capeandcowllogs | luna's flying is so bad it turns back time.

Entry tags:

luna's flying is so bad it turns back time.

WHO:

superbology. Also, Potters! And maybe Sirius?
WHERE: Potterbase and the skies!
WHEN: Afternoon? Wednesday, August 10.
WARNINGS: spoilers: she is going to get them killed
SUMMARY: Luna and Neville fly to Potterbase! ...If they don't crash first.
FORMAT: Paragraph to start, followed by whatever.

Luna had rushed out as soon as possible after her conversation with Neville. It took a few minutes to find her broom amongst the small disaster area that was her M.A.C. apartment, but soon enough, she was rushing out the door carrying it aloft.

After a few false starts (and near crashes) she took flight, veering wildly through the skies, off to the Porter Room. Spectrespecs on her head, ready for action, just in case Neville happened to be hidden.

It wasn't likely but it never hurt to be prepared.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Luna's hair whipped around wildly in the wind as she circled the Porter Building, looking for Neville, oblivious to the stares of the passerbys.

When he saw her, Neville ran toward the road and waved his arms madly. Unlike Luna he was very aware of how strange it felt flagging her down in front of a bunch of (presumably Muggle) strangers, but it was hard to care too much.

"Oy!"

"Neville!"

The crowd began running off in all directions as she swooped down far, far, too close their heads. "Hello!"

Even Neville ducked out of the way, just in case, but hurried over to Luna as soon as she was reasonably level. He grinned, thinking more about how he was relieved to see her as he remembered than how they would get to the Potters in one piece (or not).

"Er -- brilliant to see you," he said, in a rush. Then, "Is this a Muggle brooms? Will it carry us both?"

"Don't be silly, it's magical." Luna smiled as she offered a hand to help him up. "A gift from Mr. Black, in fact."

One that he was probably going to regret once she crashed into his place... assuming the two of them ever made it there. More importantly, friends had to be greeted, never mind the way the broom refused to stay steady. "It's brilliant to see you too, Neville."

He took her hand, examining the broom as he climbed onto it carefully. It had been quite a while since he'd last flown; he gripped it precariously with both hands.

"All right, good," he said warily, glancing at the passerbys. "You look good," he added, after feeling reasonably balanced. "Like I remember, I mean. I'm glad things don't change too much from me until you."

That was probably a wise decision, seeing as their ascent back up into the skies was very quick and choppy

"That's very nice," she shouted, twirling them around a tree, "I'm glad too -- it's interesting, seeing people I've never seen, but it is very disconcerting."

With a barely audible "eep" Neville moved his hand to the broom to clutch the back of Luna's shirt, not trusting his grip on the sleek wood anymore.

"Disconcerting -- Luna, why are you going this w-- because everything's so different, or because people come back from the dead 'round here?"

Luckily for him, Luna didn't seem to hear him, or even notice that he was clutching on to her rather than the broom.

She'd stopped for a moment, looking around, wishing she'd thought to bring a map.

"Are we going the right w-- hmm, what was that? Oh, well, it's both really. Everything is so different from the way it is back home, in so many ways, both big and small. The compewters! And all the strange events. Well, the events are actually a bit like home, I suppose. Nevertheless--" And they went zooming off again, to who knows where.

He clung slightly tighter, frowning over the scenery. He'd been given an address from the anonymous person who'd told him to seek the Potters in the first place, though he wasn't sure it would do any good when he no longer knew where they were. New York -- or the City, whatever -- was large.

"I -- er, I can get my wand out to find North, if you need." Though he hated the idea of letting go to have to reach for it. "The telephones are already confusing enough... what kind of events do you m-- whoa, careful -- mean?"

They came to another abrupt stop. The resulting whiplash sent them both rocking back a bit, but Luna didn't seem to mind, simply smiling at him as everything slowed down -- if only for a minute.

"That's so thoughtful of you!" For what might very well be the first time, she looked down at their surroundings, finding herself staring down at a number of unfamiliar yet similar looking buildings. Muggle places had no character, really, it was quite a shame. "Not to alarm you, but I think we may be a little lost. I've never actually traveled to the Potters' before, at least not like this. Oh, you know, I really should have..."

All of the sudden she pulled a bright colorful ribbon of her pocket and began tying her hair back. At least now Neville wouldn't be getting a face full of it mid-flight. "Anyway, the events are-- well, they're always changing, and some of them are quite terrible. Riots, kidnappings, that sort of thing. It's like being home except in all the unpleasant ways."

"Right," Neville said breathlessly, taking a hand off of her to get his wand out before she began to move again. "But you know the general area, right? We could contact someone, maybe--"

He held out his wand and murmured "Point me." The wand spun in his hand before it stopped, pointing their way. Not that knowing North would help a great deal if they were that lost. He frowned as Luna went on to explain.

"Does that happen often?" He wouldn't be surprised, either way. He may not have known what to expect in this place but it was as Luna said: it was like being home, all the other differences aside. "You're all right, though?"

