Team Avapotter climbed the rolling hills of Ottery St. Catchpole, deciding to use magical transportation as little as possible for the sake of their foreign friends. Harry had arranged for a portkey to put them in the vicinity of Luna's home (Dodging numerous questions from Shacklebolt) and were now making the somewhat tiresome trek to the Rook. Sokka was just finishing his explanation of what an Unagi was—to the somewhat manic demand of Neville—when Katara saw it.
"Is…is that it?" Katara said, pointing cautiously to what looked like the tower of an Earth Kingdom military base.
Team Avapotter took in the site of The Rook from some distance and Harry let out a strangled sighed from the memories it triggered.
"Yah. That would be it. Better be off." Harry replied, pulling himself forward.
The Rook looked to be a bit under construction. The explosion of the last year had left it a crumbled mess of stone and treachery. Ron's lips pressed into a long, flat line as he approached it. Had he really forgiven Luna's father for what he had done? Had any of them? Ron tried to think what he would have done if it were his daughter. He looked towards Hermione briefly and saw that, she too, looked apprehensive to enter.
Still, their deeply loyal friend Luna lived there and whatever resentments may linger, they owed her a visit and they owed it to Team Avatar to try their best to solve this monumental mystery that was before them. And so they made their way to the front door, past the little garden that seemed to greet visitors with a strange sort of hospitality.
"What the hell is that?" Sokka said, inching away from what looked to be the earrings Luna sometimes donned.
Hermione looked sideways and arched an amused eyebrow. "Keep off the Dirigible Plums."
"Don't worry, Im not going anywhere near those things." Sokka muttered.
Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Sokka, Katara, and Aang walked hesitantly to the front door. Aang watched Harry, Ron, and Hermione and sensed that something was wrong, unlike Neville and Ginny, the trio looked very reluctant, as if they were forcing themselves to be here. Wasn't Luna their friend? Their close, albeit, strange friend?
Harry approached the door and blew out a breath. The last time he saw this house, it was from beneath a pile of rubble. One desperate apparation later, they were safe and Mr. Lovegood was being taken to Azkaban. His only crime being that he loved his daughter more than his beliefs. Harry wanted to be angry with him, he really did. But how could he?
Sokka watched Harry curiously, all the while slowly inching himself away from the plants that littered the front yard. "Eh…so…do we knock or is there some kind of weird wizarding thing we have to do to go inside?" Sokka clearly wasn't reading the vibe of the Golden Trio.
Harry closed his eyes and knocked.
What felt like a millisecond later, Luna opened the door. Harry jumped as soon as he saw her. Had she been floating by the door, waiting for them?
"Hello!" Luna said simply, beaming to everyone. But it wasn't her sudden instant appearance that weirded everyone out, it was her clothes. She looked like a muggle fisherman, except everything she was wearing was somehow…exaggerated. She wore a bright yellow, ridiculously oversized rubber hat which looked to be festooned with various knick knacks. Bright rainbow suspenders were connected to rubber fishing boots that spanned the length of her entire leg. Beneath that she wore what looked to be a fur shirt that was slightly humming. Her jeans, mostly covered by the fishing boots, were the most normal thing about her appearance at the moment. She carried a fishing pole except…it wasn't. The pole had various levers, whose purposes were unknown to Team Avapotter, the fishing wire was connected to a golden bucket upon which a picture was painted. Harry couldn't quite make it out.
Sokka backed up a few steps. "Eh…I uh…what?"
Luna smiled mysteriously at him for a moment before snapping her attention to Harry. He flinched. "Plimpie fishing! Are you as excited as I am?" Luna continued, totally oblivious to the looks of outright confusion on Team Avapotter's face.
"Plimpie…fishing?" Harry stammered.
Luna's face fell a bit. "Oh…but you're not dressed? Surely, you know that Plimpies are attracted to bright colors." Luna smiled manically, "oh…but they are biters! Proper Plimpie boots are the only way to protect your toes from an industrious Plimpie!"
Neville closed his wide open mouth and rubbed his sinuses. "I don't even…I can't even…" Neville gave up on trying to express his exasperation and just looked up at the sky and shook his head.
Luna shrugged. "Don't worry, I've got extra boots and poles. We'll manage! Come in, come in! I've just put on a pot of tea."
"Oh, tea! That sounds nice!" Katara added but was quickly rebuffed by the Golden Trio emphatically shaking their head at her in warning as Luna walked in the house.
The gang walked into the eccentric Rook. Aang looked around as he did with most places in this strange world. It would seem that just as he got used to one place, he would stumble onto another place that put him right back into a state of awe. He found Luna's house immediately fascinating. A strange machine hummed and popped in one corner of the circular structure and seemed to be spitting out magazines at unpredictable intervals. He saw what looked like a recently repaired bust of a woman with a crown, yet the bust had strange attachments to it: two golden trumpets seemed to curve out of either side of the woman's head, two blue wings seemed to flutter weakly from a strap around the top of the head, and an orange radish had also been clumsily strapped around the top of the bust. It was the strangest thing Aang had ever seen. In addition to the crazy statue, the house seemed to be absolutely littered with books and little knick knacks that gave the place a quirky little charm that Aang enjoyed. The circular shape of it reminded Aang of the Southern Air Temple sanctuaries and a curious twang resounded in his heart.
"Well…no more erumpent horn…" Hermione muttered, looking cautiously at Harry and Ron, who nodded in grateful agreement.
"Gah!" Came a yell, and everyone turned to see what it was. Apparently, Toph had just run into one of the many contraptions in The Rook. "What the crap…" She groaned, glaring at it in irritation.
