Rita's Return

It is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you're attempting can't be done. A person ignorant of the possibility of failure can be a halfbrick in the path of the bicycle of history.

Terry Pratchett – Equal Rites

When Luna woke up the next morning, she found a neat pile of shoes and socks at the end of her bed. Next to them was a folded piece of parchment. She picked it up and opened it.

We are very sorry for taking your stuff. It won't happen again.

Luna grinned. Turning around, she saw Padma Patil standing in the doorway watching her and smiling slightly. It wasn't hard to put two and two together.

"Was this you?" she asked "Did you get whoever it was to return my stuff?"

"Yeah, I spoke to some people," the Prefect replied, holding up a hand to forestall Luna's response, "but don't thank me. It was Harry who told me that people were nicking your stuff; I hadn't even noticed, and I can only apologise. It's my job to deal with bullies, and I messed up."

"Oh, well, that's quite alright. I never asked you for help, after all," she said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone of voice, "thank you for helping me."

Padma looked a little happier at that.

When Luna got to the Great Hall for breakfast, the first thing she did was scan the Gryffindor table for Harry. When she spotted him, she ran over and gave him a big hug.

"Um, hi Luna," he said, somewhat awkwardly, "what's up?"

She looked around at his friends, and noticed that Neville was smirking and Seamus Finnegan had choked on his pumpkin juice. Perhaps she shouldn't have hugged him, maybe his friends would make fun of him for it later or something. But Ginny was smiling at her in an encouraging way, so she turned back to Harry.

"I got all of my things back," she said happily, "Padma told me you'd gone to her about it, and she had a word with the rest of the Ravenclaws. Thank you!"

Parvati and Hermione looked at each other.

"So that's what you wanted to talk to Padma about yesterday!" exclaimed Parvati.

"Which is why you ran off on me after class," added Hermione, "good thinking, Harry!"

"Always the tone of surprise," he smirked.

Luna chortled at the indignant expression on Hermione's face.

"Well, thank you, Harry. I'd love to stay and chat, but I really must go and have some breakfast."

As she walked away, she noticed Harry's friends put their heads together and start chatting. Presumably they were discussing Harry's solution to the problem of her stolen possessions.

She had just started her breakfast when Augustus the school owl arrived with a package from her father. She opened it to find the latest issue of the Quibbler and a letter.

Dear Luna,

I have enclosed this month's Quibbler, which contains my editorial on issues with teachers at Hogwarts. I hope that it goes some way to raising awareness. As per your admirable suggestion in your last letter, I have contacted Rita Skeeter about writing something for the Daily Prophet, as she might be able to get more exposure. She seems interested, so hopefully that will go ahead soon.

Please thank your friend Hermione Granger for me. Her list was most clear and concise.

With love,

XL

As the day wore on, Luna noticed a lot of students talking about the editorial. It seemed that a great many of Hogwarts' inhabitants had retained their Quibbler subscriptions after the events of the previous year. That was gratifying, after all, they all had those subscriptions because of an interview with Harry that her father had published, and had been arranged by herself and Hermione. Rita Skeeter probably deserved some credit too, but Luna was loath to praise someone so lacking in any sense of integrity or journalistic ethics. By lunchtime, most of the student body were discussing her father's writing, and rumours were spreading as to both the identities of his sources and Snape's potential reaction to the piece. Several people had approached her fishing for information about the people behind the report, but she stuck to the principle of protecting your sources that her father had taught her and refused to be drawn. Besides, she didn't want to get Hermione in trouble.

It didn't occur to her until after lunch that the article might have made her a target. On her way to her Charms class, several Slytherins tried to trip her up and Millicent Bullstrode tried to cast a Severing Charm on her schoolbag, which would have significantly discommoded her were the girl capable of aiming. As it was, the spell bounced harmlessly off the wall and Luna ducked behind a tapestry and into one of Hogwarts' many hidden passages and took a short cut to class. She had discovered an awful lot of secret ways around the school during her solitary wanderings over her four-and-a-half years there, and they often came in handy for avoiding little difficulties.

Unfortunately, after Charms, she was stopped by Crabbe and Goyle on her way to her Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. They were probably the easiest Slytherins to deal with in such a situation, she reflected, as neither of them was particularly bright. A quick Disarming Charm on Crabbe was all it took, and she was able to duck beneath Goyle's outstretched arm and run around the corner while the duo were trying to catch Crabbe's wand. On the downside, the delay had made her a minute or two late for Defence, and by the time she reached the classroom everybody else was getting out their books and sitting down.

"I'm sorry I'm a little late, Professor," she began, "I was stopped by –"

"I do not want to hear excuses, Miss Lovegood," Snape interjected smoothly, "tardiness is not acceptable from Hogwarts students, as I am sure you are aware after over four years in this institution. Detention."

A smirk flashed across his face, almost too quickly to be seen, but Luna was very perceptive. He had clearly heard about her father's editorial.