Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

July 24, 1992

Luna Lovegood sat humming softly to herself as she read the _Daily Prophet_ at the table in her kitchen. She had begun to think of it as "her" kitchen; she was doing more and more of the cooking for her small family since her mother had passed away two years before. She quickly scanned the headlines, a habit she'd picked up from her father. The obituary of Nicholas Flamel, an article on the Twelve-Toed Bombadoo, and below that, an article about the Half Blood Prince, caught her eye.

"Shouldn't it be Half-Blood Prince, with a hyphen?" Luna wondered. While she pondered that, her eyes wandered to an advertisement that Prudy's Potions Provisions was having a sale on pheasant hearts and ox eyeballs. Then she turned her attention to the obituaries.

"Nicholas Flamel, noted alchemist and opera-lover, died quietly in his sleep yesterday at the age of 666. He was survived by his wife, who, however, passed away later the same day during her daily afternoon nap, and eight hundred and forty great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren."

"Anything interesting in there?" Luna's Uncle Lowell entered the kitchen looking hungry, as usual. He grabbed an apple from a bowl of fruit on the small, cluttered table and plopped down in the chair by the large kitchen fireplace.

"This article about the Twelve-Toed Bombadoo looks like it might be interesting," Luna said with a smile. "Do you want me to read it to you?" Luna had fond memories of times when her mother had read aloud to her from books, textbooks, spellbooks, newspapers and magazines. Selina Lovegood hadn't believed that children should only be exposed to children's literature. Uncle Lowell, who was her mother's much younger brother, had often shared the enjoyment of listening to Selina read out loud. Now that Selina was gone, Luna and Lowell kept up the tradition, though more and more often Luna was now the one doing the reading.

"Can we do it later?" asked Lowell, finishing his apple. Luna could not get used to how Uncle Lowell seemed to actually inhale food. "I've got to finish drawing my cartoon for the next issue of _The Quibbler_, or I might lose my job!"

Luna smiled. Lowell drew editorial cartoons and illustrations for her father's magazine, though she knew that he would never be fired if he missed a deadline. "Okay, I'll set it aside and we can read it after dinner. Maybe Daddy can join us," said Luna, turning to the page containing the article on the hyphenless Half Blood Prince.

"Luna, I need the Daily Prophet and I need it now!" Luna's father rarely yelled down to her from his attic office, unless he was under particular pressure for some reason. Luna recognized the note of panic in her father's voice and ran up the stairs to take her father the newspaper.

Sam Lovegood's office occupied the entire attic of the Lovegood house. It was even more cluttered than the kitchen. The walls, which only reached halfway up because of the low, sloping ceilings, were covered with bookshelves. Much of the floor was covered with stacks of books that overflowed from the bookshelves. A large map of the world hung crookedly on one of the slanted parts of the ceiling. Mr. Lovegood's large roll-top desk stood in the corner, practically buried in papers and more books, many of which lay open on top of each other. Opposite the desk was a small fireplace with a large pot of Floo Powder on the cluttered mantle. As Luna got to the top of the stairs, an owl flew through the window and dropped a half-dozen letters into her father's already overcrowded in-box.

"Thanks, Luna," Mr. Lovegood said wearily, taking the newspaper from her and immediately flipping through it. "My loyal readers have been sending me owls all morning concerning the _Daily Prophet_'s very inaccurate and incomplete article on the Twelve-Toed Bombadoo. They're demanding that I write a letter to the editor, as well as a much more complete and accurate article on these fascinating creatures, in my next issue. And I haven't even read what the _Daily Prophet_ has said about the blasted things!"

"Well, don't spoil it for me," said Luna with a laugh, turning to go back downstairs with a dreamy smile. "Uncle Lowell and I are going to read it after dinner."

Luna went back downstairs and started preparations for dinner. She listened to the Wizarding Wireless while she worked, and was just setting a roasting pan containing chicken and potatoes into the wood-burning stove when an bedraggled-looking owl arrived and dropped a letter onto the kitchen table.

Luna was curious when she saw her name on the envelope -- she hardly ever received mail. But before she could open it, the owl that had delivered it collapsed on one of the kitchen chairs. Luna hurried to get him something to eat and a drink of water. The wretched-looking owl gulped it all down gratefully, then slowly got to its feet and flew out the window as Luna opened the letter.

