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Chapter Text

(Xenophilius's POV):

"Dumbledore Dead at the Hands of Death Eaters," reads the Daily Prophet newspaper that blew into my window not a moment ago.

My heart clenches in agony at the mere headline. Surely this must be rubbish. The Daily Prophet does report loads of rubbish nonsense. It has to be rubbish, right? My hands can't help but tremble as I read the headline over and over. The more my eyes wash over it, the more I attempt to convince myself it's rubbish.

"Cuckoo! Cuckoo!"

The sudden sound makes me jump.

"What is it this time, Berthilda?" I ask loudly.

Then I remember. It's the last day of term. I'll get to see my Luna again! Perhaps she can clear up this nonsense for me. I'm supposed to pick her up!

(Luna's POV):

I sit inside of the train car by myself, glancing out the window. Everything's seems to move quite slowly since Dumbledore died. People are heavy with grief. I do what I can, but sometimes the Wrackspurts get into my head and everything goes all fuzzy and sad. Even the skies are filled with dark clouds as if mourning over his loss. Who knows how things will change now that he's gone?

"Hey, Luna," a voice calls out.

I turn to find Ginny and Neville.

"Is it alright if we sit here?" Ginny asks.

I nod and they take their seat across from me.

"How are you feeling?" I ask them.

"Fine," they mumble.

I know they're lying.

"Is there something troubling you?"

Ginny shakes her head, but Neville lets it out in a blurt of fear.

"I'm scared of what will happen to Hogwarts."

"We're all scared, Neville," Ginny assures him as she puts her hand on his shoulder. "We just need to stick together and keep our heads on straight."

"I don't think you can take off your head," I retort dreamily, tilting mine in puzzlement.

This makes Ginny and Neville snicker a little, not exactly in a mean way, but enough to make me more puzzled.

"It's just an expression, Luna."

We go silent for a while afterwards. When the trolley comes by, I buy some pumpkin pasties to split with dad when I get back. I also buy a few chocolate frogs. Maybe a few too many.

"Bloody hell, Luna," Ginny gasps. "Why do you need all of those chocolate frogs?"

"If we're going to be prepared to take on the future, we might need some fortunes and signs."

The two of them look at me in bewilderment.

"What does that have to do with chocolate frogs?"

"My mum told me about this. Each card has a meaning associated with it. For instance, if you get Godric Gryffindor, it means something is coming that requires a lot of bravery. Or if you get the Bloody Baron, it means someone you know is going to die soon. Or if you get Albus Dumbledore, it means you're going to endure something that brings you great wisdom and insight. That, or someone is going to give you a sherbert lemon for free. Both have happened to me before."

I hear Ginny giggle kindly.

"Can I ask you something, Luna?"

"Of course."

"How do you manage to stay so...positive and innocent? In a good way," she adds quickly.

This sets off a spark in my mind. I never thought about that. I have gone through a lot and yet, I still have a sort of positive outlook on the world. In it I tend to believe that anything is possible and that no one is completely bad. Even You-Know-Who was good at one point in his life. Some people might see it as naivety, but I like to think of it as an alternative view of the world. I shrug.

"I suppose by keeping my mind open and looking at life as an adventure. But everyone has their own ways."

Ginny nods as I open a frog card.

"That's odd," I remark. "I've never gotten this one before."

The two of them look up in interest.

"Which one did you get?" Neville asks.

"Helena Ravenclaw," I tell him. "I wonder what this frog card could mean."

"Well, how do you determine the meaning?" Ginny asks.

I shrug again.

"Usually it's something related to what traits are most prominent in them or their backstories. Like the Bloody Baron represents death or murder and Dumbledore represents wisdom and insight."

"Wasn't the Bloody Baron obsessed with Helena?"

I nod at this.

"I can't really think of anyone who'd be obsessed with me, though."

"Hey. You never know," Ginny shrugs.

I study the card. On it is the tale of Helena and her untimely death, but I don't need to read it. Every Ravenclaw is told the story of Helena, but only if they ask.

"A mystery," I muse. "How exciting!"

By the time we pull into the station, the sky begins to fade into the color of a clementine orange set aflame. I look out the car window as the train begins to slow down. Families of different sizes, colors, creeds, and abilities wait for their children to leave the train. I scan them for my dad. He's not that difficult to pick out usually.

Soon I spot him with his flowing light-blonde/silver hair. He seemed to have aged a bit. I can see it in his eyes.

"Daddy," I exclaim excitedly as I run to him.

He smiles tiredly as he sees me and we embrace. But just like with his eyes, his hug seems aged and tired.

"Daddy, is something wrong?" I ask kindly.

He shakes his head.

"Nothing," he answers. "It's probably the wrackspurts. Let's go get your things."

"It's true, you know?" I say somberly.

He stops in his tracks.

"Dumbledore's dead, daddy. For once The Daily Prophet didn't lie."

I see it immediately. His eyes age considerably.

"Is that what this is all about?"

Once again he shakes his head.

"Of course not, Luna. Dumbledore was a very good man who lived a very good and long life."

Without another word, we go to grab my things and then apparate back home.

"Daddy, you don't need to make supper," I insist as I help him into an armchair. "I can take care of it tonight."

I don't want him to exert anymore unnecessary energy on me. When we had apparated, he nearly fainted trying to get up the stairs to the front door.

"But Luna-"

"No. It's alright. I don't mind."

I know I can't use my wand outside of school yet and I want to try making supper the way muggles do, so I skip over to the kitchen and see what I can put together.

"Oh, of course!" I exclaim. "It's three o clock. I'll make some tea and scones."

"Luna, my love, you truly don't need to do this."

"No, but I want to. You go ahead and rest, daddy. I should have the tea and scones ready in about half an hour."

I pour some water into the purple Pygmy puff-shaped kettle-my mother's favourite. The tea tastes much sweeter when it's from that kettle-and place it on the stove. Turning it on, I gather what I need for scones.

"It's been a while since I've made these," I exclaim to myself. "I wonder if I still remember the recipe."

I think back, as I get what I need, to times when my mum and I would make scones together for afternoon tea. The house always smelled so lovely and felt so cozy afterwards. She taught me a few tricks to scone-making, but told me that they're Lovegood family secrets, so I can't really tell you anything. Apparently they're very arcane and highly sought after.

As it turns out, scone-making is "in my blood," which is another expression Ginny taught me. I've never really understood expressions, but it's funny to think of them in a literal sense. Another expression I learned from Ginny is "mad as a wet hen." I wonder if anyone who's gotten angry has actually turned into a wet hen. And how would the hen get wet in the first place? Maybe someone dumped a transformation potion on them and they turned into a hen that got wet from the potion.

My mum also taught me a few of them. My favourite expression is "away with the fairies." A boy in Harry Potter's year, Seamus Finnegan, has actually said that one about me several times, even though I wasn't away with the fairies. I was at Hogwarts. I often wonder, though, what it would be like to actually be away with the fairies. Perhaps they have a fairy prince. I wonder what scones would be like in the fairy world.

One that I don't understand, though, is "throwing a sausage down O'Connell street." I heard it the day after Lavender Brown started dating Ron Weasley. Why are people throwing sausages down that street? And where is O'Connell street anyway? Does it have a big pile of sausages at the end of the street? Wouldn't birds and cats and rats have eaten them by now? Or would someone just pick them up and eat them if they were hungry? But wouldn't they get food poisoning from sausages that have been sitting out for so long? Or would the sausages have gone stale by then? Do they have a special street sweeper just for the sausages people throw? Why are people throwing sausages? Isn't that a waste of food? And why did they pick sausages to throw? Are they angry at the people who make sausages? Muggles are sometimes very peculiar people, but lovely ones nonetheless.

The sound of the tea kettle singing breaks me from my thoughts. I glance down at my mixing bowl; it seems that I'd made the scone mix whilst I was thinking, at least the flour portion of it. Now onto the wet ingredients.

I remember how this has always been the most difficult step for me, especially when I was younger. Many a time would I end up covered in a concoction of eggs and milk, whether from overflowing the bowl or spilling it somehow. My mum didn't mind, though. I was still learning about the world and I was blindly wandering through life. I still am, though, but who isn't? Why, even you are still blindly wandering through life. My mum always told me that if you're not confused about what to do next in life, you're all the more lost than the wandering blind. People aren't meant to know what's going to happen next in life. Whenever one of her friends would go to her and spill their woes of plans gone awry or of messes not meant to be made or of loves not going as planned, my mum would praise them and then offer them some tea and scones.

But she admitted that she's seen instances where those who know what's next aren't quite lost, as they often turn up wandering blind once again. In a way, we are all small children; curious, eager, and stumbling through life just as we were meant to, but we may not like to believe so. To society, a non-questioning perspective takes precedence over the innate curiosity we are all born with. Once you give up that curiosity, you follow the path society has set as the correct one, when in reality, we all have our own paths to follow. When you completely surrender the ability to view the world through an ebullient philosopher's eyes, you instead gain the eyes of a callous cynic; doing everything they're told, not questioning even a single direction ordered to them, and seeing the world as a vile planet and its inhabitants as unscrupulous, rapacious, aberrant, and sometimes insipid people.

I find people to be quite nice generally, but I think they do think I'm a bit odd. I've been called Loony Lovegood quite a bit actually. I suppose I might be a bit odd, but it's really about perspective. I'm odd to them as they would be to muggles. When we come across something out of the ordinary, our first instinct would be to categorize, ostracize, or minimize it. Mum and dad have taught me that things that seem out of the ordinary are simply things that only make life more unique and interesting. I suppose if everyone considered thinking like that, wars might not be started, but to each their own.

I hear the oven go off and I open my eyes only to see the kitchen crowded with steam. I quickly snatch the kettle from the stove and set it down on the counter. Grabbing a set of oven mitts, I open the oven. The scent of chocolate chip scones infuses itself into the air as I take them out. I set them aside to let them cool and then place a tea bag in each cup.

The sound of the water hitting against each tea cup is very tranquil to me. Of course, I think most people would agree, but it's tranquil in a different sense, as in the calm before a storm. I let the tea bags sit and the scones cool before giving a bit of each to dad with a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, my Luna," he gasps after he tastes the scone. "This is fantastic."

"It's not exactly mum's recipe, though," I reply with a shrug.

"Ah, but if it were, then it wouldn't have truly been made by you."

"Of course," I agree with a smile. "I do miss mum's scones, though. There was always something….magical about them. Did she really use powder from the Bulgarian Rose Fairies to make the scone mix?"

"Indeed," my father answers.

"She made quite a lot of it though," I add. "Especially right before she died."

There's a small silence before I finish my tea and stand up.

"I think I'll go unpack a bit and then work a bit more on the mural in my room before starting supper."

"If you do," he interjects concerned. "Please be careful on that ladder, dear."

"I'll be fine," I assure him cheerfully. "I've done this a lot before, but it's sweet of you to tell me."

I kiss him on the cheek again and then skip up to my room.

Chapter Text

(Xenophilius's POV):

My heart swells and jumps as Luna skips up to her room. Times are dark in this world now. But Luna. 

Oh, my sweet, little girl. She's but sixteen, yet looks at the world as an innocent child would; she finds it full of wonder, as do I, but I know of the dangers. She has seen enough that would make anyone go mad; death, prejudice, violence on a massive scale. And yet she is still the dreamer she was when she was a child.

I worry, however, that her innocence may not stay much longer. It's been keeping me sane, and I'm sure it's keeping her sane too. But the day may come where it's gone, and then........and then what? Something must be done to avoid such a tragedy.

As soon as I hear her humming and working, I sneak out the front door and over to the shelter. I don't worry that Luna will come. She knows of the shelter, but not of what's inside. And I don't want her to. Not yet, Not until it's time.

I fling open the wooden doors and leap inside before flipping back around and shutting the doors behind me. I sneak down and turn through several corridors before reaching Luna's Secret Bedroom. Oh, it's not her secret. It's mine. I've been preparing it since who-knows-when, but I've been waiting for the proper time to finish it and start the actual device. I'm sure I have all the parts I need and it should be finished before the New Year.

Now I know what you're probably thinking; but Xenophilius, why can't you just use a spell to build it in a jiffy? Well, some of the parts I had to buy at muggle shops and they don't work well with repair spells. So instead, I have to put it together manually.

I look around the workshop whilst going back to the blueprint every now and again to see what I still need, which ends up being a lot. All of these muggle gadgets and whatnot are boring to me. Perhaps if it didn't seem so controversial, I could ask Arthur for help. He works for the Ministry, but I trust him and his knowledge of muggle devices; it's his area of study after all.

I work far, far into the night. I've lost track of time when I hear a familiar voice call for me.

(Luna's POV):

"Daddy?" I call out as I open the shelter doors.

I step through and head down the stone steps. I know daddy does a bit of tinkering down here. But why and with what is my question.

"Daddy? Supper's getting cold!"

I hear a startling sound, and it makes me jump a bit. Crashing and clanking can be heard until a door opens and out comes daddy, looking a bit disheveled.

"Daddy? What's going on in there?"

He gasps a bit as if he isn't expecting me to be so curious, though I know he knows me better than that.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"Nothing," he replies quickly, maybe a bit too quickly.

I have a peculiar feeling that something else is going on, something he's not telling me. I try to look around him, but he blocks my way. I try again and he blocks me still.

"What are you doing down here?" I tilt my head in curiosity. "Are you making something? Can I see?"

"Uh, no. Not yet, Luna."

"Why not?"

"Because," he says.

"Because why?"

"Because!"

I try to run around him, but he's quick to grab me.

"Oh no you don't, my Luna!" he says frantically, his warm embrace slightly discomforting under the circumstances.

I hear him try to pass it off as playful, but something keeps telling me that there's more to it. I try to ask him about it, but he begins to rub my hair and soon, he begins to tickle my sides. I can't help but giggle. I know it makes him happy and I'm fine with a bit of playfulness, especially since he can get so tense so easily.

"Let me go!" I say through fits of laughter.

In vain I attempt to playfully push away from him, but his tickling becomes more intense until my sides ache. He lets me go as we both fall laughing to the carpeted shelter floor. Then I wrap my arms around his neck and embrace him closely. He's done so much for me since mum died. He's some of the only family I have left.

"I love you, dad," I tell him as I hug him tighter.

"I love you too, Luna," he replies as his hugging becomes tight.

After a bit, we both sit up.

"Now, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

I try to wrack my brain. Weirdly enough, I can't remember.

"I don't know," I admit. "Perhaps it's the wrackspurts."

"Really?" he gasps in surprise. "I was so sure that I'd sprayed this room during my monthly wrackspurt clearing."

"Perhaps you forgot?" I suggest. "Don't worry. I know how else to get rid of it."

I begin to jump around in a circle and swat my hands, moving them up and down. To be honest, I did feel a bit overloaded after dad started tickling me, but it was in a good kind of way. Nonetheless I do need to remember why I'd come down here in the first place.

Thankfully it doesn't take me very long to remember.

"Oh! Now I remember," I exclaim excitedly. "Supper's getting cold!"

(Xenophilius's POV):

I can't help but watch her so lost in thought at supper. Despite my anger in the shelter, her curiosity is something I find so endearing. Her mum was like that, so dreamy, so lost in her own world. That's why I fell in love with her; she had a whole other world of her own and I wanted to see it. And she let me in.

"Dad?" she asks.

I jolt out of my thought.

"I was wondering how you like the soup and salad?"

She looks at me with her big, sweet, doe-like eyes. She gets them from her mother. 

"They're very delicious," I reply kindly.

She smiles proudly, glowing.

"Thank you. That means a lot to hear from you."

She continues with her dinner.

Now Pandora's gone and I do love my little girl for who she is, but she is so much like her mum that it makes me love her all the more. I have to keep working on this. For her sake and mine.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV):

Dear Harry, I begin in the letter.

I hope I can get this letter to you soon. Perhaps I can give it to you at Bill and Fleur's wedding tonight. I heard you were staying at the Burrow. I never really thought a muggle family like yours would be a good place for you anyway, so I hope the Burrow is a nice change for you. You know how loving Mrs. Weasley is.

Things have been, to say the least, interesting since I came back for the summer. Dad's been awfully busy. He's working on some secret project in the shelter below the house. Whenever I ask him about it, he gets very nervous and refuses to tell me. It must be big if he's spent all of June through the beginning of August on it. I just don't know what it is and it worries me slightly that he won't tell me what it is or why I can't see it.

Perhaps his nerves are getting to him. You know how his anxiety sometimes makes him jumpy. Perhaps he's working on something to calm himself. Can't say I blame him, considering recent events. Even I've been feeling tense at times since Dumbledore's death.

Whatever it is, I do hope it works to alleviate his anxieties as much as possible. Hopefully we can talk more at the wedding tonight.

Sincerely,

Luna Lovegood

"That should do it," I sigh as I seal the envelope.

Stuffing my wand behind my ear, just in case, I look at the clock; it's nearly time to go and I haven't seen daddy since this morning. He must still be in the shelter. Quietly I make my way out the door, around the house, and down another set of stairs, careful not to get my dress torn. Though I don't think it'd be a terrible look. It'd certainly be an interesting one.

"Daddy?" I call sweetly into the shelter.
"Daddy, it's almost time for us to go."

I hear a shriek and some crashing. Then I hear the door open. Daddy emerges from the hallway, haphazardly dressed in the yellow dress robes I gave him to coordinate with me at the wedding.

"How do I look?" I ask as I twirl in my daffodil-yellow and orange blossom-colored dress with my sunflower in my hair.

Dad clasps his hands over his heart.

"Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Like a princess or a queen."

I blush and give a curtsy.

"Thanks, dad," I giggle as I kiss him on the cheek. I have to stand on my tippy-toes to reach his cheek. He always find this slightly adorable. He says that my shortness makes me even sweeter. But 5'2" or so isn't that short, is it? I've always thought it was a pretty-good height to be.

"I think you'd best straighten out your dress robes before we go. They look a bit thrown all over yourself."

"Right, of course," he replies.
"Can't be in a mess for a wedding, now can we?"

When he's straightened out his robes, we begin to walk over to the Burrow. It's not that far, thankfully. We live just over the hill from the Weasleys.

The weather looks a bit bleak, but I'm sure it will clear up. My mum always said that many things look darker than they seem. I skip in the grass towards the tall towering house. Dad and I visit rather often, especially during the summers, after Ginny and I became friends. I've also heard that Harry Potter is going to be at the wedding too and I have the strange feeling in my stomach, like winged bugs fluttering around inside of it.

I like Harry. He's a rather nice person, despite the rumors that were going around for a few years, especially during my first year, but I was a bit nervous to approach him at first. Luckily I didn't have to wait too long to meet him in person. Ginny introduced me to him about 2 years ago. It's pretty clear that she and Harry have a fondness for one another and, while I'm happy about it, I can't help but wonder how Harry feels about me. I mean, he took me to Slughorn's Christmas party, but that was just as friends, so I don't believe I can say for certain.

Finally we arrive and, before heading inside the tent, I decide to head off by myself to see the garden gnomes. They're large in number and quite cute actually. If you get bitten by one, it's extremely beneficial, but I don't try to provoke them purposefully. I do know, however, that they get quite anxious at big events due to the noise (which I completely understand. I know what sensory overload can be like) and bites tend to happen more often then, so maybe I'll be lucky enough to get a bite.

"Hello, garden gnomes," I greet them, kneeling down on the grass.
"I know it's quite overwhelming tonight."

I reach in and gently rub the back of a gnome child who is crying, probably due to the noise that's going on.

"But it will be over before you know it."

All of a sudden, I hear a small, high-pitched growl coming from one of the gnomes and the next thing I know, a needle-sharp pain runs through my right hand and I feel a slight wetness on my finger. I look to find, luckily enough, one of the adult garden gnomes has bitten me!

"Oh!" I gasp excitedly.
"Thank you! Thank you! Bless you, sir or madame or however you call yourself."

The gnome lets go and smiles at me as if to say, "You're welcome." They seem to know that people who know that gernumbli bites are beneficial get excited when they finally receive one. People who don't understand tell those who are bitten to wash their fingers, but that would take away the magic. You have to let the saliva absorb into your skin for their magical properties to take full effect.

I stick around for a while longer, trying to help calm some of the anxious gnomes and receiving a few nips from the younger ones; though theirs aren't as powerful as the adult bites are, they still have small amounts of magic inside of them. Some say that the nips of child gnomes can heal the sick and stop people from dying because their magic is so pure and innocent. I tend to agree because child magic can be just as powerful as adult magic, if not more powerful, in certain areas.

Finally I bid them goodbye for now and head inside the tent. It's brightly decorated and many people have already taken their seats.

Suddenly I see him; Harry Potter. He looks different, but I know it's him. I skip over to him as he and Ron finish talking to dad.

"Hi, Harry," I greet him cheerfully.

"Erm, my name's actually Barny," he tells me.

"Oh, have you changed that too?"

He looks at me a bit dumb-founded.

"How did you know—?"

"Oh, just your expression."

I turn to my dad as he finishes talking with some old acquaintances of his and hold out my finger; the saliva has absorbed into my skin by this time, but my blood doesn't clot as quickly as others, so the punctures are still bleeding a bit and I know he'll recognize the bites.

"Daddy, look—one of the gnomes actually bit me!" I say gleefully.

Dad gasps in excitement.

"How wonderful! Gnome saliva is enormously beneficial!" he replies.

He grabs my finger and looks at the puncture.

"Luna, my love, if you should feel any burgeoning talent—perhaps an unexpected urge to sing opera or to declaim in Mermish, do not repress it! You may have been gifted by the Gernumblies!"

I hear Ron give out a loud snort and I shake my head, turning back to Harry.

"Ron can laugh," I tell him as we head to our seats.
"But my father has done a lot of research on gernumbli magic."

"Really?" he asks and I nod.
"Are you sure you don't want to put anything on that bite though?"

I start to suck on the puncture in hopes of stopping the bleeding. You don't want much of the saliva to escape in your blood or the magic won't be as amazing.

"That's alright," I reply shaking my head as I suck on the puncture.

I look Harry up and down. He looks quite nice, though a bit hot, in his dress robes. I can only imagine how sweaty he'll be by the end of the night.

"You look smart," I tell him.
"I told daddy most people would probably wear dress robes, but he believes you ought to wear sun colors to a wedding, for luck you know."

I drift off towards dad and we sit in our seats. For luck indeed. If I hadn't worn my sun-colored dress, perhaps the gernumbli might not have bitten me.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

The ceremony is quite lovely, if a bit slow at times. I can hear the gernumblies grumbling and arguing just outside of the tent. Daddy told me that the Weasleys' gnomes know a lot of swear words, as Ron had told him. It's in their nature to repeat what they hear, so I can't help but think who-

Probably Fred and George, I think with a smile and a quiet giggle.

I do rather like those two, though they can be a bit mean sometimes. I shrug it off though. No one is perfect.

"—then I declare you bonded for life," a tuft-haired wizard says before waving his wand.

A shower of silver stars surround them. I'm taken in with awe. My mouth lies open as I follow a round of applause led by none other than the twins. I think I would like to have twins someday. Maybe a girl as well. But I suppose that's besides the point.

The golden balloons pop and out come bells and birds of paradise. I'm even more taken in awe by this. One would think I'd be used to it by now, what with me being exposed to magic fairly often, but I still find a lot to be surprised and in awe about. Like I've said, keeping one's mind open is a key element to avoiding cynicism.

Also I wonder how they fit all of those birds and bells in there. Actually I'm not sure if they're actually birds. I've always seen them just as flowers, but I suppose there may be animal birds of paradise. Perhaps birds of paradise flowers are what happens when an animal bird of paradise is critically injured or is left for dead. Maybe it's in their nature to turn into flowers once they know they're going to die. I'll have to ask daddy about that at some point. I'm sure he may know a thing or two about it.

"Ladies and gentleman, if you would please stand up," the tuft-haired wizard announces.

I stand up and just in time too. He waves his wand again and our seats rise into the air. Next what looks to be liquid gold graces the floor of the tent, forming a shining, shimmering dance floor. Next small, white-clothed tables appear and the chairs group themselves before they all settle back down to earth.

"How lovely," I remark in slight awe as waiters pop up from all sides of the tent.

I don't really feel quite like dancing right now, so I go sit at a table to think while daddy goes off to give Bill and Fleur our present and then talk with those old acquaintances once again

They're quite funny, you know; weddings. I've sometimes wondered when humanity decided that we needed to have ceremonies to announce that people are together for almost life. And I've also wondered why. I really don't think you need such an extravagant ceremony to announce to the world "hullo, we're married!" but I won't stop people who do.

I guess it's nice to have a special day though. I've watched a couple of muggle reality shows about weddings and some of them are really well-planned out. Sometimes they even have themes. If I ever have a wedding, I'm not sure if I'd want it to be themed or not. I just hope it won't be as loud as Bill and Fleur's. I get that weddings are enjoyable, but loud sounds tend to overwhelm me.

Speaking of Fleur, I don't believe I've ever actually talked with her, but she seems nice enough. I've seen her sister a bit. She's a few years younger than I, but she's as beautiful as Fleur. I think she's about eleven. Is that when you start at Beauxbatons? I'm not quite sure how the age limit works in France in accordance with when you go to school. Or really anywhere else. I wonder if Hogwarts has any books on it. Maybe I can look in the library when term starts.

"Alright if we join you?" a voice asks me.

I look to see Ron with Harry and Hermione.

"Oh yes," I say happily.
"Dad's just gone to give Bill and Fleur our present."

"What is it?" Ron asks.
"A lifetime supply of Gurdyroots?"

I hear Hermione give a kick and Harry's face scrunches up in pain. I know Ron means it mockingly, but I shake my head in sincerity.

"No," I reply.
"I painted them some coasters and mugs."

"I didn't know you painted, Luna," Hermione remarks in interest.

"Oh yes," I tell her with a nod.
"My mum taught me a little bit. After she died, I started teaching myself a bit more to cope with her death. At the same time, I also was quite silent fairly often. Anyways, I'm hoping to learn how to make more animated pictures. The ones on the mugs and coasters don't move much, but I've come fairly far."

"Did you use any tutorials or read any books on it?"

"A little, but not much."

"How much time do you spend on painting?"

"Well, it depends on how much time I have, but on average, I spend about five hours a day during summer holidays. This year I was also working on a project for my room; I've started painting a mural."

"Wait, you taught yourself how to paint?" Ron asks me in astonishment.

"Yes, a little. It's one of my special interests."

"Special interests?"

"I'm autistic."

"You're what?"

"Autistic," Hermione replies.
"Autism's a developmental disorder. I'm autistic as well. Sometimes autistic people develop intense interests in certain skills, sometimes to the point where they can teach themselves. But it's not the same in everyone who is autistic. Luna and I seem to be on the high-functioning end."

I wince at the phrase "high-functioning."

"Actually, I prefer support labels," I tell her, glad to find someone else who's autistic.
"Functioning labels have a stigma attached to them. If you're deemed high-functioning, your struggles get ignored. If you're deemed low-functioning, your strengths get ignored. Support labels can be applied to multiple areas of autism, which is why I prefer them. So I'm mostly low to mid support, but high support in other areas, meaning I need a bit more help with them."

Hermione looks at me in interest.

"Huh," she replies.
"I never thought of it that way."

There are a few moments of silence before people start to head onto the dance floor. The waltz is very pretty and I start to sway along with it.

"I like this song," I say, and before I know it, I'm on my feet and heading over to the dance floor. I decide to do the wrackspurt dance, in case I get sensory overload again.

It only feels like a few moments, but I later find out it's been at least fifteen minutes when someone remarks something about a lynx.

I turn to see a patronus shaped like a lynx. It lands on the middle of the dance floor before it, surprisingly opens its mouth (I didn't know patronuses could do that)

The Ministry has fallen, announces a deep, booming voice who I don't quite recognize.
Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming.

The message keeps repeating and the mood starts to turn tense. I hear hurried whispers and worried questions begin to run through my mind, all of them beginning with who or why.

Who is coming?

Why are they coming?

Why did the Ministry fall?

Who is Scrimgeour?

I don't have anytime to ask these questions aloud. The tense whispering is broken by a piercing scream not too far off.

All of a sudden, Death Eaters burst inside of the tent. I know the Order put protective charms around the place, but now they seem to have been broken. In a panic, I rush around the crowd.

"Daddy?" I call out.
"Daddy, where are you?"

Then I remember the gernumblies. They won't last if attacked by Death Eaters or trampled by panicked feet. I rush outside to the side of the tent and kneel down beside the crying and shivering gnomes.

"It's going to be alright, I hope," I tell them as I take as many of them as I can into my arms. The gnomes who can't make it in start digging into the ground.

I try to focus my attention on the little ones while still helping the adults when I suddenly feel a kick to my back. I stop myself from falling on the gnomes and turn around. I look up to find myself meeting the eyes of a Death Eater. Fear starts to coarse through me.

"You shouldn't be out all alone, little one," they say tauntingly.
"Where's your mother?"

All of a sudden, I feel a strong sense of courage. Is this the gift of the gernumblies? I don't know, but I'm glad it's here, especially now.

I place the gnomes to the side and stand up. I pull my wand from my ear.

"You? You're going to fight me?" they ask.
"How adorable. This sweet, innocent, helpless, little girl thinks she can fight—"

"Deprimo!" I yell without thinking.

A blast of strong wind pushes the Death Eater back.

"How dare you!" they spit.
"Good little girls aren't supposed to—!"

"Aguamenti!" I recite as if I've done it many times before, even though I've never learned those two spells in my life.

A strong wave of water hits the Death Eater, knocking them back once again.

"Shouldn't you be having a tea party, little missy? You're being very naughty, you know?"

"You know what?" I yell, suddenly infuriated and in a moment of unexpected courage.
"I'm sick of your terrible taunts. I am not a little girl and YOU'RE the one being naughty if anything!"

The Death Eater is stunned for a few moments before laughing evilly.

"Oh, ho, ho! This little bitch has some nerve, doesn't she?"

That does it!

"Langlock!" I recite.

The Death Eater grabs their throat and I can tell that the spell worked.

"That should shut you up for a while!"

All of a sudden, they hold out their wand and red lights blast from it, hitting me in the face and leg with excruciating pain and sending me back to the ground. I try to suppress a shriek of pain, but a small squeak manages to burst out of me. I struggle against it as they begin to tower over me, but I soon manage to find my voice.

"Levicorpus!" I yell through tears and pain.

The Death Eater goes flying through the air and far away from me.

"Luna!" I hear a voice yell.

I turn to find my dad running towards me in a fluster.

"Daddy," I croak as he helps me up.
"The gnomes!"

He tries to help me grab them, but they all burrow deep underground.

"Let's go, Luna!" he says.

He runs up ahead. I try to run when I feel the pain blare through my leg and sending me back down.

"Daddy, my leg," I squeak through tears.
"It hurts. I can't move."

(Xenophilius's POV)

"It hurts. I can't move."

My heart aches when I hear my Luna say that. Quickly I pick her up and carry her away from the Burrow. I can't risk putting her in anymore danger.

"Daddy," she whimpers.
"One of the Death Eaters was taunting me and hurt me."

She looks at me with her big doe-like eyes, now made bigger by her tears, and I grab on more tightly.

"Hold on, Luna," I pant.
"We're almost home. Hold on. We'll be home soon."

Not soon enough, though. It feels like an eternity until we get there. But by that time, Luna is shaking in fear as she buries into my arms. I set her down on the couch and lock the doors.

"Dad," she asks.
"What did the lynx mean by the Ministry has fallen? How did they fall?"

"I don't know, sweetheart," I answer as I sit down beside her.
"I wish I did, but I don't."

"I'm frightened, dad," she squeaks.

"I know. I know," I say gently.

She looks back up at me, tears welling up. I can see the hurt in her eyes. I haven't seen her in this much pain since Pandora's death. It genuinely makes my heart ache. But my heart aches even more when my Luna, my sweet, optimistic, hopeful girl who had been blissfully dancing just minutes ago, tells me.

"It's just the beginning, dad," she whispers slowly in fear.
"Isn't it?"

She buries her head into me and, for the first time since her mother died, Luna weeps.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV):

It takes me a little under a month to heal from the pain. It turns out the Death Eater actually broke my leg. Who would have thought magic could break appendages? Well I guess magic is called magic for a reason in that it can do a lot of things that muggle things can't.

Ginny, Neville, and the twins visit me fairly often. When they heard about my broken leg, they insisted on keeping me company and I didn't want to stop them. That'd be a bit rude, in my mind.

They brought me some treats too, but I don't eat many of them. I save them for the upcoming term. When my book and supply list comes in for this year, dad insists that I stay home and he goes to get the supply.

I decide to invite Ginny, Neville, and the twins over, but the twins told me that the shop is at its prime during school shopping. Ginny promises that she and Neville will come and spend time with me as soon as they're finished shopping.

After the wedding night, Harry, Ron, and Hermione have virtually disappeared. I think they said something about horcruxes. Not quite sure what those are, but I've heard they have something to do with souls.

Neville comes over in a slightly anxious state. Surprisingly Ginny isn't with him.

"Where is Ginny?" I ask him.

"I got done shopping early, so I told her I'd meet her at your place. But I have bad news," he gulps."Rumor has it Snape's replaced Professor McGonagall as headmaster."

"How?"

"I dunno, but I think it may have had something to do with the attack. There are Death Eaters patrolling every corner of Diagon Alley and Ginny and I had to get some supplies in Knockturn Alley."

He pulls out a few of the textbooks, and hands them to me. Even just skimming through them, it makes me sick to my stomach to read what these books are about.

"Books on Pureblood supremacy, why muggles and Muggle-Borns are scum. They're requiring every year to take Muggle Studies, but from the looks of the titles we had to buy, I have a feeling there's going to be a biased view of muggles and Muggle-Borns."

"Biased, indeed," I remark as I push the textbooks away.

Neville sits down beside the couch I lie on.

"Do you think we're going to be safe?" he asks me.

I tilt my head from side-to-side.

"If we're careful, we should be."

All of a sudden, Ginny comes bursting into the house. She has a worried look on her face.

"Ginny, what's wrong?" I ask.

"Dad's just told me that Umbridge is back at the Ministry."

"Umbridge? You're kidding," Neville gags.

We all shiver and shudder. I don't normally dislike people, but Umbridge is definitely my least favorite teacher. She's so closed-minded and elitist.

"But why?"

"She's going to be assistant to the minister. Which brings me to some more bad news."

Neville and I lean in.

"The night that Kingsley sent his patronus to the wedding, Voldemort and his Death Eaters had taken over the ministry."

The two of us are hit with a wave of disbelief.

"Voldemort? Taken over the Ministry? How?" I ask.

"I don't know exactly, but what's important now is that a lot of things are going to change. Already I've heard that no muggle-borns are being let into Hogwarts. Only half-bloods and pure-bloods. I've even heard rumors that previously-registered muggle-borns will be persecuted if even found near Hogwarts."

"That's it! We're done for!" Neville exclaims throwing his arms up.

"Not quite," Ginny says.
"All three of us are purebloods, so as long as we're careful with how we go about the school, we should be fine."

"But why does You-Know-Who care so much about blood supremacy?" Neville asks.

"I think it could've had something to do with him being ostracized by muggles when he was a child," I point out.

Ginny nodded. "Yeah. Didn't he live in a muggle orphanage for pretty much all of his childhood?" 

"I don't know and frankly I don't quite care. What about Hermione? She's a muggle-born. If they find her in Hogwarts, she's toast!"

"Actually I don't think the trio is going back to Hogwarts," I explain.
"Since the wedding, the three of them have mysteriously disappeared."

"I hope nothing bad happens to them," Neville exclaims.

"We can't be sure if something bad will happen to them or not," Ginny says.
"I just know that Hogwarts is going to be much different without them or Dumbledore.

Much different indeed. At the sorting ceremony, I notice a lot of people being sorted into Slytherin. Ravenclaw does manage to get a few new faces, but very little compared to Slytherin.

On top of that, the environment is much gloomier and more sinister. Neville was also right about the bias in the Muggle Studies classes.

"How could they do such a thing?" I ask as Ginny, Neville, and I hang out in the Room of Requirement one Saturday afternoon.
"Teaching that muggle borns are scum? That's completely unfair, as well as untrue!"

This year is definitely testing my patience.

"Yeah, but you know what happens to those who speak out," Ginny reminds me.

I do. Amycus and Alecto Carrow, who teach Muggle Studies, have already used the Cruciatus Curse on several students who were brave enough to stand up for muggles and Muggle-borns. Apparently they've also used the Imperius Curse on me once, though I don't remember them doing it.

"I still can't believe I half-resisted it," I say with a slight giggle.

"You have a pretty strong mind," Ginny remarks with
"They tried to make you sing about how loony you are, but you resisted and sang Green Finch and Linnet Bird instead."

"Well, I do like the musical Sweeney Todd," I remark.
"And I like to think I'm a decent singer."

Ginny and Neville nod.

"You are pretty good," Ginny says.

"Thanks."

We sit in silence for a bit.

"So what do you want to do?" Ginny asks.

"We could try to get the sword of Gryffindor again," I suggest.

At this Ginny and Neville shake their heads and I decide they're right. The last time we try to get the sword of Gryffindor from Dumbledore's office, Snape caught us. Though we also caught Snape doing something a bit….strange.

"Uh….it's not what it looks like," he said when he spotted the three of us.

He was holding a bowl of popcorn, and he had snuck in muggle technology, and was watching home movies. 

Needless to say, we got punished.

"I really don't want to go back into the Forbidden Forest, with or without Hagrid, unless I absolutely have to," Neville shudders.

"I agree," Ginny says.

The three of us sit in silence until Ginny comes up with the idea.

"What if we brought back the DA?" she whispers.
"I still have the coins that were used to communicate to members."

Neville and I glance at each other in uncertainty.

"It's worth a try," Ginny pointed out.
"We could recruit some new members. People who actually support muggle-borns. They're probably still around somewhere."

"Ginny has a point," I agree.
"With Harry Ron and Hermione gone, we could be the new leaders of Dumbledore's Army. Besides if we don't, who will? We could pass down what Harry taught us to those who could use some defensive spell training."

Neville gives this some thought.

"I guess you're right, Ginny. It would be worth a try. But how do we go about it without getting caught?"

"Simple," Ginny says.
"We just have to be careful."

The three of us begin to form plans for the new season of the DA. We do our best to avoid the Slytherins, unless we know they won't rat us out. I'm normally a very open person, but even I agree that we need to be careful, with times being what they are.

There are barely any celebrations, and Hogsmeade trips are few, if any. Most of the nasty pureblood Slytherins use them to taunt the shopkeepers who are Muggle-borns before their shops are closed. The three of us wish we could stand up for them, but if we do, we're tormented by the Carrows when we return.

The time, surprisingly, goes by quickly at some points. We have to feign our beliefs in order to pass the new Muggle Studies curriculum, but something in the Carrows' faces knows that we're lying, and I sometimes have trouble with reading people's faces. The reason I could figure out Harry then? Simple. The way he positioned his eyebrows and lips.

