LUNA'S CHAPTER! FINALLY.

We're finally getting to what she's doing and setitng up a few things for the future.

LEAVE COMMENTS.

The more comments, the faster I post, as you all have seen

Wolfsbane poisoning was a common enough illness befalling Potioneers and Alchemists, far too common for the potion counteracting its symptoms to be as expensive as it presently was. But Luna Lupin was smart enough to understand that the potion was so expensive because of the time it took the prepare it (one full month, far too long for someone that was ill to brew, therefore necessarily brewed by someone else) and the expensive ingredients that it took. Besides, to make matters worse, the potion's shelf life was so short that it barely had any reason to be brewed as precaution when it survived no more than a fortnight.

Once the Academy announced that Thursday's classes were cancelled because their professor had caught a wolfsbane poisoning, however, Luna's annoyance and boredom left her to find a way through the most common problem amongst her area.

The very next day, Luna brought with her a muggle notebook with several theories written down during the sleepless night.

"I understand that it's uncommon for someone in the first year to be allowed a particular project of this choosing instead of the professor's choosing, but I do believe that I can expand my knowledge by attempting this experiment under your watchful eyes, Professor Soo," Luna rambled on, trying not to let him know that her hands were shaking while showing him her notebook. "Wolfsbane poisoning leaves people far too debilitated for them to brew their own antidote and buying it ready is just too expensive for most Potion Masters and Professional Alchemists to buy, especially one without the wait – which most professionals want because they don't want to waste their potions in stasis for longer then necessary. If I attempt this experiment and it is remotely promising, there's chance of a breakthrough in a huge problem that affects –"

"Alright, Miss Lupin. There's no need to present me a thesis!" Professor Soo laughed.

Luna's face warmed up in shame, cheeks and forehead turning red as she lowered her head. Some of the strands of hair that slipped from her plaits as she ran to the classroom fell to her face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to waste your time, sir," she whispered.

Professor Soo was a Korean man in his sixties; head still filled with black hair just staring to grey. He was married to a Congolese woman at least a decade younger than him, but they seemed in love in the photograph of their wedding in traditional Korean clothing.

Luna realised she didn't even know the man's first name.

"You're not wasting my time, Miss Lupin. You brought me a really good theory. Here," he pointed to her notebook, "you got the common symptoms and what which ingredient treats, and here you got at least three experimental ingredients to most of them. Well, you do need guidance here and there, especially here," he pointed somewhere else in her notebook, "because – of course – you wouldn't know that this ingredient, which is rare and you haven't used before, cannot work well with most of the original ones; if you put it in, you'll need to change everything. Unless, of course, using Blood Avens with Unicorn Powder, Vampire Extract or bittercress is your plot of blowing the school and yourself along with it."

"I'm willing to try it. Not exploding anything, but changing everything."

"I know you are. You are very keen," Professor Soo said, smiling weakly at her.

He seemed genuine in his excitement, watching as Luna took her notebook back and closed it, smiling at him, delighted at the trust being put on her.

"So? How can we start?" she asked.

"Well, today is Laboratory Day, and I don't want your potion to be out in the open until we know it's not volatile, so I'll give you permission to get the ingredients and a signed permission for one of the Glass Labs," Professor Soo said, turning to his table again and reaching down to get the paperwork. He started writing a list and signed it, then he ripped it, gave it to her and took another paper to sign it. "I think the supervisor down in the Glass Labs today is Mister Avery, isn't he?"

"I'm unsure, sir."

"Well, regardless of who it is, give this to him and he'll ask his assistant to get the ingredients for you," he said.

Luna held onto the two papers, looking at the list (that didn't have a few of the possible alternatives she had written down, and she wasn't about to argue with him about that). She smiled at him.

"Yes, sir!"

Professor Soo sits down again and leaned against the backrest, smiling just a bit at her without showing his teeth.

"What are you waiting for then, my girl? Go on. Go on and work," the man said. "This isn't Hogwarts anymore, I won't be looking over your shoulder to make sure you won't mess things up. If something blows up, it'll be on your face."

