Pointed Discussion

"Luna, you're missing the point!"

Luna Lovegood had heard those words - or variations thereof - from a variety of people in a variety of situations. Usually, any further attempts she made at "getting the point" resulted in these same people gaping, throwing their hands up in exasperation, or, as in Professor Binns's case, calling on another student.

But Ginny Weasley was her friend, and as such, Luna did not any further to "get the point." She was sure that Ginny - as her friend - would tell her exactly what it was she wasn't understanding about the letter she'd received from Dean Thomas, a junior architect at the Ministry's Department of Magical Buildings and Edifices, and, a little more improbably, Luna's boyfriend of more than a year.

"All right, let's review a bit, shall we -?"

"Now?" Luna looked round at the empty Quidditch pitch. The stands had cleared at last of the students that had come out to watch Gryffindor pound Ravenclaw into the ground. Gryffindor's team that year was about as good as it had been in any year - everyone said so, except the Slytherins.

Nevertheless, Luna was not allowed to say so, for it wasn't what Headmistress McGonagall called being "impartial." Luna rather thought the Headmistress, who had given her another chance to commentate on Quidditch matches, was missing a point of her own. Wasn't being truthful better than impartiality? She'd tried to ask the Headmistress, but got a curt shake of the head and a suggestion to "please look to your commentating, Luna. On the game itself."

Ginny was Gryffindor's captain that year, having resumed the position of Seeker and playing quite well. Some Ravenclaws had made the odd comment that Ginny had gotten a good bit of help relearning the position by having free access to Harry Potter's broomstick. Luna thought that it might be a joke, but when she mentioned it to Ginny, her friend had only groused that she didn't have anywhere near as much access to it for her liking.

"What's wrong with now? We're alone, aren't we?"

"Yes," Luna said thoughtfully, wondering what that had to do with anything. "But I thought you might want to wash up first."

"Why? Do I smell?" Ginny wrinkled her nose in mock outrage and then began to laugh. "Let's start with a few questions. When was the last time you saw Dean?"

"Right before getting on the Hogwarts Express." She rather liked this so far - it was like being interviewed, in a way. Luna couldn't understand why some of the people that Dad tried to interview sometimes made such a fuss about it. "He was there with Dad to see me off."

"And then how much time did you have to be alone?"

Luna thought about that a moment. "Well, none. Dean had to go back to the Ministry and Dad wanted to have a few words alone with me." She smiled at the memory of the emotion in her dad's eyes as he wished her well in her final year of Hogwarts, saying that he was so proud of all she'd accomplished and he knew that had she been there, Mummy would have been, as well.

"And Dean is now living where?"

"In Brixton." Luna bit her lip when Ginny's face fell. Wrong answer, that. "Er ... in a Muggle neighborhood?"

"Maybe I should ask it another way: Dean has how many flatmates now?"

"Oh. Well ... none at all." Luna recalled that Dean had been particularly pleased about having earned enough to move out of the flat he shared with Seamus and into a smaller one by himself. He and Seamus loved each other like brothers, Dean had said in his letter to her announcing the move, but they'd both come to realize that they were living together out of habit and not really out of necessity.

"Yes!" Ginny looked pleased again. "Now, with all that said, and keeping in mind that Christmas break begins next week, why do you reckon he's sent three owls already pleading with you to come down and spend a few days with him?"

Luna thought hard about this. After all, it had been at this very juncture that, according to Ginny, she'd stumbled past the point before.

"Because ... it's the time of year to be with people you care about?" Luna reflected that since the war had ended, it had been driven home to her that spending time with loved ones was not solely a seasonal event. But she was sure that Ginny had mentioned Christmas break for a reason.

"Yes ..."

"... And he misses me a great deal?"

"Yes ..." Ginny was smiling wider.

"And he ... has something special in mind?"

"Yes!"

Luna clapped her hands in delight, happy that she was on the right track at last. "He wants me to help him check his new flat for any signs of a Flazeebo infestation!"

The Ministry had been plagued with the little buggers, but was keeping it quiet, Luna knew. Even Dad's regular source had been reluctant to speak about the extent of the problem, which he had attributed to the sorry state of plumbing on the first three floors -

"No!" Ginny hid her face in her hands. "No, no, no!"

"No?"

