(no subject)
Title: Go, Go, Harry Potter!
Author: Ana Luthor (luthor_files || mrs_luthor)
Rated: PG-13, for some language.
Genre: Humor/Fluffy
Summary: What could save Harry from a dreadful afternoon? Watch Mighty Morphin Powers Rangers - The Movie. With Luna.
Author's Notes: This was another plot bunny that popped into my head after one of the many chats with my wonderful Visionaries, over the H/L thread at Fan Forum.
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Go, go, Harry Potter!
Harry was experiencing what was probably one of the most boring afternoons of his entire life. Not that he didn’t enjoy being alone at the Dursley’s house, but he couldn’t enjoy it knowing that he shouldn’t even be there in the first place. He had stayed there for a week, right after the school was over, and then he went to the Weasleys’ house, overjoyed knowing he’d never have to come back to the Dursleys’ again. Until Lupin showed up.
A little less than a month after he arrived at the Burrow, Lupin appeared unannounced, telling him that he needed to go back to the Dursleys’ and stay there for a couple of weeks, but giving him no further explanation. After a heated discussion and Hermione’s promise that they would call him every day, he agreed on to go back.
The second week was almost over, but the time seemed to be dragging much slower. There was absolutely nothing to do at the Dursleys, as usual, but this time, Harry was actually wasting time. If he had a choice, there was no doubt that he would be Horcrux hunting now.
He looked around the living room, searching for something to do, when he spotted a video tape on the coffee table. He took it, reading “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie” on the cover and laugh at the ridiculous outfits that all the people in it were wearing. He put it back on the table, knowing that that was probably another gift from his Aunt Petunia for her beloved son. He remembered her saying that since he “loved those actions movies” she had bought one for him. Harry couldn’t help but laugh at how little she knew about her own son. Power Rangers was far from being the kind of “action movie” that Dudley enjoyed. With a sigh, he took his jacket and headed out of the house. Maybe a walk was exactly what he needed.
The weather was fine and no one was around. Not that he minded, since he enjoyed the silence. Walking and watching absentmindedly, his gaze stopped on a couple across the street. They were sitting on a bench, holding hands, and they were both smiling. The sight made Harry think of Ginny.
They had broken up more than a month ago, but part of him still missed her. Not as much as he thought he would, but he missed the moments they had had. He remembered being genuinely happy for the past few months he was involved with Ginny. There were a few good moments with Ron and Hermione, and the Slughorn’s party with Luna,that turned out to be much better then he expected. Other than that, the year hadn’t really been a paradise of good memories.
Knowing that the couple would eventually realise that he was staring at them, Harry continued his walk, only to stop a few seconds later, surprised by the appearance of someone unlikely: Luna.
She was walking towards him, but apparently unaware of it, since her eyes seemed delighfully busy exploring every single bit of the neighboorhood. She only noticed Harry when they were only a few inches apart.
“Oh, hello, Harry!” She said, smiling widely, and then motioning to hug him. “It’s so good to see you.”
Harry was taken aback by her affectionate hug, but he hugged her back.
“Hi, Luna,” he said, smiling. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, Dad had a meeting with Mrs Figg, and he wanted me to come with him.”
“I see,” Harry started, as he begun to walk again, and Luna followed him. “So why you’re not with him now?”
“Apparently, I’m not old enough to hear what they have to talk about,” Luna said, grimacing and seeming slightly offended.
Harry held back a chuckle, but he knew how Luna felt. He lost track of how many times he, Ron and Hermione were left out of Order meetings.
“Why did he want you to come with him then?”
“I suppose he’s afraid, after what happened.”
“What happened?” He asked, frowning a bit.
“Our house was attacked by Death Eaters,” she answered simply, as she continued to walk.
Harry stopped dead on tracks. “Your house was what?”
“Attacked by Death Eaters,” she repeated slowly, not realising that Harry’s question had nothing to do with his having trouble hearing .
He rolled his eyes, sighing. “I heard that, Luna, but when did it happen? Is everything alright? Are you okay?”
Luna smiled and watched him for a moment, which made Harry slightly confused and impatient.
“Everything is fine, Harry, and I am okay.”
He eyed her for a moment, not quite sure if she was being completely honest.
“I mean it, Harry, everything is okay,” she said, as if reading his thoughts, and started to walk.
“When did it happen, Luna?”
“Two days ago,” she replied airly. “I thought you knew, since you speak to Ronald and Hermione daily, isn’t that right?”
“Well, yeah, but what does it have to-wait, did they know about it?”
“Naturally, Harry, Dad and I are at the Weasleys’ house until the Order finishes putting the wards up.”
Harry felt suddenly possessed by a feeling of anger - the same feeling that had possessed him two years ago, when he spent the whole summer stuck at the Dursleys’ house with no news from Ron and Hermione. He felt completely left out.
“Harry, are you alright?”
“Yes, I am. I just need to go home, I remembered something,” he said, knowing that the first thing he would do once he got home would be to pick up the phone and give Ron and Hermione a very long lecture.
“Oh, okay. It was nice to see you, Harry,” she said, and headed to the opposite direction.
“Do you want to come with me?” He blurted out, before he could really consider his words.
It’s not that he didn’t want her to come. He really enjoyed her company, and if he was going to be honest, it would be a good way to get him through a deadly boring afternoon. However, it was the Dursleys’ house. True that they were off with their “friends” and they would only come back at night, but his hideous cousin could show up at any minute - God knows where he was, really - and the last thing Harry wanted was to watch Dudley making fun of Luna.
“Are you sure?” She asked simply, but she seemed quite happy with his invitation. “I don’t want to be a bother .”
“You won’t be a bother, Luna. Plus, I’m alone in the house.”
“Well, if it’s okay then, I’d be happy to join you,” she said, with a smile.
They walked back to the house in silence, while Luna continued to watch the neighborhood. Harry opened the door and waved at her to come in.
“This is such a lovely house, Harry,” she said, looking genuinely amused by the living room.
Harry grinned and thanked her, sitting on the couch and inviting her to do the same.
“Is this the first time you’ve come here with your father?”
“Yes, it is. What’s that, Harry?” She asked, pointing to the remote control on the cofee table.
“Oh, it’s a remote control,” he answered simply, then realised that it wouldn’t make any sense to her. “Here, I’ll show you.” He pressed a red buttom, turning the TV on.
Luna’s eyes went wide open and she stared back at him. “You’re not supposed to do magic outside the school, Harry!”
He laughed at her shocked expression, putting the control on the couch. “Luna, it’s not magic, it’s a Muggle device.”
“Oh,” she said, staring thoughtful at the remote. “And how does it work?”
Harry didn’t really know how to explain it. But he tried.
“You know that’s a TV, right?” he asked, to which Luna nodded. “Well, you press these buttoms while you point it to the TV and it turns it on and off, changes the channels-see?” he said, putting on a different channel, where a woman was selling a very weird looking hoover.
“Intriguing,” she said, still looking very deep in thought. “But how can they manage to put her and all her props inside the TV?”
Harry tried to think of a good answer, but he knew that if he told Luna how it really worked, they would end up spending the rest of the afternoon talking about it. There was no doubt she wouldn’t take his explanation.
“Well, in that case they use magic, Luna,” he said, grinning a little. “But you see, they make the Muggles think that there’s nothing magical about.”
“Oh,” she said, grinning as well. “That’s a clever move. And what’s that?” She asked, pointing to the video tape.
“That is--” Harry was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. “I’m going to show you,” he said, quickly putting the tape in the VCR and pressing play. “I’ll be back in a second,” he finished, leaving the room to answer the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi Harry!” Said a cheerful Hermione on the other side of the phone. “How are you?”
Harry’s thoughts immediatly went back to the Death Eater attack Luna had mentioned, upon hearing Hermione’s voice - and he felt the anger rising again.
“Hello, Hermione,” he said, faking a very nice tone. “I’m doing very well, thank you. And how are you? Any news you’d like to share with me?”
Hermione went silent for a moment, and Harry knew perfectly well that she was simply trying to understand his tone.
“I’m doing well too, Harry. As for news, well, there’s nothing really. Except that--”
“Except that Luna’s house was attacked by Death Eaters?” he blurted out, unable to control his anger, but careful enough to not be too loud.
Hermione went silent again, and Harry peeked in slowly to see if Luna had heard him, but she seemed too concentrated to pay attention to anything else other than the movie playing on the TV.
He stepped back a little more, bringing back his attention to the phone call.
“So?”
“Harry, I am so sorry,” Hermione said, a bit of desperation in her voice, but Harry wouldn’t back down so easily. “I really wanted to tell you, so as Ron, but they asked us not to--”
“Oh, that’s perfect! It’s like two years ago again! Frankly, Hermione, I expected you two to ignore those kind of orders, it’s not like you were protecting someone’s life by not telling me--”
“I know, I know! But we didn’t want to worry you--”
“That is not the point! Don’t you think I felt worse learning this from someone else?”
