Luna and the Potters

Notes, warnings, etc: Lunar Harmony (i.e. H/HR/L or some combination thereof), Ravenclaw!bashing (specifically Cho and Flitwick), canon to right before fifth year, the story skirts close to canon most of fifth year, diverging quickly afterwards, slightly darker Luna, no Horcruxes (other than the diary).

Part I:

I'm Luna Lovegood. People think that I'm strange or odd, and I admit that I see the world differently from other people. There's a bit of Seer in me, along with my abilities to contact creatures on different dimensional planes. That's where most of the things I talk about come from, you know.

Because of my oddities, I really only had two best friends. Before them, I had a best friend, but Ginny abandoned me after Mum died in 1990, when I was nine. I really could have used a friend then, as Mum's death was really hard on me. It was hard on Daddy, too, but he hadn't been in the room with her when she cast that final spell.

When we finally got to Hogwarts, Ginny continued to abandon me, although I can forgive her first year, as she was possessed by Lord Voldemort. There was no excuse for the other two years.

I met my two best friends at the beginning of my fourth year. It was the next school term after the Triwizard Tournament, where Harry Potter won the Tournament, but Cedric was killed. It was the term after Lord Voldemort returned.

Daddy and I had just returned from a trip to Sweden, as there were a number of interesting magical creatures, most of which we theorised were visible to the naked eye on this dimensional plane, in the region. I managed to have a nice train trip to school without any of my classmates coming to give me a hard time. They so frequently did that, because of my oddities. They said that I didn't belong in Ravenclaw.

They didn't seem to realise that I received more points than anyone in Ravenclaw.

I met my best friends when we were about to get onto the carriages to go to the school. Harry Potter, now my best friend, was examining the Thestrals. I think that he was seeing them for the first time. I had to explain Thestrals to him.

We got into the carriage, and Ginny Weasley was sitting there, next to Neville Longbottom, and the most gorgeous girl I'd ever seen: Hermione Granger.

I was introduced to those in my carriage by Ginny Weasley, which is when I learned the name of the person who'd become my second best friend. Unfortunately, my ex-best friend slipped when she was introducing me—she called me one of the nicer names that my classmates (and the whole of Ravenclaw) called me—Looney, instead of my proper name.

I think that Hermione noticed that I was looking at her. She smiled. Maybe she won't be as mean, I thought.

\\/

It was widely known throughout the school that Hermione Granger was one of the smartest witches at Hogwarts, perhaps since Lily Potter had gone to Hogwarts during the 70s. This fact irked some of my so-called classmates in Ravenclaw.

They suggested that the Hat had been wrong two years in a row: that Hermione should've gone to Ravenclaw, and that I should be anywhere but Ravenclaw due to my oddities and eccentricities. Hufflepuff was the usual suggestion.

Again, my classmates didn't see what was right there in front of them—that I got Ravenclaw house proportionately more points than anyone else.

The fact that Hermione Granger was extremely smart was one of the reasons that I was hesitant around her at first. That, and her closed-mindedness. I was afraid that she'd make fun of me.

She didn't.

It was a nice change, albeit a short-lived one. I had to endure dinner with the Ravenclaws, which included a speech from a highly-bigoted Ministry flunky named Dolores Umbridge. That woman had attempted to cause quite a number of problems for Daddy, due to his support of Harry Potter, his stories about various politicians, and his unabashed support of various so-called Dark Creatures.

I could tell as soon as she looked at me, that Dolores Umbridge was going to make my life miserable this year. Harry and the Muggle-borns would also feel her wrath.

The woman looked like a toad. I could've cared less if she croaked to death.

\\/

Hermione Granger was in the library the first week of term, doing her homework. It was then that I recognised her from previous years. She was at the library more than anyone—even some Ravenclaws. She was doing a runes project.

"You're not doing that completely right," I said to her after walking over to her. "See, this rune is flipped 180°, and that one is flipped 90°."

"You're right," said Hermione. "How the hell do you know that?"

"Daddy has runes puzzles in his paper sometimes," I responded. "He's the editor of The Quibbler. I know a lot about Runes."

"You're Luna, aren't you?" asked Hermione. It was said in a non-accusatory way. I nodded. "Why do people call you by that nickname?"

"Because I'm a bit odd," I replied.

"That's no reason to make fun of someone else," said Hermione. She seemed a lot nicer in person. "If you ever want to talk, you can always ask me. I was bullied as a child."

"Why? You're so nice, so smart," I said, leaving the 'so attractive' bit out.

"Because I was so smart," said Hermione. "I wasn't exactly able to pick up on social cues as a child, so I let everyone else know that I was smarter than they were. They didn't like it, and bullied me for it. I got to Hogwarts, and it seemed to be much of the same—until I met Harry."

"What did he do?"

"He helped save me from a troll," said Hermione. "It's a long story, but if you have the time, I'll tell it to you."

I was excited. This wonderful girl was going to tell me about her first year at Hogwarts.

"We had a Professor by the name of Quirrell, who was hosting the Dark Lord on the back of his head," said Hermione. "He always wore a turban to disguise it. He let a troll in; however, I didn't know about it. I was in the ladies crying, as Ron Weasley had insulted me earlier in the day. Harry and Ron came to rescue me. I think that I've loved Harry ever since."

She must've seen me react to that last statement. "I'm sure that he doesn't return my love," she tried to reassure me. "But Harry and I have been best friends ever since. Ron is also Harry's best friend."

I'd picked up on that over the years. I observe both this world and the others. Sometimes I can even see glimpses of the Multiverse.

"I have to get back to my work, Luna," said Hermione. "It was nice talking with you, though."

I was smiling as I went to another table in the library.

\\/

Fortunately for me, I never took any of Professor Umbridge's bait, which seemed to make her angry. But, as I was doing nothing that could remotely be considered wrong, she wasn't punishing me for it. Harry, on the other hand, was a different story.

Harry Potter was adamant in his claims that Voldemort had returned, which gave Professor Umbridge, who seemed not to believe said claims, much ammunition to put Harry Potter in detention and attempt to discredit him even more. It was worse than the attempts to discredit him courtesy of the hacks at the Daily Prophet, which published more fictional stories than The Quibbler ever did.

Mind you, Daddy had written some crazy stories, but not quite as many as were being written by the Prophet against Potter and Dumbledore.

I think that everyone in the school realised that we weren't being taught Defence Against the Dark Arts properly. The books used for the class were appropriate only for nursery school. At the latest, first or second year.

One of the many times that I was in the library, Hermione approached me again.

"I'm thinking of setting up a Defence Club," she said. "A secret one that certain teachers can never find out about."

"I'm listening," I said. I didn't want to commit to joining a group until I knew who was running it, the security protocols, etc. "So how are you doing this?"

"There's going to be an informational meeting at the Hog's Head Bar and Inn in Hogsmeade next Hogsmeade Weekend," replied Hermione. "It'll be run by Harry and I, and everyone will have to sign a roster."

"A roster?" I asked. "Isn't that a bit of a security risk?"

"There would be spells, of course," she said. "And spells that would activate in the case of exposure. There are some nasty side effects if someone were to betray us."

"Sounds like fun," I replied. "The Humdingers are happy that you've convinced Harry Potter to do this."

"What are humdingers?" asked Hermione. "Ginny says that most of the things that you talk about are made up."

"Do you believe her?"

"There have been no peer-reviewed works that include such creatures, Luna," responded Hermione. "That means that either they don't exist or you need something that most researchers don't have."

"Only a few people can see what I see, Hermione," I told her. "Muggles talk about 4-dimensional space. They are very much wrong. It's more like that String Theory that scientists are beginning to talk about."

"So these creatures are in one of the extra dimensions, and you can see that?"

"I can see how they interact with things in our dimension," I responded. "Seeing their dimension, I can't say that I don't do that. It's also that at the same time, I can't say that I do."

"So you can see magic or something," said Hermione excitedly.

"A bit," I told her. "Nothing like how a Veela sees the world, of course. They can see love. Like a synaesthesia."

"You are quite knowledgable about the world," said Hermione. "Are the Snorkacks real and on this dimensional plane?"

"I'm not sure about that," I answered. "It may be that they've gone extinct. My father has references that suggest that they at least were real at one point."

"It's refreshing to talk to you, Luna," she said. "Not talking about Quidditch or boy things like Harry and Ron, or girly things and 'which boy is hottest' like Lavender and Parvati. Just talking. An intellectual equal."

"I like talking to you as well," I replied. "It's almost like having a friend."

Hermione reached over to give me a hug. It was nice. "I am your friend, Luna," she said. "At least, I hope I am. Now, how are things going in Ravenclaw?"

I made a bad face. "More of my stuff has gone missing," I replied softly. "A couple of my most treasured possessions have gone missing. They're not valuable to anyone but me."

"Luna, you need to talk to Flitwick about this," she said. "Valuable or not, they still are valuable to you."

"They're some of the last things that Mum and I worked on," I explained. "She died when I was nine. She was a great witch, but liked to experiment, and one day, her spell went horribly wrong. There's a reason that I can see Thestrals."

Hermione looked horrified. "You saw your mum die?" she asked. I knew that she wasn't trying to be mean: she was my friend, after all. I nodded sadly.

"Dad hasn't been the same since it happened," I told her. "He used to be more sane than he is now. Slightly, but he was. After Mum died, he threw himself into The Quibbler, and started to believe more and more of the things that he wrote."

"I'm...I'm so sorry to hear that, Luna," said Hermione, almost stuttering as if she didn't know what to say. She probably didn't know what to say.

\\/

Things in the Ravenclaw Common Room were just as bad as usual. Prefect Chang and her crew were taking shots at me from one side. My year-mates were talking shots at me from the other. They were quite mean.

More and more of my things went missing. I barely had enough knickers and socks to last a week. Most of my mother's belongings were missing, as well, along with most of my uniforms.

Someone had taken most of my shoes as well.

"There's nothing I can do," replied Professor Flitwick when I went to see him about it. "Be a proper Ravenclaw, and they'll stop."

"I am a proper Ravenclaw," I screamed at him. "I earn more points than anyone else in Ravenclaw, and you're telling me to be a proper Ravenclaw?!"

"Miss Lovegood, that's enough," said the diminutive professor.

"I agree," I replied, in an angry tone. "If you're not going to do anything, then I can see I'm wasting my time here."

I stormed out the door to Flitwick taking fifty points from Ravenclaw, although that might have been because the door broke as I stormed through it.

\\/

The first meeting of the Defence Club went well. I was very pleased when Harry and Hermione pointed out the obvious security flaw of meeting in a pub—a very shady pub, rumoured to be owned by Dumbledore's brother or half-brother. The man's relationship to Dumbledore varied depending on who was telling the story.

Some even claimed that the man was Grindlewald in disguise, forced to become a barkeeper as penance for his Dark ways and numerous murders. I didn't believe that one, as we had verifiable evidence that the real Grindlewald was locked up in Nurmengard. Our people had used every method of dispelling disguises possible, and had come to the conclusion that it was the real Grindlewald.

"We need someplace secure to have our club," said Harry.

"The Chamber of Secrets?" suggested Ronald Weasley. His sister shuddered, worse than most people do after someone says the Dark Lord's name.

"No," said Harry flatly. "If I ever go back there again, it'll be too soon."

"Third floor corridor?" asked someone else. Harry shook his head.

"Keep an eye out for a place that all of us can practise together," he said. "Make sure that everyone signs the parchment. We'll know if you don't. You have to keep this a secret, too. I'm told that we'll definitely know who any traitors are."

It wasn't more than a couple of days later when Harry Potter found a perfect place to have the club, thanks to a House-Elf by the name of Dobby, who Harry had managed to befriend. It was a place called the Room of Requirement, and it fit its name perfectly.

It was able to provide a large enough room for a duelling arena and quite a number of books about Defence. All Harry had to do was consciously think of something he needed, and it was provided to him.

It really was a clever room. I was fairly certain that Rowena Ravenclaw herself had created the room. I'm sure that she would've approved me being in her House.

Ginny suggested the incredibly stupid idea of "Dumbledore's Army" which the group quickly voted as the group's name. I preferred Hermione's suggestion of "Defence Association," as that was less politically charged.

I had the feeling that Dumbledore's Army was going to cause problems if and when we were found out. Problems among the students, and problems for the Headmaster.

But that would be far down the line. How far, I didn't know. Nor did I want to. It was my hope, of course, that nobody would betray the DA (as I came to think of it), but logically, there were 35 of us. The chances that somebody would say something to the wrong person who would tell someone else were quite high.

\\/

"What has been happening to you?" asked Harry Potter after one of our DA sessions.

"My things have been going missing, as per usual," I replied. "It's not that I care much—I don't have much to wear right now. My shoes have run off, you know."

"Luna," said Harry in an exasperated voice. "Your classmates are bullying you, pure and simple. We have to do something."

"I tried, Harry," I responded. "Flitwick won't do anything. He says that I'm not a proper Ravenclaw. For a Ravenclaw, he sure misses a lot of the facts."

"Where do you keep what's left of your clothes?" he asked me.

"In my trunk, of course," I said. "There are a number of spells in my trunk that would make many people, including Hermione, jealous. Why do you ask?"

"There are spells that would make her jealous?" asked Harry. I nodded. "Hermione tells me that you're brilliant at Runes. Are there any Runes that would protect your trunk against anybody except for you?"

I thought about it a minute. "That might work," I mused. "I think that I'll need to ask Hermione about this, but that might work. You're brilliant, just like your future wife."

"My what?" asked Harry.

"Sorry, I said too much," I said. "But Hermione is one of the better candidates for that role."

"Do you know something I don't?"

"About your future, no, not really," I said. "About school things: yes."

"Is there anything I can do to help with your bullying problem?" he asked me. "I was bullied as a child, as my family did not, well does not, like me. My cousin and his gang frequently bullied me."

I hadn't known that. "Ordinarily, I'd ask for the protection of the Potters and/or the Blacks," I told Harry. "But that might not be wise, given the political climate."

"You're going to have to explain that," he said. "Another place you are more knowledgable than me: Wizarding politics."

"If someone is under the Protection of a House, then any offences against the protected are considered offences against the House, and are dealt with as such," I explained. "Therefore, any offence against me could be dealt with by you, using The Pureblood Code."

"How would I do that?"

"Give a statement in front of a quorum of at least ten male Purebloods that I am under your protections, using your full name and full House titles," I said. "The DA would be sufficient."

"Why won't Flitwick help?" mused Harry. It was getting late, so I didn't answer. I wanted to get back to Ravenclaw Tower before one of the prefects had the chance to lock the door again.

\\/

"Why won't Flitwick help you?" asked Hermione a couple of days later in the library.

"How well does Harry know Cho?" I asked.

"Not much, why?"

"She is one of my chief tormentors, usually saying that I don't belong in Ravenclaw," I told her. "She is my leading suspect in some of the thefts of my belongings as well. Her father is the Ambassador from Magical China to the UK. Su Li's father is Taiwan's Ambassador to the UK."

"So the ringleaders are just as protected as someone like Malfoy?" asked Hermione. I nodded.

"One of the only people on my side in Ravenclaw is Padma Patil," I told Hermione. "She's a nice girl, her father is the brother-in-law of a cousin of someone of importance on the Subcontinent. But even she sits on the sidelines. She never takes part in their abuse, but she doesn't do anything either."

"And the problems are from the very top," said Hermione. She looked as though her trust in teachers was quickly dissipating. "I thought that Flitwick was a good teacher."

"He's a good teacher," I said. "But he's a rather lousy administrator. Professor Sprout is much more involved in her students' lives than Flitwick or even McGonagall. As much as we all hate Professor Snape, he is also involved in the lives of the Slytherins."

Hermione opened up her Ancient Runes book, and turned to a page halfway through. She pointed to one of the diagrams. It was a complex diagram, more complex than most of the runes diagrams I'd seen. Not quite as complex as a warding scheme of course, but it was complex.

"What do you think of this?" she asked me.

"It's complex, of course, but doable," I replied. "We need more options than just runes, though. As a backup plan."

"I wish that I could just Summon all of your missing belongings," joked Hermione. "Like Accio All of Luna Lovegood's stolen belongings."

"I'm not quite sure that would even work," I replied. "Although if you put enough focus on what you wanted, then I'm sure that it would work. Especially with you."

"What do you mean?"

"You have a greater focus than most," I said. "Plus, you're fairly powerful at a medium high power level."

"Where should we put the Rune Scheme?" asked Hermione.

"I would say on the latch," I replied. "Question is: how do we program it for me?"

Hermione and I looked at each other. We both knew of one way, but while not illegal, it was highly frowned upon. "I suppose it's the only way," I said.

"We have to keep this a secret," said Hermione. "If anyone finds out too early what we're planning to do, we could be in big trouble. Not school trouble, but Azkaban-type trouble."

"I know," I said.

We had to practise the runes first, in private, so that I could get it right her first try on my trunk. That was because we were going to use my own blood to perform the rune scheme. Any mistakes would lessen the effectiveness of the runes themselves.

While we were practising, we were using ink, as neither Hermione nor I wanted to draw that much blood, as that would not only temporarily decrease my magical power, but it would hurt. Wizards still had not figured out a way to draw blood that didn't hurt for at least a minute.

They'd figured out a long time ago that switching spells wouldn't work, as that would cause a gas bubble within the blood, which could lead to death. Anaesthetics worked too long. A Stunning Spell reduces a person's blood flow.

"Do you think that this will work, Luna?" asked Harry during one of our Runes practise sessions. "Will you be able to do it yourself? I could always see if my godfather knows of any good spells."

Harry and I started to get closer as we worked on our project, as did Hermione and I. They were both wonderful people, even if they were a year (or a year and a half) older than me. Harry, when he set his mind to it, was brilliant. Hermione was brilliant even at her worst.

I think that they truly cared about me.

It was during a DA meeting that Cho tried to drop hints of wanting a romantic relationship with Harry, but he shut her down hard. Although I knew that I would be faced with more taunts during the coming months, due to Harry's 'insolence', it was almost amusing to watch Hoe Chang get put down like that.

Unfortunately, all things have to come to an end, and it was soon Winter Break. Harry, Hermione, and I were all disappointed, as we'd been meeting daily in some form or another for at least a month.

"I'm going to miss you," I told them on the last day before break as I hugged them. Harry would be going to A-Place-That-Cannot-Be-Named, which he also referred to as 'Headquarters', and Hermione was supposedly going skiing with her parents on the mainland. I would be staying at Hogwarts, as most of Ravenclaw were going home.

It would be lonely without them. Harry and Hermione, that is. I could care less about the rest of Ravenclaw. It would be rather helpful that most of Ravenclaw would be gone, including all the girls in my year, as it would give me a chance to draw the Runes Scheme on my trunk.

