The sun no longer shone in the sky, the once-bright and beautiful castle ruined and ugly. Rubble scattered the once-green lawns and Hagrid's cabin was mere charred remains of the old, beautiful place they had all loved once upon a time. Dumbledore's tomb was broken in half and the old wizard's body had disappeared, his wand snapped in two where it had once lay on his chest. The once full of life Entrance Hall was littered with bodies and the staircase was missing several stairs, the railing cracked in half and hanging off the edge.
Luna choked on a sob as she remembered the sunny afternoons she had spent with Ginny and Neville on those same green lawns, laughing and messing around in the tall grasses and splashing in the lakes with Ron, Hermione, and Harry. What was left of Hagrid's cabin still smoked slightly and she carelessly doused the flames with her wand. No one but her would care if the once magnificent castle was left there, a mere hundredth of its once glorious castle. Just rubble remained where she had once found home.
It had been three hours since the battle had ended, and no one else had moved but her. Of course, Luna had only moved so she could get away from all the bodies the remaining fighters had dragged into the Great Hall, as many of those corpses were her friends.
She stumbled through what was left of the Astronomy Tower, no longer caring if she lived or died. Everyone she had loved was gone. Arthur and Bill had both been crushed when Gryffindor Tower fell, along with Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, and Parvarti Patil. Fred, George, Lee Jordan, and Ron had been taken down by the Acromantula, who had sided with the Death Eaters toward the end. Their bodies still held traces of the webs their corpses had been strung up in. Neville, Ginny, Molly, and Charlie had taken down four giants altogether before joining them, along with the remaining members of Dumbledore's Army. Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Filius Flitwick, Severus Snape, and Horace Slughorn had all been duelling Bellatrix Lestrange and they had been sure to win before Dolohov had blown up the ground beneath them and the ceiling had collapsed on top of them. Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, and Hagrid had been killed when Fenrir Greyback had gone on rampage. Harry and Hermione had been back-to-back duelling with Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy when Hermione had crumbled, slumping behind Harry and leaving him free for a curse from Malfoy, who had been killed for not leaving him for the Dark Lord himself.
No one had been left standing beside herself and Ginny. The pair had run from the battlefield, yelling curses and hexes behind them, but the two alone were no match for what remained of the Death Eater army. Thankfully, with the Horcrux in Harry destroyed, Lord Voldemort was a mortal man, just as his followers were. The two girls could have stood a chance after all.
But as Luna had ducked into the Forbidden Forest and dragged Ginny in behind her, she had noticed how limp and heavy her best friend had seemed. She had screamed for all she was worth when the familiar brown eyes she had loved were lifeless and cold and that vibrant red hair was damp and limp on her shoulders. Ginny was dead, a mere earth-bound shadow of the beautiful young witch she once was.
"They can't all be gone," she whimpered, collapsing on what remained of the courtyard benches. Luna wrung her hands together and sobbed harder as she gave into the cold, harsh winds that swept across the grounds. She sobbed harder and harder as the storm blew in, the lightning cracking across the skies and the storm clouds gathering in her grey eyes.
She herself was a shadow of the strange, beautiful girl she once was. Her protuberant eyes were no longer full of wonder and hope, but full of war and death and wisdom beyond her sixteen years. Her white-blonde hair was hanging limp, stuck to her face by the sweat and blood and tears that dribbled from her head. Her body was frail and cold and her face was paler than the moon shining above her. Her beauty had vanished and what was left was just a reminder of who she used to be.
No longer did she believe Wrackspurts, Nargles, or Heliopaths were real. No longer did she read the Quibbler upside-down or did she think that to goblins of Gringrotts were just house-elves in disguise or were they under the Ministry's control so that illegal poisons could be tested on them. She wasn't Luna Lovegood anymore.
"All of them are gone," she whispered to the howling of the wind, watching the trees in the Forbidden Forest sway dangerously in the harsh winds. "Just kill me!" she bellowed fiercely, leaping to her feet and storming toward the charring smoke that gave off Hagrid's cabin. "Kill me so I can see them again! I have nothing, nothing to live for anymore!" She crumpled to her knees and began to beg. "Just please, please, send them back to me. I am nothing without them. They were what made me happy, what made me believe that there was hope! I am nothing without them!"
The thunder rolled overhead as the clouds thickened and rain began to pour. She continued to beg for death and scream at the stars, which twinkled unknowingly of the death above her. "JUST KILL ME!" shrieked Luna, sobbing harder and harder as the lightning crackled. "Kill me so I can be with them again. I need them more than anything now and you have taken them from me, you have taken all that I love. Kill me so that I can see them again."
Nothing but the howling of the wind replied to her and she screamed in anguish, screamed in pain, and she screamed for them. Because nothing could bring her life back. Nothing could bring all that she lived for back to earth and that was what hurt the most.
Harry watched her, tears sliding relentlessly down his face. He whimpered as she sobbed harder, clutching at her clothes and screaming and screaming. "JUST KILL ME!" she shrieked and he choked on a sob as he took a step toward her. He reached out to wrap an arm around her but his hands passed right through her and that was what reminded him that he was dead, that he would never see his precious Luna ever again unless he was to wish death upon his Luna. And he would not wish anything as terrible as death upon his love.
"I'm so sorry I left you, Luna," whispered Harry, running his ghostly fingers through his hair. His emerald eyes filled with more and more tears as they slipped down his pale, blood-stained cheeks. He begged her to stop crying, to find a way to fix things, to look for survivors, to do something that would make him feel better about leaving his Luna, but she remained there, screaming for him when he could never return to her. "I could have done something... I should have stayed for you... I should have always done so... I love you."
