Luna Lovegood

Arthur had a rough night's sleep. He saw his parents weaving in and out of his dreams, silent just like in the photograph; Martha sobbing over Kreacher's dead body, being watched by David and Chrys, who wore crowns, and then once more, he found himself walking down that corridor to what must be the locked door to the Department of Mysteries.

He suddenly woke up abruptly when his scar prickled, finding David already dressed and talking to him.

"...hurry up, mum's going ballistic, says we'll miss the train…."

There was nothing but commotion in the house. From what he heard as he dressed as fast as he could, the twins bewitched their trunks to fly downstairs to save time, resulting in them hurtling straight into Mary, knocking her down two flights of stairs into the hall, making Sirius' mother and Martha screaming at the top of their lungs.

" - COULD HAVE SERIOUSLY INJURED HER, YOU MORONS -"

" - FILTHY HALF-BREEDS, BESMIRCHING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS -"

Chrys hurried into the room flustered just as Arthur put his trainers on. Athena swayed on her shoulder, carrying a squirming Crookshanks in her arms.

"Mum and dad have just sent Athena back." She said, said owl fluttering over and perched on top of her cage. "Are you ready yet?"

"Just about. Is Mary alright?" Arthur asked as he tied his laces.

"Martha's patched her up." Chrys said. "Moody's also complaining that we can't leave until Sturgis Podmore gets here, otherwise the guard will be one short."

"We have to go to King's Cross with a guard?" Arthur asked.

"Correction: you have to go to King's Cross with a guard." Chrys said.

"Seriously?" Arthur said irritably. "Voldemort's lying low, is he really gonna just pop out of a dustbin and end my life?"

"It's just what Moody says, you know how paranoid he is." Chrys replied, looking at her watch. "And he will be the reason we will miss the train if we don't leave soon."

"WILL YOU LOT GET DOWN HERE, PLEASE?" Martha bellowed out, making Chrys jump like she was scalded and hurried out.

Arthur grabbed Athena and stuffed her into her cage before setting off downstairs after Chrys, dragging his trunk.

The portrait of Sirius' mother still howled with rage and no one even bothered to close the curtains over her, all the noise in the hall being bound to rouse her regardless.

"Arthur, you're coming with me and Tonks." Martha shouted over the constant screeching from Sirius' mother. "Leave your trunk and owl, Alastor will deal with the luggage. Sirius, Dumbledore said no!"

A bear-like black dog appeared at Arthur's side as he clambered over the various trunks in the hall to get to Martha.

"You know what, never mind! It's your choice."

She wretched the front door open and stepped out into the weak September sunlight. Both Arthur and the dog followed her with the door slamming shut behind them with Sirius' mother's screeching being cut off instantly.

"And where's Tonks?" Arthur asked, looking around as they walked down the front steps of Number Twelve, which vanished the moment they reached the pavement.

"She's waiting to use up here." Martha said.

They met up with an old woman, who had tightly curled grey hair and wore a purple hat that was shaped like a pork pie.

"Wotcher, Arthur." She said with a wink. "Better hurry up, hadn't we, Martha?" She added, checking her watch.

"I know." Martha moaned. "Blame Moody, he wanted to wait for Sturgis. If only we had Ministry cars to borrow."

The great black dog gave a joyful bark, gambolling around them, snapping at pigeons and chasing its own tail. Arthur couldn't help but laugh. Sirius was trapped inside that house for so long, after all.

It took them around twenty minutes to reach King's Cross on foot with nothing much happening other than Sirius scaring a couple of cats to entertain Arthur.

Once they entered the station, they lingered casually beside the barrier between platforms nine and ten until the coast was clear. They each then leaned against it in turn, falling easily through onto platform nine and three quarters, where the Hogwarts Express stood releasing sooty steam over a platform packed with departing students and their various families.

Arthur inhaled the familiar scent and his spirits soared… he'll be really going back to where he considered home.

"Let's hope the others make it in time." Martha said anxiously, staring behind her at the wrought iron arch that spanned the platform, where new arrivals would come.

"Nice dog, Arthur!" A tall boy with dreadlocks said.

