Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling. The members of the Secret Sealing Club are the creations of ZUN.
Disclaimer: the protagonists aren't always correct, and every character always has their own interests to look out for.
(Note, 24/10: The last portion of the chapter [that is, Harry's conversation with Luna] has been rewritten/extended significantly. The rest of the chapter is untouched.)
Chapter 10 – Cinderella Cage
Harry dreamt he was once again in Divination. Not the normal lessons of Merry, but in Trelawney's old classroom, back in the tower, air heavy with smoke and incense.
He was arguing with Ron and Hermione about Quidditch, and the shelves all around them were filled with Bludgers, trembling in their positions, waiting to strike…he said something in a heated voice, and Hermione stormed away, crying, and Ron ran after her with a stricken expression…
The Bludgers were suddenly crystal balls, and the ceiling pulled away to extend upwards…and the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…
The dream changed…
He was pacing about in an opulent study, back and forth…the memories of pain as his body was destroyed, torn from himself…it would not happen again…the boy would not escape him again...
Yew, thirteen and a half inches….and yet, it would not do if it failed him against the boy…yes…he needed another…and more than that…he needed the full wording…yes…he would get Rookwood, and his other loyal servants…and his reign would be absolute once more…
The dream changed again, and it was Merry, and she was sitting on the gravestone of Tom Riddle, Senior, and she was teaching. Death…is commonly misunderstood in the Tarot…it doesn't mean dying…it means…it means…
"I await you, Harry Potter." A butterfly flickered/fluttered–
AVADA KEDAVRA.
With a flash of green light, Cedric's body crumpled to the ground once more, and Harry woke up with a shudder.
~~[q]~~
Seemingly, his rant to Sirius, while cathartic, had triggered a new feeling in him that he hadn't felt in some time: uncertainty.
I just don't want you to casually discard your oldest friends over this incident.
Harry hated it. He missed the feeling of righteous anger, of the sheer satisfaction of turning his nose up at the two people whom he felt had abandoned him right at the time he needed it the most.
It was as if a bubble had popped. Now he was aware: of Ron's wistful look as he settled beside Neville in nearly every lesson, at how Hermione avoided his gaze and hid behind her piles of books as he returned from yet another Club meeting.
He told Neville as such, as September rolled around into October. Neville had said nothing, just listened.
"Well?" Harry said.
"Well, what?" Neville had said. "You expect me to know what to do?"
"Well, yeah, seeing as you gave good advice the last time."
"I did?"
"Yeah, about the 'not enough people know Harry as a person' thing."
"Harry, that wasn't advice, just common knowledge among people who aren't…well, who aren't Ron or Hermione." Neville stated flatly.
"So you don't have any words of wisdom for me this time, o wise one?"
"Not really. Except that…well, to be honest, despite everything that's been going on, this has been the best year for me so far, you know."
"Really, now." Harry stared over at the sun rising over the Forbidden Forest. No matter how many times he saw it, he thought that he would never tire of this view.
"Yeah. For all that I'm friendly with Seamus and Dean, they were always closer to each other, you know? With Ron being your best mate, I was kind of always the odd one out in Gryffindor. So, if you tell me now that things are going to go back the way they were…"
"You would be kind of disappointed, huh? I get that."
"N-not that I'm trying to guilt-trip you or anything," Neville added quickly. "Oh…I just kind of did, didn't I?"
"Yeah, you kinda did." Harry gave a short laugh. "But at least you're admitting it."
"But what if that was part of my plan all along?" Neville argued back.
"And you arguing against yourself just makes me more inclined to trust you," Harry pointed out.
"Yeah, but what if that–"
"Neville, you've had to listen to me complain about my nightmares and my problems for weeks now, and you just did it without judging me, or complaining, or making some excuse or something. You've been a damn good friend to me, even in this short amount of time, and I–if you ever need me, I got your back, you know?"
"Thanks, Harry." Neville said after a short pause.
"Besides," Harry continued, it's not as if things can simply go back to the way they were, not after an entire month has gone by like this." He sighed. Appearances, huh?
"So, what are you going to do?"
