Summary: Harry had always been their strength. When they found out how Dumbledore had been hurting him, they decided to be Harry's strength too. Even if they had to abandon everything to do it. Time Travel
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Categories: Time Travel, Abuse, Slash, Het
Chapter Summary: Luna liked Snape, and she hated to be left out of things. She knew how to follow a trail.
Chapter 14: Their Education
1 Year Later
The year after Harry disappeared, Ron, Hermione, and Neville had started huddling together to whisper in the hallways and disappearing into the Room of Requirement for hours at a time even though they had cancelled the DA. Luna thought it was Nargles messing with them at first, but they kept getting stranger. As the year went on and Harry was spotted fighting against Death Eaters on several occasions, the public grew angry and confused, raging that the ministry had rescued him from Snape only to hide him from them. They said all kinds of nasty things about Harry in the papers. Luna knew the three students' behavior had to do with Harry, because that was when they started studying something constantly, but ignoring their classwork.
It had nothing to do with her, of course. Or at least, it didn't until the three of them never returned to Hogwarts after the holidays. The headmaster announced a few days after school started up again that they had decided to pursue early masteries instead of traditional schooling. It was very strange, something not ever done by Hogwarts students, and nearly everyone disapproved. Luna loved it. She wondered what their families thought, whether it was really possible for them to just quit school like that without repercussions.
Luna loathed Hogwarts, where she was forced to share a dorm room with students who stole her things and pushed her around, but she had never even thought that dropping out was an option. When the proof that it was possible presented itself to her, she was instantly captivated by it. She stopped doing her homework and devoted her full attention to studying potions, just like the other three had before her. Luna still attended her classes, and she learned from them even without homework. It really was the best of both worlds.
After half a year of devoted study, including her first summer skipping the Annual Lovegood Crumple-Horned SnorkackSearch, Luna realized she had gone as far as she could without guidance. Hogwarts couldn't teach her more. When she walked down the creaky, narrow wooden staircase from her bedroom to the kitchen early on the morning before school started and found her father staring pensively into his coffee, she knew the time had come. Her father was truly very self-destructive, and he always got that look on his face before he got an urge to go hunt something dangerous. Her mother had been the same way with spell experimentation, but the lesson of her death clearly hadn't sunk in with her father.
After her mother died, Luna had had to learn how to take care of herself, young child though she was. Her father was so absent-minded that he just assumed things like food and clothing and medicine just took care of themselves for other people, but he always groaned and made her take care of him if he got sick. She never knew when he would disappear on a hunt, so whenever she saw him getting ready to go, she tried to ask him about anything she needed that would come up in the next six months or so. This time, when she told him that she wanted to go Snape hunting instead of returning to school, he warned her to be careful without even looking up from his coffee and let her go on her way.
Some would call that neglectful, but Luna preferred that he trusted her. He helped her when he could, too; her only lead came from him. Snape had supposedly kidnapped Harry, but her father's sources had revealed that during the Death Eater attack on the alley the year before, Snape had fought against Dumbledore over Harry.
Luna didn't like Dumbledore very much. He had never helped her back when the other Ravenclaws always stole her stuff, even though he spied on everyone through the portraits. The blonde girl really hated sneaks, even more than she hated bullies. After her mother had died, all the other children she used to play with at the park had started picking on her, telling her that her mother had been crazy and it was good that she died. They told her that she was probably crazy too, and that she should die soon. Luna stopped going to the park after that.
She had run home crying, but there was no mother there to comfort her. Her father wasn't very tender, though he was always kind to her, so he told her that people thought she was crazy because she had been a seer, and people didn't understand what they couldn't see. He told her not to blame the other children, because they were hearing all those bad things from their parents. It was those adults who were sneaks, Luna decided. They were the ones who had always pretended to be friends with her mother, and then turned on her as soon as she died. Why couldn't they have just been honest from the beginning? There was no reason they'd had to pretend.
