Tales of a Spiritual Warrior

Chapter Ten: The End of Term

Harry had a long history with most of the people attending Charlie Weasley's funeral. He had counted on that to help him bring some small measure of comfort to the other stricken mourners. He had not, however, expected to have a young girl throw herself in his arms as soon as he and Remus Lupin entered the room.

He held her tightly, burying his face in her long, sleek hair. "Gabrielle!" Harry whispered. He knew that Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour had been dating for some time, but he had not expected the whole Delacour family to come to England to see Charlie laid to rest. Fleur and Gabrielle had been exceptionally fond of Harry ever since the Triwizard tournament, and Harry could only imagine how difficult this was, especially for the younger girl. She was in a strange place, surrounded by a lot of sad people speaking a strange language. Harry was glad to offer the child what security he could. Bill came and shook his hand, and Fleur kissed Harry on the cheek, just as Luna and Emmitt Lovegood entered the room.

Amused by the blush on Harry's face, Luna ambled over to them, as her father went to speak to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in hushed tones. Harry hastily introduced Luna to Fleur, and Fleur gave her an appraising look, then smiled sadly.

"I wish we could 'ave met under better circumstances. You will excuse us, please? It begins."

"Of course," Harry said, releasing Gabrielle's hand after a comforting squeeze. The younger girl went with her sister to stand beside their parents.

"Pretty girls," Luna commented.

"They're part veela. Their grandmother was one," Harry answered. He and Luna joined Ron and Hermione as the service began.

When it was over, everyone went to the Burrow for a luncheon. Luna was engrossed in conversation with Ginny, when Harry began to walk restlessly through the house. Harry noticed with a pang that Charlie's hand on the Weasley family clock had vanished.

Lupin appeared at Harry's side and said quietly, "We must talk. Come outside." Harry followed him perplexed. Once he was quite sure no one could overhear, Lupin spoke to Harry in a low voice. "This may not be the best time to discus this, but we have news for you. We may have found a possible way to help you destroy Voldemort."

"I can't imagine a better time," Harry answered bitterly. "I want that bastard dead, now more than ever. What have you got for me?"

"The headmaster at Durmstrang contacted us. The attack on the school terrified him, and he wants to help us. Durmstrang was always a center for the Dark Arts. He went into their most secret vaults and found some books of spells that had not been used in over a hundred years. There are killing curses in them that date back centuries. Voldemort probably doesn't even know all of them, and the ones he does know, he will not expect you to know."

"Then give me those books. Let me learn them. Taking him by surprise would give me a lot of pleasure!"

"Not yet, Harry. We must study them first. Some of them need to be translated. They all need to be tested. The Order will begin working extensively with these spells this summer in secret, to decide which are the most powerful, and the least risky. When you turn seventeen, we will come and get you. You will be able to leave your aunt's house for good. Then we will begin to train you. We're looking into several suitable places for you to live"

"You're telling me I must go to Privet Drive when the term ends and just sit around and wait there until the end of July?" Harry was outraged.

"Yes, but you will go back knowing it is for the last time," Lupin assured him. He hesitated, then continued, "Harry, we must ask you not to tell anyone in your Defense group this information. It must be kept totally secret. No one who does not absolutely need to know must find out we have these books. The Durmstrang headmaster's life may depend on it. All of our lives might. If Voldemort even knew these still existed, he would stop at nothing to get his hands on them."

"I agree not to tell anyone but Luna."

"Harry," Lupin began, but he was quickly cut off.

"I love her, and I trust her, and I need her support."

"I know you trust her, but this is not the kind of thing you drag teen-aged romance into."

"It's not like that!" Harry held his breath for a moment, and tried to hold his temper as well. "All right, I may not know much about love. My aunt never gave a damn about me. I can't remember my father's love, and my mother's love was blasted away from me. The godfather I was just beginning to love I lost. I've had crushes on girls, and they've had crushes on me, but I never thought any of that was the real thing. Until I met Luna, I ONLY knew loss. Luna is my first love, yes, but she is my heart's love, and she will never betray me."

Lupin stared at him. "Harry, be careful. Not of betrayal, but of loving too much." He hesitated, then continued, somewhat embarrassed. "It's not my place to discuss what you do in your personal life, but there's more at stake here than you realize. Dumbledore told me you know the truth about Luna, and you know the truth about your father's family. You know Voldemort tried to kill you because you were the last Potter. Don't give him another target."

"If you're worried about him going after Luna because she supports me, he could have done that at any time after we went to the Ministry!"

"I know that and I accept that!" Lupin was actually blushing now. "I'm talking about extending this battle into another generation! I don't know what you and Luna get up to, but we don't need Voldemort targeting another Potter right now, especially one that's also linked to Ravenclaw!"

"You think...oh, no!" Now it was Harry's turn to be embarrassed. "We haven't done ANYTHING like that! I mean, we've talked about it, but Luna thinks she's much too young, and I know I'm not ready for that!"

"I'm delighted to hear it," said Lupin, relieved. "Very well. Tell her whatever you think you must, but keep in mind how serious this all is." He turned around and practically fled back into the house, leaving Harry standing in the garden open mouthed.

Luna came out of the back door, looking behind her. "By the broken lock that freed me, thou art no slow goer!"

"What does that mean?" Hary asked confused.

"It's a line from a muggle writer named Rudyard Kipling," Luna replied. "What in the world is the matter with Professor Lupin? He just ran past me looking like he swallowed stinksap!"

