Ambiguous Aberrations

Chapter 2

Somewhere in Ottery St. Catchpole sat a girl in a house that looked liable to blow away any second had it not been held up with magic. The tiny redhead sighed, her brows furrowed as she looked around dispassionately at the cluttered room. She had been trying to write to her 'friend' but wasn't sure if he even remembered her. Or maybe he was ignoring her and her father was right all along, but the small rebellious part inside of her refused to accept that because the other small childish part of her wanted it to be true that she could make a friend who wasn't a family friend - not that Luna was a bad friend or anything.

"I wonder if there's a wrackspurt in your ear," Luna thought out loud dreamily, her eyes looking off somewhere in space, but her words were directed towards Ginny. "You look a bit lost today, and wrackspurts tend to make your brain a bit fuzzy."

Yeah, that was Luna. Sweet, but a little weird.

"Ginny!" A red-headed boy shouted, running down the rickety stairs that were miraculously still holding up. "Where did you put Scabbers?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, leaning back in her chair and folding her half-finished letter before her nosy brother could read it. "I didn't put Scabbers anywhere, Ron. Try looking for him underneath your bed. He's probably so starved that he's willing to eat the months-old food that you've stashed under there under your smelly socks."

"What did I ever do to you?" Ron asked wearily, rubbing his temples as if his few brain cells were waging a war inside, which, knowing her idiotic brother, was probably a pillow fight. He honestly wasn't much of an idiot, but in a large family like the Weasleys, everyone had a slightly exaggerated label, and that was Ron's.

"Exist," Ginny said nonchalantly. "Among other things, but I wasn't sure if you wanted the chronological list or the alphabetical one."

The tips of Ron's ears grew red and he stumbled back up the stairs, unable to think of a retort. Ginny sighed, spinning her pencil in her fingers, muttering a curse word her mom would have scourgified her for under her breath when it fell. Sometimes, it was a bit too easy to rile her brothers up, and she did want a challenge. So, she was excited to attend Hogwarts, which would be full of a bunch of ignorant students who would never expect what she had in store for them. But it was also to make a name for herself instead of being one of the many Weasleys.

So maybe she was a bit more like her older twin brothers than her immaculate even older brother... but it didn't matter. Especially since she was the only girl and the youngest, meaning she got away with everything. Again, a little too easy.

Just then, a very sleepy Harry came down the stairs slowly, holding the railing with one hand while the other rubbed at his green eyes. Ginny immediately straightened up a bit and tried not to look at his adorably tousled dark hair, but it was close to impossible not to.

"Oh, Harry!" Ginny's mom came from the kitchen, an apron tied around her waist even though she only ever cooked with magic. "You're awake. Come, come. I made some pancakes."

Harry flushed. "Thanks, Mrs. Weasley, but I'm not really that hungry."

"Oh, don't be silly. I already arranged your plate."

Ginny watched with amusement as Harry tried to come up with a way to say that he wasn't hungry, but then averted her gaze when his eyes spun to look at her. She tilted her head so her bright red hair would hide equally colourful cheeks.

"You should ask him out, you know," Luna told Ginny, sounding a bit far away in her little world. "Or at least tell him."

"I think he knows," Ginny mumbled, trying to hide her embarrassment. After how much she seemed to stumble around him and whatnot, her huge crush was no secret. She was still embarrassed from when she squealed and ran away upon seeing him in her house, and was pretty sure Ron had exposed her.

"Anyway," Ginny said, changing the subject. "I'm excited about school; aren't you? Ooh, what subject are you looking forward to the most?"

Luna froze in her act of brushing out her pale strands with her fingers. "Not anything that has to do with casting spells," she said softly, not meeting Ginny's eyes as to hide the grief in hers, but Ginny still took her best friend's hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

Although Luna didn't talk about it much, or at all, Ginny knew how traumatic her childhood was. Luna watched her mom die in front of her very own eyes two years ago after casting a spell gone wrong, and she was forced to live with her dad, who although sweet and very lovely, had gone a bit weird after the accident. It was as if without his wife to rein him in, he had gone just a bit over the edge—more than he already was, at least.

"Welllllll," Ginny said, drawing out the syllable. "What about your house?

"Ravenclaw," Luna said immediately. "I mean, it sounds really interesting, I think?" She turned to Ginny but still gazed into a space right next to Ginny's bright red hair. "My dad said that there's a lot of nargles in Ravenclaw. Imagine if I could capture one."

"That would be cool," Ginny laughed, happy that her eccentric friend was a bit distracted from the looming topic. And truth be told, Luna was insightful, so she would do good in Ravenclaw.

"What about you?" Luna asked, childishly tilting her head. Of course, they were children, only 11, Luna being about half a year older. It didn't feel like that sometimes, but then again, all little kids like to imagine they're older than they are, only to regret it as the moon that is their life begins to wane and then wax.

Ginny gulped, drumming her fingers on the table and stopping before the nervous habit could get her in trouble with her mom. "I mean, Gryffindor."

Luna shook her head. "But you want to be in Slytherin. You'd fit better in Slytherin."

Ginny's eyes widened. "Be quiet!" She hissed at Luna, glancing around before leaning in, trying to ignore the fact that she had never told her that - once again another reason she was intuitive. "Look, if I got into Slytherin, I would be an outcast. I can't deal with that." And Harry would never like a Slytherin.

Luna pouted. "Your parents are nice. I mean, I can just see warples following them, and they only do that to very kind people."

Ginny forced a smile. "It isn't just that, Luna."

"And if Harry doesn't like you because you're in a rival house, that doesn't make sense," Luna continued, not bothering to lower her voice. "I mean, my dad said that-"

Ginny stopped her before she could go further and dragged her up the stairs into her room, her cheeks still flushed.

"Please don't say anything," she begged Luna. "You know Ron and Harry are best friends, and if Ron gets any more proof, he'll never stop tormenting me." Even the thought of future embarrassment made Ginny want to crawl into a hole and die.

Luna shrugged. "Okay, but I don't get what's so bad about Slytherin. I think some of my distant relatives are all Slytherins."

Ginny gave her best friend a weary smile, having learned a long time ago to not take anything Luna said into consideration. "Whatever, Luna. Come on; let's go eat some pancakes."

(D/N: I hate how the movies ruined the Weasleys and actually made Luna SANE. They deserve to be sent to Azkaban in a cell with Umbridge)

(R/N: No FR tho. I mean, we love Luna because she's LUNA.

How was the chap? Please vote and comment because I know that neither of us want to lose motivation for this story.

And Happy New Years!!! It's 2024 when this publishes - which is so hard to believe)