With a pained groan Harry opened his eyes and felt the worst headache he'd ever had before. "Here take this Mister Potter," a voice said and Harry reached out towards it until he felt a vial placed in his palm. Wrapping his fingers around it he brought it to his lips and drank the sour liquid.
Keeping his eyes clenched shut, he started to feel the pounding in his head recede. Slowly he cracked them open and looked around the Hospital Wing. "Hello," Harry muttered tiredly.
"How are you feeling Mister Potter?" Madam Pomfrey asked her patient as she stood ready with more potions.
"Terrible, but… better than dying," Harry shrugged while slowly sitting up. Now that his vision started to clear up he felt his glasses placed into his empty palm. "Oh thanks."
"No problem Harry," Tonks smiled at her warlock who spent the last couple of hours asleep.
"Tonks, you are here," Harry said in amazement that he hadn't imagined that as he was passing out.
"Yup, you can thank little miss over here, she sent Hedwig straight to me at the ministry," Tonks nodded to the side where Luna Lovegood was resting comfortably in another bed.
"Oh yeah, that was probably a better plan than just going after Gindrey," Harry admitted.
"Smarter yeah, but that's why she's in Ravenclaw and you going down to kill the basilisk and save Gindrey is why you are a Gryffindor," Tonks chuckled before booping Harry's nose.
"Do you believe Mister Potter to be cognizant enough to give a statement?" Madam Bones inquired as she had to wait for the only witness to regain consciousness and knowing that Trainee Tonks was the head priestess for Mister Potter meant that in this particular case she could speak for him if he wasn't capable to set up a time for an interview.
"I think so, you up for it Harry?" Tonks asked as she helped Harry adjust in the hospital bed.
"Yeah, I can do that," Harry nodded.
Moving two chairs over and motioning for her trainee to take the seat next to her, Madam Bones pulled out a quill to begin her questioning. "To make it easy, just tell me what you were up to," Amelia said as this wasn't a confession but a report she could use to get to the bottom of everything.
So far all the information Mister Potter was providing was quite the clever detective work between him and the first year girl. But she wanted to know what went on in the Chamber.
"Once we figured out everything after talking to Moaning Myrtle, we uncovered the entrance under the sinks, I went down while I guess Luna went to get you all," Harry shrugged. "I probably should have waited but I didn't know how much time I had."
"And after you entered the chamber?" Amelia nodded because she was at least glad someone alerted her to what was going on.
"I found Gindrey laying on the floor, he wasn't moving and was barely breathing and I thought I could try to wake him up but then Tom showed up," Harry answered.
"Tom?" Amelia hummed. "Is that the name of the specter we saw?"
She was just asking for confirmation's sake, Minerva had already told her that was the ghost of Tom Riddle, a former student from her time in the castle, the person who would later become Lord Voldemort. But one short glimpse is not enough to take to the minister, even if it came from a reputable witch like Professor McGonagall.
"Yes ma'am. He introduced himself to me and then said that he became Lord Voldemort," Harry answered. "He even showed me the anagram with his full name, Tom Marvolo Riddle."
"After that he called for the basilisk," Harry continued on with his tale. "It came out of the great stone face of Salazar and came after me. I'd probably have died as soon as it got a look at me, but thankfully Fawkes swooped in to peck out its eyes and bring me the Sorting Hat."
"Why specifically the Sorting Hat?" Amelia questioned because of all things the phoenix could have brought she would not have expected that.
"I guess Fawkes knew the Sword of Gryffindor was kept there and I'd need it," Harry answered back. "After I got that, I started to fight off the basilisk but my spells weren't doing all that much to it, bombardas just weren't strong enough."
"You can cast a bombarda at your age?" Amelia raised an eyebrow, that was a particularly powerful spell for a student to be learning.
"Well that didn't work, neither did reducto, diffindos, expulso, deletrius, my spells weren't doing more than keeping it from biting me, and the sword was cutting but I couldn't get it deep enough and it was so big that I just knew if it rolled on top of me I'd be done for," Harry sighed.
"Regardless you are impressively skilled Mister Potter," Amelia praised because Mister Potter was casting fifth year and up spells and to even have a minor effect on something so magically resistant showed the power he held.
