Disclaimer: I do not own the original canon nor am I making any profit from writing this piece. All works are accredited to their original authors, performers, and producers while this piece is mine. No copyright infringement is intended. I acknowledge that all views and opinions expressed herein are merely my interpretations of the characters and situations found within the original canon and may not reflect the views and opinions of the original author(s), producer(s), and/or other people.
Warnings: This story may contain material that is not suitable for all audiences and may offend some readers. This particular piece includes references to past child abuse and anxiety. The anxiety is not a panic attack. Please utilize understanding of personal sensitivities before and while reading.
Author's Note: It should be obvious, but this scene takes place in somewhen post-Deathly Hallows but ignores everything in the Epilogue and suggested by JKR in various interviews and tweets. It may also seem weird to anyone without anxiety, but yeah, sometimes the behaviors we fall into because of it aren't what are best for us and redirecting the restlessness really does help, even if we can't do it ourselves. As a final note, avēre is Latin for "to be well". Conjugated the way it is in the title has a few meanings, one of which is a command to "be well".
Song Recommendation: "Ave Maria" by Beyonce
Houses Competition Information:
House: Hufflepuff
Category: Drabble
Prompt: Harry Potter/Luna Lovegood (Pairing)
Word Count: 471 (Story Only); n/a (Story & Epigraph)
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Ave
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Luna watched as Harry moved restlessly around their kitchen. She knew that he took to cleaning things when his anxiety was playing up. It was a holdover from his childhood and the exacting standards of his aunt. Unfortunately, she also knew that if she left him to this, he would work himself into even more of a state than he was in currently. She had learned the hard way that Harry may do this because of anxiety, but it did very little to soothe him. It was just a habit, a very telling one.
Fortunately, time had also taught her how to actually help him.
On silent feet, she moved into the room to slide between Harry and the already-clean counter he was scrubbing. This close, the smell of lemon was sharp and undeniable, a cruel reminder of that woman. Luna wasn't the type to feel anger towards deeds done in the past, but for Petunia Dursley, she would probably never feel anything else—not when she could see the scars of those deeds in her Harry.
For a moment, they were both completely still. Harry's body was practically humming with the tension running through it. No doubt his memory was telling him to expect a punishment of some sort. Luna waited for him to relax, for his awareness to come back from the past where pain was the expectation. When he tilted forward, his weight on his hands which still rested on the counter behind her, she knew that he was back in the moment.
"My hair needs brushed," she recited softly, barely more than a whisper in his ear. His forehead bumped her shoulder as the rest of him shuddered. She ran her fingers down his side, like petting a cat. It would have tickled on anyone else, but Harry only relaxed against her more, leaning into the stroke with a slowly released breath. "Will you take care of that for me?"
"Yes, please," Harry replied. He lingered a moment more before taking a deep breath and moving to rinse out his brush. She kept watch as he did so, knowing he would find comfort in it. He was methodical in removing any trace of the cleaner from the brush and his hands. When he came back to her, the lemon smell had been replaced by the neutral scent of castile.
Luna gathered his hands in hers to led him from the kitchen to the living room. Without another word, Harry settled into the armchair with Luna on the ottoman before it. Soon both of them were sinking into the steady rhythm of brushstrokes through her waist length hair. The simple action soothed the tension rather than wound it tighter. Through repetitive motion, the rest of the world fell away, leaving just the two of them, safe and well.
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The End
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