The Eagle and The Snake: A Tragic Love Story

35. The Interview

With 10 escaped death eaters on the loose, and the Ministry still refusing to accept that Voldemort was back, Harry wanted to do something big to get everyone's attention.
Since he was back on speaking terms with Luna and Carly, they were some of the first people he went to for help.
Hermione had blackmailed Rita Skeeter into writing an article from Harry's point of view, and all they needed was somewhere to publish it, since the Daily Prophet would not, as the Ministry had control over them. And since Luna's father was the editor of the Quibbler, Hermione and Harry thought it would be perfect to publish the interview in his paper.

Luna agreed to help Harry, and put him in touch with her father, since she was supposed to be pretending to be one of his best friends.
And she pretended to be really excited about the whole thing.
But in reality, Luna was worried about how Harry's interview would affect her and Carly.
Since she didn't think that Voldemort would be too impressed that Harry was speaking out against him, in a paper her father owned.

On the day the interview was published, both Luna and Carly were sat opposite each other, in the Room of Requirement, discussing what to do about the article in the paper.
"Well, Harry certainly didn't hold anything back" commented Carly, once she had finished reading the article for a second time.
"That's an understatement" sighed Luna.
"Naming all the death eaters who were there in the graveyard that day, was a brave move of his. He's going to make a lot of powerful pure-bloods very angry with him" replied Carly.
"Voldemort isn't going to be happy about this either".

"No one is going to arrest the death eaters mentioned in the paper, on Harry's word alone. Since the Ministry don't believe a word that comes out of Harry's mouth. So, Voldemort won't lose any death eaters to Azkaban. Which means that he hopefully won't be too angry about Harry's interview" said Carly.
"He's going to know that we had something to do with this though, since the interview was published in my dad's paper" replied Luna.
"Well, he is the one who keeps pushing us to get close to Harry. So, he can't get angry at us for just doing our job. We had to help Harry with this, otherwise he would have gotten suspicious of us".

"I know we didn't have a choice, but I'm worried that Voldemort won't see it that way" admitted Luna nervously.
"Don't worry about it. The Quibbler is a small paper afterall, so there's a chance that Voldemort might not even see Harry's interview" reassured Carly.
"Don't be so optimistic. Even if he doesn't see it today, enough people will start talking about it over the next few weeks, to get his attention. So, he will get his hands on the interview eventually" replied Luna.

Carly reached forward and squeezed Luna's hand supportively.
"Voldemort is not going to punish us for this interview. It is all on Harry. None of this was our idea, so Voldemort won't take it out on us" promised Carly.
"I hope you're right. But this interview also makes my other job a lot harder as well. Since it will be more difficult to convince Marietta that I don't like Harry, when I just helped him publish his interview for the whole wizarding world to read" sighed Luna.

"You'll just have to lie to her, and tell her that Harry wrote directly to your father, so you had nothing to do with it. You might even be able to use it to your advantage, by proving to Marietta just how mad and unstable my brother is. If he is willing to do something like this, just make her get scared of how much farther he is going to go. Maybe this interview is the catalyst you need, to turn Marietta into a traitor" suggested Carly.
"I guess that could work" agreed Luna.

"I knew you'd be able to put this interview behind you" smiled Carly.
"It's going to be hard to put it completely behind me, when the whole school is talking about Harry's interview. But since I don't have control of Voldemort's actions, there is no point me getting worked up over what he may or may not do to us. So, I just need to move on" admitted Luna.

"Good. Now that's sorted, we can talk about more important things, like whether or not we are going home for the Easter holidays" announced Carly.
"That is a very important decision" teased Luna.
"It most certainly is" grinned Carly.
"Well, thinking about this seriously, Harry will almost definitely be staying here for the holidays. So, Voldemort might want us to stay here too, to keep an eye on him" replied Luna.
"True. But if we go home we will be able to visit Bellatrix, who wants to start teaching us powerful magic, so that we can be of more use to Voldemort" reminded Carly.

"If we stay here, we will be able to see each other every day, but we can't be ourselves here. However, if we go home, we won't have to hide our affections for each other, but we will only be able to see each other a couple of times throughout the holidays" said Luna.
"I guess that makes the decision easy then. Since I don't want to be parted from you, even for one day" grinned Carly.
Luna blushed, "I don't want to spend any time away from you either... But unfortunately the choice isn't up to us".

"You're right. I'm sure Voldemort will get word to Snape soon, and let us know if he wants us to stay here or go home" sighed Carly.
"It does suck, not having any control over our own lives. But we are on the right side of the war, which is what we have to focus on. And in the end, it will all be worth it" reminded Luna.
"I know... And I look forward to the day when I can kiss you in public, without anyone saying anything negative about it" replied Carly.

"Why don't we practice for that day now?" Suggested Luna, seductively.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea to me. Kissing you is one of my favourite hobbies" grinned Carly.
Luna raised an eyebrow, "Only one of your favourite hobbies".
"Alright, it is my favourite hobby of all time. Is that better?" Asked Carly.
"Much better" murmered Luna, before leaning forward and pressing her lips against Carly's.
"I love you, my Star" continued Luna.
"I love you more, my Atlantis" smiled Carly, before leaning back in for a second kiss.