CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: LUNA
THURSDAY, JULY 4, 1996 - Potter Manor
Luna Lovegood was fifteen years old. She had gone unnoticed by many her four years at Hogwarts. Had anyone paid attention to her as she matured into a young woman, they would have noticed she was actually quite attractive. She was 5'5" tall with a petite but not unpleasing figure and long, blonde hair. She had large pale blue eyes that the right boy might find captivating. However few looked and the only comments she had ever received about her physical appearance is how she always looked dazed and confused. She was anything but that. Highly intelligent she was also extremely perceptive and a keen observer of the world around her. She probably knew more about more people at Hogwarts than anyone and was one of the few if only people who would not have surprised that Neville and Susan were a couple. But, since she did not share her insights with just anyone, nobody seemed to notice or give her a second thought.
Luna was a Pureblood witch. Her father and mother were both from two of the oldest magical families in Britain and could trace their ancestors back to the time of the Druids, long before the wand wavers from southern Europe "invaded" following the Roman conquest almost two thousand years earlier. As her family were of Druidic and not Roman origin, they had retained their Druidic practices, which served them well during the Middle Ages. Druids practiced ritual magic and as many rituals could be done in very small groups or even alone, they had been largely invisible to the persecutions that befell the wand wavers at the hands of Christianity. That is not to say Druids never used wands. These days everyone did. The Druids, however, did not rely on wands. They were famed potioners and had blended into Muggle culture as Healers of the sick with herbal remedies that did not offend the Church.
Luna was an only child, which while not rare amongst Purebloods, was rare in that she was a witch and not a wizard. Most Purebloods only had daughters until they produced an heir and if the heir was a first born, many families stopped. There were exceptions. In the previous generation, the Lestrange family had two boys, but that was because they were twins. The Blacks had two as well, but the second was born because the first born had been very sickly as an infant and Sirius Black's parents had feared he would not live to reach his majority. Luna had no siblings. When she was seven years old she learned why. Druidic families tended to be large by Pureblood standards. They did not distinguish between sons and daughters but based their family sized upon numerology and omens. Luna was born on the Autumnal Equinox. This was one of the four most sacred days in Druidic Culture and to sully a family with more children after one had been born under a ritual moon was considered to be an ill omen for the entire clan.
Luna knew when she entered Hogwarts she was from one of only two Pureblood Druidic families with children of school age. Had she told anyone this, others would have guessed the Weasleys were Druidic due to the large number of children. But this was not the case. The Weasley line was relatively new to Britain having arrived following the Norman conquest. Their large family came from a desire for a shot at some wealth. Sons of an impoverished Pureblood line rarely married up. Daughters, however, did if they were desirable. The Weasleys proliferation was solely due to the desire to have a daughter who could be married off into a wealthy House and improve the lot for the entire family. After six sons, they finally had their commodity in their youngest, a daughter.
The Potters, Blacks and Longbottoms were derived from Druidic lines, but had abandoned those practices over a thousand years earlier and were not considered Druidic by the true Druidic lines. Most "purebloods" were anything but. Most of the Ancient and Noble Houses did not come into existence until the tenth century and many were of Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Viking decent. Most of today's Purebloods would be hard pressed to show they were not from Muggle Born stock if you went back far enough, say four generations to find the first Muggle Born ancestor.
The Druidic subculture tended to be Pureblood by association as opposed to design. As Druids, they had a keen and abiding respect for everything in Creation, and that included Muggles. They had no qualms or prejudices that would deter them from bonding with Muggles and Muggle Borns. Their beliefs, however, made such matches less likely. Still, while the "newer" Purbloods arranged marriages, Druids preferred love matches as that was powerful magic. As their generations before them, Luna's parents were Husband and Consort bound in the Druidic sex rite, one of the few that had somewhat wide spread acceptance in Magical wand waving Britain, namely as a means to avoid unwanted marriages or bonds.
