CHAPTER 2:

TWO REUNIONS

Cait Sith, Aerith and Harry, along with Jenova, stared at the silver-haired girl. Then again, so did everyone else present. Only Percy had gone back to his room before then.

Suddenly, Luna's silvery eyes seemed to strobe. All of those present blinked, and suddenly, Luna's hair and eyes were back to normal. "Excuse me, Ginny," Luna said to her friend, "but may I speak to them alone for a bit?"

Ginny blinked, and said, in something of a vague daze, "Yes. Yes, of course, Looney."

"Don't keep them too long, dear," Molly said, again sounding vaguely dazed. "It's been a long day."

"I won't," Luna said happily, and skipped merrily over to a corner of the garden. With some trepidation, the others followed.

Once they were in the corner, Cait Sith was the first one to speak. "Okay, lassie, what's yer deal? What did yeh do to yon Weasleys?"

"And why did I taste purple when it happened?" Harry asked(1).

"It was a modified Memory Charm," Luna explained, never losing the smile off her face. "I modified their memories, to make sure that they didn't remember anything too damaging. My mother taught me how to do so wandlessly when I was little, just in case." Her face fell. "I need it, you see."

"Because you're a Jenova hybrid," Aerith said.

Luna nodded, her hair once more becoming silver, and her eyes gaining slitted pupils. Unlike with Sephiroth, with the effect making him look sinister, with Luna, it merely made her look strange and ethereal. Disconcerting, true, but not actually sinister. "I like how you are withholding judgement until you know the facts, Aerith. I am sure many Cetra would sooner destroy me the moment they learned about my true nature. Many people have too many wrackspurts, clouds their mind."

"So…you're like Sephiroth," Harry said tentatively. "Only…not evil?"

"Evil is such a funny thing, isn't it?" Luna said. "What truly defines it? If theft is evil, do we condemn the thief who steals to survive? If murder is evil, what of the soldiers fighting in wars? If someone is evil, does that make the parent or the child evil?" She looked pointedly at Jenova when she said that.

Silence fell, until Jenova herself broke it. "When you said Reunion…"

"Well…I did it to get your attention. I wanted to be reunited with the mother of my blood, but…I'm not sure I want to go through with an actual Reunion. I like being me, as I am sure you do too."

Jenova nodded. She was currently split between two bodies, the experiment to share her consciousness between worlds a success, partly thanks to the cooperation of Minerva. Even now, her body back on Gaia was discussing with Reeve and Rufus the plans for Edge. It was distracting, but she was used to having her consciousness divided. In fact, she was the part of Jenova who had refused to submit to Sephiroth's will.

Eventually, she said, "I wasn't aware that any Cetra with my cells made it to this world."

"We were few in number," Luna said quietly. "Otherwise, Minerva would have detected us. We began to grow in numbers again, both in our cells, and those we infected. But the Cetra soon detected us. They purged us with fire. We were forced into hiding. Eventually, it was decided that we would not conquer, as we had initially thought. We were too few. Instead, we decided that survival was better. We attributed our abilities in magic and memory to being touched by the fae. We grew slowly and steadily. A few families and bloodlines were lost, to both Magicals and Muggles. But we survived. And we found ourselves changed. No longer did we even have the desire to conquer anymore. We just wanted to live, in peace. And yet, we could still hear your voice, from across the void between universes, still filled with malice and rapacious desire."

A solemn look came over Jenova at this. She had changed so much. She even looked ashamed at how she used to be.

"We formed, in secret, an organisation: The True Reunion. Through the centuries, we held the blood of Jenova secret and safe. But our goal was also to try and recreate our mother, and not long ago, we began to prepare a ritual for that purpose. As the war against Voldemort escalated, the work had to be expedited, for we thought that the new Jenova would help bring about his downfall, and we were worried that neither the Ministry of Magic, or Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix, were doing enough."

"But…Voldemort fell," Aerith said. "Was that anything to do with the True Reunion?"

