12
Disclaimer
J K Rowling and their respective copyright holders own Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter, and other characters.
A.N.
Shifting POV within this chapter.
Chapter 12
Luna was watching Hermione work her way through her first year Charms textbook. She had just gotten her wand yesterday and had asked to visit the Rookery so she could try out a spell or two, just to see if it worked.
However, Hermione's enthusiasm for learning new things was getting the better of her.
Selene, who was also watching, stepped in after an hour of constant spell casting.
"All right, Hermione, I think that's enough. You'll exhaust yourself. You don't run a marathon upon getting your first pair of running shoes."
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Lovegood, but I've been reading Dora's textbooks for the past year, and while I enjoy the theory, the chance to put it into practice is hard to resist."
Harry was half watching Hermione, sitting with a Potions textbook open on his knee. Luna had insisted that he read up on potions, if nothing else.
"Are you all set for your holiday, Harry?"
"Yes. A week or two with Sirius will be fun; at least he won't make me read Potions books over the holidays."
"What's the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane, Harry?"
Harry sighed. "They're the same plant, Luna. I'm really starting to look forward to this holiday, you know."
"Where are you off to, Harry?" asked Hermione.
"I don't know. I'm not certain if even Sirius knows exactly where we are going – it's one of his unplotable properties. Everyone thinks it would be a good idea if I'm away from home when I get my Hogwarts letter. "
"I've heard that, but I don't understand why you don't trust the school with that information."
"Hermione, we don't trust Albus Dumbledore. He's made too many mistakes and allowed too much to happen for us to trust him. He was head of the courts when Sirius was locked up with no trial. He was the one who placed me with the Dursleys and then never checked up on me. Ted and Xeno told me he went frantic trying to find me once I left there. He must have had some way of knowing what was happening there but didn't intervene. He has asked Xeno and Sirius countless times for my location because I need to be kept safe. But it was a member of his organisation who betrayed my mum and dad and he never suspected him. He will find out eventually where I live, but the longer it is that he doesn't find out the happier I'll feel."
Luna watched Hermione struggle with this information before nodding her consent. "I understand. It's not as if my dad gave Hogwarts an easy time, either. I guess the best you can say is that Albus Dumbledore is... ineffectual in his roles." Luna had to strain to catch Hermione's final comment as if she didn't want anyone to hear her insult Dumbledore.
Harry gave Luna a meaningful look. He'd been badgering her to share her background with Hermione for some weeks now, but she was still resisting; she knew Hermione's attitude would change because of it, and she was enjoying the friendship that they had now. Harry was fed up of having to watch his words around them both.
When the two had departed for the day and Hermione had arranged to visit again, Luna settled down for the evening.
"Why are you getting Harry to read Potions textbooks?" asked Selene.
"Step one of my master plan to defang a snake. Harry's life will be better in school if things go better with Snape. I've been nagging Andy to do something about his eyes, too; I want him to look more like Lily than James, and those glasses get in the way."
"This is low level time tinkering just to keep your hand in?"
"Something like that." Luna paused to gather her thoughts. "Mum, do you think I should tell Hermione about my time travelling?"
"I think it's your decision, Luna. I can argue both sides of that one. The less people who know, the better. Even Ted doesn't know too much – just that he "needs to trust your advice and that you're not a normal girl of your age. But I know that you struggle with guilt over your manipulation. Why do you want to tell her?"
"I can justify it in all sorts of ways, but it basically comes down to the fact that I don't like lying to my friends. We are becoming good friends. In my future, we had become best friends, and she really hated me travelling so much. She'd be on my doorstep before I'd finished unpacking. It's great to have that friendship again, but at the moment it is based on a lie. Harry hates it and I think he just might tell her anyway, not out of spite, but because if he saw a good reason to tell her, he wouldn't make the effort to conceal the truth. "
"As I said, it's your decision, but I think your mind's made up."
