What Luna Sees, Luna starts her 6th year at a very dark and disturbed Hogwarts. Options

[nikcolarius]

This marks my very first attempt at fan fiction, and I sincerely hope that you readers enjoy it. It is entirely written from Luna's perspective, and starts with the first day of her 6th year at Hogwarts.

After a summer filled with mysterious deaths and disappearances, the halls of Hogwarts are much quieter than they have ever been. Not only are most of the students gone, the students and teachers that are left all have wearied looks about them, as if they are expecting the worst around every corner. Luna seems to be able to see more to the troubled faces than others can, especially when she bumps into Harry. Perhaps this is why Harry asks her to leave school and go with him on a mysterious mission. Perhaps there is some other reason. Stay tuned to find out!


The majority of these characters are not of my own creation. They are J.K.'s brilliant achievements, and she deserves all of the credit for them. I am just borrowing them momentarily and playing with them. They will always truly be her's.



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Today is definitely a hair-up day, I thought as gazing quizzically into the mirror. Long hair won't do, not with this humidity. So I pulled my hair up and gathered it together roughly with an old band, to make a rather disfigured bun that didn't quite manage to contain all of my hair. darn there is an awful lot of it! But of course, every time I even think to think about shortening it, my mother's voice pops into my head. She has been gone a long time now of course, but that doesn't mean that I have to stop being her obedient daughter. Besides, she would like to know that I still listen to her after all of these years.

Call me crazy, but I actually like having my hair very messy like this. So I smile at the girl in the sink next to me. She has eight different bottles around the sink in various sizes and heights full of goos, potions, and I'm not sure what else, that she pours into her hands and smooths onto her hair. She also will attempt to straighten it from time to time with her wand using other complex combinations of stuffs. It had really become quite the process. The sad thing is that she's been in here over an hour, and she hasn't even started her makeup yet.

She seemed a bit frantic this morning, more than usual in any case. So I just left her be and moved downstairs in the common room.

So many had decided not to come back. I nearly didn't come back. So many deaths, disappearances, and strange occurrences had happened over the summer that it was hard to believe that something as normal as school could continue.

My dad was a total mess. They were swamped at the magazine with all of these fantastic reports coming in, and he downright refused to leave me at home. So I was stuck almost all summer wasting away at The Quibbler office, watching my dad grind his teeth, get buried in stacks of papers, and completely stop attempting to sleep.

He didn't want me to come back here, and I do see his point given what happened last term. It also didn't help that he found out that I'd been in the thick of it all, and even was one of the last people to see Professor Snape before he-.before he did the unthinkable.

I didn't want to tell him, but it was hard to explain away the scrapes and bruises, and I've never been a very good liar. But man he was furious. You'd think I'd been fighting for the wrong side or something. I know that he's scared to death of losing me since I'm his precious little girl, and also with what happened to my mother. But I can't just stand aside and hide while others need me. I just won't do that.

I managed to wear him down on Hogwarts though. I started asking him oddball things at his office when he was elbow-deep in work so that he would get distracted, lose his place, then get annoyed with me. He wouldn't let me leave the building to get food, so I sent him on the most bizarre food errands, much like a pregnant woman would do to her husband when she has peculiar cravings. After asking for a bag of pickled dragon eyes, I think he'd had about enough.

"What on earth do you need those for? They're not even edible!"

"Yes they are! And I heard that they are an excellent source of fiber. You want me to get my fiber don't you daddy?!"

Yes, I do believe that he was a little too happy to see me climb onto that train yesterday. But he did hug me harder than he has ever hugged me before, as if all of the emotion of his being was put into that simple act. It almost made me want to cry. Almost.

But I was happy to return to Hogwarts. Even if the halls were very solemn these days, and most of the other students had wearied looks about them.

The Ravenclaw common room was particularly grim. It seemed that everybody had lost a friend or a relative over the past summer. And our numbers were shockingly small.

As it was still quite early in the day, there was only one occupant in the common room this morning—a tall 5th year that I'd seen around but never talked to. He was looking into the flames of the fireplace as if he'd been trying to read them for hours. He was pale and wide-eyed with limp brown locks suffocating his face. He was so still it was almost like he'd stopped breathing.

"Excuse me. It's Darren isn't it?"

"Yes," he heaved, still focusing intently on the flames. He didn't change his position in the slightest.

"I'm Luna-.um-.I was wondering if you'd like to go to the Great Hall with me?"

"The Great Hall?"

"Yes. We could grab a bite to eat. And, if you want, talk along the way." I tried to be as polite and sincere as I could.

My efforts paid off. He finally turned and looked at me. His eyes were so big and dark. I saw awful things behind them. None of these things were a part of him, they were things he'd seen in the world and could not shake. None of this badness was within him. His soul was golden.

"Yes."

He stood up steadily and turned toward the door. I led the way.

My shoes echoed horrible against the floor. I sure wish I hadn't worn my high-healed boots. His were virtually soundless. I felt like a big clunking noisy disaster.

"You'll feel better once you eat. I always do." His head was bowed to his feet in front of him. I could only see his curls and the faint trace of a cheek and an ear.

"So-.what happened?" I glared at him purposely to dare him to move his head. Most people can't stand being glared at.

"He's gone."

"Who's gone?"

Now he did stop to look at me. He made sure that I couldn't miss those sore eyes and that disgusted expression. It was a terrible thing to see someone in so much pain.

"There were too many of them you see?"

"Too many of what?"

"Dark-.dark creatures. I know that there were vampires, banshees, and werewolves. But there were others, so many others, the likes of which I've never seen before. There were too few of us. He didn't stand a chance. There's no way that I would have made it if somebody hadn't saved me."

"Who saved you?"

"That's just it. I haven't a clue. See, I suffered injuries and had lost consciousness. When I came to, I was in the clear, and I saw the faint shadow of somebody as I was just waking up, and then they were gone.

"It was-.it was my brother that we lost that day. My older brother. He was trying to protect me."

We had stopped in the middle of a corridor and were leaning against a bare wall. The nearby portraits had stopped their daily routines so that they could listen in on every word.

"When did this happen?"

"Two weeks ago. I'd only been released from St. Mungo's two days before I came here. My parents thought that it would be best. They knew that me being at home would only remind me of-.him."

"Where were you? If you, if you don't mind my asking." I added a smile. I didn't want him telling me anymore than he was comfortable with.

"I don't mind. We were camping in the woods right outside Devonshire. We're both wizard muggle-borns, so we grew up with that kind of thing. Along a hike, we accidentally discovered this hideout you-know-who was using for his dark followers. They were none too pleased. See, my brother was a new member of the Order, and he signaled them to come to his aid. But they were too late.

"The only good thing that came out of it all is that the Order was able to alert the Ministry of their location, so they fled the area. It'll be safe again for the next set of unsuspecting visitors. It also explained a number of recent disappearances in the area.

"There's no telling where they had gone, but at least now they have an idea of their numbers."

He started walking again, and I followed. I was really unsure of what exactly to say to him. So I waited for him to speak.

"We just-.we were very close. He came here to Hogwarts several years before I did. But we wrote each other almost everyday and saw each other for summers and holidays. That continued after he started his work for the Ministry and even after I came here. I don't mean to burden you with all of this. I just can't believe that he's gone."

"I don't mind-.I know what it's like to lose someone see. I lost my mother when I was young. And since then things have been—Harry?"

There he was as plain as day, taller and more gangly than before. He looked tired and worried, even more so than the rest of us. He looked startled to find us here, as if the sight of other humans was beyond his comprehension. What was that there? That darkness.

"Hi Luna." He looked politely toward Darren.

"Oh Harry, this is Darren."

They shook hands in silence.

"I didn't realize that you were back here Harry. I didn't see you at the Welcoming Feast."

Harry let my words ring into the silence before choosing to answer me.

"No, I am here on business. I am not back here to stay." Being rather secretive are we Harry?

"Oh."

"Hey Luna, I was wondering. Could I have a word?" He gestured to a nearby empty classroom.

I looked to Darren. I really didn't want to leave him just yet. But whatever Harry wanted seemed to be important.

"It's alright Luna. I'll catch up with you later. Nice meeting you Harry." He waved and turned down the hall, around a corner, and he was gone.

Harry walked over to a classroom door and held it open for me. I walked through to the window and looked out on the misty grounds. I heard him close the door and lock it.

I turned toward him and tried to see through all of those masks.

"I don't have much time. But I can trust you can't I?"

"Of course."

"Because anything that I say to you must be kept to ourselves. I don't want anyone even knowing that I'm here. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now, this may sound a little funny, but I need to know. Were your parents in Ravenclaw too?"

My face crinkled unconsciously. What a question to ask.

"Just my mother. My father was in Hufflepuff."

"What about her family?"

"As far as I know, they'd been in Ravenclaw for several generations. I never met any of them you see. They were all dead before I was born."

"I've been hunting for a relic that Rowena may have left behind. I have reason to believe that it may have stayed in her family all of these years."

"My mother used to tell me stories about her."

"Really?" His voice was perked with interest.

"Yes. A lot about when she captured the Spear of Destiny from the darkest wizard of her age, Zaldaman, and kept it hidden so that no other wizard could abuse its power."

"The Spear of Destiny?"

"Yes. As long as it's in your possession, all of your battles will become victorious. The second that it is taken from you however, you are said to die almost instantly. By stealing it from Zaldaman, Rowena was able to destroy him.

"But, as far as I know, my family isn't in any way related to her."

Harry had begun pacing the room sometime back. He had his fingers to his lips as if he was thinking very deeply.

"There were rumors that Grindlewald had possession of the Spear of Destiny. It was the only way that people could explain how he could win battle after battle. But, if that's true, someone must have gotten to it, as he perished in 1945."

"And it was Dumbledore who brought on his downfall."

"Yes. You collect frog cards too I see?" I tried to keep this conversation as light as possible but it wasn't working.

"Why did he not tell me?" He finally settled into a chair behind a desk and buried his head in his hands. I quietly sat beside him.

"What is it Harry?"

"Never mind Luna, I've already told you too much already." I delicately pulled his hands down and made him look at me. I've never seen him so lost.

"Maybe I could help."

"You've already helped loads. Hermione is in the library with Ron. I just doubt that they're going to find anything. The library has failed her more times than she'll care to admit. Besides, you should probably be getting to breakfast."

"Why don't you come with me?" It was odd to be asking this twice in one day to two different troubled men.

"No, I better not."

"C'mon, you need to eat don't you?"

"Alright then." I got up first, grabbed my bag, unlocked the door, and headed down the hallway with Harry following closely behind.

"So, what did you do this summer?"

"Oh, I hung out at The Quibbler mostly. Dad didn't want to let me out of his sight."

"Well, I can understand that."

"What about you?"

"Oh, a little of this, a little of that. I don't have to go back to the Dursleys anymore."

"Well, that's good isn't it?"

"Yes." Although I could tell that a simple yes wasn't the end of the story.

"Where are you living now?"

"Well, I've been traveling, so I haven't settled anywhere yet."

"Where do you think you'll want to live?"

"Dunno. Haven't really thought about it."

"Here we are."

The Great Hall was full of the wonderful morning smells of eggs and sausages. Harry sat next to me at the Ravenclaw table for the first time, and helped himself to samples of nearly everything he saw.

"I guess I am rather hungry." The food seemed to have lightened him up a bit.

Thankfully, the other Ravenclaws, the few that there were, were sitting together at the other end of the table so that we didn't have to face any awkward questions.

"It is good being back here again."

"Yeah, I almost didn't make it back this term. My father was furious with me."

"Why?"

"Oh, he reckons that I should have stayed hidden under my covers then come out and help you guys when the Death Eaters came."

Harry took a huge swallow before plunging on with: "I forgot to thank you for that. It was really brave of you and Neville, even though the plan didn't work."

"I think what bothered him the most was that we were so close to Snape before all that happened. I really don't think he would have harmed us."

Harry had a sudden stiff hardened look about him. He bit at his toast rather roughly.

"I know he's dangerous, after what he did of course. Don't get me wrong. But it was weird, when he left us with Professor Flitwick, it was almost like he was doing all he could to keep us out of the line of fire." I slowly chewed my eggs and started contemplating my glass of milk.

"It's not worth trying to figure out how that demented mind of his works."

I knew I'd said too much. But I kept getting the feeling that Harry's attitude towards Snape would end up biting him in the back at some point.

"Our staff has definitely dwindled this year. Not only did we lose Snape and Dumbledore, but Professor Trelawney as well. We have Firenze of course, but I never thought she'd leave. Of course, she was extremely close to Dumbledore."

"He must have gotten to her."

"Why? Harry, why would you think that?"

"A hunch."

"But—"

"He seems to be getting to everyone these days. By the way, whose teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts?" His eyes were so dark they had almost completely lost their green. What had happened to him?

"Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth."

"Are you serious? The one with the goat problem?!"

"Yes. I guess he works as a bartender at the Hog's Head. He hired an assistant to help him out at the bar so that he could come here."

"I'd like to meet him."

"I'm told that he's very different from his brother."

"Yes, I know that. But I'd like to talk to him just the same."

"My father has used him as a source for years. He hears a lot of things you know down there at Hog's Head."

"I know that Dumbledore had made use of him before, I just never caught the connection."

"Dumbledore kept a lot more secrets than he let on." For the first time since I'd met him today, I found kindness to his face, along with some wonder.

"So, where will you go after this?"

"Harry! Harry! I've been looking all over for you! Where have you been? And what are you doing sitting at the Ravenclaw Table? Oh, hi Luna." Hermione didn't seem very happy to see me. Her hair was more frazzled than usual. She too had gained and inch or two over the summer. It even looked like she had a hint of a tan.

"Hello Hermione."

"You have any luck then?" Harry seemed disturbed by her rudeness and bombarding nature.

"A few things we need to discuss. It's not much really. I think we need—"

"Well, Luna here has been gracious enough to give me some leads." I beamed as he gestured toward me.

"Oh, really?" Hermione looked unnecessarily perplexed, as if it was insane to suggest that I could ever have anything useful to offer.

"Yeah, I'll explain later. Would you mind if I wrap up with breakfast first." He gestured to his food plate, which was still half-full.

"No. Of course not." But she did sound like she did mind. She turned her back and stomped loudly out of the Great Hall.

"Sheesh."

"She's a bit bossy sometimes."

"She means well. I've just been dealing with her all summer and she's starting to get on my nerves."

"It's nice to spent the summer with a friend though."

"Yeah, Ron was with us too."

"So all three of you have been traveling all of this time?"

"Yes." But he twisted his fingers lightly around his fork as he said that. They hadn't just been traveling.

"Shoot." I just glanced at my watch and realized that I was going to be late. So I shuffled up and picked up my bag. "I've got to head to my first class: Divination with Firenze. At least I haven't far to go. Will you walk with me?" I pleaded with big eyes. I really had so much more to say to him.

"Sure." Harry dropped his fork, took one last swig of orange juice, and followed me out of the Great Hall.

"It's just that, I don't know when I'll see you again."

Harry smiled. It was beautiful to see that his face could still light up.

"Well, I definitely am going to plan on meeting with you again soon."

"For more information?"

"Yes. And well, it just won't be right not seeing Luna for very long." I couldn't help but to smile at that.

"I also feel that you can help me in ways others can't."

"How so?" But we'd already reached my classroom, and I knew that his last words with me would be cut short.

"You'll see. Just take care of yourself, okay?"

"Yes." And a sudden over-powering emotion seized me and I grabbed him in an enormous bone-splitting hug.

"Oh Harry! Do see me again soon. And do be careful."

Harry seemed momentarily stymied by this sudden embrace. But then he just let it be, and seemed to understand.

"I will Luna. You'd better get to class." He never pushed me back. He let me gracefully step away.

I wiped my eyes hastily after letting go. Finally I muttered "Goodbye then," and turned into the classroom. I got so scared for him all of the sudden, I still can't explain why.






"So sorry Firenze, I -" No matter how many times I've been in this forest-like classroom, it still manages to startle me.

"No matter Luna. I am pleased that the many changes in the earth of late have enabled your pleasant and safe return. Especially as there are so few of us now." I took a hasty scan of the classroom to count the numbers as I made a seat on a hard stone. Only less than half of the class had made the return.

Firenze turned away from me and began walking the "classroom", his hooves clip-clopping with every step. He was still as handsome as ever, with his enormous glossy penetrating eyes, large arm and chest muscles, smooth soft fur, polished black hooves, and a large shiny tail. Unlike the rest of my peers, he hadn't changed in the slightest over the summer, except for the new gravity unearthed in his voice.

"Now let's travel back to the lesson at hand. Us Centaurs have reason to believe that the drastic shifts in our atmosphere that we have experienced of late are not only going to continue, but they are also going to increase in intensity ten-fold before the year is out. However, there is reason to hope. Even now we see a dramatic shift in power happening on the night of All Hallow's Eve." He gestured upward, to the ceiling which was made to look like the night sky, only with a path of stars highlighted in emerald green to form a road of sorts in the shape of an S' in the center.

"Stella. You have a question." A curly blond lowered her hand and drew a small breath. All of us students were a little intimidated by Firenze, regardless of how polite he was. He just had said one too many times that humans aren't any good at this. Which makes one beg the question: why were they trying in the first place with a teacher who, knowledgeable though he may be, had no faith whatever in their abilities?

"Yes Professor, is there any significance to the formation that the stars are making? Because it looks like they are forming an S'."

"There is significance dealing with everything to do with star-gazing Miss Watfield. However, the stars do not use your alphabet unfortunately. Their letters are completely different. They in fact use an ancient form of Awel which is written in a sort of picture form.

"However, the stars do depict bodies of earthly form from time to time. And this seems to be one of those cases. This particular formation of stars depicts a snake."

Everyone gazed wide-eyed at each other. It was Lymus, down there in the front row, who chose to speak.

"But what does that mean, sir?"

"It means that a Serpent will change hands on All Hallow's Eve. This act will shift the balance of power."

"How can a snake shift the balance of power?" Dreysdan bellowed, full of disbelief.

"Snakes are extremely powerful creatures. This isn't the first time that they're been the cause for great change. If you'll remember, this whole school was put at the mercy of a snake twice in the last fifty years.

"But we are distracting ourselves from the task at hand. In addition to the serpent-formation that I've just shown you, the stars also point to this." The serpent darkened and melted away, to be replaced by a long sideways u-curve of stars. It looked like it was almost a complete circle track.

"This one shows a portal to another dimension. This portal has been closed to our kind for over 1,000 years. But this year it'll be open again. And that can be both good and bad."

"Why is that?" It was I who popped the question this time. With Firenze, you had to keep probing him if you were going to get anything out of him.

"This portal has power none but the greatest witches and wizards can wield. Those who try and aren't up to the task, get taken into the portal and sent elsewhere. None of the Sent have ever returned. However, those with the means and abilities to take on its power must do so with extreme caution, as it can bring both wonderful good and unspeakable evil. They must go to it with a clear heart unfettered by the measly desires of your kind.

"This portal does seem to favor your side of the war at present. However, the skies are moving so quickly that that could very easily change by tomorrow.

"But for now, we have important work to do. Over there you will find empty cauldrons." He pointed to a patch of open earth with several large cauldrons stacked in twos and threes on the right. "Light a fire underneath your cauldron. Fill it with plain water. Let it come to a boil. Place a needle in the water and record its movements. The movement of a needle in this form can explain a lot about planetary shifts. There should be enough cauldrons for each student. I'll be here if you have any questions."








Three hours later I'd made it through Ancient Runes and Herbology, and finally crawled my way into the Great Hall for lunch. I couldn't believe that it was only noon.

I found a seat at the far end of the Ravenclaw table, as far away from everyone as I possibly could get. The only bad part about this seat is that it positioned me right in front of the teacher's table, and it was weird not seeing Snape giving me the evil-eye as he usually did. It was even weirder seeing Aberforth there instead of Dumbledore, like some poorly designed Dumbledore fake had been inflicted upon us. McGonagall didn't look right sitting in Dumbledore's seat, and she looked like she felt more uncomfortable about it than I did.

As I greatfully reached for my first warm roll, I heard my name echo through the hall, and saw heads turn in the direction of the voice. Apparently the surprises of the day weren't over. I grumbled as I turned my head. Right now I wanted nothing better but to be left alone so that I could regroup and figure some things out.

It was Collin who was shouting. He was no longer the little boy with curls and a camera two times too big for him; he had become tall and skinny. I was pleased to see that he'd lost none of his alarmingly positive vigor. But what on earth did he want?

"Luna. Luna. I'm so glad that I found yeah. I was told to give this to yeah. He said it was very important see." Then he leaned into me, cupped his hand around my ear, and whispered "I'm not supposed to say who gave it to me." Then he lifted his head, beamed, and galloped away, as if he had something that he couldn't wait to get to.

The tiny note was folded into a parchment diamond. Someone had taken special care to make sure that it was folded just right so that it was completely symmetrical.

Luna,
I know that this is an awful lot to ask, but would you meet with me again at your first available break? I wouldn't ask, but I'm not going to be here much longer, and you seem to be the only one that I trust who could help me.

I'll be at the Hogwarts library for the next hour.

See you soon,
Harry

Well, so much for lunch. I grabbed a fistful of rolls, started shoving them into my mouth as I stood up and sauntered out, bag and rolls and questions and all. Harry was definitely being more mysterious than usual today. But I'm always eager to help a friend especially since I don't have too many of them.

I made it to the library faster than I could have hoped. I swallowed hard, and felt the ball of dough in my throat slowly force its way down. Thankfully Harry was easy to find—he was at the end of the second row of bookcases I looked down, crouched over a book in between Hermione and Ron.

"Hey." All three of their heads lifted in unison. Ron looked more puzzled than normal, more freckled too, Hermione looked worried, but at least Harry looked pleased.

Harry bolted upward and chimed "I'll be right back guys." He passed me, and waved at me to follow. We exited the library and found ourselves together in yet another vacant locked classroom.

"Thanks for coming." He was shuffling his feet from side-to-side as if he was not sure where to stand.

"No problem."

"I-.haven't much time."

"Your letter said that."

He forced himself to stop moving so that he could look at me steadily straight in the eye. "I just-.I really want you to come with me. I really need your help. And I feel that you're supposed to come with us."

"Come with you where?" At this question, he resumed his shuffling of the feet again.

"I cannot say. It isn't safe. I can tell you after we leave once we get to a better-.a better location."

"Won't you tell me anything?" I gave him my most penetrating of glares to let him know that he had to tell me something. He met my eyes again and understood.

"It has to do with Him. That's all that I can say." It was still misty outside. I don't remember seeing the sun once all summer.

"For how long will I be gone?"

"I don't know."

"Who all will be with us?"

"Just Ron and Hermione." I couldn't help but think of my father. His face was pounding into my head, pleading with me "No Luna!".

"I know you wouldn't ask if it wasn't important." He let my mind churn these details. I had so many questions but I used all of my willpower to hold them back. I managed to hold most of them back anyway.

"Will I be able to stay in contact with my father?"

"Yes, of course. Listen," he came closer and place both of his hands on my shoulders. "It's your decision of course. And I'll understand if you back out after hearing all of the details. I just need you." His heart was telling me that he really did need me. And what could I say? His hands were telling me that he would never hurt me and would do all that he could to protect me.

"Yes Harry, I will go with you."



What Luna Sees [copyright] Nikcole Frame/May 10, 2007

[tazzy]

Ooohh i like your intro. wonder what happens next..ppms!!

[Unforgiven]

Wow, this is good, please post more soon!

[Raadhika]

This is SO good, Nik!

I love how we get to see things from Luna's perspective and Divination class was so interesting. The S snake and the U stars theories are really intriguing and I really want to see more of where you'll take us with this. I also like how Harry approaches Luna at the end and I live the intro, too!

Post more soon!

It's so goo!

[*Liliana*]

Very good start. I like how perceptive you've written Luna, and how gentle she is with everyone even though she is misunderstood. I also like how you write Harry - not over the top, like a nutter, but not overly heroic either. (I am his hugest fan...really ) Your attention to detail is exact, and your dialogue is smoothly written. I look forward to future updates. ^__^

[nikcolarius]

Thanks much for the replies. I do greatly appreciate hearing from people. It's very very cool

I wanted to add that part of the reason that I'm trying my hand at fanfiction is that I'm trying to see if my writing styles are working. I normally write on my own and no one ever reads it. This a good way for me to test the field and get feedback. It's also really fun!

I also want to let you all know that I have limited access to the internet at the moment, which should be changing soon. This is why this second chapter took so long for me to put on here. I've been writing these in my journal and type them up here when I can at a friend's house. I've had to do it in pieces which is why it took so long.

Anyway, off to the second chapter...Enjoy!

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Chapter 2

He left me to go packing, but I went to the teacher's lounge first to try to find Professor McGonagall. She had so much to worry about these days, I didn't want her to unnecessarily add me to the list.

I tapped lightly on the door. The halls were so quiet these days that any loud noise felt like a grave interruption. It was McGonagall who answered and I was lucky, she was totally alone.

"Miss Lovegood. What a pleasant surprise this is! Come and sit." This was such a stark contrast from her usual brisk demeanor that I obeyed without thinking. She sat in the corner next to me where her hot tea was being stirred of its own volition, its steam rising to the brim of her hat. Her features were much softer than usual. I think that she was thankful that anyone knocked on that door.

"Would you like some tea and biscuits?" Her wand waved to conjure an assortment of biscuits and a steaming mug of tea.

As my humble lunch of rolls had not been nearly enough, I eagerly grabbed a couple of biscuits and muttered a hushed "Thank You". It was still too quiet.

"There have been so many terrible things going on lately. I'm surprised that more students haven't come to see me. But I suppose--well, the castle grounds aren't what they used to be." She pointed her wand at her spoon, seized it, carefully laid it on her saucer, and took a good drink. I did the same, and then grabbed some more biscuits. I didn't want to start talking just yet, as she seemed to need to get things out.

"I perfectly understand why so many haven't returned, it's just rather unsettling. Why even Professor Trelawney is gone. I never thought in a million years that she would leave. Of course I never thought a lot of things would happen." We both sipped our tea in thoughtful silence.

"You weren't wrong."

"I wasn't wrong about what?"

"You weren't wrong to trust him."

"I don't know what you mean." She almost looked a little frightened.

"Just don't blame yourself. He knew what he was doing."

"Miss Lovegood....I--"

"Listen, I have to leave Hogwarts." Her demeanor changed totally at these words, and she transformed her face into a very typical patented Professor McGonagall you are wrong look.

"Why ever would you have to leave Hogwarts?"

"I have to help Harry." She is a member of the Order after all. I should be able to trust her with at least that.

"With Harry? Harry Potter? But where on earth is he? No one has known his whereabouts for months."

"He's here right now, but he will be leaving soon."

"I don't see what he feels he can do, despite the rumors."

"I feel that he can do more than you realize Professor."

"I realize that he's a remarkable young man, but no young wizard can take Him down." She was right of course. But he's definitely bent on trying something.

"I don't know. I just know that I trust him and he asked for my help. And I know that he wouldn't have asked unless he really needed it."

Professor McGonagall just sat for a while with her tea. "I understand that of course. And the poor boy has lost so much, he probably feels that he has to try something. I just don't know what he could do that others haven't tried before."

She took another sip of her tea and smiled. "I started reading your father's magazine this summer. The Daily Prophet has been nothing but irksome of late, and at least his magazine has something new and refreshing to print."

This pronouncement was the most startling of all. I never thought that she of all people would turn to that kind of reading. She never seemed the bizarre speculation type.

"Daddy will be happy to hear that. He's had a trying time deciphering between reports this summer, as so many strange things have been coming in." I didn't want to elaborate. There had been enough dark talk of late.

"Well, I need to be going." I grabbed one last handful of biscuits and stood up to McGonagall awkwardly rising from her seat. I slung my bag over my shoulder, which felt the heaviest it had felt all day as it made contact with my shoulder.

"Luna."

"Yes." I turn to a face that was no longer able to mask its concern.

"The Order is always willing to help Harry, if he needs us. And one more thing."

"What's that?"

She took one step closer. "Be careful." And believe it or not, she actually embraced me in a heartfelt hug.

I smiled and turned away.



I didn't meet with anyone else thankfully on the way to my common room. I saw Nearly Headless Nick passing and he did tip his head to me, but he had the air of someone with places to go and things to do. It's amazing that a ghost can look so hurried.

The common room was nearly completely empty, as I thought it would be. Everyone had class now save for a couple of sixth and seventh years who had their breaks at this time. No one noticed my swift crossing of the room, nor my determined climb up the stairs. My room was empty of course as all of my fellow female classmates had class at this time. I grabbed my trunk from my armoire, unlatched it, flung it onto my bed, and started throwing clothes and possessions into it. Books, clothes, all of my amulets, the stories I'd been working on, a few pictures, oh so many shoes, and last but not least the quilt that my mother made me that comforted my bed, which I could only get to after pulling the trunk to the floor. I took out a piece of parchment and a quill from my small school bag, and sat down to write a letter that was going to confirm some of my father's worst fears. But he had to know. It was better that he heard it from me.

Dear Dad,
I made it to Hogwarts okay, and am doing well. There's nothing wrong with me. Don't worry. Harry Potter came to find me, and he asked me to leave the school with him. It's nothing romantic. He's just on an important mission of sorts and he needs my help.
You know what I can do Dad. You know that I can read people. And please believe me when I tell you that Harry is completely sincere, and he wouldn't have asked for my help if he didn't sorely need it.
You and I both know what has been going on lately. We both know that something must be done. We also know that Harry is somehow connected to all of this, and he desperately needs all of the help he can get.
I am aware of the dangers, and I will be watchful of everything. I will wear my amulets wherever I go, and keep the others close by as always. I also will write very often.
I really want you to understand that this is something that I need to do, and I'm not doing it just to spite you.
Love you always and great big hugs and kisses,
Luna

P.S.~ Please don't come to try to find me. We can't afford to draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves. Just try to trust me. I'm old enough now.

I sealed the letter with the hope that he would read more of it than just "Harry Potter asked me to leave Hogwarts with him." But dads will be dads, and mine is a wonderful one. He just worries, and this is the last thing he wants to hear from his daughter.

I did all that I could do.

I tossed my quill into my bag, and threw the bag on top of the heaping pile in my trunk. I had to sit on it and rearrange a few things in order to latch it. Mine had wheels at least.

I pulled the trunk upright, tilted it, and made it to the stairs. I hadn't thought of this obstacle. It was too heavy for me to carry, and it couldn't very well be rolled downstairs. I decided to leave my bag in the room and have Harry and Ron lift it out of here when we were ready to leave. Everyone's at class now anyway. That shouldn't cause too much of a disruption.

I decided to detour to the Owlery first before heading back to the library.

It was when I fastened the letter to a large gray owl with yellow eyes that it hit me. I could have magicked the trunk down. Now why didn't I think of that? I'll tell you why I didn't think of it: because I have a million and a half things going on today, and there hasn't been time to think. Because I truly am worried. But I'm not sure even about what exactly.

No matter. I should have probably stopped anyway to see if they were ready first. So I looped a path to the library. Poor Darren will think he's scared me off. But there was no time to explain anything. And yet this summer there was so much time.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were exactly where I found them before. They each had their own books this time. Harry was looking in my direction before I came around the corner.

Harry jumped up to greet me with a smile. He lightly touched my folded hand.

"You okay then?"

"Sure". Now I was lying too. I hate that.

Ron scrambled up beside him. He was all legs and hair now, with a few freckles thrown in between.

"So you're coming?" He asked brightly.

"Yes."

"Sweet. We definitely need yeah. Don't we Hermione?" Hermione had been giving a sideways glance that didn't bode well, but at Ron's words she also stood up and pushed in her chair.

"Yes we do Ron. It's just. Luna, don't get me wrong. It's not that I am not glad you're coming. It's just an awful lot to ask. And it wasn't like you got any warning or anything. And besides, you haven't had enough time to make an informed decision."

"Hermione I--" before I could say anymore, Harry cut me off. He looked livid.

"There wasn't time for any of that and you know it! Let's just go okay. We can debate this later." He started walking down the hall out of the library. The three of us gave each other confused looks, and then followed at single file. I was in between Ron and Hermione. Hermione was behind us a bit as she had to gather up all of her notes and put them into her bag.

We walked a few paces before Harry asked, "Where is your stuff at Luna?"

"Up in my dormitory."

"Alright then, we'll go there first." He continued walking and then turned. "Wait, you should lead. We don't know how to get there."

"Okay." So I made it to the lead.

"How are we getting there?"

"We're going to have to apparate from Hogsmeade."

"Yeah, we can't risk floo powder or a portkey these days."

"I'm too young. I can't."

"One of us will help you. Harry and I passed our apparation test this summer, and Hermione has had her's for months now. It's a bit uncomfortable, but quick and simple at least."

