And here it is! The prequel I promised. I am still not sure if I really want to write it though. Depends on what you, the reader, reviews. If some people like it, I will coninue. A few small notes:

1) I would really like a person to preview these before I post (called a beta reader, right?).

2)Reviews, even bad ones, inspire me so much, so please be a responsible reader and review this fic.

3)I don't have the fifth book (I borrowed it from a friend to read) so if someone could tell me if Rowling ever gives a good physical description of Luna then that would be great.

My email is compkitten89yahoo.com if you want to answer the two requests up there!

Disclaimer: Nope, can't say I own Harry Potter. Don't sue me, I only have 5 bucks.

Now then, on with the story.


Chapter One: Grassy Patches and Cloudy Skies


A raven-haired boy was sitting on the shabby bed in his room, a room he hated with such intensity, but also the only one which could now give him privacy. He was 15, about to turn sixteen, and was living considerably better than last summer. For you see, after actually being threatened by a group of full-grown witches and wizards, the Dursleys were not about to try and make Harry unhappy in the slightest. So, the moment they got back from King's Cross, Uncle Vernon had made it quite clear that he could do pretty much what he wanted. And if there was a moment when Uncle Vernon even thought about forbidding him to do something, he just happened to mention that he had to finish a letter to one of the Order ("Oh, you remember him. He was at King's Cross.")

However, even though he had free reign, Harry was still not that happy. Not at all. He was even exicted in the least that his birthday was tomorrow. It had been well over a month now, and the memory of Sirius's death still haunted his dreams. He wasn't sure if he had even had one night of sleep that hadn't been fitful. He knew in his mind that it wasn't really his fault, but his heart wouldn't connect the dots, except for the ones telling it to feel guilt.

The emerald-eyed teenager hadn't really known his godfather all that long, only three years. He had really barely seen him, but somehow he had grown remarkably close to Sirius. Maybe it was because he was one of the few connections Harry had to his real parents, or maybe it was the hope of having Sirius as a parent. Harry couldn't tell, and somehow, it didn't really seem to matter anymore. Nothing did.

And so, Harry was sitting pondering these thoughts, when he heard the doorbell. Aunt Petunia was shouting, "Get the door, Harry!" He gave a rather annoyed sigh (the little things annoyed him so much more now) and got up to answer the door.

"Hello?" said Harry, before he actually saw her.

"Hi Harry!" said Luna. Seeing her, Harry was a bit shocked, though he wasn't quite sure why.

"L-Luna? Is that you?" asked Harry, in a state of utter awe. He still couldn't figure it out. She was the same as always, wasn't she? Well, maybe not. She had taken better care of her hair, and started to put on makeup. She seemed to be dressing a bit nicer too, but other than that, she was still just Luna. The exact same girl with the exact same dreamy look.

So why does she seem so different?

"Why, of course it is. Did you not recognize me?"

"Um...I guess not. It's just...you seem so different. But not in a bad way, it's a good kind of different." Harry replied, blushing just a bit.

"What do you mean, different?"

"I'm not quite sure, I just can't seem to pinpoint it. It's just something about you that's different-better."

"Oh. Well, thanks." And after this there was one of those dreaded awkward silences that we all hate.

"So—er—would you like to come in?"

"That seems like a good idea."

"Um, okay. Well, come in then." Harry then led her to the living room, where all three of the Dursleys were sitting. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon exchanged a confused look and Dudley made a sorry attempt at a scowl.

"Oh, this is my-er-friend, Luna." Harry told them with a smile. They all looked baffled at the idea that Harry had any sort of a friend, especially one that would visit him. So, after a moment of silence Harry added, "From school." That did it. At the mention of anything to do with Hogwarts they became rather pleasant. Or at least entertaining.

