A very happy birthday to Gamma Orionis, happy birthday darling and may you have many more.

Rising Up

Luna didn't know how long she had been imprisoned, only that she was not going to be escaping any time soon. She was confined to a single cell, about two metres by one metre, with stone walls and a window the size of her fist that let in the only light that Luna saw every day. It was they only means of Luna knowing whether it was day or night, and when she was in such a small, confined space, it was about the only thing that Luna had to look forward to.

Normally, she would try to make the best of whatever situation that she was in but there was nothing good to make out of this situation, apart from stare at the dust that swirled and sparkled in the air in the afternoon light, but of course, that only happened once a day. She found herself making up imaginary friends to keep her company because the other prisoners weren't able to interact. She knew for a fact that there were others; she heard them scream at night, and yell out for help during the day. Luna knew this was useless though, they were imprisoned by Death Eaters and nobody interested in saving them would be around unless they were being thrown into a cell themselves.

Luna sat in the corner of her cell, watching the light that seeped into the window slowly lessen until there was only just enough light to see her hand in front of her face. That was when she heard it, as she did every night. The bang of the metal cell door slamming shut, followed by the yells and screams of a single prisoner being taken off somewhere. Luna didn't pretend that she knew the methods of the death eaters, but she was almost a hundred percent sure that they were being used as entertainment and then killed, because nobody ever returned. They made a racket when they came in, and made a racket when they went out but after they went out, you never heard the same racket again.

Despite the fact that she was tired, starving, weak and freezing cold, she jumped up and peeked through the hole in the door which was used by the people guarding them to make sure that they weren't dead. She felt a pang of hatred as she saw who they were dragging away. It was Neville. She hadn't known that he had been captured by the death eaters after the war as well. After her capture alongside Hermione, Ron, Dean, Seamus, Ginny and Parvati, she had had no contact with the outside world or anything that was going on outside the block of cells that they were being kept in.

She knew that she was one of the last remaining of the group that she had been captured with. They took Hermione first, then Dean, then Ron and then Ginny. As far as she knew, Seamus and Parvati were still in here somewhere, hopefully alive, but then again, she didn't get up to look at who was being taken away or brought in every day, she may have missed them.

She could hear Neville hollering at the death eaters from outside the stone walls of the prison, he screamed and screamed, yelling for them to let him go, yelling for help, for his Gran. Luna sighed, there was no point in yelling for help, she had a feeling that there was nobody around for miles, though she couldn't be sure as the window was too high for her to see out of.

Eventually, Neville's screams faded away and Luna was left alone with her thoughts again. Normally she could hear other prisoners banging on their doors or yelling for their freedom but every night, after somebody was taken there was silence, as if giving them the respect they deserved before they, most probably, died. She couldn't say that this was welcome however, the banging on the doors gave Luna something to listen to, something to alleviate the boredom and fear that had managed to drape itself around her in her time in the cell. She never made any noise herself, apart from talking to the Wrackspurts that visited her daily, bringing her news from her father, but even then she only spoke quietly because Luna knew what they did to the particularly noisy ones, she'd witnessed it herself in her very first week here, before they managed to acquire the metal doors and it was just bars on her cell. A boy who looked barely old enough to be out of Hogwarts had been walking around his cell for close to three hours, wailing, yelling in frustration, screaming for freedom. The death eater who was on guard at the time had just flicked his wand at the cell and filled it with concrete, which dried immediately. Luna had never seen the door to that cell open again.

The sun had completely set now, leaving Luna's cell in darkness. She couldn't see a thing, not even the floor on which she was to lie on and attempt to sleep. Most nights she woke before the sun rose and sat in the corner of her cell waiting for it to get lighter and lighter but on the rare occasion that she was able to sleep in, she was always woken by the Death Eaters bringing in new prisoners.

