Chapter 44: Little Loony Luna

It took Harry until the evening of that day until he remembered that yes, he had a smartphone and yes, messenger apps work on that damned thing.

They had returned to Potter manor after they finished their shopping trip where they had dinner before Harry excused himself, his exhaustion slowly taking over. So, he retired to the room he got assigned – his room…his very own place! – and began to rummage in his bag for his night clothes when his phone fell out. He blinked a few times before he hit his forehead with his flat hand. How could he have forgotten about that?

Once he stopped cursing under his breath for his obliviousness, he grabbed the phone, jumped on his bed and quickly installed the needed app. When he opened the app, he already saw the waiting friendship request – he gave Lucifer the alias she would find him under before he left – and had to snort. The fallen girl, how unimaginative. Anyway, he had an archangel to chat with and so he quickly typed in a greeting before putting the phone aside for a moment to get dressed for bed. A quick trip to the bathroom later and he already had an answer waiting.

"Took you long enough!" was the retort.

Harry could only snort at the apparent impatience. "Already missing me?"

"You wish…."

"Maybe!" Harry typed with a broad grin.

It seemed to Harry that Lucifer didn't know how to react to that since she changed the topic.

"What took you so long?" was the question.

With that, Harry sat down and told her about what happened once he was back in the alley and whatever else happened afterwards. They talked for some time when a knock echoed through the room. The door opened to reveal Loki who looked worriedly over to Harry.

"Hey, everything alright?" he asked Harry while walking over to Harry.

Harry on the other hand quickly told Lucifer that he had a visitor before he placed the phone on the bed next to him. Loki rose an eyebrow when he saw that.

"So, your laptop got fried by the wards on the cage, but your phone is still working?" he asked in disbelief.

Oops! Harry looked at Loki sheepishly for being caught with the lie.

"Yeah, actually…," he said while looking at his hands in his lap. "I didn't want to admit it earlier not to worry you even more, but it was Lucifer who destroyed the laptop when I annoyed him too much with it."

Harry looked up with an apologetic smile.

"You annoyed Lucifer?" Loki asked incredulously.

"Hey, I was in that damned cage for over a week, I was bored!" Harry retorted.

"You…I don't know what to say," Loki said while throwing his arms up in bewilderment. "I'm just glad that you're alright. You are alright, aren't you? Don't lie to me!"

"I am alright, Loki. Lucifer didn't touch me or do anything to me, he just smashed my laptop. Looks like he isn't a fan of brass music," Harry told him with a grin, no actually he found out that Lucifer was more the classic music type and surprisingly Medieval Rock though Harry had to admit that it was somewhat soothing.

That made Loki laugh. "Only you would even think about annoying Lucifer with such music. However, I suggest you sleep soon you look exhausted."

Right at that moment, the mobile vibrated, and the display showed a new message. Before Harry could do anything, Loki had snatched the phone and was reading the message. Harry pouted but didn't say anything, knowing very well that it would be futile to try and stop Loki and since they hadn't written about anything that would give away the identity of the person who was corresponding with Harry it wasn't as if there was any reason to try.

"Girlfriend?" Loki asked with a mischievous grin.

"Not in the way you think!" Harry exclaimed and embarrassedly tried to get his phone back but to no avail.

With horror, he watched how Loki wrote something and sent the message.

"You hurt Harry and you'll wish that I never find you!" Loki wrote.

It took a moment, but soon the reply showed. "Who are you?"

"Name's Loki and Harry's under my protection so consider this my one and only warning," Loki typed away.

"Should I feel threatened?"

Loki laughed upon that and threw the mobile to Harry who swiftly caught it.

"I like her," he told the boy with a snicker.

Harry quickly checked what they had written and sighed in relief when he saw that it was only Loki's protectiveness showing. That was also what he wrote Lucifer.

"Anyway, I just came to check on you, but now I leave you to get some sleep," Loki said while ruffling Harry's hair much to the boy's disgruntlement before he left the room.

However, Loki was right. While he already had been exhausted at the end of dinner, he now was nearly falling asleep where he sat and so after telling Lucifer that he would go to sleep, he did just that and was out cold the second his head hit the pillow.

The last week of the holidays was spent with an impromptu trip to America after Neville and Hermione had asked for permission, the twins, unfortunately, having been grounded for sneaking off. Harry got himself a new laptop, well more like a tablet with a keyboard, and when Hermione learned that yes those would also work in Hogwarts – why she hadn't realized that until now was anyone's guess since Harry hadn't really hidden his – she promptly wanted one too, so much better for keeping one's notes organized.

In the evenings Harry would get out his new tablet and write with Lucifer until he was so tired that he was nearly falling asleep over their conversation. One might wonder how they could fill so much time with simply writing with each other and how they had so many topics to talk about, but it was surprisingly easy. They spoke of magic, books, movies…whatever struck their fancy at that moment and it never got boring.

