Seymour joined Luna outside Professor Goodwin's classroom and they both exchanged relieved looks.
"I thought he'd go mental." said Seymour wiping away the sweat from his brow.
"Yes it was rather odd wasn't it?" Luna twirled a few strands of hair between her fingers as they walked side by side, her brow furrowed as she thought on. "But I suppose he has a point. It would be hard for him to hide a secret such as being a Werewolf. Dumbledore isn't an easy man to fool."
Seymour nodded, "Snape would probably be paying close attention too, hoping he'll slip up at some point. Then he could take his job but what about this-" he then proceeded to tell Luna what he had read from the pages of the professor's book. Luna's eyes grew wide and Seymour could almost hear her imagination whizz into life.
"Really? Well that changes things. I mean he is an ex-Auror after all. He's probably had a lot of practice at keeping things secret and being discrete."
Seymour himself didn't know what to think, his mind torn between the rational and the unlikely. "Maybe we really are barking up the wrong tree though Luna." he admitted finally as they climbed the stairs towards the great hall.
"Possibly. Maybe he is just a regular old professor." she replied turning to face him at the top on the staircase. "But where's the fun it that?"
As the Christmas break grew closer Seymour did his best to ignore any conversation that involved other people's plans for the holiday. It only served to make him feel more miserable as he pondered the thought of two weeks spent wandering the empty castle. Nobody he knew in Gryffindor was staying and it was a sad sight to watch his classmates grow more excited by the day.
Robin, Alice and Lloyd seemed to notice Seymour's ever lulling mood and did their best to avoid the topic whenever possible. Seymour repaid their efforts by trying to act as cheerful as he could and for the most part he was able to push the thought from his mind until the Saturday before the 25th.
Seymour was sat with Lloyd and Robin at the breakfast table waiting for Alice to return from the library. Knowing that tomorrow everyone else would be leaving Seymour didn't feel up to eating much and only stabbed at his boiled eggs with mild interest. Robin and Lloyd were taking it in turns to flick pieces of breakfast cereal into a bowl, both fixed with vacant stares and wide yawns.
"Seymour!" The voice though familiar still caused him to jolt up from his slumped seating position and spin his head round to find Luna running up to him from the entrance to the hall. "Why didn't you say something?" she asked smiling widely and taking a seat next to him.
"I don't know, was I supposed to?" he replied tentatively, not having the slightest clue what she was going on about.
"I just passed Alice on the way down here. I noticed you were looking a little gloomy the past few days so I asked her what was wrong."
"Oh it's nothing Luna, really. It's just I'm stuck here for the holiday." He made an attempt at a smile but the subject of his words turned it into a grimace.
"Not anymore your not!" she declared triumphantly, her eyes brimming with excitement.
"Eh?"
"You can come stay with me for Christmas." she annouced with a wide smile.
Seymour returned it with a look of surprise, Lloyd looked dumbfounded and Robin rolled his eyes.
"With you Christmas. Where?"
"Well my house of course." It was her turn to roll her eyes as she looked on expectantly.
"What really?" Seymour didn't know what to make of it. For a moment the idea seemed fantastic but then he came to his senses. "Luna, thanks but I can't just turn up at your house for Christmas out of the blue and stay for two weeks."
"Of course you can. Dad won't mind at all and it's just me and him until the party anyway."
"Party, what party?"
"Well the Quibbler's putting out it's 1000th issue in January so Daddy's putting on a little gathering of fellow readers and columnists for the new year. It should be great, fellow Quibbler readers and like minded souls meeting up for a drink and a dance. We've invited the Weasleys and Harry's coming too."
Seymour was still trying to run it all through his mind. Robin looked horrified as he pondered the idea of a gathering of Quibbler readers. "There's more of them?" he mumbled trying not to burst out laughing.
"But Luna, I've already said I'm staying. I can't just up and leave you know?"
"Why not? Just go write a letter to your dad explaining where you'll be and there you go. You do like to make things complicated don't you?" she replied frowning at him.
Seymour had no idea why he was fighting the idea so much. To most it would sound absurd to just gatecrash on another familie's Christmas holiday but staring into Luna's eager expression he was struggling to come up with one reason why he shouldn't. "Really, can I? I mean well I suppose I could." Seymour could feel excitement filling his body as he eyed his escape from a lonely two weeks staring right back at him with her large grey eyes.
