A/N: Hey, I'm an idiot. I just realized that none of my chapters have any of the section breaks I put into them, and after an hour putting them into every chapter, I found out that the formatting just doesn't accept them. Any advice on how to actually make a section break?
Chapter 14
The number of days until what Harry figured would be the least life threatening task of the tournament, the ball, was quickly approaching single digits. Harry was very worried that Sirius' advice didn't arrive soon enough.
The letter implied he'd be asking a certain Miss Lovegood, and while he felt indignant, everything his dogfather had said gave him a step one to go from if nothing else. That step one was to find a gift to give as he asked, and Harry knew immediately what to get. It was, in fact, the source of his worry about time. Harry had sent yet another letter to the goblins, and with the authorization of something like the annual publishing budget of the Quibbler, paid four of the finest teams of trackers that gold could buy to find him a crumple-horned snorkack. He thought it would be an excellent opener, and he was honestly also curious to see proof of his friend's family theories.
As the time ticked down and Harry's concern ratcheted up, the school at large was imitating his personal life. Couples were formed and broken all across the castle, not the least between the local and foreign student bodies. Beauxbatons' representatives were almost entirely female. Harry had in fact only seen one guy among them, and if the reactions of the ladies were any tell, he seemed to be a French version of Filch. In a similar manner, Harry had a hard time telling how many women were among the ranks of the Durmstrang students. They all wore a truly impressive amount of furs at nearly all times. Harry had noticed a handful of ladies, but they were all the size of Crabbe and Goyle in their furs, and about as shapely with all of their layers. He didn't have anything against that, but it made telling gender from a distance more guess work than anything else.
Nev, Luna, and he had taken to watching as the groups all formed couples and in a few remarkable cases trios. It was like a microcosm for the universe, watching these people circle around each other, and connect, and break up. It felt like another form of magic, they wondered together if there wasn't some kind of knowledge about magical theory to be gained from a prolonged study of this kind of thing.
Nev had asked Hannah a full day before the student body in general was informed (Harry being in good with the professors really was paying off for his friends). He was also enjoying watching Harry and Luna form another one of the awkwardly circling couples. He had watched the two grow closer and closer to each other over the year so far. He had seen this coming since the train and what had to have been the first time in his life Harry had ever initiated a hug with another person.
He knew a small part of what the two of them had faced, his experiences with his own parents and with his family when they believed he was a squib were far from ideal. He was the last scion of a pureblood house though, so he knew his own life couldn't compare. Even if all of his family failed him, he had never know the hardship of being truly alone or of physical need.
He could see the occasional thousand yard stare they both threw, it was harder to identify on Luna's normally distant countenance, but it was still there. He remembered first year still. He remembered the first potions classes, and how Harry would do his level best to suppress it but would still flinch whenever Snape stalked by like he thought he was going to be hit. Neville remembered the time in charms when Harry finished the practical first, and how when Flitwick had gone to clap the kid on the back he poorly concealed a dodge into grabbing a quill from his bag, despite the one on his desk. Neville had never once mentioned it to another soul. He didn't know if he was right, but if he was he refused to say anything that could tip it off to anyone.
Hermione badgering him for his experiences at the Dursley's and Harry refusing point blank to even favor her with a response had not gone unnoticed by the Gryffindors over the years. Most had assumed the stories everyone had heard about the boy-who-lived were true, that he lived in a mansion and was waited on hand and foot. They thought he was embarrassed. The train had changed absolutely everything he knew about Harry.
For all it amused him that the two circled each other like two inexpert swordsmen probing for weaknesses, he genuinely wished they would find each other and in doing so happiness. He saw Harry become more and more powerful this semester. More than that, he saw Harry finally believe in himself like everyone else seemed to. Harry was coming back from his extra lessons with the professors with more ability and confidence than he had ever had before. It was a change like the one on the train. This is a new Harry Potter, Neville wished him nothing but the best.
The ball was on the evening of December 24th, and Harry was as relieved as a guy could be that one of his hunter teams met success, and shortly thereafter him at the edge of the Hogwarts wards with Gringotts representative on the 16th to give him a small and gently snoring wooden crate. He authorized another twenty percent above what was promised with the goblin, and thanked the team profusely, making sure to grab a copy of their notes surrounding the finding. He knew that Luna would love the notes almost more than the rest of the surprise.
