Oneshot for BadMum's challenge on the Harry Potter fanfiction challenges board.

I was given the title 'Wondering' the song 'Chasing Cars' by Snow Patrol and the characters Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom.

Here's the result. Hope you like :)

'It's a lovely day today isn't it?'

Ronald Weasley opened his eyes slightly, squinting at the sudden bright light. He instinctively raised a pale arm to shield himself from the sun.

'Yeah, spose it is...' he muttered grumpily. 'Pity I'm going to be stuck indoors all this afternoon finishing Snape's potions essay...'

Luna smiled at him and leant back on her arms, letting her blonde hair fall loosely on the purple dress she had taken to wearing recently.

'Luna, erm...what are they?' he gestured to the string of purple somethings round her neck.

'Wrackspurt beads.'

'What?' He raised an eyebrow at his friend.

'Wrackspurt beads,' Luna looked down at him as though it was obvious. 'They repel Wrackspurts. I usually wear them when I'm trying to study.'

'Mental,' Ron shook his head.

'Hey Ron, Luna'

Ron glanced up at their two friends as they approached them. Dean Thomas threw down a pile of books next to Ron and pulled a face.

'I hate potions...'

'No, no no!' Ron protested, instantly shifting away. 'Not right now Thomas! I am having a rest!'

Neville snorted as he sat down next to Luna, and picked up a small stone to skim across the edge of the lake. 'Lavender's looking for you by the way, mate...'

This was met with a groan as Ron rolled over onto his side, his face in his hands.

'A rest from everything! That especially includes her!'

'She's not that bad Won-Won,' Dean chuckled, flipping through the pages of the first textbook.

Ron playfully punched him on his arm. 'You try dating her then...'

'No thankyou.'

The group fell into silence for a while, watching as some first years tried to coax the squid out of the lake with a huge stick.

'Hannah Abbot left this morning...'

Neville glanced up at Ron's comment. 'She did?'

'Yeah,' Ron grimaced and looked down. 'Everyone hear about her mum?'

He received several nods.

'Things are definitely getting worse aren't they?' Neville murmured, as Filch chased the first years away.

'I don't think I'm coming back next year, let's just put it like that,' Dean answered, no longer paying attention to the potions essay.

Ron shifted uneasily where he was sitting, and glanced away. Hermione had also mentioned the fact that she probably wouldn't be welcome at Hogwarts next year as well in the Great Hall that morning. The idea of it made his skin crawl.

'Sorry mate,' he managed to mutter. 'This whole situation sucks...'

'I was wondering,' Luna voiced suddenly, making the boys jump as she had been unusually quiet up until then. 'What do you think our lives would be like right now, if You-Know-Who never existed,'

'Happier,' Dean muttered. 'That's for sure.'

'Harry's parents would still be alive.'

'The teachers wouldn't be so scared.'

'There wouldn't be so much prejudice against muggle-borns...'

'We wouldn't have these stupid protection leaflets going round school.'

The mood seemed to have dropped significantly in the group. Ron stared miserably at the grass, absentmindedly playing with the buckles on Luna's left shoe. He had been so busy recently he hadn't begun to notice the things that were happening all around him.

Hannah Abbott, the safety leaflets, students and staff mysteriously vanishing or being pulled out by parents, Dean and Hermione, the Aurors guarding the school grounds. He couldn't imagine what Harry must be going through right now. He suddenly felt extremely guilty for not focusing on the people around him rather than his own selfish problems. And he had the nerve to bitch about his girlfriend in front of them.

'It's a lovely day today, isn't it?' Luna suddenly repeated. The friends looked at her questioningly. She smiled, a little dreamily and gestured over to the lake. 'I bet there are tons of Dabberblimps out in the lake today.'

When her friends still looked confused she continued. 'I've stopped wondering. Please let's not talk about this right now. It's so lovely and normal right now, that I just want to lie here and forget about everything that's going on. Just for right now, please let's just be normal students and talk about normal things.'

The idea of Luna Lovegood calling anything normal was so ridiculous to Ron, Dean and Neville that they couldn't help but laugh. Ron stood up and held out a hand to her.

'Come on Luna,' he said brightly. 'Let's move closer to the lake at least so we can hunt for Dabberwhatsits.'

That afternoon Ron forgot about everything else, except for Dabberblimps and Wrackspurts and Blibbering Humdingers- and his three friends who he was absolutely sure would make everything else okay.

Review? x