Thanks again to Spacegal 19, for her beta prowess!

Author musings: I'm in the middle of replacing my front door (whole unit), my roof, and some trim work. Georgia is rough on wood! At least I don't have termites. So why don't we build homes out of Lego? Look at Legoland – the huge sculptures never fade, break, or rot. They never need painting. I suppose the cost would be prohibitive though.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 22

Luna

Luna woke the next morning with the deep chime of a bell. "I wonder what ever happened to the bell tower?" she mused. It sounded so right in the castle. She dressed in her new robes, listening to Hermione's endless questions to Anne, their roommate, as they readied for breakfast. Although Anne was a student, like they, she was there for companionship rather than learning. One can only learn so much after three hundred years.

In her solid form, Anne, the ghost of Ravenclaw, was still pretty quiet. She had a sharp, intelligent brain that soaked up information and she never embarrassed herself by talking too much or saying the wrong things. In life she had died only a few short years after graduation from Hogwarts in the 1700s, in a curse breaking gone wrong.

Although not a chatty companion, she was sincerely liked and appreciated by both Luna and Hermione. The three found they could discuss any subject at length, and her years as a ghost gave her wisdom and insight rarely found in people their age. It also helped that none of the three were the type of girl to chat about men and fashion all night.

"Anne, how can a painting hold this much magic – to house the founder's souls, give the ghosts bodies, keep house elves going…?" Hermione was grilling Ms. Washbourne with intellectual intent.

The Ravenclaw mascot smiled. "This isn't a painting we are in. The painting is merely a doorway to another dimension. You are correct, Hermione, that no painting can maintain that much magic."

The first breakfast was a plain affair – porridge, tea, and fruit. "I didn't know tea was drunk in Britain a thousand years ago" Luna said, daintily biting into a pear.

Godric smiled. "Not to muggles – wizards discovered it centuries ago and imported it by magic."

Rowena met Luna's eyes. "Today we will study privately with our heirs. Luna, you will come with me."

Luna nodded and stood up, following the founder out of the Great Hall. She saw Neville following Helga and gave him a warm smile as she headed in a different direction. They ended up in the old transfiguration classroom brightly lit by sun streaming in the windows, and sparsely furnished.

Rowena eyed the pale girl over. The Ravenclaw founder was not the warmest of people – slender, pretty, and proud, she radiated the same strength and wisdom all of the founders did. She had a no-nonsense air about her – the kind of teacher that expects students to grasp a concept the first time. But she also had a face that lit up like a sun rise when discovering a new bit of knowledge, and a hunger to see a puzzle through to the end. "What would you like me to teach you, Luna?" she asked her intently.

Luna contentedly clasped her hands in her lap, gazing calmly at the witch. "Healing during battle, intergrading my fairy abilities with witch abilities, wandless and silent spell casting, better dueling, becoming an animagus, and most of all, what your vision for Hogwarts is and where have we currently gotten off course." She stayed silent after that, content to wait for the founder's reply.

Rowena smiled. "Let's work our way down your list then" and she picked up book and handed it to her.

O0o0o0o0o0o0o

Luna had been learning fairy magic ever since Christmas before they went back in time. She missed Elrind's tribe and the various fairy friends that appeared in the trunk. Fairy magic wasn't all that different, she supposed. It was just far more emotion driven than wizard, goblin or elf magic. Most wizards just were not able grasp it, or if they could, they had an even harder time changing back and forth.

Fairy magic was born of deepest love – the love of friends, family, things tangible and things not. The best healing magic was that of the fairy – it not only repaired the body, but the mind and heart as well. A good medi-witch could mend the broken bone or severed nerve, but they never worried about the battle trauma that comes with it. Fairies had the ability to heal the whole person.

The magic of the fairy did not use wands – it flowed constantly from within. The more adept Luna became, the easier it was to control. She was continually radiating peace, love, and contentment, which were soaked up by any good beings in her vicinity. At times of healing it would pour out of her, focused, visible and mighty, but typically it was an aura of quiet magic, invisible or barely discernable to most.

The fairy creatures she and her necklace-wearing friends would interact with were not particularly special – they were magical creatures like Hagrid loved but they occupied another dimension. Rowena and she would ponder the creatures for hours, borrowing one of the friends' chains for Rowena to wear, but they hadn't found a practical use for that talent yet. They were not dangerous or even aggressive creatures – just different.

Luna would smile a little sadly after those sessions. Why did everything have to have a practical use? Practical as in "what can it do for me?" Many things just exist and Luna loved them for simply existing.

She ended up with many lessons taught jointly by Rowena and Helga, who was the healer of the founders. Luna soon grew to be a powerful healer that rarely needed a potion to aid in her ministrations.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Today" Rowena looked at Luna with her piercing eyes, "we are going to discover your animagus form."

"I will be a gray goshawk" Luna answered simply.

"How do you know?" Rowena frowned, examining her strange but extremely competent student. "That bird is native to Australia – do you have family from there?"

Luna smiled her dreamy smile. "I'm not sure about my family, but the fairy in me can see the animagus in a wizard, even before they discover it."

The raven haired witch looked at her in even more surprise. "You never cease to amaze me, my fairy friend. That is an interesting talent. Tell me, can you tell if someone is an animagus, or just has the potential?"

Luna shook her head. "No, Rowena. Animagus is an innate ability – if a person chooses to go through the discipline to attain their form is not discernable."

"Is it as rare a talent as they say?" Rowena got her well-known investigative look to her eyes.

"No, actually about half the people I meet have the potential. I think few actually become their animagus form because it is hard to give yourself over to something so primal. Much safer to stay human and in control, I think." She nodded, more to herself then to Rowena.

