A/N: Sorry about the long delay, but the last saturday I had off from the overtime at work I had to spend cleaning the house and cooking for the coming week. Also, I just recently popped the question to my girlfriend of over two years and she agreed to marry me. Looking at a wedding in Fall of 2021 most likely if all goes to plan, so super stoked about that. Hope you enjoy the chapter, really start to see some threads of the plot I've been working towards start to come together and their repercussions. This is also the beginning of where this starts to become more and more AU from canon and more of my original plotline. I'd already changed some things like Harry not discovering Snape's old potions book. All I will says is that somebody has been using it and it will come into play eventually. As always please read and review!

P.S. If anybody would like to beta this story please message me. I would love the assistance!

Chapter 20: Nightmares of Futures Yet to Pass

Harry felt a burning in his scar, and as he did his dreams faded from that of his friends and girlfriend Luna to a room that looked to be inside Hogwarts judging by the large blocks of stone that made up the walls. All around him were a mix of objects that would never be seen together perhaps save an ancient hoarder's home that hadn't been touched in years. Piles upon piles that had formed sort of rows covered the entirety of a giant room and Harry found himself slowly walking through it. Eventually his gaze settled on a wardrobe that had a bust on top of it, and on top of the bust was a silver diadem with a blue sapphire in the middle of it shaped in an oval. Etched upon the surface were the words 'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure' which sounded like something a Ravenclaw would say. The burning pain became sharper and Harry snapped out of what he assumed was some memory of Voldemort and sat up in his bed rubbing his scar. He highly doubted that Voldemort was currently in the castle, but he began to wonder about the item.

Dumbledore had been slowly filling him in on Voldemort's youth and what had happened to him before he became the monster they were now so familiar with, and clearly this diadem was rather important to him. If it was somewhere in Hogwarts, it would make sense to discuss it with Dumbledore and see if they could perform a search to try and recover it before Voldemort was able to get it back. There was a small possibility that Voldemort had purposely instead of accidentally leaked the information, but something about that didn't seem right. He was a highly intelligent individual and if there really was a diadem why show your opponent (who currently lives in the place it's hidden) a dream of a valuable item. Even Voldemort would be hard-pressed to take Hogwarts on unless he had an army of his own. While he was certainly trying to amass one, those sorts of things took time and from what the Order of the Phoenix had been able to learn was that he wasn't there yet. Grabbing the invisibility cloak, he slipped it on and made his way to the owlery. In his pocket was a letter to Luna he'd scratched off quick as he could. The note was simple and asked if a silver diadem with a sapphire in the middle with the words 'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.' etched into it meant anything to her. Little did he know, that sort of question was one years of Ravenclaws had been waiting to hear.

After Hedwig flew off towards Ravenclaw tower to get Luna the message, Harry took the quiet time in early hours of the morning before the sun came up to think about how quickly his life had changed this summer. He still cared a great deal for Ron and Hermione, but Luna had rapidly overtaken him as his closest confidant in addition to being his girlfriend. If he had to name a best friend it would be her without hesitation. She was clever, funny, and pushed him when he needed to be pushed instead of letting him slide by. Because of her he'd made more of a concerted effort in even the classes he disliked and the results showed in his grades improving. He wasn't top of the class like Hermione, but he felt much more confident in what he was doing than any other time in his life. Luna's influence helped to spur him on in becoming the sort of man he wanted to be, and words could never quite express just how valuable that was.

Simply thinking about her was enough to keep a smile on Harry's face, but he immediately sobered up as he thought about the Malfoy problem. Peeves had confirmed a suspicion that Malfoy was working on some sort of task, and if he was right the task could actually be for Voldemort. Whether it had to do with the cursed necklace Katie Bell found Harry couldn't say for sure but he was positive this sudden interest in the vanishing cabinet wasn't a coincidence. He knew for a fact there was one in Borgin and Burke's and if this one in Hogwarts was its pair there was a slim chance it could bypass the wards that had protected Hogwarts from numerous threats for so long. The Room of Requirement functioned on different rules than the rest of the castle as well, it was possible that if the user (in this case Malfoy) wanted it to allow people through just the power of the room might be enough to make that actually happen. If Voldemort or some of his followers were unleashed upon a school full of students chaos would quickly ensue and many lives would be lost. With Luna the only other person truly believing Malfoy a genuine threat, it was up to them to find a way to stop him before things got out of hand.

