[Fic]: On a Bright Summer Morning: Meeting Luna (4300 words)
On a Bright Summer Morning: Meeting Luna
A Harry Potter fanfic
By Andrew yclept Aelfwine
Rating: PG. 4300 words. AU warning. Luna Warning. Yours Truly warning.
***
The characters and situations of the Harry Potter series are copyright J.K. Rowling. They may not be used or reproduced commercially without permission. The use of these characters and situations is not to be construed as challenge to said copyright. They are merely borrowed for this work of non-commercial fanfiction, from which the author derives no financial benefit.
***
So, I'm trying to break out of this pattern of not posting fic. This isn't a finished story, by any means. I expect at least two more parts of about the same length.
***
It was a bright sunny summer morning, and Harry Potter was working in the garden of his extremely respectable family's perfectly maintained and thoroughly upper middle class suburban semi at Number Four Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. It was the first day out of school, and he was already missing his hours of respite from work at home. Sure, he had to keep his head down at school, and he had to make sure he didn't outdo Dudley, which took particular finesse because if his marks were too much worse he might get smacked and locked in the cupboard round the clock for his 'unforgivable displays of stupidity and ignorance' rather than for his 'freakish attempts to make his betters look bad.' And he got hunted by Dudley and his friends when they had the chance, but that happened at home as well.
And at least at school he didn't have to spend hours in the sun, digging up beds, planting, mowing, and all the rest. A day like this was better than the cupboard, of course, but not all that much.
He would have liked some water, but he wasn't allowed to drink from the hosepipe, because it was savage and might make the neighbours think his relatives were denying him the use of a drinking glass. He also wasn't allowed to go inside to the sink, because he wasn't allowed to be lazy and stop before his work was done and possibly dirty the floor as well. Nor was he allowed to have a perfectly good drinking glass, or even a plastic cup, out here lying about like a piece of rubbish, or, for that matter, neatly tucked away as if he were hiding something and, therefore, up to no good.
Therefore, he was trying not to think about water, since he'd not be allowed any until he was altogether done and it was time for him to come inside and cook his family's dinner. He was also getting ready to stand up from his work which was acceptable only because he'd finished planting his current set of flowers and he needed to get another flat of plants from the shelter of the garden shed. And it was at just that moment, whilst he was still kneeling beside the flower bed that a pair of arms snaked behind him and a girl's voice whispered in his ear "Oh, there you are! I'd been wondering why I was here. Wonderful!"
Harry didn't have the stereotypical almost ten year old boy's distaste for girls, but all the same he wasn't accustomed to being so close to one. He wasn't accustomed to being so close to anyone, really, unless, of course, he were being battered. It was a wonder, he would think later, that he didn't jump out of his skin, at least metaphorically. But at the time all he could think of was something to the effect of: she's nice... she's warm but she doesn't make me feel hot in a bad way like the sunlight does on a day like today... who is she?
At last, after a time that seemed very long but was probably in reality only a minute or two, he said "I'm sorry, but I expect my cousin will hurt you if you stay here. I'm afraid you'd better go."
"I don't think I should be doing that, really. You see, I was at home in the garden until a few minutes ago, and when things like this happen it's usually the case that both people involved are exactly where they need to be at the moment. Either that or the Nargles are playing with us, but I didn't see any so I don't think it's them, and they've not been able to hide from me since I turned seven and Auntie Rhona started teaching me how to use my Good Eye. And it's really great good luck that I was wearing clothes today, and I think surely I must have had a reason for not only putting them on this morning but then keeping them on after I went outside, when it's such a lovely sunny day and usually there wouldn't be any good reason to do such a thing, and I suppose that reason must be because you'd be embarrassed if I weren't wearing any clothes. At least I get the feeling that you would be at this point in our relationship. Would you be?"
Harry didn't know how to answer that question. He knew folk were meant to wear clothes, and he'd never seen a girl without hers on, or even thought very much about the possibility. He imagined he would be meant to be embarrassed, or perhaps ashamed, something like that, if he saw a girl who was completely naked bare, or even dressed in nothing but her underpants. But at the same time it seemed to him that anything this girl did would be right. Not right by his relatives' standards, maybe, but right all the same.
He liked how the strange girl sounded. She didn't talk quite like anyone he'd ever heard before, so far as he knew, unless maybe it was somebody on the television whom he might have heard through the cupboard door, although usually the Dursleys were quick to be changing the channel every time he could hear accents that weren't like the accents of most people in Little Whinging, which was to say either posh or posh kids trying to sound 'well hard,' the way Dudley did when his mother wasn't round to say he shouldn't. Her accent wasn't at all like that; most especially, she hadn't any of the sharpness that went with sounding 'well hard'. He thought she sounded a bit like some people Aunt Petunia had called a 'stupid yokel and a dirty Irish thug' before changing the channel, but a little bit posh, somehow, at the same time. And somehow she almost sounded as if she were singing, even though she was only talking. He very much wanted to hear more of her speech, but he couldn't stand the thought of Dudley hitting such a nice person. "Really, miss, I don't want you to be hurt."
