Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter or the Time Traveler's Wife which sort of inspired this.
Let me know what you think!
Chapter One
Luna dived as a purple jet of light streaked over her head, a cabinet exploded in a cloud of thick dust.
"Stupefy!" A high voice yelled, Luna felt it hit her back. Everything seemed to stop, the fall seemed to take forever but the battle raged on around her. She began to wonder if anyone had noticed but her thoughts were cut short as her head hit against the stone wall and she fell into remains of the cabinet. She is not sure how long she lies there, in the shattered glass, splintered wood and thin golden chains surrounded by dust and with something warm trickling down her face but it doesn't matter. A low voice yells another spell and for a second a jet of blue light fills the room. Then she's drowning, and it's not dark anymore, it's daytime and she's outside. Luna tried to swim but her limbs remained paralysed, whether from shock or the remnants of the stunning spell she didn't know. She sunk downwards and tried to hold her breath. She thought back to her friends, were they here too? What kind of spell could do something like this?
Her eyes slid closed as she succumbed to the darkness. A hand clutched her wrist and an arm tightened around her waist and pulled her to the surface. She gasped for air and struggled to open her eyes, squinting against the dazzling sun she saw a girl with red hair pulling her.
"Ginny?" She asked weakly but got no response. She closed her eyes and let hope wash over her, if they all together it would be fine, they had made it, Harry and the prophecy. It would all be fine. She felt herself be put down on grass as Ginny whispered spells and prodded at her with her wand.
"Ah, Evans. Nice day for a swim, is it?" A new voice said.
"No you idiot! Help me! I saw her in the lake, she was drowning. Do something!" A panicked girl said. Luna struggled to open her eyes but could only see the sunlight.
The voice from before spoke again, less cocky now a much more serious tone, "Rennervate!"
It was like a weight was lifted from her, she jerked upwards coughing up more water than she realised she had swallowed and moved a hand to touch her head wound gingerly. It was still bleeding. Her eyes readjusted to the light and she looked to the two people who had saved her. A boy with messy black hair and glasses and a girl with soaking wet red hair. A grin spread over her face.
"Harry! Ginny! What happened? I was-" She stopped as she saw their confused faces, she blinked and took a closer look. Harry had no scar. Ginny had beautiful green eyes just like…oh.
"I'm Lily Evans." She said with a kind smile, Luna felt like she'd been hit with another stunning spell.
"So you're…" With an open-mouth she turned to the boy .
"I'm James Potter, saviour of your life." He gave her a cocky smile and a wink.
"Oh please Potter! I'm the one that pulled her out the lake and you just show up at the last minute like always to take the credit."
"If it wasn't for me you'd still be fumbling around trying to think of a spell."
Lily looked insulted and opened her mouth to fight back, but she interrupted by a boy who looked to about their age but he was sickly and pale, with light brown hair and some scarring on his face. It was Remus Lupin, her old Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. "I think we should take her to the hospital wing, look at her head. It's a nasty looking wound. Do you remember how it happened?"
"Yes." Luna answered simply. They looked at her waiting for her a elaborate but she didn't, she couldn't tell the truth but she was too disorientated to think of a convincing story.
"It was probably a creature from the lake." Another boy said brushing his hair out of his eyes, Remus nodded then waved his wand drying Lily and Luna's clothes.
"Thank you Remus," Lily said politely, "Can you stand up?"
Luna nodded and stood up, she felt uneasy and stumbled into Lily who wrapped her arm around her to steady her. She began to guide her up to the castle.
"I haven't even asked you your name."
"I'm Luna Lovegood."
"You don't go to Hogwarts do you? You look like you'd be in our year I don't recognise you ."
"I'm new. I used to go Plimptom's Academy, it's a private school in Wales." Luna remembered her father telling her about it, although he thought it put to much emphasis on hunting creatures rather than studying them, so she went to Hogwarts.
"Well, I'm muggleborn, I only really know about Hogwarts. Have you been sorted yet?"
"Um, I don't remember." Luna mumbled.
"Oh, of course. Your head must be worse than I thought. How stupid of me." Lily apologised.
"You're not stupid."
Lily gave her a small smile and then pushed open the door to the hospital wing. "Madam Pomfrey!" She called setting Luna down on a bed, "Madam Pomfrey!" She repeated urgently.
"Yes, dear?" A young woman with brown hair bustled into the room wiping her hands on her apron. She looked younger than Luna had ever seen her. "Oh." She said simply as she spotted Luna, the blood now tricking down her neck staining her blue cardigan. She flicked her wand and a blue bottle flew into her hand. She was by Luna's side in the blink of an eye pouring the thick potion onto the wound. Luna recoiled slightly it began to fizz and sting, Lily lightly touched her arm and Luna fell backwards onto the bed into a deep sleep.
