We Aren't All That Different

Luna entered the dormitory a few steps behind Elinor. Luna didn't have the chance to see any of it, because immediately girls surrounded the Slytherin prefect and her.

Luna knew their faces - they had a few classes together - but not their names, as the Slytherin girls always kept to themselves and hardly talked to people outside their House.

"Quiet!" Elinor shouted with a voice that sounded surprisingly loud for her rather small frame. On the other hand, Elinor had to be that loud, or her fellow Slytherins wouldn't have heard her: they were chattering excitedly.

The shout helped: the girls fell silent.

"This is Luna Lovegood," Elinor declared in a business-like voice. "She is your exchange for this term."

Luna looked at the girls, waiting for them to do something.

Eventually one with light brown hair stepped forward. "Hello, Luna," she said with a small smile. "My name is Rebecca Laurence. Welcome to Slytherin!" Now the others stepped forward, too, and Luna found herself trapped in a circle of girls.

"Miranda Pucey," the next one said and shook Luna's hand in a very formal way.

"Luna Lovegood," Luna said, in case Miranda expected her to say her name, too. She didn't want to look impolite.

"I'm Madeleine," said another girl, pushing Miranda to the side. She smiled a huge smile that enabled Luna to see the big, yellowish teeth that were her most prominent feature.

"Hello," Luna said, staring at her mouth, fascinated by the teeth. They made the girl - Madeleine? look like a rabbit. Then she tore her eyes away from the girl's now closed lips and looked at the last of her new dorm-mates.

"I'm Leila Sullivan," the girl said coolly and, after giving Luna a curt nod, she began to examine her fingernails with interest.

"You don't need me anymore," Elinor said from behind her, and it wasn't a question. It was an order.

"No," Luna said, because she knew her Host Prefect wouldn't have accepted another answer anyway. "Thank you."

"Whatever," the older girl said dismissively. "Don't forget what I told you," she added in a dangerously quiet voice, then turned on her heel and walked out.

Now Luna was alone.

"Come on, come on," Madeleine said in her shrill voice and pulled at her sleeve, "Don't stand around so stiff! Aren't you excited? You look like Miranda, she's always that serious and quiet and studying. I wouldn't want that!" She smiled her huge smile again and her yellow teeth were showing. She was obviously unaware of the effect they had on Luna, who couldn't help but stare at them.

"You don't have a bed yet," she continued, "because nobody from our dorm is an exchange. We'll have to add an extra one. They'll probably have to magically enlarge the room, because there isn't enough space. That gives me an idea - who's going to bring the bed?" She stopped for a moment to get some air.

Miranda quickly interjected, "Well, it's obviously not going to be Professor Snape, is it?"

Madeleine, who had just wanted to continue talking, stopped, her mouth open, and stared at her. "Why?"

"Because," Miranda said with the voice adults often use when talking to a child who is a bit retarded, "Snape is a man. And men aren't allowed to get into the girls' dormitories, fool."

"Calm down a bit, you two," Rebecca said quietly. "Luna has been here for only a minute and already you two are arguing again. Can't you stop it?"

The two shot each other glances that didn't look too friendly. Still, both quietly said "Sorry" and didn't look at each other anymore.

"Where is your trunk?" Rebecca asked Luna in her composed voice.

"I left it in the Entrance Hall," Luna said, trying to get her thoughts together. Her head was spinning from all the new impressions and names and she was a bit confused.

Rebecca looked at her, eyebrows raised in disbelief, and Luna added, "Elinor told us to do so. She said we'd get some House Elves to carry them for us later."

"Did she? I see..." Judging from her tone of voice, Rebecca disapproved of this way of handling things. She seemed to think for a moment, then she said, "It will be difficult to find a House Elf right now, so I suppose we'd better bring it here ourselves. Madeleine, Miranda, you two go and get it."

"It's the one with the teddy bear lying on top of it," Luna said in order to help them find the right trunk.

Madeleine grinned at the mention of Merlin, although Luna couldn't fathom why. Miranda's face was as expressionless as always. They both went out without a comment.

Luna was impressed. It seemed that Rebecca was some kind of leader for the girls and they all followed her orders without arguing. Luna had never experienced anything like that in Ravenclaw, neither with boys nor with girls, no matter what age. The inhabitants of Ravenclaw House generally kept to themselves without forming close-knit groups. Most of them seemed to like it that way, and Luna didn't mind it at all.

