New Experiences
Title: New Experiences
Pairing: Harry/Luna with hints of Ginny/Luna?
Rating: PG-13 for nudity and a little bit of sexiness
Word Count: 4,720
Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did, I do not own Harry Potter. I'm just glad I get to play with them.
Summary: When Harry and Ron are dared to skinny-dip by Fred and George, the consequences for Ron are predictable and miserable. For Harry they are quite the opposite.
Notes: Takes place during OOTP, towards the end of the year but before the twins' grand fireworks display. I originally posted the first third as the first chapter of "A Weasley Tradition", but now that it's completed, I reposted it as a one-shot with a different title.
“It’s going down tonight, Harry. Entrance Hall, midnight.”
Harry knew what the note was going to say even before he read it. The note arrived in the form of an enchanted paper airplane smacking him in the ear, and there were very few people who would dare to communicate with him in such a manner - not even Ron and Hermione were afforded that privilege. He looked down the table in the Great Hall at the guilty party - or parties as it were, since it was impossible to tell whether Fred or George had sent the missive, and of course neither one would even think to betray the other. Tonight was the night then. They joked that it was the night Harry was going to become a Weasley, and to a certain extent that was true, although Ron - already very much a Weasley - was also participating in whatever the night’s adventures held in store.
Harry and Ron were about to take part in an ancient Weasley brother tradition.
“Ancient Weasley brother tradition?” Harry asked when he was first told about it. “Bill’s not yet thirty, is he? How ancient can it be?”
“Ancient,” said George.
“Much further than Bill,” said Fred.
“Take a seat-“
“We are seated,” Ron interjected. The four of them were gathered alone around the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room, having played several games of Wizarding Chess while waiting for their classmates to drowsily wander up the stairs to bed. As it turned out, Ron truly was the undisputed champion.
George ignored the interruption and continued, “and listen as we tell you the tale of a tradition most ancient.”
“Long before Bill.”
“Long before our father.”
“So old that no one in fact knows how old it is. Dating perhaps to when the first Weasley set foot at Hogwarts.”
“Bill had it easy.”
“The first one always does.”
“First one?” Ron asked, confused.
“The first brother. Weasleys do tend to have a lot of children. Usually boys.”
“So the task gets passed on from brother to brother. Since it is now our seventh and, God bless us, final year at Hogwarts, we find ourselves charged with passing the task unto you. The oldest lucks out one would suppose, since he doesn’t have to actually do the task; he simply starts the chain anew one his father passes it on through word of mouth.”
“And what about the youngest then?” Ron asked, clearly most concerned about the parts of the tradition that involved him.
“Well, you, my dear brother, simply have to do whatever we tell you without the pride of knowing you’ll be able to pass on the task yourself.”
“Until of course you have a coterie of sons to pass on the tradition to.”
“God forbid Ronald Weasley reproduce.”
“Well, what about Ginny? Can’t I just pass it on to her?”
“Well, you see, it’s always been brothers.”
“But if you feel the need to include Ginny, then by all means do so.”
“But once you see what the task is, I think you’ll understand why it’s always only been the men of the family.”
Harry, of course, chose this moment to chime in. “Well, what is the task then?”
“Oh, Harry. You don’t honestly think we’d tell you ahead of time, do you?”
“Give you the chance to prepare?”
“Or better yet, chicken out?”
Thus, Ron and Harry were stuck waiting for the twins on the appointed night, long after the students were all required to be in their dormitories. They felt rather conspicuous, knowing that any minute, Snape or Umbridge was going to walk by and give them detention for life, and still had no idea what adventures awaited them. Fortunately, when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs, they belonged not to a professor but to Fred and George, and they figured that maybe this night would turn out all right after all. But still, what had they gotten themselves into?
Harry and Ron stared in amazement as the twins cast charm after charm on the giant front doors to the castle, undoubtedly undoing a series of locks and deactivating a series of alarms. Fred and George truly did know every way there was to sneak out of the castle. The twins, who had not yet spoken other than muttered incantations, motioned for Harry and Ron to follow them. Fred seemed to be the one taking charge, as if it made a difference, and led them toward the giant squid’s lake. They then hiked halfway around the lake, and the twins stopped suddenly at the dock furthest away from the castle. Harry stopped as well, only to have Ron slam directly into his back.
“Jesus, Ron!”
“What? How was I supposed to know we were stopping?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe open your eyes?”
Fred couldn’t help himself and started laughing with glee at Harry’s burn of Ron, so George took up the slack. “Now, now, children. Behave yourselves. It wasn’t particularly clear whether George was only talking to Harry and Ron, or perhaps Fred was meant to be scolded for his giddy laughter as well. Figuring it best to take the safe route, Fred regained his composure and separated Harry and Ron, who were busy taking turns punching each other in the arm.
“The task before you is simple,” Fred recited, as if he were giving a speech he had practiced many times (which he had).
Oh good, Harry thought. That eliminated battling the giant squid, or the merpeople, or the Grindylows. But then again, he had managed that pretty successfully in the Triwizard Tournament the year before. “Do we get to find out what the task is now?” he asked
“Of course,” Fred replied, then he stopped for one final dramatic pause. “The task is to walk out to the end of the dock and jump in the lake.”
“What?!” That task was exceedingly simple.
“Completely starkers,” George clarified.
“The fully monty.”
“In the altogether.”
“In the nuddy.”
“The raw.”
“Nude, if you will.”
“Yes, yes, we get it, thank you,” groaned Harry, who never would get used to the twins rattling on with each other.
“So that’s all then? We skinny-dip in the lake and then it’s over?”
“Well, Ron, you’re the quick one, now, aren’t you? But yes, you jump in the lake and then we all go back to the castle and have a merry old time.”
