AN: This first part wasn't in the original :D
Inspiration for title: 'Rainy Day People' by Gordon Lightfoot
Chapter 17 - Rainy Day People
One thing or another kept Snape and Madame Pomfrey out of the line of sight of each other.
But the day Harry saw his opportunity, he took it.
"Professor!"
Snape turned as Harry caught him in a full embrace, although he was careful to hug the man's arms to his side.
"Potter," Snape hissed as the hall fell silent.
Harry looked up at him and smiled, "Thank you for brewing those healing potions for me!"
Snape shook him off and Harry sprang back ready to reach for his wand in defense. "I didn't brew them for you. They were just costly."
Harry smiled, "Thank you, regardless, Sir."
There was a silence in the hall followed by a cackling from none other than Madame Pomfrey at the Head Table.
Some other chuckles from the student body but they were quelled instantly by Snape's glare as he turned away in a dramatic flare of capes.
The student body mostly forgot about the incident, Harry Potter had done many strange things and hugging a professor, even one he hated, didn't make the top ten.
Among the other professors, however, they never let Snape live it down.
oOo
Luna knocked on Professor Flitwick's office door.
"Come in!" called his cheery voice.
Luna liked Professor Flitwick, liked him more than Harry trusted him.
Flitwick looked up at her surprised, "Miss Lovegood, what a lovely surprise. What can I do for you?"
It was Friday and classes had resumed as normal. Right now, everyone else was at lunch.
"I need to talk with you, Professor."
A more serious expression stole over the kind man's face.
"Come sit, would you like some tea, my dear girl?"
She nodded. Outwardly her hands were steady, inwardly? She doubted this was the right thing to do, but Harry had urged her to go to Flitwick while Harry himself was seeking out McGonagall at the moment. One way or another, Flitwick would know what had happened.
Luna took her tea, adding four sugar cubes and a dab of milk.
Flitwick watched her, with worry but also with a measure of patience that was settling her nerves. He was quiet but not rudely so. She let the silence fill with peace as he stirred his tea. She watched him take a few sips every now and then, enjoying the tea and her company.
She realised as she sipped her own tea that she didn't have to tell him, he wouldn't force her. They could spend the entire period before his next class drinking tea and he would never bring it up again.
He was kind.
It touched her and invited her to speak.
"Yesterday Calli Hinterland, Gena Daner, and Ginny Weasley cornered me in the hall," she said, keeping her focus a bit unfocused so she could see both his face and his chest (where all movement begins).
Professor Flitwick stilled.
Unhappy.
Worried.
Yet his tone remained calm, "What happened?"
She shook her head, her gaze fixing on his directly. She didn't dare take her eyes off him, not even to blink, it was important she knew how he would react; important that he deserved Harry's trust.
"Nothing Harry saved me."
Flitwick breathed, deep, controlled, and exhaled in a soft gust before answering, "What did he save you from?"
"They told me to stay away from Harry. Daner called me a whore and Calli, Calli asked if I was going into the woods with Harry to- to-"
She didn't mean for it to happen, she had not given her permission for her shoulders to shake, but she didn't even know why it had affected her so. She liked Harry, really liked Harry but she didn't want him like that, not exactly. She didn't want–
Not before.
She wanted to like and be liked. The other things… she wasn't ready to be that close to anyone in that way.
"Ms. Lovegood," Flitwick called softly.
Luna blinked too fast, she was being foolish.
She didn't even remember looking away, "I don't know why I care, they were just words."
"Menacing a classmate and harassing their character while inferring things about their dear ones is not a matter of simple words. Remember that wars may be fought with weapons but they start and end by the power of words exchanged between people."
She took a drink of her tea, the warmth and the sugar soothing her insides. She imagined white sparkles rising from her teacup. They danced in the steam illuminated by the diminishing sunshine, easing the tension between her brows.
Flitwick gave her the time she needed and didn't ask his next question until she looked up to meet his gaze again. "What did Harry do?"
Harry, not Mr. Potter.
Flitwick cared for him, although she wasn't sure if that care was of anticipation to be upset with or concerned for Harry.
