Post by Rachael on Oct 31, 2011 7:52:54 GMT -8
Title: At First Glance
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Summary: One of the many imaginings, bouncing around my head, of the day Luna met Ralf Scamander.
The bedroom was decorated in a particularly quirky fashion; most people thought the inhabitant was quite mad. She was not mad, however, just peculiar. The ceiling and carpet were a pale blue and the walls were painted a rich bronze. On the north wall, opposite the window on the south wall, there were several shelves full of odd trinkets that whizzed and whirred and hiccoughed every other moment. The bedroom was dressed in midnight blue silk sheets and pillows, exquisitely made and soft to the touch.
The small house, which the quirky young woman owned, had been gifted to her, on her seventeenth birthday, by one of her closest friends, Harry Potter – that is to say, four years ago. Harry lived just down the lane, in his parents’ old house, which he had reclaimed and restored to its original state. Fair dues to him, she had, had to admit, even if only within the solitude of her own mind; it had been a long and arduous task for him, but he had completed it, just as he said he would. She admired him for that.
Outside, the sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, setting the snow-covered ground afire with a softly shimmering light. Its pale glow peaked in through the small gap between the pale blue curtains. The pale winter sunshine fell atop the large, luxurious bed, finding the sleeping form of one Luna Darrienia Lovegood. Luna’s nose wrinkled with discomfort as her pale eyebrows dipped in a frown. Mumbling incoherently, she turned over in bed, snuggling in to the pillows shadowed by her head.
She did not want to get up. It was the weekend, and she had gone through an academic week of lectures on Magizoology at University. In other words, she was tired. Across the room one of the trinkets started buzzing, loudly, on the shelves, causing the rest of the items to vibrate to the rhythmic buzzing. She let out a long sigh as her eyelids snapped open, revealing large, pretty silvery grey eyes. She pushed back the sheets, stumbled out of bed, pulling her wand out from under her pillows – she had acquired this habit in her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, when the Carrow Siblings had been “Professors” of “Defence against the Dark Arts” and Heads of Punishment.
Luna flitted across the bedroom, the hem of her nightdress flaring around her ankles, and turned off the alarm with a tap of her wand. For a moment, she stood there, staring at the various trinkets littering the shelves. A faint sad smile graced her face, which normally bore a dreamy expression, as she recalled where exactly these trinkets had come from. These trinkets had once sat in the Headmaster’s Office at Hogwarts, while Albus Dumbledore had been in Office. She had been ever so surprised when, five years ago, the late Rufus Scrimgeour had limped in to her father’s home in Ottery St. Catchpole, bearing Dumbledore’s last Will and Testament.
She could still remember the words Scrimgeour had read from the scroll. To Luna Darrienia Lovegood, I bequeath all my prized silver trinkets, odds and ends, in the hope that she, like me, can focus her unique imagination and creativity upon her pursuit of true happiness. Luna’s eyes misted over slightly, but she blinked it away. She turned away from the trinkets, and crossed the room to the wardrobe which was on the west wall. She pulled open the pine doors, and rummaged through her clothes, pulling out a blue gypsy skirt, courtesy of Hermione Weasley Nee Granger for Christmas last year, and a white blouse with a bronze coloured eagle fluttering around the fabric, courtesy of Ginny Potter Nee Weasley for her birthday.
Her shoes were the last things to be pulled on; flat and practical, as she would be doing much walking today. Luna would be meeting Ginny, young James II, Hermione and Hannah Longbottom Nee Abbott at The Leaky Cauldron in London, and from there they would be doing some shopping in Diagon Alley. Thinking absently about the meeting, Luna ran a hairbrush through her waist-length scraggly dirty-blonde hair. Luna took care of her morning rituals, and then walked out of her small house, in to the small garden, which she had let get slightly out of control, in order for little creatures to make their little homes there.
Luna looked down the street and spotted Harry out on his lawn, with five-year-old Teddy Remus Lupin, whose blue hair was gleaming in the sunlight. They were kicking a football back and forth between them...or...at least, Teddy was trying to. Harry spotted Luna and waved at her, a large grin on his face. “Have a nice day out, Luna,” he called out. Teddy turned around at the mention of Luna, and waved at her, his hair turning scraggly blonde in an instant. That was an honour, Luna knew, as he only mimicked those he cared for.
Luna waved at them both. “Will do, Harry. Give Teddy some ice cream for being a good boy!”
“Ice cream!” Teddy shouted excitedly, turning his hopeful eyes on Harry, who glowered at Luna, but ultimately gave in.
