Disclaimer: Any characters you recognize from the first 6 books in the Harry Potter series by J K Rowling belong to the aforementioned J K Rowling. I am simply playing with them for my amusement, and to see what kind of reaction I can get.
(13) Luna's Tea Party
Ron suggested they find some drinks and go outside to talk. They found a shady tree and sat down on the grass. Harry and Hermione sat so they could legilimize each other, though that was almost not necessary any more. Ron sat on one side and Neville and Ginny sat together opposite Ron.
They started talking about Dumbledore and the funeral, then Neville wanted to know what Harry was doing with Dumbledore the night he died.
"The answer to that ties in with the prophesy, and that ties in with part of the reason I asked Ginny to collect you, Neville. Hermione and I surmise that Luna's idea is for the six of us to work as a team." Said Harry.
"Before I have to explain things too many times, we could ask Luna to join us or we could go to Luna's early."
At that moment Luna apparated in, and sat beside Ron. "I thought I'd save you the trouble of selecting someone to send for me." She said.
Ron put his arm around Luna's waist and said to her, "I had a feeling you'd come as soon as someone mentioned your name."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other exchanging thoughts about Luna, Divination and what McGonagall had said about her. Neville looked confused and Ginny smiled at Luna. Ron simply smiled as Luna leaned her head on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry Ginny," Luna said, "I could have told you long ago that Harry wouldn't work out for you, but I knew you needed some time with Harry to get him out of your system. On the other hand, you and 'The Boy Who Might Have Been' look good together." Luna winked at Ginny, Neville and Ron looked confused at the reference. "And if these two would join our conversation instead of legilimizing each other …"
Hermione looked at Luna in surprise and Harry said, "We were following the conversation …"
"Luna," said Hermione, "you had a reason for calling us together. Would you care to explain?"
"Ahh, yes, a large part of it has already been accomplished. I thought I was going to have to help you and Harry to find your destiny … the life you'll share. I expected that to be my challenge, but you seem to have found it on your own.
You should find, if you haven't noticed it already, that working together or at least close to each other will improve your magical power as well as your abilities. Most witches and wizards can find someone they can bond with magically or bond with in love. It is very rare to find both bonds in one couple. I suspect, for example, it didn't take you very long to learn enough legilimency to get into each others minds. Because your magic and your love are trying to work together, you will find it more difficult to learn Occlumency with just the two of you.
"That explains a few things." Said Harry. The first few successes at wandless magic were draining while Hermione was far away. Further attempts, with Hermione close by seemed almost effortless. The Legilimency took only a few hours of reading and practice to get the basics. Hermione seemed to start off with the wandless magic quite easily, not that learning something quickly is unusual for her.
"Now that the two of you are a couple", said Luna, "that releases Ron and Ginny to accept another person in their lives. The choices they seem to have made or fallen into fit in with what I saw."
"McGonagall told us … that Professor Trelawney thinks highly of your Divination abilities. Dare we assume that you know about the prophesy that was destroyed in the Death Chamber?" Asked Hermione.
"Yes, I know about it … its intent, though not the exact wording. I can see what is supposed to happen in the near future and that the six of us need to work together for the best outcome. That is my reason for bringing us together." Said Luna.
Neville said, "I thought that prophesy was lost?"
"No Neville, I know the prophesy … I think," said Harry, "that we," indicating Ron and Hermione, "have a decision to make. This conversation is about to tread on information that so far was only shared between Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore and myself, on Dumbledore's recommendation.
If Voldemort finds out what the three of us have planned, he could take measures to make our efforts useless. Therefore, complete and absolute secrecy are essential.
"Does anyone have a problem keeping a secret?" Asked Harry.
"No", said Luna, Ginny and Neville almost simultaneously.
Hermione, do we need a way … a spell or a potion … to guarantee secrecy?" Asked Harry.
"I don't think so Harry", said Hermione, "Unlike the DA where we had a lot of members that we didn't really know, I think we can count on everyone here. Once we explain what we're doing, they'll understand the importance of keeping it secret.
Harry and Hermione both looked at Ron and Harry asked what he thought.
"Harry, you know me." Said Ron. "I'm probably the second worst person in the world to keep a secret, right after Hagrid. I think we'll be okay."
"As for adding three to the team … it's really up to you mate, all three of them have good reasons to be brought into the group. Besides you, Luna was the only one to escape the D.O.M. without a scratch and it appears that she might have 'the sight' to keep us alive and on track."
Neville has as much right as anyone here, besides being as Luna called him 'The Boy Who Might Have Been', he put up as good a fight as most and probably wants to kill Belatrix as much or more than you do.
"Now Ginny … Mom would kill me if I said yes and anything happened to her …"
"Ronald you bloody chicken …", was as far as Ginny got before Luna motioned to silence her.
"As I was about to say, I'd hate to take her on in a fight, and the only one that's had 'HIM' in their head more than Ginny is you." Said Ron.