"Of course you can. Come on, get up. Go to the owlery quick." She pushed him up from his seat and he found himself strangely compliant as he made his way to exit the hall.
"But Luna I'm not sure I c-"
"Right that's it! Come on then." She bounced up from her seat and pushed him towards the entrance of the hall. It seems a Christmas spent at Luna's was something he seemed destined to experience.
The Hogwarts express chugged it's final length of track into the station at Kings Cross coming to a stop with a final long sigh. The crowed platform backed off as the train doors sprang open and the surge of arriving students spilled out to greet their families.
Seymour and Luna battled their way out of their carriage and made their way towards the end of the train to collect their luggage. "This is almost as bad as when we leave for school." Seymour noted, wincing as a scruffy looking first year elbowed him in the ribs to squeeze past the heaving crowd.
After locating their stuff they both made their way towards the gathered parents, both looking a little worse for wear after the long train journey.
"Where did you say your dad was meeting us?" asked Seymour craning his neck in order to search the sea of heads.
"Oh he said he'd wait somewhere towards the back. He doesn't trust huge crowds. He thinks they're a prime target for pick pocketing goblins posing as students." Luna placed her trunk on the floor and stood upon it. After a few seconds of scanning the crowd she smiled widely and pointed off in the direction of the ticket booth. "There he is!" she announced gleefully, jumping off her case and grabbing Seymour's arm before pushing her way towards their destination.
Waiting broken off from the rest of the group of parents stood a man in a very odd combination of Muggle clothes. A green waistcoat upon a sun yellow shirt with slightly faded plum trousers. His long white hair danced off his shoulders as he bounced on the heels of his feet, casting his gaze into the crowd. As soon as Mr. Lovegood spotted his daughter running from the foray he held his arms open, smiling wide as he hugged her. "Luna my dear. How are you my love?"
Seymour waited to the side while they greeted each other and nervously pulled at the arm of his jumper.
"And this must be Seymour?" Mr. Lovegood declared offering out his outstretched hand towards him.
"Yes. It's nice to meet you sir." replied Seymour taking hold of it.
"No need for formalities dear boy. Xenophilius Lovegood. It's a real pleasure. Luna never fails to mention you in her letters home." he continued to smile as he looked over towards the thinning crowd before them. "Luna dear the Weasleys have kindly offered us a lift home. I believe they said they'd be waiting outside the station. I think it polite not to keep them waiting." He motioned for them to make their way off the platform as Luna skipped ahead leaving Xenophilius to quietly add. "We'll be riding in Ministry cars I believe. I don't much trust the Ministry as far as I can throw them but we're in good company with the Weasleys."
They past through the barrier and made their way outside the station where the Weasleys along with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were waiting beside two rather large black cars. Xenophilius greeted Mr and Mrs Weasley and helped them pack all the cases into the back of the car. Luna busied herself by pointing out that Ron looked to be suffering from a rare case Nargle rash around his nose. Ginny sidled up next to Seymour and fixed him with an intrigued smile. He could feel her eyes burning into his head.
"What?" he asked turning to look at her with a straight face.
"Oh nothing." she smirked, "I just wasn't expecting to see you here that's all." she added innocently.
"It was Luna's idea." Seymour pointed out frowning at her. "What was I meant to do?"
"Oh so you're not at all happy she invited you then?"
Seymour couldn't stop the smile from creeping across his face and instead opted for pushing her away from him as she laughed in triumph.
The drive through the busy streets of London seemed to take little to no time at all, probably based on the fact that the Ministry cars didn't feel the need to queue with the other grumbling cars in the busy traffic jams when they could merely squeeze passed unnoticed.
Seymour's view from outside the car window quickly changed from congested alleys of grey and brown brick into the vast green and yellow of the rolling country side.
Seymour shared a car with Luna, Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione. Luna busied herself inside a copy of the Quibbler whilst Harry and Ron entertained themselves with an animated game of exploding snap. Ginny who was sat next to Seymour yawned loudly before leaning in to talk to him. "So I take it you're going to be at this little party Mr. Lovegood's having?" she asked eyeing him with a smirk.
"Yep, it's not like I have a choice anyway." Seymour pointed out turning away from watching Luna read to face Ginny.
