Torment and Turnips

TORMENT AND TURNIPS

CHAPTER 3 - Realizations

Cho carried her broom roughly parallel to the ground as she made her way through the busy, sun_drenched inner courtyard, eager, for once, to leave the gossip and social circles well behind. Her eyes darted through the scattered students, catching a glimpse of Colin Creevy in the midst of an animated discussion with Stewart Ackerly, hurriedly taking notes. Over on the courtyard's far side she saw Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley engaged in an equally intense conversation, Cho quickly averting her eyes when the Gryffindor prefect looked over in her direction.

Her anxiety increased sharply as she heard Hermione calling after her. She looked straight ahead and pretended not to hear, instead increasing her pace until she'd marched out the main gate at a brisk clip, her long black hair fluttering behind.

She kept up her rapid march, following the well-worn path until she'd made her way past Hagrid's hut, the Gamekeeper's patch of huge pumpkins stacked up behind the dwelling in preparation for the upcoming Hallowe'en feast. Thankfully the huge teacher was nowhere to be seen.

Cho chanced a glance behind her, intensely relieved to see she wasn't being followed. She slowed her pace at last, suddenly feeling a bit self_conscious at having so brusquely avoided the encounter. It wasn't like she still held any ill feelings toward Hermione Granger, after all. It had become rather clear that Harry didn't have eyes for the Gryffindor prefect, unlike what had once been reported by the Skeeter woman.

At least not any more, what with Loony Lovegood in his life. And Hermione had always been quite decent with Cho, after all, though the Ravenclaw was still a bit suspicious of the circumstances behind Marietta's inexplicable hex of the previous year. But really, Hermione didn't seem the type to be so ruthless...

Cho's feeling of guilt increased slightly at the thought of having deliberately ignored her.

But then, she wasn't in much of a mood to chitchat at the moment. Much less with one of Harry's best friends! Indeed, she'd come here to try and clear her mind and put her anxieties aside - she could hardly berate herself for indulging in that little luxury, could she?

But what had Hermione wanted, anyway? To be sure, they had little in common academically, Cho being a year senior to the Gryffindor. Certainly it couldn't have to do with the D.A., Cho having dropped out of that organization since the start of the school year.

Well, I suppose it couldn't have been that important, she mused, as much to console herself about her rather abrupt departure as to subdue her curiosity.

She saw the setting sun glittering through the forest's branches up ahead. The school play would be starting in about an hour or so, though she'd declined her friends' invitation to accompany them to the troupe's second recital, even despite Marietta and Lisa's repeated attempts to change her mind. Right now, she just wanted to be alone, with her broom being her only company in anticipation of flying through the cool autumn sky, forgetting her troubles and worries. Even if only for a few hours.

She continued to follow the meandering path along the forest's edge as it led down the hill towards the Quidditch pitch looming in the distance. She saw with relief the absence of anyone flying about the playing field. She hadn't bothered to go and book it, there being no team practice scheduled for that day anyway.

She drew in a deep breath of fresh autumnal air with satisfaction. There, at least, she could free herself briefly from all the constraints of being Head Girl; there, out on the Pitch and astride her broom, responsibilities would drift off like early morning mist. The burdens of her position could finally be lifted from her aching shoulders, albeit temporarily. Her pace quickened once more.

It was therefore with more than a little dismay that she greeted the sight presented before her upon her arrival at the Pitch's main entrance. There, standing right in the middle of the playing field, were the two people whom she least wanted to see at this moment. Especially together.

Harry was grinning and holding his Firebolt loosely over his shoulder, seemingly content to listen as Luna prattled on excitedly about something Cho couldn't discern at this distance. The straggly-haired girl also had a broom at her side, one of Madam Hooch's old and decrepit school dusters by the looks of it.

Cho felt a weight pressing down upon her. Nothing was going right -

Just then Harry uttered something that caused Luna to suddenly drop her broom and cup her hands over her mouth, her airy, childlike giggling nevertheless slipping through her fingers well enough to reach the Ravenclaw Head Girl's burning ears.

