Stellar

George Weasley could remember the day that he first started seeing Luna “Loony” Lovegood in a completely different light. It was by sheer accident, meant to be a prank on him for a prank he pulled on his twin brother. He’d long forgotten about the prank, but Fred certainly hadn’t. George was in his dreadful, seventh year and Luna Lovegood was in her fourth year. The girl was the butt of many jokes amongst the students at Hogwarts and quite a few amongst Fred and George themselves. George figured this was why he picked Luna in the first place.

“George Weasley,” Luna’s airy voice brought George away from his Transfiguration homework. He was sitting in library, “working” on his homework when he saw his twin brother pushing the dreamy-eyed blonde in his direction. It only took a moment’s glance for George to realize that something was up with her, since she looked more spacey and dreamy-eyed than ever.

“Yes, and this is George Weasley, too,” Fred said with a wide grin, motioning to George and glancing over to him. George frowned a bit as Luna Lovegood’s face lit up and she looked over at George.

“There are two of you?” She asked softly, glancing back up at Fred. George glanced between the two of them hesitantly, slowly moving to close his book.

“Yep, and this one is the real George. And how do we feel about George Weasley?” Fred asked, grinning broadly at the slightly scared expression on George’s face. Luna Lovegood, the year four, loner Ravenclaw, turned and looked at George Weasley and a wide, dreamy smile, dreamier than any other smile anyone had ever seen Luna produce, curled her lips.

“I love George Weasley,” she said softly before slowly walking over to him and sitting down beside him. Fred merely grinned directly at George, noticing the look of absolute horror on his twin’s face.

“That’s right, so you stay with him and make him love you, okay?” Fred asked, nodding slowly before walking from the study room. The moment he was in the corridor he let out a loud laugh, not hearing George’s frantic whispers after him. ‘Teaches him right to replace my real toffees with Ton-Tongue Toffees,’ Fred thought as he dusted his hands off.

George stared in horror at the doors as they shut before slowly turning to look over at Luna. The girl was watching him intently, her blue eyes wide and a dreamy smile on her lips.

“Er…hello Luna,” George said hesitantly, the puzzle pieces slowly clicking together in his mind about what had really gone on. Fred must have slipped her one of their love potions, said that he was George and then pawned the girl off on him. For what reason, he couldn’t really remember and it kind of scared him. Luna let out a soft laugh and leaned forward onto the desk, cradling her chin in her hands as she stared lovingly up at George.

“Hello, George,” she said in a soft voice before letting out a wistful sigh. “Your hair is looking particularly gingery today. It really brings out the brown in your eyes. Not to mention your head is remarkably clear of wrackspurts.” George would have laughed at the wide-eyed girl had it not been for the sheer zaniness and awkward tension of the situation.

“Uhm, thanks…Luna,” he replied hesitantly, wanting nothing more than to somehow manage to slip away from this amortentia-influenced girl. Luna merely let out a small, airy laugh as she leaned toward him, stars in her eyes and a small rosy blush on her cheeks.

“I love you, George Weasley,” she said softly, wrapping both of her thin arms around his one arm and snuggling her cheek against his shoulder with a soft sigh. George, though he knew this was just a joke, let out a nervous little laugh.

She acted like that the entire rest of the day and had to be literally tugged away from him and pulled to the Ravenclaw Common Room. Thankfully, that next morning she returned to the normal Luna, sitting over at the Ravenclaw table and distanced from everyone else because of her oddities. George watched her from a distance that breakfast, noticing the way her waist-length, curly blonde hair shimmered beneath the candles that floated in the Great Hall and the way those stars still remained in her wide, long lash-framed blue eyes. Then, before George was going to get up a leave, Luna slowly turned her eyes to him and smiled, like she had known he was watching her.

Her starry eyes remained on his for a moment before she turned and stood, gracefully walking from the Great Hall and disappearing around the corner. That was the last time George Weasley saw her in years. That day, he left Hogwarts for good, yet he didn’t really miss much of it. Spare that starry-eyed girl who had proclaimed her love so ardently under the influence of a Love Potion gone awry.

The next time George saw Luna was at Bill and Fleur’s wedding. She had been wearing yellow, the color of the sun, and she looked absolutely lovely and radiant. Of course, before he’d gathered up the courage he should have had, Death Eaters broke apart the wedding and Xenophilius Lovegood took his daughter by the hand and disapparated. George looked for the blonde-haired, dreamy-eyed girl for an hour or so after the Death Eaters had been on their way, when his father told him that he had seen the strange pair go long before any of the Death Eaters had actually arrived.

Then, with the way things were so quickly deteriorating in the wizarding world, the next time George saw Luna was at the Battle of Hogwarts, or, at the aftermath of it all. She was sitting on a pile of rubble, her chin resting in her palm and her arm resting on her knees. George, along with the rest of the wizards and witches that had survived and cared enough to stay, were cleaning up a bit of the mess that had been strewn about the school. His mum and dad had been far too distraught to do so, but George didn’t want to sit still, nor did he want to give his mind the opportunity to wander to his lost twin.

So much time had passed since the end of Lord Voldemort that the sun had already set and stars were twinkling in the sky. Luna’s eyes, which were as wide and as shiny as ever, were focused up on the constellations and her bottom lip was tucked securely between her teeth. Her pale skin was dirty and there were a few bruises and scratches on any bit of exposed skin she had. Her clothes were torn and bloodstained in a few spots and her long, blonde curls were matted and covered in soot. George slowly walked over to her, wanting to know if she was alright or not. As he neared her, her eyes darted over to him and she blinked once. A small, sad smile curled her lips as she looked over at him, patting the bare spot on the large chunk of stone that she was sitting on.

George lowered himself to the stone beside her; afraid she was going to bring up the loss of his brother or try to comfort him. Honestly, he just wanted to push that all from his mind. They sat there for the longest time, Luna staring at George and George staring down at a spot of blood on the floor in front of them.

“The stars look quite pretty tonight, George,” she said softly and in typical Luna fashion, she commented on something completely irrelevant. George merely hummed softly and nodded a bit, his attention darting up the sky instead of the now brown spot on the floor. The stars did look brighter than normal, but that could be attributed to the lack of lights around Hogwarts. She let out a soft sigh as she continued to watch George closely and he slowly brought his eyes to hers. “I think…I think the stars are there to remind us of those who’ve passed on,” she whispered, the stars reflecting in her eyes. A heavy sigh pushed from George’s lungs and he could feel tears creeping into his eyes once more.

“Luna, I really don’t feel like talk-” She quickly shushed him and shook her head a bit, smiling warmly up at him.

“You don’t have to,” she replied quickly before turning her head and pointing to a particular star in the sky; one that was brighter and more sparkling that the rest. “See that one? That’s him,” she said softly. George followed her hand and looked up at the star, biting his bottom lip when he really focused on it. Maybe her theory would work, maybe the stars were just a reminder of all those they’d lost. Maybe if he saw that particular star, the one that drew his attention to him the most, as Fred, his death wouldn’t hurt him so badly. “He’s stellar, George.”

And without another word, George reached out and clasped Luna’s dainty and dirt-covered hand in his and grasped it warmly, staring up at the star. The pale, starry-eyed girl merely let out a soft sigh and rested her head on his shoulder and George didn’t pull away. Their eyes were focused on the stars, the ones that signified loved ones lost and that could look down at them and twinkle and light up the night. They were all stellar.