Written for the QLFC Semi-Finals
Team: Pride of Portree
Position: Seeker
Prompt: Write a fluffy story using the quote "sadness is also a kind of defense"
Thanks to Story Please and FragileReality for the beta.
"Harry? I think there's something wrong with me."
Harry looked up, startled. Most people thought there was something wrong with Luna, but usually, she wasn't one of them.
"What do you mean?" Harry said, reluctant to disagree outright. He glanced around quickly, looking for someone who might be better at comforting Luna than himself. Unfortunately, everyone else had promptly left the Room of Requirement at the end of the DA session.
"My Patronus doesn't work."
"Well, most people are struggling with it. It is a seventh year spell, after all," Harry explained.
"Yes, but—well , perhaps it would be easier if I demonstrated. Stand back, please, Harry."
Harry retreated to the far side of the room. He was familiar enough with Luna's spellwork to know that he did not want to be in her way.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Harry expected silver mist, or perhaps no effect at all, but, as usual, Luna surprised him. Thick black fog spilled from the tip of her wand, swirling ominously.
"Well, you're right. That's not what a Patronus is supposed to look like," Harry said, and immediately regretted it as Luna's eyes filled with tears. "Er, well, perhaps it's the Nargles?" Harry suggested, wishing that Hermione had lingered after the lesson, as she so often did.
"Please don't try to humour me, Harry. You don't believe in Nargles. Nobody does."
"Well, perhaps it's the memory you're using. Do you mind if I ask what you're thinking about when you're casting?"
"I usually think about my mother." Tears were falling freely down Luna's face now, and she made no effort to hide them. "The time I spent with her formed all my happy memories. Nothing has been the same since she died."
"But thinking about her makes you sad?" Harry asked. Luna nodded. "Perhaps that's the problem. The memories are happy, but they make you sad, too."
"How can I fix it?" Luna wondered.
"Well, maybe you just need to make some new happy memories." Harry prodded the black cloud experimentally, finding it to be rather solid. "Until then, I guess sadness is also a kind of defence. I don't think anything's going to get through this any time soon."
Luna giggled. "It's difficult to make happy memories when you're alone. Will you help me, Harry?"
"I'll try."
"Come on, Harry, we need to be there at sunrise!"
Harry was starting to regret agreeing to help Luna. Of course, he couldn't have turned her down when she was upset, but he might have been more tempted if he had known it would entail being up and about at stupid o'clock in the morning looking for creatures that probably didn't even exist.
Luna flung open the huge doors to the grounds and skipped down the stone steps. Her skirt bounced around her knees as she moved and Harry's eyes were drawn to her bare legs. He hoped she would be warm enough; the temperature had been dropping drastically lately. He couldn't help but smile at her excitement as he followed her towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Luna found what appeared to Harry to be an arbitrary point in the foliage, but to Luna was probably the perfect something-or-other-spotting location, and crouched down. Harry sighed and took off his cloak, placing it on top of the dew-dampened grass.
"We might as well get comfy," Harry said, gesturing to the makeshift blanket.
"Oh, thank you." Luna sat primly on the cloak, seemingly unaffected by the morning chill that was now causing Harry to shiver.
"So, what exactly are we looking for?" He asked, kneeling next to Luna.
"Oh, I don't know," She said, dreamily, peering into the slowly lightening forest. "I thought there might be something that came out only at sunrise. And I thought it would be a shame if no-one ever saw whatever it was, simply because most people don't get up at sunrise,and those that do don't generally spend it sitting at the edge of the forest."
Harry sighed again and surreptitiously tried to rub some warmth into his arms. Still, he thought, there were worse ways to spend the morning than sitting peacefully with Luna.
"So, what kind of happy memory shall we make today?"
"I don't think there's much happiness to be found in the History of Magic section," Luna replied, studying the library shelves around her as though hoping for inspiration.
"Well, I know it's unusual for you Ravenclaws, but I thought maybe we could leave the library."
Luna nodded and returned her books to their proper places on the shelves. Harry trailed after her, thinking that perhaps Hermione would have more respect for her if she could see how well she treated books.
Once the books were returned, Luna looked at Harry expectantly.
"Er, I thought you might have some ideas about what to do," Harry said, rather uncomfortable under Luna's scrutiny.
"Oh, no. I have no idea what could make a happy memory," she replied cheerfully. Harry wondered exactly how much of her personality was an act; a persona to cover up the fact that she hadn't been truly happy in years.
"Well, how about flying?" Harry suggested, clutching onto the first memory he'd tried to use to conjure his own Patronus.
"I haven't tried to fly since our first year lessons," Luna said. "I'm afraid I wasn't very good at it."
"Well, it's pretty much the only thing I am actually good at, so I can help you."
"You shouldn't sell yourself short, Harry. You're good at plenty of things. Defense, for example. And being nice to people. You're very good at that."
Harry didn't know what to say. Luna had a way of stating things that made others uncomfortable, but luckily she never seemed to expect any response.
On the way to the Quidditch pitch, Harry found that Luna was a pleasant, albeit odd, partner in conversation. She was witty and interesting, and she listened happily to whatever he had to say. He found himself almost disappointed when they reached the pitch and the conversation dried up.
Looking at Luna, Harry could tell she was feeling nervous. He smiled reassuringly as he fetched his Firebolt from the Gryffindor storage shed.
"Would you prefer to sit in front, or behind?" Harry asked. "If you're behind then you can just enjoy the ride. In front you'll be doing most of the steering."
"In front, I think," Luna said shakily. "I would prefer to be in control."
