The Lovegood Way
Chapter 2: The same, old, new adventure
Thanks for all the reviews! I am sorry that this has taken some time to write but as you've probably have noticed I believe in taking my time in writing a story. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!
The house was empty.
No matter how she looked at it, the house was empty. It was quiet in the way that not even loud music could make it lively. It was still and except for enchanting the tea cups to dance there was not really much she could do about it.
Sitting on the foot of the stairs, Luna looked over the hallway. She held a cup of tea in her hands. The cup was still half full but the tea had gone cold. Her eyes drifted over the hallway, over the pictures hanging on the wall. They had not spent much time in this cottage, not enough to call it home. But what the cottage was the place that held the physical memories of her life.
Luna sipped the cold tea.
Pictures hung on the wall, though they did not hang in any particular order there were pictures of every different period of her life. There were the pictures of her parents that she had managed to salvage from the wreck that had been the home she grew up in. There was a picture of the first time she had ridden an elephant in Thailand, of her strapping baby Lacus on her back as she and Rolf were about to head into the jungle. As Lacus became older on the pictures, Rolf was no longer in them.
The pictures that dominated the wall were pictures of just Luna and Lacus. The setting was different in each picture, they were wearing different things in every picture and Lacus grew from a toddler to the teenager she was now. But what every picture had in common was the way Luna and Lacus both laughed at the camera. Luna smiled just by looking at the pictures. All these years it had just been the two of them, but they hadn't needed anyone else. They had been happy just having each other.
Getting up, Luna walked into the kitchen. Though her feet were bare, her footsteps sounded so loud against the wooden floor, louder than usual because of the silence. She wasn't used to being in the cottage by herself like this. Whenever Lacus went back to Hogwarts Luna would go back to travelling, chasing yet another new adventure on her own.
Setting the tea cup down into the sink, Luna tried to remind herself that this was also a new adventure. It was just not the one that she was used to tackling.
Walking over to the kitchen window, Luna opened it and leaned out just slightly. The sun was rising, casting the first light of the day over the world. A gentle breeze was blowing and as Luna closed her eyes she took a deep breath. The air felt fresh and new in her lungs and when she opened her eyes she managed a smile.
It was just another new adventure.
She could do this.
Diagon Alley was still quiet and calm by the time she arrived. Most shops had not opened yet, the owners still preparing for what would be yet another busy day. But the cafés had opened and as Luna skipped across the cobbled stoned streets she felt the enthusiasm build up inside her. Today was her first real day working at The Quibbler. Despite all the things she would have to deal with when she got there, she remembered the way her father had passionately worked for the magazine. She would share the same passion, be driven by the same passion for uncovering truths and for the freedom to believe.
The joy bubbling slowly inside her, Luna pushed the door open to the small café which was just next to Flourish and Blott's. A bell rung as she opened the door and entered the café. The café was small with little more than a counter at the end of the room with a handful of small tables placed alongside the walls. Walking up to the counter, Luna caught the eyes of a young, brunette witch who was standing behind it.
"May I help you?" she asked.
Looking over the counter, Luna saw the sandwiches placed on a tray on the counter. She looked over the sandwiches, trying to decide which on to have.
"I'll have a turkey sandwich," she decided after a while and then glanced briefly at the blackboard hanging on the wall above the counter. "And a cup of green mint tea, please."
"Coming right up."
Digging into her pocket, Luna handed over enough coins to pay for the sandwich and the tea. At the same time the bell rung again and the quick gust of fresh air revealed that the door had been opened again. The cashier received Luna's payment and then looked up to see who had entered the café.
"Good morning, Mr. Potter," she greeted upon seeing who it was. "The usual, right?"
A figure walked up to the counter, standing next to Luna. Luna looked to her left and found herself looking right into Harry's eyes. Her eyes widened and for a moment she stood frozen there just staring at him. She had not expected to see him again, least of all while getting breakfast on her first day of work. Harry seemed to have a similar reaction, the look on his face told Luna that he had not expected to see her either. He did not speak but just stood there and stared back at her. It took the cashier pretending to clear her throat for the two of them to snap out of their staring and turn their attention to her.
"Oh sorry... yes, please, I'd like the usual," Harry answered. "Thank you, Eliza."
Nodding, the cashier disappeared through the door behind the counter to prepare whatever the usual was. Luna and Harry were left alone.
Seconds passed without either of them saying anything. Luna looked at the menu again, wondering if she should have asked for an egg sandwich instead. From where she was she noticed how Harry's gaze was looking everywhere and at everything. Everything except for her.
"Do you think this is awkward?" Luna asked casually, turning to Harry.
His eyes stopped darting around, finally turning to look at her instead.
"W-what is?"
There was just a little bit of stuttering in his voice.
"Meeting me like this," Luna replied. "Unexpectedly, I suppose."
Harry nodded slightly.
"Yeah… a little."
Luna turned back to look at the doorway that the cashier had disappeared through. The latter was still in the back room preparing their orders.
"I'm on my way to the Quibbler," Luna told. "It's my first day working there. And you?"
Harry stuck his hands into his pockets.
"The ministry," he answered. "I work there now."
Luna smiled.
"Yes, head of the Auror department, I heard… That's why I don't believe the theories about what happened in Birmingham. I think we both know that you could not have been foolish enough to send those Aurors into the mouth of a roaring dragon."
She noticing how Harry's eyes grew with each word she spoke, not so much in amazement as it was in surprise. The words had just slipped out her mouth before she had thought about them; she supposed that sometimes she still had the ability to catch people by surprise that way. When Harry kept staring at her with that clueless look of his, Luna just turned to him and smiled.
