Tales of a Spiritual Warrior

Chapter Eight: A Very Happy Christmas

When Dumbledore called Harry to his office, Harry expected bad news. The odds were slim in favor of good news, but he would have been glad to get any news at all. He had not expected getting nothing new, but that is what he got. When Harry entered the headmaster's office, Dumbledore was standing with his back to Harry, holding a letter in his hand. He turned slowly, and gave Harry a piercing glance that made Harry rather uneasy.

"You sent for me, sir?"

"Yes, Harry. Please sit."

They both sat, and Dumbledore continued to look at Harry in a way that made him extremely uncomfortable. It was a relief when he finally spoke, albeit a temporary one. "I had an owl from Emmitt Lovegood today, a most unexpected owl. He asked me if you could come to stay for the Christmas holidays. He would like to have you help out at the Quibbler until Christmas Eve, and then spend the day itself at his home in Ottery St. Catchpole, after which you would all return to Diagon Alley until the term starts again. He wrote as if it had all been arranged between the two of you. I was baffled, to say the least."

"I spent some time at the Quibbler when I was at Diagon Alley before the start of term. I enjoyed it. We did talk about my spending Christmas with the Lovegoods. Is there a problem?"

"I think you would be safe in Diagon Alley. I even think you would be safe for one night at the Lovegood cottage. It isn't a place Voldemort would expect to find you. I would not have expected this myself."

"Then what is the problem, Sir?"

"I was surprised to find Mr. Lovegood so casual about the whole thing, as if he were welcoming a son back into the family business, so to speak. I didn't know he was so fond of you."

"I hope he is. I like him. I like the Quibbler. It would be an interesting place, even if it were not for the fact that I owe him and his magazine a debt that I can probably never repay. And I would like nothing better than to spend Christmas with Luna."

"That surprised me as well. I knew you and Miss Lovegood were friends, but I thought you were just friends. I thought it was all very innocent." Dumbledore looked sternly over his half-moon glasses at Harry, and Harry blushed.

"It's still fairly innocent."

"How innocent?" Dumbledore asked bluntly.

Harry couldn't believe Professor Dumbledore was asking him these kinds of questions. "Luna is my girlfriend. We have fun together. I think she's good for me, and I think we're right for each other, but we've agreed not to rush into anything serious."

"I'm delighted to hear it. These are complicated times, Harry, and I don't want to see any of my students get hurt, especially in ways that are preventable." He tossed the letter onto his desk. "I will inform Mr. Lovegood that you will be able to go to Diagon Alley for the holiday, but I think you had better stay at the Leaky Cauldron again. You'll have more room there, and I can trust Tom and some of the other wizards who frequent the place to watch out for trouble."

Harry and Luna had made arrangements to meet at the shack that afternoon, and they wound up discussing the matter thoroughly.

"I can't believe Professor Dumbledore was prying into my personal life like that," said Harry, embarrassed, sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands.

"Who does he think will get hurt?" Luna wondered. "Does he think Dad or I would betray you? Or does he think you and I are going to break each other's hearts and we'll jump off the Astronomy Tower or something?"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic!" Harry said crossly. "We've never even had a quarrel that amounted to anything. It's impossible to quarrel with you, anyway. You keep so calm it's like trying to strike a match in snow."

"He was probably afraid we're having sex. Did you tell him so far you're just been refining your kissing technique?"

"LUNA!"

"Oh, come on, Harry! Do you think Dumbledore's never caught a sixteen-year-old boy shagging at Hogwarts before?"

"Well, yes, I'm sure he has, but what we do is important to me. Don't make a joke out of it! I spent my whole childhood wishing I had someone to kiss me, or hug me, or just hold me! Just because I'm a sixteen-year-old boy doesn't mean I don't think about anything but sex!"

"I know that, but you have to admit, most boys in your class could skin shrivelfigs and still be thinking about sex. You really like being held?"

"Of course I do. Don't you?"

"I like being held," said Luna dreamily. "I like the way you kiss me. I like the way you listen to me, and the way you tell me things that I know you've never told anyone else. I like the way you compliment me, the way you smile at me, and the way you believe in me." She got up then, and held out her hand.

