Freak of Nature
I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I make any money off of this work, period.
AN: Well, are you ready for some answers? I know I've left a lot of questions lying on the table after the last chapter, but a lot should be explained in this chapter. I'm going to be picking up the pace of time a bit now that the foundation of the story has been thoroughly laid; I want to get to Hogwarts ASAP. So here we go!
AN: Easter egg hunt in last chapter. For those of you interested, I thought I would let you do a scavenger hunt and see if you can find two things that I put in the last chapter: 1. A part where I make fun of myself as the author; and, 2. I inserted an adapted part from an American television cartoon to play a role in the last chapter. Basically every chapter I write I try and give myself challenges that stretch my ability as a writer, and the last chapter I decided to insert those two. Send me a PM with your answers if you want to. Cheers!
[parsel]
/creepy crawly critters/
{Primal Beast Language}
Chapter 10: Answers and Introductions
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
— Jim Butcher (Publicity and Advertising)
Sirius Black woke up to the feeling of sheets and a real bed for the first time in ten years. Being extra cautious after ten years of prison living (a guy learns to 'watch his back' in prison) Sirius tried to sense where he was.
Wiggle wiggle, twitch twitch, "Yep, my toes and fingers are still here." Sirius thought to himself, "Where ever here is." Continuing to take in the senses around him, he could distinctly hear something breathing very loudly in the room.
"Shit! The cat! It probably took me home as a "doggy bag!" He thought in fright, the speed of his heart picking up.
Sniffff, "Yep, wet cat. Bloody hell!" Sirius stated, using his animagus adapted sense of smell to confirm that the Nundu was still somewhere about.
Opening one eye a crack, Sirius used it to look around the room. Print paisley wallpaper covered the walls, and antique furniture that was definitely more for looks than comfort sat in the corner; all of it slightly illuminated by light filtering through the pulled curtains and shades in the large bedroom's window. And there, in between him and the door to his escape was a giant Nundu, larger than anything he had ever seen! "Ok, not larger than anything I've ever seen, I've seen that Nundu before, right after it busted into my cell after killing the other prisoners." Sirius thought, catching a glimpse of the Nundu who was awake and licking its paws clean.
"Ok, I'll only have one chance at this," Sirius thought to himself, "the door is blocked, so it's got to be the window… ok, on three." He thought as he tensed his muscles and got ready to move.
"One, two, Three!" Sirius thought, yelling the last one out loud as he rolled off the bed and made a dive for the window.
Bam, Boooinnng! Zing! "AAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" Sirius hit the window with a bang, only to realize that somebody had charmed it to act like rubber, effectively stretching like a rubber-band, only to shoot him zinging back into the room with a scream.
Sirius flew over the bed and tumbled head over heels across the floor of the room, only to come to a stop upside down against something very hard, and very furry.
"GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Sirius looked up from his upside-down position to see the toothy growl of the Nundu right over him.
Quickly crab walking away at speeds he didn't know he could do, Sirius rolled back and crawled until his back hit the corner of the bed, the Nundu crawling towards him, teeth barred and growling.
"GRRRRRRRRRRR!"
"Um, nice kitty… um, nice Nundu? Um, nice kind vegetarian Nundu?" Sirius whined plaintively as the cat crept closer to him. Just as the cat seemed to spring at him, Sirius screamed like a little girl and threw his arms up to protect his face "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Only to get a Giant lick from a tongue like industrial grade sandpaper from his chest to the top of his hair, effectively covering him in slobber and mussing half of the hair on his head to stand up like a mohawk.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! HA HA HA HA! You should have seen your face Sirius! God! That, and wetting yourself the first time you saw me! HA HA HA HA HA!" Sirius heard, uncovering his eyes slowly and seeing a young man rolling on the floor laughing.
Stunned for a second, Sirius asked questioningly "Um, Do I know you?" Trying to stay polite to the kid who could apparently turn into a Nundu.
"What, don't you recognize your godson Pad'foo?" Quirked Harry, sitting up from his rolling around on the floor and smiling at Sirius with that goofy Potter grin, Lily's eyes shining above his smiling face.
"Harry? You're Harry! Oh Pup I've missed you!" Sirius said, at first shocked and then overcome with emotion, he crawled across the floor and gave Harry a big hug, holding onto his godson for all his worth.
