We Aren't All That Different

"Good bye, Daddy," Luna Lovegood said quietly, hugging her father tightly and kissing him softly on the cheek.

He stroked her hair lovingly one last time before he strode away at an almost hurried pace. His old faded cloak swirled about his legs, his wand clearly visible behind his right ear through the thinning mop of sandy hair. He was very busy- the new issue of The Quibbler was to be published in a few days and there were still two articles missing.

Luna chewed on the inside of her cheek and thought about her father. Recently, her daddy had seemed nervous and tense because nothing worked the way he wanted it to. Since they had published Harry's interview, the demand had increased dramatically and that, of course, meant a lot of stress for him. But Luna was sure he'd manage it all in the end and publish yet another splendid issue.

It was only when she tasted the coppery tang of blood in her mouth that she realised that she had chewed on her cheek too long, lost in thought, and had to force herself with all strength of mind she could muster to stop it. She didn't want to do it, it was just that she never noticed it when she did.

A quiet sigh escaped her lips. There wasn't much time left. Soon the train would arrive and it would take her back to Hogwarts. Not that she didn't like Hogwarts; of course she did. No person who ever went there could possibly not like it, with its secret rooms and the mysterious forest. No, it wasn't the school she feared returning to- it was the students and especially the five girls in her dormitory. They were giving her a hard time, constantly, because they didn't like the way she thought about things or because they thought she was eccentric and weird because of what she believed in. Luna did not understand this behaviour; why did they care about her beliefs? She never mocked them because they didn't believe in Heliopaths, did she? Her heart sank as she realized just how long it would be until she would be at home again in their beloved small cottage, where everything was so friendly.

The new school year had not even started, and already she was having depressing thoughts. She felt for the pre-print issue of The Quibbler in her pocket to distract herself. Her father had given it to her for the train ride. A smile spread over her face and her thoughts drifted to this way more pleasant topic. She already looked forward to eventually reading it. Giving her the pre-print issue was a big exception from one of her father's basic principles. Usually he didn't let her see the newest issue before it was printed and published, to keep up the suspense for her.

He would lock himself into his 'Headquarters', as Luna used to call his study, and come out only to eat and sleep, literally. He would never even breathe a word about the articles. If she begged and pleaded with him to tell her what would be in the new issue, he'd just smile and say, "Something wonderful, darling, you'll see," and leave her with as little information as she had before.

The only real exception he had ever made from this had been last year, when she had asked him to print Harry's interview. Then, he had been forced to tell her at least a little about the contents of the new edition. Maybe this time he had sensed that she would need it. In the last days before the new issue was published, he was always caught up in his own world and thought of nothing but the magazine. Luna was really happy he had still noticed she didn't feel well.

Slowly, she looked around to see if maybe she could see a familiar face, but they had been very early arriving and there were only two scared-looking boys - probably first years - with their families a little farther down the platform. Luna threw her most friendly smile in their direction, but they didn't even notice. She shrugged and sat down on her trunk, absent-mindedly taking out her old pocket watch and looking at it.

As usual, the glass was so scratched she could barely recognize the two small brooms that served as hands before the bright full moon on the face. With a sigh, she prodded it with her wand until it told her the time in a squeaky voice that reminded her of a House Elf every time she heard it. Luna moaned: it was another forty-five minutes until the train would arrive.

She decided that she might as well learn a bit more and dug her Charms book out of her trunk, then sat down again. She opened the book randomly and found herself looking at the chapter about Silencing Charms.

This could come in handy, Luna thought to herself, imagining what she could do to Bianca and Pandora, the two girls in her dormitory whose giggles constantly rang throughout the room, making Luna feel like her head could explode at any given moment. Just something else she dreaded when returning to school after the merciful silence at home. Stop it, she told herself firmly. It was no good having only negative thoughts.

Luna put her wand behind her left ear, ensuring that it was out of the way, and started to read.

Around her, the platform slowly filled up with people, dragging behind them trolleys loaded with trunks, brooms and owl cages. From time to time, Luna looked up and searched for familiar faces. Of course, she recognised a lot of people now, but none of them made her want to walk over to them and talk to them, so she simply continued reading.

When about half an hour had passed by, someone suddenly put a hand on her shoulder and a merry voice said, "Hi, Luna! Long time no see!"

