It took but a moment for the diary to write back.
'Well met, heirs Avery and Potter. I am surprised, though delighted, to make your acquaintance. Prior to me acquiescing to join in your amusement, I request the rules and overview of what such enjoyment and frivolity would encompass.'
Harry jerked in surprise, before he leaned forward in awe.
"Fucking wicked!" He breathed, his finger coming to trace along the reply. Again, he groaned, and without thinking Luna reached out and grasped his hand in hers. Tangling her fingers with his, his shoulders relaxed as a blissfulness settled upon his face. He glanced at her through heavy lidded eyes.
"When you touch me while I'm connected to this diary, it grounds me. Almost as if I'm a channel for whatever magic is within. It doesn't hurt, not when you touch me."
He hadn't flinched when she'd grabbed his hand, something that made bubbles of joy dance within her. Visceral proof she'd already earned his trust, in such a short amount of time. It was heady. Nothing short of amazing.
She wouldn't squander that gift.
"How does it feel," she whispered.
"It feels good. I feel… strong. Like I could cast anything, and it would work, first try."
Storing this information away, Luna turned to read what Tom Riddle had responded. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't to play until she outlined exactly what the game entailed.
True to form.
"Does it surprise you? Being an heir?" She asked, squeezing his hand. He squeezed back, seeming to take comfort from her touch.
"A surprise indeed. It's not something I've ever heard of. Only of my orphan status. I mean, now I know I have a vault with more galleons and treasures than I could keep track of, and I'm the last Potter, but heir." He scoffed. "Growing up as I did, if I was an heir, would that have stopped—" he cut himself off. Raking his hand through his hair, leaving it more of its usual mess. "What does being an heir even mean?"
"It's something vitally important to magic, and the knowledge of is something I suspect is being deliberately kept from you. The question is why, and by whom."
His face became mulish, his lips thinning.
"Tell me everything."
A demand. Not a request.
"Later. We're on a timeframe here for the diary. And we should enlighten Tom as to what we're about."
She quickly wrote down that it was under a wizard oath.
"In that case, I will play."
Those words unlocked the vow and she proceeded to write the rules her and Harry had vowed upon.
She also gave Tom a brief overview of who they were—house, year—and that they were two snakes in hiding.
The new rule was that Tom would be the one asking the questions, though, before they started, Luna asked one of her own.
"So Tom, if you could teach Harry and me one spell, what would it be."
"Occlumency and legillimency. The two go hand in hand."
She knew both, but judging by the frown on Harry's he'd never heard of them, let alone attempted.
"I'll teach Harry. I know and excel in both."
"I could assist."
That offer made her giddy, however, needs must.
"You'll be back with Ginny Weasley by morning."
"Must I?"
She could feel the sigh coming through the page without even hearing it.
"I have a plan, which will give you relief through the coming months of tedium."
"And what is this plan, heir Avery?"
"Ah ah, game first."
Harry sat there watching her write. Transfixed by the words flowing between them. Content to be a bystander for now.
"As you wish. Luna, Are you descendant of Malcom Avery?"
"Yes. My mother was his daughter. She was well valued in service."
Harry's eyebrow raised, but continued to say nothing.
"Was? Am I to assume she has departed this plane?"
"She has. Through a charms experiment gone wrong. But she taught me everything I needed to know, and I have taken that knowledge even further. In… preparation."
"When I am stronger, I wish to meet you both."
"Noted. Part of my plan."
"Cunning. Intriguing witch. Back to the game at hand. Harry, any special talents that other wizard folk don't posses?
"I believe I can speak to snakes. I set a boa constrictor on my muggle cousin once."
The diary almost vibrated, such was the speed in which Tom replied.
"You're a parslemouth. And you set one on a muggle. I couldn't be more proud."
"A what?"
"A snake talker. One who speaks in their tongue, and can understand them in turn. It's a language thought almost extinct."
Looking over his shoulder at the diary, Luna sucked in a breath at what she read.
"Harry, you'll need to be careful."