Once they came back, we would be able to see how effective it was.

\\/

"Where did Mr Potter and Miss Granger go?" asked Dolores Umbridge, who'd seen me in the Halls during Break. She'd almost immediately pulled me into her office to interrogate me.

"I don't know," I told the witch. She was more like a toad/hag/witch creature. "Presumably, Harry is with the Weasleys, as he is good friends with them. Miss Granger was going on holiday to the Continent with her parents—West Germany, I think."

"You're lying," said the so-called professor. "West Germany doesn't exist any longer. They kicked the Russians out years ago."

"Old habits, I suppose," I replied. "After all, it has only been a couple of years since Unification. She might've been going to America. I forget which."

"I'll figure out what you are hiding sooner or later, Miss Lovegood," said Umbridge. "One of these days, you and your father will both be rotting in Azkaban. You are Traitors to your country and to your blood-status."

I left the room, extending my arm in front of me, almost in a parody of the Bellamy Salute, and muttering "Heil Umbridge" as I went. I was quite surprised that I didn't get detention for the rest of Break for that. Or any detention at all, for that matter.

\\/

"So did you get your project done?" asked Harry the next time that we were in the library.

"Yes," I said. "I think it went successfully, but we're going to have to wait for someone to attempt to breach the trunk."

"Everything go alright in Ravenclaw over Break?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, most of them were gone, including Their Highnesses the Daughters of the Chinese Ambassadors Chang and Li," I responded. "Umbridge tried to find out where you guys went on holiday, but I gave her false information. I said that Harry was going to the Weasleys, and that Hermione was going to either Germany or America."

"Did she fall for it?" asked Harry.

"No, she knew that I wasn't telling the truth," I admitted. "She can get very frustrated with me. But look at who she gives detention to: mostly Muggle-borns and Harry. Purebloods don't get detention with Her."

"I suppose you were right about me being with the Weasleys," said Harry. "They were at the Place-That-Cannot-Be-Named with me and my godfather. Hermione was there, as well, due to extenuating circumstances."

"It's also that I don't much enjoy skiing," said Hermione. "The only reason I even wanted to go was to spend time with my parents. I don't spend enough time with them."

"You were at HQ most of the summer," recalled Harry. "Did Dumbledore even give you a choice?"

"Not really," said Hermione. I could tell that she realised that, out of the three of us, she was the only one who still had both of her parents.

"So what were your extenuating circumstances?" I asked, so he told me the story of his dream and the attack on Arthur Weasley.

"What was Arthur Weasley doing near the Department of Mysteries?" I asked. I'd recognised the description of where the attack occurred. "To my knowledge, he's not an Unspeakable, and they're the only ones authorised to be there."

"I think it has something to do with a group that he's part of," said Harry. "A secret group that we cannot talk about here."

"Other than that, did you have a good Holiday?" I asked.

"We did, once I was able to cheer Harry up," said Hermione. "Thank you for the gifts that you sent us. I really liked the necklace."

I smiled. I'd sent Hermione a book about some of the animals Daddy and I searched for, and a cork necklace, similar to the one I'd made with my mother. Harry got a book about defensive charms and a Snorkack stuffed animal.

"I really liked the books you gave me," I replied, still beaming from the fact they liked my gifts.

When I went back to my Dormitory, I found that there were three of my classmates on the floor, unconscious, as if they'd been thrown up against the wall.

I wasn't as much of a Black as some of my ancestors: I wanted my classmates alive, so I called the Hospital Wing on the Common Room Floo.

"What happened?" asked the nurse.

"I don't know," I replied, schooling my face into a confused expression. "I just came back to my Dormitory to get changed into some different clothes, and found them like this."

Madame Pomfrey approached my trunk, and noted the girls' apparent trajectory. She reached down.

"Don't touch that!" I exclaimed.

"That answers my question as to how the girls got like this, Miss Lovegood," she replied. "Why were these measures necessary?"

"My belongings frequently go missing," I explained. "I've gone to Flitwick multiple times, at least once or twice a year, and he just dismisses me and tells me to be a proper Ravenclaw."

"But I've seen the Points Totals!" exclaimed the nurse, almost forgetting about the three patients on the floor. "You earn the most out of all the Ravenclaws!"

"I've brought that fact up to him as well," I told her. "I'm thinking of asking Potter for the Protection of the Potter and Black families, but I am unsure in this political climate."

"Do you think that your housemates would be afraid of invoking Harry's wrath?" asked the nurse, making sure I knew what I was doing. Or what I was getting myself into.

"He's one of the best at Defence in the school," I told her. "When it is being taught by a proper teacher. It's almost a shame that the man teaching last year was an imposter—he was fairly good."

"He certainly emulated the real Moody well," responded the nurse. "I should probably get your classmates out of the way so that you can continue with your night."

"Do you need any help?" I asked her. "And thank you very much."

"No, thank you," she said. "I have Portkeys. I'm one of the only people authorised to make Portkeys within Hogwarts."

I reached over to my trunk and opened the latch carefully. It had been working the whole of Break, but since it had been activated, I wasn't sure whether it was still programmed correctly.

It opened, just like every other time, and I started to get changed into some different clothes.

\\/

"It worked," I told Harry and Hermione excitedly the next day. "I found three of them unconscious in my room."

"You're not in trouble, are you?" asked Hermione.

"Of course not, I called Pomfrey," I said. "Plus, Flitwick might see this as Ravenclaw ingenuity."

"If you ever need more help, let us know," said Harry. We then started to work on our homework, correcting each others' essays as we went along.

"Where's Weasley?" I asked my friends. "I thought that he was your best friend."

"He hasn't been hanging around with us much lately," replied Hermione. "We think that it's possibly a connection with Lavender Brown or Hannah Abbot."

"Why would he go out with them?" I asked. "Lavender might have good physical qualities, but she's an airhead. Abbot isn't much better. Plus, I'm told she's gay. I suppose it's not important. He's not falling behind on his coursework, is he?"

"Not any more than usual," laughed Hermione. I definitely liked the sound of Hermione Granger laughing.

"Have any of your classes been inspected by She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" I asked them.

"Yeah, a couple," said Harry. "Mostly she just manages to piss off whichever teacher she's 'observing'."

"She's not observing on teaching skills, either," said Hermione. "I believe she's observing who is teaching according to the Ministry's wishes. Or trying to find so-called 'half-breeds'."

"I don't think that Hagrid will last much longer," I observed. "Hagrid is a good person, but he has no sense of scale. Most of the creatures he has in class, I'm told, are either gigantic, extremely dangerous, some violation of the Ban on Experimental Breeding, or some combination of the above."

"As much as I hate to say it about my friend, you're right Luna," replied Harry. "She hates any non-Humans, so that's another mark against Hagrid."

There was a crowd waiting for me when I entered the Common Room. "What do you want?"

"You've got to disarm your trunk," said Cho Chang.

"Not going to happen, Prefect Chang," I told her. "How many tried to steal my belongings today?"

One Prefect shoved me, and another attempted to throw a curse at me. But I was quicker. I quickly moved out of the way of the curse. Unfortunately, that led me right to another one of our Prefects, who I was unsure how he ever became a Ravenclaw. He slammed me against the wall.

"Disarm the damned trunk," repeated Chang.

"Not on your life," I repeated. "You've been stealing my belongings and insulting me all these years. You even have the first years threatened enough so that they dislike me. You've stepped up your game to physical encounters now."

"You aren't a true Ravenclaw," said one person. "You've your head stuck in the clouds all the time. You're weird, and belong elsewhere."

"I have my head stuck in the clouds?" I repeated in disbelief. "Tell me, which of us has never failed to reason our riddle properly? Most of us have. I haven't. The only times that I've been locked out are when you program the door not to let me in."

A couple of the larger Ravenclaws started to physically harm me, but thanks to Harry's DA lessons, I managed to get a shield up to prevent a second attack.

"Fuck you, all of you!" I shouted as I shielded myself to rush up to my dormitory, where I incidentally found another couple of stupid girls who'd attempted to rob me of my belongings. Fortunately, all of the dormitories in Ravenclaw tower had a Floo for inter-castle communications only.

"Nurse Pomfrey, I have a couple more unconscious people here for you to pick up," I said.

\\/

"I am going to fucking kill all of them, Luna," said Harry. Hermione put her hand on his shoulder and he calmed down slightly. "You know what? If Flitwick can't help you, how about McGonagall?"

"What can she do for me?"

"She's the Deputy Headmaster," said Hermione. "That means that right now, she's third-in-command of the school, after the Headmaster and She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"I can't exactly vouch for her skills in that area, though," replied Harry. "Earlier this year, after I got detention with She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, McGonagall told me to 'keep my head down'."

We went down to McGonagall's office, but found that it was occupied not only by McGonagall but by Umbridge as well.

"Shit!" I said. Hermione gave me a bad look. "We'll come back later."

"Good idea," said Harry. "I'd rather not be here when the Toad-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is here."

That night was a DA meeting. It went as normal until a couple of minutes before the end.

"Are there at least 10 Purebloods here?" Harry asked the crowd. "Ten male Purebloods?"

A number of guys put up their hands. "That's at least ten, Harry," commented Hermione.

"Good, now listen to me and listen to me very carefully," he said. "I, Harry James Potter, do take Luna Lovegood under the Protection of Houses Potter and Black, as is my right as Heir to those houses. Furthermore, Luna Lovegood is to be considered a member of my families with all the rights, responsibilities, and privileges thereof. So mote it be."

There was an uproar, mostly from the Ravenclaws. Harry put up his hand, and amazingly, they quieted.

"What Ravenclaw has been doing to Luna for the past four years is despicable," he said in a low, but easily heard, voice. "You lot tease her, shout obscenities at her, steal her belongings, and now, you physically abuse her. All for the crime of being a little bit different. She is the most Ravenclaw out of all of you."

Cho said something to Harry, but her statement was unintelligible over the noise that started when Harry took a breath.

"Miss Chang, if I might call you that," said Harry, directly looking at her. "You have stolen her things. You continue to say that she's not Ravenclaw material, whatever that is. What, Miss Chang, does a fourth year being able to correct Hermione Granger's work indicate to you?"

Cho didn't answer.

"No answer, hmm?" taunted Harry. "I would think that it would indicate that the fourth year is an extremely intelligent individual. After all, Luna and Hermione are some of the smartest witches in the school, whereas you, Miss Chang, wouldn't even make my top ten. I don't care who your father is. This behaviour is unacceptable."

He looked at Cho Chang, Su Li, and the other Ravenclaws with a look of extreme disappointment. "If I didn't care about you lot being able to protect yourself against Death Eaters and/or pass your OWLs or NEWTs, I'd kick you out of this little Club. If I had the power to do so, Luna would be moved out of Ravenclaw Tower the moment she asked for it."

I was touched by Harry's statement. If I could, I would take him up on it as soon as possible. Preferably after a certain Toad had vacated the premises.

"I do not tolerate bullying of any kind," Harry was saying. "If you have a problem with that, then leave."

He then turned his back to the Ravenclaw ringleaders and walked away.

Over the next couple of days, I noticed points were being taken away from Gryffindor like a person runs from a dragon. I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew which professors were taking the points, and their names weren't McGonagall or Sprout. I suppose that fraud Trelawney wasn't taking any points, either, but she rarely took away points.

\\/

It was a couple of months later, a couple of weeks before exams, when the DA was found out. Marietta Edgecombe, one of Cho's friends, had the word "Sneak" written on her face. This was very bad.

Unfortunately, I couldn't talk to Harry until the DA meeting that night, as we both had classes the whole day.

"Harry, we need to cancel," I told him desperately. "Marietta has betrayed us."

"How do you know?"

"Unless someone else has jinxed some parchment, I can tell because Marietta has 'SNEAK' written on her face," I said.

"How long do you think we have?" asked Harry. "Does Marietta still have her coin?"

"We forgot to put a charm on that," moaned Hermione. "A charm that would prevent people from being able betray what the numbers mean."

"Like a limited Fidelius?" I asked.

"Exactly," said Hermione. "We didn't charm the list either."

"Would you have been able to put both charms on it?" I asked.

"More than likely," she said. "I don't know if they would interfere with each other, though."

People started to arrive, and then Dobby the House-Elf, who seemed to adore Harry, popped in with a warning.

"This meeting is cancelled!" shouted Harry. "Everyone scatter!"

"Hermione, do a Disillusionment charm on yourself and me," I said. "We have to get out of here."

"A Disillusionment Charm?" she asked.

"They can't hit what they can't see," I said. Hermione quickly cast the charm, and we fled the Room of Requirement. It was a good thing that we were Disillusioned, as Umbridge had set up an ambush involving most of Slytherin.

I was happy to note that most of Ravenclaw had been taken down. I hated to praise the Slytherins on anything, but I loved that the Ravenclaws hadn't thought of something like that.

"Lovegood, put a stop to all of this," Cho said in the Common Room the next day, after her interrogation with Umbridge. "Have Granger change her back, and have her confess so that she can get expelled and the rest of us won't be harmed. My father might get in trouble."

"You bully me for the better part of four years, and now you want a favour?" I asked in disbelief. "Dumbledore confessed to running the group, but he escaped. I expect to be interrogated as to his whereabouts any day now. Second, your friend Marietta betrayed us. I wouldn't get Hermione to take that spell off if Marietta was one of the last five women on the planet. Third, I am under the Protection of Harry Potter and the notorious mass murderer, Sirius Black. I'd advise choosing your battles wisely, especially as Black supposedly killed twelve Muggles and a wizard with a single curse. Fourth, if it takes your father getting in trouble to earn my freedom, so be it. Fifth, at least one Ravenclaw has betrayed me to Flitwick."

"Professor Flitwick, Luna," said one of the other students. "But how do you reason that?"

"Simple logic," I said. "The day after Harry Potter told the lot of you off, Flitwick starts taking points like Snape does. Harry has claimed Flitwick has taken points off for talking too quietly, not talking, not stopping Longbottom, not stopping Weasley, and not being able to do the spell before Hermione."

"Not getting the spell before Granger?" laughed one of the Ravenclaws. "Like that's going to happen."

He stopped his laughter after being given a death glare from Cho Chang.

"I'm going to recommend to Flitwick that you receive detention with Snape for the rest of the year, Lovegood," said Cho Chang.

"Fuck you," I told her. I waved my hands and people moved out of my way, so that I could go up to my dormitory. I called down the stairs, "There are three more thieves here. Please get rid of them."

My trunk didn't do too much damage, just sent them flying towards the wall. It turned out that none of the people who'd attempted thievery had been too damaged—not even a concussion or any broken bones.

I levitated the latest batch of thieves into the hallway, got changed, and set up the protective charms around my bed.

Not to my surprise, I was interrogated about everything I knew a few days later.

"Where is Dumbledore?" Umbridge said after she'd given me a mug of tea. It was a good tea that I was sure that she'd laced with Veritaserum.

"I have no clue," I said honestly. "Dumbledore and I don't talk. In fact, I don't think that I've ever had a conversation with him alone."

"Who were the leaders of that illegal group that you belonged to?"

"Dumbledore set up a meeting before it became illegal," I said. I realised that it must've only been fake Veritaserum in my drink. Either that or the temperature of the tea was diluting the effects. "There was one illegal gathering, and that was the one that you raided. Rather successfully, I must admit. The Nargles told us that somebody had betrayed us."

"Nargles?" asked Umbridge. "Never mind. Who was a member of the group?"

I honestly named all of the Ravenclaws I could remember that had been in the group.

"What about Potter and his Mudblood whore?" asked Umbridge. "Why are you naming Ravenclaws? Have you no house loyalty?"

"Potter had been directed by Dumbledore to create a club for Defence Against the Dark Arts," I said. "I'm not quite sure which Muggle-born you mean by 'his Mudblood whore'. My housemates have not shown me any loyalty in the past four years that I've been at this school. Therefore, I show no loyalty whatsoever to them. Cho and Marietta, in particular, are the worst sort of Ravenclaw out there, and their words should be taken with a grain of salt, I believe the expression is.

Umbridge was disappointed with the results of my interrogation and angrily dismissed me. As I was walking to the library, I gave a salute to one of the roving bands of Inquisitorial Squad members that involved my whole hand.

They didn't get the reference, so I gave them a much simpler salute, consisting of two fingers, after they'd passed.

The physical abuse in Ravenclaw continued as the Term went on, despite the fact that exams were right around the corner. It was getting so bad that I was getting at least a black eye a couple of times a week, occasionally with a broken bone here or there, or a large wound. This usually occurred when I wasn't able to get a shield up in time. The Nurse was not happy to see me this often.

"Ordinarily, I'd go to the headmaster, but we have a sede vacanteright now, as far as the school is concerned," said Pomfrey. "I'm certainly not going to tell Her about your medical condition, as she'd just cheer on the people doing it."

I agreed with the Nurse.

\\/

Pomfrey couldn't even go to McGonagall later, as during one of the night exams (when Harry was taking the Astronomy OWL), she'd been taken four Stunners to the chest. Her prognosis was good, despite the fact four Stunners to the chest would've killed most people her age.

I'd just gotten out of the Hospital Wing after another injury in the Common Room, when I felt my DA coin heat up. It wasn't just hot, it was emergency hot. I started to run to where I knew Harry would be.

That's when I got caught by the Inquisitorial Squad.

"This lot were attempting to help Potter, Headmistress," said Draco Malfoy. I looked over and saw that they'd captured Ron Weasley, who had a bulging bag of sweets in his pocket, Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom.

"Keep them here," ordered Umbridge.

"Jawohl," replied Malfoy. Or maybe he actually said, 'Yes, ma'am,'. It was a bit of a stressful moment there.

It was a couple of minutes later that I heard Harry start to scream in pain. She couldn't! I thought. If she's doing what I think she's doing, that's illegal!

Umbridge reemerged from her office that was currently doubling as a Headmistress's Office. "Bring me Lovegood," she ordered.

Malfoy shoved me into the Toad-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's office.

"Now, I have come to the conclusion that you have not been truthful to me," she said after pushing me into a chair. I was visibly nervous as she took out her wand and pointed it at me. "If Potter won't give me answers, I'll torture his best friend. Crucio!"

OK, the Cruciatus Curse was just as bad as they say, but I bit back my scream. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction. It didn't just hurt, it hurt like hell.

"Harry, you have to tell her!" exclaimed Hermione. She had her improvising face on. This could not be good. "Tell her about the weapon!"

"Weapon?" asked Umbridge, her eyes lighting up in glee. "You are creating a weapon to use against the Ministry?"

