In addition to this, Luna Lovegood, the bizarre first-year that had approached Harry, was making studying in the common room increasingly difficult. And not just for him. Several people looked as if they were annoyed with the girl. Maybe it had something to do with her constantly trying to explain creatures that, to Harry's knowledge, simply didn't exist. That, or the way she kept running around and yelling at things that weren't there. One evening, Harry was disturbed from a very nice book on ancient Egypt and its culture by Luna leaping down the steps, running around the couch a few times, and crying out, "Come back, Chickenfoot! You aren't a freak! You're just STUPID!"
Solieyu hadn't been much help, either. The sickly boy had made himself scarce whenever Tonks was on the rampage, leaving Harry to fend for himself. Most of the time, Tonks would just sit down on the arm of Harry's favorite chair and glare at him as he read. Eventually, he learned to tune this out.
He had tried asking her what was wrong, but she kept turning up her nose and walking away, which certainly wasn't helping matters any. So Harry had decided to try riding it out, wondering if puberty could be attributed to all of Tonks' strange behavior.
The day after the incident in the library, Harry had run into the twins out by the greenhouses. He had given a full account to Fred and George, who had a few choice words to offer Harry on his women troubles. Which, of course, was all completely useless and somewhat embarassing to hear.
At least there hadn't been a load of homework so far. The teachers were obviously upping the ante as far as difficulty went, but it wasn't near the amount of work that the fifth and seventh years seemed to already be getting. But then, Harry perfectly understood why they were being worked frantic. He didn't think it was particularly healthy to do that to teenagers, but he understood it.
In addition to his regular work, Lynch was working the team harder than ever in Quidditch practice. Harry had won Ravenclaw all the matches that they had competed in, but Lynch hardly saw that as an excuse to ease off. But Harry didn't mind this so much, as it gave him a chance to fly and let his worries go for a brief period of time. He could often be seen lingering behind after the rest of the team decided to turn in for the day, floating around the top of the stands and gazing off into the horizon.
They would need a new Chaser and a new Keeper come the following year. Harry hoped that they would find suitable replacements for Allenby and Gainsborough. Carol Allenby had taken a liking to Solieyu. Or so it seemed to Harry. She could often be seen pulling him into hugs or saying things that made the boy blush. Harry thought he heard her calling him 'adorable' once in passing.
It was with no small amount of amusement that Harry noted Allenby wasn't Solieyu's only fan. Luna Lovegood often wandered around after him, never saying a word. One night, Solieyu had confided in Harry that the girl rather spooked him in a way he couldn't quite place a finger on. Laughing, Harry had patted his friend on the back and stated that it wasn't strange at all to think Lovegood odd.
The dreams continued to plague Harry, keeping him from ever getting a full night's sleep. Harry was unsure of how to interpret the dreams.
Divination wasn't until his third year and, honestly, he hadn't ever bothered reading up on the subject. Seemed rather silly to him, in fact. Harry kept his strange dreams to himself. Solieyu asked him at breakfast one day about why he looked so worn out. Harry had replied that he was just sore from all the Quidditch practice lately. Solieyu hadn't seemed entirely convinced, but let the matter go, anyway.
As he made his way down towards the Great Hall, Harry couldn't help but notice that the staff was already preparing for Halloween. Several large pumpkins had been placed about the castle, and some sketchy, gnarled trees had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, on the grounds.
The ghosts were more active than normal, too. The Bloody Baron, in particular, seemed to be living it up. So to speak.
There were two dominating things that loomed over Harry as the holiday approached, however. The first was literal - Peeves the Poltergeist had taken an interest to trailing Harry around every so often. The second was more figurative. With the chaos that had happened the previous Halloween, Harry desperately hoped that no trolls were let into the castle by shady professors with Dark Lords sticking out of the back of their heads.
"My head hurts." Harry grumbled to no one in particular as he took his normal spot at the end of the Ravenclaw table. He began piling food onto his plate, idly taking note of how far down the table Tonks was.
"That's your brain trying to comprehend its own stupidity." Said Solieyu, appearing as if out of nowhere and taking a spot across from Harry.
"Quiet, you." Harry said, grinning crookedly.
"Peeves didn't have any presents for you today, eh?"
