In the Melancholy Moonlight, Part 5: Dark Matter

Chapter 260: Love

A/N: Hi everyone! I'm posting this chapter a little early because I am currently on vacation in a different time zone and I am honestly too excited about this chapter to keep it to myself any longer. I wrote this in a four-and-a-half-hour sprint last Sunday and I've been anxious to share it ever since.

This chapter has a TW attached for child abuse. It's finally time to begin an in-depth dive into Lucy's life with the Diggory family, which unfortunately is dark territory. If you're at all sensitive to that, you can stop reading when Lucy says "My dream wasn't a dream at all" and keep reading when she wakes up ("The dream disappeared suddenly, and Cedric's face was replaced with Harry's").

Anyway, this chapter overall is heavy, but I do think there's a net positive here. You'll see what I mean. I've been waiting four years for this chapter, and I hope you all enjoy it! I can't wait to hear what you all think.

Thank you for reading! Love you all!

🩵💛❤️💜🩷

LUCY:

Our first week on the run was blessedly simple. Or, well, as simple as a first week on the run could be.

I summoned Fawkes the day after the Ministry break-in after much debate, because we were all worried he'd be tracked somehow. He wasn't, though, and he was able to heal Ron's arm the rest of the way, but Ron was still weak because of how much blood he'd lost. We didn't have the necessary ingredients for a blood-replenishing potion, unfortunately, so we just did our best to take it easy. We kept eating the food I'd nicked throughout the month of August, not straying from our campsite in search of food. We moved locations every day, just to be as safe as possible, renewing our protective wards each time, and always had someone keeping watch outside the tent. I volunteered myself most often, citing my enhanced werewolf senses as good reason for me to be the one patrolling the area, and they almost always let me do it.

I hadn't touched the files I'd stolen from the Ministry. I hadn't mentioned the full moon. I forced myself to think only of the Horcruxes and how we might still win the war. I thought of the locket around Harry's neck and how it was slowly stealing the light from his eyes. I thought of all of the other Horcruxes out there still waiting to be discovered, I thought of where they might be, how we might get there. I thought of how they might be destroyed. I listened as Hermione and the boys talked about similar topics inside the tent, and I participated whenever I had something to add. A lot of the time, though, when they didn't think I'd have anything to add in the moment, they talked behind a silencing spell so I could focus on keeping my eyes and ears open for signs of trouble. They always filled me in later, and I trusted them, so I didn't feel wrongfully excluded or anything. I understood, and I was quite honestly glad that I didn't have to endure all of their circular conversations. I spent a lot of time lost in my own thoughts, watching and listening to the woods around me, trying not to worry about anything I couldn't control.

I wasn't very successful. I worried a lot, about everything.

At the end of our first week, at dusk, Harry called me inside the tent.

"Mione'll switch spots with you for a couple hours so you can eat and sleep," he said, "but we need to talk first."

"You were all rather quiet today," I remarked, crossing my arms over my chest. "Silencing spell, I'm guessing. What were you talking about, if not Horcruxes?"

"You," Ron said. "The full moon's a week from today. We need to talk about it."

I nodded. "Fine. The way I see it, there are two options, since we have no way of brewing nor acquiring wolfsbane. One, all three of you Stun me and make sure I stay unconscious all night. Two, I go off on my own and barricade myself with all of the magic I possess in a random room in a random inn, after I've somehow successfully gotten everyone to vacate it, and hope for the best, then meet up with you all in the morning."