"Yeah well, Luna was a big help when it came to research and she helped me with all the wand movements and stuff to be able to cast the spells," Harry said in an attempt to dismiss much of the praise, Luna had been wonderful with his studies, even if she couldn't cast them yet.
"But I sort of ran out of options and figured that I had one chance," Harry rubbed his arm nervously while flicking a gaze to Nym who would likely be unhappy to hear his plan. "So I sort of… waited for it to strike and let it bite me just to get the sword in its mouth."
A hand reached out and rested on his shoulder and he cringed from the earful he was surely to receive. "Please never do anything like that again," Nymphadora begged. "If for some god forsaken reason you are put in that position, please, just run and get help."
Taking a breath to argue that he didn't exactly have much choice by that point, instead he just nodded and took Tonks' hand in his own. "I will Nym, I promise."
"Thank you," she sighed in relief to know that Harry might not throw himself into the next lethal situation he comes across.
"Well it would seem your action worked, the basilisk is dead," Amelia informed because she had aurors down in the chamber securing the crime scene. There was a lot to do in this case, it wasn't just that the beast was dead, they had to use this information to unpetrify the victims, explore the chamber, document the findings and then still get to the bottom of how this all started to begin with.
"After that, I got thrown away from the sword and Tom was still there, gloating about how it didn't matter. That he'd be resurrected and I'd die from the venom. I didn't really want him to win, so I took out the fang stuck in my arm and figured if it was going to kill me, then it should kill him too and stabbed the diary," Harry explained his rationale for doing that. "Seemed like it worked but then it just started getting blurry and I saw Nymphadora. I'm glad I didn't die though."
Nym sniffled because it was pretty incredible to hear that her warlock when he thought they were his last moments would think of her. "I'm glad too," she bit her lip and pulled Harry into a hug.
Amelia let the couple sit like that for a moment before she cleared her throat. "If that's everything you remember?" Amelia asked in case there was something else Mister Potter could add.
"I think that's everything," Harry answered and the witch wrote down the last details.
"Then expect good things Mister Potter, it will take some time but once we are certain the danger to the school is gone, then we can keep Hogwarts open for next year," Amelia nodded before turning to her trainee. "I expect to see you in the morning in my office. We'll make our determination on your performance."
Nymphadora gulped nervously because tomorrow she would learn whether or not all the effort she put in would pay off. Watching the department head leave the hospital wing, she was pulled from her anxiety by a gentle squeeze on her hand. "Don't worry, you got this, because I know you are amazing Tonks."
"I wish I believed in me as much as you do," Nymphadora responded while taking comfort that she always had her warlock's support.
"You can stay for a little longer, Miss Tonks but Mister Potter needs his rest, his body is still recovering from his experience," Madam Pomfrey said as she bustled around their bed to check on Gindrey.
Harry awoke the next morning alone in the hospital wing. Sitting up he stretched and let out a yawn while going over to the loo. Once he returned to the cot Madam Pomfrey was by his side to give him a check up. "Well everything says you are fine," Poppy frowned because on the one hand she was delighted to know that the phoenix tears worked to save him from the basilisk venom, but being that this was the only time she knew of such an instance occurring, she had her hesitance that there wouldn't be any side effects to doing so. But her diagnostic charms could only do so much in the face of a medical miracle such as this.
"But please, there are only a few days left in the school year, if you have any discomfort come here straight away," Poppy said as she reluctantly let Harry out of the hospital wing, leaving the Weasley boy as her only patient because the long term effects of whatever happened to him required more monitoring until she was sure the lad was not still suffering.
"I will Madam Pomfrey," Harry promised because he was still incredibly sore but he wanted to go up to the dorms to shower and change. It wasn't even so much as the sweat from his fight that made him feel gross; it was rolling through all the dead carcasses and cobwebs that made him want to get cleaner than he'd ever been before.
