Wounds Not Seen - A gift for deirdre_aithne!
Title: Wounds Not Seen
Author: pretty_panther
Recipient: deirdre_aithne
Pairing(s): Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood
Word Count: 1,427
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: Neither of them break down at first, and then the war is over and there is nothing to hold on for. Both Hermione and Luna struggle with depression in the aftermath of their time as prisoners of the Malfoys, and slowly help each other through it.
Author's Notes: I hope you like this deirdre_aithne! You left me some wonderful prompts to work with. :3
Neither of them breaks down at first. There are too many things that need to be done and everything moves so fast. Hermione is right in the thick of it by Harry’s side and Luna senses that the final battle is coming and that she must be ready at a moment’s notice. There is no room for weakness because it might cost them their lives. They take walks on the beach and don’t talk, though sometimes Hermione wants to, and Luna’s eyes seem so much more serious than ever before. Their shoulders touch and Luna sighs when Hermione drifts away. Hermione doesn’t push Luna to talk and she respects that, and they share something between them having both been held captive. Hermione has a physical scar but the real ones are all in her mind, just like Luna. It only takes them one glance to know the other is remembering, that they need to be distracted, taken away from the situation and no they don’t want to talk about it.
Hermione becomes numb when it is over. She attends one funeral after another because she feels that she owes it to them because she lived and they didn’t. Some are close friends, almost family, like Fred and it feels like her lungs are being crushed, on fire, when the ceremony unfolds in front of her. Then there are the others that she hardly knew at all, and it feels like she is intruding witnessing the family’s grief but she can’t bring herself to leave or not go in case it seems disrespectful. Luna attends many with her, her robes bright yet calmer than usual, eyes dull, morose, like she doesn’t understand why it had to happen to them.
Luna goes to Hermione first, like it is the most natural thing in the world, bag all packed, declaring she is ready to go to Australia. Hermione doesn’t know how to answer her at first, but she doesn’t send her away either. Ron has offered to go with her but Hermione doesn’t need that drama on top of everything else, and their kiss seems so dramatic and ridiculous now she has time to think about it. They thought they were dying after all. Luna talks about creatures she will look for in Australia, and it is so normal, so Luna, that Hermione lets her go without another thought.
Hermione’s parents don’t react well when she restores their memories. They are angry and upset, and don’t want to return to the UK or keep in touch with their daughter. The truth leaves them reeling, feeling hurt, betrayed, and unable to really understand why because even though they have their memories back they somehow don’t feel like theirs. They tell her that they could never possibly trust her and Hermione cries on her return to the hotel while Luna holds her and talks about taking a trip to Sweden to look for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. At first Hermione scoffs and pulls away, but then Luna murmurs that the fresh air will do her good and let her think, and Hermione can’t help but feel overwhelmed and grateful.
Luna doesn’t miraculously recover from her imprisonment the way Hermione is originally naïve enough to think. When they are sharing a twin-bedroom in Adelaide, she twists and turns in her bed at night and whimpers while calling for her father and pleading with ‘Draco’ to leave her alone. It breaks Hermione’s heart and she curses Harry bitterly for getting the Malfoys’ off while crawling into bed with Luna and holding her until she calms down and falls back into another restless sleep.
Letters reach Hermione from home asking her when she will be back because this person, that person, and hundreds more want to talk to her about this, that, and the next thing. It overwhelms her and yet when Luna sees the letters she smiles serenely and suggests they go to the beach before they move on. It feels a little like running away but Hermione wants to make her own choices, not have others make them for her. Besides, how is she supposed to focus on working when she has just fought a war and then found out that losing her parents yet still having them is the price that she has to pay for it?
Luna smiles when Hermione tells her she wants to go to Sweden, straight to Sweden, and doesn’t ask any questions. Her eyes are a little brighter now, but still framed with the shadows that tell Hermione what she already knows; that Luna still isn’t sleeping. Hermione tells her that they are both depressed and Luna cocks her head to the side and declares that a Muggle term, and it doesn’t matter what it is called just that it is there and they can’t seem to pull themselves or each other out of it. Hermione says they need time, and Luna says sometimes there is never enough time for what life throws at you.
In Sweden, sometimes Hermione accompanies Luna on her searches and sometimes she stays under the covers and thinks about her childhood and if magic has saved or ruined her life. She sleeps during the day when she can’t sleep through Luna’s nightmares at night and wonders if normality is something she even wants anymore. Normal is changing, hundreds of miles away where she has no control over it, and she wonders what she will go back to. Will it be her blood that condemns her, her house, the simple fact that she is female?