"Um, Sirius, What are you doing?" Harry asked questioningly.
"I'm hugging you." Sirius said in surprise.
"Oh, is that what a hug feels like. Hmm, not to bad." Harry said without much emotion.
Thrusting Harry back out to arm's length so he could look down at Harry's shorter person, "What do you mean 'That's what a hug feels like,' Why don't you know what a hug feels like?" Sirius asked, a sense of horror starting to creep into his mind at that innocent comment.
"Um, because I haven't had one since I was a baby and my parents were alive." Harry said with an unemotional shrug. "Didn't really know I was missing out on anything. Most of the time when somebody touched me it was only to hurt me." Harry continued, looking up at his godfather.
Sirius looked down at Harry in open shock and horror, "Oh my god! What happened to you? Who raised you?" Sirius said, jumping up to start pacing about the room, until it hit him, "Wait a second! Where are we? You broke me out of Jail! You killed all of those people!" Sirius said, looking around in horror, not knowing what to do.
"Um, Sirius." Harry stated, only to get interrupted by Sirius who was starting to rant and rave, "Dear God, what have I done! I've turned my Godson into a wanted felon!" He paced, wide eyed.
"Ah, Sirius, stop for a second." Harry said, trying to interrupt his godfather who was now pacing all around the room.
Sirius, throwing his hands up to punctuate his thoughts, occasionally pulling on his hair continued to rant, "Dear god, I've turned you into a murderer! You will never be able to go to school! Never go to Hogwarts!" He continued,
"Um, Sirius, stop would you." Harry got up, and took a step forward.
"We will have to go on the lamb." Sirius stated, making extravagant plans, "I can see if we can sneak money out of my vaults…" He continued rambling on, not really paying attention to his godson's interruptions.
"Sirius"
"We can head to Albania, they will take us in as it's a dark wizard country, the House of Black has a house there we can hide out in." He continued.
Harry was starting to get frustrated tried one more time, "Sirius, seriously, stop."
Sirius, not even breaking to do his patented joke, continued to rant, "What were you thinking?" Sirius turned to focus on Harry, "You've thrown your life away to save me!" He yelled in anguish, only to be interrupted by Harry Potter blitzing him and slamming him up against the wall, holding Sirius up in the air.
"Sirius! Stop all ready. They don't know you escaped! They don't know I killed anybody! They think you are bloody well dead you idiot!" Harry yelled in Sirius's face, still holding his Godfather up in the air against the wall.
Shutting up, but now staring wide eyed down at his godson and his explanation, Sirius asked, "Why? Why did you save me? Why don't you know what a hug feels like, and why did you kill all the prisoners?"
"Why?" Harry asked with a sardonic smile, "I'll tell you why! No, better yet, I'll show you!" Harry said, and looking up into his godfather's eyes, he opened up the vault that held every bad memory, every experience, his whole life at the Dursleys and since he had escaped from them, those deranged and sickly animals that were housed in his secret valley in the mountain of his mind, and he cast a simple spell.
"Legilimens!"
Sirius's mind was assaulted with images and experiences.
Beatings, whippings, strangling, broken bones, stab and cut wounds, starvation, burns, chains and dog collars, animal attacks and more attacks by Harry's relatives and bullies than Sirius could count. He saw teachers and authority figures who turned away from him and treated him like a miscreant when it was obvious that his cousin stole his homework or was the bully; even authority figures who used their position of authority to punish Harry because they knew they could get away with it and it gave them some sick sense of fulfillment. Police officers who looked at him like a criminal and lent no aid, even when he was lying almost unconscious on the ground, and a wizard who had attempted to bind his power, obliviate the authorities to look the other way when it came to Harry and his relatives; all supposedly for Harry's protection.
Sirius saw that Harry was treated like an animal, molded to be a beast of labor and treated like a kicked dog, a dog that eventual bit back. More so, Sirius saw Harry's training and adaptation, he saw some of his interactions with Mutwa, and the talk with spirits of Lily and James.
Dear god, what had he done! Lily and James talked about the betrayal by Peter and by Dumbledore, and Sirius knew that he had trusted Dumbledore to take care of Harry. Sirius had trusted Dumbledore, and Dumbledore had cast Sirius away into the hell that was Azkaban without a trial when it was in his right, power and mandate to do so. And the Prophesy, some damn prophesy from a quack pot fake seer, and Dumbledore and Voldemort believed it!
