the pull of the sea [LINNY]

Waning Gibbous

Ginny wants to break up with Micheal.

He takes it well, which isn't surprising as he'd been cheating on her, apparently. Lavender tells her, with a worried "I didn't tell you while you were dating because I didn't want to break your heart, Ginny!" Lavender had always been one for dramatics. Ginny's heart was nowhere near broken, and she feels as if she has been cheating on Micheal with moon girl.

She doesn't tell Lavender this, of course . She thanks her for keeping her feelings in mind and reassures her with multiple thank yous, but then she has to go, it took Dean a few days to finish the drawing and write moon girls name underneath, in some elegant calligraphy, he tells her. Not that she knows, she's not going to look. She picks up the envelope and drops it off at her apartment. By the time she has finished cleaning and sorting out the flat, it's time for her to meet with moon girl.

This time when she meets her, moon girl isn't sitting on the rocks, facing the sea and the moon, but standing, facing Ginny, with her back to the roaring sea and her arm outstretched, as if waiting for Ginny to take her hand.

Ginny always notices things she doesn't normally notice when she's with moon girl, the stars seem brighter, her heartbeat seems louder and the sea air feels harsher in her lungs.

But when she reaches out and takes moon girls hand this time, Ginny feels as if she was blind, as if she had always been blind and only now, with moon girls dainty hand in her own calloused one, she can see clearly.

Moon girl leads her to the other end of the beach, and they approach a cave. Ginny has noticed every pebble beneath her thin-soled shoes on this short journey. She has noticed that the water is not just blue and green, but purple and yellow and the lightest of pinks and the darkest of greys. She has noticed that moon girl does not seem to mind the cold, no goosebumps are raised on her bare arms and she is wearing sandals. She has noticed a great deal of things about moon girl and she has noticed that, moongirls sees ready to float away, ready to disappear at any moment, and, at this moment, the only thing that seems to be grounding her is Ginny.

She doesn't want to go into the cave, she has only just started noticing the beautiful things, the tiny perfection in every pattern on every stone and each little path, carved into rock by the feet of hundreds of tiny, persistent insects.

But she knows that if moon girl leads her into the cave, Ginny will follow without a hint of resistance.

Moon girl knows this too. She pauses at the entrance. Ginny expects her to ask about going into the cave, or tell her a legend surrounding it but she doesn't.

She leans forward, ever so slightly, and so does Ginny, and then they are kissing.

And it is wonderful.

Ginny has kissed people before but this is different. She has never felt like there were fireworks exploding on her lips and when moon girl opens her mouth Ginny feels as though nothing bad could happen after this moment, but nothing good could happen either, because surely this would put everything else to shame. Moon girls lips are soft and wet and her teeth scrape against Ginny's bottom lip, igniting sparks. Ginny brings her hand up to touch moon girls hair and she realises that she could never be happier,with moon girls hands on her shoulders and her hands in moon girls hair.

They both pull apart at the same time, they don't say anything but they walk further into the cave, Ginny holding moon girls hand in her own, elated, but sad because she knows moon girl will show her something she does not want to see. She knows that moon girl would not have kissed her like that if it was not the last time she would be able to.

They walk deeper into the cave, moon girl glows, faint white tendrils of light poking at the darkness around them. Ginny cannot bring herself to be surprised or scared on top of the confusion, elation, sadness, and faint anger that she feels already.

They reach a small lake and moon girl motions for Ginny to wait as she walks into the pool until she is fully submerged in the water.

When she comes out she is dry, and holding something. Ginny tries to convince herself that she is dreaming but knows that she is not.

She stands close to Ginny and shows her what she is holding. A body, Ginny feels a little sick, and remembers she forgot to eat today again.

The salt water has preserved the body almost perfectly. The skin seems a little sunken and yellow, but Ginny can still recognise it.

It's moon girl.

"Oh god" Ginny just kissed a dead person,Ginny has been meeting with a dead person for 3 months.

Months that have passed like a breeze with this dead person by her side.

I'm in shock Ginny thinks as she lifts the body out of moon girls fading arms or I'm actually insane

The former seems more reassuring, so Ginny sticks with that. The girls walk towards the caves entrance, and when they finally step into the cool night air they keep walking, towards the sea.

When the waves start lapping at their feet, softly for once, and Ginny can only see moon girl out of the corner of her eye, they stop walking.

"My name was Luna," moon girl speaks, waiting for Ginny's reply.

There is only the sound of the waves.

And then "The moon goddess" Ginny answers. Moon girl had told her the stories.

Ginny thinks it's funny. "When I first saw you, at Michaels party, I thought you were the moon goddess."

Moon girl laughs and Ginny smiles. "I suppose you already know my name."
She nods. The moon is setting. Ginny puts down Luna and looks up at moon girl. She is fading away, her edges are blurred. "Did you feel it? The pull of the sea?"

Moon girl nods. "It seemed fitting for me to die and be found under a full moon. Three is a lucky number. Three months as Michaels girlfriend, three months with me, three years since I died."

It is time for Ginny to leave. "I'll be back tomorrow" she says, even though she knows moon girl won't be.

Moon girl nods "The pull of the sea" she understands.

When Ginny gets home, she opens Deans envelope. It's not moon girl. It's one of Neville's greenhouse friends, Hannah Abbot.

The next day, Ginny writes a letter. She addresses it 'to everyone that cares' and she leaves it at The Base. She tells them about the moon, and she tells them about lost love, and she tells them to notice the beautiful things around them. And lastly, she tells them about the pull of the sea.

She signs it Ginny Weasley, Water Wraith.

When she gets to the beach, moon girls body is there. Ginny doesn't stop to wonder about how no one had found it, she picks it up and walks into the sea. She can feel the pull of the sea, just like moon girl did all those years ago. When she is almost completely under, her clothes weighing her down and and seawater sloshing in her ears, she sees moon girl, standing a little further out in the waves, calling to her.

Ginny doesn't care about anything apart from the feeling of moon girls arms around her, moon girls lips on her own, so she doesn't stop walking when her lungs scream at her to breathe, or when her clothes seem to be at their heaviest. She keeps walking, and when she feels Luna fall from her arms and moon girl embrace her, stronger than before, Ginny smiles. She doesn't feel the pain anymore. She doesn't feel the weight of her clothes, and when she looks down and sees her body lying next to Luna's she doesn't feel surprised. She only feels moon girls arms and the pull of the sea.