Turn (1/5)
Title: Turn
Rating: PG-13
Length: 1, 900
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Fred Weasley, Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom
Ships: Neville/Luna and a mentioned Fred/Luna
Notes: Some dark sexual themes.
Summary: Luna wants to see what people saw before, and Neville helps her find a reason worth living.
The sun poured onto Luna’s skin the moment she stepped outside, it was the hottest it had been in Britain in over thirty years, and the sweat leaking from her pores showed it. She wiped a petite hand across her forehead and sighed deeply looking at the beautiful farm-land and meadows surrounding her lonely home with her father. Luna looked up at the intense sun with a sliver of a grin on her face; Luna could find the beauty even in the simplest of things. She quickly turned to her right to see a, what she called, a ‘nargle’ floating towards her.
“Oh, get out of here, you pesky thing!” She waved it away with her hand.
“What was that, dear?” Came Xenophilius’ timorous voice from the house.
“Nothing, Daddy,” Luna replied nervously.
Luna hoped he wouldn’t ask her to come back inside, Luna loved being outside the house. Luna wasn’t allowed to go beyond the barriers of the fence her father had built. Luna had always assumed that it was because her mother had died of an accident when she was younger, and her father didn’t want the same fate for his beloved daughter. But in reality, he blamed it on the Weasleys, and all the boys that inhabited the house.
He blamed it on Fred Weasley, who had just taken Luna on a simple broom ride around the country-side. Luna had been the happiest that day, her hands firmly around Fred’s waist, her long blond hair trailing behind them. He’d laugh every so now and then and say, “How do you like this, Loony?”
“It’s gorgeous,” she replied in awe. “I’ve never been this far before.”
“Really?” Fred was bewildered. “No way, you’ve lived out here for as long as we have, how could you have not explored a bit?”
“My dad doesn’t like me to go far,” Luna explained as if the situation were completely normal. “He says I’ll get captured by a wild thestral.”
“What the hell is that?”
“Something you can’t see, you can only see it if you’ve seen death,” Luna replied.
“You are just bloody weird sometimes,” Fred responded.
He felt as if he had hurt her feelings, but in reality, Luna was completely numb to insults. She had heard them so many times in her life that
it was as if her heart couldn’t feel the sting anymore. She had blocked herself to the rude things people would say or what they would do.
“People will always be mean,” her mother would tell her. “But, Luna, you’ve got to decide if you’re going to use that hate to build yourself up or tear yourself down. Only you can decide how words affect you, and I know it can be hard. But I raised you to be stronger than to let some insolent little children tear you down.”
“But I love it,” he had added quickly, tossing Luna a brief smile.
“We ought to head down soon; I reckon my Dad’s looking for me.” Luna told him calmly.
“I really love spending time with you, Luna,” Fred told her, as he lowered slightly.
“I like spending time with you too, Fredly,” Luna replied serenely. “I’ve never really had a friend before.”
“I’d love to be your friend,” Fred said earnestly.
“Can I have you forever?” Luna asked.
“I, er-“
“Friendships should last forever,” Luna said firmly. “Like the whole ‘best friends forever’ thing. You can’t just make a promise to someone’s heart like that, you either be their friend forever or not at all.”
“Of course I’ll be your friend forever,” Fred smiled.
Luna could remember fondly the first time she had ever kissed Fred. Fred was the only person who had ever dared to cross into the Lovegood’s territory, well, he and George. But Fred stayed longer than he always did, because George was just there to tease Luna. But one day, they were sitting in the grass, and Fred took a sunflower and placed it gently into Luna’s hair, and she giggled and it moved slightly.
“It’s beautiful,” Fred told her.
“You think?” Luna touched it self-consciously; no one ever told her she was beautiful.
“Yeah! Yellow suits you really well,” Fred said honestly.
And before she knew it, they were both leaning into each other, and the first press of his lips against hers left her breathless. She had no idea what a kiss felt like, but Fred’s lips sort of reminded her of a fish. She pulled away, embarrassed that she had done it all wrong, but slowly they got into a rhythm, and it all came easily to her, and he pulled his hands around the soft dip in her back.
Luna wanted to see what people saw before, in love. She had never been in love or had any experience with love, but when Fred would touch her like that, she felt a deep burning sensation in her lungs, and embarrassingly enough, in her pants. He laid a gentle hand on her thigh, and Luna pushed it away, scared as to what he would think of her. And that’s when he stopped and said he had to go home. And Luna never saw him at her house, or at school, really, after that.
Luna was weary around boys, and a lot of it had to do with her father. Not only were his constant quips about how filthy and greedy they were extremely disheartening, but also a little disgusting. Luna knew her father loved her, and she loved him, but he had never really gotten over the fact that Luna’s mother had died, so Luna had to fend for herself, since the age of nine. But now that she was fourteen, she wanted to branch out and really see the world around her, but with her father, it was almost an impossible task.
