Luna's year

Ginny swallowed hard. This was the worst possible time...

The silhouetted figure of Filch stood in the open doorway. He was gleefully ogling them, his crazed eyes combining with his cracked grin to make him appear borderline psychotic. Squib or no, Ginny could understand the fear he inspired in the students. The inly thing missing from his entrance was an ominous clap of thunder and some organ music, she thought. Though hardly timid, Ginny felt rather intimidated at the sight of him.

"Hello," said Luna dreamily.

"Err..." said Ginny, "We were..." she glanced at Luna, "...we were just..."

"Oh, were ye, now?" said Filch, his scraggly eyebrows rising in mock surprise.

"...just coming to..." Ginny thought furiously.

"That the best ye can do?" exclaimed Filch. "Ye miscreants never even bothered to think o' a cover story, did ye?"

"...we had some...er, urgent - "

"You were right, my sweet," said Filch as he looked down at the gray feline at his side. Ginny could swear she was staring at them gloatingly. "Ye'll likely to be expelled for this, if there's any justice," Filch remarked malevolently, clearly relishing his moment of victory.

"Expelled?!" exclaimed Ginny, her apprehension quickly giving way to outrage. "What in Merlin's Beard for? All we did - "

" - was use magic in the halls, is what!" Filch shot back. "Not to mention bein' out past curfew!" He pointed a gnarled finger at Luna. "Makes the second time fer ye this semester, missy. Yer as good as gone, I'd reckon."

"What magic??" retorted Ginny, her ire growing by the second. "What makes you think we'd - "

"Don't ye play dumb with me, ye lil' spinster!" spat Filch. "Ye were usin' a disillusionment charm! Thought ye'd get by Mrs. Norris, didn't ye? Well she heard ye, all the same!"

Ginny's mouth opened, though she was at a loss of how to get out of this predicament. They had to warn Harry, or at least get word out to someone about Wormtail. She glanced pleadingly at Luna, hoping for some help, but her friend was serenely staring at Filch as though he were Professor Binns in the midst of one of his droning lectures.

"Look, we don't have time for this," said Ginny impatiently. "We have to go see Professor Dumbledore - "

"Ye don' have time??" barked Filch, his eyes widening angrily. "Well, methinks ye'd better - "

"Why do you wish to see the Headmaster?" a cold voice uttered from behind Filch, who spun around to reveal Professor Snape standing just beyond the doorway. He was gazing at them icily, though Ginny thought she glimpsed an air of uncertainty in his eyes.

"...er...we..." said Ginny, mindful of the presence of the Caretaker and still hoping to somehow wiggle off the hook if she could only come up with a convincing argument.

"We were sending owls to the Malfoys, actually," Luna chimed in suddenly, "You know, to warn then about that Worm - "

"SILENCE!" yelled Snape so abruptly that Mrs. Norris jumped from the doorway and hissed at him as he advanced quickly into the tower, his boots making distinct crunching noises over the debris-strewn floor, his black robes billowing behind him.

"Aha! See??" said Filch triumphantly, "Yer excuses ain't goin' to cut it this time, I'll wager!"

Luna continued to stare at Snape, not giving any indication she'd heard Filch at all. "Well, that was rather rude," she said.

"Mind your tongue!" said Snape, glaring at her with such intensity that Ginny thought he might cast a Silencio charm on her.

"They couldn't even come up with an excuse when I caught 'em red-handed," Filch remarked to Snape. "And that loony kid there, that's her second time out past curfew this semester! AND they were castin' disillusionment charms in the halls!"

"Red-handed?" asked Snape, turning to the Caretaker. "What exactly were they doing?"

"They - eh..." said Filch, suddenly turning back to the two girls, evidently realizing he hadn't caught them doing anything, other than simply being here.

"We were creating a diversion," said Luna dreamily, "For the others, you know."

"Eh?" Filch said, his eyes suddenly widening. "What's that?"

"A diversion," replied Luna sagely, distractedly twisting a long, stray lock of hair between her fingers, "It's to distract someone while something else is - "

"Blimey!" barked Filch, "I know what it means! For what others? Speak now, missy!"

"Well I'm not really supposed to say, you know," said Luna vaguely, before abruptly taking to gazing up at the owls overhead, who were by now quite awake and staring back down at the unlikely quartet in silent curiosity.