But the Carrows' despicable nature towards muggles and muggle-borns is written clear on our faces. Luckily they can't attack us unless we step out of line and, as long as we passed the exam, they couldn't punish us.

Finally Ginny, Neville, and I board the Hogwarts Express heading home for the winter holidays.

"I can't believe we survived the whole term," Neville gasps.

"Neither can I," Ginny adds.
"And with at least 12 new DA members on board along with a lot of old ones returning as well. We should be able to start up as soon as the winter holidays are finished."

A spark of thrill appears in my eyes.

"What spells should we teach first?" I ask.
"I personally think Levicorpus would be a good one. It really helped me in the Department of Mysteries. Though Stupefy is basically, how did Harry put it? 'A wizard's bread and butter.'"

"Stupefy is definitely a good spell to teach," Ginny agrees.
"And its movements are easy to teach to first years."

"The Body-Bind curse saved my arse in the Department," Neville reminds us.
"So we'll definitely want to teach them that."

"The Patronus Charm is also highly useful," I point out.
"And it's always so sweet to see them find out their patronus for the first time."

"I wish I still knew what my patronus was," Neville sighs.

"I have a feeling you will someday soon," I tell him with a smile.

I take his hand in comfort and we sit in sentimental silence for the rest of the trip.

We reach the station and I say goodbye to Neville and Ginny before looking for dad. Soon I spot him dressed in dark green and red robes that make some stare.

"Hi, daddy," I greet him happily with a hug.

"Luna, my love," he smiles.
"How was your term? I never got a letter."

I shrug.

"Fine. A bit dreary, though, without Harry. They didn't really let us write much. Anyhow, why don't we go home and I can make us some Christmas tea and cookies?"

He smiles, but it's an aged smile.

"You don't have to."

"Dad," I say warmly.
"You know I want to."

He looks at me with a slight hopeful glaze in his eyes.

"Could I…help with the cookies?" he asks.

"Only if it won't hurt you. And maybe I'll invite Ginny and Neville."

"I think we're running a bit low on the red frosting," Dad tells me that night as we bake and decorate cookies.

"I thought Ginny and I just made some," I say confused.
"Ginny, have you seen the frosting?"

Ginny and Neville agreed to come and help decorate this evening. The twins also decided to come along while Percy and Arthur had some work to do. Molly told me she might stop by later to drop off their presents.

"I could've sworn we did," she concurs.

"Guys, we're running low on dough," Neville tells us.

"I just made more," Dad replies.

That's when I notice the twins. They keep looking down at the floor and giggling.

"Fred, George," I ask innocently.
"Have you seen the red frosting and the cookie dough?"

The two, trickster redheads look at each other in guilt before looking back at me.

"Nah," they reply in unison as they shake their heads.

"Perhaps you just misplaced them both," Fred adds.

I grasp my hands together behind my back, and swing from side-to-side cutely, batting my doe-like eyes. I know it's wrong to manipulate people, but I have a strong feeling those two are behind it. And when has a little cuteness ever hurt anyone? I always try to look at seven cute things everyday.

"You know it's not nice to lie," I say sweetly.

I can tell it somewhat works on them. Fred, with a sigh, bends down and pulls up a bowl of red frosting and cookie dough.

"We wanted to save it to make a cookie of Ron," George confesses.

"With that much frosting and dough?" Ginny remarks as I get back to rolling out some more dough.

"We were gonna make him a giant, ginger gorilla."

I find this maybe a bit too funny and laugh a bit loudly.

"Giant, ginger gorilla!" I gasp excitedly.
"You two!"

Fred and George shrug.

"You two! You two! You two!" I say suddenly jumping and flapping.
"You two! You two! You two!"

"What's up with her?" I hear Fred ask.

"You're really asking that about Luna?" George says.

"You two do realize I can hear you, right?" I say with my arms now folded.

The twins look up in astonishment.

"Oh," they both reply.
"Brilliant."

"As for your question," I continue.
"I am autistic. That's why I flap my hands. It's called stimming. Everyone can do it. And sometimes everyone does it. Babies do it. Adults do it. You do it when you bounce your leg, Neville."

"I thought I was the only one," he exclaims in astonishment.

"Nope. Lots of people are. And lots of people stim."

"Huh," Fred says.

"We've never heard of any of that. Is there anything else you do?"

I tell them about things like sensory overload and special interests as we continue making cookies. Regardless they still make their giant, ginger gorilla cookie as I passion rant about autism with questions and comments from the twins in-between answers. Shortly after I finish, Fred and George get into a bit of a tussle and materials start to fly in the kitchen. Soon it ends up being a cookie battle; Ginny, Neville, and I against daddy and the Weasley twins, which is a bit unfair as daddy is quite a master at throwing things. Then again I've been watching him since I was little so i may have a slight advantage.

"Heads up!" Ginny and I have to warn Neville a few times as the twins pelt him with dough balls.

I roll some of the balls of dough in leftover frosting so that they'll stick to them.

"Is that even legal?" Fred asks me over the excitement.

"I dunno," I yell back.
"We never made any rules."

All of a sudden, daddy seems to get an idea, a smile creeping up his face as his eyes twinkle.

"No," he says.
"You're right. We didn't."

All of a sudden, he rushes out of their fortress they built out of couches and tables and run over to ours. Next thing I know, he has me over his shoulder.

"Help!" I yell to Ginny and Neville playfully.
"Oh help! I'm being captured!"

He sets me down far into the fortress and I see him cup his hands like they're a megaphone.

"Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye, neighboring kingdom!" he yells.
"We have taken your Princess Luna captive. Surrender to the Grand High Wizard Xenophilius and his apprentices Fred and George and she shall be returned unharmed."

"Never!" Ginny and Neville yell.

While everyone continues to pelt each other with dough, frosting, and flour, I sneak out of their fortress. I crawl towards the kitchen and pull down a bowl of dough. I wrack my brain for a good size to throw them at the neighboring kingdom.

"As High Knight Princess," Ginny proclaims as I begin to roll them.
"I send Kingly Stable Boy Neville out to capture Fred."

"Kingly Stable Boy?" Neville exclaims.

"It was the first thing that popped into my head."

"While you get High Knight Princess?"

"What? Did you want just Stable Boy?"

"No. Being a king or a prince or a knight would be nice."

"Are we just gonna sit here arguing or are you gonna go out and take Fred captive?"

"No need," I exclaim valiantly as I pop up from behind the kitchen counter with my bowl of cookie dough balls.
"As Grand Mage Princess, I cast a meteor strike upon the neighboring kingdom!"

I hurl my cookie dough balls at them.

"Duck!" George yells as a cookie dough ball hits Fred on the arm.

"Goose!" Fred exclaims.

Giggling, I show no mercy to them and, soon enough, all three of them are down and out.

"Victory to the Silver Kingdom!" I proclaim triumphantly.

"Huzzah!" Neville chimes in.

Ginny gives him a funny look.

"Huzzah?"

Neville looks down at the floor and blushes. My heart begins to pound a bit more. He's so adorable sometimes and such a sweetheart.

"It's how they said 'hooray' back in the medieval days."

Shrugging, Ginny punch a fist into the air and Neville and I join in.

"Victory to the Silver Kingdom!" we all shout.

"And the defeated," I continue, staring at Fred, George, and daddy as they stand up.
"Have to clean up. Without magic. But we'll help because we're nice."

As we clean, I think how it's funny how sometimes things end up being better than you intended. Not only did we get to make cookies, but we had an amazing battle and, for Ginny, Neville, and I, an amazing victory. That's one of the reasons I don't really like concrete plans. They leave no room for spontaneity, especially when someone relies on order for everything. I mean, I get that you need some sense of order in your life, otherwise everything would fall to complete and utter chaos, but to have order dictate your life leaves no room for unexpected events. For instance, what if you had your birthday planned, but someone else planned to throw you a nice surprise party that same day? Then you would be all ready to go for your plan for the day, but then someone comes along to guide you to the surprise party only to find out that it's not on your agenda. That would be a bit awkward.

Then again, I guess if you knew about the surprise party, then it wouldn't actually be a surprise. I mean, you could pretend that you didn't know, but what if you were really bad at pretending or lying and it shows right on your face? I think that would be even more awkward.

But regardless, a mixture of spontaneity and order is what everyone needs.

After I say goodbye to Ginny, Neville, and the twins after we clean up, I realize just how tired I am. Afterwards I go up to my room when I suddenly hear the front door slam again. Quietly I tiptoe downstairs only to find that dad has suddenly vanished. I race to the front door and peek outside in the cold. I see a large, lumbering figure, heading to the side of the house. I follow it for a bit when I realize it's dad.

He reaches the side of the house and opens the doors to the shelter before stepping inside and shutting them behind him.

A bit shocked, I head back inside and climb into bed with a single question running through my mind.

What on earth is he doing down in the shelter?

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

With my wand behind my ear, I sit in the living room impatiently on Christmas Eve, waiting for dad. He told me he has a Christmas present that he wants to give to me tonight instead of tomorrow morning. I don't quite understand why he can't wait, but I don't think I should question him.

Finally he comes in with a large, rectangular gift box wrapped in dark purple wrapping paper covered with spectrespecs. He lays it down on my lap and backs up into an olive green arm chair waiting expectantly.

Carefully, I take the sides and undo the tape he put on before folding it back. Inside is a large white box. I open the lid and my mouth opens at what I see.

Inside, laid neatly on black tissue paper, is a pure, silky white nightgown and matching slippers with ribbons to tie them on. Alongside it is a polished nutcracker.

"Daddy," I gasp.
"It's so lovely!"

I pick up the gown and hold it to my body while I twirl around when suddenly two slips of paper fall out from the nightgown. I bend down and pick them up, reading

"Front row seats to The Nutcracker?" I gasp once more.
"Daddy! You didn't!"

"I did," he says smiling.

The Nutcracker is a ballet that I've been wanting to see for ages after mum told me about it, but we could never afford tickets, let alone for front row seats. I wish I could play Clara in it, but seeing it would be magical enough.

"I love you, dad!" I say through tears of joy as i hug attack him.

"I love you too, sweetheart," he says.
"Now go and put them on quickly. We'd best hurry if we want to get there on time!"

Mum was definitely right about The Nutcracker. It's so magical and enchanting. Everything, from the dancing to the costumes to the sets to the music to the lights, pulls me in and doesn't let go until the very end. Or at least until I fall asleep from being so entranced by it.

(Xenophilius's POV)

Once it's over, I turn to find my little girl asleep in her seat. I could tell she had been taken in by the whole thing. She looks so sweet with her little dreamy smile, especially in her white nightgown.

I cast a Muffling Charm around the theatre so as not to disturb her. Gently I take her into my arms and apparate back home. Now it's finally time to put the plan into action.

I sneak her down into the shelter and quietly open the bedroom door. I open the white veil concealing the clear glass top and the white bed. I have everything planned out. She'll still be able to breathe and I will let her out from time to time. But otherwise, she'll be in a blissful slumber, in a dreamworld I shall project into her head. The best part is that I'll be able to see and hear her interact with it. All the while, all of the pains, heartaches, heartbreaks, all of it will be erased and she'll be completely pure and innocent again. Of course she'll still be able to talk, otherwise she wouldn't be able to ask me what things are when I let her out every now and again.

She won't need to eat or drink in the chamber. I've cast a spell on it that keeps her physical body satiated while her spirit, mind, and soul become cleansed. Her physical body won't need cleaning with the spell I'll put on her before I close the chamber completely. But the best part is that she'll never face suffering ever again. And if she does when I take her out, I can simply put her back in and erase those bad memories and make it as though the pain never manifested.

"She'll be happy and I'll be happy," I whisper.
"So everyone wins."

Gently I lie her inside of the soft, white bed and remove the nutcracker doll from her hands, replacing it with an enchanted, white lily and a pure, stuffed white rabbit.

"Oh my Luna," I whisper happily with a smile as I caress her beautiful blonde hair.
"My Luna. You'll no longer feel pain or suffering."

I remember the night of the wedding, her mother's death, the first time she fell off of a broom. No longer will she feel any of it. Kissing her forehead, I close the chamber and begin making some last minute changes.

"Sweet dreams, my dear girl."

(Luna's POV)

Crash! Clonk! Clink!

I awaken to the sounds of machinery. The room is surprisingly well-lit, but I don't know where I am.

"Strange," I remark.
"This doesn't look like my room."

I try to sit up when my head hits against something hard. I fall back onto the soft pillow I rested upon and find that glass covers me.

"Ouch!" I exclaim as I rub where I hit my head.
"What was that?"

I feel something in my hand and something in my arm. I look to see my stuffed rabbit and a white lilly. What's going on?

"Is this…a coffin?" I ask a bit anxious.

"Actually, it's a chamber," a familiar, excited voice corrects me.

I turn to find my dad work on machinery to the right of the chamber. I struggle to open the glass, but I manage to pry it open halfway.

"I don't know how you're awake, but I'm a bit glad about it. You're just in time to see this wonder at work."

"Dad, what are you doing?" I ask confused.

"It's almost finished. It's almost finished!" he squeals excitedly.

"What's almost finished?" I ask.

"The chamber. Of innocence."

"The what?"

"The chamber of innocence. Your new resting place," he laughs maniacally, but slightly lovingly.
"In this, Luna my love, your innocence shall never be lost. Not ever. It shall prevail and heighten. This machine will erase all of those nasty memories and pain, making you eternally sweet, pure, young, and innocent. You'll stay my sweet, little, wonderstruck fairy princess forever. It will be so wonderful!"

My stomach jumps in panic. Forever? But those memories shaped me to be who I am. And how will I be able to finish school or care for daddy or become a magizoologist? I can't let this happen!

In a panic I search my hair and find that, thankfully, dad had not removed my wand from behind my ear. Sneakily, I grab it and point it at dad.

"I'm so sorry about this, dad," I tell him.
"Petrificus Totalus!"

The spelling hits him, locking him like a board. I jump out of the chamber and zip out like a bullet. I have to hurry. The spell will only last long enough for me to get out of here.

My heart beats in a panic as I am confronted with numerous hallways. Each one I try leads to some sort of dead end or back to the room. I have to body bind dad several more times to keep him from regaining movement, at least until I can safely escape.

I know there's no way I can stay at my house, at least not for a while. I'm usually very open about things, but taking away the painful memories will only hurt me more than having them stay. You can't grow if you never experience pain. Why would dad want me to never have had those memories? How else would I be able to care for thestrals? I don't even know if I would still be me if those events never happened, and that thought alone terrifies me.

Finally, I manage to find my way out of the shelter. It's attached to the right of my rook-shaped home. Mum had a slight fondness for the shape of the rook chess piece. Something about protection and royalty.

Anxiously, I rush inside and bullet up to my room. I have to get out of here. I don't really care where, just away from here.

I jump out of my nightgown and grab the clothes I wore on the train to school at the beginning of last year. Frantically I dive into them. I have a bit of trouble fitting my feet into the combat boots, but I manage in a few minutes.

I grab an old magic suitcase. If I set it right, it should be light enough to carry and it can shrink to fit. In a flash, I stuff my schoolbooks, uniform, cauldron, clothing, stuffed hare, and anything else I might need inside. It all manages to fit.

As I close the suitcase and turn the shrink lock, I hear the door open and some light, insane giggling. I stuff my wand behind my ear for quick access.

"Luna," my dad says calmly, even though I know he's not."Come out, my dear."

I freeze in panic as I stuff the suitcase into my dress pocket. I wonder how many wrackspurts got into daddy's head to make him like this, but I'm not sure I'd like to stick around to find out.

Quietly, I peek around the spiral stairs. His back is turned. Maybe I can book it and make a break for the door.

I try to be quiet as I tiptoe down the stairs, but at the bottom my wand drops from my hair, hitting the teal-blue metal. In a flash, he's right in front of me and kicks my wand out of the way. Now what?

"Don't be scared, my Luna," he says with a slight, maniacal giggle in his voice.
"Daddy will make everything all better."

Without thinking I dive in the direction he kicked my wand and land just short of it when I feel him grab my boot. I dig my nails into the wood, hoping for some extra support.

"I thought you were my little angel," he laughs maniacally.

It's clear he's gone round the bend. I struggle against his grasp as I reach for my wand. Sweat pours down my forehead and arms. What do I do? What do I do?

"Luna, be a good girl and come with daddy."

"Let go of me!" I scream as I push myself forward."You're insane!"

"That's no way to talk to daddy," he says in a sing-song tone."Now stop being so naughty and come with me, sweetie!"

All of a sudden I feel my foot in the boot he's holding onto. I move it around to confirm; the laces are quickly coming undone. Instinctively, I shake my foot around, hoping to push the boot off of it.

After a bit of struggle, it works. The boot and daddy go flying backwards. I grab my wand and quickly stand up, pointing my wand at my dazed dad.

"Petrificus Totalus!" I recite.

He locks into a board again. I grab my boot, jam my foot into it, and dash as fast as I can out the door and far away from my house. At this point, there's only one place I can go right away that I know will provide me some protection from dad; the Burrow.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV):

It doesn't take me too long to run there, even in the snow. As daddy told Harry at the wedding, we live just over the hill from the Weasleys. As I keep in contact with Ginny very often, I have a feeling Mrs. Weasley will help me and, if not, Ginny could always convince her.

Finally I spy the tip of the Burrow. It looks well-built, considering what happened at the wedding. I dash down to the front door and knock frantically, frequently looking behind me to make sure daddy hasn't caught up to me yet.

"Mrs. Weasley, it's Luna Lovegood! Please open up! I'm in serious trouble."

In a moment, Mrs. Weasley, a red-headed beauty, especially for her age, appears at the doorway and opens it.

"Why Luna," she beams.
"How lovely to see you."

"Mrs. Weasley, I'm so sorry to interrupt your Christmas, but I'm in serious peril and I need a place to stay until this blows over."

"Oh no, you weren't interrupting anything. Everyone's just getting up. Please come in. You look like you're going to faint."

I rush inside, thankful for her kindness and slump down on a chair in fatigue. Feeling my fear, she locks the door.

"How about I make you a cup of tea, dear?" she suggests.
"Mint chamomile? And then you can tell me all about what's going on."

"Yes please, thank you," I say kindly.
"Though I'm not sure if it's believable. Even I'm still unsure if it actually happened."

"Well, sometimes," Mrs. Weasley says as she prepares the kettle.
"The events that seem least believable to us turn out to be the most believable to others."

I find this comforting and I manage to relax.

"The chamber of what?" she asks incredulously when I tell her about what my father is up to.

"Innocence," I shiver at the mere mention.
"He said it would take away the pain and bad events I'd experienced."

I take another sip of tea.

"But don't those help shape you?"

"That was my thought too!" I exclaim.
"I was scared I wouldn't be myself if I'd stayed inside of the chamber. That doesn't sound insane, does it?"

Mrs. Weasley shakes her head.

"That is completely valid, Luna," she replies with a smile.
"I don't know how your father even managed to build such a device."

"Neither do I, but I'm not sure I want to find out."

I take another sip.

"The only troubles now," I say as I set my cup down.
"Are where do I go and how do I avoid daddy until he's calmed down?"

"Mum," Ginny's voice calls slightly softly from upstairs.
"Have you seen my Christmas jumper? The one dad set out on the bannister last night?"

"You mean the red one with the tiny lions and the letter G in gold?" Mrs. Weasley calls back.

"No, the purple one with the red and green snitches and the letter G in blue."

"I think I'm washing that one. Just put on the red one. It should be on the bannister. Oh, and Ginny. Be sure to set an extra place for Christmas dinner tonight. We have someone who will be staying here for a while."

She turns back to me and smiles.

"You really mean it, Mrs. Weasley?" I ask in shock.
"I can stay here?"

"Of course you can, dear," she replies.
"If what you say is true, I'd be just as bad to turn you out. And no one should be scared on Christmas."

I smile at her and tears of relief form in my eyes.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

Ginny's the first one to come downstairs. She's a bit surprised when she sees me, but I ask to talk to her alone and I tell her about my predicament.

"A chamber of innocence?" she asks in disbelief.
"That's insane!"

"Exactly!"

"Did he say why?"

I try to reflect back on the brief conversation, but nothing comes to mind.

"No," I say finally.
"Just that I'd be innocent forever."

"Wouldn't that kind of take away who you are?" Ginny asks.

"I think so," I reply in certainty.
"I don't think I'd be a full person if I was completely innocent."

"And that's why mum's having you stay here."

"Exactly."

"Morning," another voice says smoothly.

We turn to find George with a steaming cup of tea. Ginny sighs and shakes her head.

"You've tried that already with me and Harry. I don't think Luna and I would kiss, would we?"

I shrug. I've always found Ginny slightly attractive and I don't think I'd mind getting married to her.

"It could happen," I say with a small smile as I feel myself turning red slightly.

"Fair enough," Ginny replies.

I swear I can see her cheeks slightly blushing.

Fred comes galloping down the stairs.

"What's Luna doing here?" he asks.

"Her father built a chamber of innocence and now she's scared to go back there."

"Chamber of what?" they ask at the same time.

"Innocence," I reply, shivering once more.
"Dad said it would make me pure and innocent forever."

"You know, you could use that, Gin," George says.

"Yeah, you've got quite a dirty mouth," Fred agrees.
"Maybe that machine would stop it."

"Says the one teaching swear words to the garden gnomes," she retorts.

"How are the garden gnomes, by the way?" I ask, suddenly remembering the wedding.

"Fine," Ginny says shrugging.
"Fred and George brought in a small family of them. They were gonna give them to you as a joke present."

"Well, jokes on them," I say putting my hands on my hips and nodding my head towards the twins.
"If you get bitten by gernumbli gardensi, it's extraordinarily beneficial."

"If by beneficial, you mean strange," Ginny replies.
"We've each been bitten since they started living here and strange things have happened after we got bitten. Some good and some bad."

"One time ol' Freddy here got bit," George adds.
"And later he had a storm of new joke shop product ideas that were coming at lightning speed."

"And one time you got bit and recreated a Van Gogh painting to near 100% accuracy," Ginny reminds him.

"Yeah, yeah, we're all gonna make fun of the guy who's missing an ear," he says sarcastically waving his hands.
"Ha ha. Look at me. I'm a garden gnome. I'll bite this guy and turn him into the second coming of Van Gogh."

"I….don't think that's how the second coming would….never mind," Ginny says shaking her head.
"Anyway I got bit once and then I started singing opera shortly after."

"She's not too bad, if she were a cat," Fred jokes.

"Look who's talking! I hear you singing The Beatles and The Weird Sisters in the shower almost every night."

"There's nothing wrong with a bit of Hey Jude and Do the Hippogriff every now and then!"

"Yeah, but not every evening."

"I didn't know bugs could sing," I remark.

The three look at me funny.

"Actually The Beatles is a muggle band from the 60s," Ginny explains.

"Dad found out about it when he was working on a project about muggle music," George adds."Once he brought it into the house, ol' Freddie here was in love."

"Shut up," Fred scoffs jokingly.

I smile as Arthur comes downstairs. Then all of them and Mrs. Weasley go into the dining room. I follow to find that Mrs. Weasley has baked a lovely coffeecake with vanilla glaze to pour on along with some fruit. All of our names are on place cards, including one for me. I smile as I sit down next to Ginny. When the coffee cake comes round to me, I take small bites before taking a few bigger bites.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Mrs. Weasley says.
"Look under your chairs."

We all do and I find nothing under mine. Is it some sort of Christmas prank? Nope. Ginny finds a cylindrical parcel under hers.

"Don't worry, dearie," Mrs. Weasley consoles me.
"I haven't quite finished yours yet. I'll give it to you when we open our gifts tonight."

Thank goodness I remembered to drop my gifts off at the Weasley's early, otherwise I'd have to go back home to get them.

Ginny finds a scarlet jumper with brown, barn owls and the letter G in maroon and gold. Fred and George both get alternating red and green jumpers with the letter in the other color and both are covered in patterns of court jesters.

I suddenly hear a hooting sound and turn to Ginny to find that the owls on her jumper are moving and hooting. Fred and George look on in awe when suddenly they start hearing laughter coming from both of their jumpers. The court jesters begin to hop between their jumpers.

"Wicked," they say in unison as the jesters begin to juggle red and green balls to one another.

Ginny's barn owl jumps off of the sweater and flies around the table. I watch on, entranced.

"Wow," I gasp.

"Yeah," George replies.
"Mum's jumper game keeps going up every year."

Arthur looks under his chair and finds a blue jumper with a small boat in water and a rubber duck with the letter A in bright red. I hear the duck quack and then it begins to swim around, hopping between the jumper and the table.

I start flapping my hands in excitement, as does Mr. Weasley. Surprisingly, Mrs. Weasley doesn't seem to mind. In fact, she's smiling at her husband. Not a fake, polite smile, but a smile encouraging him.

"You're autistic too?" I ask him in awe.

He nods.

"Mum doesn't mind when he happy-stims," Ginny says.

"It's actually really sweet when he flaps his hands when he's happy," Mrs. Weasley exclaims.

"Wait," Fred says.
"Dad's autistic and you never told us?"

"She did! You two weren't listening, but I can't blame you," Ginny tells them.

Then she turns to me; by this time, I'm slightly confused.

"Fred and George have ADHD, so it's hard for them to pay attention sometimes. That's why mum didn't completely go against the idea of them having a joke shop. They can jump between ideas really quickly."

"Is that why dad doesn't talk for long periods of time?" George asks.

"Probably," I reply.
"Autistic people can be non-verbal for extended periods of time. It's not that we're being rude. We just use up a lot of energy by talking when we need to use it to process things in our head. Or perhaps we've had a really bad case of sensory overload."

"Wait," Ginny pipes up.
"I think….dad, is the holiday season this year at the ministry as bad as it normally is?"

"Worse," he says with a nod.
"Much worse."

"That may explain it."

I nod and continue eating, staring at the animated jumpers as they interact with us.

All throughout the day, I find excitement at every turn. I've never spent the holidays with the Weasleys, so this was quite interesting to experience. There are animated decorations at every turn and, around every corner, is a new Weasley twins' prank.

Ginny shows me the gnomes and I get bitten yet again. We wait to see what would happen and soon I find an urge to speak Mermish. Unfortunately, there are no mermaids around, so Ginny sits and listens to me passionately rant about the history of mermaids in their native language, which I promptly translate for her afterwards.

Christmas dinner happens at around dark; roast with mashed potatoes and gravy and some mixed veggies. Then come presents. For Ginny, I got her some muggle sweets as well as a book on the history of Quidditch. For Fred and George, a package of muggle magic tricks which I hope will inspire some new ideas for pranks. For Mrs. Weasley and Arthur each. a warm cardigan and an animated mug.

I too get some gifts in return. Ginny gives me several books on magical creatures and their care, including a signed copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by none other than Newt Scamander. Fred and George give me some homemade nasty sweets to give to people.

"Because, pardon me for the timing, but you do look super innocent," Fred reasons.

"Yeah, you don't really look like you'd play a trick on anyone," George agrees.
"So we think you might be able to get our Umbridge candies out there."

"Umbridge candies?" I giggle.
"You two! You two! You two! You two!"

They also give me one of the gnome families and a guide on the eggs of magical reptiles and birds. Arthur gives me a new set of paints. And Mrs. Weasley?

"Luna," she tells me.
"Look under your dinner chair."

I go over to the dining room table to find a cylindrical parcel under my seat. I unwrap it to find a beautiful, dark purple jumper with an L in blue and bronze stripes. On the sweater are hares, my patronus. One of the hares hops off of the jumper and runs around me before nuzzling up against my leg. Though it looks like a patronus hare, it feels very much like a real hare.

"How do you like it?" Mrs. Weasley asks.

I smile, and with tears of joy in my eyes, I run over and hug her.

"I love it," I tell her.
"It's beautiful."

I pull back and she smiles at me.

"Merry Christmas, Luna."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV):

Time with the Weasleys goes by quickly and, before we know it, Ginny and I have to go back to school again soon. We've done a bit more planning with Neville involving the DA, adding a few new spells to the teaching repertoire. We're all excited and a bit anxious to start the lessons. We know we'll be in serious trouble if we're caught, but Ginny says she knows of a spell to protect the wall of the Room of Requirement so that it can't be blown apart like it was about two years ago.

One day I'm sitting in me and Ginny's room rereading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and I hear knocking on the door. I go downstairs to answer when I glance out the window and spy a strand of messy, silver hair.

"Mrs. Weasley," a slightly-crazed voice says in a sing-song voice.
"I need to talk to you."

I gasp in horror and duck underneath the kitchen table as my heart beats at the rate of a billywig's wings. It can't be dad. It just can't be.

"Mrs. Weasley," dad sings.
"Where are you?"

I begin to tremble. At that moment, Mrs. Weasley enters the kitchen and spies me hiding under the table.

"Luna, what are you—?"

"Shh!" I whisper rapidly.
"My dad's at the door. He must've found out where I am."

"Don't worry. I'll deal with him," she whispers.
"In the meantime, you go back upstairs. Quickly."

I dash back up the stairs, careful to avoid my dad's wandering gaze. at the top of the bannister, I hide and listen as the front door opens.

"Xenophilius, what a surprise," Mrs. Weasley says warmly.
"What brings you here?"

"Well," he says slightly crazed.
"It seems that my sweet little Luna ran away from home. I miss her ever so dreadfully. I'm also very tired. Might I come inside?"

"Of course not!" she blurts out.
"I just cleaned the floors and I don't want them to get messy again."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm not that dirty, dirty, dirty."

"I would rather not take the risk."

There's a small silence. Then I hear dad speaking in a low, sinister tone, sending chills up and down my body.

"You know, Mrs. Weasley, it would be a shame if you were hiding my sweet, little Luna from me and weren't telling me. I wouldn't want a hair on your head to get hurt, but things can happen if one lies to their neighbors. Rather terrible things, in fact."

"Xenophilius," she says with a slight tremor in her voice.
"You know I wouldn't lie to you, right?"

"I would hope not. It would be a shame if you were. A deadly shame."

All of a sudden, I hear the door slam and Mrs. Weasley runs upstairs. Her face is incredibly pale. Suddenly I hear the doorknob turn and prepare to make a break for it when she suddenly runs back downstairs and shuts the door before dad can get in anymore. I hear the click of a lock and her heavy breathing. She runs beck upstairs and grabs her wand.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"I'm sorry, Luna, but this isn't a safe place for you to stay anymore. I fear Xenophilius may decide to camp out here if he's that desperate to have you. Quickly go pack your things. I'll call a friend who can take you in."

With that, I run off to my room, wondering who she has in mind.

(Hermione's POV):

"Dissendium!" Harry says as we try to blast the locket.

The spell activates and the locket blasts away. We go over to where we blasted it and, surprisingly, the locket is still whole. I decide to give it a try.

"Incendio!" I recite, thinking the leaves might give us some kindling.

But when the flames clear away, the locket looks undamaged. Harry, clearly frustrated, tries some different spells.

"Expulso!"

Nothing.

"Diffindo!"

Untouched.

"Reducto!"

Not a single break, not even a crack. What's it going to take to destroy this locket?

Harry begins to fire randomly at the locket, but each time it looks as if it's never even been touched. Breathing heavily he picks it up and put it on his neck?

"What are you doing?" I ask him.

"We need to keep it safe until we figure out how to destroy it," he says.

"Seems strange, mate," Ron pipes up.
"Dumbledore sends you out to find all these horcruxes, but doesn't tell you how to destroy them. Doesn't that bother you?"

There's a moment of silence until we hear a zap from Ron's wand. He takes it out and puts it to his head, closing his eyes.

"Hello? Mum?" he asks incredulously.
"How'd you contact us? Well, yeah, but we're probably out of range. Anyway, what is it?"

There's a slight pause as he listens to what Mrs. Weasley has to tell him.

"Luna? What about her? Trouble? Chamber? Mum, you're not making any sense. Alright, calm down. We'll be there in about 10. I love you too. See ya."

He takes the wand away from his head and looks at us.

"What is it?" I ask.

"We gotta get back to the Burrow. Apparently Luna's in trouble. Something about a chamber of some sort and her dad gone mad."

"But we need to keep our camp safe," Harry points out.

"It shouldn't take too long. Mum said she sent Luna to pack everything. I told her we'd be there in about ten minutes. i mean, we know how to apparate, sort of."

"But can we afford to keep her safe?" I ask.
"This is risky, taking Luna along with us. The three of us are in enough danger as it is."

"Well, we don't really have a choice. Mum's gonna be expecting us."

"Fine," I sigh.
"But we should make it quick."

"Oh, and she says we should apparate to the back exit," he adds quickly.
"Not the front. Xenophilius is there and she says Luna thinks he's gone mad, which is saying a lot."

I roll my eyes and the three of us apparate to the Burrow.

(Luna's POV)

I finish packing and bring my suitcase downstairs in my pocket. Mrs. Weasley directs me towards the backyard.

"Who did you contact?" I ask.

"Ron. He should be here with Harry and Hermione in about five minutes."

My heart jumps. If Ron's there, Harry should be as well. Why does my heart skip a beat whenever I hear his name? I don't have time to answer that as three figures appear in front of me; Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"And just in the nick of time!" Mrs. Weasley gasps.

"Hello," I say kindly, but with a touch of fear in my voice.

"Hi, Luna," Harry says.
"Are you alright?"

I shrug.

"Not really, but now that you three are here, I should be fine."

"I should warn you, Luna," Hermione pipes up.
"We're sort of on a dangerous mission here. So you'll need to watch your back."

I nod in understanding.

"Now are you sure you have everything, dearie?" Mrs. Weasley asks.

"I'm pretty sure," I say.

She smiles sadly and gives me a hug.

"Do be careful please. You three watch out for her."

"Luna's really capable of holding her own," Harry tells her.
"I've seen her fight and she's really defensive and strong in a battle.

I beam at this and can feel myself blushing a tad.

"But that was in the Department of Mysteries," Hermione reminds him.
"This is different."

"Only slightly."

"I think I'll watch out for myself and you three can help," I suggest.

"Fair enough," Ron shivers.
"I think we should get out of here. I feel like I'm being watched."

"Agreed," Hermione says with a nod.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me," I tell Mrs. Weasley.

I hold onto Harry's hand as we apparate away from the Burrow and my crazed dad.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV):

I don't quite know how to apparate, so when we get to our destination, I land on my backside.

"Where are we?" I ask as I stand up and brush myself off.

"Camp," Harry says nonchalantly.

"For now," Hermione adds.
"We may need to start moving again in case the Ministry comes after us. I'm sure you heard about why the lynx came to the wedding?"

I nod.

"How are things at Hogwarts?" Harry asks.

"Bad," I sigh.
"Snape replaced McGonagall as headmaster and Amycus and Alecto's Muggle Studies classes are trying to get people to despise muggles and Muggle-Borns. They're making everyone take it."

"Of course they are," Hermione says infuriated.
"Now I'm a bit glad we're on this mission instead of at Hogwarts."

"Blimey," Ron gasps.
"Hermione being glad about not going to school? Must really be Hell there then."

We begin to go on the run a lot. Hermione is constantly vigilant and Harry has stopped wearing the locket. He says he saw a vision of someone getting killed by You-Know-Who while wearing it. Now Ron's got it on and the trio's in a bit of tension.

"What do you care about my relationship with Hermione?" Harry spits one evening.

He and Ron have been talking about Hermione a lot when she's not around.

"I don't care, but I need you to step back," Ron snaps back.

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"I'll tell you whatever I want, mate. What if I told you I didn't want to be here anymore? What if I told you that I wanted to run away and never return? Would you give a damn?"

I hear a slight push and turn around to see that the banter has slightly become physical. As the fighting escalates, so does the volume of their voices.

"Ron, calm down!" Harry tells him.

"Don't you tell me to calm down!"

"I'll tell you whatever I want, mate."

"Oh, real original!"

"What's the matter? Can dish it out, but can't take it?"

"You know damn well what's the matter!"

"No, I don't. What is this all about? Do you like Hermione or something?"

"In case you haven't noticed, we've been friends for seven bloody years!"

"I mean, do you love her?"

"What does that matter to you? You got your eye on her, scar boy?"

"Don't call me that. If you love her, why don't you just go tell her instead of listening to that stupid radio all the time?"

Ron takes a few seconds to compose himself.

"Do you know why I listen to the radio?" Ron asks in a low growl.
"Do you know why I listen to what you call that 'stupid radio'? I listen because I don't want to hear Ginny's name, or Fred's, or George's, or mum's or dad's—"

"You think I don't listen either? You think I don't know what it's like?"

"No you don't know what it's like!" Ron shouts.
"Your parents are dead. You have no family!"

"Stop it!" I say loudly.

The two turn and look at me. By this time, I've covered my ears and tears are falling from my eyes.

"Just stop it, you two! You know better than this."

Ron and Harry glare back at each other.

"She's right," Ron growls.
"I do know better than this."

He takes the locket off and throws it against the tent floor.

"There. Take your precious horcrux."

"Ron? Ron, where are you going?" Harry yells.

"Away from you!" Ron barks.

After a moment of tension, Ron runs off and away from the campsite. I feel a lump in my throat and try to bury my head. Seeing this, Harry comes and sits by me.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that, Luna," he apologizes solemnly.

"That's alright," I say, trying to choke back my tears.
"Things like this happen."

There are a few moments of silence. The only sounds that can be heard are the winter wind and my occasional sniffling.

"You okay, Luna?" he asks me.

"Yes," I say nodding.
"Just a bit shaken. I'm not used to hearing arguments, especially ones so heated."

There are a few more moments of silence before Harry stands back up.

"Well, who needs Ron anyway?" Harry asks.

"What about Ron?" Hermione asks as she comes back into the tent with more firewood.

She looks around the tent.

"Harry, where's Ron?"

"Out," he says bitterly.

"Well, when is he coming back?"

"Dunno. Probably never."

Hermione drops the firewood in shock.

"What happened?"

"Ron and I had a fight and then he just….stormed off."

"I can't believe it!" Hermione exclaims in worry.
"This isn't like him. If he hadn't been wearing that horcrux all day—"

"Who cares about Ron?"

"Harry!"

There's a slight tension between the two before Hermione takes a deep breath.

"Well, since we don't know where he went," Hermione continues.
"We'll just have to keep looking for them on our own and hope that he comes back. Where should we go?"

There's some silence.

"Hermione," Harry says.

"Yes?"

He takes a moment to compose himself.

"C-could we go to Godric's Hollow? I haven't seen it in ages."

"I don't know."

"We might find something there. Someone who could help us figure out these horcruxes and how we can destroy them."

Hermione gives this some thought. I can tell she's still very shaken about Ron leaving.

"Okay, we'll go. But first I think we should rest for a few days. And I have a new rule; no one is to wear the locket. Ever."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV):

Those few days go by slowly. Still no sign of Ron, but Harry and Hermione seem to be bonding well enough. I just wish Ron would come back. The more people we have, the more brainpower we'd have and the sooner we'd find these horcruxes. No one has really explained to me what they are still.

Finally the night comes to go to Godric's Hollow. I volunteer to stay behind, but Hermione is a bit oppositional.

"I'm not letting you stay here by yourself."

"I'm old enough, Hermione."