Betrayal, they all betrayed Harry, both the muggle and the wizarding communities. The muggles by both their individual actions and inactions, and the Wizards in their both individual and community inaction and Dumbledore's actions; celebrating Harry's saving them while he was being starved and beaten, all the while profiting off of Harry's image and story. The wizarding world enjoying the peace and prosperity that Harry gave them, all the while their precious boy-who-live was being treated worse than a beaten house-elf.
Sirius came out of his memories and threw up, barely missing Harry.
A couple hours later saw Harry and Sirius sitting down at the table in the kitchen of the house with glasses of water; Harry had shown Sirius some of his elemental powers and pulled the water from the air to fill some of the glasses found in the pantry. The two sat at the kitchen table, pictures of two fat whales and a skinny horse of a woman decorating the walls, a thin veneer of dust laying on frames and all of the flat surfaces of the house.
The two of them had talked, filling in the blanks on their lives up till that point, Sirius mostly asking questions to try and get to know the Godson who he felt he had betrayed and abandoned on his personal quest for revenge, some ten years ago. Both of them had a lot in common, and they could understand the ravages of hell that the other had been through. Finally, a lull in the conversation allowed Sirius to sit back in his chair and look at Harry to ask a few deeper questions.
"Why here?" Sirius asked, "Why take me to this place to get better?" he questioned.
"This is where it all began for me, this is the why. What better place to explain it to you." Harry answered with a shrug, looking down into his water, strangely mature for what should have been an eleven year old. Looking up from his glass he focused on Sirius and continued, "You've been unconscious for a week, and I've been feeding you potions the whole time to try and bring you back to strength; cost me a fortune, but your sitting here is proof that it worked. I didn't know how you would feel about waking up at the place where I am staying, and I didn't know if I could trust you." Harry stated nonchalantly; the last comment causing Sirius to wince at the sting of the truth.
Sirius looked at Harry for a second, and then turned his head to the right. Through the doorway of the kitchen he could see the cupboard under the stairs, a couple latches and padlocks still attached to it, a cat-flap at the bottom, and police tape cordoning off the space. Thinking for a second, Sirus realized that he couldn't betray Harry again. He had to be there for Harry no matter what, and he wanted, no NEEDED Harry to trust him. Harry was the last bit of his life that he had.
Looking up at Harry, Sirius solemnly stated, "You can trust me Harry, I'll never betray you again, and I'll support you, no matter what." He continued, moisture gathering in his eyes as the memories of what Harry went through flew past his mind's eye.
"Really?" Harry asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Fine, then swear it." He stated, pulling the thug's wand out of the back pocket of his dragon hide pants and rolling it across the table to Sirius. "If you really mean it, give me an unbreakable oath, because I don't know if I would survive being betrayed again by somebody I allow myself to care for. Swear you will be there for me, swear you won't betray me, and swear that you will help me fulfill my goals." Harry stated, his eyes unblinkingly looking into Sirius's.
Sirius picked up the wand, looked at it for a second and noticing a bit of a bloodstain on its handle. He looked up at Harry, and then looking Harry in the eyes he held the wand up and said, "I Sirius Black, do solemnly swear on my magic and my life to never betray Harry Potter, to always be there for him when he asks it of me, and to help fulfill his goals. So Mote it Be." A flash of magic shown in the room, stirring both Sirius and Harry's hair.
Harry looked at Sirius for a second, and then a smile crept across his face. Jumping out of his seat, he put a hand around Sirius's shoulder in a manly sort of one armed awkward hug. "Thanks Sirius, now let's get out of this hell hole and go back to my pigsty." Harry said with a smirk.
With a *POP* both disappeared, leaving two empty glasses behind, and an empty house in a normal little neighborhood.