"Spill ye guts, ye kook!" ordered Filch, turning to Ginny when he saw Luna didn't seem inclined to volunteer any further information. Ginny decided to take a page from Luna's rather quirky book and started staring up at the owls as well, feeling decidedly ludicrous...

"Bleedin' bludgers!!" bellowed Filch, "Tell me now, or else!!"

The two girls continued to stare up at the various birds perched above them, Ginny dutifully maintaining her gaze upwards but not really noticing the owls much, her concentration still squarely centered on the Caretaker. A sudden glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention; she turned just in time to see Filch roughly grabbing Luna by the shoulders and shaking her violently, her long hair flying to and fro as her notebook and quill dropped to the floor. "TELL ME!!" he clamoured, eyes full of rage.

"Mr. Filch - " intoned Snape.

"HEY!!!" shrieked Ginny, pulling her wand from her robes and thrusting it to within an inch of Filch's face. "HANDS OFF!!! NOW!!!"

"Cripes!!" exclaimed Filch, immediately releasing Luna and taking a quick step back, eyeing the wand warily. Ginny's furious expression had evidently convinced him he'd been about to get jinxed to kingdom come, her cheeks being so flushed with anger that it almost matched the shade of her russet-coloured hair. Mrs. Norris arched her back and hissed vehemently at her, though Ginny hardly noticed.

"That is quite enough!" interjected Snape, coming to stand between Ginny and the Caretaker. Ginny was so incensed that it took her several moments to realize she was now pointing her shaking wand directly at the Potions master. She quickly lowered it.

"He had no business doing that!" said Ginny angrily, addressing Snape.

The Potions master raised an eyebrow at her, but gave no other visible reaction. He turned to the Caretaker. "Search the castle," he ordered. "Find the others that these two - " he indicated two girls, " - are covering for."

"Aye!!" said Filch, pointing his finger at Ginny, "We'll get the lot this time! Threatenin' a member of the faculty, eh? We'll just see 'bout that!"

He turned on his heels and bolted down the spiral staircase, his mangy gray tabby at his heels.

Ginny looked inquiringly to Luna, hoping she hadn't been shaken too badly. But after sedately retrieving her notebook from the floor and brushing it off, Luna took to gazing calmly at the Potions Master, and aside from her hair being somewhat more dishevelled than was typical, gave no sign that anything untoward had just taken place.

Snape waited a few moments for Filch's footsteps to die away and slowly closed the door behind him, before turning to the two students.

"Now," he said icily, "You will tell me what you were doing here, and how you came to be aware of Wormtail's presence."

Ginny hesitated. She wasn't exactly sure how Luna had come to determine that the rat they'd seen in the corridor was actually Peter Pettigrew, much less how she could possibly explain it to Snape.

"We...were late coming from the library," she said, "We saw him in the hall going down the stairs, so we decided to follow and see where - "

Snape's eyes narrowed. "He was going about the castle in human form?" he asked.

"...yes," Ginny lied, deciding it was the safest way to explain it, at least for the moment. Luna was evidently not inclined to elucidate, so she decided to follow her lead and not draw attention to it.

Snape shook his head slightly. "The fool, curfew or not..." he muttered. "And why, precisely, were you owling the Malfoys?"

"Er...well, we sort of...eavesdropped..." Ginny admitted.

Snape's eyes bore straight into her. "You heard our discussion?" he asked darkly.

"Well...yes," Ginny said, deciding there was no other feasible way to rationalize it.

"Anyway, why are you here?" asked Luna serenely.

The Potions master cast her a look of supreme annoyance. "It is not for a student to question a teacher, Miss Lovegood, least of all a Head of House," he said cooly. He turned to Ginny. "What precisely did you write in your message?"

"Er, we wrote two, actually," said Ginny, "One to Malfoy and one to his mother. We just wanted to warn her about Wormtail..."

"Is that all?" asked Snape suspiciously.

"Yes," Luna breezed in. "We would have liked to explain, you know, but there wasn't time..."

"You will most certainly NOT explain," said Snape sternly. "Nor will you involve yourself in this matter any further, is that understood?"

"But we have to tell Professor Dumbledore!" Ginny protested hotly, "He has to know!"