Smiling dreamily, Luna focused on The Leaky Cauldron and disapparated with a whirl of her gypsy skirt. A soft crack preceded her in to The Leaky cauldron. Once she had found her equilibrium she cast her gaze around the pub. She spotted her friends instantly. A smile on her face, she traipsed over to them and, like always, they welcomed her with open arms. “Oona!!” James II greeted her happily.
“Hello, my favourite little godson,” Luna said as James II reached for her with his small, sturdy arms and a big childish grin on his face.
“He’s your only godson,” Ginny said, laughing.
“All the more reason for him to be my favourite,” Luna replied blithely, taking the little one from Ginny, who more than willingly handed him over. She cuddled James II close, and breathed in the porridge-smell of his hair. She pressed a kiss to his forehead as he wrapped his hands around locks of her hair and began tugging playfully. “Where to, first?”
“Flourish and Blotts,” Hannah, Hermione and Ginny chorused. Luna chuckled and bid them to precede her, while she carried James II. Hannah led them in to the back, and tapped the precise stone to get the passage open. The bricks rolled off to the side, creating the arched entrance in to Diagon Alley. Luna’s close-knit group of friends navigated their way through the throng of people milling about in Diagon Alley, walking past Quality Quidditch Supplies down to Flourish and Blotts, the main bookstore.
Luna looked at James II. “Hey, little man, do you want to go look at all the books with animals in them?!”
“Yah!! Any-moes!!!” James II replied excitedly, hopping up and down in Luna’s arms enthusiastically. “Any-moes!!!” Luna smiled and carried him off to the Magizoology section.
“Unfortunately,” she said quietly him, “they don’t have a section on Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, Nargles, Wrackspurt or Blibbering Humdingers, but they will soon enough, when I can find the proof of their existence. Everyone’s so closed-minded these days. It’s horrible!” She rounded the corner of a large bookshelf, heading for the three-dimensional picture books, but she knocked in to something solid yet organic with force enough to knock her backwards. She pin-wheeled with one arm as she started to overbalance, while keeping her grip on James II with her other arm.
She would have fallen back, but something soft wrapped firmly around her free wrist, tugging her forward. She fell forward instead, cushioned by a chest and a pair of arms. James II giggled wildly. Luna looked up at the person who had caught her, and felt something jolt in her abdomen. She was resting against the torso of a young man! He could not have been more than five feet and ten inches tall, and looked no older than thirty-two. He had spiky black hair, with blue tips, and silver half-moon spectacles resting on the bridge of his nose, bringing attention to his golden brown eyes.
“My apologies,” he said quickly, his voice, like so much crushed silk caressing Luna’s eardrums, “Ms...”
“Uhh...” Luna replied, quite speechless. It was not every day that young men spoke to her like this!
“Oona!” James II helpfully supplied, tugging on a lock of Luna’s hair excitedly.
“Ah...yes!” Luna continued quickly. “Oona...er...Luna!! My name’s Luna. Luna Lovegood.”
The man chuckled and removed his hand from around Luna’s wrist, now that he was certain Luna was not going to fall over again. He took a step back to regain a sense of propriety and this allowed Luna to quickly rake him with her gaze. The young man was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white sweater-vest over a lighter blue shirt. He was lean, rather than stocky, and had a rather book-ish air about him. “I ought to look where I’m going more carefully, in future,” he said. “It’s not right to be scrambling a young lady’s wits because of a little jolt of surprise. It was really very rude of me.”
“No,” Luna said, quick to reassure him, “it’s perfectly alright. I’ve been told I can be in quite a daze when I’m preoccupied. It is I who ought to apologise, Mr...Uh...?”
The young man’s mouth quirked up in to a rather crooked smile as he gazed at her. “Scamander, Ms Lovegood. Ralf Scamander. Who’s this young man, here, may I ask?”
“Ah, this is my godson, James II... Are you really Ralf Scamander? You don’t look anything like the photographs on the University text books for Magizoology, and I have them all,” Luna said, eyeing him, suddenly skeptical.
The man claiming to be Ralf Scamander laughed softly. “Those books were written seven years ago, Ms Lovegood. A lot can change in that time, as I’m sure you recall.”
“Indeed,” Luna replied blandly. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Mr Scamander, but I’m supposed to be showing James the picture books.”
“It’s a pity. I was enjoying our conversation.”
Luna smiled in that dreamy way of hers. “A pity, indeed,” she concurred. “Perhaps we’ll meet again, one day.”
“Of that I have no doubt,” Ralf replied amicably, his smile broadening. Luna smiled and stepped around him, heading towards the books she had meant to visit with James II. However, she could not help but glance back over her shoulder, only to find Ralf was watching her leave. Luna tore her gaze away, face flushing scarlet...
