Luna's year

Harry could barely detect the faint outline of the Whomping Willow before him. The sky was almost cloudless, though with the moon only a quarter full, his visibility was limited. He could hear the muffled crunch of dried leaves beneath his feet as he approached, coming to a stop a few metres from the base. Though it was as still as any tree at the moment, Harry knew that to get any closer was taking a significant risk. He scanned the leafy grass around his feet.

"Look for a stick," he said to the others.

"Lumos," said Ron, illuminating his wand, the others following suit. It wasn't easy to find anything with the ground so covered in leaves, but a few moments later Ginny called out: "I've got it!"

"Okay," said Harry, taking the stick. "I'll poke the knot; when I give the word, you all make a run for the tunnel."

They all gathered around Harry as held out the stick. It wobbled frustratingly due to its length, taking Harry several tries for him to get the tip on the knot.

"Okay," he said at last, "That should do it. Get in the tunnel quick!"

They all scurried for the base of the tree, and for one heart-stopping moment Harry thought he'd seen the upper branches move, though as it turned out had only been caused by a sudden gust of wind.

When they'd all disappeared beneath the surface, Harry moved closer to the entrance, sliding his hands along the stick as he went. When about halfway there, the back end of the branch tipped downwards, causing the front end to lift from the knot. Quickly dropping the stick, Harry sprinted the last few feet, clambering down the ancient steps into the darkness below.

His friends were waiting a bit further down, holding their illuminated wands aloft, casting an eerie , artificial glow on the ancient tunnel's overgrown walls. All were shivering, being clad only in their indoor robes, as the temperatures had dropped considerably since the afternoon.

"Okay," said Harry, seeing his breath steaming up the frigid air as he spoke. "Let's go."

They walked along the dank, cold tunnel, ducking under hanging vines and subterranean branches as they went, often stumbling over roots which had pushed up through the stones over the centuries. The cold was becoming so intense that Harry's fingers were getting numb. He was starting to wish he'd taken the time to get his coat and gloves.

They were more than halfway to Hogsmeade by Harry's reckoning, when he thought he spied a flicker of light in the distance. He stopped, the others halting right behind. He strained to see, but his eyes could see nothing but darkness up ahead now. Had it just been his imagination?

"What is it?" asked Hermione, coming to stand next to him.

"I thought I saw something," said Harry. "Turn your wands off."

The tunnel quickly pitched into darkness, his eyes not detecting a single feature around him. He stared straight ahead; there was no doubt now, there was a very faint glow emanating in the distance down the tunnel, though they could just barely detect it, with all the vines and cobwebs over the distance obscuring their vision.

After what seemed like a minute or so, they began to see the light more clearly. It was definitely wandlight moving towards them. Harry could also detect the sound of footsteps echoing down towards them.

"Harry," whispered Hermione, drawing closer, "Do you think it could be Malfoy?"

"I'm not sure," he said truthfully. He turned around to the others, though he couldn't really see them in any detail. "Everyone get ready," he whispered, "If that's Malfoy and his gang, we've going to stop them."

He turned back around. The light was closer now, and he could see it was coming from several sources, several figures being silhouetted against the glow. He got his wand in the ready position.

He could make them out more clearly now, the lead figure being almost within a stone's throw. He knew that the approaching wandlight would illuminate him any moment now. He waited with baited breath.

They were only a few metres from him when Malfoy's face came into sight, an expression of shock clearly visible.

"Potter!" he blurted. "Crabbe! Goyle! Cast your - "

"Expelliarmus!"

"Jellatino Brachy!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Stupefy!"

"Tarantallegra!"

Several jets of multi-coloured light shot past either side of Harry, his own Expelliarmus jinx catching Malfoy flush in the chest, shooting the Slytherin backwards into his cronies and sending them all tumbling to the floor.

"Accio wand!" shouted Hermione, Malfoy's wand instantly flying up into her outstretched hand.

Harry ran forward, wand at the ready, his friends fanning out on either side of him. It quickly became evident that their opposition was in no condition to respond, Malfoy having been hit by Hermione's Stupefy spell and Goyle rendered immobile by Ginny's Petrificus jinx. Only Crabbe was still conscious, though he was rather busy trying to keep his jelly-like legs from dancing uncontrollably.

"Lumos," Harry said, his wand throwing off enough light so they could see clearly.

"Silencio," Ron said, the ray from his wand catching Crabbe in the shoulder. "Best not to let him call out, I figured," he said as he caught Harry's bemused stare.

"Adligo Corpula," said Luna, several long ropes shooting out of from wand and wrapping themselves around the three Slytherins.

