"Luna," Sirius said, brushing some hair off the back of her neck, "thank
you for helping me with my essay." Luna looked up at Sirius and smiled at
him.
"Oh, it was no problem. Do you understand about the Goblin Uprising
now?"
"Mm-hmm". Sirius hugged her. He was being especially sweet to Luna
right now, because Sirius had actually written his essay two days ago, but
he had been concerned about his friend. Though Luna and Sirius were no
longer dating, they cared a great deal about each other. However, his nice
demeanor had to do with the fact that he was about to try and extract, by
force if necessary, information from Luna, and he was going to have to test
the waters.
"Luna?"
"Yes," said Luna distractedly, working on homework for another class.
"How are you and Lexus friends?"
* *
*
"How are you and Luna friends, Lexus?" Remus asked. Lexus smiled.
"I'd been expecting this. What would you like to know?" Remus
thought for a moment, glad that Lexus didn't think he was prying, or didn't
care if he was.
"Well, how did the two of you meet? What is the bond between you
two? Why does she sit with you now? Do you like her? Do you like her
like that? Does she like you back? Does she talk about me? Are you going
to hurt her, because if you are-"
"Whoa. Remus, slow down!! We'll take it from the beginning. Last
year, when Dumbledore announced the chronicle candidates, Luna was the only
person on the list that I didn't know. I thought that it was interesting
that Dumbledore thought that someone who had only been here for 3 years
could do the job. In the end, he pushed for her. I had to see the
competition."
* *
*
"I had to see the competition. I wanted to know why Dumbledore was
backing me when I had only gone to this school for a few years, instead of
all seven like you. I had to know who he was."
"And did you see why he was better than you?"
"Years, Sirius, sheer years."
"Did you get the competition you wanted?"
"No," Luna said quietly, smiling, "I got a friend."
* * *
"Because she was in desperate need of a friend, Remus, and I was able
to help her."
"Why," Remus asked, with real curiosity, not contempt. "I hope you
don't think that I'm meddling, for that is really not my intent." Lexus
smiled and brushed is hand in the air, as if to encourage Remus to forget
about it.
"You're not. And besides, I brought you here so that we could talk
about Luna. Anyway, in answer to your question, about why Luna and I were
good for each other, she doesn't ask questions." Remus nodded.
"But what attracted you to each other in the first place?" He was a
little surprised with himself, but this WAS Luna. Lexus smiled.
"We are both fond of a Muggle author named Anne McCaffrey. She's a
favorite of mine, and actually, that was how we first met." Lexus smiled
at the memory, getting a faraway look in his eye.