The only other Pureblood Druidic family with children at Hogwarts that Luna knew of were the Greengrasses. They were not close nor even related, unless you went far enough back say several centuries at least. There were similarities between Luna and the two Greengrass girls who were attending Hogwarts, most notably that they were outcasts. Luna knew the reasons were different. As Druids, neither she nor the Greengrass sisters were interested in arranged marriages or a physical relationship outside of the Consort bond, as the Druidic Bonding Rite was called. The concept of a Love Match that was the prerequisite for the Consort Bond was foreign to most "recent immigrants" and that meant most Purebloods, especially those who tended to be sorted into Slytherin House. The Greengrass girls were outcasts because they refused to behave like good Slytherins and spread their legs for their Pureblood Slytherin boys. Luna was a Ravenclaw and was an outcast for entirely different reasons.
The Lovegoods were independently wealthy, a fact that was not widely known. They never flaunted their wealth and even then, compared to families like the Blacks and Potters, they were not that wealthy at all. However, neither of her parents had to work for a living. Her father fancied himself a journalist and a naturalist. He ran his own weekly paper that was considered eccentric for the most part, but was a premier source of information on discoveries in the naturalist world. Most people missed the real scoops as he also published any rumor of a discovery and loved conspiracy theories. He never charged a Knut for his paper nor accepted any advertisements as he felt that sullied the integrity of his publication.
Luna's mother had been a spell crafter, one of the few good ones in Britain in that she actually invented new and useful spells on more than just the rare occasion and never by accident. As parents, they tried to raise her as best they could. They tried to instill in her a love of learning and an open mind to all the possibilities in life. They encouraged her to have an imagination and to dream and to follow those wherever they led. They encouraged her to have friends and her best friend was a younger girl named Ginny Weasley who lived only over the hill from her. For the first nine years of her life, Luna was a very happy little girl.
When Luna was nine, her father left on an expedition to the Himalayas in search of fables magical beasties as he called them. He was only expected to be gone a couple of weeks but would be impossible to contact when he was away. He was then planning on taking his family to the Alps on a similar, yet far less dangerous or rustic expedition which Luna had been looking forward to for months.
Two days after he left, Luna was in her Mum's spell chamber watching as her Mum Mia crafted a new charm when things went horrible wrong. There was an explosion. Luna was protected by a powerful shielding ward, but the blast was so powerful that the shields failed and she was sprayed with shards of flying glass. In pain and bleeding, she entered the chamber to find her Mum dying and sat beside her as the light left her eyes forever. She sat beside her dead mother for over two days waiting and hoping her Mum was just knocked out. Ginny's Mum finally found her when Luna had failed to appear for Ginny's picnic the day before and the Lovegoods had failed to answer several Floo calls. Luna would spend the next week in the hospital recovering from her injuries. Both she and her father missed her Mum's burial.
Luna loved her parents very much, but was always closer to her Mum. With her Mum's death, her lonely times began. Her father took the death particularly hard and was never the same afterwards. Formerly outgoing, he became mostly a recluse and seldom left his print shop unless it was to go on an expedition with his daughter. He became overly protective of Luna in many ways and Luna would not see her friend Ginny again for over two years and then only because Luna had to go to Hogwarts. In many ways, her father fell into a fantasy world surrounded by creatures that only he could see and dragged his daughter in with him. She didn't mind. The mythical world she fell into helped her forget the pain.
She entered Hogwarts in September 1992 the oldest student in her year. She was eleven, like all the others, but turned twelve barely three weeks later. She was very bright and maybe even gifted, but she brought her safe fantasy world with her. Sorted into Ravenclaw, she was immediately an outcast and was picked on continually by her own housemates. In her made up world of Nargles and Snorkacks, she could ignore it and ignore the fact that she had no friends at least for a time. And she was in a perfect position to observe as no one paid her a mind at all. Still, the part of her that remained in the real world was lonely and sad and desperately wanted at least one friend.
