Disclaimer: As I am a simple person who does not own tons and tons of money, I must admit to being a plain American girl, and not JK Rowling. Therefore, I do not own Harry Potter and the connected involved characters. Oh, well...
**Spoilers for all 7 books, Canon except for the epilogue.**
Purple Snowflakes
The first thought that Andromeda Tonks had upon meeting Luna Lovegood was that she was the strangest girl to ever set foot in the Tonks household. And Nymphadora had grown up there, dear Dora, lost to the war.
Clad in vivid orange and purple, Luna had swept into the house quite as if she wasn't dressed to kill the eyesight.
Once through the doorway, the blonde had turned somewhat protuberant silver-blue eyes to Andromeda.
"Is Harry here?" Luna asked, with all the certainty of a statement as opposed to a question. "Only, if the whifflerdippers have carried him off, I can come back later."
Andromeda stared at the eyeblindingly dressed girl. Before she could answer, Harry walked into the front hall, Teddy in his arms. He stopped. "Luna?"
Luna looked up, and smiled.
"Hello, Harry," she said. "Have the prizzletwippers finally left you alone?" Stepping forward, Luna stood on tiptoe at kissed Harry's cheek.
Harry smiled gently at the odd girl. "Andromeda has chased them away. With Teddy's help. Come on, you can tell me about Hogwarts this year."
Luna giggled, and followed Harry further in, enormous purple lightning bolt earrings swinging.
Later that afternoon, Andromeda entered the lounge to find Luna chattering about green terthertwiners and Ginny Weasley - Harry's ex-girlfriend.
"What in Merlin's name are green terthertwiners?" Andromeda asked, feeling at loss around Luna. That girl went on and on about the strangest things.
Luna looked up, her eyes solemn. "They are nasty things that cause anger and hatred because of deprivation of something owned by another."
"In this case," Harry cut in, "Deprivation of a relationship with a person."
Luna nodded sagely, her wide eyes widening even further. "I spoke to the Headmistress, Harry. She wants to know when you are returning to Hogwarts."
Harry stiffened. "Luna..." he hissed through gritted teeth.
"There's a wonderful Yule Ball on account of the end of the War that's coming up."
Harry shook his head. "Please, Luna."
Luna smiled, and shook her head. "I'll come back next weekend, Harry. Oh, and be careful what you eat and drink, and where you do it. Some of the most dangerous animals are never caged."
With that rather cryptic remark that, oddly enough, it seemed that Harry understood, Luna left.
Andromeda thought very little of the odd visit, until she caught Harry singing an odd song to Teddy, one night.
"When winter's come, when winter's come; when air, 'tis sweet and cold; then I shall kiss my one true love – 'Neath purple snowflakes gold."
Andromeda froze in the hallway, when she heard it. She'd heard those words before – "purple snowflakes gold." Back at Hogwarts, when she had been in Seventh Year, there had also been a Yule Ball. The last of the Ollivanders was in Ravenclaw, an odd girl named Soleil Ollivander. She had pranced about, singing merrily about purple snowflakes and her one true love.
Walking to the door of Teddy's bedroom, where Harry was singing, Andromeda leaned on the doorpost. "Where did you learn that song?"
Harry looked up from his lap, where Teddy was sleeping. "Luna sings it," he said, and Andromeda found herself hearing those words from a different time. From back when she was in Hogwarts, and funny Xeno Lovegood looked at his friends with wide brown eyes, and said, "Soleil sings it."
Andromeda shook her head as she wandered back down the hallway. Harry was nothing like Xeno, nothing at all, and Luna – well, Andromeda hadn't really spoken to Luna enough to know if she was like her mother. She certainly looked like an Ollivander.
Andromeda was out by herself, a week later, buying food, when she found herself face-to-face with Luna Lovegood again. For a moment, she stared. Luna smiled happily.
"Hello, Andie," she said, "How is Harry doing? The prizzletwippers haven't ambushed him again, have they?"
Andromeda blinked. "The what?"
Luna gave her a serene look. "The prizzletwippers. Nasty things, enhancing depression and self-doubt. They seem to enjoy swarming Harry, for some reason."
Andromeda held back a startled remark. That… that actually made sense. Well, in an Ollivander family sort of way. "No… no Harry's fine."
Luna's face lit up. "That's wonderful! Being with Harry – he's my friend you know – it's so nice, having someone who doesn't laugh at me and call me names. Even Ronald slips up and calls me Loony sometimes."
Andromeda was shocked. Certainly, Soleil had been absolutely insane, but nobody had ever had the courage or the stupidity to say so to her face. After all, everyone knew not to cross an Ollivander. But Luna is a Lovegood, Andromeda reminded herself.
But as she walked down the lane beside the blonde with large silver eyes, who was singing some muggle song about raindrops and kittens, she couldn't hold back the thought that, despite her name, Luna was infinitely more Ollivander than Lovegood.
Certainly, mused Andromeda, Luna chattered incessantly about those creatures that her father had always insisted existed, but her sincerity and just plain battiness was completely an Ollivander trait.
"Mum?"
Andromeda stopped suddenly, shocked to realize that she had wandered all the way back into the house and nearly into Harry without realizing it.
"Did you know that people call Luna, "Loony," Andromeda blurted without thinking.
Harry's eyes darkened. "Yes," he said quietly, "I tried – and tried! – I tried to get people to stop, but it seems that people don't want to ever do the right thing, just the easy thing."
