Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.
Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.
Author's Note: Don't mind me as I write my favorite triad again.
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 14); Mc4A (Year 4)
Individual Challenges: Short Jog; Hold the Mayo; Ethnic & Present (x2); Rian-Russo Inversion (x3); Slytherin MC; Gryffindor MC; Ravenclaw MC; Magical MC (x3); Lovely Triangle (Y); The 3rd Rule (Y); Neurodivergent; Lunar Era; Sentinel; Bucket Listing (Y)
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 14 – Assignment 07
Subject (Task No.): Elemental Magic (Task#3: Write about someone being adaptable.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Fantastic Beasts [125](Someone with Telepathic Ability); 365 Prompts [355](Sharing a Bed); Scavenger Hunt [87](Accidental Marriage); Days of the Year [Apr 2](an autistic character); Date Your Mate Month [08](Harry/Luna); Aquarium Month [A-07](Someone that is sick/unwell); Library Week [01](Romance); Karaoke Week [07]("YMCA" - The Village People); World Theatre Day [17](The Music Man ALT); Crayon Day [21](Royal Purple); Children's Book Day [14](Fantastic Mr. Fox); World Autism Day [12](struggles socially); Zoo Lovers Day [09](a powerful female); Space Day [Neptune](Sharing a Bed); Spring Colors [02](Teal); Crystals & Gemstones [03](Sharing a Bed); Hufflepuff Characters [14](Megan Jones); Hufflepuff OTPs [Het-10](Blaise/Luna); Hufflepuff Challenge [19](Taking the weekend away); Pinata [Easy](Hopeful); Salad Bar [Butter Lettuce](Sensitivity Issues); Hogwarts Library [The Little Prince](a rose)
Other MC4A Challenges: SpB [4B](Beginning); TrB [5A](Bed Sharing); Ship (Heroic Shadow)[Bingo](1C - Only One Bed); Hunt [Sp WD](Autism); Chim [Isopra](Sentinel/Guide AU; Gender Bent; Royal Purple)
Representation(s): Autistic & Desi Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini/Luna Lovegood; Always Fem Harry Potter & Blaise Zabini; Sentinel/Guide AU
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Found Family; Nontraditional; Sneeze Weasel; Zucchini Bread; Fizzy Lemonade; Peddling Pots; Second Verse (Bedchel Test; Ladylike; Not a Lamp); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Thimble); SN (Rail; Spare)
Word Count: 1432 words
(^^)
A Quiet Weekend
(^^)
It was supposed to be a quiet weekend away.
Harini loved her godson dearly, but she was the first to admit that the previous eighteen years of her life had not prepared her for becoming an instant mother. If it wasn't for Andromeda, Harini was certain that she would have been messing up even more than she already felt that she was. A lot of the time, Harini felt like she was going to break Teddy or ruin him, because those were the only two things that she had learned from watching the only parents she had any encounters close enough to witness their methods.
Admittedly, the Weasleys weren't as extreme as the Dursleys, of course, but Harini had a few issues with how they did things. Not to mention how there was some advice that Mrs. Weasley gave that Harini would never, ever be able to bring herself to actually do. The empathy that came along with being a Guide would not let her just leave Teddy to cry in his crib. Even the concept hurt her to her very soul because it echoed the ache of how the Dursleys had often left her without the comfort of another person.
She might be a bit obsessed with making sure that Teddy never felt unwanted or alone. Maybe she was even hovering just a bit. She definitely wasn't using raising Teddy as an excuse to avoid returning to Hogwarts and the constant presence of Hermione and Ron. Teddy just needed Harini to put him first, especially since he seemed to have inherited just enough of Remus' wolf to make him extra fussy around the full moon.
This last moon had been especially difficult, too.
Which was probably why Andromeda had banished her from the cottage.
Banished really was a harsh word for it. It was really more like temporary exile under threat of being spelled unconscious for an extended period of time. As it was, that might be the only way that Harini was going to sleep at all this weekend, since Andromeda had made it very clear that Harini wasn't allowed to stay home for the time she was supposed to be resting. Harini didn't sleep well in general, but new places tended to take a while for her to get her senses to accept. By the time she would have done that, it would be time to go back home.
And her relaxing weekend was off to a great start.
The inn had lost her reservation. Harini guessed that might have been a bit understandable, as there was a rather large convention (or maybe it was a seminar? Harini wasn't quite certain) happening currently. Abjuration masters from all over the world filled the tiny inn. And she had spotted what looked like a family reunion that seemed to be happening as well. The point was that this was a very busy time for such a small inn. It was completely booked.
