Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction. I own nothing of the HP universe. The only thing I can lay claim to is the plot, the original characters and some made up spells. This is written for my own enjoyment and hopefully yours as well.
"Hello Harry," said a dreamy voice from somewhere close behind him.
Moving his head from where it had been resting comfortably against the trunk of his favourite tree by the lake, Harry Potter looked around behind the tree and saw his friend Luna Lovegood standing there seemingly waiting for him to acknowledge her.
"Hello Luna," Harry replied. "How are you doing today?"
Smiling at him, Luna walked over and sat down beside Harry. "I'm doing fine Harry. How about you?"
"I'm fine," replied Harry automatically. "I need to get going Luna. Sorry."
"Wait Harry," Luna said softly as she reached over and gently grabbed his arm when he started to get up. "I'm sorry for asking you that Harry. If you aren't ready to talk about it, I understand."
Looking into Luna's eyes, Harry could see that she meant what she was saying. Relaxing, he settled back down against the tree and closed his eyes with a sigh.
"I came down here because I thought I wanted to be alone," Harry said suddenly. "Everyone else wanted me to talk about what happened and how I was feeling. Well, most of them did." Harry laughed somewhat bitterly.
"What do you mean Harry?" Luna asked quietly as she shifted her hand from Harry's arm to his hand and held it loosely.
"Well, it's that it was only us 'children' who seemed concerned with how I was doing. And Madam Pomfrey too. But no one else. None of the teachers, not my head of house, and not even the headmaster." Harry laughed again as he almost spat out the last word. "Now I'll just wait until the end of the term and then be shipped back off to my relative's place where I can be conveniently forgotten until September first."
Tightening her grip on his hand comfortingly, Luna looked over at Harry and saw tears running down his face. "I know what it's like to loose someone you love Harry. It's not something that is easy to talk about, and those who haven't lost someone can't even begin to know what it feels like. You'll talk about it when you're ready, and not before."
Sniffing a bit, Harry opened his eyes and looked over at Luna and into her startlingly silvery grey eyes. "Thank you Luna."
Smiling at him, she gave his hand another comforting squeeze, which seemed to startle Harry. He glanced down to where she was holding his hand and jerked his head back up and looked questioningly at Luna, his face reddening slightly.
"Sometimes all you need is a simple comforting gesture from someone who cares about you Harry," Luna answered his look with a smile.
Nodding slightly and smiling back, Harry again rested his head back against the tree.
The sun was shining brightly in the clear sky over head, and a warm breeze caused the lake to ripple slightly. The only sound to be heard aside from the two friends talking was the occasional chirping of a bird up in the tree.
Harry had found this place in his second year when he needed to get away from the rest of the students and their pointing and whispers. He had only ever come out here by himself and hadn't told anyone where it was. Being quite a ways around the lake and far from Hogwarts, it was a very peaceful spot.
Harry didn't know how Luna had found him, but now that she was here, he was actually glad that there was someone there with him. She knew something of what he was going through, and she understood what he needed. Having her hand in his also felt quite nice too.
"Will you be able to do anything over the summer Harry?" Luna asked. "I know you mentioned about going back to your relative's place, but will you be able to go do things or see people? Maybe even have someone come over and visit?"
Laughing bitterly again, Harry looked at her for a moment before answering. "I doubt I'll be allowed out at all this summer Luna. And I've never had anyone come over to visit me before. Most summers, no one even writes to me."
"No one writes to you?" Luna looked shocked. "What about Ron and Hermione, your friends? What about all of your fan mail. I mean," Luna said with a grin at Harry, "you are the Boy-Who-Lived."
"I've never received any fan mail Luna," Harry told her. "The first letter I ever received was my Hogwarts letter. Although," Harry sighed, "you'd think it would have been looked into when it was addressed to my bedroom at the time – the cupboard under the stairs."
Luna's eyes widened in shock. "Are you saying that you lived in a cupboard before you came to Hogwarts?"
Nodding sadly, Harry hung his head a bit and didn't quite look her in the eyes. "Let's just say that if I had known about house elves at the time, I would have been envious of them."
"No one told you of the magical world before you got your Hogwarts letter?" Luna looked more upset than shocked now. "No one told you about your family or your history?"
"I guess it wasn't important at the time Luna. And after everything that's happened, I'm starting to see things a bit more clearly now." Harry said with a hint of steel in his voice.
