AN: Thanks for the reviews!
~Au Revoir au Monde Normale~
###
Long throughout the night, Julia watched as Harry slept on the big armchair opposite her as she read her book on Transfiguration. It was really very interesting, and she mimicked the wand movements with her hand movements. At times she wondered if Luna _was_ going to give her magic powers. She hoped so. From what Harry told her, people here considered the ways of magic quite boring, especially History of Magic (which she couldn't blame, history was quite tedious). But to her, magic was entrancing and learning to do these spells was almost like her child fantasies come true.
It was almost four in the morning when she decided to give the book a rest and she laid back on the sofa, sighing in comfortable pleasure. For a moment she stared out the window, where the moon was very nearly full and shining in all its glory. Eyes closed, she let her mind wander into the peaceful depths of the dream realm, feeling only the slow and steady breathing of her chest rising and lowering.
Her thoughts spread to the past, and that's how her dream started.
~Dream~
"Mummy! Mummy!" cried a little girl with light brown hair in pigtails. Her mother stood in the long and straight road, so far away that she was just a silhouette on the horizon of the setting sun. The little girl ran, as fast as her podgy legs could carry her but she tripped on her feet and fell hard onto the tarmac of the road. Her mother did not stop, did not notice her daughter, and continued on her way.
Sobbing, the little girl sniffled and said to herself as her mother was too far away, "I want to show you a picture I made. A picture I did with the chalk in the garden and the black paper we have-"
"Child! The black card is for invitations!" scolded a voice from behind her. Turning her small head, the little girl saw another silhouette of a man. He was tall, and judging by his stance, he was angry. He bent down, and hit the girl hard on the cheek.
She stopped crying.
She rubbed her cheek gently as her father took her drawing and scowled again. "Never show that scribble to anyone. Understand?" Surprised and thankful that he didn't tear it up, he threw it back to her like a piece of rubbish. She wanted to cry, but she didn't dare. She only thanked her father quietly and stood in the long and deserted road behind the silhouetted couple who were holding hands and ignoring her completely.
The little girl dropped the scribble.
The little girl turned, and ran.
Looking at the picture, was a house amidst a garden with trees and flowers with a bright sun smiling above them. In front of the house was the little girl with a wide grin on her face, holding her mother's hand and her father's hand was on her shoulders.
Together as a family.
But the scene changed, to one in the middle of the night. The grown up little girl was lying on a grassy field, staring up the once starry sky. Her blurred features were lit up a little by the crescent moon's glare as the grown up little girl stared intently at it. Suddenly the area convulsed making the moon shrink, and the night sky turned skin coloured. Now a miniature version of the grown up little girl was held up by the palm of unmistakably none other than the silhouette of Luna Kaguya. The crescent moon on her forehead shone brightly in comparison with her body, and her mouth opened into a wide, evil grin.
"Bye bye, child!" Luna tilted her palm and the grown up little girl fell into the unfathomable depths of the black air, her screams echoing all around her. Luna was leaving her, she was deserting her!
Just like her parents.
But wait! "Jules-chan!" came a cry, and the grown up little girl landed softly in Luna's lap, who smiled down to her warmly. Luna shrank, and transformed into a huge black cat who curled up and let the grown up little girl climb onto her tail only to snuggle deeply into the cat's warm fur.
Luna purred and the grown up little girl smiled to herself as she closed her eyes to sleep. Opening them for a brief moment, the grown up little girl found herself lying across Luna's lap as a human, her hands stroking her hair affectionately. Once again the grown up little girl closed her eyes, and slept peacefully.
"...Mummy..."
~End Dream~
"AH!" Julia shot up from her slumber, her eyes wide searching for someone in the room when they landed on an equally shocked Harry in the armchair opposite her.
"Bad dream?" he asked. Julia nodded faintly.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"Six in the morning. Another hour and we can go to breakfast."
She nodded again and sighed. That dream... it was already escaping her memory but she could faintly remember someone she considered as a mother. Was it Luna? No. That was stupid. "Did you have a bad dream?" she asked, trying to forget about it. Whatever the dream was, part of it can't have been nice as she was filled partly with anger and partly with warmth.
"Yeah," he replied, rubbing his scar on his forehead.
