Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I likely never will.
Hey, everybody! Thanks for the reviews. I put my replies up here. I don't think I have anything specific to say other than those. Oh and, especially anybody who has a long reply here, please read what I wrote you because I really think I cleared some stuff up with it. Enjoy the chapter.
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Replies:
Rini Sayian-jin—Thanks.
Katie Lupin Black—Thanks. My plan wasn't necessarily to make them fierce persay, just in control, or rather, to give Luna control. Some people think she's being off character but it's all part of my master plan.
Oxi-Nu—Thanks.
Ben—Okay, Ben. I give you a high five for speaking your mind, but if you're reading this I've got a couple things to say. Firstly, I think the "badly written" comment was just plain snarky. I have a few grammar errors but I think you threw that in just because you could. Secondly, I kept Luna how she appeared in book five pretty much up 'til this point. As for what's going on now, it's integral to plot. Harry needs a Dumbledore, he lost his faith in the Dumbledore he had at the end of fifth year, so Luna's being his new one for the time being.
HPBeatles—Thanks. Hope this was soon enough, I've been swamped with schoolwork this week.
MatureImmaturity—Thanks. I know I've got to fix Quidditch. I've spelled it wrong in every story. At the moment, I haven't got time to re-upload ever chapter of every story with the word "Quiditch" in it.
Serious Prankster—Thanks. Don't worry, Luna can't control everything. Besides, she's getting a little help as far as some of her control (though some of it is just her Luna-ness). I'm a control freak and have a tendency to writer overly strong females.
Civenus—Thanks. Interesting penname by the way.
Wytil—Thanks. I don't think the serious stuff is over. I'm not quite sure. I suppose this part of the therapy might be called "group activities?" I always thought Luna would be a great unofficial therapist for Harry (the original reason I decided to pair them together as a couple).
DarkLuna—Thanks. Yes, I know that Salazar and Godric used to be friends. I know people like that. They care about each other but leave them alone together for more than 5 minutes and they bicker like cats and dogs. Honestly, in my house there's 4 of us all equally control freaks and equally sure we're right all the time. Never a dull moment… *sigh* I won't give anything in the story away by saying anything now though.
KoontzReaderz—Thanks so much.
Dnd4ever—I think you were complimenting me, but I have no clue what a DI is and what can take out a lot knees in boot camp? (I'm afraid I don't pay quite as much attention as I should when my dad talks about marines or boot camp)
DMP—Thanks!
ThundeR_CN—Luna's got some faults, just not all of them are showing up just yet. As far as her being Luna and not Dumbledore, you're missing the point. She's supposed to be Dumbledore in these chapters. She's supposed to be like the Dumbledore that was in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and even Harry Potter in the Chamber of Azkaban. Basically, she's being Dumbledore before Harry lost faith in him. He needs that steadying force in his life. At the moment, she's the one providing it. Soon he'll realize she's not that kind of person either, though hopefully he won't lose faith in her over it. I can never tell, because I'm never sure what I'm going to write until my fingers start flying across the keys. Oh, and as to her being a Mary-Sue, generally the other characters tend to like the Mary-Sues because they're perfect. Luna isn't perfect in this (though she's got some great abilities) but at the moment, it appears everybody (even Harry) hates her.
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CHAPTER 66: Not Staying Here
"Get out of my face, Potter," snarled Malfoy.
Harry dropped the hand immediately. Ew, Malfoy! He'd thought Malfoy was Luna! He shuddered. Harry backed up a few inches to get away from Malfoy and crashed into somebody else. "Luna?"
There was a sigh. "No, Potter."
"Sorry, Ernie." He removed himself from Ernie and sat a few inches away. He figured sit still and eventually the lights will come on and you won't crash into anybody.
Then somebody crashed into him. "Oof!" Harry felt all the air go out of him.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, fine, Terry, just get off my stomach."
"Sure."
Finally it seemed like everyone must have been sitting still, because there were no more groans, thumps, or shrieks of pain.
Harry stayed sitting where he was. "Luna? I can't see you. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
He heard the sound of somebody standing up and walking.
Luna went over and found one of the boys, touching his face with her hand. "Terry?"
"Yeah, Luna?"
"Stand carefully and come this way. Grab my hand."
"I can't see your hand."
"But you know where it is. It's on your face."
Terry found her arm and grabbed on to it.
Luna carefully picked her way to one of the walls, leading Terry close behind. "Stay here."
He nodded, forgetting she couldn't see him.
Luna got on her hands and knees and started across the floor again. She found somebody's ankle. "Give me your hand."
The person whose ankle she had reached out, trying to find her hand. She grasped his hand and pulled him to his feet. She reached and found his face. "Ernie?"
"Yeah."
"Follow me." She carefully led her way to a different wall and told him to stay there. She found the next boy by similar method. She was crawling on the floor searching and ran into Draco's back with her head. "Ow." She rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"You okay, Lovegood?" asked Malfoy.
"Just peachy. Give me your hand and stand up."
