Sticks & Stones

Luna appeared in the kitchen of the House of Black, startling Lee and Sally-Ann, who were catching a late breakfast. They both yelped in surprise, and then hurried around to help Luna up from where she’d fallen. “Luna, are you all right? What’s happened?” Sally-Ann asked.

“I need to speak with Harry right away,” Luna said. “It’s rather pressing.”

“I would guess so, considering you felt the need to Portkey here!” Sally-Ann replied. “Lee, will you find Harry?”

Luna looked around and when she saw that it was Lee holding her other arm she flinched—she hadn’t forgotten that he’d been the one to brand the words Slut and Whore all over her arm with a hex.

“Harry’s in the basement,” Lee said, letting go of Luna’s arm quickly. “I’ll go get him.” He hesitated, and then said very fast “Luna, I’m sorry I hexed you. I thought I was doing what George wanted, but he made it really clear that I was wrong and anyway you didn’t deserve that, so I’m sorry.” Apparently deeply ashamed, Lee ran to the basement door. Luna was quite surprised by Lee’s apology, but despite her fear that she’d be forced to return home with her father she couldn’t help but feel a bit happier.

Sally-Ann helped Luna over to the table and sat her down. She looked down at Luna’s ankle and her eyes widened. “Luna, you need to let Cho or Neville look at this!”

Luna followed Sally-Ann’s eyes and couldn’t help wincing; the fall the Portkey had caused had inflamed her ankle even further, so it looked as if she had half a hard-boiled egg under her sock.

Before Luna could respond, Harry, Neville and Lee came out of the basement. “What’s wrong?” Harry asked quickly, rushing over. “Were you attacked? Did you—?”

“Oh no, nothing like that,” Luna said. “I’d like to talk to you alone if I could, Harry. Or with Ginny present. It’s fairly urgent.”

Harry looked surprised. “Luna, those Portkeys were only supposed to be if your life was in danger! If someone knew that we had those—” He stopped when he saw Luna’s humiliated expression. “Er, never mind. You obviously think it’s important enough. Let’s go upstairs—Ginny’s in one of the practice rooms, we can get her and go in the conference room.”

Luna nodded and started to stand, but surprisingly, Sally-Ann pressed down on her shoulder. “Wait a minute! You can’t climb the stairs with your ankle like that, Luna!”

Harry walked around the corner of the table, and he drew in a sharp breath when he saw the swelling on Luna’s ankle. “Luna, why didn’t you tell us your ankle had gotten worse?”

“It’s nothing, really,” Luna whispered.

Harry scowled, clearly troubled, but didn’t say anything, apparently unsure how to respond. But Neville sat down in front of Luna and met her eye. “Luna, I can’t force you to let me Heal your ankle, but I would really like to—I hate seeing you in pain like this. Will you let me?”

Luna could hardly continue telling herself that it was too much trouble to ask for help after Neville said that. She nodded silently, and Neville pulled out his wand. He waved it and muttered to himself for a moment before smiling slightly. “It’s not broken this time, thank Merlin,” he said; Luna had broken her ankle some weeks ago avoiding a curse from Seamus Finnegan, who’d been under the Imperius Curse. “Let’s see…”

Neville chanted a soft incantation that sounded quite soothing, almost like a lullaby, and Luna immediately felt the pressure in her ankle dissipating. She looked down and watched with interest as the swelling decreased visibly, until her ankle looked normal. She got to her feet and tentatively put some weight on her left foot, and was pleased to find that it didn’t hurt at all. “It feels completely normal,” she said, feeling happier by the minute. “Thank you Neville, you did a wonderful Healing.”

Neville flushed. “Um, you’re welcome.”

“Thanks for your help, everyone,” Harry said. “Luna, if whatever you need to tell us is urgent we should go find Ginny right away.”

The pleasant feeling faded as Harry’s words reminded Luna of what had happened. “Yes, we should,” she agreed gloomily. “Thank you,” she said to Sally-Ann and Lee, and followed Harry up the stairs.

Harry pulled Ginny away from teaching her cleverly altered version of the Self-Punching Hex to Alicia and Justin, and they went into the first conference room with Luna. Harry shut the door to give them some privacy, shrugging at Ginny’s questioning look, and they all sat down at the table. “All right,” Harry said. “What’s so important that you had to speak to us right away?”

“Well, I’m not certain how important it is to the D.A.,” Luna said, feeling distinctly presumptuous, “but my father told me I had to come home.”

