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Chapter 76: Luna

Monday January 20, 1997



Harry had just finished breakfast in the Great Hall for the first time in seven days, though he had a very shapely Indi female on either side of him feeding him off their plates. The pampering like he was some sort of Sheik had been fun but the stress of maintaining two high maintenance women in bed... or broom closet... or abandoned classroom... or occupied classroom under an invisibility cloak.. for a week had taken its toll. He knew he must have pulled more than a few muscles, on multiple occasions and he had already given Hermione the evil eye when he drank his smoothie. The stamina and virility potions were at levels that couldn't be masked by fruit juice any longer and the least she could have done was include a pain killer.

Parvati pulled him out of his thoughts by placing a finger on his chin and turning his head toward her before giving him a toe curling kiss; which despite his pain still stirred his libido. Her sister repeated the gesture from his other side causing him to groan in both pain and frustration before they both stood, grabbing their book bags and pinning him with loving looks.

"Bye Harry." They said in unison with a wink and a smile before leaving him at the table with the other girls smiling at his pained-confused-gobsmacked look.

Looking at all the faces surrounding him he could only groan again before smacking his head to the table with a satisfying THWACK and rocking it back and forth on the cold wood. "Thank goodness that's over with... " He mumbled.

"For this month anyway." Hermione said with a sly smile. He thought she was taking just a bit too much pleasure from the situation he had signed himself over to.

Another groan and he raised his head to glare at her. He had barely slept between keeping the randy twins-in-heat purring and keeping up with his homework thanks to Mistress Hermione. His only saving grace was that he didn't have to read the material before starting on the papers, and oh man were there papers! It was as if no matter how stressful it seemed before the Hol's they had been in low gear, and now that the second Semester was upon them the Staff was ready to kill them rather than let them have any free time. The only reason he hadn't been fired from the Quidditch team for missing practice was because Katie and Ginny had been happy to run interference for him with Ron.

"I'm not sure I am getting a good deal Hermione, I think the twins broke him." Luna commented a bit too loudly for his liking.

"Maybe I should take a week off then... " Harry said hopefully, only to have his hopes dashed as Luna smiled.

"No, I think I can fix you. Besides it would throw off the timetable."

"Timetable?" He asked noticing the look in her eyes.

"No worry, it all works out now as long as we stick to the timetable."

"What works out?" He asked feeling more and more confused.

"All of it." She said as she tilted her head slightly to the left and raised an eyebrow. Apparently she didn't understand how he couldn't understand.

"Oh, well in that case... "

"Come on Harry, you can walk me to class while you try to remove that Wrackspurt."

Harry stood up and began to follow her out the door before remembering that orgasm was the best way to get rid of Wrackspurts... he groaned again as his much abused manhood twitched.

***SFTP***

He went through his normal routine, running between classes to see and escort as many of the girls as possible during his free periods. For the first month or two it had been hell just keeping up between two and the numbers had more than doubled, he was only thankful that so many of the classes were shared. The hardest part was Ginny and Luna who had Fifth year classes unlike the rest of the girls leading to him going up and down the stairs three times more than normal.

Just about the only good part about it was that he was getting his workout even after missing so much Quidditch practice. He got his first real break toward the end of the day when he picked Luna up from Potions.

"You know Harry, there really is no reason to run yourself ragged all over the castle on our account."

He just looked at her for a moment, "But I would feel like a very bad boyfriend if I didn't try to spend as much time as I could with all of you. Especially when I have so much free time during the days."

She just shook her head as they headed up the stairs, stopping on the third floor to wait for the next flight to swing around to them.

"Part of this silly arrangement by Hermione was that you were to spend time with only your current designated girlfriend for the week. It's very sweet of you to try to work the rest of us in, but honestly you can't be getting anything worthwhile done."

"I get all my assignments done on time and my grades are only slightly worse than Hermione's, I don't see the problem."

She continued up the stairs quietly leaving him to wonder what she was thinking, and then wonder if he really wanted to wonder what she was thinking. As they reached the sixth floor landing he went to turn toward his rooms only to have her look at him from the next set of steps. "Going somewhere?"

"I uh...I thought we were heading for my suite?"

She smiled indulgently at him and continued up the stairs with him quickly following. "If you wanted to go back to Ravenclaw Tower I guess that's fine, I know you don't really want to be intimate now that you have reclaimed your virginity..."

She turned at the top of the stairs with him a stair below so they were the same height and wrapped her arms around his neck before kissing him rather deeply, oblivious to the others trying to make there way up or down the stairs giving them dubious looks.

"There are plenty of things we can do without vaginal penetration Harry, and we aren't headed to Ravenclaw."

She sounded so...clinical in describing the act that it took him a moment to catch the meaning behind her words. By which time he had to hurry to catch up to her in the corridor.

"So where are we headed then?" He asked after catching up to her.

She stopped them at a window and quietly gazed outside rather than answer him. Before long the mass of bodies has cleared out and the bell rang to signal that the last period of the day just started. She then casually began walking again leaving a confused boy to follow in her wake. That is until he realized where they were.

"The Room of Requirements?" He asked feeling stupid.

She paced back and forth until the door appeared and he followed her into a training room that looked much like the one at Grimmauld Place with the exception that their was no wall separating the Master Suite from the rest of the room and there was no Tele.

"When was the last time you actually worked on expanding your repertoire Harry?"

"Uh, well I haven't had any complaints so I just sort of go with what feels good and what gets me the right reactions..."

She rolled her eyes at him and for the first time he realized her eyes were clear and staring into his instead of being dreamy and detached. "We have a week to work on that set of skills love, that wasn't the one I was talking about. When was the last time you worked on your magic?"

"Oh! Well...probably when you asked me to show you my new Patronus..." He trailed off at the look she was giving him. "What?"

"That was months ago Harry, now granted Love may be the power you need to defeat Voldemort, but something tells me he wont just let you walk up to him and hug him to death."

Harry shivered. "I guess I hadn't really thought about it...I've been too busy with..."

"Yes well it won't do any of us girls a bit of good if you die fighting, besides then who will raise little Sirius, James and Lily?"

