To GeekyGreakFreak: No idea when it will end. I pretend to take it 'till the end, but for now I just have base ideas to keep it untill fifth year. But my key is improvise, not plan. Let's just wait what will happen. A good sign is that I'm getting a little glimpses of the final battle and ever when I take note of them a certainly make them happen.

I own nothing. Chapter now Beta-Readed. Thanks to Almech Alfarion for it!

Harry Potter and the Moon's Tear

9: The Stars' Hall I: Star Gate

The Weasley Twins and Roxanne seemed delighted when they heard Luna had lost ten points and got a detention before the end of her first week, saying she had beaten their own record. It was good that someone was having fun with it, because Hermione had given her a poorer sermon than Hagrid because she had argued with Snape and even Carla reprimanded her, though she was laughing and said she would love to have seen Snape's face.

After that, except for Potions, everything began to run surprisingly well for the trio. Luckily they only had lessons with Snape on Fridays, and it also was the only class in which they had to deal with Draco and the other Slytherins. That is, until the notice that they would start having flying lessons and the two houses would have class together.

Harry and Luna were eager to learn how to fly. All students from wizarding families talked about Quidditch and many told stories about having flown on a broom before. Draco, in particular, seemed to have a lot of doubtful histories, which always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping from Muggles in helicopters.

Neville was one of the few who came from wizarding family but had never flown on a broom, but it was expected since he had a tendency to cause accidents even on the ground.

One thing that cheered Luna was Hermione was almost as nervous as Neville. Flying wasn't something you could learn by heart in a book, but she had tried, which made her stop trying to chase Luna for a while.

On the morning of the first class, Hermione made a speech on flight tips she had read about in a book called Quidditch Through the Ages. The only one who was paying attention to her was Neville. All others were happy when she was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.

Neither Harry nor Luna had received anything since the Diary and Hagrid's note.

An owl brought Neville a package from his grandmother.

It contained a small ball of glass that seemed full of white smoke.

"It's a Remembrall!" He explained. "Gran knows I'm forgetful. This is to notify you that you forgot to do something. Look, just hold it tight like this and if it turns red, you forgot something." He was embarrassed when the ball issued a scarlet light.

"It would be more useful if it told you what you forgot." Luna commented.

At that moment Draco snatched the Remembrall from Neville's hand.

Luna stood up, followed by Harry and Ron. The three wanted a motive to fight with Draco, especially Luna, after he started calling her a freak. But Professor McGonagall was able to spot trouble from a distance and in a second was there.

"What is going on?"

"Draco took my Remembrall, Professor" Neville protested.

Grumpy, Draco dropped the Remembrall on the table.

"I was just looking." he said before leaving.

The day was good for flying, Luna noticed when she, Harry and Ron went down to class. The Slytherins were already there, but before Draco could try to resume the fight they began during breakfast, the Professor, Madame Hooch, arrived.

"Come on, what are you waiting for?" She asked sharply. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. C'mon, hurry up."

There were twenty broomsticks arranged in two rows on the ground, the Gryffindors were placed on one side and the Slytherins at the other.

Harry looked at his broom. It was old and had some twigs stuck out at odd angles. Luna's wasn't any better.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom and say 'Up'!" Madame Hooch said.

"Up!" They all cried.

Harry, Luna and Draco's brooms jumped immediately up to hand their hands, but were some of the few who made it. Hermione's had simply rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all.

Luna remembered her mother's words: "If you get scared, you will not get off the ground."Perhaps brooms could feel that fear.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without slipping and passed the rows of students by correcting the way to hold it. Harry, Ron and Luna were delighted when she told Draco that he held the broom the wrong way for years.

"Now, when I whistle, give a strong push with your feet, keep your brooms steady, leaving a few inches off the ground and come back down by leaning slightly forward. When I whistle... Two... Three..."

But Neville, nervous, scared and afraid of the broom, gave a strong push even before the whistle sounded.

"Come back, boy!" Madame Hooch she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle.

Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and with a thud and a nasty crack Neville lay face down on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight.

Madam Hooch saw to Neville her face as white as his.

"Broken wrist." They heard her mutter. It was a relief that it was only the wrist. "Come on, boy, get up!" She turned to the rest of the class. "None of you will move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! Leave the brooms where they are or you will be expelled from Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'. Come on, sweetheart."

Once the Professor walked away with Neville, Draco laughed.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?"

The other Slytherins, except Rita Jewel echoed his laughter.

"Shut up, Draco." Snapped Parvati Patil.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" Said Pansy Parkinson, a student from Slytherin. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."

"Look!" Draco picked up something in the grass. "Is that stupid thing Neville's grandmother sent.

The Remembrall glinted in the sun when the boy lifted it.

"Give me that, Draco." Harry and Luna spoke and at the same time. Draco let out a wicked laugh.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find, how about on top of a tree?"

"Give me that!" Harry bellowed.

But Draco had climbed on the broom and went out flying. Gliding at the level of the highest branches of an oak he challenged:

"Come take it!"

Luna moved to climb her broom and go after him but Harry stopped her with a gesture and climbed on his own broom and flew behind Draco, ignoring Hermione's protests.

Luna tried to decide whether or not to follow them, but thought that it was Harry's battle.

Luna watched him go up in the air. He seemed so natural on the broom, as if born to it. All of the Gryffindor students were excited except Hermione, who was still furious that Harry was disobeying the rules. The Slytherins were cheering for Draco silently. Except one. Rita Jewel stared into the forest. Luna followed her gaze, but saw nothing there.

