We Aren't All That Different

Luna arrived in the Entrance Hall twenty minutes early. With a deep sigh she let the trunk fall to the floor and shook her hands. They had gone numb, because she'd carried her trunk all the way from Ravenclaw Tower herself, and it was no lady's handbag - in fact, it probably weighed more than Luna herself.

She rubbed her hands and looked around the Entrance Hall. Despite having walked through it hundreds of times, she had never really had the time to take in all the portraits, suits of armour and stained-glass windows in detail.

Now she walked over to the far left corner of the Hall and looked at a window that showed, in bright shades, two witches in yellow and blue robes lighting a fire with their wands. Bright sparks were flying from their wands and dancing around merrily. The sparks were moving so realistically that Luna almost expected one of them to fly down to her from the window and settle on her robes.

Admiringly she took in the fine aspects of the landscape the artist had painted in wonderfully real-looking colours: the dark-red sky and the sun that was slowly setting, a few birds that were flying around in the distance, seemingly fighting over something, and the huge oak tree under which the two witches were standing. Its branches were swaying slightly in a light breeze and a small bird seemed to be singing its song on one of the lower boughs. Luna thought it was a pity that unlike portraits, windows couldn't talk and that one couldn't hear the sounds made inside the picture painted on the window. She was quite sure that it was a nightingale and she would have loved to hear the sound of it. At home, there was an old oak standing in the back of the garden, where a nightingale had built its nest.

Seeing the tree in the stained-glass window made Luna think of home, and that familiar old oak. She remembered with a slight smile that when she was little, she had never dared go down to that corner of the garden unless her daddy held her hand.

When she had grown up, however, she started to take a liking to that peculiar place and made it her hide-away where she would go if she wanted to read a book, or to think and dream, or just to be alone.

After her mum had died, Luna had gone there quite often to shed her tears. She had not once cried in front of her Daddy, because she had known she had to be strong for him and help him survive the loss. If she had cried like him, he would have broken down completely. So instead she had tried to cheer him up and had been there for him, had cooked for him and had done her best to take the place of her mum.

Luna had taken a sprout from her mother's favourite rose bush and had planted it in the earth next to the oak. A wonderful wild rosebush had grown there. Every time Luna went there when she went home during the holidays, it was almost like having Mum back. Mum had always smelled faintly of roses, and that was exactly how it smelled in Luna's hide-away.

She could really see her hiding-place in front of her, could smell the roses and the scent of the earth and took a step forward to reach it, but it didn't come closer, so she took another step and another and another.

She crashed into somebody.

She looked up at the tall blond boy who had just walked into the Entrance Hall. She realised she hadn't really been in their garden near her small cave but was still at Hogwarts. It happened to her a lot - thinking she was at home, although she was still at Hogwarts; probably because home was where she'd rather be.

She looked at the boy's face once more. "Hello," she said softly and continued to study his face. She knew him, she was sure about that. It was a pity she couldn't remember faces and names together. This was something else that happened to her a lot: knowing that she knew somebody, but being unable to recall their name.

Meanwhile, she looked at him a little closer. She squinted and looked at his eyes and tried to figure out his eye colour. That was one of the first things she did when she met new people. Eyes could tell a lot about a person's personality. His eyes were very high up, due to the fact that he was nearly one foot taller than her.

Luna stood up on tiptoes to look more closely. For some reason the boy started shifting, as if he was uncomfortable.

It was a mixture between dark grey and blue, and it was kind of clouded. "You know," she said and he started. "Your eyes look just like the sky on a dark, clouded afternoon. The grey, you know. It actually looks a lot like rain clouds and the small hint of blue is like the blue sky that's hiding behind the clouds. That's interesting, you know. I've never met a human before with this peculiar eye-colour. However, the Jobberknoll is known to have feathers with that exact colour. The Jobberknoll is also known to-"

"I don't care about this Jobnol-thing," he interrupted her in a very rude tone.