“Yes, but-wait a minute. Who told you that?”
“Who do you think? Luna, of course!”
“And where is she now?” Hermione asked, and Harry sensed a slight hint of anxiety in her voice.
“I don’t see why this matters, but she’s on the couch, watching TV.”
“She’s on the couch, watching TV.”
“What? Why?” Harry could hear Ron ask in the background.
“I don’t know, maybe--”
“Would be easier if you just asked me?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Harry, but Ron wanted to know--”
“I heard, Hermione,” Harry said, impatiently.
“Give me that,” said Ron’s voice. “Harry? Harry? Hello?”
“I’m here, Ron.”
“Right. And why is Luna there?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Of course not, you git. I’m just asking how she got there.”
“Her father came to meet Mrs. Figg and she came with him. She was walking on the street, I ran into her. There. But don’t change the subject--”
“They’re fine, she was with her father, he went to Mrs. Figg’s house--”
“RON! What the hell is going on?”
“Harry, is everything okay?” He heard Luna’s voice coming from the living room.
“Everything’s fine, Luna,” he said, making his head visible to her. “Don’t worry, just keep watching the movie.”
“Alright, I will,” she said, turning to the TV, but then immediately added with a smile, “It’s very interesting, by the way.”
Harry smiled back, knowing that only Luna could define Power Rangers Mighty Morphin: The Movie, as interesting.
“I told your mom already, now talk to him!”
“Okay, what did she mean by ‘told your mom’?”
“Well, it’s just that-Hermione, talk to him.”
“Oh Ron, don’t be a baby, just tell him.”
“Ron, if you don’t tell me what’s going on right now--”
“Alright! Luna and her father are staying here until the wards are set--”
“Yeah, I know that. No thanks to you.”
“Hermione, I told you he would be all--”
“I can hear you, Ron.”
“Look, Harry, the thing is they were here and this morning, they suddenly weren’t anymore. We had no news about them and we were starting to wonder if anything had happened. That’s it,” Ron said, almost too quickly to be understood.
“Put Hermione on the phone.”
“He wants to talk to you.”
“Yes, Harry.”
“Let me see if I get this straight: you didn’t tell me about the Death Eater attack, which is fine, ‘cause you two don’t seem to be telling me anything lately. But then Luna and her father apparently went missing and you didn’t even think about calling me?”
“Harry, please--”
“Hermione, I can’t believe you are doing that again. You promised me you would tell me everything!”
“I know, Harry, I know, but we didn’t want to--”
“Is there anything else you’re hiding? I mean, are you two really okay or you’re in disguise, running from--”
“Harry, we didn’t want to worry you!” Hermione shrieked. “Why tell you about the attack? Why tell about Luna and her father if we weren’t even sure about anything?”
“Because I’m sick of not knowing ANYTHING!”
“Why would you want to know that now, Harry? There’s nothing you could do about it!”
It was Harry’s turn to go silent. Hermione let go off a small exclamation, as if she were surprised by something, but Harry could sense that she had immediatly regretted her words.
“Oh great, now you made him feel useless, Hermione. Good job,” Ron said, voicing Harry’s thoughts.
“Don’t use that tone on me, Ron, you know I didn’t mean to-Harry, you know I didn’t mean to make you--”
“I know, Hermione, don’t worry,” he said, feeling that whatever strength he had to fight a minute ago, had suddenly disappeared.
“Harry, I’m sorry, I--”
“Don’t be. You’re right, there’s really nothing I can do.”
“No, no, I--”
“Listen, I need to hang up now, Luna is alone in the living room and--”
“Harry, please, I--”
“Hermione, seriously. Don’t worry. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay,” she said, sadly, and Harry hung up the phone.
He stood still, watching the telephone and thinking about her words. She was right. Even if Harry knew about the attack or Luna and her father going missing, what could he do? He would have been worried and maybe he would have ended up doing something stupid, like going out to find them. Which would have made people go after him, risking more lives in the process.
Hermione’s words didn’t make him feel useless - he already felt that way, she simply made him more aware of it. He knew she would never do that on purpose, but that didn’t make him feel any better.
The silence made Harry come out of his reverie. There was no sound coming from the living room, making him finally turn to check what had happened, only to see Luna standing a few inches away .
“Oh, hi.”
“Hello. I didn’t mean to intrude, Harry, but I noticed that you were yelling, so I wanted to see if everything was really fine.”
Harry stared at her for a while, feeling slightly embarrassed about the situation. Even though they were friends, she was still a guest in his house. He wasn’t necessarily being a good host.
“It is, actually. How long have you been standing there?”
“Since I heard you saying that you’re sick of not knowing anything,” she said, simply.
Harry’s embarrassement increased a little more, and he looked down, avoiding her gaze.
“It’s okay, Harry.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make a scene in front of you.”
“You didn’t, I wasn’t supposed to be listening to your conversation, I was supposed to be watching the movie.”
Harry looked up at her, quite amused by her point of view.
“Speaking of which, would you care to join me? There are a few things that I’m not quite sure I’m following,” she said, frowning a bit.
“Sure,” he said, following her and sitting on the couch by her side. “I see you paused it.”
“Yes, I did - why, shouldn’t I have?” Luna asked, looking a bit worried.
“No, Luna, it’s fine,” he said, smiling. “That’s what we do when we’re watching a movie and have to leave for a moment. I just didn’t know you were familiar with the remote already.”
“Well, it’s not really hard. I just had to read the words. Although, I don’t seem to figure out what this one is for,” she said, pointing to the SAP button.
Harry moved closer to see which buttom she was referring to. “Oh, you press that button when you want to watch them talking in a different language.”
Luna’s eyes went wide open. “Really? You can change their language only by pressing this button?”
“Sure, let me just do something,” Harry took the remote and changed the VCR channel to the one where the woman was now selling a very weird looking refrigerator. “Ok, now try it.”
Luna took a deep breath, stretched her arm completely, pointing the remote to the TV. Harry grinned at her concentration before the task at hand, and continued to watch her.
Once she pressed the button, the language changed. Luna’s jaw dropped and she seemed beyond amused watching the change. She clapped her hands and looked at Harry, smiling widely. “She’s speaking Spanish! Just because I pressed the button!” She said, looking back at the TV, decidedly impressed.
Harry laughed, surprised by her excitement. Seeing her so delighted by such a trivial thing was, to say the least, amusing.
She watched the woman for a few minutes then pressed the SAP button again. Once the language changed back to English, her smile grew wider.
“It’s so simple!” She said, to which Harry nodded.
More minutes had passed until she seemed to had had enough of the sales woman.
“Even though she can speak two languages, her show is not very interesting,” Luna said, twisting her mouth and putting up a pondering expression.
“Not really,” Harry agreed, watching her.
“Can we watch the Power Rangers again, Harry?”
“Of course,” he said, taking the remote and switching back to the VCR channel. He pressed pause and the movie continued.
Luna sat back, her hands on her lap, very focused on the movie. Harry then realised how close they were. Very close, actually. He turned his gaze to the movie, but he wasn’t really paying attention. His eyes often wandered back to Luna, until he decided her reactions to the movie were much more interesting to watch than the movie itself.
Harry seemed to finally notice that she was dressed as a Muggle. Or very similar to one, really. She was wearing a white t-shit with three tiny blue stars in the middle, and dark blue jeans with a few white spots that might well have been the result of a wrong spell. Her hair was tied in a pony tail and Harry got the impression that he was seeing her face for the first time. He couldn’t remember seeing her with her hair tied like that and it seemed like he was actually able to see every single feature of her face now. Either that, or the fact that they were very close to each other.
She had a strong, but delicate jaw line and her profile was really beautiful. She reminded him of a painting that Hermione had shown him once, of a girl in a meadow. Her neck was longer than it seemed and it was as white as her face, with a tiny mark near the shoulder curve. Harry felt a strange urge to touch it, but he obviously held it back.
“Wow,” Luna whispered, staring at the TV.
Harry decided it was time to watch the TV for a while, otherwise she would realise he had been staring at her. There was a group of adults, clearly playing teenagers landing on a construction site after a quite elaborate number.
The movie went on and Harry continued to felt the urge to stare at Luna, seeing how she was much more interesting than that movie.
“Another Saturday night and I'm traipsing around the galaxy with the THREE LITTLE PIGS! My mother warned me this would happen! Rita, she said, after 89 marriages you might wanna think about throwing in the towel. Why didn't I listen to her!”
Luna laughed out loud, surprising him. “What?”
“That Rita woman is funny,” she said, still laughing a bit.
“I guess. She’s evil, though.”
“Really?” Luna asked, looking somehow disappointed.
Harry thought that, judging by Rita’s looks, it was pretty obvious that she was one of the bad guys.
“Didn’t you know?”
“No, Harry, she just appeared!” Luna said, her disappointment growing visibly. “Are you sure she’s evil?”
