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Harry Potter was drunk. There were no ifs, ands or buts about it. He was drunk off his ass! Luna shook her head. She wasn’t going to get onto him about it though. Not after the year they’d just gone through. If anyone deserved to get blind, stinking drunk, it was Harry. As she watched him in the muggle bar, she realized they were playing partly live music and piped in music while the band took breaks. Currently it was piped in music. He was singing along and slurring his words slightly as he swayed from side to side, ordering his next drink. She giggled as she realized what he was singing. It was the ‘Pina Colada Song’.
From losing Dumbledore at the end of sixth year to defeating Voldemort at the end of what should have been his seventh year, the boy had been through hell. He’d always been skinny but after showing up in the school Harry, Hermione and Ron had been positively skeletal. They had all lost more weight than was healthy for them. Luna wanted to take him into her arms and protect him from the world. She stayed back because it was obvious at that time that Harry only had eyes for Ginny.
Harry
Harry didn’t want to fight anymore. It seemed like he’d been fighting ever since he sat foot in the magical world. Every year, something had happened that always led to a fight. Sometimes it was a fight he wanted, more often it was a fight he didn’t want. Some of those fights had devastating consequences, repercussions that he hadn’t expected. He closed his eyes, thinking of Cedric, Sirius and Dumbledore. Professor Snape, dying with the secrets of Draco’s mastery of the Elder wand and the knowledge that Harry himself had to die, in order to defeat the dark lord.
As he watched Snape’s memories, he was finally able to see his mother bring joy to someone besides his father. They had been happy as children! Laying there, talking about school and the things they alone were able to do. He was able to forget his abusive home life when he was with Lily. She was able to forget Petunia’s jealousy of her magic. He cried a few tears as he watched them being shoved further and further apart at school. Then came THAT MOMENT! The moment that broke a 10 year friendship into unrepairable pieces. He could also see why his father would be the man’s worst memory. Watching him being pushed away from Lily, taunted for not fitting in, humiliated in front of the other students, not able to talk about almost dying because ‘It was all just a prank! He wasn’t meant to be hurt!’
Watching those memories, he was reminded of the man’s treatment of him. Picking on him in class, holding his potions up for ridicule for the other students. He could also see where Snape could have treated him so much worse and could even have sat back and LET him be killed. But he hadn’t. Much as he’d disliked Harry, he had done a lot to protect him. True, most of it was purely background, never anything direct but in his own strange way, he had protected Harry.
Harry was tired. Couldn’t they see that? He was no ‘Savior of the Wizarding world’. That had been Dumbledore, Snape, Tonks, and Lupin. McGonagall, Flitwick, Slughorn and even Trelawney had done her part. Moody had been more of a savior than him. He was just a kid. He’d beaten Voldemort through, as McGonagall had once called it, ‘sheer, dumb luck’. Draco had been the master of the Elder wand until Harry took his wand from him. Voldemort had no clue who the real master of the wand was. That had been his downfall. It certainly hadn’t been Harry’s Expelliarmis spell. All that had done was locked Voldemort’s Avada and hold it at bay, until the wand itself realized it was fighting its true owner.
All he wanted to do was sit down, lay his head on someone’s shoulder and sleep. Just let someone else be strong for a change. Not have to worry about making the wrong decision. Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. He had to get out of here. Everyone was crowding him. They wanted to shake his hand, pat his back, sling their arm around his shoulder like an old friend. He socialized with them for as long as he could stand it. Then he saw his chance. He ducked out and headed for the loo. Once he was far enough away that nobody could see or hear him, he Disapparated out of the castle.
He had ‘protected the Wizarding world’. Now it was time for Harry to protect himself. He couldn’t let on what he was planning or a dozen people would be after him to stay or wanting to go with him. This was something he had to do alone. He closed his eyes. Determination, Deliberation, Destination. He raised his wand and vanished. A few minutes later, Ron and Hermione along with Luna, Neville, Ginny and several other students came into the hallway he’d disappeared from.
