"Now don't be disappointed Harry. They do have other ice creams," L told him.
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After Harry got over his huff about how blatantly William was eavesdropping on his conversations with Thomas, he looked around and started wondering where exactly they were going.
"Er, Thomas?" Harry said as he looked up at the tall apartment blocks around them. "Where is there someplace to eat here?"
Unfortunately it was not Thomas who answered (though he did open his mouth to do so), but William who again called out from ahead. "It's just up here, on the first floor of the mansion block."
Harry glared at him crossly. "What sort of place is part of an apartment?"
This time Thomas did get to answer Harry. "It's a family restaurant. Been here for years," Thomas grinned conspiratorially at Harry. "William is most fond of the dessert trolley."
"It's the only one around with a good selection," William all but snapped over his shoulder, clearly annoyed to be talked about behind his back- quite literally in this case. Harry grinned back at Thomas.
Harry thought a family restaurant with dessert sounded like a nice place for lunch. Nicer at least than his original plan to buy a sandwich from a pub. But when they turned up a driveway and entered the place, Harry was starting to think that maybe eating with Thomas and William wasn't such a good idea after all. At the door, the maitre d' almost turned them away due to how William was dressed before appearing to recognize Thomas and welcoming them in warmly. Then, as they followed the man through the dining area to a secluded corner away from the windows, Harry found himself alarmingly reminded of Madam Puddifoot's. Pink everywhere and frills on the curtains, and William's shabby dress looked terribly odd amongst it all.
Harry was surprised actually that he hadn't paid much notice to William's clothes sooner. Thomas was so smartly dressed in suit and overcoat and then right next to him was William, in baggy jeans and baggy hoodie. Harry supposed he was so used to wizards wearing odd muggle clothes it hadn't occured to him to wonder what Thomas and William were doing together dressed like that. Not to mention that Harry had spent so much of his life in baggy, unwanted clothes and had worried a great deal about people noticing... Harry decided it was more habit at ignoring his old Dursley wardrobe that had him ignoring William's outfit. Still, this made Harry wonder why William had picked such a fancy place when he wasn't dressed for it.
As they sat down, Harry figured it might be better not to ask. He had no idea, after all, how Thomas and William were related and he didn't want to bring up anything unpleasant- especially as he'd already blown up at William earlier. As he watched William climb into his bucket chair and perch on it with his knees to his chest and balancing on his toes, Harry thought that maybe William's personality also had a lot to do with why he hadn't noticed his clothes. Harry just shrugged and turned to look at his menu.
Then he promptly lowered it and turned to Thomas. "Er, Thomas, maybe I should just meet up with you after lunch?"
"Why?" asked William as he stared at Harry.
"Er, because..." Harry tried to think of the politest way he could say what he wanted. 'This place is rather expensive and I didn't bring much muggle money with me' probably wouldn't work. "Er, the food seems pretty rich and, er, I was planning just to have a sandwich, and-"
"We will pay for you," William told him with a smug air about him. Harry managed not to throw the menu at him.
Thomas turned to Harry quickly. "It's perfectly alright Harry. We did invite you out of your way and I still feel that only giving you a ride home wasn't a proper repayment for before. I would be delighted if you would allow us to treat you," Thomas ended this with another gentle smile at Harry and Harry felt that he had no real choice but to agree.
"Well, if you're sure I mean, I really don't mean to be a bother-"
"Don't worry at all my boy!" Thomas said happily as he turned to his own menu. "Order whatever you like."
"Yes Harry, order whatever you like," William said blankly as he played with a napkin. Harry glared at his open menu.
"Ah, nothing you order will outdo William's lunch, I assure you," Thomas injected. He winked at Harry. "William's order will put us both to shame!"
Harry turned back to his menu, wondering what that was supposed to mean and missed the glare William shot at Thomas and Thomas' grin back at him.
The menu was full of a lot of foods that Harry had heard of but never gotten the chance to eat before and he was overwhelmed with the choices. He thought duck with cherries sounded interesting but was too worried about the price. Of course, nearly everything on the menu had high prices so Harry wasn't sure it mattered what he got. When he finally did pick something it was beef wellington, something the house-elves at Hogwarts served once during the holidays. He'd liked it and he wondered if he'd be learning to make it soon. Thomas ordered some type of fish in cream sauce and William... just sat there playing with his napkin.
"Aren't you going to order?" Harry asked. "You did want to come here after all."
William looked up briefly from the napkin he was carefully pleating across the table before turning back to it, ignoring Harry. Harry suddenly wished he still had his menu to hit him with.
"Oh, William is simply waiting for our food to come," Thomas told Harry. "You see, what he wants is already mostly ready and he doesn't want to eat without us."
Harry blinked. What? Before he could ask anything, William spoke up. "So Harry, is this your day off?" He was still staring at the napkin. Harry frowned.
"Yes actually." Harry wondered what William was getting at with this. He was perfectly welcome to spend his day off at the park!
"From what?" William asked him. Thomas seemed to be sighing to himself as he took a sip of water.
"From cooking," Harry said suspiciously. "Why?"
William shrugged and lifted the pleated napkin to shake it out. "Curious. What do you cook?" He laid the napkin back down and started pleating again.
