Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Curious Case of Luna Lovegood

The Haunted

by Marvolo666 0 reviews

"Why are there missing steps?" Harry groaned as Luna helped him up. "I suspect Nargles." Luna hummed with a small smile.

Category: Harry Potter - Rating: PG-13 - Genres: Angst,Drama,Horror - Characters: Harry,Luna - Warnings: [!] - Published: 2017-03-04 - 6512 words - Complete

0Unrated
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."
Xenophilius looked up sharply at that. "It isn't too late you know. The Goblin said your magic was almost gone, let it go and leave this Godric forsaken place. You can't stay here a Squib, even without magic they will still come after you, being who you are. The Ministry are rounding up the Squibs and they will make an example out of you. Run away with Potter, or leave him and find someone else."
Luna looked insulted. "I'm not leaving Harr..."
"That's not the point Luna!" Xenophilius shouted wringing his hands. "I don't care if it's Potter or some guy I've never met. I don't care if I like him or not. I doubt I'd like him anyway, Hell I don't care if he's a she or a bloody Humdinger.
"You wouldn't mind if I dated a Humdinger?" Luna asked skeptically. "I thought they were poisonous?"
Xenophilius let out a noise that was a cross between a laugh and a sob. "Sweet child listen to what I'm trying to tell you. I just want you to be happy. Live your own life child and be happy. Don't make the same mistake your Mother made. Don't make the same mistake I made. I loved your mother, truly I did. I still do...but I took her for granted. I got so caught up in my work and so did she, I should have noticed something was wrong but I didn't see what was in front of my eyes until it was too late. She discovered things we were not meant to know. It sucked her in and drove her mad. How do you think it makes me feel to see you following in her footsteps? If you go down this path it will cost you everything, and for what, magic!"
Luna glared as she spoke in a way he had never heard her speak before. "This isn't about magic Father, not anymore. This is about making the world a better place."
"People have been trying to do that from since the dawn of civilization, and nothing ever changes." Xenophilius snapped back. "The world is as it was always meant to be and those who try to fight it die. I couldn't live with myself if the same thing happened to you."
"So what am I supposed to do, just give up? Dumbledore told us once that there comes a time when we must choose between what is right and what is easy. I've made my choice!" Luna exclaimed with a stomp of her foot.
"No you haven't dear child. You wouldn't be having this conversation if you did." Xenophilius whispered. "We both know what you must do in order to finish this task. Can you honestly tell me that your mission is worth such a price?"
Luna shook her head as she felt tears run down her cheek. Xenophilius held Luna in his arms as she cried into his shoulder. He heard her mumble. "I know what I have to do, but I just can't do it."
Xenophilius nodded in thought. The words she uttered resonated deep within his soul. "You know what I want you to do, but those words mean nothing to you. So I will tell you something else. Something that may help you find your way."
Xenophilius let go of Luna, knelt down until he was looking into her eyes. "Life is uncertain and death is unpredictable. Love is not a happy ending, it is a struggle. Sometimes you win and sometimes...you lose. Sometimes the people you love leave you, sometimes they leave us all. Sometimes it is you who abandons them. It takes constant effort for it to work, but trust me Luna, it is worth it. You and Harry are two lost souls, just like Pandora and I. Together we found ourselves but somehow we lost each other along the way. Love is precious and powerful, like trapping lightning in a bottle, yet beyond your control. All you can ever truly do is hold on to it for as long as you can and cherish it, because the moment you stop...it's over.
Xenophilius stood up and walked to the window and looked out longingly to the hill. "It ends and you spend the rest of your life dreaming of the days you wasted away. Don't forsake the only thing in this life that matters, for your ambition. Don't end up like me child."
Luna backed away and Xenophilius couldn't help but notice how small she seemed. Then the sound of footsteps, then cursing broke the mood as Harry tumbled down the stairs. Harry moaned as he landed at the bottom of the stairs. "The stairs are missing some of their steps."
"We did warn you last night Harry." Luna said sadly as she went to check on Harry
"I didn't." Xenophilius mumbled.