A week earlier, the morning of August 1st…
The Hogwarts staff were enjoying a nice breakfast in the Great Hall, enjoying the quiet and going about their normal summertime activities. Sprout was eating a plate of eggs while concentrating on separating seeds and buds from the leaves of a five leafed plant. McGonagall was eating her breakfast in a mechanical action, a rather sever look on her face which was somewhat disturbed by her left eye twitching every now and then, it was hard going cold turkey from the catnip; a Snowy owl with a letter on its leg sat on the back of her chair, still waiting for her attention. Flitwik was perusing an interesting charms tome, "Charms and Their Effect on Fermentation," from his "raised seat", aka highchair. Severus Snape just sat there, ignoring the rest of the staff while he rushed through his meal so that he could get back to his no doubt fuming potions currently locked away in his dank and unventilated dungeon, and Albus Dumbledore worked on writing his speech for the upcoming welcoming feast.
"Hmmm, Nitwit, Falderal, and Sausage? No, that doesn't work." Dumbledore said to himself as he scratched out the words and started again, pausing to take a bite of his fry-up. "The first word sounds right, but the next two just don't set the proper tone for the rest of the school year, Hmmmm." He thought to himself as he nibbled on the nib of his quill, not noticing that the ink on it was turning his tongue black.
Breakfast was interrupted a moment later by two things. First, the post arrived, dropping a paper in Albus's lap. Second, a Lynx Patronus passed through the main doors of the Great Hall and ran up to the staff table, only to announce, in Kingsley Shacklebolt's voice, that Azkaban had been attacked and that they needed Albus to floo the warden's office.
Shocked and dismayed, and absolutely taken off guard, the staff dropped what they were doing. Albus leapt to his feet, hitched up his robes, and ran out of the hall; a great deal spritelier then a man of his age should have been able to.
Entering the Headmaster's office, Albus grabbed a pinch of floo powder and threw it into the fire, "Azkaban Warden's office!" He yelled. Immediately placing his head into the fire, he was able to see into the warden's office, noticing Mad-eye Moody and Shacklebolt standing together over what looked to be a diseased corpse.
"What happened? Did the prisoners escape? Did we lose anyone?" Albus quickly questioned in agitation.
Mad-eye turned towards the fire and leaned his head over it, the obvious bubble of a bubble-headed charm over his face. "Nasty business Albus, we've lost them all." He stated, eye spinning around to look through the walls and towards the wall behind him.
"All? All of the prisoners have escaped?" Albus asked in shock.
"No, Their all dead, every last bleeding one of them. The prisoners, the guards, even the Dementors; though they seem to be putting themselves back together again." Mad-Eye stated in his normally gruff voice. "Nasty business this, you best come through Albus." He continued, stepping out of the way.
A moment later Albus popped out of the floo, waltzing into the room and immediately casting a bubble-head charm on himself due to the stench of dead and decomposing bodies that permeated the air. Walking over towards the Warden's desk, Albus was able to see a desiccated husk of what must have at one time been the warden. Looking up at the two men, Albus asked, "What happened?"
Moody nodded to Kingsley, and he stepped forward to explain what they had figured out so far. "As far as what we can tell, some wizard used some sort of explosive or blunt force object to take out the front doors, perhaps something with the strength of a troll, this is also suggested by the blunt force injuries to the Dementors which left them nothing more than twitching broken heaps." Grimly, Shacklebolt led Dumbledore and Moody out into the Aurors' barracks and then out into the main hall, stepping over the corpses of the Aurors that looked to have been eaten away from the inside.
Standing in the main hall, Kingsley continued, "It looks like somebody released some sort of disease or pestilence into the main hall after blowing the doors, the only idea we have that fits the signs is Nundu breath, but we have no idea how they were able to acquire so much of it or what type of container they used to get it to flood the first level and sub-basement with the breath." Kingsley stated, using his wand to point out where different Aurors had died from different types of diseases; the leprosy and magical Ebola being the most telling appearances of disease. "We've ruled out an actual Nundu as it is impossible to control one, let alone the pride of them that it would have taken to make this much breath, and the surprising thing is that there is no magical signature anywhere in the attack. The Aurors didn't even get a spell off before they were killed."
Horrified, Albus tried to keep his breakfast down; vomiting inside of a bubblehead charm was not suggested. Choking back his bile, he turned to Moody, "what about the prisoners?"
"Like I said, Dead. Blood and limbs strewn about in every cell, not a one of them missed." We have a couple of huge bloody paw prints, but we don't have a clue what it could be." Moody stated, then leaned forward towards Dumbledore and Kingsley, "I suspect engorgement charms on a lion or werewolf. Dark wizards are behind this, mark my word on it!" He hissed, looking around to make sure that their conversation wasn't overheard by the other Aurors who were examining the scene.
