Black suits

Chapter 15 ❁ Hurt

When I reached the door to the Ravenclaw common room I touched my fingers to the griffin shaped door knocker. The Ravenclaws were the only house without a portrait and a password to get in. Instead they had the door knocker which will ask you a question only Ravenclaws are supposed to be able to answer. Luckily I still have the mindset of one somewhere in my brain.

"What does the Ravenclaw common room look like?" The knocker asked in a scratchy voice.

"Stone walls and arched ceilings. There are four slit-like windows on the wall to the left and blue tapestries over them. The walls are lined with bookshelves and the rug is a deep blue color like the lake," I imagined the common room as I spoke. "The chairs are white velvet and they clean themselves so they're always spotless."

The door swung open and I was allowed inside.

There was a single person sitting in a lounge chair by the fire. A messy spiral of hair so blond it could have been white poked over the back of the chair, sign enough that this person was Luna Lovegood and that she wouldn't be angry at me for coming here.

"Luna," I whispered so that I didn't scare her.

She reluctantly lifted her eyes off of the Quibbler page she was reading and turned to me.

"Oh! Good heavens! Hello Eve," she jumped a bit but composed herself again.

"Hi Luna. Look, I was in the Great Hall and someone pulled me aside to talk and by the time we'd finished talking it was way past curfew and I couldn't get back to the Slytherin common room. May I stay here tonight?" I asked.

"I'd love to have you stay but I think the other Ravenclaws wouldn't be happy about it," she remarked. Her dreamy voice was putting me at ease even though her words weren't necessarily comforting.

"Okay. That's all right I'll find something," I sighed, turning to the door to leave.

"Wait!" she called.

I looked at her and she closed the Quibbler, a sign that she was committing to my problems the way she always did.

"I could come up to the astronomy tower with you and we could sleep there. The teachers are never up there and I'm sure there will be some friendly Nargles in the Mistletoe that's hung from the rafters!" she suggested.

I laughed a little. "I'd love that."

So off we went again. Luna led the way through the empty corridors. I wondered how she knew which ones the teachers would be in and which they wouldn't. I didn't ask though, for fear of making her go into a long winded answer about something I'd never quite understand.

When we reached the tallest of the castles' spires we realized it was quite cold. Luna conjured up a small blue fire that rested in a jar and we sat beside it.

"If you don't mind me asking- who wanted to talk to you so badly anyway," Luna asked.

I considered telling her it was Dumbledore but she'd been so nice to me and I didn't want to lie.

"Draco," I muttered.

She laughed lightly and her eyes fluttered. "Whatever about?" 

"Nothing in particular," I said. My eyes began to droop and all of a sudden there wasn't enough words left in me to tell her I was tired.

"I think Draco somewhat fancies you Eve," Luna half-whispered.

"Why would you think that?" I asked, perking up just a tiny bit and then reprimanding myself for it.

"He's always looking at you with those blue eyes of his. I bet he'd want to be up here with you instead of me if he knew. Maybe he'd even convince the Nargles to leave you alone while you're under the mistletoe! That's real dedication you know? Nargles are stubborn creatures," she told me.

I  was suddenly very sad. It felt more like a steel rod was in my chest then a heart and my stomach churned.

"Anyway it doesn't matter. I don't like him," I said confidently, ignoring the feeling of a panic attack coming on.

Luna nodded her head slowly, as if she was thinking about this for herself. 

"I think that's smart. Don't you?" Luna asked after a few minutes.

"What's smart?"

"You not being so very interested in Draco. I heard that he became a Death Eater over the summer!" she said.

Suddenly it was all too much. I felt the Earth shift beneath my feet and became very dizzy.

Tears poured from my eyes.

Luna looked startled and hesitantly put her arm around my shaking shoulders.

"What's wrong Eve?" she asked softly.

I didn't answer. Slowly she helped me to my feet and pulled me over to one of the openings of the tower, making the stars visible.

"See that star there?" she asked, pointing to one especially bright one.

I nodded, tears still pouring down my face.

"That one is for my mom you know? She always said she wanted to be up there on that very star. When she died I suppose that's where she ended up."

Luna's voice was dreamy as ever and slowly my tears stopped flowing.

"Why'd you tell me that, Luna?" I whispered.

"Thinking about that always calms me down when I'm upset. I wondered if it would work for you too. I think it has. Do you want to tell me why you were crying now?" she asked.

"I-," I began. I couldn't being myself to tell her Draco's secrets.

"I guess I'm just tired. Thank you for calming me down Luna."

She nodded and lay down next to the fire. I followed her lead and turned my head to face the sky.

I wasn't able to see the stars because of the wooden roof that hung over us but I imagined them. The sea of bright lights wasn't exaggerated in my head but it was still stunningly beautiful, the way I knew it really was. 

I fell asleep thinking of Luna's mother and her place on the star.