It was very kind of her friends to visit her but she felt like she wasn’t herself. She felt like she was someone else looking at the scene from up above. She wanted to go home. School had always been challenging in terms of being social but this hasty change of events was the final straw for her. On one hand, she didn’t want to leave, she loved Hogwarts. But on the other hand, she felt like she no longer belonged, no longer would be welcomed. A thick fog of uncertainty hung over her head and even the faces of Hermione and Harry couldn’t help cheer her up. What had happened was absurd and it took some of the sanctity of Hogwarts away from her mind. It saddened her greatly and she just gave a nod when Harry and Hermione excused themselves to go to class or whatever. Luna kept her gaze down at her lap even when she heard muffled noise. 

When the curtain was pulled back, she flinched, not quite expecting another visitor so soon. Who could it be? The thin blond woman blinked and saw it wasn’t a student like Ginny or Cho, but was in fact a professor. Confusion overcame her, she didn’t have Charms for another day and a half, why would Mr. Logan pay her a visit? He explained that he had heard of the incident itself but not of the consequences. Her heart sank, knowing that if she could stay at school, she would be even more ostracized than even before. “I see.” She said quietly and returned her gaze to her lap. It was hard to focus. There were so many things swirling around in her head, yet at the same time, there was somehow nothing at all in her head. She felt so disconnected and lost and didn’t think she’d ever want to leave the infirmary.

Would anyone even care if she just ended up vanishing altogether?

Because that’s how she felt, she felt like fading away and hiding, while at the same time screaming out for someone to notice her and not just what she somehow now looked like. Her mind was apparently adjusting to the physical change and she was already noticing subtle changes in the way she thought and organized things logically. Somehow she had spells in her memory that she had never even heard of and yet she knew them, she knew them for a witch of her age. That frightened her and worried her. As the teacher leaned in closer and pulled out an odd device, she gave him a look. She heard a faint whirling noise and tried to keep perfectly still, as she hadn’t a clue what he was up to. It wasn’t that she felt as if she were in danger, but she just had no idea who she could trust or even why, for that matter. Once he was done, he began to talk and she did her best to keep up and pay attention. 

“Alright, sir.” Luna said quietly. Then he said that if she ever needed to talk, he would be available, that she wasn’t alone. That meant a lot to her but she could just silently nod as he left. She slumped back into bed and looked off. Time trickled by painfully slow and she was allowed to go back to her dorm as supper started so she wouldn’t run into anyone. Luna gathered some items, as she was told she would be staying in a spare room in the castle since she no longer needed to be under medical supervision. She found her room with some guidance from Madam Pomfrey. “Thank you.” She said and let herself inside. Luna made herself comfortable and found herself not only bored but restless. While waiting in the infirmary, she had written to her father about the events and she now had to mail it, which would be a bit of a hike from her temporary room. She poked her head out of the door and saw the coast was still clear.

The girl made her way up towards the aviary and attached her letter to an owl and sent it off. As she started to head back down, she saw Mr. Logan up ahead, he appeared to be looking around for something or someone. She bit down on her lower lip, finding herself a bit anxious. But still, her curiosity couldn’t be helped and she jogged over to him, still getting used to her taller body. “E-excuse me.” She said. “I was just wondering…what is that thing you used earlier? The metal wand? It’s not normal.” If anyone knew what normal was and wasn’t, it was her. Luna looked around, not really looking forward to running into any students, most would just stare of mock her.

- - -

Upon getting a formal invitation from the man, she entered. “Thanks.” Rose said and looked back at the door for a moment. He moved to his desk and took out a book to likely jot down her appointment. Rose really wished she could have made a plan with the Doctor before getting ahead of herself. Once again she was torn between going on ahead or playing it safe. And Rose wasn’t always a fan of playing it safe, not since her whole world had been changed. Now her world was so much bigger than it ever was. There was life beyond the dull shop and date night with Mickey. Life could be so much more. She was in Harry Bloody Potter for God’s sake. She was at Hogwarts, solving a mystery. So maybe she could ease up on herself for being so gungho. 

“Um what?” She looked back to the professor when he asked her something. “Oh um yeah uh tomorrow night’s good.” Rose said faintly and walked to where his disk was. She trailed her fingers along the edge of the desk and looked up when he said it was all right. “Great great.” She looked up and smiled weakly. Now that something was settled, she was determined to make sure she got to talk to the Doctor before her next encounter with Mr. Smith. Now what? Rose wasn’t sure what else to do now. Lunch was about over and classes would be resumed. “Guess I better go then, um thanks again.” She said blandly and headed back out of the classroom, feeling rather awkward. Where was the Doctor when she needed him? Where was the Marauder’s Map when she needed it?

The rest of the day passed by without much concern, Rose did her best to keep a low profile and not get on anyone’s bad side, namely the large woman in pink. Sadly, Rose did have Defense Against the Dark Arts as her last class of the long afternoon. Since they were just taking notes and reading, Rose spent her time doodling and playing M.A.S.H, the game she used to play as a kid on the playground. You picked a guy, the number of kids, etc and pretended to make a life out of chance. The grumpy professor snatched her parchment as she hobbled past. Rose looked up, more annoyed than reproachful. Umbridge shook her head and told Rose to see her after class. Just what she needed, detention when she had a hard enough time figuring out where the Doctor was.

