Long Road Towards Maturity

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September 1^st 1997,

Dear Diary,

Every year, since my 11^th birthday, I get one of you on September the first. That’s my birthday, you see. So every year I start with introducing myself to the new you…Though I do hope you’re not going to reply…

Hello, I am Luna Artemis Lovegood. Today was my sixteenth birthday. As every year I got one of you from my dad. I suppose he doesn’t know what else to get me. But it’s ok to me. No one else remembered my birthday, but that is because I never told anyone when it is.

I normally live near St-Ottery-Catchpole, but now I’m at Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. My father owns the best magazine ever written: The Quibbler. He’s the only one not afraid to write the truth, and I’m so proud of him. At school I’ve been sorted into Ravenclaw, the same house my mother was in.

My mother died when I was little, it was very messy. She was very brilliant, and she liked to experiment. But then, because of me, something went wrong, and ever since I’ve been able to see thestrals. Before Hogwarts, my dad was my only friend, and I suppose he still is.

I don’t have any friends in my own house at Hogwarts, but I do suppose Ginny Weasley from Gryffindor tries to be my friend. I know her from before Hogwarts. She lives not too far from me, and we met sometimes in the Muggle playground when we were younger. But we were never close.

I knew her brothers a bit too, before Hogwarts. They were always playing pranks on everybody. One day one of the Weasley brothers threw sand in my eyes. It was Ronald. I think it was then that I fell in love with him…

Then there’s the Weasley’s friends: Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger. They’re all in Gryffindor, too. I suppose they’re not that bad. Harry Potter is nice to me, but I think he pities me. Neville reminds me of a deer, he’s easily startled, you see. But then a more chubby deer…

Hermione Granger is … well… She’s very brilliant, and in that way she reminds me of how my mother used to be. But she’s also very close-minded. She says she can’t believe something unless she’s seen proof. But she keeps up with Spew even when it’s been proven to be a lost cause… I suppose she doesn’t like to admit she’s wrong. I think she gets irritated with me, but she doesn’t show it as much as she used to. Maybe she’s getting a more open mind?

I don’t know if I’d ever want to be her friend? Well, even if she’d want to be mine… I know she’d never take any of my things without asking, but that doesn’t mean she would want to be my friend. Besides, she is my rival, after all. I know how Ronald tries to catch her attention, and I know what it means…

Sometimes I ask myself if I’d have a chance to make Ronald understand that I am meant to be with him? Even if it wasn’t for Hermione Granger? I do not think so… It is written in the stars that I am Ronald’s, of that I am sure. But I haven’t found any sign of the fates that he would ever be mine…

And I suppose it’s to be like that. Him never being mine… After all, I’m named after the Maiden of the moon… The goddess used to protect her purity going to great lengths, so maybe this was the way the fates secured her to be untouched…

These thoughts have been plaguing me for some time now. And since Father wasn’t around this summer I couldn’t rely on his help to find out what all the fuss was about purity and how you could lose said purity… You see this summer I was staying at Harry Potter’s house. Not that he was there: he was still in the hospital.

You probably should know that there has been a bit of a war these last years. But it’s all over now. Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort, and I was there when it happened. I don’t really recall a lot, except a bright light and a lot of magic in the air. But I was a bit preoccupied with the sight of my Ronald severely injured, in the arms of Hermione Granger…

Anyway, I tried asking Mrs. Weasley, she was our guardian, but she acted all funny and said that a young girl shouldn’t go around asking about that. So I wrote a letter to Father, like I should’ve done in the first place, and he promised he’d send some books over… I haven’t gotten them yet, but I am sure Father will give me access to the truth.

In the mean time, I have my classes to prepare for. I should probably inform you that I did reasonably well on my OWLs last year, despite getting distracted by the war. This means I have considerate amount of courses this year, and they’re all advanced, so it will be a bit of an adjustment.

So I have to conclude this entry, since tomorrow I’m supposed to get up early to see Harry Potter arrive back to the castle from the hospital.

