//------------------------------//
// Snape meets Woona 
// Story: Luna and her Woona 
// by Teyeson Bee 
//------------------------------//

As Ravenclaw 5th years filed into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, Luna heard Woona let out a frightened whimper and grip her head tighter. Luna didn't blame her. Snape had always kept his classroom rather dark. The only light source the students had were a series of lamps lit in a line on each of the walls. Above the room hung a giant skeleton of what looked like a dragon, though no student was bold enough to confirm that. Luna quickly took her seat and lowered Woona down onto the desktop. Woona was still shaking slightly and whimpering as she whipped her head around nervously, looking at all the strange and creepy artifacts that littered the room. Luna pulled the little one into a soft hug and ran a comforting hand through Woona's mane.

"Don't worry, Woona," she said in a warm, motherly tone. "Nothing's going to hurt you. Mama will be right here."

This seemed to calm Woona down a bit as she stopped whimpering and pressed her head against Luna's chest. Pretty soon, the 5th year Gryffindors filed into the room as well, some taking their usual seats. Some, however, went over to Luna to get a good look at her little alicorn, having failed to do so during that morning. Woona, thankfully, was cheered up by the fawning students, and smiled happily. The onlookers' reactions were varied. Some clutched their hearts, while others simply smiled back. One of those Gryffindors was Ron's younger sister, Ginny Weasley, who had fought her way to the front of the crowd.

"Hello, Luna," she greeted merrily. She then looked down at Woona and patted her head. "Hi, Woona."

Woona giggled and waved. "Hi."

"Getting along well?" Ginny asked, turning her attention back to Luna.

"Oh yes," Luna replied. "Woona's been ever so good in classes."

"Aside from a certain Transfiguration incident?"

Luna's cheeks turned a slight pink. News did travel fast in the school. "Well, it all worked out." Ginny chuckled.

Just then, the door to the class slammed open, and Professor Snape came marching into the room, his coal-black robes swiftly dragging behind him and his greasy, black hair swaying slightly. The crowd instantly and quietly scattered back to their seats. When he had reached the front of the class, Snape took out his wand and flicked it behind him. A large screen unraveled itself from the ceiling and dropped to the top of Snape's desk. Snape then whipped his head toward the class, and the students straightened up without a word.

"Turn to page 302," Snape said in his usual monotone voice. The class immediately obeyed. "Today, we will begin the section on curses. For the next few weeks, you will be learning the history of curses, what they can do, and, yes, even the Unforgivable Curses. I daresay you will need that knowledge for your O.W.Ls. We will start today with-"

"Woona, you need to get down now."

Snape instantly stopped as his eyes met Luna's desktop, which was currently occupied by Woona, who was sitting atop the opened book and flicking the corner of the page. Luna had been trying to get Woona's attention before getting caught. She looked up to see Snape staring directly at her, his eyes narrowed and mouth thin. Luna froze, her mouth closing instantly. A pin could be heard dropping from the silence that filled the room as the students looked from Snape to Luna, wondering what was going to happen. Finally, Snape spoke in a more articulated, menacingly soft voice.

"Miss Lovegood, Professor Dumbledore had made it clear to the teachers about your little," his eyes fell on Woona for a second, who had finally looked up to meet his eyes, "privilege. I, however, will not allow it to disturb my class. This has been your first and only warning. If I have to stop class again because of your pet, it will be sent to the hallway for not only this, but all other classes onward. Do I make myself clear?"

Woona must've understood this, for she immediately shrank in fear from Snape's gaze and huddled closely to Luna.

"Yes, Professor," Luna replied as she brushed her hand through Woona's mane.

"Good," Snape said as he strolled over to his desk. Luna quickly picked Woona up and put her down beside her desk. She dropped the shiny rocks in front of her and sat back up. She placed a finger to her lips in a "Be quiet" gesture, and Woona nodded. Luna then smiled and opened her book as Snape continued.

"As I was saying, we will start today with looking at a history behind curses and when they started. Starting at the top of page 302..."





For the next 15 minutes, the class all sat in silence and took notes as Snape read on. All Luna could hear was the faint clunking of stones rolling on the hardwood floor beneath her. At first, she was afraid that Snape would hear it and consider it a distraction. It was clear, however, that the sound was too faint to reach the front of the class. Luna continued to read along with Snape's words and copy down what was being said. It was a pretty uneventful lesson, but Woona was well-behaved and quiet the entire time. There was a slight scare when Woona sneezed. Snape had stopped for a second, staring toward Luna, but continued on. Luna looked down at her watch. Still another 30 minutes to go of class, but things were looking pretty well. It seemed that Luna was going to get through Snape's class just fine.

"Mama."

Luna suddenly felt a slight tugging on her robe. She looked down and saw Woona standing on a patch of robe and looking up at her with big eyes.

"What's wrong, Woona?" Luna whispered.

"I'm tired," Woona replied, rubbing an eye with her hoof.

"Then take a nap on the floor," Luna said softly.

Woona shook her head and lifted her front legs to Luna. "Uppie."

"You can't lay on my lap, Woona," Luna said, now leaning a little toward the alicorn. "Professor Snape might not like that."

Woona stuck her lower lip out in defiance and reached out again. "Uppie!"

"I can't."

"Please, Mama?"

"I'm sorry. I promise I'll let you lay on my lap later, but now isn't the time to-"

"Ahem."

