#ship: hermione x luna

[oliverisagaymuggleborn]

I HAVE SOLVED THE HP SHIPPING WARS ‼️

MAHAHAHAHAHAHA👹

(Edit; I updated this I'll post the updated one soon)

[unhingedromione]

Hullo there! I've had really bad Romione brainrot for the past six years and as a result, I present to you a bunch of fics!

I mainly write Romione missing moments, but I also have a lotta AUs (Muggle and otherwise), steamy post-war one-shots, and a gen ficlet featuring the incomparable ✨Luna Lovegood ✨

And without further ado... *sweeping hand motions*

Series'

Mine (T): 6-chap 6th year AU where Romione got together and Hinny takes things to the next level. Hermione and Ginny are kinda hoe-y in this and I love it 🤪 WIP - but Romione part is COMPLETE

"What If" Romione Kisses (T): anthology of seven one-shots, one for each year, answering the question, “What if Ron and Hermione had kissed earlier?” COMPLETE

Let's Go (T but prolly will change to M): Muggle AU of Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley meeting one magical night at a pub during their final year of uni. WIP

One-Shots

Ocean Eyes (G/T): Hermione demands that Ron explain the meaning behind his Christmas gift in OotP.

moving into me (T): Yule Ball Romione starring transmasculine Ron 🙂🏳️‍⚧️

Before Daybreak (T): flash fic of Romione in a secret relationship during DH

Virgo's Groove (T): the festivities in Shell Cottage when Lupin announces Teddy's birth get a bit out of hand. Also, Ron and Hermione talk about babies…and what it takes to make babies.

Stand Still (G/T): ever wonder what was going through Hermione's mind when she asked Ron to Slughorn's Party? I did a lil take on it!

Say Yes To Heaven (G/T): Romione's dance during Bill and Fleur's wedding.

Hermione Granger & The Baronet's Son (G): A lil Bridgerton-inspired Regency AU I wrote for the 2024 @romione-masquerade!

Shameless Smut

All post war. All rated E (obvi).

Dive: Hermione finds a particular book that Ron hoped she would never know about. But what happens next is more than he could have ever bargained for.

Moment: Romione's first time.

lips slightly parted: a collection of probably mostly unrelated horny Romione drabbles and flash fics. Title is a reference to the brief moment in canon when Hermione was stuck in her fight-or-fuck response when Ron came back in DH.

Gen Fics

What in God's name is the Umgubular Slashkilter? (G): missing Hogsmeade 5th year moment post Harry's interview with Rita Skeeter.

[maxdibert]

Hello :))

Do you ship characters? If you do, what hp ships do you like? Do you like any snape ship?

:))

Well, of course! Hahaha, I’ve always been total shipper trash in any fandom. Yes, yes, of course I ship.

When I was a teenager, I used to read a lot of Dramione. These days, I’m not really into that dynamic because it feels super toxic to me, BUT I do enjoy it when the story explores them as adults, even with their canon kids, and they meet again years later in a setting where they’ve both matured. I also like Hermione/Viktor Krum because it’s super cute, honestly. I’m not going to lie.

I’m old-school FF.net, so I’ve always had a soft spot for Luna/Theodore Nott, which became really popular in the late 2000s. And sticking with crack!ships, one of my current favorites is Neville/Pansy. It might seem weird, but OMG, THE DYNAMIC. Soft boy/BAMF girl—my cardio. Oh, and Cho/Dudley, because it’s absurd as hell, but canonically Cho married a Muggle, and what better irony for the Dursleys than ending up with a magical grandchild? Lol.

If we’re talking canon ships, I ship Dumbledore/Grindelwald so much because, while I have a lot of issues with Dumbledore, old-man yaoi gets me every time. Add the drama, and they have everything needed for a tragic gay Greek tragedy, and I live for the angst. Please, give me all the pain. I also love Lucius/Narcissa because I hate the theory that Lucius was abusive or that they didn’t love each other. They absolutely loved each other deeply, and as someone who was a teenager during the Gossip Girl boom, I have a soft spot for sassy old money couples who are awful people but are madly in love with each other.

When it comes to Severus, the most popular ships are usually with Hermione or Harry, and honestly, I find those really problematic because: 1) They’re his students (and I don’t like teacher/student dynamics at all; the power imbalance makes me so uncomfortable), and 2) He literally saw them grow up. He met them when they were 11, literal children. I don’t mind age gaps if both characters meet as adults (and by adults, I don’t mean 18—I mean 20+), but if one of them was a child when they first met, that’s a huge trigger for me. Then there’s Snily, which I only like in a platonic sense. I don’t think Severus and Lily would have ever worked as a couple. Like, ever.

And then there’s shipping him with any of the Marauders, which is a huge no for me because they literally sexually assaulted him. Honestly, the least problematic one is Snupin, but even then, I don’t like shipping Lupin with anyone (not even Tonks, lol) because I think he’s trash, and honestly, anyone deserves better than Lupin as a partner, lmao.

Nah, I don’t ship Severus with any canon characters. I much prefer OCs or Reader inserts.