"Come! Ive set up the kitchen, you can all have a seat." Luna yelled from just out of view. The gang followed Harry, Ron and Hermione into the somewhat cramped kitchen. Before them, were a variety of chairs of all shapes and sizes, from what looked like a grand throne down to a squat pink ottoman.
They all looked around at each other for a moment before they all darted for the throne. The resulting squabble was as oddly quiet as it was unnecessarily ferocious. Sokka ended up winning the day and he sat, rather ornately, in the throne. "Sit, peasants." He announced quietly as Luna worked on the tea. She didn't seem to notice anything at all.
They got comfortable- except for maybe Ron who got stuck with the ottoman—and Luna passed around the cups. "Daddy's secret recipe!"
The Golden Trio looked down at the cups with apprehension. Team Avatar seemed willing to give it a try. Katara took a generous sip, she sat smiling for a moment before her face contorted with a kind of confused panic and she stuck her tongue out desperately, fanning it pointlessly with her hand. "Hot…HOT…FIRE…BURN!"
"Aguamente!" Hermione yelled, dousing Katara's mouth and face with water. Hermione groaned.
Sokka took a drink at the same moment. He sat quietly and looked to be thinking. "This…tastes the way a dead otter penguin smells." He said, but not in a malicious way, more in the way one speaks of an unexpected realization.
Luna smiled. "People have different reactions! The properties of Daddy's tea are very sought after. We often have requests for the recipe."
"Yea, probably from St. Mungo's so they can warn the public…" Ron muttered, and was nudged quickly by a snickering Ginny.
Aang looked at Katara who was recovering, then Sokka who was staring at the concoction in his hands, and then looked at Luna. She seemed to be staring at him in anticipation. Aang sighed. He knew what he had to do. Aang took the tiniest sip he could. His eyebrows lifted. "It tastes like a fruit pie!" He exclaimed, as he took another generous swig and smacked his lips.
Luna smiled, Team Avapotter stared at Aang in shock, then looked down at their respective cups. Driven by pure curiosity, they all took a sip. What happened next would be a story they would tell at future gatherings:
Ginny immediately vomited.
Toph started laughing hysterically as if she couldn't control herself.
Neville turned pale and started shivering, "I canth feel mah fahs…" he spluttered over and over as his face became increasingly numb.
Hermione looked decidedly perplexed, "Peppermint…toothpaste? What?"
Ron gulped his down with enthusiasm, "It's like Christmas dinner in a cup!"
Harry looked confused. "I want to say…it's smoky…but tasty." Suddenly, his arm jerked violently and smacked Neville in the face. This was not a problem, however, as Neville could not feel it.
They all looked at Luna in amazement.
Hermione cocked her head to the side. "It's-"
Brilliant!" Ron announced. "It's like some more powerful version of Bertie Botts in tea form!"
Luna looked suddenly cold. "We don't speak of Bertie Botts in this house." She said in a deadpan voice that made Team Avapotter's insides go cold.
"Eh…well, how is your dad?" Harry asked slowly, wanting to change the subject.
Luna smiled and busied herself with cleaning up the tea service. "Oh. He's doing better. Azkaban took a bit out of him, but no dementor could ever get the best of Daddy!"
Sokka looked quizzically at Ron. "What's a Dementor, again?"
Ron shrugged. "Um…they used to guard the wizarding jail at Azkaban. They suck all the happiness out of a person, but some sorry sods can actually have their soul sucked out of them, if the Dementor kisses you." Ron whispered, he was oddly nonchalant about it.
Sokka's eyes widened. "What?! What is WRONG with this world?" He whispered desperately.
Ron sneered. "Oh really? You want to talk about messed up worlds? You want to tell me about that Unagi again? Perhaps, another story about the spirit that kidnaps people for cutting down trees? How about when Aang, apparently, became a giant moon fish and attacked a Navy?"
Sokka opened his mouth, then closed it. "Noted." They both turned to see that the gang was staring at them. "…sorry." They mumbled.
Luna continued. "He's down at the lake, fishing for Plimpies. He should be up in a moment or two."
Harry couldn't help but smirk at the situation. This time last year, Xenophilious Lovegood was telling them the same thing about Luna. Harry's smirk turned to a frown as he thought about the consequences.
Luna washed out several cups as she went on. "I should say, he was a bit nervous about you all coming but I said to him, 'Daddy, you have to face what you've done. Harry, Ron, and Hermione deserve that much." Suddenly, the smile that had graced Luna's face disintegrated.
Harry shrugged. "He shouldn't be nervous-"
Luna cut him off. "I told him that! I said, 'Daddy, they will understand. You were scared, you were a bit of a coward..." Her words were becoming a bit heated now, the whole atmosphere of the room seemed to dramatically change.
"I wouldn't say that…" Hermione interjected.
Luna kept talking as if she hadn't heard Hermione. "I said, 'Daddy! While I am very disappointed in what you did, while I am very upset that you almost got Harry and his friends KILLED-"
"Luna…I don't think that was his intention…" Ron muttered. Ron felt himself surprised that he was sticking up of Xenophilious.
But it would seem Luna wasn't listening, she was now washing dishes with a shaking ferocity that she didn't seem to notice. Slamming dishes into the dish rack, throwing rags from here to there. She could have rubbed a hole in those dishes, the rate she was going. Her speech was becoming more and more pressured and manic as she continued. "They are all I have Daddy! You almost let them get killed! What if they hate us now?! What if they hate me?! What should I do then? Go back to Loony Lovegood?! They are my only friends Daddy! What should I do if they hate me now?! Why couldn't you be brave?! Why didn't you help them?! AWNSER ME DADDY!"
She slammed the last dish she had down on the sink and blew out a hard breath. She looked up at the kitchen window and stared out into the boundless countryside.