"It's alright, you don't have to comment on that," Luna assured. "I haven't started working just yet. Besides, we both know that it was really a heliopath."
Upon hearing her words, Harry chuckled slightly. The sound of his laughter made the atmosphere feel considerably less tense. It even made Luna feel a little lighter on the inside.
The cashier came out, holding a paper bag in each of her hands. She handed the one of her right to Luna and the other to Harry.
"There you go, have a nice day!" she said as she received payments from both of them.
"You too," Luna smiled.
She turned around to head for the door and reached out for the door handle. Harry did the same and with neither of them looking their hands briefly made contact with each other as they both reached for the door handle. Harry instantly drew his hand back as if he had been burnt. When Luna looked at him, he was staring downwards and his cheeks were slightly red.
"Um… sorry…" Harry apologized, scratching the back of his head while avoiding looking at Luna. "Ill just…"
Before he had the chance to reach for the door handle again Luna had pulled it and opened the door. Harry looked at Luna awkwardly, then at the door. None of them moved and Harry kept looking at Luna as if he was waiting for her to do something. After a while, until the cashier peered from the counter to see what they were doing, Harry finally seemed to understand.
"Um… thanks," he murmured and walked out of the café as Luna was holding the door open.
Though he was walking before her, Luna could tell that he seemed slightly uncomfortable or unused to have the door held open for him by a woman. She shook her head, smiling as she walked through the doorway and left the café. To think that such things still mattered to some people.
Standing out on the street, Harry looked to his left. Luna walked up and stood next to him.
"So…"
Luna smiled.
"I'm going that way," Harry told, gesturing towards his right. "And you?"
"I'm going left."
Nodding slowly, Harry dared to look up at Luna again. Their eyes met for the briefest moment.
"Well, it's been nice seeing you again," he said. "Good luck on your first day."
"Yeah… you too."
Another awkward moment, another awkward smile.
Then Luna and Harry walked past each other, both of them heading to start a day that would change the rest of their lives.
Following the death of her father, the ownership of the Quibbler had fallen to Luna. It was only after the end of the war that she had been told that her father had died in Azkaban. She was only seventeen when it happened. Wizards came of age when they were seventeen but that did not always mean that one automatically was a grown up at seventeen.
So it was Marius Nichols, one of the freelance writers that had contributed to the Quibbler often, who had stepped in to run the Quibbler. Luna had been confident in his abilities to run the Quibbler and in the nineteen years that had passed Marius had proved her right. With Marius Nichols as the editor the Quibbler had done well. It had gone from being a small magazine printed in the living room of the editor's house to having an office in Diagon Alley and employ people full time rather than relying on freelance work and contributors. No one could deny that Marius Nichols had been an asset to the Quibbler. But after nineteen years, anyone could run out of steam and make mistakes.
Perhaps that was why Luna felt no disappointment towards Marius Nichols and had accepted his request for retirement without saying anything. But something she could not stand by and watch quietly was how the mistakes Marius had made the last few years take down the Quibbler. No, if the Quibbler was in trouble, she would step in and fix it. As a child she had dreamed of writing for the Quibbler. It was time to realize that childhood dream of hers.
The elevator doors opened and Luna looked up. Her eyes gazed across the office landscape before her. The smell of ink reached her nostrils even before she stepped out of the elevator. The walls of the office were round. Bookshelves and bulletin boards covered the walls save for one section at the other end of the office. The only reason why it wasn't covered with a bookshelf was because there was a door there. But aside from the bookshelves the office was scarcely furnished. There were only two desks in the middle of the room and they stood facing each other.
The two desks had name tags on them. One of them read Pansy Parkinson.
The name had barely registered in Luna's head before she heard the elevator door open behind her.
Many years had passed since Luna last saw that face. But despite how aged that face was after nineteen years, the same look of confidence and haughtiness was still there. Luna recognized Pansy Parkinson from the very first moment.
Wearing a fashionable red coat, Pansy stepped out of the elevator. Her high heels clicked against the floor until the moment when her eyes caught sight of Luna and she suddenly stopped. The paper cup she held in one hand stopped halfway to her painted red lips.
"Good morning," Luna greeted happily from where she stood.
Pansy remained where she was, her lips slightly parted, her eyes wide and showing no sign of moving. Luna looked over her shoulder quickly but saw nothing of interest.
"Is everything alright?" she asked. "Is there something particularly fascinating behind me?"
Pansy continued to stare at her.
"Don't tell me you are who I think you are," she said, speaking for the first time.
"I'm Luna Lovegood," Luna introduced herself. She walked over to Pansy and offered her hand for her to shake. "I don't know if you remember me but we went to school together. You were a year above me."
Pansy's eyes shifted focus from Luna's face to Luna's hand. She made a face, as if she was looking at something dirty.
"Great, just great…" she muttered. "I love mornings."
She walked right past Luna without shaking her hand. Drawing her hand back, Luna turned around and watched as Pansy walked over to the desk with her name on it. Setting down the paper coffee cup and her expensive leather bag on the table, Pansy pulled her chair out and sat down lazily. Digging into her pocket, she quickly found a pack of cigarettes and used her wand to light one up.
Luna wrinkled her nose as the smell of cigarette smoke reached her nostrils; she had never liked cigarettes much. Pansy, on the other hand, looked significantly more relaxed as she blew out the smoke slowly.
"So what are you doing here?" Pansy drawled, her fingers playing with a quill that had been lying on her desk. "Here with another stupid article? Or are you just here as an owner checking up on the company?"
