Chapter Seven - A Dream
Luna looked up at Harry, her silver eyes wide, her milky skin backlit with a rosy blush that made her look even more unbelievably gorgeous. Her soaked, honey-colored hair along with her pale skin and big, bright stone eyes made Luna look exceptionally like a beautifully crafted, life-sized doll.
"I love you, too, Harry Potter," she replied in her usual far-away voice. "No boy has ever said that to me before. It's probably because I never really have felt this way before. The way I feel now. I feel so happy all the time. I feel like I can do anything. I feel invincible!"
"I feel the same way, Luna. I'm sorry Ginny had to come between us like that. I don't care what happens to her as long as I never have to see her," Harry said sourly.
"You won't be staying with Ron, then, will you? He'll probably want to visit her..."
"Yeah, it would be a bit too awkward now. I s'pose I'll be staying at Number 12, Grimmauld Place again," he said, his voice saturated with sadness. He got quite lonely there.
"I'll come visit you every day, Harry. It won't be so bad. I'll help you clean out the Nargles!"
Harry laughed. "It's not just that. I can live with Nargles. It's just that the house used to belong to Sirius..." His voice trailed off. His heart seemed to sink every time he thought of his late Godfather.
"Memories can be even worse than dangerous creatures, can't they?"
"There's a family tree in there. Bellatrix is on it. And the Malfoy family. Draco and I are on better terms, but I hate seeing Bellatrix's name every time I walk through the house. She's evil, she's pure evil," Harry said, voice filled with resentment.
"I'm going to paint over it! I'll do it tomorrow!" Luna said cheerily.
Before Harry could respond, he heard the door downstairs swing open.
"I'm supposed to be downstairs," he said, panicked.
"I'm probably not supposed to be talking to a boy while I'm wearing a bathrobe," Luna said, deep in thought.
"I'll be downstairs," he whispered, then apparated to the sitting room with a faint pop.
Xenophilius entered the house the second Harry apparated.
Damn it! he thought. I splinched off my glasses - they must be upstairs!
"Hello, Mr. Lovegood," Harry said quickly, attempting to sound calm. He desperately wanted Xenophilius to like him and approve of his relationship with Luna.
"Harry Potter," Xenophilius said rather coldly.
He must've just seen Luna crying and knew I was the cause, thought Harry. I'm such an arseā¦
"How was the meeting at the Ministry?" Harry asked, trying to sound interested.
"Rather badly..." Xenophilius said, sounding slightly crestfallen. "The Minister insists that they don't have a secret supply of deadly fungi, but I beg to differ! Sources tell me-" he began, but then looked at Harry curiously. "Harry, where might your glasses be?" Xenophilius asked.
Just my luck.
"Er-" Harry started, unsure as to what he should say.
"Daddy!" Luna called from upstairs. "A Blibbering Humdinger!"
Without further questioning, Xenophilius sprinted upstairs.
Harry chuckled to himself as he heard Luna say, "It was just outside the window! It went into the forest - I hope it doesn't get attacked!"
Walking slowly and quietly up the steps, Harry positioned himself behind the door so that he could see what was going on through a small crack, albeit his vision was quite blurred.
"What a fine eye for magical creatures you have, Luna! Most witches and wizards, even highly skilled ones, would have missed it!" Xenophilius said proudly. "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to see it," he continued, spinning in circles for some odd reason, as if the Blibbering Humdinger would appear once more in Luna's room, "but now that you've spotted one, it's only a matter of ti-"
He stopped abruptly, spotting glimmering metal on the floor - Harry's glasses.
"Ah," he said coolly, spotting the glasses and turning back to Luna. "The student nearly outsmarts the master, but not quite. You've forgotten I was a Ravenclaw, too," Xenophilius smirked.
Before Luna could say anything, Harry took out his wand and silently made his glasses invisible, then summoned them into his hand. He reversed the invisibility spell and put his glasses on. Luna caught onto this and said, "Daddy, what are you talking about?" innocently.
Xenophilius looked back to where the glasses once were. "What?" he gasped.
Harry walked in, wearing his glasses. "I'm sorry for interrupting your conversation, Mr. Lovegood, but my glasses were just in my pocket - I'm a bit forgetful on occasion, you see," Harry said, holding in laughter. Luna winked at him from behind her father's back.
"Please," he said in a pained voice, "Call me Xenophilius."
"I... think I'll be going home now," Harry said awkwardly. "Thank you for having me."
"I'll be at Number 12, Grimmauld Place tomorrow morning," Luna said. "Goodnight! Let the gnomes bite!"
Harry smiled and walked outside into the ruthlessly cold and gusty night, ready to apparate to London. He didn't care about the weather or Ginny or much of anything else now - he felt like his life was a dream.