Until next time,

L.A. Lovegood

***

Ron wasn’t having the best of times keeping his food down… He’d just realised Hermione had tricked him into signing an agreement! Well, if he had kept his head on his shoulders this morning she wouldn’t have tricked him… But, damnit! She knew full well he wasn’t awake enough!

Pushing his chair away from the Gryffindor table, he looked pointedly to the Head Girl. At least she had the sense to blush a little. Forsaking his food (this had to be a first) he walked out of the Great Hall, trying his best not to stomp.

Once he was out of the doors, he paced in the corridor waiting for Hermione to come out as well. If she wasn’t there in the next five minutes, he would go back there and drag her out. Normally he wouldn’t have cared a lot about making a scene in the middle of the student population, at least not until later, but he was too scared of what might happen to him if he betrayed Hermione’s secret…

Luckily the blasted girl just came through the door. Ron couldn’t keep it in anymore:

“What the bloody hell did you do to me!”

Hermione seemed pretty much unaffected by his anger. Before he could shout at her in earnest, he saw a second year Hufflepuff coming by. So he grabbed Hermione’s elbow and dragged her to an empty classroom. He calmed a little when she was the one casting a Privacy Charm on the room. He felt like he’d sooner blasted them into oblivion instead of casting any charm properly…

Rounding on Hermione he prepared himself to shout at his friend, but stopped when he saw her pulling out a parchment. Crossing his arms over his chest, he tried to be as intimidating as possible:

“Is that what I signed?”

“Yes”

That was all she had to offer? Working himself in an angry fit again, his ears warmed up considerately. But again, before he could start telling her what he thought of her, she shoved the parchment under his nose.

Ron made a show of taking it from her in a great huff.

He read it through quickly, and then reread it just to be sure:

The person who signs agrees not to speak to anyone, safe agreed person, about the conversation that took place between Hermione Granger and himself on September first 1997, from four o’clock in the afternoon, until seven that same evening.

Neither will he repeat to anyone, safe agreed person, that he signed this agreement. If he does break these arrangement his sentence will be:

A week of suffering the undeniable urge to kiss Draco Malfoy senseless; Hermione Granger would like to press on the fact that the urge will not be denied, not by dreamless sleep potions or any counter-curse.

Since the need could come to discuss these forbidden topics with someone other then Hermione Granger, there will be room in this arrangement for a certain person to confide in. Hermione Granger feels that only one person is totally trustable with these facts, and this person is Luna A. Lovegood.

This binding contract has been signed by

Ronald Billius Weasley

Bugger, and double bugger! Bloody hell, this was even worse then he thought! The time-limit restricted even the fact that he overheard the conversation between Hermione and his sister! And kiss Draco Malfoy! He felt like he would lose the little bit of food he had managed to eat before he made his realisation…

Feeling green, he spat out: “How considerate of you to let me talk about it with Looney Lovegood!”

“Don’t call her that!”

“Since when are you her best friend? You trust her, but not me! You have to do this! Because you don’t think you can trust me!”

“Well, if you’re all trustworthy, why are you afraid of this bit of parchment? If you’re not planning on talking to anyone about this, then why are you scared?!”

“I’m not scared!” Ron squeaked out to his own horror. He hated it when she made sense! But it was still wrong! He was the wronged party here!

Hermione’s stance calmed a bit, but she was still very defensive: “Look, Ron, I’m sorry, but you have to understand… I can’t deal with this… It’s fine if it’s just rumours and all, but I couldn’t… I just don’t want to find out how Harry… Look, I just don’t want him to know, alright? It’s my choice… Please?”

She looked a lot more like a little girl then he’d ever seen her. She really didn’t want Harry to know about her… Well, he took a deep breath to keep his irritation in check:

“I’ll never understand witches…” Ron shook his head, feeling defeated and not liking it. He grumbled: “Ok, you win. It’s not like I have a lot of choices anyway”

Hermione pulled him in a quick hug. And prepared to leave.

When they opened the door, there was a throng of Ravenclaws coming out of the Great Hall, and Ron’s face flushed at their suggestive stares. Hermione seemed oblivious, but Ron knew better then that. Stomping away from her, he knew he hadn’t any lessons, not until later in the afternoon.

