(no subject)

[sees_them_too]

Luna Lovegood walks into the bar with her nose buried in Beyond Basilisks: The Hidden World of Experimental Breeding.

She seems only vaguely aware that she has stepped from Hogwarts into Milliways. Her attention is on her book. And on the faint rustling sound that has been following her since the end of her Transfiguration class. Clearly, she thinks, her ear for detecting nargles is improving.

In actuality, the rustling can be attributed to the sign stuck to the back of her robe – a piece of parchment with LOONY LOVEGOOD in purple and puce.

It's fairly lurid. And flashing.

Comments

[sees_them_too]

So strange, Luna thinks, that there is a place, even at the End of the Universe where You Know Who is actually You Don't Know Who.

"He Who Must Not Be Named," she amends.

Not, Luna would admit, that that really clears anything up.

"We don't say his name aloud, you see. Not, I think, that it is really dangerous, though there are many folks who think so. But it does scare people, hearing his name."

Even in Luna's generation, and she had been just a baby when the war ended.

[pullsneedles]

"But he's gone now, right?"

[sees_them_too]

"He was. For a long time," Luna says.

"As to whether he still is, that depends on who you ask. The Ministry says he's gone for good. But a lot of other folks think he's come back. Or is trying to."

The Lovegoods fall into the second camp.

[pullsneedles]

"That's gotta be scary."

[sees_them_too]

"A bit," Luna agrees.

"It's caused some problems at school over the last few years. Some say that You Know Who wasn't really at the root of it, but I believe he might well have been."

The Chamber of Secrets in her first year. The business with Sirius Black last year.

Who knows what this year will bring?

[pullsneedles]

"But it's okay because you've got your teachers there, right? And Professor Dumbledore. You said before that Professor Dumbledore is the only person You Know Who is afraid of."

[sees_them_too]

"He is," Luna says with a nod.

"And yes. They say that even back during the war, Hogwarts was one of the only safe places left."

[pullsneedles]

"Then it'll all be okay if Hogwarts is safe."

[sees_them_too]

Luna nods.

"Yes. It's quite safe, Lucas. I promise."

The entire school knows, of course, that there have been some near misses at the school, especially where Harry Potter is concerned.

But it's all come right in the end so far.