Disclaimer: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…

Part of the first dialogue (after "SCHOOL YEAR 1995 – 1996") is taken from J.K. Rowlings "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" - "Luna Lovegood"; short excerpts are taken from other chapters of the book ("Snape's Worst Memory" and "Beyond the Veil") in later parts of the my chapter.

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INTERLUNIUM

NEW MOON

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"I have been bent and broken, but I hope in better shape."

– Charles Dickens, 'Great Expectations'

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"She's loony," people would say whenever they were speaking about her. "Totally loony."

"She has lost her mind," others would say.

"She never had a mind at all," some would counter. "She has always been gone with the fairies."

"Don't those words hurt?" Ginny would inquire with a frown on her face. "I don't get how you can sit there and ignore what they say!"

Luna just hummed.

"I'm not sure why they think I might have lost my mind," she said. "I lose a lot of things – but I'm quite sure that my mind was never a part of what I lost."

Then she scratched her chin.

"I wonder how people can lose their mind," she said thoughtfully. "At least when it comes to me and Daddy – our minds are adnate. I doubt I could lose it even if I tried."

Ginny just sighed.

"That… isn't meant literally, Luna," she said. "They're saying you're crazy."

Luna blinked.

"Oh," she said and crooked her head. "I'm that unusual, then?"

Ginny winced. "That's one way to put it."

Luna hummed, oddly unbothered.

"That's ok, then," she declared. "Everyone else is weird, too, after all!"

And no matter how much Ginny tried to explain, Luna never seemed to understand that people weren't nice to her at all.

…

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"Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand,

For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand."

– William Butler Yeats, 'The Stolen Child'.

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…

SCHOOL YEAR 1995 – 1996

"Had a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked, distracting Luna from staring at Harry who had taken the seat opposite her. For a moment, Ginny wondered if Luna was actually contemplating to answer her at all, but in the end, it seemed that some manners won out.

Yes," Luna said, to Ginny's amusement still fixated on Harry. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know."

And then, because this was Luna and she always had been odd, she added. "You're Harry Potter."

Ginny wanted to pace-palm. Of course, Luna would go there!

Thankfully, Harry took it with humour. "I know I am," he replied. When Neville chuckled, Luna seemed to take it as her cue to comment. "And I don't know who you are." Because of course, Luna couldn't act normal.

Ginny wanted to sigh, but she really blew her gasket when Neville said "I'm nobody."

"No, you're not," she said sharply, before deciding to take the whole thing into her own hands. "Neville Longbottom – Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year but in Ravenclaw."

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," because that was what Luna would say when she was introduced as a Ravenclaw.

Ginny mentally sighed.

She loved her friend, nonetheless, her friend wasn't the best when it came to human interactions. For a moment, Ginny contemplated her next move, then she slid closer to Luna and leaned in towards the girl, watching Neville and Harry pick-up a conversation about birthday presents.

"You know, you could have introduced yourself, Luna," she said calmly, ensuring that neither Neville nor Harry noticed anything.

Luna hummed.

"I think you did just fine," she said dreamily.

Ginny snorted.

"Yeah, well, if I hadn't, you'd have known Neville as 'nobody' and he wouldn't have known you at all," she countered. "Hence why I think you should have gone and introduced yourself!"

"I think Neville Longbottom was quite clever," Luna countered and Ginny rolled her eyes because of course, Luna would say that. "A name is quite personal, after all – and even more if you introduce yourself."

Ginny groaned. "Luna!"

Luna blinked and looked through her.

"Didn't your mother teach you to keep a tight hold of your name?" Luna asked.

Ginny opened her mouth, closed it again and then shook her head with a snort.

Only Luna…

…

"Loony! Hey, Loony!"

One of the girls reached out for Luna and the other stepped into Luna's way.

"Didn't you hear us calling, Loony?" the other one asked, sounding a bit put-out.

Luna blinked innocently.

"I thought you'd come and get my attention if you really wanted something from me," she countered. "After all, a lot of people seem to be in the habit of calling after me without ever wanting something from me."

Cho and Marietta frowned at that.

Luna just smiled dreamily at their unhappy reaction.

"So… you ignore people because they might not mean you?" Cho asked with a sneer.

Luna crooked her head.

"It's more reasonable than to try and react every time I am called in one way or the other when I walk through my dorm room or the common room," she said.

Marietta frowned.

"We're in the hallways right now," she countered.

Luna blinked.

"Does that change something?" she asked. "I mean, the people who call after me are more or less the same wherever I am."

Cho snorted.

"More or less?" she asked derisively.

"In the hallways there are more," Luna pointed out, "it seems that some members of other houses seem to think that calling my name without reason is a reasonable way to pass their time, too."

Cho pressed her lips together at that.

"Yeah, well, we mean it when we call you," she said with gritted teeth.

Luna blinked dreamily.

"Is that so?" she asked guilelessly. "I might be inclined to remember it next time."

Then she hummed. "On the other hand – I might not."

Marietta stared at her.

"Are you telling us you'd ignore us deliberately?" she asked unhappily.

Luna's dreamy eyes looked through her.

"Did you ask me something?" she countered.

Marietta gawked at her.

Cho on the other hand turned slowly red at Luna's words.

She reached out to the other girl and grabbed her.

"Are you making fun of us, Loony?" she asked furiously.

