Chapter Text
It was a very cold night when the first wave of sadness came over Ginny. She felt weighed down in her soft bed, the blankness of her mind matched the quietness of the dorm she sat in. No one else was awake. This feeling was awful, it was all encompassing, filling her with dread and grief.
She couldn’t even remember if it was a dream she had woken from that had caused her such sadness. She had just woken, and the feeling had washed over her like glacial water, cold and biting.
She needed to get out of this dorm. She needed the fire of the common room. The sheets around her were almost torn off as she clambered from her bed. She felt a girl possessed as her legs took her down the stairs and into the common room.
It didn’t help.
Ginny took a moment to slow her pace into the room, taking in the familiar sights that had shaped her idea of school for the last 5 years. The stupid flags that everyone put up around the place, as if the red and gold didn’t sell the whole ‘Gryffindor Rules’ vibe. WWW posters littered the walls along with miscellaneous notices and advertisements for club meetings and study periods in the library. Nerds. On one of the window sills, there stood Neville’s puss plant or whatever it was called. Luckily it seemed still at the moment, so Ginny was safe from puss explosions… for now.
Then there on the back wall, stood the fireplace, surrounded by the burgundy couches. Hopefully the warmth of the fire would give her solace. She was so cold.
Ginny made her way over to the couches, settling into the soft foam that filled them. But, no matter how close she held her hands to that bright fire, the warmth that it was supposed to bring did not stop her sorrow. Oh God. She just wanted this feeling to stop. Her chest felt as if it was caving in on itself.
Ginny sat there with her hands outstretched towards the fire for what felt like hours. She sat there until her arms ached. She held her arms out ‘till she could not do so any longer. The fire was not helping. Maybe the blankets would help. During the colder months, a basket of blankets is left in the common room with a warming charm placed over them. Ginny has never used them much, but she was immensely grateful for them that night. Although, they only bought a superficial warmth. Her insides still shook with a cold she was now suspecting would not be leaving her for sometime.
She settled into that old couch that she had sat in so many times, but this time, she sat with tired eyes and sad heart.
As she had suspected, when she woke in the early hours of the morning, the coldness had not left her. Luckily it was not late enough for people to be getting up, so no one had seen her pitiful sight.
She quickly climbed up the stairs, wincing at every creak and stopping every so often to listen for any movement in the dorm room. There was no point in going back to sleep, so as she pulled on her uniform, the poor quality of her cloak still making her skin itch, she headed down the stairs once more to start her morning early.
Walking through the quiet halls of Hogwarts was so strange compared to the usual bustling loud that filled the sandstone passageway. But now all that could be heard was her own shoes clopping on the hard ground and the faint tweeting of the morning birds. Ginny thought herself a loud person, but she also found herself enjoying the serenity that this early morning brang.
The walk to the great hall was calming, albeit cold, but Ginny was entertaining herself with imagining what would be for breakfast that morning. Pancakes maybe…
Opening those huge doors would never not be cool. The loud creak that sounded as you crept into the huge hall, announcing your arrival to all in the hall. While the loud sound was usually drowned out by the vigorous chatter that erupts from the room, for early it was, it wasn't surprising that the creak sounded 3x louder.
The moment she entered the great hall she could hear a snicker from the right of her coming from the Slytherin table. Although, the Slytherins have a tendency to snicker at her general existence. That doesn't stop the laughter to put her mood down even more. Ugh
“Ginny! Good Morning! I didn’t think you were one for early starts.” Luna
Thank God. It was Luna, Ginny’s best friend. She was wearing a sweater over her uniform as she usually does, the sleeves scrunched up halfway up her arms. Her usual bangles and eccentric jewelry scattered around her body. Mismatched socks as always. Her hair was out, falling in gorgeous golden waves around her heart shaped face, framing her big blue eyes, and atop her head sat her iconic Spectrespecs. All of it screamed her best friend and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Ugh Loons, am I glad to see you. I missed you yesterday!” It was true, Ginny had missed her. But to say she just ‘missed’ Luna would be a gross understatement. Her world is so boring without Luna. Perhaps that was what was causing her sadness, a lack of Luna exposure.
“I also missed you Gin… my day was ever so boring without you. The amount of wackspurts that buzzed around my ears without my favourite deterrent was horrible!”
They kept up the miscellaneous chatter as they walked over to their spot on the Gryffindor table. Once they sat down, Luna suddenly cut off her chatter about a new fantastical creature she was writing about in the newest edition of the Quibbler and turned to Ginny with a very serious expression.
“Ginny. There is something terribly wrong with you.”
What.
“How-... What do you mean Loons… Am I sick? Do you know what's wrong with me?”
Luna shook her head, “No, no. Ginny, you have the worst case of nargles I have seen in all of my many years. This is serious. Oh Gin, are you alright? Do your feet look like they are facing in the wrong directions? Or were all your uniforms different colours this morning?”
“What…”
Luna sat there staring into Ginny’s eyes, she was serious.
“No Loons, I just… Just feeling a little down this morning, no crazy business.”
Luna took a breath, eyes still trained on Ginny’s face, then she swung her legs under the Gryffindor table and started on her usual chatter.
If Ginny was honest she didn’t understand half the words that poured out of her best friend's mouth. Whether that was because it was mostly gibberish or the fact that she was too busy focusing on how her pink lips stood against her pale skin… she didn't know.
If Ginny was going to be even more honest, she would tell you that she is probably definitely maybe in love with Luna Lovegood.
And if the time waiting for Neville to arrive that morning was spent memorising every single dot of freckles upon Luna’s face, that was neither here nor there.