"Well, but they are rather interesting, you know," Luna said. "In fact, there is proof that the Jobberknoll is the only animal that is completely silent for all its life. It never says anything. It doesn't even chirp; not once."

As the boy turned away and started to walk over to the other side of the Entrance Hall, Luna quickened her pace to fall into step beside him. "Yet," she continued, "it does say something when it dies. Do you want to know what?"

The boy groaned and clenched his fists Luna stopped for a moment and looked at him with sorrow. He seemed to be suppressing some very strong feeling. It wasn't good to lock up your feelings like that, because they'd eat away at your insides and make you feel even worse.

"You shouldn't bottle up your emotions," she said consolingly and put her hand lightly on his arm. "That's not good, you know, it makes your mind ill."

She waited for a response, but he didn't answer and she supposed he was following her advice, so she continued her little story. "When the Jobberknoll dies, it calls out everything it has ever heard in its life."

She giggled.

"Isn't that most peculiar?" She started to laugh. "If it heard this conversation between the two of us, it would call out this one as well, the moment before it dies. Just imagine that. There's a bird out there that can record people talking!"

"Ha ha," he grumbled and suddenly changed direction. Luna was surprised, but quickly made up ground again. All of a sudden he stopped and turned towards her, glowering down at her like a snake at a mouse.

"Listen," he hissed. "Would you mind leaving me alone? Now?" And he raised his eyebrows in invitation.

Luna looked at him and thought about his proposal. "No," she said finally, slowly. "I wouldn't mind. But, you know, we are alone in this hall as of yet. It would be a lot more fun if we could continue our conversation."

"We didn't have a conversation," he snapped back, his voice getting more and more aggressive. "You were talking to me about some jobol and that's all. I never wanted to talk to you!"

"You could start now," Luna said in a friendly tone. "It's never to late to enter a conversation. And it's 'Jobberknoll', not 'jobol'."

"Aargh," he groaned and squeezed his eyes shut.

"I told you before," Luna said softly. "It's not good to bottle up one's emotions, no matter what they are. They block the mind and you can't think clearly anymore."

"You know," he said. "I reckon you can't think clearly anymore. I'll tell you one last time: Shut. Up. And. Leave. Me. Alone. Okay?"

With that he stormed off. Luna stood where she was and watched him as he rushed towards the doors that marked the exit out into the grounds.

"You shouldn't go out there," she called after him. "It's pouring outside; one could think they're emptying cauldrons up in the sky."

He stopped in mid-track.

"You don't even have an umbrella," Luna added. "And the school robes aren't all that good against the rain, you know. I like to go for a walk outside and it's not pleasant to walk with wet clothes, so I use a special charm for my school robes. I could share it if you want."

Slowly he turned around. Luna thought he looked interested, but then a look of mistrust filled his face. "A spell that protects your clothes from getting wet?" he asked dubiously. "Impervius, probably. I know that one myself, thank you very much. Every third year can perform that spell. I don't need your help with it." He turned back again.

"No, not Impervius," Luna said disapprovingly. "It may help to hold off the wetness, but you do sweat a lot when you wear clothes with it. Or don't you think so?"

He grumbled something she couldn't quite understand, but she simply supposed he agreed with her. "There's a better spell for that," she added.

He turned around once more and carefully made two steps towards her. Luna took her wand from behind her left ear.

His eyes widened. "Why should I trust you?" he asked. "You're Loony Lovegood," he added, as if that explained anything.

"Well, that's what most people choose to call me. It's not a really nice name, actually," she said. "However, my given name is Luna. It rather upsets me when people call me 'Loony'. It's not a good thing to call somebody - especially when you don't know said person yourself. In fact, I find it kind of dumb." With these words, she held out her hand to him.

He took it and let go again immediately; like her hand was burning or like she had a disease he didn't want to get from her. "Smith," he said.

"You're Zacharias Smith," she said satisfied. Eventually the face had gotten a name.

"I know I am," he replied, the former aggressiveness creeping into his voice again.