"Well..." Harry thought. He had learned names of things, right? So why couldn't he think of any? "Um, not very much actually... Er, I just started."
"Just started?"
"Yeah, this week. We did vegetables mostly. And tubers."
"I see..." William appeared to be folding the napkin into three-dimensional bows. "So what did you do before?"
"Before?" Harry asked, distracted by the napkin. He could feel Thomas watching him and William, though William kept his eyes on the napkin.
"Before cooking."
"Oh," Harry thought hard. What was the acceptable cover story to tell muggles again? "I was in the police department." William and Thomas both looked at him. The napkin folded over on itself on the table, forgotten. "Er, only for a few weeks though..."
"A few weeks?" William's face was blank now and his eyes were half lidded, presenting a rather unnerving image to Harry.
"Yeah. I finished the training program and then quit a few weeks in."
"Why did you quit?"
"Because I didn't want to do it anymore," Harry recited the same line he'd been giving all his friends for months now. William and Thomas were still giving him odd looks and he wondered if maybe they thought he was being irresponsible or something. Actually, Thomas was giving him a slightly worried look and William's gaze was just creepy.
"Why ever not my boy?" Thomas asked him quietly. "Surely if you went through training you already knew what you were getting into?"
"Well, I didn't really think about it I guess," Harry said and tried to recall what he'd told Hermione about his reasoning for quitting after the training program rather than before. "I just did the training and kept telling myself that the job would be different. Then, when it wasn't, I kinda realized I'd been fooling myself and quit."
"What did you think the job would be like?" William's monotone voice made Harry turn from Thomas with a frown.
"Well, less boring I guess."
"Boring? Police-work is boring?"
"Yeah, filling out paperwork, investigating complaints and chasing after contraband peddlers is boring," Harry glared at William. He didn't need a muggle, of all people, telling him to go back to the auror department... Er, police department, whatever. Anyway, he already heard the same thing from everyone he knew, he didn't need to hear it from William too.
"You did all that in your first few weeks?"
"Well, no... I mostly filled out paperwork-"
"So you don't know if it's really boring or not then."
"-AND, I listened to older officers tell stories about cases. It didn't sound any more exciting than the paperwork."
"Didn't you know what police mostly did before you became one? What exactly were you expecting?" William seemed to be leaning forward now and his unblinking stare hadn't once left Harry's face.
Harry paused. Well, he'd expected dark lords, giant monsters, mysteries, and magical wars. That was sort of what he'd gotten used to. But with everything going back to normal for the wizarding world, Harry was finding that his own version of 'normal' was too extreme. That was why he knew he didn't really fit in at the auror department. 'Normal' to them was so dull he wasn't sure why they even bothered with it. That was why he was trying to find something else to do- something that he wouldn't associate fear and death with. Something that could be a 'normal' for him that everyone else recognized.
"Not what I got," Harry was looking at his glass, wondering when he'd gotten so morose. "Anyway, I quit. And that's the end of it, so if you wouldn't mind..."
Thomas glanced at William, who still hadn't let up staring at Harry, and nodded at him. "Of course. We'll drop the matter at once. I'm sure we didn't mean to upset you, Harry."
"Oh, no. It's not your fault," Harry shrugged and gave a slight smile. "Actually all my friends have been bothering me about this for months so I'm just a little sore about it is all."
"Your friends didn't want you to quit?" William asked blankly. Harry wondered why he was still asking so many questions when he didn't seem to be interested in the answers.
"Yeah, they were all really upset about it. They kept calling and writing me asking if I'd lost my mind or something."
Thomas glanced again at William before turning to Harry. "But they haven't been bothering you recently?"
At this Harry blushed a bit. He still felt terrible over how he'd been acting and he didn't like admitting it to Thomas. "Er, well, actually... I've sort of been ignoring them. I, uh, moved and didn't really tell them where I'd gone you see..." Harry fidgeted with the tablecloth and didn't dare look up from his glass. Surely now Thomas had to think he was mad, or a coward, or something awful.
Thomas and William meanwhile shared a long and rather meaningful look before a waiter arrived with their lunch. Harry looked up as his plate was set before him. He'd begun to lose his appetite with all the talk about the auror department, but the smell from the beef wellington did a lot to restore it. Thomas also had his fish set in front of him. Harry glanced at William and saw he was turned slightly in his chair to inspect... a dessert trolley?
Harry forgot all about his own lunch and watched, utterly shocked, as William selected no less than seven desserts off the trolley and had them arrayed around him on both the table and a little folding table the maitre d' set up next to him. William looked up at him from his slice of cheesecake. "You already picked your lunch, you can't have mine." Then he stuck a piece of cake in his mouth and stared at Harry as he chewed it. Harry didn't know if he was being made fun of or not and wasn't entirely sure he cared anymore and so just shrugged and started eating his own meal.
Lunch ended up being quite delicious and Harry was trying to decide whether the restaurant's or the house-elves' beef wellington had been better. He figured he could always try the elves' again when they taught him to make it and happily dug in to his slice of cheery pie. William was just eating his last dessert, a pear tart, and Thomas was sipping tea contentedly. A better lunch than a sandwich, thought Harry, even with all the questions.
