Ostara. Hunting for Fate.
1988.
Joyous laughter could be heard ringing out from the house on the hill, right across the valley.
Xenophilius watched as his wife lead their daughter, Luna around their garden in search for the Ostara eggs he had helped his wife hide the night before. Of all the sights he'd seen, from all his travels around the world, watching his wife and daughter keep the old traditions alive always warmed his heart.
"Papi, look" I've found an egg!" Luna called to her father, the painted egg held tightly in her hand as she waved it frantically for Xeno to see.
"Careful my little moon-beam," Pandora told her daughter, holding out a basket for Luna to put the egg in. "You don't want to break the egg before we bless them," she told her daughter, smiling warmly when Luna seriously placed the egg in the basket before running off in search of another egg. Pandora was pleased to see the egg held the Inguz rune, a fitting symbol for her kind-hearted daughter.
"Mama, I've found another egg," Luna called out to her mother from further down the garden. Meeting up by the bed of forget-me-nots, gillyflowers and red tulips Pandora had planted from her wedding bouquet, she accepted another egg with a smile while Luna ran back off again. After a quick smell of the flowers that made her think of her wedding, she looked down to see what rune Luna had found this time. Laguz for dreamers, she thought with a silent nod, once again thinking that it suited her little Luna well as she watched the little girl dance around the garden, appearing to be completely at one with the wild, natural magic all around her.
After another hour of searching Xeno called his daughter and wife back to the house so they could all feast on the Ostara dishes he'd prepared for them before Pandora and Luna blessed the Ostara eggs that Luna had been hunting all afternoon. So, after a delicious meal of peppered lamb chops; herby potatoes and cabbage with lemon and garlic, Pandora took Luna off to bless her eggs.
Placing them down on the cloth covered coffee table, Pandora ensured they were in the same order that Luna had found them before taking her daughter's hands in her own, guiding them into place as they both softly began chanting; "Eos, Eostre, Ostre, Eostar, Ostara!" Repeating the same chant again over all the eggs, the finished with "Sit magia benedicat nostro proposito." By the time the blessing was over, Luna looked so serious that Pandora couldn't help but chuckle before telling her with a smile, "Not that's all done my darling, you get to eat your eggs. Start with the Inguz egg, then the Laguz and finished with the Raido."
Luna picked up the first and after cracking open and peeling off the shell, she bit into the pink coloured egg, her eyes widening at the surprising taste. "It taste's like Droobles!" she exclaimed, quickly devouring the rest of the eggs while Pandora went to join Xeno in the kitchen, where he was putting the final touches to their dessert, a delicious lemon meringue pie. "Well she seems to have enjoyed herself," Pandora remarked, smiling at her husband when he gently slapped her hand away from their dessert when she tried to sneak a taste.
"What did she find?" Xeno asked, curious as to what fate held for his only child.
"Caring, dreams and a dance of life," Pandora informed him. "It's very fitting if you think about it really."
Looking back into the sitting room, Xeno couldn't help but agree with his wife's statement as he watched with a smile as Luna dance around the room with her eyes closed, clearly lost in whatever music only she could hear. Calling Luna back into the kitchen for dessert, Xeno hoped they had many more years of happiness ahead of them.
1989.
Luna smiled up at her mother as the two of them kneaded the dough for their sunflower bread. Like last year, Xeno had cooked up a feast for them to enjoy, but this time he let his wife and daughter help him while he went out and hid the Ostara rune covered eggs around the garden for Luna to hunt for. Once the last egg was hidden, Xeno called Luna out and set her on that years' hunt. "Do you have your question clearly in your mind Luna-bean? Well, off you go," he told her after she nodded. Happy that Luna had started her egg hunt, Xeno popped his head back into kitchen just as Pandora was putting the bread in the oven. "Luna has started her search; do you want to join her?" he asked.
Pandora looked over at him with a warm smile, "You carry on darling," she told him. "I'll make desert for us this year, I was thinking lavender custard and apple pie. You'd best go ack out before Luna finds more than one egg and jumbles them up," she told him, just as Luna called out that she'd found her first egg. Leaving his wife in the kitchen, Xeno re-joined Luna in the garden, only just catching the egg she passes him before she quickly ran off again. Looking down at the egg, Xeno couldn't help but smile at the rune that stared back up at him. Kenaz for creativity. Maybe she'll follow in our footsteps, he thought as he watched Luna cartwheel around the garden, clearly enjoying her egg hunt.
After an hour of hunting, Pandora eventually called them back in and after a delicious meal of potato salad and honey-glazed ham, Pandora and Luna went off hand in hand to bless the eggs.
