Chapter Six — Funny Faces
Story Summary: Both of them still affected by the war, Harry and Luna decide to escape Wizarding Britain and to travel around the world for a year, in which they find out more about themselves and the world around them.
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Serpentine Advice: If you enjoy this story, please consider reading my main story, Serpentine Advice, which covers a Harry Potter discovering and learning from a portrait of Salazar Slytherin in the Chamber of Secrets.
"If debates about beauty in nineteenth-century France were fierce, that was because beauty was seen to matter. This was a world of political revolutions, of social reformism, of belief in progress and human perfectibility. Why was it that beauty mattered so much in such a world?" ~ Elizabeth Prettejohn
For the first few seconds, Harry didn't move. He just stared at Luna with very little going on in his brain as she began to enter through the small passage that the other people had traversed. Then, the situation came to him in a rush, and he jumped down to follow her with a breathless curse on his lips. The way forward was cramped, small, and dark, but Luna had cast a Lumos to guide her path, and she was currently standing on the cusp of a larger room. Harry reached her without paying much attention to his surroundings.
"What the hell?" He demanded in a harsh whisper when he reached her, and she pointed to the walls of the room.
"It's rather pretty, isn't it?" She declared, finally stepping into the room. Harry turned to see what she was talking about, casting his Lumos to make the room clearer to his eyes, which still had not acclimated to the sudden darkness. The room was covered wall to wall in urban art, with graffiti being the most prominent, but it was colorful and aesthetically pleasing, even if the bricks made for an irregular canvas. There were also actual paintings, cohesive and continuous, occupying entire corners of the room, and the contrast with Delacroix's museum near the French Ministry was hard to miss.
Just as he began to feel calmer by watching Luna looking at the graffiti in fascination, Harry stood alarmed by the sound of splashing water coming from one of the exits, and his friend also turned to face the wet echo, which now came regularly in a stream of 'splish-splash's that could only come from multiple sets of feet. Even though his mind told him that the sound was coming from the group they had followed into the catacombs in the first place, his instincts had already taken over and were overriding his rational considerations. The grip on his wand tightened, and he felt his heartbeat spike but then stabilize as adrenaline flooded into his system.
His mind was now processing things that he had not noticed in his haste to reach and protect Luna. The smell hit him first, with the smell of dusty, mossy, wet stone bricks being fierce and definitive, reminding him of the less well-kept bits of the Restricted Section of the Library. Then came certain undercurrents of church incense and strange substances infused into the walls, reinforcing the memory of the Chamber of Secrets. However, a third smell, that of death, subdued as it was, sent chills up his arms in an unpleasant but powerful frisson. An imaginary wind swept through his mind, the smell of pine almost reaching his nostrils as well as the rest of the scene of the Forbidden Forest, before that entire period of his life was ruthlessly quashed by his mind as it focused on one thing: Luna, walking down the corridor.
Harry didn't even try to warn her off from advancing further into the catacombs, his instincts recognizing that she'd go anyway and that it'd be far safer for the girl if she had him watching out for her. They soon reached the water as well, but Harry cast an Impervious before Luna could even ask for it. She looked back to thank him with a smile, though it faltered as she saw his tense stare ahead.
"Harry," Luna called out for him, and his attention broke as he focused on her. "Everything is fine. No need to be so alarmed. Do you want to go back?"
"No, it's fine," Harry insisted, his gaze flickering ahead, continuously analyzing threats. Part of him reveled in the exercise. It was something in which he excelled by any measure, a reward for the instincts honed over many encounters with people trying to kill him. We all like to do what we're good at, at some level.
Luna seemed to ponder the problem for a few seconds before offering him her hand. He looked at it confused and then at her face, which was serenely staring back at him with complete calm, other than her concerned eyes.
"Focus on my hand, not on the surroundings," she spoke, and when he grabbed her hand, she tightened her hold on him and started walking forwards. "Did you know that there is a magical section of the catacombs as well?"
"There is?" Harry asked, slightly surprised by how much more enthusiastic Luna suddenly seemed to get with no reason.
