Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the property of JK Rowling.

A/N: (Dumbfounded stares) Whoa... We didn't think that we'd get THAT many reviews! We were expecting along the lines of...say, one or two. To all those people who begged us to update, we're extremely sorry for not updating for over a month, we really are. Real life just got in the way. We want to give a big thank you to Jennyroseangel, who guilted us into finally updating. Also, we're just letting you know that we write for fun. We are by no means professional writers, although we try to have some quality in our writing. Have fun reading (we hope)! Alex 'n Sarah.

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Chapter Two: Chloe

"To be quite honest, I don't, er, really have a good explanation exactly, Professor."

Harry bit his lip in frustration, idly wondering why he hadn't inherited his father's mischievous traits that Remus was always telling him about. He knew for a fact that he couldn't lie properly if his life depended on it. 'Call it a Gryffindor curse...'

"Well, that just won't do, Potter. Thirty points from Gryffindor for wandering the halls after curfew with no valid excuse, and a week's worth of detention!" McGonagall barked moodily.

Sighing, Harry nodded, idly noticing how tired and old she looked at that moment.

Wisps of gray hair escaped her knot and fell across her weathered, wrinkled face as she gave Harry a look of deep disappointment. The suspicious lack of activity from Voldemort had left the members of the Order anxious, alert and irritable. 'But above all irritable,' Harry thought wryly as he remembered his summer holidays.

He had woken up after a nightmare, the normal kind, for once, and decided to quietly wander down to the kitchen for a glass of water. The incident that followed left Harry wishing he'd had stayed in bed. He startled Mad-Eye Moody, who had been lurking in the kitchen. Being the paranoid old codger that he was, Mad-Eye had sent off a false alarm telling of a Death Eater invasion. Ten stunners and an hour later Harry found he wasn't so thirsty after all...

"...Do you understand Potter?" McGonagall asked, peering at him through her spectacles.

Harry blinked and nodded again; he must have tuned out while she was talking. Talk about a bad night!

"I'm really sorry, Professor," he amended politely, missing the softened look the weary Transfiguration professor shot his way once his back was turned.

Sighing dejectedly, Minerva McGonagall made her way towards her lonely personal chambers, muttering soft curses about poor idiot boys with only half a brain to restrain them. Once again, she thought about retiring in Jamaica, and then quickly dismissed the thought. Her old bones ached and her head was pounding, but she wouldn't trade her job for all the Mai Tai's in the world.

"Oy, what's that, mate?" Ron inquired over his scrambled eggs and bacon, spluttering some of it over Harry's own breakfast as Hermione read over his shoulder. Harry winced, trying to avoid looking at Ron's mouth. Honestly, the boy had appalling manners, even for a teenager!

"Detention slips, Ron," Harry replied tersely, shoving them into his pocket.

"Ooh, what did you do?" Ron leered good-naturedly, wriggling his brows suggestively.

Harry rolled his eyes, just as Hermione opened her mouth to chastise them both. "Honestly Ron, don't you take your prefect duties into any account what so ever? And Harry, you, of all people, should know that you shouldn't be getting into trouble like that! Don't you to pay any mind to your duties at all?"Hermione ranted shrilly.

Ron and Harry had the grace to look slightly sheepish as she continued to lecture them about the Importance of Rules in a Community and an Institution.

"And if you don't at least recognize the reason why they were established, then you're no better than Malfoy!" she concluded, looking rather pink in the face.

Ron nodded consolingly. He patted her hand as if he had been listening and then turned back to his food, but not before he had shot Harry a bewildered look. Harry snorted, but Hermione was too busy dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief to notice.

"What were you doing anyways, Harry?" she asked after composing herself.

"I don't want to talk about it," Harry replied stubbornly, then began wolfing down his food to keep his mouth occupied. He didn't quite know why he didn't want to tell Ron and Hermione about Luna, because there wasn't anything wrong with it...or her for that matter. But it felt rather nice to be doing something alone, separate from Ron and Hermione. Just as they would eventually develop a relationship with each other that would completely separate them from him.

"Oh come off it, you can tell us!" Ron insisted.

"Oh please, just because you're my best friends does not mean you have to know everything I do!" Harry had said it much more coldly than he'd intended, but frustration would do that to a person. Especially Harry, seeing as the boy took frustration quite badly.

"Well, you don't have to be that way Harry!" Hermione snapped, looking hurt.

"Yeah! Point taken, Harry!" Ron chimed in, clearly distressed.

Harry couldn't help but groan in frustration. "Look, I didn't mean it like that, honest! I just want to keep this one to myself for a bit, okay?" He eyed them both wearily, satisfied with his response...even if his mates weren't.

"Fine, Harry," they replied icily as they stared at their plates with an air of great concentration.

Harry sighed, pushing his plate away moodily. He was never one for drama, but he found himself losing his appetite nonetheless. He stood up, muttering excuses about the weather being perfect for a nice long walk. Not even bothering to hear the answer, Harry stormed out of the Great Hall.

He strode in the direction of the grounds, anger pulsing though him. He faintly heard Ron and Hermione's voices behind him, and picked up his pace, turning quickly into a dark corridor. Satisfied that he had lost them, he thought about slowing down; only to violently collide with a figure going in the opposite direction.

Muttering a hasty apology, Harry prepared to leave. He casually glanced at girl he had hit.

All thoughts of leaving immediately flew out of his mind. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

He watched worshipfully as the girl shook her head vigorously, her golden-brown curls bouncing on her thin shoulders.

'The color of honey,' Harry thought vaguely, then mentally smacked his forehead, 'Really, I'm starting to sound just like those romance novels that Hermione pretends to not read!'

