We Aren't All That Different

Luna was glad that she had gathered the courage to start this discussion. However, Madeleine didn't react to her call.

"Madeleine!" Luna called again. Madeleine still didn't react.

"Made-" Luna started again, but Leila interrupted her. "Now, really. That's annoying, Luna. Scrivenshaft!" she hissed sharply, and Madeleine turned around.

"What?" she asked, sounding irritated.

Leila simply pointed at Luna with her thumb. "She wants to talk to you," she explained. "Oh, and - go out, okay? It's rather disturbing when you're talking in here while I want to read my magazine."

"Whatever," Madeleine replied indifferently. Then she looked at Luna, coolly. "What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you," Luna said and motioned towards the door. "Let's get out of here," she added.

Madeleine sighed, but still followed her out into the icy corridor.

"So?" Madeleine asked, crossing her arms. In that moment, she reminded Luna a lot of Draco Malfoy. Luna wondered whether all Slytherins learned to look at others like that at some point.

"I wanted to talk to you," Luna began.

"You're repeating yourself," Madeleine interrupted coldly. The dim light of the candles along the wall reflected on her hair.

"About yesterday evening and History of Magic," Luna continued, decidedly ignoring the other girl's comment.

"What about it?"

"I explained it all to you, yesterday evening. About Gifford Ollerton and Bran the Bloodthirsty and the giant wars - everything. I repeated it again and again, until you'd understood it.

"You didn't thank me for it yesterday, but I reckoned that was because you were too tired, and eager to get some sleep. But today, you didn't show any sign of gratitude, either.

"We sat in History of Magic and Binns was talking about exactly the things I explained to you - and you didn't act like you remembered yesterday evening at all. You could have smiled at me, or winked. Anything. Just so I know you remember - and appreciate. But there wasn't even the tiniest of gestures from you. Nothing."

She looked at Madeleine, whose face showed nothing but plain indifference. "Yes," she simply said and raised her left eyebrow, so as if to say, so what?

Luna felt her temper rising, but forced herself to cool down again. "I'm disappointed, you know," she said quietly. "You just used me to get what you wanted. I had my own homework to do - two rolls of parchment. But I didn't do it, because I thought you needed help - and I wanted to give it to you.

"But today, you just... ignored me. That hurt me quite a lot, you know. I did all the work, and you - you just dropped me. You didn't need me anymore, so you weren't interested."

Horrified, Luna noticed prickling behind her eyes. "I felt like such a tool! It... it hurt me."

The other girl didn't react at all.

Finally, Luna dared to look up again and saw that the icy look had vanished from Madeleine's face, only to be replaced by anger, which immediately made Luna feel guilty, although she had no idea of why she should feel that way.

"So," Madeleine said, dangerously quiet. "You feel used, do you? Like a tool, not appreciated, right?"

"Yes," Luna said. "That's what I just told you."

"I didn't think you were like that."

"How? Sad?"

"No!" Madeleine hissed. "Selfish!"

Luna suddenly felt the irrational urge to laugh, although this was not at all laughable. "Beg your pardon?" she said instead, trying to hold all emotions out of her voice.

"You very well understood what I said," Madeleine said and slowly started walking around Luna, circling her like a snake does with its victim. "You feel hurt. You explained History of Magic to me, oh saintly Luna. You had homework to do. Don't you notice how everything revolves around you? Others don't mean anything to you. It's always you, you, you - you're the centre of your universe."

"No!" Luna protested, nonplussed. "That's not-"

"Be quiet when I'm talking!" Madeleine said sharply and Luna shrank back, a bit afraid. This was not the Madeleine she had gotten to know. What's up with her? Luna wondered silently.

"You're so ... different," Luna whispered.

Madeleine simply ignored her. "You didn't think about me for a single moment, did you?" she said loudly. "You didn't think about how I was feeling, right?" Her voice was getting louder and louder.

"Maybe I wanted to help you feel at home in Slytherin," Madeleine snarled. "Just imagine - I didn't really want to know about History of Magic and simply asked you to make you feel good. I didn't do this because I needed your help. I wanted to impress Rebecca. You have no idea of how it feels to be treated like that all the time. None of you! She always thinks that I'm so childish and she thinks I can't do anything right. I wanted to prove her wrong.

