A/N: Well, we're not even going to try and excuse this chapter's lateness. We'd like to extend an apology to our readers for the long delay, as well as the sheer badness of this chapter. Our writing skills, if we ever had them, are quite rusty. Thank you all, and a special thanks to all of you who still read this.

Disclaimer: JK owns all the characters, and we don't. Pity. Also, we are in no way making a profit on this story.

Chapter Four: Expugno Animiae

The next morning, Luna slowly traipsed to the Headmaster's office, traveling as slowly as she dared. "Well, that didn't go as planned," she thought inanely, her feet dragging noisily over the flagstones.

Finally coming to a halt in front of his quarters, she stared perplexedly at the scowling gargoyle. After waiting for a few minutes with no results, she sighed and cleared his throat pointedly. "My good sir," she began, directly addressing the ugly creature, "I request permission to enter the noble rooms within-"

Suddenly, the gargoyle came alive and shifted sideways, revealing a familiar figure within. Albus Dumbledore smiled benignly at Luna. "I am not so sure that he will respond to such words, as kind as they are," he told her, blue eyes twinkling merrily, "The password for this week is 'Butterfinger'- Professor Lupin sent me some muggle candy yesterday, and it's quite delicious, if I do say so myself. You know, it's remarkable what muggles create even without the use of magic…"

He guided Luna up the winding staircase and into his office, continuing his rambling while looking at her critically through the corner of his eye.

The girl's straggly locks seemed even more unkempt than usual, and she looked as though she hadn't slept for a fortnight.

Dumbledore seated himself at his desk, and gestured to a nearby chair. Luna sat down quietly, a cold knot of apprehension twisting unpleasantly in her stomach.

"Miss Lovegood," he began, still kindly despite the situation, "There have been some serious charges made against you by Mr. Potter and Miss Cunningham. Professor McGonagall also stands by their story. If their account proves to be true…" He paused, letting the words sink in. "You will face indefinite suspension and possible expulsion from this institute."

Luna paled. Her father would never let her work with her at the Quibbler if she didn't get a proper education!

"However," Dumbledore continued, "I would nevertheless like to hear your version of these goings-on."

Luna swallowed heavily. Faltering for a moment- She had never been good with words- she started her tale.

Soon, words came pouring easily out of her mouth as she described her search for the Gwyllion, Chloe's threat, the sighting of the Dark Mark on Chloe's body, the suspicious figures she had seen in the Forbidden Forest, her distress at the great risk Harry was taking by allowing himself to associate with her so blindly.

"She's up to no good," she informed him unnecessarily.

Dumbledore regarded her silently long after she came to a stuttering halt, all merriment gone from his level gaze.

He thought back to a time when he first saw Chloe Cunningham, clinging to her father's arm. Virgil Cunningham was a wealthy pureblood and the Premier Wizard of Sanctuary, Gringotts' rival. He had been suspected of Dark activities and tried during Crouch's Ministry purges, only to be acquitted soon after by the Minister of Magic himself.

He remembered Chloe gazing haughtily through demurely lowered lashes at the Wizengamot in the courtroom. She was the very model of an upper-class young witch, hands meekly folded in her lap, gleaming hair and robes perfectly arranged, an expression of polite disinterest on her face.

Only the slight, almost unnoticeable glint in her eyes had suggested that there was something unusual about Chloe; something feral and macabre and wickedly mad. She had been eleven years of age, then.

Dumbledore sighed, and closed his eyes momentarily before turning toward Luna once again. "Miss Lovegood," he said slowly and deliberately, "Madame Pomfrey, one of the most experienced mediwitches alive, has already examined Chloe for traces of malicious magic. She has found no magical marks of any kind."

Luna felt her veins turning to ice within her.

"Nor has Hagrid reported any breach of security in the Forbidden Forest, and even Miss Cunningham's threat could have merely been the actions of a lovesick and very territorial young girl," His visage hardened slightly. "Have you any other evidence to present?"

Slowly, Luna shook her head.

"Nevertheless, I believe you," he said quietly, making Luna look up with sudden hope. "However, without any physical evidence to support your rather extraordinary tale, I cannot take any action. Her record at Hogwarts is quite clean, and her father will not take the news of a baseless investigation kindly, to say the least."

"Is there truly nothing you can do, sir?" Luna asked, agitatedly running a hand through her limp hair.

"There isn't," Dumbledore replied gently, "Still, rest assured that Miss Cunningham will be watched closely from now on."

Resigned, Luna stood up to leave.

"Oh, and Miss Lovegood?" the Headmaster added as she reached the door, "I'm afraid that your punishment must stand. You will be serving detention with Professor McGonagall every evening for the next two weeks."