"What's wrong?" Julia asked, fiddling with her black beret.
"Nothing, just my scar." With her questioning look he continued, "Basically there's this evil guy that everyone in the wizarding world fears. He gave me this scar when I was little and every time I dream of him I wake up with it hurting."
Julia nodded. "Oh, is it some kind of link with him?"
"You could say that."
"What's this guy's name?"
"Um, well, not many people like to call him by his name, they get too scared. They usually call him 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' or 'You-Know- Who'."
Julia grinned. Harry couldn't think of anything remotely funny. "Are you scared?"
Ah. "No!" He replied a bit too quickly for his liking. "Um, in fact I usually call him by his name, but whenever I do, people cringe! He's called Voldemort."
Julia raised her eyebrows. "I see, Voldemort...sounds French." Harry laughed.
"He's anything _but_ French!"
"You've met him?" Julia asked. "Since you were a kid I mean."
"Yup, three times."
"And this guy's meant to be all powerful?"
"Mm hm." Harry replied, lying back again and yawning. This caught Julia and she yawned too.
"I hate catching yawns!" Julia said and threw a pillow at Harry. He growled and threw it back. Grabbing two, she charged and jumped on him, hitting the pillow on his face, making sure his glasses were safely tucked under the armchair so as not to break them.
"Hey! Hey! Stop it!" he yelled, as she stopped for a moment. A moment later, she thwacked him again. He glared at her and growled, "This means WAR." And he reached for the nearest pillow, hitting her across the head as she retaliated.
Amid the mass of feathers on the floor and the laughing duo, was a small piece of machinery that beeped and quietly said, "Jules? Jules can you hear me? It's Luna!" Julia never noticed, and with a quick dodge, she promptly stepped on the piece of equipment that was dislodged from her ear and now broken.
~~~
Luna sighed in frustration and gripped her head to stop the incoming migraine. She turned her head slightly to see Dumbledore standing by the wall, smiling softly as though hiding a secret. "Oh stop it, DD-sensei, she's obviously just taken one of the pieces out or something. Besides, your spells didn't help on my migraine."
"Ah yes, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have your migraine." Luna rolled her eyes. "But if it weren't for me, you won't be prepared for the dangers of the upcoming years."
"Yes yes," Luna said in an annoyed tone. "And I suppose I'm staying for your training?"
"Of course, I made spells and jinxes, and I have no one to pass them onto, unless you're willing too."
"I'd love to, but I don't know what to do about Julia. She's under my care you see, and she's had a terrible past as far as I can gather. She needs me."
Dumbledore opened the door from the large and empty wooded room and led her into his office where Fawkes the phoenix chirped in welcome for the morning. The previous headmasters were all snoring in their frames. "I believe we could enroll Julia to this school."
"You could? Really?"
"As it is the beginning of term, I see no problem." Dumbledore replied, flipping through his book of pupils, his gaze stopping on 'Potter, Harry'. "In fact I should like to meet this girl who has caught your attention."
"Yes, you can, as soon as I find her that is." Dumbledore turned to his magical clock on the wall and smiled.
"I believe we shall meet her in breakfast. Care to join me?"
"You're too polite!"
They chuckled and made their way downstairs.
~~~
Two exhausted teens sat on their prospective chairs and sighed. Catching each other's eye, they laughed merrily.
"Six forty-five, I'll go and get changed, then we can go to breakfast." Julia smiled and nodded as he ran up the stairs. He was a queer one, but he was nice, and as good a friend as Hermione would be, maybe better. Now what happened to Luna? She couldn't have spent all night with Dumbledore could she? Maybe they had a lot of catching up to do. She took a finger to the imaginary earpiece to flick it on, when she noticed nothing was there.
"Shit."
She searched frantically amid the feathers on the floor when she heard a faint crunch. Spinning around, she lifted her foot and paled. The shattered silvery pieces lay on the carpet and glinted softly to her.
"Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!" she swore and gathered the pieces and placed them on the table by the fireplace. They were jumbled, and there was no way she could put them back together. This was bad. If Luna found out, this might be the last straw for her to handle and she might slip from Luna's grip. Julia gasped as she remembered part of her dream. Luna was going to abandon her! Like her parents! She refused to cry, as they showed her weakness, and she smiled faintly as Harry descended the stairs again in his Hogwarts robes.
