Chapter 3 "Wrath"
Disclaimer: As usual, I own none of the characters, names, places, etc. I'm just playing with JKR's world, and making no profit from it.
There she was again, smiling like always. This time, her blonde hair wasn't done up and it fell to the floor. Its highlights glinted in the soft moonlight. She looked so happy. Her hazel eyes glanced behind her as Diana beckoned for her daughter to follow her. Luna always followed in her mother's footsteps, and tonight was no exception.
They entered a garden with a sweet smell hanging in the air. There were fairies lighting up the pathways, and a gentle breeze played with the hem of her nightgown. Then, all of a sudden, the hedges began to grow until Luna could only see the stars twinkling above. It was a maze just like the one from that tournament... They got to the centre of the maze after getting past quite a few obstacles. There was an archway visible. The veil hanging from it fluttered in an unseen wind.
"Just a little further..." her mother whispered. Luna walked up to the archway and heard the voices again, only this time they were much louder. Diana began to walk through the archway. Luna tried to follow her, but the archway just got further away, like always.
Luna woke up and reached over onto the nightstand next to her bed. After a minute of blindly groping in the dark, she realised that someone had taken her mother's amethyst necklace that she had Transfigured to look like butterbeer corks so no one would want it. Diana had placed a Nightmare Repelling Charm on it, and let her wear it when she was little and had reoccurring bad dreams. Luna's chest constricted a little as she pulled her mother's spell book out from underneath her pillow. It was the only other thing she had of her mother's. She clutched it to her like a child clutching a teddy bear, and eventually fell back to sleep.
You used to captivate my by your resonating light, but now I'm bound by the life you left behind. Your face haunts my once pleasant dreams; your voice has chased away all the sanity in me.
The letter to her mother went on like that for an entire piece of parchment. She had written it during her first year. She hadn't been terribly happy at the time...
She folded the parchment so that it would fly, opened the dormitory window and threw it outside. She hoped to get rid of those feelings along with it.
"What're you doing now, Luna?" asked one of her year mates.
"I thought I saw a Blibbering Humdinger fly past just now." Luna replied.
"Aren't those things supposed to live underground?"
"Yes, you're right. It couldn't have been one then," said Luna, while thinking how odd it was that the other girl had actually read the article about Humdingers in The Quibbler. She picked up her backpack and headed out of Ravenclaw Tower, eventually ending up in the Great Hall in time for breakfast.
Because a certain Slytherin with a baboon's backside for a face had accidentally flooded Greenhouse three, the fifth year Ravenclaws and Gryffindors had to work in Greenhouse eight. It was where some magical varieties of Muggle plants were. Their task was to take the cups and saucers off the vines, wrap them in tissue paper, and gently place them in boxes. Luna had always wondered where Hogwarts got all its matching dishes.
There was a bit of an incident when Colin Creevy had got too close to one of the other plants. A Hungarian Horntail Snapdragon set his glove on fire with a burst of flame from its mouth. Luckily, Ginny put it out with a quick Watering Charm. Other than that, the class passed rather smoothly.
Luna was the last out of the greenhouse as usual, and saw the rest of the class walking back into the castle. She began to slowly make her way back as well. It was then that she saw someone stoop down and pick something up off the grass. It appeared to be Draco. She wondered why he would suddenly have an interest in picking up litter, as Malfoys don't seem to want to get their hands dirty. Professor Sprout, who came up behind her and began to tell her what sorts of books she should look for to do the essay that she had just assigned, interrupted her thoughts.
"Be sure to practise your Silencing Charms before next class. You should have them down by then, as it'll be the last class we spend on them," Flitwick informed the class over the noise of books and quills being shoved hastily into bags. Luna wasn't worried about being able to make a parrot quiet.
Instead of dropping her bag off in her dorm before supper, Luna headed to the library to search for a book for Herbology. The essay was fairly short (only two rolls of parchment), but it was due in a week. She wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible. She managed to find a book about literal aquatic plants (which was in Mermish, but she had a Mermish/English dictionary), but couldn't find anything about terrestrial ones before her stomach started making itself heard.
"Honestly, why do you get paid? You never help any of us students!" an impatient vice asked rather loudly.
"Mr. Malfoy, if you continue to disrupt the other students by shouting, I will ask you to leave the library," Madam Pince replied much more quietly.
As Luna walked out of the aisle she was in, she saw the librarian return to her desk and snap at a first year (who just wanted to check out a book) so abruptly that the younger girl broke into hysterics and ran out.
Draco was scowling nearby as he searched through the index of a book. Without a second thought, Luna walked over to him. "You'll catch more doxies with honey."
Draco's scowl deepened as he looked up from his book and saw whom it was. "What gibberish are you spouting off now, Lovegood?"
Totally unphased, she repeated herself.
"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked, raising his voice again. Luna plopped down onto a chair across the table from him.
"What are you doing? I don't want you to sit there. I don't want to talk to you. Go away, you freak!"
"Firstly, people will be more likely to do something that you want if you ask them politely. Secondly, I'm sitting on this chair, and third, you're going to incur Madam Pince's wrath if you don't lower your voice. She's heading in this direction." Luna replied serenely as she took her wand out of her sleeve.
Draco opened his mouth to retort angrily, but Luna was too fast for him.
