Hi! First upload in a while! Hit a major writing block. I know where I want this story to go, but I'm not quite sure how to get there... Anyway, lots of good stuff happened for me the last months so I was distracted anyway. I'll be getting a new desk in a couple of weeks, meaning I'll be able to sit at my desk for longer without risking back pain. That should help speed up the writing process ;)

This chapter contains one of the first scenes I wrote for this story, can you guess which it is? I wrote this chapter back in 2022 I think, and I had fun reading what I wrote then, so I hope you will have fun too dear reader!


Harry clearly had given Dumbledore something to think about, considering he did not see him in the next two weeks. Harry suspected Dumbledore was travelling to Gringotts to speak to the Goblins. At least that's what he would do in any case.

Apparition classes had started up and the fourth, fifth and sixth years had already come up with many creative variations for the three D's that instructor Twycross was fond to use. None of Harry's friends had managed to do much of anything, although they did have fun trying. They all just looked ridiculous, twirling around in their hoops.

February also brought two special days. On the 13th, it was Luna's birthday. On the 14th, it would be Valentine's Day, something Harry was not looking forward to. The number of eyes following him around the castle had not dwindled thus far, and he was afraid of what would happen on the day itself

Because they couldn't go to Hogsmeade, Dumbledore had decided to throw a special Valentine's banquet. Ron had commented that he was "barking mad", but Harry thought such an event was perfectly in line with Dumbledore's vision of magic. After all, Dumbledore had said he thought love was one of the strongest forms of magic. And they could all use a little love right now, Harry thought.

This was also why Ginny had decided to throw a party. The student morale was low and could use a boost, and what better way to boost the morale of teenagers than by throwing a party? They could celebrate Valentine's Day, and Luna's birthday in one go, she had decided.

Harry thought he knew why Ginny had chosen to combine the two. If it was just Luna's birthday party, not many would show up, except maybe for some girls wanting to impress Harry. But by combining it there would be a lot of people at a party that was thrown partially in Luna's name. Still, with morale indeed being low, he wondered how many people would show up.

But for some reason, he had forgotten the force of nature that Ginny Weasley could be when she had enough nerve. And really, she never seemed to lack nerve. Harry had no idea how she had done it, but she had gotten permission from both McGonagall and Dumbledore to host the party. Harry hadn't been there, but he swore that McGonagall seemed a bit teary-eyed in Transfiguration afterwards.

Because McGonagall had become involved, they suddenly had a much wider opportunity of what to do. Harry didn't actively help in the party planning. He hadn't ever even stopped to think where the butterbeer came from during their Quidditch parties. So he just sat and listened as Ginny and her dormmates discussed hosting the party in the Great Hall (too big), where to get butterbeer (they would owl Madam Rosmerta), whether to go full out like Lockhart had (Ginny had thrown a cushion at whoever suggested this).

But it was that suggestion that gave Harry an idea for a small prank. After all, he had never gotten Ginny back for her hair-growth shampoo prank, and if she wanted to boost morale, a fun, little prank would fit in nicely.

So that night, he closed the drapes of his four-poster, cast a sticking charm on them, silenced them, and turned the light as low as he could without losing the ability to write on his parchment. And he just wrote whatever rubbish came up. Honestly, he thought to himself, using "orbs" as a way to describe eyes. I'm even worse at this than I thought. He sniggered to himself, an embarrassed smile on his face because he was secretly enjoying the exercise.

But after a half hour, and a small dive into his trunk, he managed something that he hoped Ginny would think was funny. He thought he had found a great balance between being funny but also truthful, and without being too Valentine-ish. He didn't want to piss Dean off, of course. And because he was on a roll anyway, he decided to write one for Luna too. But because Luna was who she was, Harry wanted to make it perfectly clear that he meant this in a friendly way only.