"No bloody clue." Harry shrugged. "Try to be civil, at least. They're just kids who followed Dumbledore's orders."
"Are you saying you aren't a kid? Aren't we all the same age?"
"Yeah, but…" Harry snapped his fingers several times, trying to word his thoughts. "I'm not quite sure how to explain it. Look, you know Voldemort killed my parents, right?" He gritted his teeth as the Dementor-induced recollection resurfaced, but finished the sentence anyway.
Neville looked at him strangely. "Everyone knows that."
"Yeah, but the point I'm trying to get at is…Ron, he's still got both of his parents, even if he has several siblings he needs to compete for attention with. And Hermione, as far as I know, also has a set of relatively normal parents and a normal upbringing. So, there's already a fundamental difference in our expectations regarding the world, especially with regards to the degree in which authority figures are reliable." Harry finished his sentence, and marvelled at himself.
Bloody hell, when did I get so perceptive and eloquent?
Neville continued looking at him strangely. "I think I understand. At least, a bit of it. After all, my parents–" Neville stopped short. "Never mind."
"Your parents?" Harry questioned.
"They…I…" Neville stared off into the distance. "Breakfast is almost ending soon, Harry. We should go." Without another word, he began to stand, and Harry quickly followed suit.
I guess I shouldn't push him over it. After a journey into Dumbledore's Pensieve the previous year, Harry knew about the fates of Frank and Alice Longbottom: tortured into insanity by the Lestranges.
And if Voldemort was going to get his other loyal servants, Harry had a faint inkling of the events to come.
~~[q]~~
"Tempus." Numbers glowing a gentle blue sprung into being, and Harry shook his head. "Well, I need to go."
"Where to, Harry Potter?"
"Remedial Divination." Harry looked at Luna, and gave her a small wink, on impulse, which Susan and Ernie didn't seem to notice, and the cherubic girl seemed to cheer up slightly.
(Neville and Hannah were absent, on account of Sprout's Gardeners having a meeting.)
"RemedialDivination? Again? I didn't know your grades were that bad." Ernie questioned.
"Well, after Trelawney predicting my death nearly every lesson the past two years, I'd say this is almost a welcome change." Harry spoke wryly. "Anyway, don't wait for me. And play nice with each other," he added, injecting some mock-sternness into his voice.
"Yes, professor," Susan said dully, playing along.
As he exited the library, Harry spied Hermione, alone at a table, surrounded by piles of parchment and books and with distinct dark circles around her eyes.
He tried not to look to hard, or stare too long. Trying to distract himself, he thought of another conversation he had earlier in the day. It had been a few weeks since he had asked Ernie and Hannah for help on "the Luna situation", and nothing had changed.
"Harry, I took the liberty of asking Padma for an update. She says she brought it up, but unless there's actual, solid proof, like the perpetrators being caught in the act, there's nothing any of the Prefects can do," Ernie said.
"And I got the feeling that they're aren't that enthusiastic at catching the culprits either," Hannah had added. "Even Padma and Anthony," she said, more hesitantly.
Instead of getting angry, Harry had only gave a long sigh of resignation. "I'm disappointed but not surprised. Well, that's that, I suppose. I'll handle the rest."
"Harry…" Hannah said. "You're not going to do anything stupid, are you? And does Luna even know you're doing this? Why are you doing this…going to such lengths?"
"No, I'm not. No, she doesn't. And lastly, well, if any of my friends were going through something so serious, like missing half of their stuff half the time, well, I would step in."
"I think what Hannah meant was," Ernie put up a hand, stopping the wavy-haired girl from speaking, "is she really just a friend? Because if you're thinking of doing something heroic to win her affections or something, you realise that she's not suddenly obligated to return them, even if you do succeed."
Some small part of Harry cringed slightly, but the rest remained solemn. "I know that. And you're assuming I do like her in that manner, which I don't."
"It's just…all this sneaking around our own clubmates isn't really making me comfortable, you know. I just wanted to check," Hannah twisted her fingers slightly in a nervous gesture.
This time, Harry did recoil slightly. "Sorry, Hannah. I didn't realise."
"Don't worry about it."
