Wise-Wren-Owl, Lady Sakura Cosmos, Alexajke, and the Anonymous D. Thank you all so much for your support. I would never have written this chapter if not for your kind words.

Another round of applause for Phoenixica24! My fantastic Beta Reader!

Chapter 2: Change in the Wind

Harry smiled as he took another bite of the strange little fruit he had found. It was small, orange, round, and it had skin like an apple that broke easily beneath his teeth. The slight waxy taste gave way to a pleasant sweetness. The fruit was very moist like a plum, but tasted like green grapes. They were scarcely larger than his fist so he ate at least five of them after his initial taste test.

It had been three weeks since he left the small village of Ottery St. Catchpole and life in the Otter Forest was a breeze for the young boy of ten. Spring was leaving, he could tell as the days began to get longer, and soon it would be the month of May. He lived off the land, having an assortments of fruits and berries for breakfast before setting off on a hike. Each day he would find a new place to sit and play his pipes.

He would sit for hours listening to nature work its magic around him and he would do his best to mimic its sound. He learned quickly that wind was the simplest aspect of nature to tap into with his music. Wind, he felt, was the epitome of freedom. It went where it wanted when it wanted and as such would easily allow his tune to guide it, as it had nothing pressing to do at the time. He found a friend in the wind.

A small tugging at his hair had him sending a glance at his shoulder. There was his little friend sending him a pleading look with his small golden eyes. Harry chuckled, shaking his head.

"I know that you can very well get your own Snag."

The creature squeaked indignantly before scampering off his shoulder and over to the base of a large tree where the bush that grew the peculiar fruit was. Now Harry knew magic existed from that first rush he felt in the glade but he didn't ever have physical proof until he met Snag and was introduced to his new favorite fruit.

Snag looked for all intense and purposes like a squirrel. He had a long bushy tail and scampered about on four feet made for climbing. That is where the similarity between Snag and the common squirrel ended. Where squirrel's where varying shades of brown and gray. Snag's fur was a soft lavender with three stripes of gray fur that ran the length of his body. His face was also gray, with a raccoon mask of lavender around his eyes. His tail itself was twice the length of his body, making it just over a foot long. On the top of his head, arching back, where a set of spiraling horns only a inch long and half an inch wide at the base.

Harry smiled as he watched the little critter make short work of the stem of one of the fruits. Soon the long stem of the fruit broke and Snag's prize began to float away. Harry smiled at the more astounding show of nature's magic. Like watching a flower burst into bloom, or the sun rise to greet the day. The small fruit began to rise into the sky like a little orange balloon. It was snatched up, however, by three furry arms as the last few inches of Snag's long fluffy tail separated and wrapped around it. And that was why Harry called him Snag.

Fruit still clutched in his tail, Snag scampered up the side of the tree a few feet before deftly pushing off. Spinning in the air, Snag spread his arms and legs, catching the wind in the skin that connected his front and back legs as he glided gently back to Harry's shoulder. He stood on his hind legs, his tail depositing the fruit in his little hands. With a small bite and a hiss of escaping air, Snag began to munch on his treat.

Harry was content to wander the forest with Snag on his shoulder communing with nature and learning more about its music. He had all the food he needed by way of fishing and foraging, he washed is clothes in the river and slept soundly beneath the many tall trees of the forest. It wasn't until the beginning of June that he was forced from his forest not by need for food or shelter, but by a cry for help.

Harry was walking along the edge of the forest where it met a large field tall green grass and rolling hills. Harry was contemplating leaving the familiar trees and streams of the Otter Forest and traversing the sea of green the rose and fell in the distance. That's when he heard the screaming.

"Mummy!"

He was off in a flash in the direction he heard it come from. The wind seemed to sense his urgency because it raged at his back, urging him onward. He came to the crest of a hill overlooking a low valley. At its center was another hill atop which sat what could only be described as an overly large rook from a chess board. A stream ran along the east side of the hill leading back to the forest, probably flowing into the Otter.

"Mummy!"

There was a small girl standing at the edge of the stream, he couldn't make out her features, but she was looking upward in what he could only guess was fear.

"Luna, darling please look away!" Came a second voice.

Harry searched for the voice, and, looking up, he found it. There in the sky, her blond hair billowing about her form in a furious gale was a woman. She looked to be balancing in the sky, but only just so as a gale would come and cause her to spin about.

