Chapter 4
“Are you sure he said he was coming?” Neville asked nervously, straightening his tie in the mirror.
“Yes, I double checked with him,” Luna reassured. She found it amusing how nervous her husband was to meet Harry again.
After the night at the club, Luna had reached out to set up a meeting, as she said she would. Harry had agreed later that afternoon to dinner that night. Neville had flown into a panic and had started cooking after debating what to serve his old friend. They had settled on pasta, and now it was sitting in the oven waiting to be eaten as they got ready.
Luna had spent the day going through her notes and trying to figure out if she had enough for even an outline yet. Yesterday had honestly brought her more questions than answers. First, Harry had been incredibly quiet and polite, which she had not been prepared for. He was on time and respectful, so unlike the facade he put on for the public. He was guarded and intelligent, which she had not been prepared for either.
He didn’t show any interest in the gala that he had attended, which made Luna question why he would even want to go at all. She hadn’t gotten as much of his backstory as she had wanted either. What were his motivations for his career? What happened that made him come back to the public-eye? What had made him leave in the first place?
And then there was the afterparty. Luna had never been much of a partier herself, but she knew that last night had been more than she expected. She watched as Harry’s friends surrounded him, spent his money, and fed him who knows how many different substances. Harry hadn’t offered or asked for anything, but he hadn’t stopped anything either. He just let them do whatever they wanted to him and with him. Did he even enjoy it? He must, if he wasn’t stopping it.
“Sweetheart, stop thinking about work,” Neville broke into her thoughts, and pulled her in gently by the waist.
“Right, sorry, I’m just so… I have so many questions and I don’t know where to begin,” Luna admitted.
“You can figure that out on Monday, it’s Saturday, relax,” Neville said.
“Oh because you’re relaxed?” Luna teased.
“Well,” Neville released her and scratched the back of his neck.
“It’s going to be fine, he’s nice, easy to talk to,” Luna assured him. Neville nodded and the pair headed downstairs to wait for their guest.
They didn’t have to wait too long because at exactly 6:30, their doorbell rang.
Neville took a deep breath and straightened up. Luna went to open the door.
“Hello Harry,” she said as she opened the door. Harry was standing in a nice shirt and dress pants, holding two bottles of wine.
“Hello, Luna, I brought wine, I wasn’t sure if you preferred red or white, so I brought both?” Harry said awkwardly.
“Oh you didn’t need to do that, here come inside,” she ushered. Harry followed her inside, and Luna took the wine from him to put it in the kitchen, “Thank you though.”
“Hello Neville, it’s good to see you again,” Harry greeted with a hand shake.
“Hi Harry,” Neville said. Silence fell.
“Why don’t we go to the kitchen and get dinner out?” Luna suggested. Both men nodded and followed her into the dining room.
They put dinner on the table in relative silence and Luna poured them each a glass of wine. As they dug into the meal, Neville asked, “So how have you been Harry?”
“I’ve been good, how have you been since… well I guess since fourth year?” Harry asked. Luna could tell he also felt somewhat awkward.
“I’ve been really good. The last three years of Hogwarts went pretty smoothly, I met Luna and we started dating. I did an apprenticeship under Professor Sprout my seventh year which was what helped me start this garden business up,” Neville said, “Then we got married, and yeah, things are going really well here.”
“That’s so good to hear,” Harry said with a genuine soft smile.
“What have you been up to?” Neville asked.
“Oh well, this and that, I suppose,” Harry said, looking over at Luna.
“Don’t worry Harry, anything you say here is off the record. I could even leave if that would make you feel better?” Luna offered.
“No no, it’s okay, I just… I guess I don’t know what you want to know,” Harry let out a short laugh, “After fourth year, I suppose everyone knows what happened then. I took some time afterwards and started training with Nicholas Flamel, and then did my OWLs and NEWTs. I traveled around a bit. Then I came back and realized I needed to start making some money. I also looked into how my name and image was being used without my permission, so I got some licenses for that. People can’t use my face or name anymore without my permission. Through that I met Darla and the manager I had before that, and they suggested I could just use my name and face for my source of income, and it would also make it harder for anyone else to do the same thing. That’s what happened I guess.”
