[recs] Harry Potter/Stargate Ficcing
Some wonderful, anonymous person has been slowly writting me Harry Potter/Stargate fic ever since the Valentine's Day Love Meme. It's so great! It's Harry/Luna, and Ron/Hermione, and Ginny's their semi-grouchy mechanic! She knows Muggle technology, which is so adorable. (Me and my daddy's girl thing love that
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Welcome back, btw.
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Their first night back in London, Luna went for a walk alone. She covered her hair with a cloak and maintained a subtle notice-me-not spell around herself. She walked up and down Diagon Alley, noting the changes and forcing herself to see what was there now and not what had taken place before.
Still, rubble where Ollivander's once stood and the horribly heroic statue of the Trio in the new Peace Park hurt and conjured up flashes of light in her memory, a tangle of spells and palpable death. Luna breathed deeply, pushing the images back, and watched a young girl toss a stone into a hopscotch square. The girl hopped through and back, scooping up the stone as she did so and landing with both feet at the start. She then turned and tossed the stone in again. Luna sat on one of the benches and watched until the girl's father came to take her home.
Then she stood and approached the game. The girl had left her stone behind. Luna bent down and picked up the stone. She turned it in her hands, warming the smooth surface and then tossed it out into the furthest square. Luna hopped out and back and continued the game backwards until she dropped the stone into the square closest. When she finished, both feet firmly at 'home,' she apparated back to her and Harry's hotel room.
When Harry commented on her pink cheeks, Luna laughed. Hopscotch, she explained. It was all hopscotch, she thought, and they would get through and home again.
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Also, Dru-like? Who's Dru?
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You're welcome! Luna's sense of whimsy is one of her best aspects, I think. It definitely hides the fact that she's got an incredibly sharp mind; you'd think people wouldn't be surprised by that since she's in Ravenclaw, but I guess they are.
Also, Dru-like? Who's Dru?
Drusilla, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. *points to icon* She's a completely insane vampire with severe dissociative schizophrenia/oracular ability issues, and some people can make Luna sound a little too much like her. Luna's got a nice blend of serious and weird going on, and she accepts who she is. That's unlike Drusilla, who has a serious pile of self-hatred and Daddy issues going on, due to the fact that she was, y'know, driven insane, and then turned into a soulless, bloodsucking demon.
Now, don't get me wrong, I adore Dru as a character. But she's not Luna, and the people who tend to write Luna a little too close to Drusilla bug me.
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Hermione and Luna looked up from their mess of notes and Ginny snapped another picture of the veil. "Turpin," Hermione said evenly.
Lisa's lips stretched in what could be termed a smile and walked across the room to the work area Luna and Hermione had set up on the steps around the veil.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked.
Lisa sat down and stretched out her legs. "Unspeakables have taken over the Time Room today. All research is to be suspended until they are finished."
"Did you see any of them?" Ginny asked, lowering her camera and jumping off the dais.
"Unspeakables, Weasley. Top-secret. Nameless, faceless--"
"And?" Ginny asked.
"And," Lisa said, a true smile playing at the corner of her mouth, "I might have spilled a few potions on the floor."
"Terrible accident," Luna murmured.
"When combined," Lisa continued, "these potions act as a sort of memory aid. I used to use them to record lectures."
"I remember those," Hermione said, sounding cross. Luna remembered as well. Lisa had had several vials of potion in her 7th year that she sold for petty cash. Luna also recalled how once Terry had once laid a charm over Lisa's personal vials so that the lectures played as songs. Snape had made a disturbingly good baritone.
"Do you think they'll notice?" Ginny asked.
Lisa shrugged. "Probably. Worth a try, though. What are you looking for anyway?" Lisa pulled one of the sheets from the pile.
"Nothing that concerns you." Hermione tugged the paper from Lisa's hands. Lisa rolled her eyes.
"Granger, I am bored. The last time the Unspeakables descended, a full month passed before I was allowed to retrieve and continue my research. The least you can do is keep me occupied."
"Is that a favor?" Hermione asked.
"Maybe."
"She would be helpful," Luna said. "We will need someone to stay on this side of the portal." Lisa's eyes widened at that implication.
"You aren't--"
Hermione sighed. "Show her the ship, Ginny. We only have a little longer here anyway."
Ginny stood up and brushed some dust from her jeans. She reached down to Lisa. "Come on, Turpin. Prepare to be shocked and amazed."
Lisa let Ginny pull her up and followed the girl out of the room. When they were gone, Hermione tossed her quill down.
"I don't want her helping us."
"Why do you hate her so much?" Luna asked, extracting yet more old research from the pile of papers and comparing against her notes so far.
"She's just-- just-- Turpin," Hermione exclaimed.
Luna laughed and pushed her file across the step to Hermione. "Look at this. The Veil emits a low level of power that spiked several times throughout this group's term of research."