_Dear Luna,_

_I got my Hogwarts Letter today. I'm sure you got yours, too. I'm so excited to finally be going to school. Don't you feel the same way?_

_I know we've never been particularly close, but maybe we'll get to know each other better at school. I wonder if we'll both be in the same house? My brothers have all been in Gryffindor._

_I saw your Uncle Lowell out gathering berries on a hilltop, when I was trying out my brother's new racing broom the other day. Mum got both Fred and George used Cleansweep 5's with the money she made selling her knitted sweaters in town this summer. I can't wait to see them play Quidditch when I finally get to Hogwarts._

_Write back and let me know if you got your letter. _

_Sincerely,_

_Ginny Weasley_

Luna quickly replied to Ginny, telling her that her own school letter had also arrived, and asking Ginny if she had read the article in the _Daily Prophet_ about the Twelve-Toed Bombadoo. She went upstairs to her father's office to ask if she could use one of his owls to send her note to Ginny. As she neared the top of the stairs, she heard her father cry out, followed by some loud thumping noises and more exclamations from her father. Entering the attic, she smelled the acrid scent of burnt paper. Her father was just using his wand to put out a small fire on his desk.

"Mrs. Wigglehorn sent me another howler," said her father as he continued to swat at the sparks on the papers covering his desktop. "Apparently she tried the recipe for bat's heart soup that was in my last issue, and it didn't go over well at her dinner party." Mr. Lovegood picked up a tattered _Daily Prophet_. It had a smoking hole in the center of it.

Luna took it and turned to the page containing the articles she had wanted to read. She was pleased to see that the article about the Twelve-Toed Bombadoo was not burned. However, the article about the Half Blood Prince, lack of hyphen and all, had been totally obliterated by the fire.


	2. Chapter 2

November 7, 1992

Luna sat in the Quidditch stands, but she was only vaguely paying attention to the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. She was excited because Professor Flitwick had finally given in to her request for a book from the restricted section of the library. She'd been outside the doors to the library ten minutes before it was scheduled to open that morning, so eager was she to get her nose into this book. She hugged it to herself now, glancing toward the sky to see if it was likely to rain. It felt like a good thunderstorm might blow through at any moment, but the clouds were not particularly dark, so it seemed safe enough. She tucked her wand behind her ear, ready to cast a waterproofing charm on the book if necessary, and began to read.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Luna felt a drop of rain hit her on the top of the head. She quickly waterproofed the book, but continued to read at the top of the left-hand page, trying to concentrate while the Ravenclaws cheered and shouted around her. She was distracted by a magic cracking noise and looked up to see a house elf wearing a dirty pillowcase peeking out from underneath the stands. Luna was so surprised, she dropped her book and it fell under the stands. As she watched the book tumble into the dark, muddy depths below the stands, she heard another loud cracking noise. Looking back to where the elf had been, she saw that he was gone.

"_Accio book!"_ said Luna, glad that she'd taken the time to waterproof it. The book flew into her hands and she settled down to try and read again.

She was aware that something exciting was happening, because the Ravenclaws around her were talking excitedly and pointing. She heard someone say something about a "rogue Bludger," but tried to keep her attention on the book, where the words, "This is yet another important clue about the identity of the Half-Blood Prince," jumped out at her from the bottom of the right-hand page she hadn't read yet.

"I knew it should have a hyphen!" Luna exclaimed. But before she could read more, she heard a blood-curdling scream. Everything happened at once -- the Gryffindor Seeker was hit by a Bludger, and obviously injured, he flew straight at the Slytherin Seeker and suddenly, the match was over! The Gryffindor Seeker had caught the Golden Snitch, and then crashed to the ground. All of the Ravenclaws near Luna, as well as the rest of the students, were rushing down onto the field to see what had happened to him.

Luna, intent on reading more about the Half-Blood Prince, decided to stay where she was for a few more minutes. She had just found the spot where she'd left off when she was forced to duck out of the way as the twin Gryffindor beaters sped directly over the stands, hot in pursuit of a Bludger that didn't seem to realize that the match was over. Luna watched them dreamily as they flew up and down and around in crazy corkscrew turns above the Quidditch pitch.