As she lay there on the stone cold floor, she thought about what life might've been like for her now if Harry had just cast his spell a moment sooner. She remembered what happened more clearly than she remembered her own name, no details had faded with time, if anything they had become stronger and more prominent, more lifelike with ever nightmare that she had. Voldemort and Harry standing at opposite ends of the Great Hall, circling each other like dogs, each never taking their eyes off the other, she remembered Voldemort's face as he yelled the killing curse for the hall to hear. She remembered Harry's stunned face, half way through the word Expelliarmus, as the curse hit him in the chest, she remembered the dull thud that had echoed throughout the hall as Harry Potter, the boy who lived, their hero, fell for the very last time. She remembered the pandemonium that had ensued afterwards; people running left right and centre, trying and failing to apparate away from the situation because of Hogwarts' protective charm. Men, women and children were roped up and taken prisoner and Luna knew enough about wars to know that all of them had been given Prisoner of War status until evidence of a dead body that belonged to them was found.

She could hear voices talking in hushed tones as she tried to get comfortable on the floor that provided little warmth for her cold body, and knew that the guards must be changing over, which was odd, seeing as the old guard had only come on half an hour ago. Luna pushed the thought aside, too tired to wonder why. She shut her eyes and willed herself to fall into unconsciousness.

Like most nights, it didn't work and she found herself lying awake on the stone floor for what seemed like hours afterwards. Everything seemed to have quietened down and Luna knew that most of the people in here must be asleep, those who could still sleep without nightmares anyway. The darkness pressed in on her from all angles, making her heart pound faster than was necessary. She hated the dark. Being imprisoned at Malfoy Manor earlier this year had made her mortally afraid of it and she had tried to avoid being in complete darkness at all costs since then, but in this situation, she had no choice but to suck it up and try to stick out the night.

There was a soft thud, followed by the creek of a door and Luna found herself shielding her eyes from a light being shone in her face.

"Lovegood," she heard a voice hiss and identified its owner almost straight away.

"Draco?" she said, her voice hoarse from lack of use.

She heard Draco sigh in what must've been relief as he walked over and grabbed her upper arm, "Lovegood, don't resist, don't yell out, just come with me," he said, his tone urgent as he started to drag her towards the door. Luna didn't know what made her trust Draco, but there was something in his voice, the way that he took her out of her cell the way that he guided her that let Luna know that he wasn't just trying to kill her.

Draco lead her out of her cell and up the stairs and out of the block of cells which, now that Luna was at ground level and could see what her prison looked like from the outside, were buried deep in the ground with only the roof and the layers of small windows peeking out.

"Where are we going?" Luna asked softly as Draco lead her towards the thicket of trees to the left, evidently away from the gleaming lights of a house about five hundred metres to their right. Luna felt another pang of anger as she realised that Neville would probably be facing his death right now in that house, either that or he was already dead.

"Shush!" Draco said urgently, taking her hand and pulling her into the trees and putting a hand over her mouth. Luna's heart began to pound faster and faster as she thought of all the terrible things that Draco might do to her now that he had her in the trees and alone. Her hands gripped at the loose belt of her trousers, holding them firmly in place, convinced that Draco was going to rape her.

"Lovegood," he said, taking his hand off of her mouth and whispering with such urgency in his voice that Luna leant in to hear, "I don't care if you don't trust me but you have to listen to me, do you understand?"

Luna nodded her head slowly, intrigued as to what Draco had to say.

"They're going to take you tomorrow," he said, putting his hands on both of her shoulders firmly, "They're going to take you into that house where they'll put you in an arena, set some kind of wild animal on you and watch while it rips you to shreds."

Luna couldn't say anything, she just stood there with her mouth slightly open, still trying to process what Draco had just told her.

"It's hilarious for them and they've got bets placed on who will win, which is always the animal since the person has no defence."

"How do you know they're going to take me?" Luna blurted.

"Because it's only you and three others in those cells and they're not weak enough yet," Draco said, "Lovegood, I've watched all of your friends die, I can't sit by and watch you die too."

"You don't have to watch," Luna said, remaining very calm for someone who had just been told that they were going to die by wild animal.