She looked up in time to see Harry recovering from a dive, the Remembrall safe in hand. He was good. But their joy didn't last long with the arrival of Professor McGonagall.

"HARRY POTTER!" She thundered. "Never... In all my time at Hogwarts..." Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, "How dare you... might have broken your neck..."

"It wasn't his fault, Professor!" Luna stepped forward.

"Be quiet, Miss Stars."

"But Draco..." Ron tried to say.

"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."

Luna saw Draco's victorious smile and, for a moment, wanted to strike back with a good spell that would leave him out of circulation for a while, but felt a hand on her shoulder, it was Rita, she just smiled and walked away with the rest of the Slytherins.

Luna knew there wasn't any point to chasing shadows during the day, but she put her broom on the ground and stepped carefully into the forest, while the other students were discussing the incident.

She stopped at the edge of the forest, even during the day the place reminded her of Darkwood in her own world. She would like to know what kinds of creatures were living here. Perhaps she could ask Hagrid.

With that in mind, she began to walk around the forest when she saw a golden glow through the trees. First she thought it was the sun, but looking closely she saw it was a small light that floated in the air.

She looked back, trying to decide if she should get back and if Madame Hooch wouldn't notice her absence... Probably not. Moreover, the light wasn't too far, she would return quickly.

But when she approached, the light floated further. Whenever Luna approached it floated away, forcing the princess to follow the light, leading her through the forest to a small... Construction, Luna had no idea how to classify it, it was a small room inside a flower bush, little taller than a person. That wasn't normal, but it was still visibly natural. Mushrooms surrounding the inside of the bush as banks, star-flowers on the ceiling forming designs like constellations.

The light disappeared, but Luna didn't even notice it, her attention now turned to the woman sitting on one of the mushrooms over the far edge of the bush.

She was tall, so that her head almost hit the ceiling. She had pale, almost white skin, and black eyes, like her hair and the robe she wore.

"You found it..." She commented. "The Star's Hall. No, this place isn't really here, if that's what you're thinking. It exists everywhere and nowhere, but only during Portal Cycle. You have the gift. Maybe you'll find it again over the next seven years, but not here. Never twice in the same place."

"Who are you?" Luna asked suspiciously.

"I thought by now you'd already know."

"You're Star Gate." Luna replied, a little uncertain, but the woman nodded. "It was you who brought me here. Why?"

"Because I need you. None of the others accepted their fate. I've been imprisoned for too long, Luna, and need someone to set me free. Once every seven years, I have the chance to send part of my spirit to a world, open a portal, seek magic in other worlds to help me, because they can't see me in this world. In your world I found the most powerful magic, but the last girl, she almost managed to free me, but she quit. But she told me about you, Luna. I need your help."

"I will not help you!" Luna replied. She didn't know why, but something on Star Gate's tone was scaring her. "But what happened to the last girl?"

"We'll see, my dear Princess. About your question, why not ask your friend Hermione? She's coming!"

Luna looked at the entrance and saw it was true, Hermione came running in that direction. She was braver than she seemed to follow Luna here. When the Princess looked back, Star Gate had disappeared, as well as everything, even the room; it was now a hollow tree.

"What are you doing?" Hermione reached her.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?"

"The Professor dismissed the class. But we shouldn't be here. The forest is forbidden, and dangerous."

"Nobody asked you to follow me." Luna accused.

"I'll tell Professor McGonagall!" Hermione threatened.

"Good luck with that." Luna responded with indifference.

"Look, I don't know what you're up to, but I know you aren't human and shouldn't be here. Continue running off from classes to the forest and I'll tell Professor Dumbledore what you are."

"He already knows. But how did you found out?"

"I read. I just needed to put the pieces of the puzzle together. If you are trying something, the last person who tried it is dead. If I think that you're involved with dark magic..."

"Believe me, if I were, you wouldn't be alive to continue accusing me. Now let's get out of here before Hagrid finds us. Miss. Perfect doesn't want to be caught out of bounds, right?"

Leaving the threat in the air she began to walk away, but she didn't get far. In fact, she stopped at the entrance of the tunnel to find a bunch of scorpions moving inside. They were large enough to be visible on the forest floor, but were still small, black and gold brindle.

"Hermione, do you know what these things are?" She asked.

"I've never seen this kind of scorpion in any book before." Hermione admitted.

"Don't let them sting you. We're going to run back to the castle and it'll be fine."

"Who can guarantee that it isn't you who is bringing them here?" Hermione protested.

"I guarantee. Now run and don't look back. Go!"

Hermione ran. As she passed through the opening, Luna invoked a wave of flames around her, controlling them not to burn the tree. She wished she could thank Lily one day for teaching her that, but it wouldn't be possible.

Then everything started to go wrong. The flames flickered for a moment, Luna noticed and controlled it, then the flames began to darken until they became black and began to spin out of control. Luna fought to control them but it seemed impossible, everything began to fill with smoke, without seeing anything, Luna tried to fly out, hit her head and fell to the ground, though she felt as if had fallen on small needles.

She managed to move and find the exit, even with shortness of breath, blurred vision and severe pain in every inch of her body.

She heard barking in the distance, but it was hard to tell if she was really listening or imagining it, the sounds seemed distorted, as far as her vision.

Then she lost her feet and fell. Heard someone crying, the crackling fire, footsteps, distorted voices, saw colored lights and stars everywhere, then came the darkness.