Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Shadowlands
Chapter 1: A Meeting, An Attack, A Revelation
Harry sees someone he'd never thought to see and this someone has surprise for him in petto.
?Blocked
Chapter 1: A Meeting, an Attack and a Revelation
It’s peaceful and quiet on the streets of Sydney after midnight. Tomorrow is another working day, so, apart from an occasional drunk, a nurse who has just finished her shift at the hospital and a middle-aged pair walking their two Jack Russell terriers, there’s not a living soul to be seen. Living soul. I have to suppress a bitter laugh. I slow down my pace when I reach the window of a huge home electronics shop and I admire the giant plasma screen showing a documentary on the life of insects. The Black Widow on the screen is so real, so palpable that I can’t help but shiver as I recall our encounter with Aragog’s descendants in the Forbidden Forest, back in out second year; it seems an eternity ago..
Ron, well, he’s still afraid of spiders. A week ago I saw him; he was sleeping, but he was tossing around in his bed all the time, mumbling the words “Aragog…please Harry, make him go away!” Then he woke in cold sweat, and sat in his bed with empty, glassy eyes not knowing where he was at all. Poor Luna, it took her the best part of an hour to calm him as she drew his head on her shoulder, caressing his fiery red hair, whispering soothing words into his ears. Then, he felt somewhat more comfortable and went back to sleep.
“He’s had a bad Nargles attack,” smiled Luna at me, as if apologizing for him, “please Harry, go away now. You can come back any time you want, but he needs to sleep. Little Molly is awake; I have to change and feed her. I’m so sorry…”
“Don’t be, Luna. I’m going already. See you around and tell Ron I’ll drop by again when he feels up to it”, I smiled, kissed Luna on the cheek and descended the stairs. I closed the entrance door behind me very carefully.
I emerge from my thoughts and dismiss the spider from my memories. Continuing my aimless stroll, I can feel a fresh breeze which brings the salty smell of sea into my nostrils. The wind caresses my face, whispers something into my ears, brushes my hair, then flies away, picking up a newspaper forgotten by someone on a window sill, then throwing it away without reading as if even Nature was disgusted with all evil happening to the world these days.
My legs take control of me and they move towards the junction to Elizabethtown, a casual 20 minutes’ walk. Soon, I stand in front of the Grangers’ home; the home of so many beautiful memories, so many plans that would never come true.
I could very easily just float upstairs and enter the house through the balcony of our bedroom on the second floor, but I rather – merely to maintain the illusion of being a normal, living person – undo Hermione’s wards on the main entrance door and enter the house, then raise the wards again. Although in this world I have no body, no weight, I tiptoe carefully upon the stairs, until I reach the bedroom door. I hear noises from inside, so this time I go through the wood of the door.
My family is very much awake. Hermione’s sitting in the Victorian armchair they’d shipped over together with the other furniture from the Grangers’ old home in Buckinghamshire. I watch as my beloved girl breast feeds our little daughter and I’m struck by the intimacy of this scene; the Madonna nursing the infant. Her breasts are big and swollen and they have to endure a rather different treatment from Lily’s hungry mouth than in good old times, when I loved to play with them so much, invoking a sigh, a contented moan from my girl every time I caressed those beautiful orbs.
My Hermione looks tired; bags under her eyes, and she seems to have lost quite a few pounds. Poor soul, she’s not getting enough sleep as she has to feed Lily every four hours. But, strangely, she seems content. Wearing a proud smile, she sings a lullaby in her sweet voice, and I feel tears in my eyes. I would do everything for a chance so that I could share these moments with her. I feel so guilty to have abandoned her just when she needed me most; when she was pregnant, in labour, in pain, while she was recovering at the hospital..
