"Get down!" Luna hissed, shoving Harry behind a little shrub. The Black Lake – safety, was so close – but Harry dared not break cover.
"Tell me, Luna, have you seen Harry Potter? For if you have, I much desire to speak with him."
Luna moved faster than Harry could've imagined possible; she whipped her wand around in a blur, and a jet of water erupted from it as she yelled: "Aguamenti!"
Earlier in the day…
"Percy!" Ginny whined. "I don't want to!"
Percy rubbed the bridge of his nose yet again. "I know you don't want it, Ginny, but it's good for you."
Ginny tried to respond, but was overcome by a fit of coughing, which Percy took advantage of by ushering Ginny out of the room.
Later…
Luna Lovegood rubbed her eyes, wanting to be sure of what she'd seen. She only saw a glimpse, and heard snippets of words, but that was enough for Luna. Lunch was ending; so Luna made her way back to the entrance hall, where students were making their way out of the Great Hall.
Her target was hard to spot. She managed to catch a glimpse of Ron Weasley's hair, and weaved her way to Harry. Luna grabbed Harry's arm and swiftly pulled him away; the distracted duo of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger not noticing his absence until too late.
Harry tried to pull away, but the mysterious girl's grip was surprisingly firm yet gentle at the same time. Through a few unfamiliar corridors she pulled Harry, before turning to him and saying.
"Sorry about that, Harry." She began, releasing her grip.
"No worries." Harry said politely, rubbing his arm. "Why'd you do it?"
"You're in danger, Harry Potter. It's after you."
"Voldemort?" Harry asked, but the girl was already off again. Harry jogged to catch up.
"Keep moving, Harry Potter." The girl said. "Well, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is after you; but it's not he who poses the threat I speak of."
"What threat?" Harry said, but the girl sped up, but unfortunately ran straight into someone.
"Miss Lovegood, what are you doing, running through the corridors?" Said an older girl with Ravenclaw robes and a Prefect's badge.
"Emergency, Miss Clearwater." Lovegood looked on the verge of running off again, but paused. "Miss Clearwater, can you tell us the password to the Prefect's bathroom."
Prefect Clearwater narrowed her eyes at Lovegood. "What?"
"The password-"
"I know what you said, why on earth would you want to know."
"Well, Harry needs to go in the bath, you see, and…"
Harry spluttered at this revelation. He'd had a wash that morning and didn't think he smelled that bad.
Miss Clearwater rolled her eyes. "Don't be so ridiculous." She then turned to Harry. "I don't know why you're hanging around Loony Lovegood; but if you know what's good for you, you'll get away from her as soon as you can."
Miss Clearwater strode away. Lovegood watched her go passively. "You'd expect her to be able to pronounce Luna Lovegood by now. Ah well…" Luna smiled wistfully, and turned to Harry. "Don't worry, there's a second place we can go to."
"What do you think, Harry?" Ron turned to his absent best friend. "Harry?" Ron turned back to Hermione. "Where'd he go?"
Hermione's eyes darted around, trying to spot their bespectacled buddy, to no avail. Ron and Hermione fought their way to the edge of the throng of students.
"Ginny." Ron spotted his sister standing in the entrance hall. "Did Harry come this way?"
"I didn't see him; why? What's wrong?"
"He was just here seconds ago and now he's gone."
"We'd better look for him; Harry wouldn't just disappear like that." Hermione spoke up. Ginny and Ron nodded.
"What are we running from?" Harry asked, for they were indeed running, over short, well-kept grass. "And where're we running to?"
"We are going to the Black Lake, Harry. It is a good place to be when you're being chased by a Heliopath.
"Helio-what?" Harry asked.
"Get down!" Luna hissed, shoving Harry behind a little shrub. The Black Lake – safety, was so close – but Harry dared not break cover.
"Tell me, Luna, have you seen Harry Potter? For if you have, I much desire to speak with him."
Luna moved faster than Harry could've imagined possible; she whipped her wand around in a blur, and a jet of water erupted from it as she yelled: "Aguamenti!"
Harry peeked around the side of the shrub. Luna's jet of water smashed straight into what appeared to be a humanoid shaped creature composed of fire, which burned away but left the grass at its feet untouched.
The water seemed to have little effect. "Halt or be extinguished!" Luna warned, as the strange being advanced.
