[011]

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong." I complained as I failed to get a feather to float in the air properly for what had to be the dozenth time. It either didn't move, combusted or shot into the sky and disappeared forever.

We were standing under the shade of a vine dappled pergola in the large garden that surrounded the Rook shaped tower that was Luna's home. The sun shone down through the green leaves of the vines and draped the two of us in green and gold. I watched, in fascinated awe, as Luna flicked back her blonde tresses and gracefully carved Moonlight on Deep Water in the air with a swish and a flick of her wand.

"You gotta let it flow." Luna tried to explained as the feather bobbed and swayed to a tune I couldn't hear. "It's not just about the words and the wand movement. Those help refine the shape of the spell and direct it properly but just letting your magic flow smoothly from your core and through your wand is what really powers a spell consistently. Without the flow you're just waving a stick and saying silly words." Luna tilted her head and added. "Hermione has a lot of trouble letting her magic out freely."

I nodded and tried to follower her advice. I held my wand in a sort of lose fingered grip and let the storm inside find its own way through the wand with only a little nudging direction instead of trying to push the violent winds through. The wood of the wand warmed nicely in my hand and this time as I cast.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

I swished and flicked and it felt… right. It was as if I was moving the wand through something just a little heavier than hair and I could see when I really Looked how my magic flowed through the wand in threads of silver and green that left eddies of magic in the air which then coalesced into the proper spell form. The feather gently floated up under my direction.

"Yippy!" Luna joyfully clapped her hand and I returned her glee with a large smile of my own. I was doing magic!

I let the spell go and watched as the shaped magic broke apart and the feather fell back to the ground. Then I rolled my wrist and cast the spell again, the magic reforming with my will and words.

"This is amazing!" I exclaimed as I successfully recast the simple spell and then had to concentrate and hold it as the spell threatened to fall apart with my distraction.

"You really are doing quite well. Most students barely get the spell working consistently during their first class."

I grinned and recast the spell again and again and again. Once I had gotten the feel of how my magic needed to flow in just the right way though the wand casting just became so much easier. I still had to concentrate as I was annoyingly prone to dropping my wand when casting. I was simply much less practiced in handling a wand as, despite my Half-Veela grace, I hadn't put as much time as any other witch or wizard my age had into practicing wand movements.

We spend the next few hours casting spell after spell as Luna led me through the half the first-year syllabus. While I felt like it was slowing going, I knew intellectually that I was picking up the spells incredibly quickly. Still, the feeling that I was behind my age group, the anxiety of not having studied with my peers and the frustration of not having been invited to Hogwarts pushed me to master the spells ever faster.

Hours passed and this time spent casting wand magic felt both surreal and fulfilling. All the magic I had done before now had been instinctual or something that the Grimoire provided. Knock, for example, was composed of layers and layers of complexity and yet I could easily cast it by feel rather than by understanding. Wand magic was different in that regard as I had to actually work at it, even if I was technically cheating.

I found charms the easiest of the spells that Luna had taught me. So much so that in only a single afternoon I had already successfully cast most first-year charms. The light making charm, the Levitation charm and the knockback jinx came easily while the various spark conjuring spells taught in defence and the handful of simple transfigurations first years practiced took longer. Still, if I ever needed a needle and only had a matchstick, I was covered. May lost shirt buttons beware! I was now armed to stitch.

Truthfully though, my Witch Sight perk was a huge boon in allowing me to see how the colour of Luna's magic as it swirled into unique patterns every time she demonstrated a spell for me. I was able to use those patterns as a template for my own spells and shape my magic to reflect them. It allowed me to bypass my poor wand movements and the way Luna pouted at me when I successfully cast a spell while completely butchering the complicated somatic component was adorable.

I kept finding myself glancing over at Luna as we practiced. Eyes drawn like lodestones to the slender movement of her arm when she cast. The brightness of her smile and the sparkle in her eyes as she laughed when I dropped my wand… again. She was beautiful. Both in appearance and spirit. I struggled not to stare and actually listen as she spoke.

While we practiced Luna spoke somewhat of her time at Hogwarts and I could see that despite her brightness, her time at the castle had been somewhat dim.

"Ravenclaw was perhaps not the best House I could have been sorted into." Luna had said offhandedly has I practiced the motions of the Unlocking Charm.

I might never need the spell given my ability to use Knock, but Luna had insisted that it was a prerequisite spell in the composition of the General Counter Spell: Finite Incantatem.

