Chapter 14

DISCLAIMER - None of these delightful characters are mine, all belong to JK Rowling.

The flying lesson should have been exhilarating, should have been the highlight of the day. Indeed for most of Luna's class, it was, despite the slightly temperamental school brooms they were using. First Years were not allowed their own brooms and the school owned ones lent to them were in varying conditions of shabbiness. Some had a few meagre bristles at their end, looking a little like an animal shedding its coat. Others had dull handles, the wood scratched and darkened from years of use.

For all that, they worked mostly very well, though the students who had experience of flying at home found them slow. Madame Hooch gave concise, confidant instructions and soon, everyone had mounted their brooms in the prescribed way, rather than the more casual fashion some had grown accustomed to at home. The first rise into the air brought delighted expressions to all of their faces, though muggles borns were looking a little apprehensive as they felt the ground fall away.

Throughout it all, Luna was barely aware of what was happening. The unexpected arrival of the elf had thrown up so many questions and though the creature's warning were incoherent and disjointed, Luna could not dismiss it as rubbish. She had said there was danger but from what and where? And who was the master she spoke of again and again? Did she mean Mr. Crouch? But he was already here, according to the elf and Luna was fairly certain Mr. Crouch was not at Hogwarts, the Professor would know. And why would he want to tak someone else's cloak?

Over and over the questions circled in Luna's mind, never finding an answer, until she felt dizzier than the girl whose broom had gone into a tailspin and dropped her to the ground after twelve 360 degree full turns. She should talk to Severus, she knew it but she needed to find the right words. He would be angry with the elf and goodness knew, the creature was remorseful enough without the Potions Master raining his ire upon her.

Luna's introspection lasted through the evening meal in the Great Hall and into the following day, when Neville met up with her in Herbology.

"Should you be pruning that sneezle plant with your wand facing the wrong way around?" Neville's question roused Luna from thoughts that continued to yield more confusion than clarity.

"Oh! Maybe not! I do seem to have made some progress with Seamus Finnegan's sneezle, though!" Luna looked around to see the bench behind strewn with the tell tale pink of the sneezle leaf.

"You did seem to have a knack with the Green Star," Neville looked admiringly out onto the patch of garden beyond the greenhouses where their lessons were held. Luna's plant was now resident there, a burgeoning explosion of green from which small green leaves arched skywards every now and then, in the manner of tiny shooting stars.

"Yes, it does seem to be growing rather well. Professor Sprout says that it will have its own constellations by this time next year," Luna replied.

"Unlike my sneezle, I'm afraid I haven't done it much good at all!" Luna looked down at the vibrantly coloured branches which were now impressively tangled. The plant was one of a family of healing herbs and was known for two things, sap which could restore lost memories and its rapid growth, which if unchecked could over run a room in minutes.

Professor Sprout bustled up to the bench and with a flick of her wand had Luna's sneezle pruned down to a knobbly seedling.

"You need to be quick, my dear. Quick and firm," she advised.

"Professor Snape won't be best pleased if we waste this crop. He's been waiting for at least a dozen vials of the sap to replenish his stocks. Perhaps you could tell him I'll have that and more by the end of next week, Miss Lovegood?" with a satisfied nod of her curly head, the portly little witch moved on to the next bench.

Even the mention of the Potions Master's name as enough to make Neville blanch.

"I don't think I'd like to see Professor Snape when he isn't pleased. He's scary enough when he's in a good mood!" he whispered.

Luna rolled her eyes at him.

"Neville you've got no reason to be scared of him. You are very clever. If you cold stop being so nervous in Potions and show him that, I bet he'd be rather impressed," she said.

As soon as Luna said the words, she felt a bit of a hypocrite. She still hadn't told Severus of the second appearance of the elf. With a twinge of guilt, she recalled that he had exacted a promise from her that she would no longer keep secrets from him, at least not secrets relating to her safety. She was never going to make sense of anything the creature had said to her on her own. There was nothing for it, after the lessson, she would find him and tell him and just have to trust that he would not make things even worse for the miserable creature.

He wasn't in the Potions classroom when she went looking but he was in his quarters, pulling on his cloak and clearly in a hurry.