"What? Can you see in the dark?"
"No, but I can move without tripping over people."
"I can't see you to give you my hand."
"I've got your ankle. Just put your hand on your ankle."
"I can't see my ankle, twit."
"There's a certain sense about the body. Even if you can't see them, you know where your other parts are."
Draco reached out and found his ankle and Luna's hand. They stood up and she carefully led him over to the wall. She told him to stay put and went to hunt out the last boy. Fortunately, this time there were no other bodies to trip over. "Harry," she called softly.
"Right here."
She found his hand and took him over to the last free wall. She told him to stay put. Now the middle of the room had five blankets and five pillows, with no logical explanation as to how they got there. She handed them out to the boys and kept one pillow and one blanket for herself and curled up in the middle of the room.
When Harry woke up, he couldn't see anything, but he had the distinct impression that someone was very nearby.
"Potter," hissed Malfoy.
Harry sat up. What would Malfoy possibly want?
Terry whispered, "Luna's driving us crazy! None of us can take much more of it. We're going to break out of here."
"How?" asked Harry.
"Don't know," said Ernie, just to the left of Terry, "but the four of us together should be able to come up with something."
"There are no windows and only 1 door. It has to be our way out," Terry said logically.
"Since we don't have our wands to get us out, we'll have to do this without magic. That's where you come in, Harry," Ernie said.
"Why me?" asked Harry, sitting up.
"Because you're the only one of us who's ever lived in a house without magic," Malfoy explained as though it was obvious.
Which it was.
"Muggle methods for opening locked doors," Harry muttered, thinking of what he wouldn't give for one of Fred and George's lock-picks. "Lock-picks, bobby-pins, credit cards. Nobody's got any of those one them, have they?"
"No," Malfoy said shortly, wondering just what a credit card was.
"Give me a minute to think. Where's the door?" asked Harry.
"You're leaning against it."
"Oh. Right." Harry thought. "Do you think we could break it?"
"Probably not, definitely not without waking Luna," Terry said.
A most inelegant snore came from the center of the room and the boys stifled their laughter in their hands. All four of them.
"I'd say she's pretty sound asleep," Ernie said.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, when Justin snores like that…We all tried to wake him because he was snoring so loud the rest of us couldn't sleep. We were going to tell him to go sleep in the common room, but we couldn't wake him up. We shouted at him, threw cold water at him, and we tried everything. Nothing worked. In the end we just dragged out to the common room and left him sprawled on the couch. Didn't wake up the whole time."
They all laughed again, though Draco cut his laugh short when he realized he was laughing with sworn enemies.
"Should we give the door thing a try?" asked Ernie. "It couldn't hurt.
The last statement proved to be wrong.
They each got up carefully in turn (the other three each backing away from the door) and rammed it their shoulder, taking it at a running start.
Luna didn't wake, but all that was gained were four sore shoulders.
Terry sighed. "Maybe we're going about this all wrong."
"Maybe we should all try together?" asked Harry.
"Might help," Ernie said, not sounding as though he particularly liked the idea.
They all stood up together. "On three?" asked Terry.
"One…" Ernie started.
"Two," Harry said.
"Three," finished Draco.
They all ran and hit at the same time (it was a rather large door) and didn't even make a crack in it. By silent agreement they all sat down for a breather.
"That…is obviously…not…working," huffed Ernie.
"What's the lock look like?" asked Terry. "Anybody remember?"
"No."
"Not me."
"I do. It was just an ordinary lock that you stick a key in and it can lock and unlock from either side as long as you have the key for it," Draco said glumly.
"So that's no good."
Harry went back to concentrating. How many times had he escaped the cupboard under the stairs? Too many to count when he'd been locked in without food as a punishment. How had he done it? He blinked. "Hinges!"
"Ssh!" warned Terry. "What about hinges?"
"If this door has got regular hinges, the kind connected to the door and the wall with a pin them…" Harry started.
"Then if we take out the pins, we can open the door," Draco finished.
"It's worth a shot," Terry said.
Not sure which side the hinges were on, Draco and Harry took one side and Terry and Ernie took the other.
Harry and Malfoy's side had the hinges. "I'll get the top, you get the bottom." Harry felt along the seam of the door, trying to find the hinge. Success! Harry found the pin and tried to move it. It was stuck. "I've got it, but it's stuck."
"Same here," grunted Draco.
At last both pins pulled free. "Ha!" they exclaimed marveling that it had actually worked and falling backwards. They both hit the floor with sound thuds.
Ernie and Terry found them and pulled them to their feet. They approached the door and Harry wedged his fingers between the edge of the door and the wall and started to pull. It wasn't easy since the other side was locked and there was no hinge. Inch by inch he pulled, it was about 3 and half inches and a small beam of light was shining through.
A sharp voice cut the air. "Going somewhere?"
Harry and his accomplices froze. So much for their escape!
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Hope you liked it! Review. I'll try and update as soon as I can. I'm only a few paragraphs into the next chapter but I think you'll be surprised.