Longing for You - Deamus

I Don't Give A Heck

Luna didn't come back to Hogwarts after Christmas and the effects were widespread. She was one of those people who brought an indescribable positivity that you didn't notice until it was gone. The Ravenclaw table was quieter at meals without the dazed ramblings of Luna's misadventures; the DA was less motivated after having lost a leader; Seamus and Neville felt emptier with the loss of their friend and wondered how it would feel to have your friend die rather than go missing. Ginny, however, was the worst affected.

Her once shiny ginger hair was now matted and dull. Her grades were dropping rapidly and her eyes lost their sparkle. It was as if she were constantly surrounded by dementors and Seamus knew why. The first few weeks without Dean were the worst, it was as if all his happiness had been sucked away with a vacuum and he was grasping at air for any source of Dean. It got easier after that... not easy, but easier. Ginny had lost Harry at the same time and that had clearly been very difficult for her. Since then, things had changed and although Seamus hadn't explicitly asked, it was obvious she was dating Luna. Now Luna was gone too.

He couldn't even imagine it. Having to break up with your boyfriend because he wasn't sure whether or not he would come back alive and then once you had finally found someone else who makes you happy, they disappear without a trace. Horrific.

Seamus wasn't exactly good at dealing with unhappy people but on this occasion he knew he had to because he was really the only person who could properly empathise. Ginny was sat alone in what had recently become her corner of the common room, staring into space. She did that a lot now.

He wandered over and sat in the chair opposite. "Hey."

"Hey." She looked slightly surprised that someone had actually decided to talk to her.

"Um, I'm not going to ask if you're okay because that's a stupid question but I want you to know that if you need someone to talk to, I'm here and I at least kind of get it."

"Thank you. You love Dean don't you?"

"Uh, yeah I think so. I definitely feel very strongly about him."

"I get that. You know, he loves you too. He's never said it, but he does. When I dated him, he was always talking about you. I got the hint and I dumped him but I never realised he still had feelings or that you shared them; if I had I would've told Hermione and we would've set you up."

"I'm starting to realise that maybe I should've told him earlier. I thought he was straight."

"You never know until you ask." She looked happier now that she was actually talking to someone.

"Is that how you ended up with Luna?" He wasn't sure if he should bring it up but he decided that he couldn't ignore the elephant in the room for much longer. "How did that happen?"

"Luna... she was really sweet when Harry left and she supported me through it, I really needed that. But she was the perfect balance of supportive and hilarious, she told me about these crazy adventures and creatures that she'd found with her dad and she was so into it that I started to fall for her. And you know Luna, she can read any emotion – there's no hiding anything from her so she saw it and it turned out she felt the same." Ginny smiled as she rambled on, she clearly really liked Luna.

"What about Harry? We all thought you two were endgame."

"I like Harry, I think maybe in a different situation I could even love him. When I was younger I thought there would be nothing more magical than having The Boy Who Lived fall in love with me but now I think that maybe there's more to life than that. If I'm with Harry, my whole future is planned out. He becomes a top auror, we get married and have 3 kids with stupid, sentimental names, I look after them until they're all at Hogwarts and then I get some boring job in an office or something. I want more than that – I want to do something exciting with my life, I don't want it to be all set out for me from the age of 18.