Luckily, Luna was not a person to startle easily, or she would have fallen off her trunk. Instead, she turned around calmly and looked at Tessa Dugan, a girl from Hufflepuff who was 'kind of' her best friend; they went to Charms Club together. Luna smiled.

"Hello, Tessa," she said and felt suddenly that her left leg had gone to sleep. She pinched herself hard to bring back some feeling and stood up, shaking a bit.

"How was your holiday in Sweden?" Tessa asked, beaming at her cheerfully.

"Oh," Luna said and took a deep breath, "it was absolutely wonderful. The landscape is really amazing and Daddy and I actually found a herd of Crumple-Horned -"

"Tessa!" a blonde girl called from a few metres away. "You coming?"

Tessa looked at Luna apologetically. "I'm sorry," she said, regret in her voice. "I'll see you around!" she quickly added as she vanished together with the other girl.

Luna watched her as the two girls put their heads together and started chatting animatedly and felt disappointed and a little sad. This was her supposedly best friend, and she went away from her so easily? Not that good a friend, then, apparently. And there she was, thinking Hufflepuffs were loyal. She sighed.

Suddenly a glimpse of short-cut red hair appearing from the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 caught her eye. Her heart made a sudden somersault and she felt a strange sensation spreading in her stomach. Quickly, she stuffed her book back into her trunk and slowly walked over to the place where the red hair was still shining bright through the sea of brown, black and blond.

She saw Harry and Ron standing close together, talking quietly. Suddenly, they both burst out laughing; Ron threw his head back as he laughed, holding his stomach.

"Hello Ronald," Luna said and stepped next to Ron.

He looked down at her and the merry expression was replaced by a rather awkward kind of smile. "Oh, err- hi, Luna," he said and his look darted quickly from her to Harry, and back again, as if he was unsure of what to do.

Harry smiled at her and gave a quick friendly wave of greeting. Hermione, who was standing close to him, also smiled.

Ginny had noticed her and came over to them, followed closely by a woman who looked a lot like her: two identical pairs of friendly brown eyes looked at her, surrounded by the same flame-red hair. The only difference was that Ginny was a lot younger, and not as stout as the woman.

"Hi, Luna!" she called and waved. "Mum, this is Luna Lovegood," she added, turning towards the woman.

"Hello, Luna," the woman said with a friendly smile. "I'm Ginny and Ron's mum. Ginny talked a lot about you during the summer." The woman stepped closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "I want to thank you, Luna. Ginny told me how you helped Ron and her in the Department of Mysteries last year. Who knows what would have happened to them if it hadn't been for you..." She trailed off.

"Oh, you're welcome," Luna replied and felt pleased. She beamed. Not only had Ginny remembered her, but she had also talked about her in a positive light. They were all so friendly to her, no one muttered "Loony Lovegood" and pointed his finger at her. On the contrary, they were all smiling. Ronald looked a little awkward, but Luna guessed he wasn't feeling well. Maybe he had eaten too much in the morning. She decided to preserve this moment of happiness in her mind along with her other happy memories, so she could conjure them up when she needed a bit of cheering up.

"Come on, now," growled a man behind Mrs Weasley. Luna recognized him as Professor Moody, who had taught them two years ago. "Hurry up, you lot, get onto the train," he said and made shooing movements with his hands.

Behind him Professor Lupin appeared, looking tired and shabby in his patched robe.

"Hello, Professor Lupin," Luna greeted him.

A wry smile passed over Lupin's face. "Hello, Luna," he said. "It's nice to see you." Then he walked off on his way.

The platform was full of former professors today, it seemed. That reminded Luna of Professor Lockhart and she wondered briefly what had become of him. She hadn't seen him since the end of her first year, but she still remembered his bright smile that had seemed to cheer up the mornings for her. Maybe he was a male model for wizarding robes; she thought it would be a fitting job for him, what with his dazzling white teeth and the self-confidence he had very obviously had.

Then again, maybe he had gone back to travelling around the world and rescuing people. But why hadn't he published another book, then? After all, it had been three years; he would have seen a lot of things. Probably Minister Fudge had some information about him that made him dangerous- maybe he had fought the secret army of Heliopaths Fudge had built up? That could be, of course... Luna wondered if the Ministry of Magic could put someone in prison for fighting the secret army of the Minister of Magic. That would explain his long absence from public.

