Second Lesson
Luna rushed down to the doors of the great hall, avoiding all the familiar faces, as she waved back at Ginny from across the great hall. She took a large bite of the cinnamon bun she had plucked from a bread basket on the Ravenclaw house table and smiled dreamily, the house elves at Hogwarts made the best ones she had ever had. She was convinced part of that was because of Hermione, who fought to improve their working conditions and rights. Luna had never thought the strict and stern Hermione to be an activist with actual human feelings, but she had proven Luna wrong and after that Luna had started to notice the ways in which Hermione showed affection. Ways that others didn't seem to pick up on, though they seemed obvious to Luna, once you paid attention to them. Deep in thought, Luna made her way up to the divination tower where she was supposed to meet with professor Trelawney.
She kept her cinnamon bun clenched between her teeth as she climbed up the ladder and knocked on the hatch in the ceiling that would lead her to the divination classroom.
"Pwofesso, I'm ere!" she tried to announce herself, however, the piece of the cinnamon bun she had clenched between her teeth, torn off from the rest and fell down.
"Oh!" a surprised voice came from underneath her as if the person whom it belonged to had just been woken up from a deep slumber.
Startled, Luna looked down to find professor Trelawney at the bottom of the ladder, "Sorry professor, I didn't mean to throw food at you," Luna said uncertainly.
"Don't worry my child, the tea leaves had already warned me that I did not need to get breakfast today," she answered as she gently took the cinnamon bun off her head and started to eat it.
Luna pouted slightly at the sight, disappointed in the fact that she did not get to finish her breakfast, but at the same time, she was happy that for once, someone didn't seem to be mad at her.
"The door is open dear, the crystal ball told me I didn't need to worry about locking the classroom this year," the airy voice of Trelawney travelled up to her.
Luna hummed in notion and pushed open the hatch. It slammed open with some force and Luna made her way into the dust-covered, dimly lit room.
She sniffled and turned around to find that Trelawney had made it up the ladder already and was standing just behind her. Unphased by this, Luna smiled at the elder woman whose hair had since lost some of its brighter colours. It had definitely been a good few years.
"Alright dear, since today is your day as a guest teacher, I am just going to assist you today as you lead the lessons and tell more about your experience," her former professor said, clasping her hands together in excitement.
Luna stared at her for a second, "But professor, they only placed me here because care of magical creatures was already filled," Luna said, afraid of messing up the lessons.
Trelawney frowned at her, the corners of her mouth dropping slightly. She was clearly not happy with Luna's statement. Oops.
"Nonsense dear! You were wonderful as a student, I am sure you will do great!"
Luna wanted to defy it and plead with her, but the first students already started to trickle in and took their assigned places, so she straightened her shoulders and smiled as she walked over to welcome the students.
By the time all the classes were over, Luna's head was pounding. She had tried her very best to deliver good classes, but with every sentence, she said Trelawney had interrupted her, twice. They had read the crystal ball with the fourth years, read tea leaves with the fifth years and tried palm reading with the sixth and seventh years.
With every one of those, she had given a small demonstration on how to go about it, resulting in her former professor stepping in and giving another demonstration, with her as the guinea pig.
"Oh dear, you will have a horrible accident later today!" She had said as she read Luna's crystal ball, startling Luna a little bit.
After that, it hadn't gotten any better. "I can see that you will love today's turn of events!" Trelawney had said after observing the tea leaves that were sitting in Luna's teacup and staring her down through her jam jar like glasses, making luna shuffle uneasy.
She was going to have a horrible accident......but she would love it? To add insult to injury, Trelawney told her the love line on the palm of her hand was long and steady, starting out early in her life.
Luna had pulled back her hand as if someone had burned it and stared at the professor, was she trying to make fun of her? She had never even come close to having her first boyfriend. Let alone her first kiss.
The students in the classroom had all snickered and whispered at the predictions and readings, leaving Luna uncomfortable and feeling vulnerable.
She talked through the hallway as she mulled over the events of the day, making her way outside towards the Hogwarts lake. She needed some privacy and most students didn't dare go outside in the winter weather, not if it was cold and there wasn't any snow to be found to mess around with.
Casting a quick drying spell on the ground, she sat down on a patch of grass near the lake. She leaned back against the rock that shielded her from view and opened up the paper bag with food that she had picked up in the kitchens.