Giving up on her reading for now, Luna climbed down. Soon enough, she was on the ground and watched as Professor Lockhart attempted to heal the Gryffindor seeker's broken arm. One of the Gryffindor students had a Muggle camera and was snapping pictures of the Gryffindor seeker lying on the ground. She heard the Seeker protest that he didn't want Professor Lockhart's help, but Professor Lockhart was not paying attention.

The crowd of students gasped as they saw the result: the Gryffindor seeker appeared to have lost all the bones in his arm. As she watched, two other Gryffindors helped him to his feet and they set off toward the hospital wing. Luna knew he'd be in better hands with a qualified healer. Ordinary witches, be they professors or not, were quite often unable to perform healing spells correctly.

Luna remembered her mother telling her how she, Luna, had been born blind. Her mother had been beside herself when she discovered this, and was unable to allow herself to wait for a healer's help. Though she was an extraordinary witch, Luna's mother had had no formal training in the healing arts. Her spell had given Luna better-than-perfect eyesight, but left her with strangely protuberant eyes, so that some thought she looked as if she was constantly surprised.

"There you are, Luna!" Professor Flitwick brought Luna out of her reverie, calling to her as she entered the castle. "I've been looking all over for you. Madam Pince tells me you're the one who checked out -- yes, I see you've got the book with you, jolly good! I need it immediately for a project I'm researching."

Luna reluctantly handed the book to Professor Flitwick, who in return gave her a note allowing her to check out not one, but two books on the Twelve-Toed Bombadoo from the restricted section of the library. Luna went up the stairs toward the library, wondering if she'd ever find out more about this elusive Half-Blood Prince.


	3. Chapter 3

October 31, 1993

It had been a quiet day in the Hogwarts castle, since most of the older students had spent the day in Hogsmeade. Luna had spent the day making jewelry out of odd bits and pieces of things she'd collected. Now the day was drawing to a close and it was time for the Halloween Feast.

Luna sat in the Great Hall, enjoying the excellent food. Luna especially enjoyed the pumpkin pie and the giant jack-o-lantern decorations. She sat staring up at them and imagining what they would say if they could talk. During dessert the castle ghosts performed some stunts and skits. Luna was particularly impressed with the Grey Lady's poetry reading, and covered her eyes when the Gryffindor ghost performed a re-enactment of the moment of his death.

All too soon it was over, and Luna joined a line of Ravenclaws who were heading back toward Ravenclaw Tower. Everyone was chattering about the feast, and those who were third years and older were still reminiscing about the fun they'd had in the village of Hogsmeade that day. Luna listened as they talked about it.

"I overheard Madam Rosmerta talking to Professor Sinistra about someone called the Half-Blood Prince," said one of the seventh year girls to her friend.

Luna tried to hear more, but at that moment a first year boy behind her loudly complained about how his heart was pounding and the blood was rushing through his veins because he had run up the stairs so fast. Luna pushed ahead after the older girls, eager to hear more. She thought she heard the one girl mention something about a small boat on a spooky underground lake. Because of the crowd, however, she was unable to get close enough to them to hear more until they reached the portrait of the Old Professor, who was the guardian of the Ravenclaw Tower's entrance.

"_Substantial Scroll."_ One of the girls gave the password, and Luna followed them into the Ravenclaw common room. The room was round and the walls were almost entirely covered with tall bookshelves. The only exceptions were the tall windows and the huge stone fireplace, over which hung a portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw.

Luna chose a book showing creative ways to carve jack-o-lanterns, and settled into a chair to read it. She had only had a chance to browse through the first few pages when she heard Professor Flitwick's voice asking everyone to be quiet. Though Flitwick was the head of Ravenclaw, he rarely appeared in the common room, so everyone immediately became quiet to hear what he had to say.

"This is an emergency!" he squeaked, a frightened look on his face. "Professor Dumbledore has asked that all students go to the Great Hall immediately."

Luna returned to the Great Hall with the rest of the Ravenclaws. When they got there, the Gryffindors were all already there, sitting at their table, and the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs were also filing in, looking as confused as the Ravenclaws. Professor Dumbledore said something about searching the school and that the students would need to sleep in the Great Hall.

