059. Food

"So you don't think Harry put his name in the Goblet?" Fred asked Luna as they walked across the grounds.

Fred had met her at Hagrid's hut after a Care of Magical Creatures lesson and not unlike everyone else they were talking about the biggest piece of gossip at school. Everyone at school was convinced that Harry Potter had cheated his way into being entered into the Triwizard Tournament. Well, not everyone.

"I just don't know why someone who has had near-death experiences at least once a year would enter the Tournament," Luna said with a shrug. "Do you think he put his name in the Goblet?"

"Not really," Fred said. "I've known Harry for a while and he's not the attention-seeking type."

The two continued up to the castle in silence. After talking to Angelina about Fred nearly two weeks ago Luna had expected them to start dating, but nothing of the sort had happened. Fred and Angelina had the same friendship/teammate relationship they had always had. Ginny had told her that she had never seen them snogging or anything of the sort. It seemed that all they did together was hang out with their friends in the common room or at meal time.

At the thought of meals Luna's stomach gave a soft rumble and Fred looked at her amusedly.

"Hungry?" he asked as they entered the school.

"A bit," Luna admitted. "I skipped lunch today to finish my charts for Astronomy."

"Well, dinner isn't for a few more hours," Fred said. "Want to stop by the kitchen?"

"Sure," Luna nodded.

Luna followed Fred down the staircase leading to the basement where the kitchen was. It wasn't an everyday occurrence that they headed done there, but it was slowly turning into every week. The house-elves who worked there already knew Luna's name and her love for pudding.

Once they entered the kitchen a house-elf came over to the couple and ushered them to their usual corner table.

"Pudding, Miss Lovegood?" the elf squeaked.

"Yes, please," Luna said as she sat down.

"And for you, Master Weasley?" the elf asked, turning to Fred.

"Same," Fred replied as he sat across from Luna.

As the elf scurried off Luna tried to decide the best tactic on asking Fred about Angelina. There was no stopping the inevitable. She knew that eventually Fred and Angelina would start dating; it really was only a matter of time.

Before she could even form a question in her head though two elves were heading in their direction and placing heaping plates of pudding in front of them. Fred started to eat, but Luna found that her appetite was gone. All of a sudden the food in front of her just didn't seem so appealing.

"Are you feeling all right?" Fred asked as he eyed her untouched plate.

"I'm fine," Luna shrugged. "I just don't have much of an appetite, I suppose."

"I thought you wanted to come down here," Fred said still looking suspicious. "I thought we agreed on no more secrets, Lu. You can tell me what's up."

She knew he was trying to coax an answer out of her when he used that nickname, but she just wasn't going to open up. After avoiding and denying the truth for so long it was hard to face it head on. She was going to lose Fred to Angelina and there was nothing she could do about it. There was no telling when she would lose him or for how long, but it was going to happen sometime soon.

"I have a really bad stomachache," she lied. "I'm going to go see Madam Pomfrey."

Fred couldn't even offer to walk her to the Hospital Wing because she was already standing up and dashing out of the kitchen. She would have to get used to doing things by herself. Ginny was always going to be her friend, but Ginny was getting more and more popular with each passing day. There really wasn't anyone at this school who knew how she felt.

"Longbottom, what happened to you?" a cocky voice was saying loudly from up ahead. "Did you fall into the leftover bin while looking for scrap food?"

Luna turned a corner and found herself in the entrance hall. Not a lot of people were around, but those who were all seemed to be enjoying the show. A Slytherin boy with white-blonde hair was laughing at a Gryffindor boy who had food splattered across his uniform.

The Slytherin boy gave out a few more rude remarks before heading toward the dungeons with his friends. Everyone else in the entrance hall went on with their own business. The Gryffindor boy was trying to clean his robes with a spell, but wasn't being very successful.

For some reason Luna could see herself in the boy. Being smeared in food and publicly teased seemed like her near future. Luna was prepared to forget the boy forever and continue on to Ravenclaw Tower when she heard him mumbling to himself.

"Why is it always me?" he asked gloomily as he pointed to what appeared to be mashed potatoes on his sleeve. "Tergeo."

"I think you might have to use the Scouring Charm to get rid of all of that," Luna said as she withdrew her wand. "Would you like me to help?"

The boy turned around to face her and he gave a small grin.

"Sure," he said. "That'd be great."

Luna nodded and after a few minutes they had successfully cleaned his robes. His dark hair still had chunks of food, but he just shrugged it off.

"I'm heading back to my dorm anyway," he said. "I'll just clean it out in the shower."

"You should do it right away," Luna said promptly. "Nargles might start to swarm if you keep it dirty for too long. Not to mention the Wrackspurts."

The boy gave a slow nod. It's not like Luna expected them to be instant best friends, but she had expected a "thank you" in the least.

"I'm Neville Longbottom, by the way," he said, outstretching a hand toward her. "Fourth year."

"Oh, I'm Luna Lovegood," Luna said, gingerly taking his hand in hers and giving it a small shake. "I'm in my third year."

"Well, it was nice to meet you," Neville said. "Thanks for your help."

Luna watched with a distant smile as he headed up the stairs. Making friends was something she rarely ever did, but she was pretty confident she was currently in the process of making a new one.