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 8

Later that week, he was walking back from Defense, having enjoyed the lecture. It amused him that the cloak and spell combination was defeating Moody's eye, the roving creation constantly looking for threats. He'd have to come up with something special at Christmas to thank Moony.

A younger blonde girl was walking along with him, seeming to match his pace for some reason. He thought it odd but dismissed it. If Moody can't see me, how could she? Soon, in his path, was the French Champion. "Excuse me," she said, seeming to edge around the field his disk generated, then out of the blonde's way.

"Do not worry. The halls are a bit crowded lately." Harry looked around and wondered what she meant. No one was there but the three of them.

The French witch seemed to pause, then laughed. "I think you mean the rush to find a date for the Ball?"

The young Ravenclaw shrugged passively, giving a non-answer. "It is a bother. It makes it hard to get to class."

"I just had the most disgusting encounter with a red-haired boy who had food stains on his front, telling me he'd do me the honor of letting me be on his arm for the dance. I cursed him rather thoroughly."

"I wondered why you had such a field of Moth Mites around you."

Harry wondered what on earth he had just heard, then was surprised to hear Delacour honestly laugh. "No one said that there was an empath in the school That explains why you don't seem put off by my allure, you can see through it."

The girl smiled and her vision seemed to clear. "No one would believe me if I told them the truth. I just came up with labels that fit what I was seeing, and it worked."

"I'm Fleur."

"Charmed, I'm Luna." The girl gave a playful curtsey, which the much more graceful French Champion returned.

"Well, I must be off, Luna." She laughed. "Moth mites. I would have come up with some kind of ticks considering the parasites that are roaming around."

Luna just gave a light laugh. "Lovely to meet you. Good luck with the date search. I know you have to find one."

"What about you?"

"I'm a Third Year. I'm exempt unless I am asked…or ask someone. Everyone thinks I'm crazy or something, so I don't think that will happen with anyone in the student body here." Her gaze shifted to just in front of Harry and his skin crawled a bit. Did she sense me somehow? What is an empath?

"Well, maybe I'll see you again. Good day."

As Fleur rounded the corner, Luna turned slightly. "She's nicer than you think, Harry Potter."

Without removing his cloak or disabling his stone, he sighed aloud. "I can't believe you sensed me."

"I'm an empath."

"I don't know what that is."

Luna nodded. "Fair. It wouldn't be a common point of study, much of the information that is documented about it appears to be wrong. I sense emotions and presences. I could sense something near me, but the air was empty, and I had to fight the urge to look away from you. I only know one person here with no ill intent that has that much reason to hide." Her gaze stayed just to one side of him, apparently her fighting the field. "I also know that you wouldn't make fun of me. You're more open as you still find magic fascinating. The more people learn and grow up with it, the stranger the idea may seem."

They began walking, Harry a half step behind her. "I'm surprised you didn't run off on sensing me. I know the rumors."

"I'm an empath, remember. I know you are a good person."

Harry realized he'd just made her repeat herself, but the tone was clearly patient. Something about that made him feel better than he knew how to describe. "Thank you. I think that means I have three people who believe me."

"I assume you mean you have two tutors?" Harry nodded, then verbally agreed. Luna seemed to stare off into space as she was clearly thinking. "Four. The headmaster's announcement tells me that he believes you as well. I think my Head of House does as well, though I'd have to ask him." She looked in his direction for a moment, seeming lost in thought as someone rounded the corner. They walked past, laughing at the girl seeming to be lost in space. "Do you want me to? I would assume not."

"Um… no." He shivered at the idea of drawing attention to himself. "Five, then. Not bad." He shook his head. Here's the perfect girl to ask to go as friends. She wouldn't assume ill intent from me and clearly no one would question her being with him. They took a few steps.

"I'd say yes, you know. I think you'd be fun."

"I…can you read my thoughts, too?" He tightened his Occlumency as much as he could.

"No. I felt your interest. You want a friend again. I will be your friend, Harry Potter." She hugged him around his invisibility robe, then walked away.

Harry was stunned, then decided that now was a good time to make his way to the Chamber. Once in a broom closet that wasn't occupied by a couple, he called Winky, and she popped him Back to his tent. He completed his homework, using Occlumency to shove the emotions away so he could focus on the books in front of him.

Sirius walked in, asking if he was ready for dinner. "Remus and Winky are working on a stew and some veggies. She's being weird about him cooking, but he's used to cooking for himself…what's up?"

"I think I got asked out?" Still not sure himself, he had to make the statement more a question to his godfather.

"How? Did you take down your protections?" After a moment, he spoke again. "Who?"

"No." Harry rolled his eyes at the older man, "I don't want anyone tracking me here." He gestured to the tent flap in the general direction of the two bedroom one that the man shared with his best friend. "Her name's Luna. She's a Ravenclaw Third Year."

"How did she see you? Did the stone fail?"

"No, she's…she's an empath?"

Sirius's eyebrows raised. "Well, that's something that we couldn't protect against. That's a rare trait, too. I've only ever met one…"

"Who?"

"Lilly's friend, Pandora. She was impossible to prank, usually turning it back on us. She finally told us about her secret in her Seventh Year. We stopped trying after that. No point in going after someone skilled in a mental art that can't be shielded against."

Harry thought that made sense. "So…what do I do?"

"What did she ask you to?"

"Well, she didn't ask…she mentioned the Ball and was talking to that Delacour girl, then looked at me and basically announced she knew I was there. After Delacour was gone." Sirius nodded. "We talked for a bit, and I had the thought that she would be nice to ask as a friend, that she knew I wasn't the next Dark Lord and all that. She looked at me, said 'I'd say yes if you asked', then hugged me and walked away."

