Just As Sane As I Am: A Harry/Luna Fansite

FAN FICTION

The Greatest Twist
by Luciano

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Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Note: This fic is a translation. The author was kind enough to let me check it over for any potentially bumpy spots in the story before posting it, so any that remain are my fault. :) -- Aeryn

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At the Burrow, the surroundings were getting darker and chillier. Soon it would be mindful to wear a scarf. The trees were growing tall and, oddly enough, there was a mist in the midst. What kind of July was this, that the sun didn’t warm the day up?

Such a similarity the weather shared with the mood of everyone who was at Dumbledore’s burial last June. It didn’t seem that this would be time for parties. And yet... Professor McGonagall’s words still rang on everybody’s ears: “Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little more love in the world.” Yes, he would and the Weasleys didn’t wait too long to celebrate Bill’s wedding. After so many mirthless days there was a necessity to play on, a want of hope as unbearable as the feeling of pressing cold ice in one’s hands. Food was made, decorations were put up and invitations sent off. It was a cosy and rather small feast. No more guests than relatives and close friends. Fleur’s sister and mother came as well as some people Bill knew at Gringotts; besides Harry and Hermione who were practically family to the Weasleys; Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood. Remus Lupin, Tonks, and the rest of the Order also made an appearance.

It was a nice morning and the wedding took place in the garden. Fleur looked marvelous, so young and beautiful and Bill... he looked happy and in love. Mrs. Weasley couldn’t stop crying the moment Fleur approached the altar, then the vows, the eternal love and the kiss. “A’righ, Bill!” cried Ron. Clapping and joyful voices echoing all over the place overwhelmed the newlyweds who couldn’t stop smiling each other, almost crying of happiness. Even the gnomes seemed to stop the activities to witness all this commotion in their home.

As had been the rule since July, when the afternoon was coming to an end, the sunny day started to cloud a little bit and by seven o’clock there was a darkening windy evening approaching. A mist was sure to happen, any moment now. It had been a nice day nevertheless. Merriment was in everyone’s faces, or at least appeared to be.

Despite it all, no matter how much Harry tried, oblivion could not be forced. He constantly remembered Dumbledore’s last moments. The begging... the greatest wizard of all time begging a petty, miserable spy like Snape... how he longed to battle that murderer again, to make him suffer, to avenge his teacher, his fatherly teacher, the one who opened all the magical world to Harry, freeing him from the Dudley’s tyranny.

While almost everybody was going inside, looking so happy, Harry felt a pang in his chest. He needed to go away. Not even Hermione’s kind words or Ginny’s tender...

“Harry."

“Er- what?”

“Harry, are you all right?” asked Ginny. They were sitting next to each other, only that Harry had a dreamy looked towards the garden, through the window, and Ginny was watching him steadily, with a feeling of worry and unease.

“Of course, sure. I'm all right,” Harry lied. The bond between them grew stronger in tightness but weaker in closeness. Ginny could not be endangered for something Harry had been destined to do. He had already lost his godfather Sirius, and Dumbledore. The few weeks with Ginny as his girlfriend passed so fast, it was like being someone else… so much time wasted in not being with her. If only Harry could've known in the beginning, in third or fourth year. God, Ginny was simply meant to be with him! She was his ideal match, so strong, so passionate, and so incredibly beautiful and... a heck of a kisser, too. She was so... but he'd had to break up with her. And she understood his reason. She hadn't argued. Now he couldn’t change what had been. He wouldn’t be with her, at least not until Voldemort was a menace no more. He was Dumbledore’s man through and through, after all.

But now he needed to be alone and while Ginny was away, Harry decided to leave the Burrow unnoticed while the rainy mist started to spread over the surroundings and the evening became darker and chillier. Odd, this happening in July. Luckily, he had brought his scarf for the walk. It was, however, better this weather than a hot sunny day of summer. He needed to think, to feel the windy air all over his face.

After several minutes he entered a group of trees and pines outside the Burrow. They were quite tall and large and full of greenish life, despite the harsh conditions at the moment. The wind pushed hard on their leaves and many started to fall. The house could not be seen anymore, except for the smoke of the chimney. Harry found a trunk on the ground and decided to make a stop.

