Quick note: Sorry it's been so long since my last update, I've been really busy and have had some writer's block. Unfortunately, I can't promise that I'll update regularly, but I will do my best. Thanks for for your patience, and feel free (but not obligated) to leave a review. Thank you.

Before Luna knew it, she had been at Hogwarts for nearly two months. Her classes were interesting, and she was maintaining generally high grades in most of her classes. Alex and Rolf had been polite to her, but hadn't been spending much time with her. Many students seemed to think her to be a bit strange, although Ginny had been fairly nice. She still saw the Gray Lady in the castle from time to time, and made frequent trips to the library.

Luna had taken to wandering the school grounds during free time. Her escapades had brought her through secret hallways, up and down nearly all of the 142 staircases in Hogwarts, along the edge of the Forbidden Forest (not in it though) and by the hut of the giant man who had lead the first-years up to the castle. She was wandering by on a Saturday morning on October the 31st when she saw him watering the pumpkin patch by his house. "Excuse me, but do you have the time?" she asked him, drifting nearer to look at his plants.

"Half past ten." he told her.

"Oh, thank you." she told him. She had planned to make it back to the common room by noon, as she had some transfiguration homework that needed to be done. She continued to peer curiously at the pumpkin patch. "They're unusually large, aren't they? I've never seen pumpkins that size before." she questioned him.

"Well, I - er - I mean strictly speaking, I'm not supposed to use magic, but they're used for Halloween, and if you just use an engorgement charm, it speeds up the growth but people aren't really meant to know and - er -"

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone." she told him confidently.

"Thanks," he mumbled. "Er- would you like to come in for some tea?" he asked her awkwardly.

"Yes, that would be lovely." she accepted the invitation.

"I'm Rubeus Hagrid. I'm the groundskeeper." he explained as Luna followed him into the house. It seemed small compared to him, but to Luna, it was huge. It was a single room, with a fireplace, kitchen, bed with an enormous patchwork quilt, and a wooden table with chairs around it. A pink umbrella leaned against the wall in the corner. There were countless items hanging from the ceiling, including meats, silvery hair, and dried plants. He gestured towards one of the chairs, and Luna sat down on one. "I'm Luna Lovegood." she introduced herself, shaking his massive hand.

Rubeus Hagrid bustled around the kitchen, handing her a large cup filled with a pale brown liquid in it. "Dandelion tea." he told her.

She took a sip as he sat down in the seat opposite her when a big, black boarhound approached the table, sniffing at Luna before laying his head in her lap, drooling slightly.

"Is this your firs' year?" he asked her politely.

She nodded in response, taking another sip of her tea. It had a fresh sort of flavor, not very sweet. "I'm in Ravenclaw."

"I was in Gryffindor, myself. I was expelled though, in my third year. Dumbledore let me stay on the grounds after my dad died, though." he took a long swig of his drink. "Great man, Dumbledore. Great man."

"My mother died, too." Luna told him, somewhat sadly. "When I was 9."

"It's always tough, losing a parent." he told her. "I'm sorry about your mum."

"It's alright. I miss her quite often, though. I'm sorry about your dad." Luna replied quietly, petting Fang.

The talked about Luna's classes and various other things when suddenly, Hagrid looked up "Blimey, is that the time already? I need to help prepare for the feast!"

"Oh, is that today?" Luna said interestedly. Halloween had never been something she'd really celebrated before.

"Sorry, Luna. I've got to go. I expect I'll see you around. Feel free to stop by if you'd like."
Luna smiled "Thank you for the tea. It was nice meeting you, Rubeus Hagrid." She stood up to leave. "Bye, Fang." she said, scratching the dog's head one last time before going back up to the castle.

.o0O0o.

The smell of pumpkin drifted through the castle as Luna went downstairs to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. There were jack o'lanterns hovering near the ceiling, along with what appeared to be live bats. Hagrid's enormous pumpkins decorated the room, carved and large enough to fit three people. The Ravenclaw table was quickly filling up with students, and students chatted amiably with each other as food appeared on the tables, filling up the golden platters.

Luna helped herself to a baked potato as she listened to others' conversations: The girl a few seats down had done well on a test, the boy across the table had gotten detention, a ghost was on his way to attend some sort of party.

In a way, she was a bit disappointed she had no one to talk to, but she wasn't sure what they would talk about even if she did.

At some point, Penelope Clearwater sat next to her. They made small talk for a bit, talking about classes and a Gryffindor prefect Penelope was dating.

When Luna had finished her pudding, she looked around one last time and left the room, strolling back to Ravenclaw tower. By now, the other students had probably left the feast. She turned a corner to see three Gryffindor students standing in the middle of the corridor. One was Hermione, and the other two were the ones who had been missing on the train ride, Harry Potter and the redhead, Ron. Luna hid herself from their view, sticking only her head past the corner. Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, was hanging from a torch by her tail, there was a puddle of water on the floor beneath her, and on the wall, painted in deep crimson, read the words:

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED, ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

She hesitated for a moment, unsure of what she should do. Nargles often would do these sort of things, but they couldn't write, so they were ruled out. As she considered the possibilities of what could have done it, the rest of the school came noisily up the stairs, streaming into the hallway. They grew silent, though, as they noticed the cat, pressing forwards to get a better view of the scene. Then, a voice rang through the hall "Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" it was a blond, Slytherin boy, his pale skin flushed.

Luna was shocked to hear the insult. Mudblood was a rude name for muggle-borns, often used by pure-blood supremacists.

Just then, Argus Filch ran down the corridor, and upon noticing his cat, began shrieking at Harry Potter like a madman. Luna wouldn't have been surprised if the caretaker had murdered him on the spot, but lucky for the Gryffindor student, the headmaster was hurrying over to the distressed caretaker and students, the rest of the school making a path for him. He told the four of them to come with him, and they left the crowded area.

The teachers herded the rest of the students back to their common rooms, Professor McGonagall bustling through, announcing "Prefects, if you would please lead your houses to the dormitories. Teachers, please come with me!"

As Penelope Clearwater and the other Ravenclaw prefect lead them to the rooms, Luna found herself next to Rolf. "Hey, Luna." he said.

"Hi, Rolf."

"So. it's pretty crazy that Harry Potter murdered Filch's cat, right. He's the one that nuts kid from the boat was obsessed with, right?"

"Colin, you mean," she said, somewhat coldly. "And I don't think Harry Potter killed the cat."

"Come on, Luna. Who else could it have been?"

"I don't know, but I don't think it was him." she persisted. "He wouldn't do something like that."

"How would you know?" he scoffed. "Don't be loony." he added, somewhat rudely, in luna's opinion. "I'm going to find Alex." and with that, he disappeared into the crowd to find his friend.

"It wasn't him." Luna said to herself, earning several odd looks from students passing by her. "It wasn't Harry Potter."