“Where is he?” Hermione asked worriedly. Ron held her hand as he shook his head.
“Harry! Where are you?” shouted Ginny loudly. A ghostly apparition appeared before them.
“He has gone. The boy you are looking for. He left. He did what he said and destroyed it. He kept his word. Now he needs time. You mustn’t disturb him. It was all too much for him. He’ll be back. He loves all of you. But right now, he needs to heal himself.” The Grey Lady told them. Helena had followed Harry all over the castle after they spoke, making sure he really intended to destroy the diadem, not use it as Tom Riddle had. She was pleased that he had kept his word. It proved to her that he was trustworthy.
“Well. What do we do now?” Ginny asked. “Everyone is expecting him. What do we tell them?” she set her hands on her hips as she huffed in annoyance.
“Should we go after him anyway? I don’t think Harry would like us hunting him down like that.” Hermione said hesitantly.
“No. You heard Helena. He needs time. After everything that’s happened and especially his role in it all, he needs a break. He needs to forget that he’s ‘Harry Potter, the Chosen One, the Boy Who Lived’. Right now, he just needs to get out of his own head for a while.” Luna said. They looked at her, serenely listening to the thoughts of a ghost. ‘Same old Luna!”
“Even if we do go after him, where do we start? Does anyone know where he would have gone?” Ginny spoke again.
“The only other place I can think of is Grimmauld Place. Maybe he went back there. We can check it out.” Ron said. Hermione was biting her lip as she met Luna’s eyes. The two girls were in silent agreement with Helena. Harry needed time alone right now.
Luna
As she watched the others debate the question of going after Harry, Luna could see that Hermione was the only one who wanted to give Harry some alone time. She began walking back down the hall.
“Luna! Aren’t you going with us?” Ginny yelled. Luna shook her head at the girl.
“No. I’m not. I’m going to respect his need for privacy. Maybe later, I’ll go see if I can find him. Right now, I’m going to find someone who can get my father out of Azkaban.” Luna told her quietly. Hermione hurried after her.
“Luna! Wait for me! Come on, let’s find Kingsley Shacklebolt. If anyone can get your dad back, it’ll be him.” Hermione walked away from the two huffing redheads. Neville inched away and declared he needed to go find Hannah. He wanted to make sure she came through the fight ok. Ron and Ginny were the only to left to debate whether they went after Harry or not.
Hermione and Luna went back to the Great Hall. She led Luna straight over to Shacklebolt. After taking down Luna’s name and that of her father, Shacklebolt promised he’d bring her father back from Azkaban as soon as possible. When asked if she had someone to stay with in the meantime, Hermione told him Luna would be staying with her at her muggle home. She gave him that address. After he walked away, she turned to Luna.
“Sorry about that. You might not have wanted to stay with me. I just-“. She stopped talking to hide her eyes. “I can’t stay at the Weasley house right now. They’re all going to be mourning Fred and I don’t think I can handle that right now.”
“It’s all right, Hermione. I don’t mind. I really will go look for Harry soon, you know. But right now, he really does need some time alone. Some time to get out of his own head, to rest and relax. He will be back. I promise.” Luna told her gently. The two walked over to Professor McGonagall. The woman was strong. She’d taken a number of Stunners and kept coming back. They let her know where to find them and departed.
As Luna didn’t know her non-Wizarding address, Hermione Apparated them to her home. She’d arranged for a housecleaner to go through three times a week and keep the home clean. She’d also organized a once a week gardener to keep their garden and flowerbeds weeded and neatly trimmed. She had every intention of going after them soon.
They went in and freshened up. Then she introduced Luna to the wonder of Cd’s and DVD’s. They watched movies all night and woke up late the next day. They stayed there a week until it was time to go back for Fred’s funereal. Ron and Ginny both were angry at them for leaving that night. Molly and Arthur were more understanding. They knew that Hermione was scared of retrieving her parents. She was terrified they would turn on her for using magic on them, even though it had been for their own safety. Luna was waiting to see if her father was ever going to make it out of Azkaban.