November 1st of her Third Year was when she finally started making a real friend. Her new friend was her opposite in many ways. They both were very smart and studious people. But if Luna was the philosopher, her new friend was a scientist. If her new friend believed in facts and logic, Luna believed in faith and inspiration. Luna felt that they complimented each other, each having strengths that filled the other's weaknesses. And making this new friend was easy, really. Luna did what came naturally to her, she believed. She believed her friend that Harry Potter had not tried to enter that silly Tournament nor had any intention of doing so. For a time, Luna, her new friend Hermione Granger and Hermione's friend Harry Potter were the only students in the school who believed what was in fact true. In time Luna came to trust Hermione and would tell her her secrets. Hermione would keep her secrets safe.
And Luna had a secret, two actually. Few knew her mother had died and that she had seen the death and had sat beside her mother in the ruins of her home for over two days. Hermione was one of the few. She never talked about this with others as she did not want their pity or ridicule for such a thing. She also had a rare gift. A magical gift so rare that her father told her to tell no one unless they were absolutely trust worthy because her father was certain that if word got out, she would be taken into the Department of Mysteries and be slowly tortured in medical experiments. Then again, when her father had told her this it was after her mother had died and he had moved on from being marginally eccentric to nearly certifiable.
Luna's magical gift was exceedingly rare but not unheard of. She had qualities similar to both the Seer and the Empath and yet was neither. A Seer could see the future, or at least a future a person might experience or avoid and convey that vision in a way so that the person could, in theory, attain or avoid it. An Empath could sense another person's emotional state at any given time.
Luna could "see" where a person was and where they were headed in the most general terms. She had to focus on the person to do this and she could only generalize if asked and if she was willing to reveal what her "seeing" saw. When she focused she really could not describe what she saw except by analogy. By analogy, she saw three colors associated with the person and where their life was and was headed within those colors. "Black" she associated with pain, loneliness, misery, despair and death. "White" was hope, love, happiness and life. "Grey" was somewhere in between. Most people were somewhere in the Grey. They had average lives and could expect more of the same absent some life altering experience that pushed them one way or the other. The Whites were always the fewest in number, but had become fewer and fewer in recent years. The Blacks were increasing.
Through her observations she learned that these states were not constant. People shifted toward White or Black all the time. She also learned that she could remember the person's "Pre-shift" reading and apply known variables to determine with some accuracy the cause of the shift. The problem was that for many Shifts, the cause could not be determined. Some were easy. A woman finds her man and her life immediately shits towards the "White" side of the ledger. Deaths in the family usually shifted towards the "Black," but neither were guaranteed reactions. She also learned that sometimes, if she thought and meditated upon it long enough, she could sense things that might shift a life one way or the other even if they had not yet occurred. It was rare when it did happen as no one could really predict the future in her opinion. But certain trends could be countered and sometimes the counter was one that one could see without being a Seer.
Before her mother's death, and event she could not foresee, Luna's life ahead had been what she called "Grey Tending To White." Not a "Happily Ever After" as in tales, but better than most. After her Mum's death it was "Grey Tending To Black" or even "Borderline Black." She knew her Mum's death was the trigger, but other factors pushed the line in the "Misery" direction. In her simulations her father's descent into fantasy, overprotective and yet aloof nature coupled with the loss of her connection to Ginny and people in general were all factors in the shift and most she could not have hoped to control at the time. When Hermione became her friend, Luna's scan had shifted to the "Right" or away from the "Black." Oddly, Hermione was a "Grey Tending to Black" too and her scan remained unchanged at the time.
The last two days had puzzled her and she had sat in her room while other sat with her alternating from crying for her father to thinking about all the shifts she had noticed since the Battle at the Department of Mysteries. Harry Potter's was the oddest. He had led them into that battle to save his Godfather who her friend Harry had thought was being tortured by the Enemy of all. His Godfather fell in the following fight. Luna was sure that Harry's signature would get darker having lost yet another parental figure and person who he cared for and who cared for him in his life. Yet the opposite happened. Despite his loss and surely his pain at such loss, his trend had shifted instantly to the "Right" or "White side of things. True, he was still more "Black" than "Grey," but it was a noticeable and a big shift. He was now roughly equal to Hermione in that regard.
