Card the moon

Chapter 12 – Loop and Dash

"So, you didn't give them to her."

"No."

"Wise choice, I think. I probably wouldn't have either."

Hearing her say it made him feel a bit better about the decision.

"On the bright side, you now have some insight to their origin."

"Yeah, I guess," for all the good it did him. "Can't help but wonder though; how many more of'em there are."

He'd already been attacked three times, which to his mind was four times more than necessary.

"Come on, you can talk and run at the same time."

Well sure he could; didn't mean he wanted to.

It was only the start of their second week of training, but it felt like he'd been at it forever. If it wasn't Luna it was Wood, and if it wasn't Wood it was Hermione, "Is your homework done? Let me see it."

How she managed to do all her extra work and still worry about him was—well it was sweet, in a way that didn't make it any less annoying.

The only person not constantly on his case was Ron, and he had his own concerns. Scabbers was not improving; his hair was now falling out in patches and he wasn't eating like he used to. Ron of course wanted to blame it on cat related stress, but Harry suspected that was just to avoid admitting to the truth of it. Scabbers was dying. He was old, and he was dying.

Harry was no expert on rats, but eleven years; how many rats could claim to have lived that long? Not many he reckoned.

Mind meandering, while his body trudged at speed, he failed to notice the approaching racket until it came crashing through the bushes and plowed right into him.

"What the!"

"Mrooooow!"

Luna sailed through the air as Harry crashed to the ground with a squirming weight trying to run through the solid object that was his chest.

"Get off me."

Yanking the scrambling creature off he got his first look and was shocked to find a large rabbit; no, not rabbit. It was very rabbit like but there were certain features never seen on rabbits and that faint glow. It didn't take a genius to know what he was looking at.

"Magic rabbit."

Though perhaps someone slightly smarter than Harry.

"Coming throooooouuuuugh!" someone shouted, abusing the bushes on their way out.

"Luna!"

"Oh, hullo Harry Potter."

There was a question, a 'what are you doing here?' or something like that queuing up for inquiry; the magic rabbit decided it had somewhere else to be.

"Whoa! Hey! Hold on a sec!"

When you have a name like DASH, 'whoa' and 'hold on' are typically not things you understand. And if you do, feign ignorance, they'll never know the difference.

"Hang on Harry. Don't let him go."

She made it sound so easy. The tiny creature was dragging him across the ground like he weighed next to nothing. At one point he wasn't even on the ground but flailing along behind like a Harry shaped flag.

"You're wearing him down," called Luna.

"I don't believe you," he shouted back.

The magic rabbit wasn't slowing down, "Oh no," it was heading for the trees.

Harry didn't need to be a genius to know how that would end. He didn't even need to be smarter than Harry.

"Gotta—get this," flailing behind, he swung himself at the first tree.

This had two effects; one, it wrapped him around the small tree as far as he could bend. And two, it redirected the magic rabbit by way of Harry's grip till at last his fingers released and the magic rabbit went flying into the air.

"eeeeeeeee!"

"Got it!"

Having been operating on a different wavelength when he'd captured WINDY and FLY, and being trapped in darkness when Luna had sealed SHADOW, he'd never seen all that went into a proper capture and found himself riveted to the spot watching the blonde girl secure the magic rabbit.

"Card of Clow, I bind you with this key by the name you were given; DASH!"

The magic rabbit glowed and shimmered, became something like a wind as it spiraled toward her rod and became a card. It hovered a moment then floated into her hand.

"Yay!"

He wanted to share in her enthusiasm, but that would have required several things he was currently lacking, like sufficient air power to both speak and wheeze simultaneously.

"Are you alright?"

'I've been better' was right on the tip of his tongue, but as previously stated, lacking sufficient wind force it didn't so much launch as tumble off the end, coming out as more of a, "Unghurer."

"I believe you said that last night. I really must wonder what you use as a standard for comparison."

Any other time he wasn't lying on his back groaning.

"Well, I hope your day gets better," she said, skipping away out of view.

"Haha, serves ya right," said a gloating plushy he hadn't noticed till the moment he floated past, and would have been just as happy not to notice then either.

Some minutes later the other Luna turned up, by which point he'd recovered enough he could wheeze and speak at the same time. "Luna, you ever have one a those days that make you question why you ever got out of bed?"

"Hmm."

"I seem to be having several of those days all at once."

"You alright Harry?"

"Why does everyone keep asking that?" the shuffling zombie groaned.

"S'just, you are looking a bit rough round the edges."

Funny; he was almost certain his rough edged had been ground off quite effectively that morning.

"I'm fine," he lied, if telling an untruth that fools absolutely no one can be considered lying.

"Yeah right, pull the other one."

"The other what?"

Okay, he was so tired he couldn't understand sarcasm, but he was fine. No, seriously guys, I'm totally good. Drinking twenty cups of coffee a day is absolutely normal.

"Wood needs to slow down, or you won't be able to stay on your broom."

"I'd still beat Malfoy."

This made both of them laugh. It hurt a bit.

"Best broom money can buy and he's still useless," said Ron, glancing at the suit of armor as they passed.