The stripping was surprisingly unawkward for Harry and Ron; Ron was there with two of his brothers and his roommate of five years at Hogwarts, and Harry was well-practiced changing in front of the twins after years of Quidditch practices and matches. As they shed their robes, then their street clothes, Ron realized that the twins were not doing the same.
“No, no, this is your initiation,” Fred explained. “We need to stand watch here and make sure you complete the task satisfactorily. Then we‘ll follow behind you.”
“Hardly seems fair,” Ron muttered.
“That’s because it isn’t,” retorted George. “Until you remember that we had to do the same thing with Percy watching over us.”
Defeated - and admitting that Percy’s presence would make this experience supremely less enjoyable - Ron continued the undressing, then toed the end of the dock as Harry counted downward from three. They jumped in the water, surprised at how comfortably warm it was, and when they resurfaced, they turned back towards the dock expecting to see Fred and George shedding their clothes and following them into the water. Unfortunately, what they saw instead was the twins dashing back to the castle carrying Harry and Ron’s robes and all their clothes.
“Those mangy gits!” Ron shrieked in a tone Harry hadn’t thought possible. Before Harry knew what was happening, he saw Ron climbing out of the lake and streaking back to the castle after his brothers. Ron never was the sort of person who thought these things through before he did them.
Harry meanwhile took note of his surroundings and resources. After all, Sirius warned him not to do anything rash. (Whether trusting Fred and George would be considered rash was another matter entirely.) For his surroundings, as far as he could tell, he was safe, alone on the far side of the lake. His resources, though, seemed to total zero. Mad-Eye Moody (both the real and the fake one) always preached constant vigilance, and the imposter taught him when he was preparing for the second task last year that he could do anything he wanted, as long as he had a wand. So how could he be so careless as to leave his wand in the pocket of his robes, leaving him even more naked now?
It certainly didn’t help matters that just as his brain acknowledged his lack of a wand, he heard something splash behind him. “Hello, Harry.”
Even though he recognized the voice, and even though he knew his wand was not in his hand, he instinctively wheeled around and pointed his empty fist at the person who’d snuck up behind him. When he saw who it was - the blond hair, the blue eyes… and the bare shoulders? - his jaw dropped for a moment before he was able to respond. “Hello, Luna.”
“Hello,” she smiled. “Did the Nargles infest your clothes?”
“What?” Harry asked with more than a bit of surprise. They were deep enough in the water that it shouldn’t have been all that evident that he wasn’t wearing any swim trunks. While it was pretty clear to him that Luna was at least not wearing a top, he couldn’t see anything below her shoulders, and Harry was thankful for the coverage the water provided. “How did you know?”
“I saw you and Ron jump in the lake just now.” Ah, Harry thought to himself, that would explain it. “Did you want my help to get rid of the Nargles then? I’m usually quite good at getting them to fly away.”
“Oh… no, it’s all right. I mean, it’s not Nargles. My clothes were stolen.”
Harry was worried for a moment that Luna was going to ask if some other fantastic creature had stilen them, but fortunately she realized he was talking about a human being. “Who?” she asked.
“Fred and George.”
“Oh. Well, that wasn’t very nice of them.”
Harry, despite his nerves and embarrassment, couldn’t help but laugh. “No, I suppose it wasn’t,” he replied. “Are your clothes infested with Nargles then?”
“Oh, no. I just like to take them off sometimes to avoid them,” she explained. “It seems they only find clothes interesting if you’re wearing them, you see.”
As a teenage male whose hormones weren’t nearly satisfied with Cho Chang, Harry’s first thought was that this was odd, since he usually found female clothing most interesting after it was taken off. However, he had the good sense not to share this thought out loud. He had nearly forgotten the predicament he found himself in when Luna, either bored with the silence or simply at the end of her attention span, turned around and dived under the water. Harry stood enthralled as he watched Luna’s bare back - and backside - rise out of the water, then slice back underneath. He shook the cobwebs out of his head (or were they Wrackspurts?), and called out her name when he saw her resurface several feet away.
“Yes, Harry?”
“Well, I was hoping you could help me figure out how to get back to the castle.”
“Oh, well, it’s just over that way,” she replied pointing to the dark silhouette of the giant castle off to the north.
“Yes, but we’re naked, Luna. I don’t think it would be a very good idea to waltz in the front door of the castle like this.”
“No, I suppose not,” Luna replied, and Harry could see her face wrinkle up as she tried to think. “You could just summon your clothes back?”
“But I don’t have my wand. It was in my robes.”
“Well, you don’t need a wand to do magic, silly.”
“I’ve never done wandless magic before.”
“Well, there’s nothing to it really. A wand just helps you focus and aim your magic. Of course, I’ve always found it easier to focus one’s magic when one is naked, anyway.” Harry had a confused look on his face, but he figured that Luna, being Luna, wouldn’t notice. He was mistaken. “Haven’t you ever found that, Harry?”
“No, I can’t say that I have. Usually when I’m doing magic I’m in class wearing my school robes.”
“Well, maybe you ought to try it then and find out.”
Harry gave Luna a look that plainly said, “You cannot be serious,” until he realized that he really had no other options. He held out his arm and made a sort of “swish and flick” motion like they’d learned in their first year. He honestly couldn’t be sure why he had done it - except maybe that it was the first magical arm motion he could think of - but much to his surprise, a ball of blue light appeared near the end of his arm, traveled a bit through the air, and caused a large splash as it landed on the surface of the water and disappeared.
“Oooh, very good, Harry!” Luna exclaimed, giving him a bit of applause. “What was that?”
“I couldn’t tell you. I really didn’t think it would work, so I don’t think I had a particular spell in mind.”
“Well, now you see how it’s done. Were you going to try to summon your clothes then?” Harry had to smile. Something in the way Luna said it told him that she didn’t mind being in the lake au naturel with a member of the opposite sex, whereas all Harry could think about was how to get back to the Gryffindor Common Room with something remaining of his decency.