Harry had also decided on what to give Luna. Making use of the extremely handy Instant-Letters he had asked the twins to go into Muggle London to look on for a book on cryptozoology. Well, that wasn't what he told them, because he had no idea how to call whatever Luna was interested in, but he wanted a book on creatures like Nessie and Bigfoot. Between much of the Twins' banter, they had actually managed to find a book on the subject and they had Owled it to him. While Harry still wasn't always sure whether Luna was serious when she talked about Kriebis and Dabberblimps, he was quite sure she would enjoy reading the book. Ron had questioned whether it was smart to give Luna more creatures to hunt during holidays, but Harry had decided he was going to be supportive of his friends and her father's hobbies.

While the party on the 14th was supposed to also be Luna's birthday party, it soon grew too large to really hold on to that sentiment. It seemed most of the student body was looking for a time to unwind with each other, and most of the professors were supportive of such a cross-house event. Even if, or maybe because, they had no idea that some 7th and 6th years, including Dean, Seamus and Lavender, had already conspired to create a safe way to get more potent drinks than just butterbeer. They were all quite aware of the fact that this party was happening to boost morale, so they didn't want to risk accidentally getting a first-year drunk and having the party get cancelled.

On one hand, Harry was amazed by this supposed maturity, even if Dean and Seamus had been bragging to each other about how drunk they were going to get, but on the other hand, he could understand it as well. A lot of the frivolity, the uncaring nature of the student body that Harry assumed was the norm in regular school years, wasn't found this year. The news still brought mostly fresh tears, even if people had gotten a bit callous to the constant sorrow. More than once he had heard people whisper to each other that "at least they were muggles".

As the party had grown a bit larger than expected, Neville, like the silent but great friend Harry knew he was, had proposed a small birthday dinner for Luna in the Hogwarts Kitchens'. Harry had asked Kreacher to bake Luna a cake, and of course, Dobby had made another one. Harry had no idea what Luna like to eat, except for the fact she didn't eat meat and loved pudding. This proved to be a bit of a problem for Kreacher, who didn't seem to understand the concept of a meal without meat. Luckily, Luna wasn't the only one at Hogwarts who didn't eat meat, so some of the other House Elves did have some recipes.

Because Ginny wasn't going to make it on time, Harry had been delegated to get Luna from Ravenclaw common room, considering Ron and Neville didn't know where it was.

As he made his way over to the Ravenclaw he ran into one of their prefects, a girl from Ginny's year who Harry thought was Alison. She saw him come up and turned to him, in a way Harry thought, like she was trying to strike a pose.

"Hello, Harry," she said with a slight purr. Harry was disctinly reminded of Romilda Vane and knew the two hung out often.

"Hi, Alison, could I ask you something?" Harry said politely.

"You can ask me anything, Harry," Alison responded, pushing her hair behind her ear with a practised motion. She didn't even sound like she was putting it on, Harry thought she genuinely would be helpful if he had to ask her something.

"Could you get Luna for me if she's there?"

"Loon-a?" Alison asked in surprise, only just in time managing to pronounce an "a" instead of the "y". "Whatever for?" she continued.

Harry narrowed his eyes at her. He remembered that Luna hadn't responded particularly positively to Ron's announcement back on the train that Alison would be Prefect.

"Well," Harry said, rolling his eyes at her, "first of all, that's none of your business, but if you insist I just want to talk to my friend for a minute."

To her credit Alison didn't miss a beat, and smiled at him. "Of course, Harry," let me just check whether she's in. She tends to wander around, you know," she said. The Eagler doorknocker muttered something to her, to which she responded, "a puzzle," and the door opened.

Five minutes or so later, the door opened again and Luna came out. She was frowning but smiled upon seeing Harry.

"Hello, Harry Potter, why are you here?"

"Hi Luna," Harry said easily, "first of all, happy birthday!" He made a move to hug her, but she was too far away and he just awkwardly stepped forward a bit. Luna seemed not to have noticed.

"Oh, thank you, Harry! I don't usually get many birthday wishes!"

"Well, we can remedy that, I'm actually here to invite you to a private birthday dinner with Neville, Ron, and Ginny. We're eating in the kitchens."

