Seymour slammed all his weight onto his trunk, leaving the last remaining sock dangling outside gasping for air. He locked it shut and slumped back onto his bed with a huge heaving sigh. He sat for a while gazing round Luna's guestroom breaking into a smile as he studied the huge apple blossom tree painstakingly painted onto the wall by the window.
A knock at the door caused him to turn to face it as Luna entered already dressed in her Hogwarts uniform. She grinned at him and pointed towards the clock on the wall as it ticked away the silence.
"Daddy's got the fireplace ready for us to go back. He managed to find some floo powder in the garden shed. It's a bit damp but should get us there safely." She walked over and sat down beside him on the bed tucking her legs under her chin watching the heavy rain lash viscously onto the half open bedroom window.
Seymour watched her for a while noting the lost look on her face. Not for the first time since he'd come to stay did Luna seem slightly distant to the world around her, it left him feeling rather uneasy and he placed a hand onto her shoulder causing her to turn to face him.
"Are you alright Luna?" he asked watching her with concerned eyes. "I thought you'd be looking forward to being back at Hogwarts."
"Normally I am." she admitted frowning down towards the floor. "I always love coming home to see dad, of course I do… but the holidays have always been a bit of a sad time for me."
Seymour didn't say a word and continued to sit in silence watching Luna struggle to put her thoughts into words.
"Christmas used to be my favourite time of year when I was little, before mum died. But now…" she remained silent for a while watching the two robins taking shelter from the rain on the window sill. "Now I seem to spend half the holidays daydreaming about the past, all the times when it was just me, dad and mum." she smiled, her voice strangely quiet. "But those memories fade more with each year. I'd be surprised if I'm able to remember them at all soon." Luna turned to face Seymour pulling herself out of her own thoughts and re-fixing her gaze onto him. "My point is this is the best Christmas I've had in years. I don't remember the last time I've had so much fun, even thinking about mum didn't seem as sad as it usually does. So thank you for coming to stay." She smiled at him leaning back onto her arms.
Seymour grinned back nodding in agreement. "Anytime Luna. Maybe you could come to mine next year, if you wanted to that is?"
Luna's eyes widened and she knelt up on the bed. "Really?" she asked. the fire of excitement in her eyes already starting up behind the silvery grey.
"Of course. Mind you it wouldn't be half as exciting as this year. We don't even have a stream at the bottom of our garden, just and old shed with a ghoul in it."
"As long as you're there I couldn't care less." she replied simply, springing up from the bed and going over to the open window to shut it.
She remained there looking out over the garden for a while before permeating the silence with another thought. "I don't normally talk to people about this sort of stuff. I've never really felt the need to." She turned and sat down on the desk next to the window fixing him with a puzzled frown. "But I keep finding myself wanting to tell you these things. It's nice" she added. happily content to leave it there and go back to watching the two robins break from the cover of the window and head for the birch tree at the bottom of the stream.
Seymour watched her from the bed, noting how since he'd moved into the Lovegoods the amount of time he'd spent content with just looking at Luna seemed in increase daily. A moment in her company seem to last for ages yet the moment she left he often found himself longing to see her again.
Seymour toyed with the idea of mentioning this to her on many occasions but the lingering doubts over what his friendship was to her only managed to derail his resolve at the last moment. He had always considered Luna fairly wise beyond her years on many things but couldn't ignore the fact that when it came to relationships she herself often admitted to being rather inexperienced.
"Luna I've got something to tell you." he clenched his fist and forced himself to look at her which wasn't a wise decision for the moment he did the last remnants of breath seemed to vacate his lungs. He swallowed hard and made to continue.
"Is it about Professor Goodwin?", she asked leaning forward on the desk, "Because I've been thinking about that too."
"No, no it's not that." he couldn't help but laugh as he watched her rock eagerly back and forth on the desk at the prospect of discussing their Defence teacher.
"Is it about Dumbledore's injured hand? Because it looks to me as if he's got a touch of Banshee taint. Mind you it could also be from a cursed object from the looks of the injury."
"No Luna it's not about anything to do with curses or Werewolves or Banshee related illnesses." he stifled the urge to laugh again as her face dropped, looking rather disappointed that it wasn't something quite so exciting.
