A/N: Chap 2 review responses are in the Firebird forum like normal. Thanks for reading.

Chapter Three: Heavy Fates

In the smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive, two days before Harry blew up a train heading into London, fourteen-year-old Luna Lovegood laid on her side facing the wall. Her head rested on the right arm of Harry Potter, while his left hung over her bare waist. She wept very softly, while Harry lay next to her in silence.

"I'm not the first to give her sex to a cause," she finally said without looking at him. "But I didn't expect it to hurt so much. They said it was only a small pinching feeling, but I think you were larger than normal, or I was smaller than usual."

"Luna, I'm sorry," Harry said, almost on the verge of tears himself just because of her crying.

"It's not your fault," Luna said with a sniff. "I've been told since I was born that I was going to bond with you, Harry. Mum said so in her book. Have you finished reading your Mum's notes?"

"Yeah, did you read those too?"

"Oh no, I wouldn't," Luna said, wiping her eyes. "It seemed far too personal. But my mum also wrote a book. It was not as popular as your mum's because my mum looked atypical, like I do, while your mum was beautiful. Beautiful sells better, Father says. But she told me what your mum said—that we would have to bond before we could change the world. I knew it would happen, and I was alright with it, I suppose. None of the boys at school seemed interested in me despite being an Aether, and I hated the idea of poaching a younger boy. But it…well, I suppose the fact is different than the theory."

Harry leaned forward and gently kissed her neck. "Thank you for bonding with me, Luna."

"At least it did not last very long," Luna continued. "I did not realize wizards finished so quickly."

Harry blushed. "Er, yeah, sorry about that. I'll get better, I promise."

She turned to face him, pale and ethereal, and in her own way beautiful, and placed a hand on his cheek. "Do you feel any weaker? Magically, I mean?"

Harry shook his head. "No. I feel the same."

Luna nodded and sniffed again. Her eyes and nose were red and swollen with tears. She turned all the way around and Harry found himself looking down at her body and feeling his teenage hormones responding. Luna, though, was staring at some point past his ear while she continued to talk in low tones on the edge of being a whisper. "Mum said that there was not a case of two heterosexual actuating Aethers bonding since Helena Ravenclaw and Darius Black, and the Sabbat doesn't like to talk about that so it doesn't appear in history books. Male Aethers don't happen naturally. Your mum had to make you an Aether through a transference ritual. Other times, the child was a girl whose gender was forced into becoming male, but they usually end up being homosexual. That's why male Aethers are so rare." She paused, and suddenly started weeping again. She cried very quietly, so that if not for the tears themselves Harry would never have known she was crying at all.

He pulled her close, at a loss of what to do. "It's okay, Luna," he said.

"Did you know that Catherine of Castile was only fifteen when she married?" she said from her position, head buried in his chest. Harry was beginning to think she was a nervous talker. "Of course, her husband was only nine so I doubt the marriage was consummated immediately. Her daughter was married at thirteen, but was ill and they had to delay the consummation as well. I read about how young many royals were when they married since I knew I would be bonding early, but it's not the same thing, not really, reading about someone else and living it for yourself. I would have been quite happy waiting, or not bonding at all. But of course I knew I had to bond you because that was my fate. Everyone said so. You know about fates, don't you, Harry Potter?"

Harry gently moved a stray strand of blonde hair from out of her eyes. "Luna, we've bonded. I think you can call me Harry."

She nodded. "I hope we come to love each other. It is odd, I've seen this moment; this bedroom. Sybil drew a lovely picture of me on her wall, did you see it? But I've never been able to see if we ever actually love each other. It's quite odd, isn't it? Do you know where we shall live now? I've thought of that as well. I've seen us together, but I never saw where. Do you think Hermione Granger will be my friend?"

Harry sputtered. "Hermione?"

"You know you're going to bond her too, don't you?"

Numbly, he nodded, because he did know that. In fact, before he finished deciphering his mum's message he thought of trying to call her to bond with her first, but of course she was in hiding and he had no idea how to even find her.

"She is quite a lovely girl," Luna continued, absently wiping her tears. "She has very nice breasts, I think. Her hips are nice as well—in witch's health Professor Hooch said wizards liked hips. We practiced how to sway our hips when we walked, but it does not work well if you have thin hips."