Team Potter looked around at each other. What had just happened? This was not Luna. This was not the Luna they knew. The Luna they had come to accept.
For as long as they had known her, Luna had never presented herself as what they would consider "common." Her unintentional brutal honesty, eccentric nature, and ability to brush off judgement from others had painted her as a person who didn't really care what people thought or at least never really considered it. She was a person that didn't really get affected by the menusha of this world. It was as if she transcended the insecurity and fear that they all had to grapple with on a daily basis. They never saw her as a common person with common behaviors, common thoughts, common emotions, and common…fears. They just accepted her.
But maybe, there was more going on with Luna than they had noticed throughout the years.
They never really saw how she was the same as them. All this time they focused on accepting her differences. They depended on her being different.
In looking at Luna as different, in "just accepting her", they had also treated Luna differently. They never thought that she might be struggling with the wounds of war the way they were. Of course she wouldn't, she was Luna. They were narrow-minded. Unable to grasp the extraordinary and equally unable to glimpse the ordinary. They didn't bother to see if Luna was going through the same things they were, to see if she was hurting from war too. They didn't think about how the trauma may have affected her. They never thought she might be a teenager, just like them. In "accepting" her, they had never accepted her at all.
Harry looked at her shaking figure in front of the sink and a horrible sadness rose within him. A terrible guilt.
"L…Luna-" Hermione started but she was cut off by Luna turning suddenly towards everyone.
"Come on, I want to show you something!" She said, her face was extensively red as she brushed past them and motioned for them to follow. She swept from the room rapidly, before any of them had the chance to address her outburst. They all looked at each other in a perplexed manner before jumping out of their various chairs to follow her. She ran up the spiral steps two at a time, as if she were running from them.
Finally, she burst into a smallish, brightly lit room. Harry would know that room anywhere, he instinctively looked up at the ceiling and gasped in pleasant surprise. Luna stood in the middle of the room, next to her bed, smiling at them. Team Avatar looked at her curiously, had it not been moments ago that Luna had just been on the brink of a nervous breakdown? Katara looked around the circular room for a moment and spied a bureau, desk, and bed before turning her gaze back to Luna's beaming face.
"Luna?" Katara began, hoping to broach the topic of Luna's sudden rant but was surprised to see her simply walk over to her bed and lay in the very center of it. She continued to smile eagerly as her eyes stared at the ceiling, she pointed at it.
"Look." She said simply.
Team Avapotter looked towards the ceiling, on it there was a mural. Harry smiled deeply at it noticing the additions Luna had made: Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka, and Zuko all found a place on the ceiling, interwoven with the glittering golden chain of "Friends."
Ron smiled full to bursting at Luna and strode over to her bed, where he lay down as well to get a better view of the beautiful piece of art that seemed to make his heart glitter as much as the chain link drawn to keep them together. The rest of the gang followed, squeezing onto the bed, legs draped over each other or else dangling off the ends of the bed, heads in laps or resting on arms, lips curved into wide smiles, and eyes glued on the ceiling. There was a moment of content silence and all that could be heard was gentle breathing and the occasional sniff of Hermione and Katara as tears of appreciation danced down their faces. It was as if, for a moment, they had forgotten about the world around them.
"I reckon your mural is finished." Ron whispered into the silence.
Luna took in a contented, dreamy breath. "I think I have one more to add."
"Who?" Ginny said, tapping her fingers on her stomach and feeling as though she had fallen into a most pleasant daydream.
Luna was silent for a moment before saying, "Draco."
Ron popped himself up on the bed, his eyebrows raised, his body rigid as if he had just been woken up from a lovely vision. "Oi! Why?" Really, all of Team Potter seemed perplexed by this statement and the tension was palpable.
Luna looked over to him and smiled almost pitifully. "Oh, I suppose he was rather terrible over the last year but…when I was trapped in his cellar, he was… kind." She finished mysteriously.
Team Avatar seemed unphased by her proclamation but Team Potter seemed confused, their eyes pleading for more explanation.
Luna sighed. "He looked after me when I was in that cellar. He snuck me food, blankets, I don't think he knew I was awake when he did it. Voldemort was quite terrifying (Luna winced slightly at saying his name but looked quite pleased with herself all the same), I can only imagine what would have happened to Draco if he knew." Luna was quiet for a moment before continuing. "Voldemort tortured his father quite often. I could hear him screaming…I imagine Draco knew the danger of treating any of Voldemort's enemies with compassion. But…I suppose the mark of a true heart is not how you treat people in the best of times…but how you treat them in the worst."
Ron's jaw dropped. He fell slowly back to the bed, as if the wheels in his mind were painfully turning. Indeed, none of them had anything to retort upon hearing this.
But Luna was not finished. "Draco was forced to torture his mother once." Hermione gave a gasp of shock. Luna continued, "I don't really remember why. I suppose Voldemort did like to get upset over silly things… or maybe he just did it for sport." Team Avapotter shuddered at the nonchalant tone she took with that last statement. She continued, "In any case, Voldemort told him that if he didn't do it, he would kill her in front of him. I could tell Draco was still hesitant… then Voldemort told Draco that he would kill him as well." Luna sighed dreadfully, "Then…then his mother begged Draco to curse her after Voldemort said that."
Harry turned pale at the thought of Draco being forced to torture his own mother, at his mother begging him to torture her. He knew that Voldemort had forced Draco to torture people at his command, he remembered the visions of Draco being forced to torture Deatheaters.
Then another memory came to him, from the coldly amused voice of Bellatrix Lestrange: 'You've got to mean it.' Could Draco have really been able hurt his mother with the Cruciatus Curse? Could he have ever really MEANT to inflict harm on her? And then Luna answered his query without him having to ask.