Luna beamed at him. "That sounds so fun!" she said, as she skipped forward and with twinkling eyes said, "Shall we?" and offered her arm.

It was this kind of effortless joy that Luna sometimes radiated that amazed Harry. Some might describe it as spacy, as being ignorant of the greater picture, but Harry was actually quite jealous of her seemingly carefree nature. The two were counter-opposite in that regard, but rather than Harry dragging her down, she mostly lifted him up with her.

So, he put his arm through hers and guided them toward the kitchens.

When they arrived, Ginny had arrived as well, and she somehow had found the time to actually decorate a bit. Colourful pieces of paper was hanging from the ceiling, and Harry spotted at least one beaming House-Elf, which answered how Ginny had managed it.

Ginny, Ron and Neville, all called out birthday greetings to Luna as they came in. Harry was glad to hear Ron participate. He had noticed his friend doing a bit better. Something like a birthday party would have probably set him off before, but he seemed to understand now that they needed to just live sometimes too. That's what they were fighting for in the end.

Ginny and Luna hugged, as did she and Neville. Ron just awkwardly shook her hand and Harry smiled to himself. It really was amazing how much more comfortable and confident Neville had become since the summer.

"Now!" Ginny said, "We're all eating vegetarian in your honor, and we've made sure there's pudding for afters. Do you want your present now or after the meal?"

Luna smiled at Ginny and then cocked her head to the side, thinking about it. "I think I'd like to open present first. I wouldn't want to spoil the Elves delicious dinner by being distracted by all the possibilities of what you might give me."

So it was said, and so it was done. Neville gave Luna a small cutting of Moondew. He would explain later to Harry in private, that the gift was kind of a double entendre. The "moon" part cleary was in reference to Luna's name, but the plant was also rumored to be used in extra-sweet butterbeer and Neville knew how Luna handled her alcohol. They had a good chuckled at that.

From Ron, Luna received, as Harry could have expected, chocolate frogs.

Luna was most delighted by the book Harry had gotten her, and immediately began reading it, resulting in Ginny having to remind her that she said she didn't want to be distracted from the dinner. Ginny herself didn't gave Luna a gift but whispered something in her ear instead. Luna just smiled and nodded at her. Harry was curious what she had said but shrugged. It was between them, of course.

The meal progressed without in good company until Luna remarked that she wondered why Hermione hadn't been vegetarian. As she argued, for someone clearly so concerned about the rights of non-magical people, she really did overlook a huge part of what was living by eating meat.

If not for the non-combatative way Luna said this, Ron might have said something. But Luna was clearly just curious and didn't really blame Hermione for her eating habits.

And Harry wasn't surprised that discussing Hermione still hurt, even though the sting wasn't as deep as it had been. He was quite sure that wound would never heal, quite sure he didn't want it to really heal. Hermione had been such a crucial part of his magical life, of their lives. He knew Ron still struggled with it as well, they all did.

So, as the birthday dinner drew to a close, Harry chose to speak up.

"I just want to say something," he said hesitatingly, "now the five of us are together here like this."

He took a drink of his butterbeer to soothe his suddenly parched throat.

"Thank you for being… well, you know, thank you for being friends. If there's anything I've learned last year is that you never know…" he trailed of, not quite sure what he was trying to say. "I just want you all to know that I appreciate you, that I appreciated you having my back, and I hope to repay you all someday. And you know…" he trailed off again. He wanted them to know how much they meant to him but he didn't know how to say it.

"We understand, Harry," Ginny said, with a smile. Luna smiled at him as Neville gave him a manly clap on the shoulder. Ron just nodded at him.

The five of them spend another hour just having fun before breaking up for bed. Considering the next day's party, they all decided sleep was necessary.