"Luna. I wasn't expecting you! I will be out for a while but stay, help yourself to some supper, if you like. I don't know how long I will be," he said, brushing past her on his way to the door.

"Severus. I have to tell you something. It's important. Something happened after Darks Arts lesson yesterday," she said and he was suddenly still, the hurry he was in forgotten.

He had pulled the door open. Slowly, he pushed it shut and came to stand in front of her.

"Quirrell's lesson?" his face was impassive, calm. One black brow lifted, the only indication of his attention to this information.

"That is interesting. You see, I was just on my way to see the very same man," there was a glint within the coal black of his eyes.

A wave of his hand in the direction of the couch was his invitation to her to take a seat but Luna stayed on her feet and he was intrigued to note that she avoided looking at him.

Luna could see the words as though they were written on the inside of her eyelids. She could hear them in her own voice as though she had actually spoken them. Yet saying them was proving quite difficult. She drew in a deep breath, clasped her fingers in front of her. Studied the hem of his robes.

"You see I had a flying lesson after the Dark Arts class but Professor Quirrell asked me to stay and help him clear away. So I was running late and when I got to the Ravenclaw common room, there was no one else there. Well, not at first," Luna paused and sucked in another breath. Let it go.

"There is a but coming, is there not? So on with it, Luna," she glanced at him and could see he wasn't being impatient. She had his fullest attention.

"I am sure her intentions were good and Severus, she was so terribly upset. You didn't see her," she was speaking very fast now, so fast he wondered if he had missed a sentence.

"Who?" he frowned.

"She was in a frightful state. I couldn't leave her like that but I couldn't seem to help much. And I couldn't understand a word of what she told me and that is why I thought I'd better come and tell you but I don't want to make trouble for her, not as I am quite certain she meant well," Luna looked up at him at last, her eyes wide and round, making an appeal but he merely looked confused.

"Luna, I am lost. Tell me what? Is this about a classmate? A friend of yours? Who are you talking about? Slow down now and start at the beginning, like a good girl."

"Before I went out to the flying lesson, in the common room, the elf came to talk to me. The same one I met outside Fortesque's shop," she spoke so softly, he had to dip his head to hear.

Her eyes were trained on the rug, blonde hair falling untidily to hide her face. She heard him take a breath. Then his hands were on her shoulders, his grip fierce.

"What?"

He gave her a shake, sharp enough to make her aware of the power a grown up can have, firm enough to remind her that he could and would use it.

"And you are only telling me this now? Why didn't you come to me straight away?"

He didn't shout, yet the room was suddenly radiating with his voice.

"I just felt so sorry for her. I couldn't bear to get her into trouble. She had a message but I couldn't understand it," Luna looked into his face, hoping he'd believe her.

He let go of her, paced to the fireplace, circled back towards her. Luna held her ground, though she felt like putting a bit of distance between herself and her guardian.

"And you felt this message was worth risking your life to hear it? Ever hear of the fate that befell the curious cat, young lady?" he shot her a gaze heavy with the embers of a temper on a fast burn.

"I wasn't only curious. The creature was terribly distressed. I couldn't just leave her. I knew she wasn't going to hurt me," Luna sat down at last, plopping onto the edge of the couch, clasping her hands on her lap.

"So you keep saying. It's a confidant assertion given the strong evidence to the contrary," he narrowed his eyes at her.

"She came to warn me, Severus. I did understand that much," Luna said.

"Warn you of what? What precisely did she say?" he rapped out the question but Luna heard the concern and saw the worry flare in his eyes.

"She said that there was danger. That her master was at risk and he was already here. But if I hid a cloak I would save both of us," Luna said, her brow furrowing as she tried to recall the elf's words from her hysterical stream.

Snape crossed his arms, his face darkened by a ferocious scowl.

"That does not make sense!" he growled.

"I know," Luna agreed.

"Was that it? That's everything she had to say?"

"Yes. She apologised a lot for what happened in Diagon Alley but that was all," Luna said and then was sorry she added that as the Professor's expression clouded ominously at the reminder of her brush with the elf last summer.

"She can't be Mr. Crouch's house elf, can she, Severus? She said her master was here but he isn't," Luna pondered.

