A/N: I feel like this story is getting a tad unwieldy, so I think what I'll do is wrap up with the end of this little story arc - probably the next chapter. Then I'll return to this - let's call it Home!verse - with oneshots and short story arcs as sequels later. I'll put up an update here when the first one posts, so if you follow this story you'll know when I post the next one.

Draco stumbled down the stairs the following morning, one hand covering his yawn and the other wrapped around Harry's waist. He glanced idly toward the parlor, then stopped, frowning, as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Facing one another across the abandoned game, two figures slumped awkwardly, fast asleep. One with red hair, sleep ruffled, the other's long, sleek, and silver-blonde.

Draco nudged Harry's shoulder. "Harry. Tell me I'm seeing things, and that's not Weasley and my father asleep in there?"

Harry looked where he was pointing, and snorted. "Sorry, Draco. It's most definitely Ron and your father. Looks like neither of them trusted the other not to cheat."

Draco groaned.

Hermione and Pansy nearly ran into them, then, as they made their way down the stairs. "Hey!" Pansy grumbled, "don't stop in the middle of the bloody stairs!"

Hermione turned to look where Harry's gaze was focused, out of habit. Usually he'd be staring at Malfoy. But in this case... "Oh, honestly!" She grabbed Pansy's arm in one hand, Harry's in the other, and dragged all three of them off to the kitchen, muttering under her breath.

Everyone in the house had a good laugh at Ron and Lucius that morning, and the two were in very poor spirits throughout breakfast. The residents of Number 12, Grimmauld Place had had plans for that day, plans that included shopping, cleaning, and taming the massive, yet sadly neglected, garden. Unfortunately, neither Ron nor Lucius could concentrate on anything, and after a few hours of them glaring at one another, not even pretending to pay attention to their chores, with Snape looking up every so often to glower - at both of them, at the others, at the neat rows of plants he was tending, at the world in general - Hermione had had enough.

"Right. That's it!" she exclaimed, throwing down her trowel in disgust. "Honestly. You are grown men."

None of them had the grace to look abashed. None of them even looked up from their current three-way glaring contest.

Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust, drew her wand with a fluid grace she'd learned, somehow, in the war and that had never left her, and hit each of them with an invisible smack across the back of the head. Hermione sniffed, mouth twitching at the three startled and near identical exclamations of shock that followed.

"Now. Since some of us are having difficulty focusing on our tasks, we may as well give it up for today." She flicked her wand, and the various garden implements shot into the air, arced over their heads, and slotted neatly into their places in the storage shed. The doors banged shut after them, and she nodded. "Well? What are you waiting for? The sooner we finish that blasted game, the sooner some actual work can get done around here."

---

Ron squawked indignantly as Luna's armies surrounded his last holdout. Luna grinned widely and pumped her fist in the air as she stabbed Ron in the back – metaphorically, at least – and reached out to flick the last of his soldiers off the board with a violent pink-tinted nail.

Hermione reached absently to pat Ron's knee, never once bothering to look up from the book she'd produced, upon being eliminated from the game, with a relieved sigh.

"What are you reading now 'Mione?" Harry asked exasperatedly from his seat on the floor, sprawled inelegantly over Draco's lap. Draco looked up from where he was massaging Harry's shoulders, glanced at the title of the book and smirked as he raised his eyes to Hermione's face. Hermione met his eyes staunchly, though the tips of her ears reddened. "Nothing you'd be interested in, I assure you," she said archly. Draco snorted. "She's telling the truth," he whispered into Harry's ear. "I'll tell you about it later."

---

Luna's earlier strategy – which had seemed chaotic, haphazard, and random at the start of the game – came together with a suddenness that surprised everyone.

Severus was next to fall before her advancing army, having failed to negotiate a treaty with Lucius. He plucked his last soldier out of the way of her fingernail, glowering at her brilliant smile, and settled back into his chair with a quiet sniff.