A loud whistle interfered with her line of thinking and she looked up to find the platform nearly deserted; only a few students were still outside the train. She grabbed the handle of her trunk and queued up behind the other people in front of one the doors.

When finally she had gotten inside, the others had vanished and were nowhere in sight. Luna shrugged inwardly and went to a compartment where four people were sitting.

"Hello," she said and poked her head inside, "is it okay if I take one seat?"

"Sure," a little girl said, but a boy sitting next to her nudged her hard.

"No, I'm sorry," he said without the slightest trace of regret in his voice. "We're still waiting for someone." He stared up at her from his seat as if daring her to reply, slowly folding his arms. He lifted his chin slightly and looked at her with raised eyebrows.

Luna felt annoyed. It was not nice at all to see the unhidden revulsion and disgust in his eyes. He didn't even know her! Did he simply judge her because of prejudices he had heard from others? Luna couldn't imagine anyone doing that. It was so... dumb. They were simply saying what others were telling them to say. Didn't these people have an opinion of their own? She shook her head a little in disbelief. "Incredible, incredible," her daddy would mutter now and scratch his head thoughtfully, were he with her. The thought made the annoyance vanish and, without taking further notice of the boy, she went out of the compartment again. Behind her she heard the boy's voice say loudly and in a voice full of distaste and scolding, "That's Loony Lovegood, Anna. We don't want her in our compartment, understood?"

Luna wandered down the corridor. All along the way people stopped and stared at her. Some older students told their smaller siblings about "Loony Lovegood", not caring to keep their voices down, and some Slytherins even laughed at her openly.

She continued to pull her trunk behind her, listening to what the others said about her with a mixture of fascination and the want to block it all out. It was some sort of weird curiosity, but most of the time she chose to ignore the comments. When she found an empty compartment, she settled down next to the window. She pulled Merlin, her fluffy teddy bear, out of one pocket of her coat and placed him in her lap carefully.

She looked down at him lovingly and stroked over his left ear carefully, because it seemed to fall off every moment and was only attached by a few sparse threads. He had once been bright yellow, but through the years the sun had bleached him until, with the dirt, the colour resembled nothing more than very old parchment. He had only one of his button-eyes left; for the other one, Luna had made two clumsy stitches with a needle years ago and now he sported a black X for his right eye.

However, all these blemishes couldn't stop Luna from loving him dearly and taking him to bed with her every night. Once, before she had started Hogwarts, her father had tried to take him away from her, but she had thrown a tantrum and had begged him to give him back to her until he couldn't resist any longer.

When she was finished looking at Merlin, she reached into her pocket, pulled out the pre-print issue of The Quibbler and sighed happily.

Just at that very moment, the compartment door opened and someone poked his head in. "Oh no," he groaned when he saw her. Then he quickly recollected himself. "Erm..." he said, "everywhere else's full. Do you mind us sitting here?"

Luna looked at him intently, looked at his dark hair, which was cut very short, stared at his eyes until she saw what eye-colour he had -brown-, noticed his brand-new Muggle clothes and thought. Eventually, she nodded.

"Come in," she said and turned back to looking at the cover of The Quibbler, which featured a photo of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack she had taken in Sweden.

She felt a smile spread on her face as memories of their holiday came back to her; felt again the excited tingle in her stomach she had had when they had, finally, after two weeks of restless wandering around, seen a herd of Snorkacks near a lake, grazing like sheep. They didn't have the fluffy hide sheep had, but had nearly black, naked skin and reddish-brown fangs that looked so long that Lund thought they could easily kill somebody from three feet away. They really looked that long. And, even more important, they had smelled most distastingly like old cheese left in the sun; a smell that, weirdly enough, faintly reminded her of the scent ascending from her father's boots after a day of wandering. But still, Luna thought, they looked a lot like sheep.

With a deep sigh of delight she opened the magazine and started to read the first article.

An hour had passed when the door slid open and the witch with the sweet trolley looked in. "Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked with a friendly smile.

Luna searched for a few coins in her pockets and bought a packet of Chocolate Frogs, while the boys in the compartment bought a huge bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. For a while, Luna amused herself by watching them eat them and make faces when they got something like bogey or earwax. Still, it became boring after a while and she returned to the article about a goblin conspiracy she had been reading before.

