Weirdly Wonderful

"Look, it's Harry Potter's girlfriend! Give us an exposé, Weasley, a ballpark of size is all we want-"

Ginny cut the boy in her year off with a look; it was a special sort of look, one she'd perfected over the years of dealing with arrogant men, and its notoriety among her friends and family and, quite frankly, year, normally saved her the irritation of dealing with situations such as the one she was currently in.

The gang dispersed in silence to let her pass, and she did, slicing through their numbers without so much as another glance in anyone's face. Her limbs were aching from hours of solo practice on the pitch, a sheen of sweat glistening on her pale, tired skin, and her hair was knotted in what could only be described as a rat's nest of an up-do. She didn't envy anyone who had to interact with her mud coated, irate self, but she was also far from caring. Lately she had other things on her mind beside her appearance.

Harry. Harry Potter. Yes, it was nice to be envied for once. Nice to think that after years of having nothing Ginny finally had something that others wanted; the boy who lived, the chosen one, yadda yadda yadda. And he was alright, really. He looked fine, they got along fine personality wise, and it made sense, she'd known him for years, trusted him, it pissed Ron off, everything fit together like a puzzle that at the end read DATE HIM.

Something was off, though. Not quite right.

Shaking her head to clear it, Ginny approached the Fat Lady and provided the password - fizzy flower - before entering the Gryffindor common room. It was dinner time and a Saturday, so she looked forward to a mostly empty room and a definitely empty dorm. Indeed, upon entering a sigh of satisfaction escaped her. No one there at all. All she needed was to kick off her boots and robes and cut through the secret corridor that appeared if you tapped the right stones behind the right tapestry - a passageway to the showers everyone is clued in on when they start their sixth year.

She climbed the steps up to her room two at a time and burst through the door without looking up, leaping onto her bed and groaning into the sheets.

"Long day?"

Ginny knew that voice well.

Scrambling upright, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and grinned at Luna Lovegood, her eyes fluttering nervously away as they always did when Luna entered a room. It was nerve inducing, was why, to be around someone so different. The girl had an aura about her that Ginny didn't see in anyone else.

"Luna. How'd you - what are you doing here?"

Luna hopped off the window sill she'd been sitting on and sat by Ginny on her bed. "Waiting for you."

The Weasley became acutely aware of her filthy, sweaty person. "Did we have plans?"

"No."

Now that the initial shock of seeing her had worn off, Ginny saw that the blue eyeliner around the girl's eyes had smudged, and her normally tranquil expression was carved with a sad smile. A lion of rage immediately reared its head in Ginny's chest. Her voice was scarily calm when she spoke. "What did they do, Luna."

A breathy laugh escaped the blonde, and her fingers began to mess with a loose strand in Ginny's sleeve. "I don't really mind, I never mind. Normally. But it was - my father's magazine, you see, and he works really," her voice shook slightly on that word, and Ginny's lion did a backflip. "Really hard, actually, to make it, and..."

Her voice trailed away. Ginny didn't bother asking what had happened; anytime she heard or saw it, it only made her more furious. She could picture it. Perhaps they'd torn the pages out and used the scraps to write a lurid message on the bathroom walls. Maybe they'd bought a whole case simply to charm the letters to rearrange themselves into pornographic scenarios, then spread the issue around.

"I'll kill them," Ginny's voice broke as she jumped to her feet. "Who was it? I'll fucking tear them apart."

Luna shook her head. Placing a warm hand around Ginny's wrist, she gently pulled the girl back to her side, then leaned her head on Ginny's shoulder. Ginny's heart leaped. She'd stopped questioning why her heart did that whenever Luna touched her a while ago. It seemed as pointless as asking how the universe had started; it did somehow, and now we're here, so what does it matter? Probably Ginny just felt fiercely protective over the girl who seemed up against the world. It never ceases to amaze her how a bunch of witches and wizards could be so critical of someone for going against the norm. Yes, Ginny just saw her as - a sister. Still, sometimes Ginny thought things would be so much simpler if Harry made her heart leap like that.

"Maybe I am weird," Luna breathed, barely audible over the rain that had started to beat against the window.

"The only weird thing about you, Luna, is how weirdly wonderful you are."

The Ravenclaw raised her head and looked at Ginny. Really, really looked at her. "Genuinely?"

"Yeah." the redhead responded. "Very genuinely."

A moment of silence, then. Luna reached an elegant hand up to pull the loose strand of hair from before, which had wrestled free again, behind Ginny's ear. Her palm lingered on her cheek, and her thumb just barely traced the line of Ginny's mouth. Ginny saw her own pulse burst out and jump from the window.

Then the moment was over and Luna was on her feet, laughing as she usually did, her white dress spinning as she whirled around. "I should go."

"Oh, y- yeah," Ginny stood as well, looking around awkwardly. "I'm due for a scorching bath, anyway."

Luna turned and left, vanishing behind the door. A breath that Ginny didn't realise she was holding released, and she couldn't shake a feeling of inexplicable disappointment. Walking over to the window, she looked out past the floods of water coming down, up at the clouds, and tried to think about Harry.

A chill came over her as she felt the presence of someone behind her, but it faded, replaced with a thrill of heat when she turned to see Luna. "Did you-"

Luna closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to Ginny's, tangling her hands in the other girl's hair.

Ginny didn't hesitate a second before kissing her back.