"Thank goodness for that." she whispered, "It'll be nice having some people we know there. Harry's not looking forward to it at all but I think that's because he's heard a lot of the people turning up are very interested in the fact he's coming."
"Should be fun though." Seymour added ignoring the fact he couldn't help but wonder what a party full of like minded Quibbler readers would turn out like.
"I hope you've brought your best robes with you." she lectured in a low tone.
"Why?" he asked looking confused. Ginny merely smiled before nodding towards a fully engrossed Luna.
"Well I would have thought it was a perfect opportunity to make a good impression." she smiled mischievously back at him.
Seymour could already feel the heat rise to his neck as he shrugged. "I don't know what you're on about."
"So you haven't packed them then?"
"Of course I have." he shot back defiantly, ignoring the triumphant look on her face. "Is Dean coming?" he asked desperate to move subject of the party on to her.
She merely shook her head and looked rather bored as she replied. "No, I'm sure Dean would rather spend the day pointing out all my mistakes on the Quidditch pitch than do anything fun." she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, leaning back in her seat.
"So you didn't even ask him then?" questioned Seymour his eyes momentarily flicking towards Harry's direction. Ginny noted this and her expression momentarily faltered before continuing in a hushed tone. "Well it's just not his thing. There was no need in getting into an argument with him about it. You'll be there, so will Ron and Hermione and Harry. So it's not like I'll be bored will I?"
Seymour replied to her casual answer with a smile nodding along. "Yeah you'll be just fine won't you."
"Do you want me to punch you?"
"Alright, alright."
Before too long the two Ministry cars were gliding up and down a long path that took them over a set of hills in the middle of far outstretched fields of green. The spitting grey sky splashed at the windows as they went until the cars finally came to a stop outside one of the weirdest buildings Seymour had ever laid eyes upon. It was completely round in shape and put Seymour in mind of a giant lopsided lighthouse. It circled up high and loomed in the distance down a long stone path.
"We're here." Luna noted brightly as she crammed her Quibbler back into her bag and leapt out of the car.
Seymour remained leaned up against the window taking in Luna's house with his mouth wedged open in awe. "This is it?" he asked looking over at Harry who looked just as puzzled as he did.
Ron grinned at the two of them before nodding. "Yep. We only live over there." he pointed off towards the hill far off in the distance. "So I'm used to seeing it well nearly."
Seymour turned back to the window to find Luna's face peering at him from the other side of the glass. "Come on Seymour hurry up. I want to show you around."
He smiled back and eased his stiff joints out into the wintry chill. Mr. Lovegood was busy talking to Mr Weasley as the drivers tried to prise their trunks from the others wedge inside the boot of the car.
"See you all on the 31st." Luna beamed giving the remaining occupants of the car a wave before taking hold of Seymour's arm and dragging him down the path that led to her house. Seymour waved back at the car as he went noting the huge grin on Ginny's face as he did. He shot her a daggered stare causing her to laugh as she closed the door to the car.
"We've got so much to do before then." Luna pointed out, not breaking her stride as they snaked down the garden path. Seymour murmured a reply but was too busy eyeing the odd combination of plants the Lovegoods had planted in their flower beds. The colours hit him like an explosion and even though the sky was grey the garden virtually sparkled. He noted a few things he'd seen in Herbology but they were far outweighed by the things he'd never laid eyes on before. He hastily dodged out the way of a Garden Gnome that sped across his path diving head first into a think tangled hedge that skirted the garden leading off to a path that winded down towards a stream at bottom of the hill. "Daddy's got the spare room ready for you so feel free to make yourself at home." she sang gliding past the two apple trees guarding the front door and pushing it open with her shoulder.
Having only been given a small amount of time to take in the garden Seymour was now expected to deal with the kitchen's appearance as he stumbled over the threshold into a perfectly circular room. Once again the colours on show froze Seymour in wonder for a moment as he scanned the funiture inside the room, there wasn't a surface that wasn't painted vividly in great detail with pictures of allsorts of odd things, too many to mention though Seymour could spot a fair few birds and insects, not to mention flowers, moons and stars, and the occasional Hippogriff thrown in for good measure.