"So," Thomas looked at Harry over his tea. "Where shall we go from here?"
"Well, I was planning to stay all day in the park," Harry said thoughtfully, wondering if Thomas and William had wanted to do something more interesting.
"Isn't it boring?" William looked up from his pear tart, fork tongs still in his mouth.
"No," said Harry a bit tersely. "It's quiet and restful."
"I thought you didn't like boring things like that."
"That's not what I meant," Harry was sure he was glaring now and tried to clear his mind. Maybe he should just pretend William was a legilimens if he couldn't stay calm around him otherwise. "My job before was boring because it was... predictable and easy. Cooking is a lot harder because I've never done a lot of it and don't know much about it. And it is rather tiring. I had dreams about turnips! So I'm perfectly happy relaxing somewhere quiet, alright?"
Harry was definitely glaring at William now and waited only long enough for him to nod before turning to finish his pie. Thomas set his tea down and glanced between them concernedly.
"Well, I think continuing our walk sounds like a splendid idea. It is a lovely park after all, even now," Thomas smiled at them both and was rather disappointed when they both chose to ignore him. Perhaps tempers would cool when they got back outside.
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When evening fell and Potter told them he was still quite full from lunch and would likely head back home, L was against parting ways so soon and insisted they escort him back to number nine Argyle Square once more. Potter seemed willing to argue at first, but gave in after receiving another of Wammy's personable smiles and they all headed off for the subway station. L was relieved, as this trip wasn't so much for courtesy's sake as it was to extend the amount of time Wammy spoke with the boy. The more they spoke, the more the boy trusted them and the more likely he would slip something else as fascinating as what he told them during lunch.
That story about working for the police (obviously false, L had access to records of who worked in every police department in the world and Potter wasn't listed in any of them) had given L a great deal to think about. He'd been watching the boy carefully out of the corner of his eye at the start of lunch, hoping his portrayed disinterest would make Potter more relaxed. Then, in answer to what the boy used to do for a living (and what L believed funded his purchase of the lease at nine Argyle Square), Potter had clearly been trying to think of an appropriate lie and claimed he had been in the police department. L had felt like jumping up and calling "Ah-HA!" when he heard it. He hadn't expected Potter to slip in the interrogation so soon.
However, such a statement proved that Potter didn't know anything about him or Wammy. No one who believed they were speaking to 'L' or one of his associates would claim to be part of a police department if they weren't. It was a lie too easy to see through. L had shrugged to himself, that theory had been proved false, but he was still right to think Potter suspicious. L had hoped that Potter might make more slip ups in his answers to continue proving him right.
But, while the whole story about the "police department" was false, nearly everything else Potter told them seemed to be true. He tried and failed to remember something about his cooking lessons, but the lessons themselves seemed to be real- why else would anyone claim to have dreams about turnips? His reasons for quitting said "police department" also seemed to be true. At least, Potter had shown nothing but honesty when he explained why he quit. He was also telling the truth about his "friends" hounding him with letters and phone calls and about moving to number nine Argyle Square secretly.
This was actually somewhat worrying. After the lie about the police, L got the feeling that Potter was speaking in some sort of code. The cooking lessons were the only thing that really stood out. So if everything else were codewords and only the cooking lessons were really cooking lessons... L was worried suddenly that Potter was trying to build a 'normal' life for himself after getting out of a much more abnormal life and if the boy's "friends" ever caught up with him, Potter would be in a great deal of trouble. If there was one thing L agreed on with Wammy it was that, suspicious as Potter's files were, Potter himself was an innocent sort of person. But if he'd been involved in crime, that might not be true. Fortunately, L didn't think Potter had participated in anything- that line about "paperwork" seemed to indicate he'd been more of an observer. Which, really, was still quite bad.
L needed to find out exactly what Potter had been involved in before running to Argyle Square. Unfortunately, all of Potter's records for the timeframe of whatever this "training" was, were completely blacked out. As if they didn't exist at all. He frowned and glanced next to him at Potter speaking pleasantly to Wammy about the Forest of Dean. Perhaps if the investigation didn't get far enough (or, worse, if it got too far) he would confront the boy directly. That certainly wouldn't be a good idea at this point. The boy had a habit of clamming up when he didn't want to discuss something and letting on how much they knew might cause him to run and L wasn't entirely confident in his ability to track Potter down before his "friends" did. For now, they would let Potter stay where he was and where they could easily keep an eye on him.
L's eyes widened and he lifted his thumb to his mouth. Had Potter gone to his cooking lessons yesterday? They hadn't noticed the boy exiting his house today and if he had left the house yesterday, they hadn't seen that either. He should bring the cameras up again- perhaps now that Potter himself had all but admitted to being part of something shady, Wammy would be more amiable to the idea. L was certain that keeping an eye on the boy, if only for his own protection, was more important now than worrying about his right to privacy.
The moment Wammy closed the door of their suite, L turned and said "We need to install surveillance in Potter's house." Wammy didn't bother to respond as he calmly took off his coat and hung it in the closet off the entryway.
"Did you hear me?" L glared at Wammy. There was no way he would allow Wammy to ignore this issue just because he liked the Potter boy.
