Title: September
Author: SeerySly
September
October is the month of frost.
The red and gold autumn leaves of the trees surrounding Hogwarts castle had all begun to die. They shriveled and turned a dark, dead brown before floating gently to the ground. September had faded away, and with the first month of school done, many students were looking toward the distant Christmas holidays. As she shuffled to class, Luna Lovegood kept her head down and her eyes averted from anyone else. Normally, she wouldn't have cared about the sniggers and strange looks that always came her way, but after the calamity the dung bomb, she could barely stand it.
She didn't know what was worse, the fact that the incident hadn't been the cause of Nargles, or that it had been caused by one of the Weasley twins. Like most girls at the school-except maybe the Slytherins-she fancied them. When the topic of boys came up, Luna always agreed that the Weasley twins were a pair of the most attractive at the school, though she never said so out loud. To her, love was a distraction, caused by overzealous Wrackspurts. She had no interest in dating whatsoever, but that didn't stop her imagination.
She rounded a corner in the castle, making her way to her Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which was always with the Gryffindors. The two houses only shared two classes together this year, but they were Luna's two favorite. As she approached the classroom where the rest of the class was waiting to be let in, she stopped dead in her tracks. Some of her classmates pointed to her and whispered, and someone, a boy from Gryffindor called out, "See a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, Loony?"
The class sniggered, but Luna ignored them. She was frozen, not knowing what to do. Standing next to Ginny Weasley were two twins with flaming red hair. Luna took a step back. Ginny was muttering fiercely to the twins, who were spinning everything she said into a joke.
"You could at least apologize since you're here," Ginny said severely. George yawned, patting is open mouth as he did so.
"Again, heard all of it, Your Royal Nag-ness," he said around his yawn.
"We came to get that letter mum sent you," Fred added, twiddling casually with his wand. Ginny crossed her arms.
"Why do you need it? She sent it to me," she replied icily.
"Because it was addressed to all of it. That stupid owl just came to you," George replied. He got down on one knee, followed by his twin. "Oh please, M'lady," Fred pleaded mockingly, head bowed and hands folded on his heart.
"Please let us see the letter," George continued. "Even ickle Ronnie got to read it!"
Ginny tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for them to stand back up. Loud, thumping footfalls approached the classroom, and Mad-Eye Moody appeared. Fred and George stood up at once. Moody was the only teacher that was able to scare the Weasley twins.
"C'mon Ginny, just let me see it," Fred said once more, and with a last, furious look at them, Ginny pulled out the folded parchment and threw it into Fred's outstretched hands. He bowed low. "Thank you, oh wise one," he said and started down the hall in Luna's direction. Luna shrank against the wall, staring at the floor. She watched a beetle crawl across the stone. She glanced up, and her eyes met a pair of green ones. Fred Weasley winked nonchalantly at her as he passed. She looked back down quickly, not daring to even glance upward again until she couldn't hear their footsteps anymore. She sighed and shook her head. She straightened herself up and put her usual half smile in place on her face.
What' s the use of being embarrassed by this? she thought to herself as she scurried to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She was sure that all her embarrassment was doing was just making her Wrackspurts more active. Besides, it had probably just been an accident anyway.
Luna skipped to the door, her head held high. The last person was shuffling to her seat, and Luna followed quickly. She sat down with her fellow Ravenclaws, and saw Ginny looking at her searchingly from her seat a few desks away. Luna returned the look with a slight smile. Ginny, still looking concerned, nodded and looked to the front of the classroom.
But Luna's heart still felt heavy.
Sunlight streamed through the windows in the Charms classroom. When the Weasley twins had entered, holding their robes over their noses like the rest of the class, Professor Flitwick gave them a great scowl, his lips drawn thin. But he hadn't said anything. The twins were now sitting at the back of the classroom, George's head in his hands, and Fred's feet on the desk.
