Summer at the Burrow

Harry gazed out at the deserted hillside in confusion. He was sure the glow from Luna's wand would be visible even at this distance, but there was no sign...where was she??

He rested his elbows on the windowsill and leaned out further, gazing out at the surrounding countryside. There was a slight glow emanating from behind the ridgeline, where the village of Ottery St. Catchpole lay several miles away. The area around the Burrow itself was by now quite dark, however, and there was no sign of a glowing wand anywhere in sight.

He drew back inside. She couldn't have made it back to the house already, he knew. Harry had only just arrived himself. A nagging concern began to grow within him.

Why did I leave her there?

He looked at his bed. He knew he would not gain a minute's sleep until he knew she was safe.

His apprehension grew. Why would she have left so suddenly? She'd seemed perfecty content to just sit there and read the night away, after all. Maybe she hadn't left of her own accord...

He briefly considered running downstairs and organizing a search party, but quickly decided against it. If there was something nefarious at work out there somewhere, he'd be dragging his friends into the line of fire once again. No, the only life he would imperil this day would be his own.

He straightened up and quickly made his decision. He would go out in search of Luna on his own.

He glanced at Hedwig's empty cage; she was still out hunting. He could use her eyes right about now, but he couldn't wait for her to return. Pigwidgeon's cage was likewise deserted.

He retrieved his wand from the nightstand and made his way downstairs, every step seeming to creak with irritating clarity. Thankfully, the commotion in the kitchen had not abated, a series of arguments layering one atop the other providing ample auditory camouflage, enabling Harry to slink quietly past. He made his way through the family room and left the house through the back door.

He emerged into the cool night air and gazed at the sloping hill in the distance. There was nothing for it, he decided; it was as good a place as any to begin his search.

He lit his wand to avoid the Bollywoggle holes as he made his way back up the slope to the old apple tree, its gnarled branches splayed out as though acting as a lone sentinel atop the hillside. He knelt down at its base where he and Luna had been sitting just a short time before.

He sighed with relief. There were no torn grasses or gouges in the earth to indicate a struggle, and the absence of The Quibbler was further evidence she'd at least taken care to bring it along with her. Wherever that was, however, was still a mystery.

He stood up and looked around. There were no clues to guide him as to where she might have vanished, the only place he could safely rule out at the moment being the Burrow itself.

But she couldn't have walked very far in the few minutes that had elapsed. There were numerous clumps of trees scattered about the area, but none so thick as to conceal a glowing wand, in Harry's opinion. Might she have turned it off?

There was a fair-sized forest on the far side of the hill, however, even though it seemed unlikely to him that anyone in their right mind would go wandering off there at this hour.

He considered calling out. He debated using the Sonorus charm as an amplifier, though this was fraught with risk. While the Ministry turned a blind eye to underage wizards casting simple cantrips such as Lumos and Nox, other, more powerful spells might bring about some very unwanted attention. The last thing he wanted was another hearing at the Wizengamot!

He decided instead to concentrate his search to the nearby thickets; perhaps Luna had simply finished her reading and had gone off exploring. Why she would choose to do so in the dark, however, was something he would have to ask her.

He'd spent the better part of a half hour wandering from bush to thicket, without success. He found nothing larger than a quail for his trouble, which in fact had just about given him the fright of his life by waiting until Harry was almost on top of it before abruptly taking off in a frantic flutter of short but powerful wing-beats. Harry had staggered backwards and pointed his wand at his imaginary assailant for several moments before he realized he was facing off with an old fence post.

He paused for a moment to regain his senses, still breathing heavily. There was no place near the Burrow left to search. He'd seen a light emanating from inside the wooden shack behind the house, but a peek inside had revealed only Mr. Weasley enthusiastically dissecting an old electric stand mixer, with no Luna in sight.

He looked at the hill looming in the distance. Would Luna have wandered off into the woods beyond? It hardly seemed likely, but then standard logic did not seem to apply where the young Ravenclaw was concerned. There was only one way to find out for certain.

He hesitated...what if the Weasleys were to think he was missing, too? He should at least tell them something so they wouldn't go off searching for him.

He reopened the shed door. "Um...excuse me, Mr. Weasley?"