But she shrieked still, sobbing as though she was under the torture curse, screaming and bellowing to the stars who smirked down at them smugly, as though they had warned them of the day when this bloodshed would happen, as though they had been right all along. He sobbed with her, sitting beside her and attempting to sooth her tears, but nothing could stop them from coming, for she could not see, hear, or feel him. Nothing could bring him back to her and nothing could send her to him unless death had become very pitiful.
Luna screamed relentlessly, in pain and in anguish and in agony. Harry screamed with her, trying to hold her, but nothing could stop her from sobbing so hard as she did then. She shouted for him, she shouted for death and for the end of her suffering. She begged the ground to swallow her whole, for the lightning crackling above them to strike her then. But it would not happen, for Death was not pitiful at all that evening, for he had taken too many lives that day already. But what was one more...?
"We shouldn't have left!" whispered Harry, burying his head in her hair and trying to hold her still, even though she could not see, hear, nor feel him trying to comfort her. His tears soaked into her neck and for a second he thought she had felt them, but then she was screaming harder than ever. "We shouldn't have left you here, alone against the world. When we come back, Lune, it's you and me against the world. Just you and me. No one else."
She fought her way out of his grip and ran toward the Forbidden Forest, the tears now silent as they flooded from her lifeless grey eyes. Luna stumbled over the remains of Hagrid's cabin and raced into the forest, unknowing that the love of her life was racing after her. She fled over the tree roots and scrambled to the paths and pushed the brambles out of the way in her haste to arrive at her destination.
Tumbling into a clearing, she ran forward and began searching through the charred grass on her hands and knees. Harry watched her with tears in his eyes as she searched for the Resurrection Stone, as one of the first things he had done was tell her about his encounter with the stone itself. He said nothing as she made a small, triumphant sound that was full of hope as she turned the stone over in her small, bloodied hands.
"Harry," she gasped, standing up, and he looked into her grey eyes, which were full of tears. He smiled at her as she rushed forward and tried to embrace him tightly, however Luna passed through him as though he was not there at all. "Harry..."
"I know, I know," he whispered, kneeling beside her as she looked up at him. "You've been so, so brave and I'm proud to have known you. Luna, you have to move on and find somebody else because I'm not here for you. I should have stayed for you, because I need you and you're not going to be able to... you have to move on," he said firmly, running a hand through his hair before his ramblings could go much further. "I love you, but you need to move on and find somebody else who can make you much better than I could. You deserve someone who's not running for his life every five minutes and who can give you the life you deserve. I - I can't give you that, Luna, I can't give you what you deserve."
Luna shook her head, tears running down her cheeks. "I don't want anyone else but you," she whispered, the sound so broken and unsure as they slipped through her lips as they trembled. "I have no one to move on to because there is no one else like you. Everyone I ever loved is gone, so I have no one to help me through this and Merlin knows that no one else will love me the way that you did. I don't want someone who is normal, because no one can amount to you. You're my angel, Harry Potter, and I will always love you above everything else. My family and my friends are gone, along with the love of my life, and as far as I'm concerned I have nothing to live for anymore. No one to hold on to. I don't want anyone else but you and if I can't have you then I have nothing to live for. I'm going to join you soon enough, Harry, just wait a few minutes."
Harry shook his head frantically. "Don't die for me, Luna, I don't want anyone else dying for me. Mum, Dad, Sirius, Lupin, Ginny, Hermione, Tonks, Ron, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Dumbledore's Army and the twins... they're all dead because of me and I'm not having you die for me as well. No one deserved to die and you don't either. So why don't you just move on from me, find somebody else who can do you much better."
"I don't want anyone else!" she screamed, standing up and pointing at him accusingly. "I love you more than anything and I always will! My family and my friends are dead and so are you and no one else will love me the way that you did! I don't want to move on and I have no one to move on for! My life is over, Harry, why don't you see that the only reason I lived was so that I could find you? I love you... no one else will love me the way that you do, and I don't want anyone else but you."
"And I don't want you to move on either," he admitted, taking another step closer as she smiled up at him. "I will always love you, Luna, more than anyone else."
"Then let me come home, you idiot."
"You're home whenever you're with me."
Luna beamed up at him and raised her wand, whispering, "Avada Kedavra..."
He lunged and caught her as she tumbled forward, cradling her in his arms. For a moment he thought that she was dead, that she wouldn't come back to him, but then he realised that he was dead, too, and his concerns filtered away in an instant. "Luna?" he asked softly, pulling her to him tightly and looking worriedly down at her. Then her eyes fluttered open and she was beaming up at him, and a grin found itself permanently fixed onto his face. "I'm so glad you're home," he whispered as he hugged her tightly, clutching her malnourished body close to his. "I love you."
"I love you, too," she whispered back, clutching him just as tightly as she breathed in his scent. He reached up and wiped some blood off one cheek, grinning down at her through the tears in his eyes. "You and me, Harry, you and me against the world." He grinned wider, bringing her in for a kiss. Their lips moved in sync against each other's and their salty tears mingled together as they fled their eyes.
"You and me against the world," he agreed, breathing heavily as he pressed his forehead to hers. She smiled back and pulled him back down for another kiss.
I wrote this because I had a dreadful day today and I needed to invent a happy ending for myself... apart from, you know, my boyfriend's on holiday in America this Christmas and he isn't dead...
Oh well, it was a fun way to vent it out.
Love,
Marlene