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Ginny had gone to the room of requirement to cry.
No, not to cry, because crying would mean she cared. She had gone to the Room of Requirement to… compose herself. Yes, that was it.
She hadn’t known where to go, only that she needed to be alone. The Room had provided her with that; a small room with a beanbag chair and plenty of tissues. She wondered how many people had come here before her, after break ups or deaths or simply the regular old struggles of being a teenager at boarding school.
A light knock sounded at the door, breaking the stillness. Ginny had stopped crying a while ago, but for a few tears that still slipped slowly down her cheeks. She hurriedly wiped at her face, embarrassed. She hadn’t thought the Room would let anyone in.
The door opened quietly, and Ginny, looking at the floor, saw a set of pale blue high tops, speckled with paint splatters, stepping into the room as lightly as a qilin.
Luna.
She sat down beside Ginny quietly, adding her own comforting silence to the room. Ginny didn’t want to break down again, but there was something so open about Luna, something that made Ginny feel comfortable leaning her head on her shoulder and letting her emotions fall free in another deluge of tears.
Luna slid an arm around her, stroking her arm gently. She didn’t seem to mind the tears on her overalls, or the fact that Ginny didn’t stop crying for what felt like hours, but was probably less than twenty minutes.
Finally, Ginny pulled away.
“Is there anything you’d like to talk about?” Luna asked, softly, handing her another tissue.
In response, Ginny handed her the parchment, which she’d been holding crumpled up in her fist all this time. It was ragged and ripped in places from her ferocity; she’d been planning to throw it in the fire that night; but Luna unfolded it carefully. She scanned it, mouthing the words, a crease growing on her forehead as she read on.
The letter was from Percy. Ginny had gotten it that morning by owl, though it hadn’t come at the time of the usual post. The moment she’d seen the perfect script in the envelope, she’d ripped it open, led by the small, foolish part of her who still loved her brother, still looked up to him, still remembered how he’d been her favorite, back before he started school, because with Bill and Charlie at Hogwarts he was the only one who could be counted on to always make time for his littlest sibling.
She’d been wrong. She should’ve thrown the letter, envelope and all, straight to the fire. Because Percy hadn’t been writing to apologize. He’d been writing to tell her to avoid Harry and trust Umbridge and be a good, dutiful, quiet girl who the Ministry could count on in ‘these trying times’. It’d been simply salt on the wound he’d left by leaving.
Maybe that one letter wasn’t worth all these tears, but it wasn’t the sole reason Ginny was crying. She was crying because her brother hadn’t been who she’d thought he was, and because she hated him, she really did, and she also couldn’t hate him at all.
She spilled this all to Luna, who didn’t interrupt or move from her spot the whole time she was ranting, and miraculously, Ginny felt better.
“I just miss him,” Ginny finished, “And I wish I didn’t. I shouldn’t miss him; he’s a terrible person!”
“Of course you miss him. He’s your brother, and his betrayal doesn’t simply erase the good times. But you can miss him and not want him back in your life.”
“Of course I don’t want him back in my life! He’s an awful git.”
“My Dad would say there’s bad blood between the two of you, because the love and trust you had went cold. But the hurt won’t last forever.”
Coming from anyone else, Ginny would scoff at these words, but from Luna they were just the balm she needed.
“I’ll be okay,” She murmured, her embarrassment at the whole situation rising up again.
“You will,” Luna agreed, as though there hadn’t ever been any doubt. She leaned closer, and Ginny felt her face heat up in a way that had nothing to do with her prior embarrassment. Her breath seemed to catch in her throat, her mouth parting slightly, instinctively, and then Luna pressed a feather light kiss to her lips, there and gone in a moment.
Luna stood up, but Ginny caught her wrist.
“Wait,”
“Yes?” Luna turned back to her as Ginny stood up, and for a moment she wondered if Luna even knew what she’d just done. Maybe, in Luna’s world, small kisses between friends were perfectly normal. But then she saw the sparkle in Luna’s wide eyes. Luna knew.
“Burn it with me?”
Luna nodded, and together they raised their wands. The letter fell in ashes, scattering across the stone floor like remnants of ghosts.
Maybe someday Percy would come back with an apology and a remorseful show, but for now, and maybe even then, Ginny wanted nothing to do with him,
“Ready?” Luna asked, and held out her hand.
Ginny took it, and they left, the room sealing itself off behind them. She had a feeling she wouldn’t need it again.