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It had always been difficult to find an empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express departing from King's Cross Station. Sometimes Harry thought that this was a secret ritual, the refusal to observe which would lead to problems at school all year. Maybe that's why it was sacredly observed by the Weasleys and even by Neville, whom he already met in the carriage. Pedantic Hermione probably could have told him a lot about superstitions and fuss as a "natural consequence of unreasonable time planning", but this time she rode with Ron in another carriage.
It was the first time Harry had to go to Hogwarts without his friends. He understood that the duties of the prefects were a significant reason for them to temporarily leave him, but still felt a little abandoned. Fortunately, he wasn't alone. After all, he and Neville were accompanied by Ginny, who was able to find, probably, the last available compartment! She warned the boys that some kind of "crazy Lovegood" was going there. Ginny was always sharp-tongued, her words could sometimes be offensive, but they always expressed the essence accurately.
Harry was very interested in why Lovegood got the nickname "crazy." When he entered the compartment after Ginny, he immediately realised why. The reason wasn't the slightly detached look of the girl's intelligent grey eyes beyond her age. The girl's big eyes were beautiful, even, and together with thin whitish eyebrows, they gave Lovegood a somewhat unusual, dreamy look. Her loose blonde hair, which reached to her buttocks, should have been thoroughly washed and combed, although for some reason this slight sloppiness seemed cute to Harry and gave the girl a natural look.
Her lunacy was hinted at, not by the magic wand tucked behind her ear; not radish earrings or a necklace made of butterbeer corks adorning small breasts with pink beady nipples; not the magazine she was reading upside down.… But all this together, and especially the fact that the girl was completely naked. Harry swallowed nervously. Perhaps she decided to change her clothes in advance, and they prevented her? But Lovegood was just sitting on the sofa by the window, her bag was on the luggage rack. There were no shoes in the compartment, no casual or school clothes.
"How was your summer, Luna?" Ginny asked carelessly, sitting down next to her. Nothing seemed to surprise her.
"Excellent." The girl replied absently, looking past Ginny, directly into Harry's eyes. "I'm can say that it was a wonderful summer." She blinked, giving Harry a welcome smile. "You're Harry Potter," she suddenly told him.
"I've been that boy since this morning," Harry decided to joke. Neville, who came into the compartment after him, giggled, attracting the attention of a strange naked girl.
"You are a stranger to me." Luna's voice was very suitable for her detached appearance.
"I'm nobody," Neville muttered, blushing, trying not to look at her, which wasn't easy in a small compartment.
"Don't humiliate yourself!" Ginny exclaimed. "Luna, this guy with low self-esteem is Neville Longbottom, Harry's classmate. Guys, this is... hmm... Luna Lovegood. As you can see, she is a very... unique girl. But it's always interesting to talk to her, because she has a non-standard view of the most familiar things. She's in the same year as me, but at Ravenclaw."
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure!" The girl sang, smiling amiably. "Nice to meet you!"
The Gryffindors nodded. Harry felt strange that Ginny was pretending that there was nothing unusual about Luna's appearance. Neville was embarrassed, of course, but it was as if Luna had said something inappropriate and wasn't... well... naked. When Harry heard that the girl was crazy, he considered a variety of things. Many wizards and witches were weird simply because they were wizards and witches. He was wrong, because he definitely couldn't even imagine anything like what he saw! There was an awkward silence in the compartment. Neville was sitting by the window, and the naked girl in front of him had returned to reading her magazine, from which they had distracted her.
Luna was leaning against the back of the sofa and swinging her right leg over her left. She was thin, but not skinny. With her left hand, she alternately stroked her stomach, then fingered strands of hair, then scratched her heel. Looking with interest at the girl, who shamelessly flaunted her smooth pubis and, moreover, labia, Harry noticed that all her nails were painted in never-repeating colours. From the Gryffindor deep red on the little finger of the right hand, to the gloomy black on the little toe of the left foot.
"Listen, Luna, why are you..." Harry began, but immediately fell silent, realising that the question he wanted to ask would be tactless.
