InsaneJournal

Fic: Daisy Chains and Stars Inside, Harry/Luna, R
Title: Daisy Chains and Stars Inside
Author: foreword
Disclaimer: The characters and world, they are not mine. :((
Pairing: Harry/Luna
Warnings: Mention of HBP scene.
Rating: I hate to make it R just for the last line, but I suppose I should.
Summary: Luna takes him into her world.
A/N: For tarie's Flip-Flop Challenge.

It's a bit weird, I think. Thank you to cloudsuring for the quick beta. :D



Harry made his way back to Slughorn’s Christmas party, his heart hammering an awkward rhythm in his chest. He wasn’t sure why he’d come back, except something in the back of his mind told him he ought to.

But now that he was here, surrounded by people like McLaggen and Zabini, it seemed like a dumb choice. He turned to leave, and Luna wandered up to him, appearing as if from nowhere and looking surprised at being here, herself. It made Harry grin in spite of himself.

“Is it my turn yet?”

Harry frowned. “Your turn for what?”

Luna shrugged. “My dramatic exit. I’m a bit late, of course, but I thought it would be rude to interrupt yours. And Professor Snape didn’t seem too keen on sharing his.”

Harry laughed, a feeling of guilt gnawing at the depths of his stomach even as he smiled.

“We could go together, maybe.”

She nodded solemnly, linking arms with Harry and together they made their way out into the hallway. Luna turned to him with a smile, patting his arm absently. “Well, that was lovely.”

And then she was wandering down the hallway, in the vague direction of Ravenclaw. Harry wasn’t sure what caused him to shout after her – probably the same thing that was now propelling him to catch up with her.

She didn’t look surprised, taking his hand without a word as they turned abruptly, no longer headed anywhere Harry recognised. Luna smiled, her eyes fixed on the ceiling that Harry knew was blank. He glanced at her, her gaze still fixated above them.

“What do you see?”

Luna stared at him in surprise. “The stars. Don’t you see them?”

Harry shook his head, frowning as he looked back up, his mouth dropping open at the realisation that several miniscule sparkles brought him.

Luna nodded in a professional manner before releasing Harry’s fingers and opening a door he hadn’t noticed.

The first thing that caught his eye was the endless expanse of black sky, sprinkled with stars. He couldn’t imagine that such a place had existed within the castle all these years without his knowledge.

“How did you find this place?”

“You showed me.”

Harry looked around for Luna, finding her sitting in what appeared to be a field of daisies, making chains. There was an ocean somewhere in the distance but the beach was sandless, made of something which looked suspiciously like butterbeer corks. Luna, apparently, had been following his gaze. She wrinkled her nose as she placed a crown atop her head, standing to do the same for Harry.

“Seitches live in sand. It’s not safe.”

The butterbeer corks, paired with Luna’s earlier statement, had got Harry thinking.

“This is the Room of Requirement?”

Luna shrugged. “I call it Bob.”

Harry hadn’t heard this part, his mind still processing what he’d just learned.

“But … I know this place. We weren’t anywhere near it and I’ve never seen that hallway…”

Luna gazed up at him, reaching up to straighten his crown.

“We should make your glasses out of these. Much harder to possess, you know.”

Harry blinked.

Luna was undeterred by this, her own crown slipping down over one eye, and Harry seemed to realise for the first time that she’d put the flowers on his head, too. This made him smile, and his hand slipped into hers again.

“Do you like swimming, Harry?”

“Er.”

Luna nodded matter-of-factly.

“You’re right, it’s very dangerous. Look.”

And Harry did, watching in fascination as the water turned to stone and back again, a strange-looking fish leaping over the water with each change.

“It’s very difficult to swim like that.”

Harry nodded. He imagined it was, and it wouldn’t surprise him one bit if Luna had tried.

She kissed him then, and Harry understood, the waves crashing like a distant avalanche, daisies tickling his face.

The flowers felt itchy but good against their skin and Harry was surprised they hadn’t tried this earlier as they peeled off their clothes absentmindedly, lying side by side and watching the stars dance above them. Luna picked flowers carefully from around them, murmuring things to their yellow faces as she slowly covered Harry with daisies. When she had finished, she told him he was the prettiest of them all, and he swore he wouldn’t tell the others as they fell from him and he fucked her under the stars.