Chapter Eighteen:

"Comperio lupinus," a feeble purple spark flew out of Harry's wand.

"I don't understand. What are we doing wrong?" Luna kept reading over the directions of how to perform the spell, her pale eye brows raised in confusion."

"This is hopeless!" Harry threw his wand across the Room of Requirement. It ricocheted off of a sofa cushion and landed in his cold and full cup of tea. Harry frowned and pulled it out, drying it off on his robes.

"Uh...Harry?"

"What?" he snapped.

Luna ignored his anger. "I know why the spell is not working."

"Really? Then tell me why, because we've been reading the directions word for word, doing the exact wand movements and still nothing!"

"Perhaps it is meant to be done outdoors, under the moon?" Luna suggested.

"Oh..." It was like someone had slapped Harry across his face. He could not believe he did not see the obviousness in it. "Well, the moon isn't out yet.."

"I am aware, Harry."

"So what do we do now?" He was sounding stupider by the minute.

"....we wait, Harry."

"Right. Again. Sure, I've waited ten months. What's another few hours?"

Luna shut the book, tucked her want behind her ear, and walked towards the door. "I will be waiting for you by the Ravenclaw Common Room at midnight. Bring your cloak."

And with that she walked out of the room, leaving Harry by himself.

During the witching hour, Harry and Luna slowly walked down the steps that lead to the front entrance of the castle. Moving under the cloak was difficult, but they descended the staircase in unison, trying to keep their determination from wavering. The heavy castle doors creaked and groaned, sending echos into the hall. The wide-eyed teens quickly stepped outside into the chilling night, hoping the noise they made would pass as the castle settling as it usually did every so often. The two walked across the school grounds, occasionally slipping on the dew-covered grass. They only removed the cloak after reaching the edge of the Forbidden Forrest. The lights were off in Hagrid's hut, and it would be difficult to spot two people dressed from head to toe in black from any windows in the castle.

"Ready?" Luna whispered.

Harry swallowed with difficulty and answered, "yes."

He whipped out his wand. "Comperio lupinus."

A jet of purple light shot out of his wand in the direction of Hogsmeade. He looked at Luna, who glared back and said, "I guess we're visiting the village tonight."

So they set out towards Hogsmeade while a voice inside of him (which sounded suspiciously like Mrs. Weasley) scolded him. He could be expelled for this. He was insane. A brief glance at Luna, who was beginning to hum a Weird Sisters song, told him he probably was.

"Well, I didn't really think much of it. He has been going down to breakfast alone sometimes." Ron sat in the middle of Dumbledore's office. He was being interrogated by Dumbledore. Snape and Mcgonagall silently observed. A loud pop signaled the arrival of Arthur Weasley, and Mr. Lovegood.

"Came as soon as I heard. I hope you didn't tell Molly. She would be in hysterics."

"Dumbledore, where is my daughter?" Mr. Lovegood bellowed. He was a short man, wore a green suit, but had a very deep voice. His face was turning purple.

"Mr. Lovegood, please sit down and I will explain."

The new occupants of the room each took a seat next to Ron, who was squirming nervously in his seat.

"Now, please let me explain the entire situation. I will answer any questions you may have when I am done."

Mr. Lovegood glared at Dumbledore. He respected the man greatly, but when his daughter's safety was in jeopardy...well, he'd forget everything and put her before all.

"Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood appear to have gone missing in the middle of the night. Mr. Weasley assures me that he does not know of their whereabouts. The entire castle was searched, as were the grounds. He did tell me that Harry had been acting odd since the start of term. Am I correct in saying that, Mr. Weasley?"

"Yes, sir." He spoke to his feet. "Hermione noticed it too. So we talked to him a few weeks ago."

Dumbledore paced the office, sharing eye contact with everyone but Ron, who was still fidgeting in his seat, and carefully inspecting the laces on his shoes.

"This Hermione girl," Mr. Lovegood said, "Why isn't she here too?"

Mcgonagall spoke up, "Ms. Granger is one of our top students, and attending an important Ancient Ruins exam." Mr. Lovegood gave the old woman an unreadable glare before Dumbledore continued to speak.

"What I was about to ask Mr. Weasley before you arrived, Mr. Lovegood, was where he thought Harry and Luna might have gone?"

Mr. Weasley raised an eye brow at his son, who was now squirming so much in his seat that Mcgonagall cast an anti-itch charm.

"Well?"

"Ithinkharryandlunawenttofindremus."

"What?"

Ron looked up at all the adults in the room. He could have sworn Snape wore a brief smug look on his face, but was not sure because it was quickly replaced by his usual scowl.

"Mr. Weasley, you are sure?"

"Almost positive. I found this," he said, dropping Tracking the Wolf onto Dumbedore's desk, "on his night stand. And look what page is marked."

Dumbledore took the book, and the room fell silent. His eyes widened slightly as he read the text. Before Mr. Lovegood could ask about his daughter once more, Dumbledore spoke. "We have to find the missing..." Mcgonagall opened her mouth to ask a question, but Dumbledore interrupted. "We have five nights before the full moon. I trust that we find Mr. Potter and Ms. Lovegood before then. I do not want to call a search for three wolves."

They trudged along the mountain side, sweat ran down their temples, and their throats burned dry. They had just taken a brief rest in the cave Harry had visited Sirius in his fourth year. A lump formed in his throat when he found bits of old chicken bones still littering the cave. Luna had not asked any odd questions. In fact, she had been completely silent since they had passed Hogsmeade and hiked up the mountain.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked hoarsely.

Luna smiled weakly and nodded. Harry had his cloak folded in his pocket. The bulge looked odd, but they were in such a deserted area, they did not need to worry about being seen. Harry was worried they might have veered off course since they last performed the tracking spell, but there was nothing they could have done until the sun set and the moon rose again. Among hunger pangs, he felt guilt for leaving his two best friends behind. He only just realized how horribly he had been treating them. He had been so focused on finding Remus with Luna, that he fell blind to all else. Luna, he thought, was the first girl (besides Hermione) that he felt comfortable around. She did not gape at his scar, giggle nonstop, or blush when she was around him. She would never be like Hermione though. No, Luna was something different. He could not explain it.

They spent the rest of the morning, and most of the afternoon climbing over the mountains that surrounded Hogsmeade. Hogwarts was long gone from view now, and they were entering what appeared to be a great field full of tall grass. Before they entered the field, they took a short rest so that they could spend the whole night using the moon to their advantage.

"It's a bit chilly out here, is it not?" Luna said. Both her and Harry were shivering on the ground. They were about five feet apart, the cloak lay in between them.

"You don't mind if I come there, do you? We could ourselves with the cloak, because uh..you know, it would be a little warmer." Harry said.

"Ok," she smiled. Harry gratefully stood up, retrieved the cloak, and covered himself and Luna. They lay really close now, less than a foot apart.

"I promise I won't do anything," Harry said awkwardly.

Luna laughed, " I know. Are you shaking from the cold or of fright?" Harry did not expect this question, and he did not know how to answer it. So he settled for closing his eyes and falling asleep.

A/N:

Ok...the format got a little muddled up while i was transfering the chapter onto But I think I've sorted it all out. If it looks weird you know why. Is the Luna/Harry thing explained here?

I was hoping I could get chapter 19 in before Sunday, because I'll be away for about two weeks. I only managed to get one page done, but I'll work on it some more if I have time. The household is in complete chaos right now. Packing, cleaning, celebrating birthdays all at once. But if I don't update again this week I'll let you know that I'm taking a few of my notebooks with me so I can work on this story and a few others.