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Chapter Four
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With a sudden lurch, the umbrella boat took off down the street at an alarming speed, almost ploughing down one of the bystanders who hadn't realised fast enough that Depulso was a banishing charm. Luna quickly tucked her wand behind her ear and grasped the lower of the crossbeams, turning it from side to side experimentally, her grin only widening when the boat swerved from side to side in time with her movements.
They shot past the storefronts of Hogsmeade, passer-bys scattering before them. Harry was sure he recognised a few faces staring at the two as they sped past. In moments they had reached the outskirts of the town and were heading up the path to the school, barely slowed down. It made sense when he thought about it - the Levitation charm was carrying all the weight, and the only friction left to slow down the Banishing charm was the umbrella spike digging slightly into the surface of the road, leaving a shallow furrow behind them. Luna swerved the umbrella off the road and pulled back on the crossbeam, resulting in the umbrella tilting backwards, the onrushing air meeting the umbrella's top, slowing them dramatically. They stopped with a jolt as Luna released the crossbeam, the umbrella wobbling back into an upright position. Harry turned to look at the village, now in the distance and the ground floating shortly before the umbrella.
"Luna... did you just think of that then?"
Luna grinned at him, clearly extremely proud of herself. "Sure did!"
"It's... it's fantastic!" Well, Harry was a bit of a speed freak after all, and his broom had been locked away for quite a while by this point.
Luna's grin widened, her grey eyes sparkling as they gazed out from under her soaked hair, and Harry reached over and gave her a quick, impulsive hug. He turned to the sail and drew his own wand, not noticing Luna's surprised expression, remembering the lessons he learned banishing charms in. Professor Flitwick had dedicated a few lessons to fine control of the charm, practising with pillows because the spell could have some serious kinetic strength behind it if misused or miscalculated.
"Depulso." The Umbrella cruised forward gently, propelled by Harry's deliberately weak spell. "Depulso!" They shot forward at about a running speed. Harry unconsciously mirrored Luna's habit by tucking his own wand behind his ear and took control of the crossbeams, turning them back up the path and tearing towards Hogwarts.
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They blew past Filch who was watching the gate to keep track of returning students, Luna giving him a merry wave as Harry concentrated on squeezing the umbrella through the relatively confined space. They sped across the Quidditch pitch, causing what looked like Angelina and Katie to smack into each other when they stopped their practice to stare. They started running out of momentum around the edge of the Forest, which gave them the opportunity to call out greetings to Hagrid, who was tending to his garden under an umbrella of his own; he just waved back with a bemused smile.
They reached the Lake, and Harry exchanged glances with Luna, who nodded. He steered out over the shallows, and although the spike kicking up an arc of water behind them, the charm kept them above water. He gave the sail an extra Depulso and zig-zagged across the surface of the water, grinning at the speed. It might not be as fast as a broom, but it seemed a hell of a lot faster with the ground a foot or two below and the water splashing up around you. He looked over at Luna, watching her lean over the side and trail her fingers in the water, and smiled. He would have to find a way to thank her for all of this.
Eventually they ran out of momentum, and Harry let it slow down and drift, until they were left bobbing in the middle of the Lake. The rain had slacked off to the point where they were only assaulted by the occasional raindrop, and most of the water that had filled the umbrella had sloshed out during their rapid tour of Hogwarts' grounds.
Luna was bending over the side again, staring down at something below the surface. Harry moved alongside her and followed her gaze, staring down into the deeps. The water was mostly transparent despite the rain, and, if you squinted your eyes a bit, you could kinda see the bottom. Or maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him. The Second Task last year had taught Harry how damn deep the Lake was.
Luna suddenly broke the silence. "I think the merfolk are acting as spies." Harry smiled. This was the Luna he knew and... well, let's stick with just knew for the moment. "The Lake is connected to the ocean by underground rivers, so the mermaids would make perfect spies, and they train plimpy to deliver messages. But Professor Dumbledore convinced them to stay neutral, so they don't tell who they're reporting to very much at all. Rather clever of them, isn't it?"
And so it went. Luna put forth the theory that the Second Task was based in the Lake to provide Dumbledore with a way to hold negotiations with the merfolk without raising suspicion. Harry described what he saw of the merfolk village, and the contrast between their voices above and below water, and passed on the fact that Dumbledore knew mermish - a fact that Luna found rather interesting. Luna made a few guesses on who the merfolk could by spying for, from the Rotfang Conspiracy, to a cabal of American magicians trying to branch into Europe, to various French families ensuring that their children were being cared for in Hogwarts.
They continued back and forth like this, ignorant of the fact that Madam Umbridge had seen part of their joyride around the grounds, and was even then trying to figure out who was flaunting her authority and punish them. She was told by Flitwick that Summoning Charms wouldn't work on something that far out into the Lake, and by Hagrid that the Squid wouldn't take kindly to a boat in it's lake at this time of year, and from Professor Sinistra that every telescope in the school was currently being held hostage by Peeves. Peeves, for his part, was currently standing guard over the telescope storage closet, momentarily obedient in exchange for the promise to sneak him into Umbridge's office at a later date.
Harry and Luna remained ignorant to this campaign of subtle deception being waged in their name, their conversation having drifted into Harry recounting the adventures of Fourth Year and Luna putting her spin on the events. An alternate solution to the First Task would have been to point out the fake egg to the Dragon - this would involve learning the secret language of the Dragons, true, but it was an alternative none-the-less. Luna made a mental note aloud to look through her back-issues of the Quibbler to find more information on the subject. For the Third Task, the Sphinx's presence was another negotiation obscured by the tournament, although this one was between the Sphinx and Madame Maxime.
She didn't have anything to say about what happened after Harry and Cedric took the cup (the possibility of stopping his recollection as that happened didn't even occur to Harry) and instead gave Harry a prolonged hug, the two of them having unconsciously snuggled up to each other to ward against the combined chill of wet clothes and fading daylight. Afterwards, their conversation turned to lighter topics, Quidditch and nargles and the like, but Luna did not relinquish her grip on Harry.
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Some time later, after Umbridge had stormed off in a huff and Hagrid had spread the identity of the umbrella joyriders to a select few, the umbrella was hooked with a skilfully-cast summoning charm and carefully pulled across the surface of the lake, the Levitation charm half-failed. Minerva and Filius, by the glow of their wands, looked down on the two adolescents dozing inside, arms wrapped around each other, Luna's head nestled between Harry's head and shoulder. They shared a silent conversation with a glance and took the two to their respective dormitories with gentle Mobilicorpus charms, before meeting in the staff room for a smallish glass of firewhisky apiece and to reminisce on students passed, another dark-haired boy and a certain green-eyed redhead chief among them.