[t1oui]

no voldemort au where jegulus raises harry and marpanlily raises luna. sirius, remus, peter, barty, and evan are the cool uncles while dorcas and marlene are the cool aunts. there's nobleflower who got together later in life and who are currently living in one of the black family's ancestral homes in france with neville and draco. (frank is around frequently and lucius isn't around at all.)

neville and draco being brothers. neville telling alice about draco's crush on blaise and draco chasing him around the school, landing them both in detention.

luna and harry being siblings. while neville and draco, their cousins, are fighting, they simply sit back and watch. they adore each other and, if they can help it, are almost never seen apart.

harry being a slytherin. he rooms with draco and blaise, is best friends with pansy, and still frequently visits hermione, ron, and neville up in gryffindor tower.

pansy and harry (and vincent and greg) have been losing their minds for years over draco and blaise's pining. the two of them finally get together when harry tells them to shag and spends the rest of the night in ron and neville's room. the next morning, it takes a glance at draco and blaise and him wiggling his eyebrows to get a detention from snape.

harry and luna firecalling lily from the hearth in ravenclaw tower at least two or three times a week. the two of them talking to her about homework, crushes, and their latest exploits in teasing draco.

their parents showing them how to become animagi, which leads to narcissa and alice wanting to learn how, too. mcgonagall giving her students a fond eyeroll when their words are slurred in class because, really, it is quite obvious when you're hiding a leaf underneath your tongue.

harry being best friends with the patil twins, some of the few people outside of his dad's family that he shares a culture with. him spending hours in the library studying with padma, even longer out on the quidditch pitch flying with parvati.

harry, who's been dating cedric since his fourth year (where he watched the tournament instead of competing), and padma, who isn't interested in romance, being the cause of at least 90% of hogwarts's couples: dean and seamus, draco and blaise, luna and ginny, neville and hannah, hermione and pansy, and - of course - parvati and lavender.

remus being the d.a.d.a. professor from harry's first year through to his seventh, and retiring soon after when harry decides he wants the position himself. neville becoming the herbology professor, pansy and blaise going to potions and charms, but draco deciding to become a healer. ("what the hell are we meant to talk about if we're all bloody teachers?" he asked them once, much to his friends' amusement.)

cedric becomes the transfiguration professor when dumbledore finally agrees to retire and promote mcgonagall, and cho spends three years playing for puddlemere united before becoming the school's newest, coolest flying instructor. hermione surprises no one by rising through the ranks to minister for magic, and pansy quickly finds herself the chief editor of the daily prophet. rita skeeter quickly finds herself without a job. ron becomes an auror, a job he excels at, and during a mission in bulgaria he finds himself running into viktor krum. harry and padma see an opportunity.

every summer without fail, harry finds himself curled up on regulus and james's couch with a book, legs tangled with luna's or draco's or nev's or sometimes cedric's. he spends hours flying above the burrow's fields with the weasleys, spends long summer days taking lessons from krum because even in regulus's increasing age, he's the best seeker harry's ever seen.

harry spends his evenings sitting on the porch of his late grandparents' farmhouse, braiding hermione's hair the way pandora and mary taught him when he was young. the adults are inside. pansy is curled into hermione, flipping through a copy of witch weekly while luna sits on harry's other side and flips through her own copy of the quibbler.

neville is showing hannah and blaise some sort of frog by the creek that lavender is swimming in with seamus, dean, and the patil twins. up high in the sky, ron, draco, and cedric are flying with viktor, ginny, and cho in a two-vs-two match that is most definitely in the latter team's favor.

here, harry thinks, is home.

[ao3statistics]

This is self-made. Date of creation: 09.09.2024

I'll make more charts for the Harry Potter fandom in the future!

I can't believe how many Blaise ships there are by now. And I cannot believe how popular BZ/Pansy is... also thought the BZ/Hermione slice would be bigger.

I assume no guarantee or liability for the completeness, correctness and accuracy of this chart despite my best efforts.

Includes fanfictions in all languages available, NOT English only. Includes all fandoms on Ao3 connected to Blaise Zabini.

Percentages were rounded up or rounded down to natural numbers for easier comprehension.

Poly ships were included.

More charts will follow. :)

Want to have a chart for different pairings, headcanons etc. in your favourite fandom? Send me an ask!

[darklinaforever]

Beyond shipping Dramione, I also ship Harry & Hermione (Harmione) for information. And I also ship Harry & Luna (Huna).

[chocfrog-enjoyer]

Ship symbols :0 ?

I actually really really loved making up little ship symbols for this post and decided to make more, since that post only had my slash ships

Here are the symbols I drew for all of my favorite parings!!!

Can y’all guess which symbol is for which ship? There are canon, and non canon ships there🤭

Anyways all of the ships are in the tags anyway if you can’t guess haha

[kind-hufflepuff]

GAWAIN WEASLEY (GENDERBENT GINNY WEASLEY)

[lunatheseus]

harry potter (canon) couples that I could get behind + commentary

Hermione Granger x Harry Potter: Idk… I can kinda get behind this- they should relate to each other when it comes to the wizarding world. Because they were both raised by muggles, it must’ve been hard to figure out the magical world right off the bat. They also trust each other a ton. (Way more than Ron did, anyway) When Hermione brings Umbridge to the forest to trick her, Harry at first doesn’t know what she’s about to do, but he trusts her. They’re also not jealous of each other, whether it comes to romantic interest or just their capabilities in something. Hermione didn’t care that Harry was the Chosen one, and Harry didn’t care that Hermione topped him in every class.

Hermione Granger x Draco Malfoy: Popular, maybe basic opinion, but these two are the perfect balance of opposites and likes. They are both opposites when it comes to the obvious: Hogwarts houses, blood status, athletics, etc. But they both have many things in common: heavy expectations, being at the top of each class, and other more deep-rooted ideologies. This would give them both something to learn, but also something to relate to. In addition, after the war, Draco could improve his reputation by helping all of the causes and organizations that Hermione started over the years. He has a ton of money, why not donate some? I also think they could be adorable together, Draco spoiling Hermione, Hermione exposing Draco to muggle culture.