Harry stood perfectly still, and tried what he figured was his best if not only hope. He held out his hand and, after taking a deep breath, enunciated as best he could, “Accio robes!” Sure enough, a mass of black cloth was flying through the air towards them. Harry caught it in midair, trying but failing to keep it from dragging in the water.
“Well, they’re a bit wet, but you should be able to wear them.”
“Yeah, except they aren’t mine.” Harry unfolded the robes slightly. “They aren’t even Gryffindor robes. See the blue trim?”
“That’s because those are my robes. I’m in Ravenclaw.”
“Oh, well, that would do it then,” Harry said, and he handed Luna her robes. He tried a few more times, first just saying the same thing again, then adding an important word - “Accio Harry’s robes!” - but all he accomplished was getting Luna’s robes to jump out of her arms back into the water. “Maybe I should try summoning my clothes instead,” he suggested.
“I don’t think that would work either,” Luna replied, and Harry could hear the regretful sympathy in her voice. “Your clothes are probably in the same place as your robes, right? And wherever they are, they can’t be summoned. Maybe Fred and George knew that would be what you were going to try to do, and they put some sort of anti-summoning charm on them. And then if you summon my clothes by mistake, then we’ll both be out here in the lake with nothing but wet garments to wear.”
“Good thinking, Luna. I guess that’s why you were sorted into Ravenclaw.”
“Daddy always said I was wise beyond my years, but I never understood why.”
Harry smiled. “Well, you do great in the D.A. You seem like a pretty intelligent person to me.”
“Thanks, Harry. It’s nice to have someone who believes in you.”
Harry smiled, but the smile was followed by an awkward silence. Luna had a way of accepting compliments that broke his heart. He realized that it was probably the same way Mrs. Weasley felt when Harry first started spending time at the Burrow after being neglected by the Dursleys for the first eleven years of his life. From what Harry could gather, Luna had a more than pleasant home life with a doting father, quite the opposite of Harry’s life with the Dursleys, but Harry imagined that Luna’s many eccentricities probably made it difficult for her to make friends. After all, Hermione did introduce her as Loony Lovegood. It was then that Harry realized how similar he and Luna actually were, as strange as it seemed. Luna had her Nargles and Wrackspurts and upside-down magazines, Harry had a lightning-bolt scar and an aunt and uncle who refused to admit magic existed and an evil dark wizard after him who most of the country refused to admit existed. Except Luna. Hermione was wrong. Harry couldn’t do much better than Luna. The rest would come around eventually; for right now, Harry was glad to have the beautiful Ravenclaw on his side. “It’s only fair, Luna,” he said. “You believed me when hardly anyone else did about Voldemort being back.” He noticed that Luna didn’t flinch at the name. “And you believed in me just now! You taught me wandless magic and I’ve never done that before. I’m sure that will come in useful, and not just for summoning clothes back after you go skinny-dipping.”
“Well, good. Then we can believe in each other.”
“I’m glad we’re friends, Luna.”
“Me too, Harry,” Luna replied, and her big blue eyes looked into Harry’s with a smile on her face.
Harry smiled back, and noticed that Luna now had her arms folded tightly across her chest. “Are you cold, Luna?”
“A bit.”
“How long have you been out here?”
“Probably an hour or two.”
“That long?”
“I like it out here. It’s peaceful.”
Harry looked around and immediately agreed. It was easy to see how being alone at the more distant edges of the Hogwarts grounds could be quite peaceful indeed. “But if you’re getting cold, maybe we should go back inside.”
“I suppose you’re right,” she replied with what sounded like a tinge of sadness, yet neither of them made a move. He had almost forgotten, but now that it was time to leave the water, Harry was acutely reminded of the fact that they were both, as George had so eloquently put it, completely starkers. Fortunately, the wise Ravenclaw had already planned the exit strategy. “Since you haven’t found your clothes yet,” - Harry found it unnecessary to remind Luna that his clothes weren’t lost - “you can wear my robes, and I’ll wear my clothes, and then we’ll go back to the castle.” Luna handed Harry her Ravenclaw robes, which by now were completely sodden. “I’m sorry I dropped them when you tried summoning them again.”
“Oh, that’s all right. As long as I have something.” Figuring the robes were already soaked, he put them on while he was still in the water before trudging to the edge of the lake. Luna pointed him in the direction of her clothes, hidden under a bush by the dock next to the one Harry and Ron had jumped off of, and Harry climbed out of the water and shook himself dry rather like a wet dog. He would not forget the sight granted him when he turned around.
Luna, without a care in the world, followed Harry out of the water, and at the moment he turned around, she was standing knee-deep at the edge of the water. The experience Harry had with the nude female body to that point was limited to Muggle magazines nicked from his cousin Dudley. Seeing Luna - her blond hair wet and reaching nearly to her waist, her large blue eyes gazing at him, perfect spherical breasts with rivulets of water running down them - put the magazines, along with any other image etched in his memory, to shame with her beauty. He watched as Luna got dressed, partly because he did not think himself able to look away, but mostly because Luna made no effort to hide herself, and almost seemed to be inviting him to bear witness.
“Do you come down here often?” Harry asked before his brain realized his mouth was forming words.
“I do when I can,” she replied in her usual airy manner.
“It was fun,” he continued babbling on, unsure what he was going to say until it was already said. It was the Wrackspurts talking, he told himself. “Skinny-dipping with you I mean. I’ve never been skinny-dipping before, certainly not with a girl.”
