Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ "Because She Told Me To!" ❯ Sensualis ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

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"BECAUSE SHE TOLD ME TO!"
Chapter Three:
Sensualis

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Des pite what Luna had promised, it did take a couple of days before she went up to see Madam Pomfrey -- and even though Neville didn't notice anything this time around, he wasn't altogether certain that hadn't gone to be seduced by Claire one last time first.

He remembered all too well the look on her face when she said she'd miss all the sex, after all.

Still, two days later, she approached him shortly before dinner, and could tell him that she had finally been to the hospital wing and asked Madam Pomfrey to check her for hexes, jinxes or curses.

"But she didn't find any," she said solemnly. "She examined me thoroughly, and couldn't find anything. And I don't think an untrained student could have made a curse that a trained Healer like Madam Pomfrey couldn't discover... It's sort of disappointing," she admitted. "I had almost wished it was some kind of magic. Now I really don't have any excuses."

"Excuses for what?" Neville asked.

"For going off and fuck -- I mean, doing things -- with Claire Savelle, whom I don't even like," said Luna, catching herself. On his request, she had started watching her language a little more when talking to him; mainly because he didn't think it a good idea if someone was to overhear them while Luna talked about fucking. "There's something clean and uncomplicated about magic, you know. You're cursed or charmed into acting a certain way, you act that certain way, and you know why you did it." She shook her head and brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face. "Now I don't know anything. It should be so easy to just say 'no' to Claire, but... it isn't."

Neville didn't have an answer for that.

However, he thought, something had to be done. If Claire was allowed to continue... that relationship, or whatever it was, could not be good for Luna. And besides, they could be discovered by a teacher or someone else who were less forgiving than Neville was. But, though Luna had promised to at least try to resist Claire's lure from now on, he had some doubts about her actual ability to do so.

He spent the next few days thinking about this, and admittedly his schoolwork suffered a little for it (apart from Herbology, which was the one subject he could do well without actually thinking of it), but it wasn't until the day of the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin he actually came up with an idea. And the idea was so simple that he could have kicked himself for not coming up with it before.

Neville normally loved Quidditch, but with all the things that had been on his mind lately, he hadn't taken a lot of notice to what had been going on with the team lately -- but he knew that Katie Bell, who still wasn't out of St. Mungo's, had been replaced by Dean Thomas, and that this had caused a little rift in the friendship between Dean and Seamus Finnigan, who had also wanted to be on the team. Neville was sorry for that, of course; if there was one thing he hated, it was to see good friends quarrel like that. But since Seamus wasn't going to be playing Quidditch...

Shortly before the match, Neville found the irate-looking Irish boy sitting by himself in the Gryffindor common room.

"Aren't you going to the match?" he said, as a way of an opening line.

Seamus shrugged. "I suppose." He turned to face Neville, a clear look of annoyance on his face. "Look, if you're gonna start digging into me for not being perfectly supportive of Potter and Thomas, you can lay off. I've had it up to here with people telling me how childish --"

"No, no, no!" said Neville, frantically waving his hands. "Nothing like that! Nothing like that at all! I was just wondering if you could help me with something!"

Seamus quirked a brow.

"You know Luna Lovegood, right?" Neville continued. "From Ravenclaw?"

Seamus nodded slowly. "She's the dotty one, right?" he said. "From the DA? Long, scraggly, blonde hair, huge eyes, nice enough tits, keeps her wand behind her ear? Always going on about conspiracies and other things you'd have to be insane to believe?"

"That's her," Neville sighed, deciding to ignore the part about the tits and the insanity. "Look, it was a coincidence that I found out, really, but I noticed that the other Ravenclaws aren't really treating her well. They keep calling her 'Loony Lovegood' and stealing her things and... and such. Just to give her a hard time."

"Sounds almost more like Slytherin behavior," said Seamus, wrinkling his nose. "Kinda makes you appreciate being in Gryffindor, doesn't it?"

"Well," said Neville. "The thing is, I know the DA was disbanded and all, but Luna was a good ally against Umbridge. She was the one who got that interview with Harry published in The Quibbler, and she came with us all to the Department of Mysteries, and... I just don't think it's fair, the way she's treated."

