The Lion and the Eagle {Huna}

Chapter 4

When Harry apparated back into his apartment, he was fully prepared for a cup of decaf coffee and a long sleep. He was not expecting a Luna Lovegood dreamily examining his house.

"L-Luna?!" Harry asked, sounding rudely shocked.

"Oh, hello Harry." Luna stated happily, "Do you know you have a Huchef behind your bathroom pipes?"

Harry pushed her hair out of his eyes, "A what?"

"A Huchef, very small harmless creatures. They have fur the colour and texture of mould, eyes that seem too big for its head and they enjoy chewing on hard things." Luna stated, her eyes widening with excitement as she spoke.

Harry couldn't help but chuckle, he was glad the war hasn't changed Luna too much. She was slightly different, her hair was still a dirty blonde colour but it looked well cared for and washed, and was shorter than it had been, falling down to her mid-back instead of waist. The hair was the biggest and most prominent change, but Harry also noticed she had grown an inch or so and the dirt usually streaked across her face had vanished.

"I cannot say I have seen it," Harry replied warily, it was always best to approach Luna's strange idea's with an open mind and caution. He couldn't help smile at Luna's description of the animal 'Eyes that seem too big for its head' was a rather good description of Luna's own eyes.

"Here is the recipe for the potion that will get rid of it, though, it will take more than that to get rid of a Huchef." Luna had taken the attitude of a teacher, Harry knew she was waiting for him to ask what else was necessary was needed.

Trying to contain a grin, Harry sat down on a stool next to his kitchen bench and humoured Luna. "What else is needed?"

Eagerly, Luna sat down on a stool as well, skidding her toes along the tiled floor as she collected her thoughts. Her eyes were wide as she began to talk so quickly, all the words became quite blurred. Harry heard multiple mentions of hiccups... grass... moonlight... frogs and wax. Several phrases caught his attention including: "Then you must stuff the soaked grass into the wax moulds before slowly roasting it under the full moon" and "The tricky part is deciding when to give the Huchef the hiccup curse, for they are awfully cranky whenever they feel that tickle in the throat".

"Do you understand?" Luna asked sincerely, her face slowly slipping from excited to dream-like once again.

Harry realised he had been staring the whole time she had been talking, not in a rude way, he was quite interested in the rubbish she had just told him. It fascinated him, not the information, but the belief she placed into it. It was all so real to her, so... so there. She could see things Harry- who had had visions of Voldemort- would never be able to see. A whole nother dimension to the world, a dimension he and many others would never glimpse. And he admired her for it, other called it battiness, her belief in the unbelievable, but Harry couldn't help see it as wiseness and strength.

The wisdom of knowing that belief was not defined by evidence was something that radiated off Luna, which was evidently a contributing factor in her sorting at Hogwarts.

"Harry?" He had been staring again, he had forgotten to answer her.

"What?" Harry flushed, "I mean... er... um... wrackspurt." He muttered, looking down at his hands.

Luna smiled brightly, "I thought so. They are so tricky, wrackspurts, difficult to defend against."

Harry grinned through his embarrassment, finally asking the proper question. "Luna? Why are you in my flat?" He looked up at her, expecting to see embarrassment or bashness yet he couldn't say he was surprised to see a dreamy smile still on her face.

"Because you haven't asked me to leave yet."

"No, I mean, why were you here when I arrived?" Harry asked, his confusion growing.

"Oh," Luna looked slightly surprised by the question, "Well I wanted to know how the interview went. I thought that was obvious."

Harry silently agreed with himself that Luna was possibly one of the most ludicrously confusing people he had ever met. His face scrunched into a confused frown, "How did you know about the interview?"

"Ginny,"

"Ginny?"

"Yes, Ginny."

"How did Ginny know?"

"From her friend Tia," Luna said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Tia?"

"Yes, Tia."

"How did Tia know," Harry asked, running his hand through his hair as he tried to get the full story from Luna. "The long version please."

"Tia heard it from Parvati Patil, you heard it off Lavender who bumped into Hermione in Diagon Alley."

"Right, well now that that is cleared up..." Harry said, wishing the conversation hadn't needed to be so long. He could feel a slight ache developing in his temples. He glanced at his watch and was surprised to see how late it was, "You'd better get going Luna, we've been talking for over an hour."

Luna rose to her feet and Harry copied the action. "Thanks for the chat Harry, I'm sorry about the job."

"Wait, what?" Harry asked, "How did you know about that?"

Luna smiled "Oh just how you were behaving. Goodnight."

They exchanged small smiles, Harry wished her a goodnight before telling her she should visit again. Luna exited the apartment, leaving Harry happier than before but with many, many more thoughts inside his brain. He mixed himself a hot chocolate before going to bed. Happy.