Harry Potter Scenes From Reflections 2

[Lionheart]

There comes a point when writing Luna that you have to stop and check to see if you've lost touch with reality or just with her.

Since the beginning scenes from Chapter two rely rather heavily on her I thought I'd check for feedback to see if this was going in the right direction with her character.


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ôMy nameÆs Urd,ö she told him, pointing toward his nose. ôGoddess second class, second category, limited license. Norn of the Past and Goddess of love, and youÆve got a pure heart, kiddo. That means youÆre eligible for a wish, and I got sent to give one to you. You can have anything you want, but the rules say you only get one. What will it be?ö

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ôWhen Ron was six he discovered his pee pee and went showing it to everyone in the neighborhood.ö Luna answered HermioneÆs whispered question at full normal voice, as if this hadnÆt been asked of her in secret. Then she repeated, ôI like HarryÆs much better. It reminds me of fog.ö

ôFog?ö Hermione couldnÆt help but blink at the non-sequitor. One got more used to them around Luna, but still!

ôYes, the way it fills up empty spaces and makes shadows of great trees.ö

Ginny and Hermione both blushed silver, not certain theyÆd caught LunaÆs meaning, but able to conjure up sufficient dirty images on their own from the description.

Urd stared at the trio of ghosts in shock for a moment before turning back to business so she could get out of this place.

She didnÆt like being here.

Around Keiichi and her sister she was able to frolic, full of mischief. There was no mischief here. In fact, this boy had been beaten like a drum by Fate, and as one of the Norns she felt partially responsible. That caused any normal good humor she might have felt to evaporate and made her want to get this over with so she could go home and get roaring drunk.

SheÆd have been drinking here, but the kid had poisoned his wetbar!

ôListen, kid...ö

Urd was interrupted once more, this time by Luna leaning in to clasp HarryÆs face between her ghostly hands, clasp her freezing lips on his nose, and begin sucking greedily. ôSCHLERK! SNORK! SCHHLLLECHW!!ö

The goddess blinked in surprise, then spoke, pointing to the ghost, ôAn ectoplasmic infusion? How did SHE learn that snot and ectoplasm are practically the same thing?ö

ôFog also allows the moon to howl back at the dogs at night,ö Luna mentioned, as if no one had spoken since she last did, meanwhile floating over to the sink and beginning to lift pans in her ghostly hands, filling one with water and putting it on to boil on the stove.

Harry, for his part, was taking UrdÆs appearance in stride. Not from any idea who she was, but heÆd more or less gotten used to wizards doing things in odd ways, like traveling by fireplaces, and at first heÆd taken her as doing some form of that. Her later introduction as a Goddess was no more strange to him than learning magic existed, or so he reasoned.

On the other hand, it was difficult to be haunted by the ghost of Luna Lovegood and not build up considerable resistance to the weird or unusual. Frankly, he took this as even more proof that he was insane.

Then again, sometimes he just felt too tired to get shocked by anything.

ôDo you really know whatÆs going on?ö Hermione floated by to ask before leaning in to capture HarryÆs nose between her lips and sucking greedily herself, obviously still listening for an answer.

ôWell...ö Urd blinked. SNEERRRK! ôItÆs...ö SLURRP! Her eye twitched, ôkinda...ö SNORK!! ôWill you cut that out!ö she shouted.

ôSorry,ö Hermione released HarryÆs frozen nose. ôBut itÆs the only way we can do things around the house.ö She pouted, ôor much of anything but float around, really.ö

ôThatÆs really the point,ö Urd corrected. ôGhosts are those who have passed on, there are rules against them having too great an effect on mortal affairs, so most are frozen in ability where they arenÆt able to do much. ThatÆs on purpose. The exception is that each is given a very limited supply of ectoplasm. Those who learn how to use it can manipulate things on the mortal plane. But most ghosts canÆt generate more than a trickle every few centuries. ItÆs more of a punishment than anything, an encouragement to move on. What I want to know is how you three stumbled on it. The mucus relationship to ectoplasm is a loophole thatÆs kept secret, one not even demons are allowed to let out.ö

ôWe picked it up from Luna.ö Hermione wiped her lips, then delicately licked a trailing bit of something from the end of HarryÆs nose.

ôQuibbler, issue 38,ö spoke the ghost who was now cooking dinner.