"He stunned Calli, levitated Daner and threw her at Ginny. And he swore at Ginny."
Flitwick smothered an upward twitch of lips quickly but Luna saw his approval nonetheless. He was on Harry's side, her side.
"How would you like to handle them, Ms. Lovegood?"
She raised one fair eyebrow, "You would do what I would suggest?"
"Not necessarily, there are bounds of reason, I being a professor. However, I would hear what you think and feel about the matter."
"I don't want you to do anything," Luna said truthfully.
"No?" Flitwick asked and raised a brow.
She liked his eyebrows; they were white and bushy.
"I only came here because Harry said I should and that he was going to tell Professor McGonagall."
"Really?" he asked, tone light.
Luna glared at him, "You don't believe me."
"Oh, I believe you, my dear," he said easily but said nothing more.
Luna put down her empty cup on the desk between them. She rocked back in her chair a bit and as the silence continued she began to fidget. It would be rude to dismiss herself but Flitwick wasn't saying anything, just waiting.
She sat on her hands.
Ten minutes passed and still Flitwick said nothing.
Luna's thoughts had descended into a turmoil of excuses to be able to leave politely and run from the shadows she saw creeping in the corner of her eyes. They weren't moving but she was ready for them to.
"Luna, is there anything else that has happened you would like to discuss?"
Her focus spun back to him, her thoughts stalling before whirling into seven separate thoughts. "About what?" she asked evenly.
"Is anyone else from our house causing you trouble?"
Luna did not say a word.
Flitwick sighed, "I'll take that as a yes."
She still didn't say anything.
Flitwick changed tack, "You've been spending a lot of time with Mr. Potter?"
Luna wasn't sure where this was going but nodded.
"He's kind to you?"
Her eyes narrowed, "Of course, he is my friend."
"Harry's friends aren't always nice to him," he noted.
"I don't understand that," she said shortly.
"He's mature for his age and he changed a lot over the summer."
She was waiting for the trap he was setting.
"Does Harry ever make you feel uncomfortable?"
"Never," Luna said automatically, though it was not the complete truth. The truth was that she was so comfortable with Harry it was uncomfortable because she didn't know if he felt the same. They had spent all night playing chess in the kitchens. He also hadn't been scared away when she cried.
"You don't find his secrets burdensome?" Flitwick asked.
She tilted her head, realising for the first time that this professor might know more about Harry, at least more about Harry's life, than she did.
Harry knew things but that had just become a part of who he was to her. A person who bent shadows and light because he had been bent by them. He knew things that hadn't happened yet, and she knew to believe him even though he seemed afraid that he would not be believed.
Professor Flitwick might have a more explainable reason for Harry than her own assumptions.
"Harry could never be a burden, we walk together," Luna said.
Flitwick's blue eyes seemed to search hers, his lips narrowing, "You care for Harry."
"Yes."
"I do not presume to know much about your relationship with him outside of friendship but if Harry ever makes you feel presur-"
"Harry would never-" Luna protested but Flitwick silenced her with a raised hand.
"My dear, I merely want to remind you that your mind and body are your own. Only you get to decide if, who, and when someone crosses your boundaries. Harry is a good person but I am your Head of House. If there is ever trouble, if you ever need someone to listen, I will be here for you," Flitwick said solemnly. "No matter what."
"You're saying even though Harry is one of your favorite students, that you will still hear me even if our stories, one day, for a reason that will never happen, are different that I might come to you?"
"Yes."
"Thank you," she said simply.
"What else have students been doing to you?" Flitwick asked directly this time.
She frowned at him, noticing the condensation on the windows, "Was the hallway not enough?"
"I have been a teacher for many years and I know that many little things can be more painful than the great big ones."
"Cho Chang has been trying to spell my bed curtains and there are a lot of whispers around her."
"I shall speak with Ms. Chang as for the whispers… I realise their words may hurt. I just hope you don't let them define you."
"I am defined, what they see with their eyes isn't much. Truly blind people often see more."