"Yes, L," Wammy walked into the sitting room while L followed on his heels. "I did hear you, but... Are you quite sure that's necessary?"
"Yes."
Wammy looked at L who was staring at him unblinkingly, and collapsed on the armchair by the window. "Well, it seems a shame. Harry is such a nice lad..."
"Yes, but we need to know where he is and if anyone comes after him," L, pleased that he'd finally gotten his way, walked over to the couch and the laptops before it to begin organizing the next stage of investigation.
"Do you really believe someone will go after the lad, L?" Wammy asked him, clearly afraid of the answer. L stared at him as the laptop loaded.
"Did you see his hand?" L asked flatly.
Wammy sighed. "Yes, knife scars it looked like, old ones. I thought it might be spelling something out, but he never held still long enough for me to check," Quillish looked out the window sadly, wondering what sort of person would cut up a child's hand and suspecting worse had happened to Harry. "Well, I still don't understand how Harry got involved in all this. I still don't know what it is he's involved in!"
"Nor do I, but it obviously isn't anything good if he needs to lie about it."
Wammy sighed again and leaned back to look up at the ceiling. "It was rather nice talking to someone who doesn't lie constantly. At least until after lunch it was... Then I kept wondering if he would lie about something else."
"None of your conversations with him outside the restaurant went over personal topics, so he didn't need to lie."
Wammy glanced over at L. "You know my boy, you seem just as upset about this as I do." He smiled sadly at L. "Were you starting to like Harry as well?"
L looked up at Wammy blankly. "Shouldn't you be getting something?"
Wammy laughed. "Rather sad isn't it, my boy? We meet pleasant company on our vacation only because you insist on investigating him and then discover that he might actually be a criminal!"
L's eyes narrowed darkly and he looked back at the computer. "I suspected from the beginning that Potter might be a threat to us."
"Oh don't give me that rubbish L!" Quillish leaned forward in his chair to scold L. "You never felt threatened by him at all! You wanted to follow him even when you thought he was in league with the pickpocket! Then when he wasn't, you were intrigued by him and found out everything about him you could. Even now, you're still intrigued."
Quillish looked thoughtfully at L who'd frozen during his speech and was staring blankly at the computer he'd turned on. "Are you worried about him, my boy?" Quillish asked gently.
L's neck snapped up and he looked expressionlessly at Quillish. "No."
Quillish smiled sadly at him and leaned back in his chair. "I am as well. Harry is a very kind boy and we'll make certain nothing untoward happens to him," Quillish said with a note of finality.
"He might be involved in something criminal. Even if he didn't participate in anything, he obviously witnessed something and he has no intention to tell the authorities."
"Yes, but that might not be his fault," Quillish suggested. "For all we know he was kidnapped from his relatives and made to believe he was actually going to join some form of law enforcement, realized the truth and ran away!"
L stared at Wammy and blinked a bit, thinking this new theory through. "So... he was kidnapped from his parents' house after their murder and kidnapped from his relatives' house before secondary school?" he asked incredulously.
"Possibly," Quillish responded brightly, as if it were only a matter of time before L found evidence supporting his exaggerated claim.
"But... How does that explain everything else?" L sounded as though he was puzzling things aloud and had started chewing his thumb. "What about his parents' deaths? Or his parents for that matter? His mother has the same discrepancies in her records and there aren't any records of his father at all. And why didn't his relatives file a missing person's report if he was kidnapped?"
Wammy tapped his chin. "Hmm, well, perhaps there is something special about him? Perhaps whatever dastardly organization he was dragged into has been around longer than we thought. It could even be behind those mysterious deaths! You did believe that something was manipulating the police somehow..."
"There were too many police from too many areas involved for the cover-ups to be either coincidence or a case of bribery or blackmail. That many people would need a large, powerful organization to be controlling them..." L frowned as he nibbled his thumb.
"Exactly! Perhaps even the boy's relatives were manipulated somehow," Wammy was beginning to sound pleased with himself.
"Wammy?"
"Yes L?"
"There's a great deal of supposition in your theory."
Wammy looked at L and smiled more brightly than he had since saying goodbye to Harry at Argyle Square. "Yes, but we have met Harry. What is your judgment of his character?"
L bit his thumb as he looked at Wammy thoughtfully. "Harry is honest, for all that he lied to us today. He worries how he appears to other people, but doesn't seem to judge others by their appearence. He does what he thinks is right, without thinking about the consequences."
"That is exactly what I thought," Wammy was grinning now, utterly pleased with L's assessment. But there was one thing he seemed to be forgetting...
"Wammy, going by that profile, Harry should have notified someone about what was going on. He wouldn't be hiding," L said this last piece almost glumly as he let his hand and thumb fall to his knees.
"Well," Wammy tried to think of what he could say to counter this. "He does seem out of sorts... Perhaps his choice to hide was the only option available at the time and now he's making the best of it."
L thought of how that would fit into the puzzle. "He was very stressed last week and today..." The puzzle wasn't fitting quite right and he tried to think of what else he was missing. "We don't really have enough information, Wammy. But... I admit that the piece that fits best into the data we've gathered is the idea of a large organization."