When she’s done feeding, she lifts up the tiny, fragile creature; our little Lily, holds her against herself, with her head on her shoulder, gently patting her back. Suddenly, a healthy burp breaks the silence, then another, not less powerful one. Hermione smiles proudly. “That’s my little girl!” she acknowledges proudly, as she caresses her back, plants gentle kisses on her head. Then, she says something, which catches me completely off-guard.
“I wish your Dad could be here, with us, Lily,” she sighs in a suppressed, pained voice, and she breaks into silent sobs.
I turn away; I can’t bear to see this painful scene. It’s entirely my fault. I want to cry, “I’m here, with you, right here, right now!” But it would be in vain, she couldn't hear me, she couldn’t see me anyway. She would not sense my presence. So, I just helplessly sit at the edge of her bed and watch her suffer.
Slowly, she composes herself, readjusts her nightgown and then very carefully places the sleeping Lily in our bed, not into her own one. She lies down and hugs the little girl protectively to her side. The last thing she says, before she falls asleep, twists a knife through my heart. “Good night, Harry, wherever you may be now.”
I can’t hold back my tears any longer. It’s just good that this world can’t hear my sobs as my shoulders shake and I cry my words of pain to Heaven. Suddenly, I feel two hands on my shoulders; a strong, male hand and a small, warm, soothing female one. I turn my head and look into the equally tear-stained eyes of my parents.
I try to smile, and gently point to the sleeping duo. “Mum, Dad, meet Hermione Granger and Lily Granger.”
“Potter, Harry. They both bear your name,” answers Mum simply. I must look like a complete idiot, because she takes pity on me and explains further. “When she was admitted to the hospital, she gave the name ‘Hermione Potter’ to the Healer at the reception. Her connection with you was recognized by the Ministry, as the two of you bonded that night, the night Lily was conceived exactly a year ago, so no further questions were asked. In Wizarding terms, you are married. As in ‘husband and wife’. It naturally followed that when Lily was born, she’d get your name as well. My name. Bloody hell, I still can’t get used to being a Granny! I’m still so young!”
“And, to be honest, still smoking hot,” Dad adds, but Mum’s blood boils immediately.
“James Bloody Potter! Stop talking like that this instant in front of our son!”
“For Merlin’s sake, your son is a grown man and a father himself as well,” laughs Dad, but raises his hands in surrender. I have to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. They hadn’t changed even a slightest bit from what I’ve known about them from the stories and memories Remus had shared with me during his Hogwarts professorship, and later, during our Order activities. The bloody wolf chooses this very moment to emerge and gives me a healthy clap on my shoulder.
“Beautiful, isn’t she?”
“They both are, Remus,” I admit, and I just hope my voice wouldn’t give away my pain.
“Harry, don’t feel ashamed for what you feel now. Nymphadora…”
“Shall I hex you into the next century, Remus, or will you finally learn my name? It’s Tonks, T-O-N-K-S,” she appears out of thin air, wearing green, shoulder-length hair and blue eyes for this occasion, bright blue eyes, sparkling with badly disguised fury.
“Tonks and I would still check on Teddy every night, just to see he’s fine. We miss him, we do, and we will never be a part of his life, but we’re still sure we’d done the right thing. We hope we hadn’t died in vain and we’d helped make the world better,” nods my former professor, casting an apologetic look on his wife, who relaxes now and gently caresses his worn face.
“Oh yes, Moony, you both had,” Prongs hugs his old friend. “All right, Harry, we are off now. We leave you alone with them. The tea will be kept warm for you, just like the muffins. Good night.”
“Good night, you lot. I’ll be here just for a short while, and then catch up with you.”
Nodding understandingly, they disappear, and I’m alone again with my family. No matter how ridiculous it might seem, I take off my shoes and lay down on the bed, on Lily’s side. For a moment I think I can feel the warmth of her tiny body as I gently caress her hair and plant a kiss on her head. Then I rest my hand on Hermione’s hand and the last words I utter before my heavy eyelids close down are: “I love you.” Already half asleep, I can still clearly hear her voice: “I love you too, Harry.”
