Work Text:
Luna Lovegood wasn’t crazy. She didn’t live in a fantasy world with mythical creatures. Nargles and crumpled-horned snorkacks are very much real thank you very much. Luna tried to explain to her fellow Ravenclaws that every creature they learnt about in their care of magical creatures at one point were presumed to be non-existent, were simply myths until someone discovered them but no matter how rational her argument was they wouldn’t listen to her or see her side. Unless it was written in black and white in a text book they would never believe it. But the truth is she didn’t need them to believe her. What was important to her was providing a voice for the animals that didn’t have them. She knew one day she would be able to prove their existence. To show the wizarding world how useful the creatures she knew to be real were, or in the case of nargles, just what a nuisance they were. Luna would however like to be respected for her beliefs and not bullied because of them.
“Hey Loony Lovegood.” Michael Corner said coming up to where Luna sat studying in the library.
“I hope you don’t mind but I borrowed one of your magazines from the common room this morning.“
Luna perked up at Michael’s exclamation. No one at Hogwarts had ever shown any genuine interest in the Quibbler before. She couldn’t wait till she could tell her father about this.
“Really? Was it the article on Fudges plan to take over Gringotts? I told dad that that one would be a seller.”
“Of course not. We just ran out of toilet paper and it was the first thing I could find.” Michael and his friends began laughing and hi-fiving each other at what they perceived to be a hilarious joke.
A tear began to form in the corner of Luna’s eye but she refused to let it fall. She wouldn’t let them get to her.
“I that a tear Loony? It’s probably because of this fugly necklace.” Michael ripped her nargle protector from her neck and let it shatter and fall onto the floor and her tears fell mercilessly.
“Silence in the library. If you can’t be quiet you’ll have to leave. I expect much better from a group of Ravenclaws.” Madam Pince called out to the boys.
They left the library still laughing as they went.
~*~
Ginny who’d been listening to the whole debacle from two tables over, stood up and followed Michael out of the library. She couldn’t believe that her boyfriend, who until recently she thought to be nice, had been so mean to one of her dear friends.
“Michael, can we please talk?” Ginny asked when she finally caught up to the group of the faster walking boys.
Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot made childish kissing noises towards them as they walked off to an empty section of the corridor. Michael places one hand on the wall behind the shorter girls head and his other hand on the small of his girlfriend’s back. As Michael leaned in for the kiss Ginny pushed him back with as much strength as she could muster.
“What the hell Ginny? I’m just trying to give you some lovin’.”
“I heard what you said to Luna in the library.” Ginny retorted bitterly.
“Funny wasn’t it.” Michael held his hand up for a hi-five.
“No it wasn’t funny it was mean.”
“Since when do you care about Loony Lovegood?”
“Don’t call her that, her name is Luna and she’s my friend.”
“Loony, Loony, Loony. I’ll call her whatever I want.”
Ginny was getting frustrated. She could feel the anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach and the tears welling in the corners of her eyes. How could she not of noticed before how mean her boyfriend was.
“If you refuse to be nice to my friends then we can’t be together anymore.” The red headed girl offered as an ultimatum.
“Really Ginevra? You are actually gonna choose that freak over me? What? Are you in love with her or something?”
“I can’t believe I ever dated such a bully. We’re over Michael. Don’t bother talking to me again.”
Ginny stormed off back to the library, the tears flowing freely.
She wanted to see if Luna was okay but when she got there, the table that Luna had been occupying minutes before hand was empty.
~*~
As hard as she tried, Luna couldn’t stop the tears from cascading down the creases her face. She packed up her books and walked briskly back to her common room. It took her three attempts to solve the riddle presented to her by the eagle knocker guarding the Ravenclaw tower as her brain was too fuzzy to think straight. Once she finally got inside she ran straight to her dormitories, tore of her cloak, letting it fall to the ground, and threw herself onto her bed. The moment she entered the room, her roommates made some stupid excuse to leave. This was a regular occurrence that Luna was now very used to. Nobody ever seemed to want to be in the same room as her. The only place where she ever felt like she truly belonged was when she was with Dumbledore’s Army. Lying in bed was only making Luna think about what had happened and she found herself too far inside her head. She figured the best way to clear her mind and calm down would be to go for a walk by the lake. She got up off the bed, donned her cloak and headed off downstairs and towards the castles front doors.
