FIC: Lunar Tides
Title: Lunar Tides
Author: mumble mumble mumble
For: Manghahabi
Rating: PG-13
Thanks to: significantowl, who beta'd on top of everything else
Summary: The request was for "Harry/Luna, the AU epilogue". AU you want, AU you shall have.
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When Harry Potter was invited to join the Auror training program, soon after the end of the War, no one at all was surprised. As the Chosen One, and the Vanquisher of Voldemort, he'd certainly proven his abilities when it came to fighting Dark wizards.
When Harry wasn't seen for some months, it caused no great concern among his friends. Auror training was extremely intensive, they knew, and sixteen-hour days were not uncommon.
When Harry didn't show up at the Burrow for Christmas, his friends began to be concerned.
When none of the owls they sent were able to deliver their messages, they began to be worried.
And when all their increasing frantic queries to the Aurors, to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, to the full Ministry, yielded no information about Harry's whereabouts, they began to be very upset indeed.
*
"Harry is fine," Minister Shacklebolt assured them. He'd invited them into his office to "personally debrief them on the situation", after Harry's friends -- Hermione and Professor McGonagall in particular -- had become louder, more vocal, and more public about their concern. "As you've gathered, he's no longer in active training with the Auror Corps, but he's fine."
"If he's not with the Aurors, then where is he?" McGonagall demanded. The assembled Weasleys muttered agreement. Neville nodded vigorously. Luna smiled.
"He's on an extended assignment," Shacklebolt explained. "I wish I could give you more details, but I can't. All I can say is that the assignment required Harry's presence, and his alone, and that it was absolutely vital. It also required him to remain incommunicado with the rest of the wizarding world, including his superiors in the Ministry."
From any of his predecessors, this would have sounded too much like a brush-off. Everyone in the room knew Kingsley Shacklebolt, however, and they knew he wasn't capable of dissimulation. He was telling them as much as he could.
"I can try forwarding any messages, but I don't know when he'll receive them... or even that he will. All I can say is that his work is important -- and best done in secret. You'll help Harry best by not making a public fuss."
For the most part, those assembled in the Minister's office accepted his explanation, scant though it was. Only Hermione looked unconvinced, and seemed determined to continue hunting until she found Harry.
And only Luna showed no change in her behavior, but simply hummed to herself, as though the announcement was expected... or at least, wouldn't impact her life to any great extent.
*
Ginny went on to become a star Chaser with the Holyhead Harpies, and played for England during the 2002 World Cup series. Judging from the media accounts, her exploits amongst the eligible bachelors of wizarding Europe were as legendary as those on the Quidditch pitch.
Hermione continued to insist that it was her duty, and Ron's, to seek out Harry and help him in whatever task kept him away. Ron disagreed, loudly, strongly, and in the end, half-successfully. He gave up the quest, and gave up Hermione, on the same memorable day, after a shouting match that set all-time records for volume and invective.
Ron went on to marry Lavender Brown, whose unalloyed admiration turned out to be exactly what he needed. The Gryffindor class of 1998 in its entirety was, of course, invited to the wedding. Neville came, escorting Luna. Hermione came too, but stayed in the back of the hall, and did not linger at the reception. Harry was also invited, but his invitation was retuned unopened, and he did not appear.
Hermione pursued her quest. When inquiries at the Auror Corps yielded no information, she switched focus and looked at trouble spots, in Britain and abroad, current and potential: anything that might require Harry's special expertise. When that approach yielded no clues, she went back to the Auror training curriculum, sifting through Harry's class load almost hour-by-hour. In this, she had Neville's help: he could frequently gain insights, in his quiet way, which would never have occurred to her.
When Neville and Hermione announced their upcoming marriage, it came as a surprise to their friends, but not much of a shock. The shock came when, as the newlywed couple were leaving the wedding reception for their honeymoon, Hermione told her friends that she would no longer be searching for Harry. With her marriage to Neville Longbottom, it seemed she was closing a chapter of her life for good.
*
Luna, alone among the Ministry Six, seemed unchanged (or perhaps unfazed) by the passage of time. She worked for the Department for the Regulation of Magical Creatures, in a sort of free-lance capacity. She had very little to do with regulation, but a great deal to do with finding new magical creatures. Her first foray, in the Transylvanian Alps, led to the recognition of a new species of bird, the pyrali, which seemed to be related to Veela as humans were to gibbons.
The Ministry financed her expeditions, and she published the results periodically. In this way, the British Ministry developed an excellent international reputation for its research, and Luna got paid to live a life mostly unfettered by anything mundane or uninteresting. If her life was also lonely, well, that was nothing new: most of her life had been lonely, and she bore the ache with fortitude.
*
It was a couple of years later that Luna finally made the connection.
She and a colleague, Aloysius Cavanaugh, had travelled to an Unplottable isle in the Irish Sea. They were sitting atop of cairn of rock at the very edge of the water, long glasses in hand. "There," said Cavanaugh, spotting something in the water and pointing, "kelpies breaking surface."
"I see them now," said Luna. She'd never had contact with kelpies directly -- kelpie-human interaction had a troubled history -- but she knew about the creatures, in a general way. "And two more, there. Doesn't this show that they're having no problems this year?"
"Their annual migration was disturbed last year," Cavanaugh reminded her. "The local governments don't want them in contact with humans, like fishermen. Too much trouble, and the Ministry has to clean up." He raised his glass again and scanned the waters, noting another spot where a kelpie had broken through the waves. "We'll just monitor them for a few hours, until we get a good idea of their numbers. If most of the pod is accounted for, we can tell the Manxmen all's well, so they can keep the Muggles away."
Luna nodded absently, only half listening. Silently, she wondered why the kelpies migrated at all, every year from the Faroes to the Skillies and back. It might make a good "research project", if she could convince the Ministry…
And then Luna blinked. Repeatedly. Which for her was the equivalent of a scream of surprise.
A quick glance at her colleague showed that he was looking in another direction through his glass. Good, thought Luna, because otherwise I'd have to explain how I could be so sure, based on one glance, and I'm afraid his mind simply isn't flexible enough to understand.
But there was absolutely no doubt in her mind about what she'd seen: far out to sea, a mop of long black hair, which even though sopping wet, had an indefinable air of unruliness.
*
Meet me for lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, went the message Luna sent the moment she returned from the kelpie-count. Today, at noon, and DO NOT BE LATE.