He didn’t know how long it had been since he'd left, but the sunlight was fading away. It wasn’t pitch black, yet the visibility range had been diminished. Then, noises from behind made Harry stand up.

“Hello. Who’s there?” cried Harry loudly. A feeling of unease emerged from him. Death Eaters? Here? Maybe Snape was behind it all. He had to find out. So Harry drew his wand, prepared for a fight.

“Speak your name! Now! I'm not playing games, all right?” he continued to shout as he approached where he thought he had heard the noise. In dashing moves he lanced over the place only to find... a scarf. What was a light-blue scarf doing behind a tree in the middle of the forest? It was odd indeed. But no... the only odd thing was his behavior. How come his first thought was Snape attacking him from behind, and not an innocent squirrel or a raccoon? Harry grabbed the scarf anyway for closer examination. It was a plain scarf. He put it in his bag and when he turned over --

"AHHHHHH!!!"

He fell on his back, watching Snape pointing his wand, conjuring the Killing Curse just like he had done over Dumbledore. Harry tried to move but he was not in command of his body, as if he had been magically immobilized.

"RIDDIKULUS!!!"

Suddenly, Snape changed into women’s clothes and his face colored with a complete make-up set: red lips and cheeks, extended eyelashes. Harry couldn’t stop making grinning, and giggled a little bit. After a moment, the Boggart crumpled and vanished.

“Harry?” said a vague voice, as a figure approached out of the shadows. Harry was still lying on the ground when he finally realized who he was staring at.

“Luna,” replied Harry, sitting up while he tried to remove the dust off of his trousers and shoulders. “Hi. I didn’t know you'd gone out too.”

“Oh, well, I’m usually unnoticed by other people,” said Luna simply. That was one of those awkward things Luna said which often made Harry feel a strange mixture of pity and embarrassment. “Why were you fighting a Boggart?" she asked.

“'Fighting' wouldn't be what I'd call it; I was completely immobilized and scared of it,” Harry told her with disgust in his voice. Was it towards her or him?

“Of course, you can't stop thinking of that day. You really cared for Dumbledore, didn’t you?” said Luna, with those oddly misty, protuberant eyes.

She sat against the trunk where Harry was before and looked for something in her bag. Harry didn’t answer her immediately. He stared at her, thinking of Dumbledore, and before long he realized a melancholy feeling had sunken in his heart.

“I…” Harry told her, having difficulty moving his lips as he looked at the ground “Everyone's still hit by it, aren’t they? It just... it’s harder than I thought... pulling back together, being strong for...”

But before he could finish his sentence, Luna said in a loud voice, but not actually yelling: “Oh, no! No, no! I can’t believe I’ve lost it! No, no! How could I have been so reckless?” Harry looked at her as she desperately tried to find something in her bag. Then she got up and walked the area with a face of worry. She wasn't talking anymore, too concentrated on searching the clearing. Harry thought with an indignant look on his face: “What is she doing? I'm telling her something important to me, about Dumbledore... because she was the one that asked me in first place. And she wasn't even listening..." His teeth started to clench against each other. Now, he couldn’t help getting angry at Luna. “I'd better go.” Harry stepped forward to speak to Luna. Then he realized Luna’s outfit: it was a light blue uniform; the pants were summerly thin and slightly larger to cover her up to the knee. She had a blouse and something like a short purple mantle over her shoulders and she was wearing espadrilles as shoes, besides her usual butterbeer-cork necklace and radish earrings. It was an odd outfit. “Such a Loony outfit, it looks like a costume,” said Harry, in an inaudible voice with his malice concentrated on it.

“Hey, Luna! Look, I'm... going back home, okay?” cried Harry, starting to feel guilty about leaving her now that it was getting chillier and mistier. He had an extra scarf, after all...

“What? Oh, okay Harry, I'm going to stay a little longer. Bye,” replied Luna.

