Disclaimer: Wow, I find myself saying this yet again: I don't claim to own Harry Potter or the characters within it. That is owned by Joanne Kathleen Rowling of Edinburgh, Scotland, not I. Sheesh, How many times must I repeat this?

A/N: If you think this ship is weird, you aren't alone. But I love it so stop making fun of me! *Cries* Give the Harry/Luna ship a try, maybe you will become a shipper too! And a fair warning that there will be confusing love triangles.

Beyond Weird

Chapter 1: The Other Side

            On the morning of his birthday, a sixteen year old boy received a letter from a fellow student at his school. The return address was familiar…Ottery St. Catchpole… and the name of the person it was from…well, the boy couldn't believe it.

            Harry Potter stared at the letter in his hand with fiery amusement. He was excited to read it, but also afraid. What if it didn't say what he expected? What if she was just checking up on him… like everyone else?

            Harry sighed, ripped open the envelope, and unfolded the letter within. Inside he found very spiky handwriting he had never seen before.

            Okay, her handwriting is awesome, Harry thought, trying to ignore the feelings he had had ever since the start of the summer. That's no reason to like her even more!

            He only wished he could talk to her again…talk to her about Sirius. He didn't want to talk about it with anyone else. She had seen the thestrals.

            The letter from Luna Lovegood remained open in Harry's hands. He was fearful of what it might say. Would it mention the events of the previous year? Would it mention Sirius? Harry had to know, he had to find out… but he was still staring at the spiky handwriting in apprehension, as if afraid something scary would jump out of the pages at him. The letter was very long:

            Dearest Harry,

I don't know if you were expecting a letter from me, but I couldn't stay away. I couldn't stand to think of you, all alone with neat-freak muggles.

I got your last letter and immediately felt sorry I hadn't written you first. After all, last year was a painful experience for all of us. Of course we can talk about Sirius! But you will talk to him again. Like I said on the day of the feast, they're still there; beyond the veil… we both heard them. My mother is in there, I know she is.

So, this whole time Sirius Black was innocent. Just like my father believed. He dropped the whole Crumple-Horned Snorkack thing to report on Sirius being innocent and dead right away, but he's gotten back on the story now.

I do hope you're well. Daddy and I are vacationing in Venice, and I even saw Ron this summer. I've been spending a lot of time with him actually. We've been conversing regularly by means of owls and sometimes I will even walk to the burrow for a little chat. He doesn't seem to like me much but I do like him. He's funny!

I will be sure to get you a souvenir here in Venice. I've gotten a very cool hat and I've taught my father "Weasley Is Our King." (The Gryffindor version of course.) And we sing it whenever we feel like getting weird looks from people. 

I know you probably think I'm mad, and most people do. My nickname is Loony as I have told you. But not to my face, I hear things around. Imagine… Well I'm glad I got to know you last year and I look forward to seeing you again. Maybe sit with me on the Hogwarts Express like last time?

Well, I guess I will see you around.

-Luna

            Harry sighed. He had been planning to sit with Luna again all summer; he was really starting to enjoy her company. He somehow understood her more than anyone else, even if she was a bit weird.

            A sharp pain throbbed in Harry's heart when he thought of Ron. What had Luna meant by "I do like him."? Did that mean she would like to date him, or did she like him as a friend? He also felt a stab of jealousy…Ron got to spend a lot of time with her.

            Harry's head was spinning. His whole fifth year he had thought Luna's company as being annoying, and now he would give anything to see her again. Somehow a year of being with her constantly had turned his feelings in the opposite direction, and he no longer thought her insane.

 She had seen the thestrals.

            Harry remembered when he was nine years old. He shuddered to think of how horrible it would to be that age and lose your mother, having actually known her. Then there was the rest of the school… making fun of Luna's radish earrings and lion hat. Everyone thought she was weird… But she wasn't weird, she was unique and she knew it. She also didn't seem to care, which made Harry like her, if possible, even more.

            Luna was different than the other girls. She was beyond smart; she was the smartest person Harry knew. He was even sure that her intellect sometimes surpassed Hermione's. She was, after all, a Ravenclaw, and something about her oddness suggested something else…something hidden.

            Luna was a mystery… A mystery he intended to solve.

            Waking abruptly at the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, Harry shot out of bed in fear of having another row with his uncle, Vernon Dursley.

            Harry hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep, and the back of his shirt was damp with sweat when he ran to his mirror to check his hair. He didn't want another haircut…this was to be the haircut free summer.   

            Uncle Vernon opened the door with such force that the wind that came from it rustled Harry's hair in his attempts to flatten it.

            "What the devil are you doing up here, boy?" Vernon Dursley barked importantly. "It's noon and your aunt has had breakfast prepared all morning!"

            Harry shook off the yelling and stretched. "I fell asleep." He snapped, walking out of his room and down the stairs, closely followed by his uncle.

            "You're to never do that again!" Vernon said curtly, kicking Harry in ankles to move him along. "You're to do your chores and like them, not sleep in whenever you please!"

            "I know, I was just-"

            "Silence!"

            Harry rolled his eyes when his uncle wasn't looking and quickly stole a muffin off the plate on the counter when his aunt's back was turned. He didn't much feel like eating the runny scrambled eggs Petunia had prepared for him.