When Hermione flooed in to the Rookery the following morning, Luna led her upstairs to her bedroom. Luna's room had a professional feel to it – more like a student bedsit than a little girl's room. The desk and bed had a Scandinavian practicality to them. Bookcases cluttered the walls. Through the windows were excellent views of the surrounding hills, and the stream at the bottom of the valley could just be seen.
It was certainly not the little girl's room it had been when she had returned to this timeline, nor the brightly coloured room she had created for herself in the last. This was a place she could study and be herself. It had freaked Ginny out upon first seeing it, though Hermione would probably admire it.
"Before you start to practice any hexes, I have a little confession to make. No, that's not true. I have a life altering confession to make, and I hope you can forgive me for any hurt I may have caused you." Luna had picked up her wand and was fiddling with it while talking.
"That's never a good start to a conversation. What is the problem, Luna?"
"Well, let's just jump in here: I'm not as young as I look. Let me clarify that first: I'm really twenty-eight, I think. But it's more than that: when I was twenty-seven, I encountered a form of wild magic that shunted me back in the time line. I woke up as a nine year old child, but with all my memories from those eighteen years I'd lived still intact. Since then I've been changing things. The life I had lived was not a peaceful one. I lived through a war. I saw my friends and family die." Luna looked up and made eye contact with Hermione.
"I swear to you, Hermione, I'm trying to do all I can to make things better. My ideal is that no one will die in battle. I'm aware that some would call me a manipulator, but when I meet people who I've seen die, I can't let it happen again."
"Stop right there, Luna." Hermione cut through whatever Luna was going to say next. "Let me think. So you've been back for how long? Certainly over a year?"
"Nineteen months."
"So what was the first change you made?"
"In my past life, my mum died in front of me when an experiment went wrong. It sent my dad over the line from eccentric to demented."
"Okay, no need to justify that one. What did you do next?"
"I tracked down Harry and befriended him. I wanted to call social services directly, but he asked me not to. So I gently encouraged him to understand what a normal life was and supported him until he was ready to make that decision himself."
"I doubt anyone could find fault in that, although some might have intervened in a more direct manner. Have you directly manipulated me?"
"I don't think so." As Hermione's brow furrowed in thought, Luna spoke again. "In my last life you never met Harry until you boarded the train to Hogwarts. Your meeting him this time around was a random occurrence, although I did encourage Harry in your friendship once you had met. It was Ted as a Muggle-born who decided to tell your parents the news that you were magical. I decided not to tell you about myself, as I wanted to see if we would become friends.
You hold authority figures in a lot of regard. You would have never fought your corner if you knew I was twenty-seven years old and a master's degree holder. I hope we have become friends and can stay friends." Luna paused and watched Hermione. She was toying with a lock of her hair as she worked through the implications of what Luna was telling her. Finally, the frown turned to a slight smile.
"Come here, Luna." Hermione stood and opened her arms, and Luna tentatively stepped into them, receiving a hug from Hermione.
"I'd never really had friends till Harry came along. Now I have two, but that's not so many that I can afford to lose one. Now then, what can you tell me of your future?"
While Luna was telling Hermione what she felt she needed to know about her timeline and the things she hoped to change this time, Harry was settling down with Sirius.
Sirius apparated them into the courtyard of a large detached house. It was a solidly built square house; It appeared to be made from well cut granite blocks. An oversized dark oak front door stood before them. To either side of the front door were three large windows.
Harry stared at the house, a little startled. He considered the Tonks' house large, but this was in a different league. It was hard to imagine just one person living here. Harry imagined that the Tonks' could move in and they would have to use owls to speak to each other. The feel of the house screamed, we've got money and aren't afraid to flaunt it. Definitely not a welcoming feel to the place.
As they approached the door, it opened for them.
"It will do that for you and me, as you are now the Black heir, but anyone else will have to knock. This is my favourite of the Black properties. It's not as overbearing as the manor house. Thankfully, my mother hated it, so it has none of her touches of madness about it. The elves who maintain it are about as sane as you can expect from house elves and they do a good job. Show them a little gratitude, and they'll work all day for you."