"I blame his mother," said Harry.

"Why?"

"She married his father."

*snicker* "I'll bet she hates how much prettier he is."

He wasn't sure where it came from, but he found the energy for a good whole belly laugh. This was followed by a comedic face plant, which he didn't find funny, but Ron laughed. At least this told him where the energy came from. Dammit, his coordination department was already understaffed.

"You okay Harry," Ron chortled.

"Hu en utter."

"What?"

"I've been better," he repeated, pulling his face away from the cold stone floor just long enough to say it.

"Uh, you want some help or you just gonna stay there and kiss the floor."

Well why not. She didn't object and she probably wasn't the ugliest girl he'd ever met.

"Come on Harry."

"Are we there yet?"

With Ron's help he managed to make his feet and resume his shamble toward Gryffindor tower. In his exhausted state the trip seemed to take forever, they hadn't even made it out of the hall. At least he thought it was exhaustion, till Ron asked, "Haven't we already passed that suit of armor?"

"Wuh?" Harry hadn't even noticed they passed a suit of armor.

"I'm sure it's the same one. Look, see, it's got that little ding in the helmet."

He was fully prepared to take his friends word for it if it moved things along, "So, what's going on?" And how much longer was it going to keep him from his bed.

"You stay here a second," said Ron, marching off with purpose only to march up a second later.

"Okay, that was weird." One second, he'd been watching Ron's back, then Ron was coming up on his.

"Looks like we're in some kind of loop."

"Great," just what he needed, a magical trap. "If your brothers are behind this, I'm going to throttle them."

"If Fred and George did this, they've really stepped up their game."

"So, what now?"

Ron shrugged, "Never seen anything like this before, just heard about it. Bill ran across one in Egypt; hall that seemed to go on and on forever. Turned out it was only thirty feet with a loop at each end."

"Didn't tell you how they beat it did he?"

"Gotta find the spell," said Ron, drawing his wand. "Then, cut the loop."

"Kay, where's the spell?" asked Harry, fumbling out his own wand.

"Search me?"

Oh, bollocks. "Alright. How do we cut it then?"

"Finishing charm should do it. Just keep trying till we find it, that's what they did."

That didn't sound very efficient, "And, how long did that take?"

"Uh—couple days."

Of course it did. "I am not wasting a couple days with this, let's get a move on."

Operating on the same wavelength, both threw their first spell at the suit of armor. It rattled and shook, taking umbrage at such blatant accusation, (but not Umbridge, it's too early in the story for that).

"Well, worth a try," Ron shrugged.

They each turned toward one end and began working their way down the hall. Run flung spells at anything suspicious; anything unsuspicious, perfectly innocent, and possible imagined. He wasn't any more keen to spend two days in a hallway than Harry was and fully intended on cracking this one before his best mate.

Harry on the other hand had a hunch. He didn't like it, but it felt too much of a coincidence not to be true.

All the weird things happening to him this year had revolved around those cards… okay so technically Luna (the cat) wasn't, but she had yet to attack him.

Ron was probably on the right track when he said they needed to cut the loop; Harry just wasn't sure a finishing charm was going to be enough.

"First things first. Gotta find it."

Lacking Ron's vigor, he threw a couple lazy spells but wasn't expecting much. The answer had thus far come to him when he needed it, yet another phenomenon he didn't understand, but at the moment it was his best option.

He stopped just short of the loop's end. He wasn't entirely sure how he knew that was it, which was the first hint he was on the right track. It looked no different, but there was a feeling, a tingle up his spine, in his fingers; the sureness that one more step would take him much further than one more step.

"Okay, now what?"

Down the hall he could hear Ron casting and grumbling at his lack of success. If he waited long enough his friend would probably walk right into him.

Was that it?

I mean, if it was going to be somewhere, didn't the connecting points make the most sense? It was a loop after all.

"LOOP," he said, a strong whisper.

He felt something tug, thought he saw something shimmer, then nothing. He tried again, this time with even less result.

"Going to be difficult are we." Was it just stronger than the others or was his exhaustion to blame?

He flicked a finishing charm at it, producing an odd flutter he felt rather than saw, like a wind playing with a bit of ribbon. "Hmm."

That gave him an idea, or the hour he'd spent drilling had wedged it in there and it was just now coming loose.

"Diffindo!"

The cutting spell had a pronounced effect, visible and tactile, though it still failed to break the loop. "How bout another one."

And another. And another. It felt like the card was wailing by the sixth. Even Ron could tell something was happening though he was at the other end and thought the brick he was spelling was responsible.

"Ready to give up?" Harry asked, throwing eight, then nine.

The card seemed defiant, but number ten betrayed such defiance as hollow. "Then I'm only going to say it one more time. LOOP!"

The flash echoed the length of the hall, the card gently floating into his hand, complacent and docile.

"Harry! I think I broke it."

"Great!" You just keep thinking it too.

"You coming then?"

Harry looked around at where he was; realization dawning, he wilted, "Why did I have to go to this end of the hall?" Gryffindor, and his bed, were in the opposite direction.