On Monday morning, I discovered that lessons were much harder to concentrate on after a particularly good weekend.
It wasn't that I disliked Transfiguration. Thoughts of duels, Hogsmeade and a secret passage to a sweet shop were simply more interesting than the clasp I'd spent the last few minutes trying to get working.
"Mr Malfoy. Mr Peverell."
I looked up.
Professor McGonagall stood beside our desk. Draco put down his wand and sat up straight.
She examined our two jewellery boxes. Mine already had metal hinges and a reasonably even lid. Draco had managed the shape, but near one corner, the metal still gave way to wood.
"You need to finish the joins, Mr Malfoy. The transformation is incomplete here."
She indicated the spot with her wand, then inspected my work. She pressed the clasp. The lid didn't budge.
"And you need to improve the mechanism. The box should open when pressed, not only after considerable force has been applied."
"Yes, Professor."
She moved on to the next desk.
Draco turned his box over to examine the corner she'd pointed out.
"I'm nearly finished."
I picked up my own and tried opening it. The clasp only released after a firm tug.
"So am I. Apparently."
We worked in silence for a while. Then something cracked on Draco's side of the desk. One of his hinges sprang off and rolled across the wood.
Blaise slowly put down his quill.
"Not a word," Draco warned him.
"At least it opens more easily now."
Draco threw a crumpled piece of parchment at him. Blaise ducked, and I returned to my clasp, trying not to laugh too loudly.
The rest of the day passed more quietly.
Snape found no particular reason to pick on us in Potions, which I counted as a small victory. In Herbology, Professor Sprout discussed aquatic plants used in healing potions. I spent much of the lesson wondering how many similar ingredients grew in the Black Lake.
After Sunday's conversation with the twins, I wouldn't have been surprised if they eventually suggested diving for something exceptionally valuable.
They'd probably ask whether I could swim first.
Then explain why.
After our last lesson, Draco went to Quidditch practice. Blaise intended to finish his Potions essay before Snape remembered he existed.
I didn't feel like returning to the dungeons. The weather was still pleasant, though cooler than it had been at the start of term. I decided to enjoy it while I could.
With a book in my bag, I headed for the lake.
Plenty of students were out on the grounds. Two Hufflepuffs were practising a spell beside a bench, while a group of Gryffindors had spread their textbooks on the grass.
I spotted Harry and Ron too. They were sitting with Hermione, who was pointing at something in an open book. Harry noticed me first. I waved, and he waved back.
I didn't go over. They looked busy, and I had nothing urgent to discuss.
The further I walked, the quieter it became. Conversation gave way to the rustle of the wind and the gentle lap of water. A few yellowing leaves lay beside the path, and reeds swayed in a small inlet sheltered by trees.
I was about to sit on a large rock when I noticed someone was already there.
A girl in Ravenclaw robes sat near the water. Long, very pale blonde hair fell over her shoulders. She held a notebook in her lap, and three small stones lay in a neat row beside her.
It took me a moment to recognise her.
She was the girl who'd stopped me in the corridor recently to tell me I had strange eyes.
I smiled to myself and approached. She was so absorbed in watching the water that she didn't notice me until I spoke.
"Hello."
She looked up.
"Good afternoon."
"I think we've met."
"Yes. I told you that you had strange eyes."
"Hard to forget."
She closed the notebook around one finger.
"Most people don't like being told things like that."
"Maybe they don't know what to say."
"Perhaps."
She looked back at the lake.
"I'm Oliver."
"I know. Quite a lot of people talk about you."
I wasn't sure whether to be pleased about that.
"And you?"
"Luna Lovegood."
Of course.
I looked at her more closely. The name was enough to connect the quiet first-year with the character I remembered from the books.
I didn't know why it hadn't occurred to me sooner.
"Nice to meet you."
"You too."
I nodded towards the notebook.
"What are you doing?"
"Watching Plimpies. There's one over there."
I followed her gaze. Floating leaves, dark water and a few stones.
"Whereabouts?"
"To the left of that branch."
I leaned forward. A pale pink shape moved in the shallows. For a moment, it looked like a round fish.
Then I saw the legs.
Two thin legs ending in webbed feet.
"Is that a fish?"
Luna nodded.
I watched the creature kick one leg and turn awkwardly in the water.
"Magic really doesn't know when to stop."
Luna giggled.