Thinking of Ginny Weasley, Harry couldn't help but agree.

"Ginny is going to want to kill me, I think," Luna said, as if reading his mind. "We used to be very good friends. She was also told that she would bond you, but of course Dame Molly could not see the future like your Mum could. Our mums knew we would bond because that was our fate. But then my family was proscribed and they killed my mum, and Ginny and I couldn't be friends anymore."

She finally stopped talking and snuggled closer to him. After a moment, she said, "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"One time, when you were watching me, did you…did you use the Mas Turbare?"

Blushing furiously, Harry nonetheless nodded. "The first time I ever used it. I have a magical map, and I saw some of my teammates having sex, and then there you were. I'm sorry, I know it's creepy."

"But I knew you were watching." She moved her head until she was looking deep into his eyes. "I felt something that made me want to use it too. So I did—I sat down in the hall and I used the charm for the very first time. I've always liked to think in a way that was our first time together."

"I'd like that too," Harry admitted.

Sniffing, Luna said, "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Professor Hooch in witch's health said that most times the second time was better. Do you…do you want to try again?"

Mutely, Harry nodded.

"Okay," Luna said. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I am pretty?"

"Yes, I really do," Harry said.

She shared a watery smile. "Thank you."

~~Firebird~~

~~Firebird~~

The only bright side Petunia could think of to what was happening in her home was that Dudley was spending the day with his friend Piers Polkiss, and so did not have to be exposed to the crimes against humanity that were happening right over her head.

"I can't believe this," Vernon said, beginning the second hour of his rant. "That we just let those two freaks walk in and start rutting away like animals! What kind of house is this? How could we just let this happen? Why, I have half a mind to walk up there right now and throw them both out of here."

"I doubt we'll have to," Petunia finally said with an exasperated sigh. She didn't say anything during the first hour of his long rant just because it was usually easier to let him get it out, but while the two witch-born were in the house, he would not be appeased.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" he snarled, turning on her.

"My sister explained it to me, years ago," Petunia said. "The witches bond the wizards to keep them under control. The bond is like a leash. Women run everything in their world. So they sent that…that…girl to bond him because he was being as much a problem to them as he was to us. We tell him he has to marry her, and then he is gone, Vernon. He's out of our life forever."

While in mid-rant, it took a little while for Vernon to process new information. So he simply stared at her, his large round face still red from his anger, until a very slow, steady smile began to spread. "Rid of him?"

"Yes," Petunia said. "Lily was sixteen or seventeen when she bonded that Potter boy. His family came right over demanding they get married, but Mum and Dad said no. Lily told me later they lived together in the school anyway. The boy has bonded now, Vernon. He's not our problem anymore."

Suddenly the front door slammed open and a tall, unearthly-looking man in white robes over white trousers and shoulder-length white hair came barging into the house with a length of wood in his hands. "Harry Potter!" he shouted. "I demand that you do right by my daughter!"

Petunia and Vernon gaped at the man, too surprised to talk.

Upstairs, a door swung open with a bang and the girl from before rushed down the steps in the same white dress, though her circlet was gone. She rushed into the man's arms crying wildly. A moment later, Harry followed.

"Hello, Mr Lovegood," Harry said in a subdued tone.

"You have bonded!" Mr Lovegood said loudly. "I demand that you do the right thing and marry my daughter!"

"Er, we know, Mr Lovegood," Harry said.

The old wizard deflated. "I was told to make a show of it to scare your relatives, Mr Potter," he said in a much more reasonable tone.

"I think they're scared already," Luna said. "Look at them."

Lovegood looked at them, reared back as if struck and declared, "Egads, man! How can you be so fat and still live?"

"Muggles don't burn calories as fast, Father," Luna said. "So they get fat and die young."

"Poor sods," Lovegood said. Completely dismissing the Dursleys, he turned back to Harry and said, "So, introductions. I'm Xenophilius Lovegood, and I just wish to say what an honour it was to have you defile my only daughter."

He said it with an open, sincere smile. Harry blinked and smiled weakly. "Er, you're welcome? I'm sorry?"

Luna sniffed. "Be nice, Daddy, or the wrackspurts will come back."

Xenophilius shuddered. "Gah! I wouldn't want that to happen. On a more serious note, was he kind?"

"He was father," Luna said. "Just like we knew he would be."