In my existence it’s hard to judge how much time’s passed by; the clock on the wall shows shortly after 4 am, when a strange noise awakens me, the noise of something hard screeching on a hard surface, maybe glass or metal. I suddenly remember my school years; this same screeching sound of chalk writing on the chalkboard used to send chills down my spine.
Suddenly, a new sound is added to the scene; something distinctly resembling the howling of a wolf and the battle cry of an elephant. As their source draws nearer, I see three very strange creatures, and I’m paralyzed with fear. They have four legs, pretty much the legs of a wolf, only ending in huge, razor-sharp talons, making this eerie, screeching sound as they run. They have wolf-like bodies as well. Their heads remind me of that of an octopus, a fish and a fly at the same time and I turn away for a second, swallowing the bile, now forcing its way out.
Drawing a deep breath, I turn back to them; something urges me to get my wand ready. I trust my instincts – they’ve saved my life more then once before – and I draw my wand, in the same movement jump off the bed, placing myself between these horrible creatures and my family.
The first creature runs at me with a huge jump, knocks me over, landing on the bed on the spot I’ve just vacated. It draws its disgusting head towards Lily and looks like as if it’s kissing her. Lily starts coughing and her face turns blue as if she can’t breathe.. I jump on my feet and send a well-aimed curse at the creature, which falls off the bed and starts decomposing, turning into thick, blackish ooze. Suddenly two golden jets of light come seemingly from nowhere, hitting the two other creatures at the same time, which, similar to the first one, die instantaneously.
Then, I watch in awe as the familiar figure of Luna emerges from nowhere. Still out of breath, she comes up to me, tugging her wand behind her right ear.
“I’m sorry, Harry, I came as fast I could,” she says apologetically, putting her hands around my neck and pulling me into a hug. “I was so afraid I’d be late, but I see you’d have managed the situation by yourself,” she smiles at me, then checks on Hermione and Lily. She cups Lily’s cheeks and kisses her on the forehead, emitting a golden glow. Lily’s cough stops and her face regains her usual, healthy pink colour, then she falls deep asleep again.
“You have a wonderful girlfriend and a beautiful daughter, Harry,” Luna observes, as she puts Hermione’s hand protectively over Lily, whispering something into Hermione’s ear. She smiles in her sleep and Luna nods understandingly
“Don’t worry, dear, she’ll be fine. They will be fine. They won’t remember anything,” she explains, trying to comfort me.
I’m still in shock, too many weird things had happened in the past few minutes. Seeing my disbelief, Luna laughs, taking my hand and pulling me to sit with her on the edge of the bed.
“Lily’s dreaming of playing with a big, black, very friendly dog. Does it ring a bell?” she inquires with a playful smile on her face. For a moment, I must look like a complete idiot, but then, I understand. “Padfoot? Where’s he now?” I ask, and she nods in acknowledgement. “He’s on the Dreamscape right now, in her dreams. It’s easy to go there, if you want to, I’ll teach you.” I just sit there, not knowing what to say, as I don’t understand what it means, so she continues in her usual, dreamy voice.
“Nasty creatures, these Wrackspurts. They attack small children and come always in their dreams . They suck their life force out of them; feed on them just as like the Dementors feed on your pain, despair, bad memories. Did you know that they are responsible for all sudden infant deaths? Muggle doctors have been trying to identify the cause of SID for decades to no avail. Of course, no one has asked /me/…otherwise they could have save many tens of thousands of newborns,” she explains, but she has to laugh at the mixture of shock and disbelief, which must be clearly visible on my face, as I still can’t find my words to answer her.
“Harry, Harry, a big boy and yet, so naïve…” she shakes her head with a playful smile and gives a small peck on my face. Suddenly, I realize what’s wrong with her, I just couldn’t put it all together until now. I can feel her hand in my hand and I could feel her kiss! That’s not good! Well, I have to admit, it DOES feel good, but the reason WHY I can feel her physical presence is not good. I’m so confused!