"But asking us secretly to check on Ravenclaw, and with it being pretty obvious that you're planning something…to be honest with you, I don't think she's just another friend to you, isn't she?" Ernie probed.
"Well," Harry placed a hand on his chin, "I suppose…I do owe her a favour, though. I don't think she knows that she was doing something for me at the time, but I still feel as though I owe her. Is that a good enough explanation?"
"I guess it'll have to do." Hannah said. Ernie gave her a look, but she ignored it. "We shouldn't probe our Fearless Leader any further, not if he's going to be off rescuing a damsel." Hannah gave a teasing smile.
"Hardy har har."
Now, as Harry approached Professor Merry's office, the same two Ravenclaws that he had sometimes seen on his way to Occlumency appeared once more, again looking happy.
The boy's Boot, right? I don't know the girl's name, though.
Harry waved a hand. "Hey, there. You're…Boot, right? I'm sorry, but I don't know your name." He said to the girl.
"Yes, I'm Terry Boot." The boy ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. "And this is Su, Su Li, same year as myself." He gestured at his companion, who simply nodded. "You're Harry Potter, right?"
Harry did not miss the upward flick of the eyes toward his forehead, and suppressed a mild flash of irritation. "Yes."
"Are you here to see the professors as well? What project are you working on?"
"Project?"
"Well, yes, word is that the professors are open to discussing loads of interesting things about magic. Me and Su were trying to know more about non-Western magics, since you'd think it'll be different from what we know at Hogwarts."
Harry swore that the quiet girl was mouthing "Su and I" to herself, but he could barely keep up with Terry's rapid pace of conversation. "Uh, yeah."
"So? Are you working on anything interesting? We're trying loads of stuff, like maybe getting some of our Muggle things to work at Hogwarts, and also maybe a project like spell creation to earn extra O.W.L. credit for Arithmancy. Su's here interested in a bit of runes, like how Futhark and kanji are used differently in–ouch!"
Su had jabbed Terry in the ribs with her wand. "Talking about your own work is fine, but stop blabbering about mine, will you?"
"Yes, ow, sorry."
Are all Ravenclaws these eccentric? Harry thought to himself. He gave a slight cough to move the conversation along. "Anyway, I just wanted to ask you something."
"Me specifically, or the both of us?" Terry was rubbing his side.
"I guess it can be for the both of you, then. Do either of you know about Luna Lovegood's situation?"
And did Li just mutter "does either" under her breath?
"You're going to have to be more specific than that, Har–I mean, Potter." Terry said.
"'Harry' is fine," shrugged the person in question. "And as for more specific…"
Screw it, time to cut to the chase.
"…I meant, do you know anything about how Luna's getting bullied?"
"Bullied?" Terry was slightly shocked. "I haven't seen anything like that. Unless you mean how some people call her "Loony" sometimes, but that's just a nickname…" he quailed slightly under Harry's expression, "right?"
I shouldn't get angry at them. It serves no purpose.
"Even if it is, it's…" Mean. "Obviously pejorative in nature." Harry said. "That aside, I was referring to how her things go missing all the time."
"Nope, never noticed a thing."
"Surely you've seen how she goes around sometimes barefoot or with one shoe on." Harry pressed.
"Well, yes, but isn't that just Lovegood exercising her own sense of fashion. After all, she is a bit…well, l–ouch!" He turned to Su again. "What was that for?"
"Terry, sometimes you need to know when you're putting your foot in your mouth." Su said neutrally. She turned to address Harry. "I'm sorry, I've never seen anything happen with my own eyes. The most I can say is that the people don't treat her seriously, and her eccentric nature means that it's difficult for anyone trying to get to know her better. I tried talking to her myself before in Third Year, but it went nowhere."
Harry frowned. "When you say people don't treat her seriously…"
"They don't regard her as someone who has feelings. That's my guess." Su stated bluntly. "I'm sorry, we need to get going. If you want another guess from me, it'll be the upper years that did it."
She steered Terry away, and the Ravenclaws left. Behind him, Harry could hear the faint sound of conversation: "Aww, but I wanted to talk to Harry Potter a bit longer…"
Well, I know what to do next. And it certainly isn't wasting time interrogating the older Ravenclaws until they talk.
