42023 Wizarding Crossover Connection Bingo - Square: N2/Banter
2023 Tropes & Fandoms event - Trope: Bodyguard
MAGIC & MIGHT
Eddie, I'm hungry!
The voice, now as familiar as his own, sounded in his head for about the fifth time since he had sat down just a little while earlier.
The man just shrugged, however, and continued to drink his cheap black coffee and read the local newspaper that had been left on the table by the previous patron. "What else is new? You're always hungry," he murmured back. "Give me fifteen more minutes and we'll go."
No, Eddie. You promised me chocolate and tater tots and brains.
"You know very well that I didn't say anything about brains," Eddie countered, but he forgot to keep his voice as quiet as before.
Consequently, the guy at the table next to him briefly looked up from his phone at the strange outburst. Eddie just rolled his eyes and pointed to his earbuds, however, as if he was having an annoying conversation with someone. It was not even really a lie, but he had learned that it was the most convenient solution to get away with supposedly talking to himself on a regular basis – especially since he already stood out as an American working in London. The ploy usually succeeded, though, as was proven in the current instance when the man just shook his head and unconcernedly went back to his scrolling.
"See what you did?" Eddie asked his constant companion in a low voice again.
His opinion is not important. He is a loser...just like you. Let's eat him.
"Gee, Buddy, you're so good for my self esteem," Eddie commented sarcastically before he huffed a sigh in resignation. "Just give me ten more minutes to see if my informant shows up. Then we'll find something to eat." He paused briefly when he felt Venom's satisfaction at the idea and realized what it meant. "Not him, though!" he added quickly.
That one does not have enough meat on his bones, anyway. He would be stringy and bitter.
Venom grumbled with reluctant agreement to wait. However, he wanted to make it clear he was not happy as he continued to comment on how he thought other various customers around them might taste.
After just a few more minutes of such one-sided conversation, it became clear to Eddie that his informant was probably not going to show up, even if the man had chosen the time and place himself. Eddie just sighed again at that disappointment since it was supposed to be his first big story in England...which was apparently also going to be his home for the foreseeable future.
After all, Anne and Dan had worked diligently to clear his name back in San Francisco, but it had been made clear to him by the Powers That Be that he was no longer welcome in California, in particular...and that it would probably be best if he steered clear of the entire country, in general. Therefore, after some former high placed acquaintances who owed him a major favor or two from his previous work were able to pull a few strings, Eddie somehow ended up in a shitty bedsit in London with nothing but his journalist credentials and a handful of business cards to kickstart his freelance career there.
On the plus side, he was no longer a fugitive on the run...and he was truly grateful for that. On the negative side, however, he did not yet have enough contacts on his current side of the pond to generate enough work to pay his bills.
In fact, if things continue this way, I'm probably going to run out of money, soon, he thought, as if things aren't hard enough already.
That is completely unacceptable! How will you buy us chocolate then?
Eddie just did not have an answer for the alien symbiote. Nor did he need one at that moment because, just then, a pretty blonde with big blue eyes walked up to his table. With his observant journalist eye, one that had only been sharpened even more by his association with Venom...and consequently way too many life-threatening events...he had already noticed her sitting at a nearby table with a lively haired brunette as soon as he had entered the place. In fact, he was pretty sure he had heard them giggle at his earlier slip of the tongue, as well.
"Here," she said in a soft dreamy voice that was highlighted with the British accent that almost everyone around him now sported but somehow sounded even better...cuter...when she used it. However, he could only look on in silent confusion as she then slid a large chocolate muffin in front of him. "With all those wrackspurts around you, I can tell that you definitely need this far more than I do."
Eddie did not know what in world a wrackspurt was, but he assumed that it was some sort of English slang that referred to his personal hygiene. He immediately regretted that he had skipped his shower that morning. However, it had not been his fault that the faucet...or the tap, as his unenthusiastic landlord called it when he had been informed...in his crappy little bathroom had broken off right in his hand when Venom tried to help him get ready. Nevertheless, he knew it must look as if it had been much longer than just the one day if the woman had taken pity on him because she thought he was homeless or something.
"Thank you, but I'm not..." he found his voice and started to explain but she just shook her head.
"Oh! I'm sure you're very nice, but I wasn't really talking to you," she corrected him. "This is for your friend. The chocolate really should help until he gets something more substantial to eat. After all, the werewolves swear by it."