Seymour blinked and settled his eyes on Luna who slung her bag onto the bright yellow dining table before turning to him with a broad smile. "My home is now yours." she spread her arms out wide and motioned to the room.
Seymour swallowed heavily and croaked out a "Thanks." before letting a grin ripple across his face.
"Now Mr. Turner if you will follow me." She kicked off her shoes and left them where they landed before leading him over to the iron stair case in the middle of the room and going up. "This is my dad's study." she explained as they passed the next floor on the way up. "This is where he prints the Quibbler. If you need to find him he'll usually be in here most of the day." Seymour once again tried to take in as much of the room as possible on the way up noting a huge printing press over in the corner and a strange stone bust of someone in the other, a large cluttered desk rested in the middle and looked at breaking point under the weight of clutter ontop of it, the room in general was far too crammed with things to take in much more before they disappeared further up the stairs, next came the living room. It was smaller than the kitchen but contained a large number of comfy bright blue armchairs, a large inviting fireplace and a small writing desk tucked away in the corner which was once again barely visable under a large number of leather bound books. On the peach coloured walls hung numerous family photos and large pictures of odd looking creatures with long complicated names printed under them. They kept going up until they came to a trapdoor above the staircase passing a further two further floors on the way.
"And this " she explained pushing up to open the trap with a thud, "Is my room." She disappeared up inside as Seymour followed. He slipped momentarily when he came face to face with Harry Potter staring back at him through the hole in the floor. As he entered the room he discovered that it wasn't only Harry who was already in the room with them but Hermione, Ron, Ginny and a partially sketched out Neville who had all been painted high on the ceiling above.
"Blimey." was all Seymour could manage as he surveyed the rest of the room which consisted of a blue carpet and cream walls which were covered once again like the kitchen in hundreds of flowers, the colours flowed round the room and were brought to life from the light passing through the one bay window above a window seat. A wooden purple wardrobe sat in the far corner and was creaking under the weight of the vibrant attire forcing its way out of the doors, a pair of yellow tights hung over the top and a huge group of different socks lay on the floor before it.
He turned round to catch Luna eyeing him with a piecing look as she watched him take it her room. "It's not finished yet but give it another summer and I reckon it'll be done." she explained pointing to the faces on the ceiling before sitting down onto her bed that had been shunted to the back of the room, possibly to make way for the sheet covered with pots of paint and paintbrushes that had been laid out in the centre of the floor.
Seymour smiled back before making his way over to her. "I love it." he admitted skirting round the two trunks that had floated into the room via the open window.
Luna leaned over to the small table beside her bed and took a picture sitting on the top. She looked at it with a smile before handing it over to him. "And this is mum."
Seymour stared down at the photo watching the blonde woman in the frame hugging a small girl who could only be Luna in front of the garden to this very house. Luna herself could have only have been three or four in the picture but she still had those same orb like eyes mirrored only by her mother's as they smiled happily from the picture. Seymour thought Luna's mother look strangely familiar but considering he'd spent the entire term staring at the same face in Luna he wasn't surprised. He sat next to Luna and handed her back the picture. "She's beautiful." he added softly patting her arm as she looked back at the picture in her hand fondly.
"Daddy's always saying I look her." she said placing the picture back on the table.
"You do." Seymour agreed noting the similarities in their faces. Luna's eyes opened wide and she looked back at him. "But you just said she was "
"Luna dear can you come give a hand getting dinner ready please!" Mr. Lovegood called from the bottom of the staircase his voice travelled extremely well as it hurtled round the staircase. Luna didn't answer immediately as she continued to look back at Seymour her expression awfully hard for him to read before calling back to her father.
The silence between them continued for a while before she sprang from the bed and went to make her way downstairs. "Feel free to look around the rest of the house. Your room is the one above the living room. I hope you like lilac."
"Do you want me to help?" he asked making to get up off the bed.
"No that's ok." she answered with a smile. "Me and dad have got cooking down to a fine art. It shouldn't take too long." she replied proudly before disappearing down the staircase humming happily to herself as she went.
Seymour remained seated as he listened to her voice disappearing downwards before letting out a long rush of air from his lungs and burying his face in his hands, feeling the heat quickly rise to it. "What am I doing?" he mumbled to himself before letting a nervous smile register on his face.