"Is it about you and Ginny?" she asked again, smiling back at him from the desk. "You looked quite close at the party and she's such a nice girl. She's always kind to me. I really like her."
"Yes she is but it's not about that, you've got it-"
"Because I really do think you two go together well you know." she pointed out, swinging her legs and grinning back at him.
"No Luna please listen I-"
"Ginny once stopped a load of Slytherins from putting frog spawn into my bag once. I wouldn't really have minded. Do you know you can use frog spawn to cure cases of Pixie rash and-"
"LUNA PLEASE!" Seymour stood up from the bed raking his hands through his hair but still not being able to wipe the large grin off his face.
"Sorry, sorry." she smiled back and sat up straight, placing her hands in her lap. "Continue." she added as Seymour pushed back yet another urge to laugh. Now the prospect of telling her seemed easy as he sat back down chuckling.
"It's got nothing to do with Ginny, Pixies, rashes or any magical aliment of any kind. It's about you." he finished shaking his head in exhaustion.
"Me? Really?" she looked puzzled and continued to study his face from across the room.
"Luna I'll just say it ok, I really-"
A knock came from the bedroom door and Mr. Lovegood entered in it's wake poking his head round the entrance and smiling at them both. "Time to go you two." he said pointing like Luna to the large clock on the wall. "Your trunks are downstairs. I've already sent them ahead. I'm hoping they went to the right place." he pondered looking rather worried, "That floo powder really was awfully damp."
"Coming dad we'll be down in two minutes." replied Luna as Mr. Lovegood closed the door behind him. She stood up from the desk and walked over to Seymour holding out her hand to pull him up off the bed. "So what did you want to say?" she asked as Seymour grabbed his coat hanging on the bedstead.
"I'll tell you later." he replied, feeling his nerve go as quickly as it came and opening the door for them.
"Is it a surprise?" she questioned taking the staircase down three steps at a time.
"That depends really." he mumbled trying to keep up with her.
"I bet it is." she declared coming to a stop in the kitchen and pulling him by the hand over to the pot of floo powder sat on the hearth.
"We'll see."
Seymour awoke the next morning surrounded by the familiar hangings on his bed in the Gryffindor common room. He rolled over and stretched out his arms shaking off the last of the holiday's sluggishness before getting up and heading towards the bathroom. The thought of double Defence and Potions on his first day back had him longing for the lazy mornings spent at the Lovegoods watching Luna cook breakfast whilst her father lectured Seymour on the shady goings on at The Ministry of Magic.
The breakfast table inside the great hall was a fair size larger and contained a hundred times as many people and he slouched himself into place along side Alice and Lloyd.
"Morning." he greeted reaching out for a bowl of cornflakes and lashing some fresh milk onto it.
"Morning." they both replied. Alice sporting a healthy and rested complexion whilst Lloyd looked thoroughly dishevelled and tired with a small clump of hair missing that appeared to have been yanked from his head, this alone made Seymour infinitely thankful he hadn't taken Lloyd up on his offer on an entire two weeks looking after a clearly over exuberant infant.
"Any news?" he asked dipping his spoon into his bowl and peering over the headlines of the daily prophet Alice was reading.
"Not much. There's been some Death Eater sightings but no one's gone missing so that's good isn't it?"
"What do you mean no one's missing, what about me?" asked Robin bouncing into his seat opposite them with a grin. "I bet you were worried sick?"
"We weren't. You're always the last one back after the holidays." Alice replied looking up from her newspaper and smiling in his direction.
"When did you get here?" asked Seymour moving his cereal out of the way as Robin leaned across him to grab a slice of toast.
"This morning just before six. Oh you should have heard old McGonagall, she was furious. Started lecturing me the moment I slid out of her office fireplace."
"You're a day late Robin." Alice admonished going back to her bowl of porridge and morning paper.
"Who cares about that. My brother let me have a ride on his new motorbike during the holidays. Crashed right into their neighbour's pond. Grazed my arm up good and proper. Look, look." to which Robin proudly brandish his badly injured arm. "Couldn't fix it myself could I? Had to go to hospital and everything. Look Alice, it kind of looks like your porridge doesn't it." he added waving it in her face.