"Okay."

"So, did you have a good summer then?" Ron was probably the most cheerful in the group.

"Ron!" I couldn't figure out why Hermione was so on edge. Maybe she was always like this. Come to think of it, I believe she is.

"It was alright. I spent most of it in The Quibbler office with my Dad. He was swamped there. They were getting in over a hundred new stories a day that he had to go through. Most of them are rubbish of course, but there's no telling what will be rubbish until it's read."

"Do you help him when you're there?" It was Hermione this time. I think that she felt bad for being so snappy.

"No. Well, sometimes he'll let me read a report or two, just before he discards it, but anything serious he won't let me near. He doesn't want me to be implicated by what I know. I don't know. He's been sketchy lately."

"I think that all parents have been very sketchy these days, why my mom--"

"We're here." We made it to the portrait of the Lovely Blue Maiden, with her long blond curls, stunning silk ash blue dress, and a green book in her hand. She wore a tiara of opals, and loathed being interrupted in her reading.

"Cartomency." She didn't look up, so I said it again. It was only after I'd said it five times that she looked up with a fiercely annoyed expression and swung open the portrait without a word.

"She doesn't like being disturbed from her reading." I explained. Although, it was more to fill the silence than anything.

We were lucky--the common room was completely empty this time save for someone's large gray cat chasing a tiny white mouse.

"This common room looks much better than Slytherin's." Immediately after saying that, Ron blushed as if he's said more than he ought to.

"How on earth do you know what Slytherin's common room looks like? And why would you think they would be a like anyway?" I know that this was the Gryffindor Dream Team, but to compare Ravenclaw to Slytherin was just appaling.

Hermione sensed the danger and rushed up between me and Ron. "So, show me to your dormitories."

I paused a second to gain my composure back. "Yeah. You guys can't come."

"That's not fair!" This was Ron speaking of course. Harry knew well enough to keep his quiet.

"This way." Hermione obediently followed me upstairs.

"These rooms are really nice." I know the look I gave her wasn't good. I hadn't really intended for it to be anything in particular, but I guess I was still angry.

"I'm glad that we have a moment alone. I wanted to talk to you." I didn't answer but grabbed a hand towel out of a nearby water basin, dampened it, and started padding down my face.

"It's just....are you sure you want to do this?" She was sincere and I understood her concern. But her and I had never seen eye-to-eye on a lot of things.

I looked at her directly. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Have you told your Dad?"

"I wrote him a letter. I know he'll be furious, but there's nothing that I can do about that. I know that he will understand in time." I just hope sooner rather than later.

"Well, welcome to the team then!" She held out her hand with a small smile. Maybe she got more than she let on. I knew that she still had her doubts, but there was no point in badgering me over it.

I took her hand, two shakes later, and another small smile, and I turned to my trunk.

"I think it's best if I just fly it down."

"Yes but try not to knock Ron over. Or, if you do, don't hit him too hard."

"Ha ha. He'd deserve it the little git! So what's it been like spending the whole summer with two boys? Have they drove you batty yet?"

Hermione gave a huge smile with a little inaudible giggle. "Almost. Ron and I always fight more than Harry for some reason. Harry has been our poor referee one too many times."

"Yeah, he probably brought me on for back up."

"Probably."

"Okay then." I launched the hand towel into the water basin. Made it from some distance too. "Let's get downstairs." I pulled the trunk one last time down the edge of the staircase. I took out my wand from my robes, and chanted "Wingardium Leviosa" to my trunk. It immediately lifted into the air, and I walked it down the stairs. Ron was, alas, safely sitting in one of the old leather chairs. I guess you couldn't have everything.

"Ready then?"

"Sure."

"We'll take the trunk."

"You sure? No magic?" Harry and Ron each positioned themselves on opposite sides of the trunk, and started carrying in manually.

"Not until we get off the grounds at least. We don't want Filch or Mrs. Norris breathing down our necks."

"Gotcha."

We exited the common room and made it down yet another corridor.

"It is a nice common room." Ron was trying to make up for his comment earlier. I could at least appreciate that for what it was. He often spoke and acted without thinking.

"Thank you. We like it well enough." I could barely see the grounds through all of the windows we passed. They were all fogged up.

"How's your brother doing Ron?" It was strange to think that Ron was the only one in the group with a sibling. It was also odd that he was the most demanding of all of us.

"Oh, you mean Bill? Bill's doing great! He just got married at the end of June, and he had a month-long honeymoon where they did a boat tour of Europe. He only got back to work a couple of weeks ago. Fleur and him got a loft in London. I still haven't gone to visit them yet. They need time to be alone anyways."

"That's so wonderful!" And I really meant it. I'd been so devastated to see what had happened to him even though I'd never met him before.

"Hey, I went to Fred and George's shop when I went to Diagon Alley. They gave me the D.A. discount!" I chucked slightly. "They have some of the best new items though. Dad had to drag me out of there literally. And you wouldn't believe how packed it was!"

"What'd you get?"

"Oh, I got these great paper bats that dive bomb your enemies with water balloons. I got a telescope that lets me see through walls. Oh, and the best were these lemon drops that make you sprout wings temporarily. The charm doesn't last long enough to let you fly, but the effect is pretty cool."

"I'm jealous. We haven't been there for ages. Fred and George do send me owls when they can. Their business has been soaring. But they're both too busy to write most of the time. Well, so have we, so...." Ron let his voice trail behind him hopelessly.

"That's too bad." Ron looked defeated and Harry looked guilty. I don't know what on earth Harry had to be guilty about.

"You know Harry, we might want to think about going there and stalking up. Supplies I mean. Before we get too ahead of ourselves.

"Besides, I think we could all benefit from the visit."

Ron looked like he could have kissed her. And he may have if Harry and I weren't around.

"Good idea Hermione."

"Yeah, I'd love that!"

"And we could stay at The Leaky Cauldron."

Harry's face was very strange. "That's better then....well."

"So, off to The Leaky Cauldron then?"

"Yes!"

"Absolutely!"

"Much better than staying here and enduring Potions anyways."

"Potions! Yuck!" Ron made a vomiting gesture. "Don't even speak of it!"

We made it through the castle doors and started plunging through the grass of the grounds. No sun yet. Not even the hint of it. It wasn't too foggy though. The clarity today was much better than it had been for a while.

"Hermione, did you get what you needed from the library?"

"Not really no. But I'm not sure if what I'm looking for is even in there anyway."

I opened my mouth to ask what she was looking for, but then realized that I couldn't ask that question just yet.

"They have some excellent libraries in London. There's one down the street from my father's office that he goes to all of the time for research. They specialize in classical mythology, but they cover all sorts of subjects. It's the second biggest library in the country."

"Sounds nice."

"I really don't think she's going to find what she needs in any old library."

"Harry, I'm not so foolish to presume that there's a book out there that says 'You know who put his Horcrux here.' I'm just researching possible relics that he could have used, that's all."

"Even if we found the right relic, knowing the history of it and its powers will not help us find it. Voldemort could have hidden it anywhere, remember?" Harry was starting to turn bright red.

"I just thought that it would help to know what kind of objects we're dealing with." She said this with a kind of false hurt. She wanted to get back at Harry.

"Besides, we shouldn't be talking about this here." There was a crude finality in his voice.

"C'mon, we're in the middle of the grounds. Whose going to hear us here?"

"I don't know. Voices carry, don't they?" It was this statement that said more about his state of mind than all of the rest. Hermione and I exchanged very disturbed looks.

"This is getting heavy. Can't we?"

"Sure." They both put down the trunk and Harry magicked it into the air.

"Can't we apparate yet?" Ron asked impatiently. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

"No. We have to wait 'til just beyond this hill."

"darn."

"What?"

"Nothing."

We all continued swishing through the grass with our heads down until I spotted something.

"Oooh, a dandilion." I smiled and picked the tiny flower. I caressed the pedals with my fingers as it held it in my hand and started walking again.

"What's so special about a dandilion? They're a weed aren't they?"

"They change the chemistry of your defenses so that they are no longer made of glass."

"What are they made of then?" Ron was being surprisingly inciteful.

"I don't know. That's as far as the rhyme goes. 'If ye picks a dandilion from the grass, ye's defenses will no longer be made of glass.' It infers that it makes them unbreakable."

"Okay." Hermione radiated her skeptical air of superiority.

Harry, however, seemed interested. "Who taught you that?"

"My mother. My father's really into amulets too."

"It doesn't make sense though. What defenses? And why would they be made of glass in the first place?"

"It's metaphorical!" I said a little too loudly. "And they aren't my defenses. We all have defenses put up around us that have very little to do with us. That castle for instance!" I pointed behind me to the nearest stone pillar, which was now barely a thumb-length.

"I just don't see the point." Oh my god. How thick is she?

"Do you have any idea of what has been going on out there especially over the last five years? Do you know what they're planning? Do you know what kind of powers they have? I'm going to use anything that I can against them. Even if it's some stupid dandilion." I threw it on the ground and stomped on it. "Do you think that my necklace and earrings are just here for show?!"

"Alright. Alright. We're here." Harry turned and held up his hands to command us into quiet. I looked at Hermione scathingly before turning to him.

"Hemione you and Ron go ahead. Ron, you take the trunk. Finite Incantatum." The trunk fell to the grass. "I'll take care of Luna."

With two soft pops, they were both gone, and Harry and I were alone.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. She's just so--argghh!" I just shook my head in anger. It seemed to be the only way that I could convey just what she was.

"She's wrong you know. You can see things she can't. That's why I need you." He bent over to pick me another dandilion. "Here. Keep it safe."

I greatfully took the flower, folded it in my hankerchief, and stowed it in a pocket.

"It's really silly isn't it? Fighting over a flower."

Harry shrugged. "You're not the one who started it."

"True."

"Anyway, we'd better get going. Just take my arm. You don't have to grip it too hard. As long as you keep touching me, you'll be okay."

"Okay." I moved to his left side and locked my arm into his. It felt nice. Also a little wierd.

He brought out his wand and then said: "On three alright?" He waited for me to nod. "One, two, three--"

What Luna Sees [copyright] Nikcole Frame June 10, 2007


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I hope that some of you caught the subtle reference to Dumbledore. I had fun thinking of Fred and George goods.

[nikcolarius]

I really wanted to post some more of this now that I have a working computer again...whoo hoo! I'm also getting revved up for the new book so, it seemed fitting that I'd post again.

This story has turned into, partly, my own version of Deathly Hallows. It also goes beyond that. I don't know. I just have a lot of fun with it. The way I write, I really don't know what'll happen until I've written it. I keep discovering all of these neat things by doing this so, anyway. I'm having fun, that's the important thing.

Enjoy!


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Chapter 3

My body imploded onto itself, flattening almost completely into the thickness of a sheet of paper. All the air in my body had been squeezed out like a tube of toothpaste. I could still feel Harry's arm. I closed my eyes and tried to think of nothing but that. I couldn't see anything anyway. There was too much pressure on my eyes.

I slammed down dramatically into the pavement and nearly toppled over until Harry caught me. He held me and brushed the hair out of my eyes and then smiled.

"I prefer brooms too."

"There you guys are! We were starting to wonder."

Harry patted me twice on the back and then let go.

I turned to the dingy pub that was our destination.

"After you?" Harry motioned to the three of us and the door that was only a few paces away. Hermione and Ron with the trunk went in first, and I followed.

"Ah. Welcome. Would ya three be wanting some Firewhiskey? Yar of age after all. All except you Missy." Old toothless Tom pointed a crinkly finger at me as he pulled down some glasses. He gave me a nice knowing smile. Ole Tome remembers everything.

"Ooh, I'd like some."

Hermione swiftly smacked him upside the head.

"No!" Then turning to politely smile at Tom. "We would like some rooms please."

"C'mon Hermione, I haven't had any since I've come of age. As a matter of fact, it feels like all fun in life stopped abruptly at that point."

"You had plenty before you were ever of age."

"I had it one time. That's one. Not fifty! You need to live a little."

"Fine Ronald, just fine. Stay here and get sauced while the rest of us go off to Fred and George's."

"Enough guys!" Harry deliberately put his body in the path of the two seething friends.

"Tom, for now we'll just take the rooms. If we need anything more later we'll ask."

"Sure thing." He looked amused by our little scene. He had a knowing look in his eye as he gazed fondly at the very odd couple that was Ron and Hermione.

"Now, would that be four separate rooms, or do some of ya want to share?"

We all looked at each other very perplexed. None of us wanted to say what was on each of our minds--that four separate rooms sounded at this point like an excellent notion, regardless of the extra expense.

But Harry was sensible. "Two rooms should do nicely."

"Alrighty then. Let me grab the keys and let me lead ya up." After the jingling of two sets of keys, and the opening of the swinging bar door, Tom eagerly led us upstairs. I took this opportunity to notice that the bar was totally empty save for two hags whispering in the corner. I have a feeling that they overheard Ron and Hermione's latest brawl.

"Okay, here's the first room." He swiveled his first key into the knob on door number twelve, and creaked the door open. The room was blissfully full of light, but I couldn't see much else being down at the near bottom of the stairs.

He moved to the room next to it and unlocked that door. He handed both keys to Harry and said, "So here you go. And I'll let ya fight over who gets what."

"Thank you Tom."

"No problem Harry. You're a good kid." He gave Harry a light pat on the shoulder. "You can come here anytime that you like."

"Thanks."

"I'm off then." He squeezed down the stairs and was gone.

Harry turned and dropped a key into Hermione's hand. "You guys wash up and get settled. Meet us downstairs in a half an hour."

"Sure." Hermione swept past Ron and Harry and walked into the second room. I obediently followed and shut the door.

I'd barely turned into the room when there was a knock on the door.

It was Ron with my trunk. "You forgot this."

"Oh, thank you Ron."

"No prob."

He dipped his head and looked at his feet as if he wasn't sure what to say.

"So, I'll see ya then."

"See you."

Hermione's back was turned to me as I turned back into the room. I went to the wash basin and washed my hands and my face. The cool water felt nice.

I looked back at Hermione as I was drying my face with a plush white towel. She was sitting on the bed, looking out the window, but not seeing it.

I got a glass and filled it with the pitcher and drank deeply. I flipped my trunk onto the ground and unlatched it. I carefully pulled out my mother's quilt and laid it on the empty bed. I was smoothing out the wrinkles when Hermione spoke.

"That's nice."

"My mom made it. I just don't feel right sleeping without it."

"It is very lovely. She did have good taste."

"Yes well, in most things. I definitely don't fancy those hats she used to wear. And I also don't think that I would have ever chosen my father. But she did have the most exquisite jewelry."

"I've never been very close with my parents."

"Really?"

"Never. Not even when I was little. I think they just opted to leaving me to my own devices. I recall being on my own a great deal even when I was young. I sometimes think I was born with a book or a chemistry set ready in hand. But maybe I was just never encouraged to do anything else."

"I take it you haven't told them about your part in Harry's mission."

"Ha. Of course not. Besides, they have no idea whatever of what's going on in the wizarding world, and I'm not too stupid to tell them. They think I went on a nice holiday on a tour of Europe with friends over the summer and that I'm back at school like everyone else."

"A lot of people didn't come back. Those of us who did became the minority."

"That's too bad. I understand. But it's just too bad."

"Hogwarts won't ever be the same again."

"They've gone through hard times before. A lot can happen in a thousand years. But to have the Headmaster murdered by one of the professors and Death Eaters inside the school. I don't think anyone was expecting that."

"I think someone was."

"Well obviously the Death Eaters who planned it and that nasty Draco."

"I got the feeling that Dumbledore knew what was coming." Hermione's eyes widened a bit.

"Well, he did know what Draco was up to if that's what you mean."

"I mean more than that. I would never call Dumbledore a Seer 'cause that's not what he was. But he was uncanny in his ability of knowing what was going on in the castle at all times. And on his last weeks here, I could tell that he knew his end was coming."

"How on earth could you tell that?" Her face was very twisted.

I shrugged. "His body just told me."

"You mean his body when he was dead?"

"No. Long before that. Weeks before. I'm not talking about his physical body anyway, but his spiritual one. They change under dire circumstances.

"I don't expect you to understand. I've been doing that kind of strange stuff since I was little. Dumbledore just knew a lot more than he let on."

"What did he know? Listen to me Luna, this is very important. You have to tell me." She had stood up now and was standing directly in front of me.

"An unbreakable vow was made about him. He had to choose between his life and someone else's, and he chose himself. He died so someone could live basically."

"Do you happen to know who that someone was?"

"No. I can tell you that it was someone very close to him though. Someone who he loved like a son."

"And they were part of this unbreakable vow?"

"Yes. Not by choice. Whomever it was was under Dumbledore's orders."

"There's only one person it could be: Snape. I just can't believe it."

"But Snape killed Dumbledore. Unless--" My eyes widened. "Oooo!"

"If an unbreakable vow is broken, the breaking party will die. What if the unbreakable vow was Snape vowing to kill Dumbledore under Voldemort's orders?"

"Why would Snape agree to such a thing?"

"Because he had to. They would have killed him or tortured him to death if he didn't. Those are the unfortunate hazards of being a spy."

"When we last saw him, I got the feeling that he was trying to keep us away from the fighting. Did you?"

"Yes! I've been wracking my brain all summer trying to figure out what it all meant. But now it fits!"

"We have to tell Harry." I turned to the door, but Hermione took my hand and pulled it back lightly.

"We have to be careful how we do this. Harry detests Snape. If we didn't have other things to....do, he would've probably spent the whole summer hunting for him so that he could kill him himself."

"But he's innocent! He'll have to be happy to hear that!"

"Alas, our only source is you. The only reason why Harry, Ron, and I know that an unbreakable vow was made is because Harry overheard Snape and Draco talking about it. Until now, we didn't know what it was about. I don't know if you just knowing about the unbreakable vow would be enough though.

"But, this changes everything. It means that we have a very useful ally right in Voldemort's ranks who could help us. This may just be the break that we need. We do have to tell Harry. I just am not sure how to do it."

"Can I give it a go?"

"Yes. I think that you could probably explain it better than anyone else can. But let's wait until after Fred and George's. Maybe Harry and Ron could do with some Firewhiskey this evening after all."

I smiled. "Sounds like a plan. We just have to make sure that they remember it."

"I guess we can't let them get too drunk before we tell them. After that however, well, the sky's the limit."

"Exactly!"

"Too bad I didn't bring a change of clothes." Hermione looked down at her skirt, sweater, and boots. They didn't look dirty, but they may have felt dirty.

"Do you want to borrow some of mine?"

"Really?" She looked apprehensive.

"Sure! I've got lots of stuff in here. And you and I look about the same size."





Another fifteen minutes later, we made our way downstairs finding Harry and Ron sipping butterbeers at the bar. Ron stood up rapidly as he caught sight of Hermione, toppling over his butterbeer in the process.

"You look nice."

"Thank you Ron." She didn't look much different, just changed somehow. I put her in my favorite silk patch skirt with a delicate white top with just a hint of lace. It actually made for quite the muggle outfit, but it looked good on her. It was a bit more feminine than what she usually wore. I also pulled her hair back in a bun, leaving a few curls to trail on her neck. I don't know why she didn't show it off more often. Having her hair back marked for the most dramatic change of all.

"Why don't we join you." Hermione and I pulled up our own bar stools and climbed up on them, balancing our feet on one of the lower bars on the bottom of the stools. "Two butterbeers. Actually--" She turned to Ron who was attempting to mop up his mess with a rag. "Better make that three Tom."

"Coming right up!"

"Luna, you look nice too."

"Thank you Harry." I'd changed into my favorite long green dress with short sleeves and black stitching on its hem. I love it because the color was extremely unique--a cross between emerald and forest green, and it was about as comfy as a dress ever could be.

"Here ya are!" Tom cheerfully uncorked three butterbeers in front of us and separated each to its owner.

"Will you be needing anything else?"

"No Tom. Thanks."

"No prob."

Before taking his first sip of his butterbeer, Ron asked. "So, are we gonna go to any shops other than Fred and George's?"

"Well, we'll need to go to Gringott's to replenish our funds. But beyond that no, I don't think so. Most of the best stores have shut down anyway."

Hermione looked like she was going through a fierce battle in her head over whether or not to say something.

"Oooh. Maybe we'll meet up with Bill there! I haven't seen him in ages!"

"That would be nice."

"I think we should go to Florish and Blott's." Hermione said quite matter-of-fact-like. Apparently she'd decided to give into whatever she'd been debating.

Ron looked like he really wanted to say something but thought it best to refrain from doing so. So he grudgingly kept his quiet and sipped his butterbeer. He'd let Harry fight this one out.

"We've been through this a million times Hermione." He didn't want to look at her. He just drank his butterbeer and looked at it as thought it was the only object in the room.

"I know I know Harry. But we definitely need to work on our defensive spells. And also I was thinking that maybe we were going about this research on--" She looked suspiciously around the room. "Them all wrong. Maybe rather than learning their history, we should be finding out what we really need to know about them--how to destroy them." She looked timidly at Harry as if preparing for an eruption of shouting.

But it never came. On the contrary, Harry was looking very thoughtful. "Alright then. We just may not make it there today with Fred and George's. It's not a good idea to stick around Diagon Alley after dark. So you might have to wait until morning. Does that suit you?"

"Oh perfectly. That's just fine Harry." Hermione looked taken aback and positively delighted. Harry, in contrast, looked like he could really use a much stiffer drink.

Harry downed the last of his butterbeer in one last swig and asked, "Are we ready to go then?"

Even though some of us had quite a bit of butterbeer left, we all nodded, stood up out of our stools with Harry, and waited at the door while Harry went to pay Tom.

I took this opportunity to make a statement to Hermione.

"He's still really on edge."

"Yeah, he's been that way since....well, we'll explain all of that to you soon enough. We've got to get to a better location. Places like this, alas, are too susceptible to--"

"You guys ready?" Harry looked slightly brighter and more bouncy than before now that he knew that they were heading off to Fred and George's.

"Sure!" Hermione answered brightly for us.

So we made our way through the door to the garbage cans. Hermione tapped the right brick with her wand, the gateway magically opened before us, and we'd made it to the wonderful and incomparable world of Diagon Alley.

Alas, it wasn't as wonderful and incomparable as it once was. Most of the shops were boarded up with Ministry of Magic warnings pasted on them, and of course pictures of the many known death eaters still at large. Now Voldemort bore the largest picture of them all. It was creepy to see his red eyes follow you everywhere.

We just made our way straight to Gringott's, trying our damndest to not look at the signs. But they did seem to want to burn themselves into you.

Gringott's had a squad of security Trolls out front that leered at you threateningly as you dared to pass through its gates. The inside was the same as it always was with goblins weighing varying sizes of precious stones and examining them carefully. I noticed a group of wizards in desks in the right corner. One was having a very heated debate with a fat wizard with a very thick Irish accent.

A flash of red hair jumped in front of us and gave Ron an enormous hug.

"Ron! Ron! I can't believe it's you! Mom's been worried sick! Oh, Harry and Hermione. It's good to see you both two." He gave them both back-breaking hugs. Then he turned to me. "I believe that we've met before, but forgive me, I don't remember your name." He didn't have much of a face, it was more like of a child's play dough rendition of a face. But he did have kind eyes and a huge smile, and his hair was just as bright and as long as ever. He didn't have it up in its usual ponytail, but left it down to cover, well, his ears weren't what they once were. But it looked nice resting on his shoulders.

"I'm Luna Lovegood. I'm--"

"Oh, I know your father. He's a clever funny chap. He turned me onto his magazine. At least it has a sense of humor unlike the darn Daily Prophet.

"But come come over to my desk." He started walking in that direction. "We can talk more privately over there and I can take out any money you may need Harry or Miss Lovegood, or rather have one of the goblins do it for me. It's a lot easier doing it that way than having you guys go through our security process. The average time is over four hours, that's if you're lucky. This way'll be much quicker. Here's my desk." It was cluttered with papers save for one wedding picture with Fleur looking as dazzling and as radiant as she possibly could in a long silk silver gown and one picture of the whole Weasley clan save for Percy who had walked out of the frame. There was also a little figurine of a black dragon that looked at them knowingly.

"Oh. Charlie gave that to me." Noticing my eyes glancing at the dragon. "I don't remember the breed, but he sure is neat-looking. He sets fire to my papers sometimes if he gets twitchy. That's when I just toss him in my drawer to teach him a lesson." He paused at the passing of a goblin. "Oh Lagnok. Great. Would you mind going down to Harry and Luna's vaults to make a withdrawal?" Stopping a grumpy-looking Goblin that had the misfortune of passing his desk. "You two here," he gave Harry and I each a bit of parchment from his drawer and two quills that he dipped in ink for us. "Please write down the amount that you want Lagnok to get for you." I hadn't thought about getting any money out initially, but now it sounded like a good idea. After all, I'd be travelling with them for who knows how long, and it's always good to have some money on you in those sort of situations.

I wrote a fair figure on the slip of parchment, folded it in half, and handed the parchment and the quill to Bill. Harry had already done the same. Bill passed the parchment to Lagnok, and he swept off to the vaults without a word.

"So, what are you four up to?"

Hermione spoke for us. "We're off to see Fred and George and then Florish and Blott's probably tomorrow."

"Oh, you're staying here then?"

"Yes. At The Leaky Cauldron for the night."

"Then where are you off to?"

We were interrupted by a very old wizard with soda bottle glasses. "Bill. Great. I was wondering if you had those numbers ready for me. The ones for that new client from Albania. Sorry to disturb you with," he gestured to the crowd around him, "your guests."

"No problem. This is just my brother Ron and his friends up for a visit. I have the report done right here." He pulled out a piece of parchment from the corner of his desk and handed it to the man. "It should be useful to him, although it doesn't look like a very sound investment to me. He'd be much better off investing in some of those Germanic rubies. They are dirt cheap right now, but are proven to soar up to 100 Galleons an ounce over the next three years."

"Well, he seemed to have his own reasons. Anyway, I've got to send some last minutes owls. Nice having you back Bill." He added a soft smile. There was something telling left in his eyes though. He turned and walked away.

Bill turned down to his papers. He appeared slightly put down as he casually read them.

"How is Fleur?" Hermione asked politely. He had started to harden.

Thinking of Fleur however renewed his vigor. "She's brilliant of course. Her mother's been in town helping her buy furniture and dishes and things for our new loft. She's started working full-time now, although today's her day off. We're trying to save up for our own place in the country. Living in the city does have its benefits though since we're close to everything. Fleur loves going to all the big shows and stores and such. Mom's been doting on her too."

"How's Mom doing?"

"Honestly, she's a basket-case, but she's doing her damndest to hide it. Between you and Harry, Percy, and well me too, she's an absolute nervous wreck. She's also been reading the Daily Prophet a lot these days, and that's enough to turn anyone sour. She's refused to let Ginny come back to school, so Ginny's been rebelling like mad at home. She won't listen to anything my mother says, and she downright refuses to talk to her. She's not too happy with Dad either because he didn't stand up for her. She just spends most of her time locked in her room doing God knows what. I can get her to come out and talk sometimes when I'm there. I try to go there every weekend as I can, but sometimes I just can't. I've just got too much going on here."

"I had a feeling Mom was going to do something like that. It was yet another reason to leave home."

"You should drop her an owl at least you know. Just letting her know you're alright."

"I will. I just couldn't do it before because...well I just couldn't."

"I understand that, and she should too. You also might want to send an owl to Ginny too. I think that that would do her a world of good."

"I will."

"Listen guys. I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got work to do. Why don't I meet with you after work at The Leaky Cauldron for some dinner. Maybe we could invite Fred and George too."

"Brilliant."

"Yeah, that's a great idea."

"And that way I'll have a better chance of finding out what my little brother has been up to." He padded Ron on the shoulder and rubbed it in a very brotherly way.

"Oh good, here's Lagnok with your gold." The grumpy goblin had returned with two small clinking bags in his hands.

"Lovegood?"

"Yes." The goblin handed me my bundle.

"Potter?"

"Yes." He passed his last bundle to Harry. Then he turned off without a word.

"Thanks Lagnok." Bill called to his back. I'm not sure if he heard nor cared.

"So, off to Fred and George's then."

"We'll see you in a bit then." Ron's face looked like he was reluctant to leave his brother. He walked away from him straining his neck until the last.






Once we'd made it out of Gringott's, and were on our way down the lane, Ron explained that nasty look in his eyes. "I'm going to get that Fenir Greyback if it's the last thing that I do. He has destroyed my brother. How can he still be roaming free?"

"The same way that Voldemort and Snape and all of those Death Eaters can. But Ron, Bill does look happy."

"He's just playing the hand that he was dealt. Bill's always been that way. He's always been good about making the most of situations. But--"

"And he has Fleur. That's a lot right there." I chimed in.

"That's right. Ron, he's a newly wed. He's happily married. And Fleur was right when she said that those scars show that he is brave. And I know that part of his attitude stems from the fact that he knows how lucky he is to be alive. He knows what happens to most wizards after they have a tragic run with the Death Eaters. Look at the Longbottoms and look at Harry's parents. I know it's hard, but you've got to try to be happy for him Ron. You've got to see him as he was and still is." Hermione could always say the right thing to Ron when she really needed to.

"Besides, at least he has both eyes and both legs. Look at poor Moody." Harry too had a knack for saying what Ron needed to hear.

"The people who matter, the people who know him and know his story, won't shun him, and that's what's important. That's all he needs really. And Ron, I think the last thing that he wants right now is to be pitied, so please try not to pity him. Just try to see him for who he is."

They walked a few more paces until Hermione exclaimed "Ooo....wow! They've changed their window!" They had several fireworks whirling in the window contained by circular orbs that bobbed up and down and looked like bubbles. There was a magnificent ranbow dragon, a peacock with its feathers extended, a whirling wheel, and one that wrote "Welcome" in cursive, then wiped clean, and wrote it again. We could see bodies packed in through the front door. Hermione opened the door, it jingled, and we squeezed inside. I was pushed almost immediately by a group of rowdy kids into an enormous glass bowl filled with transforming jawbreakers--

"You will transform into whatever beast you are thinking of, whether it be a Tiger, Hippogriff, or a Unicorn. To change form, simply think of another beast. To change back to yourself, simple remove the jawbreaker."

It nearly toppled over with myself with it, but I managed to steady us both. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder and I whipped my head around.

"You okay there? I saw what those little brats did. I'll have to be talking to them. They nearly plowed you."

Finally he turned from the shop and its bustlings and looked at my face. "Oh Luna, you're back already. Couldn't get enough of the shop eh? But, shouldn't you be, you know, in school?" It was one of the Weasley twins. I couldn't tell which one. He had a very curious expression on his face beneath that flaming red hair.

"I'm here with Ron, Harry, and Hermione." I hoped that would clear things up, still not knowing quite what it meant.

His eyes became saucers. "They're here?"

I nodded.

Right on cue, Ron came bustling towards us. "Hey Luna, did you see these--Oh George, nice to see you." The flowery plant in Ron's hand had lost all of its importance.

"Nice to see me? Nice to see me? You don't come over. You don't write. Mom's a total bat-case over you. No one has known your whereabouts for months. And all's you can say is nice to see me?!" Ron set the plant down onto a pile of board games, and let George embrace him and then stand back with his hand on his shoulder to survey him.

"So you haven't been back to school? I reckon no"

"No, I can't. We've had other things to do."

"And I see you've recruited a new member to your little Trio. I guess two guys and two girls works better than two guys and one girl, right?"

Ron gave his brother a scowl. "You know it's not like that. We aren't on a joy cruise or something."

"You've been very secretive about what sort of mission your on exactly. Even to the Order. They're all worried sick about you too."

"We didn't have a choice, alright?!"

"I know bro. I know. I know you're trying to help your friend and all that. I just thought you should know that there are people around who are concerned."

"Hey George!"

"Why Harry, fancy seeing you in the shop. Why don't you guys come to the backroom with me. Fred should be back there and I can show you our special--Hey you there!" He pointed to a kid holding a toy broomstrick who looked like he was ready to mount it. "Put that broomstrick back in the box where you found it. There will be no flying around this store." The kid gave an angry look, and slumped away with the stick dragging on the ground.

"Anyway, this way people." He weaved us around customers and displays to the back of the shop. Ron ran into Fred before we got a chance to see anything. He had his assistant following him with parchment and quill in hand taking notes as Fred listed things to be done.

"We need to get at least two more boxes of those orange bombs. We definitely need more of those joke-telling trees. And--Ron! RON! I can't believe it's you!" He hugged Ron with more emotion and vigor than I'd ever seen from him.

"We all thought. Well, bollucks what we thought. I just can't believe it's you! George! George! Did you see?"

"Yes. I brought him back here." He looked a little annoyed.

"Mom'll be thrilled!"

"I'm not here to come back home."

