DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, Doctor Who or the Chronicles of Narnia. I own this plot only, and any OCs. My depictions of real life characters are based on stereotypes or suppositions and no insult is intended. I have no desire to own the series this story is based on, although if anyone could give me either a wand, TARDIS or wardrobe portal into Narnia I certainly wouldn't say no.
IMPORTANT: This is a rewrite of my story, You Are Not Alone and, as such, any resemblence to that story is intentional.
Chapter Twenty Three: Friday on My Mind
'No one is told any story but there own.' Aslan, Prince Caspian, HarperCollins
Location: Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts School, near Aviemore, Scotland, Earth
Time: November 1993 CE
That large poster in the middle of the Gryffindor common room noticeboard made Harry more nervous than it had any right to. He had been planning for weeks to take Lucy to Hogsmeade on a date, but now the time had arrived, he had to pluck up the courage to actually ask her out on a date. It was all well and good that they were bonded for life, but he still wanted to do things properly. Unfortunately, as evidenced by the Doctor and the Master, Time Lords had very little idea of human emotion. Even Harry, who had some modicum of being a human, both his parents were humans carrying Time Lord genes after all, struggled with issues of the heart.
It was this poster that resulted in Harry scouring the common room for his bondmate. Several anxious moments passed before he found her in a secluded corner of the common room in an animated conversation with another girl, based on the vibrant red hair, it had to be Ginny. Sucking up all of his courage, he crossed the common room towards the two girls. Walking up behind Lucy, he waited for a pause in conversation before wrapping her up in a hug from behind, adding a kiss on the cheek for good measure.
'Hello Harry!' Lucy said brightly, a smile lighting up her face at the overt public display of affection by her bondmate (and officially husband). Ginny sighed to herself in the background as the couple got lost in each other, Lucy turning around in the hug to look up at Harry expectantly.
Harry looked down at Lucy, swallowing thickly as he dredged up every ounce of his Gryffindor courage just to ask her out. 'Gryffindors charge ahead!' he thought to himself before speaking. 'My lady Lucy, will you do me the honour of accompanying me to Hogsmeade...like on an official date?' Harry stumbled slightly, his attempt at speaking like the natives of Narnia was spoiled by the teenage boy-style ending to the question.
Lucy giggled, pretending to swoon like a damsel in distress before smiling warmly at Harry's obvious embarrassment, but also at the outright hopeful look on his face. 'Of course I will, Harry. I would LOVE to go to Hogsmeade with you.'
Relief washed over Harry's face. Weeping Angels? Easy! Asking Lucy on a date? HELP PLEASE! He was glad she had agreed, and was already running ways to make that day magical through his head.
Harry was waiting in the common room for Lucy before their first official date. He was wearing a new dark brown corduroy trousers and a beige Abercrombie and Fitch hoodie with an old favourite of the Doctor's, brown Converse All Stars.
When Lucy walked down the stairs into the common room, Harry was speechless, seeing Lucy's denim jeans, and her scarlet polo shirt, emblazoned with the legend "Gryffindor Lioness" in gold on the front and "Potter-Windsor" on the back, along with her playing number 8, the shirts having been a gift to the 6 girls on the Gryffindor Quidditch squad from Harry. She also carried a denim jacket to match her jeans and, taking a leaf out of Harry's book, was wearing blue Converse All Stars, along with a woollen beret the same colour as her polo.
Finally Harry managed to find enough of his voice to compliment his bondmate, 'Lucy, you look ab-solutely gorgeous. Like always.' He added his trademark crooked smile as he finished.