Absent-mindedly she opened the first Chocolate Frog and stuffed it into her mouth without looking at the card. They didn't interest her at all and she couldn't understand the fuss everybody seemed to make about them. Far too soon the packet was empty and all Chocolate Frogs were eaten. Just as she was about to throw all the cards into the waste bin, one of the boys started to wave his hand in front of her face.

"No!" he said breathlessly and stared at her, his blue eyes wide in shock. "You can't just throw them away!"

"Of course I can," Luna said and wondered why he was so interested in what she was doing all of a sudden. She walked over to the waste bin and threw the cards inside.

The boy stared at her for a moment, and then he raced to the bin and started fishing the cards out again. "Morgana!" he exclaimed suddenly. "I've been searching for this one for years!" He flashed Luna a very angry look that clearly said, How can you not collect these cards? How can you just throw them away? Then he stomped back to his seat, clutching the Morgana card to his chest.

Luna thought that he was a very crazy boy, making such fuss about a little piece of cardboard, went back to her seat and took a quill out of her trunk. Then she turned The Quibbler upside down and began doing the crossword, raising the issue high so that the others couldn't see her face.

When she looked up again, she saw that all the boys were already dressed in their Hogwarts robes. She looked out of the window and indeed, the sky had darkened noticeably. She grabbed her robes and went to the toilet to change, then went back to her compartment and placed her Quibbler carefully with all her other books in her trunk, closed the lid and prepared herself to leave.

Eventually, when everything outside had become black, the train stopped and students of all ages flooded out of the doors. She herself was one of the last ones to leave the train. It was still a very warm night and she dawdled along to enjoy the pleasant wind on her skin a little more. Slowly, she wandered over to the carriages with the Thestrals. Of course, by then most of the carriages were full, but in the end she managed to find a seat in one full of little children who looked like they could be second years. They all shot her curious looks, accompanied by hushed whispers from which she could only make out only a few words. Those she heard were the usual ones- "Loony Lovegood... odd... Quibbler..." but Luna chose to look out of the window instead of letting them get to her.

They arrived at Hogwarts and went to the Great Hall. The usual scenario began: a long, long line of first years entered the Hall, looking fearful, and everyone stared at them;

Professor McGonagall fetched the Sorting Hat and her list of students; the Hat sang and the Sorting began.

At first, she still paid attention to what was going on, saw "Allen, Nina" become a Slytherin, clapped for "Asher, Darby", the first Ravenclaw, and stared at "Bartley, Rory", whose head was nearly too big for the Hat, but who was finally sorted into Hufflepuff nonetheless.

Next to sort was "Close, Anna", the little girl she had seen earlier on the train. She was sorted into Ravenclaw and Luna tried to give her a friendly smile, but she sat too far down the table.

Then, she started to lose interest. After all, every year was the same procedure and, as she didn't have any relatives that would be the right age for Hogwarts, she didn't really care.

However, when the Sorting was nearly over, the last boy to be sorted caught her eye. "Wayne, Pip", McGonagall called and the boy stepped forward. He was unbelievably small and looked like could only be eight years old. Luna would never have thought he was eleven already.

After a short while, the Hat shouted "SLYTHERIN" and the Slytherins cheered and clapped, then went back to the usual sneers and bored expressions they wore when new students were sorted into the other Houses. Professor McGonagall carried away the Hat and stool and Dumbledore slowly rose to his feet.

"To our newcomers, a hearty welcome," he said. "To the rest of you- welcome back to a new year at Hogwarts. I don't want to bore you with many words. At least," he said with a smile, "not now: Tuck in!"

With that, the golden plates before Luna filled themselves with food. Hungrily, she piled her plate up with golden-brown fried potatoes and fat, juicy sausages. Then, she filled her goblet with cool Pumpkin Juice, listening intently to Su Li, who was sitting two seats to her left, telling her friend about her holiday in Spain. After a while, that became boring, though, because the only thing Li seemed to be interested in was the "unbelievably wide range of different kinds of stones" she had found while on vacation. So Luna tilted her head to the right, where Michael Corner was sitting, boasting about the new broom he had received for his birthday. Luna stifled a yawn. Why were these people so narrow-minded?

After a second and third helping she stopped eating, resting for a while before she chose an apple, some blancmange and a piece of fruit tart for dessert.

