A Bedside Companion

For the next couple of days Hermione was utterly confused. Luna confused her naturally.

She decided to put S.P.E.W. on hold for a while after Luna had been announced the new Ravenclaw Seeker. After all, it was hard to squeeze in an advertisement for S.P.E.W. when everyone was blabbering about Loony the Seeker.

Hermione brooded through her N.E.W.T classes much to Ron and Harry's bewilderment. It wasn't everyday that Ron asked a question about potions and Hermione snapped, "I don't know, you bumbering idiot, why don't you look it up for once?"

But then again, it wasn't everyday that Luna Lovegood made the Quidditch team. Nothing in Hermione's vast intellectual capacity could fully explain this anomaly.

How on earth Luna became Seeker? Hermione did think it was quite gallant of the girl to show up for tryouts, but she never could quite comprehend the fact that out of all the hopeful contenders, Luna Lovegood was the one chosen.

Her Malfoy theory was the most reasonable thing she could come up with. The Slytherins did want the Cup desperately, having been beaten by Gryffindor several years in a row. It wasn't out of the question that Malfoy would do such a thing. He was a Slytherin, after all.

Hermione decided to have a civil conversation on the matter and confronted Malfoy and his gang about it. As expected, they denied any involvement ("Stratten just did the work for us, the good bloke he is," snickered Malfoy, who was still an odd shade of slimy pink). Even when Hermione had her wand at Malfoy's throat, he still denied it, and his sobbing revealed that he was, in fact, telling the truth.

Hermione wondered if the Slytherins had Confunded Stratten after all.

But that only meant—the team captain had made the clear and conscious decision to pick Luna as team Seeker.

Inconceivable.

This had to be some new strategy the Ravenclaws were using. Some students joked that if Luna were on the pitch, she would at least distract her opponents so Ravenclaw could score enough points and it wouldn't matter who caught the Snitch in the end. (Luna's new position had given many, even those of her own House, new fodder to make fun of Loony Lovegood. It all gave Hermione the sudden urge to master all the jinxes in her textbooks.)

That, or Luna was actually a capable Seeker.

Inconceivable.

Of course, it wasn't like Hermione could find out from the source. Whenever Hermione asked Luna how she had become Seeker, the Ravenclaw would only reply, "Well, I heard that there were Quidditch tryouts so I decided to show up—" Hermione quickly gave up on asking Luna questions about her newfound position.

The other Quidditch players weren't much help either. Stratten's surprise move had scared the other teams, and suddenly all the Houses had taken a vow of silence when it came to matters of Quidditch, out of fear of being overheard. When Stratten was questioned about his decision, he only said, "Sorry mate, can't talk now, got to go to Charms in five minutes," despite the fact that it was eight in the evening and he was already done with classes for the day.

Even Harry and Ron had taken to the habit, casting Muffliato when they talked about some new plan or whatever, and even with the spell in place, they still constantly looked over their shoulders for Extendable Ears from eavesdroppers.

It became regular for students to guard the pitch entrances, so no inter-House spy could sneak in and steal a hard won strategy. Hermione had found this out when she had wanted to watch the Ravenclaw practice and instead encountered a rather thick set sixth year who threatened to hex her if she didn't leave. Hermione had the mind to hex him herself—after all, she probably knew twice as many spells than he did—but she decided against it. Even if she did knock him out and she did sneak in successfully, any sight of her would automatically label her as a spy. And, as Head Girl, that wouldn't be very good for her image.

She even considered asking Harry if she could borrow his Invisibility Cloak, but she knew at once he would suspect something, and she didn't want to drag either of the boys into her personal problems. They were more of a bother when it came to more emotional matters, anyway.

Of course, this endless mystery angered her—she could easily manage her N.E.W.Ts, and was by far the brightest witch of her year, but she couldn't figure out what on earth was going on. This only made her furious, and she spent her angry periods meticulously planning the scathing lecture she would erupt in Luna Lovegood's face, and after classes were over, she would tromp off to find the target of her rage—

Hermione saw Luna less often due to Quidditch practice. That fact made her angry too, and fueled her coming explosion. But sometimes she would find the girl sitting underneath a tree or behind a bush, reading a comic book or swatting at Wrackspurts, and the sight of the little Ravenclaw drained all the anger away.

This happened every other day or so, and their conversations were short, and followed the usual framework:

"Are you still Seeker today?" Hermione would ask, weakly, hoping that Stratten had finally come to his senses and changed his roster. Her internal fury had certainly taken its toll on her mind.

"Yes, Hermione, I'm still Seeker," Luna would reply, still reading her comic book or swatting invisible creatures.

