[February 8] [Harry Potter] Your Fool

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

It's still not midnight here!

Title: Your Fool
Day/Theme: February 8th -- Fool's Reward
Series: Harry Potter
Character/Pairing: Ginny Weasley/Luna Lovegood
Rating: G
Word Count: 527

Cross-posted to rosehiptea and hp_girlslash.



Frederica Monde was one of the few Slytherin students left at Hogwarts, and she was vocal about wishing she were somewhere else.

"I'm certain my parents would never have sent me back if they had known the houses would be mixing quite this much. This morning I had Luna Lovegood for a partner in Potions. The girl is a complete idiot. She ruined a potion I spent hours on, and I had done all the work."

The entire dining hall could hear her. Since the usual pattern of seating by houses had broken down as well, Ginny expected some of Frederica's own table partners to be angered by her words, but they didn't seem to be. Ginny glanced at Luna, seated next to her, in sympathy.

Luna just shrugged. "She insisted on cutting up the black ginseng with an ordinary knife instead of a silver one. I put it in early so the potion would fail instead of explode."

"Why don't you tell her that?" asked Ginny as they left the table.

"What good would it do? She already thinks I'm insane."

Ginny deliberately made a wrong turn so they could continue the conversation and Luna simply followed.

"Aren't you tired of people thinking you're stupid and crazy when you're not?" she asked, trying to keep her tone level.

The other girl shook her head, making her cucumber earrings swing. "When people think you're an idiot, you can stop trying to impress them. "

"It's not about impressing people," said Ginny.

"What else is it about? If they ignore me instead of paying too much attention to me, I just pass through everywhere, and I can pick up on secrets."

"People's secrets?" asked Ginny a bit uncomfortably.

"I don't care much for people's secrets. I prefer magic secrets, all those things that are just my wild theories, or that I'm too silly to understand."

"That's exactly what I mean. You understand everything, so why do you want to be Loony Luna Lovegood for the rest of your life?"

"There are worse things," she replied mildly, almost dreamily.

They were in a deserted hallway now, which had changed itself into a temporary dead end.

"I wasn't trying to insult you," said Ginny. "I just don't understand it. You have so much potential."

"Just because I don't want what everyone else does doesn't mean I don't want anything."

"What do you want then, besides vegetable jewelry and a reputation for being deranged?" Ginny knew she had gone too far now.

"You really want to know?"

Luna was staring at her intensely now Ginny could only nod slightly, her back against the wall. Then Luna kissed her, a real kiss, almost harsh. It left Ginny staring at her and trembling in shock.

"Fools can't be counted on to want the right things," said Luna.

Ginny couldn't think clearly. "Luna... I'm sorry, but I don't... we couldn't..."

She only smiled, but for once Ginny thought she saw bitterness.

"It doesn't matter. I won't tell anyone. And anyway, I'm crazy."

Luna turned and ran, and when Ginny tried to follow the corridor shifted on its own and she was left standing alone.