"Merlin! What are we to do!" A voice shouted from the front door. Albus, Moody and Kingsley turned in time to see Minister Fudge pull himself through the splintered doorway to step over the heaps of crushed Dementors cluttering the entry. Noticing Dumbledore, he hurried into the room toward the three men, watching his step so that he didn't soil his shoes with blood; a task that was impossible given the condition of the room.
"Minister, we must notify the public about this catastrophe." Dumbledore stated to the minister "It appears that a band of dark wizards is roaming about and released beasts into the prison to kill all of the prisoners. The public must be warned of this so that they can be prepared." Dumbledore pleaded.
"Absolutely not!" Minister Fudge squeaked. "It's an election year, and the children will be going back to Hogwarts soon, no reason to scare the public during one of our biggest shopping seasons, what with it only being a onetime attack. Besides they were all prisoners, so we know they are guilty criminals. They probably look at it as a blessing to be away from the Dementors" Fudge said, shuffling away from a twitching Dementor.
"Minister!" Dumbledore stated, only to be interrupted by Cornelius, "Tut tut, Dumbledore, I've made my decision and the Ministry will stand by it. The prison will stay closed for now and open again when we can get some Aurors moved around and the Dementors back into one piece." The Minister turned and walked out the door, holding a handkerchief over his nose to keep out the stench.
"Bad news Dumbledore," Moody stated after the Minister had left, "Nothing good can come of this, even if he keeps it quiet, the public will learn that fifty Aurors are missing. He's not going to be able to keep this quiet forever." Mad-eye pointed out as they proceeded back towards the Warden's office and the floo. "Mark my words gentlemen; this is the mark of dark wizards. Not since Voldemort have trolls and other dark creatures worked together to cause so much death." With that, Moody disappeared into the floo; no doubt to travel through half a dozen or more locations before finally reaching his end destination.
Kingsley nodded to Dumbledore before also disappearing into the floo, only to be followed by Dumbledore a second later as Dumbledore returned to his office at Hogwarts.
As Dumbledore arrived back at his office and proceeded behind his desk, he sat down and plucked a lemon drop from his dish to help him think; that and to get the vile taste of death out of his mouth. Besides how the attack on the prison affected his plans for dealing with Voldemort, the same thought kept circulating through his brain, "How are they supposed to have a second chance if they are all dead? Hundreds of wizards, purebloods even, dead, without a second chance."
Albus would spend the rest of the day oblivious to the rest of the world, trapped in his thoughts, totally unaware of a letter that Deputy Headmistress McGonagall had opened that morning.
Life with Sirius had taken on a certain sort of normality after a few weeks at the House of Black; well, normal is an objective word. At first both Harry and Sirius had been feeling each other out. Neither one had been used to somebody really caring for them nor showing any form of affection to them, so their interaction with each other was a little strained at first. However this impasse was quickly hurdled by the institution of a prank war.
For some reason Sirius thought it would be funny to wake Harry up by jumping onto Harry's bed while in his "Snuffles De'Grim" form, wet from the bath, and shaking water and licking Harry all over his face. Even though Harry, due to his hybridized form, only slept an average of four hours a night, he apparently wasn't a "morning" person, as shown by him causing the water on Sirius's wet doggy body to freeze solid, turning Sirius into a "Grim-sicle" and causing serious shrinkage in Sirius's "boys."
The next day had Harry showing Sirius that he wasn't a poor sport when Harry hacked up a wet Nundu hairball the size of a small child onto Sirius's sleeping face, effectively knocking the air out of Sirius but bringing him fully awake. The rest of the week proceeded with prank and counter prank, often punctuated every now and then by a purple Nundu with boxing-mitts strapped to its feet sliding down a hallway chasing a skidding smurf blue Grim with socks tied around its claws. After all the damage from the pranks and repair charms from smashing through the furniture and walls, the creepy crawlies were more than willing to be relegated to the basement, dungeon, and attic of the property, leaving the two "children" to their fun and games in the main part of the house.
Slowly, the main part of house took on a semblance of being lived in. Both of its main inhabitants did not really care to clean all that much, due to the conditions they were used to living in, but the house eventually took a turn towards repaired and clean if for no other reason then there were that many pranks gone crazy that needed to be cleaned up after. Even Walburga's frame got a good cleaning after Sirius "accidentally" hit her with a water balloon filled with ketchup.
