Luna's year

Materializing in utter darkness, Harry became quickly aware that his right foot was floating in mid-air with nothing to support it. Quickly losing his balance in the disorienting blackness, he instinctively flailed out to for something to hold on to, his fingers grabbing a handful of robes which only served to bring another hapless individual down on top of him, hitting his head painfully on the floor.

Thankfully, the person he'd dragged down was quite light, only knocking the wind out of him as an elbow landed to his midsection. The sounds of the others hitting the floor around him indicated he was far from alone in his predicament, as the person on top of him quickly rolled off.

He lay on his back, trying to push himself up but found his strength gone; until he could get some much needed air back into his lungs he wasn't going anywhere.

"Lumos!" Hermione's voice called out, a flash of light illuminating their surroundings.

Harry immediately saw why he'd fallen so awkwardly; they'd all materialised atop a large wooden chest, barely wide enough for one person to stand upon, let alone a group.

The others were sprawled around him; Ron was already sitting up, looking in confusion at their surroundings. Luna, who apparently had been the one to fall on top of Harry, was gazing curiously at her hand, as though ensuring all her fingers were still in place. Tonks was lying between her and Hermione, still very much unconscious.

"Is everyone all right?" asked Hermione worriedly as she scrambled to her feet, wand held aloft.

Harry tried to speak but no words emanated from his throat. He only managed a weak nod, trying to put on a brave face and not look too incapacitated. His mind was still back in that mysterious bog...that Veil...could there have been a chance of reaching Sirius, somehow? Lestrange had been unconscious and he had a functioning wand within reach! Why had Luna pulled him away?

"Where are we?" asked Ron, getting to his feet. They were in a filthy, dingy little room, the chest against the far wall facing the only door, a small table beneath a boarded-up window surrounded by four rickety chairs being the limit of the furnishings. The window had evidently been barricaded shut years ago, judging from the dusty cobwebs. The place had a vaguely familiar look to it, though Harry was sure he'd never been inside this room before.

"I'm not sure," said Hermione, inspecting the room as Ron pulled his wand from his robes.

"Lumos," he said, seeing the tip light up with satisfaction. "Finally! I felt naked back there without this thing."

He quickly blushed, ears reddening, upon catching sight of Luna looking up at him with an amused look on her face. "Er...in a matter of speaking - oh Blimey, it's an expression!" he added quickly.

Hermione switched wands again with Luna, testing hers with a Lumos spell to verify its workings. "Well, that's better," she said with noticeable relief.

Harry slowly started to draw shallow breaths, pushing himself up to a sitting position, as Luna's gaze fell upon him.

He drew his wand. "Lumos," he managed to whisper, watching it flare up brightly. He slowly got to his feet, his strength gradually returning. He walked slowly over to Tonks and knelt down next to her. She didn't seem to have suffered any injury from the fall, thankfully.

"Finite Incantatum," he said, the glow from his wand drifting down to envelop her briefly before dissipating. As the words left his mouth his mind drifted back, the sight of the green flames lowering ever so briefly forming in his thoughts...if only he'd been able to get his hands on that wand!

"Enervate," said Hermione. Very slowly Tonks began to stir.

"Shhh!" said Ron, his ear pressed against the door. "Somebody's coming!"

Luna and Harry both turned, both wands trained on the door, at the same moment it opened partway, hitting Ron on hard the head.

"OW!" he cried, stumbling back.

Harry threw himself at the door and managed to slam it shut with his momentum. He fumbled with the doorknob, trying to lock it, but it was so rusty and dilapidated that he couldn't tell if it still worked.

"INTRUDERS!" a voice cried out from beyond the door.

"Colloportus," said Luna, quickly locking the door with a charm.

Harry felt the door shudder as something rammed into it from the other side. Locked or no, the flying splinters from the old, decaying wood made it immediately evident the door would not long hold up to such punishment.

"Oohhh," groaned Tonks, holding her head as she rolled onto her back.

Hermione crouched down next to her, helping her sit up. "We need to get her to Madam Pomfrey," she said, looking up at Ron.

The door shuddered again; it still held, albeit precariously. The old hinges had creaked ominously.