Wammy looked cheered by this. "In that case, Harry might not be accountable for anything."
"Unless he joined willingly."
"Nonsense! He would have joined when he was only eleven- he wouldn't have had legal consent then- and now, as an adult, he is clearly choosing not to join. It makes perfect sense!"
"No... Something still feels off about this theory..." L leaned his chin on his knees and thought about everything he'd learned about Harry Potter in the last week. Some parts of Wammy's theory fit well, but others just fell out. "It could be possible that our profile of the boy is wrong... It could all be an act."
"You don't believe that, nor do I. Harry is the most open and honest person I've met in years. No one could fake such a thing and then stage lying to us and keep it all straight."
"True.." L lifted his head and looked seriously at Wammy. "We could be fooling ourselves though. We both seem to be doing all we can to prove Potter's innocence before we've even discovered what he's involved in."
Wammy winced at this. "Well, yes... But I do think that meeting Harry is such a huge coincidence that planning some sort of subterfuge around it all is too unlikely."
L thought about this. "It is unusual, isn't it?" Wammy nodded, wondering what L was thinking of now. "But... You're right. I agree the organization idea fits everything perfectly and while such a powerful group might be capable of pulling off a complicated subterfuge like this, I doubt it would be so aware of me as to know what I first investigated before I even had the name 'L'. A subterfuge wouldn't be necessary in that case- they would, as you said before, attack us directly. Therefore, Harry's behavior is most likely an honest portrayal of his character. Which means that we need to keep a close eye on him-" L let a small smile form on his mouth as Wammy grinned at him. "-in case he needs help."
Wammy nodded happily and got up from the chair. "Naturally. I shall return soon then." L waved him off and turned to the computer.
In light of recent decisions, he needed to refocus his investigation. The cameras would go up in number nine Argyle Square to keep an eye on things and as Harry was taking cooking lessons, they should have an opportunity to install them on Monday. They would know more accurately when Harry came and went from the house and would know if anyone else entered it. They could follow Harry when he went outside and in the meantime- L intended to start investigating the Dursley's more directly. Any connection they could find to whatever organization was behind all this needed to be explored to the fullest extent.
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The next day, Harry decided to stay at home and relax, which brought up the question, which home? Harry had realized after Thomas and William dropped him off, that he had been sleeping in twelve Grimmuald Place for most of the week and now he was at nine Argyle Square again. He'd only moved to the muggle house to avoid his friends and had only started sleeping in Grimmuald Place again because Kreacher expected him to. So now Harry was trying to figure out where to stay and whether he shouldn't just get rid of one of them.
It was obviously out of the question that he sell Grimmuald Place- he'd inherited it from Sirius and it was an old magical family home. But he cringed at the thought of losing Argyle Square- in the past months he'd come to enjoy the freedom in no one knowing where he was. He still thought he was a prat for ignoring his friends, but it was nice not having to answer the floo every morning and evening (not to mention dealing with those who just apparated onto the step and waltzed in like the house was still headquarters) and having to explain again that he was sure he didn't want to be an auror anymore.
Harry wondered if he was just being selfish, wanting to keep a house so he could get away from his friends. Well, put that way he really did sound like a prat. Harry decided he should head over to Grimmuald Place and start fire-calling his friends, starting with Hermione. He needed to apologize and they really had to talk about this 'depression' theory she'd come up with. He was sure he wouldn't be hiding so much if he wasn't so embarrassed about everyone thinking he was depressed. Maybe telling her about the cooking lessons would help. But, he would solve that problem first and then decide what to do about the houses.
As he walked out the door of nine Argyle Square, he paused, seeing a rather odd person sitting on the curb a couple houses down. The girl's head and face were hidden from view by a large brimmed black hat with a peacock feather sticking out of the brim. She was wearing a grey sweater over a long red shirt and bright blue jeans and Harry thought he could see a canary yellow robe sticking out from under the shirt and sweater. It looked as though the girl was playing with a silver slinky and trying to get the toy to fall over itself down the street the way it would fall down a staircase. She seemed terribly familiar to Harry and he couldn't think why a muggle would be sitting on the curb- Harry looked behind her, yep- sitting right in front of twelve Grimmuald Place. Harry approached her cautiously.
"Er, excuse me..?"
The girl looked up from her slinky. "Harry! There you are. Well, that didn't take very long at all did it?"
Harry blinked. It really was Luna and he was already confused. "What didn't take long?"
"For you to show up of course," Luna collected her slinky and stood up. When she turned around, Harry saw the front of her grey sweater was covered with a dozen emerald green beetle pins. "Did you want to have lunch Harry?"
"Er, Luna, it's only 9 o'clock," Harry stared as he watched Luna put the slinky away in a bag shaped like an owl. "Um, Luna-"
"Do you like my whorlzinger?"
"Er, your what?"
Luna pulled the slinky out of her bag. "My silver whorlzinger. I bought it when I got my hat."
"Um," Harry shook his head, they were getting off topic. "It's great Luna. Listen, what are you doing here?"
Luna blinked and tilted her head to the side as she thought. "Well, I was trying to walk my whorlzinger while I waited for you to invite me to lunch."
