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"What's up Looney, are you looking for something?"
That was all Severus heard as he made his way from the Great Hall to his office. Reluctantly, he turned into the corridor where the not-so-friendly voices were coming from.
"I don't think the corridor is the best place to settle a disagreement." he said in his most frightening voice.
At the sound of this, the three girls who were bullying Luna Lovegood with their back to Severus jumped in fright.
"Not only you're making noise in the corridor, barely an hour before curfew, but you are setting such a bad example to a fellow junior in your house. All three of you will have detention tomorrow night." the professor handed out the punishment.
The third-year girls gave Lovegood one more dirty look, apparently blaming her for their misfortune, and then hurried off towards the Ravenclaw Tower. When they were gone, the blonde girl looked up at him with a smile. Severus sighed.
"Luna, when we told you not to use what you're learning against others, we didn't mean don't do anything when you're being picked on."
Playing with a lock of her hair, the first-year student replied: "I know. But until I fight back, they don't know I can fight back. And that means they won't pick on others who will actually be hurt by it. And besides, Grandprofessor, didn't you say it's not nice to hurt the weaker?"
He looked at her in surprise: "I did say that, but isn't it annoying to have to put up with them all the time?"
"They are not so bad. It's a bit unpleasant when they hide my things, but then I can practise watching out for nargles. They help showing me where to look." She became mor serious for a moment and continued with a harder look "That doesn't mean I don't look forward to the third year when I can bring Fluffy with me."
"Your tooka?" asked Severus.
"Mm-hmm, I've already figured out how I'm going to teach him to claw the legs of strangers."
Severus shook his head looking up "Let's say I didn't hear any of that." Then he stopped and squinted, noticing something between the support beams. "Is that by any chance yours?"
Luna turned to where he pointed and smiled again. Severus saw this and waved his hand, and the previously hanged shoes fell into her hands.
"Here. Don't let them get away with too much, though."
"Why not? After all, I have you and Jaieh to rescue me!"
Severus nudged his student's head gently, "Cheeky brat! Come on, it's almost curfew time. Don't forget to meditate before you sleep."
"Of course! And thank you Grandprofessor!"
Luna quickly hugged the man and ran away. Severus looked after her thoughtfully.
"It's been a long time since we all met. Perhaps it's time for our next lineage dinner." He thought, then turned to make his way to his quarters.
---
Luna was skipping merrily when suddenly Ginny jumped corridor in front of her.
"Gotcha, I've been looking all over for you!" the gryffindor noticed the shoes in her hand "Oh good, I found your shoes! I can't believe the things these princesses will do to bully you. How did you find them?"
The girls walked on together.
"The Grandprofessor spotted them hanging up when we just met and took them off for me."
"The Grandprofessor...? Oh right, that is what you call Professor Snape! That's surprisingly kind of him. By the way... again, why do you call him that way?"
"Because he's the Professor and the Grandprofessor, it's as simple as that." said Luna matter of factly.
Ginny watched a little longer to see if she could get some other answer, but no. She'd tried several times to figure out the reason for the strange name, but so far she'd only ever gotten this answer. She was beginning to give up on ever understanding the connection. Her friend did have the habit of using strange words anyway.
"By the way, I was looking for you because the twins gave me a packet of fudge for getting my first detention. I figured we could eat it together."
Ginny pulled a bag from her pocket, and Luna, while munching on the sweets, pondered that overall it was okay to have mean girls at school when you could also make such good friends here.