And then Luna would start talking about something, usually some silly animal she found in her father's magazine, and Hermione would listen as she did her homework and would remark now and then about how absurd this animal was, but despite her words she found herself listening not because she felt sorry for Luna, but because she liked hearing Luna's whimsical voice, and she missed it—and then Luna would check her watch (not really a watch, since its face had ten perpetually moving hands), and say, "Oh dear, I'm going to be late for Quidditch practice." (Even if she heard it a thousand times, Hermione still wouldn't believe those words escaped the girl's lips) and then Luna would skip away, leaving Hermione feeling sad and bewildered and a bunch of other things.

It wasn't like Hermione got depressed when she didn't see Luna so much. It wasn't depression, exactly, it wasn't just one emotion—it was a terribly, totally illogical, mix of feelings—even with her immense vocabulary she couldn't find the right word for it. She couldn't even find the right words. She was just sad and angry and worried and confused and happy all at the same time when she thought of Luna, but she couldn't find the words that fit her inner turmoil perfectly, and that frustrated her.

Hermione didn't see Luna for a week. Even if she scarcely saw the Ravenclaw, it hadn't been as much as seven days, and that worried her.

She hoped Luna hadn't hurt herself during practice—Hermione checked the hospital wing daily, just in case—but after a while she worried that Luna had perhaps injured herself bad enough that she had to be sent home. It would explain why she didn't even see her in the hallways anymore. Soon enough her worry was replaced by panic.

Of course, she couldn't very well hide her distress from Ron and Harry. She spent more time snapping at them than usual.

"You think it's that time of the month?" Ron asked Harry.

"If you count six weeks as that time of the month," Harry replied.

The boils they received didn't disappear for two weeks.

It was finally one evening that Hermione spotted Luna by a cluster of bushes—at least, the spotted a group of Gryffindor fifth years, giggling and pointing at a cluster of bushes, where the Ravenclaw had hid herself.

Hermione approached them and cleared her throat. The Gryffindors turned to see a stern looking Head Girl—Hermione made sure that her wand was visible, as a silent reminder that she could do horrible things to them with it—and the girls only smiled innocently and scampered away.

"Hi, Luna," Hermione said, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Hello, Hermione," Luna replied. And before Hermione could say anything more, she said, "Yes, I'm still Seeker." She didn't seem bothered at all by the prior ridicule, as she flipped through her comic book.

"I guess I can hope for tomorrow, then," Hermione said. She was much too happy to see Luna that it was impossible for her to be angry. "How long do you have before practice?" If she was lucky, maybe she could have ten minutes with her. Ten wonderful minutes—

Why was she so desperate to talk to her?

"Two hours," replied Luna.

"It'll be dark by then."

Luna turned a page in her comic book. "Jeremy wants to see how well I can catch Snitches at night."

It was hard enough to catch Snitches during the day. What on earth was Stratten doing with her? Of course, if Hermione couldn't get any answers out of the other Quidditch players, she knew it would be impossible with Luna. She had already tried that tactic for the past couple weeks and it only frustrated her.

Hermione sighed and sat down next to the Ravenclaw. She opened one of her books, intent on finishing her essay.

Their past encounters had only been in passing, a couple sentences exchanged and then either Hermione or Luna had to go off and do something. It had been ages since Hermione had been with Luna for more than half an hour.

They sat in a comfortable silence, as Luna was reading her comic upside down and Hermione was reading her Transfiguration textbook the normal way.

"Did you know that there was another Snorkack sighting?" Luna finally asked.

"Those nonsense things?" Hermione said, taking notes on her parchment.

"It is not nonsense," Luna said sternly. "Apparently they're not just in Sweden but in the United States as well." She very well knew the Gryffindor wanted to hear more about the story. "It was seen near this place called Ohio—a farmer said it looked like a deformed cow. But in my opinion, it looks less like a cow and more like a pig, that is, if a pig and a hippo were to mate, and the hippo managed to be furry and the pig managed to be purple—"

And Luna continued to talk about the similarities of the Crumple Horned Snorkack to certain animal species, and just how this creature was sighted in Ohio, and Hermione listened and said things like, "You couldn't honestly believe that," or "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." But Luna kept on talking, and Hermione kept on listening, and although to the objective listening it would sound like an argument, they enjoyed this verbal exchange a great deal, having been devoid of it for so long.

After a while Luna set her book down and stretched. "I am sleepy," she mumbled.

"Take a nap then," said Hermione. She turned a page in her textbook.

"But people might steal my things," Luna replied. "That's what usually happens when I sleep—they find it hilarious—"

"Their faces will be covered in boils before they get within three and a quarter meters of your things, Luna." Hermione was speaking in all seriousness.

"You could just tell them to go away," Luna said.

"No. Boils are better." A satisfying image of a boily Harry and Ron crossed her mind.

Luna mulled over this a bit, before she replied, "Thank you, Hermione." And then before long she was curled up beside the Gryffindor, napping like a content little puppy.

