As she stepped through the gates into the Hogwarts grounds, Luna took a deep breath and looked around, taking the atmosphere in. Hogwarts was just like home, and she had missed it greatly. She felt strangely peaceful when she looked at the high windows of the tall towers and heard the trees purring cheerfully to the beat of the wind and the eerie sounds coming out of the Forbidden Forest. Everything that was damaged during the war had been fully refurbished, looking as good as ever. Everyone seemed happy; even Peeves was back and wreaking havoc at any available opportunity. He had welcomed the second years by spraying everyone with Essence of Hippogriff Muck through an enormous pipe, only stopping when Professor Flitwick threatened to summon the Bloody Baron. The ornate chandeliers were as bright as ever, the ghosts floated through the walls, and everything was in its proper place. There was no sensation of terror or danger looming in the atmosphere anymore. Luna was just delighted to be back, because she had missed Hogwarts even more than usual, as her time there had been cut short when she was taken in Death Eaters during Christmas last term.
She skipped into the Great Hall and admired the magnificent decorations and twinkling stars in the enchanted ceiling. Luna gazed at the starry ceiling through Sorting ceremony, hoping to find out which tiny ball of light was her mother. She had told Luna that when a person died, they became a star in the sky to watch over their loved ones. Every time Luna saw stars in the sky, she felt as though her mother was watching over her, and she never felt lonely because of that comforting thought.
A loud round of applause brought Luna out of her reverie, and she looked at forward. To her surprise, Professor Sprout was conducting the Sorting ceremony. Luna had expected the familiar face of Professor McGonagall to be there; during the holidays when everyone had been wondering who would take Professor Snape’s place at Hogwarts, Ginny had even picked her to be the Headmistress, but she was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Professor Flitwick got up at the end of the Sorting ceremony to welcome new staff members. There were four new additions to the staff - Professors Bobbins, their Potions teacher, Professor Humphrey, their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Kirtle, their Transfiguration teacher and Professor Feilhaber, their Arithmancy teacher.
Professor Vector, who was previously their Arithmancy teacher, had been appointed Headmistress. The Hall was alive with whispers at the news of all the new staffing changes. From across the Gryffindor table, Ginny gave Luna a baffled glance, but she could only give a blank glance in return.
Another surprise came when Professor Vector announced that Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn would no longer be a part of the staff as they had retired; it generated a lot of murmur among the students. But after a moment of shock and general chatter, everyone clapped at full volume for the new appointments.
After a rather unexpected first day back, things began to settle down as the classes progressed. The start of the new term at Hogwarts brought with it a very hectic few weeks. There were mountains of new homework to adjust to – this was N.E.W.T. year for Luna. Everyone else had been moaning about the new teachers, saying they were giving too much homework, but Luna could not find a reason to complain. She loved Hogwarts and welcomed the extra load of work, because it kept her busy.
At the start of the third week, her daddy sent her a post with a letter saying everything was well, and he had also attached and edition of The Quibbler for her. Luna had so much work she couldn’t get around to read even the first page. That afternoon, while Luna sat quietly in her dormitory, another owl arrived on the window with a letter. It was a very tiny, golden-brown owl with chocolate eyes, and she stroked it tenderly after she removed the letter. Before opening the letter, she took a guess that it was from Neville, and once she read it, she found that she was correct.
Dear Luna,
I hope you are doing well at Hogwarts. I’m very sorry for not writing much all summer, but there have been lot of guests coming over to see Gran and me, so I was extremely busy. I didn’t even have time to write one tiny sentence. I’m going to write frequently now. I received Ginny’s letter earlier this summer, and Ron owled me last week. I just wanted to say that I’m with you people, and I’ll try to do whatever I can to help George. I have already started communicating with Harry and Ron, and we’ll soon come up with something. I think it was a great initiative to take, and I’m glad you are also part of it. We’ll definitely be able to do something to help George if we stick together. Take care of yourself.
PS: I’ve heard you have a few new teachers, so what are they like? How are things at Hogwarts?
Neville
Luna folded the letter, and smiled while stroking the tiny owl with her fingers. It was just like Neville to help out his friends whenever they called upon him. She was happy he had written to her, because, for a while, she had been worrying he had stopped being friends with her. She used to have such fears a lot before, but her friends always managed to do something to prove her wrong in the end. She was very grateful for that, and she felt she was extremely lucky to have such wonderful friends. She stood up to get a parchment and quill and began writing her reply. She tied the letter to the owl’s leg, stroked it one last time and let it out of the window, watching it fly far out of sight.
