AN: Well, well. Here we are. I haven't written a Harry Potter fanfiction in three years (back when I shipped Harry/Hermione), when I very first started writing. Getting bored with my other fandoms, and renewing my love for the series via the last movie, I fell in LOVE with the George/Luna pairing. Seems so perfect, natural, and possible. I couldn't resist, I had to write one.

Take note, it's been quite a long time since I read the books, so there might be some slight inaccuracies. I've skimmed through Deathly Hallows to refresh my memory, but to be safe I just wrote this chapter based on how it went down in the movie. Also, I'm American (sadly) but I'm trying to write it using English-like terms (the metric system!).

So, put your Suspension-Of-Disbelief caps on and enjoy! ;)

Currently, there was a lull in the action. They had fought the Death Eaters back for the time being, and everyone used the pause to tend to the wounded and collect the dead. Luna Lovegood, however, refused to put her wand away. It gave her comfort, something to hold on to. So many of the people all around her were either dead or rather close to it.

Everyone in the world will be able to see thestrals at this rate, she thought to herself.

Her clothes were battered, mud-caked, and ripped. Rusty-red splotches of blood mixed with dirt stained her pink sneakers.

Everyone in the ruins that used to be the magnificent Great Hall was eerily calm, including Luna herself. Students and staff of Hogwarts offered minor comfort to one another, mostly looking drained and in shock. Floating through the atmosphere was the murmur of people softly conversing, and some sniffles from those either in physical pain or grief-afflicted.

Luna heard running footsteps approaching from behind her. She turned around to see who was coming, and saw none other than George Weasley frantically sprinting to the other end of the Hall, where the rest of his red-haired family had gathered. He shoved her out of the way, but not hard enough to make her fall. Luna then noticed two members of the Weasley family that were absent from the huddle—Ron (who was off fighting alongside Harry), and George's identical twin Fred.

"Freddie! No! No, Freddie, no!" George screamed upon reaching his family. His loud voice pierced through the quiet murmurs in the Hall. Everyone went silent, even paused their own sobbing, as the remaining Weasley Twin collapsed to his knees near his brother's head. George heaved out lung-fulls of voice-broken sobs. Mrs. Weasley also knelt at Fred's side, muffling her crying in his shirt. The rest of the family stood gathered around, rocking on their toes, shaking their heads, and burying their faces in their hands.

Luna remained frozen in the spot George had pushed her to, staring with a lump steadily converging in her throat. She was bombarded with memories of the twins, specifically at the Dumbledore's Army meetings. They really did deserve their reputation as being tricksters, but were clever and skillful wizards all the same. She always admired them for their fearlessness, and their jokes perfectly tickled her sense of humor. They never picked on her the way she thought they might've. The most curious thing, though, was how she found she actually cared what they thought of her, something she never bothered about with anyone else. She wanted them to be proud of her, fond of her, impressed by her. She remembered one particular instance where she had been paired up to duel Fred, but suddenly was overcome with fear that if she cast the Stupefy curse at him at hurt him, both the twins would be angry with her. So, she let him stun her, and to her red-faced surprise, they both rushed over to help her up.

It tore her apart in this moment, to see one of the endearing twins motionless on the ground, and the other collapsing into pieces right before her eyes.

She had seen a lot of killing curses thrown and gory injuries throughout the battle, but this was the first that truly disturbed her, knowing she was witnessing a young man having his entire world stripped away while she could do nothing. A part of her wanted to run over and give him a hug, to try and hold her friend together, but she knew it was no use. Her father had attempted to do the same after her mum died, but it did little to comfort her. Also, she would feel as if she were impolitely intruding on the Weasley family, to lodge herself into such an emotional situation.

Soon, Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrived in the Hall as well. Ron hurried over to the Weasley queue, where George passionately threw his arms around him, fresh sobs tearing from the older brother's throat.

Luna realized then how long she'd been staring. She turned and walked in the opposite direction of the mourning family, located a fellow Ravenclaw student, and offered to help him tend the wound on his shoulder. This boy she hardly knew, but it would be something to distract her from her building nausea.

"It's not fair at all, is it?" the boy sniffled. He looked to be in about the fourth year.

"No, no it is not," she answered, waving her wand to clear up some of the dried blood.

"You were in the DA with them, weren't you?"

Luna swallowed; pretended to be incredulous. "Who's 'them?'"

"You know who I'm talking about—the Weasley twins. One has been killed, hasn't he? I can't see very well over there; I've lost my glasses."

It was taking everything she had to remain level-headed. "Yes, unfortunately. It's Fred that died. But I didn't know them," Luna asserted. "Not very well. But let's focus on making you better right now, okay? It's all we can do. Episkey." The boy's wound reduced to a small pink mark on his skin. Looking around, she noticed that the Trio had gone.

Across the Hall, she caught sight of Neville Longbottom limping across the courtyard. Luna stood and began walking closer. She could see figures approaching in the distance—a giant processional. Fear seized her. It appeared as though the Death Eaters were returning for another fight.

###

Luna only had a few moments to revel in how beautiful Neville's speech was, to let it sink into her skin and touch her heart. If she could've seen George Weasley in the enormous crowed, she would have looked for his reaction. But the calm only lasted a fraction of second.

Harry Potter tumbled out of Hagrid's arms and sprung to life. Just like that, everything erupted and the battle resumed at full force. The opposing groups charged at each other, and Luna cast a Stupefy curse at a young blonde female Death Eater. Turning around, she noticed a flash of long gray hair being pursued by a shock of orange hair. The Death Eater cackled hysterically as if they were playing a child's game. He turned around for a split moment to stick out his tongue at the redhead. Luna recognized him immediately from a newspaper article—Augustus Rookwood. The redheaded man sent a burst of flames from the tip of his wand, but missed in all his distraught emotion, and Rookwood skillfully dodged and continued running.

