Luna's year

The following morning found Harry ambling down for some much-needed breakfast. As he walked down the center aisle in the Great Hall he spied Ron already hard at work on a stack of pancakes and applesauce. He sat down opposite his friend and grabbed himself a slice of toast.

"Morning...Merlin's beard, it's cold!" said Harry as he opened up a jar of blackberry jelly.

"Mornin' 'arry," answered Ron, his words muffled through a mouthful of pancakes. "You're up late this morning," he said once he'd swallowed enough to make himself more easily understood.

"Yeah, well," said Harry, buttering his toast. "I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up a while. Had a run-in with Filch, too."

"Whoa - " exclaimed Ron, "how'd that happen?? Why'd you leave the dorm?"

"Well you're not going to believe this," Harry began, "but Luna was taking a walk in the forest last night. I saw her coming back around midnight, I guess it was. I thought I could run down with my cloak and help her sneak back in, but Filch caught her anyway."

"She what?!?" said Ron incredulously, as Harry glimpsed Hermione entering the Hall and coming down to join them. "Does she have a death wish or something?"

"Does who have a death wish?" asked Hermione as she took a seat next to Ron. "Good morning, by the way," she said as she started to fill her plate with toast, strawberries and baby carrots.

"Luna," answered Harry. "She was out in the forest last night. I saw her coming back from my room, so I tried to go see if I could help her sneak back in with the cloak, but she got caught before I could reach her."

Hermione held the milk pitcher tilted, completely oblivious to her overflowing cup as she ogled Harry. "Are you serious?" she asked with a shocked look on her face.

"Yeah," Harry said. "Your cup - " he pointed his finger at her overflowing goblet.

"Oh!" said Hermione sharply. She hastily raised the pitcher and proceeded to wipe up the overflow with a napkin, dividing her attention between the mess and Harry. "She went into the Forbidden Forest? At night?? Holy cricket, what on earth for?"

"No idea," answered Harry. "I know she likes to take long walks, but I didn't think she'd go in there, of all places."

"She's nutters, is what," Ron muttered in between bites.

"Ron!" Hermione turned on him with such a fierce expression that he recoiled from her. "You of all people should be more considerate of Luna. You might not even be here today if it wasn't for her!"

"Okay okay okay!!" said Ron urgently, apparently fearful he'd been about to get slapped in the face. "I take it back!"

Hermione angrily threw her milk-soaked napkin at Ron, who managed to avoid the worst of it by ducking low.

"You don't know anything about her," snapped Hermione. "If you heard some of the things Ginny tells me..."

She looked thoughtful for a moment and looked across to Harry. "That brings to mind, Harry," she continued, "Ginny told me that people steal Luna's things, did you know?"

"Yeah, well she told me last year, actually," said Harry. "Luna I mean. She was putting up notices to get her stuff back."

"That's so awful," said Hermione, "I have a mind to make a complaint to Professor Flitwick - "

Harry thought for a moment. "That wouldn't be a bad idea, you know?"

"Well I just hope it doesn't make things worse for her," Hermione continued. "I get the feeling that she only has her father at home, I've never heard her talk about her mother...I'd hate to make her life here any harder."

"Well, her mum died five...or I guess six years ago, now," said Harry. "She told me her mum was a really powerful witch that experimented with spells...one of them went really wrong and killed her. She saw it happen."

Hermione looked horrified. "That's...that's terrible!"

"Blimey," said Ron, looking genuinely thunderstruck, "that's bloody awful...I guess that's why she can see those Thestrals, then." Harry nodded.

"No wonder she's so protective of her Dad," Hermione mulled. "Does she have any brothers or sisters, do you know?"

Harry thought. "Um...I don't recall her ever mentioning any..."

Harry wondered if he should tell them about Luna having seen through his invisibility cloak, but thought better of it, at least for now. The last thing he wanted was for Ron to look at her in an even stranger light.

"Well," said Ron, getting up from the table, "I'd better get going, I promised Ginny I'd help haul some boxes for her down to McGonagall's office this morning. I'll see you guys at the Pitch later, all right?"

"Yeah, see you later Ron," replied Harry. Hermione seemed to be lost in thought and waved at him.

