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Current location:	Romania
Current mood:	nauseated
Entry tags:	ginny weasley/luna lovegood, november 2007, rating: pg

Fic [HP]: Clinch [1/1]
Clinch
by errata/quimtessence
Harry Potter, PG, Ginny/Luna, 1,193 words, November 18^th 2007
Summary: When Ginny begins receiving innocently-ambiguous messages from someone with an obvious crush, she does what any young woman in her position would do: she runs away to the safety of classes. However, there's more than one way to deliver a letter.
Notes: Quite unlike fiction and war in October, my only other attempt at Ginny/Luna. Both were a great source of fun while writing, though. It's a simple tale as I'm a simple girl. Enjoy. Beta read by kaycee.

x

The owl arrives on the first day of school, delivering a purple envelope with a little pink heart doodled on each side. Ginny opens it, sceptically, looking left and right along the Gryffindor table, her hands moving sluggishly along the parchment. The green slip simply reads: I woke up and thought of you. She pockets the envelope and doesn't think about it again until the following evening at dinner.

The owl is a different one than the day before, which makes Ginny believe that they're school birds. The envelope is bright red and lacking any doodles on its sides. The blue slip inside reads: I thought I saw your name in a book today. Ginny frowns and glances suspiciously up and down the Gryffindor table. Her housemates are chattering loudly and animatedly, digging into their food and unquestionably ignoring her presence. She rereads the sentence a few times at sparse intervals during dinner and twice more before going to bed that night.

When the owl approaches her side of the table, Ginny ducks underneath her chair. It’s a sneaky and unladylike thing to do, but it's too early in the morning to have to deal with lunatic letters. She doesn't dare peek to see what's going on above her, but she hears hushed muttering and the fluttering of wings. She sits cross-legged for twenty minutes, editing minor errors in her Transfigurations essay. When it begins to become dull and late, she snatches her satchel from her chair and on all fours crawls over to the Hufflepuff table before running out of the Great Hall.

Double Ancient Runes with the Ravenclaws is bound to leave her mentally exhausted (and potentially scarred) for the rest of the day. At every given chance, no matter how remote, the Professor emphasises the importance of an O in Runes for anyone seeking a career in Magical Researchand and gapes expectantly at Ginny. They're given two twenty-inch essays, due in a week, which Ginny suspects she won't hand in. She says as much to Vicky Frobisher as they head to their Herbology class.

"I could help you, you know. Um, if you wanted me to, of course," says Luna Lovegood.

Although Ginny isn't entirely convinced that Luna Lovegood is more knowledgeable about Ancient Runes than she is, she accepts the help offered.

"Oh, good. We could meet up in the library tomorrow evening before dinner," she says before running off with a fifth-year Gryffindor Ginny recognises as Jimmy Peakes, who happens to be strolling by on his way to the Astronomy Tower.

"Come on," Vicky says, and Ginny follows her to the greenhouse sullenly.

She expects to be cornered by owls at every turn, but none show up either that evening, or the next day. Ginny muses about going to the library to meet Luna, and she ultimately decides that she will. As she exits the portrait hole, she hears a squeak coming from the vicinity of her left foot before she sees the rat with the yellow envelope in its mouth. It takes great amounts of willpower for her to blink a couple of times, narrow her eyes, and go back inside.

Ginny doesn't go for breakfast in the morning and heads straight to the Gryffindor common room after morning classes finish. She's hungry, but doesn't want to risk anything approaching her with obscure messages anymore.

The last thing she needs is Luna Lovegood standing in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady with a yellow envelope in her hands.

"You?" Ginny asks, snappishly, from the end of the corridor. As she comes nearer, Luna extends her hand, offering the envelope.

'It doesn't make sense' is what is going through Ginny's head, but still she takes the envelope curtly without opening it.

"I couldn't find any more owls," Luna deadpans.

It takes Ginny a little while to wrap her mind around the notion that maybe Luna isn't cracking jokes. She clears her throat and says, "You sent a rat yesterday."

"I lost it, you know."

And that might make sense in Luna's head, but out loud it doesn't, not so much, and it strikes Ginny that Luna can't see that either.

"Will you help me find it?" she carries on.

Luna blinks expectantly at her, but Ginny doesn't have time for this. She is hungry, tired, and overdue with schoolwork. She simply does not have time for this. She tells Luna just that.

"Oh, but I'm sure it must be around here somewhere."

Ginny doesn't bother coming up with an answer. She whispers the password and the Fat Lady moves aside politely.

She doesn't read the letter until later that evening, while eating the small dinner Vicky brought her. She almost drops her fork. She rereads the words at least a hundred times before finally falling asleep.

I've been thinking of you since I saw you, that first day, at the train station. My birthday wish this year is to see you every day, for ever.

The next day, Ginny finds the rat snuggled in a corner near the entrance to the common room. She doesn't know what to do with it, really. She goes down to the Great Hall, but isn't able to spot the dirty blonde head of hair anywhere. She feels ridiculous standing there, hiding a rat in her satchel. When a Ravenclaw girl she isn't acquainted with stops in front of her, Ginny drops the books she was holding in her arms in case the rat got any ideas.

The girl helps her pick them up as she says, "Thank you for finding Ragbert. I thought he'd gone missing for ever."

Ginny takes a second to catch up with the words. When she does, she hurriedly hands the rat over and watches the girl walk away.

The rest of the week she spends intensively in the library. She isn't quite satisfied with her Ancient Runes assignments, although she does write the required length of parchment.

She walks into the classroom and the first person she sees is Luna, sitting three desks across from where Vicky and she sat last time. The Professor arrives before Ginny can get over there, and thoughout the lesson Vicky tells her to hush half a dozen times before Ginny gets the general idea and waits for the class to end.

Somehow, Luna leaves without Ginny realising it. She doesn't see her in the Great Hall that day, or the day after. It's not until a week has passed that Ginny grasps the fact that she hasn't seen Luna for days on end. She still rereads the letters every night before going to bed.

The first weekend of October marks the first trip to Hogsmeade. Ginny writes on Friday afternoon: I want us to visit Honeydukes together. She bites her lip as the school owl flies off.

She receives the reply while she's waiting to depart with the rest of the students third year and up in the form of Luna stopping at her side and smiling shyly. The morning air suddenly seems crisp and fresh as Ginny tentatively reaches out a finger to intertwine with one of Luna's.

x

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