0.0.0

The punishment barely registering in her mind, Luna rushed off to the Hospital Wing.

When she arrived, she felt her heartstrings tug with an emotion unknown to her at the sight of Harry's tousled black head bent over Chloe's (apparently) sleeping form. She sighed, willing herself to be strong.

Squaring her thin shoulders, she moved towards them, making as little noise as possible. Her hand was halfway toward his shoulder when he abruptly turned his head and noticed her presence.

"Luna!" he half snarled, half gasped; His wide green eyes shining with incredulity and a good deal of anger.

Luna's automatic defense died in her throat upon seeing his face. Hermione had had reason to worry about him. There were bags under his eyes, making him look as though he hadn't slept for a long time (which, she noted, he probably hadn't). His skin was a pasty shade of white, his features more waif-like than ever.

Chloe grinned in her false sleep, and Luna found herself opening and closing her mouth as she desperately she tried to say something intelligent and decisive to make Harry understand.

"You look like death!" she blurted, biting her lip in frustration.

Harry glared increased in intensity by a thousandfold, and she hastily saw herself to the door. She'd get her chance soon… hopefully.

0.0.0

The dim lighting within the Astronomy Tower of Hogwarts cast the shadow of a young female clearly upon a mildewed wall. Longhaired and curvaceous, the girl carefully locked the door, ensured that her magical wards and Untraceable charms were still in place, and held her wand up to her face.

Steadily, her features began to shift and reconfigure. Her curling hair became lank and dark, her curves flattened, and her doll-like features slowly morphed into a face that, while not ugly, was completely non-descript. If anyone at Hogwarts had seen her then, she would have been completely unrecognizable, devoid as she was of the advanced glamour charm that had given her beauty. But those that didn't know her… knew her only as Chloe Louise Cunningham, mild-mannered model student and daughter.

Glancing around once more, she produced a glowing blue orb from her pocket. The orb, hardly the size of her palm, floated up from her hands and hovered in front of her eyes, growing in size until it completely filled her vision.

Within the floating crystal sphere a face appeared. Huge red eyes bore into her, searching and imposing. She bowed low before them.

" Master," she whispered, an ecstatic smile on her lips.

"My patience grows short, Cunningham," the face snapped impatiently, snake-like nostrils flaring.

"Everything is going according to plan, my Lord. You will have the boy within a month's time-" she cried, composure quickly crumbling as she groveled before the grotesque face trapped in the shining orb. .

"The Dark Lord does not wait, Cunningham," the thing answered silkily, "I want the boy delivered to me within the end of this week."

"But master…"

"Failure will not be tolerated," the thing hissed, smiling thinly at the look of horror and anxiety upon her face.

0.0.0

A few days later, Luna stared distractedly into space as she poured milk and syrup onto her eggs. She had watched Harry and Chloe carefully, even obsessively, for some time. No one noticed the Ravenclaw's new fixation- Loony Lovegood was always obsessed with something or another. Besides, who would waste their time with Loony and that silly magazine of hers?

"Sometimes," she thought, "It is convenient to be invisible." During her hours of painstaking observation, Luna had noticed many things about Harry Potter, which (she admitted to herself with a faint blush) had nothing to do with her objective.

Such as the particular way he ate, with the fork in his right hand instead of his left, the kind of sweets he preferred and the ones he avoided; the effortless way he moved in the skies during Quidditch…

She shook her head, dismissing such foolish thoughts from her mind and focused on the task at hand. She'd noticed that there seemed to be a kind of inner struggle within Harry that was taking a severe toll upon him. His body spoke of fatigue; he seemed tired, and ate little.

She had passed him once in the halls and noticed that his eyes, too, were glazed, as though he was in a constant state of half-consciousness.

Steeling her nerves, she resolved to get a closer look at him that evening.

After her brutal detention (McGonagall had made her clean the cages of her various magical creatures. Luna had acquired an astonishing amount of bruises, burns, and bites in the course of two hours), she managed to find Harry in the library, poring through the Quidditch section. Casually perusing the shelf before her, she wandered toward him. When she judged herself to be close enough, she stumbled directly into him. Books and parchments scattered all over the floor as Luna's slim body was strewn across Harry's emaciated frame.

Ignoring his shouts, she carefully studied his face, noting that there was a faint golden sheen surrounding his slightly dilated pupils. What she hadn't expected though, was for her face to grow hot, and her breath to hitch at his touch.

Harry angrily made a move to roughly push her off, but found that he was too weak and resolved to tell her off instead. He opened his mouth to growl something highly offensive. Instead, all that came out was a hoarse whisper. "Luna…"

"Harry?" she whispered uncertainly.

For a split second, the sheen disappeared and a look of confusion came onto his face. However, the strangeness reappeared an instant later and he managed to shove her aside.

