Chapter 2

"Hello."

"Hi."

She held out her hand, "I'm Luna, Luna Lovegood."

He took it and gave it a cautious shake, "Harry Potter."

Luna froze, still holding Harry's hand, "Are you really?"

"Um, yes?"

"The Harry Potter?"

"I'm the only one I know about."

She let go of his hand, then ran into the house, yelling, "Daddy!" But then remembered she'd left Harry Potter on the front step.

Trying to compose herself as much as possible she returned to the door, "Um, won't you come in out of the cold?"

"Thank you."

Meanwhile, Xeno and Arabella had gone to the foyer to see what the fuss was about.

"Daddy, Auntie Arabella, please meet Harry Potter. Harry, this is my Daddy, Xenophilius Lovegood, and my Auntie Arabella Figg."

Xeno blinked twice before he found his voice, "Good god, are you really?"

"I already know Harry, dear. He's one of the children I mind here in Little Whinging."

"About that, Mrs Figg, Aunt Petunia would like to know if you can watch me on Christmas Day while they're off with Aunt Marge."

"Of course, dear, can you stay for tea?"

"Um…"

"Oh, please stay." Luna implored.

"Aunt Petunia didn't tell me to come right back, so I suppose it's okay."

"Excellent, I'll put the kettle on."

Harry was still standing in the foyer, Xeno and Luna, not quite open-mouthed, but staring nonetheless.

"Um, may I come in?"

The Lovegoods shook their heads as if clearing cobwebs and tried for a little decorum.

"So, you, live in Little Whinging?"

Harry nodded, "Over on Privet Drive."

"With family?"

"My Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley."

"And do you go to school?"

Harry was taken aback by the question, "Yes, of course, Boxgrove Primary."

"Oh, it must be nice going to school with other kids."

"You don't?"

"No, I take lessons with Dad. It used to be Mum and Dad, but it's just Dad and me now."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Luna shrugged, "Thanks."

The silence was becoming awkward, to the point where Harry was about to go when Mrs Figg came in with the tea.

"Oh, I need sugar, Xeno, be a dear and help me reach it down, here, I'll show you where."

That left the two children alone.

Harry was getting uncomfortable with Luna's wide-eyed inspection of him. He was already self-conscious of his oversized hand-me-downs and she seemed to be trying to memorize every aspect of his body, "Um, are you looking for something, have I got something on me?"

"Yes, you do."

He stood up and did a quick self-inspection, "What, what is it?"

She maintained her unblinking, disconcerting gawk, "You have more nargelites than any three people I've ever seen, Harry Potter."

Harry's face went red, "What's that supposed to mean? Is that like the lurgy or something? Why are you having a go at me? I've never done anything to you!"

Luna paled, "No, I mean, um, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"I should say not."

The frosty silence that followed allowed both children to hear Luna's dad shout, "What do you mean he doesn't know about magic? He's Harry Bloody Potter for Merlin's sake!"

Harry's shoulders slumped, "That's it, I'm going now. I'd like to say it's been lovely, but it hasn't been, not by a long shot. Good bye."

He walked to the front door and opened it.

That was the precise moment Mister Tibbles and two of his mates decided to make a break for it.

Luna cried, "Oh, no…"

The cats took off in three different directions and Harry headed for Number Four Privet Drive.

Normally, Harry would have stayed to help entice the cats back, usually with the promise of tuna, but he felt justified in leaving the mess, having been insulted by a complete stranger and her father, not five minutes after having met them.

"Harry Bloody Potter indeed, who were those people?"

Turning left onto Privet he noticed Mister Tibbles standing on the low wall of Number six.

Harry removed Dudley's old two sizes too large coat upon entering Number four.

"Well, boy, what did Mrs Figg say?"

"She said it was okay, Aunt Petunia."

"Good, I'll not have you lazing about the house all day while we're gone. God knows what you'd be into."

"Yes, Aunt Petunia."

"Good Housekeeping says I need to prune my roses now."

"Yes, Aunt Petunia."