Harry turned to Hermione once Ron was out of sight, who was now slowly buttering herself some toast.

"Hermione, can I ask you something?"

Hermione glanced up at him. "Of course, Harry. What's on your mind?"

"Well," he began, "I was just wondering...I'm not complaining, or anything, mind you, it's just that, well - "

"Harry," Hermione laughed, "Just spit it out, I won't bite!"

"Well, I was just wondering," he continued carefully. "How come you're so big on Luna all of a sudden? I mean last year you and her didn't exactly get along...don't get me wrong, I'm glad that's changed and everything. I'm just curious what made you change your mind about her?"

"Oh," said Hermione, looking disappointed.

"What's wrong?" asked Harry.

"Oh, nothing, I just thought you were going to talk to me about something else," said Hermione. She seemed to consider Harry for a moment, bit her lip slightly and continued. "It's just that you've never talked to anyone about Sirius' since last year, Harry, it's not good to keep that bottled up inside. Ron and I decided to let you talk about it on your own terms when you felt ready, but it's been almost four months now..."

She looked at him, her brown eyes compassionate and worried. "Well...you know we're here for you if ever you need to talk about it." She put her hand on his and smiled.

"Um...actually, I did talk about it with Luna a little last year..." he said. "She kind of gave me food for thought, actually."

To his surprise Hermione leaned closer, her eyes wide with interest. "Can I ask? What did she say?"

"Well, this is going to sound crazy, I know," he began sheepishly. "But she said she could hear voices behind that Veil too...she seems to think that he's not really gone, just that we can't see him anymore."

Hermione looked at him, her brown eyes seeming to consider the possibility. "Well," said Hermione diplomatically, "Luna believes in some strange things, I suppose, but...well, there were a lot of things in there that did defy explanation, Harry. Who knows?"

"She seemed to think her Mum was on the other side of that Veil too, or at least that's the impression I got," Harry said. "That's how I found out her mom died six years ago."

Hermione gently bit her lip, seeming to be considering all this. "You know, Harry," she said, "I might have come down on Luna in the past because of all those theories she has, but really, if you asked a muggle if he believed in, say, magic, or wizards, I'm sure you'd get the same reaction." Harry nodded in silent agreement.

"What I'm trying to say, Harry," Hermione continued in hushed tones, "is that I really don't think she's the lunatic that most of the others make her out to be. And if she's right about Sirius, well..." she smiled at him.

"Thanks, Hermione," said Harry. "But what happened, though? I mean how did she convince you about believing all that stuff?"

Hermione glanced down at her hand. "Actually, she didn't really convince me of anything," she said. She looked back up at Harry. "I'm going to have a really hard time believing in those Crumple-Horned Snorkack creatures she keeps going on about."

Harry chuckled. He couldn't really blame her there.

"But...she came to visit me last year one night, when I was in the hospital wing," said Hermione said.

"She did? I didn't know that," said Harry, surprised.

"Well...I've been thinking about that a lot this past summer, really...and I'll tell you, Harry, she cares. In her own, strange, eccentric, slightly bizarre way, maybe, but she cares. She really felt bad about Ron and Ginny getting hurt in the Ministry...that opened my eyes a lot."

"She opened mine too," said Harry, seeing Hermione giving him an inquiring look. He swallowed and continued. "Yesterday, she told me I still had family here...I guess I sort of forgot that lately," he said, looking across at Hermione, who smiled, her eyes glittering with tears.

* * *

That afternoon Hagrid was busily helping Ron straighten out one of the Quidditch hoops he'd accidentally bent during the morning practice. It was set on a large, sturdy wooden bench just behind Hagrid's hut, near the pumpkin patch.

While Ron could've asked Hermione to cast a Reparo charm on it, he wondered if it would work on something this large. In any event, Hermione had just left the stands minutes before the incident, when, in his haste to block Ginny's scoring attempt, Ron had crashed his shoulder under the hoop, knocking it from the pole onto the ground below, giving its perfect oval shape a noticeable bend. He'd felt rather embarrassed to go and try to explain why he needed Hermione's mending skills, especially as he was finally starting to come into his own as a keeper.

Hagrid, though, had done an excellent job hammering the warp out of the hoop. As Ron watched closely, he could see the marks where the large hammer had impacted, but he seriously doubted anyone would notice them at a distance.

