This chapter begins where the last one ends.

Within seconds of getting his cup, Neville dropped it and it shattered on the floor. Trelawney's wand was already out. She pointed at the cup, whispering 'repairo.' Within the second the pink cup had landed, it was reassembled. "Good. One of the blue ones now, dear. That's a good man," she said, just before whispering 'accio' and catching the newly repaired teacup. Taking a second look at Neville she asked,

"You, boy? What's your name?"

"Neville Longbottom, professor."

"Neville, have you heard of your grandmother's state recently? Is she alright?"

"Yes, last I heard. Why?"

"Something is leeching her strength from her. Does she have any male friends?"

"…um…no, why-"

"Write your mother a letter asking how she is doing, then give it to me for interpretation. I think there are some decisions in her life that are coming back to haunt her. She could be in trouble." Neville looked at her with wide eyes, and then sat back down before she could predict any more of his future. She latched her eyes on the next person in sight; Ron.

"You, there. Is your name Ron?"

His look became that of someone who had been randomly picked for execution, "…um… no?"

"You just lied to me. Now, you are currently in a relationship with an unusual form of intimacy, yes? Like what Harry and Luna share?"

"Sure." He said, attempting to make his getaway.

"Make sure you do not let your selfish perspective get in the way of it. You have no idea what you would be getting rid of. Also, just dive into the bonds, it will get rid of your selfishness much q-, Hey! You there? Little girl?"

"Yes?" Said Hermione, not caring what she had to say, since all she was speaking of were possible futures, rather than solid facts.

"Come here." She said, indicating an area right next to her. She whispered something in Hermione's ear. She then stood back up and said,

"What? He'll sleep with someone he doesn't even know without knowing it? How is that even possible?" Her voice hinted that she was rather finished with this professor.

"I don't know, it's just what I saw. It's also about impossible to avoid. All of his most likely futures say so. I haven't seen major events like this so certain in a while. Um….Well, actually…no, that isn't true…" And with that, her eyes unfocused much like Harry's, and she stayed like that until seconds before Harry woke up.

-oOoOo-

Harry said, just before drinking the last of his tea, "She's terribly specific."

"Is Neville's grandmother that woman at the werewolf meeting?"

"Augusta? Yes, she is."

"How do you think she's got something that's leeching her strength?"

"The typical werewolf is a dirty beast when out of control. Before your cure, they didn't care much for hygiene when they were ripping people's throats out, and they would hardly notice if they were infected, even if they had the cure. For example, if a werewolf bit someone with an infection of some sort, he or she is now infected. From then on, as long as a part of their mouth was bleeding, every bite they make or wound they lick would spread the infection. In fact, any form of contact could spread the pathogen, depending on what it was. Augusta could be infected with an energy sapping disease and be a full-time werewolf fighting to infect others with lycanthropy. The regular exhaustion that would occur from infecting people by night and working by day would hide the exhaustion caused by the disease sapping her energy."

"You have a good point. However, I feel as if that has nothing to do with it."

"Then what do you feel?"

"I don't know, but not that." Luna looked at her cup, sighing, "We aren't supposed to be telling our own futures. Here; trade me cups."

"Alright." Harry said, taking her cup as she took his. They looked at their cups for about a minute. Harry then said to Luna, "I don't seem to be getting anything automatically. I guess I have to get my book out."

Luna's was already out, and she was flipping through the pages almost feverishly. Harry, however, was looking through slowly, absorbing the information in the book rather than tell Luna's future. He was uninterested in what was most likely to happen, because it would become more likely if it were good and less likely if it were bad, as they would simply work to prevent the bad stuff and cause the good stuff. In a world where the future has trillions of variable chains of cause and effect, who cares about finding out the most likely path? It's much more likely to travel a completely different path, and is therefore useless. Better to forge your own way from the bottom up, rather than the top down. The only situation in which any form of future sight was useful was if they could see all futures at once and in complete detail, allowing them to hand-pick their own future.

Surprisingly, he read fast enough that he finished the chapter on tea-leaf reading before class was over. He had fifteen minutes to spare, so he looked inside of Luna's cup. What he saw was much less strait forward than what he had expected. Either he was seeing very far into Luna's future, or Luna was a complicated person with a complicated path. The second was most likely. She had a cross, falcon, and skull. The skull meant danger of some kind and was in the center of the falcon, which meant a deadly enemy, though Harry felt that it could take any form. The cross was lying sideways and went through the eagle's neck. The cross meant trials and suffering. The falcon, he felt, was the most immediate threat. In fact, he felt that it had already been a threat for a while. While all of these made sense while put together, there was one last symbol that didn't make any sense. A sun. When holding the cup with his dominant hand, (which was how you were supposed to view it), it rested just above the falcon's head.