"That's a good idea. Perhaps we should contact the Potters." The idea was quickly forgotten, however, as she continued their conversation. Following the way of the wand, Luna began flying North, blindly putting her faith in the wooden compass-of-sorts.

"A little more frequently than at home. Every week, it seems, rather than every month or year. But most of it isn't as serious as-- you know." A soft sigh left her lips. "But I'm all right. It's been frightening, occasionally, but I've stayed relatively safe."

It was just as well Luna continued onward; Neville wasn't sure he'd be able to wrestle his communicator out while he was already holding out his wand, and that was also assuming he'd be able to get it to work.

"Every week? Surely that can't be right, Luna," he said, concerned. "How do they handle it?"

At least she was going a little bit slower now. That might be some help.

"That's what we're for, or so I've been told," she said, nonchalant. "To help them handle it. It seems the Aurors or whatever they call them - policemen? - and assorted people just up and disappeared. And on second thought, I suppose that is too much. It's more like every two weeks. Or three if we're lucky."

"The -- right, someone mentioned the Muggle Aurors," Neville said with a careful nod, deciding he'd default to the term he was familiar with until he saw the word written. He blinked, free hand clutching the broom tighter.

"At least they've got a reason for wanting us," he said finally and begrudgingly. "We've handled riots and kidnappings enough before. Though that only makes it sound like we'll be stuck here until everything's fixed."

That was a wise decision, to clutch the broom, as she had begun to speed up again. "I don't think that's strictly true," she said thoughtfully. "After all, I popped in and out here. It was a very odd experience -- I didn't remember anything about this place when I went home."

"Home?" Somehow, that felt like the strangest thing he'd heard yet. He thrust his wand arm further forward. "We can do that? But how do you not--"

He sighed, and decided to just stop asking questions. No matter what he asked it resulted in about four more things to wonder about.

"Does this look like the right direction to you?"

"It's very mysterious. Hermione says she doesn't even remember anything from the last time she was here--"

Luna came to a stop. Hovering over what looked like the general area around Potterbase. Hopefully.

"I... think so?"

"Keep going a bit, maybe it will look right the further go," Neville said carefully, eyebrows furrowed. He gripped the broom with his other hand now as well, figuring they knew well enough where North was now.

"That is mysterious. She had different memories altogether?"

She nodded and kept going North. Or what she hoped was almost a hundred percent was North, anyway. Maybe twenty-five percent West.

"No. Not false memories. That's something the Ministry would do. Although I still have my suspicions--" She shook her head. This wasn't the time to get into theories. "Anyway, she says she just forgot everything from the last time she was here. I hear it happens sometimes. People leave and they come back, but they can't remember. Or they come back and they're quite the same them as they were before."

Frown. "Does that make sense?" It even sounded a bit odd to her ears.

"Not at all," Neville said, shaking his head and clutching the broom tighter. "That's all right, though. I don't reckon much around here's going to make more sense any time soon. Got to get used to it now."

He glanced around, shaking his head occasionally to get his hair out of his face. "Maybe I should get ahold of one of them."

"That's a very pragmatic way of looking at the situation." Luna said approvingly, oblivious to the fact that he kept acting like they were going to be thrown off the broom at any moment. Which, honestly, was also quite pragmatic. "I don't know if it will ever make sense, but you do get used to it in time."

She nodded. "I'm sure they'd be willing to help us find our way. Although I'm... mostly certain this is the right direction."

"That's about as much as I can hope for." Neville bit his inner cheek and shrugged one shoulder, hoping that in spite of the evidence things did end up making more sense at some point. Surely they could.

"It looks nicer than where we're coming from," he said, fumbling uneasily for his communicator anyway. "I hope they live around here."

"I hope so too," she said, too busy gazing down to notice him fumbling with his communicator. "You may want to hold on tight-- I'm going to swoop down for a closer look."

She bit her lip. "And I haven't exactly tried this before."

"Oh-- kay." And, not sure he'd have time to put his communicator away, he put it in his mouth (and prayed he wouldn't somehow swallow it) and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Jsst b' chhful," he tried to say. "Nht too f'st, ahight?"

If she had been thinking more clearly, she would have pointed out that tossing his communicator in his mouth was far riskier than a ride on a broomstick, but

having his hands there was really quite strangely distracting and besides she needed to focus maneuvering the broomstick and--

She took a deep breath, slowly going higher and higher. Then she turned back to him and smiled reassuringly, calling out. "Don't worry, I'll go as slow as I can!"

Before plummeting back down at a rate that would make some of the speediest Seekers drop their jaws in admiration. Had she intended it, anyway.

The feeling was quite literally the sensation Neville would have expected from your heart falling abruptly from its place into your stomach, and he remembered the reason he didn't much care for flying.

He held onto her tighter, letting go with one hand only one to keep his communicator from dropping, palming it before putting his arm back in place. He laughed a little helplessly.

"You're taking it slow, all right."

It was fascinating, Luna contemplated, how such speeds could alter your hearing. A little inconvenient perhaps but intriguing all the same.