However, she hadn't expected the Slytherins to be fond of groups; she had always thought that was more a quality the Hufflepuffs favoured. Of course, the Ravenclaw fifth years had Prefects as well, but none of them had dreamed of following Carmella's or Castor's orders - had they ever given out any. This was completely new terrain for her.

"I'll go and inform Professor Snape that you're here, Luna, and tell him that we need another bed and wardrobe," Rebecca said. "Leila, is it all right for you if you stay here and show Luna everything?"

Leila nodded, and Rebecca walked out, too. "I'll be back soon," she said as she closed the door behind her.

Now that they all were gone, Luna had time to look around the room. It was as low as the common room, but the stone walls weren't as rough here. The greenish lamps were the only source of light and painted everything in the room green so that it reminded Luna of an underwater world.

The beds were standing in one long row along the wall, just as they did in Ravenclaw. Opposite each was a wardrobe next to which there lay several pairs of shoes. Luna quite liked that way of sorting shoes, especially when she thought back to the chaotic heap in her old dormitory.

That reminded her of something else, and she studied the floor. It was covered by a thick, dark-green carpet, and was wonderfully free of dirty socks, Chocolate Frog wrappers and Witch Weekly magazines. Luna smiled with satisfaction.

Only one bed looked different, because around it the floor was untidy and old clothes and several rolls of parchment lay around. Without knowing why, Luna supposed that this bed belonged to Madeleine.

Leila, who had been watching her silently while she had studied the room, now got up from her bed, where she had been sitting. She put one hand on Luna's arm and with light pressure forced her to turn around.

For the first time Luna really saw her and noticed that Leila was extraordinarily pretty. With her bronzed skin and the dark hair she looked like some Spanish beauty. Leila noticed Luna was looking at her and smiled, her dark eyes twinkling.

Then she cleared her throat and began. "As you might have noticed, this is our dormitory. The first bed here is Miranda's, the next is Rebecca's, then mine, and the one with the mess around it is Madeleine's." Ah, Luna thought. So I was right about that one.

"Come on, I'll show you the bathroom." With that she vanished out of the door with a swing of her hip. Luna slowly trotted behind.

A little way further down the corridor was another door Luna wouldn't have noticed if the Slytherin hadn't walked through it. Leila led her through the bathroom and showed her the showers and the lavatories. Luna couldn't really listen to her, she was too excited to be able to take in any of the things her new dorm-mate said. Slowly the realization started to sink in that this was going to be her home for the rest of the term - until Christmas. That's an awfully long time, Luna thought.

Her mind was buzzing and later on the only thing she remembered were the expensive-looking silver taps at the wash-basins.

"That's all for now, I think," Leila said as they went back out into corridor. Luna snapped out of her reverie. "Let's go back and wait for the others," Leila commanded and went ahead.

When the two of them walked back to the dormitory, they heard something - Madeleine's loud laughter resounded from farther up the corridor. Sure enough, a few moments later they could see Miranda's head, her two proper plaits swinging with her steps. She was walking backwards, holding Luna's trunk and looking busy making sure Merlin didn't fall to the floor. Behind her Madeleine came shuffling along, carrying the other end of Luna's trunk. She was breathing heavily but grinned nevertheless when she saw Luna and Leila standing there.

"Hi, Luna," Madeleine coughed. "Did Leila show you everything?" She didn't even give Luna the time to answer, but continued talking right away. "I don't understand why they forbid magic in the corridors. This trunk is freaking heavy. What do you have in there - stones?"

Luna was startled by this question. Madeleine apparently was a bit confused; thinking she had stones in there. After all, this was her trunk with her clothes. "No, of course not! Why should I?"

"I believe Madeleine was trying to make a joke," Miranda explained to her in a dry voice. "Would you mind helping us?" she then asked, turning towards Leila, who had watched the scene silently.

"Actually, yes, I do. I'll wreck my nails."

"I don't care about your nails, Leila," Miranda said, "and now get right over here and help us, because this trunk really is heavy."

Leila still hesitated and looked at her hands doubtfully. Miranda added, "Or do you want me to tell Rebecca?"

"No, of course not," Leila said quickly and helped the other two. When Luna wanted to help them, too, Madeleine shook her head. "You're the guest, Luna," she said disapprovingly. "You don't have to help us."

"But I want to," Luna replied, startled by her reaction.

Miranda thrust Merlin into her arms. "Here. Hold your teddy, then I don't have to be careful about him anymore."

They walked a bit further and soon they reached their dormitory. The chandeliers on the wall let the silver sign gleam bright in the otherwise rather dark corridor. Luna pushed the door open and the other three girls squeezed through with the trunk.

