It began to rain in the Room of Requirement. And it smelled FOUL.
"Myrtle, cut it out!" yelled Harry.
"LET GO OF MY HARRY, HE'S MINE!" screamed Myrtle, tears gushing from her eyes like an overflowing loo. Luna clung to Harry even tighter, not caring whatsoever about the smell, nor about Myrtle's somewhat obvious disapproval. This just infuriated Myrtle, who screamed like a child throwing a tantrum, and flew out at a terrifying rate.
Conveniently, the Room of Requirement provided Harry and Luna with a potion to deodorize their clothing, and the room magically cleaned itself, in a manner of fashion. "Here, Harry, let me do yours for you," Luna said. She did a fair job of deodorizing Harry's clothes, after she had done her own. Meanwhile, Harry continued to study as best as he could, amidst the obvious distractions. Then Luna sat down in a chair opposite Harry, quietly thinking.
After a time, Luna asked "Can I help you with anything else, Harry?" Harry looked at Luna, and couldn't help but show how much he truly cared for her and appreciated her at this moment. For the first time Harry saw Luna differently. He no longer saw her as the quiet, unusual, but loyal friend. Nor did he see her as a somewhat regular study partner. Harry now saw her as someone who made him feel uncomfortably warm inside. It was as though Myrtle had accomplished the opposite of what she intended.
Neither of them had noticed until now that there was a comfortable-looking couch at the far end of the room. "Why don't we take a break for a while, and relax a bit?" Luna suggested. Harry thought he could use a break, and a shower too, but the potion had relieved the smell. So a break would be fine. Harry went over to the couch, and sat down, leaving plenty of room for Luna. Luna plopped herself down almost on top of Harry's lap, leaving him very little room for his arms. He had no choice but to put one of them around Luna, or risk getting a cramp. "I can't believe I'm doing this," Harry thought to himself. He remembered Cho being in this very same room, the first time he had risked hugging her, but Cho had been like a river of tears, always thinking about herself... not unlike Myrtle, in a way.
So the two of them spent what seemed like the next few minutes relaxing on the couch, Luna leaning comfortably up against Harry, almost sitting in Harry's lap, Harry with his arm around Luna, not saying anything. Then, Harry wondered what time it was, and a clock appeared on the wall. "TWO FORTY FIVE!" he yelled. Luna jumped up, a bit scared. "And I don't have my invisibility cloak, or the map! We're going to get detention, for sure!" He dared not use a Summoning Charm, for that would have received more attention than sneaking about the halls, way past everyone's bed time. And Luna needed to get back to the Ravenclaw dormitory.
"I can help you, if you like, Harry."
"Myrtle, is that you?" Harry asked.
"Yes, Harry. I'll even help your friend." Myrtle had a snide look on her face.
Harry had no choice but to trust Myrtle. "Alright, Myrtle, but we take Luna back first. Can you bring me my invisibility cloak? You know which one it is, right?"
"Sure, Harry, I've seen you wear it before." Myrtle left, then a moment later, entered the room with the invisibility cloak.
"You weren't seen, were you?"
"Oh, no" she replied. "I don't even need to use the cloak to be invisible. Nobody notices moping, Moaning Myrtle, even when Myrtle is sad." Myrtle was pouting a bit, but at least she wasn't crying this time.
And so, Myrtle led Harry and Luna towards the Ravenclaw Common Room. She would occasionally lead them quickly into an empty room to wait for the coast to be clear. Finally they reached the Ravenclaw Common Room. Then, Luna parted company with them, giving Harry a quick kiss on the cheek, and Harry's face turned red. Myrtle said nothing. Then Myrtle led Harry towards the Gryffindor Common Room. Myrtle wasn't saying anything, and that made Harry nervous, not knowing what to expect. Yet they never ran into anyone else, so there were no incidents along the way.
After Harry arrived back at his dorm, he was thinking about Luna. "I hope Luna got back ok," thinking to himself that Myrtle might try something horrible. He really wished he had another invisibility cloak for her. "But Hermione had managed ok before, when she Ron and I had been wandering about the halls a few times under similar circumstances. Luna's a smart witch, she'll manage." Yes, Luna was smart. Very smart. 'Hermione smart,' even. Harry couldn't stop thinking about Luna, until he drifted to sleep, and even for a bit after that.
That morning, however, things were even worse than the day before. The heart-shaped drawing on the wall from the previous night (cleaned off by the house-elves) had been re-drawn, with a large X through it. Another one like it had been drawn on the opposite side of the room, said "LL + HP." The laughter was only exceeded by the smell of pee that permeated the room. "Myrtle was crying again," Harry thought. And of course he was right.
"What a mess my life has become," he thought. "Moaning Myrtle, acting like she's in love with me... won't leave me alone... and now Luna... and I can't afford anything like that right now, not with Voldemort and the prophecy and all."
