A Very Memorable Birthday
By: MRSTJ1
Please note: This is based on a plot bunny by MaryJanice Davidson. Certain situations and comments in her Valentine story were adapted for the Potterverse, but no harm is meant and I want to give full credit to her for the original idea.
Chapter Three
Afterwards, when they had both showered, she put on a pair of silk pajamas that she had gotten when she had gone on a trip to Japan with her father right after the war. Luna had made a pot of tea and scrounged up some cinnamon biscuits. Harry had his borrowed shirt back on, and was wearing his boxer shorts under it. They settled back down on the couch and put their feet up on the coffee table.
"You do not really love me," she told him. "This is clearly a case of temporary insanity brought on by stress."
"Luna, I have loved you for a long time. I was just never ready to say it. But after what we've been through today, we have got to have a real relationship. You are loyal, and smart, and dedicated, and honest, and you've got an arse to die for. How can you even think, after tonight, of not wanting us to be together?"
"Oooh, aren't we proud of our stamina? Just because the third time was the charm doesn't mean that it's love." She did appreciate the compliments, though, especially the arse one.
"I was referring to the WHOLE night, "Harry said, with as much dignity as he could summon. "But I find the fact that you have such a one-track mind very interesting. I think you're protesting a bit much, don't you?"
"No," she replied in return, also with as much dignity as she could summon under the circumstances.
"I should get arrested for murder more often," Harry said, pulling her closer to him." It puts a lot into perspective. We've needed each other for a long time, but we've been fighting it."
"Never mind all of that. You are still in a lot of trouble, with a bunch of people who don't like you."
I'd say it was worth it."
He grinned, and stretched, and ran a hand through his hair, which was just as messy as she'd ever seen it. That was one thing she had always adored about his hair. It always looked as if he'd just had the greatest roll of his life. Hopefully he had. She certainly had, so it was only fair. She had an overwhelming urge to put her hands into it and kiss him again. "Love or not, flattery just might get you another go."
They were interrupted by a pounding on the door.
"What the hell? It's four o'clock in the morning," Harry said.
"Since when did you become a timekeeper?" Luna said with a sigh. "You didn't even have a watch that worked when we were back at school. Ronald had to keep showing you his."
"Open the door! It's Hopkirk!" a female voice called, and Luna jumped off the couch in a panic.
"Oh, no! They couldn't wait! They're coming to get you! What should we do? Should we pretend we're not home?"
"Luna, we have to open the door," Harry said practically. "They know we're supposed to be here. We'll be in even more trouble if we don't. Besides where else could we be at this hour of the morning?"
He walked over and pulled the door open.
"Hi, Ruby!"
The blonde woman walked into the room, looking tired but still weirdly cheerful. "Hello, Harry! Hey, those are nice shorts. I don't think I've ever seen a pair with snitches on them."
Luna rushed over, to stand squarely between Harry and the young Auror. "Harry didn't kill Narcissa Malfoy! He couldn't have killed her! He's innocent. You have to believe us!"
"Honey, would you calm down?" Harry said practically, talking Luna by the shoulders and steering her to one side.
Luna glared at him. "Why did you let her in?"
Harry ignored her. "Would you like to sit down?" he asked the Auror.
"This is my flat," Luna said firmly. "What if I don't want her in here? What if I don't want her to sit down? Harry, I won't let her take you away from me! I won't! What are you going to do next? Stand really still and hold out your hands so she can tie you up again?"
"Hey!" Ruby Hopkirk looked insulted as she plopped into a chair. "I already have a date lined up for tonight. It's my day off, and you better believe me, I need one after the night I just had."
Harry sat on the couch across from her, pulling Luna down with him. He looked from one young woman to the other. "Calm down. Luna. Why don't we at least let her explain why she's here?"
Luna faced off with the other blonde. "He didn't poison Narcissa! Check the shirt! She threw the wine at him. She didn't drink it! She didn't have any food! She couldn't have been poisoned!"
"That's what I came to tell you," Ruby said patiently. "She wasn't poisoned at all. She was hit with a killing curse, from behind. Once we figured that out, we knew Harry didn't do it. I'm sorry I came over so early, but I thought you'd want to know as soon as possible. We checked the seating plan at the restaurant, and we used that to catch the real killer. Will you stop shouting, Miss Lovegood? You're giving me one hell of a headache."
