Who: Luna and Scorpius What: catching up over tea Where: Madison Valley Tea and Coffee Co When: Tues. after school Warnings: should be low Status: closed/g-doc
Luna had the afternoon free after school and not much homework. She could text Anakin about hanging out with her, but she wanted to see a friend who caused less confusion for her emotions. Obviously then she reached out to Scorpius. She really valued their friendship. And as much as she enjoyed her housemates, sometimes she needed a Weasley break.
When she got to the cafe, she took a minute to decide which tea she most wanted. It was later in the afternoon, but Luna could handle caffeine later in the day, and so she narrowed her choices down to two or three. And it kept her mind distracted from the crush she found she developed on Anakin. One she didn’t want given she knew he had a wife back home.
It always amused Scorpius a bit to get a message from Luna, mostly because he usually got letters and invites from her twins back home. Here in Madison Valley, things were interesting and so he was accepting tea invites from Luna and hanging out with the elder Weasleys.
He was already waiting at a table when Luna arrived, and he finished up the email he had been reading while she ordered.
“The new pu’ erh is really good,” he remarked when she was near the table. “How are you doing today?”
Luna didn’t know about her having twins in the future and really she didn’t want to know what happened to her back at home until she lived it. But, given who Scoprius’s parents were, it would make sense he’d be friends with her twins and not with her.
She nodded at the suggestion and ordered the tea Scorpius suggested. Luna hadn’t tasted a good pu’ erh in a while and suddenly that sounded perfect to her.
Tea ordered, she sat down and smiled at Scorpius. “I’m alright. School was weird today, though. We had to do an independent study in English class and one of the students examined Harry’s, Ron’s, and Hermione’s friendship. I know the books exist, but I have no desire to read them. How about you? How are you today?”
There wasn’t an ounce of disagreement with Scorpius, because he had read the blasted books and regretted it. “Don’t ever read them. The bint that wrote them in this world obviously had a bias when she did. Some of the stuff she wrote is a bit twisted from the truth, and it’s very, uncomfortable.”
The goblins alone put him off, but he still had to know. It was a failing on his part as far as he was concerned.
“I’m doing well. My coworkers are back to what passes as normal for them, since the Dome decided to be an ass to most of the town last week. And I’m trying to convince Carson that we need a functional basement in the house, and that the house won’t go crashing into a giant hole if I mess up on the magic.”
Look, the Weasley house held up, and Scorpius wasn’t even planning on going that route.
“Based on what my classmate said, the author did a terrible job of Hermione and Harry.” She really thought Ron was written a bit more accurately, but since she’d never read it, Luna said nothing about it. “I considered the movies, but really I’d rather live in blissful ignorance about this.”
“I’m glad they’re back to their normal.” Luna smiled, happy with how Scorpius described his coworkers. Normal would never describe Luna, but she knew people would notice when she wasn’t her normal.
“I think you’d do a great job with a basement. I’m happy to help.” Luna might be a little strange, but she knew she was excellent at witchcraft. “How were you going to do it?”
“I’d say skip the movies, though the bloke that they have playing Neville Longbottom takes a really nice turn in the final movie. And there are apparently professional shirtless pictures of him somewhere on the net.” It was true, and Neville was the safe option in those movies to talk about. Everyone else he was too closely related too.
He grabbed a napkin and made a quick sketch of the current cellar he had. “I’m just planning on leaving it the same size, just shoring up the walls and making it standing height, and waterproof. Transfigure some wood flooring down there. The only major change is the staircase, because currently the only way into it is from outside.”
“Perhaps I shall use the internet to learn the bloke’s name.” Luna missed Neville and had always had a small crush on him. Too bad he wasn’t here. “People take professional shirtless photos?” This surprised her, although she did lead a fairly sheltered life all things considered.
She looked at the sketch and nodded as he spoke. Then Luna had an idea, and sketched it on another napkin. “What if you tried this?” It would simplify the work needed to be done to the staircase and only involve two spells.
Suddenly she asked, “How do you get over a crush you have?”
“Pick up any fashion magazine, love. There’s a lot of money involved in that.” And it would pay the bills for any decent looking bloke who needed it. Not that he would tell her that.
He nodded as he made a note about that, figuring out where to put it into the spell and ward scheme without buggering things up. And then her question really caught his interest.
“I guess it all depends on why you want to get over the crush.”
He really hoped that they didn’t need to dispose of a body when this was over.
Luna considered his words. The idea to do it herself certainly hadn’t crossed her mind. “I should learn more about muggle fashion.” Luna didn’t need to be super fashionable, but maybe some help would be good.
“He’s a little older than me. But the main reason is his pregnant wife at home.” Luna wouldn’t want to hurt anyone or cause any problems. Without thinking she shyly added, “It’s Anakin.”
Well, now, that was a situation and a half. Scorpius had seen the movies, because people in this town were crazy sometimes, and there had been the trip to Naboo a few years back. So it was a very tricky situation. One part of him wanted to tell her to stay away from the crazy, but then again, the guy wasn’t crazy here. Or at least didn’t sound like it.
“I’m probably a bad person to ask about that. When the dome brought me here this time, I was planning a wedding back home. And yet I picked right back up with Carson.” Which really wasn’t a hardship for him.
“My honest opinion would be ask him out, and deal with the wife situation if, and only if, she shows up.”
Luna, having never experienced a relationship, didn’t judge someone for picking up where he left off in this town. Why would she? What happened in this town didn’t have any bearing back home, given how nobody would remember.
“I’m too scared. I’ve never asked out anyone.” She looked down and said, “Back home people still considered me too weird to date.” And while Luna wouldn’t change anything about herself, she still recognized how offputting she could be at times.
“You are not weird, you’re Luna.” And people were just too stupid and annoying most of the time. He had never understood his world’s fascination with ‘proper’ and ‘right’. Luna was lovely and smart and would have been a great addition to anyone’s life.
“Well, I can tell you all the ways to not ask someone out, because I was a bit of a slag back in the day.” He wasn’t too proud to admit that.
“For that, we’ll have to text one of my best friends, because she’s amazing at that sort of thing.” And he really thought that Luna and Jill would get along. “If you’re up to moving our tea from here to her place?”
She brightened considerably at the compliment from her friend. Sometimes a compliment felt nice to hear.
“I look forward to the stories. I’d be happy to meet Jill.” Luna should branch out and a friend of Scorpius’s sounded like a good start. “Lead the way!”