Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Caught in the Dust ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: StarX

Chapter 2

The early morning sun shone through Luna's room's windows, waking her up. Quickly dressing in her customary, and required, school uniform and butterbeer cap necklace, she headed to the Great Hall. When she entered, she was surprised to learn she was one of the first down to breakfast, because normally, she was one of the last. Her mind was jam packed with ideas to who the ghost boy was, but nothing was certain. Currently, she was favoring the idea that he was one of Hogwarts's founders, either Salazar Slytherin or Godric Gryffindor, revisiting loyal Helga Hufflepuff's rooms, a lover without his other half, eternally searching for his true love in the abandoned rooms.

The more she thought about it, the more she liked such a romantic notion, which was odd. Normally she was not a romantic person. She was as far from romantic as possible, most of the time. In fact, she was getting downright excited; not that she wasn't excited before, she really was, but now she was even getting red from the thrill of her idea. She hadn't felt like this in months. All other ideas rushed out of her mind in a whirlwind as she settled on this one. It was, by far, the most interesting. The possibilities that would open for her if it were true were amazing. `I could even tell dad about it and it could become an article for The Quibbler,' she thought, pleased that she thought of the idea. It was then she made up her mind; she couldn't tell anybody about her discovery. The Quibbler would be its debut.

Cho Chang, a pretty Asian looking girl with a soft Scottish accent, and a fellow Ravenclaw two years older than herself, sat two seats away. For once, she, Cho Chang, that is, wasn't surrounded by what seemed to be hundreds of friends and loyal admirers. Cho grinned at her uneasily, to which Luna grinned back a little goofily, she wasn't sure what to do at a kind smile from someone she barely knew, and turned back to her food. Cho hadn't said anything bad to Luna, but that didn't mean she hadn't said anything bad to her friends about her. But she hadn't gone out of her way to be nice or mean. Nobody was nice. Not until Ginny. And Neville. Neville was sweet, but a little bit afraid of her.

“Luna,” someone yelled. Ginny. Now, that was a coincidence as she had just been thinking about her. The redhead waved her over to the Gryffindor table, but Luna shook her head in refusal; this was one of those days where all she wanted to do was just be alone like she used to be and think. Too bad what she wanted was going to be denied, at least it was in the morning, as Ginny was headed to her house table. “Hey Luna,” she greeted with a stunning smile before sitting down and grabbing some toast, ignoring the stares she got; Luna was strange, why would such a pretty girl sit with her? Sometimes Luna wanted the self-assured smile Ginny always had. Instead, she chose to ignore the odd looks she got, rather than rise up and challenge them like Ginny did.

“Hello Ginny. How has your morning been,” there were a few moments of silence only broken by crunching as Ginny bit down into her toast.

“It has been tiring. I forgot about an essay due this afternoon, so I have been up since three in the morning writing it. I finished a few minutes ago.” Ginny groaned before shaking her head, no doubt reminiscing the horrors of writing her essay. “Luna, do you ever think of dating anyone?”

Luna shifted uncomfortably. Although she didn't want to admit it, and probably never would out loud, this was kind of a sore spot for her. “I try not to. Think, that is. I try not to think about dating anyone.”

More curious than before, Ginny asked, “Why not?”

Luna grinned, “I am saving myself for my first true love.”

Nearly falling over laughing, Ginny replied, “I wasn't talking about sex.”

“Neither was I.”

Ginny looked at her both oddly and admiringly, she wouldn't wait for her first true love to date, that would take too long, “But, how will you know he is your true love, or even that you like him if you don't date?”

Luna looked completely serious as she said, “He will ask me out… on a real date.”

At first, Ginny didn't get what Luna meant, it made no sense, but then it dawned on her, Luna was considered loony, insane, by practically all of the school. It hadn't really registered to her that they still called her that. Not since she had become Luna's friend. Nobody said bad, really bad, things about Luna around her. Only Hermione, but that was to be expected; Hermione didn't like people who were that different. Few guys would go out with a girl whom people thought was insane.