Due to the nature of the incident many students were up bright and early or in the case of the Weasley girls, they couldn't sleep at all that night. About the only relief they had gotten was that in the wee hours of the morning Professor McGonagall had come in to tell them their brother was safe in the hospital wing and that all she knew at the moment was that Harry Potter had conducted the rescue himself. So when Harry stumbled into the common room he barely had a moment before the girls were on him.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," the girls blabbered because they wouldn't know what to tell their mum if Gindrey hadn't made it.
"Girls it's fine, Gindrey's safe," Harry assured the girls who were just a mess at the moment.
"Well how'd you do it, I mean you, we don't know what happened," Ronalda asked as she stepped back from the wizard who saved her brother.
"How about I tell you all after I get a shower, I'm still nasty from the chamber," Harry cringed because he couldn't understand how the girls were able to even tolerate his odor right now, even he could smell how ripe he was.
"Sure sure, anything you need," Persephone Weasley nodded her head and stepped out of the way.
It took him a while to get cleaned up and he even felt he needed to use some of those perfumes Mrs. Tonks had gotten for him to truly make him stop thinking he was smelling the dead animals, but he was presentable if still tired.
But once he was down in the common room he found it mostly empty. "Ahh Mister Potter, good," Professor McGonagall said as she hadn't expected him to come down for quite some time, the twins had said Harry was taking a shower so she expected him to miss the announcement entirely.
"Is something the matter professor?" Harry asked the woman.
"Nothing bothersome but I will be making an announcement to the school in the Great Hall shortly and I want all students to be in attendance if possible," Minerva said as she was quite busy this morning after everything happened.
"Okay then," Harry responded because that made sense to him.
"I think you will quite like to hear what I have to say as well," Minerva hummed as she turned and left. She still had to coordinate a few more things before giving her statement.
Coming into the Great Hall Harry reflexively took a step back when he saw what lay in the middle of the floor between the tables. But after a moment and realizing it was still dead, Harry breathed a sigh of relief and walked around the basilisk's body before going to take a seat at the table.
But for the rest of the students in the castle they were crowding around the carcass, or at least as close as they could get to it while the aurors kept a perimeter while various witches inspected the body. "Harry," Oliver cleared his throat as he sat down next to the younger boy. "What the hell did you do last night?"
"Saved the school I guess," Harry shrugged because he felt a strange emotion inside watching all the witches oohing and aahing at the dead beast. He was quite a stranger to the feeling of pride but this was certainly showing him the reaction others could have to his accomplishments. And it felt pretty dang good, if he had to describe it.
"Attention students, may I have your attention," Professor McGonagall shouted from her place at the head of the table. Eyes turned towards her, not just from the students either. "Now as you all likely are aware, the beast that has been attacking the students has been dealt with, and the school is now safe. Due to the rarity of the situation a potion is being brewed to restore those petrified by the basilisk, and this should be done in a few days, courtesy of our esteemed Potions Mistress Professor Snape."
There was a smattering of applause from the students, who while disliking the professor at least could put it aside when it came to something that helped the students. "Now as some of you may have guessed or put together the information yourself, but I would like to dispel any rumors. Mister Potter, would you please come up here."
Harry slowly stood and ignored the whispers and chatter as he strode towards the lectern the professor stood behind. "For your service to the school in not only discovering the cause of the attacks, but protecting the school and discovering the location of the fabled Chamber of Secrets, I award you the highest honor possible. An Award for Special Services to the School," Minerva said with a proud smile as she lifted a medal from a box on the lectern and placed it around his neck.
"Your mother would be so proud of you Harry," Minerva softly spoke to the boy who nodded firmly. Giving a moment to let the young wizard bask in the applause, she then turned back to face the students. "In due time a proper report will be released to explain everything."
Minerva knew that was a lie. With the discussion she had with Amelia in the early hours after she took statements from Mister Potter and Miss Lovegood, she knew the ministry would hold back or bury information regarding that accursed diary that was currently secured in Albus' office and what it meant for You-Know-Who. Once the headmaster returned they would be able to learn more about what it is and what it had been trying to do. She would wager good money that nothing learned there would ever see the light of day.
Once the students had been assured that their friends would be back to normal before the end of the year, Harry was about to return to the table when he stopped. "Um, Headmistress McGonagall?" Harry said as he looked at the dead snake.