The first time Luna’s father had touched her was when she was ten years old, and Luna, completely naive and oblivious, had no idea what was going on, or that it was even remotely wrong. But as she grew up, she knew was he was doing. Luna hadn’t told anyone what had been going on the past four years; she couldn’t bring herself, because no one would get close to her or even try. Fred Weasley was the only one who saw the true Luna Lovegood, as much as was possible, anywho, but even he, like everyone else, had left.
Luna’s father was scared for her to leave; he was afraid that she’d tell someone, that she’d turn from him and shun him. All Luna’s father wanted was to be loved, for someone to want him equally in return. Luna supplied all those things, but completely in the family sense. Luna’s father made her feel dirty, it was difficult to go to sleep at home, she’d bundle up tightly in her blankets each time there was even a creak in the floorboard. A single tear would slide down her cheek when the door would open, and her tears would remain the loudest thing in the room.
When she left for the Hogwarts Express that year, her father turned to her and said, “Now, Luna, you mustn’t meet any boys at Hogwarts while you’re gone.”
“I won’t, daddy,” Luna replied emptily.
“Good girl,” he kissed her on her forehead. “Be good!”
Luna hopped quickly onto the train, walking past groups of friend’s high-fiving and laughing. Luna wondered how they must feel, waking up every day with actual friends, and actually knowing what it felt like to be loved. She wanted to live in a world where she’d be strong, but waking up was hard enough.
She found an empty compartment and took a seat on the far edge by the window; she loved looking out the windows. There were so many worlds outside the door, far more than she would ever see. Full of friends, full of beautiful and mysterious oceans and landscapes, so many depths and crevices, craters and geysers, and Luna would never see it. But it was at that moment, that the world didn’t seem so important, because someone had opened the compartment door.
Luna recognized him, he was Neville Longbottom. And truthfully, her heart stopped beating momentarily, and he turned to look at her, his bottomless brown eyes peering down at her, and Luna decided at that moment that she wanted to live. She wanted to see another day, and another world, and one that was filled with Neville. They say you can’t fall in love at first sight, but Luna actually did that day. She felt the ocean wave’s crash against her heart, and it’s as if it cracked into a million pieces, and she got a brand new heart, all because of Neville.
“Um, is it okay if I sit in here?” Neville asked politely.
“Sure,” Luna replied cordially.
“Wow, thanks,” Neville flashed his toothy grin at her, and Luna felt herself blush.
“It’s nice to meet you, Neville Longbottom.”
Neville’s eyes widened, “You mean, you know my name?”
“Of course, we all know your name,” Luna said simply. “How are you Neville?”
“I’m fine…I guess, but I don’t kn-“
“I’m Luna Lovegood,” she introduced herself with a wave of her hand. “I’m a year below you, I’m good friends with Ginny Weasley.”
“Oh, alright,” Neville nodded. “I think I remember you.”
There was a pause.
“Why are you all alone?”
“I always like being alone,” Luna said. “It gives me time to think.”
“What do you think about?” Neville asked curiously.
“The world.”
Neville was taken aback by the oddness and bluntness of her answer, “The world? Why do you think about the world?”
“I think about the beauty of it,” Luna explained sweetly. “Of course, the world isn’t the best place to live in, not at all. But there’s so much beauty to it, all the oceans and the animals, it’s lovely. I just want to live in a world where I belong.”
“You don’t think you belong?”
“Sometimes,” Luna shrugged and picked at a hangnail. “Don’t we all, though?”
“I guess that’s true, sometimes I don’t think I’m good enough,” Neville trailed off.
Luna looked up instantly, “You are.”
“You don’t really know me,” Neville shook his head. “You’d see what a fuck-up I really am.”
“I’ll be your friend,” Luna offered. “I will. And I’ll be good about it, too. I’ll tell you everything honestly, and I’ll always be there.”
“You don’t have any friends, Luna?”
Luna shook her head slowly, “Not really, no.”
“I’ll be your friend,” Neville nodded.
“But they all say that,” Luna said cautiously. “How do I know you mean it?”
“Look at me,” Neville told her.
And she looked into his eyes, his honest and beaming eyes, and she knew that he meant it. She felt something rise in her chest. And in that moment, she knew she wanted to live, to survive, and she wanted to be strong for Neville. Luna had never had a reason worth living for before, and even though she and he had just met, he really did have her from the first glance. Her pale skin blushed hot red, and Neville was growing maroon himself.
“I mean it,” he insisted.
“And do you,” Luna stuttered, she wasn’t sure how to word it. “Do you promise that you won’t leave?”
“I promise,” he nodded. “I really mean it.”