As Harry stood there transfixed at the sight. Not because he was surprised at the flight of the woman, once or twice he felt himself being carried away along with his music on the wind. He always stopped then, for fear of what may happen. Was this what would have transpired?

No. He reached out to the wind in the valley and found it angry, something that he had never felt before. The wind was angry with this woman, what had she done.

"Mummy!" The little girl called again, unable to look away while her mother was in peril.

Harry's stomach lurched as the woman dipped in the air, only to be caught again. She could have fallen, she would have surely died from that height! In a fit of desperation he reached for his pipes and began to play to the wind of the valley.

First he played three sharp notes that cut through the cacophony of sound, piercing the raging winds and the cries of the young girl. Then he began to play in earnest, reaching a placating hand out to the wind of the valley. At first it continued to rage, but then he felt a warm breeze at his back as the familiar wind of the forest caught his notes on the breeze and carried them through the valley. Harry's heart was beating fast and he could feel his magic which once pulsed beneath his skin burst forth and follow with the wind. It was a exhilarating experience. He could feel the wind of the valley wild and untamed, he could feel its anger at the woman.

After a few moments of communing through his music allowing the valley to teach him the notes that the forest could not. Notes of the furious gale, notes of the terrible power of the wind. After he had learned not only the comfort of the wind but also its fury he could understand what the wind of the valley was trying to tell him.

She had sought to control it. Somehow this woman had thought herself lord over nature itself and sought to control the wind of the valley. Ever free and moving, the wind struck out against that which tried to take its' freedom. Harry learned that day that he never had any control over wind at all. He had just learned that through music and with his own inherent magic he could learn to speak the language of the wind. He could ask it to act and the wind, being free and unattached, could see no reason to deny his request.

With this revelation Harry redoubled his efforts at calming the wind of the valley. After what seemed to be a lifetime, but was in reality only a few minutes, the wind began to wane from a furious gale to a strong updraft that began to lower the woman softly to the ground. Harry let out a sigh of relief as he took the reeds from his mouth. Fatigue fell upon him in a great wave and he fell over onto the soft grass. He caught the incline of the hill and rolled down to the base of it. He had, with the last of his strength, hugged his pipes to his chest to protect them. His glasses, miraculously, were still perched on his nose though very much askew.

The last thing he saw before falling into the darkness that was clouding the edges of his vision was two pairs of pale silvery eyes.

Harry groaned as he sat up in a strange bedroom. The walls were oddly round and lined with painting after painting of flowers and small animals. They weren't the masterpieces by any means, but still he felt they were pretty in their own simple way. It had a large bay window like his Aunts in the kitchen which looked over the back garden. Only where his Aunts had sat over the sink and was rather small, this one was large and was set into the wall with a small cushioned seating area.

"Oh," came a voice from the door. "you're awake, then, Harry?"

Harry saw a woman walk in with a tray on which sat a steaming plate. It was the same woman that he had rescued from the valley's wind. She was wearing a dress that was of a flowery pattern, which changed colors in layers starting from her waist to where it billowed at her feet. She had long, dirty blond hair that was held in a braid falling down her back. A few strands framed her face making her silvery-blue eyes shine. His eye was drawn quickly to the tray as his rumbling stomach made itself known. Roast beef and potatoes,with corn and a sweet roll. She set it over his lap and to his surprise it hovered there of its own accord. He was so very drawn by the scent of food that he nearly dug in before something hit him.

"How do you know my name?" He asked defensively.

"I should think that every Wizard or Witch in Britain would know you Harry Potter." She said with a smile.

"But," She added. "I wouldn't want to be unfair so my name is Filia Solis Lovegood, but my friends call me Fili. If you must, I will accept Mrs. Lovegood, but it makes me feel dreadfully old."

"Mrs. Lovegood," She frowned playfully at this."how would everyone know my name?"

Mrs. Lovegood's eyes lost their playful sparkle as she suddenly leveled him with a look of appraisal.

"You mean you don't know," she asked tentatively. "about the night you gained that scar?"

Harry's hand went to his forehead he traced a finger over his scar. He hadn't thought of it in a while and while the note from his Aunt didn't mention it he assumed that he had gotten it the night that madman had attacked his parents. He couldn't have gotten it in that nonexistent car crash after all.

"All I know is that my parents died the night I got this scar, and the person who gave it to me died that night too."

Mrs. Lovegood sighed.