- In Her Memory -

The next morning, Valentine's Day, Harry began regretting his decision to prank Ginny with the poem and send Luna one as well. Even though he thought it was perfectly okay to send Valentine's cards to friends, he knew as well that most of the Hogwarts student body would not see it as such. Even though Skeeter hadn't written a follow-up article, the question of who would be "the-girl-he-lives-with" was still a heavily discussed topic in the girls' bathrooms. At least, that's what Ginny told him.

The Gryffindor boys made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast, unsurprised to see most of the girl population already there. Harry took the time to scan the Slytherin table, wanting to see what Pansy was up to. Would she be expecting a Valentine's from Draco? Was he even in a position to send one? He shook his head and focused on a more acute occurrence: the incoming owl post. Post that was sent between Hogwarts students usually wasn't sent by owls. You would either ask someone you trusted to deliver a message, or you just told them face to face. Only those in the know knew they could ask the House Elves to deliver messages as well.

Harry had chosen the latter way. A decision he would soon regret.

Because as the Owls came in and the first squeals were heard, Harry, to his horror, heard a highly energetic, high pitched voice coming from the Ravenclaw table. It sound suspiciously like… Dobby!

Harry panicked slightly. He had not given the messages to Dobby on purpose, because he knew that might be trouble. Before Harry could do anything he heard the Elf say: "Good morning, Miss Loony! Happy Valentine's Day! Dobby is so excited to be giving you Harry Potter's message!"

Luckily, Dobby didn't read the poem out loud, possibly sparing Luna the embarrassment Harry had suffered when that dwarf had cornered him in his second year. But as Harry realized, Luna probably wouldn't feel embarrassed at all. Harry couldn't see Luna from where he was sitting, mostly because he was hiding behind a small mountain of overly sweet, heart-shaped breakfast muffins.

Then Dobby popped over to Ginny, who was sitting only a couple of seats away. Harry gave Dobby a meaningful shake of his head, with wide eyes, and luckily Dobby seemed to understand as he just handed Ginny the pink envelope (which Harry had not used) before popping away to deliver other messages.

From where Harry was sitting he had a clear view of Dean and Ginny.

Ginny looked at Dean in surprise, but as Dean looked as surprised, she scowled and opened up the poem. Harry thought she probably thought it was from a secret admirer. Even though she was with Dean, Ginny had complained some boy had still come up to her to ask her out

Harry looked on as Ginny quickly read through the poem, before laughing out loud. She looked around spotted him, and immediately threw a breakfast muffin at him.

"Potter! You arsehole!" she said, while still laughing. Harry laughed in return, and joked "What are you talking about Ginny?"

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about Potter! Who else but you could have sent me this load of rubbish?" she asked with an arched eyebrows and a twinkle in her eye.

"Rubbish?!" Harry responed, in mock afront. "I spent a good 10 minutes on that card, if you must know! I even dove deep into my memory to get inspiration from someone else!"

"As if I hadn't noticed!" Ginny said, turning the slightest bit of pink.

By now the other Gryffindors were all trying to read the card that Ginny still held in her hand. Ever the great friend to Dean he was, Seamus managed to steal if from her hand and he read it out loud, all the while dodging Ginny's attempts to grab the poem.

With great emphatics and the drama of an actor, he spoke up:

Her eyes are the colour of chocolate
Her personality can't be ignored
Her hair is like fire, she sparks much desire
A hero who conquered the
Dark Lord

Seamus had begun speaking in a jovial tone, but as he read the last line he turned serious and frowned. "Conquered the Dark Lord?" he questioned, "What does that mean?"

Ginny looked at Harry with wide-eyes and Harry was quick to respond. "Oh, that's just in reference to her being at the Ministery last June," he explained, waving a hand about. Like it wasn't a big deal.

They all seemed to accept this, even though Ron looked at him curiously.

Then, Luna approached their table.

She smiled at Harry, but didn't really look at him. She instead focused her gaze on the back of Ginny's head, and then hugged her from behind, whispering something in her ear. Ginny looked at her and nodded.

Luna then stood up and looked toward Harry. She wasn't looking at him, but rather vaguely somewhere over his right shoulder. "Thank you, Harry, it means a lot. I've never had a Valentine's Card before!" She smiled at him, and again Harry had no choice but to smile back at her.