"I'm sorry, Harry, but I have to," said Hermione. "For Luna's sake."

"Where is this weapon?" asked Umbridge, casting the Cruciatus Curse on me again.

"It's in the Forest," said Hermione. "I'll lead you there, but I need Harry's help."

"Very well," said Umbridge as she backhanded me to the floor. That, on top of the doses of Cruciatus I'd received, really hurt. "Malfoy, keep watch."

Malfoy dragged me out into the hall. "Your blood-traitor friend will be on his way to Azkaban before the night is out," said Malfoy gleefully. "If he isn't long dead before that."

A few minutes later, Ron claimed that he was peckish, and wanted to eat some of the bag of candy in his pocket. This was a good move, as the Inquisitorial Squad members confiscated the candy and then ate it.

It turned out to be candy from the Weasley Twins, so they started to almost immediately feel ill. We used that distraction to punch them in the stomach, allowing us to get free. Then, we got our wands back and cast various curses at them.

"Get their wands, too," I said. We got their wands, and went into Umbridge's office, where we found both Harry and Hermione's wand. "We use the Squad's wands as backup for whatever we're about to do. We need to get down to the forest."

While we were on our way, Ron briefed us on what he knew—Harry had a vision of Sirius Black being tortured in the DoM by Voldemort himself.

I knew that our situation was not good. If only we had some Felix Felicius.

We decided to take the Thestrals to the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Neville, and I had to help Hermione and the Weasleys, as none of them had seen someone die before. It took us a while to get to the Ministry, but when we did, we found that the main Atrium was deserted.

That did not bode well for us at all.

We went down to the Department of Mysteries, which was located at the bottom-most level of the Ministry of Magic, and from there, we found the prophesy room.

"There's one with your name on," said Neville, pointing to a prophesy orb.

Harry walked over and got it. As soon as he did, Death Eaters came out of their hiding places.

It's a fucking trap! I thought to myself, looking for possible exit points. There were a couple, but they were all covered by Death Eaters.

"Give us the prophesy, Mr Potter," came the voice of Lucius Malfoy. I think it was at this point that Harry and the others realised that we'd walked into an ambush. Harry threw a curse, and the Battle of the Department of Mysteries began.

We actually ended up doing better than one would expect, although we were almost defeated—until a group calling itself the Order of the Phoenix showed up. They quickly turned the tide of the battle. Neville, Hermione, and I were ushered out of the room, and we continued our battle with the Death Eaters.

We went into a room with desks in it. Neville had already broken his original wand, and was now fighting with his backup—Crabbe's wand by the looks of it. Hermione noticed a Death Eater approaching, so she silenced him. I barely had time to think before the Death Eater—I think it was Dolohov—smiled insanely and cast a purple ball spell at Hermione.

Hermione went down immediately. Neville rushed over to her. "She's got a pulse," he said.

Dolohov is going to pay, I thought. I started to fling spells that were incredibly powerful, and very deadly. No matter what happened, I wasn't going to leave the room under my own power.

Dolohov was good, managing to avoid most of the spells I sent his way, but then I managed to corner him, and I cast two very powerful spells. He collapsed to the ground with a sizeable chunk missing from his chest. I checked, and he wasn't breathing.

"Cover me," I told Neville. "We need to regroup with the others."

I started to levitate Hermione's body. We nearly reached the entrance to the DoM when I saw Harry chasing after Bellatrix, who was chanting that she'd killed Sirius Black. Harry caught her with a Cruciatus, but apparently didn't put enough power behind it, as she shrugged it off and started to taunt him.

Then Voldemort came, and fought Dumbledore to a well-fought draw. Best of all, the Minister for Magic saw the magnificent fight so he could no longer deny the fact that Voldemort had returned.

I wasn't able to hang on any longer, and collapsed from exhaustion on top of Hermione. "Protect us," I pleaded with Neville before I lost consciousness.

\\/

I woke up in a hospital room. A nurse came in to check on me.

"How are you feeling?" the nurse asked me. "You've had a rough 48 hours, haven't you?"

"My body feels better," I said. "Where's Hermione?"

"She's still alive," said the nurse. "We think that she'll be just fine, though. We managed to stop it before it went too far."

"And what was I brought in for?" I asked.

"You had a severe case of Magical Exhaustion, combined with the fact that you stayed up all night fighting," said the nurse. "We also show that your body had just been healed from numerous injuries, that there were some newer injuries that occurred in the last 5-8 hours, and Cruciatus exposure."

I shuddered as I remembered what had happened in Umbridge's office. "What happened to Dolohov?" I asked out of curiosity, hoping that they hadn't managed to revive him.

"He's dead," said the nurse. "Somebody cast a couple of spells that are only barely legal. I've not seen those spells used before. The Aurors think that he died in the crossfire."

"And Harry? How is Harry doing?"

"Harry Potter?" asked the nurse. "I don't think that he was admitted to the hospital, Miss Lovegood."

"May I get out of this bed?" I asked.

"As soon as I am finished here," said the nurse. "You may still have aftereffects of the Cruciatus exposure for a couple of days. Other reported side-effects include nightmares, depending on who cast the Curse on you, of course."

She finished up examining me, so I walked out of the room, looking for my best friend. After a minute, I found it. Hermione was laying in the bed, unconscious. The only indicators that she was still alive were the fact she was breathing and the monitoring spells.

Hermione looked like she was in bad shape. I started to cry a little: I couldn't lose someone this close to me again.

"Luna, you're awake!" exclaimed Harry as he walked into the room. I hugged him. I could tell that he was exhausted, both mentally and physically.

"What happened after I passed out?" I asked him. "Dumbledore was beating Voldemort."

"Voldemort retreated, and then attempted to possess me," he said to my shock. "It hurt worse than Umbridge's or Voldemort's Cruciatus. He was feeding me all of my unhappy memories."

"How did you get him out?"

"I thought of my happy memories, namely love," he replied. "My love for the Weasleys, for Hermione, for you. That got him out quickly. The Minister saw Voldemort, of course, and Dumbledore whisked me off to his office to tell me things. Mostly about the prophesy that was destroyed."

"But how would he know what it said?" I asked before coming to the realisation. "He was the one who heard the prophesy in the first place."

Harry nodded. "I destroyed a number of his belongings, I ranted and I raved," he said. "I very much wanted to blame Dumbledore for Sirius's death, but the more I think of it, it was my fault. He was coming to rescue me."

"Harry, it wasn't your fault," I said. "I didn't know Sirius as well as you or Hermione or the Weasleys did, but he came because it was the right thing to do. You tried all methods of contacting him before determining that he was at the DoM and you had to rescue him."

"It was partially his house-elf's fault, too," he explained. "His house-elf hated him, and wished to serve Bellatrix or Narcissa. Kreacher hurt Sirius's hippogriff so that he'd be distracted when I attempted to call him."

"I'm so sorry about your godfather, Harry," I said. The emotions of everything that had happened caused me to start to cry again. I put my head on his shoulder, and he just hugged me.

"What's the prognosis on Hermione?" asked Harry. "Dumbledore hasn't said much, and he barely allowed me to come here. He only allowed it because she's here."

He pointed at an Auror in the doorway with pink hair, and a face that looked very much like Bellatrix's. "She's Tonks—don't use her first name or she'll harm you. She's an Auror, and was Sirius's cousin."

"Which sister was it?" I asked. "She doesn't look like Narcissa, but does look like Bellatrix or Andromeda."

"I believe her mother is Andromeda Tonks née Black," he clarified. "She's also a Metamorphmagus."

"Wow, those are rare," I said. "I bet there are some times when you wish you had her powers."

"All the time," he countered. "I wish that I could get rid of this damned scar."

Harry and I were still cuddling and crying on each other a couple of hours later when Neville and his Gran walked in. Harry and I both stood up.

"Lady Longbottom," intoned Harry, bending his head.

"Put your head up, boy," said Augusta Longbottom. "I'm told that Neville did very well in the battle."

"Yes, ma'am, he did," said Harry. "We were fighting side by side for most of the fight. His confidence has really increased this year. I think that it was one of the things holding him back before."

"Well, I am glad to see that he is living up to his father's example," said the older woman. "How's your friend?" She waved in the direction of Hermione's bed.

"She's expected to survive," I stated. "She might have a couple of scars, but Harry and I won't mind that."

Lady Longbottom smiled. "That's good to hear. I'd like to thank you, Mr Potter, for helping Neville out," she said. "I'm sure that it was you, Miss Lovegood and Miss Granger that increased his confidence and his Defence skills." She turned to Neville. "You may stay with your friends or go back to school."

She walked out of the room. Neville came over and sat down next to us. "I'm sorry about your godfather, Lord Black."

I wasn't sure if Neville said that last part in jest, but it seemed to affect Harry. "Thank you, Neville," he said, attempting not to show his emotions. "He wasn't as bad as he was made out to be."

"I thought that he was on the other side, until he came to help us," said Neville.

"No, Sirius was framed," said Harry. "I'll tell you the story of how I know that."

He told us the story of when Buckbeak was about to be killed and so on through when they finished their quest using the Time-Turner. Now that he mentioned it, I remembered the night well.

Severus Snape's voice had been heard at 100 dB minimum in Ravenclaw Tower that night, waking some of the younger students up, including myself, as it was nearly midnight.

"The Minister has been blocking every bit of investigation that would clear his name ever since," finished Harry. "Fortunately, the Aurors have been laying a false trail."

"Where are the others?" I asked Neville.

"The Weasleys are alright," replied Neville. "Ron is staying here a couple of days. You might remember he had an encounter with those brain things in the DoM. I think that Ginny was released to her parents' custody."

"That's good," I said. "So Ron'll be alright after the brain incident? Maybe he'll get some brains."

Neville laughed, and Harry laughed weakly.

"I'll leave you three alone," said Neville. "I want to go check up on Ginny."

He said that in a manner that suggested that Ginny's health was not the only thing he was interested in.

"What was that about?" asked Harry. "I thought he said Ginny was fine."

I laughed a little. "He's interested in her," I said. "As in, going out with her."

"Better Neville than Malfoy or Dean or Seamus," said Harry. "Although I have my doubts on Seamus's sexuality."

"Do you have a problem with that?" I asked, fearful that his response would not be to my liking. Although, knowing Harry, I should've realised that he wouldn't discriminate on silly things like that.

All this time that the three of us had spent together had caused me to develop feelings for them—feelings closer than friendship.

"Of course not," he replied. "I just happen to like females better. Two in particular."

Exactly what I wanted to hear. "Hopefully one has beautiful bushy hair," I said. He blushed, but also nodded.

Hermione woke up the next day, much to our joy. She needed help getting to the bathroom, as the curse she'd taken really messed with her body, but that allowed me to see that there was very little scarring from the curse.

"Are you two together?" she asked me and Harry, seemingly a bit disappointed.

"No, not really," I responded. "See, over the last couple of months, we've been together a lot. I've sort of fallen in love with both of you."

"How would that work?" asked Hermione. "My parents probably would not be happy if they knew of such an arrangement."

"That's years in the future, Hermione," I said. "Definitely some time after 13 February 1998. Or '99 if we're in the Muggle world."

"What is that?" asked Hermione. "Your 17th and 18th birthdays?"

I nodded.

"I think that I feel the same way," said Hermione. Harry nodded his agreement.

\\/

Professor McGonagall was mostly healed after the Aurors had shot her with four Stunners to the chest, so she accompanied us back to the castle.

Hermione, Harry, and I went to an unused classroom that evening. "Would you feel any different about me if I told you I'd killed someone?" I asked in a quiet voice.

"That would depend on what the circumstances were, and who it was," responded Harry. Hermione agreed with him. "What happened?"

"It was in the Battle," I said. "Dolohov cast that curse at Hermione, and I sorta went nuts. I used a couple of spells that can only be found in a couple of places. Then, I killed Antonin Dolohov."

"I don't feel any different about you," said Harry. "It was the heat of the battle. He would've killed you if you hadn't killed him first."

"How do you feel about it?" asked Hermione.

"My soul is whole," I said. "The Aurors think that he was killed in the crossfire, but some of the nurses at Mungos have their doubts, due to the spells used. As Dolohov had already hurt Hermione, I don't really care."

"Let's talk about something different," said Hermione. "Luna, do you have any plans for the holiday?"

"I don't think so," I said. "With the threat of Voldemort, I'm not sure he'll want to leave the country."

"Maybe you can come over to my house," suggested Hermione. "I'm sure that my parents would be fine with that—I don't think that we have any plans this year. If we do, it'll probably just be a holiday to France."

"I suppose that you're going to live with your...relatives?" I asked Harry. He got a dark look on his face.

"I suppose so," he said. "I wish that the Headmaster would allow me to go somewhere other than Durzkaban or the Weasleys."

Hermione looked at me in confusion. She looked at my uniform. "Your uniform isn't Ravenclaw any longer," she said. I looked down, and instead of my Ravenclaw tie, it had changed to the Black and Potter crests. Instead of the Ravenclaw crest, it was a combined Black/Potter crest.

"What the heck is this?" I asked. Normally, I would've used slightly stronger language, but I had a feeling that Hermione would think this was an inappropriate time for harsher language.

\\/

"What happened?" asked Dumbledore.

"I noticed that her uniform had changed," said Hermione.

"Well, it appears as though your classmates wishes have finally been fulfilled," said Dumbledore. "When I got back, the Nurse had words with me about your treatment. I apologise, as Professor Flitwick never told me about any of the times you complained. Between their behaviour and perhaps something you said, she's left Ravenclaw officially."

"I sort of put her under my Protection," admitted Harry. "The Ravenclaws haven't been receptive to my admonishments of their behaviour. I believe though that I said, 'If I had the power to do so, Luna would be moved out of Ravenclaw Tower the moment she asked for it'."

"And that is what did it," said Dumbledore. "Now, what are we going to do with you, Miss Lovegood?"

"You could put her in Gryffindor Tower with us for now," suggested Hermione, a little more smugly than I would've thought. Or maybe it was 'more hopeful.'

"Is there enough room there?" asked Dumbledore. "There are still places that I cannot go, even as Headmaster."

"I think that my bed could be expanded," replied Hermione. She looked at me for confirmation on whether or not that would be okay. I gave a little nod. "It's a fairly easy spell for something that small."

"I suppose that can be done," said the Headmaster. "But do not abuse my trust, or I will make sure that Miss Lovegood is back in Ravenclaw, no matter what it says on her tie and patch."

"Yes, sir," we chorused.

"Mr Potter, you can tell them the prophesy," suggested Dumbledore.

Harry did, and for once, I was afraid. The Prophesy didn't mention which side would eventually win.

I went up to the Ravenclaw Common Room, accompanied by Hermione and Harry.

"What are they doing here?" asked Cho Chang, sitting at one of the desks in the Common Room. Hermione looked around.

"Nice, I like the books," she said. "The furniture is not entirely to my taste, however. Nor the company."

"They're here, because you finally got your wish," I said to Cho. "As you can see, the Castle no longer considers me to be a Ravenclaw, so I'll be removing my belongings and self from your presence presently."

Cho looked at what was on my uniform and paled in a way that I didn't even realise was possible for Chinese people.

"You do realise that Harry could hurt you severely if he wanted, as I am under his protection," I said to Cho. "In addition, you might remember that he considered me part of his family. I'd watch my back if I were you, Cho, as your crimes will come to haunt you in future."

"What's the big deal?" shouted another Ravenclaw. This Ravenclaw looked incredibly stupid, almost on the level of Ronald Weasley before he got strangled by the brains in the DoM.

"The big deal is that you have committed acts of aggression against my family," said Harry. "Do you not recognise the crests she's wearing? I am Lord Black. I will be Lord Potter. I am Harry James Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the temporary Vanquisher of Voldemort."

"A Gryffindor couldn't beat us," said the same Ravenclaw.

"You mean, outside the pitch?" I asked. "I seem to remember that Harry has quite a good record against Ravenclaw. I suppose Weasley has beaten you at least once, too."

"Now, if you'll please get out of our way, we'll take her things and go," said Harry. "If you lot return anything to us in the next ten minutes, I can forgive the infraction monetarily. If things are still missing, a monetary value will be applied to the missing objects and reported to Dumbledore and/or the DMLE."

I brought Hermione with me up the stairs to retrieve my trunk. "Remember, don't touch it, or you'll get flung against the wall and knocked out," I reminded her.

"We should really fix that," said Hermione. "Is there a way that we could key all three of us?"

"You might need to confirm with Dumbledore, but I think that redoing the runes with your blood will program you in," I replied, trying to do the maths in my head. "Or we get a mixture of the three of us, and draw the rune scheme that way."

There was another unconscious thief in the dormitory that we moved out of the way. "We need to levitate this," I said. "I don't think that I can take care of it myself."

We managed to get the trunk back down to the Common Room, where Harry had obtained quite a number of my belongings.

"They claim that they destroyed the rest of them," he said.

"How did you reclaim them?" I asked.

"Simple: Accio Luna Lovegood's missing belongings," he said. We laughed. "As you can see from the door, some of these had left the Tower."

We looked at the door. There were holes in it that matched the shape of some of my belongings almost exactly.

We left the Tower, and started walking to Gryffindor Tower.

"Have you been expelled Looney?" asked Malfoy. "It's about time!"

"Mr Malfoy, as the Lord Black, I am going to forgive you this one time," said Harry. "Miss Lovegood is under my protection."

Draco took out his wand, and pointed it not at me, but at Harry. "You cannot be Lord Black," said Malfoy. "I'm the last Black."

"You were never the last Black," explained Harry. "Sirius Black was my godfather, making me the rightful Lord Black. You will not taunt or otherwise harm Luna, or you will face the consequences."

"When my Father hears about this," threatened Malfoy.

"What, he's going to have his Master kill me?" Harry asked. "Malfoy, your father's Master has attempted to kill me no less than five times, if you count the latest attempt a couple of days ago, and has failed each time."

Malfoy made a snarling noise and then moved off. "That was the first time I've seen him give up on a fight without Snape interfering," said Harry. "Why did you think my Summoning Charm was so amusing?"

"Luna and I discussed that as a possible way to retrieve her lost belongings," explained Hermione. "But we didn't think that it would work."

"It wouldn't have for us, Hermione," I said. "Remember how I said that we have a medium-high power level? Harry has a high-high power level: somewhere around 750-775 milliMerlins. That's almost an order of magnitude above our power levels. Dumbledore or Voldemort could've done the same."

"What's Dumbledore's level?" asked Hermione out of curiosity.

"When he fought Grindlewald, it was estimated that they were both around 825-875," I said. "Now, Dumbledore and Grindlewald are both down to around 750-800, due to age."