Harini would have just left to try her luck at a different place, but something had gone wrong with one of the demonstrations at the convention. Everyone was now locked in because a ward refused to come down when it was supposed to. The various masters were doing their best to undo the ward, but it was proving to be resistant to their efforts. At the rate things were going, it would be extremely late when (if) they managed to get it down.
Harini was already getting to the limit of how much she could take being around other people. They were just so loud. Everything from them seemed to be increased right now, too, but Harini couldn't tell if that was because they were so enthused about the events happen or if she was just that exhausted.
As it was, she could feel herself starting to shut down. That happened sometimes. She usually could continue plodding along for a while after it started. It wouldn't be comfortable, of course, but she could do it. Long periods of her childhood had been in the weird limbo state that followed becoming overwhelmed. It just made everything muffled, which made her slower to react to things.
Like the hostess (Harini vaguely recognized her as Megan Jones, a Hufflepuff who had started the same year as her) trying to get her attention.
"I'm sorry," Harini said by route. Automatically, she winced slightly. It came out with the flat tone that annoyed Aunt Petunia so much. That was just fantastic, exactly what she needed right then. "You were saying?"
"We may have found a place for you to stay," Jones started again. She felt nervous to Harini's senses, even if none of that was reflected on the outside. "The occupants of a room offered to share. One of them said that she knew you."
"Who?" Harini asked, used to the way that the British wixen tended to act like they knew her more intimately than they actually did. Jones gave a pained smile, like she was going to break unpleasant news. Harini's stomach twisted threateningly as a growing migraine pounded at her head.
"Me," Luna declared as she came up behind the former Hufflepuff. She was wearing a royal purple tank-style dress that had teal mandalas printed on it. A cluster of peach-colored tea roses dangled from the hair comb pressed into the side of Luna's ballerina bun. Just like she had been at Hogwarts, Luna's aura was a balm to Harini's senses, despite her being neither a Sentinel or another Guide. "But I should warn you that I'm here with my partner, and she happens to be a Sentinel."
"That should be fine," Harini responded. She didn't have any problems with Sentinels in general, only the ones that were assholes and looked down on Guides. Honestly, everyone had problems with those types of Sentinels. Even if she did have problems with Sentinels, she was desperate enough to endure anything to get away from the crowd and their magic. She would even put up with Ron and his heavy-handed flirting if it mean a room without twenty people in it. Not to mention that Luna's partner being a Sentinel meant that the room would have accommodations for Sensitives already. Luna smiled beatifically at her and helped her to her feet.
Harini didn't know what she had been expecting when she reached Luna's room. She swayed when the door closed behind them, shutting out the noise of the rest of the hotel. The sudden absent was as disorienting as it was a relief. Then her senses honed in on what felt like an icy balm. She turned her face towards the source like a flower seeking the sun. Suddenly off-balance, she took a shaky step forward, following the direction that her energy was already reaching.
"Luna," someone said, their voice thick with something. Harini's hands clenched at the fabric that were suddenly beneath them. Distantly, she could hear Luna's voice reassuring whoever she was holding so desperately as her energy whipped the air around them. A pair of lips brushed against Harini's neck as she breathed in the anise scent that rose off the Sentinel's skin. "Guide."
"Sentinel," Harini answered. She could feel a bond weaving between them without any direction from her. It wouldn't be the first time a spontaneous mateship bond had happened—Harini had been warned about them during her Guide training, despite how rare they were supposed to be. More often, bonds were initialized via deliberate action by a Guide. Most spontaneous bonds were just generic pack bonds, easily made and easily broken.
Mateship bonds couldn't be broken, however, not outside of the death of one of the participants.
Harini didn't know what it meant for herself or Luna's partner (Blaise Zabini, some deep part of herself supplied as if she had requested the information). She could feel the silky smoothness of Luna's magic weaving through the bond just as much as she could feel the spicy richness of Blaise or her own herbal bite. She felt herself sinking into a bed just as she was sinking beneath the protective covering of her new Sentinel's shields. It was more relaxing than just about anything she had ever experienced in her life, making the sweet darkness of sleep that was lapping at the edges of her mind all that more tempting.
Just as she was washed beneath the waves, she felt the heat of Luna's body press against her back. The rightness of it slotted into place like one of Teddy's wooden puzzles. The weekend suddenly wasn't looking quite so long.