"I don't think he did it right though. His mother was screaming and all but…it all sounded rather theatrical. I'd heard countless people tortured when I was locked in that cellar and their screams were…" Luna stopped, she looked over at Hermione who was the last person Luna heard screaming during her imprisonment under the Drawing Room of Malfoy Manor. Hermione didn't say a word, she looked at the ceiling blankly. Luna hurried on. "Anyway, Voldemort ended up doing it himself in the end. He kept telling Draco that he was weak and that he would do it properly. After that the screaming was…"
Luna stopped again. Harry could see that she had closed her eyes tightly.
"It's…it's ok Luna. You don't…you don't have to talk about it anymore. We understand." Harry finished, and he wasn't just accepting it, he understood Luna. Harry remembered the feelings of pity he had for Draco as he watched his horrified face through the lens of Voldemort's cold red eyes and, although he would never consider Draco a friend, there was no way he would try to talk Luna out of doing so.
"Luna, my love!" Came a voice from downstairs that Harry immediately recognized it as Xenophilius Lovegood.
Luna grunted sharply before lifting herself up from the bed. "Daddy's home." She whispered stonily. She quickly jumped from the bed, causing Neville's head to suddenly fall to the bedspread and Ginny's legs to sloppily fly up into the air. She walked out of the room without another word, leaving the members of Team Avapotter flabbergasted at her abrupt departure.
Eventually, they all started moving, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the slowest to move. They shuffled out of the cramped room, and down the narrow spiral staircase, towards the sounds of conversation in the kitchen. The Avatar gang seemed to stop as they inched closer to the door and Team Potter, Harry in the front, gently brushed past them to introduce everyone.
Harry entered quietly and was met with the sight of Luna dumping a bucket of somethings into the kitchen sink, never giving her father a backwards glance. Xenophilius seemed to be neatly folding the same napkin over and over again while sneaking glances at her. His face held a nervous kind of sadness. Harry felt like he was intruding on a rather embarrassing moment for him. He cleared his throat.
Xenophilius's face shot towards Harry as if he were someone else. There was a moment of shock and fear on his face before he clumsily rose from his seat, now wringing the napkin he had so meticulously folded.
"Harry…Harry Potter." He squeaked out.
"Hello, Mr. Lovegood."
Xenophilius briefly looked back to Luna, who seemed enthralled with the kitchen sink, before moving hesitantly towards Harry and extending his hand.
Harry took it firmly and smiled. He couldn't help it. He had never realized it concretely, but he had forgiven Xenophilius ages ago, the moment he saw Luna in that cellar in Malfoy Manor. He would have done anything to save her too. "It's great to see you again, sir." He whispered throatily.
Xenophilius looked momentarily taken aback then downright relieved. He shook Harry's hand vigorously with the force of a thousand silent "Thank you's". He looked back excitedly to Luna, but she made no acknowledgement of the moment, still looking down at the sink full of "somethings" that were now letting out what sounded like pointy grunts. His face fell. Harry thought he must have been hoping for something.
Finally, Harry turned from the uncomfortable scene and gestured towards the confused group behind him. "I hope you don't mind Mr. Lovegood, I've brought some guests with me.
Xenophilius's eyes became a bit nervous again upon seeing Ron and Hermione, but the warm smiles and small waves they extended seemed to relieve him. It would seem that they had, in some part, perhaps in all parts, forgiven him too. His eyes turned to the newcomers behind them whom he had never seen before. He stared at them, smiling shakily for a moment and then, his face went rigid and he gasped.
Luna seemed to be snapped out of her trance, she turned briskly. "Yes, yes, very well. Daddy, we will be off Plimpie fishing. It seems the lot you have brought us wont due at all." There was a note of irritation in her voice that wasn't missed by Harry.
Xenophilius didn't make a sound, he was staring, his mouth now agape.
"For goodness sake, don't GAWK at them Daddy." Luna snapped.
Harry was quite unnerved by the sharpness in Luna's tone. She didn't sound dreamy or mysterious, she didn't sound like Luna. Hermione fidgeted somewhat as she stared at her.
"Mr….Mr. Lovegood?" The confused voice of Aang muttered suddenly. "Um…why are you staring at me like that?" The gang swirled around to see Xenophilius staring at Aang with stark disbelief.
Harry hadn't even noticed, too caught up with Luna's extremely odd behavior. Xenophilius was staring at Aang like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Luna looked around the room, everyone seemed alarmed with her father's behavior. "Daddy! Daddy, stop it! You're upsetting everyone." Luna sounded panic stricken, as if the last thing she wanted was for anyone to have anything less than the best time while they were with her.
But Xenophilius ignored her, his finger rising to point at Aang's face. "Tat…tattoo. Tattoo!"
Aang's face contorted in confusion, then realization, his tattoo! He'd gotten used to not wearing a hat around the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley saw right through that rouse, and after some panicked explaining of his "Asian origins," Mrs. Wesley seemed marginally satisfied although not convinced.
Aang groaned as he realized his mistake. He must have walked out of the Burrow without a hat, how could he have not felt the breeze on his big, bald, head?! How did no one notice?
The gang started to get antsey too. Harry had certainly hoped to broach this topic, but not yet. They were supposed to ease into it! They would talk about it at the end of the visit…after Plimpie fishing! He didn't want Luna to think that they had only come over to get information, now more than ever, he didn't want Luna to think that.
Aang started to get his explanation in order, the gang making various noises, as if stalling.
Xenophilius's head cocked to the side a bit.
Aang cleared his throat, he supposed not was as good a time as any. "Yes! The tattoo, well, you see, Im from the eh-"
"Southern Air Temple." Xenophilius interrupted.