"Eos, Eostre, Ostre, Eostar, Ostara!"
Once Luna was happily munching away on her butterbeer flavoured eggs, Xeno beckoned his wife over to him with a worried frown. "What's wrong, love?" Pandora asked, concerned.
"Did you see what runes she found this year?" he asked.
"Kenaz, a reverse Algiz and Nagalaz, and Nauthiz?" Pandora replied, confused.
"Doesn't it bother you that she found warning and loss? What do you think it means?" Xeno asked, worried for his daughter's fate.
Pandora smiled at her husband and his worrying. "But she'll survive whatever life throws at her, the Nauthiz tells us that," she pointed out to him with a comforting smile. "Our daughter is smart and strong and can conquer whatever fate puts in her path. Trust me, she'll be fine," she told him, kissing his cheek softly before she went to finish off pudding, leaving Xeno to watch their daughter.
He dearly wanted to believe that they would all be alright; but deep down, he felt that fate had plans for the Lovegood family. He just hoped they all survived them.
1990.
There was no laughter this year. The garden was empty and the kitchen was cold. It was like there was a black cloud hanging over the house, snuffing out the light and laughter that only a year ago seemed to permeate every nook and cranny of the Lovegood home.
Luna gently placed an omelette in front of her father, knowing that she would probably end up throwing the stone cold, untouched for away in a couple of hours' time. Ever since the accident, her father barely ate a thing, choosing instead to drown himself in the various liqueurs he and Pandora had collected from their travels over the years.
"Are we doing an Ostara hunt later, Papi?" Luna asked quietly, hoping to carry on the beloved tradition even without her mother.
"Not this year," Xeno told her wearily, staring out the window at the flowerbeds in the garden.
"I can hide the eggs and you can hunt for them. Or you could spell them into the garden and we'll hunt for them together, if you like?" she suggested, hopefully.
"No, Luna," Xeno repeated, still gazing out the window.
"Or we could cook? Make some Ostara fare like haddock fish cakes or lavender crème brûlée?" she suggested, not giving up on her father just yet.
"STOP IT!" Xeno snapped, finally turning around to look at his daughter, who reminded him so much of Pandora that his heart physically hurt. "Just stop it! There'll be no more feasts; no more eggs; no more putting stock in fate! Do you understand? No more…" he told her, his voice breaking at the very end as teas began to stream down his face as he turned his back from Luna to once again gaze out the window, lost in his all-consuming grief.
Knowing that trying to get her father to do anything productive was a lost cause, Luna returned to her room with tears in her eyes as she thought not only of the loss of her mother, but also of the loss of the happy family traditions she'd never experience again. Drying her eyes, she reached under her bed and pulled out her mother's art chest. Opening it up she pulled out a pack of plain tarot cards and some coloured pencils, before closing her eyes and allowing fate to guide her hand, trusting that it would move her in the right direction.
When she opened her eyes an hour and a half later, she gently picked up her newly drawn rune tarot's and contemplated the runes before her. Gebo in reverse. Loneliness. Fitting for that moment in time she thought. Nauthiz for patience. Fehu for hope. She dearly hoped that indicated that her father would get better, if she just waited for him.
Closing her eyes once more, she clutched the cards to her chest as she chanted the blessing her mother taught her all those years ago. "Eos, Eostre, Ostre, Eostar, Ostara! Sit magia benedicat nostro proposito," she recited, her voice breaking halfway through as the tears began to fall and soon she was curled upon her bed as she sobbed for her mother; her father and for the family that would never be the same again.
And outside, under the broken gaze of Xenophilius, the first petals from Pandora's flowers began to fall.
1992.
Luna looked down at her Hogwarts letter, re-reading it again for what must have been the hundredth time since it's arrival the previous month. She hoped life would start to seem brighter once again when she started school. She also hoped that by putting some distance between herself and her father would help him t move on from Pandora's death, knowing how hard it was to be continuously reminded of his late wife every time he looked at her.
Life was certainly different for the Lovegood family two years after Pandora's passing. Xenophilius put all his energy into The Quibbler and covered the house in all the trinkets and treasures from his past adventures. He even allowed Luna free reign with the paint and now every room held at least one brightly coloured mural based on the tales that Xeno regaled her with. One thing that hadn't changed though, was that Ostara still wasn't celebrated as a family in the house on the hill. But that didn't stop Luna from celebrating it on her own.
Putting her letter to one side, Luna picked up her hand-drawn rune cards and closed her eyes. With a question clear in her mind, Luna shuffled the cards and let fate dictate what cards she would draw. When she opened her eyes ten minutes later, satisfied fate had made its decision, she looked down at the cards and contemplated the runes she'd selected.