Finally they let it drop in the middle of the room.

"We have to wait for Rebecca," Miranda said, "we don't know where your bed and wardrobe are going to be."

"Is Rebecca your Prefect?" Luna burst out with the question she had had in mind for some time now.

The girls looked surprised, then Madeleine began to laugh and showed her huge teeth once more. Miranda rolled her eyes and told her to shut up. Leila seemed to be untouched by all this and looked at her hands; probably checking her nail polish.

"Oh, no," Madeleine gasped finally after she had recovered herself.

Luna wondered what was so funny about her question to make Madeleine laugh that hard. After all, she had only asked whether Rebecca was the prefect in their year, which would be only logical judging from what she'd seen so far.

"Madeleine, will you shut up now?" Miranda asked in an annoyed voice. Then she looked at Luna. "Actually, I am this year's female prefect," she said, her face suddenly completely blank.

Now she had said it, Luna could see the prefect badge on her school robes, gleaming green and silver in the dim light. But if Miranda was the prefect, then why was Rebecca giving out orders and everyone - including Miranda - following them?

Obviously her feelings must have shown clearly on her face, because Madeleine leaned close to her and explained, "Rebecca's always been the one who was in charge, ever since our first year." Her breath smelled of chocolate and surprisingly, was not as unpleasant as the look of her teeth suggested.

"However, as she has always been modest and quiet, Dumbledore supposed Miranda, proper and clever, would be the most suited one of the four of us to be Prefect."

"Oh." Luna turned to Miranda. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to be rude, I just... assumed it was different."

"It's all right," Miranda said in her cool voice and nodded curtly to show she had accepted the apology.

Madeleine tugged at Luna's sleeve. "Come on, sit down and tell us something about you! I'm so curious! Come, we can sit on my bed if you want!" After a short pause she added, "If you want to, you can come too, Miranda..."

Miranda shook her head and smiled a smile that reminded Luna vaguely of Professor McGonagall's. "No, I have homework to do, I'm sorry. You have homework to do, too," she added with one raised eyebrow and a pointed look and looked even more like McGonagall.

"Oh Randy, homework isn't as important as Luna! After all, it's not like we get an exchange student every day, is it?"

Miranda shot her a cold look. "Madeleine, you know I hate nicknames. Any form of nicknames. Especially if they're applied to me. My name is Miranda and not Randy or Mi or whatever else you have called me yet. And now, excuse me, I have to go." She straightened herself, grabbed her schoolbag and strutted out of the door.

Madeleine stared at the closed door and then shook her head in disbelief. "Honestly," she said. "I'm sorry, Luna. Of course, homework isn't more important than you are, is it?" She laughed her loud, untamed laugh again.

"I have homework to do, too," Luna told her. "It has been a long day for me and I'd like to go to bed early and have everything settled before that."

Madeleine looked highly disappointed and her lower lip seemed to tremble, but Luna didn't really notice it. She danced across the dormitory, crossing it in two steps and a turn. She started to hum a little melody and bent down to open her trunk. Its leather surface looked dull in the dim light emerging from the green lamps hanging from the ceiling. Lovegood was written on one side of it in golden letters that shimmered weakly. It was her Daddy's old school trunk, and she was very proud to be allowed to use it.

She opened the lid and took out her schoolbag, which she had pressed into one corner of the trunk. It was heavy from her books, and a broken feather hung out of it. Obviously it had broken when she had pushed the bag into her trunk. Luna hoped that no inkbottle was broken and checked hastily, but everything seemed to be alright.

While Luna looked through her bag, Madeleine seemed to think hard. In concentration she squeezed her eyes shut, then suddenly, as Luna was about to go out to the Common Room, she had an idea.

"Hey, Luna!" she said excitedly.

Luna turned around and looked at her. "Yes?" she asked.

"We can do our homework together!"

"Yes," Luna said. "That's why I wanted to go to the Common Room, you know?"

"Oh, but we can do it here!" Madeleine exclaimed happily and pointed towards the beds. Luna looked at them sceptically. "Well," she began. "They're a bit soft. It's not easy to write on them. I prefer tables, you know."

"No problem," Madeleine replied nonchalantly and waved her wand towards her own bed. "Facio rigidum," she said, then went over to it and touched the quilt. "See?" she beamed. "It's gone all rigid and we can write on it eas- oh." With a disappointed look she touched it again. "It's soft again."