This was where things got sticky though, and why this where he'd been stumped for a while now in trying to foil Malfoy's plot. They had no idea how to prevent him from doing what he wanted. Aside from a few classes Harry had a different schedule than Malfoy and had to be in classes sometimes when Malfoy wasn't required to be, and Luna was in her O.W.L. year and swamped with homework she had to work on so didn't have the free time to devote to it. Their meager attempts at spying on him had amounted to a fat lot of nothing, and if not for Peeves they wouldn't even know as much as they did now. Thinking of Peeves gave him an idea though, and it hit him like a ton of bricks as he thought about all the portraits lining the halls of Hogwarts. Most if not all of them had undying loyalty to the protection of the school, and he'd wager if he said that he was asking them to spy on Malfoy to help foil a plot by Voldemort they would be more than willing to help. They were already in place and communicate any messages to almost anywhere in the castle with little effort. It was an elegant solution if he could get them on their side. Maybe Luna would have an idea on how they could do that.

As he moved to get up from where he'd been sitting Hedwig returned with another hastily scrawled message on it from Luna. Her penmanship was sloppier than usual and Harry could only assume it was because he'd woken her up from dreams of her own and had wanted to go back to bed. Reading the letter from his girlfriend, he found himself laughing. 'First of all I don't care if you're my boyfriend the next time you wake me up in the dead of night I'm hexing you to pieces. Secondly, where on earth did you hear about that? It sounds like you're describing the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, but as far as I know it's been lost for centuries. Tons of Ravenclaw students have tried to find it over the years but so far I know nobody has been successful in that quest. Meet me before breakfast in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom so we can talk without being overheard. Nobody likes to go in there so we should be free to say what we want. P.S. The price of waking me up is going to be taken out in a backrub once a week for a month. Xoxo Luna' There was no faking a letter like that and he knew Hedwig had delivered his letter to the intended target as always. Backrubs for a month was a price he would gladly pay, it was hardly a hardship to spend more quality time with his amazing girlfriend.

It was only on Harry's walk back to Gryffindor tower in chilly early morning air that a thought him like a ton of bricks. The scrying bowl he'd gotten from that strange shop in Ottery St. Catchpole had the power to let him see either past, present, or future events. He imagined the drop of blood was so the bowl could focus on events specifically pertaining to him considering it showed Luna an old memory of her mother and her in the treehouse. Now granted, not knowing if it was the past, present, or future could prove problematic if there were no obvious indicators but he had a hope that if he used it in the Room of Requirement it could show him something important. They already knew the vanishing cabinet Malfoy was trying to fix was in there, and for all he knew that room piled with things could be an as of yet unexplored room that the Room of Requirement contained. Either way, a small bit of blood was a price he was willing to pay if it could get him some answers. With a renewed determination, he quickened his pace as he made for his dormitory.

Once he got back to the dormitories he fetched the rune-inscribed bowl from his trunk. He then quickly changed into school robes as the sky outside was just beginning to turn that pre-dawn grey, and in case this took longer than it did for Luna he wanted to make sure he was reasonably ready for the day. He grabbed his bag containing what he needed for classes and stuffed the bowl inside before heading off towards the seventh floor and the Room of Requirement. He asked the room as he paced in front of it to take him to a place where he could be alone. The room obliged and provided him with a room that contained a chair and a small table with a single candle upon it but with nothing else. A quick incendio lit the candle and he stared into the flickering flame for a full minute, trying to let it calm his thoughts. Once he felt reasonably centered, he put the bowl on the table and took out a small knife he used to cut his quills how he liked, setting it down for a moment and taking a deep breath. "I really hope this works," Harry said aloud, even though he knew that he was alone in the room save for his own thoughts. This was a bit of a last ditch effort in all honesty and he knew that, but he felt like he was on the cusp of finally getting some answers and if this bowl could help him find them he would do what he had to do.

