Prompt: After Party

After Party:

He sighed, slumping against the wall as he did. He understood, in theory, why he needed to attend these events, but it didn’t stop him from despising every single second of them. He never enjoyed his fame and after he defeated Voldemort it became even worse. The ‘Boy-Who-Lived’ turned overnight into the ‘Man-Who-Won’.

Despite the moniker being slightly less embarrassing, it didn’t improve his experience in public any. In fact, it significantly degraded it. For one very specific reason.

Fans, he could handle, having forced to get used to it in his last year of school. People thanking him for just trying to survive? Well, that was nothing new. No, the worst part of his newly gained status had come from the paparazzi somehow finding out that he and Ginny had broken up.

Officially, it was just a break, for him to focus on the Auror Academy and her to give her all to her Quidditch career. However, seeing as either of those could take years and a time for when they would get back together was never even discussed…

For all intents and purposes, Harry had become Magical Britain’s most eligible bachelor overnight. Immediately, he could trust anyone. Detections charms always active for Love Potions, careful attention to be paid in every conversation he had as both men and women tried to pawn their daughters off on him, even straight up offers for marriage contracts.

It didn’t spare those he went to school with either. He had almost been nabbed by Parvati, but thankfully he was more resistant to alcohol than she had thought. He must admit, getting seduced by the pretty girl and almost getting baby-trapped by her was the most pleasant of the attempts so far, but that did little to soothe his rising annoyance with those at the top of society.

Who he was now part of, much to his horror.

Which is why he was here, in an out of the way hallway of a Manor, having to get a breather away from the Minister’s re-election party. He had been invited and Hermione, bless her soul, had told him he needed to go. To make an appearance, if nothing else. He had agreed, planning to pop in, say a few words, shake a couple hands and be on his merry way.

Two hours later, he was sorely regretting his past self’s naivety. The breaking point had been when some lord had offered, rather publicly, his daughters betrothal. Who was still in her second year.

He couldn’t even remember if he had managed to stay polite in his refusal of the man’s ludicrous suggestion. That was one upside of his reputation, he supposed, it did give him some leeway to play with. Still, as indicated by his presence here in the first place, that only went so far.

He had accomplished what he had come here for at least, smiling for the cameras and everything. Now he just needed to find a Floo and he could be on his way. This whole night left a bad taste in his mouth.

Just as he was about to rise, he heard soft footsteps approach, before a breathy voice questioned, “Harry? Why are you sitting here, swimming in wrackspurts?”

He had tensed when he realised that the had company, but at the sound of her voice, he relaxed again, “’Ello Luna. Just trying to get away from that mess to clear my head before I started throwing hexes.”

She tilted her head at him quizzically, not saying anything immediately in response. This allowed harry to take in his friend’s appearance. She was wearing a light blue dress, one that was plain and unadorned, but had many long, flowing pieces of see-through fabric entrenched to flow around her. In her ears, were her radish shaped earrings.

Despite the years, Luna had not grown all that much from their Hogwarts days, standing a little over a head shorter than him and very slim. Her face was still round with youth, as magicals aged slowly, meaning her owl-like eyes were as attention grabbing as ever.

“Your decision strikes me as rather silly.” She finally spoke, causing him to grin.

“Why is that, Luna?” He decided to ask directly.

“Because if you wanted to clear your head, there are many better ways than sitting here, alone. Solitude might let you escape your annoyances, but the wrackspurts will follow you anyway.” She explained, causing him to nod tiredly.

“Yeah, that makes sense.” He mused.

Wrackspurts were a supposedly magical species of invisible flying creatures, that flew through peoples head and messed with their thoughts and emotions somehow. Harry didn’t quite remember the specifics, but he understood what she was getting at.

“Of course it does. I noticed you had a particularly large flock of them around your head during the speeches, but didn’t get a chance to speak to you.” She spoke, staring at him with a look he couldn’t quite place.

“Why not? You could have walked up to me at any time, I would much rather speak to you than any of these Lords and Ladies.” He asked, curious.

“Oh no, that would be very unfair to them.” She laughed softly, “We are friends, so I can speak to you at any time. They can only do so at times like this.”

Harry cast his mind back to the last time they spoke, at a similar event to this one three months ago. He winced.

