A/N: So, yeah. There's a huge cast of characters in this novel. It is hard to keep straight a huge cast, and I recognize that. I would like to mention, though, that if there is some character that obviously needs more screen time that has been left out, say something and I'll consider your suggestion. There's some people that I can't or just won't address in greater length. Pretty much all the Weasleys won't have more of a cursory role, as do many of the common fandon-love-minor-ish characters, like D. Greengrass and C. Diggory and others – students and adults. But evil people are evil people; so don't ask for Snape or Malfoy redemption. Because you won't get it. EVER.
To anyone who takes offense to my version of Luna, please note two things. Number one, this is fanfiction. Number two, it's still two years before Harry interacts with Luna in cannon. In the past two years, I've changed beyond recognition, and it's very possible that Luna has done the same between when she was twelve to when she was fourteen.
Chapter Eight
Luna
also entitled:
Everything Else is Overshadowed
"Name an entire year."
Kenneth's pop quizzes had become nearly commonplace. Harry had eventually just gone up to one member in every year and in every house and gotten the names of everyone in each category. He hadn't met everyone, not even close, but at least he knew their names and had at least some idea of their year and house. Well, he'd gotten the names of Slytherins from people in other houses. And he hadn't attempted the second or first years yet. "Ruth, Temperance, Zachary, Penelope, Katherine, Terrance, Cedric, Sparkle, Vale, Steven, Daniel, Hezekiah, Adam, Elizabeth, James, Chastity, Sarah, Willow, and Kyle, sixth years." It was a lot easier to name the sixth and seventh years, as they had only nineteen and twenty students, respectively. The first year class had forty-five students. Harry managed to name all nineteen sixth years without even looking up from his textbook.
"You're beginning to cheat!" Kenneth cried. He sounded almost proud. The twins were sitting not far away.
"Harry?"
"Cheat?"
"It's a miracle!" The Weasley twins shouted together. That caused just enough commotion that people looked up to see what was happening. Harry hid behind his textbook. Kenneth and the twins laughed. Once the twins stopped laughing and things returned to normal, Harry managed to get in a few good minutes of reading in before Cormac McLaggen inserted himself between Harry and Hermione at the group's little study table.
"Hi Harry."
"Cormac," Harry said, still not looking up from his book. "Anything I can help you with?"
"Nope," Cormac answered, with a lilting, infuriating superior air to his voice. "Just looking to see if you needed any homework help. You're just being so studious over here, I thought you might need some help."
Cormac may not have noticed, but Harry knew her well enough, Able and Neville had innate danger senses, and Kenneth just knew when Hermione was close to blowing. Of anyone who'd suffered from Neville and Harry moving into a dorm with Cormac, it was Hermione. She despised when the boy tried to insert himself into their group. She despised how he unwittingly and unintentionally – although she'd never admit that – insulted her. It ticked Harry off too, but he couldn't really do anything about it what with Mary and Eliza repeatedly telling him not too. "No thanks, Cormac," Harry said, "besides, I've got a meeting with Selene soon."
Wednesday evening. Fourth week of school.
"Besides," Hermione hissed, "some of us are actually intelligent." Cormac just looked confused. But at least he got the hint and moved off, probably to torment someone else. Hermione huffed and glared at Able. "How'd you put up with him for three years?"
Able shrugged. "Living with him shows you how awesome Neville is. The two of them are complete opposites." The group laughed. Harry liked laughing. He found himself doing it a lot more lately. Maybe he should try if he could manage a fifth patronus? Neville poked him on the wrist and discretely gestured towards the portrait hole, where Queenie and Katie were waiting for him. Supposedly, the two girls were going to escort him to his first meeting with Slytherin Selene Grant, who was supposed to be especially gifted when it came to music.
They met in an unused classroom near the base of the astronomy classroom. Selene was a regal looking fourth year student, who already looked old enough to pass off as a sixth or seventh year student. Katie and Queenie left, leaving the two students by themselves. It was painless enough, once they got going. Selene asked him how much he had sung, and at his reply, she frowned and asked him to sing something, sing anything. He couldn't really think of anything, so he warbled out Helga's Reel in different vowel sounds. It didn't sound as good as the actual song, but it wasn't bad. Selene just frowned.
