Luna Lovegood Lestrange and Hermione Granger
September 10th 2003, Fondant's Bakery, Diagon Alley
Hermione was nervous about the meeting even though she had prepared herself. First with a thorough introspection and then with long talks with Hannah and Neville. Harry, though a loyal friend, was the wrong person to ask a question about herself and while Ginny was socially shrewed enough she was too much of a Weasley to be of help. The Longbottoms had confirmed her sneaking suspicion that there was still a lot about the traditional wizarding world she knew nothing about. That she had been an overbearing know-it-all during her Hogwarts years was a fact. At Hermione's reproof that he should have talked to her about it then Neville rightly pointed out that firstly she would never have taken him seriously and secondly that he was too much in need of friends or at least allies during his first years at school that he could not have dared to anger the one pupil in his year and house that stood between him and total academic failure.
Entering the bakery the young witch greeted the owner's husband, Thorfinn Rowle, with a wide smile. That this young man had found his true calling via a detour being a Death Eater was one of the cosmic jokes of the universe. Hermione remembered the tall and hulking blonde from her first two years at Hogwarts as a crude and braying jock, interested in Quidditch and Quidditch, nothing else. After graduating he apparently had taken the mark to ensure the safety of his little sister. Everything pointed towards young Rowle to be a spectacularly ineffective Death Eater – too big to be stealthy, too young to be truly cunning, too loud to be inobtrusive and with just a passing grade in charms not prone to learn curses and hexes quickly. It seemed that some of the elder followers of Voldemort had tried to protect him by assigning him to missions were his only talent – flying – would be of use but with Apparition that talent was not in much demand. Therefore Thorfinn found himself on the floor in some hallway of Malfoy Manor after a very frustrated Dark Lord had knocked him against a wall with a jinx repeatedly. He knew that bruises and some cracked ribs were not the worst that could happen to failing Death Eaters.
Not hoping for healing potions from the Malfoys the young man had dragged himself towards the manor's kitchen for some ice at least. If an elf found some cooking sherry to dull the pain that was just as well. What Thorfinn found was much better than cooking sherry, even if the Malfoy's cooking sherry was top notch. A lone elf was decorating elaborate confections – tartlets of mousse or fluffy biscuit, tantalisingly smelling fillings of caramel or vanilla, fresh fruit cut into the most intriguing shapes, spun sugar like angel's hair – Thorfinn was watching with an open mouth. He begun to ask the elf – Sunny – after her art. The little being was thoroughly frustrated with the manor's house guests as having a Dark Lord as a dinner companion destroyed most of the other guests appetites. And the mistress was much too overwrought to appreciate her work, too.
But now there was this young man who, despite his hands being large as saucepans, proved to be an able pupil. After the war and his trial and acquittal due to coercion for taking the mark he had started to work in a traditional bakery, had married the owner's daughter and then branched out from bread and biscuits to confectionary. Mrs Rowle's sense for business and her husband's art made a succsessful combination and led to the opening of a café, Fondant's Bakery.
Luna was already sitting there looking radiant. Hermione congratulated her on her pregnancy and jumped right in, apologising for her behaviour that day in Diagon Alley. She could honestly say that she never, not even in her thoughts, had addressed Luna as Loony. But she had to concede that she was guilty of making little to no effort to stay connected to her friends and their lives. Hermione remembered being quite preoccupied that day and put down the cut-off appelation to a momentary lapse of concentration, a glitch of her mind. Luna listened to her former friend's explanations, accepted the apology and then jumped right in.
"To be honest, Hermione, I am glad that I haven't been duped by you. I believe you when you say that your mind offered that awful nickname in a state of preoppucation. I am quite familiar with my mind taking twists and turns that sometimes surprise or even frighten me. More important at the moment is Roddy. I love my husband, I really do, but my brother in law is the best man I have ever known. I do not expect you to hurt him in a malicious way but nevertheless you could hurt him a lot, even if you do not want to. He is the kindest, most patient and selfless being I have ever encountered. And he works very hard. He really needs someone he can trust in completely, someone with whom he can relax and let go. Roddy has been under a lot of pressure his whole life. I do not presume to know you in that regard but I think that you are more inclined to make things happen than to provide someone with a kind, nurturing safe haven. Please think very carefully before you commit yourself to him."
At first Hermione was taken aback by the Ravenclaw's harsh and uncharacteristically straight-to-the-point comments but her late introspection had led her to similar conclusions. Rodolphus Lestrange would be a loyal husband, but would he be a happy one at her side? Could she be what he needed? The young witch of course knew that she could not approach her husband like a project. He might be in need of tender loving care but he was no house-elf. She sighed.
"It is early days yet. We are getting to know it each other. I cannot promise you to be the right kind of wife for Rodolphus but I can promise to always be honest about my feelings during our courtship. I feel that we are so far apart in upbringing and background that we have to communicate much more than couples with a similar history anyway. I know that I am braindriven and often prone to lose sight of or even neglect the people around me. That has to change. We could start with making this a standing date? Have breakfast every Tuesday? Rodolphus explained why your husband would not shake my hand. I would like to get to know him. Maybe you could bring him along, too?"
"Splendid! The Nargles are already getting fewer around you."
Hermione was reminded of Rodolphus' comment about imaginary creatures being a code. She asked her friend about it.
"Of course it is a code. Humdingers indicate corruption and Blimpys danger. But I confess to sometimes inventing creatures to confuse people."
The last was said with a wink.