The Chasm

The next day, it was Percy\'s lunch that was interrupted. At least, Percy\'s version of lunch: a cup of tea and a slice of bread and marmalade, which he kept in the bottom left drawer of his desk. He had just finished trimming the crust from around the edge of the bread when he heard a knock.



Setting the bread down on the plate on his desk, Percy called out for the person to enter. To his mild surprise (he hadn\'t doubted she would return, but he had been expecting her nearer to the end of the day), it was Luna Lovegood who glided through the door. Today, her robes were the color of smoke, which gave her a ghost-like quality. There were no flowers in her hair, Percy noted, though there were strands of what looked like grass wrapped around her wrist like a bracelet.



"Miss Lovegood," he nodded curtly, brushing crumbs into his napkin.



"Good afternoon, Weatherby." She was smiling.



Percy didn\'t correct her. He collected the crumbs and dropped them into the bin beneath his desk. "Is there something I can do for you?"



Luna lit up, her smile cracking even wider. Percy suddenly felt uncomfortable. "Yes!" she answered enthusiastically.



Percy eyed her with calm suspicion as she reached into the battered-looking satchel slung over her narrow shoulder. He brought one of his hands up to rest lightly on his wand, which was laying on his desk, just in case.



Instead of withdrawing some strange creature, however, Luna pulled from her satchel a pair of asymmetrical, overlarge spectacles. They were flimsy and brightly colored, and wavy, silverish lines vibrated along some thin-looking, transparent material where the glass should have been. When her fingertips grazed the material, the silvery lines pulled in towards the warmth in dart-like patterns. Luna unfolded them and set them on her nose, tapping at the earpiece. Percy thought they looked like something Fred and George would have created for their line of nonsense. His throat constricted with the thought.



Suddenly, Luna spoke. "You\'re right."



Percy\'s head snapped to attention. Had she just responded to his thoughts? "Excuse me?"



"You\'re right. They are," Luna answered brightly. She looked utterly absurd. The glasses were nearly as large as her face "I got them at Weasley\'s Wizarding Wheezes. That\'s your brothers\' shop," she added.



"I know it is," Percy snapped. Luna didn\'t seem to notice.



"But I played with them a little," she said, still staring at Percy and smiling. "I have a pair for you!" She reached back into her satchel.



Percy was already shaking his head and pushing his own horn-rimmed spectacles hard against his face, as if to shield himself. "Miss Lovegood, I have no time for this nonsense. If you\'ve come here to issue me an invitation, I\'m afraid I have to decline. Now, if you\'ll excuse me, I have work to do." He rose from his desk, determined, this time, to escort her out before she mentioned Fred again. Or George, for that matter, he thought.



"No you don\'t," Luna said mildly, removing a second pair of glasses from her bag, then raising her finger to tap at her own earpiece again. "I waited until your lunch break."



Percy\'s hand fell against the corner of his desk in a gesture of exasperation. "You are entirely out of bounds," he said, setting his jaw. "Spying on Ministry officials! I really ought to call security, but if you\'ll kindly leave, we can avoid that, I\'m sure."



But Luna made no move to leave. Instead, she continued to rifle through her bag until she pulled out something wrapped in kitchen foil. "I\'ve made you a proper lunch," she said, walking over to his desk and holding out the parcel. "You\'re skinny." She observed Percy\'s expression, which was a mix of shock, distrust, and something almost embarrassed. "Don\'t worry," she said, laughing. "It\'s just a bit of chicken pie. I haven\'t put anything naughty into it."



She leaned in and pressed it against Percy\'s hand, which was gripping the edge of his desk. Tentatively, as though unsure what to do with the peculiar brand of kindness he was being offered after his own brusqueness, he opened his fingers and took it from her.



"That wasn\'t necessary, Miss Lovegood, I..."



"You\'re welcome," she said, goggling, still, at him in the enormous spectacles. A spot of color rose in Percy\'s cheeks, glaringly noticeable against his pale complexion, which had grown paler still from the lack of sunlight, sleep, and adequate nourishment to which he\'d been subjecting himself since Fred\'s death.



