Goodbye Friend
-A human bond cannot be described with written words.
Hogwarts, Time Unknown.
Harry finally understood what those words meant when he reunited with his wand.
He gently ran his fingers along its length and felt the lonely wood thrum in resonance to his magic.
This was the instrument used by witches and wizards to connect with magic.
How they had misused it, he mused. There were a rare few like him who could connect to magic without a wand. Where had the world gone wrong? He wondered. When had they forgotten what magic really was? Did they ever understand what magic was?
Harry was discovering it on his own until he had a conversation with Luna Lovegood.
He could see a mystery in her eyes. Her colours changed languidly, in a manner, he could not read. It intrigued him.
They were in the astronomy tower. Luna had returned him his wand and was now staring at him expectantly. It seemed like she was waiting for something and Harry could not decipher what is was.
Usually the colours told him what it was but now, he had nothing. It was a first for him.
"Why are you here," he asked finally.
His voice was hoarse and soft.
"It's my home," she replied.
Home, Harry thought. It was certainly a powerful bond. The Desert had taught him it's value.
"It was home to the other's as well, until you came back," she added.
Harry scoffed. He was beginning to form an understanding of what was important and what wasn't. To him, magic was important. It was a gift and Hogwarts gave it freely. There were those who valued it and those who didn't. Those who left didn't.
"So why did they leave," he asked with mild scorn.
"The valued their lives more," Luna said.
This girl was reading him, Harry realised. How?
He could see that he had a choice. On one hand, ignore this unnerving girl, leave her to her devices and move towards finding the source. On the other, he could try and understand what Luna Lovegood saw in magic. Was she like him or could she show him a whole new perception to magic that would help him get closer to the source?
"Why did you stay?" he asked her. Those who left were not important. The one who did, was. Why was she here? What made her bond to her home so strong that she refused to abandon it even when a monster came to take it?
Luna looked into his eyes with piercing understanding.
"I stayed," she said softly. "Because I'm not afraid of you. To me, magic is all that matters. Friends make that magic stronger and I'm sad they're gone. I had a choice, magic or friends. I chose to stay and make new friends."
That's right, Harry thought. Magic was important. He was beginning to like this girl more. She was the conversation he wanted his whole life.
He had never wanted to talk. Everyone he ever met was Unworthy. Dumbledore was the only other and the old man feared him and threatened him. There was conversation waiting to happen there.
Luna Lovegood on the other hand. "Do you know what the source is?" he asked.
He turned away from her and walked to the balcony. It was post noon and the sky was bright yellow in-spite of the strange storm clouds that flew far above. He noticed the forest had grown wild. The grounds were being overrun with sprouting trees and further on, massive trees swayed in magic that exuded danger.
The colour of magic was a bloody red and it disappeared over the horizon into an abyss that was calling out to him.
"You mean the source of magic?" Luna asked as she joined him.
Harry nodded.
"My mother told me the Wrackspurt's are the key to finding them," she said, with a laugh. "She was always making up words to give names to her discoveries. Names that I could pronounce. It was a game until she died."
"Wrackspurt? What is it?"
"They are magical creatures that live around us. Affecting our minds. They seem to be chaotic around you."
Harry frowned.
"How do you see them?"
"Well, you would need Spectrespecs if you can't see them and even with those they are really hard to spot since the Spectrespecs don't work for everyone. I lost mine last year on the train ride to London and my dad has the only other piece."
"Oh." Harry became silent. He had destroyed London after all. He felt like it was not a topic to bring up. Am I feeling sympathy, he thought. It's strange. His green was pulsing and he calmed it down.
"Do you know that you're different?" he asked. "You don't see magic the way others do."
Luna chuckled. "I wish I wasn't. It'd make having friends a lot easier."
"Friends are not important," Harry said. He didn't like the concept. "Friends beneath you are definitely unimportant. You can perceive magic in a way I can't understand. I want you to make me understand."
Luna sighed.
"You can't. But I'll try."
Luna turned to leave. "I'm hungry," she said. "What about you?"
Harry's stomach rumbled with an ache he hadn't realised was there after keeping it ignored for so long.
"Sure," Harry said. "But before we go, where's my diary?"
"Not here," Luna said blandly. "Hermione must have it. She seemed really excited by it."
Time froze for a moment and Harry's blood boiled. How dare she take his Diary!
"It's no use crying over stolen belongings," Luna said with understanding in her eerie grey eyes. "If they're meant to come back. They will. And usually with an apology."
Harry's rage cooled. Luna was right. He mustn't lose sight of his quest. His goal of finding the source and execute the will of magic. He had to keep his focus.
He could not lose to madness. Not now. Not when he felt he was closing in on an answer to a question unasked.
He followed her out of the tower in silent contemplation as she quietly led him to portrait of fruits and tickled a pear.
A hole appeared in the pear as it giggled and revealed the entrance to the Hogwarts kitchen.
"Tis Miss Loony!"
Harry had never encountered a hoard of excitable house elves and for a brief moment, he was almost blinded by the glow of green and white.
These were house elves?! Harry gasped in his mind and eyes widened with curiosity.
