Author's Note: Got this idea from the book Ella Enchanted.
Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter and I never will.
Are You Still Too Young to Marry?
By: Wings of Jade
An late adolescent sat lazily beside a lake, casually twirling his wand between his fingers. He pointed at a little fish that had just leapt above the water surface.
"Impedimenta!" The fish froze momentarily, and then flopped back into the water.
"Jinxing fish, I see." The teenager turned around.
"Ah. Luna Lovegood."
"Ah. Harry Potter." The blonde girl paused. "May I join you?"
"Why not?" Harry Potter shrugged. Luna sat beside him.
"So. Why are you at the lake when it's a perfect summer day? Aren't Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley with you?" Harry shrugged again.
"They're on a date."
"A DATE?"
"Yep. Not exactly romantically, but not exactly friendship-ly either."
"Right." There was an awkward pause.
"Have you ever thought about marriage?" asked Luna dreamily.
Harry gaped at her.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?"
"Nope. You are seventeen, you know that? Shouldn't you be thinking about that?"
"Oh ho," said Harry, rolling his eyes. "No, I haven't, and some crazy little girl one year younger than me is thinking about it for me." He pointed his wand at another fish. "Please."
"It was only out of curiosity, you know," said Luna serenely, unfazed. "I mean, you have so many girls after you and all..." she trailed off.
"What?" Harry snorted. "Me? Right. For a stupid old scar on my forehead!" He unfroze yet another fish. "Are you going to marry any time soon?"
"Yes," said Luna sarcastically. "I'm going to marry at sixteen."
Harry grinned.
"Tuh, too young to marry."
"Right you are. I am too young to marry."
A pause.
"How about now?"
"What?"
"Are you still too young to marry?"
"Yes."
"Now?"
"Yes."
"Now?"
"Yes."
"NOW?!"
"Wait for time and find out."
xxx
The end of the year came quickly. Harry found himself saying goodbye to Ron and Hermione, and even to Draco Malfoy. Ernie MacMillian ran up to him and pumped his hand vigorously, Colin Creevey took one last picture of him, and he and Ginny played one last match of Quidditch.
When Harry went into the Great Hall for the Final Feast, he bumped into none other than the famous Luna Lovegood.
"Hey," he greeted, grinning.
"Oh, hello," said Luna dreamily. "This is your last day here, isn't it?"
"Nope, not really; I still have tomorrow."
"I see." An awkward silence came in between them. Harry cursed himself. He always hated it when these awkward silences occurred. Luna didn't seem to mind.
"Uh...hey, Luna, remember our talk at the lake?"
"Our spirited conversation? Yes."
"Well...er...well, are you still too young to marry?" Luna blinked at him, her wide, bright eyes looking straight at him. Harry managed a weak smile. He hoped he didn't sound like he wanted to marry her or anything.
"Yes." Harry threw back his head and laughed.
"But of course; sixteen is hardly suitable."
"Seventeen, actually; I had my birthday a couple of days ago."
"Happy belated birthday to you."
"It was nice meeting you, Harry Potter." Luna's voice was no longer misty, but dead serious. Harry tried to arrange himself so too.
"You too," he replied solemnly, and shook hands with her.
xxx
"Mr. Potter, famous Auror," said a voice playfully. "Will your Highness let such a lowly witch as I to come in and disturb your slumber?" An adult Harry Potter glanced at the speaker.
"What is it, Hermione?" he asked, half-laughing. "And why are you calling me Your Highness anyway? You know you have more power than me." Hermione had, of course, gotten one of the most important jobs in the Ministry, being some sort of secretary to the Minister of Magic. She smiled and walked in.
"Not true. Well, anyway...I heard something down there, on the third floor. I think somebody did something wrong again, because Malfoy's dad was shouting at him--or her. Of course, if it was something dangerous, I couldn't have defended myself against it, so I came to the nearest Auror I could find."
"Hermione..."
"Come with me," she said firmly. "I want to see what's going on." She pushed Harry out the door and they hurried down to the third floor."
Indeed, Malfoy's father Lucius Malfoy was shouting at somebody there. That somebody was a woman with blonde hair, and she appeared calm.
"I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS!" Mr. Malfoy was yelling. "YOU SOMEHOW BARGE INTO THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC, BLAST OPEN A WALL, AND THEN ATTEMPT TO STUN ONE OF OUR WORKERS! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, WITCH? THIS IS PUBLIC PROPERTY, AND HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WERE DISTURBED AS THEY WERE WORKING! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
"I am merely trying to chase after the scoundrel who thought it was amusing to steal my father's enchanted typewriter. It is worth thousands of Galleons, you know," answered the woman defiantly.
"What, this thing?" Mr. Malfoy held out an old typewriter, its keys clicking and clacking audibly by itself. "Worth thousands of Galleons? I'm sorry to say this, Ms. Lovegood, but this typewriter isn't even worth ten Galleons!"
Lovegood? thought Harry. Could it be Luna Lovegood?
"Oh, you'll see," said the Lovegood seriously as the room rang with cruel laughter. "You'll see, Arthur Weasley."
"Ah--excuse me!" All eyes turned to the new speaker.
