Of Fred and Tonks, or

And Who Will Call the Wild-Briar Fair?

Chapter 8

Lucia stood on her seat to drag down her smallish bag from the rack over her head. When she turned back around to hop down to the floor, she gave a sharp exclamation of surprise. Another girl was sitting in the seat Astoria had vacated, playing with Victoria. This girl was short and had a round face, dishwater-blond hair just barely shorter than Lucia's, and luminous, silvery eyes; she wore an odd, sparkly, pink robe.

"Traitor," Lucia said to the cat, who was playing madly with some bright, feathery thing the girl was dangling over her.

"She likes my borogrove-feather necklace," the girl said serenely.

"Borogrove? As in mimsy borogrove?"

"Oh, no. This one wasn't from a mimsy borogrove. My father's friend's brother-in-law would never have been able to get it for me if it was mimsy. They always hide exceedingly well at that time of the year."

"But borogroves don't actually exist, do they? They're from a nonsense poem."

"And who wrote that poem? A Muggle who had a friend named Alice—who was not a Muggle. She used to tell him stories, which he wrote down and made famous among Muggles."

"What? I thought he told her the stories."

"Oh, no."

"Then the rabbit—"

"An Animagus. He'd been trapped in rabbit form by the dark witch who called herself Regina Cruenta."

"Regina Cruenta," Lucia repeated, translating in her mind. "'The Blood-Red Queen'?"

The girl smiled dreamily. "Yes. She had the potential to be very bad indeed, but Alice helped defeat her."

"With a flamingo and a pack of cards, I suppose."

"Yes, exactly. You can read all about it in Muggle Tales With Magical Foundations, by the Grimm Sisters."

"Who are you?" Lucia asked as she had asked Astoria, wondering if non-Muggles ever introduced themselves properly.

"Luna Lovegood. I came to look at you, because they say you're Draco Malfoy's doppelgänger—kind of his soul in a girl's body."

"That's ridiculous."

"Oh, I know. I knew that the first moment I looked at you. Draco's doppelgänger couldn't possibly have eyes like yours."

"Thank you, I think."

"Can I have some of that?" She gestured at the bottles by Lucia's side.

"Er—" She gave her one. At least she'd find out what House the strange girl was in. Hufflepuff, probably.

Luna uncorked the bottle and sniffed it. Then, instead of drinking it, she pointed her wand at the window. "Revibro!" Before Lucia's eyes, the window turned into a mirror. Luna lifted the bottle in a kind of salute. "To Fred. And Tonks."

Fred Lucia understood. Who was Tonks? Luna was watching her reflection and sipping delicately, and her hair was turning a very pale and delicate shade of blue. Lucia hadn't quite expected Ravenclaw, but the girl did seem to have a great deal of knowledge about strange things.

"That'll do." She pushed the cork back into the bottle and gave it back to Lucia. "Thank you. I needed something to match my Hogwarts robes."

"But you're wearing pink."

Luna looked down at herself. "Oh." She tapped her shoulder with her wand, and her robes rippled into black. Now there was a badge on the left, like Astoria's, except blue, with an eagle instead of a snake.

"You're a Prefect!" She wanted to take back her stupid statement of the obvious the moment she'd said it, but Luna only nodded and examined her faintly blue hair again.

"You know, Tonks really had the right idea. Aren't you going to put yours on?"

"Blue hair?"

"Your robes. Though you'd look very nice with blue hair. Maybe after the Sorting?"

"Maybe." She struggled into her robes. "I've never liked black. It makes me look so peculiar."

"It makes you look like Draco. But no one could ever mistake you."

"Obviously, as I'm a girl."

"No, I mean you're so different no one could ever think you were like him. Your whole air is different." Luna smiled at her. "We're here. Bye. I hope you're in Ravenclaw."

As she was fading through the door, Lucia called after her, "I say, your hair looks marvelous!"

Luna smiled back at her. "Tonks would have approved, don't you think?"

She was gone before Lucia could ask who Tonks was.

Author's Note: For borogroves, mimsy or otherwise, see Alice In Wonderland.