Harry stopped still, and put his fist into the wall, leaving a rather large dent. "Why can't they realize how special she is?"
Andromeda was rather startled. This was the most passionate that she has seen Harry be about anything since the war had ended.
Before she could come up with a suitable response, Harry whirled around and Apparated away with a crack.
He returned only two hours later, with a sheepish grin and cracked spectacles. Flicking his fingers out absently, Andromeda barely heard him murmur "Reparo," mending the wall he had dented.
Without a wand. Andromeda's mind slowed and stopped. He had just done advanced magic without a wand.
She opened her mouth to call out to him, when the expression on his face was silhouetted by the flickering lamps.
Harry was smiling. It was small smile, yes, but a real and true smile.
The next day, when Teddy woke up, Andromeda was startled to discover that Harry had not gotten up yet. Once Teddy had settled down to breakfast, she tapped on Harry's door, pushing it open when she felt it give. "Harry?"
Harry was awake, and dressed, sitting on his bed. Hesitantly stepping into the room – she herself was tidy, but Harry took cleanliness to an entirely different level – Andromeda sat on the edge of Harry's bed. "Are you all right, Harry?"
Harry started, and turned, revealing the object of his scrutiny, a small velvet-covered box.
Andromeda gasped. "Harry," she whispered. "Is that…"
Whether in response or merely in absent thought, Harry answered her question.
"It was my mother's ring…" He trailed off, staring at the case. "It's been the in family for generations – supposedly Princess Guinevere Arielle wore it, all the way in the fifteenth century."
Andromeda reached out, and touched Harry's shoulder. "Why did you remove it from the vault, Harry?"
He turned, focusing on a photograph stuck to his wall. It was not a new photograph; there was a tea stain curving around the left hand corner, and creases from movement. The photo depicted a smiling teenager with waist-length blonde hair, wearing a silvery dress that shimmered even within the confines of a photo.
Harry seemed to draw strength from the picture, straightening in front of Andromeda's eyes. He let out a heavy sigh. "Mum?"
Andromeda bit back the wiggle of happiness that she still felt every time he called her by that name. "Yes?"
Harry's gaze swept the room, from the calendar marking the days of December, to the window which opened to heavy grey skies. "Do you know where Sirius' old dress robes might be found?"
Confusedly, Andromeda blinked at her adopted son. "Regulus' would fit you better – wait, dress robes?"
Harry flopped back on his bed, clutching the velvet box to his chest. "Dress robes. There are only two days until Yule."
Andromeda felt her entire world do an about-face. This, she would have to see.
As it happened, Harry ended up wearing Regulus' old best dress-robes, with only a bit of touching-up.
Originally, Andromeda had intended to hire a sitter, but she ended up taking Teddy with her to Hogwarts, where Minerva McGonagall greeted her.
"Andromeda! What a pleasure! And just in time for the Ball." Minerva smiled at a sleepy Teddy. "And is this your date?" she teased.
Andromeda shook her head. "I'm actually here to eavesdrop," she confided.
Minerva's eyebrows lifted. "Oh? Do you predict drama?"
The music began, and the low hum of chatter filled the background.
"Just a bit," Andromeda smiled. Her gaze drifted to the dance floor, where Harry was limping slowly through a rather upbeat song with an enthusiastic Luna Lovegood.
The songs went from swift to slow, and Andromeda found a smile as couples drifted together. In a back corner, Hermione Granger was leaning on the chest of the ridiculously tall Ronald Weasley. Closer to the musicians' stage, Neville Longbottom was met by a blushing Hannah Abbot – wasn't that the girl who had saved Harry?
Close to one of the balconies, Harry was holding onto Luna with the desperation of a drowning man – or a man who can barely stand.
The sweet strains of the very tune that had played Andromeda's first dance at her wedding filled the Hall, and Harry gentled untangled himself from Luna.
"Luna?" he whispered hoarsely. He fell, rather painfully, to his knees.
A worried expression filled Luna's normally-dreamy face. "Harry, are you alr –"
"Sh." Harry fumbled with something in his pocket, not noticing the growing number of onlookers. He took a deep breath, and swallowed hard. Shaking, he extended the little velvet box, diamond and moonstone ring on display.
"Luna Lovegood – could – w-will you marry me?"
Shock flooded Luna's eyes, and her hands stopped moving confusedly. Grabbing the box with one hand, she dragged Harry to his feet with the other. With a confidence that she had never before exhibited in public, Luna pulled Harry to her chest, and kissed him firmly.
The box landed on the ground with a small thump, and Andromeda smiled as she watched the two of them grow more involved with each other.
From the corner of the room, Hermione Granger carefully Levitated the ring out of the box and onto Luna's finger.
When it became clear that Harry was leaning entirely on Luna, Andromeda moved forward to aid them.
But a whirl of silver-white magic swept through the Hall, and the two of them vanished.
"They're fine."
Andromeda jumped. Behind her, a slim blonde girl smiled gently, a ragged parchment in her hand.
"You don't think we all left him, after the War? We're Harry's army, the DA."
Andromeda could only gape as; from across the Hall, Neville Longbottom saluted her, and winked.
It was only then that Andromeda realized that it had begun to snow. And not just any snow.
Purple snowflakes, glittering with shimmering gilt edges.
Purple Snowflakes Gold.
...
When he is here,
My lover's near,
He banishes my cold –
Then I shall kiss him,
My true love –
'Neath purple snowflakes gold!
AN: Here you go, my sequel to Out of Place