“People were using you to make money?” Neville asked, “And you didn’t know?”
“Yeah, I mean people were writing books, selling clothes with my face, saying that I endorsed them when I didn’t, stuff like that,” Harry said with a shrug. “I wouldn’t have cared except I was broke and it felt wrong to me that other people were making money off of me when I wasn’t.”
“That’s horrible,” Luna commented.
“It’s alright, people don’t try to do that anymore, not with my reputation now,” Harry laughed again but this time it was darker. It made Luna wonder if Harry had created his reputation for that exact purpose. The only thing was that there were so many different ways to make sure people didn’t use him, why choose the playboy route?
“Harry, I don’t mean to pry, but I don’t remember you having any issues with money in school,” Neville commented with a frown.
“Yeah you're right, I had a trust fund, but after my fourth year a lot of that… well it’s not there anymore, and I didn’t use it,” Harry said evasively.
“What about your parent’s accounts?” Neville asked, “The Potter’s definitely had money.”
“They did, but I can’t access them for several legal reasons.” Harry said, “But yeah, that’s over now I guess.”
Luna glanced at Neville and wordlessly told him to drop the topic. Harry clearly didn’t want to elaborate right now.
“Well I’m glad you figured that out,” Neville said awkwardly, “Do you still keep in touch with Ron and Hermione?”
“Er, not too much no. Do you?” Harry asked, looking down at the table.
“Once and awhile a few people from school will get together, sometimes they’re there, we went to their wedding as well,” Neville said.
“I saw that in the paper, I’m happy for them,” Harry says wistfully.
“I think they had a daughter a few months ago,” Luna chimed in.
“When’s the last time you saw them?” Neville asked quietly.
“I suppose I haven’t actually seen them since I left, we exchanged a few letters since, but not for the past few years,” Harry said sadly. Luna watched as he forcibly put a smile on his face, “I’m glad they’re doing well though.”
From there the conversation evolved into updating Harry on what everyone from Hogwarts had been up to since he left. Luna watched as Harry asked with genuine interest about his old friends. He listened intently when Neville explained how Dean and Ginny had dated for a long time and then had broken up when Ginny had gone on to play Quidditch professionally. He smiled when Luna explained that she and Hagrid had formed a bond in her later Hogwarts years over their love for odd animals. Harry was puzzled when Neville began to explain that after Hogwarts, they had made friends with most of their grade, including the Slytherins. Pansy, Theodore, and Blaise were all now regulars in their social circles.
“What about Malfoy?” Harry asked. Luna was clearing the table of food as they had finished eating long before.
“He’s there sometimes, he’s fine, but he’s pretty busy with politics. He took over for his mom as their head of house right after he graduated. I think he’s married to Astoria Greengrass?” Neville looked over at Luna to check.
“Yes, he’s quite busy with his family and rebuilding their political and social power, so we don’t see him much, but he’s not nearly as bad as he was when he was young,” Luna explained. Part of that definitely had to do with his father being in Azkaban, but she didn’t want to bring that up.
“Ah,” Harry said. Luna finished cleaning up and sat back down at the table with the other two.
“Well, that’s enough about our social lives, sorry about that Harry,” Neville said sheepishly.
“No it’s okay, I enjoyed hearing about it,” Harry said warmly.
“What about you? Who are you friends with?” Neville asked. Luna bit her lip slightly, interested as a friend and as a reporter who had seen some of his ‘friends’ firsthand.
“Um, well, I’m pretty busy so most of the time I’m just working,” Harry admitted, “I tend to hang out with the same group at events and stuff, but we don’t really hangout outside of work.”
“What about the people last night? That didn’t look like work,” Luna prompted.