"Don't tell me you fancy her?" said Seamus, the hint of a grin playing around his lips. "She never quite struck me as your type, Neville. Too, well, too loony."

"I don't fancy her, I just don't think it's right!" said Neville, silently thankful that he had got so much training in not blushing lately. "I know what it's like to be -- to be shunned and ridiculed, and all that. And I just thought that if I could get a few people from the DA to, you know, keep an eye on her and the other Ravenclaws, maybe we could make things a little easier on her."

"Why not just tell a teacher?" said Seamus, although Neville could tell he was getting interested.

"Because then the people who bully her would take their punishment and then just take it out even worse on her," said Neville, who had the answer ready. "C'mon, Seamus... you don't have to do much. Just, if you see anyone picking on Luna, or anything like that, try to help stop it?"

"Well, all right," Seamus finally said. "I'll keep an eye open when I can. Going to tell any other DA members?"

"Some," said Neville. "But you're the first. Thank you, Seamus. This really means a lot."

Seamus shrugged and pretended to look nonchalant, but Neville could tell he was really pleased about having been the 'first.'

Neville's spirits had raised considerably as he and Seamus went down to the Quidditch pitch to watch the game. They got even higher when it proved that Gryffindor absolutely flattened Slytherin in the match, and Dean and Seamus were suddenly the best of mates again.

But what made the day one of the best Neville could remember having for quite a while, was the sight of Luna, sitting there on the stands, wearing her trademark lion hat and looking quite cheerful. They didn't get to speak much, since the match was very much a usual semi-chaotic Hogwarts Quidditch match with all attention on the players, but a few times their eyes met, and they smiled to each other.

Perhaps this was going to be easier than he had feared.




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Luna took the long way back to the castle after the Quidditch match, mainly because she wanted to stop by the patch of trees on the other side of the Quidditch pitch; one of her favourite spots on the entire Hogwarts ground. She had spent many an afternoon here in quiet solitude, with no other company than the trees and the various interesting creatures that lived in them.

Even though the trees were now almost bare and most of the creatures were either busy preparing for the upcoming winter or already having gone hibernating, it was still fun to stop by to check the trees for fairies or other fascinating things.

As she skipped along, she hummed that old Quidditch favourite, Weasley Is Our King, her lion hat singing along with her:

"Weasley can save anything,
He never leaves a single ring,
That's why lion hats all sing:
Weasley is our King!"

Her newest Charm experiment had worked like a, well, a charm; in addition to the life-like roar, the lion's head could now also sing. Ronald had seemed quite pleased when he had heard that, just as she had hopes he would. It felt good to do nice things for others sometimes, Luna thought as she reached the trees, pondering if she should do something nice for Neville next. He'd been so kind to her lately.

Now, what could she do for him that he might --?

She was pulled out, quite literally, of her thought process by a pair of unexpected hands, which dragged her away in between the trees.

"Weasley is our King," sang the lion's head as Luna struggled to keep her balance and found herself drawn up against another person, whose face it was impossible to see because the hat had fallen down and was covering her eyes, and her hands were held in firm grips so she couldn't reach up and remove it.

"Loony, will you get that lion to shut the fuck up?!" a voice hissed in her ear.

Luna blinked, trying and failing to get the hat out of her eyes without actually using her hands. "Oh, hello, Claire."

"Don't you 'hello, Claire' me!" said Claire, ripping the hat off Luna's head and forcibly turning her around so they faced each other. "Didn't I tell you that I didn't want to see you anywhere near the Quidditch pitch today? It was supposed to be your punishment for not obeying me earlier this week. I distinctly told you to stay in bed, naked, waiting for me. And yet, I find you there on the stands, fully dressed, and singing that stupid song. What's wrong with this picture?!"

"He never lets the Quaffle in," the lion's head informed her from where it was lying on the ground.

"Oh, shut up," said Claire. "Well, slut, what have you got to say for yourself?"

"I like Quidditch," said Luna over the continued song of her hat. "And I didn't feel like lying naked in bed today, I felt much more like going out and watch Gryffindor defeat Slytherin."

