Sticks & Stones

Harry knocked on Luna’s door, but not without a good bit of hesitation. It had been four days since George and Luna had reconciled, and except for when he’d told them they needed to go speak with Mr. Lovegood and then catching a glimpse of them when they’d returned, Harry hadn’t even seen either of them. No one in the D.A. had any doubt as to what they’d been spending their time up to—hence Harry’s reluctance to knock. But he’d been waiting patiently for them to sort things out so that they could return to their D.A. tasks, and he felt he’d allowed enough time. Anything more, they could sort out on their own time and not the D.A.’s.

At least he’d waited until after lunch—there was no way they could still be in bed. Or rather, he thought with a light blush, they couldn’t still be asleep.

The door was opened almost immediately by George—fully clothed, thank Merlin. “Oh… hey, Harry,” he said embarrassedly. That wasn’t surprising, since George hadn’t yet apologized to Harry or Ginny for blowing up at them. But Harry and Ginny hadn’t gotten the chance either to apologize to George for having sex with Luna without making certain George didn’t mind first. “Uh, did you need something?”

“Yeah,” Harry said, fighting off his own embarrassment—he was the leader, after all, and had to be firm. “I want to talk to you, Fred and Pansy about those… things I asked about.”

George nodded. Harry was referring to a list of muggle inventions that he wanted magical versions of. Some time ago he’d asked Fred and George, as the most creative of the D.A. with magical objects, to see if they could do anything. “I was just going to see if they were free to talk again,” George said. When Harry looked confused he added “We all got together yesterday and they caught me up on what they’d managed so far.”

“Oh!” Harry said, surprised. He was pleased that George had taken that initiative. “Um, good. I already found Fred and Pansy—they’re waiting with Ginny for us in the conference room.”

“Great. Hang on just a second.” George ran back into the room, grabbed several rolls of parchment off the desk, and returned. “Let’s go.”

“What’s all that?” Harry asked, indicating all the parchment George was carrying, as they walked to the stairs.

“It’s—damn it,” George grumbled as he fumbled the parchments, dropping a couple. Harry picked them up. “Thanks. These’re some ideas I had after talking to Fred and Pansy. I think we might be able to—”

“Hang on,” Harry interrupted. “Wait until we’re in the room and secure, okay?” George nodded and fell silent as they descended to the second floor. But when they got there, they found Ginny, Fred and Pansy standing outside the two doors to the two conference rooms. Or rather, where the doors should be—both had vanished. “What’s going on?” Harry asked.

“Both rooms are occupied, obviously,” Pansy said dryly.

“Huh. I know Hermione and Ron are working in the first one,” Harry said, “but I don’t know who’s in the second.”

“That’s probably Luna,” George said, blushing a bit. “She said she wanted to work some more on… er, whatever it is you have her working on.”

“Some more?” Ginny asked in surprise. “When did she last…?”

“Yesterday,” George said. “She spent most of the day on it. I think she feels kind of guilty that she hasn’t made any progress recently, since she’s been distracted by… um…”

“By your lover’s quarrel,” Pansy finished, and smirked when George scowled.

“That’s great, George,” Harry said. “But we need the room. Hmm… actually there’s probably room for all of us in there, as long as we won’t distract Luna.”

“Harry, are you sure that’s wise?” Ginny asked pointedly. “What Luna’s working on is supposed to be secret.”

“I know, but the room’s big enough that she can work at one end of the table and we can work at the other,” Harry answered. “I’ll cast an Obscuring Charm so none of us can see what she’s doing.” Ginny nodded, satisfied, so Harry knocked on the wall where the door should be. “Luna? Could you come out, please?”

After a moment the door appeared and opened, and Luna smiled at them. “Hello Harry,” she said. She glanced around at everyone else with a smile; when her eyes settled on George for a moment she flushed before returning her attention to Harry. “Can I help you? I’m working on that project again, you know.”

She blushed. Luna never blushes. She and George must really have made up, Harry thought with amusement and relief. “That’s great, Luna—thanks. But we really need the room. I thought we could both use it, so long as it won’t distract you.”

Harry quickly explained his plan for an Obscuring Charm to Luna, who nodded. “Oh, that would be fine. You won’t distract me by talking. Actually I find it quite relaxing, like being back in the library at Hogwarts.”

“Good. But don’t tell anyone else anything you overhear, okay? It’s not really a secret, but the fewer people that know, the better.” Luna nodded again, so Harry ushered the others inside and closed the door. Luna shifted all of her parchments and the book Sawol Immortalis to one end of the table, and Harry cast the Obscuring Charm on all of it. “What do you see?” he asked Fred.

Fred squinted. “A big blur,” he said eventually.

“You too?” Harry asked George and Pansy.

George nodded, turning his eyes away and rubbing them. “Bloody hell, that’s giving me a headache,” Pansy said with irritation.

“Good, then it’s doing what it’s supposed to.” Harry sat down. “All right… what have you managed so far?”

