Written for:

Round 6 of QLFC- Write about your chosen genre- Mystery

Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Divination Assignment 12: Write a story using three chosen prompts- nonsensical, hopeless, "Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing."

Thank you Jordi for beta'ing.

Time was running out. Ginny knew it, Hermione knew it, but somehow the message wasn't going into their dreamy blonde's head. Luna took her time when it came to getting changed that morning and though she knew what day it was, she wasn't quickening her slow pace.

"I don't know why you guys are so impatient this morning," Luna commented, curling her hair with her pale finger and straightening her flower crown with another. "You are acting quite...nonsensical."

"So...what is that?" Ginny pointed at the side of Luna's dress that had -what looked to be- a rock attached at the side.

"It's an Iris Rock. It is said to bring good fortune on days of great importance."

Hermione and Ginny exchanged tired looks and then sighed. They had no idea why Luna was dragging this process on. Luna's mysterious behaviour made them wonder if she actually wanted today to happen. It was like she was keeping a secret, and distracting people with her long stories about her expeditions was the only way to keep them at bay.

"Luna, if you want to make it out by twelve o'clock-" Hermione started to say, but Luna cut her off.

"Do you like children?"

"Umm, I kind of have to, since I have children of my own," Hermione chuckled. "And stop changing the subject. We don't want to be late."

"Rolf would understand if I was late. You see, when me and Rolf were on a trek in the Sahara Dessert we found out about the Lily-horned pixies-"

"Well they don't sound that frightening," Ginny remarked, two pins sticking from her mouth as she attached some bright yellow daisies at the bottom of Luna's white, sparkly dress.

"Oh, you should not let the name deceive you. The horns, the lilies, are actually very venomous and if you touched one you could die an instant death."

Hermione ran her fingers through her tamed brown curls and complied with the game of keeping-Luna-talking-so-they- could-get-her-ready-quickly. "How did you know they could cause instant death if you discovered the species?"

"I touched them. The lilies looked awfully heavy on the pixies heads – like it was dragging them down – so I tried plucking one and I fell into a deep sleep."

Hermione and Ginny both gasped and their mouths hanged open in shock. The thought of how late they were going to be escaped them both.

"You fell into a deep sleep two months ago and you didn't even bother to tell us?" Ginny scolded, placing her hands on her hips in a Molly Weasley manner. "We're your best friends!"

Luna knitted her eyebrows together, in confusion. "I didn't feel like it was necessary, in about three days I was up and exploring again." Something in her eyes told Ginny and Hermione that she was holding something back.

"So you were just off exploring, just like that?" Hermione asked in disbelief. Luna nodded. "You should have checked yourself out! Who knows what was in that poison?"

"I...know," Luna said in a small voice that was very not-Luna. "I did some tests on my blood and," her hands gently rested on her belly. "Well, the poison just contained large doses of asphodel, which the pixies eat, so that's why I fell asleep like I did. But my blood levels were also irregular."

"Which meant?" Ginny asked impatiently.

"I was pregnant. Well I still am." There was a silence. Hermione and Ginny's eyes landed on Luna's belly, mouths agape again. But then their mouths turned into beaming smiles and the women crushed Luna with loving hugs.

"That is fantastic Luna! Congratulations!"

"Yeah, congratulations! Have you told Rolf yet?"

"Have you got Nargles in your brains?" Luna said, suddenly angry, which took the girls aback. Luna never got angry. Maybe a little impatient when they couldn't follow her wise monologues about a new magical creature, but never... "I can't tell Rolf. If I do then that's our adventures over, done. He is a Magizoologist, Rolf would never want to settle down." Her voice was calm again, but her eyes threatened to spill out tears.

"Oh, Luna." Hermione wore a sympathetic smile. "But being a parent is an adventure. One more exciting than trying to find a poisonous pixie or tracking down a new type of dragon."

"Hermione is right Luna," Ginny said, wrapping her arm around the blonde's shoulders, "Rolf will understand."

"And what if he doesn't? Being a parent isn't the same as camping in the Arctic for a new species of Unicorn. How am I supposed to say 'I am carrying your child' in a ebullient manner? I" Luna eyed her ring, which had a topaz gemstone encrusted in it, and moved her hand so the light danced off it.

Hermione mouthed to Ginny 'in a nice way' when she saw her confused look and turned to Luna again.

"If I could look into the future, I would be sure I could see you and Rolf living happily together, with your children playing together contently."

"Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing," Luna said wisely.

"But sometimes knowing just the right amount is all you need," Ginny remarked, making Luna's hopeless feeling disappear and change into steely determination. She stared at her two best friends and smiled slightly.

"You're right. All I need to do is go to someone who could see into the future. Then I could know if Rolf would want the baby or not." Picking up her bouquet of daisies, Luna walked to the door with a hopeful gleam in her eye.

"But Luna, I thought you don't believe in the Seer nonsense?" Ginny said confused.

"Who said anything about a Seer? I'm pretty sure there is a herd of Centaurs in Ireland. I could quickly take a ferry there and stay over the weekend and..." Luna kept saying all about how she was going to track down the herd as she left the room, leaving her two friends in a daze.

But reality clicked in when Luna's terribly long train slipped out of view.

"Wait! You have a wedding go attend Luna!" And the two of them ran out of the room to accompany Luna to her wedding.

Team: Montrose Magpies

Position: Beater (2)

Prompts:

(dialogue) "So… what exactly is that?"

(opening sentence) Time was running out.

(gemstone) Topaz

Word Count: 1040

Genre: Mystery