(no subject)
I originally posted this privately, but S has called me out of reclusion so I'll just put it here anyway. (Sorry for the double posting.) It's really more of a drabble than anything else, though. So, yeah, also retitled.
Doorknobs
(for Annabel)
Luna's mother was called Ophelia, like the crazy woman Billy Shakespeare wrote about. Luna's mother liked to call him Billy like they were old friends, and Luna did and felt the same. Once, when she was six, Daddy called Mummy 'eccentric', and Luna copied the word into her ledger fifty times over to make sure she learnt it. She spelt it x-s-e-n-t-r-i-c-k before she remembered to look it up in the book of words on the stand in the den.
Daddy worked at The Quibbler, which was a 'highly respected piece of literature', he said, and Mummy made up spells for turning the walls maize. Luna knew what colour maize was because Mummy's hair was maize, and she liked to laugh and say so when people asked her just what colour it was. Her eyes were big and blue, and when she was very, very young, Luna thought that they were part of the sky. She thought that because she thought all grown-ups were tall enough to touch the sky, so it only made sense that Mummy would have put some in her eyes. She wore robes with lace on the bottom when she was feeling proper, and when she wasn't, which was almost always, she wore robes pieced together from pieces of old dress robes with swirly patterns and chequered patterns and boxy patterns and stripey patterns. They never matched, but Daddy said that was charm.
Mummy's hands were short and thick, which was the perfect size for opening doorknobs when Luna couldn't do it. Their house in Ottery St. Catchpole was filled with doorknobs that were too high for little girls, or ones that stuck too hard for little girls who weren't yet witches. Sometimes Mummy even had to open them with her wand.
Daddy did most of the cooking, because whenever Mummy cooked they had to go into town to eat in a restaurant. Luna secretly liked doing this best, because Mummy always gave her a sip of her champagne and it tickled Luna's nose. Daddy was a good cook, too, and he always made sugared marigolds on Mummy's birthday, which was the same as the Queen of England's. Luna made her crowns out of any old things she found lying around the house, like garter belts and ties and sometimes strings of popcorns and mushrooms and flitterblooms.
Once when Daddy was working late at The Quibbler, Mummy took Luna to the Leaky Cauldron, which led to Diagon Alley, and Luna had never been. The Leaky Cauldron was thick with smoke that was sometimes sweet and sometimes burnt when she breathed it, but always made Mummy say that smoke was better for your health than anything else. There was a man in suspenders called Tom who said Luna's mummy's name was Mary Q. Contrary, and loads of people started talking at once. Mummy grabbed Luna's hand and marched them out.
She told Luna that she mustn't ever be bothered by nasty sorts, and they went home.
Daddy wasn't home yet and Mummy couldn't unlock the spell he set on the house, so they couldn't get inside. Luna thought they could sleep in her treehouse, but Mummy got a broomstick and flew them both up to the roof of the house, where she said she liked it better anyway. She showed Luna stars, like Sirius, the Cat Star, which Mummy said was not a very bright star at all.
Mummy died.
'That was my mother,' Luna tells people, when she grows up and goes to Hogwarts. Some of them ask with greedy, eager smiles and wicked lights in their eyes, but Luna is happy to tell them. She doesn't mind that by the time she is finished, the only people she is talking to are invisible; one of them, she thinks, must be her mother.
Doorknobs
(for Annabel)
Luna's mother was called Ophelia, like the crazy woman Billy Shakespeare wrote about. Luna's mother liked to call him Billy like they were old friends, and Luna did and felt the same. Once, when she was six, Daddy called Mummy 'eccentric', and Luna copied the word into her ledger fifty times over to make sure she learnt it. She spelt it x-s-e-n-t-r-i-c-k before she remembered to look it up in the book of words on the stand in the den.
Daddy worked at The Quibbler, which was a 'highly respected piece of literature', he said, and Mummy made up spells for turning the walls maize. Luna knew what colour maize was because Mummy's hair was maize, and she liked to laugh and say so when people asked her just what colour it was. Her eyes were big and blue, and when she was very, very young, Luna thought that they were part of the sky. She thought that because she thought all grown-ups were tall enough to touch the sky, so it only made sense that Mummy would have put some in her eyes. She wore robes with lace on the bottom when she was feeling proper, and when she wasn't, which was almost always, she wore robes pieced together from pieces of old dress robes with swirly patterns and chequered patterns and boxy patterns and stripey patterns. They never matched, but Daddy said that was charm.
Mummy's hands were short and thick, which was the perfect size for opening doorknobs when Luna couldn't do it. Their house in Ottery St. Catchpole was filled with doorknobs that were too high for little girls, or ones that stuck too hard for little girls who weren't yet witches. Sometimes Mummy even had to open them with her wand.
Daddy did most of the cooking, because whenever Mummy cooked they had to go into town to eat in a restaurant. Luna secretly liked doing this best, because Mummy always gave her a sip of her champagne and it tickled Luna's nose. Daddy was a good cook, too, and he always made sugared marigolds on Mummy's birthday, which was the same as the Queen of England's. Luna made her crowns out of any old things she found lying around the house, like garter belts and ties and sometimes strings of popcorns and mushrooms and flitterblooms.
Once when Daddy was working late at The Quibbler, Mummy took Luna to the Leaky Cauldron, which led to Diagon Alley, and Luna had never been. The Leaky Cauldron was thick with smoke that was sometimes sweet and sometimes burnt when she breathed it, but always made Mummy say that smoke was better for your health than anything else. There was a man in suspenders called Tom who said Luna's mummy's name was Mary Q. Contrary, and loads of people started talking at once. Mummy grabbed Luna's hand and marched them out.
She told Luna that she mustn't ever be bothered by nasty sorts, and they went home.
Daddy wasn't home yet and Mummy couldn't unlock the spell he set on the house, so they couldn't get inside. Luna thought they could sleep in her treehouse, but Mummy got a broomstick and flew them both up to the roof of the house, where she said she liked it better anyway. She showed Luna stars, like Sirius, the Cat Star, which Mummy said was not a very bright star at all.
Mummy died.
'That was my mother,' Luna tells people, when she grows up and goes to Hogwarts. Some of them ask with greedy, eager smiles and wicked lights in their eyes, but Luna is happy to tell them. She doesn't mind that by the time she is finished, the only people she is talking to are invisible; one of them, she thinks, must be her mother.