"You mean your....mission or whatever it is is still ongoing?"

"Yes. We just needed supplies."

"Supplies? Supplies for what?" Hermione had snuck behind the curtain so quietly that no one noticed until she spoke up.

"We can't tell you for what Fred, but you should have some idea."

"We were thinking diversionary tactics, defenses, spy equipment, that sort of thing."

"So, the whole Trio is here. Well, the whole Trio plus one more."

"Yeah, I was a little suscpicious about that myself." Both twins were standing side-by-side, arms folded, looking at me with deciphering eyes.

"Nothing suscpicious about it really," Harry shrugged. I wondered how long he could keep these lies going. "We needed someone with abilities that all of us lack. So we asked her, and she was only too happy to help." He rested his hand on my shoulder as if to claim me.

"It seems a little conveniant doesn't it George?"

"Absolutely Fred."

"But I reckon that we are out of their loop."

"I think they're out of their own loop."

"We're not important enough to be in their loop."

"Nor do we want to be."

"Yeah, where's the fun in that?"

"Those three don't look like they've been having very much fun."

"Yes, and they sucked this poor girl into their circle."

"You know Fred, I think that she may have other qualifications beyond her abilities."

"Qualities that only Harry would make use of."

"So, little bro, have you finally hooked up with Miss Granger? We've only been waiting for that for seven years now."

"What?!" Ron actually stumbled back into a stack of boxes behind him. Thankfully, they swayed but didn't topple over.

"Well, we thought since Harry's got his own little woman now you would have finally snagged your's."

"I am NOT Harry's little woman!"

"Mr. Weasley? Well I need one of you to sign this form so we can get those orders out before the post closes today." Fred's little assistant was back. She was actually quite pretty, with long silky brown hair and blue eyes, but she also had an air of professionalism.

Fred took the parchment and the quill and signed the form without even looking at it. His assistant grabbed the parchment and the quill and was off with the rustling of her robes and the clanking of her boots.

"Well, if you're not going to tell us what you're up to, we're going to make our own stories."

"And you know they won't be anything good."

"Make up whatever you like. Just don't be insulting." Harry was hardened with every word.

"But being insulting is what we do best."

"Absolutely."

"And a story isn't a story if it isn't insulting."

"Whatever. Do you have anything that we can use or don't you?"

"We're just playing games you know? Can't even make a joke around here. Come with me Harry. I'll get you what you need." Fred took Harry further into the maze of boxes.

George looked like he had unusually heavy things on his mind.

"You know, we are glad to see you. It was just so wierd not hearing from you for so long. Everyone started assuming the worst, especially with all of the attacks going on lately. And You Know Who seems to be getting stronger and stronger."

"I really wanted to write but we just couldn't. We couldn't risk it. And the same will be happening again soon enough."

"Alright." George hung his head slightly.

"We will be having dinner with Bill tonight at The Leaky Cauldron and we'd love for you and Fred to join us." Hermione piped in.

"Sure" he smiled. "We'd love that. I'll go tell Fred."

"Great."

As George walked away, Hermione whispered to Ron and me. "This is harder than I thought that it was going to be."

"No kidding."

"Well, they aren't stupid."

"No, it's just, I thought that they'd be used to secret missions by now. Their parents being in the Order and everything."

"Well, we're younger than they are. We aren't members of the Order."

"Get what you need Harry?" Harry walked over to them smiling at the boxes in his hands.

"Oh yes, definitely! You wouldn't believe this stuff! They have their own Foie Glass, only this one not only shows your enemies when their near, it shows them plotting against you."

"That could be both good and bad at the same time."

"Why's that?"

I just smiled.

"Look at these miniature doors. You throw one against the wall and it grows to a regular-sized door, that you can use as an instant exit."

"Cool!"

"And these green eggs are great." He held out what looked like small sea-green bird eggs. "You throw them at your enemy and they work like tear gas--they totally blind your enemy for several hours. There's absolutely no cure."

"I wouldn't say absolute no cure. It'll heal on its own after six hours, but as far as we know it can't be cured by any of the healing methods that we know. We though that it would give Death Eaters something to cry about." George chuckled. "It's a great simple defense mechanism. A lot of parents have been investing in them to protect their kids in case they're on their own."

"We've really gotten into transfiguration potions lately. They taste a lot better than Polyjuice potion, are a lot easier to make, and we have you transform into objects that Death Eaters wouldn't think twice about, like rocks and sticks of wood."

"Yeah, I got that bug model because that way at least I can crawl away. With a rock, you're kinda stuck there."

"How long do they last?" Hermione looked interested.

"Well, we had a long debate about that. We didn't want it to be too long or too short. For safety reasons, we settled on two hours. It can be a bore but it can also save your life."

"You've really gotten into the protective charms then haven't you?"

"Most of these started out as regular joke charms, but people saw their potential as something more, and just jumped all over them. We can never ignore good business, and if it's helping people too, great. We need some edge on the other side, even if it's just a bag of goodies."

"But, we've still got plenty of the regular ole fun stuff for the kiddies and us older ones who never grew up." Fred smiled. It was a little forced though.

"We'd better start closing up shop. It's starting to get dark already." I wondered for a second how he knew that until I saw him looking through a window in his back office. It looked out onto London.

"I guess we'll be heading back."

"Yeah, we should be over there in a half an hour or so. Most of our customers will be leaving now anyways. They don't want to stick around here after dark."

"Okay. See you in a few then."

"Sure."

We made it back through the curtain and squeezed through the shop to the door. Fred was right, most of the people left were in a line at the counter balancing their purchases impatiently.

The door jingled, and we were outside again. It had gotten chilly.

"I might go back again while you're at Florish and Blott's tommorrow."

"We really didn't get to thoroughly explore the shop did we?"

"That's fine. I can do research by myself."

"I'll help you."

"Thanks Luna."

"No prob." A few moments later, I added, "You guys have got to definitely check out the candies. They have their own version of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, where instead of tasting every flavor, you transform into it. What got me was the cards. They're all of Fred and George in various poses with funny names like Georgette the Swooner with George dressed as a woman with flowing blonde hair. I was cracking up!"

Ron turned to Harry with a very determined eye. "We have to get those!"

"Definitely!"

"I suppose it isn't too often that you get to see your brothers in tights."

"Ha ha. No. Nowhere near often enough."

"They did seem pretty upset though." Hermione brought us back once again to reality.

"No kidding."

"I suppose they have every right to be. I would be if I were in their shoes."

Harry shrugged. "They'res nothing that we can do about that."

"No. I guess not."

"They'll figure it out once it's all over and done with."

"It's wierd. I've never had to lie to them this big before."

"I hate lying." That was the only input that I could really have and it was oh so true. "It's not like me."

We walked in silence until we reached The Leaky Cauldron's door.

"Well, Firewhiskey anyone?" It was Hermione and we all whipped around with our most surprised faces; even I who knew of the plan.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Ron looked concerned as we made our way to a large booth in the back.

"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" She gave such a convincing impression of being so totally clueless that I had to hand it to her.





What Luna Sees by Nikcole Frame [copyright]/July 17, 2007

[*Liliana*]

I really like this version of the 7th book! It has such great humor and wit. I especially love how you write Luna...your depictions of all the characters are very well done. And your narrating voice is smooth. Some writers confuse their characters' voices with their own voices, but you manage the balance nicely!

Hmm, well this plot is turning out to very curious. I wonder what will happen next?

[nikcolarius]

Thanks much for the compliment Liliana. I try my best. It's not easy sometimes, and I know that this will always have an American sound to it as I'm not British. But, what can you do?

Okay, before I add my next chapter, I have to mention that it was written before I read Deathly Hallows. I actually have chapters and chapters of this fic already written in a journal, that need to be typed up. I intend to continue the story line as it would have been before I read the new book. But, my interpretation of it all is much different from J.K's so, I think I can get away with it.

There are some similarities though that were a little surprising.

Anyway, here's the next chapter all. Enjoy!



~@~

Chapter 4
Tom came by and hastily wiped down our table and took away a few dirty glasses.

"What'd cha need?"

"Four firewhiskeys please. Oh, and Fred and George Weasley and Bill Weasley will be joining us for dinner shortly. Could you please direct them to our table? Also, we'd like to see an hors d'oeuvre menu while we're waiting."

It took Tom a whole five seconds to process that until he smiled and said "Sure thing!" and turned away to his bar.

"I've never had firewhiskey," Harry pronounced. "I've swiped a bit of Uncle Vernon's brandy before, but that's about it."

"I've never tried it either," I admitted.

"Nor I," Hermione added.

Ron looked a little awkward now being in the minority. But he smiled and said "It's a real treat. So unlike anything you've ever tasted."

Tom came back with a tray with four silver flaming glasses resting on it. He also handed Hermione a small menu before carefully placing each glass in front of each of us. The blue flames were memorizing. I could just get lost in them all day.

Once Tom had left, Hermione lifted her glass, and we all copied her. "So a toast then."

She didn't seem to be sure what to make a toast about. She looked around, and no one else seemed to have any good ideas.

"I've got one." Harry stood up, holding his firewhiskey firmly in his right hand, the flames flashing in his eyes. "To Hogwarts and Dumbledore. For they make the start of everything that we do here."

"To Hogwarts and Dumbledore!" We chanted. Hermione chugged her whole glass in one gulp. It looked like she was in pain. We all stopped to watch her rather than taking our drinks ourselves.

"You okay Hermione?" I padded her on the back a little bit. Her face was unreadable.

"Yeah. It's just....wow. That felt good!" She smiled and laughed a little bit. The rest of us took that as our cue to drink our's. It felt like my whole body was on fire. Then the flames passed suddenly, and everything looked beautiful, like my eyes were magnified by a hundred times.

"Wow! That stuff is good."

"So what's on the hors d'oeuvre menu Hermione?"

She'd been gazing wistfully at Ron. "Oh, let me look." So we read the menu together. We decided on some stuffed mushrooms and some potato something-or-others.

"Is that okay with you guys?" Anything looked like it would be okay with Harry and Ron.

"'Cause we can change."

"I think it'll be fine Hermione."

"Oy, Tom!" Hermione shouted.

"Yes Miss?" He called from the bar.

"We'll be needing stuffed mushrooms and those potato thingy's when you've got the chance."

"Okay. Right away." He was smiling bigger than ever.

"That'll be good."

"Did any of you ever notice that there's wood on this table?"

"Yeah, it feels really good. So many grooves."

"But they killed a tree?"

"What Hermione?" She was close to tears.

"They killed a tree to make this table."

"There are plenty of trees out there Hermione. It's okay." Ron reached across the table and grabbed Hermione's hand and held it lightly.

"Okay." She smiled through her red eyes.

"Hermione, wasn't there something we were supposed to tell Harry and Ron?"

"Oh Yeah." Comprehension dawned on her face. "About Snape wasn't it?"

"Snape." Harry slammed the table right in front of me. "That !@#$'ll pay when I get a hold of him."

"Harry, he's just a slimy git. He's not even worth killin."

"I'll never forgive him."

"I love this necklace." I held out my butterbeer necklace and started fondling it with my fingers. "Everyone hates it but I love it."

"You do look really nice today Luna." Harry smiled so sweetly.

"Thank you Harry."

"Here ya are!" Tom came in with a plate of mushrooms and one of potatoes. The potatoes were twice-baked with sour cream, chives, and cheese on top.

"Yum!"

"I got some plates and utensils for ya! Oh. I reckon I see your friends over there. I'll send them over."

"What friends is he talking about?"

"Dunno."

"darn, these potato thingy's are so good!"

"Hey guys!" Fred and George were grinning from ear-to-ear. Bill look a little confused, or as confused as he could look with that face.

"Guys!" Ron stood up immediately, climbed over Harry to get out of the table, crushing Harry's feet in the process, and started hugging each of his brothers like he hadn't seen them for twenty years.

"I love you guys so much! Please don't be mad at me!"

"We love you too Ron. Why don't you go sit back down."

"Okay." Harry scooted over to the end, Ron sat beside him, and Fred and George squeezed on the end. Bill came to my side.

"Yeah, Bill should sit with the ladies since he's such a ladies man. Ha ha!"

"So, what have you guys been drinking?"

Bill picked up one of the glasses and sniffed it. "Ah, firewhiskey. That explains a lot.

"You have one too Luna?"

"What?"

"Did you have firewhiskey too?"

"Oh yeah, a purple fairy flew by and dropped one in front of me. Which was weird 'cause I didn't ask for it.

"Hey, did you try these potatoes? They're wonderful!"

"No. I think you guys need those more than we do."

Tom sauntered in. He looked pleased with himself.

"You lot need anything to drink or eat?"

"I'll get a rare steak and a butterbeer for me." Bill asked politely.

"Fred and I will each have a bowl of French Onion Soup and our own glasses of firewhiskey. We don't want to miss this party, do we Fred?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Bill, don't you have a wife?"

"Yeah, we love Fleur, why isn't she here?"

"She--"

"I don't love Fleur. She's okay, just so....I don't know."

"Fleur's out with her mother tonight. I know she'll be sorry she missed this."

"Hermione, why do we always fight?"

"What?!"

"Oh, this is getting good!" Fred was redding he was trying so hard not to laugh.

"Yeah, you guys fight way too darn much. It's like watching a tennis match that never ever ends. It gets on my nerves." Harry started grinding down a mushroom.

"You guys should just get together already and be done with it." I had to say it. I just had to.

"Here here Luna." George tapped a nearby fork onto an empty glass of firewhiskey.

"I can't get together with him, he's so....argghhh!!"

"He's so perfect for you is what he is. And you guys wouldn't fight so much if you cared nothing about each other."

"You aren't exactly a picnic either, Miss Bossy Know-it-all." Ron had devoured most of the potatoes already, but that didn't stop him from taking the very last one.

"Ron, stop being mean!" I put my hand around Hermione to support her.

"Okay, here's your firewhiskeys Fred and George, and your butterbeer Bill. Your food should be up in a min. I'll clear these plates out of your way." As he started stacking them, he asked, "Would ya four be wanting anything else?"

"Menus please." Hermione asked very politely.

"Get them some water too," Bill advised.

"Gotcha." He cleared the plates and the empty glasses as Fred and George greedily downed their glasses.

"Ah. Oh so good!"

"Yeah, I've been waiting for that all week."

"It's Monday."

"It's been since Sunday."

"We never get to go anywhere or so anything." Ron looked glumly at the empty space of table in front of him.

"What are you talking about Ron? We've been traveling non-stop all summer!" Hermione was jerking her head as if her ears were full of water.

"Nowhere fun." Ron grumbled.

"So Ron, fancy you telling us what you've been up to?"

Tom came over and passed waters down the table and handed menus to Hermione, Harry, Ron and myself. He quickly bustled away.

"Oooh good, I'm starving."

"Me too."

"You just had like eight potatoes."

"Really?! I don't remember."

"Good, they have lamb here."

"I love lamb."

"I love it too."

"With asparagus, yummy."

"And a demi-glace."

"Oooh. They have a quiche too."

"And roast chicken stew."

"Don't order the whole menu guys. Just pick something."

"But everything looks so good."

"And these menus have the softest parchment."

"It looks like they have a secret code if you turn them upside down."

"Have we decided?" Bill rolled his eyes, and shook his head in his hands.

"I'm ready." I sat up straight. "I'll take the lamb with some garlic bread."

"Oooh. That sounds good. I'll have the same." Ron handed Tom his menu.

"I'll have the Roast Chicken Stew." Hermione too handed over her menu.

"I'll have the Chicken Stew too, and the quiche." Harry gave me a mysterious long look. I choked on my water.

"Oh, can we get some warm rolls?"

"With some honey butter."

"Oh, can I get a gillywater too."

"Alright. Alright. I've got one lamb with garlic bread and gillywater. One lamb with garlic bread. One chicken stew. One chicken stew with broccoli quiche. And some rolls and honey butter. That right?"

"Yep."

"Be back in a few."

Tom walked away. I played with my menu. I was sure there was a code inscribed on it somewhere, if I could only decipher it. Ron was looking at the table as if waiting for it to fill up with food on its own.

"Fred, George, either of you seen Ginny lately? I haven't been back in a couple of weeks."

They didn't appear to have heard. They were whispering animatedly amoungst themselves.

"Fred? George?"

"Hey bros, I think Bill's trying to talk to ya."

"Huh?" They finally looked around.

"What's that?"

"Ginny?!"

"What about her?"

"Have either of you seen her recently?"

"Um, no."

"Yeah, we don't go back there anymore."

"There was too much tension in that house the last time we were there. So we decided to avoid it for a while."

"Besides, we've been to busy with the shop anyway."

"Racking in so many galleons and staying so devilishly handsome does take so much time."

"We like to have our evenings to ourselves."

"To roam the streets."

"And tangle with the ladies."

"Much better than being back home."

"Oh, so much better."

"You should try it sometime Bill."

"Yeah, stop being such a stick in the mud."

"I am NOT a stick in the mud!"

"Yeah, you guys. That's so not fair. Just because he just got married and is responsible doesn't make him--"

"We're responsible."

"Totally."

"Where was mayhem and chaos before we came around?"

"Yes, where did the troublemakers of the world go to for their supplies before we came and revolutionized the industry?"

"Yes, with Voldemort and Death Eaters reeking havoc everywhere, you've really made your noble contributions to society. I've noticed you haven't joined the Order like your brother here." Hermione had gone back into attack mode. It was too natural for her.

"For your information Hermione, Fred and I did offer to become a part of the Order, but mom wouldn't let us. That's why we aren't speaking. Apparently she just couldn't handle Ron, Charlie, and Bill on their dangerous missions, and to add us to that would have been bloody murder."

"Sorry....I didn't know."

"Well, you miss a lot being away for so long doing God knows what."

"So we figure, if we can't be heroic, we'll just have fun instead."

"Besides, people have been way too serious lately."

"Yeah, they need to lighten up. It's not like worrying about it is going to stop it from happening."

"Now I'm glad I haven't been home this summer. Who wants to be around all that....cr.ap."

"No wonder Ginny's going mad. She's so nice. I really like her."

"Ginny and I used to go out."

"We all know the whole saga Harry."

"I don't remember why we broke up. It was something important."

"Do you miss her?"

"Sometimes. We never were together long enough to really do anything. I never got to take her out to dinner or anything. I don't even know if that qualifies as a normal relationship."

"She would have gone with you if you'd only asked her."

"I couldn't do that."

"But you asked Luna."

"That's different. I need her for very specific reasons. I don't expect you to understand that."

"I miss Quidditch."

"Me too mate."

"I think we all miss it."

"Yeah, it's too bad that I'm not at Hogwarts anymore. They offered me the commentator position."

"Really?!"

"Wow."

"I loved your commentary. It was great. Made no sense whatever. But it was brilliant all the same."

"Thanks Ron. I think I was the only student left of all who tried out. Don't know who they'll get now."

"A lot of things will have changed now."

"I hate change. I just wish things would just stay the same sometimes."

"I hear yeah."

"Here's two bowls of French Onion soup for the Weasley twins. One rare steak for Bill. That came with taters and carrots. I hope that'll be okay."

"Oh it's great Tom!" Bill smiled. The twins were already digging in.

"Here's the lamb and gillywater and garlic bread for Miss Lovegood. The lamb and garlic bread for Ron. The stews for Harry and Hermione. Harry's quiche. And finally the rolls with honey butter." He carefully placed the roll basket in the center of the table with a knife and the butter.

"Anything else?"

"That's all for now Tom."

I ate the meal like I hadn't eaten anything in months. I think that everyone else felt the same way.

"They have the best food here."

"That they do. I hate to say it, but I like their French Onion Soup even better than Mom's. George and I are addicted to it. We come here all the time since its so close to the shop and all."

"Yeah, we haven't figured out that whole cooking thing yet."

"Neither have Fleur and I to tell you the truth. She's been learning though. Mom's taught her a few things."

"So you're just at The Leaky Cauldron for the night then?"

"Yes."

"What about after that?"

"We've got to hit Florish and Blott's in the morning, but after that we'll be off. Oh, and Ron and I are going to hit up your shop again while Hermione and Luna are at the bookstore. We didn't get the chance to see much of anything today."

"That's our fault. We hid you away in the backroom."

"But, after that, we'll be off."

"To the many and varied places of the unknown."

"Exactly."

"You know that you could have members of the Order at your disposal if you wanted them."

"Sorry. Can't. It's too risky."

"So you'll recruit Luna rather than a qualified wizard who has spent years in training to combat the Dark Forces? No offense Luna."

"None taken."

Harry thought on that a moment, scratched his head, then said: "Yes. I suppose I will."

"Okay then. Just trying to help."

"I appreciate that. I do. But we don't need Aurors for this job. And I think they have better things to do anyway."

"They do and they don't. They've all been pretty frustrated lately. They don't feel like they're getting anywhere."

"darn, this is too good."

"We should get some ice cream too."

"And whipped cream."

"And cherries."

"We all done?" Tom started reaching for plates.

"Yes. But it looks like we need seven chocolate sundaes."





Our laughter rang through the whole place throughout the night. I woke with it in my ears the next morning in a bed of stiff sheets with unusual sounds circling me. I woke with a start, not realizing where I was for a few seconds. Then it all came back to me--one very very long day.

I got dressed silently, and crept downstairs for some early breakfast. I had no clue what time it was. I was never one to worry too much about the time. I just knew I was hungry and some eggs, coffee, and bacon sounded just heavenly.

To my delight, I did not have to feast alone. Harry was sitting at a table by himself hunched over his plate of steaming food. I pulled up the chair beside him and sat.

"Good Morning Harry."

"Morning." He chewed some eggs and smiled. "Some night last night. Wasn't it?"

"Really!"

"The last thing I remember was Fred and George conning us into a third firewhiskey. I have no clue even how I got upstairs."

"I don't remember too much myself. I know I had some great lamb and garlic bread. I never forget good food. So I know I ate at least."

"Would ya be wanting some breakfast Miss?" Tom smiled at me as he placed a mug of coffee and a carafe next to me.

"Yes. Scrambled eggs, bacon, rye toast, and a little fruit. Whatever you have will be fine. Oh yeah, I'll definitely take the coffee with some milk please."

"Be right back."

I poured a mug of coffee and smelled its lovely aroma. I placed my hand over the mug to keep it and myself warm. I just love the feel of steam.

"I think that was really good for Ron. He looked like he really needed that."

"I think it was good for us all." After all, Ron wasn't the only one who'd been down lately.

"There hasn't been time for any of that all summer since the wedding. Since then its been all business of sorts. And I guess that'll pick up again today." He chewed his toast and stared off into the distance.

"I've been wondering if maybe he'd rather just stay here with his family." Harry picked up his coffee, held it to his lips, but did not sip it.

"I don't think there is any place here for Ron. Sure he can visit his brothers, but what do you expect him to do, go back home?"

"I don't know."

"Here's your milk and your food'll be up in a min."

"Thanks Tom."

I carefully poured the milk and stirred with a spoon. That first taste was exactly what I needed.

"So when are you going to tell me? This plan you know?"

"Tonight. Once we're back."

I nodded and sipped my cup. Back where?

"Hey guys." It was Hermione. A little disheveled, but awake and wearing a crisp outfit of mine. She had my tan corduroy pants on and a blue, green, and pink striped turtleneck. It looked good on her. Her hair was wet and extra curly from the shower.

"Oh." She looked down and tugged the sweater. "I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all. You look nice."

She sat down beside me and beckoned Tom over with a wave.

"So, am I the only one who found last night a bit foggy?"

"No, you're not."

"My head isn't feeling too good. And it looks so bright outside."

"Coffee and food'll help."

"Where's Ron?"

"Still snoring probably."

"Coffee too Miss Granger?"

"Definitely. Could I get a spinach and tomato omelet with potatoes and wheat toast please?"

"It'll be right up with Miss Lovegood's." He handed her her own cup and carafe of coffee.

She quickly poured herself a steaming mug. She great-fully sipped it.

"That's better." She held the cup in her hands as if to claim it away from fierce-some beasts who dared to think of stealing it from her.

"What sort of books are we on the hunt for Hermione?"

"Hmmm? Sorry. Not totally awake yet." She gave an enormous exaggerated yawn. "Just some advanced defensive spell books. Oh, and more importantly some books on lifting powerful curses. I figure that one of the workers there would point us in the right direction."

"Sounds good."

"Then we'll come back here, grab your trunks and our stuff, and be on our way."

"Okay." I didn't look at either of them as I supped my coffee thoughtfully. I didn't want them to see my eyes.

"I almost forgot. I want to go to Eeylops for some owl nuts for Hedwig. Ron'll probably want to get some for Pig too."

"You two can take care of that on your way to Fred and George's. It's on the way anyway."

"Hey." Ron's hair was all over his face, especially since his head was pointed to the ground. He looked pale and slightly green.

"Hey Ron. How are you feeling?" Hermione gave him her kindest smile.

"I'm never drinking again." He pronounced just after sitting down next to Harry.

All three of us started sipping our coffee simultaneously and Ron looked at us as if we were mad.

"How can you drink coffee?! I need something fattening and greasy with lots of cheese in it."

"Oh, that sounds so much better than coffee." Hemione chided sarcastically.

Tom came over with out plates and their aromas danced whimsically into the air. "Anything for you ole boy?"

"Um. How about some cheesy scrambled eggs with lots of bacon and some white toast."

"Coffee too?"

"Eek, no. Just some water."

"Well, you got the cheesy-greasy-part right." I grinned at him.

"I'm still not sure that eggs are such a good idea. Your guys's stuff looks good though."

He turned to Harry. "Hey Harry. How did we get to bed?"

"No clue."

"We had to get there somehow. I just don't remember ever leaving the booth."

"Bill probably helped us."

"I sure hope so. I hope some stranger didn't take advantage or something."

"Come to think of it," Harry paused to swallow his eggs. "There was a girl with you last night for a little while."

"That was me you idiot!" Snapped Hermione. "I kept trying to stop you from falling on the floor and sleeping there, as you oh so clearly wanted to."

"Oh." He ran his hands through his hair, looking even more disheveled. "I just....I don't remember much."

"None of us do."

"Fred and George have really got the life here don't they?"

Harry shrugged. "I suppose."

Tom swept by with water for Ron. He drank half of the glass in one gulp.

"So, back to the old grind then?"

"Yep."

"At least it was fun while it lasted." Then Ron dramatically clutched his hand to his head as if spurred by a sudden electric shock. "Even if it really hurts now."

"I don't know how people can do that every night."

"They must be made of steel or something."

"Yeah, really."

"There's a potion out there that helps. You'd need a cauldron and the ingredients though." Hermione was clutching at her head too. But that didn't stop her from listing information.

"Fred and George should come up with something."

"They probably already have knowing them."

" 'The Weasley's Cure-All After-Party Formula' or something like that. 'Drink what you like when you like, and never suffer the consequences.' They're all about getting out of stuff, them two.

"They're probably going to be nastily chipper this morning." Ron continued. "I'm not sure I'm ready to face them just yet. They're going to rub our faces in this. You know they are."

"Yeah....well. Nothing to be done about that."

"You all done Luna?"

"Uh-uh." I wiped my mouth and nodded.

"Why don't we go to Florish & Blott's then."

"Okay." We both pushed our seats out and arose. Harry looked up at us. Ron looked like it would have been too painful to look up.

"Here Hermione, I almost forgot." He handed her a small bundle. It clinked as she put it in her pocket.

"Oh thanks. I'm glad that you remembered. I forgot that I was all out of wizard money."

"Okay." She looked at Harry like she was a little weary about him. "See you guys soon then. Let's go Luna."

"Coming."












"It's really bright out here."

"Yes."

We made it through the archway and down the street. Hermione was twirling her fingers like she was thinking really hard.

"Just let me do the talking in there, alright?"

"That's what I planned on doing anyway."

"It just." She curled her fingers into a point. "It's got to be worded just right."

"I know that."

She spun her hands into circles until she finally arrived at our destination. The store looked to be fairly empty. The balding man at the counter looked only too eager to help.

"Good morning Ladies. How may I assist you?"

Hermione was very abrupt. She spoke quickly taking little breath, making the words sound a little jumbled. "I want to see what you have on defensive spells. As advanced as you've got. Also, what you've got on curses, specifically how to lift them from objects."

"Cursed objects are a very nasty business indeed. Most curses are near impossible to lift. But I'll give you all I have on the subject. Come back here." We followed him behind the counter over to a shelf on the right labeled "Defensive Spells."

As he started lifting off possible book titles, I unconsciously drifted off on my own. I found myself standing in front of the magazine rack, where several copies of The Quibbler were stacked in the middle along with several copies of Witch Weekly to its right and The Quidditch International magazine to the left. I'd already read through this issue of course, but I opened it and scanned through it in an attempt to get to know it again. It didn't feel the same anymore. Nothing felt the same.

He should have his owl by now. He'll be shaking his head while he reads it. But then what? I shuddered to think of the dreadful reactions that he may or may not act upon.

"Luna! Luna! Where are you?"

I was knocked swiftly out of my stupor.

"What?" I put the magazine back neatly where I found it and turned to a bushy head rushing toward me.

"Good. I thought I lost you!" She was carrying three very large books, the top title reading The Fall of Grindlewald. I snatched it up without thinking.

She noticed my interest. "Yeah, I can't believe I found that. It just came out apparently. The historian who wrote it had been researching the book for years, and ended up being the last person who ever had a formal interview with Dumbledore. I think that they rushed the publication while his death was still fresh as a tribute to him. They're donating their proceeds to the Order. Dumbledore would have liked that." She smiled lightly, and then addressed the two other books.

"He had to go into the back to look for curse books. They don't have any on the shelves out here, and he's not sure if they carry them at all. But these defense books should be useful."

The two covers read How To Defend Yourself Against the Worst of Beasts and Wizards and The Strongest Spells.

"This first one is great because it includes ways of protecting yourself against vampires, werewolves, banshees, and what not, in addition to bad wizards. This second one basically has the strongest counter-spells out there that are still considered legal. I haven't heard of most of them so, there's bound to be something in here we can use."

I had begun skimming through the book in my hands moments before, and nearly screamed as I reached the forty-second chapter.

"Oh my God! There's a whole chapter in here about the Spear of Destiny!"

"I know! I know!"

"Miss?" It was our smiling sales clerk holding one book in his hand as he limped toward us. I wondered what was wrong with his leg. He walked as if one leg was shorter than the other.

"Yes."

"This is all I could find." He handed her a thin book entitled The Lifting of Curses. "It's about curses in general, mainly information for specialty healors, but in the back there was a small section on cursed objects."

"Ooooh. That's great! Thank you so much!"

"Sorry we don't have more. But honestly, there isn't much information available anywhere on that. Usually cursed objects are stuck cursed."

"Well thanks so much for all of your help."

"Will you be needing anything else?"

"No, this looks to be all." She handed him her stack, and I hastily closed and put The Fall of Grindlewaldon top.

"I'll ring you up then."












Ten minutes later we were back in our room at The Leaky Cauldron. Hermione was going through the curse book while I was trying to pack. I was amazed at how my things had managed to scatter so quickly over the course of one night.

"Some of these curses are just awful. Quite a few of them come from people coming into contact with cursed objects." She kept flipping until she let out: "Eyak! This poor guy's skin melted off of his body. All because he chose to wear the wrong kind of shoes."

A light knock drew her off her bed to the door.

"Oh good, you guys are back. Are you almost ready to go?"

"Nearly." I murmured as I started shoving things more quickly into my trunk.

"Oh Harry, look what I found." She walked back over to her bed. "This book on curses, these two defensive books. This Strongest Spellone I think'll be the most useful. It has a lot of counter-defense spells we haven't tried before because they are extremely advanced. But my best find was this." She held up the Grindlewald book, and Harry's eyes widened. He grabbed it and looked at it mesmerized.

"This is amazing!"

"I know! It's been extremely thoroughly researched, and--"

"It contains the last interview Dumbledore ever gave." Harry added, having flipped to the back cover.

"I'd always wished I'd asked him about that."

"Well now you won't have had to! All you need is right here!" Hermione was too giddy over her new book finds to hear what Harry was really saying.

"It's not the same though." He looked in the mirror a moment, and pulled back his bangs.

Then he turned back to them as if he hadn't done it and tried to back to matters at hand.

I was sitting on my trunk trying to force it to close. This was much more embarrassing when people were around you.

"Here Luna, I'll help you. Just stand up okay?"

I obediently stood up. I wasn't sure what he was going to do though.

He drew out his wand and commanded "Sealeo". Invisible hands stuffed the rest of my clothes that were left bulging into the trunk, and it closed and latched itself.

"Neat!" I exclaimed.

"I've had to do a lot of packing lately. So I finally broke down and looked up a charm for it. It saves your back anyway." He paused, looking around the room. "So, are we all ready then?"

