FicWad

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay, had a bit of writer's block. Mostly fluff this chapter, but the plot picks up a bit next time, and I've already written some of it, hooray!

-oOoOoOo-

"Are you ready yet?"

"Almost. I'm getting a few things together. It'll be just a few minutes," Pansy answered from the other room.

Harry sat on the couch and rolled his eyes. This might be the one thing that bothered him the most about her- when she took forever to get ready to go somewhere. It was one thing when she was stressed about the funeral, but they were just going to visit a couple of friends today. Why would she need to impress Luna or Hermione? She didn't even like Hermione most of the time.

The Dursleys had pretty damn well beaten punctuality into him. That was one of the things that made him enjoy the last year at Hogwarts so much; he no longer had to worry about them ever again, and he could be a lot lazier about making it to the Great Hall for breakfast due to Dobby. He was going to have to do something nice for the elf soon. Dobby had certainly earned it.

"Okay Harry, let's go."

She strode into the room dressed in jeans and her Depeche Mode t-shirt. Harry had to smile a bit every time he saw her wearing something so thoroughly muggle. For someone who had a rather sheltered childhood as a pureblood, Pansy had largely taken to the regular world with ease. It made him shake his head a bit more to think of talking to Mr. Weasley two summers ago. Despite his enthusiasm, Ron's dad really didn't understand the non-magical world at all.

"I'm surprised you're not wearing a skirt for once."

"Well, the weather is nice enough for pants, and I didn't want to tease you too much since we'll be busy all day. We're away from school and I don't trust you to keep your hormones that under control, which could be a problem in front of Granger."

"Not Luna though?"

"No, I rather like the thought of corrupting sweet, innocent little Luna. She did say she wasn't interested in sex yet, but that was four months ago."

"Well, corrupt her later when we won't be corrupting Hermione too."

"I thought you wanted to corrupt Granger as well."

"I do, just not in that way. I'm interested in keeping her from getting an ulcer, which means making her less stressed. And I'm pretty sure that flaunting our sex life in front of her would be a huge shock."

"You're going to make me very unhappy if you don't let me play with her at least a bit."

"I'm pretty sure just seeing you dressed like that will be a big surprise for her."

"Fine," Pansy agreed. "Now, weren't you in a big hurry a few minutes ago?"

"Right. Dobby, if you would?"

-oOoOoOo-

With a crack, they appeared on an almost flat, grassy meadow. In front of them was...

"It's a chess piece." Harry's disbelieving eyes turned to Pansy, who merely shrugged.

"They do call their home the Rookery. I guess I'm just glad it doesn't look like a slum."

"Oh. I was kind of thinking of like it meant they had a lot of bird nests."

"Not whatever those plants are around the house then?"

"You don't know what those are either? I figured they were something that only grows in the magical world."

"Probably true, Harry, but even for the magical world, our girl Luna is pretty unusual."

"That she is," Harry chuckled. "You know, I try not to expect anything normal where she's concerned. But then, seeing her house still just...

"I guess we'll never be bored around Luna."

"That is definitely true," Pansy giggled. "Alright, I admit it. I like Luna too, and you're probably right that we need someone like her to keep us from getting too serious and cranky."

"Can you imagine a cranky Luna?" Harry asked.

"I've seen cranky Luna."

"Really?"

"You don't remember when Weasley stole the last piece of plum cake from her?"

"Oh yeah," Harry laughed.

They were quickly approaching the building- Pansy refused to think of it as a house, as even by magical standards it was an oddity. The door opened before they could knock, and the wide-eyed face of Luna Lovegood smiled at them.

"Welcome to my home," she said before turning over her shoulder. "Daddy, Harry and Pansy are here.

"Come on, I want to show you something." Luna grabbed Harry by the arm and led him towards the stairs going up.

"You'll have to excuse my daughter," a voice said from off to her left. In the sitting room, Pansy saw who could only be Mr. Lovegood. He made Luna look normal. Pansy had to stifle her response to the man's robes. Whoever decided orange, burgundy, chartreuse, and aquamarine could all be a part of the same outfit must have been blind.