Harry and Ginny were both stunned. “You have to talk him out of it,” Harry responded quickly. “You’re too important to the D.A., we need you here!”

“And we want you here too,” Ginny added. “Do you think you can—?”

“No,” Luna said sadly, although she did appreciate Harry and Ginny’s insistence that she stay. “I did try, but he was quite adamant.”

Luna described to them the argument she’d had with her father. “Daddy really is just doing what he thinks would be best for me,” she concluded, determined that they not think of her father as overbearing or cruel. “But he won’t hear another word about it from me, I could tell.” She swallowed nervously. “I was hoping you might have some ideas as to how I could convince him to let me stay…?”

“We’ll figure something out, Luna, I promise,” Harry said earnestly. “There has to be something—we managed to make it work for Ginny, after all.”

“Yes, you did,” Luna said, surprised to find herself on the verge of tears. “But unfortunately, I don’t have someone willing to marry me before I become of age.” The distraught look on Ginny’s face made Luna feel even worse. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that—”

“That does it!” snapped Ginny, standing up so fast her chair fell over. “Come with me, Luna!”

Luna was shocked—she knew Ginny had a temper, but such a sudden outburst from out of the blue was very unusual. She watched in confusion as Ginny opened the door and turned back; she was clearly furious. “Well, come on!” she demanded.

Luna turned and looked at Harry, who seemed just as surprised by Ginny’s outburst as Luna. He shrugged confusedly.

Luna decided she’d be better off not angering Ginny further, so she got up and exited the conference room with the other girl; Harry followed behind them. Ginny led them to the stairs and stormed up them, and Luna and Harry had to hurry to keep up.

When Ginny passed every room on the third floor and continued to the fourth, Luna started to suspect what Ginny was thinking, and when Ginny stopped in front of a certain door her fear was confirmed. Before Luna could say anything Ginny pounded on the door and shouted “George! George, open up right bloody now!”

“Oh don’t, Ginny!” Luna said anxiously, grabbing Ginny’s hand and pulling it down. “I don’t want to make things worse—”

“George is the one making it worse!” Ginny shot back. “He’s being a complete prat, refusing to talk to you, and he’s made you so unhappy it’s risking your place here with us! I’m through waiting for him to get his head out of his arse and admit he’s as much to blame as any of us are!”

Ginny had brought her own anger to a boil. Not willing to wait any longer, she whipped out her wand and shouted a powerful unlocking charm. The metal lock actually ripped out of the door frame as the door swung inward—striking George, who’d been standing close to it, sharply on the head. “Ow!”

Luna and Harry stood gaping in surprise while Ginny pointed her wand at George. “Expelliarmus!” she snapped, and George’s wand flew out of his robes toward Ginny, who caught it.

“Hey, give that back!” George demanded, rubbing his head.

Ginny tucked George’s wand in her robes; then she reached out, grabbed Luna and pushed her into the room. “Talk!” she ordered. “Talk, or shag, or whatever, but get over your stupid fight before Luna’s forced out of here and we have to Obliviate her to protect our secrets! Because if that happens, George, I’ll alter the Self-Punching Hex so you’re punching your own crotch for all eternity!”

Ginny stepped back from the door, and Luna realized that she intended to leave Luna and George alone together in his room. “Wait!” she said desperately, terrified at the prospect, “my father—”

“Harry and I will deal with your father,” Ginny interrupted. “Stop making excuses, Luna, and start talking! And you,” she added, pointing her wand at George, who recoiled, “listen to her!”

The door slammed shut. Luna stared with mounting dread as she heard Ginny cast a series of locking charms Luna had never even heard of, and certainly had no idea how to remove. Then Ginny cast a Silencing Charm, and all the ambient noise vanished, leaving only the sound of George’s breathing.

*****

“That was impressive,” Harry said mildly once Ginny finished casting her Charms on George’s door.

“If you try to tell me I shouldn’t have—”

“No, of course not,” Harry said quickly. Because I value my life. “We probably should have done something like that weeks ago.”

Ginny relaxed a bit. “I hope it works—George can be even more stubborn than Ron when he wants to be.”

“I think that if he believes you’re serious about not letting them out until they’ve settled this, he’ll give in,” Harry said.

“What makes you think I’m not serious?”

“I didn’t say that.” Ginny smirked. “So how are we going to deal with Luna’s father?”