"...Luna, would you like to go get lunch?" Harry figured that Luna would tell him whatever she wanted from him if he just went along with her. Besides, he hadn't had breakfast yet.
"Certainly Harry," Luna smiled brightly at him. "Shall we go then?"
"Sure. Where did you want to go?"
"Hmm, well I was going to meet Neville for lunch after I found you, so we should go to where we planned to eat."
"Hold on, I thought you were having lunch with me?" Harry asked, confused as he followed Luna down the street.
"Oh no Harry. You're having lunch with us," Luna told him happily.
Harry sighed. "So where are we going again?"
"Oh, the Leaky Cauldron."
"Wait- Luna!" Harry stopped her and dragged her back towards Grimmuald Place. "I can't go there like this!"
"Why not, Harry? You look fine."
"Because," Harry opened the door to number twelve Grimmuald and pulled Luna in after him. "Everyone will recognize me!"
Luna blinked and followed Harry as he rushed up the stairs to his room. "Well of course they would Harry- just because no one's seen you in a while doesn't mean they've forgotten what you look like."
"Exactly, so, um- could you get out so I could change?" Harry waved Luna toward the doorway as he pulled something out of his closet. Once he heard the door close, Harry changed quickly into a set of his old Dudley clothes and spelled his hair a Weasley red color. He also transfigured his glasses, making them more oval and tinting the lenses to make them darker. When he got downstairs, he found Luna in the kitchen with her "whorlzinger" spread out on the table. She looked up from waving it back and forth as he entered.
"You look like Ron's brother Harry," Luna tilted her head as she looked Harry up and down. "I don't think most people will recognize you now."
"That's sort of the idea."
"To look like Ron's brother?"
"What? No! Just, not to look like me," Harry said, wondering if he should've made his hair brown instead. "Are we going now or not?"
"Yes," Luna put her whorlzinger away and followed Harry back out onto the street to head for King's Cross again. "Harry, do you often go out disguised? Was I supposed to wear one too?"
"Huh?" Harry looked at Luna confusedly. "Oh, no. You don't have to wear a disguise Luna. I only do this when I visit Diagon Alley is all."
"Why?"
"Because I can't walk down the Alley without getting mobbed otherwise..."
"Oh, I suppose that would be true, wouldn't it." Luna stopped talking then and Harry was relieved. As easy as it was to explain things to Luna, it was still embarrassing. They made their way through the station in silence and it wasn't until they'd boarded a train that Luna spoke again.
"Harry, is that why Hermione couldn't find you last week?"
"What?" Harry had no idea what Luna meant.
"Last week," Luna explained to Harry patiently. "Hermione came and told Neville this morning that you missed a dinner with her and Ron last week. So I was wondering if you went to dinner in disguise and she didn't know."
Harry groaned. "Oh no. I forgot all about that!"
"So you weren't in disguise then?" Luna asked.
"No, no. I..." Harry paused. Well, explaining this to Luna was much easier than explaining it to Hermione or Ron. "I sort of skipped the dinner. I was going to write them later, but I forgot. Actually, I was going to talk to them today, but not about the dinner..."
"Oh. What were you going to talk to them about?"
"Huh? Oh, I'm taking cooking lessons. So I was going to tell them that I'm not depressed and not to worry."
"Well it's very good that you aren't depressed Harry, but I'm afraid they are rather worried," Luna tilted her head curiously. "What sort of cooking lessons?"
"Vegetables mostly... Um, do you know how worried they are?" Harry asked, fairly worried himself now.
"Quite a lot I'm afraid. When you didn't show up they flooed you and then went to your house, but you weren't there. They thought something terrible happened."
"No," Harry said glumly, now feeling horrible for not at least writing to his friends. "I went to the zoo."
"Did you have fun?" Luna asked brightly. "I've never been to a zoo before."
"Not really, I was upset at the time..."
"Well, that probably doesn't count then," Luna said. "Next time, you should bring friends along. That makes everything better."
Harry sighed. He didn't think Luna was trying to make him feel bad, but he wished she'd change the subject. "Yeah, sure Luna."
"I know Harry," Luna turned to Harry happily. "I'll go with you."
Harry stared at her. "Er, to the zoo you mean?"
"Yes," Luna told him. "We could bring Neville and Hermione and Ron and Ginny with us as well if you'd like."
Harry looked at Luna confusedly. "Er, Luna... Aren't you mad at me?"
Luna blinked. "Why would I be mad at you Harry?"
"Well, I don't know... Mad at me for making Ron and Hermione worry about me and search for me and not caring? Mad at me for running away from my job and ignoring all my friends? Mad at me for hiding all the time and wearing disguises and stuff?" Harry ran a hand through his messy red hair. "Aren't you mad at me for all that?"
"Well, no Harry," Luna tilted her head again as she stared at Harry with wide eyes. "I know you aren't trying to hurt anyone with what you're doing-"
"But I am!" Harry burst out, making the other people on the train stare at him. He hunched in his seat and said more quietly "I am hurting everyone and making them worry and-"
"Yes, Harry, I know," Luna said calmly.
Harry stared at her, utterly confused now. "Then why aren't you mad?"
