Hello everyone! Thanks for the reviews! I hope you'll like this chapter as well. I know you'll be disappointed that Tom hasn't showed up yet, but trust me, it's coming! I'm trying to write as much as I can before the Nanowrimo starts, so I can keep on updating regularly :D Enjoy and review, whether you liked it or not and don't hesitate to report me my mistakes =)

Chapter 2 : Rainbows

"Um.. Maybe it didn't work."

Luna Lovegood was a bit disappointed. The portal hadn't taken her that far, apparently : she was outside, in front of 12, square Grimmauld. She sighed ; all the dramatic effect of the blue mysterious magic portal was gone out the window if it only led her outside the manor. Shrugging, she stepped forward and very naturally - and politely, just for the record - knocked at the door.

"Who the hell are you?" shouted a husky voice, muffled by the door, but still shockingly loud. The door opened to reveal a surprisingly short woman, considering the decibel her voice had just reached.

"Luna Lovegood, madam. And who are you? I've lived here for quite a while and I have never seen you before. But it's okay, I like making new acquaintances."

"Lived here for quite a while she says!", repeated the woman with an outraged scoff, "My family and I have lived here for centuries, and I've never seen you before in my life. Now go away before I curse your head off.", she said, as she slammed the door in Luna's face.

"I didn't know such rude people lived in the manor, now," she commented as she realised that she needed to move.

She could be found by a Death Eater any time, and, if yes, the weather would be excellent for a nice stroll in Hyde Park barefooted, she didn't want to risk being captured and die stupidly when she still had to do all that research in the Book of Shadows. Which was still at Square Grimmauld! There wasn't much she could do except find a library to get another copy of that book.

She Apparated away to a magical bookshop in London. She wondered what the Muggles could see, in its stead, She entered the bookshop. The place had a very outdated decoration, she immediately noticed, but liked the homey feel of it. She felt as if she was visiting a loving grandmother's house. She spotted the shopkeeper, an early thirty-year old man with thick glasses and prematurely grey hair and marched up to him.

"Hello, sir, could you help me find a book called The Book of Shadows, please?"

The owner frowned. "I do not recall having such a book here, what is it about?".

Luna described him the book, but he didn't seem to have heard of it. However, he proposed to write her the address of another bookshop that was specialized in strange books, like this "enchanting rhymed spells grimoire" appeared him to be. He tore a tiny piece of the Daily Prophet to write it on, when Luna noticed something odd on the newspaper.

"1943."

"Miss?"

"We're in 1943? We're the 23rd of August in 1943?"

The shopkeeper stared at her, stepping back, visibly suspicious.

"Um, yes, of course we are, Miss."

He had just the time to back away answer before Luna started jumping up and down, with squeaks of joy.

"I did it! I made it! I made the spell work!"

When she finally calmed herself down, the shopkeeper having fled in the storage room, she left, stopped at a café, ordered a cup of tea and started thinking. She was in 1943. No war. No deaths. No battles. No You-Know-Who. But none of her friends. She bit her lip. She couldn't leave Hermione, Harry or Ron… Even professor Snape who counted on her to decipher the mysteries of the Book of Shadows! She had to go back. But how? She should try to contact someone she could trust. Dumbledore was probably alive, she should try to reach out to him so that he could help her going back. She kept on elaborating her plan while sipping her tea.

She went back to see the bookshop owner.

"Excuse me, sir?", she asked as he jumped.

"Oh, it's you again. What is it?"

"Would you be willing to hire me, please sir? I would do anything."

"You won't be paid much, I'm afraid. And you're quite noisy. Bookshops are quiet places. You have to respect the books," he said with a frown.

"I know, sir, I'm sorry about earlier. It's such a magical day."

"Uhuh. Well, maybe you could do the inventory for me. I hate that. Come back tomorrow morning and prepare yourself for a titanesque task. I am Maximilian Colbourne. "

"Thank you, sir. See you tomorrow."