"Mr Potter?" Merry called to him. "Are you alright?"
Shoot, now I'm late for Occlumency.
"Just fine, Professor!" He called out down the corridor, and hurried towards the office.
~~[q]~~
"Getting better, Mr Potter."
A thoroughly exhausted Harry was half-sitting, half-sagging in a simple wooden chair. It seemed that he had finally managed to detect incoming attacks, which was what Merry had called his own "high barrier to entry".
Once again, Merry was brewing tea, and it was one of the days where Renko was present, apparently helping to grade assignments. "You should assume what I know, Renko would also know, and vice-versa, and that the both of us would never reveal anything of what we see in your mind to anybody else, unless you give us permission to, of course." Merry had told him.
Harry gratefully accepted the tea, and Merry sat opposite him. "Now that you are finally able to detect intrusion, the next step is to learn to strengthen your instincts towards repelling them." She sipped. "I have told you this before, but I will say it again: you have no talent in this area, meaning that–"
"–I'll have to work doubly hard to get the same results, yes." Harry replied dully. It had stung the first time the Professor had mentioned it, and it continued to make him flinch ever-so-slightly every time.
"Your natural tendency is not to think in well-organized trains of thought, but rather to react wildly, by instinct. That is why I am going the route of tempering those instincts, rather than the conventional route of, say, focused redirection of the mental probe."
Harry nodded.
"So, congratulations, Mr Potter. You have reached your first milestone. A simple step it may be, but it is always the first steps that mark a journey's beginning."
Despite Harry's tiredness, and everything else that was going on, a smile crept up on his face.
"But I must say," and it was here that Merry's expression turned a notch more sombre, "it is clear that you are troubled by many matters as of late, even more so than what I assume to be your normal self. If you are comfortable with it, I do not mind you speaking of them with me, if you think that it may help."
Harry took a moment to consider. Well, it's not as if she hasn't already seen everything.
"Thus far I have been restricting myself to only glimpses," Merry spoke, and that was when Harry realised that he had been speaking aloud. "I do not know the full contexts, and I do not wish to intrude more on your privacy that I already have."
"Well…" I suppose…I might as well ask for an adult perspective–an outsider's adult perspective. "I have these two friends, Ron and Hermione…" Harry proceeded to explain the details of his friendships, the recent summer, and his subsequent sort-of falling out.
"Unfortunately, I cannot give you much advice in this regard. In my youth, I had…difficulties, shall we say, with maintaining relationships with others. It was only in adulthood that I managed to overcome these difficulties." She turned to the desk. "Any thoughts, Renko?"
The Assistant Professor, which had faded into the background, now spoke. "The youngest Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, huh? I won't tell you to forgive or not, but it does seem like you have a long history with them. You should remember that." She turned back to her writing. "Leaving them dangling like this also isn't good for them–or yourself. You need to have a clear talk with them, as soon as possible."
Well, that was certainly direct. Harry was slightly taken aback by Professor Usami's matter-of-fact tone.
"And there you have it, Mr Potter." Merry smiled.
"I'll…I'll think about it." Harry said. "Thank you again, Professor Merry, Professor Usami."
When Harry had left, Renko looked up from the desk, her face expectant. "Merry?"
"I need a few more lessons to be sure, and even then..." Merry spoke. "The boundary seems to be shifting every time. It could be leftover effects of a possession, effects of a current possession, an empathic link, a spilt personality, or a very, very well-developed imaginary friend. In short, I have no idea what this is. I never even would have picked it up if not for…" The ability to sense boundaries. "…my own weirdness!"
"Can't you just probe deeper?" Renko simply asked.
"I could, but I don't want to risk him picking up on anything, now that he's becoming more proficient." Merry folded her arms. "I also don't want to betray his trust, you know."