"No!" The redhead sighed loudly and leaned closer. "Maybe I should just spell it out for you -"

Ginny didn't exactly do any sort of spelling, but for five minutes, she spoke in a low voice, punctuating her words with very interesting hand gestures. Luna followed along, but there was one word that made her blink her protuberant eyes in wonder.

"Shagging?"

Luna hadn't thought she'd spoken very loudly, but her voice boomed around the empty pitch. Demelza Robins, who had been walking across the grass, paled, turned on her heel, and was out of sight again in a moment.

Ginny rolled her eyes and lowered her voice a bit more.

"Well, I'm sure that he does want to see you for other reasons, but, yes, I think he's written to ask if you can come down because you'll finally have a place where you can be alone and ..."

Ginny wiggled her eyebrows and grinned. Luna looked contemplative. Ginny's smile vanished.

"Luna, what's wrong? Things are still all right with you and Dean, aren't they?"

"Yes." Luna gazed across the wide field, her airy expression turning a bit wistful. "I miss him very much."

"Do you, um, want to? With him, I mean?"

"Oh, yes!" Luna paused a moment. "I do like snogging him, and shagging has the same number of letters as snogging - and only two letters different."

"Interesting way of looking at it," Ginny said, snickering. "Then are you going to try to see him?"

"I'm not sure. Dad might not like it." Luna chewed her lower lip. "We always spend the holidays together, you know. Besides, if you're very sure that Dean would like to shag me, then Dad might have thought of it, too."

Luna's brows knit in thought. "Actually, that might explain why Dad asked me again if it was still impossible to Apparate in and out of Hogwarts."

"It might." Ginny looked as if she were trying very hard not to laugh. "But I'm sure there are ways around that."

"Apparating in and out of Hogwarts?"

"No - making it so that your father doesn't realise what you're about." Ginny's expression turned gleefully devious. "In fact, I have an idea: You could tell him that I've invited you to spend a few days in Clapham visiting my brother and Harry. You could stay a night or two and then go 'round to see Dean. It couldn't be easier."

"No, I suppose it couldn't." Luna was quiet for a moment. "I didn't know that you were going to see Harry over the holidays."

"Well, officially I'm going to be staying with Hermione, but she's taking Ron to visit with her parents for a couple of days, so Harry and I will have his flat to ourselves."

Luna nodded knowingly. More practice with Harry's broomstick was on the agenda there, apparently.

"So, what do you say? I could owl Hermione tonight and ask her if it's all right if you come along."

"Hmm. Well, Dad did say that he was going to be quite busy for the next week or two. He's writing an exposé on the rise in illegal breeding farms of Burlyhurl bison." Luna rested her chin in his hands. "He might not mind if I were gone for a day or two."

"Or three ..." Ginny arched an eyebrow and grinned. "Let your Dad know, then owl Dean and tell him to expect you next Friday evening."

"All right." Luna felt an interesting fluttering in her stomach and wondered if she should have taken the Headmistress's advice against eating Cockroach Clusters while commentating. "Shall I mention the shagging, as well?"

"No, I don't really think you'll have to!" Ginny's dark eyes danced in amusement. "I'm sure Dean will be able to read between the lines when he gets your owl."

Luna considered that a moment. While it was true that drinking the juice of Garsis petals did allow one to have extremely keen eyesight, the plant only flowered once every three hundred and seventy-two years, and anyway, Dean had an aversion to the smell of cinnamon. But she smiled beatifically at Ginny, understanding that it was quite an easy mistake to make.

~*~

Luna had learned a long time ago that during Christmas time, making one's friends and family cheerful and happy was of the utmost importance, even if it was something of an inconvenience.

From the time that she'd informed Ginny that her father was allowing her to go on the visit to London, Ginny had seemed quite eager to instruct Luna on certain ... things. And while these certain ... things were quite interesting in their way, Luna found the discussion of them rather baffling.

She wouldn't say so to Ginny, of course, who was already being so kind, but Hermione Granger, in whose flat she and Ginny were staying, seemed to pick up on her unease. Hours before they all were set to go their separate ways, Hermione had pulled Luna into her bedroom for a talk.

"If you like, I could tell Ginny not to be so ... exuberant in her discussions of Dean."

"Oh, but she enjoys it so much," Luna said with a faint smile. "And I like talking about him, too, of course."

"Yes, but I understand how it could be a bit awkward for you."