By the end of the third week, Luna’s belongings had started to disappear once again. The first of her possessions to disappear was her pair of Dirigible Plum earrings, followed by her favourite quill and her Spectrespecs. She had, as always, put up a notice in the common room board so that anyone who found her things would return them to her. Luna knew they would be back soon, but she just wished that those who took her stuff would ask her first before they took it. If they did, she’d saved of a lot of trouble looking, but nobody ever confessed.
For the first time in years, she didn’t have to sit alone in the Ravenclaw common room all the time, because Ginny made sure Luna was always with her and Hermione, sitting by the lake or doing homework in the library. At times, they would talk about George and the shop, but these discussions were very limited as they did not know when they would be able to buy Zonko’s and how. Hermione’s greatest worry was the cost of the shop and how to raise the funds. She also pointed out that perhaps this was the reason why they had been delayed in buying the shop, but Ginny remained positive and determined that they would sort something out very soon.
As Luna sat quietly in the very noisy Great Hall for breakfast, wondering about George and the shop, the morning post arrived with hundreds of owls delivering letters and packages to the students. Luna didn’t expect to have a post for the day, because her Daddy had written to her just a few days ago. She had finished her breakfast and decided to leave the Ravenclaw table, where a few girls were staring at her with appalled expressions. She did not even bother to think of what had possibly amazed them, as she walked away from the table quietly.
She chose to greet Ginny and Hermione while passing the Gryffindor table. They were caught in an intense chat, with Hermione looking severely questioning.
‘Please, Ginny, you’re not doing any –? ‘
‘Hermione, just stop interfering!’ shrieked Ginny before realising that her voice had carried to everyone in the Gryffindor table. She looked a bit flustered as a few heads turned in their direction, but she continued to glare at Hermione.
‘Hey, Ginny!’ Luna said, waving cheerfully.
She thought her arrival would stop the argument between Hermione and Ginny. They always seemed to have a disagreement, and every time Luna was left perplexed as she tried to find the reason. Ginny looked startled as Hermione struggled to regain her composure.
‘Oh – hey, Luna,’ Ginny stuttered before she shot a severe look at Hermione for the last time. ‘I was just going to find you! We just received a letter from Ron; he said he and Harry would be visiting Zonko’s soon to see if anything comes out of it, or we have to find another location. I don’t know …’
‘Have you even wondered,’ began Hermione, lowering her tone, ‘where we would get the money to buy the shop? We should have thought this through more thoroughly.’
‘What do you mean, Hermione?’ Ginny asked in confusion.
‘I think,’ Hermione began, looking at Ginny cautiously. ‘My idea of presenting a photo of the twins to George and putting it up on the wall of their shop would have much better, and would help him heal just as well. And we didn’t even consider Ron’s idea of taking him to a game of Quidditch. I think Fleur’s idea of taking him out on vacation wasn’t bad either. But obviously – where’s the adventure in it?’
Hermione looked rather exasperated as she finished her sentence, and Ginny simply looked at her in irritation. Luna didn’t know that any of these ideas had been suggested, but she thought Hermione’s idea would have been worth a try.
‘Listen to yourself, Hermione,’ asserted Ginny said, widening her eyes. ‘How many times are we going to have to go over the same thing? Those were sweet ideas, but do you honestly think any of them would help George?’
‘I don’t think coming up with an outrageous plan to buy a new joke shop for him would either, Ginny,’ said Hermione in a furious tone, as Ginny began to look slightly edgy the more she thought about what Hermione had said.
If Luna had been asked to suggest something, she would have suggested getting a painting of Fred made, so that George would be able to talk to his twin and not feel lonely all the time. Although, it was possible he could hear Fred talking to him without requiring a painting, just like Luna heard her mother calling her when she was lonely.
‘It definitely will help him, Hermione,’ Ginny said defensively after a while, as she recovered from Hermione’s words. ‘It’s what they have both always wanted. It was always their dream, and we all agreed it was the best thing to do.’
Hermione wasn’t wrong in looking out for flaws, but Luna was sure they would be able to do something to solve the problem. Ginny had always comforted her, and Luna thought she should do the same for her at that moment.
‘Don’t worry, Ginny,’ said Luna in an encouraging tone. ‘Maybe Mr Zonko would give us a good discount, because he knows Fred and George well, you know.’
