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pansy liked to wander the labyrinthine tunnels of phoenix at night. the underground city was silent as a tomb in the wee hours, a hard change from the bustling, lively air it possessed in the day--- not that any of them really knew when it was day and when it wasn't. they hadn't seen the sun in about three years. still, they had strictly regulated sleeping schedules, abided by most. maybe all, besides pansy, because she hadn't run into a single person all the nights she'd been here. of course, that could be because of the size of the thing; phoenix was a sprawling monster of a city, held together by magic, and magic alone.
pansy scuffed along a narrow, winding hallway, sleeplessness weighing so heavily upon her eyelids that she almost missed it, the flicker of blinding light.
"hello?" she croaked, a spark of fear, or perhaps excitement, flickering to life in her heart. there was silence, and then the steady plod of footsteps, and then a woman turned around a sharp corner, and pansy nearly gasped. it was luna lovegood, whom pansy had not seen since before the end of their hogwarts years, but she did not look anything like she had before. her hair was shorn ragged and close to her scalp, and her face was long and thin in the flickering light of the candle she held. her eyes were slate grey, and sharper than pansy remembered them.
"lovegood," she choked out, voice faint to her own ears, "didn't know you were still alive." luna regarded her steadily, coolly, and pansy shivered.
"hm. didn't know you were in phoenix," the girl--- no, woman now, replied evenly.
pansy winced. "ah, yes," she said quietly, "i left that lot two years in."
luna regarded her silently for several heavy, uncomfortable minutes, before nodding. it was that nod that seemed to unfreeze pansy, who nodded back, and tripped forward. she had barely made it two feet past luna when the woman called out to her.
"parkinson," she softly but clearly, "see you around." when pansy turned around she was graced with a slight, inscrutable smile, and suddenly luna looked so much like she once had that pansy couldn't breathe.
"yeah," she choked out, but Luna had already left. pansy was left standing in the silence and the dark, wondering what the hell had just happened.