You're My Destiny↣ Harmione

Chapter Thirty-One

-oOoOo-

Luna was lying in bed considering some of those same headlines, and comparing them unfavourably against the story she was supposed to write for her father. Apart from the fact she was staying with Lord Black, and not in the muggle home of the Grangers, she wondered who would want to read a piece like that now. It certainly wouldn't be the scoop her father had been hoping for.

With muggle shopping trips, seeing a pantomime inside an actual theatre and spending all her time with her friends, Luna had easily been having the best holiday she could remember. The possibility of ending up with a story not worth printing, and seeing her father's disappointment at that, being the only cloud on her horizon.

Today was Christmas Eve, with the Dursleys due to arrive in Grimmauld this afternoon. Tomorrow being Christmas, and also the Longbottom Ball, was then followed two days later by Sirius and Amelia's wedding. She was lying in bed awake because Luna's excitement levels were currently off any scale she had ever used to measure this rare emotion before. The knock at their bedroom door saw Luna sitting up, only to discover Susan had been awake too.

They opened the door to find Harry and Hermione standing there.

"I know it's early but we really needed to talk with you." Seeing the worried looks he was getting, Harry then tried to reassure both girls. "While it's obviously important, nothing is wrong."

As the girls sat on their beds, Hermione deliberately was sitting right beside Luna while Harry now had his arm around Susan's shoulders before telling them why they were here.

"You both saw Professor Dumbledore's ghost in the infirmary. On his deathbed, he gave me a means to contact him if we really needed his help. The same night he gave it to me, I wondered if this 'means' would allow me to contact others who had passed on - it did."

Luna immediately jumped a couple of steps ahead of Harry, having heard stories of what she suspected this 'means' was since being a little girl on her father's knee. "Dumbledore gave you the resurrection stone? Father always suspected the headmaster of having at least one of the Hallows."

Her arm tightened around the little blonde as Hermione spoke to their young friend. "Luna, that's not something we want known - outside our family. Certainly not by someone who publishes a newspaper."

"It's okay, Hermione, I would never tell my father about this. He's been obsessed by the Hallows since well before I was born. If he ever found out Harry had one, you wouldn't get a moment's peace..."

Hermione then let slip something they could all see, but no one had spoken of before now. "He's too busy obsessing over everything going on around him to pay attention to the most important thing in his life. If he did, he couldn't miss the wonderful witch his daughter is growing into."

An embarrassed Luna snuggled into Hermione while Susan moved the attention away from her by asking Harry a couple of questions.

"Resurrection Stone? Hallow? I'm perfectly willing to admit I'm not a morning person but I feel as if I'm still sleeping here. Is this one of those stupid dreams you get, just before you wake up?"

"You're awake and not dreaming, sis. It was Amelia who told us about this, mentioning a children's story about three brothers…"

Susan struggled to believe what Harry was saying. "That's real?"

"Most stories have an element of truth in them. When I was given the stone, you can probably guess who I summoned. It was wonderful, and also very painful. I wasn't prepared to see my mum and dad, far less ready to say goodbye to them again. It was so painful for everyone involved, we all agreed to make it no more than an annual event. I intend to call them tonight, and wanted to offer the both of you the chance to talk with the people closest to you that have been lost..."