Here's the next chapter in Ronald Weasley and the Subtle Knife. I hope you'll enjoy it.
Thanks for the great feedback, I guess they were the reason I got this done so soon, when I've been on a vacation to the other side of the country for some days as well. Keep it up... This chapter is for Lady Starlight and Shortcake. Cheers!
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Ch2: A SUDDEN ESCAPE
LUNA'S POV:
Faith works in the strangest ways. Sometimes it seems like it is meant to be, and other times it seems completely unnecessary. Yet it has it's purposes; some for the good and some for the worse; it didn't really matter. Luna had always believed in faith. She believed that everything happened for a reason, and if she didn't like it she just had to live with it. Because, in the end, it was for the best, it always was. One time, for instance, Luna read a story about a little creature named Fortum. Fortum was a wild animal who were very wise and knew where different things was, and one day he had been in need for water desperately. Some smaller animals followed him for several days, but after a while all of them become so thirsty that it didn't seem like they would make it. However, three hours or so before they would eventually reach the water, Fortum died, and the small animals drank from his blood. They were then able to make it, because they knew what direction they had to go. The small animals would later be the first and only parents to the `Crumple-Horned Snorkacks' that Luna found so interesting, although never seen.
Yes, faith did work in the strangest ways, and for Luna it had decided that she would be present to hear what would for ever change her life. Never mind that Snape was the one who had send her up to the Headmaster's office to give the old wizard a message, it was faith's doing and there was no doubt in Luna's mind.
"Lollipop," she said, and the stone gargoyle sprang to life and jumped aside, letting her in. Dumbledore always used strange names for password. Some people would describe him as a bit mad, but those who knew him had great respect for him. Luna had only talked to him a couple of times directly herself, but she respected him more than a lot. Without him, she probably would've died the last summer, along with the trio, a boy named Neville, and Ginny, who was Ron's little sister. However, they were too late to save Harry's beloved Godfather, Sirius Black, who came for their rescue.
Ironic, really, when he was the reason they got up in the mess in the first place.
On the top of the stairs, Luna found herself right behind the massive entrance door to the Headmaster's office. Deciding that she wanted to do this as soon as possible, she placed a hand on the door handle. She was just about to push it down, however, when a voice stopped her.
"Cornelius, do you realize what you are saying? We are talking about an innocent child here!"
Luna held her breath. She hadn't really meant to eavesdrop, (even though she was quite talented at it), but she didn't back away either. The voice belonged to Dumbledore, and his tone was more angry than Luna had ever heard it before. That alone was enough to make her curious.
"Albus, it's about the safety of the Wizarding world! We can't just ignore it! Our sources are of the most reliable and trustworthy!"
The second voice was unknown to her, but if she had to guess she would've guessed it belonged to the Cornelius guy, the Minister of Magic. He sounded upset, but that didn't bother her. Those Ronald or Dumbledore didn't like she didn't like, and that was that.
"I still think it is unreasonable to take her away like that, even though you are the Minister of Magic. She is only a child."
"A child that could ruin the world! A situation like this has happened before, and you know it! This time we might not be so lucky!" The other man argued.
"She will do the right thing, as long as she doesn't ask about it. She is, after all, a descendent. With a good heart."
"It doesn't matter! The danger is still there! We don't know what she is capable of!"
Luna wished she could see their faces. Their expressions would be close to priceless. She would also like to know who they were talking about, but for that she didn't have to wait long...
"Luna Lovegood could not hurt a fly," said Dumbledore, and Luna jumped of the sound of her name. Thousands of questions were running through her head, yet it seemed so clouded that she couldn't think of a single one.
She tried to think about it, that was the Ravenclaw thing to do after all, but is was hard. It seemed too unreal. When she had been accepted to Hogwarts she thought it would be for ever. All she knew at the moment was that she didn't like it.
Her heartbeats had raced up a bit.
"You know that's nonsense," the Minister's voice continued. "She fought against a bunch of Death Eaters for Merlin's sake! Voldemort's followers!"
"True."
