Entry tags:

fic, harry/draco, luna

Fic: Whispers, Harry/Draco/Luna, PG
Title: Whispers
Author: foreword
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Pairing: Harry/Draco/Luna
Rating: PG
Warnings: written between 2 and 4 am. angsty fluff.
A/N: Long long ago, jazzyjello asked for Harry/Draco/Luna. I think this ended up more Harry/Draco, Luna, but well. An attempt.

*
It hasn't been the same since the darkness came.

It fell over them in waves. First the walls tumbled and crumbled, and Order broke into chaos. It was then that they started to tumble together, accidentally finding each other amid the panic and fear that had set in.

Luna wasn't sure how she'd ended up at Grimmauld Place, or why. She didn't think she had arrived, at first. It wasn't there, and then it was. Luna blinked and stared, for what felt like hours, watching it pop in and out of existence and wondering if it was like the Chip Chappers of Estonia, the strange creatures that fell through time in accidental sneezes and reappeared with hiccups.

Then he appeared with it, a slamming door sending the building away again with certain sort of finality as he stormed down the stairs and directly into Luna. They both tumbled over, slamming into concrete and rolling, tangling in each other as he cursed and squeaked. Luna was silent until they stopped, sprawled across a seedy patch of grass, her knees hugging his as his face turned pink.

"Oh. Hello," she said quietly.

He leapt to his feet as if she'd burned him, or worse, and Luna lazily pushed her way up as well, brushing off bits of dead grass and dirt and blinking up at the angry boy again.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice as tremulous as his hands now looked. His gaze flicked nervously to the skies, and Luna's followed it.

They were dark, like an impending rainstorm that would never come. They had been dark like this for weeks now, clouds pregnant with rain that refused to fall. There was no room for sunlight in this world, not now.

"Why are you leaving?" she asked calmly. When he refused to answer, she dropped her gaze, affixing him with a curious stare. He glared back at her in stubborn silence, and she shrugged.

"It seems like a lovely place, but how will you catch it again? I'd never leave."

Something triggered in his expression just then, and he glanced back to where the Chip Chapper house had come and gone, his voice suddenly weary. "He's being obnoxious," he admitted, quietly.

Luna knew he was speaking of Harry, though she said nothing. It had to be Harry—there was no one else for it. She'd seen, in a time that seemed so long ago, the way they talked to each other, the way they spat angry words at each other, the way they cursed each other and hated each other. She'd seen the way that they cared for each other so much they couldn't stand it.

"Can we go inside?" she asked suddenly, and he started in surprise, tugged out of some far off memory or dream of a memory. He eyed her in suspicion for a moment, but then he turned on his heel, heading toward the invisible house, and Luna followed.

*

Luna had never seen Harry quite like this, and she was fascinated, despite the distracting shrieking in the background. It seemed to be coming from a painting, but no one else seemed to notice. Luna wondered if this was another one of those things that only she saw.

"Where have you been? You could have been killed, and what—"

He paused as she stepped through after Draco, looking like he might have forgotten the rest of his tirade in one glace at her. "Oh," Harry said. "Hi, Luna. How did you…"

At this, he glanced at Draco uncomfortably. Rather than return the stare, Draco glanced back at her as well, shoving his hands awkwardly in his trouser pockets. "Found her outside," he said, before shoving past Harry and into the house.

Luna watched him go curiously, and almost started after him until Harry caught her by her forearm. She looked up in surprise, and found that Harry's face was a mixture of the despair and fear she'd found in the skies.

"Give him a minute," he said, and his words were chased away by silence as they stared at each other, Harry's hand still gripping her arm.

"How did you find us?" He asked, and though his tone was gentle, Luna nearly flinched at his expression. Harry was being swallowed by the darkness, she thought. She could see it in the lines on his face, the sweat sparkling across his forehead and into limp strands of his hair. Harry was sick with war.

"I don't know," she said, honestly. Luna rarely knew how she found anything, and today was no exception. She had meant to find safety. She'd tried to find her way to Hogwarts, though she knew that was no longer safe. Some part of her had wanted to weave her way through the remaining stone walls, trying to repair the broken ones, and searching for the room that had always comforted her. Surely the Room of Requirement could bring an end to the darkness. It was certainly Required.

And maybe it was the way, the magic of the Room, that it had led her here. Luna didn't remember ever visiting Hogwarts, but now she was sure she had.

"I think I required it," she said, with some conviction.

Harry had released her arm, she realized, though she'd no idea when. He was currently arguing with a painting in the hall, a painting that refused to be silenced or covered with curtains.

After a few minutes, Harry's shoulders sagged in defeat. It reminded her of Draco's expression, of the clouds in his eyes that reflected the heavy skies.

"You need a third," she said simply. Harry glanced back at her in confusion, and she smiled, stepping forward and extending her hand.

"A third?" Harry asked distractedly, but Luna was already twining her fingers with his and tugging him off in the direction of Draco.