"Why're you being so ridiculous, Luna? Are you there, Harry?"
Harry was about to reveal himself, but Luna narrowed her eyes and discreetly gestured to Harry to stay down.
Not discreetly enough, for Harry was spotted. "There you are, Harry…"
"GET TO THE LAKE!" Luna roared. "AQUA ERUCTO!" A far bigger jet of water surged through the air and slammed into the fiery being.
"Take that, you Harry-hunting Heliopath!" Luna cried, before twirling like a Ballerina, sending Harry flying into the freezing lake and ending back facing the Heliopath.
Which was right on top of her.
The Heliopath threw Luna aside and charged down the hill. Luna tried to scramble up to stop it, but the Heliopath was too fast. The shallows would not be enough protection for Harry; the Heliopath could easily boil that area of water.
"However did you get out?" Colin, who'd been eavesdropping on the conversation, asked.
"Well, the Heliopath pulled me out of the lake…and it wasn't a Heliopath at all."
"Well of course it wasn't, they don't exist, of all the ridiculous notions…" Hermione interrupted.
"Well, Luna had been mistaken in this case." Harry said, before spotting a new arrival to the little corner of the common room. She was holding a little phial filled with dark grey-black speckled liquid.
"Do I have to?" Harry asked, reluctantly taking the phial.
"You'll feel much better." Ginny responded, before shooting a warning glare at Fred and George, who were beginning to snicker at Harry, whose head was now smoking.
"It's entirely your fault." Ginny narrowed her eyes at the twins, who held their hands up in defence.
"Hey, we didn't know Loony Lovegood would do that to him." Fred defended himself.
"Don't call her that!" Ginny barked, and Fred fell instantly silent.
"So, what was this so-called Heliopath?" Ron asked.
"Ginny," Harry replied, eyes watering. "And boy was she furious. Sparks were shooting from her eyes, I swear…"
"Don't exaggerate, Harry." Ginny chided him.
"So how on earth did you mistake shorty Ginny for a furiously ferocious fiery flaming fiend?" Ron asked.
"We can answer that." George spoke up.
"With a little demonstration." Fred added.
"Hey, Percy, c'mere."
"What is your school duty title?"
"Prefect." Percy's head slightly expanded
"What was that, sorry?"
"I'm a Prefect." That inflated Percy's head again.
"Didn't hear you properly."
"I'M A PREFECT!" Percy shouted, so nearly the whole room could hear him. Nearly everyone was laughing at him.
"How do I get rid of this?" Percy gestured at his oversized head, hissing at the twins, who handed him a note.
"I will never be as handsome as Fred and George."
Percy's head deflated a little. Fred and George grinned.
"I will never be as handsome as Fred and George." Percy said through his teeth.
"Just a little more." Fred told Percy.
"I WILL NEVER BE AS HANDSOME AS FRED AND GEORGE!" Percy yelled, wanting to be rid of his big head once and for all.
"Charm's gone." George patted Percy's back.
"But remember, we can put it back whenever we want." Fred advised.
Percy stormed off to his dormitory.
"So what'd you make Ginny say?" Ron asked.
"Err." Fred looked sheepish.
"She found us and…"
"Yes?" Harry grinned.
"Wipe that look off your face, Potter." George said.
"Well she took us by surprise!" Fred defended himself.
"She's stronger than she looks!" George justified.
"She performed cruel and unusual practices on us."
"So there we were, gallivanting along, when we found ourselves suddenly and brutally attacked. We had no time to defend ourselves."
"We were on the floor in a second, pinned beneath her."
"Fred and George Weasley!" George said in an imitation of Ginny's voice.
"For a second there we thought that Mum had somehow gotten into the school. It's frighting scary how you do that, Ginny."
Ginny looked quite pleased.
"Anyway, there we were, helpless, whilst Ginny berated us, something about Harry getting sick because of our ridiculous joke…"
"It was then that we spotted Harry, and though we cried out for him to save us, he proved himself to be no dashingly heroic knight."
"Instead of coming to our rescue." George glared at Harry. "He was laughing so much he could barely breathe."
"When we manage to swear our complete and utterly undignified surrender, Ginny released us, and we were left to metaphorically lick our metaphorical wounds, after undoing the rather impressive charm we'd placed upon her."
"It was quite a cool charm." Ginny agreed. "It just caused some unexpected hassle."