She would have said insane, but she was coming around to Harry's point of view that most wizards were a bit mad.

"Luna has been very excited to have friends come to visit. Almost as excited as I am for our trip to Nepal later this month. You must be Pansy."

"Yes, Mr. Lovegood, a pleasure."

"I would have been surprised if you had been Harry. You don't look like a Harry. Neither did that boy, though. More of a Horatio, I think. Oh, and do call me Xenophilius. I don't like the word mister. It makes me think of miser, which is a terrible thing, and that makes me think of the Kaiser, who was also terrible. Did you know my grandfather died fighting against that ruffian?"

"No, I didn't, mister- I mean, Xenophilius."

"That's quite alright, my dear. Now, what can you tell me of this Harry boy? All I really know about him is what Luna's written me and what's been in the papers. And you know what they say, never trust what's written by the press."

"Aren't you part of the press?"

"Exactly. That's how you know that I know what I'm talking about. I would never expect one of my readers to blindly believe what I print."

"I think I like that policy, sir," she nodded. Pansy realized she probably didn't need to be overly formal and polite, but she figured better safe than sorry, Besides, she'd had manners drilled into her for most of her life, and that minor bit of normality might help keep her sane when dealing with people like the Lovegoods.

"Well, what would you like to know about Harry?"

"He quickly became a large part of her letters home this spring. I was wondering how they met, for starters. Also, whether or not I should run up the stairs to protect my daughter's virtue from a teenage boy."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Pansy snorted. "Harry is very protective of Luna; he's kind of adopted her like a little sister. They met when he found her after she was being bullied by some girls at school; they were stealing her things, hexing her, and whatnot. Harry absolutely detests bullies. He stood up for her and has taken her under his wing ever since. I would be very surprised if anyone was stupid enough to try doing something like that again to Luna."

"Well that's good. I can't be too surprised that people wouldn't understand my little girl- most people seem to think I'm rather strange after all, and you know what they say. The apricot doesn't fall too far from the pear tree."

Pansy blinked and held in a snort.

"So, what all are you planning to do on this excursion into the muggle world?"

"I'm not sure yet, Xenophilius. I suppose it depends in part on what Granger wants to do. It is her neighborhood, so she'll know better what our options are."

"Have you spent much time in the muggle world?"

"A fair amount over the last year. Harry still has to explain things to me occasionally, but for the most part, it isn't that hard to adapt."

"That's good. I hope Luna enjoys herself." He paused as they heard a rather loud thump come from upstairs. "You might want to check on them."

"I'll do that," Pansy agreed as she made her way to the stairs.

Luna's room was on the top floor. The door was open, and inside the circular room, she saw Harry sprawled out on the floor while Luna laughed.

"Did I miss something?"

"I was just showing Harry my newest painting," Luna said, pointing to a section of her wall.

Luna apparently had quite the talent for art. It wasn't as realistic as the portraits at Hogwarts, but the figures were all clear enough. A smiling Luna flying atop a hippogriff with Hagrid cheering and waving below. And off to the side, under a shady tree, she and Harry standing hand in hand.

And the painting moved, which is probably what had startled Harry.

Especially since the painted version of her and Harry would surreptitiously look around before starting to snog.

It was a fitting representation, actually.

"Very nice, Luna."

"Thanks. It seemed to surprise Harry though."

"I wasn't expecting the shriek from Buckbeak." And then, said painted hippogriff let out just such a cry. Which was very loud. Pansy flinched back in alarm, but at least she didn't topple over.

"See?"

Pansy nodded as Harry climbed back to his feet.

"It's very impressive, Luna, but we should probably be going soon. Are you ready?"

"Just let me get my bag," she answered.

Luna's bag was made of bright yellow canvas and she proceed to stick her head inside it.

"Yep, it looks like I packed everything."

Harry looked over at her and Pansy didn't even bother to roll her eyes. Who knows what all she might have packed? It was only going to be for a day or so. Pansy wasn't going to sweat worrying over it.

