In the Morning, She Dances (Harry Potter, Luna, G)
Title: In the Morning, She Dances
Author: dried-tears, aka __beetlejuice
Fandom: Harry Potter
Character(s): Luna Lovegood
Rating: G
Summary: The petals fall to the ground, and she stops humming. All that they notice is the quiet.
Warnings: None
Notes: My favourite piece, I think.
In the morning, she dances about the dormitory. She removes a small bouquet of flowers from a vase on her bedside table -- flowers she picked just the afternoon before -- and carefully tears off the petals, sprinkling them in bunches just above her head, so they float down around her as she twirls. She hums a happy tune, and wishes everyone a good morning.
They glare at her and tell her to close the curtains, then they do the same to the deep blue velvet around their beds. One of them sits up and tells her to be quiet, for goodness sakes.
The petals fall to the ground, and she stops humming. All that they notice is the quiet.
---
At breakfast, she bounces in her seat and spills her pumpkin juice all over her toast. Oopsie-daisy, she chirps, and eats the toast anyway, because it tastes better that way. She reminds everyone at the table what their first class is, and makes up a song, on the spot, about Herbology. She likes it when the leafy vines reach up and tickle her, even if the girls who sit on the other end of the table in the Great Hall roll their eyes and wonder why she's laughing, and make promises to each other to charm that vine so it'll trip her one day.
They tell her to stop that noisy giggling, they don't want to have to tell Professor Sprout she's not paying attention (even if they really do want to, and then pinch themselves inside for warning her about it in the first place).
The laughing stops, and the vine doesn't tickle. All they notice is that she's quiet.
---
During her classes, she twirls her quill through her fingers and takes out the Muggle "pencil-crown" things her father bought for her in London and draws purple Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and yellow and pink striped Blibbering Humdingers all over her parchment. They look different each time, because she likes it better that way. The girls from her dormitory roll their eyes and make their textbooks stand up in front of their faces so they can whisper about her, and that night they take her favourite stuffed animal and the music box her mother made, the one she plays every night, and they hide them in the floorboards.
When she walks in they giggle, and tell each other to hush, and when she asks how their day went, some snicker and some huff. Most of them leave the room, and others take out their diaries and noisily scratch in entries about their little trick.
---
At night, before bed, she looks for her music box. She hums along to it every night and places it under her pillow before singing, good night, everyone, and closing her eyes sleepily. The stuffed owl she's had since her mother died is missing. The girls in the bathroom across the dormitory are all spitting out their toothpaste in fits of laughter.
She sleeps in an empty broom cupboard that night, with wet eyes and pale fists clenched tightly.
---
The next morning, she doesn't dance in the dormitory. She doesn't wish her roommates a good morning. During her first class of the day, Herbology, she doesn't even show up, and no one asks where she is.
Author: dried-tears, aka __beetlejuice
Fandom: Harry Potter
Character(s): Luna Lovegood
Rating: G
Summary: The petals fall to the ground, and she stops humming. All that they notice is the quiet.
Warnings: None
Notes: My favourite piece, I think.
In the morning, she dances about the dormitory. She removes a small bouquet of flowers from a vase on her bedside table -- flowers she picked just the afternoon before -- and carefully tears off the petals, sprinkling them in bunches just above her head, so they float down around her as she twirls. She hums a happy tune, and wishes everyone a good morning.
They glare at her and tell her to close the curtains, then they do the same to the deep blue velvet around their beds. One of them sits up and tells her to be quiet, for goodness sakes.
The petals fall to the ground, and she stops humming. All that they notice is the quiet.
---
At breakfast, she bounces in her seat and spills her pumpkin juice all over her toast. Oopsie-daisy, she chirps, and eats the toast anyway, because it tastes better that way. She reminds everyone at the table what their first class is, and makes up a song, on the spot, about Herbology. She likes it when the leafy vines reach up and tickle her, even if the girls who sit on the other end of the table in the Great Hall roll their eyes and wonder why she's laughing, and make promises to each other to charm that vine so it'll trip her one day.
They tell her to stop that noisy giggling, they don't want to have to tell Professor Sprout she's not paying attention (even if they really do want to, and then pinch themselves inside for warning her about it in the first place).
The laughing stops, and the vine doesn't tickle. All they notice is that she's quiet.
---
During her classes, she twirls her quill through her fingers and takes out the Muggle "pencil-crown" things her father bought for her in London and draws purple Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and yellow and pink striped Blibbering Humdingers all over her parchment. They look different each time, because she likes it better that way. The girls from her dormitory roll their eyes and make their textbooks stand up in front of their faces so they can whisper about her, and that night they take her favourite stuffed animal and the music box her mother made, the one she plays every night, and they hide them in the floorboards.
When she walks in they giggle, and tell each other to hush, and when she asks how their day went, some snicker and some huff. Most of them leave the room, and others take out their diaries and noisily scratch in entries about their little trick.
---
At night, before bed, she looks for her music box. She hums along to it every night and places it under her pillow before singing, good night, everyone, and closing her eyes sleepily. The stuffed owl she's had since her mother died is missing. The girls in the bathroom across the dormitory are all spitting out their toothpaste in fits of laughter.
She sleeps in an empty broom cupboard that night, with wet eyes and pale fists clenched tightly.
---
The next morning, she doesn't dance in the dormitory. She doesn't wish her roommates a good morning. During her first class of the day, Herbology, she doesn't even show up, and no one asks where she is.