"At least you've still got all the hair on your head." moaned Lloyd poking his last piece of bacon around his plate.
"Haven't you always had that bald patch?" Robin smirked before turning on Seymour with goading eyes. "I bumped into Ginny on the way here. What's this I hear about you and Luna dancing like a pair of fruits at some party of oddballs?" he asked gleefully leaning forward to stare into his face.
Seymour frowned and glared around the hall looking for any sight of Ginny before replying. "It wasn't odd, there's nothing wrong with dancing at a party."
"Well she thought you both looked sweet actually but I'm more inclined to go with odd. Don't forget I've seen you dance before at the Yule Ball. If Luna's even half as bad as you, which I bet she is then I'm starting to wish I'd gone as well just to see it." he laughed away to himself leaving Seymour to contend with Lloyd glancing over at him quizzically and Alice beaming at him from over her bowl.
"Did you really dance together Seymour?" she asked putting her paper down and leaning her hand on her chin. "That's really nice. Normally you turn girls down when they asked you to dance. I had to drag you up last Christmas and all you did was shuffle on the spot."
"Hey I asked her alright. It was really good at Luna's. Far better than swimming in a pond or being kept awake half the night." he said staring daggers at Robin and Lloyd.
"I like Luna." replied Lloyd as he munched on the last of his breakfast. "It's just you seem to like her a lot if you know what I mean?" he looked over at Alice and they both grinned at each other. Seymour glared at them, feeling his face getting hotter by the second.
"Maybe I do." he murmured not daring to look at any of them. Alice gave a shrill cry of joy and Lloyd merely continued to hide his amusement for the sake of Seymour's pride. Robin frowned but said nothing. Deciding that stuffing his face with toast was the best option.
"Right I'm going to Defence." announced Seymour rising from the table and leaving his half eaten breakfast behind, desperate to leave his embarrassment along with it.
The class was already half full when he got there and after spotting Luna sitting in her usual seat he made his way over and grabbed the spot beside her.
"Morning Luna." he smiled at her before fumbling inside his bag for his text book.
"Hey you know what tonight is right?" she asked instantly shuffling up to sit closer.
"What?"
"The full moon, that's what." she answered gleefully pulling his book over between them. "So what are we going to do about it?" her eyes were wide and pressed for an answer as he leaned back onto his chair.
"Well I suppose we could risk a little late night watch but we'll have to be careful Luna. I was thinking maybe keeping a lookout from the Astronomy tower. We won't get in trouble if we're found up there, we could just say we were doing some last minute homework or something." Seymour was indeed curious as to what they might find but in all honesty the prospect of spending any extra time with Luna appealed to him more.
"Excellent idea." she nodded enthusiastically. Taking out a little notebook from her bag and licking the tip of her quill. "I'd say nine o'clock just before lights out? After Hermione mentioned it I asked Harry if we could borrow this." she reached into her virtually empty bag and pulled out a old sheet of blank parchment. "It'll come in handy trust me but I'll explain later." she added as Robin, Alice and Lloyd walked into the classroom.
Alice and Lloyd both made their way over to the front of the class trying to hide their sheepish grins directed Seymour's way. Robin on the other hand strolled over to his friend's table at patted him on the back. "Come on Sey. There's a seat down in front with your name on it." he nodded toward Alice and Lloyd.
Seymour smiled back but shook his head. "Thanks Robin mate but I'm going to sit here today. Luna doesn't have her text book on her so we're going to share."
Robin's smile dropped and he leaned back on the desk next to them. "She never has her text book on her." he grumbled staring at Luna who smiled back.
"Very true." Seymour added with a chuckle. Robin shrugged his shoulders and stomped off towards his chair before slamming down into it.
Luna started shifting her chair back towards the end of the desk. "Seymour you can go sit over there if you want I won't-"
"Nope. Come back here." he grabbed hold of Luna's chair and pulled her back next to him. "I'm not going anywhere Luna. You'll just have to put up with me I'm afraid because I'm not moving." he grinned as he fixed her with a challenging stare, daring her to object.
Luna seemed rather pleased with this and smiled back. "Not even if I levitate you over there myself?"