"Do you have your things?" Lovegood said to Harry. "We must be gone soon now that the wards here have failed. I understand that the Covens have selected classmate of yours to be your wife. She is only a few months older, but very firmly a dark witch. I'm told she rather looks like Winston Churchill."

"She makes me look positively beautiful," Luna said.

"Don't say things like that about yourself, Luna," Harry said. "You're very pretty."

Nearby, Vernon Dursley erupted. "Will you all just get out of my house?"

Harry nodded and walked up to his Aunt and Uncle. "I'm leaving, and I won't come back. The wards failed today. Tomorrow, a witch will come by with orders to bond me. Feel free to tell her I've already found a bondmate on my own and have left."

"And then you might wish to move away," Xenophilius added. "Once the witch reports the wards have fallen—well, you, madam, are the last living family of Lily Potter. Mrs Potter unfortunately made some powerful enemies, and I'm sure they would take pleasure in killing you both. Without the wards to protect you, you would not be able to stop it."

"Worse part of that is I just can't make myself care about it," Harry said, staring right at his Aunt. "So, I think the best thing do to is for me to just leave now, and leave you two to your fates. Good bye."

They took the Knight Bus. The three of them walked calmly out of the house, leaving behind a still stunned pair of Dursleys, to see the neighbours had gathered about, curious as to the goings-on at Number 4 Privet Drive. One group of them happened to be Dudley and his gang.

"What's this about, Potter?" Harry's cousin shouted.

"I'm leaving, Dudley," Harry said. "Try not to let the police know about that drug stash under your bed."

Of course, he said it loudly enough that everyone in the neighbourhood could hear. Harry didn't care—the bus had arrived. No one thought to question where it came from, or even why it was there in the first place since public transport did not run through Privet Drive—the charms on the bus wouldn't let them even if they wanted to. They only knew that Harry Potter, an odd blond girl in what looked like a plain wedding dress, and a tall, gaunt man in white all boarded a bus and left.

On board the bus, which flew through the country side as fast as the car Neville and Harry rode in during his first summer with the Longbottom wizard, he asked, "Where are we going?"

"To Dame Brannwen," Xenophilius said. "Since you formally moved to the Lloyd Coven, she has to bless you and then perform the marriage. Ministry marriages can only be done for witches and wizards outside a Coven."

"Mostly Muggleborns and half-bloods," Luna said absently. She sat next to Harry, leaning into him while he held an arm around her narrow shoulders. "I do feel better, Harry, please don't fret so. I do wonder if this is what all bonds feel like? I feel like I have Nargles in my brain."

"Well, yes," Xenophilius said with a sad smile. "Why do you think wizards keep doing it even if it weakens some of us almost to the point of squibs? Sex is a powerful weapon, Mr Potter, and I think you've finally come to realize that."

"It was pretty nice," Harry admitted.

Beside him, Luna said, "The second time, maybe. The first time hurt quite a lot."

"I'm sorry."

"You've said. It's fine, don't worry. There is a topical potion made just for that, it works quite well." She sighed. "I like being held by you. I dreamed of holding you all those times you watched me. How did you do that, by the way? You said you had a magical map?"

Harry smiled reached into the pullover he wore and removed a thick wad of parchment. He unfolded it and activated it. Currently only Dumbledore, Snape, Hooch and Sinistra were in the castle. "My father and his friends made it. Professor Lupin was one of them. They gave it to me to make sure I never ran into you, actually, that's why I started watching where you were in the castle. They told me I had to stay away from you or terrible things would happen."

"From their perspective, terrible things have happened," Xenophilius said, his smile fading. "Mr Potter—Harry—I hope you know that this summer is going to be spent running a great deal. You are both in danger, my daughter especially."

"I know," Harry said. To Luna, he said, "I did read a little bit more of my Mum's message. She told me to do something. She said…"

"Stop!" Xenophilius said. "What you discuss with your bond mate is for the two of you alone. I cannot be a part of it. I am not an Occlumens, Mr Potter, and given my proscribed status, I have little right to stop a Legilimens' attack. What I do now I do within my rights as a father, since my beautiful Selene is gone. Beyond that, it is a risk for all of us."

"I understand, sir," Harry said. "Do you think Dame Brannwen will help us?"