"Silencio!" Luna's Silencing Charm worked perfectly, and all Draco was able to do was glare. She smiled sweetly at him, and wondered if he had been subject to one too many Sonorus Charms, and that was why he couldn't help but to raise his voice. Luna put her wand behind her ear, and walked over to Madam Pince (who was shelving books nearby using a type of Sorting Charm) and asked her if she could sign out her book. When she walked back through the library, Draco's table was empty. He had probably gone down to supper. She decided to follow suit.
Luna didn't see Draco again until the next week when she left Potions. He came storming up to her in a corridor that was empty except for themselves and a suit of armour. His normally cold grey eyes were ablaze.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to ask someone to do the Silencing Counter-charm when you can't speak?"
Luna stayed silent, trying not to burst out laughing at the mental image of Draco Malfoy flailing his arms about and chasing people around the Slytherin common room trying to get them to remove the charm.
"You think it's funny, do you? Well you won't be laughing when your Head of House finds you. He's the one who performed the counter-charm!"
Professor Flitwick had asked her to help him put all the animals they had Silenced back in their cages a week ago. Now she knew why. It had been her punishment.
"Hello! Are you listening?" Draco asked as he waved his hand in front of her face.
"Do cats like you, Draco?"
"What?" he asked.
ROWR! Mrs. Norris had been sniffing the back of Draco's leg, and he brought his foot down on her paw when he took a step back from Luna in surprise. The cat ran off limping.
"It seems she doesn't like you anymore. I suppose Mr. Filch will be along shortly. I have some runes to translate for Monday..." she turned to leave, but Draco had his wand pointed at her.
"You're not going anywhere, Lovegood. You need to pay for making me look like a fool. As if Flitwick would ever really punish you, he's such a soft touch. Tarant-"
Luna grabbed her wand, pointed it at Draco and yelled "Protego!" just in time. His jinx bounced off her shield, and his legs began to jerk in different directions, doing an odd sort of jig. She stood still in shock, as that was the first time she had ever been able to manage that spell.
"Aha! Caught in the act!" yelled Filch as he ran up to them, carrying Mrs. Norris in his arms and wheezing horribly. "Magic isn't allowed in the corridors! Detention, Lovegood," Luna dropped her wand arm, "Now, which one of these delinquents hurt my sweet?" Mrs. Norris meowed in Draco's direction. "A week of detentions, Malfoy." Draco's flushed face blanched.
"I've got Quidditch tryouts to conduct this week, I'm the captain! I can't have detention!" he exclaimed indignantly, while his legs continued to twitch out of his control.
"You should have thought about that before attacking my cat!" Filch replied, stroking Mrs. Norris' head.
Luna pointed her wand at Draco again, and performed the counter-jinx. Draco's feet stopped and he leaned against the wall for support. Filch turned to her and said, "You've just got yourself a full week of detentions as well. You can join Mr. Malfoy, starting tonight. I've been meaning to organise my files since those twins put an Unarrangement Hex on the cabinets. Be at my office at eight." He walked away, still cradling Mrs. Norris to his chest.
Luna turned her head back to face Draco, and saw a mixture of triumph and curiosity in his eyes.
"That was stupid of you, Lovegood. You could have just had detention for one night." He said, smirking.
She paused a bit before replying. "I was waiting for Mr. Filch to take the hex off you. I think he wanted you to stay like that, though. So when he didn't take it off, I decided to..."
"How would a Squib be able to take a hex off me?"
Since when was Mr. Filch a Squib? She had heard Professor Umbridge tell Mr. Filch not to use a Vanishing Charm on the fireworks last year because it made them worse. Mr. Filch had agreed with her.
"Don't you know anything of importance, Lovegood?" he asked in response to her silence.
"Yes, I know how to turn your ears into Kumquats. I know how to fly on a Thestral. I know how to heal all the bones in your hands and feet if they get broken. I can preserve flowers by changing them into stone; I know how to produce a Patronus. I know-" he cut her off before she could list any more things.
"I said things of importance. Everyone should know who is pureblood or not. You should know who to associate with, and the appropriate behaviour to engage in when in their company."
He sounded like he had rehearsed that before. She tilted her head to the side slightly, and bit her lip. A sudden thought came to her, that he had probably had to repeat that spiel about correct behaviour many times.
"Did your father teach you that?" she inquired, while assuming that he had been home schooled, instead of going to a Muggle school before Hogwarts. Lucius Malfoy didn't seem to like Muggles much...
"My father? No. I learned that from personal experience... and the private tutor father hired because he was too busy with... Why am I standing here telling you this? Correct behaviour should be second nature to you now. If you behaved the way you should, then I wouldn't have detention. This is all your fault! You should have pureblood pride! The Weasels are dirtying what little reputation you have left with their filth." He shook his head in frustration. "I've got more important people to talk to, namely anyone." He began to walk away, and before he could turn the corner, Luna called out to him.
"See you later, then!"
Speaking to someone as if they had been Kissed was a gross breach of
etiquette. Maybe she should teach him how to behave correctly.
Luna's Notes: Jade would like to thank jesabelle for betaing, JKR
for creating the HP universe, and The Morning Starr for giving her the idea for
my notes and Draco's. The body of the letter I wrote to my mom are from
Evanesence's song entitled "My Immortal".
Draco's Notes: I have half a mind to HEX Jade into tomorrow. No way would that twiggy Ravenclaw freak ever be able to out-duel me (twice!). If I had my way, she'd be laying comatose in the Hospital Wing.