A SMALL CASE OF NARGLES by ThickAsABrick
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do NOT own anything to do with the Harry Potter universe (except the books, DVDs, and a bit of merchandise). Joanne Rowling holds that honour.
Harry lay down by the lake. Right now, he wanted to be alone, wipe Dumbledore, Hagrid, Snape, Malfoy, the Ministry battle and all that from his mind. But he couldn't. No matter how much he tried to think about Quidditch or something like that, his thoughts always drifted back to Sirius.
He missed him. He missed him a lot. Harry silently vowed to himself that he would avenge his godfather's death, no matter how much it bloody took him to do so. That Lestrange bitch had it coming. But, thinking about it, he couldn't be arsed: what, he asked himself, was the point? Sirius was dead, Sirius was gone, and nothing Harry ever did would bring him back. Just let it go, he told himself. He now wanted just to stay at this lake forever; never to move; never to speak.
Harry heard footsteps approaching, and he sat up abruptly, wand in hand. He relaxed when he saw it was Luna. Come to think of it; the last thing he wanted was to lie down and do nothing, he wanted conversation.
'You OK, Harry?' Luna enquired soothingly. She sat down next to him, looked at him with sympathy, and patted him on the arm.
'S'pose,' Harry said. He didn't look at Luna; instead he gazed across the lake; stared at the part where, two years ago, his deceased godfather had lain nearly dead after a Dementor attack.
'I'm really sorry about your godfather,' Luna said.
'Thanks.'
'No problem. I know he's in a better place now.'
He turned to look at her. 'Are you sure?'
'Yes,' Luna said.
There were a few moments of silence before Harry said 'Thank you so much, Luna.'
Luna gazed at Harry, startled. 'Why? What did I do?'
'You came,' Harry replied simply, with the faintest hint of a smile on his face.
'Yes, but I didn't, um, do anything, did I? I just… went there. I got knocked out fairly soon as well; I wasn't much of a help, was I?' said Luna in her distinct Irish singsong voice. Harry admired how the Ravenclaw managed to sound so happy and carefree, even at times like this,
'Without you, Luna, we wouldn't have done as well as we did,' stated Harry matter-of-factly. He smiled at her. 'I like you Luna.'
Luna seemed a bit surprised. 'Oh, erm, ah, what do you mean?' she asked cautiously.
'Well, you always seem happy, carefree, contented, all of the time. I wish I could feel those things all the time.'
'It's just the way I am, Harry.'
'I know, and that's what I adore about you. That and hat fabulous accent of yours,' he added mischievously. 'I know you can help me through this.' For a while Harry had been staring at the ground, but now he turned to face her. 'You will, won't you?'
'Course I will, Harry,' Luna assured him. She squeezed his hand. 'Always.' Harry nodded his thanks.
He focussed on the opposite shore of the lake, deep in thought, for several minutes. He thought Luna had gone back to the castle, but a nudge of his hand after five minutes of thinking told him she was still there, comforting him, helping him, which he was immensely grateful for. They sat there, in silence, for another fifteen minutes, holding hands. By the time Harry spoke, it was nearly dark.
'I mean, what the hell am I going to do, Luna? Sirius is dead, my father is dead; every father figure in my life is dead! Sirius, he looked out for me, he looked after me, advised me, joked with me, and now he's gone.' Harry choked out the last four words. 'What can I do? I'm alone now and –'. He began to cry.
'No you're not alone,' Luna informed him firmly, whist at the same time she hugged him close. He rested his head on her shoulders as she continued to speak. 'You. Are. Not. Alone. You've got me, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, the teachers, Dumbledore. In a way, you're less lonely than you was before. As the Nargles would say: 'You'll Never Walk Alone.''
The last sentence earned a wet chuckle from Harry. He sat up and hugged her.
'Thanks Luna,' he whispered onto her shoulder. 'You don't know how much that means to me.'
Luna could not think of a response, so she considered for a moment, then, ever so slightly, her lips brushed against his. Harry was startled for a moment, and then he began to kiss her back. It was slow and gentle at first, and wet (much like the snog with Cho, Harry thought, but this is far better). It got faster and more passionate until they had to stop to take some much needed air.
Twenty minutes later, Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood lay side by side, half naked, breathless and clueless of what to say.
'Erm, thank you again, Luna!' Harry said as he put on his trousers.
'Anytime,' Luna winked at him. 'You okay now?'
'For now, yep, certainly.'
The two Hogwarts students got dressed rather quickly. It was getting very dark now; their respective Heads of Houses, Profs McGonagall and Flitwick, were not going to be happy if they turned up after hours. Harry looked at his watch and saw that it was quarter past nine.
'Come on, we got to go in,' Harry said, and together they walked, hand in hand, towards Hogwarts Castle in the falling sunset, no doubt awaiting the rollicking and possibly detention Flitwick and McGonagall were sure to give them each. But, alas, they didn't mind. As the late Sirius Black once said, 'It's all part and parcel of life, Harry.'
Author's Note: There you go! Hope you enjoyed it. Please do not hesitate to review and/or PM me.
BTW: I have no idea if Sirius actually said that, but I needed to put something there to go with the story, I'm sure you'll understand.
Ta-ra a bit! (Goodbye in Black Country speak)