The Curious Case of Luna Lovegood

Chapter 36: The Haunting

The sun was red as it rose from the earth, and one did not need to be a seer to know what it meant.

Luna hummed as she looked out her window.

"Red sky at night, sailors' delight.

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning."

"What does that mean?" Luna looked over her shoulder and saw her father peaking into her room with a mug of tea in hand.

Luna glanced out the window and uttered. "It means a storm's coming."

Xenophilius was silent for a moment before he spoke. "I was wondering if you would...well, would you like to join me for a cup of tea...or hot chocolate...or..."

"Tea's fine..." Luna replied as she kept staring out the window.

Xenophilius backed out of the door muttering. "I'll...be down stares when you're...ready."

Luna heard his footsteps as he stumbled down the stairs but her mind was elsewhere. It was strange being here, the house she grew up in and called home her whole life. Now she felt like a stranger in a strange land. She could not recognize the person she saw in the mirror, and she knew with a certainty that the person who had once inhabited this room was not her.

Luna could see it from here, at the top of the large hill. Luna remembered how her parents had a made her a sleigh and how she laughed as they pushed her down the hill. She knew she would be visiting that hill soon, though for an entirely different purpose.

Luna found her father sitting in the guest room, sipping from his mug of coffee. He looked up and smiled as he saw her, rising from his chair to give her a loving hug. He whispered, "I missed you child."

"I missed you too Father." Luna hummed as she sat down and took a sip of her tea.

"Not as much as I have." Xenophilius chuckled as he looked to the clock on the wall while sitting in his own soft chair. "Your friend is quite a stubborn patient."

"He's not my friend Father." Luna reminded him as she drank from her tea.

"Yes, I know how much he means to you. He is still your friend though, as your mother was my own." Xenophilius mused as he let his mind wander. "Would you like to visit her with me?"

Luna nodded as she looked out the window, the sun was still red. "I would like to wait for Harry to wake up before we go."

Xenophilius looked confused for a moment before he asked. "You want to bring him?"

Luna nodded and Xenophilius sighed. "I thought we only brought family to see her."

"As far as I'm concerned he is family." Luna replied somewhat sharply.

Xenophilius smiled sadly. "Are you sure Luna? I am happy you found someone but you are still a child, law or not."

"I'm not a child. Not anymore..." Luna sighed as her mind drifted away.

Xenophilius wanted to deny it but even he could see his daughter had changed. Luna looked and acted more mature. Something else seemed different about her, but Xenophilius could not put his finger upon it.

'What is it Father?" Luna asked startling Xenophilius from his thoughts.

"I'm sorry...I was just...thinking..." He replied trailing off. "You've changed so much. You've grown up a lot without magic's influence."

Luna smiled sadly as she looked out the window. "Sometimes I wish I never got magic, I was so much happier then, and things were simpler. I still had my Mother."