"Why are there missing steps?" Harry groaned as Luna helped him up.
"I suspect Nargles." Luna hummed with a small smile.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
"What was that?" Xenophilius shrieked as he started looking around the room, like a mouse looks out for a hungry cat.
"We better get going Father if you still want to visit her." Luna sung as she took Harry's hand and led him out of the house. Leaving a pale Xenophilius to quickly follow her,

Harry noticed that Luna was awfully quiet as they walked up the hill. The snow was deep but Xenophilius charmed their sneakers to not sink into the snow. The older man seemed troubled, Luna herself seemed to be more aloof than usual but otherwise seemed happy to be home. Harry whispered in Luna's ear, "Is everything ok?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" Luna hummed happily.
Harry frowned as something was off about Luna's face, as if her smile was forced. "You seem tense and frankly your father's acting like he's about to be eaten by a Dragon."
"Don't be foolish Harry, Dad's wearing his anti-dragon charm." Luna replied with a giggle though Xenophilius had taken out his wand and started casting spells around him.
Before Harry could comment on this Luna stopped and Xenophilius seemed to calm down from his panic attack as he took Luna's hand. Harry felt Luna's hand intertwined with his own and the three of them continued their trek to the top of the hill.
Harry didn't notice anything at first. The top of the hill was covered in snow and nothing else, though the sun seemed to shine brightly from up here. Then Luna smiled and walked towards something so small and pure, that Harry swore could not be real. A yellow daisy blooming through the snow.
Luna smiled radiantly, it had been so long, yet after all that had changed in her life, the flower remained unchanged. Luna felt tears run down her face as she whispered to the flower. "Hi Mum."
Harry heard Luna and squeezed her hand tightly. "Is this where..."
Luna nodded. "Father buried her here and planted a single flower seed. He placed preservation charms on it, and it grew into a beautiful flower. It shines of life and purity, and is as beautiful as the day it first bloomed."
"As it should." Xenophilius whispered reverently. "It holds your Mother's spirit."
"It does?" Harry breathed, he felt that the slightest sound would disturb the serene silence. To do so would be a crime against such a mystical place.
"Pandora's body became one with the soil." Xenophilius said solemnly. "When she died her body became one with the dirt and from the dirt grew a flower. The flower lives off the living force of the earth so the dirt becomes one with the plant. It is the way of things, since such things came to be. Pandora's spirit is the flower, and in the grass that grows. She is in the air we breathe and in the water we drink. When I look at this flower, I realize that we never truly die, nor do we truly leave this world. Pandora lives within us all. Pandora lives on in all things and when we die, so shall we."
"That's beautiful" Harry whispered as he thought of all the people he had lost in his short life. Luna nodded in agreement as she entered Harry's comforting embrace.
"Yes it is." Xenophilius replied with a pained expression on his face, as he watched Luna seek comfort in Harry's his arms. "It warms my heart to know that she rests here, the tragedy is that she came here too soon."
Harry could still see the staring faces even as his eyes started to water. He shook his head violently yet the tears kept falling. They all silently cried as they stood over Pandora's resting place, yet in that moment no one cried for Pandora.
Xenophilius felt his heart ache as Luna found comfort in another. He cursed the ache in his thoughts. Hell, he had more things to worry about than bloody empty nest syndrome. Still this had always been something he and Luna did and she would always seek his comfort when they visited Pandora's spirit. It made him feel...old.
"Father?" Luna spoke, breaking the silence that descended over them.
"Yes Luna," Xenophilius replied in an overly loud voice, waking him from his thoughts.
"Could you please meet us back at home." Luna asked sweetly. "We would like to speak to. Harry for a moment."
Xenophilius felt like he had been punched in the gut. He nodded wordlessly and left the sanctuary by himself. His brain seemed to itch as words like obsolete, archaic, we and primitive ran through it...wait.
Xenophilius paused before he hastily started back up the hill, his blood was freezing and it had nothing to do with the snow. "Did she say we? Who's we? Merlin!"
Xenophilius slowed down and crouched as he heard the voices. He gasped. "They're here, they're back. In my home!"