"Because you don't mean to hurt anybody Harry. You've just got a terrible infestation of sneedles and once those clear up I'm sure you'll apologize."
Harry blinked a bit, trying to think of any time Luna had ever made any sense. Which wasn't fair really, because she'd made sense plenty of times before... he just couldn't think of them at the moment.
"Er, 'sneedles', Luna?"
"Yes. I'm afraid you have the worst case I've ever seen."
"I'm afraid to ask this, but what do they do?"
"Well, they latch on to your ears and sing strange songs that make you sleepy and when they start swinging your mind gets all turned around and confused."
Harry started feeling angry. Did Luna think he should've stayed in the auror department too? "So, what? I'm being a prat and making silly mistakes because of the sneedles and once I get rid of them I'll just go back to the auror department and everything with be all better then?" he demanded hotly.
Luna looked at him oddly. "Oh no Harry. You have far fewer sneedles now than you did last year. You're getting better. I think you're doing a good job of it too and you're only hiding from everyone so no one else gets caught by the sneedles," Luna thought about that. "Which really, is quite nice of you."
"So... You think... I mean- you thought there was something wrong with me before?" Harry said hopefully. "When I was an auror, I mean?"
"Well, you didn't seem very happy Harry," Luna shrugged. "But I don't suppose anyone would be with that many sneedles hanging off them."
"But you think I'm better now?" Harry asked her. "I mean, better off not being an auror?"
"I don't really know about that Harry. But I do think you're much more cheerful than you were before," Luna stood up to head for the train door. "This is our stop Harry."
Harry got up and stumbled as the train lurched to a halt at the Leicester station. "If you think I'm happier, then why does everyone think I'm depressed?"
"Because," Luna said as they got off the train and headed off. "You've been hiding and no one has seen you."
As they walked out into the sunlight, Luna paused and looked at Harry kindly. "But that's okay Harry."
"It is?" Harry asked her, bewildered.
"Yes, because once all the sneedles are gone, you'll make certain to see everyone and apologize and then they'll all know how much happier you are and stop worrying," Luna turned to walk up Charing Cross Road with Harry keeping pace. "And you know Harry," Luna smiled at him. "You're losing sneedles all the time."
Harry thought about this and wondered if this was simply Luna's way of telling him she forgave him for being an idiot and gave a tentative smile back. "Thanks Luna."
Harry was glad he'd gone out with Luna to have lunch with Neville. Neville, like Luna, didn't seem to be mad at him and only hoped that Harry talked to Hermione soon because "she was in a right state." Otherwise, Harry, Neville and Luna had a very pleasant lunch and chat and Harry was reminded of his lunch the day before with Thomas and William. The food wasn't anywhere as rich, but Harry thought the company was just as enjoyable.
Neville asked Harry what he was up to now and Harry started telling them both about his cooking lessons with the house-elves. Neville was amazed the elves had allowed such a thing- "They must really like you Harry, they get up in tears if anyone else tries to cook in their kitchens!"- and Luna told him to ask them how to make truffula toffee, a supposed secret recipe of house-elves. Harry agreed to do so as soon as he passed his carrot test.
He felt relieved to be with friends again and realized that he'd really missed seeing them. He couldn't wait to see Ron and Hermione too- he'd just have to make sure he apologized first. Thinking of that also made him realize that the only way he had to get in contact with his friends was through the floo. Harry didn't know if he'd just gotten used to sending letters back with his friends' owls or if he'd been avoiding buying an owl, but after Luna and Neville offered to go shopping with him, Harry was determined to get his own owl. The first letter he sent would go straight to Ron and Hermione.
The walk down Diagon Alley was peaceful and without too many interruptions- while Neville attracted almost as much attention as Harry when he wasn't disguised, people seemed more willing to give him space to walk. Harry supposed it must be because Neville looked so fierce with the burn scar across his face. Neville had been surprised by Harry's disguise, but admitted that it was likely a good idea since he'd once gone with Harry to Diagon Alley and got knocked over by a rather large woman with shopping bags on each arm, trying to get to Harry so she could hug him. Harry just grinned sheepishly and told Neville he'd gotten tired of not being able to buy his groceries in less than five hour trips. This trip however, was blissfully peaceful because none of the witches and wizards recognized Harry at all and Harry, Neville and Luna were able to walk all the way to Eeylop's Owl Emporium without being stopped once.
Inside the dark and dusky building, Harry squinted and remembered the spell on his glasses. After changing them back to the way they were, he turned to the rows upon rows of perches and wondered how he was supposed to pick an owl from the seemingly hundreds there. Hedwig had been picked out for him by Hagrid and Harry had no idea what he should look for in an owl.
"Come over here Harry," Neville called softly. "Look at these."
Harry walked over to him and looked at the large owls Neville was pointing out. There was an eagle owl, a horned owl, a grey owl and... a snowy owl. Harry flinched slightly.
"Er, you know, I think I'm gonna look for something different, okay Neville?" Harry said quickly as he backed away and turned to go down another aisle.
"Oh, yeah. Sure thing Harry," Neville said apologetically. "I'm gonna go see what Luna's looking at, alright?"
