Fighting in a Sack
Dumbledore Apparated, with Luna by his side, to the outskirts of Hogwarts. He began to traipse up the grounds, and Luna followed him as best she could, carrying her bags. Walking too quickly, he tripped inelegantly over his own robes. He pulled them out of his way, revealing spindly legs.
"Why are we here, Professor?" Luna asked without difficulty.
He huffed and puffed in response. "I need to go to the Ministry, and sort out your living arrangements. You will wait in my office." Grinning quickly in her direction and shuddering inwardly, Dumbledore thought of the scene she'd make at the Ministry. Yes. Now with his plan in complete order he knew this was best, knew how to proceed. He'd leave her on middle ground.
In silence they passed the lake and in silence they crossed the threshold. It was the dead of night and the school was eerily empty. Luna looked about and something to fill the dreadful soundlessness occurred to her. "Do you live here all year? Even in the summer?"
He smiled. "Well, I take a vacation in the beginning of summer that is always too brief, but there is much to be done before the school year begins." They both realized that he'd begun to ramble, but neither cared to acknowledge it. As he continued he gestured and strolled and it filled the time.
"We need to refresh the charms on the suits of armor, and lesson plans must be drawn up. The safeguards on the borders of Hogwarts need refreshing. And of course, someone has to be around for the house-elves to wait on or they go a bit mad-we once returned from an experimental extended vacation to find the walls covered in gelatin and beef. I drop breakfast scraps on the fourth floor." They had almost reached Dumbledore's office, a room Luna knew well. "And of course Professor McGonagall must compose and sign the letters to go to the students. It takes her a week and that is with magic. Professor Flitwick is gone at the World Cup, but he'll be back soon enough. Professor Snape keeps to the dungeons, and Mr Filch is looking through joke shop catalogs, finding things to ban."
As she followed Dumbledore up his staircase she could almost imagine that she had been sent to the Headmaster's office again, and could expect an owl from Dad on Sunday, and that tonight she would nestle into a comfortable four-poster bed and drift to sleep, and the last thing she saw would be the picture she kept by her bed, of her father and herself waving side by side on holiday.
Then she remembered the hanging body. Dumbledore assured Luna that she'd be safe before he left, but she didn't need it. She'd always felt completely safe here, no matter who chased her through the corridors or stole her things.
Now Dumbledore sat at the chair behind his desk and shut his eyes for just a moment. Then he turned to Luna, who was standing beside the hearth in his office. Quiet and cold, she wished silently there was a fire. Dumbledore stood, crossed the room, and conjured a few flames. Immediately the atmosphere lightened. The warmth from the fire radiated and Luna settled herself into an armchair thoughtlessly. Peacefully. She closed her eyes and Dumbledore observed her with tenderness in his eyes. He felt so much for all his children.
Dumbledore patted her head. "I'll be back soon, Ms Lovegood," he said quietly, feeling the rumble of his own voice through his chest. With a bright green flash he disappeared into the Floo network, and Luna stared at the fire for less than five minutes before she dropped off to sleep.
