Chapter 5
DISCLAIMER - None of these delightful characters are mine, all belong to JK Rowling.
Luna let herself into the Professor's rooms, carrying a large armful of mayflower. She had gathered the pretty white blooms in a hedgerow close to the lake. As well as looking so nice, the flowers were commonly used as shelters by felicities, the dainty and miniscule old English pixies. They were almost an endangered species, due in part to the trouble they had relocating after the summer.
Luna liked the idea that by keeping the delicate little flowers in water indoors, she was helping the little creatures within to migrate to other, more long term homes, like beneath lampshades and such.
"Where are your shoes, Luna?"
She had been thinking so much about the felicities, that she hadn't noticed her guardian was at home.
She looked around and he was seated at the table, a neat pile of parchments stacked by his elbow. He was watching her quizzically.
"Oh, they will turn up soon, I expect," she said, sounding unperturbed.
He rose an eyebrow at her, watching as she carefully deposited the mayflower on the stone of the hearth. The flowers were lovely but the branches were quite thorny.
Careful as she had been, she had pricked the skin on her hands in several places. She rubbed her palms together to lessen the sting.
He looked down at the floor, she had tracked damp footprints all the way from the door.
Luna followed his gaze and realised her socks were sodden. The ground outside was rather wet, even though it was early summer. Today was crisp and dry but there had been showers over the past couple of days.
"Turn up? Weren't you wearing them?"
She nodded at him.
"Oh yes. But sometimes, people take them. They mean it as a joke, I'm sure and I always manage to find them," she sat on the couch and pulled off the soggy footwear.
Snape lowered his quill and rose from the table. He had just finished the last of his corrections.
"People? Do you mean students?" he narrowed his eyes.
Luna nodded.
"Yes. They are a bit high spirited but they mean no harm," she said. Luna was used to other children reacting to her in ways that were not entirely friendly. She was different and that always attracted attention.
The Professor was scowling and she assumed the footprints had annoyed him.
"I'll have that cleaned up in a jiffy," she smiled vaguely at him but that only seemed to make his expression grow more fierce.
"You are not a house elf, child!" he growled at her.
Then, he was standing in front of her, towering over her as he so often did and Luna had to strain to look up to see his face.
"Show me your hands."
Obediently, she held out her hands, palms outward and he took them in his own, larger ones, turning them over and tutting as he observed the vicious little scratches on her skin.
"Stay here," he was turning away even as uttered the brisk command.
He walked from the room and was gone for several seconds. When he came back, he was carrying a jar of the most luminescent green ointment Luna had ever seen. This time he sat beside her on the couch.
"Hands," he ordered again, holding out his own.
He opened the jar and began to apply the glowing liniment to the tiny cuts on her hands. The cream felt cool on her skin and he was surprising gentle as he applied it. Luna felt the itchy smarting ease almost immediately.
"That's much better, thank you, Severus," she said, inspecting his handiwork appreciatively.
"The day after tomorrow we will leave here, Luna. I spend the summer at my house in Spinner's End and you will be accompanying me," he told her.
Luna liked the castle and she loved the huge grounds that she was free to wander at will, so long as she stayed well away from the dark forest at the edges in accordance with the Professor's stern instruction to do so.
The gamekeeper, Hagrid, a huge giant of man with a jolly laugh and twinkly eyes was a new friend for her and sometimes he let Luna accompany him on his rounds, telling her all about creatures with strange names and it reminded her a little of her father. She would miss Hagrid. Still, she was curious about the Professor's other home.
"Is it far from here?" she asked him.
"A bit, yes. We will aparate there from Hogsmeade, the village a few miles from the school," he said.
Then, a thought came to her and it was Luna's turn to frown. She lifted troubled eyes to her guardian.
"Severus, what if my father comes back? How will know where to find me?"
Snape met her eyes with a steady gaze of his own.
"If Xenophilius turns up, I will know. Professor Dumbledore is also keeping an ear to the ground. If he comes looking for you, Luna I will have you to him in the blink of an eye."
Luna sighed, content with the answer. Her guardian did not make hasty promises for the sake of reassuring her. He did not talk to her as if she were a child, in need of sheltering from the truth and she liked him immensely for that. More than that, Luna had come to trust him, dark and dour though he was most of the time. He always meant what he said.
And right now, he was being very nice to her and he had made her sore hands feel better.
And so, she told him how she was sure she had heard mer folk singing today, their voices rising from beneath the smooth surface of the lake. And how Hagrid had shown her a baby thestral and how it was loveliest thing she had ever seen.
Snape listened to her recounting her day and was surprised to find that he had no desire to silence her chatter with a cutting dismissal.
Instead, he noted privately that she seemed not to miss the company of children her own age and wondered at that. Shouldn't she want friends and the companionship of other young people? Then he remembered her shoeless entry earlier and he felt a primal fury stirring inside himself.
He looked down at her, blond hair tumbling from untidy braids, almost hiding her face. Her hands were small enough for both to fit in one of his own and even standing at her full height, she was barely halfway up his chest. Just a tiny girl and so alone and something about the idea of a student here making an object of fun out of her made him seethe. Happily, he knew just what to do about it.
Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker looked rather happy too when he consulted him the following morning. By the time Snape was finished, he was beaming a yellow toothed smile that would have made the skin of a more sensitive person crawl.
"It has come to my attention that some of the students here have been having amusing themselves at the expense of my ward, Argus," Snape intoned heavily.
"Some are Ravenclaws, I understand but the greater number are, regrettably from my own House," he continued.
Luna had been silent as to the identities of the shoe thieves, refusing to be drawn even on their general description. It took a little detective work to glean the information he had.
