The next Monday, Luna watched as the owls flew into the Great Hall. One dropped a familiar brown package in her arms. Quickly, she tore it open as she ran towards the Gryffindor table and squeezed in between Ron and George who politely moved aside. She looked at Harry who was staring wide-eyed at an identical copy of The Quibbler as the one in her hands. The headline read:
HARRY POTTER SPEAKS OUT AT LAST: THE TRUTH ABOUT HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM RETURN
“Lovely, right?” Luna said as she squeezed in between Ronald and George, carefully lying her Quibbler in front of her and plopping a strawberry into her mouth. “I asked Daddy to send you a free copy after it came out yesterday.” Then several more owls flew by, dropping letters in their wake. “I suppose these are all letters from your readers.” With that, the trio along with George and Luna dug in.
“This lady thinks you've been, erm, drinking some spoiled potions mixed and firewhiskey,” Ron said, scrunching his nose up at the unpleasant letter.
“This man thinks you're a lunatic,” Hermione added, chewing thoughtfully on a biscuit.
“Well, isn't this pleasant,” Harry mumbled to himself.
“Oh, this person believes you!” Luna cried, waving the triumphant letter in her hand.
“So does this one,” George said. “Blimey, I think this interview just might have done it, Harry!”
“This person seems convinced, as well,” Hermione said. “Here, listen. 'Having read your side of the story, I have come to realize that the Daily Prophet's treatment of you has been very unjust...Though I wish He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named no longer was a threat to our society, I and forced to believe that you are indeed, Mr. Potter, telling the truth.' Oh, brilliant!”
“Another one thinks you're barking,” Ron mumbled through a mouthful of sausage. “Oh, but this one says you're a hero. And it's sealed with lipstick. How lovely.”
Luna smiled. Just as two hands appeared, one resting on her shoulder, the other on George's. They were pudgy and had pink painted finger nails. Luna gulped and slowly raised her head to look at the pink puckered lips and muddy, beady eyes of Professor Umbridge.
“What is all of this, children?” she said. The rest of the group's heads whipped around to stare at her, fear in their eyes. “Is there any reason for all these letters to be littering the table, Mr. Potter?”
“Is it a crime to receive mail?” George put in rudely.
“Watch your tone, young man, or I shall have to see you in my office,” she said sweetly. “Now, what is all of this, Mr. Potter?”
“People were writing to be because of an interview--” But without any invitation, Umbridge's surprisingly nimble fingers swept down and snatched a Quibbler from Luna's hands. Her eyes widened at the sight of the cover article.
“How...how dare...you couldn't have...” She set the Quibbler back down just a little too hard. “Mr. Potter, what is it that you have not understood? What have I not made clear? You are here by banned from all Hogsmeade trips, sixty points from Gryffindor, and a week's worth of detentions.” She stalked away leaving Harry to dread the rest of his year at Hogwarts.
Not less than an hour later there was a new rule on notice boards. Hogwart's High Inquisitor had declared The Quibbler banned.
“Brilliant!” Hermione exclaimed from just behind Luna.
“What's there to be happy about?” Harry asked her.
“Well, if Dolores has banned something, then that makes people want to read it all the more!”
And sure enough, Hermione was correct. Within the week it seemed everyone in Hogwarts had read Harry's interview. A few days later, though, Luna received wonderful news from her father. She rushed to the Great Hall quickly to seek out her Gryffindor pals.
“Daddy's reprinting!” she exclaimed to a startled Harry and Hermione. “He says this is the most copies The Quibbler has ever sold! Even more than the edition about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks!” This astonished Luna that any edition of The Quibbler could have sold more than the Crumple-Horned Snorkack edition, but leave it to Harry to beat out an article about the greatest discovery in a century.
That evening when Luna made her way back to the Ravenclaw tower, she found a pink detention slip on her bed. She was confused. Luna was sure she had bewitched all of her Quibblers to look like textbooks; she'd even triple-checked. What could she have done to anger Umbridge?
Picking up the slip, Luna stared on dismay first, at how Umbridge had written Loony, instead of Luna and had only drawn a single line through it so Luna could still see it perfectly clearly and then proceeded to write her correct name next to it. Then, in the section of the slip designated for the teacher to write why they were handing this out, Professor Umbridge had taken the trouble to write absolutely nothing. There was no reason for this detention, or so it seemed to Luna. Then below, there were a week's worth of dates and times with Umbridge's pink, girly signature at the bottom.
Heated, Luna roughly shoved the slip into her bag and turned around to find Cho and her gang snickering behind her. “What?” Luna said, too tired to be nice.
“Was that a detention slip I saw there, Loony?” one girl teased. “What'd you do this time?” As if Luna had ever gotten in trouble before.
“Yeah, did you set a Muddly-Wump thingy lose in the Hall again?” the girls giggled at their own stupidity.
“There's no such thing as a 'Muddly-Wump thingy', Larisa,” Luna said coolly. The girls quickly composed themselves and now glared at Luna openly.
“Luna,” Cho said, twisting her wand in her hands, obviously trying to be menacing. “I'm going to have to ask you a favor.”
“And what would that be?”
“I've seen you hanging out with Harry quite a bit lately. I just wanted to ask if maybe you couldn't.”
“Why ever not?” Luna asked, dismayed.
“Well, you see, now that Harry and I are in a relationship, I don't think things would go very well between us if he found out about our type of understanding, don't you agree? And you do know, Luna dear, that you and Harry are very different people. I don't think he can see you as anything more than a nuisance he has to protect from everything.” With each new phrase, Cho's voice became harder and harder.
“If you are so subtly implying that I am romantically interested in Harry, then you obviously have no idea about--”
“That's quite alright,” Cho interrupted. “I don't need to hear you trying to explain yourself. I don't like being lied to, Loony.” She paused for a moment for what was most likely supposed to be dramatic emphasis. “Just stay away from him. I don't need your oddity tainting him.” Then she and her minions stalked away.
Luna was rattled. Seething, was more like it. How, how dare she! That was just despicable, just, just, wrong of her to say something like that! Luna did not like Harry like that. He was more of a brother to her. And, to her knowledge, Harry had never shown any dislike towards Luna. He had never acted like she was a nuisance...
Everyone thought Cho was so sweet and innocent. But she had a dark side, like many people in the world do. Luna just happened to be caught my her in the middle of her blackness.
Well, Luna knew one thing for sure: she was not going to give Cho what she wanted.
YOU ARE READING
Luna Lovegood
Fanfiction[BOOK ONE] Loony Lovegood--the girl everyone made fun of. The girl with more to her than what meets the eye. She's different, you know (although I presume you already figured that out for yourself). She's special, and she has a story, too. Foll...
