Chapter 33 -
Sitting by Minerva's window as she graded papers, Sirius sighed as he read of the death of his cousin.
James looked up from the much older papers he was reading over to catch up on modern times, "What?"
"Andromeda," he said sadly.
James raised both brows, "It was self-defence."
Sirius gave him a look, "Poisoned tea? No, it was premeditated. I hate that she had to be the one to do it."
"Bellatrix Black died in the safety of a loved one's arm, free from all those who would use her," Minerva said without looking up.
Sirius shouldn't have asked the next question but he couldn't help himself, "Would you have said the same of me if Remus had murdered me."
Minerva put down her quill to turn to face him straight on, the silence filling between the three of them in the otherwise empty classroom.
"No, I would have said you got what was coming to you. Because I loved you, while I pitied Bella."
Sirius nodded, and James stood so he could wrap him in a tight hug.
War was not without tragedy, and yet they were still here.
Still had lives to live.
oOo
Ron tried talking to his brother.
Bill had been oddly distant since arriving at Hogwarts. He knew Percy's death had affected them all, but it still hurt that his brother wouldn't talk to him.
And now, a month into the new semester, Ron had had enough.
Ron let himself into his brother's dorm room, using the complex unlocking charm Hermonie had taught him.
The man who stood there was not his brother who had a wand raised at his face.
When he woke in the healing hall he couldn't remember what had happened.
Madame Pompfrey patted his hand, "You had a fall, my dear."
"What?" Ron asked, putting a hand to his spinning head as he sat up too fast.
"You were out after curfew and you had a tumble off the moving staircase. You are extremely lucky your brother found you."
Her words sparked a memory that was quickly forgotten with the next pressing question, "Where is Bill?"
She smiled at him sadly, "He's at the quidditch match. I'm sure he'll come by afterwards now that you are awake."
"Oh," he deflated. "Wait, that means we are two players short because Angelina got detention with Snape."
Angelina had been set up by the Slytherin Captain and, of course, Snape had punished her.
"It will work its out," the healer assured. "Rest now, Mr. Weasley."
oOo
Harry wasn't sure how romance worked with most people, but he could only be sure that it wasn't like this.
Because if everyone who was married knew love like this, the world would be a different place.
Of course, there was no one like Luna, so maybe it made sense.
As much sense as anything in his life.
In the tourist sense, Luna was his North Star, she was the only fixed point in a world of chaos.
After the first night with her, which had been as perfect as awkward as he could have hoped for his first time, they more often than night found each other in one another's beds.
Really, the ability to fly as small animals, gave them complete freedom.
Last night, they had gone to the room of requirement.
Warm under the covers, the sight of her, peaceful against his chest, over his heart, long hair askew across them.
She was everything good in the world. Everything the world should be and could have been if people valued the wonder of the world rather than possession of it.
Most of the time it was a mystery why she loved him back, how they could love each other so deeply after such a short amount of time.
But he knew that he gave to her the same thing she gave him, understanding and the freedom to be who they were without hesitation.
His dad was right, sometimes you just knew, sometimes the stars aligned and you just knew that this was the person that was meant for you.
Not that you couldn't be happy with someone else but that you wouldn't want some other maybe-happy when you knew what this could be.
That you could be true and real with someone had taken your heart so you wouldn't have to carry by yourself.
Luna was his everything.
He could be happy forever if he was just allowed to remain in her orbit, be a part of the reason she smiled.
Yeah, if he could just keep being the cause of some her smiles, life would be worth living.
Luna stirred, nuzzling into his chest, stretching against him before blinking up at him owlishly, the sunlight catching on her pale lashes.
"Morning," she murmured.
"Good morning, beautiful," he replied, running a hand over her wild hair.
She smiled, bright and unabashed.
Unaware that, in his heart, she was the light behind the stars and the reason the moon rose above the horizon.
"What?" she asked as she lifted a hand to rest on his cheek.
"You," he answered.
"Me?"
He grinned, turning to kiss her palm, "I love you."
Her smile grew as she leaned up to kiss his lips before saying into the private space that they had created for themselves, "I love you, too, forever—"
"And always," he finished with another kiss.
oOo
Harry agreed to be a fill-in because Minerva had given him a pleading look while James and Sirius both looked like over-excited puppies.