"I'll tell you later," Harry said. "I'll tell you when we get back to school. Right now I'm speechless."

"Oooooh," Luna said, "I'll bet this is going to be good."

When the Easter holiday was over, and Luna returned to school, she held Harry to his promise. They went to the Shrieking Shack on a Saturday afternoon, and as they went up the tunnel and into the house, Harry told Luna every excruciating and embarrassing detail about his conversation with Lupin. She literally screamed with laughter, which Harry didn't appreciate.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Luna said, wiping her eyes. "I am bedeviled. First Dumbledore, then Lupin! You'll probably get a sex talk from McGonagall before the year is out. "

"Don't even say that," Harry groaned, flopping down on the bed.

"Oh, come on, Harry!" Luna said, stretching out beside him. "You should be happy. They have an idea now on how they can teach you to beat Voldemort! And if you're too thick to figure it out, you can just put everyone in your fan club IN the club, and leave it for one of your children to do."

At that, Harry had to laugh as well. "Luna, you're bonkers! You know that?" Harry reached over and started tickling her. She caught his wrist, and they began to roll around on the bed. Harry wound up on top of her, pinning her to the bed, and they stared into each other's eyes, no longer laughing.

"You know," said Luna thoughtfully, "I'll bet there are other things we could do that would be almost as much fun but a lot less trouble."

"So I've heard," said Harry. He smiled slightly, and then kissed her eyelids, the tip of her nose, and her cheek, murmuring soft, unintelligible words. He moved his mouth onto hers in a deep, penetrating kiss, which left her breathless. When she was finally able to catch her breath, she whispered, "I always did think you were very handy."

"Are you?" Harry asked teasingly.

"I'll give it a try."

Maybe it was a question of being daring, doing more of what they had been told not to do, but Harry and Luna soon found they were as well matched physically as they were emotionally. They did, however manage to keep the promises they had made. It was the time of year when schoolwork began to take precedence over social life anyway.

With the term almost over, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville formed a study group to help Luna, Ginny, and some of the other fifth years prepare for their O.W.L. exams. Harry was particularly interested in seeing how his younger Defense students did on their Dark Arts O.W.L. He waited in the hall anxiously for Luna while she took her practical. When she came out, she was beaming.

"Harry! I think I did everything right!" She launched herself into his arms, and Harry, not caring who was watching, hugged her tightly. They didn't even notice Professor Marchbanks coming out of the hall.

She smiled at the sight. "These young men will have their way!"

Harry glanced at her, and smiled slyly. "Have you any reason to be disappointed with my choice?"

"You have given me no reason to be disappointed with any of your choices, Mr. Potter, especially this one. This one I think your mother would have been proud of." She eyed Luna fondly. "Child, rest assured, I can give you no higher praise than that."

Luna smiled sweetly. "I will cross stitch that sentence on my heart."

Harry was always depressed on the train ride home from Hogwarts, but he was especially depressed this year. He and Luna shared a compartment, some chocolate frogs, and more than a few kisses, as she tried to cheer him up.

"I'll write to you, Harry, and after your birthday things are bound to get better. You'll be able to learn to apparate, and they're bound to send you someplace where I can visit once in awhile. Daddy is so busy making plans for the Quibbler we aren't going to be traveling this summer. I thought I'd have to go to France, but they already got the French office open. Mr. Delacour helped put Daddy onto some good people to help run it. The first French edition comes out in August. Now he's got people looking for office space in Germany, but he isn't having much luck."

"I just wish I could go home with you, to Diagon Alley and to the Quibbler. It always seems like I am just waiting for something when I'm on Privet Drive. At least I know I'm out of there on my birthday."

When they came through the barrier at King's Cross, Luna spotted her father at once, and hugged him hard. He shook hands with Harry.

"I'm hoping you'll be able to come to us later in the summer," Mr. Lovegood said quietly to Harry. "I've talked to Remus about it. At the very least, he will bring you to the office when we meet to go over the articles we're working on together. You know...the ones we spoke of at Christmas."

"I'll look forward to that," Harry said gratefully.

Uncle Vernon was standing a few feet away, and he eyed Emmitt Lovegood suspiciously. He looked absolutely horrified when Harry took Luna into his arms for a long goodbye hug and kiss. As Harry came toward him wheeling the trolley bearing his trunk and Hedwig, Vernon hissed at him, "What in the world were you doing, making a scene like that, snogging on the platform like scum? Who's that dotty looking little girl anyway?"

"That's Luna Lovegood," Harry snapped. "She's been my girlfriend for a year. She's the one that sent Aunt Petunia the crystal."

Vernon said nothing more all the way home. Harry went straight to his bedroom, and promised himself he'd stay there as much as possible, especially after he heard Vernon commenting to Petunia about Luna's "stringy" hair and obviously loose morals. Harry was afraid if he heard anymore he'd lose his temper, which he had been trying so hard to learn to control. Luna had helped him so much with that he didn't want her to be the cause of his getting sent to another hearing.

When he got too depressed, he'd lie on his bed and finger Luna's chain around his neck, and for some reason, he'd feel better. She wrote to him often, and her letters were not as formal as the ones he'd received the summer before. They were more rambling, closer to her true personality. She always ended them, though, by repeating all the promises she'd ever given Harry, and that comforted him. Ron and Hermione also wrote often, but Harry didn't get as much pleasure from their letters. He longed to be at the Burrow, or at least helping out at Grimmauld Place. He put a chart up, as he did every year, but this year he marked off the days until his birthday, instead of the days until September 1^st.

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