They discussed this on their way to the Gryffindor Common Room. The Portrait of the Fat Lady asked for the password, and Harry supplied it.

A password? I thought. How insecure. Anyone could get their hands on the password. Then again, anyone who can solve a riddle can get into Ravenclaw Tower

"What's she doing here?" called Ron from the couch in front of the fireplace. "Ravenclaws aren't allowed in Gryffindor Tower."

"She's with me," said Hermione, putting her arm around me protectively. "Look at her uniform closer, Ron, and tell me what you see."

"She's wearing a school uniform, what's so special about it?"

"Because it's not Ravenclaw, you idiot," said Ginny Weasley, who released Neville's hand as she got up. "That's the Potter and Black crests, Ron."

"We're told that the castle itself decided this," said Harry. "Ravenclaws have been trying to get her out for years. Now, they've succeeded. Which means, that she's going to be staying with Hermione. I'm ticked off just enough right now, that if you mess with Luna, you won't like the consequences. I have no compunctions whatsoever about turning you in to McGonagall or Dumbledore."

"Luna has been bullied severely over the years," said Hermione sadly. "I expect that each of you will treat her the same as any Gryffindor."

There wasn't any backlash at all after that encounter with Weasley. For the last couple of days of term, I hung out in the Gryffindor Common Room, and ate at the Gryffindor Table in the Great Hall.

Gryffindors were a lot more accepting than Ravenclaws.

Soon, we were back on the Express to go home. Out of the times I'd gone home from Hogwarts, this was the one I was looking forward to the least.

Malfoy and a few Inquisitorial Squad members came in to taunt us, but we hexed them so badly that we weren't sure that their own mothers would be able to recognise them.

\\/

We got back to King's Cross a short while later. Daddy was waiting for me on the platform, and the Dursleys and Grangers were waiting outside. The Dursleys looked to be an unpleasant bunch, and looked at my dad and I with disgust. They were also giving the Grangers odd looks, though that might have been from the combination of the fact that they were dentists, and that their daughter was a witch.

The Grangers, on the other hand, looked jovial, overjoyed to see their daughter again after a year away at school. Hermione dragged me over to meet her parents.

"Mum, Dad, this is Luna Lovegood, one of my best friends," she introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, Luna," said Hermione's mum, who looked like an older version of Hermione. "I'm Emma Granger. My husband is Dan."

I shook their hands. Dan Granger was a large man—a Beater's build, strong and muscular. He had hair that was the same exact shade of brown as Hermione's—except his hair was straight.

"Come along, boy," ordered Harry's uncle, who looked very displeased at having to house his nephew.

I was very worried for Harry's safety.

\\/

I went home for a week, spending time with my father. With him, some days were better than others. Some of the time, he'd be ranting about the Minister baking Goblins in pies, and other times, we'd have a nice conversation about Hogwarts (specifically, Harry and Hermione, as they were some of the interesting things at the school).

I read the newest edition of Transfiguration Today, which contained a very interesting, and most insightful article by Professor McGonagall. Some of the maths was above my level (specifically, the Arithmantic Equations that were used to illustrate the magic behind the spell), but the article was well-written and well-researched. It was a pity that McGonagall was a Gryffindor, as her work on Transfiguration would've landed her a place of honour in Ravenclaw.

A bookshelf would've been named after her, and all her books would be placed on the bookshelf, along with an appropriately sized portrait. It was quite an honour for any true Ravenclaw. Gilderoy Lockhart had never received such an honour, as there was no record of him being in Ravenclaw, despite his claims to the contrary. Also, many Ravenclaws realised quite early that he was a fraud.

During the week that I was at home, I received a letter from Hermione inviting me over to her house, and possibly on holiday with her family. I asked Daddy, and he said that I could go. He seemed so proud that I was making friends.

He gave me a Portkey to their house, which was in a nice Muggle area—a place called Crawley, about 50 km from London. I knocked on their front door, and Emma Granger answered the door and let me in.

When I saw Hermione, I went over and hugged her. As I was doing so, I got a feeling not unlike being paired with a wand—a sudden warmth throughout the body, an energisation. Hermione must've felt the same thing, as she exclaimed, "Whoa," after our hug.

It was very interesting to see a Muggle house. There were bits that were completely different from a Wizarding House, and some aspects that were quite similar. Hermione lived in a house with five bedrooms (Dan and Emma had intended to have a second child, but had never gotten around to it, so they had two guest rooms and an office), a couple of bathrooms (which Dan told me was convenient, as there were two, now three, women in the house), a large kitchen, a large living room, and large dining room. In my opinion, it must have cost them at least ₲150,000.

"What is your relationship with Hermione?" asked her father at dinner that night. We were having a Muggle dish that they called 'pizza', which was capable of being delivered right to your front door for only a couple units of currency more. I think that it was pounds that was the Muggle currency.

"She's my best friend," I replied. "One of my two best friends. The last week was the longest the three of us have been apart since Winter Break."

"There's not anything going on between you?" asked Dan disbelievingly. "I saw that hug."

"Were there any visual effects present during that hug?" I asked curiously. "And no, there is no physical relationship between us."

"Where does Harry fall into this?" asked Emma.

Hermione and I looked at each other. "He's our other best friend," we said together.

"Perhaps one day he will be husband to one or both of us," I stated. Dan Granger paled, and Emma didn't look the most pleased.

"That can't be legal," he said. "It's certainly not legal in our world."

"There's a long story about that," I said. "One that would take too much time to explain. But legally, Harry is two distinct people. One for each of his titles. As Hermione and I are friends, we accept that there's the possibility for that type of relationship. We certainly aren't going to do something stupid, like fight over a boy."

"Add in the fact that there is very little that the Ministry would do to stop him," said Hermione. "Supposing they were in the right mood. Harry is one of the strongest wizards out there. Especially in the school. Only a handful of witches and wizards are known to have higher Magical Quotients."

"But going back to your original question, I am really fond of Hermione," I said. "This was the first year that I didn't want to go home."

"Why?" asked Emma. "Was it just Hermione and Harry?"

I told them the story of my bullying at the hands of the Ravenclaws, and how the Ravenclaws had eventually kicked me out of the House, and how I was now under Harry's protection.

\\/

"Hermione, we need to contact Dumbledore or someone who knows where Harry lives," I said that Friday as I rushed into her bedroom. The Nargles had shown me some disturbing things that were going on in the Dursley household.

"Why?"

"The Nargles are telling me that Harry is in danger from the Muggles," I told her. "Do you have an owl?"

"No, Harry does," she replied. "I was going to get an owl, but then Crookshanks found me instead."

The aforementioned cat (likely a cat/kneazle hybrid) was rubbing my legs, trying to get me to pet him. Apparently, he thought that I was trustworthy.

Just then, there was a ball of flame, and the Headmaster's phoenix appeared.

"You're Dumbledore's phoenix!" I exclaimed in awe. I'd never seen an actual phoenix before, and Fawkes was magnificent.

The One you call Dumbledore is my Human corrected the Phoenix, using a type of mental projection. The phoenix didn't use words, but a series of images. Is there an emergency about Harry Potter? I can contact my Human for you. You are loyal to Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter, and are truly a light soul. That is the only reason I offer this.

"Harry Potter needs help, noble Phoenix," I said out loud, bowing slightly. I didn't want the phoenix to think that I was showing it disrespect. The phoenix flamed away, and less than a minute later, there was a knock at the door.

"Don't answer that!" I yelled down the stairs, before forgetting that Emma and Dan had to go into the office for a few hours today.

Hermione and I approached the door with our wands drawn. "Who is it?"

"It is Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," came the voice of Albus Dumbledore.

"When you met Harry Potter at the Mirror of Erised, what did you claim to see in the Mirror?" asked Hermione.

"I saw myself getting socks," he said. "Or so I claimed."

Hermione opened the door.

"It is good that you are exhibiting higher security, Miss Granger," said the Headmaster. "You too, Miss Lovegood. Now, what is wrong with Mr Potter?"

"I can talk to Nargles, Headmaster," I explained. "Interdimensional beings, for lack of a better term. They are saying that Harry is in extreme danger from his Muggle relatives. Quite possibly, that his Uncle is beating him."

"I attend to that presently," said the Headmaster, almost nervously, as he turned to rush out the door.

"Luna, what do they tell you?" asked Hermione.

"His chances of survival just went up to 75%," I told my friend. "If my premonition is correct, he'll have numerous injuries, quite possibly a few broken bones. Maybe a concussion and some other soft tissue injuries."

"How the hell can they treat him like that?" asked Hermione. "And why doesn't Harry defend himself?"

"Because he knows that he might or will be expelled if he does any magic," I replied. "He already has two or three known incidences of Magic in front of or involving Muggles. With Fudge in charge, I'm not sure that Harry would be found innocent even if it was a clear case of self-defence."

"I know two of them," said Hermione. "What's the third?"

"Harry told me that he blew up his uncle's sister before his third year," said Luna. "I do remember Harry saying that Fudge even brought it up at his trial last year."

Hermione's face lit up. "I remember that one now," she said. "I was both amused and furious when I heard about that. If I remember correctly, Fudge said that the reason he wasn't charged was 'special circumstances' i.e. Sirius Black was on the loose."

Her face fell. "Damn, I have to think of another security question now."

There was another knock at the door, and Hermione confirmed that it was Dumbledore using another security question.

"I have retrieved Harry," he said. "Right now, he is delaying Mme Pomfrey's holiday, as he is in the Hospital Wing at the school. You need to come with me."

"I need to contact my parents first," said Hermione, picking up the telephone and dialling her parents' office.

"Mum, there's been an emergency and I need to go to Hogwarts," she said, before pausing a second to let her mother speak. "No, neither of us is hurt. It's Harry. Yes, Harry Potter. I'll be back within the next couple of days. Love you too, bye."

She hung up the phone. "All right, I can go," she said. "I'll be back down in a minute."

She came back down with a small beaded bag that looked too small to fit even a wallet a minute later. "How are we getting there?" she asked.

"We'll Apparate to Hogsmeade," said Dumbledore. "I am sufficiently powerful that I can Side-Along two people. Be warned: Apparition is very unpleasant."

Daddy had Side-Along Apparated me before, so I knew how unpleasant it was. Apparently, normal Apparating was just as unpleasant, but as it really cut down on travel time, really convenient.

He grabbed one of our arms, and Apparated us to Hogsmeade, near the path that the carriages took. "One cannot Apparate into the Wards of Hogwarts," he said. "So, we'll have to walk from here."

We walked up to the castle and to the Hospital Wing, where Harry was on his customary bed. His injuries were quite similar to what the Nargles had told me.

"I knocked him out so that he can heal quicker," explained the Nurse. "He should be right as rain in a day or two. Knowing him, he'll claim to be okay whenever he wakes up."

Hermione and I turned to Dumbledore. "What happened at the Dursley household, sir?"

"I went to the door, and Dursley attempted to bar me from entering," he said. "Despite my age, I am very agile, so I knocked him out of the way. I went up the stairs to Harry's bedroom, and was attacked by Dudley, Harry's cousin, who hit me with something that looked like a Beater's Bat."

"It was probably a rounders bat," said Hermione. "It's a Muggle sport."

"I then went to Harry's bedroom, and all the locks were on the outside of the door," said Dumbledore, shaking his head. "They basically locked him in. I made entry, and found Harry nearly dead on the floor. I then had words with Vernon and nearly lost my temper. I stunned both of the Dursleys that were there, Portkeyed Harry's belongings here, and brought him here via Fawkes."

"I'm sure that Fawkes would say that he brought Harry here, not that you had Fawkes bring him here," I said. "Fawkes seems to think that your His Human, not the other way around."

Dumbledore laughed. "You can understand him, too?" he said. "Perhaps when the inevitable happens, he will pass to one of you three. Fawkes already likes Harry. He is the phoenix that donated the tail feather for Harry's wand."

"I'm sure that Harry considers it a great honour," said Hermione.

"I'm sure that he does," said Dumbledore. Everyone in the hospital wing could hear a reassuring phoenix song. "I think that Fawkes considers it to be an honour to have his wand be wielded by someone as good as Harry."

There was more phoenix song that indicated happiness.

\\/

It was nearly evening by the time Harry woke up. "What happened?" he asked.

"Luna heard from the Nargles that you were being beaten by your uncle," said Hermione. "She contacted Fawkes' human, and he rescued you. He's had words with your relatives."

"Fawkes' Human?" asked Harry, slightly amused. "You can understand the phoenix?"

We nodded. "I was at Hermione's house for a week or two, before we were planning on going on holiday," I told Harry. "So I was able to get the word out quickly."

"So what are Nargles?"

I explained the theory, the same as I'd explained to Hermione. There were some parts that he didn't seem to completely understand, but he seemed to get most of it.

"I'm a bit hungry," mentioned Harry. "I wonder if Dobby is here?"

"Dobby is here!" said the exuberant house-elf. "Does The Great Harry Potter, Sir and The Great Harry Potter, Sir's Ladies want some food?"

"That would be great, Dobby," said Harry. Dobby popped away, and less than thirty seconds later, a platter overflowing with food appeared on Harry's lap.

"I haven't eaten since breakfast," said Hermione. I nodded.

"It's been a while," said Harry. "My relatives don't exactly like me, and threatened to shoot any owls that came near the house."

"Guns are illegal in Britain," pointed out Hermione, a fact that I didn't know.

"My uncle illegally or not owns a rifle," said Harry. "He got it to replace the one Hagrid broke."

Dumbledore walked in as we were finishing eating, and noticed as the tray disappeared on its own (likely the result of elf-magic).

"I'm so glad you're alright," said Hermione, as she and I hugged Harry. Much like when I hugged Hermione, there was that same feeling present during the hug. When we finished, Hermione truly looked like she'd orgasmed, and Harry was looking odd. His hands quickly covered a certain spot on the blankets.

"Whoa," said Harry. "That felt almost like"

"When you got your first wand?" asked Hermione. "That's how it felt for us, too. And when Luna and I hugged yesterday."

"That is amazing," said Dumbledore. Those of us who weren't confined to hospital beds jumped slightly. "I wish that Ms Delacour were here. She'd be amazed."

"What do you mean, Sir?" asked Harry.

Dumbledore gave an explanation about the Veela powers, and their relation to love magic. He compared it to synaesthesia. "There are some people that can see music or see colours in words, Harry," he said. "It's a magic of its own, and quite beautiful sometimes, I'm told."

"So, what is happening here?" asked Harry. "We hugged, and I felt the same warmth, the same sense of being energised, as when I got my wand."

"There's a connection between the three of you," explained Dumbledore. "Not a Soul Bond or anything like that, as those only exist in trashy romance novels."

We all laughed at that.

"You will probably feel a boost in energy when the three of you are near each other," Dumbledore continued. "Enhancing both your defensive and offensive capabilities. Quite possibly, your MQs will change to equalise between the three of you."

"But won't that take away a lot of power?" asked Harry.

"Harry, my boy, you have more than enough power to spare," laughed Dumbledore. "I'm only about 1 or 1.5 orders of magnitude stronger than you are, Harry. Your power loss will be unnoticeable by you. I would think that it would only be noticeable by a MQ test."

"Why are you only hypothesising?" asked Hermione.

"Because I'm a Headmaster, not a Healer," joked Dumbledore. He turned to Harry and I. "It's a reference to a Muggle TV show from the 60s. Also, a case like this hasn't been known publicly in decades, maybe a century."

"Great, another odd thing about me," said Harry sarcastically.

"It's nothing too serious, Harry," said Dumbledore. "I would assume that many other couples, or in your case triples, have such a connection, they just don't make it public."

"Can you keep this quiet?" asked Harry. "I don't want everyone knowing about this before we absolutely have to."

"Of course," said Dumbledore, as Nurse Pomfrey walked in from her office. She waved her wand.

"Despite the serious injuries that you presented when the Headmaster brought you in, you're mostly healed," she said. "I'm going to suggest that you at least spend the night, so that your power levels can heal even more. I see that an Elf brought you food, that's good. Granger, you take the bed on the right, Lovegood, take the bed on the left. For Merlin's sake, don't stay up late. Potter needs to heal."

"Yes, ma'am," we chorused. She went back to her office.

"Headmaster, Harry will never have to see the Dursleys again, will he?" challenged Hermione. She looked like she was going to blow something precious off Dumbledore if his answer wasn't to his liking. I could see Harry wincing in his bed at where Hermione's wand was pointed.

It was something no male wanted to lose.

"No, I dare say that he should never have to brighten their doorstep again," said Dumbledore, so Hermione lowered her wand. "This means that I will be very busy over the next couple of days. Your house, Miss Granger, will be one of the most protected houses in the country."

"You might want to talk to my parents about our holiday," Hermione said. "We're thinking of going to see some of the sights in France."

"The French Aurors are some of the best," said Dumbledore. "They act as both a police force, and a service for VIPs similar to the US Secret Service. They've never lost a protectee. I'll call Fleur's uncle—he's in the French Ministry."

\\/

Harry got his passport from Gringotts for a nominal fee, and soon, we were on holiday to France. There were quite a number of beaches around France, some of which did not require clothing. Due to our age, however, we weren't going to frequent any of them.

Until this holiday, I never quite realised how slow Muggle transport was. The car journey to the train station took quite a while, but the train from London to Paris was quite efficient.

"I figure we'll hire a car in Paris," Dan Granger had said. "There's an Enterprise right near the station."

Emma had given him a look. "It's not like I'd ever hire a car from anyone else, given the chance," he'd said, laughing.

There was an hour's time difference going to Paris, despite it being almost directly south of London. As soon as the train crossed the border, it was stopped, and armed security personnel came aboard.

"Monsieur Potter, we are of the French Security Forces," said their leader, speaking with almost no accent. "We have our people monitoring for any security threats."

"I thank you for your generous protection, Monsieur," replied Harry. "I am grateful that your Government would go through the trouble."

"Protecting you is very important, for all of us, Mssr Potter," said the leader. "Plus, if we protect you, we can stop your so-called Lord Thingy from attacking us. I believe that is what your Minister called the man."

"He did, sir, only because he is afraid to use the man's pseudonym," replied Harry with a grin. "And Voldemort has removed most connections between his current name and his birth name of Tom Riddle."

"Dumbledore has told Our Ministry about your Lord Voldemort, and his real name," said the man. "Usually referring to him as Riddle or Tom."

"We are sorry for the interruption on the train," came a voice over the tannoy. "There was a security threat that needed to be secured. There is no further threat to the passengers aboard the train. Eurostar Trains hopes you have a very pleasant journey and apologises for the delay."

The message over the tannoy was repeated in French, Dutch, and German.