Luna hummed and looked at the hand on her arm. She crooked her head, examining the hand on her arm more closely. "Why do you hold me like that?" She frowned. "I mean, it doesn't make sense if you want to keep me in place."

Cho sneered.

"It is keeping you in place, isn't it?" she countered coolly.

Luna blinked, cocked her head the other way and looked at Cho's grip on her arm more closely. Then she shrugged and twisted her hand, freeing herself from Cho's grip. "No," she declared. "Look! It's really easy to escape from it!"

With that, she turned to face Cho and Marietta head on, her eyes dreamily looking through them.

"Are we done, now?" she wanted to know.

Marietta and Cho exchanged a look, then Marietta stepped closer, shoving the younger Ravenclaw towards the wall. "We're only done when we say so, psycho."

Luna sighed.

"You two haven't been in contact with Umgubular Slashkilters lately, have you? They are known to keep you unbalanced and quite off kilter." She narrowed her eyes. "The way you act, you might have been either in contact with them or are infected with wrackspurts. Honestly? It's sometimes hard to tell in the early stages."

Cho sneered. "Off with the fairies, again, Loony?" she asked with a growl in her voice.

Luna scratched her head.

"I'm not sure why you always say that," she said with a frown. "I mean, I'm clearly there or you wouldn't be able to talk to me – so why do you ask me that?"

Marietta scoffed. "Because you clearly show that you are away with the fairies whenever we meet!"

Luna hummed.

"Don't ignore us!" Cho commanded when Luna's gaze drifted away from them. "Or do you believe that now that we're in the DA together we're friends now?" Marietta sneered and nodded.

Luna raised an eyebrow.

"I helped you in the last DA lesson," she countered; her voice sounded quite spacy. "And you refused to help me. You cited that you would owe me a favour at a later time."

Marietta snorted in amusement. "As if we'd really allow you to ask a favour from us!"

Cho smirked. "In other words, we lied."

Luna hummed, her eyes sharpened and narrowed.

"Don't you think that I'm allowed to take a look at your family grimoires for the help I gave you?" she said, her voice calm and a small smile adorning her lips. "I'd really love to take a look at them after you decided to brag about having them with you here in Hogwarts in the common room at the beginning of the year."

Cho returned her smile uneasily.

"Sure," she said. "Why not?"

Then she turned around and started to walk towards the Ravenclaw common room. "Come on, then. Lovegood. I'll give it to you for a day and an hour."

"Nice!" Luna said happily and followed, leaving a confused looking Marietta behind.

"Cho?" Marietta called after them. "Cho?!"

But Cho ignored her and Luna was happy to follow her example.

She had a book to catch and read, after all…

…

"Bearn."

"Ealdfæder," Luna replied happily. "How have you been?"

The painted man hummed and leaned against the painting's frame to look at her thoughtfully. "You look happy today," he observed instead of answering her question.

"Oh, I sure am!" Luna immediately agreed. "I met the summer sprog!"

Ealdfæder raised a dark eyebrow and hummed again. "I thought that you were stumped on how to approach him."

"My friend Red-and-Fierce introduced us," Luna said cheerfully.

"So… you managed to get over the awkwardness of trying to talk to him without being discourteous."

"Exactly!" Luna agreed in a sing-song.

Ealdfæder looked quite thoughtful at that, before he said "It was an elegant way to circumvent your troubles."

"I agree," Luna told him gaily. "It couldn't have gone better." And leaned against the portrait frame on the same side as Ealdfæder, so that it looked like they were leaning against the frame from opposite sides.

For a moment, both of them kept their silence, just relaxing in the presence of the other, then Luna closed her eyes and her face took on a concentrated expression.

"Say, Ealdfæder," she said slowly. "How do you know if what people want you to do is acceptable? And how do you know when it isn't?"

Ealdfæder, who had copied her on the other side of the frame hummed in inquiry.

"My friend Red-and-Fierce told me that good manners are important," she said. "She also seems to think that using your name in foreign company is the way to go to be well-mannered."

Ealdfæder frowned and opened his eyes to look at the stairs not too far away from them. "She thinks that keeping your name to yourself is discourteous?" he asked in disbelief.

For a moment, Luna hesitated.

"I'm not sure," she finally admitted. "She is keeping with tradition by just handing out a substitute for a name… but at the same time, she asked me to introduce myself to a stranger."

"That's certainly odd," Ealdfæder agreed. "I wonder if she has never been taught to be wary of strangers…"

"Well, she knows the basics of keeping your name close to your chest," Luna countered.

Ealdfæder hummed. "Might be a coincidence; might have been a good influence by her parents."

"Mayhap she meant something different?" Luna speculated. "Mayhap they have a way to introduce oneself without being discourteous and she expected me to do it that way –"

"Which you didn't because your father neglected to teach you," Ealdfæder concluded with a sigh.

Luna sighed as well.

"Culture isn't easy," she agreed unhappily. "And unspoken rules are the worst!"

Ealdfæder nodded in agreement. "I know," he said and pinched his nose. "I stumbled upon those unspoken rules more than once."

Luna nodded in agreement.

"Did you know that they have rules about nargles and wrackspurts, too?" she asked with a sigh.

Ealdfæder grimaced and then rubbed his head, looking tired. "Don't tell me those rules are still active!" he said unhappily. "It's been hundreds of years! I thought that culture would have changed at least that much!"