She frowned a lot. Then she said he might be a natural, but he'd definitely need to learn the words to a song before he could actually really try singing. She started him on the scales and told him to practice. It was frustrating, really. He normally had homework for Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Astronomy, Herbology, lessens with Neville, Mary and Eliza, Katie and Dakota, Demelza and Queenie, Latin, Quidditch, and trying to juggle an increased amount of friends. It was, overwhelming, to say the least.
Thankfully, Selene only kept him singing scales for about half an hour. When she let him go, Harry gathered his things and darted through the many corridors and hallways it took to get to the school library. They should have magical maps of the school. He rarely got lost anymore, but still, a map that showed where everything was would be really helpful. Maybe he could make one… He reached the library in short order.
He was getting pretty good at taking mental inventories of who was who and who sat with whom. Tracey and Millicent sat with a bunch of other Slytherins that he didn't really recognize, so they were probably from different years. Anthony and Mandy studied with a few other Ravenclaws that he didn't really know, but he knew they were from his year: Morag, Su and Terry, he thought. There were a bunch of older students scattered around, but he really did need to interact with the younger years a bit more. Harry Bailey shared a table with what looked to be like a second year from every house, just the four of them. That could be an interesting group to join… Sarah and Aria were studying with a mixed group of first and second year girls. But he knew too many girls as it was. "Hey, Harry," Harry said, when he reached Harry Bailey's table, "can I join you?"
The four students looked up and gaped, even Bailey. They stuttered for a second before the younger Harry could manage a quick nod. He joined them, taking out the DADA textbook. They had a quiz the next day. The students didn't really say anything, they just stared. It was a little unnerving. "Hi, so I'm Harry…"
The only female, the Slytherin snorted, "Aren't we all?"
An amused look twisted over Harry Bailey's face. "Harry, meet Harrison Stevens, Harry Vanette, and Harriett Patterson." He gestured to the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin respectively.
Harry blinked. What? Um. Oh. Um. What?
Hufflepuff Harry grinned. "It's slightly worse among the first years: there are four Harrys, a Harrietta, a Harold, and a Harrison.
"There's eleven Harrys in two years?" Harry whimpered, nearly incredulous. "That's more than half of the seventh years! How is that even possible?"
"Well Harriett is actually not named after you, surprise, surprise, and astonishingly enough, she can prove it." Harrison said, "Bailey's and my parents changed our names just days after you defeated You-Know-Who, and Vanette's mom is a pretty famed Irish Seer. You are more than a little famous."
Harrison smirked. "My mom works for Witch Weekly; she says they're only waiting until you hit fifteen to put you on the most eligible bachelor list. Some of the more enthusiastic writers want to list you sooner."
His – Harry Potter's – mind was twisting. He couldn't… he didn't… he wouldn't… "Excuse me while I go gag," he managed to gasp out before grabbing his stuff and fleeing from the library. He really hated being famous.
o.o.o.o.o.o
Thursday morning, he awoke far too early for any normal person. Maybe he should go see Madame Pomfrey about the perpetual nightmares. The common room was empty. Even Emma and William, the earliest of the early risers, had yet to come down. Harry stared at the chirruping little fire and relished his few moments of peace. It was nice, not to be around anyone or anything, without having anything immediately demanding his attention. Contentment radiated through Harry. He grabbed his wand and focused on the memory he used to summon Aegisa: talking with Professor Sinistra long, long into the night. The little lion cub tumbled from the tip of his wand.
So he could summon his patroni out of order. The third year called Orion, Flutterbunny and Caradoc and watched as the four patroni danced through the empty common room. Harry closed his eyes and focused on his friends: Hermione, Neville, Able, Paradise, Kenneth, Katie, and far too many to name. He'd used Hermione and Ron to first summon Flutterbunny; now it was just Hermione. Harry focused on how it felt to spend time with his friends, and, ultimately, to laugh. "Expecto patronum." His wand shivered a little, and out flew a sparkling bird, larger than anything he'd really seen before. Its neck was gracefully oversized, and its wings were perfectly magnificent. He'd have to ask if anyone knew what kind of bird it was. The other patroni all noticed the newcomer instantaneously.