"But what if you get killed?"

"I highly doubt she will," Harry says.
"Even if something or someone were to threaten her, she's very good at defensive spells."

I feel myself blushing slightly at this.

"And we do need someone to protect the camp."

Hermione, giving this some thought, finally relents.

"Fine, fine, fine," she sighs.
"Luna, you stay at the camp. But don't go wandering off."

"I'm not a child, Hermione."

"We'd better get going then. It's getting late," Harry reminds her.
"We should be back in about an hour or so, Luna."

The two of them step outside the tent and apparate, leaving behind a cold silence, save for the whistling wind and rustling of leaves. I begin to feel a bit sleepy and lie down to have a nap, but I soon fall asleep.

I don't know where I am. It's pitch black all around me. I can't see a thing and I hear nothing. Suddenly a small light zooms past me and then floats in midair. Then I realize it's not in midair. That's a lamppost. It illuminates a bit ahead. I see cobblestone covered in moss and vines for the floor. I walk cautiously up to the lamppost when another light zooms past me and hangs in a lamppost. The same thing happens when I walk to that lamppost. And then the other. And another.

Suddenly I hear footsteps and someone's calling my name.

"Luna," it echoes hauntingly.

It sends chills up my spine. No, it can't be.

"Luna," the voice echoes again.
"Come here, Luna."

I want to go near it, but something inside of me tells me to run in the opposite direction. Light's begin rush past me before hanging in their respective lampposts. I keep running from the voice, but the more I run from it, the louder it gets. I soon realize that I keep running in the same direction, so I turn around and go back.

"Luna," the voice echoes getting even louder. 

I turn a corner and skid to a stop to find a sight I cannot peel my eyes from.

The clothing is torn and bloody. The eyes are riddled with throbbing, bloodshot veins and dark circles protrude below them. The hair is scattered and silver. One of the shoulders protrudes out more than the other, giving the impression that the neck is tilted slightly, as is the head. The mouth displays a malicious Cheshire Cat grin with needle point fangs and teeth. 

The ears are pointed like a demon's. The legs are contorted with the knees reversed completely, but the feet are pointed straight at me. The hands are also bloody and the nails are long and sharpened into claws. Behind the figure are thousands of corpses.

"Luna," it hisses demonically, showing a razor sharp tongue.
"It's me."

I finally recognize the voice.

"I know this isn't real, dad," I say as calmly as I can.
"And it's my dream. I can get my friends to help."

Slowly the thing that should be my dad starts to laugh. One laugh, then two in a row, and so on, until he laughs nonstop. 

"Do you really think you control this dream?" he cackles.

Then he suddenly stares at me a bit sadly.

"Luna, my love," he says quietly, his voice trembling with insanity.
"I did all of this for you."

He gestures to the pile behind him. One of the corpses is a woman with red hair.

"No," I gasp horrified.

"Yes," he says with a small laugh in his throat.
"I killed them all. For you. They were in your way, Luna. Your way to innocence."

He snaps his fingers and the corpses form into a group before standing up. As they stand, they slowly begin to turn themselves inside out, displaying their bloody entrails and throbbing brains. They begin to moan monotonously. I slowly back away before turning around and dashing in the other direction. 

"You can't run, run, run, nor can you hide, my Luna!" my dad yells.
"For this is MY LABYRINTH!"

I zoom down the cobblestone passages; I can feel my heart beating rapidly as I turn left and right and go up and down and side to side. At one point, I find myself aimlessly running in a circle. The entrail puppets nearly gain on me several times. I soon feel myself getting weary, but I have to keep going or I'll be doomed. 

Soon I spy a large light up ahead. Breathing a sigh of relief, I rush to it, my feet slapping against the cobblestone flooring. But once I see what's inside, I try to stop myself from going anywhere nearer. 

"No," I gasp fearfully.
"Not the chamber!"

The floor begins to incline behind me forcing me down into the room. Once I'm inside the brown cobblestone room, it too begins to incline. Quickly, my eyes dart around, looking for something to hold onto, but each time I try to grab onto the floor to keep myself from falling in, the stone begins to feel like a slimy, slippery serpent. I hear hissing and each time I see a snake launch itself at me, just missing my face. The more the ground inclines, the gravity pulling me towards the chamber, the more violent the serpents become and the closer the puppets get.

Suddenly I feel something grab my leg and pull. The monster that is supposed to my dad grabs on tightly to my leg and doesn't let go. Keeping a hold of a stoney serpent with one hand, I reach for behind my ear, only to find that my wand is gone.

"Looking, looking, looking for thissssss?" the monster asks menacingly before laughing maniacally.

I whirl my head around to find that it has my wand and is holding it over the now-open chamber leading to an endless abyss.

"Oops," it says as it flicks my wand away.
"Now, my Luna. Surrender yourself to your destiny. You were meant to be innocent and you were meant to stay innocent. Your father is only doing what is right for you. Surrender to the innocence."

Despite every odd against me, I attempt to pull myself up to the doorway, but nearly slip in the process. 

"Naughty, naughty, naughty," it rasps, now sounding nothing like my dad. 

One of the serpents bites my hand and I let go in pain, making the mistake of not watching my other hand. Another snake strikes at my other hand and I begin to plunge, screaming, into the dark hole. Everything begin to become pitch black again and then…..silence. 

"Luna? Luna!" I hear a voice exclaim in concern as I feel hands on my wrists and ankles, pushing me down.

I wake up screaming and sweating. I look up through my eyes, welling up to the brim with tears, to find Harry and Hermione are back and trying to keep me from thrashing about.

"Luna, it's okay!" Harry says calmly.
"Calm down."

I stop screaming and thrashing and begin to pant.

"I-I-I had a nightmare," I gulped.
"It was about my dad."

"It was only a nightmare," Hermione assures me.

I shake my head timidly.

"It's not," I squeak.
"He's really after me."

I tell them about the whole predicament including the dream. This leaves them both in shock.

"A chamber that makes someone completely innocent?" Hermione asks.

"Yes. I don't know how he did it, but I don't think I want to find out."

Hermione sighs in defeat.

"Maybe I was wrong," she admits.
"If what you're saying is true, then it might be better that you're here with us than at the Burrow."

"Really?"

She nods.

"But this is still dangerous. We'll all need to watch out for each other. If we do that, nothing bad should happen."

"You promise?"

"Yeah," Harry nods.
"We promise."

Chapter Text

(Ginny's POV):

A few days or so after Luna leaves, mum tells me that she has to go out shopping for some groceries and I'll be by myself for a while.

"Leave the doors locked. And don't leave the house," she told me a few moments ago.

"Mum, I'll be fine," I assured her as she got into the car.

Mum's been anxious since the incident with Xenophilius and has been very vigilant about security. I don't know how insane Xenophilius has actually gone, so I'm not sure whether I can say I blame her or not. I mean, it's good to be cautious, but not constantly, says the girl with hidden anxiety.

As soon as she leaves, I flop down on the couch with one of the Quidditch books I got for Christmas. I'm on a chapter about the history behind the Chudley Cannons when I hear something hit against the window. I look up and around, only to see nothing. The sound gets my heart going ever so slightly, but I try to push it back.

"Must've been a tree branch or something," I say, shrugging and settling back into my chapter.

A few minutes later, I hear it again.

"It's not supposed to be windy out, is it?"

I get a pit feeling in my stomach. I think mum definitely has some reason to be afraid, but surely he wouldn't be back for Luna a second time, would he? Even if he was, he wouldn't find her and just leave, right?

"Problem solved, Ginny," I tell myself quietly.
"Problem solved."

I settle back into my chapter when I hear something else; a window being smashed and footsteps, causing my heart to jump. My face turns white and I feel the blood drain from it.

"Damn," I whisper under my breath.
"That's not a tree branch.

I shoot up and quietly tiptoe to the stairs. I'll just go to my room, grab my wand, contact mum, and then contact the Order.

"Piece of cake," I whisper.

As soon as I reach my room, I shut the door quietly and snatch up my wand. I hold it to my head, close my eyes, and think Contact mum.

It doesn't take too long for her to pick up.

"Hello? Ginny?"

"Mum," I whisper with a slight panic in my voice."I don't want to alarm you, but I think someone broke into our house. I heard a window getting smashed and then someone's footsteps."

There's a moment of silence as mum processes what I told her.

"Ginny," she says in a low voice.
"Where are you?"

"In my room."

"Did you lock the door?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, mum. I'm sure."

"Stay in your room and DO NOT unlock the door, no matter what."

"But what if—?"

"DO NOT," mum repeats.
"No matter what happens, DO NOT UNLOCK YOUR DOOR. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I understand. Do you want me to contact the Order?"

"If you feel you should. I'm on my way home. I'll see you in about ten minutes."

I disconnect the call and wait in my room for a while, debating whether or not to call the Order. On one hand, they could handle the situation much better than I can by myself. On the other hand, the Ministry may be able to listen in on our phone calls. On top of it, various thoughts relating to the intruder, thanks to my anxiety, run through my head.

What if it's a Death Eater?

What if it's a Snatcher?

What if it's Xenophilius?

What if it's Voldemort himself?

"Okay, breathe, Ginny. Breathe," I whisper to myself.
"You don't want to have a panic attack right now. I mean, you don't really want to have a panic attack ever, but you know what I mean."

I decide to contact the Order. I hold my wand tip to my forehead, close my eyes, and think Contact the Order. The dial tone goes on for what feels like forever until I get this:

"The person you are trying to reach is currently not available. Please leave a message or try again."

"Damn it," I mutter under my breath.
"This is like a horror film."

Suddenly I hear knocking on my door. My heart begins to pound in my chest. I disconnect, stand up, and prepare to defend myself, if need be.

"Alohomora!" the voice recites.

Oh no, I think as I recognize the voice.
This isn't good.

I hear the click of the lock and the door slowly opens. A wand sticks out and I prepare to fire when I hear

"Expelliarmus!"

My wand goes flying across my room. In a panic, I try to make a dash for it when the last thing I hear before blacking out is,

"Stupefy!"

(Molly's POV)

I rush home after Ginny tells me what's happened. As soon as I get home, I find that Ginny was right; our side window is smashed in. I unlock and rush in through the front door. I cautiously, but quickly, head up the stairs to see Ginny's door open. I peek inside only to find that she's missing.

My first instinct is to go looking for her, but as I head to the front door, a note on the kitchen table catches my eye:

Molly,

I am so sorry I had to do this, but you've left me with no choice.
I have taken your daughter Ginerva as my captive.
Should you want her back unaltered,
bring me back my sweet little Luna and she will be yours.

Regretfully,
Xenophilius Lovegood

Chapter Text

(Xenophilius's POV):

I dash away from the Burrow with Ginerva unconscious in my arms, careful not to jolt her too much so that she might wake up.

"I'm so sorry, Molly," I cry under my breath as I run home.
"I am so very sorry. But this is the only way. It has to be the only way."

As I run back, I think on what I had just done. I do feel bad about what I'm doing, but I want-no, I need-my little girl back. And not just my little girl. I want her free of the memories that give her pain, free of the things that make her feel suffering and torture, free of what gives her heartache and free of so much heartbreak. What I don't understand is why she ran away when she heard about it. If she's completely innocent, she doesn't feel pain or spite or anger. All she'd know is love. Isn't that what she would want? To know only love?

My sweet, little Luna is definitely so pure and innocent already, but it would be terribly tragic if her beautiful purity and sweet innocence left. No parent wants their child to be hurt, but Luna is special; incredibly special. In fact moreso than one may think, and someone that special should not have to suffer. If she stays in the chamber, she doesn't experience pain. I don't have to experience the heartache of watching my little girl grow up, leave, and die. The machine would make her immortal thanks to a spell I developed as a student. I've kept it as a secret because I know so many wizards and witches would kill to get their hands on it.

As I arrive at the house, I make up my mind; what I'm doing must be done, for my sake and for Luna's. All of a sudden, I I feel the girl stir in my arms. Quickly I head down into the shelter and into the bedroom. If she awakens now, then she'll escape. I set her down in the chamber just as she comes to. I shut the glass covering and turn on the first spell, which will knock her unconscious. The second will put her into a dream world she cannot resist.

"Sweet dreams, Ginerva," I giggle as my eye twitches.

All of a sudden, I hear knocking at the shelter door. Making sure that she is safely and tightly locked inside, I go up and open the door. When I do, I gasp as I find there are three Snatchers glaring at me menacingly.

"Xenophilius Lovegood?" one of them asks in a low, growling voice.

I nod timidly and rapidly.

"We've come for your daughter," the second one asks with a slight growl in their voice.
"Where is she?"

"I-I wish I knew," I stutter rapidly.
"She ran off about five days ago and I need to find her for a project I'm working on."

"You're experimenting on your daughter?" the third one asks incredulously.

"Technically no, but also I suppose you could call it an experiment. It's very complicated to explain."

"Well then. We can cut to the second reason we're here," the first one says. 
"The initial reason is regarding your publications of Mr. Harry James Potter."

"W-what about them?"

"The Ministry despises them," the second one spits in fury.
"If you do not cease publication of support toward the public enemy, we shall be forced to find and take your daughter into Ministry-approved custody. If you are to choose resistance, that is what we came here to do."

"However, since we seem to be at an impasse," the third tells me.
"We're more than willing to strike a compromise to achieve both ends."

A compromise? This intrigues me, yet also frightens me.

"And w-what would that be?" I shiver.

They take a moment to savor the suspense while I feel my legs knocking and trembling.

"If you find and deliver Mr. Harry James Potter to the Ministry," the first one announces.
"We will return your daughter safely to you. You have two weeks."

They turn to go when I ask curiously and timidly,

"And if I don't?"

The three of them turn back to me, their midnight cloaks snapping against the air.

"If you do not return Mr. Harry James Potter to the Ministry within the time allotted to you, Mr. Lovegood," the second one growls low.
"We shall do unspeakable acts to her."

I give a small squeak. Not my Luna. Take me, torture me, kill me even. I would sooner die than let anyone hurt my Luna.

"The terms are clear to you then, I presume," the third one tells me.

I nod, my knees trembling.

"Good day to you then," the first one says.

The three of them transform into clouds of black smoke and slither away in the sky, leaving me to wonder what on earth I am to do.

Briefly, I pray for a miracle. I pray for Molly to return Luna to me. I pray for her to come to her senses and come back on her own accord. At this point, any solution along those lines will do. I begin to mumble under my breath as Berthilda counts away the hours I spend concocting ways to get her back. Hopefully things will turn for the better.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

Days after the incident with Godric's Hollow, Harry, Hermione, and I have had to move from camp-to-camp more quickly than usual. As December turns to January, everything starts to turn cold and bitter. So then when we're not trying to destroy the locket, we've turned to methods of keeping warm physically and spiritually.

"Pygmy Puff!" I guess.

"That's right!" Hermione exclaims.

I take a victory sip of hot cocoa.

"That's the ninth almost-consecutive game of charades you've won so far, Luna," Harry says surprised but happy.

Beaming, I hop up in front of the two.

"My turn," I say.

I take a moment to think and then come up with my creature. I hold up three fingers.

"Three words," Hermione says.

I nod and crumple up my hands.

"Squeezing?" Harry guesses.

"Pressing together?" Hermione asks.

"Pushing?"

"Crumpling?"

I nod and hold two fingers up to my head.

"Horns?" Harry asks.

I nod again and then clap my hands together, laying my head on them like they're a pillow.

"Sleeping," Hermione says.

"Resting."

"Nap?"

"Is it a creature that sleeps a lot?"

I point to my mouth and mimic snoring, much more intensely now.

"Mouth."

"Mouth, talking, talking in your sleep?"

"Sleep talk?"

"Snore?"

I nod and tug on my ear.

"Sounds like," Hermione says.

I smile, pointing at my teeth.

"Teeth."

"Tooth, mouth, bite."

I keep shaking my head. For about five minutes, I point at my gums and my teeth until Hermione seems to have had enough

"Gahh!" she exclaims.
"I give up."

"Me too," Harry exclaims.

"It was the Crumple-Horned Snorkack," I admit.
"That's why I was pointing at my teeth because kack sounds like plaque."

Hermione looks stunned at this and then does what I've heard muggles call a facepalm.

"You'd think someone whose parents were dentists," she laughs.
"Would know a lot more about teeth."

I'm about to take another sip of hot cocoa when I spy something out of the corner of my eye. Just on top of a small mound across from the tent, it looks to be a patronus, but not just any patronus.

"A jackalope," I whisper under my breath.

My mother's patronus.

"What was that?" Hermione asks.

I turn away from the patronus and to Hermione.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. I think I'll go have a look around the camp. I haven't fully seen it."

"Luna, no! It's far too cold out. Stay inside."

"Hermione, I am not a little girl."

"It doesn't matter if you are or not. You'll still freeze out there."

"No, I won't. I'm wearing warm clothes. I'll be fine."

"What if you fall through thin ice?"

"I'm more careful than that, Hermione!"

"Luna, I forbid it!"

"You can't forbid me to go outside! I have control over my own damn body. Now I am going outside and I don't care if you try to chase me down. I'm not coming back inside until I've fully seen the campsite!"

Hermione seems a bit surprised by my assertiveness.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay, but don't go too far."

I step outside and find that Hermione is right. I do feel rather chilled in this weather, but my attention is more fixated on the patronus which is now moving. I stop for a second and it too stops.

It seems to want me to follow it. But where? And why? I wonder.

I continue on just a short distance behind it. We walk for what seems like ages until the patronus stops and disappears just as I reach a frozen pond. In the very center, glowing slightly green, is a locket; the locket of Slytherin.

"But how did it get out here?" I wonder.

Something compels me to investigate the locket more closely, so I get down on my hands and knees, with a shiver, and take a look. There seem to be no breaks in the glass or anything.

Open it, I hear a voice whisper.
Open the locket.

Curiously I take a side of the locket each and try to pry it open. At first there's nothing, but soon I can feel it pulling apart. Before I know it the locket splits in half. Suddenly I feel as if something flies into me. In a flash, I hear my name. I look up to see the labyrinth from my nightmare.

"No," I gasp.
"No, please. Not again."

With eyes closed, I start to rock and cover my ears to drown it out, but to no avail.

"Luna," the monster hisses.
"Come to me, my Luna."

I try to keep my eyes closed, but my curiosity compels me to look. But once I do, I'm too fixed on the dream until I realize where it may be coming from; the locket! I try to turn away to close it shut, but then I see a flesh puppet backing me into the chamber.

"Luna," it moans.

I recognize that voice.

"No. That's not Ginny!" I yell.
"This isn't real. This can't be real! It's not! It's not! It's not!"

But suddenly I swear I can feel her grab me and push me into the chamber. I scream as I plunge into isolating darkness and then…..silence….

(Harry's POV)

A few moments after Luna leaves, I spy something out of the corner of my eye; a doe patronus.

"Mum? It can't be," I whisper.
"Hey, Hermione. I'm gonna go after Luna. See if she's okay. You stay here."

"Harry, no. It's far too cold out. All you have is a coat."

"I'll be fine. Just stay here. Watch over the tent."

Before she can protest further, we hear a shrill frightened scream.

"That has to be Luna," I gasp.

I rush outside and follow the doe patronus. It leads me to a frozen pond where a girl with blonde hair has passed out on its surface.

"Luna," I gasp again.

Next to her is a glowing green, open locket. The locket of Slytherin.

"How did it get all the way out here?" I wonder.

"Luna," I hear a voice groan.

I turn to see a dark labyrinth hall of sorts. This must be the nightmare Luna was talking about. I shut the locket and, put it on before I spy something inside of the pond; a sword. Not just any sword, though; the sword of Gryffindor. I take off my coat and wrap it around Luna so she doesn't get cold. With some effort, I pick her up and carry her over to the side of the pond before heading back to the sword.

"Diffindo!" I say making cuts in the ice.

The bits of ice I cut float around in the water. Preparing myself for the chill, I take off my clothes, leaving on my boxers, and dive down into the water. I spy the sword, glistening in the dark water. Before I reach it, I start to feel constricted. The locket is slowly pushing its chain into my neck. It's trying to kill me! Struggling, I try to remove the locket, but it's too tight on me. I pound against the ice, hoping Luna might wake up and help me.

All of a sudden, I see someone above the surface but only for the fleeting amount of time before everything goes cold and dark.

It seems like an eternity, but it's only a few seconds later that I'm out of the water and back on land as I hear footsteps.

"Hermione? Luna?" I ask.
"Is that you?"

"What were you thinking?" a familiar voice asks.
"Are you mental?"

I look to find that Ron has returned. He holds the locket in his hands.

"So it was you then?" I ask him.

"Yeah, seems pretty obvious it was me."

"And I suppose you cast the doe as well?"

"No, I thought that was you."

"No, mine's a stag."

"Stag. Right. Antlers," he says making antlers with his hands.

"Okay, when I say now, you stab the locket with the sword," I tell Ron as he holds the sword of Gryffindor.
"Be ready. It's going to put up quite a fight. That bit of Riddle in there tried to kill me."

"I could tell," Ron says.

I lean down to the locket and whisper in Parseltongue to it. It pops open.

"Now!" I tell Ron.

Ron's about to stab it when he seems to be locked in a trance.

We were better off without you.

You are nothing compared to Harry Potter.

I see Hermione and I talking to Ron. Our expressions seem very cold and distant, maybe even bitter. And we're….kissing?

"Ron!" I yell wanting this to end.
"Ron, kill it!"

Visibly struggling, Ron crawls to the locket and with one foul strike, stabs it in its center. The locket sparks and screams before dying down completely. I rush over to him and help him you.

"You alright?" I ask panting.

"Yeah," he replies gasping for air.
"You?"

"A bit shaken but yeah."

There's a moment of silence as we both collect ourselves. I'm still comprehending that he actually came back.

"So, I guess we should get back to camp, yeah?"

"Yeah. Just let me get Luna first."

"What's Luna doing out here?"

"We'll have to ask her when we get back.

(Luna's POV)

"Luna?" Hermione calls in the distance.
"Are you alright, Luna?"

Suddenly things start to come to and I find myself wrapped in warm blankets and jackets inside of the tent.

"W-what happened?" I ask a bit weakly.

"I heard you screaming, so I went to check it out and I found you passed out on the lake," Harry tells me."Can you tell us what happened?"

I pant a bit trying to catch my breath. I try to sit up, but my head hurts when I do, so I stay lying down.

"I saw my mum's patronus; a jackalope. At least, I thought it was, but now I'm not so sure. It wanted me to follow it, so I did and it led me to that frozen lake. Somehow the locket got out there and I took a look at it.. Then something told me to open it. So I pried it open—"

"Wait. You pried open the locket?" Harry asks in disbelief.

I nod.

"How?"

"With my hands," I say casually.
"Anyway, when I opened it, I thought I felt a blast of air, as if something flew into me, and then I saw the dream again. Only this time it was Ginny who pushed me into the chamber."

"Okay, what is this about a chamber? I've been wondering ever since mum mentioned it."

"Luna's father built a chamber of innocence and tried to trap her inside," Hermione explains.
"Now she's scared he may try to get her back."

"Not may," I clarify still
"Will. If I know daddy, he'll do almost anything to get me back."

"Then we should be extra vigilant," Hermione says.

"Hey, by the way, how DID the locket get all the way out there?" I ask.

The three of them glance at each other, worried.

"No idea," Harry answers.

"Dunno," Ron replies.

"I haven't a clue either," Hermione sighs, glancing down at the floor of the tent.
"And that's what's worrying me the most."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

The next day, I wake up, still shaken by recent events. I know my dad will do everything he feels he has to do to get me back. He may not be an ambitious Slytherin, but he's incredibly protective of his loved ones, even to a fault. After my mum died of that spell backfire, he wouldn't let me go in there for years. He would barely let me go into town on my own either.

I know what he's doing sounds constricting, but I'm scared to tell him. His anxiety is severely debilitating and he feels the need to be in control of something because he doesn't feel like he has control over his own life. That's partially why he became an independent magazine editor; if he hadn't started The Quibbler, he wouldn't be able to write what he wanted to write. But sometimes, even that doesn't feel enough to him.

I know he's tried to hide it from me, but I can see it. It's fairly clear to me, and to a few others, that he needs some sense of control in his life. He's told me he admires my ability to simply let life go at its own pace.

But I do know it's still no excuse for what he's doing. He's scaring me and I shouldn't be terrified of my own flesh and blood.

So when the trio tells me they have to go to Ottery St. Catchpole, I immediately object to coming with them.

"We know," Hermione explains.
"We shouldn't be long. We just have to ask him about something."

"What about? Maybe I can tell you," I say.

Hermione sighs as she heads over to a table in the tent and draws it out.

"A line going through a circle inside of a triangle," I say.

"We found it on a gravestone in Godric's Hollow," Hermione tells me.
"On the night we got attack by the snake."

"Bloody hell," Ron gasps.
"You got attacked by a snake?"

"Nearly. Anyhow, do you have any clue what this means?"

I study it intensely, wracking my brain for a recollection, but no meaning comes to mind, merely places I'd seen it.

"I think I've seen it somewhere before," I answer.
"I think dad wore a necklace with that symbol on it at the wedding."

"Viktor Krum claimed it was a symbol of dark wizards," Harry says.

I shake my head.

"No, I don't think it is. I don't quite know off the top of my head what it means, but I think it may have something to do with death. Perhaps that's why you found it on a gravestone."

"That's why we need to go see your father," Hermione says.

"Couldn't it wait? Daddy's…..not exactly the most emotionally stable right now."

"Not really. It could be a clue to how we can defeat Voldemort when the time is right."

I sigh in defeat. There's no way I'm going to be able to talk them out of going, is there?

"Fine, but please be careful. I have a feeling dad might do something dangerous if you cross him, what with how things are."

"We'll do our best," Harry says.

And with that, the three of them apparate away.

(Hermione's POV)

The three of us land outside what I assume to be the Lovegood's house.

"Blimey," Ron exclaims.
"This has to be Luna's house. I can't think of anyone else who would live in a house shaped like that.

We look around the yard. On the sides of the steps are the most peculiar-looking plants, I'd ever seen.

"Yep, this is definitely Luna's house," I confirm as I find a sign that reads

"Keep off of the Dirigible Plums."

"What's a Dirigible Plum?" Ron asks as he reads over my shoulder.

"No idea," I reply, shaking my head.
"But I don't think we have time to find out."

All of a sudden, we hear a zap from Ron's wand. Sighing he pulls it out of his pocket and, closing his eyes, put the tip to his head.

"Hello? Mum? Yeah, we're okay. Luna's safe. She's back at the camp. The three of us are at the Lovegood's. What about the chamber?"

There's a moment of silence. Suddenly I see his eyebrows raise in shock.

"Ginny? How? Broken? Where did Luna say it was? Alright, alright, we'll think of something. Love you too. Bye."

He disconnects and opens his eyes.

"Lovegood's gone too damn far this time!" he snaps infuriated.
"Mum's told me he took Ginny captive and she's being held in the chamber."

"You're kidding!" I gasp.
"We need to get her out of there."

"No," Ron exclaims."I'll get her out. You two talk to Lovegood about that symbol you found."

"Ron, what if Mr. Lovegood's down there? Luna's said he's not emotionally stable."

"If you two are keeping him busy, we should be fine."

"But how are you going to even know how to open the chamber?"

"I'll figure it out. I'll destroy it if I have to, but I am getting Ginny out of there. In the meantime, you two stall Lovegood. I'll take Ginny back to the camp and meet you there."

I sigh in defeat. There's no way I'm talking Ron out of this.

"Fine, but please be careful."

Ron nods to affirm and opens the shelter door. He steps into darkness and shuts the door behind him. His footsteps grow further and further away.

"Come on," I tell Harry."We'd better go ask Lovegood about that symbol."

(Ron's POV)

Blimey. Lovegood's got a designer and architecture area in his brain. I can barely find my way around the tunnels. At one point, it's a good five to ten minutes before I realize that I'm going in circles.

"Where am I s'pose to go now?" I ask aloud.

It feels musty down here. I need to find Ginny soon. This place gives me the creeps.

Finally I find a room that looks like it contains some sort of chamber and step inside. On one end there's a screen and some sort of control panel and the chamber lies on the other end. I hear cheering coming from the side with the screen. My eyes glance and then glue themselves to the screen to find a red-haired girl playing Seeker for the Chudley Cannons. They're cheering her name.

"Weasley! Weasley!"

"Yeah, Ginny's got to be in here," I nod.

I rush over to a pure white bed with some sort of clear glass cover and find my sister asleep inside.

"I'm gonna get Lovegood for this," I growl.
"I don't care how insane he is! He messes with my family, he messes with me."

I find a medium-sized green box beside the right of the chamber. This must be where the power comes from.

"Diffindo!" I yell.

A burst of magic pulsates from my wand, but it doesn't make so much as a dent.

"Incendio!" I try.

Again, nothing. Not a single dent.

"Bloody hell, what is this thing made of?" I gasp.
"Must be the same stuff that locket's made of."

Let's give this another try.

"Expulso!"

Nothing.

"Reducto!"

Not a scratch.

"Come on! Break, damn it!" I yell in frustration as I start to fire randomly.
"Give me something! A dent, a scratch, anything, you stupid machine!"

Finally my wand arm tires out and my head falls on the box in defeat.

"I just want my sister back," I croak as tears begin to fall from my eyes.
"I don't care if I die getting her back. I just want her safe. I want her away from Lovegood!"

It's at this point my sadness turns to fury and my fists smash against the machine. Surprisingly they both leave a mark. My first glimmer of hope.

I stand back up and start punching and kicking the bloody box.

"This one's for mum!"

Kick!

"This one's for dad!"

Punch!

"This one's for that prat Percy!"

Kick!

"For Bill!"

Punch!

"And Charlie!"

Smash!

"Fred and George!"

Crash! Punch!

"And this one….is for Ginny!"

For this one, my foot races at light speed towards the broken box. I hear a crackle of electricity and magic. As the box dies down, I hear a moan coming from inside the chamber. I turn to see Ginny stir and my heart skips a beat. Tears of relief stream from my eyes as I struggle to open the heavy, glass lid.

"Ron?" she groans, a bit dazed.

Without thinking, I pull her in close and squeeze her tight as I weep for joy.

"Ginny, I thought I lost you for good!"

"You saved me? From what?"

"If you'd gotten sucked in that dream world, and I almost couldn't break it down, I might've never seen you again, Ginny."

"Oh no, it was quite nice, actually."

My tears begin to die down when I realize that her speaking pattern is off. It doesn't sound like Ginny. It's very sing-songlike. Kind of like….

"Ginny, why are you talking like Luna?"

"What do you mean?" she asks tilting her head.
"Doesn't everyone talk like this?"

I back away as the hairs on my back stand on end. This is not really the Ginny I know, but better weird Ginny than no Ginny at all. It's probably an effect of the chamber.

"Right, hopefully, this will wear off. We need to get out of here and I need to take you back to camp."

"Ooh," she exclaims excitedly.
"Are we going on an adventure?"

"Err, yeah. You could say that, I guess."

She gasps and jumps up and down clapping her hands.

"Goody! I love adventures!"

"I really hope this wears off," I mumble under my breath as I lead Ginny through the tunnels.
"Having two Lunas is two times too bloody mad."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

After the trio apparates away, I try to keep myself busy. It's very cloudy and slightly cold, so I try on a bunch of different clothes of mine and see which ones are the warmest.

I also look around for what to feed my gnomes. I had nearly forgotten about them, but luckily they can go a while without much food. I find some leaves and twigs and feed it to them.

"I know it's not much," I tell them.
"But I don't know much about the vegetation of this place, wherever we are."

I watch them eat for a bit when I hear something quite peculiar.

"Luna."

That's strange. My ears perk up, certain I heard someone calling my name.

"Probably just the wind whisperers," I shrug.

Wind whisperers are invisible faeries that can manipulate the wind to trick people into thinking someone is calling for them. People often get led into faerie rings because of this, so by the time they're out of the spell of the wind whisperers, days, weeks, or even years could have gone by.

I turn back to the gnomes contently feasting on their dinner when I hear it again.

"Luna."

"I'm not falling for it," I call out.
"I know it's you, wind whisperers!"

"Luna."

This makes my blood run cold. Usually wind whisperers stop after you call them out. Either these are rouge whisperers, which can be dangerous because their manipulation and desire for control has often gone beyond normal proportions, or not whisperers at all. Either way, both ideas have me curious to find out exactly what it is I'm dealing with.

Leaving the gnomes to feast, I slowly step outside of the tent. The cloudy sky and the tall trees almost make it seem like nighttime.

"Luna."

The more I hear my name being called by that voice, the more soothing it gets. It's almost hypnotic actually. I start to relinquish control to the voice and my feet begin to lead me of their own accord.

"Luna."

We walk for what seems like only a few minutes before I begin to see shadows peeking through the forest. Dark shadows that send a small signal of alarm to my mind, but it's not enough to break through the trance.

"Luna, Luna."

"Luna!" another voice calls.
"Get away from there!"

I come to a halt and blink in a daze, seemingly out of the trance.

"What?" I ask in confusion.

"Luna, get back quickly!" Ron yells as he and Ginny sprint towards me.

All of a sudden, men in hoods and thick jumpers come out and surround me, Ron, and Ginny. I pull out my wand and try to strike at them, but I'm still recovering from my daze so I stumble a bit. Finally I regain my balance and aim at one of them coming at me.

"Levicorpus!" I call out sending one of the men flying into a tree, knocking him out cold.
"What are they?"

"Snatchers. Stupefy!" he answers as he knocks another one out cold.
"I ran into a group of them after I ran off! They round up muggle-borns and others who break the law."

Meanwhile, Ginny simply stands there, almost in awe.

"What's happened to Ginny?" I ask him.

"Your dad had her in that chamber thing. I'm guessing it's a side effect."

I gasp and freeze at hearing this. This gives one of the Snatchers an opportunity to push me to the ground before pulling me back up and holding my face close.

"Hello, you pretty little thing," he purrs sending shivers down my spine.
"Lovegood, is it?"

I nod with what little room I have to nod.

"Let her go, you bastard!" Ron snaps.

"Ron, you're not supposed to swear," Ginny gasps.

At this two more Snatchers take this as an opportunity to hold their arms behind their back. The Snatcher holding me grabs my wand and pockets it.

"Hey!" I gasp.

"You won't be needing it for now," he tells me.

"Looks like we've caught a few blood traitors," the one holding Ginny says.

"What's a blood traitor?" Ginny asks, tilting her head.

"Don't play stupid with me, you bitch," he spits.

"Don't you dare talk to my sister like that," Ron barks.

"I'll talk to her however I want."

The first one gives a low chuckle that sends shivers down my spine.

"Yes, we've caught some valuable blood traitors, especially this one," he says as he begins to caress my head.

"Could you please not do that, sir?" I ask politely.
"It's rather discomforting."

He forces me to look into his murky, dark-grey eyes, almost the color of a sewer at midnight.

"I'll let you off easy since you know your place, you pretty little thing."

He brings me in closer.

"And because you may be the key for the Dark Lord to finally get rid of the public enemy."

"Luna's nothing of the sort!" Ron hisses.
"She'd never help You-Know-Who!"

"She will indirectly. Her father has two weeks to bring the public enemy to us and she's the price."

I gasp quietly.

"It won't be so bad," he purrs.
"If you pledge your allegiance to the Dark Lord before this war is over, he may just make you his pureblood bride."

I shudder slightly at the thought of it.

"I'd rather he didn't, sir."

"I'd rather you not have a choice," he chuckles menacingly.
"Now enough small talk. You have an appointment with the Dark Lord."

He snaps his fingers and the six of us apparate away.

"Come on! Get a move on," the first Snatcher tells me as I try to take in the sights.

"It's quite gloomy, isn't it, sir?" I say.

"That's how the Dark Lord likes it," the second Snatcher replies as we trek up towards Malfoy Manor.

Instead of snow, the ground is comprised of dead grass and twisted trees. I feel a chill run up my spine as we make our way to the entrance. The dark black, polished doors swing open to reveal a tall ceiling as well as the Malfoys, the Carrows, Bellatrix, and Lord Voldemort himself.

"Blood traitors! Blood traitors!" Bellatrix taunts us.

"Silence, Bellatrix," Voldemort commands her.

The three Snatchers let us go and bow before him.

"My Lord," they say at once.

"We've caught three blood traitors," the third Snatcher announces.

"I see that," Voldemort says, his voice oozing with condescension.
"Now I recognize the Weasley boy and girl, but not this one."

He gestures towards me.

"Bring her forward."

The first Snatcher prods me with my own wand until I'm face-to-face with the Dark Lord himself.

"She's a Pureblood," the first Snatcher explains.
"Lovegood, she's called."

"Lovegood?" Bellatrix cackles.
"You mean she's the daughter of that crackpot old fool with the magazine?"

I can feel my blood boil, but I take a few deep breaths. I know I can't get angry now.

"Perhaps young Draco," Voldemort says gesturing to him.
"May recognize this young pureblood. Draco, come here, my boy."

"Yes, my Lord," he replies.

He looks fairly sharp dressed all in black.

"Do you recognize this girl?"

"Yes I do, my Lord. That's Luna. Luna Lovegood. The Snatchers organized a deal with her father. She's being used as bait to capture the public enemy."

"That was supposed to be a surprise," the second Snatcher exclaims in frustration.

"Way to go, Draco!" says the third.
"You've ruined the fun of it all!"

"Silence!" the Dark Lord growls.
"You have done excellent work setting this up for me. But how do you know Lovegood will follow through?"

"From what I've heard," Bellatrix pipes up.
"The old fool loves his daughter more than anything else in the world. She's pretty much the only family he has left!"

The Dark Lord smiles at this.

"You have done well, you three," he says gesturing to the Snatchers.
"And as soon as I kill Harry Potter, you three shall be rewarded handsomely."

"Thank you, my Lord," they reply bowing before him.

"And as for you," he says taking ahold of my face; his bony fingers are cold against my pale skin.
"If your father pulls through with bringing Harry Potter to us, you both shall be rewarded handsomely as well. That is, if you pledge allegiance to me."

"I suggest she become your bride, my Lord," the first Snatcher says.

That's when I flinch.

"Silence, you fool," the Dark Lord snaps.

Then suddenly it seems the idea has fully hit his mind.

"Well," he replies.
"I suppose I wouldn't mind having a bride. And a pureblood one at that."

"Luna would never marry you!" Ron yells.
"She deserves better than the likes of you!"

"Langlock!" the third Snatcher calls out.

I hear Ron struggling to speak, but nothing comes out of his mouth.

"And she's quite pretty, my Lord," the first Snatcher adds.

"And loony," Draco mumbles under his breath.

"Silence, Draco," Voldemort snaps quietly.

He takes a look at my face, forcing me to meet his black, slightly vacant, eyes. I know that if Harry does die, he'll have nothing left. I know he wasn't always bad.

"What would you think of that?" he asks me.

"Marrying you, sir?" I ask him as calmly as I can.
"I don't believe I feel too fond of the idea."

I hear a "hmph!" from nearby.

