moment they took the bait they were guaranteed a trip to the hospital wing.
/\
Ginny considered that the greatest accomplishment of her Hogwarts career. With a notable exception—the time she scored the goal that won Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup and flew over to Luna, already invading the pitch, to celebrate.
Ginny jumped off her broom in midair and was within arms' reach in a long stride, picking Luna up and twirling her so enthusiastically they ended up panting on the ground before too long. Ginny's teammates weren't far behind. They all threw themselves at her at the same time, and Ginny grunted and planted her elbows into the ground to support her team's weight and avoid crushing Luna, who looked more fey than usual in the shadows of the pitch. They were flush against each other from shoulders to knees, warm from the exertion and the bodies of six teens pressing them down, and Ginny couldn't have been happier. Then Luna kissed her. And she was.