• Published 3rd Jan 2013
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A Tale of Two Lunas - Everythingpossible



A princess and a young girl, both with the same name, wake up in a strange place one morning, unsure of how they got there.

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O.W.L.s

Luna looked dismally at the plate before her. It all looked lovely: scrambled eggs, toast, lingonberry jam, bacon, the whole shebang, lovingly prepared using the magic of indentured servitude. And she didn’t feel like eating any of it. This general sense of malaise was not uncommon; she saw that most of the students in the hall slowly consumed their breakfast with a certain trepidation. Even Dumbledore’s hand shook as he delivered a glass of orange juice to his mouth. This fear and anxiety was not ungrounded, though.

It was O.W.L. day.


She managed to choke down some of her food, and then waited patiently with the teachers, fifth-years, and seventh-years as the rest of the students, free of care, merrily left the Great Hall. When the innocents had left, she surveyed the remaining audience. A small inferno of fiery red hair identified the three Weasley boys. Hermione with her nose in a book reminded the princess a bit of Twilight Sparkle. Harry Potter, as always. Over at the Slytherin table, most of the students looked at her with fear in their eyes, especially Goyle. She didn’t see why, though; he should have thanked her for not completely gelding him on the pitch, or worse.

When the noise had quieted to a dull murmur, Dumbledore stood up.

“Seventh-years will accompany Professor McGonagall to their N.E.W.T. examination rooms. Fifth-years will remain here to await further instructions” he said, with an uncommon and urgent clarity. Immediately, the older students got up from the benches and crowded around the door until the tartan-clad witch led them away. Luna was left watching over the nervous fifth-years. Obviously she wasn’t in any danger of losing her job (she had threatened several of her students, invaded their privacy, and almost castrated one), but she still cared about these exams.

Eventually, the students filed out to their other exams, leaving Luna to wait until the Defence Against the Dark Arts test, which wasn’t scheduled until later that afternoon. She figured she’d take a walk around the grounds until then. It was a lovely day, a cool mountain breeze gently rippled the surface of the sapphire-blue lake. She saw all of the other students that had been spared the burden of examination outside. Some greeted her, others just ignored her, and some of the younger students purposefully avoided her. Luna didn’t really mind; she was used to a certain degree of ostracizing. Again taking advantage of the daytime, she found a nice oak tree and laid down under its shade of greenery. As she watched the sunlight reflect off of the calm water, she slowly fell into a deep sleep.


Instead of a peaceful unconsciousness, however, Luna now found herself in a dark place, surrounded by rows and rows of high shelves. She was not at all distressed, however; she had been here before.

“Potter just had to fall asleep during his exam, didn’t he?” she said to herself, thinking of ways to enact her revenge upon the bespectacled boy. Suddenly, a loud scream came from her left.

“That’s not normal…” she thought. Usually these nightmares just featured Harry wandering aimlessly around this place, whatever it was. She rushed in the general direction of the noise, more confused and bored than concerned. From a distance, she could make out two figures, one standing, and one on the ground. Luna slowly edged closer, taking cover behind a tall shelf of glass.

“Get it!” the one standing demanded. He waved his wand, and the figure on the floor howled and writhed in pain. This is just a dream, she told herself. So why does it feel so real?

“I… will… never…” the man replied, deep in the throngs of anguish. Luna recognized the voice, but couldn’t quite place it. The other man lowered his wand again, and the man once again was thrown into wild spasms. Luna finally saw the face of the torturer. It was as white as death itself, the eyes serpentine and devoid of emotion or even life. This vile creature looked up, and as soon as his eyes made contact with Luna’s, the world disappeared into a cloak of darkness.


Princess Luna awoke with a start. The sun was setting over the western hills, dyeing the sky around it a bloody orange. No longer did schoolchildren play merrily on the castle grounds. The cheerful blue sky now wore a foreboding ensemble of clouds. Wasting no time, she immediately ran back into the castle. Just as she was entering, though, a mass of people went out, pushing her back out and dissolving her into the crowd. Confused, she looked for the leader of this group. Leaping into the sky, she saw Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville Longbottom, and Ginny jogging towards the forest. Teachers tried to suppress the horde, but let the five through. They disappeared into the woods just as the the evening sun died and fell below the horizon. Landing in front of the blockade, she proceeded at full gallop into the dark and mysterious beyond.


“Are… are you sure about this, Harry?” Ron asked.

“I’m absolutely certain. Kreacher said that he had gone. And it just… it felt….”

“Like it wasn’t a dream?” Luna finished his sentence, emerging from the trees. The five students turned towards the equine. Harry and Neville were holding the reins of three undead-looking creatures.

“How… how did you…” Harry said, puzzled.

“I can see your dreams, remember?”

“That’s pretty useful, come to think of it” Hermione said.

“It actually gets boring after a while” she said. “I didn’t know you had thestrals here”.

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny looked to the other two, who responded with an “I–told–you–so” sort of look.

“Y–you can see them?” Neville said, frightened.

“When you can’t die, you tend to see a lot of others do it first” she said.

“Why are you here?” Harry asked.

“I am absolutely furious that you lot would just run away from school and into such danger…” she said, pausing dramatically to relish the worried looks on their faces, “...and you didn’t invite me”.

Luna smiled, and Harry responded with a sort of half-smile that looked both joyful and awkward.

“But… uh… the problem is, uh,” Ron said, “we’ve only got two thestrals”.

Luna shot a disappointing look at him before spreading her pair of midnight-blue wings.

“Oh…yeah… forgot about those…” Ron said, his voice dying out as he looked away.