Luna, usually the antithesis of a clock-watcher, showed up at the Leaky Cauldron twenty minutes early. She reserved a table for two, a private table in the furthest corner of the room. She asked Tom to bring hot tea for her guest and plum wine for herself, and sat down to wait.
At 1159, Hermione Longbottom entered the room, looked around until she spotted Luna, and hurried over to their table. "I got your owl," she said, shedding her outer robe. "What's so urgent that... "
"I found Harry."
Hermione abruptly shut her mouth and sat heavily in her seat. Luna took the opportunity to pour tea for her. "Where?" Hermione eventually asked.
"In the middle of the Irish Sea," explained Luna calmly. "Of course, I only saw his head, and from a distance, but I recognized him at once."
"What... what were you doing in the middle of the... ?"
"I was helping make sure the kelpies were migrating without incident this year," Luna put in. "I think Harry was doing the same, only he was taking a more active role. How long have you known?"
Hermione's face immediately closed up. "'Known'? I don't know what you're talking about."
"Well, you asked what I was doing in the Irish Sea. You didn't ask what Harry was doing in the Irish Sea, which implies you already knew." Luna fixed Hermione with a hard glare. "You found out what happened to Harry, and you didn't tell any of us. Unless Neville knows?"
Hermione remained stiff for another minute, but something about Luna's glare made it impossible to keep up her facade. Probably the fact that Luna so seldom glared.
"Neville doesn't know any details," she admitted with a sigh. "But yes. There was an accident during Harry's Auror training. He's a water-breather now, and can't ever return to land."
Luna's glare softened; she regarded Hermione thoughtfully. "All right, then." She raised a finger. "How?"
"You mean, how did it happen?" Hermione settled down into lecturer mode, something she was still all too prone to do. "All Aurors are tested to see if they have animagus potential. There's a potion one can take: if a wizard is capable of the animagus transformation, this potion causes them to assume their animagus form for five minutes. After that, they begin the training that allows them to assume it at will." Hermione gulped her tea and continued. "But just as Polyjuice Potion can't be used with cat hair, the animagus potion can't be used if the wizard has had a body-transformation earlier in his life. Harry was told this, but he assumed it only referred to animal transformations specifically."
She finished her tea and concluded sadly, "He didn't think to mention the gillyweed he used, back during the Triwizard Tournament."
"Ah. And the cumulative effect would have been permanent. Right, then." Luna raised two fingers. "What?"
"I'm... not sure I understand the question." Hermione waited, but Luna didn't elaborate... merely staring at Hermione, curious to see how Hermione would interpret the single word. "If you mean, what is Harry doing now... well, Kingsley wasn't lying, exactly, when he said the job requires Harry's presence, and that it's vital. It is vital -- to Harry. He can't survive out of the water. Harry's acting as the Ministry's liaison, ambassador if you will, to the merfolk. He started with Merchieftainess Murcus's village... spent six months with the merpeople in the Mediterranean, which look more like the popular image of merfolk... and now he's back here, helping out with things like this kelpie migration."
Luna nodded, then her expression hardened again. She raised three fingers. "Why!?"
"Wh-why is Harry doing this? Because, as I said, it's uniquely suited for his current condition…"
"No! I mean, why didn't you tell anyone?" Luna's fury crashed over Hermione like an ocean wave. Never had Hermione seen her friend so... formidable.
She drew a deep breath. "For the same reason Kingsley kept it secret... from the wizarding world, from us." She looked Luna in the eye. "Harry wants it this way."
Luna sat back, stunned, and digested what Hermione had said. "You've spoken with him?"
"Once I could arrange a time and place to meet, yes. Obviously, sending him a message in the usual way is out of the question." Hermione's head drooped slightly, and Luna could hear weariness and sadness when she spoke again. "He... knows he can never rejoin those he loves, can never be part of our lives again, and he wanted a clean break rather than have us constantly trying to contact him. And... and he is doing needed work, helping people like he always has. He made... made me promise not to tell, and I've respected his wishes."
There was a moment of silence. "And you haven't tried to help him?" Luna finally demanded.
"Help him how, Luna? The transformation is irreversible! Don't you think I would have cured him if there were any way to do it?"
Seeing Hermione's obvious distress, Luna felt her anger drain away. Of course Hermione would have helped Harry in any way she could see... if she could see it. And that wasn't Hermione's fault. She was brilliant in her way, but her thought processes would inevitably lead to searching for a cure.
"Thank you, Hermione. One last question, then." Luna leaned forward eagerly. "Can you find out for me where Harry will be next? If he's helping the Ministry, someone in the Ministry must have a good idea where he's going."
Hermione looked appalled. "No, Luna, you mustn't try to meet him. I promised Harry…"
"And you've kept your promise. You didn't tell me about Harry -- I saw him myself. But we both want to help Harry, don't we? And for me to help him, I have to meet him."
*
Fortunately, there were very few people in Luna's world who had to be told of her plans. Her father, of course, but her father would hardly have stirred a hair if she'd told him she was joining the European Space Agency so she could be rocketed to Venus.
Every eleven years, representatives of all the merclans gathered together in the ancient ruins of their ancestral home, Atlantis -- to confer, and strengthen their bonds in isolation (and, on the side, to barter goods, and exchange daughters). This year, Harry would be accompanying Merchieftainess Murcus and others of the Loch Hog Clan -- the first wizard to ever witness the event.
Which made Luna's task easier. She only needed to travel to Hogwarts. It gave her plenty of time to make all her arrangements.
Once she arrived at Hogwarts, she went directly to the lakeside, choosing a spot out of sight from the school. Her preparations took only a few minutes... then she draped her robe around her and crouched down to the water. She placed one end of her wand against her throat, dipped the other end in the water, and applied a localized Sonorus charm. "Harry, I know you're here. Will you come to talk to me, or shall I come to you?" Satisfied that the water would conduct her voice, she cancelled the charm, sat back, and composed herself to wait.
A few minutes later, Harry's head and shoulders burst through the lake's surface. "It is you," he said. He didn't sound exactly pleased, but Luna didn't expect him to.
"Hello, Harry," she greeted him cheerfully. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
He swam closer to the shore, so that more of his body emerged from the water. His skin was pale from lack of sunlight; his hair was a black mane that reached halfway down his back. He no longer wore glasses, and his irises and pupils had enlarged to see in the underwater dimness: they were entirely green now. Half of Harry remained underwater, hard to see, but it looked to Luna as though his legs were gone, replaced by a fish's tail. Harry hadn't simply acquired gills, as during the Second Task... he'd changed fully to a merman.
