Luna-ticked in Knockturn Alley

Luna-Ticked In Knockturn Alley

A Shattered Moon

Merlin Black was an average looking wizard who was in Gryffindor House of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft And Wizardry. He was so average that not too many wizards at Hogwarts knew him. This was perfectly alright with Merlin because the last thing he ever wanted was to have people keep looking at his forehead. In spite of all this, a person might mistake Merlin for Harry Potter if they weren't too close to him. This was due to the fact that they both had the same hair color, size, and style of glasses. When looked at more closely; however, a few differences were noticeable. Merlin's eyes were blue instead of green. Merlin's short black hair was usually a bit tidier than Harry's. Merlin was thankful that he did not have a scar on his forehead since he preferred not to stand out. Merlin certainly spent more time with his best friend Neville Longbottom. Merlin seemed to have a stranger interest in girls than Harry. There was one final difference between Merlin and Harry. Tonight, Merlin was the one who was crying.

Merlin Black sat in an easy chair in the Gryffindor common room crying. Even though the fire was still burning in front of him, it did nothing to comfort him as it usually did. Since it was one o'clock in the morning, most of the other students were in bed sleeping. Merlin wondered if he would ever sleep again. Sitting next to Merlin was Neville Longbottom. Sitting around other tables were Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. None of Merlin's friends really knew how help him so they decided to sit quietly until Merlin finished crying. Finally, Neville put his hand on Merlin's shoulder and tried to convince his best friend that everything was going to be all right to no avail. All Merlin could do was cry and continue to look at the note in his hand that Professor McGonagall had given him in her office just an hour earlier.

Merlin Black, We have Luna Lovegood. If you interfere with the affairs of Slytherin House again, we will kill her.

Merlin finally stopped crying. A new feeling assaulted Merlin, a feeling of anger. Merlin jumped out his chair, ripped up the note, and hurled it into the fire. Merlin Black, who was usually a calm person, had never been this angry in his live. Merlin wanted to hit something. Merlin decided that he wanted to flip the table on which Gryffindor students usually did their homework over.

When Merlin put his hands on the table, Hermione deduced what he was about to do. "Merlin, calm down! Destroying the common room won't help bring Luna back!" she screamed.

Harry reminisced back to a time last year when he had destroyed most of Dumbledore's office after losing his godfather Sirius Black.

After Merlin calmed down, Ron asked him exactly what Professor McGonagall had told him. With a dejected sigh, Merlin sat back down on his chair and began his story. "It all started when I was nudged awake by Professor McGonagall and summoned into her office. When I got to her office, she began by asking me if I wanted a cookie. After I politely accepted the cookie, Professor McGonagall asked me if I was friends with Luna Lovegood. I replied that I was . While handing me the note, she told me that she had bad news. She went on to say that we know Miss Lovegood is missing but since there are no witnesses we have no idea who took her."

After Merlin finished his story, Merlin and his friends sat around the fire trying to think of ideas on how to rescue Luna.

"I wish you hadn't ripped up the letter, Merlin. I might have been able to use a spell to find out who wrote it," Hermione explained with exasperation.

Merlin looked at Hermione and exclaimed in a hoarse voice, "I couldn't help it!"

Ron stretched his arms and yawned. Ron then asked if they could go to bed and have a go at it in the morning.

Ron knew he had said the wrong thing as Merlin started walking towards him with a sinister frown on his face. In a finite tone to match Professor McGonagall, Merlin yelled, "You can all go to bed if you want to, but I will not eat or sleep until Luna is save at Hogwarts! I love her! The worst thing about all this is that I have never told her and now it looks like I might never get that chance!"

Neville timidly responded, "Look Merlin, you'll get that chance after you rescue her. How are you going to go about it?"

Merlin couldn't formulate a plan at the moment because the events that had led him to this point were flooding his head.