"Alohomora!" Harry heard from the other side, the doorknob briefly glowing with magical energy, the telltale click of a locking mechanism resounding in the room.

Luna quickly used her wand and re-locked the door just as the handle turned partway before jamming. Harry knew they couldn't remain here indefinitely.

Apparently Ron had come to the same conclusion, using his wand to blast away the old planks barricading the window above the table.

The window blasted open with the planks, a shower of splinters strewn across the table and floor, revealing a pitch black sky outside, a cold wintery breeze flowing through the opening. Ron peered out, pointing his wand down for illumination.

"We're on the second floor of a house...bloody hell...we're in the bleeding Shack!!"

"Can we get down from here?" asked Hermione urgently, helping Tonks to her feet...it was clear the young Auror was in no condition to be of any help to them at the moment, being very groggy and barely able to stay on her feet even with Hermione's help.

Harry felt the door shudder again...this time he thought he saw the frame buckle...he knew it was just a matter of time before someone decided to use the Reductor spell. They had to get out, and quickly.

"I think so...yeah!" said Ron. "There's some vines along the wall here...hang on," he ducked back into the room.

"Hurry!" said Harry, as another blow struck the door, heavily splintering one of the old boards near his head.

"Wingardium Leviosa," said Ron, casting the charm on Tonks and Hermione in turn. "Go out the window, there's vines just to the right there, you can use them to pull yourselves down, hurry!"

Hermione nodded, exiting the shattered window first, grabbing hold of the vines and pulling Tonks awkwardly out after her, Ron pushing her from behind.

At that moment, Harry heard a terrifying, ear-splitting shriek just outside the door, so otherworldly and inhuman that he immediately knew its source couldn't possibly be natural.

"What was THAT?" he asked, staring at the door apprehensively.

Ron pushed him towards the window. "Hurry up, Harry! I'll cover the door!"

"Luna, go!" said Harry, pointing her to the window before him. She stood and frowned at him, showing no signs of leaving.

"Luna PLEASE!" begged Harry. "There's no time to waste, now GO!!"

For a moment, Harry thought she might refuse, but his pleading had obviously conveyed his insistence clearly enough, as she finally turned around and cast the levitation charm before pulling herself through the window.

"Ron, your turn - what?" said Harry, seeing Ron staring transfixed at the door.

"Blimey!!"

Harry spun around. Something dark and airy, almost smoke-like in appearance, but with a definitely more corporeal presence, was slowly seeping its way through the surface of the closed door into the room.

"GO!" yelled Harry, shoving Ron hard towards the window. He turned and pointed his wand at the black tendril-like forms making their way through the door.

"Stupefy!"

He watched with horror as the flash from his wand passed through the darkness and hit the old wooden door without any discernible effect on either.

"Oh crap."

He quickly backed his way out through the window, feeling Ron frantically rush out to make room for him. As he grabbed hold of the vines and lifted his other leg out of the opening, he suddenly realized he'd forgotten to cast the levitation spell on himself, grabbing wildly at the creepers as they ripped from the wall; he slid rapidly and painfully down, hitting Ron on the way and crashing to the ground quite unceremoniously, the snow at least helping to break their fall.

"Harry! Ron!" exclaimed Hermione worriedly, as she turned him over, waving her illuminated wand in his face. Luna was standing right behind and peering over her shoulder at Harry. "Oh goodness, are you..."

"I'm okay," said Harry, sitting up and brushing himself off, casting a glance at Ron who was thankfully already getting to his feet.

Harry looked at himself. His uniform was torn in several places from the thorny vines, and he had a good many cuts here and there, but they'd slowed his fall sufficiently so that, combined with the snow, he'd managed to avoid any serious injury.

"Why didn't you levitate yourself, mate?" said Ron a bit gruffly as he grabbed hold of Harry's arm and pulled him to his feet.

"I just forgot," said Harry, "What was that thing? No wait, let's just get away from here," he looked up at the broken window barely visible in the darkness above them.

They walked through the knee-deep snow with some difficulty. Luna followed behind, using her wand to obscure their tracks as they went.

They trudged their way to the top of the hill overlooking the sleepy village of Hogsmeade. "I'd give my Cleansweep to know what that thing was," said Ron as Harry gazed down on the houses below.