"I think we should leave Luna." Harry said nervously. "It's only a matter of time before Totalitar come looking for you, the fact they haven't already is worrying as it is."
"As you should be." A voice replied with a cackle. It sounded a little like Luna's yet was far more mischievous and cackling. "Not all is well in the rook. Secrets, question, and answers lies under the floor of childhoods end."
"Must we speak in Riddles." A second voice replied sounding even more like Luna's but tired and cynical. "If answers they seek they must stay, if they leave then ignorance shall reign."
"And was that not a riddle." Luna replied confused and to Xeno's surprise somewhat angry. "I'm sick of questions and I'm sick of riddles. I want answers and I want them now."
"Patience is a virtue Moonchild." Said a third voice, it sounded the most like Luna's yet it was older and wiser.
"Only to those with time." Luna rebuffed.
The third voice chuckled. "You have time child you just don't want to use it."
"Forget it Luna, arguing with Nargles is useless." Harry snapped angrily. "Like getting a straight answer from a Centaur."
The three voices chorused in anger as Luna hummed. "That was harsh Harry. "
"If you want answers then ask the right questions to the right people. Look for the answers and you shall find the truth. The knowledge you find may not help you on your quest...it might only hinder you." The third voice replied.
"Look over your shoulder." The second voice sang.
"A storm is a coming." The first voice hissed in laughter.
Xenophilius couldn't move, he was petrified by fear. It was worse than he thought. Everything was always worse than he thought. He gripped his wand tight as he slowly crawled up the hill. Then he heard Luna speak in a plain voice that made him shiver. "Harry, meet me at home and speak to my father. I won't be long."
Harry seemed to hesitate, Xenophilius could hear the frown in his voice. "Are you sure?"
"We always are." Luna replied and Xenophilius could see Harry heading down the hill looking over his shoulder at Luna. Xenophilius quickly disillusioned himself as Harry walked past him.
He saw Luna follow him, she looked different. Her eyes seemed wide but unseeing yet her footsteps continued straight forward undeterred towards him. She stopped three feet from Xenophiles and looked him dead in the eye. He felt his heart stop at the soulless look her eyes held. He slowly rose to his feet and dryly spoke in a hoarse voice. "What have you done to my daughter?"
Luna stared back and smiled. "You've been awfully nosy father. Some habits die hard."
"I'm not your Father." Xenophilius hissed in anger, gripping his wand tighter. "And you're not my daughter."
Luna seemed to start crying. "How could you say that."
"Don't patronize me!" Xenophilius shouted as he raised his wand at Luna.
Luna stopped crying and pouted with cold eyes. "You're no fun. You were a lot more gullible the first time."
Xenophilius shuddered. "You won't take her from me, not again! You already took my wife, if you think I'll let you live in my daughter, my own flesh and blood."
Luna hummed and her voice seemed to change. "HA! We did not take the Moon Mother, we helped her. We are her! We are her children, her true children and we will help the Moon Child at all costs. Be careful Xenophilius, or you might make the same mistake twice."
"Where is Luna?" Xenophilius asked as he slowly circled his daughter.
Luna replied as she stood as still as a statue, even as Xenophilius walked behind her back."She is here and she is there, see is before your eyes yet in places best left untouched. She is going to get the answers no matter what you do and she will fulfill her destiny at any cost."
"You mean you're going to force her! What if she doesn't want to be Pandora's puppet!" Xenophilius shouted as he raised his wand at Luna, preparing stun her.
"Of course she doesn't want to do what she must, but she will, none the less. She will do it because she knows it is the right thing to do. We would never force Luna to do anything, we do care for her."
"You have a funny way of showing it." Xenophilius hissed as his wand started to glow.
Luna laughed and three voices echoed her. "You're going to stun us, the girl may all but be a Squib but we are the children of the wise. We are the secret behind her sacred eyes. We are dreams, and we are your worst nightmare. Now watch as your nightmare come true HAHAHA!"
