One shot: Nothing Like The Moon

[lily_tarn]

Title: Nothing Like The Moon
Word Count: 7,413
Rating: PG
Characters: Luna, Harry/Ginny
Summary: No one - not even she - knew that Luna was one of the most observant people at Hogwarts.
Note: Written for the hpgw_otp Rewrite It! challenge. I took the chapter heading 'Luna Lovegood'.

Comments

[dancinginmagic]

Beautiful. I wish I could write a coherent review, but it would just come out all cold and dry like my essay. Maybe some day I'll come back and savour over the words and be able to tell you just how amazing this story is. I hope it's soon.

[lily_tarn]

Hey, that was pretty coherent! Thank you very much - I'm so glad you enjoyed the story. Luna was fun to write because it didn't all have to be strictly logical. And give a yell if you need essay help!

[aggiebell90]

Oh. Wow, Antonia. This is just...amazing. *flails about trying to find the words*

Your Luna... I can't ever write her, because I just don't get her. You, I think (I know!) do. I keep scrolling back up to pick out a favorite part, and I just can't decide. I will say, though, that I really, really loved the bit with Luna and Draco at the end. "You have food stuck between your teeth." *giggles* But I also love the description of Ginny...and of Harry...and the scene in Grimmauld Place...and the discussion of love after Dumbledore's funeral...and oh! the bits about her mother...

[lily_tarn]

Thanks so much! Luna was really interesting to write. Halfway through I had a conversation with katieay about whether or not Luna could be on the autistic spectrum. I didn't knwoingly write her like that, but tried to go with a different logical outlook on things. The bits with her mother were the starting point of the story - originally it was going to be much shorter and just have three 'mother' intelludes and two H/G ones. I thought that maybe she became a bit like how Luna is when her mother died - a sort of willful denial of normal life. Witnessing the death of a parent so young has got to be severely traumitising.

I'm glad you liked the Draco bit. The last section was the easiest to write because of him!

[peverell]

Wholly remarkable. I can't find any way to tell you how I felt reading through this, other than it's serene and beautiful and ethereal and, and... No. Stumped.

Xia

[lily_tarn]

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it - and honoured that it provoked such a response. I think Luna as a character is serene and ethereal and really rather beautiful.

[luisa_bervel]

Oh. I don't know what to say except that this touched deep. The flashbacks and the little nows... that was just profound, you know?
I would love to read more stories with your Luna's POV, she sees everything and in such a different way that the average 'OotP at war/Harry defeats Voldy' becomes an incredible novelty.

[lily_tarn]

Thank you! I love writing flashbacks (it excuses me from using too much of a plot). Luna intrigues me because she sees things differently yet often more clearly in comparison with other characters. I've not written anything else from her POV besides an extended drabble called Quite Interesting, which can be found on the sticky post in this journal, but I really enjoyed her sort of alternative logic.

[mickawber]

Spectacular.

I've got lots to say, but no brainspace because... Well. This is really dead on. And moving. And thought-provoking.

The throughline of moon imagery, and the sense of Luna coming to grips with her mother's loss, is incredibly powerful and beautifully done.

The sequences with Ginny by the lake and with Harry at Grimmauld Place were just spectacular-simple, wonderfully-observed and elegant. The sense of these two people who "feel things" pulling Luna slowly out-"cracking her shell"-even as she is helping them was very touching.

I have a feeling (or at least I hope) that Luna will allow herself to let go too far some time soon.

[lily_tarn]

Thank you so much. You've mentioned pretty much everything I was trying to put through in the story, which is so wonderful to hear in a review! I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

[mickawber]

You are very, very welcome. Luna is-obviously-one of my favorite characters, and you explore her wonderfully here!