"This had nothing - absolutely nothing - to do with you. Oh, and there's something else." Her eyes glittered maliciously, making her look dangerous in the dark corridor. "I don't care about you at all. You could be some insect, and I couldn't care less. You're nothing, Luna. Nothing." The last word she almost spit out.

Luna felt like Madeleine had just hit her stomach with a huge iron bullet. For a moment, she couldn't breathe. That hurt. She knew a lot of people didn't like her; but nobody had ever said it to her face like that. Luna was used to passive aversion. This open hostility was much, much worse.

"Okay," she finally whispered weakly. "I think you made yourself pretty clear."

But Madeleine wasn't finished yet. "I looked after you and talked to you and was friendly, from the first moment on! I even invented a silly nickname for myself! I was so close. Rebecca would have been so proud of me! Finally somebody would have appreciated me and looked at me with respect!" she roared at Luna.

"And you? You destroyed it all! What the hell do you think you were doing - sitting down next to that damn Weasley slut!"

"What?" Luna asked, surprised. "Are you talking about Ginny?"

"Yes, of course I'm talking about Ginny 'I-make-Rebecca-look-stupid-in-class' Weasley," Madeleine snarled.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that she completely embarrassed Rebecca today in Defence against the Dark Arts!"

"But Rebecca was wrong," Luna said. "Listen, Madeleine, I was with Ginny, in the Ministry of Magic. I was there; I fought the Death Eaters! You have no idea how-"

"You have no idea," Madeleine interrupted. "And please, stop talking about this 'fight' you had. You don't actually think anyone believes that?

You were my chance to get a bit of respect from Rebecca, and you ruined it all. But I warn you," she said quietly and stepped close to Luna - so close that Luna could smell her chocolaty breath. "You'll deeply regret it if you continue that. Stop associating with the Weasley slut. If you sit with me from now on, I can forget about this argument. But if you don't..."

She trailed off, but she didn't have to finish her sentence. Luna knew what she wanted to tell her. This was the second time in a matter of only a few days that she was in a deep inner conflict. Slytherin didn't want her to be happy, it seemed.

"By the way, I saw Elinor today," Madeleine said in a light voice, as if she had read Luna's thoughts. "She told me to send you greetings." She smiled nastily. "She and I are very good friends, did you know?"

Luna bit her lip. What was she going to do? Now her two huge problems were connected, and either she gave in and betrayed her principles, or she was in really big trouble.

"Elli will have to report to McGonagall about your behaviour regularly. D'you think McGonagall will be glad to hear how you're being rude and anti-social? Insulting us, after we went to so much trouble to make you feel at home. Calling us names - so childish! Threatening to hex us if we don't shut up!"

Luna's mouth fell open. "But - that's not true!" she protested. "I never did any of that!"

"Really? Prove it, then. Who do you think McGonagall will believe - you or a seventh year Prefect, who has shown nothing but responsible and sensible behaviour in the past?"

Lifting one eyebrow, Madeleine looked expectantly at Luna, who stared back at her blankly for a while, unable to think clear. A stampede of thoughts surged through her mind, trampling down the ability to form coherent words. All that had happened swirled around in her head wildly. Elinor, the Quibbler, Madeleine, Rebecca, Ginny, ...

She decided that a rash answer wouldn't help anyone, so she nodded slowly to show Madeleine she'd heard her, then turned around and trotted away, towards the Common Room, where Miranda was waiting for her.

"Hey!" Madeleine shouted. "Oy, Luna! Give me an answer!"

Luna heard her, but the words didn't get through her stream of thought.

"You coward!" Madeleine shrieked. "I'll hex you deaf and blind if you don't turn right now and talk to me, damn it! Come right here!"

Luna simply ignored her. Suddenly she remembered she'd forgotten her bag again, and she'd need it if she wanted to do the History of Magic-essay with Miranda.

She turned around once more and walked back towards the dormitory. Suddenly, a thought hit her. Miranda. While she and Madeleine weren't necessarily friends, surely she'd stand by Madeleine and not Luna if she had to decide. And the others? She thought, horrified. Rebecca and Leila - what if they're all in on it? What if this isn't simply something Madeleine's doing, what if they have it all planned out and this is only the first step? Oh Merlin, she hadn't imagined her idea to further unity would have effects like this.

Lost in thought, Luna had arrived next to Madeleine once more. "Fine," the other girl said, crossing her arms. "I knew you'd come back. So? What do you have to say?"

Luna blinked and looked at her, struggling to focus. "I?" she managed eventually. "Why should I say something? Excuse me, would you step aside? You're blocking the door."

