Chapter 38: 38 Time Waits For No Wizard Part One

By the end of the school year, all of the Death Eaters had been sentenced to ten years or more in Azkaban, which meant they were soon disposed of with the curse. No one in the Ministry questioned this, because there were still a lot of prisoners inside.

No one was surprised when Harry Bones, Padma Patil, and Hermione Granger all tied for the top spot in the first year exams. Since there were no marks above Outstanding (with distinction) that the teachers could give, Harry hadn't been able to claim the top spot on his own, even though everyone knew he deserved it.

However, just for fun, he and Padma had sat in and wrote their OWLs. The examiners from the Ministry of Magic's education department were shocked that both had easily passed the written examinations with Outstanding (with distinction).

When Harry had created the mock skirmish between four wizards and eight goblins for his Charms practical, the examiner Mr. Tofty told him that he regretted they couldn't give him his OWL for such a unique piece of magic. Padma had laughed from the next table and said it wasn't unique, because Harry had been doing things like that twice a week in History of Magic class all year.

That summer had been filled with time with Susan, Hannah, Padma, and sometimes Parvati, just because she didn't want to be left out when the others were out having fun. They also enjoyed some short visits from their other friends, too. At one point they even managed to all meet up and go to the beach for the weekend.

This was when their friends had been given a good idea of how rich Harry Bones was, because he had rented an entire resort in France for the weekend. He had arranged transportation for them, their parents, and any other family members that wanted to come. Needless to say, none of them refused the free vacation. They all had a great time as they played in the water and relaxed on the beach.

Harry also grew three inches taller by the time school started and they shared a compartment on the train to Hogwarts. Padma was both disgruntled and happy about this, because he was now much taller than her and also had more for her to cuddle. It had made Harry laugh when she told him and he whispered that she was going to get her growth spurt early as well when she reached Level 100.

Padma felt overjoyed at that for a moment, then sighed, because she would no longer be identical to her twin sister. After a whispered conversation, they agreed that she would hold off on reaching that milestone until they had enough Party slots to include Parvati and Lavender as well as Susan and Hannah.

That would take a while, because Harry opening a slot for each 25 levels held true. He had used the first on Padma and the second on Hermione, who had been extremely grateful to be included and given Gamer Mind and Gamer Body permanently. Also, Hermione's Gamer Mind perks had been applied and her own ideas on how to work the System were inspiring and a little scary.

It had let Harry and Padma level up a lot faster than they normally did, especially since Hermione was so low at first and had to catch up to them. They protected her and let her do the most actions and attacks to mine the most XP from creatures that were dozens of levels above her. Since they shared XP while in a party, Harry and Padma benefited a lot from her strategy.

After reaching Level 100, Harry now had two more Party slots free and Padma had surprisingly added one when she passed Level 50. That was three slots, so they only needed one more to add Susan, Parvati, Hannah, and Lavender. That is, assuming they would want to be included. It was going to be an awkward conversation when they made the offer, that was for sure.

They left the train in a pensive mood and climbed onto the carriages. Harry didn't ask them why they didn't comment about the Thestrals pulling the carriage, because he knew all about them. You needed to have seen death and accepted it in order to see the emaciated winged horses.

They were soon at the Ravenclaw table and watched the sorting of the new first years. Surprisingly, there was no one notable, except for three of them. The first was an excitable kid named Colin Creevey that went to Griffindor and he kept asking everyone where his hero Harry Potter was.

The second was a pretty blonde-haired girl named Luna Lovegood that had a slightly-absent look and a dreamy smile on her face that was sorted into Ravenclaw. Harry didn't like the odd looks she received from his own housemates, especially the upper years and the other first years.

The last notable first year was a redheaded girl named Ginerva Weasley that went to Griffindor and was almost as excited as Colin Creevey as she also asked everyone where Harry Potter was, because she didn't believe her brothers that he hadn't come to Hogwarts.

Headmistress Minerva McGonagall stood and made several announcements, pretty much the same as last year, only without the death threat of the third floor corridor. Harry hid his sigh about that, because it meant they had lost access to that particularly easy Level 1 dungeon. They hadn't used it much, thanks to Hermione's levelling ideas.

It was just unfortunate that they didn't have the option to use the easier dungeon for new party members. They also hadn't found any other areas inside the castle or nearby on the grounds that could be a dungeon, either. It was a bit disappointing, actually. You would think that a magical school would have more than one main dungeon for them to explore.

When the food appeared, Harry thought about the problem. He also listened to his housemates as a few of them made disparaging comments about the new blonde girl. Some of them even said them to her face. Thankfully, Padma hadn't said anything bad about her. She didn't seem to disagree about the comments being made, though.