"What thing?" asked Hermione, pulling along Tonks' floating form by the hand.

"Something was coming through the door," said Ron, "Like a black cloud, almost. What did you do to it Harry? I heard you cast a Stupefy spell."

"It didn't do anything," answered Harry, "Just went right through and hit the door."

Just then Harry heard the same horrifying shriek he'd heard before, coming from back in the direction of the Shack, sending shivers down his spine. Nothing of this world could sound like that, he knew.

"Holy cricket," whispered Hermione, eyes wide with fright. "Was...was that - "

"Yeah," said Harry, "Let's get going."

"Going?" asked Ron, eyeing the Shack in the distance nervously. "Where are we going?"

"We have to get back to Hogwarts, Ron," said Hermione, "It's freezing out here! In case you haven't noticed, Luna and I aren't exactly wearing trousers like you and - "

"I know that!" said Ron angrily, "I'm not stupid! But why don't we take the tunnel?"

"You want to try sneaking back in there?" asked Harry, nodding in the direction of the Shack.

"Eh," said Ron sheepishly, "Yeah, guess that's out, isn't it..."

"C'mon, we can go down to Hogsmeade...we can send a post owl to the school from there, maybe they can send us a carriage or something."

"Well...anything is better than freezing out here, I guess," said Ron.

They slowly made their way down the hill, Harry feeling his feet becoming icy cold as the snow filled his shoes as they trudged along. He wondered how Hermione and Luna were managing, with their indoor skirts...

Finally reaching the village, they went down the main street a short distance until they stood before the post office, only to find it closed.

"Well, that's to be expected at this time of night, I suppose," said Hermione. "Is there anywhere else we can go, I'm freezing - "

"Yeah, over here," said Harry, crossing the street as the others quickly scampered to follow him.

He headed down several buildings until he came to the Three Broomsticks, which appeared to be the only establishment in sight still open. "We can ask Madam Rosmerta," he said, pulling the door open, "She must have an owl we can borrow."

They shuffled into the inn, which was sparsely populated at the moment with only a few customers in the place; the table nearest the bar had obviously a local couple; a table in the near corner had an old, cloaked witch, though to Harry's relief it was grey and not the black colour invariably work by Death Eaters. Sitting at a table in the far alcove were three goblins, drinking mead and engaged in an animated, though whispered, discussion. Madame Rosmerta was behind the bar and saw Harry's group immediately; she quickly moved to meet them upon seeing Tonks' floating form, the sight of which caused the goblins to pause their discussion long enough to glance in her direction.

"Good lord, Harry," said Madam Rosmerta as she reached them, "What happened to you? Isn't that Nymphadora Tonks?"

'Yeah it is," said Harry quickly, "Er, listen Madam Rosmerta, we're kind of in trouble, we need to get her to Hogwarts, but we don't have any way to get back except on foot - "

"Well you're certainly not dressed for a late night walk in weather like this!" she said, as she studied them, "You're just wearing your school robes, for heaven's sake!"

"I know," said Harry, hoping she wasn't going to demand an explanation. "We were wondering, if we could just borrow your owl, just to send to Hagrid, you know? He could send a carriage - "

"Oh, of course!" she said, "But your friend looks like she needs some rest...here," she rummaged through her apron, pulling out a key "This is my room upstairs, first door on the left...take her up there, my owl's in there too; you can find quill and parchment on the writing desk."

"Okay, thanks!" said Harry gratefully, pulling Tonks along behind him, anxious to get away before Madam Rosmerta could begin asking questions. Hermione ran up behind him, pushing Tonks aside just in time to prevent her colliding into one of the pillars at the base of the staircase. "Harry, slow down!"

Madam Rosmerta turned to Ron and Luna, "Well, what's the story?" she asked, "What were you doing out there, especially so late after curfew?"

"Err...we...um..." said Ron, shifting uncomfortably.

"We visited the Dark Wizard Grindelwald's prison," said Luna conversationally. "It was quite spectacular, actually. But then we got attacked by a group of Death Eaters and Heliopaths, so we had to leave."