"Where are we going?' Harry asked her, taking it without question.

"I kept myself occupied while you were gone. You'll REALLY like the way I cleaned the bedroom, if you still want to be held, that is."

"Luna, you're really exasperating sometimes. Do you know that?" Harry said, leaning in to kiss her. He put out his hand and touched her cheek, then as the kiss deepened, he let it run slowly down her throat, and then lower still. When she kept kissing him back, and didn't complain about his wandering hands, he got a sudden urge to see just exactly how well she'd done with the bedroom, and began to really look forward to his visit to Diagon Alley.

Harry had a wonderful time at the Quibbler. He became the office errand boy, but he didn't mind. They were working on the February issue, and there were lots of things that the staff needed help with. He and Luna wound up doing research on famous magical couples for a Valentine's day article.

The story of John Fian, the Scottish schoolteacher who had tried to cast a love spell on one of his students made Harry laugh. Professor Fian had bribed the girl's little brother to bring him a lock of her hair to use in the spell, but the mischievous boy had brought him instead a few hairs from the tail of the family cow. The unlucky teacher had become the joke of the neighborhood when the cow began to follow him everywhere, nuzzling him at every opportunity. That little brother had obviously been a forerunner of the Weasley twins.

The tragic story of the wizard, Merlin, and his deceitful sweetheart, Vivien, made Harry very grateful that he had a girlfriend who could control her temper. Vivien had tricked Merlin into imprisonment inside an oak tree after a disagreement, proving without a doubt to Harry that no wizard, no matter how powerful, was wise to cross a determined woman. Each story made Harry and Luna wonder if any love story was half as interesting as their own.

Everyone at the Quibbler seemed to be slightly in awe of Harry. He got along especially well with the Quibbler accountant, Stanley Bell, the older brother of his fellow Quidditch teammate, Katie Bell. The assistant editor, Albert Braddock was an exception. He did not appear to like Harry very much at all. Outwardly polite, he seemed to go out of his way to set Harry on petty errands. One night, while having dinner at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry complained to Luna.

"I don't know why he doesn't like me. I haven't done anything wrong around him, that I can think of."

Luna considered this thoughtfully. "Braddock is a very talented publisher, but he was a Slytherin, and his nephew is in Slytherin right now. I went out with him a few times when he was visiting his uncle."

"Oh, really?" Harry was obviously not pleased to hear this, and Luna giggled.

"We just all went to a few parties that had to do with the magazine business. Malcolm had about as much fun with me as Parvati had with you at the Yule Ball. The Braddock family was never heavily into dark wizardry, but the fact that they are always Slytherins may be why Mr. Braddock is suspicious of you. He's not as fixated on pure blood as people like the Malfoys are, but it is probably ingrained in him. He's also worked for my father a long time, and considers himself Dad's right hand man. The fact that my father is so fond of you, and lets you in on all aspects of the business might be irritating him a little. Once he gets to know you, I'm sure he'll relax around you."

"I hope so."

Harry managed to sneak away one afternoon to look for a Christmas gift for Luna. He chose a beautiful walnut jewelry box, inlaid with mother of pearl shaped like stars. He and Luna went shopping together for new dress robes one afternoon, after Luna's father informed them that they were all invited to a New Year's Eve benefit to raise money for St. Mungo's. Luna chose a beautiful set of dress robes in a deep rose color, prompting Harry to choose a set of robes in a very dark burgundy to compliment hers.

"You're going to be the prettiest girl there, Luna," Harry told her.

"No, just the luckiest, because you will be there with me."

The day before Christmas Eve, they went to the Lovegood cottage in Ottery St. Catchpole. Luna began to prepare some of the items she planned on having for dinner the next day, and they all pitched in to decorate the place. She found a special place of honor for a Swedish candle chime she had brought back from her summer holiday. Little brass plated angels spun around and struck bells when the candles beneath them were lit. Harry had never seen anything like it. The delicate sound and gentle motion caused by the rising heat fascinated him.