“Hum, pretty sure. Doesn’t she look evil to you?”
“Well, Harry, appearances can be very, very tricky,” she said, in a serious tone and turned back to the TV.
“I suppose so. Well, I don’t like Ritas anyway,” he said, absentmindedly.
Luna laughed again, looking at him.
“What happened?”
“What you said,” she replied, smiling. “It was funny.”
Harry smiled back, remembering that Luna had encountered another Rita before, the same one he was referring to, and she didn’t seem to like her either. Not to mention the fact that he wasn’t used to making Luna laugh. It could have sounded silly if he said out loud, but it felt good hearing her laugh at a “joke” he made.
“Alpha, are you okay!”
“I'll GET you my pretty, and your little DOG too!”
“He must've blown an anitromic demodulator!”
Harry heard a little noise and noticed Luna humming to herself.
“What? What is it?”
"Nothing important," she said, matter-of-factly. "But the Blue Ranger seems to be a very interesting guy."
"Really? And why is that?"
"Well, he is very smart," Luna replied with a small smile.
Harry grinned, and could swear that he had seen her blush.
"Humm, I see," he said, and the truth is that his mind was full of ideas on how to make that specific topic last longer, seeing how Luna seemed somehow embarrassed about it. It's not that he enjoyed seeing her embarrassed, but it wasn't common to see Luna like that about anything.
"And that is it? He's just smart?" He asked, trying to hide his grin but failing miserably. "Nothing else?"
"I happen to think that intelligence is quite enough to make someone interesting," she said, casually, but Harry noticed that she was avoiding his eyes, and not because she was focused on the TV. "But he is also very charming, if you ask me," she finished shyly.
Harry's grin grew wider, and he knew how silly it was to take advantage of Luna's momentary shyness to tease her, but he couldn't help himself. Something inside him just loved the idea of teasing her. He felt like Ron, especially when he made fun of Hermione during her crush on Gilderoy in second year. It was immature, but definitely funny.
"Right, I suppose--" he started, but she interrupted him.
"I'm sure it's the glasses," she said, and this time, she turned to look at him, and Harry felt her breath on his face, reminding him of their closeness. "I've always found boys who wear glasses very attractive," she finished with the most innocent smile, and turned to watch the TV again.
Harry felt himself completely taken aback. And blushing. He sat back not saying a word, and the movie suddenly became interesting. He knew Luna hadn’t said that in reference to him, but still. He did wear glasses, so he was automatically included in the category of boys she found attractive.
He inhaled deeply, reminding himself that even though he was embarrassed, he still needed to breathe. Did she really find him attractive? No, it couldn’t be. She did say that about boys with glasses, but that doesn’t mean all boys who wear glasses are attractive to her. He might as well not be one of them.
But deep down, he wished he was.
“Ay, yi, yi, yi, yi.”
“Aw, isn’t he adorable?” Luna asked, turning to Harry.
“Yeah, sure,” he said, nodding and watching an annoying little robot, sighing.
Luna turned back to watch the movie and Harry continued to try his best to pretend he was watching it. He never felt more like a teenager than now - thinking about Luna’s words only because they hinted that she found him attractive.
He couldn’t deny it was a good feeling, though. It wasn’t like Harry was always getting compliments on his looks, nor were all the girls dying to be with him. And the ones that were interested in him saw nothing but his fame. Plus, he didn’t remember being called ‘attractive’ by a girl he found attractive as well.
“Hold on,” he heard a voice inside his head saying. “Since when do you find Luna attractive?”
“Since never!” He replied to himself.
“She’s cute and all, but that’s it,” the voice said again. “Don’t get your pants in a wad just because of what she said about boys with glasses. She wasn’t complimenting you.”
“I wear glasses, don’t I?” He asked the voice, his voice, not knowing why he didn’t just cut that “conversation” off.
“The Blue Ranger wears glasses too,” replied the voice, in a very mischievous tone.
“This is all your fault! If you'd taken me out tonight like you were supposed to, none of this would've happened.”
Before Harry could “reply back,” Luna spoke.
“Poor Rita, she clearly has feelings for him,” she said sadly.
“Really?”
“Don’t you see?” She asked, turning back at Harry. “I think he’s just using her, which is really awful. She deserves someone better.”
“She... does?” Harry asked, frowning in surprise.
“Of course! I know, I know, she’s evil, but maybe that’s the problem. If she loved someone and was loved in return, don’t you think she would be a better person?”
“I... well... probably.”
Luna nodded, and with a sigh, turned back to watch the movie.
Harry caught himself staring at her again. How Luna was able to turn a scene from “Power Rangers” into an example of unrequired love was beyond him. The noise of someone opening the front door made him get up quickly. Luna looked at him, confused, and before he could say anything, Dudley appeared.
“Why are you looking at me like--” Duddley started, but stopped as soon as he noticed Luna. “Well, well, look what we’ve got here.”
Dudley started to move towards Luna, who was now standing up and looking at him and back at Harry. That was exactly why part of Harry hesitated to bring Luna to the house - he knew that that brainless beast he knew as ‘cousin’ could eventually appear. Harry was already motioning towards Luna to take her out and away from Duddley, when he saw the boy reaching for her hand.
“I don’t believe we’ve met, I’m Dudley Dursley,” he said, kissing her hand.
Harry was dumbfounded - Dudley being polite? Dudley acting like a human? It was definitely something he hadn’t seen in... ever.
“You have a funny name, Dudley,” Luna said, smiling a bit. “I’m Luna Lovegood.”
“Yes, you are,” he said, eyeing Luna head to toe and making absolutely no effort to look discrete. “Nice to meet you, Luna. What are you two doing?”
“We were watching ‘Power Rangers’,” she said, simply.
Dudley laughed and Luna looked at him confused. “Oh, are you serious?” He asked, no longer laughing.
“Yes, I am. It’s a very interesting movie.”
“I think so too, Luna,” he said, taking her hand and sitting on the couch; Luna followed, sitting next to him. “I thought you were joking because Harry hates that movie.”
“Oh, is that true, Harry?” Luna asked, disappointed.
Harry was still staring at the situation before his eyes, in a complete loss of words. Dudley acted nothing like Harry expected him to. And somehow, it made Harry even angrier.
“Well, it’s not my favorite,” Harry managed to say, sitting on the couch, next to Dudley. “But you seemed so excited about it that I didn’t see why not to watch it.”
“Aw, that’s very sweet of you, Harry,” Luna said, smiling.
“Sure, sure. But you don’t need to stay here, Potter, since you don’t like the movie, I can keep Luna company,” Dudley say, shooting Harry a very dirty glance.
Harry felt his blood boil - he could not believe that his ass of a cousin was actually hitting on Luna, right in front of him.
“Oh no, but I want Harry to stay,” Luna said, looking at Dudley.
“Take that, you sodding bastard,” Harry said inwardly, giving Dudley a look of disdain. Then aloud he said, “Why don’t you sit here in the middle, Luna?”
“Sure, Harry. Excuse me, Dudley,” she said, and move to sit in the middle of the couch.
Duddley looked very annoyed by Harry’s attitude, and while Luna watched the movie, completely unaware that, the boys were exchanging angry glances.
Many minutes passed and neither Harry nor Dudley were paying attention to anything else except each other. Harry knew Dudley was only doing that to tease him, to make him angry. He would not give in.
“Excuse me, guys, but I need to use the restroom,” Luna said, getting up and heading outside the living room.
Only seconds later, Luna reappeared. “Oh, I forgot. Would you mind telling me where it is?”
Harry smiled and walked her to the bathroom, moving back to the living room as soon as she closed the door.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Harry hissed.
“What does it look like I’m doing, Potter?” Dudley asked, sitting lazily on the couch, with an evil grin.
“It looks like you’re hitting on a friend of mine only to get me mad, and believe me, Dudley, you don’t want to get me mad,” Harry replied, in a dangerously low tone.
“I guess you got that right. But I also happen to find her very hot, if you ask me.”
“You what?”
“What, you don’t?”
“No! I mean, she’s just my friend, you sick bastard!”
“Oh, c’mon, Potter,” Dudley started, getting up from the couch and standing only a few inches from Harry. “I bet you want to shag the crazy girl, otherwise you wouldn’t have brought her here when you were all alone in the house.”
As soon as Harry heard Dudley’s words, he felt angrier at his cousin than he had ever been. On impulse, he grabbed Dudley’s shirt and pushed him against the wall. True, he was a big guy, but Harry felt like he was suddenly possessed by a bigger strength, which made Dudley seem weaker than he actually was.
“If you ever talk about Luna like that again, I swear that I’m going to tear your face apart so badly that even your mother will be afraid of looking at you,” Harry said, calmly, but his expression was full of hate.
Dudley was surprised by his cousin’s unexpected attack, but once the feeling had passed, he jerked Harry’s hands away from him.
“Do you think you can take me, Potter?”
Harry took out his wand and pointed at Duddley, who laughed at him.
