Chapter 3
“Hermione Granger, what a surprise.” Luna’s soft voice greeted her from the edge of the Black Lake.
The mysterious girl had been right. Luna was perched on a rock, tossing slabs of raw meat into the distance. Hermione herself couldn’t see the invisible creatures, but the almost immediate disappearance of the meat confirmed that the thestrals were indeed being fed.
Hermione couldn’t help but notice that Luna hadn’t called her visit a pleasant surprise, just a surprise, and she wondered if the witch was still harbouring some bitterness about her inadvertent insult of her father’s magazine on their way to Hogwarts. She hadn’t mean to be rude… but keeping a crumple-horned snorkcack hung up in the living room? Come on, that was just ridiculous!
“Uh, yes hi Luna… I was hoping I might be able to speak to you? Uh Ginny said I could trust you… oh yes Cho's friend told me I could find you here, I hope that’s alright?” Hermione mumbled, awkwardly leaning against a tree, feeling slightly unnerved by the petite witch, who remained expressionless, with her wide blue eyes gazing unblinkingly at her.
“Ginny is kind, unlike many others that are quick to judge what they find different, or difficult to understand.” Luna responded lightly, sounding almost bored. But Hermione winced, feeling a rush of embarrassment flooding to her cheeks at what felt like was being implied in Luna’s words.
“Yes, about that, I wanted to apologise for what I said about the Quibbler – I had no idea your father was the editor –“ Luna cut her off with a wave of her hand, her expression still rather vacant as she blinked at her slowly.
“You shouldn’t apologise for saying what you think. I did think it was rather brash of you to dismiss the possibility that things may exist beyond your realm of knowledge, considering you yourself are muggleborn and learned about the existence of magic much later than some others…”
Hermione, on the other hand, was utterly taken aback, and her eyes widened in shock as she took in Luna’s words. Coming from the lilting tone of the petite witch, the words felt almost carelessly thrown out, but there was a truth to it, Hermione could not deny it. Everything she knew and learned came from the textbooks and many many other books that she’d poured over from the Hogwarts library and Flourish and Blotts. She read tireless, eager to learn more, to know more, to prove herself over anyone who might question her place in the Wizarding World due to her blood. But had she not had magic, she would have still been the same, keen and eager to learn girl… pouring over science books as she did her Potions texts, thinking to herself that the girl down the street who claimed that magic existed was… well, for a better word, loony.
She cleared her throat awkwardly, giving Luna a half-smile. “No, you’re right. Ever since I got to Hogwarts, I’ve felt like being muggle-born meant there was so much more to learn than everyone else. Blood-politics, magical creatures, pureblood customs, even magical celebrities.” They both shared a small laugh at that. “I’ve been so focused on catching up with everything I grew up not knowing about, I never really stopped to think that this world, just like the muggle world, is always evolving and discovering new things. There must be so many possibilities, and undiscovered magic. Well, there has to be, I guess. I’ve just been so fixated on knowing everything there is to know, I forgot to consider that there’s even more out there that isn’t known.”
At Hermione’s confession, Luna flashed her a radiant smile, that seemed to light up her face and glow against her tangled mane of pale blonde curls. “Perhaps.” She said, contemplatively, “but I suppose you’ve been having a lot more serious things to think about nowadays than the discovery of things unknown. Professor Umbridge has been a very big obstacle for your preparations to fight You-Know-Who, hasn’t she?”
Hermione, yet again, felt taken aback by Luna’s astuteness. Harry was right. Luna was quite brilliant… in her own way.
“Yes,” she responded grimly. “The way that this school’s education is going, Harry, Ron and I… we’re worried. We’re worried that the Ministry is so scared of losing power, they’d rather us all go down together like a group of sitting ducks, rather than start preparing for the inevitable.”
“My father said the same thing.” Luna said, nodding sagely, without breaking eye-contact.
“He did?” Hermione asked, surprised that anyone else was seeing through the Ministry bullshit, considering most of the parents at Hogwarts seemed to be lapping Umbridge and her education reform, if the Daily Prophet was anything to be believed.
“Like I said to Harry, there are far more people who believe Harry than you might think. Many are just scared to tip the balance of very fragile peace we’ve been enjoying because they remember the horror of what it was like before. Being the first herald always takes courage.” She mused softly, “others will soon follow, I’m sure.”
“Would you?” Hermione asked tentatively.