The red-haired patriarch turned around and beamed at him. "Blimey, Harry! Didn't hear you there. Come in, come in - "

"Er...well..."

Harry shuffled in a few steps. The workbench was littered with so many mechanical bits and pieces that there wasn't so much as a hand's breath of its wooden surface to be seen. One corner held at least a good half dozen battered old toasters. The walls and rafters were likewise cluttered with old housewares, some apparently in fair condition, others much less so, many having been reassembled less than successfully. Harry couldn't understand how anyone could have such a passion for things which he saw as so utterly mundane.

"Good to see you up and about there, Harry. Have a look at this, will you? It's amazing what Muggles come up with, isn't it?" said Mr Weasley with all the enthusiasm of a child on Christmas morning. He held up a small electric motor that Harry assumed had once driven the mixer. "I'm telling you, Harry, the days where Muggles were at a hopeless disadvantage are fast drawing to an end, in my view. Did you know this thing can whip up a meringue almost as fast as one of Molly's charms can? I'd love to test it out myself, though, but we'd have to hook up the house to all that electrical grid stuff they've got going. Ministry wouldn't look too kindly on that though, I'm afraid. Fascinating stuff, electricity, isn't it?"

Harry forced a small smile. "Yeah, I suppose," he said rather unenthusiastically. He'd often seen Aunt Petunia use a mixer back at Privet Drive, and electricity was no more mysterious to him than the shoes on his own feet. He took a deep breath before pressing on: "I, er, just wanted to let somebody know, I'm going out for a walk, so I might not be back for awhile. Don't wait up."

Arthur Weasley's enthusiastic countenance was quickly replaced by one of concern. "At this hour, Harry? Everything all right?"

"Yeah," said Harry a bit too quickly, but he didn't want to get drawn into another conversation. "I just slept a lot today, so..."

He took a hesitant step backwards and opened the door.

"Well, if you're sure," said Mr. Weasley carefully. "Probably best if you didn't wander too far from the house, though. Dumbledore said - "

Harry's mood darkened. "No, I'll be fine," he said a bit tersely as he emerged once more into the darkness, the wooden door clanking shut behind him. He didn't like being rude to Arthur Weasley; he hadn't smothered Harry with the overwhelming concern Molly had, for which Harry had been silently thankful. Still, there was no denying he was just as worried as the rest of the Burrow's inhabitants, even if he didn't show it overtly.

Harry marched off to the top of the hill, past the apple tree and then slowly descended the gentle incline of the far slope, coming to stand before the looming treeline. He stared at the gap in the woods where a worn trail led within. He wondered - would Luna have entered through here? Somehow she didn't appear the type to follow a predefined path; she seemed to prefer blazing her own trails.

But Harry had never ventured into this forest before, and so decided it would be prudent to stay on the beaten path, at least for now.

He took a deep breath and trudged into the woods. While it was a clear and cloudless night with a brightly glowing moon, the leafy canopy ensured that the moonlight trickled down only in scattered bits, creating a speckled mosaic of silvery light that might have been lovely if Harry had been in a mind to appreciate it. As it was, the unfamiliar surroundings combined with Luna's unknown fate engendered a growing unease within him.

A minute later he berated himself. This wasn't the Forbidden Forest, here; these woods held none of the dangerous creatures which he'd encountered at Hogwarts, surely!

Still, he was completely unfamiliar with these woods. Could there nevertheless be unknown dangers lurking within? There was no way to be certain. The trees, at least, didn't seem to mind his presence, unlike their ominous cousins at Hogwarts.

A breeze picked up. A nearby hoot made him jump. He looked to the branches overhead but couldn't identify its source. He held his breath and waited for several moments. The hoot didn't repeat; in fact, there was silence except for the crickets and the leaves gently rustling in the breeze.

"Hedwig?"

No answer. He supposed it might be just a regular owl...at least, he hoped that's all it was.

He made his way deeper into the woods. The path was fast becoming quite overgrown, making it increasingly difficult to discern the trail from the natural forest floor. Clearly, few people had trekked this far into the backwoods. Still, he couldn't turn back now. At least he took solace in the fact he couldn't really get lost; he could always use his wand to point the way North if he became truly desperate.