As his piercing gaze turned to her, she continued. "It's considered dark magic. Dumbledore, and others following his lead, would be suspicious of you should you reveal this."
"Is it dark?"
"Is the tripping charm?"
"No." Harry shot her a look of bafflement.
"Well, think if someone cast it on a person walking down stairs with intent to make them fall. Would that be dark?"
"Well, their intent—oh!"
"Exactly. Don't let those of preconceived ideas make you feel bad, or worse, for owning such a great gift."
"Is it a gift?"
"One of the greatest. I wish I could speak to snakes. They say Salazar Slytherin could too. And you were almost in his house."
She didn't mention Tom Riddle also being able to, in either form he'd taken. That wasn't her news to share.
"Thanks Luna. I'm good at keeping secrets. Just one more to keep to the robe."
"Be wary of Dumbledore. He hates anything to do with Slytherin house, and will keep a suffocating eye on you if he gets wind of you possessing this talent."
"Luna just warned me that, funny enough." Harry wrote, then, "you know Professor Dumbledore?"
"Sadly yes. But that is a tale for another day. I'm pleased, however, there's another speaker. I feared I'd be the last."
"Luna, what is the plan for us to meet?"
Luna chuckled. No patience, just as her mother told her.
"All in good time Tom. I'll steal the diary again once I've figured out the details."
"We can use the chamber, if you need a private place off Dumbledore's purview. With Harry a speaker, it's achievable."
"I know where the entrance is. Mother told me."
"That you know about it lends me to believe your mother was more than 'in service.' She was important, wasn't she."
"She was. She was in the inner circle. Very near the center."
"Bella wouldn't have liked that."
"Bella didn't know. Most didn't. Still don't. But that is a conversation for when we're face to face."
"I will not betray this conversation to Ginny Weasley. You can tell me the plan."
"I know you won't. Otherwise, you'll be burnt in fiendfire alongside her."
A long pause followed Luna's threat. The promise was there, laid out without guard or fear or reprisal.
"I begrudgingly accept your terms. Though don't think you won't be held to account."
"Promises, promises."
"I'm so beyond confused." Harry said, again, taking his hand in the rats nest that was his hair.
"What would happen if you didn't go home for holidays."
"Nothing. I stayed here last year over winter break." He shrugged. "Better out of the muggle's presence and range. If I could skip going home for summer too I'd be right chuffed."
"I can arrange that. But…" she looked at him then, truly looked at him.
"We have a year, in which to get you ready."
"Ready for what?"
"Ready to break free of that which entraps you. Enslaves you."
The hunger in his eyes returned.
"What would I have to do?"
"We will need Tom's mentoring. Both in advanced potions brewing and dueling. Thankfully, with you as a parsletongue we can use the chamber."
Harry shook his head.
"I'm in. Whatever you have planned, I'm game. For it all. I'm sick of pretending—"
"But you must pretend. That's the only way we can get through the year. You must keep pretending you're Dumbledore's golden boy, savior extraordinaire, and friend to the oblivious mudblood and blood traitor."
"Wait. You can't—" his face reddened as his eyes narrowed. "They haven't done anything wrong. They are still my friends, even if they don't care to look below the surface."
"Friends that would sell you out to Dumbledore on the first whiff of magic outside the realm of light?"
"They wouldn't—"
"They would. I grew up with the Weasley's, the only ones who wouldn't would be the twins. But the others. Absolutely. In a heartbeat. And Granger…"
"She'd follow Ron." Her heart wrenched as his face hollowed out. The realization hitting him he had no one, save her, in his corner.
Supporting him as himself. Just Harry.
"Precisely. And Dumbledore. You can see how desperate she is for any professor to give her esteem. Give her value. She'd turn on you for a Knut."
"Ok, so I pretend to still be best friends, but can't say anything to them about us. Or what we're doing." He sighed. "Will it be worth it? Will it get me away from the blasted muggles?"
She smiled and gripped his hands.
"Absolutely."