"Looking good!" she said, trying to joke and forget the upcoming scolding from her surrogate mother.
"Thanks! You too!" he replied. She looked at him condescendingly and hit his hat so that it tilted in the wrong direction.
"Idiot, I'm still as I was when we woke up!"
"Then clean yourself up!"
"Fine. I will." Julia stormed past him and went to a small mirror, brushing her short hair with her fingers and straightening her beret. She removed the creases and turned to stand next to Harry. "Let's go then!" Just as he opened the portrait hole, Julia heard a loud crack and turned, to see nothing. "What was that?" she asked.
"Probably just the house-elves doing the cleaning before everyone gets up." Looking back again, she noticed that indeed, the cushions were straightened and the table was back in its place. The feathers went next.
Julia smiled weakly and followed Harry, the Fat Lady calling after them, "Early risers!"
Upon entering the Great Hall, Julia followed him as he sat at one of the four long tables, a full plate instantly appearing for Harry as he sat down. She sat opposite him, but nothing appeared for her. With a questioning glance, he shrugged his shoulders and offered some of his food to which she declined.
"Julia! There you are! Why didn't you reply?" Luna appeared behind her and sat next to Julia, crossed arms and slightly angry. Julia laughed weakly.
"Um, well, the earpiece broke." Luna took this in and with a 'Hm!' she made another appear.
"Here, make sure this one doesn't break. How did it happen?" Julia then told her about the evening and morning and Harry and herself slightly blushed at the prospect of a pillow fight at six in the morning.
"Well, okay..." Julia smiled, completely relieved, and then another part of the dream returned to her, when she landed in Luna's lap of refuge. Suddenly she hugged Luna tightly, and beamed. "Um, Harry, could you excuse us a moment?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Thanks."
Harry caught Dumbledore's eye at the teacher's table, and a for some reason, he felt as though he wanted to strangle him. Like a climax building up, a snake welled up inside him. 'No, that's stupid, Dumbldore's nice, I wouldn't want to hurt him!' Suddenly the feeling disappeared, as Dumbledore averted his gaze and Julia and Luna walked between the other tables.
Suddenly Julia cried in happiness and hugged Luna again tightly. He could faintly hear Julia saying, '"Let's go! I want to start as soon as possible!" 'Start what?' Harry wondered as he took a bite into his toast. He felt the table move as Julia jumped back onto the bench and said urgently,
"Harry, guess what? I'm going to join you in this school! And Luna's staying!...Though I don't know why...HEY LUNA!" And before Harry could say anything she darted off to speak to Luna at the teacher's table. Harry chewed on this piece of news, wondering which house she'd be in. And he realised 'she's staying. I'll see her a lot of the time,' and before he knew it, he was happy and glad. Hermione would want to get to know her better, and Ron has had yet to meet her. He laughed a little as he thought that she'd be getting into more rows with Malfoy.
But what is Luna going to be doing here? She looked the same age as Julia, yet for some reason he doubted she was any younger than eighteen. If that were true, then she'd be too old for the seventh year. Then he remembered whom Luna was here for. Dumbledore. He'd have to ask about that later.
~~~
Through the long corridors of Hogwarts school, Luna and Julia chatted quietly among themselves. Students rushed past them, some weighed down by books and some talking animatedly about their lessons. Julia couldn't wait to be part of that crowd. "...And you'll have to have extra tutoring, Dumbledore promised that he would do it himself. You're lucky that Snape isn't, I overheard that he's a nasty one."
"...Luna...when are you going to give me some magic?" Julia asked, practically only listening to Luna with half an ear. Luna stopped in the middle of the corridor even though Julia carried on walking. Running to catch up, Luna replied,
"The transfer of powers is a little complicated, and since I can't transfer my own power, I have to act a funnel for moonlight. So, I need a night with the full moon."
"Oh that's okay, there's one tonight I think."
"I thought as much." Luna paused, her face contorted into concentration. "But the magic I give to you doesn't need to be amplified by a wand. In a sense with a wand, you'll be very powerful. I can't do it any other way I'm afraid. You'll have to practice without a wand."
"Oh! Well, that's okay! I was practising some wand movements with my hands last night anyway."
