Disclaimer: The characters/locations mentioned all belong to J.K Rowling.
"A Marvelous Thing"
Love in Four Parts
L
***
Luna Lovegood eyed the bug crawling on the windowsill. She envied the bug, thinking that it could do her some good to do nothing but eat big, green, waxy leaves and sunbathe all day. It'd probably be much more interesting than going to Transfiguration classes. Not that she had anything against the subject personally; she just didn't like it much.
She sighed as she heard footsteps coming her way, and she hoped, perhaps without real conviction, that it wasn't someone coming to torment her or laugh at her chocolate frog earrings. She honestly didn't know what all the fuss was about. So, her earrings were different and her eyes were large, and she enjoyed ready things upside down (it was good practice should she ever find herself the victim of a semi-permanent hanging spell, which of course, lends it's victims to the whims of gravity while successfully inverting the natural posture of said victim). That certainly wasn't cause to jest and leer at her . . . was it?
Luna felt that other people, in general, were strange creatures and she often wondered why they seemed to be so close-minded and blind to the little miracles of the world. Why did no one else ever notice the striking golden streaks that the sun wrapped itself in every night? Why did the laughter of the flowers as the wind romped among them go unheard by everyone but her? Why was the moon's smile never seen by those around her?
Perhaps all those things were seen and heard, but no one wanted to show that they had been seen or heard?
She turned to find that the intention of the person walking past her was probably not to make fun of her, for the person wasn't even looking in her direction. On the contrary, he was staring intently ahead, his wand clutched in his hand and his dirty Quidditch robes billowing in the evening air.
"Hello, Ronald," she said.
Ron stopped walking, and looked out of the corner of his eye, previously unaware of her presence and thus a little scared by her voice, loud and clear in the empty hallway. "Uh . . . Hello, Luna."
"What are you doing?" she asked, walking over to him. She stood in front of him, staring up at his blue eyes.
"Er . . . standing."
She nodded. "It looks like fun. I was thinking about standing in that spot a while ago, but I decided that the sun was too bright and I wouldn't be able to see the surrounding area."
He smiled nervously. "Oh . . . that's nice to know."
"Ronald?"
"Uh . . . it's Ron."
"Can I show you something?"
Before Ron could mutter an excuse and make a hasty departure, she grabbed his hand firmly, resolutely, and pulled him down the hallway. He tried, quite desperately (for he began to fear for his safety), to wrench free from her grasp. She pulled him down the stairs, to the ground floor, passed the portrait of the nice-looking Princess who always winked at him, and down a small flight of stairs.
Darkness surrounded them and Ron held out his wand, still clutched in his right hand. "Lumos," he whispered, holding it up, effectively shining light on the door in front of them. The door was wooden and carved with large, irregularly shaped stars.
"I found it in my second year," said Luna, opening the door. "Isn't it beautiful?"
Ron raised his wand, eyeing the cold, dark chamber they were in. Beautiful? he thought. Beautiful to Snape maybe. The walls were shining with condensation, glowing softly green with mold. It wasn't a very homey space, and he found that he really didn't want to be there, in the dark with no one but Luna.
"It's just a room," he said, taking a step back and finding that she had released her grip on his hand. His hand felt cold.
"Nothing is ever only 'just,'" she said quietly. "It is always something more." Her voice was a whisper, but her words echoed around the room. "Can't you see it? I thought you might be able to see it."
"What?"
"Can't you see it?" she asked again, peering at him tentatively.
"See what?"
"It."
"What's it?" He felt confused and the coldness wasn't helping his wits.
"Well if you can't figure it out, I'm not going to tell you." It was dark, but Ron got the impression that her arms were folded across her chest.
"Fine," he said; he didn't care anyway. "I've got to go. Harry and Hermione are waiting for me."
"How's Harry?" she asked.
"He's fine. Why wouldn't he be?"
She shrugged, her shoulders moving up and down, like wings spreading, stretching. He got the impression that she hadn't shrugged in a very long time. "Ronald?" Her voice was oddly flat, not dreamy and wistful but pragmatic.
"What?" he asked, somehow irritated greatly by her change of tone. He felt like she was above him, for some reason, and the lack of superiority was unnerving. Usually he felt like she was a child, because of her general aura of distinct dottiness, but now she had taken two steps in the maturity level, and he was staring up at her.
"Ronald, would you . . . would you do me a favor?"
"What?"
"Can you . . . ." She chewed her bottom lip and Ron found the movement strange for her. Luna didn't seem like the type of person to get nervous.
"Spit it out Luna," he said harshly.
He felt, rather than saw, her frown disappointedly. "Never mind, Ronald," she said at length, a certain haziness in her voice, like she was trying to hide her disappointment, or even perhaps her tears.
"What did you want me to do?" he asked softly, feeling guilty about his treatment towards her. He was a git; Hermione had always told him that, and now here was his proof. Luna was a little girl again, and he had hurt her feelings.
She leaned up and kissed him lightly on his cheek, her lips as warm as fire and as soft as butterfly wings. It all happened so quickly, Ron wouldn't have realized it had happened if he hadn't tasted her breath, as sweet as the chocolate hanging from her ears.
He wandered out of the door, dazed, feeling her eyes upon his back. He wasn't sure what had happened just then, and he wasn't sure he should be thinking about what just happened (if only because he didn't know what had happened; what's the point in thinking about something you don't know? It wastes too much energy) Ron felt it would be in his best interest to remain ignorant, and so he contended himself to walk back to the Gryffindor common room.
TBC