"Harry, what are you doing?" whispered Hermione. Harry ignored her.
"Um...it was I who...who brought Ms. Lovegood in here! Er...she...er...wanted her father's typewriter back, and I...I...I wanted to help her, so, er...I let her in so that she would get a chance to retrieve it. Yeah." Harry wanted to talk to 'Ms. Lovegood' afterwards. He had a feeling he knew her...
"Harry?" said Mr. Malfoy, astonished. "You let--"
"Yes," answered Harry firmly. "So please, leave her alone. You can...punish me later."
"Good," said Mr. Malfoy, his eyes glittering. Then muttering began, and then he hastily changed it to, "Never mind. You are an Auror, and you do have such rights to do what you, ah, please...sorry to disturb you now, Ms. Lovegood." He returned the typewriter and beckoned for other people to go. Harry walked towards her.
"Are you alright, Ms. Lovegood?" The woman turned to him. Harry's eyes widened, for it was, as he had thought before, Luna Lovegood. He could never mistake those eyes for anyone else's.
"I'm quite fine, thank you, Harry Potter," Luna replied stiffly. Harry smiled.
"You know me, Ms. Lovegood?"
"Who doesn't?"
"That's true."
"But do you remember me?"
Harry's smile grew wider. "I do believe so." He held out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you again, Luna."
Luna returned the smile. "Pleasure to see that you remember me, too." She shook his hand. Harry looked at her ring finger.
"Married?"
"Goodness, NO," answered Luna, jerking off the ring. "This is just an old ring I found one day and I just felt like putting it on my ring finger, so..."
"Oh." Harry smiled. "I should have known. But then again, you are too young to marry."
"That's right," said Luna heatedly, although she was already past twenty.
"My mistake," said Harry, bowing low, but smirking, and walked away.
"Hey--wait--Harry Potter!" Harry turned. Luna's lips were set in a straight line.
"Will you walk with me? Please? I--I don't know how I got here. Could you--could you somehow escort me back out?"
Harry shrugged. "Sure."
xxx
"So that's why you came to get the typewriter."
Luna took a deep breath. "Yes. My father needs it urgently to write an article, so I had to get it back."
"You are so strange."
"Me?" repeated Luna, astonished. "Look at you! You said that you let me into the Ministry of Magic and told them not to harm me even though I ruined a wall and injured a worker, and then you're escorting me up to the ground."
Harry laughed; right, that was strange?
"I was obviously trying to help you, Luna."
"Well, I suppose so." Her lip was still stiff. She looked so funny, Harry couldn't help bursting into laughter again. She looked at him sharply.
"What?"
"Sorry," gasped Harry, "Sorry--but--you looked so funny--I--" Then he broke down laughing again. Luna narrowed her eyes at him.
"Silencio." Harry clapped a hand to his mouth. No voice.
"Give my voice back!" he shouted, but didn't make a sound.
"Not until you've stopped laughing."
"I have, okay?" said Harry soundlessly.
Reluctantly, Luna lifted the spell. She didn't talk to him for the rest of the way on the elevator. Harry glanced at her quietly. She was so...different. So...strange, but in a good way. He couldn't explain it.
So beautiful.
Immediately, he dismissed the thought, and then he said, "We're here." They walked out of the elevator, but then they found themselves in the midst of several people; most of which looked like Muggles. Harry looked behind him and there was the telephone booth. He sighed. The wonder of wizardry.
"Can you come with me to the train station? Please? I don't want to go alone."
"Okay." Luna seemed a little taken aback at Harry's speed to say yes.
"Are you sure?" she asked cautiously.
"Yeah, why not?" asked Harry, surprised.
"Well...it's just that...everybody else usually ditches me in the middle of some street and I have to find my way back myself...you're the first person to actually not ditch me. I mean, you know me, 'Loony Lovegood'...you sure you don't mind?" Harry felt sorry for her.
"Yes, but...why do you want to go on the train?"
"For no reason. I fancy Muggle transportation." Harry gave a small laugh.
"Come on, the trains should be coming soon." Luna nodded and Apparated with him to the train station.
xxx
When they arrived, Luna had a mysterious smile on her face, and Harry couldn't help but be slightly suspicious of her.
"What are you smiling about?" he inquired.
"Nothing." She took out a train ticket and handed it to the ticket guard. Harry attempted to follow, but the guard said, "No ticket, no entry." Luna looked back at him, her smile still on her face.
"Well, Harry, it's been nice meeting you. Hope to see you soon."
"You too." When Luna turned to board the train, Harry suddenly shouted, "LUNA! Hey, wait a second!" She turned back.
"Yes?"
"Are--Are you still too young to marry?" he blurted out. Immediately he knew he shouldn't have said it, because of course she would say yes...
"No," answered Luna simply. She went on the train.
Harry's mouth fell open.
Are you still too young to marry?
No.
"She said no," said Harry, amazed. "She...she said no."
And, from that day on, Harry knew--he knew--he had to ask her a question soon--only it wound't be about if she was still too young to marry.
It would be if she would be willing to marry him.
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Okay, so it's kinda sucky, but please review! PLEASE!!