"What you felt like isn't of the issue," said Claire sternly. "Naughty little slut not do what she's told," she added as if talking to a very young child, "naughty little slut get punished. Naughty little slut ignore her punishment, naughty little slut in big trouble. Is that clear?"

"Weasley is our King," the lion's head answered.

"Oh, for -- silencio!" said Claire, pulling out her wand and pointing it at the hat, which immediately fell silent.

"That wasn't very nice," said Luna.

"No, and neither was the song." said Claire. "You know, you're getting to be much too disobedient these days. We're going to have to rectify that."

"Did you ever stop to ponder if you might have been possessed by a Whingler?" said Luna.

"A what?" said Claire, her voice dangerously low.

"A Whingler. The Whinglers were a failed experiment from the Department of Mysteries. The Ministry were set on creating creatures that could possess and mind-control people into doing what the Ministry wanted, but it failed and the Whinglers instead turned out to make people bad-tempered and sex-obsessed and..."

"Silencio!" said Claire, and Luna suddenly found that her voice no longer worked.

"As I was saying," the older girl went on, scowling, "I'm the one in charge here, and since you seem to have forgotten that, I'm going to have to make you spend some time remembering it. And just for calling me 'sex-obsessed,' little slut, I'm going to throw in some extra punishment for it." She pointed her wand at Luna again. "Sensualis!"

Luna gasped as the unexpected wave of pleasure hit her. Her muscles grew weak, her knees buckled, and she had to lean against one of the tree-trunks to avoid falling over. Invisible bursts of energy flowed through her entire body in the most delicious and erotic way, and Luna tried to moan, but she had no voice to moan with.

"Feels pretty nice, doesn't it?" came Claire's casual voice from somewhere beside her. "Ever heard of the Sensualis charm? You won't learn it here at Hogwarts, that's for sure... but I hear a lot of married couples like to use it to sprite up their sex lives a little."

Luna tried moaning again, pressing herself against the tree-trunk and heaving for her breath. The energy was filling each and every part of her, and against all reason, even her hair and her nails felt like they would explode with sexual pleasure, and it felt so good, it felt so incredibly fucking good, and it she was already reaching climax, she was going to... going to...

AGHH!

She cried out in voiceless frustration and sank to the ground as the sensations suddenly vanished. Just five more seconds, she thought desperately, five more seconds is all I need! But her silent plea went unanswered.

Claire waved her wand around with a cruel grin. "Ah ah ah, slut," she crooned. "No orgasming!"

Breathing heavily, heart beating furiously in her chest and each and every part of her body quivering, Luna shot her a pleading look from her place on the ground. She felt more like ripping her clothes off and bringing herself to orgasm the old-fashioned way, but it was too late, the sensations of pleasure had gone, and there was nothing left but a frustrating feeling of... unfulfilled-ness, for want of a better word.

"Sorry, Loony, but I did say that this was supposed to be a punishment and not a reward," said Claire, although she didn't sound sorry in the least. "Now who is the one in charge here? Just point to the one in charge."

Luna felt her eyes tear up, but shook her head. She had promised Neville that she wouldn't let Claire boss her around, and she was determined to keep her promise.

"No?!" Claire smiled evilly. "Well, in that case, just consider that little trip a small sample of what's to come. You see, the Sensualis charm generally is only in effect so long as the caster doesn't break wand-contact with the target... but there's an interesting variation of the charm that I think you're going to find... stimulating." She pointed her wand towards Luna again. "Sensualis Continuare!"

Luna's body gave a start as the sensations returned again, and this time -- maybe because it was the second time, or maybe because it was a different variant of the spell, it took only mere seconds before she was back on the brink of orgasm.

And stayed there.

The cruel sensations of pleasure washed over her again and again, but always let up just as she felt she was about to go over the edge. Her eyes grew misty and it was heard to think, and still the sensations continued; her entire body shaking and convulsing and, and, oh, fuck... Up until now, she had never thought sexual pleasure could be painful, but it was, and before long her entire body was aching for release. Her vagina -- her cunt -- was on fire, an erotic burning fire that could only be put out by a real orgasm... if she could just make herself climax, everything would be okay again...!