"Oh, don't worry so, sir. If I'm meant to be here, I'm meant to be. I should think that your cousin, who really sounds like a very disagreeable person who shouldn't be related to anyone as nice as you are, will not even be able to see me."
As if they'd somehow been prompted by the girl's words, Harry heard Dudley and his best friend come tramping past. "Oi, look, there's Potty! What's happening, Scarhead? Having a bit of fun in the dirt, are we? Want your face rubbed in it some more? Let's give him a hand with that, Big D."
"Come on, Piers, we can hunt him later. Captain Slaughter: Alien Smasher is going to be on in a minute, and it's a new episode. I hear in this one he's on leave on the Planet of the Three-Breasted Bikini Babes, and then the Kringles try to kill him again."
"Good point, D. Maybe he'll get to blow up the whole planet. That would be awesome!" And paying absolutely no further attention to Harry, and none whatsoever to begin with to the mysterious girl, Dudley and Piers made their way into the house.
"I take it they wouldn't have normally done that, good sir?"
"Normally they would have at least taken the time to throw a couple of clods at me. And why are you calling me 'sir'? I'm just Harry."
"Well, good and honourable Sir Just Harry, it's because it would be rude not to, when you're calling me 'miss'. But if you'll permit, we could introduce ourselves, and then you'll be very welcome to call me Luna."
"Okay. I'm Harry P--"
"Wait, good and honourable Sir Just Harry Puh! We should be facing each other when we introduce ourselves. That's very important, unless I'm completely confused. Or else this is Opposite Day, but that just happened, or Backwards Day, but that won't come until next fortnight and a quarter... So, we should be facing each other. Oh, wait, pardon me. I completely forgot to let go of you! How silly of me! Well, you smell nice, but still... So, here, I'll let go, and we'll face each other, and then we can introduce ourselves and you can call me Luna instead of Miss." She let go of him, and he was surprised to realise that he rather wished she hadn't done. Introduced or not, very warm day or not, it felt nice to have somebody so close to him who wasn't hurting him. He didn't know what to say when she said he smelt nice, but it seemed as if it would be rude to contradict her, so he didn't.
And then she'd come round to face him. She wasn't like anybody he'd ever seen before. She was tiny, slender, and probably a little younger than himself. She had big grey eyes, a bright smile, and blonde hair falling loose down to her waist. There was a daisy tucked behind one of her ears. She was wearing an outfit of a sort he'd never really seen before, a loose t-shirt with writing in a foreign language and a skirt that looked to be pieced together out of scraps of cloth in almost every shade and pattern Harry had ever seen or even imagined and several more that he hadn't. She was perfect. He had no idea why he thought that, or what it meant, but she was. The Sun rose in the East. The sky wasn't green. And this girl who was apparently named Luna something, although they hadn't introduced themselves yet, was perfect.
Not that other girls couldn't also be perfect. He didn't know why it was important to think that, but for some reason it was. Luna was a perfect Luna, and some other girls might just as easily be perfect versions of themselves.
She held out her hand. "Greetings and salutations, Good and Honourable Sir. I am Luna Mairéad Radha Llywelyn Mihoshi Sasha Nyota Bob Good Lord How Many Names Has This Poor Child Got? Fatima Breandán Myfanwy Lovegood. I'm honoured and charmed to meet you, and I would be delighted if you would call me Luna, although you're welcome to pick another name if you'd rather, or even to give me a new one. And might I ask your own name?"
"Err... Hello. I'm Harry Potter. Pleased to meet you, Luna." He realised he was meant to take her hand, and did. He thought they'd shake hands, much as he saw adults do with each other, but instead Luna took a firm grip of his hand and didn't let go at all.
"So, that's who you are! I'm so very happy to meet you at last, because I've always known we'd find each other one day. And I'm looking forward tremendously to introducing you to my dear friend Ginevra, because she'll be simply over the Moon at finally meeting you. I suppose she'll be a bit disappointed that you haven't got a loyal herd of cuddly multi-coloured talking ponies with little symbols on their bottoms who follow you about and help you to help people who, well, need help, but I'm sure she'll get over that. And maybe we could do something about the ponies, even if you don't have them yet. Unless you do, and they're only hiding somewhere?"
"I don't. Or at least I don't think I do. I've never seen them." Harry wasn't used to letting himself imagine such things, but something about having a girl appear out of nowhere, hug him, and prove herself completely invisible to Dudley and Piers left him wondering what else might happen of which he hadn't had any inkling before today. He couldn't help but wonder if he might even see a flying motorbike, like the one he sometimes dreamt of seeing and even riding upon.
"Well, we can work on that, Harry Potter."
"You could call me Harry, Luna. At least if you'd like to."
"Oh, I definitely would like to, Harry. Thank you. I think I'm going to enjoy calling you Harry a great deal. And I think I'm going to enjoy you calling me Luna even more. So, Harry, what are you doing gardening in such a peculiar-looking neighbourhood without a pony or a House Elf or even a bit of magic to help you?"
"Magic? But that's only in stories. Ones my aunt and uncle won't let me read."
