Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I own any of the characters in this fanfiction.
It was a very bright and cloudless morning; the sunlight illuminated the sleepy faces of the other girls that Luna shared a dormitory with. They all slowly got up and dressed, yawning and stretching as they got off their beds. Luna was awoke before everyone, dressed into her school robes and made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast, striding happily across the corridors, which was devoid of students or teachers.
Today, she helped herself to porridge, watching the majority of the students enter the hall and fill up the four house tables. She finished breakfast before everyone else and pulled out The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3 and started reading, ignoring the chattering around her completely.
After the bell signifying the start of their first lesson went, she meticulously put the book inside her bag and walked towards her Charms class. On the way, she could hear some fifth year Slytherin boys muttering 'Loony' as she walked by. Used to hearing this, she simply brushed it off and paid no attention whatsoever, continuing towards her lesson.
She turned round the corner and bumped into some more Slytherin boys, who were in their fourth year this time, and she staggered back, nearly dropping her stuff to the floor. She shot a glance at the boys, who looked malevolently pleased and she muttered 'Sorry' and walked off.
Finally, she arrived at her classroom with half of the class already there, and she sat down in her usual seat next to Ginny Weasley. Ginny arrived shortly after Luna, her fiery red hair clearly visible from across the classroom. She gingerly put her bag on the floor, and the remaining class came in and settled down in a few minutes. Mr Flitwick, who had to stand on a pile of books to see the whole class said in a loud, audible voice: 'Morning, class! Please pull out your wands and put your books away, as you will continue practicing the charm from last lesson.'
The class did as they were told and soon, the whole class was doing the same charm and sounds of talking and laughter filled the room.
'Ginny, is anyone in Gryffindor entering themselves for the Triwizard Tournament?' Luna asked, in her usual dreamy voice.
'I'm not sure yet,' Ginny replied. 'My older brothers Fred and George are going to try and see if they can bypass the age line and put their names in.'
'Ah, I wonder if they'll succeed.'
After what seemed liked hours, class ended. She bade Ginny farewell and headed towards the greenhouses to Herbology. The lesson went quick, as in most Herbology lessons, Professor Sprout always had a new type of creature that the class had to learn about and there wasn't a lot of writing involved.
Morning went by quickly and it was break. Having no one to hang around with, Luna strolled to the library, thinking of what book to read next. Daydreaming, she didn't realise that a group of Slytherin boys (the same ones who she bumped into, she immediately noticed), were following her. Although she was used to hearing 'Loony' from them in the corridor, not once in the past did they try to follow her. Abruptly, she turned around.
'Yes? Is there anything wrong? I've never seen you guys ever approach the library before, so it must be me you're following.' Luna said to the group of boys.
'I guess you're not stupid after all, Loony.' Philip said, the boys behind him sniggering. He pulled out his wand and everyone else imitated him. They all pointed their wand at Luna.
'You see, Loony, we wanted to try a few hexes we discovered. And since you seem to have no friends to stand up for you, I, being the great genius Slytherin I am, thought we should practice on you.' Philip sneered, his face looking even more sinister than their last encounter.
Anxiety washed over Luna but her face remained devoid of emotion. Every boy, including Philip, had a scornful look on their face now. They've never gone this far before; it was usually some form of verbal abuse or theft that she experienced. But being hexed by four fourth year Slytherins was the last thing she expected. What they said was right: there really is no one to defend her. Mustering her courage, she drew her wand and pointed it straight to Philip and the three boys behind him. No sign of fear could be seen on her face. She was determined. Although she stood no chance of winning, she planned to take out as many as she can, at least. Finally, Philip yelled:
'Petrificus Tota—'
A large firm fist out of nowhere collided with the side of Philip's head, sending him toppling across the corridor. Luna stood there, wand still pointed straight ahead, dumbstruck. The mysterious stranger punched another fourth year squarely in the face, and just like Philip, sent him tumbling across the corridor. The two remaining bullies ran for their lives, not daring to look back. Luna giggled and shoved her wand back into her pocket. Before she could thank her saviour, however, he walked briskly to the opposite direction of the library. She noticed that he was a well-built guy, tall, with broad shoulders and very muscular arms. And then Luna realised something...
He was in Slytherin, just like the bullies.
Why would someone from Slytherin help her? Did she even know him? No ... she never bothered to talk with people in Slytherin. In all honesty, she avoided them. The whole situation greatly bemused her. The last thing she ever expected to happen was a Slytherin guy to help her out when she was being bullied. At least, Luna thought, there was at least one decent person in Slytherin.
...
Crabbe went off to the dungeon for his next lesson: Potions. He found it highly amusing, as Professor Snape always taunted Harry and criticised his consistently poor performance in lessons.
'Stupid idiots,' he muttered to himself. 'Getting in my way. Ha, I'll love to see Philip try and uh...whats the word again? Oh yeah, confront. Confront me later.'
Minutes later, he arrived in the dimly lit stone corridors, with Gryffindor and Slytherin students in two different lines, obviously refusing to interact with each other. Crabbe joined the Slytherin queue and stood next to Goyle and Malfoy.
'Oi Crabbe, where've you been?' asked Draco impatiently, his usual smirk etched on his pale face.
'Had to beat up some idiots who got in my way.' Crabbed replied coolly.
'Who did you beat up?' asked Malfoy nonchalantly, as if this happened regularly.