Ignoring the way Pansy spoke to her; Luna just smiled and walked over to stand before Pansy's desk.
"Actually I'm here as the editor today," she told. "I'll be taking over Mr. Nichols job from today on."
It was a good thing that Pansy was holding the cigarette with her fingers because it would have dropped to the floor along with her jaw.
"You can not be serious."
"I most certainly am."
Letting out the deepest sigh that Luna had ever heard, Pansy leaned back in the chair and raised her legs. Placing her perfectly clean, black, dragon skin boots on the desk, she raised her hand to her forehead dramatically.
"I thought Mr. Nichols was joking when he said that he would retire and you would take over," Pansy sighed. "It certainly sounded like a joke."
Still smiling, Luna crossed her arms.
"Are those made of dragon skin?" she asked, glancing towards the boots Pansy was wearing.
"Yes, so?"
Luna shrugged, sitting on the edge of the desk and drew a deep sigh, similar to the way Pansy had sighed just a few seconds ago.
"Commercial dragon hunting is a shameful thing…" she began. "A terrible way to end the lives of dragons, especially all for the sake of fashion. As editor and owner of the Quibbler I cannot possibly have employees who support it. I'm sorry Ms Parkinson, but you're fired."
Upon hearing Luna's words, Pansy's eyes became so big that Luna actually thought that they were going to pop out. This time the cigarette dropped from her fingers, falling to the floor and igniting a small piece of parchment that had been crumbled into a ball. Reaching into her pocket, Luna drew out her wand and quickly put out the flames with a spell.
"Close one there," Luna chirped, putting her wand back into her pocket.
Turning her head to look at Pansy again, she discovered the Pansy was still staring at her with wide eyes like she had been frozen on the spot. Luna grinned.
"Joke. That was a joke."
Pansy was not laughing. The big-eyed, surprised expression on her face quickly disappeared. Instead her eyes narrowed, the lines in her face tightened and Luna felt that she was being stared at in a completely differently way from before. Clearly, Pansy did not appreciate her joke.
Before any of them had the time to say or do anything, they were interrupted by the sound of the elevator doors opening. Luna looked over her shoulder to see a thin man with ruffled blonde hair stepping out of the elevator. Despite his thin build, the man had round rosy cheeks and carried a messenger bag that gave him a boyish look, although Luna guessed that it had been quite a few years since he had last been called a boy.
"Hello there," she greeted.
The man jumped slightly upon hearing Luna's voice and looked up.
"Oh… h-hello," he replied nervously.
Getting up, Luna walked over to the man and offered her hand for him to shake.
"I'm Luna Lovegood, new editor of the Quibbler," she introduced herself. "And you are?"
The man opened his mouth to answer but at the same time they heard Pansy speaking from behind her desk.
"That's Nigel," she told, picking up her cup of coffee and sipping it. "He's our resident..." Pausing, Pansy turned to look at Nigel. "What is it that you do again?"
Shifting the messenger bag to his other shoulder, Nigel smiled nervously.
"Facts checker," he replied, his voice a little shaky. "I, um... check facts."
"It's nice to meet you, Nigel," Luna smiled.
Nodding slowly, Nigel carefully made his way over to the second desk. He set his bag down slowly and eased into the chair with caution. Luna looked up towards the ceiling. There were no nargles there, which made her wonder why Nigel was being so careful and nervous.
But with Nigel at the desk, all the working spaces in the office were now occupied.
"Do you usually share desks with the others when they come in?" Luna asked, looking at both Pansy and Nigel.
Pansy snorted.
"Share?" she repeated, like it was something vile and disgusting. "I don't share anything with anyone."
Seeing as that wasn't much of a helpful answer, Luna turned to look at Nigel.
"Then where does everyone else work?"
Nigel cleared his throat.
"Um... Mr. Nichols had to sack them," he explained, playing nervously with a quill. "Waste of time and money to keep them 'round he said... much more effective with contributors submitting articles and him writing a few pieces..."
Luna stared blankly at Nigel as he spoke. So things were that bad. It had gotten to the point where there were no more reporters working at the Quibbler. It was back to the way things were during the days her father had been alive, relying on contributors to get enough materials to publish. There was nothing wrong with that, except that even Luna knew the Quibbler had grown since then. They couldn't just rely on contributors for the articles anymore. Mr. Nichols must have done a great deal of writing himself to get everything done.
But none of that mattered anymore. She was working at the Quibbler now and she would just have to do whatever she could to get it back on its feet.
Rather than feeling discouraged about the lack of employees, Luna just beamed a smile at the two that were left.
"So, where do I sit?" she asked cheerfully.
"In there," Pansy said behind her coffee mug.
She pointed with her quill to the door at the other end of the room, the vertical spot in the office that wasn't covered by a bookshelf or a bulletin board. Nodding, Luna walked across the office and to the door. She placed her hand on the door knob and turned it.
The door swung open immediately and there was a rustling sound as a giant white mass flooded out of the office. Luna instinctively jumped back a step and watched over a huge pile of envelopes fell all over the floor.
Then, standing in the middle of the mess, Luna looked down. The envelopes came from different senders, most of them had the words "URGENT", "FINAL WARNING" and "THE REAL FINAL WARNING" stamped on them. Luna picked up a random envelope from the pile.
A bill. No doubt one of many.
Looking up and into the office, Luna was able to see the hint of a desk and a chair in there, buried underneath all the letters.
Behind her, Pansy smirked.
"Welcome to The Quibbler."
Mum!
Everything is fine here, Hogwarts is still standing. The first years are really short this year. It's your first day at working at the Quibbler. Tell me all about it!