Cho couldn't bear to watch any more. She whirled around on the spot and stormed angrily back the way she'd come, a fire raging in her chest. Harry had never been so at ease and so full of merriment with her...

She heard Luna give a shriek of mirth back at the Pitch behind her. Cho quickened her pace, her eyes stinging, though she had no idea where she should go; all that mattered at the moment was getting away from the sound of the infuriating laughter in the distance. It was becoming fainter, but frustratingly slowly for Cho.

She reached Hagrid's hut once more, though she hardly noticed such a meaningless detail, what with her mind searching desperately for answers to the pain in her heart -

She took a deep breath and counted to ten as her Gran had told her to do in such times of stress. Why couldn't she just let it go, she wondered. Harry had clearly gone on with his life without a second thought to Cho, so why couldn't she? It couldn't be because of Luna, could it? The odd girl clearly was getting on famously with Harry. Had been doing so since the start of the school year, in fact. And all this when Cho hadn't even managed so much as one successful date.

She wasn't subconsciously competing with Loony Lovegood, was she?

Oh, how ridiculous, she thought. Of the two, Cho definitely had the better life, of that there was no question. There was nothing to be envious of Luna about. Cho was popular, she had friends, she'd been made Head Girl and was a key member of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. What accomplishments could Loony boast of? Aside from having an entire House conspiring to make her life miserable, that is?

So why then, was Cho the one walking despondently back to the castle with a heavy heart, cheeks damp and feeling utterly miserable, while that rustic waif of a girl, tormented by her housemates for years and a hopeless social outcast, was laughing and having the time of her life? It wasn't right. Nothing made sense anymore...

"Cho!"

She was startled from her doldrums by the sound of someone uttering her name, realizing with apprehension that she'd walked all the way back into the castle courtyard without really taking notice, Hermione and Ginny having intercepted her before she'd even realized where she was going. There was no avoiding them now. At least, not without making a mockery of the school rules and flying off on her broom...

"Oh...hi," she replied tiredly, hoping that whatever they wanted to discuss, it would be mercifully short.

"I really need to talk to you," said Hermione earnestly. "Do you have a minute?"

"Don't listen to her, Cho," interjected Ginny, looking rather piqued, Cho thought. "You can go on in if you like - "

Cho frowned. Couldn't these two get their stories straight? What was going on here?

Hermione did a half turn back to the younger girl. "Ginny, will you let me handle this, please?"

"Fine!" exclaimed Ginny, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. "But I'm telling you, you're just going to make things worse - "

Hermione cut her off by addressing Cho. "It's about Luna," she said seriously, the Ravenclaw's unease augmenting sharply. "Cho, you've got to do something about everything that's going on. It's gone too far!"

"What?" asked Cho cautiously, though she had a very good idea what Hermione was alluding to. "What's gone too far?"

"Nothing," said Ginny, pulling on Hermione's sleeve. "Nothing at all. Forget we mentioned it. Thanks for stopping by. Have a nice - "

"WILL YOU - " blurted Hermione loudly, jerking her arm free of the younger girl's tenacious grasp. She turned back to Cho.

"All these shenanigans, Cho," she continued. "Did you know Luna almost died two nights ago? Someone slipped Snape's whole supply of Veritaserum in her pumpkin juice, if you can believe it! Do you have any idea how irresponsible that was? And Ginny's just been telling me someone jinxed Luna's cauldron in Potions class this afternoon; Snape gave her a royal tongue_lashing, and it wasn't her fault! And he gave her a nil grade besides all that! Now if they're going to start affecting her scholastic - "

"Eh, just a second there, Hermione," interrupted Cho. "I can't ask Snape to reverse his decision, he'd laugh in my face, and that's if I'm lucky! I don't think even Professor Flitwick could convince him to - "

Hermione shook her head. "I'm not asking you to talk to Snape," she said reassuringly. "But you've got to talk to the other students, Cho. Things are really getting out of hand."

"Me?" asked Cho, aghast. "What would you have me do, exactly? Have all Ravenclaw turn against me, too?"