"When were the spikes?" Hermione asked, rifling for a file she'd read through a few days ago.
"That is what is so interesting--"
---
Outside, Lisa walked quickly to keep up with Ginny. "Why do you want to go through the Veil?"
"Curiosity," Ginny answered. "The need for a project. You understand, I'm sure. This way." She led Lisa down a small alley on Knockturn.
"You didn't seem very interested in all the old research, though."
Ginny grinned. "That is because I am working on another problem entirely. Here we are."
"A warehouse?"
"The very first Wheezes Warehouse, actually," Ginny said. "My brothers are letting me use it temporarily. We need to go up to the roof."
When the reached the roof, Lisa's mouth opened with awe. "What is this?"
"A spaceship, we think," Ginny explained. "We're hoping the Veil will act as a portal to take us and the ship into space. My job is to figure out how to get this lovely into the Department of Mysteries and through the Veil. Spells don't work on it."
"Like the veil," Lisa said.
"Excuse me?"
"The Veil is impervious to magic," Lisa explained. "I tried developing some potions, but even those had only a minimal effect. This is amazing."
"Yeah," Ginny said. "It is."
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---
Their papers were strewn out over the large steps surrounding the veil. Four days had passed already and they were still combing over all the old research. Luna flipped through another folder, frustrated.
"Have you looked at this yet?" Hermione slipped a page in front of her. Luna glanced down the sheet. One of the early research projects-- a low level of magical energy surrounded the Veil at all times and spiked at certain points during the experiments. The only major discovery from the research was the Veil's immunity to direct magical influence.
"We knew this already, Hermione," Luna sighed, handing the paper back.
"Yes, but did you notice the timing? Look here--" She jabbed the bottom of the page with her finger.
"Find anything yet?" Lisa Turpin's cool voice cut through their meandering discussion like a cat through shadows.
Hermione shuffled her page back into her file and closed it. "Turpin."
"Granger." Lisa crouched down and slid some papers aside, glancing over the titles. "So, anything interesting yet?"
"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked.
Lisa sat, tucking her feet beneath her. Her wand was strapped to her ankle-- within reach, but ultimately useless. Luna wondered how long that argument had taken between Terry and Lisa. "The blasted Unspeakables have taken over the time room again. All research is to be suspended until they are finished."
"That does not answer my question."
"I'm bored, Granger. I got you two weeks in here, least you could do is share some of that time with me. Keep me occupied."
"That a favor?" Hermione began shifting through her pile, pulling out a few files from the day before.
"Maybe." Luna hid a smile and returned her attention to her own work while Hermione explained to Lisa what she'd like for her to double-check. "Afraid you made a mistake, Granger?"
Luna laughed, drawing the others' attention to herself. "We have been staring cross-eyed at these papers for several days now. Maybe what we really need isn't another pair of eyes, but a distraction."
"Excuse me?"
Luna stood and stretched upward. "Let's go for a walk."
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"Luna--" Hermione's voice carried a warning edge, but Luna disregarded it.
"Be careful," she said to Lisa. "The Weasley twins left quite a mess. Try not to activate anything accidentally on our way up."
"Up?"
"To the roof," Hermione said.
"To the sky," Luna corrected. She smiled and unlocked the warehouse door. Lisa asked a few more questions on their way up and answered a few of her own regarding her research. She stopped speaking entirely, however, once they reached the roof and the confines the protection charm.
"That-- that's a--"
"Space ship," Luna said softly. Lisa reached out and brushed her hand down the side.
"This is amazing."
"Yeah, it is." Ginny replied as she walked around from the other side of the machine. "If you're here for Harry and Ron," she said to Luna and Hermione, "they just left. Something about how Ron's never been to a cinema before."
"He hasn't?" Hermione asked, surprised.
"Apparently not."
"Can you fly us around?" Luna asked. Ginny shook her head.
"Not today. I'm trying to figure out where this goes." She picked up a cylindrical mess of metal and wires which glowed lightly in her hands.
When Lisa took the piece to examine for herself, the part dimmed. "What is this?"
"A very non-essential part," Ginny said with a glance to Hermione's increasingly pinched face. "It's as though the ship doesn't want me to find where it goes."
Lisa turned the part over in her hands and frowned. "Interesting."
"What?" Hermione asked. Lisa handed the part to her and then pointed to a small marking like a brand on one side. Hermione handed the part to Luna and dug through her bag for her notes. Sketched messily on one page was a version of the marking, a two-faced man.
"Janus," Luna said. "They match then. Our ship and the veil."
"Good news then," Ginny said.
"Why?" Lisa asked. Hermione huffed and then explained fully what they had discovered and were planning to do. "Let me have the part." Ginny began to protest, but Lisa talked over her. "You said it is non-essential, yes? If I have this, I can test the metal. I can tell you if it is made of the same stuff as the Veil or if it was even made around the same time. They ran several tests over the Veil's material; I can compare to that."