When Luna next saw Harry and Hermione together several days had passed. She had known that Hermione had been in very serious condition and there had been concerns over whether or not she would survive. Luna could see that Harry and Hermione were now a couple and was happy for them. It had been rather obvious that if any two people deserved to be together, it was those two. What stunned her was there had been another shift to the right. Hermione was now more grey than white while Harry was all grey. She had never seen either of their projections without black in them. In fact, for the first time since when Voldemort had returned she viewed people whose projections were without black, including both Neville and Susan which she thought strange as they had just lost what family they had left. Even her own projection had shifted to the right despite losing her father.
She knew that the triggering event seemed to be the death of Sirius Black. She did not understand how this could be the catalyst for the changes she had seen, but everything flowed from that event. Her gift could tell her how a person's life would progress if current conditions remained the same, but not exactly why an event changed things. Sometimes, she never even knew what the event was. All she could do to attempt to understand was to make inspired if not educated guesses.
When it came up in that evening's conversations that Hermione was Harry's Consort and Lady Potter but that Harry could still take another Consort as Lady Black, Luna started thinking. She knew a little about the bond, but not nearly enough. She knew it was based upon mutual love and affection and that it was the witch who asked the wizard and initiated the bonding and not the other way around. She did not know what the rite entailed. One thing was certain to her, for she had known this for months. She loved Harry. Maybe not the same way Hermione did, but she did love him. She knew Harry had feelings for her too, but what they were was a mystery.
If Hermione was Luna's first friend since age nine, Harry was the second. Their friendship had probably begun to form on the Hogwarts Express last September 1st. It had grown over the months and Luna had opened up to the kind and caring young man in a way she never opened up to anyone other than Hermione. When she was alone with either or both of them, the Loony Lovegood persona disappeared and the real Luna shown through and she knew it. With Hermione she could talk about girlie things like emotions and such. With Harry, she could talk about the death of her mother and her loneliness. In a way they were all so similar and yet different. All had known rejection, heartache and loneliness in their lives. She and Hermione had known the love of their parents. She and Harry had lost parents. The more she thought about it over the year, the more she saw the three of them as three sides of a triangle that supported and complimented each other. Together even as friends they were far better off than apart.
She wondered what would happen to the three of their's projections if she became Lady Black and had meditated on this for hours. She also meditated on other "propects" for the position and the results surprised her. The most likely other prospect was Ginny Weasley. As Luna applied Ginny to her gift's equation, she saw everything shift to black for all concerned. There were less drastic shifts towards the black if someone else became the Lady Black. But when Luna applied herself to the equation, there was a significant shift into the white for all concerned. Why?
Over the last two days, Luna had paid attention to what was being said around her even when no one knew she was listening. There was some sort of prophecy about Harry and the Dark Lord, one which could be interpreted as meaning Harry may have to die, but Luna knew prophecies were always vague. She then thought about the Harry that charged off into the Department of Mysteries and the Harry she now saw. Old Harry was ready and willing to die for his friends and those he loved. Luna was sure new Harry would too if need be, but there was a difference and Luna was all but certain of it. Old Harry saw no life after Voldemort. He would die because he had nothing really to live for. New Harry had a life after Voldemort. He had the love of his life for a consort and five other witches whom he seemed to care about and now a child on the way with more certain to come in the next few weeks. New Harry would want to win and live a long life with his new family.
And somehow, according to the shifts, Luna was supposed to be a part of that. But she did not really know how. As a Consort? Wife? Concubine? It seemed all those bonds were equally beneficial to the boy she loved. So it would really come down to what did she want? She knew that answer. As a Druidic there was only one answer. She wanted to be Luna Black, Lord Harry Potter Black's wife and Consort. She knew that she would never equal or exceed Hermione in Harry's heart, but she believed there was room enough for her as well. Still, she had no idea whether Harry saw that as her place in his life and was uncertain as to how to let him know she wanted that without getting too hurt if he rejected her. It was odd, she thought. For the first time in her life she was concerned about whether a boy liked her that way.