Luna decided to forestall any questions in Harry's mind. "I saw you off the coast of Man, a few days ago, when you were herding kelpies. Once I knew what had happened to you, it was easy enough to discover how... and where to find you." She deliberately kept the details vague on the last two points. Luna would keep Hermione's confidences -- it was only fair.
"Ah." There was an awkward pause. "How... how is everyone? How are you? I heard about Neville and Hermione... what about Ron? Ginny?"
"They're all well. They miss you, of course, as do I. Harry, I didn't come here to update you on your friends' lives... unless you intend to be a part of them again."
Abruptly, Harry dove back into the water. Luna wasn't disturbed: she knew that merfolk could only spend minutes at a time in the air. He quickly resurfaced, but only up to his shoulders.
"I can't breathe air... they can't breathe water," he said simply. "No way to be part of their lives again. Herm…" He coughed to cover up his mistake, and changed it to "Erm... that is, someone suggested scheduling get-togethers, but that's not how things work for the Water People. They... we don't measure time the way they do on land. So I decided it was better to have a clean break. Luna, I appreciate your coming here, but please, don't do it again. It's too…"
"Too painful to remember what you can't have any more," Luna agreed. "Don't worry, Harry, I won't do this again. But I did come to help you." Her tone, though calm, brooked no argument.
"You can't help me, Luna. But thank you." He reached up a hand to her (he had webs between his fingers now), and she gave him her hand in response. He kissed it tenderly, then released it. "Thank you," he repeated. "It's... good... to know you care."
He ducked his head under the water and was gone.
Luna immediately unfastened her robe and let it fall. She wore nothing beneath it, of course, having already taken off her other clothes. She made sure her wand was on its cord around her neck, took her sealskin sack in one hand, and pulled out a handful of gillyweed.
It tasted odd, even to Luna.
As soon as she could feel the gills forming on her neck, Luna dove into the lake and began to swim in the direction Harry had taken. She'd never been a great swimmer, but she'd always had a natural grace, and the gillyweed gave her aquatic abilities she'd never known before. Any other time, she'd have delighted in pausing and greeting the fish, the water plants, even the grindylows... now, her sole focus was Harry.
He heard her, of course: sound carries much better underwater. He reversed course with one flip of his tail and swam to meet her. "Luna?! What... what…" He lost his voice as his eyes tracked her nude form, head to foot and back again (pausing at the obvious places, which she found encouraging).
"I said I came to help you, Harry," she said with some difficulty. There was evidently a knack to speaking underwater... no matter, she'd learn. "And I will. If you can't be with us, then I intend to be with you."
"Be with me," Harry repeated in a daze. "You can't…"
"I have," Luna told him, gesturing at her gills. She made it sound as inevitable, as unfightable, as the very ocean currents.
Then suddenly his arms were around her in a fierce hug. She hugged him back, with arms and legs wrapped around him, and through body language alone told him how much she cared. For him.
He let her go after too short a time, with an expression turned somber. "Luna, it's a beautiful gesture -- thank you! But it won't work, you know -- not in the long run. Gillyweed's only good for an hour, and you can't use it continuously. Trust me, I know how gillyweed works."
"Oh, I imagine you do, after your accident," she agreed. "Speaking of which…" She reached into her sack and brought out a small squeeze-bulb of potion. Harry's eyes widened as he realized what potion it must be.
Hermione was indeed a brilliant woman in her way, Luna reflected, but her mind insisted on following chains of linear logic from A to Z. Thinking from A to 17 would never occur to her. Harry's transformation, after all, was only an "accident" because it was unintended. That didn't mean it couldn't happen again.
She ignored Harry's shouts. "Luna, stop! DON'T! The pain -- that's not how the potion's meant to be used, the transformation hurts --"
"So does being alone," said Luna, put the bulb to her lips, and squeezed the animagus potion into her mouth before Harry could stop her.
*
Harry hadn't exaggerated the pain.
*
When consciousness returned, Luna found herself on a bed of water fronds, in a small stone hut -- part of the merfolk village at the bottom of the lake, she guessed. Harry was kneeling -- well, floating -- by her side, gently stroking her hand. "How do you feel?"
She looked down the length of her body: sure enough, she had a fish's tail like Harry's. Where Harry's was green, hers was silvery-blue. She hadn't realized her tail and eyes would match. "Pretty well, thank you. How do you feel?"
"How do I feel? Luna, are you out of your mind? Do you know what you've done?" Harry left the bedside to swim in a circle, waving his arms. "Why would you do such a thing?"
She sat up, drifting off her bed. "Because it's not good to be alone. I know."
Harry stopped circling to gaze at her searchingly. "There's no going back," he said after a moment.
"Yes. But that's true of so many things, Harry. There was no going back once we'd learned we had magic, was there? No going back once we'd set out for the Ministry. No going back from... from love, Harry."
"Wait, what?"
"Well, unless you'd gone and fallen for some mermaid while no one was looking, I was guessing you had no one to love you," Luna said matter-of-factly. "And I rather suspect that most of the merfolk still see you as a wizard, despite your transformation. And you need someone to love you, Harry, you always have." She shrugged slightly. "I'll quite understand if you can't love me in return, but you have to understand that I love you, and always will."
She didn't mention her lonely life, how she'd stayed away from attachments despite all her peers falling into love, relationships, marriages -- because if she couldn't love Harry, she'd do without, thanks. Instead, she smiled brightly and added, "And just think, Harry: there's three times as much water on the globe as there is land. That means three times as many new magical creatures to discover!"
Whatever else she was about to say was drowned in Harry's belly laughter. He swam to her, swept her up in his arms, and began to spin her around him. "Luna, you - are - mad," he told her when he could. "Absolutely barking mad, and I've never been so happy for it!" He stopped spinning her, took her face in his hands, and kissed her.
Underwater kissing, Luna realized, would take some getting used to, but it had its advantages. For one thing, there was no need to stop for air.
They broke apart eventually, but Harry didn't release her from his arms. She didn't try to get away, either. Never, not at any time, not at Hogwarts or Hogsmeade or ever, had Luna seen such happiness, such joy, on Harry's face.
