In Harry Potter as Neville Longbottom - Chapter 64: Train Journey and Luna

Luna was having a bad day. No doubt it was the work of those pesky little Nargles. She tried to find a seat for herself, but everyone was already seated, and she couldn’t find an empty place for her.

Besides others were very unwelcoming to her and she could feel those unfriendly stares. Hence she was still wandering on the Express train to find a seat.

“Hey! Come here!” She found a girl calling for her and Luna instinctively knew she was calling for her in a good way.

“Hello, I am Luna. Luna Lovegood.” Luna introduced herself and the other girl asked her “Are you a fresher?”

“Yes, first year,” Luna replied with a smile and the other girl gave her a candy and invited her into their compartment.

“Come inside. I am in the second year. Hermione, Hermione Granger.” Hermione introduced herself and bought Luna inside.

Dean and Seamus were surprised to see the little blonde witch entering their compartment and they suddenly stopped talking. Neville and Pansy were talking something in a low voice, but the sudden silence made them look towards the door and they also noticed Luna.

“Everyone, this is Luna, Luna Lovegood. First-year.” Hermione introduced Luna to the group and the group gave her a seat and welcomed her.

“Hello, I am Dean.”

“Me, Seamus.”

“I am Neville.”

“You can call me Pansy if you like.”

Others also gave their names and Hermione distributed the candies she bought from the Trolley witch. The Trolley witch, who no one noticed, walked just a little but focused her attention on this group of people. Especially on Neville.

In the wizarding world, there are many secrets. One is the presence of the Trolley witch. She has been selling confectionery goods since the train started and that was almost 180 years back. She is older than most of the magicians even Dumbledore, but no one cares about an old lady selling snacks on the train.

But they don’t know. She is the reason no one ever messed up with the train. Never ever. She looked closely at the group of kids, thinking something and picked a simple chocolate frog and threw it inside without attracting attention.

Meanwhile, Dean kept talking to Luna and Luna shared her stories with the group. Neville knew about Luna and her eccentric personality but looking at her closely was something else. The girl had weird, coloured glasses in her pocket, and strange fruit type earrings but somehow all of this, added to her charm.

It was like she was dressed in a way that was meant only for her. Pansy noticed Neville’s straight gaze towards Luna, feeling slightly angry (just slightly jealous), stepped on his foot, and walked towards Luna.

“I have never seen this kind of glasses. What are these?” Pansy asked Luna while making sure she blocked Neville’s line of sight.

Neville cursed inside when Pansy stepped on his feet but ignored the strange girl. He already knew Pansy’s thoughts, but Pansy or Hermione were just young girls in his eyes. The interest in Luna was not because of her beauty but because Luna was a strange character in the Harry Potter world.

Anyway, the journey had just started, and he also ignored the jealous girl and started chatting with the boys.

Luna finally found a group of strange people, as strange as her. Especially this Pansy. Her movements and her speech reflected her noble rich upbringing and she personally confirmed that she was from Slytherin house. Yet she had friends inside Gryffindor.

Crazy, just as crazy as her as others would generally say about her.

“These are “Spectrespecs”. They are amazing and you can look for Nargles with them.” Luna offered her glasses to Pansy, but Pansy hesitated.

‘What the hell are Nargles. And why is she talking in this dreamy sleepy state.’

Pansy politely refused her, but Luna didn’t mind. She was still smiling and told them about her father and their magazine.

Soon the future famous five had one common conclusion about Luna. There was definitely something off about her but there was something charming about her. She was strange but nice.

“It’s probably tired…” said Ron when the car’s engine suddenly started making noises. Both the boys, up in the car, were now started getting bored and kept thinking about their friends in the Express. However, the noise from the car started scaring them.

Remembering the letter from Hermione, Harry wanted to say something but then the noises stopped, and he chose not to voice his thoughts.

However, that proved to be a stupid mistake as the Hogwarts’s castle came into their view, the car suddenly lost control and dived straight towards the big lake outside the castle.

“Hold On!” Ron cried in his panicked voice and tried to drive the car away from the lake but then the engine stopped suddenly, and it looked like they were going to crash into the walls of Hogwarts.

However, a magical thing happened. Ron somehow managed to avoid the castle walls by an inch but they hit the old Whomping Willow with a bang. The next thing they knew was they had to run from the angry Willow to save their lives but the car abandoned them before driving itself straight inside the dark forest.

Professor Flitwick was waiting for the first-year kids at the entry gates of the castle, and he had noticed the diving car in the distance. He had to check his eyes to make sure he was not dreaming. Anyway, there are other professors to take care of this.

“First year, this way please!” He used a charm to make sure his voice his loud enough to attract the first-year kids and then he drove them off in the traditional manner. Others got off the Hogwarts express and walked towards the carriage area.

Harry noticed the carriages were not tied to any animal or anything, but they were simply pulling themselves. However, Luna took out a small piece of Jerky from her purse and took it closer to something.

Something no one could see among the other five. Not even Neville. He knew about Thestrals but somehow, he was grateful that he was not able to see them. However, this also made him feel bad for Luna.

“What was that?” Hermione asked when the jerky magically disappeared from Luna’s palm.

“A friend. A good but misunderstood friend.” Luna said with a smile before jumping on the carriage.