"You heard what he said! He said `history is about to repeat itself, with greater risks than ever before!' Her actions will affect the final battle between Harry Potter and You-Know-Who, as well as the time afterwards! It can doom us all! We must take her away, eliminate her if we have to!"
"I will not let you do that! She is a student! This has gone too far Cornelius Fudge!"
"She's dangerous, and I am the Minister of Magic! I have the authority to decide such things! We must keep her far away from the Boy-Who-Lived and his friends!"
Luna's heart was now beating so fast that she thought it would leap out from her chest. What in the name of Merlin was she going to do? This was serious! Were they really going to ELIMINATE her?! How could they do that?! She was too young to die, grown up or not!
With other word: she had every right to freak out.
But she couldn't, and she knew it. Not when the price could be her life. This was her first challenge as an adult, and she had to handle it on her own somehow... she had promised herself and she always kept her promises. Who could help her anyway, except Dumbledore? She wanted to see her dad though.
Taking a deep, shaky breath in order to calm herself, she tried once again to think about what to do. She couldn't stay, that was for sure. But where could she go? And how could she even get out without being seen?
Luna felt her heartbeats all the way down to the tip of her fingers. It was quite a funny feeling she had never experienced before, and if the situation had been different she would've given more thought about it.
"Then we will make some arrangements. We can remove her to another school. I know how important this is Cornelius, however, I also know that sacrificing a student is not acceptable. It does not matter who it is."
"One student Albus! ONE - and then the choice will never take place and we can save a lot of people and other beings!"
"I will do everything in my power to stop you from causing her any harm."
"Your power is not enough! You can never win this, Headmaster of this school or not! The school is still under the Ministry's control, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. We are taking her now, and that's final!"
Luna heard the Headmaster sigh in defeat, and couldn't believe the resigned tone in his voice, or what he said next: "What will you do to her, Fudge? She does not deserve this." Was he giving up? He couldn't abandon her! How could she manage this without him?!
"We're taking her to the Wizengamot. Then we'll have a trial - which she'll lose - no doubt. Then we'll lock her away in Azkaban, or, better yet, get rid if her completely. That would be for the best after all."
"I'll stand in her defence," said Dumbledore, and the voices quietened down.
Luna couldn't believe this, but at the same time she didn't doubt the seriousness in the situation. She knew a lot of what people might call bizarre, but this took the icing of the cake! It didn't matter if Dumbledore defended her or not, she would lose and she knew it. He knew it even!
She couldn't stay in the castle. She had to escape. She just hoped it wouldn't be a mistake.
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Luna didn't bother being discreet. She was running faster than she had her entire life, even faster than she had yesterday when she was late for Potions.
That seemed ages ago already.
Barely stopping in front of the Ravenclaw common room, she choked out the password `Unicorn Dust', and escaped inside and up to her dorm. She couldn't stay there for ever though, and she had to hurry. Besides a couple of outfits to wear and a photo album, there was one special thing she couldn't lose or leave behind...
After her mother died, Luna had been devastated. Her father, in order for her to feel a little better, gave her something that had belonged to her mother. Luna had often seen and could still remember how her mother had crouched over what looked like a Golden Compass, trying to read it. It wasn't a compass, however, it was an Alethiometer. The Alethiometer had four hands with a lot of weird symbols around it, and was supposed to show the truth for those who could read it. However, there was thousands and thousands of possibilities and combinations, therefore only a couple of people in the world could read it, and even then they needed many large books to do it. Usually it demanded a lifetime of practise to understand it completely.
Her mother had told Luna this when she was little, and from then on Luna had been determined that she would learn to read it. She used to sneak up from bed when her mother was sleeping to study the Alethiometer, and she still did sometimes. The difference was that now she had to hide it from everyone else in her dorm, because if they saw it they would certainly steal it from her. The progress had been slow, but she could understand simple yes or no questions. Strangely it had seemed much less complicated until Luna had hit the puberty, but then again she might had been too young to understand its complexity. However, there had been a couple of times in her life when she had felt as if she could understand anything and everything for a minute or two - just long enough to make her excited - then something would block it's way and her head would go blank again. It annoyed her beyond reason, but she still held on to her childhood promise: One day she would discover what was holding her back and be able to read her mother's treasure.