"Thanks, Lee." Arthur grinned as Sirius wagged his tail frantically.

"Here comes Alastor with the luggage." Martha said with relief.

A porter's cap pulled low over his magical eye as Moody limped through the archway, pushing a trolley loaded with their trunks.

"All okay." He muttered to Martha and Tonks. "Don't think we're followed…."

Seconds later, Ben emerged onto the platform with David, Chrys and Mike. They almost unloaded Moody's luggage trolley when the twins and Mary turned up with Lupin.

"No trouble?" Moody growled.

"Nothing." Lupin replied.

"I'll still be reporting Sturgis to Dumbledore." Moody said. "That's the second time he's not turned up in a week. Getting as unreliable as Mundungus."

"Well, look after yourselves." Lupin said, shaking hands with everyone. When reaching Arthur, he clapped him on the shoulder. "You too, Arthur. Be careful."

"Yeah, keep your head down and your eyes peeled." Moody said, shaking his hand as well. "And don't forget, all of you, careful what you put in writing. If in doubt, don't put it in a letter at all."

"It's been great meeting all of you." Tonks said, hugging Chrys and Mary. "We'll see you soon, I expect."

A warning whistle sounded and all the students that were still on the platform hurried onto the train.

"Hurry, all of you." Martha said distractedly, hugging them all. "Write… be good… write if you've forgotten something… now hurry…."

For one brief moment, the great black dog had reared onto its hind legs and placed its front paws on Arthur's shoulders, but Martha shoved Arthur towards the train door.

"Act like a normal dog!" She hissed.

"See you!" Arthur called out from an open window as the train started to move as David, Chrys, Mike and Mary all waved beside him.

The figures of Tonks, Lupin, Moody, Ben and Martha all shrank rapidly yet the black dog bound alongside the window, wagging its tail, blurred people on the platform all laughing at it as it chased the train until they rounded a bend, with Sirius now gone from sight.

"I'm thinking that he shouldn't have come with us." Chrys said worriedly.

"Oh, shut up." David said. "He hasn't seen daylight in months, can you blame him?"

"See you guys later, we're gonna go discuss things with Lee Jordan." Jack said before he and Kevin disappeared down the corridor to the right.

The train now gathered more speed that the houses outside the window flashed past, making them all sway as they stood.

Arthur then noticed David and Chrys exchanging looks.

"What is it?" He asked them.

"We're… uh… supposed to go to the Prefect carriage." Chrys said awkwardly.

"Right, just go." Arthur said, hoping to be rid of the awkward tension.

"We're not gonna stay there the entire way -"

"Just go!" Arthur cut Chrys off, leaving her taken aback before she and David wordlessly dragged their trunks with Crookshanks and a caged Goliath towards the engine end of the train.

Arthur felt a sense of loss as he never travelled on the Hogwarts Express without David.

"Hey, if we get a move on, we'll save them places." Mike said.

"Right." Arthur said, picking up Athena's cage in one hand and the handle of his trunk with the other. He, Mike and Mary struggled their way down the corridor, peering through the glass panelled doors into the various compartments they passed, which were already full.

Arthur noticed how a lot of the people in them stared back at him with interest, some even nudging their neighbours, pointing him out. This was definitely due to what the Daily Prophet has been writing about him. He knew that most would believe that he's just some attention seeking brat making up lies.

When the three reached the very last carriage, they came across Neville Longbottom, their fellow fifth year Gryffindor. His round face shone back with effort as he pulled his trunk along and maintained a one handed grip on his struggling toad, Trevor.

"Hi, Arthur." He panted. "Hi, Mike, Mary… everywhere's full… I can't find a seat…."

"What are you on about?" Mary said, peering into the compartment behind Neville. "There's room in this one, only Luna Lovegood is in there."

Neville mumbled something about not wanting to disturb anyone.

"Don't worry." Mary laughed. "She'll be alright."

She slid the door open and pulled her trunk inside with the three boys following her in.

"Hi, Luna." Mary greeted. "Is it alright if we take these seats?"