Harry re-donned the coat and walked to the garden shed for the pruning shears.

There were no gloves that would fit his hands so he would have to alternate clipping hands while the other was re-warming in the pocket of the oversized jacket.

"Pisst!"

Harry turned to see Mister Tibbles.

He stared at the cat, who stared back, "Did you just 'pisst' me?"

The reply was an agitated whisper, "That was me."

A small, sandy blonde head peeked above the low stone wall, so that he could only see her from the nose up. Quirky little bird, what was her name? Luna.

He wasn't happy to see her, "Oh, it's you. Come to have another go at me?"

The girl was obviously trying hard not to be noticed by anyone else.

"I'm sorry, I really am. I don't know what I said, but I promise I wasn't being mean, I mean, why would I? We've only just met."

Harry put both hands in his pockets to warm them.

"Harry, I know you don't know me, but I need you to trust me. Can you do that, I mean, right now?"

"Um, I don't know. Why should I?"

"Something is about to happen, and I don't want it to happen to you. I need you to take this."

She gave him a small stone, a white crystal with what looked like a stylized letter 'B' etched into a flat surface.

"What is it?"

"It's a rune. A white quartz crystal with the protection rune, 'beorc' engraved into it. It's a magic charm, no I'm not kidding, and if you don't do what I ask, you'll never remember what I just told you."

Harry looked askance at the little blonde.

"Someone is coming, he'll be old and kindly and friendly like, but he doesn't want you to know some things. He'll make you forget. You have to have the protection rune touching your skin or it won't work. Promise me you'll do that, promise!"

"Well," he thought, "it won't hurt to play along,"

He nodded just as the girl squeaked and ducked out of sight.

Harry turned to see and old man in a long coat, with the longest beard he'd ever seen outside of a fantasy novel.

"Harry, my boy, it's good to see you again."

"Sir?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, you wouldn't remember me, you were but a baby at the time. Oh well, no time like the present."

Seemingly, from out of thin air, the old man pulled a stick, which he pointed at Harry, saying, "Obliviate!"

A warm feeling flowed through him. He found the rosebush particularly interesting, all twiggy and sticky with thorns.

The old man said, "You will not remember me, nor will you remember any mention of the word 'magic' while at Arabella Figg's home. Everything else you will remember. Oh, and you'll avoid young, blonde girls for the foreseeable future. Goodbye, Harry. See you next year."

With that the old man walked away.

Harry mumbled to himself, "Can this day get any weirder?"

Slowly, tentatively, Luna peeked up over the stone fence, and whispered, "Harry? Harry!"

In a voice completely devoid of emotion Harry intoned, "I'm sorry, but you're a young, blonde girl. I have to avoid you."

"Oh, no!"

"Relax, I'm just having you on, turnabout is fair play." He pulled the rune from his pocket and stared at it. "Either he's a complete fake or this thing really works."

"Oh, he's no fake. He's probably the most powerful wizard in the world. Can we go somewhere warm? It's freezing out here."

"My relatives would never let me bring anyone inside."

"They will if they don't notice me."

She pulled two more rune stones from her pocket and slipped them into her bracelet and was gone.

Just gone!

Looking about, Harry asked, anxiously, "Hey, where'd you go?"

He was startled when she took his hand, because the moment she touched his hand, he could see her.

"It's a notice-me-not charm. When I let go of your hand, you won't see me, but I'll be here. Just go inside. I'll follow you to your room."

"Okay, but I hope you don't mind tight spaces."

She released his hand and he had to trust that she would be there.

"Boy, are you done with the roses?"

"Yes, Aunt Petunia."

"Well, go to your room, I have to take Duddykins out for his dental appointment."

"Yes, Aunt Petunia. May I use the loo first?"

"Make it quick."

He did, then went into the cupboard beneath the stairs. Sighing as Petunia Dursley snapped the bolt shut.

Once Petunia had left, Harry heard the bolt slide open.

"Are you being punished?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did she lock the door on you?"

"She always does that."

"Where is your room?"