Luna Lovegood x Draco Malfoy: Besides the similar white-blonde hair and the same blood status, these two could not be more different. However, it can be a good thing. While Luna can teach Draco about leading life with love and a bit more imagination (like how she was brought up), and Draco can hold Luna to the real world and teach her about the more traditional way of life. On top of that, after the war, Luna doesn't seem like the person to care about Draco's ruined reputation. She would help him get over caring too much about what other people think and instead enjoy life more often. I feel that her forgiving nature would help Draco lead a better life. (Besides, his parents can't possibly be THAT opposed, she's a pureblood, after all)

Theodore Nott x Hermione Granger: Similar reasoning as to the Hermione x Draco ship reasoning, but also remembering that Theo and Hermione don't have as much history, which could be both bad and/or good, that's up to interpretation. I also love that Hermione used a time turner in her younger years, and Theo gets in trouble for being involved in handling illegal magical goods, ie a time turner.

Draco Malfoy x Theodore Nott: With both of their father's being servants of Voldemort, the two supposedly bonded, finding solace in each other. They both also survive the war, so helping each other through hardships would be a critical piece of the story because of how much they relate to and understand when it comes to one another. I also love how Theo was never really in Draco's "Gang" which makes me believe that he has his own independent mind, which is always important.

Luna Lovegood x Theodore Nott: Sunshine x Grumpy? Both see Thestrals? Like the Luna x Draco reasoning, they can learn lots from each other, + ignore the society's views on them because they both don't care.

Luna Lovegood x Neville Longbottom: Ok EVEN THOUGH Luna Lovegood x Rolf Scamander is the most genius idea that JK Rowling has had in her entire career, this could work. The fact that both passionate about their own respective interests makes conversation and life very unique. They're both also good listeners, which makes open communication very effective. Luna could teach Neville to ignore the haters, and Neville is a good anchor for Luna.

Pansy Parkinson x Neville Longbottom: I think that Pansy x Neville isn't such a bad idea. They're kind of opposites, but I love the idea that Neville gives so-called ice-queen-Pansy a safe space to be herself, to be a soft and warm. On the flipside, I think Pansy could teach Neville a thing or two about not being a pushover, and maybe even adding a little snark to conversations.

Pansy Parkinson x Harry Potter: I feel like this would work really well. Honestly though, Pansy would wear the pants in this relationship hands down. I feel like they would have a ton of chemistry... and they would learn a lot from each other. Pansy would humble Harry, Harry would humble Pansy. Simple.

Draco Malfoy x Ginny Weasley: Both Quidditch Fanatics? Both have passionate and fiery personalities? Both have unusually coloured hair? Enemies to Lovers? HMMMM?

Blaise Zabini x Ginny Weasley: Both fit as heck, both very sassy and witty. They'd charm the pants off of each other, both figuratively and literally... they'd have fun. I'd say this is better than Ginny x Draco

Astoria Greengrass x Theodore Nott: idk why but this just works

Theodore Nott x Harry Potter: again, idk why but this would work too

Chicken x Ron Weasley: Whoever did this is an effing genius: Chickron | Shipping Wiki | Fandom

[alphieshplife]

Hearts of War

Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. The Chosen One. But his time at Hogwarts is occupied by more than the worries of Voldemort--he is faced with love. Through the hardships of the Triwizard Tournament, Harry falls for someone he never would have expected to. But his life gets a lot more stressful when someone he always considered an enemy asks for an alliance. Now, Harry must juggle lies and secrets along with trauma and war, pulled in a million directions at once with no solace besides a certain redhead who only ever wanted to protect him.

Read on AO3 here

56/? chapters posted

[elliebyrrdwrites]

Is there anything closer to freedom than bombing down a hill on your bike beside traffic, taking your fingers off the hand break and closing your eyes!?

What happened was, I bought a bicycle.

It was a Saturday, when Harry and I needed to get away from the Burrow. We needed to get away from everything. Because everything held grief and pain and sadness for us. It held memories of loved ones lost.

The grief and the sadness was like a cancer that had slowly metastasized. The home was dark. There was little light left in the little nooks and crannies.

Harry and I, we were like the little blood cells who were putting up that last stand. We needed to take a break, get a great big dose of vitamin C and D. So, we walked through the streets that wound through the Muggle homes and found ourselves stumbling onto a yard sale.

The bicycle was bright yellow, with an iron rack on the back meant to hold some sort of pouch and Harry, he looked at it and he said to me, “You know, I never was able to have a bicycle. I was always jealous of Dudley because he had one that I wasn’t allowed to touch.” He admitted that he didn’t even know how to ride one. He just wanted to ride one, once in his life.

“Let’s get it.” I said and stuffed my hand into the pocket of my denims and pulled out my last ten dollars.

The woman who was selling the bike accepted my offer and together, Harry and I walked away with the bright yellow bicycle.

It was the first genuine smile the two of us had shared since the war.

Harry was a quick learner. He said it was like riding a broom, and so after I used my sweater and transfigured it into a pillow, I jumped onto the rack and together, we rode it back to the Burrow.

Together, we pushed the bike up the steep hill that would eventually take us back to the Weasley’s. And together, we jumped onto the bike and dove down the hill, laughing and screaming.