“Oh, well, that’s lovely! I’ve never been skinny-dipping with a boy before, so this was a new experience for both of us.” Luna’s tone indicated that while she was quite thrilled to be sharing the experience, the sexual connotations of skinny-dipping with a member of the opposite sex were flying over her head. To be fair, Harry hadn’t realized them either until he was presented with Luna’s naked body stepping out of the water. Even though Luna was now mostly dressed, her body was still wet and her clothes were clinging to her in ways he couldn’t have imagined, and Harry had a growing part of his anatomy, which he was desperately trying to hid under the much too small robes, to show for Luna’s beauty.
“I can see why Fred and George didn’t want Ginny doing this,” Harry said wryly.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I guess it’s sort of a challenge Ron and his brothers have. When they said that he was the last one, Ron asked why he couldn’t just dare Ginny. But that was before Ron knew what the challenge was.”
Luna giggled. “But Ginny has done this.” Harry’s jaw dropped for what seemed like the umpteenth time that night. “She comes down with me after our Astronomy lessons some nights. She’s a good friend. I suspect she thinks I’m a bit loony, but then, most people do.”
The image of Luna and Ron’s sister skinny-dipping together certainly did not help matters between Harry’s legs. Resigned to it, he changed course and gave into the temptation to flirt with the beautiful girl standing in front of him. “I’d like to come here with you again sometime.”
“I’d like that very much,” she replied. It didn’t say much, but it was one of less cryptic responses she’d given him, and he took it as potential.
Noticing that Luna was now fully dressed, Harry asked if it was time to head up to the castle. Luna simply nodded, so Harry, trying not to focus on his lack of dress, led the way on the path back around the lake to the castle. “It’s this way, isn’t it?” he asked when he saw that Luna wasn’t following.
“Yes, but the doors should all be locked. It’s well past time for us to be in our dormitories.”
“How were you planning on sneaking back in then?”
“Up!” was all Luna said in response, holding her hand out at her side. Harry hadn’t noticed her broom lying next to where her clothes had been, well camouflaged by the bushes, and he watched as it responded to her command and jumped into her open hand.
Harry smiled. He had been nearly as angry as Ron when the twins ran off with their clothes, and a bit shell-shocked when Luna first appeared behind him, but since then the night had been wonderful, and flying on a broom was the only thing that could make it better. “Do you want to ride in front or shall I?”
“I suppose you probably should, being bigger and all. Plus, you’re quite good at flying, much better than me, I’d imagine.”
It wasn’t until it was happening that Harry realized what the added advantage of riding two-to-a-broom was. Harry mounted the broom first, then Luna behind him, and he quite liked the feeling of Luna wrapping her arms around his waist. It was a short flight over the main castle wing into the courtyard, where they agreed they’d head their separate ways to their respective towers. Harry resisted the urge to execute any complex Quidditch maneuvers, instead enjoying the unexpected closeness he was feeling with the girl at his back. Going just fast enough to have the breeze blow-dry their hair (and to a much lesser extent, Harry’s borrowed robes), the ride was far too short, and Harry gave them a perfect landing in the courtyard.
After they dismounted the broom and Luna took it in hand, Harry, not wanting the moment to end, said, “Tonight was really special, Luna. Thank you.” After a silence that neither one of them really wanted to fill, he continued, “Well, good night,” and turned toward Gryffindor Tower.
“Harry, wait!” Luna yelled just as he’d taken his first steps away from her. No sooner had Harry stopped and turned back around than Luna caught up to him, stood on her tiptoes, and gave him a quick peck on the lips.
More than a bit bewildered, Harry asked, “What was that for?”
“Just something to make tonight even more special,” Luna replied. “I’ve never kissed a boy before.
“Oh,” Harry said, still in shock. He didn’t dare ask if Luna had ever kissed a girl before, not wanting to delve too deeply into what Luna and Ginny did after their astronomy lessons. Rather, what came out his mouth was, “I’ve kissed Cho Chang.” He regretted it immediately after he said it, and tried to put a sheepish look on his face as quickly as he could.
Fortunately, Luna’s reaction was not what he expected. “Oh, that’s okay, Harry,” she giggled. “Not everything can be a brand new experience. You’re bound to repeat things eventually.”
“Well, you’re more than welcome to repeat it with me anytime you’d like,” Harry smiled. He was about to turn and attempt to leave again, but he thought better of it. Instead, he placed one hand at the small of Luna’s back, then the other arm across her shoulders to bring her closer. Luna looked up at him, her eyes like oceans, looking slightly bewildered herself. Harry leaned in and pressed his lips to hers softly. However, unlike Luna’s peck of a moment before, their lips stayed locked, kissing each other several times. When they finally disengaged, the smiles on their faces could not be erased.
“Good night, Luna.”
“Good night, Harry,” she said back, before turning to walk toward Ravenclaw Tower. “I hope we get to do this again sometime.”
“Me too,” he said. Then he flashed his grin and waved before turning toward his own dormitory. As he walked through the halls of the castle, Harry was on cloud nine. He felt as though nothing could touch him, and for once in his time at Hogwarts, he was right. He deftly used every nook and cranny for his hiding spots on the way to the Common Room, although he needn’t have bothered, as there was no sign of Snape, Filch’s cat, or any other sentries worth avoiding. He gave the Fat Lady the password, and as he expected, Fred and George were sitting there waiting for him, still awake, but more than a little drowsy. Ron was there as well, once again fully dressed, and looking quite miserable.
Harry was sure he would regale them with his story at some point, perhaps even spill the beans on their sister’s hijinx, but now was not the time. He wanted to bask in the glory of his evening a little longet before he shared it with anyone else. He was already to the stairs of the boys’ dormitory before they even realized that all he was wearing was robes with another house’s colors. “Thanks guys. That was a lot of fun. I think I’m going to go to sleep now,” he shouted behind him all in one breath, and with that, he disappeared up the stairs.
The three boys in the Common Room were stunned. “Wait!” Fred yelled, although it was too late to be heard. “Don’t you want to hear how Ron got a month’s detention for streaking past McGonagall?!”