"I will inform the Headmaster," replied Snape. "Now, you will return to your dormitories immediately and not speak of this incident to anyone. I'll arrange for your detentions in the morning - "

"Detention?!" blurted Ginny, "But you know why we came here!!"

"Enough!" Snape shot back, "You are guilty of being out past curfew, using magic in the halls, and threatening a member of the school staff with a wand - "

Ginny exploded. "He practically assaulted her!! YOU SAW - "

"Be quiet!!" Snape countered, moving his hand swiftly in a stifling motion. "It is precisely for that reason that you will not be expelled for your actions tonight! We cannot draw attention to these events, for reasons which should now be obvious. However a detention is nevertheless more than warranted and will also serve to allay suspicion on the part of the Caretaker. Be thankful that I haven't deducted points from your respective Houses!"

Ginny blinked, stunned. "You...you won't?" This seemed extremely un-Snape-like to her.

The Potions master looked at her as though she was a mindless slug. "Is your memory always so short, Miss Weasley?" he remarked snidely. "I've just told you that we must avoid drawing attention to tonight's events, which would be difficult to do come morning, once the students took notice of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw houses both short fifty points apiece!"

"Well, that makes sense," said Luna serenely.

Snape eyed her coldly. "Now, back to your dormitories, the both of you," he said, opening the squeaky, heavy wooden door just in time to hear a raucous racket drifting up from the lower level of the tower. Just a few moments later Ginny caught sight of Filch triumphantly dragging up a loudly protesting Draco Malfoy; evidently the Caretaker despised students from all houses with equal enthusiasm.

"I caught this one makin' a beeline straight for the tower," said Filch. "Another one of these conspirators, I'd reckon."

Malfoy's stifled his protests abruptly once he caught sight of Snape and his fellow detainees. He gaped at the head of Slytherin house in evident consternation, though when his eyes turned to Ginny his expression resume its familiar loathing countenance. Snape in turn glared at the Slytherin with an apparent mixture of irritation and disappointment.

"I see. Detention for you as well, then, Mr. Malfoy," he said coldly.

"What??" exclaimed Malfoy, "But...I was tricked! It was - "

"Be quiet, Mr. Malfoy," said Snape firmly. "Lest you would like Slytherin to be deprived of house points as well?"

Malfoy piped down, but his anger remained tangible. It was obvious to Ginny that he thought this had all been a practical joke to get him into trouble.

"Now," Snape said, turning back to address Filch, "I will assign appropriate detentions to these three in the morning. In the meantime," he indicated the students, "Continue your search for their associates."

"Associates? What associates?" blurted Malfoy.

Filch gaped at Snape. "They...they ain't gettin' expelled?" he asked, aghast. He pointed a shaking finger at Ginny. "She bloody threatened me with a wand!! I want to see consequences!!"

"I will be speaking to the Headmaster about this in the morning," said Snape in a tone that let everyone know the discussion was over. He cast one last warning glance at Ginny and Luna before marching quickly out the door and disappearing down the dark spiral staircase.

* * *

"What??" Harry said, rising quickly up from the hearth rug before the fireplace, pulling his wand from his robes. "Wormtail? Here??"

"Relax," said Ginny. "He's long gone by now. And anyway, he won't do anything to Malfoy till next Hogsmeade weekend."

"I wasn't worrying about Malfoy," explained Harry. "He got himself into this, he can get himself out. But Dumbledore's got to know, I mean a Death Eater right here - "

"Snape said he'd tell him," said Ginny, Harry looking at her dubiously before reluctantly stashing his wand back into his inner pocket.

"Snape?" asked Harry, "So he saw you?"

"You know," Hermione interjected, appearing pensive, "Wormtail's presence here might explain something that's been on my mind for awhile," she looked at Harry. "Remember that night we came back from the Shrieking Shack? In the tunnel?"

Harry could hardly forget that night. "Yeah...why?"

"Remember how we wondered how Malfoy and the others had managed to escape?" she continued, "They'd been all tied up, if you recall."

Harry considered this. "You're thinking it was Wormtail who got them out?"

"Well, it's certainly possible, isn't it?" said Hermione.

"It may have been the Banshee, you know," said Luna from her vantage point, warming herself up near the fireplace. She'd been gazing around curiously at the Gryffindor Common Room, so much so that Harry hadn't thought she'd been paying attention to the conversation.