Harry wouldn't call the conversations between Sirius and the painting of his mother "friendly" or "loving," but he would say that they were civil; it had taken the showing of a claw and the unzipping of a fly, but she got the message. Furthermore, the paternal powers of the Lord of the Most Ancient House of Black were formidable. The journals in the library told Harry that he could pretty much order any subordinate Black to do anything he wanted, especially the women; as evidenced by Walburga marrying her second cousin, on command, for purposes of keeping the families bloodlines "pure". This apparently extended to controlling former members of the Black family, even those cast out or those married off under contract; not that Bellatrix really needed to worry about that any more, what with her being dead.
Speaking of the dead Lestranges, Harry had again been the fortuitous beneficiary of the Rule of Devourement. With both of the Lestrange brothers being killed, and Bella previously being married off under a contract that stated all assets and privileges of the Lestrange estates would escheat to the House of Black on the off-chance that they all died without an Heir, Harry made a killing.
Ok, so Harry didn't kill anybody again, but he did make a good sized fortune, found a cup with Voldemort's soul in it and allowed Sirius to have fun urinating in it, after which Harry again polished the jewelry with his venom; killing the soul fragment and making Hufflepuff's cup shine like new. Harry and Sirius both agreed though that even if the cup looked shiny and nice, neither of them was going to drink out of it after Voldemort and Sirius had "used" it.
To get to Gringotts to deal with the Lestranges, and other family matters that Sirius helped Harry plan out, Sirius had partaken of the polyjuice potion that Harry had purchase. The ability for Sirius to appear in person but still remain "dead" was helpful and humorous, as it allowed both Harry and Sirius not only deal with "family matters" but also to watch the Minister and his toad like Undersecretary blow a figurative gasket. Both Sirius and Harry had to stifle their laughter while watching the response of the Goblins when the Minister attempted to seize the fortunes of the deceased Houses of Lestrange and Black and was told ever so politely by the Goblins to "go to Hell" in a manner that left the two government employees looking forward to the trip. Sirius mentioned that it was a Patronus worthy image when the Minister almost blew a blood vessel swallowing his tongue upon the Goblin politely asking if Gringotts should notify the public that the Minister was seeking to seize the assets of a thriving pureblood Ancient House with a very alive and kicking Lord.
However, visits to Gringotts were not the sole extent of Harry and Sirius's outdoors adventures. Polyjuice is a wonderful thing, and it allowed Harry and Sirius to go out to eat at resturants, and their animagus/Nundu forms allowed them to enjoy such things as hunting rabbits together; something Sirius had always wanted to do with the Marauders, but something that both Prongs and Wormtail were loath to do, what with one being a vegetarian and the other a rat-bastard. Sirius had missed the great outdoors due to the many years of his confinement, and Harry had decided that he would keep up his exercise routine and continue to hunt for most of his dietary needs in the forests around Great Britain. During the daytime the two of them would slink through the few dark or magical forests of Great Britain, hunting or playing. At night, or when Sirius was too tired, Harry would do his swim across the Channel or run through the woods by himself.
So it was that Harry was taking a solitary run through the woods in Devon county, hunting Roe deer, that he smelled a familiar scent of a bit of Africa mixed with something completely intoxicating.
Luna Lovegood was crying, her one and only friend Ginny Weasley had told her that she wasn't her friend anymore because Luna's Family was weird. Luna, being the smart girl that she was, realized that the words spewing from Ginny's mouth were probably parroted from that of Ginny's mother Molly Weasley, but they still cut her to the quick. Ginny had drilled it into Luna that Luna wasn't supposed to talk to Ginny anymore because Ginny was going to marry Harry Potter some day and Harry Potter wouldn't want to be around a weird little girl like Luna. To further sever any chance of the relationship ever being fix, Ginny had told Luna that she didn't know why she had ever been Luna's friend in the first place, except that maybe she was bored and that Luna was the only other girl Ginny's age that lived in the area. With that, Ginny had left, leaving Luna to pick the herbs that seasoned her and her father's stew by herself.
