Later, after parting from the Lupins, they visited once more the residents of the fourth floor. Many were still bed-ridden, but quite a few were already moving around, still quite weak, but craving for some occupation to fill their time. The house-elves were supplying reading material of all kinds and even card games and some muggle board games, but that was not enough.
A few of the younger men approached Harry. "Sir, we've been talking and we would like to start training in whatever ways of combat that we can to help against the Dark forces. We're all muggle-born and quite aware of muggle weapons. If you can help us, we may form a combat force to fight the evil ones. We don't have our wands, though."
Harry expected something like that, but not so soon. These people were barely standing, yet they were asking for training.
"You'll need to first regain your health and your physical powers before you can start training in earnest, or it may kill you. Until then, I'll have some books about combat strategies and tactics brought to you, so you can learn and prepare. We also took some wands when rescuing you. There aren't enough for all, but maybe we can find some that fit."
"Thank you, Sir. We appreciate this and will do our best to recuperate as quickly as possible."
Harry smiled at them. He knew they couldn't speed it up, but it was the intention that counted.
A bit farther, they were intercepted by another person. "May I talk in private with you two?" Luna asked them, her tone as dreamy as always.
A nearby room was still unoccupied. Harry waved her in and followed, with Hermione closing the door and casting privacy charms.
"That's a very good disguise, Harry. How did you get rid of your scar?" Luna asked, as if she was just continuing a conversation.
"How do you know it's us, Luna? I thought our disguise was quite good," Harry asked.
"It is very good. I wouldn't have recognized you had the pimpries not told me. They identify you by your magic, not by your looks, you should know."
"Do you think they would tell others too?"
Luna shook her head. "Nobody pays any attention to them, certainly nobody on the dark side, but I think they also talk to Mr. Ollivander. He knew I was there even with his back to the door."
Harry sighed. "He also recognized us. You know you must keep it secret, don't you?"
She smiled. "Of course, Lord and Lady Potter. Besides, even if I told anybody, who would listen to Loony?"
"You're not loony. You're our friend!" Harry said forcefully.
Luna kept her smile. "I know, but most others don't."
Hermione had other matter to clear. "How are you feeling, Luna? Is your accommodation good enough?"
"I feel fine. Your house-elves and the healer made short work of it, although they said I may suffer some tremors for quite a few more days. They help stir the medicine vials, you know. And my room is quite nice. I'm with three older women and they pamper me like I was their child. They sometimes remind me of my Mum."
Harry looked down, already knowing that Luna had lost her mother when too young. That made him notice that she was barefoot. "Luna, why are you not wearing shoes?"
She shrugged. "I tried, but it feels so nice to walk on these thick carpets barefoot, that I leave them by my bed. Is it mandatory to wear shoes in this house?"
Harry smiled reassuringly. "No, Luna. You may wear your shoes or not, any way you like."
"May I also take my dress off? It's quite warm enough here to stay naked, you know."
Hermione was barely holding herself from laughing and Harry was blushing, but still replied. "No, Luna. That would be too disruptive to others. Most people don't expose their bodies so freely, you should know."
She pouted. "Oh, Poo. I just hoped to try it here. Hogwarts is never warm enough for that, you've probably noticed."
Hermione decided to intervene before the conversation moved to uncharted areas. "Luna, would you like to join us for dinner, so we may discuss some more? We shall probably have a few more people at the table, but I think you know most of them."
"That would be nice," Luna said, suddenly blushing.
"I'll send one of the house-elves for you before dinner. Now we should continue with our plan, though."
Luna smiled. "Enjoy your day, and don't forget the contraceptives, unless you want to be a mother soon."
Hermione blushed and hurried out. Harry followed her, after another glance at Luna, who winked at him.
\/\/\/
When Luna joined them at the dinner table, she was wearing a very nice dress, quite fitting for the weather, and was also wearing shoes. Harry noticed that her radish earrings and her butterbeer caps necklace were missing. He wasn't sure if he should ask about them.
Luna was glad to see the others too. "Professor Lupin! Are you here to teach us some more defence? Some offence would also be right, I think."
"I'm glad to see you feeling well, Miss Lovegood, but I'm no longer your professor. Still, if you like, I may be able to teach you a bit, and so can my wife, Dora. She used to be an Auror."
"Oh, goody! Will you teach us how to fight?"
Dora smiled. "I don't know yet. Are you well enough to start training?"
"Ask your mother," Luna said, pointing at Andy with her chin.
Andy smiled at the young girl. "As long as you don't need to aim at something, it should be fine. Your injuries are well healed and such training may be very helpful in healing the trauma."
Luna shrugged. "It's only a pity I would not be able to give my virginity to the man I'll love, but most girls are no longer virgins when they find love, so it shouldn't matter too much."
Harry wasn't sure if it was right to ask, but since Luna was talking so freely, he thought he could try. "Luna, can you tell us what happened, how you were taken and what they did to you? It's up to you what to tell and what to keep silent about."
Andy and Hermione looked disapprovingly at Harry, but Luna didn't seem to mind. "Well, they actually wanted to punish my Dad, so he'd stop writing bad things about the Ministry. The Carrows took me from my dorm and let four men take me away, along with a fifth-year boy and two girls I didn't know, probably muggles. They walked us to the gate after tying my arms and taking my wand. They also took my necklace and my earrings and threw them away." Harry noticed some moisture creeping into her eyes.