Mr Lovegood, her father, had told her to take good care of it, and she had. In a place where no one would ever look for it and steal it.
Behind a loose brick in the wall beside her bed.
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RON'S POV:
Ron was having the worst day in his life. He couldn't ever remember feeling so betrayed as he felt now. Who did they think they were?! How could they do this to him?
How H
Sleep was a hard thing to get that night, and Ron didn't even sleep in the dormitory. He had no desire to see Harry, or anyone for that matter, so he slept in the Room of Requirement instead. Luckily he was left alone and no one went to see him.
The next morning he stole some breakfast from the kitchen and skipped classes. He knew he would get in trouble later, but frankly he didn't care. He wanted time for himself, and he wanted time to think about the situation. Or possibly plot a bitter revenge... he did deserve that after all.
The morning did little to improve his mood, and after dinner he was still angry. Ron kicked an armor in frustration, and ended up with hurting his foot too. The statue shot him an ugly look from behind the metal-wires, but Ron just hissed at him.
"Oh Ron," someone said behind him, and he turned abruptly. It was Ginny, and her eyes were soft with compassion. "You know."
Ron glared at her, before snapping: "Yes of course I know! I SAW them didn't I? The son of a bi-!"
"Hey! Don't you get snappy with me!" scowled Ginny, her hands resting on her hips in a very Hermione-way as she tried (and failed) to look tall.
"Oh yeah? So I guess you knew nothing about this until now, hm?"
Ginny said nothing, but her eyes betrayed her and her pose fell slightly. She had known about it too, Ron realized with a sickening feeling in his stomach.
Once again anger flared up in him, and he gave her his best, murderous look before he left and continued down the hall in a quick walk. He didn't want to see her. He didn't want to see anybody!
Fuming, Ron began to trot, seeing red and not really knowing where he was going. Why couldn't the fucking Boy-Who-Lived leave him alone? Seriously, what had he done to deserve this? He had a shot with one girl... ONEl! And Harry just had to have her, when he could have gotten anyone.
No, it was not fair and he hated them. He wanted to get as far away from them as he could, and the episode with Ginny had only made him angrier.
Somehow he ended up in the Owlery. Thinking that he might be able to be alone at last, he went in and closed the door.
He immediately spotted something white that came flying down to him. Harry's owl Hedwig. Right then he hated her too.
Hedwig seemed to sense Ron's bad mood and continued past him. Or maybe she just recognised the small hyperactive owl that came right behind her.
Pigwidgeon was his owl. Pig was small and annoying, but did his job - something Ron was especially happy about at that moment.
"Hey you," he said. "Why don't you go and beat Harry up a bit? Make his face blue and yellow please! And leave a couple of bruises on Hermione too if she is a bother."
The owl gave him a curious look before flying out a window. He sighed. Revenge was sweet but not enough. He needed something better...
Suddenly the door to the owlery burst open again, and Ron was surprised to see Loony -er, Luna run past him and to the middle of the room.
"Luna?" he questioned, but the girl didn't seem to hear him or even notice him.
How curious. She always used to say hello...
Suddenly she stopped and stretched her arms high in the air, and he saw a beautiful gold, blue and white coloured owl fly down to her. What was odd, however, was that she snuggled the owl close to her chest and seemed to whisper something in its ear. Did owls really allow people to do that? He didn't like to think about what Pigwidgeon would do if he tried the same.
"Luna?"
This time she heard him, and quicker than he could blink she had whirled around and was pointing a wand at him.
"Oh," she said, and lowered her wand slowly, the owl now on her shoulder. "It's you."
She looked extremely relieved, but he couldn't help but notice that her normal, dreamy expression was gone from her eyes. That made her look at least three years older. How did that happen?
Suddenly the owl lifted it's wings warningly, and Luna took a step backwards. "I-" she said, and a small sob escaped from her lips, "I need to go!"
Ron opened his mouth to speak, but before he knew it she was running away from him again and back out of the door she had came from.
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