Calming the Blizzard

Lanni Weasley

Story Summary:
After half a year of searching for Horcruxes, Harry is tired and grumpy at Christmas. But after an unexpected Luna gives him a wonderful present from his past, Harry is left with only more guilt since he doesn't have a gift for her. But things aren't as bad as they seem. Not really.

Posted:
10/29/2005
Hits:
968
Author's Note:
I wrote this for a challenge that was given in the H/L forum at FictionAlley. Since I first read OotP a little over two years ago (which I read first, by the way), I have always been very fond of H/L. However, since I am not someone that usually strays from my usual OC-centred or Ron-centred fanfics (oh, how I loff thee!) and am a bad shipper, when needed, I just used H/G, a ship that I actually don’t like. The horror, I know – especially since I adore H/L and don’t like H/G all that much! So, upon joining the H/L board, I figured that it was time to pay my respects to the ship I neglected and the ship I first went “Squee!” at.


Calming the Blizzard
Lanni Weasley

December was about as ruthless as it could get. It was so cold that you could not only see your breath but could also freeze your tongue in the process of opening your mouth to exhale. The Burrow was most likely the only place in Ottery St. Catchpole where you could keep warm and happy, as the Muggles in the village below didn't have magic to keep things up like the Weasleys. While the Burrow was a wonderful place to be, for one young man, the mood was only worsening as the bleariness wore on.

The blizzard that raged outside was nearly identical to the mood of one Harry Potter. However, it was only nearly identical since he wasn't screaming his head off. No, right now, Harry just felt extremely sour, and if anyone tried to talk to him, he then would proceed to blow up.

Luckily, Ron and Ginny were in a heated chess battle; he wasn't even paying attention yet he knew that Ginny was losing spectacularly by the way she shrieked at Ron. Normally, Hermione would be pestering him about how he was "feeling", but she was helping Mrs. Weasley cook the Christmas dinner. Charlie was talking with Fred and George about the increasingly high sales at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes; they seemed to also not have settled completely from their last argument about the twins' more dangerous products. Bill was talking with Mr. Weasley about French Muggles that he'd encountered over in France when visiting Fleur's family; Mr. Weasley had suddenly taken up an obsession with Muggles from foreign countries a month ago. Neville, who had come over (Harry and even Ron had "demanded" that he come over for the holiday) was talking animatedly about Hogwarts with Remus Lupin, who seemed rather cheerful this Christmas. Fleur was chatting away to Tonks about what Tonks should do with her looks, although Tonks had a glazed look at the moment.

"Harry? Harry, hello?" A distant voice danced in Harry's ears as he strained to think of what colour Tonks had said her hair was tonight. If only that pestering voice would leave him alone so he could think more properly... "Harry!"

"What?" he snapped, turning around to see that Ginny was looking at him unabashedly with a raised eyebrow. He gave her a sheepish look and lowered his mug of hot cocoa onto the coffee table in front of him. "I'm sorry, Ginny. What was it that you wanted?"

"I want you to make sure this move Ron made is okay," she told him coolly, as if he hadn't just snapped at her. "I don't think it's legal."

Ron rolled his eyes and smirked. "She's just angry that I checkmated her."

"It's not legal!" Ginny said fiercely.

Harry had no idea what move Ginny made, even after she'd shown him three times. He blinked and then scratched his chin. "Well," he said vaguely, "I'm sorry, but the move's good with me. Ron won fair and square."

Harry was sure that Ginny wanted to spit, "You don't care about me!" in his face, but instead, she pulled a cool look on her face and turned back to the chessboard and a grinning Ron. "I want a rematch," she said, her voice shaking slightly as she did her best to keep her cool.

Ron shrugged as he reset the pieces. "All right, Ginny, if you like the feeling of losing, then it's fine with me."

"Ron, you're such a prat!" Ginny exclaimed, although she still seemed determined to beat (or rather, like she always did, lose against) Ron, even if he was a prat. To Harry, it appeared as if she was going to take her anger out on her brother, instead of him. Harry looked back to Tonks, who had already changed her hair to long, dark brown. He sighed, picked up his hot cocoa again, and brooded sourly as he glowered down into his mug. It was too cold outside and yet his hot cocoa was much too hot for him. Nothing seemed to feel right anymore. Ever since Dumbledore had died...

No, he wouldn't think about that.

