Looney (Luna Lovegood x Fem Reader)

Chapter 42: Bad Idea

About an hour later we'd all walked to Hogsmeade under the setting sun, headed for the Three Broomsticks Pub. Hogsmeade was just as picturesque in the summer as the winter, with flowers sprouting in the beds that were nailed to the storefront windows and people playing music and dancing in the square. The sunset made everything golden, and there wasn't one person in sight that wasn't smiling. My friends and I walked through the narrow streets and around corners until we came to the pub, and it was exactly the same as I remembered it before Christmas with Luna. Cora was so excited to be in Hogsmeade for the first time that she could hardly control herself; all she did for almost the entirety of our walk was talk and smile and point at things, like a child running about in a candy store. 

"Seven cold butterbeers, please," one of the twins said to the girl who took our order. It wasn't terribly busy so our drinks were served relatively quickly, and we had a wonderful time. Cora spread the pictures out on the table and we looked through them, and Fred and George laid claim to the ones of Rory and I kissing. They said it was a joke, but quite honestly I wouldn't put it past them to use it in a prank against either of us in the future. We kept drinking butterbeer and talking, and I kept smiling at the thought of finally being able to just relax with my friends again. These past few months had been busy for all of us, and now that Romeo and Juliet was over I felt torn between being relieved and missing it. I hope they put on another stageplay next year so we could all do this again, just as long as I don't have to go around snogging my friend again.

"Anyone else smell that?" Ced asked suddenly with his face twisted up as if he caught a whiff of something rancid. Everyone else started smelling the air, and their faces twisted up just like his once they smelled it.

"Smoke," Rory said, pulling the neck of his shirt up over his nose and mouth.

"Maybe someone burned something in the kitchen," I suggested, but Cora shook her head.

"I know what burnt food smells like and it isn't this," she declared. The smell was getting stronger, and people at the neighboring tables were starting to notice it too. Suddenly the kitchen door opened, and the gaggle of staff that tumbled out were chased by billowing clouds of black smoke.

"Fire! Everyone out!" one of them shouted. This sent the customers into a frenzy, screaming and stumbling into each other to escape the smoke that was rapidly flooding the dining area. In an instant we were out of our seats, clinging to each other as we were caught up in the current of people funneling out the door. I held onto Ced's hand and let him pull me through the crowd until I found myself standing in the street, watching staff patrol the crowd and push everyone as far away from the building as possible. In a matter of seconds I found my friends standing somewhere else, and I counted to make sure we were all together. My heart dropped to my feet when I realized that I counted only six of us, and I couldn't find that familiar blonde hair in the surrounding crowd.

"Guys? Where's Luna?" I ask, trying to keep the fear out of my voice. They all look around and start calling her name, and I'm becoming more and more panicked by the second. I follow as they push their way to the front of the crowd, and I can't hide my ragged breathing that resulted from the frantic thoughts racing through my mind.

"Hey, look at me. We'll find her, okay? Breathe," Rory said when he saw me. Suddenly I hear a terrifyingly familiar scream from inside the building, just barely audible over the crowd and roaring flames.

"Help! Someone, help me!" it says. Only then do I remember how Luna got up from the table to go to the bathroom shortly before we started smelling the smoke. He and I looked back at each other, his eyes seeming to bore into mine.

"Don't you dare," he mutters as if he can see the haphazard plan that's forming inside my head. Without any second thoughts or hesitations, I break out of his grip and push past the waiters at the front of the crowd, sprinting towards the building that was burning faster and faster by the second.

Rory yelled after me and a waiter tried to grab me to keep me behind him, but I was quicker. The door had been left ajar from when we'd all gone out, and once I was back inside I instantly regretted it. The sudden onslaught of smoke and heat made my eyes tear up and it was next to impossible to breathe. I pull my shirt up over my nose like Rory had before, and I navigate the restaurant as fast as I can to find the ladies' room. Once I found it, I tried to open it only to realize that the heat had caused the wooden door to swell shut.

"Luna? Can you hear me?" I shout through the door, trying not to gag on the smoke. There was no answer, and it was getting harder to see. "Get back from the door, I'm coming in." I faintly hear coughing on the other side, and I back up to kick the door as hard as I can. It takes a few attempts, but the door finally opens up to reveal Luna with her face in her sleeve, sitting under a sink with her knees drawn up to her chest. I run over to her and help her up but she's having trouble standing on her own, so I hold her arm around my shoulders and half-drag her back the way that I'm not at all sure I came in. My lungs felt hot from breathing in all the smoke, and my side was starting to hurt from supporting her weight. I tried my best to think about something else, anything else, other than my current situation. I try not to think about the soot in my eyes, or Luna's coughing and labored breathing in my ear, the unbearable heat crushing me from all angles. I tried not to think about how I couldn't see much of anything except the black smoke that was lit up by the orange glow of the fire. Luna's hand suddenly tightened around my shoulder and she fell to her knees, coughing so hard I was sure she'd hurt herself.

"I can't," she rasped once she'd pulled me down with her.

"Yes, you can," I replied with a false smile, "Just stay awake. It'll be okay, it has to be. It's only a little further, it's-"

"Wait, I don't..." she interrupted, and her eyes roll back in her head as she passes out. She doesn't have much time, I think as I throw her arm around my shoulder again and keep dragging her towards the door, forcing myself not to panic. After a while I could see the outline of the door through the smoke, and I started walking faster towards it.

Suddenly the floorboard I was standing on snapped, and my foot went clear through it. The jagged edge tore through my trousers, through my skin, and it felt like it ripped clean through the back of my leg. Luna dropped out of my arms and slumped against the floor as I bit into my sleeve and tried not to scream from the pain. I couldn't see it, which was likely for the best, but I felt my blood dripping down my leg and pooling in my sock, my calf smarting in the hot and sooty air. I looked down at Luna to see that the smoke had clung to her hair and clothes which had tinted them a sickly grey, and I started to cry. It only made my eyes sting worse, but there wasn't much else to do in that moment. I could hardly move because of my leg, I could hardly see or hear anymore, and it was almost impossible to breathe without coughing.

I bury my face in Luna's shoulder and listen to the building groan. I wonder if the roof will fall in, and I realize what a bad idea this was. I shouldn't have gone with everyone to Hogsmeade in the first place and I should have kept better track of her, but I suppose it doesn't make much of a difference at this point. All I knew was that I wasn't ready to die; not here, not like this. I imagined what Mr. Lovegood would say if he lost Luna, and it only made me cry harder. I wanted so badly to keep going for her and make it out okay, but I couldn't get up. This was a god-awful idea, and now we're both going to burn because of me. I hear people yelling outside, but everything went dark before I could make out what they were saying.