Our bodies were forced into feeling something other than pain and grief.

When we arrived at the Burrow, Ginny and George took turns learning how to ride it.

Within two weeks, Ginny, George, Harry and I all had our own bicycles.

Ron hated it. He refused to touch the bicycle. He saw our laughter, our joy, as a betrayal to Fred, to Lavender. To Tonks and Remus and to everyone else who died.

But I knew.

I knew that we were honoring them.

Because, we could die tomorrow. I could die right now. I could trip, fall and hit my head. I could get hit by a car, or drown.

The point is, why should I waste the little time I have left on this planet when I could be experiencing it in every possible way?

The point is, Ron got left behind.

Ginny, Harry, George and I got lost in a world of two wheels and steep hills.

Soon, we were dodging traffic and racing each other to Luna’s house.

Soon, Luna was joining us.

Soon, I forgot what it was like to hate myself.

I wasn’t even going to go back to Hogwarts. The school held terrible memories. Fred died there.

Riding the bike with everyone, squealing and laughing, it was like Fred was with us. Why would I go back to Hogwarts, where there were no bicycles? No steep hills?

In the end, Ginny, George and Harry all convinced me to go back. Ginny didn’t want to go back alone.

And Harry reminded me that I would, ultimately, regret not completing my education.

Ginny and I returned without two wheels and without steep hills and the rush of racing beside speeding cars.

But, Ginny had Quidditch.

And I?

Well, I had Draco Malfoy.

[sunnysaystuff]

odd ships that started as crack and became real?

ok so i've just been informed that jegulus started as crack and then became real cuz it fit tropes

yall

what else started as crack then became real cuz it fit tropes?

ok consider cedric x hermione. it just makes no sense. like they're two completely random people who i'm fairly sure never canonically interacted, like, ever?? like it probably started as crack then became real because cedric's hot and hermione (emma watson)'s hot and yk we can't just not put two incredibly hot people together (sirius x hermione shippers go crazy like yall can you at least make them the same age pls)

then there's ron and luna who have zero chemistry. like ever. like ron is an ass to her from the moment they meet in book 5 yet i have seen multiple fics unironically pair them? like it MUST have started out as crack bc there's no way that early shippers would've put them two together. then i think the reason it became an actual ship is cuz people ran out of other main characters to each pair ron and luna with (because rolf scamander was busy in america or whatever and hermione was off fucking draco, harry or snape) so they just put em together.

and then there's drapple. nuff said

oh then there's snape x james? like dude they despised each other. ok actyally on second thought hate to love is pretty cute it's logical that you'd ship them

anyways i'll stop for now

[t1oui]

something i need more in my life is just a bunch of people in harry's year are all best friends. like

i'm trying to come up with headcanons but i can't get past "harry, hermione, ron, ginny, luna, blaise, draco, padma, parvati, lavender, pansy, dean, and seamus going on holiday together" so do with that what you will ig

[voting-on-ships]

Do you ship this?

[pookha]

Dream With Me

Chapter 2: July 1998

See first chapter for summary and TWs. This chapter contains violence.

https://www.tumblr.com/pookha/737564632111333376/dream-with-me?source=share

Now that Ron has started his training with the Aurors, Hermione's nightmares have returned. The results of the paparazzo's photographs are revealed in the Quibbler. Hermione receives disappointing news from Australia. While Hermione is out, Luna comes to visit to talk to her, but ends up talking to Harry and Ginny instead.

July 1998

The knife bit deeply and Hermione screamed. Bellatrix’s foul breath spilled into Hermione’s mouth and nostrils as she questioned Hermione. Nothing mattered but making the pain stop, nothing mattered, not Harry, not Ron, but she held and didn’t tell. The knife bit again and again. Bellatrix’s teeth ripped at Hermione’s shoulder and she whispered to her in between questions.

“Greyback’s next for you. He likes a bit of sweet meat. Tell me how you got it and I’ll kill you quickly. It doesn’t have to be Greyback.”

Then she was back to screaming questions at Hermione. Bellatrix’s eyes glowed at Hermione’s pain-filled writhing.

Hermione pushed it away; she knew it was the nightmare again. It wasn’t as bad here at the Burrow and she pushed. Bellatrix stretched like taffy and snapped, then she saw Greyback coming, but she turned him into a corgi with a crown like the Queen’s. She stood and willed Malfoy Manor to go away.

Hermione woke up, drenched in sweat, touched the spot where Ron had slept just the week before and sighed. She held his pillow to her face, but his scent had already faded. He’d come back once to get some more of his clothes and a small trunk of possessions and then had left immediately back to his training. The nightmares hadn’t been as bad when she was sleeping with Ron, but they were coming back stronger again. She rested in bed for a long time, her head down in her hands. Suddenly, a knock came at her door and a hand slid an official looking envelope under it, followed a moment later by a magazine with a lurid ad for ‘Potions of Prowess for Men of Discernment’ featuring a very phallic looking wand that covered the entire back cover. Hermione knew it had to be an issue of the Quibbler .

“Dear, you should probably read the letter before looking at the Quibbler,” Molly’s voice came from behind the door.

“Thanks, Mrs—Molly,” Hermione said, rising to get the letter.

The letter was from the Australian Department of Muggle Relations. She picked it up and slit open the wax seal.

…regret to inform…further memory manipulation could be detrimental…cannot authorise restoration of memories…they are thriving…seem happy…Sincerely.