Madam Rosmerta put her hands on her hips and glared at Luna a stern look reminiscent of McGonagall. "Fine," she said brusquely. "If you don't want to tell me, that's your business."

She turned to Ron, her usually cheerful disposition noticeably absent. "Want anything while you wait?"

"Um...well, yeah, I guess," he said, "I s'pose I'll have a butterbeer."

With that, the innkeeper spun on her heel and headed back to the bar. Ron glanced uncomfortably at Luna, who seemed totally unperturbed by the obvious slight; in fact, she'd already turned around and was making a beeline for the table with the goblins.

Ron quickly headed her off. "Oy, what are you doing?"

She looked up at him with her large silvery eyes, a surprised look on her face. "I was going to go sit with them," she said serenely, pointing to the corner table, "I've never had a conversation with a goblin before. It would be quite interesting to hear their views, wouldn't it? Would you like to partake?"

"Um...look..." said Ron, "This isn't really the best time, weren't not even supposed to be here, remember..."

"Oh...well, all right," she said, drifting over instead to a table next to the fireplace, turning a chair towards the fire and pointing her snow-drenched shoes towards the flames.

Ron briefly considered taking a seat at another table, but thought better of it; it would only makes things between them even more awkward, he thought. He slowly made his way to the fireplace and took a seat opposite her.

"Here you are," said Madam Rosmerta said, having returned from the bar with Ron's butterbeer. She glanced at Luna, her expression softening somewhat at the Ravenclaw's sorry state, what with her drenched skirt and pale legs red with cold. "Eh...would you like anything?" she asked.

Luna smiled serenely at her. "A gillywater with onion, please."

" - with..." Madam Rosmerta looked at her, a look of recognition crossing her face. "Oh, now I remember! You were here with Harry and Professor Dumbledore a couple of months ago, weren't you?"

Luna nodded dreamily. Madam Rosmerta looked a bit perplexed as she left to go get the requested gillywater.

Ron glanced at Luna as he took a test sip from his butterbeer; she was just sitting there, quietly staring at him, head slightly tilted to one side, as though staring at an abstract painting in a museum.

Ron felt his stomach slowly tightening up again. Crikey, why does she have to do that, he thought.

"Um...so...what's new?" he managed to churn out uncomfortably.

She did not answer, seemingly content to stare unblinkingly at Ron, making him shift uncomfortably in his seat as he desperately tried to look unconcerned. He fiddled with his napkin.

"Why are you so nervous, Ronald?" she finally asked.

He flicked a glance at her over his mug. "Err...what?"

"Well, you do seem to behave strangely when I'm near," said Luna. "You really shouldn't worry, though. I won't turn you to stone, you know."

"I know that!" said Ron hastily, wondering if Luna had somehow overheard the joke he'd told Seamus about her staring reminding him of a medusa's attempt at petrification. He was beginning to wish he'd followed his first instinct and sat at another table, her feelings be damned.

Luna smiled up at Madam Rosmerta as she brought her glass of gillywater, complete with a cocktail onion on a stick.

Ron was thankful for the interruption; he went back to sipping his butterbeer, staring into its foamy head, hoping Luna would forget the conversation. He was becoming hopeful when she seemed to content herself with serenely using her impaled onion to stir her gillywater.

A few minutes passed in silence, only the crackling of the fire and the faint muttering of whispered conversation emanating from the goblins permeating the room, though Ron's anxiety was by no means allayed by this.

Come on Harry, he thought, wondering what could be keeping his friends upstairs so long.

He was taking a gulp from his butterbeer when the awkward silence was abruptly cut short.

"Did you know the Chudley Cannons bribed their way to the championship last year?" asked Luna dreamily.

Ron immediately choked on his butterbeer, coughing violently into his glass with a gurgle and a snort as the brew flew back into his face, spilling out onto his robes and his side of the table.

Luna let out a sudden burst of laughter, pointing at Ron as Madam Pomfrey looked up from the bar.

"Everything all right, over there?"

Ron went to speak before being cut off by more coughing fits, having tried to talk through the beer rather unsuccessfully. He saw the old couple at the table near the bar looking at him; he forced himself to cough inwardly, his shoulders heaving in rapid succession, his face becoming a rather intense shade of scarlet.