“Oh no, Luna, are you also…” I dare not ask it because I’m afraid to hear the answer. She merely laughs and her laughter soothes my troubled mind. “No, silly, I’m not dead. I am very much alive, only, unlike most living people, I can visit the Shadowlands, the world beyond the Veil. Not too often, mind you, and not for too long, otherwise I’d be stuck here forever. But tonight I had a bad dream about you; you were in pain, crying over your family, so I had to come. Took me quite a while to find you, though, but I’m glad I made it. I couldn’t bear the thought if something had happened with your family and I couldn’t bear the thought of you being hurt, yet again. I care too much about you. You know, you might be Hermione’s soul mate, boyfriend, the father of her child, but…Expecto patronum!” she cries. A silver doe bursts from the tip of her wand, comes up to me and lays her head in my lap. I pet the beautiful head of the noble animal for a while, then, awestruck, I look at Luna through my tear-stained eyes. Now I understand ruddy well what it means.
“You know, Harry, precisely one year ago, I spoke with Mum,” she starts in a trembling voice, not losing eye contact with me for even a second, our fingers still intertwined. “She was all in tears as she told me about your death. I cried days and nights in a row. I wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t sleep, only curl up on my bed watching your photo, taken in your fifth year. It took a lot of persuasion from Mum to make me change my mind and not to follow you into the Shadowlands. ‘You have a choice, unlike me, Harry, his parents, Remus, and so many others,’ she said. She was right. Dad needs me, Ron needs me, my friends need me and I need them all. I can always make that choice, should life become too unbearable, but not now, no matter how much I love you and how much I want to be with you.”
“Now you’re asking ‘why did she never tell?’ aren’t you?” she whispers as she touches my face with feather-light fingers, and for some reason I don’t want this touch to end. I pull her closer and we rest our foreheads against each other. “You knew I was the only living person that could see you, talk to you. We have been talking a lot and I’ve had the chance to tell you, if I wanted. There’s a good reason behind. When someone dies and goes to the Shadowlands, his mind is already troubled enough to understand the reason behind this and all the possibilities this parallel existence can offer. I didn’t want to confuse you more than you’d already been. It just wouldn’t have been fair to you; you’ve been through too much already,” she admits with tears in her dreamy blue eyes and our lips unite in a sweet kiss, for the very first time.
“Luna, dear Luna, thanks for loving me, for saving my little girl,” I whisper when the kiss ends. “I’m sorry I’d never realized your feelings, I’m sorry I’d never answered them…” I add somewhat lamely, but Luna vehemently shakes her golden head, sending her hair flying into the air and puts her index finger against my lips.
“I need to go back now, no matter how I’d want to stay here, with you,” she says, “I love Ron and Molly, they’re everything to me and I know, I feel every moment of the day that Ron loves me. Still, deep within my heart, you’re my only one. Please, come and see us, talk to us, just like you used to and I promise I will drop by every now and then, so that we could spend some quality time together, only the two of us.” The last words she utters in a playful tone and winks at me, as she clicks with her fingers and dissolves in a faint bluish glow.
****************
A week later I get up in the morning, shortly after seven, as I normally would. I summon my spectacles, although I don’t need them; here, in the Shadowlands, I can see perfectly without them. A matter of habit, I guess. Here there are no illnesses, no curse of lycanthropy, only the regular, be it somewhat mundane, everyday’s life. Still naked, I go to the bathroom and let the hot water run for a couple of minutes before I take a long, relaxing hot shower. Then I step up to the mirror, to examine my face and take a fresh shave. The mirror is covered with tiny droplets of water, condensing on its cold surface. I take a towel and want to wipe the mirror dry, when I see something strange. Letters begin to form on the mirror. I follow the letters as more and more of them appear; when I understand their meaning, I lean back against the wall and slide slowly to the floor, eyes wide, mouth open in astonishment.