A smile spread on her face as she saw that the elf had added a cinnamon bun on top of the dinner food, even though Luna hadn't requested it or brought the incident up. Smart little creatures they were.
A weak ray of sunshine broke through the clouds as Luna enjoyed her dinner, eating her cinnamon bun first. Leaving the best things in life for last, wasn't always the best philosophy to live by.....you had to enjoy the here and now.
If anything, her mother and her short but bright existence had taught Luna that. It was a lesson she would never forget and one she would always cherish.
After Luna took the cup of oyster soup out of her dinner package, she slowly started sipping it, reminiscing on better times. She had been doing that a lot lately.
If she hadn't been daydreaming, eyes gleaming over in thought, she might have noticed that the lake's most well-known resident, creeped a tentacle out at her, sniffing and tasting the air around her as if looking for something.
A surprised scream left her mouth as all of a sudden, she was lifted into the air by her ankle, the cup of oyster soup spilling all over her, burning into the skin of her neck.
Dangling upside down, she tried to understand the situation and get a grip on the dizziness that flooded her all of a sudden. Hanging upside down was definitely not something she experienced every day or fancied for that matter.
When she felt herself being swayed around a little bit, her sight came back into focus, she let out a scream as she saw that the giant octopus was holding her over its large open mouth. She reached for her wand but realised it was still laying next to her dinner package on the dry shore. Was she going to become fish food soon? She never thought she would end up this way.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" all of a sudden she was softly pulled out of the octopus his grip and floated out of its reach as it tried to grasp for her several more times.
A few seconds later she gently landed on solid ground, in the cold wet grass. She scooted backwards frantically, afraid the octopus might reach out for her once more and actually eat her this time.
Someone shaking her shoulder woke her up from her fear-induced trance, "Hey, are you okay?" a concerned face filled her view, it was Rolf.
Luna stared at him for a few seconds, speechless and unsure of what to say. Was she okay? She didn't know...she didn't know....
"Alright come on, let's get you back inside, safe and warm," he gently helped her off the ground and planted her on both her feet.
She noticed she was shaking violently and as a soft hiccup left her mouth, the realised she was crying as well.
"I-i.....It was going to.....-to eat me...?" she half choked on her words, feeling the little blood in her face drain away further.
Rolf wiped away the tears with his right hand, while he made sure to keep Luna from tumbling over by holding her with his left one.
"Listen, Paul has an eye infection at the moment, I am trying to treat it, but it's very stubborn," Rolf said as if that cleared everything up, instead leaving Luna confused about what that had to do with anything.
"And you smell like Oyster," Rolf added as he noticed Luna's confusion, frowning as the smell drenched his nostrils.
"Soup," was all that Luna managed to get out of her mouth properly without sounding like she was about to collapse.
Rolfs's look melted into sympathy, "He must have smelled it and mistaken you for a snack, Paul isn't the murderous kind of creature," Rolf promised her.
Luna swayed slightly as Rolf slowly started to nudge her to start walking, he seemed intent on making sure she was okay. Or perhaps he just wanted to have a good laugh by telling everyone the story of how Looney Lovegood had almost because dinner herself.
Stumbling over her feet, Rolf quickly caught her before she could injure herself....any further that was.
"You are awfully pale, did you hurt yourself?" he asked conspicuously as he eyed her up and down and she violently shook her head, his eye stopping on her lower arm.
"You are bleeding! Why didn't you say anything?" he scolded her, though his eyes were filled with warmth and concern.
"Didn't...know," Luna dragged her words, the adrenaline rushing through her veins was the only thing keeping her going at the moment.
"Come on then," He said and without asking permission, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her all the way to the entrance, not being bothered by her weight in the slightest.
"Let's get you to the infirmary," He said as he pushed open the door with his shoulder so that he didn't have to put her down.
"No!" Luna pleaded softly.
"Why not?" Rolf asked baffled, looking down at her with his
"No," Luna cried trying to wiggle out of his grip.
Growing concerned Rolf tightened his grip on her, "Alright alright, no infirmary, I promise," Rolf caved, trying to not let her fall onto the ground.
"Promise?" Luna asked, her body going slowly growing limp in Rolfs arms.
"Promise," was the last thing Luna heard before her view went dark and she lost consciousness.