A/N: I am back! This time I've got a fic I'm not going to try to make too long, but I've wanted to write this one for quite a while now. It's a Harry/Luna and takes place after The Order of Phoenix. Sorry, guys, that means Sirius is dead. All plot related, don't worry. It also means that Dumbledore is alive. I will not be bashing anyone in this fic and the beginning of The Half Blood Prince does not apply. I don't know if I will get as far as Voldemort's defeat or maybe not…you'll see. If you want a sequel, I'll write one but this fic is mainly how Luna and Harry get together.
Disclaimer: This fic does not belong to me, all characters are the property of J.K. Rowling's incredible imagination and of Warner Bros. and other corporations with licenses for Harry Potter. DO NOT OWN. I will not repeat this disclaimer in any other chapters, but it applies to all of them. I will use some quotes from the main book. They will be in bold.
Title: Moondance
Author: hpjkrowling4ever
Chapter One
With a loud shriek, the train chugged laboriously into the station, as if weighed down by the knowledge that it was the bearer of bad news: the start of term. All the way down the platform now wreathed in white steam, cries of children, brothers, sisters and parents could be heard. 'Goodbye' and 'write to me' was shouted as the students clambered into the train, dragging trunks laden down with food, clothes and mementos from the holidays.
Unseen and unnoticed, a young teenager with a mop of unruly black hair and angry green eyes hidden behind round glasses entered the station. His trunk was battered and his owl looked glum in its cage. He stopped for a moment, scanned the thick white steam but seemed to not find what he was looking for. He took his trunk off the trolley, patted his back pocket and picked up his owl's cage. Making a beeline for one of the far carriages, Harry Potter finally entered the train. He found an empty compartment and, ignoring the cries of happiness echoing around the train, he instead put his trunk overhead and hung his owl's cage on one of the various hooks in the compartment. Taking off his rather tattered coat, Harry folded it up neatly and lay down with his head on it. Just as he was taking off his glasses, he heard a knock on the glass door of his compartment. Sighing, he sat up again and leant over to the door, opening it.
Harry looked into the eyes of Luna Lovegood, which were sparkling mysteriously. Her blonde hair was twirled artistically over to one side and cascaded down her shoulders to her waist. She wore her favourite necklace of Butterbeer corks, but her earrings were different; they were beautifully painted purple carrots. Her wand was, as per usual, behind her left ear. To top her whole appearance off, she wore a pale aquamarine dress that went just below her knees.
"I thought you'd be here," she smiled vaguely and looked around the compartment. "Looks jolly. Help me with this trunk, it's accumulated a shocking amount of Nargles going past the Slytherins."
Harry blinked in surprise and stood there gaping in astonishment for a while before Luna prodded him with her wand. Still quite bemused, Harry hefted her trunk into the overhead racks and sat back down.
"How did you know I'd be here?" he asked. Luna, who had been rummaging around in her looked up and stared for a while at him before answering.
"What? Hmm…not quite sure. I think, well, hang on." She pulled a long sheet of pink paper out of her bag and Harry stared at her in complete astonishment. "No idea. Followed the Nargles –Slytherins have too much of them, but," she leaned towards Harry and scanned him with her eyes before pulling away. "Well, you just have a huge colony of them. I'll probably be sick by the end of this journey. However," Luna rolled up the sheet of paper and started waving it around Harry. He slid further towards the door, looking quite scared.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?"
Luna paused and tilted her head to the side.
"You know, you can let go."
Harry shook his head, similar to how a dog would shake itself to get rid of water.
"Pardon?"
"It's not difficult, you know. It takes courage to keep them close, but just as much to let them go."
Harry took a deep breath, finally realising what Luna was going on about.
"You have no idea. You have no idea what I went through this summer. Nobody cares. What makes me think you will?"
Luna sat down next to him, and touched his hand gently, before taking hers away.
"You're my friend," she said simply, and looked out the window. "Friends help each other. I told you last year that you will see them again. The things we lost have a way of coming back to us in the end."
Harry put his head in his hands.
"There is nothing worse than knowing that I'll never see him again. Ron and Hermione didn't write to me much at all, which hurt. They knew how much I missed him –nothing from them. I suppose that their excuse will be that they felt I needed time to myself."
"You can't blame them, Harry. They felt they did the right thing. You probably looked like you wanted to be alone."
Harry sighed and threw his head back against the seat.
"How was your summer?" he asked, suddenly changing the subject.
"Daddy and I went camping in our secret glade." Luna smiled at Harry. "It was just like when Mummy was with us, except she wasn't there personally."
"Where is this glade?"
"Shh, it's a secret. Only family knows." Luna grinned mysteriously and Harry found himself grinning back, much to his surprise. "Daddy says that one day a Crumple-Horned Snorkack will come. Mummy used to say that she put her 'special stuff' there to attract them."