Luna sang a little song to herself, something that he mother had sang to her a long time ago before she had died. It was one of the ways that Luna tried to remember her mother, singing her song as she followed the directions in the song to pick the magical and muggle herbs in just the right way. As she sang, she sniffled, stopping her plucking, picking, severing, and hewing to wipe her drippy nose and rub her red eyes. She knew she should be happy, that her father needed her to be happy, that she was the only reminder of his wife Selena that Xenophilius had left. Sticking long sprigs of white flowering Nepeta in her hair, she continued her plucking, only to hear a twig crack right behind her.
*Crack!* The sound startled Luna, causing her to swirl around, coming face to face with a huge cat.
SNIFFF, Sniff Sniff. The nose of the huge cat sniffled her hair, before the cat took a big lick at her, causing her to fall back into the herbs around her.
Startled, she looked up at the cat, just as it laid down on the ground next to her, and nuzzled its huge head into her, and started to purrrrr.
PURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! The bass sound of the giant Nundu vibrated Luna's body as it seemed to keep rubbing up against her and through the herbs that she was laying on; the vibrations causing her to giggle as it seemed to tickle her body as if she was laying on a vibrating massage chair.
"Kitty!" Luna cried with glee, her former sadness left behind as the easy going child ran her fingers through the Nundu's fur. The giant cat rolled on the ground next to her, every now and then nuzzling into her to take a sniffle of her hair or lick at her hands as she attempted to rub between its eyes, over its cheeks, or its fuzzy ears the size of satellite tv-dishes. All the time, the Nundu continued to purr as Luna's fingers found all the right spots to scratch.
Rolling onto his back, the Nundu presented its belly, which allowed Luna to crawl up on top of him, giggling as she rubbed his chest and hugged his neck, the Nundu continuing to rub its back in the Nepta flowers that grew in the forest clearing; apparently Nepta, also known as catnip, has almost the same effect on Nundu as it has on the common house cat, if to a lesser extent.
Continuing to rub the Nundu's belly and bouncing up and down due to its Purring, Luna continued to giggle, thrashing her head around to such an extent that her flying hair tickled the nose of the Nundu, causing it to sneeze, followed immediately by the sound of a Pop.
AAAACCHOOO!... *Pop*
With the sneeze, Luna suddenly found herself not laying on top of the chest of a giant cat, but instead Harry Potter.
"Um, Hi?" Harry said with a blush on his face, looking up at the blonde girl straddling his chest and looking down at him.
Luna quirked her head to the side and said the first thing that came to her mind, "Harry, why aren't you naked this time?"
To say that Harry and Luna's first real conversation started out a bit awkwardly would be a gross understatement. But due to Harry's relaxed state and Luna's resilience, they quickly got their conversation off the ground by Luna outright asking if Harry wanted to be her friend. Such an idea was way outside of Harry's comfortable area of experience, so he had to think about it for a second. He hadn't ever had a friend before; what with any chance of a friend being destroyed by Dudley and his gang. Harry wasn't even sure if he wanted a friend or how to act around a friend. However, Harry Potter, the witchdoctor hybrid animal, was very grounded in his senses and his instincts, and there was something about Luna that just called to him; and gosh darn'it, she smelled nice too. So he answered with a simple, "Ok."
Thus began a new experience for Harry. Harry and Luna played all afternoon, picking flowers with each other, laughing and not talking about really anything of importance. Harry had never had the chance to really play before, so he didn't have any hang-ups on what was a girly activity versus a game boys should play.
During the games and running through the trees, Luna had asked Harry why he was being chased by the Vernonous-Dursleyous when she first saw him, a comment that had caught Harry totally off guard at first until she described what he knew to be a hippo; at which point he broke down laughing. After explaining that it was called a hippo, he had to explain why he had a monkey on his back the second time she saw him, and what the giraffe and his animal friends had been up to when they were racing. Luna and he had several innocent conversations where her original question on nudity was raised, and it received an equally innocent answer that at the time Harry didn't want to wear clothes, so didn't know why he should. This was a sensible answer to Luna Lovegood, who had always been raised to question the norm and not follow along with something just because everybody else was doing it.
Sooner than they wanted it to the sun began to set, and Luna knew that it was time to go home.
"I have to go home Harry, my dad will be wondering where I am if I stay out too late." She told him.