Inside the dormitory, Luna stopped. Should she really go to Miranda? What if she was waiting in the Common Room with another part of the girls' plan? Maybe they had sat her a trap, and she was walking right into it. What was she supposed to do? Mum, if you're here, please help me! she pleaded inwardly. I don't know what to do.

She closed her eyes for a moment, and as she opened them again, she heard Miranda call, "Luna, are you coming? I'm not going to wait forever!"

"Is that a sign?" Luna whispered, looking upwards. But her Mum probably knew what she was doing, and Luna wasn't going to mistrust her. Reluctantly, she fetched her bag from next to her bed. Another deep breath later, she stepped outside into the corridor once more, shutting up Madeleine, who still looked slightly confused, with a "Didn't you hear? Miranda's waiting for me."

As she walked down the corridor, she felt Madeleine's gaze on her back, and although the other girl hadn't said a word, Luna knew what she was thinking. This isn't over yet. This is just the beginning.

*

"There you are," Miranda said, looking up. "About time." Then she looked at Luna a little closer. "Are you feeling all right? You don't look good."

"What?" Luna wasn't sure whether this was part of their plan. Maybe everything depended on her answer, maybe this was what made or broke it. "Oh, no, it's quite all right. I think I'll manage," she eventually said and hoped that would do.

"Fine," Miranda replied and asked no further.

Luna breathed out in relief. Maybe she had been too suspicious and Miranda wasn't in on it, after all. Otherwise she surely wouldn't just say 'fine'. Or would she? Maybe it was another part of the plan, to make her feel safe and secure, and then strike. Luna wasn't going to let her defences down soon, that was for sure.

But it was no good watching Miranda's every movement, either. That way, she'd never get any rest. Luna decided she'd concentrate on her essay now, which wouldn't just make her focus on something different, it was also important because of her OWLs.

"Did you start already?" she asked, trying for a normal tone of voice.

"No, I waited for you and the others so we could do it together."

"The others?" Luna asked, and her brain sounded alarm. "What others?"

"Alan, Frank and Nuncio," Miranda replied.

Luna looked at her blankly. "Who?" she asked, hoping they weren't some broad-shouldered, huge seventh years who were supposed to beat her up.

"Alan, Fra - oh, don't say you didn't meet them already! They're the boys in our year. You surely met them before in classes. But they're not the only ones. Lerato and Corbin are also in our year," Miranda explained. "I can't believe they didn't investigate you already. They're very childish you know, and curious - at least Nuncio. He has to be the nosiest person I've ever met. Just wait until they're here, he'll bombard you with questions."

"Aha," said Luna. "So, what are they like?"

"They're nice guys," Miranda said. "Though they're not all that much into schoolwork -" she tutted disapprovingly - "and outside, playing Quidditch, as often as possible."

"Really?" said Luna. "That's nice."

"Yeah," agreed Miranda. Then she seemed to remember something. "You're not muggle-born, are you?" she asked, eyes wide open.

"No," Luna said. "I'm a pureblood. I believe I'm even related to Malfoy, some generations back. Why?"

"Because Alan and Lerato are very keen on pure blood."

"But that's nonsense," Luna said. "The blood doesn't matter at all. It's the personality that counts. There's no difference between purebloods, halfbloods and muggle-borns - except for their ancestors. It's proven, even, that magical power is not dependent on the purity of blood. Professor Larry Larynks made a survey about that some years ago. We had an article about it in The -"

"Yeah, whatever." Miranda waved her hand dismissively. "You don't have to tell me, I can't be bothered with all this blood stuff. I mean, sure, I don't want too many Muggles in our world, but as long as they don't make trouble, they can stay."

Suddenly something occurred to Luna. "What about Rebecca? She's a half-blood, isn't she?" she asked, for the moment forgetting her worries.

Miranda grinned thinly. "She's a special case. I can only say Corbin Merden - he's the cause for her 'special treatment'. Without him, she'd have a very, very hard time here in Slytherin. He's totally crazy in love with her. As far as I remember, he's had a crush on her ever since, I don't know, second year? So, he's warned the others not to bother or touch her. He's big and strong - and Prefect. The others don't want trouble.

"And his auntie always sends along huge packages of sweets and a bottle of Firewhisky. We all wait for it eagerly every month."