Yesss! I like this one! She brings tribute.
Eddie barely heard the symbiote, however, as he just sat there for a moment dumbfounded by the fact that somehow she knew about Venom...and Did she just say werewolves?... before she turned to walk away.
After the first step, though, she paused. "Just make sure my brains aren't on the menu, okay?" she added with a wink. She then joined her waiting friend at the door and the two of them continued to stroll out as if nothing unusual had happened, at all.
"What the hell?" A bewildered Eddie asked nobody in particular. However, the man next to him looked up again anyway and shrugged.
"There's all sorts of weirdos in this city, Mate," he replied with a distinct lack of concern before his eyes immediately returned to his phone again.
However, the other man did not hear him because he had already jumped up and was headed for the door after the mysterious woman.
Wait! Do not forget the muffin, Eddie!
He knew he would never hear the end of it if he did. However, by the time he had retraced his steps, grabbed the damn thing, and was finally out the door, neither the pretty blonde nor her friend were anywhere to be found.
Venom seemed oddly unconcerned, however.
Do not worry, Eddie. We will find her...or she will find us. This one is special. I can feel it!
It turned out that the annoying symbiote was right.
A few nights later, despite the fact that his informant from the big story had bailed on him, Eddie had still made just enough money from a few different small articles to scrape together another month's rent for the tiny apartment...or flat as his landlord had corrected him again when he went to pay the man who lived with his cat in a bigger and much nicer place in the same building.
As usual, Eddie had to prevent an enthusiastic Venom from snacking on the pet. Fortunately, though...especially for the cat...there was still actually a bit of dough left over from the Eddie's meager paycheck to pick up some groceries for him and his constantly hungry roommate.
Their neighborhood was questionable, however...not that Eddie needed to fear anything with Venom around...but it meant that the nearest Tesco was a couple of blocks away. The walk there took them past a dingy bookstore with a few faded paperbacks in the dirty front window, a grimy pub called The Leaky Cauldron or something equally ridiculous, and an old record store that had obviously been closed for some time. Eddie paid very little attention to any of it, however, until Venom spoke.
Wait!
The symbiote partially separated himself from Eddie in order to lift his head to taste the air carefully with his long prehensile tongue. Meanwhile the man just stood there confused...which had basically been his perpetual state of being since meeting the alien lifeform...along with sheer terror and bouts of disgust, of course.
There!
Before Eddie could say or do anything, however, Venom had completely enveloped him. The two of them then climbed the nearest building and jumped from roof to roof as the alien chased the faint scent he had caught on the night breeze. Finally, they reached a barrier that they would never have been able to cross in Eddie's human body for many reasons, but through which Venom's alien form slid easily as they jumped back down to ground level and finally stopped.
Venom then partially retreated until only his head and a few tendrils remained suspended above Eddie's now human shoulder. His tongue, however, still tasted the air with obvious enjoyment.
So many delicious new smells, Eddie!
For his part, though, the man could only look around him in wonder at the almost fairy tale or Dr. Suess-like structures that surrounded them. "Where the hell are we? Are we even still in London?" he asked in disbelief as Venom took control of his feet again to walk them towards something.
It's a world within a world, Eddie...and SHE is here!
...
Sure enough, as they rounded the next corner into an alley, a familiar blonde woman stood there. However, even in the dim light they could clearly see that she was not alone – even though it was equally clear that this time she was not with a friend. In fact, she looked unbelievably small and vulnerable as she stood with her back against a stone wall with only a broken stick at her feet with which she must have been attempting to defend herself. Several large men surrounded her and Eddie could tell from the scratches and blood on their faces that she had probably done a pretty good job against them...at least until she had finally been overpowered.
She shrank back further, though, when one particular man...obviously the leader...pressed closer.
"It's been awhile, Blood Traitor," they clearly heard him say, "but I missed you...and your screams...when you escaped from the dungeons. So, why don't we continue what we started last time now that Potter and his gang aren't here to save you?"
Eddie did not know exactly what the man referred to, but the words screams and dungeons, as well as the terrified look on the woman's face, were more than enough for him to understand the man's intentions and become overwhelmed with fury on her behalf. Through their connection, he could feel Venom bristling with anger, too.
Bad guys, right? Please tell me they are bad guys!