Less so because of Angelina who begged, pleaded, and offered her firstborn child for him to take up the seeker position. Although, Harry had agreed on one condition: Luna was allowed to be the announcer.
Not for any particular reason other than Luna making a passing comment about liking to narrate the match.
It was one of the best decisions of his life.
Harry floated, feeling the move through him carrying him along as he searched for the snitch, while watching out for the beaters and the opposing Seeker.
"And that's Smith of Hufflepuff with the quaffle," said a familiar dreamy voice, echoing over the grounds. "He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he's playing them - oh, look, he's lost the quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she's very nice…"
Harry smiled down at the commentator's podium. Nobody in their right mind would have let Luna Lovegood commentate.
Of course, no one had ever accused him of such an ailment.
Beside Luna, Professor McGonagall was looking slightly uncomfortable, as though she was indeed having second thoughts.
"...but now that big Hufflepuff player's got the quaffle from her, I can't remember his name, it's something like Bibble — no, Baggins —"
"It's Cadwallader!" said Professor McGonagall exclaimed.
The crowd laughed.
Harry scanned the pitch for the snitch; there was no sign of it. Moments later, Cadwallader scored. McLaggen had been shouting criticism at Ginny for allowing the quaffle out of her possession, with the result that he had not noticed the large red ball soaring past his right ear.
"McLaggen, will you pay attention to what you're supposed to be doing and leave everyone else alone!" Katie roared, wheeling around to face the stand-in keeper.
"You're not setting a great example!" McLaggen shouted back, red-faced and furious.
"And Katie Bell's now having an argument with their new keeper," said Luna serenely, while both Hufflepuffs and Slytherins below in the crowd cheered and jeered. "I don't think that'll help her score a goal though, however, maybe it's a clever ruse…"
Ginny and Demelza scored a goal apiece, giving the red-and-gold-clad supporters below something to cheer about. Then Cadwallader scored again, making things level, but Luna did not seem to have noticed; she appeared singularly uninterested in such mundane things as the score, and kept attempting to draw the crowd's attention to such things as interestingly shaped clouds and the possibility that Zacharias Smith, who had so far failed to maintain possession of the Quaffle for longer than a minute, was suffering from something called 'Loser's Lurgy'.
Harry heard Sirius's distinctive barking laughter in the crowd.
"Seventy-forty to Hufflepuff!" barked Professor McGonagall into Luna's megaphone.
"Is it, already?" said Luna vaguely. "Oh, look! The Gryffindor Keeper's got hold of one of the Beater's bats."
Harry spun around in midair. Sure enough, McLaggen, for reasons best known to himself, had pulled Peakes's bat from him and appeared to be demonstrating how to hit a Bludger toward an oncoming Cadwallader.
"Will you give him back his bat and get back to the goalposts!" bellowed Katie, pelting toward McLaggen just as McLaggen took a ferocious swipe at the bludger and mis-hit it.
Harry finally caught sight of the snitch.
He dived backwards, regrettably the bludger McLaggen had struck caught him in the stomach and knocked Harry from his broom.
Regrettably, for the Hufflepuff's ambitions for winning the cup, Harry's element was wind, and his animagus was a bird.
He had exactly zero fear of falling anymore.
"Harry Potter is swan diving toward the snitch," Luna announced cheerily as screams echoed from the stands.
Harry grinned.
oOo
James had been a show-off when he was at Hogwarts.
Undoubtedly, a show-off.
Harry was just… gifted.
Even passively searching for the snitch, he flew as if the broom was superfluous.
And then the broom was gone, and even knowing his son was a bird animagus, he gripped Sirius's hand so hard their bones creaked. His brother didn't mind as he squeezed back nearly as tightly.
Harry was a foot from the ground when he caught the stitch and the broom he had wandlessly summoned to himself caught in his other hand.
Harry caught it upside down and skimmed over the ground like a swan dips its wing in a still lake before sweeping back toward the ground.
The Gryffindor crowd rose to their feet cheering uproariously as James relearned how to breathe and tried to shove his heart back down into his chest.
Sirius started laughing, "He's such a brat."
James smiled as his pride in his son overrode the pounding of his heart, "He's amazing."
oOo
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oOo
AN: Thoughts, mini-aussies, or feedback, pretty please?