"No. He isn't," he had a far away look on his face and then his eyes met Luna's once more, focused and serious.

"You encountered the creature after the Dark Arts lesson? And you were alone only because Quirrell delayed you?" she gave him a nod.

"A man much on my mind this evening, indeed," he said.

"Severus. The elf said something about a boy who is living when she talked about the cloak. I remember now."

He was silent but was looking at her strangely.

"I see," he said at last and Luna felt that this had meant something to him but he did not explain.

Then, he was giving her a long look, one that was not approving. Luna felt his censure, it began to prickle on her skin like an allergen. He rose his hand and crooked his index finger at her, waiting in perfect stillness until she was standing in front of him. Luna would not have thought to disobey. All the time his eyes stayed on her, making her feel quite guilty, though he had not said one word. Luna did not want meet those unforgiving eyes. She looked at a point in the far distance beyond his shoulder even as her feet carried her to him.

"None of that. Look here and listen very carefully, Miss Lovegood," he said firmly.

Luna looked up, met his eyes and wished that she was not the cause of the annoyance she found there.

"You should have told me this yesterday. And do you know what is troubling about it?" the look he was giving her seemed to ignite.

Luna felt the answering heat in her neck, felt it rise to her face.

"No," she confessed, though she figured that there were a few likely possibilities.

"You know that. You knew it then, you know it now. That is why you are looking very much like you kicked a puppy or pulled the wings off a butterfly! You are a very clever girl and it does not become a clever girl to do very stupid things!"

Luna wondered how it was he could be so deafening without raising his voice.

"Elves have very old magic of their own. Yet that one managed to get in to this school without anyone knowing takes some doing. Covering up for it serves no purpose other than possibly a very dangerous one!" he pressed.

Luna opened her mouth, there was so much she wanted to say but his gaze burned hotter and her voice died in her throat.

"Until we find out what the purpose of this visit was, you are not to return to the Ravenclaw dorm. You will move back in here."

"Severus, her purpose was not dangerous!" Luna cried out but he rose a silencing hand.

"Enough of this, Luna. Enough! Do you think we are having a discussion? Let me clear. You are to have no further contact with that elf. None. You will stay here until I am satisfied that it is safe for you to be elsewhere!"

Now, his voice had risen, his tone sharp and Luna knew better than to try to argue. Still, she felt unhappiness burn. He was talking to her like she was a helpless child. It made her feel angry and she could not keep this from her face.

"You can sulk about it, you can curse me to infinity if you like but that is how it will be!" there was no doubting his resolve on that.

"I didn't seek the elf! She came to me. It's not like I am going to go looking for her!" she protested, stung at the unfairness of his condemnation.

"I believe you. That is not the point here. Keeping you safe, that is the first priority for me," he shot back.

"You will attend lessons and meals as usual for the rest of the week but Saturday, you will remain here and you will spend the day in your room," he continued.

Luna blinked, her expression wounded.

"I'm being punished?" she looked at him as though he had stopped the world from turning.

He held her gaze steadily, his eyes heated with anger.

"Yes. Something that you might recall the next time that soft heart of yours tries to rule your head!" he stepped past her and crossed the room to the door.

"As I said, I have to go out. You will be in bed by the time I return."

The door snapped shut behind him, the air in the room stirred, the bad feelings did not dissipate.

Luna wondered if stamping her foot on the ground would do anything to make her feel better, decided that it would not and instead went and lowered herself onto the couch.

He had shouted at her and she had not liked it. He was angry at her and she did not like that either. She had thought so much of shielding the house elf from his temper but he was cross with her and she had not thought how that would feel. To make it worse, she knew it was her own fault and so, unpleasant though it was, she had to admit that he had been right. She could sulk or rage at him but she knew she only had herself to blame for her plight.

She stayed seated where she was until the fire had burned to a glowing ash. The Professor had not returned and when at last her eyes were as heavy as her heart, Luna got to her feet and went to her bedroom. She climbed beneath the duvet, feeling the familiar softness surround her. Yet it felt as though she had been sent to some distant, alien land.

In the morning, he was at the table in the kitchen and it was laid for breakfast. They exchanged a morning greeting, he read his copy of The Wizarding Times and Luna concentrated on her bowl of cereal as though it was the most distracting thing in the room.

