Silvery Clouds

Chapter One - Secrets Within

Ron sat in his compartment on the Hogwarts Express, alone. He and Hermione were no longer together, due to many rows that summer at The Burrow and Harry wasn't on the train due to his hunt for Horcruxes. He hadn't spoken to Hermione for two weeks, and was unaware of where or who she was sitting with. Although he had been instructed to return to the Prefects carriage, as normal, he did not. After a brief visit, he had retreated to a private compartment, hoping that his Prefect duties would not be required.

A knock on the compartment door awoke Ron from his gloomy thoughts, and he looked up as the door slid open to reveal an odd looking girl clutching a toad. She pushed her long straggly hair out of her face to show two tiny earrings, which looked like kiwi-fruit. Ron stared at her for a moment.

"Err ... hi ... Harry isn't here. Or Hermione and I think Ginny's with some friends ..." Ron said - after all - there was no other possible reason why she would want his compartment.

"Yes, I know ... is that your owl?" Luna Lovegood asked conversationally, looking at the cage on the seat next to Ron with interest.

He continued to stare at her. If she'd known the others weren't there, then why was she here? "Yes, that's Pig ...umm Luna, why are you here?"

Luna looked delightedly at the owl before speaking. "He's grown quite a lot since my fourth year." She turned and fixed her misty eyes upon Ron. "I just came to see you ... that's all. I thought with everything-" she waved her hand. "You might consider me as a friend. Anyway I'll go, Hermione and Neville will be wondering where I am."

Ron looked uncomfortable, and hesitated before speaking. "You can stay if you like, It's just ..." But as he'd trailed off, Luna had taken the seat opposite him, dragging her trunk behind her. The compartment door slam shut, and Ron, who had been wondering ever since he saw the toad, asked, "Luna, is that your toad?"

Perhaps she and Neville had started a club or something. Wacky Weirdo's and Their Toads. He chortled at the thought, but picked up Pig's cage and put it on his lap protectively. They weren't getting anywhere near him or his owl, if they really did have a club.

"No, this is Trevor. He belongs to Neville, but he escaped so I offered to look for him." she replied, holding up the toad and peering at it.

"Oh ... so, good summer?" Ron immediately wished he hadn't asked her and quickly cut in; he didn't want to hear about Luna's imaginary creatures or her father's magazine at the time. "We had Bill and Fleur's wedding of course -Mum was hysterical for weeks, 'cause she didn't think the cake was iced the right colour or something, and Ginny turned up in jeans." He grinned at the memories. "Harry and Hermione stayed for a bit, but Harry's busy with those Horcruxes and Hermione ... umm ..."

"What are Horcruxes?" Luna asked simply, then added, "How is your brother, Ronald?"

"Which one?"

"Bill, the one who got the bite. Daddy said he should be ok, except for the full moons of course," she hesitated, then said in a lower voice, "I was wondering if you could ask him - when he's a werewolf that is, ask him to keep an eye out for the Wispiehoes?"

"Hey! Bill isn't gonna be a Quibbler researcher, or whatever you call it! Go and look for your wispie things yourself!" Ron snapped. "And don't go round telling people things like that; Bill doesn't want the whole world knowing he's a werewolf! Or has The Quibbler already published a front page story on it?" If Hermione was there, then she would have pointed out that when Bill was a Werewolf he wouldn't have any of his human memories and wouldn't think twice about killing his own mother, let alone look for Wispiehoes. Glumly, he stared out of the train window.

"Miss her?" Luna asked, for once unfazed by the dig at her father's magazine. "What?" Ron asked in surprise, jerking his head back into place. It was like Luna didn't even hear what you said, half the time.

"Hermione."

"What's she been telling you? Because it was her that put that beast - Crookshanks outside, not me!" Ron said irritably.

Luna smiled. "You have no idea, Ronald. This isn't about her cat, the wedding or her preferring to read than play Quidditch with you."

"You know what it is about then, do you?" Ron snapped, tossing Pigwedgion's cage aside. The owl rolled around inside its cage. Luna picked the cage up, taking Pig out. She petted him. "Ron, she just needs space," she said.