Luna had a great way of making him feel like shit for not checking up on her more often.

Taking the bull by the horns, as he was used to, he apologised directly, “Sorry Luna. I have been busy with the Academy and barely seeing anyone, but I should have made more time for you.’

She blinked, wide eyes innocently uncomprehending, “Thank you Harry, but why are you apologizing? Being an Auror has been your dream since forever, has it not? You shouldn’t feel bad for pursuing it.”

That just made him feel worse.

“Still, I should have spent more time with you.” He sighed, reflecting on how poorly his social life seemed to be going recently.

“Why are you speaking like that?” Luna questioned, causing his eyes to find hers again, “The best time to fix your regrets was yesterday, the second best time is right now. You have plenty of time, Harry.”

Her words rattled around his head, finding purchase. Why was he just accepting all this? Just going along with the flow? He could do something different at any time, so why didn’t he? He was the Man-Who-Won, not the Man-Went-Along, after all.

“Luna.” He spoke while grinning, causing the girl to hum, “Would you like to find a Floo together with me? Let’s leave this party and go do something more fun.”

“I shouldn’t, I am here as a reporter.” She smiled, “But I am going to anyway, If you are going to be so kind as to offer.”

She gave him a hand, which he took as he stood up. Feeling it in his own, he reflected to himself.

For such a small woman, she had a surprising amount of strength.

---PRPRPR---

Laughter, soft and whimsical, floated through the clearing, the moon shining bright overhead. Luna twirled over the damp grass, a genuine smile on her face as she looked back towards her partner for the evening and strode backwards.

“Then Ron looks at us, crumbs all around his mouth and tray hidden behind his back. Personally, I think the best way to handle the situation would be to apologise and claim ignorance.” Harry grinned as he spoke, reminiscing.

“How did Ronald handle it?’ She asked, grinning widely.

“He got about halfway through saying it wasn’t him before he had to shield his crotch from a stinging hex. Head Auror Rawlins was furious, commended him for volunteering for being the live target practice dummy the rest of the month.” Harry laughed, “It only lasted a couple of days, but Ron made sure to stay away from convenient cakes in the mess hall from then on.”

“A sensible policy. You never know when a mischievous little thing could tamper with the food.” Luna nodded, taking in a deep breath of nature, “Do you live on the Academy grounds?”

“No, I have my own place. Bought it with the Order of Merlin award.” Harry shook his head, “Much better than having to deal with the simulated night attacks. Had enough of those to last a lifetime.”

“I suppose we both did.” She was wistful for a second there, before asking her next question, “That must make things much easier with Ginerva.”

Harry blinked, surprised, “What? In what way?”

“To be in a relationship while living separately would have been difficult, no?” Luna tilted her head, wide eyes staring into his own.

Harry shook his head, “I though you heard Luna, being a reporter and all. It was all over the news and magazines for months.”

She hummed, “You mean that ridiculous story of the two of you breaking up? I knew it was nonsense the second I saw it.”

Harry was now even more confused, “Why would you thin that?!”

“Because Ginerva is not stupid, Harry.” Luna spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “It would be a truly massive error to ever give you up.”

Her eyes were full of sincerity and meaning as she said the words, the moon light shining down her illuminating her frame as she spoke. The conviction in her voice, the look in her eyes… Harry was starting to get the crawling feeling of realisation, something he had been ignorant of being revealed to him.

He shook his head, chiding himself. She had looked so enchanting, his mind had wondered to disrespectful avenues. Luna was his friend, one of the precious few he had, he didn’t want to damage that.

“It’s true, Luna. Ginny and I aren’t together, for now. She had her Quidditch and I am studying for the Academy… There was no time.” He explained, causing her eyes to widen.

“...No wonder you were so full of wrackspurts, if you were doing something so silly.” Her voice held something that didn’t fit her at all, disbelief, “Love doesn’t care about something silly like time. You could not see the one you love for months, but if your feelings are true you would still love them. You would take whatever chance you had to spend time with them, even if it was a small moment. The time in-between would just make you cherish those rare times even more.”

“That sounds nice.” Harry smiled, looking away from the blonde as he stared up into the sky, “I’ve never had something like that, so I wouldn’t know. Love… is still something I don’t really understand.”