"From the Transfiguration book?"
"Yep, it's really interesting actually. I flipped to the back of the book and read about animagi, people who can change shape to an animal. Eventually I want to learn that, then I can go around with you when you're a cat. We can spy and stuff!"
"And I'm not stopping you." Julia smiled to Luna as they walked down the changing stairwell and headed outside.
"Do you think I can do it? Become an animagi I mean." Julia asked as they opened the doors to the crisp morning. Ahead of them, they could see a little hut and a large lake to their right, and to their left a dying willow tree.
"Oh I think you should believe whatever you want to believe. A friend told me, that belief is the only way to get through in life. I suppose that's way she can be so stubborn." Julia's eyes widened, as she noticed for the first time, that her friend had a melancholy expression on her young features. It was quite heart wrenching, and she realised that she didn't know much about Luna's home in Japan.
"Do you miss your home?" The question was so out of the blue that Luna missed a step going down from the castle and nearly tripped, were it not for Julia catching her before she fell.
"Of course I do. I've never separated from those in Japan for a few millennia. That's why I think getting away is good for me." Luna took a step back and sat on the cold stone steps. She quickly added a cloak around her, and shot a piece of her power to Julia, who got suddenly warm in a thick cloak matching Luna's. "I...I was going to ask a good friend of mine to come with me, but he wasn't ready. He was from Mau too, but I guess he had a bond with Minako that he could never break." Julia cocked her head a little, wondering who Minako was but didn't want to pry too much.
Suddenly without warning, Luna shrank down to her cat form and looked up saying, "Take your hat off for me." Confused, she complied, and Luna bounded to her shoulders, and crawled to her head, curling into a ball with her tail waving down Julia's neck.
"Uh, what are doing?"
"Trying to keep warm, what does it look like?" Somehow, Julia didn't buy it.
"Wouldn't be a comfort thing would it?" she asked, walking towards the lake, her feet flattening and snapping the iced grass. She felt Luna's claws dig into her scalp and she yelped causing Luna to fall into Julia's arms. They glared at each other through the mist of condensation between them but Julia placed Luna on her shoulders to stop herself from throwing the cat to the cold ground. "You're not going on my head. My balance goes way off and you might have fleas."
"HEY!"
"Plus you make an excellent scarf!" Luna hissed, baring her teeth and letting her retractable claws show themselves. "Oooh, scaarry!" Luna glowered and sat on her shoulders, her brows (AN: where do they come from?!) furrowed into a slight scowl. Julia stopped by the lake and stared at the black depths.
"You wouldn't happen to have a blanket and a book?"
"You don't deserve them for treating a cat like this." Luna replied, nose held high.
Thinking rapidly, Julia said, "If a genie came to me in the form of a cat, I might ask her for a house full of male, EARTH cats and chuck her in there with them."
"Even if you did I wouldn't let you!" Luna retorted.
"Would you if I dropped you in the lake?"
"You know I could get out of that situation."
"Even if Dumbledore said you had to stay in there?"
"He wouldn't."
"What about if Harry got possessed by Voldemort and held you in a painful curse?"
That stumped Luna. "Fine, fine." Wait a minute... "You're trying to divert the objective of this argument!"
Julia grinned. "But you would've given them to me, if you hadn't realised!"
"Maybe."
"Come on! I deserve it! I've lived through my childhood without a blanket and a book!"
"Then you should barely be able to read."
"I left just after -they- taught me. I've been keeping up since then by reading notices."
Luna sighed, defeated, and her insignia glowed. The blanket lay on the cold ground with a book headed, 'Learn to be an Animagi.' Julia grinned and petted Luna's head as she sat on the pleasantly warmth induced blanket.
Picking up the heavy book, she proceeded to learn.
###
Hm, at first I was going to do the pairings of Harry/Luna and Julia/Oliver, but then I realised the ages and saw how well Harry and Julia got along, so I'm probably gonna switch that. Tell me opinion on that if you have any.
Sorry that this chapter's a little boring, I found that my hands were writing all on their own and I couldn't stop! I guess I'm prone to boring banter. Ug, that sounds like -I'm- boring doesn't it? Oh well!
Tell me what you liked best, and what you didn't like so that I can avoid whatever in the future!