She finished and stood, lifting her empty bowl to the sink. He did not look up from his paper. At the door she stopped, looked back at him.

"Severus?"

Black eyes flicked above the top of the paper.

"I'm sorry."

She could add nothing to that and so she took her eyes from his, and turned to retrace her steps to her bedroom.

"I am not," he spoke and her feet seemed glued to the floor.

"You think I am being hard on you, I know that. But I will do what I think is best. Keeping you safe is the only thing I am interested in."

His voice was quiet but acted as more of a reprimand to her than anything he had said the night before.

"I will be perfectly safe staying in Ravenclaw," she said.

"That is not up for discussion, my girl," his tone was colder than deep winter.

"I am so tired of feeling scared and pretending I'm not. But I know that somehow, I have to stay me," she said.

He lowered the paper and she saw surprise glance across his face.

"That's a very grown up thing to say. And it is exactly true," he said pensively.

"You have kindness in you I will never be able to understand, Luna. I admire you for that. I can't be like you but I do not want to change it," his face was very serious.

"It takes a fair bit of courage to stay true to yourself when so much falls into chaos. And it takes a lot of courage to trust someone else to respect that. You did the right thing telling me about the house elf. But I am not happy at all that you stood before danger of any kind, no matter how generous your motives."

"I was never not going to tell you about the elf coming to see me. And I'm getting good at spotting danger," Luna insisted.

"Understand that is my job. And to make sure you do, you are grounded on Saturday. Sparing me at least a day when I won't have a heart attack worrying about you!"

Luna dropped her gaze. He had done a fine job of cranking up the guilt she was already carrying.

She turned and continued to her room. While she had slept, her things had been brought from the Ravenclaw dorms. The Professor meant what he said. He was not about to change his mind, then. So she went to pack her bag for the day ahead. It wasn't starting on a truce exactly. She had been honest with the Professor but she knew he had not told her everything he knew about what was going on.

Instead, he was treating her like a child, one who needed protecting. She was the one at the centre of this mess, she had survived so far. Could he give her no credit for that?

This imposed stay with her guardian reminded Luna of those first days. He was uncompromising and distant and Luna was reserved and polite. And once again, she felt the pull from her life, this time from the new independence she had been building, her new friends.

"Aren't you ever coming back to Ravenclaw?" Gertrude asked as the evening meal was drawing to a close in the Great Hall.

Luna looked up from her pudding and nodded.

"Of course! I am Ravenclaw. I'm just staying with Sev.. Professor Snape for a little while, that's all," Luna said.

"How come? Is it about your Dad?" Gertrude asked, her blue eyes wide and interested but kind.

Luna was momentarily nonplussed. Most of the other students here knew her dad was missing, knew the fearsome Head of Slytherin was her guardian but Luna had stayed true to her word that she would keep the details of the summer quiet.

Few really asked any questions of her, partly as her dad had a reputation for eccentricity and they supposed this was an extension of it and partly because Professor Snape terrified the socks off most of them.

"Um no. I haven't been doing all that well at Potions. Professor Snape says I am likely to fail if I don't get on track. So he's helping me after class. It's just easier to stay in his quarters until the tutorials are over," Luna said with a shrug.

She did not like lying and Gertrude looked at her with a doubtful expression. The story was the best Luna could think of on the spur of the moment.

Then, her friend gave her hand a sympathetic pat.

"That has to be a real down side of being in the charge of Professor Snape! He can't be all that understanding! It must be kind of, well, scary," Gertrude actually shuddered as she thought of having Snape as a guardian.

"He is strict. But he means well," Luna said but Gertrude was casting surreptitious glances at the teachers' table as though checking that Snape wasn't breathing fire in their direction.

Luna felt weighted down as she stood to leave the Great Hall. Lies, deceit, secrets, all invisible, all a burden that was very hard to carry. Luna wanted nothing more than to set it down and at that moment, she wished her for her father with such yearning, her heart actually ached.

Tomorrow was Saturday and the punishment the Professor had set her still loomed ahead. It made her feel so lonely to be at this remove from her guardian. That was the real chastisement. Nothing he did could make her feel worse. Luna trudged along the corridor, her eyes trained on the stony ground, her dreary thoughts swimming in her mind like an entire school of shuttlers.