"I fear it's still the same if they still don't dare to talk about one or the other," Luna said sadly.

"They're still afraid?" he exclaimed. "Neither nargles nor wrackspurts are that dangerous!"

Luna hummed. "They're also not talking about Heliopaths."

"Which is a lot more understandable," Ealdfæder countered. "Heliopaths are quite dangerous, after all. Not naming them at all makes sense."

Luna thought about it and then reluctantly nodded.

"I guess that explains the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, too," she said before she narrowed her eyes. "But I can't see it with the Blibbering Humdingers or Umgubular Slashkilters…"

Ealdfæder hummed in thoughtful agreement. "While those aren't that dangerous, most people don't seem to know how to keep them away, too. It can be frightening if you don't know how to defend yourself."

Luna's eyes narrowed, then she nodded determined.

"Then I will show them how to do it – no matter if they believe me or not!"

Ealdfæder snorted.

"Magutúdor mín, you're a winter child," he reminded her.

"Then I will ask the summer sprog for help," she countered.

Ealdfæder cocked his head. "That might be a solution," he agreed and bowed. Luna curtsied and then walked away, happy with her solution.

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…

Harry was sitting in the library, trying to do his homework, when suddenly Luna Lovegood sat down on the opposite from him.

"Good afternoon, Harry Potter!" She greeted him dreamily. "What are you doing?"

Harry sighed and rubbed his head. He was tired and struggling to concentrate on his homework, nevertheless, he didn't want to snap at Luna just for sitting down in front of him.

"DADA homework," he replied unhappily-

Luna hummed, grabbed his nearly finished essay and then turned it around to study it. "This looks as if the wrackspurts are winning the fight," she said thoughtfully.

"Huh?"

Luna nodded decisively, as if what she had said made total sense. "You're letting the wrackspurts win," she said and then plucked the quill from Harry's hand.

She frowned at the tip, looked at Harry with an even more pronounced frown before she pointedly tapped the quill with her finger.

Harry watched in astonishment when the quill cleaned itself before it sharpened under her fingers.

"What? How?"

Luna sighed. "Magic, Harry Potter," she said breezily. "How else should I have done this?"

Harry stared at her.

"With a wand?" he suggested and stared at the girl with the light blond hair.

Luna pinched her nose with her free hand, the one with the quill lowering towards the table. "I'm a winter child, Harry Potter, just like you're a summer sprog. A wand is something that others need, not us."

Harry frowned. For a moment he was tempted to open his mouth and actually ask what she had meant, but in the end, he forced himself to do nothing of that kind. This was Luna he was talking to. Who knew what kind of odd reasons she would come up with if he asked about 'winter child' and 'summer sprog'!

Luna nodded as if his silence meant agreement.

"Don't worry, if you weren't a summer sprog, I would have been more careful," she told him. "We – you and I – have to fit in, after all."

Harry couldn't help but think that Luna hadn't done a good job at all if she wanted to fit in…

"Er… sure," Harry settled on saying.

Luna hummed and then reached for Harry's inkwell, pulled it closer to herself. She dipped in the quill, pulling his essay even closer. Before Harry could react, she had already started to write into his essay.

"What –?"

"Correcting your wrackspurts' influence," Luna answered dreamily.

"Sure," Harry said, slightly sarcastic. "Knock yourself out!"

Luna stopped with the quill just hovering over Harry's essay.

"That's an odd request to make," she said and crooked her head. "Not to mention that it sounds quite painful and unnecessarily complicated. I think it would be easier to ask someone else to knock me out instead of trying to do so myself."

Then she crooked her head. "On the other hand, I'd really love to know if somebody actually manages to do that to themselves," she added thoughtfully. "And what kind of method they might try to use to accomplish a request like that. What do you think, Harry Potter?"

"Huh?" Harry said, confused.

Luna hummed, clearly not happy with his answer but also oddly resigned to it. "You really should try and get rid of those wrackspurts," she decided, and then her quill was on the parchment before Harry could stop her.

Harry frowned at her, but before he could protest, his eyes landed on his essay, distracting him. He had to admit that Luna had quite a beautiful handwriting – even if it looked a bit old-fashioned.

He frowned at the script.

"I have never seen someone write like that," he commented. She looked up.

"Do you have trouble reading it?" she asked thoughtfully. "It's a Court hand from the Middle Ages. Mother taught it to me when I was younger."

Harry hummed. He had never heard of a Court hand, or whatever Luna was talking about and he wasn't even sure if she wasn't making it up on the spot. "Why would your mother teach you a script that hasn't been in use for hundreds of years?"

Luna hummed.

"Because she let me decide what kind of script I wanted to learn," she answered as if that was the most reasonable thing to do for a parent. "I liked this one, so I learned it."

Then she returned to scribbling into Harry's essay.

Harry opened his mouth to stop her, before he sighed and decided that it was too late already. He would have to rewrite it, no matter what.

Luna meanwhile hummed thoughtfully, used the feather at the end of the quill to tap her chin, before returning to her scribbling. Harry resigned himself that his essay was done for. He would most likely end up finishing late since his usual way of writing an essay, giving it to Hermione to look through and then rewriting it wouldn't work this way. Instead, he would have to rewrite it two times – the first thanks to Luna's scribbling right now.

"I'm never going to finish," he groaned.