Dumbledore was just like those adults, hiding his true nature and keeping up appearances. If Professor Snape was fighting with him, Luna had no doubt that the headmaster was the real villain. So, she was willing to bet that Snape and Harry were together, and that there were three Hogwarts dropouts who knew where she could find them. Ron was the closest, so Luna slid down the snowy hill below her house to that park where she had played as a child, bounced to her feet, and trudged over to The Burrow to see if Ron was in. When she knocked on the door her usual seven times and stepped back, Mrs. Weasley appeared in the doorway. The woman clearly didn't know how to react to her, and told her Ron was out.
None of the Weasleys had teased her about her mother, so Luna tried to give the woman the benefit of the doubt, even though she usually hated adults who lived in the area. She wanted more information about Ron, so she invited herself in. She was the daughter of a journalist, after all; she knew how to follow a story.
"What's it like to have a son studying for his mastery?" Luna asked in true reporter style, hoping to startle the woman by jumping in with questions.
And the woman was clearly startled, wide-eyed as she was as Luna took a seat at the dining room table and patted the chair next to her invitingly. Mrs. Weasley sat and answered with a tight smile, "He's always studying when he's home, so I know he's really working hard. He spends so much time with Hermione and Neville away from here that it's almost as if he's still at Hogwarts, though."
"Where does he go?" Luna pressed, grey eyes unblinking as she focused her full attention on the interview.
"Oh, sometimes to the twins' shop, and other times to various libraries or his friends' houses. He can't seem to sit still," the woman answered, tension easing just a little as she focused on her son instead of her strange guest.
"Those wrackspurtswill do that to a young boy," Luna said. "But don't worry, Ginny should be fine, since she's a girl."
"Do you talk to her at school?" Molly asked, not bothering to question the mention of wrackspurts, though she clearly didn't understand. "Actually, why aren't you at school, dear? Don't tell me you've also dropped out."
"Well, not officially," Luna said, with a surge of irritation at the woman. She really didn't mind if people asked her what words meant. "I was hoping Ronald could help me find Snape."
Mrs. Weasley frowned, rising out of her chair to peer down at Luna. "Why does everyone keep bothering those poor kids? We're all so upset that Harry's disappeared, and that Severus of all people would do such a thing. The aurors have questioned my baby enough, so don't you start harassing him too!"
So Ronald hadn't told his family. Luna had no doubt that he and the other two knew the truth, whatever Mrs. Weasley believed. She knew better than to say that while the woman's aura was flickering so angrily, so she changed tactics.
"Where is Ronald now?" Luna asked.
"I think he was visiting his brothers' shop," the woman answered. "But don't you go dragging out those wounds. He's a sensitive boy and —"
"Yes, I can see his aura," Luna said. "I won't upset him."
Her mother had been a seer, and Luna had inherited just that bit of talent from her. She could read auras, so she understood people and saw through all disguises. Even if she only thought people were transparent because she could read auras, though, Luna still hated it when people couldn't understand her feelings just because she kept a straight face and an even voice. Annoyed, objective met, Luna stood to leave. Mrs. Weasley was completely oblivious to her annoyance, and probably felt guilty about being rude to a guest, so she insisted that Luna wait for her to pack a lunch for all of them.
Resigned, Luna took the lunch and borrowed the Weasley's floo to get to the joke shop. She had always liked the twins, much more than she liked their mother. They couldn't read her any better than the woman, but they saw the world differently than most people, and they were brilliant fun.
The joke shop was full of color and interesting devices in the shape of candy and body parts, and Luna relaxed the moment she stepped through the fireplace. She much preferred chaos and asymmetry to things people usually considered soothing. She didn't have much time to look around, because Hermione spotted her just as she was dusting the soot off of her skirt.
"Luna?" She asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Delivering lunch," Luna said, holding out the spelled bundle. "And looking for Professor Snape. Where's Neville?"
Luna didn't miss how Hermione and the three redheads at the counter beside her tensed when she mentioned the potions master. "Neville's working in his greenhouse," Hermione said slowly. "But, Luna, why would you look for Snape here?"
"Well, I'm sure he's with Harry, and I'm sure you all know where Harry is," Luna said. "The tuffs are telling me so." Tuffs, of course, were sparks in an aura that clung to other people's auras. Harry and Snape's tuffs were all over them.
To Luna's great surprise, Hermione didn't dismiss her like she had when they first met. "Tuffs are auric readings, right?"