Taking a deep breath to steel himself, Harry then grabbed the little knife and poked it into the pad of his left thumb, holding it over the glassy liquid of the bowl. One, two, three drops of blood fell and hit the surface of the liquid, causing it to ripple. He sucked his thumb clean and put the pen aside while he looked into it. "Please, show me what I need to know. This place is important both to me and to the future of those I love, give me your insight so I can do what I must." he said quietly. He had no idea if asking for a specific direction would help, or if the bowl already sensed his intent but it felt kind of cathartic in a way to ask for help from the inanimate object. Whether it helped or not, at least he felt like he was finally doing something, and that was enough to make him smile before he got pulled into a vision abruptly.

Shadows swirled before him before resolving themselves into an image of the same room that had contained the diadem, only this time he saw a shock of blond hair standing in front of a cabinet. There was a look of relief and triumph on his face as he stepped back, and other figures began to emerge from the vanishing cabinet. In this future he seemed to have succeeded in his task, and one by one followers of Lord Voldemort began to emerge. There was one face he recognized as belonging to the werewolf Fenrir Greyback, but the others he didn't recognize. There was what looked to be a set of twins judging by their facial features and eerily similar appearance, two men with blonde hair, and one that looked to be a man with a mask and his robes up concealing his features. Draco smiled as he saw his comrades emerged, and exited the room while holding onto the Hand of Glory (Harry recognizing it from his second year excursion to Borgin and Burke's). All that he could see was a strange darkness appearing around them before the image faded.

He thought that was done, but because he'd given three drops of blood the bowl wasn't finished yet, and sucked him into another event before he knew what was happening. This time it was the Room of Requirement with the same room, but everything was burning in flames shaped like monsters. He was on a broom, (giving him the vantage point of the room from above), and he was saving Malfoy of all people from burning alive in the flames while Luna zoomed ahead of him with Goyle. Crabbe was trying to manage a broom of his own, but kept running into the debris of the rows that were collapsing as they burned. As the flames roared higher he zoomed towards a small opening out into the hallway, just making it out before his broom's twigs burned to ash. Coughing up smoke, he looked back as the flames consumed Crabbe alive. Him, Luna, Goyle, and Malfoy all made it out, though they all looked the worse for wear. Harry watched as the Room of Requirement sealed itself shut, thus preventing the flames from spreading out further into Hogwarts.

Once again he started to come out of it before he was pulled again towards another (as much as he could surmise) possible future that had to do with him in the Room of Requirement. This time he was walking down what appeared to be a tunnel that opened into the Room of Requirement that had students who looked to be preparing for a battle in addition to a few adults smattered here and there. "With or without Harry here, the fight is happening today. No doubt whatever him and Luna are doing is important and we need to give him the time he needs to do what he must." Ginny said, looking at least one year, possibly two older than she was now.

As he exited the tunnel he turned back to help Luna out and he stood there as all eyes turned to him. "Umm, hello folks. Who's ready to take out the dark wanker Lord Voldemort?" Harry asked them, showing a bit of cheek in the face of a frightening prospect to try and lighten the rather dour mood of everyone in the room. That got a few laughs, and he saw some smiles as the gave him an appreciative nod and the Weasley twins let out a whoop. "On a more serious note...Voldemort should be mortal now. He'll try to get me one-on-one in a duel most likely to prove he's better. Let him try it...Luna and I came up with a plan that I think will work. She says it will, and since she's smarter than me I've learned to take her word for it." he told her with a fond smile, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek.

