For the most part, Ernie hadn't really listened to the portraits as a younger student. He found their conversations irritatingly boring and very gossipy, which he thought was complete caochan. He had never truly appreciated the paintings until last year when they had turned into the best darn spies the whole school had. They didn't care for the Carrows, and constantly ridiculed them behind their backs. Then there was the rumor that Amycus Carrow had gotten into an argument with the portrait that guarded the entrance into Ravenclaw Tower. What he would have paid to see that.
A lot of things had changed last year, and although most things had gotten better, Ernie had found he had adopted a few habits for good. Half listening to the paintings as he walked along the halls was one of them. He was in the middle of repeating himself to a group of second year Gryffindor girls in a more English than Scottish accent when his ears heard someone call for help. At once he turned his head in the direction the voice came from and excused himself.
"Who said that," he asked at the portraits, and suddenly everyone was looking at each other. It took Ernie a few seconds of calling out until he found who he was looking for. The portrait barely said it needed help before he demanded a location and they were off. He followed the person dashing across the portraits, trying to look around for any signs of trouble, and even losing him around a corner before he had to double back.
Ernie had always had a white knight complex, which his cousins always teased him for, and he had passed any one of them, he was certain he had left them laughing. When he finally got to the abandoned classroom, he was out of breath. There was smoke coming out from under the door, which he stupidly tried to open by turning the knob. When his hand burned, he drew his wand and opened the door. There was a fire in the room, and he noticed a girl laying on the floor. At first he didn't recognize the girl as Luna, not until he was closer to her and was able to turn her over.