“You lost something? You sure you...” but she had already gone and couldn’t hear Harry anymore. He turned back to the Burrow, slightly offended by the indifference Luna had just showed him. He walked on ten or fifteen minutes until reaching the place. He saw the lights on; the party was still going on. The sun had already set. It was probably almost eight o’clock.

“Where have you been, mate?" said Ron, who opened the door before Harry could.

“Just went out for a walk. Needed to get the mind clear, you know,” said Harry simply.

“Oh, well. You could've just let someone know. I was starting to worry and Ginny never stopped asking about you,” continued Ron in a Hermione-ish tone.

“Aye, I'm sorry. Didn’t realize that. Well... what're we all doing? There’s plenty of food, I hope. I started to get hungry,” replied Harry in a nothing-wrong-happening way.

“Harry!”

“Oh, hi, Ginny. I'm fine. I went for a walk,” said Harry, as he took off his scarf and grabbed something off the table. He put his bag on a chair.

“You could have told me. One moment you were next to me, and the other you were gone,” Ginny told him in a relieved voice mixed with a little vex.

Harry greeted everyone else and stayed inside eating as much he could and playing some wizarding chess with Ron or listening to Hermione’s new bright idea of how to help S.P.E.W. get more funds. When Remus and Tonks came to say goodbye to him, he realized it was twenty minutes past ten o'clock. He was lying in Ron’s room. He sat up and asked Hermione for the empty glasses in a tray she had nearby.

“I'm putting back the tray with the glasses we used,” he explained as he got to his feet.

“Thanks, mate. Here, take this one too,” said Ron as he put his glass on the tray Harry was carrying.

“Ron, don’t abuse him. Clean your bedroom yourself!” Ginny told his brother with a scolding look on her face.

“It’s all right, Ginny. I'm going down anyway. Give me your glass too,” said Harry with a sweet voice towards her and stretching his arm.

“Thanks Harry,” mumbled Ginny as her cheeks turned reddish.

“Huh... and you told me, Ginny,” said Ron, lifting his right eyebrow.

“Oh, shut up, Ron. Don’t get me started or you'll regret it. I know stuff you wouldn't want others to know,” said Ginny, almost sounding like she was threatening him.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Speak if you have something to..."

But Harry had already stepped down the stairs and couldn’t hear them anymore. When he was down, without pretending not to, he glanced over to the bag he had put on the chair. He liberated his hands and asked Mrs. Weasley if she had seen Luna. The answer was negative.

“I think she already left, Harry dear. I haven’t seen her since this afternoon. Strange she didn’t say goodbye. I know her a little, but I understand she's Ginny’s friend, though they're from different houses. Hufflepuff, right?"

“Ravenclaw, actually,” answered Harry simply. “Mrs. Weasley, I'm going out. I just remembered I need to do something outside. Be back in thirty minutes. Don’t worry.”

“Harry! It’s getting cold and misty out there!” cried Mrs. Weasley.

But Harry had already closed the door and was walking rapidly towards the surroundings of the Burrow. He had his bag on him and was wearing his black cloak from school. He had changed his dress clothes for casuals when he'd returned home. Was it possible Luna would still be outside? Harry hurried and moments later he had reached the clearing where he was two hours ago. He recognized the trunk, the spot where the scarf he found had lain, and several bunches of fallen leaves. The dark would have overwhelmed everything if the moon hadn't been out. There was no sign of Luna.

Why had he thought she would still be here? He made a few rounds around the place. After five minutes Harry decided to go back. It was a cold night and felt guilty for not being kinder with Luna. He should have given her the scarf he found.

