First Kiss Meme: Ficlet 3 of 6

[keladry_lupin]

stasia wrote: How about Luna and Theo Nott?

Not betaed. Set at the end of OotP.



He first noticed her the night McGonagall returned from St Mungo’s. At dinner, Turpin smiled at a girl whose hair shone in the candlelight and said something about McGonagall, Pratter, and House points.

Theodore didn’t care about the points. He’d figured out how it worked by now: simply put, Dumbledore awarded enough points to Gryffindor every year, so that they would win the House Cup. Some of the older Slytherins said it hadn’t always been that way, but five years of blatant prejudice was enough to turn Theodore’s stomach.

He wondered how it was that he hadn’t noticed the blue-eyed girl before. There were only a few days before the train would take them to London, but Theodore couldn’t get that Ravenclaw girl out of his mind. By breakfast the next morning, he knew that she was the Loony Lovegood he’d heard about … he’d never had a face to go with the name, not that he’d ever cared before. Thanking his lucky stars that he wasn’t burdened with tag-alongs like Malfoy’s, Theodore took to watching Lovegood … Luna.

The night before the Hogwarts Express was to take them away, he ducked out of the Leaving Feast to look for her. Malfoy had spent the last few days muttering under his breath the names of the six students who had not only gotten rid of Umbridge, but had also managed to land Malfoy’s father in Azkaban. Theodore wasn’t sure how Luna had come out of that in one piece; a few days’ observation brought him to the conclusion that she barely seemed to know which way was up, or what century she was living in. Her wand spent most of its time tucked behind her ear, instead of in her hand or a nearby pocket.

She needed someone to look after her.

But then he overheard her talking with Pratter. Theodore’s fists clenched as she told Pratter about how her mother was dead, and how people thought it was a good joke to steal and hide her things. After the enlightening conversation was over, she didn’t go to the Feast as she’d said. Or maybe she just got distracted. Instead, she went outside, wandering the grounds until she came to the graveyard. Theodore followed, watching both Luna and their surroundings.

Even in the blazing gold of the sunset, her hair shone silver, like moonlight. She pulled her wand from behind her ear, absurd earrings swaying against her neck, and Vanished several clumps of weeds that grew near the headstones and tombs. When she crouched in front of another marker and reached out a small, pale hand to brush dirt from the carved name, she said clearly, ‘Hello.’

Theodore didn’t know if she was talking to him or the occupant of the grave. He didn’t say anything.

Luna turned to look straight at the tree behind which he’d been hiding. ‘It’s bad manners not to reply when you’re spoken to, Theodore,’ she called.

‘I didn’t know you were talking to me,’ he muttered, coming out from behind the tree. He stepped closer to her, picking his way gingerly between the grave markers. This place had always given him the creeps.

‘You’ve been following me,’ she said clearly, examining a spider on her hand. ‘Why?’

Embarrassed, Theodore replied, ‘I don’t know.’

Luna set the spider onto a headstone and turned her big, blue eyes up to him. She reached up and touched his chin with gentle, firm fingers, guiding him to bend over a little. Then she inched forward and kissed his mouth firmly, her lips closed and a little chapped. Before Theodore could react, she stepped back and said matter-of-factly, ‘Tell me when you do.’

Then she plucked a flower from the ground, placed it behind his ear, and walked away.

*TNLL*