By just after 1300, we reached Paris Lyon Station. We used the rest of the day going to various museums, and looking at other places of interest.

The second day, our trio, with guards, brought the Grangers to Chemin de Traverse, which was the French Magical Alley. Hermione laughed, because the French Wizards were rather uncreative in their name—their Alley was literally named « Crossroads ». We met the Champion from Beauxbatons there. She seemed to be a lot nicer than she'd been the previous year.

I knew about her quite well, as she'd frequently sat at the Ravenclaw table, soaking up Cho's lies about me, Roger I-Forget-His-Last-Name, who she went to the Yule Ball with, and everyone trying to play nice with the foreign competitor.

She and Harry seemed to be friendly, though. Maybe it had been the fact that Harry had saved her sister in the Second Task.

"You must come to my manor," she said. "Gabrielle will be happy to see you." She turned to the Security Personnel. « Can their protection be continued at my manor? » she asked in French.

« Oui, mademoiselle Delacour, » replied the guard, who starting giving commands into his communications device, likely redeploying his men to Delacour Manor.

She took us all to a restaurant in the Alley, which looked to be quite expensive. One look at Fleur and Harry, though, and the proprietor immediately welcomed the whole group. Fleur laughed, stating that she hadn't even needed her Allure.

"What is the Allure?" asked Daniel Granger.

"It is a magical attraction," said Fleur. "Like a magical pheromone. Only Veela can produce it naturally. Unfortunately, it turns most males into slobbering idiots. A Veela looks for someone who can resist the Allure."

"Harry got better over that year," said Hermione. "Mostly due to the fact that he'd faced the Imperious Curse in Defence Class."

"The Imperious Curse?" asked Fleur at the same time as Emma. Fleur looked to be paling slightly. "Alastor Moody used a ‹ Sortilège Impardonnable › on students?"

"It wasn't the real Moody," explained Hermione. "It was someone using Polyjuice Potion."

Emma looked at us Magicals with a strange look. "The Imperious Curse gives the caster complete control over their victim," explained Harry. "Only those with strong wills are able to break the Curse."

"Polyjuice Potion is a potion that allows you to take the form of another human for an hour," explained Hermione further. She put a curious emphasis on 'human' which made me think that she had some experience with a non-human change. Hmm, I wonder what that did to her? I thought to myself.

Hermione didn't elaborate in front of her parents, so presumably she'd never told them about that incident, whatever it was.

As we were finishing our dinner, the bill of which came out to be over ₲200, the French Aurors reported back that the house was secured. Fleur told us to follow her, and we came to a curious device on the side of the Alley.

"It's a Transporter!" exclaimed Dan. "Like from Star Trek!"

"It's a Portkey Pad," said Fleur. "You simply stand on the pad, and you are transported to your destination. It even works on non-magiques."

"It sounds like a Transporter from Star Trek" insisted Dan. Fleur nodded.

"I think that's where they got the idea," she said. "I'll work the controls, and then Apparate home after you."

We got onto the pad, and Dan said, "Energise!" Fleur worked the controls, and within a second, we appeared at Fleur's house. It was a large house, at least twenty times the size of The Rookery.

It would be more properly be described as a mansion, similar to the Old Family houses of old. The Potters used to have a house like this, but they'd moved into a smaller dwelling a few generations ago. Everyone else was looking at the house in awe.

"That is a big house," said Harry.

"The Longbottoms and the Malfoys have a manor of comparable size," I told him. "The Potters used to have one. I think Malfoy Manor used to be Black Manor."

"The Blacks lived in the middle of London," said Harry. "I can't tell you where because of a Fidelius charm."

Fleur appeared a moment later, and led us into the house. There was a woman inside that looked like she could be Fleur's older sister. "This is Maman," Fleur introduced. "Maman, these are the Grangers, Mr Harry Potter, Miss Hermione Granger, and Miss Luna Lovegood."

"It is nice to meet you," said Mme Delacour. "My husband is not here, as he is at the Ministry. Gabrielle should be home soon."

Gabrielle was excited to see us when she came home, immediately running to hug Harry, "The Boy who rescued me" as she said. She chatted with Hermione in rapid-fire French for a minute, before continuing to speak with her sister at a high rate of speed. Fleur cleared her throat, albeit in a much nicer way than our former Defence Professor.

"Please speak English, Gabrielle," said Fleur. "Papa pays thousands of francs for English lessons; it's time you put them to good use. Plus, there are a couple of people here who don't speak French."

«You're no fun» muttered Gabrielle in French, before sticking her tongue out at her sister. "My name is Gabrielle," she told me in English. "But you can call me Gabi, if you want. What's your name?"

"I'm Luna Lovegood," I said, shaking her hand. She seemed to be extremely excited about being able to spend some time with her sister and her sister's friends. She kept talking about school, and her friends, and everything.

\\/

"You are not how I expected you to be, Luna Lovegood," said Fleur as we sat on her bedroom's balcony after having a delicious meal. We were drinking a French type of home-made lemonade. "Your classmates were rather vicious in their attacks against you."

"It got even worse this year," I admitted. "Harry took me under the protection of House Potter, and that only made things worse. I am no longer a Ravenclaw, but a Potter-Black."

"I thought that your classmates were, how you say, bit full of themselves, even more than I was at the beginning," said Fleur. "Harry and Hermione are good friends for you."

"Yes, they are," I replied. "They are one of the reasons that I am still alive. If it weren't for them befriending me, well I've considered ending everything before."

"Because of the bullies in Ravenclaw?"

"Mostly," I replied, my face down. Somehow, she'd gotten under my skin.

Harry and Hermione walked out onto the balcony.

"Are you comfortable?" asked Fleur.

"Oh, yes," said Hermione. "Mum and Dad are in one of the guest rooms, and our rooms are comfortable."

"Talking about anything good?" asked Harry.

"You, actually," I said. "I told Fleur that if you hadn't befriended me, that I don't know if I still would be alive."

"I never knew it was that bad," whispered Hermione. "I wish you would've talked to me sooner."

Harry and Hermione hugged me, which caused Fleur to make orgasmic sounds as she saw the magic.

"Mon Dieu!" Fleur said. "You have awesome magic. There's a connection there."

She was almost panting from all of the magic.

"We know," said Harry. "We actually just developed it last week."

"The other year, I didn't expect there to be three of you," she said. "I feel and see love magic, and I had a feeling about you and Hermione, Mr Potter, but not Luna."

"I think that nobody expects Luna," joked Hermione.

"I never expected you to figure it out this early, however," said Fleur. "I expected it to be in your sixth or seventh year at the very earliest."

"Sixth or seventh year?" I asked. "I think that without my interference, they'd've waited until after Hogwarts. Though, I didn't mean to interfere. It's just that the Nargles told me that Hermione had a large possibility of being Harry's wife."

"Nargles are connected to many things, Luna," said Fleur. "Sometimes some creatures that your father talks about are found with Love Magic, although not usually exactly how he writes."

"Your sister looks a lot older than I expected her to," mentioned Harry.

"Veela age at a different rate than humans," said Fleur. "Especially before l'évolution. It's a Veela's version of puberty. That is when we get our extreme beauty, and our powers. Unfortunately, it is hard for a girl of her age to control her powers. She's been having bursts of the Allure for months now. Fortunately, both maman and I are here to help her."

They went to the beach under heavy guard the next day. It was a beautiful day, as many days are in France. There were many holidayers there, enjoying the sun. Many were from France, but quite a large number were from England or Germany.

I could tell because of the languages I kept hearing. There were sometimes that I wished that I had a Universal Translator or something. It would be very interesting to know what everyone was saying.

We went back to the manor for dinner that night, and Fleur's father, Pierre, was talking to the Grangers about science and other Muggle things. Unlike Arthur Weasley, who didn't know a single thing about Muggle culture or Muggle devices, Pierre Delacour seemed to know quite a bit.

Fleur invited us up to her room to play Exploding Snap, and a couple of Muggle board games that she had. We were in the middle of a game of Monopoly, which was quite fun once people explained all the rules, when all the lights in the room turned mauve.

There was a loud alarm sound.

"We have to, what is the word, shelter in place," said Fleur. "That is the main alarm. Someone has come onto the property that shouldn't be here. The Manor will be going into lockdown mode."

Almost as soon as she said that, a shield appeared over all the windows in the room, and the doors started to close and lock. A new door appeared on the wall, however.

"That is the bathroom," said Fleur. "When I was little, a couple of Uncle's and Father's rivals wanted him out of the way, so they tried to break in. Maman got tired of cleaning up the accidents from after the doors shut, so each room now has a connection to the toilets."

"I hope Voldemort isn't attacking," said Harry. "I'm not sure even your Aurors can take care of Him."

"They'll do their best, and die trying if they have to," said Fleur gently. "'Owever, I sense quite a bit of power from the three of you."

There was scattered machine gun fire in the distance. "I do hope they have better aim this time," said Fleur. "They nearly destroyed some of our vineyard last time."

"Who's shooting?" asked Hermione. "Are the Aurors firing?"

"No, that would be the house," said Fleur, nonchalantly. "We have a control room where we can aim them. One of my grandfathers picked it up off the Maquis after the Grindlewald War and the Second Non-MagiqueWorld War."

A couple of minutes later, the gunfire stopped, the lights returned to normal, and everything went back to normal. I went to look out the window.

"It's too dark out," I said. "I cannot see anything."

"I hope that none of your Aurors will killed or hurt, Fleur," said Harry.

"Voldemort does not hold the same power here he used to," said Fleur, pronouncing his name with out the final t. "He is but a drop in the pond compared to the combined efforts of the Nazis and Grindlewald."

"Why did it go mauve, though?" asked Hermione. "Why not red?"

"Everyone else thought that we were crazy, so we changed," laughed Fleur. She was rather amusing once you got to know her.

It was getting late, so we all went to our respective bedrooms for the night.

We got our Security Briefing the next morning. The Commander of the Auror team protecting Harry had no reservations about briefing Mr and Mrs Delacour, a bunch of school children, and a couple of Muggles. He even had diagrams of the property to work as a visual aid.

"Last night, we observed two people breaking through the outer wards, right about here" the man said, pointing to the diagram with his wand. "They were wearing standard-issue Death Eater garments. They were unable to penetrate through the inner wards, mostly because we took them down when we saw them. There were also Death Eaters attempting to gain entry through the vineyard. I believe that's when the machine guns started to go off. I've done security here before, so I was expecting that. A person matching the description of Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort, appeared in the vineyards, but tucked tail and ran, I believe the phrase is, when we attempted to take him down."

"Any injuries?" asked Mr Delacour.

"Only to the Death Eaters," said the Commander.

"Any damage to the vineyards?" asked Fleur. "We make some of the best wine here."

"Very little damage, mademoiselle," chuckled the Commander. "We have all of the Death Eater attackers in custody, and will be interviewing them about their activities here."

"I hope that Dumbledore won't use this as an excuse to bring me back to Britain and send me to, well the place the Order meets," said Harry.

"Why?" asked the Commander. "We just demonstrated that our Security works, monsieur. And it works splendidly, too. It showed us a couple of places we need to shore up a bit, but your security works, with no losses on our side."

We went outside later that day, and there were bloodstains all over the yard. A couple of vines had been damaged, but Fleur said that they were still usable.

Fleur and I enjoyed talking together on the balcony, sometimes with Hermione, sometimes with Hermione and Harry. We did that often after dinner. Sunset was rather late in Paris, mostly because they were in the wrong time zone, so we had a lot of time to talk.

Fleur had been hated by most of the girls at Beauxbatons for the simple fact that she was a Veela. When she'd started, she hadn't gotten her powers under control yet, and had morphed into her bird form a couple of times. Over the years, she gained more control, but the stigma with being a Veela stayed.

That and the fact that nearly all of the males at Beauxbatons thought that she was extremely good looking. For that matter, there were a couple of girls like that at Beauxbatons, as well. She'd been bullied, but not too badly, as everyone was afraid of her Defence skills and her fireballs.

We celebrated Harry's birthday while we were there, which surprised him, as usually people didn't make a big deal of it. He did mention that it was the first birthday party for him that he could actually remember. I looked at Hermione sadly. We were going to change that.

Unfortunately, days of museums, beaches, and other tourists sights all across France came to an end sooner than we would've liked. Fleur gave us about a case of their wine, and transported us back to the station. We had to go to Paris Gare du Nord for our return trip, which left just after 10:00 Paris time/09:00 London time, and arrived 2.5 hours later at St Pancras International in London. Due to the fact that London was on its proper timezone, we gained an hour.

We got back to the Granger household about 90 minutes later. When we did, those of us with magic could tell that the house had been upgraded.

"Did you feel that?" I asked. "There are new wards here."

"I did, too," said Hermione. "Maybe Dumbledore took care of that whilst we were on holiday."

"Forgive me for asking, but what are wards?" asked Dan. "You lot tend to mention them a lot."

"Because they are very important, Dad," Hermione replied. "You know how in Star Trek, the ships all have shields?"

"Yes,"

"Wards are like shields for the house," she said. "It's really not like that at all, but that's a good way to think about it."

"We can feel these wards because they're on a Muggle house," I said. "If it were a Magical house, then the feelings would sort of blend together."

"I'd love to see the warding scheme for this," said Hermione as we walked into the house. Her dad gave her a blank look. "The blue-prints for the wards, written in Ancient Runes."

\\/

After bringing our things back to our rooms, Harry and Hermione came into my room.

"We still need to set the runes scheme on your trunk," said Hermione. "I certainly don't want to get knocked unconscious for touching your trunk, especially if it's going to be in my room all the time."

"The problem is that I don't know which wards are on the house," I said. "If there was a ward that disguised a person's magical signature, we could do it easily. That type of ward is usually part of a Fidelius, for obvious reasons."

Fawkes flamed in. I hope that it is alright for my Human to appear at your house.

"Of course," said Harry. "We are honoured that you would deliver a message to us."

I've always liked you, Harry Potter said the bird. You are a pure soul—a much better soul than the other person with one of my tail-feathers.

"I'm honoured that you think of me so highly," said Harry, giving a slight, but respectful, bow.

A minute later, Albus Dumbledore appeared at the front door, and successfully passed Harry's challenge of his identity.

"I hear that one of your nights in France was interesting," he said after the usual pleasantries were exchanged. "I am glad that the Delacours have such powerful wards, and that the French Aurors are so good at their job."

"I'm very grateful, too," said Harry. Hermione and I nodded.

"I haven't heard that much racket in one night since the Falklands," said Dan. "I was a dentist for the Royal Navy. But, nobody important was hurt in the Voldemort attack, so we were all happy."

"Lucius Malfoy is in French custody," said Dumbledore. "With a few other, more minor, Death Eaters. Lucius apparently forgot that he and his family had been banned from France for unspecified reasons, and is facing harsh consequences." He paused a minute. "The unspecified reasons include his father's support of Grindlewald, during His reign of terror, and various Death Eater attacks in France, one of which killed a cousin of the Minister of Magic."

He seemed to be almost amused that the French were dealing so harshly with Malfoy Snr.

"Did you put up the wards, Headmaster?" asked Harry. "Hermione thinks that they are quite extensive."

"They are," said Dumbledore. "Yes, it was my doing. I had Gringotts put a couple on, I did a couple, Nicholas put on a couple. The house cannot catch on fire, nobody can rob it, the usual. I may have forgotten to leave off the Undetectable Magic Ward, hmm. Well, I suppose that I can trust you not to use magic, right?"

He said this in a manor that suggested that he hadn't forgotten, nor did he want us to forgo magic within the house.

"We can ward Luna's trunk, then," exclaimed Hermione. Her parents were giving their usual looks about not understanding. "Right now, Luna's trunk can only be opened by her, and reacts violently to anyone else touching it. Now, we can use the bit of magic we need to let all of us touch it without being violently thrown against the wall."

"There were 35 Ravenclaws who ran afoul of my trunk last term," I said. "Some of whom were repeat offenders. Miss Chang must've had spies within Ravenclaw, as she never tried to open my trunk after I warded it."

"Now, how do you ward a trunk?" asked Emma. She was curious about the whole process.

"It involves drawing a rune scheme, basically, a number of runes working together," I explained. "The method we used is...not the most legal. But, it ties the trunk directly to me."

"What did you use?"

"Blood," I answered simply. "It is a very powerful magical substance, and can be easily replenished if you don't take too much, say under about 10 mL."

"Be extremely careful with that, Miss Lovegood," said Dumbledore. "You know the risks."

"Yes, I know," I replied. "We've been very careful."

"Now, onto other news," said Dumbledore. "Due to the fact that Ravenclaw has kicked you out, I feel that I have no choice but to give the three of you guest quarters in the castle. If the three of you act responsibly, then Harry and Hermione have a better opportunity to become Head Boy and Girl next year. If you are irresponsible about your living conditions, then your chances of being named to those positions will sink to slim to none."

"Thank you, sir," we told him.

"Mr Potter, you will be given powers equivalent to a prefect, should you accept them," said Dumbledore. "That is in addition to being the Quidditch Captain for the next two years."

"My ban has been overturned?" asked Harry.

"Correct," said Dumbledore. "Your broom will be waiting for you."

"If she's gotten one scratch on that thing..." muttered Harry.

"When do you plan to go to Diagon Alley to pick up your school supplies?" asked Dumbledore.

"When our letters arrive, I'd think," said Hermione. "Did you have other plans?"

"We've stepped up security at Diagon Alley," said Dumbledore. "Tonks and the others will provide security on that day, so we'd like to know when you are going."

\\/

I continued to stay at the Grangers over the next couple of weeks, as I tried to formulate a way to get my father out of The Rookery. The man hadn't been outside of the house more than a dozen times since Mum died, and I was beginning to think that it was affecting his mental state.

We also warded my trunk, this time using blood from all three of us, and the Grangers. We weren't sure if it would work or not, as the Grangers weren't magical themselves, but when we tested it, the wards worked perfectly.

It was a couple of days after Dumbledore's visit that we got our Hogwarts letters. Harry and Hermione had prefects badges in their letters, while Harry also had the Quidditch Captain badge. The Grangers drove us to London, right to near where the Leaky Cauldron was. Tonks, and a tall Afro-British Auror met us at the car, and accompanied us onto the Alley.

We were having a nice day, buying our things, and having ice cream when we heard the screams and explosions start. I looked out the window of the shop we were in.

Bellatrix Lestrange was walking down the street, accompanied by around 10-15 Death Eaters.

Everyone else scattered. Harry, Hermione and I rushed out to fight. Harry sent a Patronus to Dumbledore first.

"Bellatrix Lestrange, what brings you here today?" asked Harry, in a parody of politeness.

