This is the revised version of chapter 1. I'm sorry, I realized I was calling Teddy Lupin Teddy Weasley and I figured that Luna and Neville's relationship should've lasted longer (For something I'm planning later on) Sorry bout that

-Giracer4

Fourteen Years Later, five years before epilogue

Luna sat lonely on the steps of Hogwarts school. She had been working there for ten years already, and it had been fourteen years since she had left school. She taught Charms, having taken over the subject after Professor Flitwick decided to retire. She had also, as of last year, been made head of Ravenclaw house. She had all she needed, really. A home, friends, a job, and easily enough gold to get by. But there was something… missing. Her eyes caught Neville crossing the grounds. Her and the Herbology teacher had once dated, but it hadn't lasted forever. They were too different. But whenever Luna tried to deny her feelings for him, she couldn't. It wasn't that she was pinning away for him, but he had been the one guy in her life to take an interest to her. And for their five months together, it had been the absolute sweetest time of her life. Full of flowers and scribbled notes delivered by owl (or by student. She remembered being delivered a particularly sappy note by an emabarresed second year and blushing in front of her entire class.) But it was over. And rumour had it that Professor Longbottom was seeing someone else. Hannah Abbot, in fact. Luna hadn't seen Hannah in a while, but they had once been fair enough friends after school. Hannah was now the landlady at the Leaky Cauldron. It was the last day of the summer holidays. September the first was tomorrow, and students would be arriving on the Hogwarts express. And she would be facing another long, long year full of scared first years, insolent seventh years and everybody in between. She sighed as the sun set, her last peaceful sunset until next year.

Neville stared up towards the school. The Herbology greenhouses were far enough away that he could only see a shock of white-blonde hair he knew was Luna. When he met her, her hair had been waist long, tangled and a lot darker. It had lightened a lot since then, though, and now it was nearly the colour of snow. And, in a surprise move after they had broken up, she chopped it until it only fell part way down her back. It was with a touch of sadness he looked at her. He missed Luna, missed her friendliness, her quirkiness. He had ruined their friendship by dating her, he knew that. And he was so much happier with Hannah. But he wished more than anything that they could still be friends.

Rolf Scamander apparated strait into Hogsmead. He was here for the recent opening in astronomy, professor Sinistra having finally retired. Astronomy had always been one of his best subjects at school. He was a tall, domineering sort of man, with dark hair and darker eyes that sparked threateningly. When you-know-who was alive, this appearance had gotten him into a lot of trouble. Apparently, he had looked so much like a death eater that Rolf had taken to wearing short-sleeved muggle t-shirts to bear his left arm to make sure that everybody saw the absence of a dark mark. Rolf strode confidently into the three broomsticks and sat down on a tall dark wooden barstool. "One gillywater, please, Rosmerta." He said. His stomach was jumping repeatedly with the prospect of his job interview. He needed the money badly. As some of the Scamanders were impressibly rich, they were very greedy with their gold. He wasn't likely to get any till his father died. His father, a bitter old man, wouldn't die until death came to him personally and begged his presence. Rolf laughed to himself bitterly at the thought of a wizened man in a tattered black cloak begging at his old fathers knee while he refused profusely. It was an amusing thought. Checking a battered old watch on his wrist, he realized it was nearly time for him to start heading to the castle. Apparating in and out would never work, but it was such a horrible bother to walk in like a muggle. Rising from his stool, he towered over the rest of the occupants of the friendly bar, leaving his gillywater almost completely untouched in front of him, the tangle of rubbery weeds that dyed the water a pale, translucent green still floating serenely in the large glass.