Renko sighed. "And yet you didn't offer him a written contract. 'I, Maribel Hearn, swear to not reveal…'"
Merry felt a small twinge of guilt. As always, she could count on Renko to cut to the hard facts. "He's a celebrity–no, he's practically the country's child hero. If I saw something dangerous, really dangerous, I'll need to report it, privacy or not." And he's more famous than Reimu is back in Mahoutokoro. "Gods, now that I think about it, Yukari practically asked us here to–"
"She didn't say anything of the sort, you know. 'Go teach at Hogwarts, make friends with the students, and keep and eye open.' That's all she said–"
"You don't know her like I do, Renko." Merry had now stood up, and was pacing the office. There was no mistaking the animosity in her voice. "She never speaks straight, and never tells the whole truth. Here's a country with a Dark Lord on the horizon, seemingly returned from the dead, and there's an oddity in the boy who said to have mysteriously caused his defeat prior." She turned and faced Renko. "There is no way these two things aren't linked, and there is absolutely no way we haven't been sent here, placed here, in a deliberate manner, for some roundabout purpose or another."
By the gods, she wanted to reach into the Boundary and strangle the old manipulator. It wasn't enough that Yukari seemed to be playing some sort of game with everyone as her pieces, but it was also that the game seemed to have two and a half times as many dimensions as everybody else's.
"You could have said no, you know."
"I could have," Merry said agreeably. "But I'm not spiteful enough to turn down opportunities just because it's Yukari giving them." She sighed, and drained the rest of her teacup. "And Yukari knows it as well."
"So what do we do now, then?" Renko said. "The way things are going, it sounds like we're heading into an Incident. And we're not even in Japan, which complicates things even more."
"I'm not going to abandon my obligations halfway. Especially not as a teacher, and especially not when the poor students look as if they haven't had a competent instructor in years." Merry shook her head, and Renko gave a resigned smile. Yep, that's Merry. Once she sets her mind on something, she goes through all the way with it.
"So, feet first into the unknown? Again?"
"Yes, again."
One more adventure for the Sealing Club. Things sure never are boring with you around, huh, Merry?
~~[q]~~
In the hallway, Harry ran into Luna. "Luna? What're you doing here?"
"I know what you're doing, Harry Potter." Luna said simply.
All right, who went and told her? "I guess the jig is up, then. Who told you? Ernie? Hannah? Susan? I don't think Neville would say."
The eccentric Ravenclaw quirked her eyebrow, and pointed a single finger, which Harry's eyes followed…to the center of his own chest. "Me? When?"
"About five seconds ago."
"About five sec–" Alright, I must be slipping if I really fell for the oldest trick in the book. "Luna, I–"
"If you really are planning something involving me, I would like to know." Luna's voice held no tone of rebuke or recrimination, and yet Harry felt his heart jump slightly. He took a quick look at her eyes, and they, too, had no expectation, just curiosity.
Now that she knows something is up, I can't not tell her.
"Tempus," Harry instead said. Going through motions of the familiar spell helped clear off some anxiety, as he had come to rely on, and he motioned for Luna to follow. "It's getting late. I'll walk you back to Ravenclaw Tower, and we can talk on the way."
As they fell into step, Luna continued to say nothing, which Harry took as his cue to begin the conversation. "Luna…I know people have been taking your things."
"It's the Nargles. Or the Wrackspurts. Either one, though probably the Wrackspurts." Luna said simply.
"Doesn't matter what they are, since it's the people who are doing the actual taking." By now, Harry had had enough conversations with the girl to guess at her curious metaphors, though, as it was with so many other things pertaining to Luna Lovegood, he was never quite sure. "And I'm going to help you stop that."
When Luna did not reply, Harry continued. "Well?"
"The Wrackspurts will still be there, Harry."
"They might be, but at least you'll have your things with you." Harry soldiered on.
Their footsteps continued to softly echo in the hallway. After several beats, Luna spoke again. "And what if, Harry Potter, I said I prefer the way things are now?" She said, quietly, still without any hint of aggression. "What if I was, and am, Loony Lovegood?"
Harry's breath hitched. Option one, impose your ideas of what you think would be better on her. The bullying may stop, but it may be going against her wishes. Option two, say you'll do nothing if she doesn't want me to, but…things will continue? The phrase "dammed if you do, dammed if you don't" came to his mind.