"You filthy half-blood!" cried Bellatrix. "Are you going to kill me, Harry?"

"I certainly would like to try," said Harry. "You killed my godfather. I'd like to repay the favour."

Bellatrix shot a nasty looking spell at Harry, who managed to avoid it and sent a Black spell back at her.

All hell broke loose. "Hermione, you take the ones on the left," I said shooting at one of the Death Eaters. "I'll take this lot."

I started to exchange spells with my opponent, who was very uncreative with his choice of spells, mostly aiming Killing Curses at us. I took him down with a nasty string of curses that included a Bone-Breaker, a Blood-Boiler, and a couple of proprietary Lovegood spells.

Bellatrix was actually having a hard time against Harry, and that difficulty was increased once the Order of the Phoenix and the Aurors arrived.

"You have to get out of here!" shouted an older Order member. Bellatrix used that distraction to kill the Order member.

"Kill her!" screamed Harry. I went over to him, and started flinging the nastiest spells I knew at her.

"You can't do a Killing Curse, little baby Potter?" taunted Bellatrix. "Or what about itty bitty Potter's girlfriend."

"Righteous anger can't fuel those curses, Bellatrix, as you reminded me at the Department of Mysteries," said Harry casually. "I'll take the shot at you if I can, otherwise, I'll just tire you out and let Lovegood handle you."

"I know some good spells from them!" screamed Bellatrix as she dodged another one of our spells. Somehow, we weren't necessarily saying the incantations to the spells we were using. "You have some nasty stuff."

"You don't know a tenth of it, Bella," I replied, dodging her return fire, and returning fire again. "Most of the stuff in the Library is blood-bonded. No knowledge of the spell can leave the Library, except by Lovegoods."

"Enough of the history lesson, Luna," said Hermione, who was attempting to provide cover for a girl, just about Hogwarts age, who had wandered onto the battlefield. "Just kill the … woman already!"

The Death Eater aiming at Hermione went down. "Good shot!" I yelled at Hermione, before casting another couple of curses at Bellatrix. Those curses, combined with the curses that Harry sent, hit her, and she fell to the ground in agony.

"What should I do now?" asked Harry. "Should I blow your fucking head off?" he asked as he obliterated her wand hand. "Or should I let Luna end everything?"

"You have just as much right to her," I told Harry. "Use your aggressive feelings. She killed Sirius!"

"Don't kill me!" pleaded Bellatrix, knowing that she couldn't get out of this alive. Her body was self-destructing anyway. "You're on Dumbledore's precious Light Side. You wouldn't kill me."

"Shut up!" I yelled at her. I noticed that the Aurors had taken the remaining Death Eaters down. "Let's do this!"

Harry and I cast spells at her at the same time. We realised that there was a slight offensive power boost as we cast. The spells hit the defenceless Bellatrix, and she orgasmed in pain during her final seconds.

"We got her," said Harry, relieved. "We need Dumbledore and/or the Healers. I don't think that I can stand for much longer. Pomfrey won't like it that I'm back in her care again."

I quickly sat down, and made Harry sit as well.

"Thank you for protecting her," said a man, coming out of a building. "She left before I was going to, and I couldn't get to her. I think our escort was killed during the fight."

I looked, and the body of Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies teacher was lying on the ground.

They sent her? I asked myself. She doesn't know the first thing about modern Muggles, despite teaching about them.

"You're Steve Hamilton," Hermione identified. "My parents are your dentists."

"Correct," said the man. "So, you're a witch?"

"Yes, I am," said Hermione. "I take it that your daughter is a witch, as well?"

"I am," said the girl. "Sarah Hamilton. I'll be starting this September. McGonagall thinks that my sis is a witch, as well."

"Is she here?" asked Hermione, and a smaller girl, who I estimated to be around 9 or 10, came out of the building. "There's a simple test."

She handed the girl her wand. "Think of a torch lighting up," said Hermione. "And say Lumos."

The girl did, and the wand lit up, perhaps a little weakly, but it lit up. "Wow!"

"It'll be even brighter when you get your own wand," said Hermione. "What's your name?"

"I'm Madison, but you can call me Madi," said the little girl. "I'm 9, but I turn 10 in a couple of weeks."

"Before 1 September, I hope," commented Hermione.

"24 August," said Madi. "So I'll be going next year."

"I bet the two of you are excited," I said. "I know that I was, even though I knew from a young age that I was a witch."

"I remember the first time I entered Diagon Alley," mentioned Harry, still hanging on to consciousness. "And the first time I entered Hogwarts as well. Amazing sights, both times."

"Are incidents like this common, Miss Granger?" asked Steve Hamilton.

"They are not common, but they happen somewhere between common and often," said Hermione. "Did Professor McGonagall tell you about the class system here?"

"Blood-Status?" asked Steve. "Sounds a bit like the Nazis to me, substituting Wizard for Jew."

Hermione bent down so that she was eye level with the two young witches, who were only about 140 cm and 130 cm. "You have to understand this, but not all wizards are good," she said. She gestured at the dead Death Eaters. "This lot, believed in Blood Purity, and ended up going about as bad as you can get. Their leader is even worse."

"This War is so that everyone can get equal rights," said Harry. "The side that I'm on, we don't believe in the Blood Purity stuff, as we've looked at Muggle genetics."

"Soon, we'll catch Voldemort, the Evil Guy, and we'll be able to restore peace," I said. "Then, we'll get started on reforming the justice system and the political system."

"Ambitious plans," said Steve. "Are you sure that it will be able to be done?"

"The winds are shifting to our side, Mr Hamilton," said Hermione. "It will happen sooner or later."

Dumbledore came, and gave us each some Pepper-Up Potion, which caused us to be revitalised. We then accompanied the girls and their father around Diagon Alley all afternoon, culminating in Sarah getting her first wand.

"We'll see you on the Express," Hermione told Sarah as we finished up our shopping at the Alley. She put a spell on Sarah's bag. "You bag will automatically expand back to normal size when you tap your wand to it. Just don't do it in front of Muggles."

"Will it shrink again?"

"No, I put a one-time spell on it," said Hermione. "My own bag is a more permanent version of what I gave to you. Stick your hand in."

Sarah did, and soon her entire arm was in the bag. "It's Bigger-On-The-Inside!" she exclaimed. "Like the TARDIS."

Hermione laughed, as did her parents.

\\/

I spent some time with my father after the shopping trip, but not too much. I was having peculiar symptoms, almost like what potions withdrawal was described as.

Maybe this connection is a little more powerful than I thought, I thought to myself. It is literally punishing me for being away from them.

We got to the train well before 11:00 on 1 September. The Hamiltons got there shortly after we did, so we decided to find a compartment together.

"I'm so excited," said Sarah who, once she was in her seat on the train, was almost bouncing up and down with excitement. "What house is the best? I want to know all about them."

"Do you want the idealised version or the real version?" asked Harry. "Most of what we say about the houses is heavily influenced by what we have experienced at the school."

"For instance, even if your brilliant, Ravenclaw can be quite nasty to anyone they deem to be 'different'," said Hermione, looking at me. "Luna was bullied mercilessly at the school, culminating in her being released to our custody."

"They say that Slytherin is the house of the cunning and the ambitious," I said. "However, the current members of the house are not necessarily the best at that. Most Slytherins are very intolerant of Muggle-borns like you, and will call you bad names."

"Gryffindor is the house of the brave and courageous," said Harry. "But it is also the house of doing extremely stupid stuff. That's the house that Hermione and I are in."

"Hufflepuff is a home for the loyal, true, hard-working, and fair. Most people describe them as being the duffers, the leftovers," said Hermione. "That is incorrect. Harry and I know many brilliant Hufflepuffs, they are kind, and have a sense of fair-play."

"Which one is the best, then?" asked Sarah.

"Are you extremely brilliant and extremely normal?" I asked.

"I don't think I'm quite normal," replied the younger girl. "I do think that I learn quickly, though."

"You'll want Gryffindor or Hufflepuff," I replied. "I can reiterate—Ravenclaw are a bunch of bullies, all the way to the top. The fact that they're smart just makes them think how to more effectively bully their victim. As you can see, they've gotten their wish. I am no longer part of Ravenclaw."

"So what is this Quidditch that I've heard about?" asked Sarah. "Is it true that you fly around on brooms?"

Harry went into a detailed explanation of the game of Quidditch that lasted until we got some unwanted company.

"I see that you maintain the same company, Scarhead," said Draco Malfoy. "Two Mudbloods and a loon."

"Do not insult my family, Malfoy," returned Harry.

"Speaking of family," said Draco, taking his wand out. "You'll pay for the deaths of my father and my aunt."

"Did we kill your father?" asked Harry. "I am so sorry to hear about that. Your aunt on the other hand was a rabid dog that needed to be put down."

I could tell that Draco was mulling over Harry's description of Bellatrix for a second, but he quickly put his wand back up.

"If you attack me, you'll incur all of the penalties of attacking your Head of Family," said Harry. "For I am the Lord Black, heir to Lord Potter."

"You are of no relation to me!" said Draco, spinning around and shooting off a spell at Sarah. She ducked out of the way and waved her hands. Draco hit the wall, and then was flung through the doors of the Compartment.

"Au contraire," said Harry through the still-open door. "Your mother is a cousin of my late godfather. That makes us cousins."

We all turned to face Sarah. "What the hell was that?" I asked.

"I just wanted him away," she said.

"Well, there's the fact that you got rid of him without a wand," observed Hermione. "That means that you'll likely be a powerful witch, once you're trained up, of course."

"You'll definitely want to ask the Hat to keep you away from Ravenclaw," I told her. "You'd be miserable as hell unless you decided to learn wandless banishing charms like you just did."

"I told the Hat to keep me away from Slytherin," admitted Harry. "The damned thing was thinking about putting me there. Except, I wasn't having any of that: I'd already meat the Pureblood, inbred, bigot that you just tossed out the door."

"Are you all this...foul mouthed?" asked Sarah. "I'm not trying to be offensive; I like it actually."

"Just don't do it in front of the Professors or the Headmaster and you should be good," said Harry. "I usually only use profanity when it is logical to do so."

Hermione nodded her agreement.

"I just use profanity because I like it," I admitted sheepishly. "I thought that acting tougher would get the bullies away from me. It didn't work."

Harry and Hermione had to go to a prefect's meeting, so Sarah and I were left alone. She was a rather nice girl, and if I knew the spell for the MQ, I would've cast it. The girl had to be at 500 milliMerlins already at 11, which would mean that she'd be just as powerful as Hermione or I when she finished maturing.

We talked about some of the abuse that I'd taken from the Ravenclaws, about her sister, who seemed to be just as charming from what Sarah was saying, and Sarah's mother.

Her mother had died a couple of years previous in a car accident. I hugged Sarah.

"I lost my mother, too," I told her. "When I was nine. She was a rather gifted witch, but liked to experiment. One of her spells went horribly wrong."

"That's horrible!" exclaimed Sarah. "My mum was killed by someone who was drunk—you know, had a couple of drinks. They said that the man's Alcohol Level was three to four times the legal limit. Fortunately, we don't think that Mum suffered any—we think she died almost instantly."

I hugged the girl again. "I'm here for you, Sarah," I told her. "I might not have the best advice, or I might not talk the most coherently, but I'm willing to talk to you if you want."

"It can be like I have a big sister," Sarah said with a ghost of a smile.

There was another knock on the door. It was Padma Patil. I could tell that it was Padma, as Parvati looked just a little different. I think that the Gryffindor Patil sister wore more makeup or something.

Plus, this Patil twin was wearing Ravenclaw robes.

"May I come in?" she asked when I opened the door. I gestured to the seats. "I'm so sorry, Luna. I should've done something, all these years."

"Why are you apologising now?"

"Because, 'Vati made me see that what I was doing was wrong," she said. "I may not have been actively bullying you or stealing your things, but I should've stopped them. Gone to Flitwick or something."

"He didn't care," I said bitterly. "One of my main sources of losing points was arguing with him about Ravenclaws and Snape, of course. I went to him at least once a year, and he just told me that if I were a proper Ravenclaw, they wouldn't be doing it."

"You were a perfect Ravenclaw," said Padma. "You're extremely smart, you love the library, you earn a heck of a lot of points for our house."

"Myformer house," I corrected. "Your classmates saw fit that I was removed from Ravenclaw."

"Damn it, I'm trying to apologise," said the Indian girl. "I never treated you right, and I should have been smart enough to not follow Chang and her lackeys. I'm sorry."

"What's in the past is done," I said. "I'm willing to attempt a friendship if you are."

Padma smiled, and we shook hands. "Who's your friend, Luna?"

"I'm Sarah Hamilton, Muggle-born First Year," said the girl. "I think that I just adopted Luna as my older sister."

It was strange walking into the Great Hall with no insignia on my robes, despite the fact that I'd done so the last few days of the previous term. I went to the Gryffindor table and sat next to Harry and Hermione. I was on Harry's left, and Hermione was on his right. Nobody remarked about my sitting at the Gryffindor table.

A few minutes after we got seated, the First Years walked in. Sarah was beaming, ready to be sorted. She was near the end of the alphabet, so it took a while before I heard "Hamilton, Sarah!"

Sarah walked up to the Hat and put it on. Sarah seemed to be arguing with it, but it eventually called out "GRYFFINDOR!" As per usual, the Gryffindor table erupted in applause and cheers. It was slightly annoying, come to think of it. Gryffindors were certainly the most rambunctious House in the school.

Sarah came and sat down next to me.

"Welcome to everyone!" started Albus Dumbledore. "It is my sad duty to report that Luna Lovegood is no longer considered part of Ravenclaw house, and will be moved to private quarters. She will take her classes with Gryffindor, and Harry Potter will represent her interests as a Prefect. I abhor bullying, and I am very disappointed in each of you that has taken part in bullying, whether of Miss Lovegood or any other student."

I noticed that he pointedly looked at Draco Malfoy when he said this. He obviously knew that Draco frequently tormented Harry.

"Second, Professor Snape was killed in an unfortunate incident in Diagon Alley this summer," said Dumbledore. This was news to me. I had no clue that Snape had been there. I might've given him a chance if I'd known. "His place as Potions Professor will be taken by Professor Alexei Ivanov, formerly of the Russian Magic Academy in Moscow, and Ilvermorney in the United States.

"The Defence Against the Dark Arts position will be taken by Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, on loan from the Aurors. I hope that you wish both of our new professors luck. Now, I have a few other announcements: first, the Forest is forbidden. Second, a list of banned objects may be found on Filch's office door. It comprises over 1000 items, I believe, and contains all and any products from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Third, tryouts for the Quidditch teams will be coming up this month; for more information, see your Head of House. I believe that's all the announcements I have, so let the feast begin."

He waved his hand and food appeared on the tables, to the oohing and awwing of the First Years, and a number of the slower upperclassmen.

"The ride on the boats was so cool," gushed Sarah, as she started to pile food on her plate. "That first view of the castle is amazing."

"Isn't it?" asked Hermione. "Have you read Hogwarts, A History? It's one of my favourite books."

"I read it five times already," said Sarah.

"What were you arguing with the Hat about?" I asked her.

"Damn thing wanted to put me in Ravenclaw," she said. "I wanted Gryffindor, and it eventually gave it to me."

"You should use a bit of discretion when using profanity, Sarah," commented Hermione. "I mean, I can't scold you for using bad language when my girlfriend does so all of the time, but just use it properly."

"You sound like my father," said Sarah. "Before Mum died."

We continued to talk about various things until the Feast ended.

"You let your prefect know if you have any problems," I told Sarah. "And for Merlin's sake, go to bed at a reasonable time. We have class in the morning."

"Yes, sis," joked the younger girl, sticking her tongue out. "See you in the morning, sis."

"See you in the morning," I replied, giving her a hug. "Follow Hermione up to the Gryffindor Common Room. Remember what the password is, okay?"

"Got it," she said. Harry and I left for our Room.

"What's with you and Sarah?" he asked.

"While you were at the prefect's meeting with Hermione, Sarah and I talked," I said. "She lost her mum to a drunk driver a couple of years ago. I told her about my mum, and we adopted each other as sisters. I've always wanted a little sister, but Daddy was never interested in that. I think that he knew that a second child would be just as unstable as him."

"Hence the 'sis'," said Harry. "I'm always so sad when I remember that your mother is gone, and I didn't even know her. You know, sometimes I feel bad for Neville, as his situation is almost worse than mine."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Neville still has his parents. I still have a parent."

"The fact is that I cannot remember my parents, Luna," he replied. "Neville has his parents, but they cannot recognise him. You were there when your mother was killed. Both are hideous things to have to deal with at our age."

"Yes, they are," I agreed, sadly.

"Sometimes I think that the Weasleys and I are opposites—we each want what the other has."

"Like what?"

"Ron, especially, is obsessed with the fact that he is poor," said Harry. "But he has a family."

"You are rich, and didn't have a family," I replied. "You have a family now, Harry. Never forget that. Hermione, me, Daddy, Hermione's parents, Sarah and Madi. We're all here for you."

"You're the best, you know that?"

We got to our Quarters, which were guarded by a witch playing the viola in a string quartet.

"Password?" asked the violist.

"Cello Suite No 1," replied Harry, and the door opened. It looked similar to the Gryffindor Common Room, except with different colours. There was a couch, a couple of desks, and a fireplace.

"Cozy," I muttered. I walked over to the staircases going up to the bedrooms. They weren't labelled as to which was which. "Harry, put your foot on this staircase, please."

He did, and nothing happened. "That's your bedroom in there," I told him. "See you in the morning."

\\/

The bed in my room was quite comfortable, and I got a good night's sleep. I awoke with just enough time to bathe before going down for breakfast.

I noticed that my robes had resumed showing the Black patch, instead of being blank.

"How was your night?" I asked Sarah and Hermione when I entered the Great Hall, and sat at the Gryffindor table.

"It was quite good," said Sarah. "I can't say much about the girls in my class, though. They seem to be airheads. Half the night they were talking about this makeup or that one or their nails, or whatever. It's a good thing these beds have silencing charms built in."

"Silencing Charms?" asked Harry. "Is that something new?"

"I don't think so," said Hermione. "I'd have to analyse the bed to determine who cast a silencing charm. It could be another manifestation of Sarah's magic. She wanted quiet, and magic was more than happy to give it to her."

"At least you didn't remove their vocal cords or anything," joked Harry.

"I was considering it," she said. "But I don't know how to reverse it."

"I'm not even sure whether or not that's possible with magic," I said. "Organ removal and replacement is quite hard, even in our world. I think that the vocal cords, being little flaps of skin in the body, might not be able to be replaced successfully."

