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pookha · 2 years ago

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A Promise Ring: Chapter 1

Luna has received job offer that will keep her at Hogwarts and wants Harry to stay there with her. She takes him to the Black Lake to talk. A pre-engagement happens? Harry wants to stay there with her and makes a surprising career decision.

I see I didn't post chapter 1. Here it is. Sorry they're out of order.

The moon hung silvery and huge in its fullness on the horizon. Luna squeezed Harry’s gloved hand as she dragged him after her.

“Where are we going again?” he asked, his breath puffing out in clouds as he spoke.

“Down near the lake,” she said mysteriously, her voice muffled by the Gryffindor scarf he’d given her when she told him that she’d misplaced her Ravenclaw scarf.

He let himself be led by her, trusting her knowledge of the castle grounds. He knew the inside of the castle better because of the Marauder’s Map; but, over her years here, she’d traversed more of the grounds on her rambles than even he had.

She pulled him down to the Black Lake and along its shore, then they slid into a narrow path between two large boulders.

“Here,” she said, indicating a small clearing a few metres down the path.

Harry spread out a blanket on the ground while Luna stripped off her gloves and rummaged in her pack. Harry remembered how Hermione had helped her with the Extension Charm, smiling as Luna finally got it right on the paper bag they'd been practicing with. They’d grown closer since they’d all come back for Eighth Year together. Luna seemed to have stepped into the spot that Ron had occupied, quite often being the deciding voice between Harry and Hermione. He missed Ron and Ginny. Ron had decided to help George with the shop and Ginny had turned pro. Harry sometimes wondered if he should have gone pro, too, but then he thought about Luna and what was happening wouldn’t have happened if he had.

He realized that he'd become lost in his thoughts for a moment and said, “Sorry?”

“I didn’t say anything,” Luna said as she pulled a folded up piece of fabric out of her pack. She handed it to Harry and pointed at a place where two small boulders made a gap. Harry snapped out the fabric which expanded to fill it like a windbreak. When he turned around, Luna had pulled a jar out from her pack and was digging a hole for it in the soft dirt near the lake’s edge. When she had put the opening of the jar flush with the ground, she conjured bluebell flames in it. It was another spell that she’d learnt from Hermione this year. Luna’s glowed more purplish than Hermione’s but they provided the same warmth and soft light.

She sighed and opened her jacket to let in the warmth from the jarred fire and sat down. Harry followed suit. After he’d sat down she leaned into his shoulder and took his hand. He squeezed gently three times fast, then two times slow. She smiled and squeezed back, two times slow and three times fast. They both laughed.

Harry held his free hand out to the flames and warmed them. Luna slid her pack closer and dug in it again.

“What’re you after?” Harry asked.

“Gifts for the merfolk,” she said.

He nodded. This was normal for when they came to the lake.

“What’ve you got this time?” he asked.

She pulled out an inflated bladder of some sort that made him think of a worn-out football, a forked stick of rowan, and a few sealed jars with dim witchlights in them.

“A dowsing rod?” Harry asked, picking up the rowan stick.

She nodded. “It’s specifically to find any warm springs.”

“Is this just a ball full of air?” he asked, picking up the bladder.

“Yes, it’s everfull though. I don’t know if it’ll be useful to them, but I thought it might be used at least as some sort of float.”

She gathered all of the objects up, taking the ball out of Harry’s hands. She put them in a sack she took from her pack. Harry pulled the drawstring on the sack, making it waterproof while Luna pulled out what looked like a shower-cap from her pack.

She slid it over her head, then down over her nose, but not over her mouth. Harry tucked her long hair up into it. When he let go and it snapped into place, it inflated into a Bubble-Head Charm that covered her whole head except for her mouth. It had taken Harry weeks to make it and he’d finally had to go to Professor Flitwick for help with the final charms to make it reusable.

She took the sack and dragged it to the water, making sure it was fully submerged, then she stuck her head under water. With the bubble over her nose, she could breathe and with it not covering her mouth, she could speak.

He saw the bubbles of her singing to summon the merfolk of the Black Lake. He’d stuck his head under a few times to listen and it had been beautiful. Luna sang well, but her voice was normally thin. However; underwater it pierced a beautiful soprano through the water. He remembered feeling the words go through him.