Harry let his wand drop to his side. He held it naturally, just resting against his leg. The patroni spiraled around him, graceful and glorious. The firelight caught Harry's face just so and mixed with the glittering silver patroni just so.
Something thunked. Harry startled. Sarah Spinnet bent over, picked up her drawing utensil and started stammering almost endless apologizes. She looked like she was going to scramble back up the stairs. "Sarah," Harry said, "relax."
The girl paused. "Sorry." She moved tentatively towards the fireplace. "You can burn it if you want."
"Burn what?"
The patroni gathered behind him, but the unknown bird sallied forth and flew around Sarah. The intangible beak brushed over the bangs on Sarah's forehead. A shiver of delight ran through the young girl. She held out a charcoal picture to Harry. It was all black and white, but it captured him, just standing in front of the fire, with the five patroni circling around him, wild, and cheerful, and looking almost alive. "The swan's gorgeous," Sarah whispered, reaching out. Her fingers drifted over the swan's wings; not touching, just tracing the outlines.
"This picture's gorgeous," Harry whispered, still entranced.
Sarah looked up, her eyes wide. "Really?"
"Of course!" Harry said. "It's exceptional. Do you have any others I could see?"
"Y…yes," Sarah stammered. She glanced at the girls' stairs. "I can go fetch them. Have you named the swan?"
"No," Harry said. He'd have to ask Hermione what a swan was. From what Sarah said, it seemed to just be the type of bird was, like how Caradoc was an eagle.
Sarah nodded and moved towards the stairs. "I like Kleio; she's my favorite of the Grecian muses." She said the words so softly that Harry knew he wasn't really meant to hear them, but heard them he did. The swan raised her neck into the air and swayed twice. It looked like approved of Kleio too. Harry let the patroni disappear, but the good feeling he had when they came out didn't yet dissolve. He opened the book of fairytales and started reading about a phoenix-princess who fell in love with an icedragon-prince. It was a fascinating doomed-romance. With the right magical effects, it would be fascinating to see on stage.
Harry lowered his book. Oh great. They had him thinking about everything on a stage. He was going to kill Sarah Bathsheba and the other girls before the year was out.
Sarah returned with a pretty hefty book-like packaging that just teemed with loose pieces of paper. "I don't normally share these…" she said, "but you're my friend, right?" She looked terrified. Of rejection? What would she have to be scared of?
"Of course, Sarah." Harry said. She handed him the package and he opened it. The pictures were many and diverse, but most of them focused on Hogwarts and the people of Hogwarts. The first one he saw was an angled view of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables during a feast. Harry recognized many of the individual people, it was that detailed. Another depicted Harry and Alicia and the rest of the Gryffindor team on the Quidditch pitch, with blurred green and silver blobs elsewhere on the field. Sarah had scrawled "Gryffindor Victory" in the margin. It was one of the few colored pictures.
Another picture was Harry, Hermione and Ron at a table; Hermione had a book and the two boys were playing chess. It made Harry's throat clog. Yet another was of what he assumed was Sarah's dorm room. There was another dorm room picture, but this was filled with her roommates. Harry instantly recognized Ginny and Zia. He didn't recognize the other two girls. Sarah herself wasn't in the picture. The Weasley girl was sitting on her bed, hunched over a battered little book with a quill in her hand. Tom Riddle's diary. Again, Harry found it hard to breath.
One of the few colored pictures was also one of the few abstract ones; the house colors for all four Hogwarts houses swirled together into a sky behind a black skyline that was obviously the castle. A detailed Hogwarts coat of arms graced one of the upper corners. There were two that Harry particularly liked and both were from the Gryffindor dance party. The first focused on Emma and William, during their very public kiss at the end of Helga's Reel; Sarah had captured all the emotion in their faces and bodies just perfectly. The second showed Fred and George doing something that could hardly be qualified as dancing while the rest of the house laughed at them.
"Hi Harry, Sarah." Both Harry and Sarah jumped at Emma's greeting. "What are you doing?"
Sarah started to stutter.
"We're looking at Sarah's drawings," Harry said. His friend looked like she wanted to run away like a very startled deer. "You should see this, Emma, it's really good." The older girl approached, good-naturedly and took the seat next to Harry. He showed her the picture of Fred and George first. Emma laughed. Sarah looked horrified.