Harry sat his hot cocoa down onto the coffee table with a bang. A very loud bang, in fact. An extremely loud bang, actually. He looked over to the door, only to feel a sudden burst of icy wind, making him topple backwards onto the couch from the severe winter wind. Neville, from the shock, accidentally conjured a large, puffy coat, which seemed to blow up out of nowhere and surround him. Lupin leapt out of his seat from the cold and jumped over to Tonks, throwing his robe on her with a smooth grace that should've been physically impossible.

"Bug off, Remus, a bit of cold isn't going to kill me," Tonks grumbled as she tried to wriggle out of the robe. "I get injured just a bit and you go barmy on me."

Lupin, however, stoutly refused. "No, I can't have that..." And they continued to bicker under their breaths while Fleur examined her nails.

Harry sat up slowly, his glasses pushed onto his forehead from falling backwards so quickly. He growled irritably (today just hadn't been a good day) and looked around the room. Everything was so blurry. Cursing his bad vision in his mind, he fixed his glasses and blinked a few times. A loud squeal in his right ear startled him, and he cringed the same amount as Ron did. Red hair shot past Harry in a blur.

"Luna, I didn't know if you could make it!" Ginny shrieked. Any anger she felt towards Harry or Ron had evaporated. "I'm so glad you came!"

"Oh," Luna said as she brushed snow off her shoulder, "Daddy wasn't sure about the nargles, but I convinced him that your house was decontaminated. I explained how we did that this past summer."

Ginny beamed and nodded her head feverishly while she took a few presents out of Luna's hands. "Oh, yes, that was fun."

Harry had to agree; "decontaminating" the Burrow of any nargles and anymore other-worldly creatures had almost been more exciting than Lupin's Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. They'd run around with spray bottles filled with water and lemon juice ("It's the poison for the creatures," Luna had told them while he helped her fix up the spray bottles, "they don't like lemon juice because it's too sour."), shrieking with laughter and spraying each other all over the Burrow. Up the stairs, down the stairs, jumping over the stairs, on the couch, out the door, spraying Luna while she sprayed the house, and having her dump a bottle's entire contents on his head... It had been so much fun that he'd almost forgot about the Horcruxes. Almost, but not quite.

"Neville, is that you?" Luna peered at the circle fluffy-jacket that consumed Neville. A muffled reply came. "I think you got a few sizes too big." She waved her wand, and the jacket diminished greatly, making it look normal. Neville gave a sigh of relief. "There, that's better."

"Luna Lovegood, I can't believe you came in this weather!" Hermione stood in the doorway of the kitchen, covered with blotches of food spatter, with her hands on her hips, wearing a messy apron and a smile on her dirty face. She dashed over to the girl, careful not to step on anything, and hugged Luna as presents wobbled in the air dangerously. "You never cease to amaze me."

The dreamy smile never left Luna's face.

A sudden, burning sensation flooded Harry's stomach; it was the type of feeling he'd got right before his first Quidditch match ever and his first Quidditch practice as the with captaincy. He jumped to his feet and walked over to Luna, taking the rest of the many presents out in mid-air, allowing her to disengage the Levitating Charm that was on them.

"Thank you, Harry, I was beginning to wonder if I'd have to carry all of these by myself," Luna said with a smile (Harry's face burned behind the wrapped presents, and he was very thankful for the cover). "I didn't know where to put them."

"Under the tree, of course," Ginny announced, placing the three presents she'd snatched, "but, as you can see, it's a little busy this year" - there was nowhere near any room underneath the tree, counting all the presents from Fleur's family, too - "so it's just next to it now."

Harry stepped over the chessboard and dropped a few presents. He swore, making Hermione snap at him, and somehow tried to catch the present with his feet, only making the rest of the presents he was holding topple onto him. Ron caught the few he'd dropped, but the rest... Harry sat up straight in the pile of presents he was stuck in and sighed exasperatedly. Ginny's very blurry figure was giggling while Hermione's slightly clearer shape was hastily picking up the presents. Ron was rolling on the floor laughing, after having placed the presents he'd caught next to the rest.

"Don't worry, mate," Ron chuckled, "you don't know how many times I've done that before."

Somehow, Ron's statement didn't comfort Harry any, but it calmed him down a little to know that the Weasleys had seen something like this before.

Harry pulled his glasses back down to his eyes, only to find that they were cracked. He'd just got new glasses for his birthday from Hermione; they were special glasses, too. With all the spells they had on them, you'd think they'd be indestructible, but she'd accidentally forgotten about that. Through cracked glasses, Harry looked at the many Lunas and apologized: "I'm sorry, Luna; I hope nothing was breakable."