"Do they all look like that?"
"Some are bigger."
"So, fish with even longer legs."
"Exactly."
I sat on a rock near her.
"Have you been watching them for long?"
"Since last week. I want to see whether they come back to the same places."
"Do they?"
"I don't know yet."
I liked that answer.
Luna turned the notebook towards me. She'd drawn several of the round creatures in different positions. Beside them were dates, times, little lines and circles.
"Do those three circles mean you saw three at once?"
"Yes. The arrows show which way they swam."
The drawings were quite accurate, as far as I could tell from my brief glimpse of a live specimen.
"You're good at drawing."
"Thank you."
She looked back at the water, but this time she frowned.
"I think that one's in trouble."
The Plimpy was still circling the same branch. It kicked, moved a short distance, then jerked backwards.
"Something might be holding it."
Luna closed her notebook. We moved closer to the water.
The branch lay partly submerged, wedged between two stones. A piece of string was wound around a smaller offshoot. The other end formed a loop around the creature's leg, right by the bank.
"Wonder how that got here," I muttered.
"Someone might have dropped it."
"Or thrown it in."
Luna crouched.
"We need to free it."
I looked at the mud between the stones, then at my shoes.
"Let's try without getting in."
I drew my wand and pointed it at the branch.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
The wood shifted. I raised one end, dislodging a few wet leaves, but the string immediately pulled taut.
The Plimpy jerked its leg.
I stopped.
"Damn."
"A little to the left," Luna said. "Not higher."
I moved the branch. The loop slackened slightly, and the creature drifted away from the stone.
"Yes. Hold it there."
Luna knelt on a flat rock at the water's edge and rolled up her sleeve.
"You're going to untangle it by hand?"
She nodded.
"Doesn't it bite?"
"Its teeth aren't particularly dangerous."
"That doesn't mean we need to test them."
"I'll try not to put my fingers in its mouth."
I couldn't think of a good reply to that.
I held the branch steady while Luna carefully dipped her hand into the water. The Plimpy jerked, making her pull back.
"Easy," she said softly.
"I don't think it understands you."
"I know."
"Why talk to it, then?"
"It might help me stay calm."
I considered that for a moment.
"Fair enough."
She reached into the water again. This time, she managed to catch the string. She worked at it carefully while I kept the branch in place.
"Can you lower that end? Just a little."
I did.
Luna loosened the loop.
The creature kicked both legs and surged forward, sending water straight at us.
I recoiled. My shoe slipped on the wet rock, and for one brief, unpleasant moment, I was certain I was going into the lake.
I caught my balance with one foot in the mud. The spell slipped, and the branch splashed back into the water.
The Plimpy vanished.
I stood still, feeling water trickle down my face.
Luna was still kneeling by the bank. Her sleeve was wet, her hair was splashed, and she looked exceptionally pleased.
"It worked."
I wiped my face.
"I noticed."
She giggled, then picked up the loose string.
"We should take this."
"Good idea."
She pulled a little pouch from her pocket and put it inside.
"Do you always carry a pouch for bits of string you find?"
"No. Sometimes I keep stones in it."
I looked at the three pebbles beside her notebook.
"Of course."
This time, we both started laughing.
I dried my own sleeve first.
"Exaresco."
The fabric slowly returned to its usual colour. It was still muddy, but at least it had stopped dripping.
Luna watched with interest.
"That's a useful spell."
"Especially for rescuing fish."
"I hadn't planned on getting quite so wet."
"Neither had I."
I pointed to her sleeve.
"May I?"
She held out her arm. I repeated the spell, a little more smoothly this time, then dried the rest of our splashed clothes.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
I looked at the mud around my shoes and decided cleaning could wait.
Luna retrieved her notebook, opened it and began adding something beneath the last drawing.
"Are you writing down what happened?"
"Yes. Its leg was a little injured."
"I didn't notice."
"It was redder than the other one."
I tried to remember, but I'd mostly been concentrating on the string and making sure I didn't pull too hard.
"You've got a good eye."
Luna smiled faintly.
"So have you."
I looked at her. For a moment, I wondered whether she'd said that deliberately, but she was already drawing a leg on another little fish.
I sat on my rock.
"What else do you know about them?"
"They live in lakes. Merpeople aren't very fond of them, apparently. Sometimes they tie their legs together to make them go away."
I glanced at the pouch holding the string.
