Harry Potter and the Unexpected Picnic

Harry Potter didn't mind that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had gone out for the day and left him in his room. He liked being left alone. The fact that Dudley had also gone out for the day was a bonus. After the year he'd had, he rather enjoyed the isolation.

He'd been treated sadistically by a teacher, found out that Dumbledore, whom he had always depended on, could be totally wrong, and almost gotten several of his friends killed. He had found out that the girl he'd been crushing on for several years was totally unsuitable for him, and lost his godfather. He'd learned the truth about Sibyll Trelawny's prophecy and his own uncertain future. His life was not his own. Perhaps it never had been, and he hated that.

He sometimes felt like saying the hell with it, and locking himself in a room for the rest of his life.

Just when Harry had himself convinced that lying on his bed staring at the ceiling and feeling sorry for himself was the perfect way to spend a lovely summer day, Luna Lovegood appeared in the middle of his bedroom, carrying the largest basket he had ever seen.

"Luna! What are you doing here? Did you learn to apparate? You couldn't have!"

"No, my dad made me a portkey."

"Why would your father make you a portkey into my bedroom?" Harry asked, thinking Mr. Lovegood must be as eccentric as his daughter was.

"We have run into an alarming lack of Snorkacks in Scandinavia, so my dad's been working on Quibbler business. He's thinking of expanding internationally. I told him I was lonely and bored and wished to make a study of humanity, so here I am. I got the coordinates from Ron."

"How is Ron? Dumbledore won't let me go to the Burrow this summer, until they find out what Voldemort is up to."

"I heard. That's why I thought you might like some company. They don't need any more company at the Burrow, frankly. Dean's there with Ginny and Hermione's there with Ron. It's pretty crowded as it is." Luna sat on the floor and opened her basket. "I thought I'd broaden your horizons a little. This is a genuine Swedish smorgasboard. I thought we could have a picnic. Do you want to eat here, or take it outside?"

Harry didn't even want to think about what the neighbors would say to Petunia if they saw Harry eating in the garden with a strange girl, even though Luna had dressed very respectably in a Muggle blouse, skirt and simple flat shoes. "Let's stay in here. What is all that stuff?"

Luna kicked off the shoes and started unpacking. "I got it from the cook at the inn where we were staying. It's very authentic. We've got cod with cream sauce, limpa bread, beet and potato salad, herring in wine sauce, and sandbakelser."

"Bless you."

"Those are almond cookies, you prat!"

"Don't they eat anything normal in Sweden? You're not going to broaden anything with that food." Harry looked cautiously at the herring.

"There are ham sandwiches."

"Oh, that sounds good."

"They're on pumpernickle bread with horseradish."

"Ewww! And what is that?" Harry picked up a large tin can. A bottle had been set in it, and the can had been filled with water, then frozen, so that the bottle was standing straight up in a block of ice.

"That's Aquavit. It's some kind of Danish booze. The cook told me it's eight-six proof. You drink it neat." Luna produced two shot glasses and offered Harry some of the clear liquor.

Hoping he could just get pissed enough to have the nerve to be able to try the food, Harry took the glass, and said "Cheers!" He and Luna clicked glasses and swallowed.

"Bloody hell!" Harry gasped. The Aquavit tasted like caraway and burned like molten lava. "That's terrible!"

"Want some more?" Luna asked, catching her breath.

"Yeah!"

They did two more shots and attacked the sandwiches. "So," said Harry, "how are Ron and Hermione getting along? I got a letter saying they were going out now."

"Does that bother you?" Luna, glanced at Harry as she scooped up some of the potato salad.

"I'm relieved actually. I was getting tired of waiting for them to make up their minds. I figured it was inevitable. After the build up they had they're probably shagging right now."

"If they're not, Ginny and Dean probably are. They are both Gryffindors, after all. I read somewhere that lions can mate like fifty times a day."

Harry laughed and poured another shot. "I read somewhere that female praying mantises bite the heads off male preying mantises after they do it."

Luna giggled. "Does that remind you of Ginny or Hermione?"

"I don't know. But Ron and Dean are lucky neither of them is a praying mantis." Surprisingly enough, the cod wasn't half bad.

"I wouldn't mind being a pig. They can have orgasms for up to thirty minutes. Quality over quantity, you know."

Harry spit out some Aquavit. "Luna, you're amazing. How did we ever get on this subject anyway? I'm a fine one to talk. I know nothing about girls."

"What do you want to know? I'll tell you anything."

"I'll keep that in mind." Harry hesitated. "You know, Lu, I never really thanked you for all you did last year. You always believed me. I had people thinking I was mad, then thinking I was a hero, then thinking I was mad again. There was nothing I could do about what was happening, any more than I could change what had already happened to me. I'm so trapped just being me. It saved my sanity, knowing I could talk to you about the thestrals, and the veil, and stuff like that."

"I know what that's like. So it's easy for me to talk to you, too, Harry. After my mum died, I didn't talk to anyone but my dad for a long time. But I didn't care what people thought about me. That's when everyone started calling me loony."

"I'll never do that again. And I'll never let anyone do it around me. You're awesome, Luna, and I wish I could be more like you. You don't mind being different. You make everything an adventure. I admire you for that"

"Harry, did you ever read the Muggle poem called 'Acension'?"

"I don't think so. How does it go?"

Luna began to recite.

And if I go, While you're still here

Know that I live on,

Vibrating to a different measure

Behind a thin veil you cannot see through.

You will not see me,

So you must have faith.

I wait for the time when we can soar together again,

Both aware of each other.

Until then, live your life to the fullest.

And when you need me,

Whisper my name in your heart.

I will be there.

"Wow!" said Harry. "That was just..."

He didn't know what to say. It was perfect. And in that moment, Luna was perfect. He leaned over and kissed her, lightly at first, then deeply. She slid her arms around his neck and kissed him back. As her tongue swept into his mouth, Harry moved his hand from her cheek, sliding it slowly down her throat, over her shoulder and to her breast. He swept his hand over her slowly, and he must have been doing it right, because she sighed with pleasure, and tightened her arms around him. Encouraged, Harry began to unbutton her blouse, and when he got it undone, she obligingly shrugged it off. She then pulled off the tank top she was wearing underneath, and climbing off the floor onto the edge of the bed, she pulled Harry up by his T-shirt, which also came off.

"Luna..."

"Shhh...we're living life to the fullest, remember?"

Encouraged, Harry climbed onto the bed with her, and they began to explore each other. Both of them were soon moaning with pleasure

"Are you ready, Harry?" she asked, running her hand over the front of his jeans to undo the button.

"Yes, if you really want me."

"I want you. I love you."

"I love you, too." Harry hesitated. "Luna, promise me...no matter what I have to do, you'll still love me. We're making a choice here that really matters. I'm not just saying this because I'm drunk. Well, I am a little drunk, but I mean it. I need you. And no matter what happens, I want you to promise you'll always love me. That you'll never want anyone else, and that you'll never give up on me. If you change your mind, I'll have nothing else I can depend on but myself."

"Harry, I won't change my mind. No matter what happens to you, I will never love anything as much as I do you. "

Harry believed her. Hermione had told him once that he could do better, but he didn't really think he could. In spite of all the times his heart had been fooled, for the first time Harry Potter was not afraid to love someone. And so he promised her everything he had to give, and asked her for her whole life as casually as if he'd asked her for a date. And Luna promised away her whole life as casually as she had opened her picnic basket.

Before Harry knew it, he was on top of her, and then he was in her, and it was incredible. And he wondered how he could ever have dreamed of spending his life alone.

The end.