Luna just had time to wish she'd brought a book with her before Professor Dumbledore moved the tables against the walls and conjured up wonderfully comfortable sleeping bags the color of ripe plums, for them to sleep in. As he and the other teachers left, the students started chattering, asking what had happened. The Gryffindors knew the answer -- apparently Sirius Black had been in the castle, and had attempted to enter the Gryffindor common room.

Luna looked around for the seventh year Ravenclaw girls she'd been eavesdropping on before, hoping to find out more about the Half-Blood Prince. They were in the middle of the room, chattering away as they lay in their sleeping bags. There was an empty bag close by, so Luna curled up in it to listen to what the girls were talking about. She was disappointed to find that they were speculating wildly about how Sirius Black had gotten in. This seemed to be the topic on everyone's minds.

Luna lay awake, listening to the other students' theories about how Black had entered the castle. One of the Ravenclaw girls was sure that Black was a vampire, and had changed into a bat and flown in a window. Luna laughed to herself -- just because one vampire in history had happened to also have been an Animagus, people, even witches and wizards who should know better, persisted in believing that all vampires could turn into bats. It was almost as stupid as believing that adult werewolves grew from baby wolf cubs. A boy on the other side of the hall loudly told anyone who would listen that Black could turn himself into a flying pumpkin, which was why he'd picked tonight for his attack.

Luna knew that Black was supposed to be searching for Harry Potter, but she thought that was unlikely. Sirius Black was really the rock star named Stubby Boardman, and he was probably miles from here, trying to resurrect what was left of his music career. Whoever had attempted to enter the Gryffindor common room was probably just playing a Halloween practical joke.

Luna wondered who this Half-Blood Prince was. Maybe he was the person who had tried to break into the Gryffindor tower. It seemed she might never find out.


	4. Chapter 4

March 5, 1995

Luna was almost finished with breakfast when the mail arrived. The cold, windy weather had delayed it somewhat, and the owls flew inside looking ruffled and grateful for the warm air in the Great Hall. A large barn owl dropped a rolled-up copy of _Witch Weekly_ next to her cereal bowl. Luna eagerly opened it. The cover advertised a recipe for magical sponge cake, and an exposé about the true identity of one of the members of the Weird Sisters: "Lute Player Herman Wintringham Is Really The Half-Blood Prince!"

Luna calmly turned to the recipe. She knew her Uncle Lowell would appreciate it if she sent it to him. He had been attempting to cook for himself and her father since she'd been away at school, and while his cooking skills were slowly improving, he could use all the help he could get. Luna cut the recipe out, added it to an envelope containing a letter she'd written the previous night, flagged down the owl that had just delivered a letter to a fellow Ravenclaw student, and sent her envelope on its way. The owl looked unhappy about having to go back out into the raw March weather, but Luna gave it a piece of toast crust and it reluctantly took off.

Taking a few hurried spoonfuls of cereal, Luna got to her feet, tucked her magazine into her bag, and hurried off to her Ancient Runes class. As this was her favorite subject, Luna wasn't tempted to get out her magazine in class. Instead she listened raptly as Professor Freya discussed ways of disguising runes so Muggles couldn't read them.

When the class ended, Luna headed directly to the History of Magic classroom, hoping to get there early enough to have time to read some of her magazine before class started. When she arrived, however, Professor Binns, assuming her early arrival meant she was actually interested in his subject, went into a long discourse filled with stories of house-elf enslavement and goblin rebellion. He reluctantly stopped when the rest of the class arrived, and began a long, boring lecture on the history of wizarding royalty.

Luna quietly removed her magazine and History of Magic textbook from her bag, tucked the magazine inside the textbook and propped the book in front of her. She would be able to read the magazine and Professor Binns would think she was referring to the textbook. Before she could open the magazine, however, the droning of Professor Binns' voice had put her into such a stupor that she spent the rest of class in a sort of trance, and never read a word of her magazine.

The noise of the rest of the students leaving the classroom brought Luna out of her lethargy. She gathered up her things and hurried out of the classroom before Professor Binns could begin a repeat of his earlier performance. As she walked toward the Great Hall for lunch, she heard other students discussing the recent Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. She herself had found watching the task very boring, as all of the action had taken place far below the surface of the lake. She had spent the time peeking over the shoulder of the Potions Master and trying to figure out the answers to the clues of the pocket crossword puzzle he was doing before he wrote them down.