"Sort of like The Little Mermaid in reverse, then?" Harry asked shyly.
"If you say so," she agreed amiably, having no idea what Harry was talking about, but perfectly content that he was talking.
"You'll, uh, you'll have to learn Mermish," he informed her without a shred of regret.
Playfully, Luna tickled his tail flukes with her own. "After this? Pfft. Piece of fishcake."
*
Nineteen years later…
The Weasleys and the Longbottoms scanned the crowds at Platform Nine and Three Quarters with a certain anxiety. "She said it had worked before…" Hermione worried.
"She also said that they don't measure time the same way we do on land," Neville reminded her.
"Sounds like heaven to me," Ron commented with a grin. His two eldest, both boys, had already made their way onto the Hogwarts Express. Their third child, Alice, who was only ten, was now taking Lavender's hand after saying good-bye to her best friend Rosemary.
Hermione and Neville turned to Rosemary. "Now, princess, are you sure you've got everything?" Neville asked his daughter.
She nodded enthusiastically. "I have my wand, and all my books are packed, and thank you again for the owl, Mum! Now I'll be able to write everyone!"
"Treat her well, darling -- ah. Here they are." Hermione sighed in relief.
Four figures were approaching from Platform's warded Apparation Point. Harry and Luna were gliding forward, dressed in long shapeless robes that brushed the ground as they moved. One would have to look very carefully to realize that they weren't walking, but supported by levitation charms. Their faces were very pale, but otherwise there was nothing to draw anyone's attention.
Nothing to suggest that a merman and a merwoman were there, in the very midst of the air-breathing wizarding world.
Behind them came two perfectly normal-looking twin girls: blond, slender, and trying very hard not to be caught gawking at the incredible alien world around them.
"Hello, everyone," greeted Luna. "Lora, Mela, these are our very good friends, Ron and Lavender, and Neville and Hermione. Dear friends, may I introduce our daughters, Lorelei and Melusine. Uh, Potter," she added, as though it were a detail not normally associated with the girls.
Lora and Mela looked at each other for a moment before returning their gazes to the amused grown-ups. "Pleased to meet you," they said in unison. Their voices held a trace of accent, suggesting English wasn't their native tongue.
There was a moment of silence before Rosemary thrust her way forward. "Hi! I'm Rosemary Longbottom. Do you want to sit together on the train? C'mon, I've already secured a compartment, if we hurry to get your stuff into it we can have it to ourselves…"
The girls turned as one to look at their father. "I suspect you'll be in good hands," he told them gravely. Thus reassured, they whistled for their trunk carts and began to follow Rosemary.
"Ahem," chided Luna gently. The twins stopped guiltily, then came back to embrace their parents around their waists. "It will no doubt seem very strange," Luna said softly. "But remember, everyone will want to help you."
"Especially Hagrid and Flitwick," added Harry. "But if things get too strange... well, Streeth lives right there in the lake, and she's always happy when you visit."
"Thank you, Mum and Dad," said the girls, still in unison, then added something in Mermish. Given the language, the last bit ought to have been a screeching cacophony, but it came out quite tender. Luna replied indulgently in the same language, and then shooed the girls after Rosemary.
Hermione watched them leave. "It's true, then? Your girls can breathe air and water?"
"True amphibians," Luna nodded. "I don't know if they should be considered half-bloods, half-breeds, or an entirely new magical species. Needless to say, I haven't enquired."
"As far as the Ministry is concerned, they're the offspring of Harry Potter, human, and Luna Lovegood, human," Harry stated. He was watching Ron and Hermione carefully, waiting for some reaction.
He hadn't long to wait. Hermione immediately stepped up to him and hugged him hard, just as she had so many times in the past. "Oh, Harry! It's so good to see you!" She broke off the hug and turned to hug Luna, as Ron came forward to clap Harry's shoulder. "And you, Luna! You did it!"
"With Neville's help," smiled Luna. Five years earlier, at Neville's suggestion and eventual direction, she'd begun breeding gillyweed to see if its effectiveness could be enhanced. They'd succeeded in creating strains of gillyweed that would allow a human to breathe underwater for up to six hours -- and more important, a strain of "anti-gillyweed" that would allow merfolk to breathe air.
Harry and Luna's presence was proof enough that it worked. Oh, they still had to wear levitation harnesses -- the anti-gillyweed didn't give them legs, any more than gillyweed gave tails to humans -- but that was a small price to pay for the pleasure of seeing their daughters off to Hogwarts.
"I have to say, it's a little strange to be back," Harry commented. He shook hands with Neville while Luna greeted Lavender. "Of course, if it's strange to us, it's positively surreal to our guests from Lemuria. We're introducing them to the Ministry, day after tomorrow," he added in explanation.
Enhanced gillyweed and anti-gillyweed had opened the Water World to the wizarding world, and vice versa. The exchange had proven beneficial to both worlds. The merfolk were starting to trade with the surface, purchasing things such as metal goods, impossible to forge underwater -- while the air-breathers were discovering new sources for potion ingredients, for food delicacies, and more. Both worlds were taking tentative steps towards learning the other's culture... in this case, with embassies from the Pacific.
All of which was coordinated through "Haali" and "Loo'a", as they were known underwater. It kept them busy.
Lavender was introducing Alice to Luna now, with Hermione beaming at them. Ron, Neville and Harry took a couple of steps away for a bit of male privacy. "Damn, Harry, it really is good to see you," said Ron. "How long can you stay?"
Harry shrugged. "Four more hours. Enough to get a bite to eat, if you know anyplace that serves red meat." He smiled slightly and lowered his voice. "I used to think that Quidditch would be the thing from the surface I'd miss most -- apart from you guys, of course -- but nope. Turns out, it's red meat. I'm so sick of fish!" He glanced at his wife guiltily. "Don't tell Luna," he hastily added.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Ron smiled.
"I think we were all a bit surprised when she, um, joined you," Neville said. "No one expected it, not even Hermione. But I guess it's worked out, hasn't it?"
Harry turned his gaze to Luna as he answered. "Yeah, Nev, you could say that. All I did was go with the tide."
He pitched his voice into the ultrasonic range (a capability no wizard yet suspected the merfolk possessed) and sent Luna an endearment in Mermish -- which would literally translate as "I am your prawn and you consume me." She looked over and smiled radiantly at him... the smile alone being answer enough.
And it brought me treasure, Harry added silently to himself. All was well.