The snorkack was a very small critter, the one captured for him was a male and measured 10 by 7 by 7 cm, roughly. It was very furry, the fur itself was thick, smooth, and was an incredible light purple. On its forehead was easily its most recognizable feature, a horn that was hard to describe. All told it was only 3 cm long, but the only way to really approximate it would be as though a horn roughly twice that length was made of wax, and melted onto itself. It was pointed, but warped and folded onto itself as it became wider towards its base. The horn was a vivid purple, sticking out for more than its shape among the hair of the creature.
It had no feet, in fact in that regard it was remarkably like a snail. It moved by a curious mix of caterpillar like motion and simple throwing its body in a direction at roughly the same pace a sloth would normally take. Its bottom was free of fur, but was instead comprised of thick and seemingly pebbled skin. It had small black eyes, and a mouth filled with tiny block like teeth. If Harry was forced to use a single word, the snorkack was adorable.
Harry kept it to himself for the rest of the day, not the least because it got along really well with Freyr. The team had told him it wasn't dangerous. It didn't seem to bite, it had no venom, or spikes, or really anything threatening. It was just adorable, but Harry would be damned before inattention around a new magical species allowed his friend and prospective date to come to harm. The team said that the reason Luna and Xeno had trouble finding it was likely because the entire species exuded some kind of natural notice-me-not field. Baldur, as Harry had named the snorkack, had a collar around his neck (does a creature that has no limbs and consists solely of a single blob really have a neck?) that countered the field. Evidently the only reason they found it was that they had been walking around a fairy mound in Norway with a version of mage sight on, and one of the team had seen some suspicious movement from the corner of her eye.
One risky supersensory charm mixed with the mage sight later, and Bob's your uncle. They had uncovered a whole colony of the adorable little things, and picked the most inquisitive one that seemed to want to leave with them as the sample he requested.
Harry added a notice-me-not on top of the collar, keyed to only himself, then went down to meet her at breakfast on the morning of the 17th. If the back issues of the Quibbler he had ordered had been right, the way she and her father had been trying to lure them out had been with bowls of finely chopped onions. Harry had woken his two furry companions up early, at his normal hour, and gone down to the great hall.
When he took a seat, he called out to Dobby. Harry had made peace with the manic elf over the unwitting bonding to his house, and Dobby had taken over meeting all his needs at Hogwarts with the Lady's consent, of course. Dobby popped down to the kitchen, and then quick as a flash, popped back up with Harry's customary early morning tea and a bowl of the Quibbler's best guess at a snorkack diet. As he set Baldur down on the table next to the bowl, it seemed like Xeno and his daughter had been on to something, as the little guy made his awkward way over to the bowl and began a slow feast.
Harry gave a cheery greeting to Luna when she came down to breakfast, wearing her customary 'dead to the world' look. He happily handed her first through third coffees, and sat with obvious enjoyment as he waited for her brain to kick in. Luna had made it halfway through her bacon, apple, and maple flavored porridge before it did so.
She looked at the table in front of and between herself and Harry. You could see the gears turning and the little men and women in her head shouting at each other and reaching agreements and conclusions as she squinted at the wide bowl that filled most of the space between them. It was filled with finely chopped onions, sweet white, red, and scallion, which were slowly but surely disappearing to some invisible thing.
Her eyes went wide, then moved to Harry's smiling face. This was something not even the humdingers had whispered to her. Harry broke out into light laughter as he passed his wand over the bowl, peeling back his notice-me-not for her only, and revealing to her the sweetest sight she had ever beheld.
She and her father had spent years looking for the snorkack. It was their white whale, and while they weren't planning to go Ahab on the adorable ball of fur in front of her, it did represent vindication of years of chasing and reporting. That wasn't quite what made it sweet to her though, on its vivid orange collar was a bow, and a note. Will I go to the Yule Ball with you, indeed, Luna thought.
"I call him Baldur," Harry said with a smile as he took in her expression at seeing the purple fuzzball, "I paid a group of professional curse breakers and game trackers to find it. They went to the top four most likely places that the Quibbler mentioned, and they found this guy near a fairy mound in Norway. It seems they all have a naturally occurring notice-me-nots on them, which the team I hired speculates is why you and your dad never found them. Also, I have here," Harry removed a small bound volume from his robes, "A full accounting of their notes and all of the steps they took to find one of the many, according to them, small colonies of Crumple-horned Snorkacks."