"Harry, you enjoy your dinner, then when you are done I will tell you all I know."

So she did. After Harry had eaten and the plates were set aside she told him all she knew of his legend, about the people who he apparently saved. His mother had sacrificed herself to protect him and in doing so apparently shielded him from a deadly curse. The man who cast it at him was apparently destroyed by his own spell. By the end of it Harry was quite shocked.

He was a hero for surviving the killing curse. He was known as "The-Boy-Who-Lived". Vanquisher of "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named", or Lord Voldemort as Mrs. Lovegood told him with only slight hesitation.

"So now that you know, Harry, what brought you to our home today," She asked. "not that I am not happy you came when you did."

"I was in the forest when I heard that girl-"

"My daughter Luna." Mrs. Lovegood supplied.

"I heard Luna yelling. I came as fast as I could cause she sounded like she was in trouble."

"That is very kind of you Harry." Mrs. Lovegood noted with a smile.

"Thank you," He said with a blush." Anyway, I came over the hill and saw you in the air-"

Harry stopped for a moment a question coming to mind.

"Why was the wind angry with you Mrs. Lovegood?"

She looked confused.

"What do you mean Harry?"

Harry shifted slightly.

"Well I figured by now that you must be a witch," she nodded at this. "so you being older would have more experience and know that you can't order the wind to do something."

Mrs. Lovegood took a moment to think this over. When it had happened she had been experimenting with a spell to help gather up the dying petals of the spring flowers before they rotted away in the summer sun. She had seen the wind pick up a few colorful petals and a though came into her mind. Use the wind. So she set about re-working her spell, rearranging the wand movement and re-articulating the words. With a nod she began her first trial run as her daughter raced leaves down the stream.

It went horribly wrong. The wind picked up into a frenzy and she went flying end over end into the air. The tears in her daughters eyes as she was powerless to help her mother. Her own anguish as she realized her wand had fallen from her hand and she was now at the mercy of the wind. Then she remembered the sharp tones of Harry's pipes and the frantic tune he began to play and the strange feeling as a new wind blew around her, this one warm and comforting. It was a strange and beautiful magic, and it seemed that it was all very much intentional she found herself wanting very much to understand more of it.

"Harry," She spoke." could you explain to me what you did to save me, and what you mean by ordering the wind?"

Harry nodded. After all, he owed her for the information on his parents, and he saw no reason not to tell her. He explained how he first touched the magic of nature, how the wind responded first to his call, and how he learned how to speak to it through magic and music. Mrs. Lovegood listened attentively to his words, finding it remarkable that magic could work in such a way. She resolved to no longer try and craft elemental spells. Spells like Aguamenti and Incendio she knew were from the school of conjuration. The fire and water was a manifestation of your magic shaped into an element through spell work. Controlling the elements, she was learning, was not taken lightly by the magic within nature itself.

"Remarkable," she said when he was finished. "Harry, you are truly brilliant. You are creating a brand-new form of magic!"

"You mean, there aren't others who can do this?" He asked.

"If there were Harry," she replied. "I would have at least a passing knowledge of them and there would have been warnings against tampering with nature's magic when I went to Hogwarts."

"So they don't teach this at Hogwarts?" Harry mumbled.

"No, I should say they don't. The closest to any music program at Hogwarts is Professor Flitwick's choir."

Harry nodded, though he didn't know who this Professor person was. Harry resolved then that he would stay away from Hogwarts as long as he could manage. He wanted to cultivate this magic he was creating. He knew in his heart that his mother had touched this magic before! And yet no one had ever heard of it? Whatever this Hogwarts that had caused his mother to forget this wonderful magic was, he didn't want any part of it.

"You should get some rest Harry." Mrs. Lovegood told him.

The sun had long since set in the sky, and the only light was a set of candles in the window. Mrs. Lovegood put them out with a wave of her wand, a tool Harry was unsure he could ever give up his pipes for, and went to the door.

"Harry," she said. "there have been whispers of a young runaway, the residents of Ottery St. Catchpole have been told to be on the lookout for a black haired, green eyed boy."

Harry stiffened.

"I can't say I have seen anyone by that description." She added. "Have you?"