"Nobody has ever known that before," Luna said in her usual tone, though inwardly she was pleased. Nobody but her father and devoted Divination students ever knew what she was talking about.
"I've been researching a lot of things," Hermione said vaguely. "Hey, actually, what do you know about time travel?"
"Not much, I'm afraid," Luna said. "Demons have their secrets."
"Demons?" Hermione asked, apparently genuinely interested. It was definitely a strange day. Hermione even leaned in closer to Luna waiting for an answer, instead of backing away uncomfortably. The ravenclaw wasn't used to being taken so seriously.
"They live in hidden caves, near dark magic centers, so places like Knockturn Alley," Luna explained. "They're known for all sorts of complicated spells that distort time, but wizards don't talk about them."
"Why not?" Hermione asked, offering Luna a stool at the counter.
"Well, they're extremely dangerous," Luna said, taking the seat. Her dad had warned her about them when she liked to play in Knockturn Alley as a child. "Wizard magic doesn't work on them, but they feed off of it, so they're more likely to eat you than anything if you ever manage to find one."
"Don't even think about it, Hermione," Ron warned sharply, glaring at Luna just a little bit.
"But I have no other leads," the brunette complained. "I've exhausted all the ancient runes and arithmancy knowledge. I think I can figure out the magic behind a time turner, but anything more complex is beyond me, and —"
"More complex?" Fred asked, amused. "Time turners are one of the most complicated magical objects wizards have ever created. To even kind of understand how they work means you're absolutely brilliant. I don't know if there is anything more complex."
"Harry understands the math too," the girl said, sheepish. "He's still skeptical about time travel, but he's learned the theory with me. Ever since he locked away his —"
"Hermione!" Ron hissed, but Luna had already heard.
"Oh, is Harry trying for a mastery too?" Luna asked pleasantly, zeroing in on her target.
"No," Hermione said, ignoring Ron's frantic attempt to silence her. Girls really were more practical. "He'd have to go through the Ministry to get it, and they'd catch him. I guess there's no harm in telling you this, since you're here and all. Snape is teaching Harry survival skills, which is basically bits of every subject and lots of defense."
"And arithmancy?" Luna asked. She liked math, but it wasn't exactly a survival skill.
"Harry learned that in his free time," Ron said, resigned to being part of a group of bookworms. "There's not much to do where they are."
"There wouldn't be," Luna agreed. "Not somewhere where they can actually hide from Dumbledore. They're probably in the middle of nowhere."
They all stared at her again. She really did love to surpass expectations of her, especially when people were impressed instead of angry.
"Luna, what makes you think that they're hiding from the headmaster?" Hermione asked.
"Isn't it obvious? After he lied about Snape being a kidnapper, as if Snape would ever hurt a fly."
"Uh-huh…" Hermone murmured, but Luna was happy to note the amusement in the other girl's voice. It seemed like Hermione was starting to realize that Luna was playing with them. Only really perceptive people ever understood when Luna was playing.
"Merlin," Hermione said. "I really wish you had been around when we first found Harry. We didn't believe Snape was innocent until about a year ago."
The redheads just continued to stare at her, but Fred and George at least looked approving. All three boys still seemed content to let Hermione talk to Luna, something that would have to change soon.
"Poor Snape," Luna said. "He's so nice, so I don't know why everyone is so suspicious of him just because he's grumpy."
"Why are you looking for him?" Hermione asked, genuinely interested instead of defensive now.
"Well, you see, I'm going for my potions mastery, but I need a teacher for the top-level stuff. It's too dangerous to do it by myself."
"Wait, what?" Ron finally interrupted. "Why are you…?
"I thought it would be fun! Much more fun than Hogwarts," Luna said dreamily. "If I manage it this year, I'll be younger than the record holder by about a month!"
"Are you really that advanced?" Hermione asked.
"I think so," Luna said. "I have a very good memory."
"I see," Hermione said, blown away. "Ron and Neville still probably need another year to qualify, and they started before you."
"What about you?" Luna asked, thinking it odd that the intelligent witch hadn't included her own time estimate.
"Well, I'm not trying for one," Hermione said. "I've been researching."
"Time travel?" She caught on instantly. "That's kind of an extreme way to escape the headmaster, isn't it? Couldn't you just leave the country?"
