The beginning of the fifth year found Draco Malfoy walking with a bounce in his step. Or it would if Malfoy were the type to bounce. The Dark Lord had returned and Lucius Malfoy had not had this much power since the fall. And this, of course, translated into power for Draco at Hogwarts. Draco was angry too, though. How could he not be, with Potter and his gang still there? Around every corner Draco was faced with another smirking face of another member of the Potter Pod, as Draco had taken to calling them.
If the second day of term found Malfoy wandering the dungeons with only his entourage, Crabbe and Goyle, it was surely just high spirits. The Slytherin would surely have no other reason for his restlessness; the fifth year held so much hope for the newly minted prefect. It was his lucky day, too, for he found a perfect victim hidden by herself in the dungeons. The trio turned a cornor and saw her walking, by herself, along the corridor tapping each flagstone and mumbling under her breath. At first they did not recognize this strange creature with long, straggly, blonde hair, but then Malfoy remembered seeing her on the train with Potter. Needing no other provocation then her peculiarity and her association with his archenemy Malfoy stepped forward and jeered, "Loony Lovegood alone in a dungeon. What are you doing done here? If you're not careful you could come to a sticky end. Who knows what haunts these dank corridors."
Without looking up or reacting in anyway Luna continued on her ambling path. Feeling slightly deflated Malfoy lunged forward and shoved Luna, "Hey, girl! Look at me when I speak to you."
Luna skidded to the floor and lay there without moving for a minute. Still unnerved Malfoy said, "Loony Moony Lovegood, crazies like you aren't welcome down here, you'd better run, because there is no hiding!" This proclamation was accompanied by ominous snickerings from the trained monkeys.
Slowly the prone girl rolled over and sat up, making unwavering eye contact with Malfoy. She calmly replied, "I lost count."
Malfoy pulled back for a second startled by her eyes. They seemed overly large and were a misty, vague and startled blue. He quickly got over himself, however and pressed forward in a high pitched and mocking voice that sounded nothing like Luna, "I lost count! Oh, boo hoo! Crazy lost loons wandering around alone are a danger to themselves!"
With a slight twinge Malfoy noticed a dark stain of bloods slowly seeping into the knees of Luna's robes. Luna, however, seemed not to notice. "You stupid loon! You're too dumb to even react when people insult you! Get up and get out! If you move quickly you won't get hurt, much."
Standing up gracefully and staring at Malfoy placidly Luna said, "It's ok, I can see the Louphins, too."
"What?"
"You know, Louphins, those little spirits that sometimes haunt wizards. They feed off emotions and make people angry, but are mostly invisible. You have a very dad case." Luna replied vaguely. After a thoughtful pause she added, "They're green."
The three Syltherins stared at her for a second then Malfoy started to laugh. Crabbe and Goyle quickly followed his lead. "You loon, you really are crazy, better get out before something happens!"
Without breaking eye contact Luna said, "Don't worry, I'll help you. They're tricky to get rid of, but I think I know how." With those words Luna turned and walked away, leaving three bewildered boys in her wake.
The next day Malfoy pretended to have forgotten what had happened in the dungeons, and Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be taking his lead. Knowing Crabbe and Goyle, however, they may have actually forgotten. During History of Magic that morning Malfoy contemplated his cronies. They seemed to have gone into a stupor during class, their mouths hanging open and their eyes glazed over. It was hard to tell, though, wheather ot not this was caused by the lesson, they often looked like that. Derisively Malfoy thought that they wouldn't even notice if the castle fell down. For the rest of the period Malfoy amused himself envisioning the looks on his friends' faces if various disasters did happen. By lunchtime all thoughts of his surreal encounter with Luna was wiped out by Goyle's surprised look while being attacked by the giant squid.
At lunch Malfoy sat down comfortably between the bulks of Crabbe and Goyle and struck up a conversation with Montague, who was sitting across from him. Quickly they became engaged in an involved conversation about Quidditch. "Look, I know the Holyhead Harpies have some great players this year but there is no way they can beat the Kenmore Kestrels! With their new seeker, Gregory Thurmstrall, no other team stands a chance!"
Malfoy's impassioned speech trailed to an end as he noticed that Montague was looking over his shoulder and snickering. Malfoy whipped around and his heart skipped a beat. Standing dangerously close behind him was Luna Lovegood. The Ravenclaw had her hair tied back in a messy bun and a strange hat on. The hat seemed to be a not-to-scale replica of the solar system with nine miniature planets flying around her head. Surreptitiously glancing from side-to-side Malfoy noticed that neither Crabbe nor Goyle seemed to recognize the girl. Their guffaws seemed merely a result of her hat. Not wanting the other Syltherins to think that anything was going on between them, Malfoy decided to play dumb. Sneeringly he said, "Who are you?"
Ignoring his question Luna breezily said, "I have something that I think should help." The strange girl then pulled a small, bright red Santa Clause bauble from an inside pocket of her robes and thrust it at Malfoy. The thing smelled strongly of curry.
Malfoy stared at the bauble for a few seconds along with the other Syltherins sitting nearby. "Father Christmas?"
"It was all I had. It won't keep the Louphins away forever, but it should hold until I get something better."
"But why does it smell of curry?"
"Because, Louphins hate curry." Luna said the last bit in such an exasperated way she might as well have said, 'Doesn't everyone know that?'
"But I hate curry!"
Luna shook her head and sighed, "The infestation is worse then I thought. Don't worry. I'll thing of something." The Ravenclaw laid the charm down on the table next to Malfoy's plate and slipped back into the crowd as suddenly as she had appeared.
Malfoy turned back around and stared at Montague in a bewildered way. "What was that all about?" Montague queried, between bouts of laughter.
With an embarrassed shrug Malfoy leaned over his food and muttered something between bites. The boys ate in silence for a minute and them Montague looked up and said, "You know what? I bet that loon has a crush on you." With a snort Montague kept eating.
Malfoy laughed harshly then proclaimed, "If she does that thing is really off her rocker. I mean, did you see that hat?" Malfoy, to make his point clear, picked up the charm and tossed it on the ground. "So what do you think of the Ballycastle Bats?"
A/N: This is my first atempt at HP fanfiction. I hope you like it. I found the Quidditch teams by wiking them 'Quidditch teams.'
EDIT: Fixed a funky sentence in the first paragraph.