The words danced menacingly around behind her closed eyes; they spiralled and twisted and her stomach churned with vertigo. She’d expected the worst, but now that it was confirmed, she found she hadn’t really been ready for it. When she started to cry, it surprised her. She gulped in big breaths of air, but they came out explosively in heaving sobs. Tears streamed down her cheeks and onto the oversize shirt of Ron’s that she wore to bed. She didn’t know how long she’d sat there on the edge of the bed with her tears smearing the ink on the evidence of her crime against her parents when Harry opened the door already dressed for the day in jeans and a T-shirt.

He crossed the room in two loping steps and sat next to her on the bed. He pulled her close and let her cry on him until her sobs subsided and her hitched breathing grew more regular.

“I did this to them,” she said, shoving the smeared letter into his hands.

He read it quickly and kissed her forehead.

“You saved them. If they’d stayed, the Death Eaters surely would have killed them.”

“But is what I did any better? I didn’t ask them; I just assumed I knew better. How is it different from ‘Magic is Might?’”

“It is different. You saved them because you love them. ‘Magic is Might’ doesn’t care about love, it only cares about control.”

“I suppose…” she started to say, but Harry cut her off.

“Don’t suppose, it’s the truth; don’t be hard on yourself. I know how it is to be without your parents.”

“Not going to tell me that it’s going to be easier for me because I know they’re still alive?” Hermione asked, a little acid in her voice.

“No,” Harry said simply. “No, that sounds like shit. It’s going to be fucking hard. I’ll be there for you; anything you need, you call me. Okay?”

She’d told Molly recently that Harry was like her brother and it was true; he was her brother and she was his sister and he’d always be family to her.

He tossed the letter on the desk and picked up the Quibbler curiously. When he turned it over, his face reddened in anger.

“What is it?” she asked and he held the magazine out to her.

The front of the magazine was a full-page, grainy, long-range shot of Hermione and Ron sitting on a blanket in the Burrow’s garden. He was holding out a ring to her and she was reaching out toward his hand. The caption under the Quibbler masthead read ‘Wedding Bells for our Saviours?’ She thumbed the magazine open to the article. Harry could see more pictures of Ron and Hermione in the garden, some from the same day and some from other days. There were a couple of photos of Harry and Ginny there, too. He couldn’t read the article over Hermione’s hands, but he knew what it had to say from the way her face went from sadness to anger to flaming rage. When she’d finished, she threw it across the room, grabbed her wand and a second later, the magazine exploded in a shower of confetti. A little fragment of a photo of her and Ron kissing landed on her lap and she ripped it apart.

“This fucking rag!” she yelled.

“Was it bad?” he asked and she rounded on him.

“It was a total fucking invasion of our privacy! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck” she got louder with each shout.

“He said that Ron and I have been secretly engaged for weeks and that we were going to get married in a big event when we receive our Orders of Merlin. It’s so dumb. Even if Ron and I got married, we wouldn’t do it in a big spectacle. The article made us out to be giant egomaniacs just riding your coattails. They put words in our mouth without interviewing us: not like I’d sit for an interview with the Quibbler anyway. I just don’t know how they can make stuff up wholesale.”

She flicked her wand at the confetti bits of the magazine and they flew into the bin, then she set them on fire. No smoke came from the fire and the bin didn’t catch alight, but no trace was left of the magazine after a few seconds, not even ash.

“Do you want to hire a barrister?” Harry asked.

Hermione shook her head.

“It would just give credence to it with publicity and I don’t want any more publicity, good or bad. Do you?”

“No. You’re right,” Harry said.

“I wonder if I damaged him also when I erased his memory of us?” Hermione asked, flopping heavily back on the bed. Harry understood she meant Xenophilius.

“I don’t think so; Luna would have said something.”

“I need to get out of here today, go somewhere, do something. If I knew what I needed for sure for Hogwarts, I’d go get my supplies. Or at least I would if I had money. Now I know how Ron always felt.”

Harry dug in his pocket and pulled out some Galleons.

“Why don’t you go to Flourish and Blotts and buy yourself some books, my treat.” He tried to push the money at her, but she pulled back.

“I can’t take more of your money, Harry.”

He grabbed her hand, opened it, stuck the coins in, and closed her hand over them..

“You can and you should. I have more than I need and it can help you. Get yourself something nice, treat yourself to lunch, visit George and bring me back something from WWW or some sweets.” He closed her hand.

“I—thanks,” she said.

“You probably should wash and put on some clothes though before you go or the Quibbler will have more interesting pictures.” He nodded at her bare legs and tear-streaked cheeks.

“I have knickers on under here,” she said, swatting him.

“I know, but the Quibbler would say something like ‘Temptress and Seductress.’”

She laughed and then sobered up instantly.

“I don’t understand how Luna can believe so much of the Quibbler, so much of her dad’s lies.”

“He’s her only family; her mom died in an accident when she was small and Xenophilius raised her. Seems natural that she’d look up to him.”

“I guess. I’d hate to lose her as a friend because of her father, but if she’s always going to bristle at criticism of him and the Quibbler, then I don’t know if I can be her friend.” She sighed and started digging in her pack for clothes.

“You haven’t put your clothes in the dresser?” Harry asked, nodding toward it.

“It seems too permanent.” She started to shuck off her sleep shirt, then stopped and stared at him pointedly.

“I’m going, I’m going. Have fun in Diagon Alley. Forget the letter and the magazine. Bring me some sweets.” He leaned over, kissed her forehead, then left.

