"the unpopular Potions professor was running a distant second to Harry Potter in student speculations as to who was behind the attacks". I like how you placed the story in this particular time frame, when the students would have been terrified, and when Snape was a minor character in that year at Hogwarts. (As I recall, he spent most of his time reacting to Lockhart.) The story of the moon and the bat itself is lovely, and worthy of illustration (which I can imagine, but cannot do at this time). I think it is interesting too that Dumbledore (wearer of the half-moon glasses) saw himself as the moon in the story. A beautiful job; thank you so much for sharing it!

Author's Response: Thank you for your review! The reason for the setting of this story during the Chamber of Secrets scare is that it had to be during Luna's first year at Hogwarts (when she might have been even more outspoken than when we meet her in OotP). I wanted to give the impression that Luna has been giving Snape problems almost from the very beginning of the school year and that he has been trying, unsuccessfully, to handle this himself. Obviously the matter has been resolved by the time Harry meets her in OotP, but Luna's reputation for her odd (and at times blunt) remarks has been well-earned by then. Also, it seemed reasonable to me that Snape would have been a major suspect during the Chamber of Secrets scare, owing to the fact that he's a prominent Slytherin who has had many years to explore the school and learn its secrets. At any rate, "the bat" is an obvious metaphor, and both Luna and Dumbledore see themselves as the moon in this story, albeit in different aspects. Luna sees herself as a fellow outcast and the bat's only potential friend, while Dumbledore sees himself more as the wise advisor and (at times) reluctant disciplinarian. Luna cannot begin to understand why her little story upsets Snape so much...she intuits things more adeptly than she realizes. If you'd like to do any illustrations for this story, please do post them on Illusions or email them to me! I'd be delighted to see them!