Though the words sounded cold, his tone made Luna smile anyway. It showed the trust that he was putting in her, even though she was in school during a time where most things about her were overlooked: her blood-status, her gender, her connections. And still, Professor Soo was giving her a chance.

"Yes, sir!"

Quickly, Luna made her way out of the classroom, ignoring the way some of the other students doing a few experiments in group seemed to stare at her in interest and curiosity. She clutched the papers to her chest alongside her notebook as she smiled to herself, going down the stairs until she went underground to the Glass Labs.

Mister Connor Avery was in his last year of his Potions Mastery and one of the favourite students by Luna's understanding. The only reason she knew about that was because of how loud Avery was, how annoyingly loud he was – when she was resting between classes, either sunbathing or in the comfortable chairs near the fireplace, he would go on and on about how beloved her was by the professors and how he would have a few benefits that other students didn't have; like, for example, being a supervisor of the younger students.

One important thing, however, was that Connor Avery hates Luna Lupin.

To him, someone like Luna Lupin, a half-blood girl without proper connections and no family name to back her up. Even with the Potter House support, he seemingly thought her to be inferior to most of the other students there. So, for her own safety, Luna forced herself to be overly polite towards him.

"Mister Avery, sir?" she started, tone sweet, head lowered as she approached.

Avery sighed loudly, as if her voice alone was irritating.

Luna pressed her lips together in anticipation. It was like going back in time to when she was young, her mother had just gotten home from a very long shift, and Luna had asked a stupid question. She knew Avery hated her for his own reasons that had little do to with her, so that was enough to comfort her just enough to continue.

"What do you want, Miss Lupin?" he asked, turning around to face her.

She offered him the paperwork.

Avery took it from her hands roughly, narrowing his eyes to read through it.

From a few Glass Labs down the corridor, the door opened. Snape walked out, slowing his steps at the sight of Luna standing there. His eyebrows twitched as he walked closer, hands untying the black potion robes that were over his common wizarding robes. He raised his eyebrows in question to Luna, who watched him in silence.

"What's happened?" Snape asked. He stopped beside Avery, reading Luna's paperwork over his shoulder. "Professor Soo told you to come down here?"

Luna nodded.

Snape and Avery exchanged a look.

"An order is an order," Snape said, resigned.

Avery sighed again. "Go to Lab Three, then. We'll get you everything," he said, bored.

Slowly and a bit hesitant to give them her back, Luna made her way to Glass Laboratory Three, glancing over her shoulders before opening the door and walking into her room.

The Glass Lab was, as the name indicated, made of mostly glass instead of walls. Closer to the back of the laboratory, there was a metal table with several glass and crystal instruments for brewing. At the very back there was another small table, where most people left their belongings, safe away from the acids and poisons that many students dealt with during their time in the Academy.

From where she was standing inside, near the table, she couldn't see much of what was happening outside, but she could see the movement through the shadows cast on the floor by the lighting. It took almost a full minute for Snape to move to get the ingredients requested, but Avery stood still at the entrance of the Glass Laboratories.

It took a while, but she saw the shadows moving again.

Quickly, Luna walked to the smaller table, putting her bag over it and pretending to be engrossed in the task.

The door opened and Severus Snape walked in. She looked over her shoulder to see him walking in, holding the door open with his hip while holding a box with several bottles with pastes and liquid ingredients and dishes with the dried herbs.

"Oh," she said, trying her best to sound surprised, as if she hadn't heard him coming in. "Thank you, Snape."

Snape grunted in response, putting the box down by the main table with carefulness. Then he glanced at the slowly closing door and, from his pocket, pulled the list her professor had gave her, putting it still folded on top of the table.

He put his hands in the front of his robes, fingers grazing the buttons on the front. He hesitated to move more than that.

Something in his demeanour made her heart skip a beat in nervousness as she turned to look at him. She tried to control her breathing and focus on the way that Severus Snape didn't seem angry, however all too aware that if he was going to show anything before attacking her, it wouldn't be anger, just rightful distaste. They never got along well. At least, she was certain he wouldn't attack her in broad daylight or in the campus.