Dudley's eyes got as round as a quaffle, he clamped his mouth shut in an awkward way and immediately sat down in a chair, putting one had over his mouth and the other holding his rump, and then suddenly froze stiff. And by the color change in his face, Harry guessed he wasn't breathing either. Uncle Vernon simply sat there, looking unsure of what to do, his forehead starting to sweat, and his eyes moving frantically about the room. It was Aunt Petunia that made the logical choice of action, plastering a rather fake smile on her face.

"Nice to meet you Luna, dear," she said, outstretching her hand. "I'm Harry's Aunt, this is his Uncle Uncle Vernon nods with another obviously fake smile, and that is his cousin Dudley."

Hi," Dudley managed to squeak out.

Luna took the women's hand, and replied, "Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Dursley, and you Mr. Dursley, Dudley," with a more genuine smile. Harry just stood there watching, trying not to crack up as he was finding this hilarious, his muggle aunt being sweet to a witch. It was Uncle Vernon who took the next logical step as sweat quite obviously was dripping from his forehead.

"Well, I think we'll leave you two alone for a while."

"I think that's a good idea. Don't you, Dudley?" Dudley nodded, more than eager to leave. They all made their exits, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon to the kitchen, and Dudley up to his room, where Harry guessed he was trying to find a good hiding place. Harry quickly put a silencing charm (he had been granted special permission to use some spells) on the door to the kitchen. He didn't want the Dursleys listening in on his conversations.

"You have a very interesting family," said Luna, trying to make conversation. Harry snorted in return. "What?"

"Well, first off, I gave up on calling them my family years ago," the boy replied a bit harshly.

"Oh." She didn't act as though his tone bothered her, but somehow he knew it did. A part of him felt sorry, but another larger part didn't care much for human emotions right now.

"..."

"They don't speak to magical folk much, do they?"

"You could tell?" Harry replied sarcastically.

"Well the fact that your cousin's face was turning purple from not breathing and your uncle's face was pink and sweaty even though it's rather cool in here gave it away just a bit." She didn't seem to notice his sarcasm.

"Yeah, well I think if they got too much magical interaction Dudley would suffocate, Uncle Vernon would dehydrate, and Aunt Petunia would try and fail horribly to be polite and smile cautiously until her face cracked."

"Maybe," replied Luna, "But what I don't understand is why they're afraid of me. Don't they know about the underage law?"

"Oh, they found out about that years ago, but they figure every little witch has a daddy wizard who could come after them. In fact, that's the only reason they treat me decent anymore."

"Well, that's convenient for you, isn't it?"

"You don't know how true that is. All I have to do is say 'Well, I'm going to write to those wizards you met at the train station that day' and I get instant permission to do whatever I want." "

That sounds nice." Just as Luna said this Harry got what he thought to be a brilliant idea. "Hey, you want to stay for dinner?"

"Sure. That is, if I can borrow your owl to let my father know." "Of course. And since your staying, we can have a little fun with them."

"Fun?" Luna was a tad confused.

"Just follow my lead." They went into the kitchen, finding his aunt and uncle in obvious discomfort at having a witch in their midst.

"Yes?" asked Aunt Petunia, again with her faked smile.

"Oh well, you see, Luna here just got back from her vacation and is rather famished. Aren't you Luna?"

"Oh, starving!" she replied overdramatically.

"And we haven't really gotten to talk since school let out Aunt Petunia winces at the thought of Hogwarts so I was thinking we could have her for dinner. Don't you think that's a good idea, Luna?"

"Absolutely brilliant!" then, remembering their conversation she added, "But I will have to borrow your owl to tell my father."

"Oh, yes. That reminds me, I have a letter to finish up to Mad-Eye Moody. You remember him Aunt Petunia? With the crazy eye and wooden leg?" Aunt Petunia nodded nervously. "So, it's all settled, then. That is, if it's alright with you, Aunt Petunia. Is it?"

After a pause she replied, "Of course it is, Harry!"

"Uncle Vernon?" The man seemed in shock, but eventually found a way to make his purple face speak.

"Uh, yes. We-we would be delighted to have her stay."