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Summary: One of the many imaginings, bouncing around my head, of the day Luna met Ralf Scamander.
At First Glance
The bedroom was decorated in a particularly quirky fashion; most people thought the inhabitant was quite mad. She was not mad, however, just peculiar. The ceiling and carpet were a pale blue and the walls were painted a rich bronze. On the north wall, opposite the window on the south wall, there were several shelves full of odd trinkets that whizzed and whirred and hiccoughed every other moment. The bedroom was dressed in midnight blue silk sheets and pillows, exquisitely made and soft to the touch.
The small house, which the quirky young woman owned, had been gifted to her, on her seventeenth birthday, by one of her closest friends, Harry Potter – that is to say, four years ago. Harry lived just down the lane, in his parents’ old house, which he had reclaimed and restored to its original state. Fair dues to him, she had, had to admit, even if only within the solitude of her own mind; it had been a long and arduous task for him, but he had completed it, just as he said he would. She admired him for that.
Outside, the sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, setting the snow-covered ground afire with a softly shimmering light. Its pale glow peaked in through the small gap between the pale blue curtains. The pale winter sunshine fell atop the large, luxurious bed, finding the sleeping form of one Luna Darrienia Lovegood. Luna’s nose wrinkled with discomfort as her pale eyebrows dipped in a frown. Mumbling incoherently, she turned over in bed, snuggling in to the pillows shadowed by her head.
She did not want to get up. It was the weekend, and she had gone through an academic week of lectures on Magizoology at University. In other words, she was tired. Across the room one of the trinkets started buzzing, loudly, on the shelves, causing the rest of the items to vibrate to the rhythmic buzzing. She let out a long sigh as her eyelids snapped open, revealing large, pretty silvery grey eyes. She pushed back the sheets, stumbled out of bed, pulling her wand out from under her pillows – she had acquired this habit in her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, when the Carrow Siblings had been “Professors” of “Defence against the Dark Arts” and Heads of Punishment.
Luna flitted across the bedroom, the hem of her nightdress flaring around her ankles, and turned off the alarm with a tap of her wand. For a moment, she stood there, staring at the various trinkets littering the shelves. A faint sad smile graced her face, which normally bore a dreamy expression, as she recalled where exactly these trinkets had come from. These trinkets had once sat in the Headmaster’s Office at Hogwarts, while Albus Dumbledore had been in Office. She had been ever so surprised when, five years ago, the late Rufus Scrimgeour had limped in to her father’s home in Ottery St. Catchpole, bearing Dumbledore’s last Will and Testament.
She could still remember the words Scrimgeour had read from the scroll. To Luna Darrienia Lovegood, I bequeath all my prized silver trinkets, odds and ends, in the hope that she, like me, can focus her unique imagination and creativity upon her pursuit of true happiness. Luna’s eyes misted over slightly, but she blinked it away. She turned away from the trinkets, and crossed the room to the wardrobe which was on the west wall. She pulled open the pine doors, and rummaged through her clothes, pulling out a blue gypsy skirt, courtesy of Hermione Weasley Nee Granger for Christmas last year, and a white blouse with a bronze coloured eagle fluttering around the fabric, courtesy of Ginny Potter Nee Weasley for her birthday.
Her shoes were the last things to be pulled on; flat and practical, as she would be doing much walking today. Luna would be meeting Ginny, young James II, Hermione and Hannah Longbottom Nee Abbott at The Leaky Cauldron in London, and from there they would be doing some shopping in Diagon Alley. Thinking absently about the meeting, Luna ran a hairbrush through her waist-length scraggly dirty-blonde hair. Luna took care of her morning rituals, and then walked out of her small house, in to the small garden, which she had let get slightly out of control, in order for little creatures to make their little homes there.
Luna looked down the street and spotted Harry out on his lawn, with five-year-old Teddy Remus Lupin, whose blue hair was gleaming in the sunlight. They were kicking a football back and forth between them...or...at least, Teddy was trying to. Harry spotted Luna and waved at her, a large grin on his face. “Have a nice day out, Luna,” he called out. Teddy turned around at the mention of Luna, and waved at her, his hair turning scraggly blonde in an instant. That was an honour, Luna knew, as he only mimicked those he cared for.
Luna waved at them both. “Will do, Harry. Give Teddy some ice cream for being a good boy!”
“Ice cream!” Teddy shouted excitedly, turning his hopeful eyes on Harry, who glowered at Luna, but ultimately gave in.
