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"She's gone to bed now," Mandy said, entering the common room. "Have you got her things back?"

"What are you talking about?" Michael looked up from a game of chess with Terry.

"Luna, of course," Mandy said, rolling her eyes. She stopped before the boys and fixed them with a look of mild reproof. "She really wanted to finish packing tonight."

"I'm still not sure…" Michael began, but Mandy cut him through with a heavy sigh.

"I know it's you that's been taking her things and hiding them. It's not very nice of you. And since this is the last night before summer vacation, you had better go and bring them back."

"Did you tell her it were us?" Terry asked her, receiving a frown from Michael at such uncalled for display of honesty.

"No," Mandy replied, seating herself in a nearby armchair. "But she must know it. She's not stupid."

"She is a bit loony, though," Michael remarked. "I wonder how she got sorted into Ravenclaw. She doesn't fit here."

"She does well in her classes, even if she is a bit… odd," Mandy said, frowning.

"A bit odd," Michael repeated, smirking at this grand understatement.

"I wonder why she hasn't said anything, if she knows it were us," Terry spoke.

"I'd have a great deal to tell you, if you ever tried nicking my stuff," Mandy promised them darkly.

"Yes, any normal person would," Michael winked.

"Is that why you're doing it?" Mandy demanded, narrowing her eyes. "You want to catch her attention! You want her to talk to you! You like her!"

"Me like Loony Lovegood!" Michael exclaimed, and burst out laughing. "You are insane."

"I do wish she would say something, though," Terry remarked, so softly that it was barely audible over his friend's guffaws.

"Sometimes she freaks me out," Mandy confessed. "I feel sorry for her because she has no friends and people are unkind to her, but I do not like the way she looks at me. As if she could read my thoughts. It's… disturbing."

"I know what you mean," Terry agreed. "She does have all those crazy theories, and she says strange things, and she believes strange things, but I think it's her unwavering frankness and honesty that throws people off."

"She speaks of things we take care not to mention," Mandy said. "Some people think she does it out of spite, others that out of foolishness. I think—"

"Yes?" Terry prompted, scrutinizing. Something about his look reminded her of Luna – it wasn't the way he studied her, because Luna's gaze was rarely as sharp, yet it still caught everything. She wondered about the accusation she had thrown at Michael – a jest, no more – and whether it might be closer to truth upon Terry. Because Terry was a serious boy, and not at all the sort to play tricks on girls by taking their belongings and hiding them.

I do wish she would say something, he had told her.

If only she would say something, confront us, Mandy thought. If only she could be a little less weird, a little less frank. I could be friends with her, I'd like to be friends with her. But she creeps me out, and that's the truth of it.

"I think we should go and return her things," she finished lamely.

"We'll go," Michael promised. "We'll just finish the game and then we'll go."

Mandy nodded and returned to her room – she had her own packing to finish. It was easier not to think about Luna.