After that first night, Padma thought perhaps she should withdraw and let Luna and her father reconnect without her intruding, but the very next morning Luna waltzed into Padma's room brandishing a mop and a broom. She struck an odd pose and said, "We're going to give this place a makeover!" She lifted the cleaning tools like trophies. "Mop or broom?"
Despite everything, Padma smiled. "Broom."
The next few days passed in a steady stream of dust cloths and soap suds. Luna kept Padma busy as they washed, dusted, mopped, and swept every inch of the old house. They were both well aware that the cleaning would go more efficiently if Luna used magic, but the blonde happily did the chores alongside a wandless Padma without complaint, and Padma appreciated the gesture too much to point it out.
It was good hard work, simple and satisfying. The old house had been mostly cleaned out of personal effects, so all that was left was old furniture and dishes. There were no family photographs, portraits, or heirlooms. No leftover clothes or toys. As they methodically cleared out every room, Padma became as intimately familiar with the house as Luna and Mr. Lovegood ever were. She began to feel less like an intruder and more like a tenant. She ventured outside to the sprawling wild gardens to help Luna pick flowers to place in vases around the house and helped Mr. Lovegood compile a list of books they could add to the empty shelves in the sitting room.
Luna's father had a habit of always being around the corner from where they were working and checking in on them with a near-constant frequency would annoy most teenagers, but they were unbothered by Mr. Lovegood's hovering, indeed they found it comforting. Luna in particular seemed to bask in her father's attentions after being separated from him for so long.
Padma was admittedly unused to the constant presence of an adult that was not a Hogwarts professor or her parents. Hiran and Priyanka Patil had been very engaged and loving parents, but encouraged their daughters' independence and allowed them to have the run of the estate before sending them off to Hogwarts where daily discipline wasn't their responsibility. And the last few months living in the Room of Requirement, Padma had been surrounded by only her classmates, and in fact had helped be in charge of the younger children.
But Padma didn't mind Mr. Lovegood's presence as long as it made her friend happy. She actually thought Mr. Lovegood was rather sweet, and he was respectful of Padma's emotional state without treating her like she was a ticking time bomb - or worse, like she was made of glass.
In between check-ins, Mr. Lovegood used magic to do any repairs the girls couldn't handle themselves and providing them all with three square meals a day. Padma soon learned that while possessing bizarre culinary tastes that revolved around an assortment of exotic fruits and vegetables Padma had never heard of, he was actually a decent chef that could create perfectly palatable dishes from seemingly inedible ingredients.
One day while they were clearing out cobwebs (without killing any of the spiders, at Luna's insistence and to Padma's mild horror), Mr. Lovegood was right outside their window weeding the garden. He was fully absorbed by his task, and Luna was watching him with solemn curiosity instead of her normal sunny smile.
"He never used to be like this." She murmured.
"Hmm?" Padma responded, distracted by a lone string of cobweb in the corner they had forgotten to sweep up.
"My daddy," Luna explained. "He was never so… involved. When I was little, Mummy took care of me during the day while Daddy did his research and writing." Padma abandoned the cobweb and gave Luna her full attention at the mention of her friend's deceased mother.
Luna was sitting idle for once, broom lying useless in her lap as she fiddled with the handle. Her wide eyes were looking in the direction of her father but seemed to be seeing something... or someone else. "Daddy was so sad after Mummy died." She said in her usual straightforward way. "For months he would hardly leave his bed, and then only to wander around like a ghost or a thestral." Padma mentally added this new term to her growing list of magical creatures to ask Luna about later.
"Then suddenly, it was as if a reverse spell had been cast, and he acted the complete opposite." Luna continued. "He didn't eat or sleep; he spent every hour working on the Quibbler. Daddy has always been serious about his work, but he became quite obsessive."
Padma glanced out the window to see Mr. Lovegood staring trance-like at a seemingly unremarkable flower. She could easily imagine him being 'quite obsessive'.
"...it was only then that I realized exactly all the things my mother did for me, things I always took for granted." Luna was saying. "Cooking, cleaning, making sure I brushed my teeth and took baths regularly, picking the Dirigible Plums and warding off the Nargles..."
Padma's lips twitched.
"Then one day the Weasleys came calling," Luna said with a little smile. "When Mrs. Weasley saw the state of the house, she almost keeled over right there. It was like she had seen the Grim!" The blonde laughed loudly. She had been doing that more and more as she spent time with her father, and Padma was grateful. She did not feel like laughing much at all, but Luna's unabashed cackles were so full of life and light. "Mrs. Weasley shooed me off to go play with Ginny, and she must have given Daddy a very stern talking to, because after that day he was much better." Luna said happily, before adding honestly, "But he never did stop being absentminded. He was always better about encouraging me to think and ask questions than reminding me to wash up and do my chores."
