A/N: Written for Round 12 of the Quidditch Fan League
Team: Montrose Magpies
Position: Beater 2.
Round prompt: Thumbelina (fairy tale)
Optional Prompts: 8 (word) starstruck; 11 (word) underhanded
'That's odd,' Luna thought upon waking. She knew she wasn't exactly tall, even as an adult after having finished Hogwarts, but still, usually her pillow was only barely large enough to contain her head. This morning, it seemed to be immense in size.
Luna stretched and sat up, or attempted to. Another odd thing was that the pillow seemed to cave in under her weight, and she nearly disappeared under the fabric. Luna let out a startled yelp and grabbed on to it, then used her grip to climb back up.
It was then that she noticed she was naked. Now that in itself was not so unusual, Luna liked sleeping in the nude sometimes. Especially during the summer when the Wibbleworbs blew hot air through the open window and made her sweat in bed or when she had naked naughty fun time with a special someone. But neither of those was the case now, it was a cold day in November, and her special someone was far away.
"Did I forget to put on my night gown last night?" Luna asked herself. Unfortunately herself didn't answer. Luna stamped her foot, a little annoyed, and lost her balance. With another yelp, she slid down her unusually large pillow, landing on another piece of fabric. It was pink and soft and looked exactly like her nightgown, if her nightgown was about thirty times larger than usual. And beneath the big gown was a dark blue sheet.
"Oh. This is my bed. In my bedroom," Luna said. She looked up to confirm, and there was the mosaic of her friends, all of them. Also larger than usual.
"Well. Either the house has grown, or I have shrunk. Luna, what do I do now?" Luna wondered out loud.
Well, her mother had always taught her that when you're lost, the best thing to do is to stick in one place until you're found. But she wasn't lost. Luna scrunched her face and thought of another lesson that could apply. 'When chasing Nargles or Snorkacks, one should wear radish earrings', that one was one from her father. But that hardly applied now. Besides, he had her earrings with him.
"What was it Harry said? 'Luna, never lose your wand'?" Luna nodded, that seemed like good advice. Well, her wand was right there... on top of her night stand. She looked to the left of her bed along the curved wall, and there was the wooden piece of furniture, with the tip of her oak wand just sticking out. It wasn't her original wand of course. The underhanded snatchers had abducted her from the train in the Yule holiday of her sixth year and had taken that wand from her. She had never seen it again, but Ollivander made her a new one which she still used. And it would be easy to grab, if one were of normal size. For Luna, it might as well have been on Mars right now.
"Even if I could get to it, there's no way I could possibly use it when I am as small as this," Luna commented. "Sorry, Harry, for not following your advice."
Well, that was another plan ruined by her being so tiny. Perhaps the best option now was to seek out help. Luna carefully moved over to the side of her bed where the cover hung down until it reached the floor. It seemed to be very high up, but sometimes one had to take risks... Luna held on closely to the fabric and started climbing down. She almost made it to the floor when she lost her grip.
"Eek!" Luna let out a surprised and pained shriek as she landed on her rear.
"Well, let's not do that again," she admonished herself. Okay, she was on the floor of her bedroom now. That was still three floors above ground level and far away from anyone else. Her father was in Sweden or Switzerland or Swaziland (something with a 'Sw') chasing for Snorkacks, Harry was all the way in London, Neville would be at Hogwarts finishing his mastery under Professor Spout, Hermione was either in London or with her parents... and the only other option was the Weasleys.
There had been a huge falling out between Harry and Hermione on one side and most of the Weasley family on the other, after it turned out that Ginny had been using love potions on both Harry and Hermione during their sixth year: Harry one keyed to her, and Hermione one keyed to Ron. When they had opted not to return to school for obvious reasons during their last year the false love had eventually faded away, leaving Harry to wonder why he ever thought dating the starstruck little sister of his 'best mate' was a good idea, and Hermione to wonder what she ever saw in a boy who had never done anything but belittle her for the seven years she had known him. All had come to a head when Harry, still cautious since he knew not all Death Eaters had been sent to Azkaban, had caught Ginny in the act of potioning their drinks.
In the ensuing chaos the Weasley twins had publicly distanced themselves from Ginny's actions, whereas Molly, Bill, and Percy supported her. Ron just went along with his mother which broke any chance of him and Hermione getting 'back together' even more than the initial revelation did. Arthur had sadly decided not to pick a side, and still lived in the Burrow with his wife and youngest children. So they were probably not an option, Luna decided. She would just have to hope to find someone who could help here outside... if only she could get to anyone. She rubbed her sore tooshy – 'nice girls don't use words like bum or butt, Luna dearest,' she remembered her mother once said – and looked in apprehension to the stairwell leading down.
"Oh, if only I could fly!" Luna exclaimed.
"Prek," came from up high. Luna looked up to the windowsill and saw a snowy white owl sitting there, watching her curiously. It was obviously Hedwig – Harry's owl. Harry had managed to fool everyone during the mad flight from the Dursley home at the start of what would have been his seventh school year and had sent Hedwig off to the Longbottoms with a note to Neville's grandmother asking her to keep the owl safe. The bird that had been killed during the flight had been a decoy, which nobody knew at the time, but after the war settled down Harry collected his owl once more. This same owl now looked down at Luna, head tilted to the side.