"Do you think that one…"
"I don't know. It might have got tangled by itself."
I gazed out over the lake. From the shore, all I could see were ripples, reeds and darker water further out. Beneath the surface lay a whole world I knew almost nothing about.
"I'd like to see what's down at the bottom someday."
Luna looked up.
"The water's very cold."
"I imagine so."
"And some of the creatures don't like visitors."
"Something else to bear in mind."
"Why would you want to go down there, then?"
I shrugged.
"Because I've never been. I'd like to see what it's like."
She thought about that.
"That's a good reason. Though not always."
"Not always?"
"I wouldn't want to go inside a volcano."
"I don't think I would either."
"Although salamanders are supposed to live in some of them."
I smiled.
"That does make it a harder decision."
"Exactly."
I took out my book, but didn't open it for a few minutes. Luna went back to watching the water. The wind stirred the reeds, and students laughed somewhere behind us.
It was nice just to sit. I didn't mind that we'd come here separately and ended up spending the afternoon together. Luna didn't try to fill every silence.
"What are you reading?" she asked eventually.
I showed her the cover.
"Defensive spells."
"For lessons?"
"Mostly for myself."
She studied the title.
"That isn't one of Professor Lockhart's books."
"No."
"Don't you like his books?"
"I'd rather he showed us spells more often than told us where he'd used them."
Luna considered that.
"Perhaps he prefers telling stories."
"Definitely."
"My dad talks about his discoveries for quite a long time too, sometimes."
"What sort of discoveries?"
"Mostly creatures. He publishes a magazine as well."
"The Quibbler?"
Her smile widened.
"You know it?"
"I've heard of it. Haven't had a chance to read it yet."
"Dad puts most of each issue together himself. Sometimes I help. With the pictures and the packing."
I glanced at her notebook. It wasn't hard to imagine similar drawings on a magazine page.
"Do you enjoy it?"
"Yes. I like the readers' letters best. People describe things they've seen."
"Such as?"
"One woman wrote that there was a creature in her garden that stole blue buttons."
"Only blue ones?"
"Apparently."
For a moment, I pictured someone searching a garden for a creature with a button collection.
"Maybe she just loses them a lot."
"That's possible too. Dad asked her to see whether they still disappeared if she left them in a closed box."
"Did she?"
"She didn't write back."
I laughed.
"So you still don't know whether anything lives there."
"No. Perhaps she'll write again."
Luna didn't sound troubled by it. She seemed in no hurry to have an answer.
In a world where we'd just untangled a fish with legs, a creature that stole buttons hardly seemed the most absurd possibility.
"Your dad must have an interesting job."
"He does. Sometimes he gets printing ink on his nose and leaves it there all day."
"Don't you tell him?"
"I do. He says he'll wash it off in a minute."
"So he doesn't."
"No."
I smiled. That little detail made him easier to picture than simply knowing he published a magazine.
After a while, Luna asked about my family.
"Are they interested in magical creatures too?"
"Yes. Roland was a magizoologist. He left behind several thousand books and probably just as many stories about his expeditions."
Luna looked up from her notebook.
"Have you read them?"
"A few about owls so far. He helped me find out something about Hedwig."
"Is that your owl?"
"A snowy owl. She might have ice owls among her ancestors."
"Might?"
"We're not certain. Roland showed me some descriptions that could fit, but he said himself that it wasn't enough to be sure."
Luna glanced at her drawings.
"Are you going to observe her?"
"Yes. Though most of the time, I feel like she's the one observing me."
She smiled.
"Perhaps she wants to find something out too."
I remembered Hedwig sitting on my notebook and watching far too closely whenever I tried to leave the room.
"Could be."
I ran my thumb along the edge of my book.
"I only got to know my family recently. I grew up in a Muggle orphanage, so for a long time I didn't even know about all those books."
Luna took that calmly. For a moment, she watched me as though she were considering something different from what most people thought about when they heard that.
"It must have been strange. Finding out there was a whole world you hadn't known about."
That wasn't quite how it had happened, but I wasn't going to explain.
"Seeing it for real was strange," I replied. "I still keep finding new things."
"That's good."
"Because otherwise it would get boring?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
For a while, I read while Luna added to her notes.
At one point, she stopped drawing and looked towards the reeds. I followed her gaze.
"Did you see something?"
"I'm not sure."