Rating: PG-13
Length: 1, 900
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Fred Weasley, Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom
Ships: Neville/Luna and a mentioned Fred/Luna
Notes: Some dark sexual themes.
Summary: Luna wants to see what people saw before, and Neville helps her find a reason worth living.
The sun poured onto Luna’s skin the moment she stepped outside, it was the hottest it had been in Britain in over thirty years, and the sweat leaking from her pores showed it. She wiped a petite hand across her forehead and sighed deeply looking at the beautiful farm-land and meadows surrounding her lonely home with her father. Luna looked up at the intense sun with a sliver of a grin on her face; Luna could find the beauty even in the simplest of things. She quickly turned to her right to see a, what she called, a ‘nargle’ floating towards her.
“Oh, get out of here, you pesky thing!” She waved it away with her hand.
“What was that, dear?” Came Xenophilius’ timorous voice from the house.
“Nothing, Daddy,” Luna replied nervously.
Luna hoped he wouldn’t ask her to come back inside, Luna loved being outside the house. Luna wasn’t allowed to go beyond the barriers of the fence her father had built. Luna had always assumed that it was because her mother had died of an accident when she was younger, and her father didn’t want the same fate for his beloved daughter. But in reality, he blamed it on the Weasleys, and all the boys that inhabited the house.
He blamed it on Fred Weasley, who had just taken Luna on a simple broom ride around the country-side. Luna had been the happiest that day, her hands firmly around Fred’s waist, her long blond hair trailing behind them. He’d laugh every so now and then and say, “How do you like this, Loony?”
“It’s gorgeous,” she replied in awe. “I’ve never been this far before.”
“Really?” Fred was bewildered. “No way, you’ve lived out here for as long as we have, how could you have not explored a bit?”
“My dad doesn’t like me to go far,” Luna explained as if the situation were completely normal. “He says I’ll get captured by a wild thestral.”
“What the hell is that?”
“Something you can’t see, you can only see it if you’ve seen death,” Luna replied.
“You are just bloody weird sometimes,” Fred responded.
He felt as if he had hurt her feelings, but in reality, Luna was completely numb to insults. She had heard them so many times in her life that
it was as if her heart couldn’t feel the sting anymore. She had blocked herself to the rude things people would say or what they would do.
“People will always be mean,” her mother would tell her. “But, Luna, you’ve got to decide if you’re going to use that hate to build yourself up or tear yourself down. Only you can decide how words affect you, and I know it can be hard. But I raised you to be stronger than to let some insolent little children tear you down.”
“But I love it,” he had added quickly, tossing Luna a brief smile.
“We ought to head down soon; I reckon my Dad’s looking for me.” Luna told him calmly.
“I really love spending time with you, Luna,” Fred told her, as he lowered slightly.
“I like spending time with you too, Fredly,” Luna replied serenely. “I’ve never really had a friend before.”
“I’d love to be your friend,” Fred said earnestly.
“Can I have you forever?” Luna asked.
“I, er-“
“Friendships should last forever,” Luna said firmly. “Like the whole ‘best friends forever’ thing. You can’t just make a promise to someone’s heart like that, you either be their friend forever or not at all.”
“Of course I’ll be your friend forever,” Fred smiled.
Luna could remember fondly the first time she had ever kissed Fred. Fred was the only person who had ever dared to cross into the Lovegood’s territory, well, he and George. But Fred stayed longer than he always did, because George was just there to tease Luna. But one day, they were sitting in the grass, and Fred took a sunflower and placed it gently into Luna’s hair, and she giggled and it moved slightly.
“It’s beautiful,” Fred told her.
“You think?” Luna touched it self-consciously; no one ever told her she was beautiful.
“Yeah! Yellow suits you really well,” Fred said honestly.
And before she knew it, they were both leaning into each other, and the first press of his lips against hers left her breathless. She had no idea what a kiss felt like, but Fred’s lips sort of reminded her of a fish. She pulled away, embarrassed that she had done it all wrong, but slowly they got into a rhythm, and it all came easily to her, and he pulled his hands around the soft dip in her back.
Luna wanted to see what people saw before, in love. She had never been in love or had any experience with love, but when Fred would touch her like that, she felt a deep burning sensation in her lungs, and embarrassingly enough, in her pants. He laid a gentle hand on her thigh, and Luna pushed it away, scared as to what he would think of her. And that’s when he stopped and said he had to go home. And Luna never saw him at her house, or at school, really, after that.
Luna was weary around boys, and a lot of it had to do with her father. Not only were his constant quips about how filthy and greedy they were extremely disheartening, but also a little disgusting. Luna knew her father loved her, and she loved him, but he had never really gotten over the fact that Luna’s mother had died, so Luna had to fend for herself, since the age of nine. But now that she was fourteen, she wanted to branch out and really see the world around her, but with her father, it was almost an impossible task.
