A/N: Hi everyone! Super sorry about the longer waits between chapters, but this is probably what it's going to be like from now on till I magically (haha, that was totally unintentional) get more free time. It was really late when I wrote this (which was like...fifteen minutes ago), so I apologize if it isn't that great. I wanted to get you all another chapter incase Hurricane Irene takes down the Internet. But anyways, I own nothing about Harry Potter! Enjoy the chapter! :) x

Chapter 14

They were in Australia. But not just Australia. They were in Sydney. And not just Sydney, either. They were in the same area of Sydney as he was. And they were undoubtedly looking for him.

Harry paced around the hotel room, the situation that had happened many hours earlier still running through his mind. It had been Ron, Hermione and Ginny, he was sure of it. Though they were still fairly far away when he Disapparated, there was no mistaking Hermione's bushy mane of hair, and the vibrant red of the Weasley siblings.

They were in Australia, and they were looking for him.

Harry glanced at the somewhat packed bag lying on the unmade bed. Hours ago when he first returned to the room, fleeing had been his first solution to the problem. But after tossing a few shirts and a few pairs of jeans into the bag, he stopped, rethinking his initial course of action. Fleeing again would be pointless, and stupid. But what a good solution to his problem would be, Harry wasn't quite sure.

Harry walked briskly to the window and peered out, hoping the sparkling harbor would stimulate his brain into forming some sort of idea. He almost wished Hermione were there, just for a moment, so she could give him an idea. But that in itself was pretty much a paradox, wasn't it? Harry shook his head. Hermione would know the answer to that, too.

As he gazed over the glittering water, Harry's stomach let out a rumble. He tore his eyes away from the outside world and walked over to the kitchen in his room. He looked in the fridge only to find designer water and soda, plus a few bags of crisps in the cabinets. Unsatisfied with the options, Harry grabbed his room card and headed out again, this time with a mission in mind: breakfast.

Harry walked down the street, his eyes focused on the concrete beneath him for most of the time. Occasionally he glanced up to see where his feet led him, but so sporadic were the glances that he did not have a chance to even look at the people passing by. But that was intentional. He didn't want to run into his friends again, wherever they were in the city.

He stopped in front of a bakery, choosing it simply out of convenience. Bells jingled as he pushed open the door to the shop, and he joined the large queue waiting to order pastries or various bread products along with large cups of coffee or tea from the busy employees at the counter. Harry glanced up at the menu, his eyes briefly scanning it before he decided on a miniature treacle tart and a cup of tea.

Harry only waited for a few minutes before the line dissipated and he arrived at the counter.

"Er, I'll have a treacle tart and a medium tea, please," Harry said, looking in his pocket for a few Australian dollars.

"Would that be to take away?" a familiar voice said.

Harry's head immediately shot up to look at the person behind the counter and he jumped back, exclaiming, "Bloody hell!"

Harry blinked several times and gripped the counter, making sure he wasn't hallucinating. Because standing before him, behind the counter, dressed in a bakery employee uniform, was Luna Lovegood. Luna Lovegood, his friend, his fellow Dumbledore's Army member, who was supposed to be living in England at the moment.

"Luna?" Harry asked, painfully aware that he couldn't Disapparate in a crowded bakery.

"Why yes, Harry," she nodded. "Who else did you think I was?"

"I—no one, that's why—what? Luna?" Harry stumbled over his words. "Luna…why are you here?"

"I'm here with Ron, Hermione and Ginny," Luna explained. "And Neville and George too, actually. Ron, Hermione and Ginny told me they saw you yesterday, but you…" –she glanced around the room— "you…disappeared."

"I…well…" Harry opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what to say to it.

"We're not going to bother you," Luna said before he could come up with anything coherent. "That's not why we're here. Hermione's parents live somewhere in Australia, and she thinks they might be living in Sydney. We're trying to find them to un-modify their memories. It is a shame living without a mother or father, isn't it?"