We laughed. "Don't tick off McGonagall," I said. "She gets riled easily, and is quick to take points when that happens, but only for valid reasons, unlike the late Severus Snape."

"What about Flitwick?" Sarah asked.

"He's a good enough teacher," I replied. "Duelling champion in the 40s. He's just not a good administrator when it comes to dealing with people like me. Strange people.Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff, usually gives points like candy. It takes a lot for her to get mad."

"Read your History text and use your class time for other classes," said Hermione. "I'll admit that the Professor just reads the book, as he's done for hundreds of years."

"It didn't help him that he literally forgot that he died," said Harry. "He just keeps droning on, day after day, never to move on. It's sad in a way."

McGonagall came around with our schedules. I would be having potions class with the new professor, Alexei Ivanov, followed by Defence with Shacklebolt.

Ivanov and Shacklebolt both proved to be good teachers.

Ivanov had bits of a Russian and American accent, almost like Walter Koenig's accent. He clearly showed that he disliked Snape's teaching skills, but begrudgingly admitted that Snape was one of the best Potions Masters in the world. Certainly in the top 15 in the world, as Snape had designed various modifications to some potions, along with having perfected a couple more.

"Snape was never meant for a classroom," said Ivanov in his rant at the beginning of class. "Certainly not a classroom with anything less than NEWT students. His place should've been brewing potions, not this farce that he called 'teaching'. Now, because of his incompetence, I have to start from the ground up."

Mr Ivanov actually took the time to explain why certain ingredients interacted the way they did, or why some potions called for stirring anticlockwise and some called for clockwise. It was all of the stuff that should've been taught by Snape, but most Ravenclaws had figured out by reading books on the subject.

Shacklebolt was disappointed to be teaching, as he preferred taking care of Voldemort and other dark wizards, but had been assigned to Hogwarts as he'd been injured in a raid. He was a black man, who spoke with a Caribbean accent, pitched quite low. Even though he didn't speak loudly, his voice carried, such that everyone was able to understand him perfectly. He claimed that if he spoke any higher, he'd think that he was yelling, and he didn't want that.

His style of teaching was similar in some ways to the fake Moody in my third year, except without the constant screaming and without any Unforgivable Curses.

The pace of all of my classes was a lot quicker this year, as it was my OWL year. It was strange to be surrounded by Gryffindors for my classes. It was even stranger to have Slytherin in the room for Potions classes. They'd attempted to cause a ruckus the first day of potions class, but Ivanov wasn't standing for it, and gave a number of Slytherins detention.

"I'll throw anyone trying to goof off in this class straight into detention," he'd warned.

On Hermione's birthday, we had a rather large party for all of the DA members that answered their coins, along with the Gryffindors. We held it in the Room of Requirement, and Harry's friend Dobby went a little overboard on the food and drinks quantity. Fortunately for everyone at the party, he did some Elf magic, so that nobody could spike the punch.

Apparently, the Weasley Twins were famous for attempting to sneak alcohol into drinks. They came, and gave Harry a rather glowing description of how their shop was doing. In short, they were making a whole lot of money, and therefore Harry was making a lot of money.

"You guys don't have to do this," he told the twins. "All I did was give you the startup money. From what you're saying, you cut me in for a third. That's much more than a thousand Galleons."

"We did it for legal purposes, at first," said Fred. I could tell the twins apart, as they each had their own 'tells'. "We put your name on the contract establishing our shop to get it through channels better. Then, by the terms of the contract, we gave you a third of the shares."

"We own sixty-four percent of the shares," said George. "Ginny and Ronald each get 1.5%. But that was only because Dad forced us to do so."

"I mean, they're the only Weasleys left that we like that don't already have jobs," said Fred. "Percy doesn't count any longer."

"Still a traitor to the family?" asked Harry. George nodded.

We introduced Sarah to the Twins, and they seemed to be very taken with her. "She's a mini-Hermione," they joked. We knew that it wasn't meant to be harmful.

It wasn't until Halloween that anything else exciting happened. Unfortunately, it was the wrong type of exciting.

Sarah was doing quite well in her classes, and was excelling at the Levitation Charm. Flitwick seemed to introduce that charm to his First Years right around Halloween time. Even I'd admit that Flitwick was a good teacher. I just hated him because of his administrative style, or lack thereof.

Harry was moping on Halloween, as it was the anniversary of not only the defeat of Voldemort, but of his parents' death. Hermione had to remind Harry that some good things happened on Halloween, but he wasn't accepting her arguments.

"First Year, you almost get killed by a troll," he said. "Although that is one of the events that led to our friendship. Second Year, Nick's Death-day Party and the first Petrification. Third Year, Sirius attacked Gryffindor Tower, and we ended up with that nutcase knight for a couple of weeks, until Sirius attacked us again. Fourth Year, The Bloody Goblet of Fire. Fifth year, I think I got detention with Umbridge again."

"Well, we can make Halloween happier in the future," said Hermione. "Perhaps next year, you can ask me a certain question?"

"Do I even need to ask?" asked Harry. "You are of age, and can enter into a contract, which an engagement is a type of. If I had Professor Dumbledore approve it, I could ask you any question you wanted right now."

Hermione squealed and hugged Harry.

It was during the Halloween Feast that Dumbledore received a message from Fawkes, which he quickly relayed to Professor McGonagall. She started to walk over to the Gryffindor table, a grave look on her face.

"This is not good," commented Harry. "And she's making a beeline for me."

"Or us," I replied. "There's probably been an attack by Voldemort, and someone we know didn't survive. Quite possibly, my father."

"Partially incorrect, Miss Lovegood," said McGonagall. "Your father, to the best of our knowledge, has not been harmed. However, the Headmaster would like to see the four of you in his office immediately after the Feast."

"Shit, what the hell happened?" asked Harry after McGonagall went back up to the High Table. "McGonagall only asked for us—not the Weasleys."

He turned to look at Sarah, coming to the realisation of what had happened.

\\/

"This isn't doing my hatred for this day any favours," said Harry, as we walked up to Dumbledore's office.

"Harry, what happened?" asked Sarah.

"I don't know, kid, but it ain't good," he replied, using a bad impression of an American accent. He reverted to his usual accent. "But I'm sorry. So, so, sorry."

"Oh, god!" exclaimed Sarah. I tend to think that she'd come to the same conclusion that Harry had. "Is my family safe?"

"I don't know, Sarah," replied Hermione. "We know as much as you do at this point."

They reached the Headmaster's Office a minute later.

"There's been a Death Eater attack," said Dumbledore once they'd sat down and refused his offer of a lemon drop. "I'm sorry, Miss Hamilton, but neither your aunt nor your father survived."

"And Madi?" asked Sarah. "Madison, my little sister. Is she alright?"

"She is safe at the moment," said Dumbledore. "She was only slightly injured in the attack, and is now at the house of a couple associated with the Order. The couple, incidently, lives within a couple of miles of your home, and their house has some of the best wards in the country."

"Madison is at my house?" asked Hermione. "I can think of only one couple that lives within the area that has wards on their house. Especially when you mention that they are the best wards in the country."

"She is," said Dumbledore. "They will be her guardians until she comes to Hogwarts."

"And what about me?" asked Sarah, looking like she wanted to cry. "Who are my guardians now?"

"I assume that we'll have the Grangers be your guardians in the Muggle world until Miss Granger turns 18," said Dumbledore. "In the Magical World, however, you have a few options. I'll tell you the options, and then allow you to go with Mr Potter and Miss Lovegood to their quarters."

"Is it possible to...mourn?" asked Hermione. "It's an important part of the Healing process to be with loved ones when the...when the worst happens."

"You four will accompany me to Crawley tomorrow morning after classes," replied Dumbledore. "Now, back to Miss Hamilton's guardianship: First, her guardianship can stay with me. I am a powerful wizard, the headmaster of the British school of magic, and hold numerous government jobs."

He called a House-Elf for tea, and received it, before continuing. "The second option is that Miss Granger and Mr Potter take over your guardianship. Miss Granger is of age in our world, and Mr Potter, as Lord Black, also holds the legal fiction of being of age. This does not apply to any actions as Lord Potter, however. The third option is similar: we find a Wizarding Family, like the Longbottoms or the Weasleys to hold your guardianship."

"Could we have it be, if she so chooses, that we are her actual guardians, but the Weasleys are 'backup' guardians?" asked Hermione.

"If she chooses, you could designate them as godparents," responded Dumbledore. "In our world, godparents take over the guardianship of any minor children if the parents are incapacitated. If the child is from certain families, the godparent will be the acting Lord of the house."

"I know that Sirius wasn't in a state to take care of me, but who were my godparents?" asked Harry. "And who were Neville's godparents, for that matter, as well?"

"Your godparents were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange days after Sirius was caught," said Dumbledore. "They were Neville's parents. Neville's godparents aren't alive any longer. They were your parents, Harry."

Harry looked even sadder. "I never knew," he said. "We can set up in the Common Room. All four of us."

I looked at Hermione's face. She was clearly showing grief. Grief for her friend. I realised something—out of all of us, Hermione was the only one who hadn't lost someone.

We went to our quarters, and found that our beds had been brought down from the bedrooms, and placed in a circle in the middle of the Common Room. I took Sarah and Hermione with me up to my room to get some clothes.

"We can shrink the clothes if you need," I said. "Expansion charms don't exactly work the best with clothes, as it stretches the fibres too much."

We quickly found some pyjamas that would work for all of us, got changed, and went back to the Common Room. I dispelled the curtains on our beds, and we sat on the edge of our beds in our pyjamas.

"You can talk to us, or cry or whatever," I told Sarah. "I've already lost a parent. Harry's lost two parents and his godfather. You're part of our family."

Sarah walked over to my bed, and started to hug me. "But tomorrow, I have to be the big sister again," she said in a quiet voice. "Madi will have even a harder time than me. She'll need me to be strong."

"We can help you," I said, as I felt my shoulder to start to get wet. "You're a part of the Potter-Black-Lovegood family now. We take care of each other."

Sarah just cried herself to sleep on my shoulder. I laid her down on my bed, and went over to her bed and laid down.

"I can see why you hate this day," I told Harry quietly. "In a couple of years, we should get married on Halloween to make it somewhat better."

"I'm not so sure that I like that idea," he admitted. "I think that 1 September would be a much better day for Hermione and I."

"Just think about it," I said. "We have plenty of time."

We woke up the next morning at our usual time. Sarah woke up and looked around, confused.

"What happened?" she asked. "Was last night all a dream?"

"No," I said sadly. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Sarah shook her head. It was clear that she didn't want to vocalise what had happened.

"You fell asleep crying on my shoulder," I told her. "I tucked you in, like a big sister would."

"It wasn't a nightmare, then?" she asked fearfully. "Death Eaters attacked?"

"Yes," I said, hugging the smaller girl and rubbing her back. "But we're here for you. That's a big difference from when I lost my mother, you know. I didn't have any reliable friends until I met Hermione and Harry."

"Maybe we should get changed into our clothes for the day?" suggested Harry.

"If we're going to the Muggle world, leave off the cloak," said Hermione. "We'll look enough like schoolchildren that way."

"Of course," said Sarah, as she knew what Muggle schoolgirls wore, having been one. "What about our patches?"

Hermione thought about it for a second. "I can make it look like we're from Eton or someplace else," she said confidently. "Either that, or the Headmaster can do that."

There was a pop, and two trunks appeared in my room. Sarah went over to the trunks, and opened hers, selecting a uniform for the day as Hermione did the same.

"Shit," I said. "Whatever you do, do not touch my trunk. We still haven't keyed you in."

"You have a security system for your trunk?" asked Sarah. "People were bullying you and stealing your things, right."

"How good are you at drawing?" I asked. "In order to key you in, we need two things. First, a sample of your blood, and Two, we need to write some runes."

As Hermione was changing, I noticed how good she looked. She'd decided to wear the skirt version of the uniform, as that would fit in better in the Muggle world.

We went down to the Great Hall to have breakfast. We got some unusual looks, as we weren't in full uniform, but I was quite used to it. We went up to the Headmaster's office after breakfast.

"How are we getting there?" I asked.

"We are getting to Kings Cross by Floo, and then procuring transportation from there," said Dumbledore. "Unless you just want to Portkey."

Harry looked rather relieved at the mention of a Portkey. "Could we just Portkey to the Grangers?" he asked. "We can then procure transportation from there."

"Plus, my parents know about our world," said Hermione. Sarah put her hand up.

"What's a Portkey?" she asked.

"It moves a person rapidly to another location," said Hermione. "Like a transporter on Star Trek, except that your body is magically transported. Apparition is similar, except without an external transport method. That is, if I've read my materials correctly."

"Correct as always, Miss Granger," said Dumbledore. "And the Floo network is travel by fireplace."

"A nasty form of transport," muttered Harry, just loud enough for everyone else to hear.

"We have to leave the grounds to Portkey away," said Dumbledore, taking out a sock. We left the office, and went down to the entrance hall. We then walked down the path to Hogsmeade from where, we could take the Portkey.

"When you're in Third Year, there are certain weekends that you can patronise," Dumbledore told Sarah. "That is, if your guardian grants you permission, of course."

"Can Hermione and Harry be my guardians in this world, Headmaster?" she asked.

"Of course they can," said the Headmaster. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have suggested it last night."

"My sister, too?"

"We'll take care of you," said Hermione, reaching down to hug the girl.

After a while of walking, Dumbledore suddenly stopped, and held out the sock. "After I create this Portkey, touch it, and you will be transported to your destination," he said. "I give all four of you to use any magic necessary today, especially if you fall under attack."

He produced the sock, and muttered "Portus". We grabbed onto the sock, and were whisked away to the Granger's house. We walked through the door to find both of the Grangers comforting the younger girl. Sarah ran to her sister.

"Madi!" she cried. The younger of the two collapsed against her sister.

"This will be hard for them," commented Emma to her daughter. "I know that we will try our hardest to help them."

"Sarah has become my little sister," I replied. "This will be hard on all of us."

We piled onto the couch to hug the girls. It was all quite sad, but the girls looked happy to be together. Dumbledore was standing off to one side, unsure of what to do.

"What happened?" asked Emma. "How were her father and aunt killed?"

"The Aurors are investigating," said Dumbledore quietly. "Including one Nymphadora Tonks. From the reports I've seen, it wasn't pretty. They were tortured with the Cruciatus Curse before being killed. Bellatrix is gone, but her spirit remains."

I noticed Emma wince at the mention of the Cruciatus Curse. That must've been one of the things that we or Hermione told them about. I couldn't remember.

"You don't mean that literally, do you?" I asked.

"No, I shan't think so," said Dumbledore.

"What about Madi?" asked Emma. "What happened to her?"

"We think that she hid at first," said Dumbledore. "Then, she got angry and tossed a couple of Death Eaters. Presumably, from the first storey of the house, as their injuries indicate that they fell about a storey."

"Tossed?" asked Dan. "As in with her hands?"

"As in, she used her hands as a conduit for her magic," replied Dumbledore. "That appears to be what the magical sensors are saying."

"They didn't, um, get to her first?" asked Dan, making a motion with his hands.

"She is still pure, according to our spells," said the Headmaster. "We believe that was their goal, but she stopped them first."

"Just how powerful is she?" asked Emma. "Hermione wasn't this capable as a child. Her strengths were unlocking things and summoning things. Specifically, when we told her that she had to go to bed, and we locked up her books, she'd somehow unlock the case and summon them. This started right after she learned to read."

"She was always adept at unlocking things," said Harry. "Managed to unlock a couple of doors right after Halloween first year."

Hermione poked her head up. "Oh, right after Malfoy challenged you to that duel and never showed," she said. "We were escaping Filch, and ended up on the Third-Floor corridor."

"I'd say Madison is just as powerful as her sister, who will be just as powerful as your daughter when she grows up," said Dumbledore.

"The amount of power a person has increases as they are trained," I explained. "So I'm a bit more powerful than I was at 11. Way more powerful than when I used magic the first time. However, to maintain that level of power, you must use magic almost constantly. Not using your magic for over six months can stunt a person's magic. Severely."

"An excellent explanation, Miss Lovegood," said Dumbledore. "Although one won't lose as much magic if they're constantly around magic users."

"What does she mean by constant?" asked Emma.

"Using magic a couple of times a week is sufficient," said Dumbledore. "That is why magic users are seen by some as lazy—if they don't use their magic, they become weaker than they already are. Purebloods know this, but it isn't something that is commonly told to Muggleborns or Half-Bloods."

"Quite interesting," said Emma, looking over at the couch. "I think that Madison has fallen asleep again."

"She has," I agreed, noticing that the girl's crying had slowed, along with her respiration rate.

"Was your family religious?" Dan asked Sarah.

"We were," she replied. "We regularly went to St. Basil's, the Orthodox Church. We also held Mum's funeral there. Sir, how are we going to explain my father's death?"

"We can make it look like a home invasion," said Dumbledore. "We'll make it look like, and the Muggles will think that, someone used one of those Muggle firearms against your father."

Sarah nodded. "Has Father Michael been notified?" she asked. At our blank looks, she explained, "The priest at the Church. Dad would've wanted a proper funeral."

"We can arrange that," said Dumbledore.

I took another look at Madi's face. She looked sad but peaceful as she was sleeping. Her sister's expression was sad. I got up, and walked over to Dumbledore.

"Sir, permission to speak freely?" I asked him, causing Dan to chuckle weakly. Dumbledore nodded. "You stop this. You stop this now. Find Voldemort and His people. Don't offer them a second chance—kill them. So many people are dead because nobody has been able to stop Him. Harry and I have killed to protect our loved ones from Him and His forces. You find a way to stop this."

"Luna, I think that's enough," said Emma.

"No, it's not," I said defiantly. "Dumbledore and Harry are the most powerful wizards in the world, and they haven't figured out how to eliminate Voldemort yet. Can you track a person going to a Fidelius-protected place, as I assume His Headquarters are? Does a Heat-Sensing Charm work against a Fidelius?"

"What do you mean, Luna?" asked Emma.

"People are warm: about 37," I said. "If there is a heat-sensing charm, then as long as a Fidelius doesn't protect against it, Voldemort's Headquarters should light up like when the Weasleys left school last year."

"They set off a bunch of fireworks last year," explained Hermione. "They also left before Term ended because of Umbridge. The Headmaster wasn't there, as Umbridge chased him out by that point."

"I wouldn't think that a Fidelius would protect against something as simple as a Heat-Sensing charm," acknowledged the professor. "But the question remains, how to find out where to search for heat signatures that are around 37°?"

"Use all available resources, Headmaster," I replied. "There are at least a few known Death Eaters at the school. Track them back to their source."