Luna hummed in agreement. "Not with all those wrackspurts surrounding your head," she agreed without looking up. "Not that the Professor helps in that regard. She might not be influenced by wrackspurts – but I'm pretty sure that she has been in contact with Minister Fudge's Heliopaths. They usually ensure blindness – sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively – and a thrall to believe in the truth of every word the owner of the Heliopaths utters. No matter what Minister Fudge says, she will always believe him over everybody else. It's sad, you know? I guess in her case, the blindness she is suffering is figuratively. I'd have suggested for her to clean her eyes in bat blood to lessen the effects, but I fear the professor wouldn't have listened. She's too deeply in the Heliopaths' thrall, you know?"

Luna tapped the quill against her cheek.

"I guess I could try and throw a mix of mustard, honey, raven feathers and some herbs at her to break the thrall for a moment," she said thoughtfully. "But the chances for success aren't that high without a proper ritual and I'm in no way inclined to create a debt with her just to help to break the thrall. Too much could go wrong if I did, you know?"

Then she looked at him thoughtfully. "On the other hand… you're a summer sprog. You're automatically better when it comes to resist creating thralls… maybe –"

"Er… I don't want anything to do with Umbridge if I can help it," Harry said, deciding to refuse whatever Luna was about to come up with. He might like the girl, but he definitely didn't want to have anything to do with throwing mustard-honey-feather bombs at Umbridge. He was in enough trouble as it was, after all.

Luna sighed.

"I guess you lack training?" she asked, a bit disappointed.

Harry hummed noncommittally. Luna sighed, obviously taking it as agreement.

"I should have guessed," she said, sounding honestly disappointed. "You're only a few months older than me, after all, and I'm not far enough along in my training to even think about stuff like that. I should have known that you aren't that much further along." She sighed again. "Nevertheless, it would have been interesting to see that ritual properly conducted, don't you think so, too?"

Harry thought about Umbridge, covered in mustard, honey and feathers. "Definitively," he decided.

Luna nodded, and then looked back down at his essay.

"Oh well," she said, "we will do our best like it is, then."

With that, she scribbled down another two or three sentences before she handed Harry his feather.

"There you go," she said, tapping the parchment with Harry's essay written on it. "Wrackspurt free."

She stood up and waved and then turned to walk away.

Harry sighed. He pulled his essay towards him, expecting to see a lot of weird stuff added to his essay. Instead, he found an essay solely written in Harry's own handwriting, with a lot more information that Harry wouldn't have even known where to look for and all those tiny details that Hermione normally added to his essay.

Huh… if Luna was willing to help him like that, Harry definitely wouldn't mind that she was calling him a summer sprog…

…

Luna was walking down the fourth-floor corridor when Graham Montague stumbled out of one of the bathrooms.

He stopped, looked around and then his gaze settled on her. His eyes narrowed.

"Loony Lovegood," he said, his voice threatening. "You're… part of that group, too – aren't you?"

Luna stopped, blinked and crooked her head.

"What group are you talking about, Graham Montague?" she asked thoughtfully.

"That resistance group that Professor Umbridge busted," he elaborated, his eyes narrowing even further, "That illegal one."

Luna hummed.

"A resistance group?" she said thoughtfully. "An illegal one? Are you sure you didn't make that up?"

She looked through him, her eyes spacy.

Montague scoffed. "Don't you try to be funny, Loony," he said with a sneer. "No matter what you say, I know better. You were a part of that group!"

Luna turned and threw a thoughtful look at him.

"What if I was?" she asked, her eyes full of interest. "It's not as if you have any kind of proof – one way or another."

Montague snorted. "As if I need any kind of proof to accuse you, Loony. Are you dancing with the fairies again?"

Luna crooked her head, before looking over her shoulder and then all around with a frown.

"I can't see any faeries around here," she said thoughtfully and then looked at her feet. "And I'm fairly sure I'm not dancing at all."

For a moment, Montague stared at her as if she had lost her mind.

Luna blinked.

"Did you think that dancing with faeries looks like that?" she gestured at everything around her and herself.

For a moment, it seems as if Montague had lost his tongue, then his features twisted into an ugly sneer.

"You know what?" he said. "It doesn't matter. You're close to those horrid twins' sister – that's enough for me!"

With that, he stepped up to Luna and grabbed the slender Ravenclaw girl by the hair before she could react.

"Ginny?" Luna asked, not reacting to the pull on her hair. "What do you want with Ginny?"

Montague gripped her a bit harder, ripping at her hair with quite a bit of strength.

"That little bitch doesn't concern me," he said with a sneer. "But her brothers are a menace. They stuck me in that vanishing cabinet because I wanted to take points from them." He pulled on her hair. "I had to apparate out to escape and it took me days to manage!"

Luna hummed.

"I'm not sure what I have to do with all that," she countered calmly.

Montague growled. "You will suffer for what they did to me," he said. "You're nearly as good as their little sister."

Luna clicked her tongue. "I'm nowhere close to being similar to Ginny."

Montague snorted. "That's what you say," he said icily. "But that doesn't matter. I think I will have my fun with you, no matter what. Let's see how those twins and the rest of your little friends will react when they find you." He grinned maliciously. "Don't worry, I'll make you scream beautifully. I'll make you suffer."

He forced her head backwards. He licked his lips evilly.

