A/N: Here's chapter 2. I know it's been a while since I updated this story, but, you know, life happens and you get busy with other things. Also, the hard part was coming up with a song for the Sorting Hat to sing; I'm not that great at writing poems or songs.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Luna awoke very early on 1 September. Today's the big day! she thought to herself happily. As she was too excited to go back to sleep, the young witch decided to use this time to look through her Lockhart books, the better to learn more about this man. Her frown deepened with each page she read; Lockhart certainly loved to talk a lot about himself, his accomplishments, his likes, his dislikes, his personal information, you name it.
I wonder who the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is, Luna thought. And why does he or she like Lockhart so much? She then thought, Oh well, no matter, I'm finally going to Hogwarts! And I'll see Cedric again and perhaps make some more friends besides.
Hours later, when her father called her to the kitchen for breakfast, Luna did one last quick check to make sure all her things were packed, then skipped downstairs. She found a steaming-hot bowl of Freshwater Plimpy stew waiting for her on the table.
"You will need some brain food before you begin your first year at Hogwarts," Xenophilius explained. After the two of them had eaten and Luna had brought her trunk downstairs, her butterbeer cork necklace and Dirigible Plum earrings in place and her wand tucked behind her ear, her father held out one of his old hats, which Luna put her finger on a second before the two of them were whisked to King's Cross. Within minutes the Lovegoods were standing on platform 9 3/4, Luna staring in wonder at the Hogwarts Express and the people surrounding it. She had been here only once before, to see Cedric Diggory off three years prior. Her mother had been with her then, and Luna felt a slight pang of regret knowing her mother couldn't be here to see her off, nor would she ever be.
Luna loaded her luggage onto the train with Xeno's help, then turned to give him a hug goodbye...and saw that he had started to tear up a bit. "What's the matter, Daddy?"
"You look exactly like your mother with that necklace."
"Thank you," beamed Luna. She hugged her father tightly before climbing aboard. "Goodbye! See you at Christmas!"
"Have a good term, moonbeam!" Xeno called after her. "And remember, use extreme caution when around mistletoe. And if you see an Umgubular Slashkilter in the Forbidden Forest, be sure to owl me immediately!"
"I will, Daddy!" Luna called back as the train began to move; just as it went around the corner, Xenophilius Disapparated.
The young blonde witch set off down the corridor until she came across a compartment full of girls chatting animatedly. They stopped and stared when they saw her standing in the doorway.
"Hello," said Luna dreamily. "Is there room in this compartment?" She then recognized the black-haired girl in the group as the girl she'd met at Flourish and Blotts nearly a month ago.
"Hey, that's the nutter you were just telling us about, isn't it, Imelda?" said a girl with short auburn hair, pointing at Luna.
"Yeah," Imelda replied. She then looked mockingly around the compartment before saying to Luna, "Oh dear, it looks like there are no more seats. You'll just have to find one somewhere else."
"Oh, that's all right," said Luna serenely. "By the way, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Luna. Luna Lovegood."
"More like Loony Lovegood!" sneered Imelda, and the entire group burst into hysterical laughter.
"Look at those earrings!" cried a brown-skinned girl. "Who in their right mind would wear radishes in their ears?!"
Luna shrugged and walked farther down the corridor as the girls' laughter continued. Finally she found an empty compartment, where she sat down, got out the latest edition of The Quibbler, and began to read. She was in the middle of reading a very interesting article about a deaf-mute wizard who had mastered nonverbal spells at the tender age of eight when the compartment door opened; Luna looked up to see a tiny, mousy-haired boy standing there.
"Excuse me," he said breathlessly, "but would it be all right if I sat here? Everywhere else is full." Luna nodded, and the boy took the seat opposite her.
"I'm Colin Creevey, by the way. Say, you haven't seen Harry Potter by any chance, have you? Because I asked up and down the train but nobody's seen him. I wanted his picture, you know." He held up a camera.
Luna stared at him for a moment before answering. "No, I haven't seen him. You're starting Hogwarts too, aren't you?"