"Naked?" The girl smiled sweetly, looking at him from her magazine, and one of her nipples, as if it too wanted to participate in the conversation, peeked out from under a strand of tangled hair. "Because I don't like to wear clothes, of course. When we get dressed, we move away from nature, and lose the opportunity to communicate with many magical creatures that we simply can't see. The ancient druids possessed incredibly strong magic, lived much longer than us, and knew almost more than the wisest modern wizards.
"This isn't the only reason, of course, but the fact is that they had no prejudices about what was decent and what was shameless. My first books were stories about them, and I try to imitate them as much as possible. During the holidays at home, I stay naked all the time, even when my father and I go on research expeditions to another continent. Every time I go out to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and undress to practice the spells I have learned, they turn out to be much more powerful than in the classrooms. Noticing how much my clothes constrain my magical powers, I asked my father to write to Head of my house, the esteemed Professor Flitwick. I've talked about it with some of the teachers myself, so he knew the reasons for this request. Realising how much I needed it, Professor Flitwick was kind enough to let me stay naked at Hogwarts all the time, both in and out of classrooms. Except for Potions Classroom, unfortunately..."
"Because Professor Snape doesn't share such progressive views on teaching magic?" Ginny asked with undisguised malice in her voice. There seemed to be more dislike in the nickname "crazy" than Harry expected from her.
"More precisely forgotten than progressive." Luna wasn't offended by Ginny. "Alas, the teachers do not tell us about this. A lot of ancient knowledge about magic has long been lost. Already at the time of the founders of Hogwarts, a naked witch or wizard was a very rare phenomenon. Rowena, Helga and Godric considered great also because they fought prejudice, including by personal example. Salazar was in the minority, but he had many followers, mostly Christians. People began to be ashamed of their body, considering it imperfect. The lawn where Rowena spent hours chatting with the dryads, adopting their unique knowledge and meditating naked with her students no longer exists. At first it was overgrown with grass, then with forest, and now it is completely inhabited by acromantulas. The tradition of mass naked winter bathing in the lake near the castle has also has been forgotten over the centuries."
"Really?" Harry asked in surprise, listening attentively to the naked girl's lecture, which was clearly more interesting than the History of Magic lessons. Ginny sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Modern wizards and witches are too pampered, and too afraid to get sick with bodily diseases," Luna continued her explanation. "They don't think how healthy they could become, not only physically but mentally, so that any ailments would simply become unfamiliar to them. Alas, now the truth really looks like something unreal." She turned to Ginny. "As for your question about Professor Snape, Ginny. The reason for the difficulty of appearing in his classes in the nude isn't that, as a true follower of Salazar, he would sleep and bathe in clothes. Rather, he believes it would be very unpleasant if any ingredient, or the potion itself, fell on my uncovered skin, so I had to take an apron and gloves with me."
"So, you're really going to go to lessons naked?" Harry asked, shocked. It was hard for him to imagine the mighty warrior Godric or the wise Rowena naked. Luna's words were too much at odds with their canonical depictions and what he had read or heard about these great people. Neville didn't react in any way; apparently, he didn't know any more than Harry. Ginny's opinion was obvious.
"Not only to go to lessons, but also to eat with everyone in the Great Hall, go to the library, to the stadium or just walk." The girl, who spoke quite calmly, nodded, confirming his fears. "This isn't only good for my health, but also saves me time, which sometimes had to be spent searching for my things. For some reason, the Nargles like to hide my shoes from me. If I stay naked, they will have nothing to steal from me, and I will be able to spend more time studying and self-development.
"Nargles?" Harry asked, having never heard of such creatures. It was hard for him to imagine that the formidable Madame Pince would allow some student to be naked in the library. The reaction from caretaker Filch to the naked student was even easier to imagine. Ginny shook her head. Luna didn't answer. Maybe she was just bored of explaining things to them that she thought were obvious? Or did she decide that everything should be clear without further explanation?
"And in winter too?" Neville, who had been silent before, asked quietly. "In December... well... is it cold?"