Harry awoke the next morning to a familiar smell, bacon being fried up on the griddle. His stomach gave a growl of appreciation and he tentatively made his way down the stairs still slightly uncomfortable in the house of his new acquaintance. On his way down the spiraling stairs he saw a few other doors but ignored them following his nose. The bottom floor of the house seemed to be one large room separated into parts. A kitchen and dining room, a family room, and a den complete with fluffy chairs and a bookshelf full to bursting.

"Good morning Harry!" Called Mrs. Lovegood. "Please have a seat."

He took the only open chair to the left of the blond haired girl he saw the day before. She was eating a piece of toast that was spread with an orange jam of some kind. When he sat down she sent him a smile that lit up her silver-gray eyes. With the toast already in her mouth to take a bite, she looked as if she was merely pleased at the taste.

"My name is Luna." She said after finishing her bite.

"Harry." He replied.

"I know." She nodded. "Thank you for saving Mummy."

Harry smiled. "It was no problem."

She seemed to accept this as fact because she went back to her toast.

There was a man sitting across from him, he noted. He had long white hair that fell about his shoulders and was wearing a shirt of flower print that reminded Harry of the shirts his Aunt Marge would buy his Uncle.

He was reading a magazine of some kind, but Harry couldn't make out the words due to the fact that it was held upside down. After a time, and a few strips of bacon Harry ate alongside a spoonful of eggs, the man set his magazine aside. As if just now realizing where he was, he piled food onto his plate and then addressed Harry.

"Hello there Harry," He said jovially. "I'm Xenophilius Lovegood, you've already met my wife and daughter. I would like to thank you personally for what you did, I shudder to think what would have happened to my dear Fili."

Harry smiled, happy to have helped, he gasped however as Xenophilius lifted a small overturned wicker basket from on the table and with a searching hand reached up into it. He pulled out a familiar orange fruit. He mast have seen the look on Harry's face because he then said:

"Have you ever had a dirigible plum Harry?"

Harry nodded.

"I had no idea what they were called, but they are my favorite!" He replied. "They grow in the forest just beyond this valley, Snag loves them too!"

"Snag?" Xeno questioned.

"Yes, Snag, he is kinda...well he's not a pet." He tried to explain."He is more like a little friend I met in the forest. He loves my music and when I first met him he gave me a dirigible plum to eat. If you'd like to meet him I am sure he'd come if I played."

After breakfast the Lovegood family went outside, Fili having given Harry his pipes which she had set aside for him while he slept.

Harry stood just a few yards from the Lovegood home and began to play, starting with a sweep of each of the low toned reeds. He willed his magic into the notes and dedicated a few to ask that the wind carry his tone into the forest. After a moment he stopped. He stood with the Lovegood's for a full minute and was going to play again when a lavender blur scurried out from the grass up his leg and round his neck four times before resting on his shoulder.

"Hey there Snag." Harry laughed as the little guy chattered and squeaked angrily.

"I did not leave you," Harry countered. " You just couldn't keep up. To many dirigible plums it would seem."

Harry was unsure, but he always felt Snag was a bit smarter than the average animal. So when the little guys tail unfurled and lightly cuffed him on the cheek he wasn't all that surprised. He turned to introduce him to the Lovegoods only to find two beaming girls and one shocked man.

"I told you Xeno!" Fili said excitedly. " They were just as real as your Hallows, and low and behold a living Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Oh, if only I had my camera, the old thing finally fell apart on me last week!"

"Don't worry Mummy!" Luna said brightly. "I can paint it, I have been practicing!"

She rushed back into the house returning with her paint set and an easel. By that time Snag had found a new perch atop Fili's head munching on a dirigible plum she had offered him.

"What's so special about Snag?" Harry asked as Luna went about setting up her station to paint.

"Well, you see my mother was a magical zoologist." Fili began. " She studied magical animals like dragons and unicorns."

Harry nodded noting in the back of his mind that dragons and unicorns existed now.

"Well she once spotted one of these little guys," she indicated Snag. " in the forest and was flabbergasted. She had never heard of an animal like it. She spent her life trying to find them, but after that first sighting they eluded her for years."

Fili lifted Snag from his perch and held him gently to her chest.

"This little guy is proof that all my mother's tireless searching was not a fool's errand."

"Snag is the only one I have ever seen, but I'm sure there are others!" Harry said.

"Harry," Luna called. "could you set Snag over her on the grass so I can start?"

Harry nodded offering his arm to Snag who leapt from Fili's embrace and scurried to Harry's shoulder. Harry then let him down on the grass just in front of Luna's easel and gave him one of the plums that Fili had offered him.

