Looney (Luna Lovegood x Fem Reader)

Chapter 40: Daydreams

After we came back from spring break, the school year was almost over. This meant that everyone started stressing about their NEWTs and OWL exams, and the Romeo and Juliet shows were rapidly approaching. Cedric, Rory, Luna, and I spent more time in the theater rehearsing than anywhere else, and although it could all be exhausting sometimes, there was no place I'd rather be. Sometimes we'd spend all day and all night together; rehearsing, studying, eating, sleeping. On more than one occasion I'd spent the night someplace that wasn't my room, whether it was Luna's dorm or the common room couch or even the theater. Once I'd fallen asleep on the windowseat in Rory's room after rehearsing his lines with him for hours. It was busy, yes, but it was wonderful.

"I heard we're getting our costumes today," Luna said to me as we walked down to rehearsal one day.

"Really?" I reply. "I can't wait to see what mine looks like. I've seen some of the drawings they've done and they were really good."

"Whose did you see?"

"I'm not sure, it was one of the boys. I'm sure ours will look just as good, though." I can't recall how long ago we were first measured for costumes, it's got to be a few months ago at this point. Given that it's taken so long to make them all, I was really hoping that they'd turned out as beautiful as I'd imagined them to be. In my head, I wore a long gown with wide sleeves, along with the crown of flowers that Cedric had given me for Christmas. It was something I daydreamed about quite often, as I knew that I would have different dresses for all the different scenes.

I also daydreamed about my final exams (it was less "daydreaming" and more "panicking", honestly) and helping Luna, Cedric, and the twins as they studied for their OWLs. The boys had a tendency to mess around instead of getting any real work done, but Luna was the exact opposite. She would stay awake almost every night and study until the sun rose, and by the time I woke up in the morning she could barely keep her eyes open. Some nights it took nearly an hour to convince her to get some sleep.

But every once in a while there was a day when there was no rehearsal, no classes, no need to study until our eyes went square. If it was nice out, the lot of us might run around the fields out behind the castle, and Luna and Cora and I might braid little wildflowers into each others' hair like we'd once done when we were Cora's age. Sometimes I wish I could travel back in time to then, when my biggest worry in all the world was my silent crush on Luna.

Everything was so much simpler then.

"Earth to Y/n?" Rory asks, waving his hand in front of my face. Only then do I realize that we're in the theater, and I've zoned out again. I finally snap out of my trance and swat his hand away.

"What?" I snap, and it comes out more harsh than I expected. He looks just as surprised as I feel.

"Don't kill me," he said, "I was just asking if you had plans for tonight. We were planning on hanging out in Ced's room, maybe raiding the kitchen too."

"I'm not sure," I said, "Love you all, but I really need to get some sleep."

"I said the same thing," Luna added. "Studying for your OWLs is quite tiring, actually."

"Not for me," Cedric laughed, and I turned around to glare at him.

"Maybe because you're serenading your plant collection instead of actually studying," I suggest. Rory stifles a laugh, and Ced suddenly looks embarrassed.

"I'll have you know that plants grow better with music, and I can't have them all dying now," he protested.

We laugh about stupid things like that until it was time to get our costumes, which everyone was ecstatic about. Naturally, Rory and I were prioritized because of our roles, and Professor Burbage dumped a pile of dresses into my arms, with the scene names labeled on the coat hangers that stuck out of the collars and left me to figure out the rest. I left to go find someplace to change, and I find one of the dressing rooms backstage to be unlocked.

I try on the dress that had the "pilgrims hands" label on the hanger, and it was red and gold with a cape, puff sleeves, and a high neckline. It fit perfectly, thank Gods, and there were gold ribbons tied to the hanger that I assumed would be braided into my hair. Then there was a plain nightgown that would be worn for the balcony scene and the impromptu wedding scene, along with the scene where Juliet would fake her death. For the scene of the funerals, my wishes of a long gown with wide sleeves were granted, and it looked so good on me that I almost didn't want to take it off. I hope this'll give me an excuse to finally wear Ced's crown of flowers and really make my daydreams come true.

I'd gotten changed back into the dress I'd wear for the first scene (which was plain yellow) and I was on my way out of the dressing room when I ran smack into Luna, who was just as startled as I was.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't see you," she said. It took us both a minute to process that the other was in costume, but once we realized we smiled at each other. She wore a plain linen dress with a brown apron over it, and a white cap on her head. It wasn't terribly flamboyant like a few of my dresses were, and I'd never seen her wear something so devoid of bright colors, but she looked wonderful just the same.

"Nice costume," I said as I took her hand, and her face lit up.

"You like it?" she asked, looking down at her skirt.

"You could have walked out wearing a rubbish bag and you'd still look beautiful," I remind her. She kisses my face and walks into the dressing room, and I realize she's got another more colorful dress in hand that I assumed was for the ballroom scene. As I walked back to the theater to meet up with the rest of the cast and start the rehearsal, I let myself start daydreaming about Luna. Surprisingly, that was something I hadn't done in a while.

"Places, places!" I hear Flitwick shout once everyone had changed into their costumes. They all looked amazing, and this was only the beginning of the show.

And as I stood backstage to watch the chorus sing the opening song, I saw Rory smile at me from the wings from the other side of the stage. It was hard to imagine the end of something I'd become so accustomed to.

Dear Reader,

Hii this chapter is kinda short and we're nearing the end of this lil fanfic thingy! I have the rest of the chapters and the epilogue drafted up and ready to work on, so there's that...also, my quarantine ends tomorrow so I can go back to school and get back into my normal schedule which is also something I'm really looking forward to! Thank you guys for being patient and bearing with me, love you all sm!! Until next time...

XOXO,
Frankie :)