Author: mumble mumble mumble
For: Manghahabi
Rating: PG-13
Thanks to: significantowl, who beta'd on top of everything else
Summary: The request was for "Harry/Luna, the AU epilogue". AU you want, AU you shall have.
************************
When Harry Potter was invited to join the Auror training program, soon after the end of the War, no one at all was surprised. As the Chosen One, and the Vanquisher of Voldemort, he'd certainly proven his abilities when it came to fighting Dark wizards.
When Harry wasn't seen for some months, it caused no great concern among his friends. Auror training was extremely intensive, they knew, and sixteen-hour days were not uncommon.
When Harry didn't show up at the Burrow for Christmas, his friends began to be concerned.
When none of the owls they sent were able to deliver their messages, they began to be worried.
And when all their increasing frantic queries to the Aurors, to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, to the full Ministry, yielded no information about Harry's whereabouts, they began to be very upset indeed.
*
"Harry is fine," Minister Shacklebolt assured them. He'd invited them into his office to "personally debrief them on the situation", after Harry's friends -- Hermione and Professor McGonagall in particular -- had become louder, more vocal, and more public about their concern. "As you've gathered, he's no longer in active training with the Auror Corps, but he's fine."
"If he's not with the Aurors, then where is he?" McGonagall demanded. The assembled Weasleys muttered agreement. Neville nodded vigorously. Luna smiled.
"He's on an extended assignment," Shacklebolt explained. "I wish I could give you more details, but I can't. All I can say is that the assignment required Harry's presence, and his alone, and that it was absolutely vital. It also required him to remain incommunicado with the rest of the wizarding world, including his superiors in the Ministry."
From any of his predecessors, this would have sounded too much like a brush-off. Everyone in the room knew Kingsley Shacklebolt, however, and they knew he wasn't capable of dissimulation. He was telling them as much as he could.
"I can try forwarding any messages, but I don't know when he'll receive them... or even that he will. All I can say is that his work is important -- and best done in secret. You'll help Harry best by not making a public fuss."
For the most part, those assembled in the Minister's office accepted his explanation, scant though it was. Only Hermione looked unconvinced, and seemed determined to continue hunting until she found Harry.
And only Luna showed no change in her behavior, but simply hummed to herself, as though the announcement was expected... or at least, wouldn't impact her life to any great extent.
*
Ginny went on to become a star Chaser with the Holyhead Harpies, and played for England during the 2002 World Cup series. Judging from the media accounts, her exploits amongst the eligible bachelors of wizarding Europe were as legendary as those on the Quidditch pitch.
Hermione continued to insist that it was her duty, and Ron's, to seek out Harry and help him in whatever task kept him away. Ron disagreed, loudly, strongly, and in the end, half-successfully. He gave up the quest, and gave up Hermione, on the same memorable day, after a shouting match that set all-time records for volume and invective.
Ron went on to marry Lavender Brown, whose unalloyed admiration turned out to be exactly what he needed. The Gryffindor class of 1998 in its entirety was, of course, invited to the wedding. Neville came, escorting Luna. Hermione came too, but stayed in the back of the hall, and did not linger at the reception. Harry was also invited, but his invitation was retuned unopened, and he did not appear.
Hermione pursued her quest. When inquiries at the Auror Corps yielded no information, she switched focus and looked at trouble spots, in Britain and abroad, current and potential: anything that might require Harry's special expertise. When that approach yielded no clues, she went back to the Auror training curriculum, sifting through Harry's class load almost hour-by-hour. In this, she had Neville's help: he could frequently gain insights, in his quiet way, which would never have occurred to her.
When Neville and Hermione announced their upcoming marriage, it came as a surprise to their friends, but not much of a shock. The shock came when, as the newlywed couple were leaving the wedding reception for their honeymoon, Hermione told her friends that she would no longer be searching for Harry. With her marriage to Neville Longbottom, it seemed she was closing a chapter of her life for good.
*
Luna, alone among the Ministry Six, seemed unchanged (or perhaps unfazed) by the passage of time. She worked for the Department for the Regulation of Magical Creatures, in a sort of free-lance capacity. She had very little to do with regulation, but a great deal to do with finding new magical creatures. Her first foray, in the Transylvanian Alps, led to the recognition of a new species of bird, the pyrali, which seemed to be related to Veela as humans were to gibbons.
The Ministry financed her expeditions, and she published the results periodically. In this way, the British Ministry developed an excellent international reputation for its research, and Luna got paid to live a life mostly unfettered by anything mundane or uninteresting. If her life was also lonely, well, that was nothing new: most of her life had been lonely, and she bore the ache with fortitude.
*
It was a couple of years later that Luna finally made the connection.
She and a colleague, Aloysius Cavanaugh, had travelled to an Unplottable isle in the Irish Sea. They were sitting atop of cairn of rock at the very edge of the water, long glasses in hand. "There," said Cavanaugh, spotting something in the water and pointing, "kelpies breaking surface."
"I see them now," said Luna. She'd never had contact with kelpies directly -- kelpie-human interaction had a troubled history -- but she knew about the creatures, in a general way. "And two more, there. Doesn't this show that they're having no problems this year?"
"Their annual migration was disturbed last year," Cavanaugh reminded her. "The local governments don't want them in contact with humans, like fishermen. Too much trouble, and the Ministry has to clean up." He raised his glass again and scanned the waters, noting another spot where a kelpie had broken through the waves. "We'll just monitor them for a few hours, until we get a good idea of their numbers. If most of the pod is accounted for, we can tell the Manxmen all's well, so they can keep the Muggles away."
Luna nodded absently, only half listening. Silently, she wondered why the kelpies migrated at all, every year from the Faroes to the Skillies and back. It might make a good "research project", if she could convince the Ministry…
And then Luna blinked. Repeatedly. Which for her was the equivalent of a scream of surprise.
A quick glance at her colleague showed that he was looking in another direction through his glass. Good, thought Luna, because otherwise I'd have to explain how I could be so sure, based on one glance, and I'm afraid his mind simply isn't flexible enough to understand.
But there was absolutely no doubt in her mind about what she'd seen: far out to sea, a mop of long black hair, which even though sopping wet, had an indefinable air of unruliness.
*
Meet me for lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, went the message Luna sent the moment she returned from the kelpie-count. Today, at noon, and DO NOT BE LATE.