Sitting on the child's mattress on the floor of the cupboard he couldn't make any grand sweeping gestures, so he just looked around and said, "This is my room."

"Harry Potter's room is a cupboard, beneath a stair?"

"Yeah."

"There's no place else in this big house for you to sleep?"

"There's the guest room, but that's for Aunt Marge when she comes to visit. Then there's Dudley's room, but he doesn't share, and there's Dudley's other bedroom, but, like I said, he doesn't share."

Luna Lovegood was usually fairly even keeled. Unflappable. But the more she learned about Harry Potter and the conditions he was forced to endure the angrier she got.

Harry, having never known differently, didn't know why she was so angry all of a sudden.

"It's not normal, keeping a boy in a cupboard, locking him in like he's some kind of criminal, what kind of people are these relatives of yours?"

The way Luna pronounced the word 'relatives' made Harry think of something you'd scrape off the bottom of your shoe. Or, for that matter, the way his 'relatives' would describe him.

Shaking his head he asked, "You wanted to talk?"

"Yes, I had to see you, to try to keep Dumbledore from obliviating you, that is, make you forget, like he did Daddy and Auntie Arabella."

Harry stepped out of his 'room' and stretched, "Since I'm out, let's get something from the kitchen, and you can tell me about obliterating and magic and such."

He led Luna into the kitchen and set about making tea.

"First, there's something you have to know. Magic is real. If you don't believe that, if you choose to deny what you've already seen with your own eyes, then nothing I say here will matter." Unlike his Uncle Vernon, Harry wasn't about to dispute what he'd seen with his own eyes, "Go on."

" You saw how my bracelet works, but there's so much more. There are such things as witches and wizards. We do magic, we have wands. We fly around on brooms."

What followed was a brief description of the two worlds, magic and mudane, and how it was important that the magical world stay hidden.

As she described her world, Luna couldn't help but notice Harry's absolute economy of motion, and, indeed, in no time there was a pot of tea brewing as he made little tea sandwiches.

She also noticed that he surreptitiously ate ingredients as he went along, when he cut the crusts off the bread for the cucumber sandwiches he didn't toss them, he ate them, along with the cucumber rind and seeds.

He even ate a spoonful of raw scone batter.

When the oven timer went off he served up hot, steaming scones, Devon cream, tea sandwiches and tea, all perfect, all perfectly timed.

He stood in the corner and waited for Luna to eat.

"Won't you join me?"

"Um, sure." He said, uncertain whether he could actually sit at the kitchen table.

"Don't you eat when your relatives eat?"

"No, I'm usually too busy cooking. My Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley eat a lot."

Luna split a scone and put a healthy dollop of Devonshire cream on it and handed it to Harry, saying, "Bon apitite!"

"Merci beaucoup. Now, what happened at Mrs Figg's?"

"Well, you heard Daddy shouting how was it that Harry Potter didn't know about magic. Auntie Arabella went all rigid, then walked over to the fireplace and called Dumbledore. She was under some kind of compulsion curse, so I pulled out all my protection runes and set them into place on my bracelet, see?"

She showed Harry how the crystals fit into recesses on her bracelet.

Dumbledore came in and, just as Daddy asked why you don't know any magic the old man pulled his wand and yelled 'obliviate,' just like he did with you. Only Daddy and Auntie didn't have any protection.

Dumbledore said, "You will forget that Harry Potter lives in Little Whinging and you will forget your Aunt Arabella knows anything about the boy-who-lived. As a matter of fact, you should probably forget that you even have an Aunt Arabella."

He was about to leave then he said, "I'd better make sure Harry doesn't remember anything either. Ah, tea!"

"He sat himself down to tea and I came looking for you. Good thing Mister Tibbles led me right here, as it was, I barely got to you in time."

The two children sat in silence for a long time.

Harry held up his scone and took a big bite, then hummed, "You know, these are even better when they're cooked."

"Harry, why do you stay here?"

"Because I'm ten years old. They're my only relatives. If they don't take me in, I'll go to an orphanage, like in Oliver Twist."