The girl that sat beside the table looked up. She had straggly, waist length dirty blonde hair, very pale eyebrows and eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. Arthur could tell why Neville didn't want to be in this compartment. This girl gave off this aura of distinct dottiness. Maybe it was because she stuck her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping, or the fact that she was reading a magazine upside down. Her eyes ranged over Neville before going over to Mike then Arthur. She then nodded.

"Thanks." Mary smiled at her.

The three boys all stowed their trunks, and Mary's, as well as Athena's cage in the luggage rack and all sat down.

Luna watched them over her upside down magazine, which was called The Quibbler. She didn't blink as much as a normal human would. She just continued staring at Arthur, who made sure to not sit directly opposite her.

"How was your summer, Luna?" Mary asked.

"It was quite enjoyable." Luna replied dreamily, still staring at Arthur, making him feel uncomfortable. "You're Arthur Pendergast." She added.

"I am, so what?" Arthur replied lazily.

"And I don't know who you two are."

"I'm Michael McGonagall." Mike introduced himself.

"I'm nobody." Neville said hurriedly.

"No you're not." Mary said sharply. "Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year as well, she's also in Ravenclaw."

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." Luna said in a sing-song voice.

She then raised her upside down magazine high enough to hide her face and fall silent. The three boys all looked at each other, eyebrows raised. This made Mary suppress a giggle.

The train rattled onwards, speeding them out through open country. It was an odd kind of day because one moment, the carriage was full of sunlight until they passed beneath ominous grey clouds.

"Guess what I got for my birthday?" Neville said.

"Is it some kind of plant?" Arthur asked, knowing just how much Neville loved Herbology since it was his best and favourite subject at Hogwarts.

"Yeah, look at this…."

He dug his hand that wasn't keeping a firm grip on Trevor into his school bag and after a bit of rummaging, he pulled out what looked like a small grey cactus on a pot, yet it was covered with what looked like boils instead of spines.

"Mimbulus mimbletonia." He said proudly.

Arthur stared at it curiously. It pulsated slightly, making it seem like it was some diseased internal organ.

"It's really, really rare." Neville beamed. "I don't know if there's one in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. I can't wait to show it to Professor Sprout. My Great Uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I can breed from it."

"Does it do anything?" Arthur asked.

"Loads of stuff!" Neville proudly said. "It's got an amazing defensive mechanism. Here, hold Trevor for me…."

He dumped the toad onto Mike's lap as he took a quill from his school bag. Luna's popping eyes appeared over the top of her magazine to watch what Neville was doing.

Neville held the Mimbulus mimbletonia up to his eyes, his tongue between his teeth, chose a spot and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tip of his quill.

This caused liquid to squirt out from every boil on the plant. It was thick, stinky and dark green. Jets of the stuff hit the ceiling, windows and splattered on Luna's magazine. Mary, who flung her arms up in front of her face in time, looked as though she wore a slimy green hat. Arthur and Mike didn't react in time and received facefuls. They gagged as it smelled like rancid manure.

Neville, whose face and torso were also drenched, shook his head to get the worst of it out of his eyes.

"S - sorry." He gasped. "I haven't tried that before… didn't realise it would be quite so… don't worry, though, Stinksap's not poisonous." He added nervously as Arthur spat a mouthful onto the floor. At that moment, the compartment door slid open.

"Oh… hello, Arthur." A nervous voice said. "Um… bad time?"

Arthur wiped some of the Stinksap away from his eyes to see that a pretty Chinese girl with long, shiny black hair stood in the doorway smiling at them: Cho Chang, the Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

"To say the least." Arthur replied back.

"Um…." Cho said. "Well… just thought I'd say hello… bye then."

With pink in her face, she closed the door and departed.

"Don't worry, I know how to get rid of all this." Mary said as she pulled out her wand. "Scourgify!"

All the Stinksap vanished quickly.

"Sorry." Neville apologised in a small voice.

David and Chrys didn't turn up for nearly an hour, by then, the food trolley had already gone by. Arthur, Mike, Mary and Neville had finished their pumpkin pasties and were busy swapping Chocolate Frog Cards when the compartment door opened up and they walked in, with Crookshanks and a still caged Goliath accompanying them.