---

Lucius was, it turned out, a sore loser. He whined, pouted, and did his best to cheat, but Luna countered his every move. It wasn't long before her armies had his surrounded.

Luna grinned wolfishly at him and pulled the small stack of paper toward her. "Shall I read out what I've won?"

Ron cleared his throat. "Actually, Luna, I was thinking."

Hermione rolled her eyes, muttering, "Oh, Merlin. This ought to be good."

Ron scowled. "Shut it 'Mione. Anyway, I was thinking that it would only be fair if we played another game, got a chance to win back some of our losses."

"That's not really how it works, Weasley - " Draco drawled, but Luna held up a hand to stop him.

"No, Draco, that's alright. I don't mind." She tipped her head on its side, considering the three scowling men in front of her. "Would it be just those of us who bet on the last game playing, then?"

"Sounds good to me," Harry said around a poorly-concealed yawn. I'm quite comfortable here, and I'd just as soon watch."

Draco snorted at him. "You're ridiculous, Potter," he said fondly, carding his agile fingers through Harry's unruly hair. "But in this case I find I have to agree."

The others nodded, and Luna clapped her hands. "Excellent. Why don't you three go fetch us a game, then."

---

As it turned out, Luna's strategic brilliance was not limited to Risk. Or Scrabble. Or Clue.

"Enough!" Pansy exploded, some hours later. "Salazar, but you've been at it all day. Don't you think you'd have beaten her by now, if you were going to? Give up, already, before you owe her more than you can pay."

"Too late for that," Ron muttered glumly. He scowled down at the pile of papers, far too many of which bore his own nearly illegible scribbles. "What I want to know," he added, half to himself, "is how the bloody hell she did it?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, looking up from her latest book – she'd summoned a stack of them when it became clear how long the game was going to last – and patted him on the knee. "Ron. Did you forget that Luna was a Ravenclaw? The Sorting Hat doesn't place people randomly, you know."

Ron scowled harder.

Pansy bounced up from her half-doze with a grin. "I'll go fetch the others – don't read them out until I get back!"

---

Luna's pale fingers flicked deftly through the scraps of paper, sorting them into piles at what appeared to be random - but likely wasn't - snorting occasionally. The pile had grown alarmingly since they'd started. The contents of the wagers had grown more and more ridiculous as the games had progressed – especially since the only condition Luna had set had been that they could not be monetary. She had plenty of money for her needs, she'd explained, and so only favors and promises would count.

Then, just as the others appeared in the doorway, Luna paused, eyes widening as she read the elegantly looped handwriting on the paper she held. She drew in a startled breath, let it out in a huff of laughter.

Lucius, who recognized his handwriting on the slip and could guess which particular wager this was, paled.

"Luna?" Pansy asked worriedly from the doorway.

Luna nodded, holding up the slip of paper as explanation. She took a deep breath, stifled another snort, and read aloud:

"I, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, promise my firstborn child."

Draco was the first to break the hushed silence. "Hey!"

Luna smiled beatifically at him, blinking her wide, guileless eyes. "Oh, Draco. Don't worry. I won't do anything too terrible."

Draco winced at the wicked gleam in those eyes, and ducked behind Harry.

"Luna..." Harry said slowly, trying valiantly not to laugh.

Luna grinned at him. "Oh, all right, Harry. I'll toss out the ones that involve other people."

Harry grinned back at her as he hauled Draco out from behind him. "There. See? The big, bad Luna won't hurt you."

Draco frowned at his father. "No. But I might hurt him. Honestly, father. You bet your firstborn child? Your grown firstborn child?"

Narcissa, who'd just walked in with Andy and Teddy, loaded down with bags from their shopping trip, rolled her eyes. "Really, Lucius?"

Lucius scowled.

Draco and Narcissa shared an exasperated look.

Harry caught Luna's eye, and they grinned at one another for a moment, until Harry turned to take the bags from Narcissa.

Luna sent the scraps of paper darting off to her room with a flick of her wand, and then followed the others into the kitchen, pondering how best to collect her winnings.