"None at all, though he did topple over a suit of armor. I nearly got cleaved in half!" Harry spat. "Honestly, why do they let him stay here?
I'll never understand it."
"I don't think they could get rid of him if they wanted to." Said Solieyu, glancing briefly at the food on the table and choosing to stick to pumpkin juice for the moment. "I believe ghosts are bound magically. It shouldn't be very much different for poltergeists."
"I suppose not." Harry said, popping a bit of bacon into his mouth. "Doesn't mean I gotta like it, though."
"Agreed. He tried putting gum in my hair a few weeks ago while I was on my way to see Madam Pomfrey." Solieyu said, gritting his teeth.
Harry winced. "With hair that long, I can only imagine what that'd do."
"Can you honestly imagine me being bald?" Solieyu asked, scowling somewhat.
"Not at all. I can imagine Malfoy being bald, though." Harry said.
"Another prank?"
"Possibly."
"While I don't think they're entirely unfunny, I just don't see the point to pranking Draco Malfoy so much."
"He's a git!" Declared Harry. "And he's a Slytherin, for that matter."
"So?"
"What do you mean 'so'? He's a Sly-the-rin!" Harry repeated, pronouncing each syllable slowly.
"I know what house he belongs to. But I know a couple of Slytherins that aren't hideous or mean-spirited."
"You lie!"
"Not unless absolutely neccessary." Stated Solieyu, sipping at his juice. "The Slytherin girls in our year aren't all bad, are they?"
"In what way? Pansy Parkinson resembles a pug and Millicent Bulstrode looks like a man in drag." Harry said, dryly.
"Oh, come now. Pansy Parkinson may be snotty, but she certainly doesn't look like a pug." Solieyu said, rolling his eyes.
"She's Malfoy's little lapdog, so I find the association fitting." Said Harry with a shrug.
The two were interrupted by the morning mail being delivered. Hedwig had nothing to bring, but still came down for a visit with Harry, who happily shared some of his breakfast with her.
Solieyu, on the other hand, got a blue envelope dropped in his lap by a tawny owl that didn't bother to land. Watching the owl leave, Solieyu smiled faintly as he picked the envelope up.
"From my mother." He explained, noticing Harry looking over.
"Ahh. What's she got to say?"
"Well, let's see..." Solieyu opened the envelope up and pulled out the letter, which was on equally blue parchment. "...She likes blue. I try not to notice so much."
"Is it written in blue ink?" Harry asked, eyes watching Hedwig flap back up and out of the Great Hall.
"Of course it isn't. You wouldn't be able to read it if it were" Solieyu said. He then went silent as his eyes scanned the letter. His brows came together at one point and, when he was finished, he slipped it back into the envelope.
"Well?" Harry prodded.
Shrugging, Solieyu replied, "It just says for me to write my grandmother. She's come down with a rather nasty case of the chicken pox."
Harry winced. "Not good for the elderly, that."
"Indeed. But she's tough, if nothing else. I'm sure she'll still be up and about, as usual, whacking people with her cane and complaining about the price of things 'these days.'"
Harry laughed. "Sounds like a ball, your grandmother."
"Indeed. She's a magnificent cook, though. As picky as she is with her ingredients, she should be."
"Not hungry?" Harry asked, wolfing down a bit of ham.
"I've already fed." Said Solieyu.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "You haven't touched anything but your pumpkin juice, what are you talking about?"
With a vague smile, Solieyu just shrugged and got to his feet. "All in good time, Harry. We should really be going, though. Potions will begin in ten minutes. Do you really want to make Snape angry at this hour?"
Groaning, Harry replied, "I'd rather not even look at Snape at this hour. But if I must..."
With that, Harry stuffed another rasher of bacon into his mouth, washed it down with a large gulp of pumpkin juice, and stood up. "Should we get Tonks or not?"
"She hasn't been late so far." Solieyu said.
"Yeah... Well... Let's go, I guess." Harry said, shoulders slumping.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Ahh, Mr. Potter. Can you not go a single lesson without glancing at someone else's work? I believe the instructions are perfectly clear on the board. Or are you simply so bored as to not care about the state of your own potion?"
Harry glared up at Snape, who was practically hovering over his cauldron. "I'm doingfine." He ground out.