Love, Lacus
Sealing the envelope, Lacus attached it the owl's leg.
"Be a good girl and send it to my mum quick!" she whispered, gently stroking the owl's long feathers. "I'll give you a treat when you get back!"
In the blink of an eye the owl set off and flew away from the owlery. Lacus watched it fly away with a smile on her face. This was her first letter home. She wondered how her mother was doing on her first day. Would she be able to handle whatever problem The Quibbler had? But then again, this was her mother; the one had a habit of attempting to do ten impossible things before lunch.
"Lacus, are you done yet?"
Turning around, Lacus saw Elaine Moran standing in the doorway, tapping her fingers rapidly against the wall.
Around school, Elaine Moran tended to be described in three B:s. Big, blonde and beautiful. Lacus considered herself to be above average when it came to height but even so Elaine was at least four inches taller than her. That combined with her two feet long mane of banana blonde hair made Elaine stand out in a crowd and it had been that way ever since they were little. Being slightly shorter and slightly less blonde, at times Lacus felt like "Elaine light" when standing next to her.
Elaine cast Lacus an urgent look.
"Okay, okay..." Smiling, Lacus gathered her things quickly and walked over to Elaine.
The two of them walked down the stairs and away from the owlery quickly, Elaine always one or two steps ahead of Lacus.
"What's the rush?" Lacus asked, shifting her book bag from one shoulder to another. "We still have time until transfigurations."
Although still walking ahead, Elaine looked over her shoulder and stared at Lacus with her mouth slightly open.
"Lacus, how can you even think about transfigurations at this time?" Elaine asked, clearly shocked. "Sarah Phillips said that they opened the sign ups for the choir today! I just found out fifteen minutes ago!"
Elaine jumped the last four steps of the stairs and hurried down the corridor leading to the Great Hall. Lacus increased her pace to keep up with her.
"Choir?" Lacus repeated in disbelief. "You're signing up for the choir?"
"Yes, and so are you!" Elaine answered, rounding a corner quickly. "You've been in a choir before haven't you? I remember you said something about it once."
If Lacus had not been so focused on keeping up with Elaine she would have stopped to protest. The last time she had seen Elaine in such a rush was when her edition of Witch Weekly had been accidentally delivered to Mary Brown in Gryffindor. Still, just thinking about the word choir made Lacus' heart beat ten times faster and it was definitely not in the good way. She tried to brush aside childhood memories of Luna convincing her to participate in a Mongolian throat singing choir but to be frank that memory was just too odd to forget, even for her.
The doors to the Great Halls came into sight and along with it the wall with the sign up sheets for different clubs. Elaine had been far from the only one to hear about the choir openings. There were at least twenty girls struggling to get to the sign up sheet while there were still openings.
Lacus swallowed.
"Elaine, I don't think..."
Her voice faded as Elaine started to make her way into the crowd, oblivious to Lacus trying to speak to her. Sighing, Lacus could only watch Elaine's blonde head slowly making its way to the sign up sheet. She was nearly disappointed when the angry looking Slytherin girl did not manage to push Elaine out of the way.
"I didn't think that girls could be this vicious. They should all sign up for the beater positions instead."
She recognized that voice. It sounded familiar but she couldn't remember where she had heard it, much less place the voice now. Lacus looked around but she couldn't see anyone who the voice might have belonged to. Everyone around her seemed to be busy either getting to the sign up sheet or cheering for someone who was trying.
She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. In just a moment, she managed to widen her eyes, drop her jaw, make all colours drain from her face and repeat a single thought in her head a million times.
Nathanmontaguenathanmontaguenathanmontaguenathanmontaguenathanmontague.
Nathan Montague was standing there, smiling.
"Good thing that was you," he said. "Would have been weird if I was speaking to the completely wrong person."
It was as if Lacus was paralyzed. She couldn't move an inch and her face seemed to be frozen in the awkward, shocked look. When Nathan kept looking at her, she became painfully aware that she was supposed to laugh or something. Using every bit of strength in her body, she managed to curve her lips slightly and let out what was either a laugh or an imitation of a hyena.
Nathan did not appear to be able to tell the difference.
"So how are you doing?" he asked.
Lacus dug her fingernails into her hand tightly. Nathan Montague was asking her a question; she had to speak coherently this time.
"Good, good," she answered quickly. "I mean, not that good. School and all." She hoped that it was the right thing to say, she didn't want to come off as someone who loved school. "Potions is awful this year as usual. First lesson and I already melted a cauldron. It's just like first year."
Nathan raised an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"Yes, I destroyed my first cauldron back then," Lacus continued. "That's how Elaine and I became friends by the way. She was sitting next to me and noticed that I was crying over my cauldron, because it was melted. Hers was a little melted too but not as bad as mine... but anyway, I said that I was bad at potions and she said that she was bad at potions and then we both said that we could be bad at potions together."
It was when the last word had rolled off her tongue that she realized how quickly and how much she had spoken. She didn't speak this much usually but the words had just come out of her automatically. Why did she have to do that? She didn't even want to think about what Nathan thought of her, probably that she was the weirdest girl that he had ever met. Blushing, Lacus looked down at the floor. She could not see much of Nathan aside from his shoes at that angle but she would not be surprised if those shoes would start moving away and out of her sight.
"Finally!"
Something blonde flashed before her eyes and Lacus looked up to see that Elaine had joined them. She looked decisively more dishevelled than before but her eyes sparked with happiness.
"I made it!" Elaine announced, throwing her arms up. "There were only two spots left and I grabbed them for us! Oh, hello Nate!"