Sirius led Harry into the entrance hall of the house. The floor was a polished mosaic of the Black crest. Directly in front of them was a black oak staircase that hugged the walls as it led upstairs.
Harry looked around the entrance hall. He had seen the Black crest before; in fact, Andy had made him draw it once Sirius had made Harry his heir. He knew all the components: the black shield, the dogs and stars, the chevron and the sword, although he reflected that Andy would insist on the formal description. Sable, a chevron between two mullets in chief and a sword in base, argent. Harry just felt between the sword and the motto, toujours pur, that this wasn't a welcoming room.
Sirius took Harry's arm. "Toujours pur. Always pure. My family meant it to be just about blood, but you and I shall change it to mean motives – our goal for society."
Harry simply nodded. To be honest, he was overwhelmed by all the grandeur the house was throwing in face. From the chandelier hanging down to the marble in the mosaic, where ever he looked, he saw details of extravagance. The door handles had jewels inlaid in them. Every inch of the staircase was elaborately carved.
"Would you like the grand tour?"
If the rest of the house was as intimidating as the entrance hall, Harry wasn't sure, but nodded his consent.
Sirius led Harry around the house; they dropped Harry's bags off in his bedroom first. A large four-poster bed with curtains hanging down dominated the room. Harry looked around the room: the bed covers were golden in colour, the curtains in red velvet, and while at first it looked large, it felt warm, too. The fireplace with a log fire added to the feel. This was the first part of the house that Harry had seen that was designed for living, not flaunting money.
"This will be your room from now on; you can use it whenever you want. The bed is modelled on the ones from Hogwarts, and the colour scheme is Gryffindor's. You'll get used to sleeping in it pretty quick."
Sirius pointed out his own bedroom and then the bathroom, explaining to Harry about some of the unique features of wizarding plumbing. The bath itself was huge but Harry would have needed to take notes on the taps if he wanted to stand a chance of remembering what each one did.
Back downstairs, the rooms went back to the mixture of being either imposing or for living in. Sirius pointed out the dining room, comfortably able to sit a rugby team, with a smaller smoking room off it. The smell of centuries of cigar smoke clung to the interior of the room. He briefly mentioned the library, floor to ceiling and every space except the windows covered in books, and the sitting room with wood panelling on the walls, four leather chesterfield sofas facing inward around a coffee table. The sitting room was the first room that felt as though Sirius lived here and not just inhabited the space. He reluctantly gestured to another door.
"I'm about to ask a lot of you now, Harry, but please don't tell Andy or Ted about this room."
With a flick of his wand and a mumbled Alohomora, Sirius led Harry into a tidy and organised office.
"Ted and Andy think I'm nothing but a shiftless layabout, and I try to encourage that belief every chance I get. It's a harmless little prank, but it amuses me. Andy enjoys nagging me, Ted enjoys the feeling of superiority, and I enjoy deceiving them: everyone's happy. It's from here I wage my war. With the Black finances behind me, I'm slowly buying up businesses and debts and properties. A large number of Death Eaters rejoined society after the last war. They'd been Imperiused, they claimed. Well, a large number of my friends died in the war, and I'm still fighting for them. If Luna can't change the future and war happens again, old voldy-warts will have to have an army that is merely enthusiastic, because I'll see to it none of his followers has enough spare Galleons to pay for anything. I have agents out in the country finding out the habits and interests of his Death Eaters and of a few others Luna wants neutralised, and I'm using them against them. For example, Yaxley likes a drink: I own his favourite pub. A slightly generous landlord and a compulsion charm, well, you wouldn't believe his bar tab. He'll either be an alcoholic by the time I'm done or so in debt I'll have him thrown into Azkaban for failure to pay.
Harry stood in wide-eyed amazement, seeing his godfather in a new light.
"The funny thing is, this is the way my father used to work, and I hated him for his arrogance. His targets were Muggle-borns and blood traitors; here I am using the same tactics to take out people he would have thought of as friends. I suppose it's ironic that I'm using Slytherin tactics to remove the threat of Death Eaters from society. If you can just give me a minute, Harry, to check that there is nothing urgent in this morning post."