"How can that be right?" Harry asked Luna.

"Not now, Harry." She snapped, giving off a wave of heat. Her brow furrowed in concentration. Harry attempted to mentally help her with her search, but for the first time he found her mind closed off to him. Contrary to popular belief, Harry was terrible at breaking down mental barriers. He was far better at mentally negotiating for them to be put down, which entailed a much more convincing form of argument than the usual – emotion. This barrier would not be put down, however.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked her.

"Nothing." She said, smiling at him briefly. The smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Luna, something is wrong. What is it?"

"It's nothing."

"So something is wrong. You just told me. However, wrong things are never 'nothing.' People don't think that things are wrong for no reason. What is it?"

"Harry, quit asking."

A misty voice joined in on the conversation, "Give me the cup, please."

Luna gave the professor a hideous glare. One you would expect someone to feint from, if anyone knew of the sender's capability. Trelawney simply took the cup and looked inside. As soon as her yes met the contents, she simply gave a half smile.

"It appears that you are the unlucky one this year, Harry. Forgive me if I don't congratulate you." She said in a strangely monotone voice. The professor handed Harry the cup, then strode to the front of the room. Harry looked at his cup and saw a dog. Remembering the grim, he now knew why Luna was closing her mind off from him. He interlaced his fingers between hers and she returned his grip. Her mind was now open to him.

Trelawney spoke now, "Does anyone else have the grim?"

One other hand rose from the sea of bean bags. It was someone from Gryffindor that Harry didn't know by name, but who he remembered as an excellent duelist.

Trelawney asked the boy it belonged to, "Is it accompanied by anything else?"

"Yes." The boy answered, "Do you want to know what it is?"

"Yes."

"It's a club."

Her face paled slightly. "Let me see the cup." He gave it to her and she looked inside. Seconds went by, then, "Well, I have good news and bad news, dear. The good news is that this prediction is either several years in the future or very soon, yet highly unlikely. The bad news is that if it is years in the future, it is almost guaranteed that you will die. Did you see the club going through the neck of the grim?"

"Yes. What does it mean?"

"It can mean one of two things, or even both of them. It means that there is a good chance that you will die before facing your enemy; whoever, or whatever that may be. If you do face your enemy, however, your actions can decide whether or not you die. You could die through this either directly or indirectly. You could die during the attack or moments, even years after."

"So, basically prepare myself for every form of attack?" He asked, putting on a face that made some students think that he would beat his enemy. Judging by his dueling record in Harry's classes, he just may, unless it didn't attack him with a wand.

"Not exactly. Were you thinking of anyone while you drank?"

Instantly, the boy responded, "Harry Potter." Luna tensed up at the boy's response. So did the whole class except for Harry.

"…Oh…." She said, her face slowly morphing to take on somber tones. "I…I'm afraid that we are out of time, my dears. Please exit my classroom as soon as you can. I will accept no one staying after class. Except perhaps Potter and Lovegood."

Harry and Luna went to the front of the room while everyone else took the ladder down. The first thing that was said had been said by Harry,

"You really are dramatic, professor."

Luna was silent. She had a blank face.

Trelawney's eyes bulged, "Wait…you don't believe that you will die?"

"Yes. I also believe that you, too, will die. As well as everyone that had just left the classroom. And even Luna will die. What I am wondering is, could you tell when I was going to die?"

Luna said, rather blankly, "Four years."

Both Harry and Trelawney gazed at Luna, Harry in confusion, Trelawney in wonder. Trelawney spoke before Harry,

"Did you just have a-"

"Harry said it as soon as he woke up, which was just fifteen minutes ago."

Trelawney resumed her darker self. Looking at Harry, she asked, "You passed out?"

Harry said, "I think so."

"And you passed out because of the fumes?"

"Yes."

"And you had a dream?"

"I don't remember."

"But you did have one, yes?"

"I might have. I don't know."

