I do not own Harry Potter It belongs to J.K. Rowling

Luna love good could do many things, But saying the right thing at the right moment was a particular talent of hers. She could sometimes say things that ruined a moment and made it awkward, But when she spoke at 'that' specific moment it could hit someone behind the knees and take them out quickly.

This how ever was not one of those moment, she had just distracted everyone in the Great Hall so Harry could sneak out to get some peace and quiet. She looked around and the severity of what just happened sunk into her. She looked around and her fathers face was nowhere, She did not know what she was expecting.

Luna knew her father was in Azkaban, She began to think of all of the things she would have to do to have any hope of surviving now. She lived through the war, but now she would have to live in the post war. She thought for a second it was easier for those who died and did not have to live through the lose of so many.

But she shook off the dark thought, and decided they died so the survivors could live. Their sacrifice was in no way easy and she was shallow and naive for thinking so.

She rose to her feet and began to walk towards Ravenclaw tower she was in a trance like state as she made her way up to her warm bed, She was frightened to go to sleep and dream about all the terrible things that happened in the past year.

She walked into the common room and up the girls stair case her room was destroyed, But she heard a voice from the next door down. She saw 10 other Ravenclaw girls in the room pillows and blankets spread out all over. Cho Chang waved her inside and she joined the other girls smiling politely at them. Cho offered for Luna a pillow and small blanket and she took a spot on the floor near Marietta Edgecomb.

Luna thought of her mother as she lay down recounting the Names of the men Harry said took her father to Azkaban where he was residing currently.

"Avery..., Rockwood,...Selwyn, Travers." She heard Marietta roll over as she found and comfortable position to sleep. Luna could feel a lump growing in her throat. She turned over and closed her eyes, Breathing deeply and letting her eyes roll bakwards into her head. The sun was warming her back and she was out.

Luna opened her eyes to see the bright sky outside, It seemed to be about noon. She slept for almost 7 hours and was well rested, She rose from her spot and put on her shoes, Going into the bathroom and Washing her face before going down to Great hall. there had been many girls sleeping in her dormitory, Girls were doubled on every bed and sleeping on the floor. It was more than the 10 she had seen before falling asleep.

She walked in smiling people were gathered at the house tables, She walked over to Ginny and sat next to her. They smiled and nodded at one another, It was really calm.

Everyone was over tired at hungry and no one wanted to talk and celebrate any longer. A low sadness hung on top of the comfort making everyone not "notice" those sobbing silently randomly scattered around the room being comforted by Friends and Family.

She looked around as she scooped some scrambled eggs onto her plate, Ron and Hermione sat next to one another and Ron shoveled porridge into his mouth and Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled. Harry and George sat across from them, Harry looked deep in thought chewing on a piece of toast. George frowned and gazed down into his food in a Zombie like state.

Luna felt a tug at her heart strings, George seemed lost almost as if he had really lost a portion of his body. He was an emotional amputee, and it was written all over his face.

Harry patted George on the shoulder but George did not move he simply grimaced slightly and began to eat some of his bacon. Hermione was writing down information in a note book, She knitted her eyebrows together and continued her list.

Luna filled on pancakes and scrambled eggs both drizzled with syrup. Ginny was leaning on her Fathers shoulder and Arthur was talking quietly to Percy and Charlie. Luna felt a pair of eyes on her and looked over to see her other best friends Neville waving goodbye to her as he left the great hall with his Grandmother who's arm he was holding as he guided her over the rubble and out of the school to apparate home.

The Weasley's stood and walked toward the outside door to apparate home as well, Luna followed them and asked if she could sidelong apparate with one of the others to walk to her house and begin her search for her father.

Hermione took Luna's hand as the others paired off at the apparation points set up by Professor Flitwick, When they apparated about 3 miles outside of the Burrow they began to walk swiftly in one direction, Luna would only have to travel about another mile past the Burrow In order to reach her rook shaped home. Hermione turned to her and fiddled with her sweater obviously wanting to say something.

"Listen Luna your house kind of exploded when we where there, Harry already told you what happened?"

"No." Luna answered looking curiously over at her.