Luna beamed at the compliment and the kiss, smiling at all of them with her usual dreamy stare in place. "Nothing to worry about, I'm confident we'll win today. After all, the bad guys might win a few battles here and there but the good guys always win eventually. All we have to do is stay strong, and soon we'll have a free magical Britain to rebuild even better than what it used to be. This is an opportunity for all of us to forge a brighter tomorrow." she said, smiling at all of them before turning to Ginny and handing her the pair of dirigible plum earrings back that the redhead had returned to her so long ago. "Here Ginny, you've earned these back it's high time you wear them with pride. I have mine on. The Dirigible Duo back together, Voldemort won't stand a chance." she told her old friend.

Ginny realized what the gesture meant and that the girl was willing to start anew on the path of friendship with her and a few happy tears started to spill over as she took them and put them on. "Thank you, Luna. This is amazing, you're amazing...I won't let you down." she said, wiping away her tears as a hard and cold look appeared in her eyes. It was obvious to Harry even from ten feet away that this was a Ginny who would hold no quarter or take no prisoners in the coming battle, this was a Ginny who was out for blood. The thought sent chills down his spine, and this time when he felt himself start to slip out of the possible future he actually returned to his body.

It felt like he'd been in there for ages, but it couldn't have been much more than thirty seconds or so because he still had his breath and he tried to process everything he'd learned. Pulling up from the strange scrying bowl, Harry felt his heart hammering in his chest. This may not be the incontrovertible proof he needed to get Malfoy tossed out of Hogwarts but this was definitely nothing to sniff at either. He needed to talk to Dumbledore, and explain that the bowl had successfully shown Luna a memory of something that had happened so there's no reason to distrust it showing a possible future. If they took steps to prevent it, there was a chance the could prevent a disaster. It could also change the course of events in a way that made things worse for all involved, but Harry had to try. He checked his watch, frowning. He had thirty minutes before he was supposed to meet Luna. Was that enough time to go and find Dumbledore and talk to him? Possibly, if he hurried. If anybody could figure out this sort of thing it was most definitely Albus Dumbledore.

Harry guessed different candies until he hit on the right one after about three minutes of trying different ones. Today it was 'sugar quill' that was the lucky password and the stone griffin swirled as it let him up towards the Headmaster's office. He knocked on the door three times firmly, and then waited patiently for Dumbledore to arrive. It only took him about a minute before he came to the door, already in his school robes for he day, today's robes a lovely periwinkle with silver and gold constellations adorning it. "Ah, Harry. I would imagine if you're here at this time of the morning it's rather important, come in and have a seat." he told him, his piercing blue eyes twinkling like they always did but his face remaining serious as he sensed this wasn't a mere polite call to check in on how he was faring with his health. While part of one hand was blackened from where he had tried to put on the Gaunt family ring. Snape had succeeded in slowing the progress quite well, though, and he was in no immediate danger from the curse trying to kill him.

Once Harry was seated he took a seat behind his desk and regarded him with folded hands. "Go ahead and tell me what brought you here." Dumbledore suggested, waiting to hear the details of what had happened before deciding whether or not to punish Harry for being out of bed after curfew. If it was for a good reason he might let it slide, if not he would have to do some sort of punishment because he was Headmaster of the school. Perhaps a more lenient detention with Hagrid would provide an elegant solution if it was indeed simply an unplanned walk to get some fresh air or something like that. He was well aware that a dorm room full of other smelly teenage boys wasn't exactly a place one wanted to spend long amounts of time in. There was the occasional neat student among them, but overall that was more the exception than the rule in his personal experience. That was really neither here nor there and he focused on Harry, waiting for him to explain the reason for his visit.

"To be honest, sir I think showing you something will do a lot more to explain things than me telling you. Luna and I were browsing a shop in Ottery St. Catchpole where they sold magical items when this caught my attention. According to the shop owner it's very old, and shows the past, present, or future of a location in relation to a drop of blood that's released into the bowl. Luna had tried it once before and it seemed to work, tonight I tried it myself with three drops of blood," Harry explained, pulling out the bowl and setting it on the table in front of Dumbledore. It was back to its usual clear liquid state, with the carved runes easy for him to see that were what looked to be carved or chiseled into the stone that made the bowl.