"Huh?" said Ron, "What Banshee?"

"That thing Harry said was coming through the door, back at that old house," she said, gazing at Ron, who stared back blankly. "Oh come on, we all heard its cry, remember?"

"That was a banshee?" asked Harry, stunned by this unforeseen development.

"No, it wasn't - Banshees are just myth, Luna," said Hermione, turning to the young Ravenclaw. "They're folk tales, meant to scare children, that's all."

"No, they're quite real, actually," Luna countered. "Professor Lockhart told us how he defeated one in Defence Against The Dark Arts once. It was required reading - "

"Oh, Luna..." sighed Hermione, throwing her head up in exasperation, "That 'required reading' were his own books, he wrote them all himself!"

Harry glanced at Hermione, recalling her obvious (and incomprehensible) crush on the charming and famous Gilderoy Lockhart during their second year, though there was clearly no vestige of that left now.

"I know," said Luna dreamily. "We were rather lucky to have the author in person to comment on them, weren't we? He wasn't a very good Dark Arts teacher though..."

"He was a fraud!" exclaimed Hermione.

Harry was torn. He didn't know how he could intervene without appearing to take sides. Besides, while he well knew that Lockhart was indeed a mountebank, he was also aware that the stories in the books were actual events that Lockhart had taken credit for. Therefore he supposed it was at least possible that some witch or wizard somewhere might have defeated a Banshee. Furthermore, if there were Moon Fairies still around, as he'd seen with his own eyes, he supposed that Banshees weren't out of the realm of possibility, at least.

"Just because he can't remember anything doesn't mean it didn't happen," replied Luna sharply. "I suppose you don't believe he saved those Himalayan Gorilla Birds from extinction, either!"

"Himalayan - " Hermione gaped at her, "Oh, come on! Really! That's right up there with your ridiculous 'Goblin Pies' theory!"

Harry winced.

"Er..." said Ginny hesitatingly, moving to stand between the two, "Maybe we should..."

But Luna had already picked up her notebook from the table next to the fire and gave Hermione a spiteful look on her way out, as the flounced through the tunnel and out the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Luna - oh, well, really," said Hermione as she watched the Fat Lady's painting close after Luna had gone. "I can't believe she's overreacting like that. I mean - "

Harry spun on his heel to face her. "What were you THINKING?" he said loudly, "Why'd you have to make that crack about the Goblin pies??"

"Harry, it's completely absurd!" countered Hermione. "As if Cornelius Fudge would really be baking up - "

"That's NOT what I meant," said Harry rather hotly. "You were putting down The Quibbler again - why'd you have to take a shot at her father like that??"

Hermione gaped at him, her eyes widening. "Oh..." she said, comprehension dawning on her face, "I...I didn't realize - "

"Why can't you just let her believe what she wants?" shot Harry even louder, his voice rising shrilly. "Why do you have to shoot her down all the time?"

Hermione looked decidedly uncomfortable, her shoulders sagging. "I'm sorry, Harry," she said, looking apologetic, "It's just that some of the things she says are just so absurd, it's hard to ignore - "

"What about the Thestrals??!!" exclaimed Harry, waving his hands reproachfully, "What about the Heliopaths??"

Hermione swallowed hard. She looked even more dejected, if that was possible. "I...the Heliopaths...there was just no evidence, Harry..."

"YOU SAW THEM!" he shouted, red-faced.

Ron was determinedly staring very intently at the chessboard before him, clearly very ill at ease and not wanting to get involved in the escalating discussion. Ginny stood rooted to the spot, gaping disbelievingly at the two of them.

"Yes, I did," said Hermione softly. "But Harry, how was I to know? I mean there was never any - "

"Hem hem," said Ginny, desperately trying her best Dolores Umbridge impression, which to her chagrin passed completely unnoticed.

"Can't you just make a leap of faith once in a while??" shot Harry brusquely, "Why do you always doubt everything she says? She took me to see Moon Fairies today, but since we all 'know' they don't exist, then I must have been hallucinating the whole time according to you, right??"

Hermione looked stunned. Ginny blinked. Even Ron looked up at him from his chessboard.

"You saw Moon Fairies?" asked Ginny, "Here? At Hogwarts??"