"I'm starving." David said, stowing Goliath next to Athena, grabbing a Chocolate Frog from Arthur and sat next to him. He opened the box up, bit the head off and leaned back as though he had an exhausting morning.

"There's two fifth year Prefects per house." Chrys said, looking a bit disgruntled as she sat. "Both a boy and girl."

"And a certain pale incest git is a Slytherin Prefect." David snarled.

"Great." Arthur spat, his worst fear confirmed that Draco Malfoy was now a Prefect.

"And Pugsy Parkinson is the female Slytherin Prefect." Chrys said viciously. "How she became a Prefect when she's thicker than a troll is beyond me."

"The Hufflepuffs?" Mike asked.

"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbot." David replied.

"And both Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw." Chrys aded.

"You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil." Luna's vague voice said, making everyone look at her. She herself was staring unblinkingly at David over the top of The Quibbler.

"And?" David asked after swallowing a mouthful of Frog.

"She said how sorry she was for you." Luna replied. "Of course, she hoped you would dance with her, but she was fine with it. I don't think I'd have minded." She added thoughtfully. "I don't like dancing very much."

She then retreated behind The Quibbler again. David stared at her flabbergasted. After a short while, he shook his head and checked his watch.

"We're meant to patrol the corridors every so often." He said. "And we can actually give out punishments if people are misbehaving. Obviously I won't abuse my power, but this can be a chance to punish Crabbe and Goyle."

"True." Chrys nodded, liking that idea.

"Just imagine Goyle doing lines, that would kill him since he hates writing." David said longingly. He then lowered his voice to Goyle's low grunt and, screwing his face up in a look of pained concentration, mimed writing in mid air. "I… must… not… look… like… a… baboon's… backside."

Everyone in the compartment laughed, but none as hard as Luna, who let out a scream of mirth that made Athena wake up and flap her wings indignantly, and Crookshanks to leap up into the luggage rack, hissing. Luna laughed so hard that her magazine slipped out of her grasp, sliding down her legs and onto the floor.

"That was funny!"

Her prominent eyes swam with tears as she gasped for breath, staring at David. He looked around at the others, who all laughed at his expression and at the prolonged laughter of Luna Lovegood, who rocked back and forth, clutching her sides.

"Are you being serious?" He muttered.

"Baboon's… backside!" She choked, holding her ribs.

While everyone else was watching Luna laughing, Arthur glanced at the magazine on the floor, noticing something that made him grab it. Upside down was a fairly bad cartoon of Fudge. Arthur recognised it was him because of his lime green bowler hat. One of his hands was clenched around a bag of gold, the other throttling a goblin. It was captioned: How Far Will Fudge Go to Gain Gringotts?

Beneath it were the titles of other articles in the magazine.

CORRUPTION IN THE QUIDDITCH LEAGUE:

HOW THE TORNADOS ARE TAKING CONTROL

SECRETS OF THE ANCIENT RUNES REVEALED

SIRIUS BLACK: VILLAIN OR VICTIM?

"Can I look through this?" Arthur asked Luna eagerly.

She nodded, still gazing at David, breathless with laughter.

Arthur opened up the magazine and scanned the index.

He eventually found the one article he wanted to read, seeing that it was illustrated by a bad cartoon of who had to be Sirius, yet it didn't resemble him at all. Sirius stood on a pile of human bones with his wand out. The headline of the article said:

SIRIUS - BLACK AS HE'S PAINTED?

Notorious mass murderer

or innocent singing sensation?

Arthur had to reread that first sentence a few times to see if he misunderstood it. Since when has Sirius ever been a singing sensation?

For fourteen years Sirius Black has been believed guilty of the mass murder of twelve innocent Muggles and one wizard. Black's audacious escape from Azkaban two years ago has led to the widest manhunt ever conducted by the Ministry of Magic. None of us has ever questioned that he deserves to be recaptured and handed back to the Dementors.

BUT DOES HE?

Startling new evidence has recently come to light that Sirius Black may not have committed the crimes for which he was sent to Azkaban. In fact, says Doris Purkiss, of 18 Acanthia Way, Little Norton, Black may not even have been present at the killings.