~Au Revoir au Monde Normale~
###
Long throughout the night, Julia watched as Harry slept on the big armchair opposite her as she read her book on Transfiguration. It was really very interesting, and she mimicked the wand movements with her hand movements. At times she wondered if Luna _was_ going to give her magic powers. She hoped so. From what Harry told her, people here considered the ways of magic quite boring, especially History of Magic (which she couldn't blame, history was quite tedious). But to her, magic was entrancing and learning to do these spells was almost like her child fantasies come true.
It was almost four in the morning when she decided to give the book a rest and she laid back on the sofa, sighing in comfortable pleasure. For a moment she stared out the window, where the moon was very nearly full and shining in all its glory. Eyes closed, she let her mind wander into the peaceful depths of the dream realm, feeling only the slow and steady breathing of her chest rising and lowering.
Her thoughts spread to the past, and that's how her dream started.
~Dream~
"Mummy! Mummy!" cried a little girl with light brown hair in pigtails. Her mother stood in the long and straight road, so far away that she was just a silhouette on the horizon of the setting sun. The little girl ran, as fast as her podgy legs could carry her but she tripped on her feet and fell hard onto the tarmac of the road. Her mother did not stop, did not notice her daughter, and continued on her way.
Sobbing, the little girl sniffled and said to herself as her mother was too far away, "I want to show you a picture I made. A picture I did with the chalk in the garden and the black paper we have-"
"Child! The black card is for invitations!" scolded a voice from behind her. Turning her small head, the little girl saw another silhouette of a man. He was tall, and judging by his stance, he was angry. He bent down, and hit the girl hard on the cheek.
She stopped crying.
She rubbed her cheek gently as her father took her drawing and scowled again. "Never show that scribble to anyone. Understand?" Surprised and thankful that he didn't tear it up, he threw it back to her like a piece of rubbish. She wanted to cry, but she didn't dare. She only thanked her father quietly and stood in the long and deserted road behind the silhouetted couple who were holding hands and ignoring her completely.
The little girl dropped the scribble.
The little girl turned, and ran.
Looking at the picture, was a house amidst a garden with trees and flowers with a bright sun smiling above them. In front of the house was the little girl with a wide grin on her face, holding her mother's hand and her father's hand was on her shoulders.
Together as a family.
But the scene changed, to one in the middle of the night. The grown up little girl was lying on a grassy field, staring up the once starry sky. Her blurred features were lit up a little by the crescent moon's glare as the grown up little girl stared intently at it. Suddenly the area convulsed making the moon shrink, and the night sky turned skin coloured. Now a miniature version of the grown up little girl was held up by the palm of unmistakably none other than the silhouette of Luna Kaguya. The crescent moon on her forehead shone brightly in comparison with her body, and her mouth opened into a wide, evil grin.
"Bye bye, child!" Luna tilted her palm and the grown up little girl fell into the unfathomable depths of the black air, her screams echoing all around her. Luna was leaving her, she was deserting her!
Just like her parents.
But wait! "Jules-chan!" came a cry, and the grown up little girl landed softly in Luna's lap, who smiled down to her warmly. Luna shrank, and transformed into a huge black cat who curled up and let the grown up little girl climb onto her tail only to snuggle deeply into the cat's warm fur.
Luna purred and the grown up little girl smiled to herself as she closed her eyes to sleep. Opening them for a brief moment, the grown up little girl found herself lying across Luna's lap as a human, her hands stroking her hair affectionately. Once again the grown up little girl closed her eyes, and slept peacefully.
"...Mummy..."
~End Dream~
"AH!" Julia shot up from her slumber, her eyes wide searching for someone in the room when they landed on an equally shocked Harry in the armchair opposite her.
"Bad dream?" he asked. Julia nodded faintly.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"Six in the morning. Another hour and we can go to breakfast."
She nodded again and sighed. That dream... it was already escaping her memory but she could faintly remember someone she considered as a mother. Was it Luna? No. That was stupid. "Did you have a bad dream?" she asked, trying to forget about it. Whatever the dream was, part of it can't have been nice as she was filled partly with anger and partly with warmth.
"Yeah," he replied, rubbing his scar on his forehead.
"What's wrong?" Julia asked, fiddling with her black beret.