Which would be the only way to orient himself really, as he glanced up at the stars overhead. He could barely identify the stellar constellations at the best of times; with the twinkling heavens heavily obscured by the treetops above, it would be nigh impossible.

His foot caught on something hard and unyielding and he stumbled forward, crashing to the ground and hitting his knee painfully, his wand falling from his grasp.

"Cripes," he muttered angrily before rolling over into a sitting position, gritting his teeth as he rubbed his throbbing knee. While painful, it didn't appear to be a severe injury, at least. He grabbed his wand and shook it free of leaves before crawling forward to inspect what had so brusquely caused his tumble.

It was a rock outcropping, sticking up from the forest floor and very inconveniently placed as it turned out, smack in the middle of the path. Or at least, where he'd imagined the path to be, as it was becoming quite difficult to discern. He made a mental note to remember this rock on the return trip, lest he should trip on it again. He pushed himself up, brushed off some leaves and twigs, and moved on.

And quickly came across a second outcrop, larger and longer than the first.

He crouched down and frowned, holding his wand close to the ground. This was no natural rock formation -

He traced his fingers along the worn stone. This had been the foundation of a wall, dating several centuries the looks of it. While mildly interesting, investigating an ancient habitation was not what he'd come here to do. He drew himself up.

And almost immediately came across several more stone ruins, one of which was a cracked and crumbling three-tiered step, whilst another was a fair-sized chunk of wall, running parallel to the path for a good dozen yards and reaching almost to chest height in places. Vines snaked up its sides all along. Whatever this had once been, it had obviously been abandoned ages ago, at the very least. He wondered if he should make mention of it to Hermione; perhaps she might have a theory of what might have once stood here. Or maybe the Weasleys, seeing as it wasn't terribly far from the Burrow. But then, neither Ron nor Ginny had ever made mention of it that Harry could recall.

A sound caught his ear. It was brief, lasting only a few seconds, but it sounded like a conversation somewhere off in the distance, muffled and rendered unintelligible by the rustling leaves, but definitely there -

Was it Luna? Who might she be talking to if it was? What if it was someone else entirely?

Harry extinguished his wand; until he identified the source, he didn't think it wise to give his presence away. He slowly walked off in the direction he'd heard the voices.

He'd wandered off the trail for only a minute or so when he gradually became aware of a soft melodic humming permeating the forest. Not loud at all, in fact he had to remain perfectly still in order to hear it, yet the cool night air appeared to carry the ethereal melody with a life all its own. Could it possibly be Luna? It sounded strangely beguiling, whatever it was...

Harry pressed on. He glimpsed a faint glow through the trees up ahead. He slowed his pace and quietened his footfalls. He slowly drew closer, coming to stand behind a stand of tall grasses and wildflowers. He drew a sharp breath - there was movement right ahead. He quickly crouched down behind the greenery and peered through the thin stalks at an astonishing sight.

There was a clearing before him; or rather, a small meadow, the scarcity of trees allowing plunging beams of silvery moonlight through to the forest floor, highlighting the gently floating flowery tufts being carried about the woods by the gentle breeze. In the treetops overhead, Harry could make out a good number of tiny, softly glowing lights fluttering about, gloworms he assumed, though he found it odd that the whole spectrum of the rainbow seemed represented in their number. The only gloworms he'd ever seen radiated a uniform, greenish hue.

Scattered around the meadow were several more overgrown ruins, one of which stood tall enough so that it still held a vaulted opening where a window might have once been, if glass even existed when this place was built.

What mostly drew his attention, however, was the sight of Luna, bathed in the glow of her stellar namesake, twirling around in slow, vague circles around the meadow, arms outstretched and with a look of serene bliss on her face. There was no longer any doubt - she was the source of the melodic humming he'd heard.

But what was she doing, exactly? Her gentle humming was quite unlike 'Weasley Is Our King'; soft and exquisite, it sounded strangely celestial to his ears. And that odd dance -

The ethereal humming suddenly ceased. Luna was frozen in mid stride, her arms still held out parallel to the ground. Harry crouched lower behind the thicket. For a moment, he thought that even the crickets had ceased their rickety chirping.

Luna spun around abruptly, her long dirty blonde hair flying through the air and obscuring her face. As it settled back, Harry saw her large silvery eyes looking in his general direction, all pretense of song and dance now abandoned. Harry drew a sharp breath and tensed...had he made some sound? Stepped on a twig? He glanced up; the glowing lights were nowhere to be seen.