Aang opened his mouth and then closed it. Well it was official, he had ruined the plan. They were supposed to wait until the end of the visit, make sure everyone was nice and comfortable with them being there, THEN drop a giant bomb on them.. Instead, Xenophilius got immediately bombarded with a tattoo'ed bald kid from another world in his kitchen. Brilliant.
Aang sighed. "It is an honor to meet you." Before Aang could do his customary greeting, Xenophilius did it first, placing his fist in his palm and bowing.
"An airbender. An airbender in my very own home. Father always said… I never thought I'd get to meet…An honor…what a great honor…" Xenophilius muttered excitedly.
Aang smiled. Katara coming up to his side. "Not just an airbender, Mr. Lovegood." She said warmly.
Xenophilius snapped up. "I…I'm sorry."
Katara smiled. Her statement had been somewhat spontaneous. Mr. Lovegood seemed so excited, so honored. Luna had been told stories of the benders since she was small, this mean't that Xenophilius had also been rocked to sleep with tales of the benders when he was a child. She didn't know why but suddenly, she wanted to turn a wonderful story into a beautiful reality. There was something in his eyes, a wonder very much like she had experienced upon seeing Aang bend for the very first time. The first time she had seen another bender, the first time a story had become a reality for her.
"Well… if you've heard of airbenders...perhaps you've heard of waterbenders?" Katara whispered.
Xenophilius eyes widened to the size of planets. "Water…A waterbender? It can't…it can't be." Xenophilius took a hesitant step closer, as if he wanted to touch her to see if it was all really true.
"And an Earthbender." A voice said in the background. Toph stepped forward smirking. "The world's GREATEST Earthbender, mind you."
Sokka laughed. "There's also a firebender running around this world somewhere."
Xenophilius looked toward his daughter. Her stony face softened by the look of awe on his face. As if his dream was coming true. "It's true, Daddy. I've seen it."
"All…all four elements? They've been here…all this time?" Xenophilius whispered.
Luna smiled. "I would've written but…" Her smile faltered, his excitement seemed to wane, and the room became uncomfortable again in the aftermath of her half-statement.
Harry cleared his voice. "Eh…well anyway. Luna had told us…she'd told us that her grandfather…er your father had…had been to The Southern Air Temple."
Xenophilius looked towards his daughter a little longer before turning back to the group, his former excitement now a shadow. "Yes…several times. Always said they had excellent senses of humor."
Harry tried to find a tactful way to broach the topic. "Well, we thought that eh, maybe you could help us…get them back."
"B-back?" Xenophilius muttered, looking back at Aang now as if examining them.
"Perhaps we should all sit down." Hermione added. The gang proceeded to sit anywhere they could in the cramped kitchen. This time Ron won the throne and smirked haughtily at Sokka.
Hermione sat as dignified as she could. "Mr. Lovegood. Well…your father Aluitious. I em…I think he may have discovered something."
"My father discovered many things." Xenophilius muttered, now examining Toph. "He was a stupid man." He smiled proudly.
"Eh, yes…." Hermione continued confusedly, she seemed to convince herself that she had misheard him. Aang smirked at Luna. "Well…gosh, it's a long story. I guess I should start from the beginning…"
And so Hermione recounted the tale once again. She told him of their new bender friends, how they had gotten here, the Aluitious connection, how they seemed to be from another world, and how they had no idea how to get them back.
"We thought that maybe you…or perhaps your father, may have a clue of how to help get them back, you see." Hermione finished, looking at Xenophilius hopefully.
Xenophilius looked lost in thought but Luna looked somewhat crestfallen.
"Eh….and then we were hoping Luna could take us Plimpie fishing." Harry rushed on, seeing the look on Luna's face. "I don't know about you, but I find that the best answers usually come to me when I'm doing something interesting."
Ron rolled his eyes, Harry was really laying it on thick.
But Luna seemed appreciative, even if she didn't look totally taken in by Harry's exclamation. She nodded. "I think…I think the first thing we should do is look into Poppypuffs old things, see if we can't find something to help Aang and his friends." Luna went on. Harry smiled, it would seem he continued to underestimate her.
"First things first-" Luna kicked off her oversized boots with a strange kind of ease that Team Avapotter didn't know they hadn't been expecting. "Daddy, if you'll please take Harry and his friends to your workspace. I think that is where you kept Poppypuff's old papers and things."
Xenophilius nodded emptily, still lost in thought.
"And Mr. Lovegood….MR. LOVEGOOD!" Hermione somewhat yelled, causing Xenophilius to snap his attention towards her. "If you could keep this whole thing…private…just between us?"
Xenophilius looked perplexed at her statement. "Why? But…but this is glorious news! A wondrous discovery!"
Hermione shook her head. "Mr. Lovegood, it must stay private!"
Xenophilius looked flabbergasted. "But surely you know what this would mean to the wizarding world, what this would mean to my father! It would clear his brilliant name!"
Hermione looked as though she were about to burst. "Mr. Lovegood! Wasn't it you who said that people can be narrow-minded? Unable to grasp the extraordinary? Your father was an absolute genius, I will be the first to concede that the Lovegoods are extrodinary…" Hermione looked apologetically towards Luna. "…even…even if I hadn't always been able to accept it." She looked back at Xenophilius, "But…I'm afraid that if the wizarding world knew about this…well…I think it may put our friends in terrible danger. The wizarding world isn't able to grasp a discovery THIS extraordinary…not yet. I don't want Aang and his friends to pay the price!"
"You can't possibly be sure of-" Xenophilius started.
"But you should Daddy!" Luna interrupted. The room swung around to look at her, no one moreso than Xenophilius. "You saw what they did to Poppypuff…you saw how they humiliated him."