Harry slammed his knife and fork down on the table. “That's enough!” He exclaimed and it carried throughout the entire hall as all of the dishes on the Ravenclaw table rattled.

More than a few people jumped at his shout and stared at him in surprise.

“Are you people really so shallow and full of your own self-importance?” Harry asked them and gave each of them a good glare that seemed to pierce them. Each person flinched as his eyes caught theirs, especially his friends in his year. “Why are you being so mean to her?”

“She's Loony Lovegood and everyone knows she's odd.” Marietta Edgecombe from the year above Harry said, then she shied away from Harry's glare. “Why do you care, anyway?”

“Because I was treated the same way before coming here!” Harry spat at them, which shocked them. “I refuse to eat at a table with people that act like that and bully someone they just met!”

“Harry!” Padma gasped, because she realized she made a huge mistake by not disagreeing with the others and what they said about the new girl.

“You know I hate it when people assume someone's reputation is all there is to them and never gives them a chance.” Harry said and stood to give her a quite pointed look.

Padma wilted from it, because she knew what his life was like before coming to Hogwarts. Harry's look became a glare again as it went to his friends before he let his eyes go to everyone else at the table.

“I thought you were better people than that and I am very disappointed in all of you.” Harry admonished them.

Reputation with Ravenclaw House has decreased!

Harry ignored the squinted eyes from the older years as he walked down to the end of the table and stopped beside a completely stunned blonde-haired girl that stared at him.

“H-h-h-hello.” Luna whispered, her eyes wide.

Harry gave her a bright smile and knelt on one knee to bring their heads to a similar level. “Hi, Luna. My name is Harry Bones. It's very nice to meet you.”

Luna nodded and held a delicate hand out for him to shake.

Harry decided to give everyone staring at them another shock as he brought the hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “It seems that people like us aren't welcome at our House table. Would you care to join me at another location and we can eat without all the hateful comments and ignorant people around us?”

Luna blinked her eyes at him for several moments and gripped his hand. “What about your wife?”

“Padma is going to go cry on her sister's shoulder for a few hours, then she'll talk to Hermione until curfew. She was treated just as badly by Griffindor House and we accepted her, which makes the people that bullied you, hypocrites.” Harry said and stood, taking Luna with him and she stood as well. “Padma will be sad for a few days because of her mistake and then decide to make everyone else miserable for being so intolerant. By Friday, she should approach the both of us to apologize.”

“Are you going to forgive her?” Luna asked.

“If I answer that, she might not do the proper penance.” Harry said and started walking.

Luna held onto his hand and went with him. “Doesn't that answer also tell her your answer?”

Harry shook his head. “She knows I'll know if she really is sorry when she apologizes. My answer depends completely on her now.”

Luna nodded and they left the completely silent Great Hall behind them.

As soon as they were out of sight, Padma did break down and cried as she continued to eat. When the food was gone and the headmistress introduced the new teachers for Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, she went right over to Parvati and hugged her as she sobbed on her sister's shoulder.

*

“She's making us look bad in front of the whole school.” Marietta whispered that night as she led the three girls into the first year dorms.

“I think this might be a mistake.” Mandy Brocklehurst whispered as they approached Luna's trunk.

“Look, we all know you adore Harry and Loony made you look foolish for telling her to clean herself up.” Cho Chang responded and cast a silence spell on Luna's bed. “We're just going to fix her clothes and get rid of her stupid jewellery.”

“She's too weird to be a real Ravenclaw.” Marietta said and waved her wand at the trunk. The lock clicked open and she nodded.

“I changed my mind.” Lisa Turpin whispered and back up. “It's not worth getting Harry angry at me to try and make Loony fit in with the rest of us.”

“Coward.” Marietta spat and knelt with Cho to open the trunk. Mandy stood between them and was unsure if she should leave, too. When the lid of the trunk flipped up, there was a pop and all three girls were sprayed with bright blue glowing ink that smelled like skunk.

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“AHHH!” The three girls screamed and ran from the room, which woke the other girls in the first year dorms and they jumped out of bed and ran after the intruders. It wasn't long before the whole House was up and asked what was going on.

Lisa had been just far enough away that she hadn't gotten any on herself. She felt really guilty about it, because she had shown up to help the three girls and she only backed out at the last moment. She looked at the trunk and the spray that had missed the girls and soaked into the carpet.

Without a second thought, Lisa bent down and lightly pressed the back of her hand into it. It was just enough to mark her skin to show that she was there as well and she left the dorm room with her head held high and she fully intended to admit her complicity in what had just happened. She would ask for forgiveness from Luna first and then from Harry for not listening to him like she should have.