Luna's dreamy eyes settled on him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she said calmly, unbothered by his threats or the way he looked at her.

Montague strengthened the grip on her hair for a moment. The evil leer slipped off his face.

"Did you just tell me to stuff it?" he asked with a sudden growl in his voice.

Luna blinked.

"I don't have anything for you to stuff," she countered, her face thoughtful. "So why should I ask you to stuff something?"

Montague's face reddened in anger.

"I will stuff you if you don't shut up, now," he threatened and made her stumble just by ripping her hair.

Luna sighed, sounding a bit exasperated. Her spacy demeanour pearled off of her like water from glass.

"Haven't you learned after the last time not to bother people?" she asked, suddenly oddly there in the here and now, not lost in her fantasies like usual. "I thought the Weasley twins' lesson with the Vanishing Cabinet would have sunk in more."

Montague's grip tightened in Luna's hair even more. He shook her violently.

"Do you really think you can threaten me, Loony?" he asked with a sneer.

Luna looked at him innocently.

"I don't threaten people," she said, her voice regaining its moony edge. For a moment, a cold breeze – smelling of ice, snow and winter – seemed to ruffle the free strands of her captured hair.

Montague scoffed.

"Well, it's not as if any threat you utter would be taken seriously, Loony," he said with a snort; he tore at her hair with the clear intent to hurt her. "People would laugh if you tried to do something like that!"

Luna didn't even wince when her hair was torn. Some free strands of her hair were swept across her face when the soft breeze that had been playing around them intensified. The fragrance of snow surrounded them.

Luna hummed and reached for Montague's hand in her hair.

"I doubt that I need to appear overly threatening to make you fear me," she said softly.

Her hand closed around his.

"Threats are meaningless, Graham Montague," Luna said, her hands cold on his. She tightened her grip and his fist opened involuntarily beneath her fingers. "They imply that you don't mean it, after all."

Montague sucked in his breath; pain marred his face.

"No," Luna said calmly and turned to look at him. Her eyes were big, her pupils were small slits and her irises a deep, unnatural silver which were casting a spell on Montague the moment her eyes met his. "I know better."

Montague flinched backwards, stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Knock yourself out," Luna requested and Montague's head hit the floor hard.

It would be the last thing he would do for quite some time.

"They've found Montague, sir, he's turned up jammed inside a toilet on the fourth floor."

"How did he get in there?" demanded Snape.

"I don't know, sir, he's a bit confused."

And Montague would stay disoriented and confused for months, too.

…

"People are odd," Luna said decisively and leaned against the wall next to the portrait she was visiting. "Why would anyone try to hurt a person to get back at another one?"

Ealdfæder hummed and then leaned against the frame of his portrait just next to her. "They seem to think doing something like that is a way to get even."

Luna frowned.

"How?" she wanted to know, clearly baffled by the concept.

Ealdfæder shrugged helplessly. "My friend Brave-Heart said that it has something to do with their idea that hurting a loved one will ensure that their opponent will feel the same pain they went through at their opponent's deeds."

"Huh. That seems a convoluted way of thinking. Why don't they just get even with their opponent themselves? Involving others… seems messy."

Ealdfæder shrugged.

"Mayhap they don't think that they can hurt a person just like they were hurt by just going after the person themselves?" he asked thoughtfully. "I mean, from what I gathered, their usual idea is to kill their opponent for revenge if they go after their opponent directly."

Luna hummed. "That's quite final," she asserted.

For a moment, Ealdfæder thought that through, then he inclined his head.

"You're right," he agreed. "I wouldn't bother with killing my opponent in revenge. Either I would indebt him until he's nothing but a slave to my every whim or I wouldn't bother with revenge. Killing him would be something I'd just do if he was in the way of something, but not because he personally offended me or some such."

Luna scratched her chin. "I can see your reasoning," she agreed thoughtfully. "Killing someone doesn't feel quite satisfying when it comes to revenge."

"Exactly!" Ealdfæder exclaimed happily.

"People are weird," Luna said and shook her head. "How'd you think I should have handled it then?"

Ealdfæder stood up, and peered into her direction. "Handled it?"

Luna hummed. "I was approached by a student who uttered an intent like that," she explained.

Ealdfæder thought about that.

"And you handled it?" he asked.

The Ravenclaw-girl shrugged. "I think I did," she said, "but I'm not too sure if this is the way to handle it in this world."

For a moment, both of them pondered on her words. It was Ealdfæder who finally pointed out, "I think we might be the wrong people to guess estimate the way everyone else here interacts with each other."

Luna inclined her head in agreement.

"Too true," she said with a sigh and closed her eyes. "Guess estimating anything is very complicated," she admitted unhappily.

Ealdfæder sighed.

"I have to agree," he said with a tired sounding sigh. "I've always had trouble with guess estimating things, too."

Luna hummed, thought that over and in the end decided to speak up slowly. "Do… you think that I might have acted wrong when I engaged with the other student?"

Ealdfæder crooked his head thoughtfully.

"While you and I are inclined to follow their norm, they can't expect us to act like them in every event," he finally decided. "If they do, that's on them."

Luna concurred happily.

"I will go and see the summer sprog now," she finally decided. "He might need me for something or other."

"The wrackspurts still that bad around him?" Ealdfæder asked, concerned.