"Not even if you soaped up the floor and skidded me across." They both laughed but stopped instantly when Professor Snape burst in through the door with his long black cloak flailing behind him. He came to a halt at the front of the class and took the text book from the desk.
"Right class, page 184. No talking. Read chapters 12 and 13. You have fifteen minutes." he commanded peering at them all with pure dislike in his eyes.
"Sir please explain."
Seymour looked to his side to find Luna stood up from the desk with her hand in the air.
"Where's Professor Goodwin?"
Snape looked fit to curse her on the spot but bit back the urge and replied. "Not that it is any of your concern but Professor Goodwin is late arriving back to the castle. He is expected sometime this afternoon." he glared at her as she sat back into her seat. Seymour could feel her mind buzzing away next to him. "Now was that really worth 10 points from Ravenclaw Miss Lovegood? I said no talking. Now read."
The class fell silent but Luna ducking her head pulled Seymour in and whispered. "Absent the night of the full moon. Rather suspicious don't you think?"
"It is." replied Seymour looking back at her. "Could just be late though."
He expected her to look intrigued but instead she merely looked back at him her eyes wide open as if she'd been surprised by something. For the briefest moment he thought he saw her cheeks flush red as she drew back fixing her eyes on the textbook. He shot her a puzzled glance before turning his gaze to their book. Having only just realised their faces had been merely inches apart he wished they had remained so for a bit longer but he left her to her thoughts for now as the whole class read on, mutual in their dislike for the teacher in front of them.
After two very long and boring hours the students spilled out of the classroom for lunch. Seymour stayed behind for Snape had decided to give him and Luna the job of carrying two trays loaded with phials of dragons blood from their Defence classroom to Potions class ready for their next lesson.
"He could have perfectly well sent them there himself with a flick of his wand but no, he's too much of a git to do that!" moaned Seymour as they carefully navigated the drafty stone corridors.
"A git he is indeed." Luna added in agreement but looking perfectly content with the task all the same. "But more importantly, I can't wait for tonight. If the Professor gets back in time he won't have much chance to prepare himself for the full moon will he."
"That's if he is a werewolf remember." noted Seymour skirting around a few first years running by them with a Fanged Frisbee. "He did make a fairly decent argument before Christmas didn't he?"
"What if he isn't, what then?" Luna asked grinning as they went. "That only means we've got the wrong person, or maybe it really is the Grim."
"Well maybe but being as we haven't dropped dead yet it's not really a very good omen is it? It's not as if-" but Seymour didn't get to finish his sentence as an almighty crash rent the air, having just turned a corner a student running in the opposite direction had slammed head first into Luna causing the silver tray to rattle to the floor and the phials of dragons blood to smash all over the person in question.
Luna took a step back giving Seymour a chance to see the unfortunate recipient only to find Draco Malfoy pulling at his robes covered from head to toe in green, foul smelling blood. It slopped off his blonde hair onto the floor. A long strand hanging off the end of his nose. He looked himself over before slamming his eyes onto Luna, his lips curling into a snarl.
Luna went to take a step forward holding out her hands. "I'm sorry Draco I-"
He slapped them away and stepped back, grasping around for his wand, but failing to find it amongst the layers of blood he merely spluttered in fury.
"YOU IDIOT!"
Seymour would have normally relished such a moment of just desserts but noting the threatening glint to Draco's eyes instead took a step between the two of them as Malfoy continued to yell, ignoring her cries of apology.
"YOU DIRTY, FILTY LITTLE-" he stared madly round at the students now starting to gather round them. "You planned this didn't you?" he demanded trying desperately to wipe the blood off his face but only succeeding in smearing it further.
"Don't be stupid Malfoy it was an accident!" Seymour barked not hiding his dislike for the boy.
"You shut up. I bet you put her up to it didn't you? She's too stupid to do this on her own." Malfoy growled, clenching his fists and shaking with rage.
"Leave him alone." ordered Luna taking a step closer, her brow knitted, her eyes strangely focused.
"No wonder nobody likes you, you're just like your crazy mother." he spat at Luna taking a step closer too. "My father told me all about her, going round spouting nonsense and getting herself blown up by one of her own spells. I wouldn't be surprised if she did it on purpose, anything to get away from you."
