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AN: No idea why this chapter was so hard to write, but it was, so it's short but I think I can get the ball rolling again now that fucking HP holidays are over. Every bit of feedback and support helps me get through the chaos of my life ;D
Chapter 26 - For A Moment
"James, why?"
"Because, Sirius, we are adults."
Sirius scoffed, "That's very generous, man-who-barely-into-his-twenties."
Harry was sort of on Sirius's side here, but Luna seemed excited, so he couldn't complain.
Especially as she was wearing a dress that seemed to bring her profound joy. It was a shimmering powder blue dress that was overlain in a silvery mist material that made her seem as if she were made from sparkling ice.
She also had a petty-coat on, so–as she informed him–her skirts would flair at every movement.
"Sirius, I know you don't care about this stuff, but we need the allies. We are both Heads of our Houses. Harry will inherit both our titles and I would rather he not be taken advantage of."
"That matters for nothing when no one in their right mind would take me seriously and the Potter House got kicked from the list of importance with your grandfather, not to mention you married a muggle born. Do you really want to listen to these hacks pick at Lily's legitimacy?"
James shook his head, "Lily solved both those problems. Who defeated the Dark Lord? A muggle born witch. The one I married, thank you very much. Besides, I'm not making friends with those stuffy heads, I'm talking about the Bones, Greengrasses, and others who maybe weren't a part of the Order of the Phoenix but still worth making friends with."
Sirius sighed at him, "And how the hell am I supposed to help you with that? And why are you dragging poor Harry and his lovely love into this?"
Harry exchanged a small smile with Luna.
Malcolm's cottage had been very full the last week but Mr. Lovegood had readily agreed to go to the Wizarding New Years gala, agreeing with James that he needed to be in control of his own reintroduction to society.
That he was publishing an article in his magazine about it and had sole rights to a private interview with James, Sirius, and Harry likely had no bearing on this choice.
Regardless, Luna had explained it was a good idea given Voldemort's attack on the Ministry wearing James's face.
Harry pretty much believed they were all doomed at this point and that dealing with the media at all was pretty pointless. Sure, it had helped last year, but no one took it seriously until Death Eaters and Voldemort himself made an appearance in front of the cameras.
"This is for Harry," James argued. "You know, so we can keep custody over him and be able to go out in public without starting a riot. If we rub shoulders with the high families then everyone else is going to hesitate to raise wands against us."
Harry was dubious but didn't argue, allowing his father to fuss over him unhindered.
Luna for her part was smiling beside him, understanding perhaps better than anyone what this meant to him.
Mr. Lovegood rose from his seat with absurd grace as it seemed they were ready to go.
"Have a good night," Remus bid them.
Sirius pouted at him, "I'm sure your night will be better."
James draped his arms around Sirius and Harry, "Look on the bright side. No one wants us there."
Sirius radiated annoyance, "Which is why I don't want to go."
James's smile grew, "Imagine how many purebloods we are going to tick off? You, who were exiled by the family, and yet inherited everything. And me, whose name fell out of favour and is now the most famous surname in Britain. The Fantastic Dark Lord has failed to kill us, more than a mere fateful three times."
Sirius's expression turned devious, "Oh, this might be fun after all."
Harry exchanged a look with Luna, tonight would be interesting.
Mr. Lovegood put a hand Luna's shoulder and with a long suffering sigh disapperated away.
James, Sirius, and Harry followed them a moment later as Malcolm saluted them.
oOo
Luna liked her dress, liked Harry in his dress robes, and liked that her father wasn't stuck in the house.
She had grown up with the tales of her father travelling universes and slaying monsters with his first wife and Luna's older sister whom she would never meet.
After her mother died, it seemed as if he never left their house, living among the work of his newspaper. Living vicariously through others' stories, rarely his own.
Despite himself, Luna thought that he was starting to like James. His oddness, his out of placeness, seemed to be something he had great sympathy for.
She was amused that when they walked through the entrance of the grand ball, everyone, sans the musicians, fell silent to stare at them.
Their gazes were fixed on James and Harry.
James let a smirk curl his lips, before he asked, "Miss me?"
The Death Eater families twitched but made no answer. They could do nothing without breaking decorum and shaming themselves.
Amelia Bones, her niece, Susan Bones followed behind her reluctantly.
"James Potter, Sirius Black," the woman said, expression unreadable before a smile broke through, "You have indeed been missed."
Sirius laughed, "You say that now."
Amelia smiled back, "Come, the Greengrasses, have waited a long time to meet with you."
James shooed them off toward the younger purebloods and halfbloods.
Her father gave her that expression that was his version of an eye roll and assent before trailing behind Harry's parents.
Luna watched the hall, the world her grandfather must have come from. She was happy to be on Harry's arm, to float through it, to see it without having to worry as the others in the room worried.
Humans were social animals, but their brains complicated what order they should follow.
Morality was hard for humans, imagination made it too easy to be immoral. She preferred creatures for that reason alone, language was too often a distraction to understanding. Even human behaviour was misleading in learning about them.
Harry squeezed her hand, and she looked up to meet his green gaze. In his eyes, she saw understanding. No one ever understood her, not even her father despite how much he loved her, not until Harry.
And he was the first person she knew who she believed she knew well enough to not only understand but trust.