Luna cocked her head to the side a bit; her protruding eyes were fixed on Harry. With that, he and Luna shared a common bond. They each knew what it was like to not have a mother. And now, Hermione was joining their little group. It pained him to hear that.

"I can help," Harry blurted out, and as the words slipped from his mouth, he regretted each one, especially when a large smile spread across Luna's face.

"Really, Harry?" she said, much happier than before. "That's wonderful!"

Harry nodded a bit. He couldn't take back the words, could he? Would that be awful? Did he care if he was awful? Yes, he decided quickly, he did care if he was awful. He wouldn't be awful. He didn't change that much.

"Yeah," Harry said slowly.

Luna smiled again and handed him a bag with the treacle tart in it, along with several napkins and his cup of tea.

"Thank you, Harry," she said as he started to walk away. "Although if you really would like to spend more time alone before helping, which I know you would, I won't tell the others if you like."

Harry stopped in his tracks. How Luna always knew what he was thinking, he never knew, and he doubted whether he would ever know. He turned around to face the blonde girl and took a few steps back to the counter.

"I…I might ask you to do that for me," he said.

Luna looked at him sympathetically and muttered something to her coworker before she took off her bakery apron and walked around from the counter next to Harry. She gently placed one of her hands on his shoulder and looked into his green eyes.

"Would you like to go for a walk, Harry?" she asked.

Harry found himself nodding, despite the fact that his mind was screaming at him not to go, that he came here to get away from the war and everyone involved with it, that Luna could drag so much out of him, that he should just leave and walk around Sydney to eat his treacle tart in peace. But whatever his mind was saying didn't seem to matter, and Harry followed Luna out of the bakery to a grassy park where the sun streamed through the trees lining the paths.

They walked in silence for a while, but Harry didn't mind the silence. It wasn't uncomfortable, but when enough time had passed, Harry felt a burning desire to say something. Fortunately, Luna spoke at exactly the right moment.

"I wasn't supposed to be the first one to speak to you," she admitted. "Hermione made up this whole plan, that if we ran into you, who should talk to you first. It wasn't supposed to be me…but I suppose not everything goes as planned."

"I suppose," Harry nodded.

Luna couldn't have spoken anything truer. He had never planned on moving to Australia after the war. He had never planned for the Prophet to write such horrible lies and cruel opinions about him. If he wanted to go really far back, he had never planned to become the Savior, the Chosen One, or even the Boy Who Lived.

"I'm sure you can quite relate to that," Luna said, as if reading his thoughts again. "Your life has gone very…askew."

Harry snorted at Luna's word choice. Askew barely scratched the surface.

"You can say that again," he mumbled.

"I'm sorry for everything that happened to you," Luna said after a few more minutes of silence. "You don't deserve to have those horrible things written about you. Daddy's been making sure the Quibbler is writing only good things…but I'm not sure you want that either, do you, Harry?"

Harry stopped walking and turned to face his friend.

"I don't know what I want, Luna," he admitted. "I don't know. I'm confused. I'm not even sure I want to talk about all this yet. That's why I came here…I want to get away from it all, to escape, to…I don't know. It's not very Gryffindor of me, I know. But I couldn't take it. I couldn't. But apparently, none of that is working, because within the week I've been here I've already run into you, Ron, Hermione, and…and Ginny."

Luna smiled a small, knowing smile but said nothing of the last name Harry listed.

"I'm sorry," she said again, starting to step away from him. "I'll tell them to leave you be. For a while…but probably not forever. You're not going to be able to hold them off for more than a month at the most, I would say."

"And why not?" Harry asked as Luna started to walk away, causing her to pause in her tracks. "Why wouldn't they leave me be? They don't need me. They're better off."

Luna smiled again and looked at him.

"They're your friends," she replied. "They need you. And whether you know it or not yet, you need them too."

A/N: REVIEWS = HIGHLY APPRECIATED. You know you want to review! Pretty please with sugar quills on top? :)