Rowena's Quill

After her conversation with Professor Dumbledore, Luna could not have been more eager to fulfill his word and talk to Neville again, but he was decidedly uninterested. In fact, he seemed to be studiously avoiding her. Perhaps he felt he'd revealed too much that day at the library, or perhaps it was for some other reason, but he never talked much at the D.A. meetings, and they didn't run across each other very often. Luna continued to see him working in the library, but Hermione Granger warned her against distracting him there. It was his O.W.L. year after all.

So other than the sporadic D.A. meetings, the weeks before winter holiday were lonely for Luna, perked up by occasional chats with Ginny. Cho continued dropping by her room, too, but those conversations were anything but perky.

"I just don't know what to do," Cho moaned one day. "I like Harry a lot, but he's so shy around me. I know it's because he's younger and hasn't had much experience, which is cute in its way, but sometimes a girl wants a boy to take a little more initiative."

Her face grew dreamy but sadder. Luna understood she was thinking about Cedric again.

"Is it bad if a girl takes the initiative?" asked Luna. She was sure she had no other choice with Neville.

"Well, no, it's not bad, but it's much nicer when the boy leads the way."

"Why?" asked Luna.

"Because that way, you know he really likes you."

"I see," whispered Luna, thinking all hope was lost.

Just then Cho brightened up. "Do you know what, Luna? You're right. Sometimes a girl has to take the initiative."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yes," said Cho decidedly, "I think . . . "

The laughter of other girls on their way to their rooms made Cho jump. "I'd better go. G'night, Luna."

"Good night," said Luna as the door quickly closed behind Cho.

Alone again, Luna sighed and looked around her empty room. Her eyes fell on the lion hat she'd made for the Quidditch match.

"It was a hit," she thought to herself. And then she grinned. Now she knew how she could take the initiative with Neville! She would try her hand at creating a model Mimbulus mimbletonia for him. Perhaps she could even get it to squirt Stinksap, too.

And except for the Stinksap, Luna had it ready on the night before winter holiday. Harry Potter called a D.A. meeting that night, and in her excitement, to present Neville with his gift, Luna was the first to arrive. While she and Harry waited for the others, she took the opportunity to caution him about nargles and mistletoe. She had a funny feeling he wouldn't listen, though.

Harry worked them hard at the meeting. The practiced Stunning spells some more, and when Neville accidentally Stunned Padma Patil, Luna felt another nargle sting. It did not last, though. Parvati was the one to fuss over Padma, not Neville. But in all that activity, there was no time to give Neville his gift.

"Perhaps tomorrow at breakfast," she told herself.

Yet the next morning at breakfast brought another disappointment. Neville was not in the Great Hall, nor were Ginny, her brothers, or Harry Potter. Luna watched as Professor Dumbledore called Hermione Granger to the head table and talk to her about something that made both of them look solemn. Luna grew anxious watching them. Perhaps one of the twins' jokes had gone very badly wrong and injured all of them. She visited the hospital wing immediately after breakfast.

"Madam Pomfrey, is Neville here? And Ginny? And Harry Potter? And -"

Madam Pomfrey held up a calming hand. "Everyone is fine. Neville is here. He's having his breakfast. You may visit him."

Luna found him sitting up and fully dressed.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're all right!" she cried.

"What did you hear?" asked Neville anxiously.

"Nothing," said Luna. "But I did see that you weren't at breakfast and that worried me."

"Oh," said Neville, "that's kind of . . . nice."

Luna beamed and gave him his present. "Happy Xmas, Neville."

His eyes grew wide in surprise. "It's a Mimbulus mimbletonia."

"It's not real, you know."

"I can see that, but it's a very good copy."

Luna could have danced from his compliment. "I was hoping to make it squirt Stinksap, but it proved rather difficult."

"Well . . . um . . . thanks. You didn't have to."

"I know I didn't have to. But I wanted to."

"Well, well," came a cheerful voice behind them. "Nothing like awarding last minute points before the holiday. Ten points to Ravenclaw, Miss Lovegood. I like to see a student who takes the Sorting Hat seriously."

