Luna Lovegood looked at the evening sky with much trepidation. Her riotous blonde mane was billowing violently in the cool September breeze, and her normally bare feet burrowed comfortably in the dirt surrounding the Black Lake outside the school's gargantuan walls. Her ice blue-grey eyes gazed longingly up at the fading daylight up above, a small rueful smile tugging at her lips.
"Seems like a cheerful night for Nargles, right Neville? Do you think we'll finally catch one?" she asked her sole best friend in the world. Her serene face turned to look at that of her friend's whose own countenance couldn't match hers in pure wonder but seemed placid enough to soothe Luna. His formerly cherubic face, now longer and more defined from age, smiled easily at his friend as his own wild mane of short dark curls framed his forehead and nearly eclipsed his warm honey colored eyes. The fifth year quietly replied, "I hope so Lu," before he busied himself with warming his hands from beneath his mittens.
It was a surprisingly chilly night for the mid-September month, and Neville Longbottom was positively shivering in his casual slacks, long-sleeved thermal, Gryffindor sweater, House-colored scarf, and Converse sneakers. Luna on the other hand seemed quite content in just her school skirt, white blouse with the Ravenclaw tie hanging loosely from around her neck, a grey jumper tied neatly around her waist, and no shoes or socks. Why his best friend actively chose to wander about the castle when they could be having dinner was a mystery to the older teen boy.
"Say Luna," Neville asked after a few moments of confortable silence, "What ever happened to those new pink Chucks you bought in London a few weeks ago? We just got to Hogwarts and already they're missing." his voice barely restrained the annoyance he felt at the already obvious answer. Yet again people had been messing with his Luna-Lu's belongings, and it was only the second day back at school! Neville found himself cursing under his breath at the sheer amount of idiocy that his peers possessed.
Luna though, paid no mind to her companions hardly concealed anger, instead choosing to skip ahead a few paces to get closer to the lake. "I dunno, Nev. Daddy and I have a new theory that maybe the Wrackspurts are invading people's brains earlier this year than the last and are using compulsion to make others hide my stuff. But that's just a theory." she shrugged nonchalantly as she bent down to pick a dandelion. Neville only a few steps behind.
"Yeah, your Dad may be right. Those Wrackspurts are probably mating in the fall instead of the spring nowadays. Making everyone's brain all fuzzy. It's no wonder they act the way the do." Neville found those words easier to come from his mouth every day now. Where at first the brunette had a hard time conversing with the younger witch beside him because of her odd topics of discussion, eventually the herbologist-enthusiast found it becoming easier and easier to fall into simple conversations about Crumpled Horned-Shanks and Faeries. Reading the Quibbler at Luna's insistence helped as well, and had Neville realizing that Luna was in fact a great conversationalist using the mythical and unseen as a way of turning her world into that of a great metaphor. Not that the Lovegood family actually doubted the existence of such creatures, but when one looked at their words closely it was obvious that they basically spoke in a code that compared everything to a mythical creature. Making their already magical world that much more enchanting, it never ceased to amaze Neville.
He found Luna to be a dangerously insightful girl albeit a bit naive to the customs of other teen witches and wizards. He finally caught up with the smaller blonde and the two sat near the dusty shore of the Black Lake, simply being content with one another's silent company.
After a half an hour or so though, the two teens realized how late it had gotten amongst their sunset-gazing and hurriedly returned to the castle to find that dinner was practically over. Amidst quizzical looks of disdain and sneers from their classmates, the Ravenclaw oddity and Gryffindor outcast suddenly found themselves barred from the grand doors to the Great Hall. Student's already inside eagerly watched on with curiosity when they saw Harry Potter and his gaggle of friends already milling about the open entry way.
Neville visibly stiffened, hand already reaching for his oakwood wand as Luna's wand rested comfortably from behind her right ear. She didn't make a move to retrieve it either. The blonde merely watched the older boy in front of her with half-lidded eyes of boredom and a slight frown tugging at her lips.
"Oh, Hello Harry," she greeted casually. Her voice came out slightly dull, but still somehow maintained that dreamy quality that made her Luna. The tall, brunette Slytherin sneered down at her. His shaggy dark hair looking as if he didn't bother to comb it, and his glasses balancing precariously off his nose made the Quidditch seeker look that much of the arrogant git he already was. Potter made Neville's skin crawl, and his merry band of idiots weren't much better.
Ron Weasley, the class-clown, stood to Potter's right as his literal right-hand man. He was bulky and just about as dumb as a troll in any class. With his fiery red hair that matched his temperament and fierce blue eyes that were usually glued to other girl's chests or glaring at people like Neville. The Slytherin buffoon was just at bad as his sister, Ginny.
Now Ginny Weasley, who was a fourth year like Luna, was surprisingly a Gryffindor. Where her brother lacked in brains and talent, the younger witch made up for it in looks and intelligence. She was obviously gorgeous, smart, and the best beater in Quidditch but for all her talents, they were overshadowed by her obvious scathing remarks to others, her conniving ways, her constant bullying of others, and her infamous sex life despite her on-again-off-again relationship with Harry. The girl was a snake through and through like her best friend Pansy.
Blaise Zabini though, was leaning against the opposite doorframe to Potter and looked as thoroughly bored as someone with his emotional range cold muster. The Italian wizard was a bookworm if he could be called that. He was very handsome, and enjoyed indulging himself with fine wine's and women just as much as he did reading a good book. But Luna and Neville knew that for as many women he bedded, his indifference level matched it. He was cold man, and an even meaner tormenter too.