Luna, usually the antithesis of a clock-watcher, showed up at the Leaky Cauldron twenty minutes early. She reserved a table for two, a private table in the furthest corner of the room. She asked Tom to bring hot tea for her guest and plum wine for herself, and sat down to wait.
At 1159, Hermione Longbottom entered the room, looked around until she spotted Luna, and hurried over to their table. "I got your owl," she said, shedding her outer robe. "What's so urgent that... "
"I found Harry."
Hermione abruptly shut her mouth and sat heavily in her seat. Luna took the opportunity to pour tea for her. "Where?" Hermione eventually asked.
"In the middle of the Irish Sea," explained Luna calmly. "Of course, I only saw his head, and from a distance, but I recognized him at once."
"What... what were you doing in the middle of the... ?"
"I was helping make sure the kelpies were migrating without incident this year," Luna put in. "I think Harry was doing the same, only he was taking a more active role. How long have you known?"
Hermione's face immediately closed up. "'Known'? I don't know what you're talking about."
"Well, you asked what I was doing in the Irish Sea. You didn't ask what Harry was doing in the Irish Sea, which implies you already knew." Luna fixed Hermione with a hard glare. "You found out what happened to Harry, and you didn't tell any of us. Unless Neville knows?"
Hermione remained stiff for another minute, but something about Luna's glare made it impossible to keep up her facade. Probably the fact that Luna so seldom glared.
"Neville doesn't know any details," she admitted with a sigh. "But yes. There was an accident during Harry's Auror training. He's a water-breather now, and can't ever return to land."
Luna's glare softened; she regarded Hermione thoughtfully. "All right, then." She raised a finger. "How?"
"You mean, how did it happen?" Hermione settled down into lecturer mode, something she was still all too prone to do. "All Aurors are tested to see if they have animagus potential. There's a potion one can take: if a wizard is capable of the animagus transformation, this potion causes them to assume their animagus form for five minutes. After that, they begin the training that allows them to assume it at will." Hermione gulped her tea and continued. "But just as Polyjuice Potion can't be used with cat hair, the animagus potion can't be used if the wizard has had a body-transformation earlier in his life. Harry was told this, but he assumed it only referred to animal transformations specifically."
She finished her tea and concluded sadly, "He didn't think to mention the gillyweed he used, back during the Triwizard Tournament."
"Ah. And the cumulative effect would have been permanent. Right, then." Luna raised two fingers. "What?"
"I'm... not sure I understand the question." Hermione waited, but Luna didn't elaborate... merely staring at Hermione, curious to see how Hermione would interpret the single word. "If you mean, what is Harry doing now... well, Kingsley wasn't lying, exactly, when he said the job requires Harry's presence, and that it's vital. It is vital -- to Harry. He can't survive out of the water. Harry's acting as the Ministry's liaison, ambassador if you will, to the merfolk. He started with Merchieftainess Murcus's village... spent six months with the merpeople in the Mediterranean, which look more like the popular image of merfolk... and now he's back here, helping out with things like this kelpie migration."
Luna nodded, then her expression hardened again. She raised three fingers. "Why!?"
"Wh-why is Harry doing this? Because, as I said, it's uniquely suited for his current condition…"
"No! I mean, why didn't you tell anyone?" Luna's fury crashed over Hermione like an ocean wave. Never had Hermione seen her friend so... formidable.
She drew a deep breath. "For the same reason Kingsley kept it secret... from the wizarding world, from us." She looked Luna in the eye. "Harry wants it this way."
Luna sat back, stunned, and digested what Hermione had said. "You've spoken with him?"
"Once I could arrange a time and place to meet, yes. Obviously, sending him a message in the usual way is out of the question." Hermione's head drooped slightly, and Luna could hear weariness and sadness when she spoke again. "He... knows he can never rejoin those he loves, can never be part of our lives again, and he wanted a clean break rather than have us constantly trying to contact him. And... and he is doing needed work, helping people like he always has. He made... made me promise not to tell, and I've respected his wishes."
There was a moment of silence. "And you haven't tried to help him?" Luna finally demanded.
"Help him how, Luna? The transformation is irreversible! Don't you think I would have cured him if there were any way to do it?"
Seeing Hermione's obvious distress, Luna felt her anger drain away. Of course Hermione would have helped Harry in any way she could see... if she could see it. And that wasn't Hermione's fault. She was brilliant in her way, but her thought processes would inevitably lead to searching for a cure.
"Thank you, Hermione. One last question, then." Luna leaned forward eagerly. "Can you find out for me where Harry will be next? If he's helping the Ministry, someone in the Ministry must have a good idea where he's going."
Hermione looked appalled. "No, Luna, you mustn't try to meet him. I promised Harry…"
"And you've kept your promise. You didn't tell me about Harry -- I saw him myself. But we both want to help Harry, don't we? And for me to help him, I have to meet him."
*
Fortunately, there were very few people in Luna's world who had to be told of her plans. Her father, of course, but her father would hardly have stirred a hair if she'd told him she was joining the European Space Agency so she could be rocketed to Venus.
Every eleven years, representatives of all the merclans gathered together in the ancient ruins of their ancestral home, Atlantis -- to confer, and strengthen their bonds in isolation (and, on the side, to barter goods, and exchange daughters). This year, Harry would be accompanying Merchieftainess Murcus and others of the Loch Hog Clan -- the first wizard to ever witness the event.
Which made Luna's task easier. She only needed to travel to Hogwarts. It gave her plenty of time to make all her arrangements.
Once she arrived at Hogwarts, she went directly to the lakeside, choosing a spot out of sight from the school. Her preparations took only a few minutes... then she draped her robe around her and crouched down to the water. She placed one end of her wand against her throat, dipped the other end in the water, and applied a localized Sonorus charm. "Harry, I know you're here. Will you come to talk to me, or shall I come to you?" Satisfied that the water would conduct her voice, she cancelled the charm, sat back, and composed herself to wait.
A few minutes later, Harry's head and shoulders burst through the lake's surface. "It is you," he said. He didn't sound exactly pleased, but Luna didn't expect him to.
"Hello, Harry," she greeted him cheerfully. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
He swam closer to the shore, so that more of his body emerged from the water. His skin was pale from lack of sunlight; his hair was a black mane that reached halfway down his back. He no longer wore glasses, and his irises and pupils had enlarged to see in the underwater dimness: they were entirely green now. Half of Harry remained underwater, hard to see, but it looked to Luna as though his legs were gone, replaced by a fish's tail. Harry hadn't simply acquired gills, as during the Second Task... he'd changed fully to a merman.