After a few minutes, she pulled her head up and took off the bubble charm. She very carefully dried it and folded it before putting it away in her pack.

She sat back down next to Harry. He turned his face to her and she kissed him, slow and longingly, her hand sliding slowly down his neck to his back. Harry knew this kiss meant she had something on her mind. She was normally so direct, but sometimes she worried about his feelings too much.

After they parted, he whispered in her ear, “What is it?”

She sighed and pulled back.

“I’ve been offered a job.”

“That’s great!” he said enthusiastically. “What is it?”

“Assistant Groundskeeper at Hogwarts,” she said, watching his face.

He held his face still as his thoughts raced. She’d be staying here. He’d be somewhere else, doing something else. Could their relationship survive distance and time? What did he want to do? He knew he’d waited too long to respond.

“I thought that’s how’d you feel,” she said quietly and lowered her head.

He put his hand under her chin and raised her face.

“I don’t know how I feel yet.”

Her face went rigid which it did when she thought he was lying.

“Really, I don’t know. Tell me about this job.”

She laughed.

“You know what the groundskeeper does.”

“Yes, but I don’t know what this means for you or Hagrid. I thought you didn’t like Hagrid.”

“Oh!” She smiled.

“Hagrid’s a good Groundskeeper; I just don’t think he’s a good teacher.”

Harry nodded.

“Fair enough. So you’d be working with Hagrid, learning the ropes?”

“Yes, he’d like to retire in a few years and they’re looking for someone who knows the grounds and can care for the animals and herds and can get along with the centaurs and merpeople.”

Now Harry smiled genuinely. Nobody, nobody, knew the grounds better than Luna except Hagrid.

“It’s pretty physical work, do you think you’re up to it?”

Luna laughed again, long and trilling this time.

“What Hagrid does by sheer force sometimes, I can do with magic. I can’t lift a hay bale on each shoulder, but he can’t levitate them. I can swim in the Black Lake with a Bubble-Head Charm or Gillyweed and he can’t since the Gillyweed won’t affect him long enough.”

She met his eyes.

“I want this job; I was made for this job. I love this place and the creatures and beings in it.”

He started to turn away, but she held his head in her hands and made him look at her.

“I know you love this place, too. Stay here, be with me.”

He put his hands over hers.

“And do what?” His voice was small.

“Teach,” she said.

“What?”

“I know if you asked McGonagall, she’d agree to an…an apprentice teaching position for you, either in Defence or Charms.”

“I…maybe, but I’d never thought about it before,” he lied.

“Don’t lie to me,” she said, removing his hands from over hers.

“Sorry,” he said.

“I have thought of it before, but I don’t know what I want to do. I love the thought of staying here at Hogwarts with you, but I also love playing Quidditch. I don’t want to be so far from Ron and Hermione again.”

She cut him off.

“You know we can’t all stay together forever; we’ll all move on at some point.”

“Yes, but you’re asking me to stay with you and leave Ron and Hermione.”

“They’ll have each other.”

She kissed him again, this time deeper and longer, hungrier .

“And we’ll have each other here. We can build a cottage on the grounds near Hagrids or we could live in the castle in some of the old staff housing that’s been repaired. I don’t care where we are as long as you’re with me.”

“It’s so sudden…” he started, but then splashing from the lake’s edge interrupted.

They saw the bag being pulled away and a moment later a short, pale-grey skinned merman stood on the edge of the lake, his tail reforming to legs. He said something in Mermish to Luna and she replied politely.

He dropped a small white object on the shore, bowed to Luna, then Harry. His mouth quirked and he said something else to Luna, who laughed, smiled slyly and took Harry’s hand. The merman laughed his strange shrill giggle, which showed his pointed teeth, then he splashed back into the water, his legs becoming a powerful tail again.

“What did he say?” Harry asked. He was learning Mermish from Luna, but it was difficult and the dialect the merfolk spoke in the Black Lake was heavily accented.

“He asked if we were betrothed, and I said not yet.”

Harry pondered the difference between ‘not yet’ and ‘no’ while Luna went to pick up the object the merman had left.

“Oh,” she said in a small voice.

Harry went to her, embraced her from behind and peered over her shoulder. She lifted her hands to give him a better look.