She smiled, waved at him and skipped out of the store. Now, she needed to find a hotel room. She Apparated to the Diagon Alley, booked the cheapest room of the Leaky Cauldron and installed herself in her room. That was quite hyperbolic, actually, since she had no clothes or possessions to move into her room, so she simply put a vase of white and purple violets on the table of her room to make it feel more alive. She went down, asked Tom, the Leaky Cauldron bartender, for a quill and paper and sent an owl to Dumbledore, asking him very politely if he could meet her as soon as possible at the Leaky Cauldron. She happily sighed, went back to her room and slept until the next day.

When she arrived at the bookshop, the shopkeeper once again jumped but still greeted her nicely.

"It's quite a simple job, you'll see, Luna. You just take the books, write their references on the list and rearrange them if they're out of place."

"Very well, sir."

The first day, Luna simply did as she had been told.

By the end of the week, the bookshop was unrecognisable. The dusty shelves of stacked books put in alphabetic order or theme were gone. Now, the shelves formed a maze from the entry of the store to the cash register at the centre of it.

The first area of the maze showed books put on the shelves to make a rainbow out of the colours upon arrival. As Maximilian entered deeper into the maze, he could see areas where books were dedicated to pink-coloured potions, some whose titles rhymed with each other and some where the shopkeeper had simply given up trying to decipher he logic behind the book sorting, fearing for a headache.
He could just gaze in this wonderful assortment of colours. She was given a bookshop, she had made a piece of art.

After a short silence, Luna simply said she was done here, gave him the inventory list, one dumbfounded Maximilian Colbourne gave her her salary and she left. That was that.

Luna was quite happy with her work at Maximilian Colbourne's shop, but still felt a little down. The address he had given her had turned out to be a dead end and she didn't have more luck in all the bookshops she had asked about the Book of Shadows. When she stepped into the Leaky Cauldron, however, she immediately noticed with a leapt of joy the tall frame and sparkling eyes of her former teacher, Albus Dumbledore, though he looked younger with auburn hair and beard and didn't look as weary as when he was still alive in Luna's time. She skipped to him.

"Hello, professor Dumbledore!"

"Oh, well. I guess I didn't have to worry about finding the author of that note, she found me herself. Hello.", he said with a smile. He ordered two cups of tea. He waited for them to arrive with polite chitchat about the decoration in the pub.

"So, Miss…?"

"Lovegood, sir."

"Very well. Miss Lovegood, what were you seeking me for?"

"I'm a time-traveller", she blurted out, excited. She told him her story very quickly, her pride showing at the mention of the book. Dumbledore listened patiently and was both surprised and amused at Luna's feat.

"Well, Miss Lovegood, I think the best way for you to get home is to reiterate that erm… spell. Do you have that book?"

"That's the thing, professor, I can't find it ; I actually think it was written at my era. I can't even remember it."

"Oh, well. You can't live here, though. How old are you? Fifteen?"

"Sixteen, sir. I was about to enter Seventh year in Hogwarts if it weren't for… well, this."

She couldn't tell Dumbledore that in her time that he was dead. That would be a bit rude and insensitive. Plus, she wasn't really lying, was she?

"I see. Well, Miss Lovegood, I assume you were a Hogwarts student, since you seem to already know me? I think it'd be a great idea if you joined me in Hogwarts to finish your education and meanwhile, we'll try to send you back to your time. I'll have to run this past our Director, Professor Dippet, but I think it will be nothing but a formality. What house were you Sorted in?"

"Ravenclaw, Sir."

"Perfect. I'm not surprised, you managed to time-travel, after all," he said as if to himself in a lower voice with musing eyes. "Do you need some place to stay until the 1st of September?"

"No, I'm fine here, Sir. It is a great place to advance my researches about Wrackspurts."

Dumbledore's smile widened, he nodded and he left.

Luna giggled softly. She was going to go back to Hogwarts. She couldn't help but feel excited to see this place again, how it was before Lord Voldemort took it over. And destroyed it. However, she felt a pang of guilt at the thought that she had the chance to be relieved of the Order's burden for a while whereas her friends would still be fighting.

For a little while, she'd be free of Lord Voldemort's shadow, at least.