luna in wonderland

by iliveinabirdcage

Summary: Nargles, upside-down letters, and copious amounts of tea later, and Luna, a fan of mice, had to admit she and the cat were getting along quite well. AU, Luna-centric.

It was a cool, quite peaceful and pale day in August during the summer holidays, and Luna, having just received a letter in the post, delivered by owl (of course) and written by Hermione, was reading it at her lopsided kitchen table.

Dear Loon – Luna, (sorry, force of habit)

We all hope you're having lovely holidays & hope to see you quite soon. How's the training going and Ron wants to know if you've seen any Nargles. Don't be silly Ron...oh, sorry Luna. I hope your dad's doing okay with the Quibbler, too.

I know we're going to see you (at school) after the holidays but Harry was thinking of – okay, okay, we were thinking of – why don't you write this then, Harry? – having a D.A meeting before we go back to school, so we're not interrupted by You-Know-Who (not THAT You-Know-Who, you know, it's a woman.) Neville's up for it – he's got his owl past his Gran and back to us on Monday – and Fred, George, Angelina and Katie are coming. We haven't heard from the Patil twins yet and Ernie's on holiday but Hannah wrote back and we assume Cho, Dean and Seamus will be attending. It'd be nice if you turned up.

Also – this is just from Hermione – that Crumply-Snorky Whatsit horn that you told me about, I'm pretty sure that's an Erumpent Horn, Luna, and they're extremely dangerous to be near, let alone have them around the house. Please tell your dad to take it down!

Lots of love, your friends, Hermione, Harry, Ginny & Ron.

Luna smiled to herself, rolled up the parchment and left the letter out on the table to write a reply later. Her straggly pale-blonde hair was tucked behind a pointed ear, where she stuck her quill, and tucked her wand into the pocket of her dungarees. She absent-mindedly stroked the small tawny owl perched on her windowledge, who seemed irritated to be leaving without a reply and flew off. Her father, Xenophilius Lovegood, was away temporarily looking for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack and Luna had a few days of summer all to herself.

She decided to take herself down the hill and over the grassy bank to the stream and fish for Freshwater Plimpies. It was the perfect weather after all, with no interruptions, and maybe she'd actually catch one today. Luna liked to sit and hear herself think, although her thoughts were interesting they never particularly made sense, but she understood herself perfectly.

She rolled up the sleeves of the shirt under her dungarees and, dangling the toes protruding through holes in her odd, striped socks in the water, took her fishing rod in one hand and her first-hand copy of Daddy's latest printing of the Quibbler in the other, (upside down) and began to read determinedly, and realising she could see the large rook which was her house from the stream, she decided to take a rest first before fishing and see if she could see any more interesting clouds (watching the sky was a hobby Luna was quite fond of.)

Casting her rod and the Quibbler aside temporarily, she was just stretching out on the bank to begin threading a daisy chain, holding the Butterbeer cork she wore on a pale blue lace around her neck between her teeth, when something quite unusual, even in a world of magic, scurried by.

She was used to oddity – after all, when you were Luna, it pretty much became the norm. She believed in a lot of things and many people found it interesting that she had a mind filled with heliopaths and the Rotfang Conspiracy but no room at all for crushes and common chattering.

So when she saw a hare in a waistcoat, holding a large wristwatch in one paw, it meant nothing to her – nothing out of the ordinary, at least, not even when she called a hello and good morning and it replied. What did irk her was the fact the hare didn't wish her a good morning back but muttered, "I can't stop to chat, I'm late!", Luna became quite indignant. She liked hares – she liked the fact they were free and adventurous and wild, and she liked the fact her Patronus was a hare, but that didn't excuse rude behaviour.

Crawling up on her knees and getting her dungarees mucky, she called after the hare, "Excuse me, that's not very polite!", and when she was ignored for a second time, Luna decided to follow the hare and see just how important it was not to be late.

Clambering to her feet, she ran after the hare but it seemed every time she got closer it got further away and after running a long way and having to stop and catch her breath, it finally dawned on Luna that she must have lost her way. In fact, from the rustling trees, blowing wind and mystical twinkling lights around her, Luna decided she must be in the Forbidden Forest, and she could hear the ticking of a wristwatch from not far away, so she decided she would only have to venture a little further...

"Mr Hare? Mr Hare?" she called, assuming the hare was male because she hadn't seen too many females wearing waistcoats. Almost barefoot, her striped socks almost fully worn away, she followed her tripping over a few roots occasionally and dirtying her feet, until she felt something go straight over her head and ducked, dodging a hearty blow from the Whomping Willow.

Seizing hold of the hare's grey, tufty feet, she felt her feet graze the knot underneath the tree as she disappeared down a hole and landed on a pile of autumn leaves. Checking her pockets to make sure she still had her wand, Luna brushed herself down, and noticed the hare scurrying away. "Excuse me?" she called, clambering to her feet and following...