"Oh yes! The mundane catacombs were created primarily for mining in the southern bank of the Seine during a time where the city of Paris had not yet reached the mines, but as it grew into the catacombs, some magicals decided it would be a good idea to have some magical-only section of the underground for them," she lectured with an excited but academic voice. "You know the buildings that you liked so much in the center of Paris?"
"How do you know that I liked them so much?" Harry inquired, and Luna looked dryly at him.
"You stare at something open-mouthed when you like it," she spoke, and when he started to protest, his mouth opened slightly, and Luna beamed at him, pointing her index finger straight at his lips. "Just like that!" She exclaimed joyfully, laughing shortly before turning her back to him and returning to guide them as he shut his mouth with a soft clang of his teeth. "Those buildings in the center of Paris are made from Lutetian limestone, which was mined in these tunnels for centuries. What the Muggles don't know is that Lutetian limestone has some magical properties, though there needs to be a lot of it to affect a Muggle."
"Is that why Paris is so popular with people?" Harry questioned, honestly curious at the idea, before frowning slightly. "And am I attracted to magical rocks, now?"
Luna laughed happily at his strange question for almost half a minute before she turned to answer him. "I don't think you're attracted to magical rocks, no, but I can make a test if you want," she proposed, with gleaming silver eyes twinkling in the white light of their combined Wand-Lighting Charms. "I'll wear a Lutetian limestone necklace and see if you start flirting with me," she spoke, grinning at him.
"Very funny," he replied dryly.
"I know!" She grinned more widely and resumed guiding him through the watery corridors, following the more distant splashes of the group ahead and the echoes of their conversations. "I don't know if the limestone is what makes Paris so popular with tourists. It is a beautiful city anyway, so I don't think it's the major factor. Though it may still influence them somewhat," she walked fractionally slower and looked at a distant point as she pondered the question for a few seconds before shaking it off and turning back to look at Harry over her shoulder. "But some of the Lutetian limestone quarries were taken over by wizards and warded off to be turned into small magical communities. They plant a few magical plant species that don't grow anywhere else on Earth, and they're quite famous. Neville always wanted to come here."
"I never knew," Harry spoke, wondering about what plants would grow around limestone and what they would do.
"Herbology was never your strongest subject," Luna spoke appeasingly. "I only know all of this because I did some research for an article on the Quibbler. Pomona was very fond of it."
"Professor Sprout?"
"Oh yes, she's an avid reader," Luna replied happily, even her steps turning lighter and more excited by the fact. "She likes the Herbology pieces and says that the runic puzzles are fun to do when waiting for her plants to germinate."
"Are we close to the magical parts of the catacombs?" Harry asked, feeling a bit wary and focusing on the wand in his hand. Luna watched the color of his charm dim slightly with concern and then rushed to deny it.
"We're quite far from it," she reassured him, and he looked suspiciously at her.
"How can you possibly know that?"
Luna blinked very slowly, staring at him for several seconds before saying calmly.
"We are following a group of Muggles. The Muggle-Repellent wards would divert them if we were close to a magical community," she spoke, without stopping her blinks, and he felt his cheeks redden slightly in embarrassment. There was no judgment in her voice, but the matter-of-fact way in which she spoke made him more bashful than a gloating, self-satisfied smirk ever could.
"I see," he spoke weakly, and she nodded in earnest acceptance, returning to guiding them before frowning at the sudden silence.
"I think they left the flooded bit," she lamented and then pondered the best way forward as they started to find bifurcations and side corridors.
Harry acted before she could make a decision, raising his wand and casting a Homenum Revelio. By allowing it to wander for a few more seconds than he'd typically use it, he could trace the group's steps ahead of them and then pointed at the path to the right, where the water receded only a few meters away.
"That's very clever!" Luna praised him with an honest smile before she repeated the incantation. If it were anyone else, he'd be offended that they didn't trust his call, but he knew that Luna just wanted to experience that particular use of that spell. After closing her eyes and feeling the group ahead, she turned to him excitedly with a wide grin. "This feels so different than using the spell in a closed room! I wonder why that is..." She trailed off, looking as though she was about to enter one of her thoughtful trances. Harry gently shook her off it and smiled when she blinked rapidly in confusion at his interruption.
