Catalyst

Chapter 37: Awaken, my child

Luna felt odd returning to the Ravenclaw dormitory after everything that had happened. After all the changes she'd undergone and all the time spent with Abathur and the Swarm, she was right back here, back among the ignorant, xenophobic humans. She'd almost hoped she wouldn't have to come back here. It was a stupid hope, she knew that. Daddy would have made her, and Abathur wasn't going to let her explain the zerg to him. Abathur wanted her to learn more, so here she was.

As she entered the Ravenclaw dorm, she answered the door's riddle absentmindedly. The riddles it gave had been fascinating at first, but now they all felt drab and dull. Maybe she could give it some riddles from the Quibbler to spice things up.

Her passage through the common area was uneventful. The walls of books might have been appealing to Luna once upon a time, but not with the reading material Abathur gave her. When you could find millions of pages inside a single cell, "Something to Leaf Through: The Basics of Herbology" didn't really cut it. Why bother looking up how a plant grows, when you can just get the information straight from the source?

Her disillusionment continued into the actual dorm room. The room was dominated by a row of beds adorned with blue and bronze, and infested head to toe with wrackspurts and nargles. Luna leaned closer to inspect some of them. Close up, they looked so...pathetic. How were humans weak enough to be infected with these specks?

Eventually, Luna decided that enough was enough. She could marvel at the failures of humans for a long time, but she had appearances to walked towards the bed, and changed into her pajamas, before throwing herself down. She had a long night of pretending to sleep to get to.

"Petrificus Totalus."

The incantation came just as Luna had laid herself down. In an instant, her limbs locked together, and her entire body went numb. All she could do was look around in a panic, trying to figure out what was going on.

A small, dark figure slowly entered her vision and Luna realized what was happening. Priscilla Smitty had been the leader of the gang of Ravenclaw girls who bullied Luna for the whole time they'd been at Hogwarts. It seemed they had decided to get an early start on the torment this year. Priscilla moved closer, and seated herself on the side of Luna's bed.

"Hello Loony," she began mockingly. "Hope you don't mind if the naggles take a few of your things again." Luna could hear her trunk being opened, as well as the giggles of a few other girls and the rustling of clothing. "And if you do mind, I'm sure your snorecats will get them for you." The giggles in the background got louder, growing into full blown laughter. "It's not like anyone else will."

That snapped Luna out of her daze. Almost immediately, her confusion morphed to rage. Visions swam through her head, of breaking out of this spell, placing her hands on Priscillas neck, squeezing and squeezing until her heart stopped beating, then moving on to the next one, unleashing her other arms, and pushing the sharp ends through all of their chests at once, letting the blood spill out onto the floor. But she couldn't do any of that. Her body was still numb, still not responding to anything she wanted to do. Even when she tried to reach out with her psionics, the welcoming power refused to answer her call. All she could do while the humans continued to steal her things was lay there, glare, and hate.

"You know, when the Evolution Master sent you in here, he expected a bit more time before you experienced any emotional anomalies," the thoughts sprung into her head unbidden Congratulations on your alacrity."

"Thenabar!" Luna projected. "I need your help! They cursed me, and I can't move!"

"Yes, I can see them. You would be surprised how shallow their emotions are. Well, maybe you wouldn't be, but others might."