After giving Dumbledore a chance to inspect the bowl he continued on with what he needed to tell the old Headmaster of Hogwarts. "All I know for sure is that it's very old, and that it seems to work exactly as advertised. Tonight, tonight I went to the Room of Requirement and I saw three visions. From what I surmised they were all of events from the future so at this point I guess you'd say possibilities, and two of them had to do with Malfoy. Sir, if this bowl is accurate in its reading he's attempting to let Death Eaters into the castle through a vanishing cabinet whose twin is in the Borgin and Burke's shop in Knockturn Alley. The bowl...the bowl showed him succeeding," he said, stopping to let that sink in and giving Dumbledore some quiet to think things over.

After a couple minutes he stopped looking at the bowl and regarded Harry closely. He once again got the feeling he was being x-rayed but met the old man's gaze so he would know that he wasn't making this up or exaggerating anything. Harry was telling the truth, plain and simple...it just wasn't something Dumbledore liked. Harry was well aware that Dumbledore believed in justice and that judging someone based on possible futures of things that hadn't even happened was an extremely dangerous thing to do and was on shaky moral ground at best. "Harry, I believe you have the best of intentions, but I cannot arrest Draco for a crime he hasn't even committed yet. I hope you understand me and really listen when I tell you that believing in someone's innocence until they are proven guilty is of the utmost importance. Did you ever stop to consider that the bowl showing you this and you telling me is what sets Malfoy on the path to actually carrying out whatever it is you think he's trying to accomplish?" he asked, giving Harry a moment to think on that matter. He wasn't trying to tell Harry was wrong to be worried, but he needed him to realize that acting in this way could cause more harm than good. Perhaps even cause more harm than whatever terrible thing he was trying to stop to begin with.

"Maybe your distrust is what drives him to actually follow through on something he doesn't want to do. Or perhaps it's a simple case of this is something that needs to happen regardless of who does it, and the bowl sees it as a pivot point for the future that could swing things to either the good or the bad if pressure is applied correctly. Tampering with time is a fool's errand, and even though these bowls functioned properly from what I know of them there was a reason they stopped making them. It's because we aren't meant to know what's going to happen." he said calmly, hoping that this was something Harry could understand and heed his advice on the subject. Dumbledore knew he wasn't perfect, but he'd lived a long time and that gave him some perspective on this type of thing. You didn't get to be his age by messing with things like fate, or trying to go back in time to alter the course of history to suit your purposes. You could have the best of intentions and still wind up ruining things irreparably.

Hearing Dumbledore out, Harry nodded as he remembered his own experience with the time-turner in his third year and how some parts of that night they couldn't stop from happening. "I understand where you're coming from sir, believe me I do. I'm not trying to play God I just...well, I thought I should warn you in case this does happen. Maybe with some time to prepare in advance we can prevent a larger disaster from occurring." he told him, before checking his watch. He had about ten minutes left before he needed to meet Luna. "If that's all sir, I really do need to go and meet my girlfriend. We were going to talk briefly before we had our breakfast," he told him, not wanting to be rude but he did have a scheduled meeting with her he didn't want to miss.

Dumbledore let out a lighthearted laugh at the last part, it wasn't often people talked to him like that and it did him good to be reminded his opinions and concerns were no important than somebody else's. "Almost done, Harry, almost done. Two things I want to suggest. First off, I'd like you to think long and hard about the archrival relationship you have with Malfoy. He's your polar opposite in many ways and because of that you two are destined to face off. My only advice is, if you can, don't go immediately to drawing wands. See if you could talk to him and get through, I don't think he's a bad person merely somebody who has a lot of expectations from his father he feels he needs to live up to so that he can prove himself," he explained in hopes Harry could see things from Malfoy's perspective. His mother too afraid to speak out against the father, the father a follower of Voldemort who expects him to also walk that path regardless of his personal feelings on the matter. It was a tough situation for anybody.

