Ginny Weasley smiled around at the Prefects' Bathroom. She looked at the shiny gold of the water faucets of one of the many smaller bathtubs in the bathroom. Quickly she turned them on. She was naked, only under a single white towel, which felt like silk against her smooth skin. She smiled as bubbles of different colors sifted into her bath water on her own command of touch, and finally she decided on the right temperature and color that she liked it. She slipped the towel off underneath her arms and stepped elegantly into the bath, grinning. Aah, the absolute comfort of being a Prefect.
Even though it was near the middle of the night, Ginny could hear older Prefects of different houses swimming around in one of the larger bathtubs, used more like a pool with colorful bubbles than a bathing spot. Ginny closed her eyes and tried to relax, even though in the back of her mind, a potions exam was bothering her. Ginny shifted her weight to her center and lay back in the tub, breathing in a deep aroma of the bubbles.
Ginny rested her head down, nearly over the edge of the large bathtub. She gently began to soap up her arms with foamy and comforting bubbles that smelled of rich vanilla. Ginny's ears perked up as she heard a tiny sound of heels of another walking towards her area, the smaller bathtubs. Ginny slid deeper into the bathwater so she could not be seen as vulnerable as she felt, knowing someone else was coming closer.
"Hey there, Gin," Said a kind and outgoing voice from behind her. Ginny looked up and breathed a sigh of relief. It was only Luna Lovegood, Ginny's best (not to mention a bit loony) friend, who too was a Prefect, though nobody knew how it could be. Luna wasn't the kind of person you'd expect to be named Prefect of her house, as she wasn't really responsible. No, she was too insane and fun loving to be responsible. But oh well, Luna had not objected to getting extra privileges, and being able to prowl the hallways at night, on her own free will sounded like much fun to her.
"Hiya, Luna." Ginny said, grinning. "-How goes it?"
Luna tilted her head, hesitating, as if actually pondering an answer to the question. "It goes good, I guess. Nothing out of the ordinary, which doesn't make me too happy." Luna said. Luna stepped forward, and more into the light, and Ginny realized that she was totally naked. She had not even brought a towel to cover herself up. Ginny covered her eyes with a hand and asked,
"-So, you're just randomly prowling the hallways in the nude?" Ginny asked, as if it was a totally normal thing.
"Yep." Luna replied, agreeing with her, crossing her arms. "It's not like I care about what people think about Loony Lovegood!" Luna said half with resent, and half with pride. (Luna had just recently gotten wind of her nickname that had secretly been circulating the school for years already, and finally Ginny had brought it up. Ginny was almost sorry she had.)
Two 7th year boys who had been swimming in the bubble bath pool walked past, winking and whistling at Luna. Luna just winked back and then started tinkering with the faucets on the bathtub next to Ginny's, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Ginny wished that just once she could be as fearless as Luna. Luna was brave in that she didn't care what anyone thought if it was negative. Luna thought on the bright side and had high self-esteem. Almost the opposite of Ginny, but Ginny was working towards changing that.
"So, are you still stressing about the potions exam?" Luna asked, rolling her eyes as two more boys passed, gaping at her. Ginny wished that she could be gaped at like that. Ginny failed to notice that guys did it all the time when she wasn't looking.
"Oh, don't remind me. Mum is going to kill me. Sure, I've studied: but whenever I'm put on the spot of Snape glares at me from behind his desk, I just…" Ginny shuddered.
"I don't know why Snape scares you so much. Everyone has to go through it, everyone. And yet you're the most afraid of him of all of us, even that Hufflepuff that he hexed in the middle of class! He nearly got kicked out of school for that, but he forced the girl and lie to say that it never really happened, that she imagined it. The whole class saw it, but Dumbledore didn't fire Snape. Isn't Dumbledore supposed to know everything?" Luna asked, sighing, jumping from subject to subject. "-He isn't that great of a headmaster."
"Luna, don't say that! I've been in his office millions of times, and his mind works weirdly, but strangely, he's got it right, you know… He didn't fire Snape, by the way, because he believes that he can guilt Snape into coming clean, just by saying, 'Oh, I know you would never do such a thing and not honestly admit it to me,' I overheard him discussing it with McGonagall, who Dumbledore had fooled originally, too." Ginny explained. "Boy, the things you overhear in Hogwarts…"
"Yeah." Luna said, nodding, and adding more green to her bubble bath, from the inside. "So, why are you so freaked about Snape all the time? I mean, sure, everyone gets really nervous during tests because he personally stares down every student, so long as they aren't from his house, but your test scores even prove it: he affects you the most!"
"I-I- don't know," Ginny said embarrassedly. "-So, how are you doing with Ron?" Ginny asked, winking at her friend. Luna and her brother had been going out since the middle of the summer. Luna had been telling Ginny all the dirty details she really didn't want to know about unless Ginny decided to change the subject, they had both noticed.
"You're just trying to change the subject, aren't you? Oh, well, I'll follow along. It's going great, if you know what I mean." Luna said, winking. "So, the other night…hey, why do I have to tell you this, I thought you hate hearing about your brother and me?"
"Hey, I can't get the info from him, and…" Ginny started, but Luna interrupted.
"But you said you hated hearing about romance mixed with your brother, because it makes you sick? Oh, never mind. Well, anyway, the other night we were hanging out in the Astronomy Tower, and…"
"Okay, okay, I know it's going to get really sick, so stop." Ginny said, putting her hands over her ears, not feeling so elegant as she had stepping into the bathtub alone. She giggled along with Luna until a very late hour, where Ginny dressed, and left Luna alone, naked and in her bathtub, where Luna liked to sleep at night. 'What a peculiar friend I have,' Ginny thought as se exited the Prefects' Bathroom.