Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, spells etc... they belong to JKR!
Special thanks to reviewers: xxkpxx, stupid little emo hippie girls, Nako-Chan and je suis l.m!. Also a huge thank you to je suis l.m for her beta work on this chapter! Enjoy!
Luna hummed quietly while she chewed her tongue and studied the ceiling. She didn't really know the words to whatever it was she sang, but it had a smooth, swaying tune that made her want to ride a magic carpet and flutter through the air.
She measured the distance from the floor to the window with her eyes; deeming that she would need to grow about seventy inches or so to reach it.
If she assumed she had not slept more than twenty four hours, then it was now Thursday afternoon.
One night in this room and Luna was already bored, which wasn't so surprising when you looked at what there was to do in it. She had no bed, and the hard floor had not taken it easy on her neck. Her muscles felt like they had been twisted up into origami and left in those uncomfortable poses to set for an art project. Her every move made her body ache, so for a while she decided to sit still.
Then the humming had started and, for the most part of the day, it did not stop.
A bird perched on the thin rim of the window above Luna's head. It was an Autumn Swallow—Luna recognised it's tell-tale pointed wings. It looked down at Luna in the dungeon as though trying to work out why she had not flown away from her prison yet.
'No wings,' Luna lifted her arms and smiled sadly at the bird. 'See?' she sang to it. Together they shared a few moments of peace, in which Luna fancied herself switching places with the young Swallow. It would be migrating any day now, in fact it was late, she realised. Would he be flying over the Atlantic to visit his Francais friends? Luna had always liked France: all those flat little hats with bobbles and that lovely language. The words just melted together into a smooth mixture of chic and caring tones. The bird would not speak French, but at least it could hear the muggles and wizards speak it in their fluent tongues. If only they could switch, Luna would trade her long hair and limbs for feathers and small beak, which she would use to sing soft melodies. If she could, Luna would soar high, up and away, and she would not look back, at anything.
But Luna had a conscience, and it would not let her even think that thought for long. For switching would mean binding the bird to whatever punishment Luna was about to receive for being so foolish. She had never realised how true Harry's words had been: 'We stay together.' He had always said it, it was his own little catchphrase in Luna's mind.
The bird flapped his wings, said farewell to the prisoner in the cell, and flew away. With it gone, Luna was bored again and was quickly running out of her favourite tunes. She'd sung all of them more than a couple of times each, and they were all quite lengthy.
She heard the footsteps first, since everything was so loud down there, and then there came a gentle clink as the bolt outside her door was unlocked.
'Lovegood?' Draco Malfoy stepped sideways into the room, looking as though he had expected to be pounced on by a wild girl by now. He found her quickly enough; it wasn't as though there had been anywhere for her to hide, and then began making a clicking noise with his tongue.
Luna supposed he was here to kill her now; she was surprised she'd lasted the night. 'Well, you planning on just sitting there, are you?' A confused Luna stared up with unfocused eyes, for he had not asked her to go anywhere had he? Maybe she was supposed to interpret him being there as enough reason to be on her feet, ready to go wherever she was bid to.
When Draco realised she had no intention of speaking he stormed over and jerked her to her feet, shoving her along in front of him.
'Get moving Loony!' His wand was sharp, and it dug in her back. Luna started to walk—best to do as she was told; she figured he was not in such a friendly mood—but she soon fell over, her metal chains locking her to the stone floor.
She felt her knees throb with the impact but did not wince at it. What made her squirm was the rude laugh coming from behind.
The sound seemed to manifest itself from her memory, as though it had been stored there long ago, waiting for the next time it was needed to play in Luna's ears. She decided Draco really had a nasty sense of humor.
'Here.' From his wand burst a thin wisp of silver that unlocked the chains. The ones that had enclosed around her ankles fell to the floor but her wrists remained bound. Draco held the end of the metal links in his hand, while the other redirected his wand towards Luna. She walked forward, feeling like an animal on a leash. Draco's face tightened, as did his hold on her, as they turned into a badly lit corridor that stretched on for quite a while.
'Be smart Lovegood. Don't do anything stupid,' he muttered. She would have replied but could think of nothing to reply with; it was more than obvious she wouldn't try anything stupid—she didn't even have her wand.
Not to mention she was probably in a place that was infested with the Dark Lord's buddies; Luna thought of Death Eaters like that, though she knew Voldemort probably didn't have any such thing like a friend. Draco tugged, and she followed him into a huge white space. It was not that bright really, but to Luna's sensitive eyes it was like staring straight at a concentrated dose of sunlight. She squinted to make out where she was now.