She still had a finger in her one ear, trying to pry the Muffling Mosquito from it, attempting to pop it. If only she had a nice Fudge Fly to chew on, that would do the trick... she'd even take a Canary Cream at this point. "What was that you said? Fly faster?"

Well. If he asked--

Potterbase began coming in to view as Luna and Neville started their descent. Fingers crossed, it would go smoother than the rest of their flight.

Lily's having a lovely afternoon at home, spending some quality time with her pet monkey, when there's a crash. A very loud, house-shaking crash coming from the roof. She immediately, with a startled marmoset in tow, goes outside to investigate, and it takes her a moment to absorb what she sees.

Luna and Neville are stuck in her chimney.

"Are you two all right?"

Luna, who is cramped up in a very uncomfortable and somewhat awkward position, is having a bit of trouble reaching her wand. If she could, she would send Mrs. Potter a message, letting her know that she and Neville were fine.

Disagreements about how best to get out of the chimney aside, of course.

Alas. All she could manage was a muffled shout. It sounded a bit like 'm anf Feville barf 'ine!

Neville for his part had wound up stuck with one arm wrenched over his head, the other on his wand but unable to move for space. Also, bricks really hurt when you were stuck against them.

"Yes, all right!" He called out, though he couldn't tell if the sound carried properly. Still, he couldn't move. "We're having some trouble."

Lily sighs, because, unfortunately for her, things like this happening around her house are not an uncommon thing, though it's usually Sirius and James getting themselves into trouble. She can't help but wonder if, if she didn't have a very short future ahead of her in her world, this would be happening with Harry and his friends at home during the holidays. The thought makes her smile for a moment, and then she gets back to the task at hand. Freeing Neville and Luna.

"It shouldn't be too hard to get the two of you out of there." She muses. "Expansion charm, and then, well. Levicorpus." She's thinking aloud, more than anything right now.

"Right, you two." She calls up. "On the count of three, I'll be casting some charms to get you out of there. Ready?"

"Levicorpus!" Cries out an airy voice that sounds far too excited under the circumstances. "That must be how Saint Nick does it! Oh, Neville, I should have thought of it before!"

She was stuck in a chimney. Without her wand (at least for the moment). And had decided this was the time to start wondering how the jolly old man in the red suit got himself out. Luna, perhaps, needed to sort out her priorities.

After a moment, she returned to reality long enough to realize that Mrs. Potter had asked her a question. "Yes, we're ready! At least, I think we are. Are you, Neville? This is really awfully uncomfortable. Enough so that it almost makes a body-bind sounds nice."

Edited 2011-08-19 07:30 (UTC)

"I don't know if anything can make that nice," Neville said miserably, moving himself slightly so that his arm felt less like it was about to twist itself off. "I thought he'd use a Shrinking Spell, honestly, although that can't be very comfortable eith--" He wrinkled his nose at himself for getting caught up in thinking about Saint Nicholas.

"Wait, sorry. I'm ready."

Once Luna and Neville have both given her the go-ahead, Lily goes ahead and casts the charms, freeing them both from the chimney and depositing them both softly on the grass in front of her.

"You two do realize the door is easier than the chimney, right?"

Luna landed with a small ‘oomph’. She began picking blades of grass out of her hair, glancing over at Neville to make sure he was all right before she turned her gaze upwards towards Lily.

“Yes, but if we had, we would never have been deposited, which was kind of fun minus the immobilization.” She nodded. “And... well. It was an accident.” Oh, dear. In all the excitement she’d forgotten about her broom. Did it make it?

"I would have greatly preferred the door," Neville said, sitting up and rubbing his back with a hiss. He glanced at Lily, a bit more intimidated now that he finally was seeing her in person.

"But better the chimney than a window, at least. Less of a mess that way."

Once everyone is out of everyone else's chimney and possibly entering the house for some post-disaster tea, they will come into the house just as Sirius is coming up from the basement.

"What's going on up here? Are you lot exploding things without me? Oh, hello Longbottom!"

Smiling, Sirius steps forward and would like very much to shake Neville's hand.

"Oh -- hi," Neville says, trying not to look too taken aback at seeing Sirius Black alive again in person. He doesn't know the whole story when it comes to Sirius, but he always trusted Harry; he pushes his hand out to shake Sirius's before these thoughts even finish.

"No explosions, sorry. Just a crash-landing up top." He pointed upward to the roof. "We're all in one piece."

"Crashing into things," Luna gently corrected Sirius. "Not exploding them. I think I'd prefer the latter. It's not as painful."

Now that she had said her piece, she stood aside, letting Neville and Sirius have their moment as her eyes wandered around and looked at all the sights the place had to offer.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

luna's flying is so bad it turns back time.

FLIGHT

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

CRASH LANDING... ER, ARRIVAL

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

IS NEW THREAD ACCEPTABLE?

WORKS FOR ME /SLAMS IN HERE

NO GET OUT NO ONE LIKES YOU (can i threadjack)