"And yes, I'm sure I'm just a regular human, sadly," Luna said with a pout, responding to the last line of the poem Harry had written.

Harry chuckled, "Care to join us for breakfast, Luna?"

"Gladly!" Luna said and she plopped down between Neville and Lavender. The latter asked whether she could see what Harry had written Luna.

Harry wanted to protest, but Luna had already given her the card. Lavender showed it to Parvati as well, and as their eyes moves across the last line they looked at Harry and told him that it was cute. Again, Seamus was there to steal the card. This time he looked at Harry for permission. Harry rolled his eyes but shrugged. He might be a private person, but these cards weren't truly valentines card. He had written them on a lark, for the two girls in his life that had helped him so much in the past, and especially this year.

So, there Seamus went again:

Your silvery-blue holds such mysteries,
Seemingly from somewhere far away.
You're carelessly free, like I could never be,
Are you sure you're not fae?

Ginny gave a sarcastic applause and Neville and Seamus shared a gaze that could only mean a lot of good-nature ribbing in Harry's future. Lavender, Parvati and Sophie looked at him like he was a puppy dog.

But not all was well. Dean was scowling at him. The sound of cutlery hitting a plate heralded Lily walking away from the table, also scowling. Harry thought maybe he should explain to both of them.

So after Herbology, Harry and Ron made their way back to the Gryffindor common room. All the sixth years had Friday afternoons off, so he knew both Lily and Dean would be there.

He spotted Lily and Sophie immediately, as Lily was working on her Charms project. He approached the table. Sophie looked up and Harry thought he saw something of approval on her face. She bumped Lily on the shoulder, who jumped slightly and looked up.

"Oh," she said, "Hi, Harry," she said. Her voice didn't sound as clipped as he might have expected.

"Can I sit? I wanted to talk with you," he asked. Lily shrugged and looked at Sophie. Harry wasn't sure whether Lily wanted her to go or stay. Sophie didn't move and grinned at Harry when he sat down.

"Er, so," Harry started hesitatingly. Lily looked at him patiently and Sophie had put her hand over her mouth. Harry suspected she was hiding a smile, she was clearly enjoying this.

"I just wanted you to know, that what I send Luna was just because she's a dear friend to me," Harry said.

"Okay," Lily said, "why did you want me to know?"

Harry looked at her in puzzlement, wasn't it obvous? "Well, because I don't want you to think I lied to you when I took Luna to the Christmas party. I only like her as a friend."

"Oh!" Lily said in surprise, "that actually makes sense." Sophie smirked lightly at him, and Harry had no idea how to translate it.

"What did you think I was going to say?" Harry said in surprise.

"Oh," Lily said, looking at her radio cassette player, "I thought you thought I would be angry for giving a valentine's card to my ex-girlfriend."

"Well…" Harry trailed off because that wasn't untrue at all.

"But she's been my ex for like six weeks, why would I still be bothered?" Lily continued.

Isn't that how girls work? Harry thought fleetingly, but he wisely decided against saying that out loud. But that sentiment was probably readable in his expression because then Sophie spoke up.

"Luna isn't the first short-term girlfriend Lily has had," Sophie explained, "even if most of them have been muggle summer-flings. She has been through this before."

"Oh," Harry said. "Well, okay." Then because he felt like he couldn't just walk away, he pointed at the radio cassette player. "How's your charm project coming on?"

Lily brightened up when she began explaining, "I managed to get it to turn on and play, but there's no sound yet. I know it's playing because the thingies are turning, see," she pointed at the cassette that was clearly being unwinded. She then went into the specifics of the charms she had used, combined with a thorough understanding of how electricity worked.

Harry, however, had no idea what she was talking about. He might have grown up muggle, but he knew next to nothing about science. How could he? The only thing he understood is that it seemed to be the case that every individual apparatus that used electricity had to have a tailor made permanent shielding charm. And that Lily couldn't be sure whether the charm she was developing would work outside Hogwarts or whether she would have to develop one for every new magical location she wanted to listen to music.