“We’ve definitely got a few things sorted,” Fred said. “Pansy cottoned us on to the… er, eruptive properties of Lady’s Embrace, and it’s been a key component in half of what we’re working on.”

“Lady’s Embrace?” Ginny repeated skeptically. “I thought that was an ingredient in love potions that don’t work.”

“And you’d know, since you tried half of them on Potter a few years ago, didn’t you?” Pansy retorted, grinning when Ginny looked embarrassed. Harry was surprised, and filed that away for the future. “My great-aunt found the lost method of unlocking the potential of Lady’s Embrace in an ancestor’s journal. Mostly it was used for more amorous purposes, but it definitely translates to some of the destructive purposes Potter asked for.”

“So you’ve figured out—which items?” Harry asked, his heart beating a bit fast. If the twins and Pansy had succeeded, it might make an immeasurable difference when the final battle arrived.

Ginny hadn’t been privy to the list of items Harry had requested. She listened carefully to Harry’s conversation with George, Fred and Pansy, and enthusiastically joined the discussion when they started talking about magical methods of communication. Unfortunately, Fred, George and Pansy hadn’t made much progress with it, although George had come up with some interesting ideas. “The only real problem I’m having is distance,” he explained as he unrolled one of his parchments to show them. “I think this would work if not for the minor problem of a kilometer being a lot further than a few meters.”

“Could you use a Mermish Water Stunner?”

Everyone looked around at Luna, who was blinking at them calmly; she’d clearly been listening closely to the conversation. “A what?” George asked.

“A Mermish Water Stunner,” Luna repeated. “Merpeople use them to catch fish. They set them somewhere, and when fish swim by the Merpeople trigger the Stunner, which gives off a huge burst of sound and stuns the fish so the Merpeople can collect them without trouble. They can be triggered from kilometers away—could you alter one for your needs?”

Pansy sneered. “We need actual solutions, Lovegood, not the claptrap your father prints—”

“Shut up!” George shouted at Pansy.

“They’re real,” Harry said quickly. “I’ve heard of them, I just can’t remember where…”

“I can,” Ginny said with satisfaction. “There was one on the list of items in the Black family vaults, remember? Hermione pointed it out to us because it seemed odd that a pureblood family would have something created by a non-human race.”

“That’s right!” Harry agreed, smiling at Ginny. “Would that work? Could you use one?” he asked George.

“Maybe,” George said cautiously. “If we can figure out how the merpeople did it, we might be able to adapt it.”

Harry glanced at Fred, who nodded thoughtfully, and at Pansy, who just shrugged. “Fine. Uh, we don’t have time to get it right away, but we’ll try to get to Gringotts in a couple of days.”

“While we’re there we may as well look around,” Ginny suggested. “Ron and Hermione have put together a decent-sized list of items to check in person.”

“Good idea,” Harry agreed. “We’d better allow ourselves plenty of time. I think we can manage it the day after tomorrow—it’s a pretty free day.”

They chatted a while more, but there wasn’t much left to cover so the discussion wrapped up fairly quickly. “I’ve got to go meet my solicitor again,” Pansy grumbled as they collected their things. “The Ministry is trying to claim that they have the right to confiscate Parkinson Manor. Apparently if I don’t show up to protest in person they’re going to sign orders to seize and demolish it.”

“I thought you hate that place,” Harry said with a frown.

“I do, with a passion,” Pansy confirmed. “But it’s the principal of the thing. Besides, if I’m to take back my place in wizard society once the war’s over and really stick it to the rest of the families spouting pureblood superiority, I’ll need a grand house to do it in. And anyway, we’ll need a large ballroom for the celebration party once we’ve won the war, and Parkinson Manor has four of them.”

“Are you offering Parkinson Manor for a huge, raucous celebration involving purebloods, muggleborns and probably some non-humans as well?” Ginny asked sweetly.

Pansy grimaced, but then shrugged. “Why not? I’d love to see the looks on the faces of the wizard portraits hanging on the walls.”

“We’ll hold you to that,” Harry said with a chuckle. Pansy rolled her eyes and walked out; Fred followed, catching up to her and engaging her in conversation, no doubt about some more plans for Harry’s list of items. “Pansy, make sure to take Neville with you for safety!” Harry called; Pansy just waved dismissively to show she’d heard.

George walked over to the door, but instead of exiting he stuck his head out and looked both ways. Seeing that no one was nearby, he shut the door and turned to Harry and Ginny. “Uh, can I—do you have a minute to talk?”

Harry swallowed nervously and nodded. “Okay,” Ginny said faintly.

They all sat down again. Harry noticed that Luna, who’d been silent the entire time they’d been meeting, had put down her work and was staring at them. “Luna, could you come over here?” George asked awkwardly.

“Of course.” Luna stood up and walked around to where George was sitting, and took the chair next to him. “What is it?”