"Definitely!" Eddie answered. Then, with no remorse whatsoever, he added. "They're all yours!"
Yesss!
Since their backs were to the newcomers, the men did not see the arrival of Eddie and Venom. The woman, however...once she finally looked up...could easily see who stood there. Far from being shocked, however, a smile of recognition quickly replaced the fear on her face, instead.
"I think you'll find I have a new gang now," she spoke to the men around her in a deceptively sweet voice, even as she sagged against the wall with obvious relief.
The men only had a moment to look at each other in confusion at the apparently complete change in attitude of the woman who had fought them like a hellcat just a few minutes before. However, the one who had threatened her finally looked beyond them to see what she saw. It was too late, though. Venom had already enveloped Eddie again and leapt towards his next meal.
The men had sticks, too, which shot streams of colored lights at the monster that attacked them. That did not matter, however, because none of them had any affect whatsoever on Venom. It was all absorbed...and rendered harmless...by his unique alien biology. Consequently, it was all over soon. In fact, the men barely had time to scream before their headless bodies littered the alley.
"Oh dear," the woman said afterwards when it became exceedingly clear that the men were no longer a threat to her...or anyone else. "It looks like a herd of exploding Erumpents have stampeded through here." She bent down to pick up the broken pieces of stick beneath her in order to deposit them for safe keeping into the small bag she had with her before she paused for a moment to survey the scene.
"I have to admit you are quite the effective bodyguard, but I do believe that you have made a bit of a mess in the process," she added as she stepped over the nearest body to her, seemingly unconcerned with the carnage around her...almost as if she had been in such a position before...as she reached down to pull the stick from its hand, as well. Only then did she make a face resembling disgust, but the look was directed at the dead man...not the alien who had partially separated from his host again in order to peer curiously at her over the man's shoulder.
She did look directly at him when she next spoke, however. "I hope that you had enough to eat, though...at least for the time being?" she asked...and the question sounded both sweet and sincere...despite what she had just seen him do.
Yesss! Thank you for the meal. It was delicious!
Eddie started with surprise at the idea that Venom could actually be polite. Not only that, but the woman still had not freaked out about anything, even though the symbiote...and him by association...had just eaten people right in front of her! And what was the deal with the sticks and lights and shit? Before he could say...or ask...about anything, however, she spoke up again.
"You are welcome. In fact, I should be thanking you both for showing up just in time after my wand was broken. With it, I had a chance...without it, though, they were simply too much for me. It was just like I was 17 and their prisoner again." Her voice suddenly sounded small and scared at the thought.
Despite his confusion at some of her wording...Wand?... something was triggered in Eddie at her tone and he immediately stepped forward protectively.
"Are you okay?" he asked her. "Are you hurt?" However, his words were overshadowed when the symbiote above him also spoke up in an unexpectedly gentle tone.
Do you need to be healed? I can do that...but I will have to enter you first.
"I bet you say that to all the girls," the woman replied with a tired...but genuine...smile at not only his wording, but for their obvious consideration, in general.
Only the pretty blonde magical ones, Venom replied smoothly.
Eddie just looked back and forth between the big black head filled with teeth that now hung in the air between him and the petite woman in front of him who...despite her current dishevelment...was indeed quite pretty as Venom had pointed out. When she laughingly declined his offer, but still reached out to affectionately touch the tendril that Venom had extended towards her, Eddie finally caught on to what was happening.
"Are you two seriously flirting right now?" he asked in disbelief at the thought.
"I would perhaps say playfully instead of seriously...but yes...I think that flirting was definitely happening," the woman replied in a fond tone as she turned...even more tiredly...back towards the mess. "If you are done with them, though, I need to clean all of this up before someone sees it and summons the Aurors. We don't want that. After all, I think this is a situation I'll need to explain to Harry myself. He will definitely understand. However, I'm sure some of the others will be more inclined to curse first...and ask questions later...especially if they see you. I don't know if it would actually hurt you or not, but it's bound to cause even more of a mess and some hurt feelings regardless."
That statement was obviously directed at Venom. Therefore, when the symbiote nodded, she waved the stick that she had retrieved from the dead man, muttered something that sounded like Latin, and all four of bodies slowly shrank down in size and slowly transformed into what looked like small round rocks. The woman collected them, as well, and put them in her bag, also. She then waved her stick again...and with a few more murmured words...the area around them was suddenly cleaner than it had probably been before the incident. There was no blood or anything to be seen that could prove that such a deadly struggle had just occurred there.
