"You look beautiful," Harry smiled at his date, the warmth in his gaze visible to anyone with eyes. Luna Lovegood had very keen eyesight, in her opinion, and beamed back at him as she accepted his proffered arm.
"You look quite beautiful yourself," she returned the compliment happily, and Harry swept her off to the Ministry Ball with a happy smile.
They had barely stepped foot in the Atrium when Luna tugged gently at Harry's arm, pointing off to one side. He didn't question it and smoothly changed direction, coming to a stop a few steps away from one of the oversized fireplaces. Luna hummed a little tune under her breath, and a moment later the hearth flared green and Severus Snape stepped out with Hermione Granger on his arm.
"Miss Lovegood; Mister Potter," the Potions Master promptly greeted them with a respectful bow.
"Hey," Harry grinned, striding up to give Hermione a one-armed hug while Luna gave Severus the same. "Or should I say: Good evening, Miss Granger; Mister Snape."
"I prefer Hermione and Severus," Luna said pleasantly, and Hermione's eyes crinkled in a smile.
"It's been a while, Luna," the young woman said, and Luna hummed her agreement, opening her tiny bag and pulling out a huge tome. Hermione squealed in excitement, all four of them ignoring the staring bystanders, and accepted the tome with visible delight.
"Oh, thank you! I've been looking everywhere for this!" The tome was inspected with covetous eyes and a huge grin before Hermione carefully slipped it into her own tiny bag.
Luna just smiled vaguely. "I know."
Severus gave the blonde an amused smile before gesturing towards the end of the Atrium, and the Ministry Ball. "Shall we?"
"Let's shall," Luna agreed, and the four friends set out rather cheerfully for the formal event.
Harry sighed inwardly at the way the entire hall fell silent when they stepped in the room, but Severus smoothly stepped in front of him, shielding him from most of the stares, and a soft smile tugged at Harry's lips. His date leaned over to whisper in his ear, "Sometimes I wonder how you can see anything through all the Kimdingers surrounding you," and Harry led her to their table with a surprised laugh.
"Rose-tinted glasses?" he suggested, and Luna's tinkling laugh rang out high and clear. Severus cast them an amused smirk over his shoulder – trust the former spy to have heard their quiet exchange.
"My lady," Severus pulled out Hermione's chair for her, and the young woman blushed slightly as she took a seat. Luna did the same for Harry, making him laugh again.
Then Minister Bones strode to the podium at the front of the hall and, with a small amount of ceremony, declared the Ministry Ball opened. Sirius Black strode to her side and handed his wife a flute of champagne, leading the first toast of the evening. Luna dreamily ignored her glass, busy inspecting something invisible on the tablecloth, but Severus seemed impressed by the champagne after he took a sip, so Harry supposed it was a good one. Hermione seemed just as ignorant as he, and they traded a tiny shrug as they took the obligatory sip.
"Having fun?" Harry asked Amelia later as he and Sirius switched partners on the dance floor, Luna easily gliding away with the former convict as Amelia led Harry across the floor. It was common knowledge that Harry was rather the opposite of a gifted dancer.
"Yes, actually," Amelia replied with a glint in her eye. "And I hear that you and your three companions are having a good time this year."
Harry laughed in response. "Oh, yes! Severus and I definitely chose the perfect witches to accompany us. Did you see the looks we got from the other attendees during dinner?"
Amelia quirked an eyebrow and a corner of her mouth. "I heard that you were discussing incomprehensible things," she said drily, and Harry laughed again.
"Oh, Luna and I were just discussing the regular things – our travels, mainly, though we spent a long time waxing lyrical over the familiar British weather," he grinned. "Severus and Hermione were discussing the newest magical theorems and discoveries in Potions and Herbology, of course – so, the usual, really. I don't know why everyone looked at us so oddly."
Amelia finally laughed at that, knowing from the mischievous glint in Harry's eye that he definitely didn't mean that. "Let me guess – you and Luna held the entire conversation substituting normal words for the names of her strange animals, while Severus and Hermione discussed complex things that generally only specialists of the field know the terms for?"
Harry just grinned in reply and winked at Sirius as they exchanged partners once more. "It was a pleasure, Amelia," he said cheekily as he spun Luna away. Once he'd settled back into the rhythm of leading the dance he asked, "Had a good conversation with Sirius, love?"
Luna nodded dreamily, reaching up to pick something out of Harry's hair. "The Plimplams only made a brief appearance during our dance; I think Severus really was right when he said that Kimdingers chase them away. Sirius is still susceptible to Wrackspurts in the middle of sentences, but yes, I had fun."
