Disclaimer: I am just a mere visitor in the sublime world constructed by the brilliant mind that is J.K Rowling. Anything that rings a bell is hers.

Chapter 73

Ky's POV

"Shit." I rubbed the back of my head, there was a dull ache that resonated from my crown, I must have hit my head when I collapsed. I lifted myself into a sitting position; at least my breathing was stable. For a moment there before I lost consciousness, it felt like I was having a heart attack.

I blinked repeatedly, adjusting to the dim light of the hospital wing. I crawled out of bed, staggering slightly when my feet hit the cold stone floor; I gripped the edge of the bed, my eyes closing. I could barely open them again, let alone take a step forward.

"Ky?" I turned my head to the dreamy voice, I opened my eyes but they fluttered shut again.

"Luna?"

I heard her quiet steps, "If I'd known we were going nargle hunting, I would have brought my spectrespecs, they work much better than the Vision Occlusion method that you're applying."

I smiled and shook my head at her, "It's OK Luna. What day is it?"

"Day? Monday."

I let out a sigh of relief; I was only out for three days. I could catch up on that,

"I know what you're thinking, Nargle hunting? On a Monday! But I guess we're throwing caution to the wind! I guess that kind of vicarious living can be ignited after a ten day rest! My dad interviewed this man in Kent who claimed he dreamt of the Queen Nargle colony whilst he was in a coma; description was so vivid my dad might have believed him, if he wasn't from Kent! Hey, did you perhaps see some Nargles while you were resting?"

"Luna…you said ten days."

"No I said Kent, if it was one of the Tendai Buddhists we would have believed him."

"I've been out for ten days?" My eyes flew open, my eyelids held apart by the sheer surprise.

"Well…I don't know about out. I think it's more of an in you were in, considering you couldn't leave this room, but maybe your spirit ventured out. Then you were probably more out than any of us were. Where are you going?"

I grabbed my wand, ignoring the numb sensation in my arms and made for the door. Ten days. Ten days! I could have completely lost my power by then! How could they let me be here for ten days! Dammit!

"Shit." I clutched my hip, feeling a striking pain there. What the fuck was going on with me? Ten days. Suddenly I felt soft skin under my shoulder and a herbal scent as Luna held me upright, my body leaning against her slight shoulders. "Where to?"

I looked into her light grey eyes and shook my head, cursing myself once I had done it. I really need to remember to stop doing that; I tried to blink the headache away. "Astronomy tower."

A few minutes later I was leaning against the balcony railings, a breeze tossing my hair around me. I fingered my wand, afraid to cast the spell…afraid to feel that loss again.

"Accio jacket." The jacket remained on the floor and I ground my teeth, fuck.

"I was wondering why you had tossed it on the floor. Do you want me to get it for you?"

"No." I glared at the floor, that was a fourth year level spell that I managed to do with ease just the other day. I pointed at the floor,

"Glacius."

A moment later ice spread out from the tile I pointed at, it glowed in the dark night for a moment before it cracked and fell to pieces. Not five seconds. I'm at third year level spells that I can't even hold up for five seconds. I took a deep breath; I closed my eyes for a moment. At least it isn't gone, I can work with this. I opened my eyes and gripped my wand tightly, raising it and pointing at the tile.

"Fifty seconds." I looked up at Luna, I didn't realised she was timing how long the ice lasts. I leaned against the column, breathing heavily; I was going at the spell for the last twenty minutes nonstop.

"Pick a spell Luna."

"The patronus charm! I'm quite fond of it."

I didn't even want to think about the amount of energy I'd need to even attempt that one, "What's your second favourite one?"

"Lumos."

"Really?"

"I like bright things."

I rolled my eyes, pushing myself off the column and wiping the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand.

"Caerulincendio"

Blue flames danced at the foot of the column, it flickered for a while and went out. I didn't miss a heartbeat and cast the spell again. Twenty minutes later there was a flame that flickered at my midriff,

"Bright enough?"

"Scarily so Ky."

I laughed at the comment and put it out with some water.

"Ky?"

"Yeah Luna?"

"Your nose has been bleeding for the last ten minutes."

I wiped the blood with the tip of my sleeve, turning and smiling at Luna, "And you're only telling me now?"

"I didn't think it was my business."