What really perplexed her was how complicated Harry's situation seemed. Hermione was his Potter Consort and there were two Potter Concubines, one having been briefly a Black Concubine. As Lord Black, he had three Concubines and no Consort. Some of the things she had heard suggested that this was just the beginning. There would be more Concubines probably fairly soon. Were the Potter Concubines loyal to House Black? Were the Black Concubines loyal to House Potter? Could they betray each other without violating their bonds? Or were the loyalty bonds such that this was not possible? Luna knew Hermione was no one's fool and Harry was no slouch either. They would have seen this possibility and found some way to prevent friction between the Houses. But how? Luna had no idea.
Just the day before she was thinking about all of this: how important is was to her, Harry and everyone that she bond with him, Harry's unusual family and how it worked, what was required for and from her to become a Consort and a myriad of other things. During the previous two days she had spent most of her time in her room, leaving it only for meals and for certain physical necessities. She had hardly spoke a word to anyone and they seemed to let her be in that regard. But she was rarely alone. Someone was almost always at her bedside to be with her, keep and eye on her and be there if she wanted to talk. They seemed to take turns trying to help her through this. Harry was often there, but so were all the others.
There was one constant companion. It was an orange colored cat looking creature, yet Luna knew it was no ordinary cat. It was at least part Kneazel. Luna knew who it was. It was Hermione's familiar Crookshanks. The cat was Luna's constant companion and never seemed to leave her side. Hermione had told her that "Crooks" had spent the first week here exploring the Manor and the grounds. Hermione felt that Crooks was making sure this was a safe place for his mistress. When Luna arrived, Crooks had taken on the role as Luna's guardian and companion because Luna needed Crooks more than Hermione did.
Yesterday afternoon, Astoria Greengrass was there. She seemed friendly enough and was kind enough not to try and draw Luna into a conversation. She seemed content to sit there and wait for Luna to re-enter the world and had said as much once. She sat beside Luna and was reading a book while Luna thought, cried, slept and pondered. When her time was up, she left with a soft word of encouragement, but left the book behind.
On Magical Bonds And Rites Under Druidic Tradition
By Armando Lovegood
1922
Luna knew of the author and the book. The author was her Great-great grandfather and the book was considered a prized heirloom at one time. It had been banned in magical Britain as it promoted heretical thoughts such as the notion that Purebloods were not superior to all other wizards and that wizards were not the superior race in the world, but merely one among equals, including the blasphemy that Muggles were their equals in all things. That was what she had been told, in any event. She skimmed through the Table of Contents and noted some chapters.
1. The Lie of Purebloods of Non-Druidic Tradition.
2. Arranged Marriage And The Plague on Magical Kind.
3. Why "Purebloods" Will Mean The End of Wizard Kind.
4. Why Muggles Ended Arranged Marriage And What We Should Learn From Their Example.
5. The Importance of Muggle Borns in Bonding and Life.
6. Mating and Children - The Importance of Blood Diversity.
7. Bonds That Strengthen Magic In General.
8. The Concubine Bond.
9. The Love Bonded Concubine.
10. The Consort Bond.
11. Bonding and the Head of Multiple Lines.
12. Bonding Amongst and Across Households.
13. The Sex Acts And Bonding
14. On the Importance of a Witch's Pleasure and Physical Intimacy.
15. Druidic Sex Rituals.
The last chapter having many subchapters.
Luna could see why this book was banned just by reading the Table of Contents. It clearly offended "polite" society on two levels. First of all, it clearly was an attack on the notion of blood purity. Second, it promoted sex for intimacy as well as procreation within one's "family." Pureblood males who did not own their own Concubines for sex usually mated with their wives and found sex through mistresses or bordellos. That was not to say all Purebloods were that way, but the elitists tended to be that way and all would take offense at this book and what it promoted.