Nearly Headless Nick had once said that ghosts became ghosts because they couldn't pass on, possibly because they feared death, but there seemed to be other reasons, too. Myrtle had wanted to haunt the girl that tormented her, and had already once been dealt with by the Ministry of Magic. Too bad about Myrtle, but why did she have to behave like this now? And what could Harry do about it, that wouldn't seem cruel for Myrtle?
Harry left the Gryffindor Common Room, and headed towards the Great Hall for breakfast. When he arrived, Hermione and Ron were unusually quiet, even with each other. "The last time they were THIS quiet," Harry thought, "Ron had been angry at Hermione over Viktor Krum. I hope it's nothing like that. I have too much going on already." He remembered how bad things really got before, when Ron and Hermione weren't speaking.
Harry tried to start up a conversation with Hermione, asking her about a particular charm he was reading about that would help to repel certain types of curses. But Hermione only said, "Yes, I believe that could be very helpful to an Auror," and that was about it, uncharacteristically curt for Hermione, who loved to demonstrate her limitless knowledge, especially to Harry or Ron. Ron said absolutely nothing at all, which just made Harry more nervous about the situation than before. Harry couldn't figure out what it was that was bothering them, aside from the brown writing on the wall. "But that couldn't be it," he thought.
Then, Harry overheard one of the Ravenclaws talking nearby. It was worse than he could have imagined. Nobody knew where Luna Lovegood was! She wasn't in the Great Hall, and nobody had seen her the previous night, or that morning. At first Harry was afraid to ask anyone about Luna, because of all of the rumors, but he screwed up his courage and went over to the Ravenclaw table to ask about her, expecting the worst.
"Luna wasn't in her bed last night, or this morning. We don't know where she is."
Harry was in shock. Luna didn't make it back to her dormitory? What could have happened to her? Harry could only think of one thing, and it wasn't pleasant. The sudden thought of losing another one of his friends just tore him up inside, beyond all logic or reason, and he ran out of the room and back up to the Gryffindor tower, not caring who noticed (which meant that everyone did). Fortunately, nobody was in his dormitory, and he yelled "MYRTLE, WHERE ARE YOU? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH LUNA?"
"Hello, Harry." Myrtle looked a little smug. "I haven't done anything with your friend. She just didn't want to go to sleep last night, so she left her dormitory. Something kept bothering her." Myrtle's occasional sadistic nature had surfaced once again. It happened before, with Hermione. Now it was Luna's turn to be recipient. Harry was furious!
Then he suddenly realized where Luna might be, so he ran over to the Room of Requirement, nearly knocking over some late-rising Gryffindors on his way through the Common Room. He went inside, and sound asleep, on a very comfortable looking bed, was Luna. Her clothes had been nicely folded and placed on a chair, and had been cleaned for her as well. Harry was still breathing hard after the run, but Luna continued to sleep, rather soundly. A nearby clock chimed and then she awoke, and saw Harry standing there. "This room knows everything," she commented. Harry was afraid to guess what she meant by that.
"Apparently Luna really needed a place to sleep last night," Harry thought. "The Room of Requirement doesn't work unless you have a real need, and of course it's been allowing me to use it to study, but it's also been allowing Luna to enter while I'm in here." Luna started to get out of bed, and Harry quickly noticed she didn't appear to be wearing a night shirt of any kind. He carefully turned around, not too quickly but quickly enough, and said "I'll see you later, ok?" and hurried outside. Oddly, Luna didn't seem to mind at all if Harry happened to see her changing clothes. It was almost like she wanted Harry to see her.
"This is just too much for me to deal with right now," he thought. "I need to stick with my studies... I have to defeat Voldemort... I can't let Voldemort kill me or any of my friends... the world is depending upon me and I have to succeed, I have to. I have to. The prophecy..." Harry had a single focus in his mind most of the time, one that drove him to spend nearly all of his time studying, and he wasn't about to deviate from it for even a second. But last night was nice. It was too nice, in fact. He can't afford that kind of thing again. It was too much of a distraction, and he had to stay focused. The weight of the world was on his shoulders, or so that's how it seemed to Harry. And he was willing to bear it.
Harry went back down to the Great Hall, just in time to scarf down the rest of his breakfast. Luna arrived right afterwards, and poured herself some strong tea. Everyone was alternating between watching Luna, and watching Harry. By now, the entire school knew about Luna's unexplained absence from her bed, for rumors were flying faster than bats escaping from hell. The worst of them seemed to involve Myrtle as well as Luna, in a twisted and grotesque way. And Harry hadn't been seen by anyone until that morning, which made everything worse. And with Luna apparently gone all night, it was everybody's guess where the two of them had been, and most of them were closer to the truth than Harry wanted them to be. Harry already had a reputation for wandering the halls at night. Luna didn't, at least not until now.
"Harry, is something going on between you and Luna," Ron asked, breaking his silence from before. He was honestly concerned about Harry, but also very curious. And before Harry could answer, Professor McGonagall came into the Great Hall, "Mr. Potter, Miss Lovegood, my office, now!"
Harry thought he could hear snickering, from the rafters. And it wasn't Peeves. They had been 'set up.'