rarepair_shorts Ficlet- R- Just a small town girl
Title: Just a small town girl
Character Pairing: Luna/Blaise
Prompt: a vision softly creeping
Rating: R? for language
Word Count: 609
Summary: Blaise Zabini is an enigma, even to those closest to him. He also get bored very easily. Luna Lovegood is anything but boring.
Author's Notes: Yeah, 'forget most of canon' still applies. ;)
Link to Prompt Table: This way...
Luna trudged down the street towards the little cottage that she and Padma shared just outside San Gimignano, Italy. In the three months since she'd asked Callista for help it had been rough going. Having Padma show up (out of the blue and certainly because Blaise had sent her) was a blessing. They both had been lucky enough to find work inside the walled town's bustling Wizarding market and though she was content, she wasn't happy. She missed Blaise every minute of every day. Her dreams were full of all the happy times that they had shared. Her copy of The Raven was so worn that even the plethora of preserving charms she and Padma had placed on it were much help.
Swiping a bit of fringe out of her face, Luna pasted on her 'happy smile' when she reached the little stone wall that surrounded the cottage. Padma, she knew, would be inside hastily writing a letter to Blaise. If either of her friends thought that she didn't know about the letters, than they were mental. She had found, completely by accident, the stash of letters from Blaise to Padma, asking how they were doing, if the nightmares has abated with the potion he'd sent along, and if he should continue to stay away.
It broke her heart knowing that Blaise was hurting. But, the same resolve that had sent her running in the first place was what kept her from rushing inside and begging Padma to tell Blaise to come here. She wanted him here, needed him here. She felt as if she was half-alive without Blaise.
"I can't," she murmured, "I have to do this. It is best for him."
"No it isn't."
She looked up to see Padma standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips and a look of extreme displeasure on her face.
"He spent half his life taking care of me, Padma," she protested, albeit weakly. With a sigh she tried, once again, to explain her motivation. "I wanted him to have a life. It kills me to be away from him. You know how much I love him. I just couldn't stay there, watching him step away from everyone. Greg and Tracey, Draco... he barely spoke to his oldest friends any more. It was my fault!"
"It was his choice to spend every minute with you. Every minute, Luna, awake and asleep! Every fucking minute of his life was devoted to you. Do you know how many women would kill to have a man like Blaise completely and utterly devoted to them?"
Luna gaped. What else could she do? "I-I-"
Padma waved a hand to stop her. "Oh save it, Luna! One of these days you will wake up and realise just what you threw away because you were too scared to admit that you couldn't stand to lose Blaise and so you ran. What purpose did this serve?"
Storming past, Padma spat, "You were so damn afraid of losing him that you ran and lost him anyway. He would have given you the world had you asked and it wasn't enough."
Luna stood there, her shoulders drooping and tears pouring down her face. Padma was right. She had cared so much for Blaise and her fear of losing him as she'd lost her Mummy had caused her to run away from him. She'd ruined it. There was no way that Blaise would forgive her. Hell, his letters were out of duty most likely. She'd had the world and lost it.
She would have to learn to live with the guilt. It was all she had left.