"But Luna, my love, that's exactly why we need to tell the world, we need to stand up to-"
"Daddy no! Not this time, not yet. It's not just ourselves we put in danger this time Daddy." Luna gestured towards Team Avapotter. "It's all of them. I know you are a brave man…sometimes. "Luna sounded bitter on that last word, "But this time…we have to be smart about this. We have to make sure we get this right. Sometimes…sometimes the extraordinary can wait. You know what our world can be like. I ask this of you, Daddy. I ask can we… for just this once, can we not be so revolutionary, can we just handle things appropriately? Can we just…. be normal."
Xenophilius stared at his daughter in a moment of profound silence, his face flushed red but not with shock. She had a tear in her eye. A solitary tear. One tear, it seemed, was all it took.
"Alright…Luna, my love. What…whatever you want." Xenophilius uttered, and he made a small movement, as if to rush to her, but seemed to lose his courage at the last minute. He took in a deep breath. "Come, I keep my father's old papers and things in a trunk in my workplace. We may have to do a little digging."
Ron rose from his throne, ever the Weasley. "We'll be happy to help, however we can. Thank you for this, sir."
Xenophilius nodded to Ron before rising from his chair and gesturing for them to follow him.
He made his way sluggishly up the spiral staircase, all the excitement from the day's discoveries seemed to have drained from Xenophilius in the shadow of a word. Normal. He quietly entered his study, Team Avapotter in tow and slowly started sifting through the mountains of papers he had accumulated over years of "research".
Team Avapotter took his lead, carefully sifting through Xenophilous's life. Katara, more than anyone, seemed wary of the task. The last thing she wanted to do is upset this new temporary host- who could have priceless information- by knocking down some important knick knack or disorganizing a carefully stacked…pile? She sighed, as if there were method to this madness.
Finally, someone pulled the wrong slip of paper and some indiscriminant pile of insanity came tumbling down on Toph's head.
"Come ON!" She growled as she tumbled to the floor. How had she not seen that coming, or more accurately, felt that coming? She could feel herself becoming more and more frustrated by the day as the number of small accidents and clumsy footsteps increased. What was going on with her lately?
"You all right?" Sokka asked as he extended a hand to help her up. Toph immediately batted it away.
"I'm fine." Toph grumbled as she righted herself. "Just a little hard to get around in this pigchicken sty."
Aang and Katara looked at each other in silent recognition. They still hadn't told her what was going on with her but they could see the slight look of confusion on Toph's face that she was desperately trying to hide. It felt almost cruel not to tell her what was going on, but it would be far crueler to terrify her with something that may not be the case. No, they would wait until they were sure, or at least, as sure as they could be.
Xenophilius seemed not to notice the swipe Toph took at his workshop. He seemed to be looking around the place indiscriminately, looking but not seeing. He turned slightly to the area where the pile had fallen to the floor. "Ah, there it is." He whispered. He walked blandly to the spot and examined an old trunk. A very old trunk from the sight of it. The wood was weathered and beaten, the hinges rusty. The only thing that seemed to be intact was a beautiful golden talisman of an eagle with a pristine lock on it.
"Is this it?" Harry said, coming up alongside Xenophilius, he examined the talisman. "Ravenclaw?"
"Something like that." Xenophilius answered. "This is the crest of our family. The eagle represents our free minds, unencumbered by the mundane limitations of the world, free to soar. The gold setting is the embodiment of our curiosity, it shines brightly." Xenophilius stopped for moment, as if he couldn't go on. "Un…unwavering…like m-my Luna."
Harry looked at Xenophilius and suddenly, his heart dropped. Harry didn't realize how much Xenophilius and Luna's relationship had changed since the end of the war. She still spoke of him often, she still told stories of the many ridiculous things Mr. Lovegood had said on a regular basis. She still talked about him like he was the wisest man the world had ever known. In actuality, Harry realized, there seemed to be a gulf between them. It seemed as if Mr. Lovegood desperately wanted to get things back to the way they were but had no idea how.
Harry was pensive for a moment. Luna had been putting on a show all this time. But then again, how many of them were putting on faces that weren't necessarily the truth. How many of them were carrying on as if nothing had changed? It is far easier to pretend nothing has changed than to face the questions and stares of your friends. It is easier to live as someone people are used to than to have to introduce people to the person you have become, because in the end: What if they don't like you?
Harry ran his fingers through his hair as he his eyes set on Luna. No one understood what being mocked, avoided, and lonely felt like more than Luna and, after the war, no one wanted to avoid that existence as badly as she did. Harry felt like he was now starting to understand what was going on with Luna on this beautiful day at the Rook.
She was affected, perhaps Clavicula's words were rubbing off on him more than he realized.
Xenophilius sighed slowly before opening the decrepit chest, it groaned and creaked as if it were protesting his intrusion. Harry was snapped out of his ruminations about Luna, peered over Mr. Lovegood's shoulder, and found himself wrapped up in a kind of nervous excitement he hadn't felt since he realized that the Deathly Hallows really did exist. Sokka was going through a somewhat darker form of the feeling, reminded of opening the old box that revealed the water tribe comb of Hama, The Puppetmaster.
As the chest revealed its secrets, a great plume of dust shot from it that definitely didn't seem natural. As the gang stepped back the dust seemed to collect itself, twisting and swirling until it formed into the figure of an eagle.
"Good God, why?" Sokka whispered as he grabbed Katara to pull her back. "Even the dust here wants to kill us!"
Xenophilius turned to the terrified group and smiled softly. "My father created this charm. You may be familiar with it. You see, in order to get into the Ravenclaw common room-"
"-You have to solve a riddle…" Harry interrupted, his eyes glued to the magnificent dust eagle which seemed to obscure the contents of the chest perfectly. Harry couldn't see a thing; he supposed that was the point.