She waits for Luna to come home one night, rises up when she does, and kisses her full on the mouth before whispering that she doesn’t want to go home, not yet. Luna says they have all the time that they need, and have earned it. Ron doesn’t take it well and his letter conveys his tone strongly enough for Hermione to know she has made the right decision. She can’t heal there. Harry tells her to take all the time she needs, reminds her that people love her, and Hermione keeps his letter folded up in one of her books for when she needs that reminder again.
Luna’s whimpers get quieter and she encourages Hermione to get out more. Their savings, what little they have, are running out and Hermione is forced back into the real world with Luna’s calm smile and quirky remarks encouraging her. Luna talks of the creatures that can get about Hermione now that she is outside and Hermione laughs and doesn’t scowl anymore. It amuses her now, because she can’t get upset with Luna, not now. She is the one that has remained by her side and supported her through everything, even when she has her own demons to contend with.
They don’t sleep in separate beds anymore, but press up against each other in a single and hold each other through the rough patches and chatter about the future in the good. Luna wants to discover new magical creatures but Hermione is not sure any more. A job in the Ministry is what others expect of her and possibly what she expects from herself because she is clever and that was what clever people did. She isn’t sure it is what she wants though.
She isn’t too sure about anything now that the war is over apart from Luna’s soft smile and her even softer touches under the covers. The voices in her head tell her that her parents don’t want her anymore and she isn’t good enough, and then Luna’s voice tells her that no one has made the blonde feel as content as she does, as happy as she does, like Luna actually belongs somewhere.
It makes her feel guilty for everything she has done, said, or thought about Luna in the past, but all is forgiven on Luna’s side and the past won’t help them move forward. When they do return to magical Britain, it is hand in hand, and with their minds not quite there yet. Luna’s gentle but firm words keep people away from Hermione while she settles in at Luna’s house and wanders around the Quibbler offices thinking about writing a book on blood-prejudice in the wizarding world. The Weasleys ask Hermione to go back to the Burrow but she can’t, not now, not with everything so different. Luna doesn’t give an opinion and they never really talk about what their relationship means to themselves or to others. They just get on with it, slowly, good days and bad.
Author: pretty_panther
Recipient: deirdre_aithne
Pairing(s): Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood
Word Count: 1,427
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: Neither of them break down at first, and then the war is over and there is nothing to hold on for. Both Hermione and Luna struggle with depression in the aftermath of their time as prisoners of the Malfoys, and slowly help each other through it.
Author's Notes: I hope you like this deirdre_aithne! You left me some wonderful prompts to work with. :3
Neither of them breaks down at first. There are too many things that need to be done and everything moves so fast. Hermione is right in the thick of it by Harry’s side and Luna senses that the final battle is coming and that she must be ready at a moment’s notice. There is no room for weakness because it might cost them their lives. They take walks on the beach and don’t talk, though sometimes Hermione wants to, and Luna’s eyes seem so much more serious than ever before. Their shoulders touch and Luna sighs when Hermione drifts away. Hermione doesn’t push Luna to talk and she respects that, and they share something between them having both been held captive. Hermione has a physical scar but the real ones are all in her mind, just like Luna. It only takes them one glance to know the other is remembering, that they need to be distracted, taken away from the situation and no they don’t want to talk about it.
Hermione becomes numb when it is over. She attends one funeral after another because she feels that she owes it to them because she lived and they didn’t. Some are close friends, almost family, like Fred and it feels like her lungs are being crushed, on fire, when the ceremony unfolds in front of her. Then there are the others that she hardly knew at all, and it feels like she is intruding witnessing the family’s grief but she can’t bring herself to leave or not go in case it seems disrespectful. Luna attends many with her, her robes bright yet calmer than usual, eyes dull, morose, like she doesn’t understand why it had to happen to them.
Luna goes to Hermione first, like it is the most natural thing in the world, bag all packed, declaring she is ready to go to Australia. Hermione doesn’t know how to answer her at first, but she doesn’t send her away either. Ron has offered to go with her but Hermione doesn’t need that drama on top of everything else, and their kiss seems so dramatic and ridiculous now she has time to think about it. They thought they were dying after all. Luna talks about creatures she will look for in Australia, and it is so normal, so Luna, that Hermione lets her go without another thought.