"What is it Mister Potter?" Minerva asked because she wondered just what the heroic lad might want to talk to her about.
"Hermione was petrified a few weeks ago, but Colleen, she… she missed almost her entire year," Harry sighed. "There's no way she'll be ready for next year's classes like this. Is there anything I can do to help her?"
Minerva sagged a little as the situation with the girls petrified had been quite a conundrum, as it stood Ms. Creevey's parents hadn't been informed what happened to their daughter, but of the victims, a first year missing all but two months of the year would not bode well for her chances of taking on the next year's lessons. "She would need tutors and it would not be a simple expense."
Harry nodded in understanding because it probably would take a lot of money to pay the teachers needed to get Colleen through the entire first years curriculum over the summer. But as he kept an eye on the snake, watching as Professor Snape removed bits of flesh from the carcass. "Is that worth anything?" Harry asked while pointing to the dead animal.
"The basilisk?" Minerva blinked in confusion for a moment. "Well yes, quite a lot actually. Basilisk parts are quite restricted and scarce due to the danger of breeding them even in optimal conditions for safety."
"So could selling the basilisk pay for all that?" Harry wondered at the possible solution laying right in front of them.
"You would give up part of your rewards?" Minerva questioned just why Harry would pay for this himself.
"Why would I be giving anything up?" Harry asked. "I'm pretty sure it was Salazar Slytherin's snake and he's dead so it's nobody's."
"Mister Potter, the kill is yours, the spoils of it go to you," Minerva informed because even if he didn't know it now, he'd learn it soon enough.
"But, well…" Harry took a moment to collect himself. "Then yes, I'd like whatever is needed to be taken from this to pay for the tutors the girls petrified might need this summer to get caught up on their school work.":
"That is very generous of you Mister Potter and I would like to thank you on behalf of the school once again," Minerva gratefully accepted the deal with a smile. It wasn't impossible for the school to pay for the tutors as it happened to them during the year, but it would make a noticeable dent in their next year's budget to do so.
Harry was happy to know that he'd be able to help the girls who were hurt this year, and to know they'd be up and about in a few days was a relief.
A day later and he was called up to the headmaster's office. There was noticeable tension in the room when he arrived as Professor Dumbledore had been reinstated by the Board of Directors now that the situation in the castle had been resolved.
"Aah Mister Potter, thank you for coming on such short notice," Albus greeted the boy who had saved not only his job, but the school and its students.
"Yes sir, you wanted to see me?" Harry nodded as he looked around the room, and saw that it wasn't just the headmaster, but a few of the teachers, those aurors from when he woke up, the minister and the Malfoy lady.
"I did," he motioned for the boy to take a seat. "You did something truly incredible, not just protecting the school, but you found something believed lost."
Seeing the slight confusion, Harry looked to the contents of what was laid out on the headmaster's desk. It was the Sword of Gryffindor and the diary. "Yes this sword had been deemed lost for many centuries, but I guess it was really just waiting for someone truly special to need it," Albus said as he looked to the hat that had been safeguarding it in secret all this time.
"I don't know if I'd have been able to stop the basilisk without it sir," Harry responded.
"Then I think you should know that this sword may come to you in your hour of need should that ever arise," Albus informed the student that the sword might be available later. "But I also wanted to be the first to tell you that Professor Snape has finished brewing the potion needed to restore the witches in the hospital wing."
Harry sighed in relief to know that was done. "That's good to hear."
"Yes, we should count ourselves lucky that we have a young wizard like Harry Potter to protect the school," Lucinda Malfoy said flatly.
"I'm sure that this is a lesson for the Board of Directors to not act so rashly in the future and to properly investigate a situation," Albus responded back with a smile.
"What about Ms. Hagrid sir?" Harry asked because now that the real culprit had been stopped, surely the half-giant could return to the school.
"She will be returning in a few days time, Azkaban is not a pleasant place, one I hope you will never see the inside of," Albus said as Ruby was currently recovering before she was ready to come back.
"I'll try not to sir," Harry promised. "Um there is something I was hoping to ask you."
"What is it my boy?" Albus inquired to what they young man wished to ask.