She hitched up her robes and tore off her knickers, and frantically began rubbing herself, her shaking, quivering hand attacking her clitoris in time with her heaving breaths and sent new, pulsating sensations shooting up her... but it wasn't enough, she didn't orgasm at all, she had to do it harder or she'd go completely out if her mind...!

"The beauty of this variation," said Claire's voice lazily, "is that it won't let you actually come. You can do anything you want, but the charm won't let up. I think some time with intolerable sexual frustration is a fitting punishment, don't you?"

Luna couldn't answer. She was vaguely aware that tears were running down her cheek as she panted and moaned and grunted without a voice and without a sound, masturbating furiously and to absolutely no avail.

"Of course, all you have to do," said Claire's voice, from somewhere a little further away, as if the girl was leaving, "is to cancel the charm with a 'Finite Incantatem,' and you'll have a nice, long orgasm, and it'll all be over. But oh!" the voice tried (and failed) to sound shocked. "You can't speak, can you? And you don't learn non-verbal magic until your sixth year! Oh dear, oh dear! Well, I'm sure a clever girl like you will think of something. Have a nice walk back to the castle, Loony!"

And then the voice faded away, signalling Claire's departure, and Luna was alone, alone with her burning pussy and aching body and hands that did no good at all.

She would have screamed, if she had been able to.




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Ginny Weasley was probably the most obvious choice for someone who would be willing to help Luna out, so naturally she was the next person Neville approached. He tried to get her attention several times during the victory party for Gryffindor, but she was always surrounded by people, talking and joking and laughing, which made it hard for him to approach unnoticed.

It wasn't until he managed to catch her by the drinks table, where she was getting herself some Butterbeer (with her pet Pygmy Puff, Arnold, riding on her shoulders, and Hermione's cat following her closely, meowing hopefully).

"Ginny," he said, leaning towards her so she'd hear him over the chatter of everyone else. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Trying to steal my girl, are you, Neville?" shouted Dean Thomas from the other part of the room. "Just joking!" he added hurriedly when Ginny turned to glare at him.

"Hmmph," said Ginny, but she was all smiles again as she turned back to Neville. "Talk away, I'm all -- will you stop that already?!" she shot down at Crookshanks. "You can't have Arnold and that's final!"

"Mrrrow?" said Crookshanks pleadingly.

"No," said Ginny firmly, before returning to Neville again. "Sorry about that, Neville. What was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Er... Luna Lovegood, actually," said Neville. "I mean, you're her friend, aren't you? I know she likes you, at least...she always speaks very highly of you."

"Of course I'm her friend," said Ginny. She paused, stroking Arnold with one finger. "Haven't seen her around much lately, come to think of it. But I've been awfully busy, with school, and Quidditch, and... and Dean, of course... But she's all right, isn't she? Did something happen?"

"Well, sort of," said Neville. "You know how the other Ravenclaws don't treat her very well, right? I've noticed that it's getting worse lately. I think she's really miserable, she just doesn't show it very well. You know what she's like."

Ginny nodded. "I didn't know it was getting that bad, though," she said, sounding guilty. "I haven't been much of a friend to her lately, have I? I've barely talked to her all month."

"Like you said, you've been busy," said Neville. "I wouldn't have noticed it myself, except... well, I happened to catch her getting, er, bullied by an older Ravenclaw girl, and after that I began noticing it more... I've tried to keep an eye on her, but, well, you're in her year, and you're a girl, and..."

"...And I can go some places you can't," Ginny finished for him. "Of course I'll help, Neville. And I'll get Dean to help, too. I really didn't know how bad things were getting, or I would have made sure to keep an eye on her already. Luna is lucky to have someone like you around, who notices things like that..."

Neville smiled briefly and thanked her for helping.

With three members of the DA -- four, if Ginny got Dean to help as well -- watching Luna, Claire might have a harder time getting her way with her. Of course, the system wasn't completely ideal, as Luna would still be without protection when in the Ravenclaw common room and dormitories (and somehow, he didn't think it would be a good idea to notify the Ravenclaw members of the DA; he had no guarantee they wouldn't be on Claire's side), but if Luna saw that she had people standing up for her, she might find the strength to stand up for herself.

