Neville Longbottom and the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 7: The Writing on the Wall

On Saturday Neville couldn't help but talk Luna's ear off about the Quidditch Match that afternoon. He told her how the Hufflepuff Seeker, Cedric, was his favorite, and then apologized because he was going against Luna's House, Ravenclaw. After lunch they headed with the other students to the Quidditch Pitch. He had finally got to the Library and looked up Quidditch Fouls, and was telling her all about them.

"It's a Foul when you interfere with another player's broom or intentionally elbow or run into them, and nothing is allowed through the Hoops except the Quaffle. That covers like six or seven of the most common Fouls. You know, there are over seven-hundred Fouls on the Books, but most of them have to do with specific Spells that aren't allowed."

He knew that Luna was being extremely patient with him, so he tried to calm down a bit. "Thanks for taking me to see the Thestrals the other day. Maybe we can visit them from time to time."

"That would be nice," Luna returned.

Neville was quiet for long enough to pay attention to what Luna was wearing. It was odd to see her in such muted colors, she was wearing all midnight-blue and black for Ravenclaw. Her barrettes were little blackbirds, and he realized that her shoes each had a raven heads at the toe as well as wings and a tail.

She noticed him looking at them and said, "it's a simple Transfiguration Spell, but it would be harder if they were alive. McGonagall helped me with it yesterday after Class. Watch this." She stopped a moment, clicked her heels and the Raven heads began squawking, "RAVENCLAW! RAVENCLAW!"

"Those are really neat!" Neville said, "I thought Ravenclaw's symbol was an Eagle." A few students shoulder-bumped him as they passed and laughed.

"It is," she replied simply, and said nothing more.

After they settled into their seats, Neville pointed out that he met the Ravenclaw Keeper and one of the Beaters on the carriage ride from Hogsmeade Station. Luna smiled at him, but then the two competing teams soared onto the Pitch. Most everyone was cheering at the top of their lungs so Neville didn't know if she had said anything. Madam Hooch gave brief instructions to the Teams, waited for the Keepers to get in position, then she released the balls and blew her whistle to start the Match.

Neville pointed out to Luna that Cedric was starting his random, criss-cross pattern in search of the Snitch. Hufflepuff had a new Chaser who was pretty good, and it didn't take long for the other two Chasers to help her into a position to make the first Goal. He told Luna that it should have been an easy one to block, but the Ravenclaw Keeper was also new. The other new player for Ravenclaw was a Chaser who seemed a bit of a ball-hog. While he did score all three of Ravenclaw's Goals, Hufflepuff was outscoring them with teamwork. At one point, a Ravenclaw Beater, and brother to the new Chaser, actually hit a Bludger at him and cussed him out. Everyone heard him yell, "There's more than one 'I' in Quidditch, you prat!"

Each time Neville turned to explain something to Luna, she was just sitting quietly and watching the action. With each of the three Ravenclaw Goals, however, she kicked her feet in the air and clicked her heels, giggling as they squawked, "RAVENCLAW! RAVENCLAW!"

Neville saw exactly when Cedric spotted the Snitch. Even though the Ravenclaw Seeker was closer, he didn't see the Snitch until Cedric was already on top of it. Hufflepuff won, 210 to 30.

* * *

Over the next week the older students had started talking about their first Hogsmeade Visit. Many of them were even discussing special plans since it would be on Halloween. Neville didn't expect the weekend to be different from any other when Luna invited him to join her in a Halloween ritual. Neville gladly accepted but was a little nervous about what it might be.