She held a small piece of ivory or bone, no longer than her little finger. It was untouched by its time in the lake, except for a small hole bored in it. A faint ghost of a twist or spiral showed on its surface. Harry thought he knew what it was.

“Is that…?”

“Alicorn,” she said at the same time he said, “unicorn horn.”

“Ah, yes, alicorn,” he said.

She turned it over and over in her hand, then suddenly she went to her pack. She tugged the leather drawstring out of one of the pockets and put it through the hole in the alicorn. Harry stood near her, watching quietly, his mind still twirling ‘not yet’ around in it.

She tied the ends of the cord together, and bound them with a permanent tying charm. He understood and lowered his head. She slid the necklace up and over, then tucked the cord under his hair at the back. He could feel the purity of the alicorn, the strength flowing from it.

“It’s like the opposite of the Horcrux,” he said finally. He took her hand and put it over the alicorn pendant.

“The Horcrux necklace sounds awful. I’m sorry you had to endure it.” She leaned forward and kissed him again, their hands clasped over the alicorn.

When they broke apart, Harry sat first, then Luna.

“Did you really mean ‘not yet’?” he asked finally.

“I did,” she said, and turned to him.

Their eyes met and she locked him with her gaze.

“That’s where we’re heading, right?”

“I…I think so.”

She blinked at him. The moon reflected off her eyes, then disappeared when she blinked. When it came back, he was trapped in the reflection of it like two mirrors facing each other. The moon on the lake at his back and also in her eyes.

“I do love you, I want to be with you, I want to make this work,” his voice trembled.

“But…”

“No buts,” he said.

“I want to marry and have children; I think I want them with you.” He sighed long and low.

“Now the but,” she said.

“But I don’t know what I want to do. I know now I don’t want to be an Auror. I might want to play Quidditch. I might like teaching. Having to decide so soon is hard.”

“You don’t have to decide right away, you have a few more months. Talk to McGonagall, get her opinion, talk to Ron and Hermione.”

She kissed him lightly again.

“Whatever you decide, I’ll be here at Hogwarts for you. We can make it work here or from a distance.”

She poked him.

“You can Apparate to Hogsmeade on weekends and we can stay in a cottage there.”

He spread his hands like a marquee.

“Luna’s Love Nest,” he said. They could both hear the capital letters.

He tried to kiss her, but they were both laughing too hard and just bonked noses, which caused them to laugh even harder. Eventually, they stopped giggling, but they still held each other close.

“I’ll talk to McGonagall and Hermione tomorrow. But, you’re right, no matter what, we’ll make this work.”

He stood suddenly, pulled his wand and reached out to the reflection of the moon in the lake. He pulled and the reflection stretched like taffy, the light flowing up his wand. It swirled and formed into a slender golden ring with a small white-blue cabochon-cut stone mounted on it.

He took her left hand and slid the ring over her forefinger.

“A promise ring?” she asked, her voice shaking slightly. Harry grinned, you couldn’t easily shake her.

“A promise ring,” he said.

“Yes.”

“I didn’t ask anything.”

She held up the ring and turned it in the moonlight.

“The ring is the question,” she said finally.

“I guess you’re right,” he said.

He got down on a knee and took her hand again.

“Luna Lovegood, will you take my promise to ask for your hand in marriage at some point in the foreseeable future?”

Her long braying laugh carried over the lake and tears of laughter and joy flowed.

“Yes,” she said, still laughing.

She knelt by him and they embraced.

“You had that ring up your sleeve the whole time?” she asked around a laugh.

“Yeah,” he admitted, “but the light show was pretty, wasn’t it?”

She laughed again, then kissed him fiercely again.

From the water, the merfolk watched, just their head above water. On a hidden cue, they all dove at once, making hardly a splash.

“What was that?”

“Just my heart,” Luna said and put Harry’s hand over it.

#harry x luna #harry/luna #Harry Potter Fanfiction #careers

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pookha · 2 years ago

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A Promise Ring Chapter 4

Tying Loose Ends

Harry and Luna do their homework in his office. Harry is concerned that Luna's new job may be too dangerous. Grimmauld Place is sold and Kreacher reaches his decision.

A/N Sorry for the long delay in getting this chapter out. RL took some priority. I also realized that if I included the wedding it was going to be a very very long chapter, so there will be one more chapter.