But then Luna was not typical Pureblood and given that Astoria was reading this book and there were strange tabs on several pages, Luna decided to read it too. She spent the next couple of hours reading about bonds and the rites both sexual and not that created them. Basically, she read Chapters 9 through 12 and reread the Chapter on Consort Bonds. Before she went to bed she knew she was going to ask Harry to take her as his Black Consort but she wanted to talk to Hermione first. She had never kissed a boy before (or a girl for that matter) much less been any more intimate and she was nervous about the prospect.
When Luna awoke that morning, there was a young, female elf in her room waiting for her. The Elf told Luna her name was Lima and she was assigned to look after Luna. She told Luna that she had laid out clothes for her that Luna was asked to wear to breakfast. Luna saw that there was new underwear, khaki slacks and a matching, short sleeved blouse made from heavy cotton and what looked like hiking boots. She knew these clothes had not come from her old home and wondered what the outfit was for. She put them on following her shower and went to breakfast with the others. She was surprised to see that Harry was dressed in matching attire and even more surprised to see that no one else was.
"Is there a reason you are dressed as I am?" Luna asked Harry as she sat down with her breakfast.
Harry nodded. "After breakfast, you and I are going to look for Snorkacks."
"We are?"
"Yep."
"That's all we're gonna do?"
"If that's all you want to, yes."
"You don't expect to have sex with me?"
Damn was she forward, Harry thought. "No."
"But you do with the others."
"Because they want to, not because I expect them to. Besides, I am bound to all of them. Hermione is the one who decides that stuff."
"Oh. Okay."
Harry could not tell, but it sounded like she was disappointed in a way.
"This is one of those Muggle Motorcars," Luna said looking at the large, dark green vehicle.
"Called a Land Rover," Harry said. "The Queen loves them, I've heard."
"And why this?"
"Only way to get where we're going," Harry said. "Keeps the poachers out, it does. So I've been told, anyway. Can't get into the Reserve with any known magic. And you're car is tracked once you're in."
"I guess that makes sense in a way," Luna said without really understanding. "So what do I do?"
Harry opened the passenger side door. "Have a seat."
Luna climbed in and took her seat and Harry strapped her in.
"What's this for?" she asked about the seatbelt.
"Safety," Harry said. "In the unlikely even I should wreck this thing, it should keep you safe."
"Oh. And will you strap in too?"
Harry nodded. He then walked around and took his seat on the driver's side. "No worries, Luna. I have no intention of driving this like I fly my broom." Harry strapped in as well before starting the engine.
"Okay, I guess," Luna replied.
They drove slowly down the drive around the huge lawn Harry now called "The Pitch" for it was about the size of a Quidditch pitch. The Manor House was at one end and when he reached the middle he stopped.
"Are we there already?" Luna asked. "Why did we need a motorcar?"
Harry chuckled. "No Luna, we're not there yet."
"Then why'd you stop? Are you supposed to or something?"
"No Luna. I just want to show you something."
"What?"
Harry pointed to the south. "On Monday, building will begin just the other side of this lawn. On both sides, actually."
"Building?"
Harry nodded. "To the South will be Longbottom House. It'll be a Manor for Neville and his family as they are technically in exile right now. To the north will be Black House…"
"Where your Black women will live?"
"Not necessarily. Some will, for certain. But it won't be just Blacks," Harry said placing the Land Rover in gear and driving off.
"I heard you're going to get more women. How many? Why?"
"Ideally I'll have a Consort for each House," Harry said. "Of course, finding my Lady Black … well, it's not like I can truly ask. I guess I could, but the rites require her to make the offer or… Anyway, there are a lot ot young witches we know who are to be sold this summer. Hermione asked me to buy them all. Well, that was the plan at first, but there are now more of our friends for sale so we are probably going to ask Neville to help. Anyway, Hermione wants ten witches in each of my two lines. As big as my Manor is, it is small if you consider there will be twenty families living there."
"And what does Hermione think of this?"