Hermione recounted the shocking story, Harry and Ron joined her explanation and many different emotions ran through Luna like fire. She knew her friends would never lie to her. The empathetic look on Hermione's face told Luna it was the truth and it was hard to say to her.

They arrived at the Burrow and She made her way across the yard and hoped the short fence, She waved to Ginny who yelled out to her.

"Come back for dinner, you can sleep in my room with Hermione and I."

"Okay, I will see you at dusk." Luna yelled back

Ginny walked up the back steps to her mother who also waved to Luna as she made her way across the vast grassy plane, The dirt road came into her site and she made her way over to it and lifted her bag onto her shoulder. When they had been walking she had her bag full and heavy and her arms full of her things. Hermione had put an undetectable extension charm on her bag and it was now light as air and the only things she carried.

it was blue and knitted with a few random pins and it hung across her chest it was all she had as of now, Luna just hoped that something was left of her house that she could load into her new bottomless bag.

When her house came into site it was crushed completely Luna took her wand out of her hair and began to move chunks on stone to reveal many scattered objects somethings crushed she riffled through piles as she stepped in what used to be her sitting room. A piece of ceiling sat on her kitchen counter it was painted with the pictures of her friends with golden letters looping and repeating the word.

It was the official symbol of the ending of her childhood, It was all over and now it was time for her to grow up and find her father. She would not give up until she knew the truth about his where about, weather it was a cell in Azkaban or 6 feet under in a field somewhere.

She collected many things that were in okay shape. She got two photo albums full of pictures of the three of them, A picture of her mother and father on their wedding day. Large Blue quilt her mother made for her, a few of her Mothers various belongings she could fix. Her fathers quibbler letter wax seal.

All of the clothes from her smashed dresser shaking of the wood and ashes and shoving them into her bag to be washed later Luna opened her fathers safe and took out his Gringotts key and her mothers wedding rings. She walked away from the house and pointed her wand at the remains of the house. it was all turned quickly to ash and spread out over the grass the hill was now barren and covered in ash, You could see the near by bench and clear across to Ottery St. Catch pole and the tall crooked building that is the Burrow.

She took a long golden chain from her bag and put her mothers wedding band on it and the other in the box and into her bag she tucked the necklace into her shirt and made her way back to the Burrow to shower and change before dinner. Tomorrow she would make her way to diagon alley to search for clues to her fathers where abouts and ask if anyone had seen him.

When back a the Burrow she sat her bag on a third cot in Ginny's room lined up next to the window as Ginny bed and Hermiones cot were against the left and right walls. She magically cleaned her quilt and spread it out on her bed.

She walked into the bathroom and locked the door, everyone else had showered so she could take her time. She laid her clean jumper and shorts on the back of the toilet and hung her towel, Her brush was placed on the sink and she pulled her hair down out of its braid and brushed out the knots thoroughly.

Luna was thankful that her friends parents were letting her stay for a few days until she could find her father or A place to live, Now that her home was destroyed.

She stepped under the warm water and let her waist length hair get wet, She poured a small amount of shampoo into her palm rubbing it into her hair and repeated the process a second time. She then applied conditioner lightly and let it set in her roots. She lathered up and washed her face. She rinsed off and turned off the shower ringing her hair out and wrapping it up in a towel and pulling the other towel around her body. She wiped off the mirror and turned the sink on beginning to brush her teeth.

Dressed in her long sleeve gray jumper and a pair of yellow shorts, her feet were bare and she took her hair down running her fingers through it and moving it to the side slightly letting it air dry.

Ginny sat on her bed and Harry laid with his head in her lap, He smiled at Luna when she walked into the room as did Ginny, She nodded to the two of them and dried her towel folding it and putting it in her bag. She stared out of the window for a long time as Ginny and Harry whispered to one another and Ginny ran her hands through Harry's unruly hair.

Luna heard the words of an argument on the stairs, it was Charlie and George.

"George please come out dinners done you have to eat sometime."

" Leave me alone, I just want to sleep."

" Please George mom wants you to eat something, then you can lock yourself in your room again."

The sound of the door opening made Luna smile, at least he was willing to humor Molly slightly and not be completely shut off, it was a sign of healing. He was doing something for his mother meaning he realizes all is not lost.

