“Sorry,” Harry said, backing off from the blonde girl he’d almost crashed into.

“That’s all right, Harry,” she replied in a dreamy voice.

Harry did a bit of a double-take. It wasn’t the girl’s use of his first name without an introduction that was what startled him; he was used to that. No, it was her somewhat bizarre appearance.

She was a bit shorter than him, but not by much, with blue eyes and blonde hair that at this moment looked as though she had just come from Herbology—it was dirty and straggled, and had bits of leaves and twig sticking out of it. The rest of her uniform looked pristine, however. What was even more odd was the pair of radishes she was wearing as earrings.

“Er,” said Harry, desperate to ask why she was wearing a pair of radishes. After a moment, he decided he didn’t want to know. The girl looked at him curiously, so he searched around for something else to say instead. “Er … what’s your name?”

“Luna Lovegood,” she replied.

“Right.”

“And you’re Harry Potter,” Luna continued.

“Yeah.”

An awkward silence stretched, although Harry was certain Luna didn’t feel the awkwardness at all, by the casual way she was looking at him. She wasn’t even staring at his scar, just taking in his face.

“Well, I, um, need to go,” he said, shifting his bag strap. “Er … nice to meet you, Luna. Sorry for almost walking into you.”

“Oh, it’s no problem, you know,” she replied, sounding almost pleased that he had run into her. “I’m glad we met.”

“Uh … yeah, me too,” Harry said, preparing to leave, but a thought occurred to him. “Er—what are you doing down here?” She was alone, so couldn’t have been waiting for a class.

“Oh, I come here sometimes to talk to the Stilliphwats in Dungeon Two,” she said, ignoring his no doubt puzzled expression. “They like company, you know, and can get rather destructive if left to their own devices too long.”

Harry was opening his mouth again when the door behind him banged open and Snape glared out at both of them.

“Haven’t you two got anything better to do that stand out here gossiping? This is not a common room, and Lovegood if I catch you in the dungeons again outside class I will be speaking to your Head of House.” With that, he banged the door shut again.

“Charming,” Harry muttered.

“I expect it’s the Stilliphwats,” Luna said seriously as the two fell into step, heading out of the dungeons. “They make people very cranky; I have long suspected Professor Snape has a nest of them in his office—but he won’t let me in to see.”

Harry was bursting to ask what a Stilliphwat was, but Luna spoke again before he could. “Why were you in there, anyway?”

“Oh … arranging a detention,” Harry lied quickly.

“I see,” Luna said, though her tone didn’t sound quite right—almost like she didn’t believe him.

“So what’s a Stilliphwat?” Harry said quickly, trying to remember if he had ever heard the name before, and was sure he hadn’t.

“They’re a bit like gnomes, but they’re very small,” Luna said. “Very very small, about the size of a thumbnail. They can get into cracks in buildings and live there. They communicate telepathically which can’t be picked up unless you’re listening for it, but even if you’re not, if you spent too long in their presence the jabbering in your head would drive you crazy.”

Somehow Harry wasn’t sure if he believed in these creatures, but decided it would be easier to humour her. “And there’s a nest of them in the dungeons?”

“Only one that I know of, though if Professor Snape is working near another it would explain why he isn’t very nice.”

Harry suppressed a grin, not having the heart to tell this strange girl that Snape’s not being nice had nothing to do with miniature telepathic gnomes living in his office.

“Why were you really in his office?”

Harry stopped dead and turned to look at Luna properly. She met his eye unblinkingly.

“I—er—what?”

“The left side of your mouth twitches when you lie,” Luna said seriously.  “You also tend to raise your voice a bit.”

“How—how could you possibly know that?” Harry gaped at her. “You’ve known me all of two minutes!”

“Not really. I’ve seen you talking to other people plenty of times. You just never noticed me.”

“Like when?”

“Well, it usually happens when you say ‘I’m fine’ to your friends,” Luna said. “They never believe you, you know.”

Harry frowned. “Have you been following me around?”

“Oh, no. I just find you rather interesting.”

He didn’t know what to make of Luna at all. She wasn’t clingy like Colin Creevey, but he wasn’t sure what he thought of her studying him while he was unawares. There didn’t seem to be a proper answer to her statement, so he kept silent. Before they could step out into the Great Hall, however, Luna spoke again.

“You look a bit like him, you know.”

Harry froze. After a long moment, he slowly turned around to stare at her again. “What … what do you mean?”

“Professor Snape. Just when you frown. You have the same expression, that’s all.”

Harry couldn’t think what to say. Exactly how much did this girl know about him?

“Well, it’s been nice talking to you, Harry, but I think I had better get back to my common room. See you again sometime.”

“Er … yeah,” he replied, trying to sound like he was looking forward to it and not like he was completely bamboozled.

Once Luna had disappeared from sight, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and made his way to the nearest empty classroom he could find, and shut the door. Lyle appeared.

“Is something wrong?” Harry asked.

“Have you met that girl before, your highness?”

“No. Don’t remember seeing her before either … I’d remember that fashion sense,” Harry said with a bit of a grin. “Why?”

“I heard her mention Stilliphwats?”

“Are they real, then?” Harry asked in surprise.

“Not to my knowledge—they are a myth; well more of a fairy tale really, one that I was under the impression only ran in dragon circles.”

Harry started. “You mean she’s a dragon too?”

“It’s possible—I believe there are some at Hogwarts. But I would be careful around her, sire. She seems pretty perceptive, and it would be best if your identity was kept as quiet as possible.”

“I’ll try.” Harry was almost disappointed; he was rather intrigued by Luna Lovegood and had had a vague intention to try and figure her out.

-

The next Care of Magical Creatures lesson, all the students were distracted from their Flobberworms by the sight of the Ministry of Magic officials strengthening Hogwarts’ boundaries, and the team preparing to venture into the Forest.

“What’s all that about, Hagrid?” Ron asked.

“It’s because of the dragon, o’ course,” Hagrid replied. “The Department for the Regulation an’ control o’ Magical Creatures are involved now. Need to make sure the poor creature’s out of the grounds and can’ get back in.”

“Good luck,” Harry muttered. Not quietly enough, apparently, as Hagrid frowned at him.

“I’d have thought you’d take it a bit more seriously, Harry, considerin’ how it almos’ killed yer and all.”

Harry sobered up quickly and feigned a deep interest in his Flobberworm.

-

The Ministry’s work, however fruitless, was all everyone talked about for several days, until a new rumour made its way around the school that Black was actually the dragon, an Animagus. Harry—and Hermione, who repeatedly told everyone that there was no such thing as a dragon Animagus—scoffed, but his mood took a definite downturn. After he had snapped at the fifth person that evening, Hermione sat down next to him and forced him to look at her.

“Harry, I know you’re obviously going through something right now but there’s no excuse for being nasty to everyone who comes within two feet of you. Is there something Ron and I can do?”

Harry scowled at the floor, but it slipped off his face as he remembered what Luna had said about his frowns looking like his father’s. “I wish there was something you could do, but I don’t think there is, Hermione.”

“We could just listen. You can rant and shout at us if you need do, we won’t run away, will we Ron? Just … please talk to someone Harry, you look like you need to.”

“I plan to,” Harry said, though he hadn’t quite figured out how to approach the subject with Professor McGonagall yet. “But … I’m not ready to tell you everything. Just …” he swallowed.

“Something to do with Black, right?” Ron spoke up.

Partly. “Yeah …” After a moment, Harry stood up. “Can we talk in the dorm? I don’t wanna be overheard.”

“Sure.”