kbinnz - Harry's New Home

"We need to take it to Professor Snape," she said firmly. "And I would like to keep it in the meantime, please."

"Run along, girl," he snapped dismissively. "This is no longer any of your business." He turned back to the pile of things. Taking control of the castle would be easy, if he could only findтАж

"Harry!" She grabbed his arm again, and his temper snapped. He swung at her, intending to daze her just long enough to draw his wand and Obliviate the pest.

To his astonishment, his fist passed harmlessly through thin air as Luna ducked, then she rose with a surprisingly powerful uppercut to his solar plexus.

All of a sudden, Harry's plans to conquer the castle were replaced by an urgent need to breathe. He sat down very hard, clutching his midriff and wheezing for air. The diadem, dislodged by the force of his landing, toppled off his head.

Dimly, Harry noted Luna using a discarded sack to scoop up the tiara, then she was sitting next to him, patting his shoulder comfortingly as he gasped and choked.

"Poor Harry. Does it hurt very much?" she asked sympathetically. "Just try to relax. It will be better in a few moments."

It had been a while since Dudley or Piers had managed to punch him like that, and it took Harry several minutes to feel himself again. Luna helped him stagger to his feet, where he groaned anew at the pain in his bum. That stone floor was hard!

Even as he winced, though, he knew he deserved it. What had he been thinking? Trying to punch a girl? And a younger girl at that! And he'd actually planned to Obliviate her! Harry couldn't imagine what had come over him.

"Poor Harry," Luna said again, concern in her eyes. "I should have realized what the Nargles were trying to tell me. I'm very sorry."

Harry shook his head in disbelief. She was apologizing to him? " 'S okay," he managed to wheeze. "My fault."

"No, it really wasn't, though I do think she might have been a little more explicit in her warning," Luna clucked. She pulled his arm over her shoulder and, holding the sack with the diadem in her other hand, helped Harry out of the room.

By the time they reached the dungeons, Harry was able to totter along under his own power, though he was still rather sore. Professor Snape answered Luna's knock and was taken aback to find the eccentric little Ravenclaw beaming up at him, while his ward wobbled, pale faced, at her side.

"Come in this minute," he ordered, drawing them both into his living room. He peered sharply at Harry then did a quick diagnostic spell. "What on earth happened?" he demanded. "You have bruising on both your abdomen and your тАУ "

"I know, I know!" Harry interrupted, red faced. He massaged his stomach with one hand, while the other gingerly rubbed his rear end. "May I please have a healing potion, Da?"

Snape scowled, but accio'd the potion and watched carefully as the boy downed it.

"Yuk!" Harry grimaced at the old sock taste, but then signed in relief as the pain vanished in a burst of pleasant warmth. "Thanks, Da."

"I am awaiting an explanation, Mr Potter," Snape said sternly, ignoring тАУ for the moment тАУ the smiling first year.

"AhтАж" Harry abruptly realized that confessing that he'd been beaten up by Luna Lovegood was not only going to be humiliating, but once he revealed that she'd done it in self-defense, he wasn't sure that his bum wouldn't soon be sore again. Or even worse, he'd be banned from his upcoming Quidditch match.

"Yes?"

"I'm afraid I punched him," Luna offered brightly.

Snape blinked, staring from Harry to Luna and back again. "I beg your pardon."

"After I tried to punch her first," Harry admitted.

"Harry James Potter!" Snape began furiously.

"Oh, it wasn't really Harry, Professor," Luna interrupted. "Well, not just Harry."

If anything, Snape looked angrier. "And who else was there? Mr Weasley? Mr Malfoy? Since when is attacking a first year girl acceptable behavior, Mr Potter?"

"Oh, no, Professor. We were quite alone. Well, except for the Nargles, of course."

As usual, Luna's explanations didn't really help. Snape looked at Harry who spread his hands helplessly. He didn't understand what had happened either.

"Let me be clear," Snape tried again. "You and Mr Potter were тАУ"

"Yes, I think that would be best," Luna agreed. "I don't know why some people find this confusing, but it's really rather simple. The Grey Lady told me where to find it, and she said Harry could help. I didn't understand that she meant because of the Nargles, you see, so I handed it to Harry, not realizing that that was a very bad idea. Because he's marked the same way, you see? So it was able to affect him much more strongly."

Snape and Harry blinked at her. "Just what are we talking about, Miss Lovegood?" Snape managed to ask.

"This!" She held up the sack proudly, then looked sharply at Snape. "Oh. I see that the Nargles are avoiding you too." She withdrew the sack. "Perhaps it would be best if I handed it to someone who isn't marked."

Snape managed not to rear back in shock, but it was a close thing. How had she known he was Marked? Yes, there were always rumors about his having been a Death Eater, and it rather suited his purposes for the little fiends to believe he was capable of torture and mayhem, but no one had ever come flat out and talked about his Mark with such aplomb, let alone to his face.

"I тАУ I beg your pardon?" he demanded, as menacingly as he could manage at the moment.

"Well, that's what all three of you have in common," Luna said, hefting the bag. "The Nargles. They avoid you and Harry in the same way that they avoid this. So all three of you share something in common, and that's why it had more power over Harry than over me. Don't you see, Professor? It's really very simple," she repeated, a bit chidingly.

Snape had no real understanding of what the child was babbling about, but it seemed that she was claiming to have something in the sack that responded to something about Harry and himself. He rubbed his left forearm unconsciously. It was undeniable that they two had the closest connections to the Dark Lord of anyone at HogwartsтАж perhaps that's what she was referring to? After all, it sounded as if the chit was suggesting that Harry's uncharacteristic violent outburst was related to the object in the sack, and violence and Voldemort went hand in glove. Better not to take any chances.

"And to whom amongst the faculty would you feel comfortable giving your sack?" he inquired.

"Well," Luna said consideringly, "I suppose it should be someone whom the Nargles really like. Doesn't that make sense?"

Snape exchanged a glance with Harry.

"I just smile an' nod," Harry offered, sotto voce.

"That would seemтАж sensible," Snape returned warily.

"Well, of course they really adore Professor Dumbledore, but тАУ"

"Wait here." Snape stepped over to his floo, and moments later, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall stepped through.

"Well, hello, Miss Lovegood. What lovely earrings you have," Professor Dumbledore twinkled at her.

"Why, thank you, Professor!" Luna said happily. "I didn't know you were nearby."

"We are just passing through," McGonagall said quickly. "Professor Dumbledore needs his rest, you know."

Luna smiled at them. "Oh, yes, but the Grey Lady said that if I gave this to you, then you and Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have nearly so much work to do. So this will really help him get his rest, don't you see?"

"And what exactly is that, dear?" Dumbledore asked gently, gesturing to the sack.

Luna promptly handed it over. "The Grey Lady said you'd know what to do with it."

McGonagall and Snape gasped as Dumbledore carefully withdrew Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem from the sack.

"Careful!" Dumbledore held up a commanding hand when the others would have reached for it. "This is more than it seems," he told the other adults meaningfully, dropping it back into the sack.