"No," Luna said, shaking her head. "We knew, somehow, that one of the Potters, probably Lily, did something. It was decided to go ahead with the ritual. After all, while Harry may have had the power to destroy Voldemort, it was decided that it would be prudent to have someone else of great power, a Jenova hybrid, just in case. My mother was chosen, for she had more Jenova cells in her veins than many of the others. And, more importantly, she was pregnant. With me. The ritual would siphon off most of the Jenova cells from those present, and fuse them with me."

"Shades of Hojo and Lucrezia," Aerith murmured.

Luna stared at her, unblinking, and then at Jenova. Jenova, almost instinctively, put the relevant memories to the forefront of her mind, and allowed the girl to see them. Luna assimilated the memories with a gasp. "Oh, poor Sephiroth," she murmured. "Never allowed to know a mother's touch. The True Reunion didn't want to make that mistake. Daddy deliberately Obliviated himself, removed his memory of the ritual. So too did most of those present, though one of them that you may have met, didn't. Mr Ollivander, the wandmaker."

"We met him," Jenova said.

"My mother retained her memory as well, deliberately. My parents loved me, and made sure I never felt true want. They tested the memory held within my cells, held me to a promise: to be a guardian of people." Luna wrinkled her nose. "Hojo was a pervert, only caring about results. And Lucrezia…she was never allowed to love her child. Sephiroth became a monster because he was shaped into being one. Shinra should not have been surprised that he slipped their leash and turned on them. My parents did care for me. I know this, because on the day she died, my mother's memories flooded into me. All those doubts I had, they were swept away. When Daddy found me crying, he thought it was because my mother had died. But it wasn't the only reason." Tears began to trickle from her eyes. "I knew, for the first time, how much she loved me."

As the girl in front of them began to weep, it was Harry who stepped forward and hugged her. Luna seemed surprised at the gesture, freezing, but then returning the embrace. Aerith then stepped forward, and hugged them both, soon followed by Jenova. A strange reunion.

Luna soon left, skipping her way back to her home, having said her goodbyes to everyone. Harry had gone inside to help Molly cook, something he insisted on doing, if only to help out. Ron and Ginny, along with the twins, had gone inside. Jenova, Aerith, and Cait Sith were sitting in the garden, at a table that had seen better days.

"Whaddya reckon about her?" Cait Sith asked.

"Jenova?" Aerith asked quietly. The alien entity was shaken since the encounter. "What do you think about Luna?"

Eventually, Jenova nodded. "We keep an eye on her, but…I felt her emotions. She was sincere, as far as I can tell. And she's right. Sephiroth's madness was, in part, having the truth kept from him, along with a lack of love. Luna, as far as I can tell, was told the truth from the time she could understand it. She has the memories of those who had donated her cells at her disposal. She's not quite at my level…but she's powerful. Her sanity is a bit shaky, though. I don't know whether these nargles and wrackspurts she speaks of are imaginary, or wildlife from the world I once ruled that she has given the names to things she can only see. But her madness is relatively benign. Take it from someone who has memories from a number of madmen."

Aerith began counting off on her fingers. "Hojo, Sephiroth…you got memories from Scarlet before she died?" she asked.

Jenova nodded. "A few. Debatably, you could count Cloud, but that was a combination of his absorbing Zack's memories, and Sephiroth influencing him. Once that was over, he's sane. A bit broody and depressive, but sane. Then, you have what happened to Genesis and his copies, before Minerva got to him. I have some of his memories. My point is, I know the various flavours of madness, and hers is relatively benign. There's no malice or intent to cause harm inside her, as far as I can tell. She's a year below Harry and Ron, though, so she won't be going to Hogwarts this year."

"Do I let the others know?" Cait Sith asked.