Professor Dumbledore then shook hands with Neville. "And to Gryffindor, I award thirty. I understand it was quite a charade last night."

"Yes, sir," said Neville, stuffing the Mimbulus mimbletonia into his pocket with his free hand. "What Harry saw - was it real?"

"Yes, I am sorry to say that it was."

"Is Mr. Weasley - ?"

"He is alive and in good hands at St. Mungo's."

Luna gasped. "A Snorkack sighting?"

Professor Dumbledore gave her the slightest nod, though he fixed his eyes on Neville. "You may trust Miss Lovegood with the details, Mr. Longbottom. But now you two must hurry downstairs. Professor McGonagall has arranged for your belongings to be put on the carriage, and I am confident Miss Lovegood's will turn up when she needs them."

He escorted them out of the hospital wing, and with a wave of his wand, brought a long staircase from one side of the castle right to where they were standing. "Have a good holiday!" he said, waving.

They looked at each other and ran down the staircase together. Outside, students were hoisting their trunks onto the thestral-drawn carriages.

"Trevor!" cried Neville when he spotted his toad sitting amongst the trunks.

"C'mon!" called Hagrid. "Yeh've got a train ter catch!"

Neville grabbed his toad and he and Luna scrambled on.

"Thirty points," said Neville once they'd settled in. "That's the most I've ever gotten at one time."

"What did Professor Dumbledore mean, 'a charade last night?'"

"Shhhh," said Neville. "I'll tell you on the train."

Luna was happy. That meant she would be sharing her compartment with Neville, the very person whose company she wanted most.

The Hogwarts Express was waiting for them, gleaming red and gold amidst newly falling snow. Luna gave a goodbye pat to her favorite thestral before she and Neville boarded the train.

"You can see them?" asked Neville.

"Yes," said Luna, realizing from the direction of his gaze that that he could see them, too. But she didn't want to explain about that just then, and evidently, neither did Neville. He found an empty compartment and shut the door behind them.

"Now I'll tell you what happened, but it can't get around. There are already too many people who think Harry's gone mad."

"Well, I don't think so," said Luna, "and as I've told you, I know all about confidentialities."

"Right," said Neville. "Well, first, you have to understand something about Harry. Sometimes he gets pains in his scar, and it's never a good sign. I live with him, and I can tell you, it's been happening more and more often. And well, you know what's happening or you wouldn't be in the D.A."

Luna nodded. The Quibbler had done a few articles about Harry's scar, but exactly how it worked was essentially a mystery, even to Professor Dumbledore.

Neville continued his story. "So last night, Harry woke up clutching his scar. It was the worst I'd ever seen him. He vomited and started saying terrible things - that a snake attacked Ron's Dad. I didn't know what it all meant, but I knew I had to run for help."

"Whose?" asked Luna.

"Professor McGonagall. She's our Head of House after all. She was thanking me the whole way back to the dorm, and she also said that Harry's nightmare might be real." Neville paused to shudder.

"Where could Mr. Weasley have been that a snake would bite him?"

"I don't know, but I was pretty sure it was real because McGonagall took Harry and Ron to Dumbledore, and when she came back later, it wasn't with them, she was with -"

"Not Umbridge?"

Neville nodded. "The two of them were talking so loud, they must have woken every boy in the dorm. McGonagall was telling Umbridge a whole long story about how I'd been the one to get sick, and Harry and Ron were the ones to call her. Then she said she'd just been trying to Floo my Gran to see if I could go home early, but Gran must disconnect her Floo at night because she couldn't get through. So she'd come back to the room to bring me up to the hospital wing for the night.

"Well, once I'd heard the story, I understood that McGonagall did not want Umbridge going into the room with Harry out of bed. I knew just what to do. Lucky thing I'd bought some Puking Pastilles from Fred and George in case I needed a quick out of Snape's exam. I wolfed down a few, went outside, and um, well . . . you know . . . all over Umbridge."

"All over Umbridge?" repeated Luna. Then, unable to stop herself, she burst into giggles. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said, holding her stomach as her eyes filled with tears of laughter.

"It's all right," said Neville, laughing too. "McGonagall couldn't keep a straight face either."