“I mean no, not in the traditional sense,” Harry sighed, “I don’t know if I would consider those people friends, at least not the type of friends that most people have. They’re there to go out and have a good time, and they’re great. There’s just so much focus on appearances that it’s hard to know what’s genuine and what’s not.”
“That’s… sad,” Neville commented.
“No, it’s okay. Everything works well that way, I know it’s not conventional, but it serves its purpose,” Harry said shaking his head.
“I mean, it’s important to have genuine friendships though,” Luna reminded, “You need people who will be there for you.”
“I know, and I have that, Darla, Kristine, they help me with whatever I need,” Harry said.
“I don’t know if that’s-” Luna was interrupted by a knock at the door.
The door creaked open before any of them could get up to answer it.
“Nev? You home?” called a familiar voice. “I’m here to pick up the order for- oh I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you had company.”
“It’s okay Theo,” Luna laughed. Theodore Nott had stopped in his tracks at the entrance to the dining room. It wasn’t uncommon for him to come in, as he worked closely with Neville. He and Blaise Zabini owned the potions shop that Neville sold most of his plants to, and they had all become close friends.
“I always tell him not to go barging in,” came a second voice. That was Blaise. He was always more reserved than Theo was. Theo wasn’t arrogant or obnoxious, but he was confident and not afraid to make his presence known. Blaise was confident too, but was more content to let Theo take charge.
“It’s alright,” Neville said standing. Harry followed his lead. Luna noticed that he had become much more reserved in the last few seconds, more like he had been when Luna first met him.
“Theo, Blaise, this is Harry, we were just catching up over dinner,” Neville explained.
“Hello,” Harry greeted, polite but quiet.
“Hello Harry,” Theo strode over to him and extended a hand confidently, “I’m Theodore Nott, we went to school together for a while.”
Harry shook his hand and nodded. Blaise came over as well.
“I’m Blaise,” he said more softly as he shook his hand. Luna wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, something flashed behind Harry’s eyes when the taller man shook his hand.
“I didn’t know you were still in touch?” Theo asked Neville.
“Luna is doing a story with him, so we decided to have dinner tonight,” Neville explained again.
“Ooh, Luna, big story huh? The famous Harry Potter-” Theo began to tease, “Oh I’m sorry, Harry, uh,”
“It’s okay,” Harry said, “Er, I should probably be going, I don’t want to hog too much of your time.”
“Are you sure? You’re free to stay as long as you’d like,” Luna offered.
“Yeah, it’s been lovely, thank you for the meal, it was nice catching up,” Harry said, “Luna, please reach out if you need anything else for the story.”
“I will,” Luna nodded. Harry turned to Blaise and Theo.
“It was nice meeting you two,” he said, though his gaze lingered for just a second on Blaise.
“I’ll walk you out,” Neville offered. Harry nodded and the pair left the room. Luna watched in amusement as Blaise’s eyes did not stray from Harry until he was out of the room.
Once they heard the front door shut, Neville came back.
“Nice Theo, way to make him feel like he didn’t belong here,” Neville chastised.
“I’m sorry mate, I didn’t know he was going to be here,” Theo defended, “It’s not everyday I walk in to find you having dinner with the biggest name in the UK.”
“Boys, it’s fine,” Luna stopped the argument before it could begin. Neville and Theo liked to tease and get into pretend arguments often.
“Right,” Theo said, “Well, anyways, Nev, do you have it?”
Neville shook his head fondly as he headed out to his shed, “You know, most people don’t fulfill orders this late Theo, you’re lucky you have me.”
“I know, you’re the best,” Theo said dramatically and followed him outside.
Luna turned her attention to Blaise.
“What was that?” she asked.
“What was what?” Blaise asked, being knowingly obtuse.
“You know what,” Luna smiled, “You don’t look at anyone.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Blaise said in a way that made Luna very sure that he did indeed know exactly what she was talking about.
“You liked him-”
“I’m going outside,” Blaise interrupted.
“Oh okay,” Luna laughed as the taller man quickly fled the room.