I do not own the characters of JK Rowling. I just like to play with them. This is my first attempt at a long Harry Potter fic, and I welcome your reviews and comments.
Harry POV
It was late the night before everyone returned home for the summer at the end of fourth year. Harry Potter hated the way his life was turning out. He had been forced into the Tri-Wizard tournament and everyone had turned on him. Hermione acted like she was on his side, but she tried just a little too hard to get him to forgive Ron for being an arse again. Harry had not forgotten how Ron had behaved when he learned that Harry could speak Parseltongue.
For the first time ever, Harry was thinking and he was wondering why he was even friends with Ron and Hermione. No one else even liked them. He went from being a freak with no friends to being an unwanted celebrity with outcasts for friends. Ron is rude, brash, has a quick temper and he never does any of his schoolwork. He only came to Hogwarts to play Quidditch it seems. Well, this was the end of fourth year and he had not tried out for the team.
Ron wanted to be Head Boy and to be better than his brothers but he was doing nothing to achieve those goals. He argued with Hermione if she even hinted that he should do his work. That plus his having an actual rat for a pet did not add much to the pro column for Ronald Weasley. He never just let Harry have anything without either complaining about his own things, the food on their first train ride, his Christmas sweater, Harry's invisibility cloak, his family. Face it, Ronald Weasley was not a very good friend.
Hermione was different. She made herself an outcast. Did she really think she could just memorize books and suddenly know more than people who had lived in the magical world all of their lives? You would think that she would read a book on personal charms. No one takes her seriously and even the house elves hate her. What good is her know it all behavior going to do her when she graduates? No one will hire her because she tries to make everyone around her seem stupid because she read a book.
Hermione had a great sense of self-importance. It was pathetic and I have noticed that the only boy interested in Hermione this year besides Ron was Viktor Krum and that was because he thought she would be an easy conquest. For all of her talking down about Lavendar and those girls, she acted just like them when she finally got herself a date. What help did she actually give me during the tournament? She showed him the summoning charm which was useful, but for all of her knowledge, it seems to fall short. Did she research detection charms so he could open his mail without being cursed? Come to think of it, why didn't the teachers do that?
No, Harry was on his own and it was time to make some changes. He would treat his life from now on just like when he tended his Aunt Petunia's garden. He would get rid of the weeds and prune out the unnecessary vines and leaves. He needed a life makeover. If no one was going to help him, he would do it himself.
"Your thoughts are very loud, but they are finally free of Nargles, Harry Potter." Harry startled and looked up from his perch on the window seat of an abandoned corridor on the seventh floor to see a girl with very pretty blonde hair that flowed past her shoulders. It was almost a white blonde, but there were other shades mixed into it. Her expression gave the impression that she was slightly dazed. She was also barefoot.
"Hello, you know my name, but I do not know yours." She smiled.
"It's okay, Harry Potter. You had a lot to deal with this year. I could not expect you to notice me. Not many people do and when they do, they call me names. My name is Luna Lovegood, but people call me Looney. I was looking for my belongings." Harry was intrigued with her manner of speech. It did not appear as if it bothered her that her belongings were missing.
"Luna, people should not call you names. Why are your things missing?" She smiled and sat down next to Harry.
"Well, some people are just immature, Harry. The easy answer is that they were taken from me throughout the course of this year by older girls. It made them feel better to bully me you see. I let them because the teachers do nothing about it anyway and I have nothing of real value here with me." Harry leaned towards Luna.
"Luna, would you like it if I called my house elf friend, Dobby to help you?" Luna smiled and nodded.
Harry called Dobby and he arrived quickly bowing and genuflecting."Harry Potter sir has called his Dobby. What can Dobby be doing for the great Harry Potter?" Harry sighed and Luna giggled.
"Dobby, we need you to get all of Luna's things. People have taken them." Dobby thought for a moment.
"Would you like Dobby to get all of Harry Potter's things, too?" Harry looked confused, but he nodded, too. Dobby popped away.
"Harry Potter, I can help you to change your life. If you trust me, I will meet you on the train on the way home. You have to ask Dobby to get you a second trunk from the lost and found. We will leave your original trunk behind and we will take only necessary things. Do you trust me to help you, Harry Potter?" Harry looked at Luna with her pretty smile and sensed a kindred spirit. He nodded at Luna and they shared a brief hug.
Dobby popped back with many things that Harry did not know were his including tapestries, magical items and trinkets and bags of money. This made him very angry. Luna asked Dobby to get another trunk for Harry and they spent some time packing it and making replicas of his things and placing them into his old trunk.
Dobby asked that Harry bond with him, but Harry did not know what that meant. Dobby explained that house elves would die without a master, and Harry immediately said yes and went through the bonding process with Dobby. This led Dobby to asking Luna to bond with Winky and she did so quickly. She then sent Winky to take care of her father and to strengthen their wards at home.
Luna asked Dobby if he knew how to fix Harry's eyesight and he touched Harry's forehead and there was a loud scream and then Harry could see. He placed his glasses into the old trunk and put on a pair that Dobby conjured that had clear glass. He had a new change of clothes that Dobby changed to fit him that he would wear tomorrow. The new trunk was shrunk and placed into his pocket. Dobby put the old trunk back in his dorm room.
Luna hugged Harry again. "I will see you tomorrow, Harry Potter. Do not trust the twinkly eyed chess master, the red haired dust bin or the fake know it all. Trust me." Harry just nodded and let Dobby pop him back to his bed. Tomorrow was going to be the first day of his new life.