"Well it's about girls and I was… well," Harry nervously rubbed his arm before looking to some of the witches in the room.
"Ahh I see, ladies I believe that our conversation is at an end," Albus said because he understood Harry wasn't comfortable speaking about such a topic with the witches in the room overhearing and he had come to him in the past for something like this before.
Minerva nodded and ushered the other women out of the room. Once the door shut Harry let out a sigh. "I like girls, and um, well I know that Tonks is older and is going to want to do things, but I also like Luna and was thinking of asking her to join my coven but… Luna isn't as old so she might not want those things."
Harry had felt in the last couple of months that he really missed being around Tonks and while he knew he liked kissing her; he was also old enough to know that boyfriend and girlfriend, however you wanted to define the relationship in a coven could do more than just hold hands and kiss.
"Isn't that unfair if I'm doing things with Tonks that she might not be comfortable doing? But wouldn't it also be unfair if I made Tonks wait until someone else was ready even if we both are?" Harry sighed heavily because this was a tricky predicament for him to wrap his mind around. "I talked with you earlier about making girls do things that they might not be ready for, but I didn't think about making girls wait when we are ready. Maybe one of you all know what to do. Professor Lockhart you spent a lot of time with witches in the castle, surely you know."
Gilderoy who was humming along because he kind of got what the student meant, of course he'd never bothered with thinking along those lines, he got with witches when he wanted to, but he froze when Harry asked him for his advice. Slowly his gaze moved from the student to his employer who if one didn't know him it would seem he was impassive, but the trademark smile he normally wore was nowhere to be seen on his face.
When Gilderoy moved to take a step Albus cleared his throat and Moody stepped forward blocking him from just being able to walk out the door. "We're just having a conversation here Gilly," Alastor grinned. "I'm sure some wizard talk isn't too much for your sensibilities."
"N-Not at all," Lockhart said through gritted teeth.
Albus took a moment to calm himself before addressing Mister Potter's questions. "That is a very difficult situation to be in. But I believe that proper communication and learning about personal boundaries is prudent for you. If Miss Tonks is prepared to go beyond what you have already done then that should be a discussion and if you do extend an offer to Miss Lovegood, knowing where her limits lay will be important so you know where to draw the line."
"If you are concerned about where you are at in your relationships with Miss Tonks affecting the potential one you may have with Miss Lovegood, then letting her know that her going at her own pace is more than acceptable, will do much to prevent anyone from being hurt."
"Thank you sir for that advice," Harry nodded his head because it seemed to be fairly generic and simple, but complicated measures might make things worse and he'd talked to Tonks before about things and it all worked out fine. So being reminded of it was quite helpful.
"I'm happy to hear that, but if you wouldn't mind I would like to have a moment to speak with my employee now that I am back as headmaster, some… end of term discussion that I like to have with all professors. Paperwork and such, boring things like that," Albus lied to the boy because Gilderoy was in some very hot water right now.
"Oh I'm sorry to take up your time," Harry bowed politely.
"I'll always have time for you my dear boy, but I'm sure that you have some catching up to do with your friends that should be released from the hospital wing shortly," Albus smiled as he stood up and escorted the student to the door.
Harry was excited to speak to Hermione again, and even if Colleen had been a nuisance at first, he hoped that this event didn't turn off the young muggleborn witch to the joys of learning magic in Hogwarts. Scampering out of the hallway, he could have sworn he heard shouting coming from the headmaster's office but that must have been his imagination.
It was during the end of year feast when the girls who had been petrified were brought out to the student body. They received a round of cheers for being well and took their places at their tables.
"Attention students," Albus said as he took his spot at the podium. "I would like to make a few end of year announcements, first the winner of this year's house cup is. Slytherin."
With applause the banners changed to green and silver and the house of the cunning celebrated a victory over the rest of the school. Harry could see some smug looks coming from that table, they had won a great many points in their quidditch matches against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw with their new brooms and that had put them over the top.
"Next I would like to make a less joyous announcement, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart has announced his retirement and will be returning to his adventures outside of the castle. Unfortunately the nature of his work prevented him from being given a traditional Hogwarts goodbye."
