AN: Prompts will be displayed at the bottom to avoid them potentially giving away things.

queen of my castle

AlwaysPadfoot

age seven

Luna was a little weird, but Ginny was entranced.

She had first met Luna in the park of St Catchpole estate.

The sky was a dull grey. Luna's white-blonde hair was a stark contrast against it as Ginny looked up at her. She was sat atop the roof of the climbing frame, eating a banana and staring off into the distance.

No one seemed to care she was up there either. There was a handful of people around — mums with screaming toddlers mainly — but none of them appeared to be Luna's mum. If the situation was reversed, Ginny knew if her Mum were there, she'd be shouting at her to get down before she fell and broke an arm. Luckily, her mum was upstairs and you couldn't see the park from the flat.

Ginny cocked her head slightly and cleared her throat. "How did you get up there?"

"I flew."

Luna spoke with her mouth full of banana.

Scowling, Ginny knew that wasn't true. People couldn't fly. Luna must have climbed up there somehow.

"You're Ginny Weasley, aren't you?" Luna said.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"I'm in the other year two class — Mrs Dobson's class."

Now that Ginny thought about it, Luna's face was familiar. She'd seen Luna in the playground — a face amongst the whole population of Ottery Primary School. She would know who to look out for now.

"Come sit with me, Ginny Weasley."

Ginny managed to climb up on the roof of the climbing frame beside Luna. The blonde girl snapped off a chunk of her banana and offered it to Ginny, who reluctantly took it. Sat side by side, Ginny observed that the girl had wide blue eyes with little flecks in them that sparkled when the light caught them. She talked about things that Ginny had only heard in fairy tales. Ginny couldn't tear her eyes away.

age nine

"Three, two, one. Ready or not, here I come."

Ginny frowned as she looked around her family's living room. Percy was sat reading a book on the armchair and when Ginny hopefully asked which way Luna had gone, he told her that was cheating and to let him read in peace. He was no use. And so Ginny set off to find her friend, who was staying over for the weekend.

The small kitchen didn't really provide a place to hide. Her mum was cooking with George and kept telling Ginny off for opening all the cupboards to see if Luna was hiding inside.

She wasn't.

Luna always seemed to win hide and seek. Even when they played in school, she was always the last to be found. Last time they'd played, Luna had been squished behind the piano. She came out all dusty with cobwebs in her hair.

Deciding to check Bill, Charlie, and Percy's bedroom next, she tiptoed along the narrow corridor and quietly opened the door. Both of her oldest brothers were out with their secondary school friends, so Ginny only had Percy to worry about. The boys' room was messy. Charlie had left his smelly, muddy football kit from this morning on the floor, and Bill had stacks of books and work piled up on the bottom bunk. Percy's bed and the small space around it was the only tidy part of the room.

"Luna," Ginny whispered. "Are you in here?"

She received no response.

Ginny checked under the beds, in the cupboards, and everywhere she thought her small friend could hide, but she was nowhere to be found.

Moving on to the twins and Ron's room, she found Fred sat in the middle of the carpet, surrounded by thick felt tips. He was drawing some kind of map.

"Those are Percy's pens; he's going to be mad at you," Ginny said, crossing her arms the way she had seen her mother do.

Fred grinned at her — he had blue pen on his face. "If you don't tell, I'll give you a clue about where Luna is."

Ginny spat in her hand and held it out to Fred, who reciprocated. It was gross, but it did the trick. Fred leant forward and whispered to her: "Luna's in this room."

This room was even more of a mess than her older brothers' room. If their mum saw this, she would get be really annoyed. With her hands on her hips, Ginny's eyes scanned the room in search of where to start. Following the routine she used in the other boys' room, she checked under the beds and in the back of the cupboard first.

"You're not looking hard enough," Fred sang.

"Shut up," Ginny mumbled.

She searched everywhere — in things; behind things; everywhere she could possibly think of — before dropping onto Fred's unmade bed. Then oddly, Ginny found her hand touching something other than bedclothes.

"What on earth…" she breathed.

Ginny pushed the covers back and found herself face to face with Luna. She was grinning up at her with a goofy smile.

"Boo," she said.

"That's so clever," Ginny said. "Why can't I hide like that?"

"Because you're thick, Gin," Fred interrupted.