The first time Luna’s father had touched her was when she was ten years old, and Luna, completely naive and oblivious, had no idea what was going on, or that it was even remotely wrong. But as she grew up, she knew was he was doing. Luna hadn’t told anyone what had been going on the past four years; she couldn’t bring herself, because no one would get close to her or even try. Fred Weasley was the only one who saw the true Luna Lovegood, as much as was possible, anywho, but even he, like everyone else, had left.
Luna’s father was scared for her to leave; he was afraid that she’d tell someone, that she’d turn from him and shun him. All Luna’s father wanted was to be loved, for someone to want him equally in return. Luna supplied all those things, but completely in the family sense. Luna’s father made her feel dirty, it was difficult to go to sleep at home, she’d bundle up tightly in her blankets each time there was even a creak in the floorboard. A single tear would slide down her cheek when the door would open, and her tears would remain the loudest thing in the room.
When she left for the Hogwarts Express that year, her father turned to her and said, “Now, Luna, you mustn’t meet any boys at Hogwarts while you’re gone.”
“I won’t, daddy,” Luna replied emptily.
“Good girl,” he kissed her on her forehead. “Be good!”
Luna hopped quickly onto the train, walking past groups of friend’s high-fiving and laughing. Luna wondered how they must feel, waking up every day with actual friends, and actually knowing what it felt like to be loved. She wanted to live in a world where she’d be strong, but waking up was hard enough.
She found an empty compartment and took a seat on the far edge by the window; she loved looking out the windows. There were so many worlds outside the door, far more than she would ever see. Full of friends, full of beautiful and mysterious oceans and landscapes, so many depths and crevices, craters and geysers, and Luna would never see it. But it was at that moment, that the world didn’t seem so important, because someone had opened the compartment door.
Luna recognized him, he was Neville Longbottom. And truthfully, her heart stopped beating momentarily, and he turned to look at her, his bottomless brown eyes peering down at her, and Luna decided at that moment that she wanted to live. She wanted to see another day, and another world, and one that was filled with Neville. They say you can’t fall in love at first sight, but Luna actually did that day. She felt the ocean wave’s crash against her heart, and it’s as if it cracked into a million pieces, and she got a brand new heart, all because of Neville.
“Um, is it okay if I sit in here?” Neville asked politely.
“Sure,” Luna replied cordially.
“Wow, thanks,” Neville flashed his toothy grin at her, and Luna felt herself blush.
“It’s nice to meet you, Neville Longbottom.”
Neville’s eyes widened, “You mean, you know my name?”
“Of course, we all know your name,” Luna said simply. “How are you Neville?”
“I’m fine…I guess, but I don’t kn-“
“I’m Luna Lovegood,” she introduced herself with a wave of her hand. “I’m a year below you, I’m good friends with Ginny Weasley.”
“Oh, alright,” Neville nodded. “I think I remember you.”
There was a pause.
“Why are you all alone?”
“I always like being alone,” Luna said. “It gives me time to think.”
“What do you think about?” Neville asked curiously.
“The world.”
Neville was taken aback by the oddness and bluntness of her answer, “The world? Why do you think about the world?”
“I think about the beauty of it,” Luna explained sweetly. “Of course, the world isn’t the best place to live in, not at all. But there’s so much beauty to it, all the oceans and the animals, it’s lovely. I just want to live in a world where I belong.”
“You don’t think you belong?”
“Sometimes,” Luna shrugged and picked at a hangnail. “Don’t we all, though?”
“I guess that’s true, sometimes I don’t think I’m good enough,” Neville trailed off.
Luna looked up instantly, “You are.”
“You don’t really know me,” Neville shook his head. “You’d see what a fuck-up I really am.”
“I’ll be your friend,” Luna offered. “I will. And I’ll be good about it, too. I’ll tell you everything honestly, and I’ll always be there.”
“You don’t have any friends, Luna?”
Luna shook her head slowly, “Not really, no.”
“I’ll be your friend,” Neville nodded.
“But they all say that,” Luna said cautiously. “How do I know you mean it?”
“Look at me,” Neville told her.
And she looked into his eyes, his honest and beaming eyes, and she knew that he meant it. She felt something rise in her chest. And in that moment, she knew she wanted to live, to survive, and she wanted to be strong for Neville. Luna had never had a reason worth living for before, and even though she and he had just met, he really did have her from the first glance. Her pale skin blushed hot red, and Neville was growing maroon himself.
“I mean it,” he insisted.
“And do you,” Luna stuttered, she wasn’t sure how to word it. “Do you promise that you won’t leave?”
“I promise,” he nodded. “I really mean it.”