“I heard the third years talking about you in the Common Room,” Luna said after she pulled away from the kiss.

“Only good things, I hope,” Harry said and sat back in the chair. This caused Luna, who was sitting on his lap to fall more onto him. She gasped in what sounded like pain, but then laughed and kissed him again. He put his arms around her and tried to pull her in for a longer kiss, but she pulled back and slid off his lap.

“I’d like to just snog all night, but I really do have to finish this essay and get some sleep,” Luna said.

He watched her as she moved stiffly around his desk. When she caught her sleeve on a corner of it he saw a large bruise on her forearm. He pulled the sleeve back further and the bruise went over her elbow and up to her shoulder.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Oh, I was thrown off a thestral,” she said airily. “Fortunately, it was only four or five metres high, so it wasn’t too bad. You should see the bruise on my thigh.”

“Show me?” Harry asked, making it a question rather than a demand.

She nodded and bent over his desk. She reached back and lifted her robes. The bruise on her right thigh started just over the knee and went under the line of her knickers, which Harry noticed were bright pink.

He touched the bruise lightly and her leg trembled involuntarily. He sighed.

“Are you sure you’ll be up for this?” Harry asked, meaning the Groundskeeper job.

Luna nodded and pulled her robes down. She stood back up, pecked Harry on the cheek and sat gingerly on the chair on the other side of his desk.

She pulled her essay out of her pack, then an inkpot and quill and started scratching away at it, humming a jaunty tune lightly under her breath. Harry watched her for a while, dithered, then seemed to come to a decision. He stood. She looked up at him.

“I’ll be right back; do you need anything?” he asked. She shook her head.

When he left the room, she went back to her essay. She pulled books out of her pack and referenced them a few times, and then put them back. She took a break and looked around Harry’s office. Her eyes landed on a piece of photographic paper that showed a repeating photo of a Hufflepuff student she didn’t know knocked on Harry’s door and then the door opened.

She put it down and looked at the crystal ball on Harry’s desk. She unfocused her eyes and gazed into and suddenly she could see the hallway outside Harry’s office. This was obviously the Charms experiment with the Supersensory Charm that Harry had talked about. She pulled her gaze away from the crystal ball and went back to her paper. A few minutes later, Harry came back with a covered ceramic pot in his hands.

He locked the door behind him and put Charms on it for Silence and to repel casual passerby. Luna knew the Charms and they wouldn’t stop someone who really needed to see Harry or any of the Staff.

“Okay, robes off,” Harry commanded.

Luna arched her eyebrows at him.

“I thought you didn’t want to have sex at Hogwarts,” she said bluntly.

Harry’s face colored slightly.

“I do, but we can’t until after we’re married and have private quarters.”

He laughed and lifted the cover from the pot. The sage-y smell of arnica made it clear why he wanted her robes off.

She stood, pulled her robes over her head and leaned over the desk. Harry put the pot down on his desk with the cover next to it. He dipped out a small amount of an opalescent salve from inside the jar and rubbed it into his hands. Then he carefully began rubbing it into the bruise on her leg. He worked his way up from her knee, kneading very slowly and steadily. Luna gasped as her leg went icy, then hot, then moaned as the salve started to work and the knot under the bruise lessened. She turned her head and watched Harry as worked the salve into her flesh. She could just see the edge of the bruise where it circled around onto the front of her thigh. It was yellowed like a days-old bruise. Harry touched her knickers and made an inquisitive noise. She nodded and he pulled them down and slid them over her legs. She lifted one then the other and stepped out of them. He worked the salve into her buttock up to where the bruise ended and she gasped loudly. Now she understood the Silencing Charm on the door. Anyone listening would assume they were having sex in here. When he was done, he helped her back into her knickers, sliding them slowly up her legs. He kissed her on the back of her unbruised thigh as he put them back into place and she shivered again, this time with wanting.

He stood and she turned in his arms and kissed him. Her breasts pressed against him through her bra and he started to lift his hands to them, but stopped. He repeated the whole process with the salve on the bruise on her arm and shoulder. She watched his eyes as he worked and once he looked up and met them. When he was done, he kissed her at the base of her neck, where he knew she loved it. He finished treating a couple of other, smaller bruises, wiped his hands on a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket and closed the jar. He pulled back reluctantly and picked up her robes from the floor. She laughed and put them on.