"We'll lose them if we stay here," he pointed out, and her eyes widened slightly.
"Ah, yes," she said, turning to the correct path to shadow the Muggle explorers once more.
"Actually, Luna, do you know the way out of the catacombs?" Harry questioned nervously as soon as they left the watery path and stepped into solid rock again.
Luna watched as Harry began to grow more alert before she conjured a ball of magical yarn and tossed it to him. "We can use this to guide us back here," she suggested, and he spent a few seconds staring at it before mumbling something and putting the end of the string under a Sticking Charm on the wall.
They continue to walk, with Luna guiding him by the hand and Harry letting the ball of yarn slowly unravel to mark their progress. Then he asked as a series of clues settled in his mind during the comfortable silence that settled between them.
"Luna, are you doing all of this to distract me?" He hinted softly, and she tensed for a second with the accusation before stopping to a halt. Luna looked down to the ground and began to nervously play with a loose pebble there with the tip of her feet, kicking it side to side.
"I felt bad for doing something without thinking and making you feel nervous," she admitted quietly, with enormous sadness invading her tone of voice. Harry was so surprised by her morose behavior that he took a second too many to intervene, and Luna continued, sounding more and more defeated as she spoke on. "It's just like what I did with the Ministry; I forgot that you're not comfortable in certain places and just went. I was a bad friend then, and I was a bad friend now, all because I can't control my curiosity."
Harry gently embraced Luna from behind, and her body went limp in the hug. "Luna, you're one of my best friends. A bad friend wouldn't try to distract me from my own broken brain."
"Your brain is not broken," Luna countered fiercely, looking at him with keen spirit, even though her eyes were still a bit teary at her recent admission.
"It is so broken," Harry spoke humorously and then silenced Luna as she frowned and began to protest. "But it's fine. It's why we're traveling, right? To fix ourselves. I need to overcome this eventually, and I'd like to do it with you."
"But I was a bad friend," Luna insisted more sorrowfully, and Harry looked at her for a second before flicking her nose. "Ouch," she whined, staring at him in confusion.
"I'm not you," he shrugged defensively. "I can't comfort people when they're sad for some nonsense that their heads are telling them," he said, and when Luna frowned softly and was about to object, Harry spoke over her. "And yes, thinking you were a bad friend for being yourself is nonsense," he rolled his eyes and flicked her nose again. "Honestly, Luna, someone who talked with you for an hour would know that you would jump down here. If I didn't like that about you, I wouldn't be as close to you as I was."
"But—" She began to protest, only to turn her face away with a startled yelp as Harry began to prepare for another flick. Her sudden alarm made Harry chuckle, and Luna began to giggle a bit uncertainly before enjoying the situation more openly.
"Luna, you're the most caring person I know," Harry reassured her with a light squeeze which she accepted by seeping into him. She stood silently for a second, and feeling like she wasn't fully convinced that he was fine, he awkwardly tried to comfort her more. "You're like an... ergh... Healer?"
Luna cracked up, laughing uproariously, hiding her face in his chest, her entire body shaking in amusement.
"I'm sorry," she explained herself once she recovered from her fit of laughter. "I just realized that we're having a heart-to-heart in a catacomb, and I'm imagining trying to explain this to Hermione," she spoke, giggling a bit at the ridiculousness of it all before drawing a deep breath, her face flushed with satisfied merriment. "These things only happen to the both of us, don't they?"
"We are good at these things, yeah," Harry conceded with a chuckle of his own, which led to Luna giggling breathlessly for a few more seconds before the young woman took his hand and they returned to following the group ahead of them.
"Harry?" Luna called for him a bit shyly, a few seconds down the path they were walking. He hummed in response, and she stayed silent for a few more steps before speaking quietly. "Thank you."
"For what?" He asked softly.
"For saying I'm the most caring person you know," she explained in almost a whisper. It was rare to see Luna feeling so shy, and Harry was a bit entranced by it. "I try to be nice to my friends, but I'm never sure if I'm doing a good job or not."