"I should think she should be more grateful than this," Bellatrix spits venomously.
"If I were in her shoes, I would think of it as an honor to be offered the Dark Lord's hand in marriage, you ungrateful bitch!"

"Silence, Bellatrix. We shall discuss it after I kill Harry Potter. Take these three to the dungeon with the others."

The Snatchers grab a hold of our hands and guide us through a hallway and downstairs where one of them opens a cell door and throws Ron and Ginny inside.

"Once your father hands over the public enemy," the first Snatcher hisses maliciously at me.
"I'll make sure you become his bride."

"Why are you so set on me marrying him in the first place?" I ask him.

He pulls me in close to him. I can smell his smokey breath, faint but apparent.

"Because I know you'll be miserable."

He pushes me to the floor and cackles as the three of them walk back upstairs, leaving us in total silence.

Chapter Text

(Hermione's POV)

As soon as Ron heads into the shelter, Harry and I head over to the door.

"Mr. Lovegood?" Harry asks as he knocks on the door.
"Are you there?"

"No! No one's home! Who are you? What do you want?" he shouts.

"Mr. Lovegood, it's me, Harry Potter. We met at the wedding, remember?"

The door opens and a small eye peeks through the crack.

"Oh, yes, of course. Come in, Mr. Potter."

The door opens a bit more and Harry and I step inside. Luna's house is just as eccentric as I thought it would be. The spiral stairs are painted in bright teal. The furniture has so many contrasting colors. Harry and I take a seat on two black and red chairs while Xenophilius takes a seat opposite of us.

"How can I help you, Mr. Potter?"

"Well," Harry begins.
"I actually wanted to ask you about that symbol you were wearing at the wedding, sir."

"You mean this one?" he asks as he holds up a necklace.

"That's the symbol we found on the gravestone in Godric's Hollow," I explain.

"What does it mean?" Harry asks.

"Why, it's the symbol of the Deathly Hollows, of course," Xenophilius explains.

"The what?" Harry and I ask.

"You don't mean to tell me you've never heard of The Tale of the Three Brothers, have you?"

"'Fraid not," Harry answers shaking his head.

"Yes," I say, searching my bag.
"I think I have it in here."

I soon tell them the tale of three brothers who were traveling along a road at twilight.

The three brothers reached a deep, treacherous river where anyone who attempted to swim or wade across would drown. Learned in the magical arts, the brothers conjured a bridge with their wand and proceeded to cross. Halfway a dark, cloaked figure blocked their path. It was Death.  He was angry that he had been cheated out of three new victims, for travelers usually drowned in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him.

So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So Death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother.

Then the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead.

And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility.

Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way, and they did so talking with wonder of the adventure they had had and admiring Death's gifts. In due course the brothers separated, each for his own destination.

The first brother traveled on for a week more, and reaching a distant village, sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a quarrel. Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed. Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible.

That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden upon his bed. The thief took the wand and for good measure, slit the oldest brother's throat.

And so Death took the first brother for his own.

Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand. To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry, before her untimely death, appeared at once before him.

Yet she was sad and cold, separated from him as by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as to truly join her.

And so Death took the second brother from his own.

But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And the he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life.

All of a sudden, Mr. Lovegood gets up and beckons for us to follow him, mumbling under his breath. We head over to a stack of Quibblers as he picks up a pen and draws a straight, vertical line on a blank piece of paper.

"The Elder Wand," he says slowly, looking at us.
"The most powerful wand ever made."

He then draws a circle with one of its edges touching the bottom of the straight line.

"The Resurrection Stone," he says.

Finally he draws a triangle that encompasses the two other symbols.

"The Cloak of Invisibility," he finishes.
"Together they make the Deathly Hallows. Together they make one master of Death."

All of a sudden, we hear a zap coming from his wand.

"Pardon me, would you two mind going upstairs for a second please? I must take this."

"Oh, of course not," I say.

I gesture for Harry to follow me and we find ourselves on the third floor in what I assume to be Luna's bedroom. Loads of stuffed animals, mostly white rabbits, are scattered about. Pictures of magical creatures and shadows of creatures as well as art cover one wall. And on the ceiling, looking round the room, are paintings of Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and I. Surrounding us in gold is the word "friends" painted several times in a circle, each one connected to the other.

"I think that's the project Luna said she was working on," I say with a smile.
"That's….kind of sweet, actually."

"Yeah," Harry says quietly.
"But something about this feels off."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you see how Mr. Lovegood was acting? I can't think of anyone who's truly that jumpy and anxious."

"Luna told me her dad has anxiety," I explain.
"Of course he's going to be jumpy."

"But at the wedding, when Ron and I were talking with him," he whispers.
"He wasn't this jumpy. Hermione, I think he might have another reason for inviting us in. I think he might know that we have Luna with us."

"I doubt he does," I say.
"But I think we got what we needed."

"Let's get out of here."

(Xenophilius's POV)

As soon as the two go upstairs, I close my eyes and hold the wand tip to my forehead.

"We have your daughter, Mr. Lovegood," the voice of the first Snatcher rasps.
"Do you promise to stop writing in support of the public enemy?"

This both excites and terrifies me.

"Yes, yes, I do. When can I have my Luna back?"

"When you bring the public enemy to us."

I lower my voice to a whisper.

"I have Mr. Harry Potter in my house right now."

There's a moment of silence as he considers this fact.

"I trust you know of the Taboo Curse, do you not?"

"Yes, I do," I reply.

"When you are ready, just say the word and we will be there."

"Got it," I reply again nervously.

I disconnect and I hear the two come down the stairs.

(Hermione's POV)

I head downstairs to find him disconnecting the wand. He sees us and stares at us with a surprised expression.

"Oh, where are my manners?" he says in an overly-friendly voice.
"How about I make you some tea?"

"That's awfully kind of you, Mr. Lovegood, but we really should be going," I tell him uncomfortably.

"No!" he blurts out in alarm.
"You can't!"

Panting and mumbling under his breath, he rushes to the front door, blocking our way out. There's a moment of silence as Harry and I try to comprehend what just happened.

"Sir?" Harry asks.

I'm afraid to know the answer, and so is Harry. I can tell.

"You're my only hope," he cries softly.
"They were angry, you see, about what I'd been writing; so they took her. They took my Luna. My Luna."

He slowly walks to Harry and takes a look at his scar.

"But it's you they really want."

"Who took her, sir?"

There's another moment of silence as he takes a deep breath.

"Voldemort."

"Mr. Lovegood, no!" I gasp.

I run to the window to see Snatchers approach the house at light speed.

"It's the taboo!" I say.

"The what?"

"If you say the name of You-Know-Who, Snatchers are summoned."

All of a sudden, I hear a loud crash and loud bangs. Harry and I duck underneath a table.

"I have Harry Potter!" I hear Xenophilius cry out above the commotion from outside.
"Please. Just please give me back my Luna!"

"Harry!" I scream.
"Look out."

A large piece of the steel stairs collapse just above him. He dives out of the way.

"Harry, take my hand! Hurry!"

Unfortunately a loud blast knocks me to the floor, making me drop my wand. I fumble around on the floor to find it.

"Please bring her back to me, I beg of you!"

"Harry! We have to get out of here before those Snatchers get inside. Take my hand!"

He crawls towards me as I finally find my wand. With a quick movement, he grabs my hand in his and we apparate back to the camp.

"Luna was right," I say when we get back to the outside of the tent.
"Her father is completely unstable."

"You think?" Harry scoffs.

"At least we're safe now," I sigh.

I peek inside the tent, but there's no sign of Ron, Ginny, or Luna. I find the sword of Gryffindor lying on the tent floor and pick it up.

"Where did they go?" I ask.

"You mean, they aren't there?"

"I don't think I would be asking where they went if I knew where they were."

"I think we can help with that," a malicious voice calls out.

Harry and I look up to find, surrounding our campsite, in dark clothing, are about a dozen Snatchers, ready to kill.

Chapter Text

(Hermione's POV)

Harry and I look back at each other. My heart begins to beat wildly in my chest as the snatchers advance on us like a lion advancing on a mouse.

"How did they find us?" I ask in fear.

"Doesn't matter," Harry says panicking.
"Run."

"Wait!" I exclaim as the Snatchers begin to slowly close in.

I mumble something under my breath and a jet of bright green sparks spouts from my wand onto Harry's face. He stumbles backwards and I grab ahold of his arm.

"Ow!" he grunts."What was that for?"

"Sorry, but they can't know that you're you!'' I explain frantically.
"Now run!"

As I sprint away from the tent, I quickly glance back at Harry whose face is swelling up in red, mean, stinging hives. Realizing I overdid the spell, I vow to apologize as soon as we're out of this. I run like mad, deflecting as many Snatchers as I can off of my trail. I do nearly everything I know how to in order to keep them at bay. But the one thing I fail to do is look in front of me.

I hit against something large and fall to the ground, only to realize that that something is an infamous werewolf; Fenrir Greyback.

"Hello, beautiful," he growls.

I try to back away, but he grabs my ankle and pulls me back in front of him.

"What are you doing here? A pretty, little thing like you shouldn't be out in the woods on your own."

Anger forms in my stomach as the other two Snatchers return.

"I got the other one, Greyback," says one of the Snatchers, holding Harry by the jacket.
"Claims his name's Dursley or something."

"Let us go!" I grunt as I struggle against Greyback's hold, but to no avail.

"Oh," Greyback gasps.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, the Dark Lord requires we gather up all traitors."

He brings me close to his face and caresses it with a long, sharp fingernail. It feels as though he is cutting into my skin. At the same time, he slowly sighs and a foul odor comes from his mouth; it's enough to make me want to vomit.

"And you reek of treachery," he snarls slowly.

I gasp as he jerks me back and shiver, both in cold and in fear.

"Let's take them to Malfoy Manor," he tells the others."Perhaps the Dark Lord shall know what to do with these...treacherous creatures."

They prod at Harry and I with their wands as we make our way up to Malfoy Manor.

"How did you even know where we were?" I ask.

"Lovegood tipped us off that you apparated here," Greyback says.
"Said something about smelling like the forest or some nonsense."

"Yeah, but nonsense that will get pretty little Luna married off to the Dark Lord once we find Harry Potter," the other Snatcher growls greedily.

I simultaneously breathe a quiet sigh of relief and shudder in disgust. On one hand, it would mean Luna would be able to live. But to be forced to become married to the Dark Lord? 

"Luna would never marry You-Know-Who," I tell them in a mixture of matter-of-factness, anger, and disgust.
"She's much more sensible than that."

"Unless she didn't have a choice," the Snatcher laughs viciously.
"And sensibility isn't relevant, mudblood."

The doors swing open to reveal a high ceiling and waiting for us are the Malfoys, the Carrows, Peter Pettigrew, and Bellatrix.

"Greyback," Bellatrix hisses seductively.
"I see you've caught some prey. Be a good boy, and I might let you munch on the bones of one of them."

"Shove it, Bellatrix," he growls.
"Where's the Dark Lord?"

"My Lord had to go off to do some Ministry work," Peter says with the usual tremble in his voice.
"Who have you captured?"

"We've captured this girl, and some boy who claims to be called Dursley or something."

"Dursley, you say?" a voice in the back corner sneers.
"Sounds too much like a muggle name."

Emerging from the shadows, Lucius Malfoy dons his usual black-as-a-hopeless-night attire. His presence is both intimidating and irritating.

"Yes," Peter trembles.
"I do believe we have an imposter on our hands, if not a fraud."

Lucius nearly glides over to Harry and examines him closely, giving an occasional "hmm."

"He looks to be about Draco's age," he sneers as he stands up.
"Draco, do you recognize this boy? Is it Mr. Potter?"

Draco studies Harry intensely. Something inside of me tells me that Draco knows it's Harry, but another part of me hopes he doesn't.

"I can't be sure," he says with some doubt in his voice.

"Look closely, son."

He studies Harry much more intensely. I begin to hold my breath. If Harry's caught, then I'll most likely be killed and Luna may be married off to Voldemort or killed for being a blood traitor.

"Father," he says after sometime."I do believe I've never seen this boy before."

My stomach unclenches in relief.

"But I recognize her," he spits, pointing at me."A mudblood named Hermione Granger. A filthy mudblood!"

"Draco," Narcissa pipes up gently.
"Please."

"Hush!" Lucius snaps at her violently.
"Must I remind you of your role as my wife?"

In embarrassment and shame, she bows her head low. A pit forms in my stomach. If Harry is killed, is this what will await Luna in the future?

"Filthy little mudblood! Flithy little mudblood!" Bellatrix begins to taunt.
"Filthy little—"

All of a sudden, she gasps as she glances at what's in my hand.

"Where'd you get that sword?" she spits in my face.

"I don't remember," I say as calmly as I can, but I begin to clench up.

"Filthy, lying, mudblood!"

Snapping her fingers, she points at the two snatchers holding Harry.

"Take the boy to the dungeon. I'd like to have a talk with this one."

Before I know it, she has me pinned to the floor and my heart begins to pound violently.

"Girl to girl."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

I sit in the cell with Mr. Ollivander, comforting him as he tells me about his life.

"I witnessed all of my family die at the hands of Grindelwald; my parents and my grandparents. I was the only one who escaped."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," I say sympathetically.
"I can only imagine how difficult that must be."

"Have you ever lost anyone?"

I nod.

"My mum, Pandora. A spell she was working on backfired and killed her. I was nine when it happened and it unfolded before my eyes."

"So, you can see—?"

"The thestrals. Yes, I've been able to see them since the first day."

"I was so scared to lose anyone else that I couldn't stay married for long. Our daughter was so heartbroken by this that she's chronically depressed. She's never been able to produce even an incorporeal patronus. My son cannot laugh at anything. He called me a coward for leaving. I blame myself for letting my fear get the best of me."

"You have nothing to blame yourself for," I say as I put a gentle hand upon his shoulder."You did what you felt was necessary. I can only imagine how difficult it is to feel that though."

There are several moments of silence.

"You know, you remind me of two different people who came into my wand shop. One of them was Lily Evans. She was incredibly kind and considerate of others, always a good listener. The other one was your mother. I remember her now. She was so perceptive, creative, kind, and witty. I remember her wand; Rowan wood, unicorn hair core, 12 inches. Defensive spells are particularly strong with this type of wood."

"My mum was very good at them," I say in realization.

"That she was. She wanted to develop the defensive spells further. I remember she came into my shop just before your ninth birthday and told me about a spell she was working on that combined the protection spell with the patronus charm."

"That was what she was working on. The one that….backfired," I reply sadly.

I can still remember the incident.

Mum only wanted to help. She never meant for anyone to get hurt, but her own safety was always the last thing she thought about.

"Luna, don't stand so close, my dear," she told me that day as I stood on my tip toes over her work desk.

"I don't want you to get hurt."

"What about you?" I asked.

"Won't you get hurt?"

"I've done this many times before, but I think I have it perfected this time."

"Then why can't I see it up close?"

Hearing this, she put her wand to the side and hugged me.

"Because you don't quite know the proper protection. I'll teach it to you one day when you're older. I promise."

"Mum," I told her.
"I love you."

Hearing this she smiled. She always had a smile that was like a crescent moon; shimmering, honest, and beautiful.

"I love you too, my dear Luna," she replied as she squeezed me tight before setting me down on the ground.
"Now stand back. I think I have it down this time."

As I stepped backwards, she made a few movements and then flicked. There was a crack and a whoosh and a thud as I saw my mother flung back against the force of her own spell. I saw the light—one that had brought smiles and hope to so many people—fade from her eyes. I ran up to her and knelt down beside her.

"Mum?" I asked tentatively.
"Mum, why are you lying down? Come on, mum! We can try again, right?"

There was no answer. Her eyes glazed over as her face was frozen in fear. I shook her gently, but she didn't stir.

"Mum? It will be alright, right? Why are your eyes like that? Mum, please get up. Mum, please! Please!"

Tears began to well in my eyes as I slowly came to realize; she was never going to get back up.

I shake out of my flashback as I hear the cell door open. In comes another boy, one whom I can't quite see.

"Ron?" a familiar voice pipes up.

"Harry? What are you doing in here?"

"Hermione and I got captured. Now she's being tortured by Bellatrix!"

It seems that Ron is choking on his words.

"What are we gonna do? We can't just leave Hermione like that!"

"Harry?" I ask as I stand up and step forward.
"Is that you?"

"Luna?"

"I was hoping they wouldn't get you too," I sigh.

"How long have you been in here?" he asks.

"Not too long, but Mr. Ollivander has been here much longer. We've been keeping each other company."

All of a sudden, I hear a scream, piercing and bloodcurdling, and I see Ron visibly tremble in fright and agony.

"We have to do something!" he cries.

"There's no way out of here," Ollivander rasps as he struggles to stand up. I run back to him and help him up.
"We've tried everything. It's enchanted."

Trying to ignore Hermione's tortured scream, Harry reaches inside one of his socks.

"You're bleeding, Harry," I remark.
"That's a curious thing to keep in your sock."

He pulls out a shard of what seems to be a mirror. Ron, still attempting to choke back his tears and regulate his shaking, seems like he's going to be sick.

"Help us," Harry whispers in a strained voice.

It's not until a few moments later that a small being appears inside of the cell facing me.

"Dobby?" Harry asks as the one called Dobby turns to face Harry.
"What are you doing here?"

"Dobby has come to rescue Harry Potter, of course. Dobby will always be there for Harry Potter and his friends."

"You mean you can apparate in and out of this room. Can you take us with you?"

"Well, of course, sir. I'm an elf."

"Right, Dobby, I want you to take Luna, Ginny and Mr. Ollivander, please. Take them to Shell Cottage. It's near the sea. Trust me."

"Ginny, come here," I tell her.

Ginny still hasn't quite recovered from the effects of the chamber.

"We're gonna go on a little adventure."

"Yay! I love adventures," Ginny replies, clapping and jumping as she takes my hand.

"Whenever you're ready, sir," I say to Dobby.

"Sir?" he gasps in pleasant surprise.
"I like her very much."

He takes ahold of my other hand and Mr. Ollivander's hand.

"Meet me at the top of the stairs in 10 seconds," says Dobby with urgency before we apparate out of here.

As soon as we land by Shell Cottage, I lean down next to Dobby.

"Wait, Dobby, sir," I say.
"Before you go, I wanted to say thank you. You are very brave and kind."

He smiles at me as I kiss his forehead.

"Thank you, Miss…."

"Luna."

"Thank you, Miss Luna," he replies.
"You are very kind as well. But now Dobby must save Harry Potter and his other friends."

"Be careful please, sir," I tell him as he apparates back to Malfoy Manor.

(Dobby's POV)

Dobby apparates back to Malfoy Manor and finds that Harry Potter and his male friend have dealt with the rat-like one.

"Who gets his wand?" Dobby asks.

Dobby hears Bellatrix interrogating someone, but Dobby does not recognize who she's interrogating.

"So once again, goblin," she hisses like a viper.
"Think very, very carefully. Who got into my vault? Who stole it? Who stole it?"

"It's impossible to break into Gringotts," the goblin says shakily.
"The sword is there."

"Then how did it get here?"

"Nowhere is safer than in Gringotts bank."

"Liar!"

Dobby hears the slash of a blade against skin and then silence.

"Consider yourself lucky, goblin."

Dobby watches Bellatrix go over to Harry's female friend.

"The same can't be said for this one."

"Like hell. Expelliarmus!"

Harry Potter and his male friend emerge from hiding and are ready to fight.

"Stupefy!" Harry Potter yells.

All of a sudden, Bellatrix picks up the female friend and holds her at wand point.

"Stop! Drop your wands," she yells viciously.
"I said, drop them!"

Harry Potter and his male friend do as she says. Dobby hears their wands hit the polished wood floor.

"Pick 'em up, Draco, now!"

Young Draco goes to pick up their wands. Dobby must do something or Harry Potter could be in trouble. Dobby apparates onto the chandelier and starts to unscrew it.

"Well, well, well," Bellatrix taunts.
"Look who we have here. It's Harry Potter. Whole, bright, shiny, and new. Just in time for the Dark Lord."

Dobby works faster to unscrew the chandelier, his stomach in a flutter. Dobby does not want to see You-Know-Who.

"Call him," she tells Young Draco.
"Call him!"

Finally Dobby has the chandelier unscrewed and Bellatrix moves out of the way. The male friend pushes the female friend out of the way as the chandelier falls with a shatter. Dobby gets the goblin, the male friend, and the female friend while Harry Potter gets the wands back from Young Draco.

"Stupid elf!" Bellatrix spits to Dobby.
"You could have killed me!"

"Dobby never meant to kill," Dobby tells Bellatrix.
"Dobby only meant to maim or seriously injure."

Lady Malfoy waves her wand. Dobby snaps his fingers and the wand comes flying into Dobby's hand.

"How dare you take a witch's wand?" Bellatrix hisses.
"How dare you defy your masters?"

"Dobby has no master," Dobby announces defiantly.
"Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!"

Dobby concentrates on Shell Cottage and the group begins to apparate back when Dobby feels a severe pinch in his stomach.

"Dobby.....doesn't feel so good."

(Luna's POV)

I stare out the window, waiting for them to return. It's nice of Bill and Fleur to offer us a place here until it's time to return to Hogwarts.

"Luna," Fleur says from behind me."You 'ave been staring out ze window for five straight minutes. You know what zey say, 'A watched pot never boils.'"

I turn to her and can't resist simply staring for a moment. She is quite pretty.

"I know, but I'm a bit worried. Bellatrix is quite volatile and knows very dark magic. What if they get killed?"

"Ooh! You need not worry anymore. Zey 'ave returned!"

I look to find that Harry has returned, as have Hermione, Ron, and someone else; a goblin, I believe, along with the kind elf, Dobby.

"Wait, what's Dobby doing?" I ask.
"It looks like he's clasping something in his abdomen."

"Oui. And it seems zat 'e may be bleeding. Oh mon dieu! 'E 'as collapsed!"

I watch Dobby fall and Harry take a hold of his body.

"Oh mon dieu! I think 'e may be dying!"

"No," I whisper under my breath.
"Dobby."

I head outside to find Dobby—brave and lifeless—lying in Harry's arms with his eyes open. I realize then that he must've done something to take his life. He went back to Malfoy Manor to get Harry, Ron, and Hermione and lost his own life in the process. I kneel down beside them.

"We should close his eyes," I suggest.
"Don't you think?"

Gently I take two fingers and push his eyelids over his eyes.

"There. Now he could be sleeping."

Harry stares silently at Dobby for a second.

"I want to bury him," Harry says resolutely.
"Properly, without magic."

A few moments later, Dobby is buried underneath the ground.

"I think we ought to say something," I suggest.
"I'll go first, shall I? Thank you so much Dobby for rescuing me from that cellar. It's so unfair that you had to die when you were so good and brave. I'll always remember what you did for us. I hope you're happy now."

I look at the others as if to tell them it's their turn, but no one says a word for sometime.

"Yeah," Ron finally says somberly.
"Thanks Dobby."

"Goodbye, Dobby," Harry says.

All of a sudden, I hear a sniffle coming from one of us.

"I'm going to need a moment alone," Harry chokes out.

The rest of us head inside. Little do I know what Harry is going to do with this time alone until I go out for a beach walk later that night. I pick some flowers for Dobby and walk to his grave to find a sock attached to a pole, over where we buried the body, waving in the cold wind and a large stone with an epitaph written in it:

"Here lies Dobby. A free elf."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

The days following are somber and gloomy, but I do my best to keep everyone's spirits up. I know what it feels like to be somber and sad. I was nonverbal for about six months after mum died. I could barely speak because it used up so much of my energy to even try. I didn't like the feeling, so I always do my best to avoid it and help everyone else avoid it.

"Good morning, Harry," I greet him.

"Morning, Luna," he says quietly.

"I made some breakfast," I tell him.

He looks at the table to find that I've set it for a pancake breakfast. In the meantime, I gather a plate of pancakes, a cup of apple juice, and some flowers in a vase along with a card I made and place them on the tray.

"You can help yourself if you want," I tell Harry.
"I'm going to take this up to Hermione."

For the past few days, Hermione has been trying to recover from the torture at Malfoy Manor. Out of all of us, she's been hit the hardest, I feel.

I tiptoe quietly up to her room when I hear soft weeping inside. I quietly open the door and look to find Hermione with her face in a pillow.

"Hermione?" I say softly.
"Sorry, is this a bad time?"

She looks up and shakes her head.

"It's alright, Luna. I just had the nightmare again."

"I made you breakfast," I tell her as I set it down gently on the table beside her bed.

"Luna, you really didn't have to do that," she sniffles.

"I know, but I wanted to."

She smiles gently at this.

"C-can I ask you something?" she asks me.

I nod.

"How do you stay so positive and upbeat?"

I consider this for a few moments before coming to

"Because I know emotions can be contagious and I want to be able to spread good emotions."

"But doesn't it ever get tiring?"

"Sometimes, but I've experienced tragedy before as well, so I know tragedy is more tiring sometimes."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

I take a deep breath and sit down beside her on the bed.

"My mum," I begin.
"Was a sort of pioneer in spell creating. She was very experimental and wanted to create spells that would help others. But one day, one of her spells backfired and I was there to see it unfold."

"How old were you?"

"I'd just turned nine not long before then."

"I'm sorry about that, Luna," Hermione sympathizes, sniffling.
"I can only imagine the pain of seeing a family member die. It makes me feel like I shouldn't be complaining."

"I don't think that's true," I shrug.
"Your pain is every bit as valid as mine is. And besides, it happened about seven or eight years ago. I've had a lot of time to heal. You're only getting started on your emotional healing."

Hermione smiled at me as I wiped the tears from her eyes. I can tell that, even though my talk hasn't fully healed her, it has, at the very least, done some good for her.

"What kind of pancakes did you make? That's very sweet of you by the way."

"Chocolate chip pancakes. A bit of chocolate in the morning is supposed to be good for you, at least that's what I've heard."

"Where did you hear that from?"

I wrack my mind to try to find it, but nothing specific comes to mind.

"I dunno. I just read it somewhere."

"Oh! Speaking of reading," Hermione interjects.
"I did some research on innocence and youth and I think I might've come up with a reason your dad wants to keep you innocent. It's not a bad time, is it?"

I shake my head.

"Not at all! I've been hoping for answers, even if they're just theories."

"Throughout history, cuteness has evolved to be associated with youth and innocence. Luna, I need to be honest; you're older than you look."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, you have these big doe-like eyes and certain things like children's movies, especially animated ones, have trained us to associate big eyes with youth and innocence. Curiosity and asking lots of questions can also be seen as inexperience. When we see something or someone that is and/or looks young and inexperienced, our paternal or maternal instincts kick in and we feel a strong desire to protect said thing or person. Your dad still sort of sees you as his little girl who, while somewhat exposed to the world, hasn't lost that spark of innocence.

"But he also knows that there's a point where innocence ends for everyone usually. And non-innocent people tend to seem cynical if pushed too far. Luna, I think he's afraid of you losing your innocence and becoming cynical. Does that make sense?"

I'm a bit shocked. Why had that never occurred to me? Daddy always told me he thought I was sweet and endearing. And those traits we see as needing to protect because the world can taint them. And once those are gone, they're difficult to retain. People know what that's like and they don't want to see others become like that. Maybe hermione's right. Does my dad really have some good reason as to why he built this chamber?

"Luna, are you alright?"

"I—I dunno," I say a bit stunned.
"I guess I never really thought of it like that."

I get up and walk to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to need some time alone," I tell her politely.

I sit on the sand dune beside Dobby's grave as I look out into the crashing waves, reflecting on Hermione's theory. I know dad has no excuse to lock me in a chamber and make me innocent, but it's understandable that he's scared I'll lose it. I just don't understand why he thinks I'll lose it. I've been able to hold fast to who I am, and I feel my hopeful attitude is a huge part of my identity.

"Hey," I hear a voice behind me say.
"You doing okay?"

I turn to see Harry in a gray t-shirt, jeans, and a jean jacket.

"Can I—sit beside you?"

I nod silently and he sits down on the sand dune. For a few moments, we say nothing as Hermione's theory brews inside of my mind. I've become conflicted. While dad has no right to do this to me, I can understand his fear. But why is he scared that I, out of all people, will lose it? Is the world really that harsh?

"Harry?" I ask.
"Do you think I'm innocent?"

He looks up at me, confused.

"How do you mean?"

I shrug and pick up some sand, letting it run between my fingers with a hiss.

"Like, how little children are innocent. Like, how we see puppies and kittens as innocent. In need of protection."

Harry shrugs.

"Not terribly," he replies.
"Why?"

I sigh and shake my head. I don't think I'm ready to tell him.

"Nothing," I lie.
"Just curious, is all."

I look up at the clouds. There hasn't been much sun in the past few days, if any.

"How's Ginny doing?" I ask.

"She's fine," Harry says.
"Seems she still hasn't quite gotten the effects out of her system."

"That's what worries me," I reply.
"It's been about two weeks since she got out of that chamber and she's been this lighthearted, innocent, sweet girl. Almost like…me."

"Luna, you're not that innocent."

"No," I say my voice beginning to quiver.
"No, but if he catches me then I will be. When he puts me in there, I'll have forgotten all about mum and before I met you and all of those bad times."

"But isn't that a good thing?"

I shake my head as a tear rolls down my face.

"Harry, in this world, especially with You-Know-Who running the Ministry, innocence can be good. But there's a fine line between innocence and total ignorance. If he puts me in that chamber, I'll be stuck in the realm of complete ignorance. Those bad times that will go away? They make me who I am. Why do you think I'm so cheerful? It's because I've known sadness and misery. Why do you think I'm so accepting of others? Because I know how it feels to be confronted by people who don't accept you. Those bad times? They've taught me more about who I am and about my values than anything ever will. And I don't want to stop learning about that."

Harry stares at me in shock. I'm not sure if he even got the message or if I lost him. It could go one way or the other, but I have to be ready for either.

"I mean, I guess I can see where you're coming from," he replies and I breathe a mental sigh of relief.
"But don't you hate the pain of going through them?"

"Yes, but that's what hammers the lesson into you. There's some pain you need to experience to grow as a person."

Suddenly I hear a loud drum of thunder. I glance up to see large, dark clouds looming just overhead.

"And we're going to go through a lot of it soon," I say grimly."I know it."

Chapter Text

(Xenophilius's POV)

"What do you mean he's gone?" the first Snatcher snaps at me.

"I swear, I had him in my grasp," I tremble with tears in my eyes.
"Please. Just give me back my Luna. I beg of you."

"We had a deal, Xenophilius," the second Snatcher barks.
"It's Harry Potter for your daughter."

"Not to worry, though," says the third, more calmly than the other two.
"You still have sometime before the two weeks are up."

They turn to go when-

"Wait!" I gasp as I remember something.
"They smelled like a forest."

The three of them whirl around, staring at me a bit funny.

"What?"

"Mr. Potter and his friend," I tremble.
"They smelled like a forest. They must've come from one."

"Are you trying to confuse us?" the first asks menacingly.

"No, they did," I say gleefully.
"They smelled like pine trees. Mr. Potter must be at the forest."

The second one glares at me.

"If you're trying to throw us for a loop—"

"No, I swear. I'm telling you the truth!"

"We'll get Greyback," the third says to the other two.

They apparate before I can explain further. All of a sudden,

"Cuckoo! Cuckoo!"

Berthilda goes off, telling me it's time to check on Ginny again. I hesitantly head for the shelter doors. Something in my stomach makes me feel slightly off, though, as if something's wrong. Taking this instinct, I rush like the wind to the chamber and what a sight I run into.

The power box has been hopelessly smashed, as has the chamber itself.

"No," I squeak.

"No," I cry.

"No!" I yell.

"No. No. NO! NO!"

This cannot be. Something must be done, done, done.

I need to fix this. I need to fix it. I need to fix it.

Like mad, I snatch up my tools and work as frantically as I cannot.

This is the treasure for my treasure. It must be perfect.

Every twist, every crank, every little improvement, it's all one step closer to keeping my Luna safe and innocent.

Innocent.

Innocent.

(Luna's POV)

I toss and turn in my sleep that night. I keep having the labyrinth nightmare. I've had it every night since we got here and it tortures me to no end.

Once again, I wake up in a cold sweat. Glancing over at the muggle alarm clock, I find it's nearly 4 in the morning. Groaning, and feeling the sleep leaving my body, I realize there's no point in trying to go back to sleep, so I sit up and tiptoe out of the room, being careful not to wake Ginny or Hermione. I head down into the kitchen and grab myself a glass of water.

"What are you doing out of bed?" a gentle voice asks.

I turn in shock to find Bill Weasley, in his pyjamas, carrying a glass of milk.

"I could ask you the same question," I tell him.

"You could," he says as he heads over to the couch while I turn the tap on, filling up my glass.
"But then you'd just be repeating yourself."

Bill and I have run into each other almost every night since we got here. We've both asked why the other is up, but we both seem to avoid the question.

I should tell him the truth this time, I think as he sits down on the couch while I turn off the tap.

"Okay, the reason I'm always up is because I've been constantly having nightmares. What about you?"

"Honestly, I just can't sleep," he says.

"Is that so?" I ask as I sit down beside him.

He nods.

"Fleur thinks it could be chronic insomnia, but even if it is, I don't mind. Sometimes this is the only time I can get some peace. My head sometimes feels like it's full of thoughts."

I nod back.

"Mine too. I feel like I have trouble organizing them as well.

Bill gives another nod.

"By the way, what kind of nightmares do you have, Luna? If you don't mind me asking."

"It's always the same one."

"Would you mind telling me about it?"

"I can try."

He turns to face me and I take a deep breath.

"Well, it always starts out in the dark. Then this light flies past me and sticks itself inside of a lamppost. When I reach that lamppost, another light does the same thing and I discover I'm in a labyrinth. Then I hear footsteps and someone calls my name. And I see this….demented version of my dad. He's gone and killed everyone and they become these flesh puppets."

I shudder and go on.

"Then I run through the labyrinth and I find a room and it has...it has..."

"Has what?" Bill asks gently.

I gulp and take a deep breath.

"It has the chamber my dad made."

"Ron briefly mentioned something about that after Ginny started acting strangely."

"It made her innocent. I don't know when the effects wear off. Maybe we need to expose her to things to bring her back to normal. Anyway, then the floor, the puppets, and that monster that's supposed to be my dad, try to get me into the chamber. I fall in and then…..it just fades into nothing."

There's a moment of silence as Bill processes what I just told him.

"Did your dad actually make a chamber?"

I nod regretfully.

"Why?"

"He's scared I'm going to lose my innocence, I think."

Bill shrugs.

"All parents get scared of their child losing their innocence."

"Yes, but my dad just took it to a whole new level of fearfulness."

I sigh and lie down on the couch.

"Maybe if I lie down here, I'll be able to get a little more sleep."

"Yeah, I think I'll try to get some sleep too," Bill sighs as he stands up.

"G'night."

I listen to the waves crash from the couch. It makes me think of the times my mum and dad would take me to the beach in the summertime. It would often be empty because we'd go to remote beaches to find new sea creatures, like the six-pointed seamare and the various water dragons. We'd also usually be near some sort of forest or jungle and we'd find new land and air creatures like the Polynesian Stingbird and the forty-clawed lemurbugs. I even thought I'd spotted a Crumple-Horned Snorkack at one point.

The waves of the sea and the memories of mum, dad, and I all together begin to relax me and they soon lull me into a deep, finally peaceful, sleep.

Chapter Text

(Xenophilius's POV)

After 96 hours of non-stop working and getting the pieces I need, I finally, finally, finally have the machine fixed. I laugh triumphantly and figure out where to look for my Luna.

"Death Eaters and Snatchers have been known to conglomerate at Malfoy Manor," I tell myself maddened with hope. (Nagito Komaeda has entered the chat)
"So that's where I should head. Off to save Luna!"

(Bellatrix's POV)

I mumble about for a few days. I can't believe those brats escaped me. I was so close to getting rid of that Potter boy and my Lord would have full control over the ministry and the wizarding world!

But at the same time, I'm slightly glad of it. I love the thrill of the chase and the longer they stay alive, the later my Lord puts off considering marrying Loony Lovegood.

He's been talking about it for days. He barely has a soul, so that says a hell of a lot if he talks about someone nonstop, except for Harry Potter. If I had it my way, I'd have that Snatcher who suggested it and Loony out of the way and I'd be married to the Dark Lord instead! What does she have that I don't anyway? She's a blood traitor. Why doesn't he notice all I do for him? Why doesn't he notice how loyal I am? I escaped from goddamn Azkaban for him!

"Bellatrix," Cissy tells me gently as she walks into the room gracefully.
"It seems we may have a visitor."

"Should I care?" I scoff with an eye roll.

"It's Mr. Lovegood. He's come for his daughter."

This seed plants a thought in my mind and I grin evilly.

"Get me a chair, Cissy. And bring the Carrows. They're excellent at torture."

As she leaves, I smirk in anticipation. A crackpot old wizard desperate for his little girl.

Let the fun begin.

Moments later a Snatcher enters with Lovegood on his heels.

"Where is she?" he cries.
"Where is my Luna?"

"Funny," I spit in mock wonder.
"I'm wondering the same thing. Carrows, bring Mr. Lovegood here."

They strut over to the fool and grab an arm, dragging him.

"Please give me my Luna!"

"Quiet, you old fool," Alecto snaps.
"This'll go a lot easier if you shut up!"

"Bind him to the chair," I order nonchalantly.

"Get in there, you crackpot," Amycus hisses.
"Or we'll have to torture you until you do."

"And we certainly don't want to do that to you," Alecto says.
"Actually we do."

They push him into the chair, knocking the wind out of him.

"Incarcerous!" I yell.

Soon thick ropes bind the fool to the chair.

"Well, well, well," I taunt.
"If it isn't Loony's father."

"Don't you talk about my Luna like that!"

"Crucio!" Amycus shouts.

Lovegood lets out a blood-curdling scream. Music to my ears.

"I'll talk about her anyway I want to," I tell Lovegood when Amycus lets go of the curse, for now.
"Now we were told you tipped us off about Potter and Granger. Thank you for that, by the way. Because of that, when we find your daughter, we will not kill her. At least not right away."

"Please. I'll do anything," he trembles.
"Just don't hurt Luna. Please."

"You're not gonna fight back?"

"I'll do what you wish. Luna's all I have in this world!"

"Aww," I say in mock disappointment.
"But it's no fun if you give up so easily. Gives me no reason to torture you. It's so much better when you're defiant."

"We could just torture him for fun," Amycus suggests.

"And once we find Loony, we'll make her watch," Alecto hisses evilly.

"Hmm. I like the way you think, Alecto," I remark.
"That should break the both of their wills. Like killing two mudbloods with one stone."

"Except they're purebloods," Amycus points out.

"Right," says Alecto.
"But they're also blood traitors. Why is Loony getting married to the Dark Lord after this is over?"

"What? That's a lie!"

Well, well, well. The old fool's still got it in him, after all. 

"My Luna will never marry You-Know-Who, you liars!" Lovegood growls.

"Oh good," I say with mock relief.
"You haven't given up yet. How nice. Alecto, you do the honors."

