Luna's Treasure
A/N: I do not own anything at all related to the world of Harry Potter: everything you recognise belongs to the amazing J. K. Rowling.
This fic was written for the 'Operation Crunchy Banana Soup' challenge/ competition on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges forum. My task was to write a crack!fic (or, a serious one- as I have chosen since I'm not too good with crack!fics) using the plot prompt 'After Luna helps find Dobby's missing blue sock, he gives her a treasure map'.
I have also combined it with the 'Fill the Calendar' challenge, also on the HPFC challenge. My prompt for January 26 (Australia day!) was the dialogue 'Let's go for a walk'. I may still write another entry to better suit it, but for now I have included it in this.
I tried to make this fic fit in with canon as much as possible, drawing inspiration from the movie in particular. I also tried to avoid using the exact script that you may recognise from the end scene in The Order of the Phoenix movie (at least, from memory I'm 99% sure it is where it was from, if not The Halfblood Prince) to avoid plagiarism, so it may not quite be canon in that instance.
Whilst I am waiting for a beta, I apologise for any SPaG, clunky sentences, my poor attempt at capturing Dobby's voice, plot cheesiness and the overuse of 'she' you may find- no excuses, I will fix ASAP. Despite this, I do hope you enjoy my attempt at writing what Luna must have been doing before she met Harry during the end of term feast.
Word count: 1903 words
It was a shame really, having to miss the feast- she was looking forward to spending some quality time farewelling her classmates, perhaps give them another copy of The Quibbler that they seemed to always lose. However, she loved the way the hallways were now devoid of too many people, allowing her to search for her belongings without being jostled around.
Luna continued down the corridor, humming the tune her mother used to sing to her years ago. She had found that it was somehow stuck in her head, possibly placed there by the Wrackspurts- they were always cluttering her brain since she got back from the Ministry the week before. It was a funny tune, sounding a little like the popular Muggle jingle 'Pop Goes the Weasel'- of course the little beings would love to share it with her.
Deciding to make the best of it, she gave a little twirl where she was, followed by a small skip. Oh how she loved dancing, the way her body felt so free. Standing on her bare toes, she reached as high as she could towards the roof, stretching up and up, trying to touch the beams. If she concentrated hard enough, she was sure she could have floated upwards, not believing in the gravity keeping her on the marble floor. Twisting and turning, she glided further down the hallway, ignoring the bemused look of the portraits watching her.
It was not until she gave a small hop towards one of the paintings that she noticed a sock hanging off the intricately carved frame's corner. Prancing towards it, she reached up and fished it off. It was a long, blue sock, stretched out from frequent wear. With a sigh of slight disappointment, she realised that it was not one of the grey school socks she was missing; as interesting as it was, she could not keep it for herself either.
Crack!
She had been about to wander away from it when a house-elf appeared. He didn't immediately sense her presence, scurrying about the floor as though looking for something. His large green orbs of eyes darted back and forth as he looked around the area.
Curious of what he was doing, she bounced over to him. The poor creature looked frustrated, and she decided company would do the both of them good.
"Mr Elf? What are you doing?"
The house-elf gave a tiny jump and focused on her.
"Oh miss, you gave me a fright miss," he squeaked, "but you is always a kind miss, you called Dobby Mr!"
A bubble of laughter escaped her lips as Dobby gave a deep bow, his long nose touching the floor. Despite the approach of summer, she noticed that he was wearing two oversized woollen jumpers over his small body, as well as a red and black spotted sock over one flapping ear. Instantly, she took it that the elf must have been the one Harry Potter had rescued in her first year.
Holding out the blue sock to him, she watched as his eyes grew larger, if that was possible.
"Is this yours? I suspect that the Wrackspurts have told your friends to hide your things too."
His eyes shimmered with tears as he gently took the item from her outstretch hand. Placing it over his large right ear, he beamed at her.
"Oh thank you miss! You found Dobby's sock, Dobby is ever so grateful!" he bounced up and down on the spot, clapping his little hands together in joy.
He seemed to be having a lot of fun and she wanted to join in. As he jumped around from foot to foot, his eyes still swimming, she stood on her own toes and pirouetted beside him. It was quite thrilling, really, to be able to dance with an elf. She had tried once before to dance with the garden gnomes in the garden at her house, but they must have been teething at the time and not in the mood for entertainment, for they had bitten her on the hand and stalked off.
Dobby appeared to settle down first, watching as she gave a final turn.
"Miss is a lovely dancer," he commented, shuffling his tiny feet. "Dobby wants to thank miss, but Dobby does not have anything he could offer miss."
"Oh, that's quite alright sir-"
"Miss called Dobby sir!" he squealed, cutting off her speech, "Miss is ever so kind."
She was a little confused as to why he would be so excited about her kindness, but shrugged it off. She always thought people were kind, and those that were not quite so, simply needed to be given an extra big hug. Of course, Death Eaters were another story, but even so it was not their fault that their mothers had been infected with Nargles when they were pregnant, causing them to be a little mean. Unfortunately, her favourite Butterbeer cork necklace and her Dirigible plum earrings had mysteriously disappeared from her bedside table a month ago, so she had not been able to offer the Death Eaters any protection from the little sneaks.
