Dodging Prison and Stealing Witches

Chapter 8: Umm, I'm the Champion of Fate and Death?

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

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[January, 1990 (Two months into Ginny's occlumency training)]

Harry, disguised as Child-Lord-Slytherin, and wearing heavy winter robes, sat outside a Diagon Alley cafe. He polished off his full-English breakfast, and considered the top-floor-office four shops away, headquarters of most innovative newspaper in the country, The Quibbler.

Luna Lovegood had been a nervous, frightened child when he'd last been at Hogwarts, but Voldemort's memories showed her to be both loyal, and a competent duellist. She'd gone one-on-one with Yaxley, lived, and then taken a killing curse meant for his incompetent brother. She was an obvious asset. Luna and Alexandra would make perfect duelling partners for Ginny who were all childhood friends. The Lovegoods were also noble, owned a national newspaper, and were a light-sided family sitting on the edge of being Gray. Courting them was a no-brainer.

Being noble, he'd have to be more careful in how he handled Luna. With Ginny, he knew that if everything went to dragon dung, he could wipe her memory, and start over again. He'd have never dared use a compulsion-charmed necklace with a mental backdoor if Ginny were noble. The noble house rings made such tactics impossible.

He'd have to build his friendship with the Lovegood Heiress without such tactics, and there was an obvious point in the timeline where he'd be able to build a solid link. In the year before Hogwarts, Pandora Lovegood, Luna's mother, died during a spell crafting accident — an accident that was both predictable, and preventable. Stop Lady Lovegood's death, and Luna would be putty in his hands.

But that event would be less than six months before his first Hogwarts year, a dangerously small timeframe to both befriend and train her. He wasn't even sure the timeline would repeat itself anymore. He needed something sooner, but despite thinking for weeks, he hadn't come up with anything he liked.

He raised his orange juice to mouth-level, and fumbled for the straw with his mouth.

"Hello."

He tore his distracted focus away from The Quibbler Building, glanced towards the voice, and did a double take. He found himself looking into the silvery-gray eyes of Luna Lovegood.

"Would you like to be my friend? I don't have many friends."

No fucking way. His mouth switched to emergency autopilot while his brain malfunctioned and shut down.

"Yes, I would like to be your friend."

"Yay." The girl raised her hands in the air, glided over to him, and hugged him. She pulled away. "What's your name?"

"Harry."

"I'm Luna. Did you know you're surrounded by kerfuffling scribblebugs?"

"You know, I did not know that," he said, still stunned. His brain started to reboot. This was Luna Lovegood? Hogwarts must've really knocked the spirit from her. "What is a kerfuffling scribblebug?"

The short blonde smiled. "It's a type of flying beetle that hunts Nargles; they breed very fast when there is enough magic to support them."

"And they're incorporeal, invisible, and completely undetectable?"

Luna frowned. "I can see them."

"I believe you."

Luna's smile broke out again. She was wearing green, flowing, modern, open-robes with a white summer dress. It was an odd combination, and made her look like a white flower surrounded by long, green leaves. She must be really cold.