“You do.” Luna’s voice was back to being firm, “You love more deeply than anyone I’ve ever met, Harry. I thought Ginerva realised that.”

Something dark had entered her tone at the end there, something biting. Harry could feel it was familiar, but had difficulty placing it, having never heard such a thing from Luna before. If her though about it, it kinda sounded like… Ron? When he was talking about Harry’s apartment, or his new broom.

Sensing that line of thought would take him somewhere, he decided to move on.

“Regardless, that is why I’ve been getting all these marriage proposals and woman trying to entice me. I’m single, so everyone is pouncing.” He explained, laughing wryly.

“Hmm.” Luna hummed, considering, “Do you have any candidates?”

“Haha, no.” Harry shook his head, “When I graduate and Ginny is done with her Season, we will likely get back together. I just need to deal with it until then.”

“I see.” The bite was back, “In that case, Harry, I deeply apologise.”

“Apologise for what, Lu-?!” He was cut off as he turned to look at the suddenly much closer woman, who had chosen that moment to strike.

She stepped closer to him, the space between them shrinking rapidly. Harry’s eyes widened, barely having any time to react before she was already there, reaching her destination with surprising courage.

Harry had only kissed three woman before, Cho, Ginny and Parvati. As Luna’s lips descended upon his own, her eyes scrunched up as she claimed his fourth kiss, he reflected that hers were by far the softest.

Their mouths parted, and her blue eyes opened, staring deeply into his own with a depth of feeling that stole his breath away completely

“I’m sorry, Harry.” She apologised softly again, “I had to let you know.”

Harry was stunned. He had been picking up hints throughout their conversation, but this still surprised him. He had not at all expected her to be so forward, this coming as a massive surprise. Still, there was something there, in her gaze, that he felt an inexorable pull towards. She was full of fear of rejection, but beyond that, was so much care and years of built up feelings… He felt stupid for not noticing before.

Her eyes closed, her body moving to step back, “Sorry, I should not have-”

It was his time to interrupt her, as his arms encircled her small body and his lips reclaimed hers.

---PRPRPR---

Apparition was always uncomfortable, but Harry found out that when you had something to look forward to on the other end, it made the whole process much for tolerable. He barely had time to catch his breath from the method of travel before he was tackled by a blonde missile, lips feverishly kissing him.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, her weight hardly registering to him as he held her up by his grip on her bum. He had reflexively put his hands there after her jump, but he wasn’t at all complaining, squeezing the flesh between his fingers and hearing a very gratifying groan from Luna.

Blindly, he walked through the house, moving by memory, more than anything else. Luna, for her part, merely contented herself with using her tongue to play with his own. Not having much experience with kisses, Harry nonetheless considered this one unique. Luna was testing different things, rolling he tongue to the roof of his mouth, pulling his own tongue into hers, experimentally sucking on it, not doing anything one thing for longer than a few seconds.

It was if she was merely doing what came to her as the moment, trying out different things just to see what they felt like.

He could feel the corners of his mouth twitching against hers, thinking that was completely and totally Luna.

Finally, fumbling behind her back, he opened the door to their destination, his bedroom. He walked through the door, giving one final squeeze to Luna’s pert arse, before he dropped her on the bed. She didn’t go easy, whining and clinging to him instead of letting him place her down, causing him to laugh and mock wrestle her to the sheets.

That led them to their current position, whit him pinning her hands above her head as he knelt over her, a wide smile on his face.

“I wanted more kisses.” She pouted up at him.

He laughed, the expression on her face so totally her that he couldn’t help it, “Sorry, I’ll let you get back to it soon. I needed to ask, how far do you want to take this, Luna?”

Her eyes were completely resolute, “Forever.”

---PRPRPR---

Even the man who killed Voldemort eventually needed to rest, Harry reflected as he held Luna’s smaller frame again his own, both of them wet with sweat as they embraced on the ruined sheets. He would clean them with a spell soon, but for now he didn’t wish to move at all.

A soft whisper came from the blonde, causing him to smile down at her, “I’m glad your wrackspurts are finally gone.”

His smile widened, “I’m glad too.”

He leaned down and kissed her head, earning a soft sound of happiness from her before he rested his head back on his pillow, eyes closed in contentment.