"Firewhisky?" asked Luna, incredulous. "But - that's alcohol! Strong alcohol, at that."

"Sure," Miranda said. "So what? Don't say you don't drink alcohol sometimes. Stop being such a killjoy."

"Well, I don't know..."

"Come on. Don't be that stiff about it. After all, Leila has been drinking a sip of Gin every evening for years, and it hasn't harmed her."

"Leila has - oh my. And you all drink Firewhisky on a regular basis? And additionally to that, Leila drinks Gin."

"Correct."

"Have you all gone mad?" Luna stared at her dorm-mate in disbelief. For a moment, she considered whether this could be part of their plan to distract her. But the topic was too serious to not warn Miranda about it. "This is alcohol. It destroys your brain-cells with every sip you take. I didn't think you were that careless about your brain."

"Well, a few sips every month won't do much harm," replied Miranda defensively.

"Miranda, listen to me. This is important. Every tiny little sip of alcohol destroys your brain cells. The cells that are supposed to make you write good OWLs."

"Really? Oh." Miranda plucked at her necklace. She twisted her ring. She pulled her earlobe. "I'll think about it," she eventually said.

Before Luna could answer, a bomb exploded behind them. At least that was what it sounded like.

"I reckon that's them." Miranda grinned dryly.

"Who?" Luna asked.

"Alan, Frank and Nuncio."

"Oh, them." A queasy feeling started to spread itself in Luna's stomach. Now she'd see what they were going to do with her.

"Did you see that look Scrope threw me?" a loud voice asked behind them.

"Yeah, but that was because your fly was open," another shouted and started laughing.

"Stuff it, mate," the first voice said again, sounding slightly amused.

"Hi, Miranda!" Three boys plonked down on the chairs next to Miranda. Luna quietly scrutinized them. One had longer black hair that fell into his face and covered one eye. The one next to him had a shaved head and piercing blue eyes. The third one had a grin that made his eyes nearly vanish. They looked like small black lines somewhere behind his cheeks.

"Whoa," the one with the bald head said suddenly. "Miranda, who's this charming lady you have sitting next to you?"

He fell to one knee before Luna and took her hand. She saw the greenish light reflect on his shiny head and felt the sudden urge to touch it, only barely restraining herself. "Milady, I am at your service. One look into your wonderful - er - silvery eyes makes me feel like I'm in paradise." He bowed his head.

Luna blushed heavily. "Yes, my Daddy always tells me I have wonderful eyes, too," she said, not knowing what else to do.

The boy started laughing loudly. "Did you hear that?" he asked, turning towards the two other boys. "Did you hear that? You're funny," he said, turning back to Luna.

"Who are you?" the one with the huge grin asked, leaning slightly forward.

"Luna Lovegood."

The mouth of the boy still kneeling in front of her fell slightly open. "Oh." After a quick exchange of glances with his friends, he leaned forward. "Not... Loony Lovegood?" he asked quietly, barely more than a whisper.

"No, it's Luna." This was really starting to get on Luna's nerves. "Loony is a name some stupid girls gave to me. Maybe it may seem appropriate at times, but I don't think it's very polite of you to address me like that when you don't even know me. Are you not capable of judging for yourself?" She raised her brows slowly and forced herself to smile at him. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Nuncio Greene," he said.

"Alan Skipwith," the one with the black hair introduced himself.

"And I'm Frank Cosworth." That was the last one.

"Cosworth and Skipwith," Luna said dreamily. "It sounds like a comedy double-act."

The boys laughed out loud.

"Now, are you ready with your ceremony?" Miranda asked, her voice a mixture of anger and amusement. "Or do you want to know Luna's birthday, complete background, favourite Quidditch team and the colour of her knickers?"

Nuncio looked at Miranda for a moment with a contemplative expression. Then he turned to Luna. "What's the colour of your knickers?"

"Blue." Luna was perplexed. The boys shouted with laughter. "You're definitely worth your money," said Alan. "In fact, I think you're priceless."

"Well," Luna said, following an idea that had popped up in her head. "If you finished your questions now, then I have one, as well." Grinning into their expectant faces, she asked, "Nuncio, may I touch your head?"

The two other boys started chuckling, and Nuncio complained quietly, "I don't know why everybody wants to do that. Does it bring you better marks, or what?" Still, he let Luna touch his bald head, holding still patiently.

"If it brings better marks, maybe you should try it yourself, as well," Frank mocked and he and Alan started laughing at the top of their voices.