"But...that..." Eddie stuttered a bit in disbelief at what he had just seen. "What the hell was that?"
Keep up, Eddie! Venom cuffed the man on the side of the head with a tendril as if he was a wayward child. We have already said it several times. It was magic.
"How is there magic...and how could you possibly know about it?" Eddie practically shrieked. After all, the whole night was rapidly turning into one of the strangest of his life. Since he shared his body with an alien symbiote, that was certainly saying something.
How could you not? Venom shot right back. Is it because you're such a loser? Just keep it together and don't embarrass us in front of the pretty lady.
"Boys, please!" The woman interrupted their argument before she turned to Eddie. "I'm sorry for the surprise. I wasn't aware that you were a Muggle. Would you like a calming draught?" she asked him kindly. "I believe I have one in my bag."
Eddie looked at the tiny fashion accessory in question as he remembered that she had just deposited four apparently magically transformed bodies into it.
"It's a handy little thing, isn't it?" she added when she saw it had caught his attention. She patted it with affection, too. "My friend, Hermione made it for me. She was the one at the c...coffee sh...shop w...with m...me th...that d...day."
Eddie looked up in alarm when the woman's speech suddenly slurred and stuttered at the end of her statement. Then she began to sway a bit before she unexpectedly pitched sideways.
Through his host, Venom quickly extended his tendrils and easily caught her before she hit the ground. He then pulled her closer. Consequently, in just a moment, when Venom withdrew, Eddie found himself holding the woman in his own arms...close to his core...and his heart suddenly beat faster at the proximity. He was desperately concerned about her, though, so he looked up at Venom who hovered in front of them.
"Is she...?"
The alien hovered close to her and his tongue tentatively touched the woman's pale cheek to help diagnose the problem.
She fought hard. She does not seem to be seriously injured, but she has completely exhausted herself down to her magical core. We will take her with us so she can rest and be safe.
Even though Eddie would not have argued with the plan, Venom did not give him a chance to say anything at all before he had enveloped the man again and went back the same way they had come...through the barrier that separated the mundane London that Eddie was familiar with from the apparently magical one that he had only just learned about. This time, however, they also held the woman close to them and they did not stop until they had crossed all of the rooftops in order to return to their own building.
They entered through the window to avoid being seen and gently laid the girl in their bed before Venom partially retreated again, leaving Eddie in his mostly human form. However, since the place was really just one small room, with very little furniture, Eddie sank into the only chair at the desk/table instead as he looked between the bed and the alien who hovered between them.
"Alright, pal. I seriously think you owe me an explanation," he remarked. He was proud of how calm he sounded – especially since calm was the exact opposite of what he felt after everything he had just seen. "What the hell happened tonight?"
Well, you see, Eddie...
While their visitor slept to recover her energy, Venom told the man what his species had learned when they had monitored Earth before his scouting party arrived. Of course his explanation was liberally peppered with insults and insinuations about Eddie's lack of intelligence, but the man was used to that and paid it no mind. The rest of the information, however, was fascinating... just like the woman ... and the journalist in him was dying to learn more about all of it!
...
When Eddie woke the next morning with a stiff neck from sleeping with his head pillowed in his arms at his desk, the first thing he noticed was that Venom was partially separated from him as he spoke to the woman...who was obviously awake as well.
Yesss! Just like that. I like that!
The words sounded quite suggestive to Eddie's extremely sexually-deprived-for-obvious-reasons ears, and the man was momentarily concerned about the symbiote's current actions. However, as his head shot up to fully observe the scene, he sighed in relief when he realized that apparently Venom was just uttering his approval as he watched the woman prepare breakfast in the tiny kitchenette. Eddie did not know where the food had come from...especially since he knew they had never actually made it to the store on the previous night...but he found that he could not even question it when she actually levitated a full plate over to him.
"Wow!" He did not even realize that he had spoken his amazement aloud until the woman giggled.
