Dementor's Kiss

Chapter Two - Shell Cottage

It was an odd mood that had fallen upon the group of young adults that were gathered in the kitchen of Shell Cottage as it was not the sort of mood you’d encounter amongst a group of friends. You see, the mood in the air at Shell Cottage resembled that of a funeral and for a good reason too. Slowly the different members of the resistance had drifted from their delegated rooms and made their way down to the kitchen, where they were all crowding around the kitchen table that had magically grown in size with each new addition to its party. A small nod had been the only acceptance to the others that had arrived, there were hugs between the girls but it was only that brief contact between them all. None of them could bear to speak, all of them grieving over the loss of everything that they had known. In silence the 5 of them sat there, all of them coping with their stress in different ways - some were playing with their food and turning the handles of the cutlery around in the palms of their hands, others were tapping their fingers on the table, their eyes directed out the window at the empty land around them.

Luna was stood beside the window, her elbows propped up on the counter that had been strategically placed underneath the wide window, so as to give a healthy sight whilst working in the kitchen - one of Fleur’s ideas no doubt. Her blonde hair rested gently against her pale skin, the knotted strands falling around her face, framing it in a way that brought out her bright eyes where they gazed out of the window. Her head rested on top of her hands, her absent-minded gaze gliding over the straying mounds of grass and sand towards two grey stones that stood dominant on the hill top. The night before they had all gone up to the hill top in the fading light with Fred’s body in tow and had proceeded to bury him beside Dobby. It had been slow work, George had insisted they didn’t use wands, and Luna had been reminded once more of that day long ago when they had last gathered there for a farewell.

Luna sighed, her mind recalling the tears that had been leaking from George’s eyes when they had said their final words and how he had promised to return the favour to the Death Eaters for what they had done to Fred. It had been painful, watching a man older than herself as he was reduced to tears over his lost brother. She would have much rather it had been herself that was put through the pain that George must be going through, at least she had witnessed something somewhat like that before when she had lost her mother.

"It's rather quiet, isn't it?" Luna said suddenly. Hermione’s eyes flicked up, focusing on Luna in a watery sort of glare as if scolding her for breaking their silence. Luna’s words had been like a gunshot through the silence; the crack of something precious breaking inside the otherwise empty room; it had broken them all from their self-conscious slumber-like state and forced them to think about what was happening.

“We can’t just sit here forever.” Neville agreed earning him the startled gazes of the others to swivel from Luna’s figure to his own and for that Luna was grateful. She was used to people glaring at her but never from people she calls her friends and it had been slightly unnerving to have both Hermione and George’s gazes on her as if they were blaming her for reminding them of their losses. Neville took a gulp to try to calm his nerves and Luna watched him with worry as he pushed his plate away from where he had been toying with his food and looked up to meet the curious gazes of her and the others. “If Harry were here we’d already be coming up with the next plan.”

“But Harry’s not here.” Hermione said solemnly. Her voice was monotone in pitch and Luna noticed that her eyes were dull and had lost all of the bright brown that used to sparkle within them. It was as if she had given up on everything completely, she had lost all the lives that had kept her going. Out of everyone at that table it was Hermione and Ginny who had lost the most but it was Hermione who had been affected the most- she had lost her best friend and her boyfriend, or at least that was what Luna presumed they were, and her family were far away clueless to the fact that they even had a daughter whose heart was breaking.