24 Polar Opposites

After hearing the song, everyone started to clap for the hat and the first years seemed as though they had calmed down greatly when compared to their previous attitude.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said.

Arth watched on with a slightly bores expression. He only perked his head up when he heard Luna being called up.

"Lovegood, Luna."

There was laughter in the room when people saw how bizarre the girl was. She still had her wand on her ear and wore her signature dreamy look on her face. Her Butter beer cap necklace rattled each step she took. Ron raised an eyebrow.

"That's the girl your into? Isn't she quite... the unique one."

"Yes she is, and she is just a friend."

"Sure."

Luna put on the hat, which immediately screamed Ravenclaw. Luna took off the hat, patted it on the tip a few times before going over to the Ravenclaw table.

A few first years later was Ginny. She was sorted into Gryffindor, just like her entire family. Dumbledore got up and said something that Arth didn't bother to listen too, he was waiting for empty plates in front of him to become full.

At last, Dumbledore stood up.

"I see that most of you have hungry wolves in your eyes, let us not waste any more time. Dig in."

The nostalgic plates became, once again, filled with heavenly delights. All sorts of dishes, sausages, toast, steak, meat, vegetables, and turkey. Beloved turkey.

Arth reached out and gracefully plucked a turkey leg from the mountain of legs. He bit off a small portion and sighed.

"How I missed you... my dearest meal."

"Hahaha, I forgot how much you liked turkey legs, should've gotten my mum to make you some over the summer, said Ron before turning to a piece of steak. "Excellent."

Hermione took small sips of potato soup while Harry was chomping down on sausages. Arth was on his third turkey leg when a person came up from behind and tapped him on the shoulder.

Arth tilted his head backwards and the whole world seemed to be flipped upside down. He recognized the blonde hair and silver eyes that were staring down at him with a smile.

"Hello, sorry to interrupt. May I join your table?"

Arth noticed that people were silently laughing at Luna with amused looks.

"Sure, why not. Harry mover over and make some room."

Luna sat down right next to Arth and stared at the turkey leg on his plate.

"That seems to be very good, mind I have a bite?"

"No problem, feel free to. There's plenty to go around."

Perhaps shocked that someone had voluntarily joined the table of another house, the laughter stopped. Dumbledore watched them from afar with a raised eyebrow and a slight smile.

Narrowing his eyes at the Ravenclaw table, Arth asked with an amicable tone.

"So what bring you here Luna?"

Luna took a bite out of the turkey, decided it was good, and ate a bit more before answering.

"Nothing, I just wanted to eat with my friend. The people over there don't really appreciate my style of dressing. They also think that the Quibbler is a pile of rubbish. I can tell when I am not welcome, so I decided to excuse myself. Besides, being with you is way more interesting. It's like having a friend."

Arth gave a charming smile before poking Luna's head.

"You little dreamer, I thought we were already friends."

Luna rubbed her forehead with a rueful expression.

"It seems so, I'm sorry. I must've forgotten. I never had a friend you see."

"Well, I am honored to be your first."

Hermione wore a frown on her face.

"The Quibbler? Isn't that the magazine famous for having... wacky ideas?"

Instantly, the surrounding air tensed up as sparks started to fly between the two girls.

"It isn't wacky, it's my fathers lifetime work."

"Well, your father isn't exactly one who relies on facts, is he?"

"What facts do you need? The horn of a Crumple Horned Snorkack?"

"Snorkacks don't exist. They are just delusions from wizards who mistakenly saw an creature that resembled the Crumple Horned Snorkack."

"Why do you know that? Just because there is no proof that it exists doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. We all thought the Blibbering Humdinger didn't exist."

At this point, Ron nudged Arth in the shoulder and whispered in a quiet voice.

"You reckon we should stop the two? They seem like that they are about to kill each other."

Arth shuddered before replying, "You think I'll survive if I intercede? I think I'll be killed first."

Arth focused back to the girls.

"They don't exist! They never did. The point is that the Quibbler is rubbish. Don't you agree Arth."

Seeing that the argument had turned toward him, he could only try his best to appease both sides.

"I think that the Quibbler has some intersecting ideas."

Hermione nodded her head in agreement.

"Exactly, IDEAS. Not Facts but IDEAS. Facts are the way to life."

"Facts come from ideas. Why do you think the term Invention exists?"

"Ideas are uncertain, you can place your hope on it and it might bite you in the back later. Facts will give you comfort and safety."

"You are just a boring book person, people need to have adventure, go out and discover things they haven't."

"They can only go out and adventure when they have enough knowledge to keep themselves alive."

"What if they meet something that they don't know how to counter? What will they do? If they need to rely on facts, they will just die like the little pitiful things they are. If they held creativity in their heads like THE Quibbler, then they could possibly understand that can't be found in book."

"Isn't that a bit stretching it? The Quibbler is not just about information on "creatures" but also hard to believe stories such as "Grindelwald- Romantic Affair with the Greatest Wizard in our Time". Is that what you call helpful?"

"The Quibbler accepts all stories in order to help those who were unable to share their opinions to the public. We believe that instead of hiding one truth, it's better to reveal nine false ones. If one of them turn out to be true, then it becomes invaluable."

"Doesn't change the fact that you and your father are dreamers."

"Hmph, you are only a boring girl who keeps her nose in a book all day."

"Arth, tell her that she's wrong."

"He won't, Arth is my first friend, isn't that right. She is the one being a stiff, old fashioned, stubborn girl."

Arth stared at the night sky ceiling with a gaze that looked incomparably wise.

So this is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.

"Can... can we just eat..."

"How can you think of eating when there is something more important to do?"

"I hate to agree, but now is not the time to eat the dishes of delight."

Arth sat there in the middle, blankly staring at his plate full of turkey legs, while the two girls fought each other verbally. He sent a silent plea of help to Ron and Harry, who to his horror, turned away as if they had seen nothing.

These two girls were as compatible as fire and ice. The exact polar opposites.