The tall thing in the middle of the room could have been a chair, Luna wasn't sure. She blinked a few more times than usual to readjust her eyesight.
'Lovegood,' Draco whispered in her ear, low enough that she could barely hear him, 'sit. Keep your mouth shut until you're spoken to, and—' She never heard the final order, for a huge door across from her burst open, slamming heavily into the wall.
Luna watched as Bellatrix Lestrange swept into the light, followed by a bunch of people whom Luna did not recognise, except one man who was equal in height, build, paleness, and sheer arrogance to his son.
Lucius Malfoy held the other woman, from the night before, by the shoulders. He seemed to be protecting her, though Luna could not imagine from what. She felt Draco's wand dig deeper.
From it, came a sort of warm force that pushed Luna towards the chair. She looked back at Draco as he mouthed 'sit' to her.
A circle had formed around Luna without her realising it. Bellatrix stood apart from the others, her chest heaving up and down and her crazed hair reaching for the ceiling like poisonous ivy. She stared into Luna's eyes.
'I think it's time you told us what you know.' She looked ravenous for Luna's knowledge.
Luna knew she would have to confess all that she knew, or rather the lack of it, but for now she could buy more time. Perhaps in the few seconds she could stall, Pansy would accidentally knock over her stock of polyjuice, sending it slipping away, all over the table.
Then the order would demand to know of Luna's whereabouts , Pansy would see how outnumbered she was, and they would come for Luna. Luna hated kidding herself so desperately, but right now it was all her mind would let her do. She could only think, 'What if...' She twined her fingers in her lap and a slowness came over her voice as she replied,
'All I know? Well, from the beginning, my mum had a natural birth; I think I weighed around five pounds. Which is strange because my mum ate a lot during her pregnancy—she was always worried I'd be born with no appetite, so five pounds really seemed small to her and my dad. She had a craving for lemon curd too, which probably explains why I turned out blonde: all the egg yolks, you know. I actually don't like lemons as much as you would think. They are all right for drinks and things like that, but I mean I could never just eat a Lemon. My mum would, though, you know. It's really odd though because—' Animalistic growls from a few death eaters stopped her there.
Luna heard about seven eyes suddenly pop from staying so wide. She so desperately wanted to go on, but rather enjoyed waiting for their reaction.
When none came she couldn't help wondering, 'Can I please go home now?'
Draco and the woman, whom Luna could now tell was clearly his mother (the resemblance was lovely), looked like they had just swallowed something that should never have been on their plate. Meanwhile Bellatrix, gathering her sense of reality, began that horrible laugh again, only, Luna noticed, it was a much more diluted version.
She supposed it was the amount of people in the room; things are never as scary when there are numbers. Luna's reply had been innocent enough, but, she started to think, she probably couldn't afford to be innocent right now. Between horrible laughs, Bellatrix managed to roar out 'Cru-Cru-Crucio!' Luna had sensed it coming first, then she felt the curse and, after that, she really felt it. Suddenly Luna's body seemed to control everything in her head, or rather the pain stabbing every part of it did. It was like being twisted into a small ball and shot at with white-hot flames.
Her muscles clicked and cramped; even her heart fled for cover beneath her ribs. She could feel every cell scream for mercy, though none of theirs could match her own.
'Stop! STOP! Please.' Her cries filled the bright room. 'Please Please Please Please!' Luna had never begged for anything in her life, but now it was all she could do. Bellatrix pulled her wand higher in the air, dragging Luna upwards from the floor where she had collapsed.
'I'll kill you, little Luna. I'll kill you!' sang Bellatrix cheerfully, as though wishing Luna a happy birthday.
'Please!' Luna screamed, tossing like a rag doll in the air to match the movements of Bellatrix's wand.
Luna could not understand why she was not dead. Surely humans were not capable of suffering this badly without there being some relief. Bellatrix gave her one last hateful dose before lowering her wand, taking with it the beast that had practically tore Luna's body to shreds.
Eyes closed, seeing nothing but blankness beyond her lids, Luna attempted to push herself off the floor. She was on her knees when her tormentor swept behind her, grabbing a fistful of hair and using it to jerk Luna's head back. Luna's body froze.
'Sorry dear,' whispered Bellatrix. 'Did you say something?' She pulled Luna back further so that she looked straight up.
Luna shook her head: no.
It was hard to find a reason to stay still, Luna was panicking like she never had before. She could see a door beyond the doorway the death eaters had come through. It could be the exit. It could be her exit.