Reaching over with her free hand, Luna gently grasped Harry's chin and tilted his head up so that he was looking into her eyes. "It is important Harry. You might have been raised by muggles, but you are the last son of a long and important Pureblood family. There are so many things you should have known about before you came here. You never should have been cut off from the magical world. It is a part of who you are, and who you will be."
Harry looked at Luna like he was seeing her for the first time. "Luna, you're different somehow. I don't mean this in a bad way, but you don't seem to be yourself right now. You're not being very 'Loony'"
Grinning quickly, Luna suddenly assumed her usual dreamy smile. "Is this better Harry?"
Harry was shocked. "You mean it's all an act you do? Why drop it now then?"
"Why Harry, because there's no one around right now except those nargles in the tree above us." Luna answered dreamily as she gestured vaguely at the tree above them with her free hand.
Harry looked up quickly and muttered something about mistletoe which caused Luna to giggle.
"But really, you are the only person here at Hogwarts who has not treated me any differently because of how I act. We've only really gotten to know each other this year, but you have always been honest with me and you have never judged me because of what I say or how I acted," Luna told Harry with a smile. "You have so many problems of your own, yet you go out of your way to help others who would not do the same for you. You're noble.. too noble really. You don't judge people, you let them show you their own worth, and then you act on that. And.." Luna hesitated.
"And what, Luna?" Harry asked, his face red from the praise.
"And, I've come to quite like you Harry." Luna finished, blushing.
Blinking in surprise and going even redder, Harry looked into Luna's eyes for a long time causing her to blush even harder. "Luna, you've come to be a good friend to me, one of my best friends really, and I'm honestly surprised that you feel that way about me. I know I'm nothing special, and I don't want.."
"I'm sorry Harry," Luna said quietly, as her smile vanished.
"No, that's not what I mean Luna," Harry told her quickly with a reassuring squeeze of his hand. "You're my friend, and I don't know how I'd feel about anything more between us, but it's something I'd be willing to try and see if it would be possible."
Luna looked up quickly with a smile back on her face as Harry continued. "I'll be honest with you right now though Luna, I'm not really sure about what to do with things. You've most likely heard of the mess I made with Cho. Everything will be new, I'll be learning everything as we go."
"It'll be the same for me too Harry," Luna giggled. "No one has ever wanted to get close to 'Loony' Lovegood before, let alone be my friend.. or more."
"So do you think that maybe for right now, we can just stay sitting here holding hands and talking about things?" Harry asked as he looked at Luna with a smile.
"I think that would be a very nice thing to keep doing Harry," Luna said as she moved a bit closer to Harry so that they were now touching as they sat beside each other under the tree.
Feeling happy for the first time in quite a while, Harry sat there contentedly beside Luna holding her hand. Looking out over the lake, Harry sighed as his thoughts returned to where they had been only a few minutes before.
"Harry, why do you say that you probably won't be allowed out from your relative's place? I know that with everything that's happened, you'll be in danger, but really, would it be any more than anyone else?" Luna asked quietly as she heard Harry sigh.
"Apparently there are blood wards or something around the house," Harry answered. "I'm only safe there because my aunt is the last of my mother's family and the protection my mother gave me when she died protecting me that night keeps working as long as I'm with family. Also, Dumbledore has people watching the house around the clock while I'm there, supposedly for my protection."
"Why do you say supposedly, Harry?" Questioned Luna. "And why would the headmaster of the school do something like that in the summer anyways? He doesn't have any say over what you do then."
Snickering, Harry looked at Luna sadly. "You'd think so, wouldn't you Luna."
"What do you mean Harry?" Luna asked as she returned his look.
"The headmaster was the one who decided to place me with my relatives after my parents were killed Luna," Harry told her. "He placed me there because of these so called protections, and because it would be the 'safest' place for me to be. I guess his definition of safe is a bit different than mine."
Taking a deep breath, Harry continued. "For the ten years that I lived with my relatives before receiving my Hogwarts letter, my 'room' was the cupboard under the stairs. I had a ratty old cot to sleep on and a thin ragged blanket to cover myself with. The clothes I wore were my fat cousin's hand-me downs which were only about five times too large for me. When I was old enough, my aunt started showing me how to cook breakfast for them. When I was a bit older, I took over cooking all of their meals. I also did the majority of the household chores and all of the yard work too."