“I have no idea,” Ginny said, taking Harry’s arm and leading him to the stairs. “But we’ll figure something out.”

*****

Luna just couldn’t bring herself to say anything—every time she’d tried to fix what had happened it only seemed to make things worse, and she didn’t think she could stand it if she did so again. So she was quite shocked when, after over a minute of palpable silence, George said “So… um, your ankle’s better, then?”

“Y-yes,” Luna answered hesitantly. “Neville Healed it. He did a very good job, it’s like it never happened.” If only I could do that with your anger, she thought glumly. And my mistake, whatever it was.

“Um, good,” George said awkwardly, and then lapsed into silence again. “What—what did Ginny mean about you being forced out of here?” he asked finally. “And what’s wrong with your father?”

“Daddy—he ordered me to go back home and live with him,” Luna murmured. “And since I’m only sixteen and not of age, I can’t say no.”

“What?” George exclaimed, his eyes widening. “What in the name of Medusa’s enchanted curling iron made him do that?”

“He noticed how unhappy I was,” Luna whispered.

George flushed slightly. “Yeah, well, you sh—”

He cut himself off and sat down on his bed with his head in his hands. “Bloody hell, Luna, why’d you do it?” he asked wretchedly. “What the hell possessed you to shag Harry and Ginny?”

Luna was ecstatic to have the opportunity to actually talk to George—it truly sounded like he’d heeded Ginny’s warning and was listening. “Because you were so tired,” she answered promptly; it was something she’d never had the chance to explain to him. “I could tell that you were having trouble keeping up with me—from what I understand my sexual appetite is greater than most—and I thought if I dealt with it with someone else, it would give you a bit of a respite.”

George looked up and gaped at her. “That’s it? That was your reason, so I could have a bit of a rest-up?”

“Yes,” Luna said simply. “What else could it have been?”

“I’m not sure,” George answered, rubbing his neck nervously. “I thought maybe you were getting, I dunno, bored of me or something…”

“Oh, no!” Luna insisted. “How could I get bored of you, George? You’re the most interesting person I’ve ever met!”

George went very red. “Well that’s, um, I dunno about that…” He shook his head violently. “Okay, but why them?” he asked angrily. “Why Harry and Ginny? They’re married, didn’t you worry it might drive them apart, or didn’t you even care?”

“Harry refused at first,” Luna admitted. “He was worried that he might hurt Ginny, but she was more all right with it than him, as it turned out. They had a little conversation beforehand, just so each of them was sure it was all right with the other.”

George looked surprised at that. “That’s—that’s just weird. But… good, I guess. For them. But still, why them? I mean, Ginny’s my sister! Wasn’t it weird, doing… things with her?”

“No, not at all,” Luna replied, confused. “I’ve known Ginny as long as you—longer, actually, I met her before you when we were in the local classes together in Ottery St. Catchpole. Ginny was the first person I kissed, and we’d done it enough so that it’s no longer awkward.”

“Ginny… was the first person you kissed?” George asked incredulously. “Um, were you her first?”

“Yes, of course. We both wanted to try it…”

“When was that?”

“When we were thirteen.” Luna walked closer to George, tentatively. “George, I honestly thought that when I asked if you’d mind and you said it was all right that it would be! If I’d known you thought I was making a joke—”

“How could you not have known?” George asked furiously, standing up suddenly. “No one asks that kind of thing, of course I thought you were joking! It’s not the sort of thing normal people ask!”

“You’ve known me for eight years, George,” Luna said tearfully. “When did you ever think I was normal? No one thinks of me as normal.”

“I—yeah, well…” George groaned and put his head in his hands.

“Maybe I should go back and live with Daddy,” Luna said wretchedly.

“What? Why would you say a daft thing like that?”

“Because I’ve caused so much trouble!” Luna wailed. “I’ve made you angry and I’m unhappy as well, and all of it is distracting Harry and the others from their goals!”

“You—you think you’d be happier if you were back with your dad?” George asked.

“No, of course not,” Luna said softly. “But at least I wouldn’t be making you angry any longer. I don’t want to be responsible for stopping the D.A.’s progress.”

“Oh hell.” George sat down on the bed with a thump. “Lu… you aren’t making me angry, all right? I am. I’m the one who made the dumb mistake, and I’m angry at myself for it.”

“But—but you’ve been acting very angry with me,” Luna said in bewilderment.