"Crucio!"

He lets out another piercing scream and I bask in the pleasure.

"I just had a thought," I say when Alecto lets go of the curse.
"This time won't be as fun as when we tortured the Longbottoms. I can't torture him to madness. He's already too far down that rabbit hole!"

The three of us share a good evil cackle that echoes around the room.

"Had enough, Lovegood?" I ask.

"Please, I beg of you," he gasps in tears.
"Don't hurt my Luna. She's all I have left."

The Carrows decide to take turns torturing Lovegood, just for the hell of it.

"Crucio!" Amycus yells.

"Please," he begs.

"Crucio!" Alecto screams.

"I beg of you!"

"Crucio!"

"Crucio!"

"Crucio!"

"Crucio!"

This goes on for sometime. I start to become too used to his screaming.

"Enough!" I yawn.
"I'm getting bored of hearing him scream."

"Should we kill him?" Alecto asks.

I weigh out the options, considering what I could benefit from killing him. On one hand, it'd be fun to watch him die. But I would want to make Loony watch. But it'd be easier to do it now. But it would be messy. If I had my way, he'd become victim to something worse than the Killing Curse, but that's "standard procedure."

"Not yet," I decide, turning to leave.
"He could be useful. Until then, leave him to rot slightly."

"Wait! Wait!" he yells hoarsely.
"They gave me over a week four days ago."

I stop and slowly turn to face him.

"What do you mean 'they'?"

"The snatchers. I can help you find Mr. Potter."

Now this intrigues me and it shows in my eyes. I come up close.

"What can you give in the search for Potter?"

"My daughter and him are good friends. Where she is, he may be. I'll help you find Mr. Potter if you keep your end and give me my daughter alive and unharmed."

Well, isn't this a surprise? Never thought such a goody-two-shoes nutjob would barter with a Death Eater.

"Let me….let me get this straight," I say with intrigue.
"You're willing to betray your alliances with Potter in order to get your daughter back? You're willing to betray every good thing that you stand for, every alliance and friendship you have, your own namesake, just for your daughter?"

"She's all I have left," he cries.

"Well, we do have a leverage over you, do we not?"

The Carrows nod.

"Alright, we'll find your daughter, you get her to tell us where Potter is. I'll send Draco out to get her. Carrows, you'll be the second set of offense. If Loony doesn't comply, take her by force."

"She'll be alive and unharmed, right?" Lovegood asks desperately.

"We won't kill her," I admit slyly.

I then lean over to the Carrows, making sure Lovegood can't hear me.

"If necessary, torture her to find out where Potter is."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

Over the week before we have to go back, I begin to expose Ginny to things in order to counteract the machine's side effects. They do wear off, but slowly. I'm a little worried about the progress; after all, we need the real Ginny back in order to start training the new members of Dumbledore's Army.

Finally a week later, Ginny, Neville, and I stand together at Platform 9 and 3/4. As we set our stuff down, Ginny leans over to me and gently nudges me.

"Is that Malfoy?" she asks, still partially affected by the machine, albeit not much.

I look over to see the platinum-blonde man in a nice, pressed, black suit. His shoes are spit-polished black and he has ironed socks to match. His hair's been combed back and seems almost shiny and sleek.

"That can't be," Neville exclaims in doubt.
"He looks too…clean. Draco's had messy hair since third year. There's no way that's him."

"Maybe," I add, studying him intently.
"He's got the same nose and smug look as Draco. Wait, why is he coming this way?"

The platinum-blonde man swaggers towards us arrogantly. It seems he's mumbling something under his breath, a bit angrily, I might add. I then see him take a deep breath and put on a strange smile.

"Hello, you three," he greets us, surprisingly pleasantly.

"That's definitely Draco," Neville says.

"What?" Draco scoffs.
"Of course it's me, Longbottom. Who else would be coming over here to talk to…..Luna?"

I feel a jump in my stomach. Something seems off about this.

"M—me?" I stumble.

"Of course," Draco answers suavely, a bit too suavely for comfort, actually.
"Do you two mind giving Luna and I a moment alone?"

I see the two of them giving confused glances.

"It shouldn't be long," Draco replies.

"We'll save you a spot on the train, Luna," Ginny tells me.

"Ginny, maybe we should stay here," I hear Neville whisper worriedly.
"This doesn't seem right."

"It'll be fine," Draco assures them.

He pulls me to the side and stares at me directly in the eyes. My head starts to ache after sometime.

"Draco," I say uncomfortably.
"Could you please not stare directly into my eyes? It's rather discomforting."

"But why wouldn't I stare at you?" he asks with a surprising purr in his voice.
"Luna, it's high time you stop hiding your feelings from me."

"Feelings? What are you—?"

"Shhhhh."

He puts a finger to my lip. I back away.

"Not another word, ma cherie."

My eyes widen in either intrigue or discomfort; honestly I'm not sure which. Perhaps it's both but I'm leaning towards discomfort: extreme discomfort.

"Um, Draco, are you alright? I think you have wrackspurts in your brain," I tell him.

"Oh, wrackspurts in my brain, bells in my soul, and butterflies in my stomach, pour vous."

"And now you're speaking French," I laugh uncomfortably as my stomach churns.
"Please tell me what's going on, Draco."

All of a sudden, he pulls me close. So close that I can smell his cologne. Wait, why is he wearing cologne?

"Draco, what are you doing?" I ask as I try to push away.

"Ma cherie, je suis fou pour vous. Je te veux toujours près de moi. Je te veux en moi. Vous êtes si ravissante!"

"Draco, stop!" I yell.
"Let go of me!"

All of a sudden, I hear the clock strike eleven and the train begins to pull away. Draco glares at me evilly.

"Come on, Lovegood. You're coming with me!"

"I am not going anywhere with you!"

"The Dark Lord requests your presence, and you shall obey."

"I am not going to him. You can't make me!"

Pulling away from him, I suddenly find myself running to catch up with the train. Ginny is at the doorway of the train.

"Luna, hurry!" she yells as Draco begins to chase me.
"Take my hand!"

I try to take it, but I slip each time. Until finally, Ginny grabs my hand tightly. At the same time, Draco grabs onto my foot and holds tightly. I shake at my ankle, just like I did when dad had my ankle. I use my other foot to kick his hand off. Suddenly I feel my shoe come undone. Draco goes flying onto the station floor.

"I'll get you, Lovegood!" he yells as the train pulls away.
"I will!"

I certainly hope not.

"Luna, are you alright?" Ginny asks as she pulls me inside.
"Oh no! Your shoe is gone!"

I shrug as I brush myself off.

"I'm a bit creeped out, but fine otherwise. And I'm sure I can find another pair. The nargles always hide stolen things around the castle. Maybe they still have one of my other shoes."

Ginny giggles at this.

"Oh!" she exclaims.
"Neville and I met someone we want you to meet."

She grabs my hand and pulls me towards their compartment when Neville and another boy with swarthy skin and brown hair are chatting with each other. We open the compartment doors and my silver eyes meet his olive green eyes.

"Luna, I'd like you to meet Rolf. He's in our year," Ginny says.
"Rolf, this is Luna."

"Hi," he greets me in a nice, soothing voice as he holds out his hand. I take ahold of it and find that it's nice and warm.

"Hello, Rolf," I greet him in return.
"I don't believe I've ever seen you before."

"What house are you in?"

"Ravenclaw."

"Ah, that might explain it. Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs don't usually interact much."

"You're a Hufflepuff?" Neville asks in shock.

"Yup, and proud to be so."

"But you don't look like a duffer."

"Not all Hufflepuffs are duffers!" I say defensively.

"That's alright," Rolf laughs.
"We like to shrug it off. People seem to forget that Newt Scamander, one of the wizarding world's greatest magizoologists, was a Hufflepuff. So we take comfort in that fact. Plus our house system is a unique one. You don't get in by password, but by barrel. Oh, sorry. Am I rambling on? I have a tendency to do that."

"No, it's fine," I smile in relief.
"I need this."

I sit down across from him.

"Anyway, our system is by barrel. You have to tap the right ones. If you don't, then you get doused with vinegar."

"Doesn't that hurt?" Neville asks.

"Not if you don't have any open wounds," he laughs.
"Nor if you pick the right barrels."

"Which ones are the right barrels?" Ginny asks.

Rolf taps his nose twice.

"Ah, that's a house secret."

"My house has a unique system too," I add.
"We get in by riddles."

"Riddles?"

I nod.

"The riddle changes every so often and as long as you either get the right answer or justify your own, you can get in."

"What if you don't know? Sounds a bit embarrassing if you're a Ravenclaw and don't know the answer to the riddle."

"See, that's what people forget about Ravenclaw; being in Ravenclaw isn't about being smart. It's about a willingness to learn for the sake of learning. So if you don't know it, you wait for someone else who does. And if they don't know it, you can put your heads together, I think that's how the expression goes, and figure it out together or wait for someone else. That way, you learn from each other."

"Never thought of that," Rolf says smiling.

The rest of the train ride goes smoothly. We chat about various things from philosophy to magical creatures. I also find out that Rolf also signed up for Dumbledore's Army. And he informs us of something that could be quite useful.

"I've seen some muggle-borns sneaking into Hogwarts. Unregistered ones."

"How do you know that?" I whisper as Ginny, Neville, Rolf, and I look for a carriage.

"Justin Finch-Fletchley snuck back into Hogwarts. He's been masking as a halfblood student, but the Carrows are on his tail. If they find out for sure he's a muggleborn, he's toast."

"Maybe we could use the Room of Requirement as a sanctuary for muggleborns," I suggest.

"It sounds dangerous," Ginny says nervously.

"But it's like Rolf said," I remind her.
"If they find out that Justin and other muggleborns are at Hogwarts, they're doomed. i say we give them a place to stay."

"But what if we get caught?" Neville asks.

"It's like Ginny said when she suggested setting up Dumbledore's Army again," I reply.
"We just have to be careful."

"So, you're really willing to give us a place to stay?" Justin asks as I talk to him and some other muggleborns.

I nod.

"It's the very least we can do," I reply.
"None of you deserve to be targeted because of your blood status, if at all."

"You can say that again," scoffs Clara Proudfoot, a fifth-year Gryffindor.
"My parents wanted me to stay behind because they knew how dangerous it was, but in case they haven't noticed, Gryffindor is the house of bravery."

"Isn't this dangerous, though?" asks Hannah Grenfell,  a Ravenclaw in my year.
"I mean, we're under enough scrutiny in the wizarding world as a whole."

"But Hogwarts just might be our last safe place," Jason Smith, a second year Hufflepuff, sighs.
"My home was broken into and ransacked by Snatchers just because they could."

"Me and Clara had our home broken into as well," says Samantha Proudfoot, a third year in Gryffindor.
"Anyway, this is great and all, but how are you going to be able to keep us from being discovered?"

"I've recruited some new DA members," I say.
"And the Room of Requirement should give you all some form of sanctuary."

They all thank me as they run inside the Room when I notice Rolf coming this way.

"Hey, Luna," he says happily.
"What's up?"

"I just recruited some muggleborns for Dumbledore's Army," I whisper excitedly.

"That's great," he smiles.
"So, uh, Luna. The next Hogsmeade trip is coming up soon. I was thinking…..would you…maybe want to…."

He starts to blush a bit and glance at the floor.

"…..get a butterbeer or two?"

I smile at this. I don't know why, but shy guys are always the sweetest.

"Unless…you don't want to," he adds quickly.

"No!" I blurt out quickly.
"I'd be delighted to. It's just.....no one's asked me out on a real date before. Is this a date?"

"What? Date?" he stammers.

"No! Just as friends. I mean, unless you want to, you know, make it a date."

He seems a little uncertain, so I throw out an idea.

"Maybe we can ask Ginny and Neville and make it a double date or friends' date."

"Erm, actually I was hoping it could be just us."

"Oh," I say blushing.
"How about we spend half the time with them and then half of the time alone?"

"Y—yeah," Rolf exclaims.
"I think that could work. So Saturday at 2?"

"It's a date," I say.

He smiles and walks away. I find myself a bit more in a dreamlike state than usual.

"Luna?" a voice asks me, popping me out of my trance.
"What were you and Rolf talking about? And why are you blushing?"

I can feel my cheeks heating up. Am I falling in love?

"Um, well, Rolf and I wanted to go get a butterbeer and I suggested that you and Neville would come for half of it. It's on the Hogsmeade trip this Saturday at 2."

"Hmm, I think that would work."

"Alright then. See you then, if not before."

I skip away to the Ravenclaw tower, unaware that I'm being watched.

(Hannah's POV)

"I can't believe it," I complain to Susan and Ernie when we're out of earshot.

"I think Loony and Rolf are falling for each other."

"I've heard Neville tell Ginny he was jealous too," Ernie says.

"I am not jealous!" I say defensively.

"If you weren't, you wouldn't be so defensive about it."

I blush and purse my lips. With a growling sigh, I admit it.

"Fine. Maybe I am a little jealous. I wanted to ask Rolf out to Hogsmeade this Saturday. I mean, he's so sweet and he loves animals. What does Loony got that I don't?"

"Well," Susan replies sweetly.
"Maybe he's more attracted to the sweet, quirky type."

"If he was, he'd be all over you, Susan," I sigh.

She looks shyly to the floor, blushing.

"No, I think I am sweet, but I'm not that quirky. Luna's definitely quirky and very sweet. She's still nice to you, even though you call her Loony and help Cho and Marietta steal her things and hide them. She's so innocent and idealistic too, especially with how things are here."

"Blimey! She IS insane," Ernie gasps.

"How can she be idealistic at a time like this?"

"Well, that's Luna for you, Ernie. Always sees the good in people."

"I bet she'd even see the good in You-Know-Who. Well, he wasn't born a monster. Harsh conditions in life made him so," I mock as I do an impression of Loony.
"Everyone is born good in this world, and even if they become hateful, they still have love deep inside of them."

"That was actually pretty funny," Ernie says.

"Thanks. By the way, Ernie. What did you say about Neville being jealous?"

"Oh. I overheard him telling Ginny he's jealous of Luna and how she's so fond of Rolf."

"Okay. So how do we go about this?" I ask.

"We?" Ernie asks surprised.
"We never agreed to do anything."

"But you're my friends. You need to help me."

"We are, but I'd never agree to sabotage their relationship," Susan points out.

"I'm not planning on—! Okay, maybe I am, but what difference does it make anyway? I'm tired of standing by the sidelines in love!"

"You're starting to sound like a Slytherin."

"That's lovely," I say sarcastically.
"Now will you two help me or not?"

The two of them glance at each other as if to look to the other for the answer.

"I'm sorry. I can't help you with this," Susan sighs finally.
"It just isn't right."

"I'm staying out of it as well," Ernie says.

I glare at the two in frustration.

"Fine!" I reply with a huff.
"I'll do this on my own."

"It's just not fair," I say as I wash my hands in the girls' bathroom on the second floor.
"What does Loony have that I don't, Myrtle? And how can I get Rolf to notice me instead?"

"How should I know?" she moans.
"And why should I care? You've never come in here before and you've never been nice to me. Why should I help you?"

That......is a good point. Why should Moaning Myrtle help me? Why I would want her to would be an even better question.

"Oh, don't bother with her," a slick voice says.

I turn to find Professor Alecto Carrow, leaning against one of the stalls like a greaser.

"I can help you better than she."

"How can you help me? You're just a professor," I stumble.

"Maybe so, but I can do many things that a ghost can't, the first being leave this castle."

"It's not my fault I'm trapped here," Myrtle moans.
"And what are you really doing in my bathroom? I feel like you're not just here to help Hannah sabotage the relationship."

"You caught me," Professor Carrow says, raising her arms halfway in mock guilt.
"I'll help you, under certain conditions."

I hesitate with this deal. Something seems off about it, but this might be my only chance to get Rolf to notice me.

"Depends on the conditions," I say with a waver in my inflection. 

"Once you've broken Luna, use the Imperius Curse on her to take her to us and help us torture her to find Potter."

"You're kidding!" I gasp.
"There's no way I'll do that."

"I'm kidding," she says slyly.
"No conditions, except just make sure Luna is broken."

"And what about Rolf?" I ask uncertain.

"I already have Amycus convincing Neville to help as we speak," she says confidently.

She seems fairly certain about all of this. Why not give it a try?

"Um, well, I guess I'll take it."

"Very good. Shake on it?" she asks holding out her hand.

Hesitantly I take it. The second we shake, I begin to wonder; did I make a deal with the devil?

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

I sit in the Gryffindor common room as Ginny helps me with my hair. I told her I wanted to do a few curls to make myself look sweeter.

"Trust me," she tells me.
"You look sweet enough already."

This makes me blush.

"But will Rolf feel the same?"

"Luna, he's totally into you. Of course he will."

I'm a little confused at this.

"He's into me?"

"Aww," Ginny swoons.
"I'm sorry, but sometimes you are really innocent. Yeah, he's into you."

"Have the effects of the chamber worn off of you yet, Ginny?"

"Mostly."

"Okay, just checking."

"And there….we….go!" she says as she finishes the last curl.
"Now we just gotta make sure…it stays…in place."

My hair doesn't curl very well, which is something I've learned the few times I've tried with Ginny at the Burrow. So now we just use magic to curl it.

"How do I look?" I ask Ginny as I twirl around in my winter dress that my mum made to give to me on my sixteenth birthday.

"Amazing and very unique," she gasps.
"I didn't know your mum could sew. Or that she'd know your exact measurements."

"Oh yes. My grandmother taught her, but she wasn't good at proper patterns. So she took to making more unique styles. She wanted to make it especially for me."

"It definitely shows," Ginny says smiling.
"Are those Crumple-Horned Snorkacks on the skirt?"

I nod.

"Come on. We'd better get going," Ginny says as she notices the time.
"It's quarter to. How do I look?"

I helped Ginny out with a phoenix lady style. If I was going to go out fancy, I wanted Ginny to join in. I just didn't think it would be fair if I looked all dolled up and she wasn't.

"Quite lovely," I nod.

"Thanks. Where's Neville?"

"Oh. I asked him to meet us there with Rolf. They should be there when we arrive."

"Excellent."

We exit the Gryffindor common room and as were walking down the stairs, I look at Ginny's face and I can tell she's got something on her mind.

"What are you thinking, Ginny?"

She shrugs.

"I was thinking about you and Rolf. What do you think of him?"

Now it's my turn to shrug.

"He seems like a very kind person. Why do you ask? Are you interested in him?"

"Actually, I was gonna ask you the same thing."

I stop and blush. Trying to hide it, I shake my head.

"Not really. I mean, I guess he's nice."

"Oh yeah. Definitely. So, let's go."

I can't get my feet to move as butterflies fill my stomach.

"Luna, what's wrong?"

My knees begin to quiver. I can't put my finger on this feeling. Am I scared? No, it's not as severe as scared. Am I sick? I feel a bit queasy, but that can't be it. I also feel slightly excited. What is this feeling? I don't understand it, but while I appreciate it, it makes me feel bad and yet good at the same time. His face gives me this feeling. Am I going mad?

"I don't know," I shiver.

"C'mon," she says offering me her hand in concern.
"Take my hand. You look like you're going to faint."

She helps me down the stairs and no sooner do we make it to the doors that we run into Hannah Abbott who steps in front of us.

"Hi, Hannah," Ginny greets her.

"Hey. What's up with Luna?"

All of a sudden, I look at her and I get this even stranger sensation, but it's in my mind and my soul. I start to see a dark aura around her and something tells me,

Hannah's not who she says she is.

This has never happened before. Why is it only occurring now?

"She's just a bit nervous to go meet a new friend."

She's trying to stop you.

I compose myself and take a deep breath.

"She looks like she's going to faint. I can take her to the Hospital Wing."

"No," I blurt out.
"Hannah, I'm fine. Please stop stalling us and let us aside."

She stares at me in disbelief and I feel like I've caught her.

"I—I'm not stalling you," she stammers.

"Luna, she's just concerned about you."

She's working with evil.

"Someone who's working for the dark side wouldn't be the type who would do this out of concern," I say somberly.
"Hannah, I know you're a better person than this. Please get out of this before it's too late."

"Luna, what the hell?" Ginny whispers to me.
"Why are you accusing Hannah of all this?"

"I don't know," I shrug, very confused myself.
"I just feel it. Let's go."

I sidestep Hannah when suddenly, the feeling comes back. In my mind's eye, I see Neville chatting with Rolf in The Three Broomsticks. Neville has a dark aura around him and seems to be stammering.

He's working with the same evil.

"Ginny, I think we should hurry. Neville's working with the same dark side that Hannah is."

"Luna, what—?"

I don't hear her. Instead I run off to The Three Broomsticks with them on my tail and indeed I find Neville chatting with Rolf.

"Neville," I cry as I run over to him.
"I know you're better than this. Please break off this dark side you agreed to work for."

He and Rolf stare at me with gaping mouths.

"How did you—?" Neville asks.

He's jealous. He's afraid.

"I don't know. I felt it. But Neville, I can imagine you may be jealous, but I promise you won't lose my friendship."

I see him breathe an unintentional sigh of relief.

"Rolf," he says.
"I'm so sorry. I was trying to distract you because I'm jealous of you and Luna.

"No worries," he says.
"I'm happy you can be honest with me."

"Wait, what? You're forgiving me just like that. Most people would be mad at me."

"Neville, I don't know if you've noticed, but I have a tendency to ramble on about animals and astronomy and have a magizoologist for a grandfather and an auror for a grandmother. I am far from 'most people.' As is Luna."

I start to feel that feeling again in my stomach. It's the butterflies, only they seem to have grown to mass proportions. I feel as though Rolf knows how to push my buttons, as the muggles say, but in all the right ways. He's someone I want to keep in my life, but does he feel the same way about me?

"Luna!" Ginny shouts as she and Hannah enter.
"Are you okay?"

I begin to feel faint and fall to the ground. In a flash, Rolf, Neville, and Ginny make a dive to catch me as I black out from anxiety.

She should be alright. It's lucky you three managed to catch her before she hit her head.

A familiar voice awakens me slightly. My head is throbbing and I open my eyes. Everything starts out kind of blurry, but soon my vision is regained and I find myself in the Hospital Wing. I groan as I try to sit up only to quickly be pushed back down.

"No, no, no," Madam Pomfrey says quickly.
"You need to rest, Ms. Lovegood."

"Wha-What happened?"

"Ms. Weasley says that you fainted. Luckily she, Mr. Longbottom, and Mr. Scamander were able to catch you before you actually hit your head."

"Mr. Scamander?" I ask in a daze.

"Yes, you must not be that familiar with your new friend Rolf."

I perk my head up, dodging Madam Pomfrey's attempts to push me back down. There's Rolf sitting in a chair with a deep blush on his face.

"Rolf, is—is it true?"

He nods sheepishly.

"It's true. My grandfather is Newt Scamander."

Unbelievable.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Alright, Ms. Lovegood. I think you need your rest."

"Wait," I say as they go to leave.
"I didn't get to finish my date with Rolf. Please, Madam Pomfrey. Couldn't I get a little time with him? Please?"

She gives this some thought and I try out my doe-eyes on her.

"Alright," she says.
"But just a few minutes. You need to rest."

Ginny and Neville leave and Rolf gets up and sits beside my bed. I begin to feel the butterflies again.

"Luna, I'm so sorry," he apologizes ashamed.
"I wish I had told you the truth sooner, but I'm scared that if I do, that's the only reason people would want to befriend me."

"That's alright," I say.
"I can imagine that would be scary. I can't say the same for myself, though. My daddy's the editor of The Quibbler and not a lot of people read that."

I suddenly remember looking through the subscriptions' list and seeing the name Scamander on it.

"Did-didn't you used to read it?"

"How did you know?" he gasps in shock.

"I remember reading the subscriptions' list at one point. I saw that name on there."

"Yeah. I did," he says.
"I meant to renew the subscription. I was waiting for that story on the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. My grandfather and I are hoping to go to Sweden to look for it."

I blush even deeper. He loves animals, he's kind, AND he's read The Quibbler.

"Luna, are you okay?"

I gulp.

"Yes, I'm fine," I lie.
"Just a bit faint."

"Oh, then perhaps I should go."

He stands to leave and my stomach jumps.

"No!" I exclaim.
"I want you to stay, if you want to."

He gives this some thought and nods. He sits back down and we just stare at each other for a while. I never noticed, until now, how beautiful his eyes really are.

(Rolf's POV)

Am I falling in love?

I feel butterflies in my stomach as I gaze into her blue-grey-almost-silver eyes.

She is absolutely beautiful. I see it in her soul. If she's trying to put me under a spell, then it's working and I don't mind it. In fact I like it.

Am I falling in love?

She is like no other girl I've met. Right off the bat, I could tell she's someone special. Someone amazingly extraordinary. Or is it extraordinarily amazing?

I can feel my cheeks heating up. Her voice flows softly and gently like a beautiful Irish river. Her laugh is like a beautiful melody sung by a faerie princess. Her kindness, she radiates kindness. Eccentric? Of course she is, but I only like her more for it.

Am I falling in love?

When do I tell her?

(Luna's POV)

Am I falling in love?

I feel the butterflies in my stomach as I gaze into his olive-green eyes.

He is absolutely beautiful. I see it in his soul. If he's trying to put me under a spell, then it's working and I don't mind. In fact I like it.

Am I falling in love?

He is like no other boy I've met. Right off the bat, I could tell he's someone special. Someone amazingly extraordinary. Or is it extraordinarily amazing?

I can feel my cheeks heating up. His voice is soft, warm, and gentle like a Christmas Eve fire. His laugh is like a beautiful melody sung by a faerie prince. His kindness, he radiates kindness. Eccentric? He definitely seems different and I like him more for it.

Am I falling in love?

When do I tell him?

"Alright," Madam Pomfrey yells breaking me from his gaze.
"It's time for Ms. Lovegood to rest."

Rolf gets up from the chair and I feel my heart begin to ache.

"I'll come visit you tomorrow," he promises.

Then he leaves and silence takes over as I lie down and fall into a peaceful slumber.

Chapter Text

(Alecto's POV)

"HOW DID SHE KNOW?" I scream at Amycus at Malfoy Manor when he tells me he saw Luna confronting Neville and Hannah about working with us.

I pace back and forth, trying to figure out where we went wrong. We were very discreet in telling this to Hannah and Neville. There was no way she could have heard us!

"I don't know!" he exclaims in shock as his knees begin to tremble."Neville says he didn't let it slip to her and neither did Hannah. It seems like she has some sort of...psychic powers."

"Psychic powers? That's ridiculous!" I exclaim, giving him a slap.
"Why would even suggest such a...ludicrous idea?"

He rubs the spot I hit and stares at me in surprise.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For being an idiot! There's no way she could have psychic powers...could she?"

I begin to question my position on the matter. Now that I really think on it, it's actually quite feasible. Psychics tend to be eccentric and outcasts. This Lovegood girl is both in one. And if she didn't hear us speaking to Hannah and Neville, it might be the only logical explanation. Unless someone else heard and told her. Or perhaps Hannah and Neville were lying to Amycus. Perhaps they actually did betray our trusts, and told Lovegood when we were not there.

"I think we ought to take this to the Dark Lord, don't you?" I suggest.
"He might want to know what quirks his potential wife-to-be may have."

"I concur."

We burst into the Dark Lord's chamber where we find him waiting with Nagini.

"My Lord," we both say at the same time, kneeling with our heads bowed.

"We attempted to keep tabs on Ms. Lovegood," I report.
"But she somehow figured out that our proxies were working with us."

"We swear it never slipped out of anyone's mouths," Amycus vouches.

He purses his lips as Nagini hisses to him in Parseltongue. I prepare for his anger at us just bursting into his chamber like that, but I'm greeted with a surprising turn of events. He pets Nagini on the head as she gives him an affectionate hiss.

"Yes, I know, my pet," he tells her quietly before turning to us two.
"You two have done me a great service."

Amycus and I glance at each other before turning back to the Dark Lord.

"We—we have?" I ask in shock.

"Yes, you have," Voldemort says as he glides over to a board covered by a black cloak. Whipping away the cloak, he unveils a family tree and a star map.

"Ever since I saw Ms. Lovegood," he continues.
"I thought she seemed familiar, but I could never quite put my finger on why. Until I remembered; Pandora."

"Pandora?" Amycus asks.

"Yes. Pandora Lovegood," Voldemort replies, nodding.
"Her mother whose life ended tragically early when a spell she was creating backfired. I had tried to get her to work for me before, but alas she could never be convinced, nor did we have anything we could hold over her to make her obedient. Perhaps her daughter, on the other hand, would be a bit more…compliant."

"Why would we want Loony to work with us?" I ask in angered surprise.

"Because I have tracked her family back generations since I realized she was the daughter of Pandora Lovegood and I found something that may benefit us: she may have Seer's blood."

"Seer's blood?" Amycus asks in confusion.

I, too, am uncertain of what he means.

"Yes, Seer's blood. Those with this blood have the gift of the eye of time and space; it is the ability to see into the past, present, and future as well as to speak to spirits; though this gift is almost exclusively for females, a few males have been known to have it as well. Were we to, shall we say, persuade Ms. Lovegood to join us, she will provide us with great aid in winning this war."

Lovegood? Helping us? How?

"My Lord, not to question your judgment," I preface quickly.
"But how would we persuade Ms. Lovegood to join us?"

He gives a menacing chuckle.

"I believe you are forgetting that we have a leverage over her; her father. Bellatrix has that old fool down in the dungeon. Should Ms. Lovegood refuse to aid us, her father will meet a tragic end. Now I am putting you two in charge of retrieving our young accomplice. If she is compliant, she will train with our accomplished Seer."

"But if we already have a Seer, why can't we use that one?" I ask confused.
"I mean, as opposed to kidnapping Lovegood and making her our Seer?"

"Our current Seer is elderly and physically incapable of having such a power as Ms. Lovegood has demonstrated. Along with it, Ms. Lovegood has a more personal connection with Harry Potter. Those who share a personal connection with the Seer find themselves in very vivid visions that the Seer has. We need her visions to be as vivid as possible if we are to win.
"Now if she is compliant, she will train with an accomplished Seer. Once she has had enough training, her visions will be very vivid and strong and her mind more open to more of the world. With that we may be able to shift her loyalties completely. Once Harry Potter is dead, she too shall be rewarded in aiding me. If she complies, you are not to harm or kill her in any way, shape, and form. Do you understand?"

"Yes, my Lord," we both reply as we bow again.

"Good. Now go! Nagini and I must rest."

We exit the room and I grin maliciously, thinking about Little Miss Lovegood. There's no way she'll be compliant enough. She's too loyal to the goody-goods. Her father will meet his tragic demise.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

"That's it, Clara!" I cheer happily as Clara Padfoot produces the patronus of a wild Stallion.
"Just keep concentrating on your happiest memory. The patronus will only stay as long as you focus on the memory."

All around me, muggleborns, halfbloods, and pureblood alike, practice their patronus charms. In these dark times, I'm especially proud of them for conjuring fully-corporeal patronuses.

"Fantastic, Samantha!" I say as she produces a St. Bernard patronus.

"Luna, look at me!" Lydia Flint exclaims as she conjures a European hare.
"I did it! I did it!"

"That's amazing!" I exclaim as I skip around the room.

"C'mon," Ginny says to Felix Hugo, a small Hufflepuff who's a bit shy, but very upbeat.
"Just clear your mind, Felix, and focus."

"I can do it. I can do it," he tells himself.

"Expecto Patronum!"

All of a sudden, a lynx patronus shines from his wand.

"I—I did it! I knew it would happen!"

"Excellent job," Ginny tells him.

Suddenly I hear sniffling over in the corner and I find Artemis Jones, a first-year in Ravenclaw, crying.

"Artemis, are you alright?" I ask her gently.

She shakes her head in dismay.

"I—I can't do it!" she sniffles.
"My happiest memory involves my mum, but she's been sick with dragonpox and I'm scared she's going to die."

I sit down beside her.

"I can only imagine how painful that must be," I tell her."I'm so sorry."

She nods and sniffles as she gives me a soft hug.

"I feel so stupid," she growls.
"I'm in the smart house. I should know how to get past my emotions."

"Ravenclaw's not just about intelligence," I point out.
"It's about having a willingness to learn. Even I still have trouble with some things."

"Really?"

I nod.

"You want to know something?" I ask her.

She nods rapidly.

"Things will get better in time. I can only imagine how worrisome it can be, but try to take life at your own pace. Also, the secret to a patronus isn't focusing on the memory. It's focusing on how that memory made you feel. Does that help?"

Artemis thinks this over a bit and nods.

"Just breathe and take things at a steady pace, dear. And I'm here for you," I remind her as I stand back up.

"Alright, everyone!" I announce.
"I think that's enough for today."

"Oh come on! Can't we see yours please?" Clara begs.

"Yeah, you haven't shown us yours," Felix tells me.

"What about Ginny?" I ask.

"She showed hers last week and Neville said he couldn't do it, remember?"

"Speaking of, Ginny," I wonder to her.
"Where IS Neville?"

She shrugs.

"He said something about going to get the trio. I'll go check outside for them."

Ginny leaves and I'm left with the class when I feel a tug on my robe.

"Can't we see yours, Miss Luna?" Samantha urges me sweetly.
"Oh pretty please?"

Everyone starts to beg. I guess I don't have a problem with producing a patronus. And seeing Ginny's patronus last week made them so happy. Plus Rolf is here and he might want to see it as well. I shrug.

"Why not?"

They cheer with delight and they clear the way for me. I close my eyes and focus on my happiest memory, especially the way it made me feel.

"Expecto Patronum!" I recite as a small wisp transforms into a medium-sized European hare.

The class oohs and ahhs as my patronus hops about the room, nuzzling against some of the students' legs which makes them giggle.

"That's amazing!" squeals Lydia.
"We have the same patronus!"

"We do indeed," I remark with a smile as the hare fades away.

All of a sudden, I see a painting open and in walks Neville.

"Guess what?" he announces.
"I have a surprise for everyone."

He stands aside to reveal Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Hello, everyone," Ron greets us hesitantly.

Everyone starts clapping and cheering. Some of the new recruits look a bit confused.

"Is that Harry Potter?" Lydia asks in astonishment.

"Err, yeah, I am," Harry says hesitantly as the three of them step out of the portrait.

Everyone begins to crowd around the three of them and hug them. I see Neville lean down to Nigel, a third year Gryffindor.

"Get the word out to Remus and the others that Harry's back," he orders quietly.

Nigel nods and goes over to a radio.

"Okay, okay," Neville says.
"Don't start killing him before You-Know-Who does."

"DA Headquarters. Do you read me?" Nigel announces.
"We have a new weather report. Lightning has struck. I repeat, lightning has struck."

"Anyway, what's up, Harry?" Neville asks.

There's a moment of silence as we all stare at Harry, waiting to know what to do next.

"Okay," he gasps finally.
"There's something we need to find. Something hidden here in the castle. And it may help us defeat You-Know-Who."

"Right," Neville says.
"What is it?"

"We don't know."

There's a moment of silence.

"Where is it?" Dean Thomas, a tall seventh year Gryffindor with dark skin, asks.

"We don't know that either. I realize that's not much to go on."

"That's nothin' to go on," Seamus Finnegan, an Irish boy in Harry's year and house says.

"I think it has something to do with Ravenclaw," Harry continues.
"It would be….something small and easily concealed. Anyone have any ideas?"

Something small and easily concealed, I think.

Maybe it could be that.

"Well," I pipe up.
"There's Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem."

"Bloody hell. What is that?" I hear Ron murmur.

"The Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw? Hasn't anyone ever heard of it? It's quite famous."

"Yes, but Luna," Cho Chang pipes up softly, turning to me."It's lost. For centuries now. There isn't a person alive today who's seen it."

"Excuse me. Can someone tell me what a bloody diadem is?" Ron asks.

"It's a sort of crown," Cho continues.
"You know, like a tiara."

All of a sudden, we hear rumbling and the door opens to reveal Ginny. As soon as she meets Harry's eyes, she stops and stares.

"Harry," she gasps.

Ron gives her a little wave.

"Hi there," Harry says stiffly.

Ginny and Harry simply stare for a while. I see it in her eyes. It's like how Rolf stares at me.

"Almost six weeks since I've seen her and now it's like freaking first year," Ron complains under his breath.
"I'm only her brother."

"There're nine Weasleys," Seamus says.
"Only one Harry."

"Shut up, Seamus."

"Right," Harry nods.
"What now?"

"We need to confront Snape," Dean says.
"He's been making this year hell for us. So have the Carrows."

"But where is he?"

"We don't know

"I believe I can help with that," a voice announces as the door opens again.

We all turn to find someone who I both would and wouldn't expect to help with a student rebellion. They gesture to the door.

"Right this way, Mr. Potter. The headmaster should be in the Great Hall," says Professor McGonagall calmly.

Chapter Text

The students all stand in their respective houses orderly inside the cleared Great Hall. I know some of them are leaning over to their colleagues and acquaintances and whispering to one another, probably questioning what has occurred that would prompt me to summon them all here so very late. Thankfully it is very minute and silent. I stride on up to Dumbledore's former spot and glance out into the crowd, the Carrows standing beside me. I take a deep breath.

"Many of you are surely wondering why I've summoned you at this hour," I growl somberly.

I wait a minute to let it sink in to them.

"It's come to my attention, that earlier this evening," I continue slowly.
"Harry Potter was sighted in Hogsmede."

At this they all begin to whisper. I would've thought they would've all thought badly of him, for the one they so greatly admired had….abandoned them all….this year.

"NOW," I announce loudly.

Slowly, but surely, they settle down.

"Should anyone-student or staff-attempt to aid Mr. Potter, they will be punished, in a manner consistent with the severity of their transgression. Furthermore, any person found to have knowledge of these events, who fails to come forward, will be treated as e—qually guilty."Now then, if anyone here has any knowledge of Mr. Potter's movements this evening, I invite them to step forward. Now."

There's a moment of silence. It seems that no one is willing to take a step forward. Perhaps they are hiding something from me or perhaps they truly do not know. All of a sudden, I hear footsteps and gasping and I see the one person I had both hoped and abhorred to face once again.

"Looking for me?" Harry Potter asks defiantly as he stares at me with those eyes: his mother's eyes.

(Harry's POV)

Snape stares at me, emotionless. In spite of this, I know that, deep down, he is in slight shock at the very least. Maybe he is angry, maybe he is furious. Good if he is. Let everyone see the anger. And everyone should see the guilt of what happened in Dumbledore's office that night, if he has any guilt from it, of course.

"It seems," I pant among the gasping and as the doors to the Great Hall swing open revealing the army, including some members of the Order.
"Despite your exhaustive defensive strategies, you still have a bit of a security problem, Headmaster. And I'm afraid it's quite extensive."

Everyone gasps as the rest of them walk in. I hear murmurs amongst them, but can't fully make out what they're saying exactly.

"How dare you stand where he stood," I yell lividly.
"Tell them how it happened that night! Tell them how you looked him in the eye, a man who trusted you, and killed him! Tell them!"