"Hey wait!" said Ron. "Can't we take their coats? It's freezing in here..."

"No, Ron!" Hermione scolded him as he tugged at Goyle's overcoat. "They won't be able to move around to keep warm down here! They could get hypothermia!"

"Yeah, and?" asked Ron, but upon seeing Hermione's angry glare he reluctantly released his grip on Goyle's sleeve. "Oh, fine then," he muttered.

"Anybody see the pensieve anywhere?" asked Harry, holding his wand aloft and checking the floor around them.

The others quickly illuminated their wands, but after a short search it became obvious the pensieve wasn't to be found.

"They've already delivered it," concluded Harry, looking at Hermione. She looked back at him with a look of apprehension.

He looked back down the corridor. "Come on," he said. "Maybe we're not too late. If Lestrange hasn't left yet..."

He started walking briskly down the corridor towards the Shrieking Shack, the others rushing to keep up with him.

He kept up his pace for several minutes, stumbling several times over numerous vines and roots. Finally the stone staircase loomed into view ahead of him.

He approached cautiously. As he inched closer, he crouched down and stared at the roof of the tunnel, seeing the trapdoor leading up to the Shrieking Shack was securely shut.

"We don't know what we're going to find here," he said. "But let's be ready for anything." He turned and walked up the steps until he was just beneath the trapdoor. "Lights out," he whispered.

The tunnel was plunged once more into darkness. He waited a few moments to let his eyes adjust, though it hardly helped; there wasn't a light source anywhere. He groped along the edge of the trapdoor with his hand until it was against the far side opposite the hinges. He pushed up, trying to open it just a crack so he could peer out.

It didn't budge. He took a breath and pushed harder. Still nothing.

Blast, he thought, it wasn't this hard last time.

He braced his back against the steps, raising his other hand. He went to put his wand in his back pocket but wisely decided against it. If he should need it quickly...

He thought for a moment and chuckled to himself looking back down to where Luna might be standing as he gingerly slid his wand behind his ear.

He pressed both hands flat against the door and heaved against it. Not getting any result, he pushed as hard as he possibly could, his arms shaking under the strain. The trapdoor remained resolutely shut.

He grabbed his wand. "Lumos."

He held it up to the door, looking for a locking mechanism.

"What is it?" whispered Hermione, climbing up the steps to join him.

"I think it's locked," said Harry, breathing a bit heavily after his vain efforts at forcing the door. "I can't see one on this side though. Hermione, can your spell open locks you can't see?"

"I don't think so, but - " she whispered, taking out her wand and pointing it at the front part of the trapdoor.

"Alohomora," she said, a small reddish glow emerging from her wand. They couldn't detect the telltale sound of a locking mechanism from the other side.

After a few moments Harry put his wand back behind his ear. "Nox," he said, as they plunged back into darkness. "Well," he whispered, "Let me try this again."

He pushed as hard as he could, again with both hands. Nothing moved. He gave up quickly, fumbling for his wand.

"Lumos," he whispered. "What gives?? Doesn't seem to be locked, but it won't open..."

"It may be jinxed, Harry," suggested Hermione. "You know, if Lestrange is using the place as a hideout, it would make sense that there might be wards - "

Harry considered that. "Maybe," He said thoughtfully. "Okay, Hermione get back down - "

He waited for Hermione to clamber back down the steps before moving down to join her. He turned to face back towards the trapdoor, taking good aim with his wand.

"Harry, wait!" said Hermione. "What are you doing?"

"I'll try blasting through," he said. "A Reductor spell should do it, or at least punch a hole in it."

"Are you crazy?" countered Ron. "If there's somebody up there we won't have much of an element of surprise left, will we?"

Harry looked at him. "Well, if you have a better idea, now's the time."

Ron blinked at him, his brow furrowing in thought. "Eh," he said at last, "Not really, I guess."

"Right then," said Harry. "Everyone get ready." He took careful aim at the trapdoor.

"Reductio!" he said, an intense red streak of light shooting forth from his wand and striking the trapdoor, blowing it open with a resounding bang, a cry of surprise sounding down through the opening.

"Now!" Cried Harry, running up the stone steps and emerging into a small, dimly lit room. He quickly spun in all directions, his eyes catching sight of a large form on the floor next to him, struggling to get up. He pointed his wand at the gray-haired man, wearing the familiar Death Eater's black cloak.

"Stupefy!" he said, his wand striking the stranger on the side of the head. The man crumpled back to the floor and lay motionless.

By now Hermione and Ron had joined him, the others close behind, rushing up the steps. "Who's that?" asked Ron, poking the form on the floor with his foot.

