Into Your Gravity ( Luna Lovegood & Tom Riddle )

Chapter twenty-four: Secret Keeper

Looking at Harry's face, Luna thought that it would appear that Harry certainly did not understand the necessity and would rather have hair full of nargles than go along with the plan.

A general mumbling of, "Yes, Professor," came from the students, and then the two teachers swept out of the portrait hole and left.

As soon as the portrait swung closed behind them, Harry turned to his friends menacingly. "If any of you go to Snape and tell him I'm moody or something I will kill you."

Neville was looking fearful. "But Harry, you saying that could be cause enough for us to go. If you were being controlled by You-Know-Who, he would probably threaten us too."

"That's true, mate," Ron said, looking at Harry scrutinizingly as though Harry would suddenly sprout fangs and reveal himself to be Voldemort.

Harry looked like he was about to implode. "I am not being controlled by Voldemort," he growled through gritted teeth.

"How are we supposed to know though?" Ginny asked. "You-Know-Who would lie about that, obviously."

"This is absurd!" Harry cried. "No matter what I say, you lot will all think I'm being possessed or something!"

Luna finally spoke up. "Why don't we just use a form of the Fidelus Charm to make a password that only we know? That way, even if Tom takes your mind, he won't find the word lying around in there because it would be hidden in your soul instead."

"That's too obvious. Surely You-Know-Who would figure that out and as shown by Pettigrew, someone could always crack - " Hermione began.

"I think it's brilliant," Harry said suddenly. "I trust every one of you."

"Your parents trusted Peter Pettigrew," Hermione argued.

"You aren't Peter Pettigrew, are you? Besides, only the Secret Keeper can tell others what the password is, so I really only have to trust one of you," Harry said playfully. Then he looked thoughtful. "Its powerful magic. And he's not used to exploring hearts, is he?" He was looking at Luna with a fiercely proud glint in his eye, as if she had pleased him immensely by her idea.

Harry had nailed her thinking on the head for once, but Luna felt little joy in solving the problem. She still felt a nagging guilt pulling at her for working against Tom. It was a constant battle with herself; to remind herself that Voldemort was merely a shell of the boy she loved. And even further back in her mind was the thought that if Voldemort saw whatever Harry was seeing...why, Harry was seeing her at the time! Surely that meant that Voldemort had seen her...that Tom had seen her. She shook her head to clear the thought, reminding herself once again that Voldemort did not equal Tom. But no matter how hard she shook her head, these thoughts lingered, nagging at the back of her mind, always on the outskirts of thoughts, for she would not allow herself to think about it directly.

"Who will your Secret Keeper be, though, Harry?" Ginny asked.

Harry studied each of them in turn. After several long moments, he said, "Neville."

All but Neville and Luna looked surprised. Alternatively, Luna nodded understandingly, and Neville squared his shoulders as though he'd known it was coming.

Luna could understand why Harry would choose Neville. Harry trusted each of them, this she knew. But she also knew that, just as Sirius would have been an obvious choice for James and Lily, Ron or Hermione would have been the obvious choice for Harry. And the obvious choice was almost never a wise one in the war they were in. As for Ginny, Harry felt fiercely protective of her, as did Ron. If it were up to the two boys, Ginny would never be involved with their plans in the first place; thus to give her the duty of Secret Keeper was out of the question. And as for herself...Luna suspected that no matter how many times she were to prove her allegiance to Harry, the thought that she had loved a young Lord Voldemort would forever nag at him. Neville, on the other hand, had always risen to the challenge when bravery and strength were needed. His faith and loyalty to Harry had never wavered, and, as judged by his parents, Longbottoms were made of sterner stuff than they appeared.

Ron and Ginny both looked slightly offended by Harry's choice, and Hermione looked thoughtful. Luna suspected that Hermione was working things out in her brain, logically filing away each reason that Luna had already thought of. After a moment, Hermione smiled and nodded at Harry.

"That's a very good choice," she said, turning her smile on Neville.

Ron furrowed his brow. "But...I'm your best mate."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Exactly."

Ron only looked more confused, so Hermione explained it to him and Ginny, though she left out the reason for not choosing Luna, as it was still a touchy subject. Ron looked appeased, but Ginny did not.

"I'm not a child," she said sullenly.

"Yes you are," Ron replied, sounding oddly maternal.

"I'm the same age as Luna, and I'm only a year younger than the rest of you lot," the female Weasley pointed out.

"Ginny, it's not that we think of you as a child. It's just we wouldn't want you to get hurt," Harry said soothingly.

"Oh, but you're alright with tossing Neville out to get hurt?" she stubbornly asked.

"It's different, Gin. You know it is."

"How?" she asked, her eyes glinting dangerously.

"This is Neville's. It just is. Can't you feel that?" Luna asked suddenly.

Ginny opened her mouth to retort, but then snapped it shut again. She considered what Luna said and after a moment sighed and nodded. "I know it is."

With Ginny's acceptance, the group said goodnight to each other, agreeing to track down Professor McGonagall the next day to get her approval of the idea and to set to work on performing the charm. As it was after curfew, Ginny set up a makeshift bed for Luna on one of the couches in the common room so that she wouldn't have to go back to Ravenclaw Tower. Then the Gryffindors filed up their separate staircases to their dormitories and all was silent.

Luna was tired but lay awake for some time. She mulled over the night's events, and no matter how hard she tried, a raven-haired boy with cold, dark eyes kept floating into her mind. After several unsuccessful attempts to push him out, she gave in and carefully pulled out the necklace from beneath her school uniform. The fire in the common room had long since died, leaving the room pitch black but for the twinkling light of the stars coming in from the window. But when she pulled out the red stone, it cast its own dim, red light about it, illuminating her face as she gazed at it, warm and alive in her small palm.