“I know you can’t use that shit outside your freaky school, Potter.”
“That’s right, I can’t. But in case you don’t know, I’m not going back there this year. And I was only waiting for the perfect opportunity to use a Bat-Bogey Hex a friend of mine taught me.”
Dudley’s face went white. Harry was pretty sure that what scared him was hearing something related to magic.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me,” Harry said, staring at him. “Unless you want to wake up with your face stuck to your ass, I suggest you to leave the house now.”
“Are you kicking me out of my own house?”
“You can just go up to your bedroom, I don’t mind. As long as you stay away from Luna.”
“What’s going on?” Luna asked, appearing behind Harry.
“Nothing,” he said, putting his wand on his pocket again and turning to face her. “Dudley is not feeling well, so he’s heading to his bedroom,” he turned to face his cousin again, “now.”
Dudley glared at Harry, resuming his actions to mouthing a “you’ll regret this, Potter” and walked away from the room.
“Oh, okay. Hope you get better, Dudley,” Luna said airly, but Dudley ignored her.
“Let’s watch the movie then,” Harry sat on the couch but Luna remained standing. “Is there something wrong, Luna?”
“No, nothing,” she said, sitting by his side. “It’s just... well, I don’t really mind your cousin leaving. He scared me a bit.”
Harry grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”
Luna smiled, watching him.
“What?”
“Harry, I know you were worried about me and my father, but everything’s fine, I promise.”
His grin died at the sudden change of subject. He didn’t know what to say, but he kept his gaze on her.
“Sometimes it’s better to let go, Harry. You can’t protect everyone all the time.”
“But it feels good to know that I can do something. Which I hardly can,” he said, bitterly.
“That isn’t true, you know,” she said, matter-of-factly.
“It isn’t?”
“No. And you seem to have no idea how much you’ve done for me already.”
Harry watched her, somehow agreeing with her words. He did have no idea how much he had done for her. Actually, he didn’t think he had done anything for her.
“If you don’t mind, I’d love to watch the rest of the movie,” Luna said, simply.
“Alright,” Harry said, taking the remote and pressing play.
Luna was once again very focused on the movie, and Harry was, once again, pondering something she had just said. There was nothing, really, there was absolutely nothing he had done for her. Maybe “done for her” she meant his friendship? He knew Luna didn’t have many friends, so maybe she thought it was nice of him to be friends with her. Harry frowned at the thought - he wasn’t doing her any favor. In fact, he felt like he got much more from their friendship than she did. Luna was a good company and he usually felt very comfortable around her. As for him, what did he have to offer?
That’s right, an afternoon watching ‘Power Rangers’.
With a sigh, Harry decided to finally watch the movie. It didn’t last long, since his attention immediately moved back to Luna once he heard a small sob.
“Rangers... I'm afraid you're too late.”
“What!”
“Zordon... he's gone.”
“Luna, are you alright?”
Luna nodded, sighing deeply and staring at the TV. “I’m fine, Harry. I’m just sad about Zordon’s death.”
Harry tried not to smile, but he simply couldn’t. He didn’t remember seeing Luna cry before, and he certainly wasn’t expecting to see that happening during a Power Rangers movie, but it did. And ironically, it was very adorable.
He didn’t really know how to “comfort” her, so he did what seemed to be the most obvious thing. He patted her slightly on the back, and moved closer, letting his hand rest on her shoulder.
“It’s okay, Luna, it’s just a movie,” he said, still trying not to smile.
Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say. Luna looked up at him with a very serious, somewhat offended, expression.
“Just a movie?” She asked, slowly. “What are you suggesting, Harry? That the Rangers don’t really miss him? That his death simply doesn’t matter?”
Harry stared at her, a mixture of shock and disbelief.
“ZORDON!”
“Welcome back, kids.”
“Look, he’s alive!” Harry blurted, feeling oddly relieved.
Luna looked back at the TV and smiled widely, watching the annoying robot jumping up and down.
“He’s alive!” She repeated, focusing on the movie again.
Harry sighed, smiling again. He should have known better how unpredictable Luna can be.
He decided, for his own sake, that the best thing to do was to stay quiet during the movie. If she started to cry again, he would just comfort her silently. Whatever emotions she displayed from now on while watching the movie, Harry would react to, but always, always silently.
The minutes kept passing and the movie was almost over. Harry’s silence was taken happily by Luna, who did not seem keen to be bothered during the exciting final moments.
“Ay, yi, yi! The Rangers are going to be CRUSHED!”
“Don't lose hope yet, Alpha!”
Harry watched a desperate Luna putting her hands over her mouth, while she watched the final battle with undisturbed attention. Her emotions continued to grow as the movie went on, until it was almost over.
“Rangers, by going after the Great Power, all of you knowingly put your lives at extreme risk... and in so doing you not only saved my life, you saved all of Angel Grove and the world from a reign of unthinkable terror.”
“Everybody say cheese.”
“POWER RANGERS!”
“That was such an amazing ending,” Luna said, clapping her hands and smiling at him.
“It isn’t over yet,” Harry said, pointing to the TV.
Luna turned quickly, and with an exclamation, continued to watch the movie.
“Do you know what it's like to be stuck in a BLIZZARD FOR TWO DAYS!”
“...Cold?”
“Are you trying to be funny!”
“Hey, watch the hair!”
Luna started to laugh, and Harry watched her. He never stopped to think how much he liked her laugh - but then again, he had hardly seen her laughing like that.
“I take it that you liked the movie,” Harry said, with a grin.
“Liked? I loved it!” She said, hugging him. “Thank you for inviting me over, Harry.”
Harry was certainly taken aback by her affectionate thanks, but he hugged her back. It felt really nice, actually.
“I had a lovely afternoon, Harry.”
Harry nodded, smiling at her.
“Well, I should get going, Dad is probably wondering where I am by now,” Luna said, standing up.
“You didn’t tell him where you were going?”
“I told him I was going for a walk,” she said, moving towards the door. “He knows that my walks usually take a very long time, but still. He’s feeling much more worried now.”
“I suppose so,” Harry said, serious.
“When are you going back to the Weasleys’ house?”
“In a couple of days, hopefully.”
“I’m pretty sure we’re going back home tomorrow, but I’ll stop by to visit.”
“Yes, that would be great!” Harry said, a little too cheerful.
“Thank you again, Harry. And thank you for watching a movie you hate just because I wanted to watch it,” Luna said, with a hint of a grin.
“No problem. Plus, it’s not such a bad movie after all.”
Luna’s grin grew wider, as she stood on her tip toe and kissed him on the cheek. “See you, Harry.”
He found himself grinning as well and touching the spot she had just kissed. It turned out to be a fun afternoon.
____________________________
Harry was finally back at the Weasleys - it did take a little longer than expected - and all the feelings of anger and boredoom he had at the Dursleys were gone. Ron and Hermione were helping him unpack, so all his things would be completely settled by dinner time.
“Hermione, why do you have to fold them so carefully?” Ron asked, annoyed, when he noticed that Hermione was taking quite a while to put the clothes in the drawer.
“Because I don’t want to make a mess, Ron. You already do it enough.”
“Oh yeah, as if Harry will keep everything organized...”
“More organized than you, I’m sure,” she said, ignoring Ron’s glare and focusing on folding one of Harry’s shirts.
Harry wasn’t helping them anymore. Ron and Hermione seemed so keen to finish the task at hand - either fast or not - by competing with each other, that Harry thought that would be best to stay out. His friends didn’t seem to mind - actually, they didn’t even seem to notice that Harry had stopped helping.
Ron dropped his glare once he realised Hermione would continue to ignore him, and started to take the few things left in Harry’s trunk. The last thing remaining was a rectangular box, wrapped on a piece of clothe. Ron unwrapped it and gave it an odd look.
“Harry, what in the name of Merlin is this?” He asked, showing Harry a video tape.
“Oh, that,” Harry said, unable to contain his grin.
Hermione was now looking at Ron and at the tape in his hand.
“A video tape? There’s no VCR here, Harry,” Hermione said, slightly surprised by the new found item.
“I know, but it brings me good memories.”
Hermione took the tape out of Ron’s hand and gave the same odd look Ron had given, but because she knew what that was.
“'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, The Movie’? Why would you have this tape, Harry?” She asked, frowning in confusion.
Harry’s grin grew wider. “Didn’t I tell you? It’s my favorite movie.”
____________________________
A/N: First, thanks to my awesome beta, Abigail. Visies, I hope I’ve done justice to your expectations, my dears (and Steph, thank you for the title ^^"). And for everyone else, I hope you enjoyed the story - it isn’t a very common plot, but oh well. We, Harry/Luna shippers, are anything but ordinary, aren’t we? Reviews are welcome :) ETA: The lovely turtle_goose drew this beautiful H/L art inspired by this story. Can you say adorable? I don't think I could love this piece even more that I already do.
hl_stillness || hl_stillness || hl_stillness
'CAUSE PIMPING IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL.