Leila, who had been lying on her own bed and had watched the scene quietly, snorted. "Forget it, Scrivenshaft," she said.

Luna supposed that had to be Madeleine's last name. It sounded strangely familiar, somehow, but she couldn't quite place it at the moment. Maybe a relative of her had written an article for The Quibbler?

"You suck at magic," Leila sneered and interrupted Luna's thoughts.

"I don't," Madeleine retorted and stuck her tongue out at her.

"You do," Leila said with raised eyebrows. "And please stop being so childish."

"I'm not being childish!" Madeleine said, outraged.

"Sure you are." Leila seemed to enjoy the argument, as she grinned and her eyes sparkled.

"If you want my opinion," Luna said carefully, not wanting them to be angry at her, "your behaviour is -"

"Well, we don't want your opinion," Leila sneered coolly. "This is between Scrivenshaft and me. Don't intervene when you have no idea."

"But I can see what's going on here," Luna said. "So I have an idea. Therefore I can intervene. As I tried to say before, Madeleine's behaviour is rather childish, but you, Leila -"

"You have no idea of when it is enough, have you?" Leila asked.

Luna felt hurt. She had only wanted to help them sort their argument out, and now Leila was being mean to her. That wasn't fair.

"Listen, Luna. Leila doesn't mean it," Madeleine said quietly. "She can be very bitchy at times, but she forgets about it in an instant, as well. So don't think it's something personal."

She gave Luna a reassuring look and Luna felt slightly better. She decided to let them clear the argument between themselves and not interrupt anymore. It wouldn't be wise to make enemies on her first evening in Slytherin, so she rather kept her mouth shut.

"Facio rigidum," she said instead quietly and pointed her wand at Madeleine's bed. The quilt turned hard again and she pulled a chair close to it and spread her books across it. She flipped her History of Magic-book open and began reading. Binns had assigned them two rolls of parchment and she intended to complete the essay today. With her quill she marked some sentences so she could find them again later. A little melody came into her mind and she started to hum quietly. Her thoughts drifted away from the homework and towards the next Quidditch game, which was bound to take place soon. Although, she remembered suddenly, Dumbledore had said something about Quidditch in his speech.

She could see the problem, of course. Quidditch players who had changed Houses, like Draco Malfoy, would risk the friendship they could have built up with their new Housemates by playing a game against them. No, that couldn't be...

Lost in thought, she scribbled on the edge of her parchment and found herself drawing a somewhat clumsy-looking Hippogriff. She smiled a little, then she tried to draw a Flobberworm. It didn't really look like one, but Luna didn't care. She had forgotten completely about Quidditch.

With the tip of her quill she carefully added some green spots on the worm's head and tilted her head to the side to have a better look at it. She tapped her wand against the two figures and they started to move on the parchment. "They're playing," she murmured happily as the Hippogriff carefully sniffed at the Flobberworm's head.

"Hey, what's that?" Madeleine asked. Luna looked up and around with wide eyes. She had been so absorbed in her drawing that she had completely forgotten about being in the Slytherin dormitory. She couldn't have been more surprised if she had looked up to find herself in Dumbledore's office and drinking tea with him - which actually wasn't all that improbable, she mused. She supposed Dumbledore could invite her into his office some time soon because she had thought of the Inter-House exchanges. Maybe he would offer her some of the sweets he was obviously eating constantly. Every time Luna was near him, there was a faint scent of something sweet in the air. She was fairly sure this indicated a high sweets-consummation.

Suddenly Madeleine snatched the parchment away from her and Luna's eyes focussed on her. The other girl looked at her drawing sceptically.

"Okay," she said, "that's a Hungarian Horntail, I can see that clearly." She pointed at the parchment. "I like dragons a lot, you know," she added and beamed at Luna. "But what's that? Is it... well... it could be... a Pixie?"

Luna, who had at first not understood what she was talking about, now grabbed the parchment and pulled it back towards herself.

"Excuse me," she said coolly. "That's obviously a Hippogriff and a Flobberworm. And now I have to continue my essay."

"Oh," Madeleine said and blushed heavily. "Oh, Luna, you know, of course that's a Hippogriff, you can see that very clearly! It's just - the light isn't too good here and - and I don't wear my glasses - and - "

"You don't have glasses, Scrivenshaft," Leila interrupted merrily.

"Shut up, Leila," Madeleine hissed.

Suddenly Luna looked up again. "Scrivenshaft is a shop in Hogsmeade," she said. She smiled a little, glad to know where she knew that name from.

"Yes," Madeleine said, a little confused. "That's right."