"Now why don't you go show Luna around the neighborhood. Just be back in time for dinner." She was obviously trying to get rid of them, but Harry didn't mind. Her sugar-coated voice was making him nauseous anyway.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia." And off they went to Hedwig, giving her the letter to take off to Mr. Lovegood. On the way to the front door, they found Dudley on the stairs.

"Oh, hey Dud! Guess what? Dudley shook his head Luna gets to stay for dinner!" They both stood there for a moment watching the color disappear from his face. Then the two Hogwarts students quietly made their exit from number 4 Privet Drive.

They made their way to a small park Harry liked, right in the center of the neighborhood. The twosome decided to sit on the top of the jungle gym.

"So...How was your vacation?"

"Mixed. We did have a fantastic time, but we couldn't find any of the crumple-horned snorkacks!"

"Oh. Well, better luck next time, eh?"

"Yes. Father says we'll try again next year if the magazine makes us enough money. Maybe we will have better luck." The two sat there for some time in silence, though it wasn't awkward. Luna was looking at something in the sky, and Harry, having nothing better to do, was watching her. After a while, he began to wonder what she could possibly be looking at. "Luna?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you looking at? There's nothing in the sky!"

She looked back at him as though he was absolutely nuts, but he knew he wasn't. There simply was nothing there!

"Why, of course there is." She said this as if it were common knowledge, as if Harry had somehow missed something he should have learned long ago.

"No, no there isn't. See, there? Nothing. And over in that direction? Nothing at all; nothing but clouds."

"Exactly."

"What do you mean?"

"The clouds. I'm looking at the clouds."

"Oh. Er—why?"

"Why? Haven't you ever looked at clouds and picked out what they looked like?"

"Well, not really. I suppose I've noticed what they looked like before, but I never tried to figure it out or anything."

"Really? Even when you were little? Harry shook his head Why not?"

"I dunno. I suppose I just never thought about it. Besides, I was always on the lookout for Dudley and his gang, I didn't really have the privacy."

"Oh. Well, why don't you try now? Look there, at that one," she said, pointing to a cloud toward the side, "doesn't it look just like a cauldron?" The older of the two looked eagerly at the cloud, concentrating hard, trying to see what she saw. Luna noticed this, and quickly informed him, "No, don't concentrate or think too hard. It won't work then. Just use your imagination." Once again he obeyed, tilting his head to look at it, imagining a cauldron. Then he got it.

"Why, it does! And look! There, see? Those little ones, there? They're the splatters coming out the top!" Thus, Harry had discovered the art of looking at clouds. They continued on with their cloud-quest, soon moving to the grassy part of the park. Not long after that they found themselves laying in a right angle with their heads together, pointing out the various shapes.

"Oh, and there's a whomping willow!" The Gryffindor told her, his emerald eyes sparkling.

"Where? I can't see it." The Ravenclaw replied.

"There." Harry then pointed toward the cloud. The girl found it, and they laughed together, noticing how the branches were moving. The laughter died down, and Luna spotted another.

"Found one! See, there's a great dog right there." She pointed it out for him.

The-boy-who-lived found the dog, and it was large. It instantly reminded him of Sirius.

Suddenly the air around him, which had felt so warm just a moment ago, became ice cold. His grin left his face, and he no longer saw the clouds, except the one. He was finding it difficult to breathe properly as he kept his eyes from watering. Luna couldn't have seen him, but she must have felt the change, for she asked him:

"Do you dream about him?" The brunette wondered how she knew, but still he replied.

"Yeah."

"Nightmares?"

"Yeah."

"I dreamt of Mum after she died. Every night. I saw her falling so gracefully to the ground, every single night. I guess I always felt responsible in a way. For being there. I hadn't really had much to do with it, but I felt guilty for watching her. Like maybe if I hadn't been she'd still be here." After a pause she added, "Not to say that I know how you feel or anything. I hated that. At the funeral, everyone kept saying they knew how I feel, because they lost a brother or aunt or something. I may have felt similarly, but only you really know how you feel."

