When April arrived, it was uneventful for the most part, if you ignored the burgeoning war and the fact that Harry and his friends were up to something. She knew, of course, what they were up to, Luna was aware of everything that went on in the castle, even if she didn't much care for the everyday affairs of the students. It also didn't register on her radar that the Headmaster regularly met with a man named Tom.
At the moment she was looking for any wild plants she could get her hands on, as well as collecting some particularly pleasant pebbles along the way. She could hear some centaurs discussing her presence, but knew she had nothing to worry about, as one of them pointed out that she was a frequent visitor and he had seen her treat the forest with respect. She even ended up face to face with a unicorn, around which was an echo of the song she and Dudley had heard together. It left her with joy in her heart and a spring in her step as she journeyed back to the castle, knowing that she would find a particularly engaging conversation on the first floor.
/_-^_^_-/
"Why haven't I taken time to think about this before now, am I a bad person?" Harry asked hopelessly.
"No, you are not a bad person," Dudley replied. "You have just been busy pretty much constantly, you're also in a relationship with Daphne and that has taken pride of place within your heart. I'm not surprised that it took a very complicated magical ritual to bring your true thoughts back out. I'm sure Voldemort couldn't bear the thought of you thinking about two girls at the same time."
"Do you really think that He is responsible for me putting it out of my mind?"
"Honestly, I don't know, but you know what he's like-"
"I want your honest opinion on what I should do," Harry interrupted desperately.
"You shouldn't do anything, you're with Daphne and I don't think you are the type to break up with someone to get with someone else."
"That's not what I meant, I love Daphne, but I want to get rid of my feelings for Hermione."
"Talk to Daphne about it, she is very smart and clear-minded and will help you."
"Hey Daph', do you want to go for a picnic?" Harry asked his girlfriend through his ring, getting a positive answer and smiling.
After Harry left, Dudley felt awful, he really should have told Harry about Hermione and Blaise's kiss in the library.
He decided it would be better to put it out of his mind and used Elemental training as his distraction. He wished he knew his element already and could focus specifically on that. Using his ring, he summoned Elias and asked him for help with figuring it out, in exchange he offered a discussion on the Animagus process.
"I'm definitely some type of fox," Elias remarked. "I can see it clearly whenever I meditate. It's just that I can't get the time to try around a more accomplished Animagus. Everyone wants me to help them control their elements, not accepting that they won't be able to progress beyond the basics in the absence of the ritual on Halloween, which is like half a year away still."
"Did Harry ever get the permission for the seventh years to come back and go through the ritual?" Dudley inquired after a second.
"Yeah, I think Blaise dealt with it, friends in high places as it were. Anyway, do you think we could go through the steps to become an Animagus again?"
"Yeah sure. What you want to do first is sit down and breathe, visualise what it is like to run around as a fox, and then try to apply that sensation to yourself."
"Professor Lupin doesn't describe it like that," Elias pointed out earning a chuckle from Dudley.
"You know that he isn't an Animagus, trust me that when I tried to transform for the first time outside of battle I had to do just that, but instead of running, I was visualising that I was flying."
"Okay." Elias began to breathe in a regular pattern, his face relaxing as his mind drifted away from human to fox. This was as far as he had ever gotten in the past, but he hit another wall.
"I'm hopeless, I'll never manage it," Elias complained, not happy with his limited progress.
"Harry told me that he found summoning his Patronus to be very helpful in calming his mind. Maybe you could try to use it to help you."
"Right. That sounds like it would be a drain on my magic, but okay, I'll try it. Expecto Patronum!" Once the silver fox appeared he had it sit beside him, feeling the positive emotions pouring off it. Elias closed his eyes and focused again, reaching the wall and moving past it, until he felt like he was falling, further and further, faster and faster, until he finally felt his body warping and changing, shifting into that of a fox, specifically a Tulikettu, which was a Firefox from Finland.
His Patronus wandered over and investigated him briefly before fading away due to Elias' focus being on himself, or more on returning to himself. When he changed back he was pulled into a hug by Dudley.
"You did it, mate, you're an Animagus, making you the second Viper to become one at the age of thirteen."
"I honestly don't think the others are that interested in the process, holding the Mandrake leaf on the roof of my mouth for a month wasn't that fun."
"I know Draco and Ron never began the process, I think Theo and Neville have kept up on their meditation, but probably not to the end goal of becoming an Animagus," Dudley remarked as he got up to stretch.
"So anyway, let's try to figure out what is keeping you from your element."
/_-_^_^_-/
"Hey Daph' where do you see yourself in five years?" Harry broke the pleasant silence after becoming lost in his thoughts.
"Hmm. I haven't given it all that much thought, I can see myself going into the study of potions, but honestly, until we have that careers meeting with Professor McGonagall I don't think I know enough about what I want to do to actually do it. What about you?"
"I want to be a teacher, if not at Hogwarts then I'd open my own place to instruct people in the art of being an Elemental. If you had asked me last year I don't think I could have given any answer that was satisfying enough."
"Teach? I always thought you would want to be a professional duelling champion."