"Really? That's not very nice of them at all. They shouldn't stifle your education like that. Why, imagine if someone's relatives wouldn't let them read any stories with bananas in them, just because they didn't like bananas themselves, or even if they were allergic to them, and on top of that tried to tell them that there were no such things as bananas except in the stories they wouldn't let the poor person read. I'd try to explain it to them that way, but alas I can see already that it wouldn't do any good. And am I correct in assuming that the blond and pink gorilla-whale-creature that you said was your cousin is their son? The one who had the sort of ferrety boy that looked a bit like my miserable cousin Draco, only not as blond, following him about?”
“Err... yeah. That's Dudley. He's the son of my Aunt Petunia and my Uncle Vernon. But everybody I've ever met, at least before you, said there wasn't any magic, not just them. The teachers at school and the other kids all do.”
“Goodness, that's not right at all. Aside from the fact that it's very rude to say things like that, it's terribly unrealistic of them. If there's not magic in the world then how could there be dragons and hippogriffs and House Elves?"
“I don't think they've ever seen any of those.”
“Well, that's just plain silly of them. I've never seen the Patriarch of Constantinople, or a Crumple-horned Snorkack, or the city of Scranton in America, but I accept that they exist. I'd hate to think how these people will deal with it if a dragon, say, eats them. Not that it's good to be eaten by a dragon if one does accept that dragons exist, but at least that way one knows what's happening. I can't imagine how terrible it would be to be eaten by something if one couldn't accept that it was even there.”
Harry wasn't sure what to say to that. Luna was terribly nice, but she was also terribly confusing, it seemed. And he was feeling a little unsteady on his feet.
“Oh goodness!”
"Luna?" She had her arm about him, now, and his head was leant on her shoulder.
"You nearly fell over, Harry. I think you're dehydrated, and I have to say that, although it's a pleasure to catch you and a delight to help hold up the greatest Wizarding hero of our generation, I'd rather you took better care of yourself so that I wouldn't have to do that sort of thing, unless it were simply for our mutual enjoyment. I rather think you need to be drinking much more water than you have been, doing something like what you appear to have been doing on a day like today."
"Not allowed water. Not till I'm done."
"Now that is simply stupid and silly, not to mention mean, and I will not tolerate it. Dizzy, would you be so kind as to bring our Harry a large glass of water, please?"
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. I'm used to it. If Aunt Petunia sees me with a glass of water, I'll get the belt when Uncle Vernon gets home, or maybe worse."
"I don't think she'll be seeing the water, Harry. After all, your cousin and his friend weren't able to see me, or even able to notice that you had an invisible person hugging you and talking with you, and I think I have reasonable grounds for thinking that your other relatives will suffer from the same deficiency. Or is it suffering, really? I suspect they'd be happier not seeing me. After all, they might not be able to tell the difference between me and a dragon or a hippogriff, and I gather that seeing one of those would make them very upset, because they don't want to believe that they exist. Ah, thank you, Dizzy."
Somehow Luna now had a glass of water in her hand. It held at least a pint, a measure Harry knew very well from cooking, and it was so cool that there were little droplets clinging to the outside of it. He could imagine how it would feel, trickling into his mouth and down his throat...
"Here, Harry. You really should be drinking this. Dear Dizzy brought it for you, after all. Is water not what you want? I suppose I could have her bring you a pint of Daddy's best home-brewed old ale. I'm told it's very strong, and I'm not allowed to drink it myself, but Daddy never said Harry Potter wasn't allowed to drink it. Oh, and I think we've some vinegar as well, and there's very likely to be some buttermilk in the cool cupboard, and I'm sure we've plenty of ink if you'd prefer that instead, as we use it for the printing press all the time."
"Err, no, water's fine..."
"Oh, how silly of me! You might be worried that I'm going to give you a sleeping potion so I can take you away to my lair and have my wicked way with you! Please don't worry about that. Mummy told me I'm not allowed to do such a thing until I'm fourteen, or at least thirteen and two thirds. And besides, I'd really want to get to know you better first. Mummy and Daddy had known each other for about six years, nine months, a fortnight, and two days before she did it, after all, and they'd talked about it first and agreed on a safe word. But you can't be sure about that, because we've only just met each other. What a silly Luna I am sometimes, aren't I? Here, I'll prove there's nothing in the water." She raised the glass to her lips and sipped at it. "See! No sleeping potions! But you're welcome to put your finger on my lips to make sure that they're cool and wet if it would make you feel altogether certain you're safe. I certainly wouldn't be offended if you did. Very much the contrary, in fact."
"Err, no, that's okay. Thanks." He wasn't sure why the thought of putting his finger on Luna's mouth made him feel so awkward, but it did. Maybe it was because his hands were dirty, and it would be rude to make her taste dirt when she was such a very nice person? He took the glass from her hand, touching her fingers lightly in the process. She smiled at him.
The water was delicious. He sipped slowly, knowing that drinking or eating too quickly after going without wasn't a good idea. Halfway through the glass, he was already feeling much better. "Thank you, Luna. This is wonderful."