"My grandfather had a second cousin who was named Smith, if I recall correctly," she said and thought intently. "I believe they were from Blackpool. Nice town, that," she added, as she remembered she had been there once. "I went there with my parents once," she said. "I can't really evoke any real facts about it. I was very little still when we went there, you have to know," she explained.

"Anyway, I think we went to the beach there and I found a sea urchin. I had never seen one of those before and I pricked my thumb on it, naturally. My Mum tried to conjure up a MagiSeal, they always were my favourite plasters when I was still little, you have to know, because they smell so good. My favourite smell always was onion. But my Mum was never good at Mediwizardry, as brilliant as she was at Charms, and she had to try three times to conjure one up. And even this one was way too big for me; we had to wrap it around my whole forearm and it smelt like old cheese with spinach. I hate spinach. Did you know the Muggles invented a special cartoon figure to make children eat more spinach? He's called Popei or something, if I recall correctly."

Zacharias cleared his throat. "The spell," he said, slightly irritated.

"Yes, of course," she said. "Now, where did I stop? Ah, yes. The Smiths from Blackpool. Are you by any chance related to them?"

"No," he said and looked relieved for some reason. "No, we're not related. So the two of us aren't related either."

"No," she agreed. "We most probably aren't. Where are you from, then?"

"From Leicester," he said uncomfortably.

"I had a great-auntie in Leicester once," Luna said, delighted to have found something they had in common. "She had a little shop for wizarding sewing supplies, maybe you still knew her? She died only a few years ago. The shop was called Sophronia's Sewing Supplies."

"The spell," Zacharias said impatiently, completely ignoring her question, and tapped his foot on the ground.

"Oh, right," she said and got a firm grip on her wand. She then directed its tip directly at Zacharias' robes. He shifted from one foot to the other.

"Erm... are you sure you know how to do this spell?" he asked her nervously.

"Of course I do," she said cheerfully. "Insuperabilo!" A light blue substance flew out of the tip of her wand. It could have looked a lot like a Patronus, but it didn't have a shape. Instead it wrapped itself around Zacharias' robes and was gone moments later.

"Is that it?" he asked her, looking at his robes with a dubious face. They didn't look any different from before.

"No, not yet," she declared. "It is resistant to water now," she explained and tugged at one of his sleeves. "At the moment, it's rather like Impervius, but specialized for clothes. But it's a double spell, so you'd have to open your robes for a moment so I can charm the inside of them as well."

Zacharias looked highly uncomfortable. "What do you think I'm going to do to you?" Luna asked him with a small smile. "I won't hurt you with this spell. Why should I? You didn't give me a reason for it. And, leaving this aside, if I wanted to hurt you, I would certainly not do it here in the Entrance Hall. Professors could be walking by every minute; the risk would be too high, don't you think so, too?"

The look on his face had not lost any intensity at all; rather on the contrary.

"Now come on," Luna said merrily. "Open your robes." She pointed her wand at his chest loosely and he quickly opened them, looking a little afraid. "Permisso per," Luna said and the same light blue gas came out of the tip of her wand again and was gone seconds later.

"Now your robes are permeable for oxygen, so your body will be able to breathe and you won't sweat," she said proudly. "My mum invented the spell."

"Well, um, you know," he said and the tips of his ears blushed a little.

"I'm sorry?" she said because she didn't understand what he meant to tell her.

"Oh, you know what I mean," he said, the little bit of kindness he'd had in his voice a moment before replaced by his former aggressive tone.

"I'm afraid I don't."

"Thanks!" he shouted. "Thank you! Thanks a lot! Do you understand now? "Or do I have to spell it out for you? Should I draw you a diagram?"

"No, thank you," she said politely. "I think I know what you mean now."

"Great!" he shouted. "Great!" Then he stormed off out into the pouring rain, pulling his hood over his head as he was running.

"What's going on here?" a light voice asked behind Luna, while she was still watching him curiously.

Luna turned around to find herself facing a petite girl with long dark-blonde hair. "Hello," Luna said while she looked at her eyes. Hazel, she decided quickly.