Wait. He stopped. Then a sudden thought stroke on him. The scarf he had was probably what Luna was missing. “Of course! It’s light blue, after all, just like her outfit.” After imagining Luna for two hours looking for something she would never find he pictured Luna’s blonde hair dirtier than ever. Harry giggled. “Oh, stop it. I can't believe myself.” He had just imagined Luna trying to catch something like a scarf in the middle of a pond formed by the rain but when she found out it was a snake she fell down and got wet. Getting serious, Harry thought that probably Luna had in her bag the coins Hermione had made two years ago to contact everyone when D. A. meetings would start. He grabbed his own and wrote a message for her: “Luna, meet me at the clearing like the last time. I have the thing you're looking for.” Then, he turned again towards the clearing and waited there for some time. He cast the Lumos spell for better viewing. The mist had spread everywhere and when Harry realized that he would get a cold if he stayed, he moved. On the way home Harry got a glimpse of a light on his left. Curious to find out what it was but also because it might be something related to Luna’s location, Harry walked to the light. There, leaning against a trunk, he found a feminine figure with waist-length dirty blonde hair. Harry approached quietly. Luna was talking.

“I'm sorry, Mum..." she sobbed, “I didn’t mean to lose it. I promise you I will find it,” she sighed, and after a pause, she continued. “Oh, why aren’t wi..." but stopped and turned around after Harry’s words.

“Hey... Hi, Luna. I..."

“Harry?” replied Luna while she cleaned her reddish eyes and sniffed a little bit, “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the Weasleys'?”

“Why am I here? Luna. What happened to you? Have you been here all this time?” said Harry as he leaned towards her and put his bag near the trunk. They were both standing up and facing each other. Harry felt a pang and his face fell. Luna not only had her hair dirty, she was a complete mess. Her outfit was stained with mud and she was... wet.

“How come your clothes are all soaked? Did you fall in a pond or something?” Harry asked with a guilty thought in his mind.

“Well, it was kind of weird how it happened. I was looking f...” she stopped and it seemed that a tear would fall from her eye. “I lost something that belonged to my mother, a gift she made me when I was eight. There was..." she glanced at Harry with a surprise look. “Well, there was a pond and thought I saw something glittering in it. So I thought...”

“You tried to get that glittering thing and somehow you lost your balance and fell in the mud pond?” said Harry, feeling incredibly guilty. “Oh, Luna, I’m sorry. I really am,” he added as he took off his cloak.

“You didn’t do anything,” she answered in surprise, “You don’t even know what..." she stopped, staring at Harry as he covered her with his cloak, “Oh, you don’t have to.”

“Nonsense. I really am sorry. It’s the least I can do. No, don’t take it off. Keep it. You've probably got a cold already,” said Harry rapidly as he bent over to get the scarf out of his bag. “Look, Luna. I have what you lost. I mean, I found it at the clearing but I didn’t know it was yours.”

“Oh, my goodness,” said Luna putting her hands to the mouth. “You didn’t open it, did you?” she gasped with a concerned look and a sudden blush.

Harry continued speaking as if he hadn’t heard her, “If I knew, I wouldn’t have let you stay here for two hours on a cold misty night. You have to believe me. I feel terrible. I'm no practical joker. Please forgive me. Here,” he said, presenting the scarf to her, “take it.”

Luna didn’t speak. She was completely breathless. She was staring at Harry’s hand with the light-blue scarf. She heaved a little and then took the scarf and covered her neck with it. “Thank you, you're very kind. It was getting colder before you came,” she said conversationally.

Harry was startled. He didn’t understand what Luna had just said. Why wasn’t she reacting like she should? She was freezing because of him. She should be mad, shout, cry in anger, anything.

“Er- Luna. Aren’t you mad? I mean... I had the thing all along..." mumbled Harry.

“Well. Yes, I suppose you did. But why that would matter to me? I still haven’t found my mother’s gift,” was her flat response.

“You haven’t found? But...”

“Hmm. Harry, tell me: is it possible for a scarf, whatever color may it be, to glitter and also float in a pond?” Luna said in a matter-of-fact way, raising her left eyebrow. Harry didn’t say a word. He kept thinking.

"What did you lose, then?” he asked with a dizzy look as if he couldn’t get a puzzle done.

“I'd rather not tell you, if you don’t mind,” she answered in a shy voice and drawing her eyes away from Harry’s.

“No, it’s fine. I know how important those things are. Hagrid gave me some photos of my parents when they were young. And... Sirius gave me a mirror before he died. I care for it very much so I know how..." he replied unconsciously, hoping that his unasked-for answer would force Luna into slipping something. He had gotten incredibly curious about what was Luna searching for.