"How's 'at?" said Hagrid, setting aside his hammer and holding the hoop aloft, turning it around so that Ron could view it from all angles.

"Excellent!" Ron grinned. It was practically as good as new. "Thanks, Hagrid!" he said and started to run off in the direction of the castle.

"Oy," Hagrid said, "ain't ye gonna put it back up?"

Ron turned back to him, "Yeah, I just gotta go get Harry. It took both of us to carry it down here."

As he rounded Hagrid's hut he very nearly ran straight into Luna Lovegood, who was strolling along the wall of the cabin. Her manner was so dreamy that Ron wondered if she'd been wandering aimlessly in her daze.

"Oh hello, Ronald," she said serenely as she looked up at him, as though only realizing his presence.

"Um - Hi, Luna," said Ron, "are you, er, going for a walk again tonight?"

She gazed at him with her large silvery eyes. "Oh, no," she said casually, as though discussing the weather over tea, "although I may later tonight, it really is nice weather for a stroll, isn't it?"

"Uh, well, I suppose," said Ron, looking at the sky.

Ron could feel her staring at him, as she stood there silently. He waited for her to leave, but she just stood there, eyes resolutely fixed on him.

Well this is getting awkward, he thought. Finally he looked back down at her, her clear grey eyes staring at him unblinkingly. "Um, yeah, it's really nice weather for a walk," he said in rather unconvincing fashion.

She was still staring at him! He didn't want to be rude and just run off, but this was driving him up the wall. "Er, listen Luna, I have to go get Harry. I need his help to, er, help me carry something. I'll see ya."

"Well, I can help you," said Luna at last, though her eyes did not waver from him. "What do you have to carry?"

"Uh, well, we kinda need another broom," said Ron. "That's why I have to go get Harry, so..."

Ron was waiting uncomfortably for her assent, or any sign at all for that matter. For some reason he felt intensely ill at ease around this girl.

Luna tilted her head and stared at him even more intently, if that was possible. "You think I'm crazy, don't you?" she asked out of the blue.

"What?" Ron said, taken aback by the question. "No, not really, I just...no, it's all...you know, you're okay, I mean - "

Luna looked at him with the closest thing to a frown he had ever seen from her. She took a step toward him and he responded by backing away hurriedly.

"Why are you scared of me?" she asked.

"I'm not!" exclaimed Ron a bit more loudly than he would have liked. "It's just...I don't know, Luna, you're just...different from what I'm used to, that's all. It's nothing personal."

"Oh...well, all right," she said softly, still staring at him.

Now Ron felt terrible. Why did she have to put him in this situation?! He looked at her, not knowing what else to say. Her face was caught in the light of the setting sun from behind Ron, her long dirty blonde hair trailing slightly in the early evening breeze. Ron noticed that she looked strangely ethereal standing there. On looks alone, she could be considered striking, if only she wasn't so determinedly bizarre!

"Oy," said Hagrid as he emerged from behind the cabin. "You're still 'ere, Ron? Don't ye wanna get Harry 'fore gets too dark?"

"Yeah!" Ron said, thankful for the interruption, "Yeah, I'll just - "

Luna had whirled around and was facing the gamekeeper, who appeared even larger than usual standing in front of her. "Hello, Professor Hagrid," she said pleasantly.

"Er, hello. Luna, ain't it?" Hagrid said, smiling down at her, to which she nodded vigorously.

"Professor Flitwick sent me to do my detention," she said almost proudly, Ron thought.

"Oy, so he has," Hagrid replied, bending way over so as to talk to her more or less face-to face, a friendly smile on his face. "But jus' don' call me Professor, all righty? I'm not into titles or things like 'at."

She looked up at him. "Well, at right. Mister Hagrid?"

"Nah!" laughed the gamekeeper. "I don' need no titles at all!"

"Oh...well...Rubeus, then?"

The smile faded slightly from Hagrid's face. "Er...s'not a name I ever really cared fer," he said. "Jus' call me Hagrid."

"Oh...all right, Hagrid," she said.