"Then I guess we should tell your father goodbye and be on our way."

-oOoOoOo-

A few minutes later, the trio stood in front of a two story home in a very nice neighborhood. They had all squeezed together under Harry's invisibility cloak with Dobby so as not to just randomly appear out of thin air in a muggle area but quickly found a spot hidden from any prying eyes.

"Oh, I like that. I didn't know muggles had such a pleasant way to announce guests had arrived."

Harry was puzzled only for a second before Luna pushed the door bell again. It was a simple but lyrical little tone he realized. Which meant that Luna then pressed it three more times before Hermione opened the door looking rather annoyed.

"Hello, Hermione. I was just admiring your musical guest announcer."

"It's just a door bell, Luna, and usually people only ring it once."

Harry couldn't contain his snort. It was going to be one of those days.

"You all look nice."

"Thanks, Hermione. I wasn't sure if I would blend in with the muggles or not," Luna replied. Her sundress was a light blue with an asymmetrical pattern of silver stars and moons across it. Pretty subdued compared to what Harry had guessed she might wear.

"I think you'll be fine, Luna, and Pansy, you look...

"Wow, I'm actually kind of shocked. You definitely could just be a regular teenager. I would never think you were a pureblood based off that outfit. I guess Harry has been helping you on things like that?"

"Not very much, really," he answered. "Pansy's just a natural at looking good."

"I am quite good looking, aren't I?" She gave him a saucy wink before turning back to the girls.

"Come inside and I'll show you around." They all followed after Hermione. The entry hallway opened up to a large living room off to the left with a kitchen and dining area to the right and stairs leading up. The backyard was rather large, well maintained, and had a swimming pool- which immediately brought to Harry's mind images of Pansy in a bikini.

He dropped back behind the girls so he could adjust and hide his erection. Sometimes his hormones could be a bit troublesome.

Hermione led them upstairs, which was where all the bedrooms were.

"You'll have this one, Harry," she said, pointing to the guest room next door to her parents. They then went to the other side of the stairway, to Hermione's bedroom as well as a second guest bedroom.

"Pansy and Luna, you'll have to share in here."

"Okay."

"Sorry, Harry, but my parents insisted that you be over there by them. I don't think they want the temptation that you might try to get up to something with three teenage girls all under the same roof."

"That's fine, but they do know that we all have a lot less supervision when we're away at school, right?"

"I think they're in denial about that. When we're at Hogwarts, we're out of sight and out of mind, you know?"

"I guess I shouldn't tell them too much about what goes on there."

"Definitely not."

"What all are you hiding from your parents, Hermione?" Pansy asked, forcing herself to not call her Granger. It wouldn't be worth the aggravation of keeping her at a distance today, plus she knew it would make Harry a bit happier.

"Pretty much anything having to do with death."

"So, we shouldn't mention the Malfoys or Snape, then," Harry said with a nod. "I'm sure we had more than enough other interesting things happen to talk about."

"Alright, what does everyone want to do today?" Hermione asked.

"Well, it's your home town, so you probably know what all there is to do around here. But it is almost lunch time, so maybe we should start by going somewhere to eat," Harry suggested.

"That sounds good to me," Luna said. Harry wasn't surprised by that- Luna's metabolism was almost as impressive as Ron's. Maybe it was a magical thing?

Thankfully, her table manners were much better.

"I hope none of you mind walking," Hermione replied. "There are a few places we could eat fairly close by, but they are all at least a few blocks away."

"It's a nice day, so I wouldn't mind building up my appetite," Harry said as they all headed for the front door and started their trip.

"Maybe afterwards we could go see a movie," Hermione suggested as she locked the door behind them.

"That sounds fun," Pansy agreed.

"What's a movie?"

"One of the better muggle inventions. You'll love it, Luna," Pansy answered.

"I take it that Harry has taken you to see one before?" Hermione asked.

"Last Christmas."

"What did you see?"