"The cold doesn't scare me." Luna shrugged and turned another page. It seemed she could read and talk to them at the same time. "I try to swim in the lake more often, especially when it snows. During the holidays, my father and I went on expeditions many times to places where it is colder than in Britain. Are you guys really Gryffindors if it's just the low temperature that scares you? I will definitely invite you in December to play snowballs with me on the edge of the winter forest, make a snowman, build a snow fortress. You will realize that the greatest pleasure in life is to run barefoot in the snow, where you sometimes drown almost knee-deep. And then you can fall into a particularly large snowdrift and rub yourself with it, which also melts so deliciously on your tongue!"
"But you're a girl, and there are so many boys in the castle. Aren't you ashamed at all?" Harry asked. He had a good idea of what the pointedly "normal" Dursleys would say if he told them he wanted to be naked at home. They would hardly have limited themselves to simply locking him in the cupboard under the stairs. Visits to doctors specialising in psychological diseases were more likely. Or a special hospital. "Luna, aren’t you afraid of being..."
"Laughed at?" Luna finished his question for him. "Unfortunately, it is simply accepted to laugh at ancient traditions now, instead of studying the reasons for their appearance and following them. I live for myself, not to follow someone's ideas of what is decent or funny. That's the way I was born, like millions of other girls. It's just my body, what's there to be ashamed of?" Luna asked with genuine surprise. "You're not ashamed of your fingers, ears, or nose, are you?"
"What's wrong with them?" Harry asked in a puzzled voice, anxiously touching his ears and nose with his fingers.
"They're fine, they're the same as all people," Luna laughed, as if he'd done something funny. "The same can be said about my vagina or your penis. I'm just like all the other girls, and you're just like all the other boys. But we openly show some parts of our bodies, and for some reason we hide others. They are called "indecorous" and are ashamed. It's not logical."
Talking to him, Luna never stopped reading. Harry, feeling that his world had been turned upside down, looked first at Neville, then at Ginny in search of support and answers to the accumulating questions. Ginny, who had obviously known Luna much longer and better than they had, twirled her finger at her temple. Perhaps the easiest way would be to agree with her. If Luna had been like all girls, he would never have known that she had a small mole just to the left and below her navel, what kind of nipples she had…
Did that mean that Luna was crazy? No, that was just Ginny's opinion, nothing more. Hermione said many times that simple answers were not always correct. Luna could really know more than just well-known facts about the founders. Some things about famous muggles of the past weren’t mentioned for a variety of reasons. Even muggle scientists were constantly learning something new about people who lived thousands of years ago. The naked girl, as a typical representative of Rowena's house, was very logical and clearly interested in history, which she was well versed in.
Harry became uncomfortable with his lack of education, and he promised himself that he would go to the library more often. He lacked the knowledge to agree with Luna or refute her claims. Although watching her read an upside-down magazine was still strange, as was the fact that she was completely naked. At that moment, Harry especially wished that Hermione was with him right now. Unlike him, a more intelligent and well-read girl could have found logical holes in Luna's statements, and asked the right questions.
Hermione could have referred to the research or reasoning of some clever wizards or muggles. She had read not only The History of Hogwarts, but also, for sure, the detailed biographies of its founders. Hermione could confidently say that what Luna said was true, that it had little evidence, or that it was fantasy. What he heard was too unbelievable, so Harry didn't think it would be right to ask the teachers or Madame Pinсe about it. He himself would be considered crazy.
Harry was a little glad that Ron wasn't in the compartment. His friend had no sense of tact, and he would just laugh if he heard Luna talking about the founders of Hogwarts and nudity. The fact that Luna called such laughing people followers of Slytherin could greatly offend his red-haired friend. Ron considered himself a true Gryffindor student, and took any doubt about it almost as a personal insult.
Harry missed Hermione and Ron very much, even though he knew they soon would find him. He looked out the window, for some reason thinking how, in the days of the founders of Hogwarts, students came to school from the farthest corners of Britain. Most likely, they used portals then, which was much faster, but much more boring. Talking about all sorts of trifles, they passed London and its suburbs. The train was already moving through an open area, its wheels clattering busily at the junctions of the rails. At some particularly wide turns, Harry could see a bright locomotive smoking merrily.