Hermione took a deep breath. "You're Head Girl, Cho," she said carefully. "That carries a lot of responsibility, one of which is the well_being of the students in your House. And Luna is a Ravenclaw, wether you like it or not. Look, can't you just call a meeting? They're not going to turn on you just because you tell them to stop - "

"That's what you think," countered Cho. "Your little friend there hasn't exactly made herself a favorite in Ravenclaw lately!"

"She never was!" shot Ginny hotly, her cheeks flushing as she took a step closer. "Just because she marches to her own drummer isn't any reason to - "

"Oh please!" exclaimed Cho. "She doesn't march, she floats!"

"Oh, great!" snapped Ginny loudly, her eyes blazing angrily. "So you hate her too! I should've known better than to expect - "

"Ginny, please!" interjected Hermione hastily. "You're not helping!"

"FINE!" squawked Ginny, turning her back to Hermione and kicking at the ground in frustration.

Hermione sighed and took a deep breath before pressing on. "Cho, you've got to tell them to stop what they're doing, really. I mean how far are they going to go?"

Cho barely listened as she glanced over Hermione's shoulder, seeing Colin Creevy scurry away from a satisfied looking Stewart Ackerly, notepad in hand. He disappeared quickly into the castle.

"Look," said Cho wearily, "nothing I can say is going to dissuade them, all right? It might even encourage them to just try harder."

"That's what I said," interjected Ginny once more, turning back to face the two older girls. "I know these types, Hermione. They're just looking for any sign they're getting to Luna."

Hermione shot her friend a look of irritation. "Look," she said to Cho, "can't you at least talk to Flitwick?"

"She won't like it!" warned Ginny.

Hermione turned on her brusquely. "Well, Ginny - what would you suggest?" she fumed. "You're the one who came to me with this! Why are you so determined to - "

"I'm just saying," countered Ginny in a carefully measured tone, "that you can't go charging into this blindly. You have to take Luna's feelings into account."

Cho took a half step back. She was becoming very anxious to get away from this conversation.

Hermione gasped. "I'm doing this because of Luna's feelings!" she exclaimed.

"Are you?" asked Ginny. "She's really self_reliant, Hermione, haven't you ever noticed? She likes to handle these things on her own. She won't like it if you start charging in and making - "

"There," said Cho, jumping at the opportunity presented to her, "see? Ginny's summed it up right there, you should listen to her. She's known Loon - Luna longer than any of us have, after all."

Hermione gaped at her. "Cho, how can you say that?" she asked, brown eyes wide with shock. "How would you like to be in Luna's shoes??"

Cho cast her gaze in the direction of the Pitch, obscured though it was by the vine_covered walls enclosing the courtyard.

"I wouldn't mind it as much as you think," she whispered more to herself than to Hermione, leaving the Gryffindor standing open_mouthed as she spun on her heel and headed back inside without saying another word.

* * *

Cho recalled the events of the following evening most vividly.

"Oh, for Rowena's sake will you look at that?" said Mandy Brocklewurst, sneering at the strange dark figure emerging from the castle into the courtyard. Cho and Marietta looked up from their books simultaneously, gasping and ogling at the sight.

"Looks like Orla's bunch have been busy again today," continued Mandy, smiling ruefully. "Never miss a trick, do they?"

Cho gaped at the blacked figure of Luna as the younger girl walked serenely through the courtyard, towel in hand, heading for the castle gate. Although she was pitch black as a raven from head to toe, there was nothing else to indicate anything out of the ordinary, other than her leaving darkish footprints on the cobblestones as she walked.

"Hey Loony!" called out Elenor Branstone from the other side of the courtyard, her Hufflepuff companions pointing and laughing openly at Luna. "You're looking a lot nicer than usual tonight! Tell us your secret, will you?"

A band of Slytherins sitting around the fountain erupted in laughter, though Luna continued along as though no one had uttered anything remotely objectionable.