“/There IS a way back from behind the Veil. L”/
It’s peaceful and quiet on the streets of Sydney after midnight. Tomorrow is another working day, so, apart from an occasional drunk, a nurse who has just finished her shift at the hospital and a middle-aged pair walking their two Jack Russell terriers, there’s not a living soul to be seen. Living soul. I have to suppress a bitter laugh. I slow down my pace when I reach the window of a huge home electronics shop and I admire the giant plasma screen showing a documentary on the life of insects. The Black Widow on the screen is so real, so palpable that I can’t help but shiver as I recall our encounter with Aragog’s descendants in the Forbidden Forest, back in out second year; it seems an eternity ago..
Ron, well, he’s still afraid of spiders. A week ago I saw him; he was sleeping, but he was tossing around in his bed all the time, mumbling the words “Aragog…please Harry, make him go away!” Then he woke in cold sweat, and sat in his bed with empty, glassy eyes not knowing where he was at all. Poor Luna, it took her the best part of an hour to calm him as she drew his head on her shoulder, caressing his fiery red hair, whispering soothing words into his ears. Then, he felt somewhat more comfortable and went back to sleep.
“He’s had a bad Nargles attack,” smiled Luna at me, as if apologizing for him, “please Harry, go away now. You can come back any time you want, but he needs to sleep. Little Molly is awake; I have to change and feed her. I’m so sorry…”
“Don’t be, Luna. I’m going already. See you around and tell Ron I’ll drop by again when he feels up to it”, I smiled, kissed Luna on the cheek and descended the stairs. I closed the entrance door behind me very carefully.
I emerge from my thoughts and dismiss the spider from my memories. Continuing my aimless stroll, I can feel a fresh breeze which brings the salty smell of sea into my nostrils. The wind caresses my face, whispers something into my ears, brushes my hair, then flies away, picking up a newspaper forgotten by someone on a window sill, then throwing it away without reading as if even Nature was disgusted with all evil happening to the world these days.
My legs take control of me and they move towards the junction to Elizabethtown, a casual 20 minutes’ walk. Soon, I stand in front of the Grangers’ home; the home of so many beautiful memories, so many plans that would never come true.
I could very easily just float upstairs and enter the house through the balcony of our bedroom on the second floor, but I rather – merely to maintain the illusion of being a normal, living person – undo Hermione’s wards on the main entrance door and enter the house, then raise the wards again. Although in this world I have no body, no weight, I tiptoe carefully upon the stairs, until I reach the bedroom door. I hear noises from inside, so this time I go through the wood of the door.
My family is very much awake. Hermione’s sitting in the Victorian armchair they’d shipped over together with the other furniture from the Grangers’ old home in Buckinghamshire. I watch as my beloved girl breast feeds our little daughter and I’m struck by the intimacy of this scene; the Madonna nursing the infant. Her breasts are big and swollen and they have to endure a rather different treatment from Lily’s hungry mouth than in good old times, when I loved to play with them so much, invoking a sigh, a contented moan from my girl every time I caressed those beautiful orbs.
My Hermione looks tired; bags under her eyes, and she seems to have lost quite a few pounds. Poor soul, she’s not getting enough sleep as she has to feed Lily every four hours. But, strangely, she seems content. Wearing a proud smile, she sings a lullaby in her sweet voice, and I feel tears in my eyes. I would do everything for a chance so that I could share these moments with her. I feel so guilty to have abandoned her just when she needed me most; when she was pregnant, in labour, in pain, while she was recovering at the hospital..
When she’s done feeding, she lifts up the tiny, fragile creature; our little Lily, holds her against herself, with her head on her shoulder, gently patting her back. Suddenly, a healthy burp breaks the silence, then another, not less powerful one. Hermione smiles proudly. “That’s my little girl!” she acknowledges proudly, as she caresses her back, plants gentle kisses on her head. Then, she says something, which catches me completely off-guard.
