1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

hp/tf2 crossover. at least the second half. it is an idea i've had on my mind for quite some time. it took up quite a lot of space, at the same time. as such, i'm glad to get it onto paper finally. well, virtual paper, at least. as always, please read and review. any and all critiques are welcome, whether you think ye or nay of the story. anywho, enjoy!

disclaimer the first: i own zip, zero, and nada of harry potter, or anything that is affiliated thereof.

disclaimer the second: i also own nothing from team fortress 2. not even a sandvich. vich is making me hungry. and talk with v's instead of w's. anyways, onwards!

magineer

quizzically, one luna lovegood peered over the shoulder of a friend. at least, she would call her a friend. she had certainly been friendly this past year; more friendly than the others that she knew. and friendlier than she herself had been in the past. it did not matter, however. she was here for whom she considered a friend. more to the point, she continued to peer over her shoulder,

ushing aside the bushy hair that got into her sight.

hermione had been rather miffed, after all, the past few days. when she and ron had gone to accompany harry at his abode, she had been refused permission to stay. harry's guardians would not permit her to stay in the same residence. much less would she permit her to stay in the same room as him. apparently this had thrown the bushy haired girl into quite the tizzy. as soon as i heard, of course, i decided myself to join hermione. that way, she wasn't alone. of course, hermione also seemed to be miffed when luna appeared on her doorstep at four o'clock in the morning. but at least she had forgiven her. mostly.

still, though, this rather curious device that hermione's family had acquired distracted luna. a screen made of rather hard glass had an image on it that was constantly changing. and rather, she could assume that hermione was directly causing the changes. at least, she was stroking the buttons on a board as if they were keys on a piano, causing words to appear at random places on the screen. occasionally, she would use a small device to navigate a 'pointer' across the screen. luna remembered that it had been named after some rodent. perhaps it was a gerbil? odd name for a muggle device, but she supposed that they knew better.

after a bit more staring at the screen, at which her protruding eyes began to water, she finally addressed hermione. "what type of strange device is this, hermione?"

hermione jumped, spinning around in her seat. "luna! what do you think you're doing?" garnering no response besides a quizzical tilt to her head, hermione merely sighed. "never mind. just don't sneak up on me like that. please?" receiving a nod, she waved a hand at the computer. "this thing here is a computer. it's designed so that one can use it for a multitude of different calculation, from basic arithmetic to complex problem solving." she then shrugged. "it can do a lot more than that, but the original design was for solving equations quickly."

luna looked a bit lost, staring back and forth between the machine and hermione. however, her mind quickly cottoned on to what her friend was saying. "oh, are you saying it's an analytical engine?"

hermione's eye

ow rose at that statement. "one of those antiques that was developed over a century ago? i suppose that would be an adequate analogy. why?"

luna just smiled at her reaction. "because we have one at home. they're not very common, but daddy needs one to help him keep up with all the supplies necessary for production of the quibbler. i mean, investigative journalism espousing the plight of the nargles doesn't print itself after all!" she paused for a moment, her expression not wavering. "well, technically it does, but i believe that is the expression that muggles are fond of."

a pained look crossed over her face as hermione's eyes crossed. "right." taking a moment to clear her head, she met luna's eyes. "but why use something a muggle invented? isn't there magic to calculate stuff like that?"

luna merely nodded. "yes there is. but it is dependent on the person casting it." her face suddenly became contrite. "but daddy has never been that good at math." her face tilted to the side. "come to think of it, not many wizards are. so that is why we use them."

hermione's nostril's flared. "quite. i am rather… disturbed at this lack of education. even arithmancy isn't quite what i expected." the nasty look on her face betrayed her thoughts. while arithmancy was portrayed as a math class, it was actually a form of divination. using numbers. hence the reason that hermione had quietly dropped the class in the last year. it was just as pointless as the other she had left. luna's statement, however, stirs the nugget of an idea in her head. one that would not be recognized for quite a while longer.

luna was oblivious to this inner turmoil. "oh, it's fine, hermione. besides, with all the nargles around, i'm sure that one of them would steal the numbers anyway. then two added to two would be three, instead."

hermione was about to rebuke her statement when the doorbell rang. relieved at the interruption, she quickly excused herself to answer it. "i'll be right back. just be careful with that luna. and don't touch anything. i'm searching for something… important. that i can't talk about." with another ring of the doorbell, she dashed off, leaving luna alone in the room.

luna merely blinked, before sitting down in the chair. "such a strange girl. i wonder if she has caught some wrackspurts? more's the pity. it would be a dreadful infection that she's caught." facing the screen, she tried to identify anything that looked familiar. but there were no punch cards that she could use to input anything. how strange. perhaps this is a basic version? punch cards are so important though? i shall ask hermione later."

before long though, luna felt her vision to get blurry, as she saw something else on the computer screen. rather, she saw something. it was rather annoying, actually, when the nargles

ought her something like this to see. but it was always important, so she let herself see it. it was rather odd, what she saw. it involved a computer, a much sleeker one than hermione had. it was rather thin though. where did someone fit all the gears and cranks? it mustn't be important though, for something was on the computer. it was a lunatube. well, rather, it said youtube, but since luna wasn't there, it couldn't really be hertube, could it?

what was interesting, however, was the rather interesting moving portrait in the middle. one that made a sound as it moved. how interesting. luna listened raptly as she saw the screen. after a few minutes, the image disappeared, and she was looking at hermione's computer again. relieved to be seeing rather than seeing, she waited a few more minutes until hermione entered the room, accompanied by a rather irate scotswoman.

"miss lovegood! what do you think you are doing? we thought you had been kidnapped by voldemort!" she began to rant a bit further, causing no reaction in the blonde.

luna simply stated, "i was visiting a friend. and i told daddy that i was leaving this morning. and i would be coming back sometime, at when specifically i did not know."