Letters For Luna

Early in the morning,
Feet stuck on the ground.
Gotta fix my cup of caffeine, and I'm turning things around

William Beckett – 'Compromising Me'

Luna was having breakfast the following morning when Augustus the school owl arrived with a reply from Mrs Weasley. Abandoning her porridge, she opening it to see what Ginny's mother had to say.

Dear Luna,

Thank you for getting in touch with me about this. Certainly Professor Snape has not endeared himself to any of my children, let alone Harry or Hermione. I know that Harry cannot stand the man, although I had put that down more to their personal differences, and Harry inheriting his father and godfather's dislike of Severus, than anything else. From what you are telling me, it seems that the situation is far more serious that I had imagined. You can guess that I will not tolerate anybody bullying my daughter, and I have written to her to check up on her wellbeing. My husband and I have discussed the matter of the particular incident that you wrote to me about, and have decided to see if the Headmaster takes action to discipline his employee before we do anything else. Obviously if there is no change in your professor's behaviour we will raise the matter formally, and I will certainly have words with Severus and Professor Dumbledore.

I can assure you that you did the correct thing by contacting me.

With thanks,

Molly Weasley

Well, that was something, although Luna highly doubted that Professor Dumbledore was able to stop Snape from bullying his students. She was just wondering how long it would be before she heard back from her father when another owl flew overhead, dropping a letter into her lap.

Dear Luna, (it read)

It sounds like you had quite a busy day! I hope Professor Snape's detentions are not too harsh. It was very good of you to stand up for your young friend like that, your mother would be proud of you. If your professor causes you any more trouble, please let me know immediately. I am working on an editorial for next month's edition of the Quibbler that will discuss the mistreatment of students at Hogwarts, so if there is anything else you think I should know please owl me within the next few weeks!

I am glad to hear that you have had no trouble with Wrackspurts or Nargles, but remember that with winter setting in there may be Venomous Snowbats nesting in the Forest! If there are, they may well stray closer to the school, so be sure to keep an eye out for them.

With love from your old father,

XL

Luna smiled at the signature. Her father signed all his letters, no matter how formal or informal, with his initials. He said that it was force of habit after all his years signing off on editorials. Then she frowned slightly. She had forgotten all about the Venomous Snowbats! She would have to be careful on her walks around the grounds.

"Hi Luna," said Harry from behind her. He must have walked over from the Gryffindor table. "Snape treat you alright in detention?"

"Oh yes," she said reassuringly, "It was nothing like Umbridge's detentions last year. He just had me sorting old Potions essays."

Harry grinned.

"Not too bad then. I thought he'd be furious with you."

"Oh no, he barely spoke at all, really. Maybe Professor Dumbledore did have a word with him after all. I did have a spot of bother with a Slytherin afterwards though."

He frowned, and she instantly regretted saying anything. Knowing Harry, he would get in trouble for an angry outburst at her assailant.

"Who was it?" he asked, glaring over at the Slytherin table.

"A girl in your year. Millicent something, I believe. She was in the Inquisitorial Squad."

"Bullstrode," he spat, standing up.

Luna reached out and put a hand on his arm, hoping to stop him before he did anything rash.

"It's quite alright, Harry. There was an Auror on patrol, called Tonks. I recognised her from the Ministry last summer."

He relaxed slightly, but did not sit back down.

"How was she?" he asked, still glowering at the gang of Slytherin sixth-years surrounding Draco Malfoy.

"She seemed a little tired, but she was very nice. She's awfully lucky, being a Metamorphmagus. Imagine having a power that rare!" A thought struck her. "Would you like to be a Metamorphmagus, Harry? If you got tired of people staring at your scar, or treating you differently because you're famous, you could hide for a bit."

Harry looked at her oddly.

"That's pretty much what Tonks said to me the first time we met. She was right."

Luna smiled in what she hoped was a comforting manner. It must be very difficult for Harry, having to deal with the pressures of being The Boy Who Lived.

"Why don't you sit down?" she said. "I'm just trying to finish off my breakfast."

He took a seat, and she removed her hand from his arm, confident that he would not cause a scene with the Slytherins, at least for the moment. She returned to her porridge to find that it had gone cold, so she turned her attention to the toast and marmalade instead.

"You know, Harry, it's very kind of you, the way you stick up for your friends. It's very brave too. You don't have to do it all the time, though. Look at what just happened. Tonks dealt with that girl last night and you can see that I'm fine, so there's really no need to pick a fight with her in front of her friends and all the teachers."

She patted his arm and he smiled weakly at her, but before either of them could say anything further Ginny walked over to the Ravenclaw table, holding a letter in her hand.

"Luna," she said as soon as she reached the duo, "did you really write to Mum about what happened yesterday?"

Luna nodded.

"Look, Luna. I'm grateful that you stood up to Snape, and I'm sure you meant well by this, but now I've got a big fussy letter from Mum asking whether I'm being bullied and if anything is affecting my academic progress. Just…" she paused, as if unsure of what to say, "just… let me handle this myself, OK?"

She walked off without waiting for Luna to respond. Luna couldn't help but feel rather silly. Perhaps she should have checked with Ginny before writing to Mrs Weasley. She must have looked crestfallen, because Harry put an arm around her shoulders and smiled reassuringly at her.

"Don't worry about Ginny," he said. "She's not really mad at you, she just likes to do things for herself. I've seen her argue with Dean about him trying to help her through the Gryffindor portrait hole."

"Everyone should like to do things for themselves, Harry," she replied. "We shouldn't be dependent on others all the time."

Harry nodded.

"I know, but what I mean is… she doesn't want people to help her, a lot of the time. Maybe it's because she has so many older brothers. She's determined to not be treated like a kid."

Luna considered this.

"It's possible, of course. Although you are terrible at accepting help," she added cheekily.

Harry sighed. He always took the things people said so seriously. Luna couldn't help it. She stuck out her tongue at him.

Harry gaped, and then laughed so hard that people at the other house tables turned around to look at him.