"It's quite already Dobby, you are my friend."
"Friend? Miss wants to be friends with Dobby? OH! Dobby hasn't had many friends! Besides Harry Potter of course, he would do anything for Harry Potter and his friends" he clapped his hands again, resuming his bouncing from foot to foot.
Luna grasped onto his tiny hand, swinging their arms back and forth as she smiled down at him.
"It would be a pleasure to be your friend," bending down so that she could whisper into his covered ear, she added, "I don't have too many friends either. But I like to think everyone is my friend anyway."
Dobby looked as if he wanted to cry, his lips turning downwards. Not a second later, however, she snapped his fingers as his eyes twinkled.
"Dobby knows how he can thank miss, yes he does. Dobby will give miss a present. Close your eyes miss, please."
Feeling a surge of excitement travel through her body, she squeezed her eyes shut. She loved surprises; apart from the prospect of being the first to find the elusive Crumple-Horned Snorkack alongside her daddy, there was nothing better than receiving a secret present from a friend.
She could hear a scratching sound as Dobby shuffled around, followed by a series of quick 'pops', but she did not dare sneak a peek at what he was doing. It was very bad luck to peek, she knew, as it would mean radishes would not grow for seven seasons if a person did; it was why she sometimes wore her radish earrings, to remind her to be patient.
"There, miss can open her eyes now," Dobby's face was startlingly close to her own, and he was wearing the widest grin she had ever seen anybody wear.
Looking down to her hands, she noticed that he had pressed a crumpled piece of parchment into her hands. Waiting for his consent, she carefully unfolded it to reveal an untidy scribble of a dotted black line. The faded parchment itself was torn slightly on the edges, as though it had come from a student's notebook, and splotches of ink marked the page in odd places. At the one end of the drawn line, a large red cross had been hurriedly marked; on the other end, a rather crude drawing of a stick figure with two yellow lines for hair stood.
Dobby looked up at her as he bit his lip, "It is a treasure map, miss, you will find what you are looking for."
She wasn't sure why he was acting so nervous; she absolutely loved the map. She found the sketch of her quite cute, and appreciated the inclusion of two blue dots on the figure's eyes. Beaming at the elf in thanks, he gave another low bow and disappeared with a resounding crack.
What fun she could now have! She really did need to find her socks, shoes and one of her ties before she left for the train the next morning; what harm was there in making a game of it? If her watch hadn't also been hidden by her room-mates, she could have timed herself as to how fast she could follow the map, being pretty easy to read as it was.
Nevertheless, she began to count out loud, "one puffskein puff, two puffskein puff, three puffskein puff", as she followed the dotted line out of the corridor. She trailed up some staircases and slid down others.
It was as she turned one particular corner, the very last marked on the map, when she ran into a rather hard body. Large hands reached out to steady her as she continued to count.
"Oh, three hundred and two puffskein puff, hello Harry, didn't see you there, three hundred and three puffskein puff," she smiled up at him.
The raven-haired boy was wearing his usual look of confusion as he stared at her. Although it was an unkind thought, she really thought that he ought to stop looking so perplexed all the time and start bearing a smile- anyone would think that she was the one to make him act so muddled.
"Um, hi Luna, what, what are you doing?"
"Looking for treasure," she smiled, but something caught her eyes beyond his head.
She had reached the place where the cross indicated, and quickly made note of her final time- three hundred and six seconds, not too bad considering that the distance on the map looked quite smaller than the many metres she actually had to cover when roaming the castle. It was good practice for when she would need to run after the Crumple-Horned Snorkack- after all, they were pretty fast and it would not do to miss a chance to converse with them.
"Treasure?"
"Oh yes, that funny little house-elf gave me a map, see?" she placed it directly under Harry's nose, making sure he could see it in detail.
"I see… and, uh, what is the treasure?"
"I dare say I'll find some of my missing possessions. My peers hide them, and whilst it is quite a fun game to try and find them, I really need to pack."
He looked as if he were about to ask what she meant, but again she was distracted by something dangling from the roof. Squinting slightly, she smiled when she realised that they were indeed her much-loved purple sneakers, there white laces tied around the wooden beam. If they were there, then perhaps Dobby knew where her other items could be.
Her stomach rumbled unceremoniously, indicating that she should really get some food. It was perfect timing, actually, considering that she had found the treasure.
"Actually, Harry I think I'd rather go get some pudding now."
The boy smiled at her, easily accepting her change of mind. Offering her his crooked elbow so that she could enfold her own arm in it, he led them towards the Great Hall "Alright then, let's go for a walk."
Turning back as she heard a faint 'crack' again, she saw Dobby appear. He was wearing a smile that warmed her heart as he gave her a little wave. She made a mental note, hoping that the Wrackspurts didn't make her forget, to thank the house-elf before she left Hogwarts for the year.