storypaint (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
storypaint) wrote2009-09-10 07:48 am
storypaint) wrote2009-09-10 07:48 am
Believed to be Seen (Cedric/Luna)
Title: Believed to be Seen
Fandom: Harry Potter
Length: 1087 words
Prompt:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
comment_fic: Harry Potter, Cedric Diggory/Luna Lovegood, "I believe you."
Pairing: slight Cedric/Luna
Other: AU in which Cedric does not die. Set post OOTP.
Excerpt: He dreamed that he had died-- just a moment, just a breath, and then green light and falling forever.
Cedric had dreamed of terrible things. He'd dreamed of snake-like faces, of hoods, of graveyard soil so real he could feel the clods under his hands.
He dreamed that he had died-- just a moment, just a breath, and then green light and falling forever.
And then, he'd woken up.
No one believed him.
*
It was the stress of the accident.
It was a hallucination from loss of blood.
It was his brain's way of filing away the problem.
It certainly wasn't magic.
Cedric Diggory had been in a car accident on his way to the mall with his father to find his mother a birthday present. He'd been thrown free from the car. It had been touch-and-go for the first couple of weeks, but he was slowly recovering. Miraculously, he hadn't broken any bones, and the internal damage was healing.
No magic about it, just the skilled doctors in the ER and the ambulance.
*
"I believe you," she said.
Cedric opened his eyes and looked at the girl standing at the end of his bed. She was thin and pale, with ocean-blue eyes that stared straight into his. He tried to remember who she was through the painkillers. Luna, wasn't it? She kept drifting down here from the psych ward. At least, that was his assumption. She didn't appear to be physically ill, but she was really, really strange.
"Huh?" he said. His voice was still cracking and breaking. He'd only been awake for about six days now; in a row, anyway. They said he'd woken up several times, moaning about the green light and some sort of Dark Lord. The nonsense that no one would believe (so why did he almost believe it? Why were there words under his breath, like puffs of air trying to escape? Why did he wake and reach for his wand? He didn't even have one, Harry had-- Harry had taken--).
"I believe you," she repeated, cocking her head to one side and staring like an interested pigeon.
Cedric coughed. He wasn't quite sure how to respond.
"I'm not sure why they thought it was necessary to wipe your memory," she continued, in nearly a sing-song tone, "but they obviously didn't do a very good job."
"I'm sorry?" he said. "Who wiped my memory?"
She looked thoughtful. "I don't know, really. They should have taken you to St. Mungo's, except that the Dark Lord blew it up when he came back. So perhaps that's why they decided to try a Muggle hospital."
He didn't ask what a Muggle was. The answer was hovering at the corner of his mind and suddenly he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"I'm Luna Lovegood. You don't remember that," she breathed, coming closer to his bed. She leaned over a little and her blonde hair dangled onto his sheets, almost made white by the lack of contrast.
"Ah, I'm... I'm," he began automatically, feeling stupid to be introducing himself to the crazy girl, but continuing anyway. Hufflepuffs were polite, weren't they?
(What was a Hufflepuff?)
"Cedric Diggory," he said hastily.
"Oh, yes, I know," she said.
Her hand drifted to her pocket and reemerged after a moment with several things clutched in it. She spilled them across his bedspread and he leaned up to see what they were. A silver bell, a pebble, scraps of paper with odd doodles, a dried flower, and two long sticks like chopsticks, except they didn't match each other.
Everything except the chopsticks went back into Luna's pockets (and why did her gown have pockets when his didn't even have a back? Cedric would remember that to protest later). The random objects didn't go back into the same pockets they'd emerged from, but somehow he wasn't surprised.
She picked up the shorter stick and swished it through the air, smiling faintly, before tucking it behind her ear.
"I might need it later," she explained, and then handed him the other one. He turned it over in his hands curiously.
"It's yours," Luna continued. "Harry had it, but he knew I would come to visit you, so he gave it to me."
"My what?" he began, and then stopped. Ash and unicorn hair. The unicorn had nearly gored Mr. Ollivander, the man had said...
The wand was warm in his hand. He looked up into Luna's bright eyes and lingering smile.
"I believe you," she said again.
"I," he began, and then swallowed, "I believe me too."
He only had a moment to reflect on how stupid that sounded before he was swinging out of bed, all of his muscles protesting. Luna was there, supporting him the best she could. The wand behind her ear poked him in the side of the head. After a moment, he could stand straight.
"Let's go," he said.
"All right," she said, "but you'll have to let me get the Invisibility Cloak." She smiled at him. "They don't let people out of here without a lot of fuss if they can see you. That's what Harry told me."
"Is he--?"
He had to still be alive. Without him, it would be harder for everyone to go on. If Voldemort was really back.
(And had he really just spent the past year competing against him? Was he insane?)
Luna nodded. "Of course. He lent me the Cloak. We might see him if we get back in time for dinner."
"Back where?"
Cedric was remembering things, but he still felt bewildered. He followed her slowly back down the hall to the visitor's room, where she started digging through a small purse with the same patience as she'd used with her pockets. She looked up at him when he asked the question.
"To headquarters," she answered, as if he should already know. "The resistance. You'll not like it, probably. No one does. But it's a very good hiding place. And Harry is there, and Ron and Hermione. When they can be."
She pulled something silvery from the bottom of the purse, and then put the purse around her neck. She threw the Cloak over them both and took hold of his hand, looking up at him from underneath it, her breath warm in the enclosed space. She was smiling again.