"You called me Ron!" he retorted sharply.

Luna stopped petting the owl and stared at him hard for a moment. "Do you like being called Ronald?"

"Well, no, but you never call me Ron ..."

She gave a small sigh. "It was a line. Hermione asked me to say that and come and talk to you. But I'm not very good at it, am I? Pretending and lying ..." Luna said, putting Trevor down.

Ron thought she sounded rather pleased with herself. "No, you're not," Ron mumbled, trying to work everything out in his head. Hermione had sent Luna to talk to him and try to make him think that it was him doing wrong?

"Luna, you can tell Hermione that I can be just as clever as her! Tell her I saw right through her plan and it's not going to work. She's a ..."

Luna interrupted him, "Hang on ..." She fumbled in her bag for a moment, and brought out some parchment and a quill. "Ok you can go on now," she said, poising her quill, ready to write.

Ron looked at her in disbelief. She really was mad. "Err, don't bother Loon - Luna, she'll just ..." He stopped abruptly. "Sorry."

Luna smiled, unfazed by his words. "For what?" When he did not reply, she repeated her question from earlier. "What are Horcruxes?"

Ron sighed. "These ... things. Harry's looking for them so he can kill You-Know-Who ... I was going to go with him, but mum wouldn't let me help. Doesn't want me leaving school early like Fred and George. It's really unfair though, I dunno what Harry's going to do on his own."

"Oh," she replied simply.

Ron had a certain satisfaction in knowing that she didn't have a clue what he was on about. He stared out the window, watching the trees go by. It looked like his last year at Hogwarts was going to be rather dull. No Harry - and he doubted he and Hermione were speaking; it was normally Harry that made them "come to their senses". Who would be his partner in class? Neville? This thought depressed Ron even more - other than Herbology, Neville wasn't very good at lessons. So, he would fail his NEWTs, and his mother would cry herself to sleep.

To top it all off, Dumbledore was dead. He knew Hogwarts wouldn't be the same without the headmaster; McGonagall was good but nowhere near good enough. The school probably wouldn't have many students back this year, Mrs Weasley herself had thought hard before letting Ron and Ginny come back.

The sound of someone humming a familiar tune, caught Ron's attention and he turned to look at Luna again. She was absent-mindedly sucking a lock of her dirty-blonde hair, whilst peering out of the window in a strange manner, humming Weasley Is Our King.

Peculiar, Ron thought. He hadn't heard that for a long time, and it gave him the tiniest nudge into feeling better. "So how come you're back at Hogwarts?" he asked. The way Luna went on about her precious father and his magazine, he'd thought she would have taken to home-schooling after the events of the previous school year.

"Shh!" Luna whispered, her face pressed against the window.

Ron rolled his eyes, and leaned over to the seats opposite him. He picked Pig's cage up, which now had the owl inside it, and stood up to put it in the luggage rack. The sight of the bird was beginning to irritate him.

"Look! Ronald, quick! This is amazing!" Luna said quietly, yet with clear enthusiasm. Ron dropped Pig's cage - the sudden sentence surprising him. He knelt next to Luna on her seat, and stared out of the window. Normal English country-side, grey clouds looked ready to burst at any moment, and the only remotely interesting thing Ron could see was someone's owl heading towards a window further back in the train.

Luna let out a small squeal of excitement and clutched Ron's hand. "It's a Squigglemop! You're a witness, I'll have to owl Daddy as soon as we get to school - Squigglemops are really rare!"

"A scribble-what?" Ron asked looking self-consciously down at his large palm in Luna's small grasp. He felt his ears turn pink, and quickly removed his hand.

Luna appeared unaware that their hands had ever touched, as she said in the same excited way, "Squigglemops are those, look ..." she pointed out of the window at what to Ron looked like an ordinary tree.

"Luna, that's a tree..." he said and went back to his own seat.

"It's not! Can't you see the leaves changing colour? And the trunk is moving!" Luna replied, darting a quick look at him before peering out of the window once more.

Ron sighed quietly and looked at the tree, when he realised something. The tree was moving. He watched in amazement, as the roots spread out and little feet took large steps forward, keeping up with the train.

