Call Me Vengeful

Loony Lovegoods

Chapter Twenty-Three: Loony Lovegoods
***Embry's POV***

The very next day Hermione was leading the way towards a strange looking house that sat alone on a hill. Ron was trailing in the back of the group with Harry and I in the middle, him helping me walk through the pain radiating from my leg and back. The house just seemed to be a huge black cylinder reaching up towards the sky. I had to admit, I expected Luna's home to be more colorful than this.

"Luna?" Ron yelled out as we reached the bottom stairs of the front of the house. I looked around, it just seemed too quiet.

"Luna." Hermione called out as she knocked on the door three times.

"Keep off the dirigible plums." Ron read a sign that was placed in the front bushes. Hermione turned, probably to tell him to be quiet, before she could say a word though the door swung open to reveal a tall man with long blonde hair that looked a little dirty.

"What is it?" He asked Hermione before turning to Ron. "Who are you?" He looked at me. "Who are you?" He then turned to Harry beside me and I saw his jaw slack. "What do you want-"

"Hello, Mr. Lovegood. I'm Harry Potter. We met a few months back?" Harry asked and I could see his eyes drift towards Harry's scar. "Would it be okay if we came in? It won't take long, sir. I promise."

Xenophilius nodded and let us inside. As Harry helped me through the doorway I noted the way he was glancing up at the sky. It was almost as though he were expecting a storm of some sort. He led us all upstairs into a sitting room. Around us on the floor there were tottering towers of the Quibbler, I remembered Luna telling us that her father was a writer for the paper. In the corner of the room was an old looking printing press that nosily spit out new issues of the paper.

"Excuse me," Xenophilius stepped towards the press and I took the chance to look at the tittle of the newest paper. It read: MUGGLE MURDERS RISE, DOZENS DIE AS DEATH EATERS ATTACK, HARRY IN HIDING, WHERE IS THE CHOSEN ONE? YOU-KNOW-WHO CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTIM: QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP CANCELLED AMID DEATH THREATS.

"So. What brings you here, Mr. Potter?" Xenophilius asked after he'd quieted the printing press.

"Well, sir, we need some help." Harry glanced around the room again in his seat in the chair next to the one I was sitting in myself.

"Ah. Help. I see. Yes, well, the thing is, helping Harry Potter, rather dangerous these days..." He seems nervous as he said these words. I shared a confused glance with the others before Ron spoke up.

"Aren't you the one who keeps telling everyone it's their first duty to help Harry?" He asked.

"I have expressed that view, yes." He nodded wearily. "In the past. Would you excuse me
one moment. I shall return shortly and, um, try to help you..."

"What's going on here?" Harry asked after Xenophilius dashed out of the room and down the stairs.

"He's mental. Let's face it. Luna's always good value, but she's nutty as squirrel poo." Ron shook his head.

"Just because she has a different view than others doesn't make her nutty Ronald." I huffed. As I did so a gasp escaped from Hermione as she pointed to an enormous spiral horn on the far wall.

"Do you see that?" She asked us.

"Well, yeah, of course. It's massive, isn't it?" Ron asked as he and Harry got up to go over to it.

"No! Don't go near it!" They stopped at her words. "It's an Erumpent horn. It's a Class B Tradeable Material."

"Yeah, all right..." Ron nodded as he and Harry sat back down, clearly not understanding Hermione's warning. Just as they sat down Xenophilius returned with a tray of cups. His hands were shaking so badly that the cups were rattling.