'Just Philip and some fool he was with. The other two ran for their life.'
'Oh, Philip.' Malfoy's face contorted to a look of disgust. 'Hate that git. Tried cornering me with his little buddies once. Jinxed the hell out of him and they all fled.'
The wooden doors opened and Snape said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear: 'Get in.'
...
'Ms Lovegood?' Professor McGonagall sharply said.
'Yes, professor?' she said as she left her own world of imagination.
'I require your attention when I am speaking, for you will not know what to do if you don't listen.'
After minutes of Professor McGonagall explaining their task, she left the students to transform their slugs into a button, which was proving more difficult than it looked. But then again, Transfiguration wasn't Luna's best subject after all.
'Are you alright, Luna?' Ginny asked her, flicking her wand at her slug.
'Yeah, I'm fine. Some Slytherin boys tried to hex me at break,' she said, trying to turn her slug into a button like Ginny. Ginny looked at her after she said Slytherin. 'But another Slytherin guy saved me...it was truly puzzling.'
Ginny stopped and stared at her, unable to digest what Luna just said. A Slytherin helping someone from another house? But there's no one decent in Slytherin, everyone knows that, Ginny thought.
'Wow, that's really weird. Do you know who it was?'
'I have no clue. He punched two of the people trying to hex me and the rest fled. After that, he walked the other way and I didn't have the chance to thank him.' Luna said with a mixture of appreciation and guilt.
'Wow. First time that's ever happened. Maybe he wasn't trying to help you, then? I know some people in Slytherin don't care about pushing other people who get in their way...' Ginny said, trying once more to transform her slug but only succeeded in changing half of the slug into a button.
'Maybe you're right, Ginny. Oh, look, I've nearly done it.' Luna said, pleased with herself. Ginny looked at Luna's slug which had turned into a button indeed, except it was just as slimy as the slug.
After the lesson ended, Luna went to the hall for dinner and went straight to the common room and having nothing else to do, did her homework. At 10 o'clock she finished her last piece of homework, trudged up the girl's dormitory, dressed in her pyjamas and climbed into bed, but not really ready to fall asleep yet. The events today still raced through her mind, as nothing really interesting or different happened to her often. Who was the person who destroyed the face of those two bullies? Why did he do it? Was it because of her or was it because they were blocking the corridor?
All sorts of questions popped into her mind and by twenty past ten, she was sound asleep.
...
Care of Magical Creatures went by quickly. Blast-Ended Skrewts, at least, weren't as dangerous as Hippogriffs and were more interesting. But the repulsive smell of rotten fish and its ability to suck blood, burn and sting made it more annoying than it should be.
It was dinner, and Crabbe was hungry. He traversed to the Great Hall with Goyle, who was as equally hungry as him, and Malfoy. They were near Pansy Parkinson, and Crabbe saw her smile as soon as she saw Malfoy.
'Hello Malfoy.' Pansy greeted him, her cheeks turned pink.
'Hello Pansy.' Draco said and sat down next to her.
Crabbe, who couldn't help but drool at the food in front of him, quickly took a seat next to Malfoy and ate to his heart's desire. There was roast meat, Shepherd's Pie, chips and more. Crabbe took a bit of everything and still had plenty more room for dessert – Treacle Tart.
After the large meal, he returned to the Slytherin common room with Malfoy and Goyle, and they sat near the fire on three armchairs.
'Malfoy, have you done your Potions essay? I don't get what to do.' Goyle growled.
'Of course not, since when have I ever done an essay for Potions? You know I'm Professor Snape's favourite student and wouldn't give a damn if I did my homework or not.' A smirk crept up his face again.
Out of nowhere, Philip approached them, his left cheek bruised and swollen and was purple.
'Oi Crabbe,' he bellowed and Crabbe stood up, readying his enormous fists. 'What the hell do you think you're doing, punching me like that? Why did you defend Loony?'
'What? I didn't defend nobody. You were blocking the corridor and I simply felt like smacking you round the face to move you. Got a problem with that? Or would you like me to smack you on the other side this time?'
Philip's face turned very red and soon most eyes were upon them, surveying what's happening. Philip pulled out his wand and bellowed:
'Stupe—'
Before Philip finished the incantation, Crabbe's battle reflex allowed him to secure a blow on Philip's face before he finished his incantation, accompanied by a loud crack. Philip went flying and landed on the green carpet, blood trickling out of his oddly-shaped nose, and dropped his wand upon being hit with Crabbe's fist.
The whole common room erupted into laughter, including the girls. Philip, humiliated in front of everybody, ran out of the common room still clutching his bloody nose.
'Good one, Crabbe.' Malfoy said, tapping Crabbe's shoulder.
'I feel tired. Gonna go sleep. Night.' He said and nodded at Goyle and Malfoy and went up up to the boy's dormitory and dressed himself in pyjamas and climbed into bed. He certainly was tired, but he kept thinking about what Philip said: 'Why did you defend Loony?' Who was Loony? He closed his eyes, remembering the details of what happened. He was sure that he wasn't saving anyone at all. But he didn't bother looking the other way, so he wasn't entirely sure.
After pondering about it for several more minutes, Crabbe fell into a deep slumber.
There you go, I hope you enjoyed it (if you actually managed to read this far). Review please. Constructive criticism would also be appreciated.