:)
Author: Ana Luthor (luthor_files || mrs_luthor)
Rated: PG-13, for some language.
Genre: Humor/Fluffy
Summary: What could save Harry from a dreadful afternoon? Watch Mighty Morphin Powers Rangers - The Movie. With Luna.
Author's Notes: This was another plot bunny that popped into my head after one of the many chats with my wonderful Visionaries, over the H/L thread at Fan Forum.
____________________________
Go, go, Harry Potter!
Harry was experiencing what was probably one of the most boring afternoons of his entire life. Not that he didn’t enjoy being alone at the Dursley’s house, but he couldn’t enjoy it knowing that he shouldn’t even be there in the first place. He had stayed there for a week, right after the school was over, and then he went to the Weasleys’ house, overjoyed knowing he’d never have to come back to the Dursleys’ again. Until Lupin showed up.
A little less than a month after he arrived at the Burrow, Lupin appeared unannounced, telling him that he needed to go back to the Dursleys’ and stay there for a couple of weeks, but giving him no further explanation. After a heated discussion and Hermione’s promise that they would call him every day, he agreed on to go back.
The second week was almost over, but the time seemed to be dragging much slower. There was absolutely nothing to do at the Dursleys, as usual, but this time, Harry was actually wasting time. If he had a choice, there was no doubt that he would be Horcrux hunting now.
He looked around the living room, searching for something to do, when he spotted a video tape on the coffee table. He took it, reading “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie” on the cover and laugh at the ridiculous outfits that all the people in it were wearing. He put it back on the table, knowing that that was probably another gift from his Aunt Petunia for her beloved son. He remembered her saying that since he “loved those actions movies” she had bought one for him. Harry couldn’t help but laugh at how little she knew about her own son. Power Rangers was far from being the kind of “action movie” that Dudley enjoyed. With a sigh, he took his jacket and headed out of the house. Maybe a walk was exactly what he needed.
The weather was fine and no one was around. Not that he minded, since he enjoyed the silence. Walking and watching absentmindedly, his gaze stopped on a couple across the street. They were sitting on a bench, holding hands, and they were both smiling. The sight made Harry think of Ginny.
They had broken up more than a month ago, but part of him still missed her. Not as much as he thought he would, but he missed the moments they had had. He remembered being genuinely happy for the past few months he was involved with Ginny. There were a few good moments with Ron and Hermione, and the Slughorn’s party with Luna,that turned out to be much better then he expected. Other than that, the year hadn’t really been a paradise of good memories.
Knowing that the couple would eventually realise that he was staring at them, Harry continued his walk, only to stop a few seconds later, surprised by the appearance of someone unlikely: Luna.
She was walking towards him, but apparently unaware of it, since her eyes seemed delighfully busy exploring every single bit of the neighboorhood. She only noticed Harry when they were only a few inches apart.
“Oh, hello, Harry!” She said, smiling widely, and then motioning to hug him. “It’s so good to see you.”
Harry was taken aback by her affectionate hug, but he hugged her back.
“Hi, Luna,” he said, smiling. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, Dad had a meeting with Mrs Figg, and he wanted me to come with him.”
“I see,” Harry started, as he begun to walk again, and Luna followed him. “So why you’re not with him now?”
“Apparently, I’m not old enough to hear what they have to talk about,” Luna said, grimacing and seeming slightly offended.
Harry held back a chuckle, but he knew how Luna felt. He lost track of how many times he, Ron and Hermione were left out of Order meetings.
“Why did he want you to come with him then?”
“I suppose he’s afraid, after what happened.”
“What happened?” He asked, frowning a bit.
“Our house was attacked by Death Eaters,” she answered simply, as she continued to walk.
Harry stopped dead on tracks. “Your house was what?”
“Attacked by Death Eaters,” she repeated slowly, not realising that Harry’s question had nothing to do with his having trouble hearing .
He rolled his eyes, sighing. “I heard that, Luna, but when did it happen? Is everything alright? Are you okay?”
Luna smiled and watched him for a moment, which made Harry slightly confused and impatient.
“Everything is fine, Harry, and I am okay.”
He eyed her for a moment, not quite sure if she was being completely honest.
“I mean it, Harry, everything is okay,” she said, as if reading his thoughts, and started to walk.
“When did it happen, Luna?”
“Two days ago,” she replied airly. “I thought you knew, since you speak to Ronald and Hermione daily, isn’t that right?”
“Well, yeah, but what does it have to-wait, did they know about it?”
“Naturally, Harry, Dad and I are at the Weasleys’ house until the Order finishes putting the wards up.”
Harry felt suddenly possessed by a feeling of anger - the same feeling that had possessed him two years ago, when he spent the whole summer stuck at the Dursleys’ house with no news from Ron and Hermione. He felt completely left out.
“Harry, are you alright?”
“Yes, I am. I just need to go home, I remembered something,” he said, knowing that the first thing he would do once he got home would be to pick up the phone and give Ron and Hermione a very long lecture.
“Oh, okay. It was nice to see you, Harry,” she said, and headed to the opposite direction.
“Do you want to come with me?” He blurted out, before he could really consider his words.
It’s not that he didn’t want her to come. He really enjoyed her company, and if he was going to be honest, it would be a good way to get him through a deadly boring afternoon. However, it was the Dursleys’ house. True that they were off with their “friends” and they would only come back at night, but his hideous cousin could show up at any minute - God knows where he was, really - and the last thing Harry wanted was to watch Dudley making fun of Luna.
“Are you sure?” She asked simply, but she seemed quite happy with his invitation. “I don’t want to be a bother .”
“You won’t be a bother, Luna. Plus, I’m alone in the house.”
“Well, if it’s okay then, I’d be happy to join you,” she said, with a smile.
They walked back to the house in silence, while Luna continued to watch the neighborhood. Harry opened the door and waved at her to come in.
“This is such a lovely house, Harry,” she said, looking genuinely amused by the living room.
Harry grinned and thanked her, sitting on the couch and inviting her to do the same.
“Is this the first time you’ve come here with your father?”
“Yes, it is. What’s that, Harry?” She asked, pointing to the remote control on the cofee table.
“Oh, it’s a remote control,” he answered simply, then realised that it wouldn’t make any sense to her. “Here, I’ll show you.” He pressed a red buttom, turning the TV on.
Luna’s eyes went wide open and she stared back at him. “You’re not supposed to do magic outside the school, Harry!”
He laughed at her shocked expression, putting the control on the couch. “Luna, it’s not magic, it’s a Muggle device.”
“Oh,” she said, staring thoughtful at the remote. “And how does it work?”
Harry didn’t really know how to explain it. But he tried.
“You know that’s a TV, right?” he asked, to which Luna nodded. “Well, you press these buttoms while you point it to the TV and it turns it on and off, changes the channels-see?” he said, putting on a different channel, where a woman was selling a very weird looking hoover.
“Intriguing,” she said, still looking very deep in thought. “But how can they manage to put her and all her props inside the TV?”
Harry tried to think of a good answer, but he knew that if he told Luna how it really worked, they would end up spending the rest of the afternoon talking about it. There was no doubt she wouldn’t take his explanation.
“Well, in that case they use magic, Luna,” he said, grinning a little. “But you see, they make the Muggles think that there’s nothing magical about.”
“Oh,” she said, grinning as well. “That’s a clever move. And what’s that?” She asked, pointing to the video tape.
“That is--” Harry was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. “I’m going to show you,” he said, quickly putting the tape in the VCR and pressing play. “I’ll be back in a second,” he finished, leaving the room to answer the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi Harry!” Said a cheerful Hermione on the other side of the phone. “How are you?”
Harry’s thoughts immediatly went back to the Death Eater attack Luna had mentioned, upon hearing Hermione’s voice - and he felt the anger rising again.
“Hello, Hermione,” he said, faking a very nice tone. “I’m doing very well, thank you. And how are you? Any news you’d like to share with me?”
Hermione went silent for a moment, and Harry knew perfectly well that she was simply trying to understand his tone.
“I’m doing well too, Harry. As for news, well, there’s nothing really. Except that--”
“Except that Luna’s house was attacked by Death Eaters?” he blurted out, unable to control his anger, but careful enough to not be too loud.
Hermione went silent again, and Harry peeked in slowly to see if Luna had heard him, but she seemed too concentrated to pay attention to anything else other than the movie playing on the TV.
He stepped back a little more, bringing back his attention to the phone call.
“So?”
“Harry, I am so sorry,” Hermione said, a bit of desperation in her voice, but Harry wouldn’t back down so easily. “I really wanted to tell you, so as Ron, but they asked us not to--”
“Oh, that’s perfect! It’s like two years ago again! Frankly, Hermione, I expected you two to ignore those kind of orders, it’s not like you were protecting someone’s life by not telling me--”
“I know, I know! But we didn’t want to worry you--”
“That is not the point! Don’t you think I felt worse learning this from someone else?”