When the crossword was almost finished, however, the Task became exciting as the Gryffindor Champion, Harry Potter, had rescued three of the supposed hostages, not just his own. Luna had watched as they all came ashore and thought that the red-haired friend of Harry Potter's was actually quite cute when dripping wet.

As Luna passed the Gryffindor table, she saw that same red-haired boy telling anyone who would listen all about his experience beneath the lake's surface. Luna chose a seat at the Ravenclaw table that was close enough that she could watch him while she ate.

The boy's name was Ronald Weasley, Luna had learned that much. His sister, Ginny, was in Luna's Herbology class. Luna watched him until he gave up his narration in favor of eating a hearty lunch. He reminded Luna a bit of her Uncle Lowell in how he seemed to inhale his food. Once he started eating, Luna lost interest in watching him and remembered her magazine.

Removing her copy of _Witch Weekly_ from her bag, Luna flipped through it, looking for the article that mentioned the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. Finally, she came to the very center of the magazine. On one side Luna recognized a familiar face: the Gryffindor Champion Harry Potter. The article seemed to be about a supposed romance between him and his friend Hermione Granger. She remembered how in December, Luna's dorm-mates could talk of nothing else but the fact that the Granger girl had attended the Yule Ball with the Durmstrang Champion. Luna was not interested in gossip about boyfriends and girlfriends, especially since this article didn't seem to have much truth in it. Luna herself was often the butt of jokes due to misunderstandings and misjudgments about what kind of person she was, and she wasn't about to indulge in reading things like that about others.

The opposite page, however, looked very interesting. There was a photo of the Weird Sisters, with a flashing arrow pointing to the Lute player, Herman Wintringham. Another photo showed an ornate gold ring with a dark stone that had an irregular crack through it. Luna happily folded the magazine and propped it against a jug of pumpkin juice, intending to read the article as she ate.

Suddenly, she became aware that one of the Slytherin girls was approaching, trying to look at the other side of her magazine. As Luna stared, the Slytherin girl laughed out loud and attempted to grab the magazine. "Draco will really laugh when he sees this!" the Slytherin girl exclaimed. Luna grabbed back, and a short tug-of-war ensued. Luna was far out-weighed by the older and stronger girl, and soon the Slytherin girl was stalking off with Luna's magazine and Luna was left with a paper cut that was bleeding into what was left of her cereal.

Luna sat sucking her cut finger and staring toward the group of Slytherin students that had gathered around the magazine. She was not surprised that none of her fellow Ravenclaws had come to her aid. As she watched, one of the Slytherins, a blond boy with a pale face, turned and flashed a button that read "POTTER STINKS" across the hall. Luna sighed. More gossip and misrepresentation was about to be spread about, and it seemed that Luna would never learn anything about the enigmatic Half-Blood Prince.


	5. Chapter 5

October 6, 1995

Luna Lovegood walked dreamily down the Hogwarts driveway on her way to Hogsmeade. She walked almost backwards for a while, trying to catch a glimpse of the giant squid. She looked around and realized she was the last student to leave the Hogwarts grounds.

As soon as she entered Hogsmeade, Luna headed for her favorite shop, a newsstand called _Riveting Reports & Spellbinding Scoops_, to buy some magazines. She spent a few minutes browsing the various covers before making her selection.

While she waited in line, she heard Mildred, the owner of the newsstand, talking to the witch at the front of the line.

"I've got your copy of _Sorcerer's Digest_ here, Gwendolyn," said Mildred, her earrings blinking on and off as she spoke.

"Oooh, thank you, Mildred!" the customer, a tall witch in a plain black robe, said, "I feel like I've been waiting forever for this. I've thought of nothing but the Half-Blood Prince for weeks, and now I'll finally get to read more about him. My heart is pounding, I'm that excited!"

"Oh, you'll enjoy it." Mildred giggled conspiratorially. "You'll read things you'd never guess -- but I don't want to give it away!"

Finally, it was Luna's turn to pay for her merchandise.

"Good afternoon, Luna, did you find everything you were looking for?" asked Mildred with a smile.

