Challenge #051
Title: Isolation
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 I suppose. Reference to character deaths and post HP7 stuffs.
Characters/Pairing: Luna/Dennis Creevey. References to Hermione, too. IDK. #kanyeshrug
Summary: Luna still visits the Room of Requirement. She has her first kiss in there. It's quite nice.
Word Count: 1156
Author's Notes: For Challenge #051 "Rare parings". And this is rarer than a steak in a French restaurant. But idc, it's in my head-canon so you'll have to deal with it.
Registered purchases?: Both
Her first kiss came when she was eighteen. She came to the Room of Requirement quite often, now the war was over. It was a nice quiet place to be: even though she was a seventh-year, a lot of Ravenclaws liked to tease Luna, and none of them seemed to find her as interesting as people in other houses.
She was ever so happy when Hermione Granger came back to school: she had worried that her best friends had all left school and forgotten about her. She sometimes hummed happily in the girl's presence; Hermione also used the Room of Requirement on occasion, she said it was a useful place to go when the Gryffindor Common Room was too loud, or the library was too full.
Hermione had found readjusting to life in a new year group alienating; the best student in Luna's year didn't like being ousted from their position, Luna thought. Maybe that's why Luna wasn't liked by that clique either: she was friendly with Hermione.
When Luna went to the Room of Requirement today, it wasn't Hermione in here, but another boy. She thought it was her for a while, but only because the boy had started growing his hair long, perhaps in an act of rebellion.
"You were in the DA, weren't you?" The boy asked suspiciously.
"Yes, that's right," Luna smiled, oblivious to him. "I thought you were a friend, but you're not, really. My friend is a girl."
"No, I'm not," he said sulkily. "I'm not really a friend to anyone any more."
"I think friends are just strangers you plucked up the courage to speak to," she smiled. "What's your name?"
"Dennis."
"Hello, I'm Luna," she smiled. "Didn't you used to come to our meetings with your brother?"
The boy blinked. "Yeah, I did."
"How is he?"
"He died in the battle."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Luna said. "I hope he didn't suffer."
"Apparently he did," Dennis said. "I don't know the details, though. My mum and dad didn't want me to come back here."
"That's a shame. Would you like a cup of tea?"
Luna gestured to a kettle neither of them had spotted before, and the teenager smiled meekly. He looked haunted, and a lot more mature for his age than might have otherwise have been the case. Luna sat with him patiently and listened with a sympathetic ear. He seemed surprised to hear that Harry Potter was on first-name terms with her, and she happily talked about her friends.
"I still talk to Ginny and Hermione," she said. "They're both still at school. I don't know if you know them, but I think they're seeing Harry and Ron now. They seem to have paired off nicely."
"S'pose having someone is always nice," Dennis said. "It always used to be me and Colin. I pretty much spent most of my free time around him. He was a cool brother."
"I know, he would talk to me in class sometimes," Luna said. "We were in the same year group, we tended to share things in Herbology and Charms. It was such a shame when I heard he had died; I didn't remember he was your brother until you mentioned it."
"Sometimes I wish I couldn't remember," Dennis said sulkily as he sipped the tea.
"I remember Professor Dumbledore telling us all once it's important to remember people who have passed on. I still think of my mother lots and lots."
"You still miss her?"
"Yes, but it's not so bad now I'm older," Luna said dreamily. "I miss her more when I'm at home. Sometimes daddy calls me by her name by accident."
"It still hurts," Dennis said; Luna suspected he was now talking about himself again and she leaned forward sympathetically.
"Do you know, I've thought about this a lot," Luna began. "I started thinking about it after the Department of Mysteries visit, and the room we couldn't enter. It got me wondering."
"Wondering about what?"
"The hurt you feel when you lose somebody," Luna said. "I think it's a bit more complicated than missing a loved one."
"Really?"
"Yes," she said, nodding to nobody in particular, seeing that she was mostly speaking to thin air anyway. "I think it's because you feel lonely."
"Huh," Dennis said. "Sounds deep. I guess a Ravenclaw would think about things like this in the circumstances."
"This is why I'm friends with Gryffindors, actually," Luna said. "They don't think too much about life: they just do it. But I still think it's true."