Trying to decide what he could possibly do, he roamed the castle. First he thought about sneaking into the Hospital Wing, but Pomfrey had warned him he couldn’t come and visit until the evening. Besides, what could he tell his friend? Harry may not be the most perceptive bloke around, but he’d know something was bothering Ron, and Ron couldn’t have that, now could he?

He briefly entertained the idea to go talk with Looney, but he dismissed that idea. How was he supposed to do that? And how could she of all people help him? She was even barmier then Hermione!

In the meantime he’d exited the castle, he could always go to Hagrid… the half-giant wouldn’t mind. But then Ron noticed there was a first-year class going on, and he turned back towards he castle. It felt like it could be raining any minute now, anyway…

No sooner the thought had entered his mind, or it came pelting down, wetting his clothes through in a matter of moments. Cursing his luck today, he ran for the entrance. Stomping forward to quickly change before his class that afternoon, he went up the stairs.

Not being careful in his stormy mood, he didn’t catch the stair having moved until he was on the third floor corridor. Memories of Fluffy crept up on him, but he couldn’t make the escape the same way he’d come up there…

Resigned that there had to have been some kind of ‘get Weasley’ memo today he’d missed, he made his way through other staircases… It was the long way, but he’d get to the Gryffindor Tower eventually. Trudging through a particular damp corridor, he felt a sudden something pull him into a room.

Panicking at first, he felt for his wand, but he was already put in a full-body bind.

“Oh, poor little Weasley! All wet…”

The obnoxious voice tutted, and a quick spell next left him dry.

“There, that’s all better, isn’t it!” To his horror Ron recognised the mystery captive as being Pansy Parkinson.

The Slyhterin hadn’t been really involved with Voldemort, and neither had there been evidence that her parents had… But that didn’t stop Ron from thinking she was a slimy Death-Eater-wanna-be, even if Voldemort was dead… The malevolent glint in her eyes didn’t predict anything good either, so he started concentrating on breaking the restriction she had on him.

In the meantime Pansy had taken the Gryffindor’s wand. Twirling it in front of his eyes, she simpered:

“So, I heard about you finally getting together with the ugly bookworm…”

She must’ve seen the look of confusion in his eyes, even if he was in a magical bind. But she translated the look wrong:

“Oh, don’t look so innocent! We all saw the look you gave her at lunch; you didn’t even finish your plate! And then you both leave the Hall, acting all innocent. And then! ‘La pièce de résistance’…”

If Ron could have said ‘Huh?’, he would’ve… But the rubbish coming from the Slytherin distracted him enough, not to be able to concentrate on breaking his restraints.

“You come out of a room with the privacy charm on it, all flushed! Do you really think we’re stupid? It was all over Hogwarts in moments! The happy moment for the Granger-brain!”

The malicious glint in Pansy’s eyes even intensified: “So it is my sacred duty to make her miserable again…”

The ugly smirk on her face made Ron cringe, but he didn’t anticipate her next move. Instead of beating him up, or anything of that sort, she planted her lips on his.

Trying to reign in his feelings of repulsion, especially when she forced her tongue in, he concentrated in earnest to break free from the spell. Her lips had left his, and she was sucking on a spot on his neck. He was shocked, though, when he felt her hands on the last place it should be! Being the teenage boy he was, other feelings were trying to cloud his repulsion, and the fear that instilled in him, gave him the force to pull free from the bind.

Grabbing her wrists, and throwing her across the room away from him, he started wiping his mouth on his sleeves. Relieved his treacherous body obeyed the repulsion 100% again, he glared at his attacker with distaste. But instead of being afraid, the witch simpered at him further from the ground.

“Hmm, so you like it rough, too? Come here and let me show you why a pureblood is superior to a Mudblood!”

Before Ron could retch then and there, he fled the scene, hearing the Slytherin cackle behind him…

The only thing he allowed himself to think about was: ‘I need a shower, a long one… And I’ll need to use that special brush I got from Hermione’s parents!’

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