Hey everyone! Here's the next installment. It's told primarily from Midna's POV, though I may swap later in the story for a chappie or two...
If you haven't guessed yet, things written like this are thoughts. Although, thoughts in dreams are written normal...does that mean she was talking in her sleep? hmmmmm :)
Disclaimer: I own/profit nothing...except Midna; and the rating is primarily cuz I cuss up a storm (I'm generally not good at writing lemons, but am totally open to trying ;)
"Noooooooooooooooo!" I shot up in my bed, drenched in sweat. Again...I had the dream again. It's not really a dream...or even a nightmare. It's a memory...one that happened only 3 weeks ago.
Oh sweet Merlin, will it ever end? What will it take to forget? I reached down beside the bed, only to find the bottle I was reaching for was empty. Shit! I stumbled out of bed, and made my way to the kitchen...hopefully there's a bottle there. It's odd...I never was much of a drinker before this. Yeah, I had the occasional butterbeer, or firewhiskey, but lately, I've been relying on the Muggles best friend...Jack, Jack Daniels. I open the cupboard, only to find it empty. Great...this means going out in public, and the chance of seeing him again. I've pretty much been a recluse since Bellatrix and Dolovoh's break-in. I still went to work, but I never talked to anyone; luckily, my job as an unspeakable doesn't require much human interaction. My main responsibility was the Veil...which is why Bellatrix came to me. I know its secrets. Most people don't think there is a way back from Death, but there is. Bellatrix found out somehow, and wanted her master back...not that I could have even if I wanted to. The ritual requires several things; one of which is blood...related blood; and a good reason for the Veil elders as to why that person deserves life...Voldemort has neither.
The sound of tapping brought me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see an owl at the window...a white owl...his owl.
"Damn it Harry...just leave me alone!" I sighed, but opened the window for Hedwig to come in. It wasn't that I didn't like Harry...in fact it's rather the opposite. Harry and I have an unrequited love relationship. I love him, and have since 3rd year...but he doesn't love me. I think I'm more of a sister to him; which is fine by me. I'll take what I can get. It's just that Harry was the first to realize I was missing that day. All of us – Ron, Harry, Hermione, Luna, Draco, Ginny, Seamus, Neville, and I – were supposed to meet up for our weekly Friday night happy hour. Everyone showed up but me. I have a habit of working late, so Harry came back for me. I hadn't been able to face him, since that night...he's the only one who knows exactly what happened. I swore him to secrecy. More tapping brought me back again. I looked at Hedwig, but she was looking at the window...at another owl. This second owl I didn't recognize. It wasn't Ron's…and it wasn't Draco or Hermione's…and it certainly wasn't Luna's. Hah! Luna use an owl…that's funny. What would she have to write, that she wouldn't just pop over here to say. She's the only one I told the secret too. After all, it was her mother's home. It's not like I really live here…only when I have to get away. And now is one of those times. I let the owl in, and as it passed by, I noticed a small package in its talons. Since I knew Hedwig, and knew that Harry would most likely at least expect a "Leave me the fuck alone" reply, I took the package from the second, unknown owl, which promptly flew away once relieved of its bundle.
"What the hell is this?" I set the package on the table and ran a quick diagnostic spell on the package. Constant Vigilance…Mad-eye would have been so proud. The spell showed that there were no hexes, or dangerous spells placed on the package…only a concealment charm.
"Which seems odd, why put a concealment charm on something you don't keep?" I wondered out loud. Now that I knew the package wasn't going to kill me, I picked it up to open it. It felt like some kind of book. As I untied the twine that the owl used to carry the package, a small piece of parchment fluttered to the table. Curious, I stopped opening the package, and picked up the parchment, thinking it would at least tell me who sent the damn book…as I was fairly certain that's what it was. There were three words on the parchment…I turned it over, thinking maybe more was on the back…flipped it over again, and again, and again…but it only had those three words, written in an elegant script:
Happy Birthday, Bubbles
What the hell? Who's Bubbles? And this stupid thing still didn't say who this is from! ARGGGH! Seriously, this is really starting to piss me off. That stupid owl delivered a birthday present for some house-elf named Bubbles to me! It's not even my…
"Oh sweet Merlin…what day is it?" I quickly turned to the clock on the wall, it was one of those clocks that had the date on it; and sure enough… "May 23…Oh My God…it's my –" A loud pop interrupted my crisis.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Luna screamed and jumped on me. I was completely unready for Luna coming over…much less ready for her to jump on me. So much for constant vigilance! We fell to the floor.
