The Hogwarts Lonely Hearts Club

Penny For Your Thoughts

About six months earlier, Harry had developed a keen interest in a girl in his House, one that might have threatened his aloof lifestyle if he hadn't handed out a threat of his own to stop gossiping tongues wagging.

This wasn't a romantic interest, mind you, but it would have been almost impossible to make that claim stick in a school where the rumour mill was as famous as it's most illustrious alumni. It seemed almost as if boys and girls weren't allowed to be friends with each other, not without at least one ulterior motive flying around with the raging hormones.

And this would have been the case with Harry, if he hadn't snapped the head off the rumour before it started.

It all began at the end of the previous school year, on the very last night before the students were due to return home. Harry, for the first time, was genuinely excited by this prospect. Mere days before, following a bizarre sequence of events and the clearing up of some very severe cases of mistaken identity, Harry had been reunited with his Godfather, Sirius Black, who had been wrongly accused of aiding in his parents' murder. Much emotion had flowed and the net result was that Harry agreed to live with his exonerated legal guardian, meaning he'd never have to endure the iron rule of his Dursley relatives ever again.

So on that last night of term, Harry actually joined in with the celebrations. That was to say he sat with the others and smiled a bit, rather than his usual tack of confining himself to the shadowiest corner and frowning at anyone who dared to speak to him. Harry was borderline enjoying himself, but that was until he spotted the girl over near the Common Room Noticeboard.

She was in the year below him and Harry didn't know her at all, though she was considered well-known amongst the students of the House, albeit for less than complimentary reasons. She was generally thought to be quirky and unusual, and for some reason this meant that other students regularly made fun of her. Harry didn't like this at all, but as he was gossiped about enough himself he had never found the courage to stand up for her.

That was until that night, when he learned just how far the 'teasing' went.

His attention was drawn to it by a conversation he overheard between Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe, two girls from the year above who were sitting on chairs just to his right. They were giggling and pointing over at the girl by the noticeboard, whispering lowly so that almost nobody could hear them.

"Up goes this year's lost property list!" Marietta was chortling, as the girl carefully tacked a colourful sign to the noticeboard. "That reminds me ... I've still got that charm bracelet in my bedside drawer. It'll be a shame to give it back."

"So, what have you lost this year, Loony?" Cho called over in false sweetness.

The girl turned her silvery, protuberant eyes to Cho. "Just these things."

Then she gestured to the sign that she'd just pinned up. Anger stirring, and under the pretence of refilling his goblet of pumpkin juice, Harry got up and moved to the noticeboard. He was stunned by what he saw on the multi-coloured poster.

"Have you really lost all these things?" Harry asked, gesturing at the list of more than a dozen items that were missing ... clothes, books, personal effects, each written in a different, sparkly colour ... and feeling a spike of pity as he read the heartfelt plea for their return written in swirly, silver ink at the bottom. His rage stirred as he read the words 'unicorn charm bracelet' about half way down the list, and he growled as Marietta's words echoed in his skull.

"Oh yes, but it's not as much as last year," the girl replied, sweetly.

"Your name's Luna, isn't it?" Harry asked. Luna Lovegood nodded back, seeming surprised that Harry Potter knew who she was. But, then again, she always wore a surprised expression, no matter what was going on. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you manage to lose all this stuff? And why are you only trying to find it now? It's a bit last minute."