Noon and Midnight
The Time To End It All
"Don't be sad," she said softly, her eerie yet somewhat comforting voice reaching him in the dense darkness of the room.
Sighing, slightly annoyed out of his private moment, Dean leaned his forehead against the windowpane. "Leave me alone, Luna."
"You're not alone; just try to remember that. I'm your friend," she added cheerily. He then heard her stand up and exit the room.
She really was the most peculiar being he had ever encountered. If anything, she made him feel better, closed up in Shell Cottage and its walls of false security, even though he tried hard not to let her know. Thankful to both Bill and Fleur for their hospitality, he longed for some action -- something to do, to help, and not just sit, hidden away in stagnant, never-changing days.
Harry, Ron, Hermione and the goblin have left early this morning, without saying goodbye, but he understood. Allowing his mind to wonder what they might possibly be up to right now, he heard Luna hum to herself in the garden. Involuntarily gazing out of the window, he spotted her dancing, so carefree. Furrowing his eyebrows, he stood up and for some reason, feeling oddly drawn to the idea of looking at her more closely Dean left his room and headed for the back door into the garden.
Leaning his body into the doorway, crossing his arms, his lips broke into a flicker of a smile, just watching her.
Used to her presence, Dean no longer tried to avoid her. At first the awkwardness was quite unbearable, but Luna never felt awkward. She seemed to be natural at all times, though natural in her sense meant weird for him. But as the days passed by and the silences between conversations were almost nonexistent at this point, he no longer cared about what his friends would say.
Getting down the three rickety steps of the porch, Dean grabbed hold of Luna's hand, hardly startling her. Opening her eyes, she simply smiled at him.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"I don't know. Let's just take a walk."
Crossing the garden and passing Dobby's grave, both giving it a sideways glance, they headed toward the cliff overlooking the sea, its walls embedded with shells and whitewashed. Sitting down onto the chilly rock, they were silent for a while. Luna stared off into the horizon dreamily and Dean let himself relax at the sound of the waves crashing at the shore.
"Any news of your dad?" he asked suddenly.
On rare moments like these, Dean always watched with interest the almost imperceptible change in Luna's manner. She never seemed to lose her composure, but when she was sad, he learned that her penetratingly blue eyes always widened a tiny bit, as if surprised by a question, a comment. And her upper lip always quivered.
"No news," she said and smiled feebly, wrapping her arms around her body and leaning forward. "He's alright, though. I bet he is. Daddy can take care of himself. What about your family? Do you have any idea how they are doing?"
The thing that, along with others, that has been troubling him has finally been brought up. Hesitating before answering, he tried to catch her eye, but Luna wouldn't look at him, she kept looking at the sea. "I don't know anything about them and don't dare let them know, in case the owl gets intercepted and my mum into trouble. After all, I'm a Mudblood on the run."
"Things will be alright. Harry will defeat You-Know-Who. Very soon now," she remarked with dead certainty.
"Lucky for you to be so sure," he shrugged.
"What do you think they're doing right now?" she asked, smiling out of the corner of her lips, turning to him, her stare startling him.
Plucking up an eyebrow, Dean propped up an elbow. "Knowing Harry, probably breaking a bunch of Wizarding laws."
Luna laughed at that, much more than he expected her to or believed necessary. Though there was something about her laughter that made Dean chuckle despite himself; it was quite intoxicating.
"You're very funny. I'm glad I got to know you. I'm not even angry for the prank you and Seamus pulled on me back when Umbridge was at school," she told Dean with that airy tone, smiling her mysterious, peculiar smile. Horrified at the memory, Dean straightened up and ran a hand through his hair.
Clearing his throat, he felt heat rise into his face from all the repentance. "I'm, um, sorry about that," he mumbled. But Luna didn't look at all troubled. Did she ever? For a person so lonely, for Dean learned both at Hogwarts and in Shell Cottage that she was extremely lonely, Luna was moderately admirable in Dean's eyes little more each day.
After another dose of silence, Dean asked about the time she spent at Hogwarts that year, and she told him of everything. Of the ventures into Snape's office, of the open or secret rebellion against the Carrows, of the fun despite the misery flooding the Wizarding World, and finally of her kidnapping. She talked about it excitedly, as if it was one great, big adventure she read about in a book, hardly flinching when mentioning the punishments she received at Hogwarts for rule-breaking, or while being captured by the Death Eaters.
That was Luna -- carefree, lighthearted and blithe. First days spent at Shell Cottage, Dean thought she would drive him mad with her vast talks about nargles, crumple-horned snorkacks and wrackspurts. Perhaps it was the darkness of the times, or completely natural, but all his expectations proved to the contrary. Clinging to her innocent, somewhat naïve, happy persona, Dean couldn't help but like her strange uniqueness, teaching him things he always considered beyond his comprehension.
As the day dragged on, after dinner, Luna and Dean ended up on the cliff again, with a full stomach and cheery spirits. Dean's depression of doing nothing overcame him for the moment being, just as the frustration with the trio for leaving him, hardly connecting with him even through their stay. Things felt right in that evening, sitting by Luna, hearing her tell him of her mother's experiments.
Quite suddenly Bill ran out of the cottage, yelling for both of them. Standing up swiftly, they ran to meet him climbing the cliff, a little out of breath.
"Listen up, you two, Harry's at Hogwarts and You-Know-Who with his Death Eaters is charging at the castle. Everyone willing to help is welcomed. We Apparate to Hog's Head and fight! What do you say?"
"Wonderful. I can't wait to try out my new wand," Luna said calmly, as if the ground-breaking news did nothing to her.
His heart speeding up at the idea, Dean fisted the air and jumped up. "Yes! Let's go."
Bill nodded with a grin and ran back into the cottage. The pair of them was just about to follow, when Dean pulled Luna back, his hand lingering on hers.
"Luna," he began softly, making her smile at him. It no longer annoyed him. "Thanks for being so cool while we stayed here. So I guess it's time, isn't it? The time to end it all."
"Yes, the time to end it all," she repeated and hugged him, shocking him, but after a few seconds, Dean embraced her as well, there by the sunset. As they set off for the cottage, the sun went down and shadow fell upon the world, as it would face the last battle.
Author's Note: The start to my somewhat clumsy attempt at writing Dean/Luna, which i wanted to ever since reading Deathly Hallows. I have no idea where this story will be going, so I'm open to encouragement. Please review, I'll be very thankful.