✔️ 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓&𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 → 𝑓. 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

80 | D E C I S I O N S

•••
I wanna hide the truth,
I wanna shelter you,
but with the beast inside,
there's nowhere we
could hide.
•••

"That was funny", Lynnea snorted, when they appeared back in the woods. "A real lovely person this Mr Lovegood is."

"That treacherous old bleeder." Ron panted, emerging from beneath the Invisibility Cloak and throwing it to Harry. "Hermione you're a genius, a total genius. I can't believe we got out of that."

"Cave Inimicum ... Didn't I say it was an Erumpent horn, didn't I tell him? And now his house has been blown apart!"

"Serves him right", said Ron, examining his torn jeans and the cuts to his legs. "What'd you reckon they'll do to him?"

"Oh I hope they don't kill him!", groaned Hermione, "That's why I wanted the Death Eaters to get a glimpse of Harry before we left, so they knew Xenophilius hadn't been lying!"

"Why hide me though?", asked Ron.

"You're supposed to be in bed with spattergrolt, Ron! They've kidnapped Luna because her father supported Harry! What would happen to your family if they knew you're with him?"

They packed up the tent next morning and moved on through a dreary shower of rain. The downpour pursued them to the coast, where they pitched the tent that night, and persisted through the whole week, through sodden landscapes that Lynnea found bleak and depressing.

By the night, Lynnea sat outside, watching the faded moon through curtains of clouds, listening to the waves breaking at the shore.

"What are you doing out here? It's freaking cold."

Pebbles scratched underneath his shoes, before Harry sat down next to his sister on the cold ground.

"But it's calm and peaceful", Lynnea replied with a smile. "Unbelievable there's a war going on, huh? You don't hear any noises. There should be tumultuous yammer, but you don't hear a thing, while there are people out there vanishing. Dying ..." She looked at Harry. "Luna ..."

"She's alright", Harry whispered. "Luna's tough. Tougher than one might guess. If she's at Azkaban right now, she for sure is teaching the other inmates about Nargles and Wrackspurts." There was a short silence, then Harry said: "Try to find some sleep, Lynn."

But she didn't want to sleep. Sleep wasn't restful anymore; the dreams of Harry raising his wand against her was still haunting her every night. She had the feeling the longer she sticked around her brother, the more intense those dreams got.

"I think you're right", she instead told him, and he threw her a questioning look. "With the Elder Wand. He has Olivander. You-Know-Who."

"How'd you - ?"

"His shop was empty, remember? When last year I wanted to get a new wand, he was gone. There are two possibilities." She grabbed one of the pebbles, throwing it into the waves. "Either he's on the run, or they kidnapped him. I run for the second one, but even if he's on the run, he wouldn't be without a reason. Maybe he knows about the Elder Wand, and therefore You-Know-Who is after him."

Harry stared at her, his mouth slightly agape. "Never thought of that", he finally told.

"Go to bed now, Lynn", Harry said after a couple of more minutes. He got up and stretched his hand out for her to take. "We will move on tomorrow, better get some rest before."

Lynnea sighed, taking Harry's hand. First nothing happened, but the moment she was on her two feet, an electric shock pulsed through her body, a sharp pain shot up her neck. A small whimper grew to a scream out of pure agony, as she felt like someone was tearing the skin off her flesh. Her knees hit the ground, her visions darkened, before there was a green light, nothing but green light and Harry's destroyed face staring at her, before the world sunk in darkness.

•••

"I don't get it", Harry muttered, staring down at his sister's pale face. Almost a whole day had passed, her fever was back, and she was shaking, mourning in her sleep.

"So everything was fine, until you touched her hand?", Hermione asked, busy trying to cool Lynnea down.

"Just like last time, yeah", Harry muttered. "But that's strange, she took my hand when we disapparated from Xenophelius Lovegood's house, too, and nothing happened to her. I don't get it. Do you think it's coincidence?"

"Blimey, I have no idea", Hermione admitted.

"We have to bring her home", Harry said, running his fingers through his messy hair. "She's sick, she needs a bed. She can't recover while being on the run with us."

"It's not that easy", Hermione replied in a fierce whisper. "They are all highly protected, I guess some of them casted the Fidelius Charm. It's impossible, we can't just bring her home. Give her some time, she'll recover."

"Hermione, we don't have time! We need to move on!"

"Last time she went better", said Ron. "She wouldn't want to leave us, Harry. Despite I agree with Hermione, we won't be able to bring her home."

"Where are you going?", Hermione asked, as Harry started moving towards the exit.

"I need some air", he muttered, before stepping into the chilly night air. He didn't look back. Seeing his sister like that was killing him. The unnatural pale skin, the dark circles under her eyes, paperwhite lips ... If her chest wouldn't raise slowly up and down, you could easily believe she was dead. He shivered by the thought alone.

But the times she actually was awake weren't less painful. He often caught her big green eyes staring at him full of fear and doubt, and he simply couldn't imagine why Lynnea should be afraid of him. All of this didn't make sense. Nothing made sense. Dumbledore's mission, the Horcruxes, the Deathly Hallows, Lynnea's illness, her anxiety ... All these things, they made no sense at all.

From inside Harry could here Hermione's voice, softly speaking Lynnea's name. Light was falling on the ground, as Ron stepped outside.

"She's awake", Ron said, stepping next to Harry. "Are you alright, man?"

"Yeah, perfectly fine", Harry replied, rubbing his puckering scar. "Can we have a word?"