At that image, the two of them laughed louder. The people passing by their compartment gave them strange looks, but that only made it seem funnier. A victory for the D.A. and none of those "cool people" knew it!

Finally, when their laughter died down, Luna said, "I'm glad to hear Mr. Weasley will be all right. You ought to tell Fred and George how you used their product. I think they'll be quite pleased."

"Yeah," said Neville. "I reckon they will."

A small pang of guilt hit Luna. It was horrifying that so many people's lives were being torn apart by the war against Voldemort - Harry's, Neville's, and now the Weasleys had had their second narrow escape. It really wasn't a laughing matter. But then she remembered the Sorting Hat's message. If unity and friendship were necessary to win the fight, then enjoying herself with Neville was the best thing she could do.

"Would you like to play Rack 'n Rune? I have it in my trunk."

"A Runes game? You take Runes?"

"Yes," said Luna. "Why does that surprise you?"

"Oh, I just thought it was - I mean, usually the kind of people who take Runes - um, do you want to play Exploding Snap?"

"Yes, I'd love to," said Luna.

They played a long and highly explosive game. Poor Trevor was so frightened by all the noises that he kept jumping away and hiding himself. Neville went after him each time, but after all the interruptions, they decided to stop playing.

"Sorry it wasn't much of a game," said Neville.

"I enjoyed it," said Luna. "I don't play games very often. Nobody in Ravenclaw ever asks me."

"Oh," said Neville, looking out the window uncomfortably.

"Do you have friends in Gryffindor?"

"Well, yes," said Neville, running his finger along the frosty window, "but I don't have a best friend. Like in my room. I get on just fine with everybody, but Harry and Ron are best friends, and Dean and Seamus are best friends, so I'm sort of the odd man out."

"People in Ravenclaw think I'm a bit odd, too," said Luna, "but you meant something different by 'odd,' didn't you?"

"Umm . . ." said Neville.

"It's quite all right. I'm trying to get used to it, you know. But I am glad to be going home. I get very lonely at school sometimes."

"I get very lonely at home sometimes," mumbled Neville.

There were a few moments of silence as Luna waited for him to say more. She was prepared to pretend she knew nothing about his parents if he chose to confide in her. But he did not. And suddenly, Luna saw the necessity of explaining to him precisely why she could see the thestrals.

"My mother died five and a half years ago," she began as he turned back toward her, giving her the attention warranted by such a serious topic. "She was a Runes expert and liked to experiment with language and sound. She had a quill that knew many languages and one day, she worked out how to make voices come out of it. But somehow, the spell backfired and killed her. I was the only witness."

"That's - that's horrible," said Neville. "I'm so sorry."

"It was horrible," Luna agreed. "And to this day, nobody knows precisely why it happened. She used "Incendio." Even Professor Dumbledore couldn't understand why "Incendio" would make a quill sing."

"Your mother died trying to make a quill sing?" he asked incredulously.

Luna understood that it sounded outlandish to him, but she liked him too much to let it bother her. She let it pass with a simple correction. "She did not die trying. Her experiment was a success. The quill did sing."

And then, in her clearest voice, she sang the song for Neville. When she finished, he stared at her open-mouthed, not knowing what to say.

"It's a very hopeful song," Luna told him. "Someday we will know exactly why she died. Truth wills out."

Neville continued staring at her.

"Don't you understand why I'm telling you this?"

"No," he said.

"Because truth wills out in the end. Right now, you're afraid that people will laugh at you for vomiting over Umbridge. Some people probably will. More people will appreciate that she got her come-uppance, but that's not why you did it. You did it to protect Harry and to make sure sensitive information didn't get into the wrong hands. That's worth more than thirty points to Gryffindor, and someday, everyone will know it."

Neville looked at his feet. His humility was so admirable. But Luna could see that though his head was down, he was smiling at what she said.

The train pulled in to King's Cross station. Stiff-legged from the long trip, they got up, stretched, and brought their trunks to the platform.

"There's my Gran," said Neville. "I'd better go."

"Thank you for sharing your compartment with me," said Luna. "It was the nicest ride home I've ever had."

"Yeah," said Neville, quietly. "Thanks."