"I don't know, a Death Eater, I think," answered Harry. It was then he then realized that the man had likely been standing on the trapdoor itself.

There was nothing in the room except a small grimy table and an old chair, along with a myriad assortment of dusty cobwebs. A single door to his right provided the only other exit.

Ginny grabbed the man's wand and stashed it away in her robes, while Luna had used her wand to bind him with magical ropes.

Harry grabbed hold of the door handle. "Okay, everyone ready?"

Seeing their nods, he opened the door a crack and peered through it. Seeing no one, he opened it a bit wider and stuck his head through, seeing a large room beyond, a few decaying pieces of furniture being its only occupants at the moment. He walked in cautiously, wand held at the ready.

There were two open doorways leading from the room, leading into darkness. He could see nothing moving, though he knew that anyone in there could likely see him clearly, silhouetted as he was against the light from the doorway.

He'd begun to slowly edge his way into the doorway on the right when he heard a shriek, followed by Stupefy! uttered by an unfamiliar voice.

He ran back in to find Ginny lying on the floor, the others moving around her with their wands drawn. Ron, seeing her unconscious form on the floor, charged immediately into the other room.

"Ron wait!" called Harry, but a cacophony of shouts and yells told him it was already too late. He charged after him, Hermione and Luna just behind.

"Expelliarmus!" several voices cried out at once, jets of golden light sending him reeling backwards into his friends, all three collapsing heavily to the floor. Ron was lying next to him in a rigid posture that was indicative of magical paralysis.

"Accio wand!" someone called out. Harry reached out desperately for his wand a split second too late. It flew straight up into the hand of a hooded figure standing directly before him. A similarly clad individual to his right had just summoned Luna's wand.

Hermione's arm jerked out, having barely managed to keep hold of hers. She scrambled quickly to her feet, pointing her wand at the figure directly before her. "Petrificus - "

"Expelliarmus!" A jet of light from the far left corner of the room struck Hermione, sending her spinning through the air and crashing down next to Harry. He dove for her loose wand, but another flash of light sent him tumbling backwards, colliding into the doorframe. Hermione's wand slipped quietly through the air to the gloved hand of the cloaked figure before him.

"Well, well," the stranger in the centre said, clearly a woman's voice though it did not have Lestrange's tone. "It seems we some uninvited guests this night."

"Who are you?" Harry called out groggily.

She took a step towards him. "Who I am is of no concern of yours. But I'm afraid we cannot allow you interfere with our plans Mr. Potter," she said.

Harry froze. He'd been recognized!

But then, after last year's article in The Quibbler, everyone doubtlessly knew him by sight alone now.

The stranger turned towards Hermione, who had slowly pushing herself into a sitting position, one hand holding her head painfully. "And as for your friends..." she raised her wand.

"No!" Harry said when the woman pointed her wand at Hermione. Harry prepared to lunge, when he saw Luna scramble to her feet and stand before Hermione, shielding her from the stranger's wand.

"L-Luna..." Hermione whispered, "Don't..."

"Oh, how sweet," the woman said mockingly. "Very well then, you've just bought your friend another few seconds of existence. Avada Kadavra!"

Harry saw an intense green light erupt from the woman's wand and strike Luna squarely in the chest, having made no effort to dodge it. She staggered backward a half-step and fell to her knees, her gaze meeting Harry's, her silver eyes filled with sadness, before collapsing limply to the floor.

An intense surge of rage shot through Harry. He'd lost another soul to Voldemort's minions.

"NOOOOOOO!!!!" he screamed, barely registering the sight of the three hooded figures shrieking in confusion and suddenly dropping their wands as though they'd just been taken out of an oven. He scrambled to his feet and staggered towards the woman in the centre, fully intending to destroy her with his bare hands...

"My wand!" Hermione's voice called out. She scampered along the floor near him.

The woman retreated as he advanced on her. "No! Stay back!" she cried out, sliding a chair in his path.

He kicked it out of the way, barely noticing a flash of light and the sound of someone on his left crumple to the floor. There were more shouts, another flash of light, the sounds of running footsteps -

He ignored it all. He lunged forward.

"Stop!" the woman screamed as she backed into the wall. "Cease your advance!"

Harry grabbed a hold of the woman's robes.

"I surrender!" she yelled.

Harry was just about to take a swing at her when he felt Hermione hanging onto his arm with all her strength. "H-Harry don't!"

Harry tried to shake her loose but Hermione hung on desperately with her full weight.

"Hermione!" he yelled at her through clenched teeth, "She KILLED Luna!!"