Hermione stacked her books back up, and neatly placed them in the bag the man at the bookstore gave her. She stood up with the bag in her hand. "Yes."

"Yes, I'm ready too."

"Alright, c'mon then."

He knocked on the next door and Ron rushed out with a few bundles.

"You've got them all then?"

"Yes." He looked around the room one last time to check. "Yes, it looks like I do."

"C'mon then."

Ron stepped out of the room, carefully closed the door, and headed downstairs.

"Here Luna. I'll charm your trunk for you."

Before I could say thanks he was swinging his wand with Wingardium Leviosa, and the trunk headed downstairs in front of us. We followed it.

"You guys wait here while I take care of the bill."

Harry went over to Tom while the three of us looked at each other. I still couldn't ask what I wanted to.

Soon enough Harry was back, and we were making our way out of The Leaky Cauldron. Harry dragged my trunk for me.

"Here, Hermione, take her trunk. And you too apparate ahead." Hermione took the trunk.

The two took a quick look around to make sure no muggles were watching, and then they disappeared. I took a very deep breath.

"Take my arm again Luna."

"Okay."

When we were normal again, we were in the dark.









Ron and Hermione had already lit their wands. Harry let go of me and did the same. But it was still very dark. Someone was rummaging around in drawers. Finally, candles were lit and the room was brought to life.

It was a sitting room with a fireplace, two sunk-in faded pink love seats, and a heavily scratched coffee table. The white cat figurines on the mantle were caked with dust. Their black eyes looked webbed.

Harry lit the fire, and at the first flash of flame I saw the issues of The Daily Prophet scattered over the table.

Hermione had left my trunk at the slightly open doorway which we apparated near, and she sunk into one of the couches, bag still dangling on her arm. Ron sat beside her. I gave Harry a long look before taking my seat. He sat beside me at the first love seat.

"Where are we?"

Hermione was looking at the fire and Ron was fiddling with the packages on his lap. They were wrapped in brown paper and ties, so he wasn't about to open them. But he could twirl them around and snap the string against the paper.

They were waiting for Harry to speak. He was looking at his hands.

The door creaked open slightly and I heard soft paws entering the room. I felt its fur tickle my legs as it wound around the table and then jumped up on Hermione's lap and began purring. She started stroking it with her hands.

"Hey Crookshanks." Ron started smoothing the cat's fur with the palms of his hands.

"Do you three live here?" I wanted my first question answered certainly, but as they were taking their time of it, I figured I'd probe them.

Harry answered. "We don't live here really. We've been using this place as a base for our operations. Moody set it up for us. It's as safe as a place can be. It's totally underground, has more protections on it than I can list--only us three and Moody are allowed to apparate here. If you went with someone else, it wouldn't work. This place is completely unplottable, so you won't ever find it on a map. Wizards can't find it, Muggles can't find it, nor can any of Voldemort's dark creatures. We're totally safe here." He stood up and started walking.

"It was used during the first war. It's been vacant for years. We only come here for brief periods usually, and use it to store our things. It's the best place in the world to have a private conversation." He stopped walking and was resting his arms on the mantle, looking at the age-spotted mirror on the wall above it.

Hermione decided to fill the silence Harry left with his thoughts. "We cleaned the bedrooms up some. We don't use this room normally." She was apologizing for the room as if it was her fault it was in the state it was in. Such a woman thing to do.

Harry turned and looked at me. "So now, down to business." He sat back next to me. He looked at me straight in the eye.

"There was a prophecy delivered about me months before I was even born. It said that a wizard rises with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. That he had powers that the Dark Lord knows not. And that neither can live while the other survives.

"Voldemort's Death Eater, the man who overheard the Prophecy, only heard half of it. So Voldemort didn't hear all of it....He decided to kill me. My parents went into hiding at Godric's Hollow, and Voldemort met his downfall there on All Hallow's Eve." Harry paused and took a deep breath. It was important to let him keep going.

"The reason that Voldemort didn't die is because he's made horcruxes and had hidden them all around the world. Horcruxes are--"

"I know what horcruxes are."

"What?!"

"How could you?"

I gave a half-shrug and stared off into the distance. "That's how my mother died. She was trying to remove a horcrux spell from an object that turned out to have a horrible curse on it. My dad told me this years later, but forbade me from revealing the information to anyone else." I continued staring off in the distance. I couldn't look at them just now.

Harry brought me back with his hands on my shoulders. I turned to him and he was very steady.

"Whose horcrux was it?"

I turned my head back away from him. "Don't know."

"What sort of object was it?" Hermione was perched on the edge of her seat.

"Don't know."

"Does your Dad know?"

"Possibly."

"Could you ask him?"

I looked back at him in an attempt to explain how difficult that would be. Still, I squeaked out "I'll try."

"See Luna, Voldemort didn't just make one horcrux. He made seven. So far, I've taken care of one, Dumbledore took care of another, and Sirius's brother took care of a third. With one of the seven left in Voldemort's body, that leaves three. We believe one to be Voldemort's snake Nagini, one to be the Hufflepuff Cup, and one to be a relic of Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. I'm inclined to think that it would be Ravenclaw, because Dumbledore said that the only relics of Gryffindor were his sword and the Sorting Hat, and he never got to those. With three left however, we're still not entirely sure about those either, you see what an enormous task this is? So any clues your Dad may have may prove to be just what we need. We've been stuck for a while, which is why we came back to Hogwarts."

We all sat very still while Crookshanks lept down from Hermione's lap, walked over to me, and looked at me with his big sweet squashed face. He seemed to decide that I was okay, because then he jump on on my lap, got comfortable, and started purring. I smiled and scratched his head.

Hermione watched us. "He likes you."

"Yeah, apparently."

"He doesn't do that for everyone you know."

"Cats have always been drawn to me for some reason. They follow me home when I go for walks."

My face darkened again and I asked "So, why am I here?"

Harry looked to be choosing his words carefully. "For one, I can trust you. That's a lot more than you know these days. Secondly, that information that you gave me on the Spear of Destiny made for the only useful lead we had for weeks."

"You think it's a horcrux then?"

Hermione answered. "I doubt that Voldemort would have ever used its power--he would have been too afraid of dying. But, its history would have definitely appealed to him. We know that he was already well on his way in making horcruxes when Grindlewald fell. But, if Dumbledore captured the Spear of Destiny to destroy him, how could Voldemort get to it? Unless he managed to perform the spell without keeping it. He still would have had to find it and keep it for some time without prying eyes around."

She took a deep breath before plunging on. "I'm not sure if any of that works. But that's why this book is so important." She lifted up The Fall of Grindlewald from her sack.

"It's still the best lead we've got right now for the Ravenclaw horcrux, other than your father."

There was more to my being there, but Harry wasn't saying. Everyone else seemed to be equally reluctant. But I suppose that it was only Harry who knew the real reason.

"Why are you three doing this? Why isn't the Order taking care of it?"

Hermione and Ron both looked elsewhere. Harry concentrated on his feet.

"This was the task that Dumbledore left to me. Also, we can't let it get out that we know about His horcruxes. There's always been leaks in the Order, and we couldn't risk it. That's why we've been so cautious. And--"

He looked up and I saw that abyss again. " 'Neither can live while the other survives.' It's up to me to finish him."

A light bulb flickered on in my head. I looked up at Hermione and saw that she'd experienced the same thing. She took my little cue.

"Harry, um, Luna and I figured out something yesterday that we wanted to share with you."

"What was that?"

"Well--Luna, why don't you tell him?"

"Alright." I looked nervously around the room. "Hermione and I were talking about Dumbledore and....well." This was going to be harder than I thought. "See I can, well I can't read minds, but I can read people. I can sense things about them. I've been doing this since I was a kid.

"Weeks before his death, I gathered from him that he knew that his time was running out. This saddened him, but he also seemed to have made peace with it. That was because he was dying so that someone else could live. Someone who he loved like a son.

"An unbreakable vow was made about Dumbledore. It was only agreed to because this someone was working under Dumbledore's orders. He'd known this person for years, and trusted him implicitly. He ultimately felt that his life was worth more than his own. He figured it to be a noble cause to die for."

"You don't mean--"

"Snape Harry." Hermione explained. "Snape was innocent. He was working under Dumbledore's orders the whole time."

"It can't be." Harry forcibly shook his head.

"You guys are off your rockers!" Ron finally spoke after many minutes of quiet.

"Don't you get it Harry?" She stood up and started pacing the room, animatedly throwing her hands about. "It's a brilliant plan. The likes of which only Dumbledore could have come up with. All the while that Snape was a Death Eater, people were questioning his loyalty, even in the Order. But who would question his loyalty now? What Death Eater would dare to suggest that Snape is still faithful to the man he killed? And, more importantly, which Death Eater would be revered most in the eyes of Lord Voldemort? Why Snape of course! He'll be his new golden boy. The man who finally brought down His only threat, other than you of course." She nodded to Harry. "And that means that Snape has a perfect set-up. Dumbledore would have told him, I imagine, that He can't be killed like an ordinary human being. So he'll be waiting for a signal of sorts. He'll be waiting for you to finish off the horcruxes so that he can help you in bringing Him down Harry!" She sat down and looked cautiously at Harry.

"I can't believe that. I saw him kill Dumbledore. I saw it right in front of my face! Dumbledore even pleaded with him, but he was so full of rage that he didn't care." He started rubbing his jeans agitatedly. He was trying his hardest to not snap.

"No offense Harry, but Dumbledore would never have pleaded with anyone for his life. And I think that the reason why Snape was so angry was because he loathed what he had to do. He never wanted that, I think that was the last thing he wanted. But he was under orders, and he couldn't question them.

"Besides Harry, I think if anyone other than Snape or Draco would have killed Dumbledore, Snape would have died, per the terms of the unbreakable vow. Another Death Eater could have very easily stepped in and done the job, so Dumbledore was dead anyway. This way his death had some purpose to it."

"Why would Dumbledore die to save that scumbag?"

"Dumbledore was all about the greater good. And he wasn't a young man either. I think you forget that. I also wonder if that potion he took would have finished him off anyway."

I snapped out of my dreary daze and asked "What potion?"

"Oh, we haven't told you. The night that Dumbledore died, he went on a mission with Harry to find one of the remaining horcruxes. The horcrux was at the bottom of a stone basin full of green liquid that couldn't be parted, siphoned off, dissolved, or what have you. It could only be drunk. It made Dumbledore very ill. He was still ill when he and Harry reached the castle."

"Oh." That made the whole scene much worse.

Hermione stood up. "Luna, why don't I show you to your room. We can let Ron bring up your bag."

I stood up as well after carefully removing Crookshanks from my lap to the space between me and Harry. Regardless of how carefully I moved him, he still didn't seem too happy about it. He stood up, stretched, and followed us. Harry and Ron didn't bother to move nor look up. A fog of tension had descended upon the room and Hermione was right to suggest that they leave it.

What Luna Sees by Nikcole Frame [copyright]/ July 27, 2007

~@~




I have to mention that Ron's line "I'm never going to drink again." Was taken from one of my favorite movies of all-time "Eurotrip." Scottie says it every time he wakes up with a hangover.

I also want to add that most every food I list in this fic I know how to make. I usually use stuff I'm familiar with anyway. So, if any of you want any recipes, feel free to ask. Gee, a fanfic with recipes. Who'da thunk?

[*Liliana*]

I want to know how to make garlic bread

Great chapter. The first scene at the pub was hilarious. I really liked the interactions between everyone. Luna seems to fit right in. And I'm glad that Harry asked her to help them...I know Luna will do a good job.

I especially liked this bit:

"No offense Harry, but Dumbledore would never have pleaded with anyone for his life. And I think that the reason why Snape was so angry was because he loathed what he had to do. He never wanted that, I think that was the last thing he wanted. But he was under orders, and he couldn't question them.

"Besides Harry, I think if anyone other than Snape or Draco would have killed Dumbledore, Snape would have died, per the terms of the unbreakable vow. Another Death Eater could have very easily stepped in and done the job, so Dumbledore was dead anyway. This way his death had some purpose to it."

Exactly! I see the similarities now, and I admire your foresight!

[LaLaLuna]

I've been following your fic, but I really enjoyed the last chapter. Something makes me believe that secrets were told in the pub that night, lol. Fred and George were more than liberal with the Firewhiskey and everyone seems in need of filled-in blanks!

ppms

Hanna

[Niena]

This is a very interesting piece of fiction. I like the idea of Luna helping the trio and I can't help but wonder if there's something going on between her and Harry. He seems to have gotten over Ginny and whenever they share a look or a smile I ponder whether they're getting romantically involved. The Spear of Destiny is very intriguing as is your portrayal of Luna. I enjoyed the insights into her thoughts and feelings that you gave us because it made me relate to her. It seemed slightly unrealistic though that Harry would go shopping in Diagon Alley and take a room in The Leaky Couldron with Death Eaters running around. Also strange was the fact that nobody really noticed that Harry had briefly returned to Hogwarts. No whispering, no turning of heads, no pointing. Surely someone should have noticed?
But your story flows well and you're great at writing dialogues. This is a very enjoyable version of DH.

Update soon.

[nikcolarius]

Liliana--I'll have to message you the recipe for garlic bread as my mom has it and she's out of town right now. I have two versions...one very garlicky and one very oniony. Thanks much for the continued support! That bit about Snape is one of my favorites.

LaLaLuna--You're right in thinking that the group revealed more than they intended that night with the oodles of Firewhiskey. But at least it was a supportive crowd, or one that they know won't spill anything to the Death Eaters. I had a lot of fun writing those scenes. I tried to make it like it is when people get totally trashed.

Niena--Thanks much for the comment! I do agree that there are problems in the group going to Diagon Alley and Hogwarts like that. However, they were able to get away with it because the Death Eaters at the moment are occupied with other matters. You'll learn more about that later. The reason why Harry consented to going to Diagon Alley, as it was against his better judgement, was honestly mainly because of Ron's pouting, as they had literally been "on the run" all summer. He also really needed to see his brothers. I wrote all of this before DH came out so I saw things happening a lot different than how J.K. pictured it. It is what it is I guess.

And now onto my latest Chapter. Whoo hoo!



~@~

Chapter 5

We turned a dark corner and headed up a dark dusty staircase with Hermione's wand lighting the way.

"You have to let things sink in with Harry sometimes."

"Yeah."

"Regardless though, I think I'm going to tell Moody and ask what would be the best way to get ahold of Snape. It's not like we can send him a regular owl you know." After one flight of stairs, we turned left down a long corridor. I expected to see a window at its end, but there was only a wall.

Hermione opened the third door on the right and I followed. She set down her wand and lit candles around the room. The first thing that I noticed was the faded yellow wallpaper that was starting to curl in places. The bears held balloons and played drums. This must have once been a children's room.

There were only two beds, a long mahogany dresser, and one nightstand. The beds were draped in several thin sheets, the top most being a cream knotted blanket. The pillows were hidden underneath much like I could see a grandmother doing. There were a few wilting violets in a vase, and books stacked on the nightstand. I suppose Hermione's room would need some books somewhere.

The room was very dreary and a little sad. I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the children who had once lived here. But the floors and the furniture were all freshly polished, the sheets had the clean smell of detergent, and there were even violet curtains to cover the window that wasn't there. I walked over and checked and was only slightly disappointed.

"It's not great, but at least it's clean and quiet. I put Ron and Harry down at the room at the other end of the hall. So at least we won't be bothered by Ron's snoring."

"Good thinking." I plopped down on the nearest bed. "Who lived here before?"

"Well, as Harry said, this place was used as a Safe House for witches and wizards who were on the run from Death Eaters. I don't think anyone ever lived here very long. It would have been wise to keep them on the move."

"It's horrible that children were stuck here too."

"Well, they would have had to stick with their families."

I ran my hand back and forth along the top blanket. It was very soft with lovely indents to poke my nails in.

Crookshanks came to join us. He walked over to the far bed and jumped on it and sat down at its end and looked up at Hermione expectedly as if to say "What's up?"

"There's a washroom next door." She tried to smile but couldn't. Instead she walked over to the far bed and laid down on it, forceably slamming her head against the pillow. She was careful to keep her feet tucked in so as to not disturb Crookshanks.

"Ugh." She heaved an aggravated sigh.

"I know exactly what you mean." I laid my head against my pillow too so were almost like two people laying outside on the grass gazing up at the stars. The ceiling definitely wasn't much to look at however.

"So all of this started because of a prophecy huh?"

"Yeah, well. Dumbledore was interviewing Trelawney for her teaching post when it happened. Snape happened to be listening at the door."

"No wonder Harry doesn't like Snape."

"Oh, it's much more than that. Snape always singled Harry out in class. He seemed to get pleasure in baiting him."

"That's probably why he thought that the Death Eaters got to Trelawney."

"It makes sense. Voldemort went through a lot of trouble to try to get his hands on that prophecy. He's not one to give up easily."

"You know, a lot of students tend to not take her seriously. And I do see their point, as a lot of her stuff is just there for show. But I think that she actually she knows more than he even she knows." I contorted my face a bit. "It's weird. She studies and teaches the craft, but doesn't quite know how to operate it herself. She seems to be very overwhelmed by it. Like she hates what she sees."

Hermione didn't respond. She kept staring up at the ceiling.

"I don't know. You have to sort through the b.s. with her."

"I always thought that she was an old fraud." Hermione admitted. "But I do see what you're saying."

"I just hope she's alright. She may be nuts but she doesn't deserve....you know."

"No she doesn't. No one deserves that."

Knock Knock.

"Come in." Our door was still ajar, so the knock came from the frame. It was Ron again with my bad.

"What're you two up to?" He looked at us curiously.

"Just talking."

"Oh." He entered the room and sank into the end of my bed. I could feel his weight lowering the mattress. I sat up and hugged my knees. Hermione did the same.

"So how's Harry?"

"Well he hasn't broken anything or yelled. He's just been kinda sitting there with his head in his hands."

"He needs time to digest."

"I don't know. I worry about him sometimes. It's like he's cracking up."

"Harry's sane enough. He's just got a lot to deal with right now."

"That's why I had to come. I've never seen him like that."

"He's been pretty unhinged since Dumbledore's passing."

I shook my head. "It's more than that. It's like he's expecting his life to end at any moment. He feels that this quest can only end in his death. I mean....think about it. Harry's facing the Darkest wizard of all time. How can he possibly imagine himself triumphing over someone like that?"

Both Ron and Hermione looked wearily at each other. I knew I'd done it--I'd said the one thing that was strictly forbidden as part of their unspoken agreement. After all, how could they face all of this knowing that they may not make it?

"We have to believe that Harry has some chance." Hermione put very simply.

"Oh, I know that. Absolutely. I'm just talking about what Harry is feeling, not what I'm feeling. He just looks very lost right now."

"That's why we've got to keep him focused on the task at hand. From one horcrux to the other."

"Exactly." Ron added.

"So, what's next then?"

"Well first I've got a lot of reading to do. You and Ron can help me. Oh, and we've got to figure out a way for you to get a hold of your Dad. A regular owl won't work--too risky these days. We may just have to visit him unless we can come up with something else."

"Okay."

"Oh, and Ron, you've got to send owls to your mom and your sister. Remember that you promised Bill that you would, and we may not get the opportunity later."

"Okay." He didn't sound at all enthused about the task.

"What can I do?" It was Harry at the doorway. His hair looked a little ruffled and he was slightly pale, but otherwise he looked just fine.

"I have a bunch of notes on the Spear of Destiny that I took at the library that I want you to look through. I got some on the Hufflepuff Cup as well."

"And what am I looking for?"

"Just some ideas. I'm thinking that the objects themselves might be useful to us somehow after their horcrux is broken."

"Now there's a thought. But there's something I want to do first."

"What's that?"

"Ask Moody about Snape. If all of this is true and we can get ahold of him, not saying that it is true, but if it is, he may be the only person in the world who could help us find the locations of the final horcruxes."

"Great."

"Not saying I believe you but, it may be worth a shot. I'm sick of looking in dead ends."

"Okay Harry. No problem."

"I guess after what happened with the Dursleys, I'm willing to believe most anything these days." His lips curled a little.

"Yes Harry, remember that people can surprise you."







We apparated to an Italian cafe for an early dinner several hours later. All of our research and talk had made us famished.

"These rolls are great!" Ron sputtered out between mouthfuls.

"I told you. This place is wonderful. Even if its muggle-run Ron. Muggles know a few things about cooking you know." Hermione continued eating her crunchy salad.

"Dad and I used to go to muggle restaurants all of the time." I added.

"Really?"

"Yeah. We love trying different kinds of cooking. Wizard fare gets a little old after a while. And there really aren't that many wizarding restaurants around England when you think about it."

Ron shrugged. "We usually just eat at home. There are too many of us to go out to eat all of the time."

"Well, your mother is an excellent cook." Harry smiled.

"I know." He twirled his clean fork thoughtfully.

We were quiet and we listened to the bustlings of the restaurant. Someone in the back had broken a dish and the manager was yelling at them in fast very loud Italian. The couple next to us were in rapt conversation about their kids. I caught bits of their conversation.

"I really don't think it's worth it sending our boy to one of those snooty prep schools. I mean, do we really want him to become some snobby-prat with his nose in the air thinking he's better than everyone else? I just went through the ole public system myself, and I turned out just fine."

"Howard, you really don't know what you're talking about. If you'd seen what these public schools are like these days with their gangs and drugs, you wouldn't think twice about--"

"More wine Ma'am." The waiter asked with the bottle in his hands.

"Yes. Thank you."

"Muggles are so weird." Ron exclaimed, shaking his head.

"You're weird." Hermione countered.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"Muggles just worry about the dumbest things."

"And wizards never do?"

"No. We don't."

"Oh okay. I'll keep that in mind the next time I see you curling your hair with your wand."

"I did that one time!"

"Who had the cheese raviolis?" Our waiter inquired very politely holding up a steaming plate that smelled delicious.

Harry raised his finger. The waiter obeyed and placed the plate carefully in front of him. He did the same for everybody around the table. Hermione ordered chicken parmesan. I ordered lasagna. And Ron ordered a Veal Scaloppini dish. It was the only thing on the menu that he sort of recognized.

"Any cheese?"

"What?!" Ron asked, perplexed.

"Cheese Ron. For the top of your dish." She turned back to the waiter. "I'll have cheese."

"Me too."

"Me three."

"I guess I'll have some too," Ron grumbled.

After all of the cheese had been shredded and divided, the waiter asked "Anything else?"

Hermione took a huge swallow before saying. "No thanks. This looks great!"

"This does look good."

"The last time I was at an Italian restaurant, the Dursleys made me order a salad."

"You're kidding."

"No. But I levitated a roll directly into Dudley's mouth, accidentally of course because I didn't know I was a wizard then, and that shut him up right quick. We would have probably left the restaurant right there if Dudley hadn't had a tantrum about being half-starved to death."

"That boy was anything but starved to death."

"What a pleasant family!"

Harry swallowed then drank some water. "Well, I won't have to see any of them ever again, so...." He let his voice trail off as he took another stab at his ravioli. He chewed mechanically.

"They can continue on with their miserable wizard-free lives."

"Yeah." Harry shrugged. He didn't want to say anymore than he had to.

Hermione looked like she knew what he was thinking. "Your aunt did care though."

"Funny how she couldn't tell me until just before I was about to leave."

"I can't believe your mother though. What did she see in that slimy creep?" Ron seemed to be enjoying his meal--his plate was already almost clean.

"Wait, who are we talking about?" I was out of the loop as usual.

"Snape and Lily, Harry's mom, dated briefly during their first years at Hogwarts."

"Oh."

"It does explain why Snape resented you so much. You were a constant reminder of the relationship that tore Snape and Lily apart irrevocably."

"Wait, what?"

"James didn't start dating Lily until their last year at Hogwarts. Snape and Lily had been broken up for some time by then, but Snape never stopped loving Lily and always harbored the hope that they might get back together. But then Lily started dating James, Snape's arch-nemesis, and all of those dreams were cast aside. Snape never did get over Lily though. He even begged Voldemort to not kill her. It was the whole fiasco with the Prophecy that convinced him that he needed to switch sides and work for the Order. But being a spy was the only option he had. You can't just quit being a Death Eater. But how Voldemort had become obsessed with finding a baby boy who was mentioned in a silly prophecy convinced him that his Lord and master was a little too unhinged."

"You Know Who is quite superstitious isn't he?"

"Oh yeah."

"It's a little funny when you think about it. I wonder if he carries a rabbit foot with him?"

"Ha ha. Even better--I wonder if he thinks it's okay to do his dark wizard deeds on Friday the 13th, or if he just stays under the covers."

"Oh my God!" We all started cracking up at that one.

Ron took his wand out and made a very serious face. "I am Lord Voldey. I am the darkest and the greatest wizard of the age. I am going to destroy you! Wait, is that a black cat over there? Eeek! I guess I'm going to have to destroy you later!"

"Yeah Harry, maybe you should have been facing him on heavily cracked pavement or something."

"Or made sure that his shoelaces broke on the morning before your epic battle so that he'd just want to stay home."

"Yeah well, he's always been a tad nutty."

"That's the understatement of the year. I mean, he doesn't even really have a real nose left."

"Yeah, and his wardrobe has gone all to he.ll."

"He used to be such a handsome sensitive boy."

"Oh Voldey's about as sensitive as a rock."

"Well he is though when you think about it. He gets all defensive when you talk about his dad."

"He definitely has major father and son issues. He needed a nice long boating excursion with dear ole dad. Then he wouldn't be such a freak."

"Yes, that would have been better than killing him."

"Wait wait guys. He killed his father?"

"Yep."

"He finished off his grandparents too."

"I don't think that they had much of an opportunity for family bonding time."

"It happened pretty quick."

"That's awful!" I didn't mean to put us on a down note. But I couldn't help it.

"Yeah, well."

"Should I clear the plates?"

"Oh yes."

"Would any of you be wanting any dessert?"

"Ooooh, bring us some of your tiramisu. You guys'll love that."

"Tiramisu for four then?"

"Yes. Yes."

"Be right up."

"What's teara....ma....what?"

"It's ladyfingers with cream and liquer and..."

"Lady fingers?! I'm not eating any lady's fingers! I don't care how good they are!"

"Oh Ron, you really need to get out more. Ladyfingers are a kind of cookie. Okay?"

"Alright," he grumbled, and sunk lower in his chair.

"So. What's next on our agenda?"

"Well. We need to hear back from Moody about Snape before we can go any further there. I want us to practice some of those spells we looked up today. And we need to find some way of contacting your Dad. I still think we're going to just end up having to visit him. I don't see another way."

"Do you guys have any thoughts on where those two horcruxes might be hidden?"

"No."

"Knowing what they are unfortunately will have no impact on where Voldemort hid them. I just know that it will be a place very hard to find with all sorts of protections around it to confuse us."

"Oh joy!"

"I still think that it'll be some place that he at at one point in his life. We just know so little about him still. He disappeared out of society for decades literally. There's no telling where he may have gone."

"So stuck again then huh?"

"Maybe. But if Snape or your father pulls through for us. Well at least that's two possibilities that we didn't have before."

Our waiter sauntered in with our small bowls of cream dotted with cinnamon. Ron took a scoop and looked at the white stuff nervously. He even prodded it with his finger.

"Ron. It's fine! Just try it!"

He finally at his spoonful, and we all followed suite. It was absolutely marvelous.

"Oooh, that is good."

"Told yeah."

"I've had this before, but it's been a long time." I admitted.

"Thanks for the tip Hermione. This is fantastic!"











The next few days were fairly uneventful. Ron received letters back from his mother and Ginny. His mother was furious with him, but she was sensible enough to not send a howler as they attract so much attention. She just wrote pages and pages of increasingly difficult to read scribble explaining how worried she was, how this was too much on top of everything else, and on and on. Ginny's letter was much more subdued. She understood that her brother had his reasons for not contacting her. She complained about her mother drawing her Iron Curtain over the house, refusing to let her return to Hogwarts, barring Fred and George from the Order, and stifling all laughter and fun with worried snappish looks. There was alas nothing new nor good to report in the House of Weasley.

I had heard nothing from my Dad, which I thought was a little ominous. We hadn't heard anything from Moody yet. Apparently, the Order had their own special way of contacting Snape, and he wasn't sure if that line of communication was still open. As it was, Moody was totally convinced of Snape's guilt himself, but agreed to check because Harry asked him to. Hermione said that Moody was a little strange, but could be trusted to keep their secret has he never revealed too much to anyone anyway. He wasn't one to keep friendly with anyone. And he also knew more about the Death Eaters than most.

We tested different defensive spells daily. We cleared a parlor and lined the walls with pillows so that we'd have something to fall into. We still managed to sustain a fair amount of cuts and bruises though. But we seemed to be making progress.

Hermione spent every evening pouring over that enormous Grindlewald book, trying to find something that would help us. She found that book of curses to be totally useless. Its section on cursed objects only listed a history and a list of them, nothing on how to destroy them. The only point it did make was that it was a good idea to avoid them at all costs.

We apparated to different places everyday for our meals. They were usually muggle establishments, which Hermione deduced would be safer. I asked her why we didn't cook instead, but she replied that the kitchen was deplorable, and they didn't plan on staying long anyway. Besides, I think that she enjoyed teasing Ron with the muggles.

We all were on edge waiting for something. I still wasn't sure what. I didn't feel comfortable unpacking. I wanted to know more about our situation first.

It was very odd living in a place with no sky and no natural light. There weren't any doors in or out either. No sounds from the outside. It was like living in a crypt of sorts.

That's probably why it felt so good to get out, even if it was just to a restaurant. At least then they could see the sky and hear other people about.

Knock knock.

"Come in."

Harry creaked open the door. It was strange to see him in the morning like this under candlelight. Hermione was off in the shower, so we were totally alone.

I put down my journal and turned to him. He looked clean and fresh, but troubled. He was always troubled these days.

"I'm going to apparate us to see your father today."

"Alright."

"What's his schedule like? I'd like to try and get him on his own."

"Um, he comes into work around eight, unless he's been sleeping there, which is very likely. The office is usually bustling with people until about six o'clock, when most of them go home. That is, unless there's a big deadline coming up, but that's usually for the end of the month when they're preparing to publish their new issue. So anytime after six should be fine."

"He usually stays there after hours?"

"These days, yes."

"Okay. I just want you and I to go. I don't want to complicate this anymore than it needs to be."

I nodded.

"What did your mother do for a living?"

"She worked in the Department of Mysteries. She did mainly research in the Death Chamber and some other things that she couldn't talk about."

"She must have been a very great lady."

"Yes yes, she was."

"Did she tell you about the Veil?"

"No, she never got that specific in her work. It was always all very hush hush."

"I just dream about it sometimes."

"About Sirius too huh?"

Harry nodded.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Hermione had arrived with damp curly hair and a puzzled expression on her face.

"I'm just making arrangements to take Luna here to go see her father this evening."

"Ah. Okay." She walked around us and dropped her brush into one of the drawers. "When will that be?"

"Let's say about 6:30. But you and Ron will be staying here. I thought it would be better if just Luna and I approached him."

"Alright." She looked very taken aback. "Whatever you want to do."









Dad was hunched over his desk scattering papers left and right like he was frantically digging through them. His hair was disheveled, clothes were wrinkled, and eyes red and bloodshot as if he hadn't slept nor bathed in days. His quick movements ended up causing a large pile of papers to crash to the floor and he swore loudly. I felt guilty. This state he was in had nothing to do with work at all. It was all my fault.

"Dad?" I asked timidly in my best innocent daughter voice. He looked up into the dark scanning the empty desk as if he'd heard a ghost. He shook his head and bent over to pick up his papers.

I came closer. "Daddy. It's me."

He stood up with a jolt and did a full-turn before throwing his papers to the floor and exclaiming "Luna, my dear!" He ran to me and hugged and rocked and hugged.

"You have no idea....what I....oh, I'm so glad you're back!" I pushed him away slightly, and he looked down at me to survey me.

"Well you look like you're doing just fine. And....and....my word. Harry Potter!"

Harry came out of the shadows and extended his hand. As they shook, Harry said "It's an honor to finally meet you sir. Luna has told me so much about you."

"Yes yes. Well of course everyone knows who you are. But I haven't had, let's say, the warmest of thoughts about you lately. What with you dragging my daughter out of school and all that. But--"

"I understand that sir, but if you knew--"

"Dad. Dad." I turned him to look at me. "Look, we don't have very much time. Harry has some specific and very important questions for you. And you know very well that we can't tell you where we've been and what we've been up to."