“I wish your Dad could be here, with us, Lily,” she sighs in a suppressed, pained voice, and she breaks into silent sobs.
I turn away; I can’t bear to see this painful scene. It’s entirely my fault. I want to cry, “I’m here, with you, right here, right now!” But it would be in vain, she couldn't hear me, she couldn’t see me anyway. She would not sense my presence. So, I just helplessly sit at the edge of her bed and watch her suffer.
Slowly, she composes herself, readjusts her nightgown and then very carefully places the sleeping Lily in our bed, not into her own one. She lies down and hugs the little girl protectively to her side. The last thing she says, before she falls asleep, twists a knife through my heart. “Good night, Harry, wherever you may be now.”
I can’t hold back my tears any longer. It’s just good that this world can’t hear my sobs as my shoulders shake and I cry my words of pain to Heaven. Suddenly, I feel two hands on my shoulders; a strong, male hand and a small, warm, soothing female one. I turn my head and look into the equally tear-stained eyes of my parents.
I try to smile, and gently point to the sleeping duo. “Mum, Dad, meet Hermione Granger and Lily Granger.”
“Potter, Harry. They both bear your name,” answers Mum simply. I must look like a complete idiot, because she takes pity on me and explains further. “When she was admitted to the hospital, she gave the name ‘Hermione Potter’ to the Healer at the reception. Her connection with you was recognized by the Ministry, as the two of you bonded that night, the night Lily was conceived exactly a year ago, so no further questions were asked. In Wizarding terms, you are married. As in ‘husband and wife’. It naturally followed that when Lily was born, she’d get your name as well. My name. Bloody hell, I still can’t get used to being a Granny! I’m still so young!”
“And, to be honest, still smoking hot,” Dad adds, but Mum’s blood boils immediately.
“James Bloody Potter! Stop talking like that this instant in front of our son!”
“For Merlin’s sake, your son is a grown man and a father himself as well,” laughs Dad, but raises his hands in surrender. I have to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. They hadn’t changed even a slightest bit from what I’ve known about them from the stories and memories Remus had shared with me during his Hogwarts professorship, and later, during our Order activities. The bloody wolf chooses this very moment to emerge and gives me a healthy clap on my shoulder.
“Beautiful, isn’t she?”
“They both are, Remus,” I admit, and I just hope my voice wouldn’t give away my pain.
“Harry, don’t feel ashamed for what you feel now. Nymphadora…”
“Shall I hex you into the next century, Remus, or will you finally learn my name? It’s Tonks, T-O-N-K-S,” she appears out of thin air, wearing green, shoulder-length hair and blue eyes for this occasion, bright blue eyes, sparkling with badly disguised fury.
“Tonks and I would still check on Teddy every night, just to see he’s fine. We miss him, we do, and we will never be a part of his life, but we’re still sure we’d done the right thing. We hope we hadn’t died in vain and we’d helped make the world better,” nods my former professor, casting an apologetic look on his wife, who relaxes now and gently caresses his worn face.
“Oh yes, Moony, you both had,” Prongs hugs his old friend. “All right, Harry, we are off now. We leave you alone with them. The tea will be kept warm for you, just like the muffins. Good night.”
“Good night, you lot. I’ll be here just for a short while, and then catch up with you.”
Nodding understandingly, they disappear, and I’m alone again with my family. No matter how ridiculous it might seem, I take off my shoes and lay down on the bed, on Lily’s side. For a moment I think I can feel the warmth of her tiny body as I gently caress her hair and plant a kiss on her head. Then I rest my hand on Hermione’s hand and the last words I utter before my heavy eyelids close down are: “I love you.” Already half asleep, I can still clearly hear her voice: “I love you too, Harry.”