Slowly, it became quiet as students began to look up to the High Table, waiting for Dumbledore's annual speech. As he got up, even the last ones stopped talking. Luna allowed her gaze to wander up to the High Table, but thought with a tiny sigh that she didn't much care what the Headmaster had to tell them. It was the same every year anyway.

"Before anything else, I'd just like to go through some school rules you all should know. Nobody is allowed into the Forbidden Forest without the permission and company of a teacher. Some of our older students should know that by now, too," he added and looks flickered in the direction of Harry and Ron, both of whom pretended to not have heard that last sentence. Hermione was sitting next to Harry with a facial expression that said clearly "I told you" and strangely reminded Luna of Professor McGonagall.

"Mr Filch has added fifty new objects to his list of forbidden things. If anyone wants to know what exactly they are, Mr Filch has been so kind as to pin the list to the door of his office. And now, please welcome with me your new Defence against the Dark Arts- teacher, Professor Hamilton-Jones."

Luna looked at the new professor with interest and found her to be a woman of around her father's age with her hair in short, blonde waves. She flashed a warm, friendly smile as Dumbledore indicated her with a movement of his arm, stood up and then quickly sat down again.

Having heard all that, Luna got ready to rise, aiming to leave as soon as possible to get to bed, but it seemed Dumbledore did not want her to sleep quite that early. After the polite applause that had followed his short speech, he hadn't sat down again but remained standing instead. Luna groaned quietly. She was tired, she wanted to get to bed and sleep, why did he have to hold her off any longer? All around her she heard people complain, too. Still, they all looked up at the High Table in the end, curious as to what he had to say.

Dumbledore spread his arms, as if pulling them all into an imaginary embrace, and suddenly there was complete silence in the Great Hall. Everyone was staring at the Headmaster. His appearance had changed, though not physically. For a moment, he wasn't only their old and sometimes weird Headmaster, but one of, if not the most powerful wizard in the world. Many understood only then why he was the only one Voldemort feared- he had some kind of aura around him that was not really visible, but they all knew nevertheless that it was there.

Then he leaned forward, put his hands on the table and gave one of his familiar friendly smiles with a twinkling glimmer in his blue eyes. Suddenly, everything was over- the aura of power had vanished as if being covered with a blanket. Dumbledore was just their Headmaster again.

Slowly, he looked around the Hall as if seeing it all for the first time. He allowed his gaze to slowly and steadily take in the whole room. After studying the room, he cast his eyes to the students and looked over the House tables intently.

When his eyes fixed on to the Ravenclaw table, Luna suddenly felt observed. It seemed that he was staring straight into her eyes with a gaze so intense that she thought he was surely able to look directly into her heart.

The girl next to her sighed quietly and shuddered. Luna wondered whether she was the only one who felt this way or whether his look affected all of them.

Finally, his look wandered further and, when his eyes reached the doors, he cleared his throat and looked at all the students again.

"As I said before- welcome to Hogwarts, my dears," he started, still with a friendly smile.

His countenance changed, leaving his face grave and unusually serious. He continued with a hint of urgency creeping into his voice.

"I have a request- for all of you: fight evil; stand up for your opinion and don't cower in fear of more or less important men. When every one of you does live up to the tasks your time gives you, then there is hope. For all of us. For a peaceful future. Or, at least, for a future that is more peaceful than it is these days."

Luna saw a wry smile pass over McGonagall's face as the professor took a sip out of her goblet and set it back on the table, listening intently to the Headmaster.

"In these dark times, it is very important to be united. I don't simply refer to your little groups inside your houses," he continued, and heads turned both into the direction of Draco Malfoy and his friends and Harry and his friends, "but to the school as a whole. You are not only to be united in your houses- the houses themselves should bury their animosities and become united once more, as was the case many, many years ago.

"Together, we're strong. Together, we have the power to stave off Voldemort's rise to power a while longer." He stopped and smiled at his students, many of whom had pained expressions on their faces.

"You know, fearing his name won't be helpful in our fight against evil. Fear of the name only increases the fear of the thing itself." He smiled kindly at his frightened students.

"Of course, I understand no one is going to make new friends in all the other houses immediately and leave their old friends behind. That would be nonsense. But I want each and every one of you to try to understand the others more, instead of hating each other without any real reason. I want you to respect your fellow students and their opinions, even if you don't agree with them. That doesn't make their opinion less worthy than yours. I want all of you to put personal enmities under our common aim and stand united against the enemy. Thank you."

