The Chamber Opens Again

By the time Edmund and Luna reached Celestia's clearing, the rain had begun to fade.

The unicorn saw Edmund and trotted over at once, lowering her head to nuzzle his shoulder. Edmund stroked her mane, then offered the first potion bottle. Celestia sniffed it, recognized his magic, and drank without hesitation.

Luna stood very still.

"Hello," she said softly. "I am Luna."

Celestia turned her head. For a moment, girl and unicorn stared at each other in complete silence. Then Celestia gave a gentle sound. Luna tilted her head. "I am human, not a strange creature." Edmund paused.

"You understood her?"

"Not words," Luna said. "Feelings."

Celestia huffed.

"She says I am more pleasant than the two girls you brought before."

Edmund coughed. Cho and Hermione would have opinions about that.

Celestia finished the potion and folded her legs beneath her, resting so the magic could settle. Edmund checked the flow of power around her and confirmed there was no problem.

Luna sat on a fallen log nearby, still watching the unicorn.

"If unicorns are real," she said, "then Crumple-Horned Snorkacks must be real too."

"That is not exactly how evidence works."

"It is how hope works."

The answer was soft enough that Edmund did not tease her.

"Why do you want to find one so badly?"

Luna looked up at the clearing's silver leaves.

"Dad says that if I find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, I might meet Mum again in my dreams."

Edmund went quiet.

He knew what had happened to Luna's mother. A spell experiment had gone wrong. Luna had been there. Xenophilius Lovegood, eccentric as he was, had apparently given his daughter a beautiful impossible thing to chase because grief needed somewhere to go.

There were cruel lies. There were selfish lies.

And then there were lies told by someone who had no idea how else to keep a child's heart from breaking.

Edmund looked at Luna's calm face and said carefully, "If I ever find reliable information about one, I will tell you."

Luna smiled.

"I know."

She said it with such simple trust that Edmund could not answer for a moment.

They stayed in the clearing until Celestia fell asleep. When they returned toward the castle, the rain had stopped completely.

"Luna!"

Ginny Weasley came running from the direction of the grounds, hair damp and face anxious. She slowed when she saw Edmund.

"There you are. I looked everywhere. You were out in the rain?"

"I found a unicorn," Luna said.

Ginny stared at her, then at Edmund, clearly unsure whether to ask. Edmund only smiled.

"She is fine. Make sure she gets back to Ravenclaw."

Ginny nodded quickly. She took Luna's sleeve, and the two girls headed toward the castle. Edmund watched them go.

"When did you start getting so close to this first-year Ravenclaw?"

The voice came from behind him. Edmund turned.

Cho stood with her arms crossed. Hermione was beside her, cheeks slightly puffed, trying very hard to look as though she was not jealous.

Edmund explained the rain, the roommate, and Luna's search. By the end, Cho's expression had softened.

"Someone sent her into the forest as a joke?"

"Most likely."

Cho's eyes cooled. Hermione frowned as well. "That is horrible."

"Keep an eye on her when you can," Edmund said to Cho. "Ravenclaw listens to you more than most students."

Cho nodded. As Ravenclaw's Seeker and Edmund's girlfriend, Cho had enough standing among the girls in the House to make people hesitate. If she decided Luna should not be bullied, most of them would think twice.

Hermione's expression relaxed.

"That is different, then."

Edmund looked at her.

"What did you think it was?"

"Nothing."

Cho smiled faintly. Hermione looked away. December arrived soon after.

Edmund continued attending classes, training the group, visiting Celestia, and waiting for Voldemort to make his next move. The Slytherin token proved more useful than expected. It allowed him to move through parts of Hogwarts that should have been restricted, and even the portraits and armor responded to him with unusual obedience.

Within the castle's older magic, especially anything tied to Slytherin's legacy, the token gave him a level of authority no student should have possessed.

After Ravenclaw defeated Slytherin in the second Quidditch match of the season, Edmund returned to his dormitory and had barely sat down when the token in his pocket grew warm.

He took it out. A serpent-shaped line of green light crawled across the surface. Slytherin's old, cold voice sounded in his mind.

"The Chamber has been opened."

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