"Thank you," Percy nodded, remembering his manners. He suddenly felt voraciously hungry. His stomach rumbled.



"Eat," Luna said. Percy nodded shortly and unwrapped the package, returning to his seat. Luna pushed her glasses up so that they were resting atop her long hair, which, Percy noticed, was again neatly brushed. She aimed her wand at the chicken pie, and Percy looked up, alarmed. Luna merely smiled her placid smile, and the chicken pie grew warm under Percy\'s hands. She aimed her wand, next, at a quill on his desk, and it transfigured itself into a fork.



"Thank you," Percy muttered as Luna tucked her wand back over her ear. "Do you... do you want to sit down?"



"Yes!" Luna said happily and settled herself into a chair across from Percy. Her eyes remained fixed on him as he carefully took apart his lunch into small, bite-sized pieces.



In a gesture of politeness, Percy offered Luna some. When she refused, he offered her tea or bread and jam. "No, thank you," she answered. "I\'ve eaten." She folded her small hands in her lap and watched, silently, as Percy ate. He felt extremely uncomfortable with all of her attention focused upon him, and he tried to finish as quickly as possible without shoveling everything into his mouth like a troll. The chicken pie was remarkably good, he thought, chewing self-consciously.



Percy tried to remember the last thing he\'d eaten that hadn\'t come from a package or jar. It was difficult, but then it hit him: at Fred\'s funeral. His mother had forced something upon him that he hadn\'t even tasted and couldn\'t recall. He swallowed the last bite of his lunch rather thickly and brushed the crumbs into the kitchen foil, crumpling it up.



"See?" said Luna. "Nothing naughty."



Percy binned the foil and met Luna\'s gaze. "So it would seem," he answered, smiling thinly. "Thank you, Miss Lovegood. Is there... is there anything else?"



"I don\'t think you\'re a prat," she said thoughtfully, examining Percy\' face.



"Excuse me?" said Percy, taken aback.



"Fred says that you\'re a prat. He wanted me to tell you that. But I don\'t think it\'s true." Percy\'s brow clouded darkly at this. "Don\'t get stormy, Weatherby," Luna said calmly. She reached up and pulled the glasses over her eyes again, and again tapped at the earpiece. "I don\'t really think he thinks you are, either. I think..." she paused.



Percy\'s heart was suddenly hammering. He didn\'t know what to do. This barmy woman thought that a warm bit of pie entitled her to prattle on about things she clearly didn\'t understand. His fists balled in his lap.



"I think," Luna continued, "you need these."



Swiftly, she rose to her feet and picked up the second pair of absurd spectacles, leaned across the desk, and placed them squarely on Percy\'s face, right over his own.



Immediately, Percy raised his arm to remove them, but before his hand got halfway to his face, he was stopped in his tracks by what he saw through them. Luna Lovegood was suddenly standing right in front of him wearing.... her knickers. Her very fussy, very pink, very overtly provocative knickers, with lacing holding them together and ruffles in some places and sheerness in others and all sorts of well... sexy, complicated things. She was also wearing stockings -- black ones that came to her thighs, with lace at the tops and fishnetting all the way down -- clasped to her panties with dainty-looking clips.



Swallowing reflexively and utterly startled, Percy blinked. When his eyes opened again, she was still standing there, but now, she was completely naked. Her body was slender and narrow, though, surprisingly, she had quite a lot of curve to her. Lovely ones, at her neck and her breasts and her hips, and at the little dip in her knee, and...



Percy yanked the glasses off his face and threw them onto his desk in horror. Luna was standing there with a droll smile on her face. "I don\'t think you know how to work them properly," she said, rather archly, raising an eyebrow.



"Miss Love..."



"Luna. I think you should call me Luna now that you\'ve seen me nude."



Percy coughed. "Luna, all right," he choked out finally. "That was entirely..."



