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Luna sat behind the counter twirling a long strand of her dirty blonde hair around her finger. Though she was bored in that moment, she knew it wouldn’t last long. All too soon her small pop-up shoppe would be packed with bodies as people tried to find the perfect Halloween costume.
Silly muggles, they really were far too predictable for their own good. This wasn’t the first time she’d set up shop and it wouldn’t be the last. It wouldn’t do to stay in one place after all. She didn’t want to get caught. Spending time in Azkaban wasn’t an idea she particularly relished.
Deep down, she felt a little bad for baiting the helpless muggles, like anyone would for teasing a puppy, but the louder voice in her mind told her they deserved it. They deserved everything they got, didn’t they? Loud, ignorant, and entitled, everything that had ever gone really wrong in her life could be traced back to the muggles.
If they hadn’t been ignorant they wouldn’t have sought to hunt down witches and burn them so long ago, causing the magical community to hide away, lulling the rest of the world into a false sense of security. The fear of condemnation and wounded pride was what led the Purebloods to band together under Tom Riddle’s banner, crying out against the injustice they were forced to suffer, all to keep the silly muggles happy in their perfect little bubbles of contentment.
Luna never would have lost her mother if it hadn’t been for the muggles. Her mother never would have been experimenting with those mind-altering potions if she hadn’t felt the need to make the muggles understand magic instead of fearing it. It was the muggles’ ignorance that had taken her mother from her.
Without the cruelty of muggles, Tom Riddle would never have had a platform to build his uprising on. He never would have felt the need to conquer them, prove to them his superiority. He never would have taken such perverse pleasure out of their suffering if they had been kind, instead of shunning him, calling him a freak, making him feel unwanted. It was their fault for all the atrocities Tom would later commit in life, including the death of her own father. Everything could be traced back to the muggles.
There had been a lot of time for reflection during the time she was held in the Malfoy’s dungeons. Long conversations with Draco had shown her the reasoning behind Voldemort’s actions. Eventually, he had made her understand. It always came back to the muggles . She vaguely wondered how much of it had been Draco’s words that convinced her, and how much had been a result of the many bouts of the Cruciatus . Either way, it had been effective, and she had been brought around to their way of thinking.
Luna’s pale eyes lost their glassy sheen as the tiny bell above the door chimed, signaling the arrival of the day's first customers, as expected. She never had many customers in her shop until a few days before Halloween; why the muggles were so fascinated with Samhain she’d never know, but the masses were always incredibly predictable when it came to dressing for the occasion. Most left the decision until the last possible moment, searching everywhere for that perfect costume. Therein lay the beauty of her pop-up shoppe; only those desperate enough could find it. This practically guaranteed they left with one of her costumes, wrapped in festive boxes and bags, satisfied they had found exactly what they had been looking for. Being a traveling shoppe, also guaranteed nobody could track her down afterward, disappearing without a trace, nowhere to be found when others tried to point the finger of blame.
She had heard a conversation between Harry and Ron indicating the DMLE had finally opened a case, trying to catch whoever it was that was baiting the poor, defenseless muggles. From the frown lines and scrunched brows, she knew they were no closer to catching on that it was her than they had been when they started the case five years earlier. They hadn’t even caught on to the pattern for the first three years she had been setting up her costume shoppe, but they were left with no clues, no clear descriptions, and no evidence. Luna was always careful not to leave a single trace of herself, including any clear memories of what she looked like. All the Aurors were left with were some extremely confused and scared muggles every Halloween.
Luna couldn’t suppress a little bit of her trademark dreamy smile from making an appearance as she imagined the chaos these desperate, shallow muggles would experience soon enough, as she watched a group of them peruse her shop.
They were loud, why were they always so loud? Was it really unheard of to enter a shoppe respectfully? Though she had been raised in a very unconventional way, her father would have still been upset to see the lack of respect being shown to goods that didn’t, as of yet, belong to them. The muggles were joking and laughing, throwing things at each other, demanding they try it on. Nothing ever made it back into its proper place. Thank Merlin she could tidy up with magic afterward once they left. She’d never get the place back into anything resembling organized without it.