Without warning Xenophilius' wand shot a spell and Luna turned to water and splashed on the ground. Xenophilius yelped in shock and horror before he heard a giggle from behind him.
Xenophilius quickly turned around and saw a white rabbit, staring at him with red eyes. He cast a spell as he raised his wand but another giggle startled him. A black cat met his gaze and then a raven flew right at Xeno's face. The Wizard screamed as he threw himself into the snow and started rolling down the hill. The animals seemed to holler with laughter.
"You better run X, you don't want to miss the show. You're the star after all." The rabbit laughed as Xenophilius struggled to his feat and began bolting down the mountain, falling every five feet or so. He seemed to be running in circles as he seemed to be no closer to the house as when he first started his desperate flight..
Xenophilius saw them spin around them, in their true forms. They heckled in unison. "You know what we are. How we were created. Your daughter is just like the Moon Mother. Her destiny must be fulfilled. No matter what cost. You must play your own part, it is the only way
Walls seemed to be closing in on him and the mocking sounds of Nargle laughter was being replaced by the sound of anguished screams and cries.
She's mad, she must be taken to Saint Mungo's before she hurts someone, before she hurts herself. Before she hurts...
"NO!" Xenophilius yelled as he fled from the Nargles by going uphill and suddenly bursting into the seemingly empty house.
Xenophilius struggled to pull his wand from out of his robes as he stumbled towards the stairs. The pail man cursed, the house ward went off in his mind and he realized exactly where Luna went. "Oh bloody hell! Curse you Nargles, curse you Pandora, and curse Potter to Hades if he doesn't help my daughter. Expecto Patronum."
A Tortoise emerged from his wand and moved with surprising speed to its destination. Xenophilius then began walking up the stairs.

Harry walked into the rook shaped house with a head consumed with worry. He wondered what Luna was up to...
"Hello Harry." Luna said as he walked into the kitchen.
"Hello Luna." Harry smiled as he greeted Luna before pausing. He looked back at Luna who was drinking a cup of...something green.
"Luna?" Harry asked. "How did you get down here so fast? Why did you tell me to...How come I didn't notice..."
"Must be Nargles." Luna hummed as she finished her cup. "Have you seen Father?"
Harry frowned. "No...Wasn't he supposed to meet us here?"
Luna looked around her and shrugged. "He's probably in his study. He would always vanish into his study when he got an Idea for a Quibbler article. Like the dangers of the Dragon speech and the great muffin scandal."
"The great muffin scandal." Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Muffins are just cupcakes without the icing." Luna said seriously as she got up and started heading for the stairs.
Harry followed her as he replied. "I'm not sure that's a scandal."
"Of course it's not. The scandal is far more terrifying." Luna whispered before running up the stairs. Harry was about to follow her when he heard the strangest sound. The creaking of a door, opening for the first time in years. Harry slowly approached the door and walked down the slanted stairs that creaked with each unsteady step.

Luna approached her Fathers study and gently knocked on the door. "Father?"
Silence was her reply, the house seemed too quiet and Luna realized Harry had not followed her. She made sure to knock loudly on the door and called. "Father?"
The Door seemed to click open by itself and Luna stepped in to see it was empty.
"Most curious." Luna uttered as she walked into the room with a tense feeling in her gut. She shook it off when she saw the desk had been severely burned. She ran over to it to see what caused the damage and saw a pile of ashes on top of the burned table. Luna sighed smiling. "I warned him that the parchment would burn."
Luna looked at the portrait in the room and grinned. Newt Scamander had been an idol of hers. She had remembered when she had met the pioneer of Magizoology as a child. He was friendly and kind but she noticed he was borderline harsh to his peers, including her father. Her father had told her that he had to be cruel and strict, because if anyone got hurt on their expositions it would rest on him. The search for the Chupacabra had lasted many months and though Luna had always remained back at camp, it was not uncommon for the researches to come back with injuries. A couple of them never came back at all. Luna remembered the shock when Scamander returned with her father and the rest of the day's party. They had clearly discovered the famed beast. Three of them had not come back and Newt was missing his wand arm. Luna imagined it was a violent end to his field career, but the Wizard seemed more thrilled at proving the beast's existence than the lives lost to do, also then is own arm.