He looked back down at Luna; he was certain she couldn't see him, concealed as he was in the thickets. And yet -

Luna was standing absolutely still, save for one pale hand which was slowly drifting up towards the wand tucked behind her ear. Her delicate fingers hesitated for a moment -

Her gaze was now focused almost exactly on Harry's thicket. Harry held his breath and remained absolutely still.

Her hand slowly drifted back down to her side, wandless. she continued to stare at Harry's position, however, and so he didn't dare move, barely allowing himself the minor luxury of breathing again.

A thought occurred to him...why was he hiding, exactly? He'd come out here to find her, after all.

But then, he'd gotten the distinct impression he'd intruded on something...well, unexplainable, really. In fact, he really didn't know what to do at the moment, but suddenly popping out of the bushes and revealing his presence didn't seem to be the best choice. He decided to wait; surely Luna would leave soon. Perhaps he could follow her back at a discreet distance until he was satisfied she was safe.

Unfortunately, however, Luna wasn't cooperating with his plan. Ten minutes elapsed and his aching legs were berating him for his now obviously flawed strategy. Luna still hadn't moved, hadn't even blinked, in fact, by the looks of it, continuing to stare intently in his direction. Harry began to fidget. He couldn't stay in this position much longer -

Another ten minutes and his burning legs were screaming for surrender. Luna was standing as still as Godric Gryffindor's statue, her silvery eyes wide and unblinking. Harry silently cursed himself for getting himself into this predicament. He couldn't withdraw without being seen, but conversely, he couldn't remain in his current position either. Worse, Luna showed no signs of wanting to shift her gaze in another direction. It slowly began to dawn on Harry that she would wait as long as was necessary.

He couldn't keep still any longer. He shifted his right leg -

"Harry?"

Harry gasped. Luna's head was tilted slightly to one side, her first movement since she'd fixed her eyes upon him. Well, there was no use trying to conceal himself any longer...

He drew up slowly, his cramping knees throbbing painfully.

"Um...hi," said Harry sheepishly.

"Hello Harry," said Luna softly, "why are you hiding?"

"Er, I...I was just...well..."

He took a deep breath. "To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure myself..."

She slowly walked up to him. Harry noticed her hair was even more dishevelled than usual, and was strewn with several varieties of local wildflowers.

"Well, it is a nice night for a walk," she said, her dreamy voice holding no trace of displeasure at Harry's presence. She gazed back at him for a moment. "But you didn't come out here for that, I imagine..."

Harry shook his head. There was no use being coy about it now -

"I saw you were gone when I got to the house," he said. "I thought that, maybe...something might've happened..."

Luna's large misty eyes gazed at him curiously. "Oh. Well, you needn't have worried, Harry," she said casually. "It's quite safe here, actually. You just have to watch your step in places."

"Yeah," agreed Harry, rubbing his bruised knee, "I noticed."

He was intensely relieved to see Luna didn't seem at all upset; she smiled and drifted off towards an old stone wall that had crumbled to little more than waist height ages ago, judging from the vines and outgrowth around it. Harry circled around and looked back at the thicket he'd been hiding behind. It certainly appeared like an ideal hiding place to him.

"How'd you know it was me?" he asked.

Luna turned and stared at him blankly. "Your glasses were reflecting the moonlight," she said sagely, pointing to the Moon high above.

"Eh? You knew all the time?" exclaimed Harry.

"Well, I suspected," amended Luna. "But I was fairly certain though. I don't know many people who wear spectacles."

"Cripes, and here I was...how long were you going to wait?"

Luna smiled. Harry understood her unspoken answer.

He wandered around the meadow, taking in the scattered and overgrown ruins. "What is this place, anyway?"

"I'm not entirely certain, really," answered Luna after a moment's pause, "but it is nice, isn't it? It feels a bit familiar somehow."

Harry turned to her. "You've come here before?"

Luna wasn't looking at him. She'd moved off to one of the low lying ruins and was gently trailing several pale fingers along its worn and crumbling surface. She was silent for so long that Harry wondered if she'd even heard him.

"No," she said at last, looking strangely pensive, "but it is familiar..."

