𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬 | l. lovegood

xviii

𝐋𝐔𝐍𝐀 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐀 sat in an empty corridor drawing on each other's shoes. Luna had noticed a while ago that Dorothea's denim blue Converse shoes had writing and doodles on them, as well as signatures from Tonks, Sirius, and Dobby.

"I'll have to ask Neville to sign when I see him again," Dorothea said after Luna finished signing her name on the white part of her left shoe. "And Hermione. She's not as stuck up as I thought."

"Our perceptions of people change once we get to know them better," Luna said in her usual spacey voice as she began to draw a Nargle on her yellow converse hightops, or at least what she thought a Nargle looked like. "You both thought that the other was rude, but after spending time together this year, you learned that she's not so bad."

"Exactly." Dorothea smiled softly when Luna did too. Just as she was about to ask if she could sign her name on her hightops, shouting was heard from one of the classrooms. The two girls looked at each other before staring in the direction it was coming from.

"That sounds...like Harry," Luna said. "Should we go check it out?"

"I dunno...H-He sounds mad." Dorothea swallowed. The last time she heard Harry this angry was when he first arrived at Grimmauld Place over the summer. He was furious that Ron and Hermione got to be there together while he was stuck with the Muggles he lives with. Dorothea had heard him shouting at them, and she had to go downstairs where it was quieter.

She hated yelling. It scared her, and it was loud.

Luna stood up and held a hand out to Dorothea. "Come on. Let's go see what's going on. Maybe we can help."

Dorothea whined softly, but took Luna's hand. They walked down the corridor, the yelling growing louder. When they reached the classroom door, Luna slowly pushed it open.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione whipped around as Luna walked in, followed by a timid Dorothea.

"Hello, all," Luna said dreamily. "Thea and I were just sitting in the corridor when we heard Harry's voice. What are you so upset about?"

"Never you mind," Harry dismissed roughly.

"Harry," Hermione whispered. "Don't you think this concerns Thea, too? She deserves to know that—"

"Know what?" Dorothea asked. "Did...Did something bad happen?"

"Maybe we can help," Luna added.

"Well, you can't," Harry snapped.

"You're being rather rude." Luna frowned.

Harry cursed under his breath and turned away. Dorothea and Luna exchanged another look.

"Harry, they can help," Hermione said sternly. "And it's not fair for you to want to keep Thea in the dark like this. He's her family, too, not just yours. We need to establish whether Sirius really has left headquarters—"

"What happened to Sirius?" Dorothea asked, panic suddenly rising in her voice. "I-Is he okay? Did the Ministry capture him? They're not gonna send him to Azkaban again, right?"

"It's much worse than Azkaban," Ron said uneasily. He glanced at Hermione for a moment, and when the girl nodded, he turned to Dorothea. "Harry had another one of his visions...like what he saw with my dad at Christmas, and...Thea..." He paused for a second, unsure of how to tell her. "H-Harry thinks that You-Know-Who has Sirius."

"No!"

"I don't think he has him! I saw it, Ron!"

"Harry, I'm begging you, please!" Hermione begged desperately as Luna comforted Dorothea, who was crying into her shoulder. "Please just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London. If we find out he's not there, then I swear I won't try and stop you. I'll come. I'll do whatever it takes to try and save him—"

"Sirius is being tortured now!" Harry shouted. Dorothea covered her ears with her hands, her breathing becoming shaky. Luna whispered comforting words to her and soothingly threaded her fingers through her long brunette hair. "We haven't got time to waste—"

"But if this is a trick of Voldemort's...Harry, we've got to check...We've got to—"

"How?" Harry demanded. "How are we going to check?"

"We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him," Hermione said, looking and sounding terrified at the thought. "We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Luna and Thea."

"We'll do it." Luna nodded. She gave Dorothea's hand a gentle squeeze. "Anything to make sure that Stubby Boardman is okay."

Dorothea sniffled. She looked up at Luna with confusion. "Y-You do know that Sirius isn't the lead singer from The Hobgoblins, right? Luna, you met him...H-He's not..."

"Okay," Harry said to Hermione. "If you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I'm with you. Otherwise, I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now—"

"But how would you get there?" Dorothea frowned.

Harry ignored her.

"Right." Hermione twisted her hands together and paced between the desks. "Right...well...One of us has to go and find Umbridge and...and send her off in the wrong direction. Keep her away from her office. They could tell her...I don't know...that Peeves is up to something awful as usual."

"I'll do it," Ron volunteered. "I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something. It's miles from her office. Come to think of it, I could probably persuade Peeves to do it if I met him on the way."

Hermione nodded. "Okay." Her brows furrowed as she continued to pace. Now we need to keep students away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherin's bound to go and tip her off."

"Thea and I can stand at either end of the corridor and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garroting Gas," Luna suggested, and Hermione stared at her, surprised that she had such a good lie in her back pocket. "Ginny said that Fred and George were planning to do that before they left."

"Okay." Hermione nodded again. "Well, then, Harry, you and I will be under the invisibility cloak, and we'll sneak into the office and you can talk to Sirius—"

"He's not there, Hermione!" Harry shouted. Dorothea flinched.

"I mean, you can...can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watch. I don't think you should be in there alone. Lee's already proved the window's a weak spot, sending those nifflers through it."

"I...Okay, thanks," Harry muttered.

"Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don't think we're going to be able to bank on more than five minutes," Hermione said, now looking relieved that Harry finally accepted the plan. "Not with Filch and the Inquisitorial Squad floating around."

"Five minutes will be enough," Harry said. "Come on, let's go—"

"Now?" Hermione frowned.

"Of course now!" Harry shouted angrily.

"Would you stop yelling?!" Dorothea cried, her hands covering her ears again.

"Sorry, Thea," Harry quickly apologized before turning back to Hermione. "What, did you think we were going to wait until after dinner or something? Hermione, Sirius is being tortured right now."

"I...Oh, alright." Hermione sighed. "You go and get the invisibility cloak, and we'll meet you at the end of Umbridge's corridor, okay?"

Harry didn't answer. He threw himself out of the room.

Luna gave Dorothea's hand another comforting squeeze. "Don't worry, Thea," she said softly, gently wiping a tear off of the brunette's cheek. "I-I'm sure Sirius is okay."

Dorothea shook her head. "I have...a...a really bad feeling that he isn't," she whispered, her voice breaking. Her stomach twisted with unease as they left the classroom to get into their positions.

If only she had an enchanted parchment to communicate with her cousin like she had with her friends. For all she knew, he was dead already.