Luna sighed. "I doubt it'll get better any time soon," she said sadly. "Not with the… unusual… professor we have right now and the fact that she's influenced by Heliopaths."

Ealdfæder winced.

"Confirmed?" he asked, concerned. Luna hummed.

"Not yet," she said. "But there's some very good evidence that could point to it being the truth."

The man in the portrait shuddered. "Let's hope it's not," he decided. "You're by far not old enough to deal with Heliopaths all by yourself."

Luna hummed in agreement, smiled at him and then curtsied.

"I'll take my leave now, Ealdfæder."

"Do so, Magutúdor mín."

And with that, Luna left to bother Harry Potter some more.

… … … … … … … … … … …

…

Harry was wandering the corridors, unable to sleep after waking from his returning dream of a room full of doors. It was the beginning of the weekend, and he couldn't sleep, no matter what he tried. The common room in Gryffindor Tower had long since been vacated even by the most hardened night owls and Harry hadn't been able to sit still, so he had started his wanderings throughout Hogwarts. It was dark and silent in the castle and even the most adventurous student had long since returned to their dorms. Even the teachers and the caretaker were nowhere to be seen or heard.

Nevertheless, Harry knew that he had to be careful. Umbridge would enjoy giving him another detention or worse for wandering the corridors at night.

"Tonight's a lovely night, isn't it?" an airy voice suddenly spoke up to Harry's left. Harry spun on his heels, ready for anything – well, anything but Luna who was sitting on a window sill. The window was showing the view of a small courtyard garden.

She was bathed in moonlight and looked more ethereal than she had ever done before. Her hair seemed to be a silvery-white in the moonshine and her silver eyes seemed to glow from within when she looked in his direction. Her gaze, like always, was more focused on the wall behind him than Harry, but that was something Harry had gotten used to over time.

"Luna," he greeted her and then hesitated, unsure how to proceed.

Luna crooked her head, her face thoughtful.

"You seem to be even more heavily inflicted by wrackspurts than usual, tonight," she commented calmly. Harry hummed noncommittally.

For a moment, the girl's brows furrowed, then she nodded to herself and held out a hand towards him.

"It's a lovely night, tonight," she said.

"It is," Harry agreed, his gaze turning to the sky behind her. It was a full moon night and the moon was bright, bathing everything in its silvery shine.

Luna hummed.

"You know," she said thoughtfully and waved her hand in his direction. "You're a summer sprog, I'm a winter's child – so why don't you dance with me tonight?"

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Dance?" he asked, a bit thrown by her request.

"It's a lovely night," Luna repeated, not really answering his question and yet clearly believing that that's what she had done.

Harry looked at the moon outside, then at the girl who was still sitting on the window sill.

"I'm a bad dancer," he finally settled on.

Luna sighed. "I'm not talking about those silly dances some of us learned in third year for that Yule Ball," she countered a bit put-out. "I'm talking about dancing – real dancing, not whatever everyone else here believes dancing should look like."

Harry had no idea what Luna was talking about, but when she waved her hand at him again, he decided that it couldn't hurt. Dancing without music in the middle of a hallway might turn out silly – but at least it would distract him from his dreams.

"Sure, why not," he finally agreed and then took her hand.

Luna stood up and it was only then that Harry noticed that she was clothed in something that looked very much like a nightgown.

She smiled at him, returned his grasp and then pulled him out into the courtyard. Her naked feet touched the earth and Harry wondered if she didn't feel cold. He opened his mouth to ask, but before he could, she started to spin away from him, still holding his hand.

Her feet were moving to silent music and her hair was played with by the wind. The whole courtyard smelled of early summer and late spring.

Harry had never danced like that before. It was a strange dance, spinning and twisting, steps without rhyme and reason – and yet, the more he moved, the easier it was to follow her steps.

It was like he knew where she'd go next. One step to the right from her was mirrored by one step to the left from him. She spun and he held her, she held him and he spun. It felt like the earth beneath his feet seemed to vanish, it felt like the moonlight brightened and the moon grew.

It felt strange, exhilarating, ethereal.

It felt unreal and yet more real than anything else had ever felt in his life.

There was silent music in the air, guiding them and following their steps.

Never in his whole life, Harry had ever felt so calm, so strained, so utterly at home.

He didn't know how long they danced. It could have been minutes, it could have been years for all he knew, but in the end, the moon vanished behind the roof of the castle and their dance ended.

"Summer sprog," Luna said and smiled at him, her silvery eyes looking like liquid silver. "I am honoured you danced with me."

Harry had no idea how to reply to that. Suddenly, after all this time dancing, deep exhaustion washed over him, making him tired and sleepy in a way that he hadn't felt since the dreams started.

In the end, he bowed to her, feeling a bit silly while doing so and yet, also oddly enough, as if doing so was the right thing to do.

Luna smiled. "I see the wrackspurts have finally left you," she said happily. "Mayhap, you can keep it that way from now on?"

Harry snorted. "I doubt that's possible," he countered, not too sure what she was talking about, but sure enough that she would see those odd creatures around him again the next time they saw each other.

"Too true," Luna said, her voice quite sad. "Nevertheless, you can at least try."

Harry hummed.

Luna seemed to take that as her permission to leave, because she curtsied and then left him standing in the courtyard. When Harry finally reached Gryffindor tower again, it was five in the morning. He fell into bed and for the first time in a long while, he actually slept dreamlessly.

