In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter LXXXVIII: Tuck

LUCY:

"Rennervate."

I jerked awake, bracing for what would come next. But when I opened my eyes, there was no wand pointed to my chest. I wasn't in a cave.

Mrs. Weasley was kneeling in front of me, brown eyes soft with concern.

"You're safe now," she said softly, pushing my tangled hair back from my face with a delicate touch. "You're safe. I'm just going to heal this cut on your cheek, alright?"

I nodded, glancing around to try to make sense of where I was. I was propped up on the couch in my living room, and the candles were too bright. Professor Lupin was walking to Mr. Weasley in a voice too low for me to hear across the room, and Percy was hovering nearby. When Percy saw me looking at him, he crossed the room in an instant and knelt beside me.

"You alright?" he asked. He immediately blinked and shook his head. "Don't answer that. I'm just glad you're alive."

"We all are," Mrs. Weasley added, placing a hand on my forehead. "Percy, get her another blanket, the one on that armchair will do."

He jumped up and grabbed it, draping it over my shoulders.

"Is there anything else I can do, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked, tucking it around me.

"I think I'm okay, but thank you," I managed to say. I closed my eyes and swallowed. "I'm just trying to... to wrap my head around it all."

She made a small sound of sympathy and brushed my hair back again. "Professor Lupin wants to talk to you now, so we can try to find the people responsible as soon as possible."

I opened my eyes, looking over her shoulder at Professor Lupin. "I didn't see their faces. They were careful about that."

He conjured up a chair as he walked over. He leaned forward on his elbows and sighed. "That's okay. I'm sorry to make you relive it all so soon, but the sooner you talk about it all, the sooner we can try to find them. Before something else happens." He checked his watch. "Professor Moody will be here any minute. He wanted to be here when you talked about it."

"He knew my mum," I said, my voice cracking on the last word.

Mr. Weasley conjured up a chair, sitting next to Professor Lupin.

"Percy, if you wouldn't mind, go back to the Ministry and try to intercept her letter about the improper use of magic," Professor Lupin said. "I won't ask you to destroy it, but hold onto it for now. I don't want any Ministry officials tracing it and coming here to see for themselves what happened. The target on Lucy's back is too big."

Percy seemed reluctant to leave, but he nodded. "I will." He glanced down at me, his eyes distressed. "I'll be writing soon, alright?"

I managed a nod before he muttered a spell under his breath and disapparated. Once he was gone, Mr. Weasley muttered the same spell, and I glanced back down at the carpet.

"Protective enchantments," Professor Lupin explained. "Professor Moody knows how to-"

Professor Moody appeared as if on cue.

"-get past the protective enchantments," he finished with a resigned smile.

"But clearly someone else knew how to get past your mother's," Professor Moody said, sitting down heavily in a chair and fixing me with an intense gaze.

I nodded. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words would come.

Professor Lupin turned to Mrs. Weasley, who was still stroking my hair. "We can take it from here, Molly. You can go back and tell the others she's alright. They'll want to hear from you, since you've seen her. I'll talk to you and Sirius together once we return to Grimmauld."