"What is it?" Luna urged.

He pressed his lips in a thin line.

"I don't know what you did with him, but whatever it was, it worked," he said.

Luna's body reacted even through her confusion. Her hand felt for the table now behind her, one of them grasping to it as if that was the only thing keeping her standing.

"Of whom do you speak of?" she asked, voice small.

"Regulus Black," he answered.

She managed to Occlude a gulp.

"Then I don't know what you mean," she added.

Snape seemed annoyed by her answer, as if her coy persona was obviously a lie.

"I'm not here to ask questions that I don't care about the answers, don't look so worried. But I wish to let you know that your power over him is impressive, but enviable to those that can see it," he said, raising his eyebrows. Luna wondered if he thought she could read his mind with the way his eyes seemed so deep. He looked at the door, making his way towards it slowly. "Read through the list."

"Hm?"

"The list. Read it."

He got out of the laboratory, leaving her alone with it.

Luna took the paper folded and read through it. Everything seemed perfectly alright, all the ingredient names were the same and the amount of it requested seemed completely pertinent.

She kneeled, going through the box.

Until she saw it.

Her boned rattled, her teeth squeezed against one another as she shivered in fear.

There, amongst the herbs were Blood Avens, a liquid substance of orange so deep it was closer to red than real orange, it was thick and it stained the glass it was in, therefore gaining the name 'blood'. It was very explosive and fire-inducing, but when mixed with the correct substance it could become a powerful hallucinatory drug.

Avery had most likely ordered Snape to put it along her things. In the first mistake she committed, she would've blown herself up; one move too rough with the box or one accidental kick to it, and she would've been dead. And yet, Snape instead of wishing for her death even though he had no love or consideration for her, had saved her life.

Luna put the crystal recipient with Blood Avens on the other table, near her bag.

Professor Soo smiled proudly, looking at the potion in front of him and at the rat now happily moving around its cage, ever so happy for having been cured for the wolfsbane he had ingested.

"You did it!" he said, still staring at the animal.

Luna smirked.

"You trusted me to do it. I wouldn't want to disappoint you, professor," she said, voice soft.

Professor Soo turned to look at the rest of the classroom, watching as all Luna's classmates tried to understand what was happening, cranking their necks to see the potion's appearance and the rat's behaviour, finding nothing amiss nor anything of notice in the common green looking potion.

"It tastes horrible, though," Luna added, pointing out her biggest flaw. "Whenever I attempted to add any sugar or less bittering agents, it seemed that the effect was lessened significantly. I thought usefulness was more important that comfort in such a situation, after all medicine isn't tasteful."

The man shrugged. "As long as it keeps people alive," he said.

Proud of herself as well, Luna smiled widely at him, expecting some sort of correction or advice, but all that the professor did was look at the several boys watching the interaction and Luna's demeanour.

"Your colleague has just made her first discovery in an independent project she started just a week ago!" he announced, putting a hand on her shoulder and urging her forward, where she could be stared at without his table in the way. "You all should follow Miss Lupin's example and bring me your projects, things that you get interested in, this way your work will be less of a burden to all of you. I'm not the sort of teacher to dismiss it unless it's a stupid and useless idea. Miss Lupin saw a huge problem in our society and decided taking care of it for the sake of the continuation of our class without elitism. If Wolfsbane Poisoning Antidotes are too expensive, then Miss Lupin created its first competition!"

Professor Soo started to clap, looking around in expectation.

One by one, the boys followed the example, but none smiled, and none seemed happy by her victory. It wasn't jealousy or envy; it was pure and unfiltered anger against her, not as Luna Lupin, but as the principle. Not because she had managed to succeed while they were stuck in the mediocrity of a first year Academy student, but because she knew – as much as they knew – that she had no place there.

Avery wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last to get in her way in every possible manner.

It was there, under their scrutinising eyes that Luna realised that even away from the main war, she was still fighting and, though most didn't realise it, she was in a lot of danger. Silently while staring at danger in the face, she wondered what her reaction would be if she truly found herself face to face with active danger.