…

"Run!"

Luna followed Ginny and Ron, running after them. She could hear the heavy breathing of the Death Eaters behind them. Around them, the hubbub of the falling and breaking prophecies was ensuring that you could barely hear your own words. The Department of Mysteries had fallen into mayhem.

"Faster!"

Luna sped up, still keeping Ron and Ginny in front of her. Her eyes were travelling around the room, flitting back to the Death Eaters following them and then back to the still falling prophecies and to the walls.

"Are you sure we're running in the right direction?" she asked Ron, not at all out of breath.

"Does it matter?" Ginny huffed. "They're following us! So, run!"

Luna hummed, but followed the other two without commenting anything further. They reached a door and Ron opened it hurriedly.

"In there!" he demanded. Ginny scrambled inside, with Luna and Ron following her. The moment the door had closed, Ron shot a locking spell at the door. "That won't keep them long, but I don't know a better one," he said a bit apologetic.

"That's fine," Luna said dreamily. "They would get in anyway – spell or no spell. Those doors aren't made to withstand a siege."

Ginny snorted. "I think we should have stayed at Hogwarts for doors like that."

Luna hummed in agreement and then looked around. The room was dark and there were lights spinning somewhere up near the invisible ceiling. It looked like a miniature galaxy in the sky.

All three children stopped dead in their tracks.

"Is that… Uranus?" Ginny asked, staring at one of the round lights far up.

Luna crooked her head. "It looks like it."

At that moment, the door behind them rattled.

Luna turned, stared at it thoughtfully with bright silver eyes and then said cheerily "How about we go and travel the galaxy instead?"

The other two rolled their eyes but took a deep breath and then stepped further into the room. A soft breeze, smelling like summer, traversed the dark room and played with the hair of the girls.

Then, the door broke open and the whole room turned and twisted.

Suddenly, they weren't walking beneath the galaxy anymore. Instead, it was hard to tell if they were really walking or maybe floating through the room, crossing the stars and planets.

The Death Eaters reached them. Spells were fired at them out of the dark.

"Expelliarmus!" somewhere to the right, Ginny was yelling.

A Death Eater was tumbling down into the endlessness of the universe.

Another one managed to hit Ron with a bright purple spell before he was hit by a Stupefy courtesy of Ginny.

Luna on the other hand walked the planets. Spells were hurled at her, but didn't reach her.

Suddenly, a Death Eater stepped out behind Venus, another following him from behind Mars. The man from behind Venus raised his wand at Luna. The fourth-year Ravenclaw on the other hand hummed, and then bowed.

"If you wish to duel, I expect you to keep the etiquette," she said. "You may call me Luna."

The Death Eater from behind Mars snorted, but the other one growled at him and then turned to Luna, sketching a bow. "I am Rodolphus Lestrange of the House Lestrange."

Luna hummed. "A pleasure, I'm sure," she replied and drew her wand. Their first spell-exchange was fast and surprisingly versatile.

Then, Ginny was attacked by another Death Eater – her foot grabbed by him thanks to the ridiculous way the room had allowed them to travel.

Luna jumped on top of Saturn – two spells from Lestrange barely missing her – and then fired a Reductor Curse to blow up Pluto in the Death Eater's face who had been grabbing Ginny. The Death Eater who had come out behind Mars seemed to see that as his chance, because he tried to hit her with another spell while she was distracted.

Luna twisted, jumped in the air, and then came to a stop upside down beneath Neptune. Hanging there, she fired a silent spell at Lestrange, making him fall from the sky right between Venus and Saturn and then turned towards the other Death Eater who had confronted her.

With another twist, she jumped onto Mars, right in front of the Death Eater who hadn't changed his position from where he had stepped out behind Mars.

"Who are you?" Luna asked. For a moment, there was a breeze of winter in the air around them.

The Death Eater scoffed.

"Are you afraid to name yourself?" Luna asked thoughtfully, and crooked her head. "Is it because you're an Unspeakable?"

The man froze. "How'd you know that?"

Luna blinked. "Shouldn't I have?" she said. "Just the way you move in here reveals that you were an Unspeakable once."

The Death Eater snorted. "And the way you move might end up with you being called a fairy, little girl," he countered.

Luna crooked her head and then reached for her light-blond hair. Her silver eyes flashed. "Has it something to do with my hair colour?" she asked thoughtfully. "It's very fair, after all."

The Death Eater scoffed and then fired a spell at Luna.

Golden light flashed.

The Ravenclaw fell from the Planet and ended up floating in the air next to it. Her eyes were closed and her light blond hair was looking like a hallow the way it surrounded her head.

The Death Eater stepped up, wand in hand. "I am Augustus Rookwood," he said mockingly. "I guess I can be generous now that I've won."

He raised his wand.

"LUNAA!" Ginny screamed and tried to reach the girl even if she was clearly unable to stand up – her ankle being most likely broken.

"LUNA!" Ron echoed giggling. Whatever he had been hit with made him laugh instead of cry out.

"Avada –!"

Luna's eyes opened. Liquid silver danced in her irises, swallowing her pupils whole.

"It's good to meet you, Augustus Rookwood," she said, her voice echoing in the void of the galaxy all around them. The Death Eater froze mid-spell.

A cold breeze swept through the air. The Death Eater didn't move, didn't even blink.