Sirius settled behind the desk and took out some parchments from a box on his desk. The first he glanced at and dropped into another box; the second he wrote some notes on hurriedly and placed into a different box; when he got to the third, his entire demeanour changed. Harry almost took a step back at the look of pure anger that crossed Sirius's face.
"That stupid idiot. Harry, I'm sorry, but a very serious issue has come up. You're about to see a very different side of me. Do you trust me, Harry?"
"Yes, Sirius, I wouldn't be here if I didn't."
"Right, we're going to prank someone. But unlike most pranks, this isn't for fun. We are going to go and save someone's life. Although it might look like I'm about to destroy it."
"Where are we going?" Sirius was up and out of his chair and was pacing now.
"We are off to see a man I loved more than I loved my family, someone who was only behind your father in how much I cared for him. The cleverest and brightest of my friends and the one who is wasting his life, which is going to stop today. This could be called an intervention. Here, take my arm."
Sirius had led Harry out of the house by now and they were standing in the courtyard."We're going to apparate to his house, and he will either see sense or he'll be seeing stars."
After the usual apparation feeling of contraction and expansion had faded, they found themselves in front of what would be better called a shack than a house. The building in front of them was dirty and dilapidated. Burning it down would have increased its resale value and would certainly have done something about the smell. Sirius walked up to the door.
"Knock knock," he said, matching word with action.
A bleary voice from inside shouted, "Go away!"
Taking his wand, Sirius cast Reducto on the door. The spell impacted with the door and put a hole the size of Sirius' fist near where the lock was. Fragments of the door showered the inside of the house, and the voice they'd heard earlier cried out in pain.
Sirius leaned back and kicked the door. When it didn't move fast enough, he kicked it again.
"I said, knock knock." Turning to Harry, all the harshness left his voice. "Wait in the doorway, just in case the idiot starts casting." On saying that, Sirius walked cautiously into the house.
Harry looked into the house from the doorway. The windows all had heavy bars on the inside of them, and there was not one piece of furniture that wasn't either overturned or heavily damaged. Broken pots and bottles littered the floor, and the smell – Harry was glad Sirius had told him to stay in the doorway where he could get some fresh air. The house had a unique smell, as if a wet dog had thrown up in a distillery.
Sirius had found his friend, from the shouting Harry now could hear.
"You stupid idiot. What sort of life is this for a man? Damn it, man, you've found somewhere worse to live than even Azkaban. I'm talking from experience here. So what has the cleverest, most respectable marauder who made prefect done with his life? Living in this hovel, doing odd jobs to buy enough whiskey to get you through the transformations. Did you ever think about anyone but yourself? You're coming with me."
"No, give me time – I can barely stand."
Harry heard a thud and a gasp. "I don't care if you crawl, follow me or next time I kick you." Sirius came striding out from a room and into the hallway towards Harry. "Be strong for me, Harry," he whispered. "This isn't going to be pretty."
Following behind Sirius was a man, if that was what he was; he was caked in filth and dressed in rags. Fresh blood flowed on one side of his body from when he must have been in range of the door's shrapnel before moving to the room where Sirius had found him. While Sirius strode through the house, this new man was bent double and pulled himself along with his hands.
"Look who's here, Remus." Remus obeyed Sirius's command immediately and gasped. "Do you know who this is? Do you recognise him?"
"It's Harry, isn't it?"
"Why do you have to ask, Remus? Why is this the first time you've seen James and Lily's son since that night? Why is it that you, as the last marauder, haven't seen him before this? Why is it that until recently, this boy, who you swore to protect, lived locked up in a cupboard, ignored, neglected, ignorant of his heritage, the only thing he knew of James and Lily that he was a worthless drunk and she was a fool for marrying him? So tell me, Remus, why did you spend all your time looking into bottles and not looking for Harry?" Sirius was roaring his questions at Remus now. Remus had collapsed in tears at first but as each question was asked, he flinched as if struck until, finally, he snapped.