Pairing: Harry/Luna with hints of Ginny/Luna?
Rating: PG-13 for nudity and a little bit of sexiness
Word Count: 4,720
Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did, I do not own Harry Potter. I'm just glad I get to play with them.
Summary: When Harry and Ron are dared to skinny-dip by Fred and George, the consequences for Ron are predictable and miserable. For Harry they are quite the opposite.
Notes: Takes place during OOTP, towards the end of the year but before the twins' grand fireworks display. I originally posted the first third as the first chapter of "A Weasley Tradition", but now that it's completed, I reposted it as a one-shot with a different title.
“It’s going down tonight, Harry. Entrance Hall, midnight.”
Harry knew what the note was going to say even before he read it. The note arrived in the form of an enchanted paper airplane smacking him in the ear, and there were very few people who would dare to communicate with him in such a manner - not even Ron and Hermione were afforded that privilege. He looked down the table in the Great Hall at the guilty party - or parties as it were, since it was impossible to tell whether Fred or George had sent the missive, and of course neither one would even think to betray the other. Tonight was the night then. They joked that it was the night Harry was going to become a Weasley, and to a certain extent that was true, although Ron - already very much a Weasley - was also participating in whatever the night’s adventures held in store.
Harry and Ron were about to take part in an ancient Weasley brother tradition.
“Ancient Weasley brother tradition?” Harry asked when he was first told about it. “Bill’s not yet thirty, is he? How ancient can it be?”
“Ancient,” said George.
“Much further than Bill,” said Fred.
“Take a seat-“
“We are seated,” Ron interjected. The four of them were gathered alone around the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room, having played several games of Wizarding Chess while waiting for their classmates to drowsily wander up the stairs to bed. As it turned out, Ron truly was the undisputed champion.
George ignored the interruption and continued, “and listen as we tell you the tale of a tradition most ancient.”
“Long before Bill.”
“Long before our father.”
“So old that no one in fact knows how old it is. Dating perhaps to when the first Weasley set foot at Hogwarts.”
“Bill had it easy.”
“The first one always does.”
“First one?” Ron asked, confused.
“The first brother. Weasleys do tend to have a lot of children. Usually boys.”
“So the task gets passed on from brother to brother. Since it is now our seventh and, God bless us, final year at Hogwarts, we find ourselves charged with passing the task unto you. The oldest lucks out one would suppose, since he doesn’t have to actually do the task; he simply starts the chain anew one his father passes it on through word of mouth.”
“And what about the youngest then?” Ron asked, clearly most concerned about the parts of the tradition that involved him.
“Well, you, my dear brother, simply have to do whatever we tell you without the pride of knowing you’ll be able to pass on the task yourself.”
“Until of course you have a coterie of sons to pass on the tradition to.”
“God forbid Ronald Weasley reproduce.”
“Well, what about Ginny? Can’t I just pass it on to her?”
“Well, you see, it’s always been brothers.”
“But if you feel the need to include Ginny, then by all means do so.”
“But once you see what the task is, I think you’ll understand why it’s always only been the men of the family.”
Harry, of course, chose this moment to chime in. “Well, what is the task then?”
“Oh, Harry. You don’t honestly think we’d tell you ahead of time, do you?”
“Give you the chance to prepare?”
“Or better yet, chicken out?”
Thus, Ron and Harry were stuck waiting for the twins on the appointed night, long after the students were all required to be in their dormitories. They felt rather conspicuous, knowing that any minute, Snape or Umbridge was going to walk by and give them detention for life, and still had no idea what adventures awaited them. Fortunately, when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs, they belonged not to a professor but to Fred and George, and they figured that maybe this night would turn out all right after all. But still, what had they gotten themselves into?
Harry and Ron stared in amazement as the twins cast charm after charm on the giant front doors to the castle, undoubtedly undoing a series of locks and deactivating a series of alarms. Fred and George truly did know every way there was to sneak out of the castle. The twins, who had not yet spoken other than muttered incantations, motioned for Harry and Ron to follow them. Fred seemed to be the one taking charge, as if it made a difference, and led them toward the giant squid’s lake. They then hiked halfway around the lake, and the twins stopped suddenly at the dock furthest away from the castle. Harry stopped as well, only to have Ron slam directly into his back.
“Jesus, Ron!”
“What? How was I supposed to know we were stopping?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe open your eyes?”
Fred couldn’t help himself and started laughing with glee at Harry’s burn of Ron, so George took up the slack. “Now, now, children. Behave yourselves. It wasn’t particularly clear whether George was only talking to Harry and Ron, or perhaps Fred was meant to be scolded for his giddy laughter as well. Figuring it best to take the safe route, Fred regained his composure and separated Harry and Ron, who were busy taking turns punching each other in the arm.
“The task before you is simple,” Fred recited, as if he were giving a speech he had practiced many times (which he had).
Oh good, Harry thought. That eliminated battling the giant squid, or the merpeople, or the Grindylows. But then again, he had managed that pretty successfully in the Triwizard Tournament the year before. “Do we get to find out what the task is now?” he asked
“Of course,” Fred replied, then he stopped for one final dramatic pause. “The task is to walk out to the end of the dock and jump in the lake.”
“What?!” That task was exceedingly simple.
“Completely starkers,” George clarified.
“The fully monty.”
“In the altogether.”
“In the nuddy.”
“The raw.”
“Nude, if you will.”
“Yes, yes, we get it, thank you,” groaned Harry, who never would get used to the twins rattling on with each other.
“So that’s all then? We skinny-dip in the lake and then it’s over?”
“Well, Ron, you’re the quick one, now, aren’t you? But yes, you jump in the lake and then we all go back to the castle and have a merry old time.”
