148 Chapter 148: Luna in trouble

Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and all its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author's notes-

Chapter 148: Luna in trouble

Early May, just a few minutes before curfew.

Harry was inside the Room of Requirements, finishing his routine training when a nearby painting spoke to him.

"Sir, a young student is being attacked!" An old knight wearing silver armor suddenly appeared in the painting.

Harry had been using the paintings and several elves to keep an eye on the castle after hearing some disturbing rumors about the older Slytherin boys.

Dumbledore didn't know about this, but the paintings could not tell him either since Harry had made use of his full authority. But he was sure the old man would probe if he did. 

Since January, he had stopped four attacks on younger students; this being the fifth one.

An elf popped into the room.

"Master Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby called.

Harry now had a bad feeling. Dobby was only watching three very specific girls.

"Who is it?" He asked his elf urgently.

"Miss Luna, sir!" Dobby said.

"Take me there." Harry extended his hand, and the elf took it.

They both disappeared from the room and reappeared in a corridor that Harry recognized as belonging to the seventh floor of the castle.

"Get back here!"

Harry heard a boy's voice nearby. He pulled out his wand and ran towards the sound.

He caught a glimpse of the boy entering an abandoned classroom and followed behind.

Harry then found Luna on the other side of the classroom, looking at the boy with fear in her eyes.

She didn't appear injured but was missing her shoes and having a hard time breathing.

"Finally…" The boy was also huffing but not as much as Luna.

"Now you are min-"

A red light hit the back of his head, and he fell down.

"Luna, are you okay?" Harry asked the frightened girl.

"Harry?" She looked confused at his sudden appearance.

"It's me, you are okay now, Luna." He approached the girl while giving the stunned boy a passing glance.

'Peregrine Derrick…'

He had been expecting to catch this one much earlier given his reputation. But this was the first.

"Is he dead?" Luna pointed at the older boy.

'Had this happened outside the school he may have been…' He thought.

"No, just stunned, don't worry about him. He is not going to move any time soon… can you tell me what happened?"

He knew she had not been hurt by him. Dobby would have stopped him if that was the case.

But that was a last resort. After all, a house elf attacking a student could lead to some unwanted investigation. And Dobby is technically a wanted elf after the Malfoys' incident.

"I went out to look for my shoes; they told me they saw them somewhere around here." Luna tried to explain.

"They?".

"The older girls...they told me where to find my shoes when they saw me looking for them. Then, that boy approached me… he had a lot of Plimpies buzzing around him, and I didn't like it so I ran away, and he then started to chase me for some reason… do you think I did something wrong?"

"No… you did well at running away from this guy… okay, I think I understand the situation, let me deal with this now. I'm going to accompany you back to your common room. It's already past curfew," said Harry.

"What about my shoes?" She pointed at her naked feet.

"Dobby, can you find them? They should be hanging somewhere nearby."

"Yes, Harry Potter, Master sir!" They could not see the elf as he was currently hiding, so they just heard his voice.

"Who's that?" Luna tilted her head to one side.

"My elf. You can call him too if you are in some trouble. But he is not allowed to appear in front of other people," Harry explained.

"Why not?"

"It's a long story…"

A pair of red shoes appeared out of nowhere and floated in front of Luna.

"My shoes!" She took them with a smile on her face and put them on.

Harry then escorted her to Ravenclaw Tower while the stunned body of Derrick levitated behind them.

"How long are you going to keep him like that?" Luna pointed at the older boy.

"Just a bit longer, I need to take him somewhere. Why?" Harry asked.

Luna shrugged. It didn't seem like she was concerned for him and just asked out of curiosity.

This girl was always hard to read for Harry. He could never tell what she was thinking.

"I want to enter." Luna walked to the statue guarding the tower and spoke to it.

The statue came to life immediately.

"Then you have to answer this riddle, what i-"

"Open." Harry interrupted the talking golem, he was not in the mood for riddles.

This one immediately shut up, and the entrance opened.

"Whoa! I've never seen anyone answering a riddle so fast. He only said two words!" Luna looked very impressed.

"Let's go." Harry walked inside.

Luna didn't make a comment about him walking into her common room despite being a Gryffindor and followed him inside.

"There you are!, I was about to go out and look for you." Professor Flitwick had been standing close to the entrance and rushed to her as soon as she entered.

"Mister Potter, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I am the one who found your missing student. And I also wanted to speak with you about something."

"I assume it's related to Miss Lovegood's disappearance, yes?" The professor asked. When Harry nodded, he continued.

"Very well, then I will allow you to stay in Ravenclaw Tower for a bit. Come to my office, you too Miss Lovegood."

"Is the floating boy going to wait outside?" Luna asked.

"Floating boy?" Flitwick became confused.

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