His eyes went huge as the implication of what she just told him hit and he quickly found himself sitting on the floor. "But...but I'm on a charm and the girls are on potions...which one?"

She smiled and looked calmly back at him, "Ones?" He said as his eyes went even wider. His mind was racing and other possibilities finally caught up to him. "Or did you see that in a vision?"

She sat down beside him and kissed him on the cheek. "No visions this time, it's just that you are going to have at least three children you know and I find it statistically impossible you wouldn't name a few after your closest relatives."

That knocked the wind right out of his sails and he laid back on the carpet to catch his breath. "Don't do that to me!"

"You did that to you by jumping to conclusions, that is something else you need to work on. You are so much smarter than you let on and you sometimes seem to be imitating Ronald rather than actually thinking things through. Things like trying to maintain eight relationships instead of working on your survival. The girls will pair off you know, nobody feels unloved."

"But the plan...the week apiece..."

"Are a horrible idea by Hermione, she is extremely intelligent but she has a tendency to over think things as much as you under think them. You need to stop trying so hard and just be Harry, we can manage to make it from one class to another without you."

"Right, and then one of you gets kidnapped and I..."
"Teleport to wherever we are and save us as soon as you find out. You can't be with us all the time, you just have to trust that you will be there when we need you."

His brain was spinning from all the new ideas Luna was introducing, "Why are you being...coherent, all of a sudden?" He asked gently.

"Don't worry Harry, I'm not offended. I am being coherent because you needed someone to kick you in the backside and it was my week. Besides, its all part of the plan."

That last sentence he definitely recognized as her vision-voice and he took her at her word. "So what should I be doing?"

Luna stood and began walking around the room absentmindedly as she thought before turning back toward him. "What was the last lesson with Dumbledore about?"

"Fiendfyre again, why?"

"And what have you done since that lesson? Did he give you any homework?"

"Well.." He said as he tried to straighten his hair with one hand, "Not exactly anything...but the Twins needed me..."

"So why don't you start small. Can you conjure some bluebell flames to work with?"

She sat down cross legged across from him and he couldn't help himself as he looked down to discover she was going commando that day. Despite himself he was getting turned on just seeing her soft blond hair sitting atop a slightly pink slit. He unconsciously licked his lips.

"Eyes up Harry, I told you already we can work on that later."

He promptly blushed.

For the next half an hour Luna had him conjuring bluebell flames and trying to juggle them with his wand. He found that using both wands made it much easier and soon had them swirling prettily. Luna then suggested he try holding them and juggling them physically.

"Are you nuts?" He asked.

She rolled her eyes again and affected a Hermione-like tone. "What are the properties of Bluebell Flames Harry?"

"Uh...bright blue in color, need no fuel or oxygen...produce heat but do not burn surfaces they come in..contact..with..." He blushed and felt like an idiot as he thought the incantation and produced the flames in the palm of his hand. The warmth felt nice without burning, just sort of a strange tingle that reminded him of the Floo.

With another thought he had another ball of blue flame in his other hand and began tossing them back and forth, once he had that pattern down he added another and then an additional one to make four balls dancing through the air between his hands. Luna looked like a kid at the circus and he couldn't help but smile at her. As his concentration waned the fire began to fade until it winked out and she smacked his knee to remind him to keep his mind on the task.

***SFTP******SFTP***

"Where's Harry?" Susan asked as she dropped her book bag on the couch in Harry's suite, the rest of the girls had already trickled in so they could head down to Dinner together.

"Room of Requirements, working on his magic." Luna said in her dreamy voice.

The other girls looked to the blonde in anticipation as Hermione spoke up first, "What is he working on now? I thought he had already mastered pretty much everything we could think of."

"What we could think of yes but not what he could think of, or Dumbledore could think of. We oughtn't let ourselves think we are the be all end all of protecting and training Harry Potter."

Hermione's jaw dropped as she fought between crying and being offended, the latter was just starting to pick up steam until the former pricked that balloon, Ginny had her arms around the girl before the waterworks could start.

"Hey, no jumping to conclusions, save it until you know what you are reacting to." The redhead whispered. Wiping non-existent tears from her cheeks Hermione turned back to Luna and waited.

"He loves every one of us but he has been concentrating on us instead of on making himself stronger. There is nothing wrong with that except that it's time to stop, I wouldn't begrudge Susan or Hermione their week with him so don't worry about that, I am just going to use my week more...productively."

"But we all agreed!" Hermione interjected, "We weren't getting enough time with him so we needed to make it even before anyone got jealous."

Susan raised her hand as she cleared her throat, "You know it was a great deal for Ginny and Pansy who got him almost right away, but I have to say in practice I would rather share him than wait my turn."

"Yeah, I mean we got to jump the line, and we had our little...situation to take care of, but honestly it was horrible having to wait weeks to be with him." Padma said quietly.

Ginny leaned onto Hermione's shoulder, "And I have to admit it was nice at first having him all to myself, but it sucks waiting another six weeks. You didn't think this one out very well Mione."

Hermione looked around the room and didn't see anyone disagreeing and nodded her head in defeat. "So what is Harry doing now?" She asked in a small voice.

"He is working on his conjuring and control of fire spells. Dumbledore asked him to work on it since one of Tom's favorite terror spells is Fiendfyre."

"Fiendfyre!" Hermione exclaimed. "He isn't up their casting such dangerous magic without supervision is he?" She got up as if she were going to storm out when Ginny and Pansy each touched one of her shoulders at Luna's look.

"Harry is a big boy Hermione, he just got out from under Dumbledore's thumb, he really doesn't need a mother." Pansy said as nicely as she could, she had seen this coming but thought she had a bit longer to work on the girl without confronting her outright.

Ginny nodded along before adding, "And besides, if you wanted to be his Mum then you have some serious issues to work out." Both her tone and her demeanor were playful and the older girl quickly swatted her shoulder.

"Fine, I get it. I am a bit of a control freak but I can't help myself some times. Besides which none of you would be here now if I hadn't been a bit pushy..."

"And we love you for it, its just time to pull back a little and let him grow on his own. Maybe with just a bit of prodding from his harem." Luna said.

Everyone nodded and the tension began to lessen in the room as they got ready to head down to dinner. "So is Harry coming down?" asked Parvati.