"When did they go away? The dreams I mean."

"They didn't. I still dream of her most every night, but they're good ones now. Still, some nights I get the nightmares again."

"Does it—does it ever feel any better?" Harry's voice cracked just slightly as he said this.

"I've accepted it if that's what you mean. But the pain, it's still there, deep down. On the surface it's more like a numbness now, though. But I really can't say that I know how you'll feel. I never really got to talk to anyone about it, so I suppose it still hurts more than it really has to."

They lay on the ground in silence for a while, then Harry asked her, "How did you know about Sirius?"

"I thought about it. I remembered that in my second year there was that dog around all the time, then I remembered that Ron lost his rat that year as well, and that you mentioned Pettigrew in your interview. I researched Black's crime. I began to figure out that he hadn't really killed anyone, that he was framed. So I looked him up in relation to you. He was your godfather, right?"

"Yeah." And that was the last they said. They were silent for a rather long time, and neither of them made any move to speak or to get up. It was after this period of silence that they found a rather large figure headed towards them.

"Potter! You and your friend need to come to dinner soon."

"Yes, yes, thank you, Dudley. Now if you will, go away." Naturally, the other 16-year-old would not do that.

"What are you doing?"

"We're watching the clouds, not that that is any of your concern. Now go before Luna hexes you."

"She can't. She's the same age as you. There's that law or whatever. I'm not scared at all."

"Actually she's a year younger. Well, maybe she can't hex you, but her father certainly can. I think he knows some rather good ones too, doesn't he, Luna?"

"Oh yes! In fact, he just got a new book of minor curses..." Once again the color left the pudgy boy's face as he cowered away.

"I suppose we'd better go then." They then got up off the ground and picked the grass from their clothing. They slowly walked back to Number 4 Privet Drive in silence.

Dinner was a rather amusing experience. The two magical students discussed potions, charms, who the new DADA teacher may be, Quidditch, CoMC, the latest in the Daily Prophet, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and anything else they could think up. The best part was when they tried to get the Dursleys into the conversation. ("Oh, Dud! You remember Fred and George Weasley? The ones who gave you the toffee that made your tongue grow? Well, they've got an entire shop now full of stuff like that..." or "I wonder what creatures Hagrid will come up with this year. You remember him, don't you Aunt Petunia? He's the half-giant that came to take me to Hogwarts?"). Needless to say, the Dursleys were just a tad bit uncomfortable. One really amazing thing did happen though. Dudley lost all appetite, and so Harry got to eat four times as much as usual. Dinner naturally came to an end and the Gryffie walked Luna to the door.

"So did you have fun?"

"Yes, it was a rather good visit." Twas after she said this that the emerald-eyed teen thought of something.

"Why did you come anyway? I never asked."

"Well, your birthday is tomorrow and I thought that I would give you your present." With this she handed him a large square package that was black with green polka dots. He carefully removed the wrapping and found two brand new copies of Plays, Moves, and Techniques: A Guide for the Quidditch Captain and the Avid Player, one in a rather large hardback, along with a small pocket edition. He also found that there was a play notebook in the package, much like ones found in basketball, except for Quidditch. She had remembered that he was trying out for captain this year (Alicia had decided "it's just too stressful" and wasn't going to be captain this year). Most thought Harry would get the position, but he wasn't so sure.

"Oh, cool. That's spiffy. Thanks Luna." Though he wasn't overly enthused (he never was anymore) Luna could tell he was pleased.

"Your welcome. I figured you may like it."

"Yeah, I really do. Thanks!" They both stood there a bit awkwardly for a moment, as if there was something else to be done but neither of them knew what it was. They disregarded it, however much they wondered about it. After a bit of silence, they said their goodbyes and Luna mounted her broomstick, flying into the distance, as Harry found himself going inside, faced with a rather angry group of Dursleys.


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