Trelawney relaxed a little. She thought for a few moments. "Well, if you woke up and immediately said something that made no sense, then it must have made sense to you. Something in your dream, which had to have happened given the circumstances, made the words 'four years' make sense to you. The only thing that I can think of is if you had a dream of your possible futures all at once, then saw them all end at one point four years away. Now, there are several reasons as to why they would have ended. Maybe you couldn't see far enough, and so your mind interpreted the full extent of your inner sight as death. Four years is a truly impressive extent of your sight, dear boy, especially for your first time. So, it doesn't surprise me that you might have thought, after seeing your futures end all at once, that that is when you must die.

"This is a rather common phenomenon in Divination, though it only occurs with a very small group of people, and so is written off as mysticism and fantasy. I have had two dreams very much like that, stimulated by the very same vapor in the air that made you pass out as well, and I saw about twenty years into the future in both of them. In the more recent of the two, I was supposed to die yesterday, but apparently I didn't."

Luna relaxed considerably, and her mind began 'waking up' from its emotional death as Harry soothed her with his mind. Between them, they promised that they would be careful together; as if that was anything different than what they had already been doing. But still, it helped Luna calm down. Trelawney sensed this and smiled, saying,

"You two are a cute couple."

They smiled and Harry said, "Goodbye, professor." This may have seemed rude, but they had mentally connected with the professor at this point, giving her feelings of gratitude for explaining the situation. Trelawney seemed unsurprised by the contact. Not in the misty, unfocused way, but in the sharp, expecting way.

"Goodbye, dears."

Harry stopped just before leaving, and Luna beat him to the question he was trying to ask.

"Um, hey, professor?"

"Yes?" She said, coming back from a brief daydream.

"Are you partially reptilian?"

"Oh, so you did notice my odd blink at the beginning of class, then?"

"Yes, professor."

"Well, I would have to say that I don't know. I can speak to snakes, though, so I just might be."

-oOoOo-

Harry barely paid attention to much of Transfiguration, as the death omen was brought up. Things became interesting enough during Care of Magical Creatures.

As a result of the Serious-Black-Breaking-Out-of-Azkaban thing, all students in Harry and Luna's class had to be escorted to Care of Magical Creatures from Transfiguration. On the way there, many of the students opened their books, The Monster Book of Monsters, for the first time. Draco mentally asked Harry,

"Um…Harry?"

"Yes?"

"How do I stop this book from trying to bite my face?"

"Just stroke the spine. It should calm down."

"How do you know this?"

"Soul Magic, remember?"

"Oh, right."

-oOoOo-

Hagrid spoke to the class, beaming, "This little beauty is Buckbeak!" Into the clearing strode what struck Harry and Luna as the third most beautiful creature they had ever seen, first being Norberta, second being Caroline. Quite automatically, their minds attempted to bond with Buckbeak. They found themselves impeded by a certain…force. They had not come in contact with this 'force' before, so they had no way to know what it was, why it was there, or how to get around it to bond with the magnificent creature's mind.

"Little beauty?" Harry heard Pansy think maliciously. Ever since Pansy became the center of attention in Slytherin house, Harry decided to keep a mental eye on her without her knowing. Who knows what she could, or would do to impress her new friends?

Harry began listening to Hagrid after Pansy unknowingly interrupted Harry's train of thought, "…are very proud creatures." Hagrid paused for dramatic effect. "Don't ever insult one of 'em…or it might very well be the last thing you ever do… now… who would like to pat 'im first?"

As seen in advance by both Luna and Harry, the entire class stepped back except for the two of them.

"Good! But only one of you can go." Hagrid said, moral boosted and smile widening, something that could hardly be seen behind his giant beard. Luna and Harry felt his mood become brighter as they had a brief mental exchange,

Luna spoke first, "I would like to go." Harry felt her protective instincts mixed into her usual, spacey, and expansive mind. Much of it was deeply admiring Buckbeak, and the rest was intent on protecting Harry. Knowing that the battle was already lost, he thought,

"Right. Be careful…and try not to burn him to a crisp if he attacks you."

"Not in a million years." She thought back to him, humor replacing her concern for Harry, both of which were eclipsed by her admiration for Buckbeak when she took her first step towards the Hippogriff.

Hagrid spoke as Luna entered the fenced-in area, "Now, before you approach a Hippogriff, it is very important that you abide by the proper courtesy. You must take a few steps forward, bow as low as you can and while bowing; look Buckbeak directly in his eye without blinking. It is important that you do not blink, because they don't trust people who blink too much."