Even though it felt like trying to swallow horrid tasting cough syrup or that skele-gro he had to use in his second year Harry nodded. He knew that there had to be some good in everybody. Nobody started off just completely rotten all the way through, at least not that he could recall. Even Voldemort had just been an orphaned child at some point, he just wasn't lucky enough to find good friends along the way like he had. "I can't promise how successful I'll be, sir but I will promise to try. Even people like Malfoy deserve the benefit of the doubt sometimes." Harry begrudgingly admitted.

"The second thing I want to say is a simple request not to use this bowl except in the direst of circumstances. This is not only extremely rare and valuable but incredibly dangerous. If Voldemort were to get his hands on something like this who knows what sort of terrible things he would use it to do. Keep it secret, and talk to no one other than Miss Lovegood or myself about its existence. Am I understood, Harry?" Dumbledore asked him, eyes locking onto his once more. "If I hear about this bowl from anybody but the two of you I will confiscate it and lock it up where it can no longer be a danger to anyone," he warned him. He didn't like playing hardball with Harry as he was so fond of the boy but this was too serious a matter to treat it as anything but an extremely serious matter. This could change people's lives, get people killed, and even allow Voldemort to have foreknowledge if he were to somehow get his hands on it. Even a Voldemort without that advantage was a nigh impossible opponent to defeat, and he shuddered to think what he could do with that sort of weapon in his arsenal.

After thinking about the well-reasoned argument Dumbledore was giving him and the trust he was placing in him by allowing him to keep the article Harry couldn't help but nod. It made sense all around in his opinion, and he knew from the little he and Hermione did that trying to tamper with time was exactly as he called it 'a fool's errand'. They had tried to change the events of one night and nearly got attacked by Dementors, because they didn't realize Harry was the person saving himself at first Dementors nearly sucked Sirius' soul from his body because they kept waiting for someone else, and even though they knew how Pettigrew escaped try as they might they could not prevent him from doing so in spite of their best efforts. Freeing Sirius was still a worthwhile endeavor they did complete, but the two of them weren't able to change nearly as much as they thought. Thinking about saving Sirius reminded him once again of his blunder in being tricked by Voldemort, and his godfather dying in the effort to rescue him from the clutches of the Death Eaters. Even when thoroughly convinced he was saving a loved one he got played by someone who was willing to exploit his love for others. Harry knew he needed to view situations from a more emotionally detached perspective so he could think clearly, it was just a difficult trick to master. More than anything it would take time to teach himself to think things through rationally, and even with Luna's helping him he thought that time was rapidly running out.

Pulling himself from his thoughts he refocused on Dumbledore. The old man was doing everything he could to help prepare him for the fight with Voldemort, including showing him private memories he'd collected that pertained to Voldemort as a young boy so he could better understand and defeat the potent threat he posed to all life in Britain. It was the least he could do to heed his advice on something as dangerous as a scrying bowl. "I think I do understand, sir. And, I must say I agree with you overall. I'll refrain from using it, but in exchange all I ask is that you take Malfoy more seriously. He is at the very least a real enough threat for him to be showing up on a scrying bowl, and I don't think that's something to take lightly. Let me know if there's any way you think of for me to try and help him, sir." he said, inclining his head before excusing himself. "Thank you for your time, but I really shouldn't keep Luna waiting any longer," he told him with a short laugh, before promptly exiting the office.