“Yeah—that’s what people do when they don’t want to admit what a prat they’ve been,” George groaned.

“But George, I don’t understand—if I didn’t make the mistake, then what was the mistake?” Luna asked.

George peered at Luna like he was sure she was having him on, but apparently saw only open honest confusion. “I didn’t take you seriously,” he said eventually. “When you asked if you could shag another boy and girl. I should’ve known you well enough to know you wouldn’t joke like that. And then I got all angry about what you did, even though it was my fault! And I realized that your having shagged Harry and Ginny didn’t even bother me that much anyway.”

“It certainly seemed to bother you a great deal,” Luna pointed out.

“Okay, it did at first, but I thought about it and—well, Harry and Ginny are all right. It’s not like you shagged a complete stranger. I think it really bothered me because usually when people are in a—a relationship, they don’t shag anyone but each other. I should have remembered you aren’t—well, neither of us are usual, really. I don’t think it matters so long as everyone involved is okay with it, and as far as you knew everyone was okay with it. But by the time I realized that I couldn’t very well admit it any more, could I?”

“Why not?”

George opened and closed his mouth a few times. “Okay, so I could have,” he said reluctantly. “But I was already embarrassed that I’d been such a prat, I didn’t want to make myself look even more stupid, you see?”

“I think I understand,” Luna said hesitantly, “although it sounds like you made things far more complicated than they needed to be.”

“Yeah, well that’s because I did,” George said with a grimace. “You know what’s even worse? I was getting worn down. Being laid up in hospital after Ernie hexed me is probably the only reason my hips didn’t give out. It wasn’t from a lack of desire—trust me, you created plenty of that.” Luna flushed. “The spirit was willing, but the flesh was about to fold. And you saw that, and you were trying to help me, and I thanked you by breaking off with you.” He sighed. “Lu, I’m not really angry, I just feel like a right berk for being so mean to you. You didn’t deserve it—I’m sorry.” He straightened up. “Take out your wand, Lu.”

Luna frowned. “Why?”

“Just do it, okay?”

Luna was puzzled, but she was so happy after hearing George’s apology—and that he didn’t blame her for what had happened—that she was willing to go along with almost anything. She drew her wand and waited.

“Okay,” George said, bracing himself. “Hex me with something.”

“What?” Luna was shocked. “But I don’t want to!”

“Come on, Lu, you’ve got to want to,” George insisted. “I was such a bastard to you, so I’ve got it coming. It’ll make you feel better.”

“No, it won’t.” Luna considered George. “Do you really regret our fight, George?”

“Yeah,” George answered. “It went way too far.”

“Do you wish we were still dating?”

George went red again. “Uh, yeah. I wish I hadn’t been so stupid. I really like you, Lu.”

Luna raised her wand, and George flinched, anticipating the requested hex; he was gobsmacked when Luna pointed her wand at his crotch and cast the Anti-pregnancy Charm. “What are you doing?”

“Well,” Luna said happily, tossing aside her wand and dropping to her knees, “You still want to date me and I still want to date you, so we should go back to dating again. It’s perfectly logical, and I’ve been overwhelmingly desperate to have sex with you again—I can’t even begin to describe how much I’ve missed it.”

George gasped when Luna’s long, slim fingers found his cock and caressed it. “D-does that mean you forgive me?” he squeaked.

Luna peered up at him with a slightly giddy smirk. “I think I’ve heard this referred to as makeup sex,” she said lightly. “I understand it’s supposed to be more intense than regular sex.” She squeezed George’s cock and then gave it a firm lick. She hesitated, and then let go and stood up quickly. “I hope you don’t mind, George,” she said, removing her robes, “but I don’t think I can wait any longer, so I hope you’re all right with skipping the oral stimulation and going straight to sex.”

Not distracted by George’s weak “Okay!”, Luna shoved him back onto the bed. She climbed up George until her cunt brushed along his cock. She reached between them and positioned their bodies appropriately. “Oh!” she exclaimed as his cock slid smoothly up into her, “It’s been quite a while—” she whimpered as George bottomed out in no time. She wriggled her hips and gasped in shock as she came almost immediately.

“Sweet Merlin,” George groaned. “Lu, I can’t tell you how much I missed this… how much I wanted you again…”

“Oh George,” Luna sighed happily, already coming down from her first orgasm, “did you really? I thought you were too angry…”

“Hah!” George laughed, grinding his hips up and making Luna whine. “I jerked off so much the last few weeks thinking about this it’s—” He moaned as Luna raised her hips so his cock withdrew almost completely—“It’s a miracle I still have skin!”

