Harry slammed the door shut after he saw Dumbledore off. His nerves were still jangling from the confrontation and part of him wanted to do nothing but go outside and start screaming at the sky. Hell, a fist shake or two would probably be required as well. Fortunately for his neighbours, he crushed that impulse and made his way upstairs, to his bedroom where a petite blonde missile slammed into him and buried her face in his chest.
"Hey, hey, what's the matter?" he cried as he gave her a few ineffectual pats on the back.
"You - cupboard - Dursleys," mumbled Luna into his chest.
Harry sighed. He should have expected this. While, Luna knew that he was an orphan who had grown up with an unpleasant family, he had never gone into specific details as he hated talking about his childhood with the magic phobic family that he had the misfortune of being related to. Of course, she was going to react like this. Who wouldn't?
"Listen, I know you probably want to talk about that but ... you know what with Dumbledore and everything that's a discussion I'd really like to put off for another day, okay?" said Harry.
Luna sniffled a bit and it took him a while but he finally had her calmed down enough after which she finally let go of him and said - "Okay, I can do that. But ... we probably should discuss Dumbledore."
Harry collapsed heavily onto the bed where Luna joined him a few seconds later.
"I-I don't know. The thing is... Bloody Dumbledore and his frigging prophecies! Why the hell couldn't he just leave me alone," said Harry.
Luna didn't say anything; she just snuggled closer and let him talk.
"I really looked up to him at one point you know. Even now, despite everything, I feel terrible about yelling at him. I thought of him as ... well, he ... I don't know. When I was a kid at Hogwarts, he always seemed like this wise benevolent grandfatherly type - You know? Even after the troll and Quirrell, the bloody basilisk slithering all over the school, I still trusted him. I remember in my third year after Sirius Black escaped and everyone thought he was going to come after me... I remember looking at Dumbledore during the welcoming feast and being absolutely sure that he would keep me safe. Ha? Dumbledore... keeping me safe... What a bloody joke."
Harry fell silent. After a few moments, Luna prompted him - "and now?" she asked.
"Now, now the bloody man turns up at our door and tells me I'm destined to somehow defeat Voldemort. What the bloody hell is he thinking? I haven't been in any sort of fight since the graveyard... Well, no, there was that Death Eater I caught watching my house. That happened the day I left England, I'll tell you the whole story later. After that ... nothing, no fights at all. Not one."
"Why are you even thinking about this?" asked Luna. "You've already told him no and sent him on his way. So - why are you worried about whether you can fight or not?"
"It's hard to explain," muttered Harry. "I meant it when I said I have no reason to fight Voldemort. Really, as far as insane dictatorships go, is he really that bad? Everybody he could have oppressed, everyone with half a brain really, left England years ago. He's not even been attacking any muggles for whatever reason, or at least it's not been in the news."
"Dad says it's because he can't afford to pick a fight with the ICW by blatantly breaking the Statute of Secrecy. He's trying to portray himself as a legitimate ruler," said Luna.
"Yeah, so there's that … and so we have a sort of peace or a stalemate... whatever you want to call it and Dumbledore wants me to fight him which could lead to a war and loads of people getting killed and... and... yet… the problem is... I feel like, he's still unspeakably evil of course, he's responsible for the murder of my parents and... You know what - It's sort of like... like... Spider-man!"
Luna propped herself up on her elbow and stared at Harry - "And what does Tobey Maguire have to do with this?" she asked.
"I-I keep thinking about that line - 'With great power, comes great responsibility'. I mean, I absolutely believe everything I told Dumbledore, I really don't think that wizarding Britain is worth fighting for, but... If Dumbledore's right... If for some unfathomable reason, I am the only one that can defeat Voldemort, then... then don't I have a responsibility to... I don't know... do something?"
Luna bounced out of the bad so fast that Harry was almost convinced that she had apparated. She paced around the room angrily for a moment before turning to him, fixing him with a stern glare and saying - "No!"
"No?" asked a bemused Harry.
"Not just no, but hell no. Listen to me, Jim Dobbins... I mean Harry... Harry Potter. Huh... that's going to take some getting used to. Anyway... listen to me. There is no way in hell that I'm going to let you do anything as stupid... as bloody insane... as dangerous..." she sputtered.
"I know but..." started Harry only for Luna to interrupt him immediately.
"No, first of all, that prophecy was incredibly vague. How do you know it's not one of those prophecies that can only be interpreted after the fact? Trying to come up with a plan of action based on a prophecy is the very definition of foolish."
"Yes, I know. But..."
"Have you ever read or hear the story of Oedipus?" asked Luna, thoroughly confusing Harry by her seemingly random change of topic.
"Uh... Isn't he the bloke who uh... shagged his mum? Got a complex named after him?" asked Harry.
"You really need to broaden your reading habits, Harry. There's a bit more of the story to it than that. Oedipus' story starts with King Laius who before the birth of Oedipus visited the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. The Oracle was usually a priestess at the Temple of Apollo and..."
"Luna, while you know I usually find it incredibly sexy when you go all Ravenclawpedia on me, could you just... you know, only this one time of course, just give me the highlights, without all the extra detail I mean," requested Harry.
Luna humphed a bit in disappointment. She so rarely had the chance to let her inner Ravenclaw out and show her off.
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