My father turned away from me and back to Harry. "Harry, I think that you'll agree that this whole matter has gotten totally out of hand. I know that my daughter has fancied you for quite some time now. I know that she'll do anything that you ask of her. But really, why would you need an underage witch to help you when you have the whole Order of the Phoenix at your beck and call? It's pretty clear what's going on here. You're--"

"Daddy that's enough!" I couldn't remember the last time that I'd been so angry. I could feel my face redding, but I didn't care. "For the absolute umpteenth time, I don't fancy Harry! We're friends. And you know what the he.ll he's been facing. You know what he's trying to do. So what if he asked me instead of some member of the Order. It's up to him, not you! And I'm old enough to make my own decisions Dad. Have been for a very long time. I'm not a five year old anymore. How would you feel if you knew you could make a difference in this war and you turned it down. I can't just sit on the sidelines anymore while all of this sh.it is happening! I won't do it! Mom wouldn't have stood for it, and I won't either! Why can't you see that?!" I was breathing hard and tears started trickle down my face. I hate it when I cry. I really hate it.

Harry came over and rubbed my back a bit. It felt nice.

My dad had rapidly gotten his puppy-dog face back. He hated to see me cry.

"Luna, I--" He started to say, but the words got stuck in his throat.

"Luna has just been helping me with our mission. There's nothing more to it than that, I assure you."

"Yes yes Harry. I believe you." He walked over and embraced his daughter. "It's good to see you again Luna. I'm glad that you came."

Between sniffs I told him "Yes Daddy."

He backed off, rubbed my cheek tenderly, then turned to Harry and asked "What do you two need to know?"

"We were wondering about your late wife's work, particularly the horcrux that she was working on before she died."

A shadow fell over my father's face. He tried to laugh it off though. "I suppose you couldn't ask anything simple. That would be too easy. Well--" He looked from Harry to me then back. "You know of course to keep this strictly amongst yourself right?"

"Yes. Absolutely."

" 'Cause this has to do with her work at the Ministry of Magic. She wasn't even supposed to tell me about it. They have very strict secrecy guidelines at the Department of Mysteries."

"I understand."

He walked over to his desk and sank down into his big leather chair. "Oh. Where are my manners." He waved his wand and two soft red velvet chairs appeared. "You might as well be comfortable."

"Thanks." We settled into them and waited. His desk lamp marked the only light in the office. All the curtains had been drawn, and the rest of the place was in total darkness. It was quite a large room but we couldn't see much of it.

"See, your mother normally had nothing to do with dark objects. An Auror friend brought an object to her attention, and she thought she could try some experiments on it. She knew it had a very powerful curse on it, but she'd managed to lifted curses from objects before, so she wasn't too worried. She didn't realize that this object was more powerful than even she could imagine."

"What was it?"

"A talisman. That's what she called it anyway. I only saw it briefly after she....after she'd passed. It hung on a long silver chain and had a--"

"Snake?" Harry was sitting raptly on the edge of his seat.

Dad shook his head. "No. It had a large lionhead on its face."

"A lion's head?"

"Yes. A large fierce one with its mouth open and its teeth barred. It had rubies for eyes."

"Strange."

"Anyway, she spent weeks and weeks in her potions lab in the basement experimenting on it. She told me that it wasn't just cursed--that there was something else horrible about it that she was trying to figure out. I tried to discourage her, but if you knew Emily you'd know that she wasn't easily discourage. She was always apt to solve a mystery. She kept getting more and more excited about it each day, as if she was getting closer to the truth. He shook his head and ran his hands down his face as those memories flooded him. We hadn't gone back (i)there for so many years.

"After it happened, I called her colleagues at the Ministry of Magic, and they swept in and took with them all of her work. I asked them in my anger what that wretched thing was that cost my beloved wife her life. They said they didn't know.

"At the funeral, Emily's Auror friend Beth came to me and offered her sincerest sympathies. She admitted that she should have learned more about the object first before handing it to Emily.

"I asked her if she'd made any headway into figuring out what it was. She told me it was a horcrux, and explained horcruxes to me, but then she shook her head. She said 'But I don't understand, he's supposed to be dead.' I asked her who was supposed to be dead. 'The Dark Lord, You Know Who.' was her answer. She did say that they'd managed to remove the horcrux and the curses, so now it was just a locket, but--from then on I knew he'd be back, and he'd be ne'r impossible to kill."

Harry looked absolutely bewildered. He sprung up from his seat and asked "Do you know if the locked opened?"

"No. I never tried."

"Because I have another locket of Voldemort's that opens to reveal thousands of small metallic square pieces, that look like they're supposed to make something but it won't work. I wonder if that locket has pieces in it too. Perhaps it might had the missing pieces that'll allow it to work."

"I don't know where it would be now. It's been over seven years since then."

"Would Beth know?"

"She may. I haven't seen her since then. But I imagine she'd still be at the Auror Headquarters unless something happened to her."

"Seven!"

"What Luna?"

"Oh nothing. Just something about sevens lately."

"My sharp girl." My father smiled. "She picks up everything you know."

"Yeah, I know." Harry gave me a very cute boyish grin.

"So." My father started rubbing his hands together. "Anything else?"

"Now that you ask." Harry gave me a small side-glance. "Do you know much about the Veil at the Death chamber in the Department of Mysteries?"

My Dad started fiddling with his chair, making the wheels squeak. He dug his finger into the cracking wooden arms trying to peel them apart.

"I was just trying to figure out how you would know about the Veil, but then I remembered that you've been there before, so of course you would have seen it."

"It's just, Luna and I and a few of the others heard voices from behind it or through it I guess since there isn't really a behind to it. My Godfather fell through it amid battle, and they said that he was gone for good."

My father nodded his head sympathetically. "I heard of that unfortunate incident with Sirius Black. I always knew that he was innocent. But we can never just publish our opinions like that. That's why I had that carefully constructed facade of Stubby Boardman put out there.

"But anyway. The Veil then--it is a portal for the Underworld, as you may have guessed. It is used very cautiously for research in the Department of Mysteries. See, dramatic shifts in our world can often be viewed first down there. They just have to interpret the voices the hear. But, the majority of the research conducted there is conducted on All Hallow's Eve. That is the one night a year that the Veil can be breeched by both the living and the dead, without either suffering dire consequences."

"So....do people go through it?"

"Not normally. It's still extremely dangerous. You can go through certainly safely enough. But the dead are reluctant to let you come back. Many haven't made it back, which is why the Department of Mysteries stopped their regular explorations of the area Beyond. Nowadays they usually just speak with the dead who come through the Veil. They usually have a lot of important things to discuss."

"Did Mom go through it?"

"No. No witch nor wizard has traversed the Veil in over a hundred years."

"There are many legends and stories associated with it. I can tell you them later. Though, I'm not sure how useful that'll be."

"Legends can be more useful than you can know Harry." My father added.

"Oh believe me, I'm really beginning to learn that."

"So, do you two have time to come to dinner with me, or do you have to be heading on?"

I looked hesitantly at Harry. I wanted to spend some more time with my father, but I knew that I had to do what I had to do.

"Sure. That sounds like a great idea."

"Excellent!" My father started eagerly rubbing his hands together again. "Well, follow me. We can walk there. It isn't far." He swung his coat over his arm, and we were off.

Our destination was only six blocks away--a small muggle cafe sporting a silhouette of a cup of steaming tea in the window. We engaged in small easy conversation about The Quibbler, how awful The Daily Prophet had gotten, and how some of our mutual acquaintances were doing. We all ordered sandwiches and tea, which was all they really had beyond biscuits and pastries. The atmosphere was quite nice: pale yellow walls, blue curtains, crisp white tablecloths, each table sporting its own Daffodil, and tea cups of various shapes and colors dangled charmingly from the ceiling. Our waitress was a very motherly-looking lady in a blue sun dress and white apron whose tag read "Helena." She was the type of person that you felt like hugging almost immediately after meeting. She gave us all of our goods as if that was all that she'd ever wanted to do in the world. Words could not express how grateful I was for her presence on this night. I nearly got into tears just thinking of it.

"We've had the highest sales ever this last quarter. It's phenomenal. And The Daily Prophet has been not even able to make ends meet."

"Serves them right, the gits."

"We had some meetings of late over what to do if this trend continues. See, we've never been able to pay our writers. But, I think we get some of the best stories that way because people really believe in the stories, they aren't just out to make a buck."

"That's cool."

"And we don't really want to become some rag wrought with advertisements and a high price tag, like some of our contemporaries. So we've been thinking of donating it to various charities. There is a fund for families who have lost a loved one to the Death Eaters that we are particularly interested in. We also want to use some of it to beef up our equipment and expand our facilities."

"Sounds great!"

"We have the nastiest article coming out next month about Miss Dolores Umbridge."

"She deserves anything nasty that'll come her way."

"Well, she definitely has it coming to her. She'd gone on a censorship frenzy lately. She's even tried to censure us. As if we'll fall over for that kind of bullying. She just wants her grimy little paws in everything, and believes that we'll bend to her will as easily as The Daily Prophet does. Fat chance of that.

"We know that she detests all magical creatures, particularly ones with some intelligence to them. So we wrote that she had eloped with a centaur this summer when she was visiting France, and that she was pregnant with his child, which was a good way as any as explaining her extra poundage. The back story is that they met at the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts when she was Headmistress there, and they fell madly in love underneath the moonlight. Since then they've been corresponding regularly and meeting in secret. But they'd finally had enough, and decided to wed in a very private ceremony in Paris with only a few close friends present."

"You are nasty Daddy."

"Oh, we have our sources you know." He smiled.

Harry was really cracking up. He was even clutching at his sides. "Oh that's wonderful! Just what the old bat needs."

"And she did spend some time with them that night that we left her in the forest. All sorts of things could have happened to her before Dumbledore rescued her."

"She never forgave us for publishing your interview Harry. She tried to say that we'd violated your rights as a student. She threw all of these fancy made-up doctrines at us trying to get us to recall the issues. But, we never backed down. We had the law on our side. And she hated that."

He looked around the place and sipped his tea. "This place isn't much for a dinner place, but it's close and quaint, and their sandwiches aren't bad."

"Mine is excellent." I lifted up my half-eaten tuna sandwich. It was wonderful. It had a hint of lemon and pepper and fresh sweet tomatoes, and dark green lettuce.

The best part was the pickle.

"Mine too." Harry had a turkey club that looked nice as well.

"One thing that they do make here is excellent pies. Harry, do you fancy a Lemon Meringue?"

"Oh yes. It's one of my favorites."

"Well, I'll order us each a slice of that too. Honestly, that's the main reason why I come here. That and our waitress Helena is sweet on me and always gives me an extra large slice." He looked so boyish when he said that. I'd never heard him talk like that before.

"So, you come here a lot then huh Dad?"

"A couple of times a week. No use to cook for one. Though, I can't cook to begin with."

"Yeah, I know."

"Besides, muggle restaurants are the safest places to eat these days. Death Eaters wouldn't be caught dead in them. And most of us witches and wizards, unfortunately, can't be trusted. They're too many spies about."

"Don't worry Dad, we've been mostly sticking to muggle establishments these days. We've been as safe as possible."

"Good girl." He smiles but then he suddenly became crestfallen. He'd reminded of what I am facing.

"Would you three be wanting anything else?" It was Helena, and she was beaming.

"We'll take three slices of Lemon Meringue Pie."

"I thought so. But, since you had company, I thought I'd check just the same. I'll bring those up in a few." She cleared my Dad and Harry's plate. I was still nibbling.

"She looks very nice Dad."

"Yes well....Now isn't the time for any of that sordid nonsense. We have so many other things to be concerned with."

"You can't postpone life forever you know."

"Yes yes....well."

"It's been seven years now you know. And--"

"Look Luna, I don't wish to discuss this." He was firm and losing his patience.

"Here are your pies then." She dropped each plate in front of us and added a spoon. She looked at me and said "Are you Luna? I hope you....don't mind my asking." She crossed her arms into an X down her body as if to shield herself from something.

"Yes. I am." I took my first bite and it was every bit as good as Dad said it would be.

"Oh wonderful! It's so good to finally meet you. Your father has told me so much about you!"

"Oh really. That's nice." I peered over at my dad, who looked to be torn.

"He just thinks the world of you, and he can hardly stop talking about you. He's very proud of you you know."

"Well thanks for telling me. I'm glad that he has someone as nice as you to talk to."

"You're sweet. Well anyway. Here I am blabbing on and on. Enjoy your desserts."

"Thank you."

"Yes, thank you very much."

Dad was unusually silent.

We chewed in the quiet. Lemon Meringue is something to be savored very slowly.

Harry broke the stillness. "This is very good. My Aunt makes her's out of a can. Fresh is much better."

"Oh I agree. Too many muggle restaurants these days ignore the importance of truly homemade goods."

There was very little left to say really, except of course Good-bye. The rest remained locked in our thoughts.

Ten minutes later, Harry and I headed out of the restaurant while my father paid the bill. We waited under the moonlight. It was a perfect half a circle.

We didn't want to talk just yet. We'd save our talking for later.

The door jingled, and my father stepped outside, straightening his coat collar as he did so.

"Marvelous! This is the first really clear night we've had in months."

And so it was. I hadn't thought of that.

"I'm glad you two could come. Even if it was for such a short visit."

"So am I."

"Yes." Harry walked over to my father and shook his head. "It's been a pleasure finally meeting you Sir."

"A pleasure meeting you too boy. People don't give you enough credit. You are a truly remarkable young man."

"Thank you Sir. And I will keep a close eye on your daughter."

"Oh. I know you will." He smiled and I was delighted to see that he seemed to be so much more accepting of the whole matter.

He turned to me and gave me another big squeeze.

"You keep writing, alright?"

"Yes father, I will, as I can."

"Here, I'll take you two to an alley just down the street where won't be seen."

My heart pressed on itself as his face swiftly vanished from my eyes. And that had nothing to do with the compression of apparation.









"How'd it go?"

I had just entered the bedroom and crashed onto the bed when Hermione looked up from her book to ask me this.

"Good. We have another lead."

"Oooh." Hermione sat up, set down in her book, and gave me her full attention. "Tell me."

"One of His horcruxes was a locket with a lion on it. The Horcrux spell and the curses that He placed upon it have already been lifted, but Harry thinks it'll still be useful to us. He thinks that it might hold the missing pieces from the Slytherin locket."

"Huh. That's great. So there are two lockets then."

"It appears so."

"That's a little odd isn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose it is."

"But they were friends: Gryffindor and Slytherin. The lockets may have been something that they shared together."

"Possibly."

"So this means that he did get to a Gryffindor relic. So either the final horcrux is Ravenclaw's or Dumbledore was wrong about Nagini, or there is no Ravenclaw horcrux."

"I think that there is a ravenclaw horcrux myself."

"Yes, so do I. Oh." She picked up her massive Grindlewald book up again, and flipped toward the back. "This book does confirm that Grindlewald has obtained the Spear of Destiny, and that Dumbledore did take it from him to destroy him. It says that he moved it to a new location afterward, but Dumbledore never said where. He seemed to want to keep its location secret, and for good reason.

"I think he would have mentioned it at the very least to Harry if he knew it was missing."

"I was just thinking. What if Harry found it and used it? It would guarantee that he would win against Voldemort."

"But the next war-hungry wizard could come along and steal it and kill Harry."

"Not if it was put somewhere that couldn't be found. Or, even better, if it was destroyed."

"I'm sure that if it could have been destroyed, Dumbledore or Rowena Ravenclaw herself would have figured out how."

"Sorry, I know it's mad, but I was just trying to think outside of the box."

"All of these objects we are talking about are very dangerous. We must think over carefully if and how we use them."

I arose and opened my drawer.

"I'm going to go take a bath." Anything to get away from Hermione and all of this. I craved being alone.

"Alright." She laid back down and buried herself behind her book again.











As I sank into the tub with my favorite sea salts and closed my eyes, I could not escape one thoughts: Harry's going to die and he knows it. He humors Hermione and Ron in their quest for taking on the horcruxes and mastering the harshest spells they can perform; but in the end on that final day he knows that he will face Lord Voldemort once again alone. And in order to destroy Voldemort, he too will have to be destroyed.

This isn't the future necessarily. This is what Harry is thinking and feeling. This is what his heart keeps telling him. And I hate myself so much for thinking this, and it makes absolutely no sense, but he's right.

And he's such a wonderful person too. Why do the best of us have to go through so much?

Why can't he just live a normal life like he has earned a thousand times over? Why must he have this cloud of horrors over him, when underneath all of that there is such beauty and greatness?

I need to talk to him. I need to really talk to him.

Knock knock.

"Yes?" Apparently I can't find privacy, even in here.

"It's Harry. Um, I know you're in the tub and everything, and it's getting late, but I was wondering if you could meet me down in the parlor when you're done?"

"Sure I can Harry. I'll be out in a few."

"Great." I heard his light footsteps gradually fade away. I pulled the plug on the bathtub, grabbed the nearest peach fluffy towel, and took a moment to look in the mirror.

It was hard to see in the candlelight of course, but my face had changed. I hadn't really looked at it in days, so I'm not sure when it happened, but my face had definitely changed. It was like wearing a ghost's face. I didn't like it at all.

I descended the stairs in my lavender bathrobe and my fluffy slippers. Thankfully, my hair didn't get too wet. It took forever to dry when it did.

He was staring intently at the fire. He reminded me of Darren.

I saw beside him without a word. I too watched the fire.

"I think that the Veil might serve as a way too finish off Lord Voldemort."

I didn't add anything, but let him continue.

"We will have to do it on All Hallow's Eve of course, after I've destroyed all of his horcruxes. But, if I can convince him to follow me through, I think that the spirits within it may help me. He has killed so many that I don't think they would be too happy with him. They may distract him for me while I make my escape."

"Remember what my father said though Harry: Few who cross it ever return."

"It would be worth the risk if we could finish Him. Plus..." He let his voice trail away.

"What Harry?"

"I know that there is still some of him left inside of me. I don't know how, but I feel it. I don't think he knows it though. If he did, he wouldn't be so bent on killing me."

"Harry." My eyes were reddening and welling up. I couldn't stop them.

"It's just....I know. I've seen. I just....I didn't want to believe it." He leaned over and hugged me and rubbed my back again. He smelled soap and his hair was very soft.

"There are worst things. But at least it'll be finished. I just thought you'd understand more than Ron or Hermione."

"I think they'll understand." I withdrew and rubbed my eyes with the tail of my robe.

"It'll just take time. They just care about you a lot you know."

"I know that, and it does mean a lot. But sometime soon we're going to have to part. That's going to be....difficult."

"Nothing about this seems to be easy. You've been given the impossible task here."

"I'm glad I brought you here though. You've been a huge help."

"I'm glad I came here too Harry."

"I do like your father. He's a character."

"Yes well, you'd have to be to run a magazine like The Quibbler."

"He seems very protective."

"He has been ever since my mom died. He's always been scared of losing me."

"Well, I suppose I'd be scared of losing you too. I already feel like I've taken advantage of your good nature and gotten you into something that is not only way over your head, but also extremely dangerous."

"Don't feel that way. My eyes were wide open."

"It'll just be my fault if something happens."

"No it won't. You can't control the world Harry."

He took my hand and raised it so that he could hold it with both hands.

"I can't be responsible for the death of another friend."

"You never were and you never will be. Voldemort is a killer, not you. Evil Voldemort and his little henchmen. You never did anything wrong. You were always right, even when you were wrong."

He pulled me to his hands and kissed me tenderly. It took me a moment to get over the shock, but after that I fell into it. Soon enough, his arms were wrapped around me, and mine were behind his neck. I didn't even think about it, but there it was. I could feel his tongue and his heartbeat against my chest. We never wanted to let go, and we didn't for quite some time. I kept wanting more of him. To get closer. To show him and tell him everything.

I slid up on his lap and wrapped my legs around him so that I could be that much closer. He ran his hands up and down my thighs, inching closer underneath my robe. He took a breath and drew back slightly. He ran a hand over the top of my head and down through my hair.

"You're beautiful Luna." He kissed me again deeply, then pulled back and stood up. He wiped his mouth down with his hand. He walked over to the fireplace and stared into that mirror again.

"I'm sorry that happened. I didn't mean for it to."

"I'm not sorry." I hadn't been expecting that. But it was very nice.

"I just can't be in a relationship right now. You know what Voldemort would do."

I stood up and walked over to him. I turned his shoulders and held my hands there.

"Voldemort isn't here right now, is he?"

"No, but--"

"But what? It's just you and I here right now. Forget the rest of the world for once. You've given them enough as it is."

He bent down and kissed me hard again and then lifted me up in his arms and carried me out of the parlor and down the hall. Our lips never broke. I didn't care where he was taking me. He was all that mattered right now.



~@~


What Luna Sees Nikcole Frame[copyright]/August 7, 2007








I must add that my interpretation of the lockets came from a dream that I had years before Half Blood Prince ever came out. My boyfriend at the time and I had the same dream within a week. I always felt that that was rather ominous.

[Chloe]

Great story, Nik! I really love how you portray Luna in here! I loved the bit with the dandelion! And the pickled dragon eyes...

I can't say I'm all that surprised about Harry kissing Luna. I dunno, it just seems like you'd been dropping a lot of hints about Harry having invited her along for something more than her other capabilities. Or it could be because I'm really tired and have been staring at the computer all day. So I didn't appreciate it as much, but it was definitely a good scene. Harry needs someone like Luna.

I also loved the whole drunken dinner they had with Fred and George! Thankfully there was one sane person there. Although I can't believe Hermione actually drank all of her firewhiskey. You'd think she'd have more common sense. What if they'd blabbed all of their plans to Bill, Fred, George, Tom, and anyone else in the pub? That wouldn't be very safe, would it?

I also love the different parallels between DH and What Luna Sees without you actually having read the book! It's uncanny really. That Spear of Destiny is an awful lot like a certain thing mentioned in the book (don't want to reveal spoilers for anyone who hasn't read it yet. )

Keep up the great work!

Chloe

[*Liliana*]

Awww, so they finally kissed. Well, I was expecting that I was actually wondering when it would happen. That's so sweet. Luna and Harry, sitting in a tree!

I thought this part was so hilarious that I laughed out loud:

"We know that she detests all magical creatures, particularly ones with some intelligence to them. So we wrote that she had eloped with a centaur this summer when she was visiting France, and that she was pregnant with his child, which was a good way as any as explaining her extra poundage. The back story is that they met at the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts when she was Headmistress there, and they fell madly in love underneath the moonlight. Since then they've been corresponding regularly and meeting in secret. But they'd finally had enough, and decided to wed in a very private ceremony in Paris with only a few close friends present."

ROFLMAO! I can't imagine that!

Your explanation about Lily and Snape's relationship was interesting. I wonder if Lily and Snape ever dated? I sometimes wish JK could really write a prequel. But I suppose us fanfic writers will have to make do, eh?

GREAT chapter! PPMS ^___^

I do need that garlic bread recipe. I had a dream about garlic bread the other day (don't ask me why). So yes, I sometimes believe dreams may be ominous...that's so strange that your and your bf had the same dream!

[nikcolarius]

First of all, sorry guys for taking longer than normal for this addition. I've been in the process of moving to Vegas, so extremely busy.

Thanks for the warm replies both Liliana and Chloe.

Chloe~~I personally think that Luna can understand Harry a lot better than anyone else. But you've probably gathered that from my story. They just seem to me to share a connection that I thought J.K. should have explore more. Although, she did give hints of it for instance in OOTP when they talk about Sirius after his death.

Liliana~~I think that Lily and Snape did date, or at least something close to that seems to be hinted at. J.K. left a lot of room for speculation open so, we'll have to do with it what we will.

I still need to get that other garlic bread recipe for my mom, but for now I'll give you one of my favs that I got from Rachel Ray:

Garlicky Onion Bread

I personally like to use a large circularly loaf and halve it and then quarter it, but you could use just regular french bread or whatever you fancy.

Slice bread and toast it under broiler.

Chop 1/2 onion, mince 2-3 garlic cloves (mince means chop into very small pieces)
De-stem 6-8 stems of fresh thyme (not an absolutely necessary ingredient) Just hold onto one end and pull the leaves off

Drizzle 1 T (tablespoon) of Olive Oil in the bottom of small pan. Let heat through a few seconds then add thyme and garlic. Let heat through a minute, then add onion. Stir a few times, and let onion carmelize. Wait until it gets sweet and yellow.

When onion is done cooking, add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Let it heat through another two-three minutes.

Spoon mixture onto slices of bread. Sprinkle fresh parmesean (can use canned stuff if you can't get freshly grated. I can't find it most of the time in KY, but if you can find it, it'll be worth the extra expense) over the mixture.

Pop slices under broiler and let heat through until cheese melted.

Then serve nummy cheesey garlicky oniony goodness!

Note--this recipe is for people who really like onions, which alas isn't most people.



Let's move on then...



~@~


Chapter 6

"I tell you Ron, she went to take a bath last night and never came back. Her clothes are still on the bathroom floor. Her bed hasn't been slept in."

"Maybe she—"

"And Harry's gone too. Maybe something's happened to them."

"I'm not sure when Harry left alright. I fell asleep pretty early last night. He could have left this morning, and they probably went to an early breakfast or something. You're wor—"

"Oh Ron. You're so naïve sometimes!"

This conversation continued to echo in the hallway as I turned over and tried to lift my head up. It felt very heavy. It was too early to be up yet. Harry's naked body was wrapped around me. We had pillows but no blankets as we were in our practice room. Oh sh.it, this does not look good.

I swiftly untangled myself from Harry and covered him with his clothes and more pillows. I hastily put on my robe and tied it. I tried to pull my hair back, but there was nothing to tie it with. I was bent over trying to wake up Harry when the doors rolled open and the whole scene unfolded.

"Luna! There you are! You're—"

Ron walked around me and bent over to peer amusedly at a very sound asleep Harry. "So that explains it."

"What?!" Hermione was beside herself. She walked over to Harry and started roughly shaking him awake. What an awful scene to wake up to.

"Huh? What?" Harry said sleepily as he rose up. His hair spiked in all directions.

"Harry, did you really sleep here last night?"

"I think that's pretty obvious Hermione."

"Shut up Ronald. I want to here it for myself." She turned back to Harry. "Well Harry?"

He rubbed his face hard and rapidly with his palms. He looked up at her with red eyes.

"I suppose so. What's it to you?"

"Oh please." She rolled her eyes and folded her arms. I could hear her head processing a thousand possible retorts as it built up its come back.

"Would you two mind leaving so that I can get dressed properly?"

"C'mon Ron." Hermione flipped around, whacking Ron with her hair, and they both walked out, and closed the sliding doors behind them.

"Nice to have a little privacy this morning." He stood up and started getting dressed. I turned my back to him. It felt only decent. I tried to pull my hair up again, but met with the same problem.

After he had dressed, he walked around me, so he could see my face.

"We must do this again sometime. Although, next time, let's get away from here, okay?"

"Okay." I had to smile.

"Oh and try not to let her get to you. I swear, sometimes she thinks she's my mother." He gave me a soft kiss and left. I made it out of the room and then crept upstairs. Thankfully, Hermione was not in the bedroom. So, I grabbed some clean clothes and retreated to the bathroom for a shower.

I managed to avoid them for a whole hour, until I headed downstairs. Ron was sitting in the parlor by himself picking at his hands.

"Hey." He looked up and followed me with his eyes as I sat beside him.

"Hey." He looked back to his hands.

"You won't be wanting to go to the Training Room for a while. They've got quite the shouting match going on."

"Okay."

"I never would have suspected it though: you and Harry."

"Neither would I." I admitted.

"Hermione's really giving it to him."

"Why though?"

"I don't know." Ron shrugged. "She's been very weird like that lately. Like she doesn't want us to do anything without her permission."

"It's none of her business really."

"I know that. Believe me, I know that."

We heard one voice becoming increasingly more audible.

"And furthermore, what about Ginny huh? What do you think she'd have to say about all of this?"

"This has absolutely nothing to do with Ginny!"

"Well, how can you possibly break Ginny's heart by telling her that you can't have a relationship with her right now, and then turn around and sleep with the next bimbo that comes along?" That was it. That was the absolute final straw.

"It wasn't like that. I—"

"Good morning Hermione. How are you today?" Her face was priceless. I could tell that she didn't expect me to come out of the shadows.

"I'm—"

"You're what? Cat got your tongue? Or do you normally not speak with us bimbos?"

"I'm—I didn't mean—"

"This is what you're going to do Hermione. For once, you are going to keep that fat mouth of you're shut, and you are going to learn how to stay out of other people's business."

For the first time in her life, Miss Hermione Granger was totally speechless.

"Now, we have some important work to get onto today don't we?"






After that, Hermione and I met with a truce of sorts. We didn't talk nor look at each other really. When we were forced into conversation, we chatted animatedly with Harry and Ron, but kept our words to each other to brief ones of uninterested agreement. I decided that her problem with the whole situation was mere jealously. She was jealous that Harry and I could so quickly admit to our newfound feelings to each other, while her and Ron had been beating their heads against that wall for years to no avail. I decided to be bold and offer her a little nudge one quiet afternoon when we were folding clothes after laundry.

"You know, you could have Ron if you wanted him. You just have to be assertive."

"Like you were with Harry?"

"No. And by the way, he came to me, not the other way around. No. All of us are different , so—Ron just needs an extra push. He's not going to do it himself. Especially given your history."

"Honestly, there hasn't been time for any of that. I've been purposely avoiding the issue for Harry's sake."

"For Harry?"

"Yes well, if Ron and I started dating, well we couldn't really date anyway, but if we started being together, Harry would feel left out. And then, if we got into a fight or had a bad break-up, where would that leave us? This mission is way more important than any of that."

"I see." I started rubbing the tip of my thumb against the seam of my skirt. I tried not to see the world around me.

"It's just, now is a time to look at things a bit differently than you would have normally. How would you feel if something terrible happened to him and you never got the chance to tell him how you felt?"

Hermione slowly stepped over to our curtains. I could tell that she wanted to pull them apart and see the world. "So, you and Harry will be the happy couple and so will Ron and I? Is that how this is going to work?"

"There's no reason why it couldn't. Well, except for that whole Voldemort-Horcrux thing that'll still be hanging over our heads."

She chuckled, but she wasn't really into it. "Can't forget that now, can we?"

"No."

"It's up to you. It's always been."










Three days later, we finally heard back from Moody. We spoke through a small round mirror that he had lent Harry. We all eagerly crowded around it, watching that twisted face burst into a long hurried speech.

"So Harry. I did finally hear back from him. It took a while to get up with him. He hadn't been checking his-.well, you know I can't tell ya how we communicate. Only Order members are supposed to know about that. But anyway, he had no reason to check it because he assumed that we'd all think him a traitor.

"I still don't trust him as far as I can throw him, but he did agree to meet with ya. No idea why. Probably'll try to kill ya off for his Master I suppose. Still don't know why you want to do this Harry. But I guess if you were completely dumb you wouldn't have lasted this long." He tried to smile. It wasn't warming at all, but he at least tried.

"He'll be in disguise of course. He says to meet him at The Poisoned Apple at 9 pm tonight. It's a small muggle pub in London. He'll be in one of the back rooms. Tell the bartender that you're there to see Nicodemus, and he'll lead ya to him.

"He says he's coming alone. Mind ya, don't listen to a word he says, but that's what he says. And he trusts that you will arrive alone as well."

"No Harry. That's mad." Exclaimed Ron.

"I agree with Ron Harry. You'd be mad to go there on your own. I can send back up if you'd like. And we might be able to arrange a trip for our dear Severus to a nice long visit in Azkabahn."

"No Moody. You'd never catch him anyway. He's too powerful. I don't want you meddling in any of this. Got it?"

"Yes yes Harry. I've kept your whereabouts a secret until now, haven't I? I just would love the chance to nab the !@#$ myself."

"Thanks Moody for getting ahold of him for us." Hermione added.

"Yeah, thanks Moody."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Dumbledore told me to keep an eye on the lot of you, so I'm doing just that. No special favors here."

"And we would never expect any Moody."

"Well. Better be off then. Let me know if you four ever need anything."

"We will."

Moody waved and was gone.

"So Harry. Are you going alone?"

"Yes. I think it's best."

"You're mad you know."

"We have to trust each other. That's the only way that this is going to work."






I was wearing a line in the carpet. But to stop would have been even worse.

"It's been over four hours!" I exclaimed, checking the clock.

"Maybe he and Harry have finally started to bond." Both Hermione and I gave Ron our best of scowls.

"Bad joke, sorry."

After several more minutes of pacing, Hermione said. "We're right about Snape Luna. We have to be." Otherwise we sent our dear friend into the dark to his death.

"Besides, You Know Who is determined to kill Harry himself."

Ron was right of course, but it didn't make me feel any better. I couldn't lose him. Already, I couldn't lose him.

"Maybe we should go there." I abruptly stopped my pacing at that thought.

"Luna, I don't think—" There were footsteps and then, there he was.

I sprung into his arms and kissed his whole face without giving it a second thought.

