Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. I had most of it written a few days ago, but didn't get a chance to finish and edit until today. Hopefully the wait will be worth it. I love your comments – please keep them up! They keep me going.
Until next time. :) PoW
Chapter Three – UnderworldAs predicted, within a couple weeks Luna's letters were of little interest to anyone outside her group. She was still receiving daily mail, but with the absence of lavish gifts, students were finding other things to joke about. Aside from the usual laughter about Luna's odd choices in accessories (one day she wore golf balls as earrings), she was mostly left alone.
Harry asked her about those particular earrings when he passed her in the hall and she smiled. "We've never had a lot of money since mother died," she said simply. "I've gotten used to making my own jewelry, and even though we're doing better now since your story appeared, I like making them." And Harry, remembering the humiliation he suffered in elementary school from wearing Dudley's old clothes that were at least five sizes too big, couldn't blame her for wanting something other than she had.
Harry and the others tried to get her to eat dinner with them, but she flatly refused – saying that she was, after all, a Ravenclaw and couldn't abandon her House. She was mostly evasive about the contents of the letters, but Hermione made her promise to tell them if there was anything strange in them, or clues that could help them figure out who the admirer was. Mostly they were full of mushy love talk, and Luna, quite fairly, didn't want to share these with her friends. But once in a while a letter would come that seemed important.
The first of these came about a week after the school lost interest. Luna found Ginny outside Professor Flitwick's classroom and requested a meeting in the library after dinner. Hermione in particular was excited when Ginny passed the message on. "Oooh. She must have found something. Maybe she knows who it is!"
It took Luna about fifteen minutes after they had arrived to join them in the library, and when she did her face was carefully neutral as she sat down. "I have a letter," she said unnecessarily, pulling it from her pocket and carefully smoothing it on the table beside a small box tied neatly with a ribbon. "He sent it to me with these chocolates. Most of the letters have been pretty straight-forward" – she blushed a little as she said this – "but I don't know what to think about this one. I don't understand what he's trying to tell me."
On the parchment were a few lines, a fragment from a poem, and then the usual signature of 'Eternally Yours.' The words were indeed strange – and seemingly irrelevant to the mystery.
'Pallor upon me, cried to my men for more beasts;
Slaughtered the herds, sheep slain of bronze;
Poured ointment, cried to the gods,
To Pluto the strong, and praised Proserpine;
Unsheathed the narrow sword,
I sat to keep off the impetuous impotent dead...'
Hermione read it aloud and when she finished, Luna looked carefully at each of them. The most curious look was on her face, as if she was hiding a smile. "Well?" she asked.
"Well indeed," Ron said and cleared his throat when they looked at one another, dumbfounded. "My guess is that it's some obscure sexual metaphor. The, er, slaughtering of beasts standing for passion, and the narrow sword is..."
"Yes, Ron, we get it," Hermione said quickly. Ginny stared at the parchment and tapped her quill against her teeth, deep in thought. Neville squirmed in his seat and squinted as he reviewed the words.
'But impotent..." Ron added, confused. "That's not the kind of thing a man mentions to a girl he's trying to impress. Unless he really really wants her to know him before they meet. Package deal, and all that. No refund." Luna blushed furiously at the turn in the conversation, and Hermione shook her head, looking irritated.
"That's silly. Of course not. We're looking at it the wrong way. No, there's something else in this poem he wants her to see." She frowned, thinking.
Harry leaned forward and scanned the poem. He preferred Hermione's interpretation to Ron's, if only because the thought of some nut sending oblique sexual messages to Luna was disturbing. But why it disturbed him so much, he couldn't say...
"What about Pluto?" he suggested, seeing nothing else of interest in the poem. Besides a Proserpine, whatever that was.
"Pluto?" Hermione chewed her lower lip. "Hmm. Maybe."
"He imagined he had some romantic moment with her connected to Pluto," Ron said with a grin. "I don't know, he first spotted her when it was high in the sky or something."