Their faces turned bitter, and Luna could see the genuine agony flicker in their auras. Clearly, there was more to this than she had thought. The headmaster's crimes must have been serious, to make them all look like that.
"Harry will never be safe otherwise," Ron said. "He'll always have to wonder if Dumbledore will find him."
"The headmaster is too powerful," George added. "And none of us were able to help Harry when he needed us most, so —"
"We'll do it if we can," Fred finished. "We'd leave our lives here for him, even. But only Hermione thinks it's actually possible."
"Oh, I'm sure it's possible," Luna said. "But demon spells are dangerous, and talking to demons is dangerous enough by itself. You shouldn't do it unless you absolutely have to."
"You shouldn't have said that," Ron groaned. "Hermione with a cause is unstoppable. She thinks we absolutely have to."
"Well, you'd have to find the demons first…" Luna said, a bit concerned that she shouldn't have mentioned the possibility. She didn't want Hermione to be hurt, not when the girl had started to understand her.
"I'll investigate," Hermione said confidently, and Luna could see that Ron was right about her determination.
"Just please don't do anything reckless," Ron pleaded, with an edge of desperation that only Hermione missed. She wasn't smart about everything, apparently.
"I'm not suicidal, Ron," Hermione scoffed, looking at him as though he had just asked something elementary.
Ron grimaced, and Luna almost felt bad for the boy.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
They took her to Snape, of course. She started looking for him as soon as they apparated into the forest, but Harry's aura quickly drew her attention. Instead of its usual green, it was a muted grey, and ghostlike, with all of the emotion lines pinched shut.
"What did you do to yourself!" Luna yelled, sickened by the stunted aura. Everyone in the clearing stared at her, never having heard her yell before, but Luna ignored them as she stared at Harry. Normally, she left people's suffering unspoken, just as she preferred them to do for her, but this warped aura was too twisted to ignore.
"Luna, what are you doing here?" Harry asked.
"What did you do?" Luna repeated, eyeing him closely. "Can you feel anything? Or was it the headmaster who did this to you? Was that his crime?"
"Ron, why is she here?" Harry asked his friend.
Luna refused to be ignored. "Can you fix it?" she interrupted when Ron opened his mouth to speak. "Or are you stuck in this half-state forever? How are you even alive with an aura like that?"
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, but Luna saw that Snape understood her and knew she wouldn't leave off until she had her answer.
"We have not found a way to cure him," Snape said, clinically. "It was caused by reckless mind magic, not the headmaster. He feels things like fear and compassion, but he seems immune to emotions like grief or joy. And as far as we can tell, it's not fatal."
"I don't see the problem," Harry said, in a tone that suggested this was an old discussion, though there was no annoyance in his voice.
"We know," Ron said gently. "But we want you back, Harry. You need emotions to heal."
"I don't want to suffer the pain of those memories," Harry said. "Especially when I can never escape him."
They all rushed to reassure him like concerned parents fawning over a crying child, but Hermione got the first word. "I will find a way to go back, Harry," she said. "Luna gave me a great lead."
"Did she?" Snape asked, eyeing the ravenclaw curiously. His aura flared up in interest as he examined her. "She certainly is perceptive, isn't she? But I believe Harry's question still stands, Miss Lovegood. What are you doing here?"
Luna understood why Hermione wanted time travel. The sheer agony rippling under Harry's suppressed aura was mind-boggling. When his emotion lines were fixed, if they were fixed, he was going to be flooded with it. Harry's friends clearly didn't believe that they could abandon him to that kind of suffering. Harry was the kind of person you wanted to help, once you understood him, because he would do the same for you. Even Luna wanted to ease his suffering.
She'd been bullied. It was a fact of her life, and one she had long since decided to ignore as much as she could, though she still loathed the world that let it happen to her. It had been innocent enough at first, being called Loony, shoves in the hallway, having her things scattered about, but Harry had been furious when he realized what was happening to her. He'd helped her find her things, and tried to convince her to report the bullies. When she was hurt after the bullying went too far, he'd found her and taken her to the hospital wing, and then hunted down and threatened the girls who hurt her. He told her it was the gryffindor thing to do.