Luna Lovegood loves me!
He decided that he should visit Ron and Hermione first to make sure they were aware of the truth about the events that unfolded at the Burrow and why he fled.
I would be a coward to disappear with no explanation, he told himself firmly.
He apparated to Ron and Hermione's cottage and knocked on the door. Hermione answered almost immediately, quickly hugging Harry and escorting him inside with an upset look on her face.
Before she could say anything, however, Ron appeared from his room, saw Harry, and exclaimed, "What the bloody hell happened, mate?"
"What d'you think happened? Humor me," Harry responded, his head still up in space over his encounter with Luna. His heart was fluttering and he was sure he was blushing.
Luna loves me!
"You're acting different, Harry," Hermione noted, sounding anxious. "Luna?"
Harry nodded, grinning. His eyes were shut - he was trying to remember every last detail of their encounter. "Luna..."
"Back to Ginny," Ron said seriously, "all I know is that we found her only slightly conscious, and we asked her what happened, and she started sobbing like a baby!"
"Oh. Ginny," Harry said, zooming back down to earth. "She found me after I used the loo and cornered me begging for my forgiveness and trying to make me question my relationship with Luna, and then she started snogging me out of nowhere-"
"I CANNOT believe her!" Hermione screamed. "That lying, cheating, indecisive little-"
"Hermione!" Ron interjected, almost laughing. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but let Harry finish!"
"So right about when she sticks her tongue in my mouth, mind you, I see Luna standing there - she saw everything, just about. So I finally was able to grab my wand - Ginny's got a tight grip and I didn't want to punch her, but I've got to give her credit for holding onto my face when everything was so wet-"
"Too much information, mate," Ron moaned. "That's my little sister you're talking about."
"-so I blasted her out of the way without even muttering a spell, and I went after Luna..." His voice drifted off again. He could see her bright grey eyes every time he shut his...
"Ginny's a blithering idiot - sorry you've got to deal with her," Ron grimaced. "We can tell my mum and dad what happened tomorrow since Ginny won't say-"
"About that," Harry began uncomfortably. "I was planning on moving back to Grimmauld Place, y'know, to keep my distance from Ginny for a bit and to give you and Hermione some privacy for a change."
"Come off it, mate-"
"You don't have to!" Hermione insisted, but Harry knew they both were secretly glad. He recognized every facial expression they made - it was one of the things that came along with having the same two best friends for nearly a decade, and it filled Harry up with joy - Ron and Hermione were like the brother and sister he never had.
"I'll visit whenever I can, and I'll probably start going back to work and helping at the joke shop-"
"Good, Georgie says he could use you for the next month - holiday season's the busiest time of year before the back to school season," Ron said. "I reckon we've done enough work at the Ministry this summer, it's been a bit of a pain, cleaning up the messes all the other Ministers and Aurors've left behind."
Harry nodded. "Luna's coming by to help me do some redecorating tomorrow, but you two should come for dinner - I need to learn how to cook and practice on somebody," Harry smiled.
"I'll do the cooking, Harry, don't worry," Hermione said abruptly, and Ron and Harry laughed.
"So," Ron said finally, "what happened with you and Loony after you left the mess my idiot of a sister created?"
"Erm," Harry began, "I - uh - found her in her bathrobe..."
Ron and Hermione's eyes widened.
"That sounded a lot worse than it actually was! Nothing like THAT happened," Harry reassured them. "We just talked for a while, and I-"
He stopped.
"What, Harry?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Go on, mate!" Ron insisted.
"I told her... I told her that..."
"Spit it out!" they exclaimed in unison, clearly expecting the worst.
"ItoldherthatIloveher?"
Ron spat out the tea he was drinking and Hermione smiled, eyes twinkling.
"I'm so happy for you two!" Hermione cried.
"You didn't," Ron said in disbelief a few moments later.
"Why do you sound so shocked, mate?" Harry frowned.
"I'm just surprised, is all," Ron said quickly. "Seeing as you were all cut up over Ginny a couple months ago..."
"How long did you expect me to hang on to her? She's just not right for me. She doesn't understand me like Luna does, y'know?" Harry explained.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you and Loony are all roses and sunshine, I just don't want you rushing into something and getting hurt again," Ron said softly.
"Ron! You have feelings?" Hermione joked.
"Thanks, Ron," Harry said. "I'll be extra careful, just for you. If it'll help you get to sleep at night, I spent more than two years hung up on Ginny and look how that worked out. Time isn't always a measure of love."
The word still sounded weird coming out of Harry's mouth.
Ron blushed, suddenly finding the floor very interesting, and Hermione looked at him in awe and disbelief.
"You were so CONSIDERATE!" Hermione said, dumbfounded.
"It's been known to happen," Ron replied with a shy grin.