Luna was caught in the spell of his words for some moments. It was not simply what Dumbledore had said; although, of course, that was the most important part. However, the way his words elegantly flowed between them, filling the students with a quiet peace that spread through the hall like fine rain, held her enraptured. Again, like the aura he had around him before, it was something she couldn't quite put her finger on- it was the tone of his voice, the power behind it and the urgency that spoke through every single syllable.

When she looked up and down the Ravenclaw table, she saw almost all of her Housemates wearing surprised faces, some of them more positively so, some more negatively. When she looked behind her she saw that most Slytherins looked either indifferent or furious, but all of them were still staring up at the High Table, as if they expected Dumbledore to continue his speech and tell them all it was only a bad joke. In fact, Luna noticed, almost everyone in the Great Hall was staring up at the High Table. Most of the teachers wore expressionless faces or looked slightly surprised. Only Snape had his usual facial expression of disapproval and annoyance and looked a lot like Draco Malfoy in this aspect. Obviously he wasn't too pleased with what the Headmaster had just said.

Eventually, somebody at the Gryffindor table began to clap and slowly everyone joined in, even the teachers and a larger proportion of the Slytherins than Luna had thought possible. Although, of course, many of them refused to applaud Dumbledore and sat there with folded arms and cool expressions on their faces; but nobody had honestly expected more of them.

At the High Table, something strange happened. Professor McGonagall stood up, too. The noise slowly faded and many stared at her curiously. She cleared her throat delicately and started speaking. Luna saw some red spots appearing on her already flushed cheeks.

"If you will permit me, I want to add something in my position as Deputy Headmistress. I am speaking on behalf of the staff here- well, the majority of them." She shot Snape a quick look, and then continued.

"We have been thinking a lot during the holidays and came to the conclusion that the unification between the houses should not only be advanced by the staff, but also and especially by the students.

"We want each and every one of you to participate when we are about to fight the most evil and cruel wizard who has ever existed. I am sure we have many open and creative students. I am sure that some of you might have some good ideas on how to improve relations between students as well. I beg everyone who has even a vague idea that might help to come to my office at any time. Thank you."

She sat down again and polite applause rattled through the hall. Her speech, however, had not left an impression as strong as Dumbledore's and slowly students started talking again and soon went to the doors. Prefects started collecting their first years around them and led them out of the Great Hall and towards their dormitories. Luna quickly got up too and went out after the Hufflepuff first years, who were chattering excitedly.

There were too many of them wanting to get out swifter than logic and sense would allow and there was a little traffic jam as usual. Luna waited patiently and stepped a few steps back. A girl in Gryffindor robes stood next to her.

"It's the same every year, isn't it?" she asked Luna with a small smile in her voice.

"Yeah, that's right," Luna nodded and watched the small bodies in front of her jostling to come through the door fast.

"You're Luna Lovegood, aren't you?" the girl asked her suddenly.

Luna looked at her, surprised. "Yes, I am." She eyed the girl cautiously. What would be coming now? A lot of conversations had started this way and turned out bad.

"I saw your lion head last year for the Quidditch game against Slytherin," she continued. "People were talking about it for days. It was amazing. I'm Natalie MacDonald, by the way."

"Pleasure," Luna said automatically and felt pleased. The sneer had not come and no mean comments had followed. This girl seemed to be nice. Slowly the way was getting free again for them to walk through.

"Are you really into Quidditch?" Natalie inquired as they walked through the huge doors close to each other.

"I like watching it," Luna said with a small shrug. "But I don't have the talent for playing it. But there are more important things, right?"

"Well, I don't know," Natalie replied, rubbing her forefinger over one of her brows. "I think I'm going to try out for Chaser, now Angelina and Katie have left."

"You do that," Luna said. "I'm sure you'll make it."

"Thanks," Natalie said and smiled at her a little shyly. "Well, I have to go down here," she added and pointed into a corridor to their left.

"Bye," Luna said and smiled, then turned right and crossed the Entrance Hall to get to the corridor that led towards Ravenclaw Tower.

Slowly, she trotted towards the Ravenclaw common room, still thinking about Dumbledore and McGonagall's speeches. Her feet had found the way automatically and, before she knew it, she found herself standing in front of the old oak door that marked the entrance to her common room.