If you two think we can use the help then they're the best choices.
"The more people that know what we're up to, the greater the chance that Voldemort will find out, but if this helps us do it quicker then it's worth it." Said Hermione.
"Ginny, Luna", Hermione said, "McGonagall has insisted that you two take your normal sixth year classes. That is going to limit your participation to weekends and evenings after your homework is done; is that agreeable?"
Both girls said yes and Harry looked at Hermione again. Ron said, "Would you guys please talk like normal people."
"Actually Ron, you're making assumptions, I was only looking at Hermione, I wasn't in her mind … this time."
"Once you're part of the group, you're going to find out some really bizarre and scary stuff. Does anyone have any objections to expanding our group?"
After waiting over a minute through dead silence, Harry said, "Okay … the 'Trio' is now six."
"Luna, is the invitation for tea still open?" Asked Hermione.
After an affirmative response from Luna, Harry called Fawkes and they all flashed over to the Lovegood home. Luna introduced everyone to her Father, Ginny he knew as she had been over often, Ron he had met many years before at the Burrow and the rest he knew of by name and reputation only. The six then made their way to the kitchen.
Luna and Ginny sent the others outside to a covered patio with table and chairs while they made the tea preparations.
"What do you think of Neville?" Asked Luna.
"What did you mean when you called him 'The Boy Who Might Have Been'?" Asked Ginny.
"If I interpreted my vision correctly, Neville could have been 'The Boy Who Lived' and Harry could have been just another boy." Said Luna.
Ginny starred at Luna in shock for several minutes before asking how she figured this out.
Luna tried to explain her vision to Ginny and finally suggested that Harry would likely explain it better when he explained the prophesy and what he was doing with Dumbledore the night he died."
"You're telling me that all the fantasies, dreams and love I've had for Harry all these years could have been for Neville?"
"It could have been Neville's face", said Luna, "in all those dreams, instead of Harry's. You've got to admit that Neville's got a lot more confidence now, since the D. O. M. adventure we had."
"True enough," replied Ginny, "and he's an energetic dance partner too."
They both giggled while they brought the refreshments outside.
The trio started to bring the newcomers up to speed on the concept of Horcruxes, then briefly went over the prophesy and explaining how Voldemort could have chosen either Harry or Neville to be 'The Boy Who Lived'.
Hermione then explained what Horcruxes were and started on the known Horcruxes with Tom's Diary. Ginny gasped quite noticeably when she realized the implications of the Diary. Neville quickly put a comforting arm around her and they leaned together.
The next was the ring that essentially killed Dumbledore's wand arm, and finally the locket that he and Harry went to collect the night Snape killed him.
Harry described the locket as best he could, but said they could see it in one of the memories he was going to show them as well as Hufflepuff's Cup. Then Harry explained that they needed to find two more soul fragments, one could be hiding in something of Gryffindor's or Ravenclaw's, and the last one was probably Nagini, Voldemort's pet snake.
Ginny, Neville and Luna asked questions and prompted for more information during the explanations. To many of the questions, Harry replied that they would see the memories soon and that prompted a discussion of where and when.
Hermione suggested that she would get in contact with McGonagall and try to arrange to go to Hogwarts on Friday for the day or maybe two. That would give them time to go through some memories and perhaps McGonagall would get them started on Animagus lessons.
They agreed on a time that they could all meet at The Burrow Friday morning and use Fawkes to apparate to Hogwarts.
They talked until nearly suppertime, then all six floo'd over to The Burrow. Mrs Weasley had invited them all to stay for supper. Neville and Luna thanked Molly but made their excuses and left for their homes. Molly then insisted that Harry and Hermione stay for supper. After getting a nod from both Ron and Ginny they accepted.
As usual Molly's cooking was superb and there was more than enough to satisfy everyone. After their meal Harry brought the conversation around to his trip to Diagon Alley and Gringotts. During the conversation he mentioned offhandedly that he had arranged to transfer some gold to their vault. He then asked Molly to take care of wedding presents for Bill and Fleur from himself and Hermione as Molly was certain to know what they would need and any leftovers they could use to help with the wedding. He didn't actually tell Molly or Arthur how much he transferred into their vault and that worked out well as they didn't make a fuss over Harry or try to refuse it. When the Weasleys finally went to their vault and found out how much was in there, Harry suspected that the Goblin that took them to their vault might hear a few choice words in shocked surprise. By the time Arthur and Molly tracked down Harry, he hoped they would have gotten over the shock.
After the conversation died down, Harry and Hermione thanked Molly for supper and made their excuses to leave. Once they were far enough away from the house, Hermione apparated both of them to her bedroom.
"That was pretty smooth Potter, I don't think they'll be expecting more than a few hundred galleons, maybe a thousand." Said Hermione as she turned to face him, "When they find out there's over a hundred thousand, they'll think it's a mistake and try to return it."