"If you could live somewhere else, would you?"

"Sure, in a heartbeat, but who would take me in? I'm worthless, just ask my Uncle Vernon, he tells me that ten times a day."

"You could stay with Daddy and me, at least for a while. Would you like that?"

"I don't know…"

"You could sit at the table and eat with us like a real family does."

"I can cook, and clean, and keep a garden and paint and…"

"We don't need a house elf, it's just the two of us now and we do for each other. But no one should be treated the way your family treats you."

"It's no more than what I deserve, I'm a burden on them, and need to work hard to make it up to them."

"That's it. You're coming with me."

"Where?"

"Home, my home. Go pack your things, we're leaving."

Daring to hope, Harry ran to the cupboard, pulled out his meager wardrobe, three vests, two pants, two pairs of trousers and an odd number of holey socks and bundled them all together in an oversized shirt.

He added two books, an old dog-eared copy of Lord of the Rings, and The Chronicles of Narnia, "Okay, that's everything."

Luna made a mental note, they were going to need to go shopping, "We just need to go back to Auntie Arabella's street."

"Wait," he said, "won't someone see us leaving?"

Luna smiled and held out her hand. In her palm were the two rune stones that she'd used to not be noticed.

"If we're both touching the stones, neither one of us will be seen."

"So, we're like, invisible?"

"No, not invisible, although there is a spell for that. We just won't be noticed."

"This isn't all some kind of joke, is it? Uncle Vernon isn't going to be out on the lawn laughing as we try to leave?"

Luna took his hand, squeezed it and said, "No joke, Harry."

In Harry's memory, at no time did anyone ever offer to hold his hand.

He decided he liked it. When they got to Wisteria Walk they saw Xenophilius walking up and down the footpath, looking confused.

"Here," Luna whispered, "Hold on to the runes while I talk to Daddy."

Harry felt a little lost when Luna let go of his hand.

"There you are, pumpkin. Um, I'm a little confused. Why are we here?"

"I'll tell you when we get home, Daddy. Can we take the Knight Bus?"

"Sure."

Saying that, Xenophilius held out his wand, and, with a bang, the triple-decker, purpurated Knight Bus burst onto the street.

"Stay with us, Harry."

"Who are you talking to, sweetie?"

"Um, just my imaginary friend, Daddy."

"Oh, okay."

Luna and her dad got on the bus, Harry followed cautiously.

"Sit down, and hold on to something, Harry."

He did and was glad for it as the bus flung itself out of the muggle reality and into madness.

Before long the conductor sang out, "Ottery Saint Catchpole!"

Harry didn't need to be told to follow the Lovegoods off the bus, he was happy to be shot of it.

Through the woods outside the small town and up the hill and Harry saw the strangest "house" he'd ever seen. It looked like a crumbling old tower. Strike that, it was a crumbling old tower. Some of the upper blocks were missing, well, not so much missing, he could see them littering the lawn. Daylight showed through some of the gaps in the wall.

"You live here?"

Luna smiled dreamily, "Yeah."

"Hullo, who's this?"

Harry looked around, "You can see me?"

Luna held out her hand for the rune stones, "Concealment charms don't work inside our wards."

Harry at first thought she wanted to hold his hand again, so he clasped hers.

"Um, I just need the stones, Harry."

"Oh," he said, quickly releasing her small hand, "sorry."

"It's okay."

Turning to her father she said, "Dad, this is Harry Potter, yes, the Harry Potter. Before you ask anything else, we have to go inside."

Passing through the one door on the ground level, Harry was immediately taken aback by the difference between the "Rook" tower's dilapidated exterior and it's interior.

For one, it was a lot bigger on the inside, clean and well lit by skylights. Neat trick since they were on the ground floor and the tower appeared to be at least five stories high.

They sat on a great big comfy couch and Luna told her father what had happened that day.

About their visit to Auntie Arabella's place, Dumbledore's obliviation and attempted obliviations.

"Wait, we have an Aunt Arabella?"

"Yes we do, Daddy. Dumbledore just stole her from your memory."

