Luna(tic) (Marauders Era)

13. In the Shadow of a Happy Night

It took Luna nearly ten tries to make even the tip of her matchstick change in the slightest and when she did, she was embarrassed beyond all measure when McGonagall noticed and commended her for the whole class to hear. It was made more bearable, actually, by the fact that a little while later, another student managed the same glimmer of a transformation and made a whole lot more ruckus about it than Luna had. Glancing over, Luna found him preening about it, sitting next to the boy from the train - Remus - who looked nearly as sick as Luna had felt only a short while ago.

"Merlin," Pandora muttered, pulling Luna's focus away from the other side of the room to find her housemate scowling first at the other student and then at her own utterly unchanged matchstick. "It's just a bit of metal. It's not like he did anything interesting."

Luna didn't answer, but she did hear the envy in her housemate's voice and couldn't help but wonder if some of it might be directed at her. The idea made her want to shrink, to fold herself like the paper cranes hanging in her Year 3 classroom until she was no more than a decoration, tiny and silent and nearly invisible.

"How did you do that anyway?" Pandora demanded after another try resulted in nothing at all happening.

Luna shrugged, giving a tight smile she didn't feel. "I don't know," she answered honestly, the words far shakier than she would have liked.

"Well. That's not very helpful," the other girl replied a bit tartly, scowling down at her uncooperative matchstick.

Luna flinched. "Sorry," she returned softly. "I don't-"

"Oh, Merlin, no, I'm not mad at you," Pandora corrected hastily, her words a bit lighter this time and her expression opening into something Luna thought might truly have been remorse. "I'm mad at this bloody bit of wood," she added, glaring once again at the matchstick. "Change, damnit," she demanded, rapping the object sharply with her wand.

It burst into flames.

Luna yelped and jerked back, nearly falling out of her seat. As it turned out, however, she needn't have bothered moving at all. The flame was small and went out quickly enough, leaving only a little pile of ash and a bit of charred wood in its wake.

"Miss Reynolds," Professor McGonagall called sharply from across the classroom. "What did I say about explosions?"

Pandora, who was staring down at her former matchstick with a look that seemed torn between mortification and satisfaction, turned an all too innocent expression towards the woman. "Technically," she pointed out, setting her wand primly on the desk, "That was not an explosion. Just a tiny little bit of fire."

McGonagall regarded the girl for a long moment before, somewhat to Luna's surprise, sighing. "Kindly retrieve a new matchstick from the tin on my desk," she said. "And please, no explosions or fire."

Pandora beamed. "Of course, professor!" she chirped, jumping up from her desk. As she returned, she cast a wide eyed look Luna's way. "Didn't think I'd get away with that," she whispered, dropping back into her seat.

Luna frowned. "You meant to do that?" she asked, frankly baffled by the implication.

"Meant to is a strong phrase," Pandora replied smoothly as she set the new matchstick before her and picked her wand back up. "But I'm neither surprised nor particularly upset about it, no. The little devil wasn't cooperating. Besides," she added, pulling a face, "It's a match, it's supposed to be set on fire, not turned into a bloody needle."

Luna snorted and glanced to her left, looking to share the joke with Sam. Only he wasn't there. He was standing back against the wall again, his eyes on her, his face tight and his jaw clenched, for once as silent to her as he was to the rest of the world. Luna's heart tripped in her chest and crushed her momentary joy beneath it. She looked away, back at the half silver bit of wood on her desk, feeling her throat go rather tight as she studied it.