Chapter 6: The Truth Will Out

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

A/N: Once again, it has been years since my last update to this story. For that, I apologize profusely. I have no real excuse except that life got in the way. But I haven't stopped seeing that people are still reading this story and that they still love it. I still get the notifications in my email so I know that people still want more from this story. Since it is NaNoWriMo this month, I have decided to continue writing this story for it. So, here we go with the next chapter in Luna and Tom's strange adventures:

The next day was Saturday and they didn't have classes that day. Tom and Luna found themselves back inside the Room or Requirement, this time with just one dark green and royal blue couch with a single silver rug on the floor with a coffee table that had two mugs of butter beer on it. Tom had a hand playing with the hem of Luna's sleeve while she held his other hand and her free hand was playing with a piece of her hair. Her silver eyes were staring down at Tom's hand that was playing with her sleeve and she breathed out a shaky bit of air. Tom sighed deeply broke the silence, "I know you said that you wanted to tell me more about why you're here but if it is causing you this much anxiety, I must protest-"

He didn't get a chance to continue.

Luna cut him off with a shivering whisper, "I was sent here to help you see."

Words escaped Tom. He had no idea what to say to something like that. He stopped playing with her sleeve and cupped his hand under Luna's chin and brought her gaze up to meet his. His voice was low but gentle and full of confusion, "What do you mean by 'see'?"

Biting her lip a bit from nervousness and from wanting to find the right words, she continued, "Tom...I'm from the future. I'm from 1995, to be exact."

At this, Tom's eyes widened and his mouth opened a little from pure surprise, "1995...? That's...woah."

Nodding, Luna went on, like a train with no breaks, "From when I'm from, Tom, you are the most feared wizard in the world. You are considered to be the most evil of wizards in our world. You have killed and tortured...a lot. You hold no empathy toward others and have no care for anyone other than yourself. You have so much power and so many followers in my time...but you have no one who loves you or cares for you and no one for whom you care for or love."

Tom was quiet, very pale and had tears running down his cheeks. He didn't say anything ,but he didn't let go of her either. Because of this, Luna decided to conclude, "Professor Dumbledore wanted to help save you, and in turn, safe our world from horrible war. He asked me to come here to become your friend so that you could learn how to care for another human being. I agreed. But Tom," she let go of her hair and she placed her hand upon his cheek, wiping away some of his tears, looking deep into his eyes with nothing but the purest love that this world has to offer, "while I had intended to become your friend when I came here, I had no idea that I would fall in love with you. I had no idea that you would or could love me back. I had not planned on our feelings to go this far. Tom, I love you and that means that I cannot keep all of this from you."

After what felt like centuries, Tom finally took in air and he felt incredibly ill. He started to heave and he bent over the side of the couch, his head between his knees. Luna quickly dumped out her mug of butter beer and transfigured it into a rather decently sized bucket and thrust it under Tom's face just in time for him to vomit full force into it. Luna gently rubbed Tom's back while he heaved and she whispered to him, "Shhh, it's alright. I'm not going anywhere, Tom. I'm right here, you're going to be okay."

After several minutes of straight puking, Tom lifted his head up, Luna had taken off her sweater to reveal a dusty pale pink t-shirt and she used the sweater to help wipe up Tom's mouth. Tom looked at her, embarrassed and pained, "Luna...how can you love me? You know what I become, you know what I am capable of...how?"

Tears were falling like waterfalls down his face, making his eyes look as if they were pools, "Why did you have to tell me all of this? Wouldn't it have just been better if you had just...left me in the dark with this and just left to go back to your own time or something? Why..."

He wasn't thinking straight and he felt like he wasn't making much sense. But Luna understood and she gave him a kind and honest smile, "Because I've decided not to go anywhere."

Swallowing, hard, Tom's eyebrows knitted together tightly and his eyes became filled with total confusion now, "What do you mean?"

His voice sounded choked and gravely from the sickness from earlier. Luna took in a deep breath and her voice came forth like fairy bells, "I decided that I'm going to stay here; stay with you in this time. It might be selfish of me, but...I don't want to leave you. And...if you'll have me...I'd like to stay with you, here...in 1943."

Tears were still streaming down Tom's face. He wiped his face with his sleeve and he reached out to Luna, taking a hold of her hands, running his hands up her arms to hang onto her just above her elbows; feeling her skin just to reassure himself that she was real and not some figment of his imagination, "I...I don't know what to say, I...Luna, we hardly know each other...or at least, I hardly know you. But, that is to say that I..." he brought his eyes up to gaze into her silver orbs and all he felt was that he was so sure that she was perfect for him in every single way possible.

Every time he looked at her, gazing into her eyes, right into her soul, he felt at home. Home was such a foreign idea to him but that was the only way he could describe it. He felt wanted, he felt warm, he felt loved, he felt cared for, he felt welcomed and he felt like something beautiful and strong bloomed inside his chest every time their skin made contact, even in the most brief and innocent of ways. He just couldn't take his eyes off of her now. Using his thumbs to massage her arms a little bit, he leaned in and kissed her softly, his eyes closing, more tears falling. Breaking the kiss for a moment, their lips still slightly touching, he spoke just loud enough for her to hear him, "I want you to stay for as long as you want to. We are still both so young and...I want to date you and get to know you, and...I have secrets that I'd like to share with you, too," he rested his forehead against hers.

Giggling a little, Luna smiled and nodded slightly, "Alright. I'd like that."

They both stood up, about to leave the Room of Requirement when Luna stopped. Tom looked back at her and tilted his head to the side, clearly questioning her without words. She gazed at him and spoke softly, "No one is entirely bad, Tom."

Silence was all that Tom could reply with. When he didn't say anything, Luna continued, "We all have light and dark inside of us. You've had a rough time...you've just had bad things happen to you. It doesn't mean that you're bad. And it doesn't mean that you don't deserve love, Tom," she gave him an encouraging smile that only made him feel warmth well up inside his chest.

All he could say in response was a quiet, "Thank you, Luna."

Together, hand in hand, they left to go for a walk before dinner.