Xenophilius nodded. "Yes, my father put that charm on the Ravenclaw door some…80 or so years ago, during his last year at Hogwarts. Professor Dilani, the Head of Ravenclaw at the time, thought it was so brilliant he left it that way."
Ron cocked his head to the side. "So…what did they do before the whole riddle thing?"
"Passwords. Like most of the other houses." Xenophilius awnsered. "Right. So when you are ready, focus your attention on the Eagle and it will give you the riddle, we'll have three chances to answer." Xenophilius sighed wistfully. "My father was always a bit paranoid. Our knowledge was his greatest treasure, so he's taken steps to conceal it from the wrong hands. I can't blame him of course, seeing as how he saw the rise of both Grindewald and the Dark Lord." Xenophilius stopped abruptly upon mentioning Voldemort and shot the slightest of glances towards Luna, who looked uninterested.
After some hesitation, the gang finally turned toward the Eagle which seemed to nod in recognition. Suddenly, the lights in the room dimmed. It became eerily, unnaturally quiet. The Eagle flapped it's dusty wings once and a gust of air blew through the room causing Team Avapotter- sans Xenophilius and Luna- to flinch. Then the Eagle opened its beak and a soft, entrancing melodic music played just slightly, and the mystical Aves spoke:
What is only seen and never heard;
What can move but never leave.
What can widen or narrow;
At the whim of the Master.
What can express joy;
Or Hide pain.
What is understood, without a word being said;
But can mean many things.
All at the whim of the Master.
The music subsided, and the bird seemed to stare at the group in anticipation.
Team Avapotter looked around bemusedly. Xenophilius seemed to be smiling like a lunatic and Luna looked thoughtful.
"Well, what do you think?" Xenophilius exclaimed.
"Eh…well…well I thought maybe you would know better than us." Harry replied, he had hoped that Mr. Lovegood would just answer the question so the gang could just get on with it but, from the look on his face, Harry deduced that he was more interested in making them work for it.
"Come now! It is always better to exercise your analytical ability than to rely on others!" Xenophilius said, suddenly the morose aura that seemed to surround him only a moment ago ebbed away at the opportunity to solve a conundrum.
"Ugh. Why does everything here have to be so unnecessary?" Toph groaned.
"Now, now Toph. I have always enjoyed a good riddle." Sokka replied, rubbing his chin for academic effect. "I have been known to be quite the sleuth in my day."
Katara rolled her eyes.
"Well, let's approach this logically." Hermione began.
"UNAGI!" Sokka yelled out suddenly.
"Every time." Neville muttered. "Every time."
The bird shook it's head slightly. "Two more attempts."
Aang turned slowly to Sokka. "WHY…why would it EVER be Unagi?! What could POSSIBLY be the reasoning for that?"
Sokka was quiet for a moment. "Well, moves but never goes anywhere…the lake…it probably expresses joy…you know, when it's eating people… it's the master of…the water." Sokka kind of trailed off at the looks that everyone was giving him.
"Just…stop. Just stop forever." Toph muttered dragging her hand down her face.
"Well, I don't see you guys having any ideas!" Sokka said, crossing his arms in a defiance mixed with embarrassment.
"Right." Hermione began. "Well, let's think of the pieces. Seen not heard, moves but never leaves. Can widen or narrow. At the control of the master. It's controlled."
Ron sighed as he tried to put the pieces together. "Express joy and hide pain? It's malleable."
"Malleable but controlled." Harry muttered. He thought for a moment and for some reason the thought of Voldemort's malleable soul, being ripped apart by Horcruxes came to mind. He turned to the Eagle. "The soul?"
The Eagle cocked it's head to the side again. "One more attempt."
Harry blew out a hard breath in disappointment. "Sorry, everyone."
Hermione looked at him kindly. "It was a good guess. But I suppose, if I think about it, the soul can't be seen…what do you think Luna?"
Luna looked at Hermione with her trademark mysterious pleasantness. "Well, I think the answer can be written all over our faces."
"Wha-"Harry started when he saw Luna put on that infuriating smile she always did. Then his eyes unfocused. Of course.
Harry opened his mouth but it would seem Ron beat him to it.
"A smile!" Ron exclaimed, then looked immediately horrified with himself as if he just realized he had used their last attempt.
The Eagle sat stock still for a moment. "Well-Reasoned." The dusty Eagle evaporated the instant it spoke and soon the room was well lit and normal again. Team Avapotter looked around as if they had just come out of some insane fever dream.
Sokka looked around suddenly. "What happened! Where am I?!"
Hermione sighed. "Same place Sokka. We solved the riddle."
Sokka looked skeptical for a moment. "Well…glad I could be of assistance."
Toph started to stomp forward as if she were about to attack Sokka but was quickly grabbed by Ginny. "So? Shall we begin?" Ginny said with some difficulty.
Xenophilius looked very pleased with Team Avapotter as he turned back to the chest. "Well, let us see what we've got, yes?"
Team Avapotter inched forward with a kind of anticipation none of them had experienced since their war days. Finally, they were presented with the opportunity to find some real answers. After months of bits and pieces of clues that may or may not be pertinent to their situation, they were presented with a literal treasure trove of possibilities. They all held their breaths as Xenophilius pulled out the first pieces of parchment.
"Hmm. Father's Polumpus award…the deed to his home, our home. His recipe for Plimpie stew…oh!" Xenophilius pulled a sheet out in excitement and waved it around. Aang almost had a heart attack. "Here are Father's theory papers on the optimal peppermint porridge!"