Her face coloured. "Oh, Harry! You're too kind."
He didn't know what to say to that. It would be rude of him to contradict her, wouldn't it? But here she was acting as if he'd done something incredibly nice when she'd actually done something incredibly nice for him and all he'd done was thank her for doing it. "Well, you're being awfully nice to me, Luna. I just wish I could do something more for you..."
"Well, Harry, if you really want to... I hope it's not too much of an imposition, but... could I, well, stay with you?"
"Really? But... why?"
"Well... because Mummy almost died a few weeks ago, and I'm so happy that she's all right, but she and Daddy went off on a really long expedition to find a complete cure for her and they couldn't take me with them because they were going places that aren't at all safe for little girls and they left me with my Auntie Imogene to watch me, because they said that the neighbours might talk if they left me only with Dizzy. Auntie Imogene is frankly not very nice at all, and now she's got all drunk on some nasty potion and she told me to go get lost for a while, so I don't see why I shouldn't get lost with somebody as nice as you, Harry. Ginevra's away at her Aunt Muriel's, and I really haven't got any other friends, except for you. That is if we are friends..."
"Of course we're friends, Luna. And I've never had a friend at all before, myself." Harry didn't know very much about things people did to comfort each other, but somewhere, somehow, he'd seen somebody put their hand on somebody else's shoulder to try and make them feel better. He did that to Luna, hoping it was the right thing to do.
Apparently it was, because she threw her arms about him and held him, very tightly. "Oh, Harry, thank you. May I stay with you? As friends?"
"I'm afraid I haven't really got a good place for you to stay, but... well, you're welcome to share my cupboard with me. It's not very big, but it's all I've got." Harry had a vague feeling that boys and girls might not be meant to sleep in the same room, especially one as small as his cupboard, but he wasn't very sure about that, just as he wasn't very sure about a lot of things. "That is, if it's all right. I'm sorry if it's rude of me, but the guest bedroom is only for company, and if my relatives can't see you then I'm not sure they'd call you company, and Dudley's second bedroom is full of his broken things so I don't think it would be very comfortable to stay in there, and..."
"I'm sure it will be wonderful, Harry. I'd like nothing better than to share a cupboard with you. Oh, I only wish Ginevra were here to share it with us, because she'd be so very happy to meet you. She'd positively glow, and she's such a wonderful sight when she glows, with her pretty red hair and her soft brown eyes and all her freckles. I'd love for you to see her like that."
"It might be a little bit tight with three of us..."
"Oh, I'm sure it would be fine, even if there were four of us. And Dizzy could help us by making some extra space if we needed it."
He felt as if there was some question he should ask, but he couldn't quite get his mind round it. And he wasn't very used to asking questions. He decided he could think about it later.
"So, Harry, could Dizzy and I help you with your planting? Please?"
Nobody had ever said anything even remotely similar to Harry before. "Err... I'm used to doing it by myself... but if you wouldn't mind..."
"Of course not! Would I have asked if we did? I really like to garden, and Dizzy loves doing things like that even more than I do."
"Okay."
"Thank you, Harry!" Luna hugged him. "So, you're planting flowers in this bed? And only flowers?"
"Yes. The rest are over there in the garden shed. Aunt Petunia says I'm should bring them out one flat at a time, so they don't get stressed."
"I can understand caring for flowers, but not why a person who didn't care for a wonderful boy like Harry Potter would care for them. I hope you don't mind my saying that your Aunt doesn't think things through very well, do you?"
"Err, no."
"That's good. I'd be a bit worried for you if you did. So, would it be all right if Dizzy finishes out the bed? I wouldn't want to deprive you of anything you'd like to do, but I think she'd really enjoy that, and maybe whilst she's doing it we could get to know each other better?"
"Okay."
"Yay!" Luna pressed a little kiss on his cheek. Harry didn't quite know what to think of that, but it felt sort of nice, really. "Thank you so much, Harry. Dizzy, would you be so kind?"
And before his eyes, flats of flowers floated from the garden shed and apparently planted themselves. Harry didn't quite know what to think of this. On the one hand, his work was being done for him. On the other hand, it felt vaguely like cheating. Then again, Dudley cheated every chance he got, whether it was a maths quiz or a game of football, and as far as Harry knew Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia did much the same, whether it was golf and taxes or passing off cakes and biscuits from the shop--or made by Harry--as her own work. He'd done enough work for them. If cheating with the help of a friend meant less sweat and pain for him, he was happy to cheat. And at least this wasn't hurting anyone.
"Does that look good to you, Harry?"
"It's wonderful. Thank you so much, Luna. And thank you, Dizzy." It was possible, Harry thought, that there was something in the world more wonderful than being friends with a girl named Luna who had an invisible friend named Dizzy who liked to work in the garden and to bring folk glasses of water. But he certainly couldn't imagine what it would be.
Oh well. If there should be such a thing, then he and Luna could find it together.
***
On a Bright Summer Morning, part two: Meeting Hermione
***
So, if you know my writing you can probably make a pretty good guess as to where this is going: Harry/Luna/Hermione/Ginny, no sex until they're old enough but lots of cuddling from the start.
