She forced the thoughts away.  It was too early to think about that type of thing.  Any time was too early for such thoughts, though she was sure that they would come up again and again.

She glanced at the clock as she poured the water.  It was almost 8.  Ginny was, no doubt, already at the clinic, which meant that Luna had the house, and the day, to herself.  She missed her roomy.  Opening the clinic was supposed to give her friend more free time, yet Luna never saw her anymore.  When she did, the redhead was rushing to one place or the other.

She had just sat down with her tea and the Daily Prophet when the doorbell rang.  Luna frowned, wondering who could be at the door, and after making sure her robe was fully closed, went to answer the bell's summons.

Harry had his back turned to the door. He didn't really expect anyone to be home. Expecting and hoping were two completely different things, and Harry was actually hoping someone was home. He turned quickly when the door opened, his eyes widening when he caught sight of Luna. In her robe.

He cleared his throat. "Hi. Is... Gin here?"

Luna blinked up at Harry.  "No.  She leaves for the clinic early.  If you need her for something, you can find her there."

"Oh. Right." Harry frowned. Alright. He hadn't really thought through his plan, apparently, because now that he was here, he had no idea what to say. "Yeah. I guess I'll go there later." He looked past her shoulder and into the interior of the house. He looked back at her with a smile. "How are you? I'm assuming you heard about the Minister?"

Yeah, because you know, her working at a newspaper would mean she wouldn't know. Idiot.

"The Ministry Proclamation sort of gave it away.  And if I somehow missed that or the Prophet's scoop, the fact that people can't seem to talk about anything else made it disturbingly obvious."  Her head cocked to the side as she regarded him.  "The Aurors hustled Frank and I out of the ball pretty quickly, I assume to avoid the public knowing before they were ready to inform them.  Did they tell the Aurors separately, or did you learn the same time everyone else did?"

A chill wind blew down the street, reminding her that she was standing outside, wearing nothing but a robe.  And it was cold.

"Come in, by the way.  Before the neighbors start talking."  And the gay couple beside them surely would.  No doubt John and Chris would be by later in the afternoon asking who the "dish" was.  The two were happily committed to each other, but freely admitted to checking out what was available.  John said it was because they had plenty of single friends of both sexual preferences that they wanted as obscenely happy as they were.  Luna wasn't quite sure she bought that.  She had seen the way he had eyed Dean, after all.

"Thanks." He moved into the foyer, hands in his back pockets as she shut the door. "I heard the next day when I went in. I couldn't sleep. I waited just until it made sense to be there and went to work. There were already whispers. It's kind of like Hogwarts, the ministry, with the gossip." He rolled his eyes, thinking about the story on him and his harem in the paper the next day. Ridiculous.

"Making tea?" He could smell it in the air, and it reminded him that he needed to pick some up. Hannah had finished the last of it. Maybe he's get something good. Something special for her. Something with fruit.

"Yes.  Would you like some?"  She briefly considered running upstairs to put on some clothes.  But it was only Harry.  It wasn't as if she had to worry about him descending into a haze of lust over her.  If he considered her at all, it was as his loony friend.

At his nod of assent, she led the way into the kitchen and prepared him a cup.

"Maria LeGrot has thrown her hat into the ring," she said, pushing the paper towards him as she settled back onto her stool.  The robe gaped at the bottom, exposing her thigh for a moment, and she absently straightened it.  "Who do you think will take over as head of the MLE if she's voted in?"

He nodded, his eyes darting so quickly to her face it made him slightly dizzy. That was what was sexy. A woman not even realizing when she'd done something like that. "What? Oh. Right. Um... Dawlish. I could pray for Kinglsey, but it'd be too much of a miracle if that would happen." To be honest, he couldn't think of anything worse than having Hugh Dawlish as the head of the MLE.

Harry grabbed the cup from her hands, careful not to touch her while taking it from her. This thing didn't need any more fuel. "Have they announced anyone else running against her?"

"Nathanial Byrnes, the Head of Magical Games and Sports.  I interviewed him at the Ball and can honestly say that I hope anyone other than him wins.  He made me feel...  Slimey.  Why don't you think Kingsley would get the nod?  I remember him from the few Order meetings I attended.  He seemed like a decent guy.  Everything I've heard about Dawlish makes him seem like an idiot."

"You're right. All three." He frowned as he took a small sip of the tea. He never liked Byrnes. The fact that he made women feel slimey didn't surprise him. "Kingsley would be great. He'd be smashing. I think that's the reason he'd never get it. Actually having someone who knows what they're doing in the position? It might be a little too much."

Luna frowned.  "LeGrot seems to know what she's doing.  Or, at least, everything I've heard about her leads me to think that she does.  I've never talked to her about anything but fashion, unfortunately. "  She grimaced in remembrance of the horrible interview at the Ball.  "If she won, surely she'd appoint someone competent to the position."

She took a sip of her tea and frowned into space.  She really needed to arrange an actual interview with LeGrot, now that the woman was running for Minister.  Someone else could handle Byrnes.  Maybe with an in depth look at her past.  She nodded to herself and made a mental note to bring the idea up to her father.