Luna reached out and touched the painting caressing the portraits arms. She remembered hearing the man had died in his sleep a couple of years ago. It had saddened her at the time but she knew he had lived a long happy life...unlike her mother.
Luna blinked as her emotion momentarily got the better of her and a light pulse of magic went up her arm and into the portrait. Luna's eyes widened in wonder as the wall changed from blue to orange and she could no longer feel the painting her hand was on. Luna inquisitively pressed forward and felt her finger sink through the painting. She kept pressing until her entire hand seemed to go through the portrait, which seemed to ripple like a stone dropped in a puddle.
Luna nervously looked around the room and pulled her hand away from the pond on the wall.
"I should go back." Luna thought to herself, every nerve in her body humming with foreboding energy.. "I should walk out of the study and never come back."
Yet a voice in her head seemed to whisper in her ear as it egged her on. "He isss keeping from you. Find out what they are, find out who the earth mother isss. Find out who you really are."
"What's in there?" Luna whispered, as a snake slid up her shoulder and slithered around her neck.
The creature whispered. "Knowledge of course. Not just any knowledge mind you, but forbidden knowledge. Isss their nothing ssso tempting asss a ripe fruit. HAHAHA."
Luna grabbed the snake and it turned into a familiar Nargle. Aναρχία huffed. "Once you enter that room things will never be the same, you will learn things you must learn. You will learn things you wish to never learn."
"I don't want to. Luna whispered in a small voice.
The Nargle laughed. "You don't have a choice! We don't have a choice."
Luna closed her eyes and muttered under her breath. "You're right, you're always right."
Luna kept her eyes closed as she walked forward and through the wall and immediately hit her shin on something as hard as stone. Luna yelped in pain. "HAHA!"
Luna threw a hand over her mouth muffling the laugh. She was really starting to dislike the Nargles. Luna opened her eyes and realized that she was not in a room, in fact it was so small it could hardly be called a closet. Yet it was empty except for the ancient stone bowl as high as her knee.
It was a pensieve, Luna was certain of it, though she struggled to see why it had been hidden so severely. Sure memories are precious but Luna never even knew the thing existed until she bashed her shinbone off it. There was a vial sitting on the edge of the bowl, most likely used for taking memories with him on his frequent journeys. The pensieve seemed to be marked with a symbol now unrecognizable from the passage of time. She looked inside and saw the white silver substance, more gas and liquid. Luna saw shapes form in the pensive and saw the face of her Mother. The women leaned forward and kissed a young man, Luna hadn't recognized him at first but when he gave a nervous twitch, she knew who it was.
"Father." Luna whispered before backing away from the pensive. This was his most precious memories. This was private, if not sacred to him.
"Is this what the Nargles want of me?" Luna thought to herself. "To search through my own Fathers memories for information? Because I won't."
She was about to turn when something stopped her. Somehow she just knew that wasn't it. Luna looked around the room for anything that might be important, yet she saw nothing. She could feel the magic coming off the pensive and it made the hair on the back of her neck stand.
"You are looking for what you wish to see. Look not with your heart but with your eyes." A voice whispered that sounded like Flamel's. Luna emptied her mind and without thought or feeling saw the room and all in it. Luna noticed something most peculiar, the vial was labeled, yet it was the only one there. Luna didn't pay much mind to it at first...but still...
Some unseen force seemed to draw her towards it. A fog seemed to fill the air as the voices whispered things she could not comprehend. Her hand grasped the vial before Luna realized she had even reached for it, and a bolt of lightning seemed to flow up her arm. The air seemed to crackle as she raised the vial to her face and suddenly...everything was normal.
Luna did not notice as her eyes stared transfixed on the vial in her hand. It had writing on it that she recognized all too well...for she had held this vial before.
"Take with you. Do not use until instructed, Love Mum."