He gives no response. All of a sudden, he whips out his wand. Everyone stands back, gasping and murmuring. McGonagall steps up beside me, holding out her wand as small screams ripple throughout the Great Hall, as do other members of the Army and the Order.

Everything begins to happen so fast. McGonagall blasts a ray of fire in his direction. He manages to block it, though. Then she sends out another. And another. And another. But he keeps on blocking everything she throws at him. I'm angry, but I try to keep my cool. Knowing McGonagall, she'll wear him down eventually.She advances towards him. He steps back towards the Carrows, still keeping eye contact with McGonagall. Then, with a flick of his cape, he and the Carrows vanish, the back window shattering as they fly.

We all cheer as McGonagall sends out a bolt of fire in celebration. That's one more victory for us. I watch as friends embrace one another. All of a sudden, I hear his voice. My head begins to pound.

"Harry," Voldemort's voice hisses viciously.

"Potter?" McGonagall asks as I sit down.

I hear the noise of an animal I can't identify; a very feral and angry animal. All of a sudden, I hear a collapse on the floor. Everyone stops cheering and gasps. As they clear the way, I spy Luna grasping her head in pain. I try to run over to her, but the pain in my head is far too great. All of a sudden, everyone starts looking around. It seems they can hear it too.

There's a crack of thunder and lightning in the Great Hall. Some of the ladies start screaming of fright. I can pick out the screams of Lavender Brown, Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecrombe, and Hannah Abbott. But then it just becomes one; sitting in the corner covering her ears is a frightened first year Ravenclaw with light brown hair. She stops and I hear another girl, her scream is lower pitched. I try to walk over in her direction when I hear his voice.

"I know many of you want to fight," Voldemort's voice hisses.
"Some of you may even think the divide is wide. But this is folly. Give me Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood. Do this, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood and I shall leave Hogwarts untouched. Give me Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood and you will be rewarded."

Then there's a rumbling and, all of a sudden, silence.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

As everyone cheers, I feel relieved that we chased Snape and the Carrows out of Hogwarts. Until my head suddenly begins to throb. It's minor at first, but then the pain becomes so unbearable that I drop to the floor and black out. I hear nothing but a single, solitary voice, hissing in my ear.

"You must follow your destiny. Do not resist, Miss Lovegood. You are meant to do great things. Why waste your time helping Harry Potter? You could be helping me and doing amazing things. It doesn't matter what they think of you. It's what I think of you that matters. And I think you're brilliant.
"Follow your destiny and help me win. Your friends shall not suffer if you obey me. Give into your dark side, Miss Lovegood. Give into your dark side."

After that, silence reigns throughout the Great Hall. My headache goes away and I stand up. Everyone backs away, giving me and Harry loads of space. After a moment of silence, someone finally speaks.

"What are you waiting for?" Pansy Parkinson shouts.
"Someone grab them."

All of a sudden, Ginny steps up in front of us as if to protect us. The rest of the Order and Army follow suit.

"Students out of bed!" a voice shouts as it runs inside.

The mob spreads and we turn to see Filch running into the Great Hall, carrying Miss Norris, his cat.

"Students in the corridor!"

"They are supposed to be out of bed, you blithering idiot," announces McGonagall.

"Oh," he says sheepishly after a moment of awkward silence.
"Sorry, ma'am."

"As it happens, Mr. Filch, your arrival is most opportune. If you would, I would like you, please, to lead Ms. Parkinson and the rest of Slytherin house from the hall."

"Exactly where is it I'll be leading them to, ma'am?"

"The dungeons would do."

The rest of the hall begins to cheer as Filch leads the scowling Slytherin house out of the Hall. Harry steps up to Professor McGonagall.

"I presume you have a reason for returning, Potter," she says.
"What is it you need?"

"Time, professor," he says right away.
"As much as you can get me."

"Do what you have to do. I'll secure the castle."

He comes back towards us when

"Potter," she says softly."It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too, professor," he agrees.
"Hold the fort, Neville."

He then runs out of the hall. I sit there for a minute and think back to the meeting in the room of requirement. It can't be the diadem right? It's like Cho said. There isn't a person alive today who's seen it.

Wait a second.

"Harry!" I yell as I begin to run out of the Hall.

I make it to the main stairwell, stopping to look around in the muddle of running students, when I see Harry running up the big staircase.

"Harry!" I call as I run after him.
"Harry!"

Finally I catch him on the stairs up to the Ravenclaw common room.

"Harry, wait," I call as I follow him.
"I need to talk to you!"

"I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment, Luna!" he says stubbornly.

"You won't find anything where you're going. You're wasting your time!"

"Look, we'll talk later, okay Luna?"

"Harry!"

"Later!"

That's when I decide enough is enough. He needs to stop being so obstinate.

"Harry Potter!" I shout forcefully.
"You listen to me right now!"

That gets his attention. I see the shocked look on his face.

"Don't you remember what Cho said about Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem?" I continue softly."There's not a person alive who's seen it."

I give him a moment to figure it out, but he doesn't seem to get it.

"It's obvious, isn't it? We have to talk to someone who's dead."

He looks towards the window in between us and we see a forcefield come down around the castle.

"It's very impressive, isn't it?" I ask.

We stay silent for a moment, watching the forcefield come down.

"Right," he says a bit sheepishly.
"If we're gonna talk to someone who's dead about the diadem, then who do we talk to?"

I smile at him, both out of kindness and amusement.

"Isn't it obvious?" I ask.
"Think about it, Harry. Who is dead, in Hogwarts, and knew Rowena Ravenclaw the most?"

I give him a few moments to work it out, but all he comes back with is with a shrug. I give a small giggle at this.

"Helena Ravenclaw," I say with a chuckle.

"Who?"

"The ghost of Ravenclaw house, of course. Haven't you ever gotten her on a chocolate frog card?"

"Maybe once or twice?"

"Well, that's no surprise," I shrug, thinking about Voldemort's obsession with Harry.

"Well, where she is then?"

"Follow me," I tell him as I take his hand and lead the way.

Soon we come to a small corridor not too far from the Ravenclaw common room.

"If you're to find her," I tell him.
"You'll find her down there."

"Aren't you coming?"

"No," I say shaking my head.
"I think it's best if you two talk alone. She's very shy."

"Okay then," he says after a moment of silence.
"I'll see you later, Luna."

"Alright, Harry. And please be careful."

I watch him as he walks apprehensively down the hall. When he turns a corner, I decide it's best to go. I turn around only to face two familiar sights.

"Going somewhere, Lovegood?" Alecto Carrow asks.

"No where in particular. Why?"

"You have a meeting with the Dark Lord," Amycus says maliciously.

"I don't think I would like to have one with him," I reply, trying to hide the fear in my voice.

I back away and try to run when I hear

"Stupefy!"

I feel the spell hit my back and the last thing I hear is

"Wait until the Dark Lord gets his hands on this pretty, little thing."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

I open my eyes slowly to find myself in darkness and almost silence. My first instinct is to get out of here, until I realize I'm chained to the wall of a bedroom. I reach for my hair with my free hand, only to find that they've taken my wand from me.

I feel something long and loose on me. I look to see they've put a dark violet robe on me with constellations and stars along with auras and sparkles. I feel under my robe to find they haven't taken my clothes, thankfully.

I try to move but the chain has my wrist constricted. Thankfully it's not tight enough to cut off blood circulation. But it still makes me feel terrible. I don't like the feeling of cold chain on my arms. It feels terrible and overwhelming.

"I can't see a thing. Where am I?"

Test the aura.

It's that voice again. The same voice that told me that Hannah and Neville were trying to stall Rolf and I.

"Test the aura?" I ask aloud.
"How?"

Simply focus.

So I do. And sure enough, after some time, I manage to clear my mind and find out where I am.

"Malfoy Manor? Why am I back here?"

He wants you.

"He?"

You-Know-Who wants you.

"Not to marry me, I hope," I shudder at the thought.

At that moment, I hear a long low squeak and the door opens. A person comes in in a long hooded robe, bearing a candle. On the rope on their waist is a ring of keys.

"Miss Lovegood, we meet again," he purrs and I recognize the voice.

"You're the one who wants me to marry You-Know-Who," I gasp.

"So you recognize me, then."

"You're a bit difficult to not."

"As are you, my dear."

He glides over to me and pulls out a smaller set of chains. He places them on my wrists before unlocking the one that binds me to the wall.

"What's that for?" I ask curiously.

He chuckles quietly and maliciously.

"Such innocence, like a small child. Your father is willing to risk his life for such innocence. This is to make sure you don't try to run off. These chains contain a magic that binds you to the manor and, when he wishes, to his will."

Then he leans in close.

"And if you are lucky, you may be wearing these for long after the war is over."

I shudder to think at what he's implying. Actually I'm pretty certain I know what he's implying, but it still makes me shudder.

"Now come along, my dear. Your new master is waiting."

We walk to a set of large, black, polished wooden doors.

"Now, you shall address him as 'my lord' or else," the snatcher instructs with a hiss in my ear.
"Understood?"

I nod reluctantly. I can't believe what's happening. Actually I'm still not quite sure what's happening, but I guess the Carrows kidnapped me and now I'm here for some reason.

Anyhow, we step inside to see Bellatrix LeStrange.

"Oh," she says in mock enthusiasm.
"Why, look who it is. It's Loony Lovegood, the blood traitor."

"I think I'd rather be a blood traitor than be on the dark side," I tell her.

"Watch your tongue, little girl, or I may have to cut it off."

She comes over and struts around, looking me over.

"Though I must admit, the robe doesn't look terribly ugly on you. Though it would look better on me, if I could wear it."

"Why can't you?" I ask curiously.

"Ohh," she coos in mock endearment.
"You're right, Avery. This one is so innocent. She knows nothing about the world. I understand why her father wants to keep it so much. It's quite endearing."

My blood begins to boil, but I try to take deep breaths to control my anger and it works. I don't know if I want to hear about my father.

"I'm not that innocent," I remark, matter-of-factly.
"I'm actually quite experienced."

"Aww, she thinks she knows better. How….sweet."

I can tell she struggled with that last word.

"Enough, Bellatrix!" a hissing voice snaps.
"We must not make her angry. She is the key to our victory."

Avery, the snatcher, pushes me to my knees and holds me there until he's convinced I'm subdued. I look in front of me to see a giant throne and on it is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself with his snake.

"Welcome, my dear," he hisses.
"I trust you had a pleasant slumber."

"Not quite, my Lord," I say softly, the last two words feeling like a betrayal to all I know.

"Ah, nonetheless, you are here. And you are going to aid us in our victorious domination over the entirety of the wizarding world."

"And why would I do that?"

Voldemort snaps his fingers and another door opens to reveal a whimpering man; my dad.

"What is my dad doing here?"

"He is your compensation. If you do not help us, your father shall breathe his last breath. Aid us in our victory and you both shall be rewarded."

"Please, don't hurt her," he whimpers.
"She's all I have left."

The last time I saw him, I felt an overwhelming bout of fear; now I feel it again. Not towards him, but towards what could happen him.

"Please don't kill him," I urge shaking my head.
"He's all I have for family. Please."

"I have laid out the terms. I will not force you to work for me, but if you do not comply, your father shall not survive much longer."

I turn to see that Bellatrix has her wand pointed right at his chest as he quivers in fright. I'm at an impasse. I don't want to aid You-Know-Who, but even if my father wants me to keep my innocence by any means necessary, I don't want him to die. I know what I have to do. Sighing, lowering my head in shame, I consent.

"I'll help you. But you must promise my dad will not be killed."

"Very wise decision. He shall be spared. Take him to the dungeon, Bellatrix."

"You said he wouldn't be killed!"

"I shall not kill him, Miss Lovegood. He is there for safe-keeping."

"My father is not an object, sir."

"Silence! You work under my rule now and must refer to me as master, the Dark Lord, or my Lord."

I take a deep breath to calm my anger before speaking once again.

"My father is not an object, my Lord."

"Should you step out of line, we may still take his life."

I sigh. I don't see any other way around this at the moment.

"What exactly is it that I have to do, my Lord?"

"That is what we must discuss alone. Avery, leave us be."

"Yes, master," he complies with a bow before exiting, leaving me with the only one that stands in the way of Harry's victory.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

There's a moment of silence as I stay knelt to the ground. I hear Nagini hissing violently.

"No, Nagini," Voldemort says.
"She is under my dominion now. I assume Avery told you of what your chains can do."

I nod quickly.

"Stand up."

Obediently, and reluctantly, I get to my feet. He snaps his fingers and a table and chair appear. He snaps his fingers again and dish upon dish of food appears on almost every square inch of the table. Freshly-baked bread, scones, tea, chicken, I even smell a bit of alcohol.

"Have a seat," he says politely.

I hesitate in this. What if he poisoned the food?

"I see your hesitance in my invitation. On my honor, you shall not be harmed as long as you obey me. Now have a seat."

I sit down in the chair. It's quite comfortable actually. I'm surprised at how hospitable he's being.

"Come now," he says with a laugh, seemingly reading my mind.
"I may have split my soul, but that does not mean I am not without some hospitality, Miss Lovegood."

"Luna," I point out.

"What did you say?" he asks with a bit of anger in his voice. I take it he doesn't like being interrupted.

"You may call me Luna if you wish, my Lord," I add quickly.

"Of course, but it is up to me what I call you, Luna Lovegood. Now have a bite."

Apprehensively, I take a piece of bread. I'm surprised to find that it's hot and crispy in my hands. I hear the bread crackle as I break it and bite into it. I feel my stomach rumble and I realize I'm much hungrier than I took myself for.

"I take it you are enjoying the meal."

"Yes, my Lord."

"That is what I wish to hear."

"My Lord, I do have a question," I say.

"You may ask."

"When that Snatcher, Avery, suggested I be wed to you, did you truly take it into consideration?"

He gives this some thought.

"Yes, I believe I did."

"Why, My Lord?"

"With what little of my soul I have, I long for some companionship and you seem to be most ideal. Why? Would you not want to be wed to me?"

I hear a bit of anger in his voice.

"It's not preferable to me, My Lord," I reply quickly.
"But if I must, I shall do what must be done to appease you. However, I think Bellatrix might like that position more than I, My Lord."

"Bellatrix is my most loyal follower. I see her as nothing more. I am most appeased that you are willing to do what is best for me, Miss Lovegood, and it is for that reason I have chosen you to be my wife after the war is over and Harry Potter is dead."

I feel another rumbling in my stomach, but this one is not from hunger. It seems to me that Avery is the Snatcher with the most influence over Lord Voldemort. As far as I'm concerned, the other two I saw when I was at the camp with Ron and Ginny, don't even have first names. I hope and pray that Harry takes Lord Voldemort down.

"However that is not what I wish to discuss with you. I shall tell you your duties under my dominion towards the end of the war. Then once the war is over, I shall tell you of your duties as the wife of the Dark Lord."

I sit up in attention.

"Two reliable sources have made known to myself of your perceptive nature. It is with this that gave me the key to unlocking the secret behind you. You possess the blood of a Seer."

"The blood of a Seer, My Lord?" I say in slight shock.

"In other words, you are gifted with the ability to divine the future and beyond in the present. It is with these abilities that you shall use to help us take the wizarding world victoriously."

"That is a very well-developed plan, My Lord. However I didn't know of this until recently. How can I use my abilities when I've had no chance to work with them?"

"That has already been remedied. You shall train with a former Seer. Her body is weak and fragile, but her knowledge is strong and she shall be your greatest ally in your quest to honing these gifts. I permit you to use them in any way to help us remain victorious."In exchange, you shall be given residence here as well as nourishment, clothing, and cleaning. Rest is allowed, but only for short amounts of time. If need be, I shall employ a Death Eater to induce a sleeping spell or a draught to recharge your energy more quickly and more powerfully."

That doesn't sound too terrible, to be completely honest, but I still feel wrong for even agreeing to aid the Dark Lord in his quest for total dominion over the wizarding world. I really wish I had another option, but the only other option would get my dad killed and he's the only family I know of that I have left.

"Do you understand?"

"Yes, my Lord. Though I do have another question or so."

"You may ask."

"Do you know what these robes are that I have on me?"

"They are traditional Seer robes for when they induce their power."

"What else can Seers do?"

"They can divine and speak to the spirits in the world beyond. Some Seers have the power to bend others to their will using demons and spirits. Other Seers can use aural energy to tell how someone is feeling or if they're working for the opposing side."

So that explains why I knew about Hannah and Neville, I think.

"My Lord, I do hope you don't mind, but I would like to ask of a favor."

"I shall hear of it at the least."

"My mum passed away when I was nine. When I master my powers, may I use them to speak to my mum please? She may be able to give me some insight into the war."

He purses his lips and I hear him breathe in. He gives a quick huff of air.

"If it benefits us, you may use your powers in any way you wish."

I feel a bit of a tug on my heartstrings. Even if I do have to help them, I'll at least be able to speak to my mum.

"Now, if that is all," he says before snapping his fingers. Avery enters with a bow.
"Please escort Miss Lovegood to her chamber. Assign someone to be her handmaiden. I need to make sure she is well in order for her visions and communications to be completely accurate."

"Yes, my Lord."

And with that, I stand up and curtsy to the Dark Lord. If I'm going to be playing the part of the mystic ally, I might as well go a little bit all the way. Besides, he says he needs to make sure I'm well. This is the least I can do to thank him.

"Thank you, my Lord," I tell him as I follow Avery back to my chamber.

Chapter Text

(Harry's POV)

After we manage to get the diadem, Hermione asks me how I knew it was in there.

"It's thanks to Luna, really," I explain.

"Luna? How so?"

"If she hadn't told me about Helena Ravenclaw, I don't think we would've even found the diadem in the first place."

"That girl is incredibly, incredibly mental, but I have to admit; she has definitely grown on me," Ron says with a sigh.

"She's not mental," I snap back.
"She just thinks about things and sees the world differently than most."

"So, she is still mental then?"

I groan and shake my head in frustration.

"Look, we can argue about Luna later. Did you get the basilisk fang?" I ask as I turn to Hermione.

Hermione nods and holds it up.

"Let's do this," I exclaim.

I hold out the diadem, and she stabs it right in the gem. We hear a loud yell and then it fades into nothing.

"Harry!" a voice yells.

I turn to find Ginny and Neville rushing up the stairway.

"Are you alright?" I ask them as they skid to a halt in front of us.

"Never better," Neville replies with a vigor that I have never heard in his voice before.
"I feel like I could…..breathe fire or something. You haven't seen Luna, have you?"

"Luna?"

Neville's eyes light up at the mere mention of her name.

"I'm mad for her! I think it's time I told her since we'll probably both be dead by dawn!"

As he runs off, Ginny grabs my face and we lock lips. Her warm lips feel nice against my cold ones.

"I love you," I whisper after we break apart.

"I know," she replies somberly before running off.

I turn to Ron and Hermione in surprise. I stare at them in silence for a few moments.

"Did…..did either of you two see that coming at all?"

"Which one of those?" Hermione asks.
"The kiss or that Neville's mad for Luna?"

I shrug at this.

"Both of them, I guess."

Hermione and Ron glance at each other.

"Honestly, I saw the kiss coming," Ron replies.
"Ginny and you are definitely into each other, but Neville being mad for Luna? Just kinda came out of nowhere."

"Ron has a good point," Hermione tells me.
"I too saw the kiss coming, but not Neville's madness. Also, where IS Luna? I think we should find her and thank her for helping us find the diadem."

"Who knows where she could be?" Ron replies.
"Probably chasing some crummy-haired snorlax or whatever she calls them."

"Crumple-Horned Snorkacks," I correct him as I give a glare.
"And I dunno where she is. The last time I saw her, she helped me find Helena Ravenclaw. When I came back round the corridor, she was gone."

"Harry!" a voice calls out to us in a mixture of alarm and relief.

I turn to find a first year Ravenclaw bolting towards us, nearly crashing into other running professors and students.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione!" she pants as she nearly avoids colliding into us.
"There you three are! I have something major to tell you."

"Do—do we know you?" Ron asks in confusion.

"Lydia Flint, first year Ravenclaw. Member of the Newly Re-Established Dumbledore's Army."

"Right. I saw you in the Room of Requirement," Hermione remarks.
"Anyway, what is it you have to tell us?"

"Luna's missing!" she exclaims.
"From what I heard, the Carrows took her!"

My heart jumps and flips in my chest. Luna? Kidnapped by Death Eaters? Again?

"The Carrows? But that's impossible. I thought they left with Snape. And the forcefield was put up not long after," Hermione exclaims incredulously.

"I thought they left with Snape as well, but apparently they came back just as the forcefield closed. Or perhaps a bit before."

"Where have they taken her?" I ask in a panic.

Lydia gives this a small amount of thought before speaking.

"If I had to make a guess off the top of my head, I would suspect she's at Malfoy Manor. That's where a lot of the Death Eaters hang out. Or at least, from what I have heard."

"We need to save her!"

I begin to run off when I feel something-or someone-grab my arm.

"No, Harry!" Hermione snaps as she pulls me back.
"Not until we find all of the horcruxes."

"But what about Luna? She knew about the diadem. Who's to say she won't know what the next ones are?"

Hermione considers this and sighs in defeat.

"Even if we do go, we are gonna need to have someone looking here at Hogwarts."

"What about Ginny and Neville?"

"Neville's taking care of the bridge with Seamus, but maybe if Ginny's not busy or…."

She turns to look at Lydia.

"Do you know how to destroy a horcrux?"

The first-year Ravenclaw shrugs.

"No clue. I don't even know what a horcrux is."

Hermione holds the fang out to the girl who stares at it in confusion.

"Take this basilisk fang and if we find anything that needs to be destroyed, we'll contact you. Here, give me your wand."

She does and Hermione touches the tips of the wands together until a bright green light quickly emits from them.

"There, now we should be able to contact you."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asks out of concern."Going right into the hive of the Death Eaters is the equivalent of playing Potion or Jinx Roulette."

"I know it is, but truth be told, Harry's not gonna stop obsessing over this until we find her. So yes, we're sure. Be sure to contact Ginny if you need help. You know what she looks like, right?"

She nods and runs off.

"Right," I urge them,"Let's get going."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

The next few days are actually quite comfortable. I'm assigned a handmaiden to look after me and sort of be my companion. But that's a problem; I'm only allowed to talk to a limited list of people, one of them being Cassandra, the Seer who's training me.

"Breathe and concentrate on the spirit of your mother," she orders gently as we sit in the midnight air in Voldemort's astronomy tower; the cold air brushing through my hair.
"Focus on her aura."

This is the tenth time we've tried today. It's only been three days, but it feels like forever.

"I don't remember her aura. It's been years."

"Just relax. It will come. Once it does, grab onto it with your mind's hand and hold tightly."

"I don't know if I believe you."

"Very few people believe in what I say. But you must. It will happen."

I feel like I'm going to collapse. I feel so tired. Finally I can't concentrate anymore and let my head hang low.

"Lady Luna, are you alright?" Aria, my handmaiden, asks.

"I'm fine."

"Would you like some water with ice, Lady Luna?"

"That would be lovely, Aria. Thank you."

In her bare feet, the red headed handmaiden runs off.

"I can't do this much longer, Cassandra," I squeak in pain.
"I feel weak."

"Do you need a sleeping draught?"

I shake my head.

"I think I just need a quick nap."

I lie down on the blanket covering the cobblestone floor, my Seer robes acting as blankets, and before I know it, I'm out cold.

I find myself in a place of darkness. Cold air blows through me. I feel alone, but something tells me I'm not alone.

"Hello?" I ask.

"Who's there?"

"It's me," a voice says handsomely.

I blink my eyes and suddenly a spotlight appears. In it is a handsome, young man with a Slytherin uniform on. He has dark brown, almost jet black, hair and dark eyes. His skin is as pale as clear moonlit snow. He both calms and concerns me.

"Who are you?" I ask tentatively.

"I am a friend," he replies politely.
"A friend who lives inside of you."

"So are you my conscience?"

He shrugs.

"If you want me to be."

There's a moment of silence before he speaks again.

"Luna, my dear, why are you weary? Your training has only just begun."

"It takes a lot of mental energy. I don't know how much I have. What if I can't do this? What if I'm always going to be too weak? If I fail the Dark Lord, he'll kill my dad. I don't want my dad to die."

I fall to the ground, weeping. All of a sudden, I hear footsteps and a gentle hand cups my chin, pulling it up so that our eyes meet.

"He shall not die at the hands of Lord Voldemort. I promise. You have the strength inside of you, Luna. I know it. It may take some time, but it will emerge. I know it."

He holds out his hands and I take it. It feels slightly cold but in a comforting sort of way. Sniffling, I stand up. All of a sudden, I hear a flute playing and I hear a beautiful springtime waltz.

"Would you care for a dance, my dear?"

Normally I'm not very fond of dancing, but something about him makes me consider him an exception. I nod and he lets go of my hand. He bows as a gentleman would and I curtsy in return. We then position our hands as one would position them before a waltz and grasp hold. His hands are comfortingly cold.

As we dance, I feel we're gliding almost. I feel serene and at peace. As I sniffle, he takes a finger and wipes under my eye. All of a sudden, my tears disappear and my face is completely dry.

"Thank you," I whisper kindly.

He smiles back in reply.

We dance the night, day, whatever time, away. I soon find my head gravitating towards his shoulder. Gently I lay it down. His shoulder feels warm and welcoming. I feel his breath on my head, gentle and comforting. My eyes begin to flutter as I try to keep myself awake. But what happens if you fall asleep in a dream? I don't quite know. But I try not to find out. I don't want this dream to end. My conscience giggles kindly as my eyelids become heavier and heavier until I doze off.

"Lady Luna!" a familiar voice exclaims from afar.
"Are you alright?"

I open my eyes to see Aria looming above me in concern.

"Should I get you a wet towel?"

"No thank you, Aria," I reply kindly.
"I merely took a nap."

"Oh. I brought you the ice water you asked for."

"Thank you, Aria."

I sit up and shake my head. Once again, I get back into Seer position and close my eyes. I try to relax my mind.

Think of your mum. Think of her laugh and her voice.

I begin to remember its lyrical quality. It takes some more focus when I hear a voice in my mind's ear.

"Luna!" it says in alarm.

"Mum?" I ask in my mind.

"Look inside the boy's soul."

"Which boy?"

"He who lived to tell the tale."

I focus in on Harry and his soul. His soul is mostly dark grey when suddenly I spy a dark cloud inside of it. I don't know how it got there, but my mind is able to identify that this isn't originally part of Harry.

"What is it?"

"The fractured soul of another."

"The Dark Lord's soul?"

"Aye, the boy is a horcrux."

There's that word again; horcrux. No one has been able to tell me what it means.

"What's a horcrux?"

All of a sudden, I begin to lose focus and can only partially make out what mum says.

"Object…..fraction…soul…immortal."

"Mum, the spiritual connection is dying. What are you saying?"

Suddenly the voice stops and all I see is a blank abyss. I open my eyes and gasp.

"Object, fraction, soul, immortal."

I turn to my guide.

"Cassandra, do you know anything about horcruxes?"

She gasps and shushes me almost instantaneously.

"The Dark Lord does not allow us to speak of it."

"But I need to know. This could help us win the war."

Cassandra sighs and her head hangs in shame.

"Lady Luna, as much as I wish I could tell you, the truth is I don't remember. Not a single Death Eater or Snatcher does. We were ordered to burn all material that told what it was and/or the process of creating it."

"Does anyone remember?"

She shrugs.

"The only person who might still know about what a horcrux is is the Dark Lord himself, but that's the same as playing Jinx Roulette. He's very sensitive about the topic."

I take a deep breath and nod once.

"Then I guess that's a risk I'll have to take."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

After some deliberation, I decide to wait until morning to ask the Dark Lord about horcruxes. In the meantime, I can't sleep. I'm a bit too worried. One wrong move and my dad's a goner. Tossing and turning, I begin to wonder if he's okay or if he's even still there. I don't know if I have made any wrong moves; I try to hope for the best, but to no avail.I shoot up in bed in defeat. It seems that sleep will not come to me until I know whether or not dad's okay. After putting on my robes to keep warm, I head down into the dungeons to speak with my dad. For once, I'm glad we're both trapped here. Because he can't take off with me and put me in the chamber. That is, if he's still alive. I shudder even thinking about these prospects.

"Lumos," I whisper when I get down into the dungeon.

I shine the light against the back wall and spy a bedraggled and dazed man chained against it; my dad. His silver hair, partially covering his face, is dusted, even caked on certain sets of locks, with dirt from the ceiling of the dungeon. His clothes are worn down and dirty. Even with his eyes closed, I can tell that he has bags underneath his eyes. I tiptoe towards him, careful not to trip over anything.

"Dad?" I whisper quietly as I stand over him.

There's no response. I kneel down in front of him, and gently brush some his hair out of his face.

"Dad?" I ask just a little louder.

He gives a small exclamation of fright. I internally breathe a sigh of relief now that I know he is, in fact, still alive. But at the same time, my stomach flips in worry and my heart skips a beat. What if someone heard that?

"What? Who's there? Don't hurt me!"

"Shh," I shush him quickly.
"It's me, Luna."

It takes him a second, but he soon calms down.

"Oh," he gasps in relief.
"My Luna, you're alright. I thought they had decided to kill you. What is that you're wearing?"

I stand up and twirl around. In spite of the position I'm in, I really don't mind the robes. They are quite pretty.

"Traditional Seer robes. Apparently I have Seer's blood."

He purses his lips and sighs.

"I suspected as much."

Gasping I stare at him in shock.

"You knew? You knew that I had Seer's blood inside of me the whole time?"

He nods his head in shame.

"Mum suspected you did as well. I didn't want to tell you until you were a little older and until I was sure you had Seer's blood. Seers are much desired in the wizarding world and are often victims of witchnappings. That's part of why I have to keep you safe, my Luna."

"By putting me in a chamber that makes me innocent?"

"Isn't it simply brilliant, brilliant, brilliant?" he asks with a giggle as his eyes suddenly light up.

I purse my lips in fear as I tug at the neck of one of my Seer's robes.

"It's a bit, um, frightening. Those painful memories make me, well, me."

His face crumbles slightly at this answer.

"But you'll lose the most fundamental part of you; your innocence! Luna, your innocence is so fundamental to you and it doesn't get you kidnapped. Come on! Let's work together to get out of here and we'll live happily together!"

I shake my head.

"If I try to escape, they'll end up killing you," I whisper.
"I have to be their army's Seer until after the war."

"Then you'll come home with me?" he asks eagerly.

I bite my lip. How am I supposed to tell him that I have to marry and stay with the Dark Lord after the war? It would crush him and he may never see me again. I pray in my mind that Harry wins out.

"I don't know," I whisper decidedly."I can't promise you that I'll get to go home. But I can promise you that, as long as I stay obedient and play my role, we'll both make it out of this war alive."

"But….you're all I have left," he squeaks as tears come to his eyes.
"I need you home with me."

"I know, but you can hold out. You have strength, dad. I know you do. And so do I. Whatever happens, I promise that neither of us will die if I follow orders."

"Why…..why did you say yes?"

"Because I can't bare to see someone else I love die. Not again. Times are tough enough, and family and friends keep us going. I can't promise we'll see each other again, but I can promise I'll do my best to get us both out alive."

I sense the presence of sunlight peeking over the horizon and I realize that I barely had any sleep.

"I have to go, dad. Please promise me you'll do your best to hold out."

He nods as tears fall down his face.

"I promise."

I give him a gentle smile as I turn around.

"I love you, Luna," he cries desperately as I run towards the dungeon stairs.

Halting myself in front of the stairs, I turn back and for a few moments, I feel sympathy for him. He may have tried to put me in a chamber, but he's still someone I love. Granted, the action isn't excusable, but he has good intentions. I know he does. He always does.

"I love you too, dad," I say gently.
"Nox."

The light from my wand disappears and I race up the steps away from the dusty dungeon and into my chamber where I jump into my bed and close my eyes.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

As I suspect, I don't get much sleep that night. Granted, I didn't have much time to sleep before my morning bath, but even just a few hours of shuteye would have been nice.

"Good morning, Lady Luna," Aria greets me eagerly with a curtsy as I open my eyes.
"Did you sleep well?"

"Not quite," I groan as I sit up and rub my eyes.

"Shall I have Amneris run an energizing bath solution for you?"

"That would be lovely, Aria," I smile.
"Thank you."

She curtsies and runs out to the baths. I hop out of my soft and cozy bed and take a small amount of time to make it up. I have to admit; I know I'm supposed to be a captive of the Dark Lord, but to be honest, while the circumstances are dire, my living situation is not as much.

I look to the bedside table where today's Seer duty list is placed. Cassandra must've written it out while I was talking to dad. Rubbing my eyes once again, I pick it up and read:

Lady Luna,

Practice will be in the meditation terrace today. We shall work more on contacting the spirit world. The Dark Lord has requested you dine with him this morning. He did not say why. Be civil at all times, my Lady. I besiege you this; please be careful when asking the Dark Lord about horcruxes.

-Cassandra Trelawny

Trelawny? I'll have to ask her if she's related to Sybil.

I pick out a new Seer's robe for today. This one is also covered in constellations hand stitched in glittering white thread. The hem of the skirt is decorated in ancient symbols of the Seer language. I don't understand much of it, but it seems to read out the names of some constellations, such as Hercules and Artemis. The latter reminds me of Artemis Jones. I wonder if her mother has recovered from dragon pox.

I soon begin to reminisce on the past year or so. When Bill and Fleur got married. When Ginny, Neville, and I decided to re-establish Dumbledore's Army. When Mrs. Weasley gave me my hare sweater. Even when I met Rolf. The last memory makes me blush for some reason. Is Ginny right? Am I in love with Rolf? I wonder what the Dark Lord would have to say about that, seeing as I'm going to be married to him.

"Amneris is running the bath, Lady Luna," Aria says peeking in and breaking me from my thoughts.
"Shall I take you to her?"

I take a few moments to process what she just said.

"Oh. That would be lovely, Aria."

Amneris is an elderly, but beautiful, handmaiden with snow-white skin. She claims she's near 110 but looks to be only about 40 or so. Her jet black hair has a bright red streak in it and she wears a jet black handmaiden dress, short-sleeved to keep her arms from getting too wet. Amneris claims she knows much about the Dark Lord, so she might be my best resource on the subject. Perhaps she can tell me why horcruxes are a sensitive subject to him.

As soon as I am in the bath, the strong scent of tangerine hits my nostrils. That must be the energizing solution. It seems to work. My tiredness begins to fade away almost instantly and I feel revitalized. It's as if I had a full night's sleep and then some more.

"What's on your mind, my lady?" she asks me the second she begins to scrub my hair.
"You're wondering about horcruxes?"

Amneris is a pureblood legilimens. Sometimes her readings come out fuzzy, though, due to her age.

"Why are horcruxes a sensitive subject for the Dark Lord?" I ask.

"Oh dear. We don't talk about—helpful to your visions, you think? I suppose if it should help."

She takes a deep breath.

"Horcruxes are a sensitive subject because of the pain he's experienced involved with them. He damaged his soul creating them and whenever we mentioned them, he'd begin to scream. Yes, it was that bad. It got so bad that he put a memory charm on the army. No one else knows what a horcrux is. I remember because he had thought about it at one point or another."

There's a few moments of quiet before she speaks again as I go through all of the questions I hold in my head.

"I don't remember what a horcrux is. He seems to have blocked his mind off from the term, at least to legilimens. You heard about horcruxes through your mum? How did—? Spiritual communication, I see. She's dead, I take it. You tell me something about a spell?"

"She was working on combining protego and expecto patronum and it backfired on her," I sigh.

"I'm so sorry, my dear. How old were you? Nine years old? How tragic. You still have your father though. He seems like a nice man, if not a bit strange. I know peculiarity is relative, dear."

She begins to massage my scalp with conditioner that is supposed to help open the mind to the spirit world. I close my eyes as I feel her fingers run through my hair.

"No, I don't believe I've read The Quibbler. An independent magazine? Interesting. Should I happen to find it while out shopping for bath supplies, I shall take a look at it."

She rinses out the conditioner and brushes my hair until the rats' nests from tossing and turning are gone.

"If that's all you have to ask, I suggest you get dressed," she says.
"Aria has set out your clothing in your chamber."

I jump out of the bath and dry off before putting on my bathrobe. Before I leave to change, I hear her call after me,

"And do be careful about asking about horcruxes."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

After I change into my Seer's outfit and robe for the day, I go down into the meeting room where I find breakfast and the Dark Lord.

"Ah, there you are, Miss Lovegood," he rasps.
"Have a seat."

The table is covered with decadent dishes of all sorts. As soon as I take a seat, I reach for a glazed cinnamon roll. (NO LUNA. THAT'S CANNIBALISM!)

"It has come to my attention," the Dark Lord tells me.
"That a certain topic has caught your attention. One that you have recently been warned to be a sensitive topic in our army."

I nod carefully.

"Tell me, why do you wish to know?"

Be careful, Luna, I think.
One wrong answer and dad's a goner.

I take a moment to collect my thoughts.

"It may be helpful to further unravel the meaning of a vision I had."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, my Lord."

He purses his lips, as if deciding if he should tell me. Butterflies invade my stomach as I hope I've said the right thing.

"Very well," he rasps calmly.
"It is an object that stores a fraction of a person's soul in order to achieve immortality."

Object, fraction, soul, immortal, I think, remembering what mum had attempted to say.

"I was told, my Lord," I say carefully.
"It's a sensitive topic due to pain that it caused you."

He nods.

"In my youth, I split my soul into several parts. The pain one experiences when splitting a soul is unbearable."

"But why did you do it?"

"I want to live forever."

"So death is your greatest enemy, is that right, my Lord? Not Harry Potter. He's simply a soldier of Death and that's why you're set out to kill him."

He purses his lips again and I begin to worry if I may have said something I shouldn't have.

"Very insightful, my dear."

"Thank you, my Lord."

We eat together in near silence, except for the occasional hiss from Nagini underneath the table. Once I'm finished, I sit waiting for him to let me go.

"You may go," he tells me once he's finished.

"Thank you, my Lord," I reply back with a curtsy.

I leave the chamber and give a sigh of relief, with my head held low. Whenever he purses his lips, I always get scared that I've done something wrong.

"Looking lost, little Loony?" a taunting voice asks.

I look up to see Bellatrix in her usual attire.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I've been assigned to escort you to the meditation terrace. Normally, Draco will escort you to training from now on, but he's ill today."

I hold out my hand only to receive a scoff in reply.

"Don't touch me. I don't want your looniness to rub off on me."

We walk for sometime in silence. The meditation terrace, Bellatrix had told me, is a far walk from his chamber. I try to make some conversation.

"How do you feel about the Dark Lord?" I ask her.

"Why do you want to know?" she sniffs arrogantly.
"It's none of your business."

"I'm just curious."

"Curious, curious, curious. Is that all you are?" Bellatrix spits.
"Anytime we ask you why you want to know something, you're all 'oh, I'm just curious,' and all….sweet and naive. Ugh! How long are you going to play this Innocent Game, Lovegood? Or is this really your whole personality?"

"I just want to know," I say calmly.