Having never ridden a broom with anyone else, Harry had thought it might be a bit uncomfortable, but he found it was rather pleasurable sitting with his arms around Luna, hands atop hers in order to help adjust the flight path of the broom occasionally. He mused briefly that this might be a good way to acclimatise Hermione to broomsticks, before concentrating fully on the girl in front of him. Her whoops of enjoyment and laughter as she grew more confident were, quite possibly, the best sounds Harry had ever heard.
As they dismounted, Harry grinned at Luna's messy hair and bright, wild eyes.
"Thank you, Harry. That was much more fun than last time!"
Harry chuckled. "I'm glad. It's my mission in life to defeat dark wizards and promote Quidditch."
"Oh, I don't think I could play Quidditch. It interferes with the mating dance of Blibbering Humdingers."
Harry made a mental note to warn Oliver, then immediately erased the thought from his mind at the idea of being the cause of more teasing aimed at Luna.
"What's a Blibbering Humdinger?" he asked, and happily listened to Luna chatter about her father's research as they walked back to the castle. He decided it didn't matter whether or not the strange creatures existed. Luna believed in them and that was all that mattered to Harry.
"Are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Harry asked Luna after the next DA meeting.
"No. I don't think it would be very fun to go alone."
"Don't you go with your friends?" Harry said, confused.
"No, Harry. I don't have friends. Besides, I find it's the best time to get ahead on my homework. There's no one around to steal my books on Hogsmeade weekends."
Harry frowned. The idea of Luna staying at the castle, alone, while everyone else was off having fun didn't sit well with him. He felt vaguely guilty that he'd never before noticed her lack of friends, when in hindsight it should have been rather obvious.
"Do you want to come with me? To Hogsmeade? We might be able to make some happy memories there."
"Oh, thank you, Harry!" Luna's face lit up in a pretty smile, so different from the slightly vacant expression she normally wore. "That would be lovely."
As Harry left the Room of Requirement, he couldn't help but hope that he could help Luna to smile more often.
"You're going with Luna? What, like a date?"
"No, Ron, like friends. You know how friends do things together? It'll be like that."
"Oh, good. You had me worried for a minute there, mate."
Harry frowned. "Wait, why would you be worried? What's wrong with dating Luna?"
"Well, she's not exactly normal, is she? I mean, she's great for a laugh, but she's not really girlfriend material."
Ron had said some stupid things in the time Harry had known him, but Harry had never felt more like hitting him than he did at that moment. He took a deep breath and mentally repeatedly the mantra that Fred and George had taught him for times like this: Ron is a prat, Ron is a prat. Ron is a prat…
Harry couldn't help but think about Ron's comment, though. What would be wrong with dating Luna? She was pretty, especially when she smiled. She made him laugh, far more than Cho did. And while she certainly had some unique thoughts about the world, she didn't mind that others didn't share her views as long as they were respectful.
Now that he thought about it, Harry realised he hadn't been paying much attention to Cho recently. In fact, he'd been thinking far more about Luna. Choosing not to dwell on what that could mean, Harry began preparing his lesson plan for the next DA meeting.
"Think you could pull Potter do you, Loony?"
The insult carried across the Three Broomsticks to the bar, where Harry was ordering drinks for himself and Luna. Glancing over at the table where he had left his friend, Harry saw three girls—Ravenclaws in Luna's year he suspected—and Luna herself, hunched over with tears in her eyes.
"He'd never be interested in a crazy weirdo like you," one of them said, as Harry accepted his butterbeers from Rosmerta and hurriedly shoved a handful of coins into her waiting hand. Waving away his change he strode quickly across the pub.
"I think I'll decide who I'm interested in, thank you." Harry scowled at the girls, who just giggled in an annoying way that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
"You should come with us, Harry," one of them said, flicking her hair. "I guarantee any of us could show you a better time."
"I doubt that," Harry said flatly. "Now, if you'll excuse us…" He slid into the booth next to Luna, ignoring the other girls.
"You'll love this," Harry said, pushing one of the bottles towards Luna. "It's much better than pumpkin juice."
Luna visibly relaxed, and a quick glance over his shoulder told Harry that the bullies were gone.
"Thank you, Harry, but it's alright. You don't have to stay here with me. They're right; you're only here to help me with my Patronus, and it's not fair of me to expect you to give up your Hogsmeade weekend."
"Luna, I'm here because I want to be. If I wanted to come with Ron and Hermione, or, Merlin forbid, that gaggle of bullies that just left, I wouldn't have invited you."
Luna frowned. "I asked you before not to humour me. It's fine, no one really wants to spend their time with me. I'm used to it."
Harry could hardly believe that Luna had been treated so badly that she would think that. What exactly was Flitwick doing as Head of House if this kind of bullying was allowed to happen?
Harry wanted nothing more in that moment than to show Luna that he was serious. He did the only thing he could think of in that moment: he took her hand in his, leaned across and kissed her gently. When he broke away less than a second later, blushing furiously and mentally berating himself for his impulsiveness, he saw Luna looking happier than he had ever seen her before. She threw her arms around his neck and clung to him as he chuckled at her exuberance.
"Quickly, outside!" Luna demanded, releasing Harry from her embrace and all but pushing him out of the booth.
Once outside the door, Luna grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him down a side alley. Before his mind had a chance to wander to the myriad of possibilities for her intentions in such a secluded spot, Luna had drawn her wand.
"Expecto Patronum!"
A beautiful silver hare shot out of Luna's wand and frolicked around Harry's feet. Luna squealed and clapped, excitement radiating from her.
"I did it, Harry, I did it! And it's all because of you! Thank you so much! I finally have a truly happy memory!"
Harry chuckled and pulled Luna close, kissing her once more.
"I plan to give you many more."