Now he was sitting in the same compartment with a naked girl. But was this more unusual than the fact that, at the end of the twentieth century, a steam locomotive was taking them all to a school of magic? All the passengers on the train were wizards and witches, whose very existence for billions of "normal" people was not so much "abnormal", as it was "impossible". So, could he talk about what was normal and what wasn’t? The presence of a naked girl next to Harry didn't seem inappropriate, and her behaviour wasn't provocative. He only thought that he still knew too little about the Wizarding World and was prepared for the fact that, in this world, many amazing things were completely ordinary for a boy like him, who was raised by Muggles.
"Thank you, Harry," said Luna, as if she had guessed his thoughts. She turned another page of her magazine with a soft rustle. "I had no doubt that you would understand."
Apart from the company of a naked girl and the absence of Hermione and Ron, the trip was completely ordinary. Neville, still looking confused, suddenly asked Harry to guess what he had been given for his birthday. From this, a small conversation about Herbology began, which Luna joined with interest. Neville showed his companions a gift that turned out to be a plant with a name he couldn’t pronounce, probably Latin or Old English. The plant immediately splashed everything around with a viscous, unpleasant-smelling liquid. The seats, the clothes of the guys, and the skin of Luna were splattered.
Neville started to apologise and wanted to fix it himself, but Luna beat him to it. The naked girl removed both the slime and the fragrance, barely waving her magic wand, a rather short one made of light wood. She didn't make a sound, and looking at her, Harry saw that her pale pink lips didn't even move. He was impressed, because the girl, who studied a year younger than him, possessed non-verbal magic, which was only taught in older grades. Luna returned the wand to its place behind her ear and smiled at Harry, noticing that he was looking at her. Harry almost blushed like Neville.
After a while, Cho Chang looked in, but immediately closed the door. Perhaps she didn't like Luna's company, or she was just looking for someone and he wasn't here. After her, there was a Trolley Witch, from whom Harry bought a lot of things. He wanted to treat not only the two girls and Neville, but also his friends, who were probably too busy with their duties as prefects to remember about food.
The Trolley Witch didn't say anything about Luna's nakedness, although she couldn't help but notice it. The girl also bought something from her, and for this she had to get money out of her bag, which was lying on the luggage rack. To get to her, Luna climbed onto her seat with her legs, briefly turning her back to the boys. Neville turned away instantly, but Harry didn't think to do it right away and was surprised to realize that buttocks, it turned out, could also be beautiful.
Hermione and Ron came to their compartment about an hour later and told them about the other prefects. Harry wasn't happy to learn that Malfoy had become the prefect of Slytherin, and was surprised to learn that his partner was Pansy Parkinson. If Malfoy not only had a nasty character, but also studied well, then no one understood how Parkinson surpassed Daphne Greengrass. Hufflepuff's appointments were clear to everyone, but there was a slight conflict when discussing Ravenclaw. When they heard that Parvati Patil had become the prefect, Luna remembered that Ron had gone to the ball with this Indian girl last year and Parvati didn't like his company.
"I really don't like that one girl thinks it's acceptable to stay naked in the company of three guys and two prefects," Hermione said quietly but sharply. Hearing her accusatory intonation, Harry felt guilty, although he hadn't yet managed to break any school rules. "At Hogwarts, I would have already fined Ravenclaw a few points."
"That would be unfair." Luna smiled guilelessly, twirling a lock of hair around her little finger. Hermione raised an eyebrow in surprise, waiting for her to say more. "I would have told Professor Flitwick about this, and he would have agreed with me, returning all the lost points."
"The Charter of Hogwarts clearly states that on its territory, during classes or outside school hours, all students must dress and behave in a manner appropriate to their high status," Hermione said, looking triumphantly at Luna and shaking her head so that her thick curly hair waved.