Hermione’s parents don’t react well when she restores their memories. They are angry and upset, and don’t want to return to the UK or keep in touch with their daughter. The truth leaves them reeling, feeling hurt, betrayed, and unable to really understand why because even though they have their memories back they somehow don’t feel like theirs. They tell her that they could never possibly trust her and Hermione cries on her return to the hotel while Luna holds her and talks about taking a trip to Sweden to look for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. At first Hermione scoffs and pulls away, but then Luna murmurs that the fresh air will do her good and let her think, and Hermione can’t help but feel overwhelmed and grateful.
Luna doesn’t miraculously recover from her imprisonment the way Hermione is originally naïve enough to think. When they are sharing a twin-bedroom in Adelaide, she twists and turns in her bed at night and whimpers while calling for her father and pleading with ‘Draco’ to leave her alone. It breaks Hermione’s heart and she curses Harry bitterly for getting the Malfoys’ off while crawling into bed with Luna and holding her until she calms down and falls back into another restless sleep.
Letters reach Hermione from home asking her when she will be back because this person, that person, and hundreds more want to talk to her about this, that, and the next thing. It overwhelms her and yet when Luna sees the letters she smiles serenely and suggests they go to the beach before they move on. It feels a little like running away but Hermione wants to make her own choices, not have others make them for her. Besides, how is she supposed to focus on working when she has just fought a war and then found out that losing her parents yet still having them is the price that she has to pay for it?
Luna smiles when Hermione tells her she wants to go to Sweden, straight to Sweden, and doesn’t ask any questions. Her eyes are a little brighter now, but still framed with the shadows that tell Hermione what she already knows; that Luna still isn’t sleeping. Hermione tells her that they are both depressed and Luna cocks her head to the side and declares that a Muggle term, and it doesn’t matter what it is called just that it is there and they can’t seem to pull themselves or each other out of it. Hermione says they need time, and Luna says sometimes there is never enough time for what life throws at you.
In Sweden, sometimes Hermione accompanies Luna on her searches and sometimes she stays under the covers and thinks about her childhood and if magic has saved or ruined her life. She sleeps during the day when she can’t sleep through Luna’s nightmares at night and wonders if normality is something she even wants anymore. Normal is changing, hundreds of miles away where she has no control over it, and she wonders what she will go back to. Will it be her blood that condemns her, her house, the simple fact that she is female?
She waits for Luna to come home one night, rises up when she does, and kisses her full on the mouth before whispering that she doesn’t want to go home, not yet. Luna says they have all the time that they need, and have earned it. Ron doesn’t take it well and his letter conveys his tone strongly enough for Hermione to know she has made the right decision. She can’t heal there. Harry tells her to take all the time she needs, reminds her that people love her, and Hermione keeps his letter folded up in one of her books for when she needs that reminder again.
Luna’s whimpers get quieter and she encourages Hermione to get out more. Their savings, what little they have, are running out and Hermione is forced back into the real world with Luna’s calm smile and quirky remarks encouraging her. Luna talks of the creatures that can get about Hermione now that she is outside and Hermione laughs and doesn’t scowl anymore. It amuses her now, because she can’t get upset with Luna, not now. She is the one that has remained by her side and supported her through everything, even when she has her own demons to contend with.
They don’t sleep in separate beds anymore, but press up against each other in a single and hold each other through the rough patches and chatter about the future in the good. Luna wants to discover new magical creatures but Hermione is not sure any more. A job in the Ministry is what others expect of her and possibly what she expects from herself because she is clever and that was what clever people did. She isn’t sure it is what she wants though.
She isn’t too sure about anything now that the war is over apart from Luna’s soft smile and her even softer touches under the covers. The voices in her head tell her that her parents don’t want her anymore and she isn’t good enough, and then Luna’s voice tells her that no one has made the blonde feel as content as she does, as happy as she does, like Luna actually belongs somewhere.
It makes her feel guilty for everything she has done, said, or thought about Luna in the past, but all is forgiven on Luna’s side and the past won’t help them move forward. When they do return to magical Britain, it is hand in hand, and with their minds not quite there yet. Luna’s gentle but firm words keep people away from Hermione while she settles in at Luna’s house and wanders around the Quibbler offices thinking about writing a book on blood-prejudice in the wizarding world. The Weasleys ask Hermione to go back to the Burrow but she can’t, not now, not with everything so different. Luna doesn’t give an opinion and they never really talk about what their relationship means to themselves or to others. They just get on with it, slowly, good days and bad.