Luna reeled back slipping on the blood seeping across the floor. "Shut up Draco, I'll.., I'll…"
Malfoy continued to sneer at her. "You'll what exactly? Don't want everybody to know what an idiot your mother was? At least I've got a mother, yours probably decided death was a far better fate than a life time spent raising you, you stupid little-" he slid on the floor and grabbed the wall beside him to keep his balance. "A dead mother and a crazy father, no wonder you turned out so messed up."
Seymour stared at Luna who's legs had become oddly shaky. She bit hard on her lip which trembled slightly as she struggled to think of a reply. She gazed at all the faces that had crowded round them before coming to a rest on Seymour's. The look she held frightened Seymour more than anything due to the simple fact he could have never imagined it as it was now.
She tried desperately to speak but could only mutter a few inaudible sounds as her voice croaked over her words. She slammed her hand onto the stone wall beside her and glared at Malfoy before turning round and running off towards the direction of the courtyard leaving Seymour watching after her.
Draco laughed as he slipped off in the opposite direction, dripping with blood and muttering a few choice words as he went. He glanced back at Seymour a triumphant grin smeared across his face.
Seymour clenched his fists tight as a wave off cold hard hatred ran over him, he wanted to tear at Malfoy, to rip him apart and stepped towards his leaving figure before Luna's face flashed into his mind.
He glared at the students standing around him. "What are you lot looking at!" he shouted at them before turning and taking off in the direction that Luna had left in.
He stumbled down the corridor still shaking with rage and walked out into a deserted courtyard. A heavy rainfall lashed hard at his face as he searched through the downpour looking for Luna. A few students with their cloaks held high over their heads ran passed him soaking wet. He took a step further out into the rain, listening intently over the lightly beating rhythm the droplets were making on the stone floor.
He stopped in his tracks when his eyes eventually found the subject of a lone figure sat slouched over on one of the stone benches towards the back of the courtyard. Her straggly blonde hair hung slack towards her knees, her head cast down towards her feet. Her hands covered her face as she sat there not moving, the rain seemingly ineffective on her in Luna's current state.
Seymour walked slowly over to her his heart lodged heavily in his throat. Part of him deep down was terrified, he'd never seen Luna like this before and struggled to maintain a strong resolve as he made his way towards her. The rain continued to whip at his face as he took a seat next to her.
He reached out a hand but hesitated for a moment before slowly placing in on the back of her head. Luna didn't move but remained there for a while silently buried in darkness.
"Luna." Seymour quietly spoke, taking his hand and moving it to her soaking wet shoulders.
"It's not fair." she cried through her hands before standing up. She took a few steps forward facing away from him, letting her arms hang at her sides, her fists clenched tightly, shaking. "It's not fair." she said again before whipping round to stare at Seymour, her face cast somewhere between anger and devastation. "What was she playing at?" she demanding glaring at Seymour for answers. "Didn't she care about the rest of her family? Was what she was doing so important? More important than me and dad?" her voice shook and again she had to bite back a sob. "Wasn't being with us good enough for her? How could she leave dad alone?" Any hint of Luna's usual tone was lost on her voice as she pushed the soaking wet strands of hair from her face. "I loved her more than anything. Did she love me?" Luna cried slapping her fist into her side.
"Of course she did-" Seymour started softly not taking his eyes off her.
"How do you know?" she snapped tearing her eyes away from him. "Can't have loved me enough to stay alive could she? Let's leave Luna to grow up without a mother. She'll be fine. Well I'm not!" she screamed, every word sounding like it was taking great effort to get out. "She knew the risks, of course she did but she didn't care. She cared more about furthering her stupid magic than she ever did about me!"
She slammed down back into the seat beside Seymour and cried. If it hadn't happened in front of him Seymour would have never believed it. The rain hid the heavy tear tracks tumbling down her face but her sobs echoed round the courtyard.
Seymour slid off the bench and onto his knees, kneeling before her. He moved her arms away and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. His own arms shook but he held on trying his best to steady his nerve.
With this she cried harder and grabbed onto the back of his robes. "I didn't mean it." she sobbed choking on her words. "I don't believe that." she cried burying her face into his shoulder.
Seymour bit down the tears in his own eyes and tightened his hold. They remained for a time letting the rain cascade down upon them until finally her loud cries subsided and a sense of calm started to ease its way into her body.