Luna smiled, showing off her sharp looking teeth.

"You may call me Luna," she added and crooked her head, her eyes looking like little silver flames in the dark. "If you will call me anything ever again, that is." The Death Eater twitched. Luna hummed and then, before Rookwood could overcome whatever had frozen him, she kicked him into the stomach and propelled herself through the galaxy.

Behind her, the Death Eater vanished without another sound in the darkness of the universe.

With a gesture, Ron was dragged through the air towards Luna. Another gesture and Ginny propelled through the air, looking like she was doing somersaults, towards Luna as well.

Luna meanwhile took one last step, the ground solidifying beneath her foot. She reached out towards Ginny and managed to give her one last push to shove her out of the door. A second later, she did the same with Ron, making him tumble to the ground outside.

After, she turned and looked at the still floating Death Eaters.

"It was nice to play with you," she said politely. "But I fear we will have to take our leave now."

With that, she stepped out of the room and slammed the broken doors shut behind them. Lightning crackled up the door, repairing it and sealing it shut with another spell.

It wouldn't take long until Harry finally found them.

"Ginny? What happened?"

"I think her ankle's broken. I heard something crack." Luna said. "Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets; it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark –"

"Harry, we saw Uranus up close!" said Ron, still giggling. "Get it, Harry? We saw Uranus – ha ha ha –"

"– anyway, one of them grabbed Ginny's foot, I used the Reductor Curse and blew up Pluto in his face, but…" Luna gestured hopelessly at Ginny, who was breathing in a very shallow way, her eyes still closed.

"And Ron?"

"I don't know what they hit him with," said Luna sadly. "but he's gone a bit funny, I could hardly get him along at all."

…

Luna was hopping down the hallway, humming a happy tune.

"Magutúdor mín."

She stopped and looked around, searching for the one calling out to her in one of the portraits. It took just a moment, then a man in dark green clothes, with black hair and silver eyes stepped out of one of the portrait's painted woods.

"Ealdfæder!" Luna greeted happily, the moment she saw the man.

"You look… liberated, Magutúdor mín," the man commented, looking her over with sharp eyes.

Luna hummed.

"I might have been quite free in my doings lately," she agreed and then looked around the hallway to ensure they were alone. She stepped closer to the portrait. "Have you ever seen the universe?" she wondered. "Have you ever walked it?"

Ealdfæder raised his eyebrow. "Did you blow up one of the stars?" he asked, sounding a bit concerned.

Luna sighed happily. "No," she said. "Just Pluto."

Ealdfæder thought about her exclamation for a moment or two, then he shrugged. "Oh well," he said. "That doesn't matter."

Luna hummed. "You think so?"

Ealdfæder inclined his head. "It's just Pluto," he reasoned. "It's not a real planet anyway."

Luna looked at him in surprise.

"It isn't?"

Ealdfæder hummed noncommittally. "That's what I always thought at least," he countered. "I've never understood why other people decided to count it to the planets at all."

Luna shrugged.

"Well… if you want to count it to the planets, it's a dwarf planet, now, I guess," she said thoughtfully. "It's definitely not big enough to be a real planet after I blew it up."

Then she smiled innocently while Ealdfæder just shrugged.

"I did the same to Eris once," he said. "So, I guess Pluto is in good company now."

Luna hummed. "I also gathered two names of Death Eaters," she said thoughtfully before she frowned. "What do I do with names like that? I've never been offered a name from a Death Eater before…"

Ealdfæder looked at her in surprise.

"They went and offered you names?" he asked, clearly thrown by her declaration.

Luna hummed.

"So… people were less careless with their words when you were here?" she asked, her eyes cloudy and fixed on the ceiling.

"It's odd," he said with a thoughtful hum. "But I'm not sure if they were. I mean, back then, when I was in your shoes, I noticed that they are much more careless with their words than anybody should be. There were some occasions where the names they told me actually rang true."

Luna blinked.

"Their names rang true?" she asked horrified. "How did they manage not to enthral themselves until you met them!"

"Mostly by chance, I'd guess," Ealdfæder replied calmly. "By chance and the fact that most of the Old Crowd aren't interested in them. Not even the lesser ones, like Redcaps or the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks."

Luna put that down to luck – extreme, undeserved luck. Something must have shown in her face, because Ealdfæder nodded gravely. "They like to live dangerously," he agreed to her unvoiced horror.

Luna snorted.

"That's one way to put it," she agreed and then shook her head. "I guess I will have to go and ensure that the summer sprog isn't infected with wrackspurts that way, too. It would be horrifying if he doesn't care about handing his name out like candy, after all."

Ealdfæder grimaced.

"You definitely have to make sure, then," he said. "It wouldn't do at all for a summer sprog to act unbecoming, after all."

Luna hummed in agreement and then curtsied. "Farewell, Ealdfæder," she said and turned to walk away.

"Farewell, Magutúdor mín," Ealdfæder replied with a bow and watched Luna while she left, before he turned and vanished back into the painted woods.

… … … … … … … … … … …

…

"Being different isn't a bad thing. It means that you are brave enough to be yourself."

― Luna Lovegood

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

… … … …

I hope you liked it.

Over and out

Ebenbild.

… … … …

Old English:

Ealdfæder – grandfather

Magutúdor mín – my progeny / child