She suddenly turned back to Harry. "You didn't play Quidditch today."

Harry blinked. Luna could change directions so unexpectedly -

"Um...no..."

Luna nodded solemnly, continuing to gaze at him.

Harry's aching legs needed a rest. He sat down heavily on the old wall Luna had drifted off to earlier, rubbing his injured knee, Luna waiting a few moments before coming to join him. Once again she sat unusually close, although for some reason this didn't unsettle Harry, there being nothing at all forward about her manner. She reached down at her feet and picked out a tiny purple wildflower whose species Harry couldn't recognize.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" said Luna softly, pinching the stem and slowly turning the petals around.

Harry took a deep breath. "Yeah, it's nice...I just...I don't think I'll be getting back to Quidditch this year," he said morosely, in response to her earlier statement. "I've got too many things on my mind..."

Luna turned to gaze at him. Harry kept his eyes firmly rivetted on the tips of his battered trainers.

"You're worried he can still see through you," voiced Luna softly. "That Voldemort fellow, I mean?"

Harry tensed. How had she - well, probably through Ginny...

"I...I think about it, yeah..."

Luna regarded him serenely, as though this possibility didn't worry her in the least.

"You're worried you might lose your friends," she suddenly voiced. "That's why you're pushing them away."

Harry's jaw dropped. She hadn't asked it as a question, she'd stated it simply as an understood fact.

"But...I'm not..."

Luna smiled and went back to observing her flower.

Harry looked at her. She seemed so calm, so serene -

The moonlight was bathing her in a glow that made her seem oddly ethereal, almost ghostlike, really, although for all that infinitely more tangible.

He decided to take a chance. She already seemed to understand his worries, but she couldn't possibly fathom the reasons behind it. He hadn't spoken of his fears to anyone, not even Ron and Hermione, but...

"Luna," he began hesitantly, "I learned something last year...about what's going to happen...or what has to happen..."

She turned to look at him, her silvery eyes catching the moonlight in such a way that startled Harry. He'd never really noticed before, but -

He forced the thought from his mind. "...I'm going...or he's going...well, one of us has to...it's...I don't know if..."

He drifted off. He wasn't making much sense, but he didn't know how to go into details without revealing the Prophecy.

"It's you or him," said Luna softly.

"Er...yeah," confirmed Harry, stunned. "You...you knew?"

"Well, I gathered," she said. "Something was troubling you, Harry, and it was more than your Godfather."

Harry felt naked before those misty eyes; it was as though they could peer right into his heart. And given how she seemed to understand his anxieties, he wondered if they actually could...

"Well, you're right," said Harry at last. "I'm stuck in this thing. Either I get killed and the wizarding world falls to him or I have to become a murderer. No one else can do it...I didn't ask for any of this..."

He felt his emotions threatening to bubble up to the surface. "Sometimes I wish that letter from Hogwarts had never arrived...or that...or that when..."

Harry swallowed hard and fell silent. He didn't want to burst into tears here...

Luna frowned slightly for a moment before turning her gaze to the grasses and wildflowers at her feet. Both were quiet for a time, Harry staring at the ground and taking at least a certain consolation that there was someone aside from Dumbledore who now understood his fate.

Luna, on the other hand, was apparently in another world and delicately picking out a few select blossoms from the grasses. Not that Harry minded, really. In fact, it was strangely comforting to see Luna just being, well, Luna, as though there was no looming Apocalyptic conflict on the distant horizon. Or at least, he hoped it was distant.

It was the young Ravenclaw who eventually broke the silence. "Do you believe in fate, Harry?" she asked dreamily, her eyes still focused on the pink and lavender petals twirling slowly between her fingers.

Harry blinked. He hadn't expected that question.

"Um, well, I guess," he said finally. "I mean, I suppose I do. But then, I don't really have much choice anyway." He thought for a moment. "Do you?"

She looked at him.

"No Harry, I don't," she said softly, with a conviction that shocked him as much as her answer.

"Wha - you??" blurted Harry incredulously.

Luna nodded with a small smile.

"But...I thought you...why not??" asked Harry, hardy believing his ears. If he'd had to come up with a list of people who would believe in such a thing as fate, Luna's name would have figured at the very top.