The sun was setting. Hermione stopped studying for a while as she watched the sky turn a pleasant pinkish orange. She felt strangely content, sitting there. A peace came over her then, thinking about how nice the sky looked and girl sleeping beside her.

Yes, S.P.E.W. was close to death, and the world had turned upside down—but just Luna Lovegood's presence made everything suddenly feel all right—

A strong breeze soon passed through. Luna didn't have her school robe with her—she probably left it somewhere (or some insensitive bastard had stolen it), and when Hermione glanced at Luna to see her thin frame shivering.

"Luna?" Hermione said.

The Ravenclaw was still fast asleep, despite her physical discomfort.

"We should go inside. It's getting cold—"

Still no answer.

"Luna!" Hermione shouted in the girl's ear.

Luna continued to slumber and shiver. God, she could probably sleep through the apocalypse—

Hermione figured if Luna stayed here much longer she would catch a cold. But she continued to watch her, how Luna looked so content, sleeping there, and Hermione couldn't get herself to wake her.

"Honestly," Hermione muttered to herself. She slid off her own robe and draped it over the Ravenclaw's sleeping form. Luna stirred beneath the black and maroon colored cloak.

Hermione tried to go back to her reading, but found herself flustered. She glanced at Luna, her hands folded underneath her head as she lay on her side, a relaxed smile on her lips. She reached out a reluctant hand and brushed Luna's smooth, sun drenched cheek. The younger girl shifted and turned her head, her silver mane of hair shining. She giggled and muttered something, incoherent at first, but soon formed slurred words.

"See?" she murmured, her voice a bit more whimsical than usual. "I told you Snorkacks were real, Hermione—"

Hermione gasped and withdrew her hand. Luna was certainly having a dream, no doubt, a dream about those absurd Crumple Horned Snorkacks—but she was in it too.

Luna's words struck her as strangely familiar—she racked her mind, trying to find out why they felt so familiar—but it was so difficult, trying to think amongst all the shock and everything else she was feeling.

A dream she had ages ago, she had long forgotten it, having been consumed by all this Quidditch nonsense. But it then struck her, all of a sudden, like a thousand charging Hippogriffs that hit her straight in the gut—the vivid image of a mirror, and standing with a certain wide eyed Ravenclaw with an absurd horned little creature—an odd sensation, like a euphoric shiver down her spine—

"Look, see, isn't he cute?" Luna murmured. "Let's keep him, Hermione—he can sleep between us in bed—"

In bed?

Luna stirred, slowly surfacing into consciousness. Hermione wondered if Luna had been woken by her mental shock, since even a scream in the ear couldn't wake her. She rolled on her side and gave Hermione a sleepy smile. "Hmmm?"

Hermione groped madly for an answer. She could feel her neck burning under her collar, with the girl looking at her like that—

"You were talking," she muttered.

"Oh, was I?" Luna asked, rubbing her eyes. She sat up and stretched. She finally registered the Gryffindor cloak that half covered her. "This is yours."

"Well yes," Hermione replied, a bit tentatively. "You looked cold."

Luna was silent for a moment, registering the Gryffindor's words. "Thank you, Hermione." She gave Hermione another heart melting smile.

Hermione felt as if her chest was just about to explode. She looked away, her cheeks scarlet. "Yes—yes, sure, Luna." She cleared her throat turned back to her essay.

But Luna certainly didn't read the hint. Or she did. Hugging Hermione's robe to her chest, she scooted closer to the Gryffindor, till their arms touched. Hermione's quill halted mid-letter.

"D'you want to know what my dream was about, Hermione?" Luna asked, her voice close to Hermione's ear, her breath brushing the girl's neck.

Hermione could barely form words. "Erm—"

Of course she knew what that absurd dream was about. Luna had been talking, and Hermione had certainly been listening. But for an instant Hermione wanted to listen to Luna, wanted to hear everything, where they were, what they did, how they found that silly Snorkack and why on earth they were sharing a bed. The thought of being in Luna's dream made Hermione feel higher than anything—but she shoved it all aside.

"Isn't it almost Quidditch?" Hermione croaked.

Luna checked her hundred-hand wristwatch. "Oh yes, it is, isn't it?" she asked. She handed Hermione her robe before she stood up and brushed herself off. "Good-bye, then, Hermione."

"Good-bye, Luna."

And Luna began to trot off in the direction of the Quidditch pitch before she stopped, and stood there for a moment before she turned around.

"I suppose I was a bit forward," she said, thoughtfully.

Hermione's eyes did not leave the parchment. "I don't know what you mean," she lied.

"I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable, Hermione," the Ravenclaw went on, as if she had heard nothing at all. "Good-bye, then."

Hermione shifted uneasily in her seat. "Yes, erm, good-bye, Luna."

"Good-bye." Luna smiled and trotted away, leaving Hermione more sad and bewildered as ever before.