"Did you hear me?" the girl said. "What's going on here? Why is he storming off into the rain?" She nodded her head in the direction of the doors, where Zacharias had just vanished.

"Oh," Luna said. "Him? I suppose he fancied a walk."

"A walk," the girl replied dryly in a disbelieving tone. "Sure. And he simply ignored the fact it's pouring outside."

"No," Luna retorted. "Of course not. You can barely ignore that fact, can you? After all, you can even hear the raindrops on the roof inside here."

"Well, I didn't mean that seriously," the blonde girl answered. "It was more like sarcastic, you know."

"Ah, of course. Well, I think it is a curious way of expressing oneself by saying the opposite of what you actually want to say, don't you think so? I prefer to verbalize what I think directly. It decreases the number of misunderstandings in a conversation and makes everything a lot easier."

The girl looked at her for a moment, but didn't say anything. "Is that yours?" she asked instead, pointing at Luna's trunk.

"Yes, it is," Luna said and put her wand back behind her left ear.

"Which house are you going to be in?" the other girl asked her.

"I'm going to be in Slytherin," Luna said and went over to her trunk, on top of which Merlin was lying. She sat down on her trunk and took her copy of The Quibbler out of her pocket, carefully placing Merlin in her lap so he could see the magazine well.

"Fine," the girl said, following Luna to her trunk. "I'm Elinor Barefoot, the Slytherin prefect responsible for the Exchanges."

Luna looked up at her again. "I'm Luna Lovegood," she said and smiled.

"Hey," Elinor suddenly said. "Is that the new edition of The Quibbler?"

"Yes," Luna said carefully and raised her chin a little. She knew the reactions that usually came when she talked about her father's magazine.

To her utter bewilderment, Elinor's eyes lit up and she sat down on the trunk next to Luna. "But it's only coming out tomorrow," she said and looked at Luna with a doubtful expression.

"How did you get it? That's impossible!" She looked at the issue thoughtfully and then again at Luna. "What did you say your name was?"

"Luna Lovegood," Luna repeated.

"Merlin's beard," Elinor said weakly, and Luna wondered briefly how she knew her teddy bear's name. Besides, he didn't even have a beard. "You're not possibly, like, Hermes Lovegood's daughter?"

"Yes, I am," she replied and straightened her back. She always felt pride at the mention of her father's name.

"Sweet Merlin," the other girl said and for the next few minutes she didn't seem to be able to form coherent sentences, as she kept repeating these words over and over. Luna now really asked herself why Elinor kept talking about her teddy, but she didn't say anything, because the other girl seemed so lost in thought.

"You're the daughter of the editor of The Quibbler," Elinor finally said and looked Luna in the eye as if daring her to lie to her.

"Yes," Luna, who was becoming irritated, repeated. Was this girl that slow on the uptake? Why did she ask her the same question again and again?

"Great," Elinor said slowly.

"I know," Luna said proudly.

"No, Luna, that's great for me," Elinor said, her tone colder than before.

"Why? He's my father," Luna retorted defiantly and wondered what could have caused this change in Elinor's voice..

"Of course he's your father," Elinor said. "But that's good for me, as well."

"Why?" demanded Luna sceptically.

"Because," Elinor whispered and bent closer to Luna, "you'll be obtaining me the new issues of The Quibbler. Before they are printed."

"No way," Luna protested. "Even if I wanted to, my daddy never gives me the issues before they are published. This one was an exception. He knows how long and boring the train ride is and gave it to me so I'd have a bit of entertainment."

"Well," Elinor replied sweetly. "Then you'll have to make him change his opinion!!" These last words she had nearly shouted and Luna shrank back from her.

"No," she repeated stubbornly. "I won't do that."

"Yes you will," Elinor said, dangerously quiet. "Or you will regret it."

"How?" Luna asked hesitant, not quite convinced.

"You know I'm a Prefect, don't you? And I can command the younger Slytherins. Seeing that you aren't that popular anyway, can't you guess what they could do to you if I told them so?"