"What do you mean?"
"Loneliness: you can feel it even if you're around other people, curled up with friends and family, because there's this one gap that was filled by a certain somebody, and they're not around. Even if it's not death, if they're very far away or aren't talking to you, it still makes you feel unhappy because you're missing something within you."
"Obviously."
"Dennis, you said your parents didn't want you to come back here, didn't you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"It wasn't the school, Dennis. Or the threat," she said. "They missed their son. Your going away was the same thing to them. It's nearly Christmas."
She stopped abruptly; Dennis didn't know what to say.
"Er, yeah?"
"You haven't seen each other in months. You must be homesick too. That's why you're here."
She didn't even phrase it as a question. It was simply that she understood the psyche of the boy sat with her. Fidgeting, he smiled.
"Yeah, I do. I wanted to go to the Owlery, but I don't know what to write."
"Tell them you've found friends and you're happy, but you miss them," Luna suggested. "It doesn't even have to be true, but that's all they want to hear."
"I suppose so," Dennis smiled. "You're really good at this."
"I'm very good at handling loneliness," Luna said simply. "I find new ways of handling it, but sometimes it still makes you sad."
"You're a nice girl," Dennis said. "You shouldn't feel sad so much."
"Thanks," she smiled. "I can be friends with you too, if you like."
"I'd like that a lot," Dennis said, and before he knew it, he'd leaned in and hugged her. The touch of another person on Luna's skin brought her out in goosebumps, but it was nice, because Dennis was nice.
They broke apart, and Luna realised after a few seconds her fingers had become intertwined with his. He looked down and noticed this too.
"Um, I..."
"It's okay," Luna smiled. "I don't mind."
They sat there for a moment, and Dennis said: "thank you."
"You're welcome."
And together, Luna sat there with a patient tranquility in her eyes. Dennis Creevey, a stranger just an hour or two ago had become a friend, and in a few more seconds he became her first kiss.
She let it linger. Hermione had been right: kissing boys was rather nice after all.
1156/30 = 38.533
Rob//Gryffindor//38 points + 10 bonus GET!!
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 I suppose. Reference to character deaths and post HP7 stuffs.
Characters/Pairing: Luna/Dennis Creevey. References to Hermione, too. IDK. #kanyeshrug
Summary: Luna still visits the Room of Requirement. She has her first kiss in there. It's quite nice.
Word Count: 1156
Author's Notes: For Challenge #051 "Rare parings". And this is rarer than a steak in a French restaurant. But idc, it's in my head-canon so you'll have to deal with it.
Registered purchases?: Both
Her first kiss came when she was eighteen. She came to the Room of Requirement quite often, now the war was over. It was a nice quiet place to be: even though she was a seventh-year, a lot of Ravenclaws liked to tease Luna, and none of them seemed to find her as interesting as people in other houses.
She was ever so happy when Hermione Granger came back to school: she had worried that her best friends had all left school and forgotten about her. She sometimes hummed happily in the girl's presence; Hermione also used the Room of Requirement on occasion, she said it was a useful place to go when the Gryffindor Common Room was too loud, or the library was too full.
Hermione had found readjusting to life in a new year group alienating; the best student in Luna's year didn't like being ousted from their position, Luna thought. Maybe that's why Luna wasn't liked by that clique either: she was friendly with Hermione.
When Luna went to the Room of Requirement today, it wasn't Hermione in here, but another boy. She thought it was her for a while, but only because the boy had started growing his hair long, perhaps in an act of rebellion.
"You were in the DA, weren't you?" The boy asked suspiciously.
"Yes, that's right," Luna smiled, oblivious to him. "I thought you were a friend, but you're not, really. My friend is a girl."
"No, I'm not," he said sulkily. "I'm not really a friend to anyone any more."
"I think friends are just strangers you plucked up the courage to speak to," she smiled. "What's your name?"
"Dennis."
"Hello, I'm Luna," she smiled. "Didn't you used to come to our meetings with your brother?"
The boy blinked. "Yeah, I did."
"How is he?"
"He died in the battle."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Luna said. "I hope he didn't suffer."