The stripping was surprisingly unawkward for Harry and Ron; Ron was there with two of his brothers and his roommate of five years at Hogwarts, and Harry was well-practiced changing in front of the twins after years of Quidditch practices and matches. As they shed their robes, then their street clothes, Ron realized that the twins were not doing the same.
“No, no, this is your initiation,” Fred explained. “We need to stand watch here and make sure you complete the task satisfactorily. Then we‘ll follow behind you.”
“Hardly seems fair,” Ron muttered.
“That’s because it isn’t,” retorted George. “Until you remember that we had to do the same thing with Percy watching over us.”
Defeated - and admitting that Percy’s presence would make this experience supremely less enjoyable - Ron continued the undressing, then toed the end of the dock as Harry counted downward from three. They jumped in the water, surprised at how comfortably warm it was, and when they resurfaced, they turned back towards the dock expecting to see Fred and George shedding their clothes and following them into the water. Unfortunately, what they saw instead was the twins dashing back to the castle carrying Harry and Ron’s robes and all their clothes.
“Those mangy gits!” Ron shrieked in a tone Harry hadn’t thought possible. Before Harry knew what was happening, he saw Ron climbing out of the lake and streaking back to the castle after his brothers. Ron never was the sort of person who thought these things through before he did them.
Harry meanwhile took note of his surroundings and resources. After all, Sirius warned him not to do anything rash. (Whether trusting Fred and George would be considered rash was another matter entirely.) For his surroundings, as far as he could tell, he was safe, alone on the far side of the lake. His resources, though, seemed to total zero. Mad-Eye Moody (both the real and the fake one) always preached constant vigilance, and the imposter taught him when he was preparing for the second task last year that he could do anything he wanted, as long as he had a wand. So how could he be so careless as to leave his wand in the pocket of his robes, leaving him even more naked now?
It certainly didn’t help matters that just as his brain acknowledged his lack of a wand, he heard something splash behind him. “Hello, Harry.”
Even though he recognized the voice, and even though he knew his wand was not in his hand, he instinctively wheeled around and pointed his empty fist at the person who’d snuck up behind him. When he saw who it was - the blond hair, the blue eyes… and the bare shoulders? - his jaw dropped for a moment before he was able to respond. “Hello, Luna.”
“Hello,” she smiled. “Did the Nargles infest your clothes?”
“What?” Harry asked with more than a bit of surprise. They were deep enough in the water that it shouldn’t have been all that evident that he wasn’t wearing any swim trunks. While it was pretty clear to him that Luna was at least not wearing a top, he couldn’t see anything below her shoulders, and Harry was thankful for the coverage the water provided. “How did you know?”
“I saw you and Ron jump in the lake just now.” Ah, Harry thought to himself, that would explain it. “Did you want my help to get rid of the Nargles then? I’m usually quite good at getting them to fly away.”
“Oh… no, it’s all right. I mean, it’s not Nargles. My clothes were stolen.”
Harry was worried for a moment that Luna was going to ask if some other fantastic creature had stilen them, but fortunately she realized he was talking about a human being. “Who?” she asked.
“Fred and George.”
“Oh. Well, that wasn’t very nice of them.”
Harry, despite his nerves and embarrassment, couldn’t help but laugh. “No, I suppose it wasn’t,” he replied. “Are your clothes infested with Nargles then?”
“Oh, no. I just like to take them off sometimes to avoid them,” she explained. “It seems they only find clothes interesting if you’re wearing them, you see.”
As a teenage male whose hormones weren’t nearly satisfied with Cho Chang, Harry’s first thought was that this was odd, since he usually found female clothing most interesting after it was taken off. However, he had the good sense not to share this thought out loud. He had nearly forgotten the predicament he found himself in when Luna, either bored with the silence or simply at the end of her attention span, turned around and dived under the water. Harry stood enthralled as he watched Luna’s bare back - and backside - rise out of the water, then slice back underneath. He shook the cobwebs out of his head (or were they Wrackspurts?), and called out her name when he saw her resurface several feet away.
“Yes, Harry?”
“Well, I was hoping you could help me figure out how to get back to the castle.”
“Oh, well, it’s just over that way,” she replied pointing to the dark silhouette of the giant castle off to the north.
“Yes, but we’re naked, Luna. I don’t think it would be a very good idea to waltz in the front door of the castle like this.”
“No, I suppose not,” Luna replied, and Harry could see her face wrinkle up as she tried to think. “You could just summon your clothes back?”
“But I don’t have my wand. It was in my robes.”
“Well, you don’t need a wand to do magic, silly.”
“I’ve never done wandless magic before.”
“Well, there’s nothing to it really. A wand just helps you focus and aim your magic. Of course, I’ve always found it easier to focus one’s magic when one is naked, anyway.” Harry had a confused look on his face, but he figured that Luna, being Luna, wouldn’t notice. He was mistaken. “Haven’t you ever found that, Harry?”
“No, I can’t say that I have. Usually when I’m doing magic I’m in class wearing my school robes.”
“Well, maybe you ought to try it then and find out.”
Harry gave Luna a look that plainly said, “You cannot be serious,” until he realized that he really had no other options. He held out his arm and made a sort of “swish and flick” motion like they’d learned in their first year. He honestly couldn’t be sure why he had done it - except maybe that it was the first magical arm motion he could think of - but much to his surprise, a ball of blue light appeared near the end of his arm, traveled a bit through the air, and caused a large splash as it landed on the surface of the water and disappeared.
“Oooh, very good, Harry!” Luna exclaimed, giving him a bit of applause. “What was that?”
“I couldn’t tell you. I really didn’t think it would work, so I don’t think I had a particular spell in mind.”
“Well, now you see how it’s done. Were you going to try to summon your clothes then?” Harry had to smile. Something in the way Luna said it told him that she didn’t mind being in the lake au naturel with a member of the opposite sex, whereas all Harry could think about was how to get back to the Gryffindor Common Room with something remaining of his decency.
