Harry Potter and the House of Meditation

Chapter Nineteen: The Last Prophecy

"No, no, Lily. Mustn't touch Daddy's cauldron."

Luna snatched up the toddler and glanced out the window. When the windows had been boarded up she had never noticed what a fine view the house had of the village below. Now it never ceased to amaze her.

Harry had traded the Black house to Remus for the Shrieking Shack. Lupin felt closest to his lost friends in the London house, and the shack had been nothing to him but a reminder of unhappy times. For Luna and Harry it would always be a symbol of a new beginning.

It had taken quite awhile to fix it up, but to the amazement of the residents of Hogsmeade, Luna and Harry had turned it into a gracious home. Luna paused to straighten the diplomas on the wall. Since she had, as was customary for Ravenclaws, taken an extra class each term, Albus Dumbledore had fought for permission for her to take the N.E.W.T. tests with the rest of her class. She had done better than anyone expected.

In fact, in Runes, which had been a hobby of hers since childhood, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, which she had honed at Harry's side, she'd come out at the top of the class. In her heart, Luna knew she had been blessed to know Albus Dumbledore, and thanked him every day in her heart for all the joy he'd brought her.

Seeing Harry coming up the street, Luna called for Winky, who came and guided Lily Pearl to her room. Winky had somehow been drawn to the Potter's child, and had become, with a normal household to stabilize her, as good a servant as they could have wished for.

Luna met Harry at the door, and saw misery in her husband's eyes.

"Madam Pomfrey has found nothing to ease her pain?" Luna asked tentatively.

"She is past pain," Harry said sadly. "She is dead."

Luna went instinctively into his arms.

"Poor soul."

"She was never really happy," said Harry. "She could never live up to Cassandra's reputation."

"But she was right when it mattered," Luna offered gently.

"I was there when it happened. She seemed to know me. She spoke to me in that voice. It was the last thing she ever said. I wish I knew if it meant anything."

"What did she say?" Luna asked, interested.

"Something about the unexpected champion never having to be alone."

Luna's crystalline eyes went wide. "Leave it to Sibyll to go out at the top of her game!"

"What do you mean?" asked Harry, startled by the smile on his wife's face on such a sad occasion.

But he, too, grinned when Luna had finished whispering in his ear. "When?"

"Around the end of July. It's not the birthday gift I'd planned on giving you, but it will have to do."

"It's more than I could have hoped for. It's more than I ever dreamed."

And letting go of the last remnant of his past, Harry Potter, gladly accepting the last prophecy that he would ever hear about his future, kissed his wife.

The end.