Later, Harry heard Hermione leave through the Floo and went in search of Ginny, who wasn’t in her room. He finally found her feeding the chickens with Crookshanks supervising from outside the coop. He scratched Crookshanks on the back of the neck and Crookshanks butted his hand vigorously when Harry stopped. Harry laughed and kept scratching Crookshanks until the cat got up and stalked off, tail up.

“Aw, that was cute,” Ginny said as she put the feed bucket away and carefully cleaned up the spilled feed to keep away rats and gnomes.

“He’s a good moggie,” Harry said, watching Crookshanks disappear into the weeds of the garden.

“Yeah,” Ginny said, taking Harry’s hand. They headed toward the kitchen door.

“Did you talk to Hermione before she left?”

Ginny shook her head.

“I saw her and she looked upset, but she’d flooed away before I could talk to her.”

Harry thought for just a moment, then told Ginny about the letter and the issue of the Quibbler.

“So it had photos of us also?” she asked.

“It did, but I couldn’t see them clearly. Most of the photos I could see were of us snogging or Ron and Hermione snogging.”

“Could you tell where they were taken from?” she asked. He nodded and pointed to just outside the Weasley’s property. Ginny called Crookshanks, who came trotting out of the garden. She knelt down, whispered in his ear and pointed off at the grass where the photographer must have been hidden. Crookshanks listened in a very un-catlike manner, then stalked off, low to the ground into the tall grass. A moment later there was a commotion and the unmistakable sound of someone Apparating away. Ginny laughed as Crookshanks came trotting back, tail up with a camera strap in his mouth. He followed Ginny and Harry into the kitchen. Harry dug around and found a tin of tuna and gave it all to Crookshanks on a plate. He took the camera strap and hung it on a coat peg.

They were just about to head up to Ginny’s room when a knock came at the front door. Harry was closest so he opened it. Luna was on the other side, in a short yellow floral dress. An enchanted bright orange Japanese-style parasol floated over her head. She had a necklace of daisies and her wand behind her ear. Her large silvery eyes stared around the entranceway before landing on Harry.

“Harry!” she said gleefully as she stepped forward and hugged him. The parasol folded up, shrank and slid itself into a hidden pocket on her dress When Harry stepped back, Ginny hugged Luna and kissed her on the cheek. Luna returned the kiss on Ginny’s cheek.

She came in and Harry closed the door behind her.

“It’s been a while since Bill and Fleur’s wedding,” she said apropos of nothing.

“Yeah,” Harry said.

“What brings you here?” Ginny said, leading Luna to the sitting room.

“I was hoping Hermione was here,” she said quietly.

“Is everything all right?” Harry asked, noticing Luna’s tone.

“I was hoping to see her before she saw the latest edition of the Quibbler.” Luna looked at everything but Harry and Ginny.

“It’s too late for that. She was…” Ginny looked at Harry who shrugged.

“Vexed?” Luna asked.

“She threw a right old wobbler,” Harry said. Luna blinked.

“She was extremely angry, shredded the magazine, binned it and lit it on fire,” Harry clarified.

“Oh,” Luna said and lowered her head.

She sighed slowly, a sound that Harry had never heard from her and she kept her eyes down for a long time before raising them to meet Harry’s.

“Will you tell her I was here and I’m sorry for what my father did? I told him that it wasn’t true; I know that Hermione loves Ronald, but there’s no way they’re getting engaged right now. He’s going to join the Aurors and she’s going back to Hogwarts.”

“How do you know that? Both of those?” Harry asked.

Luna tilted her head and looked at him like he was an interesting bug or a talking dog.

“Well, Neville got a letter from the Aurors and he said that you and Ronald and Hermione had also. Neville’s not going to do it but I know Ronald will…it’s just what he’d do. In the same way, I know Hermione would want to go back to Hogwarts.”

“And you,” she pointed at Harry. “I’m not sure what you’ll do, but I think you’re coming back to school with us?”

Harry nodded.

“Daddy wouldn’t listen to me. He said it was obvious that they’re getting engaged because so many people got married young after and during the last war, like Molly and Arthur. I told him that Hermione was different, but I don’t know why he was so set on it.”

“Would you like to stay for dinner and wait for Hermione?” Ginny asked. She got up and sat next to Luna and took her hand.

“No, I need to help Daddy. He’s been trying to repair the tower, but he’s not as good at it as Mum was, or I am for that matter. Please just ask Hermione to forgive him and I’ll keep trying to make him understand.” She squeezed Ginny’s hand and stood abruptly.

As she was leaving, she turned and spoke.

“Oh, and let her know she was right. It was an Erumpent horn; I can tell from the damage. Apologise for me for that, too. Just apologise for me all around, I guess.”

Harry moved to talk to her, to grab her, but she closed the door in his face and he heard her Apparate away before he could open the door again.

“I’ve never seen Luna like that before, have you?” Harry asked.

“I—yeah.” Ginny took Harry’s hand and pulled him toward her room. He started to ask a question, but she squeezed his hand in warning and pointed at her ear. Harry understood she meant that someone, probably Molly, could be listening.

When they got to Ginny’s room, she closed the door and put the Silencing Charm on it. She sat on her bed and patted the spot next to her.

“You don’t know what it was like at Hogwarts last year. Everyone was scared, frightened of what they might have done to them or what they might be forced to do to others. Neville, Luna and I took on a lot with the DA in the Room of Requirement, but we were scared too.”

She sighed.

“Even Luna was scared. I—we…” she paused.