"She will," Luna said. "You saw it in the leaves, the Daily Prophet said."

"Yeah, I did."

He continued to hold the girl at his side in silence, confused by the strange lightness he felt. It was, he knew, a temporary side-effect of the bond. Ten days, Snape had said back in Third Year. Then the euphoria wore off. And yet even knowing that didn't change the fact that he felt happy. Holding her made him happy, even though in reality he did not know her at all.

The bus came to an abrupt halt that sent the three of them stumbling toward the door. Upon climbing out, they found themselves on a narrow country lane surrounded by massive oaks, with an earthen path leading between the ancient trees. Hand in hand with Luna, Harry started walking down the path, while Xenophilius followed a step behind. They did not travel far before they came across a resident of the area using cutting spells to quarter firewood.

The wizard looked to be well beyond his middle years, but not ancient as witch-born often came to be. He was perhaps seventy to eighty years old but looked to be only in his forties. He straightened from his work and eyed them warily. "You're Potter, then?" the man said without surprise.

"Yes," Harry said.

"Nana is waiting for you," the other wizard said in a brusque manner. "She's been ill these past few days. Grand Papa has died in his sleep. We think she'll follow soon."

"Carlton Lloyd passed away?" Harry asked, seeking to confirm who Grand Papa was.

The wizard nodded. "They stood up in both the Sabbat and Wizengamot for you, but it was too much for them. You'd better go; she's been waiting for you."

They continued up the path until they reached the wood fence lining the garden of an ancient, low-built cottage of stone and thatch. Despite it being summer, a thin trail of smoke rose from the stone chimney. Still with Luna's hand in his, Harry walked to the door and knocked.

The door swung open to reveal an ancient woman with a bowed back and the gleam of magic in her eyes. "Ahh, there you are," she said in a hollow voice. "Nana was waiting for you, but we wondered if you would come in time. Come, come inside. Bring your bonded, child." Harry and Luna stepped over the threshold, and in so doing passed through powerful wards that made their skin tingle.

"I am Brannwenna, the surviving granddaughter and next Dame of the coven," the ancient witch said. "You are Harry Potter. And you, child, are Luna. I see you have bonded already, just as Nana told us you would."

"Yes," Luna said.

"But it is not a normal bond," Branwenna continued. "The magic has not flowed as it should, and the boy remains as powerful as before."

"As it was meant to be," Luna said.

The ancient witch nodded. "So Nana said. Come, children. Wizard, stay here."

"I will," Xenophilius said without hesitation.

Though on the outside the home looked like an ancient English cottage, the interior was significantly expanded, with high ceilings, plaster on the walls and centuries of wizarding portraits following them.

"You have some Lloyd in you, boy," the witch said. "Not by my line, it feels like, but by my aunt's line."

"Dame Brannwen said she felt Amberlin in me," Harry volunteered.

The ancient witch nodded with a fond smile. "Amberlin, yes. My favourite aunt. She was a good witch, and brought honour to the Potter clan." She led him through a breath-taking courtyard with a small circle of standing stones, each one at least as large as Harry, with a stone bench in the middle. In the middle of the circle he saw a cot, and on this cot rested the very still form of Brannwen Lloyd.

"They are here, Nana," the witch said loudly.

"I'm not deaf, child," the withered witch whispered weakly. "Harry, Luna, come to me please."

The young couple knelt down beside the ancient witch. Brannwen did not turn her head to look at them, nor would she have needed to. Her eyes were virtually alight with the glow of her magic. In fact, her whole, withered body had taken on a faint luminescence, as if her magic were about to burst free.

"We're here, Dame Brannwen," Harry said softly.

"Give me your hands together," the Dame said in her dry whisper.

Wordlessly, Harry and Luna held hands, and placed their joined hands in Brannwen's. "Granddaughter?" she said.

"I'm here as well, Nana."

"Then bear witness, child. I bless the bonding of Harry James Potter and Luna Selene Lovegood, and by my power as Harry's dame declare them this day husband and wife. I accept Luna Selene Potter into the Lloyd coven, with my love and blessings, and give sanctuary to all who would call them friend. With my last breath and magic, this I declare."

"So mote it be, Nana," Brannwenna said, bowing her head.

And suddenly the ancient witch who had helped save Harry stopped breathing.