Luna froze in place. She had failed to realize that all the class had grown eerily quiet again, and Snape had stopped his lecture. She saw Woona's eyes grow wide with fear as they looked up at something behind Luna. Gulping slightly, Luna slowly turned her head around to see Professor Snape glaring down at her with a menacing stare. Luna wasn't sure how Snape was able to make himself seem five times taller, but the intimidation he was giving off was so pungent, it could probably be felt all the way in the Great Hall. Luna straightened up with Snape's eyes following her.

"Did I not say, Miss Lovegood," Snape snapped in a more menacingly soft voice than the last, "that if any more distractions were cause by your little pet that it would be put outside?"

"Professor, I'm sorry!" Luna said quickly. "She's just getting a little fussy. It won't happen-"

But in that moment, Snape had taken out his wand and flicked it towards Woona, who suddenly rose from under Luna. Woona let out a startled squeak as she floated to Snape, who outstretched his hand and grasped a patch of fur on Woona's back neck, making her dangle in front of him. The class softly gasped as Woona started to whimper.

"I told you that was your only warning," Snape continued, turning to look at Luna. "Your pet will have to wait outside." He then turned toward the door and took a step.

"Please, Professor!" Luna begged, making Snape stop for a second. "She's still so young. She'll be lost without me. Please! It won't happen again! I promise!"

"I don't care," Snape retorted as he turned back toward the door. "I will not be interrupted by this little-"

At that moment, however, a series of small whimpers made Snape stop both talking and moving. He and Luna looked at his still outstretched arm and saw a few tears trickle down Woona's face. Her lip was trembling furiously as she looked at Snape, who still wore his scolding expression. The room turned silent as Woona continued to whimper and sniffle, not looking away from Snape's gaze. 

"I'm s-s-sowy, Pwofessor," she whimpered softly. And then, to everyone's horror, she covered her eyes with her front hooves and began to cry. 

The whole class, including Snape, froze as tears continued to run down Woona's cheeks and drip onto the floor. It was quite a heartbreaking sight, and Luna found out quickly that she wasn't the only one who thought so. A few "Awws" could be heard from some of the girls, who clutched at their hearts. Some even started to tear up as well. Luna looked back at Snape, who was just staring at Woona, his expression not changing, as she sniffled even harder. Luna was just wondering why Snape hadn't just ignored her sobs and continued to the door. Snape never was one to care much about making students cry before. He had, on several occasions, caused Hermione to break into tears, and even had Neville Longbottom, a 6th year Gryffindor who was quite forgetful, on the brink of tears. Snape would've not let a student's tears interfere with punishment. So why was he just standing there, almost frozen, and not carrying out his punishment? 

Woona's crying by this point had died down a little, but tears were still seen trickling down her face. She sniffled again and wiped her eyes before opening them again. As soon as she stared at Snape with her eyes seeming bigger than before and her bottom lip still trembling, Luna just caught a glimpse of Snape's own eyes. They were still hard and unchanging, but Luna couldn't help but notice that his one eye twitched a bit, almost like he was holding back a change in expression.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Snape lowered the whimpering alicorn back onto Luna's desk. Both looked back at him, but he had already turned around and was making his way back to his desk.

"Last warning, Miss Lovegood," he finally said, his voice still soft, but a little less threatening. "Make sure your pe-" he glanced back at Woona, who was wiping her eyes of the remaining tears, "-I mean...eh...Woona, is properly accommodated."

"Yes, Professor," Luna quickly answered. She then picked up Woona and placed her in her lap. Woona sighed contently and made herself comfortable before curling up like a cat and closing her eyes. Snape grunted and looked back to the rest of the class. Everyone's mouth was hanging open, and their eyes were all large with shock as they looked at Snape. 

"Well?" Snape asked, returning to his usual tone. "Why aren't you all copying notes?" 

The class quickly snapped out of their trances and buried themselves back into their books. Luna joined them, but not before letting out a soft, relieving sigh. She took a glance down at Woona, who had started snoozing away, her cheeks still slightly matted from the tears. Luna smiled, glad that Woona wouldn't have to spend time alone and scared, and continued on with her work.

At the time the bell had rung, Snape had given out the homework assignment of writing a five parchment long report on the start of curses. Luna quickly woke Woona up, gathered up her stuff, placed Woona on her head, and headed for the door. When she turned, her eyes met Snape's. She half expected Snape to stop her and warn her about not interrupting class again, but he just stood by his desk and watched everyone leave. Luna turned to leave with the rest of the class, but as she did, she felt Woona turn a little on her head back toward Snape and say, rather friendly, "Bye-bye!"

Luna turned toward Snape. He had not responded, but Luna noticed a slight twitch in his eye again as he turned back to sit at his desk. Luna left the class feeling much better than she had at the beginning of the lesson. Though it was rather curious. Why was it that Snape had not carried out on his promise of punishment, something that had never happened before? He didn't even take any points from Ravenclaw or gave Luna a detention. It also was similar to what happened with McGonagall, and her using a pet name for the first time. Whatever it was, Luna couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with the humming alicorn currently perched on top of her head. Luna smiled and wiped the thoughts from her head. The time to think of that wasn't now. Maybe soon, but not now. All she knew now was that the worst was behind both her and Woona, and as she skipped her way to History of Magic, Luna had a feeling that the future classes with Snape would be a little less tense.