"That must be nice to have your dad around and caring for you," Harry stated "How far away is your house from here?" He asked, looking around the woods on one side and the farm fields that showed rolling hills on the other.
"Oh no, I'll never get home before it gets dark." Luna said with a gasp, looking at where the sun was setting, "My house is clear on the other side of these woods. We must be miles and miles away from here." She said, looking like she might tear up.
"Nonsense, I'll take you home." Harry said, as he reached down and picked up her basket of plants and herbs, "Here, hold onto this. Now, please, promise me that you won't tell anybody about my animal side?" He continued.
"Ok, I promise Harry." Luna said, a big smile on her face, the sun setting behind Harry reflecting off her and framing her blonde hair in a golden orange glow.
"Ok then, climb up and hold on tight!" He said with a smile, transforming back into his Nundu form.
Harry crouched down to the ground and rolled to his side so that she could grab a hold of his fur and kind of sit side saddle on his neck. Then with a roll, Harry stood up carefully, making sure not to dislodge Luna or her basket from his back. Spinning her leg over to straddle his neck, Luna put her basket in front of her and said, "giddy up!" with a smile on her face, and Harry took off through the trees.
Ever so careful not to dislodge or get Luna knocked off by a low-lying branch, Harry quickly but carefully traversed the woods. Luna and Harry traveled through the forest with nary a care, for what would dare to interfere with a creature as large as Harry's Nundu form?
Xenophilius Lovegood looked up from his meal preparation to look out the window and see where the sun was. It looked about time for Luna to be getting home as if she stayed out any longer it would start to get dark. Drying his hands on a towel, he left the Rookery's kitchen through the front door of the house and cupped his hand to his mouth to call out for his daughter. Only to have his call fall dead upon his lips and his face to go as white as his hair, as an enormous Nundu came strolling out of the woods and up the hill; Luna's head peaking over the top of the large cat's head.
It appeared that Luna was talking to the giant cat, and neither the cat nor girl were paying attention to Xenophilius who was standing there silently, not until they were right at the doorway.
"Uh, uh, uh…" Xenophilus was speechless, staring upwards at the large cat with googly eyes.
Thinking fast, and keeping her promise to Harry in mind, Luna stated, "He followed me home Daddy, can I keep him?" She asked with a big smile.
Open mouthed for a second, Xenophilus looked up at the big cat and his daughter riding on its neck and didn't know what to say for a second. Harry taking the lack of an answer as his chance to make a getaway, laid down and rotated so that Luna could slip off his side. As Harry stood up again, towering over Xenophilius and no doubt able to look into the second story of the Rookery, Xenophilus found his voice again. "I'm sorry Pumpkin Dumpling, but I don't think he would fit." Xenophilus stated, trying to form a smile on his lips but failing.
"Oh, ok." Luna said, turning around to pet Harry's nose as he leaned down and gave her a nuzzle that almost knocked her over, causing her to giggle. "Bye kitty, perhaps we can play again another time?"
Harry nodded his head and then turned and ran off, down the hill and into the woods.
Luna waved goodbye and then turned to smile up at her father.
Xenophilius turned to look down at his daughter and took a big breath before speaking, "Um, where did you say Kitty followed you home from?" He asked.
"Why Africa Daddy, everybody knows that Nundu's are from Africa." She said with a smile as she moved to walk inside.
"Very well then Pumpkin Dumpling, go wash up for dinner now." He said, following his daughter in the door.
"It's Rutabaga today father, I thought I said I didn't like Pumpkins at the moment." Luna stated as she went into the kitchen and set down her basket.
"Absolutely asparagus." Xenophilius stated, his mind not really paying attention as he shut the door to the house, his thoughts focused on the next day's Quibbler article on "Tame English Nundu's and Their Similarity to Unicorns," in that they both liked young girls; to play with, not to eat.
AN: There you go, another chapter for your enjoyment, and a longer one at that. Not quite the cliffy as the last chapter, but I hope I left you wanting more. Getting closer to the train ride and Hogwarts, now comes the real challenge, trying to come up with things that author's haven't done before. I think at this point it is pretty well impossible to not be somewhat similar to other aspects of other Harry Potter fanfics, but I'm willing to give it a shot, even if it's only to change up the timing and move things around a bit. Anyway, please let me know your thoughts, your comments are really helpful in inspiring my chapter bits. Best wishes!