On the Roof

The Ravenclaw Quidditch practice was going very well. Better, in fact, than any of the current team members could remember. The passing was fluid and precise, the Keeper spun around his posts so fast that it looked like he was covering all three at once, and Cho Chang had caught the Snitch over a dozen times in the last hour. The loud clunking of the Beaters' Bats could be heard all the way across the nearly silent pitch.

The Chasers were just in the middle of a rather complex sequence of passing, designed to force the opposition into a linearly defensive pattern – which was one of the worst possible types of defence – when Roger suddenly burst out laughing, missing his catch completely. The Quaffle sailed through the air and caught Cho on the side of her head.

"Roger, what are you doing? Would you please pay attention...?" She looked across and spotted what he had found so funny.

Standing just a few meters away from one of the castle walls with her back towards them was Luna Lovegood. There was no mistaking her unusual appearance even from that distance. What was especially odd was the way she was jumping up and down on the spot occasionally flapping her arms as though trying to fly.

Soon the whole team were laughing at her antics, but she was too far away to hear them. Deciding that they had done more than enough practicing for one day they headed off the pitch, still chucking about 'Loony'. Only Cho remained behind, and she went over the Luna to see what she was up to. They had never really talked much, for she knew that Luna spent more time with the Gryffindors than her fellow Ravenclaws.

"Hey Luna, are you alright?" Cho asked politely, hoping that there would be some reasonable explanation for her behaviour. Ravenclaws liked logical behaviour.

"I'm very well, thank you," Luna replied, though this did nothing to stop her from jumping up and down.

"Erm, well, what are you doing?" Cho almost feared the answer.

Luna stopped jumping for a moment and looked at her as though the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. "Why, I'm trying to get onto the roof."

"Didn't you think to, well, fly up there?"

Luna just mimed a flapping motion with her arms – indicating that that was exactly what she was trying to do.

"... with a broom?" Cho added, starting to wish she hadn't gotten involved.

"That might be quicker," Luna replied, "but the last time I tried the Snells got all wriggly and made me fall off the broom. Strange really because they are usually quite lethargic."

It took Cho a few moments to get her head around this, but she took it to mean that Luna wasn't very good at flying.

"Would you like me to give you some pointers?" she offered, "I'm sure you'd be able to get onto the roof in no time at all." She did not dare question what Luna wanted to get onto the roof for.

"That would be very kind of you Flo, I was going to ask Harry to help but he has been looking really unhappy since the start of the year. It was a tough time for a lot of people, but he had it worse than most. And then there was Cedric..."

"Yeh." Cho didn't add anything else; She looked reluctant to talk about it. "Oh, and my name is Cho by the way."

Luna frowned as though she didn't believe that was her name. "I heard that you and Cedric were pretty close," she pushed.

Cho stayed silent for a few moments before speaking in a really quiet voice, "He was the kindest person I ever knew. Always thinking about other people, and putting them before him. Did you know that the first thing he thought of when he figured out the answer to the second task was how he was going to share it with Harry? It was so unfair for that to happen to him..."

Luna could see Cho's eyes starting to fill up with tears and so quickly moved the conversation back to Quidditch. "Did you say that you were going to be able to help me get onto the roof?"

"Oh yes, no problem. Do you have any problems getting onto the broom...?"

It was only twenty minutes later when both Cho and Luna were performing slow laps of the Quidditch Pitch. It was then that Cho announced that she thought Luna was steady enough to be able to go up to the roof.

"Would you mind coming with me?" Luna asked, "Just in case the Snells don't like it up there?"

It has been so long since Luna had said anything strange like that, that it caught Cho off guard for a moment, "Erm, no problem at all. It'll only take a moment."

Together they sailed easily up to the roof of the highest tower, and almost immediately Luna jumped off her broom and sat down on the edge.

"Thank you Cho, you've been a great help."

"Don't mention it, I hope you... enjoy your time up here." Cho turned around on her broom to head back to the ground.

Just as she was about to leave Luna added, "Oh, and Flo, it might be good for both you and Harry to have a chat sometime, you know, about what happened. The Jumbugs say it is good for people to talk about things that are upsetting them."

Not knowing quite what to say Cho gave a little wave, and flew back down to the ground.

Luna watched from her vantage point on the tower and smiled. Mission accomplished.

A/N: This was inspired by an idea from Twisted Biscuit!