As Luna walked alone onto Platform 9 3/4 she took note of the dreary silence of all the others and in that instant she realized that things were definitely going to be different that year. She skipped down the way, with the slightest spark of hope in her heart that she would stumble across her friends.

She wanted to see Harry, looking slightly sullen, and yet excited to get away from his dreadfully lonely summer. She longed to hear the affectionate bickering of Ron and Hermione as Ron’s owl squawked and hooted. She hoped to see Neville standing awkwardly with Trevor in his hands. She wanted to run happily into Ginny’s arms, embracing her dearest friend tightly.

She allowed her grey eyes to scour the crowds, in search of her impossible dream. They finally came to rest on a frowning girl with flaming red hair. She noted the hint of recognition, but quickly pushed it away, never had she seen Ginny look that depressed and hopeless, not after one of her fights with Dean, or even when Harry told her they couldn’t be together.

Sure enough though, standing next to this almost familiar girl, was an almost familiar boy. His shoulders hunched in a unconfident way, his hair slightly messy after clearly having been fussed with, and gripped in his hands a small toad, but his eyes were empty.

Unable to locate her friends, she decided instead to approach these two.

“Hullo Almost Ginny, Almost Neville.” She nodded her head in a friendly way. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen my friends? I’m worried they might have been carried off by a Dabberblimp. They’re incredibly dangerous you know.”

This provoked a brief hint of a smile on the faces of both Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom, and Luna instantly changed her mind. “Oh, there you are!”

Ginny’s arms quickly wrapped around her in the embrace she had been longing for. “Luna! I was so worried about you. Doesn’t seem like many people have come back this year, the muggle borns have gone on the run.” Ginny stepped back and looked around at the other students around them, her eyes saddening again. “And it doesn’t seem they are the only ones.”

The second Ginny’s arms were away from her, Neville’s quickly replaced them. He pulled her tightly against him for a brief moment before he released her and stepped quickly and awkwardly away.

Luna at this moment became even more sure that Neville’s head was filled with an unusually high count of Wrackspurts. She tilted her head, eyes wide, hoping she might catch a glimpse of one even without her glasses. The only results of this though, were the immediate reddening of the boys face and an attention seeking cough from Ginny.

Luna turned towards her friend and questioned airily; “Where’s Ron?”

Biting her lower lip for a brief moment and swallowing slightly Ginny managed a quick response. “He’s off for a while… he’s been… ill.”

“Oh, I see, perhaps he’s caught whatever it was that made Hermione look queasy and faint whenever she caught sight of him.” Blinking innocently she continued. “Or it might just be the dragon pox; I hear that’s been incredibly common with students who aren’t returning this year. My father says it’s from sleeping with their windows shut, keeps the miniature dust dragons from being able to visit one another and makes them a little cranky, even dust dragons need friends.”

Ginny tried to smile, but worry and anxiety overwhelmed her face, and she couldn’t muster up the faintest grin, so it was Neville who responded this time. “Actually, it’s spattergroit.”

“Do you know what causes spattergroit?” Luna asked in a rhetorical question asking tone. It was at that moment that the train pulled up and Ginny, quickly, ceasing the opportunity to avoid this conversation, headed towards one of the opening doors. “Come on guys!”

Luna took a step after her, but paused feeling a slight pressure on her arm, which, as she turned, she realized was Neville’s hand. The moment she was facing him he hastily removed it from contact and returned it to his side. “Um… maybe you could um… tell me later… you know… what causes spattergroit, I’m curious to know.”

Once again she tilted her head to examine him, but this time rather than looking for wracksurts, she looked to his eyes, searching them for the honesty that she so easily found, rather than the mockery that she was so used to finding in others. This boy was strange, like no other she’d met before. For a moment the two just stood there, bodies rushing past them headed for the familiar territory of the train, looking into one another’s eyes.

Neville’s trance like state was broken when he was violently crashed into. “Watch where you’re going you filthy squib.” The voice of Draco Malfoy was unmistakable, right down to the blood boiling effect it had on him.

Barely giving him time to stew, Luna gently took the hand of her friend. “Don’t listen to him Neville, you’re a brilliant wizard.” She tugged gently on his hand, signaling that he was supposed to follow, then let go and walked towards the door nearest where Ginny sat, tapping on the glass of her compartment.

Malfoy and his cronies snickered. “Lumpy and Looney, I suppose even the freaks find someone eventually.” This comment immediately deepened the shade of red that Neville’s face has adopted, but surprisingly, it wasn’t out of anger. He brushed the comment off his mind and hurriedly followed the fair haired girl onto the train.