"Well, did you ask?"

"No…I froze up."

Sirius shook his head. "At least some part of you acts like a normal teenager. C'mon, it's dinner time, Moony and I are going to rake you over the coals a bit for being stupid and then we'll talk about training."

"I'm looking forward to it."

Sirius canted his head, a habit common after his years in dog form. "The talk or the training?"

"What do you think?" Harry asked, firing a stinging hex at the man, who casually dodged.

Sirius laughed as he walked back toward the exit. "There's that fine British wit we appreciate."

Harry considered cursing the man in his back, but just marked his place in his book, standing and stretching. "I'm buying him a dog bone for Christmas."

Hermione sat, bewildered, in the Great Hall. She was at the far end of the Gryffindor table from the head table, happier to be away from her usual seatmates. Neville had asked her out, poor timing on his part as she had just endured the insulting same question from Ron Weasley, him sympathetically allowing her to accompany him so that she won't have to go alone or wait in the Common Room with "another lousy book."

I'll have to apologize to Neville. I shouldn't have snapped at him. She ate silently, then her gaze passed around the room idly, watching some of the others as they tried with mixed successes to find a date for the upcoming event. Oddly, her eyes fell on that odd blonde from the Ravenclaw table. She was vaguely aware of some of the strange things the girl talked about. Hard not to be, the rumors were rife through the school that the girl was insane.

Luna, as she vaguely recalled the girl's actual name, was sitting peacefully, eating as she always seemed to. This time, she had a slight smile on her face. Usually, her face could just be described as calm, but now she just seemed happy. Wonder what happened. Hope she's actually happy about whatever it is. The odd rumor about her obvious hallucinations concerned her a bit.

Neville moved to sit near her. "I shouldn't have asked, I just wanted to ask a friend to go with."

"Neville, no, I'm sorry. You just had lousy timing. Ron…"

"Say no more." The Gryffindor boy laughed; a sound not often heard from him. "I've heard about a few of his efforts. Apparently, Fleur rearranged part of his anatomy. Took the nurse a good bit of time to make him a boy again."

Hermione snorted, then laughed loudly. "I wish I had seen that. Funniest image in my head since I punched out Malfoy."

"You punched Malfoy?"

"He…deserved it." She felt good saying that now. The past few months and her time away from the weird pressure of the Golden Trio had made it easier for her to make normal friends. Well, acquaintances, she would remind herself when the thought crossed her mind. She realized that that wasn't part of an adventure, that it was a normal part of life. Sometimes, she remembered saying to Ginny, you have to let your hair down and just do something crazy.

The odd thought made her wonder if she should apologize to Harry. She didn't know how to find him. She was still trying to solve the mystery of his magically appearing homework. Flitwick had confided in her that he was checking for magic on the homework and nothing above the normal background noise of the school showed on the parchment.

"So, I was wondering…"

Hermione looked back to Neville. "I'm sorry, I zoned out. I was trying to figure out something."

"Oh, yes, of course. I was wondering if you'd go to the Ball with me as a friend. I know you said no before, but wanted to make sure it wasn't because of…" He stopped, jerking a thumb in the direction of the front of the hall.

Hermione shook her head. "I'm not looking. I can imagine what he's doing now, I've seen enough of it over the years." She smiled. "Sorry, Neville, someone's already asked."

"Harry?"

"No…oddly, that's what I was trying to figure out. I've not seen him since the day he vanished…other than the pit with the dragons. Did you know he was turning in assignments?"

"Yeah, Flitwick mentioned it."

Hermione was glad that he didn't seem disappointed by her second, much nicer rejection. "Not just for him. I've been asking around and he's turning in work for all of his classes except Potions. I didn't even bother to ask that professor. I know he wouldn't answer. He's even turning in work for Arithmancy and Runes. Runes started later. I noticed a few extra projects recently and he's apparently started there. I don't know how he's doing it."

"The cloak?"

"No, sometimes the assignments appear during class. We're in there watching and the parchments are just suddenly there, no flare of magic that can be detected even by the instructors. Moody almost had a fit that one day."

Neville nodded slowly. "I remember that. He ended class and sent everyone out and was casting spells at all the corners of the room, even the ceiling." He frowned. "I'd ask if he had help, but no one's speaking to him."

Hermione shook her head. "I like this mystery. No one can get hurt solving it." She was silent. "Are we all right?"

Neville waved a hand. "I just wanted to go with a friend. I'll find someone or I'll go alone. Maybe group up with a few others. It's just a ball. If I can't find someone, I'll have dinner, watch a few dances, enjoy some appetizers and leave."

"Good for you. I was a bit worried after I calmed down." She smiled "You're a good friend, Neville."

Neville grinned. "I like having friends. It's a nice change."

A/N: Another week, another chapter. I'm happy to say that so far, this story hasn't been too bad. I have had a few comments about the state of my work and I feel I should remind you that I'm self-editing. I don't' have a reader to go through it with me. My wife is not a fan of fantasy and my daughter…both too young and would probably insert elephants or an axolotl in randomly. The latter are her favorite lately.

Yes, It is Luna and the idea of him being more frightened of a twelve almost thirteen-year-old girl than a dragon made me laugh. So, I can say I have a few WIP with Luna as a character and I've taken a different route for her differences each time. In Forging, it's an act. In this one, she's an empath. In another, it's actually a result of the experiment that killed her mother. In another, she's just a Seer. Yet another, it's what she grew up with with her father and she thought it was normal.

Hopefully, you guys enjoy. If not, tell me. I read the good and the bad and have only deleted one review. It was a duplicate. Of course, if you do enjoy, let me know. Either way, have a wonderful day/week and see you next time.