Luna's smiled grew when she heard George's quiet mumbled apologize to his brother. She rose from her cot and Harry and Ginny stood as well and they all made there way down the stairs and out of the back door. Luna took a seat between George and Percy, Percy smiled politely at Luna and offered her a jug of pumpkin juice. George sat silently grimacing and pouring himself a drink.

The ate hot onion souped and various types of sandwich's Luna ate Turkey and Munster and two bowls of soup, She looked curiously at George as he drank from his cup.

"Can you hear from this side?"

George looked at her through the corner of his eye as he continued drinking, he placed the cup down and smiled lightly.

"Yes I can."

He looked back down at his plate and Luna continued to eat and look at George, She was happy he did not think her rude for asking such a question.

Later that night when Luna was walking to Ginny's room to get some sleep she passed George who nodded towards her and walked into his room taking one last glance at her before closing the door.

Luna's stomach felt a little odd, She shook it off. Harry and Ron passed and bid her goodnight as they made their way up to Ron's room.

Two years ago she remembered having a crush on Ron and her cheeks would flush whenever they made eye contact but it made her feel silly.

Liking Ron was a pipe dream, it was her first real crush now she could laugh about it. She walked into the room and passed Hermione who was taking her bra off and shoes sliding under her covers taking out a map of Australia and a Couple paper with information about the Australian ministry of magic.

Ginny removed her bra as well and got under her covers turning towards the wall and closing her eyes. Luna unclasped her bra and pulled her arms out removing it the same way her friends had and pulling it under her shirt , she opened the window and put up her hair in a bun before snuggling in her quilt with her head looking out of the window.

She could here Hermione shuffling papers and lulled slowly off to sleep. She woke up to the Sun shining into her face, the cool Morning air filled her lungs and made her feel fresh.

She sat up out of bed and fixed her blanket she changed into a red short sleeve shirt and some jean shorts she let her hair down and slipped on her sandals. She grabbed her tooth brush and made her way to the bathroom, She walked in and washed her face with warm water, She applied deodorant and brushed her teeth. She opened the door and came face to face with George who smiled down at her slightly and moved to the side for her to exit the bathroom.

"Good morning George." Luna said calmly

"Morning Loony." The door was closed and Luna returned her things to her bag and made her way down the stairs to the kitchen. She drank two cups of tea and talked to Mr. Weasley as she and Percy as she ate the eggs offered to her by Fleur.

"Mr. Weasley, have you heard anything of my father?" luna asked the tired looking man.

" As far as the ministry is aware he was sent to Azkaban by Pius Thickness last February." He said as he sipped his tea.

" Kingsley is going to do a search of Azkaban if he is found he will be released." Percy tried to lighten the subject.

" I heard Azkaban was destroyed..." Bill said under his breath

Molly gasped and looked at them wide eyed. "I will not have any talk like that until we know what has happened for sure."

Luna finished her food in silence and spoke to Arthur after putting her plate a fork in the sink, "Does your floo work?"

He nodded to her and she walked over to fire place ready to start her search she saw Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny rise as well and follow her to the fire place.

They flooed to diagon alley and agreed to meet at the leaky cauldron for Lunch at 2, Luna made her way to Ollivanders shop which was open once more, the streets were quiet and as empty as Luna had ever seen them. She was here once at 4 in the morning and it was about the same amount of people.

She opened the door to the wand makers shop and a pair of silver eyes looked up at her from a worn looking old man. He was sitting at his desk polishing some wands. Luna approached the man and Placed a container of onion soup in front of him with a spoon, the man smiled and pulled it towards himself.

"Mr. Ollivander I need to know if you have heard anything about my father."

the man looked slightly nervous.

" Luna, I don't think I should be the one to tell you that."

He swallowed hard and looked at the young woman in front of him.

"They found his body washed up on the shore of Azkaban, you need to go claim the body."

Luna felt her blood run as cold as ice through her veins she put her hand on top of the old mans, thank you. Ollivander had promised to help Luna find her father, when they were at shell cottage. He had claimed the girl had kept him sane during the time they spent in Malfoy manor and swore to help her.