"The Great Lady Rowena formulated it a little differently. In The Charter of Hogwarts, she says that "all Hogwarts students must look and behave in a manner appropriate to their high status," Luna said softly, emphasizing the word "look." After pausing, she continued. "That's what it says in my personal permission, signed by Professor Flitwick, Healer Pomfrey and Headmaster Dumbledore. The permission, based on this part of the charter states that I can be naked at Hogwarts whenever I want. I don't want to upset you, Hermione, but I think these respected people know the rules of the school a little better than you do."
In boxing, this would be called a low blow. It didn't seem to Harry that the kind and gentle Luna wanted to offend his friend. The naked girl still seemed quiet and strange to him, but when she spoke to Hermione, her voice sounded very confident. Harry had no doubt that Luna was right. Ron stared in amazement alternately at the girl with the prefect's badge, then at the naked girl. Neville would obviously have liked to disappear from the compartment just to avoid witnessing an unpleasant conversation, but Ginny was enjoying what was happening. She was leaning against the back of her sofa, munching cookies with such relish, as if she were watching an interesting Quidditch match.
Hermione swallowed nervously, staring at Luna so intently, as if she expected to set fire to her with one look. She was obviously trying to remember the wording from the charter, hoping it would refute the words of a naked girl. Theoretically, Ron should have been doing it too. But if Hermione wasn't ready to discuss such nuances of school rules, then what about him? For the first time since studying at Hogwarts, someone not only knew the rules of Hogwarts better than Hermione, but also managed to out-argue her by referring to them. Unbelievable!
"Okay, fine. I think you can really stay naked if you think it's normal," Hermione finally said, looking like she'd eaten a dozen sugar-free lemons. It wasn't difficult to understand that in this case she categorically disagreed with the school rules.
After that, no one else brought up the topic of clothes and decency. First, they finished discussing prefects, then they started talking about the Ministry of Magic. Harry noticed Cornelius Fudge on the cover of Luna's magazine. They found out that Luna, like her father, clearly disliked the minister, which slightly softened Hermione's attitude towards her. She initially called the magazine "waste paper", but when she found out that Luna was the daughter of the magazine’s editor, she immediately began to apologise, which finally reconciled the girls.
It was dark outside, which meant that they would soon arrive at Hogsmeade, when Malfoy looked into their compartment. His faithful lapdogs Crabbe and Goyle traditionally kept him company. The new Slytherin prefect beamed with self-satisfaction. He didn't miss the opportunity to joke about the finances of the Weasley family and about the fact that Harry is even worthless than his friend from this family, since he didn't get the position of prefect. Ron was almost ready to attack Malfoy, but Hermione made a caustic remark that made everyone in the compartment laugh, except the Slytherins.
"What did I expect at all, if these people communicate with a crazy lunatic. She's so crazy that she's already walking around without clothes!" Malfoy rolled his eyes dramatically. "Although it looks simpler, it's a corrupting muggle influence. Judging by the form the mudbloods came to the station, any of these girls don't mind flashing their bare ass..." He smiled cruelly. "Stop! I guessed it! They had the self-respect not to do it, and only the crazy lunatic agreed. Potter, you're even more pathetic than I thought."
"No, Harry." Luna put her hand on the wrist of the guy who had already grabbed the magic wand.
"Have a nice stay, H-a-r-r-r-y!" drawled Malfoy. "I thought it was simply impossible to descend below communication with the Weasels."
"If Harry wanted to descend any further, he would have to jump from the height of your self-assessment to the depths of your reason. But he shouldn't do this without a parachute, because there was a risk his fall would never end." Hermione said, smiling sweetly, and everyone in the compartment laughed, looking at the Slytherins. Malfoy glared at her and left without answering, his companions following behind.
"Crabbe and Goyle didn't even realise that you insulted their leader," Neville smiled as Hermione closed the door.
"Me too." Ron admitted, and there was a friendly, unoffending laugh in the compartment. "What is a parachute? Something like a broom?"