"Yeah! Can you believe it? I didn't even know anything about Hogwarts till I got my letter this summer, and I never knew the weird stuff I could do was magic! Then I hear all this stuff about Harry Potter and how he survived against You-Know-Who and everything! Oh, I hope he didn't miss the train, I really want to meet him! I've got so many questions to ask him! Like, why's his scar shaped like a lightning bolt? What's it like to live with his aunt and uncle? What does he want to be when he grows up?"
"You talk rather fast," Luna remarked serenely. "And you're quite small for your age. Are you part elf?"
"Er...no," replied Colin, looking flummoxed. "I'm Muggle-born."
"You could have some elf blood in you without knowing it," Luna pointed out.
"Er, no, I don't think so," said Colin. At that moment the lunch trolley arrived, and the young boy had just started to buy a few sweets when Luna piped up, "I would avoid the Cauldron Cakes if I were you. They tend to be full of Snablobs."
"What're Snablobs?"
"They look a lot like gnats, and once they get into your body they burrow into your organs and turn them black from the inside out." Colin sat back in his seat looking repulsed while Luna reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of the Plimpy sandwiches her father had packed for her.
"Sandwich, Colin?"
"No thanks. I don't think I'm very hungry after all." Luna shrugged and bit into her own sandwich, then stared out of the window and hummed softly to herself as her mind wandered...It had been a while since she had last heard from Cedric. The summer after Luna's mother died, he had dropped by to offer his condolences, but unfortunately Xenophilius had barred all visitors from the Rook; on top of that, he had shut all the windows and cast Unbreakable Charms on them so that no owls could get in or out. He had also boarded up the fireplace to ensure no one could Floo in or out of it. The result was that after a while, people simply stopped coming round or sending owls, with the exception of Ginny Weasley, who had begun paying Luna several visits after her brother Ronald had started Hogwarts. The young blonde hoped the two of them might be Sorted into the same House, although that was unlikely given the fact that Ginny's parents and all of her brothers had been Sorted into Gryffindor, meaning Ginny was likely to be in Gryffindor as well, and she, Luna, was sure she'd be put in Ravenclaw.
Suddenly something in the clouds caught Luna's attention; she opened the window and leaned outside to get a better look. It looked a lot like...a flying car? It was too far away for her to tell whether there was anyone inside, but if this was what she thought it was, she would have to write to her father about it as quickly as possible. Xeno had recently expressed the idea that "spirit cars" might exist - cars that could move about by themselves, even fly.
The compartment door slid open again a few minutes later; three boys were standing there. "Hey," one of them said to Colin, "why don't you come sit with us? You don't have to sit with that weirdo." He pointed at Luna, who had pulled out The Quibbler again and was attempting to swat away a Wrackspurt she felt zooming around her right ear. She looked up in time to see Colin give her an uncertain, uncomfortable look before following the boys out of the compartment. Oh well, she thought to herself. There's still plenty of time to make friends.
The train journey continued for several more hours; Luna changed into her school robes just as the sun was setting. At last she heard a voice echoing through the train: "Attention all students. We will be arriving at Hogsmeade Station in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately."
As Luna left the train with the others, she could hear a deep voice calling, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" It was Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper; he was a giant of a man with shaggy black hair and beard. Luna knew that her father had written an article long ago expressing the theory that Hagrid was really an alien from a distant galaxy, which, in Xeno's opinion, likely explained the accent and his fascination with monsters. Of course, that article didn't go over well at all with a lot of Xeno's regular readers, but Luna was fairly certain her father was right about Hagrid.
"Any more firs' years?" the large man called. "C'mon now, I haven' got all night! Oh, good, everyone's here. Now, if yeh follow me..." He led the first years along a shady path to a fleet of boats on the lake. As Luna looked around curiously, she spotted the carriages some distance away that would transport the upper-year students to the castle. In front of each carriage was a skeletal winged horse with blank white eyes - a Thestral. Luna had read about these creatures; she knew that only those who had seen death could see them. She had also heard that many people considered them bad luck, but she was sure they were harmless. The young witch hoped she'd get a chance to pay the creatures a visit later on in the year.
"No more'n four ter a boat!" Hagrid called out as the first years climbed in. Luna got into a boat with Colin Creevey, a tall boy with stringy brown hair, and a girl with curly dark brown hair. She stared at each of them in turn as the boats moved forward at Hagrid's command, and before long the first years and Hagrid were standing at the front door of Hogwarts castle.
