Begin Again

A Foreseeable Future

Marriage is a big thing for me. Well, for everyone, I suppose. But it's just... I've never really considered it. I mean, for the time that Harry and I have been together, I've never doubted that we have a future. But marriage? Kids? For some reason it makes me anxious. The weight of "commitment" is overpowering.

And I'm only  seventeen. And Hermiones's eighteen. Yet she has it completely together. She's engaged, and I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if she knows exactly how many children she wants and what she'll name them. First and middle names.

I can't understand why I'm so bothered by this. It's not that big of a deal that I don't have my "big life plan" set in stone. And I should be happy for Ron and Hermione. I should be excited I'm going to be Hermione's maid of honor.

But all the news of Ron and Hermione's engagement does is make me stressed.

So I try to get my mind off things. When Luna Lovegood invites me to her house, I jump at the oppurtunity.

I Apparate to Ottery. St. Catchpole, the village where the Lovegoods live nearby, not far from The Burrow. It's a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The Lovegood's house is impossible to miss. It stands by itself on a hillside just outside of Ottery St. Catchpole. It's a great big house that resembles a large, black rook, and three hand-painted signs stuck to the gate: "The Quibbler. Editor: X. Lovegood", "Pick Your Own Mistletoe", and "Keep Off the Dirigible Plums."

I open the gate and walk up the zigzag path that leads to the front door. The path is framed with peculiar, overgrown plants- mostly Snargaluffs. Only the Lovegoods would have a garden full of dangerous, flesh-eating plants... I knock on the door twice and it bursts open, revealing a grinning, glowing Luna Lovegood. She throws her arms around me excitedly.

"Ginny! I knew you were coming!"

"Of course I was," I say, confused. "You invited me."

"I know," she says, pulling me inside and shutting the door behind us. "But I saw it. I knew."

"Oh, of course you did," I reply, pretending to go along with her "vision". I'm not particularly taken aback by it. What else would one expect from Luna Lovegood?  And she's got her radish earrings on.

"Is your father home?" I ask, following her into the kitchen.

"He's at the office," she says. "The latest issue of The Quibbler comes out tomorrow, so he's quite busy."

"Ah," I say, and nod. Luna pulls out a chair for me at the kitchen table and gestures for me to sit down.

"Tea?" she asks.

"Please."

She fills a kettle with water and puts it on the stove. I think it's nice she doesn't do it with magic. Sometimes that's nice.

"While we're waiting, you should let me read your palm," says Luna, sitting across from me. "I'm getting quite good at it."

"Why not?" I say, amused. Leave it to Luna to pounce on any fortune-reading opportunity

She takes my right hand and studies it very carefully in silence. Then she looks up at me.

"You have a very short love line," she says, her doe-eyes wide and knowing.

"Erm," I say, unable to respond.

"Wait one second," she says, leaving the room. I hear her run up the stairs. She returns after a minute, carrying a crystal ball. She sets it down on the table and brushes a thick layer of dust off of it in my direction, which makes me sneezes.

"Sorry," she says, somewhat absentmindedly, and stares into the crystal ball.

Then she looks at me and studies me carefully.

"What?" I ask. It comes out more vulnerable-sounding than I intended.

"I see conflict and struggle. You're going to become unhappy, unsatisfied. Whatever relationship you're in is going downhill, and it's not going to last long," she says in her silvery voice, then pauses, tilting her head and giving me a questioning look. "Who are you seeing, anyway?"

My lips tremble. My heart pounds.

The kettle starts to whistle.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for reading! Sorry I haven't been as active, I know I promised you guys weekly chapters but school has a tendency to demand all my time. Anyway, if you guys enjoyed, give this chapter a vote!

Also, leave a comment telling me your favorite Hogwarts professor/ghost/staff member. I have a soft spot for Moaning Myrtle, kinda...

xoxo, Zoe