"Enough! You dare... You hypocrite! Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, what does he do upon finding Harry? Does he care for him, as he swore? Oh, no, not stupid, impetuous Sirius! No, he gives Harry to the first person he meets and runs off on his own private revenge mission. He then spends the next years locked away from the boy he swore to care for, and yet you dare lecture me!"
"Yes, Moony, this is a new time, and I had to see if there was any spirit left in you, other than the type that comes out of a bottle. Stand up, man, let me look at you." Sirius had gone from shouting to talking now. Harry was surprised at the care and comfort in his voice.
Remus tried to raise himself to his full height but still stood hunched. "Merlin's beard, you had to go and find me on a night after the full moon."
Sirius turned to Harry and winked. "This will never do. Agumenti." A fierce jet of water flew out from Sirius's wand, hitting Remus. Sirius worked it up and down his body, washing off most of the filth.
"I'm not letting you in my house in that state. I will take Harry first, then come back for you."
"I can apparate, you know."
"I was there when we took the exams. But first off, you're shaking too much. Secondly, you don't know where we're going, and as I don't know its location, I can't just tell you. So wait here and I'll be back. If there is anything in there that has any value, you'd best bring it. Someone has blown a hole in your door, so you won't be locking up. See you."
Sirius took Harry and apparated back to the Black house. The moment they had regained their composure, Harry turned on Sirius.
"Was that necessary? You blew out his door; I know you hit him and those things you said, using me as a weapon against him, what was all that about, Sirius?"
Sirius sighed and sat down on the step next to Harry. "There might have been better ways to handle it, but I wanted Remus angry. Last night was the full moon; he was bitten as a child and now every full moon he turns into a werewolf. The transformations are incredibly painful for him. You saw the state he was in: barely able to stand upright. Well, on days close to the full moon, the beast is still quite close to the surface. Making Remus angry flooded his system with adrenaline, which actually brought in his self-healing mechanisms. A transformed wolf can only be hurt by silver or magic, so making him rage healed the damage from the door but it also helped to undo some of the joint damage he suffers every time he transforms. It also flushed a lot of the alcohol out of his system.
"Those things we said to each other also needed saying, and we were both right. Well, now we've said them, and marauder tradition states that once a grievance is aired you can't bring it up again to attack someone. Anyway, I'd best go back for him. Can you go to the fireplace and call Andy? If the connection is made from here, she can come through. Tell her to bring her healer's kit, too."
While Harry went into the sitting room, Sirius disapparated. Harry called through to Andy.
"Hello, Andy, Sirius wants you to come through. We have someone who needs medical assistance."
"Already? I'd have laid odds that Sirius couldn't have gone the morning without calling for help. I'll be there in a couple of minutes. I'll let Dora know and grab my bag. Leave the connection open."
Andy was true to her word and a minute later came through the floo. "Well, you look fine. What have you done to Sirius?"
"It's not either of us but a friend of his called Remus. Sirius broke into his house, beat him up, and then they both had screaming fits at each other. But Sirius keeps telling me it's for the best and that they are friends, really."
"I know of Remus, and if Sirius treated anyone else that way, I'd hex him for his behaviour, especially in front of you."
Just then, Sirius half-leading, half-carrying Remus into the living room interrupted anything else Andy had to say on the subject.
"Andy, can you turn the sofa to a bed, please? He might be stick thin, but I can't hold him up all day."
"While I might enjoy watching you work, I think you're right. He needs to lie down."
With a wave of her wand, Andy turned one of Sirius's dark green chesterfields into a standard hospital bed.
Sirius led Remus over and helped to lie down. "A hospital bed in a Black property, Andy? Have you no sense of style?"
Andy ignored Sirius and went to work with her wand, casting diagnostic spells on Remus. She gave Remus a potion and watched as he fell asleep. After five minutes, she moved back to Sirius. "Do you know about his condition?"
"Worked it out when he was thirteen. "
"Is he registered?"