I shook my head at the girl, suddenly staggering forward as the pain struck my skull. Luna helped me to the floor, taking a seat next to me. She took off her cloak and flung it around my shoulders.

"That's strange."

I opened my mouth to laugh at something being strange for Luna, a cough came out instead.

"What is?"

"Look." She leaned her forearm next to my own…oh…that was strange. Luna was many shades lighter than me, almost transparently pale, yet my usually tan skin that contrasted with her own lay deathly pale next to her. "I think you have an unusually long forearm. You should get that checked."

I bit my lip, too exhausted to laugh at Luna, "Yeah…that's what I need to get checked Luna."

"Doesn't that constellation look like Ron?"

I looked at the direction she was looking at, seeing a group of randomly arranged stars, "Nah. It looks more like Neville if you ask me."

"Harry's very worried about you."

If it had been anybody else, I would have thought the change of subject strange, but not Luna. "I know."

"I don't think you do." I glanced at the blonde beside me, she was still looking to the heavens, "He visits everyday and his face looks sad. Like my dad's when my mother died."

"I don't want Harry to feel like that Luna. And I'm not going to die any time soon."

She giggled, "I believe you. You make me believe things when you say it. If I had a voice like yours, people would believe the things that I say too."

"The truth is the truth whether they believe it or not."

"I know, that's why it doesn't bother me when people don't believe. It just must be sad, living in a world so believable, I much prefer the unbelievable. Harry looks at you like that, you know. Like you're unbelievable. Like my nargles."

I filtered what she said in my brain, Harry was really worried, I know that. But I just can't slow down, if I slow down I might lose it. "That's kind of what scares me Luna. Like one day he'd wake up and I'd be believable. Normal. Average."

"What's wrong with normal? I'm normal. It's not that bad."

I laughed, "You know what, you're right. If you're normal, I don't mind being normal."

She giggled, "I'm just joking. You can't be normal. You're too weird to be normal. Look how long your forearms are!"

I laughed with her, stopping as the coughing wracked my chest.

"Say Ky?"

"Yeah Luna."

"You don't need to try so hard. Getting good marks on your OWL's isn't so important that you should hurt yourself whilst doing so. And this is coming from a Ravenclaw."

"It's not about the OWL's Luna. It's about my magic. If I don't…I can't live without my magic."

"That's silly. Might be the silliest thing I've ever heard."

"And why's that?"

"You'll still have your magic. You'll have Hermione, Ron and Harry, Neville and Ginny and that Slytherin boy that smiles at you at dinnertime, you'll have your magic Ky. You'll have your friends."

I looked at Luna, I was so obsessed with ensuring that I keep my magic that I never thought about how lucky I am. Every single time I faltered, at least ten people showed up to carry me to safety. Nonno, Minnie, Sev, Linus, Len, Harry, Ron, Mi, Theo, Mona, Fil, Ginny, Neville…and now I had another.

"And Luna."

She turned and smiled at me, "And Luna."

I ran my hand through the tousled black hair and he leaned into the touch, he rolled over, pulling me against his chest, nestling his head into my hair. His right hand slithered to the hem of my tee, tickling the flesh and ascending.

"OK, can you please wake him up, this is getting uncomfortable." I laughed at Mi's expression and pulled away from Harry's sleeping grip. She made her way over to Ron's four poster and pulled back the curtains, pulling out the pillow from underneath his head and hitting him in the face with much gusto…well that escalated quickly.

"Ronald! Wake up!" Harry shot upright at Mi's scream, Ron however continued snoring. His eyes landed on me and the next moment I was locked in a tight hug.

"You're back!"

"And you brought muffins!" I looked at Ron's bed, his red head stuck out from the sheets as he sniffed at the air, completely indifferent to Hermione's assault with the pillow ten seconds ago. I laughed as he jumped out of bed, much like in the cartoons and followed the scent to the muffins, flopping down at the foot of Harry's bed and plopping one in his mouth whole.

"I've only been trying to wake him up for the past two minutes, but how silly of me, all animals think with their stomachs."

"Nice legs Hermione!" Mi flushed scarlet as Dean yawned and straightened up in his bed. She turned to us,

"I wanted to change, but she just dragged me out of the room."

I laughed as Harry looked at her in confusion and Ron looked down at her legs as if he had seen them for the first time.