"Don't know their places, those brats," Filch grumbled.
Snape inclined his head approvingly.
"Ordinarily, I would deal with the Slytherins myself, Argus but I do not want to be seen to be showing my ward special treatment over students in my House. So I decided the best course of action is to delegate the task of teaching the perpetrators a little lesson," he went on.
Filch's eyes gleamed hungrily. This was the sort of offer he usually only ever got to dream about. A free hand to discipline unruly students, it was better than Christmas.
"I know just what to do, Professor," he said, his intent barely masked.
Snape gave him an encouraging smile.
"I am sure. None-the-less, we must not upset the more tender minded sensibilities of the Headmaster, Argus. What I have in mind is more along the lines of a special expedition. A sort end of term, safari, if you will," Snape continued.
"The Forest?" Filch's grin widened, the glint in his eyes hardened.
Snape nodded once.
"I am sure that you are best placed to know how to put the talents of some would be ne'er do wells to best use, Argus. I defer to your judgement," Snape said.
Ten minutes later, he was striding purposefully from his office. He was perfectly content in the knowledge that Misses Wormwood, Trevellyan and Dandridge along with Messrs Humphries and Mapp would be spending their last day of term knee deep in hippogriff droppings and expecting to meet a sticky and untimely demise at the hands of something gruesome with every passing second.
That evening, her last at the castle, Luna spent it tidying away the paltry sum of her belongings. Her books, she filed lovingly into the old box that she had brought them in and her meagre pile of clothes, she folded and packed back into her bag.
In the morning, she would take the mayflowers to Hagrid's, he had promised to make sure the felicities had ample time to relocate at his hut. She picked up the Quibbler and checked it quickly. The Harry Potter page was still safely tucked within. She had an inkling that she should tell the Professor about it but held back. Her father had made a point of guarding this publication. She felt that she must also at least until she had a clearer idea what it meant.
Rumours were circulating feverishly around the school that Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived would come to Hogwarts next term. Perhaps she would be able to find out a little more about him and what the prophesy might refer to. He may have the answer and so, Luna folded away the sheet, returning it to its hiding place.
After she had finished packing, there was only one thing left to do and so, she settled herself comfortably on her bed and set to work.
The following morning, Luna could barely sit still long enough to finish her breakfast. The previous evening, the Professor had foregone the traditional end of term feast in the Great Hall with the students and the other teachers. He had chosen to eat supper in his quarters with her instead, a gesture that Luna very much appreciated.
She insisted on thanking him, once or twice but finally he had glowered sternly at her over the crumbs of his dessert and warned her that ten thanks yous was over the top and if she uttered an eleventh he would cast a silencing spell on her.
"I am here because I have no desire to see Minerva McGonagall gloat over Gryffindor winning the house cup again this year. And while I am here, I might remind you that we leave early in the morning. No dallying and what you have not packed gets left behind," he had warned.
But he had ordered a mug of hot cocoa from the Hogwarts kitchens for her before bedtime while he poured himself a measure of fire whiskey from a tumbler on the sideboard. She sat in a chair in front of the fire opposite him, each sipping their drinks and Luna felt for the first time in many days that she was safe.
And now, she was off to Spinner's End. Their luggage had been magical transported and would be waiting for them at the Professor's house. So, after breakfast, they had set out for Hogsmeade. The Professor said that seeing as it was such nice weather, they would walk to the village. If Luna had to hurry a little more than she was used to in order to match his swift stride, well, she didn't mind so much.
Around them, students were also filing towards the station and Luna noted how many of them kept a wide distance from her grimly faced guardian. Those who did pass by them spoke deferentially and appeared in an awful hurry to get away.
"The students are quite nervous around you," she remarked at last.
He looked down his hooked nose, his dark eyes almost glinting.
"Indeed, Luna," he agreed.
"It's the shuttlers. I knew it," she nodded sagely.
"Good old shuttlers," he said with just a shade of mirth in his voice.
"I can help you with that. I made you something," she reached into her pocket and withdrew the small, square pouch, made of soft shammy cloth, with precise and neat stitching around three sides. She had worked late last night to finish it after she was done packing.
She extended it to him now and Snape was so taken aback, he came to an abrupt stop.
He took the little holder from her and slid from it a silver disc, engraved with little silver stars on one side and a sickle moon on the other. He turned it over in his palm several times and then looked at the girl.
"Well, I made the pouch myself. The coin is one that Dad gave me but you can keep it. We have plenty more. Handy for keeping the shuttlers under control," she explained.
His brows drew together and for a moment, she thought he was cross about it. She knew that he did not wholly subscribe to some of the things she believed. But his lips lifted in a small smile.
"Thank you, Luna. I am sure that it will be very useful," he said, closing his fingers over the disc and its protective casing. He pocketed it and resumed walking.
In the tiny village, with its stone cottages and clustered shops, he stopped by a tall, antique lamppost.
He extended his arm towards her.
"Have you accompanied someone apparating before, Luna?" he asked.
She nodded firmly.
"Oh yes. I've been on side along apparitions with Dad a few times," she said and he found this answer a pleasing one.
It wasn't a strictly pleasant way to travel if you weren't used to it.
"Take my arm," he said and suddenly, the quaint little village was whirling away in a dizzying vortex and the next thing Luna knew, she was standing in front of the wooden doorway of a red bricked house on the end of a neat street.
Snape lifted his wand and the door opened before them. He indicated with his hand that she should precede him inside.
"Welcome to Spinner's End, Luna. Make yourself at home, " he said, following her over the threshold.