Seeing Luna's eyes open wide in shock and anger at what she was being told, Harry gave her hand a squeeze before going on. "That's not the worst of it though. My cousin took every chance he could to hit me and his friends did the same. When I was in school, if anyone started to become friendly with me, my cousin and his gang would beat them up and scare them away. Their favourite past time was a game they called 'Harry hunting'. I got to be really good at running because of them. But at home was the worst. I cooked their food and watched them eat. I was lucky to get a scrap of bread in the morning. A lot of times, I went days between eating anything. And then there was my uncle."
Luna felt Harry shudder as he mentioned his Uncle. Not really knowing what to expect after hearing everything so far, she let go of his hand and put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer to her. Feeling him tense up momentarily as she put her arm around him, she mentally cursed Harry's relatives for everything they had done to him.
"He.. wasn't a very nice man," Harry continued shakily. "He was rather.. heavy handed with his punishments of me. I can remember hearing him mutter something about 'beating the freakishness' out of me. I never understood what he meant until my eleventh birthday."
Turning, Luna pulled Harry to her and held him close as he shook while trying to suppress the feelings that telling her all of this had brought up.
Harry was surprised when Luna did this. This hug felt nothing like the ones he had received from Hermione, Ginny or even Mrs. Weasley. He didn't feel smothered or awkward. This felt right somehow. This felt good.
"Thank you Luna," Harry whispered into her ear as they held each other, causing her to shiver slightly. "I'm sorry for telling you all of that, but thank you."
"I think I should be saying thank you too, Harry," Luna replied quietly. "How many people have you ever shared that with? Knowing you, I think I might be the first, or maybe the second."
"You're the first I've told the majority too Luna," Harry told her. "I've shared bits and pieces with Ron and Hermione, but never that much. I just.. felt that I could tell you. That you'd understand what I was saying and why I was saying it."
"Anyone else would probably feel sorry for you and want to coddle you, right?" Luna asked with a small grin. "I'll admit, I do feel that a bit, but that's not what you're looking for. You just want to tell someone and have them accept it and acknowledge it."
Harry smiled and hugged Luna tightly for a minute before pulling away to look at her. "That's it exactly Luna. I don't want pity or need to be protected, it's too late for that. I just need someone to talk with."
"Harry, you said Dumbledore placed you there because of blood wards based on your mother's sacrifice. Did he ever tell you what the basis of the sacrifice was?" Luna asked Harry.
Slightly startled at the abrupt change of direction in their conversation, Harry thought for a moment about everything Dumbledore had told him that night he revealed the prophecy to him.
"He said it was my mother's love that protected me from the killing curse," answered Harry.
"If it was love that formed the basis of the protection that saved you, then love would also be the basis of the blood wards." Luna said, almost more to herself than to Harry. "And if the wards were based on love, then the lack of love shown towards you by your relatives should have long ago caused the blood wards to weaken and fall."
Harry looked at Luna in surprise. "Are you telling me that there's really no protection at all at their place from the blood wards? And where did you learn all of that anyways?"
Smiling shyly, Luna looked at Harry and saw that he wasn't making a joke about her knowledge, but was actually interested in knowing.
"Well, I am a Ravenclaw for a reason Harry," Luna said. "As for how I learned, I am taking Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Those both help to understand how things like wards work. Also, my.. mother's workbooks have a lot of information on wards and protective magics in them. Come to think of it, there's one book that I think you might be interested in seeing Harry."
Looking at her questioningly, Harry motioned for her to continue.
"My mother was an unspea.. um, my mother worked at researching and designing spells. Especially protective spells and wards," said Luna. "In 1979 and 1980, my mother worked with a muggleborn witch not long out of Hogwarts who was especially gifted with charms on creating a protection of some kind against the unforgivables – the killing curse in particular."
When Luna mentioned the years, Harry had thought nothing of it. But when he heard her mention a muggleborn witch not long out of Hogwarts who was gifted in charms, what she was saying became clear.
"Your mother was working with my mother?" Harry asked her excitedly.
Smiling sadly, Luna nodded. "Yes, they were working together. Your mother wanted to come up with new spells to help your father in his job. Being an Auror was dangerous. Especially with things as they were at the time."
"My father was an Auror?" Harry asked with tears starting to form in his eyes again.
"Your father and his best friend were both Aurors," Luna continued. "They were two of the youngest on the force, but they were also two of the most successful. They worked as a team and there weren't many who could stand against them."
"Dad and Sirius were both Aurors and partners there too," muttered Harry quietly.
"Our mothers designed the spells, and your father tested them," said Luna. "Some of them were so powerful that only he could use them properly. Although I'm sure part of the reason for that was because he was a Potter."