Lucy blushed a pretty pink at Harry's compliment, subconsciously thinking back to her time on the Dawn Treader when she had foolishly tried out a spell to make her "more beautiful". She also subtly appreciated Harry's outfit, complimenting him as well, before Harry offered her his arm and together they walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Location: The Great Hall, Hogwarts School, near Aviemore, Scotland, Earth
Time: November 1993 CE
Harry and Lucy went through their usual morning routine just a little bit quicker, and almost imperceptible to all but the most eagle-eyed, marginally closer to each other. Harry's morning toast was almost inhaled, and he read his copy of the Gazette quicker than would be possible for any human (not of course, for a Time Lord). For Lucy's part, despite being marginally faster, she still painstakingly prepared her tea, sipping it slowly and appreciatively before reaching for her toast. As daintily as the Queen she was inside, she ate her toast, although she couldn't get her mind of her date for the day sitting much closer to her than he had before. Finally after Lucy's breakfast and Harry's stressful inhalation of his toast, the single brass bell in the Entrance Hall tolled twice, followed by Dumbledore's announcement that students with permission could now leave the school to head off to Hogsmeade.
Harry swallowed his last bite of toast before standing and offering his arm to Lucy. 'Shall we, Lady Lucy?' Harry asked just as any gentleman would.
Lucy giggled at the sweet new pet name Harry seemed to have given her, standing herself, she took his arm and nodded. 'We shall, my lord.' she said pompously before the pair of third years burst out laughing as they left the Hall.
Location: The Entrance Hall, Hogwarts School, near Aviemore, Scotland, Earth
Time: November 1993 CE
The couple were soon the first in line to leave the castle as the caretaker Filch and Professor McGonagall checked students against the list of those with signed permission forms or permission notes, and soon Harry and Lucy were walking down the well worn path to Hogsmeade, and without either of them realising it, Harry's right hand reached down to take hold of Lucy's left and their fingers interlaced.
Location: Hogsmeade High Road, Hogsmeade, near Aviemore, Scotland, Earth
Time: November 1993 CE
Hogsmeade, the only all-magical settlement in the whole of Great Britain, and one of only ten in the whole of Europe, always seemed mystical to Hogwarts students when they first heard about it, but as Harry and Lucy walked down the High Road hand in hand, Harry reflected that it was no less mystical than some of the alien markets he had visited on Shan Shen, and yet it was no more mystical than those great markets on London's Portobello Road. With Lucy by his side, though, these thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind as he noticed the wonderful feeling that holding Lucy's hand in his own created, and he instead found himself marveling at the beauty of this young woman beside him.
Seeing the small bookshop located alongside Dervish and Banges, Lucy dragged Harry over in that directing, her enthusiasm for reading bringing a smile to his face, an enthusiasm which he shared. As they stepped through the door, they inhaled the intoxicating smell that could only come from old books. Lucy headed to a section of the shop with classic novels by Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters, Lucy's all-time favourite authors. Harry meanwhile moved to a different section where he found Shakespeare's collected works, a first edition no less, a hand-signed collection of Charles Dickens' stories and other books which he would never expect to find in a small bookshop in an all wizarding village.
While Lucy was engrossed in Austenian works and those of the Brontë sisters, Harry left his prospective purchases on the counter, saying he would be back in a moment. By the time Lucy reached the counter, albeit with only two books, an early edition of Sense and Sensibility and a worn leather-bound copy of Little Women, she was caught speechless as Harry offered her a single yellow rose, its petals tipped with red. Lucy blushed as she allowed Harry to tuck the magically de-thorned rose behind her ear, wondering if Harry realised that such a rose normally meant a friendship and falling in love.
After paying for their purchases, and pocketing the packages that the shopkeeper had shrunk for them, the young couple explored some of the other shops in Hogsmeade, but when they reached the end of the main road, and the stile which symbolised the very end of Hogsmeade's limits, rather than turn back, Lucy perked up as she saw something high on the mountainside.
'Aslan?' she asked out loud, and Harry also perked up as he saw a glint of something golden high up on the trail that led up onto the plateau in the midst of Cairngorms National Park and down the other side to Balmoral Castle. She looked to Harry for confirmation.
'Come on then!' He smiled, helping Lucy over the stile before they both scrambled up the mountainside. As they neared the top, they noticed the lion almost impossibly squeeze into a fissure in the wall of the cliff. Looking at each other, Lucy shrugged before squeezing into the small gap as well. As Harry followed, he was surprised that despite him squeezing through, it felt no different to walking through a wide archway.