"This is really good Sarah," Emma said, "have you had formal instruction?"
"No… I've worked with Dean some though." Her voice wavered. Harry handed Emma the picture of her and William.
The older girl took the picture and froze. She brushed William's face with one finger, even as tears brimmed in her eyes. Harry and Sarah shared a glance, horrified. Luckily enough for them that was when William decided it was time to join them in the common room. Emma didn't notice him at first; she was so fixed on the picture. He noticed her and her tears nearly immediately. "Emma?"
Gryffindor's queen gently laid down the picture and turned to face her best friend, boyfriend, and so many other labels. She jumped up from her chair and propelled herself at him, wrapping her arms around her neck and sobbing into his shoulder. William held her. He looked confused. "I'm not giving you up," Emma managed to sob. "I don't care what my family says! I'm not giving you up!"
"Emma—"
"No!" Emma shrieked. "William Caric, I love you for you and I'm not going to let blood status or any stupid social standard change that. Please…"
"Em—"
She kissed him.
Sarah and Harry looked at each other, their faces bright red as they watched two of the older students get wrapped around each other. The emotion that poured from both William and Emma was almost tangible. When they broke apart, both of them had tears on their cheeks. Again, the two younger students looked guiltily at each other, but couldn't bring themselves to say anything or do anything or even turn away. The couple didn't even acknowledge Harry and Sarah and they left the common room. Their hushed whispers reached Harry as nothing more than unintelligible murmuring.
Sarah started gathering her pictures back together. "That really wasn't intentional."
Harry laughed, and after a few moments of indecision, Sarah joined in.
o.o.o.o.o.o
Breakfast that morning was undeniably… um… interesting. The Gryffindor table was abuzz with theories about why Emma and William seemed to have finally worked out what had been hanging over their heads. Harry and Sarah sat with Able, Neville and Hermione and snickered together as the fourth year girls, who were sitting not far away, related the whole history of Emma and William, apparently entirely for Harry's benefit. They'd been dating since their fifth year. At first, Emma's parents hadn't had a problem, but when the possibility of staying together after Hogwarts came up, the MacDonalds had condemned it.
Dumbledore made an official announcement about big Sarah's play. Snape sneered, like he always did, at the thought of the play, but most of the other teachers seemed at least a little interested in the idea. Flitwick, Sinistra and Lupin were openly excited about the idea. Hermione and little Sarah, probably two of the book-y-ish Gryffindors, started bonding. It was a scary sight. Halfway through the meal, Harry decided to be different. He left his stuff with Neville and moved towards the Ravenclaw table. Mandy sat on the edge of a bunch of Ravenclaw girls. There was an open seat between her and another Ravenclaw girl. Harry greeted Mandy and sat down.
She greeted him back, happily enough. He greeted Morag, Lisa, and Su, but Padma was nowhere to be seen. There were two other girls, who both looked younger. "Harry, meet Melissa and Noelle. Noelle, Melissa, meet Harry Potter." The two second years nodded politely, but went back to their food and their books. Typical Ravenclaws.
"Words run on and on and on. Don't trust the words. Words are infested. Words root your brain. Words lie." That was not typical Ravenclaw. Harry gaped at the blonde girl beside him.
"Shut up, Loony," Melissa hissed. "You're a crazy old loon."
"I'll speak words," Luna snickered, "because I speak lies." Harry got the distinct impression that the girl was making fun of the normal Ravenclaw intelligence. It was humorous, is a sort of twisted way. The girl – Harry highly doubted her real name was Loony – made odd bird sounds as she slurped on a green, grassy looking drink. "I'll chirp the sounds, and I speak no lies."
Harry cocked his head. "As you said those words allowed, that still gives the freedom to chirp in lies, doesn't it?"
Melissa groaned. Noelle looked distressed. Morag was shaking her head in consternation, as if begging Harry to stop. Su, Lisa and Mandy seemed slightly horrified. The girl cocked her head at the exact same angle as Harry's. She chirped.
Harry chirped back.
Her eyes widened. She twittered rapidly before saying "Did you mean to say that the sky is green, because it if is the whole world is lying!"
Harry blinked, then grinned. "I don't know how to chirp the sounds, so you'll forgive me if they're a bit garbled."