Everybody was curious about where Harry was and what he was doing. ‘What hadn’t he come back already?’ was the most commonly asked question Hermione and Luna heard. Apparently, they were supposed to have the answers. They just had to keep repeating themselves. ‘No, I don’t know where Harry is. No, I don’t know when he’ll be back. I don’t know what he’s doing.’ Finally, they fled back to Hermione’s house for some peace. It was here that Hermione revealed a secret to Luna. ‘Ron had kissed her at Hogwarts. Now he thought that meant they were officially hooked up. But Hermione didn’t feel the same way about him.’ Then she cringed as if she thought Luna was about to scold her for leading Ron on. Luna, in turn, revealed a secret to her. ‘She was head over heels in love with Harry and had been since her fourth year.’
“Well. That settles it then. I was going to go with you when you go after Harry but I think its best that you go alone. Then you can tell him how you feel and the two of you can have some alone time before he has to come back. Plus this will keep Ginny at bay.” Hermione told her.
“So all of your sixth year, you cried over Ron. Last year, you were on the run with him. What happened between then and that kiss that changed your mind?” Luna asked curiously.
“Not what. Who.” Hermione admitted. Luna opened her eyes wide. Hermione giggled as she covered her eyes. “I, uh, I met someone while we were on the run. But I can’t exactly introduce him at the moment. Not until Harry approves him.”
“Well, then. I guess I need to go get him. Then I’ll get to meet this mystery man of yours.” Luna laughed at the sheepishly proud look on Hermione’s face. They ran up and packed her a bag. Then they tried to figure out where one Harry Potter had secreted himself away.
After seeing an article in the Daily Prophet about Quidditch resuming. Hermione suddenly knew where Harry would be. She showed the article to Luna. It was a picture of an Irish player flying through the air. ‘Luna! I don’t know if he’s there yet but I know where he will be. You know how crazy he is over Quidditch! This match is going to be free and open to the public! Harry won’t be able to stay away. He’ll definitely be there, cheering the Irish team on! It’s perfect because you love Quidditch, too!” Hermione squealed excitedly.
That’s how Luna found herself in Galway, Ireland, trying to track down the love of her life. There was so much to do! So many festivals! She loved the fact that these muggles found so many things to celebrate and have a festival for! She began wandering around to all the pubs, checking them out and looking for Harry. When she and Hermione had made the list, they had put down every pub they could find. They knew if there was any chance to bring their errant boy home, they’d first have to find which pub he was hidden away in. She’d gone through practically every pub on their list.
In the last one, Feeney’s, she finally struck gold. He was there, at the bar waiting to order a drink. From the way he was swaying, he was already drunk enough to fall over. As she drew closer to him, she heard the song he was singing. It was Escape (The Pina Colada song) sung by Rupert Holmes normally. Now it was being sung sloppily and very much slurred by one Harry James Potter. Luna couldn’t keep from giggling at him. She walked up behind him, slid her arms around his waist and sung along with him. Harry jerked instinctively but relaxed as soon as he saw who it was.
“Luna! How did you find me? Who all came with you? I’m not going back! You can’t make me go back! Not yet!” he asked. Luna rubbed her face on his sleeve.
“Nobody knows where you are except me and Hermione. Hermione only knows its Galway and she only guessed that because of the Quidditch match they’ll be playing here. I’m not here to drag you back to Britain. I actually wanted to stay here a while longer. I thought we could stay and celebrate some festivals with the muggles. Can we stay?” she held her breath as she waited for him to answer.
Harry cocked his head as he thought about it. Then he pulled her closer as he began singing the song to her again. “Yes, we can stay. I’m looking forward to attending some of the festivals with you.” Luna laughed as she began singing along with him. As soon as they finished singing, he kissed her. “I love you, Luna Lovegood.”
“I love you, too, Harry Potter.” As the crowd swirled around them, they kissed like it was the end of the world.