"Dobby is bringing his dinner up to him since he was working pretty hard when I left him. Don't worry, when I opened the Room I made sure it would protect him from himself if he lost control of one of those fire spells. Though he was playing with Bluebell Flames when I left."

"I suppose that is a good thing since I think its time to finalize our plans." Hermione said looking over at Pansy who nodded.

"Harry is getting ready in his own way, we have work to do for our part. We finally nailed down the ritual we have been researching, but it requires a lot of synchronized chanting and casting of specific wards. Without Harry to distract us now is a good time to complete our preparations." Pansy added.

Hermione continued, "We should be ready for a dry run in about four weeks."

Luna nodded and smiled at the two girls dreamily, "I know."

***SFTP******SFTP***

Tuesday afternoon found Harry alone in the Room of Requirements as he was off between lunch and dinner and Luna had rewarded him handsomely for his work the day before. He was currently holding a set of wooden juggling balls the room had called up for him. At first he had thought it would be simple to juggle, after all he had kept six balls of blue flame circling nicely the day before. His ease quickly turned to dismay as he realized he wasn't nearly as coordinated physically as his magic had made him seem. Thus he was sitting on the floor trying to think of a way to move on to the Incindio flames instead of Bluebells when he couldn't juggle.

Deciding there was nothing for it he picked one of the balls up and held it in his hand. Then thinking strongly to himself that he did NOT want his own fire to burn him, cast the charm on the ball which ignited quickly and just as quickly he dropped it before his hand began to blister.

"Damn it!" he cried around the fingers he had stuck in his mouth. While he eyed the flaming ball warily.

He watched for a short time as the flames merrily licked at the air and slowly consumed the wooden ball within. Eventually he found himself on the edge of falling into his Occlumency and shook himself back to the waking world. He reached a hand out and slowly pushed his fingertips closer to the flames, all the while concentrating on the magic he could feel. He imagined the heat wrapping around him and passing through him without harming him. He closed his eyes in anticipation of the pain he knew was about to come, and grabbed the ball.

***SFTP******SFTP***

He sat with a bandage on his hand and Luna in his lap in his common room after dinner. The only way to describe his mood was 'Pouting' but lucky for him Luna felt like doting on him.

"Honestly, I thought you said the room would protect him from mistakes." Hermione harrumphed.

Luna let the animosity wash right past her as she kissed the hand she was holding. "I didn't open the room this time."

"Yes, but you should have told him about that protection."

"But then he wouldn't know he wasn't ready to catch a flaming ball of wood yet."

The logic was good, too good. "So you knew he would try to pick up a flaming ball of wood?"

"No."

"So then you made a mistake." The brunette said triumphantly.

"No."

"But you just said..."

"Uh, ladies. I am right here you know."

Luna leaned in and kissed him lightly, "We know, and we're glad to have you." She turned back to Hermione, "He learned his lesson, so I didn't make a mistake. Sometimes things do happen for a reason Hermione."

"But you didn't know that was going to happen, so you made a mistake in leaving him unprotected working with fire spells!"

"Or I left him enough room to learn his own lessons...I suppose I should have seen this coming, but then I might have changed it and he wouldn't have learned. Then someone would have thrown a flaming juggling ball at him and he would think he could catch it and get hurt. See?"

Hermione's eyebrows drew together and she looked like she was on the edge of frustrated tears. Who would throw a flaming juggling ball at..."No..."

Luna patted Hermione on the hand and smiled up at her, "It's okay to admit when you were wrong."

Hermione began changing colors and Harry recognized the pattern, it was the same as Uncle Vernon before he exploded in rage. Though in this case it would be righteous and frustrated instead of ignorant and scared. Luckily Pansy came up and led the girl away to the corner of the room where Susan and Ginny were going over some plan or another that Harry hadn't been filled in on yet.

"You really shouldn't do that to her, she doesn't like arguments that have no logical counter." Harry said quietly while trying to hide a slight smile.

"I know, but its so much fun to watch her get frustrated, she's cute when she's apoplectic.

He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss before sighing as his frustration caught up to him. "I really thought I was ready to move on."

"Then you are, but it won't be as easy as all that. Have you tried reading up on the subject?"

His body tensed beneath her as he tried to control his blush using Occlumency. "Uh..."

She tsked him in disapproval, "Before you learned to do Occlumency, before you learned Apparation, before you learned many of your newest skills didn't you read a book beforehand?"

"Well yeah...but the Bluebell was so easy..."

"Didn't you make Ginny read the Occlumency book before you taught her?"

"Well I tried to, she didn't though."

"And what happened when Dumbledore tested her shields?"

He remembered the headache both girls had gotten, Hermione had been prepared because she had read up on the subject, Ginny had nursed a migraine for the rest of the day.

"Yeah I get it, there's no easy way out." He sighed. "I guess I'll hit the Library tomorrow and try again on Thursday. We have the Black Guard meeting tomorrow afternoon anyway."

"Hmmm, speaking of which we should think of alternate locations for those. In the meantime I have another project for you to work on."

"Okay shoot."

"Shoot what?" She asked in slight confusion.

He had learned, rather than address that question he instantly clarified. "Please explain."

"Oh, okay. I'd like you to work on your new Patronus."

He shrugged and held out his fist before concentrating, opening his hand to reveal the tiny stag which seemed to be stamping and looking around in confusion. Luna smiled and placed her hand over top and instantly her eyes rolled up into her head. She didn't cry out though she looked like she was going bite her tongue off to keep from it.

Eventually she came back down, breathing heavily but smiling at him. "That...was very nice, but I was thinking something a little more subtle."

"Subtle?" He asked innocently. He very much enjoyed her squirming and silent screaming in ecstasy and wasn't sure he wanted to dial it down.

"Try just thinking about your feelings for me, your love, not your lust. Just send me your love."

He looked at her skeptically for a moment before deciding it would hurt nothing to try. He closed his eyes and thought deeply about the way she made him feel, trying to remove the feelings of lust but failing at least in part because the two were somewhat intermingled.