"You're the best, Luna," Harry reassured her, pressing her hand lightly. Luna didn't respond, but she seemed more relaxed, so Harry felt better about the entire discussion. Ahead of him, Luna had a shy grin and a bit of a blush on her face, and she allowed herself to be absorbed in the warm feeling that came with the compliment for a while longer, even as the path became narrower and less stable. Finally, they reached a staircase of sorts, and the noise of conversation became clearer.
Harry and Luna stared at one another for a second.
"If we go, we're going to need to throw a Confundus," Luna declared firmly. Harry nodded in agreement.
"Your call," he resumed.
"Let me do it, then," Luna spoke, and Harry hummed in agreement. The two wizards stepped into the room above, and Luna was about to fire the spell when Harry saw something and forcibly lowered his friend's wand. "What?" She questioned as some people in the room turned to them.
"They have witches," Harry spoke dryly, pointing to a pair of middle-aged women banishing some rubble and floating some equipment into place, respectively. Luna's mouth formed into an 'o' and she pocketed her wand, though Harry kept his ready to cast if necessary.
"Are you police?" Someone accused nervously, attracting the attention of the rest of the group.
"No, you idiot, they have wands," another one corrected them in a bored tone of voice before getting a bit apprehensive and turning to one of the witches, who looked at the duo with open astonishment. "Actually, are there police wizards?"
"Yes, but they are not law enforcement," the closer of the two witches declared before turning back to her work.
"How can you be so sure?" The first man, a burly and strong-looking Frenchman who may have been in his early thirties by his appearance, grumbled suspiciously.
"Because the boy right there is famous," the other witch proclaimed, taking a few steps closer to look at Harry closer. Something in his eyes—Luna's too, but he didn't know that—warned her off from coming any closer than a couple of meters. "Harry Potter, as I live and breathe."
"You are openly breaking the Stature of Secrecy?" He asked in response, with a raised pair of eyebrows.
"We actually didn't intend to break it in the first place," the witch shrugged. "Some of them were in the know, and a group caught us using our magic while exploring the non-magical parts of the catacombs for fun. The couple who were in the know explained everything before we thought of memory charming the lot, and now, here we are."
"Magic and mundane ingenuity combined can do great things," the other witch added, and some people in the fifteen-strong group nodded. Harry was still a bit shocked at that development, but Luna had recovered quickly.
"I never thought I'd see so many Muggles accepting magic in the same place before," Luna said breathlessly, her eyes shining excitedly at the prospect.
"Yeah, when you can fit a projector through a tiny hole in the ground because of a spell, you find it much easier to accept," an older man chuckled warmly, slapping one of the witches lightly in the shoulder.
"You prefer the booze, Jacques," a younger man quipped as he stored a couple of wine and vodka bottles in a makeshift fridge.
"Says the boy storing the damn alcohol," Jacques deadpanned, and the other man smirked at him.
"Anyway," the first person spoke again, still unwilling to trust them. "This isn't an open event yet. Why did you follow us?" He demanded, crossing his arms and staring Luna down. Harry began to feel irritated as he tried to intimidate his friend and was about to snap when Luna spoke as serenely as ever.
"It seemed like an interesting thing to do, of course," she posited matter-of-factly. "You wouldn't do something boring to entertain yourself, would you? That would be silly," she said, putting a finger in her cheek thoughtfully. "Though silly things are often fun, so maybe I did follow you because you were boring."
"Right," the man murmured. "I don't know what this girl is about," he declared, looking around for help, but most people were either indifferent or excited about the arrival of two magicals on the scene.
"Let them stay, Antoine," the oldest man in the group, already with a fully white head of hair, decided casually. He then turned to the duo and smiled slightly. "Would you mind helping us move some things into place? We're making a movie theater here and want to watch something this weekend instead of the next."
"Movie theater?" Luna inquired with a tilted head and a confused tone of voice. One of the witches chuckled.
"Something tells me that you're going to be interested," she claimed, looking over at Harry. "You know what they are, right?"