As they entered the cave, Harry and Lucy both took a knee before the mighty King-above-all-Kings of Narnia. 'Aslan!' They both exclaimed breathily as they looked up into the golden Lion's eyes.
'Hello again, dear ones. I have come to check in on you.' Aslan's booming voice echoed around the surprisingly spacious cave, which Harry now noticed was covered in carvings of what appeared to be the story of Lucy the Valiant.
'What is this place, Aslan?' Lucy asked after she too noticed the carvings, her eyes being drawn to the last one - her standing next to a raven haired boy at the prow of the Dawn Treader, King Caspian X's flag ship of the Narnian Navy.
'This, dear one, is one of the rare gateways between the worlds.' Aslan explained, his eyes moving all around the cave. 'Now, I would ask that you don't use the portal here to return to Narnia, because, for now, your place is here on Earth, where I have a part for you to play in life's great dance.'
Lucy nodded, her eyes betraying her sense of hurt at not being able to return to Narnia.
'So you came to check in on us?' Harry asked, wrapping his arms around Lucy to allow her to draw comfort from him.
'Yes, Harry, dear boy. I always watch my children, but you two... you have my special interest. The faith you two have, in Narnia, in me, and in each other, is more strong than any I have seen in anyone. I will be with both of you, always. But now I must go, I have other things to attend to.' Aslan explained, giving Lucy one last chance to hug him before he faded away, leaving the couple alone.
'Come on, Lu.' Harry said, leading her to the entrance of the cave. 'Let's go to the Three Broomsticks, have some lunch, and then we better head back to the castle. Hermione will kill us if we don't get our homework done.'
Lucy nodded and they squeezed back out of the cave and scrambled back down the mountain, heading towards the main hub of socialisation for Hogwarts students in Hogsmeade, The Three Broomsticks.
Location: Founder's Tower, Hogwarts School, near Aviemore, Scotland, Earth
Time: November 1993 CE
Harry and Lucy arrived back at Hogwarts with a couple of hours before dinner time, and so headed up to the Founder's Tower to get a start on their homework, but were surprised to find Remus Lupin in his RAF uniform sitting by the fire, obviously waiting for them to arrive, and as he saw them enter he stood and snapped into a smart salute, both Harry and Lucy waving him off. 'What have we told you about salutes, Squadron Leader?' Lucy asked. 'They aren't necessary!'
'And I'll remember that when you both call me Remus!' The air force officer retorted.
'What was it you were after, Remus?' Harry asked, smiling at the man who had been a good friend of his father.
'I just came by to let you know that Her Majesty and myself are preparing a timetable of events for you over the course of the next few months. Thought you might appreciate some forewarning that you have a couple of state dinners coming up.' Remus answered the young prince.
'How many is a couple?' Harry asked tentatively.
'Only a dozen or so.' Remus said with a smirk. 'Let's see, there's the U.S. Secretary of Magic and President at the White House, the Australian Magical Governor-General, La Presidente Magical de France...well, actually, there's not that many Your Highness, and I'm sure it would be much more bearable if the lovely Duchess here were to join you, I'm sure Her Majesty would have no objections to that.' Remus amended as Lucy blushed at his statements.
'I suppose I could attend a couple of state dinners, as long as the completely gorgeous Duchess will be joining me.' Harry conceded, Lucy's blush deepening.
'I thought as much.' Remus said with another smirk. 'Her Majesty also asked me to tell you both that you are invited to Christmas lunch at the Palace although your presence is apparently expected back here at Hogwarts on Christmas night.'
Location: Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts School, near Aviemore, Scotland, Earth
Time: November 1993 CE
After dinner, back in Gryffindor Tower, Lucy reached up and kissed Harry on the corner of his mouth. 'Thank you for a perfect day.' she whispered before heading up to bed.