After about half an hour, the train began to slow down. Noticing this, Hermione told everyone to change their clothes, and went with Ron to the prefects' carriage. The usual bustle began, which meant an early arrival at the castle. Harry and Neville left the compartment so Ginny could change her clothes, then the girls left so that the guys could change theirs. Luna didn't even touch her things, and remained completely naked. Harry, who could feel the evening chill even through the barely open compartment, looked at her with concern, but she just shrugged and smiled.
Going out onto the platform, Harry took the cage with Hedwig, Luna with Ron's owl, Piggy, and Ginny picked up Hermione's cat, Crookshanks. The furry guy could hardly believe that Luna really got out of the car naked with him. Hermione hadn't asked her to show her permission; did she really have such an unusual document? Anyway, this was amazing! It can't be said that it was especially cold, the normal weather for Scotland, but it wasn't suitable for swimming or visiting the beach.
Even in warmer London, few people wore T-shirts, shorts and short skirts. Now everyone except Luna had changed into robes, under which the guys, like himself, had trousers and shirts, and the girls had skirts and blouses. Even in his clothes, he felt the cold. The wind ruffled his unruly hair as he stepped onto the platform. Glancing at Luna, Harry was surprised to see that not only did she not shiver, but her skin wasn't even covered with goosebumps. In the light of the stars shining brightly in the sky and the lanterns illuminating the station, the naked girl walking next to him seemed unearthly, unreal.
Luna's smooth fair skin almost shone, as if the Moon itself had descended to Earth that evening. Noticing the girl's nakedness, the students stared in surprise, someone pointed and laughed. Luna ignored them. Judging by the dreamy smile on her lips and the already familiar thoughtful, calm look, she didn't feel the slightest awkwardness. Harry heard Hermione, who was trying to amplify her voice with a spell, at least a little to organize the noisy crowd that had fallen out of the cars.
Hermione could hear much better than Ron, who didn't know such a spell and therefore just screamed. Harry realised that not only did he not hear Hagrid's booming bass, but he also hadn’t seen the huge figure of the good-natured half-giant, noticeable in any crowd. Passing by the seventh-year students of Gryffindor, in the light of a lantern swinging in the wind, Harry saw that Professor Grubbly-Plank, who sometimes replaced Hagrid in his lessons, was gathering freshmen around her.
Together with the crowd, they found themselves on the side of the road, which was solid mud after a recent very heavy rain. It was clearly going to get dirty up to the ankles of Luna’s drowning bare feet. Looking at them, Harry was surprised to realize that the naked girl's legs remained as clean as they were in the compartment. The nail polish on her fingers glowed slightly in the dark, it looked almost mystically beautiful. Harry himself got dirty not only his shoes, but also his trousers, and also the edge of his robes.
It looked like it was a spell he didn't know. Harry didn't even hear Luna say it, nor did he see see the wave of her wand. Although she could have done it in advance, even before she met him in the train compartment. Harry was angry with himself, because he turned out to be more uneducated than a student a year younger. He looked around again for Ron and Hermione, but it looked like they were still on the platform. There were only carefree and unfamiliar Hogwarts students around, chatting carelessly and having fun.
Harry knew there was no reason to worry, but he felt it anyway. Finally, he, along with Luna, Ginny and Neville, reached the parking lot with the carriages that were supposed to take them to the castle. Harry couldn't remember any animals being harnessed to them before. Especially those so creepy that younger children could be seriously scared. They resembled horses, but only vaguely. The skin-covered skeletons made a depressing impression even if didn't look at the muzzles, with huge white eyes devoid of pupils.
The image of horses that would be well suited for the horsemen of the Apocalypse, was completed by webbed wings similar to those of bats. Harry didn't understand who came up with the idea of harnessing these creepy creatures to school carriages and how Headmaster Dumbledore agreed to it. Surprisingly, no one but him froze, staring at them, and only Luna, slightly ahead of him, patiently waited for him to catch up with her. While Harry was standing, Ron and Hermione found him, who were equally not surprised by the unusual horses.
