Disclaimer: If, after ten chapters, you still think I'm JK Rowling and am rich off this story, please, for the love of all that's good and holy, get help.

That evening found all of the students in the Great Hall, where Dumbledore did his customary announcements before the meal. Luna had decided to sit at the Gryffindor table with her two friends.

He rang the goblet with his fork, and the students quieted down and listened.

"Students, I am sure that you would like to dig into the delicious food the elves have prepared for us -"

"You bet!", said Ron enthusiastically.

Dumbledore chuckled. "All in good time, my boy, but first -"

Ron's stomach grumbled. The Gryffindor table shrieked and the rest of the school dived under their tables. After a tiny bit of pandemonium where Ron had the decency to look embarrassed, one by one the students climbed out from their safe spaces, and Dumbledore looked a little alarmed. "Yes, yes, I should probably get on with it..."

"Alas, I do have a few announcements, if Mr. Weasley's stomach can hold off for that long."

There were scattered titters.

Dumbledore looked confused, and turned to McGonagall. "Why do they titter so?", he said querulously. She shrugged her shoulders and tried to keep from snickering at his lack of comprehension.

A Muggleborn student yelled "Wewease Wogew!" from the Hufflepuff table, and fully one third of the students fell out of their chair laughing. The other two thirds just looked extremely confused.

Finally Dumbledore got control of the room again, somehow managing to not say "Throw him woughly to the gwound" and got to the serious business at hand. Such as it was.

"The first announcement regards our three champions. They are nearly completely recovered, and Madame Pomfrey tells me that there should be no permanent scarring or damage."

Most of the students cheered.

"And when they have returned, there will be a full feast in their honor."

All of the students cheered loudly. Ron's stomach rumbled approvingly, the applause was loud enough to mask it. Most of the school really loved Hogwarts feasts, they were something to look forward to.

"Yes, yes, everyone loves a feast, particularly our hard-working house elves. I will make an announcement when we have a date set.

"The other announcement all except for Mr. Weasley's stomach may find quite a bit more interesting. It is common knowledge that the four houses have always been a part of Hogwarts history. The houses were created to be a place where like-minded students could find compatriots, but as I have mentioned, they were never intended to add to the division between students. Alas, that is what they have become.

"At the beginning of the year, you are given passwords to your house doors, and you are requested to keep both the passwords and the location of your house entrance a secret. It was recently pointed out to me that, in modern times, this does not make sense, and actually serves to exacerbate the problem.

"However, in the efforts of promoting house unity and a healthy inter-house rivalry, I do not want to get rid of the system entirely.

"So after some thought, I have decided to, er... tweak the rules, just a bit."

The school was, as seemed to be usual for these kinds of announcements, absolutely quiet.

"The house common rooms will no longer be closed off to students of other houses -"

Dumbledore was drowned out by the protests of all four houses. He raised his hand and demanded silence.

"This is exactly to what I was referring! The members of other houses are students just like the members of yours! Perhaps this school would be better off if she students were able to get to know each other in a more social setting. Nonetheless, there are conditions.

"Condition one is that under no circumstances will students of other houses be allowed into the dorms of a house they do not belong to.

"Condition two is that all students must be in their own common room by curfew.

"Condition three is that any student wishing to enter a house must be invited."

Harry leaned over and whispered in Luna's ear "as long as I am in the common room, you are always invited, Luna." Her eyes shone.

"Condition four is that a student may not be removed or told to leave by other students under any circumstances. If they believe there is a problem that requires removal of a student, they are required to notify their head of house or me, and the problem will be dealt with expeditiously. There are no exceptions to this rule!"

"Violation of any of these conditions will be treated most severely, and will lead to strict disciplinary measures that could include expulsion or worse depending on the seriousness of the violation and prior history. If you have questions, please ask your head of house. And with that, tuck in!"

With a wave of his hand, there was food, and soon Ron's stomach was quieted.

As they ate, Hermione was thoughtful. "You know, I'd never thought of that", she said. "But it's true. The way the houses are set up at Hogwarts almost requires students in different houses to distrust each other."

Harry nodded. "There have been a lot of changes over the past few days, both in the school and in wider magical society. I hope they're for the best."

Luna giggled. "The nargles tell me they are very good changes. But some of the consequences could be unexpected."

After dinner was over, Luna followed Harry and Hermione back to the Gryffindor common room. Harry sat down in one the couches, Hermione next to him, and Luna climbed into his lap.