There wasn't much cheering on that, and Harry noticed that a number of witches seemed quite saddened by this announcement but there wasn't much anyone could do, the man was already gone.
"Lastly, I hope that everyone has a wonderful summer and for those of you who are not returning, I wish you the best of luck in whatever direction your heart takes you and for those who do. I will see you all next year, and perhaps it will be less exciting than this one," Albus chuckled as he returned to his seat at the head of the table.
The food was good, the students were lively and Harry was glad that Hogwarts was safe once again.
Now he just hoped to find some witches that he'd been meaning to talk to.
Returning to the common room for the last night in the castle, Harry saw Hermione walking towards the stairs. "Hermione wait," calling out to her before she went up where he couldn't get to her.
The bushy haired witch stopped and looked back at the wizard who wanted to speak with her. "Yes Harry?" Hermione said shamefully because she had been hoping that Harry wouldn't say anything to her after the terrible way she'd been treating him all year.
Madam Pomfrey had said that Harry came to see her in the hospital wing when she'd been petrified.
"Hey um, can I talk to you…" Harry asked as he pointed to a set of chairs on the far side of the room.
"Oh sure," Hermione nodded and turned away from the dorms and followed. Once they were both seated across from each other she noticed the way that Harry wrung his hands.
"I want to ask you a question, but I know it's likely very personal and you don't have to answer but if I knew what I did then maybe I can try to make up for it. Can you tell me why you don't like me anymore?" Harry asked the girl who in his first year was pretty helpful with his lessons but this year acted like he'd done something that offended her.
Hermione pursed her lips and realized that she had likely hurt his feelings with the way she was taking her anger out on him. "Yeah, I haven't really been fair to you this year have I?" Hermione said.
"Well I do want to say I'm sorry. I just had a lot happening at home and seeing you made me angry and it's not even for something you did, just what you represent," Hermione apologized.
"What I represent? I don't understand," Harry blinked in confusion because he wasn't sure where she was going.
"Do you remember the lesson we had in Professor Binns history where he talked about witches and taking muggle men?" Hermione started because it had been many months ago and it was possible that Harry had forgotten.
Taking a few seconds to recall as that had also been the discussion on the Chamber of Secrets. "Yeah, I do actually. He um… he said that in the past witches would entrance muggle men and it got so bad that muggles started trying to burn witches and was a reason for the statute of secrecy," Harry answered as that was a decent summary of the lesson.
"Well what he didn't say was that, witches tend to view muggle men who produce magical offspring as more desirable partners," Hermione continued speaking so that she could bring Harry to understand what was going on.
"Well… over the summer break my parents argued a lot," Hermione said. "Apparently last year, my father was getting letters from witches. Some of them were fairly innocent, just letting him know that he wasn't the first muggle to have a magical daughter and that if he had questions he could contact them for advice."
"My father would be out of the house often, and not just for work either," Hermione's hands clenched tightly into fists. "I woke up in the middle of the night by my mom screaming at him, and another woman. A witch that he came home with. I just pretended that I was still asleep the whole time. We didn't do a whole lot that summer."
"And then the holiday break came. I wasn't hoping for much, that maybe my parents were able to reconcile things," Hermione hung her head and sniffled. "My dad moved out in November."
"Oh," Harry said even though he had wanted to remain quiet while Hermione talked, that was really shocking. Not in that it seemed impossible, he'd actually come to a similar conclusion that had his parents been alive then his parents would probably have had a different relationship because he was a wizard and other witches would have wanted in on that. He just didn't expect that Hermione's dad would leave her and her mom for a witch.
"It was a couple of witches he moved in with," Hermione said. "They came and packed up all of his things, and my mother swears they took some extra stuff. Then they told her she can't even file for divorce."
"She's not allowed to explain to the courts that dad left to live with witches because that would break the statute of secrecy and since she also can't declare him dead, she has to stay married to him."
"And I just kept hearing my mum cry at night and I was so frustrated because this stupid magical world and it's stupid customs," Hermion's voice cracked and her hands trembled. "And then I saw you, a wizard. And I was just so mad and wanted to take it out on you because I felt like if I could get back at you, then I'd be getting back at the people who led my dad away."