"Yes, as soon as he left Hogwarts, which is why, I guess, he's in this state. No one would ever give him a job."
"Right then, he's in a lot of pain – all his muscles and joints are showing stress. He is probably in a worse state physically than Harry was when we met. He needs a potion regime to help him put on some body mass. But he's going to go through the same physical pain every month. What do you intend to do for him?"
"Get him back on his feet and then employ him. He's a good man and I have need of good men.
There is a new product out on the market – quite expensive – a potion that will take away the worst effects of the transformation. I'll see that he gets it. It is the least I can do."
"Sometimes, my Lord, I forget how good a man you are. I have given him a potion to ease the pain and let him sleep. See if you can move his bed upstairs without waking him."
Harry enjoyed the next two days with Sirius and Remus. At times, Sirius seemed almost bipolar in his moods, shifting from an enthusiastic childlike joker to a darkly driven man when it turned to business. Remus had a dry laconic sense of humour that underpinned most of his dealings, but it would lighten when talking with Sirius, especially when they were remembering their Hogwarts days and the pranks they had played.
It was the morning of the 24th of July when a letter turned up for Harry.
As Harry looked at the heavy parchment envelope, Sirius asked to take a look at it.
"I was sure they were going to have someone hand-deliver it. Mind you, my sources tell me that McGonagall is furious with him about you, and it's her who deals with sending out the letters." Taking a look at the address, he laughed.
"Mr H Potter
The heir's bedroom
Black Cottage
Somewhere."
"I love living in an unplottable house."
"If we're unplottable, how did they find us?"
"Well, unplottable doesn't mean hidden. Hogwarts is unplottable, but everyone knows where it is: a mile down the road from Hogsmeade. You just can't put it on any maps. The thing is, we could walk out of the property, find the nearest town, and know where we are. But we only ever use magical means of transport to get here. I physically don't know where we are, although once anyone apparates in, they can do it again. We are not part of the public floo system; in fact, we are only connected to Ted and Andy's, although I will be adding Luna's place soon. So, are you going to open it?"
"Okay, let's see, Albus Dumbledore blah blah blah, you are invited to Hogwarts. Equipment list."
"Well summarised. You're going to have to watch that attitude, though."
"I beg your pardon, Sirius. You are lecturing me on my attitude toward Dumbledore?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Not your opinion, but your attitude, yes. He is practically worshipped by some in our world. If you show that much disrespect for him in public, you will end up fighting a two front war. Be a good little sheep, listen to what he says, nod politely, and don't look him in the eyes. He is useful, it's just that we are not going to follow his lead."
"You do know that a week ago, I trusted the man completely. I still find it shocking to hear someone disrespect him. Sirius is right, Harry, you need to watch your words and your attitudes," Remus warned.
"Say that again?" asked Sirius.
"What? Harry needs to watch his attitude."
"No, 'Sirius is right'. I get a warm feeling whenever you say that."
"Clown." Remus cast a spell at Sirius that he ducked and then countered with a spell of his own. Harry rolled behind the sofa and watched the two supposed adults casting minor jinxes back and forth.
Once they had calmed down, Sirius wrote an acceptance letter and then apparated to Diagon Alley to hire a public owl to send the note.
Sirius explained that Andy had insisted on taking Harry shopping, mostly because she didn't trust Sirius to practice restraint with his spending. It said brass scales, so they would be getting brass ones, not gold ones.
The morning of Harry's birthday dawned clear and bright. He received cards and a few small presents. Andy had taken the day off to take him shopping. After last year's surprise party, Harry smiled and allowed himself to be hustled out of the house.
Their first stop was to an optician's office to get his eyes retested and to look for new glasses. When they got to Diagon Alley, they found Dora waiting for them; she joined in the shopping expedition.
"Right, most boring stop first: school robes." Andy led the way to Madam Malkin's robes shop. After a quick word with Dora, Andy excused herself and let Dora take him into the shop.
"Hogwarts, dear? Of course you are, we've got everything here. We have another boy being fitted at the moment, but we can do you both at the same time."