Luna stepped forward cautiously. There was a moment when Harry and Luna noticed that Buckbeak's mind became incredibly sensitive….no, that wasn't the right word….Prickly, perhaps? Anyway, it felt hostile. Luna stopped automatically, sensing many possibilities. If it was Harry that was before Buckbeak, Luna would think that Harry was about to die. Luna may have thought that perhaps he would be mentally attacked on top of physically attacked. She wouldn't have taken any chances, would have burned that hippogriff to ashes in seconds. It's a good thing Luna was protective at the right moment.

Hagrid's booming voice pierced through Harry's self reflection. "Now, Luna. Be very careful now. That's it. Now…bow, but do not take your eyes of him and blink as little as possible."

Luna bowed. A stick at her feet broke in half, creating a dry, loud 'CRACK!'

Instantly, Luna and Harry heard the sound of the breaking stick magnified by several times, coming through their mental link with Buckbeak. Buckbeak's mind seemed to… well, they have never seen a mind act the way his acted. The closest thing they could come to describe it would be the word 'bristle.' It was almost as if his mind grew needles. It hurt to maintain a mental link with him. Harry, sensitive as his mind has become to outside influence, developed an intense headache and fell to his knees, grabbing his head and cringing in pain. Luna's mind was a little more refined, and immediately cut off contact with Buckbeak.

Upon feeling this and seeing Buckbeak's agitated behavior, Luna didn't need Hagrid to tell him to back off. Maintaining eye contact, she stepped back one time. Though Harry and Luna couldn't tell if Buckbeak's mind had settled down, they could see an obvious change in his behavior. Buckbeak stood and looked into Luna's eyes with his left eye for a few moments, as if engaging in a staring contest. Then, Buckbeak stepped forward and bowed deeply to Luna. Harry mentally asked Hagrid, who had grown accustomed to mental contact much like Draco,

"Did you teach Buckbeak to do that?"

"No, Harry. There are creatures out there that seem to have formed a universal code. I don't know how it has been formed or how the individual members learn of it, but it is how they decide if someone is to be viewed as a friend amongst them."

"But, couldn't anyone just bow to a Hippogriff?"

"Well, yes, but I think it's more complicated than that. I haven't seen a single truly evil person accepted by a Hippogriff. It's almost as if they can sense how you are. And, besides, could you picture Voldemort-" At this Hagrid physically cringed, "Well, yeah, Voldemort. Could you see him bowing to anything? Especially a Hippogriff?"

The idea of the dark lord bowing to anything or anyone made him laugh – out loud – in real life. Draco asked him mentally,

"What's so funny?"

Harry just sent him a mental picture of Voldemort bowing to Buckbeak. Draco didn't find it as funny as it was to Harry.

At about this time, Luna had approached Buckbeak and was patting his beak and combing his feathers around his eyes. Harry sensed that they were bonding and he cautiously joined them. Harry and Luna were interrupted by Hagrid.

"A'right!" Exclaimed Hagrid, "I believe he'll let you ride him now."

"What?" Asked Luna just before Hagrid picked her up, "Whoa, Hey!" This made Harry's stomach lurch as he felt himself, through his partial connection to Luna, picked up by Hagrid, lifted several feet into the air, tilted, and then brought down onto Hedwig just before severing their active connection. This whole thing was very disorienting and Harry stumbled as his mind attempted to prop himself upright, even though it wasn't him that was being tilted. Pansy Parkinson noticed this and jeered,

"Going to faint, Potter?"

"That'll do it!" Hagrid said as he gently set Luna on Buckbeak's back. "Hold on! And don't pull out his feathers! He won't thank you for that!" And then he smacked Buckbeak on the hindquarters to get him going.

Harry reconnected with Luna just soon enough to experience what Luna was experiencing, which was being thrust into the air on Buckbeak. This made him stumble again, attempting to regain a balance that he hadn't lost in the first place.

"That's going to take a while to get used to."

Then, after she had overcome the awe of being on Buckbeak, Luna thought to Harry, "You still have problems with balance when we are connected?"

"Yes." Harry thought, using an exasperated voice with the thought. "After a whole year of riding a dragon with you, yes."