There was a collective sigh of aggravation.
"Thank Hei-Bai Zuko isn't here." Aang muttered to Katara who nodded her head vigorously in agreement.
"Eh…" Hermione started, "Do you um…see anything in there about his academic papers? Maybe something titled "The Journal of Trans-dimensional Magic?"
Xenophilius looked at her as if she were crazy. Hermione started to sweat a bit.
"The Journal of Trans-Dimensional Magic…" Xenophilius said slowly. "I…I didn't know anyone still knew about those."
A huge weight seemed to lift off of Hermione's shoulders and yet there was still some tension, were there anymore copies left?
Xenophilius looked pensive for an incredibly frustrating amount of time before reaching deep into the chest which, evidently, was larger on the inside than it was on the outside. Before finally heaving a a bundled set of magazines.
"Father saved them all, of course. He thought they might be useful one day…but of course, all of Father's things are useful, I mean honestly, have you SEEN his Plimpie recipe?" Xenophilius puttered on. Hermione seemed to almost be salivating at the mouth as she saw that large stack of journals. She knew EXACTLY how she would be spending most of the rest of her break.
Harry was satisfied. This is what they had come for. This is what they had been waiting for. If they couldn't find answers in that stack of journals then Harry would personally invite Aang and his friends to live at Grimmauld Place because Harry couldn't conceive of any other possible way to get them back if they couldn't find answers in these. He watched Xenophilius hand the bundle to a transfixed Hermione before he returned to the chest pulling out a picture of a young Luna and smiling wistfully. Then something hit Harry. Pictures. Luna said there were pictures.
"Sir… eh…do your father maybe have…pictures? Pictures of the Airbenders?" Harry stuttered and suddenly the room became deathly quiet as realization hit the team.
"Ah!" Xenophilius exclaimed as if pictures of an entirely different world were a quaint, family knick knack he didn't even think about. Aang swallowed hard as he watched Xenophilius root around in his case. He had pictures…of the airbenders. His people, long since taken from him. How he longed to see them, even a pale, still imprint of their faces would mean the world to him.
"Not just pictures." Xenophilius mumbled and Team Avapotter seemed to hold its breath. Could there possibly be more?
"It's not much but we've kept it for quite some time." Xenophilius said as he lifted a ceramic bowel from the chest, it had air bender marking cascading across it.
"What-" Hermione started but was cut off by Aang reaching in front of her to carefully take the bowl from Mr. Lovegood.
"Fruit Pie. It's a Fruit Pie holder. We would cook fruit pies in here." Aang whispered quietly as Katara slowly put her hand on his shoulder.
Xenophilius didn't seem to notice the weight of the moment as he continued to dig through the chest. "Yes, I'm afraid the fruit pie has been gone for quite some time." He gave out a chuckle that made Team Avatar wince.
Aang turned toward the wall and held the bowl close to him, trying to fight the tears. This seemingly insignificant trinket had once been held by real live airbenders, had once felt the skin of his people. It had heard their laughter as they enjoyed a treat that so defined their spirits. It had been a part of them, a part of him. God, he missed them.
"Ah! Here it is!" Xenophilius said. He pulled out one single, solitary picture and stared at it. Aang and the team swung around. Harry walked slowly to Mr. Lovegood, who handed him the picture. Harry held the picture face down for a moment, almost too scared to look at it. The group gathered around him and, without thinking, he handed it to Aang.
Aang took a deep breath before finally turning over the picture.
They gasped sharply.
There were four middle aged individuals in the picture, dressed in a manner that represented where they hailed from. Four people that both Team Potter and Team Avatar instantly recognized:
A pleased looking Aluitious Lovegood stood at the end. Next to him stood a grinning Monk Gyatzo, followed by a poised but amused looking Avatar Roku, he looked to be a fully realized Avatar at this point. Finally, at the end, smiling as pleasantly as ever…was Albus Dumbledore.
But there was one more thing that astounded Team AvaPotter: The picture was moving.
Author's Note. Hi Kids. I believe it has been 2 years since we last spoke. 5 years since I started this, on a lazy 4th of July. This chapter has been sitting in various laptops since my last upload. Life has changed so much for me and it would seem like I completely lost interest in writing as I waded through the day to day menusha of adulthood. I started this thing as a kid who just finished grad school and was still living at home with her parents, trying to figure out what she was gonna do now that school was finally over. Now, I have a life, bills, a career...it's crazy to me sometimes how much things have changed. Its hard to do the fan fic thing. Its hard to live up to people's expectations. I started this as something to do for fun but it quickly turned into a chore as life progressed. It created a kind of pressure for me that I didn't need while I was trying to start my real life up and take care of my responsibilities-this is not any reviewers fault, your job is to give opinions, I created the pressure not you. And yet, here I am posting again. Why? I still love this story and I am ultimately responsible for it. It has to keep going. There is still more I want to say. Its also here to teach. Trauma is a big deal to me. It has been a giant part of my personal, academic, and professional life. I write about what I know. HP and ATLA seemed perfect because, in all my perusing of fan fic, people seem to gloss over it. More interested in love stories. I get it of course (lol look at my faves), but I wanted this to be something more. I wanted to explore fiction in a way that made sense to me. When I finished reading HP and watching ATLA, I was racked with thoughts about how those kids were going to cope with war and trauma. So I used this site as a way to explore it. I love what Ive done with this, even if it doesnt always meet people's expectations. So please forgive me for going AWOL. Life is hard and sometimes it can take a while to remember that there are other things out there then paying the bills. Never forget your self care and doing what makes you happy. Also, after re-reading this, Im funny as balls. No Beta on this as well, so this chap may get re-written. Im trying to get my legs back. Later kids.