Flitwick nodded, "Thank you for coming to me, Ms. Lovegood. I hope you will tell me if things develop further in the future."
Luna stood, bowed her head and left.
She felt surprisingly better, she had never gone to a professor for help before. Father said people so rarely listen close or long enough to understand.
She touched the stones as she walked, imagining the essence of each stone reaching to touch her hand in return.
Hogwarts a living place, uniform in a way the outdoors wasn't. She preferred the outdoors, so that's where she went.
She closed her eyes, smelling the damp air as she turned her face up to the sky. It was raining, it would rain all day, the sky gods crying, never able to rest on earth, always above, always out of reach. Only their grief and rage could connect those above with those below through the pondering of a breeze or the rising of a tempest.
Luna loved the rain, the way the air felt real enough to hug her. She held out her arms and spun.
She smiled; to live was a good thing, people could disappoint, but the Earth was good, so it was good to live to know her.
oOo
Her next class was Transfiguration she shared with Ginny. Her shoulders hunched and she wouldn't so much as look in Luna's direction. Gena had looked at Luna once, with a look of fear and loathing.
Luna imagined grey and red energies tugging on their hair, prodding at their spines.
Luna hoped they didn't prod too hard, she didn't want either girl more angry at her.
McGonagall's jade eyes that had been watching Luna with sympathy turned on the two girls with fury. The professor dropped the box on the other girls' desk with a forceful bang.
The box had been holding stones they would be using for their spells. McGonagall leaned her tall body forward, like a crane moving slowly, ready to strike at the fish swimming around her legs.
"I will be writing home to both your parents. You do not have detention, but so help me if I hear anything of the nature of yesterday's incident again, missing house points will be the least of your worries," she whispered, loud enough that only a few people overheard.
By the end of class, Luna's white and blue teapot was illustrated with pretty cranes catching hapless fish.
Luna loved fish as much as cranes, but cranes needed to eat, and fish ate fish.
Luna had her last block off and went searching for Harry. She followed the bend in the world where the light coming in from the windows was brighter, the shadows more submissive.
She found him in an empty hallway past the entrance to the Divination Tower. There were no paintings or portraits down this hall and it was a dead end. There was only a supply closest that Filch was known to use when he was cleaning this side of the building.
The window here overlooked the lake and the mountain range, corners of the roof of the castle partially obscured that view.
Harry was sitting on the wide sill staring at the visible parts of the castle, his breathing was tight as if it were a prisoner in his chest, reluctant to escape for fear that reality might be worse than the container it occupied. One of his legs was pulled to his middle, his arms wrapped around it, his chin resting on his knee.
"Hi Luna," Harry greeted, though he continued to watch the rain fall.
Luna sat on the sill across from him. Her legs swinging a bit, the floor was a few inches away from her toes.
"I spoke with Flitwick," she said.
Harry's gaze broke away from a memory she could not imagine. His emerald eyes focused on her looking like polished jewels glimmer beneath a spring born stream.
"I spoke with McGonagall," he said.
"She was nice to me in class."
"She said she wouldn't severely punish them because then she would have to punish me for dueling in the halls and throwing people into other people."
"She said she would write their parents notes though," Luna said, thinking that perhaps would be the worst punishment.
Harry's eyes danced with light, "She wrote Sirius a note too."
He found the idea funny.
"I would like to meet him," she said.
Harry smiled then, genuine pleasure; caused by her.
"I would like that too."
She swayed side to side for a moment. "I know it's a bit early, but my father invited you and your godfather to our house for Yule."
"You know Sirius is still on the run, right? He's innocent, but he could still cause you trouble."
"Father painted a picture of four blobs, one orange, one lavender, one green, and one grey-blue running away from black shadows. He knows the minister is after you and the risks."
Harry paused, mulling it over before he grinned, "You're lavender, Xeno is orange, I'm green because you told him my eye color and because he hasn't met me yet, and that leaves grey-blue as Sirius."
She smiled back, glad he understood. Some paintings were just paintings, emotions in hues and shades, but others were messages that outsiders would not bother to decode. "Most people in the Black line have either grey-blue eyes or brown. But I think Father went to school with Sirius. He was a few years ahead."