“Yes, but-wait a minute. Who told you that?”
“Who do you think? Luna, of course!”
“And where is she now?” Hermione asked, and Harry sensed a slight hint of anxiety in her voice.
“I don’t see why this matters, but she’s on the couch, watching TV.”
“She’s on the couch, watching TV.”
“What? Why?” Harry could hear Ron ask in the background.
“I don’t know, maybe--”
“Would be easier if you just asked me?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Harry, but Ron wanted to know--”
“I heard, Hermione,” Harry said, impatiently.
“Give me that,” said Ron’s voice. “Harry? Harry? Hello?”
“I’m here, Ron.”
“Right. And why is Luna there?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Of course not, you git. I’m just asking how she got there.”
“Her father came to meet Mrs. Figg and she came with him. She was walking on the street, I ran into her. There. But don’t change the subject--”
“They’re fine, she was with her father, he went to Mrs. Figg’s house--”
“RON! What the hell is going on?”
“Harry, is everything okay?” He heard Luna’s voice coming from the living room.
“Everything’s fine, Luna,” he said, making his head visible to her. “Don’t worry, just keep watching the movie.”
“Alright, I will,” she said, turning to the TV, but then immediately added with a smile, “It’s very interesting, by the way.”
Harry smiled back, knowing that only Luna could define Power Rangers Mighty Morphin: The Movie, as interesting.
“I told your mom already, now talk to him!”
“Okay, what did she mean by ‘told your mom’?”
“Well, it’s just that-Hermione, talk to him.”
“Oh Ron, don’t be a baby, just tell him.”
“Ron, if you don’t tell me what’s going on right now--”
“Alright! Luna and her father are staying here until the wards are set--”
“Yeah, I know that. No thanks to you.”
“Hermione, I told you he would be all--”
“I can hear you, Ron.”
“Look, Harry, the thing is they were here and this morning, they suddenly weren’t anymore. We had no news about them and we were starting to wonder if anything had happened. That’s it,” Ron said, almost too quickly to be understood.
“Put Hermione on the phone.”
“He wants to talk to you.”
“Yes, Harry.”
“Let me see if I get this straight: you didn’t tell me about the Death Eater attack, which is fine, ‘cause you two don’t seem to be telling me anything lately. But then Luna and her father apparently went missing and you didn’t even think about calling me?”
“Harry, please--”
“Hermione, I can’t believe you are doing that again. You promised me you would tell me everything!”
“I know, Harry, I know, but we didn’t want to--”
“Is there anything else you’re hiding? I mean, are you two really okay or you’re in disguise, running from--”
“Harry, we didn’t want to worry you!” Hermione shrieked. “Why tell you about the attack? Why tell about Luna and her father if we weren’t even sure about anything?”
“Because I’m sick of not knowing ANYTHING!”
“Why would you want to know that now, Harry? There’s nothing you could do about it!”
It was Harry’s turn to go silent. Hermione let go off a small exclamation, as if she were surprised by something, but Harry could sense that she had immediatly regretted her words.
“Oh great, now you made him feel useless, Hermione. Good job,” Ron said, voicing Harry’s thoughts.
“Don’t use that tone on me, Ron, you know I didn’t mean to-Harry, you know I didn’t mean to make you--”
“I know, Hermione, don’t worry,” he said, feeling that whatever strength he had to fight a minute ago, had suddenly disappeared.
“Harry, I’m sorry, I--”
“Don’t be. You’re right, there’s really nothing I can do.”
“No, no, I--”
“Listen, I need to hang up now, Luna is alone in the living room and--”
“Harry, please, I--”
“Hermione, seriously. Don’t worry. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay,” she said, sadly, and Harry hung up the phone.
He stood still, watching the telephone and thinking about her words. She was right. Even if Harry knew about the attack or Luna and her father going missing, what could he do? He would have been worried and maybe he would have ended up doing something stupid, like going out to find them. Which would have made people go after him, risking more lives in the process.
Hermione’s words didn’t make him feel useless - he already felt that way, she simply made him more aware of it. He knew she would never do that on purpose, but that didn’t make him feel any better.
The silence made Harry come out of his reverie. There was no sound coming from the living room, making him finally turn to check what had happened, only to see Luna standing a few inches away .
“Oh, hi.”
“Hello. I didn’t mean to intrude, Harry, but I noticed that you were yelling, so I wanted to see if everything was really fine.”
Harry stared at her for a while, feeling slightly embarrassed about the situation. Even though they were friends, she was still a guest in his house. He wasn’t necessarily being a good host.
“It is, actually. How long have you been standing there?”
“Since I heard you saying that you’re sick of not knowing anything,” she said, simply.
Harry’s embarrassement increased a little more, and he looked down, avoiding her gaze.
“It’s okay, Harry.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make a scene in front of you.”
“You didn’t, I wasn’t supposed to be listening to your conversation, I was supposed to be watching the movie.”
Harry looked up at her, quite amused by her point of view.
“Speaking of which, would you care to join me? There are a few things that I’m not quite sure I’m following,” she said, frowning a bit.
“Sure,” he said, following her and sitting on the couch by her side. “I see you paused it.”
“Yes, I did - why, shouldn’t I have?” Luna asked, looking a bit worried.
“No, Luna, it’s fine,” he said, smiling. “That’s what we do when we’re watching a movie and have to leave for a moment. I just didn’t know you were familiar with the remote already.”
“Well, it’s not really hard. I just had to read the words. Although, I don’t seem to figure out what this one is for,” she said, pointing to the SAP button.
Harry moved closer to see which buttom she was referring to. “Oh, you press that button when you want to watch them talking in a different language.”
Luna’s eyes went wide open. “Really? You can change their language only by pressing this button?”
“Sure, let me just do something,” Harry took the remote and changed the VCR channel to the one where the woman was now selling a very weird looking refrigerator. “Ok, now try it.”
Luna took a deep breath, stretched her arm completely, pointing the remote to the TV. Harry grinned at her concentration before the task at hand, and continued to watch her.
Once she pressed the button, the language changed. Luna’s jaw dropped and she seemed beyond amused watching the change. She clapped her hands and looked at Harry, smiling widely. “She’s speaking Spanish! Just because I pressed the button!” She said, looking back at the TV, decidedly impressed.
Harry laughed, surprised by her excitement. Seeing her so delighted by such a trivial thing was, to say the least, amusing.
She watched the woman for a few minutes then pressed the SAP button again. Once the language changed back to English, her smile grew wider.
“It’s so simple!” She said, to which Harry nodded.
More minutes had passed until she seemed to had had enough of the sales woman.
“Even though she can speak two languages, her show is not very interesting,” Luna said, twisting her mouth and putting up a pondering expression.
“Not really,” Harry agreed, watching her.
“Can we watch the Power Rangers again, Harry?”
“Of course,” he said, taking the remote and switching back to the VCR channel. He pressed pause and the movie continued.
Luna sat back, her hands on her lap, very focused on the movie. Harry then realised how close they were. Very close, actually. He turned his gaze to the movie, but he wasn’t really paying attention. His eyes often wandered back to Luna, until he decided her reactions to the movie were much more interesting to watch than the movie itself.
Harry seemed to finally notice that she was dressed as a Muggle. Or very similar to one, really. She was wearing a white t-shit with three tiny blue stars in the middle, and dark blue jeans with a few white spots that might well have been the result of a wrong spell. Her hair was tied in a pony tail and Harry got the impression that he was seeing her face for the first time. He couldn’t remember seeing her with her hair tied like that and it seemed like he was actually able to see every single feature of her face now. Either that, or the fact that they were very close to each other.
She had a strong, but delicate jaw line and her profile was really beautiful. She reminded him of a painting that Hermione had shown him once, of a girl in a meadow. Her neck was longer than it seemed and it was as white as her face, with a tiny mark near the shoulder curve. Harry felt a strange urge to touch it, but he obviously held it back.
“Wow,” Luna whispered, staring at the TV.
Harry decided it was time to watch the TV for a while, otherwise she would realise he had been staring at her. There was a group of adults, clearly playing teenagers landing on a construction site after a quite elaborate number.
The movie went on and Harry continued to felt the urge to stare at Luna, seeing how she was much more interesting than that movie.
“Another Saturday night and I'm traipsing around the galaxy with the THREE LITTLE PIGS! My mother warned me this would happen! Rita, she said, after 89 marriages you might wanna think about throwing in the towel. Why didn't I listen to her!”
Luna laughed out loud, surprising him. “What?”
“That Rita woman is funny,” she said, still laughing a bit.
“I guess. She’s evil, though.”
“Really?” Luna asked, looking somehow disappointed.
Harry thought that, judging by Rita’s looks, it was pretty obvious that she was one of the bad guys.
“Didn’t you know?”
“No, Harry, she just appeared!” Luna said, her disappointment growing visibly. “Are you sure she’s evil?”
“Hum, pretty sure. Doesn’t she look evil to you?”