Once he felt the magic form he opened his hand to find Prongs looking around curiously once more. Luna smiled and once again placed her hand over top and closed on the tiny stag. This time she smiled and he saw her biting her lip in response to his attraction but it was nowhere near the reaction of the last attempt. A single tear ran down her cheek before she opened her eyes and kissed him sweetly.

"Thank you Harry, that was beautiful." She said while wiping her cheek and her eyes.

"You're welcome, I guess it's one thing to know a person loves you, and another to feel that love."

"Harry, why didn't you ever use Legilimency on us to know what love felt like? Wouldn't that have saved you a lot of heartache and let you know for sure what you were feeling for us?"

Harry's jaw dropped open, then closed. Then opened again so he could speak...before closing again. "I-"

She simply smiled that dreamy smile up at him and waited for his answer. Absolutely not helping at all.

"I guess it never occurred to me, or if it did I didn't want to invade people's thoughts unless it was a life or death situation. I don't want to be like Snape."

She continued to smile, "Silly, it isn't snooping if you ask. Do you think any of us would have told you no? Do you think Hermione would have told you no?"

He thought about that for awhile with the blond in his lap never pushing him as he held her. "I guess...that would have made things a lot easier... But I don't know if Hermione would have said yes, at least at first."

"Why?" She asked like a seven year old.

"Well for awhile at first she was trying to be with Ron, if I got into her head and found out she had been in love with me all along..."

"Then you, she and Ron could have avoided a whole lot of problems. I agree though that she wouldn't have wanted you in there. Would you like to see how I feel about you?"

Suddenly he went from relaxed and confused, to scared and nervous. "Well I don't know about...I mean why? I know you love me and I love you..."

She placed a hand on each of his cheeks and looked him in the eye. "I know exactly how you feel about me Harry thanks to Prongs, it's only fair that you know how I feel about you."

He tried to pull away gently but she wouldn't let him go, his heart was racing in fear and anticipation and his breath was getting short. He noticed a questioning look on Susan's face and decided there was no way he was ready to do this with the rest of the girls in the room. He leaned in and kissed Luna for a moment, which made the girl smile against his lips. Then pulled back and looked her in the eye.

Then he fell in...

***SFTP******SFTP***

The first thing he noticed was the headache that was forming behind his eyeballs, it was a constant pressure trying to close in on him. He tried to think of what on earth could be happening, but every time he came to a conclusion something changed and left him falling deeper into her consciousness.

He wondered briefly if this was the Occlumency barrier that Luna had erected before that thought too was whisked away, followed by panic at not knowing if he could extract himself from this strange place. Things began swirling around him, glimpses of things. Animals, places, people, answers to test questions that hadn't been written yet. A series of numbers that didn't make any logical sense until he realized they were for a Lottery in the State of North Dakota, in the US. He wanted to make a mental note but suddenly the numbers changed just before they slipped away.

Then the maelstrom began to calm down, he found himself falling gently toward what looked like a zoo of some sort with a little girl sitting on a bench looking at some animal he couldn't name. In the next instant he was sitting beside the girl.

"Do you like my Zoo Harry?" The little girl asked.

"Luna?" He asked as his confusion began to abate and he took in the little blond haired girl. "Is this your Construct?"

The girl shrugged, "I've been keeping my thoughts locked up since I was six or so. This is where I have to retreat when the world gets to be too much, I guess to you it seems like I'm dreamy but you saw what I have to push through in order to be myself."

"That's awful! I had no idea!" He remarked.

She shrugged, "It's really not so bad, you get used to it. But unlike you who has to consciously keep people out; its all I can do to get out there for long periods of time. It isn't that I'm unaware of what is going on outside, its just that doing more than listening requires great concentration. I was rather clumsy when I was younger until I learned to see without seeing."

She got up off the bench and held her hand out to him which he stood and took, allowing her to lead him...wherever they were going. "You mean like a blind person?" He asked.

"In a sense, except I see much more than normal people, not much less. It is more like sleep walking I suppose, or absentminded walking where you get to your destination while thinking and suddenly have no idea how you got there."

"Uh-okay..."

"Here we are." She said stopping in front of a cage.

"Where is here?" He said examining the enclosure. It was earthen and grassy in front like a meadow with some taller grass off to the sides. The back wall was rock and at the base of the wall he could see a few openings that looked like artificial caves. There were a few flashes of motion as something darted from one opening to another, he got a distinct impression of canine but whatever it happened to be was too fast for his eyes to catch. The young looking girl stepped into the enclosure through a gate he hadn't noticed before and he almost called out to her before realizing she wouldn't create anything that could harm her in this place.

She stopped and held out her hand, waiting for the creature to come out. Harry was wondering if maybe it was a Beagle, or something bigger like a Labrador. What appeared nearly caused him to lose his bowels. A snout appeared covered in fur the color of dried blood, an enormous snout full of extremely dangerous looking teeth, each the length of his middle finger. Soon a pair of green evil looking eyes appeared and the rest of the head was about five feet across. On its massive paws were scythe like talons that could eviscerate a living creature at will and the dark red/brown fur continued for the full twenty foot length of the creature.

It fully emerged from the cave, which he had no clue how it had fit in, and stood up to its full height, towering over them and making him feel like he was in first year again facing down Fluffy. "What the hell is that!" He exclaimed, trying desperately not to bolt from the spot because he was fairly certain that would trigger some sort of predator instinct.

"That, is what is known as a Dire Wolf, or a Hell Hound. You remember Fluffy of course..."

"I don't think anyone could forget fluffy. But he had three heads."

"Fluffy is a Cerberus, a three headed dog that is said to guard the gates of Hell; If fluffy has a boss, this is him. Top of the food chain, leader of the pack, number one Alpha for all things Canine related. Everything in this world and the next that as a drop of hound in it answers to this breed. Fiercely loyal, territorial, willing to rip anything that threatens its mates to pieces, eat it, defecate it, then rip the bowel movement apart again. Nobody messes with Pup."

For some reason able to completely ignore the rest of the description he was given, his first reaction was, "You named him Pup?!!!!!?!? And I thought 'Fluffy' was bad!"

"Actually he already had a name when I found him." Luna said with a pout. "I wanted to call him Snooky but he didn't seem to like that much." In response to that name the great dog seemed to shiver with revulsion at the thought.