She narrowed her gray eyes until her whole face simply reeked of suspiciousness. "But you said the sky was green!"
It was a challenge, Harry recognized in the suspicious reaction of the girl. His mind whirled through a dozen possible responses. "We have no way of communicating on a truthful basis, then," Harry said, eventually, "as I don't know how to chirp, and everything you say in words could very possibly be a full blown lie, even in regards to what you said I said while chirping."
She blinked. "Oh. I guess that does pose a problem. How could it be rectified?"
Harry was vaguely aware of a good third of the Ravenclaw table staring at them. The rest of them were absent, reading a book, or eating as fast as possible to get back to their books. "You could teach me how to chirp, or tell truths while speaking words."
"Oh. I guess I've never thought about that solution." She cocked her head in the other direction. "Melissa, I don't like you." The words tumbled out of her, like they were coming to fast. "I don't like you, at all. And that's the honest truth!" Gray eyes wide. Surprise. "Wow. That feels good." Harry swallowed. That wasn't the intent of what he'd suggested. Melissa looked absolutely murderous. "Thank you, Harry Potter!" She cooed. She jumped up from the table and ran towards the staff table. "Professor Flitwick! Professor Flitwick! I can tell the truth now!" The whole Hall, even the bookish Ravenclaws were staring at her.
The girl laughed, spinning around the front of the staff table like a drunken person. "I've got a crush on Remus Lupin! My name is Luna Lovegood and I am free!" Her sing-song voice rose to the rafters and held the attention of every single student and staff member. "My name is Luna Lovegood and this establishment has done nothing to alleviate the torture that I've experienced here. Look, see?" She pointed at the Ravenclaw table, directly towards Melissa and Noelle. "They mock me, often. They've stolen my shoes and other things, so often that I can't remember how many times. They've destroyed homework of mine, vandalized my sleeping area, and what did this school do in punishment? That's right, nothing! And you know I'm telling the truth. You all know the horrid aspects of this establishment!" No one dared look away. "Last year! Just last year a girl got abducted by a giant snake and the soul of You-Know-Who. Not to mention that DADA was taught by a fraud, know-nothing and idiot.
"And what has this establishment, what has this great Headmaster ever done about it! Albus Dumbledore is not the man you think he is! He is not omniscient and omnipotent. As much as he'd like you think this, he is not god! He lets bad things happen to school children. He placed Harry Potter with a family that we all know abused him. It's Dumbledore's fault. It's your mighty hero's fault! So wake up! Honest truth, but you'd ask me how I know." Nothing was heard except the sound of Luna's voice. "Because it's in the facts, you unbelievers, you Ravenclaws! It's all in the facts." A soundless, wandless stunning spell hit Luna in the back of the head. She collapsed to the floor, like a graceless dancer dying from overwork. But everyone knew that Luna was only stunned.
Professor Dumbledore was standing. His voice seemed abnormally shaky. "Madame Pomfrey, would you please take Miss Lovegood to the hospital wing and perform a mental evaluation on her?"
The school nurse stood, levitated the unconscious girl, and left the hall.
A sinking feeling settled deep in Harry's stomach. He believed Luna. He honestly believed that everything she said was the truth. Harry, along with more than half of the school, stared at their Headmaster in horror. When he finally looked away, Harry looked first at Melissa and Noelle.
"She's crazy," Melissa complained, "fricking crazy. Who'd ever believe her?"
Mandy swallowed. "She's right though, Mel. And her conversation with Harry… he set her free."
o.o.o.o.o.o
By lunch, when the rumor mill had been given enough time to circulate, it seemed that everyone knew: Harry Potter had been the one who set Lovegood off. Harry Potter cracked the loopy-loony. By lunch, everyone knew that Luna Lovegood had been transferred to St. Mungo's for a more in depth psychiatric analysis. By lunch, Harry had dealt with far too many inquisitive glances, judgmental frowns, congratulatory and mocking smiles, awed stares, and puzzled expressions.
"Look," Harry stood and screamed to the general populace of the Great Hall. "I didn't mean to put Luna in a mental institution!"
When he sat back down, it was Hermione who broke him, in her well-meaning, factual manner. "But you did."