"Have you ever transformed?" When Luna shook her head 'no', Rowena looked at her in shock. "Why not?"

Luna smiled at her. "I didn't want to learn it any quicker than my friends. It seemed like something nice to share."

Rowena shook her head a few times. "Fine. They should be starting this week themselves. Would you like to start with the first steps?" She gathered a large parchment which spelled out many meditative steps and incantations to make the transfer for the first time. Luna, however, shrugged in agreement, stood, and transformed into a gray goshawk.

The founder gulped and stared. There, on the ground in front of her, on her first attempt, was one beautiful bird. She was the palest of gray on the head and breast, with dove-gray wings and back. The feet and beak were vivid orange, with a sharp black tip to the bill. The eyes were large, black and expressive. It was almost as if a gentile doe-eyed mouse had turned into a winged predator. As with her human form, the Luna-hawk had an outer-worldly dreaminess to it, as if it was barely attached to the mundane earth. "If you would like to fly, please stay close to the ground until you get a real feel for it" Rowena muttered weakly.

The goshawk nodded, spread its wings and gently launched. Staying within 6 feet of the floor, the bird swooped and glided around the large class room, and then landed in front of her teacher, transforming back.

"That was much easier than I thought it would be" Luna observed. "But I had been thinking about it a very long time."

"I can't wait to tell Salazar and the others. Why don't we go and help your friends – knowing their forms will make the process that much quicker" Rowena got off her bench and ushered Luna to the door. "By the way, what will your friends be?"

Luna smiled. "Neville will be the most beautiful wolf, and Hermione an adder. I think I will not say anything about Harry's."

Rowena looked at her. "Um – Neville's wolf is logical – wolves are known for their strength and loyalty to their mate and pack. Hermione's adder follows through with being Salazar's heir, although I'm not sure it's what she will be expecting. Can I have a hint on Harry's?" She was practically burning up with curiosity.

"He becomes a very brave creature" the blond witch smiled.

O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Luna did not do very well at divination, although it was one of Rowena's specialties. After struggling for weeks, together they came to the conclusion that it was part of Luna, like healing, and if she just relaxed and let her fairy blood work, she could get very useful and valuable insights into the future. Tealeaves and crystal balls were shunned by both of them, but the long meditations favored by Rowena left Luna bored. Rowena learned to let Luna sense what and when she chose, and taught her how to use or ignore glimpse of the future.

The founders quickly learned that Luna was not the warrior of the group. She could duel passably, which meant on the level of most aurors, but she just wasn't aggressive. The group decided to teach her to shield, dodge, and use her healing during battles on her companions. Sometimes you just can't flog a dead horse.

A typical group session of dueling would have the four students against one or more founders. They quickly learned how to share the battle, each using their own strengths and covering each other's weaknesses. Where Harry and Neville both favored sword in one hand, wand in the other, and Hermione tended to duel with two wands, Luna found she was most effective with her wand transformed into a long staff that she could both battle and cast spells with.

Watching Luna in these group 'battles' was a joy for the founders. Although she didn't cast many offensive spells – most of what she did involved shielding the others, healing the others on the fly, radiating positive emotions, and helping stamina – but the spells she did throw at the 'enemy' were deadly in their own right. She had an ever growing arsenal of fairy/wizard spells that dealt with the mental or physical health of her opponent. Luna found she could paralyze, which differed from Petrificus Totalus as in the victim was rendered limp and comatose – not stiff and awake. Another spell Rowena and she had perfected was a sweet little number that could temporarily dampen a person's link to their magical core, turning them squib for a short while. Its only drawback was it took immense concentration and a bit of time to cast.

Together Rowena and Luna were working hard on a spell to remove dark magic from a person. In theory what they had could work, but they lacked a suitable guinea pig to practice on, and were worried it could be fatal.

The most interesting part of 'Luna the Warrior Fairy', however, was when the group discovered that quiet and strange little Luna Lovegood was the prankster of the founderettes. And this came to light when during duels, her friends would be mortified to find themselves 'Accio undies' by the girl, or hexed with uncontrollable hurling, or worse yet, find the dueling area suddenly filled with adorable baby kittens. No one could duel and risk hurting a cute little kitty, could they? Naturally, that only worked against light wizards. It wasn't much of a threat against Riddle unless he had an allergy to cats.

"So tell me, Luna" Harry started in after one lengthy training session where Godric ended up with huge flappy clown feet mid-battle, tripped, and was vanquished, "you wouldn't by any chance know who was behind all the pranks against the headmaster last year, would you?" Harry grinned at his fairy friend.

"Hmmmmm – mooning portraits, pooping gargoyles," Hermione started to tick the tricks off on her fingers with a huge smile.

"Don't forget the office full of lemon drops" Neville added, cornering Luna with an admiring smile.

Luna merely smiled her dreamy, other worldly smile and blinked her large blue eyes slowly. "Mischief managed" was all she would say.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do google image search on gray goshawk if you want to see what they look like.

Thanks to Princess Fictoria, Ranma Hellsing, Scorpio4255, Lils Sara Potter, Fanfix, Emma Lipardi, Bissek, kitty demon, for all your input on what to teach the founders.

As you can probably tell, the next three chapters will concentrate on each of the remaining founderettes, and what special skills each of them develop over the next three weeks/1 year. During this time we won't be visiting the present time Hogwarts. The next chapter will be on time Monday.

Heh – Jimm in a review pointed out that if they were packing for a few weeks, they should have packed underwear. I don't think so – I think with the cleaning spells, and robes being a pretty universal 'uniform' of the magic world, they would have only carried a small day pack for light travel, not knowing what was coming. But perhaps I'm wrong. It did make some good comedy though…