"I didn't kill ANYONE!" the woman said vociferously.

"OH NO???" Harry yelled back, tears streaming down his face, pointing at Luna's body on the floor behind him. "WHAT DO YOU CALL THAT??"

He saw the woman's shoulders sag. She gave a loud sigh. "All right," she said defeatedly. She slowly raised her hands and pulled the hood down from her head.

Harry blinked. A dark-haired woman he couldn't recognize stood before him. "WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO PROVE?" he screamed, barely aware of Hermione's attempts to restrain him.

The woman stared at him. Harry blinked again. She didn't look the same, no wait...her appearance...it was changing before his eyes!

Hermione gasped, letting go of Harry.

The woman's silky black hair had turned into a spiky pink colour.

"Well...hello, Harry," she said.

"T...Tonks?!?" Harry managed to sputter.

She nodded. "This wasn't exactly the best time for you to show up," she said heavily. "I was really starting to get somewhere..."

Harry's mind was swimming...but why had she...

"But...but you killed..."

Tonks smiled sadly. "No, of course, I didn't," she said.

"You cast the curse! I saw you cast it! You - "

"No, look, Harry," said Tonks, pointing to her wand on the floor. "I use a specially modified Aurors wand...it allows me to utter Unforgivable Curses but it only casts non-lethal spells at the target. In my case, the Killing Curse is automatically converted to Stupefy. Your friend is only stunned, really, that's all."

Harry released his grip on her robes. "Are you...serious?"

She nodded. Could it be? Dare he hope...

He stumbled back and dropped to the ground beside Luna. He held her thin wrist in his hand, feeling for a pulse.

He looked up at Hermione, who'd joined him, her own face streaming with tears.

"It's...it's true..." said Harry with unimaginable relief, feeling a faint pulse with his shaking fingers. "She's alive, Hermione!" he said, rolling over onto his back and laughing out loud, feeling exhilarated and exhausted all at once...

"Ouch...ouch..." Tonks was juggling her wand painfully in her hands, taking a scarf out from her cloak and wrapping it around the handle. She came and joined Harry and Hermione, who were by now quite drained.

"What...are you doing here?" asked Hermione as Tonks crouched down next to them.

"Well, I can't really get into details," said Tonks. "I can tell you that we managed to capture a Death Eater by the name of Sabbatha Minstrome a few months ago; then we let it 'leak out' that she'd escaped from Azkaban, which wasn't true of course, but it was a perfect way for me to infiltrate their operations...anyway, that's why I have this wand," she help up the scarf-wrapped wand for her to see. "That way I can make it look like I'm casting Unforgivable Curses without actually hurting anyone. Came in pretty handy today, didn't it? By the way, Harry," she said, an air of seriousness in her voice, "How'd you do that, anyhow?"

By now Harry had pushed himself up into a sitting position, his glasses clutched in one hand, wiping his eyes with the other. "Do what?" he asked.

Tonks nodded at Luna. "Right after your little friend there fell down," she said, "My wand got too hot to hold in a matter of seconds," she looked around. "Same things happened to the others too, from the looks of it."

Harry looked at her. "I...I did that?"

"Yeah, bloody burnt my fingers!" she said, holding up her reddish digits to Harry.

Harry looked confusedly at her. "I don't...well...it's happened a few times before, when I get really mad, things seem to happen. I made my cousin Dudley to fall into a snake pen in a zoo once," he said. "But I don't really know how to control it or anything..."

Tonks raised her eyebrows. "Well, I'll just have to make sure I never tick you off again there, Harry," she said. "Anyway, you'd better get back to the castle, I don't think you've blown my cover, really, so I can probably just - "

"We can't!" Harry protested. "We have to get Professor Dumbledore's pensieve back!"

"Oh, that's why you came here!" Tonks exclaimed, "Well...I'm sorry to say you went through all this for nothing, then, Harry."

"What?" exclaimed Harry, glancing at Hermione. "But Malfoy took the pensieve from Snape's office, I'm sure of it!"

Tonks giggled. "Oh, yeah, that he did, all right," she said. "He was supposed to bring it here, but as it turned out, there's a charm on it that prevents it from leaving the Castle, Dumbledore's doing, I imagine. Anyhow, Malfoy came to tell us that he had to leave it there, just at the entrance to the castle. Really nasty he was about it too."

"Oh, great," said Harry, exasperated. He looked to Hermione.

"You were right, Hermione. If I'd listened to you, none of this would've happened," he said despondently.

Hermione blinked, her eyes still reddish from tears. "Harry?"