"Mr. Weasley," Flitwick called from the front of the room. Both twins looked up. Fred raised an eyebrow. "Er…Fred, then," Flitwick said. Fred sighed and removed his feet from the desk. "Now, Fred. Would you like to demonstrate the Aguamenti charm for the class?" Flitwick asked. He obviously meant for Fred to stand up and perform the charm, but Fred waved his hand at the tiny professor.
"No thanks, Professor. Not in the mood today," he said, kicking his feet up on the desk again and leaning his head on the back of his chair. Little Professor Flitwick turned bright red and gave a little huff.
"Well, I never," he squeaked angrily. "Ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Mr. Weasley."
The Gryffindors groaned, but the Slytherins on the other side of the room smiled widely. The bell rang signaling the end of class. Slowly, the twins stood. They began packing up their bags, placing everything carefully into the canvas. Flitwick approached them. "Boys, a word?" he squeaked. The twins looked at each other and turned to their Charms professor. Flitwick cleared his throat.
"I've noticed quite a difference in your performances lately," he began.
"What d'you mean, Professor?" Fred asked, flipping the top of his bag closed. Flitwick shuffled his feet uncomfortably.
"You two don't seem like your usual selves," he said finally. The twins glanced at each other. "Both of you seem quite…down. As your teacher, it concerns me."
George chuckled and waved a hand at the tiny professor.
"No worries Professor, we're fine," George said. Flitwick didn't look convinced.
"Just a lot going on lately," Fred added quickly. Still, the Charms professor looked unconvinced. But, finally, he shrugged.
"Alright then. Have a good afternoon boys," he sighed. Together, the twins turned from their teacher and left the room.
"Well, it's true isn't it?" Fred said, swinging his bag carelessly over his shoulder. "With all this joke shop business, we've got a lot going on!"
George snickered. "There's a 'difference in our performance'", he snorted. "Pfft. As if classes are on the top of our priorities list at the moment."
They began to climb the great marble staircase, pulling themselves lazily up the stairs. Fred watched the paintings with little interest. There was a knight running through a landscape, chasing a young woman who looked as if he was the last person she wanted to be chased by. Fred gave a half smile. They reached the landing of the seventh floor corridor and began to make their way down the stone passage, heading for the common room. As they passed a set of great cathedral windows, George snickered again. Fred glanced at him, an eyebrow raised.
"What would Filch do if we set loose a bunch of pixies outside his office?" he muttered. Fred smiled at the image of Filch running about, flailing his arms as he tried to recapture the pixies. Smiling, he shook his head.
"Too bad we don't have any pixies," Fred replied. They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Wattlebird," he added and the portrait swung open. They climbed through the portrait hole and found themselves inside the common room. The room was filled with Gryffindors milling about, all waiting for dinner. The twins shuffled in and threw their bags in a corner. Then, they pushed through the crowd and found a place at a small, empty table. A candle flickered lazily on top of it. As they flopped down into the chairs, George pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. Glancing around to make sure no one-namely Ginny-was around, he unfolded the paper. Fred leaned in as well. He stared down at their list.
"I had a thought," he muttered, running his fingers down the list. "What if we changed this," he pointed at an item, "and added some explosive power to it?"
George thought a moment, then shook his head.
"It'll never be allowed in the school," he whispered back. "And we're going to be selling to students."
They bent their heads closer, talking in an undertone. No one, not even Lee Jordan approached them.
The Great Hall was packed with students, all talking excitedly about the sudden appearance of Ministry workers at the school. Rumors had floated around about new protection on the school since the fiasco at the Quidditch World Cup. "It's ridiculous," Hermione Granger stated loudly over the rest of the Gryffindors. "They would have sent Aurors if there was extra protection on the school!"
Two tables over, Luna watched the Gryffindors blankly, not focusing on any one in particular. Suddenly, the great double doors opened and two flaming-haired twins entered the hall. They looked tired but in a good mood. The crossed the hall and Luna watched as one, she thought it was Fred, leaned over Hermione's shoulder and gave a retort to her comment that made the surrounding Gryffindors laugh. Hermione scowled as George patted her on the back. Fred grabbed a roll of bread and the two sauntered to a pair of empty seats at the back of the hall. She sighed, but turned back to her dinner.