"So what happened to you?" asked Mandy when Luna drew near. "You look like you've been rolling around in a pile of soot!"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, well," said Luna dreamily, pausing before them and looking at one of her sleeves as though only noticing her rather odd appearance for the first time. "I was helping Orla pick up some things she'd dropped in the hall, you see, but one of her books was rather well cursed as it turns out. Anyway, have any of you seen my wand? It went missing sometime at lunch, and I really do need it back, I have Charms tomorrow."

"Um, no I haven't," answered Cho.

"Nope, sorry," echoed Mandy. Marietta shook her head in the negative, staring at her book and never looking up at the soot_covered girl.

And covered she was. It was all over her, Cho could see. Her robes, already black beforehand, didn't took all that different, though her long, normally dirty blonde hair was now the coloration of the Potion Master's. The only bit of color still visible were her large, misty silver eyes, looking more prominent than ever, surrounded as they were by all the blackness. Cho shuddered. She would not be pleased if something like that happened to her.

Luna nodded serenely and moved off once more in the direction of the gates. Cho swallowed hard. Much as she hated to admit it, things were getting out of hand...

She jumped up from the bench and scurried after Luna, ignoring Mandy's surprised shout behind her. She quickly intercepted the soot-covered girl just as she neared the gates and drew her wand.

"Here," she said softly, waving her wand in a circle over Luna, "I'll scourgify you. Hold still."

Luna smiled dreamily. At least Cho thought she smiled; it was very hard to tell under all that stuff.

"Well, thank you, really, but that's all right," she voiced airily. "Ginny already tried, you see. They've hexed it quite well, actually; it seems to be quite resistant to magical cleaning."

"Oh," said Cho, lowering her wand. "Well, why not try the showers, then? I'm sure with a bit of water that'll come right off."

"I tried, actually," said Luna conversationally. "But they wouldn't let me in, so I thought I'd go wash off in the lake."

She held out her towel as unnecessary evidence of her intentions

"Eh? Who wouldn't let you in?" asked Cho, frankly stunned; her intense anguish of the previous day quickly giving way to an altogether different sensation.

Luna stared at her blankly for several moments. "Well, the others, you know," she said slowly and shrugging slightly. "Anyway, I really do have to go wash up - "

"But - Luna, the water's freezing!" protested Cho, her outrage growing by leaps and bounds at the sight of the laughing Slytherins behind Luna.

"Oh, it's not so bad, really," said Luna vaguely. "I still have a towel, after all. And I am a rather fast runner when I have to, so I'll make it back in plenty of time before hypotherm - "

"No, look," interrupted Cho, holding out her wand. "Here, take it. You can use it to at least stay warm or dry your clothes or something. It's probably not a perfect match but it's still better than freezing. You can give it back tonight, just leave it in the dorm, all right?"

Luna didn't so much glance at the proffered wand, instead staring blankly at Cho, her expression unfathomable.

"Look, will you just take it?" blurted Cho irritably, thrusting her wand closer to the younger girl. Why did she have to just stand there like an idiot?

For just a moment, Cho thought she saw Luna's hand shift slightly, though when she looked down it was back at her side, unmoving. What was wrong with this girl? Was she that thick headed? How'd she ever manage to get sorted into Ravenclaw?

"Well, thank you," said Luna, smiling dreamily. "But I'll be fine, really. I'll just - "

"Oh for - " said Cho in exasperation, grabbing hold of Luna's grimy wrist and shoving the wand in her hand. "Here! Just take it! Merlin's beard!"

She stormed off before Luna could utter any reply, marching briskly past the startled stares of her companions, eyes fixed straight ahead and without saying a word, disappearing into the myriad halls of the castle.

* * *

Cho quietly closed the door behind her and leaned back against it, letting its worn oak surface support her exhausted body as she let out a tired sigh. She rubbed her eyes and looked about the dormitory; her housemates were by now all snugly wrapped in their beds, hardly surprising considering the hour. Indeed, if it hadn't been for the monthly meeting of the Head Students of the four Houses that night, she'd be snoozing peacefully along with her bunkmates at this very moment.

As it was, she pushed off from the door with an effort, judging she had just enough energy left to make it to her waiting bed over by the window. She trudged over, her feet sliding lethargically along the floor, her arms hanging low and limp like an ape's until she finally made bedside. She looked at the beckoning pillows and silently promised to join them in short order.