"No, I'd also like a copy of _Sorcerer's Digest_," said Luna with a wide smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm all sold out. That was a very popular issue. It just came out yesterday, and it sold out in all the stores the first day. I saved my last copy for the witch who runs the town library – she's one of my best customers. She just picked it up a few minutes ago. Maybe if you went to the library she'd let you sit at one of the tables and read it."

"That's a good idea, maybe I'll do that," Luna answered vaguely, her attention wandering to a box on the counter containing glittery packages with odd-looking cartoons on the outside.

"Oh, those are Pokemon cards," said Mildred, noticing the direction of Luna's gaze. "They're all the rage with Muggle children, sort of like Chocolate Frog Cards without the sweets. They're from Japan. Not selling very well here, though."

"They don't even move?" said Luna in a puzzled voice. "Very strange!"

Luna took her purchases and wandered down the street looking in the shop windows. After window shopping for a few minutes, she stopped at Madam Puddifoot's. The tea shop was about half-full, mostly with couples. Luna chose a stool at the counter, which was empty.

"Well, hello Luna!" Herb, Madam Puddifoot's husband, greeted Luna from behind the counter. "What can I get for you today?"

"Hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream, please," said Luna.

"Coming right up!" Herb said cheerfully. "And I have a bag full of butterbeer caps I've been saving for you."

"Oh, thank you," said Luna dreamily. "They make really nice necklaces when you string them together."

As Luna sat drinking her hot chocolate and watching Madam Pudifoot wait on the customers at the tables (Herb never ventured beyond the counter), the witch Luna had seen in line at the newsstand entered the tea shop and came up to the counter.

"Can I have my usual hot chocolate to go, Herb?" said the witch in a breathless and slightly harassed voice. "I'm running late again, as usual."

"Of course, Gwendolyn, right away," said Herb in his hearty voice. Luna could see the cover of _Sorcerer's Digest_ sticking out of the woman's bag. Gwendolyn dropped a couple of coins on the counter, thanked Herb and hurried out of the tea shop with her hot chocolate.

Luna sat at the counter for a few more minutes, reading one of the magazines she'd purchased at _Riveting Reports & Spellbinding Scoops_, and slowly drinking her hot chocolate. When she finished, she thanked Herb with a smile and headed back outside.

The Hogsmeade town library was right next door to Madam Puddifoot's. It was a much older building made all of stone. The stone steps at the front were guarded by enchanted statues of lions which roared at the passersby but hardly ever bit anyone.

Luna had visited the library many times before, and was especially pleased with their selection of books about unusual and little-known creatures. Way up on the third floor was a small room with crooked bookshelves reaching all the way up to the low ceilings. Instead of the large wooden tables and chairs that occupied much of the rest of the library's floor space, this room had squashy armchairs. The books in this room were all about creatures like the Twelve-Toed Bombadoo and the Crumple-Horned Snorkack.

But today, Luna looked around for the witch named Gwendolyn. Wandering through the rooms on the first floor, Luna found it difficult not to let her attention wander to the titles of the books on the overcrowded shelves she passed. Finally, however, she spotted the tall witch in the Librarian's office behind the circulation desk.

As she approached, she became aware that Gwendolyn and the other librarian were discussing the article in _Sorcerer's Digest_.

"Yes, I think I got the last copy," Gwendolyn was saying. "I've been waiting all week for this. We were so busy in here yesterday that I never was able to get down the street to get my copy. You can handle things here for awhile, can't you, Allesandra? I'm going to read it right now." And Gwendolyn proceeded to shut her office door with a soft click.

Disappointed, Luna turned and headed up the stairs to her favorite part of the library. Entering the cluttered little room, she found it was empty except for one tiny little wizard who was curled up in one of the chairs reading an enormous old book. He reminded Luna of Professor Flitwick, and she smiled at him when he looked up. She selected a book on Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and turned reluctantly to go down the stairs. She chose a table where she had a good view of the Librarian's office door and settled herself as comfortably as she could in the hard wooden chair.

Several hours later, Luna felt she knew all there was to know about the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, and still the office door remained closed. The other librarian started cleaning off the counter and making preparations to close the library for the night, and still Luna had not had a chance to get a look at the new issue of _Sorcerer's Digest_.

