Disclaimer 1: This is fanfic. That means I do not own any of it. I just borrow it to play with for a little while and let people see the pathetic results if they really want to.

Disclaimer 2: I'm not making any money from it. It's just for fun.

Disclaimer 3: What isn't borrowed is all made up. None of this is real or most likely at all realistic. Please don't trust any of the information in here. Most likely you know more about whatever I'm writing about than I do.

Disclaimer 4: Attitudes, views and opinions expressed by the characters or in the story are not necessarily those of the author. Even when writing Science Fiction or Fantasy I do not tend to attempt to create perfect/better worlds in which everybody gets a happy end ... or whatever is best for them. Please accept that some characters will have a bad ending or be unhappy.

Disclaimer 5: I intend no insult to anyone. If I offend anyone I'm very sorry. Please understand that it was an accident as I tend to be very clumsy in these things.

Chapter 20: Xenophilius Lovegood

James cast some more revealing charms all around the door and that side of the grounds, but of course he once again found too many spells interfering with each other. Most were the ones the students learned in Herbology and Care for Magical Creatures, but of course students had come here to practise all sorts of spells probably preparing for exams while also enjoying good weather. James had often done it himself.

Right now the practise was quite a nuisance, though, since practising students had a tendency to repeat the same spell over and over again and thus strengthen its signature. The practised spells would show up much more clearly than any spells cast only once for an actual purpose.

Had the children been disillusioned and led into the forest perhaps? Or had they portkeyed out of the anti-apparition wards?

The Ministry would have kept a record if so many people had flooed out of the institute at once, especially if they had left the country. Even if they had portkeyed to a less suspicious departure point the sheer number of floo jumps should have drawn an investigation.

Unless ... What if they had portkeyed to some safe-house where they could stay for several weeks flooing out in groups of two to four at a time and into different countries?

If one chose popular holiday locations that would not draw any notice. In fact, if one left from a popular sightseeing location in England one could even send off larger groups at once and it would be interpreted as foreign tourists returning home after a visit to England.

James decided to visit the floo office next if he found nothing to disprove that theory here. After that he'd try to track down Lily. If he made her angry enough maybe she'd forget to watch her tongue and tell him where Harry was hidden ... always assuming that she did indeed know and would be any easier to find than the stupid boy.

"Do you think he's dead, Luna?" he heard a passing girl ask her friend.

"No, he isn't," replied the other shaking her head with a surprising amount of conviction. "But they will kill him unless Harry rescues us all soon. There'll be no more Quibblers for us either way."

"But why isn't there a new issue if he is still alive?" the first girl asked and James almost laughed at the realisation that these children were actually worried about an idiot like Xenophilius Lovegood and his nonsense spreading magazine.

But after a moment James reconsidered. They looked old enough to know that it was all rot and be amused by it and wasn't it possible that with the way the wizarding world was going, Snivellus Snape headmaster of the institute they were living in and the Carrows punishing every little infraction the Quibbler had been the last source of entertainment left to them that could distract them from worries about disappearances, torture and war news?

"They have arrested him," Luna reported with that same conviction and suddenly James realised what he was hearing.

A seeer! The rarest and most precious of magical gifts!

This was even better for finding people than poor, dead Sirius' dog nose had been and the certainty indicated that she was in control of her visions enough to look for a particular person.

"You there!" he shouted running after the girls. "Luna?"

She stopped and looked at him. "Go tell the headmaster, Ginevra. We need him."

"I am Auror Potter, Harry Potter’s father," he introduced himself.

"I know," Luna stated. "But that's not why you are looking for him."

"What? Of course it is!"

"No, it isn't. You wouldn't be looking if he hadn't told you to. You shouldn't spend this much time with them. You are not as strong as the headmaster is. With you pretence becomes reality and then you no longer know which side you are on."

"I ... But of course I know which side I am on!" James replied more exasperated with the change of topic than aware what she was talking about. He didn't have time to consider childish nonsense now. "I am worried about my son's disappearance and want to find him so I can make sure he is alright and bring him back here where he belongs."

But Luna shook her head vehemently. "If you find him he will die. And he is my friend's friend so I won't help you. I want him to live."

She refused to help an Auror investigation? Well, they'd just have to see about that.

James grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up to look her straight in the eyes. She was a bit too old to hold like that for long, but he could always change his grip or cast a floating spell on her.

"I am an Auror and I have ordered you to tell me where Harry is!"

"You have not," Luna said. "You were going to, but you forgot."

James shook her. "Where is he?"

"Where he has to stay for now," Luna replied sounding not in the least scared.

"Tell me where Harry is at once or feel the cruciatus!" he threatened.

"You should think of a better threat," Luna commented. "Professor Carrow uses that one all the time and he goes through with it. You haven't got the heart."

"Oh, don't I?" James yelled dropping her and drawing his wand. "Cru ..."

"Expelliamus! Why really, Auror Potter," Severus Snape had arrived. "What pray has this child done to warrant such treatment from an upstanding member of society like you?"

"She refuses to tell me where Harry is!" James shouted. "She is a seeer and she knows, but she refuses to tell me."

"Seeer?" Professor Snape repeated as if it were the most ridiculous nonsense he'd ever heard. "That is Luna Lovegood, Potter, Xenophilius Lovegood's daughter. At best she has inherited a vivid imagination. So, if you would unhand her and leave the institute ground now. You are disrupting the proper upbringing of the children. Again."