Harry's face drained of colour as he felt a sickening sensation akin to a vice tightening itself around his stomach. His head swam, as he suddenly realized with dread that he'd inadvertently betrayed his word. He staggered backwards.

Hermione took a step towards him. "Harry, what's wrong? You look - "

"GET AWAY FROM ME!!" He shouted, shaking his arm free from her hand, "I CAN"T BELIEVE YOU!!"

Hermione stood in shock, her brown eyes glittering with tears. "Harry - "

He pointed a shaking finger at her. "This...if you hadn't...it's because of you it's come to this - " he said in a choking voice.

"What's come to this?" asked Ginny, her eyes wide.

Hermione reached out towards him, her teary eyes pleading, but he turned around abruptly and bolted from the Common Room, running up the narrow staircase that led to the boy's dormitories.

* * *

Hermione's night had been a miserable one, Harry's seething anger at her the previous evening having dominated her thoughts. She'd gotten up exhausted, feeling emotionally drained, and for the first time since she'd been at Hogwarts, had made her way down to the Great Hall without having bothered to make her bed, her mind being distracted by considerably more important matters.

Breakfast did nothing to alleviate her despair; Harry hadn't said a word to her, and Ron and Ginny both seemed to be on edge. Only Neville had managed to bring an air of normalcy to the table, having not been present for the previous day's row as he enthusiastically described his discovery of the terrific fireproofing properties of stinksap. Ginny recounted to Harry the rest of the previous night's encounter with Snape and Filch, though he seemed somewhat distant even with her. Hermione's offer to help Harry with his Potions assignment had only brought an unintelligible mumble before he drew up and abandoned his half-eaten breakfast.

The rest of the morning had only served to make her feel even worse; any hope she might have had to talk to Harry in class were dashed when he'd sat on the opposite side of Ron during Charms. Even in Transfiguration, when Ron had waited for Harry to sit first, he'd quickly picked up his books and moved off to sit with Neville the moment Hermione had taken the chair next to his. By the time lunchtime had arrived she'd been perilously close to tears; there was something about Harry's demeanor that made her seriously wonder whether real damage had been done. There was something at work, she knew, that had made him erupt so strongly at her...

Ron had tried to get her to come to lunch with him and Harry, but while she appreciated his attempt to get his two best friends talking again, at the moment she felt an intense need to be alone. She feared another rebuke from Harry would push her over the edge and cause her to burst into tears, and she wasn't looking forward to making such a scene in the Great Hall.

She opted instead to go to the library and try to finish the Charms assignment they'd been given by Professor Flitwick, in the forlorn hope it might help take her mind off her worries.

She'd wandered into the crowded library almost in a daze, hardly noticing how packed the place was until she started looking for a free table.

Though she could see the students coming to and fro, her mind didn't register any faces or murmured greetings. She searched around until she finally managed to locate a free table near the far end of the library, near the Restricted Section. Even when she heard two students behind her arguing loudly she paid no heed, deciding she wasn't in a suitable state to perform her prefect duties, for now at the very least. Besides, it wouldn't take long for Madame Pince to give the offending students a guided tour to the hall outside.

She'd been working for over half an hour when she stopped to take measure of what she'd accomplished so far, and was shocked to discover she'd barely written a paragraph. Normally she'd have well over a page written up by now.

It's no use, she decided despairingly. Until she could sort out things with Harry, she was going to be an emotional wreck.

She folded her arms on the table and buried her face in their midst, trying to keep the surging tears from winning out. Try as she might, her thoughts drifted back to the previous evening for the seemingly hundredth time...

The look in Harry's eyes was unlike any she'd seen before. His flushed face contorted in anger and rage...he'd reacted so strongly, much more so than Luna, who had simply left without saying a word...

...Luna...

Hermione had immediately felt a pang of guilt run through her the moment the young Ravenclaw had left the room. As much as she was distraught by Harry's reaction, it was made infinitely worse by the realization that, even though he'd gotten so carried away, Harry had been quite right. Why had she felt the need to dispute Luna's theory? After all, she'd been proven right about the Heliopaths, hadn't she? Which Hermione distinctly remembered having once told Neville didn't exist...

The Heliopaths...

