Let the Wind Blow You Back My Way

When Rolf returned to his campsite the blizzard was well and truly set in and the blurred outline of his tents and the faint glow of the floating witchlights was more than welcome. He'd been tracking the group of storm spirits that made up this particular cell for days and had finally managed to catch up with them somewhere in the middle of Canada and was quite glad that the whole ordeal would be over in the morning.

He pushed aside the tent flap and was blown inside the internally-large, warm, and most importantly, dry pavilion on a gust of frozen wind that sent half-written articles for various publications and a slew of notes fluttering to the floor.

"Damn and blast," he muttered to himself shucking out of his coat and boots and dropping his rucksack on the boot bench.

He hopped out of the little shoe well and onto what constituted the main floor of the tent and started gathering things up off the floor and attempting to organize them into neater piles.

"Would you like some help with that?"

Rolf froze, the papers fluttering back to the floor with a noise like the flapping of bird's wings from his nerveless fingers as his keen, observant eyes swept the tent.

"Up here."

And there she was, as beautiful and elusive as any air sprite sitting lotus style on the arched roof of the tent her long blonde hair hanging free below her scalp as she watched him putter around below her.

"Luna," he breathed amazedly, "It's you. You're here."

"Should I have been elsewhere?" she asked tilting her head a bit in question.

As suddenly as the relieved amazement that she was here, that she was alive and well, welled up under his breastbone, blind fury rushed in to take its place.

"Bloody right you should've been elsewhere!" he snapped, "How dare you show your face here? You buggered off to the Goddess only knows where for three sodding years and then you have the nerve to just—"

Rolf broke off and took a deep breath feeling tears of rage and frustration, and also of relief pricking at the back of his eyes. Trying to steady himself, he leaned back against the nearest of his many worktables and shut his eyes, pinching at the bridge of his nose as though trying to rid himself of an afterimage.

"I'm sorry," she said in a small voice.

A bitter laugh slipped past his lips, "You're sorry, Lu—I can't just," he drew in a breath, "Just get out."

"Alright."

She twisting in the air as sinuous as a dancer, unfolding her long coltish legs and pushing off the top of the tent gently on one petite foot, making for the door. It was only then that Rolf noticed that a pair of tall blue dragonhide boots with colorful braided string for laces were set neatly in the shoe well in their usual corner.

"No," he said suddenly, leaping to his feet, "No, actually, stay right where you are. We are going to finally hash this out properly, and I'll be damned if I miss the opportunity to yell at you."

"Whatever you want," agreed Luna easily, settling back onto the air as though it were solid beneath her, "If you want to talk we can talk, if you want to fight we will. If you want me to go I—I'll leave. I won't come back again if it bothers you."

"Maddening woman! How can you just sit there and— Lu do you have any idea what I went through when you disappeared? Do you have the slightest inkling? The foggiest clue? I thought—I don't know what I thought, nothing pretty I can imagine but I was all but drowning in alcohol at the time. It felt like you'd ripped my heart out of my chest with your bare hands and taken it along with you."

Luna frowned a bit at him then, her brow furrowing partly in confusion and partly in frustration.

"You said you didn't want me anymore," she accused, "You said!"

"I was stupid and angry and I never thought you'd actually leave!" he shouted, gesturing wildly, "When I realized that you'd packed your things I called everyone, your father, your friends. I got into contact with all the old DA members and your colleagues from the Institute but you'd disappeared off the face of the planet. No one had seen you all the tracking spells were turning back, if it weren't for Gringotts' records the Aurors would have declared you dead!"

"I didn't want anyone to find me, I didn't expect you do be so upset—"

"Well you were damn well wrong!"

"Just, please, let me explain," she pleaded, getting up to pace the hem of her tunic swishing through the air, "I've always known I couldn't keep you. Not really. I read in a book once, that we accept the love we think we deserve, and that seemed to be a proper way to describe the problem. There was no way I could fit in with your colleagues and friends. I'm just too odd and not very good at pretending I'm not. It was only a matter of time before you saw it yourself and I could see that time coming faster and faster every day. Then that night—"

"Lu, you—" he interrupted, "How could you think—no, how could you believe—that I didn't fall in love with you for that exact oddness? I was frustrated, I snapped without thinking, it happens, it was wrong and hurtful and I'm sorry but it doesn't mean you get to just break up with me without even saying goodbye or letting me know that you were okay you—I deserved to have the choice. You don't get to decide who's worthy. Not even if it's you. I deserve to choose who I love or not love."

"And do you? Love me?"

"Are you really asking this now?"

Luna just stared at him, her misty eyes boring into his.

"Yes," he admitted, "Damned if I know why sometimes but I still love you. I've loved you since the first moment I laid eyes on you and I suspect I'll continue loving you long after I'm dust in the wind."

"But then, you did choose for yourself, didn't you? You decided to keep on loving me, even though it was hard and painful. Even though I left you behind. You could have moved on, but you didn't. And that was your choice. Not mine."

Rolf stared into Luna's eyes at once baffled and amazed by her unique logic, then he began to laugh, because after all she was right.

"Come here."

Luna floated down from the ceiling and into his open arms, and Rolf immediately gathered her to his chest burying his nose in her hair and just relishing the chance to hold her again as her arms wound around his neck and her legs encircled his waist.

"I'm sorry," she said shakily, "I didn't mean—I'm sorry."

"It'll take more than a few sorrys before I really forgive you," Rolf warned her, squeezing tightly.

"There are too many wrackspurts, I just need—what can I do? Tell me, what can I do to make you want to keep me?"

"Lu, babe, I've always wanted to keep you. This time just stay here."

"Okay, I can do that much."

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

AN: Done for Week Three of Romi's Autumn Flashfic Challenge on HPFC!

Hey guy's initial post only got cursory editing cause I've been awake for far too long at this point. I'll go through and look at it properly tomorrow. Please take the time to leave a review and let me know what you thought and don't forget if you're looking for more great fics to check out the other submissions in the challenge thread!