Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Harry Potter.
Just a little something for St. Patrick's Day. :)
It's on the eve of St Patrick's Day that Luna finds it, after searching and searching and searching: that one, perfect little four-leafed clover. So pretty, and there are so many people she knows who could do with a little bit of extra luck. Because everyone knows that four-leafed clovers are full of luck-magic, and when they're picked on St Patrick's Day it makes the luck even stronger.
First she wonders about giving it to Daddy, of course. She could send it home in a special owl-package with the butterbeer cork that she's made into a charm for hanging over Daddy's bed to ward off the Nargles. Daddy would like a four-leafed clover very much.
But Daddy doesn't actually need a four-leafed clover. Daddy is really very lucky already, he always says so, and besides he knows all about things like Wrackspurts and Nargles and what to do to keep them away. Most other people don't understand, and so they definitely probably need more luck to escape from those sorts of nasty things.
Who should it be, then? There's so many heaps of unlucky people, when you really think about it, who really do need a four-leafed clover or at least a butterbeer-cork necklace.
Like some of the girls in Luna's year, the other first-year Ravenclaws who're always giggling and whispering behind her back. It's not very nice, having people do that to you, and always being the one without a partner in Potions and Charms and Transfiguration; but Luna does understand, really. It's just because they're not really very happy inside themselves and they don't like who they are, and she can't imagine anything more unlucky than that.
But the girls in her class really wouldn't understand, just like they don't understand things like butterbeer corks. They might even rip the four-leafed clover apart, like they'd done that one terrible time with the dreamcatcher she had hung over her bed. That had hurt, actually, coming back and finding her special dreamcatcher in shreds on her pillow, all the feathers torn off, and the others muffling their giggles into their bedclothes. It had taken her a long time to make that before she came to Hogwarts.
Luna hadn't cried, though, and she was proud of herself for that. She'd just told them gently that she was sorry they had destroyed her dreamcatcher, and gone to bed herself. (They had still giggled, but it sounded a little bit ashamed, she thought.)
But – no, she won't give them the four-leafed clover.
She wonders about Ginny Weasley, who's in her year but in Gryffindor. Ginny's actually nice, sometimes, when she's not looking really miserable and going off to be on her own. Luna wonders what she does, all on her own all the time with a sad face. Maybe she tells herself stories, like Luna does when she's sad and lonely.
But Ginny's not the only person who could do with some luck. There's the poor Petrified boys in the hospital wing, too. Though Luna doesn't know if they're exactly unlucky, if you think about it, because they're just – like stone. Nothing bad or good can happen to them, which is kind of boring, but at least they're not miserable like their friends who aren't Petrified and have to worry about them.
And besides, they won't be Petrified for ever, because there's a potion to un-Petrify them, though Luna isn't sure how they're supposed to drink it if they're Petrified solid. But it'll definitely cure them, all of the teachers say so, they just have to wait a while until the Mandrakes are ready, and the Professor Snape can brew it.
Professor Snape! Luna does a little dance in excitement.
Of course! She didn't know why she hadn't thought of him before. Professor Snape definitely needed lots of luck, firstly because he just was unlucky, everyone was always making mistakes and messes in his classes and you could see he didn't like that; and also because he was going to make the un-Petrifying potion, and it was very, very important that that went well.
Besides, poor Professor Snape isn't that bad, really, even though everyone calls him nasty things behind his back. He's only grumpy because he's sad and no-one likes him, and probably showing first-years how to make potions is really boring for him anyway. He also has tired creasy lines on his forehead and around his mouth and eyes, like he doesn't like getting up in the morning, and Luna knows what that feels like. She might get grumpy creases on her face when she's old, too.
And sometimes – and this is when Luna feels the most sorry for him of all – Professor Snape pinches his nose between his thumb and his finger and closes his eyes and takes a big sigh through his nose as though everything is just too hard and he wishes he could just go back to bed because he's so unlucky.
Yes, Professor Snape is the perfect person to give a lucky four-leafed clover to.
Luna wraps the four-leafed clover up very, very gently in a piece of soft gold tissue paper that she's been saving for a special occasion. She writes a little card to go with it, chewing hard on the crunchy end of her pencil to think what to say.
Dear Professor Snape,
This is a present for you that I found, I think you should have it because you need lots of luck with everything and with making the potion for the Petrified people too. I hope you like it.
Love from Luna Lovegood
PS: Please don't put it in a potion. It would make all the magic go away. Luna.
She asks one of the nice house-elves to deliver it for her, and doesn't ever hear anything more from the Professor. But after that, she notices that he always gets particularly cross with anyone who laughs at her, snapping at them and taking house points for idle chatter. Even if it's in the halls and not in Potions class!
It's really nice, because most of the teachers don't even notice, but it's like Professor Snape knows exactly what people being mean sounds like.
He even sometimes comes over to her solitary cauldron in Potions and makes a snappish suggestion of something to improve her potion, and it always works really well and she writes it down in her book to remember.
One day, Luna notices a tiny vial on Professor Snape's desk as she hands in her potion at the end of class. She wriggles in excitement when she sees that it contains a magically preserved four-leafed clover, and looks up at him questioningly.
The Potions Master gives her a stiff little nod, before sweeping the vial safely into his hand, and Luna smiles happily at him.
Yes, she's very glad she gave her lucky four-leafed clover to Professor Snape.
Yes, I know - everyone's giving presents to Snape! (For more Snape, you might like to check out my story 'Misanthropy'.)
A/N 19.3: I have belatedly realised that I had Luna chewing on a pencil, not a quill! However, on doing a little research I have found that graphite has been used to write with in England since the 1500's, and the forerunner of the modern wood-encased pencil was created around 1560 (Wikipedia). The Wizarding Statute of Secrecy was established in 1692, and as a result, general wizarding culture seems to reflect 17th century Muggle culture. Thus, I think that wizards could well have used pencils. Perhaps children born to magical families learned to write with a pencil before moving on to a quill? Anyway, a pencil would be more practical for, say, carrying around in one's pocket, and I can imagine Luna with one. A chewed one. :)
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