"Can you see it now Ronald?" Luna asked and Ron slowly nodded.

"Yeah ..." Maybe Luna and The Quibbler didn't make up all these creatures after all. He still couldn't see the leaves changing colour, but Luna was an imaginative person ...

It was then that Ron caught sight of a Slytherin boy leaning out of a window, his wand pointed at the Squigglemop. Another familiar head poked out beside the boy. Ron opened his window, keen to hear what was going on.

"Hurry, or it will never catch up with the driver!" Pansy Parkinson said. Ron could hear two loud grunts from inside the compartment, which had to belong to Crabbe and Goyle.

Ron wondered who this boy was - Draco Malfoy no longer attended Hogwarts after nearly killing the headmaster, and his gang were rarely seen without him. Maybe it was a new boy, to replace Malfoy? Ron couldn't make out is appearance, as it was getting dark and drizzling dully, but one things was definite. The tree was not a "Squigglemop". It was a bewitched tree that appeared to be trying to catch up with the driver. As for why, Ron had no idea.

"Should give him a real spook!" Pansy said, smirking. Ron shut the window.

"So you'll come?" Luna asked brightly.

"Huh?" Ron replied, trying to work out what she meant.

"You'll come, for an interview about the Squigglemops?" Luna said, and Ron was glad she didn't comment about him not taking part in the conversation earlier.

"Wh - oh yeah, yeah, sure ... I'll come." Ron muttered, giving her his best confident smile, although he looked exactly the opposite of how he hoped. He didn't have the heart to tell Luna that her beloved Squigglemop was just a tree under a spell. Poor Loony, she really did believe in these things, and Ron highly doubted anyone or anything would change her strong beliefs.

Luna beamed at him. "Daddy will be so pleased!" She paused, staring at him with her round silvery eyes. "I'd better go, Neville will want Trevor and we're nearly at the castle ..."

Ron nodded, "Say hi to Neville for me."

Luna stood up, but continued to stare at him unblinkingly.

"And Hermione ..." he muttered and removed Trevor the toad from where he had just hopped, onto Ron's head. He handed the toad to Luna. She smiled and casually placed Trevor on her own head. Ron blinked.

"He likes it there, hardly ever jumps off!" Luna said, poking something through Pigwedgion's cage, which appeared to be a toast crust. "Thank-you Ronald, this has been most enjoyable." she said, and with that she left the compartment, toad on head, corks round neck and of course her kiwi-fruit earrings, swinging proudly from side to side.

Ron stared at the now empty seat opposite him, then noticed Luna's trunk standing there. She had obviously forgotten it. He opened the door and called her name, but she had already disappeared from the train corridor. A few people poked their heads out of their compartments and Parvati Patil said,

"Ron, you'd better not be going after Loony Lovegood, Hermione Granger upset Lavender enough, but Loony? You can do so much better than that! It's ridiculous, so stop trying to make Lav jealous."

Ron gave her strange look. Make Lavender Brown jealous. He shuddered, but said, "I wasn't calling Loony, I was calling my owl. She's called Luna."

Most people seemed satisfied by this lie, but Parvati made a strange sound. Ron quickly backed into his compartment before she could continue the conversation.

Luna would need her trunk, but he wasn't going to go in the same compartment as Hermione ... besides, everyone would find out he was looking for Luna ...

Ron sat down again and stared hard at the trunk. He wondered what was in there, besides her clothes and school-books. What sort of things would Loony Lovegood keep in her trunk? In the end boredom and curiosity combined got the better of him.

Ron knelt down on the hard floor of the train and stared at the two keyholes set in the wood of Luna's trunk. He whipped out his wand and without hesitation pointed it at the first keyhole.

"Alohamora!" he said and the trunk lid opened. Eagerly, Ron started to go through Luna's stuff, unsure as to why he felt so excited.