"I believe in them too," she said, and he nodded, and they made their way out of the hospital, Cedric holding tight to Luna's hand.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Length: 1087 words
Prompt:
comment_fic: Harry Potter, Cedric Diggory/Luna Lovegood, "I believe you."Pairing: slight Cedric/Luna
Other: AU in which Cedric does not die. Set post OOTP.
Excerpt: He dreamed that he had died-- just a moment, just a breath, and then green light and falling forever.
Cedric had dreamed of terrible things. He'd dreamed of snake-like faces, of hoods, of graveyard soil so real he could feel the clods under his hands.
He dreamed that he had died-- just a moment, just a breath, and then green light and falling forever.
And then, he'd woken up.
No one believed him.
*
It was the stress of the accident.
It was a hallucination from loss of blood.
It was his brain's way of filing away the problem.
It certainly wasn't magic.
Cedric Diggory had been in a car accident on his way to the mall with his father to find his mother a birthday present. He'd been thrown free from the car. It had been touch-and-go for the first couple of weeks, but he was slowly recovering. Miraculously, he hadn't broken any bones, and the internal damage was healing.
No magic about it, just the skilled doctors in the ER and the ambulance.
*
"I believe you," she said.
Cedric opened his eyes and looked at the girl standing at the end of his bed. She was thin and pale, with ocean-blue eyes that stared straight into his. He tried to remember who she was through the painkillers. Luna, wasn't it? She kept drifting down here from the psych ward. At least, that was his assumption. She didn't appear to be physically ill, but she was really, really strange.
"Huh?" he said. His voice was still cracking and breaking. He'd only been awake for about six days now; in a row, anyway. They said he'd woken up several times, moaning about the green light and some sort of Dark Lord. The nonsense that no one would believe (so why did he almost believe it? Why were there words under his breath, like puffs of air trying to escape? Why did he wake and reach for his wand? He didn't even have one, Harry had-- Harry had taken--).
"I believe you," she repeated, cocking her head to one side and staring like an interested pigeon.
Cedric coughed. He wasn't quite sure how to respond.
"I'm not sure why they thought it was necessary to wipe your memory," she continued, in nearly a sing-song tone, "but they obviously didn't do a very good job."
"I'm sorry?" he said. "Who wiped my memory?"
She looked thoughtful. "I don't know, really. They should have taken you to St. Mungo's, except that the Dark Lord blew it up when he came back. So perhaps that's why they decided to try a Muggle hospital."
He didn't ask what a Muggle was. The answer was hovering at the corner of his mind and suddenly he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"I'm Luna Lovegood. You don't remember that," she breathed, coming closer to his bed. She leaned over a little and her blonde hair dangled onto his sheets, almost made white by the lack of contrast.
"Ah, I'm... I'm," he began automatically, feeling stupid to be introducing himself to the crazy girl, but continuing anyway. Hufflepuffs were polite, weren't they?
(What was a Hufflepuff?)
"Cedric Diggory," he said hastily.
"Oh, yes, I know," she said.
Her hand drifted to her pocket and reemerged after a moment with several things clutched in it. She spilled them across his bedspread and he leaned up to see what they were. A silver bell, a pebble, scraps of paper with odd doodles, a dried flower, and two long sticks like chopsticks, except they didn't match each other.
Everything except the chopsticks went back into Luna's pockets (and why did her gown have pockets when his didn't even have a back? Cedric would remember that to protest later). The random objects didn't go back into the same pockets they'd emerged from, but somehow he wasn't surprised.
She picked up the shorter stick and swished it through the air, smiling faintly, before tucking it behind her ear.
"I might need it later," she explained, and then handed him the other one. He turned it over in his hands curiously.
"It's yours," Luna continued. "Harry had it, but he knew I would come to visit you, so he gave it to me."
"My what?" he began, and then stopped. Ash and unicorn hair. The unicorn had nearly gored Mr. Ollivander, the man had said...
The wand was warm in his hand. He looked up into Luna's bright eyes and lingering smile.
"I believe you," she said again.
"I," he began, and then swallowed, "I believe me too."
He only had a moment to reflect on how stupid that sounded before he was swinging out of bed, all of his muscles protesting. Luna was there, supporting him the best she could. The wand behind her ear poked him in the side of the head. After a moment, he could stand straight.
"Let's go," he said.
"All right," she said, "but you'll have to let me get the Invisibility Cloak." She smiled at him. "They don't let people out of here without a lot of fuss if they can see you. That's what Harry told me."
"Is he--?"
He had to still be alive. Without him, it would be harder for everyone to go on. If Voldemort was really back.
(And had he really just spent the past year competing against him? Was he insane?)
Luna nodded. "Of course. He lent me the Cloak. We might see him if we get back in time for dinner."
"Back where?"
Cedric was remembering things, but he still felt bewildered. He followed her slowly back down the hall to the visitor's room, where she started digging through a small purse with the same patience as she'd used with her pockets. She looked up at him when he asked the question.
"To headquarters," she answered, as if he should already know. "The resistance. You'll not like it, probably. No one does. But it's a very good hiding place. And Harry is there, and Ron and Hermione. When they can be."
She pulled something silvery from the bottom of the purse, and then put the purse around her neck. She threw the Cloak over them both and took hold of his hand, looking up at him from underneath it, her breath warm in the enclosed space. She was smiling again.
"I believe in them too," she said, and he nodded, and they made their way out of the hospital, Cedric holding tight to Luna's hand.