'Now, what were you asked again? Oh, yes...' A thin wand tip poked Luna's neck; she knew she would have a small bruise there later. 'What do you know?' Luna's head burned.
'Nothing.' Bellatrix, strangely enough, seemed please by this. 'Wrong answer, Missy!' Her next curse was let loose on Luna. It met its target with full force. 'Now, let's try this again.'
'No no no no, Please!' Luna cried, though she already knew her plea would be met with closed ears. She moaned, sobbed and screamed beneath Bellatrix. It was strange, she couldn't remember falling to the floor again. Bellatrix just kept scooping her up by her long locks again and again. Proud to display Luna's agony to an audience.
The others watched on, each face painted a different shade of interest. Luna felt sick, even when Bellatrix lowered her wand for a third time. She couldn't understand; what did the woman expect Luna to say?
'Why did they need the cabinet?'
'Hogwarts—' panted Luna, '—Harry wanted to get into Hogwarts.'
'Why?'
Luna hesitated, and it was enough to earn her fourth blast of torture.
'Why?' Bellatrix shrieked
'I don't know, I don't know!'
'Liar!' Luna knew the fifth blast would finish her. It had to, surviving seemed an impossibility right then.
'I wasn't told! None of us knew. Even Ginny, Neville, Molly, Arthur—nobody knew, I swear!'
'Get me Severus. We'll see how secretive she is with his veritaserum down her throat!' Bellatrix released her hair with a final tug, and Luna felt the hard wood beneath her knees with a sudden coolness.
Then her palms lay flat against it as she caught her breath. Her cheek touched the coolness, and she relished in it. Like a cool drink... she mused.
'No, Bella.' Narcissa Malfoy moved to stand by her sister. Luna had heard Harry mention Draco's mother a few times, and she had always liked her name; though after such a comment earned her a glare gift from everyone else, Luna had not mentioned it again. Not out of shame; she just did not want to disturb the well earned peace within the order that had been worked for.
'I think she's telling us the truth.'
'Yes of course,' Bellatrix squealed with delight. 'She worked for the order, and she's going to come pouring the truth out to us. Of course!'
'Bella.' Narcissa seemed to give up quickly.
She moved away, back to Draco. He regarded his mother with something Luna couldn't quite catch from her position at someone's feet, where Bellatrix had left her.
Luna couldn't move her head to see who it was, but, from the sweaty, bloody smell, she sensed it would be Greyback.
'Greyback...' Narcissa prompted. Luna had guessed right. The werewolf bent low. Squatting next to Luna, he cupped her chin, grazing the pale skin beneath her jaw with long, jagged nails. His eyes flickered back and forth between Luna's, checking the size of her pupils.
'She's fine.' he breathed, his hot words clinging to Luna's skin as roughly as his nails had scratched. Luna smelled murder on his words. In fact, she thought they reeked of it.
Greyback stood behind her and picked her up, sitting her back down in the chair. Luna stared around the room; her eyes prayed for help. Though she knew she would not find any here. A small thing did comfort her though, when her eyes found the closest death eater to her.
Draco stared down, seeming to the others, Luna understood, to be losing himself in the pattern on his shoes (they were plain black). To her though, it was quite clear Draco did not have the stomach for torture. His mouth was what gave it away: he looked like he was fighting the urge to throw up. Luna wanted to ask him why he didn't speak up, but couldn't bring herself to do so.
For some reason she was starting to feel like anything that came out of her mouth would, in the eyes of Bellatrix Lestrange, befit punishment. Luna stared at her hands; each traced small circles into the others palm—taking turns of course.
'Bellatrix?' A slippery male voice found it's way into the room.
It appeared to do so before the sullen looking man, to whom it belonged, entered.
'Now. I want answers, Snape, and she won't give me them.' Bellatrix pointed at Luna's tired form that now lolled sleepily on the chair. Snape looked over to where she pointed.
'You sure go through some victims, Bella. She's not been here over a day and already looks like she's ready to go.' Luna knew he did not mean 'go home'.
'I barely touched her! She's just so weak; it's pathetic really.'
Snape moved quickly over to Luna, he pushed her lips apart and slid a liquid down her throat. It had no colour, and no taste.
Luna's first thought was veritaserum, but she did not feel any more desire to talk than she had before, and she certainly felt no need to spill pure truth.
She glanced up at Snape and found his eyes had shrunken to pebbles, ones which told her to be quiet. Luna was puzzled at what he had given her. Surely not poison...
'Harry Potter planned to raid Hogwarts castle yesterday evening,' Snape said. 'What was he seeking there?'