"Yes, I expect that too, it's a good thing I asked Ragnok not to allow them to return it. By the time they find me, they'll have calmed down enough to reason with I hope. They were looking deep into each others eyes and sensing their desires. They wrapped their arms around each other as shivers ran through their bodies and they settled for a passionate room renovating snog. They were blissfully unaware of their surroundings for a couple of minutes.
Dan and Emma were standing in the door, they had rushed upstairs thinking there was some kind of battle going on in their daughters bedroom. When they arrived, they found the bedroom door swinging open and shut and books, cosmetics, clothes and other items swirling around the pair as if caught in a hurricane. The desk, dresser and bed were also making their way around the floor, though at a more leisurely pace. The noise from the scraping of furniture legs and crashing of other flying items was almost deafening.
As their snog wound down, all the moving furniture stopped and the flying items slowed and fell to the floor. When they finally broke apart, weak kneed and shaking, they just clung to each other trying to breathe and recover. Harry was facing the bedroom door, with his eyes partly opened and starting to focus. He could make out two shadows in the doorway. He was still recovering from his state of euphoria when light started filling into the shadows and soon he was able to recognize her parents and then their shocked expression. He released Hermione as he whispered, "We're busted … your parents are watching." In her ear.
"Too bad, you're mine … they can't have you." She said in reply.
Moments after that Harry said, "We trashed your bedroom dear."
Hermione groaned and said, "I don't want to know." She didn't even try to look around; she buried her head deeper in Harry's chest and groaned again hugging him tighter.
The Grangers had recovered somewhat and Dan cleared his throat attempting to gain their attention.
Harry concentrated and cleared a path through the wreckage to the door. He wrapped his arm around Hermione's back and the other one behind her knees picking her up. He then carefully made his way to the door. The Grangers moved aside letting them through. The door then closed behind Harry.
"I'll …" Said Harry, then realizing he didn't know where everything was supposed to go, continued, "We'll … clean it up later."
"Do you mind explaining what happened Harry?" Asked Dan.
"I'm not sure I fully understand the phenomenon myself, but I'll try. Come on into my room, I think Hermione wants to lie down for a few minutes." Replied Harry. The Grangers followed him into his bedroom and he carefully put Hermione down on the bed, she promptly curled up into a fetal position facing away from them. Harry took her hand in his.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Emma asked, her voice full of concern.
"Nothing Mum … I'm just terribly embarrassed that you saw that." She said in a soft voice.
"Oh … was that supposed to be embarrassing?" Emma asked Harry.
"Well … if that happened at school, most everyone would know what it means and I'm sure it wouldn't take more than ten minutes for the news to travel around the school." Said Harry, "Then we would be teased about it for the rest of the year."
"I take it that it has to do with the love you feel for each other?" said Emma.
"That and a couple of other factors." Said Harry, "The amount of raw magical power that we each have and the compatibility of our magic. I guess I've been too stubborn or too scared to accept that we should have been together long ago. Our magic for want of a better term is so compatible that we can sense each others feelings, even from a distance, I don't know exactly how far, but several rooms apart. A spell that would be difficult for one of us alone is easy if we're together because we can each draw on the others magical energy."
"That's interesting," Said Dan, "but that doesn't explain what happened in Hermione's room."
"I was just about there." Said Harry. "When we kiss … passionately like we were, then we … forget to consciously try to control our magic, it sort of gets a mind of its own. Because we can sense each others feelings … subconsciously we try to make each other … feel better, to please each other. In doing that, we … forget ourselves and our energy joins, and some of it gets loose and the result is what you saw."
Hermione mumbled something that sounded like agreement and rolled over to face in their direction, but still curled up.
"We agreed not to let it happen in the house for obvious reasons. Today was quite stressful. I had some issues to deal with at the Weasleys and we weren't sure what Luna really wanted out of her invitation to tea. In the end it all worked out well, and when we arrived back here, it was such a relief that we just let go."
Harry turned to Hermione and said, "Alright, you're feeling better now, sit up and face your parents. If they were going to get mad, they would have by now."
"Mhmm," she said as she straightened out on the bed. She pulled him down on top of her and gave him a controlled, but passionate kiss.
Dan eventually cleared his throat moments before they would have had to come up for air anyway. They broke apart and Harry helped her to a sitting position.
"I thought your father and I connected very well, but I am beginning to see that you and Harry are more truly two people that are becoming one."
"You two look like you've had a long day. I'm sure you can shuffle the mess in the other room off to one side for tonight and get some sleep. Tomorrow's a new day. Good night kids, come on Dan, say good night."
"Good night." Said Dan as he followed Emma out and down stairs.
They both dropped backwards onto the mattress with a sigh, intending to rest for a minute. They fell asleep. A while later Dan and Emma came up again, on their way to bed. Harry's bedroom door, still open, they could see the pair lying on the bed as if they never moved.
"We can't leave them like that … can we?" Said Dan.