Heaven ♡ Luna Lovegood

14.

Chapter Fourteen;

"Bill! Don't go, not yet!"

Ginny pushed her way through the small crowd at her Aunt Muriel's, where they'd been relocated for days after Harry, Ron, and Hermione were captured at Malfoy Manor - the fact that Ron was with them would mean that their entire family was sure to be targeted, and the Burrow was no longer safe. Bill had just brought Ollivander from Shell Cottage with the news that the three were okay, as were a goblin, Dean Thomas, and Luna Lovegood.

Bill turned, an eyebrow raised. "Ginny, what is it?"

"Bill, you said Luna is with you?"

Her oldest brother nodded. "Yes, she came back with Ron, Harry, and Hermione."

Ginny beamed. Luna was okay. A weight she hadn't realised she had been carrying was suddenly lifted from her shoulders.

And she knew a certain someone who would love to hear the news even more than she did.

"I ask because there's a friend of ours, Annie Wilkinson, she was really good friends with Luna, and the past term she's been distraught with worry about her," Ginny said, allowing herself to sound pleading. "I thought maybe if we could let her know, or even let her visit Shell Cottage -"

Bill for frowned.

"Ginny, it's dangerous, you know that."

"But Annie never had a proper friend until Luna!" Ginny exclaimed. She wasn't going to let up; she knew just how happy Annie would be to see Luna again, and vice versa. "You should've seen her, Bill! She walked around Hogwarts as white as a sheet every day. She needs to know Luna is okay, and see her if she can!"

Bill pressed his lips together. The silence that stretched between them was agonising. Ginny barely breathed, waiting for Bill's response. Please say yes, it would mean so much to both of them... Please, Bill...

"Where does Annie live?" he asked eventually.

Ginny grinned and told him, knowing that she had him. Bill considered if mometarily and then sighed.

"Fine. I'll let Annie know, and bring her to Shell Cottage." His expression then softened. "I think anyone needs a little bit of good news during these times."

+++

Unsurprisingly to anyone, Annie was tending to the plants in her greenhouse when Bill Weasley arrived just outside their house.

She had been the first to hear him. She'd been in the greenhouse since early that morning, trying to keep her mind off Luna, of the Carrows, of the fact Harry Potter had been captured (her mother listened to Potterwatch), and being accompanied by Ron Weasley meant that Ginny and her entire family was forced to go into hiding before the Death Eaters retaliated.

It felt like she was only losing everyone she cared about, one by one. Terror spiked within her at the thought of losing anyone else - she couldn't. She'd fall apart.

She'd been so absorbed in fertilising all the plants that when that crack the accompanied Apparation sounded, Annie yelled and jumped out of her skin, spilling fertiliser everywhere. Some nearby plants squirmed in protest.

"Sorry," she whispered to the affected plants, before she turned and ran to the greenhouse entrance. A scarred, red-haired man stood at the entrance to her house, talking to her mother.

"Excuse me, but is Annie Wilkinson here?" he was asking.

"Who are you?" Colette snapped, though there was a tremor in her voice. "Some Ministry official?"