Out of spite he thought of letting Barchoke do it for him just to make things as unpleasant for Malfoy as possible. He was starting to think being a grown-up was highly overrated.
'And so much for being just Harry, ' he thought sourly. 'Pigs would fly first. ' Between the Boy-Who-Lived and who his relatives were - both the Dursleys and the family he never knew - it looked as though that dream had never been possible in the first place.
"It looks as though more people are getting ready to leave. If you'll excuse me," McGonagall said as she disappeared to play hostess.
"I wonder what she meant by that," Hermione said.
'And what about Hermione?' Harry thought with a squirm in his stomach. She had already compared the bunch of land his family owned to him being 'landed gentry;' would she even like him when she found out it was true? He felt sick, and if someone came up to him just then and offered to take it all away but let him keep the one bit with Hermione he liked - Harry'd probably let them do it. He didn't want to lose his first girlfriend before they had their first real date.
She looked at him quizzically. Had he waited too long to answer or was she piecing together what McGonagall said too?
'Just think of something else to say!' Harry yelled in his head.
"So where's that Luna girl?" he asked, desperately hoping to divert her attention away from McGonagall.
If the girl had made her brain go numb before then perhaps his girlfriend wouldn't be able to put too much thought into things, though with Hermione it'd probably just delay her for a while. And then she'd be mad he didn't tell her, tried to hide it, and didn't trust her. Harry almost sighed, how did having a girl you liked become so complicated?
"Oh, she's over here," she said with a look on her face like she didn't know if this was a good idea or not.
The girl in question turned out to be standing with a similarly blond man Harry took to be Luna's father. Both were staring out the window into the alleyway below while looking through makeshift binoculars made from of butterbeer bottles.
"Luna?" Hermione said, drawing the girl's attention away from whatever it was they were looking at.
The girl scanned them with her butterbeer binoculars before taking them down and replying.
"Hello again, Hermione Granger," Luna said.
The Lovegoods must not have washed the bottles out before reusing them because the girl had a filmy dark circle around her right eye like she'd been punched in the face. It started to leak down her cheek almost instantly.
"Luna, this is Harry Potter," Hermione said gesturing to him.
"Yes, I'm sure someone had to be," the girl said oddly. "We didn't have to be here, you know," Luna confided in them.
"I'm sorry?" he asked, not understanding what she was saying. Did she mean they could have turned down the invitation or referring to the fact that she wasn't really a Hopeful after all?
"Yes, I'm pretty sure it must be your fault," Luna agreed with a smile. "Do you like to toss pebbles?"
Harry was beginning to rethink the wisdom of this idea and wondered how Ginny had become friends with the girl in the first place. He looked over to Hermione at a loss of what to say next.
"I don't think I quite know what you mean," he replied.
"Hm," the blonde girl said thoughtfully. "Dad, do you think he could have some kind of infestation?" Luna asked the man with shoulder length candyfloss hair next to her.
"What's this?" the man asked, turning to look at them. "Infestation?"
Mr. Lovegood's slightly crossed eyes bulged when he saw Harry.
"Azubah," he said curiously, craning his neck so his head could move a bit closer without having to take a step. "Green eyes do indicate a fondness for infestations," Luna's father concurred. "Do you have an urge to laugh or smack yourself in the face?" he asked Harry seriously.
"Only recently," he said honestly. Part of him found the conversation too ridiculous to believe while the other wanted to give up and walk away.
"Itchy flaky scalp?" Mr. Lovegood asked, one eye flickering to the scar on Harry's forehead.
Hermione now looked preoccupied with not trying to laugh. He could only imagine what he looked like.
"Not really," Harry replied before deciding to toss the man a bone. "It does sometimes hurt right here though," he said, indicating the scar in question.
"Ah," Luna's father said sagely. "You could be infested with Gurklekins."
"What are gurklekins?" Harry asked before he could stop himself.
"They're tiny smoke-like creatures with spidery tentacles," he replied, wiggling his skinny fingers like they were spiders themselves. "They like to inhabit scars to lay their eggs. Having one on the head could leave you open to Wrackspurts."
Luna nodded.
"Yeah, I heard you have to watch out for those," Harry said politely.
.....
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