Luna went behind her easel and took from the corner a black beret.

"You can't paint properly without a proper painting hat." she said setting it on her head at a tilt.

She took an artists palette from a hook on the side. It was already stained with many bright shades and odd mixes of color. She then held her thumb up clutching her paintbrush. She measured Snag with her thumb from every angle. Her tongue peeking out from between her pressed lips, a remarkably cute parallel of an artist contemplating her subject. Her silver-gray eyes squinted before she nodded curtly and began to paint.

Harry tried to walk around and get a look at it but was surprised to find himself with a purple nose as Luna forced him a way at brush point.

"You can see it when its done, an artist doesn't reveal her secrets!" She said.

"That's magicians." Harry stated.

"Magicians aren't the only people who have secrets Harry, be reasonable." she smiled.

It was an hour later when Luna finally stepped back from the easel. After looking over her work a few times she deemed it ready for the general public. She took off her hat and set down her brush. After whipping down her palette with a rather colorful old rag she set it on its hook.

"I present, Snag the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, by Luna Lovegood!" Luna said with a smile.

Harry had to say, it was a pretty picture. He wasn't an artist himself, but he could tell she put a lot of heart into the painting. It was set to a backdrop of bright green. Snag himself was as well detailed as the young artist could manage. His shape was loosely defined as the upper and lower portion of his body were the same color and thus molded together. The orange dirigible plum helped to put the image into perspective. Snag's little claws were represented by small black triangles. His long bushy tail had the signature three stripes and was spread into three at the end, as Luna had seen him grab on of the dirigible plums offered to him.

"It's great." Harry said.

"Yes," Fili added. "your Gran would be so proud of you Luna!"

"A masterpiece if I ever saw one." Xeno added.

Harry smiled as the two parents continued to lavish praise on their daughter and Luna explained to them her choices of color and what parts where harder to paint than others. He had dinner with them that night where Luna regaled him tales of her adventures wandering the hills of the valley. In return he told her all about the forest and the many springs and glades he had found. She told him about her friend Ginevra "Ginny" Weasley, and the games they would play and of said girl's long list of brothers. Harry told her about the time spent playing tag with Snag, and the music he loved to play.

That night Harry had a captive audience as he was requested to play again and again by the family of three. He slept in the guest room, having only used Luna's room the night before due to the urgency of his condition. He had needed to be put to bed and the guest room had not been made up. He played one last song on his pipes, reaching inside him and filling the notes with his magic. It came with much more ease than it ever had. He played a lullaby, sweet and low, and it floated through the house, bringing with it the lull of sleep. Luna would later say that she had never had a better night's sleep in her life, and Xeno and Fili could not argue that fact.

Harry awoke before the dawn. He had made up his mind the night before that he would be leaving the rook today. He wrote out a quick note, which he left on the kitchen table. He had a lot more to do, he couldn't let himself become complacent. He needed to keep moving, to keep learning and gaining experience. Most importantly he needed to learn more about this magic he was creating. He was surprised to find that it was an art entirely his own. One that he needed to perfect. He trailed his hand over the engraving on the pipes. He owed it to himself, and to his Aunt and Mother. He slipped out the door and into the wide open world again.

To the Lovegood Family,

Thank you for having me, I will always remember your kindness.

Luna, I may come back one day. I know you'll end up in that Hogwarts place. I may end up there too, and I would feel better if I knew a friend was there with me.

~End~

When I first began this story I had this image of a well traveled Harry with a lot of world experience. I likened his traits to that of the Bard character class in DnD. They are jacks of all trade, they know a bit about everything and always have a story to tell. They are charismatic and know how to make friends, even out of enemies if needed. If a bard wants you to like him, you'll be hard pressed not to. Smooth talking and knowledgeable, Bards make a living of simply living.

There are a few twists to his character that will be revealed later, but have to do with the time he spends abroad.

That being said I feel the need for a few small time skips, mostly because to write all his adventures and as much detail as I have these would be tiresome and at times make for a boring read. I may one day release a series of short stories on his many adventures or write on or two paragraphs as a bonus at the end of a chapter.

The pairing will be Harry and Luna, and I hope that isn't a problem with people. I happen to think they have a lot of chemistry. I always thought the fact that Harry thought of Luna before kissing Cho meant something.

I digress, please read and review I look forward to hearing from you.