She hadn't even pulled an arm out of her sleeves when she heard a light pecking at the window; she looked up. Galahad, her grandmother's old tawny owl, was perched on the ledge outside and staring down at her impatiently with large yellow eyes.

Now what? she wondered, flipping open the latch and opening the window, whereupon the owl dropped down onto her bed with a riled hoot. Judging from its irritated glare, Cho estimated it had been waiting there for some time.

She hastily opened the drawer of her night stand and fished out several owl treats for the grumpy looking bird before she sat on the edge of the bed and removed the parchment tied to its leg.

She and unwrapped the parchment and turned it right side up.

"Dearest Cho,

How are your studies going? And for that matter, about everything else at Hogwarts? I'm afraid we don't get much news in this part of the continent, aside from Muggle papers and tele, that is.

Although the last four weeks visiting the Americas have been very enjoyable, I must say I am really starting to pine for my dear old Liverpool; I'm certain my watercolors have missed me as much as I've missed them.

By the way, did you know, that here in Alaska, they have the loveliest - "

Cho flipped the parchment over. It went on and on all the way to the bottom of the reverse side.

Well, it's nothing urgent, she concluded, entirely too tired to be able to retain much of it this night anyway. She folded it back up and dropped it in the open drawer, deciding to save it till morning.

It was upon closing the drawer that she noticed her wand wrapped it a sheet of parchment on her night stand. She frowned for a moment, until her tired brain recalled having given it to Luna earlier that evening. She carefully unwrapped the paper, noting a flowing script etched on the inside, curious as to its content. She flipped it over and started to read.

"Dear Cho,

Thank you for loaning me your wand. Although it really wasn't necessary, it was quite sweet of you to offer. I really didn't want to lose it as it wasn't mine, you know, so I gave it to the giant squid for safekeeping while I washed up. You know what they say about the squid, he is quite playful and subject to flights of whimsy, but he does take his job very seriously!

Anyway, I came straight over after I was done. Hope you find it where I left it...

Thank you again,

Luna"

Cho lowered the parchment to her lap and sighed. Had Luna even used her wand?

She couldn't even begin to fathom the girl. Her stubborn refusal to react to the constant persecution from her peers was inexplicable enough, but why did she have to be so equally stubborn about refusing help? Goodness, but the girl made no sense!

She was startled by an annoyed hoot next to her. She'd quite forgotten about Galahad!

"Oh! Sorry about that, you can go," she said softly. "I'll send off a reply to Gran tomorrow, all right?"

With that the owl gave her one last irritated glance and flew off through the window into the night sky.

Cho drew up and closed the window, snapping the latch shut before dropping Luna's parchment down into the drawer. Just as she went to push it shut she spied some more handwriting on the back of the letter. Curious, she took it back out and held it once more up to the moonlight.

"P.S.: You know, I've noticed you do seem rather sad lately. If I may make a suggestion? If you ever go to the kitchens, ask Dobby to make you one of his decadent chocolate puddings with strawberries on top, it has a very therapeutic quality to it (not to mention it's also rather sublime!).

P.P.S.: I hope you don't mind, I borrowed your quill to write this, mine seems to have wandered off..."

"What??" whispered Cho to no one in particular, frowning in confusion at the parchment before her. She re_read the sheet to make sure she hadn't somehow misread the words.

That's what it says, she concluded, though it hardly served to clarify matters any. Chocolate pudding? Strawberries? Wandering quills? Why did the girl have to be so consistently nonsensical about everything?

Well, thought Cho, she was right about one thing...

The last few weeks had been some of Cho's worst at Hogwarts. Every time she'd seen Harry that year her heart had pained her terribly; even more so the when she'd see him with Luna - the two were obviously forming a close friendship and perhaps more...

But why did she feel that way? There was nothing left to salvage, that was painfully clear. It couldn't do any good to keep hoping for the impossible...