Luna mentally laughed a laugh that was a shadow of her real laugh, but was still beautiful. This laugh drowned out the jeers from Pansy, Crabb, and Goyle. Harry sensed her mind return to her flight and he leaned against a tree, now seeing the world through Luna's senses. Harry felt Luna's long hair pulled back by the wind as Buckbeak's powerful wing muscles pulsated under her, his wings brought down and up and down again. Harry could feel the sun on Luna's face. The air smelled much crisper above the trees, and Harry could feel a cool wind rolling in, hinting of winter's snowfall and dark, chilled nights. Those beautiful nights where one could seek warmth in the heart and mind of another, sharing thoughts and heat.

-oOoOo-

Buckbeak and Luna landed, giving Harry another feeling of intense vertigo. Luckily, he was leaning against a tree. He still flinched, though. During his flight with Luna, Buckbeak had become mentally bonded to the two of them. Apparently, the ceremony of bowing to a Hippogriff and being accepted allows for someone to mentally bond with one. Otherwise, the mind is totally impenetrable. Harry, and by extension Luna, took a mental note on this, wondering if this was a natural defense mechanism or the result of a specialized, or even greater, intelligence.

When Buckbeak and Luna landed, Hagrid yelled, "Well done! Well done, Luna! And well done, Buckbeak!"

When Harry came-to while underneath the tree, he had barely opened his eyes before hearing Draco say,

"Hey! Harry! Wake up!"

Harry opened his eyes sleepily and said, "I wasn't asleep."

Pansy interrupted, "Because you feinted, Potter!"

Draco resumed his conversation with Harry mentally, "What was that, then? What were you doing?"

"I was joining my mind with Luna's to experience flying on Buckbeak."

"Really? Is that possible?"

"Yes, but it is hard to get used to."

"Will I be able to do that with my dragon?"

"If I am able to get you one and you are able to bond with it."

"You don't think I can?"

"Of course I do. Just…for the time being, bond with as many animals as possible. A Mother's Love Bond is a hard thing to form. I was lucky enough that Norberta was receptive. If she hadn't been, I wouldn't have come near to bonding with her."

"Are you two going to kiss?" Pansy interrupted snarkily, faking a flirtatious tone. Apparently, they had been staring at each other for too long while being too close.

Knowing how to play the game, Draco came back "Ha! Like you and that troll!?"

For a second, Pansy's guard seemed to go down, "Wh—Hey! Marcus is not a Troll!"

"Oooooh! So it's 'Marcus,' eh? What, so you and Flint are on a first-name basis now? What happened to 'Spot Face,' I wonder? And what about 'Brick Brains'? What happened to th-?"

"Oh, just shut it!" Pansy yelled, pushing Draco. Surprisingly, Draco fell over quite hard. It wasn't surprising to Harry that Pansy was strong for someone her age, given his past relations with other women. He did have a veela for a wife and McGonagall as a teacher. What surprised Harry was that Draco didn't realize this in time to dodge her. Or did he?

When Draco got up, Hagrid yelled, "Miss Parkinson! If I see you lay a hand on another student again, I will give you detention with me in the Forbidden Forest!" The bellow would have been terrifying to hear indoors. It was still very intimidating outdoors. Then there was the Forbidden Forest. After 'the two monstrous killer snakes and the dragon' came to the forest, it had become a place openly feared among the students, though there were many who secretly wished to see them and some had even tried, despite knowing that one of the snakes was a basilisk and the dragon could burn you to a crisp. Their most frequent visitors were Fred and George for obvious reasons. Which masters of mischief could pass on seeing that? After a few visits, Fred and George were almost killed or severely maimed several times trying to find them, and eventually earned their friendship, though not their complete trust. Again, for obvious reasons.

With the threat of the forest, Pansy Parkinson nodded and said sweetly, "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble, Hagrid." Draco grinned slightly in Harry's direction before returning to the front of the group of students.

"I'm sure you are." Grumbled Hagrid between his beard hair, turning from her. "Good!" Hagrid spoke to the whole class, "Now, would you all like to try befriending a hippogriff?"

Several of the students nodded, and Hagrid put his fingers to his mouth, whistling loudly. Several hippogriffs appeared. Some flew in overhead, others trotted in from the forest. They came in many colors. There was Buckbeak's mottled grey, and then there were some who wore patterns of black, gold, yellow, orange, even one who's underside was pink and the outside was the brightest white. One was a dull red. There was a slightly green one as well. It seems that there was one for every five students. How Hagrid got a hold on these Hippogriffs, Harry had no idea. As long as the students didn't do anything stupid, everything should be OK, though. Well… hopefully.