"Yes. But I'll let Vincent know, I'm with him at the moment," Jenova said. "It's tricky, splitting one's consciousness between two bodies. Like rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time. But…well, Vincent is interested. But we're trying to get somewhere I found while on an expedition. Something Vincent will find very interesting…"

Vincent was finding the information Jenova had gotten him already quite interesting. "So, some of those infected with your cells did go to Earth," he mused as he climbed up the rocks. Jenova had taken him to a lake, not far from Golden Saucer and Cosmo Canyon, though isolated from these and other areas by a ring of mountains. Jenova had used her flight to get him here.

"Yes. It was a bit of a shock, frankly. I thought Minerva would have either killed them, or at least purged my cells from them," Jenova said. Unlike the Rufus-like white suit she normally wore in public, or the figure-hugging armour she extruded over her body in combat, today, she was dressed in a skintight body suit, blue in colour. Vincent hadn't seen it, but apparently Scarlet wore something similar when piloting the Proud-Clad, only in red. He wondered whether Jenova was trying to seduce him. It was a lost cause, as far as he was concerned. There was only one woman to him that mattered.

"And she is benign?" Had you spoken to Vincent a year ago (assuming he was out of his coffin), he would never have believed such a thing as a benign Jenova being was possible. But having fought alongside Jenova, he could believe it now.

"A little loopy, but relatively harmless. In a way, she is like Sephiroth, only raised with love, and an understanding of where she came from, and why. Oh, I'll still keep an eye on her, but at the moment, I think Voldemort and his agents are the ones to worry about. In any case, we're here."

Vincent found that they had come to the mouth of an ominous-looking cave. He frowned. "What's so special about this cave?" he asked.

"When I searched through the memories of those whose memories I had absorbed, I decided to scout around after seeing one lot. We were so busy preparing to get Harry back to Earth, I couldn't get here until last night. When I saw what was inside, I knew I had to bring you."

"What are you saying?" Vincent asked. "I have little time for games, Jenova."

"Says the man who spent how many years in a coffin? Says the man who is effectively immortal, barring accidents, thanks to Hojo?" Jenova remarked. "I daresay you have plenty of time for games. It might help you lighten up. Though I will say that what lies within the cave is no game. It is in deadly earnest, and is something that you should have been searching for once they got you out of the coffin. Other than Hojo, I mean."

Vincent glared at her, before beginning to walk into the cave. "By the way," Jenova called out, "I didn't hear a thank you for me for my killing Hojo."

Vincent ignored her.

Jenova sniffed. "You're welcome."

The cave was lit from within by an ethereal blue glow. Said glow came from a formation of Materia crystals, in the middle of a small pond of water.

And seated in front of the crystals, looking forlorn, and having not aged a day since he last saw them, was a person Vincent had never expected to see again. Not alive, nor dead.

The person looked up, and fear and grief were in their eyes. Their lips quivered for a moment, their eyes not willing to believe what they saw. Eventually, the person said, "Vincent? Is that you?"

Vincent, in utter astonishment, whispered a single name, one he was sure he was never going to say to the owner ever again.

"Lucrezia…"

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

Well, not one reunion, but two. We get some insight into Luna's past, as well as a 'Jenova cult' (albeit a benign one) in the Wizarding World. And Vincent has finally met Lucrezia again. Keep in mind that, in Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage, they never got to meet Lucrezia. Although this is said in the next chapter, Jenova has already given Lucrezia the bad news about Sephiroth: that he was a deranged genocidal psychopath that they barely managed to stop. Lucrezia has been in mourning, and she doesn't trust Jenova. Jenova brought Vincent partly because she thought it would help Vincent, but also because Jenova thinks that Vincent is the only person Lucrezia will talk to.

1. A reference to an episode of Futurama. I think it's The Why of Fry. When Nibbler erases Fry's memory, I think Fry says "Why does everything taste purple?" or something like that.

CHAPTER 2 SOUNDTRACK:

Luna's Past: Main Theme (FTG).

Vincent and Lucrezia: The Nightmare Begins (FTG).