Luna Lovegood and the Half-Blood Prince

November 7, 1992

Luna sat in the Quidditch stands, but she was only vaguely paying attention to the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. She was excited because Professor Flitwick had finally given in to her request for a book from the restricted section of the library. She'd been outside the doors to the library ten minutes before it was scheduled to open that morning, so eager was she to get her nose into this book. She hugged it to herself now, glancing toward the sky to see if it was likely to rain. It felt like a good thunderstorm might blow through at any moment, but the clouds were not particularly dark, so it seemed safe enough. She tucked her wand behind her ear, ready to cast a waterproofing charm on the book if necessary, and began to read.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Luna felt a drop of rain hit her on the top of the head. She quickly waterproofed the book, but continued to read at the top of the left-hand page, trying to concentrate while the Ravenclaws cheered and shouted around her. She was distracted by a magic cracking noise and looked up to see a house elf wearing a dirty pillowcase peeking out from underneath the stands. Luna was so surprised, she dropped her book and it fell under the stands. As she watched the book tumble into the dark, muddy depths below the stands, she heard another loud cracking noise. Looking back to where the elf had been, she saw that he was gone.

"Accio book!" said Luna, glad that she'd taken the time to waterproof it. The book flew into her hands and she settled down to try and read again.

She was aware that something exciting was happening, because the Ravenclaws around her were talking excitedly and pointing. She heard someone say something about a "rogue Bludger," but tried to keep her attention on the book, where the words, "This is yet another important clue about the identity of the Half-Blood Prince," jumped out at her from the bottom of the right-hand page she hadn't read yet.

"I knew it should have a hyphen!" Luna exclaimed. But before she could read more, she heard a blood-curdling scream. Everything happened at once -- the Gryffindor Seeker was hit by a Bludger, and obviously injured, he flew straight at the Slytherin Seeker and suddenly, the match was over! The Gryffindor Seeker had caught the Golden Snitch, and then crashed to the ground. All of the Ravenclaws near Luna, as well as the rest of the students, were rushing down onto the field to see what had happened to him.

Luna, intent on reading more about the Half-Blood Prince, decided to stay where she was for a few more minutes. She had just found the spot where she'd left off when she was forced to duck out of the way as the twin Gryffindor beaters sped directly over the stands, hot in pursuit of a Bludger that didn't seem to realize that the match was over. Luna watched them dreamily as they flew up and down and around in crazy corkscrew turns above the Quidditch pitch.

Giving up on her reading for now, Luna climbed down. Soon enough, she was on the ground and watched as Professor Lockhart attempted to heal the Gryffindor seeker's broken arm. One of the Gryffindor students had a Muggle camera and was snapping pictures of the Gryffindor seeker lying on the ground. She heard the Seeker protest that he didn't want Professor Lockhart's help, but Professor Lockhart was not paying attention.

The crowd of students gasped as they saw the result: the Gryffindor seeker appeared to have lost all the bones in his arm. As she watched, two other Gryffindors helped him to his feet and they set off toward the hospital wing. Luna knew he'd be in better hands with a qualified healer. Ordinary witches, be they professors or not, were quite often unable to perform healing spells correctly.

Luna remembered her mother telling her how she, Luna, had been born blind. Her mother had been beside herself when she discovered this, and was unable to allow herself to wait for a healer's help. Though she was an extraordinary witch, Luna's mother had had no formal training in the healing arts. Her spell had given Luna better-than-perfect eyesight, but left her with strangely protuberant eyes, so that some thought she looked as if she was constantly surprised.

"There you are, Luna!" Professor Flitwick brought Luna out of her reverie, calling to her as she entered the castle. "I've been looking all over for you. Madam Pince tells me you're the one who checked out -- yes, I see you've got the book with you, jolly good! I need it immediately for a project I'm researching."

Luna reluctantly handed the book to Professor Flitwick, who in return gave her a note allowing her to check out not one, but two books on the Twelve-Toed Bombadoo from the restricted section of the library. Luna went up the stairs toward the library, wondering if she'd ever find out more about this elusive Half-Blood Prince.