Luna decided to forestall any questions in Harry's mind. "I saw you off the coast of Man, a few days ago, when you were herding kelpies. Once I knew what had happened to you, it was easy enough to discover how... and where to find you." She deliberately kept the details vague on the last two points. Luna would keep Hermione's confidences -- it was only fair.
"Ah." There was an awkward pause. "How... how is everyone? How are you? I heard about Neville and Hermione... what about Ron? Ginny?"
"They're all well. They miss you, of course, as do I. Harry, I didn't come here to update you on your friends' lives... unless you intend to be a part of them again."
Abruptly, Harry dove back into the water. Luna wasn't disturbed: she knew that merfolk could only spend minutes at a time in the air. He quickly resurfaced, but only up to his shoulders.
"I can't breathe air... they can't breathe water," he said simply. "No way to be part of their lives again. Herm…" He coughed to cover up his mistake, and changed it to "Erm... that is, someone suggested scheduling get-togethers, but that's not how things work for the Water People. They... we don't measure time the way they do on land. So I decided it was better to have a clean break. Luna, I appreciate your coming here, but please, don't do it again. It's too…"
"Too painful to remember what you can't have any more," Luna agreed. "Don't worry, Harry, I won't do this again. But I did come to help you." Her tone, though calm, brooked no argument.
"You can't help me, Luna. But thank you." He reached up a hand to her (he had webs between his fingers now), and she gave him her hand in response. He kissed it tenderly, then released it. "Thank you," he repeated. "It's... good... to know you care."
He ducked his head under the water and was gone.
Luna immediately unfastened her robe and let it fall. She wore nothing beneath it, of course, having already taken off her other clothes. She made sure her wand was on its cord around her neck, took her sealskin sack in one hand, and pulled out a handful of gillyweed.
It tasted odd, even to Luna.
As soon as she could feel the gills forming on her neck, Luna dove into the lake and began to swim in the direction Harry had taken. She'd never been a great swimmer, but she'd always had a natural grace, and the gillyweed gave her aquatic abilities she'd never known before. Any other time, she'd have delighted in pausing and greeting the fish, the water plants, even the grindylows... now, her sole focus was Harry.
He heard her, of course: sound carries much better underwater. He reversed course with one flip of his tail and swam to meet her. "Luna?! What... what…" He lost his voice as his eyes tracked her nude form, head to foot and back again (pausing at the obvious places, which she found encouraging).
"I said I came to help you, Harry," she said with some difficulty. There was evidently a knack to speaking underwater... no matter, she'd learn. "And I will. If you can't be with us, then I intend to be with you."
"Be with me," Harry repeated in a daze. "You can't…"
"I have," Luna told him, gesturing at her gills. She made it sound as inevitable, as unfightable, as the very ocean currents.
Then suddenly his arms were around her in a fierce hug. She hugged him back, with arms and legs wrapped around him, and through body language alone told him how much she cared. For him.
He let her go after too short a time, with an expression turned somber. "Luna, it's a beautiful gesture -- thank you! But it won't work, you know -- not in the long run. Gillyweed's only good for an hour, and you can't use it continuously. Trust me, I know how gillyweed works."
"Oh, I imagine you do, after your accident," she agreed. "Speaking of which…" She reached into her sack and brought out a small squeeze-bulb of potion. Harry's eyes widened as he realized what potion it must be.
Hermione was indeed a brilliant woman in her way, Luna reflected, but her mind insisted on following chains of linear logic from A to Z. Thinking from A to 17 would never occur to her. Harry's transformation, after all, was only an "accident" because it was unintended. That didn't mean it couldn't happen again.
She ignored Harry's shouts. "Luna, stop! DON'T! The pain -- that's not how the potion's meant to be used, the transformation hurts --"
"So does being alone," said Luna, put the bulb to her lips, and squeezed the animagus potion into her mouth before Harry could stop her.
*
Harry hadn't exaggerated the pain.
*
When consciousness returned, Luna found herself on a bed of water fronds, in a small stone hut -- part of the merfolk village at the bottom of the lake, she guessed. Harry was kneeling -- well, floating -- by her side, gently stroking her hand. "How do you feel?"
She looked down the length of her body: sure enough, she had a fish's tail like Harry's. Where Harry's was green, hers was silvery-blue. She hadn't realized her tail and eyes would match. "Pretty well, thank you. How do you feel?"
"How do I feel? Luna, are you out of your mind? Do you know what you've done?" Harry left the bedside to swim in a circle, waving his arms. "Why would you do such a thing?"
She sat up, drifting off her bed. "Because it's not good to be alone. I know."
Harry stopped circling to gaze at her searchingly. "There's no going back," he said after a moment.
"Yes. But that's true of so many things, Harry. There was no going back once we'd learned we had magic, was there? No going back once we'd set out for the Ministry. No going back from... from love, Harry."
"Wait, what?"
"Well, unless you'd gone and fallen for some mermaid while no one was looking, I was guessing you had no one to love you," Luna said matter-of-factly. "And I rather suspect that most of the merfolk still see you as a wizard, despite your transformation. And you need someone to love you, Harry, you always have." She shrugged slightly. "I'll quite understand if you can't love me in return, but you have to understand that I love you, and always will."
She didn't mention her lonely life, how she'd stayed away from attachments despite all her peers falling into love, relationships, marriages -- because if she couldn't love Harry, she'd do without, thanks. Instead, she smiled brightly and added, "And just think, Harry: there's three times as much water on the globe as there is land. That means three times as many new magical creatures to discover!"
Whatever else she was about to say was drowned in Harry's belly laughter. He swam to her, swept her up in his arms, and began to spin her around him. "Luna, you - are - mad," he told her when he could. "Absolutely barking mad, and I've never been so happy for it!" He stopped spinning her, took her face in his hands, and kissed her.
Underwater kissing, Luna realized, would take some getting used to, but it had its advantages. For one thing, there was no need to stop for air.
They broke apart eventually, but Harry didn't release her from his arms. She didn't try to get away, either. Never, not at any time, not at Hogwarts or Hogsmeade or ever, had Luna seen such happiness, such joy, on Harry's face.
