"Luna, this isn't going to work..." I insisted.
"Oh, it will, Hermione." Luna smiled serenely. "I guarantee it. I found it in a book I acquired in Greece written by some Greek warlock. Free your mind, Hermione. Even after all these years, you're still a bit close-minded..." she carved some runes into the ground in a circle with some sort of carving spell that produced an odd Capri-colured light.
I sputtered, turning to Ginny, sitting in the garden chair next to mine as all three of us were in a field not far from both The Burrow and Luna's home, enjoying the sunshine.
Except for Luna, who inexplicably decided that she wanted it to rain today.
"She can't bloody well think that she's going to turn the sky into her own personal watering hose, does she?"
Ginny looked at me as if the answer was obvious.
Which, come to think of it, it probably was.
"Hermione, it's 2002. You've known Luna for seven years. Are you sure you don't know the answer to that?" Ginny asked.
"But..." I started. "...no witch or wizard has ever been able to change the weather on a whim! Or even accidentally! So I can feel pretty justified in saying that this isn't going to work!"
"Hermione, relax!" Ginny fetched a Butterbeer out of the cooler between us and threw it to me, which I narrowly caught. "Imagine that we're back at Hogwarts and we're on summer vacation as the Yanks call it- holiday, really. Relaxing after all the work we did there..." Ginny paused. "Then again, that won't work. You enjoyed school much more than the normal person would..."
I scowled. "Surely I wasn't that bad in school... was I?"
Ginny gave me another look and I sighed.
At that point, Luna decided that she needed to get descriptive with the spell... ritual rather, that she was preparing to attempt.
"It came from Greek Mythology. A few centuries ago, a Greek wizard heard the story of Aquila- an eagle who had the power to bring rain and was the keeper of Zeus' lightning bolts. He wanted to produce the same effects." Luna explained.
"Without the lightning bolts, I hope." I glanced up at the sky nervously.
The sun was still shining brightly and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky.
"Of course. He wanted to bring rain, not electrocute the populace." Luna shrugged, standing up. Apparently, she'd finished carving the necessary runes.
"Do continue the story." Ginny motioned for her to continue.
"It was a time of drought. All the ordinary water charms they knew of couldn't help. They barely managed to supply themselves otherwise even with magic, so apparently, this wizard decided to make it rain himself. He researched and tested it on a small scale. It worked."
I scoffed and Ginny eyed me.
"He tried it on a larger scale and it worked. Rain fell quite a bit, bringing the Greeks- Muggles and Magicals alike- much needed hydration." Luna finished.
"Why haven't we heard of this then? In spell books or other sources?" I asked.
"I don't know, but I found it and I'm going to try it. I checked over the book with detection spells and simply by reading through it. It's safe. I wouldn't try something I didn't think was safe..." Luna attempted to reassure me.
"Oh... fine. Do what you will. I can't stop you anyway..." I gave up.
"You're certainly right about that..." Ginny said.
Luna walked over to the cooler, retrieved a bottle of pumpkin juice and sat in the grass.
"Just a little break. I don't want to try this when I'm not fully hydrated myself, you see..."
"I won't let myself get agitated over Luna's... oddities." I told myself. "Not another word from me..."
Luna Vanished the bottle and then stepped back into the rune circle that she had carved.
Raising her wand and pointing it directly to the sky, she began a chant that sounded like something in Ancient Greek.
Ginny began packing up.
"Come on. If she pulls it off, I don't think I'd fancy having to bathe in rainwater, would you? We need to be ready to get to shelter..." She said.
"It's not going to-" I stopped in my tracks, surprised as the sky suddenly went grey and the clouds opened up, and a deluge of rain began falling from the sky.
I stood there in disbelief for a few seconds before Apparating with Ginny back to The Burrow.
Luna had actually done it...
I couldn't believe it.
Luna had actually managed to bring rain...
Written for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Competition on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges forum. Prompts used are listed below.
Word: Warlock
Upper Word Limit: 765
Year: 2002
Colour: Capri
Adjective: Surprised
Action: Throw
Event: Summer Vacation
Extracurricular: Music: free, bathe, hose, shelter, complain, descriptive, bloody, guarantee