A Harry Potter fanfic
By Andrew yclept Aelfwine
Rating: PG. 4300 words. AU warning. Luna Warning. Yours Truly warning.
***
The characters and situations of the Harry Potter series are copyright J.K. Rowling. They may not be used or reproduced commercially without permission. The use of these characters and situations is not to be construed as challenge to said copyright. They are merely borrowed for this work of non-commercial fanfiction, from which the author derives no financial benefit.
***
So, I'm trying to break out of this pattern of not posting fic. This isn't a finished story, by any means. I expect at least two more parts of about the same length.
***
It was a bright sunny summer morning, and Harry Potter was working in the garden of his extremely respectable family's perfectly maintained and thoroughly upper middle class suburban semi at Number Four Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. It was the first day out of school, and he was already missing his hours of respite from work at home. Sure, he had to keep his head down at school, and he had to make sure he didn't outdo Dudley, which took particular finesse because if his marks were too much worse he might get smacked and locked in the cupboard round the clock for his 'unforgivable displays of stupidity and ignorance' rather than for his 'freakish attempts to make his betters look bad.' And he got hunted by Dudley and his friends when they had the chance, but that happened at home as well.
And at least at school he didn't have to spend hours in the sun, digging up beds, planting, mowing, and all the rest. A day like this was better than the cupboard, of course, but not all that much.
He would have liked some water, but he wasn't allowed to drink from the hosepipe, because it was savage and might make the neighbours think his relatives were denying him the use of a drinking glass. He also wasn't allowed to go inside to the sink, because he wasn't allowed to be lazy and stop before his work was done and possibly dirty the floor as well. Nor was he allowed to have a perfectly good drinking glass, or even a plastic cup, out here lying about like a piece of rubbish, or, for that matter, neatly tucked away as if he were hiding something and, therefore, up to no good.
Therefore, he was trying not to think about water, since he'd not be allowed any until he was altogether done and it was time for him to come inside and cook his family's dinner. He was also getting ready to stand up from his work which was acceptable only because he'd finished planting his current set of flowers and he needed to get another flat of plants from the shelter of the garden shed. And it was at just that moment, whilst he was still kneeling beside the flower bed that a pair of arms snaked behind him and a girl's voice whispered in his ear "Oh, there you are! I'd been wondering why I was here. Wonderful!"
Harry didn't have the stereotypical almost ten year old boy's distaste for girls, but all the same he wasn't accustomed to being so close to one. He wasn't accustomed to being so close to anyone, really, unless, of course, he were being battered. It was a wonder, he would think later, that he didn't jump out of his skin, at least metaphorically. But at the time all he could think of was something to the effect of: she's nice... she's warm but she doesn't make me feel hot in a bad way like the sunlight does on a day like today... who is she?
At last, after a time that seemed very long but was probably in reality only a minute or two, he said "I'm sorry, but I expect my cousin will hurt you if you stay here. I'm afraid you'd better go."
"I don't think I should be doing that, really. You see, I was at home in the garden until a few minutes ago, and when things like this happen it's usually the case that both people involved are exactly where they need to be at the moment. Either that or the Nargles are playing with us, but I didn't see any so I don't think it's them, and they've not been able to hide from me since I turned seven and Auntie Rhona started teaching me how to use my Good Eye. And it's really great good luck that I was wearing clothes today, and I think surely I must have had a reason for not only putting them on this morning but then keeping them on after I went outside, when it's such a lovely sunny day and usually there wouldn't be any good reason to do such a thing, and I suppose that reason must be because you'd be embarrassed if I weren't wearing any clothes. At least I get the feeling that you would be at this point in our relationship. Would you be?"
Harry didn't know how to answer that question. He knew folk were meant to wear clothes, and he'd never seen a girl without hers on, or even thought very much about the possibility. He imagined he would be meant to be embarrassed, or perhaps ashamed, something like that, if he saw a girl who was completely naked bare, or even dressed in nothing but her underpants. But at the same time it seemed to him that anything this girl did would be right. Not right by his relatives' standards, maybe, but right all the same.
He liked how the strange girl sounded. She didn't talk quite like anyone he'd ever heard before, so far as he knew, unless maybe it was somebody on the television whom he might have heard through the cupboard door, although usually the Dursleys were quick to be changing the channel every time he could hear accents that weren't like the accents of most people in Little Whinging, which was to say either posh or posh kids trying to sound 'well hard,' the way Dudley did when his mother wasn't round to say he shouldn't. Her accent wasn't at all like that; most especially, she hadn't any of the sharpness that went with sounding 'well hard'. He thought she sounded a bit like some people Aunt Petunia had called a 'stupid yokel and a dirty Irish thug' before changing the channel, but a little bit posh, somehow, at the same time. And somehow she almost sounded as if she were singing, even though she was only talking. He very much wanted to hear more of her speech, but he couldn't stand the thought of Dudley hitting such a nice person. "Really, miss, I don't want you to be hurt."
