Luna Lovegood and the Sorcerer's Stone
Author's Note: This is the last of the chapters I have fully written, and probably the last of the chapters that will have very many bits and pieces taken directly from the book...so in other words, I'm not exactly sure how long it will be before I upload again...probably a few weeks or so unless the muses smack me in the face with something so obvious I HAVE to write it. I'm a college art student with quite a few projects under my belt so it could go either way...I could get so overwhelmed with that stuff I neglect my hobby, or I could get so burdened by that stuff I run to my little fanfiction bubble to get away from it all. So I'm done rambling....enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series, any of the characters, or anything like that. If I did I would be very rich and probably would have better things to do with my time than write fanfiction :)!
Chapter Nine: The Potions Mistress
"There, look."
"Where?"
"Next to the Malfoy kid."
"The blonde girl?"
"Did you see her face?"
"Did you see her scar?"
Whispers followed Luna from the moment she left her dormitory the next day. People lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at her, or doubled back to pass her in the corridors again, staring. The only thing that kept Luna from retreating to her room was the promise of having her very first lessons in magic.
If Draco hadn't proven to be a reliable guide, Luna thought that she would never have gotten to her classes on time. There were one-hundred and forty two staircases, each different in its own way and most with some trick that one had to remember if they didn't want to spend an hour lost somewhere they shouldn't be. A part of her didn't think she would have minded—there was so much to see that she thought she'd never explore it all even if she had seven years to spend there.
Roaming the halls with the most unpopular boy in Ravenclaw seemed to have other advantages, as well. Quite a few students who otherwise might have stopped her in the hall quickly passed her by on seeing her companion, and although the other ghosts would cheerfully greet the both of them Peeves the Poltergeist seemed to have a strange respect for the boy and would, for the most part, find another victim if he saw them coming his way.
He also taught Luna how best to avoid the caretaker, Argus Filch. Of all the people at Hogwarts she had met so far, Filch had so far proven to be the most unpleasant. On her first morning there they had passed him by as he threatened a pair of scared-looking first years. Draco explained that the door they were standing in front of was the entrance to the forbidden third-floor corridor and they had probably gotten lost and tried to enter. "Happens all the time," he said. "Don't worry, one of the professors will pass along and rescue them."
Luna had no intention of being a rule-breaker at school. If she had, then she might have been greatly worried not only by Filch but by his cat, a scrawny creature that patrolled the hallways for her master. But even amongst the best students there was no one who could tolerate Filch.
Classes, she discovered, were much more involved than she'd expected—even more so than those at her muggle school, and she'd been an advanced student. They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for.
History of Magic was easily the most boring class she attended. The teacher was a ghost, which might have made things more interesting, but his lecture hadn't changed at all since the day he'd died and got up the next morning to teach, anyway. She figured she could probably read the textbook in her off time, anyway, and spent most of her lectures doodling on her parchment.
Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Luna's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.
Professor McGonagall was again different. Luna liked her, and was pretty certain that underneath her stern exterior she could be quite impressive. On the first day of class she gave them a stern lecture.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."
Then she changed a large vase into a brightly colored parrot and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking notes for over an hour they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Willa Burns and Luna had been able to make much of a difference to their matches; Willa's had gone silver and pointy, and Luna's had gotten very long and had a metallic blue sheen to it—when asked, she'd had to explain that in her mind she'd been picturing her aunt's knitting needles, which Professor McGonagall had explained was not quite what she'd wanted although the smile she gave her showed that perhaps she was still a little impressed.
The class everyone had been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Professor Snape was certainly not one to disappoint. He was rather imposing, reminding Luna of a vampire as he stood at the head of the darkened room. On their first day they put their wands and books away and he lectured them for the entire period on why it was necessary to learn how to defend oneself against the darker magic. It was strongly suggested by Professor Snape that he had done quite a bit of dark wizard hunting in his day, which Luna might not have believed if it didn't seem to her that she wouldn't be surprised to find he was well acquainted with some of the dark arts himself.
It made her feel a little strange that he looked directly at her while discussing the unpredictable nature of dark curses and spells—but apart from that moment he didn't seem to impart any special attention on her, other than asking her if she was finding Mr. Malfoy a pleasant companion and another time giving her five house points for correctly naming the most common and effective spell used in wizard dueling (Expelliarmus).
Although Luna was progressing quite quickly in her studies, she was relieved to find that she got no particular attention for this as it was a common trait of her house. But she also learned that there were students from other houses who also achieved very high marks, oftentimes competing for top spots in their classes. A second-year Gryffindor was pointed out to her, a frizzy-haired girl walking down the corridor talking to herself.
"That's Hermione Granger," Draco had said. "Probably the smartest in our year."
"Is she very nice?"
"I suppose so. Doesn't really have much to say to anyone, though I've heard her snap at Potter and Weasley on occasion."
This was said over breakfast on Friday as Luna buttered a piece of toast. She glanced over to where Harry and Ron were sitting with Ron's twin brothers—from the snippets of conversation she could overhear it seemed they were back on a Quidditch kick.
She pulled her schedule from her bag and laid it out on the table. "This is what I have today," she said. "Double potions with the Gryffindors. What is Professor Robin like?"
Draco mulled it over for a moment. "She's new this year. I've only had one class with her but she seems fair enough. Likes Potter well enough but she can be forgiven for that," he said.
Just that moment the mail arrived. Luna found it to be her favorite part of the morning, and often craned her neck up to watch the owls swooping in to find their owners and deliver their packages.