"Yes, but I've never been to one," he explained, still glaring at Antoine for his tone with Luna, who was now thoroughly immersed in looking around and trying to absorb everything about the room the group had made for themselves.
"Huh, that's a bit surprising," the witch responded before shaking her head slightly. "Anyway, come over for a bit, young ones. I could use some help moving things while they do the electrical work," she said, pointing at a group of men and women who had turned their attention to some wiring after Harry and Luna's arrival was accepted by the older man.
"Isn't electricity incompatible with magic?" Luna asked, looking fascinated at the wiring, trying to see how it worked, her tongue leaving her mouth slightly. One of the men working with the wires grinned at her enthusiasm and indicated for her to touch a bit of it lightly. It shocked her a bit, and she twitched away before looking even more interested. "Oh, it tickles," she spoke in surprise as she touched it gingerly once more.
"She's going to be there for a while, isn't she?" One of the witches asked Harry, who looked at Luna with fond exasperation.
"You catch on quickly," he sighed, and she snorted. "How can I help you?"
"Oh, it's just a matter of moving the heavy objects into the kitchen for the young ones to install them with their electrical tricks," she waved his concerns off. "Nothing that a Levitation Spell and maybe a few Shrinking Charms can't achieve. Though, don't use magic on things after they turn the electricity on," she warned him.
"There's a story there," Harry guessed.
"And an exploding refrigerator," the woman responded dryly, and Harry chuckled, trying to imagine the scene.
"You may want to alert Luna before she does some magic on those wires," Harry said, remembering that his friend hadn't been warned about that danger.
"Oh, don't worry," the witch reassured him. "She seems like a sharp one. If she does use magic, I'm sure it'll be on purpose, to take small revenge on Raphy for shocking her."
"Right, then," Harry spoke uncertainly, not feeling nearly as confident as the woman. He looked at Luna, who was talking excitedly with a few of the people who were working on the electricity, trying to understand how it works. "She's either going to find a way to use magic on electricity, or she's going to explode half the room," Harry commented dryly, trying to relax his nerves. "Or both," he added in an afterthought which made the witch next to him laugh.
"Those are the best sorts of people," the woman commented. Luna glimpsed at Harry as she heard the woman's laughter and waved at him frantically before turning to the magic that was electricity with wide eyes.
Harry grinned at his friend and then turned at the witch, who faced him with a knowing smirk. As soon as he deciphered what exactly the woman knew to be smirking like that, he started to blush.
"It's not like that," he protested, and the woman chuckled at his distress.
"If it weren't, you wouldn't be so embarrassed," she said knowingly, and Harry was struck speechless between trying to deny the claim and control his blushing at the same time. How had he gone from alert to flushing in less than a few minutes? "Oh, don't worry about it so much. You're a cute couple. Enjoy your youth."
"You don't need to be in a relationship to enjoy your youth," Harry argued, and the woman nodded.
"True, but it does help," she winked at him, and Harry whined a bit in protest. "Aren't you a little old to be this embarrassed about women?"
"Well, the war stopped me from having many casual dates, I'll have you know," Harry complained a bit bitterly, and the woman's eyes softened slightly in sympathy, though not in understanding.
"Let's focus on the task at hand, and then we'll introduce your friend to the wonders of cinema," she proposed, and Harry nodded. It didn't take long, as the witch predicted. Harry had better control than her, so he was responsible for shrinking things and then restoring their original sizes, as the members of the group that awaited their arrival looked on in wonderment.
"I'll never get used to that," one of them whispered.
"It's wild," another one shook his head. "I often think this is all just a dream."
"I'd be prettier if this was one of your dreams," the witch quipped wryly. "Now go do your job connecting the wires to the correct colors."
The two magicals returned to the main hall, where the other witch was conjuring a ladder to install the projector at a sufficient height while Luna transfigured nice tunnels made of rock for the wires to pass through.
"I am protecting the electricity!" She happily declared to Harry when he looked at her curiously. "I was told that Bruna can't hold her drinks, but Dominique said that liquids are bad for electricity, so I decided to protect it."
Harry could see that the group of people was indulging Luna's enthusiasm and mouthed an appreciation when he saw his friend concentrate on her task again, which they waved off unconcernedly.
