Enigmatical Prince

5

The next day, the three of them set out to look for Luna in order to ask her about the shift in behavior of the Ravenclaw students and also to see if she knows anything more about the Drake family. They knew that she is an exceptionally smart girl, with a penchant for the odd and mysterious, so there was a good chance that she might know something. They spot Luna walking through the corridors alone and decide to approach her. "Hey Luna!" Harry calls out, running to Luna with Hermione and Ron following him. Luna turns around to face them and smiles her usual wistful smile at the sight of the three of them approaching her and seems happy to see them. She doesn't appear hesitant or nervous at all, but rather has a calm and relaxed demeanor. "Hello Harry, Hermione, and Ron, Do you need anything?" Luna asks in her usual wistful tone of voice. "Yes, we were wondering if we could ask you a few questions" Harry responds politely, not wanting to be too abrupt with her.

Just as Luna was about to respond, a voice from amongst the Ravenclaw students called out to her. She turns to look towards the voice, seeming a bit distracted by it. The voice that called Luna belonged to Cygnus, the younger Drake brother was gesturing with his hands for her to join him and some of their fellow Ravenclaw as they made their way to the Great Hall for lunch. Luna turns back to Harry, Hermione and Ron smiling apologeticaly. The trio smiles back at her, politely gesturing for her to join her housemates for lunch at the Great hall.

Luna smiles and runs off towards Cygnus and the other Ravenclaws who are on their way to lunch at the great hall. Ron leans over to Harry and Hermione to get their opinion on the interaction. "Now what?" Ron asks. "I think we should see if we could talk to her again later today." Hermione suggests. The three of them had tried to speak to her while she was on her way to lunch with her housemates but since she had been called over by the others, there wasn't much of an opportunity to ask her any questions. So now they were thinking of trying again. Ron and Harry nod in agreement as Hermione was probably right and they should give it another shot to try to get some answers from the young Ravenclaw.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione try their best to catch Luna again and try to speak to her but for some reason, they are always a bit too late as she would always be called away by another student or would already be in conversation with Cygnus. They couldn't understand how it seemed like the Ravenclaws just kept popping up and calling her away. Hermione had started to get suspicious that perhaps Cygnus was the reason why their attempts to speak to Luna kept failing. It was almost as if he purposely was making sure they were never able to get the opportunity to talk to her alone. Perhaps he didn't want them to know something or wanted to keep something away from them. "Do you think Cygnus could be purposefully preventing us from talking to Luna?"
She asks Harry and Ron.

Hermione shared her suspicions with Harry and Ron, explaining how they have tried talking to Luna on multiple occasions but keep meeting with similar setbacks each time. There was definitely something suspicious going on and she believed that Cygnus might be the reason why it wasn't working out for them. Harry and Ron agreed with her and were confused as to why the other Ravenclaw students kept showing up and stealing Luna's attention from them. "It sounds like he is purposely preventing us from talking to her because he doesn't want us to know something." Hermione says and Ron and Harry nod in agreement. They also wondered why the other Ravenclaw students kept showing up and distracting her attention from them. They figured that it probably had to be Cygnus's influence and him using his popularity among their fellow Ravenclaw students to prevent them from speaking to Luna. "But why? What is he and his family hiding?" Harry asks out loud. "That's the million dollar question right there!" Ron replies quickly and she is also wondering the same thing as Harry. "Why would they go to such lengths to prevent us from talking to Luna? What are they hiding? And what does it have to do with their secretive family?"

Hermione's mind instinctively wanders back to the conflict between the two Drake brothers in the corridor. She is trying to remember their intense argument and exactly what it was about. What could they have possibly been fighting over that was so important and caused such a heated confrontation? "Do you think it's related to Cygnus and Pisces's argument the other night?" Ron asks, the argument was very heated and it would have gone physical if he and Harry hadn't interfered. Ron's suggestion definitely resonated with Harry and Hermione. Both of them agreed that there could be a potential connection between the argument between the two Drake brothers and the mysterious shift in behavior by the Ravenclaw students toward Luna. It seemed like something bigger was going on and it was all related. Harry realized that maybe their investigation should focus on the Drake brothers first.

"We should probably just focus on investigating Cygnus and Pisces first before anything else." Harry suggests, since they weren't exactly making any progress with asking Luna anything. Harry's suggestion is spot on and Ron and Hermione quickly agree with him. It's true that they haven't really made any progress with asking Luna any questions so perhaps it would be better to focus their attention on the Drake brothers first. They figure that if they could find out what the Drake brothers are hiding, then maybe they could also understand the situation with Luna.

When the trio arrive at the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning, they are all stunned to see a note suddenly appear in front of them. It was as if it had magically manifested out of thin air. Harry takes the note and opens it immediately.

The note read, "You shouldn't involve yourselves with the Drakes." The message was written in an elegant handwriting, which seemed slightly familiar. The three of them turned around to see who had written the note but couldn't see anyone. They looked around them to find the person that had left the note but the Great Hall was full of students. It appeared that whoever had left the note for them, had remained anonymous.