"Good morning, Eddie," she spoke to him in that dreamy voice again that sounded so much better than it had on the night before. Apparently, her rest had restored her energy and good humor...just like Venom had said it would. "Here you go...just a little thank you for what you did for me last night. I'm sorry if I spilled anything, but I don't have as much control over this wand as I did my own." She sighed. "I guess I'll have to take my poor little broken one to Mr. Ollivander's to see if he can fix it for me...or if I will have to find a new one to bond with. Officially, he's retired. However, I think he will do me the favor – especially since..." Her voice trailed off as if the associated thoughts were unpleasant.
Eddie could not help to wonder if it had anything to do with what happened on the previous night, but he knew that it was not quite the right time to bring that up, yet. "Good morning...um..." He tried to return her greeting, instead, but he suddenly realized that he did not even know her name.
Luna...fair and beautiful...just like the moon.
Venom supplied the answer for him in an uncharacteristically helpful...and even poetic...way as he wolfed down his own breakfast. Food always made the symbiote happy, though, so Eddie just turned his attention back to the woman.
"Good morning, Luna!" He finished his statement...perhaps a bit awkwardly...but he could not deny that the name seemed to fit her pale beauty perfectly. The comparison felt even more true when her smile brightened when he said it. In fact, she looked ethereal then...just like the moonlight. Eddie felt his heartbeat speed up again, as well, exactly like it had when he held her close the night before after she had fainted.
"Please eat," she commented cheerfully as she unintentionally interrupted his musings. "I'm happy to see that you have less wrackspurts today, so we want to make sure they stay away."
Eddie knew then that he must have been completely wrong about what that word meant since he was sure that after the events of the previous night, he probably looked worse than he had at their first meeting. After all, their shower still had not been fixed.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I performed a cleansing charm on all of us as soon as I woke up. Venom assured me that you wouldn't mind."
You stunk, Eddie. Venom interjected. Magic is better than water anyway. It tickles. I like it.
Luna giggled, but Eddied ignored the rude symbiote altogether. Instead, he addressed his question to the woman.
"How d'ya know what I was thinking?" he simply asked since he did not know whether to be embarrassed or amazed by the occurrence.
"Oh, I'm so sorry about that," she answered a bit sheepishly. "I didn't mean to, but sometimes it just happens. It's part of the magical gift that comes from my mother's side of the family. Sometimes I can just see things...or even hear people's thoughts without trying. Hermione thinks it might be a some kind of natural Legilimency and Divination combined. At any rate, that's why I was surprised to hear two voices in your head at the coffee shop that day. Normally that only happens with werewolves or veelas and the like. I've never run across someone like you and Venom before, though."
That is because we are unique! the alien stated proudly.
"Thank God for that!" Eddie muttered as he completely failed to notice the tendril that tried to sneak its way onto his half-eaten plate of food.
"Stop that!" Luna popped the appendage with her wand, however, and it hastily withdrew. "That's Eddie's. Why would you need to steal it, anyway? In fact, why do you need to eat separately at all? Don't you share the same body?"
I like the crunchy feeling in my mouth, Venom admitted a bit sheepishly.
At his confession, Luna relented and tried unsuccessfully to hide her amused smile as she levitated the last piece of Nutella toast into his toothy maw where he chomped on it with obvious delight.
Eddie just stared at the interaction in disbelief. It seemed so natural...so easy...and so incredibly odd considering who was involved. "Why aren't you afraid of him?" he asked increduously. It was a question that had been on his mind since their first sort of meeting that day in London.
"Why should I be?" Luna countered...and it was clear that she meant it. "After all, you saw real monsters last night in that alley. Venom is nothing like them. He's just hungry and has questionable manners...in fact, he reminds me a lot of my friend, Ron, in that way. However, he's not evil or cruel...even though he easily could be with the amazing abilities he has. That says a lot about his host, as well, you know. You're obviously a good person, Eddie and...therefore...so is he."
Eddie could not help but to think about how different Venom was from how Riot and Carnage had been...and the kind of people they had chosen to host them...and he found that he could not stop the smile that automatically sprang to his lips at the obvious compliment when he looked back up at her.
That's enough of the mushy stuff! Venom interrupted anything he might have been about to say, though. Tell him about the job.
"What job?" Eddie asked, already intrigued.
"Well..." Luna smiled, but she paused while she took a moment to wave the wand and clean up the breakfast mess.