Luna, tired and wanting to be awake bright and early tomorrow for the sorting ceremony, decided to head to bed early. It would be one of the only nights she had a chance to go to sleep early. And she had thought she had it bad as a student! Marking papers was a chore, and for seven different ages, too. Some of the seventh year stuff she had trouble with herself, and often sent owls to old professor Flitwick for a hand. He was all too happy to help, and admitted that he had had trouble with the harder aspects of charms for his first few years as a teacher too. As she headed down the corridor towards her office, a clip-clopping alerted to the presence of Firenze, who still taught divination. "Ahh, Luna. I was hoping I would run into you." He said. "Do you mind coming with me for a moment?" Luna shrugged and followed him. THe door to Firenze's classroom opened soundlessly on oiled hinges. Luna gave a little gasp. No matter how many times she walked in here, she could never get over the feeling that she had popped into the middle of a forest. Not the forbidden forest, perhaps, it was much too dark in there. In here, the sunlight streamed through the magical leaves of the magical trees. The floor was springy beneath her feet, covered in real moss. The trees and foliage was perfectly real, so, in all senses, she had stepped into a real forest. She followed Firenze into the open clearing where he held his classes. There was a small campfire burning there, circled by grey, carved stones. Firenze folded his legs underneath him beside the fire. Luna, following his lead, she collapsed into the soft most. "Normally, Luna, I don't bother myself with foretelling petty things." He began. "But I came across something while star-gazing last night, and I thought you might want to here of it."

"You know I don't set much store by fortune telling, Firenze." She said. Luna had never taken divination as a class. She found it a sadly unstable branch of magic. "I've heard of that. But you should listen to what I can tell you. It may bring a smile to your face, whether you enjoy fortune-telling or not." Luna could tell he wasn't about to not tell her, so she said "Alright, then. Lay it on me."

Firenze grinned a bit. "I saw something, or someone, with a bright spirit and a sadness in their heart. They were sitting alone. Would you say that could have been you?" Luna thought of Neville. "Possibly" Firenze nodded. "I also saw someone rather tall and dark. He was spirited as well. I saw both of you, young and sad-hearted." He nodded to Luna. She tried to keep her emotions from showing on her face. She detested being christened as 'sad-hearted.' "And tall and dark crossing paths. There was a major connection, possibly romantic." At this, Luna laughed. "So your saying a tall, dark stranger is going to come waltzing in here and steal my heart?" She said cynically. Firenze shook his head. "I didn't say that. I don't know who's heart will be stolen, or even if. I said possibly romantic. But keep in mind not all death eaters are locked up.

Professor Mcgonagal arranged her desk carefully. The circular office at the top of the revolving staircase had been hers for fourteen years. It had never really felt like hers, though. She still considered it 'Dumbledore's office' no matter how many times she told herself it was hers now. She was meeting a new candidate for the Astronomy job, as Professor Sinistra had been thinking of retiring for a long time, but she wouldn't retire unless Mcgonagal could find a suitable replacement. She was seeing a man called Rolf Scamander today. He had an amazing reputation as an Astronomer, even if he had seemed a little… eccentric. He reminded her a little of Luna, actually. A knock on the door sounded her out of her contemplation. "That'll be him." She muttered to know one in particular. "Come in" She said, raising her voice. The man that entered was tall and dark and rather handsome. He looked threatening and challenging and slightly arrogant. Professor gave a little start. Rolf Scamander looked like he could've made a perfect death eater. Scamander saw her start. He gave her a bit of a completely un-death eater grin and showed her the underside of his left forearm. The skin there was smooth and perfectly unblemished, except a two-inch-long white scar running diagonally from his wrist, showing he had never been a supporter of Voldemort. Mcgonagal let out a long breath. "Alright, then. To business. Why do you want the Astronomy teachers job?"

"I'm in bad need of a job and Astronomy was my best subject in school."

"So you do not enjoy working with students?"

"I don't mind it, but not particularly, no."

"Well, at least your honest. I see that you got almost all O's in your OWLs and NEWTs. Was teaching your first choice of profession?"

Rolf shook his head

"Then may I ask what was?"