Luna waited for the potion to kick in.
'I don't know. I mean, I've already told you! All I ever knew was that Harry was looking for something. That's all I have.'
Luna hoped it would be enough to save her life.
A whisper of the past came back to her: a memory as such, in which she had found Harry, Ron and Hermione huddled around a table reading a book entitled Ravenclaw: a Tale of Wisdom. It had been a book on the house's entire history. Luna knew ones existed for Slytherin, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff too, but she had only caught them reading her house's. It had never seemed of much importance, until a few weeks ago when Harry and herself had sat down to have a long, lengthy and, seemingly to Luna, pointless discussion about Ravenclaw. He'd been so immersed in everything she had said, that Luna had questioned how much attention he normally paid her. If that was full throttle then Luna must only normally receive the tiniest of percentages of his full interest.
'I think it was something from Ravenclaw. I mean I think that's where he went, you know? To Ravenclaw tower.'
Snape wanted more, she could see it; although, if she looked close enough, she could also see that he seemed fearful of what she might reveal. Perhaps even the tiniest of details would prove to the Death Eaters they were going to lose this war. She hoped Harry knew what he was doing, whatever it was.
'And what might have caught his interest there?' Snape pressed. 'There's nothing of importance to the order up there. If that's where he was going, I don't know why.'
'Liar,' hissed Bellatrix with disgust.
'Oh? Yes, I suppose it must be the veritaserum. It does have that effect on people...' Snape sounded sarcastic.
Luna remembered that tone well from years of having Snape as a potions professor. 'Yes, Miss Lovegood, your father's magazine must be much more accurate than a millennia of wizarding accounts.'
'Oh no, Miss Lovegood, we wouldn't want to upset the congregation of Snorcacks with our terrible potion making would we?'
'Miss Lovegood, are you incapable of holding one sane belief based on factual evidence, or do you simply enjoy sharing your clearly invented stories with the class?'
Luna always got the impression Severus Snape did not appreciate her input with potions much. That as it was, it was never her favourite subject anyway, so she didn't mind. She much preferred subjects where a dozen waving and swooshing wands would create fantastical spells and illusions. Potions seemed so grounded and monotonous, like cooking, or so Luna had always thought.
'She could have the antidote—'
'—Bella, do you not think we would have all seen her take it?'
'Shut up, Severus.'
'Don't be bitter, Bella. Just because you thought you'd be able to go running to the dark lord with all your precious information, does not make the rest of us any more loyal.'
Bellatrix looked like a child with no bottle to sip from. Luna expected her to blow up any instant.
'Bella, you haven't told him we know anything have you?' Rodolphus Lestrange piped up from somewhere close to Luna. She looked around for him.
Remus was a much nicer version. This one had evil spelled in both his eyes. Well, Luna did believe eyes were the window to the soul. Luna heard Narcissa whisper something to her son, who then blinked once as his reply. Draco stood behind Luna, pulling her hands together as he gripped the chain again. She took it as her queue to stand and did not look at anyone as she was led out. The door slammed shut behind them, Draco pulling her along again before she could adjust to the lighting of the long corridor. It felt like walking down an empty road for miles, though it must have been a brisk walk, because they were descending into the dungeons again before Luna noticed much else about the house other than the fact that as little light seemed to enter the old building as possible.
Luna supposed there were no plants in the house at all.
On their way back down, Draco glanced back at Luna, who was busy inspecting this new ceiling. She wanted to take everything in, for soon enough she would be back in that horrible little room with nothing to look at but the walls (she had already over-analysed every inch of them anyway). The window was tiny, far up, and the sun only passed over it for a short while and that had already been this morning. Until the moon rose, Luna had only the blue sky and, as though the elements suddenly did not want her to have any distractions at all, there were no clouds that day. Luna did not noticed the steps. She stumbled over the first step and flew straight down, crashing into Draco first, of course. He steadied himself and stopped her falling down further (Luna noticed it would have been a far fall) by holding her up with the chain. Luna was strangely happy she had been shackled.
'What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, Lovegood!' Draco spat at her, resuming their slow walk down.
'Sorry,' said Luna, her hands shaking again. Was it normal for a house to be this cold in September? She did not think so.
'Twice in one day? You've got a problem.'
'That wasn't my fault earlier. I thought you'd unlocked the handcuffs.' Draco laughed the same as he had earlier. It was not friendly and made Luna feel strange.
'Get in there,' he said once they had reached her cell.