"What people don't realise is that Sirius Black is a false name." says Mrs Purkiss. "The man people believe to be Sirius Black is actually Stubby Boardman, lead singer of popular singing group The Hobgoblins, who retired from public life after being struck on the ear by a turnip at a concert in Little Norton Church Hall nearly fifteen years ago. I recognised him the moment I saw his picture in the paper. Now, Stubby couldn't possibly have committed those crimes, because on the day in question he happened to be enjoying a romantic candlelit dinner with me. I have written to the Minister for Magic and am expecting him to give Stubby, alias Sirius, a full pardon any day now."

Arthur finished reading and stared in utter disbelief. He didn't even know if this was all just some big joke, or maybe the magazine printed spoof items.

He decided to flick a few pages back and found the piece on Fudge.

Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, denied that he had any plans to take over the running of the Wizarding Bank, Gringotts, when he was elected Minister for Magic five years ago. Fudge has always insisted that he wants nothing more than to 'cooperate peacefully' with the guardians of our gold.

BUT DOES HE?

Sources close to the Minister have recently disclosed that Fudge's dearest ambition is to seize control of the goblin gold supplies and that he will not hesitate to use force if need be.

"It wouldn't be the first time, either." said a Ministry insider. "Cornelius 'Goblin Crusher' Fudge, that's what his friends call him. If you could hear him when he thinks no one's listening, oh, he's always talking about the goblins he's had done in; he's had them drowned, he's had them dropped off buildings, he's had them poisoned, he's had them cooked in pies..."

Arthur didn't read any further.

Fudge may have many faults, but Arthur didn't believe for a second that he ordered goblins to be cooked in pies.

He carried on through the rest of the magazine. Pausing every few pages, he read: an accusation that the Tutshill Tornados were actually winning the Quidditch League through blackmail, illegal broom tampering and torture; an interview with a wizard who claimed to have flown to the moon on a Cleansweep Six and brought back a bag of moon frogs to prove it; an article on ancient runes that explained why Luna read The Quibbler upside down. Because the article said that if you turn the runes on their heads they revealed a spell to make your enemy's ears turn into kumquats.

Compared to the rest of the articles in the magazine, the suggestion of Sirius being the lead singer of The Hobgoblins seemed sensible.

"Anything good?" Mike asked as Arthur closed the magazine.

"It's… interesting." Arthur said, trying to find the right word.

"Who created that magazine, anyway?" Chrys asked curiously.

"My father, he's the editor." Luna replied dreamily as Arthur handed the magazine back to her, going back to reading it upside down.

Just then, the compartment door opened for the third time.

Arthur looked and growled upon seeing Draco Malfoy smirking at him between his cronies Crabbe and Goyle.

"What do you want?" Arthur spat aggressively before Draco could say a word.

"Manners, Pendergast, or I'll have to give you a detention." Draco drawled, his sleek blonde hair and pointed chin being exactly like his father's. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a Prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."

"Well, you're just nothing but a git since you're the spawn of nothing but incest, now get out!" Arthur retorted.

Everyone, excluding Luna, all glared at Draco, even Neville. Draco just simply curled his lips.

"Tell me, how does it feel being second best to Merlon, Pendergast?" He asked.

"You shut your pathetic mouth Draco!" Chrys snapped at him.

"I seem to have touched a nerve." Draco smirked. "Well, just watch yourself, Pendergast, because I'll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of line."

"GET OUT!" Chrys, David and Mike all shouted, standing up.

With a snigger, Draco gave Arthur one last malicious look and departed with Crabbe and Goyle lumbering behind him. Chrys slammed the compartment door behind them and looked at the others, excluding Neville and Luna, who all realised what Draco meant by 'dogging'.

They wordlessly agreed that it meant that Draco knew of Sirius being an Animagus, no doubt from Wormtail telling Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

Now Arthur thought Sirius coming with him to King's Cross was truly reckless. Now he understood partly why Dumbledore didn't want him out of Grimmauld Place.

The weather of the rest of the ride was undecided as they travelled further up north. Rain spattered the windows in a half hearted way and then the sun made a feeble appearance before clouds drifted over it once again.