Thoroughly confused because of Lily's explanation of how electricity worked, Harry made his way up to his dorms. Dean wasn't there so he just shrugged and made his way downstairs again. He still had plenty of homework to do, as always.

- In Her Memory -

A couple of hours later, Harry was nursing a butterbeer while leaning against a wall in a crowded Great Hall. The place was delicately dressed up. They had clearly learned what not to do from Lockhart. There were pink elements, sure, but not to a nauseating extent. Some of the House Elves had volunteered and were serving as bartenders. This was a great idea because the Elves would make sure the drinks couldn't be spiked, thwarting whatever plan Seamus and his co-conspirators had come up with. Instead, most of the 7th years and a fair few 6th years were walking around with an assortment of liqueur in pockets and bags.

Almost all of the 4th years and up were present, and also many of the younger students. Harry had seen Mia walking around with her groups of friends. He had done much observing that night. Something about calmly observing his peers letting loose made him feel good. At Slughorn's Christmas party, he had let loose for a couple of minutes as well, and he had enjoyed it. But, as he had no interest in some of the other activities pursued by his peers, he was content to just watch them mingle.

Like at the Quidditch party, Seamus had taken it upon himself to be a wingman for Neville. Neville looked less comfortable than he had been at that party, but still mostly looked like he was just indulging Seamus. And if Neville and Seamus were together, that probably meant Dean was with Ginny, Harry thought.

But no, Ginny was over there with her dormmates. Harry shrugged and looked at Ron who was standing beside him. His friend was doing much the same as he was, just quietly observing it all. Harry thought he could guess what he was thinking about. So, he decided to distract him.

"So, Ron, how's the animagus coming on?"

Ron came out his revery and sighed, "It's coming, but very slowly. McGonagall keeps mentioning I'll know when it is time to try, but I think she's overestimating me."

"Your transfiguration skills or your capability to self-reflect?" Harry asked curiously.

Ron snorted, "Both probably."

Harry made a contemplative noise, "At least you can work on it," he said, a whiny note coming through

Ron caught on to it, "Oh, I'm sorry," he said with a scoff and joke, making it clear he was joking, "Am I not supposed to be able to do something the "Great Harry Potter" can't?"

Harry laughed, "I'm sure there are many things you can do, that I can't, Ron."

This time it was Ron that made the contemplative noise.

"Want another?" Harry said, gesturing his butterbeer to Ron's empty bottle.

"Sure," he said. Together they walked to one of the House-Elves. When they came closer they were surprised to see it was Kreacher.

"Kreacher!" Harry said in surprise, "are you bartending tonight?"

"Master Harry!" Kreacher croaked, and he bowed deeply. "Yes, Kreacher is. What can Kreacher do for you, master?"

Some of the people around them were looking at Kreacher curiously.

"Oh, could I get two butterbeers, please?" Harry said.

"Of course, right away, master," Kreacher said, and he snapped his fingers making two bottles of butterbeer pop into existence. Harry grabbed one and handed Ron the other one.

"He really has changed a lot, hasn't he?" Ron remarked as they made their way back to their wall.

"He has, ever since I gave him that ring, even before that actually," Harry said.

"Probably does him good to be out of that house," Ron said.

"That would do anybody good," Harry said darkly, thinking about Sirius.

As if summoned by this darkened mood, there Luna was.

"Hello, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley," she said in chipper tones.

"Oh, hi Luna," they said. "How are you enjoying the party?" Harry asked.

"It's fine," Luna said, "but there really are a lot of nargles about, the Headmaster should really do something about it."

"How's that possible?" Harry said, "There's so much butterbeer being drunk, shouldn't the corks keep them away?"

Both Luna and Ron looked at him with open mouths and Harry felt himself turn red. "What?" he asked.

"How do you know that?" Luna questioned.