The corners of Luna’s lips stretched into a serene smile as she stepped daintily over a stump of wood, closing the gap between them.
“I already do.” She said smiling, reaching out to hand Hermione a thin booklet that emitted rainbow-coloured sparks, every time the pages flapped against each other.
Hermione looked down, fighting the urge to immediately roll her eyes and she saw that it was the non-sensical Quibbler magazine she’d berated Luna for just a few weeks ago. Inspecting it more closely though, the cover of the magazine had a moving image of Fudge plastered front and centre, with the words “Minister of Magic, Daft in Denial, or Dangerous in Duplicity?” expanding across the page in bold. Hermione smirked at the not-so-subtle shade being thrown against the previous day’s Daily Prophet front page.
“We don’t have the numbers that mainstream newspapers have in our readership of course.” Said Luna, “but we have quite a loyal and steady following. People don’t buy daddy’s magazine just for fun. They read it because they know that at least to a certain extent, there’s truth to his words. People may not be brave enough to go against the Ministry in public yet, but they can tell something dark is coming and the people in power are hiding something from them.” She paused, gazing dreamily up at the tree Hermione was leaning against. “Look, even the Gulping Plimpies are getting restless.”
Hermione bent her neck up in confusion, frowning at the seemingly uninhabited willow tree above her and bit back another retort forming on her tongue about how no such creature had ever been mentioned in any Magical Creature textbook.
“That’s… that’s promising Luna.” She said instead, giving her a kind smile. “That’s why we were thinking, Harry, Ron and I, that we’d like to start a… club of some sorts. To teach people who are interested in how to defend themselves in case the worst does happen… If we let Umbridge dictate what we can learn, we’ll have no chance to protect ourselves and our families when the time comes.”
“That’s wonderful!” Luna said, letting out a soft giggle. Her eyes were still wide, looking up at the said tree in rapture, as if watching an enthralling pantomime that only she could see.
Hermione paused, wondering if Luna was not understanding what she was proposing. “Uh… yes, thank you.” She said awkwardly. “And… well, Harry suggested that you might be persuaded to join?”
Luna’s expression, which had been quite vacant until then, suddenly widened in a delighted surprise, her pale cheeks faintly flushing with excitement. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “I’ve never been invited to join anything before!” Her bare feet bounced off the ground with unrestrained energy, her white curls. “I’d love to!”
“Oh good.” Hermione breathed out with relief. They hadn’t exactly come up with a countermeasure for what to do should someone they tried to recruit refused and threatened to go to Umbridge. She’d have to come up with something tonight.
“Luna, do you know anyone else who can be trusted and would be willing to join? We need more numbers.”
Luna looked pensive for a moment before shaking her head slightly. “I don’t have many friends. People tend to think I’m rather odd.” She said matter-of-factly. “Oh! I know! You should ask Altaire.”
“Altaire?” Hermione asked, not recognising the name.
“Yes, Altaire. She’s in my House and… I would call her a friend. She is kind. She doesn’t tease me, like the other girls. She reads the Quibbler with me sometimes.” Luna nodded seriously to herself, as if her last statement was a universally known testament to good character.
Great, another oddball, Hermione thought. Luna must have noticed the skepticism written on her face, as her own soft expression became harder, a frown lining her pale brows.
“She’s very clever, you know. Top of our year. She doesn’t let judgment get in the way of expanding her knowledge.”
Hermione coughed uncomfortably at the dainty witch’s tighter tone, and not wishing to drive off what seemed to be Harry’s only non-Gryffindor supporter, she nodded hastily, and said in a placating tone, “That’s great Luna. If you think she’d be interested, could you talk to her discreetly? It’s hard to know who to trust these days, and we can’t risk it getting back to Umbridge. If she’s down, you could bring her to the Hog’s Head on Saturday at noon. We’ll have our first meeting there.”
Luna paused to stare quizzically at Hermione for a moment. “I think you should talk to her directly actually.”
“Why’s that?” Hermione asked.
“Well, it’s no secret that you are quite unfriendly with her brother.” Luna said in a matter-of fact tone. “She might not believe that you want her there, unless you tell her yourself.”
“Her brother?” Hermione asked, thoroughly confused, and wondering if she had more enemies than she knew of. Surely Voldemort was more than enough to have as an enemy for a lifetime… She supposed that she wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. Presumably people could find her eagerness in class a little annoying… but they were students in school! If they weren’t here to learn, what was even the point? And if she knew the answer to a professor’s question, why wouldn’t she volunteer to answer, especially if House points were on the line?