"Midna! What have you done?" Luna asked as she got up, and pulled me up with her. "You look like you haven't seen the sun in days. I realize you're a night owl…which is good, since all your names are about the night…but when was the last time you saw the sun?" She looked around the kitchen "Or even made a decent meal?" She looked me over. "MIDNA CARINA EOS MAIA EUDORA LOVEGOOD! Are you starving yourself again?"
I put my hands up to defend myself. "It's not on purpose, Lu…you have to understand. I'm going thru a tough –"
"Mi…you're – you're cutting again too?" she whispered after getting a good look at my wrists. I winced. The last time I was in this kind of emo stage - which happened to be 5th year when I desperately wanted Harry to see me as something other than a friend, but he only had eyes for Ravenclaw's attention whore, not it's resident bookworm – I cut too deep. Luna found me in the bathroom, during the Christmas holidays at home…it wasn't a happy memory for either of us. She tried to get me to get help, but I swore I'd never do it again. I moved out of the house that day. When Luna told dad to get him to stop me, he admitted that I wasn't really his child, and if I had somewhere I could go, I was free to go. Mom had given me this house, and made me its secret keeper. She knew I would need somewhere to go eventually. I told Luna, and gave her an emergency only paper with the address, in case I needed help, or if she needed to get someone else out of danger. I also keyed her into the apparition wards, so she could come and go freely… of course, I never expected her to use that as an excuse to jump me.
"Mi…what happened 3 weeks ago? When Bellatrix broke into the Department of Mysteries? Harry won't or can't talk about it…and we haven't seen you since. Is what happened why you're doing this?"
"Lu," I sighed. "Lu…yes…it is; but I – I really can't…it's been too soon. I'll stop the cutting…I promise." Just then a buzzing noise caught both of our attention. It was her work galleon. She was being called in to St. Mungo's, where she was a healer. I guess all her dealings with me, made her really good at what she does. She's in high demand.
"I have to go…but this discussion is not over." She gave me a quick hug. "I love you, sis. I'll see you tonight." and with another pop, she apparated away.
I let go of a huge sigh… "That could have gone better…now I'm in for a lecture from Mama Luna. Just what I don't need today…" I sat down to the kitchen table, and banged my head on the table. That didn't hurt as much as it should have… I sat up quickly, and looked down. I had hit my head on the package, not the table.
"Shit…in all that, I completely forgot that owl delivered this wrong. I could have had Luna re-mail it... It's really weird though…post owls never mis-deliver post. I picked up the package again. The twine fell off, and I pulled at the brown paper wrapping.
"It's...a journal..." It was a really nice looking journal; vintage leather, intricate Celtic design embossed on the front, along with the initials L&S - LM. Still not sure what the hell is going on here, I open the journal and start flipping thru the pages. I was still trying to figure out who sent the damn thing, and who they meant to give it to...but the pages were all empty. Damn...that's right. There's a concealment charm on it...well, how the hell am I supposed to figure this mystery out then? Just then an envelope fell out. It fell face up, and as I bent down to pick it up, I could see writing on the front of the envelope...in the same elegant handwriting that was on the small parchment, was written:
Midna Carina Eos Maia Eudora Lovegood
Hope you liked it! I know I'm kind of leaving it at a cliffie...but it seemed like a good place to stop it.
Please review...like i said, I'm posting this to get some more motivation to finish it. Thanks to all those who've added this to their favs or alerts. I am really and truly honored.