The Snake Pit

17; Luna Lovegood

My mother hugged me goodbye. It's just her today, seeing me off on the train, Dad had somewhere to be and Enzo is living with his new wife in a house by the sea. I don't mind, they've seen me get on the train five times already and it's always the same thing.

Bending down I grabbed my trunk and trudged onto the train. Luckily our family owl is away delivering a letter so she'll find her own way to Hogwarts.

Without thinking I made my way towards a familiar compartment. The boys and I have sat in the same train compartment since first year. When I got up to it I opened the door and found the three of them already sitting in their seats. We stared at each other for a minute while I figured out whether I should sit with them or not. Deciding against it I scoffed and shut the door to find an empty compartment I could sit in alone.

On my way down the train I thought back to the letter he wrote me. It wasn't much of a letter, it was more of a short note. He wrote:

Hi, I'm a prefect but I don't know who the other one is. Write back if it's you. I always thought you would make prefect.

D.M.

It's a ridiculous excuse for a letter, really, but I'm just happy he cared enough to write.

I opened a compartment I thought would be empty but instead found Luna Lovegood reading an addition of the quibbler. "Hi, can I sit with you?" I asked.

"Of course, Evangeline," she responded.

I threw my trunk into the overhead bin, making sure to grab a book out of the front pouch before sitting down. "Oh my friends just call me Vangie."

"Okay Vangie."

"You don't have to say my name every time," I joked.

"Okay," she said.

"You're Luna, right?" I asked.

She nodded and moved her eyes to the silver prefect badge I have pinned to my robes. She doesn't comment on it though. Instead she asked, "Don't you usually sit with your friends?"

I sighed and answered, "Yeah, but we're not really talking right now."

She gave me a sad smile and said, "Maybe they're hiding something from you."

I furrowed my brows. "Why would you say that?" She just shrugged. I guess what she said could make sense, they were never good at keeping secrets from me. Maybe their way of doing it is avoiding me, but that doesn't mean they had to tell me they didn't want to be friends with me.

Just as I was about to say the things I was thinking to Luna the head girl opened my compartment. "We're having a 'beginning of the year' prefect meeting." I nodded and put my book back in my trunk.

"Bye Luna. Thanks for letting me sit with you. We should hang out sometime soon."

Luna smiled and said, "Of course, you can help me look for nargles in the castle tomorrow."

I nodded, deciding against voicing my confusion as to what nargles were, and went on my way. Arriving at the prefect compartment I took a seat and waited for everyone else to file in. Against my wishes Draco sat down right next to me, without saying hello.

The head boy and head girl start talking but I can't focus on them. With Draco sat next to me all I could hear was the voice in my head telling me to ask him about our lunch or if he was planning on talking to me at all. The one part of the meeting I caught was the heads saying, "The Slytherin prefects will do the first set of rounds tonight after dinner." They talked a little while longer, up until the train pulled into the station and it was time for us to head into the school for a new year.

{*||||||*}

The whole first month of school seemed to flow like a routine. I sit alone during dinner, but sit with Luna at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast and lunch. Then I sit without the boys in every class we have together, sitting with Neville or Luna if I can. The boys quickly look away from me if they see me in the hall, not making eye contact and completely ignoring me. And Draco barely talks to me during our prefect rounds. I'm starting to really understand that they were serious about not wanting to be friends anymore.

The first week of October came and went the same, but the second week brought a surprise. Luna and I walked into potions and sat down at our normal table only to be called up to the front of the room by Slughorn. The room smelled familiar.

On his desk there was a potion bubbling. "Can anyone tell me what this is?" He pointed not to the bubbling potion but to a small bottle of gold liquid. Liquid Luck, I could identify it right away. I didn't bother to raise my hand because I knew Hermione would beat me to it, and she did. Without waiting to be called on she spit out the answer.

Slughorn awarded her house points and pointed to the bubbling potion. "Can anyone identify this potion?" I didn't immediately know what it was until Granger raised her hand again and spat out another answer.

"It's amortentia, a powerful love potion rumored to smell different to each person on what attracts them the most." She kept going but I drowned out her voice, realizing now what the room smells like. Letting out a frustrated groan I looked up at Draco, who was staring at me but looked away quickly when we made eye contact.

Slughorn dismisses us to go back to our table's and start making our own amortentia that he would judge at the end of the class, the best potion earning the small bottle of liquid luck.

Flipping to the page in the book I noticed the directions were different from the book in my dad's office, knowing how good at potions he is I decided to make it his way, from memory.

Michael Corner took the seat next to me instead of across to me. While working he started a conversation with me. "Hey we're having a hogs meade visit this weekend do you want to go together?"

"I don't know." I silently hoped that would be the end of our conversation so I could back on my work.

"Oh come on, I can be real fun to hang out with. And don't you think I'm attractive?" Wait, what?

"Are you asking me out on a date?" I asked, hoping he would say no.

"Yeah, I figured since your not hanging around with those annoying Slytherin boys anymore, you and I could be something."

"That's sweet but I don't think so. I'm not interested in you like that." I offered him a small smile and went back to work.

He stayed silent for a second and then said, "Fine, you're a whore anyway." He said it louder than I would have like because our table is now staring at us. I looked away, embarrassed, and my eyes found the table where my 'friends' were sat. The three of them were staring at our table so I looked away quickly, focusing on my potion again.

We worked for a while, now in awkward silence, and just as I finished my potion Slughorn called for us to stop. He walked around the room and checked my table second. He took a look at my cauldron first and said, "Very nice, this is perfect. You win." He gave me the bottle and walked back to his desk, not bothering to check anyone else's. I was lucky that he checked mine before Potter's because even from my table I could tell his potion was perfect.

When we were dismissed we all headed to lunch. I rolled the bottle of liquid luck around in my hand, unsure of what to do without. If Blaise, Draco, Theo, and I were still friends I would give it to them, I certainly don't need it. I stared at it all the way to the great hall and made a decision when I got there.

I angrily walked over to the three of them sitting at the Slytherin table and slammed, harder than intended, the small bottle of golden liquid down onto the table. "A gift, I certainly don't need it. One of you can use it to pass a test or the three of you can share it and win a quidditch game or something, I don't care." They didn't look at me and instead kept their eyes trained on the bottle. "If you don't say 'thank you' I'll take it back and give it to Luna."

Theo scratched his chin and said, "yeah alright thanks," before swiping the potion and tucking it into his bag, all without looking at me.

With that pathetic excuse for a thank you I shook my head and wandered over to where I now sit with Luna.