Of course, things never do turn out perfectly, do they? Harry was just barely beginning to congratulate Hagrid on his first class with them when he heard Pansy's distinct voice say, "You aren't dangerous at all, are you, you oversized bird?"

That's when Harry felt two distinct pillars of fiery rage spewing from two very close minds in the clearing. He turned around just soon enough to witness Luna flooring Parkinson in the face before Buckbeak's talon cut a deep gash in Luna's back. In both of their rages over the insult, Luna had put herself in the talon's path, and Buckbeak didn't pay close enough attention to lighten the blow. Luna and Buckbeak immediately regretted their actions. Then Luna, bleeding, raging, and smelling blood, began to struggle with her own mind, a portion of which, Harry noticed, seemed to have taken on a mind of its own.

It took Harry half a second to realize that Luna's wolf form, for the first time, was threatening to reveal its true and unleashed self. There were no safeguards on her, unlike Harry, who realized that there was likely no one else that knew what was about to happen. Harry and Luna both clutched their hair, straining against her wolf form. It seemed to be far more powerful than his was. Or maybe it was just cooped up and aching to roll some heads. Luna groaned and fell to her knees, completely ignoring the gash on her back, instead fighting with her mind.

After a second's thought, 'Well, duh,' He took his ring off (the one that warns all teachers of an adrenaline rush experienced by the wearer) and put it around Luna's finger. Then he took out his second sleeping potion and attempted to mentally contact Dumbledore and the Sorting Hat. Both of them seemed to be absent, or at least their minds were hidden to him. He settled for McGonagall as he uncorked the small bottle, putting his left arm around Luna's thin frame and holding the bottle in front of her, waiting for her to drink it. She commanded his arm as she would her own, leading it to let her drink from the potion, and the action was completed perfectly.

Then her grip on the wolf slipped a little.

"Shit." Harry heard her mumble as her hands squeezed her head tighter.

As this was happening, McGonagall responded to Harry's mental probing with a wary, "What is that?" Although, he could tell that she was thinking to herself rather than to him.

"Professor! It's Luna, she-!"

"Ah! Yes, Harry, I'm already on my way." And then the connection was cut off.

The entire class was standing in a circle, watching large black hairs grow on Luna's body, slowly replacing her pure white hair despite her and Harry's efforts, not to mention the sleeping potion that could kill a normal person. Despite the grimness of the situation, it was going much better than how it could be going, though it could have been going better.

"So, instead of the werewolf coming out like a jack-in-the-box to catch everyone by surprise, it's just going to slowly seep out of Luna's pours as everyone watches in horror….And then the hunt will begin. Lovely."

But then something happened. Harry was forced out of Luna's mind. Then, almost immediately, the hairs stopped growing, and the werewolf stopped gaining mental strength. Then the hair began retracting back into Luna's skin. What was happening? Who could be interfering? He searched around Luna's mind. Whatever was acting on Luna wasn't doing so from outside. Strange. Harry would dive into Luna's mind now, but he felt that it wasn't safe. Whatever was going on in Luna's head was not something that she was capable of doing. Her mental activity now, compared to her normal activity, was like comparing the sun to a bonfire.

Then it was over. Luna's mind dimmed to normal levels and the wolf stopped struggling. She lay on her side and promptly succumbed to the sleeping potion, snoozing until only a few minutes before her last class that day. Teachers appeared, Harry healed Luna's wound, but not before several teachers saw it. Later that day, rumors began spreading around about concerns with Buckbeak. Many seemed to believe that when this event was brought to the Ministry's attention, that they would act against Buckbeak, likely calling for an execution after a trial. It was common knowledge that many Ministry employees, particularly one Miss Umbridge, did not care for an animal that attacked students.

Despite the strangeness of the situation, Buckbeak's probable execution isn't what disturbed him the most (though it was a big factor). What disturbed Harry the most was why Luna's wolf didn't take control. The reason she didn't turn? He couldn't find one. He had asked the school's teachers, the students, Luna, every companion in and out of the Forbidden Forest, and the Sorting Hat, and not one had stopped Luna from turning. Several of them had tried to, but had been pushed out by a tremendous force, and couldn't tell what the force was. Dumbledore is the only one that had been slightly suspicious when asked. Mentally empty he responded,

"I had attempted to save Luna, but before even beginning to try I had realized, given your present mental company, that I did not need to."

And with a wink, he sent Harry away.