Lucifer had to admit that humanity developed so many fascinating things that she doubted it would become boring anytime soon, especially since she got access to the internet. Sure, she had read books before that the demons brought her but with the internet she had so much more information she could read up on that, even with the higher speed of time in the cage, she wouldn't be able to read it all. Science and Physics in especially were so complex that it took all her attention as not to miss anything and it made her even more surprised that humanity – even if they were only just beginning – understood the laws of the universe though they put it into a different language than she was used to. She also talked with Harry about it, and while the boy didn't understand much of the maths behind it, he had a surprisingly good grasp of the concepts. So no, talking with Harry never got boring.

However, now Neville, Sam, Hermione, Harry and Loki were sitting in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express, eagerly awaiting the new school year and whatever mischief it would bring while Puck was sitting on the racks and munching away on some berries, the Snitch lazily hovering next to him. Hedwig had been staying with Fawkes and Michael since they went to Amerika the last week neither wanting to fly there nor being teleported, so she was still at Hogwarts. The twins in the meantime had wandered off to visit their year mates whom they haven't seen all summer.

It was now about fifteen minutes ago that they had said goodbye to their families and friends – surprisingly even Dean, Alastair and Mary had come, though maybe not so surprising since Sam was leaving for Hogwarts as well – and about five minutes since they left the train station. They were talking about what they expected to learn this year when a confident knock pulled them from their conversation and towards the door which revealed a young girl – probably a year below them – with hair even blonder than Malfoy's, wearing a bright blue dress and a bottle cap necklace. She had silvery eyes that seemed unfocused and was carrying a magazine.

"Hey, is this the Fun Vee? I was told I would find it here," she said in a soft dreamy tone.

Everyone except Harry stared at her as if she lost it. Harry, on the other hand, started to laugh uproariously once he fully progressed the question.

"Most certainly," he finally said when he calmed down again. "Leave morals and rules at the door, and you're welcome to join us!"

Now it was Harry whom everyone was looking at, questioning his already barely existing sanity.

"What?" Harry asked when he saw that. "Anyone who can aptly quote a good movie and especially Iron Man is alright in my eyes."

"When did you watch Iron Man? Without me!" Loki growled.

"With Fenrir when you were off to hell knows where," Harry huffed.

"A nice movie and besides, morality is an illusionary construct created by society and what they think is right or wrong. Rules and laws are made to enforce those morals," the girl replied with a soft smile. "That doesn't mean that we should kill each other though, that would really be a bad idea and such a waste of fun."

That made Loki laugh. "You're right, I like her!" he brought out between bouts of laughter.

"Thank you. My name is Luna Lovegood," she told them with a bright smile while sitting down on the floor in front of the now closed door. "It is nice to see that the Wrackspurts are leaving you all alone, but with how positive you are it is no wonder."

"What are Wrackspurts?" Hermione asked curiously. "I never heard of them."

"Oh, they are invisible and tend to fly in people's ears and make their brains go all fuzzy. Nasty little buggers but positive thinking keeps them away."

Hermione blinked a few times but didn't comment any further.

"So you're a first year?" Harry asked, receiving a nod from Luna. "What house do you want to go to?"

Luna seemed to think about that for a moment while Puck swung down from the rack, swiftly landed in her lap and offered her a few of his berries.

"Thank you," she told the Demiguise before popping the berries in her mouth. "They are delicious."

Harry, on the other hand, was surprised over Puck's behaviour. Until now the Demiguise only deemed Loki and Fenrir beside him worthy enough to acknowledge them not to mention going anywhere near them.

"Puck seems to like you," he said. "Normally he doesn't go near anyone."

Luna hummed lowly. "Originally, I wanted to go to Ravenclaw," she suddenly confessed ignoring everything that just happened much to the other's confusion. "But then I was told that it is full of Nargles and that Gryffindor is mostly protected from them, so I'm thinking about joining you in your house."

"Okay, now you lost me completely, what are Nargles?" Hermione questioned confused.

"Naughty creatures, they steal your things and hide them, but up to now I always got my things back. They also tend to call me Loony and other nasty names," Luna said with a shrug.

"I can't imagine why," Hermione muttered under her breath but Harry, who sat next to her, heard her nonetheless.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed in shock over what his friend just said, he would never have imagined that Hermione would pick on someone even if that someone was a bit strange.

"No, she's right," Loki added only to earn himself an even more shocked looked mixed with a bit of betrayal from Harry and Sam while Neville cocked his head in curiosity, that was until he continued with his thought. "But…there is more to it, isn't it?"

Luna and Loki looked at each other for a long moment, Loki contemplatively while Luna just smiled.