"You do?" Luna had been only vaguely surprised to hear that. Hermione Granger was a clever witch and understood a great many things that weren't tall, freckled, lanky, and redheaded. However, Luna fancied that since Hermione was going to be marrying Ronald Weasley next autumn, she had finally mastered that bit of comprehension as well.

"Well, yes," Hermione smiled gently. "After all, I don't think I'd be happy to get 'advice' on Ron from Lavender Brown."

"Oh." Luna could agree with that. She didn't think that she would want Lavender Brown's advice on putting one foot in front of the other. "Yes ... I see."

"But it was never very serious with Ginny and Dean. I'm sure you know that," said Hermione. "And Ginny is quite pleased that you and Dean have gotten off the way you have."

Luna studied the floor, which showed marked signs of Trimble erosion. Clearly, an Obliviator had lived in the flat before Hermione - one that hadn't troubled to wash his feet very often, apparently.

"I think," Luna said, looking up, "I'm a little concerned that Dean won't find me ..." She bit her lip as she searched for the correct words. "Well, I don't think he'll be able to do with me what it seems he will want."

"Oh?"

"Yes. For instance, Ginny says that after I've gotten accustomed to shagging Dean in certain positions, I should try others that will allow him to watch certain parts of me," Luna went on, mindless of Hermione's rapidly paling complexion. "But I don't understand what he'll want to watch exactly, since those parts of me don't really go anywhere. My bum, for example, is always in the same place. Now, if I were a Swivel-Hipped Spotygus -"

"Er, Luna, really," Hermione cut in hastily, "I think that the most important thing is that you are comfortable. I'm sure that's what Ginny meant when she said that you should become 'accustomed.' Experimenting can be lovely, but not ... right away."

Luna noted the embarrassed look on Hermione's face and reflected that Ronald was quite tall. Dean was quite tall, as well. If Hermione's expression was any indication, maybe experimenting would have to be put off indefinitely.

There was a short knock on the door, and then Ginny stuck her head in. "So there's where you all are hiding! Come on out; Luna, there's something in the kitchen I think that you should take before you leave."

Luna followed Hermione out the door, but not before murmuring her thanks to the older girl for the thoughtful words. Ginny cast a curious glance at the two of them as she guided Luna by the arm to the kitchen. The signs of Trible Rot along the corridors of the hallways momentarily distracted Luna but a discreet cough made her look up and halt mid-step.

Dean was at Hermione's kitchen table, still in his Ministry robes, long legs stretched out in front of him. He had been looking at something on the telly, but at her approach, he turned his head. With a wide smile, he stood, and it was then that Luna noticed the bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"Oh. Hello." She was conscious of that fluttery feeling in her stomach again. Strange, since she had decided to give up Cockroach Clusters in favor of Chocolate Frogs. "You're early."

"Um, yeah." Dean's smile faded a little. "We were let go a little before time today, so I thought I'd nip around so you wouldn't have to take the tube by yourself."

"Dean, how thoughtful!" Ginny said, nudging Luna toward him. "Right, Luna?"

But Luna was at the sleeve of Dean's robe. The edge of something silver was peeking out of the sleeve. She looked up at him eagerly.

"You're wearing the manacle!"

"Oh, yeah." Dean pulled the sleeve up a little to reveal a thick silver circlet with blue edges. "I hope you don't mind, but when people ask about it, I only tell them that it's a gift from my girlfriend. I don't think I can convince my boss that the quills that we use cause Wrist Rot. He's something of a git ..."

He cleared his throat and thrust the flowers in front of him. There was a bit of snow at the edges of the petals. "These are for you, by the way."

"They're beautiful." Luna took the bouquet and inhaled deeply, not even bothering to check for nargles. They wouldn't have been able to survive in such cold weather.

"I'm very happy to see you," she said as best she could without taking her nose out of a rhododendron.

"Me, too," Dean said, kissing the top of her head. "We'd probably better get going. I have a pretty full weekend planned."

Luna lifted her head and looked at him for a long moment. He seemed rather ... different in the three months since they'd last seen each other. Broader in the shoulders, maybe, and with a shade of dark stubble on his chin. He looked wickedly handsome, and the idea of that what he had in mind had Luna rethinking her decision on postponing their "experimentation."

~*~

"Right. So here's the grand tour."

Brushing Floo powder off his pants, Dean took her by the hand and guided her over the blueprints and scrolls that littered the floor of his tiny flat. Finding a spot relatively free of clutter, he put his hands on her shoulders and spun her around.