"Wow, Hermione, nice pins!" Seamus said, in his most leering construction worker voice. She ran to Harry's bed and I laughed, moving up so she can jot in next to me under the covers.

"I'm never wearing anything you buy me again! Even if it is a birthday gift."

"It's a pair of boxer shorts, not a thong. Though I was going to get one for you, but Nessie stopped me." I tossed a muffin to Dean, Seamus and Neville. The first two caught it easily, whilst the muffin bounced off the third's head. Neville woke up, confused, scratching at his hair. He looked to Harry's bed and practically jumped out of his skin in shock.

"Morning Neville."

"Oh no! It's that dream again!" He jumped out of bed, turning to the closet with wide eyes, "Run! They're going to come out of the closet."

And with those last words he ran out the door. The room was silent for a moment, until it dissolved into raucous laughter.

"Well something's certainly coming out of a closet." The boys laughed at Dean's joke at Neville's expense.

I laughed sarcastically, "Good one Dean! And you can talk, considering you spend most of your time making out with one of the hottest chicks in our year! Oh wait…no…that's Neville."

Dean pouted at me, "Why do you have to be so mean Ky?"

I laughed, "Sorry, here have a muffin."

I threw one at him and he caught it with his mouth.

"Ky, you're giving all the muffins away…" I giggled at Ron's conspiratorial whisper; he suddenly shot up, "Godric! You missed the whole thing didn't you!"

I heard Mi groan and Harry rested his head on my shoulder in exasperation, "I WON THE CUP."

"You mean we?" Muttered Mi.

I jumped up on the bed! "You did!"

Ron stood up too, "I did!"

I gave him a big hug, jumping up and down in a circle.

"Sorry Hermione, they seem to think I have a king sized bed."

I smiled apologetically at Mi, who had fallen on the floor due to our excessive jumping. Harry picked her up and moved up so she could sit next to him as she glowered at us both. Ron and I slowly lowered ourselves to the foot of the bed, crossing our legs and sitting obediently.

"Anyway, let me tell you how it happened. It was absolutely legendary! Ky, if you were there-"

"You wouldn't know a thing that was happening."

I glared at Harry for his remark, "I happen to know a thing or two about quidditch."

"OK before this talk goes any closer to that…sport." I laughed at Mi, she really couldn't stand the game. "Ky, you said you had something to tell us."

Ron shut up, but resentfully so, shooting a glare at Mi. Harry however leaned back, staring at me intently.

"Well…" I played with Harry's sheet, tossing a glance at the other empty beds, the boys must have gone down for breakfast. "Well…I just wanted to say thank you. For helping me. Not just with my magic, but also…worrying about me and stuff. I know I have been a bit overzealous-"

"Psychotic."

I scowled at Ron and he smirked back, "Overzealous-" I said pointedly, "With my practice schedule trying to make sure that I get my magic back. It's just that I realised that it's not so much about getting my magic back, than getting back to the level that I used to be at. It's just really hard, as egotistic as this sounds, to be average at something I used to be really good at. I can't help feeling like a failure."

"Ky, no matter what you do in your life, with magic or without, you are never going to be just average." Harry smiled at me.

"Yeah, I mean who else could single-handedly invoke a quidditch riot on my behalf."

I laughed at Ron, "I think you'd find I had a hand to play in that!" Mi said with a scowl which lasted about a second before she smiled at me, "And who else would invent a spell to transfigure a boy's face so gruesomely that he ended up in St Mungo's. Just to defend my honour."

I smiled at Mi, "OK, OK, before Harry starts talking about some other skill sets that I have… that I'm a little uncomfortable about you two finding out about…" We laughed but I caught the mischievous glint in Harry's eye, they didn't know how serious we were, "I've decided to not be such a complete maniac about this whole magic thing. I'm still going to try as hard as I can, but not at the price of my health. And more importantly, I don't want you guys to worry so much."

Mi caught me in a tight embrace and Ron ruffled my hair, but nothing brought more joy to me than the shining emerald green above my favourite crooked grin.

"Well, since we're altogether, I do have a matter I've been waiting to discuss with you." I narrowed my eyes at Harry and he returned it with a pacifying smile, "Calm your shackles down Miss Thornton, no need to be on high alert. It's not about Voldemort…It's about Linus and Lenzo."