"After we passed the gate, one took the boy aside and the three others took one girl each, forced us to spread our legs and used us forcefully, ripping our underwear too. They then rested a bit and switched, each raping another girl. They kept doing it several times throughout the night. I'm not sure what happened to the boy, but at some point, he was forced to rape us too. I think he was Imperiused."
Luna talked as if she was telling about some fairy tale, not about a trauma she had recently experienced. "Some time before sunrise, they were unable to rape us any longer. They used a portkey to take us to Malfoy Manor. There, some more men were invited to rape us. I recognized a few from Hogwarts, who graduated last year or earlier. Marcus Flint was there and Adrian Pucey and Terence Higgs… Then, just before your house-elves rescued us, Bellatrix Lestrange brought Ferenir Grayback. I think she intended to give him the muggle girls to kill. Then they were all stunned and we were taken here. Do you know what happened to them?"
Harry felt great satisfaction to answer, "The room caught fire as soon as you left. I doubt any of them is still alive. As for the Carrows, they were eliminated that night."
Luna smiled. "Good news always makes me hungry. Didn't you promise dinner?"
Harry smiled. "I always keep my promises."
A second later, the table was loaded with delicious food. For a while, the only sounds around the table were the sounds made by enjoying a very good meal.
After eating the desserts, they seemed to divide. Luna, Hermione and Dora made one group while Harry, Remus, Ted and Andy, who stayed as close to her husband as she could whenever not busy as a healer, made the other group.
Harry was still contemplating his training options and Ted had a piece of practical advice: "You don't know when you'll need to go into combat, do you? In that case, I suggest that you only train to a comfortable level and not strain yourself too much, or you may be sore and weak when you suddenly need to do your best. It's not the way normal training goes, but you can't risk training that way. It's no wonder that trainers are sometimes called 'slave drivers' since they put the trainees to very hard work. Remus may not like doing it my way, but you should really consider this seriously."
Remus actually liked the idea. "I'm not sure what you have in mind, but if you need to be on call, we'll have to train you very gradually, to not strain any muscle and not overtax any part of your body or your magic. This will slow your advance, of course, but that's how compromises go."
"Don't you think you should also learn some emergency healing? You may not always have a healer nearby. Stabilizing the wounded quickly may be more important than the healing they get later, it can sometimes decide life or death," Andy noted.
"I'm not sure we have the time for that," Harry told them. "As far as we know, the Dark Lord is currently out of the country, but is expected back within a few days. I don't expect him to accept the loss of several of his high ranked officials and so many prisoners. He's going to be furious and try to attack, Whether he will attack muggles, half-bloods or the so-called 'blood-traitors' is unknown, but I want to protect as many as we can. I…"
They were interrupted by the sound of a crying Luna. Both Harry and Andy rushed to the girls. Hermione was hugging Luna tightly while Dora seemed confused and hesitant, not knowing what to do.
"What happened?" Harry asked, while Andy tried to take Luna in her arms, despite Luna clinging to Hermione with all her might.
Dora was the only one who could answer. "We were just talking about some cosmetic charms and comparing them to muggle cosmetics when she suddenly started crying. I can't understand what brought it."
Hermione continued hugging Luna and patting her back until Luna gradually calmed down. She then turned to the others, who were now all around her. "I'm sorry. I just suddenly remembered the last time my Mum talked to me about such things. She promised she would teach me about cosmetic charms the summer before I went to Hogwarts. She was killed by an experiment gone wrong a few days later. She never had the chance to teach me about this. I then thought I was lucky Bellatrix was killed, as she wanted to cast something on me to make me infertile, and then I wouldn't have a chance to tell my daughter about cosmetics. The house-elves came just in time to prevent it."
Andy now engulfed Luna in a tight hug. Luna was no longer crying but Andy was. She then calmed down. "It may sound heartless, but I'm really glad Bella is no longer alive. She caused so much death and grief and would have caused much more, had she stayed alive. Does Cissy... I mean – Narcissa Malfoy – know about this?"
Harry felt a bit uncomfortable. "Narcissa was taken to the Black House shortly before this happened. I'm not sure anybody told her. I'll have Kreacher tell her."
Andy frowned. "Why is she there? Has she left her husband?"
Harry felt quite good to tell her. "She asked me, as Lord Black, to annul her marriage, based on the fact that Lucius breached the contract by being sentenced to prison, before the Dark Lord broke him from prison. She's now Miss Black again."
"If so, why didn't you bring her here?" Andy asked.
Harry sighed. "I'm still not sure about her and her presence here, with all those who saw her at Lucius's side may be less than welcome. I still need to go and talk to her, though."
"Can you take me with you when you do?" Andy asked hopefully.
"I think it can be done," Harry answered non committally.
He then turned to Luna. "Do you think that we should also bring your father here?"
Luna didn't hesitate. "Yes. He can't protect himself and the wards on the Rookery are useless. I'm not sure if this place is right for him, though. Too many people, you know."
"We can bring him to the house where Narcissa is staying right now," Harry suggested.
"That may work. Will I be able to visit him?"
"I'll make sure you will," Harry promised.
Luna still had another matter in her mind. "Will you train me for combat? The lessons you gave us in the DA were very helpful, but I think I need more."
Harry glanced at Hermione, who nodded slightly. "Yes, you may. One of the house-elves will lead you in the morning."