“I don’t think Harry and Ron get along with him either. But you were the one who punched him two years ago no?” Luna asked.
Punched? In Third year? No- surely not…
“MALFOY?!” Hermione barked, nearly choking on the wind.
Malfoy had a sister. Since when?!
“Yes!” Luna replied, sounding delighted that Hermione guessed the right answer.
“Luna that’s preposterous!” Hermione retorted. “Her father’s a Death Eater! He was literally at the graveyard last year when they raised Voldemort, and nearly killed Harry! Cedric died!”
“So?” Luna asked, sounding aggravatingly sincere.
“What do you mean so?” Hermione ground out, beginning to lose her patience. “We can’t trust her. Her family is as dark as they come. And – and I didn’t even know Malfoy had a sister until just now! She obviously can’t be trusted! And we’d be training a future Death Eater!”
Luna’s eyes narrowed at that, and she took another step closer to Hermione, squaring her shoulders and cocking up her chin. The petite witch was a head smaller than Hermione and much slighter in frame, but in that moment, Hermione felt taken aback by the powerful defiance emanating from her magic.
“It’s hardly her fault that you didn’t know that Draco Malfoy had a sister. And I thought fighting for the Light meant not being prejudiced based on blood.” Luna challenged; her tone hard.
“That-that’s different Luna.” Hermione reasoned.
“How?”
“Voldemort and his followers want to eradicate the magical world of muggle-borns and have the purebloods rule over everyone else, creating an oppressive society where people live segregated by the blood status! I just don’t think it’s wise to trust someone who’s family is actively siding with Voldemort and scheming to make sure those messed up ideals become reality!” she said hotly, her temper beginning to rise at the thought of the bigotry. “Even if she isn’t a Death Eater, her father is one, and Draco Malfoy might as well be one. He’s evil, and as bigoted as they come!”
“Isn’t Sirius Black Harry’s godfather?” Luna asked, her dreamy voice still carrying a hardened tone.
Hermione, for almost the fifth time since she began speaking to Luna, was shocked. She couldn’t possibly know…
Quickly gathering herself, she levelled Luna’s accusatory gaze. “And he’s a convicted mass murderer.”
Luna gave her a knowing smile. It wasn’t quite sinister, but it made something jump in Hermione’s stomach, filling her with unease. Luna was definitely not as dotty as she portrayed herself to be. Just how much did she know really?
“According to the Ministry.”
“There’s no proof of the opposite.” Hermione responded dully, her heart filling with pain at the thought of Sirius, hiding out somewhere in the caves with Buckbeak, on the run, and unable to come home.
“Neither is there for Harry’s word that You-Know-Who is back.”
Hermione felt stunned at the conviction with how Luna spoke. She hadn’t had much interaction with her before, but from what she knew, Luna had always seemed quite soft and delicate, lost in her own mind, not an outspoken witch with a stubborn streak, who seemed to know much more than she let on.
“Yes well, that’s not the point Luna. You can’t talk to Malfoy’s sister about what we’re planning. If she tells Malfoy, or her father, this plan is over before we even have our first meeting.”
“If what the Ministry says is true, Sirius Black was best friends with Harry’s parents, yet still betrayed them, when the time came. – ”
No Pettigrew did. Hermione thought bitterly. Who was also their best friend, she supposed…
“ – So really, you can’t fully trust anyone. It’s friends who betray you, not the enemy. The war that’s coming… you can’t win it just the three of you. I told you before, more people are on your side than you’d be willing to believe. I’d have thought you would be the most open minded to accept that the greatest allies might come from the most unexpected places.” Luna said, nodding gravely to herself. "I know you to look past prejudices and be kind to misunderstood creatures. I won’t go against your wishes and talk to Altaire. You are a friend too, Hermione.” She paused, allowing Hermione to flash her another awkward smile. “But I think you should consider talking to Altaire yourself. I think you’ll find that, like the rest of us, she’s much more than just her family name.”
With that, the authoritative magic that had blazed around Luna as she argued against Hermione seemed to deflate as quickly as it had arisen, and the small witch turned around, distractedly taking in her surroundings as she flounced off without another word, leaving Hermione to stare after her, trying hard to digest whirlwind of emotions and information Luna had left her with.