Rowena's Quill

Luna learned from her father never to spend even a Knut of her pocket money on The Daily Prophet but she read discarded copies whenever she could. Dad said it was important to know what the competition was saying, especially with major news, so she made certain to read The Prophet's version of the Azkaban mass break-out as well as the mysterious death of the Unspeakable wizard Bode. Of course, their interpretations were completely wrong. Bode's death was made out to be a freakish accident. Nobody even suggested murder, though anyone with sense knew that dark wizards targeted Unspeakables. But the grossest misinformation by far was the claim that the escaped Death Eaters had rallied around Sirius Black, and not Voldemort.

"That's the most dangerous lie they've printed yet," she thought. "Their poor, gullible readers won't be properly prepared to defend themselves." But misleading as it was, she intended to continue following The Prophet's coverage. These stories were too important to ignore.

Much to her surprise, her fellow students seemed to agree. People who normally subscribed to the paper but ignored it were now reading and keeping it. Discarded copies became harder and harder to come by. The hallways were abuzz with fearful talk, and at long last, people were beginning to take Harry Potter seriously. Luna always knew they would eventually. Truth wills out. But it was unfortunate that it had to take ten escaped Death Eaters to make it happen.

Poor Neville was taking the news harder than anybody. He didn't speak to Luna at D.A. meetings anymore, nor to anyone else. He didn't even sneak peeks at Ginny the way he used to. He had his mind on one thing and one thing only: mastering every defensive spell Harry taught. Luna admired him more than ever, but she missed his company.

Surprisingly, it was Hermione Granger who gave her something to keep her busy and happy. She was sitting in the library one day, working on her Runes homework, when Hermione took a seat across from her.

"Hello," said Luna.

"Hi," said Hermione. She fidgeted as though uncertain of what to say. It was not like her. Her eyes darted around and then rested on Luna's stack of text books.

"I didn't know you took Runes," she said.

"Of course I do," said Luna.

"And you've got all of Sophie Rockrimmon's books! I've been waiting for those for ages!"

"I'm sorry," said Luna. "We have copies at home, you know, but Dad doesn't want me to bring them to school. She's my favorite writer of course, but I'll return these so you can take them out. It would be the right thing to do, actually."

"It's fine," said Hermione quickly. Small talk was over; now she was ready to get down to whatever business was on her mind. "Listen, Luna, I've got an idea for The Quibbler."

Luna sat up attentively. Hermione had broken the code at last!

"Which article was it?" she asked, excitedly. "The recent Snorkack sighting or the chicken-swapping scandal?"

"Um, well, I don't actually read The Quibbler," said Hermione, looking self-conscious again. "But I did think that after all the rubbish we've been seeing about Harry in The Prophet, perhaps some other paper would be interested in his side of the story."

"Well, yes, Daddy would certainly be interested," said Luna.

In fact, 'interested' didn't quite cover it. Dad would jump at the chance to interview Harry Potter. He'd been begging Professor Dumbledore ever since Harry re-entered the wizarding world, but Dumbledore was extremely protective of him. A suggestion from Hermione was different, though. She was one of his best friends, and that must mean she knew that he was willing.

"Then I say we should all meet at the next Hogsmeade outing," said Hermione. "I've already written to Rita Skeeter to do the interview."

"Rita Skeeter? She's not one of our reporters."

"Yes, I know," said Hermione.

"And I rather doubt she's capable of writing in The Quibbler's standard style. Perhaps my Dad ought to do the interview."

"No!" cried Hermione so loudly that Madam Pince shook a scolding finger at her. Lowering her voice, she said, "What I mean to say is, please, Luna, let's do this my way."

"If you insist," said Luna, knowing it would be Hermione's way or no way. "I'll write to Dad tonight."

Her Dad was predictably thrilled, so the meeting was set. Rita Skeeter proved to be as nasty and mercenary in person as she was in print. Luna was not at all surprised when Hermione told her that she had been resorting to illegal measures to get sources. Shocked perhaps, but not surprised.

But Luna had to admit that Rita Skeeter had a nose for news. She asked pointed questions, pressed for details, and really got Harry talking. As an interviewer, she was nearly as professional as Dad, though of course, not even a fraction as noble.

For his part, Harry came off shiningly well. Luna could see that it was hard for him to speak so openly about what he had witnessed, just as it had been hard for her to describe her mother's death. But it was equally clear that Harry was giving his all so that the truth would come out. He was so much in line with The Quibbler's mission, it was hard for Luna to believe that both he and Hermione were still unaware of it.

When the interview was finally published, it took Hogwarts by storm. Within hours, every student in school had read it, and everywhere Luna went, she overheard people talking about it. Harry had won their respect, and people were treating her better, too. With the exception of Draco Malfoy and his friends, people stopped calling her 'Loony.' And as the after effects of the article stretched into weeks, Luna felt her life at Hogwarts was close to perfect. The only thing missing was Neville.