She studied the space between two clumps of grass.
"It's gone now."
All I could see were leaves stirring in the wind.
"Another Plimpy?"
"Something smaller."
She held her fingers a few inches apart, then added:
"I think. It might have been further away than I thought."
Insects hovered over the water. I watched the same spot for a moment but noticed nothing unusual.
Luna returned to her notebook, and I went back to my book.
We didn't talk constantly. Sometimes something caught her attention; sometimes I asked a question. I learned that she liked watching birds, wasn't fond of the school porridge and preferred the table by the library window.
"The light falls on the books there in the afternoon," she explained.
I wasn't sure what was so special about that, but I didn't ask. I could spend a long time staring at the structure of a simple spell. It would have been difficult to argue that my own interests were any less peculiar.
When it began to get colder, Luna closed her notebook.
"I should go back."
"Me too."
I stood and brushed the dried mud from my trousers. Luna put her things in her bag, then adjusted the three stones beside her.
"Aren't you taking them?"
"They mark where I was watching the Plimpies from."
I looked at the little row of pebbles.
"What if someone moves them?"
Luna thought for a moment.
"Then I'll have to find them again."
I smiled, and we set off towards the castle.
Near the path, two first-year Ravenclaws were gathering scattered sheets of parchment. The wind kept blowing them across the grass, making the task difficult.
The girl spotted Luna and stopped.
"Oh, Lovegood."
"Hello, Clara."
"Been sitting by the lake again?"
"Yes."
"Looking for those weird fish of yours?"
"I was watching Plimpies."
Clara smiled at her friend.
"Right."
The boy sniggered. I didn't like his tone, but Luna was watching another sheet escape across the grass.
"Would you like some help?"
Clara hesitated.
"If you want."
I drew my wand and stopped the nearest piece of parchment before the wind could carry it any further. Then I brought several more together. The boy quickly gathered them up, while Luna retrieved a sheet from between some roots.
"Here you are."
"Thanks," he muttered.
Clara gave me a closer look.
"You're Peverell?"
"Yes."
For a moment, she seemed about to ask something else. Instead, she pressed the parchment to her chest.
"Come on, Andrew."
They headed towards the castle. Luna adjusted her bag strap and followed without trying to catch up.
"Do you have lessons together?" I asked.
"Charms."
I glanced at the retreating pair.
Luna was quiet for a moment.
"I think Clara's having a bad day."
"Maybe."
"Because of the parchment."
I wasn't convinced that was all there was to it. But I didn't know Clara, and Luna didn't seem interested in dwelling on it.
We stopped at the castle entrance. She had to head for Ravenclaw Tower; I was going down to the dungeons.
"Thank you for helping with the Plimpy," she said.
"You're welcome. I hope the next one doesn't try to throw me into the lake."
"That one wasn't trying either."
"I know. It nearly managed it, though."
Luna smiled, glancing at my muddy shoes.
"You can come again sometime."
"To the lake?"
She nodded.
"If you'd like."
"Why not?"
"Good. See you, Oliver."
"See you."
She headed towards the stairs. I watched her for a moment before turning towards the dungeons.
It was nice to meet someone who didn't need an explanation for why spending an afternoon watching fish with legs could be a perfectly good idea.
Blaise was sitting by the fire when I returned.
He looked up from his book, glanced at my shoes and raised an eyebrow.
"Where have you been?"
"By the lake."
"I can see that. Did you go in?"
"Almost."
He lowered his book into his lap.
"McGonagall yesterday, the lake today. Can't you just go for a walk?"
I sat opposite him.
"I was helping a fish."
He studied me in silence for a moment.
"Was that supposed to be reassuring?"
"It was tangled in some string."
"And you had to go in after it?"
"No. Luna untangled it while I held a branch. Then the fish started kicking."
"Kicking?"
"It had legs."
Blaise closed his eyes, then laughed.
"I forgot who I was talking to."
"Someone who wanted to read in peace."
"That clearly went well."
I took the book out of my bag.
"There's still time."
Blaise returned to his reading, and I found the page where I'd stopped. For a while, though, I stared at the words without taking any of them in.
Eventually, I reached for a scrap of parchment and wrote down the creature's name.
I wanted to look up what the textbook said about Plimpies later. Perhaps I'd find something about whether they really did return to the same places.
Luna had been observing them for a week.
Next time we talked, I might have something to add.