Lacus leaned her head a little closer to Elaine.
"Elaine, i don't really want to join..." she began.
"Sure you want to!" Elaine cut off happily. "Didn't you used to be in a choir?"
"You sing?" Nathan asked.
Lacus blushed even deeper. She was just about to open her mouth to answer when Elaine did it for her.
"She was in some sort of choir once when she was travelling with her mum," Elaine told. "I remember it was something funny... boat singing? What was it again?"
Both Elaine and Nathan turned to Lacus. Lacus lowered her eyes again and scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. Elaine was her friend and a good person but her intellect left something to be desired.
"Mongolian throat singing," Lacus muttered quickly, hoping that no one would catch it.
Unfortunately they did.
"Ah, I knew it was something like that!" Elaine acknowledged, utterly happy with herself for remembering something like that.
"That's..." Nathan began hesitantly. "Interesting."
It was strange that with all the magic that Hogwarts possessed, it still couldn't offer what a teenager needed most; a way to sink through the floor when she had reached the peak of embarrassment.
"So what are you doing here Nate?" Elaine asked. "Did you want to sign up for the choir too?"
"Oh no." Nathan waved his hands in front of him. "You wouldn't want to hear me sing. Actually I came here looking for people who might be interested in duelling. We're starting up the duelling club again so we really need people to sign up."
"I'll do it."
As if it wasn't enough that she had blurted out half of her life story before, more words slipped out of Lacus' mouth. It was only after she said it that she realized what she had done and she instinctively covered her mouth in horror.
The terrified look on her face did not seem to bother Nathan much. His eyes lit up upon hearing what Lacus had said.
"That's great!" He grinned widely. "Can't believe we have our first member already!"
Lacus was too shocked to do anything but stare at him.
"I'll get back to you about the schedule once that's done," Nathan went on. "I got to go and ask some more people now... Thanks Lacus!"
Just like that, he was gone. Lacus remained in the same position, eyes wide and her hands still covering her mouth. Elaine watched Nathan go, and then turned to Lacus with a puzzled look on her face.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
In the midst of all this, Lacus almost felt like laughing. What was not wrong?
Getting to the Leaky Cauldron from the Quibbler's office felt longer than the four day hiking Luna had done in the Himalaya last year. Despite all things she had to carry around during that hike, the weight on her shoulders had felt much lighter in comparison to the weight she was carrying around now. It was not equipment or sleeping bags burdening her shoulders now but rather the thought of the pile of bills that was still waiting at the office.
Luna dragged herself over to the counter and nearly fell against the counter. Pushing her elbows against the wooden counter, she released a breath and it was as if all her energy dissolved in the air of the murky old tavern.
"May I help you?"
A stocky, young waiter with greasy blonde hair was suddenly on the other side of the counter; Luna had not even noticed where he had come from.
"Um..." Luna began, words suddenly failing her.
There was a reason why she had come to the Leaky Cauldron. It was not just for lunch, the Leaky Cauldron was one of the busiest places at this time and she would have been better off going somewhere else to eat. But there was a reason...
"Hannah!" Luna blurted out suddenly as the name came back to her. "Is she working today?"
The waiter shook his head.
"Sorry, she's at home today. One of the girls has the flu."
"Oh."
Luna could not help but to feel a little disappointed. After spending the entire morning at the office meeting Pansy and Nigel, and then attempting to sort out all the bills, it would have been nice to see a friendly face. Hannah was Neville's wife after all and had always treated Luna nicely.
The young man behind the counter shrugged, then pick out a dish rag and wiped some spilled ketchup off the counter.
"Would you like some lunch?" he suggested, nodding towards the sign next to the counter.
Luna just glanced at it and saw the variety of lunch specials they served today. Just looking at the sign almost made her even more tired, not to mention trying to think about what lunch special to pick.
"I'll have..." she began but her voice faded as she suddenly switched to another train of thought. She looked at the waiter and smiled. "Get me something good, I'll let you decide."
Judging from the weird stare she got in return, Luna realized that this was an unusual request coming from a customer.
"Get me what's best on today's menu," she went on, sitting up a little straighter and still smiling. "I'm too tired to decide for myself."
Though he was still looking rather strangely at her, the waiter at least seemed to accept her order.
"Alright..." he said slowly. "Would you like to eat here at the bar or get a table?"
Turning around, Luna looked over the entire tavern. This was no doubt the busiest hour; everyone came to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. There were constantly more people entering and Luna felt people brush against her back as they tried to navigate through the crowded tavern. The question seemed irrelevant in this case; there were no empty seats at all. Even people who did not know each other shared a table in order to eat their meal and all the seats at the bar were already taken. It was looking around that Luna realized that she had been so focused on her own tiredness that she had not even noticed how crowded the tavern was that day.
Just as Luna was about to turn back and say that she would just eat at another place, something caught her sight. Others would have seen the almost empty table first, how the table could seat two people but only one chair was occupied. The one who occupied the table was reading a newspaper and holding it in a way that practically covered his entire face. But when Luna caught sight of the man, she immediately recognized him.
"I'm going to sit over there," she told, turning back to face the counter.
She nodded towards the small table where the man with the newspaper was sitting. The waiter leaned over the counter to get a better look and his mouth fell open slightly when he realized which table Luna was referring to.
"Oh no, ma'am," he breathed. "You can't sit at that table. Do you know who that is? He always sits alone."
Luna's lips drew into a smile.
"He has had a habit of doing that even though he doesn't always want to," she replied calmly.