"No..." Hermione said slowly, reaching for the letter. She held it before her eyes and read it a few more times before her eyes started to glow with the fervor homework usually gave her. Finally, she lifted her head and beamed at them. "Not the planet. It's an allusion. Wait here!" She got up excitedly and disappeared behind one of the shelves stacked with books.
"Muggle Studies?" Ron frowned at the section she had gone into. "What on earth is she looking for there?"
Hermione was gone for several minutes, and when she came back bearing a particularly large and dusty old book, she was beaming. "Here," she said triumphantly, slamming it on the table, sending a cloud of dust in the air which caused them all to cough uproariously.
"Muggle Myths and Legends?" Ginny gasped as she read the title, hand frantically waving bits of dust from her face.
"Of course. The legend of Hades and Persephone. How could I forget?"
"Of course," Ron echoed. "Hades and Persepee. Well, that clears everything up."
Hermione looked at him in a patronizing way as she flipped through the pages. "Just wait, will you?"
"Myths and legends?" Harry asked as he wiped the dust from his glasses on his pants. "How will that help?"
"Well... they're often based on fact, aren't they?"
"Er... if you say so."
"Really, they are. Just look at Merlin. To Muggles, he's a legendary figure. To us, he's historical fact. Now quiet, while I remember..." She scanned the page she opened to with narrowed eyes and nodded to herself. "Right, here it is. Hades and Persephone were members of the Greek pantheon. Gods. Their Roman names were Pluto and Proserpine. That's who the poem refers to."
Harry frowned. "But what does that have to do with..."
"Luna? Well... I'm not entirely sure. Hang on, let me read... yes. Hades was the brother of Zeus, king of the gods. He ruled the underworld, the world of the dead, and therefore was the god of death. He was a kind of You-Know-Who of Greek Mythology, because mortals and gods alike were terrified to speak his name in fear of attracting his attention. Having the god of death's eyes on you is never a good thing."
Luna hugged herself as if she had a chill and fidgeted slightly, her eyes on the book. She looked very serious. "And Per... Persop..."
"Persephone," Hermione corrected. "Daughter of Demeter, goddess of growing things. She was... oh, typical beautiful maiden of fairy tales. Worshipped as the goddess of spring. And, well..." She hesitated, eyes scanning the words before her. "Hades loved her."
Ginny chewed her lower lip and watched Luna worriedly – Luna who was so busy staring at the book she didn't notice. Ron eyed the box of chocolates, his fingers inching towards it. And Harry watched Hermione in anticipation. "What happened?" he asked, impatient with her silence.
Hermione read in silence for another few seconds and when she looked up, her face was grim. "They were complete opposites. Hades lived in the dark gloom of the underworld, and Persephone in the sunshine. She would never consent to come to him, so Hades took matters into his own hands. One day she was in a field picking wildflowers and he opened up the ground beneath her and... took her. Just like that. He made her his queen."
"And they lived happily ever after. Or should I say miserably," Ron finished mockingly, his nose wrinkled. He clearly did not like the tale.
"Not quite. Persephone's mother, I mentioned, was goddess of all growing things. She was heart-broken at her daughter's disappearance and wandered the earth, calling for her. And while she was gone, nothing would grow. Zeus finally ordered his brother to let Persephone go free, on the condition that she didn't take anything from the underworld back with her. Hades was angry... understandably. So before she left, he tricked her into eating a pomegranate which bound her to him. Persephone was forced to spend half of the year with him and the other half with her mother. It's a tale to tell the origin of seasons, because it was spring when Persephone lived above ground with her mother and winter when she was with Hades. So she's both goddess of the spring and the dead."
She stopped and looked around the table, her jaw set. Luna was gazing passively out the window, apparently not paying attention, but her eyes were troubled. When no one spoke, Ginny leaned forward and her eyes flashed.
"That's all Muggle nonsense," she said angrily. "What could it possibly mean?"