He passed her the notes, and poked the little purple fellow, indicating Luna when he caught it's at attention. Baldur caught his meaning after a moment, and made his small shuffling and jumping way over to Luna's waiting hands. As he met her fingers, which immediately set to exploring the fur and skin of the animal she had spent years looking for with her father, he emitted a very content cooing. It appeared, this morning, that more than one person found what they had been looking for.
Harry gave her a while. He had an idea of how long she had been after the wee beastie in front of her. The honor of her family had been dragged through the mud on account of a number of creatures like the one now before her. No one from the hall at large had noticed them, even Neville had yet to arrive at the table next to them. Harry had decided to leave the fate of Baldur and his folk to the witch in front of him, written in the contract of the teams he had bought the services of was a proviso that they not speak of what they had been doing, success or failure, to another living soul. What she decided would decide the role of human interaction in the lives of the snorkacks for the foreseeable future.
After a time of joyful poking, tickling, prodding, and general getting to know one another, Baldur was asleep in her lap, and Luna looked up at the wizard sitting across from her with a fond look on his face.
"Yes."
The remaining days passed in a blur of anticipation for the pair. Luna and Harry still circled one another, but they each lost a small portion of the awkwardness that had been cloaking them for the last few weeks. Their hugs lingered longer, and their hand met more often beneath the blue and copper stained table in the great hall.
Harry's lessons with the Scottish transfiguration professor proceeded rapidly. As they began Harry appeared to have a number of left feet, his grace in the air not translating in the slightest to his grace on the dance floor. His quick reflexes that assisted him so in his aim with a wand and in dodging bludgers in previous years worked against him now, his movements were jerking and reactionary.
Minerva almost gave up hope for the boy. Her frustration brought her to within an inch of cursing him, she just couldn't bring together the images of calm and assured boy that earned a mastery in the last month and the fourteen year old in front of her, awkward as he was. Fortunately her nearly cursing him gave her an idea.
Tarantallegra , it was a joke charm usually used by students in the hallways to make one another dance uncontrollably. It was famously used to make 'dance' in 79 AD, destroying the city of Pompeii. It also, when used with the correct focus, could make someone dance a specific step in a specific way. It was used by many court wizards on their liege lords in the days of yore, when they found themselves unable to dance in a foreign style during visits to neighboring realms.
It revolutionized their lessons. Harry couldn't dance to save his life, but with her spelling him (Harry thought it more like cursing) to dance correctly, he gained a significant amount of muscle memory for each dance the hard way, over hours of exhaustive practice. Minerva decided to forgo their transfiguration for the entire lead up to the ball, and only let the young Potter go once he could acceptably tango, foxtrot, quickstep, and waltz, both Viennese and English, with the best of them. It took a lot of willpower, but Harry managed to not think ill of her for her effort.
Luna grew up a pureblood, despite her family and its oddities, and so knew all of the dances that would be called for during the ball. She had owled her daddy to cancel the trip (this year was going to have been Finland and she had always wanted to see a Finnish person, poo), but now she had something much more exciting to owl him about.
She sent the book of notes the tracker had made to him, along with a large number of wizarding pictures of her new friend from almost every angle provided by Colin Creevey. It seemed like the little guy could contract his muscles and produce suction (the humdingers had inspired her to put him against her forehead on the way back from breakfast and she had learned the interesting way), so he spent lot of time on her headboard next to her in bed following her reading and correspondence. Luna kept up Harry's notice-me-not, and Baldur's collar prevented his natural one from keeping her from seeing him. Eventually her parents would be vindicated, it was her mother's theories on magi-cryptozoology that had originally been published by her father and led to the derision of the Lovegood name. One being true would bring them the credit her mother should have gotten.
No one in the wizarding world took them seriously, but the next issue of her father's newspaper would change that, if only slightly.
In her own way, Luna was not surprised by anything that had happened. She knew that Harry believed in her, even if he didn't understand her fully. After the first task, she had made peace with her feelings about the black-haired, green-eyed boy that had come so close to her heart. Her conversations with the humdingers and other creatures she saw gave her a very deep sense of fatalism. She accepted what happened because it was supposed to happen. The humdingers had whispered of it, or the plimpies in the lake had told her. The Nargles whispered at her too, but they didn't speak the truth. She had listened to them in the past and they just led her to trouble. The wrackspurts she saw told her of people who wouldn't or couldn't see things her way. They told her of people who were aggressive, mean, or would simply bring trouble. Sometimes the squid could be counted on for a good word of what would happen, but the whole of it was that she had spent years listening to these whispers, and they were almost never wrong.
