Into Your Gravity ( Luna Lovegood & Tom Riddle )

Chapter two: Wrackspurts

On the bridge, levitating because we want to.
When the unknown will surround you,
there is no right time.
Levitation - Beach House
                                 •

Luna reached the large, oak doors of the castle and pulled one open, the great door swinging silently on its hinges. She stepped into the warm entrance hall and heard the familiar sounds of student voices spilling out of the Great Hall. She crossed towards the doors leading to the Great Hall, her soft footsteps on the stone floor echoing. Just as she reached out to open the door, a voice behind her said, "May I help you with something, miss?"

She turned towards the speaker with a smile and her mouth popped open in surprise. "Oh!"

Albus Dumbledore stood across the entrance hall from her. A crowd of nervous-looking first years was behind him, some of them leaning around him to get a look at her. His beard and hair were a deep auburn, and much shorter in length than she had ever seen them before. "Miss?" he repeated.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Her heart leapt - could he be alive? She took a step toward him. "Your hair is lovely!"

Some of the first year students laughed. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows and peered over his spectacles at her, the corners of his mouth turning upwards. "Thank you," he said. "I'm afraid I don't know your name."

Luna hesitated. "You don't?" She tilted her head to the side, furrowed her brow, and twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. "I'm Luna Lovegood."

Dumbledore inspected her a brief moment. "Well, Miss Lovegood, I would like to extend a warm welcome to you to join us for the Start-of-Term Feast. Our first year students here," he said, gesturing a hand towards the young pupils behind him, "are about to be Sorted. Following the feast, if you would be be so kind as to meet me with me for a cup of tea, I would be most delighted."

Luna nodded, though she was somewhat puzzled. Perhaps this was the work of Wrackspurts in her brain. Perhaps they had taken advantage of her moment of confusion on the train to further discombobulate her. Continuing to twirl her hair, she said, "Thank you, sir."

As Dumbledore led the first year students into the Great Hall, Luna followed. She looked around the Hall, oblivious to the curious stares of the assembled students at each of the four tables. Her eyes found Gryffindor table and scanned each side of the table - then each side again. Not seeing her friends there, she made her way to Ravenclaw table out of habit and dropped into an empty seat next to a raven-haired girl she didn't recognize. In fact, she realized as she looked down the long table of Ravenclaws, she didn't recognize anyone at all.

Shaking her head in an attempt to clear the Wrackspurts, she resigned herself to at least having an interesting research opportunity which she could present to her father at a later date when the confusion had passed. "Hello there," she said genially to the girl with the black hair.

The girl had been gawking at Luna's clothing and snapped her mouth shut. "Erm, hello. How do you do?"

"Full of Wrackspurts, unfortunately. And you?" Luna said. She reached for a goblet of juice and missed the look of bewilderment the other girl shot at her brunette friend next to her.

Further conversation was cut short as a wizened man rose from the center of the teacher's table and the students fell silent immediately. The old man was wearing navy robes which appeared to be made of velvet with an intricate gold trim, his white beard neat and well-kept. He smiled at all of the students with both pride and benevolence in a way similar to a father looking at his children, then spoke in a deep, dignified voice. "It is my sincerest pleasure to welcome you all back to a new year at Hogwarts!" He looked around at them all, eyes moving from one table to the next. His eyes lingered for a moment on Luna, who, having not changed into her school robes in all her confusion, stood out in her bright yellow sweater like a dandelion amongst the sea of students in black. He continued, "In these dark times, both within our own world as well as that of Muggles, it is more important than ever to uphold the traditions of this school, and produce well-trained, well-educated, and competent witches and wizards. I am sure you will all make us quite proud. Now! Please, let the Sorting begin!"