For QLFC, Round 5
Team: Tutshill Tornados
Position: Keeper
Notes: Slightly OOC Luna (as in she's a bit more self-aware than in canon)
Prompt: Cruelty (character must not demonstrate flaw in canon)
TW: Bullying, mention of character death
Word count: 2,007
"Now, let's see," said the Sorting Hat. "A unique mind, a creative spirit; why, there's no question! You belong in... RAVENCLAW!"
Luna grinned as Professor McGonagall lifted the hat off of her head and gave her an encouraging nod as she skipped off towards the Ravenclaw table.
"Hullo!" she said brightly to the girl next to her. "I'm Luna Lovegood! What's your name?"
"Astoria. Astoria Greengrass," said the girl, looking Luna up and down with a prim expression. "Why's your hair like that?"
"Ooooh... Like what?" asked Luna, putting a hand to her forehead to brush her floppy hair out of her face. "Blonde? My mum was blonde."
"No," said Astoria. "All horrid and tangled. Don't you know how to comb it?"
"Mum used to comb it," said Luna, smiling as she remembered her mother's gentle, clever hands brushing her hair so that it was all shiny and smooth like hers, then deftly twisting it into two neat plaits that hung on either side of her head. After, she would let Luna pick whatever colour of ribbons she wanted.
"And why've you got a frog on her head?"
Luna drew herself up to her full height.
"It's my favourite hair clip," she said proudly, stroking the shimmering hair clip; it was all shades of pink and green blurred and twisted together, just like real moon frogs. "Mum made it for me."
Astoria sneered. "Well, pink and green just don't go together, Loony."
A few of the other first years further down the table giggled.
"Loony. Loooooony! Loooony Lovegood! Oooooo, Looony!"
"Stop it!" said Luna, her Dirigible plum earrings jiggling. "That's not very nice!"
"Why?" asked Astoria. "Are you going to cry, Loony Lovegood?"
"No," said Luna, though her throat was tight and her eyes were already brimming with tears. "I'm not."
"Always think of others, Luna." That's what her mother had said. "Be kind."
Always think of others... and now all of her shoes were gone. In four years, the other Ravenclaws hadn't warmed up to her.
But she had friends, now. Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville...
Never think badly of others. Yes. It couldn't be the other students. It couldn't. It must have been the naughty Nargles.
Luna heard footsteps behind her and turned around.
"Hello, Harry!" she said, curling her toes against the stone floor.
Harry had his Quidditch robes folded under his arm, so he must have just finished practice.
"Where are your shoes, Luna?" he asked, walking quickly towards her. "Aren't you cold?"
"N-No," said Luna. "Well, a little. I had some really nice shoes with strawberries on them. But the Nargles took them away."
Yes, it must have been the Nargles. Her housemates would never be so nasty, and the Nargles didn't know any better.
Harry had a very Harry-like expression (a little cross, but mostly very confused and concerned) on his face.
"But isn't this the fifth time you've had something go missing this year?" he asked. "First it was your purple quill, and then some ink that does maths, and some bubble-making something or other, and then..."
"Don't worry about it, Harry!" said Luna, smiling hard enough to make her cheeks hurt. If you worry, I'll worry too.
She felt her eyes start to get a little bit wet, so she put on her Spectrospecs so Harry couldn't see her tears and smiled again.
Even through the sparkly, swirly sheen of the Spectrospecs, Luna could see that Harry still looked concerned. He frowned, the skin around his eyebrows creasing.
"Are you sure you're all right, Luna?"
"Positive."
Astoria was speaking to a very pretty Gryffindor girl, with large, dark eyes and hair that reminded her of Bellatrix. She shivered, remembering how the sadistic witch had killed Sirius Black last year and how devastated Harry had been.
Luna heard snatches of "Harry Potter" and "the Chosen One" floating down the library towards her but could not make out the rest of the conversation.
Strange.
"Er, Luna?"
She looked up. Harry himself had appeared, chewing on his bottom lip determinedly and glancing around as if he was afraid of being watched. His left eyebrow was a pleasant shade of sunshine-yellow. Or perhaps it was marigold.
The pretty girl and Astoria were staring at Harry.
"That'll be the Gulping Plimpies," said Luna serenely. "They're much too nosy. They're attracted to Wrackspurts, and your head's full of them."
"Right," said Harry. He looked unconvinced. "Listen, have you got a minute?"
As soon as she nodded, Harry took a deep breath and said: "How would you like to come to Slughorn's party with me tonight?" so quickly that Luna barely understood him.
"Oh... Slughorn's party? You'd like to go with me? What about someone really cool, like..." She pointed vaguely in Astoria and the pretty girl's direction.
"Yeah," said Harry, "We're supposed to bring guests, so I thought you might like... I mean..." He was getting more and more flustered by the second. "I mean, just as friends, you know. But if you don't want to..."
"So you do want me to go with you!" said Luna excitedly. "Nobody's ever asked me to a party before, as a friend! Is that why you dyed your eyebrow, for the party? Should I dye mine too? I've got a lovely shade of turquoise paint."
"Er, no," said Harry. "That was a mistake."
"Excellent!" said Luna. She felt like she was floating on clouds — going to a real party with a real friend, not an imaginary one like with all the tea parties she used to have for the Nargles — this was going to be so much fun!
Just then, Peeves swooped above their head, screeching:
"Potty asked Loony to go to the party! Potty lurves Loony! Potty luuuuuurves Looooony!"