"But that wasn't fair, and it didn't help bring my parents back together, how could it? All it did was make us both feel worse," Hermione said. "So I'm sorry for the way I treated you this year, especially now that you saved the school and me. I've just been mad about all of this and sometimes I think, if I wasn't born a witch this wouldn't be happening."
"Well… Hermione I," Harry paused because he didn't know what to say to her about this. Her parents were breaking up and the girl blamed herself for some of it just being a witch. It didn't seem fair that he could talk to Dumbledore and get great advice but when someone came to him, all the right words just didn't seem to exist. But he had to say something so why not try honesty. "That sucks."
The witch looked up in shock at the blunt summation of the events. "I mean that really sucks. I can't imagine what it must be like at home. And, I don't think I'll ever know, I don't live with my parents for obvious reasons and I stayed with Tonks for the last month of summer. But, if there's something bothering you, you can always talk to me about it. We are still friends right?"
A small smile crept onto Hermione's face as she nodded. "Yeah, I'd still like to be friends."
Once boarded onto the Hogwarts express, Harry was moving down the compartments, hoping to find the one person he couldn't find time to get to in the last few days.
Knocking before he slid open the door, Harry smiled at the little blonde engrossed in her magazine. "Hey Luna, um… do you mind if I join you?" Harry asked as he pointed to the empty seat across from her.
The blonde stared at him for a moment before slowly nodding. "Certainly Harry," she quickly put away her Quibbler magazine to give him her full attention.
Staring at her for a few seconds before finally working up the courage to broach the needed topic. "I was hoping that after all the time we spent together this year and how you stayed beside me despite all the rumors, that you might want to join my coven?"
Luna stilled before gulping. "Are you sure Harry?" Luna questioned nervously.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Harry asked back.
Looking down at herself to break eye contact. "Well I didn't go with you into the chamber, I ran away because I was scared. And I'm not as developed as the other girls, I'm just twelve. Tonks is so beautiful and I don't see why you'd even notice me when surely there are other girls that you could choose from," Luna's lip quivered while she listed all the reasons she could think of that Harry shouldn't bother with her now that the entire school was on his side once again, more famous than ever.
"I didn't choose Tonks for my coven because of her looks, I chose her because she has a good heart and so do you," Harry said as he moved across the cabin to sit next to Luna. "You were so helpful with this entire situation, because you stopped to think, that's something I seem to have trouble with considering I've thrown myself at dangerous problems before."
"You could have walked away when everyone thought I was the culprit," Harry continued as he put his hand onto Luna's. "If it wasn't for you I'd never have figured out what was happening and I sure wouldn't have been as prepared to go down that as I was. And the other girls are only older than you for now, we won't be twelve forever. So what if they are more developed, they weren't there for me."
"You were," Harry smiled at the little blonde. "And I was hoping that you'd want to stay with me, stay with us I guess. Unless you don't want to."
Luna sat for just a second to think about what she wanted and then wrapped her arms around Harry. "I do want to. I just don't know what to say. I never thought I'd ever be in a coven and I'm not sure what to tell Mama Xeno."
"Well I'm sure it won't be nearly as awkward as when I met Mrs. Tonks. I didn't know I started a coven when I met Tonks parents last summer. That was a bit of a shock, the whole… everything about it," Harry chuckled as he felt Luna shake.
Then he started to hear her giggle in his arms. "You are quite a silly wizard Harry Potter."
"Most definitely, but, if being silly gets me great friends like you, then I'll just have to keep being silly," Harry lamented that his fate was already sealed. Woe be the one who has people who love them.
Author's Notes: See I finally did it, I explained Hermione's behavior. I hope for the people who already had a feeling about why she was acting the way she was can rest knowing the truth, even if it wasn't that pleasant to hear. But I think I did an okay enough job laying down the groundwork for why she acts like she does. But now Harry also gets a female friend that isn't in his coven. And he also finally asked Luna to formally join his. Now he just has to introduce her to Tonks properly, get her a choker and then meet Mama Xeno. Surely that won't be awkward.
And for the people who wonder, no this is not the last that we have seen of Gilderoy Lockhart.