She loved him, without condition.
Daphne greeted them with a raised brow, "Didn't expect to see either of you here."
"My dad's idea," Harry said, his voice tinting happily at the word dad.
"I still can't believe James Potter is real," Astoria said. "It somehow makes you a little less special."
Harry laughed, "Honestly, I'm all for it."
Blaise gave him an askance look, "You seem… less depressed."
"I am," Harry said. "Less depressed, I mean."
"And you've never been here," Blaise said.
Luna shrugged, "My mother never came to these sorts of things, and my father is Polish."
Blaise nodded, "My Italian family thinks this—" He waved his hand at the room, with its marble columns, mosaic floors, and ostentatious chandeliers. "Is stupid."
"So why are you here?" Luna asked.
Blaise pointed his full plate toward the crowd of finely dressed adults, "She's socialising."
She presumably being his mother, Mrs. Zabini.
Theo joined their group, holding two glasses of sparkling amber in his hands.
Susan stepped well away from him.
Daphne gasped, putting a hand to her lips, "Sir Theodore Nott? Have you deigned to talk to us?"
Theo actually rolled his eyes, "I'm here to talk to Potter?"
"Didn't think you were allowed in front of the parents," Harry said without cruelty.
Theo shrugged, "I was told that I needed to befriend."
"So you could betray me?" Harry asked, voice dry but the laughter caught in the light of his eyes.
"Yep," Theo said, popping the p. Then he handed Harry the other glass of sparkling cider.
"Is it poisoned?" Harry asked even as he accepted it.
"Please," Theo said. "If I was going to kill you in front of witnesses, I would be more creative than that."
Harry laughed again and drank the cider. "Thanks, Theo. I suppose we're friends forever now."
Luna snagged the glass out of his hand and finished it off.
"That could have been poisoned," Susan squeaked.
Theo huffed, "Again, I'm not as uncreative as Goyle or Crabbe."
"Poison seems more Malfoy's speed. Speaking of whom, is he here?" Harry asked.
"Nope," Blaise said. "Narcissa Malfoy moved out of the country, Draco will be spending his summer in France till he graduates."
"Good for him," Harry said. "Good for both of them."
"Lucky bastard," Theo muttered over the rim of his glass.
Blaise changed the topic smoothly, "So, Harry, what did your zombie-dad get for you."
"He's not a zombie," Harry said. "He got me a new wardrobe."
"Lame," Astoria said. "Whatcha get Lovegood?"
"A Golden Passion Scarub, or a Passion's Revenge," she said, excited about the new pet she could take to school with her.
Blaise looked horrified, no one else seemed to have a clue what she was talking about, except for Harry, whom she had already told.
"What?" Daphne asked, looking between Luna and Blaise.
"It's a magical Egyptian scarab," Luna explained.
"And?" Daphne asked.
"And it's golden," Luna replied.
"And why is Blaise looking at you like you're a demon?" Theo asked.
Blaise seemed to shake himself as he hissed, "Because prostitutes use it to silence unruly clients."
"Silence how?" Astoria asked.
Blaise lowered his voice, "The beetle eats them from the inside out."
"How?" Susan asked.
"Through orifices," Luna explained calmly.
Many more horrified looks followed.
"You're not upset by this?" Daphne asked Harry accusingly.
"If I ever did anything to make Luna that upset with me, I would deserve the beetle."
"That's either romantic or stupid," Blaise said.
Theo snorted, "Both, he's definitely both."
Luna privately thought that her father would do a lot worse, but she knew that she didn't need to threaten Harry to make him treat her right.
No, she didn't need to threaten him, she just needed to remind him to live.
Which is why when the music rose, she tugged him onto the dance floor.
Harry went without hesitation, instantly spinning her so that the wind licked at her heels, fluttering her skirts.
For a time, beneath the shimmering lights, as one year was reborn into the next, they were free from the realities of the war blooming on the horizon.
For a time, Harry led and she followed.
For a time, Luna led and he followed.
"I love you," Harry murmured in her hair as they followed the direction of the strings.
Luna smiled as she laid her head against his chest.
For a time, all was right in the world.
oOo
"I thought we were here to make friends, Prongs?"
James couldn't bring himself to care, "I think we've said all we need to."
"Lily would be so proud," Sirius said, not talking about the politics.
"I know," James said, heart twisting in his chest as he watched his son spin gently with his lady love in his arms. "I don't think—"
"Think what?" Sirius asked gently.
"I don't think Lily and I ever had what they have. Looking at them, I don't think Lily and I were ever truly able to forget."
"Forget what?"
"Forget where we came from, the people in our lives, the war. We were happy, but we could never fully forget."
Sirius bumped his shoulders, "What you and Lily had was beautiful. What they have is a different kind of beauty. They aren't guessing what horrors might await them, they know and are living despite it all."
"They aren't desperate," James said, not like Lily and I were.
Sirius smiled, leaning into his side. "No, they are courageous, crazy, and embody every bit of love their parents have for them."
James blinked back tears.
That's it.
Harry and Luna, their entire generation, were the hopes and dreams of their own.
They were everything they had fought for and dreamed of.
James would never stop fighting for them.
Never.
oOo
AN: Thoughts, snowy owls, or feedback, pretty please?