"Why did he do that?"

"Because Auntie Arabella is a link to Harry Potter, Dumbledore is using her, Daddy, he's controlling her."

She then described Harry's home life, how he was kept like a slave and a prisoner, sleeping in a tiny cupboard, waiting on his relatives hand and foot.

Xeno found it all very hard to believe. Surely no one would treat family that way.

"I saw it, Daddy. He sleeps in a cupboard, under a stair, on a baby's mattress."

"Have they ever hurt you, Harry?"

"Once, about three years ago, my cousin Dudley hit me with a fireplace poker. Broke my arm. They didn't take me to a doctor until my arm began to swell up something awful. The Doctor had to re-break it in order to set it."

Xeno went to the fireplace and threw in a small pinch of powder.

The flames turned green and Harry gasped as Mister Lovegood stuck his head in the fire.

"It's okay, Harry," Luna assured him, "Daddy's just making a floo call."

Five minutes later a lady in a lime-green robe stepped out of the fireplace. Xeno introduced as Healer Marissa Sessions.

"What's all this, then?" she asked.

Luna said, "First, we need to reverse an illegal obliviation on Daddy. Dumbledore made him forget some stuff. Then we need you to give Harry here a complete physical."

"An illegal obliviation by the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot? He'll probably overturn his own conviction. Conflict of interests, much?"

The healer set about her work, which seemed to require several small bottles, a large, red crystal and a white stick with two intertwined snakes engraved along its length.

"Obliviation doesn't really make you forget anything. What it does is make you unable to retrieve certain memories by blocking or redirecting pathways to wherever the memory is stored. The sooner I can see a person after obliviation, the easier it is for me to reestablish the pathways."

Harry thought to himself, Is that a ruby?

Healer Sessions held the crystal up to her eye and used it like a lens to study Xeno's noggin, a few taps on the crown with the thinner end of the stick, peer, tap, peer, tap, tap, tap.

After a short while she smiled, "Ah, ha! There it is."

One more light tap and Xeno's eyes snapped open, "Why that son of a…"

"Now, let's see about our young master Harry."

"Potter, ma'am. Harry Potter."

Healer Sessions looked slack-jawed at her patient. Then looked at the Lovegoods as if to ask, "Is he, really?"

Both nodded their heads, and said, "Yes, he is."

"Please, Mister Potter, lie down on the sofa."

"Should I take my shirt off?"

"Why?"

"I dunno, the school nurse usually had me take my shirt off."

"Not necessary at this time, just lie back and relax."

She waved her red-tipped, white wand in a crisscross pattern starting at Harry's head, ending at his feet.

"Very good, Mister Potter, you may sit up. Now, tell me about your relatives, your home, friends and school."

As he spoke, the healer took copious notes. By the time he'd finished, Healer Sessions had filled a long scroll with notes, front and back.

"Xeno, you need to engage a solicitor for Mister Potter's protection, and probably yours as well. I'll make a copy of my notes for you to have and another to be placed in a secure vault with the goblins."

Luna finally broke her silence.

"Please, Healer Sessions, is Harry okay?"

"He is as good as one can expect from an overworked, underfed boy of ten. If I didn't know how old he was I would have thought he was seven or eight. The good news is I have a series of treatments, including diet and exercise along with a whole range of nasty potions that will put him back where he belongs on the growth chart."

Looking at Luna's dad the healer said, "I assume your home and property are still shielded from detection?"

He nodded, "Yes."

"I would recommend a glamour, as well as something to mask his magical signature, which, by the by, is one of the strongest I've ever seen."

"Mummy had some charms for that, Daddy."

Xeno nodded in agreement.

"We can begin whenever you're ready, Mister Potter."

"What, now?"

"No time like the present."

He took a deep breath and said, "Let's do it."

)O(

A big shout-out to Brian over at Caer Azkaban for helping me find the British equivalent of 'cooties.' Also, a debt of gratitude to Tommy King, who volunteered to be my brilliant Brit picker, to give this story a more authentic British voice.