"It's alright Luna. I'm okay."

"It's just-.we thought."

"Nevermind that now."

"How'd it go Harry?"

"It was really weird. I'll-.I'll have to go into details later. But he's going to help us. That's been his plan all along, apparently."

I finally broke away, rubbed my eyes, and stood back with Hermione and Ron. I wasn't really listening to what they were saying. I was just as overwhelmingly happy that he was here.

"Did he know about the Horcruxes?"

Yes. He found out about them from Regulus before he passed. But he never knew how many nor where they were. Dumbledore never told him about the Horcruxes. He only told him that he couldn't kill Voldemort like an ordinary wizard. That one day he'd get a sign from me that it was time, and I was to do the killing, while he watched my back so to speak. His instructions were to only reveal himself once I'd gotten there to get the job done. He's supposed to be my protector."

"Wow."

"That's-.wow!"

"I know. I didn't believe it at first but then, well-"

"What Harry?"

"There's just so much. Why don't I wait to tell you guys tomorrow. Then I can do it justice."

"Alright. We should be heading to bed soon anyway."

Ron and Hermione left for upstairs while Harry and I strayed behind. I lingered awkwardly in the corner.

"Do you forgive him?"

"Well." He smiled. "I've hated him for so long, it's not like I can just let go of all of that in one day. But I understand him better now. He did apologize for what happened to my parents, Sirius, and Dumbledore. How much he had learned from him over the years. How Dumbledore stood by him when everyone else labeled him a traitor. Dumbledore was the last person in the world that he wanted to kill. And he did so with great regret, and only because Dumbledore had very specifically instructed him to.

"Dumbledore knew that I'd need Snape right in the Death Eaters circle monitoring Voldemort's movements if I was ever to have any hope of destroying him. I need him there, foremost, if Voldemort has gotten wind of what's been happening to His Horcruxes. So far, we seem to be in the clear."

"Good." I shook my head. "I hate being right. I usually am, but I hate it."

"Well, like me, you can't deny what you are. You have to embrace your destiny and go with it."

I didn't answer, but looked to the ground and stared at the faded carpeting. Harry walked over.

"You know that this is just a preview of things to come."

I nodded.

"You know that it's only going to get worse."

I nodded.

He lifted my chin up with his finger and looked into my eyes.

"But, for the next few times at least, you three should be coming with me."

"Yes."

"Luna, what's wrong?" My eyes had started reddening.

"I'm never wrong. That's what's wrong."

"You're never wrong about what exactly?"

"I'm never wrong about what I hear. And I can't-.I can't listen to that right now. Because it means-." I started violently shaking.

"Because that means what Luna?"

"You already know."

He squeezed each of my arms from the sides, which lessened my shaking. He gently kissed my forehead.

"Remember what you said. It's just us here right now."

"Us and Ron and Hermione." I smiled.

"Yes. Can't forget them."

"And there's also-"

"There's what?"

"My mom, your parents, Sirius, and Dumbledore. They're all here you know, all of the time."

"I've never thought about that."

"I can't forget."

"Well, we've been giving them quite the show lately."

"I guess we have."

"Anyway Luna, you should be getting to bed."

"Okay."

"Here take my hand. I'll walk you." Now that I think of it, I think that I'd take his hand anywhere.









The next morning, the four of us made our way over to our new favorite breakfast place: an enormous muggle pancake house that had every kind of pancake imaginable. I normally just go their buttermilk, but they were still the best pancakes I'd ever tasted, and made even better with some Vermont Maple Syrup, that seriously put all other maple syrups to absolute shame.

Ron had a thing going where he was bound and determined to try all 250 varieties of pancakes. So far he'd tried Peanut Butter & Jelly, pineapple, custard, and coconut. Today he was on double chocolate.

When his plate arrived, Hermione shook her head.

"What?" He asked innocently just before digging in.

"I just don't see how you can possibly eat that much sugar this early. Chocolate chips, chocolate syrup, powdered sugar-"

"Can't forget the extra layer of chocolatey goodness that oozes out of each pancake."

"Ron. You're impossible!"

"Hey, I tried those the other day, and they were excellent." I added. I still enjoyed sticking it to Hermione a little bit too much.

"I just like my blueberry." Harry mumbled in between swallows just before taking a long swig of milk.

Hermione irratedly chewed her coconut pancake, while contemplating bashing our coffee thermos over someone's head.

"They have good coffee here too." Everyone else nodded. It was after all perfectly brewed piping hot French Vanilla—the stuff that dreams are made of.

"I think dis his my favrite." Ron mumbled with a very full mouth.

"Even better than custard?"

He nodded eagerly.

"It's pretty crowded here today." We were completely surrounded by muggle families.

"Well, it is Saturday. A good day to take the kids out."

"They're all in little uniforms though."

"They're must be a football tournament going on."

"A what?"

"You know, football, the national sport of the U.K.? You have to know what that is. You can't have totally lost yourself in the wizarding world."

"You'd be surprised."

"Hey, I know what it is okay." Ron was getting a little annoyed with us.

"It's weird though." Hermione kept watching a little boy sporting his uniform in the table next to us. He was digging through what looked like a double chocolate pancake, and had chocolate smeared all over his mouth. He looked as happy as a clam.

"What?"

"Well, the Death Eaters aren't just attacking wizards anymore. The muggles need to be warned too."

"The muggles won't understand. Not unless we expose our world to them."

"They deserve to be warned though. Then they can build up defenses and all of that."

"As if muggle defenses could do anything against the Death Eaters."

"You'd be surprised Ron. They're used to battling with unknown forces of evil. They've been doing it for thousands of years."

"You'd have to go to the Ministry to get something done about that Hermione."

"And the only person who could do anything about it then would be Rufus Scrimgeour. And you know he's not going to be any help."

"Unless-"

"Unless what?"

"Unless we announced it to the muggle world ourselves. We could tell their Prime Minister. We know that he's been abreast of certain goings-on in the wizarding world for sometime now."

"Do you realize what you're talking about? That would cause total chaos."

"We could just tell him to put his armed forces on alert. That's a lot right there."

"And what, send them to their deaths? Hermione, listen to me. We've got enough on our plates right now with this whole Horcrux thing hanging over our heads. We can't add anymore?"

"But they may be able to help. It isn't about just alerting them. It's about tapping into every last resource we have against the Death Eaters. How can we hope to defeat them if we aren't all united against them?"

"We have to go find this Beth person for the Gryffindor Horcrux, who may or may not be alive or know anything useful. We've still got either a Ravenclaw Horcrux to face or we have to get to Nagini somehow. Then we must overcome the impossible task of killing the most powerful and the darkest wizard that the world has ever known. And you want to add something else to the list?"

"Look, we have to go to the Ministry of Magic anyway, and the Prime Minister's office is just down the road from there. We could just drop in for a chat."

"And we're just going to walk in there unannounced? There's not only muggle security on him, but wizard security as well. Dad told me. He'll be about as easy to see as Terrance Wilkes of the Chudley Cannons. Do you know that he's held the record for the number of saves in a season these past five years? They're scared that one of the other teams are going to try and sabotage him. So he's escorted to and—"

"Ron, no one cares."

"Isn't there a member of the Order stationed there to protect him?"

"Yes. I don't remember his name. But yes, you're right."

"He's let us in wouldn't he?"

"If we explained?"

"Yes, I imagine he would."

"So, it's settled then."

"Wait, what's settled?"

"We're going to try to talk with the Prime Minister."

"What? This is mad. I'm not going."

"Well, you don't have to go Ron. You can stay in our little hideout and pout."

"But—" he looked around at us all. I could feel that he really didn't want to be left out. "What are we going to say?"

"We're just going to talk with him very frankly about our concerns."

"We know he's been told some things, but we're not sure how much."

"Precisely. So we just have to tread carefully that's all, give him all of the facts that we know, and let him make his own decision."

"That's probably more than the Ministry has given him."

"The Ministry'll be !@#$ed."

"That's a good thing."

"Alright."

"What?"

"I'll go." Ron was twirling his fork in his pancakes with a sullen face, his hair falling over his eyes.

"Little Ronnikins doesn't want to stay at home?"

"Oh, shut up."

"Well, finish your pancakes guys. We've got a lot to do today."

Ron shoved his plate to the center of the table and folded his hands. "I'm not in the mood anymore."











An hour later, we were back in the parlor, and Harry was getting ready to tell us of his evening with Snape. The flames behind him set the scene brilliantly.

"I started off by telling him of your vision Luna." He nodded in my direction. "I asked him if it was true. And he said that it was.

"Narcissa came to him distressed over her son. Voldemort has asked him to get the Death Eaters inside of Hogwarts and then to kill Dumbledore himself.

"He knew that Draco couldn't do it. Voldemort had set this whole plan up to punish Lucius. See, Lucius and Draco had the kind of father/son relationship that Voldemort had never known. Voldemort knew the best way to get back at him was through Draco.

"Narcissa asked Snape if there was something he could do. Snape didn't know what Voldemort's plan for Draco was. So when he made that Unbreakable Vow, when she asked him to protect her son and complete the task that Voldemort had given him, he had no idea what that task was. When he found out later, he went straight to Dumbledore. He professed that that was the last thing in the world that he'd ever want to do. He said he'd sacrifice his life to not do it.

"Dumbledore said that he appreciated his loyalty, but that the Order would still need their spy. That his role in the war was more important than Dumbledore's.

"He tried to back out of it, and do everything he could to prevent it from happening, but he knew once he got to that point that he would have to do as instructed. He had done horrible things under Dumbledore's instructions before to prove his loyalty to Voldemort, but this by far was the absolute worst. But it did do one thing—it forever cemented his loyalty to Voldemort, and no one would dare to question him now.

"He said he'd been foolish when he was young. He became a part of the Death Eaters before he even really knew what they stood for. But once he was in, there was no turning back.

"It was when Voldemort became obsessed with ruthlessly hunting my parents, that he decided to contact Dumbledore. He knew he couldn't leave the Death Eaters, but he thought that he could be of use as a spy for the Order. Dumbledore agreed. And, from that day forward, his life was no longer his own.

"Regulus was a close friend of his from school and also later when they were Death Eaters. He told him on his death-bed of Voldemort's horcrux, of the Slytherin locket. So, when Voldemort was presumed dead, he knew as did Dumbledore that he would probably be back."

"Wait, did he tell Dumbledore about the locket?" Hermione interrupted.

"Yes he did, but Dumbledore didn't tell him anything else about the Horcruxes. That was intended to be my job. Or, well, our's."

"Weird."

"Moving on. Because Dumbledore and Snape knew that Voldemort would return, Dumbledore advised him to still keep playing his double-agent role. He gave him very specific instruction in particular reference to me.

"He knew that there was a connection forged between Voldemort and myself. He wasn't sure what would come of it, but he knew that it was possible that Voldemort could one day read my thoughts.

"So he asked him to treat me as an angry Death Eater would treat the boy who brought on the downfall of his master. And he admitted that he fell into his role a little too perfectly, because he never liked James, and I looked just like him.

"He did clarify though that just because he never liked James didn't mean that he wanted him dead. He had done everything in his powers to prevent that from happening, for all that it did.

"He admitted that he had grown resentful over the years, for this whole spy business as it has turned into more than he had planned on.

"But, we should be close to the end of all of this.

"He has spent the summer keeping Draco and Narcissa safe from Voldemort's wrath. He also has had to be in hiding anyway, as he has nearly all of the Ministry of Magic out looking for him. He has been making regular reports to Voldemort, and attended all of the latest Death Eater meetings.

"He says that they're planning a major strike against the wizarding community soon. They're just still in the process of coordinating. There are thousands of Dark Creatures in the Western Woods waiting for their signal to attack.

"He plans on overthrowing the Ministry of Magic and establishing his own government. Then he will build up an even larger army so that he can take over the Muggle government as well, and place all muggles and muggle-borns into slave camps.

"He has several Death Eaters out on the hunt for me. Has had for months. But so far, as far as he knows, they haven't picked up on my trail. He has killed some of them when they've returned to report that there is no sign of me.

"As far as Snape knows, he created all of his Horcruxes before he even started the Death Eaters. And, he never discusses them, for good reason. So he doesn't really seem to be able to help us there.

"But he can help us in keeping us updated in Voldemort's movements. And he'll help me fight him to the end. He gave me this to call him with if I ever have need." Harry opened a small hole in the wall and pulled out a large white conch shell with a brilliant glossy pink interior.

"It's a little heavy to carry around, but that's what he had. Dumbledore instructed him to give it to me when the time is right."

"It's beautiful."

"It was a gift to Dumbledore from the merpeople. They always had a great deal of respect for him Snape said."

There was a pause in talk for a little while. Harry put the shell back in its hiding place. Ron looked especially puzzled.

"Do you trust him?"

"No. But—" He thought over his words carefully. "All's that we are doing at the moment is listening to what he has to say. We aren't really trusting him with anything yet."

"To meet with him at all indicates a certain amount of trust. You also told him of your plans with the Horcruxes. He could go tell Voldemort, and then we'd be done for." Ron was right of course, but Harry didn't appear to want to reverse upon his actions. It was too late for that now anyway.

"Snape stood a greater risk in talking to me. I could have sent the whole Order after him if I'd wanted to. I don't think we'll have to worry about him telling Voldemort anything."

"He's right Ron. That's not how this is going to play out." And I knew that in more ways than any of them could possibly know.

"Even so, this whole thing smells pretty fishy to me."

"Harry, how did he look? I mean, did he look okay?"

Harry looked puzzled at the question. But, it slowly seemed to dawn on him what I was really asking.

"Well, he didn't look like himself of course. He was transfigured into the body of a very uptight businessman. It was a little weird talking to him like that."

"It's just that you said that this whole spy business was beginning to wear on him."

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but Hermione cut across him. "What are you thinking Luna?"

"I am thinking that he may be getting impatient. After all, he doesn't have Dumbledore nor anyone else in the Order to report to now. And we can't even imagine the horrible things that Voldemort will ask him to do while he is waiting for us. I am thinking that he may do something drastic before we are ready for him to."

"He's been waiting for the opportunity to bring down Voldemort for years. He wouldn't dare to mess that up when we're so close."

"Anyone who has ever waited for anything knows that it's always the last stretch of it that is the hardest. And we have to also consider the possibility that he may not be around for very much longer. After all, he's got nearly all of the Ministry of Magic after him. And, if he gets killed, or otherwise, we'd be flying blind."

Ron shook his head. "Why is he so important? I don't get it."

"He is the only one who can tell us of Voldemort's movements; if Voldemort has gotten wind of our Horcrux hunt and, God forbid, makes some more. If that happens, there's no way that anyone could ever kill him. But now, we are lucky that at the moment he's heavily focused on other matters."

"Also Ron," Harry added. "We'll need someone there on the inside when the final battle finally happens. Dumbledore knew that Luna's right—this plan won't work without him."

"So, should we be making arrangements to protect him? Like alerting the Order?"

"We can't risk telling anyone. The Order has always had leeks in it. We can't risk Voldemort finding out.

"No, we just have to move quickly, preferably before Voldemort has completely built up his offense. We really should try and go see Beth at the Ministry this afternoon, and then we can inform the Muggle Minister while we're over there. We can't waste anymore time."

"Agreed. So, we're all going then?"

"Yes, all of us, this time."

"Cool."

"Just try and learn to behave Ron."

"What?! I always behave."

"Yeah right."











It was just after lunchtime by the time that we got there, so our fellow witches and wizards were all scrambling to get back inside, some of them still chewing bits of bread or fruit as they made their way to the elevators.

We made it safely through security under the guise of being visitors to Mr. Weasley, which would inevitably be a part of our journey anyway. We made it into a very crammed elevator, and waited until it finally stopped at our level: Level 2.

The Auror Headquarters was an absolute mad house with large wanted posters plastered everywhere and many wizards and a few witches frantically buzzing about. We had to weave our way through a few people, desks, and filing cabinets before finally locating a crammed desk overflowing with papers with a small receptionist sign. The woman's name was Melinda, and she had a stack of papers on her lap at least a foot-high that she was sifting through.

"Excuse me?"

Melinda's head snapped up and she looked at the four of us with narrowed eyes.

"Well! What'd ya want? We are quite busy here right now you know."

"Sorry." I spoke up, or at least tried to. My voice sounded unusually high-pitched. "We're here to see Beth Leland. She's an old family friend of mine."

"And does Mrs. Leland know that you are coming?" Good, she was still here.

"No. It's sort of a surprise." I smiled but I'm not too good at smiling on command.

"Alright alright, I'll take you to her." She lifted her massive stack of papers and somehow managed to balance them on the end of the table. She stood up, and started walking briskly. We had to nearly jog to catch up to her.

"Mind you, all guests are normally supposed to be announced. But I'll make an exception for you just this once. With all of the dam.n vampires and banshees reeking havoc all over these days, I suppose that it's not a good idea to announce your arrival anywhere." We weaved and weaved through desks and cubicles, until we finally made it to a dark corner where a tall thin witch with long tresses of brown was bent over her parchment underneath a lime green sculpted desk lamp.

"Mrs. Leland. You have visitors." Beth looked up and I saw those brilliant green eyes that I had not seen in years. She hadn't changed much over the years, her eyes were just darker than normal. She had been through many nights of no sleep and lots of worrying. But now she was happy beyond expression.

She swirled her chair around, jumped up, and embraced me.

"Oh Luna, it's you!" She pulled back so that she could give me the once over. She took my hands and made me spread them wide apart. "You're the spitting image of your mother! I always said that you would be. I'm so glad that you came to see me. I've so often wanted to drop by, but I didn't think I ought to.

"And, who is it that you have with you my dear?" Her eyes had finally fallen on the rest of the group.

I pulled my hands away from her and whispered into her ear. The last thing that I wanted her to do was to announce to the whole world that Harry Potter was here. "Can we go and talk somewhere more private?"

"Certainly. Just follow me." She leapt out of her chair, smoothed her shirt, and started clicking her heels around desks and down a hallway, until we met with a shiny black door that read "Conference Room C".

It was a decent-sized room with one large table surrounded by a dozen or so worn black chairs with cracking cushions. There were four fake windows on the wall opposite the door, and they revealed vicious lightening and hail. I had to remind myself that these were fake windows, because I didn't remember the weather being that bad outside.

Harry and I took seats next to each other while Ron and Hermione sat opposite us. Beth sat at the head of the table.

I spoke first. "Sorry for the confusion. We're just trying to stay as unanimous as possible. This here is Harry Potter and that's Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley." I gestured to each person in turn, but her focus was all for Harry.

She didn't speak but continued to watch Harry and in turn myself since we were in the same line of sight. So I continued to navigate the talking. "And whatever we speak of here we'd like to keep amongst ourselves. I don't even want you to tell anyone else that you've seen us. This is very important. Do you understand Beth?"

She suddenly snapped out of her dreary daze of staring whimsically at Harry at the sound of her name. "Yes yes Luna. I understand."

Beth seemed slightly hurt by my abruptness. "Sorry Beth, it's just-."

"No Luna. I understand. It's okay. I've heard the rumors of course. We knew that Harry was up to something. These rumors look to hold more truth than I originally thought.

"So." She composed herself a bit so that she looked more business-like. "What do you four need?"

"We need to know about the Horcrux that my mother was working on when she died. What you know about it. What it was. Its present whereabouts."

She let her face fall into her hands and she started harshly rubbing her face and her eyes as if trying to rid herself of something. She finally let her hands fall to the table and looked directly at me with sore eyes.

"First Luna, ever giving your mother that Horcrux was the biggest mistake of my life. We often gave her cursed objects to work on as she is one of the few witches in the world who had ever managed to remove a curse from an object, no matter how deadly. I really should have found out more about it before passing it onto her. I'd done it dozens of times before, but I passed that locket along just after receiving it, so I had absolutely no preliminary data on it. Your mother was intrigued by it, and she snatched it up out of my hands before I could say a word otherwise. I should have stopped her and insisted that I do my research first. I know that now.

"After your mother's passing, I made it my duty to learn all I could about the object.

"A muggle woman had purchased the locket from an antique store in France. She wore it on her trip back to London. A mere twelve hours after wearing it, her heart suddenly stopped for no apparent reason. The muggles couldn't figure it out. It wasn't a heart attack or cardiac arrest or anything else that they could come up with. So, one of our contacts at the Muggle Office of Law Enforcement alerted us, and we confiscated the object.

"We knew that it bore traces of magic. Emily and I agreed that it may be a relic of Godric Gryffindor that someone had sabotaged. Gryffindor was never one to curse objects himself. So, we deduced that the curse was someone else's handiwork." She closed her eyes and shook her head as memories flooded her. She put her hands up to her face and spoke to us through them, her head in a praying-bow of sorts.

"We each called it a talisman automatically without knowing why. It was an oval silver locket with a large protruding lion's head ready for attack with rubies for eyes. We couldn't open it at first." She lifted her head up again and looked around at all of us. "I'm not sure if your mother ever managed to. But an investigation was conducted after her death, and a report was written up stating that the locket did open to reveal hundreds of tiny silver squares. They all had slight etchings on them as if they were tiny pieces to a puzzle. But hundreds of possible combinations had been tried, and nothing ever came of it.

"The last time that I saw your mother was the day before she died. She was very excited, and said that she felt that she was getting close. She said that it was so much more than a cursed object, but she wouldn't elaborate beyond that.

"The investigators told me that it was dated over a 1,000 years ago. So it was reasonable to say that it belonged to Gryffindor. I've done some research on my own to find a portrait of Gryffindor arm-in-arm with Salazar Slytherin when they were young boys. Gryffindor had that locket around his neck and Slytherin had his own locket with a serpent on it.

"The legend goes that these lockets were connected to one another initially as a game of sorts, but later marked as symbols of their friendship. They would even communicate with one another through the lockets. They kept them even after their friendship had dissolved as reminders of what had been. Not many people know this, but it is believed that they reconciled with one another much later in life, and they spent their final days together.

"But anyway, I'm getting off track here. The investigators didn't believe that it was the curse that killed Emily. That was long gone before she died. They believe that she died because the Horcrux overtook her. The shred of the soul encased within it saw what she was trying to do, leapt out of its contents, and brutally murdered her. The soul had receded back into the locket by the time we got there. The investigators say that they broke the Horcrux. That it had belonged to You Know Who."

At her words, I was transformed back to that most horrible of days. I wasn't even supposed to be down there. I just hadn't seen my mother much for days because she'd been so busy, and I wanted to see what she was working on. I knew that she'd be furious with me if she saw me, so I hid in the shadows and kept my quiet.

I was there for a half an hour or so before it happened. I saw a silver form rise from the object she'd been working on. It hung in the air a moment, like a balloon dancing in the winds. Suddenly, it swooped down and began attacking her. I couldn't describe it. After the first few seconds, I buried myself and stopped watching it. She was screaming like I'd never heard any human scream before. She tried throwing incantations at it between breaths. But then, just as rapidly as it had begun, it was over. The dead silence was the most frightening of all. For hours it seemed all that I knew of life after that was my violent shakes. I couldn't even hear my father's words of comfort.

Hermione was speaking from some place far far away. I focused my whole being into trying to pay attention to her.

"But they knew then that Voldemort," Beth took a sharp breath at his name. "Was still alive. That one Horcrux had saved him from dying and another had been still out there in waiting. Why didn't they do anything?"

"The Ministry seemed fairly content to let the public think that You Know Who was gone for good. They've hid under that façade even when it was absolutely ridiculous to do so, despite what people like myself have tried to tell him. I was sworn to secrecy about the whole thing under penalty of prison time. They threatened to say that I was the one who had killed Emily."

"That's terrible!"

Beth shrugged. "I'm just so used to it, it doesn't phase me anymore."

For the first time, Harry entered the conversation. "Do you happen to know what happened to the locket?"

She concentrated on him hard for a moment. Then we heard the rustling of her shirt as she plunged her hand beneath the table. We heard light scraping until she lifted her hand high in the air, her fist clenched around the chain of the locket in question. She carefully set it down on the table, and tightly coiled the chain around it. We all watched mesmerized.

"I asked to have it after the investigation had closed. I've kept it on my person since then. I don't know why, it just needed to be with me."

I looked through her. "Have you uncovered any special powers?"

Her fingers started gliding across the chain. "This may sound silly, but I feel like it protects me. I've been in some very tight spots, especially lately, but I always manage to miraculously come out of them. Part of me feels that I would have never of made it if I didn't have it with me."

I couldn't find any fondness for the locket after what it had cost my mother. Beth's fondness for it actually really disturbed me. It was almost like she was being possessed by it. But I did know that we needed it.

"Beth, would you mind if we took it with us?" I knew from the look on her face that she would say absolutely not if anyone else asked. But that she wouldn't dare to refuse me. Not after what had happened.

"Yes, well. I guess you can have it if you want it. I just didn't think that you'd want anything to do with it."

"I don't but, I need it, we need it."

"Take it then." She gathered it in her hand, took one last glance, then passed it onto me. It all felt very ominous, like the planes of the world were shifting with our movement. It felt quite warm. I placed it in my pocket quickly.

"How is your father these days Luna?"

"He's well."

"Good. Good. So many terrible reports these days, it's a relief to hear that anyone is well."

"Any leads on Voldemort or his Death Eaters?" Harry prodded.

"No no, nothing. We've been pretty preoccupied it with the army of Dark Creatures that You Know Who has been building. We were lucky enough to get a lead on their numbers and the status a few weeks ago. But that information itself is enough to frighten anyone out of the country, particularly because we have no idea of their present location."

I caught Hermione eyeing Harry and Harry quickly responding by shaking his head. Thankfully, Beth hadn't noticed. She'd arisen from her seat.

"So I suppose I'd better get back to work. You four have a lot of work to do as well. And I wish you all with the utmost of sincerity the best of luck." We all started arising from our seats.

"Thank you very much Beth. It is very good to see you."

"Oh Dear." She walked over to me and held my arms. "It's so wonderful to see you again. I can see the spirit of your mother within you. She would be so proud."

"Thank you."

"Anyway, I'm off." And with a wave of her hand, she'd closed the door behind her, and we'd been left to ourselves once more.

Hermione broke our silent ponderings. "I can't believe that she kept it with her all of these years."

"Well, it's still a very powerful object, even without-."

"Let's go."













We dodged through many a body to make it to Mr. Weasley's office. Harry hid his face beneath his hand, trying his best to not be recognized.

Arthur's desk was in the back corner of a large room wall-to-wall with desks and filing cabinets. He was bent over his parchment, but he didn't seem to be reading it. His mind was beyond the walls of this place. All of the other workers were bustling about importantly with rolls of parchment stacked underneath their arms.

Ron walked first in our small line of people. Arthur didn't notice his presence until Ron called for him.

"Dad?" When Arthur looked up and I caught his eyes, I started to collapse into myself and Harry had to catch me. No one else seemed to have noticed.

"Ron? Ron, my boy!" He grinned from ear-to-ear and walked around the table to embrace his son. "Why, I had no idea. Fred and George and Bill had told me about seeing you. But hey, this is a pleasant surprise. And Harry and Hermione. You're here too." He moved away from Ron and gave Harry and Hermione their own individual hugs. Then he turned to me and enthusiastically shook my hand. "And Miss Lovegood. Such a delight in seeing you again. My boys informed me that you'd joined this little coup here. I know your father quite well actually. I'm not sure if he's mentioned—"

"Yes. He's mentioned you quite a bit actually." I put all my breath into perking up my voice. I didn't want anyone to notice anything. I wanted to keep this nice for Ron. Harry protectively kept his hand on my shoulders just in case.

"Well, sit, sit down!" With one wave of his wand, four oak ornately carved French chairs appeared with straw seats. We scrambled around them and sat down one by one.

"That's better." He looked around us uncertainly as if unsure of what exactly to say. "It's good to see you all. You've no idea how worried we've all been. Especially with all of the bad news we've been receiving lately." His face darkened at that memory. I purposely concentrated on my lap and my feet. Harry automatically took my hand.

"Well, we've been wanting to see you, but-." Ron looked awkwardly at Harry. "We just couldn't.

"I understand of course. Um-" He was stealing to say something. "Have any of you read today's Daily Prophet?"

We all shook our heads, and Hermione spoke for us. "No, we've been trying our best to stay out of contact." I started breathing very hard. I bent my head over and covered my mouth and nose with my hands. My long hair happily disguised anything that was going on with my face. Harry tenderly scratched my bag. The last thing in the world I wanted was to be seen.

"Well Ron. We've been meaning to send an Owl, but we weren't sure-it's just not something that you normally put in an Owl. We only found out yesterday ourselves. We're not even sure when it happened exactly since he'd been missing for so long."

"What are you talking about Dad?"

"Luna, are you okay?" Hermione asked. I just nodded underneath my hair and kept my stance.

"She's fine." Arthur pronounced. "She just knows what's going on."

"She knows what?" Hermione pleaded.

"I found out last week that a month ago Percy failed to report for work. One day they let slide by, but after a week, they sent people to his loft. They tried to contact the friends that they knew. They didn't even think to contact us. Scrimgoeur had told them that he had disowned us.

"Scrimgeour is many things, but he does have a fondness for Percy, and had spent quite a bit of time with him both in and out of work. He knew precisely who Percy spent time with, and he knew that it didn't include us. So an intense investigation was launched. Scrimgeour himself went with the investigators day and night as they tried to put some clues together. He kept all of the business very hushed up because he didn't want anyone to get wind of the fact that his most-trusted right-hand-man had been taken right under his nose until it was confirmed."

"Is he-." Ron let his voice trail into the darkness.

"Yes. I'm afraid so. They found his-.remains yesterday."

"Where was he?" I rose up finally and looked over at Ron. His face was turning red, his hands cupped his eyes, and Hermione steadly clung to his shoulders as small tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes.

"I don't know where he was taken, but he was left on Scrimgeour's front porch as a warning. That's not what the Daily Prophet says, but I finally confirmed it."

"Do they have any idea what happened?" Harry asked. He was trying his best to stay strong for the rest of us. He took my hand again.

"They know very little. They don't believe that he ever made it back to his loft. They believe that the attack happened after he left the Ministry that last night. His friends tell us that sometimes after work he liked to walk to a pub down the street for some late dinner and butterbeers. The pub confirmed that as well, tho he didn't make it there that night." He lifted up a picture from his desk and handed it to Ron.

"Percy walked back into that picture two days ago." I leaned over and saw a younger Percy there waving and smiling with his family. "I thought that it meant that he had changed his mind about us and was coming back to us. I never thought-.this."

He rubbed his eyes. "Your mother is beside herself of course. So is Ginny. If you could get over there, that would be—"

"I'll go."

"Oh okay. Great. I was wanting to leave work early today anyway. I can't get anything done anyway." He started organizing his desk a bit, preparing for his departure.

"I'll go too." I gave Hermione an encouraging nod. Ron really needed her now.

"Well that'll be great Hermione. I know that Mrs. Weasley would love to see you."

I looked to Harry to see what he wanted to do. He nodded his head. "I guess we'd better come too."

"Brilliant! The more the merrier! Give me a moment. I've got to go leave instructions for Harold." He stood up and walked around us. "I'll only be a minute."

We waited together in silence. I know Harry and I were thinking that it was a little superfluous all of us going, and a little reckless too considering all that we had left to do and who was still after us. But some things were more important than even saving the world. Sometimes you had to leave that all behind to help a good friend.



~@~

What Luna Sees Nikcole Frame[copyright]/August 22, 2007

[*Liliana*]

Brilliant work! I loved this chapter!

Your attention to detail is so precise and illustrative. I'm really glad of that, because instead of wondering where I am or what I'm seeing in the story, I feel like the story tells itself without me pushing myself to read it. Does that make sense? Haha. Anyway, I really like your descriptions of the world's tranformation as Voldemort takes power. That's one of the things we didn't see much in DH. How interesting that Luna's mother had to do with the horcruxes. Very fascinating twist, can't wait to read more about that.

The scene with Harry, Luna, Hermiona and Ron was hilarious. I didn't know Harry was so bold But I'm glad they could sort out their differences.

This is all exciting. Post more soon!

And I like onions, so I'm sure I'll like the recipe. Thanks so much. ^___^ And I hope your move to Vegas is going/went smoothly!

[Chloe]

For all his faults, Percy didn't deserve to die. I feel for everyone.

Luna telling Hermione off for meddling was sooo fun! I also loved that Luna had a pep talk with Hermione about her and Ron!

Wow, they're gonna talk to the Prime Minister! That will definitely be fun to watch!

Chloe ;P

[nikcolarius]

Sorry guys, I do have an excuse for not posting this sooner though. I swear! I just moved to vegas and I'm 9 months pregnant! Um, okay, I also have no internet in my apartment yet. Enough of an excuse? Okay, fine. Bite me. It's here. It's actually been ready for sometime. I did have a virus on my lappytop for a while though. So I had to fix that, and then have an opportunity. Oh well.




