A/N: Thanks for the reviews and suggestions. About the guns and weapons stuff, I'm still thinking about it.

"There is no sides. There are groups of people working towards the same goal but there are no sides. Sure, life would be so much easier if there are definite sides but life isn't that uncomplicated. Life is complicated. Life is full of the good, the bad and the ugly. Life is worth living and sometimes worth dying for. (pause) It does suck to be dead though."

-Anon

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World Cup

Henry Potter watched in fear, in horror as the World Cup disintegrated in flames. It was a marvelous game, and rather peaceful except for the drunk wizards and witches. There were some loud boasting and squeals of happiness. Then the screaming started.

Wizards and witches in skull masks started attacking people, hexing them. They were death eaters and they were killing people. Or they were people dressed as death eaters and doing very bad and naughty things.

Henry was at the World Cup with the Wesley family, while his own parents were off on a personal vacation. Henry didn't mind, he wanted some time away. Everyone was so tense except for his little sister who didn't understand anything at all.

Dark activity was growing restless, whispers of banshees and marauding werewolf packs were in the wind. Those who were allied to the Order of the Phoenix gave the members the news. They took it pretty well considering the news. More blood rituals, virgin sacrifices and treaties were made to various classified dark creatures.

The major players were strangely quiet.

The vampires kept mostly to themselves. They had some part in the first war but only the rogues did. The society of vampires as a whole decided to keep themselves out of the wizard war.

Werewolf packs also kept to themselves. They were already persecuted as it was, they didn't need another coffin nail. There were rumors of a new alpha, a revolutionary, a true messiah. They were rumors of course.

The bigger and lumbering magical creatures had all but disappeared, leaving the more populated places for the mountains. Getting information on them was hard and whatever information gathered were not worth the effort.

There was much clamoring and yelling like this:

"What?"

"Bloody hell!"

"Crap on a stick!"

And some of this:

"You serious?"

"Joy."

"Is it lunch time yet?"

Anyway, the Order decided to continue monitoring the most high-risk folk, folk who would most likely try to eat people in broad day light. Folk who don't obey the laws and folk who go on murdering rampages.

Back to the present occurrence, Henry went out into the forest. He wasn't running from battle but knew that dying here would do nobody any good.

He met up with Hermione and Ron. From there they defended themselves from the random flashes of spells and generally stayed out of the way. The trio knew how to fight. Hermione was the brains of the group. Ron was the brave one. And Harry was in the middle. He wasn't stupid or incredibly brave. He was smart; he knew when to pick his fights and when to run.

He doesn't run much. He fights more often than he runs. While bravery was a very good attribute, self-preservation is also a very valued attribute. He didn't really know what happens to a person when they die but he knows when they are dead, they stay dead.

He did not want to die.

He did not want his friends to die due to his carelessness. He doesn't need another death on his consciousness.

"Duck!"

They all ducked.

Beams of light smashed into the trees, burning or blasting them to smithereens. Girlish screams came from Ron.

"Protego."

"Good work Herm."

"I don't know how long I can this up. There are too many spells here and some are the Killing Curse. The shield may break."

"Shields can break?"

"Yes." She sounded exasperated. "Honestly Ron, where you even paying attention in class?"

"Uh…no?"

Henry snorted. Hermione should've known not to ask those questions. He stood and took his glove off. "Hermione kill your spell."

Hermione killed the shield spell. Five years ago, she would've questioned his orders. But after five years of adventure and friendship, she trust Henry. She trusted his instincts and his plans. Why else would she follow him?

The beams of light, directed randomly everywhere all started going towards Henry. The rune on his hand glowed, and the magic was absorbed. Each and every spell even the Killing Curse.

Henry crashed into the ground, grasping his hand, wincing. Dark magic was hard to absorb. The pure malice, the emotion in the magic was torture to him. It was like poison.

Ron hurriedly gave him back his glove. Henry placed the glove back on.

"Protego!" Henry shouted.

A huge shield appeared, shaped by his desires, forming a bubble around the trio.

"There. That should do it."

The best thing to do was to burn the dark magic out of his system. He did so by channeling all the extra magic through his spells making small mediocre spells into strong ones. The rest he siphoned into his reserve, ready for him to use.