Still ignoring everything that should actually matter to him at that moment he asked another question. "So why are you showing me Pup?"

The girl smiled up at him and pulled him reluctantly through the gate and into the enclosure. Her excitement was almost palpable as she pulled him toward the massive dog and by the time they reached its side she had somehow grown into her older self. "I would like you to give Pup a hug Harry."

His eyes widened as he gulped audibly, knowing it wouldn't hurt Luna was one thing, whether or not it would hurt an intruder into her mindspace was quite another. Steeling himself and preparing to flee as fast as he could out of her mind he took the few steps toward the wolf, which seemed to be looking at him with...amusement?

He reached out a hand and touched the things muzzle and was met with an instant feeling of recognition, which although familiar was extremely strange. Another deep breath and he wrapped his arms around the massive neck...and smiled. He could feel the memories and feelings flowing off of the creature and into him. It was like he had been stuck in a pouring rainstorm, in the dark, in cold weather; only to be met with rays of warm sunshine and hope and love.

"Wow..."

"I know, isn't it wonderful?" Luna asked quietly.

"I want to say I can't describe it...but I can, I mean its different but I can clearly recognize the way I feel about you...in the way you feel about me. If that makes sense?"

"Who said love makes sense Harry?" She said as she wrapped her arms around him from behind and sent him the rest of her memories of him. All the lust and the love and the memories of orgasms which she never could have given herself. If he had been able to see his body he would have laughed at the sudden face he made followed by what could only be described as passing out, from within a coma; and the sudden dampness in the front of his boxer shorts.

After a moment he recovered though he still felt himself drifting inside her mind, almost like his consciousness was blending with hers a bit. "So what made you choose this creature of all things to represent me?" He asked dreamily.

"Eez it not obvious 'usband?"

"Isn't what obvious?" Harry asked.

"Pup is no a representation of you, zis magnificent creature EEZ you, or part of you. Eet is no wonder I am yours."

"But Veela don't have any canine in them do they?"

"Non, but you are clearly ze most Alpha creature, every Veela will feel ze pull to you once you embrace him."

"She's right Harry, it took me a while to realize it but Pup is you. Deep down inside you are this fiercely loyal, amazing but terrible creature." Luna commented.

"What?!?" Harry sat up suddenly and looked back and forth between the two girls. "This is me?" He turned to look up into the green eyes of the creature who was looking at him humorously again.

"Eventually." Luna said with a smile.

"Eventually?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Oui, eventually Master." Gabrielle said.

Suddenly he realized Gabrielle was standing there talking to Luna, and Luna could apparently hear her. "You can see her?"

Luna looked at him like he was crazy, which was quite disconcerting for obvious reasons. "Of course I can, I hear her too." Luna turned toward the girl and pulled her into a hug. "It is nice to see you again Gabrielle, we have all missed you very much."

Gabrielle smiled as she returned the embrace. "Eet is nice to see you as well, not that I mind observing you through my Masters eyes and emotions and physical exertions..." Her eyes fluttered a bit and she licked her lips, "But it is nice to...how you say...See and be seen?"

Harry just stared stupidly back and forth between the two of them as they carried on conversing. After a few more moments he butted in once more, "So you two can see each other, feel each other?"

"Sometimes he is no very bright, intelligent yes but intentionally dumb perhaps?"

"I have noticed that, I blame Ronald and his upbringing with those horrible people." And suddenly Luna changed topics, "Why do you still have your accent? I would have thought you would lose it being able to pick up Harry's instead from his mind?"

"Oui I deed this, but he did not believe it was me. He says my accent is sexy."

"He is right of course."

"Merci. In any case I am not sure how I am here, but here Harry is and so here I can go."

"Well don't be a stranger, you are welcome here anytime, it gets lonely sitting through classes when I can't really rise to the surface for very long."

"Oh oui! And you should come visit me too, 'Arry has ze most interesting dreams with me." The little witch smiled deviously.

"Hey...but...I....grnph???" Harry reached overload and Luna took pity on him.

"Alright, I suppose you should take him home now before he loses himself in here. I often get lost but I usually find myself without a problem, if you ever see me wandering though please let me know so I can come get me."

"Oui....uh...me too?" Even Gabby had a hard time following that train of thought.

Luna waved and suddenly Harry was back in the maelstrom, with Gabrielle's hand in his.

***SFTP******SFTP***

Only thirty seconds or so had passed in the waking world as Harry found himself staring into Luna's eyes again. He smiled back at her before glancing around the room.

Hermione, Susan, Padma and Pansy were in the corner still working on...whatever it was they were working on at the moment. Parvati and Ginny were alternating between painting their nails and throwing dubious looks at the group of girls; but looking satisfied in general.

So nobody had caught on, which was a relief because he didn't quite understand what had happened himself yet. The dreamy look was back in Luna's eyes but he knew she could see him, and must be wondering a few things herself. For the moment he mentally replayed some of what she had said.

"Why do we need to look for another place to train with the Black Guard?" He asked.

"The room is unavailable." Luna said with a shrug. "Besides, if the rest of the DA see's the advanced group they might feel more hopeful and work harder on Sunday."

"But why would the room be unavailable?"

"I'm not entirely sure, its possible its just a possibility but its entirely plausible that the possibility is completely possible, so you should make sure to keep your options open."

***SFTP******SFTP***

Sure enough Wednesday evening came around and the room would not open for anything. Harry grumbled a bit before heading to McGonagall's office to make sure the Quidditch Pitch was free for them to do training. Once that was confirmed he sent a quick messenger spell to each of the girls asking them to pass on the message and headed outside.

Luckily it was a nice day outside, unseasonably warm enough for a change that if you were getting a workout you could do without a coat. Once he reached the Quidditch Pitch he looked around and thought of what he was going to ask the Room of Requirements to do for him and sighed as he was about to put his advanced Charms and Transfiguration study into practice.

He began by summoning a few rocks from down by the lake and positioning them toward the middle of the pitch. He waved his wand and transfigured them into a low rock wall that went the width of he stadium; tall enough to provide cover but low enough to be easily breached.