~@~


Chapter 7

I like to describe The Burrow as the house that an imaginative child dreamt up. After all, each level was stacked up together leaning this way and that like a child's tower of building blocks. And many of the plants surrounding the house looked more like beings from another planet than they did like plants. The interior had more of a mother's touch to it with flowered curtains, bright and colorful cushions and pillows, Witch Weekly magazines scattered about, and knitting patterns folded out over the dining room table with a starter-stitch weaved between two needles.

We found Mrs. Weasley dressed in black lace sobbing into a handkerchief in the corner of the kitchen. Arthur walker over to her, embraced her, and informed her of our presence.

She hastily wiped her eyes and blew her nose before turning to us.

"Oh my dears, how good of you to come." She went to Ron first and surveyed him awkwardly before folding him into her arms. "Oh Ronald, we've missed you terribly." She rumpled his hair and kissed the top of his head.

She moved onto hugging Harry and Hermione, and then she came to me.

"Oh Luna, so good to see you." She hugged me as well. "I knew your mother well. She was one of the sweetest ladies I've ever known, and one of the smartest. And you have her look about you my dear." She glanced me over with a small smile.

Then she turned to her kitchen and started playing her normal role. "Sorry for the mess dears. I wasn't expecting company." She cleared her knitting patterns and magazines, wiped down the table, and started piling pots on the stove and lighting fires beneath them. "I'll get something ready for you all in a jiffy. Who knows the filth you've been eating lately. You should go upstairs to see Ginny. I know that she'd be pleased to see you. She hasn't been out of her room all day. I'll call you down when this is ready." She grabbed vegetables from beneath the cupboard and instructed her knife to chop them. I noticed that she moved at an incredible speed, as if something terrible would happen if she stopped or even just slowed the pace.

We made our way in a line upstairs and I trailed. Ron tapped on Ginny's door with a fingernail.

"Go away! I'm not coming down!"

"Ginny, it's me." We heard swift footsteps, the unlatching of several locks, and the creak of the door. She swung the door wide, rubbed her face like sandpaper, and jumped up to hug her brother.

"Oh my God. It's really you!"

"Yes yes Ginny, I'm here."

She turned from him and smiled lightly.

"So you've heard then?"

"Yes I did. Mom seems—"

"I know. I thought she was bad before. But now she can barely stop crying half of the time. She was going through his baby photos last night. That was-.well Dad's just been very quiet. He doesn't seem to know what to say. What can you say really?"

She looked behind Ron to Harry and Hermione and then finally to me.

"So-.you guys alright then?"

"We're fine Ginny."

"It's really good to see you."

"Same here. Why don't you guys come in. It's a bit of a mess, but I can clear some space for you." She backed up into her room and started tossing books, sheets of parchment, clothes, candy wrappers, and other things on top of the mound of rubbish that had already amassed on the floor from the two beds. She sat in a chair next to a desk in the corner while Ron and Hermione took one bed, and Harry took the other. I closed the door and tip-toed through the room, trying to not crush anything, before settling next to Harry.

"Yeah, sorry for the mess. Mom would be appalled if she came in here. Thankfully I've so far managed to avoid that." Ginny was taller and paler than before. Her hair looked dirty and her clothes hung loosely on her. She looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"So Luna, you're a part of the team now then? Bill told me."

"Yes." I shifted on the bed. I'd been sitting on her hairbrush. "A new recruit."

"That's neat. I wanted to go too but-.that wasn't going to happen." She stood up and began pacing the one area of the floor that was left vacant. I noticed some bitterness to her voice. "It was far more important for me to stay here and bang my head against the walls than go off and do important things like you guys."

"Ginny. It wasn't like that and you know it." Harry insisted. "You couldn't come because Voldemort would have used you like he did before. It has nothing to do with your abilities or our relationship."

"Yeah yeah. It's just been lousy being stuck here. Mom wouldn't let me go anywhere. And that's going to be ten times worse now."

"We're here now Ginny. We'll try to talk to her. Maybe we could convince her to let you go help Fred and George in the shop."

"Ha ha. Fat chance of that."

"Ron! Hermione! Harry! Luna! Food's ready!" Mrs. Weasley called from downstairs.

We all rose up. Ginny stopped in her tracks a moment, then turned to the door, and lead the line out. I carefully closed it behind us. No need in making Mrs. Weasley more upset than she already was.

The five of us pounded downstairs and found seats around the table as Mrs. Weasley was setting up plates. The kitchen was full of smells of warm freshly baked bread and a soup of some sort that I couldn't identify just yet.

She ladled six bowls of soup and passed one to each of us, saving one space on the table for her husband. She placed two large steaming baskets of bread in the center of the table, added a jar of butter, and a flagon of butterbeer. The soup turned out to be a Corn Chowder with a hint of Gruyere and some dill. It was absolutely wonderful. The sweet corn even had a slight crunch to it.

"Mmm. Great soup Mrs. Weasley." Harry said between mouthfuls as he reached for a slice of bread.

"Yes, it's wonderful."

"Absolutely."

" S good Mom." Ron sputtered out with a mouth full of bread and soup.

"Well thanks dears. I imagine you haven't been eating too well where you've been." She gave us all a knowing glare. "Eat up now. I'm going to see if I can find your father. His soup's getting cold."

As she walked away, Harry asked, "Where does she think we've been?"

"Somewhere in the middle of the Amazon probably. You know, some place with no food beyond snakes and large bugs."

"You'd think we'd be dirtier."

"More beaten up too. Sporting enormous bites and head-wounds or something."

"Mom's never been very logical. She figures since you're not telling her where you've been it must be some place really bad."

"Oh this smells heavenly Molly." Arthur stepped in and took his seat and one large spoonful. After swallowing, he nodded his head. "The best you've ever made."

"Thanks Arthur. There's bread there too."

"Great great. Hey Luna, you'll have to congratulate your father for me. (i)The Quibbler has been putting (i)The Daily Prophet in the poor house."

"Yes. He's thrilled. He's been busier than ever."

"Well, we've all been. This is the first time that I've been home before midnight in I can't remember how long."

"It'll be nice to have the family all together again." Mrs. Weasley smiled her heartiest of smiles. "Charlie should be arriving sometime tomorrow, and Bill and Fleur and Fred and George should be here tonight. We'll be crammed but, we'll manage."

"Sounds great."

"Yes, well-." Her face darkened.

"Do you need me to send any Owls out Mrs. Weasley? To family members I mean." Hermione asked politely.

"I do need to be doing that. It slipped my mind actually. There are so many-.so many things to do."

"Don't worry Mrs. Weasley. We can take care of all of that for you. Just tell us what you need."

"That's sweet girls. I just-." She shook her head. "I don't know."

"Well, just give us your address book when you're ready and we'll take it from there."

"The Minister is taking care of most of the arrangements for us."

"That's very kind."

"Yes it is. He feels responsible. Well-.he's not the only one." She turned and walked to the corner of the kitchen. She started washing apples. "I wanted to make a few apple pies for dinner tonight" she explained.

I got out of my seat and walked over to her. "I can help. My mom taught me how."

She smiled at me and patted me on the shoulder. "There's an extra apron on the fourth drawer on your left."












Later, as I was adding sugar and honey to a large bowl of chopped apples, Harry came over. "Hermione and I are going to go back and grab some clothes for the next couple of days and feed the pets. Is there anything in particular you'll be needing?"

"Just some basic clothes. Oh, and my black velvet dress and a few pairs of shoes. And make sure that she remembers my mother's quilt. That should be all."

"Alright. I'll see you in a bit then." He smiled and lovingly rubbed my shoulder. I knew he wanted to kiss me good-bye but figured that that wouldn't be appropriate just now.

I turned back to my bowl and started adding cinnamon and maple syrup. I heard Ron and Ginny talking animatedly behind me. I could feel Mrs. Weasley watching me.

"My. You do like your apple pies sweet don't you?"

I grinned. "I guess I do. They're better if they can marinate a little while."

"I know. That's why I started early." I began mixing with my fingers. This was always my favorite part of baking: getting messy.

"This was Percy's favorite." I listened to the sound of the apples sloshing together. Mrs. Weasley seemed to be a little too choked up to say anymore.

"We'll have to save him a plate then."

"What?!"

"We'll just get an extra plate and put it out there for him. He'll know that it's there."

She smiled through her red eyes. "That's a sweet thought. We just hadn't spoken with him for so long, I don't feel like I knew him."

"Of course you knew him. People never truly break from their roots."

"He was engaged to be married you know."

"No. I didn't know."

"He was engaged to his old friend from school: Miss Penelope Clearwater. They'd only just announced their engagement before he disappeared."

"So, he must have been happy then."

"I guess so. I just wish-.I wish I'd kept hounding him like I did at the start of this whole mess. I used to take special trips up there once a week to pound on his loft door when I knew he was there and beg him to come out and let me talk to him. After Arthur's accident, I was so focused on him that I forgot to go. Then, months passed, and there we were. I'd just let him go."

"I don't believe that. You never let your own child out of your heart. That's impossible to do."

"You are so like your mother. Now come on. Leave that. Wash up and follow me outside. I've got some new plants out there that I wanted to show you. If you're anything like your mother was about plants, you'll adore them."

"Okay."







Soon the house was full of voices and the smells of enormous platters overflowing with food. We set up tables outside, covered them in a mint green tablecloth, and adorned them by vases of purple and green flowers I'd picked from the garden. Mrs. Weasley and I moved the platters to the table outside while Hermione and Ginny set up the plates and utensils. The babble continued as we all sat down for dinner. I sat between Harry and Ginny and across from Bill and Fleur. Fleur was undergoing a long spiel about some new plays she'd seen and their plans for their new house. Mrs. Weasley pretended to listen. I wasn't sure if she was even the intended target. Sometimes I just got the impression that Fleur talked for the sake of talking. But now it seemed appropriate to fill the air with as much positive energy as possible.

Fleur's black dress did make her look paler than normal, but the fabric clung to her figure beautifully; and the red rose in her ear, and the red beads wired into her chain necklace, all made her look very charming. I could tell that she was trying to stay as positive as possible for the sake of her husband and his family. She was sounding a little too enthusiastic and laughing a little too loudly for it to be real.

"Mrs. Weasley, you've been such a big elp wiz all of your decorating tips. She took me to all of ze best furniture shops in London, and ze fabric and paint stores as well. Our little country cottage will be absolutely stunning when I'm done wiz it!"

"So, you guys close up shop then?"

"No. We have a few assistants that we trust who are going to run things for us for a few days. They should be fine. I don't like leaving the store, but we couldn't afford to be closed. We can't afford to not capitalize on all of the business we get in every day. Sometimes, you have to do what you have to do though." Fred's face looked unusually grave.

"I'll say one thing about your store." Arthur spoke out from the left end of the table. "You definitely have something that the customers want. I've never seen a shop so busy."

"Everyone has been saying that. They seemed shocked that a joke shop could do so well. We're going to try and expand to Paris next."

"That would be wonderful! I can tell all ov my relatives to go see!"

"Well, that'll help. If all of these attacks would stop happening. I mean-.people are just afraid to go out anymore."

"And rightly so. I don't want any of you to go anywhere after dark. Do you hear me?" Mrs. Weasley waved her finger at each of us in turn.

"Yes Mrs. Weasley." We all echoed in defeated voices. Fred and George needn't mention the fact that they closed shop just after dark. She should have known that there wasn't something right since all of her children downright refused to call her Mom.

"Excellent food Mrs. Weasley." Harry told her while he was plating up more roasted potatoes.

"Yes. Very very good Mrs. Weasley."

"I absolutely love what you did with your green beans."

"Just an old family recipe." All of the compliments had lightened her up some.

"So Ginny," Fred shifted his chair. "Are you going to be going back to school?"

"No! She" glaring evilly at her mother "won't let me." She folded her hands, pushed back her chair, and put on a poutty face.

"That's right. Teachers killing teachers. That school isn't safe anymore. Which is why I rightly—"

"But if Ginny isn't going to school, what else is she going to do? She can't live in her room and pout all day. That isn't healthy for anyone." Fred was trying to be as clear as possible.

"We've already discussed this. It's not safe out there. I don't see any reason to further discuss the—"

"Molly. Fred's right." Arthur sighed. "We can't just keep her here. If Ginny is not going to school, we'll need to make other arrangements for her. This has gone on long enough."

"Mrs. Weasley violently stood up, rocking the table and its dishes in the process. Her face was neon red. "I've just lost my son. I will not lose my daughter too!"

"You won't lose her Molly."

"Yes, George and I will take good care of her. And we can arrange for her to see Bill and Fleur very often and come back here to visit every weekend if you insist."

Mrs. Weasley settled back into her chair, folded her hands as if in prayer, and tried to make herself calm. She was shaking slightly. She didn't want to lose it in front of her whole family, or nearly her whole family.

"It's just Mom, Ginny could be a real help to the shop. And we miss her. You know that we're so busy up there that we haven't had much of a chance to see her. And plus, there's a lot that she can learn by working with us."

"I could take her shopping wiz me. I know zat she has excellent taste!"

"Just think about it Molly. We shouldn't be deciding anything right now anyway. No pressure whatever, alright?"

She took a deep breath that shook her whole soul. "Alright Arthur."

"Now Bill." Arthur shifted his attention to his son. "Have you made any headway with the Goblins yet?"

"Nay. There hasn't been any time for any serious discussion lately. We've just been working our fingers to the bone. A lot of people have been cashing out their life savings so they can flee the country. They are scared of losing all of their customers. I can tell you that."

"Where are they going?" Hermione asked with a perplexed face.

"Mostly America. Some to other parts of Europe. Although, attacks have been reported in France and Spain as well. Mainly where people have family."

"That's awful." Hermione shook her head.

"Well, they figure, better to leave than to stay here."

"What about the muggles? Are they fleeing too?

Bill looked uncertainly around the table and met eyes with his father. "Well-.no."

"See Hermione." Arthur decided that he'd be the one to explain. "The Ministry feels that if the muggles knew what was truly behind all of their natural disasters and mysterious deaths of late, that that would cause a widespread panic that would make everything worse. Not to mention that the Ministry is not ready for us wizards to reveal ourselves to the world yet. So the muggles know that there are strange things going on, but they don't know definitively that they are connected. They have their suspicions definitely. They aren't as simple-minded as the Ministry makes them out to be. Many are predicting the next apocalypse."

"Well, of course they know that something's going on! How long does the Ministry think that they can keep this lie going?"

"Rufus Scrimgoeur is determined to maintain the Statute of Secrecy. And he refuses to listen to any ideas otherwise. Dumbledore always said that there would be one day when the muggles would find out out of necessity because we'd need their help. He knew that a true stand against the Dark Creatures of the world could only happen with the muggles at our side in the fight.

"And we're already getting to the point now where there are too many things happening for us to keep going around obliviating people. We don't have nowhere near the manpower to counter everything that has been happening. Soon enough, we're just going to have to let that go, and focus on what we should have focused on from the beginning: getting rid of You Know Who and his followers ourselves.

"But, for now, we're just stuck."

There was a hush around the table as everyone absorbed those words. Mrs. Weasley shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"What is the Order doing then?" It was Harry who asked the question this time. His voice jolted me back to life in the steadily chilling garden.

"The Order is tracking You Know Who and his Death Eaters, and trying to stop deaths before they happen. There is also a large army of Dark Creatures that You Know Who has put together that we're trying to keep tabs on. We know that they'll be making a strike soon, but we're not sure where or when."

"Making any headway then?"

Arthur shook his head. "Very little. Many of us have been undergoing such long hours at the Ministry that we haven't had much time for much else. We also don't have enough people. The Order isn't the same without Dumbledore around. Moody has been trying to fill the post, but-." Arthur let his voice trail into the fog that was starting to surround us. He looked very defeated.

Mrs. Weasley arose and started going around the table picking up dirty plates. "I think we'd better head inside for dessert. It's starting to get chilly out here. Why don't you guys help me bring the plates in and I'll heat up your desserts for you with some coffee."

We arose in a daze and started carrying piles of dishes to the kitchen.

I took my pile in, set it on the counter, and asked Mrs. Weasley if she wanted me to help with the dishes. She said that I'd done more than enough, and implored me to sit in the living room with the others. When I made it over there, I noticed that Harry was nowhere to be found. I looked out the window and saw him conversing with Mr. Weasley just outside of the back door. I sat next to Ginny while Fred and George bragged about their latest encounters with the opposite sex. I wasn't listening to them really, I was watching Harry's face. His eyes were getting fuller. He wasn't talking, only listening.

I smelled the aromas of coffee and apple pie coming from the kitchen. I put my fingers through a hand-knitted blanket that was draped behind me on the couch. They looked like pink beans resting on jagged waters of white, blue, and pink. Harry broke out into a smile and then a laugh. He was so handsome when he smiled.

Mrs. Weasley came bustling in with a tray full of steaming mugs of coffee. She handed a mug to each of us, and went to the back door and called Harry and Arthur in. They finished their conversation in soft whispers. Harry broke into another big smile before turning inside.

Mrs. Weasley swept passed us again and returned a moment later with a tray full of hot slices of apple pie with small mounds of ice cream oozing down them from the top along with swirls of caramel. She passed a plate to each of us with a fork. We all dug in immediately, wanting to get to that ice cream before it had totally melted. The apple pie was scalding to our mouths, but the pain was worth it. I savored every last mouthful.

"Excellent pie Molly."

"This is the best apple pie that I've ever eaten. It tastes a little different than normal."

"This pie is just awesome!"

"Well, you should be thanking Luna for this pie, as she did most of the work."

"Oh?"

"Yes, thanks Luna."

"It's great Luna!"

"I didn't even know you could cook. We should make you do this more often." Ron gave me a little wink. He could be cute when he wanted to be.

"Thanks guys. Mom taught me."

The door we were all facing creaked open suddenly, and the final Weasley son stood before us silhouetted in the doorway looking mysterious against the swirling fog behind him. It seemed hours before he finally walked into the candlelight.

He was as tall as Ron, but his hair was styled with gel to make a slight spiky fringe on the top. His eyes looked solemn, though he tried to smile. Both of his hands were covered in white bandages. He was dressed in a black dragon-hide jacket with black jeans and a black turtleneck.

"Charlie!" Molly rushed to him and gave him a large squeeze.

"Oh Mom. I'm so sorry. We all loved him you know. We never wanted this to happen."

"Oh Charlie." Tears started to flood her face. "I'm so glad you're home!"

"I'm glad too Mom. I was lucky and able to come home sooner than I'd expected."

She didn't want to let go. And I couldn't blame her. There was such peace in the thought of holding onto her son forever.

Arthur came over and padded his son on the shoulder.

"Great to have you home." He rubbed Charlie's shoulder a moment and then peeled Molly's hand from Charlie's side and put his arm over her shoulder and quietly rocked her to the kitchen. He handed her a handkerchief from his robes, and she covered her face with it. She didn't want her children to see her like this. She wanted to remain strong for them, regardless of how ridiculous that was now. We all stood still as they passed.

Strangely enough, Ron was the first one to stand up and shake his brother's hand. "Nice to see you again mate."

Quickly, a line formed behind him, of brothers greeting brothers with Ginny making the rear. Harry, Hermione, Fleur, and I hung back and waited. I hung my head and started rubbing my legs with my palms vigorously. The friction kept me focused somehow. I couldn't even hear what they were saying.

It was when he shook Harry's hand next to me that my daze finally broke. He turned to me, held out his mummy-hand, and grinned. "And I don't believe that I've had the pleasure."

I took his hand and shook it lightly, being careful to not squeeze too hard. "I'm Luna. Luna Lovegood."

"Oh. Your father runs The Quibbler, doesn't he?"

"Yes. He helped start the magazine too."

"Oh yes. That magazine is brilliant. I especially liked that article about the perfect pet for these dark and dangerous times: The Chinese Firebolt. We all got a kick out of that one at work."

"Yes, well, even Voldemort and his Death Eaters have their weakness: they all make good dragon food."

"Haha. Yeah right!"

"What happened to your hands Charlie?"

Charlie looked down at his bandages. "Oh, usual. A Norwegian Ridgeback got a little tizzy with me. It's nothing new really. I get burned all of the time."

He looked around at all of us and then asked, "Hey, do any of you know what really happened? I mean, I didn't even know he was missing."

"None of us did."

"Dad just told us that he went missing a month ago. That he was kidnapped after work one evening and showed up dead on Rufus Scrimgoeur's front porch yesterday morning as a warning to him from the Death Eaters." Fred explained.

"I guess Scrimgoeur and Percy were really close. He's taking care of most of the funeral arrangements for us."

"I mean, was he involved in anything that the Death Eaters would have been interested in? The paper said that he'd been brutally tortured."

Fred shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"None of us had spoken with him for months. Dad saw him at work occasionally, but they usually just ignored each other."

"He was engaged to be married and he never told us."

"The whole thing sounds pretty fishy to me." Bill shook his head. "I wonder what they're not saying."

Our thoughts hung heavy in the air of the room. I could even see them if I squinted slightly.

"He was really smart." Charlie started thinking out loud. "He could have very easily gotten himself in too deep into something."

Mrs. Weasley stepped in. Her eyes were still red, but she had a big smile on her face. "Well Charlie, we have plenty of dinner left. I'm sure you're hungry. Do you want me to make you up a plate?"

Charlie smiled back. "Sure Mom. Thanks."

"No problem. I'm just glad that you're home safe and sound."

She finally looked down to his hands. "My word! What have you gotten into?"

"Oh, you know Mom. Just got a little too close to the line of fire. That's all."

"Well, come into the kitchen and I'll fix you a plate. I do want to have a look at that after dinner, alright?"

"Yes Mom." Charlie grumbled. Then he followed her into the kitchen.

Silence fell heavy upon us again, and we looked at each other uneasily. I finished the last of my pie. It was luke warm now.

I watched Fleur whisper something into Bill's ear, take his hand, and then give him a soft kiss on his cheek. He whispered her something back and she giggled under her breath. I was careful to not look at Harry. I didn't want to give anything away.

"Game of Exploding Snap anyone?" Leave it to George to lighten any dark mood.

"Sure."

"Sure."

"Yeah, lets."









Soon enough, the room was full of the sounds of laughter and the occasional small explosion.

A few hours later, Mrs. Weasley interrupted us to make sleeping arrangements. Ron, Harry, and Charlie were in Ron's room. She put Fleur and Bill in Percy's old room. Fred and George took their own room. And finally, Hermione, Ginny, and I bunked together in Ginny's room. Ginny had to sweep upstairs quickly to tidy up before Mrs. Weasley made it up there. It was still dirty, but most of the disaster had been hidden in her wardrobe and underneath the beds. My bed was added to the middle of the room, which made for a tight squeeze. But, we made the most of it and chatted about girly stuff until the wee hours of the morning. I had never heard Ginny talk so much.











The following day, Hermione, Fleur, and I helped Mrs. Weasley sort through names in her address book and send out owls, while the rest of the crew spent much of the day outside playing a Quidditch game of sorts. Mrs. Weasley would explain each name as she wrote out each letter. In between descriptions, Fleur bored us with even more droning on about her plans for her new cottage. Hermione and I kept our quiet and concentrated on the rolling and sealing of the letters. We exchanged our looks of annoyance from across the table. I started cringing every time Fleur flopped her hair behind her shoulder. She tilted her head playfully whenever she did it in order to draw the maximum amount of attention. I really really wanted to smack her.

"So, whose next Mrs. Weasley?"

"Just a few left dears. I'm going to save this one for Stefano for last. He's a muggle you know. Works with numbers I think. I'll have to make a run to the Muggle Post Office to get stamps for it.

"But, let's see." She ran her finger down the open page.

"Looks like we only have three others left. Mr. Scrimgoeur has taken care of the rest—Percy's friends from work and his fiancée. It actually looks like the entire Ministry of Magic will be there tomorrow."

"Where's the funeral going to be?" We had been trying our hardest to neglect discussing the funeral itself much. But since she'd made the mention, I figured I'd seize on the opportunity to probe her.

"The Ministry's cemetery. It's just down the street from their headquarters. I've never been but Rufus said it was nice." She forced out a half-smile. She turned her eyes back down to the page on the table.

"What about the Wake?"

"Oh. Rufus has something arranged for that. I'm grateful actually. There's no way that there'd be enough room for all of us here. Plus, he can take care of security. There's going to be a lot of important witches and wizards there you know."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. My mother iz going to be there. She wanted to give you her condolences herself you know?"

"That's good to hear Fleur. Percy would have liked that."

"It's just been so hard of late wiz all of these deaths."

"They've been everywhere." I stated a little dramatically, not really to anyone.

"I've already lost two of my good friends from school." Fleur added. She was concentrating hard on her hands. "I sometimes wander when iz it all going to end, you know?"

"I think that we all wonder that Fleur."

"It can't all be stemming from one person. There's too much now for it to only have one source."

"What do you mean Luna?" Fleur asked, raising her head up to reveal her large gray eyes. The whites of them were tainted with pink.

"Nevermind. Mrs. Weasley, which letter do we have next?"











Fleur gave Bill a large kiss and a hug when he came back grinning from Quidditch. The boys and Ginny came back red and sweaty but in good spirits. They took their showers in turns as there were only two bathrooms for all of us. Ron had apparently made a number of spectacular saves, and he kept describing each one over and over to whomever happened to be around him, regardless of how little interest the person showed in it. Bill was particularly enthusiastic and chatty. He hadn't been up on a broom for a very long time he said. Harry smiled and listened, but he didn't talk much. Sometimes, I got the feeling that he was staring at me.

We had another merry feast for dinner. This one wasn't punctuated by tears and yelling as the last one was. Everyone was trying their hardest to spin things to a light-hearted tone. It was amazing that it could happen that way at all given what we were all facing the next day.

I woke up very early, showered, and carefully dressed into my somber clothing. I did some writing in my journal downstairs in the quiet kitchen. I was trying to figure a few things out. I wasn't making very much headway though.

Mrs. Weasley was the first downstairs. She put the kettle on before even seeing me.

"Oh Luna, my dear. You startled me." She placed her hand on her chest as if to balance herself against her fluttering heart.

"Sorry Mrs. Weasley."

"Oh, it's quite alright dear. I just wasn't expecting anyone down here this early."

"I've been already here quite a while actually."

"Couldn't sleep huh? Yeah, I couldn't sleep either." She reached down to her lower shelves and started pulling up pots and pans and cradling them down on the stove. I could tell that she was trying her hardest to not wake anyone up. "I kept tossing and turning. I just never thought that-.I never thought that this day would come." Her face reddened a bit, but she turned back to her stove and started reaching for ingredients from the cabinets above.

"So, what do you want dear? Toast, eggs, waffles, pancakes, bacon, fruit, or cereal? I believe that we have some oatmeal and porridge as well."

"Toast and scrambled eggs would be great. Oh, and some coffee too."

"I've already got the pot started." She lit a flame underneath the nearest pan and dropped a couple of scoops of butter into it. She pulled out a bowl, cracked two eggs, and started whisking them with her wand as she poured in some milk from her carton. "I think that I'll have tea this morning myself though. Tea's a good drink to keep you going."

"That it is."

"He was always such a-.such a good boy you know? Always so well-behaved. I never had to tell him to do anything more than once. And he was so independent even when he was young. He never needed the attention that the others did. Or, maybe he did, and I'm just-." She stopped in her tracks a moment as she was stirring the eggs. The wand remained stationary for a whole minute before she remembered to go back to it.

"You're a wonderful mother."

"You're sweet. But I am not so sure about that any more. I think that if I truly were a wonderful mother none of this would have happened."

"What happened to Percy had absolutely nothing to do with you."

"Did it? I'm not so sure anymore."

"Of course it didn't. Voldemort just wanted to send a warning to Scrimgoeur. It had nothing to do with who Percy was, with who his family was."

"No dear, I suppose it didn't." She started looking out the window behind the sink as she continued to stir the eggs. Dawn was just breaking the darkness outside.

"Would you be wanting anything in your scrambled eggs?"

"Just cheese is fine."

Five minutes later, she served up my plate of eggs and toast and poured me a cup of coffee, and poured herself a cup of tea. She placed the creamer and sugar jug in front of me and sat across from me. She took a long sip before asking:

"So, what's there between you and Harry?"

I chewed my eggs slowly before answering. "You noticed?"

"Well, I think of Harry as another son so. He's strained right now certainly. I was expecting that. But he also seems to be a little happier than normal. I also saw the way you two look at each other. Can't hide anything there."

"It's nothing really. It's just-."

"I know."

"Now is not a time for relationships." I reminded myself of Hermione.

"Well." She flicked out her hand. "When is it ever?"

I smiled. "I suppose never."

"I have a close friend who works at the Ministry. Elenore is her name. We went to school together.

"She works long hours and she's very dedicated to her job. I've been telling her for years that she needs to settle down with somebody. But every time, she tells me the same thing: I'm too busy right now. It's not time yet.'

"The point is that I highly doubt Elenore will ever settle down. She's already too old to have any children of her own. And I worry that she'll end her life wishing that she'd taken some time from work.

"I understand that everything now is-.well, to be perfectly honest it's the worst I've ever seen it. But, if you wait now, you may not have the opportunity later. And, I wouldn't worry about Ginny. She's grown up so much this past year that I barely recognize her."

I sipped my cup and listened to the birds chirping outside. "I feel that there is something that I should tell you about Harry."

"What's that dear?"

"Mind you, you can't tell anyone else I've told you. Hermione and Ron don't know yet, and Harry wants to explain it to them himself. I just don't know when I'll, or when we'll be back here. And I'd rather you know so that you can prepare. So that it won't happen for you like it did with Percy."

"What do you mean Luna?" She looked noticeably unnerved.

"Harry is the one who will bring down Lord Voldemort. I think you know that already."

"Well, I thought. But-.how?"

"I don't know how. I just know that in order for it to work, he'll need to sacrifice himself."

"Luna." She looked at me with a very tough glare. "How can you know that?"

"It's a gift I have. My mother had it too. Maybe she told you."

"I know she knew things but, she never really explained it. I got the impression that she didn't know much about it herself."

"Well, that makes two of us."

"But, you mean to say that Harry will-."

"Yes. I'm so sorry, but yes. But remember this Mrs. Weasley: after that, it'll be done. It'll be all over. All this will be gone."

"But, he's so young. How can he possibly—"

"I don't know how. There's some tie between the two of them that'll help bring down Voldemort. I don't understand it much myself."

"And, he knows?"

"Yes. I believe that he has known all along. A part of him has anyway."

She buried her head in her hands. "I can't handle this. It's too much. First Percy, and now this."

"I'm sorry Mrs. Weasley. I didn't want to burden you. Especially today of all days. I just thought that it may help knowing that Percy's killer will be brought down. And I also think that it's important for you to be prepared for what's to come. That way you can say to him what you need to without any regrets." I was already questioning my decision to tell her. But I think that she'd resent me if I didn't. And my mother trusted her above all of her other friends.

"Yes, I know dear." She reached out and grabbed my hand. "How like your mother you are." She smiled at me through her red eyes.

"darn." She stood up, wiped her eyes with her handkerchief, and smoothed out her green robe with her hands. "I didn't want to do this today. I want to be strong for my kids. There's no need in them seeing me falling to pieces."

"I think that they'd understand. You've lost your son. There isn't anything easy about that."

"No. I suppose not. It's just rough enough on them now as it is. I don't want to make it any worse."

"This day is about saying good-bye and celebrating the life that he led."

"It won't be much of a family affair. Not with all of those Ministry officials there."

"Maybe it'll give you a good chance to find out what he was up to these past few months."

"Funny how I have to hear about my son's life through strangers."

"That's his choice not your's."

We heard footsteps clicking downstairs. Arthur gave the pair of us a soft smile.

"Well, good morning lovely ladies. How are we this morning?"

"Good."

"We're fine Arthur. What will you be wanting for breakfast?" She turned back to the stove.

He walked over to her and rubbed her back and gave her a light kiss. "Just toast and coffee dear."

He pulled out a chair next to Mrs. Weasley's vacant seat and settled himself into it. Mrs. Weasley poured him a cup of coffee and handed it to him.

"Thanks Molly." He took a long swig, then smiled. "That's the ticket. That makes things a whole lot clearer."

He took another sip and looked curiously over at me. "So, you're an early riser too. Huh, Luna?"

I shrugged. "Sometimes."

"Well, I have to for work. Tho, I suppose that my body has gotten used to the schedule."

"That'll happen."

"When do we have to be there Molly?" He looked over to his wife's back.

She walked over with his buttered toast on a plate and slide it on the table in front of him. She returned to her seat. She murmured "11 o'clock" before taking back her tea.