Maybe he'd even manage to get Harry, Ron and Hermione to help as well... He'd have to see about that, probably after the party. They all looked a little busy right now.




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Sometim e before curfew, Ginny had taken Dean outside for a breath of fresh air -- and hopefully a little uninterrupted snogging -- while Crookshanks decided to still follow her around, even though she had long since put Arnold back in his cage.

"That is one stubborn cat," Dean remarked as Crookshanks meowed again, looking up at Ginny. "Seems like he thinks you have an unlimited supply of Pygmy Puffs in your pocket."

"He just thinks that if he looks cute enough, I'll give him what he wants," said Ginny. "That's what I get for always tossing him snacks when Hermione stays at the Burrow."

Crookshanks looked so indignant at her words that Ginny had to laugh. She bent down to pet him apologetically, but he avoided her hand and instead ran in front of her feet so she nearly tripped, before taking off into the darkness.

"And touchy as well," said Ginny with a sigh. "I'm sorry, all right?" she called after the cat. "I didn't mean anything by it!"

"He'll come around," said Dean. And then, they moved over to more important things, such as kissing each other, and they quite easily managed to forget about Crookshanks.

That is, until they heard a loud yowl from somewhere out there in the dark. Followed by a long series of meows, as if someone -- an orange-furred, bandy-legged someone, to be exact -- was calling for them.

They looked at each other. "Now what?" said Dean. "Did he find a mouse that's too big to drag back to the castle by himself or something?"

"I'd better go and check," Ginny muttered, untangling herself from him. "Hermione would never forgive me if I let anything happen to her cat." With that, she followed the sound of Crookshanks's meowing.

She found him a little way away from the castle, pacing around what at first glance looked to be a pile of black cloth lying on the ground, meowing loudly. Upon closer inspection, though, the pile was moving; quivering in an odd way.

It took perhaps ten seconds before Ginny fully realized that it wasn't a pile of cloth, but a person wearing black robes. Someone was lying there, unable to get up!

Ginny hurried up to them, on the verge of panic, and let out a little shriek of surprise as she saw that it was Luna.

The Ravenclaw girl was dirty and covered in sweat, her face tear-streaked, her hair even more mattered and ragged than usual, and her body shaking as she heaved for her breath again and again. She looked up at Ginny without really seeing her, her lips moving but no voice coming out.

"Luna!" Ginny got down on her knees and touched her friend's forehead, but Luna pulled away from Ginny's touch as if it stung her. "What's happened to you? Are you hurt?"

Luna looked like she tried to speak again, but not a word came out. She shuddered and pounded her face against the ground a few times. For a moment, Ginny was at loss as to what to do, but then she realized that Luna, with her constant failed attempts at speaking, had to be under the effects of a Silencing Charm.

At once, Ginny had her wand in her hand. "Finite -- Finite Incantatem!" she managed to say, pointing it at Luna.

At once, Luna let out a huge wail. Her muscles spasmed violently, and Crookshanks almost got hit by her foot as it shot out, before Luna arched her back and looked like she was trying to press herself into the ground while her body shook.

"Aaaaah! Ahhh, God... I. Don't. Be. Lieve. It. Uh! Uh! Uh! Those. Those. Whinglers, aaahhhnnngggg!" Luna's voice was cracked and hoarse.

As Dean came running up, obviously having heard Luna's wailing, the girl finally began calming down, after having spasmed and thrashed against the ground for more than a minute. She lay heavily on the ground, breathing loudly and staring up at the sky with glassy eyes.

"...Luna?" said Ginny, hearing her own voice and how small it sounded.

"Ooooooooh," Luna moaned, breathing deeply. "Oooooohhhh... I never want to do that again..."

"Luna?" Ginny repeated. "Luna, what happened?"

"Isn't that Loony Lovegood?" said Dean, puzzled. "What's with her?"

"I think someone must have hexed her," said Ginny furiously. "Go find Madam Pomfrey!"

"Hex, hex, hex..." Luna murmured as Dean ran. "I think my tits just exploded."

"Er, no, Luna," said Ginny in what she hoped was a calm, reassuring voice. "I think they're still there."

