Two chapters in one day, that's pretty exciting for me. Hopefully I'll get another in pretty soon. I hope you all like it so far. Please review, it would mean a lot.
Moonchild
Chapter 2
Luna
The next morning, Luna headed down the sloping lawns towards Professor Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures class. Even though Hagrid wasn't her favorite teacher, it was still her favorite class. When she reached Hagrid's hut, she was surprised, but pleased, to see Ginny Weasley there.
"Ginny," said Luna dreamily, "what're you doing down here?"
"I'm here for Hagrid's class," she said. "You?"
"The same," Luna said, "but it's odd, I thought we were supposed to be with the Hufflepuffs for this class."
"Yes, well," Ginny explained, "Hermione was talking about it in our common room. She said that McGonagall had had a talk with the school governors and they decided that, how did she put it, due to the volatile nature of Hagrid's classes and other attributing factors, I think she said, that it wasn't a good idea to pair the Gryffindors with the Slytherins anymore. So they've paired us with you guys now."
"Well that's good," Luna replied. "It's nice having better friends around."
"Alrigh' folks," Hagrid boomed as he stepped out from the paddock near the edge of the forest. "School governors have revised the curriculum, so I can' show yeh some o' the things I'd like to this year, but I think yeh'll like it all the same. So, if yeh want ter follow me over this way," he gestured towards the paddock, "we can get started." They followed him over to the paddock, and Luna couldn't help but feel a bit relieved to hear about the curriculum reform. Maybe this year would be more like the classes Professor Grubbly-Plank had taught when she'd filled in for Hagrid before.
"Alrigh'," said Hagrid once everyone had reached the paddock. "Now, I'll go an' get 'em, but before I do, I want ter give yer all a bit of advice: what I'm about ter show yeh are proud creatures. They're not too dangerous, but they can give yer a good wallop if yer not careful." Some of the students looked nervous, so Hagrid continued. "Look, they won't hurt you so long as you don' insult 'em. We had a problem with tha' with a hippogriff a few years ago, but I think you lot have got a bit more sense than tha'. Alrigh', well, I'll be back in a minute with 'em." After a moment of nervous chatter, Hagrid returned with several beautiful horses, each around 17.5 hands high, in colors ranging from chestnut, palomino, jet black, and pure snow white. The defining feature, though, was that each of them had an enormous pair of wings just behind the shoulder.
After plenty of "oohs" from most of the girls and some of the boys, Hagrid finally got the class settled down. "Alrigh'," said Hagrid, "I'm sure everyone can, but who can tell me what these are?"
Immediately hands flew into the air. "Alrigh', Miss Weasley, I saw your hand first," said Hagrid.
"They're pegasi," said Ginny.
"Righ', take ten points for Gryffindor," said Hagrid. "Alrigh', so these are pegasi. Who can tell me where pegasi originate from?" This time Luna's hand shot into the air. "Yes, Miss Lovegood?"
"Greece," said Luna. "The myth was that Pegasus was born of the god Poseidon and the gorgon Medusa, and then flew to where thunder and lightning is released. Then Athena tamed him and gave him as a gift to Perseus."
"Very good," said Hagrid. "Ten points to Ravenclaw for givin' the righ' answer, an' another ten for teachin' me somethin' I didn' know."
The rest of the lesson carried on well, and as Luna headed back up to the castle, she was pleased with how the lesson had gone. It wasn't quite like a Grubbly-Plank lesson, but much improved from how Hagrid used to teach. Hagrid had assigned a twelve-inch essay on pegasi due the next day, which Luna thought wasn't too bad. She entered the castle and then set off for classroom 1B, which was the Transfiguration classroom. She was anxious to see how the new Professor Lupin was like. When she reached the classroom, the last class, made of up seventh year Gryffindors, was filing out. She could a faint bit of conversation as the rest of the class was leaving.
"Absolutely, you'll have to come by my office sometime for tea. Send me an owl sometime and we'll work something out." A moment later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione came out of the classroom.
"I guess that was Professor Lupin you were talking to?" she asked.
"Hey, Luna," said Hermione. "Yes, that was him."
"What's he like?" Luna asked.
"He's great," said Harry, "but he's not Remus."
"Well," said Ron, "we'd better shove off. We've got Potions in five minutes."
"Yeah," said Harry. "We'll catch you later, alright?"
"Sure thing," said Luna. She went in and found a seat near the front, and waited for the rest of the sixth year Ravenclaws to file in. Professor Lupin was seated at his desk, binding a stack of parchments together. He was wearing a set of sleek robes of dark green with a silver embroidered lining. He looked up from his parchments when he heard Luna's chair move.
"Ah," he said delightedly, "didn't hear you come in. You must be Luna Lovegood."
"Yes," she said. "How did you know?"
"Just because I wasn't around for the kerfuffle with Voldemort and all that, doesn't mean I didn't keep in touch with Remus. Don't get me wrong, I would've liked to help, but I was a bit more interested in staying alive, honestly."
"I don't guess I can blame you," said Luna, "but at the same time, you could've been a bit nobler like your brother."
"Yes, well," said Professor Lupin, "that's great that he was noble, it really is, but which one of us is alive? Oh, here we are, the rest of us are here. We'll go ahead and get started then." He stood from his chair and addressed the class as a whole. "Hello, everyone. It's good to be back at Hogwarts. My name is Professor Romulus Lupin, as I'm sure you all heard at the Welcoming Feast. Some of you may remember my brother Remus, rest his soul. So, I'll be your new Transfiguration teacher. Hopefully I'll be able to live up to Professor McGonagall. So, let's start off by taking attendance." Lupin took attendance and then proceeded with the lesson. They worked on Vanishing spells, and at the end of the class, Professor Lupin assigned a five paragraph essay to be turned in the next day.
"Before you all leave," Professor Lupin called, "I'd like you all to take a bit of parchment, it doesn't have to be much, and I'd just like you to write your name, house, favorite subject, and some interesting facts about yourselves. When you've done that, leave them on your desks and then you're free to go."
Luna then headed to the Great Hall for lunch, and then went through the rest of her day, which consisted of Potions and Ancient Runes. At the end of the day she headed back to Ravenclaw Tower and set to work on her essays for Professors Hagrid, Lupin, Slughorn, and Babbling. Finally, after several hours, she decided it was time for bed. However, after an hour so of not being able to get to sleep, Luna decided to go downstairs and refill the water jug. Normally that was something the house elves did, but she couldn't sleep and it would give her something to do. She started down the stairs, but stopped short. There in an armchair by the fireplace was the dark-haired stranger from the staff table. She crept back up the stairs before he noticed her.
"What in the world is he doing here?" she said to herself as she got back into bed. "Hopefully tomorrow I can get some answers."
