The Houses Competition (or THC) Round 6: Just Keep Swimming

House: Slytherin

Class: Muggle Studies

Category: Drabble: 500-1000 words, worth up to 10 points.

Choose one prompt: [Location] The Department of Mysteries, ([Colour] Midnight Blue)

Word Count: 1,000

Disclaimers/triggers: slightly AU, based on the canon end of HP5 and the Death Eaters' chase of Harry and his friends in the Department of Mysteries

Beta Love: StoryPlease, Charlie9646 - Thanks to my teammates for looking over my story!

… … …

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON

… … …

"Luna! Stop!"

The answer was a thoughtful hum from the fair-haired girl. Ginny reached her and grabbed onto Luna's shoulder, pulling her back.

"C'mon! We have to hurry!" The red-head said and tried to drag Luna with her to the left where another hallway opened from the crossroad they had stumbled into. Next to her, Ron was nervously looking over his shoulder down the way they had come from.

"They're catching up," he said, his eyes fixed on the Death Eaters who had been chasing them through the rooms of the Department of Mysteries.

Luna followed his gaze. "Don't you think that continuing onwards would be our best option?" she asked dreamily. The Weasley siblings stared at her as if she had lost her mind.

"You are aware that there's a wall in front of us, aren't you?" Ginny exclaimed in disbelief.

Luna blinked and then looked back ahead. "That's a wall?"

Ron snorted.

"While I agree that it looks a bit misty – just the fact that you can't see through and that you can't step through it should tell you that yes, that's a wall," he said with an eye-roll. To emphasize that, Ron reached over Luna's shoulder and slapped his hand against the midnight blue mist in front of them.

There was a soft clunk when his hand hit the wall-like structure. "There, a wall!"

"Let's go," Ginny interrupted Ron before he could say something else. "They're getting close!"

And indeed, they were.

The light of a spell lit up the corridor and Ron barely managed to pull Luna and Ginny down before the curse hit one of them.

The curse splashed on the wall and spread over it like red lightning.

"Oh," Luna said happily. "How pretty!"

"Not the right time!" Ginny admonished the blonde and dragged her to the left.

Ron snorted, but also pushed the fair-haired girl along.

They had barely managed two steps when another Death Eater came at them from that direction.

Ginny cursed. "Right it is, then!"

Ron shot a spell towards the Death Eater, lighting the hallway in a blue light that looked quite creepy in the twilight of the Department of Mysteries. Then he grabbed Luna's hand and turned her forcefully around to the right.

Behind them were another two Death Eaters.

"Merlin's balls!" Ron exclaimed, his hand tightening around Luna's. "Where did the lot of them come from?"

"From the other hallways," Luna supplied as if his question hadn't been rhetoric.

Ron snorted. "Figured that out myself." Taking a deep breath he added, "Alright,I guess we have to fight our way out. Let's… well… let's try the left. There's just one of them – so our chances are higher to get through."

"Why don't we go ahead?" Luna asked him, moonily; her silver eyes seemed to look through him while she pointed towards the midnight blue mist to her right.

"Because it's a wall?" Ginny said with a sigh, her hands clawed into the sleeve of Luna's pullover. "I can't walk through a wall, can you?"

Luna frowned at her.

"I've walked through a wall every year since I started at Hogwarts," she argued, before she crooked her head and looked at Ron and Ginny thoughtfully. "Or how does your family get to the Hogwarts Express if not through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10?"

Ron, who had opened his mouth to argue with Luna, blinked and closed it again.

"Huh," he said. "Never thought of that."

Ginny stared at her brother as if he was mad.

"Ron! You touched the wall! You know we can't get through!"

"She could be right," Ron argued back.

"Once in a blue moon everybody is right," Luna agreed airily.

Ginny groaned and ignored her; instead, she glared at her brother. "Ron! You can't just–"

She was interrupted by another spell barely missing them.

Luna followed the crackling energy of the spell spreading over the midnight blue mist with her eyes.

"That's really pretty," she decided.

"NOT the time!" The Weasley siblings chorused, while dodging more spells.

Luna's unfocused eyes sharpened on the other two, pinning both of them with icy eyes suddenly as midnight blue as the wall.

Ginny and Ron froze under her gaze.

Then, Luna's eyes flickered over to the Death Eaters, taking them in with a gaze as cutting as glass.

"I guess, we should go," she said, her voice surprisingly strong compared to her usual one. With that, Luna turned towards the wall and reached for it.

Another spell missed her by a hairbreadth. Luna didn't react. Her hand touched the wall and the next moment, it slipped through it as if the wall was nothing but water.

Luna hummed. "I knew the Department of Mysteries stole space!"

Ron and Ginny gawked.

"Take a deep breath," Luna advised them with an amused quirk of her lips. With those words, she fell forward, pulling the other two with her.

The mist parted around them. It felt cool and slightly wet.

"Huh," Ron whispered, his voice echoing in the midnight blue mist. "It feels like rain. That's not too bad."

The next moment, they were submerged in a midnight blue liquid.

Ron and Ginny spluttered, but Luna pulled them under the surface before they could take another breath.

"Luna!" Ron gargled shortly before his head was pulled under the midnight blue water.

"Did you say something, Ronald?" Luna asked, her voice clear.

Ron opened his eyes, full of confusion.

There were nebulae, stars and planets all around them.

They were floating in space. Ron and Ginny stared, mouths agape.

"What? How?"

"They stole the universe," Luna answered. "And then they put it into one of their rooms."

"You can't steal space, Luna," Ginny argued faintly.

"The Department of Mysteries did," Luna countered.

"And they did it well," Ron said, wide-eyed.

Luna hummed; her eyes fixed on the luminous orb closest to them. "Guess we're going to have a blue moon tonight."

Well, that was one way to put it.

... ... ...

THE END

... ... ...

Well, that wasn't actually planned - but I guess Luna knew better and decided to take over my story? lol

Over and out.

Ebenbild