Mr. Lovegood watched Harry for a few moments, then asked him casually if he would like to see Remus Lupin invited to join their Christmas dinner. "I went to school with Remus, and I always liked him. I expect he will be rather lonely over the holidays."

Harry lit up like the Christmas tree Luna was decorating in the Lovegood parlor. "I would really like that! You would do that for him, and for me?"

Mr. Lovegood smiled grimly. "I have an ulterior motive. I want to do a couple of articles in the Quibbler about the need to repeal the half-breed act, and the anti-werewolf legislation Umbridge pushed through. I think Remus might have some very interesting insight into how that affected people."

"He was an excellent Dark Arts teacher," Luna said serenely, "much better than Umbridge could ever have hoped to be. I would love to see him again."

"So, that settles it," Mr. Lovegood replied, and went to write the letter.

Remus Lupin agreed to come, which pleased Harry very much. He appeared the next day with a bottle of wine, and one of the happiest smiles Harry had seen on his face.

They had a wonderful meal, and Lupin was very enthusiastic about the proposed articles. "I think that would be wonderful. It's nice to see the Quibbler going more upscale. I always thought it had a lot of potential to be influential."

"I owe a lot to Harry," Mr. Lovegood said. "After I ran the interview with him, my subscriptions soared. That gave me the chance to branch out."

After dinner they opened their gifts. Remus Lupin had brought Harry a small golden dark detector, not as elaborate as the one that Harry had seen in Moody's office during his third year, but he thought it might come in handy. Lupin presented Luna with a large box of assorted Honeyduke chocolates, including handmade sugarplums. Emmitt Lovegood gave Luna some new clothes, and Harry a book about famous Quidditch players throughout history. Luna loved her jewelry box, and she had a very special gift for Harry.

She had bought him another enchanted knife, like the one Sirius had given him long ago. He'd ruined that one in the Department of Mysteries, and he was stunned to think that Luna had thought to replace it. Turning it over in his hand, he noticed the engraving on the handle. "To HP, with love, from LL" was engraved on the handle, along with the date.

"Oh, Lu, it's great. How did you know I missed my other one so?" Harry kissed her gently, as Lupin and Lovegood went to pour a couple of after-dinner brandies.

Neither Harry nor Luna felt like sitting stiffly side by side on the sofa all evening, so they took off for awhile. The night was cold and crisp, but perfect for a walk under the stars. Luna was obviously happy to be home. After they had gone, Remus looked at Mr. Lovegood carefully. "Nice to see them getting along so well. Harry hasn't had much of a chance to do what normal teenage boys do. I'm glad to see you trust him with Luna. Deep down, he's painfully shy, you know."

"I trust both of them. They have been through an awful lot for their ages. They both ought to know the consequences of reckless behavior by now."

Remus Lupin winced. "I'm sorry we lost touch, Emmitt. I haven't seen you since...well, in a long time."

"Since the funeral, you mean."

"Yes."

Mr. Lovegood sighed. "I remember that day so well. The flowers were the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen. She would have liked that. And so many people came. I appreciated it. But I also remember Luna coming up to me, and telling me the hem was coming out of her robes. I had no idea of what to do. Molly Weasley took her aside and repaired it. I never thought I'd be able to raise Luna alone."

"But you have, and she's turning out to be a very special young lady. I wish you could have seen her at the Ministry. When I had her in class, I have to admit, I thought she was all fluff, but she really came through that night. Under the mist, there's solid rock. Harry needs a friend like Luna."

Mr. Lovegood poured some more brandy. "Luna needs friends, period. She's always marched to a different drummer, and at times it's hurt her. I don't want her hurt anymore. Don't get me wrong. I know if something happens to Harry, that will hurt her, but I think it would be worse if she had never found anything to focus on."

"Everyone in the Order is trying hard to protect Harry. He's our only hope. We don't know exactly how he's managed to escape Voldemort again and again, but as long as he keeps doing it, we'll eventually win. I think Harry can beat him."

"You must let me now if there's ever anything I can do." Mr. Lovegood held up his glass. "To Harry. The boy has won many a battle, and let us hope, tomorrow, the war."