Luna's body snapped back into motion. She had to help him. "George!" she cried and took off in pursuit of both of them. She followed them down a dark, destroyed hallway. George kept lobbing curses and Rookwood kept dodging.

Rookwood laughed again. "I killed Fred Weasley!" he mocked in a sing-song voice. "And his twin wasn't around to save him! Ha, ha!"

"I'll kill you!" George bellowed. He quickened his pace, if that was even possible. Luna trailed a good forty meters behind them, her non-athletic body tiring, unsure of how much longer she could sprint like this. George steadily caught up to Rookwood. He had drawn his wand back to throw a curse when his ankle caught under a piece of debris, and his body went sailing forward through the air. He hit the ground with a gruesome smack. His wand flew from his hand and soared at least five meters ahead of him before landing with a hollow clatter.

Rookwood skidded to a stop and turned to behold his tripped opponent. Gravelly, sadistic laughter trickled out of his throat. He approached George's wand and kicked it even farther away.

"Stupid, clumsy weasel," he growled. George feebly lifted his head, trying to take in a breath after having the wind knocked out of him. He finally sucked in a hoarse, high-pitched gasp and expelled it by saying:

"I surrender. Go ahead. Kill me." Another gasp. "I want to die. You can have the honor of—" (a gasp) "—taking us both out."

Rookwood grinned and began to lift his wand.

Luna shrieked, "No!" as she finally caught up to them."Expelliarmus!" Rookwood's wand was knocked out of his hand.

"Would you look at that, Weasel! Your girlfriend's come to save your pathetic arse!"

Luna's anger reached fever pitch. She collected all the fury in her petite body and yelled, "Stupefy!" The spell was strong enough to knock Rookwood unconscious, which gave her at least enough time to help George up and get his wand back.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her dazedly as she grabbed his arm and put it around her shoulder to help him stand. He was able to support himself, but walked with a severe limp on the foot that he'd tripped on; he could hardly put any weight on it before he yelped in pain. Without waiting for her to answer, he said, "You're sort of brilliant. You saved my life." He seemed to have forgotten that just a minute before he'd requested that Rookwood kill him.

"I had to. I could not stand to see another one of my friends die…Accio George's wand!" She caught it just before it soared into her face and handed it to its owner.

A faint, low grumble came from where Rookwood lay unconscious. "He's waking," said George. He limped very slowly toward the gray-haired man and pointed his wand at him, poised to strike when he woke.

"George! Wait!" Luna called after him, cautiously approaching the two wizards. "Please don't use any of the Unforgivables."

"Why shouldn't I?" he demanded. "He deserves it! He used one on my twin brother and was about to use one on me!"

She took another step forward, holding her hands up in a non-threatening fashion. "Because I know you're better than that. You're not a criminal like he is. There's plenty of other spells you can use."

He glared at her with flooded eyes. The first sob came from deep within his abdomen. He loosened his death-grip on the handle of his wand and let his arm go limp at his side. "But, Luna, he killed Fred. He murdered my Freddie!"

"I know that. But, in all honesty, will killing him or using the Cruciartus curse make you feel all that better? Here, I know, let's put him in a body-binding curse and, when this is all over, turn him in to be sent to Azkaban. It's the more noble thing to do, and you know it."

George steadied his crying long enough to spit out, "Petrificus totalus." Rookwood's arms snapped to his sides and his legs bound together.

Luna held open her arms and he leaned into them without bothering to return the hug. He cried into her shoulder while she rubbed her hand in circles between his bony shoulder blades. "Shh, it's okay. I'm proud of you. You did what was best. And I bet Fred would be proud of you, too." She pulled away slightly, set her hands on his face, and spoke directly to him, "Now. Why don't you sit down and I'll see if I can fix your leg." She guided him to the edge of the hallway, where he gingerly slid to the floor and rested his back against the stone wall.

He winced as she pulled up his pant leg, and whimpered in pain when she pulled off his shoe and sock. His ankle was swollen and lightly bruised. "It looks like a sprain," Luna said. "But it doesn't look too severe. I should be able to fix it quite easily. Episkey." The swelling instantly deflated and the bruises disappeared. She gently pressed her fingers to his ankle and asked if it hurt. He shook his head.

Luna was busy tying his shoe back up when a booming male voice appeared from around the corner. "There you two are!"

George and Luna turned their heads to the source and locked eyes with Aberforth Dumbledore.

"The battle is over," he continued. "Harry Potter has defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort. The Death Eaters are being captured and sent to Azkaban as we speak. And Mr. Weasley here has a very worried family who would like to see him returned safely. We've been looking all around for you two."

Luna used a quick charm to clean George's face and hands of blood and filth before they both stood. They were too exhausted and numb to react to the news.

Aberforth stepped closer. He examined Rookwood's perfectly stiff body. "It appears you have captured a Death Eater on your own. I'll take care of him. You both best get back to the Great Hall and rejoin your family and friends." He raised his wand and levitated Rookwood's body.

George and Luna walked in silence back to the Hall. He was greeted with tearful, bone-crushing hugs of his family. She found Neville sitting on a bench and struck up a conversation with him. They exchanged weak smiles with each other.

"So," Neville said nervously, "you fought alongside George Weasley, did you?"

"Yes. I helped him defeat the Death Eater who played a part in his twin's death. It was quite emotional. But we're both okay."

"I hope he knows that just because Harry woke up doesn't mean that my speech was worthless. Maybe we should, I dunno, go tell him or something."

Luna patted Neville's hand. "That's very kind of you. But I think we best leave him alone for now. His family is taking care of him."