This was why she had an idea that morning of things going right. She knew that Harry was coming to feel the same things she did, so she only needed to say yes. She knew all of the other words and feelings. Now she just needed to make sure the ball went well for both of them.
She owled her father, and received in turn a dress belonging to her late mother. It was an expensive one, made of flowing silver thread. It flowed from the V of the neckline down, tumbling over itself in elegant waves. It collected back at the waist, conforming enticingly to the hips, before moving back out in yet deeper waves until it nearly met the floor at her feet. The expense of the dress came mostly from the material (living silver thread was pricey) but also from the charms on it. It would size itself to her when she put it on, and it had a number of charms to ensure she remained decent at all times, but also a few to emphasize her more female attributes and make sure her date would appreciate them. Luna was new to seduction, but it was her suspicion Harry would appreciate her efforts even if they were inexpert at best.
After far too long, the evening of the 24th arrived. It seemed like Ron couldn't find a date, the day before he had found Fleur in the entrance hall and yelled out, "Will you go to the dance with me!?"
He had stood solidly waiting for an answer for less than five seconds before simply running away in what seemed to be fear. She hadn't moved a millimeter from the pose of haughty disdain she had assumed as soon as he had approached her. Harry guessed that she hadn't contained her allure very well, or Ron was weaker than he thought. Both seemed pretty likely.
Harry met with Neville in the entrance hall before the ball. They had spent most of the day together, tossing the occasional snowball and wondering how the evening would go. Neither of their dates were from Gryffindor, and Harry wasn't from there either since the act of censure. Hannah was coming up from the area near the dungeons that the Hufflepuffs called home, and Luna was coming down the stairs from the tower of the Ravens.
The Abbott heiress arrived first, catching a large number of male eyes in her light pink dress. It was slim and understated, but it displayed her generous womanly charms in a way that caught a lot of attention, most of it from Neville. Harry knew Neville was very fond of the girl (he had waaay too many stories about their shenanigans during the idiotic parties he evidently had to attend for this to be a passing thing), so he was happy to see her trying this hard to attract his friend.
His date arrived with very little fanfare, which Harry was fine with. She looked resplendent in her dress, the waves of silver cascading over her slight frame was one of the finest sights harry had ever seen, though Harry was a bit of a sight himself. Wizarding dress robes hadn't strayed very far from muggle fashions from the 1750s. Harry wore a long black justacorps, going down and out slightly to mid-calf level and bearing the house Potter crest on the breast in thread composed of precious metals. His inner waistcoat was the same shade of silver as her dress (the only thing she would say about her dress beforehand was the color and material, Harry's newfound wealth took care of the rest), and it was nearly form fitting, throwing attention to his newly broad and well-muscled chest. Harry's physique had changed significantly since his exposure to the 'Flame of Life', his increased muscle mass made gave him the form of an Olympic swimmer, and the female population was after him for more than being the boy-who-lived now. The waistcoat was paired with a tie the same shade of green as his eyes, and a pair of breeches the same black as the justacorps, clearly displaying his well-turned calves. It all felt way too formal and stuffy for Harry, but he was no less eye-candy than the lady waiting for him.
The pair tried to make their way quietly to the area the champions were gathering, but on their way gathered eyes from across the room all the same. As they arrived, they found the other champions and their interesting date choices. It seemed like Fleur went for the highest rising non-champion star. Roger Davies was the captain of the Ravenclaw quidditch team, and was the sole reason they had been competitive in the last few years. The 'claws usually went too overelaborate in their technical precision and maneuvers, losing out to other's gut and glory approach. Precision is nothing in the face of chaos. Davies' skill went to mitigating that tendency, and made him one of the premier talents being scouted as a coach for major league quidditch. None of that meant he was mentally strong, however, as he seemed to be overwhelmed completely by Fleur's allure.
In an actual surprise, Krum had gone and taken Hermione as his date! Odin only knew what was going through the Bulgarian's head, but there she was with him. Harry had never seen her dressed fancier, but even his years of friendship couldn't make him begin to care. She seemed to be staring at him though.
Cedric had decided to take his girlfriend, Cho Chang, but here instead of amusement and apathy, Harry felt active dislike. He read between the lines of some of the things Luna had said, and he had an idea how bad she and her small gang of other had made life for his little Moon. Harry wasn't having any of it. Chang would come within five feet of Luna only over his dead body.
