Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its original characters. That belongs to the greatest witch of our time, J.K. Rowling.

A/N: Ok, so I know that I said every couple of days, but school began. I'm so sorry! PM me with ideas or critique, anything really. Don't forget to review before you leave

Chapter Three: Halloween

Everyone was asleep in the first-year dormitories, except for Luna, who was sitting by the fire reading the Quibbler. She missed home dearly, especially her father, Xenophilius. Despite what others say, her father is a brilliant man. Before her mother's death, Xeno and his wife would create new spells or research new plants. Together, they were astounding. One would be in charge of theory and the other would be in charge of the practical applications.

Luna's mother was attempting to find a way to shield herself and others from the Killing Curse. At first, Xeno would throw the Cruciatus and Imperious curses at Diana. Those were absorbed in the shield, leaving her unharmed. The next task was to throw Killing Curses at potted plants being shielded by Diana. Nothing was able to penetrate the shield. Finally, the curses were to be thrown at her as she protected herself. Xeno called Luna downstairs to witness the first deflection of the killing curse in history. It wasn't the bright streak of green that killed her mother; it was the explosion of her mother's wand inside the shield that ended Diana's life.

Without realizing it, Luna was shedding silent tears. Standing up and grabbing her bag, she trudged down to the Great Hall to have breakfast. Although she wasn't hungry, she needed the distraction before classes and the Halloween feast later that night.

Skipping down to the dungeons for Potions with Professor Snape and the Hufflepuff's, Luna slammed right into Ginny, making both girls fall onto the floor. Getting off the cobblestone ground, Luna noticed the bags underneath Ginny's eyes. Her hair was not as lustrous as before, and she looked like she lost quite a bit of weight. Not even acknowledging Luna's presence, Ginny darted across the hallway to retrieve a ratty-looking black diary. Normally, this wouldn't be something of interest to Luna since most of Ginny's personal items were hand-me-downs, but the way she disregarded everything else to be in possession of the book alarmed Luna. Without even apologizing, Ginny ran down towards the broken down bathroom at the end of the corridor.

No one went into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, unless you had to go really bad. 'Maybe that's why Ginny didn't stop and looked so beat-up' thought Luna. But it wasn't the time for worrying about her friend; Luna was going to be late to class.

Professor Snape deducted five points from Ravenclaw because of Luna's perfect Cure for Boils. Her dream-like expression didn't help at all; she was too lost in her own thoughts of what occurred on her way to class to care, causing him to deduct five more. This caused her to snap back into reality.

"At least he didn't give you detention. Word is that Harry Potter and his friend Ron Weasley once got detention from him for breathing while he was talking." Luna's roommate, Sarah Jones, whispered.

As far as Luna was concerned, Sarah was the only friend she was able to make since coming to Hogwarts almost two months ago. They got close when Luna spotted her reading the Quibbler on her bed and stayed up late talking about the articles and what Luna's life is like as the daughter of the editor. She needed a friend in her house and Ginny was getting more distracted with her own life.

Sarah was a short girl with long, wavy brown hair that went down to her waist and emerald green eyes that rivaled the Great Harry Potter's. Together, they walked down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast.

"Did you know that a full-grown Mountain Troll was found in the castle last year?" asked Sarah.

"Daddy says that Mountain Trolls are breeding grounds for Wrackspurts. They are little bug-like creatures the fly around other's ears. I believe he is writing an article on them in next month's issue."

"Fascinating! You should tell him to write about the trolls, too. They are poorly represented now a days." quipped Sarah.

"That's actually a great idea, I'll owl him in the morning about it!"

The two plopped down at the Ravenclaw table and began to scarf down the wonderful food. During dinner, Sarah asked where Harry Potter and his two friends were. Not only were the three missing from the feast, but Ginny was gone, too. This was rather odd to Luna because she knew the Weasley's never missed a meal, ever. Putting that aside, she and Sarah started walking back to their tower when they stopped at a crowd of people waiting at the base of the staircases. Arching her neck, Luna spotted what everyone else was staring at. Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, was dangling from a torch, looking quite dead. Written in blood on the wall underneath the hanging cat read:

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware."

Whatever the Chamber of Secrets was, Luna knew it wasn't good.