“I love you,” she said and kissed him again. This time he let the kiss get deeper before he pulled back.“Thank you,” she said.

“Anything for you,” he replied.

They spent the rest of the evening in his office. She worked on her essay and he reviewed his lesson plans for tomorrow and finished his Transfiguration homework.

Luna cast a drying charm on the ink on her essay, then rolled it up with a snap. Harry looked up at her, then the clock. It wasn’t as late as he thought.

She packed away her stuff, then stood, came around the desk and sat on his lap again.

“I have to go in a few minutes, but I thought I’d snog you silly until then.” She smiled and licked his nose. He started to lean forward, but she pushed him back in his chair.

“My turn,” she said. She hitched up her robes, turned to face him more fully and straddled him. She held his hands down at his side. Then, she snogged him silly until she had to leave. Harry watched her go, then watched her in the hallway through the crystal ball and the Charm in his door; she was moving much easier now. He sighed, packed up his own stuff and left. He made sure his office was locked and Charmed before he left. That night his dreams were of bright pink knickers on the floor of his office and his hands on Luna’s thighs.

When he woke up the next day, he saw Luna’s writing on the notepad on the table next to his bed. He put his glasses on and read.

Dreamed of you last night. We were flying on the thestral together when I fell but you caught me before I could get hurt. Your hand burned my wrist hot and icy where you caught me, but your kisses made it all better. I’ll see you at Potions. Love you.

Harry wrote back.

I need to visit Grimmauld Place this weekend to meet the estate agent and we can check out Saturday and Sunday if you’re able.

She must have had the notepad next to her because she replied immediately.

That sounds good. I have to check the unicorn herd Saturday morning, but should be done by noon. Is that good?

Yes. I do the paperwork for us both with Professor Flitwick today. Love you.

He ate breakfast with Hermione like normal and then went to teach a third year class with Professor Flitwick. He made sure to fill out a check-out form and hand it to him.

“Saturday and Sunday?” Filius asked.

“Yes, sir. I have to check in with the estate agent and my house elf and it will be quite late by then. Luna’s coming with me and we’ll stop by her father’s on Sunday to visit and maybe the Burrow as well.”

Filius smiled knowingly.

“Don’t stay up too late Saturday night.”

Harry started to object, but Filius waved him off.

“I was young and in love once, too.” He smiled at a memory. “Give my best to Molly, Arthur and Xenophilius.”

“I will,” Harry replied.

The students started to come in, so they cut their conversation short. Harry thought the class went well, with most of the students grasping the General Counter-Spell. Harry spent some one-on-one time with the ones who struggled and showed how it worked on a variety of Charms. The only issue he had was a boy who just wouldn’t pay attention and kept just listlessly waving his wand and saying the words. Nothing happened. Harry tried to work with him, but the boy just nodded and went along. When Harry went to help another student, the boy just put his head down on his desk and ignored the rest of the students and the din of them practicing.

When the class was over, he approached Filius.

“What was I doing wrong with Mr Fitzgerald?” Harry asked.

“Mr Fitzgerald has been having a lot of issues this year. He was a good student last year, but something happened over the summer and he won’t tell anyone. It’s affected his schoolwork and he also didn’t try out for Quidditch this year and last year he was very excited for it. I’ve talked with Pomona and she’s talked with him, but he won’t open up.”

Harry sighed.

“I don’t understand why we don’t have mental health counselors here at Hogwarts.”

“Is that common in Muggle schools?” Filius asked.

Harry nodded and told him of his experience in school. The counselor was afraid that Harry was being abused, but Harry had deflected her; he didn’t want anyone to come investigate and make it worse. He hadn’t opened up to the counselor, but other students seemed to like her.

“I couldn’t help myself, but some of the other kids did get help from her and if she helped even one child, I think it must be worth it.” He sighed again.

“I’m finding that being an adult has some thorny issues: how to deal with my House Elf without being like a slave-owner; having to sell a house I inherited, but know I’ll never live in; deciding to get married young or not be able to be together at our job; how to look after my godchild when I’m barely not a child anymore. It’s hard.”