*

As it turned out, Draco had made his way to the kitchen, and Luna was delighted to find him stuffing his face with cream puffs at the table. He looked up, his face contorting with guilt as he tried to brush powdered sugar from his lips. Harry sighed heavily behind her.

"Mrs. Weasley sent those—" Harry started, and Draco's gaze fell to the table, rich with guilt and sadness.

He swallowed around his mouthful of pastry, and Harry released Luna's hand, busying himself with dishes as he pretended to have forgotten the subject at hand.

"—for your birthday," Draco said, still staring at the table. It took another lengthy pause for him to mumble something that might have been an apology, and Harry pretended not to hear over the running water and clanking dishes.

Luna could tell he had heard, though. It was obvious from the way his slumped shoulders straightened some measure. She gave them a pause, a moment to tell each other the things they needed to say, and when they didn't, Luna stepped in.

She took a seat at the table beside Draco, blinking at him slowly and watching his cheeks bloom pink. "You need a third," she said to Draco, and his eyes widened in surprise as his blush deepened. Draco, at least, had some idea as to what she meant.

"What are you trying to say?"

Of course, he would pretend he hadn't.

Harry interceded then, pulling a chair out across from Luna and perching on the edge of it, the beginnings of a smile creeping over his face, twitching muscles far too long disused.

"Luna, are you…" he started, but then he was blushing too, and Luna smiled, thoroughly enjoying both boys' unnecessary embarrassment.

"I'd like to stay, if I may," she said firmly. "The house may not keep me, and your portrait may scream at me, but I'd like very much to help you in your hidden house."

Draco and Harry exchanged a glance, but there were no dissenting glares or clouds in their eyes this time. Draco carefully shifted the plate in front of him, sliding it so that the remaining cream puffs were now in front of Harry.

Harry smiled down at the peace offering and shrugged. "I think it'd be nice to have you around."

Draco also shrugged, mimicking Harry's relaxation and failing to hide his own unease. "Yeah, okay," he said, giving her a critical eye. She felt for a moment as if this was the first he'd ever seen of her, and she decided that it probably was.

There was a terrible crash in the hallway then, followed by new shrieks from the alarm painting, and Harry leapt to his feet, his wand suddenly in his hand as he clambered up the steps. Luna moved to follow him, but Draco snatched hold of her arm. Curiously, he had taken hold of her forearm in the exact same spot as Harry had earlier, and Luna stared down at his hand, a smile tugging at her from every direction.

"Just Tonks!" Harry called down, though he'd still not appeared, and Luna heard an indignant squawk from above greet his assertion. Draco pinched his nose, a pained expression carefully applied at the news.

"You don't much like visitors, do you?" Luna asked quietly, and Draco's hand fell away from his face in surprise. He stared at her, and Luna found herself lost in those eyes again, finding clouds where there shouldn't be any, and fear.

"No one's going to take him from you," she said.

Draco looked down at the table then, his gaze sidling across to the cream puffs that remained untouched. Luna surprised herself by taking hold of his hands before he could snatch another away.

"He won't understand," she said, and Draco sighed, staring away from her as if he were truly annoyed.

"I don't care," he lied. Luna waited, shifting her fingers under his until she could feel his pulse thrumming along in skips and jumps.

"Someone is going to take him, though," Draco said quietly, his eyes still on the cream puffs. "And he won't come back then."

His voice cracked slightly, and his hands curled against hers until they were fists, and Draco had drawn himself up and away from her. She'd never seen someone able to detach themselves so easily, and she wondered why anyone would ever want to. It would be very lonely, she decided.

Harry and Tonks stumbled their way into the kitchen as Draco left it, Harry staring after him in concern. Luna understood then what Draco had meant. It was written all over Harry, in quiet struggle and defeat. His destiny was etched across his forehead in a jagged, broken line. Lightning wasn't supposed to strike the same place twice, but Harry always beat the odds.

They were engaged in some sort of discussion now, but Luna had lost track of time, it seemed, as they were sitting beside her, no longer chatting on the stairs. Tonks filled Draco's chair, and Harry pushed at the cream puffs absent-mindedly as they talked, of sentries and spells and lockets and cups.

"He saved them for you," Luna said suddenly. Harry looked up in surprise, and Tonks fell quiet, her tale about Kingsley's adventures in administration trailing off into silence.

"Saved…" Harry repeated, confused.

"Your birthday," Luna said slowly, feeling as if it was suddenly very important that Harry understood this. "He didn't eat the ones from your birthday."

Harry knocked back his chair, surprising even himself with his urgency as he shuffled towards the package on the counter, the package Mrs. Weasley had sent. The brown paper peeled away under trembling fingers until Harry held an open tin, filled to the brim with cream puffs.

"Oh," he said softly.

Luna left the kitchen then, the weight of crumbling walls and cloudy skies feeling lighter as she climbed. She had come here because it was required, because love speaks softly when swallowed by fear and despair, and Luna had an ear for things that whispered.