When she reached the Professor's rooms, he wasn't there. She went and prowled around the library, skimming her fingers over the spines of the books he had bought her, choosing none. There were too many words in her head already, she could not read another.

Finally, the restless energy subsided and she settled into the couch, pulling her feet up so she was sitting cross-legged. She was plaiting her hair when she heard the door open and looked up to see her guardian enter quietly. He closed the door almost silently behind him and he moved towards his bedroom, not looking into the living room at all.

At first, Luna felt her spirits sink lower than she believed possible thinking that he did not wish to pass even a cursory greeting with her. Then, she realised something wasn't quite right, he was walking differently, slower. The man was graceful when he moved, this time, he appeared to be wading through honey.

He was limping, Luna realised with an unwelcome start. Her heart suddenly seemed to jump to her throat, causing her chest to ache and bringing her rapidly to her feet.

"You are hurt!" she was moving across the floor to him, every single thought forgotten but that he was injured and clearly in pain.

He turned, his face registering surprise.

"I thought you were in bed!" he said.

"What happened?" she looked up at him, stilled by the pallor of his skin, the lines that were more pronounced around his eyes.

"I am fine, child," he said but she heard the strain in his voice, knew he was hurting.

With only instinct to direct her, Luna moved to him, hefting his arm over her shoulders.

"Severus, think you ought to sit down," she said, leading him to the couch she had just vacated.

"Don't fuss. I had a bit of a mishap, that's all," he said, grimacing as he pulled his left pants leg up, revealing a vicious wound above his ankle.

Luna's eyes widened and she sucked in a shocked breath seeing the ragged puncture marks, from which blood poured in dark rivulets.

"What got you? Surely not yezzirs? Oh Severus! Maybe I should fetch Madame Pomfrey?" Luna stood up, looking uncertainly and worriedly at her guardian.

"No! No. Luna, I had a brush in with one of Hagrid's accursed pets, that's what. I don't need Madame Pomfrey. But if you could fetch the vial of Dittany from my office, that will be sufficient," he said, taking her hand in his and squeezing it.

The child looked shell shocked. It would be a mercy if she wasn't fainting herself in a minute, he thought. He could have accioed the healing mixture in a flash but his ward looked very much in need of having something to do. Right enough, she had gone in the blink of an eye and returned just as fast bearing the green crystal bottle.

She administered the dittany carefully, with surgical precision, just as she had watched him do when tending to her hands once before. He closed his eyes as the magical elixir soothed and rejoined the raw and split skin.

Luna watched as wounds closed and the bleeding slowly eased. It was a bite, a deep and brutal assault that had rendered his flesh and had to be excruciating. Perhaps she should fetch him something strong to drink, her dad sometimes dipped into a bottle of fire whiskey if he was hurt. Then again, he should be lying down, give the dittany a chance to work well.

"Stop hovering over me like a nervous matron! I will live. I might even dance again one day," a deep growl broke into her thoughts but he was still leaning back against the cushions of the couch, lids still lowered over his eyes.

"I didn't know you danced!"

It was the first thought that came into her mind. The idea was rather jolting.

He made a sound that might have been a chuckle.

"I was being facetious. Now you should be in bed. Off you go, little Miss Lovegood. Scoot."

She reluctantly moved towards the door. She glanced back once, biting her lip when she saw that his brow was creased, a fine sheen of sweat glistening on his face. He was in more pain than he was letting on but she was not fooled. That injury to his leg had gone almost to the bone.

"Luna."

The soft use of her name stopped her at the door. Once again, she looked back at him. He had sat forward, his elbows resting on his knees.

"Thank you."

He looked up, black eyes peering at her intently from beneath the fall of his hair.

In two words he had loosened the band of isolation that had seized Luna in a smothering hold over the past few days.

"You are welcome," Luna said somberly.

"We need to talk about things. There will be time tomorrow, I will make sure of it. Anything you want to ask me, I will do my best to answer," he said.

The clouds of loneliness subsided even further. Luna gave him a small smile from the door.

"Goodnight," she said and he gave a single nod.