Nargels

Luna Lovegood was a curious person by nature, one of the reasons she was put into Ravenclaw house was her curiosity and love of riddles and games. For that reason she was in America; she had noticed the overabundance of Nargels in Maine and had to have her curiosity sated in why they were all in one town called Story Brooke. She had down some research and found that the town had been unchanging for the past 28 years. No children had been born, no deaths had occurred, no change of age or development of the town and it was off the map before than like it hadn't even existed; it was simply frozen and Luna wanted to know why. She smiled at the old wooden sign as she passed it in her old little blue Fiat 500, it was quite serene looking out in the middle of a forested area next to the ocean; hopefully the town mimicked the feeling since it would make her stay here more pleasant.

It was getting darker as she pulled into the gas station to fill up and she floated into the station to buy a few sour punch straws and cokes, she had a great fondness for the muggle sweets and drinks. She practically danced back to the register as a straw hung from her mouth, smiling at the flavor of sour apple and the expression on the cashier's face. "Excuse me," she said as she handed him her items to scan, "but is there any place in town I could stay the night? I don't like to drive in the dark."

The cashier pointed her in the direction of a diner called Granny's claiming it had the best food around and that Granny was in charge of the local inn. Luna thanked the man and drove two streets down and parked across the road from Granny's, got out of her car and skipped right into another body. She and the man she had ran into toppled over onto the pavement, scrapping her palms against the ground to prevent herself from falling totally on top of him-and fell on top of him anyway. She was going to move off of him when he suddenly his hands reached out and wrapped around her shoulders, "Alice?"

She glanced up at the shocked grey eyes with caterpillar eyebrows inching the way up to his rather bouncy hair, "I'm sorry, I'm not Alice, my name's Luna."

"Curious." He stated, unmoving, "You do not remember, of course that shouldn't shock me. The fact you're here shocks me. That witch wouldn't leave you with any memories like she did me, oh no, she'd want me to suffer the way I already suffer because of Grace. She would torment me this way."

"Curiouser and curiouser." Luna said looking into his eyes, noticing that madness was seeping into the icy blue pools, "I am sorry to disappoint you but if I was cursed I would hope I would know, I do have a medallion that protects me from them that my father gave me."

"No, no, you simply don't remember Alice dear, magic doesn't work in this realm other than Regina's curse, you need to remember; you need to be reminded. Come with me, please, to remember me and remember our gift of Grace." He pulled Luna up and pulled her to him, "Please darling, remember for me."

"I'm sorry," Luna said getting distracted by the swarm of Nargels around him, flying in and out of his ears, "but I'm rather hungry and heard about a nice little diner called Granny's. How about we go there and while I eat you can explain what I apparently can't remember and I inspect the Nargels around your head? Does that sound agreeable?"

The man nodded, eyeing her strangely at the mention of Nargels. "I'm Jefferson, since you can't remember me."

"Since I've never been here before can you lead the way?"

"Of course," he bowed with grandeur and offered his arm.

"I hope they have pudding." She said as she stared skipping again, her pace matching up with his due to their height differences.

Luna and the stranger- no, not stranger- Jefferson, sat in a little booth in the homey diner where Luna ordered the chicken salad sandwich with crisps and excitedly ordered her first sweet iced tea. She hoped the waitress would get her order right with the swarm of Nargels around her, they were around everyone really. Also, she vaguely wondered what type of reaction she would have to it since she always liked a steaming cup of Earl Grey or orange spice. Plus she had heard of variations of English people's reactions to ice tea from loving it and finding it charming to not being able to stand it. Jefferson ordered a house salad and water while plucking nervously at his Ascot.

"Now what was it that you have to tell me so urgently?" Luna asked as she directed her attention to Jefferson.

"You'll think that I'm mad when I tell you, it seems impossible." He muttered, tapping his fingers on the tabletop.

"But most think I'm quite mad because I see things others don't; like the Nargles around everyone's head in this town. Plus every morning as good practice I like to think of six impossible things before breakfast. So you can't be that mad."

Jefferson smiled a little nervous smile that Luna found endearing before launching into his story; and what a story it was.

A/N: Please read and review! Do I continue?