I have finals in a couple weeks, so updates might not be all that regular for a while.

Chapter 10

Harry was on line for the movie when Hedwig arrived. Without care for the Muggles around, she landed on his shoulder.

"Hey Hedwig," he said softy. He took the letter from around her leg and said, "Good job girl. Why don't you go back to my place. I left my window open for you."

Hedwig hooted once, then flew off. Seeing Hermione's neat script, Harry stuffed the letter into his pocket. He could read it later.

Reach for the popcorn. Hands brush against each other. Blush. Look away.

It was nauseatingly sweet, Mr. Lovegood decided. And rather innocent. His little girl's first date. At least the boy seemed as nervous as Luna.

There had been a message waiting for him when he'd arrived back at the hotel room. Luna had just called to tell him that she wouldn't be back until moonrise because she had a date.

He was still annoyed that the boy hadn't bothered to ask his permission. Other than messy black hair, he had no clue as to the identity of the boy. Luna had mentioned that he was a Gryffindor a year above her and on the House Quidditch team, that his parents were dead and he was living with relatives in the Colonies.

That description fit far too many. The Death Eaters had still been a force to be reckoned with when this boy would have been born. The still were.

Ten minutes later, the boy tried the old yawn and stretch routine. Arm around Luna's shoulder, she leaned her head against his. Mr. Lovegood fought the urge to hurt the boy.

bzzzzzzzzzz

Something vibrated in his pocket. What on earth? After a moment Harry realized it was the mirror Sirius had given him. They had spoken the night before. Why was Sirius calling again so soon? Best to find out.

"Luna, I'll be right back," said Harry, standing up.

"Where are you going?"

"The men's room. Do you want anything from the concessions stand while I'm up?"

"Something chocolate, please."

"No problem."

Harry entered the bathroom and looked around carefully. Sure that nobody would see him, he pulled out the mirror.

"Sirius?"

"What took you so long? Eating dinner?"

"Actually, I'm out on a date," Harry said, before clamping his mouth shut. How could he have said such a thing? Sirius would tease him endlessly.

"With who?"

"Luna," Harry said quietly. "We're at the cinema."

"I'll call you back in a couple hours," smirked Sirius.

Five minutes later, Harry came back into the theater carrying a Kit Kat bar.

As they walked, Harry took Luna's hand. It was not until they reached Luna's hotel that he even realized he had done so.

"So… uh," Harry said nervously.

Was he supposed to kiss her? He didn't remember.

"Can we go to the carnival next time?"

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Sounds good. I think there's one over in… Uh meet around two tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Before he could react, Luna leaned toward him. A quick kiss and then she scurried into her hotel room.

Harry walked back into the brownstone cautiously. There was no doubt in his mind that Mia would find some form of revenge. There were only two questions; when and how would he strike back.

Harry may not have been a prankster like the Weasley twins, but one could not be both the son of a Marauder and the godson of another Marauder without having some sort of pranking instinct. Maybe he should ask Sirius on advice for Muggle pranks.

"Harry."

He smirked at the shadow. "Personally, I think blue would look better on you than green, Mia. Don't know what I was thinking when I picked that shade of green. I'll remember it for next time. Maybe I can do something with polka dots or plaid. You know, maybe you should try being a brunette."

"Enough, you two," said Uncle Ollie. "Where were you, Harry?"

"Date," he said with a shrug. "Luna and I went to the movies."

"I thought you said you didn't like Luna in that way," said Mia, a self-satisfied smirk apparent.

"I changed my mind. There's still a carnival over by the docks, right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I promised to take Luna to a carnival tomorrow. Need to go, Connor's expecting me. We're training tonight."

He hurried toward the basement, unwilling to wait for Mia to remember her anger or for Uncle Ollie to remember to tease him.

"Did you enjoy your date, beeswax?"

"Yes Daddy. Harry is taking me to a carnival tomorrow."

"It went that well, huh," said Mr. Lovegood.

He watched his daughter hum happily to herself. She was sewing again. Briefly, Jake Lovegood wondered exactly why Luna was sewing so many copies of the same outfit. Admittedly, they were in different sizes and appropriate for different weather, but Luna was acting as if… No. That couldn't be it. She was just being helpful by making a uniform for some superhero. There was nothing else to it.

"Daddy, why did you leave?"

"I had important business for the Quibbler." A well rehearsed answer for a question he could never answer. At least not so long as his daughter was a civilian.

"That wasn't what I meant. Daddy, why did you leave the Muggle world?"

He sat down in a chair, wondering what had brought on this question. "I had no reason to stay, not really. By the time I started Hogwarts I had no desire to be near any of the Muggles I knew, and when I was sorted into Slytherin, I couldn't let on that I was Muggle-born. Sure I still went back to the Muggle world on occasion, but after I met your mother, I couldn't put her in danger by continuing to associate with people who could have… put her, and later you, in danger." Jake shook his head. "It was bad enough that we had to deal with Death Eaters, I was not going to put my family into even more danger."

"But why? Was grandfather not human like Aquaman? Or did he have powers like the Flash?" For once Luna looked serious. "What about grandmother?"

"Both my parents were ordinary humans," said Jake. For all that his father ran around in tights saving the universe, he was still a relatively normal human. Sort of. "Why the sudden interest in your grandparents?"

"It's not important, Daddy," she said. "Could you put some spells on that clothing over there?"

"So, dyeing Mia's skin green."

Harry aimed the bow carefully. He and Connor had just finished sparring. After they were done with archery practice, they would spar again. After that, Connor would continue the lesson on using a sword.

"She started it." He released the arrow. It hit the target with a satisfying thud.

"Do I want to know?"

Harry notched another arrow. "Mia and one of her friends convinced Luna to sit on my lap while we were watching movies." The arrow was released, hitting the target a couple inches away from the previous. At least his aim was getting better.

"And?" Connor reached over and corrected Harry's stance.

"We went out on a date," Harry said in a quiet voice. The arrow hit the target between the previous two. "I like Luna. A lot. She's not Cho. But Cho and I could never have been together."

Connor gave Harry a hard look. "If you're planning on using Luna as a replacement for Cho-"

"I'm not. Really, I'm not," Harry said quickly. "It's just that, before Luna sat on my lap, I hadn't really thought about her in that way."

"And now that you've started to think about her 'in that way'?"

He notched another arrow. "I don't know if I can like Luna like that, but I want to-I want to give it a shot." Release. The arrow split the one of the previous arrows in half.

Remus Lupin knew something was up when he saw Sirius grinning like the cat that ate the canary. Undoubtable, something would soon explode or somebody would soon have polka dot patterns on their skin.

"Do I want to know, or should I just sit back and watch?"

"Sit back," said Sirius. "Snivellus wont know what hit him. But we have more important things to talk about."

Eyeing his maniacly grinning friend, Remus seriously considered running for the hills. Or at least the Shrieking Shack.

"What can be more important than a prank?"

"Why Harry's first date, of course."

"What? Harry went on a date? With a Muggle? Or was it a witch?" said Remus.

"A date, yes Harry went on a date, no, yes."

"Sirius," growled Remus. "Just tell me who he went out with."

"Luna Lovegood, old Jake Lovegood's daughter." Sirius's smirk was back in full force.

Remus let out a laugh. "I remember her. She's a year below Harry and fully believes that all things printed in the Quibbler are true." Suddenly another thought occurred to him. "Harry isn't playing with her, is he? The poor girl makes Selene Lovegood look normal in comparison. When I taught her, she didn't really have any friends other than Ginny."