NaNo FanFic Part 22
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Pairings this part: Harry/Luna, Ron/Hermione
Rating: PG-13
Notes: trying to catch up on my holiday writing. Hopefully there will be a couple more parts posted today.


August 2005, The Red Raven, London

Luna's fingers tightened around the stem of her wine glass as she watched Harry move through the Ministry sycophants on the main dance floor.  He was hating even minute, she knew that, she had listened to his frustrations as they dressed earlier that evening.  Still she couldn't help the stab of jealousy -- and wasn't that such an ugly word -- to see the way the young and single of both sexes crowded in on him.  A dark-haired woman curled her hand possessively around Harry's forearm and Luna had to force her jaw to relax enough to swallow another sip of wine.

She knew what would happen next; it had happened the same way innumerable times over the years.  Harry shrugged off the woman's hand with easy grace and shifted himself out of her reach.  Ron, well used to shielding Harry's back from worse than Ministry toadies, interposed his body between Harry and the most insistent admirers. 

Luna took a moment to admire the two men from a purely aesthetic standpoint as they made their way toward the bar at the back of the dance floor.  They had moved in one another's orbit for over a decade and communicated volumes with a grin and a twitch of one eyebrow.  Her lips curved behind her glass, and she imagined that the resulting smile was more mocking grimace than grin. 

Another body leaned against the wall just inside Luna's peripheral vision, then bumped her gently along that side.  "One day I expect he'll snap and hex someone," Hermione said, her voice just loud enough to carry to Luna's ears. 

"Which one?" Luna asked, taking another fortifying sip of wine.

Hermione's chuckle warmed the irrational chill of jealousy and adandonment in Luna.  "I meant Harry. Ron knows better than to hit first." 

Luna thought about the last few Weasley family gatherings she had attended and tilted her head toward Hermione, one eyebrow lifting, but said nothing. 

Hermione shrugged with another laugh.  "Well, in public, anyway." 

Luna smiled into her wine, noting that she was due a refill, and for a moment she was just herself again.  Then Harry sidestepped a looming man in robes speaking of wealth and influence, and ended up in a nest of simpering girls wearing the lightning-bolt pendants that had become so popular among students after Voldemort's final death, and had made a comeback for the LeStrange Trials.  Everyone wanted to touch Harry, to have a piece of him, to hold on to the aura of power and mystery that had ended the great 'Death Eater Menace' at last.  It was natural, after all that had happened, and Luna had known from the beginning that this was the baggage Harry carried.  Perhaps they should work harder to find a way for her to share the load rather than resent it.

Hermione's hand closed on Luna's elbow and Luna turned her attention fully to the other woman. "Let's go upstairs," Hermione said. "Find a table, forget who we are and what they're-" she tilted her head toward Ron and Harry and the unrelenting crowd around them, "doing here." 

Luna looked up to the balcony curving around three sides of the club.  "Are you sure?" 

Hermione smirked, and nodded.  "We know where they sleep.  Let's just relax."

Hearing Hermione make such a suggestion was so contrary to Luna's previous experience at these events that for a moment she wondered if there had been something extra in her wine. Yet it was Hermione's willingness to give up the long-treasured stoic spouse's facade that broke Luna's resolve to simply endure the night alone. Their men would not be able (or, in Harry's case, willing) to join them until the event was over, so why not enjoy themselves? She returned Hermione's smile and gestured with her glass.  "Lead on, then." 

The balcony held clusters of gorgeously plush chairs and benches interspersed with flimsy-looking square tables whose frosted glass tops reflected the wild lights of the dance floor.  Hermione took one of the many members of the black-clad waitstaff aside, pressed several Galleons into his hand, and was promptly shown a private table in a dark corner, out of the main traffic areas. 

Luna relinquished her wine as Hermione's pet waiter set a tray of green-tinted gin and tonics on their table. Steam rose from the glasses, each of which had a garnish of twisted lime rind that began melting the moment it touched the liquor.  "New?" Luna inquired, taking a glass.

"They call them Dragon Tonics.  Don't inquire too deeply into the ingredients.  Just let them work their magic."  Hermione took a deep draught of hers and promptly began coughing.  "Just the thing," she wheezed a moment later, gesturing for Luna to try hers.