‘Thanks, Luna,’ said Ginny. ‘I hope they do something before the next Hogsmeade trip so that we can get to work on the shop. I’ve started planning how we could decorate the interior.’
Hermione pursed her lips as Ginny gave Luna a cheerful smile. Luna was happy to see that Ginny wasn’t sad anymore, because she liked it much better when all her friends were happy. It made her happy, too. Ginny scuffled in her robes and took out a red waxwing feather quill from her pocket, and Luna instantly recognised it as hers.
‘I snatched it from that prat, Chambers,’ said Ginny, handing the quill to Luna as they left the Great Hall. ‘I overheard him while he smugly told his mates how he had nicked it from under your nose. He seemed very pleased with himself until he got a taste of my Bat Bogey Hex.’
Luna felt sorry for poor Andrew Chambers because Ginny was very good at that hex, but she thanked Ginny for her help. She had always been there for Luna when she needed it. Sometimes, she couldn’t believe she had such wonderful friends who cared for her and helped her all the time.
Luna had never had friends as a young girl, and she had been so used to not having any friends, she felt overwhelmed when she realised she had made so many great friends at Hogwarts. She happily shoved the quill in her bag and was delighted to have got her favourite quill back after so many days. There was an extra spring in her steps as she raced to her Care of Magical Creatures class across the grounds. She loved magical creatures of all types and Hagrid always brought the most amazing ones to class, and he explained every detail about the creatures to the students. Luna was surprised to see only two other people had kept the subject apart from her. Even those who attended the class seemed to be sadly disinterested. Luna thought it was because they were unaware of the wonders of magical creatures. Each creature was unique in its own right, and always came in aid of wizards.
As she neared Hagrid’s hut, she saw Hagrid bringing a large creature with sharp horns towards the class. Romilda Vane clapped her mouth with her hands and let out a gasp, and Derek Beates stepped backward as Hagrid drew forward with the creature. After staring at it for a while, Luna was delighted to realise that the creature was a Graphorn, which was usually found in the mountains of Europe. She had seen a picture of it in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them some time back.
As Hagrid told them about the Graphorn’s features and the vital uses of its horns, Luna listened intensely, but was constantly interrupted by Romilda Vane’s murmurings about the next Hogsmeade weekend, which was to be on the second week of October. She wished Romilda would pay attention to Hagrid instead, because it was a very interesting lesson. Graphorns were very rare creatures, and it was amazing how Hagrid had managed to get hold of one.
That day, everyone was excitedly buzzing about the next Hogsmeade trip and planning how to spend it even though it was almost two weeks away. As the week progressed, things got slightly out of hand, and Professor Kirtle was forced to take ten points off Gryffindor because Romilda Vane had been whispering in class about it.
On Sunday afternoon, Luna set out to the library to complete her homework, because Ginny had told her she wanted them to do their homework together. When Luna reached the library she found Ginny occupying a table. She seemed deep in thought as Luna joined her.
‘I feel like setting Doxies on Professor Bobbins,’ Ginny said impatiently as her eyes remained fixed on the parchment. ‘Why does he have to give us such long essays? Thirteen inches on all the ingredients required for a Confusing Concoction! And he wants us to innovate and experiment. What the hell is that supposed to mean, anyway? And how are we supposed to do it in an essay? It sounds like Fred and George – they love experimenting.’
Potions could have adverse effects if one experimented with them. It reminded Luna of her mother, because she was also fond of experimenting with magic and in the end it had caused her great damage. Luna hadn’t revealed this to anyone, but she had never really liked Potions as a subject from the day she set foot at Hogwarts and found it a rather unnecessary subject that exposed people to dangerous situations.
‘I only like potions when they heal, not hurt,’ Luna answered, as she began to finish her essay. ‘Experiments can hurt people if they go badly wrong.’
‘Fred and George never cared about getting hurt,’ said Ginny hastily, looking up from her homework. ‘Some of their stuff is pure brilliant – even Mum says so.’
‘I would love to take a look at their stuff some time,’ Luna replied, looking thoughtful. She hadn’t seen their shop as yet and it was one of the many places she was very keen to explore.
‘Hey, Luna?’ Ginny asked tentatively. ‘Have you heard from Dean?’
Luna had already begun adding more content to her half-done essay when she vaguely heard the word ‘Dean’ from Ginny’s mouth and stopped writing; she looked at Ginny in confusion.