"Why not? I think your wit is certainly beyond measure." I said as I repeated the same quarter-circle twist.

"Then you need a better scale." Luna grinned then shook her head. "No, Ravenclaw presents itself as the house of the intelligent but in truth, it's the house of the pompous and narrow-minded. Too many nargles at the very least. Hufflepuff would have been a better fit, I think, they might have a serious wrackspurt infestation down there but I'd have more friends than just Rose, Ginny and Hermione at least."

"Well, you have four friends now." I smiled warmly at her.

Luna grinned back. "Yes, I suppose I do."

"How did you become friends with those three." I asked as moved my wand to my other hand and shook out my wrist.

"Ginny lives just over that hill over there." Luna pointed to a small tree covered hill about hours walk away. "We've been friends for years now, except for a short period at the beginning of our first year. I wonder if she was in possession of that Diary you spoke of?"

"She didn't go missing near the end of the last year?"

Luna shook her head. "No, not that I know of at least. She was distant at the beginning of the year but it turned out that she was just anxious about fitting in with the Gryffindors. We made out soon after Christmas."

"You mean 'made up,' right?"

Luna just gave me the wickedest grin. "Yes, that too."

I rolled my eyes at her teasing or at least I thought it was teasing because Luna was laughing.

"You might not know because you haven't been a girl long but it's not uncommon for girls to try kissing with friends for either practice or as an experiment. It's sweet and harmless but most of all, fun." Luna explained. "Plus, it helps ward off nargles."

I would have to take her word for it. Guys, at least in my experience, didn't experiment with their guy friends in that way.

"What about Rose?"

"Do you want me to talk about kissing your sister?" Luna kept her evil grin while I just tried, and failed, to not imagine the two young teens making out.

I swallowed thickly, my mind filled with visions of soft lips and contrasting hair flowing over pale skin.

"We met on the train together. She was also sorted into Gryffindor but is too headstrong to let house lines get in the way of being friends. I'm glad I met her." Luna ignored my distracted state as a soft smile graced her lips as she spoke about her friend.

"And Hermione?" I asked as I finally banished my stupid teenage fantasies back into their box of horny.

"No, I haven't kissed Hermione yet."

The box flew open again as now curly chestnut was added to my imagination.

I shook my head to clear it and took up my wand again.

"Friends by virtue of the extended time we are in the library together. She was friends with Rose first but we grew to appreciate each other over time. The way she tells it, I grew on her like a mushroom."

"I still can't wrap my head around her not being friends with my brother." I don't know why I assumed that the golden trio would still exist even without me being there but I did.

"Ever since almost dying to the Mountain Troll in her first year, she's hated both James Junior and Ronald something fierce." Luna explained.

I blinked. "Almost died?"

"Two broken ribs, a shattered pelvis and a fractured ankle; Mountain Trolls hit like the Express. It was quite lucky that Professor Snape was there to save her and even then, she went through almost full bottle of Skelegrow and spent about two weeks in the infirmary."

Wait… I let my arm drop to really turn and look at her. "Snape?! I thought he was supposed to be an arsehole?"

"Well, that's a bit rude… accurate though." Luna admitted. "He does seem to have soft-spot for Hermione though, she's is the best in her year at potions."

I shook my head. Snape being nice to a student not in Slytherin? This was an alternate universe than cannon. With Lily still being alive, I really couldn't make the same assumptions about his character. Maybe without her association with Potter, Hermione reminded him of Lily? She did fit the annoyingly intelligent muggleborn motif.

"What about you?" Luna's question knocked me about of my train of thought.

"What about me, what?"

"Did you have any friends before…" She gestured to all of me.

"No, not really." I admitted. "There were a few people I was friendly with at Stonewall High but Dudley's friends, Pierce and Gordon, were also there. They made sure to keep people away from me. Also, it wasn't like I could have invited anyone round to my relative's house" I shrugged. By that stage being isolated had become normal to me.

"As for my other life? I'm not sure… my memories of that time are vague and fragmented. I did have friends but I think we grew apart as life got in the way." I had the feeling that I wasn't the social glue of my friendship group in that life. That if I didn't reach out to them constantly then I would be the one left behind or out of social events.

Luna was giving me a sympathetic look and switched the conversation back to less personal things like the personalities of the Professors at Hogwarts.