"True Romance."

"I don't remember that one off the top of my head."

"It was a sort of black comedy," Harry interjected. "Lots of violence, swearing, and sex."

"I loved it," Pansy added with a smile.

"How did you get in? That sounds like it would have been rated at least 15 or 18."

"Hermione, aren't we all teenagers? Aren't fake IDs a requisite part of the teenage experience?"

"I imagine Harry also learned a glamour spell or two," Luna suggested.

"I may have," he said with a smirk.

"You just have to get in trouble even when you're not in school, don't you Harry?" Hermione was clearly frustrated, but Harry found it hard not to chuckle in response.

"If we didn't get caught, then we didn't get in trouble.

"Hermione, you're my best friend, but I think you really need to learn to relax. The world isn't going to end because some teenagers sneak in to a movie they aren't old enough to see. That only happens thousands of times every day somewhere in the world."

"Alright, but we can't all do that today, and besides, I would rather not have to lie to my parents about whatever we might see."

"Spoil sport," Pansy snorted.

"We should have plenty of time so I imagine we'll be able to find something we can all agree on. I haven't really even checked to see what all is coming out this summer." Harry had a feeling that the girls would be choosing the movie in the end.

"So, what have you been up to so far this summer, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"We went to France for my mother's funeral," Pansy answered.

"Oh, I'm sorry-"

"It's alright. Harry was kind enough to take care of me. And afterwards we spent almost two weeks there on vacation. It was a nice break, and very relaxing after all the stress of the last year."

"I cannot recommend the French Riviera highly enough," Harry added. "Especially since we spent most of that time on the beach."

"You don't look too tan," Hermione said as she looked them both over.

"Harry was rather paranoid about us getting sunburns. So he bought a lot of sun screen."

"Lots and lots of sunscreen," Harry sighed contentedly.

Hermione watched him a bit closer, noticing the small smile on his face. Harry had let his guard down, and Pansy saw the brunette's curiosity being peaked.

"Anything else interesting?"

"Not too much," he answered. "Taking Pansy to the record store over and over again."

"As if you weren't buying just as many albums as I have been," she replied with a snort.

"True, but you're usually the one who instigates it. I'm just the poor sap along for the ride."

"You just keep telling yourself whatever helps you sleep at night, but we both know the truth," Pansy teased.

Harry snickered briefly, thinking of just what actually helped him sleep at night. He was glad he didn't feel a blush coming over him, but he saw that Pansy had no such reaction. It still amazed him at times how she could be so thoroughly shameless.

"Excuse me, Harry," Luna said as she tapped his left shoulder.

"Hmm?"

"I just realized I don't have any muggle money with me."

"Oh. Don't worry about it, Luna. I'm sure I can take care of it."

"My parents gave me plenty of spending money for the day," Hermione added. "I can probably help too."

"It shouldn't be necessary, Hermione. If I have enough money for a two week vacation in France, I'm sure I can handle an afternoon out with some friends."

"Just how rich are you Harry?"

"Luna! You don't just ask people that sort of thing."

"Why not, Hermione?"

"It can be considered more than a bit intrusive," she answered.

"But I'm pretty sure Hermione is curious too," Harry added with a grin. "I'm not like a billionaire or anything, but I have plenty to take care of whatever I need for the foreseeable future."

"Including Pansy?" Hermione asked. "I'm sorry if that sounds rude, but I just worry that you have someone else that you're financially responsible for now. Not to mention hiring a lawyer to sue people like you did."

"We'll be fine, Hermione. My lawyer has made more than a fair amount for us as well by dealing with all the people that had been profiting off my name for years. Plus, as distasteful as I sometimes find it, being the boy who lived has been helpful in a couple of ways too."

"How so?"

"More than a few people left me something in their wills after I was orphaned. There were a lot of families that were devastated during Voldemort's reign of terror, not just my own. And some of them wanted to show their appreciation for the miracle that stopped the Dark Lord. So, yeah, I'm doing fine as far as money goes."

"Alright. I just worry about you, Harry."

