The Love of a Lion

Chapter 3

Insomniac

The start-of-term feast was wonderful. Luna enjoyed every nibble, swallow, and gulp of it. She read The Quibbbler while eating, scanning over its contents. An article caught her eye. 'How to tell if he's the one.' How odd. Mushy love crap usually never appeared in it, except when it was reporting that some famous celebrity kept on drugging his wife up with love potion so that the marriage will last. 'Maybe I'll do it for...him"

"What's this?" A light voice swam into Luna's ear. Black hair swept into her ears. It was Cho Chang. Her eyes looked rather red. Luna was shocked. When did she get here? And had she been crying again?

"Just an article." Luna said, returning to her misty demeanor. "I think I'll skip it."

"Oh, let me see it." Cho snatched the magazine from Luna.

"But-" Luna started to protest, but to no avail. Cho had already started to fill out the quiz. "Honestly, that Chang girl is such a freak. Always obsessing over Harry. So pathetic." She put her head on her hands as she waited for Cho to finish up.

"Poo." Cho sighed, giving The Quibbler back to Luna. "Finally" Luna thought, rolling her eyes. "I guess we're not compatible." With that, she turned to Marietta Edgecombe and the two started to blabber about some Quidditch guy. Luna just sighed and continued to read.

--

Ron sighed as he started down the stairsto the Gryffindor common room. His Gryffindor striped pajamas were wrinkled, and about two inches too small. He was bloated from the feast, and couldn't sleep. Thoughts ran through his head, slowly lowering down his defenses. "What will this year be like? Slughorn as Potions, and Snape as Defense Against the Dark Arts? What the hell would Luna be like this year?" He stopped himself, raising the mental barrier. "Duh. She'd still be the same. What was I thinking?" He looked around the common room, smiling. He wasn't the only one up. Louise Bacchus, a fifth year, was sitting in the common room, crouched over something emitting a faint glow. Her blonde hair, cut in a boyish style with long bangs was draped over her green eyes. Her chest gave off a bare hint of womanhood. She wore a pajama set, like Ron's except it was purple with green polka dots.

"Hullo." Ron said, interrupting her...whatever she was doing. "Can't sleep?"

"Nope." Louise grinned. "I had to find out how this game ended." She was always doing something odd and unpredictable. She waved the glowing thing in Ron's face. "Game Boy. And, by the way, I'm playing Pokemon: Red."

"Pardon?" Ron said, looking at her quizzically. "Poke-ee-moon? What the heck was that?"

"A Muggle invention and a Muggle game." Louise grinned again. "They do know more than we credit them for. 'Course it's a lot better running off of magic. Never loses power." She grinned, but then her face fell and she swore, very loudly. "Dammit! I lost!" She set off a string of swear words, Ron looking on in shock. She just smiled it off. "Wanna go for a round?"

"Sure!" Away they played, blasting their troubles away.

--

Another person was up late, besides the two Gryffindors. Luna and Elizabeth sat in their bedroom, each doing a different thing. Luna was completely engrossed in a Quibbler crossword, and Elizabeth was painting her toenails alternating blue and silver.

"You think he'll notice?" Elizabeth said giggling. She delicately painted a pinkie toenail a pale, yet metallic shade of silver.

"Do you think he'll notice mine? She painted my nails also. Would he see them?" Luna shook off that feeling, returning to her puzzle"I honestly don't know who you're talking about." she said, writing in a word. "Four letter word for 'Bulgarian Seeker'?" Luna scratched her nose with a metallic blue fingernail, courtesy of Elizabeth.

"Krum." Elizabeth said smiling. "He's that dreamy guy that was in the Triwizard Tournament. Course, Drakkie-poo's the guy for me."

"Hmm." Luna wrote the word in. "Okay, so #5 Across must be 'Malfoy'and #7 Down must be 'kranufferpic'."

"What?" Elizabeth accidentally upset a bottleof blue nail polish. It splattered over her silver sheets, and a bit on the blue curtains. "Oh damn. What did you say?"

"Kranufferpic?"

"No Malfoy. What's that put down for?" She looked concerned.

"Wealthy wizarding family having a history of being Death Eaters."

"Why would they put that? It's not true!"

"Here it says that they pass down the Dark Mark from father to son. I'd be careful around 'Drakkie-poo'"

"B.S." Elizabeth said, snarling. "Drakkie-poo wouldn't do that!"

"Oh well, I still think so." Luna looked at the nail polish soaked sheets. "How will you sleep?"

"I'll just use Affy's bed."Elizabeth smiled, then slipped into Affy's bed. "Poor girl. She had an allergic reaction to the pudding, so she's staying in the hospital wing tonight."

"Oh." Luna sighed. "She should have immediately taken a Charbulb Tablet."

"Pardon?"

"It stops allergic reactions, but turns your face green."

"I'd rather take the allergies." With that, the two girls fell asleep.