Luna thought quickly. That sounded really dangerous. A herd of angry Slytherins was nothing to joke about - they could hurt her seriously. She gulped. But how could she convince her daddy to send her the issues? He wouldn't do that. Never. She felt goose-bumps creeping up her spine. She was in a dilemma. On the one hand, the Slytherins would hex her if she didn't give Elinor the Quibbler, on the other she would never persuade her daddy into sending them to her before they were being published.

Galloping Gargoyles. She cursed inwardly, using a word her Daddy surely wouldn't have approved of - she had picked it up from Michael Corner after the Quidditch match they lost against the Gryffindors and had taken quite a liking to it.

Come to think of it, there would be another game of Quidditch again soon. She wondered if she should wear her lion-hat again, but quickly thought better of it. She would be standing amidst the Slytherins. It probably wasn't that good to sport it there. Which was a pity, because it really was a good piece of magic and Luna was proud of it. She knew her Mum would have been proud, too, she had always hoped she would be a gifted witch, as well. Luna smiled.

Elinor, who saw that, couldn't believe her eyes. "Did you hear me?" she asked. Never before had somebody smiled after she had threatened them. Luna didn't even react. "Did you hear me?" Elinor asked again.

"What? Did you say something?" Luna asked as she suddenly heard the Slytherin prefect's voice.

"Yes, I did," Elinor snapped and grinded her teeth. "And you know very well what. So stick to our deal. You'll see what will happen if you don't. I expect the Quibbler to lie on my bed before it comes out."

"You want an issue of The Quibbler before it comes out? Why?" Luna asked, completely perplexed. She had been lost in thoughts about her mother so much she had totally forgotten about the older girl's threat.

"You know why," she hissed.

At exactly that moment, a loud croak made them turn around simultaneously.

A fat, ugly toad was sitting there on the stone floor. Judging by the smug expression on its face, it thought it owned the whole castle.

"What, in the name of Grandma Cassia, is that?" Elinor asked, for a moment completely forgetting about their argument.

"A toad," Luna replied. As the other girl shot her a dark look, she shrugged and said, "Well, you asked, didn't you?" and stared at the toad in fascination, waiting for it to do something.

A figure in the black Hogwarts robes stormed into the Hall and stumbled over his feet. He crashed to the floor with spectacular wild arm-movements that obviously were meant to stop him from falling down.

"Wicked," Elinor breathed. The boy lay motionless for a moment, his dark hair falling into his face. Luna wanted to go over to him and check if everything was alright, but he was already moving again. Heavily he got up again and Luna recognised Neville. He stared around with a frantic look on his face. Then he saw the toad and ran towards it.

"Trevor!" Neville shouted and hastily picked his toad up. Then he let it glide into his pocket. With his hand still in his pocket, Neville vanished out of sight again - all in the matter of only a few seconds.

Elinor stared at the spot where he had been standing only a split second before, fascinated. Luna craned her neck to look into the corridor into which Neville had vanished. Only moments later he came back into sight, this time dragging a heavy trunk behind him. He let it fall to the ground and looked around.

As he noticed the two girls, his eyes lit up. He hesitated a moment and wrung his hands. Then he walked over to them.

"Hello," he said and smiled nervously. Trevor the toad made another desperate bid for freedom, and Neville fought to push him back into his pocket. "I'm here for the Exchange," he added. "Aren't you in Slytherin as well?" he asked, looking at Luna.

"Yes, I am," she said. "And that's Elinor Barefoot, the Slytherin prefect who is here to call for us. Zacharias Smith is already here, as well. He went outside because he fancied a walk rather than talking to me - despite the rain. This is Merlin, my teddy bear." She indicated him with a small movement of her hand.

"Hi, Merlin," Neville said and seemed to be unsure of what to do next. Elinor looked put out at being introduced like that and shot Luna a grim look.

There was an awkward silence after that and for a moment nobody said anything. Luna hated these silences and started saying random things that popped up in her mind. "It's supposed to be a sunny and warm week, actually - I don't understand why it's raining now. Dracula's Virtue's new album is coming out this week. And I really like Zoticus Throckmorton," she added with a small, dreamy sigh.

