A/N: Hey guys! I've been having trouble with uploading chapters with my new computer so this update was delayed. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I will probably upload the next chapter before the end of the month. Trying to catch up on my promise!

In terms of Luna not really being homesick, she is. Given it isn't even Christmas yet, she's probably not exactly "home"sick, but more so wanting to just go back to her time. You will see her struggling with that next chapter and onwards. She's mostly just caught up with having to keep up with Riddle and not so much forgetting about where she's from. Don't worry!

Curse Averted

Luna was stunned. She wondered if she had heard him correctly. He cared that people were bumping into her? It certainly wasn't their fault since they couldn't see her so why was he so upset about it? She fiddled her necklace. The warmth she felt from Riddle began to spread from her heart. She looked over at the boy who had given her her own room in the Slytherin dormitories, brought her food every day, and allowed her to join the festivities tonight. For all she knew, the hardheaded boy was changing.

She smiled softly as she watched him discuss with his fellow housemates. She knew he must have prefect duties and they must be doubly diligent under tonight's circumstances. She looked up toward the brightly lit stairwell again. There were so many things to occupy her time that she didn't dawdle.

On the first floor, she found tables filled with every sort of pie a witch or wizard could conjure. From rhubarb to gooseberry, pumpkin to carrot, even aubergine. She decided to go with the traditional pumpkin pie. Although it was nothing compared to her mother's, it served as a calming balm over her jitters from thinking about him. As she gobbled away at her pie, she realized no one was paying her floating plate any attention. The occasion was giving her, an invisible girl, the most perfect of covers. She skipped with her pie to the second floor to see what else was in store.

The second floor was arts and crafts. Everything from decorating pumpkins and squashes to painting your own cornucopia. She slowly made her way down the tables, enjoying everyone's handiwork. Some were doing it the muggle way with glitter and paintbrushes while others were conjuring their artwork into being.

"You're not afraid of being caught?"

Luna jumped at the voice. It came just behind her right shoulder. She turned to find the floppy black-haired boy named Lestrange. Up close, he stood way taller than Riddle, almost double her height.

"Sorry," he grinned. "Didn't mean to scare you." He chortled at the irony.

She returned the smile at her new company. She had hoped to bump into the Hufflepuff girl here, but she didn't have such luck so far. "Well, I might say you should have."

"Raziel Lestrange," he introduced and stuck out his hand.

She hesitated, but took it. "Luna Lovegood."

"Wandering a bit far, aren't you Luna?"

Her eyebrows knitted in confusion. "I'm just on the second floor." It was odd hearing her first name. So far Riddle had called her Lovegood while most students called her Loony.

"I mean away from Riddle." He started walking to the stairs and she followed him. "I've noticed since the first History of Magic that you sit with him at every one of his classes."

"You did? How come you didn't say anything?" She was baffled that the boy had seen her all this time and she didn't even notice. She had only been watching the whole group every class.

"What's the use of being a Slytherin if I can't be discreet?" He smirked. Luna was realizing a smirk was another reptilian trademark. "Besides, if Riddle wanted us to know about you, he would have told us so."

She simpered. "That's very respectful of you."

"Why, thank you." He bowed. "I am the only gentleman in my house."

She laughed, then stopped herself. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed.

They had reached the third floor. There were different carnival games at each booth. Lestrange laughed as they saw a fourth year Ravenclaw bob for an apple, completely miss, and come up choking on the water. "You should try!" he suggested.

Luna thought about how he would talk as she played and the puzzled looks on the students. She dropped her gaze to the floor. "I think I better not."

"Come on," He grabbed her arm and started pulling her towards a different booth on the other side of the stairwell. They stopped and watched students trying and failing to throw a pumpkin into a basket five metres away. Pumpkin innards littered the floor of the booth as the orange vegetables flew through the air. "I'm the master of this. Watch!" Lestrange slammed down three knuts on the table and a house-elf handed him a pumpkin. He had the large plant in one hand and with an effortless toss, landed it into the basket.

Luna cheered. "That was wonderful!"

The same elf brought back a large plush hippogriff and gave it to Lestrange. "Child's play," he gloated. "Here," He plopped the toy in Luna's arms. "For you. You always seemed so sullen and quiet during the times I see you. Hope this cheers you up."

She looked up at him with her wide, protuberant eyes. "Raziel, I-"

"Don't say no. Slytherins don't take no for an answer."

She smiled again. She was losing count as to how many times she had smiled with him. "Thank you. It's beautiful." She looked down at the toy. The hippogriff had large blue eyes with a brown, fluffy body and soft gray wings. She nuzzled its head. "I shall name it Raz."

"Finally," He grinned down at her. "The girl can smile!" he announced.

Luna giggled. They made their way up two more floors before she overheard a girl telling her friends the maze was about to close. She pulled Lestrange to stop beside her. "I haven't gone through the maze yet!"

"Go. Riddle is probably beginning to miss you. It's been almost three hours already. Time certainly passes fast when you're having fun." He winked at her.

She was startled to hear his name again, and surprised she hadn't thought of him in the past couple of hours when all she could do the past month was dream the green-eyed boy. "He won't miss me. He has a duty to uphold." Luna noted the pang in her heart when realizing Riddle indeed wouldn't care if she was lost forever.

Lestrange chuckled softly. "Riddle always keeps a close eye on what is his." He bade her goodnight and disappeared into the throng of students.

Luna clutched her hippogriff and descended the stairs. She pondered what Lestrange could have possibly meant when he said Riddle keeps a close eye on what is his. He couldn't mean that she was Riddle's, could he?

Riddle scanned the crowd on the sixth floor. He was beginning to lose his temper. He had spent the last hour searching every floor for the damned girl, but it was futile. He couldn't bloody well ask people if they had seen her either. He seethed. The clock was about to strike midnight. The one place he dreaded Lovegood to be was in the maze. He never thought to question her lineage, but the name Lovegood didn't sound familiar at all. He couldn't place it as a pure blood family name, but it didn't sound muggle either. He was about to combust from this inner conflict.

"Riddle, nice turnout don't you think?"

He rolled his eyes at the voice. He didn't have time to entertain the scarlet. "Nott, please take Rosier up to the seventh floor and shove a pie in her mouth before I hex everyone here," he commanded in an even tone. He knew the pathetic love dog would be following Druella's every move. He didn't even turn to see if they followed his orders. They always followed his orders.

He walked back down to the ground floor and stared at the ancient grandfather clock that stood at the end of the Entrance Hall. Fifty-five minutes past eleven. For a fleeting moment a drop of fear clouded his mind: the fear that she had chosen to run away. His heart clenched; he wasn't used to this. She wouldn't though, he convinced himself. She needed him as much as he needed her. He gripped his wand until he felt the wood beneath his fingers begin to give way. He didn't have much more time to decide. She had to be in there. He had searched every floor already. He only had two choices left: let the curse carry out and hope she wasn't a mudblood or cast the counter-spell and ruin everything he had planned for the last few weeks.

The clock began to toll. Dong. Dong. Dong.

Riddle ground his teeth. Curse that girl. He whispered the counter-spell and felt a heaviness in the air lift. A seed of dread began to take hold of his heart.