"Nothing, just my scar." With her questioning look he continued, "Basically there's this evil guy that everyone in the wizarding world fears. He gave me this scar when I was little and every time I dream of him I wake up with it hurting."
Julia nodded. "Oh, is it some kind of link with him?"
"You could say that."
"What's this guy's name?"
"Um, well, not many people like to call him by his name, they get too scared. They usually call him 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' or 'You-Know- Who'."
Julia grinned. Harry couldn't think of anything remotely funny. "Are you scared?"
Ah. "No!" He replied a bit too quickly for his liking. "Um, in fact I usually call him by his name, but whenever I do, people cringe! He's called Voldemort."
Julia raised her eyebrows. "I see, Voldemort...sounds French." Harry laughed.
"He's anything _but_ French!"
"You've met him?" Julia asked. "Since you were a kid I mean."
"Yup, three times."
"And this guy's meant to be all powerful?"
"Mm hm." Harry replied, lying back again and yawning. This caught Julia and she yawned too.
"I hate catching yawns!" Julia said and threw a pillow at Harry. He growled and threw it back. Grabbing two, she charged and jumped on him, hitting the pillow on his face, making sure his glasses were safely tucked under the armchair so as not to break them.
"Hey! Hey! Stop it!" he yelled, as she stopped for a moment. A moment later, she thwacked him again. He glared at her and growled, "This means WAR." And he reached for the nearest pillow, hitting her across the head as she retaliated.
Amid the mass of feathers on the floor and the laughing duo, was a small piece of machinery that beeped and quietly said, "Jules? Jules can you hear me? It's Luna!" Julia never noticed, and with a quick dodge, she promptly stepped on the piece of equipment that was dislodged from her ear and now broken.
~~~
Luna sighed in frustration and gripped her head to stop the incoming migraine. She turned her head slightly to see Dumbledore standing by the wall, smiling softly as though hiding a secret. "Oh stop it, DD-sensei, she's obviously just taken one of the pieces out or something. Besides, your spells didn't help on my migraine."
"Ah yes, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have your migraine." Luna rolled her eyes. "But if it weren't for me, you won't be prepared for the dangers of the upcoming years."
"Yes yes," Luna said in an annoyed tone. "And I suppose I'm staying for your training?"
"Of course, I made spells and jinxes, and I have no one to pass them onto, unless you're willing too."
"I'd love to, but I don't know what to do about Julia. She's under my care you see, and she's had a terrible past as far as I can gather. She needs me."
Dumbledore opened the door from the large and empty wooded room and led her into his office where Fawkes the phoenix chirped in welcome for the morning. The previous headmasters were all snoring in their frames. "I believe we could enroll Julia to this school."
"You could? Really?"
"As it is the beginning of term, I see no problem." Dumbledore replied, flipping through his book of pupils, his gaze stopping on 'Potter, Harry'. "In fact I should like to meet this girl who has caught your attention."
"Yes, you can, as soon as I find her that is." Dumbledore turned to his magical clock on the wall and smiled.
"I believe we shall meet her in breakfast. Care to join me?"
"You're too polite!"
They chuckled and made their way downstairs.
~~~
Two exhausted teens sat on their prospective chairs and sighed. Catching each other's eye, they laughed merrily.
"Six forty-five, I'll go and get changed, then we can go to breakfast." Julia smiled and nodded as he ran up the stairs. He was a queer one, but he was nice, and as good a friend as Hermione would be, maybe better. Now what happened to Luna? She couldn't have spent all night with Dumbledore could she? Maybe they had a lot of catching up to do. She took a finger to the imaginary earpiece to flick it on, when she noticed nothing was there.
"Shit."
She searched frantically amid the feathers on the floor when she heard a faint crunch. Spinning around, she lifted her foot and paled. The shattered silvery pieces lay on the carpet and glinted softly to her.
"Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!" she swore and gathered the pieces and placed them on the table by the fireplace. They were jumbled, and there was no way she could put them back together. This was bad. If Luna found out, this might be the last straw for her to handle and she might slip from Luna's grip. Julia gasped as she remembered part of her dream. Luna was going to abandon her! Like her parents! She refused to cry, as they showed her weakness, and she smiled faintly as Harry descended the stairs again in his Hogwarts robes.