“Well, Harry, appearances can be very, very tricky,” she said, in a serious tone and turned back to the TV.
“I suppose so. Well, I don’t like Ritas anyway,” he said, absentmindedly.
Luna laughed again, looking at him.
“What happened?”
“What you said,” she replied, smiling. “It was funny.”
Harry smiled back, remembering that Luna had encountered another Rita before, the same one he was referring to, and she didn’t seem to like her either. Not to mention the fact that he wasn’t used to making Luna laugh. It could have sounded silly if he said out loud, but it felt good hearing her laugh at a “joke” he made.
“Alpha, are you okay!”
“I'll GET you my pretty, and your little DOG too!”
“He must've blown an anitromic demodulator!”
Harry heard a little noise and noticed Luna humming to herself.
“What? What is it?”
"Nothing important," she said, matter-of-factly. "But the Blue Ranger seems to be a very interesting guy."
"Really? And why is that?"
"Well, he is very smart," Luna replied with a small smile.
Harry grinned, and could swear that he had seen her blush.
"Humm, I see," he said, and the truth is that his mind was full of ideas on how to make that specific topic last longer, seeing how Luna seemed somehow embarrassed about it. It's not that he enjoyed seeing her embarrassed, but it wasn't common to see Luna like that about anything.
"And that is it? He's just smart?" He asked, trying to hide his grin but failing miserably. "Nothing else?"
"I happen to think that intelligence is quite enough to make someone interesting," she said, casually, but Harry noticed that she was avoiding his eyes, and not because she was focused on the TV. "But he is also very charming, if you ask me," she finished shyly.
Harry's grin grew wider, and he knew how silly it was to take advantage of Luna's momentary shyness to tease her, but he couldn't help himself. Something inside him just loved the idea of teasing her. He felt like Ron, especially when he made fun of Hermione during her crush on Gilderoy in second year. It was immature, but definitely funny.
"Right, I suppose--" he started, but she interrupted him.
"I'm sure it's the glasses," she said, and this time, she turned to look at him, and Harry felt her breath on his face, reminding him of their closeness. "I've always found boys who wear glasses very attractive," she finished with the most innocent smile, and turned to watch the TV again.
Harry felt himself completely taken aback. And blushing. He sat back not saying a word, and the movie suddenly became interesting. He knew Luna hadn’t said that in reference to him, but still. He did wear glasses, so he was automatically included in the category of boys she found attractive.
He inhaled deeply, reminding himself that even though he was embarrassed, he still needed to breathe. Did she really find him attractive? No, it couldn’t be. She did say that about boys with glasses, but that doesn’t mean all boys who wear glasses are attractive to her. He might as well not be one of them.
But deep down, he wished he was.
“Ay, yi, yi, yi, yi.”
“Aw, isn’t he adorable?” Luna asked, turning to Harry.
“Yeah, sure,” he said, nodding and watching an annoying little robot, sighing.
Luna turned back to watch the movie and Harry continued to try his best to pretend he was watching it. He never felt more like a teenager than now - thinking about Luna’s words only because they hinted that she found him attractive.
He couldn’t deny it was a good feeling, though. It wasn’t like Harry was always getting compliments on his looks, nor were all the girls dying to be with him. And the ones that were interested in him saw nothing but his fame. Plus, he didn’t remember being called ‘attractive’ by a girl he found attractive as well.
“Hold on,” he heard a voice inside his head saying. “Since when do you find Luna attractive?”
“Since never!” He replied to himself.
“She’s cute and all, but that’s it,” the voice said again. “Don’t get your pants in a wad just because of what she said about boys with glasses. She wasn’t complimenting you.”
“I wear glasses, don’t I?” He asked the voice, his voice, not knowing why he didn’t just cut that “conversation” off.
“The Blue Ranger wears glasses too,” replied the voice, in a very mischievous tone.
“This is all your fault! If you'd taken me out tonight like you were supposed to, none of this would've happened.”
Before Harry could “reply back,” Luna spoke.
“Poor Rita, she clearly has feelings for him,” she said sadly.
“Really?”
“Don’t you see?” She asked, turning back at Harry. “I think he’s just using her, which is really awful. She deserves someone better.”
“She... does?” Harry asked, frowning in surprise.
“Of course! I know, I know, she’s evil, but maybe that’s the problem. If she loved someone and was loved in return, don’t you think she would be a better person?”
“I... well... probably.”
Luna nodded, and with a sigh, turned back to watch the movie.
Harry caught himself staring at her again. How Luna was able to turn a scene from “Power Rangers” into an example of unrequired love was beyond him. The noise of someone opening the front door made him get up quickly. Luna looked at him, confused, and before he could say anything, Dudley appeared.
“Why are you looking at me like--” Duddley started, but stopped as soon as he noticed Luna. “Well, well, look what we’ve got here.”
Dudley started to move towards Luna, who was now standing up and looking at him and back at Harry. That was exactly why part of Harry hesitated to bring Luna to the house - he knew that that brainless beast he knew as ‘cousin’ could eventually appear. Harry was already motioning towards Luna to take her out and away from Duddley, when he saw the boy reaching for her hand.
“I don’t believe we’ve met, I’m Dudley Dursley,” he said, kissing her hand.
Harry was dumbfounded - Dudley being polite? Dudley acting like a human? It was definitely something he hadn’t seen in... ever.
“You have a funny name, Dudley,” Luna said, smiling a bit. “I’m Luna Lovegood.”
“Yes, you are,” he said, eyeing Luna head to toe and making absolutely no effort to look discrete. “Nice to meet you, Luna. What are you two doing?”
“We were watching ‘Power Rangers’,” she said, simply.
Dudley laughed and Luna looked at him confused. “Oh, are you serious?” He asked, no longer laughing.
“Yes, I am. It’s a very interesting movie.”
“I think so too, Luna,” he said, taking her hand and sitting on the couch; Luna followed, sitting next to him. “I thought you were joking because Harry hates that movie.”
“Oh, is that true, Harry?” Luna asked, disappointed.
Harry was still staring at the situation before his eyes, in a complete loss of words. Dudley acted nothing like Harry expected him to. And somehow, it made Harry even angrier.
“Well, it’s not my favorite,” Harry managed to say, sitting on the couch, next to Dudley. “But you seemed so excited about it that I didn’t see why not to watch it.”
“Aw, that’s very sweet of you, Harry,” Luna said, smiling.
“Sure, sure. But you don’t need to stay here, Potter, since you don’t like the movie, I can keep Luna company,” Dudley say, shooting Harry a very dirty glance.
Harry felt his blood boil - he could not believe that his ass of a cousin was actually hitting on Luna, right in front of him.
“Oh no, but I want Harry to stay,” Luna said, looking at Dudley.
“Take that, you sodding bastard,” Harry said inwardly, giving Dudley a look of disdain. Then aloud he said, “Why don’t you sit here in the middle, Luna?”
“Sure, Harry. Excuse me, Dudley,” she said, and move to sit in the middle of the couch.
Duddley looked very annoyed by Harry’s attitude, and while Luna watched the movie, completely unaware that, the boys were exchanging angry glances.
Many minutes passed and neither Harry nor Dudley were paying attention to anything else except each other. Harry knew Dudley was only doing that to tease him, to make him angry. He would not give in.
“Excuse me, guys, but I need to use the restroom,” Luna said, getting up and heading outside the living room.
Only seconds later, Luna reappeared. “Oh, I forgot. Would you mind telling me where it is?”
Harry smiled and walked her to the bathroom, moving back to the living room as soon as she closed the door.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Harry hissed.
“What does it look like I’m doing, Potter?” Dudley asked, sitting lazily on the couch, with an evil grin.
“It looks like you’re hitting on a friend of mine only to get me mad, and believe me, Dudley, you don’t want to get me mad,” Harry replied, in a dangerously low tone.
“I guess you got that right. But I also happen to find her very hot, if you ask me.”
“You what?”
“What, you don’t?”
“No! I mean, she’s just my friend, you sick bastard!”
“Oh, c’mon, Potter,” Dudley started, getting up from the couch and standing only a few inches from Harry. “I bet you want to shag the crazy girl, otherwise you wouldn’t have brought her here when you were all alone in the house.”
As soon as Harry heard Dudley’s words, he felt angrier at his cousin than he had ever been. On impulse, he grabbed Dudley’s shirt and pushed him against the wall. True, he was a big guy, but Harry felt like he was suddenly possessed by a bigger strength, which made Dudley seem weaker than he actually was.
“If you ever talk about Luna like that again, I swear that I’m going to tear your face apart so badly that even your mother will be afraid of looking at you,” Harry said, calmly, but his expression was full of hate.
Dudley was surprised by his cousin’s unexpected attack, but once the feeling had passed, he jerked Harry’s hands away from him.
“Do you think you can take me, Potter?”
Harry took out his wand and pointed at Duddley, who laughed at him.
