Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any character, story element or plot item originally published in the Harry Potter books or movies that I may refer to in this story. I'm merely playing in the sandbox.

Chapter 11

Classes had been in place for over a week and Harry found himself in the same alcove that he'd asked luna out in. They would meet most days, barring schedule conflicts. He still wondered what it all meant.

After the Ball, the pair joined Sirius and Remus, going to Sirius's island to do swimming lessons. Luna's father had given written permission for her to leave with Harry and Moony, which she'd given to her Head of House before the Ball. Harry was glad that he wasn't stuck with the two pranksters all holiday by himself.

They'd had a week where they could get away from the stress of school and just enjoy the sun. Harry had been surprised at Luna's choice of swimwear. It was rather Muggle. She told him that she'd learned to swim in a nearby pond and only wore this when she was swimming with others. That had led to two reactions. Harry froze as he realized what Luna was really saying and Sirius and Remus hit the sand. The fact that they were laughing led to a prank war that disrupted the first day's lesson for over an hour.

Later, after the spells were undone and the flying coconuts had been disenchanted, Luna had just laughed lightly and acted innocent about the matter. Harry still thought that was the thing he liked best about having her around. She was just her. No lies, no acts.

Thinking about the island put a smile on his face. Soon, though, he checked his watch again and frowned. "Where is she?"

After nearly half an hour, he decided that she must have been busy or something. Harry had decided that the map would be more like spying on her and didn't feel comfortable pulling it out for this. More like something Sirius would have done in his adolescent years He called for Winky. "I think Luna's busy. I'm going to go work on something and, if she's able to, we'll meet later."

"Winky can find her."

"Good idea, Winky. I'll send a note. Let's go down to my tent and I'll write one."

Harry appeared in the tent, then sat down at the table and scrawled a quick note. "Winky, can you give this to her, then see if she can respond?"

"Yes, sir."

As she popped away, he exhaled. "Finally, she's not calling me 'Harry Potter sir,' I never thought that would end."

"Hey, Pup, where's Luna?"

"Dunno. She didn't meet up with me." He shrugged, pulling a book out of his bag. "Guess she's doing something."

Winky popped back in, pulling her ears. "Miss Luna is in infirmary. She's hurt."

Harry stood and Sirius held a hand up. "Hold on, take Moony, he can be seen with you if need be. Go find out what's going on."

Harry nodded and sprinted for the tent flap. Moony was looking around at a map of the lake that was hovering in a free area of the Chamber, away from the dueling areas. Moony looked up and started to say something, then stopped. "What's wrong?"

"Luna's in the infirmary. I want to go, but in case…"

"I've got my stone. Let's go. Skip your cloak, in case. If we need to shift quickly, we can just rely on the stones."

Harry stepped over to him, then called for Winky. The elf popped them outside the Infirmary. Moony looked at the door, then opened it slowly, casting a charm at the door to silence it and the alarm on it. They walked in and Pomfrey was standing next to the one occupied bed. They walked up and Harry froze. Luna had bruises on her face and arms, one arm swaddled in a sling. Remus held up a hand, casting carefully. Harry was glad for the linked disks, allowing them to communicate by hand signs. Speaking would have drawn too much attention in this nearly empty room.

He drew a notepad and pen out, writing a few notes. Broken bones, bruising, some internal bleeding that's receding. She's been beaten.

Harry tapped his head and then gestured to his eyes in a clear "I know, I can see" gesture. He wondered who, then thought about the timing. After the ball They did this because of me.

"No…" Luna mumbled. "Harry, no…don't."

The nurse made a soothing sound. "Ms. Lovegood, it's okay. Did he do this?"

"No…I didn't…" She didn't finish the sentence and Harry could guess that she was going to say she didn't see. Harry released his stone's field.

"You did see, Luna. Who did this?"

"Please…they'll think…"

"I know. They already think I'm evil. Look at what Pomfrey said just now?"

"I had to ask, Mr. Potter. She said your name."

"She knew I was here. She was worried about how I'm going to react." Harry set a firm gaze on the nurse. "Can you tell me how many people did this?"

"I'm a nurse, not a forensics expert."

"Fair enough." He looked at Luna. "Luna, please just tell me. Who did this? If you don't, I'm taking the entire school down. I will not be taking prisoners." Pomfrey gasped, but Harry kept his gaze, gentler now, on Luna's one visible silver-gray eye. The fact that the other was swollen shut infuriated him, but he buried that feeling with all of his strength.

"Don't hurt them."

Harry decided he hadn't hidden it well enough. "This is a school, Luna. I'm going to educate them."

After a second, she coughed what may have been a laugh. "It happened in Ravenclaw. I don't know who."

"That'll work. C'mon, Moony." Harry said, turning towards the door as Moony shimmered into view, the effect similar to the removal of a Disillusionment Charm. "It's time for the Marauders to ride again. Guess I need a name now."

"I'm leaning towards Chaos or Mayhem right now." The older man said in what sounded like an amiable tone.