"I appreciate it, Hermione."

"On the subject of me worrying about you, have you even started your summer home work?"

Harry laughed in response.

"I'll take that as a no."

"We've still got almost two months. Don't worry so much."

"Just don't put things off till the last minute, Harry."

"I'll make sure he gets everything done," Pansy replied.

"Speaking of school, what electives are you taking next year, Luna?"

"Hmm?" The little blonde had drifted off into her own little world as she was looking around, taking everything in about the muggle world around her. "Oh, Care of Magical Creatures, of course, and Harry was most insistent that I take the Study of Ancient Runes as well."

"I'm glad he's being a good influence on you then, as I agree that Ancient Runes was one of the more fascinating classes. I would have recommended Arithmancy, personally."

"It doesn't appeal to me," Luna replied. "I also assumed that I could learn about the muggle world just as easily by spending time with Harry, like today. And I'm not a seer, so Divination was right out. Plus, I've heard that the teacher has one of the worst cases of wrackspurts, and I don't want to catch any."

"Wrackspurts?"

Harry started to giggle as Luna went off into one of her tangents, describing the invisible creatures to a thoroughly disbelieving Hermione. Thankfully, before they could start to argue about such things, they had arrived at the more commercial area of town, with a shopping center just across the street and a hand full of places to eat.

-oOoOoOo-

Several hours later...

"We're home!" Hermione yelled as they came in through the front door.

"We're in the kitchen," her mother answered. She was sipping a cup of tea while her husband was sorting through some mail.

"Mum, Dad, you may remember meeting Harry two summers ago. This is Pansy and Luna," Hermione said, finishing the introductions.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. & Mrs. Granger," Pansy said.

"It's nice to meet you as well. I trust you all had a pleasant day?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"Oh, it was very nice, ma'am," Luna replied. "Although I think I may have bothered the other girls at lunch."

"How so?"

"They had something called tiramisu for dessert at the restaurant."

"Luna has a massive sweet tooth," Harry chuckled.

"It was soooo good," Luna added with a dreamy expression.

"And she may have had three servings of it," Pansy snorted.

"Technically, she only had two," Harry said defensively.

"She ate most of your serving too, Harry, so it still counts."

"I didn't mind."

"Harry is very nice to me."

"You deserve it, Luna."

"Well, speaking of food, your father and I were just discussing what to do about dinner tonight. Do any of you have a request?"

"I'm open," Pansy replied.

"Me too."

"I think we'll be okay as long as there is dessert for Luna." The girl in question smiled at Harry's response.

"Luckily, we stopped at the store and brought home a cherry pie for this evening. Would Chinese take out work for everyone then? We had a long day at work and we're not really feeling up to going out tonight."

"Sure."

"Harry, would you mind coming with me to pick the food up?" Hermione's father asked.

"Okay."

"Why don't you also grab some drinks and snacks for later?"

"Fine dear."

-oOoOoOo-

A few minutes later, the order was placed and Harry was riding in the car.

"I thought we might let the ladies have some time for girl talk and get a little peace of our own for awhile, Harry."

"I spend most of my time around girls, so I'm kinda used to it."

"I was a lot less comfortable with girls at your age, Harry."

"I didn't really have many friends growing up, so the people at Hogwarts sort of forced some socialization on me, and one of the first ways that happened was when I joined the quidditch team. Has Hermione told you much about it?"

"Oh yes. I'm pretty sure she has written a letter after every one of your games," Mr. Granger said with a chuckle.

"Well, half of my teammates are girls, so I've obviously had to spend a lot of time around them. And since I was the youngest, they all sort of looked after me a bit. It was pretty nice really. Then I became pretty close with Hermione too."

"What about the other two?"

"I didn't really get to know Pansy until about a year ago. It turned out we had more in common than we would have expected, and things have just progressed since then. I met Luna a few months ago."

"You seem pretty close to her after only a few months."