After about fifteen minutes of some of the most awkward mingling Harry had ever been party to, McGonagall came into the entrance hall and walked up the champions. With a slight wink to her favored student, she said, "Alright everyone, you four and your dates will be leading the rest of the students into the ballroom. I'll open the doors here in just a moment, you four form up in front of the door and we'll get started."
True to her word, she led the eight teenagers to the doors of the great hall, and after shooting a number of silver spark showers from her wand to get the attention of the crowds, she began the ball. At another gesture with her wand, the doors opened and there was a massive collective intake of breath.
The great hall veritably glowed silver and white. The massive beams lining the edges of the great hall were covered in beautiful silver icicles, and the main sections of the roof were temporarily charmed to show a massive and majestic snow storm. The hall was lined with its customary twelve great trees, but each was recessed farther into the sides of the hall to make room for the dozens of smaller circular tables and eventually dance floor. The trees also had huge numbers of living fairies adorning them instead of their usual ornaments, the fairies providing a gentle background buzz to fill the hall with an awkward-silence reducing white noise. Even the floor was charmed with an interesting not-wet, non-sticking snow. It was amazing for atmosphere, and managed to not ruin anyone's clothing, Harry felt the staff had outdone themselves, Fillius especially. Even the massive window that usually capped the hall behind the staff was frosted, and now opened out onto an amazing view of a rose garden that had not been there earlier in the day.
Fleur claimed the honor of first in, followed by Cedric and then Harry. Krum and his apathy brought up the rear.
The Headmasters and ministry representatives were all at the head of the hall in the normal staff table position, the table was expanded to nearly double its normal size, and the champions were evidently meant to be joining them there. It looked like Percy was there too, next to Mr. Crouch. The champions took their seats, and the feast and dance began with some incredibly bad conversation in the group.
Evidently Weasley was code for Weatherby, Krum couldn't pronounce his date's name, and Fleur's date was drooling like it was going out of style. Harry had placed himself between Cedric, her , and Luna. His respect dropped another notch for the tall, dark, and handsome Hufflepuff. Dinner was a mildly strained affair, but was thankfully quickly over.
Shortly after the food ran its course, the youngest eight members of the staff table stood and moved to the dance floor. The floor was formed as the tables shuffled to the edge of the room and formed a stage together (Harry was overwhelmed by the skill of the charm work on display, it was incredible, he wasn't sure he could replicate most of it). Eight men in the most artfully torn robes Harry had ever seen took the stage. Harry briefly reflected on his deep understanding of torn robes granted him by his yearly shenanigans, and the strange guys on stage (why in the name of Odin would they call themselves the Weird Sisters) started up on a nice, slow waltz.
From the other champion's performances, Diggory knew how to dance, and they must have taught it at the other schools from how Krum and Delacour took to the floor. Harry noted all of this in the tiniest back corner of his mind, as he and Luna got unspeakably close to one another, and glided along the dance floor.
The song seemed to last forever, and He was incredibly nervous about having his hands on the beautiful witch with him. He had most of the possible steps buried in his muscles somewhere, so he just let them flow and he guided her across the floor, leading her in the occasional spin that caused her dress to flow beautifully like silver water around and out, catching the light and in his studied opinion only distracting from Luna's beauty. She had done her hair up in an elegant braid capped with a silver end piece that spun behind her as they twirled across the floor, it seemed to shine from within as it caught the blues, whites, and silver of the lights directed on the floor. Her face was done in light makeup, just a hint of blush and eye shadow and a darkening of the edges of her eyes, her lips were a darkened pink. It added color to her normal pale shade and complimented the rest of her tonight.
Here was the old soldier he had met on the train in September, but that soldier was in full dress tonight, and finally acting her age. They both were. Her face was lit up like the castle itself, and despite all of the awkwardness and tension so far in the foolish customs and bad companions at the head table, she looked happier than Harry had ever seen her.
After an age passed, the song wound down, the champions collected back in the center of the floor to take a bow to the crowd and musicians, formally opening the official song and dance portion of the evening. With the bows, though, came thundering applause from the collected students. Harry and Luna both immediately colored, and Harry snick a glance at Minerva. She wiped a tear from her eye, and favored Harry with a nod and gentle golf clap. Evidently he had done his teacher proud. What more could he want?
The Weird sisters struck up a faster tune, and the pair sought out Neville and Hannah before joining back in the simultaneously frenzied and elegant movements of a significant portion of the underage wizarding population of Europe.