"She is not thrilled with the notion," Harry said. "But I really did not have much of a choice with Dora, Minerva and Mallory. And she insisted that I take in Daphne and Astoria. She hates the whole notion of concubines but knows that we can't change that yet, so she wants me to help our friends. She would rather they be my concubines than the fate that would otherwise await them. So, I've agreed to buy at least twelve more. Problem is that there are more than twelve up for sale and Hermione doesn't want anything bad to happen to any of the others. So…"
"You'll buy them too?"
"Every first time concubine set for sale," Harry nodded. "Although I really don't want that many. Don't really want twenty, but that's what Hermione says I should have."
"And the others?"
"We're going to talk to Neville about taking them."
"Do you think he will?"
"Hope so," Harry shrugged as he drove straight through the intersection and headed east towards the center of the island.
"And what do you think about all of this?" Luna asked.
"I really don't know what to think, Luna," Harry admitted. "All I wanted in life was a family. All I wanted for a wife was Hermione. Took me a while to figure that one out. It took … it took seeing her there and nobody knowing if she'd ever get better. But I knew then and knew I would be hers if she'd have me. I was afraid that maybe she didn't feel for me the way I feel for her…"
"But she does."
Harry nodded. "You have no idea how happy I was to find that out."
Luna could only nod as she saw them pass through a gate.
"What's that?" she asked.
"The entry to the West Farm," Harry said. "At least that's what I think it was. Haven't left it since I've been here. Then again, it hasn't even been two weeks yet."
"Are you okay Harry?"
"This all has been so weird, Luna. Two weeks ago, I was still at Hogwarts had had a girlfriend - Hermione - and while I had already asked her to marry me, I meant like in a few years or so. Then she and I had … well … and it turned out we completed the Consort Bond and were married. We were here in a place I never knew about and all that. I then found out that I had inherited women! Bloody hell, I barely had a girlfriend and now I'm married and have other women as well? Then I find out the Death Eaters are demanding that Mr. Greengrass sells his daughters to Lord Black. Well, I was Lord Black, so I had to at least find out what all that was and next thing I know I have six women! Then there's Hermione insisting I take even more. Then there's finding out about this place and that I'm a Duke. It's been - weird."
Luna nodded. "Are you happy?"
"Scared more like," Harry admitted. "I mean, I now have a wife and five other wives of sorts and … I'm not even sixteen, Luna! How can I make them happy? Are they happy? Can they be?"
Luna laughed. "Harry, the fact that you are worried about that means that you probably can. As you said, your not yet sixteen. Not that I would know, but most boys would probably be more concerned about getting all the sex they could. And you're concerned about their happiness? You'll do just fine."
"But are they happy? Can they be with that bond thing?"
"Are you asking about Hermione or the others?"
"All of them."
"Well, as to Hermione, she can tell you how she feels. Does she seem unhappy?"
"I would think she should," Harry said. "Never saw her as one who would want to share her husband."
"She is a very selfless person, Harry. I know you know that. So long as she's first in your heart and your other women are also bound to you, I'm sure she'll be okay."
"And the others?"
"They are happy as well."
"How can you tell?"
"They told me so," Luna said. "Maybe they thought I wasn't listening or maybe they thought I was, but they all spent time with me the past couple of days and they all talked about you and your unique new family. Their bond might keep them from telling you how they truly feel - although I don't think that's the case any longer - and even then, it would only prevents them from being honest with you if it would hurt you. But, they can be honest with each other and with someone like me."
"You?"
"They know that I know what they are and who they are bound to. They also know that I'd never say anything to hurt you. So they felt free to talk to me. And I can tell you this, Harry, they do love you. All of them. True, each for their own reasons as they are each very different people, but I'd bet if you could free them from the Concubine Bond, they would still want to be with you and be the same people for you as they are right now."
"Still…"
"Harry, the truth is they are all probably better off bound to you than they would have been otherwise and it's not just because you can afford to take care of them. If you must know, there is a glut of witches in Magical Britain and there has been for a long time."
"A glut? You mean too many?"
"I mean more witches than wizards," Luna said. "There are more than two witches for every wizard."
"But it's roughly even at school," Harry said.