She sighs.

"Whatever. He's alright, I suppose."

"He seems more than alright to you."

"Are you trying to interrogate me? I gave you my answer; now stuff it."

This irritates me a little. I wish she would at least be civil towards me.

"Bellatrix, could you please show me just a little respect?"

"Why? Because you're going to be his bride after the war?" she spits.

"No," I reply calmly.
"Because it's courteous to show people respect."

She scoffs upon hearing this.

"You think you're so amazing because you can talk to spirits and all this bloody shit and that gives you the right to talk down to the rest of us? If I had it my way, I'D be the one marrying the Dark Lord and I'd have YOU killed in the most painful way possible.
"In fact, I'd kill your father first using the entrail jinx and make you watch him die slowly and in pure agony. That would be a lustful sight! Then I'd kill you even more slowly and make you watch your own life fade away.
"I mean, what have YOU done to help the Dark Lord? So you can talk to spirits? Big, damn deal. I'VE been loyal to him since before you were conceived! And what does that get me?NOTHING. And yet, I'm still loyal to him. Why? Because I figure that, maybe one day, he would show me a bit more gratitude than I normally get and maybe he'd snog me.
"I saw him a picture of him from when he was younger, but that wasn't why I fell for him. I fell for him because I saw he had so much damn potential. You only take him for this misunderstood creature, but he is SO. MUCH. MORE!"

By this time, Bellatrix is in angry tears.

"WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?"

Quickly, she whips out her wand and points it straight at me. My heart begins to pound violently.

"Avada Keda—!" she begins to hiss.

"Bellatrix!" a voice snaps.

We both turn to find Cassandra standing there.

"Cassandra, what are you doing here?" I ask.

"You were running late, so I decided to check on you. And it seems I've arrived right on time," she says, glaring at Bellatrix.

She holds out her hand and I grasp it quickly and tightly, now a bit frightened of Bellatrix.

"You'd better thank your lucky dark marks your little friend was here to save the day," Bellatrix hisses.

"I do not think it would have been wise to try to use the killing curse on Lady Luna," Cassandra says calmly.
"Whether or not I had gotten here when I did. I'm sure the Dark Lord would not approve of you offing his most esteemed Seer."

Bellatrix is left speechless as Cassandra and I walk towards the meditation terrace in silence.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

"Just focus on anything that reminds you of your mum," Cassandra tells me calmly.
"Clear your mind of everything except what reminds you of your mum."

The meditation terrace is as calm as you may think, especially with most of the Death Eaters at Hogwarts trying to break down the barrier. Even still, it's difficult for me to focus, but I'm getting better at after managing to catch a glimpse of my mum's spirit, I feel drained and let the connection die. I let my head hang low as I pant in exhaustion.

"Would you like to take a break, Lady Luna?" Cassandra asks out of concern.

I nod slowly and wait to recharge a bit before posing my question.

"Can I ask you some things too please?" I inquire hesitantly a few moments later.

"Ask away."

I take a deep breath as the questions run through my mind, all hoping to be posed first. Finally I select one that I think will best start the conversation.

"Are you related to Sybil Trelawny?"

At this Cassandra nods in a slightly melancholy fashion.

"Yes, she's my sister."

"Does she have Seer's blood?"

"I don't think she would've become a Divination professor if she didn't."

Oh. Right, I think, blushing a tiny bit.

"Do you two still talk to each other?"

Cassandra nods.

"Occasionally, but ever since the incident that brought me here, I've had to be careful about how I communicate with her. The Owl Post is heavily watched by Death Eaters."

"What was the incident that brought you here, if you don't mind me asking?"

Cassandra sighs and hangs her head.

"I was 16, sorted into Ravenclaw my first year. I was skilled in Divination, but I so desperately wanted to be an Auror. My sister was also skilled in Divination, but could not communicate with spirits as I was gifted to do. She was planning to stay at Hogwarts and become the Divination professor.
"Then one day, Death Eaters had been reported to have been sighted in Hogsmeade. I wanted so badly to go and investigate, but Sybil was more cautious and insisted that I should stay back. She was so keen on me staying back that she went AHEAD of me so as to stop me from going. When she didn't come back by dinner time, I began to get worried.
"Days went by and I heard nothing from her. I was beginning to think that she had perhaps died. Then finally I received an owl of ransom that had been meant for my parents, but somehow ended up getting mailed to me. It had said that she was being held in Malfoy Manor, their new headquarters after their transfer from Little Hangleton, and that if I wanted to see her again, I had to exchange her for someone else.
"So I went off to Malfoy Manor and found her shackled in the dungeon. As the Dark Lord was so desperately struggling for power at that point, he wasn't as keen on being hospitable. The Dark Lord found me trying to free her and told me the deal; she could go free if I could find someone to replace as their army's Seer. So I volunteered myself and the switch was made.
"As I had volunteered, or complied as he called it, he was a bit easier on me. Though I did not have traditional robes, I did have a handmaiden and my own chamber. I also had a guide who, though not a Seer, had achieved high marks in Divination and was gifted in Dark Arts. She turned out to be Narcissa Malfoy."

"Narcissa? She taught you? But how could she if she wasn't a Seer."

"With difficulty."

That makes sense, I think as she continues on.

"Then when she married and had a child, I had to finish my studies on my own. By that point, the Dark Lord was trying to recruit more people into his army and found out about your mother, who was a spell creator by that point. As you may have guessed, your mother had Seer's blood and the Dark Lord saw value in that. But she was quick to turn down the offer. He had no leverage over her because all of her family was dying or had disappeared and she was not married yet, so he gave up."

"Did he offer you to be his wife?"

She gives this some thought and shakes her head.

"Never brought it up. I think he was so focused on gathering more followers that the idea never even occurred to him."

After I nod, we sit in silence for a while.

"Anyway, shall we get back to practicing? I think your skills may nearly be there."

"Actually, I was wondering. Can I tell people that I'm a Seer?"

Her lips purse in anxiety and she ponders this for a moment.

"You can, but you risk putting them and you in danger."

"Why?" I ask tilting my head.

She sighs.

"Seers are rare and highly sought after. Some will kidnap the Seer and kill those who know about their powers. They want to cut off contact so no on tries to steal them away."

I gulp and the butterflies come back again. That certainly sounds like trouble for anyone who knows.

"Alright," I say as I try to calm myself, my voice quivering.
"I think I should practice some more."

I close my eyes and focus. My mum's laugh is the easiest to pick out so I focus on that. No sooner do I choose the connection point that my mum appears.

"Harry Potter is a horcrux," she says.

"Does the Dark Lord know?"

"He does not. He thought he split it into six parts, not seven. Do not tell him this."

In my mind's body, I nod. Though this is an act of betrayal, I decide to tell the Dark Lord something that is partially true.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

The days begin to blend into weeks, and the weeks begin to blend into months. January comes and goes. Then February passes on, as does my birthday, just as any other month would. No one gives the thirteenth of February any special recognition, or any recognition for that matter, but I don't really mind. Turning seventeen isn't the biggest birthday someone will go through anyway, but I suppose it would have been nice to at least have someone wish me well. Instead I spend it honing my Seer skills as I do everyday now.As it turns out, Cassandra is right. Overtime, my skills become easier to master and more powerful. I begin to have longer conversations with mum and I soon gain the ability to see into the past, thanks to her. On top of it, in my sleep, the handsome young man keeps appearing, but never quite tells me who he is, merely telling me that he's "a friend."

"I'm not surprised at how quickly you have been mastering your abilities, Luna," he tells me one night as we sit on a picnic blanket covering a small patch of a nice, grassy hill.
"You are quite powerful."

"I don't think that's true," I shrug humbly as I smooth out the pastel yellow sundress I don.
"I've just been working hard, that's all."

"Au contraire. You have inner power, Luna my dear, and I believe it's high time you acknowledge that."

"In what respects do I have inner power?" I ask curiously as I tilt my head.

"Embracing your flaws is one. Staying true to yourself is another. Things like those strengthen your inner power. You are one of the most powerful and beautiful witches I have ever met."

I'm quite taken by this. I smile and hide my face as it turns deep red, letting my long, dirty-blonde hair fall in front of it to hide my blushing. He reaches out and moves it from my face. I keep trying to hide it, but he keeps trying to reveal it. I soon begin to giggle at this.

"Stop playing so stubborn," he growls playfully.
"I want to see your ethereal and absolutely beautiful face."

I giggle once more as I try to dodge his oncoming hands until he suddenly begins to tickle me. I drop into a laughing fit and retaliate until we both roll down the hill in a tickly, giggly mess. When we reach the bottom, I run my fingers through my hair and find that it is incredibly snarly and tangled.

"I told you not to be so stubborn," he chuckles.
"Now your hair's all dirty and messy. But beautiful as always."

Once again this makes me giggle and shy away. Suddenly I feel an impulse burst inside of me. Letting the rush run through me, I kick my shoes off and begin to frolic through the grass. As the wind flies through my hair, I feel as though I am flying as my conscience follows suit, trying to embrace me and me running just out of his reach. Finally he manages to catch up to me. Soon we're both dancing and flying in the air until the ground below looks like a toy set from where we are. After a small time, we sit in blissful silence on a cloud just staring at the beautiful landscape below.

"Luna?" my conscience asks me after a time.
"Do you believe in 'happily ever after'?"

I give this some thought. Many times I had been told that 'happily ever after' doesn't exist, but I don't see why it can't. There's no evidence against it. After a small time, I shrug.

"I dunno. I like to think it's definitely possible. I mean, there's no evidence to suggest otherwise. Why do you ask?"

"Well," he continues.
"I was thinking that maybe we...could have our own...happily ever after. Together."

He grabs ahold of my hands and faces me.

"Luna, you are the sun in my sky. The cherry on my sundae. The flower in my forest. I...want to spend eternity with you."

I tilt my head in confusion.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean."

He begins to blush and glance down at the cloud.

"Luna, I'm in love with you," he stammers as he looks back up at me.
"Would you be my princess?"

He gets down on one knee and holds out a ring box. Inside is the most beautiful ring I have ever seen. Shining silver with a blue sapphire cut into the shape of a rose on the top.

"Oh yes!" I gasp as I clasp my hands to my heart.
"Yes, I will."

He stands up and embraces me, twirling me in the air when I suddenly hear

"Luna? Luna!"

I break from my dream and open my eyes to find three people standing in my room.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione! What are you doing here?"

"We've come to take you back to Hogwarts," Hermione explains.

"Back? Oh no," I gasp shaking my head.
"I can't go back."

"But why not?"

"They have my dad held hostage here too. If I step out of line, they'll kill him."

"Why do you want to help your dad?" Harry growls.
"He betrayed us to the Snatchers not too long ago."

This is something I'm particularly shocked to hear.

"What?" I gasp.
"My dad would never do that."

"He almost did. Thank God we got away in time."

"Why don't we just go get your dad and take him with us?" Ron suggests.

"Because," I sigh.
"One, the second we're away from Malfoy Manor, he'll capture me and put me in that chamber. And two, I think I found out another one of the horcruxes."

"Oh good!" Hermione sighs in relief.
"That's actually exactly what we came to ask you about. We also want to thank you for helping us find the diadem."

"Yeah," Harry agrees.
"I don't think we could've done it without you, Luna."

"That's nice," I reply casually with a smile.

"So where is this other horcrux?" Hermione asks.

"In this room."

"Brilliant!" Harry exclaims happily.
"Let's destroy it. What is it?"

I gulp and take a deep breath. I just pray that he'll be prepared to take this news. Looking Harry square in the face, I tell him

"You."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

There's a moment of silence as the three of them comprehend what I've just told them. I want to brace myself, but I'm not sure what to brace for. They've been through a lot of things, but I don't know how they're going to react to finding out that their friend holds a piece of Lord Voldemort's soul.

"Okay, good one," Ron laughs uncomfortably.
"My best mate. A horcrux. You've got to be loony."

"It's true," I reply.
"Harry is one of the Dark Lord's horcruxes."

"Why did you call him the Dark Lord?" Hermione asks.

"I'm working for him."

"Okay, she's not just loony," Ron gasps.
"She's out of her damn mind."

"I have to," I sigh as my head bows low.
"He's discovered I have Seer's blood."

"What the bloody hell is Seer's blood?"

"It's a genetic condition that gives female the abilities of a Seer," Hermione says.
"Such as being about to commune with the dead, see auras, and predict the future."

"Okay then. Predict this," Ron says to me with some hostility.
"Is Harry gonna get out of this alive?"

I try to commune with the dead on this one, but I'm far too exhausted as well as for the fact that I've tried that before. It's all comes up blurry and hazy for me. I shrug.

"I can't say for sure," I sigh.
"All I know is that my mum told me that Harry has a part of the Dark Lord's soul inside of him. That's probably how he's able to hear his voice and have a connection with him."

"That actually makes some sense," Hermione exclaims.

"So, now what?" Harry asks.

"Well," I sigh solemnly.
"The only way to get rid of the Dark Lord's soul in a horcrux is to destroy it beyond repair or, in the case of a living thing, kill it."

"What does that mean?"

My throat closes up slightly. I don't want to tell him, I'd hoped that he would've worked that out himself, but now I have to spell it out.

"Harry," I admit sadly.
"You're going to have to die for the Dark Lord to die."

Everything goes quiet all of a sudden as they take in the news.

"What? No. That's not right," Harry exclaims low, his voice quivering as he shakes his head violently.
"That can't be true."

"Luna, please tell us you're joking," Hermione growls.

I shake my head slowly and shamefully.

"I'm sorry, but I'm very serious about this."

"Oh bloody hell!" Ron exclaims with a squeak.
"My best mate's gonna die."

"I mean, it's not over yet," I point out, attempting to console them.
"There could still be a miracle."

"How can there be a miracle?" Harry nearly shouts.
"I'm going to die!"

"Things have worked out for you before."

"But not this time, Luna. Death is the end of all life. I'm gonna be dead."

He then manages to compose himself before taking a deep breath.

"But if I have to," he says as calmly as he can manage.
"I will."

"Harry, no! There has to be another way," Hermione exclaims as tears begin to form in her eyes.
"There's got to be. I'm sure there's a book in the library or something that could tell us---!"

"No. There's not. This is what I have to do

All of a sudden, we hear footsteps rapidly approaching.

"Oh no!" I whisper panicking.
"Quick, get out of here. Go to the Forbidden Forest tomorrow morning. I have a feeling they're close to breaking through the barrier."

Before they leave, and without warning, Harry leans down and pecks me on the lips. I manage to recover after about 5 seconds and turn towards them as they jump out the open window.

"Be careful," I whisper to them as I go over to the window to close it.

At that moment, the door flies open to reveal Bellatrix, Avery, and the Dark Lord.

"What was that sound?" Avery says."We thought we heard Harry Potter."

I shake my head innocently.

"I don't know what that sound was. But I do know where he'll be tomorrow, my Lord."

"Is that so?" he asks in piqued interest.

I nod once.

"Harry Potter shall be in the Forbidden Forest tomorrow at dawn. The barrier is almost broken. The time to kill him will be about right, my Lord, but I must warn you that it may not work out the first time."

"Why might it not work out the first time?" Bellatrix sniffs.

I shrug.

"I couldn't quite make out that part of the vision."

There's a long moment of silence as it settles into him. I try to suppress my nerves, but the thoughts race through my head. That's what he wishes to hear, right? Have I condemned myself to die? More importantly, have I condemned dad to die?

"Well," the Dark Lord says.
"Thank you, Miss Lovegood. You have been most useful to me so far. You shall be rewarded."

"Thank you, my Lord," I say curtsying, relieved that it's an acceptable answer to him. My dad gets to stay alive for another day.

"If you don't mind, I would like to have a talk with you alone."

I gulp and try to suppress my anxiety. I've never really considered having the dark lord talk to me alone in my bedroom to be a particularly good thing

"Of course not, my Lord," I reply as my voice gives way to a slight quiver.

Bellatrix, sniffing, and Avery, smirking, turn and leave the room, the doors shutting behind them, leaving me alone with the Dark Lord. I'm trying to not squeak in fright. To be honest, being alone with one of the most powerful wizards alive is slightly intimidating.

"Come. Sit upon your bed," he offers as he sits down upon it."You look quite tired, my dear."

Reluctantly, I push myself up beside him. There a moment of silence as I take it in; I'm alone. In my room. With the Dark Lord. Who I work for.

"I would like to discuss…..our ceremony."

"Ceremony, my Lord?"

"You are to be wed to me, are you not?"

Oh yes. I nearly forgot about that.

"Of course, my Lord."

"I shall allow you to invite whomever you wish, as long as they're near or pureblooded."

"Will there be food?"

"Of course," he laughs.
"What is a celebration without a feast?"

"Celebration?"

"Yes, this is not only the celebration for our marriage, but also as a way to celebrate the defeat of my greatest enemy."

Then he leans in closely, a bit too closely, but I dare not back away.

"And then, that night, when the festivities are over with, we shall consummate our marriage."

I gasp and back away. Consummation at such a young age? I can't! I simply can't.

"Not to sound obstinate, my Lord," I say uncomfortably."But I'm only seventeen. I don't think the age of seventeen is an age ready for consummation."

"Nonsense," he hisses."You'll learn to love it, just as you shall learn to love me."

"But don't I love you already?" I ask tilting my head.

"There are other types of love," he replies."Loyalty is only one of them. But devotion is entirely different."

He takes a lock of my hair and lets it run in between his pale, bony hands while he pushes my chin up with a bony finger on his other hand.

"And I expect my bride to be completely devoted to me."

I feel the butterflies again, but this time, these are monster-sized butterflies, and they're making me feel sick.

"I believe this is a good place to stop for now," he says suddenly."I must prepare to kill Harry Potter tomorrow. I expect you to be beside me."

"Why is that, my Lord?"

"I want you to see how much your loyalty has paid off. Now be sure to get a good night's rest, my dear. Dawn is quite an early time to rise."

And with that, he leaves, the door shutting behind him, leaving me quite frightened. Silent tears begin to fall down my eyes as I climb into bed and, for the first time ever, I begin to wish that I had stayed inside of dad's innocence chamber.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

This time my dream is not as happy. I see myself in the Forbidden Forest. Voldemort is beside me, holding the Elder Wand with pride. Harry walks calmly into the forest. I want to run to him, to protect him, to take the curse instead of him. My death would not be of any consequence.

"Harry, no, what are yeh doin here?" I hear Hagrid exclaim.

I turn around to find him bound by ropes, held back by Amycus and Alecto.

"Quiet you!" Amycus snaps at him.

"Harry Potter," Voldemort says quietly.
"The Boy Who Lived. Come to die."

He raises the Elder Wand as Harry slowly closes his eyes. I try to yell out to Harry to run, but I find my voice has been taken from me.

"This is all my fault," I think.
"Harry's going to die because of me."

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort yells.

A jet of green light strikes from his wand and right into Harry's scar. He falls to the forest floor with a soft thud.

I try to run to him, but something is holding me back. Why can I move? Why can't I close my eyes or look away? I can't even cover my ears. I am powerless to do anything but watch as Narcissa glides over to check him. She soon looks up at Voldemort.

"Dead," she says.

Then suddenly everything fades into a banquet hall. I find myself sitting in a chair beside Voldemort. He dons black, ceremonial robes. The cackling of Death Eater is loud and painful. I try to cover my ears, but I can't even lift my arms. It feels as though they're strapped to the arms of the chair and my legs chained down.

I can't make out what anyone is truly saying. It all begins to blur together as I try to pray that this is not a premonition, but I can only focus on the chatter overwhelming me. It's as if even my thoughts are trapped and controlled. A ball of negative energy begins to build inside of me and press against my body painfully.

I can't rock. I can't flap my hands. I can't speak. I can't block it out at all. I can only let the tears roll down my face. No one speaks to me, not even to ask what's wrong. It's as if they all know what's wrong but simply don't care.

Then it fades into a bedroom and immediately, my mind blocks it out. I feel the agonizing pain, as though I'm being split open. I hear groaning and screaming and weeping. It's as loud as a million people suffering, but there are only two of us.

"This can't be happening," I think as I double over in tremendous pain.
"I don't want this to happen."

Suddenly the pain stops and the darkness fades to my bedroom, but gilded in thin, gold bars. I sit high atop a swing, looking down at Voldemort, but feeling more like the inferior, feeling smaller. Suddenly the cage begins to shrink. I try to shrink into myself, but it doesn't work. The cage keeps getting smaller and smaller until it becomes a tight casing around my body. I can't move anything, not even the slightest muscle. The smallest movements press against the bars, sending burning pain through my body. Even my mind feels that it's been caged and the slightest incorrect thought will trigger a maelstrom of agony and desperation.

I want to scream, but my tongue feels as though it's made of heavy iron, unable to move even the slightest fraction of a centimeter. Is this what Hell is supposed to feel like? I feel hopeless, yet forced to endure it. There's no chance for escape. I'm stuck here forever as Voldemort forces my soul into pieces. I try to cry out in agony, all I can do is bare the pain of my soul being separated, silent tears falling down my cheeks as my soul is stored in common, indestructible objects. I can't even cry out, not even in my mind! Sweat falls in beads, but it burns me more than it relieves me. The sweat singes my skin as my flesh begins to burn. The bars begin to shrink in even further now; as they press into me, they too begin to burn my flesh.

The burning begins to split my skin and blood gushes out only it's thick and agonizingly painful. It's as though lava is flowing down my body. I try to scream, cry out, something to get someone's attention. I spy Voldemort, still splitting my soul into fragmented pieces until I feel the worst sensation of all; hollow emptiness.

I feel as though I'm nothing and no one. Yes, I still feel the pain and yes it still burns, but everything is a mere irritant compared to this emptiness. I am but a walking husk of what I was. And I know this is what he wants. He wants to remake me. He wants me to live only for him. He wants me to be his devoted wife, but in a more servile sense. I feel as though I have no thoughts, feelings, or opinions of my own. I merely want what he wants, say what he wants me to say, do what he wants me to do, feel what he wants me to feel, think what he wants me to think. I am broken, and to serve the Dark Lord, my husband, is my only function in life.

Then everything stops and fades away into nothing. The husk of my former self comes alive again. All of my thoughts, feelings, emotions, and opinions have been restored, which includes the pain that comes with it. Free from my imprisonment and emptiness, I drop to my knees and weep into my hands. The pain from the cage still sears through me and body trembles all over.

"Luna, my dear," a voice asks compassionately.
"Why are you weeping?"

I dare not look up at them. My body is wrought with exhaustion from fear.

"I-it was horrible," I squeak.

I try to describe what I saw and felt, but even the tiniest details make me feel sick. Suddenly I feel a comforting hand lift my chin up and I see my conscience in all his compassionate glory.

"None of that shall happen," he promises gently.
"Lord Voldemort truly loves you. He would never want you to suffer."

"But he's a monster."

"Because life made him a monster. But all he wants is love. You are a being of pure love and kindness, Luna. You can show him what love is. He has never had love and thought that power would fill the void. But once he has all the power he seeks, there will be nothing else for him to obtain. Unless you show him what else there is; love. Love is the most powerful force in the universe."

I sniffle as he brushes his hand over my arms. The pain disappears with each spot he brushes over.

"Love can heal wounds and turn tides. You know that."

"I—I do," I sniff sadly.
"But is he truly a good person on the inside?"

"Of course. Everyone is. It's merely more difficult to reach that goodness for some than others."

He sits on his knees and gently pushes my head down into his lap. He brushes again my face, alleviating the pain.

"Feeling better?" he asks me gently.

"Much, thank you."

All of a sudden, the lack of pain is replaced with gentleness and drowsiness. He waves his hand over my face, clearing my tears as my eyes begin to flutter until they're too heavy for me to keep open. With this, I fall into a deep, peaceful sleep.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

I awake with a start as I hear someone calling my name. I open my eyes, giving myself time to adjust, to see Cassandra hovering over me.

"We must get ready. The day of the Dark Lord's victory is here."

"What time is it?" I groan, rubbing my eyes.

"Nearly half past five. Dawn is almost upon us. I have picked out a special outfit for you to wear. You don't need to wear your robe today."

She holds up the outfit I was captured in; my blue, long sleeved shirt with violet spirals on the collar and light-maroon jeans along with my sneakers. I haven't worn them in ages.

"And you are allowed your wand."

She holds up the new one Ollivander made for me; rowan wood, unicorn hair core, 10 and 1/2 inches. I grasp it tightly. It's been weeks since I've been able to use it and the feeling of it in my hands feels so natural.

"Thank you," I whisper.

Half of my emotions are happiness, the others are regret and sadness. I'm glad that I got my clothes and my wand back, but I've set Harry Potter up to die.

"I know you don't want him to die," Cassandra sighs sympathetically.
"But the war has to end sooner or later. Now come along. Breakfast has been prepared and then we shall go."

I take a deep breath as we step outside of Malfoy Manor. It feels so amazing to be back outside after weeks of almost purely indoor activity. Sure there's the astronomy tower, but it's not the same as seeing the grass up close and hearing your feet against the dusty road.

We apparate to just outside the barrier. Or where it once was. Cassandra tells me that the Dark Lord destroyed it just yesterday. I can see the remains of certain parts of Hogwarts, dilapidated and destroyed.

The group walks into the Forbidden Forest and immediately, the Thestrals walk up to me, nuzzling against me. It's the first sign of affectionate contact that I've had in weeks. The feeling of them against me nearly makes me cry, as I know this may be my last time outside of Malfoy Manor.

"Who are yeh? What are yeh doin'?" a voice asks aggressively.

I turn to see Hagrid but only for a brief second as Alecto yells "Stupefy!" The giant man falls to the ground with a thud.

"Bind him," Voldemort orders the Carrows who grab some rope and tie him up tight
"Now everyone else in your positions. Miss Lovegood, I request you at my side."

I pass Narcissa who gives me a sympathetic look, as if she knows what awaits me after this. I also pass Bellatrix who glares at me in malice.

"That loony brat," she mumbles under her breath.
"Why does she get to stand next to the Dark Lord? What about me?"

I really don't care to retaliate. I've lost the energy to do so. The cool mist of the Forbidden Forest weaves itself through my hair as I stand in my place. Voldemort paces back and forth.

"Hiss," I hear a gentle voice down below me. I look down to see Nagini nuzzling against my feet. Even she seems to know that misery is in my future with Voldemort.

"Thank you," I whisper to her as I hear footsteps approach us.

I look up to see Harry Potter, about to stare Death in the face for the second, and quite possibly final, time in his life. I pray for a miracle.

"Harry, no," Hagrid says, just like in my dream.
"What are yeh doin' here?"

"Quiet you!" Amycus snaps at him.

"Harry Potter," Voldemort says quietly.
"The Boy Who Lived. Come to die."

I shake my head as Voldemort raises the Elder Wand. Harry closes his eyes.

Harry, you still have a chance. Save yourself. Please, I pray.
Please!

But my prayers seem to go unanswered

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort yells like an old man.

A burst of green lightning blasts from his wand, hitting Harry in the forehead. His body drops to the forest ground with a soft thud. Narcissa, as if on cue, glides over to the body and kneels down beside it.

"Is he dead?" Voldemort asks.

Narcissa, after a few moments, stands up and turns to us.

"Dead," she announces.

I hang my head low. Harry's death seals my fate.

"No, no," Hagrid cries softly.
"No, it can't be."

"Now," Voldemort chuckles.
"We must show the boy to everyone else. People will finally see who the true master of death is."

The Carrows push Hagrid, who's begun to tear up, over to the body.

"Pick it up!" they order him.

"My little Seer," Voldemort tells me.
"You have done well and you father's life shall be spared.

He turns to Bellatrix and snaps his fingers to get her attention.

"Release Lovegood from his prison. Also tell the others to meet us in the Hogwarts courtyard for a little show."

"Gladly, my Lord," she hisses as she apparates back to Malfoy Manor.

Harry, I'm so sorry, I think.

Please forgive me. I didn't have a choice.

We reach the Hogwarts courtyard about ten minutes later. All of the other Death Eaters are there as well as others.

"Who is that?" I hear Ginny ask hesitantly, her father and Neville beside her.
"That Hagrid's carrying? Neville, who is it?"

"Harry Potter…...is dead!" Voldemort announces as we step into the center of the courtyard.

"No! No! No!" Ginny screams as she tries to run towards him, but her dad grabs ahold of her.

"Silence!" Voldemort orders as others, including Ron, Hermione, and Rolf run out to join the crowd."Stupid girl! Harry Potter is dead. From this day forth, you put your faith…..in me."

With that he turns around and faces his loyal Death Eaters.

"Harry Potter is dead!" he exclaims.

As he and the Death Eaters laugh, I race over to Neville, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Rolf with tears in my eyes.

"Guys, I missed you!" I exclaim in a teary whisper as I grab ahold of Rolf, tuning out the rest of Voldemort's speech.

"Luna, why were you with You-Know-Who?" Ginny asks.

"I was working with him. I had to," I squeak in tears.
"Ginny, I had no choice. They were going to kill my dad if I didn't."

"Luna, we understand," Rolf gasps.
"I'm just glad you're safe."

Ron, on the other hand, isn't so forgiving of me, and I hate to say it, but rightfully so.

"This is your fault!" Ron cries in a harsh whisper.
"My best mate is dead and it's all your fault!"

He throws a punch at me, but Hermione blocks him.

"Stop it, Ron!" she cries, trying to keep him back.
"Luna, it's not your fault."

"But it is," I cry as I head into Hermione's arms.
"I led Harry to his death."

"It doesn't matter," Neville says with a deep breath as he tries to hide his tears."Harry didn't die in vain, you know that. He died for us. There's still hope. Even if he's dead, we can still beat You-Know-Who."

I look down at Neville's ankle to see a fresh wound.

"Neville, what happened?"

"Just a cut from a Death Eater. It's bad and a bit painful, but I'll be fine."

He looks like he's in really severe pain, and yet he keeps going.

"Wow. You really are brave," I tell him through tears.

He's right, the voice tells me.
There is still hope. Harry's not quite dead.

Though unsure if they're right, I hold onto this little shred of hope. But how can I make use of it?

"Seer!" Voldemort calls.
"What are you doing?"

Suddenly I get a brilliant idea. If Harry's really not dead.....

"I'll be there in a minute, my Lord!" I tell him.

I turn back to the other five.

"I've got an idea to stall for time."

"Time?" Hermione asks quite puzzled.
"What time?"

"I need you to trust me. No matter what I say or do, please do not think I've betrayed you. You know I would never do that."

"Why?"

"Just trust me."

I turn back towards the Dark Lord and walk over to him as I raise my voice.

"I was just telling them how I realize the error of my ways. That I have gone to your loyalty."

Voldemort looks at me with intrigue.

"Have you really?" Voldemort asks in that raspy voice of his.

I turn to him and I nod.

"Yes, my Lord. I have."

For a moment, I feel I have him fooled. A smile appears on his face, but it soon extrapolates past his cheekbones. He raises a bony finger and beckons me to him. I comply and he looks down at me. Compared to him, I feel like the tiniest doll and he is my owner. Slowly he moves his bony finger to caress my hair. A wave of shivering fear runs through me.

"My little Seer," he says in a slightly patronizing tone. It annoys me, but I dare not pull away.
"I want to believe you, but something is telling me you are lying."

As he pulls his finger from my hair, I fall to my knees and bow my head to imitate the way I've seen his victims when he tortures them into submission.

"I assure you, master, that I am a most willing and faithful servant to you now and forever. How may I prove it to you?"

Tension builds inside of me as he thinks this over. Many possibilities begin to wrack through my mind; from him assuming the best in me and believing me to him just killing me right then and there. Then I feel the prick of his bony finger under my chin as he lifts my head to meet his eyes. His eyes are so grey and hollow that it almost has me hypnotized. He seems to know this and uses it to his advantage.

"Take out your wand and stand," he commands.

I feel my pocket for my wand and grab it, pushing myself to my feet with his finger under my chin and our eyes locked together; his in dominance, mine in entrancement.

"Do you say you are willing and faithful to me?" he asks me.

"Yes, my lord," I reply without hesitation.

"And that you are willing to do anything to show your devotion to me?"

"Absolutely anything, my lord," I reply once again, adding some desperation and awe in my tone.

He seems to savor this moment, keeping our eyes locked. Though it started as an act, I feel as though he is attempting to mesmerize me into legitimately become a willing and faithful servant. And it seems to be working, to my intrigue and dismay. He brings his finger up to eye level.

"If you are to prove your loyalty to me, follow my finger, with only your eyes."

He begins to move it back and forth, back and forth, in a repetitive rhythm. I dare not blink or break the rhythm for even a second. So many people's live depend on it.

"Now," he whispers, bringing a chill down my spine.

"Repeat after me; 'I am ready to serve you, my lord.'"

He says it in such a way where he almost lingers on each word as if savoring the taste and making it stick into my head at the very same time.

"I am ready to serve you, my lord," I repeat in as monotonous a tone as I can muster.

"'I shall serve no other but you, my lord.'"

"I shall serve no other but you, my lord."

"'I am your most willing and faithful servant, my lord.'"

"I am your most willing and faithful servant, my lord."

"'I shall do anything and everything you ask of me, my lord.'"

"I shall do anything and everything you ask of me, my lord."

"Very good," he tells me.

"Well, that's one way to put a Lovegood in their place," Bellatrix cackles.

Voldemort shoots her a glare. My right eye glances at her as well and I'm amazed. As if Pavlov himself conditioned her, Bellatrix stopped the very second their eyes met. He turns back to me.

"Now," he says.

He prepares his hand and then snaps his fingers.

"Look there," he orders quickly.

Like lightning, my head follows as does my body. The scariest part of it is, that movement is completely automatic; it's as if Pavlov himself had conditioned me, and it scares me, but I don't let it show. My eyes lock onto Neville and Rolf, and I feel slightly confused as well as a bit terrified. Why would Voldemort want me to look at those two? He wouldn't. Surely not. Right? Then I hear him whisper in my ears.

"If you are truly ready to serve me," he begins.

Voldemort seems to savors the suspense as I wonder how this will end. Time seems to pass an eternity until he whispers an order I hoped he would never ask of me.

"Kill those two."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

There's a moment of silence as I try to comprehend what he's ordered me to do. Did he really just tell me to kill? And not just kill, but kill Neville and Rolf? Two people who are very near and dear to me? I don't understand.

"Why, my Lord?" I ask him trying to hide the obvious quiver of confusion and fright in my voice.

"Sources have told me that you are quite fond of those two," he explains.
"I cannot have my bride seeking out other men when she must be faithful…..to me, and only me."

The reality of the scenario finally begins to hit me. The Dark Lord himself is actually asking me to kill Neville Longbottom and Rolf Scamander. He really wants me completely to himself. I don't believe it, but there's no way this is a nightmare. I remember waking up this morning. Unless I'm still dreaming, and that dream I had was a dream within a dream. But is that truly a risk I am willing to take? When lives are at stake?

"Of course, my Lord," I say in a breathy voice.
"I understand."

He smiles menacingly at my response.

"Now there's a good girl," he purrs slowly.

"There's my good girl. Such a good, obedient, little girl."

He caresses my face when he says that and I nearly shiver with fright.

"So, go on, my dearest," he orders me.
"Kill them, and we shall be able to rule the Wizarding World together."

Gulping, I nod and reluctantly take out my wand from my back pocket. Holding it out, silent tears falling down my face, I turn towards the five and walk slowly towards them, hoping to buy myself some time, praying that mum is right and that Harry IS still alive. Otherwise I'm going to have to actually kill Neville and Rolf.

"Luna," Ginny says hesitantly as I come closer.
"What are you doing?"

"Blimey, she looks like she's been hypnotized," Ron says in fear.
"Did You-Know-Who hypnotize her?"

"I didn't know You-Know-Who could hypnotize," Neville exclaims.

"So I guess you don't remember my first year here?" Ginny asks with a small sliver of anger in her voice.
"He hypnotized me to write all of those messages in blood and he nearly drained my life in the Chamber of Secrets."

"Right," Neville exclaims sheepishly.
"Forgot about that."

"It's fine," Ginny shrugs.
"Loads of people do."

No sooner does she say that that my wand is pointing directly at Neville, nearly poking him in the neck.

"Luna, what's going on?" he asks in confusion and fright.
"Why are you pointing your wand at me?"

I try to swallow back my tears. I know I can't go through with this, but I have to, unless some miracle happens.

"I—I have to kill you," I squeak sadly and softly.

The five are taken aback. There's a moment of silence as they comprehend what I've just said.

"This-this is a joke, right Luna?" Ginny asks with a hesitant laugh.
"You know now isn't really the time for jokes, right?"

I shake my head as I purse my lips.

"You're...not serious about this, are you?" Ron asks.
"You killing anyone, let alone Neville and Rolf? Please tell us you're not serious about this."

"I am," I squeak.
"I am serious about this."

"Luna, no!" Hermione exclaims in shock.
"You promised!"

"I told you I'm on his side now," I cry through choked tears.
"And he's ordering me to do this. He may still have a chance to kill dad if I don't."

"Luna, please don't," Rolf begs.

"I have to kill you too!" I exclaim loudly as I quickly turn my wand towards him, the tip of my wand grazing his neck.
"He's ordered me to kill you both."

"Luna, you don't have to do this."

"I have to. Or they'll kill dad."

With my wand hand shaking, I take a deep breath and close my eyes. My stomach clenches.

"Now if anyone else would like to join us," Voldemort exclaims.
"Step forward or suffer."

No one dares to step forward. They're all paralyzed in fear. Seeing this, Voldemort sniffs.

"Pity," he says as he pulls out his wand.

I hear a small gasp.

"Wait," Neville shouts suddenly.

I open my eyes and bring my hand down in confusion. He limps forward, the sorting hat in his hand, and all of the Death Eaters begin to laugh at him.

"Well, I must say I hoped for better. Though I'm afraid Miss Lovegood has you and that other boy's fate in her hands. But before you die, I would like to know. Who might you be, young man?"

The Death Eaters laughter has dribbled out by this point.

"Neville Longbottom."

The laughter starts up again, Bellatrix's becoming the most prominent.

"I'd like to say something."

The laughter trickles out once again until there's complete silence. The Dark Lord seems to be taken aback by this.

"Well, Neville, I'm sure we'd all be fascinated to hear what you have to say," the Dark Lord says with a slight tone of sarcasm.

He takes a deep breath as the silence lingers again.

"Doesn't matter that Harry's gone."

"Stand down, Neville!" Seamus exclaims.

"People die everyday," he continues, turning towards us.
"Friends, family, yeah. We lost Harry tonight. He's still with us. In here."

He puts his hand over his heart.

"So's Fred, and Remus, Tonks, all of them. They didn't die in vain."

Slowly, he turns back towards Voldemort.

"But you will!" he exclaims in anger, prompting Voldemort's laughter.
"Cuz you're wrong! Harry's heart did beat for us! For all of us! It's not over! Dumbledore's Army!"

As if on cue, I hear a defiant voice shout,

"Confringo!"