"You actually caught someone? You've already caught someone, tonight?" Luna was shocked.
"Yes, that's what we do, after all. We catch Dark Wizards who throw killing curses!" Ruby Hopkirk said sarcastically. "We figured it out with proper Auror procedures. What do you think this is? A muggle detective show?"
"There's no need to be shirty about it," Luna mumbled.
"There is so!" Ruby glared at her.
Harry interrupted quickly. "So who did it?"
"It was a revenge thing. She was killed by an ex-Death Eater who had a grudge against Lucius Malfoy."
"Well, that covers a lot of ground," Harry said.
"Yes, anyway, so I'm here to tell you that you do not have to come into the Ministry at two after all. And Miss Lovegood, I think it would be better for ALL of us if this didn't wind up in the next edition of the Quibbler!"
Harry groaned. "I never thought of that."
Luna squirmed. "Well, I did for a minute, but only for a minute."
"Well," said Ruby, "love can make you really stupid." She winked at them and slammed the door on her way out.
"You were hysterical," Harry said later, when they were snuggling in Luna's bed, under the quilt that she'd made from dozens of old T-shirts she'd picked up as souvenirs of places she'd gone with her father on Quibbler business. "I thought you were getting ready to hex Hopkirk."
"I didn't know where my wand was at that point or I might have actually done," Luna admitted.
"The point is," Harry said patiently, "whether it ever had anything to do with you or not, you have always gotten yourself involved in my problems. From the time everyone at Hogwarts was calling me a liar, up to now. And why is that?"
"It's because I love you. There, I admit it. Happy?"
"Very much so," Harry said with a grin, pulling her closer into the crook of his arm and kissing her on the top of her head.
She hesitated. "Will you tell me one thing, Harry?"
"Anything, Luna."
"Would you ever have gotten interested in me if Ginny Weasley hadn't of died?"
Harry looked sad. "I was always interested in you, Luna, even when we were just friends. I always cared about you. It used to make me furious when those girls in your dorm were so cruel to you. And I appreciated every bit of help you gave me. What Ginny and I had was completely different. It was sort of insane, because I never really cared what she thought about anything, and I certainly never confided in her about things the way I could you. I just liked the way she liked me for so long. It was nice knowing there was always someone there waiting around for me. That's why it was such a shock when she started going out with other guys."
"In a way, I was waiting for you, too, Harry," Luna admitted shyly, as the first streaks of pale morning light came creeping through the window, to make fanciful patterns on the wall.
"Ginny was just something I had to work through," Harry continued. "I wanted her back then because I needed her, or someone like her, at that point in my life. I needed someone who would think I was perfect, and would agree with me no matter what I did. She didn't even stand up to me when I broke up with her. She just took it, like she always put up with the superficial way I treated her, because of the image I had as this big, ideal, hero. It's different now. I need to have someone in my life who loves me for exactly who I am. You've always seen me for exactly who I am. I couldn't love Ginny because I didn't know back then what it really meant to love and be loved. Now I do. Real love is not idealizing someone. Real love doesn't mind if you're not perfect. An ideal is an ideal, because it's not something you can ever really have. Does that make sense?"
Luna looked at him, and nodded thoughtfully, as the last bit of jealous fear she would ever experience in her life left her. "It makes perfect sense."
She then yawned. "It sure didn't start off very well, but this year my birthday had a very nice ending."
"About the ending," Harry said, also yawning, "what are you doing for the rest of the day? It's almost time for you to go to work, and you haven't had any sleep."
Luna snuggled against him and closed her eyes. "I decided that I'm calling off. Colin can spend the day planning the photo shoot with Dean. I wouldn't want to be there for that anyway."
"Oh, God," Harry said. "You're actually going to take day off from the Quibbler, just to sleep with me?"
"If we actually get some sleep first. Would you mind?"
He kissed the top of her head again. "I guess not. I think I can manage to overlook all sorts of bad behavior in people who've stayed up all night on their birthdays."
The End.
