A Serpent's Heart

Chapter 20. Awaiting Fate.

Back home at Tacendi Mansion I was constantly afraid of fatal accidents. Though I doubted if they even worked, I had gifted my parents protective amulets for Christmas. I checked the Daily Prophet the second it got delivered to make sure no one I knew had made it to the obituary page. I had been particularly worried when my grandmother, who had come over from Switzerland, visited us. She was old, very old, so anything could be fatal to her. I had encouraged her to take the room on the ground floor, so she wouldn't have to use the stairs.

Exchanging letters with Draco made me forget my troubles. Life at Malfoy Manor wasn't the best, either, apparently, so we managed to cheer each other up through postals. In one of his letters, Draco had written:

I received a letter from you the other day, so I'm assuming you're still alive. Although you could choke on a peppermint toad, fall asleep in the bathtub, get bitten by a Basilisk or fall off a faulty broom right now. If so, don't worry! I'll make sure the entire Wizarding World shall remember you as the girl who saved me from the murderous Harry Potter. They might just give you a statue!

When the holidays were over, nothing had happened. My grandmother had safely made it back to Switzerland, and my mood had definitely improved. Draco hadn't written for a while, but I didn't worry. He was probably busy entertaining Death Eaters.

Relieved, I got my trunk, put Tiffany in her travel basket and grabbed my coat. I hugged my parents and ambled down the driveway, through a grove, till I had reached a street that ushered in a suburb. My parents had protected the entire area around our house, so only from here I could apparate to King's Cross Station. 

***

At the station I saw Draco and his mother. Draco hinted me to come over, apparently I was finally going to meet his mother.

"Mother, this is Keira Tacendi, a close, err- friend," Draco introduced me.

"Hello Keira," Narcissa said sweetly.

"Hello Mrs. Malfoy," I replied. We stiffly shook hands.

"I see you're a Ravenclaw?" remarked Narcissa, pointing at the emblem on my trunk. "Are you studying hard for your N.E.W.T.s?"

"Of course, I'm really keen to get some 'outstandings'," I blushed.

"If only Draco put such effort into his N.E.W.T.s," Narcissa sighed. Draco made a face.

If only you would give him the chance by protecting him from the Dark Lord, I thought.

"Doesn't he? It doesn't show. He sometimes helps me out with Arithmancy or Potions," I smiled. I imagined saying something positive about Draco's learning attitude might encourage his parents to value his education over his status as a Death Eater.

"That's really kind of you, Draco, but remember not to neglect your own work," Narcissa said coldly.

"It was nice meeting you, but I have to find my friends now. Draco, have you seen Luna?" I asked, eager to get away from his mother.

Draco looked embarrassed and shook his head. His mother turned away and pulled Draco along.

I boarded and looked for my friends. I was checking if they were in a compartment, when someone bumped into me. It was Neville. "Sorry," he panted.

"Doesn't matter. Are you in a hurry?" I asked.

Neville smiled proudly as he held up a tiny, feather-like plant. "Gotta show this to Luna. I bet she'll love it! It was really hard to grow," he beamed. "Have you seen her anywhere?"

"I was looking for her myself, actually."

Together we scanned the compartments. When we eventually found Emma alone in the last compartment, I knew something was off.

"Isn't Luna with you?" I asked.

"No?"

Neville and I looked at each other in surprise. Neville disappointedly looked at his plant and shrugged. We sat down in the compartment and waited for Luna.

We waited a couple of minutes, but when the train started moving and she wasn't there, we gave up all hope and discussed what might have happened to her.

"Perhaps her father won't allow her to return to Hogwarts. You know he disagrees with the new rules," Neville said.

"Or she will join us later, maybe she had an appointment at St Mungo's," I guessed.

"But she wasn't ill or anything. I think she would have told us if there was anything the matter with her," said Emma.

"Or there's something wrong with her dad and she had to take care of him," I replied. But then I remembered our sightings in the crystal ball. I went pale and stared out of the window in shock.

Neville looked at me anxiously and asked: "What is it? I can see you just thought of something!"

Knowing that I owed them an answer, in a shaky voice I said: "Luna saw a falcon in the crystal ball. That indicates a deadly enemy."

Emma and Neville stared at me in shock. "I remember now. I didn't believe it actually meant she was in danger," stuttered Emma. "But, Keira, didn't you see the Grim?"

I had hoped she wouldn't bring that up. "That's right. But if she really, you know... There would've been an obituary in the Daily Prophet," I stated, trying to undermine Emma's suspicion.

"She could have died on her way to the station," said Emma.

Neville watched us wide-eyed, clamping his plant to his chest. "Are you saying-" he whispered.

"Emma, you can't be sure," I said stubbornly.

The rest of the train ride we avoided further speculations, but that night, when I sat at the far end of the Ravenclaw table without Luna next to me, I really felt lost.

Headmaster Snape's speech was about "Dark times drawing nearer" and  how students had to do justice to the Wizarding World and adhere to the Dark Lord's wishes. Bearing in mind that Luna was missing, it was a sickening speech.

***

The room felt empty without Luna, despite my other roommates. We had all been fond of Luna. Without Luna, I didn't know how to survive the terror of the reformed Hogwarts. Ill at ease I went to bed, hoping she'd arrive sooner or later anyways.