(no subject)

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

Date: April 18, 2001
Status: Private (Wensleydale, Luna)
Setting: The Manor
Summary: A meeting between former dance partners




Another room service call?

Honestly, Wensley thought, why people can't come down to eat instead of him waiting on them hand and foot was beyond him. He grumbled a little under his breath.

The year before, he wouldn't have been this ill-natured. Since New Year's, though, his mood had been spiraling further and further. He knocked at the door, a little harder than was strictly necessary.

Comments

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"Come in," said Luna in her usual dreamy voice. "The door isn't locked."

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

"Room Service," he called, backing into the room slowly. "Let's see...here's your chamomile, with..." he trailed off as he turned to face the inhabitant of the room.

"Luna!" he cried, smiling. "How have you been?" He placed the rest of the meal on a small table, leaving him open to approach her.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"Jere- no, Wensleydale!" she said. "I remembered! And I've been fine, thank you for asking. How have things been?

You look tired. Have a seat?" Luna ineffectually tried to clear a stack of books from a chair. There hadn't been any repercussions from the Ministry the last time she had used magic in front of a Muggle, but she had gotten a bit of a reprimand from her Dad about it in his last letter. Dumping them on her bed, she turned back in a flurry of blonde hair and smiled at Wensley.

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

"I've been well," he replied automatically, taking the seat that Luna had tried to clear and sighing. "Would you like me to bring your food closer?"

"Well, actually, now that you mention it, things have been a bit dodgy lately."

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"Oh yes, please!" When Wensley placed the platter in front of her, she started into it with great gusto. "Haffen eat'n in qui' a whi'. 'm starving. D'y want some?" Luna gestured to the plate of jellied eels in front of her.

"Dodgy? How?" If she had had a little more sense, Luna might be wondering if her magical experiments had caused some, if not all, of the dodginess that Wensley was worried about.

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

"Thanks, but I just ate," he replied, eyeing the eels with a better-concealed air of disdain than he had when preparing it. "Go ahead, ti's all yours."

"It's a long story," he dithered, not sure if he should actually tell her.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"Mmph," was Luna's reply. Swallowing, she said, "I have quite a bit of time now - I'm waiting for something to boil."

As she said that, smoke drifted ominously out of her cupboard.

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

Wensley eyed the cupboard with caution, as if merely glancing at it funny would cause it to explode. He wondered what exactly was boiling before turning back to face her.

"Well..." he looked down at his hands as he recounted the story of what had happened New Year's Eve (http://community.livejournal.com/neutral_omens/123853.html#cutid1).

"And I haven't seen him since then," he finished glumly.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

Luna had left her fork clamped between her lips as she listened to Wensley's story, and now she removed it thoughtfully. "What were you sorry for, Wensleydale?"

After a slight pause where Luna started counting on her fingers and toes, she said, "Four months and 18 days? You haven't seen your purported best friend in four months and 18 days?" Her tone made it clear that he was being silly.

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

"For kissing him, I suppose," he replied glumly.

He cringed inwardly at her tone of voice, reminded of his conversation with Pepper some time ago. He wondered if all women had the uncanny ability to make men feel so dense. "Well, no," he admitted. "I've thought I've seen him, but it turned out to be someone else, or they left too quickly to get a proper look."

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"And why were you sorry that you kissed him? Because everything changed, and it was frightening?" Luna put down her fork, and looked intently at him with her silvery-grey eyes.

"Although I haven't got a lot of friends, I think that Brian's just as confused about this kiss - at least from what you've told me. His question was not necessarily an objection, you know," said Luna slowly. "And you probably should have gone to look for him earlier, too. Just to clarify what he meant, if anything."

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

Wensley paused, opened his mouth as if to say something, closed it again, and looked down.

'You're right, of course," he said. "I have acted rather foolishly."

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"From a point of view, yes; it's rather foolish. But it is also understandable. Where else would the phrase 'If it isn't broke, don't fix it' come from? Humans are always scared of change because they don't know if they can adapt to it." Luna followed Brian's gaze downwards.

"That is an interesting pattern on the floor."

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

Wensley searched for a response, but instead felt laughter bubbling up inside him. Before he could clamp down as usual, he let go. "Yes, it's lovely," he agreed, still looking downwards. He wasn't sure why he was laughing, but he felt better.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"I like that particular swirl best," Luna said, pointing. She smiled at Wensley's laughter, then turned in mild consternation as a loud pop came from the cupboard.

"Thank you very much for bringing up my food, and in the interests of safety I think you'll have to go. I'd like to have a longer chat, but this is probably a rather dangerous experiment and Muggles are not as resilient as we are. I'll bring down the things when I'm finished eating," Luna said, getting up. If you knew her well, you could see that she was a tad worried - but only if you knew her well.