"Nothing maybe," said Harry quietly. "Except that Luna's Persephone. And he wants to be Hades."
"And may take equally drastic measures to have her," Hermione added, looking upset. Luna finally looked away from the window and glanced at Hermione, her eyes sad. She looked unconvinced.
"It's just a poem," she said lightly. "I don't believe he would do anything to harm me."
"But..." Hermione started, and was cut off with Luna's firm, "You're wrong."
"He put it there for a reason," Harry argued. "Luna, you have to promise us you'll be careful."
"Yeah. If the ground cracks in front of you, do us a favor and start running." Ron picked up the box of chocolates and started undoing the ribbon. "Mind if I have one?"
Luna shook her head, her eyes faraway. Ron opened the box and dangled his fingers above the assortment of chocolates, deciding.
"Ron," Hermione hissed, looking horrified.
"What? She said she doesn't care." He picked a chocolate that was lumpy with nuts and raised it happily to his mouth.
"Fine," Hermione said quickly. "If you want to be some guy's love slave for all eternity, that's your choice."
Ron paused with the chocolate before his mouth. He looked appalled. "What?"
"The pomegranate in the story. Think, Ron."
Harry blinked. "She's right, mate. Best not take any chances. Here." He held out his hand and Ron reluctantly gave the chocolate back. Harry put it in the box with the others and closed the lid. "If you get any more of these, throw them away," he suggested and Luna shrugged.
"I don't care much for sweets anyway," she said mildly.
"Good, because it sounds like this guy'll do whatever he can. Even bewitch what he gives you. I'm glad you got rid of those flowers. You didn't keep the bear, did you?"
Luna didn't answer and checked her watch. "It's getting late," she said. "I have Herbology homework to finish."
"I'll help," Neville suggested brightly, but Luna smiled and shook her head.
"No, it's okay. Really. Thank you for your help. All of it." She folded the letter and put it back in her pocket and stood.
"Luna." Ginny also rose to her feet. "Harry's right. You have to be careful. Please, please promise us you won't go anywhere alone, at least until we know what all this is about."
"If the allusion means anything, then he could be dangerous," Hermione piped in earnestly. "No matter what he writes, no matter how he sounds, don't do anything crazy. Like agree to meet him."
Luna sighed and put her hands in the pockets of her school jacket. She looked oddly small and helpless in the Hogwarts uniform. "Don't worry. What do I care about a bunch of silly letters?" But as she walked away, Harry thought she wasn't being entirely truthful. And from the looks his friends were shooting one another, he knew they didn't either.
O O O
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Harry was awakened in the night by a strange sound. At first he thought it was Ron banging on his bed to wake him up, but a quick glance over at his friend told him that he was sound asleep.
Harry fumbled for his glasses on the night stand and sat up. The sky outside was dark, with not even a hint of dawn, telling him that it was still very early. The tapping continued and Harry strained his sleepy eyes in the darkness, looking for the sound.
Tap. Tap. Something hitting against glass. The window.
Harry stood and floated to the window, feeling he was in a dream. A dark shape was hovering outside. Although he wondered later why he would ever open windows to dark shapes in the middle of the night, at the time it seemed quite natural. And it turned out to be harmless, anyway. Mostly.
Harry jerked the window open and it made a loud screech as it slid up, but no one stirred in the four other beds. In fluttered a creature. An owl. In confusion, Harry stroked its feathers and took the letter the owl held out to him. The moment the letter left its beak, the owl turned and took off into the night.
Who in the world is writing me at this hour? Harry thought in confusion, shutting the window after the bird to stop the night chill from creeping in. He went to sit on his bed and took a candle from his nightstand. With a flick of his wand, it lit. He then unrolled the parchment and read.
The message was short, very short. 'LEAVE IT' was written in giant block letters. There was no signature, but Harry recognized the handwriting
Somehow Luna's admirer had found out about Harry's involvement. And he wasn't pleased.