“It’s a locket,” interrupted Luna.

“Oh. Good,” said Harry, a little disappointed.

“But if you find it, don’t open it, please. I...” she said with a worried face, so unusual for Luna. Whatever the thing was, it mattered a lot to her. Harry nodded.

“Thank you,” she replied, smiling slightly.

Harry thought of his promise to Mrs. Weasley of getting back as soon as he could. The others would probably be wondering what he was doing. “Let’s try to find this gift tomorrow, all right? It’s quite dark now and cold. You're probably exhausted and want to rest. Luna, watch it!” Harry cried as Luna almost fell down. “You okay?” he asked.

“Oh... yes. I think so. I don’t know what happened to me.”

“You got a cold. You're weak. That’s what happened to you. See,” Harry touched Luna's forehead as he helped her to stand up, “Come on, we'll continue the search tomorrow if you're better by then. Mrs. Weasley should keep an eye on you. She’ll know what the best thing to do is.”

“Okay,” answered Luna. She was acting oddly, which meant quite a lot when speaking of Luna. She had a quality of dottiness in her usual ways.

“You can’t Apparate, right?” Harry asked.

“Well, no. I'm only sixteen. You can’t either. You haven’t turned seventeen yet,” said Luna with a bit of surprise.

“Er- well, that’s not the greatest obstacle, is it? Just hold on tight to my arm. I can Apparate both of us to the Burrow’s entrance so we don’t have to walk all the way back. Hold on, Luna,” Harry told her as he concentrated. She grabbed his arm and leaned on him, resting on Harry’s shoulder while closing her eyes. Harry could tell that she was scared indeed. And he knew, mainly because Luna was practically cutting off the blood circulation of his arm as she held on so tightly.

“This will be your first Apparation, right?" he asked.

“Uh-huh.”

“I figured. Okay. Trust me. Nothing wrong will happen.” And as these were his last words, they both Disapparated from the surrounding forest and Apparated next to the Burrow’s archway.

“This is how it feels. Disapparating. It was...” said Luna in heaving voice.

“Horrible,” finished Harry in a knowing way.

“Exactly. It was't nice at all. It felt like being squeezed through a thick rubber tube. I couldn’t breathe well,” continued Luna.

“It happens the first time. You get used to it when you do it a couple of times. Now let’s get inside,” said Harry as they passed through the house’s entrance.

The wedding party was about to end. Bill and Fleur had been together since noon and when everybody moved to the house to avoid the oncoming mist, they decided to finish the feast in the house. By the time Remus and Tonks had to go (it was a full moon night after all), the newlyweds thought it proper to end the day and begin their honeymoon in Spain. But when everybody was gathered downstairs, Harry was not there. His absence had been very alarming. “Where did that boy go?” Mrs. Weasley heard Moody saying in a harsh voice but she told him what Harry had said to her. “Five more minutes until he gets back. I'm sure the poor boy still thinks of last June. He's been very blue recently. He needs time for himself." But when the thirty minutes had passed, Mrs. Weasley started to worry. Moody was preparing to go out when Harry opened the door with Luna grabbing his arm. All the guests were looking at them: Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Neville first. It was an awkward moment.

“Oh, Harry, where you did you go?” cried Mrs. Weasley, looking over him as Luna let go of Harry’s arm and walked to sit down in the nearest chair.

“It’s okay, Mrs. Weasley. I told you I was going out for thirty minutes. I was almost in time,” said Harry as he understood why the gathering was, “But please, I don’t want to ruin anything. Is it already time for the departure?” as he looked at Bill.

Harry explained everything, omitting Luna’s locket, and Mrs.Weasley's first words were “Oh, my poor thing. Come here, Luna. We need to dry you up and change your clothes. Ginny’s will do. I’ll make you a special soup for the flu. You’ll get better in a minute.”

While Luna was away the Weasley couple left the Burrow, in Bill’s new '50s style convertible. Arthur Weasley had already given a little bag of rice to everyone.