"Watch where you're going, Lovegood!" he spat, gathering his things and stalking past her.

Slightly shaken, Luna gathered her books in her arms and uneasily watched him go. Then, she started searching the shelves in earnest.

0.0.0

After several hours of searching, she gave up her inhibitions and searched in the Restricted Section- Firenze had given her a temporary pass during her project on the origins of and charms affecting magical constellations. In a battered and grimy book called Arcomancy: The Forbidden Art, Luna finally found what she was looking for:

Expugno Animiae

Other Names: "Heart in Chains", "Love's Captor"

Classification: Forbidden Charm Class A

History: The curse was discovered in the early 1400s by Count Vizernkoff to capture the heart of his beloved lady, Ambellina, who did not return his affections. Ambellina's lover Sir Ulrich Frye was responsible for the creation of the counter-curse. However, the counter-course also caused Ambellina's demise, since it was administered after the curse's effects had become permanent. The Wizard's Council banned the curse soon afterwards. However, that did not prevent the spell from being developed and refined further by various Dark wizards and witches, as well as several "alchemist" wizards living among muggles.

Uses: If correctly cast, the spell will coerce its victim into believing that s/he is in love with the caster. If the curse is in effect for more than a moon's full cycle, the effects will become permanent, and could possibly be fatal for the victim.

Signs of the Curse: A person under the influence of this charm will attempt a struggle against it, which will result in lack of appetite, fatigue, insomnia, and dilation of the pupils. The distinguishing mark of this spell is normally a faint yellowish or golden sheen surrounding the eyes.

-

Luna stared at the page grimly before slamming it shut and slipping it in her bag. She couldn't do this alone.

She ran to the Gryffindor Tower, and banged ceaselessly on a furious Fat Lady before Hermione opened the portrait hole, yawning, with Ron looking blearily over shoulder. Apparently, they had been having a late-night study session (Although that didn't quite explain their rather rumpled state). Without bothering to explain, she shoved the book into Hermione's hands and marched into the common room.

"Luna, what is going on here?" Ron cried, glaring at her angrily, "Have you gone completely mad?"

Luna hesitated and muttered something vague about the eyes of Hippogriffs before launching onto her story.

After she finished, Hermione eyed her critically, searching for the lie in her words. Finding none, she nodded. "There seemed to be something suspicious about that girl," she said thoughtfully, "She never seemed quite real to me… and I've never seen Harry so unhealthily obsessed before. He looks like… like hell."

Ron still looked unconvinced. "How do we know that she isn't simply making this up?"

"If Dumbledore believes her, then we will as well," Hermione said firmly.

Luna beamed tiredly at the both of them, glad that she had at least a few people on her side. She was used to being ignored, but the complete ostracism from the students body that she had faced after her "brutal treatment" of the popular Chloe was becoming too much, even for her.

Ron looked at her dubiously, but quieted after Hermione gave him a pointed look.

Hermione walked to her cluttered table and pulled out a lunar chart. Consulting it for a few moments, she gasped. "We don't have much time! We need to perform the counter-curse immediately!"

The girls began working feverishly on the hand movements and pronunciation required to perform the charm, while Ron ran to his dorm room to find Harry, who had claimed illness and gone to bed early.

Several minutes later, Ron rushed back down, freckles standing out clearly on his milk-white face.

"Harry's gone."

End of Chapter Four

A/N: Not our best work, we know. But please give us some feedback. We'd really like to improve.

Review Responses

Celestial Night: We're glad that we could make your birthday a little better. Happy (extremely belated) birthday from both of us.

Brittney: Well, you know why now, yes? ;)

LadyFox: Well, we didn't update all that soon, did we? Thank you, and apologies.

CS June: Thank you!

Jennyroseangel: Glad you liked! And sorry for the lateness… life just got in the way.

Hollytimmons: Chloe is evil, isn't she? But Sarah just can't help but love her in her evil-ness. She's such a bitch.

Petites Sorci: Merci! Harry aime Luna, sans doûte. Nous esperons que tu liras cette chapitre et l'aimeras aussi. ;)

Miss Piratess: Wow, the detailed reviews were wonderful. And this technically isn't a secret identity- It's me, Sarah, collaborating with another friend. I know Chloe gives off a very strong stench of Mary-Sue at first, but she really is an evil whore, as you know. Thanks again!

Lara Potter: No worries, we do the same thing. ;) Thanks!

P0pptartt: Thanks!

Mtm123: Sorry, I guess we didn't hurry as much as you'd have liked. Thanks, though!

Winky-wink: Wow, thank you!

Tuathil: No problem. We're not exactly the best writers ourselves, and you have improved a lot. Thanks!