            Harry was feeling content with himself, due to Luna's letter. He felt a bit embarrassed for sending her a letter first, asking for someone to talk to, but getting a response back made him feel quite exceptional.

            Feeling lonely after his chores, Harry decided to walk to the park and sit on the only not broken swing all day until Dudley returned home from his evening with the gang. Harry just needed to be sure that he was indeed home before Dudley, because the curfew was still based on whenever Dudley came home.

            The summer air was stuffy and hot, and Harry only wished for a sprinkler to go on in his face, rather than sit in the sweltering heat all day.

            When Harry reached the neighborhood park, there was only one boy there. It was eleven year old Mark Evans.

            Mark was sitting on the seesaw alone, rubbing his right eye softly. Harry realized with a jolt of sadness that he was sporting a black eye, obviously caused by Dudley's gang. Harry also noticed that he was crying.

            Approaching the little boy, Harry noticed that Mark was watching him carefully.

            "Hey." Harry said. "Mark, isn't it?"

            The little boy nodded sadly.

            "What's up?"

            "You're Harry Potter," started Mark, completely disregarding Harry's last comment. "Mary told me not to talk to you. She says you're a hooligan from St. Brutus's." 

            Harry chose not to comment. He wasn't allowed to mention Hogwarts to muggles. "I promise you, I wont hurt you." Was all he could say for a few minutes, while Mark moved to the swing and stared miserably at the ground. "I just want to know what happened to you."

            Mark didn't say anything.

            "What did happen to you?"

            Mark looked into Harry's eyes and Harry jumped. His eyes were bright green… it was like looking in a mirror. In fact, Mark looked a lot like Harry, but his face was rounder and his hair was red.

            Mark completely ignored Harry's weird reaction and said two words. "Dudley Dursley."

            "Oh, I'm sorry," Harry answered. "Dudley's a big jerk, he's my cousin."

            "I know."

            There was a period of protracted silence and suddenly Harry asked, "Who's Mary?"

            Mark Evans thought for a while, and then shrugged. "She works where I live."

            Confused, Harry asked what he meant.

            "I live in the orphanage on the other side of town, and Mary works there."

            A rush of gratitude shot through Harry like ecstasy. He couldn't believe he was talking to another orphan; it made him feel like he was no longer alone.

            "What happened to your parents?" Harry asked, really starting to like the boy.

            "What happened to yours?"

            Harry sighed and struggled with the best way to say this sensitively. After all, Mark was only eleven.

            "They died when I was one, someone mean killed them."

            "Me too."

            Harry's heart soared. This boy was so much like him it hurt. He could almost see him coming to Hogwarts, alone and scared, just as Harry had been.

            Harry had been lost in his thoughts when Mark suddenly spoke.

            "No one ever told me what happened. I was taken to the orphanage and no one knew what was in my past. I asked everyone I could find, but they just said I was dropped on the doorstep of the orphanage with a note that said my parents had been murdered. I always run away but they always catch me, and I ran away this time and they aren't even looking for me. They thought it was a joke but I know it's real and I'm going there."

            Harry didn't ask what Mark was talking about, because at that same time he saw Dudley and his gang coming up along the street, and they were looking right at him.

            "Look, it's Potter…" Harry heard Piers say, trying without success to keep his strong voice down.

            "I'll handle him." Said Dudley, rolling up his sleeves. Harry feared what he was going to do if Dudley tried anything. He didn't want to risk expulsion again, especially with Mark watching.  

            Dudley was now strolling across the playground to meet Harry, who was trying to shield small Mark Evans from Dudley, who he was sure would want to beat him up again.

            "What are you doing here?" Dudley said, looking at Harry with a look that suggested he knew what he was hiding.

            "I have just the same right as you to be out at night." Harry said, and then added as an afterthought, "Got a problem with that, Big D.?"

            "Shut up." Said Dudley coolly, looking to his gang for support. "I see you've met my punching bag."

            Harry took a step closer to Mark. "You think you're so clever." Harry's voice was trickling with a kind of silky poison.

            "I do, as a matter of fact." Dudley's voice was unusually calm. "But you're armed with a nine year old and yourself, which I might add is a weakness."

            "Mark is eleven, not nine." Harry said with anger. "There is a difference."

            Dudley's voice suddenly got a lot less cool. "Shut it, Potter! I have a gang of seven, who are all stronger than you. And you, on the other hand, have a gang of two, and one of you is a little boy, so I wouldn't get smart with me."

            Harry sighed loudly. He wasn't afraid of Dudley and his stupid gang. They were all so thick they probably wouldn't know who to punch.

            "It's your birthday today." Dudley stated, looking around him to stare at Mark Evans, who didn't look in the least bit frightened. "You didn't get very many birthday greetings."

            "Go home Dudley."

            "Fuck you, Potter. You've killed everything."

            Harry didn't have any idea what Dudley was talking about, but before he could ask, he was punched hard in the stomach, and he knew no more.

A/N: Yes, thought I'd end the chapter there. Woo, I am having so much fun on this fic but if I don't get at least 5 reviews I am not going to continue it. (Hey, a little threat never hurt…) I've got lots of plans for this one, and it has a VERY promising future. PLEASE review! Many things are about to happen!