In my existence it’s hard to judge how much time’s passed by; the clock on the wall shows shortly after 4 am, when a strange noise awakens me, the noise of something hard screeching on a hard surface, maybe glass or metal. I suddenly remember my school years; this same screeching sound of chalk writing on the chalkboard used to send chills down my spine.
Suddenly, a new sound is added to the scene; something distinctly resembling the howling of a wolf and the battle cry of an elephant. As their source draws nearer, I see three very strange creatures, and I’m paralyzed with fear. They have four legs, pretty much the legs of a wolf, only ending in huge, razor-sharp talons, making this eerie, screeching sound as they run. They have wolf-like bodies as well. Their heads remind me of that of an octopus, a fish and a fly at the same time and I turn away for a second, swallowing the bile, now forcing its way out.
Drawing a deep breath, I turn back to them; something urges me to get my wand ready. I trust my instincts – they’ve saved my life more then once before – and I draw my wand, in the same movement jump off the bed, placing myself between these horrible creatures and my family.
The first creature runs at me with a huge jump, knocks me over, landing on the bed on the spot I’ve just vacated. It draws its disgusting head towards Lily and looks like as if it’s kissing her. Lily starts coughing and her face turns blue as if she can’t breathe.. I jump on my feet and send a well-aimed curse at the creature, which falls off the bed and starts decomposing, turning into thick, blackish ooze. Suddenly two golden jets of light come seemingly from nowhere, hitting the two other creatures at the same time, which, similar to the first one, die instantaneously.
Then, I watch in awe as the familiar figure of Luna emerges from nowhere. Still out of breath, she comes up to me, tugging her wand behind her right ear.
“I’m sorry, Harry, I came as fast I could,” she says apologetically, putting her hands around my neck and pulling me into a hug. “I was so afraid I’d be late, but I see you’d have managed the situation by yourself,” she smiles at me, then checks on Hermione and Lily. She cups Lily’s cheeks and kisses her on the forehead, emitting a golden glow. Lily’s cough stops and her face regains her usual, healthy pink colour, then she falls deep asleep again.
“You have a wonderful girlfriend and a beautiful daughter, Harry,” Luna observes, as she puts Hermione’s hand protectively over Lily, whispering something into Hermione’s ear. She smiles in her sleep and Luna nods understandingly
“Don’t worry, dear, she’ll be fine. They will be fine. They won’t remember anything,” she explains, trying to comfort me.
I’m still in shock, too many weird things had happened in the past few minutes. Seeing my disbelief, Luna laughs, taking my hand and pulling me to sit with her on the edge of the bed.
“Lily’s dreaming of playing with a big, black, very friendly dog. Does it ring a bell?” she inquires with a playful smile on her face. For a moment, I must look like a complete idiot, but then, I understand. “Padfoot? Where’s he now?” I ask, and she nods in acknowledgement. “He’s on the Dreamscape right now, in her dreams. It’s easy to go there, if you want to, I’ll teach you.” I just sit there, not knowing what to say, as I don’t understand what it means, so she continues in her usual, dreamy voice.
“Nasty creatures, these Wrackspurts. They attack small children and come always in their dreams . They suck their life force out of them; feed on them just as like the Dementors feed on your pain, despair, bad memories. Did you know that they are responsible for all sudden infant deaths? Muggle doctors have been trying to identify the cause of SID for decades to no avail. Of course, no one has asked /me/…otherwise they could have save many tens of thousands of newborns,” she explains, but she has to laugh at the mixture of shock and disbelief, which must be clearly visible on my face, as I still can’t find my words to answer her.
“Harry, Harry, a big boy and yet, so naïve…” she shakes her head with a playful smile and gives a small peck on my face. Suddenly, I realize what’s wrong with her, I just couldn’t put it all together until now. I can feel her hand in my hand and I could feel her kiss! That’s not good! Well, I have to admit, it DOES feel good, but the reason WHY I can feel her physical presence is not good. I’m so confused!
