Soo, heres the next chapter. Thought I'd get this up before the final book comes out and everyone stops reading my story ; ) Thank you everyone for the reviews, alerts and favs! I guess that means I don't suck! umm, ok, the secret that is revealed in this chapter is not the secret Voldemort told Harry. rite, enough sed, enjoy!
Harry and his friends had just finish putting on their robes and began changing out of their sneakers when the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station. The lights illuminating the train flickered slightly as the Hogwarts Express jerked to a stop. Hermione was first to exit the compartment, looking very excited and muttering something about head girl duties. It was a whole 10 seconds before Hermione returned, very pink in the cheeks. She was barefoot. Everyone laughed as she quickly covered her bright purple socks with her school shoes. "Great start as head girl", she joked as she once again exited the compartment. Moments later, her voice could be heard summoning the first years out of the train and the voices of eager new students filled the corridor.
"Well, we might as well wait in here for a few minutes", Ron began. "There's really no reason to get caught up in that mess". He motioned to the door where a small first year's face was actually pressed up against the window. The hall seemed to be packed full of more first years than ever before, as far as Harry could remember. But then it dawned on him. The first year students would have to comprise of 11 and 12 year olds this time around. Harry remembered the letter McGonagall sent out with his book list explaining that she planned on combining first and second year curriculum for the 12 year old students, to allow them to catch up. Harry felt slightly sorry for them as he imagined a small wooden table stacked absurdly high with bubbling caldrons, half transfigured animals, hundreds of rolls of parchment, screaming mandrake plants, hovering feathers and an array of other items from his first and second years combined.
"You alright, Harry", Luna said airily, giving Harry a small shake. "A Wrackspurt hasn't got you has it?"
The table and it's massive pile dissolved quickly. "What? Oh, oh yeah, it has... Um, I mean, no, no", Harry said, a bit confused. "No, I was just, um, day dreaming", he added. Ron snickered at Harry as he pulled Pig's bird cage down from the storage compartment. The little owl circled around his large cage as excited as ever. Neville, who usually struggled to find his toad, didn't have to look far to retrieve him. He had finally got the bright idea (actually Hermione's idea) of getting a cage for his escaping pet. As Harry went to pull Hedwig's cage down, he notices a large lime green purse decorated with glitter and ribbons. "Luna, is this yours?" he added, bringing the odd bag down along with Hedwig's cage and handing it to Luna. The bag looked like a dog carrier but instead of a dog, Luna pulled out a white, fluffy ferret wearing a lime green collar, with a bell on it.
"A bit unorthodox, I know" Luna explained as the three boys stared at the ferret incredulously. "But, he's much nicer than a toad or a rat", she said looking at Trever," and much more fun than an owl" she squinted her eyes slightly at Hedwig. The snowy white owl gave a small hoot of annoyance at Luna and her ferret. "His name is Cooru, after my great grandfather!" she said proudly. Ron snorted with laughter but was able to pass it off as a series of coughs. Harry rapped him hard on the back and allowed a grin to slip across his lips. It appeared that Luna's entire family was strange, not just her and her parents. By the time everyone had pulled their luggage down, the hall had seemed to clear a bit. Ron opened the compartment door and him and Neville began to shuffle their way out into the crowd. Harry attempted to follow behind Neville but stumbled over the trainers that Hermione had left behind. He caught himself on the door just in time but as he did, something fell from his robe pocket and rolled towards Luna's feet.
Harry and Luna watched, in silence, as the long, thin wand stopped between them. It was a very old and the yew wood it was made of had the distinct ivory color of bone. The handle was dark black and carved into it was a emerald skull, with a serpent coming through the mouth. Luna gaped and pointed at it with a shaking finger.
"Isn't that... Isn't that... Harry, is that V-V-Voldemort's wand?" She was staring at him with a look of disbelief and fear. Harry was horrified. He stammered for a moment then took a deep breath and bowed his head. He had hoped it would never come to this. How could he have been so careless as to let this dark secret just fall from his pocket.
"OK look Luna, don't freak out", Harry began, determined to keep deep eye contact with her. "It..it is Volemort's wand". Luna gasped, but Harry pressed on. "The night that I killed Voldemort my wand was destroyed. After Voldemort died, I picked up his wand intent on destroying it, but... I couldn't. I just couldn't do it... not without a wand at least, the wood is too strong. So I... I keep it with me. I've tried buying a new wand but none of them work for me. I think it has something to do with the phoenix feather that both our wands shared. Anyway, I've tried using it... and it worked for me. It worked brilliantly", he moved closer to Luna when she took a step towards the door. He picked up the wand, shoved it back into his pocket and looked down at her. They were just inches away from each other now. Harry took her hands. "Look, Luna, I know its hard for you to understand. But, the fact of the matter is, its just a wand. Its just a wand and wands don't make bad people. I know its strange but its the only wand that will work for me. I want to transfigure it and make it look like my old one. Could you please help me Luna? Could you please help me keep this secret? Can I trust you?" He looked at her hard but couldn't tell what she was thinking. She had a slight crease between her eyebrows and she was looking at Harry as if she had never seen a specimen quite like him before. She was going to tell. She was going to run. What would he do? What would he do if Luna told everyone about the wand? He could only imagine the looks of disgust and terror that his friends would give him. Would they think him insane or would they think him dangerous? When Luna spoke it was slow and high pitched.