Turning around, she left the counter. It took plenty of p's and q's to squeeze through the crowded area but once she got to the table there was no problem. Apparently, not only did he always sit alone, people did not dare to get too close to him. Perhaps it was out of fear of disturbing him, but one way or the other it had always been like that.
"Hello Harry."
The newspaper dropped. It had acted as a curtain between them and when it fell Luna found herself looking right into those familiar green eyes.
"Luna!" Harry exclaimed, obviously surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?"
Luna smiled.
"I ordered lunch and I am currently hoping that you wouldn't mind sharing your table with me," she answered bluntly.
Flustered, Harry's cheeks turned slightly red and he quickly folded the newspaper and put it aside.
"Sorry, please sit down," he mumbled and stuck the folded newspaper into the pocket of his robe.
Harry rose in an attempt to draw the other chair out for Luna but she sat down before he managed to do it. His cheeks reddening a little more, Harry sat down against and scratched the back of his neck. Looking down, Luna saw that he had a half full bowl of onion soup and some bread in front of him.
"You've been here sitting here for a long time, haven't you?" she asked. "Your soup is cold."
Harry looked up and blinked, as if confused as to how she knew that. Luna thought that it was rather obvious, there was no steam at all coming from his soup. But the puzzled look on Harry's face amused her and she decided to let that little piece of information stay secret for the moment.
"So why did I hear that you always sit alone?"
Upon hearing her words, Harry chuckled. Luna did not quite understand why and stared at him waiting for an explanation.
"I'm sorry," Harry apologized as his laughter slowed down. But he was still smiling. "It just that... you don't waste any time dancing around the subject, do you? You haven't changed a bit."
Though she returned his smile, there was something that Luna felt was strange. The way Harry spoke gave her the distinct impression that he was unused to having people speak to him in that way.
"I like having a moment to myself," Harry answered, leaning back in the chair slightly. "I don't get that much at work or at home so lunch is my only chance. I asked the staff here if they could reserve the same table for me every day at lunch."
His words were light hearted. Looking at the man before her, it occurred to Luna how many years had passed since she had left. Back then he was just a boy, she was just a girl. The Harry sitting in front of her now was still Harry but living a very different life compared to before. He was married; he was a father and the head of the Auror department. But Luna wondered if the Harry she used to know would have gone out of his way to be alone.
"I guess being the head of the Auror department isn't easy," Luna said. "Do you enjoy your work?"
Harry opened his mouth but no words came out. It was like the words would have come out of him automatically, only this time he stopped himself. Perhaps the question was more complicated than it sounded.
A hot, steaming bowl of onion soup was suddenly placed before Luna and she looked up to see the waiter from the counter. He quickly put down a basket of fresh baked bread but did not waste any time leaving after he had served the food. Luna watched him hurry away from their table like he was afraid of offending them by staying a second longer than he was needed.
"Do people still do that around you?" Luna wondered, turning back to Harry. "Do they still get nervous?"
Harry snorted.
"I think the question is when they are going to stop," he replied, his fingers playing with the edge of a napkin on the table. He looked up and met Luna's eyes. "What about you? How has the first day at the Quibbler been so far?"
He had not answered her question about his work but she decided to let him slip away for now.
"Not really what I expected so far," Luna answered. She picked up the spoon and tasted the onion soup; it was salty. "All I've done so far is trying to sort out all the bills that have piled up... I think I will be doing that for quite some time."
Harry frowned and leaned just a few inches closer to the table.
"Is the Quibbler in trouble?" he asked.
It was a question that would usually be followed by "Is there anything I can do?" but Luna decided to speak so that Harry would not have to get to that point.
"Oh no." She waved her spoon lightly. "It's nothing that I can't take care of. There are just the bills to take care of in the beginning. Sooner or later things will be steady and I can concentrate on writing articles again."
Harry smiled and the smile reached his eyes.
"With you in charge, I guess we can still count on the Quibbler to print the unconventional truths."
Something in her stomach fluttered when Luna saw Harry smiling. It was definitely not out of hunger because her appetite was steadily decreasing each time she had another spoonful of the onion soup. It was something else, she remembered having felt this kind of fluttering before and even back then it had not been a good thing. She should not be looking so much at his smile but find something else to focus on.
"Not exactly unconventional truths..." Luna retorted. "But rather things that are free from the influence of those in power. You do remember what happened to The Daily Prophet? Even now it still receives funds from the Ministry who has influence over the editor and the staff. It is more of a channel for those in power to keep the public in order and feed the public with a one sided view on things rather than a place of professional journalism."
The long speech sprung out of her but the more she spoke and thought about the topic the less fluttering in her stomach. What she had just said were no news, Luna was more than used to debating the credibility of the Daily Prophet and had been for over twenty years.
Harry scratched the back of his neck. The smile on his face had changed, it was no longer the true smile that reached his eyes but rather one of awkwardness.
"Um..." he mumbled, unsure of what to say. "Um, Ginny writes for the Prophet now."
"Oh."
Despite all the people in the tavern, each of them speaking loudly to each other, Luna felt as if the whole place had gone quiet. The sound of her spoon scraping against the bowl seemed to thunder in her eyes as well as the rustling as Harry played with an unused paper napkin.
"Um... I..."
She tried to speak but no actual words came out. There was nothing that she could think of to say that would lessen the tension that she had brought on herself. Deep inside she cursed herself for it. Normally she had no problems voicing her opinion and dealing with whatever reaction people had to what she said. Usually she did not even care if people had a negative reaction to her or thought that she was awkward and strange. But this was different. This was Harry and Ginny, and that made everything much stranger and more complicated than they should have been.