The ball began at an early dinner time, 6 pm, and the dancing began at 7 pm sharp. The faculty had generously extended the curfew to 2 am, allowing the students a very nice full night to burn off the stress from the end of the year and the inter-school tensions of the tournament.
Harry and Luna, Neville and Hannah, and Susan and her date Terry Boot had claimed a table at the edge of the great hall. They traded partners amongst themselves during several hours of dancing, and all spent a long time laughing at the circle of drooling and loss of focus that seemed to follow Fleur around. Harry and Neville privately laughed as it seemed as though Krum had the same kind of allure over Ron specifically, though it may be the well made up Hermione he was parading around.
At midnight, Luna took Harry's hand and led him outside to the rose gardens that had been erected around the castle (the Lady had been urging her to leave the hall for some time, and when Hannah gave her and the door a pointed look she decided to go). The gardens were lit by ice sculptures that had been enchanted to glow from within, and the rose bushes formed at shoulder height. It was shadowed enough for a romantic moment, but open enough and well lit enough to stop an intimate one.
She led him to a bench outside, and they took a time to cool off from the dancing. Dumbledore had brought in mulled wine for the event (thoroughly water down), and an evening of dancing had made the pair thirsty, and shortly thereafter a shade tipsy. In truth it was one of the finest times either could remember having. Harry was busy wondering if that reflected on the evening, or his life, and Luna was simply cuddling close to him.
It was a lot like what Harry was rapidly thinking of as another old soldier moment. They both had enough time in the trenches to know that this moment was one to be sipped and savored, not passed through quickly. Their companionable silence continued, and after a period of time they heard another couple approach on the other side of the bushes from them. This wasn't a couple with romantic, or even benign intentions though.
"You coward. Of course I've seen it darkening!" that was a voice both knew, though Harry hadn't had the misfortune to hear it for a while, "Karkaroff, I don't need some betraying dunderhead to tell me what it means. He rises. His power rises. We need not worry for now, behind the walls of Hogwarts we are safe."
"I say, run while ve can. Last var I made mistake of thinking Bulgaria vas far enough. Vas not. This time, I run to Australia, Polynesia perhaps. You join me. There are islands in Polynesia vhere no man vould look on you or I vith second glance. Vatch each other's backs, no?"
Harry met Luna's eyes. Their moment was now officially past. He could feel the hint of regret in her for it having been so short, but now they had to be back to business. Harry out his hands to his lips, and wandlessly cast silencing charms at their feet, and super-sensory charms on them. This felt like something they needed to hear.
Snape spoke again, "Distance is no bar to his power. You should know that. If Bulgaria and the wards of Durmstrang weren't enough, what the hell makes you think Polynesia is? If you run, Karkaroff, you will only die tired, and in more pain than if you had surrendered. If I were you, I would prepare to open the halls of your school to him. Even that may not be enough to stop your death at his hands, but it may quicken it."
It was a small comfort to the two teenagers that Snape's tongue was no less acerbic among death eaters than it was for his students. Sirius had shared Karkaroff's allegiance with Harry, and Harry in turn to Luna, Nev and the Twins.
"Davies! Twenty points from Ravenclaw, and a week's detentions with Mr. Filch! And pull your pants up boy!"
Harry gave an embarrassed and amused look to his date, who passed a similar look back. He had told her what Fleur had tried when the other champions approached him. She had taken to laughing with Harry and Neville at how she used her aura, and how it worked against her more often than not, driving people she needed something from to a drooling mess. They were both guessing something weird, but very like that pattern was happening across the bush from them, both were glad they couldn't see it. They heard the sound of cloth rustling, and then a pair of footsteps breaking away from the pair of professors.
Suddenly the dry but unmistakable voice of Mr. Crouch filtered through the bush, "Now what would two confirmed death eaters be doing, talking alone outside, hmm?"
Harry looked at Luna with a small amount of panic in his eyes, he mouthed to her, "Two? Snape?"
Luna put a finger to her lips, and closed her eyes, listening closer, "Dumbledore says you're changed, Severus, but I don't need to be head of the DMLE anymore to know that there are spots that don't wash out, spots that can't ever be washed off a man. And you, Karkaroff, if anything worse. If there's one thing I hate worse than a death eater that got let off, it's one that betrayed every one of his fellows to do it. Bad enough you're one of those monsters, you don't even have the honor to go to Azkaban with them."