Harry stood perfectly still, and tried what he figured was his best if not only hope. He held out his hand and, after taking a deep breath, enunciated as best he could, “Accio robes!” Sure enough, a mass of black cloth was flying through the air towards them. Harry caught it in midair, trying but failing to keep it from dragging in the water.
“Well, they’re a bit wet, but you should be able to wear them.”
“Yeah, except they aren’t mine.” Harry unfolded the robes slightly. “They aren’t even Gryffindor robes. See the blue trim?”
“That’s because those are my robes. I’m in Ravenclaw.”
“Oh, well, that would do it then,” Harry said, and he handed Luna her robes. He tried a few more times, first just saying the same thing again, then adding an important word - “Accio Harry’s robes!” - but all he accomplished was getting Luna’s robes to jump out of her arms back into the water. “Maybe I should try summoning my clothes instead,” he suggested.
“I don’t think that would work either,” Luna replied, and Harry could hear the regretful sympathy in her voice. “Your clothes are probably in the same place as your robes, right? And wherever they are, they can’t be summoned. Maybe Fred and George knew that would be what you were going to try to do, and they put some sort of anti-summoning charm on them. And then if you summon my clothes by mistake, then we’ll both be out here in the lake with nothing but wet garments to wear.”
“Good thinking, Luna. I guess that’s why you were sorted into Ravenclaw.”
“Daddy always said I was wise beyond my years, but I never understood why.”
Harry smiled. “Well, you do great in the D.A. You seem like a pretty intelligent person to me.”
“Thanks, Harry. It’s nice to have someone who believes in you.”
Harry smiled, but the smile was followed by an awkward silence. Luna had a way of accepting compliments that broke his heart. He realized that it was probably the same way Mrs. Weasley felt when Harry first started spending time at the Burrow after being neglected by the Dursleys for the first eleven years of his life. From what Harry could gather, Luna had a more than pleasant home life with a doting father, quite the opposite of Harry’s life with the Dursleys, but Harry imagined that Luna’s many eccentricities probably made it difficult for her to make friends. After all, Hermione did introduce her as Loony Lovegood. It was then that Harry realized how similar he and Luna actually were, as strange as it seemed. Luna had her Nargles and Wrackspurts and upside-down magazines, Harry had a lightning-bolt scar and an aunt and uncle who refused to admit magic existed and an evil dark wizard after him who most of the country refused to admit existed. Except Luna. Hermione was wrong. Harry couldn’t do much better than Luna. The rest would come around eventually; for right now, Harry was glad to have the beautiful Ravenclaw on his side. “It’s only fair, Luna,” he said. “You believed me when hardly anyone else did about Voldemort being back.” He noticed that Luna didn’t flinch at the name. “And you believed in me just now! You taught me wandless magic and I’ve never done that before. I’m sure that will come in useful, and not just for summoning clothes back after you go skinny-dipping.”
“Well, good. Then we can believe in each other.”
“I’m glad we’re friends, Luna.”
“Me too, Harry,” Luna replied, and her big blue eyes looked into Harry’s with a smile on her face.
Harry smiled back, and noticed that Luna now had her arms folded tightly across her chest. “Are you cold, Luna?”
“A bit.”
“How long have you been out here?”
“Probably an hour or two.”
“That long?”
“I like it out here. It’s peaceful.”
Harry looked around and immediately agreed. It was easy to see how being alone at the more distant edges of the Hogwarts grounds could be quite peaceful indeed. “But if you’re getting cold, maybe we should go back inside.”
“I suppose you’re right,” she replied with what sounded like a tinge of sadness, yet neither of them made a move. He had almost forgotten, but now that it was time to leave the water, Harry was acutely reminded of the fact that they were both, as George had so eloquently put it, completely starkers. Fortunately, the wise Ravenclaw had already planned the exit strategy. “Since you haven’t found your clothes yet,” - Harry found it unnecessary to remind Luna that his clothes weren’t lost - “you can wear my robes, and I’ll wear my clothes, and then we’ll go back to the castle.” Luna handed Harry her Ravenclaw robes, which by now were completely sodden. “I’m sorry I dropped them when you tried summoning them again.”
“Oh, that’s all right. As long as I have something.” Figuring the robes were already soaked, he put them on while he was still in the water before trudging to the edge of the lake. Luna pointed him in the direction of her clothes, hidden under a bush by the dock next to the one Harry and Ron had jumped off of, and Harry climbed out of the water and shook himself dry rather like a wet dog. He would not forget the sight granted him when he turned around.
Luna, without a care in the world, followed Harry out of the water, and at the moment he turned around, she was standing knee-deep at the edge of the water. The experience Harry had with the nude female body to that point was limited to Muggle magazines nicked from his cousin Dudley. Seeing Luna - her blond hair wet and reaching nearly to her waist, her large blue eyes gazing at him, perfect spherical breasts with rivulets of water running down them - put the magazines, along with any other image etched in his memory, to shame with her beauty. He watched as Luna got dressed, partly because he did not think himself able to look away, but mostly because Luna made no effort to hide herself, and almost seemed to be inviting him to bear witness.
“Do you come down here often?” Harry asked before his brain realized his mouth was forming words.
“I do when I can,” she replied in her usual airy manner.
“It was fun,” he continued babbling on, unsure what he was going to say until it was already said. It was the Wrackspurts talking, he told himself. “Skinny-dipping with you I mean. I’ve never been skinny-dipping before, certainly not with a girl.”
