No Mouth But Some Serpent's

Chapter 8 - What a Tangled Web We Weave

This chapter is part of the reason that I see the book definitely getting darker.

Chapter Eight: What a Tangled Web We Weave

"Someone's coming," rasped a low, urgent voice from ahead.

"Oh, shit, it's him," said someone else, and then the noise of pounding feet grew stronger. Harry stepped around the corner just in time to see two taller students hurrying away from him, giving him a distrustful glance. Harry found it funny until he looked sideways and saw Luna Lovegood stuck to the wall with some kind of web that looked like it was made of chewing gum. Pink strands clung to her hair, her face, and her robes, and twisted her mouth shut.

"Harry!" Draco scolded as Harry stepped forward. "What are you doing? We're going to be late for Potions-"

Harry gave him a look that shut him up entirely. Turning around, Harry pointed his wand and murmured, "Finite Incantatem."
The web vanished. Luna dropped to the floor and shook her head, then stood. Her wand was still behind her left ear, Harry noticed, the long flow of her hair nearly obscuring it. She gazed at him with solemn eyes.

"Thank you," she said. "But you didn't have to do that, you know. They were under the control of Wrackspurts."

"Did they hurt you?" Harry asked. He didn't think they had, but he'd never seen that particular hex before, and for all he knew, the web could have pulled free skin or hair when it vanished.

"No," said Luna. "I think they meant to humiliate me, if you want the truth. Wrackspurts like making people's minds fuzzy, but they can't change them. They wouldn't really have hurt me, because they didn't want to hurt me before the Wrackspurts possessed them."

Harry wasn't so sure of that, but he let it go. Ignoring Draco's impatient shifting, he stepped forward and surveyed Luna for a moment. She tilted her head back so as to see him better; even for a first-year, she was small. This morning, she wore a necklace of bottle caps as jewelry. Her face was utterly smooth and calm. Harry had no idea what she was feeling.

"If anyone hurts you like that again," he said, "and I'm not around, then I want you to find the nearest Slytherin when you're free. Tell him or her that you have a message for Harry Potter, and tell them what your attackers looked like."

Luna nodded. "But why?" she asked.

"What do you mean, why?" Harry glared up the hall where the older students had gone. They weren't Gorgon and Jones, he knew. They hadn't shown that extreme a level of fear. But he was fairly sure they had been Ravenclaws. "I don't want them hurting you."

"They want to humiliate me," Luna corrected gently, "not hurt me. I said that once before."

Harry took a deep breath. "Then maybe I want to humiliate them back," he said. Draco drew in a breath beside him, but when Harry glanced at him, the other boy shut his mouth and gave him a pointed look. We're going to be late for Potions, said that gaze, and you shouldn't be doing all this anyway, since you just got out of the hospital wing. Harry ignored that in turn.

"Do you have a Wrackspurt in your head, too?" Luna asked.

"Maybe," said Harry. "I don't know. What does a Wrackspurt feel like?"

"Fuzziness," said Luna. "Not remembering what you're doing. Thinking odd thoughts, like hurting people."

Harry tried to smile, though he was afraid it didn't come out exactly the way he would have liked. "Why, yes, then. That feels like something I've been experiencing a lot of lately."

Draco clutched his arm. "Are you blind?" he hissed.

"What he said," said Sylarana. "And tell him to kindly take his hand off me."