I wrote this for June 2016's Monthly One Shot Exchange over on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges Forum. This one's dedicated to The Crownless Queen. Hope you enjoy it!
In the midst of what looked like a colourful explosion of fabric, paint, thread and glitter, a blonde young woman sat, working feverishly at her latest project.
Needle in hand, she meticulously stitched some dark green fabric with some sort of thick, brown thread, only stopping when her hand wavered slightly and she pricked her finger, drawing a fair amount of blood.
She swore.
Harry peeked in as Luna dropped the needle and began to suck her own thumb.
"My, my, Luna," he spoke teasingly, a grin forming on his features. "Such foul language. I would have never expected it from you of all people..."
"Except when we're in the bedroom, right?" Luna muttered darkly.
"The best place for talking dirty there is..." Harry sidled in and hoisted over a chair, plopping it down next to her.
Luna took a deep breath, calming herself, before speaking in her usual dreamy tone.
"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at work?" she queried.
"I got through the paperwork for today earlier than I usually do, so I thought: What better way to spend the extra time off than with my wife?" Harry put an arm around her shoulder. "What is this you're working on anyway?"
"Oh... just a little something that we'll need soon..." Luna smiled serenely.
"Like?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Oh... just a thing. You'll know soon enough..." Luna continued stitching.
Harry rolled his eyes. "So... why can't you tell me what it is? Afraid that I may do something to bollocks it?"
"Perhaps," Luna said. "Perhaps not. This is just something I wanted to do on my own for now. You can't help me just yet."
"Pity," Harry shook his head. "You've actually made me like sewing and knitting. I think I may be turning into Molly..."
He shuddered at the thought.
"You haven't been cavorting about with Sex-Change Sprites, have you? They're known for randomly switching the sex of their target, for their own amusement." Luna giggled.
Harry face-palmed, before getting up.
"I'll leave you up to your mystery work then..."
"I tell you, it's been maddening. Over the past couple of days it's just been her and those bloody bits of fabric, over and over. Normally, her head is in a book or magazine about animals- magical or non-magical, but this..." Harry sighed as he sat in the kitchen of The Burrow. "...this is a new level of obsession, even for Luna..."
Luna and Ginny were outside socialising with the various Weasleys by birth or marriage, while he and Hermione sat alone, emptied glasses of pumpkin juice sitting on the table between them.
"Well, you do know that sewing is one of her hobbies, right?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.
Harry glared at her. "No, Hermione. I didn't know that one basic thing about my wife, at all..."
Hermione giggled. "You'll find out soon enough. You know how she is. She likes to keep people on their toes..."
"A bit too much if you ask me." Harry muttered.
"You're the one who married her, not me." Hermione shrugged, seemingly indifferent to his plight.
"It's gotten even worse since yesterday. Now she won't even let me into that room at all." Harry tapped his wand and the glass in front of him refilled itself. "She actually managed to spell the door shut so that I couldn't open it. The last time I tried, I was nearly thrown down the bloody stairs by the force of the spell on it! The... the indignity of not being to go somewhere in my own house..."
Hermione chuckled at his bad mood, which only made him feel worse.
"She's gotten a serious sewing obsession now and coupled with all the other odd things... I love her, I really do, but this one kind of came out of nowh-"
"Harry?"
Both he and Hermione looked up to see Luna leaning in the doorway.
"Yes, Luna, dear?" Harry finished off the last of his juice.
"I think it's time we go home. I want to show you what it is I've been doing all week..." Luna walked over and took his hand.
Immediately, Harry felt his bad mood evaporating.
Dammit.
He could never really stay too mad at Luna for long, could he?
Luna was still holding his hand as they walked up the stairs of their home to the room where Luna had ensconced herself for the previous week.
Pulling her wand from her sleeve, she muttered an incantation that Harry wasn't familiar with and tapped the door handle.
The door immediately swung open.
When Harry stepped inside, he took in the sight.
The room still looked in disarray but it was considerably less so than it was before.
Luna went across to a white cabinet painted with flowers (when did they acquire such a thing?) and opened it.
"I know it's been driving you crazy over the past week and I you would want a part in creating all of this- and rightfully so..."
She rummaged inside it and pulled out the green and brown fabric that she'd been working on when all of this first started.
"Look at this," she said, handing it over to him. "What do you think it is?"
Harry took it, looking puzzled as he examined it.
"It looks like a small bed sheet. But why make it so small? Are you making them for baby Snorkacks?"
"No, silly!" Luna giggled. "They don't need blankets. They're perfectly capable of keeping themselves warm! You're not too far off though..."
"Not too far off..." Harry muttered, still looking confused.
"You haven't figured it out yet?" Luna giggled again. "This, Harry, is why you were not a Ravenclaw..."
Harry looked up to the ceiling, looking exasperated enough to walk out just then and there...
Luna actually rolled her eyes. "Small sheets. Not for baby Snorkacks, but another kind of baby perhaps?" she hinted.
Harry held the sheets, looked at Luna, then looked at the sheets again, then at Luna again.
He repeated the process a few times.
Luna giggled.
"No..." Harry's eyes widened as he spoke, coming to a realisation.
"NO BLOODY WAY."
Harry dropped the sheets in shock.
"Get it now?" Luna smiled.
Harry nodded, no longer trusting himself to speak any more.
"The Boy-Who-Lived, Man-Who-Conquered... is getting a newer, simpler title in a few months: daddy." Luna giggled yet again.
Harry simply moved forward and hugged and kissed her at those words.
At last.