ôWell,ö Urd allowed, grudgingly folding her arms across her chest. ôI wonÆt report you so long as this secret doesnÆt spread any further. Now could we get back to HarryÆs wish?ö Her phone rang, interrupting once again. ôHang on a second.ö The goddess reached into her pocket to pull out a cell, after listening on it for a few seconds she closed the phone and shouted at Luna. ôThere was nothing about ectoplasm in issue 38 of the Quibbler!ö

ôNo, of course not. I never said there was,ö Luna blinked at the goddess dreamily. ôThere is, however, an excellent article on knee-biting vegetables, and this rutabaga reminds me of one.ö She held up the root in question.

ôThen where did you find out about the ectoplasm relationship to mucus?ö the irate goddess demanded.

ôOh, that was suggested in the muggle film Ghostbusters, and I thought IÆd try it out. It worked.ö

Ginny blinked. ôLuna, are you feeling okay? That was unusually lucid for you.ö

ôBe nice,ö Hermione scolded.

ôGhosts can also spend large amounts of ectoplasm to acquire permanent abilities.ö Luna casually informed the room. ôBut as we were only locked in with Harry there was little point in acquiring a corrupting gaze or hideous laugh to drive him insane.ö

ôSo you got telekinesis?ö Urd blinked, taken aback.

ôIs that one of them?ö Luna paused still, then closed her eyes. A moment later one of the cooking utensils flew to her hand and she opened her eyes, smiling. ôYes, it is. Thank you very much.ö

 

[Prince Charon]

:lol: OK, I'm not sure how to write Luna, myself, but I don't see anything wrong with her characterization. You certainly lightened it up fast, even if some of it was in kind of a icky way.

Thank you for sharing it.

Please, continue. :yay:

 

[Mighty Bob]

Exactly how much snot is Harry storing in that nose of his? Did he put some kinda internal engorgement charm on it or somethin? :blink:

Anyways, seems pretty spot on for Luna actually. I almost pity Urd. I still think Harry's reaction to her sudden apperance when he doesn't know her was a bit lacking; considering the state of the world and his only recent freedom. But it might just be me *shrugs*

 

[Israfel]

Hmm, no complaints really, Luna's characterization was pretty good, not amazing, then again I've only ever seen one fic where I would call Luna's characterization 'amazing', so don't take offense to that, as she is probably the hardest HP character to write in something at least resembling canon. Otherwise no complaints, pretty solid overall, once again. Keep it coming.

 

[Lionheart]

I almost fear how Luna's part keeps growing. But here's more to torture you with:



ôIs that one of them?ö Luna paused still, then closed her eyes. A moment later one of the cooking utensils flew to her hand and she opened her eyes, smiling. ôYes, it is. Thank you very much.ö

ôAre you going to wish or arenÆt you?ö Urd rounded on the young man, intent on getting this job over with before they tricked any more classified information out of her. She was going to suffer for letting that bit about TK slip, she knew it. But sheÆd thought they already knew about it.

ôUh, sure,ö Harry blinked, surprised at her glare. He turned to his friends, asking them, ôWhat should I wish for?ö

ôHow about you bringing us back to life?ö Ginny asked hopefully.

Harry considered. That was a good one. He pondered a bit before adding, ôThatÆs a good one, but I was more thinking of saving the world from Voldemort. ItÆs a pity I only get one wish.ö

ôActually Harry,ö Hermione interrupted. ôYou could achieve both of those together. She just introduced herself as a Goddess of the Past, am I right? You could wish for all of us to go back in time so you could relive your life over again knowing what you do now! That way we could stop Voldemort before he became unstoppable, and none of us would have died!ö She sparkled excitedly, floating an extra few feet off the floor as she did so.

ôThat sounds good, I wish for that,ö Harry agreed.

ôFine,ö Urd nodded, glad to have that over with, transmitting the wish as spoken up to Heaven, resulting in the usual beam of light and objects floating around the room as she opened the divine passage over the sacred send and receive link. Resettlng at last once that was done, she stated:

ôWish approved.ö

The boy was astonished to find himself that moment wet and naked in the arms of a giant bigger than HagridÆs brother, being handed over to a sweaty and exhausted giant woman laying on a table.

That scene snapped into context when he heard the next words uttered, ôCongratulations, Mrs. Potter. ItÆs a boy.ö

He began squalling in confusion and joy all at once.

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A return to birth formcan be odd, to say the least.

For one thing, Harry was a complete, whole adult compacted down into the body of a brand new baby. That required some rather drastic adjustments all on its own. If heÆd had any exposure to computer related talk, he mightÆve compared it to having been subjected to file compression software and transformed into a self-extracting archive. Everything was there, all of his knowledge and abilities and what have you, the only problem was most of it was unusable. The body of a newborn babe is equipped really to do only one thing, and that is grow, so that other capabilities could be uncompressed and brought online.