Ginny stuck her tongue out and pulled Luna from the room. Maybe one day Ginny would be as clever as her best friend was.

age thirteen

Ginny was surrounded by taupe walls and empty booths. She was in her secondary school's isolation room — a part of the school that students were sent to when they'd done something bad. She'd known, of course, that her behaviour would get her in trouble, but she did not feel bad for punching Pansy Parkinson in the face.

Pansy had been tormenting Luna. She'd flicked paint over her uniform and over her work in art and even though Luna pretended like she didn't care, Ginny had found her crying in the bathroom afterwards. With anger in her veins, Ginny had sought out Pansy in the canteen and punched her as hard as she could, without really thinking about the consequences. The next thing she knew, Pansy's nose was bleeding and Ginny was being dragged away to isolation.

Her mum was going to kill her.

As she sat on the edge of the chair in her cubicle, Ginny stared at the doodles on the wall. The taupe colour behind all the scrawlings of people's initials and obscene genitalia would probably fast turn grey.

She heard a soft knock at the main door, breaking her spell of solitude. Curiously, Ginny leant back from her cubicle. Peering through the reinforced glass in the door was the familiar face of her best friend.

"You okay?" Luna mouthed.

Ginny shrugged and then nodded before getting up and hurrying over to the door. Luna pushed it open partially, her expression soft.

"You didn't have to do that," Luna said. "I know I'm different."

"That doesn't matter; Pansy's a bitch," Ginny responded. "No one treats my best friend like that."

The two girls exchanged a long look and then Luna pushed the door wide open and threw her arms around Ginny.

"Thank you," she mumbled into Ginny's shoulder.

Ginny felt warm as she responded with a 'no problem'. Luna left before a teacher could tell them off and Ginny felt dazed as she went back to her chair. The hug had made her feel warm inside and she was relieved that Luna was happy that she'd defended her. Sitting back in her chair, Ginny suddenly frowned.

Why was she ecstatic that Luna had accepted her actions?

What was going on?

age eighteen

Ginny could already feel herself getting emotional.

She stood, arms wrapped around herself as Luna and her father packed the final box into his rusted orange camper van. Luna was off to University to study fine art and Ginny, well, Ginny was staying here. Here, she was close to her family; here was where her football training was based. For the first time in over ten years, the two girls were going to be apart.

Autumn was truly beginning. Ginny was already regretting not bringing a jacket down to keep warm whilst she was saying goodbye.

The slam of the van door drew Ginny's attention back to the two blondes. They exchanged a look with one another — a Lovegood silent conversation.

Then, the next thing Ginny knew, Luna's dad was climbing into the driver's seat and the two girls were alone. The sleeves of Luna's powder grey jumper were so long they drooped over her hands. Ginny found it endearing and she smiled as Luna came over to the curb to stand beside her.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Luna said.

"Only for a little while," Ginny responded.

She wouldn't let it be goodbye forever. It already seemed impossible with Luna studying three hundred miles away, and Ginny having just signed a two-year contract with Tottenham Hotspur, but that didn't matter. Ginny was determined not to lose Luna as a friend. She'd spent all these years desperate to not lose her — distance wasn't going to change that.

"You look blue," Luna stated.

"I'm going to miss you, that's all." Ginny shifted as a cold wind swept across her exposed skin. "Scotland is so far away."

Luna smiled, and when she did, her whole face lit up. "We won't be apart, really."

Pulling a face, Ginny sighed. It definitely didn't feel like that; it felt like very far apart. Luna reached out and touched her fingers to Ginny's cheek. Her skin was soft and she felt herself lean into her friend's touch slightly.

"Until we meet again, Ginny Weasley," Luna said.

"I love you," Ginny blurted out, shocking herself with the voiced words.

Luna's expression changed, her eyes wide before she leant in close. Ginny felt her friend's minty breath on her cheek. Without another word, Luna pressed her lips to Ginny's. The moment was fleeting, then Luna was stepping away from her and the kiss was over.

"I love you too," she said softly. "I have to go, but Ginny, I really do love you."

Ginny's heart soared even as Luna stepped back towards the van. Her smile was bright — her eyes sparkled in the autumnal sun. Ginny wasn't sure she could love her any more than she already did, but she was definitely going to try.

They were going to make this work.

Comps and Prompts

QLFC, Round 6 — Month by month: Ginny Weasley [2. (colour) taupe, 5. (dialogue) "Three, two, one. Ready or not here I come.", 13. (object) banana]