"Luna, what are you doing?", he asked. He was going to study, but it was going to be hard to do so with a Luna on is lap.

Luna leaned against his chest. "Comfy", is all she said, and she relaxed against him.

Harry rubbed small circles on her back soothingly and looked pleadingly at Hermione. Hermione just smirked and said "You're on your own, daddy."

Luna spoke up. "He's not my daddy! He's my future husband!"

Harry stopped rubbing small circles. "I'm your what?", he said, pinking a little and suddenly aware of how close she was to him.

Luna giggled. "The nargles told me. But it's alright. It won't be for years. But I like your lap now. It's comfortable." She pecked his nose with a little, chaste kiss and went back to the serious business of relaxing.

Hermione looked utterly flummoxed. "Wha... how?"

Luna giggled her tinkly giggle. "Silly, you won't be my wife. Or his, either. I know that he loves you and you will be best friends for life, but his wand is for me. You'll have your own wand, though, before you know it."

Hermione pinked. "Luna, what do you mean when you say 'the nargles tell me?' I've accepted that they are real to you, but are they trustworthy?"

Luna said simply, "Sometimes I just see things before they happen."

"Are you a seer?"

Luna thought. "My mum was a seer, and her mum was a seer, so maybe I am a seer." She looked up at Harry adoringly. "But I like it best when the nargles tell me things I want anyway." She wrapped her arms around him and cuddled him like a particularly non-hairy specimen of teddy bear. "I think I like my Harry Potter."

Luna got a mischievous look on her face and climbed on Hermione's lap. "Mmm. Also comfortable, Hermione Granger. I like your soap."

Hermione looked at Harry with a look that said "Save me, please!"

Harry just mouthed "You're on your own, mummy." The death glare Hermione sent him could rival Snape, but the younger girl's affections melted her and she allowed Luna to stay cuddled up to her whilst she read a book, absently playing with the younger girl's long, dirty blonde hair with her other hand. Luna, for want of a better word... purred. It was like having a large, unusually well-mannered cat, and she was certainly growing on Hermione.

Harry just went back to studying, grinning to himself. Damn, he loved Luna.

A half an hour later found Luna sound asleep against Hermione and snoring lightly, Hermione trying to split her attentions between reading her book and petting Luna's hair, and Harry laughing at the surreality of it all.

And then McGonagall walked in.

She looked like she was about to lay into Hermione and Luna, when Harry stood up and took her aside.

"Professor, nothing is going on. Luna decided she wanted to sit in Hermione's lap and sleep, and that's all.", he whispered.

She pursed her lips. "I really can't – that's against the rules -"

McGonagall was honestly torn, because she knew that Harry's explanation was true, and she also had a soft spot for Luna, loathe as she was to admit it. And the sight in front of her was damn cute, she thought, as Luna shifted a little bit to be more comfortable and Hermione cooed a bit and kissed her forehead before catching herself and going back to the book. But it was against the rules, and McGonagall had always been a stickler for the rules.

He reached up and whispered something in McGonagall's ear.

Thirty seconds later, Harry was petting a lovely tiger striped cat with markings that looked like spectacles, which had somehow made its way onto his lap and was resting quite comfortably.

It was nice when everyone got what they wanted.

Scene Change

Amelia was annoyed. She had arrested Snape and Karkaroff. Snape she could pretty easily get sent through the veil, he was absolutely not a sympathetic character and her veritaserum interrogations showed that his loyalties were, at best, divided. He was not a piss-poor potions teacher because he was a bad teacher, he was deliberately sabotaging Magical Britain by ensuring that no one would graduate with anything but a basic knowledge of potions – one wholly unsatisfactory for being a productive citizen of the magical society. When quizzed as to why, it was pure spite.

To her annoyance, that was not illegal. However, He had a dark mark, and the things that he had done to get that dark mark turned her stomach.

Karkaroff was a different story, though. He had already endured due process – having been put under trial and sentenced – but then having his sentence commuted for cooperation. By all rights, he'd kept his nose clean, and her interrogations bore that out. She'd made a mistake, and now she'd be in a spot of trouble. Not enough to cause her any huge problem, but it would be an inconvenience settling with him for false arrest.

After she explained what she was doing, though, he was generally in agreement with her goals, so he accepted an apology, a few hundred galleons from petty cash, and a Amelia Bones bobblehead doll in exchange for dropping any claim against her or the ministry. He also had to give her points for style for the manner in which she arrested him.

