First Day Blues

First Day Blues

The first day back, and things were much as they always were, reflected Fillius. The same gushing friendship amongst the girls and the same silent companionship amongst the boys. It had been the same when he was at school, long ago though that was. He looked down at the parchment note on the desk
, and sighed. Yes, it was definitely the same as always.

Apparently some of the Ravenclaws had felt there was potential for amusement in moving and hiding the belongings of Luna Lovegood - surely the oddest Hogwarts student since her father, maybe even since Uric himself. Fillius wouldn't have been surprised if it turned out that the Lovegoods could trace their family back to the Oddball - Uric had been a Hufflepuff, and as far as Flitwick knew, Luna was the first Lovegood to have been not sorted into the Badger house.

Not for the first time, Fillius found himself wondering why Luna was in his house. He knew it wasn't entirely appropriate for a head of house to be thinking such thoughts about one of his own students - but he couldn't entirely help it. She simply didn't altogether fit with the Ravenclaw house stereotypes or characterizations.

Her marks were good, but not brilliant, not anything out of the ordinary - above average certainly, but below what other Ravenclaws received and to a wizard who had been head of the Ravenclaw house for many years, they didn't stand out. Her Potions marks were excellent, of course, by far the best in her year in spite of Severus' undeniable favouritism towards the Slytherin house. But Minerva despaired of her, and Pomona would sigh whenever the Lovegood girl would come up in conversation or discussion at a staff meeting - which happened disconcertingly often. Fillius wasn't used to his students being mentioned for anything much other than academic praise.

Ravenclaws weren't by nature troublemakers, and they certainly always did their homework. They were generally a pretty self-sufficient house, and he liked that. He liked that he rarely had to deal with petty disputes. Instead he was able to treat his charges as equals on an academic level, and it wasn't unheard of for him to spend an evening in the Ravenclaw commons in deep debate with one of the older students about current events, or the recent books and articles. Fillius liked to think that he was close to his students, closer perhaps than any of the other heads of house, excepting probably Pomona Sprout, whose comradeship with her students was legendary. But Luna... She was different. That was how he waved away questions about her that he didn't want - didn't know how - to answer.

Luna had an unlikely ally in Severus Snape. "Just because the girl doesn't stick to her peers' dismal standards socially, doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with her." The other professors had all stared agog at the Slytherin head, taken aback that he would stick up for anyone not in his own house. "What? It's true." He had protested.

And of course, it was. But that didn't mean she wasn't different. And it wasn't just socially, either.

"It isn't that she can't do the spells," cried the exasperated Minerva when explaining the barely passing mark Luna had received on the latest test. "She just doesn't. She doesn't interpret the question logically."

Pomona had confided to him that having Luna in her class was a little challenging - the closest the kind witch would ever come to a criticism of any student. "She was asking me this morning whether it was really fair to move the Snapdragons from the windowsill - because they were probably very happy there. By the time we'd moved onto the Mandrakes, well. She had me feeling guilty as anything about repotting them, let alone giving them to Severus to chop up. It's hard to handle every lesson."

Minerva had been blunter about it. "Look, Fillius, I know that there probably isn't much you can do, but you are her head of house. She needs to get a grip, and pull things together. I know she cares about her father, maybe you could ask him to talk to her. Otherwise she will never amount to anything, if she can't fit in at all."

The staff had all watched with bated breath as a romance began between Lovegood and the youngest Weasley son during her fifth year - could some of Ronald's homespun common sense rub off on her?

However that didn't appear to be the case. When the Weasley boy, though, started asking questions in Herbology that were distinctly Luna Lovegood-esque, Pomona and Minerva sat the poor Gryffindor down for a chat, about, among other things, Miss Lovegood's naivety - that everything she said couldn't always be taken at face value. It turned out that Luna had been helping Mister Weasley with his Herbology study - and the questions stopped, at least from Ronald.

Only once had Fillius gone to the Headmaster for advice about the girl. "It's all very well to think differently from others in school, but when she graduates? What is going to become of her? Is she just going to work in her father's magazine for the rest of her life?" Severus had been there as well, for another reason, and had commented mildly - and seemingly out of character.

"She could always consider a career in Potions - she certainly has the talent. I'd be happy to give her additional work and extra lessons."

Fillius always supposed that Severus' surprising sympathy with the girl was simply a link to her Potions aptitude, but when he mentioned his theory to Pomona, she had suggested that maybe there was more to it - maybe he saw a little bit of himself in her?

Now, that was a scary thought.

Pulled from his reverie by a log falling in the fire, he looked down at note before him. He knew who the culprits were, they had done this before - two of the other fifth year Ravenclaw girls, who didn't feel that Miss Lovegood was pulling her weight in classes. He sighed. He was hesitant to take points, because he knew where they were coming from, and there was no real evidence - though he doubted they would lie if he asked them directly. Fillius drew out a piece of parchment, and wrote a notice to be posted in the common room - stating clearly that fifty points would be taken every day before Miss Lovegood's belongings were returned. Hopefully that would do.

Yes, it certainly was back to normal at Hogwarts.