"How do two pieces of darkness make so much light?" Luna asked suddenly.
"What light?" Harry asked. "It is nearly pitch dark out here."
Luna giggled. "You're right, Harry Potter. But don't worry, I am sure you will be able to see sooner or later. Well, I have to go now. I need to get up early so I can find where my shoes have walked off to. Good night, Furry Potter!"
Harry watched the odd Ravenclaw Firstie skip through the darkness back towards the castle. What had that been about? He still didn't know how she knew about his Beast form. Sure, Ron and Hermione knew. And he'd told Ernie and Padma over the holidays when he'd stayed with Ernie's family. But he was sure none of them would have told anything especially to a First year none of them really knew.
Harry changed back into the Beast and resumed his run towards the Forest. He hoped the night air would help clear his head. It was probably too late to see Madam Pomfrey for a potion to fight the migraine he felt coming on.
....
12 March 1993
"The Heir took her! She is missing! We have to get her back! I can't lose her!"
Harry grabbed the smaller girl as she ran past.
"He took who? Calm down and tell me," Harry said.
The little red-head looked up into the eyes of her hero. "He took Luna! He took Luna into the Chamber of Secrets! There was a new message on the wall. The professors took a roll of all the students and she was the only one missing! She's my best friend! Please Harry, you have to save her!"
"He took Luna Lovegood?" Harry asked. "Little blonde Ravenclaw?"
"Yes, yes! Please, you have to help me!" Ginny pleaded.
Percy Weasley entered the common room just then and announced, "The professors want all students to assemble in the Great Hall in five minutes, no exceptions! Everyone out!"
Ginny grabbed hold of Harry. "Please, Harry, you have to help her. You're the Boy-Who-Lived! I know she's been acting odder than normal this year but she is still my friend."
"You mean she is not normally that… crazy-sounding?"
Ginny shook her head. "No, that is her normal. But sometimes she'd get all cold sounding and tell me to leave her alone. Then she would act later like it never happened."
"Did you tell anyone?" Harry asked.
"I said something to Professor Flitwick and he said he'd talk to her last month but I never heard anything more. She wasn't like this before we came to Hogwarts. She doesn't tell me anything - just writes it into the diary I gave her."
"Come on, you two. You're the last ones here," Percy demanded. "I will give you both detention!"
Harry and Ginny made their way out of the common room although not without Ginny making some parting shots at her officious older brother. They were almost to the Great Hall when they ran into Ron and Ernie followed by Professor Sprout.
"Harry!" Ron yelled. "Hermione and Padma have been petrified!"
Harry felt his stomach drop. "When?"
"Just now, this morning," Ernie answered solemnly. The normally excitable Hufflepuff looked really shaken. "They left me in the library to go to the loo. I found them outside of Myrtle's bathroom."
"You can talk inside the Great Hall," Percy demanded. "Now move!"
Ron snapped and started yelling at his brother. Ginny joined in which pulled in Professor Sprout. The professor started herding the squabbling siblings into the Great Hall. When she tried to pull Ernie along he came out of his shock enough to add to the mayhem. This eventually drew Professor McGonagall out of the Great Hall.
"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded.
"They refuse to obey Professor Dumbledore's commands, professor!" Percy reported.
"It's not that bad," Professor Sprout reassured her colleague in a calm manner. "The poor dears are simply in shock from the attack on their friends."
"I see," the Transfiguration professor answered. "And where is Mr Potter?"
The professor and prefect looked around but the most famous (or notorious) student in Hogwarts was missing.
....
Harry moved under his Invisibility Cloak towards the bathroom where his friends were petrified. He was angry about what had happened to his friends but he also wanted to find the odd little blonde. She gave him a migraine and insisted in calling him Furry Potter to the amusement of much of the school. They thought it was a play on a synonym for a certain pronunciation of his name. Even the Slytherins had started to use it to mock him. However for all that she still managed to get him laughing on a few occasions and God knew he'd needed chances to laugh this year.
Entering the lavatory, Harry paused to sniff. The scents threatened to overwhelm him. He sorted through them and caught Hermione and Padma's scents along with Luna and the monster also. Oddly, Luna's scent only seemed to lead into the loo. Could she still be in here?
"Oh, what are you doing in here?" a girl's voice rang out.
Harry turned to find the ghost of a witch in an old style of Hogwarts robes. He guessed she'd been in Fourth or Fifth year when she died.
"Hello, I am Harry. I am looking for a friend of mine that disappeared from here. Can you help me?"
The ghost witch's expression changed while Harry spoke. Now she was smiling shyly at him. "No one much comes in here anymore. Two girls came in earlier but they just used the loo and left without saying a word to poor Myrtle. Then another girl came in but she just used the sink. She made some noise and then - whoosh! - poor Myrtle was pushed out of her place! Right down the pipes and into the Black Lake! The horrible squid tried to play with me."
"The last girl that came in - was it right after the other girls left?" Harry asked.
"Um, maybe. I'm not too good about keeping track of time. Even if I wasn't dead." The ghosts face clouded up and she started to wail. "Oh, I am dead!" she screamed out before flying into a nearby toilet with a 'plunk!'.
Harry ignored the stray mental question of how an intangible ghost managed to make a small splash entering a toilet bowl and turned to the sink. Luna's scent was stronger here. His eyes darted around looking for a clue, a sign, something!
After five minutes, Harry was ready to give it up as a bad job. He smacked his hand down in frustration. When he lifted his hand, he realized he'd just gotten… something on it. It looked kind of like make-up of some type. With a huff of frustration, Harry walked over to wash it off.
.....
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