Luna gazed at him, and for a moment her dreamy countenance was conspicuously absent. "People say fate is our future, Harry, but it isn't really. It might be that way if life were a path we all follow, but then, you and I both know it's not."

"Er...it isn't?"

Luna shook her head. "Life is a field, Harry, not a path," she said, waving her hand around them as though to illustrate her point. "You can go in a thousand different directions, and experience a different adventure each time. No," she said suddenly looking very serious, "fate only exists in people's minds, Harry."

They stared at each other. Harry could scarcely believe what he was hearing.

"But...the Prophecy..."

A chill went down his spine. Had he revealed too much?

Luna smiled slightly. "Prophecies can be wrong, you know," she said, as though such things were everyday objects. "I've seen one disproven."

Harry was even more stunned at this latest revelation. "You have? How?"

"You remember all those little globes at the Department of Mysteries?" Seeing Harry nod in the affirmative, Luna pressed on. "Well, as it turns out, a great many witches and wizards have had a Prophecy foretold about them. Sometimes more than one, actually. Anyway, there was one for me too, years ago, though it never came to pass."

Harry was frankly astounded. While it was true there had been thousands of Prophecies at the Ministry, perhaps even tens of thousands, it had never occurred to him that some might well involve people he knew.

"It didn't?" he asked, honestly intrigued.

Luna shook her head. "Mine said that I would perish in a terrible accident before my seventh birthday," she said casually. "I only found out about it after Mum died, though."

"...wow...I didn't know..."

Luna smiled. "It did explain why Mum hardly ever let me out of her sight after my sixth birthday," she said serenely. "But staying cooped up in the house was quite bothersome, as you might imagine, so I sometimes managed to sneak out."

Harry chuckled. "Well, I know how that feels," he said. "So there was never any 'terrible accident', then?"

"Oh, no, there was," corrected Luna. "One day, it was in October, I was curious to see if I could fly, you know, and so I found a lovely place to try..."

"Oh," said Harry seriously. "So...you fell?"

Luna smiled dreamily. "It was quite pleasurable at first, actually."

"Did it hurt much?"

Luna shook her head.

"It didn't?" asked Harry, confused. "I thought it was pretty bad, by the sound of it."

"No," aired Luna, holding out her hand as a small pale grey moth fluttered by. "It wasn't the fall that hurt, you know, it was the sudden stop at the end."

She leaned close to Harry and whispered furtively. "That part wasn't nearly as enjoyable as the beginning, actually."

"I can imagine," said Harry. "You must've gotten pretty banged up."

"Yes, it was quite ghastly," she said simply, as though discussing the weather. "I broke thirty-two bones."

Harry gaped at her as the tiny moth gently landed on the back of her moonlit hand. "Cripes," he said softly, "that was bad..."

"Yes," said Luna, smiling at her hand's newfound passenger, "I very nearly died, but I pulled through quite well, in the end."

"All that to see if you could fly?" asked Harry, feeling a renewed sense of empathy for the girl sitting beside him.

Luna nodded, her dreamy gaze still fixed on the moth splayed wings down on the back of her hand. she was silent for several long moments before sighing softly, slowly turning her hand upside-down. The moth fluttered off into the darkness.

She turned her gaze back to Harry. "But, I did make it to my seventh birthday after all, despite what the Prophecy said. That's how I came to see fate for what it is, Harry."

Harry considered this carefully, hardly daring to hope. Might the Prophecy Dumbledore recounted also be undone?

"But...you still had the accident," said Harry carefully, "so it was right about that."

Luna smiled. "Yes, but that was the result of a choice I made, Harry," she said wistfully. "Every choice we make sends us off in a different direction. I could just have easily not jumped; I could have gone off collecting blackberries in the bushes behind the house. But then, I was the curious sort, you know. I once overheard Mum telling Dad, how she worried my curiosity would be the end of me. But then...Mum was very curious too."

Harry recalled their conversation at the end of the previous school year, how Luna's mother had perished while conducting some experiment, undoubtedly due to her own desire to explore. He found himself wishing in earnest that Luna wouldn't encounter the same...

...fate.

A thought occurred to him. "Can I ask you something?"

Luna looked at him. "You just did."

Harry blinked. "Oh...well, can I ask you something else?"

