CW: bullying, discussion of death

:FORTY-NINE:

When Harry left them that afternoon, he immediately began searching for the diadem. Which meant that his first stop was to Hermione.

"I've never heard anything about the diadem specifically." She'd mused, actually setting down her book once Harry had explained everything to her. "I'm sure it's mentioned in Hogwarts: A History, but I haven't read it since last year."

She left him for a moment, going up to her dormitory and returning with the large book. Harry took it from her, opening up to the table of contents for any references to Ravenclaw.

"I'd help you," Hermione fretted. "But I've got loads of homework already."

"I understand." Harry nodded, not looking up from the book. "I'm going to ask Ginny if I can talk to her friend from Ravenclaw too. I don't want to ask Percy unless I really have to."

Hermione looked up, her eyes wide. "Do you mean...do you want to talk to Luna Lovegood?"

"Do you know her?" Harry asked, startled.

"Well," Hermione blushed. "Not really, but people talk about her. I've heard she's kind of...well...odd."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Hermione, people think I'm odd. I'll take my chances."

He found himself regretting these words when Ginny introduced him to Luna for the first time. Harry may be odd, misunderstood really, but Luna was in a whole other league. And the best and worst part was, Luna didn't care what anyone else thought about her. She was so unapologetically herself that Harry found himself disconcerted.

"Ginny tells me you're looking for Ravenclaw's lost diadem?" Luna began bluntly after being introduced.

"Oh, um," Harry said nervously. "Well, yeah. I've been looking into it recently. Do you know anything about it?"

Luna smiled at him, while Ginny looked on a little nervously.

"I'll help you," Luna nodded serenely. "Meet me this afternoon, alright?"

Harry nodded, surprised as Luna immediately stood back up and skipped away from them both.

Ginny let out a relieved sigh. "I'm glad she liked you - she wouldn't have agreed to help you otherwise."

"Does she not like most people?" Harry asked.

"Not exactly." Ginny frowned. "She just gets made fun of by most of the people in school. And, as I'm sure you noticed, Luna doesn't really bother with people who expect her to change for them."

There was a note of pride in her voice that made Harry smile - Luna sounded an awful lot like Ginny. Except where Luna was indifference and ethereal, Ginny was righteous rage and earthy. And, though it had happened without Harry noticing, he now saw just how deeply Ginny cared for this particular Ravenclaw girl.

But she quickly changed the subject, moving on to ask how quidditch practices were going. Harry allowed this, if only to avoid the potential awkwardness that would come from discussing feelings.

"They're alright, I suppose." Harry shrugged. "Wood's obsessive as always. I do hope Ron tries out next year though - we'll need a new keeper."

"That's true." Ginny mused. "I wouldn't mind trying out for Chaser eventually, once I save up enough for a new broom."

Harry smiled. "How have I never seen you play?"

"Well," Ginny grinned mischievously. "My brothers wouldn't let me play with them, so I snuck out their broomsticks at night to practice."

"Oh," Harry laughed, smiling at her as they walked back to the common room. "Well, if you ever want to use mine to practice, I don't mind sharing."

"Really?" Ginny smiled broadly. "Thanks, Harry. I might take you up on that."

They separated when they got to the common room, as Harry went to do homework with Ron and Hermione and Ginny went off to talk to her roommates. Overall, Harry felt like he'd made quite a bit of progress for Remus and Sirius.

But Luna was, if anything, spontaneous. Where she had been blunt the first time they met, she was now having him do seemingly random tasks with her. So far, they had spent an afternoon doing homework together in the library and figuring out how to get into the Hogwarts kitchens. Luna had absolutely adored Dobby, and had talked to him for almost an hour while Harry sat at one of the long kitchen benches. But when the elves asked Luna what she wanted from the kitchen, she had requested a section of raw beef in her light voice.

And now they were heading into the Forbidden Forest.

"Um, Luna?" Harry asked as they entered the forest. "I promised my Papa that I wouldn't get into trouble this year...so what exactly are we doing here?"

But Luna just laughed. "It's perfectly safe, Harry."

They continued walking into the dark forest, with only small patches of sunlight breaking through the trees. Luna hummed to herself, walking slightly ahead of Harry and seeming totally at ease. Harry, on the other hand, was slightly nervous. He'd only been in the forest once before, and it was not exactly a pleasant experience.

"Luna," Harry had finally noticed her feet. "What happened to your shoes?"

"Oh," She replied nonchalantly. "They always seem to disappear when I come to Hogwarts. I suspect the Nargles are behind it."

"Nargles?" Harry asked. "Luna, you really ought to be wearing something on your feet."

He stopped, hopping on one foot as he removed his own shoes and handed them to Luna.

"Oh," Luna smiled kindly at him. "You don't need to do that, Harry."

"I insist." Harry held them out to her until she took them and put them on.

Ever since his transformation, Harry's feet had become much more hardy. But Luna didn't need to know that. Instead, they just continued walking, Luna now wearing Harry's slightly large shoes while Harry drenched his socks on the muddy forest floor.

Finally, they found themselves in a secluded clearing together. Harry was about to ask what they were there for when he saw four large skeletal black horses with wings come out from the trees, followed by a smaller horse that looked like a foal. Thestrals.

"You can see them too?" Harry murmured quietly.

Remus had explained to him about thestrals before Harry had to start taking the carriages to school. He didn't want Harry to feel strange or scared when the other students didn't see them. But it was difficult, feeling like the only one who could see something, and knowing why that was.

"Yes," Luna smiled serenely, taking out the meat from a satchel she'd carried out. "I like to come out and feed them sometimes."

"Oh," Harry had never considered what they ate before. "Do you want some help?"

Luna smiled at him, holding out a section of meat. "If you want to. Just throw it out to them - they like eating it by themselves."

Harry nodded - he didn't really fancy getting too close anyway. He was also curious about Luna now, why she was so different from everyone else, and now why she saw thestrals. But it was not one of those questions you could just ask someone, so instead Harry watched as the thestrals ate the meat he and Luna threw in front of them. Eventually, Luna spoke.

"It was my mum," Luna said quietly. "When I was nine. She liked to experiment when potion-making, and one of them went wrong."

She turned to him, looking at him with an open, trusting expression.

"It was your mother too, wasn't it?"

Harry nodded slowly, entranced by the way she was looking at him. It was as if she saw all of him, and accepted it without question. The only other person who had ever made him feel like that was Remus.

"Ginny told me you were a good person, Harry." Luna continued. "But I wanted to make sure. Helena can be very sensitive."

"Helena?"

"The other students call her the Gray Lady." Luna said, throwing out the last bit of meat and closing her satchel. "But she doesn't like that name."

The Gray Lady…

"Luna," Harry mused. "Are you saying...does she know where the diadem is?"

Luna shrugged, turning to lead them back out of the woods.

"Well, no one alive knows where it is. So, we have to talk to someone who's dead."

Notes:

Into the woods with Luna! And a brief look into Harry's time in Hogwarts, which is fun.

Happy Reading!