"It's easy to love Luna. She's just such a sweet person. She doesn't seem to have a mean bone in her body, and I could really use someone like that in my life. Especially after the last year. Well, really, after the last few years."

"Hermione told us about those creatures- dementors I think she called them?"

"Yeah, that was part of it. Pansy and I started joking about the magical ministry's Department of Terrible Ideas because of them. What type of genius decides to send soul devouring monsters to surround a school full of children? Bloody morons."

Mr. Granger laughed at Harry's impression of the magical government.

"We were definitely not pleased to hear about them either. I think Hermione didn't really want to let on about how bad they were until they were gone from the school. Something which she gave you all the credit for."

"I did what I could."

"She said you gave a very stirring speech. Not to mention casting some sort of powerful spell to protect everyone at one of your quidditch matches."

"Yeah, well..."

"Not very comfortable with the spotlight, Harry? Hermione said that as well, which was why she was so surprised by your speech that led to getting those things sent away from the school."

"It was necessary. I'd rather just spend time with my friends. You know, be a normal teenager and all that. But whenever there's something dramatic and dangerous going on, I always seem to get involved."

"Since my daughter apparently owes you her life, I'll have to say that I'm glad you did get involved. And speaking of that, she mentioned life debts, which I wanted to ask you about. Hermione said you had thoroughly researched them. Can you explain them to me?"

"I can try. From what I've gathered, magic isn't just something that we can do. It's alive, maybe even sentient. There are different theories and arguments, but from what I've experienced, I think there is definitely something to that. I mean, it's not just witches and wizards but also magical creatures and magical plants out there. And we've seen some pretty strong evidence that magic has a mind of its own and can get angry if you cross it.

"The idea of a life debt is that, when magic is involved, saving someone's life means they then truly owe you. Magic doesn't let people skip out on a debt like that. Magical society has developed some rules to try to keep life debts from causing problems."

"Hermione also said something about that. That you had taken Pansy away from her family after you saved her life. But then she also said that her father was some sort of criminal and that it was a good thing, even if she was technically your servant. I wondered about the 'technically' part of what she said, but you didn't seem to treat her like a servant."

"I'm not sure exactly what Hermione might have told you, but I assume she's told you about the Dark Lord Voldemort's reign of terror that was stopped when he tried to wipe my family out. Voldemort had a group of followers. They were terrorists, really. Violent, bigoted psychopaths. Pansy's father was one of them. I'm sure you can guess why he wouldn't have made a very good father. And at the end of the year, it came out that he was a terrible husband as well. He murdered Pansy's mother.

"She's an orphan now, just like I am. We help take care of each other. So no, I don't treat her like a servant, but you can be sure that I have absolutely no regrets about how I got her away from her family."

The car stopped as they pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store.

"Maybe we should pause this conversation for a few minutes?"

"Sure, Mr. Granger."

They went inside and Harry helped pick out some treats for later. Sure enough, just as Hermione had mentioned before, her dentist father avoided anything loaded with sugar.

Once they were back in the car, he turned to ask Harry the question that was obviously on his mind.

"Hermione now owes you a life debt as well from what she has told us. Do I need to worry about that?"

"Hermione has been my best friend for years now. I would never do anything to hurt her. And I'm pretty sure neither you nor your wife are murderers that I need to rescue her from."

"You're still teenagers, Harry. What's to stop you from using one of these life debts to take a girl you were romantically interested in? I'm sure you can see why a father might worry about that."

"Well, as Hermione's father you really don't need to worry about that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He seemed a bit insulted.

"Don't get me wrong, I do love your daughter, just not like that. I mean, Hermione's cute enough, but we've grown to really know each other pretty well since we've been together for so much time at Hogwarts. That's a part of the whole boarding school environment, I suppose. I think Hermione and I both know that there are certain things that would drive us both nuts if we tried to date. We're both rather strong willed. We haven't often had disagreements, but when we did, it was pretty harsh.

"I think we've both come past that pretty well, and it seems like we're even better friends now, but like I said, we're just not the right type of people to try dating."