"They make me watch," Draco said quickly, still glancing around to make sure they weren't being overheard, "It's a punishment of sorts for failing to kill Dumbledore."

Luna looked at the ground, "What do you propose we do then?" she asked.

"Here," Draco said, pulling a long stick of wood out of his pocket and handing it to her. Luna felt warmth instantly course through her veins despite the chilly night and knew in an instant that Draco had just returned her wand to her.

"Where?" she asked breathlessly, hugging her old friend to her chest. She had honestly thought that they had snapped it upon her capture.

"My father is in charge of the wands, he can't stand what they're doing to everyone either so he told me to give this to you, so you have some sort of fighting chance."

Before either of them were totally aware of what was happening, Luna had engulfed Draco in a hug, "Thank you," she whispered into his ear before kissing his cheek, "Thank you so much."

"Okay, Lovegood, here's the plan," Draco said, "You're not going to die in there tomorrow, My father, my mother and I will make sure of it. We're going to put a stop to this once and for all."

"I'm listening," Luna said eagerly. She felt like nothing could stop her now that she had her wand back. Draco assured her that what they were going to do would be hard, but worth it in the end and Luna couldn't help but believe him.

Luna felt her wand hitting her leg inside her trouser pockets as the two death eaters that Draco had assured her would come to retrieve her on dusk frog marched her from the cells. Luna didn't struggle, not that she had planned on struggling anyway before Draco had given her back her wand. They hadn't bothered to check for weapons, although that, she supposed was because they didn't think it was possible for them to get their hands on any while imprisoned. How wrong they were.

Luna could tell that the Death Eaters were surprised at how little she seemed to care about what was happening and she knew that this would work to her advantage later. She knew that what she was going to do in there would make her the pawn in a game of chess, the one that nobody cares about, the one that would be sacrificed in a heartbeat to protect another player but she also knew that if she could stay on the board long enough she could become a queen; the most vicious player on there, and that was what she planned to do.

The walk to the house, which was a lot bigger up close than it had been from where her cell was, took a good ten minutes, in which Luna ran over the plan that Draco had told her in her head. She was to defeat the animal firstly, then she was to force Rodolphus Lestrange, who apparently ran the whole torture spree thing into the arena and release a trapdoor which would make him fall into the remains of every person that he had ever killed using this horrible scheme. She and Draco were then to escape while Narcissa and Lucius held everyone else off. Luna knew that this was easier said than done, but she was confident that nobody knew of their plan.

As if on demand, the huge oak doors opened as Luna and the two Death Eaters approached them. Luna's heart began to pound faster and faster as they lead her through the front doors and then towards a staircase that spiralled downwards into what looked like a sea of people cheering, chanting and rooting for the next victim.

The Death Eater on her right shoved her forcefully down the stairs so that she tripped and lost her balance, sprawling on the next landing about eight steps down. The room immediately filled with mocking laughter and catcalls as she hoisted herself up again, feeling every pair of eyes in the room on her. The Death Eater seized her arms and walked her down the rest of the stairs until they reached a door surrounded by a wall at least fifty feet high that extended up into the ceiling, this, Luna presumed was to keep whatever creature was in the arena with her inside the arena.

Before she knew what was happening, one Death Eater had opened the door and the other had thrown her inside so forcefully that she stumbled and went sprawling on the dust again, feeling her teeth clamp down on her tongue and she tasted blood.

She felt comforted by the fact that she still had her wand in her pocket but it didn't stop her from being scared of what was to come. Her eyes searched the seats high up above her and spotted Draco and his mother and father, sitting right next to Rodolphus Lestrange, who was surrounded by people taking bets on who was to win.

Looking down at the sandy ground she saw little grooves in it and knew that this was the trapdoor that Draco had been talking about, the one that she was to somehow get Rodolphus to fall down.

There was a jolt in the ground and Luna felt herself rising up further and further until she was almost at eye level with Draco, who was visibly sweating. Luna had a feeling that what they were going to have her fight was either not dangerous to them, or not dangerous at all. Luna was thinking along the lines of the former.