“You slept together; it’s okay, I already knew.” He put his arm around her shoulders.

“What? How?”

“The map: when we were on the run, I’d watch your name on the map and imagine I was there holding you. If you went into the Room of Requirement, it would disappear, but I saw your name and Luna’s together in both your dorm and hers. Whatever happened there happened there and I know it didn’t have anything to do with me.”

Ginny let out a long breath.

“I was so scared you’d be angry.”

“No, I get it. Don’t tell Hermione or Ron I told you, but at one point Ron left for a time and it was just Hermione and me. We almost…well, but we didn’t…it would have been weird. So I understand the need to be held and loved and don’t begrudge you that at all.”

“Thank you, love.” She lifted her face and kissed him lightly.

“Luna was like that then. She hides it better than anyone I’ve ever known, but she was so scared and lonely and so was I. And so was Neville. But if you had the map, you knew about that, too, right?”

Harry nodded.

“Same thing. It’s in the past, we weren’t together and they gave you what you needed. I’m glad they were there for you and you for them.”

He elbowed her lightly.

“I gotta know, though, am I better than Neville?”

She reddened, then laughed when she realised he was just winding her up.

“Hmm. I don’t know. I’ll have to check again.” Her hand slid under his shirt and they lost the next hour and a half.

“I love you,” she said when she got up to shower. She paused at the door and made sure her mother wasn’t watching before creeping down the hallway on tiptoes. Harry used his wand to clean up and slid his clothes on just in time before Molly knocked on the door.

“Harry, dear, can you help me with the runner beans?” her voice called from behind the door.

“Sure, Molly, be right there.” He met her in the garden a moment later and helped her tie up beans to stakes.

“Please, dear, I want you two to be careful,” she said eventually.

“What?” Harry asked.

“Ginny wants to play professional Quidditch, so no getting her pregnant, okay?”

“I—I,” Harry stammered. “We’re being careful. I’m using the charm and she’s using the potion.” He felt like he could fry an egg on his face.

“Okay, then,” Molly said simply and changed the subject.

Later that night, long after dinner, Harry was reading a book on Quidditch strategy when Hermione’s unmistakable knock came at his door.

“Come in,” he said.

She opened the door, came in with a big bag under her arm and closed the door. She sat on the bed while Harry stayed at his desk. She dug in her bag, rummaged a moment and then tossed a couple of Mars bars at Harry, who caught them.

“I went to Flourish and Blotts, but there were too many people who wanted to talk to me and ask me questions and get my autograph, so I went to Gringotts, changed my money, and went into Muggle London. I thought you might like a Mars bar.”

Harry had already unwrapped one and bitten into it. Hermione smiled as she watched him chew. It was the first real smile he’d seen from her that day. When he could answer, he said, “thank you.”

“It’s been so long since I’ve bought books that weren’t for school. Thank you for lending me the money.”

“You don’t have to ever pay me back; it’s a gift.”

“Thank you then for the gift.” She pulled out a thick book about brain chemistry and memory and another smaller paperback fell out with it. The paperback featured a shirtless blond man in a cowboy hat on a horse, both of them improbably muscled. The title splashed across it read, 'Untamed Bronco.' Hermione blushed and stuffed it back into her bag.

“That’s for later, since Ron’s gone,” she said. Harry laughed.

She tapped the book about the brain.

“I want to see how Muggle and Wizard view the brain and memory and where they agree and disagree. We might be different, actually different physically than Muggles.”

Harry picked up the book and flipped it to a random page. He didn’t understand more than a quarter of it.

“Does this make sense to you?” he asked, pointing out a passage. She read it and nodded.

“I’ll have to look up other resources, but I can muddle through it.” She took the book back and put it in the bag.

Harry suddenly remembered. “Oh, Luna came by today. She was really upset that her father had run the story about you. She said she tried to stop him and he wouldn’t listen. She also said she was sorry she didn’t believe you about the Erumpent horn and that she knows now it had to be an Erumpent horn from the damage.”

“That makes me feel better,” Hermione said after a long pause.

“I’d never seen Luna so upset before, but Ginny said it was a lot like when they were fighting with the DA while we were on the run. She knew somehow, in her Luna-like way, that you were going back to Hogwarts and Ron wasn’t and that you wouldn’t accept an engagement right now. You know how she is; she notices stuff.”

“Yeah, she does,” Hermione said after another long pause. She wiped her eye, which was tearing up again.

“I’m going back to my room now. Thanks again, Harry; I needed the day out.” She got up to leave. He caught her arm.

“You want company?”

She shook her head, leaned over and kissed him on the forehead.

“I’ve got Untamed Bronco.”

He let go of her arm. She left, closing the door behind her.

The rest of July passed in a warm haze until the week of Harry’s birthday. Hermione went back to Diagon Alley and Muggle London several times to buy more books and she visited St Mungo’s to talk to the Healers there. Harry spent the time practising Quidditch with Ginny when he wasn’t helping with the housework, gardening, feeding animals and all the other work around the Burrow. The day before his birthday Parvati Patil came to visit and she spent a long time holed up in Hermione’s room. When she came down late in the afternoon, she didn’t say goodbye to Harry or Ginny and her makeup was streaked like she’d been crying.

After dinner, while washing up, Harry leaned over and whispered to Hermione, “Everything okay with Parvati?”

Hermione glanced around to make sure no one else was in the kitchen.

“She’s going back to Hogwarts with Padma and she was a bit…” Hermione paused, searching for a word.