"Whos is yous companion Miss Loony!"
"This is Harry Potter," she said with a tinkling laugh.
The elves gasped and went silent.
"The chosen one," they whispered to each other. "Tis the chosen one."
Harry's eyes narrowed. Their tone was hushed and to him, it sounded there was a prophecy involved here. He remembered Dumbledore. It had been long since he had seen the old man. He suddenly wondered why he wasn't at Hogwarts. Was he still in the desert? What about Voldemort?
Why was he thinking about them? There were links in his mind leading to a place he had never really explored. Why did he want to know what they were doing? Were they still alive?
A picture of Daphne popped into his mind. An emotion stirred.
Deep down, far beyond his comprehension, he was flattered by the interest Daphne had shown in him. He had wanted to befriend her, and because of his past, the very notion of that idea was masked with disgust and pain. His Green was healing.
The magic of the elves was affecting him. The moment he realised that, he tightened his hold on the void and turned to Luna.
"Chosen one?" he asked her questioningly.
Luna shrugged. "Can we get something to eat Dobby?"
"Of course, Miss Loony!"
The elves scattered and a table and two chairs appeared beside them.
It seemed to Harry, none of them were willing to answer. He thought about forcing the answer out of them but decided to be patient. They were not going anywhere.
"So, tell me," Luna said primly and sat on the chair comfortably cross legged. "Do you see it?"
Harry immediately understood and felt incredibly buoyant. "The colours of magic."
Luna nodded sagely. "Nobody else saw it," she said sadly. "And my mother died trying to see it. You're the first I've met how can see them. Do you know what they are?"
His buoyant mood fell. She could only use it. She didn't understand yet but she was trying to. Just like him. At least she was worthy.
Worthy to embark upon the same quest as him. Would she want to join him?
"I want to understand it. I want to explore it and execute it's Will. Would you want to join me?"
"Oh no," Luna gasped. "You're too destructive! And you need to end what you began by yourself."
She was right. This was his quest but rejection was never good to him. It's why he had retreated in solitude. It hurt, he realised. And pain was something he had mastered instead of feeling and releasing. He had found someone like him and she had rejected him.
"All the answers are always jumbled up at the end of the road. I find following universal directions is the fastest way to understand them."
Follow his baser instincts, in other words, he deciphered. To be the Monster needed by magic. And in order to do that he needed to do one thing in particular.
He pulled on the void and charged all his colours.
He gasped as a bundle of emotions rushed through his mind. Luna's eyes widened as magic grew strong around her.
"I'll reach you all eventually," he whispered. "But for now, you need to be quiet."
His green was sucked into itself into a tiny dense ball with thin wisps spiralling out around his cores at a controlled pace.
His mind sharpened, the pain went away, and he entertained the idea of killing Luna, painlessly of course, if she didn't want to head down his direction. It was unnecessary, the wisps of green rationalised. It would be interesting to see if she would end up at the same end as him.
"Thank you, Luna," he said softly. In her, he had found the only direction that mattered. His Gut Instinct.
And right now, it told him, he had to keep moving forward, no matter the consequences. The answer would come, but for now he had to press on, towards the unknown. For the unknown was where the clues lay hidden.
Luna leaned forward, closing the distance between them until all that they could see was each other's eyes. "To me," she whispered. "Magic is the force of miracles. That green in you will be the last hurdle to cross in your quest for a miracle. Do you understand?"
Harry could smell peppermint on her breath. Her grey eyes glowed silver as the white in her colours expanded all around them. He could feel the castle agreeing with her in secret and the wisps on green encircling his cores tightened around him briefly, giving rise to an emotion akin to desire.
"If we ever met again," Harry whispered. "I'd be interested to see what miracles you can create with Hogwarts."
He smiled and leaned back. Luna followed suite and grinned. He could be reasoned with after all! "Will you agree to being my friend Harry Potter?"
The rest of the evening went unsaid as two friends found enjoyment in each other's company in an otherwise lonely world.
By the time they were done with the delicious fruit platter the elves had made for them, the time to embark had approached and Harry had one important question to ask of the elves.
He turned to them and summoned the Void. Hogwarts grew silent as an oppressive force began to coerce the house elves. "Why did you call me the chosen one," he asked.
Luna eyed Harry sadly. This is why she could never walk down his path. This would have never been her method.
A young female elf spoke up, her voice trembling. "It is said, there will come a Wizard who shall rain untold destruction on the world. His coming will herald the rebirth of Gaea who shall only bend to the will of the Chosen one."
The elf fell silent and Harry waited for more but none said anything more. He increased the force around the elves and they all whimpered.
"Let them go," Luna said with anger. "They told you what you need to hear."
Harry let go and they all scattered back to their work with the ears flapped close to their necks.
"It's time for you to leave," she said.
Harry sighed and smiled. His methods were born from the circumstances created by a prophecy. Harry was now able to imagine the beginning of a different life he could have led. His thoughts were changing and maturing with tremendous pace.
"Goodbye Luna Lovegood," he said and stood up, feeling more refreshed than he had in years.
It was time to head into an Abyss.