"Oh, don't worry so, sir. If I'm meant to be here, I'm meant to be. I should think that your cousin, who really sounds like a very disagreeable person who shouldn't be related to anyone as nice as you are, will not even be able to see me."
As if they'd somehow been prompted by the girl's words, Harry heard Dudley and his best friend come tramping past. "Oi, look, there's Potty! What's happening, Scarhead? Having a bit of fun in the dirt, are we? Want your face rubbed in it some more? Let's give him a hand with that, Big D."
"Come on, Piers, we can hunt him later. Captain Slaughter: Alien Smasher is going to be on in a minute, and it's a new episode. I hear in this one he's on leave on the Planet of the Three-Breasted Bikini Babes, and then the Kringles try to kill him again."
"Good point, D. Maybe he'll get to blow up the whole planet. That would be awesome!" And paying absolutely no further attention to Harry, and none whatsoever to begin with to the mysterious girl, Dudley and Piers made their way into the house.
"I take it they wouldn't have normally done that, good sir?"
"Normally they would have at least taken the time to throw a couple of clods at me. And why are you calling me 'sir'? I'm just Harry."
"Well, good and honourable Sir Just Harry, it's because it would be rude not to, when you're calling me 'miss'. But if you'll permit, we could introduce ourselves, and then you'll be very welcome to call me Luna."
"Okay. I'm Harry P--"
"Wait, good and honourable Sir Just Harry Puh! We should be facing each other when we introduce ourselves. That's very important, unless I'm completely confused. Or else this is Opposite Day, but that just happened, or Backwards Day, but that won't come until next fortnight and a quarter... So, we should be facing each other. Oh, wait, pardon me. I completely forgot to let go of you! How silly of me! Well, you smell nice, but still... So, here, I'll let go, and we'll face each other, and then we can introduce ourselves and you can call me Luna instead of Miss." She let go of him, and he was surprised to realise that he rather wished she hadn't done. Introduced or not, very warm day or not, it felt nice to have somebody so close to him who wasn't hurting him. He didn't know what to say when she said he smelt nice, but it seemed as if it would be rude to contradict her, so he didn't.
And then she'd come round to face him. She wasn't like anybody he'd ever seen before. She was tiny, slender, and probably a little younger than himself. She had big grey eyes, a bright smile, and blonde hair falling loose down to her waist. There was a daisy tucked behind one of her ears. She was wearing an outfit of a sort he'd never really seen before, a loose t-shirt with writing in a foreign language and a skirt that looked to be pieced together out of scraps of cloth in almost every shade and pattern Harry had ever seen or even imagined and several more that he hadn't. She was perfect. He had no idea why he thought that, or what it meant, but she was. The Sun rose in the East. The sky wasn't green. And this girl who was apparently named Luna something, although they hadn't introduced themselves yet, was perfect.
Not that other girls couldn't also be perfect. He didn't know why it was important to think that, but for some reason it was. Luna was a perfect Luna, and some other girls might just as easily be perfect versions of themselves.
She held out her hand. "Greetings and salutations, Good and Honourable Sir. I am Luna Mairéad Radha Llywelyn Mihoshi Sasha Nyota Bob Good Lord How Many Names Has This Poor Child Got? Fatima Breandán Myfanwy Lovegood. I'm honoured and charmed to meet you, and I would be delighted if you would call me Luna, although you're welcome to pick another name if you'd rather, or even to give me a new one. And might I ask your own name?"
"Err... Hello. I'm Harry Potter. Pleased to meet you, Luna." He realised he was meant to take her hand, and did. He thought they'd shake hands, much as he saw adults do with each other, but instead Luna took a firm grip of his hand and didn't let go at all.
"So, that's who you are! I'm so very happy to meet you at last, because I've always known we'd find each other one day. And I'm looking forward tremendously to introducing you to my dear friend Ginevra, because she'll be simply over the Moon at finally meeting you. I suppose she'll be a bit disappointed that you haven't got a loyal herd of cuddly multi-coloured talking ponies with little symbols on their bottoms who follow you about and help you to help people who, well, need help, but I'm sure she'll get over that. And maybe we could do something about the ponies, even if you don't have them yet. Unless you do, and they're only hiding somewhere?"
"I don't. Or at least I don't think I do. I've never seen them." Harry wasn't used to letting himself imagine such things, but something about having a girl appear out of nowhere, hug him, and prove herself completely invisible to Dudley and Piers left him wondering what else might happen of which he hadn't had any inkling before today. He couldn't help but wonder if he might even see a flying motorbike, like the one he sometimes dreamt of seeing and even riding upon.
"Well, we can work on that, Harry Potter."
"You could call me Harry, Luna. At least if you'd like to."
"Oh, I definitely would like to, Harry. Thank you. I think I'm going to enjoy calling you Harry a great deal. And I think I'm going to enjoy you calling me Luna even more. So, Harry, what are you doing gardening in such a peculiar-looking neighbourhood without a pony or a House Elf or even a bit of magic to help you?"
"Magic? But that's only in stories. Ones my aunt and uncle won't let me read."