Karkaroff started to protest in his accented English when the Lady of the Castle sent a thread of warning through Harry and his date. They knew enough to listen to her, and both went back to the bench they had occupied, now two rows of bushes over from where they were. As soon as they had begun moving from the area, they heard Percy walk up and begin speaking to his boss. When they got back they resumed their positions, Luna cuddling even further into Harry under his arm. Harry cast a light warming charm, and put his head against hers.
"Does this change anything?" Harry asked quietly.
"No. We knew we couldn't trust Snape. Sirius told you about Karkaroff."
"I... I don't want to go back in, but I don't think we should stay here. Do... do you want to go back to my lab?"
Luna knew where it was, he had shown her himself, but she hadn't been back since the day she had slept with him. He felt a little awkward asking her back, especially since a part of him hoped today would end the same way. He wouldn't, couldn't ask for it. But he could try to make it possible even if he couldn't use the words.
"I'd like that."
Harry's heart rate doubled. He offered his arm, she accepted, and they slowly made their way to his lab, guided by a warm feeling in the halls in front of them. They could sense the Lady approving. Soon enough they arrived at the lab, and Harry conjured a pair of elegant chairs and a well-appointed wooden end table between them. He offered Luna the first one, then sat next to her.
"Dobby?" Harry called out. The excited elf appeared before the teenagers, now wearing a small set of pant and a button up shirt in black, both of which appeared to be composed primarily of pockets. The elf had been very excited to design his own uniform for work under house Potter, Harry figured he now understood why.
"Harry Potter Sir called?"
"How many times do I have to ask," Harry said with a long suffering smile, "for you to just call me Harry?"
Dobby wore a large smile, "One more times, Harry Potter Sir. Can I be getting yous something?"
"Please bring us tea, friend."
Dobby opened a pocket, and pulled out full tea service, still steaming. He set it on the table between them, and popped away again. Luna gave Harry a curious look, and he explained.
"I freed Dobby from the Malfoy's back in second year. They were horribly abusive to him, and I didn't really understand house elves or their bond at the time, I just saw him in trouble and I had to help. I found out recently that he bound himself to house Potter that day, that's why he has been so eager to take care of me all year and why we mostly see him when we call for help from an elf. He kinda claimed dominion over helping me and my friends with the Lady's permission."
Luna started laughing, "It seems like I'm not the first one you helped come from a bad place."
Harry colored and looked away. He just tried to help people! As he looked away Luna leaned over and gave him a light kiss on the cheek, a bare brush of her lips against the skin. Harry turned a Weasley red and couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes.
"Thank you, Harry. For being there for me, for helping Dobby, for just being you and doing all of it without pausing to see if you'll come ahead in the exchange or thinking about repayment. That's what Gryffindor stands for." The Lady sent a warm feeling of agreement.
Harry grabbed for his center, and used it like a lightning rod for his embarrassment, and in a moment could bring himself to look at his date again. She hadn't leaned back from her kiss to his cheek, and when he turned, she repeated her move on his lips.
It was a very chaste kiss, but with emotion on her side, and his stranglehold on his center on his, it lasted an eternity for both of them. Just a whisper, just the barest hint of contact. A hummingbird's wings brushed air with more force, but not with more feeling.
"Wha... what was that for?" Harry asked as they separated an instant after they started.
"For what you did for me. For being my friend, and sharing your friends with me. That was your compensation for being there for me, like Dobby's help and care is his."
Harry was stunned. She didn't have to... kiss him. He would have helped anyone. It felt good though. Not just the kiss. He risked his life, and his friend's lives, to save the stone first year and the only recognition was house points. Second year he was nearly crushed to death by a Molly Weasley hug, and then the same. Third year he had his world turned around, then was sent back to his own personal hell. It was sorta nice to be rewarded.
"But you don't hav-"
"Of course I don't. Of course we don't. It's why we do."
Luna felt the Lady urging her on, and of late even the nargles had been following her lead in this. Luna wanted to listen to them, she wanted to move her relationship with Harry up a notch, but she was filled with just as much fear as he was in this moment. He didn't have a millennia old sentient castle and a dozen varieties of magical creature constantly urging him on though.
"Harry," she reached out and took his hand, "I have an important question for you. I've been feeling closer and closer to you every day since September first, you have been meaning more and more to me every day. It was one of the best days in my life when you asked me to the ball, today has only been better. Will you be my boyfriend?"
Harry had been having the best day of his life until now. It just kept getting better.
"Yes."