"Kitchen, there. Loo, there. Bedroom, well, you're standing in it. Can I have a kiss now?"

Luna's head was spinning, and the feel of his lips on hers didn't help matters, but she didn't mind much. It gave her an excuse to hold tight and sink against that broad chest. She remembered Dad saying that the war had turned young wizards into men, and how interesting was it that she found herself in the arms of such a fit one.

"That was nice," Dean murmured when they broke apart. "Did I scare you a bit at Hermione's? I was going to Floo to let you know I'd be coming, but I thought I'd surprise you."

"I like surprises."

"Good, because I have another one for you." He shrugged out of his work robes, and pointing his wand toward a shapeless pile near the bathroom, summoned a Muggle jumper. "But we can talk about that in a bit -"

"I think ..." Luna began, then stopped, eyes growing wide when Dean took off his work shirt and slipped the jumper on. Yes - he'd definitely gotten broader since she'd last seen him. It was quite, quite lovely. "I think I'd much rather discuss it now."

"Er, but I thought we might get something to eat first," Dean said when his head emerged. "Or, I could show you around the neighborhood. We might not get a chance to do that later."

Luna reckoned that was a good point, especially, if what Ginny said about 'recovery periods' were true. "All right. Food then. You'll need your strength."

"Hm?"

She frowned. Maybe Dean wasn't one of those types of men. She simply smiled, and he took a step back and stared at her as if he were just noticing something.

"Uh, you're, um, wearing your school uniform," he said hoarsely.

"Yes." Luna looked down, remembering how insistent Ginny had been about that. 'Trust me,' was all the redhead had said with a knowing smirk.

"Is there something wrong with it?"

"No. It's just ... uh, aren't you cold?" Dean's eyes lingered below her skirt. "Not that you don't look great in it. Uh, but were the skirts always that short?" He dragged his gaze up to her face, but it almost immediately plunged again.

Luna simply smiled again. Dean made an interesting sound in the back of his throat.

"Dean," she said, loosening her tie, "you were telling me that you had a surprise for me. I have one for you, as well ..."

"You do? Cool! But me first, okay? Since you want to talk about things now." He seemed to pull himself together a little and gently seated her on the couch. "Uh ... I know I was a little vague in my owl about just why I wanted you to come down this weekend."

"That's all right. I discussed things with Ginny, and she helped me to ... get the point." Luna laced her fingers through his. "She helped me a good deal in getting prepared."

"Ginny?" He looked very confused. "But how did she know ...? Maybe Potter mentioned something to her. I saw him and Weasley the other day, and I sort of mentioned what I had in mind. I suppose I was a bit excited."

"Oh. Should I have told someone, too? Well, I did tell Hermione. She had quite a lot of good advice."

"I would guess so. She's been through it enough with Weasley." Dean looked much more relaxed now. "In a way, this is good. That you knew all along, I mean. I was starting to feel a little guilty at the thought of springing it on you last minute. I've ... been thinking about this for awhile."

"So have I." Luna dimly recalled Ginny's counsel about getting things past the talking stage and more toward the stage where they both began making funny noises. Touching, Ginny had said, was usually a good start.

Smiling, Luna reached out to touch him and watched in amazement as he fell off the couch.

"Dean?"

"Uh ..."

"Are you all right?" She peered at him as another idea occurred to her. "Or would you like me to come down there as well?"

"No!" He shakily pulled himself up and back onto the couch. "I just, um, you sort of caught me off-guard there -"

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again," she said sincerely. This time, she told him just what she was going to touch, when, and how, but oddly enough, that caused him to fall off the couch again even before she got anywhere near him.

"Luna, blimey, what are you playing at?"

"Am I beginning wrong?" Luna said, frowning a little. Ginny had said that there were some blokes who didn't like that part of shagging and preferred skipping straight to the 'main event.' Ginny had made it clear that such men were only slightly above Flobberworms in the desirability department.

"Beginning what wrong?" Dean made his way to the couch again, and after tugging at his trousers in a very interesting manner, turned to face her. "Luna, what's going on?"

"Well, nothing yet, because you and I still have our clothes on." She looked down. "Though it looks as if your trousers are trying to pull themselves off."

Dean gave another tug. "Luna ... um, what, exactly, are we talking about here?"

"I'm talking about shagging," Luna said, blinking rapidly. "I'm not quite sure what you are talking about, really. I think there might be a Wrackspurt flying about. Is your Floo still open?"