"Really? That's not very nice of them at all. They shouldn't stifle your education like that. Why, imagine if someone's relatives wouldn't let them read any stories with bananas in them, just because they didn't like bananas themselves, or even if they were allergic to them, and on top of that tried to tell them that there were no such things as bananas except in the stories they wouldn't let the poor person read. I'd try to explain it to them that way, but alas I can see already that it wouldn't do any good. And am I correct in assuming that the blond and pink gorilla-whale-creature that you said was your cousin is their son? The one who had the sort of ferrety boy that looked a bit like my miserable cousin Draco, only not as blond, following him about?”
“Err... yeah. That's Dudley. He's the son of my Aunt Petunia and my Uncle Vernon. But everybody I've ever met, at least before you, said there wasn't any magic, not just them. The teachers at school and the other kids all do.”
“Goodness, that's not right at all. Aside from the fact that it's very rude to say things like that, it's terribly unrealistic of them. If there's not magic in the world then how could there be dragons and hippogriffs and House Elves?"
“I don't think they've ever seen any of those.”
“Well, that's just plain silly of them. I've never seen the Patriarch of Constantinople, or a Crumple-horned Snorkack, or the city of Scranton in America, but I accept that they exist. I'd hate to think how these people will deal with it if a dragon, say, eats them. Not that it's good to be eaten by a dragon if one does accept that dragons exist, but at least that way one knows what's happening. I can't imagine how terrible it would be to be eaten by something if one couldn't accept that it was even there.”
Harry wasn't sure what to say to that. Luna was terribly nice, but she was also terribly confusing, it seemed. And he was feeling a little unsteady on his feet.
“Oh goodness!”
"Luna?" She had her arm about him, now, and his head was leant on her shoulder.
"You nearly fell over, Harry. I think you're dehydrated, and I have to say that, although it's a pleasure to catch you and a delight to help hold up the greatest Wizarding hero of our generation, I'd rather you took better care of yourself so that I wouldn't have to do that sort of thing, unless it were simply for our mutual enjoyment. I rather think you need to be drinking much more water than you have been, doing something like what you appear to have been doing on a day like today."
"Not allowed water. Not till I'm done."
"Now that is simply stupid and silly, not to mention mean, and I will not tolerate it. Dizzy, would you be so kind as to bring our Harry a large glass of water, please?"
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. I'm used to it. If Aunt Petunia sees me with a glass of water, I'll get the belt when Uncle Vernon gets home, or maybe worse."
"I don't think she'll be seeing the water, Harry. After all, your cousin and his friend weren't able to see me, or even able to notice that you had an invisible person hugging you and talking with you, and I think I have reasonable grounds for thinking that your other relatives will suffer from the same deficiency. Or is it suffering, really? I suspect they'd be happier not seeing me. After all, they might not be able to tell the difference between me and a dragon or a hippogriff, and I gather that seeing one of those would make them very upset, because they don't want to believe that they exist. Ah, thank you, Dizzy."
Somehow Luna now had a glass of water in her hand. It held at least a pint, a measure Harry knew very well from cooking, and it was so cool that there were little droplets clinging to the outside of it. He could imagine how it would feel, trickling into his mouth and down his throat...
"Here, Harry. You really should be drinking this. Dear Dizzy brought it for you, after all. Is water not what you want? I suppose I could have her bring you a pint of Daddy's best home-brewed old ale. I'm told it's very strong, and I'm not allowed to drink it myself, but Daddy never said Harry Potter wasn't allowed to drink it. Oh, and I think we've some vinegar as well, and there's very likely to be some buttermilk in the cool cupboard, and I'm sure we've plenty of ink if you'd prefer that instead, as we use it for the printing press all the time."
"Err, no, water's fine..."
"Oh, how silly of me! You might be worried that I'm going to give you a sleeping potion so I can take you away to my lair and have my wicked way with you! Please don't worry about that. Mummy told me I'm not allowed to do such a thing until I'm fourteen, or at least thirteen and two thirds. And besides, I'd really want to get to know you better first. Mummy and Daddy had known each other for about six years, nine months, a fortnight, and two days before she did it, after all, and they'd talked about it first and agreed on a safe word. But you can't be sure about that, because we've only just met each other. What a silly Luna I am sometimes, aren't I? Here, I'll prove there's nothing in the water." She raised the glass to her lips and sipped at it. "See! No sleeping potions! But you're welcome to put your finger on my lips to make sure that they're cool and wet if it would make you feel altogether certain you're safe. I certainly wouldn't be offended if you did. Very much the contrary, in fact."
"Err, no, that's okay. Thanks." He wasn't sure why the thought of putting his finger on Luna's mouth made him feel so awkward, but it did. Maybe it was because his hands were dirty, and it would be rude to make her taste dirt when she was such a very nice person? He took the glass from her hand, touching her fingers lightly in the process. She smiled at him.
The water was delicious. He sipped slowly, knowing that drinking or eating too quickly after going without wasn't a good idea. Halfway through the glass, he was already feeling much better. "Thank you, Luna. This is wonderful."
Her face coloured. "Oh, Harry! You're too kind."