From what I could tell they matched their book counterparts for the most part. Flitwick was the fun one while McGonagall was the strict and mostly fair one, even if she did favour the Lions. Sprout was approachable but from what I could tell was a bit unreliable and prone to making poor decisions — What on earth was Angel's Release and why should I never bend over near it? — and Snape was, as Luna put it, "An unsociable bat with a stick so far up is arse that he could stir a potion in his stomach." She really did have a way with words sometimes.

"Wait, Lockhart is still the defence Professor?" I interrupted her complaints about his 'annoyingly perfect hair.'

"It was a surprise when he actually backed up his bravado and broke the curse that had been on the Defence position but despite my first impressions, he is a good teacher."

That… did not compute. "But he's a fake!" I almost shouted. "He didn't do all the things in those books! He obliviated the actual heroes and stole their accomplishments!"

I found that may have a bit of a dislike for the character. Huh?

Luna tilted her head. "Obliviated? He did admit that the books aren't completely accurate and that some actions were done by others but attributed to himself to maintain their desired anonymity but I don't think he Obliviated anyone."

Huh?

Luna saw my dumbfounded look and continued. "Some of the inconstancies were brought up in class last year and he was incredibly happy that we had noticed them. Supposedly it was a bit of a test. He gave out copies of letters from individuals for whom he took some of the credit from. Most of the letters were thanks for the monthly royalties share."

I… couldn't believe it. Lockhart was… competent? And he was sharing his wealth with the actual heroes? "Why?"

Luna picked up my meaning. "Because he sells more books if people think it was an attractive young man who was the hero and so both he and the actual hero make more money. It's not like anyone in Brittain was going to go fact check some small Romanian village where a socially awkward farmer fought off a kiss of vampires."

That… made way too much sense.

"And not all of his accomplishments are fake. He can perform all the spells… well, except for the anti-werewolf one. That's not real and he won't explain what spell he actually used so it was likely illegal."

I couldn't believe it. An honest (sort of) Lockhart that was actually good at being a professor? This world was crazy.

Half of the Isle of Brittain away, an attractive blond man sneezed without warning then went back to his eight-hour sex marathon with his recently graduated student, ha-Ha!

Eventually I got over my shock about Lockhart and for the rest of the day we continued to practice and talk about all sorts of things. As the day crept into evening and the shadows in the garden grew long, our constant practice wavered and we ended up just relaxing outside in idle conversation rather than study.

Pixie brought us dinner along with a small table to dine at

Dinner was delicious and I found myself wondering how I had lived before now without a house elf if they could all cook this well. It was a simple faux French meal of baked chicken breast in a light mustard sauce with a summer greens salad flavoured with refreshing mint and paired with a sweet white wine. I had raised a concern over the alcohol but Luna had just laughed it off.

"It's almost impossible for magicals to get drunk on muggle alcohol. Most families will drink muggle wine with dinner." Luna smiled over the rim of her glass.

I sipped the sweet wine and found it did go really well with the meal by cutting through the richness of the chicken.

We ate and talked as the sun dipped low on the horizon and the first stars appeared in the darkening sky. As we dined together, glowing fairies left their shelter among the dirigible plums to dance about the garden like fireflies circling in a small magical lightshow.

It was a spectacular moment. Looking across the small table at the blond girl, I found myself feeling truly happy for the first time in years. Luna just had that effect on people, I think.

The evening meal was interrupted by a falling star. Not one in the sky above but a star from the Grimoire attached to my soul.

+300 CP

1200 CP - Rolling…

Heaven's Eyes (Generic Fairy Tail Fanfiction) – 200 CP

Heaven's Eye is a form of Eye Magic which allows the user to see over long distances, giving them the ability to see through solid objects, thereby allowing one to track enemies with relative ease.

Accepted.

1000 CP Banked.

I actually had to think about this one but I decided that it might be more useful than it appeared when I recalled that the Cloak of Invisibility was still out there in the hands of either the Potters or Dumbledore. There was a chance that an ability like Heaven's Eye might actually see through the invisibility of the cloak because I it would literally be seeing through the fabric and not trying to pierce the magic that made it invisible.

With my acceptance, the star slipped from my metaphysical fingers and joined the growing constellation of lights within my soul. At the same time my eyes watered and stung as if I had been staring into a bright light and I had to wipe the tears from my eyes.

"Are you ok?" Luna looked on concerned as I wiped the tears from my stinging eyes.