If Luna truly doesn't mind, and doesn't want me to do anything, no matter what I'm going to do, there'll still be something wrong at the end. And that means…
"You're not loony, Luna." Harry decided to eventually say. "But if you tell me you don't mind getting called names, and getting your stuff stolen every other day, I'll tell you you're wrong, and I'll keep telling you that until you believe it." He did not raise his voice, but the words came out clear and certain. "There are things that are clearly wrong, and what's happening to you is one of them. "
"So sure you are, Harry Potter, in your own beliefs." The remark was mild.
"Have I ever told you about my life before Hogwarts?" Harry replied. "I didn't know what I was doing was magic–strange things happened around me, and my relatives all thought I was a freak. I didn't even–I thought that I deserved every ounce of bullying and mistreatment that came my way, because I thought that I was less than human." Harry looked up at the ceiling. "It took me a while, even after I knew I was a wizard, to learn–to snap out of that sort of thinking."
"And you think we're the same?" The same netural tone, still betraying nothing.
Of course she sees what I'm trying to do, and doesn't hesitate to point it out.
"I see similarities." Harry shrugged. "It's enough for me to want to do something. But there's a more important reason."
"Oh? Do tell."
Harry stopped walking, and turned to face her.
"You're my friend, Luna. I don't really know what you think about me, but I've regarded you as my friend ever since we stepped into that carriage at the start of the year, ever since you convinced me I haven't lost my grip on reality." Emotion crept into Harry's voice. "I know what you're going to say: 'oh, but it was only a few words', but trust me, Luna, they meant a lot to me at that time."
For several tense moments, Luna remained silent, and the two of them were still and utterly alone, in the flickering light of the corridor.
"And if you continue to tell me, after this entire conversation, that you don't care about what's happening to you, then I'll just care for you–"
Wait, what in Merlin and Morgana's name am I saying?
Then the girl stepped over, and wrapped her arms tightly around Harry, whose mind went blank instantly.
What–
"Harry Potter," Luna murmured, from somewhere near Harry's shoulder, "you really shouldn't say such things. It might give someone the wrong impression, you know?"
Harry did not reply; his body seemed to have shut down, with his brain only running by some trickle of auxiliary power.
"S–so–"
"Please help me, Harry." Luna said simply. Please help me, she thought, even though along the way, I learnt to not mind it; even though, eventually, I wanted to become strong enough by myself to deal with it by myself, to not bother anyone.
But it's okay to accept help, right? So I can do this now, and do all the other things later, right? Right?
The direct nature of Luna's words seemed to cancel out the effects of the hug, and Harry found his thoughts to be oddly clear. "Alright. Do you mind if it becomes a, um, Club thing?"
"It already is, isn't it?"
Yeah, it is.
"But it's fine. The eagles are quite mean, and smart too. They'll claw at you, and circle around and strike where you don't want them to. A plan would be good. And I should probably help, since it is me we're helping, after all. Daddy says it's not good to be a princess about things."
And here she is, back to her normal self again.
With a renewed spring in her step, Luna started back towards the Ravenclaw dorms. "I'll see you soon, Harry Potter. And I'll give you more hugs the next time, because it's funny to watch you freeze up every time."
Does she really mean that– One part of Harry's mind started, only to get shot down by the other, more rational portions of his brain. It's just a joke, you idiot!
The other parts of Harry's mind sighed, as they realized that a ribbing was surely incoming from the other members of the club once they found out.
Yet a fourth partition of his mind began to consider the possible avenues to which the Ravenclaw seniors could be gently persuaded to stop.
Time to call for a meeting, I suppose.
Harry doesn't really keep secrets well, does he? It seems to work only when nobody actually knows enough to ask in the first place. And dear gods, Luna sure is hard to write well. I didn't want to make her just another damsel in distress, but there's also no point if she's just somehow secretly good enough to deal with everything but then somehow...doesn't? Yeah, that makes no sense.
Reminder: "Mahoutokoro" is used in the same manner as "Magical Britain" in this fic.
5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel, featuring dragons and unicorns, is an actual variant of chess, released in July 2020. No one can be told what it is; you have to see it for yourself.
The next chapter will be titled "Kagome, Kagome".
Review please!