"Please," Miranda said, sounding exasperated. "You three have no working brain cells, it seems. You need me to do your History of Magic-essay, so you'd better do what I say. And I say you three sit down right now and start reading the passages we need. Leave Luna alone, you confuse her. And you annoy me."

"Okay, you're the boss." Without complaint, the three sat down and took their books from their bags. Luna sat there, her mouth open.

Miranda, who had noticed it, asked with a grin, "Am I good, or what?"

Luna hadn't expected Miranda to have such a bright grin - it lit up her whole face and made her look less like the studious serious girl she usually was. The boys seemed to make her relax and be more open to jokes. In this moment, she was so much unlike her usual self that Luna simply nodded, slightly confused. Then she took out her book and tried to focus on her homework.

*

Finally, they were ready with their essays and the others went away. Only Luna stayed; she had her Defence-essay to do, as well. Nuncio told her once more how magnificent her eyes were and winked, then he ran after Alan and Frank.

Luna looked round to see if somebody she knew was in the Common Room so she could sit with them. While working on her essay, she hadn't noticed many things going on around her. And it seemed she hadn't missed much, as the room was still empty except for her and, at the other end of the room, Zacharias with some other boy.

Luna grabbed her things and walked towards them. "Hi," she said.

Zacharias looked up. "Hi."

"May I sit with you?" Luna asked and already put her bag on the table and pulled up another chair.

"Err - sure," Zacharias said, looking not really delighted about it.

Luna shot the other boy a pointed look and then looked at Zacharias.

"Oh," he said. "Fulke, that's Luna Lovegood. Exchange, as well. Ravenclaw, I believe. Luna, that's Fulke Litcott. He's in my dorm and a real clown." He grinned as Fulke nudged him.

"Luna Lovegood?" Fulke asked. "Not... Loony Lovegood?!"

Luna sighed, exasperated. "No, it's Luna. Loony is a not very nice nickname the girls from my old dormitory gave me. I don't know how it could spread throughout the school, especially as most people don't even know me. But they probably get their opinion like the flu - by catching it from others."

Fulke blushed. "Okay, sorry," he said. "That was quite clear." He hesitated a moment, then said, "Do you by any chance know how to do the dream diary for Trelawney?"

"I didn't take Divination, but I know that Jonas - that's a boy in my year - always made his dreams up. Trelawney never noticed anything."

"See?" Zacharias exclaimed. "That's what I suggested, as well," he explained to Luna. She smiled and was glad inside to see that he was in a good mood - in the Entrance Hall, when she had first met him, something seemed to have bothered him.

At that moment, Madeleine came into the room. "Oh, look who's there," she said as she spotted Luna. "Loony Lovegood! The spleeny, fly-bitten malt-worm!" She grinned nastily.

"Be careful not to get dirt on your hands from that scum. She's completely psycho. When she fell out of the weirdo tree, boy did she hit every branch on the way down," Madeleine exclaimed, then smiled innocently, like that was the most ordinary thing one could say about another person.

Luna felt a pang at her heart at these words. She still couldn't believe that this was Madeleine, the girl who had so eagerly wanted her to call her 'Maddy'.

"And you're so ugly you have to creep along the wall," Zacharias suddenly said loudly. "Otherwise the mirror would fall off when it sees you."

Madeleine opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She looked at a complete loss for words. After a moment, she turned wordlessly and strutted out of the Common Room.

For a moment, the three of them sat in silence, then Zacharias said, "That was good, wasn't it?"

Fulke grinned. "Sure it was, mate. But quite mean. Dunno why Madeleine's acting so strange. Well, it's not like she's nice, normally, but I've never seen her as bitchy as that. Usually, she's always in Rebecca's shadow and barely ever says anything. What's gotten into her?" He looked at Luna inquiringly.

"Oh, that's a long story," Luna said quickly. "And no, we don't have time for me tell it right now. I have to get started on my Defence-essay. And didn't you want to write your dream-diary?"

"Fine, fine, I was just asking..." Fulke murmured.

"Just shut up, will you?" Zacharias asked and they all started writing.

*

Eventually, another one and a half hours later, Luna was finished with her last bit of homework for that day. Thankfully she inhaled deeply and let the air out again slowly. "Wonderful feeling," she said quietly.

Smith growled. "How great for you. I'm not ready yet. I just can't think of any stupid things that could happen to me anymore. Fulke?"

