One afternoon in the Great Hall at Hogwarts

[Bob Schroeck]

Ron's brow furrowed as he studied the parchment in his hand.  
"Bloody hell.  Why does Professor Sangnoir want to know how much
we *weigh*?"
"Language, Ron," Hermione rebuffed him absently.  "I'm sure he
has a reason.  He's had reasons -- *good* reasons -- for all the
other odd things he's asked us, after all."
"It's just... strange," Harry commented.  "And I have no idea
what I weigh.  I'm going to have to find s scale somewhere."
"I weigh the same as a duck," said a lilting voice from over his
shoulder, and Harry turned to face Luna Lovegood.
He tried to ask the obvious question, but Hermione beat him to
it, with an oddly suspicious look on her face.  "A duck?"
"Why a duck?" Ron asked, rolling his eyes just out of Luna's
sight.
Luna's dreamy gaze grew even more so.  "Why-a no chicken?" she
asked in return, and Hermione's eyes grew large.
"Why no..." Ron began to echo, but Luna blithely continued on as
though he hadn't said a word.
"It's obvious, Ronald.  I weigh the same as a duck, because I'm
made of wood."  She turned her otherworldly eyes more or less in
his direction, and smiled vaguely before meandering off,
apparently aimlessly.
There was a strangled noise next to Harry, who turned to see
Hermione with both hands clapped across her mouth and her own
eyes even larger than before, if that were possible.  "Because
she's *made of wood*?"  Incredulous, Ron shook his head.  
"Mental, that girl.  Positively mental."
Hermione slowly lowered her hands as her eyes followed Luna all
the way out of the Great Hall.  "Right, mental," she murmured in
an odd tone that prompted Harry to glance curiously at her.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[classicdrogn]

(suddenly gets a craving for duck soup)

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Jorlem]

Let's build a bridge out of her!
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

[Sweno]

ahh, but can you not also build bridges out of stone?

and given the rather animated way hogwarts moves around, she may decide to get up and go somewhere else regardless. This leads to creepy thoughts on the sacrifices needed to set something like hogwarts up.

(also, was the 'no chicken' a reference to something I missed?)
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[robkelk]

(also, was the 'no chicken' a reference to something I missed?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECODePT6VHM

(Mind you, I'm surprised Hermione got that reference, even if she is Muggle-born.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

Why would that be surprising, Rob?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Foxboy]

Well she may have been too young to have really seen the Marx Brothers, and being British she'd more likely have been exposed to Peter Sellers, the Goon Show or the Goodies.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[robkelk]

What Foxboy said. (I'd have no trouble imagining Hermione laughing at "What time is it, Eccles?", but that doesn't fit the scene...)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

Just a little note... while tracking down something else, I found a Goon Show reference involving Luna already in canon -- in Half Blood Prince she refers to a quidditch team as suffering from "Loser's Lurgi".
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Bob Schroeck]

...Aaaaaaand to my utter shock and surprise I discovered I had unwittingly written the perfect lead-in to dropping this scene into chapter 4. I just had to add a single sentence to an earlier scene and it was all properly set up. How could I resist?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Black Aeronaut]

... That is freakin' scary, Bob. It's like you got a private line to JK Rowling's subconscious or something. What next? Being JK Rowling Featuring Bob Schroeck?

[Bob Schroeck]

Considering I don't live that far from a certain exit on the Turnpike, maaaaaaaybe.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.