“I just wanted you to hear this,” George told her quietly. He turned to Harry and Ginny. “Um, I’m sorry,” he said. “For blowing up at you. It wasn’t fair, I was as much to blame for what happened as you were. I shouldn’t have shirked on my D.A. chores, or stopped going to work, or stopped talking to you. I was a right bloody berk, and I’m sorry.”

“We’re sorry too,” Harry said, and Ginny nodded fervently. “We—I was worried that you might get upset, but I should have insisted on checking with you before we—er, did anything with Luna. I don’t blame you at all for getting as angry as you did.”

George ducked his head embarrassedly. “Well, I only got mad because I was so disgusted with myself—I didn’t take Luna seriously when she asked, and that was my fault. I was just angry at myself for walking into it… not really because you actually did it.”

Harry frowned and opened his mouth, but closed it again. Ginny managed to voice what he was thinking; “I’m sure you were also angry that we went ahead and did it!”

“But that’s the thing—I really wasn’t,” George insisted. “In fact, that’s the other thing I wanted to say: if you two and Luna want to—you know, do it again—” he reddened—“then it’s okay with me.”

“What?” Luna said, her large eyes staring hugely at George.

“No way!” Harry exclaimed in alarm. “We are not going through that again!”

“But this time I really know what I’m saying, and I’m okay with it,” George insisted.

“I’m sorry George, but I don’t think I could ever believe it wouldn’t bother you,” Ginny said.

George nodded. “I get that. But look… Luna explained that she only did it to give me a rest—she’d noticed that I was, uh, worn out,” he said, blushing. “I can’t keep up with Luna all the time, and if you ever repeat that to anyone the Self-Punching Hex will be the least of your worries.” Ginny and Harry couldn’t help snorting at George’s half-hearted threat. “Luna’s just very… active,” he said, glancing at Luna.

“He means I have an unusually strong sex drive,” Luna said helpfully.

“Uh, yeah. So if you all agreed, I wouldn’t mind… honestly, I’d even thank you for it, if it gave me a chance to—uh, recuperate. So long as it is just for sex,” he added firmly.

“Of course it would be,” Luna said softly. “Harry and Ginny are wonderful friends, but it’s you I’m in love with.”

“In love with?” George yelped.

“Well, yes,” Luna said as though it were obvious. “I came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t have been as upset as I was that we had fought if I wasn’t in love with you.” She looked at Ginny and Harry, puzzled. “Does that not seem right? I think it’s logical…”

“It makes perfect sense, Luna,” Ginny agreed. Harry could tell she was fighting not to laugh at George’s expression.

“Yeah,” Harry added, ignoring the glare George gave him. “It definitely sounds like love.”

“There you are, George,” Luna said decisively. “Harry and Ginny certainly know what it means to be in love, and they agree with my assessment.”

“Great,” said George, scowling at Harry and Ginny.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Luna said, patting George on the arm. “I understand that boys sometimes find it difficult to admit to things like love in front of other people. You can tell me later in private.”

“Sure,” George said tiredly, sounding defeated, but Harry wasn’t fooled. He had no doubt that George really did love Luna, and his proof was exactly what Luna had said—George wouldn’t have reacted so harshly to what had happened if he didn’t love her. “Anyway,” George said, “I’m serious, Harry. And you too, Ginn. If you want to, and Luna wants to…”

“I understand that you’re concerned the same problems not occur again,” Luna said to Harry. “Perhaps if all four of us did it together you’d be convinced that George was all right with it—”

Before Harry could even open his mouth, Ginny and George simultaneously shouted “NO!”

“What? But why not?” Luna asked, confused.

“Luna, Ginny’s my sister,” George said, his face wrinkling up in disgust. “That—eurgh, that’s just plain wrong.”

“Because you’re siblings?” Luna shrugged. “Well, I’m an only child, so I don’t really understand, but I will take your word for it.” She smiled brightly at Harry. “If I remember correctly, George has to go and watch the shop now… would you like to go upstairs and have sex now?”

Harry choked in astonishment. “L-Luna, we have to go and supervise another of Draco’s Patronus lessons,” Ginny said, and it was a mark of how surprising the entire offer had been that even Ginny was clearly unbalanced. “And I’d like the chance to talk with Harry and George both some more before we even consider anything like that.”

“Well, that certainly sounds fair,” Luna said, not a bit put off. “If you don’t need me to listen any more, George, I’ll go back to my work?” George nodded dumbly, so Luna smiled at them and walked casually back to the other end of the table. Within seconds she was almost buried in parchment again.

George, Harry and Ginny all exchanged glances. “I do have to get to the shop,” George said, checking his watch.

“And we really do have to go supervise Draco’s Patronus practice,” Ginny said. “He’s actually getting it—hopefully within another week or so we won’t have to sit around bored while he tries casting over and over.”

“We can only hope,” Harry said dryly, standing up. He followed Ginny out the door, but once they were out of George’s hearing he leaned over and murmured in her ear; “After we’re done there… I think we should talk more.”

Ginny shivered at Harry’s closeness and nodded. “I think so too.”