Harry stood, stunned, as her withered, dry hand fell from his. He watched, with Luna at his side, as the burning luminescence that was her magic rose up and out of her skin. The concentration of magic in her ghostly eyes stared at them, and from them Harry felt a sense of warmth and well-wishes. Instead of turning blue and cold like other ghosts, though, Brannwen's magic stayed red and continued to rise up into the air, until it passed through the ceiling.

"She used up everything she had waiting for you," Branwenna said calmly. "I am Dame now. I will post the banns for you and make the announcement. But you should both be aware that regarding this marriage the covens are not united. I was at the Sabbat that ordered you bonded, boy. Delia Griffin was not just calling for you to be bonded, she was calling for your life. She knows you are a threat, and will not stop until she feels safe. Bonding with your wife as you have was not what she wanted, nor any of the other Dark Coven Dames who felt threatened by you. You must stay safe."

"Yes, Dame Brannwenna," Harry said.

"When Harry is ready to bond with the rest, shall we return?" Luna asked.

"Rest?" Harry asked, startled.

"Well, yes, you can't form a new coven with just me," Luna said.

"When you are ready to declare a coven," the new Dame said, "you must do so before a quorum of the Sabbat. Until then, while the Lloyd Coven declares sanctuary for you, that would not keep the assassins at bay. You cannot risk remaining here."

"We know," Luna said.

"Do you have a safe place?"

"We'll have to make our own, somehow," Harry said. He took Luna's hand, and together the two walked out to meet their fate.

~~Firebird~~

~~Firebird~~

With his parents arguing about moving or not, it fell to Dudley Dursley to open the door when the loud knock came on July 31st. He found himself facing the largest, ugliest girl he had ever seen in his life.

She stood easily as tall as him, with thick, curly black hair and a shadow of whiskers on her upper lip. Small, beady black eyes glared at him. He did notice the way her very large breasts strained against the plain white dress she wore, since she was most definitely not wearing a bra. He barely noticed the silver circlet with the three-phased moon on her head.

"Whaddya want?" he asked.

"I'm here for Harry Potter," she said in a voice two pitches deeper than Dudley's.

"He's gone. Left with some little blonde bird yesterday. Now go away."

She didn't go away. Dudley was in a boxing club at school and counted himself a pretty good fighter. He'd taken his share of hits. When the girl hauled off and punched him in the stomach, though, it felt as if he'd been hit by a battering ram. He stumbled back, struggling to breathe, as the girl forced her way into the house.

"Harry Potter!" she shouted.

Dudley's mum came running out of the kitchen, a terrified expression on her face. "Go away, please!" she cried. "Harry has already bonded. He bonded to someone named Lovegood. He's gone, I swear it."

"Lovegood?" the huge, frightening girl said. "He bonded with Luna fucking Lovegood?"

"Yes, he's gone, I tell you!" Petunia said.

She then learned the difference between fat, like Vernon, and muscular, like Gregoria Goyle. The Slytherin witch back-handed Petunia so hard the older woman was lifted clean off her feet and slammed into Vernon's recliner with a ringing in her ear and a strange numbness in her left arm.

Vernon rushed in, screaming, "Petunia! You cow, I'll kill you!"

The witch flicked her wand, and Vernon's chest exploded out through his spine, covering the wall behind him in red.

"Dad!" Dudley screamed, before the witch turned and killed him as well. Finally, the witch looked back at Petunia. There were tears running down her cheeks.

"You're dead because of him," the witch told Petunia. "I was a lot better than what would have come after. I tried to tell him, to help him. I might have even let him have his little mudblood, if it made him happy. But he's blown it now. We're going to hunt him down and kill him. And everyone associated with him."

"Please," Petunia begged, though she felt so dizzy from the neck-snapping blow the word was slurred.

"Be glad I'm killing you quickly," Gregoria said as she wiped her eyes again. "It's the last favour Potter's going to get from me. Inflammare!"

Fire burst from her wand and immediately the sofa began to burn. With a loud sniff of her nose, which she wiped on the back of her hand, the witch spun and disappeared from the living room, leaving Petunia to fade before the fire as she looked at her slaughtered family.

The next day, a train crashed while heading into London.

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Author's Note: Very special thanks as always to Teufel1987, JR and Miles for beta reading. If there are any major faux-pas, they are entirely of my own doing.