"Linus? Lenzo? Are they OK? I tried contacting Linus on The Parch but he didn't reply, did something happen? Did you find out something, did he make contact? Is he OK?"

Harry was in front of me in a flash, his steady hands on my shoulder, "Shhhh…I haven't found anything out yet." He cast a side long glance at Hermione and Ron and they looked at him with confusion, it would seem they were also in the dark. "A week or two back I managed to send a letter to Kat. I know, I know she is not your favourite person, but we cannot deny her resourcefulness. She managed to find Liam's dad faster than the best Aurors specialised in tracking. She and the Sabers make a very good team."

"What does she have to do with the boys'?"

"Nothing. I knew how worried you were about your brothers so I wanted to find out what was going on, to ease your mind. Grimmauld place didn't know where they were, I can hardly contact Dumbledore so she was my next best option."

"That was extremely irresponsible Harry, you of all people know that Umbridge is checking every letter that leaves this school!"

He glanced at Mi with a look of disbelief, "You think I would send a letter this important without assurance that it would go unintercepted?"

Her dubious look dimmed slightly, "How did you manage that?"

He turned back to me, "I trusted Ky."

"I don't…exactly follow mate." Ron's voiced drifted from beside me.

"I trusted Ky's judgement. In order for it to go un-intercepted I needed an inside man."

"On the Inquisitorial squad? A snake? You're not serious Harry."

"Ronald just because you live by the dictations of prejudice, does not mean we all have followed the same route. Liam is a perfectly charming young man, even if he is from Slytherin and after everything that Ky has done for him, it's only logical for Harry to ask him such a request."

"You asked Liam?" I raised my eyebrows at Harry, I didn't want the Kid putting himself in danger again for me. Harry shook his head quickly in the negative, glancing at Hermione with a look of uncertainty.

"No, no of course I wouldn't. Not after everything he's been through. I asked Theodore Nott."

"NOTT!"

For once the ever battling voices ringed in unison. Harry leaned away from his two best friends, "Yes…Nott."

"Theodore fucking Nott, you might as well have pointed Umbridge-"

"I cannot believe you would make a move so soaked in recklessness without cons-"

"- to the exact location of the Order because that fucking slithering bastard-"

"-ulting me first! How can you think for a second that you could entrust something-"

"-will sell us out the first chance he gets! He's a fucking Snake Harry! You can't shake hands with a snake!"

"-as important as this in the hands of a Snake! You cannot shake hands with a snake!"

Harry and I both turned to our best friends, Mi's face was tomato red and she looked close to fainting from the rush of blood to her cheeks, Ron didn't look as expressive, his face graced with a look of disbelief.

"Theo-"

Harry raised a hand, stopping me before I even started. "Theodore Nott may not be my first, second, or even tenth choice to hand information over. But he was my only option, and he kept his promise. The letter was not intercepted, I could tell considering the Inquisitorial Squad aren't too careful in concern with leaving traces of their infiltration behind. The letter was not intercepted! So you need not worry about any sort of information being leaked. And even though I trust Ky's judgement… I would never have handed information that would be of any use to them. My main concern was the return letter, not knowing how and if Kat would respond…I was concerned for no reason though. She was just as vague in her response."

He pulled out a parchment from his drawer and handed it to me, I looked into him for a moment and then looked down.

H

No. Was not even aware P and D were out of the coop. Not been to coop in months. Sorry.

K

"P and D?" Ron asked quizzically.

"Phoenix and Dragon. Linus and Len's patronus…so she doesn't even know where they are." I stared at the silk sheets and let the letter crumple in my hands. I felt soft fingers pry my fist open, his fingertips floating across my palm in comfort.

"I know it wasn't the information you wanted, but the way I see it, it's a good thing. If something happened Kat would know. She's surely back up. Dumbledore wouldn't leave Linus and Lenzo unprotected."

I nodded, fighting the worry away, concentrating more on the fact that Harry did this for me. He put his dislike for Theo aside and went above and beyond, I jumped across the bed and swung my arms around him, "Thank you."

He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist and nuzzled my hair, I felt the bed sway slightly as the other occupants departed and I relished the solitary attention I achieved from Harry. My Harry. The boy who stole my heart.

A/N: A little Ky-Harry action. Please review

Have a good day

Kalina