The normal robes and books were there, amongst a variety of other odd items. A box containing assorted earrings - Ron vaguely remembered seeing her wear a few of them, but most were new and unusual. The snowmen and pigs looked normal next to the peculiarly shaped dried pine-cones and the even stranger lilac coloured earrings which looked like clay hippogriffs. Amongst the earrings and other stranger jewellery, Ron found a badge that read, 'Luna Lovegood - Rescue Mission'. He tried to work out where he had seen it before, and remembered. The Department of Mysteries in his fifth year. They had received the badges just before entering the ministry. How odd that Luna had kept it. He had no idea what had happened to his own, probably thrown away or tossed aside somewhere in his messy bedroom.

To be honest, among the odd things Luna Lovegood kept in her trunk there weren't many items that interested Ron. He flicked through one or two old copies of The Quibbler in boredom, but other than a hilarious article on Tom, owner of the Leaky Cauldron being a werewolf, (which explained why he always disappeared from the inn at full-moons, even though the article was a load of codswallop) there wasn't much to keep him happy. As Ron tossed the magazines back into the trunk, a small navy-coloured book caught his attention. For some reason it stood out. Maybe because of the letters printed in silver, which shone on the cover, or just its small strange shape, which gave the book a mysterious air. Ron picked it up, and read the silver words on the cover.

"Secrets Within," he read out loud, and without hesitation flicked to the first page, wondering what secrets the book contained. After reading a few sentences, Ron threw the small blue book back in the trunk, as if it was a ball of flames. The book appeared to be Luna's diary. Going through her trunk was one thing, but Ron could not pry through her thoughts, secrets and ramblings by reading her diary - especially after what he had just read. Why should he read it anyway? It wasn't like Luna was someone he should be suspicious of, she was hardly Draco Malfoy in disguise. But there was something weird about her, and Ron was quite sure it was more than her crazy appearance and ridiculous beliefs.

All the same, he shut the trunk lid and sat back down, wishing he hadn't opened it. From the few sentences he had read in Luna's diary, it looked like she was - Ron's thoughts were interrupted by the trunk. Every few seconds it would vibrate and make a strange noise. It definitely hadn't done that before. Curiously, Ron poked his wand at the keyholes again, uttered the charm to un-lock the trunk and watched as it opened once more.

Except this time, Ron had pointed his wand at the other keyhole. He leaned over and peered into the trunk. A shallow stone basin, etched with strange symbols round the rim, and filled with a strange silvery substance lay there. A folded piece of parchment was sitting next to the basin, and Ron picked it up. The basin looked a bit like a picture he had seen in a book. A Pensieve, like Harry had been in with Dumbledore in their lessons the previous year.

Ron slowly un-folded the parchment and began to read what was written in the shaky scrawl, scared about what secrets he would uncover next.

Darling Little Luna,

When you read this you will be sixteen. A spell on the trunk disables anyone under that age to open it. There is a reason why I have kept my Pensieve locked up here, and when you look into it, you will see why. Some things have to be kept a secret, and I hope you will forgive me for hiding this one from you.

My memories lie within the silver clouds, watch and learn, Luna darling, because nobody knows whether I will be alive to tell you the tale in my own words.

As long as you know that I love you, and I will always care, I shall try to be content. Remember - things aren't always as they appear. The sun may come out, but the moon is still there, hiding from the light.

Sorry darling, I would change the past if I could.

Lots of Love, hugs and Snorckack kisses,

Daddy xxxx

Ron felt that he was doing something terrible, prying into Luna's private things, and he was probably right. She hadn't even seen the Pensieve or letter herself! The letter gave a mysterious feeling that something was wrong, and Ron was determined to find out what, despite the guilty feeling in the pit of his stomach. He glanced at his watch. The train would be arriving in Hogsmeade any minute now.

Ron stuffed the letter in his pocket, and carefully lifted the Pensieve out of Luna's trunk. He got his own down from the luggage rack and hid the Pensieve amongst his clothes. Still feeling terribly guilty, Ron locked up Luna's trunk and wondered what to do with it. In the end, he decided to leave it where it was, after all - they always left their luggage on the train, and it always arrived in their dormitories later that night ...

Ron stood up, took one last look around the compartment and left. His only chance to put the Pensieve back had just gone.