Luna got up and placed the book she'd been reading on the book return cart. She glanced toward the librarian, but her back was toward Luna and she was helping a patron check out a last-minute book. Luna ducked down between the nearest set of bookshelves. Taking out her wand, she cast a disillusionment charm on herself so that she blended in with the books she was standing in front of, and stood very still. Soon she heard the librarians bidding each other goodnight and finally, she heard the door close and lock with a loud click.

Luna waited what seemed like forever, but was probably about three minutes, and quietly stole across the dark room toward the Librarian's office. Reaching the doorway, she paused to light her wand, now that she was far enough from the windows that no one should be able to see the light. By the light of her wand, she gazed about the librarian's cluttered office. There were books and magazines everywhere. Dog-eared copies of _Transfiguration Today_. Piles of old _Daily Prophet'_s in the corner on the floor. Brand new children's books waiting to be catalogued so they could be added to the shelves. A set of well-worn wizarding reference books. Luna spent an hour looking at every magazine in view, but none of them was the current issue of _Sorcerer's Digest_.

Sighing, Luna finally had to admit defeat. Turning, she walked across the office and back out into the main part of the library. She hurried up the stairs and into the tiny cluttered room under the eaves. Turning to the smallest set of bookshelves, tucked in a corner opposite the stairwell, Luna pointed her wand and whispered, "_Revolutio!"_ The set of shelves turned sideways and opened like a door, revealing a dark tunnel behind it. Luna passed through the opening, ducking slightly as the entered the tunnel. The bookshelves slid silently back into place and Luna proceeded through the tunnel, glad for the light of her wand.

After walking for what seemed like an hour, but was probably only fifteen minutes, the tunnel started to climb and abruptly ended at what seemed to be a closed wooden door. Luna performed the same spell that had made the library bookshelves revolve, and quietly peered through the opening; she was looking into the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts school library. Since it was dinnertime, the library was empty. Luna quickly closed the secret opening to the tunnel and stood looking at the books in the restricted section.

"I wonder if one of these books holds the secret of the Half-Blood Prince," she mused. But she knew she didn't have long before she would be discovered, and she also didn't want to completely miss dinner. She'd long-ago missed lunch and her stomach was complaining loudly. She left the library, promising herself she wouldn't give up the search for the Half-Blood Prince.


	6. Chapter 6

July 25, 1996

"Luna!" Uncle Lowell's voice called up the attic stairs. "There's another owl down here for you!"

Luna Lovegood hurriedly released one of her father's owls out the window. The large barn owl flew off, a letter to Ginny Weasley tied to its foot.

"I'll be right there, Uncle Lowell!" Luna called down the stairs. She pulled the window shut and glanced around the room. Her father's office was cluttered, as usual. She replaced the top of the ink bottle, gathered up her quill and the stack of parchments she'd brought with her, and skipped down the stairs, humming tunelessly to herself.

Uncle Lowell, a smile on his dark, bearded face, was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, holding out a letter addressed to Luna, along with a rolled-up catalogue. "You're getting a lot more owls this summer than you have on other school holidays," he commented.

Luna smiled as the took the letter. She'd had a very exciting year at school and was looking forward with great anticipation to the next year. The letter her uncle had handed her was from Ronald. She took it to her room to read it in private.

_Luna,_

_Hope you're having a good summer._

_My brothers' joke shop has become so successful that they've printed a catalog. I thought you'd like to see it, so I'm sending you one._

_Speaking of buying things, Neville's birthday is July 30 and Harry's is July 31._

_Ron_

The catalog's cover showed Ronald's twin brothers, Fred and George Weasley, grinning and playing with the various products made and sold by _Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes:_ Wildfire Whiz-Bangs, Skiving Snack Boxes and their new line of very realistic miniature Quidditch models. Luna watched as the model figurines actually moved around, the Beaters actually hitting very small Bludgers with their tiny clubs, and the scale-model Seeker suddenly flew out of nowhere to catch a miniscule Golden Snitch.

Later, as Luna sat flipping through the joke shop catalog, she remembered the many times she'd almost learned something about the elusive Half-Blood Prince. She had been so busy with her new friends and their adventures during the past year that she had never had time to try again to borrow that magazine from the town librarian.

This year was likely to bring new adventures. There weren't many more days to wait now, and she'd be back at Hogwarts with her friends. Maybe with their help she'd finally solve the mystery of the Half-Blood Prince.


End file.

Harry Potter, Humor