Another set of footsteps made their way down the stairs and into our room. I was pleased to see that it was Harry. His hair was sticking out all over the place, almost like he'd suffered an electric shock before coming downstairs. But, he smiled as he greeted us, and took a seat beside me. I could tell that he'd had another bad dream.

"What will you be wanting for breakfast dear?" Mrs. Weasley bustled back to her familiar spot by the stove. "Eggs, bacon, waffles, toast—"

"How about a couple of waffles with coffee. I've missed your waffles."

Mrs. Weasley handed him a cup of steaming coffee before returning to her stove. Harry dove into the cream and sugar and then drank down half of the cup of coffee in one large gulp.

"Oh that feels good!"

"Did you sleep well Harry?" Mrs. Weasley inquired.

"I slept okay. Well, Charlie and Ron were having marathon snoring matches last night so. It's a wonder that I slept at all."

"I could hear them from my room too Harry."

"I think the whole house heard them. Tonight I'm going to have to put (i)silencio charms on them just after they fall asleep. They've gotten worse over the years you know."

"I should have thought of that. I've been dealing with it all summer." He grabbed my hand from under the table and gave it a light squeeze.

"Well, when you have six boys and him." She glared over at her husband. "You learn a few tricks of the trade."

"It runs in the family then cause Ginny has the same problem."

"Well, she does take after me you know."

"Yes, unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, all of our boys take after you. I was hoping that at least Ginny would take after me."

"She does Mrs. Weasley. She has your scorching glare."

"My what?!" She exclaimed as she placed Harry's plate in front of him. But she looked pleased.

"You know. That look that you give when you disapprove of something."

"Also, you have to remember dear, Ginny looks much like you did when you were that age."

"Hmpf." She settled back into her chair and went back to her tea.

"By the way Molly, have you seen my black cloak. The new one you know?"

"Well, it's not really new anymore, you've had so many funerals to go to lately. But it's hanging clean and pressed in our closet upstairs, right where it belongs."

"Okay."

"Harry, do you need me to iron anything for you today?"

Harry swallowed hard. "Yeah actually. All of my clothes are stuffed in my bag. It'd be a miracle if they weren't wrinkled."

"Well, after your done with breakfast, bring them down to me and I'll iron them for you. Might as well get a head start while we can you know."

"Sure Mrs. Weasley."

I saw a strange glare in her eyes as she looked at him.

"So, will this be just at the cemetery, or--"

"They'll be a parade of sorts bringing the body to the cemetery. The actual ritual will take place there. Scrimgoeur's taken care of the arrangements for the wake as well. We'll find out where that'll be at once we get there I suppose."

"How are we getting there?"

"Scrimgoeur arranged a Portkey for us since he knew that a few of us are still too young to apparate."

"Actually, that reminds me. I want to get to the Florist shop early this morning before everyone else gets up. I reserved an arrangement for Percy there that I need to pick up." She arose from her chair and put her cup of tea in the sink. "I better get changed and do my hair and all of that."

"Sure Molly."


~@~

[nikcolarius]

Alright guys. Sorry that this next post took so long, but there's been lots going on lately. The big thing has been of course that I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on October 25th. Her name is Margaret Marie Boni, and she's is so beautiful. She's a very happy healthy baby.

This is a short post, but there's lots of important stuff to follow it, and it has a nice breaking point. Finally in this post we are getting to things I've written after reading Deathly Hallows. It took us so long to get this far because I had pages and pages penned before the book was released. I still am going to attempt to continue it as I originally planned, regardless of what was in DH. But, I've read it so, I can't just pretend that I haven't and that it won't influence how I write, even if it's unconsciously.

But I envisioned DH in happening a lot differently than what J.K. did. So this story should really be able to stand on its own.

Anyway, enjoy all!












~@~

"Percy was a noble man, beloved by all who knew him. He was a man of conviction, who met his end much too soon. But, he did so with his head held high in hopes that his death would serve the greater good; a greater good that he had ruthlessly been trying to protect these past two years-

"We cannot ask why these things happen. It is God's will. We can know that he's at a better place now amongst the many others of late who have selflessly sacrificed themselves for the cause-"

There were many people. Most had a stiff hardened look about them as if they were merely there on official business or something. Most of the silent tears came from his family, a tall blonde down in front who I assumed to be his fiancée, and Rufus Scrimgoeur. Although, his tears were far from silent. The normally harsh and unyielding man looked torn with grief beyond grief. He was bent over and bawling uncontrollably. And I knew why the second that I saw him.

Percy hadn't just been tortured, he had been mutilated. His body in fact looked like he'd suffered from a long attack by some vicious animal who had literally shredded his limbs. But, on top of the piercings, there were bruises everywhere—he had two black eyes in fact, and even his fingernails were black. What haunted Scrimgoeur the most was their last conversation. It ran in his head like some cruel joke. It fueled his nightmares.

"Well, I'm off Rufus. I was going to have a butterbeer before heading home to Penelope. She'll be asleep now anyway. Would you care to join me?"

"Sorry Percy. I've got too many things to finish. Work's been never ending lately you know?" In the memory, Rufus was bent over his desk examining paperwork. He continued reading through it as he was talking and listening to Percy.

"Yes yes. It has for all of us. By the way, I'm nearly finished with that report on the Potter boy."

"Yeah? Any clue where he might be?"

"I don't know where he is at the moment, but sources tell me that he has traveled recently to France, Spain, and Albania. He has been traveling with my brother Ron and the muggle-born Hermione Granger."

"What on earth have they been up to?!"

"Well, there are rumors about Mr. Potter of course. But I don't think that it's coincidence that they went to Albania exactly where You Know Who was rumored to have been in hiding before he regenerated. I believe that they're on a quest of sorts trying to figure out more about Voldemort."

"So, he still thinks that he's going to take him down himself does he? Such a foolish boy."

"He is foolish certainly Rufus, but I get the impression that he might actually be getting somewhere."

"Why is that?"

"You Know Who's power is weakening."

"It's weakening?!" This is the first time in the whole conversation that Rufus turned away from his paperwork and gave a hard long look at Percy.

"Yes. So the Aurors keep telling me. And they can't think of any reason why. None of their many attempts at bringing Him down have been successful you know?"

"And you think that it has something to do with Potter?"

"Yes sir."

"How?"

"My report'll explain it more thoroughly. It's getting late and there's a lot to it."

"Alright then Percy." He seemed softened now. "Just get that report to me as you can."

"I will Rufus. I have a little more research on it to do first."

"Well, have a good evening and give Penelope my regards."

"Certainly sir. She's all of a flutter about these wedding plans."

"Women will do that." He gave a soft fatherly smile.

"I guess I'll be off. I'll be seeing you tomorrow then Rufus."

"Yes Percy. I'll see you then." He didn't look up as Percy left, and he regretted that more than anything else.








The reception was held at a large banquet room in a hotel down the street. There was a long table off to the side full of food. No one seemed to be eating much. There were several tiny groups scattered across the carpeting. I sat in a chair against the opposite wall next to Harry. His head was bent down concentrating on the contents of his bottle of butterbeer. I rubbed his back through his shirt to try to comfort him.

"I can't believe he's gone. I remember him from my first day at Hogwarts."

"A lot of people are gone now."

"Makes me wonder who'll be next."

I looked hard across the room. Should I tell him?

"You know don't you?"

"Yes, well-.yes, I do."

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat. I removed my hand from his back and placed it on my lap. I started rolling my hands.

"Anyone I know?"

I nodded.

He turned my face to him with his forefinger. He looked at me with big deep eyes and asked quietly, "Who is it Luna?"

"Don't worry, it's none of them." I pointed in the direction of Hermione and Ron who were in rapt conversation with Ginny. "It's Scrimgoeur. He isn't going to get over this." None of us had seen him since the service.

"Maybe you shouldn't tell me this."

"I normally wouldn't. I only did because you asked."

"Sorry. I guess I shouldn't have."

"It's weird, I know."

"And knowing can't change anything?"

"No. It can't. It's fixed already. You see?"

"What about Hermione and Ron? It'll be my fault if something ever happens to them."

"They'll be fine. They live long and happy lives together."

"That's good to know." He looked awkwardly over in my direction. I stood up and smoothed down my dress. I wasn't going to let him ask that.

"I'm going to see what they have for dessert. Do you want something?"

He scanned me with his eyes and his soul. He understood, but it made him quiver a moment. "Um-.sure. Anything with chocolate in it."

"Gotcha."












The room seemed to have quadrupled in size as I made my way across it. I felt like I was walking through tunnels.

I returned with two slices of chocolate mousse pie and four chocolate-covered strawberries each and we ate in silence. I savored every mouthful. Chocolate mousse pie is one of my most favorite things in the world. Time seems to stop as you eat it.

"There is something else though, Harry."

"What's that?"

I finished the last of my pie and sat the plate and the fork on the chair next to me. I pursed my lips and thought hard.

"Percy was tailing the three of you before he died. It sounded like he knew where you were last summer."

Harry didn't say anything. He was holding onto his fork but not doing anything with it.

"Which means then that—"

"Voldemort knows." Harry spoke in a very dark voice that didn't resemble his own.

"No. Not, um, not necessarily."

"He knows. He knows everything."

There was too much sense in that to argue. I felt the heat emanating from his face.

"Dam.nit! Why couldn't he have kept his nose out of our business. Then he'd still be-."

"That was not why Voldemort took him. I think that He took him just to frighten Scrimgoeur into passing laws his way. I think that it was just pure coincidence that he knew about you."

We both kept our silence for a little while. I know that the pair of us were imagining in horror Percy's last days. I also started to wonder when his mind had turned to his family.

I watched the somber party. It was like a dance that had gone horribly wrong. A dance with no colors, no music, and no smiling faces. We all shared our grief in whispers. Whispers of a soul that had been so violently taken from our world. One who still had so much left to do.

"We'll have to move quickly then. We'll move quickly before-.before-.before he gets the chance to make some more."

"Well, we do know our deadline: All Hallow's Eve."

"We need to see if we can get those pieces together now that we have both lockets."

I automatically clutched the locket in my pocket. It was so important that I felt it necessary to keep it on my person at all times. It also reminded me of my mother in a very dark and strange way. I felt like a piece of her was still tied to it some how.

"Yeah. I haven't-.I haven't looked at them yet."

"We need Hermione for that. She's the code-breaker. Well, I suppose, so are you."

"My codes usually aren't so visible."

He wasn't listening. "So, that leaves two left to find. And we still don't know what one of them is."

"Actually, Hermione and I are pretty sure it's the Spear of Destiny from what that Grindelwald book said. But that still doesn't help much."

Both of our sets of eyes wondered over to Ron. He was chatting and grinning at least. He was still pale and his eyes looked worn and haunted. He was trying his hardest to think of anything else.

"We can't take him from his family yet. They need him right now."

"I know." Harry sighed.

"He needs her too." I nodded toward Hermione's enormous head of hair.

Harry smiled and tipped his head. "He's always needed her. From day one."

"Some people are like that."

"I wish I were." Harry wasn't trying to be hurtful. I knew that right off. He was just being honest.

"You were always destined for other things."

"Too many things."

"So, what do you want to do?"

"Just usual—bring Him down. Have normal life for a change. Nothing much really. This has never been about what I want." I need to get him away from here. We need to go to a quiet place for a while where none of this could touch us. But, I was only dreaming again.

"What are you two up to?" It was Ginny making conversation. She took a seat beside Harry and started munching on some bright petit-fours.

"Nothing much. Just talking. What about you?"

In between bites, Ginny answered. "Just been enjoying this rip-roaring party."

"Haha. It's just a blast. Isn't it?"

"I know I'm not supposed to be making jokes, but I can't help it. This place is a bore."

"Well, what did you expect?"

"I don't know. Maybe more talk about him. This thing here for all intensive purposes could be just another business luncheon."

"Why didn't more of your family come?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Probably afraid to travel right now. Most of them are abroad anyway. There are actually a fair amount of them here but their numbers are nothing to all of the people that Scrimgoeur brought."

"Well, I suppose that none of this is right."

Ginny looked into the air. "No. I suppose not."

The Veil popped into my head for some reason. Maybe they would know. Maybe they could tell us something. Most of the Ministry was here. If we could only-

"At least Mom's been able to talk with Penelope." She gestured over to the two weeping women who were embracing each other. "She's a wreck tho."

"Have you talked with her at all?"

"A little. She's really torn up."

"I can't imagine." I shook my head.

"I can't either."

"What about Percy's other friends? From work and school and whatever?"

"I don't know. I never really knew any of em. I'm also not really in the mood to go off and introduce myself to strangers."

"I know what you mean."

"Ginny? Do you know where the bathrooms are?" Harry set his plate on the ground, stood up, and started wiping down crumbs from his robes with his hands.

Ginny started at him bewildered a moment before daring to answer.

"Outside the double doors, way down the hall, and to the left."

He strode off without another word. She never took her eyes off of him until he'd finally left the room. Ginny's head was racing with questions. You could tell by her eyes.

"Those any good?" I pointed down to her plate of petit-fours. There were still five bright little squares left.

"Oh," she jumped. "Yeah, they're alright." She picked up another one and nibbled at the corner like a rabbit.

"How's Ron?"

"He seems okay." She mumbled.

"Harry and I might leave him and Hermione with you guys for a little while. We just have a lot of things to take care of."

"I don't think that he'd like that very much. You four were supposed to stick together no matter what."

"I know that. But I also know that he really needs to be here with his family right now."

Ginny pressed her brain hard for several minutes. "Luna, can I ask you a question?"

"You can ask me anything Ginny. You're still my oldest friend you know."

"How is it that you know so much? It's creepy sometimes. You naturally take charge and you know what's to be done."

I scanned the room to buy myself a moment. It wasn't much of a room, but it still had lots to look at. "Do you happen to know what a Radio is Ginny?"

"We studied radios together in Muggle Studies. Remember?"

"That's right. Well, I used to play around with them when I was a kid. One thing about turning the dial on a radio is that often you hear more static than actual stations. There used to be channels that I could only pick up from certain rooms in the house or if I twisted the antenna a certain way.

"See, I get flashes of things. It used to be constantly, but I've learned to tone it down a bit so that I could still function. Otherwise I start reading too many different things at once.

"But, like with a radio, sometimes I hear everything and sometimes I only hear staticky parts of it. The signal is never a direct connection. It is only ever pieces of one.

"Like right now I know that you're worrying about Harry. That you love his green eyes. That you wish Percy weren't such a creep so that you could mourn him properly."

Her face turned to stone. "Da.mn that's creepy."

"It's better not to be talked about. It tends to scare people. It can also be a very dangerous power to have."

"Are there many of you?"

"I honestly don't know. I don't seek out people who can do this. I try to keep it mainly to myself so that I can just be normal like the rest of you."

"Have you ever talked to Trelawney about any of this?"

"Trelawney's a Seer. She's interested in glimpsing into the future, not the present. My future knowledge is very limited. I can only see what'll happen down the line based upon present existing circumstances. That is much different than tapping into a portal to a future world.

"Besides, Trelawney sadly doesn't know as much as she says she does."

"Yeah well, it's just that the two things sound similar."

"They are and they aren't. It's hard to explain."

"But that's why Harry needed you on his mission—you can see things that the others can't."

"Pretty much. I also know the details of some specific things that they were looking for."

"Like what?"

"I—"

"Hey guys. Where's Harry at?" Ron sounded like he was loosing his voice.

"Bathroom."

"No he's not. I just came from there. It was totally empty."

"I didn't see him come back in the room. Did you Ginny?"

She shook her head.

"Where could he be then?"

"You don't think that he might have, I don't know, left?"

"He wouldn't." Or would he?

"I'll go look around. He's gotta be around here somewhere."

"I'll go with you Ron."

"I might as well go too. I really don't want to stay here." Ginny deduced.




~@~

[copyright]What Luna Sees by Nikcole Frame/November 7, 2007

[nikcolarius]

Hello again all! I am very pleased to offer my latest chapter to you all. It'll probably sound a bit different than the others. I've been experimenting with different writing techniques. It also has been some time since I wrote that last bit. Writing changes with time.

I purposely leave a lot of things vague. That's because usually no one really knows exactly what is going on. Having things too clear is against our nature. Plus, Luna isn't exactly a clear-cut individual to begin with.

If it's too confusing though let me know. I would be happy to clarify.

Anyway, Enjoy!







~@~


Chapter 9

"Luna we should just go back to Mrs. Weasley's. We've been searching for hours. We've been everywhere. It's pretty obvious that he's not here."

"Yeah, and he may be there already." The pair of them fell behind me, and I unconsciously slowed my feverish pace. Ginny had been whisked home by her mother hours ago, despite her rampant protests. She did promise to send an Owl if he returned. So far, nothing.

There were Aurors stationed all around the building, and yet no one had seen him. What was equally puzzling was the fact that they informed us that it was impossible to apparate within a five-block radius of this place. They'd done that to prevent any intruders from apparating nearby. It did mean that everyone had to either travel by portkey or have a little walk ahead of them. But at least it was the warmest it had been in months.

So, he had to have walked somewhere. But, where?

"I have no clue where he could have gone. Unless he was-.taken."

"We already talked about that Luna. There's no way any Death Eaters could have apparated in here, nor made it passed the Aurors."

"If Harry could disappear, so could they."

"I just don't want us to resign ourselves to the worst. That won't do any of us any good."

"I can't believe he would leave." I circled my mind around those words, until I was forced to admit the truth: yes, I can.

"Let's just go Luna. There isn't any more that we can do here."

To leave felt like a sorrowing humbling defeat. That a little piece of me would be left to linger and wait, and henceforth be forever irrevocably torn from my soul. Nothing felt right.

I focused on the wallpaper that had been foreign this morning, but had already become far too familiar. "Fine."








I really wished that I had my own room. So instead I made use of the only place of privacy that was left open to me: the bathroom. I must have been in there for hours. I just sat on the toilet with my head in my hands, and let my mind race around me. It was selfish I know. I actually never intended upon being in there that long. I had no sense of time anymore. I just kept trying to think of or remember something. Some link that I'd missed. But there were always so many.

I went into a haze those next few days. It was like being surrounded by a blinding and deafening fog. I could see and I could hear, but it wasn't like it usually was. I saw as though I was constantly squinting. Sounds came slowly to my ears and they echoed strangely, like my head was trapped in an empty cave. I don't even know if they told me anything about Harry I would have registered it. I just really wasn't there. I was with him, and not with him, in the weirdest of metaphysical senses.

I had no way of knowing if it was time yet. I thought it was later, but I could have guessed wrong. I've done that before.

And there was so much that I didn't say.

I don't know what finally broke me out of it. I just know that one afternoon two weeks later I found myself on my middle bed in Ginny's room and Hermione was talking to me, but I could finally see her and hear her. The sun was hitting her face through the thin white curtain that was draped over Ginny's window. She looked tired but determined. She was clearly pressing me about something. She still talked way too fast.

"I know that Harry is gone right now but, that doesn't mean that we should stop our mission entirely. There's a lot that we won't be able to do, but I thought that we could at the very least make some headway on the lockets. That's why I need to see the locket Luna. Will you let me see it now? I know that it was your mother's but—"

"It was never my mother's."

Hermione smiled slightly. I think she was just glad that I replied at all.

"Will you let me Luna? I don't mean any disrespect. But it would be a shame to waste all of this time that we could be using productively. And then, when Harry returns—"

"If Harry returns."

"When Harry returns, we'll be that much closer."

I stood up and walked to the window. I stared into the light.

"Have you opened the locket?"

"No."

An abyss of a pause.

"You're right Hermione. We do need to do something." I reached into my right pocket and pulled on the silver chain until the entire necklace was out in the air. I thought I saw the house stir slightly once it was out in the open to acknowledge the danger that was in our mist.

I walked it over to my bed and cracked the seal open. A wave of silver confetti zoomed out of the locket and formed into a line that curved and danced in front of my face.

"Finite Incantatum," Hermione shouted. The confetti abruptly stopped in mid-air and then fell to the bed in sharp clicks. I picked up a single square, and saw that the face was vacant save for one curved blue line.

Hermione hesitantly sat beside me in a small space she cleared with her hands very carefully. "That's how the others were." She scooped up a handful and raised it to her eyes. "Yes! Luna, these markings are similar to the others. So the two sets must fit together."

"And, what will they make?"

"Don't know. We'll have to see won't we?"



















I spent most of my time there in the garden. Mrs. Weasley often asked me to prune the plants and vegetables, and it was a good place for me to find some quiet and some privacy. It also reminded me of my mother. She was very much into Herbology.

Today was another overcast day. But it looked like a storm wasn't too far away. It wasn't just overcast to be overcast like it had been. There was some purpose to it.

I covered some of the delicate flowers with an old quilt Mrs. Weasley kept out here for this sole purpose. It seemed a shame to cover those brilliant shades with that dark blue blanket, for they so acted like they wanted to keep looking at the world, but it was what was best for them. I told them so.

I heard the grass being disturbed behind me. I stayed there crouched on the ground as still as can be listening hard. I hadn't heard the backdoor open at the Weasley house. It had a very distinct creak that bellowed over the sounds of the outdoors, that I was thankful for for it meant that I was never disturbed without at least a little foreknowledge. But there had been nothing this time.

I arose slowly staring out ahead into the garden and the hills behind it. I wiped out my wand from the elastic of my skirt rapidly as I'd made the move to stand. I hoped that whoever it was didn't see that. I tried to cover the motion with my long sleeves.

I really should have just turned right around right then, but to be perfectly honest I was frightened. I did not want to face what was behind me. I wanted to pretend that I hadn't heard a thing, and whatever it was would just go away. I also was trying to hear or feel something. Trying to gage what I was facing. I had special powers after all. Couldn't they be truly useful for once?

A pair of hands lightly fell onto my shoulders, and I jumped and swept around, wand directed right at his eye.

"Harry!" I was breathing really hard. That's all I could say. I just clutched at my chest and looked at him as my mind started to rage against him. It's amazing how quickly one can go from happiness to total unspeakable anger.

He looked fine. He was pale as usual, but there weren't any scratches or bruises or anything to suggest that he had been forcibly prevented from contacting us. The only sign of distress he bore were red eyes with dark circles underneath them. But mine looked ten times worse than his. I could guarantee it.

"I'm here Luna. I'm alright."

My breathing was getting worse instead of better. He looked a little frightened.

"Look, I know you're upset. You have every right to be. But, I can explain—"

I swallowed a lump so hard I didn't think that I could ever breathe again. It felt like it went straight down to my heart. "Explain?!"

"Yes. Why don't you come inside and calm down a bit first? You don't look well." He innocently held out his hand.

The last thing that I wanted to do was calm down. I'd been calm long enough. "No!"

Harry started pacing as he always did when he didn't quite know what to say. He also kept playing with his hair.

"I had to go find the Dursleys. I thought that they'd just be at Privet Drive, and then I'd be right back, but they weren't. I've been searching for them all of this time."

"Why?"

"Because I had to settle some things. They are after all the only family I've got."

"Why couldn't you-tell me?"

"As I said, I thought I'd be right back. I never planned on being gone this long. But, I lost my head when I saw Private Drive. I thought that there was something wrong. They'd never leave the house for that long without canceling the paper or the mail, or sending someone over to water the plants. Dudley would never have gone anywhere without his video game stuff. Not unless he had no choice."

"Where did they go?"

Harry drew a breath, ready to divulge the long story, but I cut across him. "Never mind. I don't want to know. I do want to know how you could possibly be gone for so long without even thinking of what it might be doing to us. You do know what we thought, don't you?"

"I—"

"You what? I know Hedwig wasn't with you. But there are other ways of staying in touch. But obviously you didn't care enough to try."

"Luna, I—"

"It doesn't matter. None of it matters." I rushed passed him and stomped my way to the house. The grass was too thick to give off much sound, but I was pressing the ground as hard as I possibly could with every footstep.

I entered the house, didn't even bother to close the door, and dashed upstairs straight to the bathroom. I stayed in there for the rest of the night, despite persistent knocks on the door. I hummed loudly to myself so I wouldn't hear their pleas. I do know that it wasn't just Harry pounding on the door.

















I snuck into Ginny's room when I assumed everyone else was asleep. Ginny was snoring loudly and Hermione had wrapped herself up into a cocoon in her covers. There was another full moon out.

Harry and Mrs. Weasley were chatting together downstairs when I arrived there the next morning. It was just sleepy small-talk. It didn't look to me as if Harry had been up very long. Mrs. Weasley on the other hand looked like she might have been sitting at that table all night.

She gave me the warmest of smiles though. I love that woman.

"Oh Luna my dear. So good to see you."

Harry stayed silent.

"It's good to see you too Mrs. Weasley. So sorry that I hogged the bathroom so long yesterday. I hoped that I didn't spoil your dinner."

"Oh nonsense child. We caught up with Harry. And I do understand you being upset like that my dear. Harry and I had a long talk about it last night, didn't we Harry?"

"Yes. We did." He purposely was keeping his responses as short as he possibly could. He didn't want to say the wrong thing. He was outnumbered after all.

"And we both agreed that you should have made every effort to stay in touch, especially given what's been going on lately. But he did promise to do that from now on. Didn't you Harry?"

"Yes Mrs. Weasley."

"Anyway, you must be famished dear. What can I make you child?"



















"For the first time in my life I just, I just don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?" We were in Ron's very overstuffed room. Everyone else was downstairs. That is, those who were left.

"I don't remember ever being like this. I remember people talking about being like this, but, not me. It never made sense to me. Things were always so clear for me. But now-."

"Luna, what are you talking about?" He was starting to get irritated. I was more vague then usual, and that was really saying something.

"I thought that I could handle it but I can't."

"Handle what?"

"You know what Harry. This whole mess just reminded me of precisely what we are facing."

"Oh." He looked down at his feet, and let his hair fall over his face. Hair could be comforting sometimes. It helped when you wanted to hide.

"I just don't think I could do it. I don't know what would be left."

"There's always something left." I was pleased to know that he knew exactly what I meant.

"Yes but, it happened before for me you see? With my mother. I was lost for so long. It took months before I came back. Knowing what I know now, I think that this would be even worse.

"I don't know. I really shouldn't be talking to you about this. I know that it isn't easy for you either."

"Luna, I—"

"Nevermind. Just forget that I mentioned it. Just tell me about your Aunt and Uncle. Were they taken?"

Harry looked at me for a little while very puzzled before answering. He was struck by such an abrupt shift in gears. "No. They took themselves rather. See, one of their neighbors got attacked by a pack of werewolves. The news just said that it was wild dogs, but my Uncle knew better. He insisted that they leave immediately for he was convinced that they were really after them. He's been a bit more unhinged than normal lately. Of course, so have most people with the news reports of late. A day doesn't go by without some unexplained death or bizarre natural disaster. People dying of heat stroke on a chilly day. No wonder the muggles have been getting suspicious.

"They stayed on the road for weeks, stopping at various camping sites and inns every few days. Vernon used cash so that they couldn't be traced. But of course, us wizards have our own methods of tracing. Finally I located him renting a house out in the middle of outer nowhere. The local town has a population of seventeen or something ridiculous like that. It took a lot of persuading to just convince him to let me through the door.

"I did manage to speak with my aunt in private though."

"Is that what you went there to accomplish?"

"I just wanted to see her really. I didn't know what should be said. I just really needed to see her."

"Why?"

Harry's face was up now. It had a very far away look about it. "I don't know. I think it was after being around Ron's family like that—seeing them at the funeral. It made me remember that I do have family of my own. Aunt Petunia and I hadn't been able to talk much before. And I realized that I really don't know very much about her. Not the real her anyways."

"Why did she hide it? Why was she always so mean to you?"

"It's hard to explain. I know a lot of it had to do with Uncle Vernon and his menace of a sister Marge. They hated me the second that they laid eyes on me.

"She always agreed with her husband. Always."

"But—"

"I don't want to dwell on the past Luna. The important thing now is that she realizes her mistakes and she's offered her apologies. That she loves me and wants to be a part of my life. You have no idea what it's like to hear that from her Luna."

"How does she see that working? I don't see Vernon changing his mind about you any time soon."

"I actually don't see her with Vernon too much longer. I think that she's finally realized that he hasn't been worth all of the trouble that she has been through for him."

"That's quite an about-face she's made. What changed?"

"I really think that it was just that one day she woke up and realized that the life she'd been living hasn't been her own. That she was merely living the life that Uncle Vernon had laid out for her. Or maybe she finally got sick of cleaning up after him and her lazy son's a$$. Ha ha."

"That's great. It's just-.unexpected."

"You're telling me."

We sank into ourselves for a little bit and let in the quiet. There was always so much between us that was never said. I wondered about that sometimes. Whether fear of being hurt or hurting others was running our lives more than we were.

There was something that really needed to be said.

"Don't ever do that again Harry. From now on, where you go I go. Got it?"

"Yes Luna, I do. I really do." He took a few steps towards me. He slid his fingers into my hand and focused steadily on my eyes. He made it impossible for me to look away.

"I know what it's like to have to wait for someone and being forced to imagine the worst. I won't do that to you ever again. I promise."

"No matter what?"

"No matter what."

I tried to imagine the worst of situations where this promise would truly come into play. But I don't need to go there. I really don't need to go there. Not just yet.

"So, now what?"

"Well, Hermione has been working on the lockets the past few days. I'm afraid I haven't been much help."

"Oh good. Do you know if she's uncovered anything?"

"No. We'll have to ask her."

"Where is she anyway?"

"She should be downstairs somewhere. Let's check shall we?"

"Certainly."


























I don't know what to say of these days. I really don't. We met. We talked. We did our work. The sun rose. The sun set. Mrs. Weasley kept feeding us. She knew better then to ask questions about what we were up to. Harry and I only talked about nothing. I kept having nightmares about Voldemort. Or rather, nightmares about an image I'd created in my head that I called Voldemort.

Life didn't come into focus again until a week later when Hermione and I were sitting on my bed with the pieces on a water-logged board between us. They made a metallic puzzle of sorts that we'd been working on together for days. It was Hermione who placed the final connecting piece into its resting place in the center of the puzzle. Then, the pieces magically melted together to create ripples of gray water. The ripples subsided to reveal a map drawn in red ink. Various destinations were marked by curvey signatures. I don't know how else to describe them. They looked like the handles of staves. Handles that would dig into your hands. Two ends weaved into one another, disappeared, and then weaved again. They flashed emerald green every few seconds. The map really felt like it was alive. It even managed to shake the bed slightly. It was as if it had a heartbeat.

We found the marker over the cave. Then there was the one over the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts where the Riddle Diary had been destroyed. There was one over the House of Gaunt. You could even see a drawing of the crumbling rubble on the map. One was over Paris. Another was in Northern Scotland. And the final was in the Department of Mysteries.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't understand. Why is one in the Chamber of Secrets? He didn't hide the diary there. He had Malfoy hold onto it for him."

"That was its intended resting place. After its use had been exercised, that's where Voldemort intended to keep it." Harry's voice came in a long thread without interruption. He breathed the words out of him without question. We didn't have to ask him how he knew this.

And then it dawned on me. Suddenly I understood. Yes he had gone to see the Dursleys, but that wasn't all that happened. Harry wasn't totally there anymore. He was being slowly overtaken. That's why our words had been so broken lately.

I looked at him so hard. I twisted my eyes into a fury doing so. I was losing him. We were all losing him. It was too late. But hadn't it always been too late?

"The one in Paris would be the Gryffindor locket then right?"

I needed to take a knife and cut him out of him. I didn't care if it meant that I had to cut off one of his arms. I was willing to do anything to prevent this. Anything.

I heard the rain tapping against the window. I saw the drops trickle downward like tears. It had been raining for days now.

"Yes. The cup is in Scotland. And then that leaves the Spear for the Department of Mysteries."

I imagined the water trickling down into my hair. I relished in the thought. It was far too hot in here.

"Luna! Where are you going?"

I went out barefoot into the grass and started running. I started off slow and then grew faster. I didn't want anyone catching up with me. The grass squished between my toes. I felt like I was running through vast marshlands. I headed for the dense woods.

Strange memories came to my mind. The day that my father bought me a dress out of the blue for no reason. The day that I first met Harry. He looked so apart from all of his friends. Even back then I could see that. The Veil at the Department of Mysteries. How it fluttered. How our very different worlds met together in that slight movement. The voices I heard. Those voices. I'd forgotten. They told me about this day. They told me what I needed to do. They told me to not be afraid.

The grass had turned to rocks, roots, and needles long before I noticed it. I had to bend one of my feet up to see the blood. I couldn't feel anything.

There was no sky visible from here. Just trees. Just trees.

If only there had been a star.







~@~

[copyright]What Luna Sees by Nikcole Frame/November 23, 2007

[robertburnsnight]

I feel like the story tells itself without me pushing myself to read it. I really like this... Awesome work...
Write more please...