"Because many young witches are home schooled," Luna said. "Many of the ones who are schooled at home are already betrothed to a wizard. Those of us who are not enter the schools. Most of the girls you see in school, and certainly most all the Muggle Borns, are destined to be bound to a Wizard as either a Consort or Concubine. There are exceptions, but they are just that, exceptions and not the rule."
"So…"
"So, in all likelihood, girls like Hermione and the others would have become Concubines even if you were never around. They have far more of a life before them here bound to you than they could realistically expect in Britain. Here, they can pursue their dreams, have children and feel loved by their man. In Britain, they would most likely be the property of their Wizard unless they were lucky enough to become a Consort."
"Technically, they still are," Harry began.
"But in all other respects, they are not Harry. You don't treat them as property. You treat them as people. Yes, they are much better off bound to you than otherwise might be the case. In that regard, any witch bound to you should consider herself very lucky indeed."
"Mallory is already pregnant, you know."
"Really? Congratulations."
"And all but Astoria are trying. And Astoria will try when she's a little older."
"And you're worried?"
"Don't know what kind of Dad I'll be," Harry sighed.
"No one does until they are, Harry," Luna said. "And you can bet that each of your women are wondering what kind of Mum's they'll be as well. It's natural."
"I think they'll all be wonderful."
"Then you have little to worry about."
"And what do you want, Luna? What do you hope for?"
"Well, aside from seeing a Crumple Horned Snorkack today, I need to think about things. Daddy should not have… anyway, since he's gone, I need to think about things, okay?"
Harry nodded and continued to drive down the lonely road. They soon passed beneath a sign that proclaimed they were entering the Charenwell Wildlife Reserve. Almost immediately, they were driving through thick forest and the road seemed to wind and climb upwards into the mountains. After about half an hour, they reached a car park and what was said to be a trail head and Harry stopped. They got out, picked up their packs which had their lunch and beverages and other things and the two of them headed up the trail.
After a couple of miles or so walking through the woods, the trail came upon a large meadow. In the meadow were several creatures the likes of which Harry had never even seen a picture of before. He heard Luna gasp and noticed she had stopped. Harry turned to her and saw she had her camera out and was taking some pictures of the meadow and the creatures that seemed to be grazing before them. She stopped and looked at Harry with an odd expression.
"Thank you, Harry," she said in a soft voice that seemed filled with awe.
Harry looked a little confused.
"Don't you see them too?" she asked.
Harry nodded. "What are they?"
"Crumple Horned Snorkacks, silly," Luna said with a smile.
A/N: RELATIONSHIP SCORECARD:
If you didn't read the Intro, you missed that. This is so you can keep up with who's with who and how.
Key:
Names in Italics = OCGr – Gryffindor, Hu – Hufflepuff, Ra – Ravenclaw, Sl – Slytherin. (Number indicates last year completed. No number means they finished all seven years.)
Harry James Potter, age 15.
1. Hermione Jane (Granger) Potter, age 16 (Gr-5); CONSORT (POTTER).
2. Dora (Tonks) Black-Potter, age 21 (Hu); CONCUBINE (BLACK).
3. Minerva Grace (McGonagall) Potter-Black, age 68 (Gr); CONCUBINE (POTTER).
4. Mallory Michelle (Grant) Black Potter, age 39 (Hu); CONCUBINE (BLACK).
5. Daphne Renee (Greengrass) Black-Potter, age 16 (Sl-5); CONCUBINE (BLACK).
6. Astoria Lynn (Greengrass) Potter-Black, age 14 (Sl-3); CONCUBINE (POTTER).
Bill Weasley, age 25.
Fleur Patrice (Delacour) Weasley, age 19; CONSORT (BILL WEASLEY).
Neville Algicyrus Longbottom, age 15.
1. Susan Marie (Bones) Longbottom, age 16 (Hu-5); CONSORT (NEVILLE).
2. Amber Selma (Harker) Longbottom, age 33 (Sl-5); CONCUBINE (LONGBOTTOM).