"Nope," the other said and quickly covered his roll of parchment with his arm. "Think of your own."

"That's the damn Slytherin in you." Zacharias looked at him darkly. "Always wants to be the best. How I hate it. That's probably the one thing I like least about Slytherin." He tapped his foot on the ground impatiently. "Think, Smith," he quietly said to himself.

"I'm leaving," Luna said, getting up. "I need some rest after this much writing and concentrating. I hope you finish soon." After a moment's hesitation, she added, "Good night."

"For you, maybe," Zacharias snapped back. "You don't have to work on this stupid diary."

"Well, I didn't take Divination," Luna tried to explain.

"Oh, be quiet." Zacharias shot her a dark look. "Should've known it. Ravenclaw. Bloody know-it-alls, all of them." With that, he turned back to his essay, exasperatedly raking his hand through his hair.

"Good night," Luna said once more. She ignored Zacharias because she knew he was only annoyed because of his homework.

Without waiting for another reply, she went into the by now almost-familiar pitch-dark corridor that led to her dormitory. Then she stood in front of the door to her dorm. While working on her essays, she hadn't had the time to think about the plan the girls might have. But now that she was back, fear welled up inside her. She didn't know whether she'd be able to defend herself against four girls' attacks all at once - if they actually did something.

Luna didn't know what to do. Maybe she was just making a fool of herself and was being paranoid, and the others weren't as easy to influence as she thought. On the other hand, it was entirely plausible that Maddy had told them some lie about their argument and now they were just waiting for her to enter the room, and then make her life hell. She remembered her worries about Slytherins from the Sorting ceremony. What if Slytherins liked physical violence?

She'd never worried like that before entering her dormitory in Ravenclaw, because she'd known the girls there wouldn't lower themselves to something as 'plebeian' as physical attacks. But here, in Slytherin? Just in case, she took her wand from behind her ear and held it tightly. At least they wouldn't surprise her with their spells. She could use Expelliarmus, then everything would be over quick and without injuries. Or Petrificus totalus, that could work, as well. Prepared with thoughts like that, she opened the door slowly.

Silence greeted her as she entered. Rebecca and Leila were both lying on their respective beds. Leila's wand turned the colour of her nail varnish into a dark lilac automatically and Leila watched drowsily.

Luna wondered fleetingly whether she'd been doing her nails ever since Luna had left the room. When did she do her homework? All Luna had seen her do until now was doing her nails and making sheep's eyes at Myron Wagtail.

Rebecca, on the other hand, just lay there, looking exhausted. Miranda was reading a book.

All three looked up as she came in, but no one said anything. Luna didn't say anything, either, because she was very nervous and feared that one word from her could cause all of three of them to jump up and curse her. Then again, Luna doubted Leila would do anything before her nail varnish had dried. She wouldn't want to ruin her day's work. Still, the danger was definitely there.

Luna wasn't sure of how to interpret the silence. In Ravenclaw, there had been silence as well, but she had always known what it meant - it had been hostile and icy. The girls had made her feel that she was not wanted there, that they despised her, that she was unworthy; all without saying a word.

In Slytherin, she wasn't sure what the silence told her. It felt indifferent, but was that true? Was Madeleine the only one who was against her, or had she made Rebecca, Miranda and Leila support her, as well? Luna was sure Madeleine had told them all what had happened - or, more probable, her version of what had happened. Under these circumstances, it seemed like a miracle that the atmosphere in the room wasn't full of hatred. Maybe they needed the time to consider the situation. That would give her a reprieve until at least the next morning, which would be very good.

Luna was glad Madeleine wasn't in the room. She wondered where she was. Maybe she had gone to Elinor to tell her what had happened. Luna gulped. Not good. But for now, she'd stop worrying and just sleep. She felt incredibly tired.

Grateful, she sank down on her bed and felt the familiar softness under her. Merlin's leg brushed her cheek, and she pulled him in her arms. All she wanted to do right now was close her eyes and fall asleep.

Therefore, she lay down and waited. The Sandman had to be near; she could feel herself becoming more and more tired.

Suddenly a thought hit her. She sat up upright. Judging by the work her brain cells did, she could drink a bottle of whiskey every evening, and it wouldn't make a difference. Just why was she so scatterbrained? She had forgotten something again. This time, it was her favourite Sugarquill, which had fallen under the table at some point. She had completely forgotten about it.

