Scattered: Brief Lives

Luna spends a great deal of time roaming the castle. Now that her father has arrived, he has begun intensely planning for their exploration of the island. He is sure that the forest in particular is teeming with some of the more rare species of Skreeits, and he has suspicions about Hamish's cattle. He's almost certain they are Gnarplemosses in disguise.

While he plans, Luna waits, a pattern she is familiar with. There is plenty to do in the castle in the meantime, though the rooms and halls themselves are admittedly rather dull. She does find herself quite entertained on her visits with the house-elves and while talking to the ghost she met in the empty classroom on the second floor. Mostly, though, it is the people she enjoys. Watching them, not talking to them so much. People, she's observed, rarely say truly interesting things, even when they think them, and even when they want to. They always leave them unsaid instead and Luna, for the life of her, has never been able to figure out why. Instead, she's simply accepted that it's more informative to watch than it is to listen.

Even so, the actions of the people around her rarely make sense; quite the opposite really. But her father says that in order to become a true explorer, a true journalist of the truth, she needs to learn how to see things -- not the way other people see them, but the way they truly are.

The months she spent in the safehouse were a drought of human interaction. Nymphadora Tonks was reclusive and depressed. Susan Bones was always reading, which Luna admires but nevertheless did not find fascinating to watch. There was nothing, really, to use to hone her observational skills. But here, at the castle, there is a wealth of information to mine.

Amos Diggory, for example. Beneath his smiles and helpful manner, there is still a seething sort of rage in him. She can see it sometimes, in his lips and in the tic in his cheek. He's still angry about his son, she senses. Cedric. He'd had the loveliest hair.

Arthur Weasley, Ronald's father, is very tired. Exhausted, really. But no one seems to see it. She wonders if he has ingested some Droopsayer Extract on mistake. Her father did that once, years ago, and he'd slept for days. She hopes it's simply an inadvertent Droopsayer ingestion for Mr. Weasley and not the onset of Zbombotruosis. She rather likes him, with his funny plugs and Muggle stories, but isn't sure she would continue to do so if he became a brain-eating zombie.

Hannah Abbott, she sees, is madly and utterly in love with Seamus Finnegan -- who, sadly, as far as Luna can tell, does not return the sentiment. Oddly enough, in response, Hannah is scathingly rude to him at all times. Luna isn't entirely certain what Hannah's plan is to win Seamus's love; the rudeness seems to make him dislike her even more. But perhaps it is a complex plan, leading somewhere Luna doesn't understand, which is easily possible. She knows very little, really, about romance.

After all, Ronald is in love with Hermione Granger now, and they are together. Luna is happy for her friends, but a little confused. Luna isn't sure why Hermione kept loving him while he was being so awful, always locking at the lips like a Froodfish with that Brown girl, the one who pretended to like Luna but didn't. Hermione cried quite a few tears in the girls' loo that year but never gave up completely. Luna herself would have simply taken an Anti-Love Potion and felt better immediately. Hermione, though, was disinclined to stop loving even when it was clearly the sensible thing to do. Luna hadn't understood that at all and yet Hermione was apparently right, for Ronald loves her now, just as she always loved him. Hermione clearly knows a lot more about love than Luna does.

Luna makes a mental note to ask Hermione about Hannah's long-range planning skills.

Luna watches and observes and waits. She spends time with Ginny, and with Hermione and Hannah. She talks to Colin, who is so much quieter, now, than he used to be. She thinks of Neville, gone now behind the Veil with the others, and she thinks of Harry, still making his way to them, but also still with burdens left to shed before he can come to his destination. She visits the elves and decorates her room and gets ready for the next adventure. In the meantime, she watches, and sees.