Dora glanced into the back room; Harry could distinctively hear her swear. When she turned back to him she had changed her face from her usual one to the one Luna had christened "perky goth".
"Listen, Harry, that's Draco Malfoy in there. You know who that is, don't you? I don't know what to do for the best here. If I leave you together and his father turns up, mum will skin me alive, but if mum bumps into Narcissa with no warning, blood will flow."
"Calm down, Dora. Think, you're going to be an auror. What would they do?"
"It's easy for them: they'd call for backup. Backup, excellent. Madam Malkin, can I use your floo for a moment? Just add it to his bill."
Harry allowed himself to be led into the back room, where he was asked to stand on a box.
"Hogwarts, too? First or second year?" drawled Draco.
"First year, like you."
"How do you know I'm a first year?"
"Simple logic. If you were a second year, then you would have known what year I was in."
"Once we are done here, I'm going looking at brooms." Draco changed the topic. "Do you have your own broom?"
"No, it's something of a family disagreement. My…mum," Harry hesitated as he tried to find a word to describe Andy, "my mum thinks I'm too young, but I know my godfather would get me one the first chance he gets."
"So you don't play Quidditch then. You do have a team, though, right?"
"Wasps. You?"
"Wasps, too. Have you gone to see them much?"
"We went a lot last year, but we haven't really had time this year."
"That's a shame. The Puddlemere game was widely regarded as one of the best games in recent times. And we won, too."
"Yeah, I heard," Harry sighed, and the disappointment in his voice was clear to hear.
Dora interrupted as she walked into the room. "I've seen Luna outside and she has her big old mutt with her, so I'm just popping out to say hello."
Harry nodded in acceptance. He got her messages, both spoken and hidden. So Luna and Sirius thought a possible meeting with Lucius was something to worry about.
"Is that a friend of yours?"
"My cousin, actually," said Harry with ice in his voice. He was willing to give Draco a chance, but any insults directed at Dora would be the end of that.
"Do you know which house you'll be in?" Draco must have gotten the unspoken warning in Harry's tone as he changed the subject again. "What I mean is, all my family have been in Slytherin for generations, so I'm sure to be there. I think Father would disown me if I was elsewhere."
"My family has been in every house. My mum," Harry underwent less hesitation this time, "can't place me. She thinks I have traits of all the houses."
"Surely not Hufflepuff. They're all duffers."
"That's the same as saying that all Slytherins are dark wizards. Hufflepuffs just understand that sometimes the only way to get things done is to put in the hard work."
"I suppose. Still, I wouldn't want to go there. "
Before anything else could be said, Madam Malkin bustled in. "That's you done, dear. I think you'll find there's quite a crowd waiting for you. That dog gives me the creeps, to be honest, but there's such a sweet little girl with it. I hope it's safe."
"Well, see you at Hogwarts," drawled Draco.
"See you, cousin."
"What? Cousin? Who are you?"
"I'm Harry, son of James, son of Charlus and Dorea Black, daughter of Cygnus and Violetta. You are Draco, son of Lucius and Narcissa, daughter of Cygnus Black, son of Pollux, son of Cygnus and Violetta. So see you on the train, cousin."
Harry turned on his heel as Draco worked his way through the family tree in his head.
"Hello, Harry," Luna called in her singsong voice.
Harry sighed; there would be no sensible conversation had while Luna was in this mood.
000
Luna and Sirius had been at the Tonks house waiting for the birthday party to begin when Dora had called them and told them the Malfoys were in Diagon Alley. Sirius had jumped out of his seat and before he had said a word, Luna had taken charge.
"Right, there is no immediate threat, so we'll keep this low key. Sirius, can you apparate as a dog?"
"No, sorry. Once I'm in that form, I can't use magic."
"Fine, I'll side-along you. Transform, now." The tone of command in Luna's voice made him jump.
Remus laughed from he was sitting. "Whipped by a little girl."