“I know you can’t use that shit outside your freaky school, Potter.”
“That’s right, I can’t. But in case you don’t know, I’m not going back there this year. And I was only waiting for the perfect opportunity to use a Bat-Bogey Hex a friend of mine taught me.”
Dudley’s face went white. Harry was pretty sure that what scared him was hearing something related to magic.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me,” Harry said, staring at him. “Unless you want to wake up with your face stuck to your ass, I suggest you to leave the house now.”
“Are you kicking me out of my own house?”
“You can just go up to your bedroom, I don’t mind. As long as you stay away from Luna.”
“What’s going on?” Luna asked, appearing behind Harry.
“Nothing,” he said, putting his wand on his pocket again and turning to face her. “Dudley is not feeling well, so he’s heading to his bedroom,” he turned to face his cousin again, “now.”
Dudley glared at Harry, resuming his actions to mouthing a “you’ll regret this, Potter” and walked away from the room.
“Oh, okay. Hope you get better, Dudley,” Luna said airly, but Dudley ignored her.
“Let’s watch the movie then,” Harry sat on the couch but Luna remained standing. “Is there something wrong, Luna?”
“No, nothing,” she said, sitting by his side. “It’s just... well, I don’t really mind your cousin leaving. He scared me a bit.”
Harry grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”
Luna smiled, watching him.
“What?”
“Harry, I know you were worried about me and my father, but everything’s fine, I promise.”
His grin died at the sudden change of subject. He didn’t know what to say, but he kept his gaze on her.
“Sometimes it’s better to let go, Harry. You can’t protect everyone all the time.”
“But it feels good to know that I can do something. Which I hardly can,” he said, bitterly.
“That isn’t true, you know,” she said, matter-of-factly.
“It isn’t?”
“No. And you seem to have no idea how much you’ve done for me already.”
Harry watched her, somehow agreeing with her words. He did have no idea how much he had done for her. Actually, he didn’t think he had done anything for her.
“If you don’t mind, I’d love to watch the rest of the movie,” Luna said, simply.
“Alright,” Harry said, taking the remote and pressing play.
Luna was once again very focused on the movie, and Harry was, once again, pondering something she had just said. There was nothing, really, there was absolutely nothing he had done for her. Maybe “done for her” she meant his friendship? He knew Luna didn’t have many friends, so maybe she thought it was nice of him to be friends with her. Harry frowned at the thought - he wasn’t doing her any favor. In fact, he felt like he got much more from their friendship than she did. Luna was a good company and he usually felt very comfortable around her. As for him, what did he have to offer?
That’s right, an afternoon watching ‘Power Rangers’.
With a sigh, Harry decided to finally watch the movie. It didn’t last long, since his attention immediately moved back to Luna once he heard a small sob.
“Rangers... I'm afraid you're too late.”
“What!”
“Zordon... he's gone.”
“Luna, are you alright?”
Luna nodded, sighing deeply and staring at the TV. “I’m fine, Harry. I’m just sad about Zordon’s death.”
Harry tried not to smile, but he simply couldn’t. He didn’t remember seeing Luna cry before, and he certainly wasn’t expecting to see that happening during a Power Rangers movie, but it did. And ironically, it was very adorable.
He didn’t really know how to “comfort” her, so he did what seemed to be the most obvious thing. He patted her slightly on the back, and moved closer, letting his hand rest on her shoulder.
“It’s okay, Luna, it’s just a movie,” he said, still trying not to smile.
Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say. Luna looked up at him with a very serious, somewhat offended, expression.
“Just a movie?” She asked, slowly. “What are you suggesting, Harry? That the Rangers don’t really miss him? That his death simply doesn’t matter?”
Harry stared at her, a mixture of shock and disbelief.
“ZORDON!”
“Welcome back, kids.”
“Look, he’s alive!” Harry blurted, feeling oddly relieved.
Luna looked back at the TV and smiled widely, watching the annoying robot jumping up and down.
“He’s alive!” She repeated, focusing on the movie again.
Harry sighed, smiling again. He should have known better how unpredictable Luna can be.
He decided, for his own sake, that the best thing to do was to stay quiet during the movie. If she started to cry again, he would just comfort her silently. Whatever emotions she displayed from now on while watching the movie, Harry would react to, but always, always silently.
The minutes kept passing and the movie was almost over. Harry’s silence was taken happily by Luna, who did not seem keen to be bothered during the exciting final moments.
“Ay, yi, yi! The Rangers are going to be CRUSHED!”
“Don't lose hope yet, Alpha!”
Harry watched a desperate Luna putting her hands over her mouth, while she watched the final battle with undisturbed attention. Her emotions continued to grow as the movie went on, until it was almost over.
“Rangers, by going after the Great Power, all of you knowingly put your lives at extreme risk... and in so doing you not only saved my life, you saved all of Angel Grove and the world from a reign of unthinkable terror.”
“Everybody say cheese.”
“POWER RANGERS!”
“That was such an amazing ending,” Luna said, clapping her hands and smiling at him.
“It isn’t over yet,” Harry said, pointing to the TV.
Luna turned quickly, and with an exclamation, continued to watch the movie.
“Do you know what it's like to be stuck in a BLIZZARD FOR TWO DAYS!”
“...Cold?”
“Are you trying to be funny!”
“Hey, watch the hair!”
Luna started to laugh, and Harry watched her. He never stopped to think how much he liked her laugh - but then again, he had hardly seen her laughing like that.
“I take it that you liked the movie,” Harry said, with a grin.
“Liked? I loved it!” She said, hugging him. “Thank you for inviting me over, Harry.”
Harry was certainly taken aback by her affectionate thanks, but he hugged her back. It felt really nice, actually.
“I had a lovely afternoon, Harry.”
Harry nodded, smiling at her.
“Well, I should get going, Dad is probably wondering where I am by now,” Luna said, standing up.
“You didn’t tell him where you were going?”
“I told him I was going for a walk,” she said, moving towards the door. “He knows that my walks usually take a very long time, but still. He’s feeling much more worried now.”
“I suppose so,” Harry said, serious.
“When are you going back to the Weasleys’ house?”
“In a couple of days, hopefully.”
“I’m pretty sure we’re going back home tomorrow, but I’ll stop by to visit.”
“Yes, that would be great!” Harry said, a little too cheerful.
“Thank you again, Harry. And thank you for watching a movie you hate just because I wanted to watch it,” Luna said, with a hint of a grin.
“No problem. Plus, it’s not such a bad movie after all.”
Luna’s grin grew wider, as she stood on her tip toe and kissed him on the cheek. “See you, Harry.”
He found himself grinning as well and touching the spot she had just kissed. It turned out to be a fun afternoon.
____________________________
Harry was finally back at the Weasleys - it did take a little longer than expected - and all the feelings of anger and boredoom he had at the Dursleys were gone. Ron and Hermione were helping him unpack, so all his things would be completely settled by dinner time.
“Hermione, why do you have to fold them so carefully?” Ron asked, annoyed, when he noticed that Hermione was taking quite a while to put the clothes in the drawer.
“Because I don’t want to make a mess, Ron. You already do it enough.”
“Oh yeah, as if Harry will keep everything organized...”
“More organized than you, I’m sure,” she said, ignoring Ron’s glare and focusing on folding one of Harry’s shirts.
Harry wasn’t helping them anymore. Ron and Hermione seemed so keen to finish the task at hand - either fast or not - by competing with each other, that Harry thought that would be best to stay out. His friends didn’t seem to mind - actually, they didn’t even seem to notice that Harry had stopped helping.
Ron dropped his glare once he realised Hermione would continue to ignore him, and started to take the few things left in Harry’s trunk. The last thing remaining was a rectangular box, wrapped on a piece of clothe. Ron unwrapped it and gave it an odd look.
“Harry, what in the name of Merlin is this?” He asked, showing Harry a video tape.
“Oh, that,” Harry said, unable to contain his grin.
Hermione was now looking at Ron and at the tape in his hand.
“A video tape? There’s no VCR here, Harry,” Hermione said, slightly surprised by the new found item.
“I know, but it brings me good memories.”
Hermione took the tape out of Ron’s hand and gave the same odd look Ron had given, but because she knew what that was.
“'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, The Movie’? Why would you have this tape, Harry?” She asked, frowning in confusion.
Harry’s grin grew wider. “Didn’t I tell you? It’s my favorite movie.”
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A/N: First, thanks to my awesome beta, Abigail. Visies, I hope I’ve done justice to your expectations, my dears (and Steph, thank you for the title ^^"). And for everyone else, I hope you enjoyed the story - it isn’t a very common plot, but oh well. We, Harry/Luna shippers, are anything but ordinary, aren’t we? Reviews are welcome :) ETA: The lovely turtle_goose drew this beautiful H/L art inspired by this story. Can you say adorable? I don't think I could love this piece even more that I already do.
hl_stillness || hl_stillness || hl_stillness
'CAUSE PIMPING IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL.
:)