Seymour leaned back resting his forehead on hers and cast his eyes down towards her hands that he held in his own. The occasional sob still escaped her lips as he once again ran one of his fingers gently over the numerous cuts and scrapes on hers whilst she continued to stare at the floor.
"You're right Luna." he finally spoke causing her to look up, her large shimmering eyes dark and red round the edges. "I don't know anything about your mother but I'm still certain she loved you just as much as you loved her. You only have to spend two minutes in your house to realise that. It feels just like my home, even though my mums gone it still feels like she's there all the time. The worst thing is we don't realise quite how much we love the people around us till they're gone… but that's just the way it is."
Luna smiled back at him nodding, pushing the hair from her face.
"Truth is I didn't want to leave after Christmas Luna, I really didn't. I honestly could've stayed there all year. You're mother was clearly happy there too Luna and proud of her daughter, why else would she have had your photos around every room of the house, there were more pictures of you in her study than there were books, not to mention your paintings all around the walls and furniture. That house is you Luna, everything about it screams Luna Lovegood. Do you really think a mother who wasn't completely devoted to her daughter could have lived in a house like that if she didn't?" He peered into her face, pulling aside the last few strands of wet hair from her eyes.
"So I'm not weird then?" she asked grinning back.
"Oh no you're definitely weird." he added causing her to laugh. "You're mother raised you to be your own person Luna, not someone prepared to follow along with the rest of the world just because that's the easy way to fit in. You're amazing Luna Lovegood, always be proud of that. A complete one off." he stared into her eyes as she looked back not taking her eyes off him.
"You're weird too." she added causing him to frown at her. "No one else has ever said this sort of thing to me before. It really is quite nice to be told." she smiled looking for the first time since Seymour had met her rather embarrassed.
"Well get used to it." he replied and with out giving it a further thought he leaned forward as kissed her on the lips. The rain continued to fall over them but Seymour didn't care, the downpour thundering away above them was the last thing on his mind. He pressed his lips onto hers and knelt up taking her face into his hands. Luna's eyes opened wide in surprise as she sat back in her seat before closing them and leaning into him. After a while he moved away letting their lips part and looked into her face, her eyes were still closed but she smiled back.
"That was nice." she noted opening her eyes and staring back at him. She took her hand and placed it onto her lips before grabbing hold of his hands and leaning forward. "One more." she murmured before kissing him back, reaching her arms around his neck. He stood up and lifted her from the bench onto her feet. They remained together as the rain drummed the ground around them.
"Peppermint toothpaste and a hint of blueberry chewing gum if I'm not mistaken." she said to herself as they parted again.
Seymour rolled his eyes at her, "Luna, this is supposed to be romantic."
"Well of course it is." she replied not taking her eyes off him, "But it's the first time I've kissed anyone like this before, I'll admit I've always been rather intrigued, I wasn't sure what to expect to be honest."
"Well I haven't either you know?" he pointed out letting his face turn even redder than it already was.
"Really? Well how do we know if we're even doing it right?" Luna leant upwards and kissed him again. "Did that feel ok to you? I think it's going rather well but then what do I know?"
Seymour burst out laughing, a wave of relief washing over him as the same old Luna stared back at him, too lost in her own thoughts to notice they were still stood in the middle of a torrential downpour.
"So what happens now?" she asked a genuine look of intrigue playing across her face.
"Err well we go out, together… err alone maybe we could-"
"No I meant tonight, the full moon." it was her turn to roll her eyes as she shot an amused look his way. "Of course we're going out. I would have thought that was obvious after all that kissing." She couldn't hold back the smile that appeared on her lips, a red glow growing on her cheeks.
"Oh right, tonight err-"
"We'll have to decide where to meet of course and then there's the fact we're going to be hunting a possible werewolf, we'll have to make sure we're prepared. Maybe I should brush up on my stunning charm, couldn't hurt and then there's-" she continued to talk, grabbing hold of Seymour's hand and pulling him along the courtyard into the dryness of the corridor beyond. He stared after her, his insides still doing somersaults, he tightened his grip on her hand and quickened his pace trying his best to keep up with the girl planning away beside him.