“I think it's time for herbology,” Ginny whispered.

“Yes, I believe it is so. Would you like me to tell you the story of the Ancient Egyptian warrior Amu who became a high priest because of his extreme magical power,” Luna asked on their way out of the castle, down the dirt path to the Greenhouses,

“Sure Luna that would be nice.”

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully. During lunch Luna had gone searching for the ghost, but she couldn't find him or the little knob that led into the strange Hufflepuff room. But, she wasn't the kind to give up hope so easily; her beliefs in magical creatures that other people said didn't exist and she hadn't ever seen before her stated that. Later on in the night, at nearly the same time as before, Luna headed down the corridors, in search of the little knob. And, just as she had suspected, the room opened up. In a book her father had once bought for her, it mentioned that the Chinese would put spells on doors so that they were only usable at certain times, and European wizards had eventually adopted these spells back in the 12th century.

Quickly, she ran up the stairs and opened the door to the room, this time with little resistance.

It looked exactly the same, both old and serene. But, this time, the ghost boy was sitting at the small table, bent studiously over a thick book. When he heard the door open, he looked up and prepared to run, or float, or do whatever ghosts did to escape, but Luna stopped him just in time.

“Wait,” she yelled, slightly chasing after him. He stopped, but he didn't turn to face her. “Are you Godric Gryffindor or Salazar Slytherin?”

He chuckled and shook his head. Slowly he turned to face her, a small smile playing on his lips, and she got the strange sense that she knew him, from long ago. She got the feeling that if there was more light and she could get a better look at him, she would know exactly who he was. “No, “ he said as he literally burst into fits of laughter.

“Oh,” she paused for a second, “Too bad, it would have made an excellent story, the fact that one of the founders of Hogwarts was still haunting the castle and searching for his one true love and all. So, who are you?” She took a step closer, studying his face.

“Sorry to disappoint you on the whole not being one of the founders of Hogwarts.” He stopped and a strange expression flitted across his face, as if remembering something important. “I- I can't tell you who I am. You could tell…everyone.”

“Who am I going to tell, its not like I tell my secrets to everyone. I keep my secrets. Plus, it's not like your one of the founders. Nope, wouldn't promise a thing if you were one of them. Have you ever seen a Warbogle in here?”

“A what…no never mind, I'm not sure I want to know,” he said, shaking his head. “Tell me your name and I'll tell you mine, I guess.”

Luna shrugged, “I would have told you anyway, but I'm Luna Lovegood, or Loony Luna, if you prefer. It is my most popular name by far.”

“Luna's fine,” he said thoughtfully. Kids could be cruel. Not that he hadn't ever called someone names before; he was just as guilty as everyone else when it came to name calling. “ Cedric.”

Luna's brain processed the piece of information before her eyes grew even wider in surprise. “You're the boy who died! You died in the Triwizard Tournament nearly two years ago!” She rubbed her chin in deep thought, a misty glaze covering her already dreamy eyes, “Now that is interesting. Much more interesting than I thought it would be after you denied being one of Hogwarts's founders, it even beats out C.R. Luck's article on the fuzzy creatures on the moon who are plotting to overthrow the human race.”

He gave her a strange look, which didn't go unnoticed, but she didn't dwell on it. She never dwelled on it, there was no point, it happened too often. “You're the girl who came here last night aren't you?”

“Yes, I was here last night, if that is what you're asking. But, there could have been another girl up here exploring in the middle of the night, trying to secretly overthrow Filch.”

He ignored that last comment almost completely, the only way you could tell that he heard it was the small smile plastered on his face. “It's almost morning, you better get to your room.”

She nodded and headed out of the room. Behind her, Cedric called, “Remember you said you wouldn't tell anyone I'm here.”

“I won't.”

I used the first part of this from the movie War of the Worlds, so thank you Spielberg.

I hope you enjoyed it, as I said in the last chapter, romance still won't be coming for a while yet, at least not for Luna. Review please.