Other newborns had to do a great deal of testing as those abilities got brought out of storage to get them functioning, but thatÆs getting ahead of ourselves.

On the day of his arrival, Harry was busy dealing with the physical trauma associated with his own birth. Thankfully, heÆd get over that just fine, as most newborns do. His parents were excited, but also exhausted, and what exhaustion his mother went through that his father escaped, James more than made up for celebrating with his friends.

What no one seemed to notice was the conversation going on between three ghosts, not presently manifested enough for mortals to see them.

ôWhy arenÆt we alive?ö Ginny demanded, gazing around St. MungoÆs.

ôI should think you and I havenÆt been born yet,ö Luna offered, circumstance having brought her a fraction more in touch with her surroundings, yet that didnÆt stop her from idly examining the dancing mobile hanging above HarryÆs crib with unusual intensity.

ôBut then why is Hermione here? SheÆs almost a year older than Harry!ö Ginny protested, irate and not understanding their circumstances at all.

ôIÆm afraid thatÆs probably my fault.ö Hermione pouted. ôI was offering a suggestion, instead Harry used that as his official wish before IÆd had a chance to polish it up a bit. What happened is fairly simple, I think. When we wished, it for æusÆ to go back in time, so æHarryÆ could live his life over again. I should have been so much more careful about the wording.ö

ôYou mean... we might not get to return to life?ö Ginny found herself about to cry.

Hermione nodded, on the verge of tears herself.

Luna appeared increasingly fascinated with the baby toy she was observing, using little bursts of TK to spin the mobile around, with no apparent reaction to their predicament at all as the other pair of ghosts burst into tears and wailed, attempting to hug each other with insubstantial hands that passed right through each otherÆs bodies.

Luna put up with this for about a minute, but before the others could really hit their stride (ghosts could lose all track of time, and given a sufficient emotional burden could lose themselves to it for geologic ages), managed to disrupt them both out of their funk by the simple expedient of latching onto baby HarryÆs nose and beginning to suck him dry. The infant immediately woke up and started to cry, before stopping almost at once.

It was still Harry in there, and he recognized that sensation.

You put up with alot to have good company in a place like Azkaban, and little indignities like that were inconsequential when it was the only way to get cupped handfuls of freezing water brought to your cell to supplement the meager daily ration. Discarded bits of the guardsÆ meals were heaven, reducing one of the many pains of imprisonment, and the reason Harry hadnÆt been starved to emaciation when the Minister ordered him put on half rations upon his incarceration. Every day he blessed the stoat pies one wife sent with her husband and that guard never ate, being allergic to stoat and yet unable to bring himself to tell his wife he didnÆt treasure her motherÆs recipe. Pies that his ghostly friends had retrieved from the dustbin and brought him religiously, each day. Those pies had had good, thick crusts that survived being binned, and made it to his cell almost intact, and sometimes even warm (where ghostly hands hadnÆt gripped them). Scraps of cloth, bits of rag and thread had also been scavenged, and those (along with a needle carved from bone) had become quilts for bedding, pants and jackets to escape the constant cold.

Little services like those had even caused him to forget all of the anger heÆd once felt at Ginny not long after arriving there. So when he forgave her, heÆd earnestly meant it each and every time. Of course, with Luna and Hermione there was nothing to forgive, and heÆd grown fonder of them than any other being... err, alive, with Ginny a not-so distant third.

Their happiness was all that was left of his.

Paradoxically, having a cold nose was one of the most comforting sensations that he could recall. And so, reminded of his ghostly friends, he began to coo and wave his arms at once.

The sight was both anxious and soothing to the ghosts, but it did catch their attention.

The duty nurse, tired from a long shift, noted a baby had both started and stopped crying quickly and gave only a peek into the room to make sure nothing had fallen on a face to suffocate anyone before going back to her break.

Luna waited until she was gone before telling her friends, ôHarry canÆt communicate with anyone but us. WeÆve got to be firm as the snow for him.ö

ôHe can communicate?ö Hermione rushed over, but trying to interpret the patterns of waving baby limbs was futile, as they just werenÆt developed enough for sign language.

ôFirm as snow? ShouldnÆt that be firm as rock? Snow isnÆt very firm.ö Ginny objected.

ôNeither are ghosts,ö Luna concluded with implacable finality.

ôLuna,ö Hermione plunged delicately. ôHow did you mean it when you said Harry can only communicate with us? How can he communicate at all?ö

ôSuck on some noses, weÆve got to form a bond with him.ö