The remaining tasks were simple. Moving things out of the way, cleaning out the rubble, levitating equipment for people to install. It was therapeutic, doing these mundane things repeatedly, and seeing Muggles so calm in the presence of magic was so strange that it felt like something which would only happen in Luna's presence.
"We need to pick an inaugural movie," Antoine declared as soon as they were ready, and all the magicals in the room were asked to not use their magic anymore. The large man had settled on a strategy of ignoring Harry and Luna's presence, which was perfectly good for Harry as he supported his chair—complete with a discreet cushioning charm, of course—as close to the back as possible, with Luna by his side, staring at the projector curiously. If Harry wasn't able to use his magic, he'd make sure that everyone else was in his line of sight.
"Let's not pick anything obscure," a man who had introduced himself as Lazar spoke up as he offered Harry and Luna a glass of wine, served in a plastic cup. Harry denied it, not wanting to have his senses impaired around strangers, but Luna took it and sipped it. She seemed to like it and took another gulp soon after. "We have newcomers to the art form, after all."
"You say that as though all of your movies aren't obscure," the witch who Harry had helped, who eventually introduced herself as Clara, scoffed, hiding her mouth behind her cup of wine.
"If it were up to you, we'd only watch shitty American action movies," the other witch, who remained unnamed, responded with a sideways glare.
"The special effects are impressive!" Clara defended herself, and the other witch rolled her eyes.
"What about Brazil, by Terry Gilliam?" Dominique suggested.
"The Monty Python guy?" Someone a bit older asked with a frown, and Dominique nodded. "Someone has never seen movies before, and you want to introduce them to the cinema by playing something made by someone who wrote Monty Python?"
"Well, maybe not him," Dominique pointed at Harry, who blinked a bit in surprise at being called out. Then the Frenchman gestured at Luna, who was drinking her wine and swinging her feet happily, still looking around in fascination. "But definitely her."
As one, the group looked at the tunnels of rock she had magically formed to protect the electrical wires and then to Antoine, who had a briefcase with all their movies in hand.
"Have we brought Monty Python?" Dominique asked, and surprisingly, Antoine seemed receptive to the idea, looking over at what they had, handing the discarded choices to Clara, who kept them in two neat piles on her lap.
"We have Monty Python and the Holy Grail," he proclaimed surprisedly before frowning. "Wait, why do we have Monty Python?"
"Clara," the unnamed witch accused in a warning tone, and Clara raised her palms in the arm in surrender, but not before quipping.
"Your taste in movies is too derivative!" The other witch sighed and looked at the oldest man in the group, who looked on in amusement.
"I'm sorry, Raoul, I know this is not what you intended with this project," she said apologetically, but he just chuckled before being interrupted by a brief coughing fit.
"Surprises always come, and after a certain age, you cherish the good ones," he spoke sagely before looking at Luna. "Plus, I have to admit that I'm a bit curious about what her reaction is going to be."
"I can make funny faces if that entertains you," Luna delivered with utmost seriousness, only Harry knowing her well enough to tell that she was joking. The rest of the group looked on either in confusion or in amusement.
"I bet I can make more funny faces than you," Raoul responded with the same level of seriousness, and Luna's face immediately brightened with the challenge.
"As delightful as this would be for all of us," Lazar interrupted them as he tried to control a grin and failing, as he was clearly taken by Luna's energy. "Let's watch the movie, shall we?"
"No, Luna, they didn't use cows in medieval warfare," Harry spoke tiredly as they embarked on the train the following day. "It was a joke."
"But it seems very effective," she argued before frowning slightly. "Though I must admit I am rather glad if they didn't. That seems like a very cruel thing to do with a cow."
"You really enjoyed the movie, huh?" Harry asked with a small grin.
"It was very funny," Luna smiled widely before her gaze turned a bit confused. "Though there were some parts where everyone laughed, and I didn't know why. Oh, and I didn't like the sorcerer," she said with a frown.
"Tim?" Harry questioned, a bit surprisedly. It was one of the parts of the movie he found the funniest.