He didn't know what to say to that. It would be rude of him to contradict her, wouldn't it? But here she was acting as if he'd done something incredibly nice when she'd actually done something incredibly nice for him and all he'd done was thank her for doing it. "Well, you're being awfully nice to me, Luna. I just wish I could do something more for you..."
"Well, Harry, if you really want to... I hope it's not too much of an imposition, but... could I, well, stay with you?"
"Really? But... why?"
"Well... because Mummy almost died a few weeks ago, and I'm so happy that she's all right, but she and Daddy went off on a really long expedition to find a complete cure for her and they couldn't take me with them because they were going places that aren't at all safe for little girls and they left me with my Auntie Imogene to watch me, because they said that the neighbours might talk if they left me only with Dizzy. Auntie Imogene is frankly not very nice at all, and now she's got all drunk on some nasty potion and she told me to go get lost for a while, so I don't see why I shouldn't get lost with somebody as nice as you, Harry. Ginevra's away at her Aunt Muriel's, and I really haven't got any other friends, except for you. That is if we are friends..."
"Of course we're friends, Luna. And I've never had a friend at all before, myself." Harry didn't know very much about things people did to comfort each other, but somewhere, somehow, he'd seen somebody put their hand on somebody else's shoulder to try and make them feel better. He did that to Luna, hoping it was the right thing to do.
Apparently it was, because she threw her arms about him and held him, very tightly. "Oh, Harry, thank you. May I stay with you? As friends?"
"I'm afraid I haven't really got a good place for you to stay, but... well, you're welcome to share my cupboard with me. It's not very big, but it's all I've got." Harry had a vague feeling that boys and girls might not be meant to sleep in the same room, especially one as small as his cupboard, but he wasn't very sure about that, just as he wasn't very sure about a lot of things. "That is, if it's all right. I'm sorry if it's rude of me, but the guest bedroom is only for company, and if my relatives can't see you then I'm not sure they'd call you company, and Dudley's second bedroom is full of his broken things so I don't think it would be very comfortable to stay in there, and..."
"I'm sure it will be wonderful, Harry. I'd like nothing better than to share a cupboard with you. Oh, I only wish Ginevra were here to share it with us, because she'd be so very happy to meet you. She'd positively glow, and she's such a wonderful sight when she glows, with her pretty red hair and her soft brown eyes and all her freckles. I'd love for you to see her like that."
"It might be a little bit tight with three of us..."
"Oh, I'm sure it would be fine, even if there were four of us. And Dizzy could help us by making some extra space if we needed it."
He felt as if there was some question he should ask, but he couldn't quite get his mind round it. And he wasn't very used to asking questions. He decided he could think about it later.
"So, Harry, could Dizzy and I help you with your planting? Please?"
Nobody had ever said anything even remotely similar to Harry before. "Err... I'm used to doing it by myself... but if you wouldn't mind..."
"Of course not! Would I have asked if we did? I really like to garden, and Dizzy loves doing things like that even more than I do."
"Okay."
"Thank you, Harry!" Luna hugged him. "So, you're planting flowers in this bed? And only flowers?"
"Yes. The rest are over there in the garden shed. Aunt Petunia says I'm should bring them out one flat at a time, so they don't get stressed."
"I can understand caring for flowers, but not why a person who didn't care for a wonderful boy like Harry Potter would care for them. I hope you don't mind my saying that your Aunt doesn't think things through very well, do you?"
"Err, no."
"That's good. I'd be a bit worried for you if you did. So, would it be all right if Dizzy finishes out the bed? I wouldn't want to deprive you of anything you'd like to do, but I think she'd really enjoy that, and maybe whilst she's doing it we could get to know each other better?"
"Okay."
"Yay!" Luna pressed a little kiss on his cheek. Harry didn't quite know what to think of that, but it felt sort of nice, really. "Thank you so much, Harry. Dizzy, would you be so kind?"
And before his eyes, flats of flowers floated from the garden shed and apparently planted themselves. Harry didn't quite know what to think of this. On the one hand, his work was being done for him. On the other hand, it felt vaguely like cheating. Then again, Dudley cheated every chance he got, whether it was a maths quiz or a game of football, and as far as Harry knew Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia did much the same, whether it was golf and taxes or passing off cakes and biscuits from the shop--or made by Harry--as her own work. He'd done enough work for them. If cheating with the help of a friend meant less sweat and pain for him, he was happy to cheat. And at least this wasn't hurting anyone.
"Does that look good to you, Harry?"
"It's wonderful. Thank you so much, Luna. And thank you, Dizzy." It was possible, Harry thought, that there was something in the world more wonderful than being friends with a girl named Luna who had an invisible friend named Dizzy who liked to work in the garden and to bring folk glasses of water. But he certainly couldn't imagine what it would be.
Oh well. If there should be such a thing, then he and Luna could find it together.
***
On a Bright Summer Morning, part two: Meeting Hermione
***
So, if you know my writing you can probably make a pretty good guess as to where this is going: Harry/Luna/Hermione/Ginny, no sex until they're old enough but lots of cuddling from the start.