She also couldn’t believe the amount of goods that seemed to walk right out of the store, hidden away in the muggle’s pockets. They thought they were ever so clever, the cheeky imps. She wondered how muggle retailers actually made any money with the petty thefts piling up. Her tiny shoppe was only ever open one week out of the year, she couldn’t imagine the losses that would accrue if she was open year round. Luna supposed it was a little bit understandable that so many would be so dishonest. It was just so easy for them, and it was just part of their natural inclinations. It was a lot harder to steal from a wizarding establishment when they were able to apply all kinds of wards and alarms to go off should any customers try to help themselves to a five-finger discount.
Her nose wrinkled just thinking about it. They really were no better than animals. They needed to be taught a lesson, and Luna fancied herself just the witch to provide it.
The muggles shouting in the back finally made their way to the register to pay for their items. She smirked at the irony of their choices, they coincided ever so perfectly with her previous thoughts. Animals indeed. She rang through one sexy kitten, two sexy bunnies, a big bird costume, and if she was completely honest, she wasn’t entirely sure what the last one was… it would certainly make their evening interesting to say the least.Finishing up their purchases, Luna bagged their goods, and bade them goodbye with a friendly smile.
She passed the rest of the day in much the same fashion. The constant stream of muggles coming and going never seemed to slow. Not a single customer left empty handed, there simply wasn’t time to look anywhere else. She kept up a steady stream of friendly smiles and inane chatter the entire day, positively beaming with satisfaction on the inside.
Looking at the clock she realized it was closing time. She walked to the front and flipped the sign from open to closed, pulling all the curtains. It wouldn’t do for any silly muggles to catch a glimpse of something they shouldn’t. Turning to face the interior of the store, Luna waved her wand, causing everything to shrink and stow itself away in the small boxes she had conjured. It was show time.
As expected, the patronus came floating into the Auror office exactly at eleven o’clock on Halloween, calling for backup and as many obliviators as they could get. The force would need at least two assigned to go with each team.
Harry Potter shouted orders, trying to bring some form of organization to the mad dashing. This was the fifth year they had been called in on the muggle baiting that happened on Halloween, and they still acted like it was the first time; everyone was disorganized and unsure of what exactly they were supposed to be doing. The tired Auror rubbed his eyes under the wire rims of his glasses. It was already promising to be a long night.
Finally everyone seemed packed and ready to go. Several of the junior trainees looked nervously around, unsure what exactly to expect. The department had done a perfect job of keeping the baiting under wraps, even from the Daily Prophet; there really was no way to prepare them for what they were about to see anyway. Harry could still remember the shock he had experienced his first time on the scene.
Seeing everyone was ready and waiting, Harry gave the order, and they all Apparated away to their destination.
Materializing in front of a large, white house, music blaring so loud he could feel it in his chest, Harry looked around, taking in the chaos, assessing where he was needed most.
There were all kinds of terrified muggles running everywhere, costumes having attached themselves to body parts. Ears laid flat in fear, feathers sprouting into wings, all manner of barks, squawks and screams filled the night air.Some of the creatures he wasn’t even sure what they were supposed to be. He sighed, as he noticed how many had already made their way out of the house. That meant extra work for the obliviators; they would have to go through the neighbours as well, just in case any had been looking outside.
For the last five years this had been happening; muggles buying costumes from some nondescript shoppe, only to have their costumes suddenly meld with their bodies at exactly eleven on Halloween. Every time they went looking for the shoppe at the location described by the victims, it was already gone, vanishing without leaving so much as a stray receipt. Whoever was behind this was clearly brilliant. Not only to pull off such complex magic on such a large scale, but to continue undetected for so long.
Harry squared his shoulders against the growing frustration. He had work to do, and it wouldn’t get done if he just stood there watching.
Three houses down from the party, crouched beneath the shadow provided by the chimney, Luna smiled to herself as she watched the show unfold below. Another successful Halloween.