"Oh, nothing that can't be fixed," Luna replied coolly. Harry's face began to burn again; he sometimes wished she wouldn't be so blunt, but he'd never liked anything but the truth before so he wasn't sure why he wasn't complaining. "Your glasses can be fixed, too, you know." With a simple wave of her wand, Harry found that his glasses had been renewed, just the way Hermione had made them the first time he'd met her. She turned to Ginny. "Where should I put this?"

Luna held out a small suitcase. Harry raised his eyebrows.

"In my room," Ginny replied. "Do you need me to show you where it is?"

"No, thank you, Ginny, I remember where your room is," Luna said.

Harry jumped to his feet. "Here, Luna; I'll carry that up for you," he blurted out.

Luna looked back at him unblinkingly; he struggled to not to pink. "Would you?"

"Well, it looks a bit...heavy," Harry muttered lamely. He then promptly wondered what in the world he was doing, but before he could think of a proper answer, he'd taken Luna's suitcase and started for the stairs.

"Dinner will be ready in five minutes, Harry, Luna!" Hermione called from next to Ron as she took her apron off. "Mrs. Weasley's really outdone herself this time!"

"Hermione, please," Ron said, "she's always outdone herself, but she must've done a lot more with your help."

The rest of Ron and Hermione's conversation faded away to the wind that was heard in the stairwell. Even with the wind howling in his ear, he could somehow hear every footstep he and Luna made as they traipsed up the stairs. Step, a one quickly after his, another step, another quick step of Luna's to follow... The repetition of the stepping on the stairs rang in Harry's ears, and he was reminded of the beat of a drum...of the beat of his heart.

"So what's this for?" Harry asked, unable to stand the silence anymore.

"I'm staying here," Luna replied automatically.

"Staying here?" Harry couldn't explain the burning sensation in his stomach or the way his voice went into a higher pitch suddenly.

"Yes, that's what I'm doing," Luna said coolly, either not noticing Harry's voice change or not caring to mention it. He was thankful, any way it was. "Daddy's gone to St. Mungos - two days ago, actually."

The first thing that came out of Harry's mouth was "I'm sorry," and he never thought he could regret something so small so much. He looked down at his feet with a glare, angrily, like they had caused him to say something stupid. But when he glanced back at her, she was smiling vaguely.

"It's fine; Daddy just doesn't take the winter very well," she told him. "Ah, this is Ginny's room."

Oh, he knew it was Ginny's room, all right, although he'd much rather not like to mention it right now. Something about Luna always made him feel guilty for every little thing he'd done; he felt like he had to be such a good person when around Luna that it was mad. He'd never felt like that around anyone else. It wasn't like he couldn't be himself (he knew that Luna wasn't asking him to be any different), but he felt like he could be...like he could be the best he could be when around her and not feel like a goodie-two-shoe. It was a really good feeling, but one that he wasn't used to.

After putting Luna's suitcase beside Ginny's bed, they raced down the stairs to see who could get into the kitchen first. Surprisingly, Luna won since she was able to slip underneath Harry's arms. Panting, he walked into the kitchen - where they were to eat dinner - Luna was already sitting down in her seat properly next to Ginny and Hermione. He sat down between Ron and Fred.

Dinner was a very fun affair. Everyone chattered loudly, laughing and having a great time. Harry talked with the twins, feeling better than he had been in the living room just minutes before. He figured it might had something to do with Luna, who seemed to have an impeccable ability to lighten the spirit, but maybe it was the fact that Mrs. Weasley was a superb cook, too. Fred was telling a joke when Harry gave Luna a sideways glance, but couldn't catch her eye, which put him out. After Fred's joke, however, Harry forgot all about it and continued to laugh with the rest of them who had been listening.

~*~

The next morning was cold and bitter. It just didn't feel like Christmas to Harry, who knew that they'd be leaving soon to return to their Horcrux hunting; there wasn't much to look forward to in the bleak future, and nothing felt right inside him. Christmas was supposed to be a time for joy and happiness, not gloom and doom. He supposed that he dwelled on things too much, but after waking up from a nightmare about Voldemort taking the last Horcrux from right underneath his nose, Harry didn't know how he couldn't dwell.

Opening one eye, Harry blurrily spotted that Ron was waking up, too. Perfect timing. He opened the other eye and stretched as far as he could, hands pushing against the wall and feet hanging over the caught. He yawned broadly and then popped up, rubbing his eyes and putting his glasses on sloppily. After surveying the foot of his bed groggily, where he'd accidentally knocked a present from, he looked over to Ron.