"Well, can you imagine how much funnier the scene would have been if Dumbledore was the sorcerer instead?" Luna asked him neutrally, and Harry choked a bit, startled.
"I don't really think of Dumbledore as funny," Harry said weakly, still recovering from her suggestion.
"Dumbledore was hilarious!" Luna protested, looking wide-eyed at her friend, more than a little horrified. "I bet that he'd find the most peculiar way to tell the heroes about the killer bunny."
"He was bad at that part," Harry spoke dryly, remembering the Horcrux hunt. Luna realized Harry had gone quiet and supported him by holding his hand and not letting go. He grinned a bit in appreciation, and even when he returned to normal, she didn't release her grasp. "I was happy to see you so happy with the movie. I hadn't seen you laugh that much since the baboon's backside comment."
"That was a funny comment," Luna chuckled, remembering that day. "But yes, I did like the movie, even if I didn't understand parts of it. I didn't know why they thought it would fit me that well, though."
"Well, from what I remember about living with Petunia and Vernon, most movies aren't that... ergh, different and abstract," he said, studiously avoiding the word strange, which seemed to be noticed by Luna, who looked at him warmly for a second before frowning confusedly.
"But why would they make things less different than that? It was quite good," she spoke with certainty as they reached the cabin on their train and sat down, and she reluctantly let Harry's hand go before sitting on opposite benches of the compartment.
"I don't know, but I reckon it's hard to make a movie that good," he suggested, thinking of the few movies he had seen in Privet Drive. His memory of Petunia's entertainment preferences was that they were much less funny and clever than the one they had just watched the day before.
"Everyone else on the catacombs seemed to like it a lot," Luna pondered before claiming resolutely. "I think they'd make an even better movie."
"Why do you think that?" Harry asked curiously.
"Well, Raoul could make a lot of funny faces," Luna argued, and Harry had to bite his tongue to stop himself from grinning at her innocent, enthusiastic claim, though by the way her face brightened, she had realized she was making Harry want to smile. "And a man that old that knows that many funny faces could probably come up with lots of different things to put in a movie. Though I still don't understand how a projector works," she frowned, but with a speculative gleam on her eyes much like the one she had on the Musée des arts et métiers. "It'd be fun to make a magical version."
"Fun? That's what you call fun?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You ride brooms for fun, and I have competitions about who can make the funniest faces with middle-aged French Muggles," Luna spoke calmly, with her silver eyes shining happily. "I don't think any of us are authorities on fun."
"I'm fun," Harry protested weakly.
"Of course you are," Luna said with an impossible amount of indulgent patience, tapping his leg jokingly, which made him glare a bit at her, though she only grinned at his frustration. "Are you excited to go to the Netherlands?" She asked with her usual level of excitement.
"I am," Harry smiled slightly at her happiness before thinking out loud. "Though I wish we explored the countryside a bit more. I liked Paris, but the big city can only have so much to show you."
"I'm very happy that you didn't have any major problems being in a large city like Paris after the first couple of days, Harry," Luna serenely said, with a small smile to match. "I hope that it'll help you to be less overwhelmed in London."
"Me too," he agreed before supporting his head on the window.
"I wonder how everyone is back at home," Luna said pensively, but Harry could read her without even looking at her.
"If you think I should write them already, you can just tell me, Luna," he spoke with a dry smirk that died once he imagined how Hermione must have been freaking out by now.
"Okay," Luna nodded when he looked back at her. "Please write to our friends in England before Mrs. Weasley accuses me of stealing her son from her grasp," she deadpanned, only her eyes denouncing her mischief.
"Alright," Harry laughed at that mental image. "I promise I'll write them all when we get to Amsterdam."
Luna nodded and then turned to the window to see the scenery begin to shift as the train finally moved from the station. Harry did the same, and they silently watched the French countryside go by, with only Luna quietly reciting her favorite scenes from Monty Python providing any sound during the trip.
"I brought a bone as a souvenir," Luna said quietly in the sudden silence, and Harry gaped at her, entirely unsure of whether or not that impish smile meant she was being honest or joking.