Padma remembered when Luna had first come to Hogwarts. She hadn't spent much time with her personally, but on a slow gossip day the Ravenclaw girls liked to snigger about the dotty new girl who never brushed her hair and was always losing her shoes, who didn't talk about homework or boys like most girls did but instead preferred to sit in open windows and go 'talk' to the Giant Squid who lived in the Black Lake.
Luna was still unconventional, but now her clothes and hair were always clean and well cared for, and she spent more time with her friends than chasing after magical creatures. Padma wondered when exactly she had changed.
Of course Luna seemed to know what Padma was thinking about. She smiled easily at her friend and explained, "I didn't have a lot of female friends at Hogwarts, but Ginny more than made up for it. She talked a lot about fashion and quidditch, and she was fierce enough to keep people from teasing me. I would spend a lot of time with her and Mrs. Weasley during the holidays. Mrs. Weasley never tried to take my mummy's place, but I think after taking care of so many boys, she enjoyed taking care of a girl who wasn't as dramatic and headstrong as Ginny." She said this in such a way that Padma suspected that was a direct quote from Mrs. Weasley.
Padma smiled slightly. She had never really gotten to know the feisty redhead, but even she could safely say that 'dramatic and headstrong' was an apt description. She had always thought that Parvati and Ginny would have been good friends; they had such similar dispositions. But Parvati had always gravitated more towards Lavender or Padma herself, and Ginny had spent most of her time with Luna, or other Gryffindors.
Luna was now looking out the window again, but not at her father. This time she glanced out as if expecting to see something in the distance, but the sight of the surrounding forest had her brow crinkling in disappointment and she quickly looked away. She caught Padma watching her and blushed a pale pink. "It's odd, to look outside and not see the smoke from the Weasleys' chimney over the hill." She explained. "I wonder if Ginny also looks outside her window and is confused not to see our house anymore…"
Padma saw the concern and longing plain on Luna's face and recognized it as an echo of the torment inside herself. She came to kneel beside her friend. "Ginny is your best friend." She said softly.
"I thought Ginny was my only friend for quite a long time." Luna replied, then beamed at Padma. "Now I know I have many friends, like you and Neville and Harry."
Her usual frank manner was colored with a fondness that Padma then realized had been absent for the first few years of her schooling. Luna had always seemed so unflappable, but now she remembered how lonely and cautious the girl had been after opening up and trying to be herself and make friends after the death of her mother and being thoroughly rejected by her peers. Padma was now angry and hurt on Luna's behalf, because how could anyone turn away someone so sweet and genuine, even if she was a bit eccentric?
Not for the first time, Padma regretted never reaching out to her fellow Ravenclaw before. She had no real need for company beyond Parvati outside the dormitories, but she wondered at how her life could have been enriched by Luna if they had been close for seven years rather than just recently.
Then she felt awfully guilty for depriving Ginny, who was Luna's oldest and truest friend, of Luna's comfort while she grieved the death of her brother because of her own sudden and dramatic intrusion into Luna and Mr. Lovegood's life.
"Oh Luna," she said, "Have you even been able to see the Weasleys since the… since we left Hogwarts?"
Luna's suddenly careful silence was all the answer she needed. Luna was only tactful when she wanted to protect someone's feelings, and she only chose to be silent if she didn't want to lie.
"Luna." Padma softly prodded.
"No, I haven't." Luna finally admitted. "Ginny hasn't left her mother's side since Fred died, which I think is good. Mrs. Weasley is best at being a mother, and now one of her children is dead. She probably thinks she failed as a mother. She'll be even more protective of her other children now." Luna said, not unkindly. Then she surprised Padma by adding, "And when I heard what happened to you and Parvati I went right to the hospital wing. I didn't want you to wake up in a hospital bed alone." Her voice grew abruptly detached. "No one should wake up somewhere alone after experiencing something terrible."
"But… You didn't even know me." Padma protested weakly.
Luna looked confused. "Why does that matter? You needed somebody. I'm somebody."
Padma found it hard to speak normally through the emotion constricting her throat, but she made a valiant effort. "Yes. Yes you are, Luna."