He opened the door and pushed her in with his wand. He seemed afraid to make any real contact, as though skin that did not continually freeze was dangerous to someone who's did. Luna could tell Draco was cold. In more than one way, but right now she meant his body.
His pale skin seemed to claw at the sharp bones beneath: it was so thin and cuddled into his skeleton as if it needed protection. Luna supposed it would seem strange to feel warmth after years of ice. He would grow up one day though, she figured. 'Down there,' He gestured to the pile of cuffs she would be bound to.
'Do you have to—' Luna began.
'Yes.'
She held out her hands for him. Why fight when she had no wand? The attempt would only seem ridiculous, and it would probably only make him laugh. Luna had no desire to hear that sound again, though she did wonder why it sounded so familiar. She was right in her suspicion about contact: Draco used his wand to bind her to the floor again. She stared up at him. He was only a year or so older than her.
Is this how he had treated his friends? Luna knew she was not his friend, and she never had been, but surely, them being so close in age, he could understand how scared she was right now. Would he be so cold as to make it worse? Luna did not want to stay put in one spot in the room. She liked to wander about, no matter how small the space. The chains melted away, link by link, into the floor, Luna's freedom being limited more and more as the length of it shortened. She would probably be sucked down through the cracks of stone.
It stopped about an inch or so from her wrists. In her peripheral vision, she saw Draco lower his wand, it's tip dimming as the spell ended. Luna's elbows grazed on a sharp stone when she used them to prop herself up. She heard Draco laughing as she inspected the scratch: luckily, it wasn't too bad.
He looked at how close she was to the floor, she might as well have laid down, and he smirked.
'What a shame.' Luna knew why she recognised his laugh in that instant.
Before her eyes she watched a younger Luna fall to the floor in front of a group of boys, the beautifully created model of a werewolf smashing before her eyes. And then one of the boys had laughed, harder than any of the others. 'What a shame! Should be more careful then shouldn't you, Loony?'
Luna felt similar to how she had then. Not exactly the same, but it was the same feeling of shame in herself. How had she been so careless, letting herself be captured to easily? 'Draco, please...' Luna cried. Her eyes shining with the threat of tears. He walked away, saying not a word to her. Though Luna could tell he did not want to, he gave her one last, long look before slipping out into the shadowy corridor.
Luna let her eyes water; she knew she wouldn't cry properly. She had never been one for weeping. It wasn't that she did not get upset, but she found other ways of handling it. Staring was a good one. She could stare forever. And when her eyes began to water, though not with actual tears, the moisture meant they could stay open longer without stinging. She stared at the wall for a while after Draco left.
It was dark when she heard footsteps outside her door.
'Luna?' a deep voice spoke lowly, in a strange accent. She did not recognise it.
'Who is it?' she asked, hopeful for a moment.
'You don't need to know.'
'But do I know you?' she questioned them, wanting something to go on.
'My voice is disguised. If they use your memories later, they must not know who you have spoken to.' they answered.
'Oh? They still think I know something then, do they?' Luna was intrigued to say the least. Hadn't the potion already proved her knowledge on the Order's missions was very little?
'Yes.'
'Maybe I could invent something. Something to confuse them, you know.'
'No, do not reveal anything! Fictional or not, keep your thoughts to yourself.' it said.
'Pardon?'
'Keep your secrets, Luna. For now, they are all you have here.'
'I didn't tell them a lot earlier.' she replied truthfully. What did she really know anyway? Not much in her opinion.
'You were truthful in what you did say though?'
'Yes.'
'Then that alone was too much to reveal.'
'I'm sorry.' said Luna, staring at the door, imagining who it could be.
'Keep your Snorcack filled imagination to yourself, too!' the voice said. Strange, that was exactly what some of her professors had sounded like when she' had introduced them to nargles. 'It'll do you no good to start suspecting things here Luna.' the voice said.
'Snorcacks?' Luna mused, not hearing the latter piece of advice. She understood then: Harry had always said he was good at legilimency.
Luna spoke softly, 'Professor Snape, what was that you gave me earlier?'
The retreating footsteps seemed extra loud in the silence.
All was quiet again. 'Do not reveal anything, Luna.' he said.
She heard him back away for a while; then he reappeared outside her door—she guessed so anyway, as the closeness of his voice told her that was where he was.
'By the way, Miss Lovegood...' Snape whispered, low enough that Luna wondered whether the spiders crawling across her floor would hear him.
'...it was water.' Snape said. He left then, and in the distant darkness Luna heard a door shut for the final time that night.
A/N: Thanks for reading - hope you enjoyed it!