"You told me, remember?" Harry explained, "Last year, I think."

"I did?" Luna said, cocking her head to the side. "Why do you remember?"

Harry looked at Ron for help, but the traitor was biting his lip in laughter and raised an eyebrow at him.

"You say a lot of memorable things," Harry said.

Luna frowned. "Okay," she said, smiling faintly, before turning around and walking away again, her shoulders sagging dejectedly.

"What did I say?" Harry questioned aloud.

Ron shrugged, "She's barmy mate, you know that."

"Don't say that, Ron," Harry admonished. "She's just, just Luna."

An hour later, and at least four unwanted advances later, Harry was talking to Seamus, Neville and Ron, when Ron asked, "So where's Dean at? I haven't seen him at all this evening."

They all frowned at each other.

"I saw Ginny like twenty minutes ago," Neville said, "so we can rule out the broom closets." Ron smacked him across the shoulder, making Neville laugh.

"When I left the common room he was still there," Seamus explained, "he was in a bad mood, didn't know whether he wanted to come actually."

"What happened?" Neville asked.

Seamus shrugged but looked at Harry meaningfully.

Great, Harry thought, I knew I shouldn't have written those stupid cards.

Then, Luna appeared at Harry's elbow, pulling on his shirt to get his attention.

"What's up, Luna?" he said curiously, and Luna just pointed behind them.

They all turned around to see what she was pointing at and saw Dean Thomas snogging like his life depended on it.

Before Ron could even utter a groan, Dean and his snogging partner turned around and… it wasn't Ginny! Instead of the expected red hair, she had black hair, and she also was a bit taller than Ginny.

When the two finally came up for air, Harry finally recognized the girl as… Romilda Vane!.

"Luna, do you know where Ginny is?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes, she's over there," Luna said, pointing to the other side of the room, where she was talking with her dormmates.

"Let's go," he said and walked over to her, Ron, Luna and Neville following behind him.

As he approached he saw that Ginny, was frowning a bit, but was seemingly still calm.

But before he could ask her anything, Luna beat him to it.

"Hello, Ginny, when did you break up with Dean?"

"I – what?" Ginny said flabbergasted, then she smiled at her friend. "I never can keep a secret from you, can I?" Luna just beamed at her and leaned in for a hug, which Ginny gladly reciprocated.

"So, you broke up with him?" Ron said roughly, "I don't have to hex him?"

"No," Ginny said hotly, "and I'm perfectly capable of hexing him myself, thank you very much."

"Have you seen what he's doing, Ginny?" Neville asked hesitatingly, pointing over his shoulder.

Ginny leaned over, to watch past Neville and grimaced. "Oh, that. I have absolutely no idea what he's playing at."

They all turned around to look at Dean and Romilda. They weren't snogging at the moment, but Dean looked more than a bit drunk. He had a dopey smile and looked at Romilda with unfocused eyes. Romilda was smirking in their direction.

"You probably broke his heart and he is trying to heal it," Luna said vaguely.

"By sucking Vane's face off?" one of Ginny's dorm mates questioned with disgust. Harry thought her name was Dawn.

Ginny chuckled, "I'm quite sure I didn't break his heart, Luna,"

Luna just stared at her and looked back over to Dean, her brows furrowed. Harry leaned in toward her. "Luna?" he asked, "Is something wrong?"

"There are too many Wrackspurts on Dean and Romilda has been attracting too many Aemulors," she murmured.

"And that's bad?" Harry guessed.

Luna turned her head and looked at him with the frown still on her face. She looked Harry directly in the eyes, something she didn't do often, and when her eyes conveyed she was worried, Harry felt the compulsion to do whatever she was going to ask.

"Harry, please check up on Dean tomorrow morning," she asked.

Harry just nodded and Luna smiled brightly at him.

He looked up and saw Ginny smiling at them. She walked over to the both of them.

"Luna, did you tell Harry about the newest edition of the Quibbler?" she asked Luna.