Hagrid knocked on the door, and within seconds it opened to reveal a stern-looking witch with dark hair tied in a bun and square spectacles. "I've got the firs' years, Professor McGonagall," the large gamekeeper said.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll take them from here." The witch led the first years into the vast entrance hall of the castle. To the right Luna could hear the voices of over a hundred people from the Great Hall, but rather than lead the first years there, Professor McGonagall took them to a small chamber off the entrance hall, where she gave a brief explanation of the Sorting and the Hogwarts Houses. She had just finished explaining how good behavior would earn a student points for their House whereas rule-breaking would result in the docking of points when Luna put up her hand.
"What if you have to break a rule?"
"What are you talking about?" McGonagall demanded.
"Well," said Luna, "say there's a rule that you have to stay in your common room after curfew. Then one night you're looking out of the window and you happen to see a rogue Umgubular Slashkilter coming from the Forbidden Forest to attack all of us. Wouldn't it make more sense to go outside and lure it back to the forest than just stay in the castle and wait to get mauled?"
The other students sniggered. McGonagall glared at her and said sternly, "That is neither here nor there. If you break any school rules, you lose House points; it's that simple." About ten minutes later the first years were making their way to the Great Hall to meet the rest of the school. Luna looked around in fascination from the four long House tables to the enchanted ceiling. She then glanced up at the staff table - and gasped.
Sitting a few seats away from the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, was a wizard with wavy blond hair and dazzlingly white teeth - Gilderoy Lockhart. Of course! Luna thought to herself. That makes perfect sense! I thought the new Defense teacher was a big fan of Lockhart, and he just so happens to be a big fan of himself! Before she could ponder further, however, McGonagall brought in a stool with an old and ragged black hat and placed it in the middle of the Hall. About a second later the brim of the hat opened wide like a mouth, and it began to sing:
Oh, I may not be the prettiest
Thing you've ever seen,
But looks can be deceiving
If you know what I mean.
I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,
I have but one task:
To sort you into your Hogwarts Houses.
What are they all about, you ask?
Are you daring and chivalrous?
Have you courage that knows no bounds?
Then you may do well in Gryffindor.
They are the bravest ones around.
Do you have a thirst for knowledge?
Possess wisdom beyond your years?
Then you'll feel at home in Ravenclaw,
Where true friends are near.
Or perhaps you value loyalty,
Hard work and fair play,
In which case, Hufflepuff
Is where you'll find your way.
Perhaps ambition is your calling.
Cunning and charm, too.
If so, then Slytherin
Is the House for you.
So just place me upon your head,
And please don't be shy.
I can help you find your place.
The time for Sorting is nigh.
Everyone applauded, and Professor McGonagall held up the hat while saying, "When I call out your name, you will come forward and sit on this stool to be Sorted. Adamson, Norton!"
A boy with curly black hair stepped forward and sat on the stool; McGonagall gently placed the hat onto his head. A few seconds of silence, then the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" The students sitting at the table on the far left applauded loudly as Norton went to sit with them.
"Armstrong, Holly!" The curly-haired girl who had shared a boat with Luna earlier stepped up.
"RAVENCLAW!"
A round of applause came from the table second from the left as Holly went to sit there, and a few minutes later, Colin Creevey was sorted into Gryffindor. After a few more students had been Sorted, "Kirkland, Imelda" joined the Ravenclaw table. At that point Luna's stomach rumbled loudly and her thoughts wandered to the upcoming Welcoming Feast. She'd learned from Cedric's letters that the food at Hogwarts was absolutely delicious, and she certainly couldn't wait to try it. I wonder what they'll have for pudding? she thought.
Suddenly she felt a sharp poke in her side; turning around, she saw the stringy brown-haired boy glaring at her. "Oi, what's the matter with you?!" he hissed. "Didn't you hear McGonagall calling you?" And sure enough, the stern-faced witch called out again, "Lovegood, Luna!"
Luna skipped up to the stool, where McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on her head. "Hello, Mr. Hat!" the young witch said brightly, swinging her feet back and forth.
"Hmmmm," a small voice said in her ear. "Highly unusual. I haven't seen minds like yours since one Xenophilius Lovegood."