Ron took the cage with his owl from Luna, and Hermione took her huge red Kneazle from Ginny. When Harry asked his friends first if they noticed anything unusual, and if someone was harnessed to the carriages, they were surprised, unanimously assuring him that no one was harnessed to the carriages. The perplexity in response to his questions was so sincere that he began to doubt his sanity. Only Luna didn't allow him to be completely convinced of his madness.
Harry shuddered, not expecting to hear the voice of a naked girl who had been looking into the distance. She calmly informed him that she also saw these creatures, and that he was just as normal as she was. Harry doubted that he was really normal, unless they were seeing the same thing, but he didn't argue with the only person he found understanding. Fortunately, when he asked about Hagrid's absence, no one asked him what he saw.
All six friends got into the carriage, and Harry got a seat opposite Luna again. She was looking out the window thoughtfully. Looking in her direction, Harry couldn't help but see her tummy, navel and especially the dark mole on the milky white skin. It was still unusual for him to see her labia. He swallowed nervously. Was Luna really going to walk around the castle like this for lessons? Constantly in full view of teachers, grumpy Filch, hundreds of guys and girls?
He was distracted from his thoughts by a conversation with friends. Hermione and Ron didn't know anything about the half-giant. For some reason, Luna said that in Ravenclaw, the uneducated Hagrid was disliked and even ridiculed. Ron wanted to say something offensive to the naked girl, but Hermione stopped him by simply shaking her head. She, like Harry, had already realised that Luna didn't mean anything bad. In the short time they had known her, it was easy to see that the girl was just saying what she thought about things that were sometimes obvious only to her.
Luna was a girl of few words, and it seemed to Harry that her consciousness hovered somewhere in higher spheres, and she was only physically with them. Where her mind was wandering, Harry could only guess. Perhaps she really saw not only the creepy horses harnessed to the carriage, but also those Nargles she talked about on the train? Or maybe some other strange creatures, the existence of which even the clever Hermione couldn’t guess.
Hogwarts greeted them with the bright light of dozens of torches. The footsteps of hundreds of students on the stone floor echoed as always. The chipped stone, in his opinion, wasn't suitable for walking barefoot on it. Luna's small bare feet with multi-coloured nails, softly slapping on it, seemed strange and out of place here. Although, if at least half of what she said was true, she was far from the first person to appear within the walls of Hogwarts in a birthday suit.
Harry had heard many people discuss the naked girl, but most just laughed at her strangeness. Only Slytherins descended to outright insults and mocking ridicule, though not all of them, in fairness. Even the impish poltergeist Peeves made only a couple of not-too-witty jokes. Luna still paid no attention to anyone, as if she was walking through the corridors of the castle alone. Harry was very interested in how the teachers would react to her nakedness, especially Professor Snape, who was a true representative of Slytherin. Would a naked girl need protection?
However, Harry knew better than anyone in the ancient castle how huge Hogwarts was and how many secluded corners and deserted corridors it had. Anyone who didn't want to be noticed could find more than one or even two ways to get from anywhere to anywhere. Only, as far as he understood, Luna wasn't going to hide from anyone. She didn't care about anyone's views, no one's opinion, and it was natural for her. Harry was a little jealous of her ability to ignore others and live in complete unity with her feelings and desires.
In the torchlight, Luna seemed to Harry almost as mystical as a ghost, and only her touch in the compartment reminded him that the girl was material. They entered the Great Hall. As for hundreds of years before, there were four tables in it, at which the students of all houses were to feast. As always, silvery intangible figures of ghosts hovered between the tables. The ceiling, indistinguishable from the starry sky, was amazing, and Harry suddenly felt that all his worries had gone somewhere far away.
The students chatted, joked, and laughed merrily. Everyone was happy. After saying goodbye to them, Luna joined her fellow students at the Ravenclaw table, sitting between the dark-haired and red-haired girls, whom she made laugh with some joke. Harry watched the strange naked girl go with a thoughtful look. He didn’t know what troubles and joys the fifth year of study would bring to him and his friends, but that it will be very unusual, we can safely say. Even without prophetic abilities.