eccentric ➳ luna lovegood

14

THE BUILDING smelled awful, Jade had to admit. However, there was a significant amount of people from Hogwarts there, including Michael, Terry, Anthony, and Mandy. The man running the bar seemed upset at the amount of teenagers taking over his bar, turning his disgruntled face away and focusing on a mysterious witch sitting at the bar. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley sat at the head of the group, watching the crowd anxiously. Hermione glanced over at Luna and Jade, nodding in the direction of the group, indicating that they should sit.

Jade pulled over two chairs, setting them in front of Mandy and Anthony. Luna sat in the one closest to a ginger Gryffindor named Ginny Weasley, who Jade had seen her hanging around with at times. She knew Michael was interested in her, they could be dating for all she knew, and he made that very evident by wrapping his arm tightly around her. Michael was never one to be lovesick, unlike Anthony, but he had clearly wanted to prove a point here.

A couple people coughed and, after a few minutes of silence, when it was clear no one else was coming, Hermione spoke.

"Er," she spoke in a higher voice, which Jade assumed was due to her nerves. "Well- er- hi."

Slowly, every eye and head looked towards Hermione rather than Harry, and Jade could see her face grow a bit red. She was definitely a bit anxious to be discussing this with her fellow students.

Hermione stumbled over her words, trying to get to the point, but failing. Luna had snapped out of a dreamy gaze and had her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Neither of them had ever seen her this nervous before, she was Hermione, she was confident and brilliant.

Suddenly, Hermione began to grow more confident.

"-and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us."

"Hear, hear." Anthony said, shaking his head.

"Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands."

Jade took in a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly. She believed Harry, all of her friends did, but she didn't expect this to be what the meeting was about. She thought maybe it was going to be pranking Umbridge, or trying to get her removed from High Inquisitor, not a meeting to learn how to defend herself, since Voldemort had returned.

"And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells-"

"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" Michael interrupted, removing his arm from around Ginny's waist and shrugging.

"Of course I do," Hermione replied instantly, her voice growing even more confident. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because... because..." As if Luna knew what was coming, she instinctively reached over and grabbed Jade's hand, gripping it tightly. She looked down, as it felt like her hand was breaking, and saw that Luna's pale skin was somehow even paler and whiter around the knuckles. "Because Lord Voldemort's back."

Chaos erupted, with Marietta Edgecombe shrieking and spilling butterbeer down her front. Terry pulled out his wand and walked over to her, trying to use a spell to get the drink off her light blue sweater. Padma and Neville shuddered, with Neville letting out an odd yelp to go with it. Jade did nothing, just sat and took another deep breath. Luna's grip had lessened, but she still held on tightly, as if Jade would disappear if she let go.

Jade rubbed her thumb across Luna's hand, trying to comfort her and keep her from breaking both of their hands. She began to relax a bit more, until a blond boy from Hufflepuff began to argue with Hermione. Jade glanced over at Terry, whose eyes stared over at him, with no joyful twinkle, no happiness, he was fixated on the boy.