"Are you?" Replied Snape, dryly. "You just added the idolroot, which I clearly wrote not to add until steam begins to rise. In addition,
the color should be a dull blue. Yours seems to refuse parting ways with the color yellow. Is this what passes as 'fine' work for a Ravenclaw these days...?"
Harry bit down hard on his lower lip and continued to work at a potion that he was already aware had become a failure. He might not make the proper brew, but he wasn't going to just up and stop because Snape was sniping him.
Thankfully, the Potions Master's attention was drawn away as Crabbe let out a girlish squeal from across the room. All eyes shot his way, being met by the Slytherin boy pawing at his chest. Snape let out a deep sigh under his breath and swept across the room.
"Foolish boy! You add the antennae after the potion reaches a boil! AFTER!" Snape growled as he banished the ruined contents of Crabbe's cauldron with the flick of his wand. "Mr. Goyle, if you'd be so kind as to get Mr. Crabbe up to Madam Pomfrey before this burns all the way through to his organs..."
Crabbe let out a wail as Goyle hefted him towards and out the door to the room. Harry caught the remnants of a twitch in Snape's eye as he turned and headed back toward his desk.
"If I can count on the rest of you to have some common sense and comprehension skills, we may just get through the rest of this class without someone melting their own face off!"
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
The night before Halloween, Harry was making his way towards his secret tower, pondering whether or not to name the spot. He didn't want to keep calling it his 'secret tower,' as that sounded silly and dumb. But coherent thought was beyond him that night. The day has positively drained him of energy. Potions with Snape breathing down his neck, Defense with that boob of a professor, and Tonks nearly slapping him.
It hadn't been a good day. Solieyu seemed to have the common sense to keep away from both of his friends and vanished early in the evening to parts unknown.
As Harry entered the tower'sbaseand made his way up the tight, spiral staircase, a sound caught his ear. Frowning, he slowed his pace and quietly pushed the trapdoor at the top open just enough to take a peek around.
His frown deepened when he saw the source of the noise. Tonks, knees drawn up to her chest, was leaning against a wall, her head lowered.
She was sniffling.
Not bothering to hesitate, Harry opened the trapdoor up as he normally would and clambered up onto the stone floor. Tonks barely had enough time to register someone approaching before she was drawn into a tight embrace.
"...I don't know what I did. Really I don't." Harry whispered in her ear. "But please... please, Tonks... Let's stop this. I've been miserable without you... Things just aren't the same..."
Tonks sat, frozen, until finally she regained enough control to turn her head and stare at Harry.
Harry met her gaze. "Ginny Weasley means nothing to me, Tonks. She never will."
Drawing a slow breath to lessen the shudder to it, Tonks murmured, "How can you be so sure?"
Harry let himself smile faintly. "Some things a guy just knows. This is one of 'em. Trust me?"
Instead of replying, Tonks let herself lean forward into Harry's arms, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry, too. I don't know why I've been acting so stupid, Harry... It's just... One minute, I'm fine and the next, something really dumb will set me off..."
"Puberty." Harry said, making a face.
Tonks cracked an eye open. "I beg your pardon?"
"That's what Leon thinks it is. Puberty." Harry said, still pulling a face. "I say that there are some things best left unknown..."
"...Oh, Merlin, and I wrote Mum about this..." Tonks groaned. "I can only imagine what she might write in response..."
Harry cleared his throat, then spoke in a high-pitched voice, "Dear Nymmy, your pink bits are going through changes. Don't let men ever get near them. If you do, you're grounded forever. Love, Mummy."
"What, not a good enough impression?"
"Hey, I thought it was good!"
"Oh, come on!" Harry exclaimed, bottom lip jutting out. "Okay, what do you think she'll say, you're so smart?"
"...I think she'll tell me it's natural to be insane, that I shouldn't take it out on you guys, and to cave in Terry Boot's boots if he dares to kiss me again." Tonks said.
Harry twitched. "Yeah, who did he think he was, doing that? I mean, who does he think would even want kissing him?"
"Me, apparently." Tonks growled. "Stupid boys."
"Hey!"
"Except you. You're alright. And Leon, too, even if he is a bit weird."
"You saying I'm not weird?" Harry asked, bottom lip threatening to poke out again.