"I was going to be a Healer, but I didn't have the required grades." Mcgonagal nodded. "That happens often. It's too bad, really. Was teaching your second choice, then?" Mcgonagal asked. She was hesitant about hiring someone who seemed to have never had a major teaching ambition. "No. But I saw the position open up and I thought I'd try it." Mcgonagal shook her head a bit. She wasn't very interested in hiring temporary teachers. Professor Sinistra would only retire if someone capable handled her classes, and, frankly, Mcgonagal didn't like the prospect of Rolf Scamander.

Rolf left the headmistresses office feeling, not rejected, but rather more hopeful. He didn't know what it was, after all, he had just lost a job that could have helped quite a bit. But he wasn't interested in saying teaching was his dream profession. Rolf Scamander did not lie. He wouldn't lie even if it meant telling horrible truths, but he believed that honesty had power over lies. That had proved true to him many, many times. The stone hallway that led back down to the entrance hall was dusty and obviously unused. Classrooms with closed doors lined the halls and inside, there were rows of desks with chairs stacked on top of them. There must have been many more people coming through this school at one point, or the founders would never had bothered to make it as large. Tapestrys hung to his right and left, one depicting two bickering house-elves wearing grimy dishcloths, the other a broad-shouldered wizard beside a large winged pig. Moving on, Rolf descended into the entrance hall where he literally, quite literally, bumped into someone who too his breath away.

Luna was heading back down to the entrance hall to check the Ravenclaw points hourglass. There had been a glitch with it (student-made or not) that had caused the sapphires within to spring around wherever they pleased. She had put it right quickly, but she was wondering whether her counter charm had held. She had seen that it held, and had just been going over to count the points, when someone crashed into her, knocking her off her feet. Luna landed hard on the stone floor. The man who was on the floor next to her had heavy eyebrows and deep-set dark brown eyes. There was a cast to his face that she hadn't seen before, but it seemed dark and mysterious. The man jumped to his feet. "I'm sorry, really sorry." He blabbered. Reaching down, he offered her an olive-toned hand. Luna took it suspiciously. The man was very tall, Luna only reached his chin with the very top of her head. But then again, Luna had never been incredibly tall, either. Luna almost laughed out loud when it hit her. Firenze had been right! at least, in part. She had certainly crossed paths with a 'tall, dark stranger.' it was amusing, really. "I'm sorry, really sorry, miss." He said, letting go of her hand as soon as he pulled her upright. "All my fault." Luna shook her head, actually laughing this time. "No, no that's all right. And don't call me miss, it makes me feel old. 'Professor' is bad enough." He looked down and caught her eye. "You are a teacher here?" He asked. He had a just the thinnest trace of an accent, possibly Russian. "Yes" Luna started, brushing her blonde hair out of her eyes. "Fourteen years today, I think. Charms" She added at his glance. "Oh. I never really enjoyed Charms too much." Luna nodded. "Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion." She answered. "What were you here for?" Luna asked, making a stab at a conversation. He shrugged. "I was here about the post of Astronomy teacher." Luna glanced up at him. "You didn't get it, I suppose?" he laughed, a short but jolly chuckle. "You're a shrewd one, you are. Do you enjoy teaching here?" Luna nodded. "Oh yes. It's really very great. It's too bad that you didn't get the job." "Yes, it is, it is." he headed towards the large oak front doors. "I never got your name, Professor?" Luna smiled. "Your older than me, don't try and call me professor. It's Luna. Luna Lovegood." The tall man nodded. "Not by much, I think, miss Lovegood." Luna sighed exasperatedly, half fake and half real. "Sorry. Luna. My name is Rolf Scamander. I hope to see you sometime again, Luna."

Rolf left the castle with one of the strangest feelings in his chest. His heart was beating heavily, and his head felt light and full of air. He had never met anyone like miss Luna before, light and bright like that. Not very many people stopped to make conversation like that with him. She seemed so… so… He couldn't describe it very well. He really hoped that he hadn't just seen the last of Luna Lovegood.