‘Did you say Dean – Dean Thomas, Ginny?’ asked Luna, perplexed.
‘Yes,’ Ginny muttered, smiling reluctantly. ‘I don’t know – Bill said you two seemed like very good friends, and Fleur said you looked very cute together. Do you have any contact?’
‘Oh,’ Luna said, shaking her head. ‘Dean and I became good friends when we were staying at your brother’s place after Harry rescued us, you know. He was very nice to me throughout, but he hasn’t written to me and I never expected him to. Why were you asking?’
Ginny looked a bit timid though pleased to hear Luna’s response. ‘Umm - I thought you would have kept up a correspondence since you are friends.’
She had never really thought about writing to Dean. She did know that he was going to leave the country with his mother for a short while, but he hadn’t told her the reason. Just then, a bouncing Blibbering Humdinger caught her attention and she followed it with her eyes as it flew about gracefully, spreading a soft glow around the dim library. Its skin had a silvery tone and gave it the ‘extraordinary’ air. Its wings were very light and looked like a very silky net.
‘Do you still like Dean, Ginny?’ Luna asked sincerely, as she snapped out of her thoughts of the Humdinger. She wondered whether that was the reason behind Ginny’s query.
‘Of course not,’ Ginny said, looking alarmed. ‘I mean - I think he could be a good friend, but I never really liked him that way – we just dated.’
‘I’m very sorry Ginny,’ said Luna apologetically, as she looked at Ginny for a split second. ‘No one other than Daddy writes to me - sometimes Neville writes, but that’s it.’
For a second, Luna thought Ginny looked almost delighted to hear her response, but she brushed the thought away, as she noticed the Blibbering Humdinger sitting on one of the shelves. It was the first time she had seen one at the library, so she took a moment to observe its behaviour quietly. It seemed to like the smell of parchment, and was flitting about the books happily, which made Luna realise that it was fond of books. She decided to mention this little observation to her Dad the next time she wrote to him.
‘It’s the same with me – mostly Mum and Ron send me owls these days,’ Ginny said with laugh. ‘Neville and George also write often. It’s nice to hear from George every once in a while, but his letters really don’t say much.’
Luna eyes darted towards the Blibbering Humdinger before she noticed that Ginny’s face held an annoyed expression.
‘Maybe he doesn’t know what to write,’ Luna suggested honestly. ‘I was very confused when I wrote to you the first time, Ginny.’
‘Or he’s just plain silly,’ said Ginny, with a faint smile. ‘I can’t wait to show him the shop; he will be so happy, Luna.’
They fell silent as Madam Pince came around, obviously having heard their voices. She told them both to stop talking and finish up quickly. As she went away, Ginny scowled at the librarian before burying herself in the homework. Luna had always felt Madam Pince gave an impression of being stricter than she actually was. She had never really felt annoyed at the librarian in all her years at Hogwarts, and sometimes felt sorry for her as she had a very lackluster job. Luna didn’t say a word as she finished the remaining two inches of her essay.
It took Ginny another half an hour to finish hers, and Luna resorted to observing the Blibbering Humdinger around the back shelves as she waited. She was already noting down their every activity in her mind, making a mental note to send every detail to her daddy when she got back.
As they came out of the library and reached the Entrance Hall, Luna noticed Hermione rushing towards them. She looked relieved to have found them.
‘Ginny!’ Hermione said in an anxious voice. ‘I received a letter - Ron says he’s coming to Hogsmeade next weekend to see us. It’s important apparently.’
‘Really?’ Ginny asked in a shocked tone.
Ginny looked slightly awestruck as Hermione delivered the news, but soon a cheeky smile appeared on her face. Luna wondered what was on Ginny’s mind, but Hermione was the first to ask that question.
‘What’s that look on your face?’ Hermione asked curiously, as she surveyed Ginny closely.
‘Nothing,’ Ginny muttered dismissively and fidgeted a little as she spoke. ‘I have to send a letter. You guys go ahead – I’ll see you at dinner.’
With that, she rushed towards the Owlery, leaving a very befuddled Hermione with Luna. Hermione crossed her arms, irritated and marched hastily to the Great Hall alongside Luna, who had a difficult time keeping up. Ginny was up to something, but neither of them knew what that was.
Secret Mischief by ginny112
Chapter Endnotes: Thanks a lot to my beta Mudblood_and_Proud_of_it once again for correcting all my mistakes and doing a wonderful with the the chapter.