"You're a seer, aren't you?" Loki suddenly asked, while Luna's smile only broadened in reply. "It makes sense," he continued to explain. "True seers tend to hide their ability because more often than not they are chased for their ability, you know…the personal gain of having a seer on your side. Dear Luna here just chose a bit of lunacy combined with strange creatures no one ever heard of. That way everyone thinks she's a bit crazy and is less likely to guess the real reason. Take the Nargles for example…to me it sounds they represent bullies."

"May that be as it is, that doesn't give you the right to be degrading to anyone, Hermione, only because they are different to the norm," Harry now rounded on Hermione who gasped in shock over the seriousness in her friend's voice. "Or do you want to call me a freak too only because I'm not your average wizard?"

Harry had been called freak by his relatives for most of his life. He hated it equally as he despised it when his friends did it to someone else. He knew how it was to be degraded for something he had no power over, and he certainly did not want to impose that feeling on someone else, no matter whether said person chose to be different or just was different.

Hermione, on the other hand, could only gape at Harry not knowing what to say to that. That was when she registered what she had done. Tears began to well in her eyes. She knew enough about Harry's past to know how much it must have hurt. Merlin, she hadn't been treated any different at school before she had learned that she was a witch and went to Hogwarts and now she'd done the same thing, she felt horrible for it.

"I…I didn't…I'm…I'm sorry Luna," she tearfully brought out. "I…I don't know…why I said that."

Harry looked at her shocked and feeling a bit guilty, he had wanted to make her think about what she said, not making her cry. So he did the first thing that came to his mind and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so harsh. It's just…," Harry shrugged helplessly.

"It is a sore spot, I know," Hermione replied. "I know how it is to be shunned for something that is out of your control. That actually makes this all that worse. I hated them for doing it to me, and now I'm doing it to someone else."

"Then it's a good thing that you have friends to remind you of it, even if they are sometimes not the most sensitive about it," Neville said with a small glare at Harry that made him look down sheepishly.

"Thank you," she said with a tentative smile, whipping her tears away before she turned to Luna. "I'm really sorry, and I hope you can forgive me for my thoughtless comment."

Luna smiled serenely at her. "Why should I throw away something that will become a great friendship because of one thoughtlessness I even provoked?"

Hermione's smile broadened. "You'll fit right in with us. One-part crazy, one part funny and definitely not boring."

"Do you want to say with that, that I'm crazy?" Harry asked her in a hurt tone, but the grin betrayed him.

"You, my dear Harry, I would never call a freak as you dared me to earlier but crazy is something entirely different," Hermione retorted while poking him in the chest. "The banner on the White House that has yet to come off, the MACUSA…shall I go on?"

"I very much resent that," he exclaimed. "I'm delightfully creative! Do you know what really is crazy? The Americans actually started a petition for Loki to become their President."

"You're joking!" Loki said with horror. "You have to! Me and President…NEVER!"

"Never say never," Luna piped in with a hum only to receive a look of utter and complete horror from Loki that made her laugh. "Calm down, I can appease you…this isn't a fate that will befall you."

"Oh, thank you, that wouldn't have ended well for everyone involved," Loki sighed in relief.

"You couldn't be any worse than the current one," Harry mused. "I don't know whether it is the blond hair colour – present company excepted – that makes people act like a four-year-old whose candy was stolen, but I seriously doubt that anyone could be worse."

That brought an idea for Harry. He watched Loki contemplatively, who was currently sucking on a lollipop before snatching it away. Loki instantly narrowed his eyes on Harry and began to hex him until he looked like a rainbow.

"Okay, I have to correct myself," Harry said while laughing. "You would be worse! You wouldn't just try to build a fence to keep the hypothetical offenders out you would outright hex them."

"You should have known better," Sam said amused.

"Hey, I was proving a point here. At least it was worth it, I now have a lollipop."

Harry was about to pop it into his mouth when it vanished from between his fingers and reappeared in Loki's hand who stuck out his tongue towards him. He took that as his cue to hex Loki back before snatching the lollipop again. They continued their little battle for a few minutes until the lollipop suddenly vanished and didn't appear in either of their hands. Confused they looked at each other wondering where the candy had disappeared to when they heard a content hum and someone noisily sucking on something. Both heads snapped towards the noise only to find Luna sitting there and contently sucking the lollipop.

"You know when two people quarrel, a third rejoices," she said smugly.

"Definitely fitting in here," Sam countered in amusement which made them all laugh.

"I'll call you Little Loony Luna from now on," Harry fondly said with a broad grin.

Luna seemed to think this through before she nodded with a smile. "I like the sound of that."

After that, they fell into a comfortable conversation. That was until someone knocked on the door and it was not the trolley woman.

A/N: 'til next chapter