"Thank you," replied Luna. "By the way, what's it like to be a hat? And what do you do when you're not Sorting students?"
"You're quite inquisitive, I see. Well, I don't have much to do except Sort. But enough about me - "
"You don't have a name, do you?" interrupted Luna. "I think it would be nice if you did."
"No, I do not have a name; I'm just called the Sorting Hat. Now, if we could get on with the Sorting - "
"How about Ferdinand? You sound like a Ferdinand to me. Yes, I think that name suits you quite nicely."
"Anyway," the Hat pressed on, "I can rule out Slytherin; you're not exactly the guileful type. I see you have plenty of courage and a nice thirst for adventure; perhaps you'll do well in Gryffindor - "
"Do you ever get hungry? I wonder what a Hat would eat?"
"You certainly ask a lot of questions, missy. And I notice you possess wisdom beyond your years. I still say you could do well in Gryffindor, but it seems you'd be better suited to another House. Let's see how you do in RAVENCLAW!"
The Hat shouted out the last word to the whole Hall, and as Luna skipped to the Ravenclaw table, she couldn't help but notice that the applause there was less than enthusiastic. In fact, she could hear several people groaning and a few others sniggering; Imelda Kirkland was scowling.
"How the hell did you get in Ravenclaw?!" the black-haired girl hissed. Luna chose to ignore her and watch the rest of the Sorting.
After a while only two students remained. Ginny Weasley went to sit on the stool and was almost immediately declared a Gryffindor. And after "Youngblood, Khloe!" was Sorted into Hufflepuff, the Sorting ended. Just then a hook-nosed, sallow-skinned man whom Luna guessed must be Professor Snape rushed into the Hall and muttered something into McGonagall's ear; a minute after she had followed him out, the feast began.
"Hey, did you see the story in the Prophet tonight?" a second-year girl sitting three seats away from Luna asked. "Some Muggles saw and reported an old Ford Anglia flying across the country!" At this, Luna sat upright.
"I saw it!" she said excitedly. "I saw it through the window on the train today! I think it was a spirit car!" Everyone at the table gaped at her.
"A spirit car?" repeated a fourth-year boy.
"Yes, a spirit car. They can fly about by themselves, you know." At this, the others burst out laughing.
"You really are a nutter!" exclaimed Imelda.
"Yeah, even if it were flying by itself, someone would have to use magic to make it fly, wouldn't they?" added a first-year boy named Elvin Lewellen. "No, it's obvious someone was driving the car."
"Guys, look!" a pretty Asian third-year girl said, gesturing toward the staff table where Professor Dumbledore had just gotten up and started toward the entrance hall. "I wonder what's going on?"
"Something serious, I bet," said the blonde girl sitting next to her. "I saw McGonagall leave too."
"Maybe there's an Umgubular Slashkilter loose on the grounds," said Luna. The other Ravenclaws just shook their heads and continued to chat amongst themselves as they ate. Before long the remnants of dinner vanished, and puddings appeared in their place. Luna piled her plate high with every one she could reach, and to her delight they were even more delicious than she had hoped. She especially loved the treacle tart, the lemon meringue pie, and the chocolate eclairs.
By the time the remains of pudding disappeared, Dumbledore and McGonagall had returned to the Great Hall. The Deputy Headmistress clinked her spoon against her goblet, saying, "Your attention, please!" Dumbledore stood up and beamed around at all the students.
"Welcome," he said in his deep voice, "to another year at Hogwarts! First off, please note that the forest near the grounds is strictly forbidden to all students. Secondly, those who wish to play for their House Quidditch teams should give their names to their Head of House.
"Also, I would like to introduce our newest teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart." The student body applauded as Lockhart gave a deep bow; Luna noticed that the majority of the applause seemed to be coming from most of the girls, whereas most of the boys simply sat there looking unimpressed.
"Lastly," Dumbledore continued, "it is my unfortunate duty to inform you that the Whomping Willow on the Hogwarts grounds was seriously damaged tonight when two students crashed a flying Ford Anglia into it - " ("See? I told you that was no spirit car!" Elvin whispered to Luna) " - but I can assure you that our Herbology teacher, Professor Sprout, will have it patched up in no time. But I would consider this a reminder not to run afoul of this violent and highly valuable Willow.