It was dark by the time Luna woke up. Lily was still by her bedside deeply engrossed in a Charms textbook . Luna looked around, green screens had been put around the bed and there was a magazine and a get well card on the bedside table, she reached out for the card; it was signed, James, your saviour.
"Bit of a prat, isn't he?" Lily tutted slightly with a gentle shake of her head, "How are you feeling?"
"Like I just wrestled Festered Goonblick."
"Is…is that good?"
"Could be better." Luna smiled, putting the card back. How could Harry's parents be like this with each other?
"Professor Dumbledore wants to speak to you if you feel up to it."
Luna shifted to sit up properly, "What time is it?"
"Quite late actually. It's about half ten."
"Ok. Thanks for staying with me."
"Truthfully, I'm just avoiding someone."
"James Potter?"
"No…I'll go get Dumbledore. I'll see you in the morning Luna." Her green eyes dulled slightly and she gave a small wave, leaving Luna alone with her thoughts for the first time since she had arrived here. An old Witch Weekly on the bedside table told her it was 1975; the smiling girl that had just left would be dead in six years.
Of course Luna had read accounts of huge time travel, just last year her father had interviewed someone who travelled to the time of the dinosaurs and brought back a T-Rex tooth as proof, so she knew it was possible. Dumbledore would know too and believe her and probably know a way to get home.
"Miss Lovegood," a familiar voice said. Luna looked up to see Albus Dumbledore standing in the doorway wearing robes of the deepest plum. "Now then, can you explain how you got into the Lake? You don't attend Hogwarts and you can't apparate into the school."
"I don't know how to explain…" Luna trailed off and thought for a moment, "I was in the Ministry of Magic and then I was here."
"How did you get through our enchantments? Is the Ministry planning something I'm not aware of?"
"Well, I have my suspicions that they're involved in the Rotfang conspiracy." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and Luna continued, "Never mind that. There was a battle and I was injured,"
"But surely if there was a battle I would be aware of it by now. You have been here since four in the afternoon, it is eleven o'clock now, word would have reached us."
"No, it wouldn't."
"Oh?"
"The battle…it doesn't happen until 1996." Luna looked into Dumbledore's eyes, it was like he was piercing her. She stared back searching his face for some hint of reaction.
After a while he nodded. "I believe you Miss Lovegood. I think it would be most wise for you to tell no one else. Tell no one about the future, even me. You shall tell the students you are transferring to Hogwarts. I assume you have already been sorted in your present?"
"Yes, Professor."
"As I do not know how permanent our stay with us will be, perhaps it would be best for you to stay with Miss Evans in Gryffindor Tower for the time being."
"You think it's possible I can go back? To my time?"
"I will begin researching it. I'm not sure how much luck I will have, it would be impossible to use a Time Turner to send you back as they only have the capacity of around one day forwards or backwards." He was deep in thought and Luna felt the silence stretch into awkwardness. "You can't apparate, correct?"
"That's right, Professor." And the room fell back into silence and Luna thought for the first time of all the people she was leaving behind, her father and her first real friends. She thought of them in the Ministry, maybe they had won by now and they were searching for her? But Luna stopped herself, this was now. That now wouldn't happen for another twenty years. Dumbledore stood without another word, went into Madam Pomfrey's office and returned with a pile of sandwiches.
"I think you should eat." He offered her the plate and she took it with slightly trembling hands, "We have quite a conundrum on our hands, don't we Miss Lovegood."
Luna swallowed her bite and nodded.
"I've never spoken to you about this? In the future?"
"No, sir. I don't think we've ever spoken which is a shame because I think you're the greatest wizard of all time." Luna blushed slightly as she said this but it was true. Dumbledore was viewed as rather odd just like her and he didn't let it bother him. He just carried on doing whatever his was doing. He was something of an inspirational figure to her.
"Well, thank you Miss Lovegood, I'm flattered but as to our current predicament…I will arrange for some robes to brought down in the morning and of course you will need a timetable and equipment-"
Luna blinked as her vision blurred and Dumbledore just became a messy blur of purple and white, she gripped the side of the bed to steady herself. She felt dizzy and like she was falling all at the same time, like the ground had been pulled away from under her feet. All her extremities tingled and she from what felt like far away Dumbledore called her name. She was hot all and then she was cold and flat on her back in tall grass as a light drizzle landed on her face and with a wiggle of her toes and a sigh she realised she wasn't wearing any shoes.
And that was Luna Lovegood's first experience of time travel.