It was probably the only time in her life that someone had actually tried to protect her instead of leaving her to take care of herself. Even though Luna liked people to leave her to herself, she had been touched. Some part of her that she had locked away after her mother died reopened then, and the hope rose in her chest that maybe, just maybe, Harry could truly be her friend. Neville had been a friend to her too, in his quiet, lonely way; he kept her company sometimes in the gardens. But Harry was the one who had truly won her affection.
"I think I'll time travel with you," Luna said.
"Wait, Luna," Hermione said. "Why would you…?"
"What about your father?" Ron asked. "Would you really just abandon him?"
"I've been thinking about it since you first explained a few minutes ago, and I'm the only one here who can read auras, so I feel somewhat responsible," Luna said. "Daddy won't miss me, and I never know when he's going to do something dangerous and die anyway. Harry and Neville are my only friends, so I'd like to help them."
Hermione looked pained, and Luna wasn't stupid; she knew Hermione was pitying her. She didn't quite understand it, because apparently everyone helping Harry felt the same. None of them had any other important bonds in the world besides Harry. They were all outcasts somehow, willing to completely abandon everyone and everything they knew just to help him heal.
"I can be your friend too, Luna," Hermione said, guilt bleeding into her voice. Hermione hadn't always been nice to her, but Luna didn't care if people were mean if they were being honest to themselves, and Hermione had only been mean to her because she tried to understand Luna and couldn't. But now, even though none of them said it out loud, it was obvious that all of them understood each other a little bit. They had all gotten seperated from society somehow.
"That means you're my first female friend. How nice," Luna said, taking Hermione's arm affectionately.
"This is all very touching," Snape drawled. "But I still don't know what you're doing here. Do you think this is a field trip? Do all of you think this is fun? Are you just going to keep inviting children to join us until all of Hogwarts is visiting us in this forest? I don't care if you want to join us. I will not have it."
"You're a nice adult, Professor Snape," Luna said. "Harry's lucky to have you looking after him."
Snape stared at her, taken aback.
"Uhh, want to run that one by me again?" Ron asked. He was looking at Luna with new eyes, but he still clearly thought of her as loony.
"He wants to protect her," George explained, picking up what his brother had not. "He doesn't want her to risk getting hurt by joining us. For some reason, her life is worth more to him than all of ours, or something."
"I believe I told all of youto leave at some point," Snape observed, exasperated.
"And they didn't do it," Luna observed. "I don't think I will either, unless you force me too. I'll be much safer here as your apprentice than on my own, professor. But if you want me to attempt mastery-level potions in my basement without supervision, I guess that I could try it. I can just come back to you when I burn my face off, or something similar."
Snape looked pained. "Please, Miss Lovegood, don't go blow yourself up because I won't let you play with the other children. Why must you children keep coming to me? Isn't it clear that I don't teach anymore? I'm living in a godforsaken forest!"
"Aren't you teaching Harry survival skills?" Luna challenged pleasantly. "Please, professor, I'm so close to a mastery. Wouldn't it be pleasant to talk with someone who understands about potions?"
Luna could see the man taking in her low height and slight figure. "You really are just a child, aren't you?" Snape murmured, but Luna could tell that he actually believed her when she said she had the skill. He had been a young master himself, after all.
"Is that a yes?" Luna asked slyly.
"You have to understand that this is dangerous," Snape told her. "If the headmaster were to find us here, or if any of us were to spend too much time around that thing inside Harry, you could be seriously hurt in ways you'd never even imagine, or even killed."
"He's right, Luna," Hermione agreed. "Is he really the only potions master you could find?"
Luna didn't frown, but a normal person would have. She didn't know what the thing was, but she was almost completely certain that she didn't care. "So, only I have to leave? I don't get to decide what I want to do with my life? I want to offer it to Harry like the rest of you."
"Luna —" Hermione started, but fell silent the moment Harry started to speak. Everyone seemed captivated by the sound of his voice, which is another reason Luna thought they needed her. She wanted to fix Harry, and she cared about him, but she wasn't going to get all emotional about it like the rest of them.
"I wish all of you would stop offering me your lives like I was some kind of soul devourer," Harry muttered.
"Just accept our loyalty, Harry," Ron snapped. "All of us love you."