“Oh, well, that’s lovely! I’ve never been skinny-dipping with a boy before, so this was a new experience for both of us.” Luna’s tone indicated that while she was quite thrilled to be sharing the experience, the sexual connotations of skinny-dipping with a member of the opposite sex were flying over her head. To be fair, Harry hadn’t realized them either until he was presented with Luna’s naked body stepping out of the water. Even though Luna was now mostly dressed, her body was still wet and her clothes were clinging to her in ways he couldn’t have imagined, and Harry had a growing part of his anatomy, which he was desperately trying to hid under the much too small robes, to show for Luna’s beauty.
“I can see why Fred and George didn’t want Ginny doing this,” Harry said wryly.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I guess it’s sort of a challenge Ron and his brothers have. When they said that he was the last one, Ron asked why he couldn’t just dare Ginny. But that was before Ron knew what the challenge was.”
Luna giggled. “But Ginny has done this.” Harry’s jaw dropped for what seemed like the umpteenth time that night. “She comes down with me after our Astronomy lessons some nights. She’s a good friend. I suspect she thinks I’m a bit loony, but then, most people do.”
The image of Luna and Ron’s sister skinny-dipping together certainly did not help matters between Harry’s legs. Resigned to it, he changed course and gave into the temptation to flirt with the beautiful girl standing in front of him. “I’d like to come here with you again sometime.”
“I’d like that very much,” she replied. It didn’t say much, but it was one of less cryptic responses she’d given him, and he took it as potential.
Noticing that Luna was now fully dressed, Harry asked if it was time to head up to the castle. Luna simply nodded, so Harry, trying not to focus on his lack of dress, led the way on the path back around the lake to the castle. “It’s this way, isn’t it?” he asked when he saw that Luna wasn’t following.
“Yes, but the doors should all be locked. It’s well past time for us to be in our dormitories.”
“How were you planning on sneaking back in then?”
“Up!” was all Luna said in response, holding her hand out at her side. Harry hadn’t noticed her broom lying next to where her clothes had been, well camouflaged by the bushes, and he watched as it responded to her command and jumped into her open hand.
Harry smiled. He had been nearly as angry as Ron when the twins ran off with their clothes, and a bit shell-shocked when Luna first appeared behind him, but since then the night had been wonderful, and flying on a broom was the only thing that could make it better. “Do you want to ride in front or shall I?”
“I suppose you probably should, being bigger and all. Plus, you’re quite good at flying, much better than me, I’d imagine.”
It wasn’t until it was happening that Harry realized what the added advantage of riding two-to-a-broom was. Harry mounted the broom first, then Luna behind him, and he quite liked the feeling of Luna wrapping her arms around his waist. It was a short flight over the main castle wing into the courtyard, where they agreed they’d head their separate ways to their respective towers. Harry resisted the urge to execute any complex Quidditch maneuvers, instead enjoying the unexpected closeness he was feeling with the girl at his back. Going just fast enough to have the breeze blow-dry their hair (and to a much lesser extent, Harry’s borrowed robes), the ride was far too short, and Harry gave them a perfect landing in the courtyard.
After they dismounted the broom and Luna took it in hand, Harry, not wanting the moment to end, said, “Tonight was really special, Luna. Thank you.” After a silence that neither one of them really wanted to fill, he continued, “Well, good night,” and turned toward Gryffindor Tower.
“Harry, wait!” Luna yelled just as he’d taken his first steps away from her. No sooner had Harry stopped and turned back around than Luna caught up to him, stood on her tiptoes, and gave him a quick peck on the lips.
More than a bit bewildered, Harry asked, “What was that for?”
“Just something to make tonight even more special,” Luna replied. “I’ve never kissed a boy before.
“Oh,” Harry said, still in shock. He didn’t dare ask if Luna had ever kissed a girl before, not wanting to delve too deeply into what Luna and Ginny did after their astronomy lessons. Rather, what came out his mouth was, “I’ve kissed Cho Chang.” He regretted it immediately after he said it, and tried to put a sheepish look on his face as quickly as he could.
Fortunately, Luna’s reaction was not what he expected. “Oh, that’s okay, Harry,” she giggled. “Not everything can be a brand new experience. You’re bound to repeat things eventually.”
“Well, you’re more than welcome to repeat it with me anytime you’d like,” Harry smiled. He was about to turn and attempt to leave again, but he thought better of it. Instead, he placed one hand at the small of Luna’s back, then the other arm across her shoulders to bring her closer. Luna looked up at him, her eyes like oceans, looking slightly bewildered herself. Harry leaned in and pressed his lips to hers softly. However, unlike Luna’s peck of a moment before, their lips stayed locked, kissing each other several times. When they finally disengaged, the smiles on their faces could not be erased.
“Good night, Luna.”
“Good night, Harry,” she said back, before turning to walk toward Ravenclaw Tower. “I hope we get to do this again sometime.”
“Me too,” he said. Then he flashed his grin and waved before turning toward his own dormitory. As he walked through the halls of the castle, Harry was on cloud nine. He felt as though nothing could touch him, and for once in his time at Hogwarts, he was right. He deftly used every nook and cranny for his hiding spots on the way to the Common Room, although he needn’t have bothered, as there was no sign of Snape, Filch’s cat, or any other sentries worth avoiding. He gave the Fat Lady the password, and as he expected, Fred and George were sitting there waiting for him, still awake, but more than a little drowsy. Ron was there as well, once again fully dressed, and looking quite miserable.
Harry was sure he would regale them with his story at some point, perhaps even spill the beans on their sister’s hijinx, but now was not the time. He wanted to bask in the glory of his evening a little longet before he shared it with anyone else. He was already to the stairs of the boys’ dormitory before they even realized that all he was wearing was robes with another house’s colors. “Thanks guys. That was a lot of fun. I think I’m going to go to sleep now,” he shouted behind him all in one breath, and with that, he disappeared up the stairs.
The three boys in the Common Room were stunned. “Wait!” Fred yelled, although it was too late to be heard. “Don’t you want to hear how Ron got a month’s detention for streaking past McGonagall?!”