Harry looked surprised at that comment. "How would his being a Potter have anything to do with his being able to cast the spells while our mothers couldn't?"
"There's so much you don't know Harry," Luna told him sadly. "I guess it's just assumed that you know because you're a Potter and you're also the Boy-Who-Lived."
"Ya, I get that a lot," Harry said sarcastically, but smiling at Luna to let her know he didn't mean anything by it.
"All of the old Pureblood families have certain things that they are good at," Luna began in an almost lecturing tone. "The Potters, for example, are known to be highly skilled in defensive and protective magics, for being naturally skilled at becoming animagi and to typically be rather more magically powerful than average. My father's family, the Lovegoods, while no where near as old or distinguished as the Potters, is known for it's talent in Arithmancy and Runes, along with having a touch of mage sight and occasionally the Sight."
"How come they don't teach any of this in classes?" Asked Harry. "I would have loved to have known all of this before now. I mean, in the last few minutes, I've learned more about my parents and my family history than I have in my whole five years at Hogwarts."
"I guess it's because anyone who's a Pureblood, Fullblood or Half-blood will usually have been taught all that they need to know about these things before they come to Hogwarts," said Luna. "Also, some of the older families may have traits in their bloodline that they don't want becoming common knowledge, so they wouldn't let anyone else outside of the family know."
"Wouldn't muggleborns and those from newer wizarding families be at a disadvantage then?" Harry asked Luna.
"Not really," she replied. "While a lot of the older Pureblood families tend to be somewhat above average in terms of magical power, muggleborns are usually naturally gifted in something which helps to balance things out. And natural gifts tend to pass on to children. That's how the older Pureblood families ensured that their traits were passed on and strengthened. If two parents have the same strength, it's usually passed on to their child and will usually be stronger than what either of them posses."
Nodding, Harry gazed at Luna until she noticed and returned his look.
"Thank you for telling me all of this Luna," Harry said to her. "I know we kind of got off the topic that we started on, but I'm glad we did. I've learned about my parents and Sirius, I've learned about my family, and I've learned about the wizarding world. Although, I think what I enjoyed the most was learning about the 'real' Luna Lovegood," added Harry with a smile.
"And I've enjoyed learning about the 'real' Harry Potter too," said Luna, returning the smile.
The pair sat there under the tree in silence each with an arm wrapped around the other and just enjoyed the feelings they both had. For Luna, who was familiar with both love and loss, this was similar to what she knew, but felt different. It felt good. For Harry, who had only really known love from his parents before they died, what he was feeling was completely new to him. But he liked it, and it felt right. It felt like it was filling a hole in him that he had never known existed.
Hours later, as the sun fell towards the lake, Harry and Luna rose and walked back towards Hogwarts hand in hand. Their arrival at the castle caused much whispering amongst the other students who noticed them. There was some pointing and even a bit of laughing, but it didn't bother the pair. They made their way to the Great Hall and Luna tugged Harry's hand and led him over to sit at the Ravenclaw table.
The few students who were in the Hall early before dinner went silent as they watched the pair sit together. As more people filled the Great Hall for dinner, Harry and Luna were the topic of conversation on most people's lips.
At the Ravenclaw table, most of the students in Harry's year looked at them and nodded in greeting, but the rest were fairly aloof. Harry looked at Luna questioningly, and she responded with a sad look in her eyes, letting Harry know this was how it usually was for her. Leaning in close, Harry wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close in a comforting way. Luna responded by laying her head on his shoulder and sighing contentedly.
The professors soon entered the Hall and as soon as Dumbledore was seated, the food appeared. Both Harry and Luna were watching the headmaster and noticed him looking at the Gryffindor table in the area where Harry usually sat. They watched him lean over to ask Professor McGonagall something and watched her responded by pointing to the Ravenclaw table.
They watched as Dumbledore appeared to casually look over to the Ravenclaw table and felt his gaze settle on them. Harry returned the headmaster's gaze with a cold glare which caused him to quickly switch his focus to Luna. He was shocked to find the usually flighty girl glaring at him with what appeared to be thinly veiled anger.
Letting his mind reach out to try to see what the cause of such anger directed towards him was, Dumbledore's passive legilimency probe found nothing where Luna was sitting. His surprise showed for a brief second before he regained his composure and sent a more forceful legilimency attack towards her. Again, he found nothing, but this time, he noticed the anger in Luna's eyes had been replaced with mirth as she cocked an eyebrow at him and then winked.