Raido for relocation, for going off to Hogwarts and starting her own adventures. Kenaz for knowledge, signifying all that she would learn in the years to come, or perhaps implying that she would follow her parent's footsteps into Ravenclaw, where wit and intelligence is prized above all else. Wunjo for fellowship, for the bonds she would forge that would last a lifetime.
Happy with what fate had in store for her, she blessed the runes before taking out her paints and adding that years offering to the collection she had already painted on her wall and when her father called her for diner later on, she made sure to cover her runes from view before joining her father downstairs, feeling closer to her mother in that moment than she did the rest of the year, happy that she was honouring her mother's memory in the only way that she could.
And outside the garden remained flowerless for yet another year.
1998.
He was lost, trapped in his memories, in his nightmares. First his Pandora and now Luna, his little moonbeam. The only thing stopping him from sinking to the bottom of a bottle and never resurfacing. And now… he might have lost it all.
Xeno wandered from room to room before eventually coming to a stop in Luna's bedroom. Looking around at the amazing works of art that she'd created over the years, Xeno was in awe at her talent, for she clearly had a gift, from the soft expressions on her friend's faces to the delicate gold writing she'd framed every portrait, he could see the care and love she'd put into every single brush stroke. The longer he gazed at his daughter's paintings though, the worse he felt, knowing that it was his fault that they'd taken her. As he turned to leave though, the corner of a painting Luna had attempted to hide caught his attention.
Making his way over to it, he pushed aside the covering and was shocked to find runes, in groups of twos', three's and even some fours painted around a perfect copy of the painted eggs that his wife had painted for him to hide years ago. Ostara runes Luna had selected by herself since 1990, the year he'd stopped caring about what fate had to say to them and he could see that she'd selected every rune at least once. Fehu; Raido; Hagalaz; Eihwaz; Teiwaz; Laguz; Uruz; Kenaz; Nauthiz; Perth; Berkana; Inguz; Thurisaz; Gebo; Isa; Algiz; Ehwaz; Dagaz; Ansuz; Wunjo; Jera; Sowulo; Mannaz and Othilla, they were all there, telling the story of his daughter's life, a life he didn't really know about and with that crushing realisation was the knowledge that he had no one to blame but himself.
Placing the covering back over the runes, Xenophilius vowed that if they both survived this terrible war, he would make it up to his daughter for being so absent over the years, whether that meant starting new traditions they could both enjoy, or rekindling old ones, no matter how painful that might be.
And in the garden, the flowers began to break open for the first time in eight years.
2014.
Happy, childish laughter could once again be heard coming from the house upon the hill as Xenophilius chased his grandsons around the garden as they both hunted for the Ostara eggs he'd hidden for them the day before. When both boys collapsed, exhausted on the grass Xeno knew that their hunt had reached its natural conclusion. So, after gathering the boys up, he took them inside and plied them with lemon meringue pie before getting them to draw out their runes in the Ostara scrapbook he'd created after the war, which was filled with not just Luna's rune selections, but also those that Pandora had selected all those years ago.
Later that night after the boys had eaten their fill of the veritable feast Xeno had made, Luna returned to her childhood home just in time to help the boys bless their eggs, chanting the same words as their mother and grandmother before them, "Eos, Eostre, Ostre, Eostar, Ostara! Sit magia benedicat nostro proposito," and once the boys had finished the blessings they began to devoure the Bertie Botts flavoured eggs.
Watching his daughter and grandsons celebrate Ostara together, Xenophilius felt a peacefulness wash over him, the likes of which he hadn't truly felt for years, like he could feel his wife's presence there with them in that moment as they once again celebrated Ostara as a family. He felt like he'd finally come full circle.
And outside, the gillyflowers, red tulips and forget-me-nots were bright and in bloom, like they had been for fourteen years.
Sit magia benedicat nostro proposito translates to May magic bless our purpose. And because I love the meaning of flowers, and because they played an important role in this story, Forget-me-nots symbolise authentic love brimming with memories. Gillyflowers symbolise happy life and red tulips symbolise undying love.
I hope you enjoyed my Ostara themed story. I decide to use the Lovegood family because I thought they would be the type of family to celebrate the holidays of the year. For those that say it's very out of character for Luna and Xenophilius, I'll just say that even the kookiest of people appear sane/normal sometimes and that grief can affect us in different ways.
Also, in case you thought I'd focused on food too much, all the dishes are traditionally made for Ostara feasts which is why I've included them. Please let me know what you thought and be on the look out for the next story for Beltane.