A few days after Term starts,
SadieLou sends a message to your dormitory.
Come to my office immediately
--SadieLou
Naturally you can't refuse your Head of House, so off you set down the staircase and through the Common Room. A sense of trepidation fills you. You try to remember if you have done anything wrong. No recent lab accidents... you haven't spilled coffee on any of the books... you weren't even late getting back for the start of term, though that was a near miss. Thanks to Luna you were just fine. You can't imagine what SadieLou would think you'd done wrong, so perhaps it's something entirely different.
You steel yourself and push open her door. SadieLou, sitting at her desk, waves you inside.
There, beneath the empty spot on SadieLou's mantel where the House Cup should be, in a chair by the fire, is Luna.
"Oh, lovely," she says airily. "I'm so glad you've come!"
You are rendered momentarily speechless... but Luna has this effect on people.
"Er," says SadieLou, clearly struck dumb as well. Then she shakes herself, smiles, and says, "Luna asked me to call you here. She tells me that you've been rather helpful in aiding her in her Magical Creatures research in the past. She is here in Scotland doing some research, and she asked specifically if you could help her."
Of course, Luna isn't here just to research Magical Creatures--she's here to help Ravenclaw win the House Cup. And--you suspect that she may be doing some special assignment for the Order of the Phoenix, too... but Order operatives don't generally talk about their Missions. Still, learning about magical beasts is Luna's life's work, with her husband Rolf, so it makes sense that she would turn her attention there while abiding in Scotland. Perhaps it's her cover story.
"You do lovely work," Luna says to you, and you blush. "And careful! I need someone who can work carefully on this research, because Rolf and I are trying to learn about some creatures the Muggles know about. They're called Bumblebees. They're small, and they live in hives, and they make an interesting humming noise. They're rather like the
Billywig, except they're not blue, of course. And if they sting you, it will hurt, but it won't make you float."
"Hmm," you say. "How strange!"
"Yes, isn't it? The Muggles know quite a bit about them: their habits, and their lifespan, what they eat, the honey they make. Rolf and I have suspected for some time that Bumblebees have some magical qualities. They seem to dance in order to communicate with each other, for example. And their homes are simple
tessellations--repeating geometric patterns. Rolf and I are working to find out how much magic they possess."
"What can I do?" you say.
"I'd like you to capture some Bumblebees, or perhaps a bit of one of their honeycombs. If you do, please bring it on over to the Arithmancy class, where they're helping me compile my data."
SadieLou says, "And await
further instructions. The more information we can help Luna collect, the better!"