"Inappropriate?" she suggested, suddenly looking very grave. "It was, wasn\'t it? I forgive you, though. It was an accident. And I wore my pretty ones today, anyway, just in case that happened." Percy could do nothing but stare at her in disbelief. "They\'re Ogling Ocs. See What\'s Underneath," she intoned in a comic voice. "That\'s the slogan. Fred and George created them. But I played with them a bit, like I said." She looked expectantly at Percy.



"Well... they seem to be working rather well," he responded lamely.



Luna smiled again. "Yes, they are, aren\'t they? Seeing what\'s underneath clothes is fun," she giggled. Then she grew serious. "I\'m glad you ate. I could see your ribs." Percy felt his face burn. He hadn\'t even considered that. If he could see her, then surely she could see him. "Don\'t worry, I didn\'t look below," Luna said reassuringly. "That would be rude."



Percy just shook his head, imperceptibly, unable to find words. After a few moments, he spoke. "Why are you here?"



She looked back at him, her eyes wide and unblinking and unnerving. "I played with them. Seeing what\'s underneath clothes is fun, but I\'ve always been more curious about what\'s underneath skin. In your brain."



Percy blinked, confused. "You can see thoughts?"



Luna nodded. "A bit. Sort of. Only little pictures, like snapshots. I can\'t hear thought-words, and I can\'t really understand the thinker\'s interpretation of the pictures. And after a minute or two, things start to get fuzzy. If the person is thinking too fast, it\'s hard to follow at all." She paused. "You think fast, Weatherby."



Percy blanched. "You can see my thoughts?"



"Not really. You think very fast." A sly smile crossed Luna\'s lips, and she quickly reached up and dropped the Ogling Ocs back over her eyes. Percy immediately tried to concentrate on the report he had been writing, but she was too fast.



"I caught that one, though." She giggled. "Boys are all very similar, aren\'t they? Even the serious ones?" She looked at Percy, her expression unreadable. "You think I\'m sexy." It was a statement, not a question. "Ronald doesn\'t. I\'m never naked in Ronald\'s thoughts. He works at Weasley\'s Wizarding Wheezes now, you know." She giggled again. "Ronald has freckles on his bum. You probably knew that, though. I bet you all have freckles on your bums, don\'t you? You have them everywhere else. It makes sense."



Luna looked at Percy as though she were expecting him to answer. He opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He had absolutely no idea what to say. "That\'s... rather personal."



Luna smiled. "I\'ll just look for myself later," she said conversationally, lifting the glasses off of her face.



Percy asked, again, "Why are you here?"



"Because," Luna answered. "Fred thinks you need to see what\'s underneath. So do I."



"Fred is dead," Percy snapped, hitting the desk with his hands for emphasis. "You can\'t just come in here with... with lunch, and with ridiculous glasses and ridiculous underthings and... and pretend you\'ve been talking with...." his voice trailed off. His entire body was burning with shame and indignation and an overwhelming curiosity that he hadn\'t known still existed inside of him.



Luna\'s eyes suddenly grew soft and compassionate. "With your dead brother."



For a moment, she and Percy just looked at each other. Defeated, Percy simply said, "Yes."



"I know Fred is dead," said Luna. "George isn\'t, though. And Fred is worried about George. And so am I. And so is Ronald." She looked piercingly into Percy\'s face. "And so are you." Sometimes, Luna Lovegood didn\'t need a charmed pair of glasses to see what was underneath.



Percy swallowed hard. His chest felt like it was caving in.



"Come home with me," Luna said, rising from her chair. "It\'s Friday. You were going to leave here anyway, and go to your flat. And I know you don\'t want to do that. I\'ll show you everything. Everything you haven\'t seen already. Please." She looked down at Percy. "Five o\'clock, I\'ll be back."



She walked towards the door. Before she opened it to leave, she looked back over her shoulder. "That peony is dry now. Make tea with it. It\'s really quite good. I mean the taste. Not just for storms."