Eddie had just enough time to think that he would never get tired of seeing such magic before she showed him a completely different kind, instead. In fact, he completely ignored Venom's feeling of smugness when he found that he could not stop watching her as she walked back over to the bed and threw herself down on it facing him – especially since she propped up on her elbows and her feet kicked freely into the air behind her. In that completely irreverent, but admittedly relaxed-looking position that had him so entranced, she spoke again.
"So...about the job...Venom tells me that you're a journalist," she paused to smile. "You know that is quite the coincidence...because I just happen to have a little publication called The Quibbler."
"A magazine?"
"Yep!" She nodded enthusiastically as her feet continued to kick slowly. "My father founded it...and once upon a time, I admit that the contents could be a little bit silly. However, during the war..."
"What war?" Eddie asked, even more interested as he had a sudden insight as to why she had not been more shocked by the scene on the previous night.
However, Luna just waved the question away for the moment. "It was then that we started to print about the hard issues and truths that The Daily Prophet was scared to touch. That's why I ended up in the dungeons of the other side...and why Papa went to prison when he couldn't give them what they wanted in exchange for my freedom. He was never the same after that, so...after I finished school...I took over the magazine. I know that everyone expected Little Loony Lovegood to go back to the tabloid rag days, then. However, during the war I found out how important it was to make people think...and question...and even occasionally squirm...when they read the truth about the world we live in and how we interact with it...and each other. Therefore, to their surprise...and quite possibly their discomfort, as well...I kept the hard-hitting material on the press. I just mix it in really well with the lighter stuff, now, so they don't quite realize at first just how much they are learning about the world around them."
All of a sudden, Eddie had the feeling that Luna was probably often very underestimated. After all, she was a pretty petite blonde who spoke in a very sweet dreamy tone. However, underneath all of that, there was strength and resilience, as well as a steely glint in her eye that showed that she was not easily cowed when it came to doing what she knew was the right thing. He absolutely recognized that look – especially since he saw it every morning in the mirror himself...when Venom's ugly mug was not in the way, of course.
Her eyes softened immediately, however, and her smiled reappeared when she continued. "What I really need, though, is a competent muggle writer who can write about important muggle issues."
"Muggle?" Eddie questioned.
"Non-magical," Luna replied.
"Oh!"
"Since Hermione is muggleborn, she helps when she can. So does Dean, but Dennis only works with the photography because he just can't write worth shite." She shook her head and giggled. For the first time, Eddie noticed that she wore earrings shaped like her namesake...thin crescent moons that swayed as she talked and he could not take his eyes off of them...or her. "Unfortunately, they all live in the Wizarding world full-time, and so they miss so much of what is happening in the non-magical world. Therefore, what I really need is a 100% Muggle...someone who lives in the muggle world...but knows about the Wizarding World, as well. As you can imagine, those people are quite rare. However, it occurs to me that since you now know about us, you could be the perfect person for the job. You obviously can't tell the muggle world about us, but you certainly can tell us all about the muggle world! After all, I have a feeling that's going to be very important for us all one day."
You hear that, Eddie? With a real job, you will not be such a loser. You can buy us chocolate and brains all the time then!
"No brains!" Eddie said firmly out of the sheer force of habit.
You are no fun! Venom pouted.
"We could include the chocolate as part of your salary, though, if you wish. The wizarding world certainly has some delicious varieties that I'm sure you have never tried before," Luna offered and Venom was instantly appeased at the thought while Luna continued to try and recruit his human. "Not only would you be able to learn everything you wanted to know about the magical world, but you would retain ownership of your work, as well...of course. I don't even mind if your articles serve double duty for a muggle paper, as well – especially if that helps you in any way to establish your career there. After all, it's unlikely that we have very much crossover readership...if any! In fact, Hermione is the only one I know who regularly reads the muggle papers...which is another reason why it's so important for The Quibbler to get the news out there!"
For his part, Eddie was actually surprised into silence by her amazing offer. After all, it had come at just the right time in his life. It would help him out of his current circumstances, and it would work towards improving his future ones, as well. Not only that, but he was well aware that his acceptance would mean that he also would be able to spend more time with her and learn everything he could about magic, too. Try as he might, he literally could not think of a downside to the entire agreement. It truly seemed as if a once-in-a-lifetime, win-win opportunity had fallen into his lap...or more literally...into his arms on the previous night when he and Venom had been in the right place at the right time to save the intriguing woman in front of him.