"Good," Harry smiled fondly at her. "No Thurbings disturbing him tonight?"
"No, he was a perfect gentleman," Luna said serenely.
"Good," Harry repeated, and they settled into comfortable silence for a time. "Say, where are Severus and Hermione?" He'd thought they'd stayed at their table, but couldn't see them.
Luna seemed to listen to the air for a minute before pulling out of his hold and leading him away by the hand. Harry followed without question, trusting Luna to know where she was going.
"You think you're so high and mighty-" they heard a blustering voice as they neared the door to the hall, and Harry's eyes narrowed. He didn't recognize the man's voice, but if Luna was steering them in that direction, then either Severus or Hermione were involved – or most likely both of them.
"I hardly think it's any concern of yours," Hermione's voice said stiffly, and Harry sighed. Some self-important idiot had probably drunk too much and thought confronting her would be a good idea. Harry just hoped he got there before Severus cursed the man for insulting his date.
More raised voices, and Luna led Harry around the corner just as Severus's smooth voice interjected, "Be that as it may, the lady clearly does not wish to discuss it in this venue. If you will excuse us – I am sure our companions are missing us."
"Quite right," Harry chimed in with a polite smile. "We were wondering where you'd gotten off to. Excuse us, gentlemen," he said, nodding to the red-faced men crowding his friends.
"They're surrounded by Thurbings," Luna whispered to Harry, and his hand tightened on hers.
"Now see here-" one of the men began with an aggressive step towards Hermione, and a second later the three men lay stunned on the floor.
"Let's just leave them over here, shall we?" Harry asked pleasantly, using his already drawn wand to levitate the three men over to the wall; Severus slipped his wand back into its holster and offered Hermione his arm, leading her away from the unconscious men.
"Excellent timing, Luna," the Potions Master complimented the young woman who smiled up at him.
"Oh, it was all the Lump-legged Urgle," the blonde said modestly, and Harry shot her a slightly alarmed look.
"A Lump-legged Urgle?" The look he turned on the unconscious men was decidedly less friendly than before. "Maybe I'll just tie them up for good measure," he muttered, magical ropes flying out of his wand to bind the three men securely. Tucking away his wand, he placed Luna's arm in his and nodded to the other couple. "Shall we?"
"Let's shall," Severus deadpanned, but Luna beamed up at the tall man for using the phrase she had coined. "No doubt they will be missing our presence in the hall."
"No doubt," Hermione snorted, adjusting the strap of her dress as they made their way back into the hall. "Did we miss anything while we were gone?"
"Nah," Harry reassured her. "Everyone thinks we're more than a bit daft for our dinner conversation, but that's just the usual, and Luna says that Sirius is doing better."
"Is he?" Hermione's look was pleased, and Luna nodded absently. "Well, that's good, then."
The rest of the ball passed without anything of note happening, though they got more strange looks when Severus had just as cryptic a conversation with Luna as Harry had enjoyed during dinner. Harry and Hermione shared a smirk at that and discussed more normal topics like their friends and current laws being proposed. They were just discussing the current situation with house elf rights when Hermione's mood turned melancholy.
"I miss Kerrilee sometimes," Hermione confessed softly, and Harry reached out to cover her hand with his.
"I know, love," he said just as softly. Kerrilee had assumed a special place in Hermione's life, the elderly house elf having worked together with Hermione to write a book on the culture and customs of house elves, but after the book went to print and sold far better than anyone had anticipated the old elf passed away. It had been expected, but Hermione had grown quite close to the prickly elf during their unusual partnership.
"I'm sure she'd be pleased to know that the book is being translated into other languages, though," Harry said warmly, and Hermione smiled proudly, wiping away a bit of moisture from her eyes.
"She would be," she agreed, and by unspoken consent they turned the topic to other house elves they knew. Beside them Luna and Severus turned back to their own conversation, neither of them at all embarrassed for having listened in on their dates' conversation.
At the end of the night the two men escorted their dates home, and both young women gave their dates the same message: "Give Harry/Severus my love," and a kiss on the cheek. "Of course," both men agreed, dropping a kiss to the women's hand and taking their leave.
Apparating home, Harry smiled at Severus. "Luna sends her love," he said, drawing closer, and Severus bent to give him a kiss.
"So does Hermione."
Kimdingers – small creatures that represent love
Plimplams – flying bugs attracted by negative thoughts
Wrackspurts – confuse humans
Thurbings – visual representations of anger or aggression
Lump-legged Urgles - one-legged bison with big ears and small lungs that warn of a violent situation