The Hogwarts Lonely Hearts Club

Desperately Seeking Harry

Hermione smiled fondly at that. "So, what's he in a mood about?"

"Oh, don't you know? It's been quite the gossip around the school," Luna went on chirpily. "Cho Chang has come down with a serious case of Dragon Pox. Her face is full of angry spots, you know, and she wont come out of her room."

"How did she get Dragon Pox?"

"Well, the most obvious way is from when she's been kissing Cedric Diggory," said Luna, thoughtfully. "People have been seeing them together in shadowy alcoves and broom cupboards and empty classrooms all over the school. That's probably how she got it."

"Does Cedric have the Pox too, then?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know, but I'm not in his House, am I?" Luna replied.

"No, but I'm not seeing the connection here."

"Well, it's like this," Luna began patiently. "During the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament, Cedric Diggory had to steal his Golden Egg from under a dragon, didn't he? And his dragon was sat on the egg most of the time, so it was in contact with the dragon's private bits, wasn't it? Then, when Cedric got it, he kissed it a lot when he was celebrating. Then he went and kissed Cho a lot. And that's how he passed on the Dragon Pox."

Hermione giggled at that. "Yes. I can see how that might happen. Poor Cho. Is she hiding away then?"

"Yes, she's always very concerned about how she looks, so this is the worst sort of thing for her," Luna explained, sadly. "Maybe I'll bring her some cake or something."

"That would be nice. But I still don't understand, Luna ... why has Cho having Dragon Pox put Harry in a bad mood? She's ... she's not his girlfriend, is she?"

There was something Hermione heard in her own voice then that threw her for a loop. It was a sort of distress, coupled with a nervous hope that what she'd asked really wasn't the case. That unsettled her greatly as she shivered with the echo of her own words.

But Luna didn't seem to have realised Hermione's disquiet. "Oh, no, it's nothing like that. Harry doesn't have a girlfriend, unless it's someone from outside Hogwarts that no-one knows about."

Relief. That was not the emotion Hermione had expected to feel at the declaration. But there it was, and it served only to ramp up her unsettled fidgeting. She didn't like this new sensation one little bit, but she had to stay on point.

"So what's got Harry all upset then?" Hermione pressed.

"Oh, well it's the Quidditch team, you see," Luna elaborated. "Cho is our Seeker and we have a match against Gryffindor this weekend, but now she wont be able to play. And everyone in our House knows how good a flier Harry is, so they are trying to persuade him to take her place, but he's having none of it."

"Because he doesn't like to be on display," Hermione nodded, knowingly. "I see. So he's getting angry at everyone for pestering him?"

"Yes, but also at himself a bit too, I think," Luna mused.

"Why would that be? Why would he be angry at himself?"

"Because I think he secretly wants to play," Luna replied. "He is a brilliant flier and he loves Quidditch. Sometimes, when I used to go to the Quidditch pitch to search for things people had taken from me, I'd see Harry flying around on his own in the twilight. He'd chase the Snitch round and round for ages, and he never once failed to catch it.

"But playing in front of people is different. Like you say, he doesn't like people looking at him and things, so it stops him doing something he enjoys."