Checking his watch as he left the office, Harry decided to take some shortcuts he knew so he could get there on time. He made it on the dot but only just, and saw Luna waiting there for him. Before they started talking about serious things he leaned over and gave her a kiss before wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. "Tonight his been...well, rather more busy than most of my nights. Let me fill you in on everything before we go into the great hall." he said, and lowered his voice to a whisper as he recounted everything that had transpired. He started with the nightmare about the silver diadem with the sapphire that could possibly have been Voldemort recalling a memory of hiding something in Hogwarts, and then explained all the way through to the possible futures of Crabbe dying in the fire, Death Eaters being let into the castle, and a battle seemingly taking place at Hogwarts or nearby as a small army prepared itself in the Room of Requirement. It was a lot to take in, and by the end of it he was rather out of breath since he'd rushed through it all. Because he'd been more busy tonight he was famished and was eagerly awaiting the appearance of breakfast.

"Harry, look at me," Luna told him, putting her hand on his cheek and turning his face so he was looking her in the eyes instead of his gaze darting towards the still empty tables in the Great Hall. As of yet nobody else had arrived for lunch since they were rather early. "First off, I think you did the right thing by going to Dumbledore. He's lived a long life and usually has excellent advice. Saying all that, I disagree with him on not doing anything about the Malfoy situation. We can't see the future, but I think the scrying bowl shows the path people are currently set on unless somebody tries to change it. I've been researching them all year and am a fair hand at ancient runes, so we'll call it an educated guess on my part. I think we should have a Slytherin who's not allied with the Dark Lord spy on him, and there's two that come to mind who could pull it off." she said, a small smile appearing on her face as the gears turned rapidly in her head and she felt something click into place. The image of Luna plotting something was rather frightening, and even though it wasn't directed at him Harry felt some faint chills running down his spine at the sight of it.

They had been talking lowly, but Luna chose that moment to lean forward and actually whisper directly into his ear so nobody could read her lips if they were trying to. "Personally, I think it's time you had a conversation with Daphne Greengrass. Her family is what's called a Grey in the Wizengamot, which means they're the neutral party between the Light and the Dark. I think if you present her with a reasoned argument she might help you. She thinks Malfoy gives Slytherin a bad reputation and if all she's doing is spying and relaying information, it shouldn't betray she's helping the 'Gryffindor Golden Boy' as she calls you. But, and this is important Harry...you have to be extremely polite and respectful. She's a pureblood from a Noble family and protocols are important to her. I can teach you what you need to know to meet those requirements, and honestly you should learn it anyways because you're from an ancient and noble family yourself on your father's side." she explained, before pulling back and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Also I want you to seriously think about the fact not all Slytherins are bad. Daphne is known as the 'Ice Queen' of Hogwarts, but that's mainly because she remains aloof from most disagreements and keeps a calm exterior. I would wager she's a highly trained Occlumens, and that is what allows her to remain so calm. You of all people know how difficult that is. Also, it's possible she could help you with your Occlumency if you somehow manage to become friends. So please, please, please, don't both this up...it's such a lovely plan." she told him, patting him on the cheek before grabbing his hand. Breakfast hadn't appeared but other early risers were starting to file in and she was hungry as well.

Harry couldn't help but think about how well the House of Ravenclaw suited his girlfriend. She was smart, but it was how she weighed options that truly set her apart from a lot of the other students in that house. He'd seen a different Ravenclaw rat the DA out last year and had a nasty trap subtly set by Hermione cover her face in boils in the shape of the word Sneak. Not only that, but she had been one to believe the propaganda being fed to her by the Daily Prophet, Umbridge, and Fudge. Luna was of a much different breed of Ravenclaw, the kind who weighed their options for herself and tried to weigh the consequences before acting. He knew that she had been bullied badly, but she never let her reactions get out of hand even when it made her life difficult. Remaining calm with a 'grace under fire' sort of demeanor that she employed with her dreamy looks was something he respected greatly about her. "A Slytherin who might be able to help, that's a new one. I do realize I'm prejudiced towards them because of Malfoy, and I'd be happy to learn whatever you can teach me about the proper protocols so I don't bungle it up. Thanks for your help Luna, now let's go find our places and tuck in. I'm starving!" he said, giving her a wide smile before following her into the Great Hall.