Luna's eyes were filled with tears of mirth as she made no effort to hide her amusement, her laughter filling the room, one hand on her stomach. All this combined with her merrily shaking finger pointing right at Ron, she wasn't exactly helping him maintain his dignity...even the goblins had interrupted their secretive conversation to stare in his direction.

"Where'd you hear THAT?" he finally managed to sputter, rather angrily.

"I...didn't!" said Luna in between breathless gasps of laughter, holding her ribs.

"What?" asked Ron, now becoming both quite irritated and utterly confused. It wasn't helping matters that the goblins were still ogling him.

Luna gradually managed to bring her laughter somewhat under control, her shoulders shaking under the effort to keep from bursting out loud again. "I made it up," she said, her voice quivering with merriment.

"What?" asked Ron again in exasperation. "Why??"

"Ginny told me it's your favourite team," she giggled.

"Yeah, so?" said Ron, feeling more confused than ever. "What's that got to do with it?"

"Well, you don't feel so uncomfortable now, do you?" said Luna, taking her napkin and cleaning up his side of the table, smiling merrily.

Ron gaped at her. He realised she was right...he'd gone from extreme unease to anger, confusion and relief in a matter of just a few seconds...

He sat back heavily in his chair, feeling a little less queasy. Her napkin soaked, she went back to serenely stirring her gillywater, her gaze fixed on her glass, although her dreamy smile remained bright.

"Do you...follow Quidditch at all?" asked Ron, "Aside from at Hogwarts, I mean?"

"A little," said Luna, "Daddy is quite keen on the Cannons too; he was rather happy when they won the league championship last year, you know. He said it was their first in over a hundred years...and we did go to the World Cup a couple of years ago. That was nice."

"He's a fan?" asked Ron, genuinely surprised. "Who's his favourite player?"

"Oh...well, Joey Jenkins, I think," said Luna dreamily, drawing her onion form her drink and setting it aside on the saucer. "He says he's the best beater the league has seen in years."

"Cool!" said Ron, surprised to find himself smiling as he glimpsed Harry and Hermione coming down the staircase into the bar.

"Hey, how's Tonks?" he asked.

"I think she'll be fine," said Hermione, joining them at the table. "She just needs some rest and - " she looked at Ron curiously as Harry moved to the chair on the other side.

"Goodness, what happened to you?" she asked.

Harry caught a whiff of butterbeer in the air as he sat down. "Did somebody throw a beer in your face?" Harry asked, catching just a slight mischievous glint in Luna's eyes...but she had a gillywater in front of her, not a beer...

"Blimey!" said Ron, taking a corner of his robes and wiping his face...he'd been so shocked by Luna's statement about the Cannons that he'd quite forgotten he was still dripping in froth. "Nah," he said sheepishly, "Just swallowed funny, is all."

Hermione seemed sceptical of his explanation, especially upon noticing his reddening ears. To Ron's relief she didn't bother to pursue the matter.

"Well, we sent the owl off," said Harry. "Hopefully Hagrid will send a carriage and we can get back before morning...though I don't think we'll be able to get out of detention now - "

"What will you have?" asked Madam Rosmerta, coming by with a towel to clean up the remaining mess in front of Ron.

"Oh...orange juice for me, thanks," said Hermione.

"Nothing for me," said Harry. "I'm not thirsty," he added upon seeing Ron's questioning gaze.

"An orange juice and a nothing, coming right up," said the innkeeper as she finished wiping the table and marched off to the bar.

"Hey...what was that thing?" asked Ron in a low voice, "That thing in the Shack, I mean...it didn't exactly sound human, did it?"

"I don't know," said Harry. "Um...maybe we shouldn't talk about this here, though," he whispered, nodding his head towards the other patrons, who he thought were listening attentively to their conversation even though they were studiously avoiding his gaze. But then, they hadn't exactly been inconspicuous, had they? Waltzing into the place in the middle of the night, wearing their everyday school robes and pulling along a floating, half conscious, purple-haired Auror.

Harry glanced at Luna...she was contentedly sucking on her onion, her large, silver eyes staring at each of them in turn. He wished he could simply throw away anxiety as well as she evidently could...