"Looking good!" she said, trying to joke and forget the upcoming scolding from her surrogate mother.
"Thanks! You too!" he replied. She looked at him condescendingly and hit his hat so that it tilted in the wrong direction.
"Idiot, I'm still as I was when we woke up!"
"Then clean yourself up!"
"Fine. I will." Julia stormed past him and went to a small mirror, brushing her short hair with her fingers and straightening her beret. She removed the creases and turned to stand next to Harry. "Let's go then!" Just as he opened the portrait hole, Julia heard a loud crack and turned, to see nothing. "What was that?" she asked.
"Probably just the house-elves doing the cleaning before everyone gets up." Looking back again, she noticed that indeed, the cushions were straightened and the table was back in its place. The feathers went next.
Julia smiled weakly and followed Harry, the Fat Lady calling after them, "Early risers!"
Upon entering the Great Hall, Julia followed him as he sat at one of the four long tables, a full plate instantly appearing for Harry as he sat down. She sat opposite him, but nothing appeared for her. With a questioning glance, he shrugged his shoulders and offered some of his food to which she declined.
"Julia! There you are! Why didn't you reply?" Luna appeared behind her and sat next to Julia, crossed arms and slightly angry. Julia laughed weakly.
"Um, well, the earpiece broke." Luna took this in and with a 'Hm!' she made another appear.
"Here, make sure this one doesn't break. How did it happen?" Julia then told her about the evening and morning and Harry and herself slightly blushed at the prospect of a pillow fight at six in the morning.
"Well, okay..." Julia smiled, completely relieved, and then another part of the dream returned to her, when she landed in Luna's lap of refuge. Suddenly she hugged Luna tightly, and beamed. "Um, Harry, could you excuse us a moment?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Thanks."
Harry caught Dumbledore's eye at the teacher's table, and a for some reason, he felt as though he wanted to strangle him. Like a climax building up, a snake welled up inside him. 'No, that's stupid, Dumbldore's nice, I wouldn't want to hurt him!' Suddenly the feeling disappeared, as Dumbledore averted his gaze and Julia and Luna walked between the other tables.
Suddenly Julia cried in happiness and hugged Luna again tightly. He could faintly hear Julia saying, '"Let's go! I want to start as soon as possible!" 'Start what?' Harry wondered as he took a bite into his toast. He felt the table move as Julia jumped back onto the bench and said urgently,
"Harry, guess what? I'm going to join you in this school! And Luna's staying!...Though I don't know why...HEY LUNA!" And before Harry could say anything she darted off to speak to Luna at the teacher's table. Harry chewed on this piece of news, wondering which house she'd be in. And he realised 'she's staying. I'll see her a lot of the time,' and before he knew it, he was happy and glad. Hermione would want to get to know her better, and Ron has had yet to meet her. He laughed a little as he thought that she'd be getting into more rows with Malfoy.
But what is Luna going to be doing here? She looked the same age as Julia, yet for some reason he doubted she was any younger than eighteen. If that were true, then she'd be too old for the seventh year. Then he remembered whom Luna was here for. Dumbledore. He'd have to ask about that later.
~~~
Through the long corridors of Hogwarts school, Luna and Julia chatted quietly among themselves. Students rushed past them, some weighed down by books and some talking animatedly about their lessons. Julia couldn't wait to be part of that crowd. "...And you'll have to have extra tutoring, Dumbledore promised that he would do it himself. You're lucky that Snape isn't, I overheard that he's a nasty one."
"...Luna...when are you going to give me some magic?" Julia asked, practically only listening to Luna with half an ear. Luna stopped in the middle of the corridor even though Julia carried on walking. Running to catch up, Luna replied,
"The transfer of powers is a little complicated, and since I can't transfer my own power, I have to act a funnel for moonlight. So, I need a night with the full moon."
"Oh that's okay, there's one tonight I think."
"I thought as much." Luna paused, her face contorted into concentration. "But the magic I give to you doesn't need to be amplified by a wand. In a sense with a wand, you'll be very powerful. I can't do it any other way I'm afraid. You'll have to practice without a wand."
"Oh! Well, that's okay! I was practising some wand movements with my hands last night anyway."