"And your last name is Scrivenshaft, too."

"Yes," the other girl repeated.

"Your parents own the shop."

"No," Madeleine smiled. "My uncle Janus owns it. He's my father's brother, and he sends me new quills and things like that all the time." She paused, then added, "My father's name is Julius, you know. Isn't that funny? Janus and Julius. Do you want to know why they are called that? For that, you have to know that my grandfather is - "

"Scrivenshaft, please," Leila moaned. "Not again the story that your grandfather is a passionate lover of the Roman culture and wanted to call his sons accordingly. They had another brother," she added, turning towards Luna. "He was called Nero. He died when he was five. Drowned in a lake. Not all that bad of a fate, if you think about it. I wouldn't want to be called after a mad emperor who set Rome on fire." With that she turned back to looking at her nails.

Luna stared at her. "How do you know all that?" she asked, surprised.

"Madeleine tells everybody the story of her father's and uncle's name, no matter if the poor sod wants to hear it or not," Leila explained in a bored voice. "It's probably the only interesting thing there is about her. Accio nail polish," she added and pointed her wand at a small bottle that stood on a table on the other side of the room. It flew across the room and smashed on Leila's bed. The nail polish splattered on Leila's quilt and her jumper.

"Flying flobberworms!" she shrieked and jumped up. "Reparo," she said quickly and waved her wand. The shards of glass flew back together, but the nail polish remained where it was. With a quiet sigh, Leila muttered "Evanesco" and the polish vanished. She took another bottle from her night-stand and prodded it with her wand. The nail polish started to spread itself cleanly on her fingernails.

Luna continued to stare at her for a moment, but Leila didn't seem to notice it. Next to her, Madeleine cleared her throat and Luna looked at her over her shoulder.

"Do you have a sore throat?" she asked carefully. "I have some very good drops, if you want one. My Daddy gave them to me. He's always so worried about my health in winter. He fears I might get the flu, although I've never had it before."

"No, no," Madeleine replied hastily. "I don't need a drop. Stop grinning, Leila, I can see it!"

"I'm not doing anything," the other declared innocently from her bed.

"Anyway," Madeleine continued. "What are you doing there? An essay for Binns? May I have a look at it? We have History of Magic tomorrow, and it could be useful to know what he's going to talk about..."

They absorbed themselves in their books and Luna explained what they had been talking about in the last lesson. Luna tried to explain everything to Madeleine, but she soon was getting a little irritated because her new dorm-mate didn't seem to understand anything.

"No, Madeleine," she said for the third time. "Gifford Ollerton killed Hengist of Upper Barnton, not Bran the Bloodthirsty. Hengist of Upper Barnton. Killed by Gifford Ollerton. It's really simple, Madeleine." She pointed at a line in her book.

"Listen, Luna, you don't have to call me by my full name. Nobody does."

"Everybody does," Leila interjected, but this time Madeleine ignored her.

"My friends call me Maddy."

"They would, rather, if you had friends. Very fitting name, by the way - 'the mad Maddy'," the black-haired girl said and threw her shiny mane back over her shoulder.

"Very funny, Lei-" Madeleine began, but she never finished the sentence, because at that moment the door flew open and banged against the wall. In came Professor Snape with billowing robes. Rebecca followed three steps behind and quietly closed the door.

"Well, it is obviously not going to be Professor Snape, is it?" Madeleine said quietly with a hint of derision in her voice, imitating Miranda's facial expression. Nobody really listened to her, however, because at that moment, a conflict ensued.

"Manners, Professor," Leila complained quietly, but loud enough for Snape to hear it. "Polite people knock before they enter a room."

"My manners - or rather, my obvious lack of them - are none of your concern, Miss Sullivan," Snape replied with a mirthless smile. "But I'd advise your parents to wash your mouth with soap - manners include being polite to authorities," he added in his silkiest voice. "Be lucky you're one of my students, or I would have docked you points."

He looked at her intensely with the steel look only he could produce. Leila moved her hand through her hair, looking ill at ease.

Then Snape turned away from her briskly. "Miss Lovegood," he said and Luna could hear the distaste in his voice. "It's a pleasure to have you with us in Slytherin."

"The pleasure is all mine," Luna replied politely, determined not to let him see that his behaviour towards her hurt her, and indicated a smile.

Then Snape turned away from her as well and pointed his wand at the far corner of the room and murmured something. He made a complicated-looking movement with his wand and a bed and a wardrobe appeared.