"Oh!" Luna exclaimed happy, clapping her hands together in excitement. Harry spotted Ron and Neville sharing amused looks. "Daddy finished his piece on Tom Riddle! It's going to be published next month! I'll be sure to get you an edition if you want."

"That'd be great, Luna," Harry said half-heartedly, shooting a concerned look to the others.

"Yes, apparently Professor Dumbledore visited Daddy to try to convince him not to publish it," Luna said, cocking her head to the side. "I don't understand why the Headmaster wanted to censor such an important piece," she said sadly.

"Because it's dangerous to publish stuff like this," Neville said.

Luna turned to him and scoffed. "Why? The ministry never did anything when we exposed Fudge's ambition to take over Gringotts."

Well, Harry thought, that's because that wasn't true. Even with every other stupid thing the Ministry had done over the last years that Harry knew off, this particular theory hadn't happened. And he knew everyone was thinking it, but nobody wanted to tell Luna they thought most of the Quibbler's stories were rubbish.

So Neville just shrugged and looked away. Luna looked at him in confusion but was distracted by Ginny, who clapped her hands together.

"Alright, you lot, enough of this talking and standing around, let's dance!"

This kind of dancing was completely different from what Harry and Luna had done at the Christmas party. For one, they were now dancing in a group, a larger group even. Because some of Ginny dorm mates had joined as well, Seamus had joined them as well. Harry tried to catch his eye to talk with him about Dean but Seamus was too busy showing off his non-existent dance moves.

Luna still didn't care about adhering to any form of rhythm, at least none that Harry could hear in the music. Ginny had grabbed Ron, forcing him to move rather than stand still with his hands in his pockets. Neville was moving on his own. He was turning from left to right, and slightly bouncing up and down, alternately moving his arms like the driving wheel of the Hogwarts Express.

This left Harry on his own. He just moved slightly back and forth in time with the music, but he found it harder to enjoy himself like he had at the Christmas party.

Deciding he needed another drink, he made his way over to Kreacher, who he could see was still bartending.

Harry shook his head at the absurdity of that observation.

"Hi, Kreacher," he greeted. The Elf turned around and when he saw it was Harry, he bowed slightly.

"Good evening, Master," he croaked, "What would Master Harry like to drink?"

"Aren't you only serving butterbeer?" Harry asked in surprise. He knew that many older students had brought their own alcohol as well, but the Elves were only supposed to serve Butterbeer.

"The Hogwarts House Elves are only supposed to serve butterbeer, Master," Kreacher answered. Harry didn't miss the stress on Kreacher had placed on "Hogwarts", taking it to mean that, as Kreacher wasn't actually working for Hogwarts, Harry could probably overrule those directions.

Feeling like a bit of mischief, he raised an eyebrow, "And what else could you get me, Kreacher?"

"Most anything, Master."

Truth was, Harry really didn't know much about alcohol besides Firewhiskey, Butterbeer and that one liquor Dobby had put into Ron's and his warm chocolate.

He sighed, "Just a butterbeer, Kreacher, thanks." It was probably smarter to keep his wits about him in any case. It wouldn't make sense to have Dumbledore ask him to keep his invisibility cloak on him at all times, for safety, and then get drunk.

Kreacher obliged with a smile and Harry walked back to the group. He chuckled as Luna eyed his butterbeer with great interest and he leaned in to say: "How many have you had tonight?"

"Not enough!" Luna giggled and Harry was glad to see she was speaking the truth. Clearly, Ginny had been keeping an eye on her. So he felt no qualms about giving her a sip or two. Or three.

An hour or two later, Harry, Neville and Seamus made their way back to their dorm room. Ron had gone to bed earlier. None of them had seen Dean after they had spotted him with Romilda Vane but they could hear him snoring from his four poster.

Harry yawned as he prepared himself for bed. He walked over to his four-poster, moved the opened pack of Chocolate Cauldrons from his bed, and climbed in. He was tired, and happy, enough to not even think about what nightmares might plague him that night.