Luna paused. “What does that mean—‘jerking off’?”

George grit his teeth in frustration—Luna wasn’t moving. “Um, jerking off,” he said, grasping her hips and pressing down. “You know, masturbating?”

“Oh yes,” Luna said, and allowed George to push her down, impaling her on his cock again. “I used to do that too.”

“Wh—used to?” George repeated in shock. “You don’t masturbate? You, with your sex drive?”

“N-No,” Luna stammered as she began a slight rocking, up and down. “It’s not as g-good as the real thing—and I felt it—dulled the experience!”

George decided he couldn’t take Luna’s slow pace any longer; tenderness had its place and all, but this was too much. He sat up, surprising Luna, grabbed her around the waist and twisted them around so Luna was on her back, somehow managing it so they never separated. “Can’t wait,” he mumbled into her neck as an explanation. He raised his hips and slammed them down for emphasis.

“OH!” Luna yelped, and placed her hands on his shoulders, pushing gently. “George, that was—”

George grasped Luna’s wrists and pinned them to the bed above her head. “Want you—” he gasped, and began to pound into her, making the bed squeak ominously. Luna arched her back, instinctively wrapping her legs around George, moving them apart to allow him to penetrate her deeper, digging her heels into his back. She cried out as she came for the second time, thrashing beneath George; the sight of her helpless writhing only made George’s thrusts more frenetic, and after no more than a minute he came—not surprising, considering how long it had been.

George panted, sucking air into his lungs as he tried to get his breath back. Luna joyfully watched his face, her own chest rising and falling almost as quickly. I guess I really did lie to daddy, she thought dreamily. It really was all because of a boy.

After a minute Luna was forced to say something. “George, could you let go of my wrists, please? You’re gripping them very tightly, and it’s beginning to hurt.”

George let go instantly. “I didn’t realize,” he said sheepishly. “I, er—” He caught a glimpse of her wrists and blanched. “Oh hell Lu, I’m sorry!”

Luna’s wrists were pretty badly bruised. “That’s all right,” Luna said, not caring about the mild pain. Physical pain faded with time, and Luna was practical. “I found you holding me down rather exciting actually. And you seemed to enjoy it. Although I think we should try soft rope instead next time.”

George gaped open-mouthed at Luna for a moment before ducking down and kissing her. Luna wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back fervently. “Lu, I’m sorry,” George said again when they broke apart. “I’m such a berk, why do you even like me?”

“Because you’re quite sweet,” Luna said with a smile. “And you’re funny and imaginative and have quite a lovely body that I enjoy almost as much as your creative and surprising mind. And when you are a berk, it’s because you care about me and it’s your way of expressing it—at least, that’s my understanding now.”

“Uh, yeah,” George admitted, blushing. “That sounds about right. I got jealous.”

“Oh George, I’m so sorry,” Luna said, tears coming to her eyes. “I should never had made you jealous—”

“No Lu, it’s okay,” George said quickly. “I don’t think I really was jealous, anyway. Like I said, it didn’t even bother me much when I thought about it—it was like, I was supposed to be jealous, ‘cause I’m the boyfriend, right?” He shrugged, which Luna thought was not a small feat considering he was leaning on his elbows. Then he smirked. “Just make sure I know you mean it before you go doing something like that again, right?”

Luna shook her head. “I’m not doing that again, George—ever. I don’t want to go through another time like we just did.”

“Yeah,” George agreed. “It’s—ah, forget it,” he said. “We can talk about that more later. Right now, I’m betting that considering how long it’s been—and that you haven’t been masturbating, by your own admission—you could go for another round, huh?”

“Well—well yes, I certainly could,” Luna replied, surprised. She was still extremely horny, but was prepared to be satisfied with only two orgasms since she understood that boys had their limits.

“Well then, since I so rudely took over a second ago,” George said with a waggle of his eyebrows, “maybe you’d like to pick what we do next?”

“You mean—?” Luna gasped as George ground down, and she realized his cock was still as hard as ever. “George!” she said, thrilled and impressed all at once. “Oh, how wonderful! In that case, I’d be thrilled if you would take me from behind!”

George grinned mischievously, and to Luna’s delight he proceeded to do just that.