Luna's hand shook as she felt her heartbeat through her chest. She nearly dropped the vial as she poured the vial into the pensive. Luna saw images begin to form in the pensive and holding her breath she leaned down to meet the images. She could hear screams and laughter. Sounds of frantic whispers and words of love. She could hear the sound of a baby crying and the sight of fire. She heard a sound from outside the room of a door being slammed shut and the frantic sound of footsteps but her consciousness was already being dragged into the pensive.

Images swirled around her as the pensive seemed to struggle in what to show her. Strange creatures seemed to fly around her and sing.

esimorpmoc sih htiw ,esiwnu rehtaf htrae ehT
esiugsid ni lived eht ,mrehtom htrae eht htiW

Then she landed on the ground and looked around at the scene before her. She was in a small Ministry office, surprisingly dark. She saw a Women sitting behind her desk seemingly hidden in the darkness. Luna moved to get a closer work but the knocking on the door startled her. The door opened and a timid man poked his head through the crack. He spoke with a stutter. "Hello...is...is anyone in h...here?"
"Yes Xenophilius," The women replied sweetly. "Please come in and shut the door."
Luna watched as her father did just that. He blindly stumbled towards the desk where a chair knocked him into his seat. Xenophilius spoke nervously. "I don't know how you bloody work in this place."
"Not well." The Women admitted. "I used to hate it here, now too much light gives me a migraine. Merlin bless the stupidity of Wizards, but I doubt you will here to discuss my working condition. Your Wife knows all about that."
The Women seemed to spit that last part out like it was offensive to her tongue. Xenophilius laughed nervously. "It is about my wife that I've come."
"I don't need to hear the marital woes of a former employ and...you. It was been years since you have bothered my presence and since that time you and your wife have tried to leak information of my department. Do you realize the damage you have caused the Ministry. If it wasn't for her unbreakable vows the Muggles would have blown us all to kingdom come!"
"If you don't stop her that's exactly what will happen." Xenophilius blurted out. "This work she has been fixated on, it's dangerous. She has lost her mind, I'm certain of it. I don't trust her near my daughter, I think she is using her for one of her experiments. I've tried asking her but she acts like I'm speaking another language. She acts like she's got some sort of multiple personality disorder. I didn't even know Wizards and Witches could get that. She nearly burned the house down she did burn the garden down. The fairy's of fairy pond that have been in my family for generations have fled. There's something in my house, A poltergeist or something and Pandora speaks to herself and..."
Xenophilius burst into tears as the stress poured out of him. "I confronted her, she was mad talking about Nargles and this thing dragged me out of my house. I found this note saying stuff about giving her daughter magic and giving herself to these things. She wants to give magic to others. She has lost it, my Pandora is going to hurt herself. She's going to hurt my child, help me please..."
"Shh." The women leaned forward and wrapped her hand around Xeno's who jerked it away. "Listen to me, you know you can trust me. I will take care of this. You do realize I will need to have your wife committed at Saint Mungo's."
Xenophilius seemed to flinch at that. "For how long?"
"As long as it takes, however I promise the Department of Mysteries will do everything in its power to help Pandora recover. I will get an Auror and have her apprehended for...Let's think...child endangerment! Don't look at me like that, we shall have her committed not imprisoned. We fix her up and everything will be back to normal, as it should."
"Merlin, bless you." Xenophiles cried as the women got up and began walking to the door when she stopped.
"Xenophilius...since when did you become a Father." The Witch asked slowly.
Xenophilius looked up. "Since she was born, She's seven years old and sh..."
"Seven? I don't remember dear Pandora being pregnant at the time." The women replied slowly before speaking . "Not that it matters, though I should warn you, we might need to take your daughter if she is in any daytime danger. This could be a delicate situation and we will have to handle it as such."
"I'll go back home and get her..."
"No, it is best that you stay out of the way." The women ordered as she shut the door behind her. Luna ran after her and through the memory of a door. Outside the room was all white nothingness, as Xenophilius had no memory of what was happening at out of the room, but Luna could hear words being whispered.
"...taken alive, but kill the girl. Blame it on her Mother. Understand Mr. Shacklebolt."

