Disclaimer:Not mine.

Chapter 10: Loopy with Luna, Dallying with Draco

"I think they think I'm a bit odd, you know. Some people call me 'Loony' Lovegood, actually."- Luna Lovegood, Order of the Phoenix.

By the end of the day, Gee was completely weighed down with essays. She had Charms, Divination, Transfiguration and had been requested to aid Professor Sprout in the difficult growing of a rare Acromantula vine.

After a long, tiring day, Gee hurried to the Ravenclaw Common Room to find the blonde who'd rescued her and Shelley from the riddle telling bronze eagle yesterday. She was surrounded by a group of first and second-years, all in deep thought.

Gee sighed, her bag so heavy it pulled down her shoulder and paused in front of the Ravenclaw Common Room door. The bronze eagle opened its beak and sang melodiously, "I can be long, I can be short.

I can be grown and I can be bought.

I can be painted or left bare.

I can be round, or square.

What am I?"

"Fingernails," Gee grumbled and bustled through the door, thumping her bag down on an elegant oak table. She pulled her books out and began to write her Charms essay- 10 Charms she could do using her own magic and how.

Luna sat down next to her and pulled out her own Charms. The sound of a pen and a quill scratching over the respective paper and parchment filled the air. Around them, all the Ravenclaws were bent over their own essays. It was eerily quiet.

Hours passed until Gee finally finished all her homework. She shook and blew on her hand- it was so cramped from the mountains of writing she had to do.

Looking up, Gee was disturbed to see Luna, chin in hands, staring at Gee. Luna quirked an eyebrow.

"How do they set you homework when you can't do proper magic?"

Gee was taken aback by the blonde's blunt question.

"They're setting me essays on how I would use my own magic to the same effects as your type of magic."

Luna nodded and seemed to process that for a moment. "Are there others like you?"

"We don't know anyone else who can. Helly and I are both orphans- different birth parents though. We each moved from foster home to foster home because they didn't know how to deal with the freak accidents that occurred when we stayed there. Finally we got dumped into an orphanage and found each other. We got adopted together and figured we should keep our magic hidden. We managed to keep it concealed for about seven years until I got sentimental and made a little girl's rabbit better. Suffice to say, the mother got a little freaked out when the rabbit went from being half-dead to sprightly half a minute. She called the police, the ambulance and the fire service."

"I would have called the Cornack Lilies. They usually respond quicker than those Nee-Naws of yours."

Gee giggled. "Well, I'm sure if she'd had their number she would have. But in any case, Professor McGonagall came before the Nee-Naws. She took us to the Leaky Cauldron, called our adopted parents, Lea and James, there and told us all about Hogwarts. Helly and I confessed about our magic, and thankfully Lea and James accepted us. They finally realised who'd been keeping their plants alive for the past seven years!"

The two girls laughed together. They talked for another half-hour before Luna excused herself.

"Neville wants me in the greenhouses five minutes ago. He is to show me his orange Pleftian flower. The first to grow in Britain apparently." Luna sighed.

"I'm sorry for keeping you late. You don't seem to be particularly excited for him. Do you not like this Neville?"

"I like him enough to talk to him. However I am not keen on his plants. All sorts of creatures hang around in the greenhouses. It's crawling with Wrackspurts. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy, you know."

Luna left Gee, sympathising with the poor boy, Neville. Luna obviously wasn't particularly into him.

_xxXOXxx_

The next day, Helly had her Potions tutor lesson with Draco.

She walked to their normal study table and found Draco sitting there, head in his hands, staring blankly at the table.

Helly lightly touched his shoulder.

"Draco?"

He looked up to Helly, desperation in his eyes.

"My father dies tomorrow. His soul will be sucked out by a Dementor, one of the last to receive that particular sentence." His tone was matter of fact but his voice caught on the last word.

"Are you okay?" Helly asked the customary question.

"No. The man who raised me to be a monster, to serve under that terrible, evil man is going to have everything he is or ever was sucked out of his mouth. And he's personally asked me to be there. He wants me to be a witness to his last moments. Do I go?"

Helly set down opposite Draco. She tapped her fingers against the wood as she tried to formulate the right response. She needed Gee, Helly was no good at comforting a tormented soul, she thought to herself.

"Yes. He's your father, no matter what he did to you in the past."

Draco's brow furrowed and he looked out the window. He contemplated her answer for a minute in stony silence before scribbling on a small bit of parchment. Helly fidgeted in her seat.

"Fine. I'll go. I have to go tell McGonagall about my little vacation." Draco smirked self-deprecatingly and strolled out the library door.

Well, at least she found out what the letter was about, Helly thought.

She looked down to the table where in Draco's scrawling script were his notes on the Cheering Draught with a small memo jotted down on the piece of parchment which she had seen Draco writing beforehand.

'Read and make your own notes. I can't be bothered to spoon feed you today.'

The corner of Helly's mouth lifted.

A Cheering Draught.

Ironic.