When she had finished, she stood. No one spoke to her, but that was normal. She stared down at her plate, examining her reflection in the suddenly spotless gold. She thought she saw a flicker of Wrackspurts, but it was gone. Shaking herself out of her trance, she began to walk casually over to the Gryffindor table, looking for long, red hair. She pulled a roll of parchment out of her robe as she spotted Ginny, just several seats from the twins, and tried her hardest not to look in their direction. One glance told her they were telling a story of some kind to their fellow Gryffindors. Luna walked straight up to Ginny.
"Here's the Defense Against the Dark Arts homework you let me borrow. I didn't copy it. That would have attracted the Nargles," she said in her usual airy manner, fingering her butter beer cap necklace blankly. Ginny smiled and took the roll from Luna.
"Thanks Luna. And, uh, glad you didn't copy it," she said. Gryffindors around her snickered or tried to avoid Luna's silvery-blue gaze.
"I suppose I'll go to bed then. Good night Ginny," she said. She turned as Ginny replied, "See you later, Luna", and began the trek out of the Great Hall. As she passed them, she gazed quickly at the Weasley twins and caught sight of their conversation. Fred was doing most of the storytelling.
"…and then the dung bomb landed right on Loony Lovegood's head!" he said enthusiastically. Luna's stomach dropped. She had been hoping that the whole thing had passed. After all, the Ravenclaws had all stopped talking about it weeks ago. She felt tears prick the corners of her eyes as she watched both the twins and surrounding Gryffindors burst into earsplitting laughter. She couldn't move. She felt her face flushing, but she couldn't break her gaze with Fred Weasley. She felt a tear break away from her eye. It tickled as it rolled down her cheek.
Fred glanced up at her, and immediately his smile faded. This jarred her back into reality. Luna wiped her tears frantically with the back of her sleeve (they attracted Nargles, too) and turned from the table. She made her way out of the hall as fast as she could without running. As soon as the double doors closed behind her, her feet broke into a sprint. She wanted to put as much distance between her and the Great Hall as possible.
She couldn't believe it. The incident had been over two weeks ago, and she had finally gotten over it. But the twins weren't, apparently. Not only were they laughing at her complete embarrassment, but they had called her Loony. She hated that name, and she didn't hate freely.
She heard footsteps behind her but didn't dare turn around. Instead, she ran faster, keeping her head down. Her heart was pounding quickly and she was finding it difficult to breathe. The footsteps were getting nearer. She skidded around the corner, trying to lose her follower, but it didn't work. A large, rough hand closed around her small, smooth one, pulling her to a sudden halt. She tried to pull from their grip but couldn't.
"Luna." She knew the voice. Biting her lip in shame, she turned to look at him. Flaming red hair and freckles. Fred Weasley's eyes were wide with horror and he was panting. "Luna, look I-" he began, but Luna had jerked her hand from his. He reached for it again, but she pulled back. They stared at each other for a long time. Suddenly, Fred collapsed on the ground, his back to the wall, eyes gazing out the windows. Luna stayed frozen, not daring to move in case he decided to chase her again.
Fred laughed. It was more of a painful cry than a laugh, she decided, but she understood his intent. He turned his green eyes to her. His expression was sad. "Luna," he said again. He stood, wiping his hands on his robes nervously. Then, without another word, he turned from her. Luna felt hot stings of tears in her eyes again, and she too turned her back on him. She began to walk slowly down the corridor. From behind her, barely audible, she heard a whisper.
"I'm so sorry."
A/N: Phew, done! So I feel like I may have rushed the ending to this chapter a bit, but overall I'm happy with it. I hope you all enjoyed it! Thanks so much for the reviews! Oh and thanks to AKToad for reminding me that November doesn't actually come after September. Whoops! Still confused as to how I made that mistake….oh well XD.