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Halfway through her sixth year at Hogwarts, Ginny Weasley had taken to hiding bandages and essence of dittany in her dormitory. They were useful for wounds the Carrows considered too shallow to bother Pomfrey in the hospital wing, who had enough to deal with considering how much physical punishment the school was using now. Especially against the children of blood traitors.
Bandaging the result of a lacero that had sliced painfully across her wrist, Ginny thought with that now-familiar ache about Harry. He had always seemed to be suffering some injury, whether from Quidditch or trying to save the world.
The sky was slowly darkening, so the magic lamps in the Room of Requirement lit themselves. The members of DA had taken to hiding out here even if they weren’t in trouble. Ginny was alone right now, though, sitting on the plushy purple sofa and wrapped up in a soft grey blanket. The Room seemed to have specifically chosen non-house-related colours, perhaps in a nod to the diversity of the DA members.
Neville had called this version of the Room the Uncommon Room as a joke, but it stuck. It felt safer than any of their common rooms at this point. There was a crackling fire, books and games on shelves, and a Wizard wireless that was softly playing some old jazzy tune.
“I think that blanket’s the best one.” A dreamy voice interrupted Ginny’s thoughts, and she turned to see Luna had entered the Room.
Ginny smiled. She could hardly believe there’d been a time she’d found Luna’s presence unsettling. Now she loved the other girl’s soft voice, her disarming blue eyes, and the way she saw the world. Sometimes Ginny woke up screaming, but she’d see Luna at breakfast, rattling off some fact about wrackspurts, and it gave her hope again to remember that wonders still existed in the world.
Putting away her healing things, Ginny made space beside her for the other girl. She sat beside Ginny, removing her shoes to curl up under the blanket.
The Wireless crackled for a moment between songs, and then an all-too-familiar bluesy trumpet solo started.
“Ugh.” Ginny moaned. “Not Celestina Warbeck.”
The famous witch started crooning:
I've got a cauldron full of hot, strong love
And it's bubbling for you!
Say Incendio , but that spell 's not hot
As my special witch's brew!
“I like this song. I think it’s sweet.”
“It’s not sweet!” Ginny protested. “My mum loves this song. And my dad, too.”
She didn’t want to think back to cosy evenings spent listening to the wireless at the Burrow, comfortable and safe.
“I can see why your parents like the song,” Luna said innocently. “The lyrics are quite sexy.”
As if on cue, Celestina began the chorus in a sultry voice:
Oh, come and stir my cauldron
And if you do it right
I'll boil you up some hot, strong love
To keep you warm tonight!
“Oh my god, Luna! I’ve never really listened to the lyrics! That’s disgusting, that is!”
Luna laughed as Ginny stormed over to the wireless and turned it off.
“It’s not her original song, you know,” Luna said.
Ginny was used to hearing Luna spout off the information of questionable veracity, but this was at least entertaining.
“Oh, yeah?” Ginny asked. “Who wrote it?”
“It’s an old Mermaid folk song. They changed the lyrics to make it about Wizards. I think it’s much better in the original.”
Ginny didn’t laugh. Instead, she dropped her head onto Luna’s shoulder, sweeping aside some white-blonde curls. “Can you sing it for me?”
They’d all been more physical this year. At first, it had felt like solidarity and friendship in an impossibly difficult time. Ginny had been reeling from Dumbledore’s death, her breakup with Harry, the loss of Order members like Sirius and Moody, missing Ron and Hermione, and the horror that Hogwarts had become under Death Eater control. She’d sought out Luna and Neville’s hugs for comfort.
But it hadn’t taken long before Ginny had started to seek out Luna specifically. And it hadn’t taken long after that for Ginny to realise she was starting to feel for Luna what she’d once felt for Harry. That flush on her skin when they touched. The way her stomach clenched when Luna smiled at her.
Luna began to sing softly. The melody was similar, but it sounded much more beautiful in Luna’s lilting soprano. The lyrics, translated from Mermish, Ginny assumed, were much more beautiful as well.
I have an ocean full of love for you
And a heart strong as the tides
If the seas all turn to frozen ice
I’ll still stay by your side
“I think you were a mermaid in another life, Lu.” Ginny said, looking at Luna’s flowing hair and unearthly eyes.
“Maybe.” Luna looked like she was seriously considering it. Ginny loved her for it. “You were probably a phoenix.”
“Why?”
“Because you have this amazing way of coming back from so many terrible things. Look at you. You almost died in second year. You almost lost your dad. You’ve almost lost your brother and his friends over and over and over. You’ve fought Death Eaters and stood up to Snape. You never stop rising, Ginny. Sometimes you--- you’re the only thing that keeps me going.”
Ginny smiled. “That’s what I think about you, too.”
They weren’t sitting far apart. Ginny could see that Luna had a glaze of unshed tears in her eyes just like she did. She had matching rosy cheeks too.
Ginny closed her eyes and closed the distance, kissing her with love, but not gently. With fire. If she was a phoenix, she thought as Luna returned the kiss, hands buried in her bright red hair, they’d burn together.