Luna did not know how much time passed as she sat there scraping her bowl with her spoon and Harry playing with the napkin. But after some time, Harry stopped playing with his napkin and looked at his watch.
"I'm really sorry, but I have to get going now," he apologized. "Work is waiting, you know how it is."
Luna forced a smile in an attempt.
"Yes, I understand."
It was simpler to just agree than to say that this was the first time she had an ordinary job like everyone else; that she had an office to return to after lunch. She was only beginning to learn about how it was.
Harry rose up from his chair. His robe hung over the back of the chair and he swung it around his shoulders casually.
"It's weird isn't it?" he remarked. "How we keep running into each other after all this time? First at the platform, then this morning and now..."
This was only her first day. Her first day working at the Quibbler and she had already run into Harry twice.
"I guess," Luna said quietly and looked up at Harry.
He was ready to leave now; having pushed the chair that he had sat on back towards the table. As his hands rested on the back of the chair, he looked at straight Luna. It was impossible for her to avoid his eyes even if she had wanted to.
"Good luck with the rest of the day, Luna."
He smiled at her, again.
Flutter.
Her heart skipped.
"You too. Have a good day."
She did not know how she managed to utter those words. All she could think about were the feelings inside her, alien and strange feelings that should no longer exist. With a nod Harry turned around and left. Luna did not watch him go, but stared down at her onion soup. She did not know when he would have been out of sight if she had watched him go or when he would have left the tavern. But her mind was filled with thoughts of him long after Harry had left.
This was going to be much harder than she had thought.
When Luna got back to the office, she found an owl perched by the window. It appeared to be waiting for her, because it flew up and dropped the letter in her hands the moment she walked it. Afterwards it flew back to the window sill, patiently waiting for an answer.
Walking around her desk and slumping into her chair, Luna tore the envelope open and unfolded the letter inside. She recognised the handwriting immediately and could not help but to smile.
Mum!
Everything is fine here, Hogwarts is still standing. The first years are really short this year. It's your first day at working at the Quibbler. Tell me all about it!
Love, Lacus
Just as Luna read the last few words she heard a noise behind her. Spinning the chair around, she saw another owl landing on the window sill. The owl held a letter with its foot and stuck it out for Luna to take. Luna took the letter reluctantly; she hoped that it was not another bill.
Opening the envelope, she pulled out the letter and unfolded it. Just as before, she recognised the handwriting the moment she laid eyes on it.
Mum,
I talk too much.
Love, Lacus
Sighing, Luna picked up her quill and started to write her reply.
Dear Lacus,
So do I.
Love, mum.
"Lacus, calm down... it really wasn't that bad."
"Wasn't that bad?" Lacus took a break from burying her face in her pillow to look at Elaine in disbelief. "I completely made a fool out of myself in front of him! I mean... what was I thinking? Throat singing! Telling him just how bad at potions I am! Guh!"
Lacus turned her head back and sank down into the pillow again. Sitting on the edge of Lacus' bed, Elaine managed a sympathetic smile and tucked some of Lacus' hair behind her ear so that she could see her face better.
"Don't be so hard on yourself," Elaine encouraged. "Maybe he'll just think that you're cute and endearing. I mean, how many girls did Mongolian boat singing?"
"Throat singing," Lacus muttered, her voice slightly muffled by the pillow.
"Exactly," Elaine agreed. "Besides, you probably think it was worse than it was. Nate is a nice guy."
Lacus sat up in the bed and faced Elaine.
"So nice that he won't say anything when he thinks I'm weird," Lacus finished, crossing her arms.
Elaine rolled her eyes.
"And so nice that he was really happy when you said that you would join the duelling club," she pointed out. "He was really happy about that, I could tell."
Lacus lowered her eyes. This was typical of Elaine; with her never ending optimism she only saw the good in situations and was completely oblivious to the bad things. The word hopeless didn't exist in her vocabulary. Still, she did have a point that Nathan had been happy when she had said yes.
"It was probably only because no one had said yes yet," Lacus mumbled.
Elaine smiled.
"Well, that's a start, isn't it?"
"I don't know anything about duelling," Lacus protested. "I'll make a complete idiot out of myself."
"Hey... you didn't know anything about throat singing until you tried either, right?" Elaine said; her smile even more radiant than before.
Lacus forced herself to return a smile. Elaine really could not have picked a worse example.
Working at Auror department was an exciting job. Unlike other jobs with the ministry, it did not include routine. Every day looked different; there were always new missions to assign, new sightings or new evidence. Back when Harry had been out working in the field that had meant chasing one Death Eater on the run after the other, using every trick in the book to find those who threatened the wizarding society. Nowadays he was the head of the Aurors department and though his mission remained the same, the job was quite differently.
It was no longer the long missions that kept him from home, but the long hours at the office. One meeting after the other and there was always another document for him to read, write or just sign. No matter how many hours he worked overtime there was always another pile waiting for him to return the next day. Another pile keeping him from coming home for dinner on time, another pile keeping him from having breakfast with his family. His work was important, he knew that. He just wasn't convinced that it was the most important thing anymore.
It was almost dark when Harry walked down Diagon Alley. Summer was over and the autumn chill forced him to stick his hands into his pocket as he walked on. The alley was nearly empty save for the few people walking by briskly so that they could get home as fast as possible.
Usually Harry was one of them. Lily had been a little more needy than usual now that both James and Albus were at Hogwarts. Harry kept thinking that one of these days he should go home a little earlier, be home in time for dinner so that Lily wouldn't feel her brothers absence too much. But there was always something that needed to be done. Today he had an errand at Gringotts and the goblins were waiting for him, no doubt waiting impatiently.