"Professor Flitwick has done both, in fact, he won third place last summer in his first competition in years, and I shall be competing in the youth league if I can."
"You won't win," Daphne shot him down bluntly, hurting Harry's feelings for a moment until he saw her smile.
"Do enlighten me as to who you're so certain will beat me."
"The Greengrasses haven't been able to remain neutral in the past without displaying that we can defend ourselves, if you do well enough, you might manage to face me in the final round."
"Have you ever even competed before?" Harry asked, genuinely curious about a possible side to his girlfriend that he didn't know before.
"Ever since second year, though I didn't even land among the top ten in my first attempt, then in third year I was fifth, ending with my second place last year. I'm actually fairly amazing."
"Ah, Daphne, as humble as ever," Harry teased, earning a sly smile and a laugh, before she put her head on his shoulder and the two enjoyed their picnic as well as each other's company.
/_-_^_^_-/
On April thirteenth Harry, Elias, and Blaise led their normal Elemental session, with almost everyone having found their element, though the circumstances of today's lesson were rather strange. For once they had more than one Professor joining them, Professor Gaunt had decided to join them, but wasn't bothering to participate, instead deciding to watch.
Knowing how effective they were at supplementing any shortcomings within Elemental training, Harry would throw in elemental spells while duelling his students and encouraged them to do so themselves.
He quickly realised that most of his students wouldn't grow in their Elemental skills at all until they had gone through the ritual on Halloween and so he encouraged the usage of wands to add to their roster of element based attacks.
"Casting Incendio at a Fire Elemental wouldn't work out for you, but casting Aqua Erupto and Glacius would definitely do the job. One thing that you need to show before you can be chosen for the ritual is that you can adapt your attacks to any situation," Harry instructed his students, who all listened well enough that he no longer had to raise his voice to be heard over them.
At the end of the session Harry announced that everyone there had gone as far as they could without going through the ritual to swear them in as an Elemental.
"Beltane isn't too far away, perhaps we could adjust the ritual to be done then," Elias suggested after Harry dismayed the lack of progress they were able to make.
"I don't think it works like that, Halloween holds significance to the Elementals as the day they were forced out of human form, and they removed the bloodline requirements for the knowledge of how to manipulate the elements. If there were a second day in the year to try such a thing then I imagine it would be related to their origins and not their end. I don't know when that is and unfortunately, I cannot talk to Fate in the same way that Dudley speaks to Rowena."
"Perhaps if you tried to reach out to her she may answer," Dudley suggested.
"It's not the same as the Font, I can't just go to sleep asking to speak to her," Harry protested.
"Have you tried to in the past?" Elias inquired cheekily.
"Well, no, but-"
"No buts, Harry, what do you have to lose by trying?" Dudley countered.
"Fine, I'll try, but I know it won't work," Harry agreed after arguing the entire way from the grounds to the common room.
When Harry went to sleep that night he felt silly, surely it wouldn't work and he would be right. Before going to sleep he made sure to specifically ask to speak to Fate.
When he fell asleep and ended up in a random field, Harry was certain that he had failed, that was until a hand was placed upon his shoulder.
"You're back in my realm, perhaps you've failed and passed on, or maybe you have come to realise that you wasted your time here before and wish to ask me more questions," Fate questioned him, a soft smile on her face. Her red hair had changed to a more vibrant ginger, and her irises had shifted from brown to green.
"I'm here to ask you how to do this, you sent me out to do this job, taking advantage of the fact that my brain was being reshaped and that I was at my most vulnerable. You owe me answers."
"I owe you? How very Mortal of you to assume you can command a force of nature around, perhaps your hubris will get in the way of you completing what you started."
"Stop playing games with me, too long have I been simply reactive, now that I take my first steps towards being proactive, you are trying to stop me. I assure you that, force of nature or not, if you don't help me then I will craft my own fate. James and Lily Potter didn't give their lives for me to just give my life to you," Harry shouted, so wrapped up in his own anger that he didn't notice the sad look upon Fate's face.
"He was a good man-" Fate began, only to be cut off by an even angrier Harry.
"You have no right to talk about my parents, how do I know you didn't manipulate events to lead to their deaths-." Harry was interrupted in turn by a slap from Fate.
"How dare you-" Fate began, only to regain control of herself and drop her anger. "Ask your questions and leave."
"Are there any other days, besides Halloween, that I can use for the ritual? What does Magic have planned for me? Can I trust Professor Gaunt?"
"There is not, though I can provide one additional day to do so, your friend Elias suggested Beltane and so it shall be." Before Fate could answer his second question Harry interjected.
"He's my brother, not my friend."
"Right. I told you that I do not wish for a warrior, I also made it clear that I can only know what they tell me. As for your Professor, I cannot say as his soul is spread across numerous bodies."
"Can I speak with Magic, if I ask her in the same way I asked you?"
"I don't know, she is very particular about who she meets. The last Mortal she met with was your Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, to which she only agreed due to his alignment to the light. Though you stand in his shoes as he met her to help fight Grindelwald and never managed to return to talk to her again. If you can manage to meet her you get one chance."
Before Harry could respond, he was sent back to the physical world.