"Merry Christmas, Ron."

"Happy Christmas, Harry."

Both of them promptly attacked their haul with a feverish passion. Wrapping paper was thrown all over Ron's bedroom, shouts of joy, and cringes of humiliation popped up throughout the opening of their presents. Feeling pleasant again, after eyeing the towering stack of good Christmas presents, Harry leaned against the wall and sighed. It had to be early in the morning and his bare feet were already freezing.

"Harry," Ron blurted, right after swallowing his chocolate frog (Ron had been getting a lot better at his manners, something Harry seemed to be forgetting as time wore on). He sat a small book down.

Harry opened his eyes to look at him. "Yeah?"

"What's that?" Ron nodded to an unopened present, the tip of it sticking out from underneath Harry's bed almost unnoticeably.

Harry raised his eyebrows, intrigued, and pulled the small present out from underneath the bed. He felt the weight of it in his hands and looked at it at every angle, turning it around and around in his hands. "I don't know," he said. "I wonder who it's from..."

"Well open it!" Ron exclaimed excitedly.

"It won't hurt anything, I guess..." Harry opened the present slowly. He set the wrapping paper next to him and held the present in his hands, staring down at it in confusion; there was a funny feeling in his stomach, like it was something familiar. A small card fell onto the ground at his feet; it caught his eyes. Wanting an explanation, he sat it down, leaving it in the clear for Ron to gape at it, and Harry picked up the small card, flipping it around so he could read.

How are you, Harry? I hope you're doing well. I know I am; the holidays are always a nice time of the year. However, I do wish it wouldn't be so cold; it does ruin my gardening experiments.

Daddy has kept this for a very long time; he's been doing a lot of research since I was four. He stopped when my mother died, but after Albus Dumbledore's death, he resumed his work. He wanted to publish a book on the effects of death on children. Two days ago, I asked if I could give this to you; after all, it is rightfully yours. It's your stuffed teddy bear that was in your old home in Godric's Hollow.

Merry Christmas,

Luna Lovegood

"Harry...?" Ron's voice was weak and uncertain, something that was unusual for any Christmas morning. Harry gulped and slowly looked up to connect eyes with his best friend. "Harry...what is it?"

"It's..." Harry closed his eyes and then rubbed his head. It shouldn't be allowed to pound this early in the morning. His hands fell to the ground limply. "It's a stuffed bear, one of my toys when I was a baby, from my home in Godric's Hollow - the one that Voldemort blew up."

Ron gawked in awe at the stuffed animal that lay innocently on the carpet floor between them. For minutes, both of them stared at it, unable to say or do anything. At first, it had seemed so far-fetched that Harry had immediately associated it with Luna (although he felt bad about doing that), but now that he knew what it was, it was so incredible that he had to associate it with her again.

"That sure tops my present to you," Ron finally said.

~*~

There was a loud shriek from the living room and then a loud thump. Standing next together, squashed in the stairwell, Harry and Ron turned their heads to each other, grinned, and raced down the stairs, pushing against each other and jumping over the last few stairs. The sight that greeted them in the living room should've been infectious, but as soon as he stepped inside the room, the smile on Harry's face began to fade.

Something wasn't right, Harry knew it, but he said nothing of it as he stepped inside the room. He shot a glance at Ron, who merely shrugged his shoulders. Mrs. Weasley swooped in on them immediately, pulling Ron into a bone crushing hug.

"Mum - can't - breathe!"

"Oh, Ron," Mrs. Weasley muttered, giving him a large, watery smile. She then hugged Harry warmly and then stepped back to give them both a good look-over, hands on her hips. "Merry Christmas, you two; I suppose you were both happy with the load this year."

"It was lovely, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, smiling back at her. She sighed happily and then sat down next to Mr. Weasley.

Hermione gave them such a wide smile that Harry was sure her face would split in two. "Happy Christmas!"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "What's-?"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Hermione had leapt to her feet and tackled Ron, throwing her arms around him and shoving him into the wall accidentally. Many people laughed. "Oh, Ron, I can't believe you! You're just so-so-"

"Bloody brilliant?" Ron offered with a grin.

"Don't swear," Hermione said immediately, "but yes...yes, you are."

While Hermione hugged him, Harry saw Ron mouthing the same words over and over again: "Thank you." Turning his head to the right, he saw Lupin sitting on the couch next to Tonks, grinning.