He climbed up on the wall and repeated his summons, placing an equal amount of the large stones on either side of the wall and went to work changing them into rubble and tree's which could be used for cover in a firefight. He worked his way back and forth across both sides to set up nearly identical obstacles on the path toward the goal posts.

By this time people had begun to fill in to the stadium, both the Black Guard which were on the field, and most of the DA who wanted to observe the usually closed sessions climbing into the stands. They all stared on in fascination as he worked his magic on the scene.

Oblivious; Harry had reached the end of the field and wanted something a little more close in like the halls of the castle. A few pebbles and rocks weren't going to cut it so he searched his memory of the Hogwarts Ground and remembered a few boulders just inside the forest from his first year. Deciding it would be much easier to transfigure like to like he summoned two large boulders and a couple of dead trees from the spot hoping they were all still where he remembered.

There were gasps as two boulders weighing easily a thousand kilos soared over the stands and Harry directed them to the ends of the field, followed quickly by piles of dead wood. He changed the boulders into two story rock walled buildings which were basically two rooms and a hallway on top and bottom. The floors were made from the wood as well as doors on those rooms and at the entrance.

Huffing from his exertions he looked up from his work at the Black Guard walking onto the field and trying not to stare at him. He heard the excited jabbering in the stands and looked up to find half the school watching, it was all he could do not to blush or turn tail and run away.

"Guess I kinda overdid it huh?" Harry asked the group who laughed a bit nervously. "Nothing for it then, today we are going to take our shield groups and play capture the flag."

Remembering he hadn't created flags yet he conjured a four foot banner on a four foot pole in each hand, forgetting to get his wand back out and surprising everyone with his apparent wandless magic. Mentally he kicked himself but there was nothing to do about it now.

"Cho!" The startled girl stood up straighter and walked toward him.

"Yes Harry?" She asked shyly. They hadn't ever discussed what had happened between them further, nor had either mentioned getting together again. That didn't mean she didn't want him on some level and it was interesting to see her tongue tied in his presence instead of the other way around.

"You will captain your team, I want you to take your squad and two others back to that building and plant your flag in one of the rooms. You can devise your own strategy but I would like to see you using the Quads as much or at least as effectively as possible."

Cho nodded but caught his attention before he could turn around, "Uh Harry, the teams wont be even unless we recruit a couple of DA members for this."

Harry did a quick count and realized he wanted six teams of four people, but that one team would end up short of two people, or two teams short one. Five man groups would ruin the purpose of the exercise so he turned to the stands.

"Oy! Justin! Ernie!" He shouted.

The two Hufflepuffs in question stood up as Ernie called out. "Whats this then?"

"We need two more, congratulations on being promoted for the day, we can talk later about making it permanent."

The two looked at each other and shrugged before hurrying toward the stairs quickly joining the rest of the teams on the field. That taken care of Harry turned to Ron.

"Ron, I want you to take the other two Quads and plant your flag on the other end of the field. I know you've been strategizing since you saw what we were doing, put it to use." Ron nodded in response and turned to confer with Cho over who got which groups..

"You all remember when I taught you that Abara Kadabra charm right?" Nods all around, "Well what I didn't tell you at the time is you can choose the color, I just showed you green and you all started flinging green around. For this exercise the only spell you are allowed to use is that one plus shields, firing any other spells will remove that player from the game as if they were dead. One hit to the head is instant death and the player will be disabled by me with a stunner. Two hits to the torso or three hits to an extremity, same result. I want Ron to think pink while casting and Cho to think blue, for the first round only the attackers are allowed to cast green which simulates a Death Curse and only one per team member, I will be keeping track. Green counts as a head shot as in real life the slightest touch is likely to kill you. Any questions?"

He could feel the excitement coming off the teams and the spectators, he chanced a look up at the stands to find the Heads of House and the Headmaster has joined them as if this had become an all school event. He hoped his guys were up to the challenge. "Right then, 10 minutes to plant the flag and work on strategy then we begin, everyone remember to have fun as well as a good workout."

Ron's group consisted of He, Lavender, Padma and Parvati in Quad-3 with Ron as the Quad leader. The two teams he chose lead by Dean and Katie consisted of Dean, Seamus, Neville and Hannah in Quad-5;, Katie Bell, Astoria, Mandy Brocklehurst, and newcomer Ernie in Quad-6.

Cho was the Quad-1 leader and chose Hermione's and Blaise' Quads mostly by default. No matter how far Ron had come it was apparent he was pulling as many Gryffindors as he could to his side while avoiding Slytherins. Quad-2 consisted of Blaise, Daphne, Susan and newcomer Justin; while Quad-3 rounded out with Hermione, Luna, Pansy and Ginny.

Harry raised his DA Galleon as he called for attention, "The attacking team must begin an attempt to cross the barrier. Either team wins by disabling all opponents or capturing the flag and getting it back to your building, you need both flags to win that way." Ron chose heads, got tails, and Cho decided to defend first.

He turned his attention back up to the stands, "Professors!"

Dumbledore acted as if he had expected this but the others seemed embarrassed at being caught out. "What can we do for you Harry?"

"I might have a tough time catching everyone who should be counted out. Would you mind also keeping an eye out and stunning those who should be termed 'dead' according to the rules?"

It only took a moment for them to conference and nod in agreement. Professor Flitwick stood and began an intricate series of wand movements which soon rendered the walls of the two buildings immaterial to those that were not on the field. There was a smattering of applause which surprised the little professor who blushed as he turned and waved before sitting back down.

Harry nodded his appreciation for thinking of that, "Thank you Professor, alright then everyone to your sides and listen for the cannon shot to begin."

***SFTP******SFTP***

"Alright listen up, Weasley is one hell of a strategist but he is letting his personal bias get in the way of winning. For one thing I have no idea why he didn't pick Quad-4." Cho said looking to Hermione.

"I'm sure it has more to do with Pansy being in my unit, but it is possible there is still bad blood there. We didn't exactly break up on the best terms."

Cho nodded though Hermione could see the the girl wanted to say something else. "Right, well it's his loss. I expect him to show typical Gryffindor bravery and charge us all at once. He may have a trick or two up his sleeve but it seems to me that all we have to do to win is hang back here and pick them off until there are none left. However I'd like to add insult to injury by sending one person to capture their flag if it looks like an all out assault."

