Author's Note: I would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for sticking with this story. To be honest, I am so excited about the stuff that is going to happen in the sequel that I can hardly get this one down on paper.
Things will be moving pretty slowly for the next three chapters. That will be a mini-climax (which, trust me, many of you have been waiting for!) after which, things will move more rapidly. If You Can will take us through the end of the school year up to what would be the beginning of the July of Harry's 18th birthday. Does that make sense?
Anyhow, this chapter is a major departure from the lightness and fluffiness of some of the stuff going on previously. I am just waiting for all the hate mail I will receive. However, I am really happy with the way it turned out. Please realize that I am not doing things just to screw around with the characters we have all come to love. Keep in mind that they are kids who are in the process of transitioning into adults. They may begin to act a little differently.
Plus, this is fanfiction, so we can make them do what WE believe they would do.
Enjoy!
Amazingly, for the first time since returning to school, Harry Potter found himself alone. Hermione was in the library, and Ron was down with the rest of the team already on the Quidditch pitch. He was rather enjoying the quiet as he wandered across the bridge that led from the castle to the grounds. As usual when he was lost in thought, he was taken completely by surprise to find he suddenly wasn't alone.
"Hello, Harry." He stopped short, and whirled his head around.
Luna Lovegood perched in one of the arches of the bridge, looking him directly in the eye. Like so many of the other students, Luna looked significantly different than she had the previous June. Gone were the flowing blond locks and "little girl" aura. She had filled out, Harry noted with no little interest, being only human after all. She had also cropped her hair quite short and glamoured it black.
"She looks like Aeon Flux," Hermione had scoffed upon seeing Luna when school had first started.
"Who's Aeon Flux?" Ron had asked.
"A muggle cartoon character, Ron. She's a hired assassin who is having a love affair with her arch enemy."
"Hired assassin, huh? That's hot!"
Despite the nasty look Hermione had given Ron at the statement, Harry couldn't help but agree with both of them. Luna was achieving the look of the animated Monican. And she was looking damn good doing it.
"Hey, Luna. How are you?"
"Well, thank you. I'm really interested in how you are."
"Me? Why is that?"
"Let's not play cat and mouse, Harry. We both know that you were made for great things. We also both know that if it weren't for a Ministry decree, you wouldn't be back at school this year."
"How do you know that?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"Everybody knows you were under house arrest, Harry. There are certain witches, and wizards, to be honest, who keep a pretty close watch on what you do. Some people just love celebrities."
"So I've heard. That still doesn't explain your sudden interest in my well being."
"I'm getting there. It must be awfully stressful to be you right now, Harry. Not only do you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, but you also have to live under the bell jar, with everyone watching you all the time. Then there are your poor neglected hormones…"
"My hormones?" Harry squeaked.
"You're a 17 year old boy. In ten months you will reach your sexual peak. It's such a shame that the only outlet you have to release any kind of frustration is through manual stimulation." Harry almost passed out. He had never been a party to such a conversation. But then again, this was "Looney Lovegood," so why should he be surprised?
"Luna, why are you so interested in, uh…, my private life?"
"Because I am about to make you an offer. You won't like it at first, but I'm sure that after you've considered it, you'll find that it is perfectly reasonable AND a pretty good idea."
"And that offer would be?"
"Me, or the use of my body, as it were."
"Oh my God," was all Harry could say. Was she serious?! Was this even happening?
"Let me spell it out for you: you are a boy under a tremendous amount of stress. As your friend, I would like to do what I can to help relieve that stress. Sexual intercourse is one of the easiest and most effective stress relievers imaginable. So that's the offer."
"Luna," Harry began, unsure of even where to begin, "as flattered as I am that you are offering uh, this…I don't really like you that way."
Then she started laughing. She was actually laughing at him. Shouldn't that be the other way around?
"Oh, Harry. That's not what this is about. Don't get me wrong," she sobered, slightly, "I like you fine, as a friend. But I am certainly not in love with you or anything of the sort. This isn't about romance. This is about physical release. It's not all that complicated."
"I take it you've done this before…"
"Oh, yeah, loads of times." She was still giggling.
Loads of times…
"Like I said, I expected you to be a little shocked about the whole thing, at first. But I'm sure that once you've thought it through, you'll see that's it a swell deal." She hopped off the edge and began walking back toward the castle.
"I'll see you later, Harry." And then she was gone.
She was standing near the window in the darkness. The fire in the common area had gone out and there was a bit of an early Autumn chill in the air, so she had wrapped a blanket around her for warmth. The light of the moon cast its glow upon her, making her look ethereal; a vision, a specter.
"Don't you ever sleep?" he asked, slightly agitated, them catching each other this way.
"Don't you ever wear clothing?" she retorted, taking in the fact that he was once again wandering around with no shirt on.
"The better to entice you, my dear," he joked as he walked over to the other side of the window. "I would have thought that I had tired you out tonight." She smiled.
"I couldn't sleep; too much on my mind…"
"Like what?" he didn't like seeing her like this, deviating from her routine. He needed some sort of normalcy in his life, and right now, she was it.
"Everything's changing, there are so many new details to keep in mind. I'm worried that I'll forget something or mistake something and something bad will happen…"
"Well, isn't changing a part of growing up?" he reasoned, smiling back at her. She looked at him then, the moonlight making his pale skin and hair even whiter. He looked like a marble statue that had come to life. "Just because things are different, doesn't mean that they are bad, Hermione."
"I guess you're right," she hugged her blanket around her and began walking back to her room. Before she entered, she turned.
"Thank you, Draco." The door clicked softly closed behind her.