"...Ginny?" said Luna, trying to lift her head and focus but not doing a very good job at it. "I feel icky..."

"Relax," said Ginny. "Dean's gone to get Madam Pomfrey. Luna, who did this to you?"

"Neville's going to be so disappointed," Luna croaked. "I promised him I'd try to stand up for myself... but this time it really WAS magic, at least..." This longer sentence seemed to take up most of her energy, because her head fell back to the ground and her eyes closed. She lay limp on the ground, her breath slowing down considerably.

"Was it..." Ginny swallowed. "Was it one of the Ravenclaws, Luna? Or... or was it the same person who got Katie Bell?"

The only answer was a light snore. Exhaustion had taken its toll, and Luna had sunk into a deep sleep, not waking up when Dean returned with Madam Pomfrey, or even when she was lifted, through Madam Pomfrey's expert use of the Mobilicorpus charm, up in the air and taken up to the hospital wing (Crookshanks walking in front of them as if he was the one leading the way).

After Dean and Ginny had been assured by Madam Pomfrey that Luna would be fine, she just needed rest, the two Gryffindors went to find Neville.

"You were absolutely right," said Ginny furiously. "Those Ravenclaws have gone much too far! I don't know what kind of curse that was, but it was horrible!"

"How could anyone do anything like that to a fellow student?" said Dean. "D'you know who did it, Neville?"

Neville looked uncomfortable, just shaking his head.

"Well," said Ginny. "From now on, anyone who so much as looks at Luna the wrong way are going to be on the receiving end of a Bat Bogey Hex! I promise!"




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Ov er the next few days, Ginny Weasley proved herself as good as her word; she became Luna's fiercest protector and was always ready to leap to her defense, no matter the situation. Even the nickname "Loony Lovegood" almost died out during this period, because Ginny would lose her temper with anyone she heard using it -- and Ginny had extremely good hearing and a temper not many students were willing to risk.

Dean and Seamus stayed a bit more in the background, both being busy enough with school things and not as close friends with Luna as Ginny was from beforehand, but Neville would occasionally see one, or both, of them, "casually" standing around nearby where Luna was, keeping an eye on the Ravenclaws.

Neville was happy that they seemed to take their "mission" seriously. He had hoped that he might get Harry, Ron and Hermione in on it, too, but unfortunately neither of them proved approachable, and for quite different reasons.

Harry was too preoccupied to really pay much attention when Neville tried talking to him. It was clear that his mind was on other things, and although Neville didn't know exactly what it was, he guessed it probably had something to do with You-Know-Who. Neville's problems always seemed so much smaller when compared to Harry's, so in the end Neville decided not to bother Harry with this.

Hermione was worse. She had been in a foul mood ever since the day of the victory party, and talking to her was more or less the same as asking to get yelled at or even, if she was feeling particularly impatient, a jinx or two thrown after you. (Not that she would have had time in any case -- Hermione had more schoolwork than any of them and rarely had any free time anymore.)

Part of the reason why she was so grumpy was Ron, who had suddenly decided to become Lavender Brown's boyfriend and seemed incapable of doing anything without first kissing her for half an hour. After several failed attempts at a conversation with him without Lavender butting in, Neville finally drew the conclusion that Ron wouldn't be much use at keeping an eye on Luna the way things were now. In fact, Claire could probably have been Avada Kedavraing Luna straight in front of Ron before he managed to stop kissing Lavender long enough to notice.

Still -- even though he couldn't have Harry, Ron or Hermione, Neville was satisfied with the small group he'd managed to gather.

Luna had stayed in the hospital wing for observation a couple of days, but had been released and was now back on her feet, and looking much better than she had for quite some time.

Madam Pomfrey had commented that she was becoming an almost as frequent visitor there as Harry Potter himself, and had asked quite sternly, Luna told Neville later, if she had quite finished experimenting with sexual magic.

"She told me I should just use my hand next time," said Luna thoughtfully, looking at Neville with her solemn silver eyes. "But I don't know. After all this, I don't think I'll ever have any kind of sex again, and I certainly don't feel like masturbating anymore either. It was quite horrible."

"I'm just glad you're better," said Neville.