The girl looked around quizzically for her glasses, which had been dislodged during the fray. She finally found them in a corner of the hall, and perched them once again on her nose. Harry suddenly found small, perky noses to be absolutely adorable.

"Who are you?" she demanded, shifting slightly away from him.

Harry then realized that he had been staring stupidly at her for the last five minutes. He blushed, and surreptitiously wiped a trail of drool from his chin.

"I'm, um, Harry. Harry Potter," he said, and steeled himself for the inevitable reaction that came with the statement.

The girl's large gray eyes widened momentarily, then she smiled shyly at him. "I'm Chloe," she said, "I just became a student here."

Harry grinned back at her, "Welcome to Hogwarts, Chloe." He frowned as a sudden thought struck him. "Wait, I didn't think that Hogwarts accepted transfer students..." He trailed off, looking at her with new suspicion.

Chloe's smile faded for an instant, and then reappeared. "I was privately tutored," she explained easily, "but this year, my mother wanted me to have more social interaction. My father wasn't very happy about it, but he spoke to Dumbledore, and he agreed to let me enter the 6th year here." She looked down, realizing that her books were scattered all over the place, and began picking them up, "I was sorted into Ravenclaw," she added, almost as an afterthought.

Harry scrambled to help her. "It must be rather difficult for you, coming into Hogwarts like this," he said, casually brushing his hand over hers as he handed her a book.

If she noticed his not-so-subtle move, she gave no indication of it, "It is," she agreed, "I have absolutely no idea where anything is! I spent over an hour looking for the Advanced Transfiguration classroom and somehow ended up in 3rd Year Arithmancy instead. Professor McGonagall wasn't very pleased, I think." She straightened, looking at him wistfully.

Harry laughed. "Why don't I give you a little tour of the school?" he offered, gathering her books in his arms.

She flashed him a dazzling smile. "I'd love that," She placed her pale hand amicably on his arm. Harry tried to ignore the shivers passing through the aforementioned appendage. "Why don't you take me now?"

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Blushing profusely, Harry led Chloe down to the library. "A-and this," said Harry, trying hard to sound bold and dramatic, "is the Hogwarts Librar-" He tripped on the staircase and fell flat on his face.

Despite his disorientated state, Harry heard Chloe giggling softly. He felt his ears burn with mortification. Then, gentle hands lifted him up and steadied him.

"Thank you," Harry said gratefully, and turned to face the person who had assisted him.

"Luna!" he said, blinking in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

Luna smiled at him vaguely. "I was going to the library to look up the date when Mars aligns with Venus and causes heavy rains," she answered.

"Is this about the Gwyllion, again?" Harry asked, smiling knowingly as Chloe tittered gently in the background.

"No," Luna said, unruffled, "Astronomy homework."

"Erm, right," Harry said, feeling idiotic. He then remembered that Chloe was there.

He took Luna's hand. "I'd like to introduce you to Chloe," he said, "Chloe, this is my good friend, Luna."

Luna nodded politely at Chloe. For a moment, an ugly look flickered across Chloe's face, and then was quickly replaced by yet another bright smile.

"Luna, I am so pleased to meet you," she cried, her voice sugary sweet, "I'm sure that we will be the best of friends!"

She turned to face Harry, sweeping her honey-colored curls over her shoulder. "Harry, be a darling at wait for me in the Great Hall."

Harry nodded eagerly, and walked away. Luna saw him steal a glance at Chloe as he left, and felt a sharp twinge of something she could not name. She shook her head and tried to forget about it. Harry simply thought of her as Loony Lovegood, nothing more.

The moment he left, Chloe shoved Luna roughly against a wall. "You. Will stay. Away. From Harry." she gritted, all pretenses of friendship gone, her face twisted into a mask of fury, "He is mine, do you understand? Mine!" She banged Luna's head against the stone for emphasis, panting heavily. Drawing back slightly, she visibly composed herself.

"Otherwise..." she trailed off, smiling poisonously, "I just might choose to remove you from his company."

She let go of her captive abruptly. Chloe smoothed her hair and skirt, removing all traces of the encounter. After a final tweak of her glasses, she set off for the Great Hall, the very image of the sweet girl-next-door.

Luna silently watched her leave, all color drained from her face. Her bottle cap necklace clattered loudly as she crumpled to the ground.

-TBC-
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Shout-Outs!

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Rose- Wow, we're flattered! We're glad that the characterization was okay. Thanks for being the first reviewer!

Petites Sorcires- Merci! Alex ne parle pas français, mais Sarah le parle un peu. Nous espérons que vous continuerez à lire! (Sorry if we messed up the grammar, Sarah's only been taking French for a few years)

Charles Weatherby- Thank you so much for reading this! Don't worry, we're still writing the other ones, albeit slowly. ; )

Evil Kelpy- Il y a beacoup de personnes qui parlent français ici! Merci pour lire!

Tabitha78- Thank you! We'll keep that in mind.

theQuibbleringQuibblerer- Thanks! And we like your name!

Dragon Tears Wing- Hm, are you sure that they're all bad? We've read some pretty good ones. Anyway, thanks for reading!

Affi- Thank you!

Brittney- Well, we're happy that someone thinks that we should keep writing. We were considering stopping for a while. Thanks!

Holly T- Yeah, we like it too. We giggled like idiots while writing it.

Flower Powerer- Yay, we've converted someone to Harry/Luna! Thanks for reading!

Jennyroseangel- Like we said earlier, thanks for guilting us into updating! And you can call us Sarah and Alex. : )