"I wouldn't underestimate him, but I suppose that would be alright." Hermione agreed.

"I suggest we send Daph here over the line if we go with that plan, she is the smallest with the exception of Luna or Ginny but something tells me Red would stick out and well..." He gestured to Luna who was staring off into the corner.

"I would think you were better than that!" Hermione exclaimed.

"He has a point Granger." Cho snapped at her.

"Don't you snap at her!" Ginny tried to jump in, luckily Luna interrupted them before they could turn on each other any further.

"No he's right, I would get quite a headache trying to perform that mission and it honestly isn't worth it to win a game. I'm much more useful here in any case helping to pick out strategy and predict the other teams actions."

Silence reigned for a moment before Cho snapped her mouth shut and turned to Daphne. "Sound good to you?" A nod. "Good, I expect we'll start any sec-"

BOOM!!!

"Alright, Quad-4 and Quad-1 we will snipe from the upstairs windows. Blaise you keep your team down here and maybe Daphne should go ahead and head out front to hide, that way if they hit us with a frontal assault she will behind enemy lines and out of their line of site."

"Right" The responses came back and Cho and Hermione took their people up the stairs as Blaise set up on the lower floor.

***SFTP******SFTP***

Harry watched as Ron's three teams made quickly for the center wall. Astoria did not look happy with whatever the plan was but Katie was her Quad Leader and she knew how to take orders. The three groups paused and Harry recognized Quidditch hand signs as Quads 5 and 6 headed in opposite directions along the wall. Ron held up a hand as they reached their positions and counted down from five before they all hopped over the wall.

They dodged between barriers and trees maintaining their formation and ready to snap shields into place if needed but no spells came their direction until they reached the halfway mark. At which point three blue spells converged on Neville before he could bring a shield up and Harry quickly sent a stunner his way to knock him out of the game. He heard Ron swear.

"Keep your heads down and wands out, from here on in I expect a lot of incoming fire. Looks like they are holing up in their rather than fighting us out here." Padma and Parvati each snapped a shield into place just in time to stop four incoming blue spells.

"Maybe you shouldn't scream your head off and make an easy target Won Won?" Lavender half asked half ordered.

"Uh...right." He answered in chagrin. "Lets keep moving, no reason to be stationary targets."

As they got close enough to see the windows and the figures inside Katie's team split in two and began drawing fire from the opposite side of the field from a creeping Dean, Seamus and Hannah. Harry watched as the spell fire was all directed at the apparently two Quads; meanwhile Quad-5 was able to make its way up to the side of the building which had no windows where they appeared to be waiting for some signal. Inside the building Harry nearly missed the mass of spell fire followed through the window by three stunners from the Professors. He caught Ron's smile as the other team began to panic and each member of his Quad took careful aim before firing a green spell through the window.

Quad-1 had been taken out completely and only Hermione and Pansy remained in the upper story windows. Ron apparently gave the signal and Seamus darted across the doorway to the opposite side, barely managing to avoid three shots in the chest but getting stung in his non-wand arm which now hung uselessly by his side. He and Dean counted to three before sticking wands through the door and firing a barrage of pink spells and diving out of the way as blue came pouring back out of the doorway. Hannah had positioned herself at an angle where she could make out one of the rooms inside and was able to pick off that two man team with head shots which Harry quickly followed with stunners. However her luck didn't hold out as she was pegged in the head by Hermione and taken out of the game. Lavender and Parvati were taken out by a gleefully sneering Pansy as Ron and Padma dove for cover. It seemed that less numbers upstairs was actually better for sniping through the small windows.

Seeing that the assault teams were down to two apiece Katie rallied her Quad and charged, each member firing green either through the upstairs windows or into the doorway before all four of them were taken down by Pansy. Unfortunately Hermione had been hit and stunned in the attack. It was now just Pansy upstairs and Blaise downstairs left to defend the flag...wait that wasn't right, where was Daphne?

He directed his attention to the other end of the field just in time to see Daphne emerge from the door way of Ron's building and disappear into some trees. Harry smiled at the bold move, and wondered at his earlier faith in Ron's strategic thinking. The rules said they had to attack, it never said they couldn't leave anyone behind to protect their own flag, nor that they shouldn't watch for agents of the other team.

Turning back quickly he caught the firefight that took Ron out and the advance of Quad-6 whom were shielding the way they were supposed to and it showed. They were the only team still intact up til the moment Parvati went down to a head-shot from Blaise. Katie had just given the order to advance when three of her team were hit and stunned, she turned around in surprise to find Daphne running toward the door of her teams building with the flag in hand. Before she could make the wand movement Blaise caught her from behind, taking out the last of Ron's team.

Massive cheering went up from the stands on both sides of the field as Daphne waved like a princess and walked up to Blaise who had retrieved the other flag and promptly snogged him silly to the hooting and cat calls of the assembled fans before turning and both waving like Slytherin Royalty.

Harry began reviving Ron's team beginning with the captain himself. "Bloody hell, what happened?" The redhead asked groggily.

"You were taken out AND your flag was stolen, if I were awarding points I'd call that a 2 point match." Harry said as he helped Ron up off the ground. He then continued on reviving the others with the assistance of Daphne and Blaise.

Professor Dumbledore stood and looked up at the wavering light in the sky and placed his wand to his throat, "Unfortunately it appears that we have run out of daylight, but I would like to award the members of both teams five points each for one of the finest games I have ever witnessed on this field. I would also like to award Harry Potter ten points for the impressive bit of summoning and transfiguration which created the playing field you see before you. If there is sufficient interest I should think that we can set up an inter-house competition for this...eh..." He gestured to Harry.

"Capture the Flag sir." Harry called out.

"Quite Right, please work up a petition within your house and submit to your Heads. For the moment we will leave the field set up as is as I suspect Mr. Weasley will want a chance to even the score tomorrow evening. If there is sufficient interest we will look to a more permanent solution as I am sure the Quidditch teams are slightly horrified by what has been done to the field below. Mr. Potter would you please join me in my office for tea at eight?"