"I'll have to think about that," said Dumbledore. "I might want to test that. I have a Fidelius-protected residence in London that Harry owns."

"I do?" asked Harry.

"It was Sirius's house, Harry," said Hermione. "He gave you everything when he died. Including your Title."

"If I'm both Lord Black and Lord Potter, then why am I not considered an adult?"

"Because you become Lord Black immediately after the death of the previous title-holder, as many Lord Blacks in the past didn't live long enough to gain their title," said Dumbledore. "Lords Potter, on the other hand, gain the title 40 days after the previous holder dies or the new holder's seventeenth birthday. You are considered an adult only in your dealings as Lord Black."

"I bet that there was a lot of infighting, as well," said Hermione.

"Hence why so many Lords Black failed to live long enough to gain the title," said Dumbledore. "It used to be the same as the Potters—40 days or when the new Lord turned 17."

"That was a very interesting explanation," said Hermione. The rest of us that were conscious nodded our agreement.

I bet that Dumbledore was a great teacher all those years ago, I thought. I was still mad at him, as he could single-handedly end the war if he put his mind to it.

"I will need use of your house in a couple of days, Harry," said Dumbledore. "And perhaps for you to be inundated with tracking charms. I assume that you cannot Apparate?"

"I'm too young, sir," said Harry.

"That's never stopped you before," chuckled Dumbledore. "Quidditch first year comes to mind, along with that Patronus that chased off over 100 Dementors in your third year. I think that I could count on two hands the number of students leaving Hogwarts who can even produce a Corporeal Patronus."

Hermione laughed a little bit. "Remember that club that you got in trouble for last year?" she asked. "There were 10-20 children fourth through seventh years who could produce a Patronus."

"What?" asked Dumbledore in shock.

"Harry doesn't play by the normal rules, as I'm sure his record will show," she said. "If you don't tell Harry that something is impossible, he'll probably end up doing it. I'd say that there's evidence from all five years so far. He's even done a couple of things that most people would consider to be impossible, like surviving dragons, Voldemort, and Bellatrix."

"He didn't realise that it was supposed to be impossible for someone that young!"

"My classmates seemed to have a lot of the other spells down," said Harry. "I thought it wise to teach them the Patronus, especially in this climate. Especially after last year. After all, the mist is better than nothing."

"Correct, Harry," said Dumbledore, still shaking his head. "And I did note that the students that scored well on their Defence OWLs and NEWTs did match your membership list quite closely—including Mr Longbottom, who achieved an 'E'."

"You can use my house if you want, Headmaster," said Harry.

"We'll take care of that later," said Dumbledore.

"What are the grades on the OWLs like?" asked Emma. "And please explain for Sarah's sake what the OWLs are."

Dumbledore explained what the OWLs were and their grading system. He provided much detail. Sarah looked to be interested in his explanation.

"You would have been a good history professor, Sir," said Hermione. "And a living teacher is certainly better than a dead one."

"Your professor is dead? How does he teach?" asked Dan.

We all sighed, including Sarah. "He's a ghost," said Sarah. "Seemingly, he either forgets that he's dead or doesn't realise that he's died. Although, I'd suggest that there is evidence against that."

"He does float through the wall every day," allowed Hermione. "Most of us, even the Ravenclaws, have given up trying to stay awake in his class. We do better just reading the text."

\\/

Dumbledore went back to the school after a couple of hours, leaving me, Harry and Hermione with Sarah, Madison, and the Grangers. Sarah was attempting to be the best big sister she could, but it was quite hard for her.

The Grangers decided to order in for pizza that night, and it was quite good. Pineapple and ham was a wonderful topping for the dish, I found, as was plain cheese. Harry offered to pay the Grangers back for the pizzas, but they refused.

"Mr Potter?" asked Madison before the Grangers made sure that the girl was in bed. She was going to sleep in Hermione's room, while the rest of us children were going to have a Wizarding Tent.

"Don't call me that, please?" he pleaded with the girl. "Call me Harry."

"Harry, are you really going to become Sarah's guardian?" she asked.

"Myself and Hermione plan to," said Harry. "With appropriate guardians in place, in case of our demise. Why do you ask?"

"Is it true that you are one of the most powerful wizards in the world?" she asked. "Would I be a part of your family as well?"

"If you wanted," he told her. Sarah came into the room. "You realise, the both of you, that by joining my family you will be two of the most protected people in the country?"

They nodded.

"You will also be the most targeted," said Harry. "I have very powerful enemies. They will not hesitate to hurt you to get at me. Remember that, always. You have to be on guard. You have to use every advantage you might come across, such as that wandless power the two of you have. You two are very special girls."

He kissed each of them on the forehead. "Now, you should get to sleep. I have no clue what the Headmaster has in store for tomorrow."

Dan Granger came into the room, and looked at the tent, looking miserable on the floor. It truly didn't look like much.

"How are you all going to fit in there?" he asked. "It doesn't look like one of you would fit."

"Go in," I suggested.

He did so, coming back out after a minute, looking around the outside of the tent, and then sticking his head back in.

"That's amazing!" he said. Hermione came into the room, and they said, "It's bigger on the inside!" together.

Sarah and Madison got the reference. "Daddy used to let us watch Doctor Who when it would come on reruns. It's been off the air for so long."

"It's a television programme," explained Hermione. "We should get to bed soon, too."

There was a burst of flame, which startled everyone in the room. The flame turned into Fawkes, the phoenix.

"Hi, Fawkes," I said to the bird, who was carrying our trunks. He sang us a comforting song, while sending me a greeting over his mind speech. "Thanks for bringing our stuff."

You're Welcome I heard in my head. My Human truly cares about you. I will shed a tail-feather. Take it to the Wandmaker and have a wand made for the young human. She is pure of heart.

"We'll be honoured, Fawkes," I said. "We'll use it well."

"Were you talking to the Phoenix?" asked Madi.

"Yes, I was," I told her. "He seems to like me and Harry. You, as well."

"Really?" she asked. "Will I be able to talk to the phoenix?"

"Not yet," I said. "He might allow you to hear/understand him. You've been given a great honour, however, as Fawkes has donated a tail-feather for your future wand."

"Just like me," said Harry. "Fawkes has donated two feathers in the past that have been made into wands. One of them has been used for extreme evil. The other is in my hands."

Fawkes sent a distressed message to all of us at the mention of Tom Riddle's wand.

"Is that how you talk to him?" asked Dan, still in the room. "He just sends you a mental image of what he wants to say?"

"That's right," I replied. I turned to Madi. "You have to promise to use this wand for good, okay?"

"Use it for defence, not for attack," continued Hermione. "Outside of a classroom, of course."

"I swear," said Madi, holding her right hand up. It wasn't enough to make a magical oath, but I understood that she was genuine in her desire. "Just like in Star Wars."

Dan and Hermione chuckled. "Yes, just like the Force in Star Wars," said Hermione. "Now, we should all get to bed, as it's getting quite late."

We got our pyjamas and went into the tent—first Hermione and I, then Harry. Daniel gave us a raised eyebrow when he noticed our nonchalantness at Hermione and I changing together.

\\/

We woke up at around 0700 the next morning. For a minute, I was disorientated, as I didn't recognise my surroundings, but then I remembered everything.

I got up, and found my way to the Grangers' bathroom, where I took care of my morning needs. It was still dark, as the sun was just coming up, as astronomical sunrise had occurred around 06:55.

The others woke up a couple of minutes later, and repeated my actions. Sarah was a bit clingy that morning, and didn't want to let me out of her sight.

We went down and had breakfast. It was a Sunday, so the Grangers would've had the day off anyway. Dumbledore came shortly after we'd eaten breakfast.

"Your priest has been notified," said Dumbledore. "Your father's body has been transferred to the Muggles for him to receive. For obvious reasons, it's hard for him to get in touch today. Arrangements will be made tomorrow."

Dumbledore looked sad, and tired. All this running around between the Muggle world and trying to run Hogwarts must be very difficult for him. He saw the phoenix feather on the table.

"My dear, you've been given a great honour," he said to Madison. "Fawkes has only ever given two feathers before."

"Harry told me," she replied. "Can you talk to the phoenix?"

"Yes, I can," said Dumbledore. "Sometimes, Fawkes even helps me figure out problems. Fawkes is a very loyal bird, and his tears have healing properties."

"Extreme healing properties," said Harry, with a bit of a chuckle. "Fawkes and his tail-feathers have saved me a couple of times. Once from a Basilisk."

"What?!" I, Dumbledore, and the Grangers explained.

"It was during the Chamber of Secrets incident," said Harry. "I told Tom that Dumbledore was the greatest wizard, so Fawkes showed up and scratched out the Basilisk's eyes—they're deadly if you look directly into them. The basilisk, Tom, and I fought for a couple of minutes, then I managed to pull the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat—which Fawkes had brought. As I killed the basilisk, one of its fangs got me. Fawkes cried into the wound, and I recovered completely."

"Basilisk venom is one of the most deadly substances known to man," said Dumbledore. "Generally, it kills within five to ten minutes."

"Again, you don't play by the rules, Mr Potter," said Dumbledore, fondly. "But, if Fawkes has given you a feather, we must be off to Ollivander's shop. He'll be delighted to have a challenge. Remember, you may use your wands to protect yourself against any threats. I will deal with the consequences of your actions."

"How are we going to get to Diagon Alley?" asked Sarah. "I know that its about 90 minutes by car."

"We'll use a Portkey," said Dumbledore. "That will get us there much quicker. Daniel. Emma. Do you wish to come along?"

"Seeing as I'm not doing anything anyway, let's go," said Emma. Dumbledore summoned a couple of cloaks.

"Put these on, and pretend you know what you are doing," said Dumbledore to the Grangers and Madison. "That will help disguise you."

We took the Portkey, and landed outside of Ollivander's shop on Diagon Alley. We went through the door, and the bell chimed as usual. Ollivander rushed to the front, like he always did.

"Ah, Mr Dumbledore, Mr Potter, Miss Granger, Miss Lovegood, Miss Hamilton," he said, naming all of the people he'd met. He looked at the Grangers and Madison. "You've never bought a wand from me. You two are Muggles. The girl must be the younger Miss Hamilton."

"Correct as always, Mr Ollivander," said Dumbledore.

"I do hope that nothing has happened to that amazing wand of yours, Albus?" asked the wandmaker. "Or that amazing creation that you've wielded, Mr Potter?"

"No, not at all," said Dumbledore, fingering his wand. It had a very peculiar design that I was sure matched descriptions of Grindlewald's wand—and many other wizards before Him, as well. "Fawkes has donated another feather."

"Ahh," said the Wandmaker. "The phoenix likes the girl, hmm?"

"Yes, he does," I replied. "He told me that you could create a wand for Madison. The 'Younger Miss Hamilton,' as you put it."

"You can talk to the Headmaster's phoenix?" asked Ollivander. "There is a familial bond between you and the Hamilton girls, Miss Lovegood, that is interesting. There is an almost parental bond developing between them and Mr Potter and Miss Granger. There is a much deeper bond between Mr Potter and Miss Granger and Miss Lovegood. That is very interesting."

"Fawkes considers Dumbledore and myself to be his Humans," I said. "Not the other way around."

"I can do it for you, but it will cost you, especially if you want be to make it quickly," said the Wandmaker. "One hundred, all in advance. An extra hundred for a rush job."

"We'll give you twenty now, and eighty later," said Harry.

"Seventy-five now, the rest later," said Ollivander. "And any rush fee is paid up front."

"Fifty all," said Harry.

"Agreed," said Ollivander, glad that Potter hadn't negotiated the price down. "Now, we have to find a suitable wood and length for Miss Hamilton's wand. Come back to my workroom. Every so often, I need to make a custom wand for someone, usually when they have an unusual connection with a particular sample—usually they supply the material, just like you're doing."

We accompanied him back to his workshop. "The girl's magic is unusually controlled and ready," he mused as we walked to the back of his shop, which was bigger-on-the-inside, like most Wizard buildings. "Usually, it is only close to a person's eleventh birthday that their core is finally ready to bond."

"I'll be eleven on 24 August next year," said Madi. "I was a bit early though—I wasn't supposed to be born until the next week."

"I bet that you're glad that you were ready to be born a week early," said the wandmaker. "You'd be waiting another year, like Miss Granger here. Her birthday is sometime in September, I believe that she said."

Ollivander's workshop was a long table with various bins on it, full of things like dragon heartstrings and unicorn tail and other magical substances. There were bins full of wood of all descriptions.

"It's not often that I practise the old method of wandmaking," he continued. "People quickly realised that matching the core and the wood produced a superior wand—after I started making them that way of course."

He went over to his desk, and plucked out a piece of wood. "Have you learned any magic yet?" asked the wandmaker. "I need you to concentrate on a spell, feel the magic flowing through you. The blank will reconfigure itself to the proper length for your magic."

"Think about how you did the Lumos charm with my wand," said Hermione. "Or when you were repelling the Death Eaters."

Madison raised her hands in a manner similar to Tony Stark's Iron Man from the comics I'd seen at Hermione's house.

"I think that we should stick with the Lumos," said Ollivander quickly. "She looks like she could destroy my whole shop." He looked like he had an idea. "In fact, Mr Potter, why not let Miss Hamilton use your wand for this? Being the same core, it'll help channel the magic."

Harry handed over his wand, and Madison showed an almost immediate reaction. "Certainly works with that core," commented Ollivander.

"Lumos," said Madison. She looked like she was concentrating as hard as she could.

"Just a few more seconds," said Ollivander, watching the blank change length. "You can stop now."

Madison looked like she'd run a bit, due to using magic like that. It wasn't that much magic for someone whose core was fully developed, but at her age, a single year made just enough difference. It was like the difference between first -year Neville vs first-year Harry.

"10 ¾"," said the wandmaker. "Now, let's see what wood you'll have."

He took out the bins of wood, and placed a sample of each type of wood on the table. "Reach out with your magic, and tell me which one 'feels' right."

"That one," she said, pointing at the Hawthorne piece a minute later.

"You are going to be a great witch, Miss Hamilton," said Ollivander. "This is a powerful core, and combined with this wood, will make a powerful wand."

Ollivander led us back out to the main section of the shop. Harry wrote Ollivander a Gringotts cheque, and the wandmaker informed us that the wand would be ready in a few weeks at the earliest, the middle of spring/early summer at the latest.

We went back to the Granger's house, as we had no further business on Diagon Alley. There, Dumbledore performed the guardianship ritual for the girls, making their new magical guardians be Harry and Hermione.

"I'd like for the Weasleys to be their backup guardians," said Harry. "And if something happens to them, I'd like for the Headmaster to be their guardian."

"Good choices, Harry," said Dumbledore. "You do realise that usually, someone a bit older would take on this responsibility?"

"Of course I do, Sir," replied Harry. "You're the one who brought it up in the first place."

"You've been acting a bit parental towards Sarah since the start of term," said Dumbledore. "Both you and Hermione. Luna, in her infinite desire to have more family members, has decided that Sarah, and now Madison, are her younger sisters. As Ollivander said, there is a familial connection there."

\\/

"Can I sleep in the tent with you?" asked Madison later that night, after having dinner and a shower.

"There's more than enough room inside," said Harry.

"And I suppose that we are your guardians now," said Hermione. "So, we're here to help you. Help you and comfort you."

"Although, I suppose that we'd be doing that anyway," said Harry. "Hermione has said on occasion that I have a 'Saving People Thing'."

"What will I do after the funeral?" asked Madison, her voice quiet, and childlike. "Will I come to Hogwarts with you, or will I stay here in the Muggle world?"

"I don't know," said Harry. "Dumbledore hasn't said anything. I think that you'll be safe here. The Grangers' house is one of the most protected Muggle houses in this country. Its wards rival that of some magical houses."

"I really don't want to be alone, Harry," said Madison.

"It's tragic that someone as young as you has been brought into the War," said Harry, sadly. "I can certainly understand not wanting to be alone."

Madison entered the tent, clad in her pyjamas, and found a bed to lie down in. "I think that you'll be great parents," she said.

"I really hope so," replied Harry. "I didn't exactly have the best life growing up, so I'll attempt to make it as different as possible for you."

"He was raised in this world," I explained. "His aunt and uncle despised magic. The Headmaster has said that Petunia was jealous of Lily. But, the Dursleys hated magic and attempted to make his life as miserable as possible because of it."

"They and their son roughed him up over the years," said Hermione, sadly. "This year, they attempted to kill him. We got there just in time."

"How could someone act like that?" asked Madison. "I know that our aunt didn't exactly like us, but she wasn't that bad."

"Most of Harry's life is horrifying in one way or another," said Hermione. I agreed.

These girls may be orphans, but they'd have the best life possible.

The funeral the next day took place at the church that the Hamiltons frequented. To be honest, the service was a very odd mix of sorrow and joy, as the service mentioned many times about Jesus's resurrection, and about how they were all hoping that God would take care of Steve's soul.

The service was a series of various chants and songs—the whole service was melodic. I could see myself being converted to this Muggle religion.

Madison and Sarah broke into tears multiple times during the service, and we were all trying to comfort them to the best of our abilities.

Parts of the service were in a foreign language—likely Ukrainian from the syllabic structure. I noticed that the girls seemed to be fluent in whatever language it was, as they were singing along with the others.

A/N: Reference to Abe possibly being Grindlewald is a reference to another fanfiction, quite possibly Broken Bonds by the late "broomstick flyer" (amongst other stories that mention a similar storyline)

This story started off as an explanation of an older version of the storyline in "Finding the Grangers" that included Luna living with Harry and Hermione and eventually having children with Harry (through some unspecified means). The storyline wasn't working out in that story, so I removed it. In "Finding the Grangers" (v1 upload), I mentioned that Luna's children looked suspiciously like Harry or Lily Evans Potter (i.e. Harry's mum). Also, I decided that the timeline needed to be changed (so that this is no longer canon to the end of DH EWE).

This story uses some elements from Logic and Illogic, and most of the Rose Potter stories (namely the holiday to France, although even that has been changed a bit)

As you will be able to see in the deleted scenes, I intended to introduce the Hamilton/Weston family before the Diagon Alley trip, just so that their father could be killed off, motivating Luna to go nuts.

"..." quotes are used for Normal speech

… is used for phoenix

« … » is used for French

„..." is used for German

Trio:

Hermione: 17 September 1979

Harry: 31 July 1980 (Hr: -318 days, L: +198)

Luna: 13 February 1981 (Hr: -516 days, H: -198)

Girls:

Sarah: 09 July 1985

Madison: 24 August 1986

This draft has a number of problems with it, which is why it's going in my "Ideas" section. Quite a number of things have to be changed around for this story to work