"Oh, much, thank you!" Luna smiled. "Did you know Hermione's cat is part Kneazle, by the way? He's really rather sweet, even though he always looks so grumpy. He was the one who found me, you know."

It was a little strange hearing Luna talk about creatures that Neville actually knew existed, and not even try to tie them to any kind of government conspiracies or other unbelievable situations. But all in all, she was acting a lot more like her old self again, and he was actually grateful for it. He made a mental note to give Crookshanks a few extra treats as a way of saying thank you.

"What are we going to do about Claire, though?" he mused. "Sooner, or later, she's going to try something again."

"Maybe she is as addicted to me as I was to her," said Luna. "Although she does have a girlfriend. But maybe Marietta just doesn't like to fuck... Oh yes, sorry, you don't like the word 'fuck. I keep forgetting."

"It's all right... I'm getting used to it," said Neville with a slight sigh. "Does Marietta even know what her girlfriend is getting up to, by the way?"

"I don't think so," said Luna. "But she wants to keep her relationship with Claire a secret, you know. Not everybody likes the idea of two girls fuck-- I mean, snogging." She lowered her voice. "Daddy knew two witches once who got fired from their job in the Daily Prophet just because they were lovers. The editor said that the Prophet was a moral and decent publication, and that they wouldn't stand for that sort of thing. Their story was printed in The Quibbler, but nobody seemed to believe it."

Neville wasn't quite sure whether he would have believed it either, had it not been for the undeniable proof he'd had in the last couple of years about the true nature of the Prophet. Any editor who would start campaigns to discredit the names of Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore, would be liable to do anything, in Neville's opinion.

The news of Marietta made sense, though. While Marietta Edgecombe was the one responsible for Dolores Umbridge finding out about the DA last year, the girl had never struck him as actively cruel or malicious -- just very cowardly, and, sadly, not all that bright. He could actually sympathize with that; how often hadn't he felt like a stupid coward himself?

What someone like Marietta was doing in a place like Ravenclaw, he had no idea, but then -- he often had no idea what someone like him was doing in Gryffindor. Wouldn't a true Gryffindor, the very moment he'd learned about Claire's treatment of Luna, gone to confront the older Ravenclaw girl, probably hitting her with all sorts of curses and jinxes until she promised not to do it again? But Neville was realistic about his actual ability to do this; not only was Claire a year older than him, but a very gifted witch as well. Trying to directly confront her would only result in Neville ending up in the hospital wing, or worse. And that certainly wouldn't help Luna.

He did, in the end, decide to confront Marietta, though.

He managed to catch the Ravenclaw girl the same afternoon, up in the Owlery and apparently in the midst of sending a letter. He noticed that the word 'SNEAK' was still vaguely visible on her face behind layers of make-up, and vaguely wondered just how strong Hermione's jinx had been.

"Oh... Longbottom," Marietta said absent-mindedly, tying the neatly-folded paper to the leg of one of the school owls, which looked rather bored with the entire ordeal. "Hello, how are you?"

"Fine, thank you," said Neville. "Can I ask you a, well, a personal question?" He was really getting good at going up and talking to people about uncomfortable subjects, he'd noticed; the old Neville would have stuttered and blushed and probably tripped over his feet at some point.

Marietta shrugged as she finished tying the message to the owl, watching it take off.

"It's about Luna Lovegood, actually," Neville began, but was interrupted before he could get any further by a loud, indignant shriek from Marietta.

"Not YOU as well!" she yelled. "I'm sorry I ever called her 'Loony,' all right? Are you happy now?! First Ginny Weasley, and then that nutter Finnigan, and now you! What is it with you Gryffindors and Luna Lovegood?!"

Neville inadvertedly took a step backwards. "Um," he said, slipping back into his old 'stuttering' persona for a moment. "Er, well, she was, you know, a very, a very prominent member of the DA..."

"The what?"

Neville suddenly remembered that Marietta had had her memories modified shortly after selling the DA out to Umbridge, and it seemed like nobody had bothered to re-inform her about the DA's existence since then. "Nothing," he said quickly. "It was, er, the code name we used for that little trip to the Ministry at the end of last year."

Marietta stared at him blankly.