"Your stepping on my toe Harry", she said simply. He looked down. He was indeed slightly stepping on the tip of her shoe. He stepped off it but continued to hold her hands. "Well", she continued, "I mean, I guess your right. Wands don't make bad people Harry. I would've just thought that you wouldn't want to carry around the wand that has claimed so many lives in the past. Including the lives of your parents", Harry said nothing, so she continued. "But if you really do intend on keeping it, which I don't think you should, then I suppose I could help you hide it. I promise I won't tell anyone." Harry began to smile. "Besides", she added, " I've always felt a sort of special bond between us Harry", she said this last bit smiling. Harry was ecstatic. He scooped Luna into a huge hug that clearly caught her off guard because she let out a small "Oh" as he did it. He had never found Luna more wonderful than in this moment. The hug was broke by a sort of grunt noise that came from the compartment door. Ron was standing there, watching them, looking dumbfounded and slightly embarrassed.
"Um, I was just coming back to see were you two had gone", he looked back and forth at the two. Judging by the look on his face, he hadn't heard anything Harry had said to Luna but instead, was trying to process what he had just witnessed. "Um, yeah, I'll just leave you two alone then" he said more as a question than a statement. Harry released Luna unceremoniously and she had no time to catch herself before she fell to the ground.
"Oh, sorry ", Harry said as he helped Luna up. He was trying to come up with something to tell Ron. Some exuse as to why he had been hugging Luna so tightly. However, when he turned around, Ron had already speed out of the doorway and was halfway down the corridor before Harry could think of anything to say.
"Don't worry", Luna said as she gathered her luggage and her ferret and headed towards the door, "I'll clear everything up with Ron". And with that, she was gone. Harry swayed slightly. His last ride on the Hogwarts Express had gone surprisingly... well. He hadn't completely missed it and had to take a flying car. A dementor hadn't caused him to pass out nor had he heard the screams of his dying mother. There was no boring Slug Club he had to attend and his nose wasn't broken from having his face stomped on. Yes, it seemed to be one of his more successful train rides.
Harry looked out the compartment door and saw that the hall was clear. Last person off the train again, Harry thought as he gathered his things and began walking down the corridor. However, Harry was mistaken. He was not the last person off the train and a noise behind him made him spin on the spot and reach for Voldemort's wand. A tall pale boy walked out of a nearby compartment, dragging his trunk behind him. The boy had short blonde hair that was spiked in the front. His pale face was expressionless as he walked up to Harry.
"Malfoy", Harry nodded to Draco and released Voldemort's wand. The once arrogant and haughty features that Draco commonly wore had disappeared. He now carried around a vacant expression most of the time and he didn't speak much. He was still very proud but just not as vocal about it. The skin under his gray eyes was slightly darker then it had once had been, but Harry thought that was understandable. Both of his parents had been killed in the last year. His mother by Voldemort and his father by the Bellatrix (under Voldemort's command). Harry imagined it was the death of his parents that made Malfoy turn to the Order. He had done great work for them and had long since proven his loyalty. However, Harry could not forget all of the years that Malfoy had tormented him and his friends, nor that it was Malfoy that let death eaters into the castle two years ago; and frankly, Harry still hated him.
"Potter", Malfoy replied impassively.
He walked past Harry and out of the train. As Harry watched him leave, a horn wailed signaling that the Hogwarts Express would soon be departing back to Platform 9 ¾. Harry exited the train quickly and found, to his dismay, that there was only one thestral pulled carriage left and Malfoy was sitting in it. He climbed in and sat opposite Malfoy, who was staring out of the window.
"Interesting beast that pull the carriages, huh?"Malfoy said to no one in particular. For some reason Harry felt slightly sorry for him. Who could have known that fate would have made Malfoy an orphan, just like him. The two sat in silence for the remainder of the ride up to the castle.
No sooner had Harry walked in through the doors of the Great Hall did he see Lavender Brown running towards him. "Oh my God Harry, is it true?" She looked at him disbelievingly. He had no clue what she was talking about. "Is it true, Harry! What Luna said???" Harry's stomach dropped. He couldn't believe it. No sooner had Luna left his sight had she went and told everyone that he was harboring Voldemort's old wand. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. The he saw Ron walking towards him, anger written all over his face.
"Really Harry, you don't think you could have told me?" Ron sort of whisper screamed at Harry. His expression too looked like he was having a very hard time believing what Luna had told him. "I mean, what? You thought I was going to make fun of you or something?" Ron added kind of shaking his head. "I mean, I will admit, I probably would have, but I still wish you woulda just told me yourself." But Harry was no long listening. He thought that Ron making fun of him for stealing and using Voldemort's old wand was sort of strange. Harry spotted Luna at the Ravenclaw table and ran towards her. She was surrounded by a bunch of giggling girls but Harry didn't have time to process how weird this was, he just had to find out what Luna had told Ron.
"Can I talk to you for a minute Luna?" Harry said breathlessly. Luna looked up at him smiling and excused herself from the table of girls that were smiling knowingly at Harry. Harry grabbed Luna's wrist and walked her out of the Great Hall, ignoring the stares that he was getting from the entire school. When they were both out of ear shot, he spun Luna around infront of him, maintaining hold of her wrist. "What did you say?" Harry began, "What did you tell them?" His mind was racing, none of this was making any sense to him.
"Well", Luna started, still smiling. "Well, I told you I'd explain everything to Ron...And seeing how I could tell him the truth... I just made something up." She said the last bit very quickly.
"What did you tell them Luna? Harry spoke very slowly.
"Well...", Luna began but she was interrupted. Ron, Hermione, Lavender, Parvati, Neville, and a group of random girls (Cho Chang included) had just come out of the Great Hall and were walking towards them. Ron spoke first.
"Look Harry, I'm suppose to be your best mate. You didn't you tell me you and Luna were dating???" There was silence. Harry gulped in disbelief. He looked from Ron to Luna to his own hand holding Luna's wrist then back at the crowd. He resisted the urge to run and instead bowed his head.
"Sorry mate", he replied to Ron. There was no way out of this one.