"Hello Hedwig. I know I am tiny as a mouse now, but please, don't eat me," said Luna. "Do you have a note from Harry, perhaps? Is that why you're here?"
Hedwig turned her head nearly fully upside-down as she inspected Luna further, then barked out another 'prek'. She stepped forward and glided down to the floor, landing near Luna.
"I don't see a letter," Luna said. "Did you come to keep me company perhaps?"
Hedwig looked at her like she was stupid, and Luna became very self-aware. Suddenly the owl bent her head down, and lowered her body to the floor as much as possible.
"Oh, you want me to get on your back? Are we going flying?" Luna asked. Hedwig barked an affirmative, and she carefully climbed on the owl, making sure she had a good grip on her feathers.
Hedwig barked once more, then spread her wings, and with a rush of air Luna found herself flying on the owl's back as Hedwig left the Rookery's window. She felt a little fear from flying so high above land, especially with how tiny she now was, but Hedwig was Harry's, and that made her feel safe. Luna had no idea where they were going, but decided that as long as Hedwig did, that was good enough for them both.
The downy feathers on Hedwig's neck were soft and comforting, and Luna allowed herself to doze off just a little, trusting the owl would keep her safe.
An indeterminate period of time later, Luna became aware that Hedwig was starting to dive. She roused herself from her half slumber and held on for dear life as the owl rushed toward the ground. Large buildings loomed overhead while Hedwig seemed to dive straight for an old phone booth. Just before the owl would crash, the door swung open on its own accord and the floor of the phone booth disappeared, allowing Hedwig to pass on through unharmed.
Luna let out an excited 'whoop!' as Hedwig flew through a dark tunnel, emerging in a great hall Luna recognised as the atrium to the Ministry of Magic. Hedwig paid no mind to the wizards and witches standing about and also ignored the guard at the other end of the atrium as she made her way for another lift.
Once again the doors opened, and Hedwig gracefully came to stop on the shoulder of a tall, dark robed man wearing the insignia of the Unspeakables. He looked up with a neutral expression that did not change when he saw Luna on Hedwig's back. For lack of a better option, Luna waved.
"Right. What level, then?" the wizard asked.
"Prek prek," Hedwig barked. The Unspeakable reached over and pressed the button labelled 'two'.
"Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement it is," he said. They continued the lift ride in relative silence until the lift stopped again. The doors opened to let Hedwig through and the owl once again took off.
She flew over a row of cubicles, and Luna heard someone yell out: "Oi, Chief! Your bloody bird is here again!"
Hedwig barked something that sounded annoyed and dove down to scuff someone on the ear. The chastised wizard looked at the owl and also saw Luna, briefly. "Oi! There's a pixie on that bloody bird's back!"
"Stop making up stories, Jones! Get working on that report of last night's patrol, you're late as it is," Harry's voice came from behind an open door. Hedwig flew for that same door, and landed on a desk.
"I'll be with you in a moment, Hedwig, got to finish this report," Harry said, not looking up from a long piece of parchment he had in his hands. Hedwig started to preen herself, and Luna used the opportunity to get off her back. Her legs and arms were a little sore from the flight, so she was happy to stretch out again. Since Harry was reading still, Luna decided to just wait there, standing on his desk.
A minute or two later, Harry was still reading. Luna started to get impatient, so she stamped her foot down – which made no noise at all. Next, she called out: "Harry!"
Hedwig looked up from her preening at that, but Harry didn't appear to have heard her. Luna started to get a little irritated. Hedwig had flown all the way across England to get her to Harry, and he wasn't even interested? She looked nearby on the desk, and saw a cup of tea standing near her, spoon on the saucer. With great effort she managed to lift it up a little, then let it fall back down. A nice clattering sound rewarded her efforts, and Harry looked up from his parchment.
Harry saw a naked small human-like figure standing on his desk. "Hedwig... don't tell me you really did bring a pixie in here," he said with a groan.
"I am not a pixie, Harry!" Luna yelled.
"Hang on, I can't understand you," Harry said. "Wait a sec... pixies don't talk..." He leant in closer and Luna saw his eyes go wide as he recognised her. "Lu– Luna?"
Excitedly, Luna started to talk about her adventure so far, but Harry just frowned. "I can't understand you, you're too high pitched... here, let me try this," he said. Harry took out his wand from his wrist holster, and aimed it at the tiny girl.
"Finite Incantatem," he clearly spoke. A red flash left the tip of his wand and hit Luna. Luna had enough time to let out an 'Eek!' before she started growing rapidly.
For just a moment she sat on top of his desk, naked as the day she was born, until the desk collapsed under her. It was not designed to carry a full person's weight, even one as lithe as Luna. Proving his Seeker reflexes hadn't fully gone away from a few years in the Auror force, Harry had caught her before she could hurt herself, and so Luna found herself naked and in his arms.
"Mmmm, just where I want to be, in the arms of my prince," she sighed, content. Explanations and finding out what happened could come later, she decided.