Suddenly, as if a spell had been cast, the crowd fell silent and what Luna was to fight was brought in. If Luna had had any urine to pass, she would've pissed herself right then and there at what was being lead out towards her; a huge, black, hulking male gorilla with fists the size of Luna's head.

She glanced at Draco fearfully, but he gave her an encouraging nod. He must've known that this was going to happen and she felt slightly more confident that she could beat the thing. Draco must've planned this down to the very last detail.

The crowd had gone wild again and more Galleons were being thrown at Rodolphus, placing their bets on the Gorilla.

The dinger went off and the Gorilla immediately launched itself at Luna, who dove sideways out of the way of its hammer like fists. She managed to get to her feet quickly enough to dive aside a second time before the Gorilla was on top of her, completely prepared to snap her head clean off her shoulders if she tried to struggle. Carefully, ever so carefully, Luna edged her wand out of her pocket and jabbed it into the gorilla's side, yelling "Stupefy!" the Gorilla keeled over sideways and hit the ground with a thud. A hush fell over the crowd as they tried to figure out what had gone wrong with the Gorilla, who was no doubt the star of the show. Luna heard Draco and his parents' spring into action but she was too stunned to move, she couldn't walk, talk, scream or even run. She was completely and utterly stunned, no matter how hard she tried to move, that was when she realised that she had been stunned. Stunned by magic.

She felt the trapdoor open about a foot behind her and saw the stunned Gorilla fall down into the hole. She could hear Draco screaming for her to move, but she couldn't, she couldn't move a muscle. The Death Eaters were starting to converge on them now and Luna couldn't move. She saw Lucius and Narcissa disapparate but Draco, who had twisted out of his mothers' grip at the last second, jumped onto the gravel and sprinted towards her.

"Enervate," He screamed, pointing his wand at her. Luna felt her muscles relax and found that she could move, "Luna!" Draco yelled, "Run!"

She ran towards him as if she was trying to maintain first position in a race and grabbed his outstretched hand, thinking of the grassy moor beside her house, she turned on the spot and disapparated, pulling Draco along with her.

Seconds later, they slammed into hard ground and the smell of freshly mown grass filled Luna's nostrils and she immediately felt her head clear. It was like she was in heaven after all of those months cooped up in a cell with hardly any food or sunlight.

"Draco," she said, only managing to get to her knees before falling down again, "Draco, we made it!" she said, her voice almost drunk with happiness. Draco didn't say anything and as Luna turned her face to look down at him, she knew what had happened immediately. He was limp, his face still contorted in that same expression of fear, concern and desperation that he had worn when she had run towards him and Luna could see in his eyes that he really had cared, that he really had wanted to help her escape, despite the fact that nothing had gone to plan.

"Draco?" she said softly, crawling to his side and putting two fingers to his neck, confirming her thoughts. Tears sprung to her eyes as she looked down at his lifeless body, he must've been hit by a killing curse just moments before they had disapparated, just like Dobby had been impaled by a knife shortly after he disapparated from Malfoy Manor that April.

Her bottom lip trembling, Luna bent down and planted a kiss on his still warm lips, and shut his eyes. She wished that she had something to cover him in, but all she had was the clothes on her back. Rolling Draco over onto his side, she carefully extracted the long trench coat that he had been wearing from underneath him and threw it over the top, neatly tucking the edges of it underneath his body before pulling it up over his head, concealing the face of the boy that had given his life to save hers.

AN: Gamma darling, I hope you liked it (you don't have to, just so you know) I tried to make it as dark as I'm capable of writing things and I've never written Druna before so I hope that was okayish. I wanted to write you smut but didn't feel okay publishing it unless you had checked it first, which would defeat the purpose of it being a birthday present :p Enjoy your birthday and I hope you have a wonderful day.

DFTBA,
Best Wishes

~The Original Horcrux~