Smiling dreamily, Luna focused on The Leaky Cauldron and disapparated with a whirl of her gypsy skirt. A soft crack preceded her in to The Leaky cauldron. Once she had found her equilibrium she cast her gaze around the pub. She spotted her friends instantly. A smile on her face, she traipsed over to them and, like always, they welcomed her with open arms. “Oona!!” James II greeted her happily.
“Hello, my favourite little godson,” Luna said as James II reached for her with his small, sturdy arms and a big childish grin on his face.
“He’s your only godson,” Ginny said, laughing.
“All the more reason for him to be my favourite,” Luna replied blithely, taking the little one from Ginny, who more than willingly handed him over. She cuddled James II close, and breathed in the porridge-smell of his hair. She pressed a kiss to his forehead as he wrapped his hands around locks of her hair and began tugging playfully. “Where to, first?”
“Flourish and Blotts,” Hannah, Hermione and Ginny chorused. Luna chuckled and bid them to precede her, while she carried James II. Hannah led them in to the back, and tapped the precise stone to get the passage open. The bricks rolled off to the side, creating the arched entrance in to Diagon Alley. Luna’s close-knit group of friends navigated their way through the throng of people milling about in Diagon Alley, walking past Quality Quidditch Supplies down to Flourish and Blotts, the main bookstore.
Luna looked at James II. “Hey, little man, do you want to go look at all the books with animals in them?!”
“Yah!! Any-moes!!!” James II replied excitedly, hopping up and down in Luna’s arms enthusiastically. “Any-moes!!!” Luna smiled and carried him off to the Magizoology section.
“Unfortunately,” she said quietly him, “they don’t have a section on Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, Nargles, Wrackspurt or Blibbering Humdingers, but they will soon enough, when I can find the proof of their existence. Everyone’s so closed-minded these days. It’s horrible!” She rounded the corner of a large bookshelf, heading for the three-dimensional picture books, but she knocked in to something solid yet organic with force enough to knock her backwards. She pin-wheeled with one arm as she started to overbalance, while keeping her grip on James II with her other arm.
She would have fallen back, but something soft wrapped firmly around her free wrist, tugging her forward. She fell forward instead, cushioned by a chest and a pair of arms. James II giggled wildly. Luna looked up at the person who had caught her, and felt something jolt in her abdomen. She was resting against the torso of a young man! He could not have been more than five feet and ten inches tall, and looked no older than thirty-two. He had spiky black hair, with blue tips, and silver half-moon spectacles resting on the bridge of his nose, bringing attention to his golden brown eyes.
“My apologies,” he said quickly, his voice, like so much crushed silk caressing Luna’s eardrums, “Ms...”
“Uhh...” Luna replied, quite speechless. It was not every day that young men spoke to her like this!
“Oona!” James II helpfully supplied, tugging on a lock of Luna’s hair excitedly.
“Ah...yes!” Luna continued quickly. “Oona...er...Luna!! My name’s Luna. Luna Lovegood.”
The man chuckled and removed his hand from around Luna’s wrist, now that he was certain Luna was not going to fall over again. He took a step back to regain a sense of propriety and this allowed Luna to quickly rake him with her gaze. The young man was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white sweater-vest over a lighter blue shirt. He was lean, rather than stocky, and had a rather book-ish air about him. “I ought to look where I’m going more carefully, in future,” he said. “It’s not right to be scrambling a young lady’s wits because of a little jolt of surprise. It was really very rude of me.”
“No,” Luna said, quick to reassure him, “it’s perfectly alright. I’ve been told I can be in quite a daze when I’m preoccupied. It is I who ought to apologise, Mr...Uh...?”
The young man’s mouth quirked up in to a rather crooked smile as he gazed at her. “Scamander, Ms Lovegood. Ralf Scamander. Who’s this young man, here, may I ask?”
“Ah, this is my godson, James II... Are you really Ralf Scamander? You don’t look anything like the photographs on the University text books for Magizoology, and I have them all,” Luna said, eyeing him, suddenly skeptical.
The man claiming to be Ralf Scamander laughed softly. “Those books were written seven years ago, Ms Lovegood. A lot can change in that time, as I’m sure you recall.”
“Indeed,” Luna replied blandly. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Mr Scamander, but I’m supposed to be showing James the picture books.”
“It’s a pity. I was enjoying our conversation.”
Luna smiled in that dreamy way of hers. “A pity, indeed,” she concurred. “Perhaps we’ll meet again, one day.”
“Of that I have no doubt,” Ralf replied amicably, his smile broadening. Luna smiled and stepped around him, heading towards the books she had meant to visit with James II. However, she could not help but glance back over her shoulder, only to find Ralf was watching her leave. Luna tore her gaze away, face flushing scarlet...
The End