WHO: Luna Lovegood and the new "trolley lady". WHEN: 20 December 1997, at around 2pm. WHERE: Outside the compartments aboard the Hogwarts Express. SUMMARY: Luna is kidnapped! RATING: PG (or DYR for "DAMN YOU, ROWLING!"). STATUS: Complete narrative.
Luna wasn't one to use public restrooms, and especially not those in trains. She dreaded to think about what might be lurking inside the toilet or, even moreso, where the waste went. However, the journey aboard the Hogwarts Express was just too long, and sometimes even the most worrying actions were inevitable. Therefore, it was with a very quick trot that she went to the loo, and with a more relaxed, distracted and, well, Luna-ish pace that she walked back to her compartment, wand still firmly tucked behind her ear.
She was in very high spirits. It had been pure bliss to finally manage to have a good night's sleep after the ordeal that had been the previous two nights. Also, there was the fact she was going home, back to her father and a short period of peace and quiet away from the Carrows.
Not that she would spend the time resting, mind you. Although not a vindictive person, she was determined to make the Carrows pay for torturing her and several other people, and she saw the Quibbler as the perfect way of doing it, what with the quill being mightier than the wand (or the regular quill being mightier than the blood quill, as the case might be) and her knowing that, although Xeno would initially panic over her well-being, she would be able to make him focus on what was truly important: telling the truth. If Harry was to win, they would have to make more people open their eyes.
Luna was so absorbed by these thoughts, as well as the goal of finding her way back to her friends, that she didn't pay much attention to the people dressed as train attendants. She had found it odd back when she originally stepped aboard the train, but shrugged it off absent-mindedly. The trolley lady had looked rather unwell last time and so they might have done some replacements.
By sheer coincidence, she crossed paths with the trolley at the moment she wondered to herself where the trolley lady could be at that moment. She looked at it, and saw that it was now being pushed by a man in full uniform, who looked a bit unfriendly.
"Anything from the trolley?" he asked. It sounded strange to have him say those words, after several years of hearing them spoken in a sweet female voice.
"Yes, please," Luna said, reaching for her pocket. She was starting to get hungry, and had clearly missed the trolley's stop at her compartment. "Could I please-"
"Imperio!"
It happened too quickly for Luna to be able to react. She was suddenly taken over by a wonderful floating sensation, and she heard a voice say "Come with me..."
Luna took a step forward as the man advanced on her. Something snapped under his foot, but neither of them paid much attention to it.
"Come with me, now..."
Luna raised her hand, which the man took before the two of them vanished with a loud CRACK. The only sign that they had been there were an abandoned trolley and a broken ebony wand.