"Listen to me closely, Sirius Black. We are going to observe. We will not cast first. I have every confidence in Harry beating Draco in a battle of wits. While I may want to carve out Lucius's entrails and play balloon modelling with them, we will do nothing first."
As they apparated away, she could just hear Remus saying, "Hold on, that's not possible."
The apparition points in Diagon Alley were busy as usual. No one paid any notice to them as they rushed up the Alley. They could see a frantic Dora standing in the doorway to Madam Malkin's. "I wanted back up, not a little girl and her dog. Don't tell me dad and Sirius were too busy checking out the whiskey collection." The frustration in Dora's tone was clear to hear.
"Hello, Nymphadora. Don't worry, the dog is Sirius. He's in disguise."
It was something of a testament to Dora's worry that she didn't object to being called by her full name. She ran back in to tell Harry and then hurried off in search of her mum. Luna glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention. Once she saw the coast was clear she cast a charm on the window that allowed them to hear the conversation.
Luna and Sirius shared a look and smiled; well, Sirius's tongue dropped out of his mouth when Harry acknowledged Draco as a cousin. Tradition stated that a public admission of family ensured they would have a day of peace between family members. Dreadful vengeance befell those who ignored such conventions.
Harry left the shop, leaving a confused-looking Draco behind.
"Hello, Harry," Luna called out in her singsong voice She knew it irritated Harry, but she felt it helped her stay in her little girl character.
They met up with Andy; Dora had headed home with something. The rest of the shopping was routine as they went from shop to shop purchasing Harry's school supplies. Luna mostly stayed outside with Sirius, although while at Flourish and Blotts, Andy stayed outside to thank Sirius for coming out as backup. Luna laughed at Andy being sincere while Sirius scratched himself.
The final stop of the day was for Harry's wand.
Luna felt a pang upon seeing Ollivander again. Her overwhelming memories of the man were of him being returned to the cell in Malfoy Manor after hours of torture at the hands of Death Eaters. Today was just full of cheerful memories: they'd narrowly avoided meeting Lucius, and now here they were with one of his victims.
Luna had not been joking about her desire to cut up Lucius. Still, Ollivander did love the sound of his own voice.
"Sirius, do you think I should prank Ollivander?" Luna whispered to the dog curled up at her feet.
Sirius raised his head and cocked his ear; finally he nodded. Well, of course Sirius would always say yes to the question, 'should we prank someone'.
Ollivander was up a stepladder pulling out boxes at apparent random.
"Oh, come on, Ollivander, just give Harry Voldemort's wand's brother and we can all go home."
Ollivander gave a little squeak, turned suddenly, and fell off the ladder. Wands went everywhere as he made his descent to the ground. After he recovered his dignity, he headed to the backroom, returning with a holly wand, eleven inches long with a phoenix feather core.
The wand responded as Luna knew it would. After paying, they left the shop.
"Come on," said Luna, "we have to get Harry back for his surprise party."
A.N.
The trace and underage magic. I can't find a canon explanation that makes sense. So I'm going to have it just be a monitoring system set on specific areas.
Sorry everyone, but Luna is not going to Hogwarts this year. While I thought about it and can think of several different ways to do it. I want her off and doing things this year. Besides she needs to spend time with people her own age.
Note on Remus' condition, in the books he used wolfsbane potion. Here he has been using cheap whiskey as pain relief.
Boys talking about sport bond. It's a strange fact of life but true. Although if Harry had been a canons fan not much bonding would have happened.
I don't know if you noticed but we're not at Hogwarts yet. I'm sure I'll get there next chapter. Almost certain.
Still longer I avoid it the more time I have to decide Harry's house.
Some dialogue is lifted directly from Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. By J K Rowling.
A word on frequency of updates. They will be getting slower. I turn out 5k every 5 to 10 days depending on life. I send it off to my beta, who then spends another 5-10 days getting it into a readable state. I then receive and review the changes. Rewrite sections add or remove details as necessary. I mean it even though we managed to do this in seven days, it will slow down.
Many thanks to Jedi Goat who got to Beta this chapter twice. It is much improved thanks to her work.