"And who is that?" Elinor asked in a bored voice.

"The singer," Neville said quietly and both girls looked at him in surprise.

"I gather that Dracula's-something is a band?" Elinor asked.

"Yes," Luna and Neville said together. Neville threw her a shy smile.

The Slytherin groaned. "You're both freaks," she told them and got up. "I'll get that other bloke so we can go."

With that she stormed towards the oak doors and out into the pouring rain.

"You may sit down if you want," Luna said to Neville and pointed next to her.

"Oh, er... no, thank you," he said. "I'm sure they'll come back in a minute and we'll be leaving anyway. So... that's not worth it. Sitting down, getting up, I mean."

Before Luna could answer, Elinor came storming back into the hall. Behind her, Zacharias came inside.

"Hello," he said to Neville and they shook hands. "Do you remember me from Dumbledore's Ar- well, from last year?" he asked.

"Sure," Neville replied. "I'm Neville, in case you forgot."

"Let's go," Elinor interrupted the conversation harshly. "Come on."

"What about the trunks?" Luna asked. "I can't carry mine anymore, it's too heavy. I suppose the others can't, either."

"Don't worry," the other girl replied, a little irritated, and waved her hand dismissively. "Just leave them here. You can get some House Elves later and tell them to take care of it. Now let's get going."

She gestured them to follow her and marched towards one corridor at the far end of the Entrance Hall. One after the other, they followed her into the corridor. It didn't look confidence inspiring, Luna thought. Not at all. It was dark, it was low-ceilinged, and it was full of twists and turns.

And it was cold.

Luna shivered; she hated cold. After a while, Neville, who was walking next to her, noticed she was shaking. "Are you cold?" he asked her, a worried tone in his voice.

Stupid question, she silently thought. "Quite," she said aloud, her teeth chattering.

"Oh." He fell silent, and Luna started to wonder why he had asked her at all. Then he suddenly said, "You can have my cloak, if you want to. Maybe it'll help," he hastily added, as if to justify himself.

Luna smiled - which wasn't easy with her chattering teeth. "Thank you, Neville," she finally managed. "That's sweet," she added, after a moment of thought.

She thought Neville blushed, but she wasn't sure if it was only the flickering light of the candles along the wall.

They stopped and Neville took off his cloak. Just as he put it around her shoulders, they met Draco Malfoy. Or rather, Draco Malfoy met them. He came into sight, strutting in his usual way, arms crossed over his chest. His cloak swirled about his legs. He looked the same as always - or at least his body did, because on his face there was not the usual superior smirk, but the same stony look Luna had noticed in the small chamber next to the Great Hall. His face looked like a mask.

However, this time he had his cronies with him and didn't look as weak and small as in the chamber. They were blocking the corridor behind Malfoy, carrying his trunk, broom and owl cage.

"Hi, Malfoy," Elinor said. "How are you?"

"Barefoot," was all he said and Luna was a little dumbfounded at his answer, until she remembered that that was their mentor's last name. Malfoy nodded curtly in greeting at Elinor and then continued to gloomily staring ahead. He didn't even glance at his house mate's company.

Neville, still with his hands on Luna's shoulders, had frozen when Malfoy had come into sight and she could feel him shivering. When Malfoy had passed by, Neville loosened his grip on Luna's shoulders and took a deep breath. The shivering stopped as abruptly as it had started.

Luna wondered if Neville's shivers had been caused by the cold, or by Malfoy? But why should Neville fear Malfoy? Malfoy was nothing; not even with his gorillas on either side of him. And with his father in prison, he didn't have any influence anymore.

Besides, Luna could feel somewhere deep inside that Neville was a more powerful wizard than Malfoy could ever be, and she thought back to the Department of Mysteries, where Neville had fought so bravely.

She pressed his hand comfortingly. Surprised, he looked at her, then one of the corners of his mouth turned up slightly into a tiny smile.