Luna made her way numbly to the ministry of magic visitors entrance, She made her way to the front desk and was directed by a woman who looked very sad the moment Luna stated her business at the ministry.

She was directed to the department of Magical Law Enforcement , The Medical Examiner showed her the body and she had to hold back a scream as she was her father, a warped version of his old self. Bloated from the water and sickly red/purple splotches on his gray skin.

"Yes, that is my father Xenophilius Lovegood." The man put a hand on her shoulder and walked her to his office where he made arrangments for the body to be transported to her home the following day, well the hill were her home once stood.

Luna left the ministry and made her way back to Diagon Alley, She made her way to Gringotts that was having a remodel, She went to her family vault and removed 1,000 galleons. She had about 20,000 in there and her fathers life insurance policy would giver her 10,000 galleons.

She would have to get a job if she had any hope of making it on her own, She could not run the quibbler all by her self with no training she would have to find something for now.

This would be enough for a room and some food until she could find something to do to make money. She made her way to the leaky cauldron and sat with her friends as she ate, Neville had joined the group and smiled at Luna when he saw her giving her a hug and sitting next to Hermione.

Luna sat next to Harry and the waitress came over to take their order. Ron and Ginny where arguing about their quidditch teams, Ginny was red in the face as Ron continued on about how " The holy head harpies don't have anything on the Chuddly Cannons."

"The Chuddley Cannons are terrible! They came in 16th last season." Ginny snapped back

"Yeah well the Holy head's only came in 5th."

" That is still 11 spots ahead of your team!" Voices were rising and the two looked as if they were about to have a sibling brawl.

The waitress looked confused and when a moment presented it self she interrupted the arguing redheads. Luna ordered water to drink and smiled at Harry who looked like he was thinking about something sad, a look had taken over his face that was haunting almost.

Hermione placed her hand on top of his and smiled at him when he looked up at her, Luna felt eyes on her and looked up to see Neville looking at her.

"Is your house okay?" He asked politely

"It was destroyed, But a lot of things survived that I collected, the rest is ashes now. Just a hill with the tree where my mother is buried."

Ginny looked sadly at her and Luna could feel all of her friends eyes on her, it was slightly uncomfortable she did not want her friends to feel bad for her, she was happy she still had what she did.

The thought of her Father's body ran through her head and she felt tears starting to well up behind her eyes, She chocked them down and looked around at her friends smiling lightly.

" They found my fathers body, It washed up onto the shore of Azkaban, I'm going to bury him on the hill next to my mother and plant another tree for him."

Tears had sprung from Hermione's eyes and Ginny was smiling sadly.

" I think that sounds like a wonderful Idea." Hermione said whipping her tears with a tissue Ron had given her.

Luna did not talk anymore during the Lunch, she just nodded and "hm'd" as her friends kept a quiet conversation about funeral plans for the others who had been lost to the war.

Fred's was tomorrow evening at the Burrow, Next week would be a memorial service for everyone who the war had ripped from their lives.

Luna thought of George, of how hard it was going to be to watch him at his twin brothers funeral. If she was worried about the pain of watching she could scarcely imagine what he could or would be feeling.

Luna loved her parents she really did, they were her whole world. She had nothing without them, But this was different Fred and George had been a pair. They did everything together as far as she saw, She had never seen one without the other until staying at the burrow last night.

A twin, your other half. Luna was snapped out of her thoughts when Harry rose from his seat and her friends began to leave, She reached into her bag and took out her wallet.

" I treated everyone." Harry said with a small smile walking over to Ginny and putting his arm around her shoulders, Luna was glad that Ginny finally got what she deserved.

Luna had always been friends with Ginny since first year, and she had known about the crush on Harry. It was wonderful to be able to see it now, it was just very refreshing to see love surviving.

She looked at Ron and Hermione who were bidding farewell to Neville, Luna remembered crying when Ron had dated Lavender Brown it broke her heart. Even though she did not see any chance with Ronald it still hurt.

Hermione though she didn't hurt, she was Ron's soul mate. Luna had seen it in the beginning of meeting the two of them, So it never came as much of a shock or upset. Luna was happy for Hermione because they were friends and she would not let a crush ruin her friendship.