She looked at the note in her hands. She couldn't keep going like this, she realized. She'd been miserable all year, and what had it gotten her? She had to put it behind her once and for all. When she really stopped to think about it, Luna had never truly done anything to merit what she was going through.

And for that, she would need to make her peace with Luna. In fact, it was her inability to do just that which had come so close to costing the girl her life a few days before. Cho shuddered at the thought; could she really have allowed pettiness to have blinded her thoroughly? It hardly seemed possible, but the events of recent days seemed to indicate otherwise...

She threw the note back in the drawer and pushed herself off the bed. She made her way quickly to the staircase, her legs finding renewed energy. Even if she had to wake her...

She descended the stairs to the tower's fifth floor dormitory. She entered the room quietly, quickly realizing her quarry's absence upon noting the glaring dearth of furnishings in one part of the dormitory. It now seemed as though Luna's trunk and night stand had joined her bed somewhere in the realm of oblivion.

Cho glanced up and took a half step back. There was a large banner hanging from the ceiling over where a student had once slept. She strained to make out the words in the dim moonlight...

"NO FREAKS OR LOONS ALLOWED."

Cho gasped. That's...oh, that's...

She leaped in the air and violently snatched the banner out of the air with one hand, tearing it from the ceiling before ripping it up furiously into tiny bits. She threw the shredded pieces in a rage at the nearest bed.

"YOU - YOU DESPICABLE - "

"Eh...what..." the nearest girl mumbled, stirring groggily from her slumber.

Cho was shaking with fury, her eyes stinging with tears.

"ANIMALS! ALL OF YOU!" she screamed, before turning on her heel and slamming the door behind her with such force that the hinges creaked ominously.

She fell back against the door and slid down to the floor, tears of fury streaming down her cheeks as she weeped for reasons she couldn't quite understand.

It's not right, she screamed in her thoughts, no one deserves that!

She wiped her eyes as best she could with trembling hands. Why was she sobbing so uncontrollably? She didn't even like Luna, really!

But nothing, absolutely nothing could excuse the kind of mistreatment Cho was witnessing. A lying fibber Luna might be, but she'd certainly never done anyone any harm, as no one in their right mind would believe her stories anyway. But this was going beyond cruelty...

Cho waited until her sobs gradually subsided and her breathing slowed to a more manageable rate, wiping her tear stained face on her sleeves, her damp hands by now having little benefit. Cho knew it couldn't go on like this. Luna had not only lost virtually all her possessions (including her wand!), but now, she no longer even had a home within Hogwarts, no small corner of the castle to call her own. Something had to be done, and soon.

But what exactly? She recalled Ginny's warnings to Hermione Granger the previous day. How would Luna react if Cho went to Flitwick with all this?

Where was she, anyway? It was well past midnight now; where would she go now that she no longer had a place to sleep? Cho thought. What if -

Cho wiped her eyes one last time before pushing herself up from the floor. She descended the staircase, making her way down the twisting steps to the Common Room, whereupon she spied Luna's unmoving form in the same divan she'd found her sleeping in two days before, her Ravenclaw robes draped over her once more in their improvised role.

Cho hadn't noticed her there when she'd passed through earlier, though this was hardly surprising considering she'd been virtually sleepwalking at the time.

She quietly took the other chair on the other side of the fireplace. There were no books stacked neatly on the table now, nor quill or parchment, for that matter. There was just Luna herself huddled forlornly under her robes.

And yet, the girl did not carry a sad countenance in her sleep; indeed, she looked strangely peaceful, her head resting against the nook of the chair's backrest with her robes tucked snugly under her chin, as though mercifully oblivious to her ever worsening predicament.

Cho sighed. What was there to do? Luna couldn't go on with her schooling without a quill and parchment at the very least, she knew. Yet she had the distinct impression that Luna would politely decline any replacements Cho might proffer. Why did she have to be so frustratingly independent?

An idea flashed in Cho's mind. What if she were to run upstairs, get a quill and some parchment, and simply leave them on the table here next to her? That way it would be anonymous. Would Luna finally put her pride (or whatever it was) aside and accept a tiny bit of help? Cho thought it was worth a try.