"Sleep well," he said quietly with his voice that always reminded Luna of a sharp sword that was wrapped in silk cloths. "And have sweet dreams." Luna swallowed hard as his black eyes fixed on her for a short moment and he smiled nastily. He had something around him that made her uneasy.

With a swoop of his robes their professor vanished out of the door again. He hadn't been in the room for longer than two minutes, but somehow he had still managed to ruin the whole more or less calm atmosphere. For a moment, nobody knew what to say to ease the tension that had suddenly built up in the dormitory.

"He sure loves these dramatic scenes, doesn't he?" Rebecca eventually said dryly, but nobody replied, not even Leila, who still pouted at being treated like that by Snape.

"You didn't argue again, did you?" Rebecca asked, looking from Madeleine to Leila sharply. When neither of them answered, she sighed quietly. "Girls," she said. "Is it that hard to be peaceful, at least in the dormitory? What do you think Luna thinks of you now?"

Madeleine bit on her lip and sneaked a look at Luna, and even Leila looked kind of thoughtful for a moment.

"Actually, I think I was lucky to get in with girls as nice as you all," Luna piped up. "I do think Leila and Madeleine are friendly girls, they just have problems accepting each other."

For a moment, Rebecca looked at her tentatively. Then she grinned, although it seemed a bit forced to Luna. "Well, thanks for making my sermon useless," she said. "Anyway, Leila, Madeleine, I do hope you two will be able to control yourselves a little better in the future."

Turning to Luna, she asked, "Did Leila show you everything?"

Luna nodded. "Yes, of course," she replied and felt a huge yawn coming up. She yawned and stretched herself, then she went to her trunk and pulled out her nightgown. "I'm tired," she said. "I think I'll go to the bathroom." With that she turned towards the door and started walking.

"Wait, Luna," Madeleine said quickly and got her own pyjamas. "I'm coming with you!"

"You?" Miranda asked dubiously. "But usually you're the one to stay up longest."

"So what? I'm tired today," Madeleine snapped.

"Are you coming?" Luna asked, hand on the handle. "Maddy?" she added as she remembered that Madeleine apparently liked to be called that.

"Maddy?" Rebecca asked and looked at Leila and Miranda dubiously. "Since when does she have a nickname?"

"Don't ask," Luna heard Leila groan before the door slowly shut itself behind her. "She's a real barnacle and always as close to Luna as if she was glued to her. And she invented that nickna-" The door shut itself with a quiet click.

So Madeleine didn't have that nickname before? Luna thought. Why did she invent it, then? To impress her? That wouldn't make sense.

"Madeleine," she called and the girl turned around. "Why did you invent that nickname for you if everybody else calls you Madeleine?"

"Oh, well..." Her companion looked at the ground and blushed a little. "I never had a real friend before. Here in Slytherin, everybody's just so... self-centred. But you're different from everybody here in this House. And I've a feeling that we might have a good friendship, so I wanted a special name that's just for me and you. Would you like a nickname, too?"

"I don't know, actually," Luna said slowly. "After all, Luna already is a rather short name. I never had a nickname before."

"Neither had I!" Madeleine said excitedly. "Oh, come on, this is so much fun!"

Finally Luna agreed, and Madeleine beamed. "That's great! And your nickname will be... Lu!" Expectantly she looked at Luna, waiting for a reaction. Luna, who didn't really care, nodded.

"Oh, Lu, that's fantastic!" Madeleine cried and hugged her tightly.

"Madeleine - Maddy, stop it, I can't breathe," Luna coughed and her new friend loosened her grip a little, but still held her tight.

"Come on, Lu, let's go and brush our teeth," Madeleine said merrily. "Brush, brush, brush your teeth..." she started to sing quietly and Luna just followed her, still thinking about her new nickname.

Lu, she thought and tested the sound of it. It didn't sound like her, she thought. But if Madeleine liked it, she would go with it.

Maybe that was the first step to getting new acquaintances. Madeleine seemed to like her, so she should be careful to keep the situation like that.

Miranda and Leila didn't seem to be too fond of her, but at least they were indifferent until now. And Rebecca - Luna wasn't sure what to think of her. She seemed nice and friendly and always tried to help, but Luna could sense that there was more to it, and she wasn't sure if all of it was positive for her.

"Lu, you coming?" Madeleine called from the bathroom and Luna had to remind herself that now, she was Lu and had to react when called that.

"Sure, Made - Maddy," she said and strolled towards the half-open door, yawning widely.

It had been an exhausting day, and she was sure there were more of them to come.