"Sort of like The Little Mermaid in reverse, then?" Harry asked shyly.
"If you say so," she agreed amiably, having no idea what Harry was talking about, but perfectly content that he was talking.
"You'll, uh, you'll have to learn Mermish," he informed her without a shred of regret.
Playfully, Luna tickled his tail flukes with her own. "After this? Pfft. Piece of fishcake."
*
Nineteen years later…
The Weasleys and the Longbottoms scanned the crowds at Platform Nine and Three Quarters with a certain anxiety. "She said it had worked before…" Hermione worried.
"She also said that they don't measure time the same way we do on land," Neville reminded her.
"Sounds like heaven to me," Ron commented with a grin. His two eldest, both boys, had already made their way onto the Hogwarts Express. Their third child, Alice, who was only ten, was now taking Lavender's hand after saying good-bye to her best friend Rosemary.
Hermione and Neville turned to Rosemary. "Now, princess, are you sure you've got everything?" Neville asked his daughter.
She nodded enthusiastically. "I have my wand, and all my books are packed, and thank you again for the owl, Mum! Now I'll be able to write everyone!"
"Treat her well, darling -- ah. Here they are." Hermione sighed in relief.
Four figures were approaching from Platform's warded Apparation Point. Harry and Luna were gliding forward, dressed in long shapeless robes that brushed the ground as they moved. One would have to look very carefully to realize that they weren't walking, but supported by levitation charms. Their faces were very pale, but otherwise there was nothing to draw anyone's attention.
Nothing to suggest that a merman and a merwoman were there, in the very midst of the air-breathing wizarding world.
Behind them came two perfectly normal-looking twin girls: blond, slender, and trying very hard not to be caught gawking at the incredible alien world around them.
"Hello, everyone," greeted Luna. "Lora, Mela, these are our very good friends, Ron and Lavender, and Neville and Hermione. Dear friends, may I introduce our daughters, Lorelei and Melusine. Uh, Potter," she added, as though it were a detail not normally associated with the girls.
Lora and Mela looked at each other for a moment before returning their gazes to the amused grown-ups. "Pleased to meet you," they said in unison. Their voices held a trace of accent, suggesting English wasn't their native tongue.
There was a moment of silence before Rosemary thrust her way forward. "Hi! I'm Rosemary Longbottom. Do you want to sit together on the train? C'mon, I've already secured a compartment, if we hurry to get your stuff into it we can have it to ourselves…"
The girls turned as one to look at their father. "I suspect you'll be in good hands," he told them gravely. Thus reassured, they whistled for their trunk carts and began to follow Rosemary.
"Ahem," chided Luna gently. The twins stopped guiltily, then came back to embrace their parents around their waists. "It will no doubt seem very strange," Luna said softly. "But remember, everyone will want to help you."
"Especially Hagrid and Flitwick," added Harry. "But if things get too strange... well, Streeth lives right there in the lake, and she's always happy when you visit."
"Thank you, Mum and Dad," said the girls, still in unison, then added something in Mermish. Given the language, the last bit ought to have been a screeching cacophony, but it came out quite tender. Luna replied indulgently in the same language, and then shooed the girls after Rosemary.
Hermione watched them leave. "It's true, then? Your girls can breathe air and water?"
"True amphibians," Luna nodded. "I don't know if they should be considered half-bloods, half-breeds, or an entirely new magical species. Needless to say, I haven't enquired."
"As far as the Ministry is concerned, they're the offspring of Harry Potter, human, and Luna Lovegood, human," Harry stated. He was watching Ron and Hermione carefully, waiting for some reaction.
He hadn't long to wait. Hermione immediately stepped up to him and hugged him hard, just as she had so many times in the past. "Oh, Harry! It's so good to see you!" She broke off the hug and turned to hug Luna, as Ron came forward to clap Harry's shoulder. "And you, Luna! You did it!"
"With Neville's help," smiled Luna. Five years earlier, at Neville's suggestion and eventual direction, she'd begun breeding gillyweed to see if its effectiveness could be enhanced. They'd succeeded in creating strains of gillyweed that would allow a human to breathe underwater for up to six hours -- and more important, a strain of "anti-gillyweed" that would allow merfolk to breathe air.
Harry and Luna's presence was proof enough that it worked. Oh, they still had to wear levitation harnesses -- the anti-gillyweed didn't give them legs, any more than gillyweed gave tails to humans -- but that was a small price to pay for the pleasure of seeing their daughters off to Hogwarts.
"I have to say, it's a little strange to be back," Harry commented. He shook hands with Neville while Luna greeted Lavender. "Of course, if it's strange to us, it's positively surreal to our guests from Lemuria. We're introducing them to the Ministry, day after tomorrow," he added in explanation.
Enhanced gillyweed and anti-gillyweed had opened the Water World to the wizarding world, and vice versa. The exchange had proven beneficial to both worlds. The merfolk were starting to trade with the surface, purchasing things such as metal goods, impossible to forge underwater -- while the air-breathers were discovering new sources for potion ingredients, for food delicacies, and more. Both worlds were taking tentative steps towards learning the other's culture... in this case, with embassies from the Pacific.
All of which was coordinated through "Haali" and "Loo'a", as they were known underwater. It kept them busy.
Lavender was introducing Alice to Luna now, with Hermione beaming at them. Ron, Neville and Harry took a couple of steps away for a bit of male privacy. "Damn, Harry, it really is good to see you," said Ron. "How long can you stay?"
Harry shrugged. "Four more hours. Enough to get a bite to eat, if you know anyplace that serves red meat." He smiled slightly and lowered his voice. "I used to think that Quidditch would be the thing from the surface I'd miss most -- apart from you guys, of course -- but nope. Turns out, it's red meat. I'm so sick of fish!" He glanced at his wife guiltily. "Don't tell Luna," he hastily added.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Ron smiled.
"I think we were all a bit surprised when she, um, joined you," Neville said. "No one expected it, not even Hermione. But I guess it's worked out, hasn't it?"
Harry turned his gaze to Luna as he answered. "Yeah, Nev, you could say that. All I did was go with the tide."
He pitched his voice into the ultrasonic range (a capability no wizard yet suspected the merfolk possessed) and sent Luna an endearment in Mermish -- which would literally translate as "I am your prawn and you consume me." She looked over and smiled radiantly at him... the smile alone being answer enough.
And it brought me treasure, Harry added silently to himself. All was well.