"From the Transfiguration book?"
"Yep, it's really interesting actually. I flipped to the back of the book and read about animagi, people who can change shape to an animal. Eventually I want to learn that, then I can go around with you when you're a cat. We can spy and stuff!"
"And I'm not stopping you." Julia smiled to Luna as they walked down the changing stairwell and headed outside.
"Do you think I can do it? Become an animagi I mean." Julia asked as they opened the doors to the crisp morning. Ahead of them, they could see a little hut and a large lake to their right, and to their left a dying willow tree.
"Oh I think you should believe whatever you want to believe. A friend told me, that belief is the only way to get through in life. I suppose that's way she can be so stubborn." Julia's eyes widened, as she noticed for the first time, that her friend had a melancholy expression on her young features. It was quite heart wrenching, and she realised that she didn't know much about Luna's home in Japan.
"Do you miss your home?" The question was so out of the blue that Luna missed a step going down from the castle and nearly tripped, were it not for Julia catching her before she fell.
"Of course I do. I've never separated from those in Japan for a few millennia. That's why I think getting away is good for me." Luna took a step back and sat on the cold stone steps. She quickly added a cloak around her, and shot a piece of her power to Julia, who got suddenly warm in a thick cloak matching Luna's. "I...I was going to ask a good friend of mine to come with me, but he wasn't ready. He was from Mau too, but I guess he had a bond with Minako that he could never break." Julia cocked her head a little, wondering who Minako was but didn't want to pry too much.
Suddenly without warning, Luna shrank down to her cat form and looked up saying, "Take your hat off for me." Confused, she complied, and Luna bounded to her shoulders, and crawled to her head, curling into a ball with her tail waving down Julia's neck.
"Uh, what are doing?"
"Trying to keep warm, what does it look like?" Somehow, Julia didn't buy it.
"Wouldn't be a comfort thing would it?" she asked, walking towards the lake, her feet flattening and snapping the iced grass. She felt Luna's claws dig into her scalp and she yelped causing Luna to fall into Julia's arms. They glared at each other through the mist of condensation between them but Julia placed Luna on her shoulders to stop herself from throwing the cat to the cold ground. "You're not going on my head. My balance goes way off and you might have fleas."
"HEY!"
"Plus you make an excellent scarf!" Luna hissed, baring her teeth and letting her retractable claws show themselves. "Oooh, scaarry!" Luna glowered and sat on her shoulders, her brows (AN: where do they come from?!) furrowed into a slight scowl. Julia stopped by the lake and stared at the black depths.
"You wouldn't happen to have a blanket and a book?"
"You don't deserve them for treating a cat like this." Luna replied, nose held high.
Thinking rapidly, Julia said, "If a genie came to me in the form of a cat, I might ask her for a house full of male, EARTH cats and chuck her in there with them."
"Even if you did I wouldn't let you!" Luna retorted.
"Would you if I dropped you in the lake?"
"You know I could get out of that situation."
"Even if Dumbledore said you had to stay in there?"
"He wouldn't."
"What about if Harry got possessed by Voldemort and held you in a painful curse?"
That stumped Luna. "Fine, fine." Wait a minute... "You're trying to divert the objective of this argument!"
Julia grinned. "But you would've given them to me, if you hadn't realised!"
"Maybe."
"Come on! I deserve it! I've lived through my childhood without a blanket and a book!"
"Then you should barely be able to read."
"I left just after -they- taught me. I've been keeping up since then by reading notices."
Luna sighed, defeated, and her insignia glowed. The blanket lay on the cold ground with a book headed, 'Learn to be an Animagi.' Julia grinned and petted Luna's head as she sat on the pleasantly warmth induced blanket.
Picking up the heavy book, she proceeded to learn.
###
Hm, at first I was going to do the pairings of Harry/Luna and Julia/Oliver, but then I realised the ages and saw how well Harry and Julia got along, so I'm probably gonna switch that. Tell me opinion on that if you have any.
Sorry that this chapter's a little boring, I found that my hands were writing all on their own and I couldn't stop! I guess I'm prone to boring banter. Ug, that sounds like -I'm- boring doesn't it? Oh well!
Tell me what you liked best, and what you didn't like so that I can avoid whatever in the future!