Harry Potter The New Necromancer

They found Luna in the library, hugging her knees and staring absentmindedly out the window. The look she sent Harry when he sat down next to her was not a face he'd seen on Luna before. A passive, angry look. Serious and hurt.

"Ron, Hermione - can I have a moment alone with Harry please?"

They both gave them a nervous look but disappeared among the books. Harry decided to wait until Luna spoke. He knew better than to lie and pretend he did not know what this was about. (When rumors of the Cruciatus curse traveled around the school, there was no point in pretending it had nothing to do with Harry.)

"I don't understand why you would do that to me," Luna finally said in a whisper. "I've always done my best to respect your boundaries. I've known you were a necromancer for years, Harry. I don't think you ever noticed. I lied to Ron, Hermione, and my parents for you because I knew you weren't ready to tell me yet. I asked you not to do anything about my roommates. I don't understand how you thought I would ever be okay with what you did. You completely violated my trust. You hurt them, you - you tortured them!"

"I taught them a lesson! They hurt you!" Harry yelled. He couldn't lie to Luna and apologize for something he was not sorry for, but he could admit he'd known Luna would not be alright with his actions. Luna the pacifist. That she'd been lying for him for years made a burst of shame flood through him, turning his ears red. She was his oldest friend, his first friend and he would do anything to protect her, and she had been doing the same for him. "They made you cry, you've been suffering for the whole year without any of your things, without any friends in your classes, without a shred of respect. How was I supposed to let that continue?"

"That does not justify what you did! I've accepted that I'm weird, that I'm Loony Lovegood. I'm not going to let their bullying bother me anymore. I know who I am, and I know that I have friends who accept the real me, that is good enough for me. I can't make everyone happy. If the girls in my dorm want to behave childishly, then that is their problem, and all I can do is ignore them."

"So you're just going to let them get away with how they treated you?" He growled out in rage. His temper had instantly gone from zero to one hundred and while he half-assed some breathing exercises, all he could think about was the heady call to rip and tear and kill.

"Fiona and Cordelia are in the Hospital Wing! That goes beyond revenge, Harry Potter!" She stood in a huff. She and Harry had never fought before. She had never imagined that he would do something like this. She could understand and tolerate his violent tendencies, had turned the other cheek at his Dark magic, knowing that it was a part of Harry that he could not change any more than she could change herself. But this… Luna wasn't sure what she was feeling, a haze of numbness over her mind.

It felt like no one respected her. She was not a confrontational person, it wasn't in her nature. She was perfectly alright about going with the flow, but she couldn't help but feel like people were taking advantage of that. Nobody bothered to ask Luna's opinion because they all thought she would go along with anything. She had trusted Harry to not go past her boundaries, but he had punched right through them without a care in the world.

Once again she was struck by the painful thought that no one really bothered to know her, to understand her, to appreciate her. She was alone. And sure, it was easy enough to get over the antagonists, her bullies. They were childish and petty in a way she had learned to ignore. But the only thing helping her through that mess was the knowledge that her friends did appreciate her oddities, her looniness. It meant everything to know that her friends did care. Or so she had thought.

Had Harry seriously thought she would support torture? Or had he even spared a single moment of his time considering her before he acted? Was her opinion not important to him? Had he assumed he knew what was best for her?

"I would appreciate it if you left me alone for a while," she decided. They were at an impasse. Harry was not going to be apologizing - they both knew he did not regret his actions. Actions she could not support. Harry opened his mouth to say something, but she held up a finger. "You are my best friend. I have stood firmly at your side through everything and I have never complained once because I trusted you! I have sacrificed enough of my morals for you already, don't you dare ask me to let this go. Please give me some space."

She left him sitting there alone.

...

Remus Lupin stared down at the special edition Daily Prophet that he'd just spit a mouthful of coffee onto. "Ministry Reveals: Uncovered Evidence in Famous Sirius Black Murder Case - Secret Trial of Peter Pettigrew - Sirius Black is Innocent!"

He felt faint, and carefully set his cup down, forgoing his breakfast entirely and speed-walking somewhere private to read the paper.

Peter had been found posing as a housepet, admitting to the murders of the muggles that Halloween night and revealing that he had been the Potter's secret keeper, not Sirius. At the end of the article, added so casually that Remus was certain they had been forced to include the information but were not thrilled about it - was a direct quote from Pettigrew that he was confident that Voldemort was not dead, and would return.

Remus was not sure what to think. For years, he'd assumed… how could he have assumed Sirius was guilty? His betraying James had sounded so unbelievable at first. But he had let it happen. Guilt ebbed at him. He'd abandoned Sirius. And Harry too, he had barely spoken to the boy outside of class. He'd wanted to use the opportunity to get to know his honorary nephew, but something about the boy felt off, and he'd found himself avoiding Harry without too much thought.

Well, all he could do was reach out now.

It was a week later that Remus found himself traversing the old passage under the Whomping Willow, the very short letter from Sirius clutched in his hands like a lifeline.

The two men didn't speak for a long time. Remus looked over every aspect of his friend. He looked neither emaciated nor haunted by his time in prison. Only a few traces of gray hair betrayed that any time had passed since they'd last seen each other.

"You look better than I had feared," Remus said. "You've found somewhere safe to stay, then?"

"Yeah, yeah. I've been holed up at Grimmauld. The wards are good."

"That's good." Merlin's tits, this was awkward. He shuffled his feet.

"So uh, DADA Professor, huh? That's neat." Sirius said after another pause.

"Yes, I like it more than I'd expected. You know, Harry's at Hogwarts. Bright lad, have you reached out to him as well?"

Sirius flinched and started fidgeting, looking at anything except Remus' face.

"Yeah, I reached out. Good kid. Have you met his new mum? Sounds feisty."

"Yes, we've met - she's also a professor -"

"It's interesting, you know, that Harry ended up being raised by a complete stranger rather than one of his parent's old friends." Sirius interrupted him.

....

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