"Nope! Bit gloomy at times, but definitely not weird." Tonks said, nodding sagely as she finally moved back out of Harry's arms. He seemed rather reluctant to let go, but settled on sitting next to his friend instead.
"I think I have a right to be gloomy." Harry mumbled. "My home life is awful, I had a guy with two faces - one of which was the man who killed my parents, I might add - try to murder me last year, and I've got some... somerenaissance dandy for a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!"
Tonks snorted.
Harry crossed his arms. "Well, it's true."
Tonks awwed, patting Harry on the head. "Of course it is, Harry. Of course it is."
Harry scowled. "Quit that, you'll mess up my hair!"
Tonks blinked. "It wasn't already?"
Harry opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't think of anything. So instead, he chose to simply stick his tongue out at Tonks. As hard as he could.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"I love Halloween!" Tonks said, bouncing down the hallway the following afternoon. Harry and Solieyu were walking behind her, both silently wondering where all of the girl's energy came from.
"As long as a troll doesn't show up..." Harry muttered darkly.
"Oh, so what if one does? We've gotten away from one before." Tonks said, spinning around and walking backwards so she could face her friends.
"We lucked out." Solieyu corrected. "If the headmaster hadn't shown up, we might not be here today."
Tonks hmphed. "We would have thought of something."
"Such as?" Harry asked.
"Such as... Um... I dunno. Whack it in the grundies with its own club?"
Harry and Solieyu both stopped, raising their eyebrows at Tonks.
"'Grundies'?" Solieyu asked.
"Yeah. I dunno exaaaactly what it means, but Mum used it in the letter I got today. I'll letcha both read it later. I think she hates Terry, too." Tonks said, grinning.
"Can't say as I blame her." Harry said. "He's a right prat."
"I wonder what he's doing in Ravenclaw..." Tonks pondered aloud.
"Potentially getting clubbed in the grundies." Solieyu commented in a dry tone.
Tonks and Harry took one look at each other and promptly cracked up.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Well, the night's going well so far." Harry commented. It was well over an hour into Hogwarts' annual Halloween party and so far, nothing bad had happened. The twins had made a pumpkin come to life right off the bat, though. It had chased Terry Boot around the Great Hall until Professor Flitwick returned it to normal. Harry insisted that he had nothing to do with it. Tonks didn't believe him.
"So far." Tonks said, scowling. "But I don't like it. Something just doesn't feel right. Does that make sense?"
"...I suppose so. I guess something has felt a bit off." Harry said.
"Wonder what it is. The castle feels... I dunno... Different." Tonks said, frowning. "And where the heck are all the ghosts? There aren't very many up here, considering."
The Grey Lady, who was passing by, floated around in front of Harry and Tonks. "That would be because Nearly-Headless Nick is celebrating his Death Day."
"Death Day?" Harry asked.
"Yes," said the ghost, "He invited everyone in the castle and some from other places... I went to his last party... And quite frankly, it was the pits. Nick spent almost two hours wailing about how he was robbed of life too soon and what a nitwit his executioner was..."
"I don't blame you for not wanting to go again." Harry said, raising an eyebrow. "I doubt I would, either."
"Yes, dreadful affair, Nick's parties." The Grey Lady commented. Shaking her head, she then floated off toward the staff table to speak with Professor Vector, who had been trying to get the ghost's attention.
"If Leon was around, I'd say we should go find the party's location..." Tonks muttered.
"What? Why? Didn't you hear the Lady? It's got to be boring and headache-inducing. Why on earth would you want to go to something like that?" Harry asked, obviously bewildered.
"Beats hanging around here and sipping pumpkin juice, doesn't it?" Tonks asked. "Besides, Lockhart looks like he's gathering a crowd.
And quite frankly, I've no desire to see anything that idiot is going to try pulling off."
Harry looked over Tonks' shoulders, eyes widening.
"Damn, you're right." He scowled, setting his goblet of pumpkin juice down. "C'mon, let's get out of here!"
Tonks didn't need any further coaxing. Popping a tiny bit of a pie slice into her mouth, she and Harry made their escape from the Great Hall. Apparently, just in time. Moments after they were in the safety of the Entrance Hall, a loud 'BANG' eminated from where they had just left. Seconds later, pink smoke came rolling in under the doors.