"Hold on a minute." Mr. Granger pulled up to a drive through window. They got their food, which Harry held, and they started back on the road home.

"I understand why you're saying that now, Harry, but you're at the age when hormones start running rampant and things can change."

"That's true, but Hermione's friendship means a lot to me. I'm not going to risk it just because one day she looks really hot. And I have plenty of female admirers, believe me."

"Really? Just because of this boy who lived business?"

"Well, that's definitely a part of it. I'm also fairly rich, and this last year I turned a lot of heads with some of my exploits, such as my Patronus at the quidditch match. It's not a spell that many students would be able to cast, and certainly not as well as I did."

"How did you manage it then?"

"You know the old joke, 'how do you get to Carnegie Hall'?"

"'Practice, and lots of it.' That's all there was to it?"

"I'm also rather powerful, magically speaking. I'm not exactly sure why, but some people seem to have a bit more oomph to their spells, and I'm one of those people. Plus, magic just seems to come fairly naturally to me. I'm one of the best in our class at the practical side of things at Hogwarts, the actual casting of spells and whatnot. Now, if I put as much time into all of our writing assignments, your daughter would be a lot less put out with me."

"That does sound like our Hermione."

"Yeah, and that's one of the things we disagree the most on. If I have mastered how to cast a spell, I just don't see the need to write two feet of parchment describing the history and minutiae surrounding it."

"That would definitely describe what Hermione would enjoy about magic."

"She's much more of an academic than I am."

"Despite that, she told us that you actually beat her out in a couple of classes."

"I know, and I've really taken the mickey out of her about it," Harry chuckled. "I'm willing to put in the work to do well when something interests me. Runes just happens to be right up my alley. It's one of the most amazing parts of magic, in my opinion."

"Why?"

"Well, it's just like a completely different type of magic. An older type of magic, actually, which makes it more primal, but also more powerful, and in some ways, more capable of things that we just can't do with our wands. Wand based magic tends to be a lot more about finesse and precision.

"Think of it this way: if you want to magically clean and sort all of your dishes after a meal, you would want to use a wand. On the other hand, if you want your home to still be standing after a hurricane, you would want to use runes. Runes tend to be used for such permanent effects like enchanting a home to be more durable or to resist fire."

"Could you do that for our home?"

"Probably. I don't know those specific runes yet, but I'm sure I could figure it out. Hermione could do it too, I imagine. You would just need to convince her it was part of her homework and therefore worth focusing on."

"She does tend to get overly set on her schoolwork. It's been a problem ever since she started going to primary school."

"I do my best to try to get her to relax, but she doesn't always listen to me."

"Thank you for that, Harry. She sometimes needs a reminder that there's more to the world than just books."

The car pulled back into the driveway of the Granger home.

"If you'll get the food, I'll get everything out of the back."

"No problem, Mr. Granger."

As they opened the front door, they heard laughter coming from the living room.

"Welcome back," Mrs. Granger said, as she led the girls to the dining area.

"I hope my husband didn't grill you too much, Harry."

"Not at all."

The table was already set, so everyone found their seats.

"So, what did we miss?"

"The girls were just telling me about the movie they saw today."

"It made me want to go to a zoo the next time Harry invites me to spend time in the muggle world," Luna replied. "Of course, I'll try not to get my hopes up because of the movie."

"Sorry, Luna. There are a few birds that can mimic human speech, but that's about the limit.

"We saw the Lion King," Hermione explained as she turned to her father.

"Ah, the newest Disney flick. I trust you all enjoyed yourselves?"

"I loved it!" Luna enthused.

"It was the first animated film I'd seen, so it was fascinating just on that level for me," Pansy stated.

"It was okay," Harry said.

"Just okay?" Mrs. Granger asked with a grin.

"Singing animals aren't really my thing," he replied. "But I was with my three best friends, so that part of it was fun. And when I'm the only guy in a group of girls, I have to expect to be out voted sometimes."

"No explosions or car chases, huh?" Mr. Granger asked with a grin. Harry just shrugged in response.