"And now, it is time for bed, and we all know how important it is for you all to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Off you go!"
As everyone got up to leave, a fifth-year prefect with dark brown hair in a crew cut, who had introduced himself as Gavin Barker, called, "First years, follow me please!" All of the first years queued up behind him; all of them, that is, except Luna, who started toward Hagrid to ask him if he really was an alien. Before she could get far, however, Gavin called, "Oi! You there! This way!" Luna sighed and followed the rest of the first years; she supposed she would just have to ask Hagrid some other time.
They made their way into the entrance hall and up the marble staircase, Gavin pointing out the moving staircases and warning them that some of them had trick stairs that your feet could sink through unless you jumped them. When they had reached the third floor, Gavin gestured toward a nearby classroom, where a little man was hovering in front of the chalkboard and writing swearwords on it. "That's Peeves the Poltergeist," he explained. "You want to be very careful around him; he loves to wreak havoc wherever he goes." Just then Luna stepped inside and called out, "Hello!"
Peeves turned around and grinned wickedly. "Ah, more Ickle Firsties, eh? This'll be fun!" He then began pelting chalk and erasers at the first-years; after Gavin had chivvied them away, he glared at Luna. "What are you playing at?!"
Luna cocked her head to the side. "What?"
"I told you to tread carefully around Peeves, and what do you do? You call out to him! And now look what's happened!" He gestured toward her fellow first-years, who were looking badly shaken after Peeves' attack.
"well, I couldn't just pass by without saying hello," Luna explained. "That would be rather rude, don't you think?"
"What difference does it make how rude or polite we are to him, he's going to cause trouble either way! Now come on!" They walked along the corridor, several students grumbling about Luna.
"Leave it to Loony to slow us down like this," muttered Tonya Farley.
"Yeah, what's she trying to do - get us all killed or something?" added Ulysses Stokes.
Once they'd gone up to the fifth floor, Gavin led them up a spiral staircase that led to a door with no knob or keyhole, but a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. "In order to gain entrance to the Ravenclaw Common Room," he explained, 'you've got to answer a riddle. If you get it wrong, you will have to wait for someone who gets it right; that way you learn."
He knocked once, and a musical voice issued from the knocker: "If a werewolf howls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
Gavin looked around at the first years. "Can any of you figure out what the answer might be?"
A moment of silence passed before Luna stepped forward and put up her hand. "I know!"
But Gavin pretended not to hear her and said, "Anyone? Anyone at all?"
He must not have heard me, Luna thought. "I know the answer!" she said more loudly.
Again, Gavin ignored her. "Come on, speak up!"
"Hello!" Luna shouted, waving a hand wildly in front of Gavin; the prefect sighed.
"Oh all right, what do you think the answer is?"
"Well," said Luna, "when a werewolf howls, all that comes out are sound waves. It only makes a sound if someone is around to perceive it as such. Therefore, if no one is around to hear it, it doesn't make a sound. Of course, this would be true if the werewolf were deaf; otherwise, it would make a sound because it could hear itself howl."
The others gaped at her in shock as the knocker said, "Brilliantly phrased," and swung open.
The common room was a wide, circular room whose walls were hung with blue and bronze silks. There were shelves of books everywhere, and on the other side was a tall statue of Rowena Ravenclaw; it stood next to the door to the dormitories.
A few minutes later Luna changed into her nightdress, got out her diary, and began to write:
1 September, 1992
Dear Mummy,
I'm finally at Hogwarts! Even better, I'm in Ravenclaw just as I had hoped.
Unfortunately, my housemates don't seem to like me very much. One of the prefects showed us to the common room, and it took me several tries to get his attention when I offered to answer the doorknocker's riddle. I thought maybe he didn't hear me, but I'm beginning to think he was ignoring me on purpose. I wonder if maybe everyone thinks the Sorting Hat made a mistake with me.
Also, I heard someone crashed a flying Ford Anglia into the Whomping Willow tonight. I'm not sure, but I've got a feeling it was Harry Potter; he wasn't on the Hogwarts Express at all today.
It turns out the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is none other than Gilderoy Lockhart himself. I don't know yet how his lessons will go, but I imagine he'll spend most of them talking about himself.
I hope you're doing well wherever you are,
Love,
Luna