Hermione wondered sadly, if somehow, the subconscious thought of Luna having been right, when Hermione had been so adamant of the contrary, might have played a part in her lashing out at the girl. Could she really have been so shallow as to let pride dictate her response? She sincerely hoped not...

But then...what else was there?

She thought back to a day last semester, when she'd been recovering in the Hospital Wing. Luna's unexpected late night visit with her ludicrous, though sublime, chocolate Crumple-Horned Snorkacks had begun to narrow the seemingly unbridgeable chasm that had separated the two since the moment they'd first met.

Since that time Luna had proven herself to be not only a very capable witch, but also a surprisingly thoughtful and conscientious friend, endlessly meandering personality notwithstanding.

If only it wasn't for her ridiculous beliefs, thought Hermione, before immediately chastising herself. It was that very attitude that had caused her current rift with Harry, after all.

And yet, the girl was so different, so unconventional, so hard to pin down. Everything about her defied typification...

"What colour is the sky in your world, Luna..." whispered Hermione, wondering if she would ever truly understand the young Ravenclaw.

"Fuschia," a dreamy voice intoned nearby, "With shades of gold and lilac, I think."

Hermione snapped her head up, startled at the sight of Luna sitting at her table right in front of her, a book propped up on her lap and leaning against table's edge, serenely flipping through the pages. She'd never even heard her sit down.

"That's the colour the sky was," continued Luna, "The last time Mum and me watched a sunset together. I remember it quite well, actually. It was really quite lovely..."

Hermione swallowed, caught off guard by the her sudden appearance. Luna continued to gaze contentedly at the pictures in her book, though from her angle Hermione couldn't tell what they were.

"I...I didn't realize you were there, Luna..."

"I didn't want to interrupt you," replied Luna serenely. "I know Professor Trelawney's meditation technique requires uninterrupted silence, although I've always found it a bit off, really."

Hermione didn't answer, still taken aback by the completely unexpected presence of the girl she'd had a row with just the previous night.

"It was quite interesting, wasn't it?" said Luna dreamily after a long silent pause, her eyes not straying from her book. "The Department Of Mysteries, I mean?"

Hermione blinked. There wasn't the slightest hint of animosity in Luna's voice; indeed, she seemed her usual dreamy self, despite what had transpired the previous day. As Luna had been absent from breakfast, Hermione had assumed she was likely still upset, but that certainly didn't seem the case, judging by her demeanour.

"The...Department..." Hermione repeated slowly, realizing she was referring to their disastrous trip to rescue Sirius the previous year. Why suddenly bring it up now, months later? "I...suppose so..."

Luna continued to quietly flip through the pages of her book, every once in a while her pale eyes fixing their gaze on some particularly interesting image. "It was odd, you know," she suddenly voiced, "To be in the very rooms and halls that Mum used to work in. I'd never visited, of course, but it seemed so very familiar. But then, Mum was always telling me about it, so - "

"Luna," Hermione interrupted, "You're...not upset?"

At those words Luna's gaze finally lifted from her book up to Hermione. "No," she said, looking surprised. "Why?"

"Well , after what I said last night..." said Hermione quietly, "I thought you'd be, well, angry. You weren't at breakfast, so..."

"That was yesterday," smiled Luna as though it had never happened, "And I didn't go to breakfast because I had an assignment I really had to finish for Professor Binns, you know...oh, hold on..."

She'd evidently noticed Hermione's grief-reddened eyes, as her smile slowly disappeared, replaced by a look of concern as she tilted her head slightly to one side. After a few moments of contemplation she snapped her heavy book shut with such vigour that it startled a pair of nearby Hufflepuffs, putting it aside on the table without a second glance, before getting up and rounding the table to take the chair next to Hermione's.

"I didn't realize you'd be so upset," said Luna quietly, "I suppose it was rather rude of me to leave like that. I didn't mean to cause you grief, you know..."

"It's...not that, Luna," said Hermione, "Honestly, I don't know what's wrong with me. I shouldn't have said those things last night, really."

"Well," said Luna, staring at her, "I think you should always express your views, you know, even if they differ. It's not good to keep them hidden, I think."

"But...oh, Luna, how can I say this," said Hermione as she ran her hand back through her hair, "I think I just have trouble...'accepting' some of the things you come up with sometimes; but I never meant to direct it towards your father, Luna, I'm really sorry if it came out that way."