Luna saw a Daily Prophet sitting on a near by table and saw a picture of Hogwarts being rebuilt on the front, She grabbed it and stuffed it into her bag walking quickly over to her friends and flooing back to the burrow.

Her feet came in contact with the shabby rug in front of the Weasley's fire place, She made her way quickly up the stairs and sat on her cot next to the window in Ginny's room. She kicked off her shoes and sat with her legs crossed. She placed her bag on the bed and pulled out the newspaper.

She skimmed the front page and quickly turned to page E8 the obituaries, It was organized in alphabetical order. A few more names added to the list of confirmed deaths off of the missing person's list. Her eyes ran down the list quickly and she spotted more than 10 names she knew, another two names moved from the missing person's list to the confirmed deaths.

Her eyes stayed on the L's for a long time, She kept staring at the name Xenophilius Lovegood. A picture of her father smiling and waving next to his printing press. Her heart was up in her throat, seeing his body was bad but seeing his name on this dreaded list was making a cold black hole open up in her stomach and bubble it's way up to her throat. She tried with all of her power to hold back the tears, but it did not work. A hysterical Sob broke from her chest and there was no turning back. She put her face in her hand and cried harder than she had ever in her entire life.

She could feel puddles of salty tears collecting in the palms of her hand, she was silent tears leaking out not breathing, and then gasped in a breath loudly. Her body was racked with sobs she could not control herself, she was sure they could hear her all the way at Hogwarts.

Suddenly she was extremely embarrassed she could not let her friends see her like this, she had to be strong for the other who lost more that she. The sobs continued with not hope of slowing anytime soon, the breeze from the window picked up and flipped the pages of the newspaper and she automatically looked a picture of a boy smiling cheekily with his arm around the shoulder of his twin brother, Fred seemed to be staring directly at her from the picture next to his name. She quickly looked around and was relieved to see no one had seen her break down. She took some tissues from the box on Ginny's desk and blew her nose, she wiped her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

She looked at her self in the mirror and looked relatively normal, when she stepped out onto the floor outside of Ginny's room she could hear a scream coming from the next couple steps up. She walked up the stairs slowly and carefully she was followed the sound and held her breath. She came to a door with burn marks around it. It look like explosives had been set off inside. She reached her hand for the door knob and turned it quickly pushing the door open, She gasped as a wand was pointed directly at her face. The tear streaked face of George Weasley was staring back at her.

She stared into George's warm brown eyes he looked angry and slightly confused, His hand was shaking and he lowered his wand slowly and apologized quietly under his breath, Luna nodded to him " No hard feelings."

He walked into his room and didn't say anything but he left the door wide open, this was a little bit shocking to Luna still she walked into the room anyway and closed the door behind her. She sat on the opposite bed, George looked up at her and breathed a sigh, he looked at the daily prophet that was held tightly in her hand. She held it out to him and he took it skimming the front page and flipping to the page Luna herself had originally looked for.

His face fell as he scanned over the names of the deceased and his lips pressed harder together when the names began to multiply. He sighed and handed the paper back to her, and put his face in his hands.

"I'm sorry about your father." He suddenly blurted out his voice sounded horse and rough. Luna was sure he had not spoken in a while it seemed forced and difficult.

"It does hurt a lot." Luna said looking down at her feet and wringing her hands together. "But my Mother always said that the ones who we love never really leave us."

George was looking at Luna with a blank expression, he did not seem upset so she took her moment to continue.

"We will be together again one day."

George's mouth opened and closed as if he wanted to say something, he closed it again for lack of a response still looking slightly unsettled.

Luna rose from her spot on the bed and placed a friendly hand on George's shoulder, she made her way to the door and looked at him again before leaving.

"Their is no shame is mourning George, It makes you human."

She closed the door and took a deep breath she needed to get some fresh air and feel the sunshine on her skin. She walked into Ginny's room and got her flips flops putting her feet into them and quickly heading down the stairs leaving the daily prophet on her cot.

When she walked out the back door she walked past the porch with rusty cauldrons and old boots, said hello to the garden gnomes and felt the breeze sweep her long unruly hair to the side. It was beautiful outside it reminded her of her mother and made her smile brightly.

She began to walk to the hill where her house once stood