022. Enemies

School had been in process for a few weeks and it was obvious that something wasn't quite right. Ever since Harry Potter had claimed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was back people were very turned against him. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor always spent healthy doses of her class time telling her students that everything Harry Potter was saying was a lie.

Luna wasn't sure what to believe. She didn't want to believe that You-Know-Who was back, but it seemed likely that he was. Cedric Diggory probably didn't just drop dead and everything Harry Potter was saying fit into what had happened the night of the Third Task. It was still hard to come to terms that Death Eaters were under the command of Lord Voldemort now and that everyone who wasn't a pureblood or half-blood was in danger.

This topic was what most people were talking about, but Luna had another dilemma on her mind. Was she dating Fred Weasley? It sure looked that way and with all of the hand holding and kissing it sure felt that way, but she wasn't entirely sure. They had never confirmed it officially and until that happened Luna felt that she should tell anyone who asked that they weren't together.

She was considering this detail very thoroughly as she sat across from Neville in the library. He was helping her with her Herbology homework, but this was proving difficult for him since she kept spacing out.

"Luna, you're going to chew right through your quill if you don't stop," Neville warned as he watched Luna gnaw on the end of it.

Looking down at the quill, Luna noticed that it was starting to bend and was covered in her saliva. Shrugging, Luna wiped it on her robes before putting the tip back to her blank parchment.

"I have no idea what to write about bubotuber pus," she admitted as she folded her arms on the table and placed her head on them. "I'm hopeless at Herbology."

"I think you would be a lot better if you just cleared your head," Neville advised. "You've been thinking about a lot of things lately, haven't you?"

"More like just one big thing," Luna said. "I don't know if I'm officially dating Fred."

"You don't know?" Neville asked incredulously. "I thought you two had been together since last year."

Luna popped her head up at this and perked an eyebrow at her friend across the table.

"What gave you that impression?" she asked.

"Well aside from all of the kissing and stuff," he started, his face turning a light shade of pink. "Whenever someone would make fun of you he would let them know that they had just made an enemy then list off a long list of threats in very vivid detail. Everyone thinks you two are together."

"We're not though," Luna said. "I don't think so at least."

Neville watched Luna closely before sighing and closing the Herbology textbook. He then began to put quills, books, parchment, and other homework supplies back into his bag.

"You need to go ask him and clear your mind before doing any homework," he said.

Luna looked questioningly at Neville to make sure he wasn't joking, but he soon nodded his head. Smiling widely, Luna walked to the other side of the table and threw her arms around Neville.

"Thanks Neville!" she said happily as she recoiled from him. "I'll find you later to get the rest of the answers for my homework."

"I'm not going to give you the answers, Luna," Neville said, but Luna was already rushing out of the library and to the Quidditch pitch to find Fred.

Fred had informed her that Quidditch practice was that afternoon for the Gryffindor team. His younger brother, Ron, was now the new Keeper and it was their first practice as a full team. It was a bit unnerving to watch the team practice though because Angelina Johnson had been made Captain that year. Luna hadn't heard anything about Angelina from Fred since the Yule Ball, but she was still concerned that the older girl might make Luna an enemy in her eyes.

When she reached the Quidditch pitch she noticed that all of the players were taking a break. Harry Potter was talking to Ron in a very comforting manner that led Luna to believe that his first practice didn't go very well. Angelina was talking with the two other Chasers, Katie and Alicia. Fred and George were doing very convincing impressions of what Ron looked like when he was trying to block the Quaffle.

Luna was about to go straight to Fred and George when she heard a dreadfully familiar voice call out her name.

"Over here, Luna!" Angelina called from the other side of the pitch.

Turning, Luna saw Angelina waving her arm at her. Looking in the other direction toward Fred it was plain to see that the last thing he wanted was for his ex-girlfriend to be conversing with Luna. Taking her chances and using much gusto, Luna started to walk briskly toward Angelina. It was probably better to get it over with quickly.

"Hi, Luna, how are you?" Angelina asked when Luna had approached her.

"I'm… fine," Luna said slowly, still unsure of what the other girl's intentions were.

"That's good," Angelina said before going into attack mode. "So, this year we really need to win the Quidditch Cup. It's my last year here and first year as Captain and I really want to win. If you could just do me a favor that would be great."

"Um, what's the favor?" Luna asked as she continued to be confused.

"Could you make sure Fred doesn't lose his focus on Quidditch?" Angelina said. "You two are basically attached at the hip and I really don't want you to become a distraction."

This comment caused the other two girls to start laughing. Looking around Angelina, Luna saw that Katie and Alicia were about to double over with fits of laughter.

"She already is a distraction for him, Ange," Katie said. "He never shuts up about her."

"That's so true," Alicia laughed. "It's like if we're not talking about Luna then there's nothing important to talk about."

Luna turned her attention back to Angelina as she started to talk again.

"I know you two are kind of in the 'honeymoon stage', but if you could move on to the next stage soon that would really help our game," she said.

"What's the 'honeymoon stage'?" Luna asked.

"Oh, you know when all you want to do is snog and you can only think of the other person," Angelina listed off.

Nodding in understanding was apparently all it took for Angelina to finally let Luna ask a question of her own.

"So, we're not enemies?" Luna asked.

"Well, unless you tried out for the Ravenclaw team this year, then no," Angelina said, shaking her head.

"But what about last year at the Yule Ball?" Luna asked, feeling frustrated. "Did you ever even like Fred?"

Angelina's face turned from a happy, informing one to a softer, gentler expression.

"Of course I did," she said. "But the entire night was spent with me watching Fred watch you. I called it off because I knew I was just getting in the way. I'm over him, so you can have him. Besides I kind of have my eye on someone else."

Luna followed Angelina's trail of vision to where Fred and George were now talking to Harry and Ron.

"You must think I'm terrible, going from one twin to the next, but there's just something about George," Angelina sighed and Luna looked back at her to see an easy smile had appeared on her face.

"I don't think you're terrible at all," Luna admitted. "I know exactly what you mean."

"He's always been there, but I was too busy noticing Fred," she continued. "Everyone thinks it's weird that I can tell the difference in their personalities, but I just can. Of all people I knew you would understand."

Looking at Angelina it was plain to see that the feelings she had for George were just as strong as the ones Luna had for Fred.

"Well, I'll make sure I won't distract him too much," Luna assured.

"Thanks, Luna," Angelina said.

Luna was about to make her way off of the Quidditch pitch when she heard Angelina call out to her one more time.

"I'm really happy we're not enemies!" Angelina shouted.

"Me too!" Luna agreed.

She then continued to walk off of the pitch, but now with a huge weight lifted from her chest.