Zacharias, who had been walking before them, let out a deep, throaty growl that made him sound like a dog.

"Was that you?" Elinor, who had been walking ahead, asked and turned to look at him.

He didn't reply, but stared after Malfoy instead.

"What did he do to you to make you so angry?" she asked with the usual irritated tone in her voice.

"To me? Nothing. But to my great-cousin once removed - Ernie Macmillan. He hexed him so heavily Ernie had to go to the hospital wing for two days. And he made some nasty comments about our new Chaser, Laura Madley - something about her being the village broomstick! And he has insulted Hufflepuff House itself too many times to count," he snarled.

Elinor rolled her eyes. "Hufflepuffs and their damn loyalty," she muttered.

"Malfoy will have a hard time in Hufflepuff," Smith said darkly. "I can promise you that."

Luna had been listening with interest, but now she was starting to get really cold, despite Neville's cloak. "Would you mind going on?" she asked politely, her teeth chattering slightly.

Smith just grumbled something and resumed walking.

After a while of walking in silence, they turned a corner, and suddenly everything was bright - additionally to the floating candles there were two torches on either side of them. Luna blinked, surprised, and it took her a while for her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. She realised they must have reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

When she looked around, however, she couldn't see anything that looked like an entry - no door, no portrait, not even a suit of armour - only the blank stone wall. With a puzzled look she looked over to Elinor.

"We're there," Elinor explained. "Sapientia Sedes," she then said and a door that had been hidden in the wall slid back. "Welcome to Slytherin House."

Elinor stepped back to give them their first look into their new home.

"Whoa," Luna heard Zacharias breathe beside her, and thought it expressed her own feelings quite well.

The room was amazing - long and low, with rough stone walls - at least as far as she could tell. It was quite dark, and the few round lamps that hang from the ceiling spread their greenish light only in a small radius around them. The fire was burning merrily, but it lit up only one corner of the huge room and Luna was able to see some Slytherins sitting in armchairs around it.

Slowly her eyes got accustomed to darkness again and she could see better. All in all, the Slytherin common room looked similar to the Ravenclaw common room - there was a fire under a mantelpiece, armchairs and tables, a notice board on the wall. Only, of course, everything wasn't dark blue, as it had been in Ravenclaw, but green.

To the left, she could see a corridor leading away from the room and assumed it led to the dormitories.

As if she was reading Luna's thoughts, Elinor said, "I'll show you your dormitories now." Turning to Zacharias and Neville, she shrugged a little. "I can't get to the boys' dormitories. So, I'll go with Luna and the two of you will be accompanied by another prefect. Does that work for you?" Without working for an answer, she called "Acacius!" in the direction of the fire.

A silhouette got up and walked over to them. As he came nearer, Luna saw that he was tall - even Zacharias was small against him. His dark skin shone in the dim light of the lamps he was having difficulties avoiding. With lowered head he dived beneath them until he was standing next to Elinor. It was a funny picture; she only reached up to his chest.

"Hello," he said in a very deep voice. Then he bent his head down to look at them. "I'm Acacius Wright, the other seventh-year prefect. Elinor's male counterpart, one could say. And you are?" he asked, turning towards the two boys. They introduced themselves and Acacius told them to follow him in his dark voice.

"All right," Elinor said. "Let's go." She gestured Luna to follow her into the corridor Luna had noticed before.

The corridor, unlike the stairways in Ravenclaw, led them deeper and deeper into the ground. Luna didn't feel comfortable at all, but now it was too late to change anything.

Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity to Luna, Elinor stopped and plucked one of the floating candles out of the air and held it in front of her, so Luna could see a dark wooden door in the wall on which a silver nameplate was fastened. It read Girls fifth year.

Luna gulped. This was going to be her dormitory for the rest of the term.

Elinor, who either didn't notice her fear or simply ignored it, looked at her. "Ready?" she asked. Luna shook her head, but the other girl had already turned back towards the door.

"All right, then," she said and pushed the door open without knocking.