When darkness eventually fell and the lamps came on inside the carriages, Luna rolled up The Quibbler, putting it away carefully in her bag and took to staring at everyone in the compartment.

Arthur sat looking out the train window, trying to get his first glimpse of Hogwarts, but it was a moonless night and the rain streaked window was too grimy to see through clearly.

"We need to change into our uniforms." Chrys said as she and David had their Prefect badges pinned on their chests.

At last, the train started slowing down and they heard the usual racket up and down it as everyone scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, ready to get off.

As David and Chrys were meant to supervise this, they disappeared from the carriage, leaving Arthur and the others to look after Crookshanksa and Goliath.

"I'll carry that owl, if you like." Luna said to Arthur, reaching out for Goliath as Neville stowed Tevor in an inside pocket.

"Thanks." Arthur said, handing her the cage and hoisted Athena's more securely into his arms.

They all shuffled out of the compartment feeling the sting of the night air on their faces as they joined the crowd in the corridor.

Slowly, they moved towards the doors. Arthur could smell the pine trees that lined the path to the lake. He then stepped down onto the platform, expecting to hear Hagrid's voice call for the first years.

Yet it didn't come. Instead, he heard a different voice. A brisk female voice called out "First years line up over here, please! First years to me!"

He saw a lantern swinging towards Arthur and he saw in its light the prominent chin and severe haircut of Professor Grubbly-Plank, the witch who took over Care of Magical Creatures lessons for a while the previous year.

"Where's Hagrid?" Arthur asked aloud.

"I don't know, but we need to get out of the way, we're blocking the door." Mike pointed out.

"Right…."

Arthur and Mike were separated from Mary as they moved along the platform and out through the station. Being jostled by the crowd, Arthur was thinking about where Hagrid could've gone, considering he'd normally escort the first years to Hogwarts through the lake.

He thought about the fact that he and Madame Maxime, the Headmistress of Beauxbatons, the French wizarding school, were sent on a mission by Dumbledore over the summer, perhaps their mission isn't over yet. And considering that Dumbledore suggested to Fudge to try to ally with the giants, maybe that's what they're trying to do, since both are half-giants, after all.

Arthur looked around for David or Chrys, seeing neither of them anywhere near him to talk about this with and so he just shunted forwards with Mike down the dark rain washed road outside Hogsmeade station.

There stood what were believed to be a hundred or so horseless carriages that took students above first year up to the castle.

Of course, they aren't really horseless. Arthur always suspected they were pulled by invisible creatures of some kind and this was confirmed back in June when, for the first time, he saw what was really pulling the carriages.

Arthur looked at the winged horses that he knew to be Thestrals. They all were black winged horses that were so skeletal in appearance as their skin was tight around their bones. Their heads were reminiscent of dragons and had pure white pupil-less eyes. Their wings were vast, black and leathery, looking like they belong to giant bats.

"Where's Goliath?" David's voice asked behind him.

"Luna's carrying him." Arthur replied.

"Where's Hagrid?" David then asked.

"I'll tell you later." Arthur said, thinking it would be safer when not surrounded by people.

A short distance away was Draco, who was followed by a small gang of cronies including Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson. They all pushed timid looking second years out of their way so that he and his friends could get a coach for themselves.

Seconds later, Chrys emerged.

"Draco was foul at a first year. I'm gonna report that git, he's only had that badge for three minutes and he's using it to bully people worse than ever. Where's Crookshanks?"

"Mary has him." Mike answered her. "There she is."

Mary had emerged from the crowd, clutching a squirming Crookshanks.

"Thank you." She said, relieving her of the cat. "Let's get a carriage."

"But I haven't got Goliath!" David said, yet Chrys just headed off towards the nearest unoccupied carriage. Arthur and Mike remained with him.

Luna appeared with Goliath's cage in her arms, the tiny owl twittering excitedly.

"Here you are." She said. "He's a sweet little owl, isn't he?"

"Thanks." David said. "Let's go."

The three boys followed after Chrys and all entered the carriage with Mary and Luna, Arthur having one last look at the Thestrals, which had vapour rising from their nostrils in the chilly night.

Well, we've finally met our favourite Ravenclaw.