Destiny Reversed

Chapter 13 Christmas

Christmas holiday was looming closer while more and more students left, their parents dissatisfied with the security Hogwarts offered. Harry in particular felt that all the surprises there could possibly be had been exhausted, but he proved himself wrong as they neared the time when Neville would join the Potters for their Christmas holiday.

"Luna?" Harry asked incredulously as a familiar blonde passed by him in the corridor.

She paused at her name and turned around, chandelier earrings clinking at the movement.

"Who're you?" she asked rudely.

Harry gaped at her; this couldn't possibly be Luna! She had lost her airy manner, the radish earrings, everything that had made Luna uniquely herself. It was all gone now. How could this have happened? What possibly could have changed to make her so different?

Now that he thought about, he really hadn't seen Luna at all in the four months he'd been at Hogwarts; her presence had been particularly missed during Quidditch matches, but since Zachariah Smith had been commenting, he had merely assumed that McGonagall wouldn't give her that job anymore, even if her commentary last year was amusing.

"Er –Luna Lovegood, right? Harry Potter. I, er, read the Quibbler sometimes. Good stuff."

Surprise flashed briefly in Luna's eyes, but her expression quickly hardened. "It's all nonsense; I've been trying to convince my dad to print something meaningful for once, like –hair products."

Harry felt thrown off; immensely disturbed with Luna's new personality. To be honest, he'd always believed Luna to be static, rarely fazed by the perceptions and judgments of others. What had happened to Luna to make her so superficial, so completely different from the girl who'd willingly risked her life in the Department of Mysteries the previous year?

Looking at the scowling girl in front of him, Harry realized the major difference between his Luna and this one –she wasn't sincere. Luna was brutally honest, a trait that Harry had admired in the end, though he had not when he'd first met her. Still, he hoped the real Luna was in there somewhere.

"Is that all you wanted to say to me?" Luna demanded. She paused, deliberately tossing her eccentric hair over her shoulder. Harry couldn't help but blanch, but he caught himself quickly as she walked away with a painful imitation of swinging hips.

"I was wondering if you'd like to join a Defense Club I've started," Harry blurted, remembering Luna's comment about how she had considered the D.A. to be "like having friends."

Suspicion flashed in Luna's misty eyes as she regarded Harry seriously for the first time. "What are you playing at? Going to steal my stuff, are you?"

"What? Why would I do that?"

"Because 'it's fun,'" Luna mimicked sarcastically, bitterness creeping into her voice. "Because stealing Loony Lovegood's things is just so ruddy amusing." Agitated now, Luna began fingering the air around her collarbone, as if reaching for a necklace of butterbeer caps that wasn't there.

So it was the same Luna, but a Luna who was sick and tired of being picked on and having her things stolen –one who had completely changed herself in order to fit in with the rest of the girls in her year. However, judging by the fierce glare she gave Harry, her attempts haven't been working.

"I wouldn't steal your things," Harry said, echoing his own words. "That's horrible that people do."

Luna's eyes widened in surprise. "So you –you want me to join your Defense club why?"

Harry shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. "I like the Quibbler, and I'd think you'd be a good help, knowing about Crumpled-Horned Snorkack and all."