7
Upon reaching the courtyard Harriet saw something that made her blood boil. Crabe, Goyle and Draco had surrounded Luna next to the not quite frozen fountain. Draco was prodding her with questions.
"What's going on between you and Potter," he sneered at Luna but she stood firm. "It's none of your business," she responded. He replied by knocking her books out of her hands and laughing, as did his cronies but they were a little slow on the uptake.
"MALFOY," yelled Harriet. She had lost her temper. Nobody was going to treat Luna like that. Draco Malfoy whirled around to see Harriet Potter coming at him, eyes ablaze with anger and rage. Draco was in fact a little terrified of what he saw, despite her being smaller than him, and started backing up towards the fountain. Harriet came up to him and slugged him straight across the face knocking him backwards into the fountain. Crabe and Goyle scrambled to pull the wet Draco out of the fountain and then all three of them left, running towards the interior of Hogwarts. Draco was swearing vengeance and screaming about how he would tell his father. The normal Draco threats. Hermione was right though. Hitting Draco did feel good.
She turned and helped Luna pick up her books. "Are you okay," she asked Luna, concerned. "Oh yes I'm fine," replied Luna, "They must've followed me here from the Great Hall. He started asking all sorts of questions about you and me and us. Then you showed up and well…you know the rest. Thank you by the way." With that she gave Harriet a quick kiss on the check as a token of her appreciation. "Nobody has ever really stood up for me before," she said. Harriet blushed at the kiss. "Did you want to go somewhere else," Harriet asked.
"Yes please." With that they ventured inside and roamed around til they found an open study with a fireplace. Harriet locked the door and took a seat on the couch next to Luna. Harriet turned to Luna, "so what did you want to see me about? Not that you a reason to see me of course. I just meant…er…" She was starting to feel like she had the capacity of Ron lately.
"Are you ok," asked Luna, "you seem very nervous."
"Aren't you," replied Harriet, "this is all new territory for us."
"Not really. We've been at Hogwarts for years."
"I meant our relationship is new. It's changing, evolving into something new. Something better," she said, emphasizing the last part with a smile.
"Oh! That reminds me," Luna said as if she just remembered something. She dug into her bag, pulled out a leather bound diary and handed it to Harriet. "This is for you." The front was stamped with a small Gryffindor Lion in the top right corner of the cover and had the initials H.J.P. engraved in Gold lettering on the back. Luna then pulled out a 2nd leather bound diary, this one with a Ravenclaw symbol in the top right corner and Lovegood on the back in the same lettering. She opened up her book, took out a quill, scribbled something and then closed the book. Harriet noticed the Gryffindor lion on her book faintly glowing now. She opened the diary and saw:
Hello Harriet Potter
Harriet was amazed. She looked at her book and then at Luna's. Harriet took out her quill, wrote "Hello Luna", and then closed her book. She saw Luna's Ravenclaw symbol light up. Luna opened the book, smiled and held it up for Harriet to see. There, in Harriet's own handwriting, was the message she had just written. "This is absolutely fantastic Luna but I mean how?"
"It's magic silly. I got the idea from the stories I heard of Tom Riddles diary so with a little bit of research I found a way to enchant them and now we can talk to each other even when we're not in the same room. Being in different houses could make it difficult."
"Make what difficult," Harriet asked.
"This." Without another word Luna pulled Harriet closer and kissed her. Harriet was pleasantly surprised by this, closed her eyes, wrapped her arms around Luna, and returned the kiss. In this moment everything else faded away. Stress. Worry. Nervousness. All of it. This felt like the most perfect moment in her entire life.
When the pulled away they just stared entire each other's eyes silently and smiled. Eventually Harriet spoke up, "Didn't seem difficult to me." Luna grinned before replying, "I suppose not."
Harriet did get serious though before continuing, "We should probably talk about this though."
"Well personally I quite enjoyed it." replied Luna
"I did too but I didn't just mean the kiss. I meant about us. Our relationship. Where we're going. All that kind of stuff."
Luna looked concerned, "Why? Do you not want a relationship with me Harriet Potter?"
Harriet took Luna's hands in her own and held them. "Of course I do. In fact, I never knew that I could want anything more but the fact remains that our relationship at this school will be unusual. Our relationship could lead to teasing and tormenting, things whispered behind our backs, and probably being social outcasts."
Luna looked a bit relived, "I told you last night. Let them talk. The only opinions that matter are our own. I've been treated different my entire life. At least now it will be for something that I want."
Harriet breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. "Does that mean we're…"
"Dating? Why yes Harriet Potter, I believe it does."
They shared another kiss which was just as wonderful as the first. Then they sat and looked into the fire, wrapped in feelings of happiness and joy, as they held hands, talked, and just enjoyed each other's company. Once again time flew by and before they knew it, it was time for lunch.