"Penny for your thoughts, Harry Potter?"
Luna Lovegood gave that seemingly far away smile while her large, silver eyes stared up at Harry. He had only known her a few months, but Harry was fast discovering that Luna was able to read his feelings even before he himself had the chance to process them.
"Err… I'm fine, Luna, thanks." He stumbled the words out entirely unconvincingly, and looked down at the stone floor. "It's nothing. I promise."
Luna gave him that stare that reminded Harry of Dumbledore's keen ability to detect a falsehood. He heaved a sigh and shrugged his shoulders. "It's just… stress," he said at last. He knew that he couldn't explain the Occlumency lessons, but a half-truth was better than a lie.
"Hmm, yes. Your trials with Professor Umbridge and now your remedial Potions with Professor Snape, all in your OWL year? I can see where you would be stressed. I'm here to listen if you'd like."
"Err, thanks Luna. Truly. But I can figure this out on my own." Another lie. He watched as Luna's smile faded.
"I… understand, Harry. Of course. But if you change your mind, I might be able to help you with your stress. I was stressed out recently when trying to find group of Hibernian water pixies. Of course, stress just makes them fade further into the ether, so I needed to clear my mind and focus. And so, I set about flicking the Wrackspurts away from my ears and closed my eyes, and-…"
Harry latched onto the one particular phrase. "Clear my mind." His heart leapt at the possibility of being able to actually prove Snape wrong and perhaps even be able to stop the dreams of the door at the end of the long corridor.
"You know what, Luna?" He interrupted the girl as she was still going on about her Hibernian water pixie experience. "I think I will take you up on the stress relief."
Luna took pause from the interruption, and the genuine smile returned to her face. Harry felt his heart give the slightest flutter. Odd. "Oh, that's wonderful news. Meet me at the top of the Astronomy Tower at 1am. The Ravenclaws will be finished with our lesson with Professor Sinistra by then, and I'll just wait back for a bit afterward!"
"Then we've got a da-… plan," he coughed as he caught himself. What was wrong with him? "I'll see you then."
Thanks to his invisibility cloak, Harry was able to make it to the Astronomy Tower with time to spare. Beneath the cloak, he watched as the Ravenclaws exited down the stairway, led by Professor Sinistra. He saw Luna walking with her housemates before excusing herself in order to hang back.
Luna strode right to the spot where Harry was standing. "Good evening, Harry Potter," she said in her familiar faraway tone.
"Wha… how did you? I'm under the cloak, Luna!"
The girl smiled. "I've spent years with Daddy tracking down things that are supposedly untrackable. I've seen creatures you wouldn't imagine. Compared to finding a Winged Wimplerooster in the skies over Inishdoorus, a feckin' invisibility cloak is nothing." The lateness of the hour was beginning to bring out the gentle lilt of her speech patterns.
"Are… are you serious?" Harry asked, dumbstruck.
Luna gazed at him for a second, then rolled her eyes. "No, ya eejit. Your bloody feet are stickin' halfway out your cloak!" She gave a quick glance to either side to make sure the coast was clear, and then reached out to tug the cloak off.
Suddenly feeling exposed, Harry also shot a nervous glance down the hallways, only relaxing when he saw that they were completely alone. Luna pushed the cloak into Harry's chest and began to ascend the stairway back up to the top of the tower, Harry following closely behind, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
As he climbed the stairs, he was struck by how Luna's personality had changed from her normal airy self. The girl was still blunt, genuine, and certainly eccentric, but the air of mysticism that seemingly surrounded her in the daylight simply wasn't present.
Luna unfurled two small rugs and sat down cross-legged on one. Harry sat on the other.
"Cross your legs, Harry," she said, simply. "It'll help you focus."
Harry did as requested, and then mimicked Luna as she brought her hands down and rested them on her knees. The two closed their eyes.
"Okay, right now, we start with breathing. Just taking our breath in…" She inhaled deeply. "And then slowly out," she exhaled gently. "You see, focused breathing is one of the biggest things that can be done to declutter the mind. Focus on giving your head more oxygen than negative energy, you know?"
Harry was becoming more and more unsure of this. While sitting with his eyes closed, all he could think of was the pain in his legs as he kept them in that position, how silly he would look if anybody walked up to the tower and saw them like this, and of course all of the other anxieties he carried with him.
"You're not breathing deeply enough," Luna said. Harry opened his eyes to find her staring at him. "You have to take big, deep breaths if you want to clear your stress. It's the first step."
Harry blinked. "Uhh… how many steps are there, Luna?"
"More than the grains of sand awash on the winds of time beside the sea that is eternity." Luna's airy voice had returned.
"Right… how many is that, Luna?"
"A buttload." The façade dropped, and Luna let out a little giggle.
"Well… this has been fun, but I think that if we're just doing deep breathing exercises, I can just do this in the common room rather than freezing my ears off," Harry said, trying not to get his temper up. Was this Luna's idea of a joke? Just what was she playing at?
"Oh… yes, I suppose you're right. Wintertime does make it difficult, I suppose. I just always found the cold refreshing. Sorry, Harry." She tried to keep her tone even, but the hurt was apparent.
Harry was too annoyed to pay any mind. "Well, I'll see you around, Luna," he said simply while trying to keep his anger at bay.
"Very well, Harry Potter. But if you would like to try again, just ask. I… I don't have many friends, so if you don't think things are working, please just tell me?"
Harry heaved a sigh. "Okay. I'll think about it."