Which is the very moment she realized two large silver eyes were staring back at her.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise, instinctively drawing back quickly even though they were well separated by the table between them. "I - I'm sorry, Luna, I didn't mean to wake you."

The girl smiled sleepily and drew her robes up tighter as she gave a slight shiver.

"That's all right," she voiced softly. "I would've had to wake up soon to change sides anyway. If I didn't my legs would get rather numb come morning, you know."

Cho forced a smile, though she felt her emotions threatening to rise uncontrollably within her once more.

"Luna," she said quickly, hoping that talking would help alleviate the anguish she was feeling right now, "I - I've got a spare quill I can let you have; I'm sure I can get Marietta to part with a few reams of parchment too, she has loads - "

Luna smiled and stetched lazily, her mismatched socks peeking out from under her makeshift blanket.

"Well, that's quite sweet of you, really, but I can manage," she said. "Anyway, what are you doing down here? It's rather late, isn't it? Your wand isn't missing, is it?"

Cho blinked. "No, it's not the wand, Luna. I...I was just..."

She took a deep breath. The time had come to put her cards on the table.

"Look," said Cho, struggling to keep her emotions from overwhelming her, though she noted a slight quiver nevertheless in her own voice, sounding strangely disembodied, "I was just down to your dorm, Luna...and...well...everything's gone!"

Luna stared at her blankly.

Cho waited for some reaction. Seeing none forthcoming, she pressed on. "Didn't you hear? There's nothing left, they've taken everything! Your bunkmates!"

"Yes, I know," voiced Luna softly. "It's not so bad, though, really. Ginny's been keeping my schoolwork in her trunk since yesterday, so I - "

"Arrggh!" exclaimed Cho, seriously tempted to pull her hair out by the roots. "Come off it, Luna! Will you stop pretending? I'm trying to help, okay? Stop trying to make believe everything's just peachy all the time!"

Luna blinked. Once.

"I never said it was," she said slowly in a very measured tone. "But it's not good to dwell on bad things, you know. I find it tends to make people miserable."

Cho gaped at her. "You...you're deluding yourself, Luna!" she said. "Just fight back, for heaven's sake! Why do you let yourself be their doormat like that?"

Luna seemed positively puzzled by Cho's suggestion. "Why would I fight back?"

"Why??" asked Cho, stupefied. "Because they're going to drive you mad, is why!"

Luna smiled serenely. "No, I don't think there's any chance of that," she said confidently. "Actually, they seem to be wasting a lot of time and energy on trying, really. It's quite odd, don't you think? I much prefer to spend my time doing things that I find interesting."

"I can't believe this," said Cho in exasperation. "Wake up, Luna! How can I help if you won't even admit there's a problem?"

Luna smiled. "Oh, well, they'll tire eventually, you know," she said. "They always do, in the end."

Cho was flabbergasted. "I just - this - I can't believe - have you ever told anyone about what goes on?? What do your parents say about all this? Or do they even know?"

For once, Luna's gaze faltered, her large silver eyes staring at the foot of Cho's chair.

"Luna?" asked Cho gently, becoming quite concerned at the girl's sudden change in demeanour.

Luna looked back up at her, a strange smile forming on her face.

"No," she said softly, "they don't."

With that, Luna shifted over to the other side of the divan, leaning her head into the corner of the chair's padded backrest, closing her eyes and tucking her robes in snugly under her chin once more.

"Well, goodnight," she whispered, effectively and unexpectedly putting an end to the conversation.

Cho stared at her for several moments, stunned and regretful, before rising from her chair and making her way slowly to the staircase leading up to the dormitories. She hadn't even had the chance to talk to Luna in any meaningful way, but there was no question of pressing the matter right now; Cho had the distinct impression she'd touched some sort of deep_rooted nerve.

She climbed the first three steps before pausing, casting back one last glance at Luna. Her heart sank at the sight of the girl, her eyes open more and glistening, as she stared blankly into the softly crackling fireplace with her mouth slightly open as though in a daze.

Cho swallowed hard.

Sweet dreams, Luna...