“Oh, um… hello, Hermione,” Jacqui stammered. “Morning!”
Hermione huffed and dropped her book-bag onto the desk. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Harry and Ron arguing quietly. Harry noticed her looking and elbowed Ron, but Hermione faced forward again before she could catch his eye.
“Having another row with Ron,” Jacqui asked sympathetically.
“What?!”
“Well, you always fight,” she explained. “You’re worse than my parents!”
Hermione blushed crimson and pretended to be reading the text. Suddenly, a balled-up piece of parchment landed on top of her open book. She looked over her shoulder at Ron, who was looking back at her glumly. She unwrapped the parchment and saw that he’d written her a note:
Hermione:
I’m stupid and nasty and insensitive and mean and horrible, please don’t be mad at me anymore.
Hermione layed the parchment out, smoothing it with her hands, and began writing.
I think you’re forgetting something.
She folded the parchment neatly and tossed it back at Ron with a very highly raised eyebrow. A moment later, the parchment came sailing back.
Okay… I’m cruel and heartless and a bully and a brute and my ears are too big. What bloody else?
Hermione almost laughed as she read his note, but then sternly reminded herself that she was still mad at him. She feigned carelessness and tossed the note right back to him, without a reply. A minute later, she looked back out of the corner of her eye. Ron and Harry were deliberating quietly amongst themselves. A moment later, the note came sailing back, this time landing on Jacqui’s book. Jacqui handed Hermione the note with a smirk. In it, Ron had written one last message in his thick, scribbled handwriting:
You’re very pretty.
Hermione smiled to herself. Everything was forgiven. What a beautiful day it was!
After class, Hermione joined Ron and Harry as they walked down to Potions. Neville caught up to them, panting.
“Are you all actually going to class?” Neville whined.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” Harry said with a grin. “Snape is going to flip his wig!”
“That’s exactly why I want to miss it,” Neville explained. His voice quivered. “Imagine the mood he’ll be in when he sees what Luna’s wearing!”
Ron laughed, grabbing Neville by the shoulder. “It’ll be worth it!”
“Come on,” Neville gasped. “One of you punch me in the face so I can go to the hospital wing!”
Ron and Harry simply shook their heads as Hermione put a protective arm around Neville. If it wasn’t for her, he’d be utterly hopeless in Potions.
When they entered the classroom, Luna was already inside. She was sitting alone, however, because her necklace of garlic cloves was quite pungent. Although she was sitting alone at her desk, the other Ravenclaws were rallied around her.
“This could be the last day of your life,” said a girl named Emily with light brown hair. “You’ll go out a hero!” She stuck her hand out for a high-five, but Luna just stared blankly at Emily’s palm.
“Shhh,” said Shivon, another Ravenclaw girl with short blonde hair and a smattering of freckles. “Snape’s coming!”
Every student in the room was biting their lip as Snape entered the classroom. But instead of sweeping dramatically to the front of the class, he stopped in his tracks halfway. He had caught site of the back of Luna’s robes. There, in fiery letters, read the words:
Snape is a Vampire
Snape was utterly silent for almost a full minute until,
“Out of your seat, Miss Lovegood!
Snapes sudden outburst caused everyone to jump in their seats. Luna, however, serenely arose from her seat and stood to face the professor. His black, beady eyes fell to Luna’s garlic necklace.
“What on Earth are you wearing?” Snape hissed. Luna pulled on her string lightly to show him.
“Garlic, Professor,” she said plainly. “It wards off vampires. Not affected, are you?”
Snape angrily snatched the garlic necklace off her neck and threw it on the ground. He was fuming.
“Crikey,” Luna mumbled to herself. “You undead really hate garlic, then?”
Snape had had it by then. He screamed angrily that she was to serve two weeks detention, suffer fifty points from Ravenclaw, and immediately visit Professor Dumbledore. No one had heard him scream so loud in all their years at Hogwarts. When he finished, Luna hummed lightly as she walked out of the classroom, leaving her string of garlic on the floor. The moment Snape turned his back, Shivon reached down and snatched it up into her book-bag. She certainly wasn’t going to take any chances with the blood-sucking Potions professor.
By lunchtime, Luna was a Hogwarts legend. The Great Hall was buzzing with wildly overactive stories about what had happened in class.
Lavender slid into the seat next to Hermione, completely ignoring her heaping plate of food.
“Did you hear?” Lavender squealed. “Some people are saying that Snape tried to bite Luna, and she shoved garlic in his mouth!”
Ron swallowed a forkful of peas and carrots. “I’d heard Snape had been sacked, but I knew it was too good to be true.”
Hermione looked over to the Ravenclaw table, trying to catch a glimpse of Luna. The fiery lettering was gone from her robes, but they still reeked a bit like smoke and garlic. Her housemates were clapping her on the back fervently.
“I guess they’ve forgiven her for losing all those house points,” Ginny said hopefully.
“When’s the last time Ravenclaw won, anyway?” Harry asked. “Doesn’t even matter, look how happy they are.”
“For now,” Ron said in a low voice. “If she was in our house and lost all those points, I’d be seething!”
Hermione leaned forward, speaking quite seriously. “Snape is going to have Luna serve each of her detentions with him! He’s going to make her absolutely miserable!”
Ron shook his head. “I don’t think anything can make that girl miserable.”
Suddenly, Hermione smiled to herself. She looked around the table before announcing, “Truth or Dare?”
Harry and Ron put their heads down, and Ginny leaned back in her seat.
“Dare!” Parvati volunteered, arching her thick eyebrows.
Hermione reached into her book-bag and pulled out a small compact mirror. She held it out to Parvati.
“I dare you to give this to Luna, to take with her to detention with Snape.”
Parvati grinned wickedly. “You’re on.”