Luna stared at him blankly. "You just did that, too."

"Er...yeah...well then, can I ask you," Harry thought carefully, "two more questions?"

"Sure Harry," replied Luna, smiling. "But you don't have to ask permission, you know. You can always pose a question to me."

"Thanks," said Harry, wondering if he'd just been playfully teased. "Have you ever told Trelawney about your...opinion about fate?"

"Hmm? oh, yes," said Luna tapping the ends of her carpet slippers together, "several times, in fact. But I don't think she wants to hear that sort of thing."

"No kidding...Trelawney must really like you!" he blurted.

Luna smiled, and for a moment Harry though he caught a decidedly mischievous glint in her large silver eyes.

"Not especially, I don't think," she voiced airily. "But she does serve exquisite tea."

Harry chuckled. "She always seems happiest when I predict my own doom. If I want a good score, I just have to say that I'll die in some crazy set of circumstances, like getting trampled by a herd of giant sloths or something."

The still night air was abruptly shattered by Luna's explosion of childlike laughter, the sound reverberating through the forest. Harry jumped, startled at the sudden change in the girl's demeanour, having gone from utter serenity to raucous hilarity in a split second.

"Oh, Harry," she said breathlessly after she'd managed to regain a slight semblance of self-control, her large silvery eyes glittering with tears of laughter, "you can't trampled by sloths! They're slow!!"

"Racing sloths," amended Harry, bringing about a renewed shriek of mirth from Luna, who slowly toppled off the stone ruin, falling on her back in the grasses, still clutching her sides.

"Hey! You okay?" asked Harry, though the young Ravenclaw's uninterrupted flow of giggles quickly alleviated his concern.

"Racing...s...s...sloths!!" giggled Luna.

Harry was severely tempted to laugh right along. For some strange reason, he found himself actually enjoying spending time with Luna, who he really didn't know all that well; but then, there was something so unobtrusive about the girl...

When Luna finally fell silent some time later, still flat on her back and staring at the stars, Harry suddenly recalled the resemblance of the ruins to the mysterious Veil back at the Department of Mysteries. Its ancient, worn granite surface was quite similar to the stone structures around him.

"How old is this place, anyway?" he mused out loud, rubbing his hand along the rough stonework he was sitting on.

He looked around. Several ruins showed sings of having been shattered, as opposed to simply having decayed through the centuries. "I wonder who lived here...or what happened..."

"Rabbits," voiced Luna from the grasses.

Harry looked at her. "Rabbits?"

Luna slowly drew herself up into a sitting position. "Tusked War Rabbits, actually," she said, waving at the ruins around her. "There's a lot of evidence..."

"Tusked War Rabbits??" exclaimed Harry.

Luna nodded. She gracefully got to her feet and proceeded to a low-lying chuck of wall before dropping down to her knees.

"See? Here's a clue..."

Harry got up and joined her. She took his hand and ran it along a series of parallel grooves in the stone.

"Can you feel that? They're tusk marks," said Luna, though how tusks could possibly gouge grooves into stone was a mystery to Harry.

"Um..."

Luna moved his hand to another part of the stonework, which had a much rougher texture.

"And this," she said serenely, "is where they chewed on the house."

"Chew??" said Harry. "How can something with big tusks chew on a rock?"

Luna looked at him. "They're retractable."

"Huh?" blurted Harry. "Retractable tusks?? On a rabbit??"

He'd heard of retractable claws, but tusks...

Luna nodded. "War Rabbit," she corrected.

"How can you retract a tusk??" asked Harry.

Luna shrugged. "Well, they were magical creatures, you know," she said casually.

Harry looked at her. She was staring back at him, so wide-eyed and innocent that he had no idea if she was joking or not. They continued to stare at each other, Harry waiting to see if Luna would suddenly burst out laughing, revealing her hoax.

But no such outburst came. It was Harry who finally broke the pattern of silent staring.

"So...Tusked War Rabbits, then?" he asked.

"Tusked War Rabbits," echoed Luna and smiling brightly.

Harry looked around the forest. "We're not in any danger here, are we?"

Luna giggled. "Oh, no," she said, "they've been extinct for centuries, Harry. You really should read The Quibbler more often."

Harry was strangely tempted to do just that.