Hermes usually dropped in every morning just to see her, though he hadn't yet brought her anything. But this time he dropped a note onto the table, narrowly missing the marmalade before landing on her shoulder to nibble at her hair with his beak and nip up the piece of toast she gave him. She tore open the letter.
Dear Luna,
I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? I've invited Harry Potter too, and you can bring whoever else you'd like. I want to hear all about your first week. Send an answer back with Hedwig.
Hagrid
She looked over her shoulder, seeing that Harry was also looking over a letter. She turned away quickly when he glanced over his shoulder at her.
"Draco?"
But before she could ask he was shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I don't want to go anywhere near Potter."
She knew there was no point in pressing the issue further, so she gathered her things and went off to class.
Potions lessons took place down in the dungeons. There was a pleasant fire warming the room, and Luna got the feeling that she was in somebody's kitchen. Professor Robin was wearing butter-yellow robes, her long hair bound back. She smiled at them as she took roll, pausing when she reached Luna's name.
"And I'm very pleased to see that we have Luna Lovegood joining us. Are you finding life pleasant here at Hogwarts?"
Luna wanted to hide—it was the most overt display of her fame she'd encountered yet. She nodded and thankfully Robin moved on. There was something about the way she moved that reminded Luna a little of a muggle movie she'd seen where a bunch of women were turned into robots.
"This class will be about the craft of potionmaking. There are some that would treat it as an exact science, but I prefer to take a bit of a…kitchen witch approach to it. A pinch of this, a pinch of that…" she waved her hand. Luna sat back in her seat, a little disappointed. She had somehow pictured potions as being something darker, creepier…bubbling cauldrons and smoky dungeons. "Of course, wands are not used in this classroom. I expect all of you will find this a pleasant enough experience, though many times there are those who just don't have a knack for this sort of thing…"
They spent the rest of the lesson making a very basic potion, which was easy enough that nobody in the room had any real difficulty with it. Luna and Ginny were paired together, and while they waited for their potion to finish simmering Ginny told her all about her brothers, the eldest two of which had already left school and found jobs in the wizarding world.
At five to three she left the castle and made her way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.
When she knocked she heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang—back!"
Hagrid's eye appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open.
"Hang on," he said, "Back, Fang! Take a hold of him there!"
He pulled the door open just enough to let Luna slip in.
There was only one room inside. At a rough wooden table Harry and Ron were holding on to a massive black boarhound, trying not to dislodge the cracked tea set on the table. There were hams and pheasants hanging from the ceiling, and a massive bed in the corner.
"Have a seat," said Hagrid, as the boys let go of Fang. The dog bounded over and licked her in the face before she could get settled onto the chair she'd been offered.
"So yeh've met?" he asked.
"Just for a minute, on the train," said Luna.
"Well, this is Harry Potter. Youngest player on a house team in a century," he said with a proud nod. "Parents were good friends of mine."
"And you're Ginny's brother," said Luna. "We were talking about you during class."
Ron flushed bright red. "Er…" he stammered, taking a bite of the rock hard cakes Hagrid had laid out when it didn't seem that he could think of anything to say.
They discussed their first week of classes. Luna listened to the boys' stories intently—they had gotten on the bad side of Filch more than once, and she couldn't help but laugh when they described the way they'd spent an entire hour evading him through the castle before they found their way back to their common room.
Harry had a few words to say about Snape, too. "He's one of my mum's oldest friends," he said. "So I grew up with him coming and going. My dad and godfather have had a hard time with that," he said with a grin.
"He doesn't seem very bad," she said.
Ron snorted, but Harry only grinned. "Know-it-alls always get by in his classes," he said. "That Granger girl is one of his favorites, and even though he's head of Slytherin he always gets on well with the Ravenclaws."
"He's Malfoy's godfather, you know," said Harry casually.
Luna perked up. "Really?" she said. "Draco never said anything."
"Mum says Snape has been trying to get Malfoy's mother to let him live with him for years now," said Harry.
"No, 'nuff gossip," said Hagrid. "Ron, tell me 'bout your brother Charlie? He still workin' with dragons?"
While Ron told Hagrid all about his brother, Luna noticed the newspaper clipping on the table.
Harry glanced at her as she pulled it over, reading the headline after glancing at the nervous looking man in the accompanying photograph.
HOGWARTS PROFESSOR STILL ON THE RUN
There have been several new leads on the whereabouts of one Quirinus Quirrell, who until last February was employed at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a Professor of Defense against the Dark Arts.
An investigation was launched during the winter break when it was discovered that Quirrell had not only broken into areas of Hogwarts expressly forbidden to any but the Headmaster but was also responsible for the attempted break-in at Gringott's bank.
The new information is confidential, but authorities are confident that Quirrel will be apprehended soon
"This man was here last year?" she said.
All three of them turned to look at her.
"Old news," said Hagrid, taking it from her.
But when they left the hut, Harry and Ron stopped her. "There were some weird rumors about that guy after he left," said Harry. "Rumors that he was working for somebody. Somebody major," he emphasized.
Luna watched after them as they made their way to the castle. Strangely, she felt that Harry had been warning her about something, though she couldn't put a finger on either that or the fact that something about the article gave her goosebumps.
Making her way up to the castle for dinner, she thought about what had happened in Hagrid's cabin. Was Draco really Snape's godson? If so, she wondered why he hadn't told her. And what was in Hogwarts that some strange man had been trying to retrieve? Something that hadmade him a wanted criminal...