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

"All right," he agreed cautiously, "but if you don't mind my asking, what are you cooking in that cupboard?"

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"Just some of this and some of that," said Luna vaguely. "I think there were porcupine quills in there somewhere, and a few shreds of manticore skin - maybe that's what caused explosion. I have the list of ingredients somewhere," Luna gestured to her veryrather messy table.

"There were probably some roc feathers in there as well, judging by the colour of the smoke," she said, as red smoke started drifting out of the gap between the cupboard doors. "And that sounds like lobalug poison reaching boiling point," as an ominous crackle sounded from the cupboard. "I'd suggest you get under the table now."

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

He ducked under the wood just as the loudest bang resonated from the cupboard, spewing more smoke into the room.

"Luna..." he started, inhaling smoke and coughing loudly.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

Luna ducked under the table as well, and with a wave of her wand, formed protective bubbles around them, her more valuable posessions and the cupboard. "Maybe I should have waited till taking it off the fire to add the Doxie dust," mused Luna.

"Are you alright, Wensleydale?" Luna looked with some concern at the coughing young man. With another wave of her wand, the smoke began dissipating from the bubble they were in.

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

"Luna, what is going on?" he asked somewhat indignantly as the smoke disappeared. "What do you have in that cupboard, and what is this we're in?" He felt very confused, a feeling he tried to avoid at all costs.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"Well, I was in the middle of an experiment when you came in, and I think I might have done a step wrongly. My experiment's in the cupboard because I wasn't - we're not supposed to let Muggles see us do magic." Luna twirled her wand absent-mindedly, causing several books to float, before coming down with a muffled crash. "We're in a protective bubble - it's strong enough to withstand small explosions, which is what is likely to happen now. And just in case the one around the cupboard doesn't manage to contain the experiment, this one will protect us." As she spoke, the 'pop's from the cauldron in her cupboard, now visible due to the partially ajar door, became louder and louder.

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

Wensley had been living in the Manor for a very long time now, but apparently he still had a lot to learn about the inhabitants here.

"You're a witch?" His mind flashed back immediately to his youth, and the many days They had spent at Jasmine Cottage with Anathema in wide-eyed curiosity. "What's a muggle?"

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"Yes, I'm a witch," said Luna. It would be difficult to not cast the Memory charm on Wensley now. Luna didn't exactly agree with the need to keep the Wizarding world separate from the Muggle world, but she still went along with the dichotomy all the same - it was part of being a witch or wizard. "Muggles are non-magic folk - people like you, for instance."

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

"I thought anyone could be a witch. Adam was obsessed with all that stuff as a kid." Wensley wondered off-handedly if there would be any repercussions to her telling him this information, but brushed it off to paranoia.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"Well, no. See, even if I let you hold my magic wand, to you it'd be no more than a stick. Whereas if any witch or wizard holds my wand, or any wand for that matter, they can use it to channel their innate magic into doing things, like putting out the fire under my cauldron, for instance. Aguamenti!" The fire under the cauldron sizzled and went out. "Evanesco!" All the smoke in the room suddenly disappeared. "Colloportus!" The door to the cupboard swung shut with a squelching sound. "Obliviate!"

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

Wensley's expression went cross-eyed for a moment, then his face became utterly relaxed; more lax, in fact, than it had ever been.

"You really should try the stuffing, though, it's delicious," he murmered dreamily, before shaking his head and bringing his mind a little closer to focused.

"Why am I under your table, Luna?" he asked.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"We were looking at the pattern on the floor, remember? And you said that you wanted to compare the differences in pattern between that patch and the patch under my table, so we got down to get a closer look." Luna tucked her wand away. "I think the pattern over there is still more interesting. It's swirlier."

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

Wensley looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but he was quickly learning what many Hogwarts professors already knew: it was really sort of pointless to try and clarify.

"Luna, I think I'd better head back to the kitchens. There's an awful lot to do." Not only that, but the dizzy feeling wasn't subsiding. Perhaps he had some asprin down there.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"You look kind of dizzy. Are you sure you don't want to stay and rest a bit?" Luna stood up, and something bright caught her eye. It seemed that the smoke had reacted with her jellied eels to turn them hot pink in colour. She moved to block them from Wensley's view because she really wanted to study them.

"Well, if you're sure, I'll just bring down the dishes when I'm done with them, alright?"

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

"I'm fine, thank you," he reassured her, in his dizzy state not noticing the lovingly prepared meal changing colors all over his good plates. "It's been very nice talking to you, Luna."

He stopped for a moment in the door to reply to her last statement. "If you don't want to take the trouble to walk the plates down, just ring me again. I'll come back up." He smiled before closing the door after him. For reasons he didn't understand, he felt more cheerful than he had been before he entered. Perhaps Luna's enthusiasm was just catching.