"...Good instincts." Harry commented, blinking.
"Naturally. I'm a woman." Tonks said, grinning. "C'mon, let's find that party. Or Leon. Did he tell you where he was going?"
"Well," Harry began, idly noting that people were filing out of the Great Hall, coughing and waving their hands around. "He only said not to expect him to be around tonight. As usual, he's decided to act mysterious."
"That figures. Well, maybe we can make a night of it. We'll hunt down Leon and drag his butt to Nick's party-of-doom." Tonks said,
resting her hands on her hips and smirking.
"He's in the library." Came a sudden voice from behind the two.
Harry and Tonks jumped, yelping, and turned to face Luna Lovegood, whose hair was a lovely shade of light-red for some reason.
"...Uh, Luna?" Tonks asked. "What happened to your hair?"
"Oh, Professor Lockhart was trying to summon a Floating Glumblebee. But I don't think he did everything right..." Said the girl in her lazy voice. "Everybody's hair is a shade of red... Look."
Sure enough, those that had escaped from the Great Hall had hair in varying degrees of red. A few Hufflepuffs had opened the front doors to the school to try and air the area out. One had blood-red hair, the other had hair so pink it could have glowed in the dark. As he turned around, the Ravenclaw duo saw that the mustache he was growing had also turned bright pink.
"...Hey, Nymmy. Do you think that would've messed with our hair? I mean... we're a bit better at color regulation than everyone else, wouldn't you say?" Harry asked, staring at the neon mustache.
"I dunno. Want to go ask that dingbat if he could summong a Floating Whatsit for us, too?" Tonks asked.
"...Nah. My luck, he'd burn all of my clothing away."
"And that would be bad?" Tonks asked. "I'm sure the twins would find it a laugh riot."
"Oh, shut up. C'mon, let's go to the library."
"Fine, fine. Oh, and don't call me Nymmy, you jerk." Tonks said, lightly slugging Harry on the arm. The two then set off for the main stairway, climbing at a leisurely pace. The evening had just started and neither was in that big a hurry.
"Wonder how Luna knew where he was..." Tonks wondered aloud.
"Probably stalked him there before she came down to the party..." Harry said.
"Wouldn't surprise me." Tonks said, nodding slowly.
"...Hey, Tonks."
"What?"
"Let's try turning our hair pink before we get there."
"Why?"
"Well, for one thing, he'd never expect it. Two, it'd be the perfect icebreaker in case he's off being gloomy or something..." Harry said, ticking off things on his fingers. "Three..."
"Three..." Tonks echoed, glancing aside with raised eyebrows.
"Three... I still say you look kind of cute with pink hair."
"Really?"
"Nah, you looked hideous. OWW!"
Tonks stomped up to the third floor ahead of Harry, who was rubbing his left arm. Pouting, he muttered, "Gotta stop doing dumb things like that." Then louder, he called out, "Aw, come on, Nymmy! I was just kidding! You always look cute!"
And with that, Harry raced up the stairs to try to catch up to his best friend.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Author's Notes: I'm sorry for the GLARING Zim reference. I just couldn't stop myself! It seemed like something the little loony would cry out at random. Remember, she's still very much a carefree little girl at this point. ...Not that she seems to get much better. But I think a few years of reality sobers her up a little bit. What do you guys think? I like Luna. She's good for lightening a situation. Also, sorry for the random jump to Halloween. I didn't make a calendar for this like I did with book 1. So I kinda got lost on how much time I claimed passed. Urk. But that's the kinda stuff a beta would catch and...well... xx;
Sorry for taking so long. Getting my new computer has given me a few new doohickeys to play around with. I can game MUCH better...even when my hands are aching at me not to.
Next time, it's Halloween Part 2! I've got to re-read a bit of the book before I really get into things any further. Gotta take notes on when stuff happens and to WHO.
I was pondering just writing one night of Halloween, but that would have taken another month or something. And this thing took way too long as is to crank out. Apologies as usual.
Expect a wait of roughly the same time for the next one. I do have a valid excuse this time, though. Its name is Pokemon Emerald and it is addictive. Mmm. Shiny green something-or-otherrrr...
Oh, and I hope everyone liked the wee little bit of fluff I threw in. Gotta have cute scenes every so often, yesno? Until next time, folks!