“Oh no, Luna, are you also…” I dare not ask it because I’m afraid to hear the answer. She merely laughs and her laughter soothes my troubled mind. “No, silly, I’m not dead. I am very much alive, only, unlike most living people, I can visit the Shadowlands, the world beyond the Veil. Not too often, mind you, and not for too long, otherwise I’d be stuck here forever. But tonight I had a bad dream about you; you were in pain, crying over your family, so I had to come. Took me quite a while to find you, though, but I’m glad I made it. I couldn’t bear the thought if something had happened with your family and I couldn’t bear the thought of you being hurt, yet again. I care too much about you. You know, you might be Hermione’s soul mate, boyfriend, the father of her child, but…Expecto patronum!” she cries. A silver doe bursts from the tip of her wand, comes up to me and lays her head in my lap. I pet the beautiful head of the noble animal for a while, then, awestruck, I look at Luna through my tear-stained eyes. Now I understand ruddy well what it means.
“You know, Harry, precisely one year ago, I spoke with Mum,” she starts in a trembling voice, not losing eye contact with me for even a second, our fingers still intertwined. “She was all in tears as she told me about your death. I cried days and nights in a row. I wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t sleep, only curl up on my bed watching your photo, taken in your fifth year. It took a lot of persuasion from Mum to make me change my mind and not to follow you into the Shadowlands. ‘You have a choice, unlike me, Harry, his parents, Remus, and so many others,’ she said. She was right. Dad needs me, Ron needs me, my friends need me and I need them all. I can always make that choice, should life become too unbearable, but not now, no matter how much I love you and how much I want to be with you.”
“Now you’re asking ‘why did she never tell?’ aren’t you?” she whispers as she touches my face with feather-light fingers, and for some reason I don’t want this touch to end. I pull her closer and we rest our foreheads against each other. “You knew I was the only living person that could see you, talk to you. We have been talking a lot and I’ve had the chance to tell you, if I wanted. There’s a good reason behind. When someone dies and goes to the Shadowlands, his mind is already troubled enough to understand the reason behind this and all the possibilities this parallel existence can offer. I didn’t want to confuse you more than you’d already been. It just wouldn’t have been fair to you; you’ve been through too much already,” she admits with tears in her dreamy blue eyes and our lips unite in a sweet kiss, for the very first time.
“Luna, dear Luna, thanks for loving me, for saving my little girl,” I whisper when the kiss ends. “I’m sorry I’d never realized your feelings, I’m sorry I’d never answered them…” I add somewhat lamely, but Luna vehemently shakes her golden head, sending her hair flying into the air and puts her index finger against my lips.
“I need to go back now, no matter how I’d want to stay here, with you,” she says, “I love Ron and Molly, they’re everything to me and I know, I feel every moment of the day that Ron loves me. Still, deep within my heart, you’re my only one. Please, come and see us, talk to us, just like you used to and I promise I will drop by every now and then, so that we could spend some quality time together, only the two of us.” The last words she utters in a playful tone and winks at me, as she clicks with her fingers and dissolves in a faint bluish glow.
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A week later I get up in the morning, shortly after seven, as I normally would. I summon my spectacles, although I don’t need them; here, in the Shadowlands, I can see perfectly without them. A matter of habit, I guess. Here there are no illnesses, no curse of lycanthropy, only the regular, be it somewhat mundane, everyday’s life. Still naked, I go to the bathroom and let the hot water run for a couple of minutes before I take a long, relaxing hot shower. Then I step up to the mirror, to examine my face and take a fresh shave. The mirror is covered with tiny droplets of water, condensing on its cold surface. I take a towel and want to wipe the mirror dry, when I see something strange. Letters begin to form on the mirror. I follow the letters as more and more of them appear; when I understand their meaning, I lean back against the wall and slide slowly to the floor, eyes wide, mouth open in astonishment.
“/There IS a way back from behind the Veil. L”/
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