~*~
Ginny sat in a squashy, scarlet red armchair, threading beads onto a butterbeer cork necklace for Luna to replace the one her ex-boyfriend Michael destroyed. Luna was such a nice girl when you got to know her and definitely didn’t deserve to be treated the way the other students treated her. Ginny was lucky that she was on good terms with the house elves that worked in the Hogwarts kitchens so she was able to get a butterbeer cork and enough beads to make the necklace at such short notice. Hermione sat down in the arm chair next to her.
“Looks like we are both doing art projects.” Hermione stated holding a ball of yarn she was using to knit hats in order to “free the house elves”.
“So what are you making?” Hermione asked leaning over to see what Ginny was threading.
“I’m making a necklace for Luna to replace the one that Michael broke.”
Ginny dropped the final bead onto the necklace chord then tied it off at the back.
“Why are you making a necklace for Loony Lovegood? You’re only encouraging her delusions. They’re unhealthy.”
Ginny stood up outraged. She couldn’t understand why everyone she knew was so mean to Luna. Luna was the kindest, and most open hearted person Ginny knew. Luna’s heart was obviously too big for the other the students at Hogwarts to handle, Ginny thought to herself.
“Considering you know what it is like to be bullied Hermione, I’m utterly surprised you would inflict that pain onto someone else.” She spat at her so called friend.
It was at this moment Ginny decided to make a second butterbeer cork necklace for herself that she would we proudly in support of her classmate and friend. Once she had finished both necklaces Ginny exited the Gryffindor common room in search of the blonde Ravenclaw. After asking around a few people she was told that Luna was last seen headed towards the black lake. The young red head walked briskly walked across the castle then broke into a run the moment she swung open the doors of the great hall. Luna was unsurprisingly easy to find. There always seem to be a radiant glow surrounding her.
“Ginny what are you doing here?” Luna asked when she saw her classmate.
“I saw what Michael and his friends did to you. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s ok Ginny. He is your boyfriend and I know that you have better judgment than to date a mean person. He was probably just having a bad day.”
Ginny sat down next to Luna.
“No; don’t make excuses. He is mean. I can’t believe I ever dated him.”
“Dated?” Luna asked perplexed.
“Yeah; I broke up to them after the library incident.”
“You broke up with him because of me? Now I feel terrible.”
“No Luna.” Ginny placed a hand on Luna’s arm.
“I broke up with him because he is a bully. If it wasn’t you it would have been someone else. I don’t ever want to be with someone who actively puts others down to make themselves feel good.”
Luna smiled and Ginny felt a strange flutter in her stomach.
“I have a present for you.”
Ginny pulled the two necklaces out of her robe pocket.
“There are two of them?” Luna exclaimed bewildered and her friends generosity.
“Yep. One for each of us.” Ginny announced as she placed one on each of their necks.
“Why would you want one? No one believes in the creatures I talk about.”
“But I do believe in Nargles.”
The look in Luna’s eyes could only be described as pure happiness. Ginny felt the flutter in her stomach again and Michael’s words came back to her.
“What? Are you in love with her or something?”
~*~
Luna saw her friends eyes flutter closed, Ginny’s head nudge forward, and before she registered what was happening, soft lips were pressed against hers. It was everything Luna never knew she wanted. The young Ravenclaw pushed forward, intensifying the moment. After a while Ginny pulled back and they rested their foreheads together.
“Wow!” Luna breathed out, not able to find the words to describe just how amazing that moment was.
“I know.”
“One could almost say it was magical.” Luna said, sending the teen girls into a fit of giggles.
They spend the rest of the afternoon lying together, hand in hand, talking about every subject under the sun and occasionally sharing a kiss. At this moment the girls were happy. They were untouchable.