"Yeah. The Grimoire just offered another ability and I took it. It's making my eyes sting a little." I looked back up the girl as the stinging faded.

"Waoh!" I gasped.

"Woah!" Luna too exclaimed but for likely very different reasons as she followed up with an excited whisper. "Your eyes are all swirly!"

I, on the other hand, could feel my face heating up as my sight pieced through Luna's dress and exposed her pert breasts across from me.

"What do your eyes do now?" Luna was bouncing in her seat in excitement for new magics and my gaze followed the surprisingly springy motions of her small bust.

"I... ahem, I can… that is, it's called Heaven's Eyes," I started. "It allows me to see over long distances and… well, see through solid objects.

Luna suddenly stopped bouncing and I quickly looked back up to her eyes, fearing that she was angry or annoyed at my staring at her chest yet instead of glaring at me she was grinning a huge and devious smile.

"So you can see through my clothes, huh?"

I gulped. "I mean… yes? I didn't mean too! It just activated by itself and I haven't found out how to stop." Mainly because I hadn't tried.

Luna instead stood and stalked around the table and our half-finished dinner with a sway to her steps and leant over me. I gulped and tried — and failed — not to let my magical gaze run the legnth of her body.

Luna leant in near to whisper in my ear. "Well, that's not fair at all. You get to see me, but I don't get to see you."

I shivered as Luna's hot breath tickled my ear.

"So…" Luna continued. "What colour panties am I wearing?"

I licked my suddenly dry lips as my mind went completely blank. Wasn't I supposed to be the one on the attack? I was the guy after all… ok, screw that. But I was Veela! A creature of passion and flame and lust! Or… at least half.

"Y-you're not wearing panties, Luna." She wasn't and the fact that she had to have been going commando the whole day we were together was really hot in retrospect.

"Holly." Luna's tone was suddenly serious and I looked back into her eyes. "I'm going to kiss you now."

"Wha- umph!" I had barely processed her words when Luna's lips met mine and suddenly thought was completely beyond me.

Luna's lips tasted like mustard and sweet wine yet underneath that was a sweeter flavour that was all Luna and the taste of her kindled a flame inside my chest that I had been repressing ever since that moment in the kitchen at the Dursleys and suddenly, I didn't care if it burned me. I let it bloom.

She straddled my leg as returned the kiss with sudden ardour and I reached out and gripped her pert ass and pulled her lithe body hard against mine causing her to let out a little squeak of surprise against my lips.

Luna pulled away and for a moment I was afraid I had pushed her too much yet she had only pulled away to nuzzle and lick the summer sweat from my neck.

I shivered as Luna's tongue ran over my collarbone and one of my hands found her thigh and gripped into the flesh as the other hand held her balance on my lap.

"I've wanted to kiss you ever since you rescued me from that awful dungeon." Luna confessed into my shoulder and I stilled to listen. "You were like an angel. Glorious. Powerful and frightfully beautiful. A heliopath of fire and magic to swoop in and save me from a fate worse than death."

Luna was shivering as she spoke. A mixture of awe and fear.

"Ah…" I really didn't know what to say to that.

"I knew then that I was going to be yours." Luna continued. "That for my life, I would offer you my soul, my body, my everything."

This was getting a bit deeper than I thought it would and I could only sit there as Luna kept speaking.

"And then you had turn out to be this awkwardly, sweet, lovable sort of broken person who's kinda a dork."

Hey!

"And that made me want to give you my heart."

I gulped again. I had only known this girl for a little over twenty-four hours and I had no idea what love even was.

All of a sudden Luna was standing again and I felt cold at the lack of her pressed up against me even in the warmth of the summer evening. I ended up blinking owlishly up at her.

Luna shuddered and took a deep breath as if she was pushing through something.

"I'm not expecting you to return my feelings. Not yet anyway. But just know, that I'll be waiting for you when you're ready." Luna said before she fled back to the house and I just sat that and watched her cute ass as she went.

For a moment I was silent and still. Likely in shock. Then I reached over the table and poured another glass of wine and took a large fortifying gulp to extinguish the burning desire that was still coursing like molten gold through my body and my groin. I might not be a guy at the moment but it seems that Veela could still get blue-balled.

AN: This was supposed to be a quick time skip chapter that buzzed through a week and instead became a long conversation with Luna and a bunch of exposition. Sorry bout that.