Harry stared incredulously at the smiling old man before him. He was so shocked that, for a solid minute his brain forgot how to form words to express the sheer confusion and anger it felt: all he could manage was an agonised 'mmmhhmmhm'.

'Harry', Dumbledore said calmly peering at him over his half moon spectacles, 'don't you think you're being rather dramatic about all this?'

Harry's brain had begun to work again, but all it could produce were a number of swear words, which he wisely decided to not utter, opting instead to transmit his fury by staring intensely into Dumbledore's eyes.

'My dear boy, consider it a favour to Miss Lovegood and Miss Weasley for helping you with the DA last year.'

Harry finally managed speech. 'But-but', he spluttered, 'am I not supposed to be training to defeat Voldemort in these sessions? Is that not the reason that you decided to start private lessons with me this year?'

'Yes, that was my original intention', said Dumbledore smoothly. 'However, I have decided that training for the Lovegood Gauntlet is a far more important use of your time, and will probably be useful for defeating Voldemort in the long run.'

'Probably?'

'Eh, we'll see' said Dumbledore chuckling irritatingly. 'And to answer your question, the reason you have to do this is for the sake of love. Is there anything more important to fight for?'. Yes, thought Harry. My dignity, for one thing.

'But why do I even have to join in?', asked Harry desperately. 'I'm not a Weasley!'

'Ah yes, but you have been practically adopted by them: I communicated with the Lovegood ancestors and they think you have been so integrated into their family you should be considered one of Ginny's brothers, or at least a cousin.'

Harry scowled. The first thing he would do when facing those pesky ancestors in Hogsmeade would be to wring their stupid necks.

/

'Look Luna, it's not your fault. I want to do this for you, I really do.'

Luna looked miserably at her girlfriend. Ginny was lifting weights with a pained expression on her face; Luna watched as she lifted a weight, her face changing from pain to outright agony as she raised it higher. 'Look', Ginny managed to spit out in between heavy breathing, 'I've already started to improve-' the weight clanged back onto the rail '-last time I could only hold it for second: now I can do two.'

'Look Ginny, it's so lovely that you're training for this awful gauntlet my father insists on having. I can't tell you how wonderful I think you are for doing it, but don't you think…. don't you think you should play to your strengths a bit? You know, maybe practice flying on your broom or something'.

'No Luna, really I think weightlifting is the way to go', said Ginny seriously. ' Dumbledore suggested it, we're all really into it, even Mum. She's bought protein shakes for the whole family and everything, we're all trying to bulk'. As if to prove her point, Ginny put her weights down and began to eat what looked like half a rotisserie chicken she had brought as a snack. 'I've got to hit my protein goals', she said when Luna looked at her questioningly.

They were in a lesson with Dumbledore, or to put it more accurately, they, the entire Weasley family up to seventh cousins removed and Harry were all having a lesson with Dumbledore in the state of the art gym (in the Room of Requirement). Luna could feel the burning gaze of the Boy-Who-Lived burning a hole straight through the back of her head; determined not to look at him and feel the crushing guilt of forcing him into this whole debacle she focused instead upon Bill and Mrs Weasley who were doing squats. When they saw her looking, they waved merrily, squatting to the beat of Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, which was loudly blasting through speakers in the wall.

Although the entire situation was horrendous, Luna counted herself lucky for the kindness of the Weasley family in this time of crisis. Instead of growing angry with her, as they would have been perfectly justified in doing, they had become furious with Luna's ancestors for holding Luna and Ginny's relationship hostage at the risk of hauntings if they did not take part in the gauntlet. The ancestors, the Weasley family reasoned, had a lot of explaining to do: in the months before the challenge the entire family decided to get ripped to teach them a lesson. As she counted Ginny's reps for her, Luna fondly watched Mr Weasley on the rowing machine, an enormous neon orange sweat band on his head. It said in large black letters PUMP IT, and he seemed to be taking its advice literally.

Of course, Harry was angry at her usurpation of his lessons with Dumbledore as well as the fact that he had to take part, something which twinged painfully on Luna's conscious. However, as Ginny had pointed out, it wasn't as though having really toned muscles would be bad for his fight with Voldemort; in fact, it would probably help him. Her gaze came back to focus on Ginny, who by now had demolished the rotisserie chicken and was pumping weights with renewed vigour. Luna's heart gave a little twang of love at her girlfriend's blatant attempt to impress her. Perhaps, she thought, this gauntlet wouldn't be so bad after all; it could be a bonding experience.

/

Voldemort sat staring moodily into his goblet of wine. Pettigrew was shuffling anxiously at his feet, holding a plate of canapes with trembling arms. The Dark Lord took one and chewed: in the silence of the Malfoy Manor, the sounds of his mastication were uncomfortably loud.

'I dislike smoked salmon, Pettigrew', he hissed icily after swallowing the morsel. 'You know I only eat caramelised mushroom tartlets.'

'I'm sorry my Lord, they ran out in Tesco-'

'I tire of your incompetence. Do not make this mistake again.'

Lucius and Narcissa sat in the corner of the room, shivering. They looked ill: both had lost weight since Voldemort had come to stay and were taking on the nervous, twitchy look of rats scurrying before a sleeping cat. Lucius was anxiously peeling the smoked salmon off of his miniature bagel with the frenzied movement of an obsessive as Narcissa stared blankly at the wall, her plate of food untouched.

'See, Pettigrew? Even the Malfoys disapprove of your poor choice of canapes.'

Lucius jumped at the mention of himself, mumbling apologies.

Suddenly, the door to the Malfoy Great Hall swung open with a loud crash: all four occupants stared at the figure in the doorway.

'Darling, the paintwork', whispered Narcissa, staring unhappily at the cracked paint where Draco had smashed to door. He stood, pale-faced, then turned to look at Voldemort.

'Lord', he said in an ominous murmur. 'I think that Harry Potter is up to something.'

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I certainly enjoyed writing it: I'm currently considering whether to have Ginny Weasley morph into full gym-bro or not. Please follow and review if you liked it, I really appreciate every bit of feedback I get