"E're ye go. Professor Flitwick said he would leave your detention up to me," said Hagrid cheerfully. "So just between us, why don' ye just pick an' clean the cabbages in the garden ou' back? Shouldn' take too long, and then we'll say ye were workin' till the wee hours of the mornin'. "

She was staring back at him with her large silver eyes; Ron suppressed a chuckle when he saw Hagrid seemed to be no better at reacting to that unblinking stare than he was.

"Isn't that rude, though?" asked Luna.

"Er, what?" Hagrid asked in confusion, glancing at Ron. "Isn't what rude?"

"Calling someone by their last name," said Luna conversationally. "Daddy calls that Fudge man by his last name because he doesn't think very highly of him."

"Er, well," said Hagrid uncertainly, "I s'pose, well, if ye did it without permission, maybe, but I'm givn' ye permission. In fact, you'd be makin' me feel better by not callin' me Rubeus!" he said smilingly.

"Oh well, I suppose that's all right then," said Luna, smiling back at him.

"In the meantime," Hagrid said, straightening back up, "I'm going to go in and make us a spot o' tea." With that, he climbed the steps and vanished into the cabin.

Luna looked back at Ron. He thought she was about to say something, but instead she smiled vaguely at him. She turned and walked around to the back of the cabin, out of sight.

Ron stood and stared at the deserted pathway for a moment. He really hadn't intended to hurt her feelings, but she was so, well, loony. He couldn't bring himself to be comfortable around her.

I wonder how Harry manages it, he thought, as he spun around and ran up the path back to the castle.

* * *

It took Ron the better part of an hour to find Harry, finally tracking him down in the kitchens. Ron had almost abandoned the search by that time, seriously considering going to ask Ginny for help instead, but she'd laughed so much at his accident with the hoop he considered this a last ditch option.

They were heading back down towards Hagrid's shack, brooms in hand. The sun had already set, and although it wasn't yet black as night the darkness was fast approaching, the last tendrils of brightly painted sky giving a spectacular backdrop over the lake in the distance. If they didn't dally, they just might be able to fit the hoop back on the pole before it became too dark. They could always use their wands to illuminate themselves, but Ron really didn't want to draw any attention from prying eyes. A glowing bright light floating mysteriously above the Pitch would almost certainly be noticed by anyone standing near a window.

As they trekked towards the cabin, they caught sight of Hagrid sitting on the front steps with a large ceramic mug in his hands, scratching Fang behind the ears.

"Hi, Hagrid," said Harry as they passed by to fetch the hoop out back.

"Evenin' boys," replied Hagrid, taking a large sip of tea.

"There it is," Ron said, pointing at the large wooden workbench. As he and Harry each grabbed a side of the hoop and heaved it off the table, Ron noticed that the garden was deserted.

As they passed by Hagrid for the second time, Ron said in passing: "I guess Luna's finished detention then, has she?"

"Aye, that she has," confirmed the gamekeeper. "Said she was goin' off fer a walk after that."

Harry stopped in his tracks, Ron almost losing his grip on the hoop in the process. "She went for a walk? Did she say where?"

"Well, I dunno," said Hagrid. "I was in me cabin at the time, she just came in to tell me she'd finished with the cabbages, and was gon' to take a stroll, as she calls it." He looked at Harry. "Why, are ye lookin' for her?"

"Well, no," said Harry, "It's just that last night she went for a walk in the forest...she wouldn't do that again, would she?" He looked back at Ron, who shrugged.

"She what?" Hagrid asked, disbelievingly. "She wouldn'a go into the forest on 'er own, would she?"

"She might," said Harry worriedly, turning back to Ron. "Listen, we'd better make sure she's all right. We'll put this back up when we get back, okay?"

"Yeah, all right," answered Ron reluctantly, as they leaned the hoop up against the cabin.

Hagrid rose and hurried into the cabin, emerging a few moments later with his huge crossbow in hand. "Right," he said, "I'll go pokin' roun' the woods 'ere, you lads have a look around 'ere. If any of ye find 'er, just shoot off one of these - " he handed Ron and Harry thick rust-colored sticks that looked much like large firecrackers. "Ye just pull the ring at the bottom 'ere," he said, "and it'll shoot straight up and give off a bunch o' noise and sparkles. I'll be able to see it or hear it a good ways off."

"Okay," agreed Harry. "But maybe one of us should go with you?"