Nagini hisses in pain and I gasp in ecstatic relief as Harry Potter, living and breathing, rushes out of the courtyard.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

The second Harry stands up and recites the spell, pandemonium breaks out. Everyone runs around in havoc; some are trying to find shelter, and some are already locked into duels. Some of the Death Eaters try to apparate back to Malfoy Manor while others are caught by members of the Order. The noise level bangs against my head. The whole thing makes me feel overloaded and my instincts tell me to get out of there, and fast! I try to run away, but hear a low, harsh growl as I feel bony hands grip my shoulders tightly. Whirling me around to face him is Voldemort, raging in fury.

"You said the time was right," he hisses in uncontrolled anger.
"I trusted you, and you lied to me."

"I did not, my Lord. The time was right," I say assertively, looking directly into his cold, almost-soulless eyes.
"But must I remind you that I also said that it may not work out right away?"

Stunned, he lets go of my shoulders and I run off to find Neville and Rolf. Luckily for me, I find them both hiding and strategizing on a dilapidated marble balcony, overlooking the courtyard. The wall is just big enough to sit down out of sight from the remaining Death Eaters.

"Rolf! Neville! I need to talk to you," I exclaim in panic.

They turn around and look at me. It seems as though I'm meeting both pairs of eyes at once. The eyes also seems to hypnotize me, but instead of silencing me, I burst into tears and confessions.

"I'm so sorry for almost killing you two. I had to do it. He was going to kill my father and everyone else and-"

"Luna," Rolf says for, apparently, the fourth time.
"We understand."

I raise my eyebrows in confusion.

"What?"

"We understand why you had to do it."

"We were a bit scared when you came up to kill us," adds Neville.
"Because you seemed really into it when he made you swear your devotion to him."

"Yeah, that was a bit scary, but we saw your eyes and we knew you weren't going to actually do it."

"If it were me, I'd do the same. But how did you know that Harry was really alive?"

My heart skips a beat. Up until that day when I was taken back to Malfoy Manor, I had no notion of the Seer ability, let alone that it runs in the women in my family. True, we discussed it in Divination, but we never went into it. The Seer in the army did advise me that I risked danger on those who I told of my ability to. I also don't know if I should actually say that I'm officially a Seer, as my visions are still sporadic and spontaneous, though sometimes controlled.

"Luna?" Rolf asks.

I briefly look into his eyes, those warm, brown eyes that makes me weak at the knees, for ages. Will I see those eyes meeting mine after the war is over? I want o see them, just as I want to see Neville's sweet, hazel ones. I don't know if I can risk it, so I look away and shrug.

"I guess I just...knew."

Rolf gives a quick, warm laugh.

"If I know you, and I think I do, I know that's not true, Luna."

"You can tell us," Neville adds.

I shake my head and turn from them. My throat begins to choke up. Do they not know that they're asking for death?

"If I tell you, you could be in serious danger," I say trying to hide my crying.

"Luna, we're in the middle of a war," Rolf says.
"We may die even if we don't know how you knew this."

"Please. Just tell us," Neville pleads.
"If we're going to die-"

"Don't say that," I exclaim as tears silently fall down my face.

"Luna-"

"I'm a Seer! That's how I knew!" I burst in anger as I turn to face them.

Their eyes widen in surprise.

"There! I said it!" I snap, infuriated that they just put themselves at serious risk.
"Are you happy? Are you happy that you two just risked danger on your own lives? Because I'm not! Do you not realize I was trying to keep you as safe as I could? The Death Eaters want Seers in their army, and they don't want them protected. They want to be able to take them unopposed and without anyone knowing why they were taken.
"They'll kill anyone who knows the secret and you two are some of the last people I would ever want to tell this to! Even if you say you don't know, they'll still kill you. They sense those who are told the secret. You say you ask for how I knew Harry was still alive. But what you really asked for is to be murdered. Oh God! Why did you want to know so badly?"

I fall to my knees and weep for them. My heart aches in agony. If Voldemort wins, there's no chance of Neville or Rolf being spared. I'd have to marry and work for the monster that nearly made me slaughter two of the people I care most about. I'd never see his sweet, brown eyes or his happy, hazel eyes. All I'd see are cold, dark, merciless holes where eyes should be.

Suddenly I feel a hand on each of my shoulders. Glancing to each side, I see both Neville and Rolf.

"Luna," Neville tells me.
"We don't care if it kills us."

"We would both happily die to protect you," Rolf adds.
"And that's a promise."

"Oh, oh, oh. Is that so, so, so?" a slow, insane voice asks.

I stand up and gasp in horror to find the last person I'd expect to see here. His right eye twitching erratically and his wand held at the ready to fire. Slowly and insanely, like in that muggle movie, my dad smiles.

"Here's daddy!"

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

The three of us stand and stare at him in shock. I don't know if it's the dungeon or if it's the insanity, but his eyes have bags under them and are bloodshot to the core. His smile is wider than a Cheshire cat's and much more creepy. This is not the dad I know. Not even remotely.

"Oh my sweet, sweet, sweet, little girl, girl, girl," he gasps slowly in a sickly-sweet voice as he begins to advance on us.
"I can't believe you were almost married off to the least innocent creature in existence. But now you're mine, mine, mine. And I shall not lose you again."

Instinctively, Neville jumps in front of me as if to protect me.

"If you want to get to Luna, you'll have to pass through us!" he barks assertively.

"Yeah!" Rolf growls back, stepping in front of me next to Neville.
"We're not gonna let you or anyone else hurt her!"

"Oh, I won't let, let, let you two take my pretty, pretty, pretty, little princess away from me!" dad chuckles maddened with ecstasy.
"I lost her once. I'm not going to lose, lose, lose her again."

Neville and Rolf pull their wands out and hold them up.

"Ah, so you want to play as the knight, knight, knight, in shining, shining, shining armor, do you? Or are you the dragons? I think you're the dragons! And I must save the princess."

"Is your dad this…nuts? No offense," Rolf asks hesitantly.

I shrug.

"This craziness is more recent," I shiver.
"And much more severe."

"Oh Luna, Luna, Luna," he giggles in a sing-song voice.
"Come home, home, home to daddy. Imperio!"

We all scream of fright and duck down.

"Though he's never used the unforgivable curses!" I gasp in shock.
"Dad, that's illegal!"

"Oh, my sweet, naive, little Luna," he giggles.
"In this society, which has gone straight, straight, straight to Hell, Hell, Hell, anything go, go, goes. Imperio!"

We have to keep dodging his attempts to take control of me. Finally he hits Neville, but he drops to the ground, trying to shake it away. He looks as though he's having a fit.

"Oh, if I only had, had, had another wand, wand, wand," dad laughs.
"I could do double, double, double the work, work, work."

"Ah! Ah!" Neville gasps, foaming at the mouth as he attempts to shake the effects away.

"Struggle all you wish, wish, wish; like a fish, fish, fish in a dish, dish, dish while with this wand, wand, wand, I shall swish, swish, swish until your mind, mind, mind and your will, will, will belong to me, me, me."

"Why are you talking like that?" I exclaim frightened.

"Oh, oh, oh, Luna, don't you know, know, know that trouble comes in threes, threes, threes. Or in your friends', friends', friends' cases in twos, twos, twos."

Neville, still thrashing on the ground, begins to turn blue. I realize he's lacking a lot of oxygen.

"Dad, stop this!" I yell.

"But why? He looks like such a character."

"He's going to die if he doesn't get a chance to breathe."

He scoffs and lets the spell drop.

"Neither of you are any fun," he pouts.

Neville begins to turn back to normal, the blue fading back to pale-white.

"Luna, why, why, why won't you come back to daddy, daddy, daddy?" he asks with a chuckle.

"You're scaring me," I exclaim as my body begins to shiver.
"Stop this! Just stop it all!

"Oh, don't be scared. Daddy will make it. all. better."

He advances towards me and, in a flash, Neville's up in front of us, standing in a defensive position.

"So you have recovered, have you, variant dragon? Well, you are not going to plunder, plunder, plunder my little Luna from me anymore, more, more."

"Don't you dare touch her!" Rolf lashes out.

"Expelliarmus!"

Dad's wand flies out of his hand. Panting and mumbling under his breath, he crawls off to retrieve it.

"Why is your dad acting like this?" Rolf asks.

"He built a chamber to keep me innocent and wants me in it at all costs."

"A chamber to keep you innocent? That's insane."

I nod fearfully as dad returns with his wand.

"You truly, truly, truly thought you could defeat the galleon and brave knight?" he asks heroically and insanely.
"Well, well, well then, let us see if you, you, you can dodge this, this, this! Crucio!"

Neville and Rolf duck in time, but I'm left unaware and the spell hits me. All of a sudden, I feel a surge of pain. The feeling of the constricting cage comes back, only this time, the cage is burning. I begin to cry out in pain and I shut my eyes. I hear screams of monstrous proportions and quality and my ears begins to feel as though they're bleeding out lava, sizzling against my burning ears and the side of my head. I begin to scream for the pain to stop.

A few excruciatingly painful moments later, the pain suddenly stops. My body visibly trembles as it still remembers the pain. Soon I hear a wand click against a marble floor and choked cries as someone falls to the ground with a thud.

"No," my dad chokes out as I whimper in pain.
"My Luna. I—"

I can hear him trying to keep his tears from falling.

"I never wanted to hurt you."

All I want do is fold into myself. The pain makes me feel so small, but I need to be strong. I try to take deep breaths, but the lump I feel in my throat won't allow me that luxury. I begin to hack and cough as I feel my throat begin to constrict. I glance down at where I coughed and find there's a fair-sized spot of fresh blood. Was I so tortured by the Cruciatus Curse that it made me bleed internally?

"Luna," my dad gasps in shock.
"P-please. Forgive me."

I glance at his hand reaching out towards me. In response I shrink back. I don't want anyone touching me, especially not him.

"Luna, please, you're all I have left."

Without a word, attempting to hold back the maelstrom of tears I still have, I stand up and bolt out of there. Surprisingly, since I came back from Malfoy Manor, I decide I need isolation.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

I try to dodge the bombarding questions from Hermione and Ron when I pass them with eventual success. I rush up the spiral steps of the Ravenclaw tower with my hands over my ears in an attempt to block out the excessive noise pollution, until I finally reach the corridor I lead Harry to. I curl up into a ball and rock back and forth, weeping in agony and feeling betrayed. I know he didn't want to hurt me, but how dare he try to hurt my loved ones, my friends!

"Why do you cry, child?" a gentle voice asks beside me.

Sniffling, I look up to find the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw sitting beside me. Her face gives a concerned look.

"It's my dad," I squeak through tears.
"He used the Cruciatus Curse on my friends. Well, he tried to, but he ended up using it on me, and I don't know if I can forgive him for that."

"I am sure he did not mean to hurt you, Luna."

I shake my head.

"No, I know he didn't. But he meant to torture my friends, and that hurts me."

"I am sure it does. But life cannot be well-spent in hatred and regret. The two only end up creating misery and sometimes end up creating death."

I think back to the story of her and the Bloody Baron. I know my situation's not nearly as dire, but still valid, nonetheless.

"With this war," I sigh.
"The fact that my dad wants to keep me innocent only makes things more stressful. Helena, I may very well die, you know."

She nods.

"Death is not always a bad thing. It is rather how one dies that can be terrifying. But if you were to die, you may see your mother again. Pandora, I believe her name was."

"Yes," I gasp.
"How exactly do you know about my mum? I don't think I ever told you her name."

"I spoke with your mother when she was a student here, much how we do. She was kind, and beautiful. I could tell there was something familiar about you the moment you began to speak with me when you were eleven, but I could not quite figure out what it was until you told me about how your mother died. You bear much of a resemblance to Pandora, both in looks and in personality.
"When you told me how she had died, I could see the pain you kept hidden. Your mother had done the same when her mother was deathly ill with dragonpox. She preferred to help others as opposed to be helped. To heal as opposed to be healed. It is an admirable trait to have to an extent."

"Why to an extent?"

"Bearing emotional pain is a form of self-destruction. In her early teens, when her mother was deathly ill, Pandora began to self-destruct emotionally. Soon it began to show up physically. I could spy the cuts she had made on her wrists and the blades she was so determined to keep hidden in her robe pockets. I could not bear to see her in such pain, but I could not do much to help because she seemed too tense for me to bring it up. All I could do was watch her destroy herself until the pain became too much to bear. Finally I summoned the courage to stop her when she stood on the ledge of an open window overlooking the lake."

"My mum.....tried to kill herself?"

Helena sighs and nods slowly.

"She had found out that her mother had only weeks to live in her fifth year. She was very close to her mother, just as I could tell you were to her. But she was angry at life, angry at fate, hateful towards herself. I told Pandora that it was not her time to go yet and she brought kindness to the world when there was not much to be found.
"Hearing that, she broke down, telling me all of the things she had done; she had destroyed her body with potions, jinxes, fire whiskey, and blades. She had told me she wished she had the ability to take back all of the time she spent destroying herself. She had said she wished she could have summoned the courage to ask for help and I told her it was not too late.
"That said, emotional pain can lead to hatred and a life lead in hatred is not a life well-led. I should know."

She sighs and looks at me.

"Perhaps your father has a reason for wanting to keep you so innocent, as your mother found a reason to spread kindness. Those who are the kindest have experienced the most hatred towards themselves."

"He must have one," I say nodding.
"I just can't figure out what it is or why it would drive him insane to the point of him using the Imperius Curse and the Cruciatus Curse."

Helena sighs resigned.

"I am afraid that is something I cannot answer, my child. It is a query you must seek the answer to yourself. But I strongly advise you to forgive your father before it is too late. For if you are to die in this war, you will not have died in hatred or regret as I had. You are a light in this world that it would pain me to see you die in the darkness."

All of a sudden, I am assaulted by a vision; this one is of white flakes floating towards the sky like butterflies. I hear screaming, but I'm not sure whose scream it is. I see a robe and a wand without an owner. I can't quite make out whose robe and wand they are.

"Luna!" a voice yells, mid-vision.

I can barely make out Rolf and Neville running towards me.

Run away, a voice hisses.
Run from them.

"But where to?" I ask in my mind.

Go to the second floor girls' bathroom. It is time that we finally met, Luna.

"Who are you?"

Your conscience.

Hearing this in my mind, I stand up and pull out my wand, aiming it at Rolf.

"Stupefy!"

It hits him square in the chest. I turn on Neville next.

"Stupefy!"

Neville falls with a thud. Immediately I run off, both excited and nervous to finally meet the one that comforted me these past many weeks.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

It is quite a trek to the second floor, even while running, for I keep running into curious people who keep asking where I'm going or what I'm doing or why I'm existing. At least I think they are. I'm not quite sure. It feels like everything has gone mute for me. I can't hear a single thing, except for my conscience who keeps guiding me from who-knows-where.

When I reach the girls' bathroom, I begin to hear things much more clearly. The water from the tap drips, echoing in the empty space.

"Oh look who it is," a weepy voice sniffs.
"It's Loony Lovegood, the current outcast of our house.

I turn to see the ghost of a girl donning a Ravenclaw robe, pigtails, and circular glasses; Moaning Myrtle Warren.

"Hello, Myrtle," I greet her entranced.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had forgotten about me."

"I'm supposed to meet someone here."

"Oh," she sniffs sadly.
"I see how it is. No one wants to remember miserable, moping, moaning Myrtle!"

She gives a loud cry as she dives in the toilet. I run over to her stall and open the door.

"That's not what I meant, Myrtle," I sigh.
"I just meant that that's not the primary reason I'm here."

I look to my left and then to my right, but I don't see them anywhere.

"But since they don't seem to be here, perhaps we could chat for a bit. And besides I haven't talked to you in ages."

Hearing this, Myrtle peeks out of her toilet.

"Oh? You're suddenly all interested in me now that your lover isn't here?"

That voice reminds me of Lavender Brown for some reason.

"How'd you—?"

"Lovegood, you forgot what our house stands for. Intelligence. And besides, word gets around. Just because I'm dead doesn't mean I can't hear things, you know."

"Oh. Anyway, that's not what I meant, Myrtle. I'd love to chat with you either way. I just didn't plan on coming here originally."

"Oh. I see. Looking to kill some time, I suppose?"

I nod.

"And think about it this way," I remind her.
"I could be spending it talking to Hermione or Lavender or Marietta, but I'm choosing to spend it with you."

"Well, you couldn't have wanted to spend it with Lavender, especially if you know what happened to her."

"Why not?" I ask tilting my head.

"Oh? You didn't hear of all the deaths?"

I shake my head.

"How naive of you."

"Have you?"

"Of course I have. When you're a ghost, you're much more sensitive to who dies."

"Can you tell me who's died? Please?"

She shrugs and smiles a bit.

"Oh. Well, I suppose. To start with, poor Lavender Brown

"She got taken out by a werewolf. I saw it all happening. She was just running around trying to find a hiding spot when this werewolf grabbed her. She screamed like a banshee.

"'Get away from me, you freak!' she yelled.
'Don't touch me! Someone help!'

"Then she got all scratched up and dropped dead.

"Then poor Colin Creevey snuck back into the castle and was taken out by a Death Eater.

"Remus and Tonks died together. Their hands are still touching. How sweet.

"And let's not forget Fred Weasley. He was crushed by an avalanche of brick while fighting off one of those Death Eaters, and the last thing he did was laugh. How noble and valiant of him, and a very fitting way for him to go. No wonder he was a Gryffindor."

I think about all of the casualties, but in particular Fred and how close he and George were. The poor guy must be heartbroken. I would be too if I was in his shoes.

"I'm sorry," I sigh.

"Oh, you don't have to be sorry for anything," Myrtle reminds me.
"It's the murderers who will be sorry. I hope they die during this. If they're stuck here, they have to face what they did every day and every night. If their souls pass on, it's left to judgment to send them to wherever is fit, and I think we know exactly where they are going.

I nod.

"I guess you're right," I add.
"I just wish I had been able to do something about their deaths."

"Wouldn't we all?"

We sit and talk for a few more moments.

"So where is this mysterious person you're supposed to meet?" Myrtle asks a short time later.

Whirling around, I look and realize that my conscience has not shown up.

"I don't know," I answer.

"Well, what is their name?"

"I don't know," I repeat.

Myrtle blinks at me in confusion.

"So let me get this straight. You're meeting someone here, yet you don't know their name?"

I nod.

"Bit strange, I know," I add.
"But I do know what he looks like."

"Love shouldn't be so based on looks, you know."

Now it's my turn to be confused.

"How did you-?"

"House of Ravenclaw. Intelligence."

"Right, right. Though I'm not so sure I love him."

"Oh, I see. In denial, are we?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," I sigh.
"It's been a strange few months."

We sit in silence for a few moments more.

"I wonder where he is," I inquire.
"Maybe I'm in the wrong place."

Go to the sinks.

I hear his voice again.

"The sinks?"

Go to the sinks.

As if entranced, my body walks towards the circle of sinks until it stops at a particular one. All of a sudden, a typhoon of new information begins to flood my mind; it's information of a language I'd never heard of before.

You know what to do, my dear.

I nod and close my eyes. All of a sudden, I begin to hiss in a strange language and then there's a rumbling. I open my eyes to find the sinks beginning to open, revealing a slide.

Slide down.

I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and push off, landing on the slide. As I fly down the mysterious slide, the sinks close behind me and I'm unaware that I'm not too far alone.

Chapter Text

(Rolf's POV)

As soon as we are both out of the stunning spells that Luna cast upon us, we rush down and all around the castle until we both pass the second floor girls' bathroom; hearing an odd hissing, I gesture to Neville to follow and just in time, as we spy a lock of dirty blonde hair flying down the sinks.

A lock of dirty blonde hair flying down the sinks. I could not make this up even if I wanted to.

"Come on! This way," I exclaim pulling at Neville's arm.

"We can't go in there. That's the girls' room," Neville protests.

"Who cares? I'm pretty sure I just saw Luna."

I pull him inside regardless of what kind of bathroom it is.

"Oh look who it is; Salamander and Lungebottom," Moaning Myrtle mocks as we enter.

"Hello to you too, Myrtle," I groan somberly.
"Listen, we think we may have seen Luna come this way. D'you happen to know where she might have gone?"

"As a matter of fact," Myrtle discloses.
"You just missed her. She's heading down into that chamber place people keep talking about. Right over by the sinks."

She points to a circle of sinks, indicating to a particular one close by. Neville and I close in on it and observe it for a few moments. There's no visible doorway or a lever or a button or a switch to open it up.

"Okay, so how do we get in?" Neville asks.

"I don't know," Myrtle spits agitated.
"All I know is that it takes some sort of weird language to open the entrance. Never could quite get a hang on the language, as much as I tried."

"Weird language?" I question incredulously.

"I don't know. Either a weird language or it's merely a bunch of noise."

"What sort of noise?"

"Why are you asking me so many questions? And why should I help you? I barely know you."

"Because Luna's being chased after her dad because he wants her to keep her innocence by keeping her in this chamber thing."

"Well, I suppose her dad has a reason for it; her naivety is rather endearing, after all. And she should be thankful that he is. At least her father cares about her," she sniffs.
"Mine was always 'too busy' to give me even a galleon's worth of his time. My mother wasn't much better. I thought coming here would make things a bit better for me, but all it did was prompt a load of teasing and mocking, even from my own house."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fascinating," I urge, not really caring if I sound insensitive or not.
"Can you tell us what this language sounds like?"

Myrtle gives this some thought. A large amount actually. A very large and long amount. For a good two minutes, she simply floats there, thinking. About halfway through, I begin to think she's just taking a long time to mess with us.

"I think it sounds like…hissing. Yes, like a snake hissing. That's what it sounds like."

Neville and I look at each other in confusion.

"Snake hissing? What kind of language is that?" Neville ponders stunned.

I give this some thought, wracking my mind for the various languages my grandfather's told me that he learned while traveling the world. Finally I stumble on a reasonable find.

"I think that may be parseltongue," I suggest.
"Does Luna know parseltongue?"

"Dunno," Neville shrugs."Never bothered to ask."

"Why not?"

"Because that's not something people normally talk about."

"Fair point."

We stand in the bathroom, pondering this for a while until an idea hits me.

"Wait," I exclaim.
"Isn't Harry a parselmouth?"

"Yeah, but he's kind of busy saving the world."

"Okay, okay," I urge.
"Let me think. I swear I studied a bit of this for some extra credit."

"Why?"

"Dunno. Just thought it might be fun. Plus extra credit is extra credit."

I wrack my brain for something that could help us, but my mind feels foggy. The more I try, the foggier my mind gets.

"I can't think!" I growl.
"It's like my brain's gone fuzzy."

All of a sudden, I hear a gasp from Neville.

"The wrackspurt dance!"

"The what?" I inquire incredulously.

"There must be wrackspurts. Luna told me about these. They're invisible creatures that float in your ears and make your brain go fuzzy. But she showed me how to get rid of them."

Suddenly he begins to twirl in a circle and flick his wrists, changing directions every so often. Once again, couldn't make this up even if I wanted to.

"C'mon. It's worth a try."

Sighing I shrug and copy Neville. I know I must look incredibly ridiculous, but honestly we're desperate for time, so I'm willing to try anything at this point. Surprisingly, it works.

"I remember this!" I exclaim excitedly.
"It was in an issue of The Quibbler. And I remember some parseltongue."

Hesitantly I walk towards the sink and speak the various phrases that I remember until finally, there's a rumbling and the sinks open up, revealing a large dark slide.

"C'mon," I urge Neville.

"I'm not going down there."

"Yes, you are," I scoff.
"We came to save Luna, and that is exactly what we're going to do. Now come on!"

"Wait!" Neville exclaims.

"Now what?" I groan.

"What exactly ARE we saving her from?"

My eyes and mind go blank. He brings up a very good point. We're chasing after a girl who we don't even know if she is in danger or not and, if so, in danger of what? I shake my head and shrug.

"I don't know, but better to find that out ourselves than risk her dying."

I grab his wrist and jump, sliding into the murky darkness.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

As soon as the slide ride is finished, I find myself in a room filled with rocks and debris. Each rock is the color of light, mint-green marble and range in size from the tiniest of pebbles to the largest of boulders.

"What happened here?" I inquire.
"Must've been some sort of cave-in."

I scale the mountainous cave-in for a way through, but I realize I need to be on higher ground. The mountain goes too high to see any sign of an opening. Taking a deep breath, I try to climb up the mountain of rocks in order to get further ahead, but to no avail. Each time I try to climb over it, my hand slips on its smooth stone-like texture. This results in many, many cuts and bruises. I whirl around to the left and the right, but there seems to be no other way.

"How am I supposed to get through this then?"

Crawl under.

"That's ridiculous," I exclaim.
"How can I crawl—?"

Suddenly I hear a rumbling below and a boulder pops out from the bottom, giving me room to crawl through. It looks big enough that I can crawl forward, but not big enough that I can turn my head. In other words, a slightly tight fit.

"I suppose that answers that. But what if it falls on me?"

You will be safe.

"Are you sure?"

I promise.

"Okay," I reply tentatively.

I take a deep breath. My stomach begins to clench up and the butterflies return. Getting down on my hands and knees, I crawl towards the opening and marvel at a small, but long, rock tunnel. Taking another deep breath, I crawl through. The smell is dusty, like chalk, and I begin to cough.

"Is this really worth it?" I cough.
"I mean, I do want to meet you and all, but what if it's dangerous.

It shall be worth it, my dear.

"If you're so certain," I say apprehensively.

I am quite certain it will be worth it.

I carry on crawling, the dusty and rocky debris crackling beneath my hands and knees. Would the crawl never come to an end? I want to look back, but I don't have much space to turn my head. I begin to feel claustrophobic, but I try to take deep breaths, only resulting in me inhaling dirt and dust, with a cough to follow.

Finally I see a light at the end of the long, dusty tunnel. Quickening my pace, I nearly fly into it only to find myself confront by a door. It's patterned with marble green and emerald green serpents. I swear I've seen pictures before, but I can't put my finger on where they are from. The detail on each serpent is very clear, yet dusty. And the guard the opening to the door.

"What is this?" I question as I slowly walk over to investigate.

Cautiously I reach one hand out to the nearest serpent. My finger is nearly half a centimeter from its surface. I trace over the scales. Someone has clearly taken extra care to keep the detail accurate. I keep brushing the design until I get to its head, which prompts a quick and vicious hiss. I pull my hand away in shock, trembling.

"How am I going to get through there?" I whisper.

You know what to do, my dear.

It's the voice again. It sounds familiar too, now that I really think about it, but I can't quite put my finger on why. I wrack my brain, trying to find the tools I need. He says I know what to do, but I can't put my finger on exactly what to do.

All of a sudden, I hear hissing in my mind and that odd language comes back to me. I face the door and hear myself hissing. The snakes hiss back and, as if they're real serpents, slither back to allow me to open the door. In fact they seem almost too lifelike. They aren't really...alive though, right?

"This is it then, I suppose," I realize.

Yes. It is finally time we formally meet, Luna Lovegood.

"But wait a minute. How do you exist in real life?"

I am more than a conscience.

"Wait. What?" I exclaim in shock.
"What do you mean by 'more than just a conscience'?"

There's no reply. I sigh in defeat, figuring I'll simply have to see for myself.

Apprehensively I push the door open, allowing myself a peek into a watery chamber. Stone snakeheads lined up like toy soldiers on the side of the cobblestone path face each other, menacingly. Up ahead of me looks to be a large man with a long beard and long hair, mouth opened; he is carved out of stone, facing me, greeting me as I step inside.

The clicks of my feet echo inside of the wide room. It looks tall and a bit menacing. All of a sudden, I see a little girl of about eleven lying down on the floor but only for a brief second.

"What was that?" I question as I shake my head.

I can't quite put my finger on who the girl is, but she looks oddly familiar. I swear I saw a bit of red coming from her, not as an aura, but as her hair.

I stare at the spot where I saw the girl, but she does not appear again. Running over to the spot, I get down on my hands and knees. There's no particularly cold or warm spot, so what I saw couldn't have been an apparition, could it have?

"Well, well, well," a handsome voice purrs.
"We finally meet, Luna Lovegood."

Quickly I look up to recognize his Slytherin robes, his pale face, his handsomely-combed brown hair; my conscience.

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

Slowly I stand to meet his eyes. His smile looks to be genuine and my joy leaps beyond bounds, but I keep it hidden so as not to scare him.

"It's really you," he gushes lightly and happily.

"And you," I reply almost entranced by how amazing and how real he is.
"I cannot thank you enough for keeping me company during those long and lonely weeks. You are the light in my darkness."

"No, ma cherie," he purrs seductively, gently.
"It is the moon that lights the midnight sky."

Very poetic. I try to hide my blushing, smiling face; I feel it growing hot and bright red as he takes my hands.

"You are the light that guides me out of the cold darkness, Luna. You give me life. You give me strength. You give me courage. You are all that matters to me."

"Oh," I sigh happily.
"That's very kind of you to say. But I'm sure there are other things in life that matter to you just as much."

He shakes his head wildly.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing but you matters to me. There is nothing that can lure me away from your presence. There is no one I'd rather be with."

The butterflies return, but they flutter in an excited way this time and I don't feel as sick. In fact, I've never felt better than I do now, with him in front of me.

"Your soul is so pure and beautiful. Your kindness radiates like a shining, shimmering, fairy princess. Your idealism is amazingly strong. You are a strong, fearless woman. I want you beside me. I need you beside me. Without you, my existence is meaningless."

What unique compliments. Definitely not the generic "you're beautiful" you see in romance scenes in novels.

"I want only the best for you, Luna."

"And I for you," I drone as I stare into his beautiful, mesmerizing…..

Wait. All of a sudden, I catch a glimpse of a large skeleton out of the corner of my eye. I pull away and whirl around to see the skeleton of a large beast.

"What was that creature?" I ask intrigued.

"Nothing to worry about, my dear," he replies hastily, jumping in front of me, cupping his hand gently under my chin.
"Just keep staring into my eyes. I need your gaze in mine."

I become entranced once again as I stare into his beautiful eyes, but suddenly that skeleton pops up in my vision. I shake my head and pull away.

"But what was that creature?"

"It's nothing you need to be concerned about," he urges.

I tilt my head in confusion. Why is he so determined to keep this from me?

"Now just stare into my eyes, and let all of your troubles melt away."

I shake my head and turn away, in spite of my desire to gaze deeply into his eyes. Something seems very, very off about this. Too off for me to not ask him.

"Why won't you tell me?"

"Very curious girl, aren't you?"

"Why?" I ask a bit more firmly.

Suddenly I see the girl lying on the floor again, only this time there's a boy beside her. They both leave as quickly as they come.

"Who was here before?" I ask worried as I run towards the large skeleton.

"Nothing," he replies, a bit annoyed this time.
"That's nothing you need to know, my dear. Just stare deeply into my eyes."

I hear his footsteps advancing on me. As quickly as I can, I try to study the creature.

"Something doesn't seem right," I explain suspicious.
"Why aren't you telling me anything?"

"Because it's none of your concern, darling. Now get away from there."

Ignoring him, I focus in on the structure. It looks to be a large reptilian-like creature, or what once was a large reptilian-like creature.

"Luna, get away from there now, please."

I go over to the jaw, which seems to have been left open when it died. I study it carefully and I find that two of its fangs seem to be missing.

"Luna, behave."

"I am not a dog!" I snap back.

All of a sudden, in my mind, I see a boy going sword to tooth with the creature alive. I get a closer look and it looks to be a giant serpentine creature, almost as tall as the ceiling. Suddenly I see a hand stabbing a book with a fang. I see another boy calling out to the snake. I see the girl lying on the floor but closer now. Her hair is definitely red. Every single person looks familiar, as does the book.

"Ginny showed me that book," I whisper in an epiphany.
"In our first year. That's the diary she told me about, the one that controlled her. And that boy fighting the creature. Was that….Harry Potter?"

"Don't say that name!" he shouts.

"And that girl….Ginny? But she's not here right now. How—? Are they visions? Where are they coming from?"

Suddenly I get a close-up of the face of the boy who's talking to the snake and I realize why he's so familiar. The Slytherin robes. The pale face. The brown hair.

"That—that was—"

I turn towards my "conscience."

"That was you."

And, as the final straw, I see a familiar pale face appear over him. The one who I had stared at for weeks on end during mealtimes. The one who nearly made me kill two of my good friends.

"You're the Dark Lord."

Chapter Text

(Luna's POV)

Hearing this he smirks maliciously and gives a huff of laughter. I begin to back away in fear.

"Well, it took you quite a while to catch on," he purrs menacingly.
"I truly thought you were smarter than this, my dear Luna. But it seems your most prominent trait is not your intelligence, but rather….your naivety."

"I am not naive!" I snap back, trying to disguise the ever-increasing fear in my voice.

I try to run, but he pulls out his wand and gives it a flick, sending me against the cobblestone. I feel a lingering smack on my cheek as it hits against the cold rock. The pain flows through my face and through the rest of my body.

"No, not quite," he hisses as he encircles me.
"The most naive target would've taken much longer. But you come in close second. Your father is right. Your innocence makes you such a delectable target. In fact I'd be surprised if any innocent spent their whole life without being hunted by someone who wants that innocence for their own."

I struggle against whatever force he's using to keep me pinned to the ground.

"What do you want from me?" I pant.

I try to suppress my fear. I can't let it loose for even a second that he's getting to me.

"I want you," he whispers menacingly.
"I want to break you and bend you to my will. I want your eternal devotion. I want nothing else to matter to you but serving me. I wasn't joking when I said I feel you have potential."

I try to push myself up, but I feel a strong force pressing against my back. My hands slip and I smack against the cobblestone again. I see him kneel down beside me.

"You will become my bride after this is over," he hisses.
"And you will learn to devote all of yourself to me, and only me. You will be mine, all mine."

"I will be no one's but my own," I growl.
"Why do you care if I'm devoted to you anyway?"

"I want to see if I can kill two birds with one stone. If I break you, your father will go mad. If I break him, he will bend to my will too. Once I break you, you will be my most devoted death eater and my loving devoted wife."

"But why me?"

"Because your mother refused."

My mum?

"What does my mum have to do with any of this?"

He stands up and slowly encircles me once again.

"I've decided," he says slowly.
"I not only want pureblood children to turn to loyal and devoted death eaters. I want children with talents that no one else has. Your mother had what you do, but when I proposed the offer, she turned it down. Quite a pity, isn't it? She turned down a life of luxury and lavish banquets and, best of all, a life devoted to loving me.
"I searched for years to find another with the same gifts, but alas; Seer's blood is very rare nowadays. I thought there was no hope left. That is, until Avery and the others brought you and the Weasley brats back to Malfoy Manor. I thought you looked familiar, but I was not sure why until I remembered your dear, dead mother.
"And now I have you. With you as their mother, the females will undoubtedly become Seers and the boys will be perfect Death Eaters in every way. You will spread the Seer's blood throughout generations, and replace those filthy half-bloods and mudbloods with pure, untainted bloods."

I feel a rage coursing through me.

"Why can't people simply drink my blood?"

He gives another menacing chuckle as he continues to circle around me.

"Such naivety, how adorable. My dear, it's not that simple. One does not drink the blood of a Seer to become a Seer. One must be born with Seer's blood. And once I split your soul and place a permanent fertility spell on you, there will be no end to the amount of pureblooded Death Eaters and Seers that shall repopulate the wizarding world, making it pure again."

Suddenly I feel him roughly cup his hand on my chin and force me to look at him.

"And it will be all thanks to you."

Tears begin to roll down my face and, out of nowhere, he smiles, quite kindly actually, caressing my face.

"Oh come now, my dear Luna," he says in seemingly-feigned kindness while forcing me to look into his eyes.
"Do not cry. I promise I shall not mistreat you, if you obey me, of course. Just imagine it. Once you become my bride, you will have nothing to worry about. You will eat the finest delectables, bathe in the best bath soaps, you will have the grandest wardrobe out of any ruler of the wizarding world. Whatever you wish for, it shall be yours."

Suddenly, the more I look into his eyes, the more I feel myself losing awareness. I begin to lose myself in his beautiful, mesmerizing eyes and I cannot turn away, no matter how hard I try. In fact I begin to lose the will to get away from him.

"Whatever….I wish….for," I drone.
"It shall…be….mine."

"Yes," he hisses in satisfaction.
"My bride mustn't accept anything below the best."

"Nothing….below….the best."

"And you shall be the envy of all witches."

"Envy….of all….witches."

"How they'll wish they could be my bride. But I don't want their eternal devotion. I want yours."

"My…eternal….devotion."

"You will belong to me and me alone."

"To you…..and you…..alone."

At this point, I can't even fathom where I truly am or why I would try to run away from him.. All I know is I'm lost in his eyes and loyal to him. I want to devote myself to him completely. Nothing else matters to me anymore. Nothing else matters. Nothing.

Chapter Text

(Rolf's POV)

Neville and I slide down the long winding half-tube and land on a rubble of rocks.

"This is outside the Chamber of Secrets," he gasps as he stands up and brushes himself off.
"I never thought it would be this big. What happened here?"

He points to the large mountain of marble and emerald-green rocks.

"Looks like a cave-in," I guess.
"No one seemed to bother with fixing it."

"So then how are we supposed to get past it?"

"Simple," I shrug."We climb."

I walk over to the mountainous structure and scan each area, looking for the best places to set our footing. Once I create a mental path to follow, I set my foot down on the first rock and reach for another.

"Just follow my lead, Neville," I call down to him.

"I dunno if that's safe," he calls back.
"The rocks look too smooth to grasp onto safely."

As soon as he says that, my right hand slips off of the rock and I plunge back down. Luckily I'm not too far off of the ground and Neville breaks my fall.

"Oy!" I gasp as I stand up.
"You alright, Neville?"

I hold out my hand to help him up and he grasps on tightly.

"Yeah. Just a bit bruised, I s'pose," he shrugs.

"So if we can't climb it and we can't go around it, how do we get past it?"

"Well, while you were climbing," Neville explains.
"I found a hole in the rocks that we could probably crawl through. It looks a bit small, but I think we can manage."

He guides me over to the hole and I look through it. He's right. The tunnel that the hole leads to looks to be a tight fit, but perhaps we can handle it.

"You go first," Neville tells me.
"I don't feel comfortable leading you through this."

I nod and get down on my hands and knees. Crawling through the hole, I feel the rocks against my back. Not too far in, I hear Neville following close behind.

"How long do you think this tunnel will be?" he asks as we get deeper in.

"I dunno," I shrug.

"The mountain looked pretty deep from the outside, so it could be a few minutes."

"I hope Luna's okay."

A few moments pass before I start to wonder about something that's been plaguing my mind for quite some time.

"Hey, Neville," I say.
"A few months back, Luna mentioned something about you being jealous. Why?"

"Nothing," he replies quickly.
"Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious."

"Why do you really want to know?"

I sigh in defeat.

"Neville, I think I might be in love with Luna. She's like no other person I've ever met. She's so eccentric and has such a beautiful view of life."

"That could be because she's autistic," Neville suggests.

"Well then," I laugh gently.
"That's another thing that I'll get to learn more about from her."

"I'm autistic too."

"Really? That's cool."

"You're not surprised?"