"What did Ron give you, Hermione?" Harry asked once she'd calmed down.

"You know the book I've been writing since fifth year?" Hermione was glowing; Harry had to admit that he'd missed the feverish glow on her face, like when she would learn something new at Hogwarts faster than anyone else.

He nodded his head; she had starting writing in their third year and then it had carried on into something more. She'd never let anyone read it until a few months ago when Ron had read it every night after she'd fallen asleep as a birthday present (she'd been furious with him at first, but touched by what he'd done and had forgiven him almost immediately). Harry had never seen any of it himself.

"I still can't believe you didn't let me read it," Ginny put in.

"Anyways," Hermione began again, "somehow, Ron got it published!"

"Wow, Hermione, that's wonderful," Harry grinned.

"I know, isn't it?" Hermione slowly sat down on the ground next to Ginny, grasping on the book in her hands tightly. Ron sat down next to her on the ground, pulling her hand behind their backs, and leaned against the couch. She looked up at him, still smiling. "What did you get, Harry?"

The stuffed bear came to mind.

"Oh, um, a lot of great stuff," Harry muttered, looking down at his feet like he was trying to find a place to sit down. Ginny patted to the floor next to her; he sat down by the tree closer to Luna. After a long time, the talking picked up again, and Harry sipped on the hot apple cider Fleur handed him as she passed (Mrs. Weasley had made it). Next to him, Luna flicked through a book of fanciful, magical creatures Hermione had given her.

Harry leaned over to her. "Luna?" he whispered.

Luna looked over to him and gave him a smile. "Hello, Harry," she said. "How are you?"

"Just fine," Harry replied hastily. "Listen; I...I wanted to talk with you" - he glanced around the very crowded living room and then looked back to her - "alone, please."

"All right," Luna said, "but we mustn't take too long or we'll miss the Borilous."

"The what?"

Luna chuckled. "The Borilous, Harry, it's something that happens every Christmas morning - very pretty. I used to watch it with my mother; Daddy doesn't get up earlier enough to see it."

"Fine, fine, we'll be in time to see it, no problem," Harry told her, not even thinking about it. He gave her a weak smile. "Let's talk in the, er, kitchen, shall we - you know, where it's quiet?"

Luna nodded her head and stood up, smoothing her dressing gown down.

Harry stood up, too, and looked around the room anxiously. "Er, does anyone else want anymore apple cider while we get some more?" He glanced down at the cup in his hands that was only half empty; hastily, he tossed the rest of it in his mouth and then wiped it off with his sleeve. When he spotted Luna's glass, he saw that it was already empty. His mouth twitched upwards nervously, and he pointedly ignored the tiny frown on Ginny's face.

"I'd like some, Harry," Neville said. "I don't have a glass."

"Sure, Neville, I'll get you some," Harry replied. "It's really good."

"We'd like some more, Harry, if you don't mind," Lupin said, lifting his and Tonk's empty glasses in the air.

Harry stepped over a few things, reached, and grabbed the two cups. "Not at all." He walked back over to Luna carefully.

"Oh, Harry, I can get it myself," Tonks muttered as she moved to get up.

"No, no, Tonks, I'll get it; I'm already up," Harry told her. Lupin gently pushed her back down into the couch while she continued to grumble under her breath. Harry turned to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. "Do you need anymore to drink?"

Mrs. Weasley looked over to her husband. "No, dear, I think we're quite all right." She gave him a smile.

"All right," Harry mumbled, and then he turned around to face Luna. He nodded his head to her; she spun on her heel and tramped into the kitchen as she whistled cheerfully. He walked in after her and made sure to close the door quietly. Once in the kitchen, he turned around to face her, sighed, and sat the glasses on the counter noisily.

"So, Harry," she said as she filled her glass up with more apple cider, "what is it that you wanted to talk with me about? I daresay, we must hurry, if we're not going to miss the Borilous."

"It won't take long, Luna, I promise," Harry replied as he handed her Lupin's glass.

Luna looked back at him with a vague smile. "You make so many promises, Harry," she said. He turned pink and looked down at his feet. "How do you make sure you keep them all? Do you write them down somewhere?"

He looked back up at her quickly and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know how I keep them; I just...try my best, that's all."

"It must be hard to remember all those promises," Luna intoned as she poured apple cider into Lupin's glass.

"Luna," Harry said, remembering why he was here, "I wanted to ask you..." He rubbed his head again; he wished it wouldn't hurt so much on Christmas. "I wanted to ask you about the present you gave me."