She turned back to Harry to find him staring at her and wondered for a moment what loony thing she had done now.  She was constantly making some social faux pas or losing track of a conversation.  "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"No." He looked down, turning the cup in his hands. He felt two completely conflicting feelings. One, he felt completely guilty for thinking what he was thinking when he knew Simone was probably waiting for an owl. Waiting for him to show up, to pay closer attention. Another part of him felt completely guilty that he hadn't realized how completely beautiful Luna was. He was a complete and utter idiot for ever thinking her loony. He was beginning to realize that when she had that faraway look on her face, it was because her brain was five steps ahead of everyone's else, and she was happy with that.

"So..." Harry frowned. Why is this so hard?

"So...  What did you need Gin for, anyway?" she asked, rising to grab the teapot and refresh her tea.  She topped his off as well before setting the kettle back on the stove.  She rarely steeped individual cups of tea anymore.  Trelawny's classes had cured her of that.  She still swirled the dregs and read the leaves whenever they were in her cup, leading to all sorts of half-panicked thoughts about the future.  She was perfectly happy without glimpses into the future, no matter how accurate they may or may not be.

Her robe gaped again as she sat down, and once again she absently fixed it.  It really was a good thing that it was only Harry.  With anyone else, excepts perhaps Dean, she would have been horribly embarrassed.

Harry stood quickly, his eyes wide, knocking his full cup of tea over in the process. It crashed when it hit the ground, the hot liquid coating the floor and the hem of his jeans. "Fuck," Harry growled, pulling his wand out of his back pocket. "I'm sorry. Gods. Sorry."

Luna blinked at him as he used magic to clean up the spilled tea.  Maybe a cadog had found it's way into his skin.  Not that she would suggest that to him.  Having a parasite in one's backside was not something she wanted to know about.  But she had heard that they were terribly painful, which would account for his sudden actions.

"It's fine, Harry.  It's just tea."  Nevertheless, he tried to cast reparo on the cup, frowning when crack lines were still plainly visible.  "I think it might be too broken to fix," she said, taking it from him and banishing it to the trash bin.  "We have plenty.  Tea cups were the en vogue gift for housewarmings when we moved in.  We have a whole collection on tea cups that don't match.  Losing one won't even make a dent in the collection.  Would you like another cup?"

"No, it's... alright." He shook his head, pulling his eyes from the skin exposed on her legs. Stop. Stop! He stood, brushing his hands on his jeans. "I don't want to break another one. I feel bad enough already. It doesn't matter if you have a billion. I feel like Neville, breaking one."

Luna shrugged.  "If you're sure."  She stood and took her own cup to the sink.  For some reason, Harry's distress had made her lose her taste for tea this morning.  "You never answered my question."

"About?" He looked up at her face. "Oh. Gin. I-" Fuck. Think. What did you want to talk about? "Christmas," he all but shouted. "Wanted to know what she wanted. What she needed. Nothing important. The last gift I gave her was under par, so I'm trying for something better this year." He looked down at his feet. A smile flashed across his face for a second before he looked up at her, pleadingly. "Go shopping with me? Help me shop for her? I have to do better than the pair of gloves I got her last year. Anything would be better."

"Sure," Luna said, a frown on her face.  Was Harry trying to resurrect his relationship with Gin?  She was pretty sure that her roommate had moved on.  Judging by the singing she did in the shower, the redhead was happy with life.  For all Luna knew, she could even have a new beau hidden away.  She really did need to talk to her friend more often.

"It's the least I can do after you helped me pick out a dress for the Ball.  Do you want to go today?  I'd have to shower and change, of course, but you can hang about while I do that."

Ignoring the images in his mind after she'd said the word 'shower', he sighed. "I can't today. We think we have a break in a case and I have to check it out. Maybe next week? After work? After that I can take you out to dinner. For the help, of course."

She mentally went over her schedule.  "How about Wednesday?  Just come by the Quib offices after work and we'll go from there.  Do you have any thoughts on what you'd like to get her, or do you want me to suss out what she wants?"

"I trust you. If you have any ideas, it'll be helpful. I'll be grateful." He grinned, feeling instantly better knowing that he'd be able to get control of himself before he saw her again. "Anyway... I should go... let you get dressed."

Luna glanced down at herself and shrugged.  "I don't have any plans today.  I might just stay in my robe all day.  Or change into an old set of sweats.  Now that Dean's moved out and since Gin's not likely to bring company by, there's really no reason not to run around starkers.  If nothing else, it'll give old Mr. Henderson across the street a thrill."  She winked at him, to show that she was mostly kidding.  "I'll see you Wednesday then?"

He grinned. She really didn't realize. "Alright. Yes. Wednesday. Meet you at the Quib?" At her nod, he smiled. "Sorry. About the cup." He turned, making his way to the door. He turned back, smiling one more time at her down the hallway, before apparating away.


[Summary: Harry goes to visit Gin, only to find her not at home.  He didn't have an ulterior motive.  Nope.  Not at all.]