Harry was suddenly nervous but nodded in acquiescence.

***SFTP******SFTP***

"Ah welcome Harry, you are doing well I trust?"

Harry nodded as he sat down, "Quite, thank you sir."

"Lemon Drop?" The old man offered. Harry shrugged and took one which he popped into his mouth, enjoying the flash of joy in the Headmaster's eyes at being taken up on his offer.

Dumbledore too took a lemon drop and sucked on it for a moment before looking up at Harry, who was waiting expectantly. "I expect you are wondering why I asked you up here this evening, rather than wait until Sunday?" Harry nodded. "First of all let me congratulate you again for that wonderful game. You should be proud of the tactics and lessons you have bestowed upon your peers."

"Thank you sir." Harry was waiting for a shoe to drop somewhere.

"May I inquire as to the sudden change of venue? I was under the impression that your advanced group normally met in the Come and Go Room?"

"For some reason the room was unavailable this evening, I made sure to clear the use of the Quidditch Pitch with Professor McGonagall."

Dumbledore waved off his concern, "That is not the issue, I simply wished to inform you that Draco Malfoy returned to Hogwarts this morning though he was not present in any of his classes nor at meals. Professor Slughorn indicated that he has not been seen in the Slytherin common room either."

Harry quickly pulled the Marauder's Map from his pocket and began flipping through it. "I can't seem to find him sir..."

"I would expect you would not, as the area of Hogwarts he is in is likely unplottable."

Harry suddenly felt a bit stupid, "The Room of Requirements again. Sir do you have any idea what he is doing in there? Surely it cannot be anything good!"

"I am aware he has plans of some sort, though Professor Snape was keeping me apprised early on." He leveled a look at Harry that would have made most first years soil themselves.

Harry stood up as his rage surfaced, "And yet you continue to let him wander the castle? You let him into the only part of this castle you cannot monitor with your spies!"

"I am quite aware of what I have done and where my spies as you call it cannot report to me. I just thought you might like to know why you could not access that room. I understand Professor Tonks has already begun taking up position outside again though he has not been seen to emerge yet which leads me to believe he is using the room to its full potential. Food can be brought up from the kitchens and he could request the proper lodging and facilities."

"So you are just going to let him hatch his evil plot under your nose?" The teen asked in indignation.

"Well, for now why don't you show me what you have been working on in regard to controlling the fire element?"

Harry knew it would do no good to press the old man after such a change of subject. Glaring daggers, he drew his wand and conjured a juggling ball before igniting it in the palm of his hand. He closed his eyes and rolled the ball back and forth, up and over his fingertips to the back of his hand and forward again to his palm before rolling it across his shoulders and down to his other hand. He then opened his eyes and conjured another similar sized ball and ignited it before sitting down and idly rotating them in the palm of his hand like Chinese medicine balls. He looked up expectantly at the Headmaster.

"That is really rather remarkable Harry, quite further advanced than I expected you to be at this point."

He shrugged, "I had someone point out my stupidity and read a book on the subject, makes a world of difference when you understand what you are doing rather than figuring it out by trial and error."

Dumbledore nodded, "Indeed, though I must say I have never seen flaming balls manipulated quite like that. I dare say you may be developing an affinity for fire spells."

Harry lost his concentration and burned his fingers as he dropped the balls on the ground. "Ow!" Dumbledore calmly extinguised the flames before they could do any damage.

"An affinity? You mean like Tom?" Harry asked, worried he was sharing something else with bastard.

"Possibly but I doubt it, I was just impressed. I would like to teach you another spell that is closely related to fire control, and to the Fiendfyre spell we are working up to."

Harry waited expectantly rather than ask. "The spell I wish to teach you is the Flame Whip."

"Flame Whip?"

"Indeed," The wizened old man took his wand from his robes and cast a jet of flame a foot long before waving his wand and causing the fire to arch and snap just like a bull whip. "It is a most useful spell though considered borderline dark by the Ministry as it is closely related to Fiendfyre. Contact with these flames causes instant burns, wrapping something or someone in the flames can cause massive injury so I expect you be very careful where and around whom you practice this."

Harry stared on in fascination, "Of course sir... but what use will I have for this? I do not enjoy killing or maiming and I don't really remember the last few Death Eaters."

"All the better Harry, to take a life is quite a burden which I am sorry you have been forced to do now on more than one occasion. I was not even able to bring myself to murder Grindelwald."

"But he killed so many people, was responsible for so much pain!"

The old man looked grave, "Yes, but Gellert was once a close friend of mine. In the end I imprisoned him in Nurmengard, the very prison he built to house his opponents. Luckily the protections he placed were so strong that not even he can break them."

The teen could tell this was a touchy subject so withheld further comment, instead waiting for the elder to find his way back to the subject.

"In any event, the Flame Whip is especially useful against the undead, fire is one of the only things that will stop an Inferi permanently."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "And you expect that I will be going up against Inferi in the future?"

Dumbledore nodded, "In the past war Voldemort padded his ranks with the victims of his crimes, you must remember when facing Inferi that they are soulless husks animated by dark magic. They are no longer people, even if they look like someone you once knew."

The young man shivered, "I suppose that would make it easier to think of them as targets like I use in the Room of Requirements."

The old mans face brightened, "Indeed, I think that is an excellent way to think of Inferi. Simply as training dummies."





A/N: HOLY FREAKIN COW! I had to drag every last word, sentence, paragraph and period out of my muses claws this time. I am so sorry its been forever, but I think I was imposing a time limit on myself that killed my muse.

See, if I had been able to finish this story by the 29th of January it would have been exactly one year to the day since I posted chapter 1. The pressure was apparently too much and I got nothing done. Plus, Luna is notoriously hard to write at times, and this became a huge setup chapter rather than having much substance between she and Harry. Though it must be very nice for Harry to get a week of recuperation after keeping up with Twin-In-Heat for a week.

So...probably three chapters left to go plus an epilogue. I don't know, normally I stay three ahead but this took so long I had to post it the minute I read through it once for errors. If you find errors kindly keep them to your...no just kidding. Feel free to let me know so I can fix it, either in a review or on my yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gml_fanfic