"You wanted to tell Dumbledore," said Harry tiredly. "If we had, he would have told us all about that charm..."

"Well..." said Hermione, smiling consolingly at him, "We wouldn't have had the chance to stun Malfoy, though..."

Harry smiled weakly. That much was true, he supposed. But looking at Luna's unconscious form next to him, he felt a deep feeling of apprehension...if it hadn't been for Tonks masquerading as a Death Eater, the young Ravenclaw would certainly be lying there dead right now, all because of his impulsiveness...

"Enervate," said Tonks, waving her wand over Luna, a soft orange glow covering her form briefly. Luna started to slowly come to. Tonks got up to go revive Ron and Ginny.

"Luna?" said Hermione gently, taking the girl's hand in hers.

Luna's eyes fluttered open. She took a few moments to focus and sat up abruptly.

"Owww," she said, immediately grabbing her painfully throbbing head with both hands.

"Whoa, Luna," said Harry, "Take it easy..."

"Everything's okay, Luna," said Hermione reassuringly. "They're gone now."

Luna slowly raised her head and looked at them both in turn, her silver eyes pained and confused. "Harry...Hermione?" she said, her voice strained. "What...are you..."

Harry could hear Ron groaning behind him. "It's a...well, we'd better explain it when we get back, Luna," said Harry. "How are you feeling though?" he asked, his immense relief not enough to counteract his genuine concern.

"I've...been better," said Luna quietly, gingerly moving to a kneeling position.

"We have to get back to the castle, Luna," said Hermione. "Can you walk?"

"Oh...yes," replied the Ravenclaw. She looked at Harry. "Aren't we supposed to get the pensieve though?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances.

"Um...well...it's still at the castle..." Harry said, a powerful sense of guilt overshadowing his earlier abatement, being very much aware of what his recklessness had so nearly cost her.

And him. He'd grown quite fond of Luna the last few months, to the point where he considered her among his closest friends, no longer seeing her as the strange or bizarre girl most made her out to be. Oh she was different, to be sure. But he wouldn't want it any other way.

She'd been almost like a sister to him since last year; he'd found he could talk about anything with her, without hesitation or discomfort; she never mocked him or put him down, indeed her faith in the outlandish and the unlikely was refreshing to Harry. He never felt the need to have to convince her of anything.

"Oh," she said simply, "Well, that's good then, isn't it?"

She slowly got to her feet and looked about. She walked slowly to where her wand lay on the floor, crouching down gingerly to pick it up. Harry could tell that every movement was causing her head to ache painfully.

Hermione cast a last worrisome look at Luna before going to look after Ron and Ginny, while Luna went around collecting the various wands that lay scattered about.

Harry immediately felt sheepish for not doing it himself. He'd been about to go to her when he heard Tonks come up behind him.

"Okay, Harry," she said. "Ginny can walk, but Ron was hit by quite a few hexes, so I cast a Mobilicorpus on him, that way you can move him." She looked at Luna collecting a wand in the far corner. "How's your friend?"

He sighed. "Well, not too good but she says she can walk," he said sombrely.

"Okay, good," Tonks looked around. "You'd best get back now, I took a look at that guard at the door, looks like you stunned him pretty good. The others," she pointed to the motionless figure in the corner, "are out too, and the other one took off for the forest. But who knows when he'll be back?"

She moved to the back part of the room and splayed herself across the floor. "I'll just pretend I was stunned too, then I'll be back in business. Thank goodness my cover wasn't blown."

"Um...you sure you're going to be okay?" he asked.

She smiled at him from her prone position. "Sure!" she said, as her features suddenly changing back to look like those of Sabbatha Minstrome.

"Gaa - " she said playfully, splaying herself on the floor to look unconscious.

"Okay," Harry said, turning back to the others. "Everyone ready? Right..."

They moved back through the large room to the open door, passing the unconscious Death Eater and out through open trapdoor. Hermione led the way down, wand drawn, followed by Ginny and Luna, then Ron, who Harry was pushing along a few inches above the ground.

When they reached the spot where they'd had their confrontation with the Slytherins, Harry realized there was no sign of Malfoy or his cronies. "Hermione!" he called out. The group halted.

"What?" she called back to him, looking down the side of the tunnel to see him.

"Be careful! Malfoy and the others aren't here," he said.

"I know, I noticed," she called back and resumed her march down the tunnel with wand held at the ready.

About fifteen minutes later they emerged from the tunnel, Harry keeping his finger on the knot of the Whomping Willow to let his friends get out of range, before letting go and sprinting clear. They quickly got back to the safety of the castle grounds and made for the Hospital Wing.