"What exactly are Crumple-Horned whatsists?" Harry asked.
Before Luna could answer, the train gave an unearthly screech and dragged itself away from the platform of waving parents and hysterical younger siblings. A frenzy of noise and window opening could be heard along the train, but Harry and Luna ignored it. Once the train had started moving at a steady speed and the noise had died down, Harry repeated his question.
"What do you think it is?" Luna's misty grey eyes seemed to pierce Harry as she asked the question. "My Dirigible Plum earrings I wore last year enhance Daddy's and my ability to accept the extraordinary. What you believe a Crumple-Horned Snorkack to be then it could be." Harry looked confused. "'To be or not to be, that is the question?' Muggles are surprisingly astute when it comes to the mysteries of what surrounds us. What are Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, you ask? I can't answer –I believe in them and understand what they could be, but not what they are."
"I think I understand where you're getting to." Harry was smiling and nodding; his eyes had gone from angry to sparkling with the idea of a challenge.
"The ability to accept the extraordinary and then question it is very important. You can't judge what you don't understand or –"
Suddenly the door to the compartment burst open and Ron entered, his face red. Hermione followed him in.
"There you are! We looked for you everywhere and even had to talk to Malfoy so that we could guess where you had disappeared. Of all places to –"
"Luna was talking."
"What?" Ron asked loudly, having not yet noticed Luna. Hermione poked him in the ribs and all of a sudden he seemed to notice that Luna was there. "Oh, hi. As I was saying, why on Earth did you choose this compartment?"
"I said something."
"Huh?" Ron looked surprised.
"Luna was saying something before you came in. If you want, you can put your trunks overhead silently and Luna can finish saying what she was saying."
"Oh no, please don't do that. It's quite alright." Luna smiled dreamily and stood up. She moved to the other seat opposite Harry's and a copy of The Quibbler seemed to materialise into her hands. Harry sighed and his expression shut down. Hermione, who had stayed silent all along, sat down next to Luna.
"What is your dad reporting on?"
"Hello, Hermione Granger." Luna turned to look at Hermione, who smiled uneasily. Harry could tell that she was unsure of how to act around Luna. "Daddy was very happy when you subscribed to the magazine."
"You subscribed to The Quibbler? What is this?" Ron finished putting the trunks on the racks and flopped himself down next to Harry, who pursed his lips at Ron's indiscretion.
"It's actually extremely interesting. Mr. Lovegood's theories about the existence of mysterious and new species are fascinating. He has incredible arguments for the existence of Fire Goblins in the Ministry. They may not be true, but they're believable."
"Fire Goblins are mysterious. The normal Goblin race is exclusive and despises the wizarding race, however still works to keep our money safe. Does this give them power?" Luna asked, looking at Hermione.
"I would personally think that if they wanted to cripple the wizarding world, the Goblins have the best way to do it: economically. They power Gringotts. So how do Fire Goblins stop this happening?" Hermione looked animated and Harry caught the excitement and the spark returned to his eyes.
"What is the theory behind Fire Goblins?"
"Daddy says that they are the same species as the Goblins who manage Gringotts, except that they are in league with the Ministry, therefore giving them a certain power over the running of the wizarding world." Luna's words were sharp and clear in contrast to her previously dreamy voice; Harry later learned to associate this to when Luna was talking about something intellectually. The only other times he ever heard her lose the dreamy quality to her voice was when her father or The Quibbler were insulted.
"Therefore, you're saying that since the Fire Goblins might have a say in the wizarding world, the Gringotts Goblins stay quiet?"
"Bloody hell, what's this got to do with anything? How are you even believing this rubbish?"
Luna turned her attention to Ron and looked at him with mild interest. She took her wand from behind her ear and twirled it skillfully in her hand.
"Ronald Weasley," Luna's voice had if possible, sharpened to the point to when, if it were an object, it would be an extremely sharp knife. "Are the Chudley Cannons rubbish?"
"I asked you a different question, that's not an answer!"
"No, I'm answering your question. Sometimes questions are more important than answers. Are the Chudley Cannons rubbish?"
Hermione and Harry both turned to look at Ron, who went a bright red and mumbled an answer. Luna kept smiling serenely, and Ron spoke louder.
"They haven't won a league in twenty or more years."
"So tell me why you keep supporting them?" Luna's smile grew wider, if it was possible for it to do so.
"Well, because no one else will." Ron answered as if the answer was obvious.
"There's your answer, then." Luna's voice had resumed its dreamy quality and she turned back to The Quibbler.
Harry chuckled to himself. It was going to be an interesting year.
A/N: What do you think? Good/Not good? I'll update every Saturday so keep reading!