She smiled gently at his panicked glance downward. "No, no, your Floo."

"It - yeah - wait - shagging?" He ran a hand over his hair. "We're ... uh, you thought we were going to shag?"

"Yes, of course. Wasn't that what you had planned?"

"No! I mean, not that I haven't thought about it, but honestly, I think we probably should wait a bit. I only get to see you on hols right now, if that," he said with a rueful smile. "I think that I'd go a little mad if we only got to, uh, do that once every three months."

Luna thought that over. "Oh. Yes, I suppose that would be a shame, especially if it turned out to be very good, because Apparating in and out of Hogwarts is still quite impossible."

"Appar-- uh, never mind." He gave her a funny look. "You were planning on seducing me? Was that your surprise?"

"Oh, no. I thought that was your surprise, you see, so I picked another," she said. "It wouldn't have done for both of us to have the same surprise, after all. What's yours?"

"What's what?" Dean's eyes went traveling again, and he seemed to be rethinking something. "Oh, right. That. Uh. It's just that my Mum and Dad have decided to go to Barbados over the hols. To visit family, and that, and they wanted to me to come over and drop off gifts and pick up the gifts they have for me. And ..." He inhaled deeply. "I thought maybe this would be a nice time for them to meet you. If you're all right with it, of course."

"Oh ..."

"So, I sort of said that we might pop round for dinner. Tonight - or tomorrow. But we don't have to."

"Oh ..." Luna blinked twice and caught sight of the manacle on Dean's wrist. Everyone had giggled when she'd announced what sort of Hogwarts-leaving gift she was giving to Dean, calling it quite a silly thing to give to a boy. And then, everyone had giggled at the thought of her having a boy at all, especially a boy like Dean who had played Quidditch and dated girls and had such interesting friends.

But she did have him, after all, and he was wearing the manacle, and he had brought her flowers, and he wanted to wait to make love to her because he thought it would be so wonderful that waiting so long to do it again was something that he found objectionable, and he wanted her to meet his family. Luna wondered if it was possible that she was missing a point somewhere along the way. She doubted it, though, because Dean looked as if he were about to fall off the couch again and she knew that if she smiled, he would be all right. So she did, and it was, and she breathed a sigh of relief, wishing that Ginny was around to see her now.

"I would like very much to meet them." Luna was quiet a moment. "But do they know ... well, you know ..."

"That you're a witch? 'Course they know that. I told them where we met, after all."

"No, no ..."

"What? That you're blonde?"

"No ..."

"That you're still in school?" His eyes went traveling again. "They do, but if you wanted to keep that on the whole weekend, I bloody sure won't mind."

"No." She leaned her head to the side and looked at him. "Do they know that I'm ... rather different. Or that I'm called Loony Lovegood?"

"No." Dean looked stern, but his hand on her cheek was warm and very gentle. "Because that's not what anyone who has a brain in their head calls you. You're Luna and you're mine, and they do know that."

Luna felt the fluttering sensation return again, and this time when they kissed and her hand accidentally landed in a certain place, Dean didn't fall onto the floor again.

"Er, you know," he said, when they pulled apart. "We could go see my Mum and Dad tomorrow. Or maybe the next day. I told them that we might need a day or so to catch up."

"Good thinking," Luna said, dreamily staring at a stretch of skin right below Dean's ear that just called out to be covered with kisses and bites. "That will also give me a chance to nip round to a Muggle store and buy a few sets of knickers."

"Rig-- uh, knickers?" Dean grew very still. "Uh ... aren't you wearing any? Now, I mean?"

"No. That's my surprise," she said, smiling. "I didn't think I would need any, so I didn't pack them, you see. Though, it's a shame, since there are a few things that can be done that wouldn't really be considered shagging. And most of them go quite nicely when one isn't wearing knickers to begin with."

There was another long period of silence. Luna prodded a spot on the floor with her toe, trying to determine whether it was a Flazeebo dropping. But before she could establish whether it was the right colour, she was no longer in the correct position to study the specimen.

"Yeah ... that'd be a right shame to waste that opportunity," Dean said, making a sound between a laugh and groan. "Whoever said Ravenclaws were the clever ones were spot-on."

He bent to kiss her neck, though his hands got a considerable lower start. And for the next few hours, Luna did her very best to do honour to the reputation of her house.