Luna looked back at him with a smile and handed him Lupin's full glass. "I was going to give you brand new photos of the Crumpled Snorcack, you know, but decided that I could use them for the next edition of the Quibbler instead. Did you like it?"

"Yes!" The excited look on his face slipped off and turned into a calm one again. "I mean...yes, I did like it. But I was wondering: Where did you get it? That place was destroyed years ago!"

"Didn't you know?" Luna ogled him when he shook his head, looking confused. "Many people took bits of and from your home and sold them, like they were trophies or artefacts, you know; they were priced very high. My mother bought a few and then shut down the whole thing. It was awful of them, don't you think?"

Harry's eyes widened. "People sold stuff from my house - parts of my home - after all that had happened there?"

Luna nodded her head and filled up Tonk's glass. "Oh, yes, there were a lot of things from your home on the black supermarket1 and those things were priced very expensively; the biggest seller was items that stayed intact, like pictures. Then other people stole shards of broken wood - strange things like that."

"People stole pictures from my home?" Harry felt like hitting something, but the only thing he could look at was Luna, and he had no desire to harm her in any way possible. In fact, the more she continued to gaze at him unblinkingly, head titled, the more Harry calmed down. "Why would they do something like that?"

Luna shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure; I'm not them, you see."

Harry opened his mouth, but then closed it quickly. He looked down at his feet, brow furrowed, as he gave way to the mental pictures of people nicking things from a destroyed house. They were all wrong - he knew that much - but he couldn't help but picture a burning people and many people at a time stealing toys, pictures, and broken shards of wood. It gave him a headache; it made him want to throw something; it evoked more hate towards Voldemort than what should be allowed for the "Chosen One". And he didn't give a care.

"I thought you might want it back," Luna blurted. Harry looked up at her quickly. "I'm afraid my mother kept a messy room; I couldn't find anymore of your belongings that my mother came across. When I find them, I'll give them back to-"

"You keep them, Luna," Harry interrupted.

Luna blinked once. "Keep them?"

"Yeah...yeah." Harry nodded his head slowly and then looked down to the floor as he pocketed his hands. "Keep anything else you find, okay? You know, just in case something...happens."

"Something always happens, Harry," Luna told him.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I guess so."

They stood there in silence, Luna watching him and him looking at the floor solemnly. She turned around and filled another glass with apple cider. Harry raised his eyes and watched as she pushed the glass over to him and put the apple cider up. She picked up her glass, Neville's, and Tonk's up awkwardly and started to head for the living room.

"Luna, wait a minute-" Harry touched her elbow. Luna stopped and looked back at him. "Listen, Luna; I'm sorry - I didn't get you anything. I didn't know you were coming over; otherwise I would've gotten you something. How can I make it up to you?"

"Make it up to me?" Luna looked at him curiously, completely still, as if she was frozen in time.

"Yeah, I have to make it up to you somehow," Harry explained. "I mean...it's Christmas, isn't it?"

"Actually, there's a speculation that we're behind the true date because people in the government don't want us to know that the apocalypse is near," Luna pointed out. Harry's eyes widened, even though he tried to stop them. She smiled at him. "But only some people believe that. I don't think the apocalypse is that close."

"Really - you don't?" Harry didn't want to sound foolish, even though he had been; it had never occurred to him that Luna might not believe in something. She believed in so many things that he never realized that something might be too outrageous for her to believe - maybe too normal for her to believe. "I've always thought that it was pretty soon."

"It's not."

"How do you know?"

Luna titled her head again, watching him, and then smiled. "You're a good wizard, Harry; you should figure it out." She turned around again.

"Luna-" Harry grabbed her elbow gently this time, and she looked back at him. "How can I-?"

"Would you like to watch the Borilous with me, Harry?" Luna asked. "It's not really as good when you watch it alone, but my father isn't here and Ginny is busy talking with the twins about getting a job in there job this summer."

Harry let go of her arm and found himself saying, "I'd love to watch it with you, Luna."

Before he knew it, Luna was out of the room, and he was left standing in the kitchen alone silently. He leaned against the counter, watching the door, and then looked down at his feet with a shadow of a smile on his face. Christmas wasn't that bad anymore, honestly. In fact, Harry found today to be much more pleasant than the days he'd spent at the Burrow this past week. He grabbed his and Lupin's glasses of apple cider and walked into the living room.


Author notes: Thank you for reading.

Wow, my first H/L story… I have to say, I had a lot of fun with this.