"Hogwash," Hagrid said, patting his massive crossbow. "I'll be fine, nuttin's gonna come at me while I got this in me 'ands." He turned and marched off into the forest, Fang at his side.

"Okay," said Harry. "I know she sometimes walks the trail along the lake there, I'll go check that out." He looked in the opposite direction. "Ron, why don't you check out the road to the train station? I don't know if she ever goes that way but we'd better make sure."

"Yeah okay," Ron agreed. They both marched off in their respective directions.

After a few minutes Ron realized he could make better time on his broom. Quickly mounting it, he started flying along the road, about a dozen or so feet above the ground. It was getting too dark to fly very high; until the moon rose higher in the sky he could easily miss someone below him if they kept to the shadows.

He was moving at a jogging pace and proceeding along nicely when he thought he saw movement on the road below. Quickly doubling back, he dropped gently to the ground, though the road seemed deserted now. He looked to and fro, wondering if maybe his eyes had played tricks on him in the darkness.

Not finding anything, he'd been about to remount his broom when he heard a soft rustling just off to the side of the road. Moving closer, he saw a small trail heading off into the brush. It was very narrow and overgrown, so he wasn't surprised he'd never noticed it before.

He could see something small moving away from him on the path; quickly taking out his wand, he held it aloft and uttered "Lumos!"

As his wand burst into light, he saw a small hare bounding into the brush a few feet ahead of him.

So much for that, he thought. But when he looked closer he saw the barely discernable imprint of someone's shoes in the dirt. He moved along the trail a few meters further and saw a few more of them. He decided to investigate, being the only lead he had to gon on at the moment.

He chose to walk along in case he came across other clues along the way, but after awhile it seemed to him that this was a well-worn, though old, pathway. After a few minutes the trail turned and ran along the rock face nearby. Ron was beginning to think he was on a wild goose chase.

"Ronald?" he heard an airy voice say, startling him. It seemed to originate from somewhere above him.

He held his wand aloft, his eyes catching the familiar figure of Luna Lovegood, who was sitting alone, a copy of The Quibbler on her lap, her feet dangling loosely back and forth from the rock ledge. Her wand was tucked in its usual position behind her ear, its tip illuminated ever so slightly, giving off just enough light to read by.

"Luna!" said Ron in relief. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm reading, actually," replied Luna, pointing unnecessarily to her copy of The Quibbler. "It was getting rather difficult to read in our Common Room, you know. Anyway," she said, looking down at him with her luminous silver eyes, "what are you doing here?"

"Well looking for you, of course," Ron said irritably. "Harry and Hagrid are too."

Luna stared at him for several long moments, as Ron's sense of discomfort started to return. "Why? It's not curfew yet, is it?"

"No," said Ron. "But Harry thought you might be walking in the forest again. Hagrid is in there looking for you right now - blimey, that reminds me - "

Ron took the big firecracker Hagrid had given him and yanked the ring at the bottom, holding it vertically at arms length. Several uneventful moments passed. Great, thought Ron, he gave me a dud.

Luna was looking down at him curiously, her head tilted slightly to one side. "What are you doing?" she asked, her voice tinged with amusement. "You rather look like a statue, you know."

Ron kept the stick aloft for a while longer. He looked at the bottom part, verifying he'd indeed removed the ring as Hagrid had told him to, but evidently something was faulty with it. He finally gave up and dropped his arm to his side, turning to look up at Luna.

"I - " he began, though interrupted at that moment by a large flash as the firecracker shot rapidly from his hand, hitting the rock just below Luna and bouncing back at him, emitting a loud, shrieking fizzing sound and spouting off brilliant multi-colored sparkles in all directions.

"AAUGH!" yelled Ron as he tried to dodge the violently bouncing firecracker, jumping up when it hit the ground at his feet. He tried desperately to scamper away, but as luck would have it, it kept bouncing back at him, hitting him several times. He threw himself to the ground in desperation and covered his head just as the firecracker finally started sputtering next to him.

When the firecracker finally died out he became aware of another loud noise emanating from above him. He looked up to see Luna laughing hysterically, arms clutching her sides and rocking back and forth on the ledge. It reminded him very much of the first day he'd seen her on the train a year before, although he couldn't imagine what would be so comical...he'd very nearly been blown up by some infernal bomb, and here she was laughing at it all!