"Password?" the door demanded, even as its face came from the wooden knots and whorls, a squashed nose, beady eyes and an overly large face coming out of the oak panels. The voice was piece of work, managing to sound as though a large family of ten was camped out in the vocal chords and a flock of swallows were beating around the nasal passages. The effect was more than a little grating and not something anyone liked to put up with at any hours of the day or night.

Luna opened her mouth to answer- and closed it again. What was the new password?

She stood around for a few minutes, waiting for someone to come along. Finally a group of seventh years came up. None of them gave Luna even a little glance.

She heard the bored "Password?" from the door again, but obviously they knew it. One of the girls answered "Bookworm" in an equally fed up voice and the door swung open. Luna took her time following the seventh years into the common room and the door grumbled bad-temperedly.

"Come on now!" it complained loudly, making a few first years jump at the sound akin to that of nails scraping against glass. "You don't have all day!" Luna pretended she didn't hear it and went on with her slow climb into the common room. The door shut itself rudely behind her, but again, she ignored it.

She walked down the corridor to her dormitory, thinking about the holidays and her trip to Sweden with her father, absent-mindedly greeting people along the way.

Before she opened the door, she paused and took a deep breath. Here goes, she thought and prepared herself for going inside. She imagined the place that had become some sort of second home for her, despite the not really amiable companionship.

With a last deep breath Luna opened the door and walked into the room, which was only dimly lit by two chandeliers on the ceiling. The six four-poster beds were standing in a row along one wall.

All of the dark blue curtains were drawn back and all of the other girls were still awake. Pandora and Bianca were sitting on one bed, giggling over some photos, and Audrey was leaning against a bedpost, reading a book that looked a lot like their Transfiguration book for the year.

Two others were leaning at two bedposts in a very nonchalant manner. Agatha looked like a female version of Crabbe and Goyle, if not worse. She had a face like a bull and her body looked nearly square. Carmella, on the other hand, was tall and slender, but her arms and legs didn't fit the rest of her body: they seemed to be too long. She wore square glasses that made her otherwise pretty face look rather strange.

She smelled the faint scent of cinnamon that was always in the air in here, although she still hadn't detected its source. Also, it smelled of dark blue. When she had told the others about it, they had all laughed at her and had asked her how colours smelled, but Luna could smell it. It was just like you could smell green in the air when winter was retreating and the grass began to grow. The colour ascended from the dark blue curtains of the four-posters and the quilts covering their beds.

She started to walk over to the opposite end of the room, where her bed stood, next to the window. She could already see the moon, partly hidden behind clouds that looked like streaks of an artist's brush on an otherwise black background.

Carmella sneered behind her back. "Oi, Lovegood," she said. "Where are your manners? Not even a little 'hello' for your dear friends after such a long time apart?"

Luna turned around and stared at her for a while, taking in her new hairstyle and her raised eyebrows. Suddenly the girls on the bed went silent, too, and there was complete stillness in the dormitory. All of a sudden, a book fell off the bed the three girls were sitting on. Audrey murmured a swearword and leaned off the bed to retrieve it, supporting herself with one hand so as not to fall down, too.

One of the others giggled and said in a hushed voice, "Audrey, you're so clumsy!"

Audrey lifted her head up again, book in hand, her face flushed. Whether the colour came from bending down or from the comment, Luna wasn't sure.

She turned her silvery eyes towards the tall girl with the glasses again, who started shifting- obviously she felt uncomfortable under her appraising, unblinking stare.

"Hello," Luna finally said in her dreamy voice, hoping it stopped the others mocking her. She really was too put out already for that night. She turned around again and walked towards her bed. When she had reached it, she bent down to her trunk and opened the lid.

Slowly she started to unpack her things, carefully putting them in their correct places. The socks into this drawer, she thought, and my skirts next to them. Meanwhile, the other girls had gone back to their own business. One of them had started rummaging in her bag and throwing things behind her carelessly. Luna could hear the hollow thump when another object hit the floor.

"Got it!" the girl suddenly exclaimed and Luna turned round to see what she had been seeking.

Audrey was standing in the middle of the room in a sea of random things lying all around her, clutching another book to her chest, beaming. Luna could make out something from the title and frowned slightly. The Moste Potente Book of How to Improve Your Marks? Audrey was a very clever girl and had always had rather good marks, as far as Luna knew. She didn't actually need that book. With that ambition, she would have fitted into Slytherin easily.