Then another astounding thing happened - not as good as being around Neville - but definitely thrilling. A centaur became the new Divination professor. From the moment he stepped into the castle, dazzling the school and dumfounding Umbridge, Luna knew she was in for the opportunity of a lifetime. Dozens of questions raced to her mind. First and foremost, she wanted to know if he was the same centaur who'd spoken to her mother.

The answer to that question came in her very first class with him when he said, "It was foretold that we would meet, daughter of Rowena."

But being singled out by the new professor meant the end of her brief respite from unpopularity. When she returned to the dorm that night, her roommates were carrying on a conversation about her as though she weren't there.

"Well, well, the daughter of Rowena has arrived," said Kali, the most forceful of the three. "What makes her the 'daughter of Rowena' more than any of us, I'll never understand."

"My mother was named Rowena," said Luna.

The girls ignored her and continued talking amongst themselves.

"Parvati Patil said he knew Harry Potter's name," said Grendelle.

"Who doesn't?" spat Kali.

Luna sat down on her bed and began emptying out her pockets. She pulled out her D.A. Galleon and looked at it long and hard. "Call a meeting, Harry. Please," she thought.

"It must be because Trelawney used to give her such high marks," said Braunoza.

"Only because she makes stuff up better than the rest of us. She probably copied her assignments from that rubbish in her father's magazine."

That made Luna angry. "I do not cheat," she said, jumping up.

"Prove it!" said Kali, leaping to her feet, too. She took a small crystal ball off her shelves, walked over to Luna, and twirling it before her, said, "Trelawney let me borrow this so I could keep practicing, seeing as all we'll be doing with Firenze is astrology."

"Professor Firenze," corrected Luna.

"Excuse me," said Kali acidly. "Anyway, let's see if you're for real or not. Professor Firenze will find out soon enough." She dropped the crystal ball into Luna's hands.

Braunoza ran to the door. "Hey everybody! Rowena's looniest daughter is going to give us a séance!"

And before Luna had a chance to protest, every Ravenclaw girl between third and seventh years crowded into their dorm room.

"This is just what Umbridge did to Professor Trelawney," she thought. "But I will not let them fluster me."

She sat back down on her bed, holding the crystal ball in her lap. She looked around at all the faces in the room, and then stared into it the crystal ball. After a few minutes, a vision came to her. "Disfigurement," she said.

"That's not a prediction," said Kali. "Name some names."

Luna pondered the image in the crystal ball. The girl in it was hiding herself behind a scarf. But the curly hair told all.

"Marietta Edgecombe," said Luna. "She'll be made so hideous, she'll be ashamed to show her face."

"If you can't say anything nice, Loony, don't say anything at all!" cried Marietta.

A strong sense of foreboding came over Luna. "Heed your own advice," she replied. "We always have the power to change our own fate."

"Oh, please. Enough of this rubbish," said Marietta. She stormed out of the room and Cho followed her.

"Do me!" said a third-year.

"No, me!" said another.

Luna again fixed her eyes on the crystal ball. She didn't see either of the two third-years. She saw herself. Then several members of the D.A. appeared in the glass, and then Umbridge, towering over them menacingly. They had been caught!

"Remain calm. You must not panic," said Luna to the image.

"Who musn't panic?" said one of the third years.

"Not you," said Luna, looking up. She knew she could not explain what she had seen to any of them. They were not part of the D.A. "I think I've seen enough for one night," said Luna.

"Of course you have," said Kali sarcastically.

"Perhaps you should give it a try yourself," said Luna, handing back the crystal ball. "Professor Trelawney loaned it to you for practice, after all."

"Fine," said Kali, sitting down with the ball. She stared into it, and after a brief pause, she announced, "Michael Corner will ditch Ginny Weasley for Padma Patil."

"Really?" squealed Padma.

"You can double-check with 'the daughter of Rowena' if you like," said Kali.

"I don't really understand much about boys," said Luna.

"No kidding," someone mumbled.

"What's the point of taking Divination then?" said one of the third years.

"Yeah, let's have some more love predictions, Kali. Who'll get Roger Davies next?"

Luna lost interest in their conversation after that, and she slipped out of the room unnoticed. She headed up to the Astronomy Tower to review the star patterns Professor Firenze had shown them in class. Every now and then, she checked on her Galleon.

Luna's prediction about Marietta came true two months later, but by that time, Marietta and Cho were the only ones who remembered it, and they immediately accused her of being in cahoots with Hermione Granger. It was as absurd a conspiracy theory as Fudge's fears about Professor Dumbledore, but Cho and Marietta believed it, and it cost Luna Cho's friendship. That hurt, but the end of the D.A. hurt more. Luna was puzzled that it turned out so differently than her vision. Harry Potter had been the only one to confront Umbridge; everyone else escaped. That meant either that her vision was wrong or that some worse confrontation with Umbridge was yet to come. If it did, Luna knew to remain calm.

The lack of meetings was unbearable. For months, Luna had had a place to go and people to see, just like everyone else in school. It was all over now. And because she'd had that brief taste of friendship, she knew what she was missing. Without the D.A., Luna's loneliness was fiercer than ever.