Luna rocked back and forth, consumed with mirth, losing her grip on The Quibbler as it dropped to the ground below her. Ron slowly pushed himself up, aching from the spots where the thing had hit him with surprising force.

"That wasn't funny!" He yelled at her angrily.

"Yes...it...was!" said Luna breathlessly, doubling over with laughter.

"That could've hit me in the head!" Ron yelled back, but Luna's laughter seemed irrepressible. All right, he thought to himself, fuming, I'll just wait for her to regain her senses, then we can bloody well get out of here.

"Okay, let's go," snapped Ron after a minute, quickly losing patience. Luna was still giggling uncontrollably. She slowly climbed down the slope on the far side of the rock and came to join him after picking up The Quibbler. She was gazing at him, her eyes glittering with tears of mirth. At the sight of his disheveled appearance up close she quickly pressed her fists together against her mouth in an attempt to stop from laughing out loud.

Ron glared and sighed. "Okay, let's get going," he said, leading the way back along the path.

"Do another one," he head Luna say merrily as she followed behind.

"I only had one," said Ron without turning, as he continued marching quickly along the trail. "It's some sort of signal flare Hagrid uses. I was supposed to shoot it into the sky if I found you."

"Well, that was funny," she said cheerfully.

"Look!" snapped Ron, spinning around to face her. "I didn't come here to make you laugh, all right? I'm doing this as a favor to Harry; he thought you might be in trouble so that's why we went looking for you! That's all!"

Luna stopped in her tracks, her smile gone. She looked at Ron with an unfathomable stare. Oh not this again, Ron thought to himself.

"Well, you aren't being very nice," said Luna serenely.

"Me?!" countered Ron angrily. "You're the one who goes wandering out at night forcing us to drop everything and go looking for you! Then I nearly get killed and you find that hysterical!"

"I didn't ask you to come here, Ronald," said Luna, her voice dropping so low he could barely hear her. "Like you said, you're here because Harry asked you."

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but lost his train of thought. He suddenly realized what he'd said and how it must have sounded to her. He hadn't meant to make it sound like she didn't matter, but that was apparently the meaning his words had conveyed.

"You can leave, if you like," she continued. "I come here quite often to catch up on my reading; it really is quite safe, you know. You can tell Harry you found me and I'm fine." She was speaking in a conversational tone but Ron noted a slight change in her voice, as though she'd swallowed something slightly prickly.

With that, she turned around and flouced back along the path in the direction of the rocky ledge.

This was going from bad to worse, Ron thought. He ran forward and caught up with her. "Luna, wait," said Ron as she stopped and faced him again. "I...didn't mean it to sound like that, it came out all wrong."

She was staring at him, and at this distance Ron could see by the wand light her large silvery eyes were mistier than usual. His stomach sank a little.

"Look, when we get back, I'll take you to a secret door I know and show you the kitchens, okay? I'll bet the elves would love to meet you."

"Oh no, that's okay," said Luna vaguely, a dreamy smile on her face. "I already know about it anyway."

"You do? Oh - " Ron was surprised, but not exactly shocked. Luna did seem to be the sort to go wandering around in her explorations, after all.

"Well, I'll bring you anyway," he continued, "Dobby makes these things he calls cocobombs, they're really good, I'm sure you'd like 'em." He tried his best to give her a reassuring smile, though he wasn't sure how convincing he was.

"No, that's okay, really," she said, a sad smile on her face. "I know you don't like me much."

Her words seemed to be sounding a forlorn surrender, Ron thought, standing there with his mouth open, at a total loss of what to say. "That's not true! I - "

But Luna's stare was enough to make him shut up. He doubted he could convince her of anything now.

"It's okay, Ronald," she said softly. After a few moments, she walked around him and started walking back towards the main road. "Let's go find Harry, shall we?" she called back to him.

It was the longest walk Ron had ever taken in his life. He felt downright terrible. He kept trying to think of something to talk about along the way, but everything he said felt so forced, so superficial. He got the distinct impression he'd only make things worse if he tried to talk his way out of it.

So they walked the entire way back to Hagrid's cabin in somber silence.