"Well, I'm not sure that I love anyone," Luna said. She hadn't felt that strongly about anyone since her mother died.
"Finally, some sense," Harry said.
"But," she continued, ignoring the interruption. "I feel like I'm supposed to be here. I think I've finally found my Blibbering Humdinger. Harry, will you let me stay?"
"What's a Blibbering Humdinger?" Ron interrupted.
It was one of the many imaginary creatures her father believed in. "It's the thing I've been looking for for a long time," Luna said. "It brings safety and friendship."
"So you're still being bullied, then?" Harry asked. "That's why you don't want to go back, right?
"Bullied?" Snape asked, eyes sharpening like a hunting dog's.
"The other ravenclaws bully her," Harry explained to the former professor. "She even got pushed down the stairs once, and I had to take her to the hospital wing. "
Snape stared at the slight blonde girl with the far-away look in her eyes. She really did have a lot in common with him, being small and strange and bullied and neglected and fond of potions. "I suppose you're staying, then," he said.
"I knew you were nice!" Luna cheered.
Nice? Ron mouthed at Hermione, aghast. He and Snape had an uneasy truce, but he certainly wouldn't call the man nice.
All in all, Luna thought it had been a good day.
Luna is the last person who will be joining their little group, and I was having a hard time with her character at first, but I think I've got a grasp on it now — confident, but sad and wary. She's very sharp. Also, for those of you who have been waiting, chapter 16 will be when they finally time travel. It's taken so long because I've always thought that deciding to go back in time in a chapter always undermines how many factors have to go into that decision.
I hope you liked the update! Please read and review, even if it's just a teensy weensy little baby comment. I'd really appreciate hearing what you thought of this chapter!
Also, don't forget that you can request a drabble to help me out. There were no requests last chapter, so I'll post another old one, about Fred and George, who haven't been getting much attention in the past few chapters:
Drabble: Twins
Ron had just been born, and Fred and George were very angry. He was given their old baby clothes, and they burned with something sinister and empty every time they saw him in a different outfit. They'd had to share their clothing — and still did — but ickle Ronnikins got both of their outfits all to himself.
Ronald played with their old toys, taking to a little set of trains that he would chase all over the house, and even into their bedroom because when they shut the door with the train inside it, their mom would berate them for bullying their brother. She never got *Ron's* name wrong.
He ran into their room and crawled under the bed, pure delight on his toothless, slobbery face as he pursued the train. Fred grinned at George with malicious glee, and they both snuck from the room, shutting the door behind them and leaving the baby trapped.
Hours passed, and their Mom passed by them in the living room, asking if they'd seen Ronald because he must have slipped out of his monitoring bracelet again and she couldn't find him. They shrugged, and she kept looking as they basked in the glory of revenge. But their mother continued to work herself up into a panic, unable to find her favorite son in any of his favorite spots and too nervous to check less obvious places.
George sighed and Fred knew that his brother had given in. They wanted their mother to like them, and this wasn't going to please her. Secretly, they crept up the stairs and returned to their room, finding Ron still under the bed, cowering and clutching the train in his chubby little hands. His cheeks were bright red and his nose was dripping as he sobbed. Then, he saw them. Then, his eyes lit up, and his toothless grin returned full force and he ran at them and said his first words. "Gred" and "Forge," he babbled at them with relief.
They brought him back to their Mom and she fussed over him then turned to them and held them in her arms, smothering them with kisses. They made a show of rubbing off her slobber, but smiled to each other when she turned back to Ron, cooing at him with praise for his babytalk. She didn't think their new nicknames were words, but the twins knew better.
Later, Fred began to leave the house more often to play with the neighborhood children while George stayed in and read books. They would make themselves different so that, maybe then, their mother would see them as individuals and love them the way she loved Ron. When she began to chastise Fred and compare him to George, finding the more adventurous twin lacking, they realized that being different meant one of them would always be left behind.
Ron found them moping on the doorstep and patted them each on the knee, looking very cute while trying to be comforting. He pouted when his brothers laughed at him and headed inside to exchange outfits and rename themselves Gred and Forge. They decided that it wasn't so bad if Ronald was the center of attention, after all.