"Hey, that looks interesting," Carmella, the girl with the square glasses, said suddenly. "Would you mind me having a look at that?"

The two of them went over to another bed and Carmella dragged the plump girl with her with a muttered, "Come on, Agatha, you actually need that a lot more than I do..."

Luna turned back to her trunk, putting her second set of Hogwarts robes and her cloak on coat hangers, then closed the trunk and shoved it into the corner. Next, she grabbed a nightgown and went out into the washroom to change, then quickly returned to the warm dormitory. Nobody reacted when she came back in and with an inward sigh the feeling of being left out she knew so well returned.

"Good night," she said to nobody in particular and smiled casually in the direction of the other girls. No one replied. Although she hadn't expected anything else, it still hurt her. It was not that big a deal to answer her, but the others probably didn't see the need to take notice of her.

Burying these thoughts, she stepped towards the window and looked out into the dark sky. The moon had started to rise over the Forbidden Forest and made the lake gleam with a surreal light.

This was her favourite time. Luna loved the moon and the cool light that was not even its own. It was fascinating for her how it could be that bright without being lit from within. In the holidays, she often stayed awake only to watch the moon for hours and hours and dream away. Although, Sweden had proved to be something of a disappointment when she had learned that there wasn't a moon in Sweden in the summer, but there was sunlight around the clock. When eventually she returned home, she had stayed awake all night, in spite of being tired from the long journey, to bask in the rays of the moonlight that she had sorely missed.

However, now that school had started again, she'd have to go to bed early again. She sighed and reluctantly pulled herself away from the window, shooting one last longing look at the moon. Then she went to her bed, lay down and closed the curtains around her, leaving only the one that faced the window drawn back so she could watch it until she fell asleep.

She could hear Audrey and Carmella talking quietly, interrupted from time to time by a grunted comment from Agatha, while the two other girls were still giggling. She wondered abstractly whether they were laughing about her. She told herself she didn't care and turned to lie on her other side.

One of them suddenly squealed and screamed, "Oh, he looks sooo cute!!"

Obviously, they weren't talking about her, then, but about some holiday pictures. Luna fleetingly wondered why some of her roommates were in Ravenclaw: they were not the slightest bit intelligent and seemingly had no interest in books or learning at all. The only subject that they attacked with any enthusiasm was boys, be it boys at Hogwarts, someone in Witch Weekly or their latest love from the last holidays.

Luna thought her own placement was wrong, too. She had always thought she would have been suited to Gryffindor far more than Ravenclaw. She didn't like learning for starters. On the contrary, she thought they were taught far too many unnecessary things at Hogwarts. She didn't consider herself to be particularly studious, either, like most Ravenclaws were, although she knew from her test scores and other things that she was intelligent. Still, the attitude of the majority of Ravenclaws seemed exaggerated to her- studying and even more studying, pressing as much theory into their heads as they could. Luna was more for the practical side of things, which was another reason why she thought she should be in Gryffindor.

She knew she was brave and could fight; she had always known it. But it had only been in June that she had finally been able to prove it. But how well she had proved it! She had fought against the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries alone and had also managed to carry the hurt Weasleys, Ron and Ginny, with her and away from the danger.

But obviously the Hat had seen her differently and had put her into the wrong house for some unknown reason.

She sighed, rolled herself into a ball under her sheets and pulled her teddy into her arms. "Well, Merlin," she whispered. "Another year at Hogwarts, in the wrong house again. But at least I won't have to wait too much longer now. After this year, it's only two more years and I'm out of here... eventually."

Her eyelids became heavier and heavier, feeling increasingly as though they were filled with lead. Reluctantly, she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep. As she drifted out of consciousness, she heard Dumbledore's voice in her head again, filling her mind.

Of course, I understand no one is going to make new friends in all the other houses immediately and leave their old friends behind.

She felt a shiver run down her spine as she felt again the immense power of his voice, the urgency that approached her like a creature again, pleading her to be with it in its cause.

Suddenly, Luna was awake again- why shouldn't they do exactly that? An idea started to form itself in her head... and Luna knew, without a hint of arrogance, that it was brilliant.

She closed her eyes again with a satisfied smile on her face. Finally, she had managed to find a way to get out of Ravenclaw.