When the dorm room was empty, two people faded into view at the side of the room.

“That was oddly enlightening.” Harry said with a smile. “Thanks for giving me a vial of spell resistant ink to experiment with, Luna.”

“How did you make it glow blue?” Luna asked.

“I added some of the Giant Squid's ink for the consistency, dissolved some florescent underwater moss for the glow, and used the color changing potion to make it blue.”

Luna blinked her eyes at him. “You've met Harold?”

Harry grinned at her. “Met him? I give him and everyone in the Black Lake a seafood buffet every weekend.”

Luna beamed a very happy smile at him. “I think he's going to name his first spawn after you!”

Harry laughed and swiped his wand at the trunk and the floor to vanish the ink and the smell. Spell resistant didn't mean spell proof. “I think we have to go find him a lady friend before that happens.”

“Ooo! A field trip for Care of Magical Creatures! I accept!” Luna exclaimed happily. “I'll wear my Adventurer hat and everything!”

Harry laughed, because they would be underwater and a hat would be completely unnecessary. When he saw her bright eyes and brilliant smile, he decided to go along with her fanciful idea, just for fun.

“You can help me pick out a matching hat when we go shopping for supplies.” Harry said and Luna squealed and hugged him.

*

The next morning after breakfast, Luna received her class schedule from Professor Flitwick. Her classmates didn't really look at her as they discussed their classes and then fell silent as Harry Bones sat beside Luna.

“It looks like they made a mistake and gave us the same classes.” Harry said and showed her his schedule that was identical to hers.

“Thank you, Harry.” Luna whispered and hugged him.

“They'll have it fixed by Friday.” Harry warned her.

“That's good. Padma will be done by then and everyone will know not to pick on me or you'll destroy them.” Luna said and let him go.

“Destroy them, huh?” Harry asked and stood up as she nodded. “We don't need to wait for the prefects. I'll lead you to Charms class.”

“I knew you had another reason to trick the schedule besides warning people away and making me happy.” Luna said and stood. “You're going to show me how to get to every class.”

Harry smiled at her and took her hand. “I can also gauge how far along you are and see where I can help you the most.”

Luna gave him a dreamy smile and held his hand tightly as they left the Great Hall.

*

Harry's prediction about Padma had been right on the money. By Friday morning, Padma had been quite repentant for not realizing the similarities between him and Luna. In her defense, she claimed she had sectioned it off in her mind like she had his other unearned reputation, because she knew that neither of them were him.

To Harry, that was a great excuse to not get the situation right away. When he opened his mouth to forgive her, Padma surprised him by offering her opened Party slot to Luna and not her sister. She said it was the best way to prove that she really didn't mean to ignore the girl's plight or agreed to how she was treated.

They talked about it for quite some time, because it would delay adding her sister by that much longer. Harry eventually agreed to it and they both approached Luna that evening in her silenced dorm room bed and made the offer.

“I would love to become your underling and do your bidding!” Luna exclaimed, to their shock.

“That's not what we...” Padma started to say.

“I'll have to start at the very bottom, I think.” Luna interrupted with a thoughtful look on her face. “You need to guide me diligently and then when I'm strong enough, you can flood me with information.”

Harry and Padma exchanged looks.

“I can't use the Occlumency book until at least Level 50, so you can't rely on me to help you remember things before then.” Luna said. “Then again, I could read the general magic encyclopedia on my own time to level up. That should give me a sufficient amount of brain exercises for the mental strength needed to reach Level 30.”

“Harry? Did you...” Padma started to ask.

“No, she's just bringing all of this up on her own.” Harry said and held a hand out.

Luna clasped it and gave him a dreamy smile. “I'm ready to become a part of something bigger than myself.”

Harry smiled at her. “It won't be long before we have a great Party.”

“I've always wanted to have a party and some real friends.” Luna said.

“Don't worry, Luna.” Padma said and took her other hand. “I learned my lesson and won't make that mistake again.”

Luna beamed a smile at her and looked at Harry. “Who's bed am I sleeping in until tomorrow night?”

“Mine.” “Harry's.” Harry and Padma said at the same time.

“If you're sure you want to start at the very bottom...” Harry started to say.

“Just like you did.” Luna said.

Harry smiled. “...then I'll need to monitor you and make sure it takes properly.”

“I should be fine, even with a formatting error.” Luna said and Padma caught her breath.

Harry nodded. “I didn't get the option to fix it until Gamer Mind was completed, so it could be a long time before you get the option, too.”

“I know.” Luna said and squeezed their hands. “With you looking after me, I have nothing to worry about.”

“No, you don't.” Harry said. “And you never will again.”

Luna smiled at him with a dreamy look on her face and nodded.

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