“What’s with the rice anyway?” Ron muttered, not knowing what to do.

“Oh, Ron, you're supposed to throw it at them as they get on the car,” replied Hermione, giggling at Ron’s startled face.

“Come on everyone!” shouted Mr. Weasley in a happy way as if he just discovered the greatest invention, “Like the muggles do!”

“Woo! A’righ Bill! Congratulations!” cried Harry as everyone threw rice and celebrated the newlyweds.

In a short time the other guests started to leave. Later, there was only Neville and Luna, who were going together. Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Harry were downstairs saying goodbye to them.

“Bye, Ron. Have a nice holiday,” said Luna, smiling slightly.

“Oh, you too. Hope you commentate the next Quidditch game,” replied Ron in a joking but truthful voice.

“Stop it, Ron,” was Hermione’s answer.

“What? I wasn't insulting. Luna was great when she said that thing about that stupid Smith boy. That was the best commentary I've ever heard.”

“Yeah, it was as good as when Ginny pushed him on purpose with her broom when he was doing the commentaries,” said Harry laughing and noticing Ginny beaming at him.

“Well, he had it coming,” replied Ginny.

“Thanks for the invitation, Ron. Bye, Hermione. Ginny. Hope to see you again, Harry” said Neville, looking very pleased with himself. He'd had a very good time.

“You too, Neville. Say hello to your Gram for me,” replied Harry as he clapped him on the shoulder.

Neville was already opening the door when Luna approached Harry and whispered to him so the others wouldn’t hear, “You will tell me if you find it, right?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll send you an owl,” he whispered, smiling back at her. Luna felt relieved and, oddly, faintly pink when Harry added, “And I won’t open it.”

The next morning, Harry was going to see his parents' memorials with Ginny, Ron and Hermione. He was with Ron, waiting for the girls to come down when Mrs. Weasley came from the kitchen.

“Harry, dear. Is this yours? I just found it in the garden. It has a picture of you. Oh, you look quite handsome in it. I think it’s a Muggle picture. You don’t move,” said Mrs. Weasley, beaming.

“Er- I... thanks,” as he grabbed it and examined the picture.

“Was it your mother’s?” asked Ron. Harry didn’t speak.

“What are you all looking at?” said a voice from behind. It was Ginny, with Hermione. They’d just finished dressing.

“Mum gave Harry something he lost,” explained Ron.

“Oh, how beautiful!” cried Ginny as she looked at what Harry had in his hands.

“Ginny, I'd appreciate if you didn’t say in a loud voice how beautiful you think Harry is in front of me,” said Ron with a will-you-drop-it tone.

“I meant the locket with the heart shape, you fool,” scoffed Ginny in an angry tone.

“Why are you all flushed, Harry?” asked Hermione with an amused look.

“What? I'm not blushing at all,” replied Harry defensively.

“You look nice in the picture too, Harry. How old were you? Thirteen?” asked Ginny.

“Yeah, I'd say he's about that age in the picture,” answered Hermione.

“You sure think a lot of yourself, don’t you? People generally put pictures of others in these, not themselves,” said Ron matter-of-factly.

“Oh, shut up. Let’s go, all right?” Harry told him as he put the locket inside his pocket.

It was a partly cloudy morning but it seemed that the sky would clear in an hour or so. The sun was in the east. The four of them left the Burrow; Harry was the last one to do so. And when he was about to close the door, he reflected: “I've never thought of her in that way... have I?” Harry was feeling miserable. He was going to see his parents' tombstones, but half his mind was out to lunch. He couldn’t stop feeling confused about something he'd never thought of. Or at least he thought he'd never thought of. That was confusing.

Around the Burrow, everything was getting sunnier and warmer. Now it would be quite annoying to wear a scarf. The trees were growing tall and, pleasantly enough, there was a light breeze in the midst. Such a lovely July day it would be. Such a similarity the weather had with the mood of...

“Harry! Come on or we'll miss the Knight Bus!” cried Hermione, thinking of how irresponsible Harry was sometimes.

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” he said. And they left.

***