"Cool," Harry said, continuing shining happiness at her.
Luna liked that Harry seemed to like her father. Not a lot of people did. But then, not a lot of people liked her either.
"So will you?" she asked.
"I'll have to ask Sirius, but I would love to, and I'm sure he'd love to, too. I think the Weasleys wanted me to come to their home, but I don't want to, not after yesterday."
"Are you in trouble with them because you hurt Ginny?"
Harry shrugged, "Maybe, it doesn't look like Ginny told any of her brothers what happened and I don't know how McGonagall worded her letter to Mrs. Weasley. I don't really care. Ginny was wrong to do what she did."
"Even if you lose Ron as a friend?"
He rolled his eyes, "That happens every other season."
"Gred and Forge?"
Harry's smile faded a bit, but he said, "Luna, you mean more to me than anyone's opinion of me."
Her heart raced, and unlike the first time, Harry had said that they were friends, forever and always once.
She knew why her heart was galloping now. She wondered if his was, her fingers tingled with the phantom desire to discover for herself, all she would have to do is take his hand with hers.
"You mean more to me too," she said, angling herself towards him, like lily leaves towards the sun.
His face seemed to brighten a bit with color, but he didn't move his chin off his knee, he didn't move away from her.
"Harry?"
He tilted his head a bit, "Luna."
She moved her face closer to his, this close there was no glare on his glasses, and she could see more than just the pretty color of his eyes. He was so beautiful to her. The more she got to know him the more beautiful he became.
Her heart was in her throat as she leaned closer to him still. He didn't move away. Both their breaths were shallow, quiet, the only sound was the roaring of blood in her ears and the delightful pat, pat of raindrops on the castle shingles beyond the open window.
She was about to do something she couldn't take back.
But it felt right.
Besides, Harry had been wise and witty for her, she could be brave for him.
For herself.
She wanted to be wanted, she wanted to let herself want things she never imagined for herself. And she trusted this boy to take no more than she gave her him.
She wanted to follow her heart, she wanted to taste of her own fear on a breath of chance, in a shimmer of hope that her feelings were matched not illusion.
Luna let her eyes close as crossed that final distance, her lips finding his.
Harry's lips were soft where they met hers. He tasted sweet as he held still for her wordless question.
She was the one to pull away first. She searched his face, desperate for reassurance that she had not messed up. She was kneeling and looking down into his stunned gaze.
He looked at her like she was the most marvelousest, most beautiful person he had ever seen. She had never felt lovely in her life until she had seen that expression on this man's face.
Her heart burst, her being filled with liquid joy. Harry rose up, dropping his leg and reaching out to her.
She met him halfway for the second kiss, and it was better. The sensation of his lips parting under hers stole away her thoughts, every inch of her skin tingling. She was lost in him. His arms encircled her and she felt safe.
Unequivocally safe.
She didn't know that a kiss could feel like this.
They parted to catch their breaths.
Harry cupped her face between his palms, pausing to run a hand down her soft curls. He looked at her with something she could only name as adoration as he began, "Luna, I-"
She ducked out of his grasp. Standing, her heart pummelling in innards, her feet feeling as if they had no attachment to the ground whatsoever, she said, "Harry, I like you. I like you a lot."
And then she turned away from him, sprinting down the halls at full speed, not to get away but because she wasn't sure she could handle any more happiness without combusting into flame.
oOo
Harry watched her go with an amused smile, knowing better than to chase after her. She wasn't running away from him, after all.
He leaned back, stretching his legs out in front of him. His pulse was still hammering.
Harry, I like you. I like you a lot.
Her words played over and over again in his mind, the touch of her lips still warm on his smile.
He pressed his forehead to the cool stone pane. "Luna," Harry whispered, his heart giving a sharp squeeze to let him know that this was real. "I really, really like you too."
Harry had never loved the rain as much as he did that day.
oOo
AN: Thoughts, snow leopards, or reactions, pretty please?