As the rest of the class filed out of the room to go get dinner, Rose had to linger and get a dull lecture from the teacher. “I am aware you’re new and that Christmas is right around the corner but you are close to graduating, you cannot slack off at a time like this. You need to buckle down. Hmm?” She said. Rose put on a sorrowful expression, one she often used on her old teachers back home. “I have a meeting tonight but let’s see if we can’t find someone else to look after you.” She said and they walked out, down the large hallway. Up ahead, Mr. Smith was spotted. “Excuse me, I have a student here who has an hour of detention to make up, I’d like you to administer it.” Umbridge told the man and walked off to continue to the Great Hall.

“I’m very sorry.” Rose said sarcastically as Umbridge waddled off but it seemed like the nutter didn’t hear her.

Looking back to Mr. Smith, the blond gave a bit of a shrug. It was quickly decided that she’d find his office after dinner and they could figure out something for her to do. Rose felt a bit bad that Mr. Smith had to deal with it, though in her opinion, what she didn’t wasn’t even a big deal. She went to dinner and news of Luna was the only thing people could talk about. Most of the students felt bad for Luna while some weren’t too concerned. Rose was actually worried, she didn’t think such an event was even supposed to happen in the timeline. She was even more determined to hunt down the Doctor and see what was going on. In the meantime, she excused herself after eating a bit and headed back to the Charms classroom. “I didn’t even do anything wrong, you know.” She protested as Mr. Smith met her outside again. “I shouldn’t even have to take notes and do homework, it’s not like it really matters.” She muttered.

- - -

Hermione had often brushed Draco Malfoy off as a jerk with a misunderstood sense of himself but after what he had done to her friend, she would never forgive him. Never. What he did took a lot of skill, or what she had heard, lack of skill. But to know he sat down and threw together such a potion to harm another student? She would be surprised if he wasn’t expelled within the week but her gut was telling her that his father would come up with some excuse to get his son off the hook for such a crime. It was unthinkable and for the rest of the day, she could barely focus on her school work. She and Harry had spotted the new professor, Mr. Logan after they left Luna’s beside. But even so, she had little interest in digging up her and Harry’s investigation on him and Rose.

At dinner, no one really spoke unless it was about Luna which only made Hermione even more sick and therefore unable to really eat anything. It could have been her, Luna was an innocent girl. Sure, she as quiet and a little weird, okay really weird, but why did she need to be bullied by Draco? She hated Draco. He was a git with no concern for anyone but himself. And she knew plenty of people would have it in for him now and she honestly couldn’t care less. As she looked to Harry, she knew her concern should be focused on him. She knew he was fuming over the incident as well and he couldn’t afford any more trouble. As she took a drink from her goblet, she looked over at the Slytherin table and saw Draco was boasting about his attack on Luna. 

“Appalling.” She huffed. Thankfully McGonagall came over and grabbed the blond brat by the arm and led him out of the Great Hall, likely to take him away from the other students. It was then that Rose excused herself, muttering something about a pointless detention. It at least snapped Hermione out of her trance. Aside from Luna, Rose was the other mystery on their hands. She turned to Harry and frowned. “I think we should try talking to her tonight after detention.” She told Harry. “We have questions but there’s no point in having them if we can’t get any answers. If she’s here for something really important, then there’s a small chance she’ll tell us.” As much as the bookworm wanted to do some digging, the attack on Luna had somehow put things into perspective.

If Rose had something to hide, maybe it for good reason?

And she still needed to know if Harry was on board for the secret training. If he was, they had to act fast. The attack on Luna could serve as minimal distraction for the clever Slytherins who could easily rat them out. Hermione knew they’d have to be careful but with the holidays closing in on them, it was better to act now and prepare as much as possible for whatever was watching them, namely Voldemort. Once they were done eating, she, Harry, Ron, Neville, and Ginny headed back to the dorm to work on homework or hang out. The golden trio talked about doing something for Luna, such as get her some candy or something. George and Fred joined them and said they’d be happy to throw in some gags if it would cheer the Ravenclaw up.

“Thanks.” Hermione said to the twins as they entered the common room. “We can put something together tomorrow.” She told them as they all disbanded to go do their own thing. She then turned to Harry and motioned for him to step out with her. Once they were back in the hall outside of the portrait, but out of its earshot, she brought up the club again. “I know this isn’t the best of times but with the attack, I can’t see us waiting any longer to start the club.” She said nervously. “If you’re still not on board, that’s okay. Ron and I can set up a meeting in Hogsmead someplace for anyone who is interested and if that’s what you need to decide…” She trailed off. “I just know, with what has happened, people would be interested in what you have to offer. And you won’t be alone either, Ron and I will help too.” She assured him gently, resting a hand on his shoulder.