“I’d like to comfort you, but some of it will always be hard, but you’ll also have happiness. Ms Lovegood makes you happy, so do your friends. I can tell that your new research makes you happy, too.”

Harry smiled.

“Luna was the best thing that ever happened to me. She has a way of making everything better; she just sees to the heart of the matter. And, I do like my research and I really like teaching, especially the younger kids. I feel like I can see when they get something and it’s like when Hermione teaches me something after I’ve been thick about it.”

Filius laughed now.

“I’ll have Minerva look into counselors. It seems like an especially good idea now, after the war.”

“Thank you, Filius.” Harry looked at his watch.

“Got to run, Quidditch practice. Still looking forward to crushing Ravenclaw in two weeks.”

Filius laughed again as Harry left.

Harry waited outside Hagrid’s hut on Saturday. It was just after eleven when Luna and Hagrid came tromping up from the forest. Hagrid plowed through the slushy snow and Luna walked over it on charmed snowshoes. She lifted her feet on them expertly and Harry admired how quickly she’d picked up the skill. Hagrid waved and shouted.

“Gotta go and see Grawp. Good to see yer, Harry!”

Harry waved back. Luna reached him a moment later. He opened the door to Hagrid’s hut and she took off the snowshoes, stomped the snow from her boots and went in. She hung the snowshoes on a hook just to the side of the door. When he closed the door behind them, she opened her coat to let in the warm air. She held out her arms and he went into her embrace, both of them hampered by their thick coats.

He kissed her cold, cold nose and then her lips; they warmed quickly under his.

“You’re early,” he said when they were done kissing and she was no longer shivering.

“Hagrid helped when he found we had plans today. Do we need to go to the castle to use the Floo from there?”

Harry shook his head.

“Filius gave me Staff Apparation privileges. I can Apparate to and from Hogwarts now, and on the grounds. You have your pack?”

She nodded and pulled a miniature trunk from her pocket, then put it back. Harry had cast the Reversible Shrinking Charm on it himself when Luna was struggling with it. Hermione seemed impressed with how quickly he was picking up new Charms.

“Ready?” he asked and she nodded. He held her tightly and Apparated. They appeared on the top step outside the front door to 12 Grimmauld Place. Luna inhaled sharply, still not used to Apparating long distances, but Harry was used to it from doing it so often while on the run.

“Okay?” he asked, keeping his tight grip around her waist.

She pecked his cheek and nodded.

“Okay,” she said.

He unlocked the door with his wand and opened it. The first thing he noticed was the odor of fresh paint and the second thing was that the portrait of Sirius’s Mum was gone from the wall. He looked at it and could just see where it had been cut or chiseled out and repaired. He knew he could only notice it because of the work he’d done at Hogwarts restoring the castle.

“Master?” Kreacher’s voice came from down the hallway.

“I’m here!” Harry shouted back.

Kreacher came bustling into the hallway, and Harry could smell cinnamon and cloves over the fresh paint smell. Kreacher was obviously baking something that smelled good.

“You’re early!” Kreacher shouted back, wringing his hands nervously.

“We were able to get away early.” Harry stopped Kreacher from taking his coat.

“No, it’s okay, I’ve got it; you go back to what you were doing. I’ll take care of our coats and put our stuff in our room.”

Kreacher bowed and ran back toward the kitchen.

“He wants to please, doesn’t he?” Luna asked, a strange tone in her voice.

Harry ran his hand through his hair before answering.

“Yeah, but I want to please him, too, you know?”

She nodded and kissed his cheek again.

“You will. I have faith in you.”

They hung up their coats and put their boots on the boot tray. Harry made Luna smile when he pulled Charm-shrunken house slippers out of his pocket, enlarged them and gave a pair to Luna. His were standard issue, but hers were bright purple with spangly stars bedazzled on them. They put them on and then went upstairs. He enlarged both of their trunks and they sat on the bed. Luna ran her hand over the tattered bedspread, obviously enjoying the fine silk embroidery.

“It’s a shame; it’s seen better days, but everything has its time and I guess it’s time to let it go.”

“Yeah, I wish I could keep it, but it just costs too much to maintain and I’ll never live here full time. I’d love to keep it for Teddy, but it’s just not in the cards.” Harry put his hand over Luna’s. He saw his watch.

