Between the Lines

"Ronald Billius Weasley." The name is like a pudding on her lips, like something not quite tangible.

"Er.. Luna?" Ron is a little confused, and a lot curious.

"It's a lovely day today, wouldn't you concur?" Luna takes a casual seat, mid air. Ron peers outside and finds that it is not, as it would seem, a lovely day.

However, that would depend on one's personal definition of "lovely".

"Luna, what are you doing?" he opts for instead, watching her recline in the middle of the hallway, "two and a half minutes before the lunch bell," as she tells him knowledgeably. He had been walking down the hall, considering his lunch options, and dodging the singing mistletoe.

"I, Ronald, am finding the best position in which to sit. I have been experiencing some rather dire problems with my lower back, lately." She rubs it, just for emphasis, before making herself comfortable. "Care to join me?" She gestures to the air at her side.

Ron frowns. "Whatever would I do that for?"

Luna doesn't answer immediately, and takes a quill from behind her ear, whispers some words to it, and begins writing in the air: Pause.

"Whatever would you not do that for, Ronald? I do not bite. At least, I do not think I do." She looks really rather deadly serious and Ron frowns again, hating this feeling of confusion.

"Who are you, Ron Weasley?" And Ron thinks this is a rather pointless question and shakes his head with a half smile and starts walking away.

But before he can think it through, before the bell rings, and before he reaches the doors to the Great Hall, he turns his head and flings, "A Gryffindor," over his shoulder.

***

The next day, Ron is walking down the same hallway, this time "three and two quarter minutes before the lunch bell," and is met with the sight of Luna already mounted on her invisible chair.

"Remind me again, Ronald, who are you?"

Ron doesn't know what she's talking at first, but then realization dawns on him.

"Oh.. erm.. A Gryffindor?" He wonders why he hasn't moved on, and why Luna's eyes are so wide.

"I am a Ravenclaw." It's a statement. Not a question, not a confirmation, not an affirmation, just a simple fact.

Ron doesn't know how to respond, so he doesn't say anything and instead looks out the window. The sun is shining, if not as brightly as it could, and somewhere a bird is singing.

"Awful weather, this is," Luna says sadly, scratching her nose. "Shouldn't be out." Ron opens his mouth to ask her what she is on about, then thinks better of it.

"How do you levitate yourself like that, Luna?" he asks instead.

There is a long silence as she fingers her butterbeer cap necklace, and Ron is about to walk off again when she answers, "Would you care to join me?" She cracks her knuckles and worries her lip.

"I asked you how to do it, Luna, not to join you. And how could I join you if I don't know how to do it?" Ron is confused. Again.

"You don't really need to know. It's all a matter of bravery." She whips out her wand again and writes, idly, as though nothing is stopping her: For.

Ron walks away as the bell rings.

***

This is the third day in a row, and Ron wonders about his incapability to take a different route to the bloody Hall, but not for long, because Luna is talking.

"...and a third minutes until-"

"-the lunch bell rings, I know, Luna." And he does, because he checked. God knows why, though. Today he leans against the wall, opposite her.

"I think there's going to be a storm," she says. Ron can't see a cloud.

"Right."

"Or wrong. Or left. Or down, or up, or maybe, or was that a rhetorical answer?" Luna doesn't wait. "Why are you a Gryffindor, Ronald Weasley?"

And Ron is a little stunned. "Er.. I.."

"I mean," she says, cutting through his stammering, "What traits do you possess that make you a Gryffindor?" She wiggles in her comfort seat, today in front of a picture of footsteps in some snow, and he stops spluttering to think.

"For my loyalty?" he tries, even though he knows it's part of it.

"And your bravery?" she questions.

Ron cocks his head to the side, remembering yesterday. "I suppose, maybe. I'm not really brave though."

Luna could disagree with this, but she has something to prove here, and besides, her nail polish isn't the right colour today to launch into explanations.

"Do you want to be brave?" It's clear and ominous and wow-ish in the empty hall, with only two and a bit minutes left.

"It's not really something I've thought about," he admits slowly, and Luna scoffs.

"Would you care to join me?"

Ron is ready for it. "Teach me." She can't get out of that one.

"I can't, really. You have to be brave." She takes out her quill: Thought. "Are you brave, Ronald Weasley?"

"I'm up for it," he says, puffing out his chest, lest she think him sissy, and blushes when he realises the double meaning, even though she doesn't.

"So sit with me," she says finally, gesturing vaguely to the air beside her and producing a box of Bertie's Beans.

Ron tries, he really does. He turns around, like he's seen Luna do, shifts a little, bites his lips, closes his eyes, and sits.

..And falls straight on his bum.

"Bloody-!"

"No need for profanities, Ronald."

But he's already walking away, shamefaced.

***

Ron doesn't turn up for another week, but when he does, Luna is waiting.

"I'm in Ravenclaw because even though I don't act bravely, or look cunning, or do stupid things, I'm smart. I have flaws, and unlike people from other houses, I'm proud to admit them. I am eccentric, my methods of living are not always orthodox, and I am persistent.

"I am not too proud to admit my faults, or too caught up in scheming to notice I'm doing things I shouldn't be, nor do I take part in the thoughtless follies of teenage life.

"You were not brave, only wished to make a statement, and your mind wasn't focused. And for this, I have evaluated that you most certainly are not brave."

And that's that. Ron doesn't comment on the strangled voice that Luna has adopted and she says nothing about the careless blush etched in his freckle-ridden cheeks.

Ron knows he has something to prove.

***

It's the day before everybody comes back to school, and just as Ron predicted, or perhaps anticipated, Luna is there.

"Before you say anything, Ronald, and before the last snowflake has melted in the depths of the forest, I want to say something. I am a Ravenclaw, and I am smart, which is a quality, and I am persistent, and it's a flaw, but I still have my dignity."

Ron understands and holds up his wand, smiling. He has something to prove.

"I am a Gryffindor, and I am loyal and brave, and those are qualities, but I also find it hard to admit defeat, and that's a flaw, but I still have determination."

There is a long pause and nothing moves, and everything is peaceful, apart from where Luna is making it otherwise, between the lines.

"I am brave," Ron insists, his voice miniscule.

Luna smiles, and everything is clear and bright again, including her eyes. Ron notices, but he doesn't admit it, especially not to himself.

"Would you care to join me?" Luna gestures awkwardly to the air beside her, and Ron grins.

"Don't mind if I do."