The was one other thing he requested, though something Amelia was less inclined to provided, but decided to "take one for the team". He wanted to have dinner with her one night soon. One of her dirty little secrets was that she went for the Eastern European types, what with all the hair and the accent and the "How you say" and the guttural "r", so it really wan't too much of an imposition after all, and they made plans to go to a very nice restaurant over the weekend.

She told him not to bring the bobblehead doll, though. A girl has to have some standards.

Scene Change

The Forest and the lawns were absolutely full of composerbirds. They whistled and sang little snippets from every composer imaginable. There were the obvious BachBirds, BeethovenBirds, MozartBirds, BrahmsBirds, ChopinBirds, etc... The slightly less obvious SalieriBirds (who hung around the MozartBirds hoping to get a taste of greatness), VivaldiBirds, and BorodinBirds. There were even BeeGeeBirds, WilsonBirds ("I wish they all could be California birds"), and even Rockin' Robins. The SimmonsBirds caught bugs with exceptionally long tongues (one wonders if the birds' namesake did the same.)

Amongst the racket, one bird sat mute. It looked around, seemed otherwise happy, but did not utter a peep.

It was a unique experience being a CageBird.

Scene Change

Later that evening, after Luna left for her own dorms, he and Hermione sat on the couch next to the fire.

"What do you think of Luna, Hermione?"

Hermione sat there, just thinking.

"You love her, Harry, don't you?"

He nodded. "Not that way, but as a person? Yes, I do. A lot."

Hermione did not move, the fire dancing in her eyes.

"I wish someone would love me that way", she said, her eyes glimmering.

Harry smiled, and opened his arms. She crawled on top of him and snuggled down the same way Luna did. She sighed contentedly, and he kissed her forehead gently before playing with her bushy chestnut tresses.

"I do, Hermione."

A single tear escaped her eye, and she hugged him just as fiercely as Luna had, knowing deep in her heart that his words were absolutely true. That one tear was joined by a friend, and soon she was shuddering in his arms, while he cooed gentle words at her, happy to have finally found someone who loved her, even if just as a friend. And for the next hour, they stayed like that, Harry daring anyone who walked through the common room to say something.

They didn't.

Neville gave them the stinkeye though and stomped up to his room.

Harry smiled. He might have to nudge that boy just a little.

Finally, she disentangled herself from her boy-shaped pillow, and went to bed. All three of them – Luna, Hermione, and Harry – slept better than they'd slept in a long time.

Omake

The students were enjoying their lunch in the Great Hall, when with a guttural roar the doors flung open, and Hagrid appeared, backlit by the sun, with a MalmsteinBird in each hand, each one shredding like there was no tomorrow. He was wearing a massive horned helmet. Thunder roared, and lightning crackled through his beard, as he sang "GIMME GIMME GIMME YOUR LOVE AFTER MIDNIGHT"

Madame Maxine fainted with desire.

The rest of the school just sat there with their mouths open.

Electricbeard Viking Hagrid was going to take some getting used to.

A/N

I have settled on pairings, and now we get a glimpse of what those pairings will be. They are now set in stone – I don't have any intention of changing them, so please no begging.

I think there are several absolutely unique in all of fandom elements to this story, and two of them are in this chapter. One is Amelia/Karkaroff, and the other are the changes in rules wrt the common rooms. McGonagall getting petted, oddly enough, is not.

If you are confused by the CageBird, look up John Cage and his most famous "work". There are some amusing covers of it on YouTube.

One review today corrected me, and said it's "batting for the other team", not "beating for the other team". I responded that, no, I meant exactly what I wrote. Quidditch does not have batters.

Thank you again for the wonderful reviews, and so many of them too. I have taken most constructive criticism into account, and hopefully the story is better for it, and I really love reading about what you enjoy.

Been dealing with some unpleasant personal issues, so sorry for the short chapter. I hope you found it amusing, nonetheless. And maybe a little heartwarming. Please note that I gave some clues both as to what nargles are, and to their trustworthiness. Usually, when Luna says something is going to come to pass, it will. Though sometimes she can want something bad enough it will fool her.

And what was the Omake about? There is an anonymous reviewer that just keeps coming up with this stuff. I wish they'd log in so I could PM them.

Read? Like? Review.