"I'm willing to go with Reaper, but we can discuss that later. Oooh, Nemesis. Vengeance from on high!"

"Harry, Nemesis in mythology was a woman."

"Guess that won't work, then."

As they walked back to the door, they heard Pomfrey mutter. "Merlin, help us. Last time I saw that look, I was an intern. They poisoned half of Slytherin."

Remus barked a laugh as they walked out in the hallway. "You think she'll say anything?"

"Not if she doesn't want her doors sealed shut and a thousand dung bombs going off in cycles."

The stones were activated again and there was loud laughter that echoed in the hallway, just moving past the field's effects.

Fleur held a note in her hand. She frowned as she looked at it again, noting the initials in the signature. Find a different place to sit tomorrow at breakfast. Friendly warning and enjoy the show, HP. She shared the news with the others from Beauxbatons and they agreed that they didn't want to be part of this. They talked about having breakfast in their coach, then someone asked what the show might be. Curiosity overwhelmed the instinct to protect themselves.

Soon, they were seated at the Hufflepuff table. Viktor had approached her, offering a similar square of parchment. Seeing this soon had Diggory over by them, his note asking that space be made for guests. "What is going on?"

As though on cue, Harry walked into the Great Hall. He glanced around, nodded with satisfaction on his face, then walked over to the Ravenclaw table. "Good morning, oh wise and intelligent members of good old Hoggy, Hoggy Hogwarts."

Fleur felt her breath catch. This tone was manic, as though Harry flipped a switch and became what the rumors had accused him of. Viktor set a hand on her shoulder. "Let us see what is happening." Viktor's heavy accent carried a calm that settled her nerves as well.

"Potter, why don't you crawl back in your hole?"

Something about this made him laugh, something Fleur filed away. Her father had taught her well. Investigate and learn everything possible. This laugh wasn't as manic as the tone he'd used before. This laugh truly sounded like Harry was amused. She froze as he pulled out something from his pocket, then relaxed when she realized it was some metal egg. Why does it have a loop on top?

"Funny you should ask that. I heard Luna had to crawl out of her dorm to find help. Fortunately, from my investigation, one of the elves found her and carried her to the infirmary. She'll be there for a solid week thanks to the beating she received in that dorm. She doesn't know who did it…but the fact that Flitwick looks pretty shocked about it tells me that everyone participated. They either hit her or used a Beater bat…maybe just watched and laughed or watched and kept their mouths shut."

He held up the metal egg and pulled a ring on it. Viktor swore loudly and pulled his wand, leading Fleur to do the same, but she didn't know against what.

"Mr. Potter!" Dumbledore's voice rang out, his wand moving out to act, but Harry didn't respond to him.

"Catch." He tossed the egg at an Asian witch, whose hand snapped out and grabbed it. There was a click and screaming from around the room, then nothing seemed to happen. "Bang," Harry said, casting a Finite on the egg, which then seemed to explode into gas. Simultaneously, lines of blue energy arched up and around the table, encasing it in a blue ward of some kind.

"What is this?" Diggory said.

"Wards…but what is the gas?"

As the gas started to fill the ward, red light tinted the gas pink, then screaming began. Harry stepped back, watching the effect as though curious himself. The sounds of spells being cast could be heard. Five minutes later, the gas faded, and the ward dropped.

The members of Ravenclaw looked like they had been in a battle, but no one was sure with who. Most of the older years had boils and marks from stinging hexes. Quite a few had the word "Bully" or "Thief" etched into their foreheads in smaller boils. As he looked around, he explained the effect.

"The gas was an aerosolized version of a mild truth serum." The wizard turned to look at the head table. "Tongue Loosener, if you're curious, Professors. Very legal and only controlled in China and Nepal." Turning back to the table, he gestured.

"Stinging hexes were for names called or blind eyes turned, boils for direct blows committed against Luna Lovegood. The names…. are self-explanatory." He turned to face as many of the affected students as he could, despite most turning away.

"Everything of hers that is missing will be returned. Everything that can't be returned or was destroyed will be reimbursed. You want to call me a Dark Lord, know this. I. Held. Back. I know that you did this because she was with me at the Yule Ball. She's my friend. My only friend here. You go after her again and I will bring the wrath of the Marauders down on this school. Ask your professors about what happened when a few Slytherins cursed my mother. My father nearly started a war. I don't have as much holding me back."

With that, Harry turned towards the door and walked out. Fleur, in a fit of pique, slammed the door behind him with a spell. Viktor looked at her and she shrugged. "It needed to be done. I despise bullies."

"I am…was dating one." Diggory shook her head. "I will need to think about how to handle this. We value loyalty…but I don't know that I can be loyal to that."

Fleur noted he was gesturing to the Asian witch. She was one of the worst with the boils. "Ther are other fish in the sea."

Viktor snorted. "Leave that to a Veela to say. You hate the water."

She shrugged again. "What can I say, I like the phrase."