Disclaimer: As said many times before, I do not own any of this that you recognise from the Harry Potter series - they belong to Ms. JK Rowling.
CHAPTER 7
'Happy late Christmas, Harry!' I beamed, thrusting him a box. Yeah, okay, I was a week late. Who cares?
Harry looked up from the floor; all morning he had been playing blocks with two year old Teddy and four year old Carrie. Even if he was confused, he didn't look it. Instead, he curiously opened the box and found … another box!
'Aww, thanks Luna, I really did need another box!' he leant forward to give me a kiss on the cheek, but I pushed him away.
'No silly! You're supposed to open the box!' He looked at me sheepishly and mumbled about already knowing that.
Finally he pulled out a pile of paper, and he groaned. 'Luna, as much as I appreciate this, I got away from the Ministry because I wanted to get away from the paperwork, not have it follow me here!'
I sighed, this was getting rather annoying now. 'Just read it will you?' It was posed as a question, but Harry knew that it was meant as a command. He is sooooo whi…
'Oh. My. Gosh. Does this mean what I think it does?'
'Yes Harry. And no, I haven't told the kids yet,' I answered his unasked question.
We both turned to the two kids who were now trying to beg us to tell them.
'Alright Teddy, Carrie. We'll only tell you if you sit down right now.' They complied immediately. 'And let us ask you one question first.' He turned to me to continue.
'How would you two like to have a new mummy and daddy?' Their answer, rather their actions were almost predictable; Teddy sprinted as fast as his two chubby little legs would go to Harry and grabbed the long legs in front of him in a monster grip. Carrie was slower, contemplating the question. I smiled, tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and squatted down next to her.
'Are you sure you want a … fweak?' she whispered, if I hadn't been as close as I was now, I'm sure I wouldn't have heard it.
'Cariana Black, you are not a freak,' I said firmly, 'nor are you a burden.'
She wanted to argue, I was sure of it, but I didn't let her, I grasped her gently and pulled her towards me in a firm hug.
'You are not a freak,' I whispered, tears forming in my eyes. Yes, I knew exactly of Harry's upbringing, and I was glad that he was busy with Teddy at the moment; I would hate to know of what became of Signorina Giovanna after he was done with her. A child of only four years old calling herself a freak and a burden, I knew what he would say when I told him, and it wasn't going to be pretty.
'Everything okay over there?' he asked, finally putting down his new son. My son, what a strange word, a word that I hadn't thought I'd be calling the offspring of Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin as my own.
'We're fine,' I answered, turning back to Carrie, 'So what do you say, sweetie? Will you have this old girl as your new mummy?' She giggled.
'You're not old, Mummy!' Her smile, her laugh, the cheeky glint in her eyes, everything I took in at that single moment. Harry and Teddy were, I think, watching us with interest. I didn't care though. She was mine. My daughter, my beautiful… terrible frightened and abused daughter. I'd had my suspicions since the day we met her, but to see it confirmed when I suddenly rolled up her sleeve hit me, and it hit me hard. I broke down, rolling hard off the couch that we'd made our way to, and hit my head, hard.
'MUMMY!' Carrie screamed so loud that Harry sprinted over to me, Teddy in his arms, my cries of pain and the anger and mixed emotions that exploded in that one second, along with the bump I gained on my head was enough to send my body into shock, my magic shutting my vision into darkness and I knew no more. All I heard was the faint echoes of Carrie's screams, Teddy's confused crying and Harry's repetitive healing spells as I fell into the quiet, deep black abyss.
–
It was painful coming back to the world of the living. Carrie was sitting on my stomach, staring anxiously into my flickering eyes. I had somehow made it back onto the couch, Harry's doing I suppose. Harry stood up and walked over to me when I looked around in confusion. Teddy was standing next to my head, thumb in his mouth. He turned and said, 'Daddy, Mama woke up.'
Harry ruffled his now turquoise hair cheerfully, 'Thanks buddy,' before looking to me, 'How are you feeling?' he asked carefully.
'Like a Crumple Horned Snorcack ran me over then a herd of hippogriffs followed.'
'Yeouch!' Harry sympathised. Of course, he would know what that felt like, having been in the Hospital Wing so many times during his time at Hogwarts.
'What happened?' I asked, wanting to get up, but I couldn't. There was a small weight keeping me firmly planted on my back.
'Don't get up, you'll get dizzy.' To prove his point, my raised head was pushed back down to the pillow and suddenly the earth stopped spinning. 'You hit your head real bad, I wouldn't get up just yet, stay put for now.'
Underneath all that manliness, Harry was really a softy. It was obvious the way he looked at Teddy, at how he was beginning to look at Carrie and how … dare I say it, the way he looked at … me. Then I remembered the present.
'Harry, read the rest of the papers.'
He looked at me curiously, looking for a reason but I gave him none. So he sat down next to my outstretched feet and pulled out the remaining paper. Seconds later, he jumped to his feet and awkwardky tried to kiss my face all over.
'Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!.' Well, that narrowed it down, so which one had he read, oh yeah, I know.
'Harry?'
'Thank you so much Luna, I lo-'
'Yes Harry?' I asked slyly, knowing full well what he was going to say.
'I-Nothing. Thanks though.'
'Harry, you still haven't told me which one you're thanking me for.'
'Right, well it's this one, the one that's the deed for this house. Thank you sooo much!'
Oh. So it wasn't the other one. He sat back down, reading the next page. On the couch I was fidgeting madly with Carrie's jacket buttons. Button goes in the hole, button goes out the hole, button goes in the hole, button goes out the hole, button goes in the hole, button goes out the hole, button goes …
'Luna?'
'Yes?' I replied nervously, what if he says no, what if he doesn't like me that way, what if…
'I… Yes, I will marry you.' I was shocked for a moment before scooting Carrie down the couch and jumping up and into his arms, even though the two kids were staring blankly at us, I kissed him with vigour, he responded with great joy. What seemed to be a millennia later, I pulled away and held my head.
'Dizzy,' I muttered, swaying slightly. Harry leapt into action, picking me up and placing me horizontally on the couch, the pillow under my head once more.
'Sleep,' he ordered, allowing Carrie to nestle back down on my stomach before tucking a blanket around the two of us.
'Goo'nigh' Mama and Cawwie,' Teddy whispered, shyly kissing my cheek. Harry picked Teddy up and carried him our of the room, leaving Carrie and I alone.
'Wuv you Mummy,' she whispered, eyes drooping.
'Love you too, sweetie,' I mumbled, finally loosing the will to stay awake, my poor head pounding as I drifted off to dreamland in the caring arms of my daughter.
a/n: Yay! A new installment! Hope you all enjoyed that one. I will have you all know that I was about to stop about halfway through, but then I realised that would mean another cliffie... Needless to say, I've learnt my lesson about cliffies and shall try not to leave you hanging to often.
Don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you all think!
Toodles!