With a heavy sigh, she got up again, groaning. Tiredly, she put her wand behind her right ear and shuffled towards the door, slowly.

When she reached the Common Room, she stopped, as she always did; fascinated by the mysterious green light in there. Even when she was as tired as she was right now, this could make her feel good in a way. In the light of the fire, she could see the huge coat of arms of Slytherin hanging on one of the walls.

A sudden noise made her turn her head to the left. A group of Slytherins came running along, cheering and shouting. While Luna still wondered what the reason for their strange behaviour was, a loud thud could be heard.

"Oooh, he fell on his long bottom," a girl's voice shrieked and the others cheered.

They passed by the corridor in which Luna was still standing, and unexpectedly Luna saw Neville kneeling on the ground, pulled further by the Slytherins.

"Admit you're an unworthy squib, and we'll leave you alone," a boy said darkly and pulled Neville's head back brutally with his hand in Neville's hair, so Neville, who was still on the floor, was forced to look up at him.

Now Luna could see his face - his lower lip trembled, and his eyes were wide with fear, but still he said with a surprisingly strong voice, "I'm not a squib. I'm a wizard. And I'm worth twelve of you, Goyle."

The others started laughing and one of them kicked him viciously in the ribs. Neville coughed and fell to the floor.

"Expelliarmus," Luna shouted without thinking, whipping her wand out from behind her ear. Goyle's wand flew in her direction and seven perplexed faces turned towards her, the most surprised of them Neville's.

"Stop!" Luna exclaimed. "That's not fair!"

"First of all, that's not your business," a blonde girl hissed. "And now give him back his wand!"

"I don't think I'll do that," Luna said contemplatively, trying to play for time.

"Well, you'd better, or you'll regret it." The blonde girl's voice sounded very threatening. Luna dimly remembered having seen her with Malfoy a lot.

Before she could reply, somebody shouted "Densaugeo!" and Luna could barely duck the spell. That was like some start signal for the other Slytherins, and they started hurling curses at her. Luna used the Protego-charm to protect herself and somehow get to Neville. Finally, she reached him and pulled him up. "Are you all right?" she asked, and as he nodded, she thrust the Slytherin's wand she was still holding into his hand. "Then let's go."

A small battle ensued and between firing and blocking spells, Luna found the time to wonder why nobody had woken up yet. They'd better end this fight before anyone noticed. "Try to distract them," she quietly said to Neville as she was close to him again. "I'll try getting their wands."

Neville nodded. "Furnunculus!" he shouted and pointed his wand at Malfoy's girlfriend. Boils started to break out over her face and arms and she shrieked. While she was so distracted, Luna cast Expelliarmus to disarm her.

"Locomotor Mortis!" Neville already shouted to her left, and Goyle's friend fell to the floor as suddenly his legs were locked together. He hopped around helplessly, and Luna got his wand.

They continued like that, and Luna was very grateful for their many DA-practices from last year. Without these, they'd have lost long ago against the Slytherins, who outnumbered them by four people.

Eventually, Luna held five wands in her left hand, and the Slytherins had lost. The blonde girl sat on the floor, looking at her arms with a horrified expression. Others were lying on the floor, petrified, or were bound by magical ropes.

"Well," Luna said to the blonde girl. "Seems like you are the one regretting. I'd advise you not to do this again. You saw what happened this time. It's not going to get better next time."

With that, she threw their wands to the floor, and Neville dropped the one he'd been holding. "Don't you dare do this again," Luna said and then she turned away, pulling Neville with her by his sleeve.

"Are you hurt?" she asked him softly and put a hand on his arm.

"No, I don't think so," he replied. Carefully, he touched his left side and groaned quietly. "That'll go away."

There was a short pause, then he quietly said, "Thanks. For... you know, all this." He made a gesture that included the whole room with the Slytherins.

"You don't have to thank me," Luna said. "After all, that's what friends are for, isn't it?" She smiled slightly.

He turned his head towards her abruptly, and his eyes lit up with something Luna had never seen before in somebody's eyes when they looked at her.

It was gratitude.

She felt goose-pimples on her arms and she smiled weakly. It was an amazing feeling, to see somebody grateful to her. While she still enjoyed the warm, fuzzy feeling inside her, Neville suddenly pulled her into a hug, held her tight for a second and then quickly went away, all without saying a word.

He left Luna standing there, clueless, surprised, and unsure of how she should feel.