Neville gave up. "It's not important. The thing is, Luna is a good friend, and I just noticed that Claire Savelle..."

"What do you know about me and Claire Savelle?!" Marietta screamed, looking slightly hysterical. "Oh, God! You were spying on us that day! I told Claire we shouldn't have been snogging in that public place! I knew we'd be discovered! You and your Gryffindor pals have probably spent all your evenings since then scoffing at Marietta the dyke, haven't you?! As if it wasn't bad enough that everybody keeps calling me 'Sneak' because of this stupid acne, now everyone's shunning me because I'm a lesbian!" The last words were almost inaudible, because Marietta's voice had reached such a high-pitched level that it could have been used in a dog flute. The owls looked at her, startled.

"I haven't told anyone!" said Neville, feeling the situation spinning rapidly out of control. "It doesn't matter to me if you're a lesbian, honestly!"

"And now you're broadcasting it to the entire school!" she yelled.

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are! I just heard you!! You said out loud that I was a lesbian! Don't deny it!"

"Well, but you said it first!" Neville squeaked, taking another step back and nearly slipping on the bird droppings on the floor. "And, and I haven't been spying! It was really because of Claire that --"

"Claire told you?!"

"Er, well, no, she... she sort of told Luna that..."

"CLAIRE TOLD LOONY LOVEGOOD?!" This time, Marietta's voice was so loud that half the owls in the Owlery took to their wings and flew out of the windows. "That does it! We're through!! When that love letter I just sent to her arrives, I'll steal it from her and tear it to pieces!"

She pushed Neville aside and marched out of the Owlery.

Neville struggled to keep his balance, but lost the struggle, and the next thing he knew, he was sitting on the floor, in the middle of the foul-smelling owl droppings, trying to work out what in the world had just happened.

Why would this have come as such a shock on Marietta? After all, Claire had been kissing her in Luna's bed on several occasions... how could Marietta have thought even for a moment that the younger girl didn't know?

It made absolutely no sense.




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Luna could inform him, later on, that Claire and Marietta had had a violent row in the Ravenclaw common room and now they weren't speaking to each other.

"It was really strange," she said. "I'd never seen Marietta so angry. Not even Cho managed to calm her down, and that's the first time that's ever happened. I wonder if Marietta was possessed by a Whingler as well? Only it would have been one that didn't care that much about sex but liked better to make its human really angry. You know, the kind that the Ministry kept sending after Harry last year to make him seem emotionally unstable. I think Daddy is looking at publishing an article about that in the next issue of The Quibbler."

Of course, Neville thought, if everything The Quibbler had articles about was true, the Ministry had to be demons in disguise or something. (He briefly wondered if he should ask whether Luna's father had ever printed an article about that, but thought better of it.) Marietta's overly violent reaction still didn't make much sense to HIM, but there was really nobody else to ask at the moment.

The up-side of it all was that Claire's desire for Luna seemed to all but vanish after the row; at least she made no more attempts to seduce or manipulate her for the following couple of days.

It's hard to say if this happy state of affairs would have continued, or if Claire would eventually start putting the moves on Luna again, but on the third day after Luna had been released from the hospital wing, something rather unexpected happened.




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Author's notes: It's getting clearer than ever that Claire Savelle is not a very ideal person to have any sort of relationship with...

Marietta's characterization came as a complete surprise to me as I wrote it. She doesn't get much development in the books, just being described as one of Cho Chang's 'usually giggling' friends. But I think it's not too far a stretch, perhaps, to say that she hasn't been very emotionally stable since that Memory Charm, not to mention Hermione's curse. It's not easy having the word 'SNEAK' scrawled in acne across your face when nobody will tell you why. The overly violent reaction... well, the reasons for it will be dealt with in the next chapter. Despite what Luna thinks, it definitely wasn't a Whingler... the Ministry only uses those on wizards and witches who have left school.

Thanks to my LJ-friend, Chanpuppy, for the Sensualis spell. She pointed out, quite logically, that if wizards had a spell to cause physical pain, like Crucio, or for that matter, spells to affect someone's mood, like the Cheering Charms, they would almost certainly have spells that caused sexual pleasure.