He got up from the bed and made his way back down the stairs running his hand along the iron handrail as he went. He came to a stop outside the landing to the floor below. It contained two doors, one was open and looked likely to be Mr. Lovegood's room. It was large and contained many boxes surrounding the double bed crammed full of back issues of the Quibbler. A book case stood towards the rear of the room and the bedside table was covered in framed photos of Luna and her mother.
Seymour's attention however was pulled towards the other door, the one closed with no indication of what lay behind it. It was from this room that he could hear one of the most enchanting melodies he'd ever heard. It sang out in a warm, relaxing tone, muffled behind the oak wooden entrance. He gingerly placed his hand on the brass door handle before turning it slowly and peeking his head inside the room.
The space inside was huge and appeared to be a study of some kind. It was chock full of bookcases and desks full to the brim with weird objects and odd instruments. Seymour took another step inside the room and peered around for the cause of the sound. His eyes scanned over the bookshelves noting such titles as, "Advanced enchantments vol.12", "The guide to a perfect spell." and "The 32 marvellous uses for troll bile". He scanned the desk before him and moved aside huge piles of parchment paper covered with scribbled theories and diagrams all far to complicated for Seymour to make much out of. He moved aside a stack of leather bound books and discovered the source of the sound. Inside a large oval shaped bell jar contained the exact same flower Luna had collected on the edge of the black lake last term. It swayed merrily in it's case and hummed out a dreamy tone. Seymour stared at it transfixed until a voice emitting from the door way made him snap back to reality.
"Ah it's singing finally." Xenophilius Lovegood was stood at the door smiling back at Seymour. "Luna sent that home only last month, we weren't expecting it to sing for at least another few weeks." He strolled into the room and came to a halt beside Seymour staring into the bell jar fondly.
"I'm sorry sir, I shouldn't have come in here uninvited." Seymour blurted out making to walk towards the door but Mr. Lovegood held out an arm to stop him.
"Don't be foolish young man. You're perfectly welcome to any part of this house. A friend of Luna's is a friend to the entire family, no matter how small the family may be." Mr. Lovegood smiled once again at Seymour who grinned sheepishly back. "This was Clarabelle's study." Mr. Lovegood explained before noticing Seymour's puzzled look and adding. "Luna's mother."
"Oh I see. She must have known her stuff." said Seymour peering at all the strange objects on the small desk to his right.
"Quite the remarkable witch." Mr. Lovegood announced picking up a copy of "Wand work for the experienced Witch or Wizard" before placing it back on the bookshelf. "I've always been meaning to tidy this room but Luna won't have it." he said glancing over to a small family picture of the three of them on the wall above a writing desk. "I think Luna wants it to stay the way her mother left it."
"What did Luna's mother do?" Seymour asked trying to make out a hand drawn diagram on the desk with little success.
"She helped me run the Quibbler." Mr. Lovegood answered. "This was all in her own time." he motioned with a smile towards the contents of the room. "Quite the experimental witch indeed though I'm sure you've already heard."
Seymour nodded remembering his talk with Luna at the beginning of the year by the Thestral pulled carriages. It seemed such a long time ago.
Mr Lovegood's face slackened and for a moment a sad look filtered onto his features. "Maybe a bit too experimental I suppose."
Seymour didn't know how to reply and merely nodded fixing the floor with an over interested stare.
"Some things should remain a mystery. Not everything in magic requires an explanation."
Seymour had not expected this reply from Mr. Lovegood and he looked back at Luna's father trying to read his sad expression. He looked at Seymour before returning the smile to his face. "No matter. I think I should be thanking you in fact after all I've heard from Luna."
Seymour stared wide eyed back. "What for?" he racked his brain trying to think what he could mean.
"Oh Luna hasn't failed to write home every week." he said looking back at Seymour fondly. "Three sheets of parchment on the last one." he declared with a chuckle, "And you've been mention in every one."
Seymour could feel his face turning red and managed half a smile trying not to look too pleased about it.
"Luna is quite the individual and I couldn't be more proud of her but I can't pretend I'm not pleased to receive word she'd made such a good friend in you Seymour. Luna's trust is always well placed." Mr. Lovegood grasped him on the shoulder an nodded confidently. "Come, I'm sure Luna want's you to sample our fine cooking. I hope you're fond of Dirigible Pie."