Harry looked as if he might die on the spot of mortification, and Luna giggled. Both Astoria and the pretty girl shot glares at Peeves.
"Isn't Hermione going?"
Harry shook his head. "I'm not getting involved with whatever's going on with her and Ron; they've had a row. She's been weepy all day. I'd better leave her alone until she cheers up a bit... Might bite my head off. I hate when they fight for this long."
"Her and Ron? Oh," said Luna. "Oh. I see, Harry. Those two like you, don't they? But I don't think it's for a very good reason."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Romilda thinks I'm the Chosen One. She's trying to sneak me a love potion, apparently. And she's not very subtle about it. I've got to go," he said, getting up. "But I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall at eight, yeah?"
"Where's my hair clip?" asked Luna frantically, turning everything she owned upside down.
The blue duvet was on the floor in a heap, all of her clothes piled on top of it, and to the side laid a mound of books and knickknacks.
"Think, Luna, think!"
Her wand was lying on top of her jewellery box, so she picked it up and gave it a wave.
"Accio hair clip!"
But nothing happened.
"Oh, where is it? I couldn't have lost it, I couldn't have..."
It didn't make sense. The Nargles knew how special Mum's hair clip was to her, and they knew not to take it, no matter how pretty and shiny it was.
The door swung open, and Luna looked up.
"Astoria?" she asked. "Did you see my hair clip? It's pink and green and shaped like a giant Moon Frog."
"No," said Astoria, casting a disapproving glance at the mess around Luna. "I haven't. Sorry."
"You will tell me if you see it, won't you?" asked Luna, clasping Astoria's hands between hers. "I've got to find it for Slughorn's party tonight!"
Something dark flashed behind Astoria's eyes.
"You're going to the party? But you're not in Slug Club; you haven't been at any of his dinners."
"I'm going with Harry," said Luna. "Oh, where could it have gone?"
"I see," said Astoria. She nodded, spun on her heel, and left, shutting the door quietly behind her. Luna heard her go slowly down the stairs.
Luna began to have a terrible idea, and five minutes later, she found her precious hair clip buried deep in Astoria's jewellery box, along with her missing quill, her bottle of ink, and her giggling bubble liquid. Her strawberry shoes were stowed under Astoria's bed.
Luna wouldn't have cared about the other things if only she hadn't stolen Mum's hair clip. Astoria knew how much that meant to her.
Why would she try to hurt Luna like this; over something so stupid as a silly date to Slughorn's party?
Fine. She would get Astoria back.
Luna slowly stood up, then went back to her bed, and took out her silver dress robes; she had been saving them for a special day, just like this one.
She glanced at the elegant, powder-blue robes laid out on Astoria's bed and had a positively wicked idea.
Laughing to herself, she went down to Slughorn's office to ask for a little favour.
"Hullo, Professor!" she said after he told her to come in.
"Miss Lovegood!" said Slughorn in his usual booming voice, getting up from his desk to greet her. "Do sit down, make yourself comfortable."
She did, sitting in the most comfortable chair that she could find and looking around at all the decorations, the strangest of which was a funny little hourglass, with twin snakes wrought on the top.
"Could I have some itching powder, Professor Slughorn?" she asked, looking at the labelled jar on the leftmost corner of the shelf. "Just a pinch to scare away the Nargles."
Slughorn beamed with pity. "Blessed lamb," he said, offering her the jar. "Take whatever you like, my dear girl."
"Thank you, Professor Slughorn!"
Luna smoothed her sparkly silver robes and went down to the entrance hall and waited until eight o'clock, still smiling as Romilda stood behind her and glared daggers as Harry came towards them, wearing very sensible-looking dress robes.
"Er, nice hair clip," said Harry, looking worriedly at the colourful Moon Frog pinned in her hair.
"Thank you, Harry!" said Luna, turning around to smile at Romilda. "I thought I'd lost it earlier."
The party itself was absolutely splendid. At one point, she and Harry were cornered by Professor Trelawney, Professor Slughorn, and a harassed-looking Professor Snape (Slughorn seemed to have conjured him out of thin air at some point).
Luna sipped her mead and smiled as Snape and Slughorn bickered over Harry's potion-making skills.
"Remind me what other subjects you're taking, Harry?" asked Slughorn.
Harry looked at him like a deer in headlights for a second and then began to check off on his fingers: "Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology..."
"All the subjects required, in short, for an Auror," said Snape, sneering at Harry.
"Yeah, well, that's what I'd like to do," said Harry defiantly.
And yes, good for him, but — oh, no! Luna couldn't let Harry make that sort of horrible error.
"I don't think you should be an Auror, Harry," said Luna in the most serious tone of voice she could manage. "The Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They're planning to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using a combination of Dark Magic and gum disease."
Snape looked mildly furious, Trelawney and Slughorn gave her pitying smiles, and Harry laughed so hard that he nearly choked on his mead.
That was why she liked Harry. He didn't laugh at her as Astoria did.
Slughorn strained to look past her and Harry.
"Whatever has happened to Miss Greengrass?" he asked, and Luna turned to see Astoria scratching her arms with a frantic expression, her cheeks scarlet, and hopping side-to-side. The stuffy Hufflepuff boy she had come with was slowly edging away.
All around them, people were whispering under their breath.
"How embarrassing..."
"No idea," said Luna serenely. She gave Harry a knowing wink. "Must be the Nargles, Professor."