Standing to Harry's left with his arm around Pansy Parkinson was Draco Malfoy who was probably the worst out of the six snakes. He made Luna's heart knot painfully and made Neville shiver in fear at times. He was the son of a Death Eater and made sure no one ever forgot that. He was as arrogant as Potter, violent as Weasley, cold as Zabini, sexually-active as Ginny, and sharp-tongued as Pansy but that was coupled with his keen mind and knack for reading people with his occulmency that he was never afraid to use. Thus making him the most dangerous student at Hogwarts and unsurprisingly, Luna's worst nightmare.
For now though, Luna didn't look half as scared as she felt going up against six of the meanest student's in school. For all her fears and worries, the blonde looked about as calm as usual which bothered others to no end. When Luna could muster it, like now, she was every bit as calm and up-in-the-clouds as she could be.
Luna Lovegood never showed her true feelings, much like Blaise.
Ginny was the first to respond to the odd-ball blocking her path, "Get lost Loony, and don't talk to my wizard anymore, you bloodtraitor!" she uninhibitedly snapped. Her claw-like nails slowly raked over her boyfriend's waist where she made an obvious show of feeling up his arse. Neville mimed sicking up as she did, much to Luna's amusement.
Ron glared at Neville, "Oi, Longbottom. Think yourself funny?" he pushed himself off the wall and took a menacing step towards the Gryffindor who quickly changed his own stance to that of a cowering insubordinate. The others laughed at his expense making Luna frown and take a step towards Ron who only sneered in her face.
"Could you six be so kind as to remove yourselves from this doorframe for a mere minute," she queried. Her blue-grey eyes were level with Weasley's broad forearms showing that she was quite short at a staggering five foot, and yet she didn't back down.
Weasley laughed in her face and shoved her backwards into Neville, "Yeah, yeah," he muttered, "Now shut the bloody hell up and get away from us! Wenches like you can go starve your arses somewhere else, you fat cow!" his booming laughter echoed through the hall, accompanied by his friends own sharper cackles at Luna'a expense.
Harry smirked at the two loser's before him, on the ground where he thought they belonged, "Tsk, tsk Ron. Such violence isn't necessary." he silently pulled out his wand whilst Neville scrambled to help his best friend to her feet. As they did so, Luna realized that they weren't going to achieve anything by sticking around and tried to pull Neville towards the staircases.
Harry chuckled darkly as his newest targets tried to leave, he looked towards his friends and lazily continued by saying, "Really Ron, we're wizards, not Mudbloods like Granger. Use your magic like so," he shot a Jelly-legs curse at Neville's feet and watched with sadistic glee as he fell, Luna not far behind at Ginny's own infamous Bat-Boogey Hex.
The six bullies quickly swarmed down the corridor towards their hexed captives: Ron laughing obnoxiously with Pansy and Ginny, Blaise silently smirking beside them, Harry taunting them, and Draco in all his dastardly ways standing to the side with a scowl on his face. He looked at Luna and Neville as if they were the scum of the earth, and knowing Malfoy, he probably believed it too.
Luna hastily, without the others detection, cast a wandless counter-curse upon herself and Neville and quickly stood up. The two friends could sense that their tormentors of five years were in a foul mood and that it was best to stay as far away as possible.
'I shouldn't have bothered to walk past them,' Luna suddenly realized with a shake of her head, 'They are hopeless of becoming civil.'
"What was that, Lovegood?"
Luna froze. That was the first time that scathingly chilling voice spoke to her all year and she knew she was screwed. "Dammit," she whispered to herself. 'I forgot that the bloody git was an occulmens.'
Neville heroically stepped in front of Luna, wand drawn and a dark look covering his features. Luna could tell that it was all an act though because his hands were shaking and Neville appeared sick.
"Leave her alone Malfoy." he whispered.
Draco barked out a laugh even though he didn't find Longbottom funny in the slightest, "Sod off, you useless little toad. Your little whore over there needs to learn to keep her thoughts to herself." he raised his wand much to his friends cheers and laughs of encouragement.
"Crucio his arse!"
"Curse the tramp!"
"C'mon Malfoy!"
"Bloody Brilliant!"
The laughter soon became unbearable as Luna found herself trapped against the wall with Draco and his cronies quickly closing in. She shut her eyes tightly and held onto Neville's clammy hand for dear life as she sensed Malfoy's wand poised to hex them into the hospital wing.
"MR. MALFOY!" a loud shrill voice suddenly reprimanded. It made the eight teens jump with fright as the figure of Minerva Mcgonnical materialized right before their very eyes, much to Neville and Luna's relief.
"What in hades in going on here?" the Transfiguration teacher demanded. She took in the scene with shrewd eyes and a calculating gaze roving from Draco who stealthily pocketed his wand to Luna whose face looked blissfully unaware of her surroundings save for the muscle pulled taut in her jaw. The older witch irritatedly broke up the confrontation and asked for Ginerva Weasley, her best Transfiguration student's side of the story.
"Oh, it was nothing Professor," she lied smoothly, "Just a little friendly banter betwixt friends that got a little nasty. We're adults ma'm and we'll deal with ourselves accordingly. No need to stick around." she batted her ridiculously long glamor charmed eyelashes at the Gryffindor Head of House and smiled. Minerva mindless believed her and paid no mind to the threatening circle the six teens made around Ms. Lovegood and Mr. Longbottom.
"Very well, you eight should be off to your dormitories then. Dinner's over and you all have obviously eaten," she pointedly ignored Neville's face of disagreement and disbelief, "Now off you go." she quickly left the teens as fast as she arrived, not passing the obviously harassed teens a second glance as she left.
Luna and Neville were not far behind her, frantically running all the way to the library for refuge