Luna Lovegood and the Half-Blood Prince

March 5, 1995

Luna was almost finished with breakfast when the mail arrived. The cold, windy weather had delayed it somewhat, and the owls flew inside looking ruffled and grateful for the warm air in the Great Hall. A large barn owl dropped a rolled-up copy of Witch Weekly next to her cereal bowl. Luna eagerly opened it. The cover advertised a recipe for magical sponge cake, and an exposé about the true identity of one of the members of the Weird Sisters: "Lute Player Herman Wintringham Is Really The Half-Blood Prince!"

Luna calmly turned to the recipe. She knew her Uncle Lowell would appreciate it if she sent it to him. He had been attempting to cook for himself and her father since she'd been away at school, and while his cooking skills were slowly improving, he could use all the help he could get. Luna cut the recipe out, added it to an envelope containing a letter she'd written the previous night, flagged down the owl that had just delivered a letter to a fellow Ravenclaw student, and sent her envelope on its way. The owl looked unhappy about having to go back out into the raw March weather, but Luna gave it a piece of toast crust and it reluctantly took off.

Taking a few hurried spoonfuls of cereal, Luna got to her feet, tucked her magazine into her bag, and hurried off to her Ancient Runes class. As this was her favorite subject, Luna wasn't tempted to get out her magazine in class. Instead she listened raptly as Professor Freya discussed ways of disguising runes so Muggles couldn't read them.

When the class ended, Luna headed directly to the History of Magic classroom, hoping to get there early enough to have time to read some of her magazine before class started. When she arrived, however, Professor Binns, assuming her early arrival meant she was actually interested in his subject, went into a long discourse filled with stories of house-elf enslavement and goblin rebellion. He reluctantly stopped when the rest of the class arrived, and began a long, boring lecture on the history of wizarding royalty.

Luna quietly removed her magazine and History of Magic textbook from her bag, tucked the magazine inside the textbook and propped the book in front of her. She would be able to read the magazine and Professor Binns would think she was referring to the textbook. Before she could open the magazine, however, the droning of Professor Binns' voice had put her into such a stupor that she spent the rest of class in a sort of trance, and never read a word of her magazine.

The noise of the rest of the students leaving the classroom brought Luna out of her lethargy. She gathered up her things and hurried out of the classroom before Professor Binns could begin a repeat of his earlier performance. As she walked toward the Great Hall for lunch, she heard other students discussing the recent Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. She herself had found watching the task very boring, as all of the action had taken place far below the surface of the lake. She had spent the time peeking over the shoulder of the Potions Master and trying to figure out the answers to the clues of the pocket crossword puzzle he was doing before he wrote them down.

When the crossword was almost finished, however, the Task became exciting as the Gryffindor Champion, Harry Potter, had rescued three of the supposed hostages, not just his own. Luna had watched as they all came ashore and thought that the red-haired friend of Harry Potter's was actually quite cute when dripping wet.

As Luna passed the Gryffindor table, she saw that same red-haired boy telling anyone who would listen all about his experience beneath the lake's surface. Luna chose a seat at the Ravenclaw table that was close enough that she could watch him while she ate.

The boy's name was Ronald Weasley, Luna had learned that much. His sister, Ginny, was in Luna's Herbology class. Luna watched him until he gave up his narration in favor of eating a hearty lunch. He reminded Luna a bit of her Uncle Lowell in how he seemed to inhale his food. Once he started eating, Luna lost interest in watching him and remembered her magazine.

Removing her copy of Witch Weekly from her bag, Luna flipped through it, looking for the article that mentioned the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. Finally, she came to the very center of the magazine. On one side Luna recognized a familiar face: the Gryffindor Champion Harry Potter. The article seemed to be about a supposed romance between him and his friend Hermione Granger. She remembered how in December, Luna's dorm-mates could talk of nothing else but the fact that the Granger girl had attended the Yule Ball with the Durmstrang Champion. Luna was not interested in gossip about boyfriends and girlfriends, especially since this article didn't seem to have much truth in it. Luna herself was often the butt of jokes due to misunderstandings and misjudgments about what kind of person she was, and she wasn't about to indulge in reading things like that about others.

The opposite page, however, looked very interesting. There was a photo of the Weird Sisters, with a flashing arrow pointing to the Lute player, Herman Wintringham. Another photo showed an ornate gold ring with a dark stone that had an irregular crack through it. Luna happily folded the magazine and propped it against a jug of pumpkin juice, intending to read the article as she ate.

Suddenly, she became aware that one of the Slytherin girls was approaching, trying to look at the other side of her magazine. As Luna stared, the Slytherin girl laughed out loud and attempted to grab the magazine. "Draco will really laugh when he sees this!" the Slytherin girl exclaimed. Luna grabbed back, and a short tug-of-war ensued. Luna was far out-weighed by the older and stronger girl, and soon the Slytherin girl was stalking off with Luna's magazine and Luna was left with a paper cut that was bleeding into what was left of her cereal.

Luna sat sucking her cut finger and staring toward the group of Slytherin students that had gathered around the magazine. She was not surprised that none of her fellow Ravenclaws had come to her aid. As she watched, one of the Slytherins, a blond boy with a pale face, turned and flashed a button that read "POTTER STINKS" across the hall. Luna sighed. More gossip and misrepresentation was about to be spread about, and it seemed that Luna would never learn anything about the enigmatic Half-Blood Prince.