After a while of staring, Fred appeared, joining my other side but looking decidedly happier than George had. Apparently, he'd managed to invite Leah to the Hogs Head the next day.
'You're coming, aren't you George? Moral support and that.' said Fred, as we walked back inside.
'Well, you're gonna need me, like you could get anywhere by yourself!' said George, grinning. They started a playful shoving fight as we got to the door. I rolled my eyes and laughed; noticing Luna Lovegood, (a friendly and quite bizarre girl in Ravenclaw), i headed towards her, leaving them in a laughing ball on the floor. She appeared to be heading up the spiral staircase, but she was wandering about, just looking at things. I approached her carefully, but loudly, wanting her to know i was there so i didn't make her jump.
'Hey Luna. What are you doing?' i enquired, as she closely inspected a stone pillar. I looked as well, wondering if maybe you had to look really close too see what ever it was. She turned to look at me and i saw she was looking through an odd kind of magnifying glass, with strange attachments on the edges. It looked sort of like a child had glued random pieces of a clock onto it. She smilied her odd, dreamy smile at me and continued to wander around the corridor.
'Hello Cleo. I'm just looking for nargles. Pesky little creatures, but quite interesting.' she said, examining a stone in the wall. I liked being with Luna, she always told me about creatures i'd never heard of before. 'You've never heard of them, because they don't exist!' Belinda had told me once, when i was explaining whimple gnomes to her. Belinda had never liked Luna, since the latter had once told her that she had a lisky punk hiding in her nose, and she should get it checked out. Belinda hadn't thought she was being serious, just that she was making fun of her fairly large, pointy nose. I nodded at Luna, and looked at the piece of window frame she was examining. She smilied at me strangely and an odd feeling went over me, like she was looking right inside of me.It was a terribly weird sensation.
'Is something bothering you Cleo?' she asked, smiling. I took a small step back, wondering if maybe she didn't really want me there. She'd always liked me being there before, or maybe she was just being polite.
'Um, what, no, am i bothering you, Luna?' i stammered, slightly nervous. Luna's expression remained happy and dreamy.
'Oh no, you're quite pleasant company, you just seem troubled.' she said. It was odd, because that minute was one of the rare moments when i wasn't worrying about anything. As she said it, Sirius, Malfoy, and, for some reason, George popped into my mind, hovering around in my brain like wasps. I shook my head slightly, trying to dislodge them.
'No i'm...i'm fine. I've just got a lot on my mind right now.' i mumbled. Luna nodded and continued her search.
'Hey, is that something there?' i asked, in an effort to take my mind off the situation. I'd seen a small, yellowish green blob in her magnifying glass. She looked at it closely, then turned back to me.
'No, its just a pilfish mite, common house imps. They do enjoy cleaning. But well done for spotting it' she said, her smile growing slightly. I stayed with Luna a while; we searched, (although i had no idea what i was looking at), for nargles and Luna explained about any other creatures that seemed relevant. It was an interesting afternoon, actually. I spent a fair few afternoons with Luna after that, which was a great way to avoid Malfoy too. It seemed he'd made his mind up that he wanted to be friends with me again, and i was sure it had something to do with Belinda not being there anymore. She'd been expelled after another attack on a student, upon whom she used the cruciatus curse. Apparently she was lucky not to be going to Askaban for it. She had almost been expelled after she'd attacked me, and i didn't know why, in truth, that she'd gotten away with it. Do you want to know who she attacked? Heidi Goodwold, Ginny's friend. She was in hospital for six weeks, and not the hospital wing, but St Mungo's. She muttered away to herself for days, even when she came back. And Belinda attacked her simply because Heidi wouldn't stop asking questions about her and Malfoy, so Belinda had turned and started cursing her. Pertificus totalus first, so she couldn't move, and then all sorts of spells, ending up in crucio. So now that he didn't have Belinda, he wanted me? Not bloody likey, and so i kept it that way.
Not only was i hanging out with Luna more, but i'd often spend an afternoon with the Weasley twins, or occasionally just George. I witnessed several practical jokes on Mr Filch which caused me to have to stifle laughter, and once it was too funny for me to control. They unleashed this thing that looked like a muggle sparkler without the stick, and it hovered just out of Filch's eye sight, so he kept jumping around, waving his arms about. He looked like he was trying to fight off an invisible attacker. The two had joined me in my hiding place to watch, and when i couldn't fight the urge to burst out laughing, George quickly placed his hand over my mouth, clamping it shut. I looked at him, and he put a finger to his lips whilst still holding my mouth shut. And it was odd, i got that funny feeling of a sort of fizzing inside me again. It was like George was wearing one of the Weasley's 'Static Shockers' on the hand that had hold of me. I blinked, then nodded my head at him carefully, before looking back at the flailing Filch. I wasn't concentrating on him too much now, my head was spinning, my heart was racing and i felt slightly sick. I got the giggles again and placed my own hand on Georges, holding it there as i laughed silently. I don't know why, but it was weirdly tempting to link my hand in with George's, which i didn't, of course. Instead, we quickly made our way outside, so that we could laugh freely. I exchanged a quick glance with George, before he and Fred started congratulating each other on the marvel of comedy they'd created. They even took a small bow, whilst i clapped greatly, making my hands hurt. After a while, i fell in with Luna, who was walking past, and escaped to our next lesson, during which i gave myself a good talking to. He's far too old for you, three years is just to great an age gap, he'd never like you back anyway, you're just a silly little second year whilst he's in his fifth, stop thinking about him! All of this went round and round in my head throughout charms class, as we learnt to turn a flower into a tea cozy. It was, admittedly, a welcome distraction from my seemably unstopable feelings for Malfoy, which, despite everything, still lingered in my brain. Well, until now, anyway.