Neither Harry nor Luna ate much at dinner, and were able to leave the Great Hall fairly quickly. Holding hands again, Luna led Harry off through the halls of Hogwarts towards what he assumed was Ravenclaw Tower. Arriving at a portrait he had never seen before of an elderly witch reading from a rather thick book, Luna said the password "Wit beyond measure," and the witch in the portrait nodded slightly before the portrait swung open.
The Ravenclaw common room was empty as Luna led Harry in. Looking around, Harry noticed the differences from the Gryffindor common room. Most noticeable were the colors – blues and bronze. There were many comfy looking chairs and a couple of couches. Almost all available wall space was taken up by book shelves filled with books. Glancing at the titles on some of them, Harry recognized the books required for classes from first through seventh year. Higher up were titles he had seen in the school library, as well as a couple that he knew were from the restricted section.
Absorbed as he was in his examination of the common room, Harry hadn't noticed Luna hurry off up the stairs towards her dormitory. Returning quickly, Luna again took Harry's hand and led him over to one of the comfy looking chairs by the fire. With a grin and a commanding little gesture, Luna motioned for Harry to sit down. He did, and she squeezed into the space beside him.
"This is the journal I was telling you about Harry," said Luna as she placed a magazine sized book on Harry's lap. "It's the one that our mothers were using to record their ideas and progress, as well as some of their completed spells."
Picking up the book and flipping gently through the pages, Harry was surprised that there seemed to be hundreds of pages in it rather than the thirty or so that it looked like it held.
"Brilliant, this is," Harry said looking over at Luna and grinning. "At first I thought it might be a bit small to hold everything you had said it did. I guess I'm still not completely used to all the things that magic can do."
"You can borrow it if you want to Harry," Luna said to him. "All I ask is that you don't let anyone else read it or take it from you.
"I promise Luna, thank you." Said Harry reverently as he again started to look through the book.
"Would you like to know how it works though?" Asked Luna with a smile. "I'd imagine that what you're looking at, while useful to you at school, isn't what you want to read."
Taking a closer look at the pages he was flipping through, Harry's eyes widened a bit as he realized that he was looking at pages taken straight out of one of their school books – The Standard Book of Spells. And from the looks of it, all seven volumes were contained here.
"The idea to disguise their work came from something your father and his friends made while they were here at Hogwarts," said Luna as she smiled at Harry's reaction to what he was reading. "Your mother got a hold of your father's notes on what they had done and how they had done it, and adapted it for my mother's books. It's really rather brilliant."
Grinning as he heard what Luna was saying, Harry quickly pulled out his wand and held it over the book.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Harry said as he tapped the book with the tip of his wand.
The book and his wand briefly glowed a golden colour before the book opened and writing started to appear on the first page.
That was a very good guess Harry, but I did not use the same password as your father and his friends used for their map.
Gasping in surprise as he read what his mother had written, Harry smiled and looked at Luna who was also smiling.
"I take it you have your father's map then?" Luna asked with a grin. "It's mentioned in there as the inspiration for the masking spell. Close the book and say 'Raven and Lion' then try tapping the cover with your wand again."
Harry smiled and nodded as he closed the book.
"Raven and Lion," he said as he again tapped the book's cover with his wand.
When he opened the book this time, he was greeted with an introduction to what was in the book along with a legend to help decipher the short-hand notations used through out.
"Thank you Luna," Harry said as he twisted in the chair so he could hug the girl beside him.
It was at that moment that the first of the Ravenclaws started to return from dinner. Cho Chang happened to be the first person to enter and stopped short at the sight that greeted her. The people coming in behind her pushed her out of the way and soon a small crowd was standing by the entrance staring at the happy pair sharing the chair by the fire.
With an indignant snort that got Harry and Luna's attention, Cho stormed up the stairs towards her dorm. Seconds later a door could be heard slamming closed.
Sighing, Harry stood up and helped Luna up out of the chair.
"I guess I had better get going then," he said as he glanced at the faces staring at them. "You'll be alright here tonight?"
"Oh yes," said Luna dreamily. "I'll start looking for my missing things tonight I think."
"Alright then Luna," said Harry as he gave her another quick hug. "I'll see you at breakfast in the morning then?"
"Yes, with butterbeer caps on," answered Luna with a wink.
"Ok. Thank you again for letting me borrow this. I'll take care of it, I promise. Good night Luna." Harry said as he made his way towards the entrance.
The small crowd parted before him as he made his way out. Just as he was exiting the tower, he heard the whispering start up again. For once, Harry Potter didn't care.