"I'll take you to see something else next week," Pansy smiled.

He knew that she was interested in the commercials and posters they had seen for The Crow, and if it hadn't been for the presence of Luna, they probably would have chosen that today. Harry wasn't in a rush to corrupt the little blonde, but getting Hermione out of her comfort zone by forcing her to sneak into an 18 rated film would have been something worth doing.

Her father had (sort of) suggested that he was in favor of Harry's efforts to get Hermione to be less uptight.

Oh well, maybe next time.

The meal progressed nicely as everyone chatted about the events of the last year at school and what they were looking forward to for the coming term.

-oOoOoOo-

A few hours later, Harry was trying and failing to fall asleep in one of the guest bedrooms. It had been ten months since he'd had to sleep alone, and it just wasn't working.

But then he heard the door, and soon enough Pansy was slipping out from under his invisibility cloak as she approached the bed.

"I just couldn't sleep without you, Harry," she whispered as she also pulled her pyjama top over her head.

"If the Grangers catch us, this could be a huge problem."

"But the danger will make things a lot more fun."

"I'm not sure if I can safely use a silencing charm."

"Even better," she purred as she reached the bed and stepped out of her panties. Harry was quickly removing his own sleep wear.

"You're amazing," he said as she climbed in next to him.

"Then shouldn't you show your appreciation for me first?"

"Of course," he answered as he slid down beneath the covers.

-oOoOoOo-

Pansy was smart enough to have Dobby wake her early the next morning so that she could sneak back to the room she was supposed to share with Luna before anyone else got up. Thankfully, the bed somehow hadn't made too much noise the night before.

Pansy had a wicked little gleam in her eyes all through out breakfast.

Harry didn't know if he could love her more than he did. She really was amazing.

-oOoOoOo-

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent at the Lovegood home. Hermione was thrilled to be able to do magic while outside of school, and Pansy felt like she should get some practice in as well since they had not been very productive yet this summer.

Harry hadn't been worrying about it since there wasn't anything specific he really knew to be planning for, just a general threat of the Voldemort wraith trying to cause him harm again. If only there were a book of spells for dealing with incorporeal Dark Lords and banishing them to the afterlife.

So, instead, he gave all of the girls a lesson on the Patronus charm, since Hermione still hadn't gotten it down and Luna had not yet even tried it. She got a bit of mist after a couple of tries and slowly improved from there, while Hermione eventually produced something that tried but ultimately failed to take shape. It was much smaller than Harry's dragon, but then Dumbledore's phoenix Patronus seemed just as powerful despite being quite diminutive comparatively.

Size really wasn't everything, after all. Dobby was proof of that.

And finally, Pansy got her own Patronus to fully form.

A silvery fox shot through the air and climbed on top of Harry's dragon, before curling up and seeming to take a nap on the dragon's back.

"Harry's a pillow!" Luna yelled with glee. She then tackled him to the ground and proceeded to test his cuddliness.

Harry's oof was ignored by all of the ladies laughing at him.

"You could use a little more padding," the little blonde giggled while poking him in the side.

"Sorry to disappoint you Luna. I guess I could wear a big coat. Or maybe a puffy bath robe. That could help."

"I'll forgive you this time, but you should warn your dragon that whatever my Patronus turns out to be will be wanting to try that out too. Oh, maybe mine could ride yours when it goes flying!"

"I don't know if I could make a saddle for the dragon," Harry pondered.

"It's magic silly. No one needs a saddle to ride a dragon."

"But what if your Patronus is something that can already fly?" Hermione asked.

"Why would that matter? It still wouldn't be as fun as making Harry give it a ride."

"Do you think your fox wants to go flying?" Harry asked as he turned to Pansy.

"I think she's quite comfy already."

"Fair enough. I wouldn't want to anger her and have claws digging into my back."

"Smart man."

"Well, I guess the lesson's over for now. We probably shouldn't push too hard anyway as this spell can be rather draining."

"It's about lunch time," Luna replied. "Let's go eat."