"Sure," Harry said and he wandered down an aisle of perches. He looked around at the softly hooting owls, some asleep and some blinking at him slowly, trying to remind himself why it was important to buy an owl. Wizards used owls to deliver mail, so an owl was really just a tool to stay in touch with other people in the magical world. The only problem was, Harry kept remembering Hedwig, one of his best friends, falling in a flash of light behind him. Harry shook his head to clear it. He was being silly. He needed an owl and that was that.
Harry started seriously looking at the owls around him and noticed that he'd wandered into a section for smaller owls. He was also being stared at by a barn owl with incredibly large black eyes.
"Er, did I wake you? Sorry, I'll just go-" Harry said before the small owl let out a sharp screech. He jerked back as the owls around him all woke and started screeching in displeasure. Neville and Luna ran towards him with the shopkeeper close behind them.
"What happened Harry?" Neville shouted at Harry over the racket of all the owls crying out.
"I didn't do anything!" Harry gestured toward the little barn owl (the only one, he noticed, that wasn't screeching) and shouted back "That one woke them up!"
Harry, Neville and Luna stood as much out of the way as they could while the shopkeeper cast sleeping charms over the screaming owls and quiet slowly descended again. Before the man could aim his wand at the barn owl that started the whole mess though, the little creature half hopped, half flew over to Harry to land on his shoulder and peck his ear.
"Ow!" Harry shouted and tried to shoo the creature away. Behind him he heard Luna laugh and Neville cover a suspicious sounding cough. "Get off me!"
"Oh, wait- Harry!" Neville started, still clearly trying not to laugh as Luna was doing. "Don't, he wants to go with you."
"What?" Harry paused in shoving the owl off his shoulder, giving it a chance to sidle up to his ear again to peck it. "Ow! Knock it off!" Harry glared at the owl that was looking very smug by this point and turned to Neville. "What are you talking about?"
"You wanted an owl Harry," Luna had stopped laughing and was walking forward to observe the barn owl on Harry's shoulder. "This is your owl."
"Huh?" Harry said. He could feel the owl perched on him start to fall asleep. The shopkeeper walked up to him, looking annoyed, and asked Harry if he would be purchasing the owl now. "No, wait a moment- I didn't pick out an owl!"
"Well, no, but owls sometimes choose wizards Harry," Neville said calmly.
"But Hagrid bought Hedwig for me," Harry said. Neville nodded.
"Yes, but Hagrid was buying her for you and he's good with animals. He probably picked out an owl he thought would suit you," Neville pointed at the owl on Harry's shoulder. "This time you're getting an owl for yourself and this one decided it liked you."
"So, what, I have to buy it?" Harry asked incredulously.
Luna frowned at him. "No, but the poor thing will be very sad if you don't."
Harry stared at her and at Neville and at the owl (asleep already!) on his shoulder. He sighed. It wasn't as though he knew what he was looking for anyway. "Alright, I'll buy it."
Luna smiled and followed Harry and Neville (who had decided he might as well laugh a little) up to the front where the shopkeeper was waiting for them impatiently.
Once outside, Harry tried to convince the owl to wake up and fly ahead of him- Hedwig always knew where to go, this owl could figure it out too- but it just glared at him and went back to sleep. "Fine," Harry snapped at it. "But you'd better be resting for tonight, I do need you to deliver something you know!" The owl fluffed its feathers and that was the only response Harry could get out of the bird.
Harry decided that he should get back home- walking around with an owl on his shoulder was making people take second glances and he worried that someone might see through his disguise. He said goodbye to Neville and Luna, apologized again, and thanked them for helping him out. He promised to write them later in the week to let them know if he ever learned to cook anything more than vegetables. Then, he apparated to twelve Grimmuald Place, a sleepy owl on his shoulder and a bag of owl treats under his arm, to look for Hedwig's old perch and cage.
anananananananan
A/N: Thank you again to everyone who reads and reviews, I hope you all like the new chapter. Kudos to those who figured out L's name puzzle! I thought I was being so clever, but I suppose the important thing is that Harry won't figure it out. ^^
Also, I wanted to say that I do know that L was born in '79 and Harry in '80. Harry's parent's also canon-ly died in the year '81. But, I changed things a bit because I thought it sounded better. ^^; I just think that two years between ages is more interesting and I never understood why it took Voldemort a year to find the Potters when Pettigrew betrayed them the same day they went into hiding. Could he not find them before they started hiding or something??
I wanted to do a head-desk slam after I wrote out L and Wammy's section. They are so close to the truth, but so, so far. ^^ L is never going to guess 'magic.' If fact, I'm getting the terrible feeling that he will be quite cross with Harry if he ever finds out the truth. Which is sad because Wammy really likes Harry and L... well, don't make the mistake of thinking that L likes Harry. He only likes how confusing Harry is. If L were a puzzle enthusiast, Harry would be a clear bag of random puzzle pieces without a box and when L started connecting them he would find that he only had edge pieces for a much larger puzzle and there were a dozen more bags of pieces buried in the floorboards.
.... Um, yah, that's a weird analogy. But I still think that L might start liking Harry for who he is and not for his edge pieces, eventually. Yah... Sure.