Luna stared at her intently, her large silver eyes unblinking. "Hermione," she said softly, "Thank you. That means very much."

Hermione smiled weakly, feeling the weight on her shoulders lessen ever so slightly. "Luna," she said cautiously, "Please don't take this the wrong way, but why do you believe in all those things? I just...wonder how anyone with a brain could be so ready to just trust everything like that. It just seems so, well..."

"Loony?" Luna finished.

Hermione glanced down at the floor. One thing she did know, through Ginny, was that deep down, Luna didn't seem to much appreciate being called that term, even though she'd never reacted to it.

"I...that's not..."

"Well," said Luna serenely, "I look at it differently, I suppose. I just think life is so much more enjoyable without having to question and doubt everything. It's so much fun to solve mysteries, Mum and me used to do it all the time. But you know," she said earnestly, her eyes widening, "It's even more fun when some mysteries can't be solved."

Hermione gaped at her. For possibly the first time since she'd known her, Hermione thought she could see a glimmer of Luna's reasoning, and even more surprising, it made at least rudimentary sense to her. Contrary to the way most (if not all) people looked at life, Luna chose to believe in something and then look at it objectively, after the fact, rather than the other way around. Of course that would never do for her, but still...

Hermione found herself staring at Luna with her mouth open. "That's...I never really thought of it that way, to tell you the honest truth."

"Well, you're rather pragmatic," said Luna serenely. "I suppose there's nothing wrong with that, but I would find it terribly boring, really. I always wondered how you could look at things so analytically, it seems so odd..."

Hermione thought she could detect a hint of curiosity emanating from Luna, as though she'd herself also wondered how Hermione could go through life following her own philosophy. It never occurred to her that she might be as much a mystery to Luna as the young Ravenclaw was to her.

"So...that's why you think the Crumple-Horned Snorkack exists," Hermione ventured.

"They do exist," said Luna confidently, smiling at her.

"But of course," Hermione corrected herself, unable to suppress a smile of her own. "But I mean, seriously, you can't really believe everything people say, can you?"

Luna glanced down, her smile accentuated by her blushing cheeks in a rare show of embarrassment. "Well, no," she said. "Some things, like that story Colin published in the Hogwarts Express. I mean, really..."

Hermione blinked. "What? Tell!" She hadn't really read much of Colin's school newspaper after the first few editions, as it had turned out to be essentially a glorified rumour-mill. But she was very curious to hear of a story so preposterous that even Luna Lovegood herself could not bring herself to take it seriously.

The Ravenclaw glanced back up at her. "You didn't hear? Everyone was talking about it. Well, a few weeks ago he published this article on how the house elves use a portable black hole to dispose of all the rubbish they collect around the school. Well, I was rather dubious, of course, and after asking Professor Sinistra about it I decided it really couldn't be. I mean if there really was one there, we'd all be in a rather sorry state by now, wouldn't we?"

"He actually published that??" exclaimed Hermione incredulously. This made the Goblin Pies theory seem eminently feasible in comparison.

Luna nodded vigorously. "He does have a rather good imagination though, doesn't he?"

"Oh, of that there's no doubt," admitted Hermione.

They both giggled at that, before Luna looked at her questioningly. "There's something else though, isn't there?" she asked. "Something's bothering you still..."

Hermione held her breath. She'd wanted to talk to Harry about it, but...

"Well, yes," she admitted, her feelings of sadness returning all too quickly, "Harry and I...had a rift last night..."

Luna's eyes widened. "No, surely not," she whispered.

Hermione nodded sadly. "He really took exception to what I said before you left," she voiced gently.

Luna stared at her, mouth open slightly, her usual surprised expression greatly accentuated. "He got upset at you because of that?"

"Well, upset is putting it mildly," said Hermione. "Beside himself, really. He hasn't spoken to me all morning. I've never seen him like this..."

Luna shook her head, bracing herself to stand. "Luna, wait," said Hermione, "Where are you going?"

The young Ravenclaw looked at her sadly, "I'm going to go talk with him," she said softly. "I'll make things right..."

"Luna...he mentioned something about seeing fairies with you yesterday," said Hermione. "He got really agitated right after that, would you know why - " she broke off abruptly at the sight before her; Luna's eyes had widened precipitously...

"Harry said that?" asked Luna.