One thing was clear, she wouldn't run away, as she one day believed herself capable of. She wasn't sure she would fight, putting her life on the life with the same bravery her brother often did proudly, but she knew for certain that if she were to fall, she would take at least one other person with her.

Euphemia Potter was confused about Luna's presence in her parlour, sipping her jasmine tea and talking to Fleatmont about potions when she got back from attending a long-anticipated gala to immigrants in a friend's house.

"Luna, gudiya, hello!" she said from the door, walking to her and putting a hand on top of Luna's head. Her hair was completely down. "I wasn't expecting you. If I knew you were here, I would've come home earlier! Is everything alright? Did something happen? Are you hurt? – no, of course you aren't hurt, otherwise you wouldn't be here, all relaxed."

"Oh, wife, allow her to answer a question before moving on to the next sentence!" Fleatmont said in good humour. "Besides, it's just past supper."

Feeling her face warming up with her husband's words, Euphemia gave a little chuckle, nodding in agreement as she made her way to sit near her husband, eyes never leaving Luna's face as she waited for answers.

"I'm alright," Luna said. "Well, I'd ask to sleep over tonight. Uncle said it was alright, but I wanted to make sure."

"Of course! You are always welcome. Your bedroom is yours," Euphemia said.

Fleatmont gave a little smile and raised his eyebrows and chin, making sure that both women knew that he had anticipated such an answer and had used those very words to Luna just a few minutes after she gotten there during dinner, looking a bit spooked, but otherwise unharmed. He had offered her tea and sat down to talk to her.

"I came to ask for one other thing," Luna added, cheeks now redding slightly. "I... I didn't know who else to ask it from."

Euphemia leaned forward, frowning in concern and moving a hand in circular motions, urging Luna to continue.

"Is it money? I'm certain that we can –" Fleatmont started.

"No! It's not money. I would never ask for money," Luna said, face reddening even more in humiliation. She held herself by the elbows in a poor attempt of hugging herself in comfort. "It's something that is much more important than money, and since I'm your Ward... or I was—"

"You still are," Euphemia corrected.

Luna seemed somewhat calmer after that statement.

"I see..." she mumbled. "Well, nowadays, knowing how to defend yourself is much more important than money."

Fleatmont's hand went discreetly to his wife's back, gently grazing it in comfort. They both knew what was coming next, and neither liked it.

"Do you want to learn how to fight, Luna?" Fleatmont asked.

It was like watching a young child admit that they had been the one to break the expensive vase in the parlour. An uncomfortably long and slow nod, avoiding eye contact in awkwardness. Luna looked so young, so fragile. Even when she met their eyes again, her green eyes seemed wide and innocent, far too untouched by the war for them to allow any harm to come to her.

How could they deny her?

"I want to live," she confessed.

And it sounded like a shameful confession.

"Don't we all?" Fleatmont asked, casual.

Euphemia bit the inside of her cheek, all to aware that she herself didn't at some point. She recognised the same sort of sadness that she had held inside herself for so long in Luna's eyes, and that was what made her fiercely protective of her, what made her force a smile at her even when her heart was breaking, speeding up in fear.

"I can teach you, gudiya. I can teach you to protect yourself," Euphemia said.

Luna couldn't ask it from her father; their relationship was still slowly healing. And asking her grandmother, who was too old to duel herself without challenged, was almost like asking her father. Her mother, muggle, was out of the question. And asking her brother was just like begging him to freak out and attempt to protect her from everything himself, which was not an option when he was in the frontlines of a war.

Euphemia and Fleatmont were the closest things to safety she had.

"Now," Euphemia continued. "Have you eaten, dear?"

The girl attempted a smile.

"Some," she lied.

Both of the older people in the room wondered if Luna was counting the tea as the 'some' food she had.

"Well, I'll cook myself from good food. Gala food never appetizes me," Euphemia started. "Tell me, Luna, how much pepper have you learnt to handle in your time here?"

Surprise Potter appearance!

Have you all seen the Postmodern Jukebox cover of MCR's 'The Ghost of You'? I'm mf sobbing, omg it was so good!