Before Luna could hear more, she felt something pull her from the pensive. Luna's feet touched the floor as she realized someone was speaking to her and pulling her through the hall way..
"Why in the name of Merlin you're looking in my pensive is beyond me but we got to get going. Nargles are everywhere, you're not safe...Luna?"
The earth father unwise, with his compromise
With the earth mother the devil in disguise
Luna looked at her Father and backed away. Her eyes wide and her face more pale than his own. Xenophilius looked as if he'd seen a ghost as he spoke to Luna like a child. "I understand things are weird Luna but I promise to help you ok. I promise..."
Luna tuned him out as she moved away from his outstretched hand, instead she listened the voices singing in her mind."
The earth father unwise, with his compromise
With the earth mother the devil in disguise
"Whatever you saw in that Pensive, whatever it is, we will talk about it I promise but right now we have got to go."
Luna interrupted her father's nervous ramblings in a calm voice. "Where is Harry?"
Xenophilius looked behind him. "No idea...disappeared...I suspect Nargles." Xenophilius gave a nervous laugh as he reached out for Luna.
"I promise Luna, your Harry is fine." He said slowly. "But we all have to go to someplace safe..."
"Away from you." Luna whispered as she looked her father in the eye, the voices getting louder as her own joined them. "The earth father unwise, with his compromise, With the earth mother the devil in disguise."
"Luna?" Xenophilius uttered as he looked at his daughter with no small amount of fear.
"Who is she, Father?" Luna's voice shook as she looked at Xenophilius as if for the first time.
Xenophilius looked confused. "Who?"
"Who is the women who had my mother killed." Luna shouted her face red with anger. "Other than yourself."
Xenophilius flinched violently at this. "Oh...her..."
Luna pushed past him as she started running down the stairs. He chased her down the stairs. "Luna wait, you don't understand!"
Luna entered the kitchen and hurled her rage onto her father. "IT'S YOUR FAULT MOTHER'S DEAD!"
"Luna please..." Xenophilius pleaded. "I didn't know, I swear they were supposed to help her. She was mad, she was going to hurt you, and she did hurt you."
"Who is the earth mother then?" Luna snapped back approaching her father. "If she had my Mother killed then why won't you tell me."
"The answer would hurt you Luna. I don't want to you to bear the burden." Xenophilius spoke frantically. "Something's are best left unknown, some secrets best left secret, some stones are best left untouched. Some sleeping dogs should be left to lie.
"I must awaken the sleeping dogs, even the ones we would rather let lie." Luna stated firmly. "You and Mother taught me that only by opening our minds can we see the world for what it is. I will not close my mind from the truth because it's convenient. We will not live a lie."
Xenophilius began pulling at his hair as he cursed. "Dam it Luna, have some faith that your Father knows what's best for you. I love you Luna, you are all I have left in this world."
"No, I'm not." Luna uttered as tears ran down her face. "I loved you and you betrayed me, you betrayed her, you even betrayed Harry. All you do is lie and betray."
"Everything I did, have ever done and will do, I do for you Luna." Xenophilius shouted.
Luna looked away as if the sight of him burnt. "Leave me alone Xenophilius."
Luna walked out of the room leaving her Father frozen behind her.
Luna noticed the open door and realized the truth of Harry's whereabouts. Luna began running towards the door but froze when she looked down the jagged stairs.
Luna had not been down these stairs since that faithful night. Not since her Mother's Death, Luna felt a terrible fear overcome her as she took the first step and immediately backed away from the stairs. Luna could hear voices down the stairs as magic seemed to hum from the basement.
"Father's right, this house is haunted." Luna thought to herself. "But this house is haunted by more than Nargles. How had I not seen it before?"
"You were a part of it." Another voice seemed to whisper. "You haunted this house as much as any Nargle or ghost, now it is you who is haunted."
"Maybe he was right, maybe it is better to let it be." Luna replied to herself.
"Harry is down there and he hasn't come out..." The voice cackled.
Luna heard her Father's footsteps and realized she had no choice and after taking a deep breath she buried her fear and took the first step down.
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