"Apparently he did," Dennis said. "I don't know the details, though. My mum and dad didn't want me to come back here."
"That's a shame. Would you like a cup of tea?"
Luna gestured to a kettle neither of them had spotted before, and the teenager smiled meekly. He looked haunted, and a lot more mature for his age than might have otherwise have been the case. Luna sat with him patiently and listened with a sympathetic ear. He seemed surprised to hear that Harry Potter was on first-name terms with her, and she happily talked about her friends.
"I still talk to Ginny and Hermione," she said. "They're both still at school. I don't know if you know them, but I think they're seeing Harry and Ron now. They seem to have paired off nicely."
"S'pose having someone is always nice," Dennis said. "It always used to be me and Colin. I pretty much spent most of my free time around him. He was a cool brother."
"I know, he would talk to me in class sometimes," Luna said. "We were in the same year group, we tended to share things in Herbology and Charms. It was such a shame when I heard he had died; I didn't remember he was your brother until you mentioned it."
"Sometimes I wish I couldn't remember," Dennis said sulkily as he sipped the tea.
"I remember Professor Dumbledore telling us all once it's important to remember people who have passed on. I still think of my mother lots and lots."
"You still miss her?"
"Yes, but it's not so bad now I'm older," Luna said dreamily. "I miss her more when I'm at home. Sometimes daddy calls me by her name by accident."
"It still hurts," Dennis said; Luna suspected he was now talking about himself again and she leaned forward sympathetically.
"Do you know, I've thought about this a lot," Luna began. "I started thinking about it after the Department of Mysteries visit, and the room we couldn't enter. It got me wondering."
"Wondering about what?"
"The hurt you feel when you lose somebody," Luna said. "I think it's a bit more complicated than missing a loved one."
"Really?"
"Yes," she said, nodding to nobody in particular, seeing that she was mostly speaking to thin air anyway. "I think it's because you feel lonely."
"Huh," Dennis said. "Sounds deep. I guess a Ravenclaw would think about things like this in the circumstances."
"This is why I'm friends with Gryffindors, actually," Luna said. "They don't think too much about life: they just do it. But I still think it's true."
"What do you mean?"
"Loneliness: you can feel it even if you're around other people, curled up with friends and family, because there's this one gap that was filled by a certain somebody, and they're not around. Even if it's not death, if they're very far away or aren't talking to you, it still makes you feel unhappy because you're missing something within you."
"Obviously."
"Dennis, you said your parents didn't want you to come back here, didn't you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"It wasn't the school, Dennis. Or the threat," she said. "They missed their son. Your going away was the same thing to them. It's nearly Christmas."
She stopped abruptly; Dennis didn't know what to say.
"Er, yeah?"
"You haven't seen each other in months. You must be homesick too. That's why you're here."
She didn't even phrase it as a question. It was simply that she understood the psyche of the boy sat with her. Fidgeting, he smiled.
"Yeah, I do. I wanted to go to the Owlery, but I don't know what to write."
"Tell them you've found friends and you're happy, but you miss them," Luna suggested. "It doesn't even have to be true, but that's all they want to hear."
"I suppose so," Dennis smiled. "You're really good at this."
"I'm very good at handling loneliness," Luna said simply. "I find new ways of handling it, but sometimes it still makes you sad."
"You're a nice girl," Dennis said. "You shouldn't feel sad so much."
"Thanks," she smiled. "I can be friends with you too, if you like."
"I'd like that a lot," Dennis said, and before he knew it, he'd leaned in and hugged her. The touch of another person on Luna's skin brought her out in goosebumps, but it was nice, because Dennis was nice.
They broke apart, and Luna realised after a few seconds her fingers had become intertwined with his. He looked down and noticed this too.
"Um, I..."
"It's okay," Luna smiled. "I don't mind."
They sat there for a moment, and Dennis said: "thank you."
"You're welcome."
And together, Luna sat there with a patient tranquility in her eyes. Dennis Creevey, a stranger just an hour or two ago had become a friend, and in a few more seconds he became her first kiss.
She let it linger. Hermione had been right: kissing boys was rather nice after all.
1156/30 = 38.533
Rob//Gryffindor//38 points + 10 bonus GET!!