The extra magic in him had unfortunately made his wand explode early when he didn't know he had to burn the extra magic or convert. He was like a ticking time bomb before realizing that he had to do something with the extra magic floating around in his system. Sadly his wand was a casualty before he knew he had to do such. He was able to salvage the core. It was left in his room in the Burrow in a small box. He was planning on getting it fixed and maybe getting another wand. He missed the comfortable feel of wood on his naked palm, it was his security blanket.

Hours later, the trio were sitting in the tent, drinking cocoa. Everyone was worse for wear.

"We should pack and leave. Most of the wizards who were torturing the muggles and lightning fire to the camp had already disappeared. We only apprehended a few of them, most of them were drunks." Said a tired Arthur Weseley.

"I saw Malfoy." Said Charlie, his voice raspy from yelling spells. "Bastard was smiling the entire time."

The whole group sighed.

Life just couldn't get worse.

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Harry stared at Luna. Luna stared back. They kept staring at each other, trying to see who would blink first.

Harry blinked.

"I win." Luna whispered, giggling before standing up. She willowed across the room, flitting from place to place. She hated staying in one place; it made her feel like a stone.

Harry grinned, watching Luna. She was such a wall flower, floating about, and so free. He envied her, envied how she had a world parallel to his and how amazing it was.

Wizards.

Actually living wizards.

How utterly amazing.

She couldn't show him any magic spells due to some child-protection-alarm-adult-crap thing. She did however show him the books. Not just ordinary books but books with moving pictures, newspapers with moving pictures. Now that was beyond awesome.

It was early in the summer when he ran into her. It was a brief glance, a touch of skin and the tangible electricity crackle between them. It went like this.

"Hi, I'm Harry. Who're you?"

"I'm Luna. A witch."

"Huh, that's cool. I practice martial arts."

She was here to look for some thing/animal. He, being the perfect gentleman, offered to help. From there they became friends. They had a lot in common. They both loved thunder storms, figured there was some conspiracies in the current government and that they were both outcasts.

Luna actually had a nickname. Looney Lovegood. Luna didn't mind. She told Harry it was a name of endearment. Harry told her he would beat them up for making fun of her. Luna was too nice to be made fun of.

Harry was lucky. The other kids ignored him and he ignored them in turn. It's not like he needed them. Once he turns eighteen he was going into the world to seek his fortune.

After a month of hanging with each other, introducing Luna to the movies and the mall she told him her secret. She wasn't lying when they first met. She really was a witch. And now, she offered to show him her world.

She had babbled on a bit on the rules but also said something about a mail and how they didn't get the mail so she's in the clear. She would've done it anyways but it was always good to cover one's bases.

"Luna."

Luna stopped her twittering. "Yes Harry?"

"So…uh…when we're going?"

"Tomorrow."

"Cool."

An awkward silence developed. "So uh…it's a date?"

Luna blushed and giggled. "Yes."

Harry smiled awkwardly. "Great…that's just great."

Silence again.

Outside of the room, the other two occupants of the household had their ears pressed to the door. Well, Dudley had his ear pressed to the door; his parents were standing back along in the hallway.

"Did he ask her out yet?" Whispered Petunia.

"Shhh."

After a few seconds, Dudley grinned. "Yep. He did."

Slight emotion passed the elder Dursley's faces. Petunia was pleased while Vernon had a grimace on his face. He tolerated the little creep. He couldn't wait till the kid was eighteen and he could be ejected from the house legally.

Back with Harry and Luna, the tension was thick enough to be cut with a knife.

Luna gazed at Harry with half-lidded eyes. She could see that he had Professor Potter's eyes. His eyes were so green, killing curse green, the color of green that could shift from dark to light. She wondered if Harry knew how mischievous his eyes were, shifting shades.

Must be opt-shades, thought Luna.

Terrible creatures, giving away ones emotions without thought to the person and so bothersome when that said person trying to be tough.

She wondered if her own eyes shift colors. She couldn't really tell. Staring at her own reflections for hours had made her conclude that only other people could tell if her eyes shifted.

Luna slipped forward, slightly and quickly. She pecked Harry on the cheek before wafting out the door. She left, her mind whirling. She wondered if Harry knew his parents were still alive.

She wondered if Harry knew he had siblings.

He seemed happy here. The furniture hummed, they couldn't talk, not like at Hogwarts but they had happy vibes. His room was his happy place. He felt safe there. It was home.

Who was she to take him from his home?

Especially when he was offering to open his home up to her.

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