“We’ve got an hour and half until the estate agent gets here,” he said.

“Plenty of time.” Luna dragged him down onto the bed. Both of their house slippers fell off a moment later.

They cleaned up and made the bedroom presentable again before the estate agent arrived. When she arrived, she was dressed Muggle-style in a slightly out of fashion pantsuit with padded shoulders. Luna smiled at the outfit and Harry knew she was thinking something along the lines of, ‘and people call my fashion sense eccentric.’

The estate agent introduced herself to Luna as Phillipa Gregson and Harry told her that Luna was his fiancée.

Harry ushered her into the sitting room where Kreacher had already laid out tea and biscuits. Phillipa took her tea black and delicately dunked a biscuit in it. She pulled papers out of a satchel that she had to wave her wand at to unlock.

“Sorry, the lock sticks and this is the only way.” She never noticed that both Harry and Luna had their hands on their wands inside their robe pockets.

“Good news is even though we haven’t officially listed yet, we have an offer, but it’s only 80% of what we discussed as price,” Phillipa said, and put a piece of paper in front of Harry.

“Oh?” Harry asked, picking up the sheet and reading it as Phillipa continued talking.

“The Ministry wants to buy it directly. It doesn’t say why particularly, but I suspect they want to keep it as something they could use to house dignitaries. With just a little cleanup, it would be excellent: good location, hidden from Muggles and has just that right ambience of the continent, but with Englishness. ” She laughed.

“I think we should take the offer,” Harry said and handed the sheet to Luna. Her eyes widened slightly at the offer.

“This is 80% of the asking price?” Luna said.

Harry smiled.

“Phillipa says the market is pretty hot right now and especially for wizards around here.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t want to wait? We could see if there are any other takers?” Phillipa said.

“You told me before that it’s at the top of the market and there aren’t a lot of families that could afford it?” Harry asked.

“That’s right, but there may be some interest from the continent. There are some French and Belgian families looking to have a manor-style house here. But, it’s not assured and a lot of them are looking for a turnkey property and not a, may I speak frankly, a fixer-upper.”

“I say let’s take the offer,” Harry said. He saw a small flicker on Phillipa’s face.

“You can take your commission as if it were the price we suggested,” he said and saw her face twitch again.

“Will you put that in writing?” she asked and Harry nodded. While they were doing the paperwork, Luna got up and went into the kitchen. Harry could hear her talking with Kreacher and Kreacher’s sobs.

“Is everything okay in there?” Phillipa whispered to Harry.

“My house-elf is going to miss this place; he’s served the Black family for a long time,” Harry whispered back.

“And will still, Master Harry,” Kreacher said from right behind him.

He bowed to Phillipa, then said to Harry, “I have decided to go and work with Mrs Tonks and Master Teddy.”

“I think that will prove to be an excellent choice, Kreacher,” Harry stood and offered his hand to Kreacher, who took it and shook it, trembling.

Kreacher went back to the kitchen and Harry and Phillipa finished the paperwork.

“They’ll take over at the end of May,” Phillipa said.

Harry nodded.

“We’ll have everything we want to keep out of here by then. They can keep most of the furniture and do what they want with it.”

They shook hands and she left.

Luna came back in and sat next to Harry.

“What are we going to do with that money?” she asked.

“We don’t need it; I have about twice that much in my vault. I want to give most of it to Andromeda in trust for Teddy. It’s properly his money anyway.”

“I like that idea,” Luna said and kissed him. They kept busy on the couch until Kreacher cleared his throat and announced dinner. After an excellent dinner, Harry talked with Andromeda via Floo and told her about the money and Kreacher. She cried and thanked him profusely while Teddy fussed in the background. Luna promised they’d visit after their wedding and school ended, but before they went on holiday for their honeymoon.

They went to bed early and slept in late. The next day, they visited Xenophilius in the morning and Molly and Arthur in the evening. Bill showed up and talked with Harry about how to set up the trust for Teddy properly. It ended with Bill being appointed Harry’s personal banker and accountant. They got back to Hogwarts late Sunday night, kissed their goodbyes and went to their separate towers.

#harry potter fanfiction #luna/harry #harry/luna #careers #kreacher #rubbing lotion

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