Luna handed Lisa the part. "Thank you," she said.
Lisa half-smiled. "Don't do that. I'm just curious." Ginny once again invited Lisa to dinner, but again Lisa refused. "I'll get started on this." She left carrying the part close and wrapped in her cloak.
"Think we can trust her?" Ginny asked.
"Yes," Hermione replied. "We can at least do that."
"Good." Ginny closed the ship's hatch and rubbed her forehead wearily. "What about some drinks? I'm tired."
"Sounds good to me," Luna said. "Lead the way."
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"Portals, doorways, new beginnings, some aspects of time--"
"Doorways. Score one for Luna." Ron sat down beside Hermione at the table.
"Yes, her hunch grows more likely each day. Turpin is still testing the ship and veil metals, but I'm already certain they'll be the same."
"You're still worrying." It was not a question. Hermione sighed and balanced her quill in the lip of her inkpot.
"No matter how suggestive the evidence is, we're still only guessing. Portals could open to space or to the afterlife. Eventually we will need to test our theories, but the only way to do so-- Ron, we could die."
Hermione traced her fingers over her doodles of Janus and sighed. Ron laid his hand over hers and squeezed lightly. "We could have died each time we destroyed a Horcrux."
"That was different," Hermione said. "We were at war."
Ron brushed his thumb over her wrist. "True. Do you want to stop?"
Hermione looked over her papers and then up at Ron. "No," she sighed.
Ron grinned and kissed her. "I trust you," he said. "If you get certain this will end with us dying, just say so; we'll all pull out. I promise."
"Thank you."
"No worries. Now I need to go meet Harry. He has some secret project he's working on that he apparently needs my help with."
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Should I worry?"
"Not yet. Love you."
"Love you, too."
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After Christmas hols, Seamus had given Parvati a ring and a promise to love her forever. Exactly three days after Parvati slipped that ring on her finger, she died. She was one of 26 people killed this way. A charm, undetectable unless you knew what to look for, had seeped into her system and killed her like a poison. The trick was neat, elegant, and devastating.
Padma Patil fought back. She and Lavender, who had studied the creation of amulets and jewelry, worked together to create 'safe' rings. After a while, the students of Hogwarts and, later, all of Wizarding England trusted no one else. Even so, Harry had always been hesitant to place anything on Luna's finger. With his luck, he'd pick the one weak ring in the store.
Now, however, he had a guarantee. Harry fingered the large lump of metal he and Ron had begged off Lisa and walked into Lavender and Padma's shop on its Muggle side. He trusted no one else.
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Hermione's father had introduced Ron to the television the first time he'd visited her family. He'd explained the telly's mechanics and then began to flip through channels for something interesting. Ron had been captivated by the amount of choices and surprised by Mr. Granger's disgruntled grumblings that nothing was on. After cycling through the channels twice, he'd tossed the remote aside and pulled a slim box from a shelf by the sofa.
The 'DVD' was television and movies recorded, he'd explained. These particular DVDs belonged to one of the tragedies of television, a classic scifi series cut after only the first couple episodes had aired. Ron had not been overly impressed by the show, but thought his dad would probably love it and decided to mention that to Hermione later.
Ron picked up the remote from the nightstand and pressed the large buttons near the top until the television turned on. He began to flip through the channels and laughed when he recognized the cheesy props and costumes of one show. He wondered if Mr. Granger-- William-- knew that his favorite show had been renewed.
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Thank you again!
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I'm glad that you are continuing to enjoy this.
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Hermione and Lisa finished explaining what they'd discovered and what they thought. Ginny talked about how the Veil was the perfect size to fit the ship.
"It's as though the two were made for each other," she'd said.
Harry listened and said, "So why don't we try?"
"Not yet," Hermione cut in. "Just because the ship and Veil seem to have been made by the same person and seem meant to go together does not mean that either is safe. We still don't know what is on the other side of the Veil."
Conversation broke out and threatened to escalate into a full argument. Ron's eyes flicked to the telly and suddenly he had an idea.
"Let's mount a camera on a stick," he said.
The room quieted and Hermione just looked at Ron, confused. "What?"
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"That could work, but how would we take a picture?" Luna asked.
"Not that kind of camera," Hermione said quickly. "If the Veil does open into space, the camera would be destroyed and we would learn nothing."
"What about a bubble head charm?" Ginny asked. "One of the professional ones that manages pressure and temperature too."
"That well, could work. I've never cast such a charm though."
Lisa stood. "I'll get Terry to chart it out for you. That'll be enough, right?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"Don't thank me," Lisa said, grabbing her bag. "Pay me back."
Hermione smiled. "Of course."
Plans fell together quickly after that. Harry and Ron bought a camera. Ginny devised a stick and mount. Hermione cast the bubble head charm. And Luna waited.
They were a team again, she thought happily.
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