Luna shrugged and gulped at the odd drink.  It burned going down like firewhisky, but left a minty tingle behind, and Luna coughed, too.  "Fantastic."

Hermione beamed up at the waiter and raised her glass.  "Keep these coming."

Much later, Luna had stacked the empty glasses in a neat pyramid on their table, and was debating the design of her next structure beginning with this round.  Hermione had sprawled the length of the bench, her feet up on one arm and her head propped on the other.  Luna's bare feet rested on Hermione's stomach, her head lolled back against the cushions of her chair, and her right hand held her current drink carefully balanced on the palm. 

"The difficult is-" Luna caught a glimpse of dancing lights out of the corner of her eye and became distracted.  Hermione nudged her feet, and Luna began again.  "The difficulty is, I don't, I didn't, it wasn't so easy, before.  They think I'm mad, you know." 

Hermione nodded gravely, lifting her head to sip from her drink.  "I know.  Should go out there, dance or something.  Make a claim." 

"No."  Luna drank the last drop of her current glass and set it on the table.  A cube, perhaps, she thought, looking at the other empties.  Her next round was waiting for her, steaming away, but it did take her two tries to get a decent grip on it.  "Harry wouldn't- wouldn't- he'd be angry.  Security!"

Hermione turned her head, raising an eyebrow and closing one eye, forcing her face into an odd grimace.  Luna smiled and raised her glass.  Together, they intoned, "Constant Vigilance!"  Hermione swallowed a mouthful of Dragon Tonic, hiccuped, and muttered, "Bollocks. Chauvin-erg.  Chauv- Sexist! Complete bollocks. Always thinking with the wrong head!" 

Luna could not believe Hermione just said that.  She dissolved into giggles, which were only made worse when Hermione tickled her feet.  "Oh, oh - stop! You're - oh! - too -hic - hard on them." 

"Am I?" Hermione managed to sound terribly righteous for the three seconds between her darkly intoned words and the great belch that followed.  Then she clapped a hand over her mouth and lost herself in giggles. 

"You are.  Harder than they are."  Luna stared at Hermione, who stared back, and the innuendo floated there between them for a long moment before they laughed, long and loud, so loudly that their waiter came back to check on them.  Hermione waved him off to bring their next round. 

The lights from the dance floor eventually dimmed, and the music shifted to more mellow, even melancholy fare.  Luna wondered what time it was, and how the party was going.  She was much happier up here with Hermione, and must remember to thank her friend when they were both sober enough to remember.  Too many hours watching the world try to claim a piece of the territory she considered hers, and anyone might feel a bit mad.  She held her half-empty glass out in front of her, watching the green liquid slosh as her hand shook. 

Footsteps approached their corner.  The wards Hermione had set chimed, indicating someone permitted near them.  Hermione assumed it was the same waiter who had set off the wards all evening and announced, slurring every other syllable, "New round, with water.  Please.  And - downstairs busy?" 

Luna closed her eyes and moved her hand forward, feeling the glass wobble, then balance itself as it moved. 

Ron's voice answered Hermione, startling Luna so much that she tilted her hand and her current Dragon Tonic went tumbling to the floor, splashing the side of the chair with liquor.  "The club is closing, my heart, and they called in the quick wands to deal with two rowdy drunks in the balcony." 
 
Luna fumbled her wand as she tried to clean her spill.  Harry's hand closed over hers as he erased the evidence. 

"We are not rowdy," Luna declared, carefully enunciating each word as she allowed Harry to tuck her wand back into its pocket.

"But we are drunk," Hermione conceded.  "Perhaps not drunk enough, I only see one of you," she said to Ron, who stood over her now.  His grin looked rather predatory.

Luna wiggled her toes and Hermione's hand squeezed the top of her foot.  The boys were going to make them get up.  It was tragic, really. 

But they did not make them get up.  Harry gathered Luna's things together and then gathered Luna herself into his arms.  Ron did the same with Hermione, although Hermione protested.  They quickly made their way to the staff entrance for the club, where there was a large Apparition area.  Luna tightened her grip on Harry when she realized the plan, so when the squeeze of Side-Along came, she was somewhat prepared.  At least it didn't cause instant nausea the way Flooing would have.

Harry set her gently on her feet in the entry to their flat, and Luna rested her head on his shoulder. 

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