Luna Lovegood's Other, Crazier Half

A Subtle Retribution

They had arrived, or Clarisse arrived. Luna was glad. It had been quite the experience.

Luna had been getting up in the middle of the night. As a result, she had taken to walking barefoot into the night in order to get to the tree quietly. She didn't realize it had become somewhat of a habit until she started sleepwalking as the tree grew worse.

Her siblings didn't think it was pleasant. It unnerved them, but they were half god. They could get over it.

It wasn't really Luna's business to care.

At the end of the summer, no one had ever pieced together what Luna did. Luna was glad. She didn't want the attention, didn't want to explain how she had done it, because it felt wrong

Mixing the two worlds.

They weren't supposed to mix.

Not now, not ever.

And she had just done everything her instincts had told her not to do.

Annabeth was too much of an emotional wreck to notice Luna's sullenness.

Malcolm did.

Luna loved Malcolm.

"Hey, Little Luna. Are you alright?"

Luna was sitting at the edge of the forest, and she shifted her gaze from the stump she was staring at to an approaching Malcolm. The strange creature perched on the stump was new, and she had never seen one like it before. Luna was studying it, so she could tell her father later. He had been keeping a record of all the creatures she'd told him about. Perhaps, it was time Luna copied it and started working on it on her own.

She was getting old enough to know just how much the Lovegood's eccentricity was driving a wedge between her father and the rest of the world.

Luna wanted to help him, but she knew deep down nothing she could say would help her father connect with the things he could see—not what his daughter could see.

"I don't think it's possible to be alright. Something is always wrong."

"Way to be positive. I'm going to take that as a no."

Luna smiled a tad as Malcolm sat down on the stump. The creature that had been sitting on it scurried off the stump to the ground.

"Oh, Wise One, if something is always wrong, what's wrong this time?"

Luna could have led him down a long path of being obscure and avoiding the answers, but if she was going to be honest with herself, she didn't have the energy to. After countless sleepless nights and even sleepwalking, she didn't have much energy left for anything.

Luna sunk further into the tree she was leaning against.

Malcolm's brow frowned in concern. "That's not good," Malcolm sighed. "It's better to talk about it."

Luna frowned. "I always talk about things; it's not my fault if no one knows what I'm talking about," that was a bit harsh for Luna. It must be sleep exhaustion.

Malcolm looked a little shocked—maybe it was Luna being direct. However, she could always be direct, but being direct didn't feel like being Luna. It didn't feel like she was being herself, but she was too tired to be Luna that day. She sighed.

"I'm sorry, Malcolm. I'm just really, really tired."

Malcolm substituted his stricken expression in favor of a small smirk. "You know... I think Tired-Luna has a lot to say."

Oh, no, you don't, Malcolm. She was a child of Athena too. He was planning to use her crankiness to pry more information from her.

He should have known not to make her mad.

"You know, there was a creature on that stump before you sat on it.?

"Oh, really?" He raised an eyebrow.

Luna smiled dreamily, but Malcolm must have seen through the irony she had used to create it.

He smirked. "What kind of creature?"

Luna paused as if considering, even though the creature was staring at her curiously, an arm's length away.

"Oh, he looked like a little elf. He's got long pointy ears—bigger than his head—and a slim body the color of bark. He snaps his fingers, and a bug crawls out of the stump. He's not happy you sat on the stump."

Luna tried her best to look at the creature without Malcolm guessing where she was looking at, so she faced Malcolm but tilted her head ever so slightly. She was used to doing that.

"What should I do?" Asked Malcolm, feigning concern.

Oh, Luna was going to win this. He didn't get to mock her. Not when he knew just how tired she was.

Tired enough to do crazy things.

She already felt bad.

What's the problem if she added a little bit more?

"I think you should apologize. He's right there," and Luna gestured to the general area of the creature. No need to hide her gaze now.

Malcolm got off the stump and bent down in front of the creature; he was mostly looking at it, but just a tad to the right.

"Oh, stump creature: I'm very, very sorry," and Malcolm tried to do an award-winning smile, but there's only so much a child of Athena can do when they feel foolish.

The creature noticed too.

Oh, and he was not happy.

"He didn't seem to like that, maybe you should go," Luna decided to give Malcolm a warning.

Malcolm looked at Luna, hurt. "So, you're just going to push everyone away?" Maybe she was. Maybe she didn't have a choice. At the moment, that didn't matter. What mattered was in the present. It was all that ever mattered.

Luna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was just tired.

"I'm leaving, so suit yourself," and she started walking away.

"Wait, Luna," but when Malcolm got up and took a step, the creature stood underneath his foot, his large, pointy, and apparently very firm ears poked through Malcolm's shoe.

"Oww," and he looked down at the ground at nothing, trying to find what poked him.

Not nothing.

The creature winked at Luna.

That was new.

Luna smiled.

It felt right.

It didn't always have to be the way her instincts wanted.

She kept walking away as Malcolm hopped up and down in pain.

Now, she needed a nap.

Her next stop was Hogwarts.

Perhaps, she might be able to help this time.

Perhaps not.

But she would work on it. Work on figuring out just what she was. Find the answers: Find the solutions.

Naptime.

I'm not going to lie: I don't know how I feel about this chapter. Perhaps you peoples can tell me what you think. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, life is crazy. I just got my wisdom teeth out today...

I hope you're saner than me; I've only had a large protein shake and a small milkshake in the past 24 hours (wisdom teeth),

Me