“Scared? Freaked out? Hesitant?” Harry asked.

“A bit of each, but also worried about…um…us?” Hermione’s whisper was very small.

“Ah,” Harry said, not knowing what else to say. The Map had given up Hermione’s secrets about her and Parvati a long time ago. Hermione knew Harry knew, but they’d never really talked about it. Harry knew that Ron knew and that Hermione and Ron had come to some agreement about it, but it wasn’t his business.

“I told her I wasn’t sure and we’d just have to see. I’ll come by your room later?”

Harry nodded and they finished the washing up. He was practising duplication Charms when Hermione knocked and he told her to come in.

She closed the door behind her and silenced it.

“Look, I know you know about Parvati and me and you’ve never pressed me on it.”

“None of my business and Ron seemed to be okay with whatever you two had decided, so I stayed out of it.”

She sat on his bed and he watched her from the desk chair.

“Thank you for that,” she said after a long pause.

“The thing with Parvati is…complicated but simple, I guess.”

“You don’t have to explain; I get it. You were lonely and scared and took comfort from each other. You’re not the only ones.” Harry got up and sat next to her on the bed and put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him.

“Yes, it was that and you’re right, others did the same.” She met his eyes. “Ginny told me about her and Luna and her and Neville, but it’s not exactly the same.”

“You don’t owe me any explanation,” Harry said.

“No, but I just want you to understand how it was. It wasn’t just about being scared and lonely. I needed someone to talk to who wasn’t you or Ron, someone…” she struggled for words again.

“Female?” Harry suggested and she shook her head then shrugged and snorted a single laugh.

“Maybe, but no…um, I don’t know how to say it without hurting your feelings.”

“Just spit it out, pretend you’re Luna.”

“I needed someone around my intellectual level, or maybe just more empathetic that I could talk to.”

Harry blinked then laughed genuinely.

“You’re not angry?” Hermione asked.

“Just a tiny bit, but I know that Parvati is much more your intellectual equal. But, why not Padma, then?” He was mostly joking.

“Because I didn’t share a dorm with her, so it would have been much harder to sneak into her bed to talk and snog.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

Hermione sighed.

“This has been so heavy for so long. I knew you knew, but I didn’t know how to talk to you about it.”

“So what’s up between you and Ron right now, just so I don’t step in it?” Harry squeezed her to him. He felt tears start to soak through his shirt and kissed the top of her head.

“We’re being open right now. Either of us can see other people, but we’ll still try to be together, maybe. I just think we’re going different ways. School loves don’t always follow you after school and sometimes it just doesn’t work. I do love Ron, but I don’t know if I want to be married to him and live that family life with two kids and the white picket fence. I want…I want more, something different, to make a difference in a bigger way.”

“I get it. I think I want the opposite now. I want smaller. I just want to go back to school and have a normal year and be with my girlfriend. I think I do want that family and the small life, but I want you to always be a part of it, to. Friends always?” Her tears increased on him and his eyes started watering, too.

“Yeah, friends always,” she snuffled then laughed again.

“I’m tired of crying. I’m going to spend some time reading and then go to bed. Are you sneaking off to Ginny’s room tonight?” She elbowed him, sat up and wiped her eyes.

“Not tonight; I think Molly wants us to cool it a bit.”

“All right, see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight.”

She left and he lay back on his bed for a long time, picturing the quiet family life with Ginny and their children. What Hermione had said about school loves made him think and he hoped Ginny wanted the same thing. He vowed to talk to her about it tomorrow. He looked at his watch and realised that it was now today and it was his birthday. He got up and crept down to Ginny’s room. He didn’t knock and when he came in she was asleep with her hair pulled up in a knot. He sat down on the chair and watched her for a few minutes, then slipped into bed next to her. She stirred sleepily and slid over. He spooned up against her and soon her breathing lulled him into sleep also.

They woke up to noises in the hallway, obviously Arthur getting ready for work.

Harry kissed the back of her neck which elicited a shiver from Ginny.

“Good morning, love,” she said and turned around in his arms to kiss him.

“Good morning,” he said and kissed her again.

“I thought we’d decided to take a bit of a break to get Mom off our backs a bit?” she asked.

“Yeah, but something Hermione said last night bothered me.”

She arched an eyebrow at him and he knew it meant to go on.

“She said she wasn’t sure she wanted the quiet family life with kids and that she wanted to do something that made a difference and I knew that I do want the quiet family life and I want it with you. I know you want to play Quidditch and maybe I do, too, but after, can you picture us with kids, happy, doing good but not vitally important jobs?”

“Yeah, not seven kids of course, but two or three. Are you proposing, Harry?” She gave him a light kiss.

“Not officially, but I did want to make sure we were on the same page. I wanted to make sure this was…I don’t know, serious? For you too.”

“Very serious,” she said and slid her hand behind his neck to pull him in tighter.

“I love you. I’ve loved you for a long time and now that I’ve got you, I’m not going to let you go. I do want to marry you, not now, but when we’re done with school. I do want children, your children, but not for a while either.”

“Good,” he said, his voice muffled because she had his head tightly pulled into her chest.

“I should get ready for the day,” he said and started to pull back.

“Oh, no. Now that you’re here, you might as well get part of your birthday present, but you’ll have to be quiet, okay?” She slipped her hands into his pyjama bottoms and slid them off, then disappeared under the blanket. Harry had a hard time staying silent and eventually she had to stuff her knickers in his mouth to keep him quiet.