Luna(tic) (Marauders Era)

50. A Glimpse of Sunshine

The winds across the Scottish countryside were brisk and the cold had started properly biting at their cheeks and burying itself under their layers of clothing as Remus and his friends made their way back to Hogwarts. The sun was properly set and the shadows were overtaking the grounds by the time they reached the steps up to the castle, all of them sighing in relief as the warmth from the entrance hall hit their faces.

"Remind me never to listen to Remus's advice on clothing ever again," Sirius grumbled as he rubbed his hands together, presumably, Remus thought with a little half smile, to bring the warmth back to them after what had admittedly been a chilly walk back from Hogsmeade.

"It's not my fault you forgot you're a Londoner," he said with a smile, unwrapping his own scarf and leaving it hanging loosely around his neck.

"You said it wouldn't be that cold!" Sirius protested, breathing on his hands as they made their way toward the smells of dinner emanating from the great hall.

"It wasn't," Remus answered easily.

"It was bloody freezing," Sirius countered with a scowl.

"Not by Scottish standards," James pointed out.

"Oi! You're on my side," Sirius protested, sending a glare they all knew he didn't mean towards his friend.

"Ah, sorry," James corrected, turning again to Remus with an expression of utmost gravity. "I've been informed that it was, in fact, freezing cold, actually."

Remus snorted. "Not by Scottish standards," he returned, grinning as he used James's own words against him.

"Hard to argue with that," James agreed, grinning as well. "I mean," he added splaying his fingers as if to gesture to the obvious, "those are the words of a genius right there."

"You-"

"Do any of you see Luna?" Pandora interrupted, and Remus turned from his housemates to see her sweeping her gaze across the house tables now laid out before them in the great hall.

The conversation broke off and the others scanned the hall as well, eyes sweeping over the tables that were perhaps more populated than they would have been at this admittedly somewhat late hour.

"I don't see her," Remus said after a moment, the realization coming with a rather unpleasant jolt in his stomach. Not that he'd really expected her to wait. They'd been gone a long while at the shops, relishing butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks and delaying the walk back here to where they all knew homework was waiting for them.

"Me neither," admitted Sirius, a slight frown in his voice mirroring the one on his face.

"I don't either," Peter added, standing on tiptoes to get a better view of the Ravenclaw table.

"She did say she had a headache," Kendra offered, frowning as well. "I hope it hasn't gotten worse."

"She'll be alright," James said confidently. "Come sit with us for dinner," he added to Pandora and Kendra. "You can check on Luna after. She'll probably be in your dorm."

Pandora sighed and Remus caught her eyes in an exchanged glance that made him wonder if perhaps she too hadn't quite believed Luna's excuse this morning. Add that Luna wasn't at dinner... But... well. They were late to dinner. And perhaps Luna really had had a headache and had eaten early and gone to bed early and James was right and the Ravenclaw girls would find her in bed when they went up to the dormitory.

And if she wasn't... well, Remus reasoned, it was unlikely eating dinner before finding out would make much of a difference anyway. History told them all that when Luna didn't intend to be found, she wasn't likely to be easily located.