He was nearly at Gringotts when he stopped walking. To his left was Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Old Florean had been killed many years ago in the beginning of the second war, but his daughter-in-law had opened up the ice cream parlour again after the war and kept the place going in his memory. But since her retirement the ice cream parlour had closed once again. The sign was still there, but windows were boarded up and there was a note stuck on the door.
But it was not the state of the ice cream parlour that made Harry stopped. After all Florean's daughter-in-law had announced that she would retire at the end of the summer and that none of her children wanted to take over the business.
It was the woman standing in front of and staring at the ice cream parlour that made him stop.
At first he thought that it could not possibly be her again, not because of the improbability of her being there but because it seemed too much of a coincidence to bump into someone three times a day.
But he saw the long blonde hair, the blue robe that he had seen both at breakfast and lunch.
Shaking his head, Harry smiled and walked up to stand by her side.
"Wow, we've really got to stop meeting like this," he said.
Luna turned her head and her already large eyes widened slightly as she noticed him for the first time.
"Oh, Harry! What are you doing here?"
"I'm on my way to Gringotts," Harry answered, nodding in the direction he was supposed to be going.
"Long day, huh?"
Luna smiled knowingly and Harry chuckled.
"Not longer than any other day... how about you?"
Luna shrugged.
"It could be worse," she admitted. "I miss my daughter though."
Now it was Harry's turn to look at Luna knowingly. Ever since James started his first year at Hogwarts Harry thought that he would get used to not having him at home. But James had been home all summer and now that Albus was at Hogwarts too the house felt a little too empty and quiet in the evenings.
"Lacus, right?"
Luna nodded.
"I'm so used to having her with me," she told. "Or going off somewhere when she's at Hogwarts that I'm too busy to think that I'm by myself. I guess it's because it's always been just the two of us."
Some of the words that Luna spoke caught Harry's attention.
"The two of you?" he repeated. When Luna stared at him blankly, he clarified. "What about her father?"
"Rolf!" Luna exclaimed suddenly as if she had just remembered him. "Oh no, we separated when Lacus was three years old. He's in Ireland now, I think."
"Oh." Harry looked at Luna carefully. "So you're not married?"
Luna shook her head.
"Never was... we were just together for a few years. But we're still good friends, we visit him whenever we have time."
"I see..."
The brisk footsteps of someone passing by echoed as the person walked against the cobblestones, bringing Harry back to the present. He was reminded of why he had stopped in the first place.
"So, what are you doing out here?" he asked Luna.
"I was going to get some ice cream." Luna smiled half heartedly and glanced at the boarded up windows of the ice cream parlour. "But it looks like I'm out of luck."
"Ice cream at this time of the year?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Summer is over, you know."
Luna's smile widened.
"Who says that you have to have ice cream in the summer?" she mused, turning to look at the ice cream parlour again. "It's never too late for anything, if you know what I mean."
Her words struck a chord in him, like they went right through all of his defences and imprinted them into his mind. He could not describe what it was, but the way she said it made the words stay inside of him.
"I guess... that's true," he managed to say after a while.
Pulling her coat a little tighter around her, Luna took a deep breath.
"I guess I should get going now," she said.
"Yeah, me too," Harry mumbled, his hands digging further into his pockets. He had no idea why he did that.
"Have a nice evening then." Luna smiled again. "It's been nice seeing you again. Really."
There was something about her last words that made Harry forgot the chilly evening air, he felt warmer somehow.
"Yeah, you have a good evening too, Luna."
Lowering her eyes, Luna walked past him. He did not watch her go but he listened to her footsteps, each and every one of them until they faded away and she was gone. But rather than going forward, Harry took one more look at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. He suddenly thought of that summer before his third year, when he had spent nearly every day and Florean himself treated Harry to free sundaes. It felt so long ago, like it was a different lifetime altogether.
It's never too late for anything, if you know what I mean.
It happened that Harry barely had the time to register it in his mind. But suddenly he was going forward towards Gringotts, but for an entire different reason that he had planned.
It was when Luna had gotten back to the cottage that she remembered that she had not answered Lacus' first letter. After brewing a pot of tea, she poured herself a cup and sat down in the armchair with a piece of parchment and a quill. She began writing the letter.
Dear Lacus,
She stopped, not sure what to write. Lacus had asked her to tell her how the first day at the Quibbler had been. So much had happened today that Lacus did not know where to begin. She thought of the pile of bills at the office, most of them still waiting for be paid, and felt slightly queasy.
With her free hand Luna picked up her cup of tea and took a sip. It was warm, sweet and comforting in a way.
Today had not been all about bills. There was finally taking over the Quibbler, something that Luna used to dream about doing when her father was still alive. There was discovering that Pansy was working at the Quibbler, along with young Nigel, bumping into Harry three times by coincidence. Today had really been about a lot of other things than bills.
Dear Lacus,
Today I embarked on a new adventure.
Love, mum
"You did what?"
Harry knew that Ginny wouldn't understand. Not that he generally thought badly of his wife, but he knew that this was just one of those things that she would not understand and he had been right. Watching Ginny stand on the other side of the dining table, her arms crossed and her mouth slightly open, he knew that she was in a state of shock.
"Now, listen to me..." Harry begun.
"If this is a joke, Harry, then it really isn't funny," Ginny breathed, her face growing pale. "In case you missed it, Aprils Fools was a few months ago."
"It's not a joke," Harry answered. "I really did it."
There was silence.
And then chaos.
"You quit your job and bought an ice cream parlour?!"