Before he could say anything, however, or do more than even begin to daydream about the intriguing possibility of a Luna-shaped opportunity that might indeed actually fall into his lap, an alarm sounded from inside her bag and startled him out of his questionable reverie.
"Oh!" she exclaimed as she jumped off the bed so quickly that Eddie barely saw her move. She then silenced the noise with what Eddie could only imagine was a whispered spell as she placed her hand on her bag.
"That's my reminder to meet with Harry," she explained. "I patronus-called him earlier while you were asleep because I still need to turn these over to him – especially since he has been after this particular group for almost ten years, now." She paused to touch her bag again as Eddie suddenly remembered she had transformed those men into stones...or something stone-like...the night before. He had to admit that it had been quite handy as a clean up tool. He felt a bit sick, though, as he realized that she might need to turn them back...into what used to be people...when she turned them over to this Harry guy.
"There are still a few more of these out there, you know...I mean those Death Eaters who went into hiding after their Dark Lord fell to Harry. Therefore, it certainly would be nice to have a hungry Lethal Protector around ...especially one that appears to be immune to most forms of magic and who wants a free meal...just in case they return." She was quite serious about that, but her eyes still sparkled with mirth at her use of the information that Venom had given to her earlier.
Eddie just groaned at the nickame that Venom kept trying to push on him and one that he had obviously told the woman, as well. "You didn't?" he asked the symbiote who currently hovered closer to Luna than to Eddie.
I did! It sounds heroic...just like we should be. I like it! She likes it. You will like it, too! Give it a chance, Eddie. Don't be such a pussy!
Luna giggled a little at Venom's irreverance again and patted one of his tendrils affectionately before she turned and met Eddie's eyes with her own. "At any rate, please think about my offer," she told him softly. "If you would like to meet with me tomorrow and discuss terms, go to The Leaky Cauldron. I don't know if you'll be able to see it or not, but...from what he told me...Venom should have no problems. Speak to Hannah behind the bar. Her husband, Neville, is one of my closest friends. Tell her that you are there to see me and she'll send me a message. I'll take care of the rest. In fact, if you agree, I'll be happy to be your magical tour guide around the wizarding world...as well as your employer...and maybe even more." She paused to wink at him and Eddie felt his heart start to race even if he could not tell if she was joking with him or not.
Still, he could not help but to hope. After all, what a difference it would make to be in a relationship with someone who actually knew about Venom...and who did not seem to care! In fact, she even seemed to like the alien menace!
"I do hope I get that message. After all, I think we'll make quite the team - especially with my magic and your might," Luna added before she stepped closer in order to stroke one of Venom's tendrils and press a warm kiss into Eddie's cheek. Then, to Eddie's continued amazement, she smiled mysteriously at him before she spun on her heel and disappeared from sight with a loud crack!
Wow! Just wow! What a woman! he could not help but to think. However, his thoughts were interrupted by Venom's enthusiastic response.
You hear that, Eddie? She called us mighty! I like this one. Let's take the job! Let's keep her!
"You know what, Buddy?" Eddie looked thoughtfully at the place where Luna had just magically disappeared. "That might actually be the best idea you've ever had!" He paused to grin up at his symbiote. "Except for choosing me, of course," he added.
Ha! Ha! Eddie. You are much too funny to be such a loser. Now let's eat!
"What? We just had breakfast, you bottomless pit!"
What is your point, Eddie?
The man was about to retort when he suddenly realized that he was in much too good of a mood to care.
"You know what, Pal? You're right. I have no point. Let's go grocery shopping."
Yesss! I knew I liked you for a reason, Eddie.
"I like you, too, Buddy," Eddie replied, and he was not even surprised to realize that he spoke the truth.
After all, being Venom's partner had definitely caused him a lot of problems, but it was not as if his life had been on that great of a track when they met, either. Now, however, it finally seemed as if their rewards...an exciting new world to explore, a lucrative and specialized job doing what he loved, personal acceptance despite his stranger-than-science-fiction circumstances...and even the enticing possibility of a new romance...were all finally on the horizon.
More importantly, Eddie knew well that none of it would have been possible without that annoying and hungry alien symbiote! Therefore, the least he could do was feed him!
"Let's go see if we can find some tater tots," he therefore replied cheerfully as they headed for the door.