Luna colored slightly. "Well. It could have been anybody. It could have been Cho, if she had just believed in you. I think Cho has had a hard time believing in anything since Cedric died." She commented. "But she did come to the hospital wing with me when I went to fetch her, which was nice of her. It was a step in the right direction."
"You were the one that brought Cho?" Padma asked, realizing that she had assumed that it was the other way around. "Wait… Who brought you?" She asked, before quickly clarifying at Luna's obvious confusion (she could already predict Luna's answer: I brought myself, of course.) "I mean, who told you that I… Who told you what happened? Who told you where I was?"
"Oh." Luna said. "I overheard Zacharias Smith telling Neville that he thought you killed Parvati." She made a face like she had tasted gillywater that had too much salt in it. "He's not a very nice boy. It's funny how so many people that were on our side during the war weren't very nice, isn't it?"
"Hmm." Padma made a noncommittal noise, trying not to think about Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"I think Zacharias Smith was very tired of being ignored. He's muggleborn, you know." Luna said in that sweetly thoughtful way of hers. "I think he thought having magic would make him special and he would get glory or something like that. Maybe he would in the Muggle world, but when he got to Hogwarts and realized everyone had magic, instead of being happy just being himself or trying to improve and make a difference, he grew bitter and chose to criticize people like Harry Potter, who got so much attention during the war. Too bad he never realized attention is not the same as glory. Harry is famous because his parents died. I think Harry would give anything to be as normal and ignored as Zacharias Smith."
"That makes a lot of sense." Padma said. "My father used to say that war is hell, but devils know how to profit from the torture of sinners." She frowned. "I never quite understood what he meant… but I think I do now." She said, choosing to focus on the puzzle of her father's words rather than the pain of remembering him. "I agree that Zacharias was bitter, so I think he tried to profit from the war. He always tried to insert himself into the drama, ever since we started Dumbledore's Army. I wonder if he got what he wanted." She said through gritted teeth, turning back to viciously attack the cobweb.
"He was sorted into Hufflepuff." Luna said from behind her. "He must have some kindness and loyalty in him. Perhaps Zacharias only ever wanted the chance to be someone's friend, but no one ever thought he was good enough just as he was. So he thought he had to be special to everyone in order to be special to just one person." Luna was quiet for a split second. "I know what that's like."
Padma had begun to notice that for an open book like Luna, the more apathetic her voice sounded, the deeper her emotions were. She turned back to face her friend and said thoughtfully. "You should be a therapist, Luna, like one of the heart-and-mind healers at St. Mungo's. I think you would be quite good at it."
"Oh." Luna was pleased. "Well thank you, Padma. I've never thought about being a heart-and-mind healer - they're called cormentors, by the way, after the Latin words for 'heart', cor, and 'mind', mentis." She added in the eagerly fascinated tone of someone sharing information, before smiling and continuing, "But I've always wanted to be a naturalist or a magizoologist. People are too hard." She said with a shrug. "I've tried very hard my whole life to understand other people, and I think it's helped because now I have friends, but that's all I want. I find people fascinating, but after this war… I would much prefer to study animals. They are so wondrous and magical, but so simple at the same time. Everything they do is to follow a purpose or a pattern. They don't hurt others for no reason." Her eyes were distant and shuttered.
Padma wondered what exactly Luna had gone through during her captivity.
"...I didn't know they were called cormentors." Padma said finally. "It's interesting that the word sounds like dementor, when they serve opposite functions." She mentioned.
"There aren't very many of them." Luna said. "We have potions and spells that can alter someone's state of mind, so I think it can seem superfluous to study the intricacies of the human psyche as Muggles do when we have magic to fix things."
"Magic doesn't fix everything." Padma said hollowly. "I think for too long we have had too many dementors, and not enough cormentors. Perhaps it's time for that to change."
Luna was smilingly proudly at her. "You know, Padma, I think you would make a good healer. You're very smart and kind, but you can also be quite fierce and stubborn sometimes."
"Me, a healer?" Padma said incredulously. She laughed a little. "Maybe before… I would have considered it. But I'm too messed up now. I don't think I could fix anyone if I can't even fix myself. Besides, they probably won't let me anywhere near magical patients." She scoffed. "I'm a mentally unstable underage murderer, remember?"
Now Luna was frowning. "You are none of those things, Padma Patil. You're going through something very terrible and hard right now, but you will get better. And when you do, I think you're going to do amazing things." She vowed, sounding very serious and prophetic despite the dust on her clothes and the smudges of dirt on her face.
Padma smiled a little and decided to humor her. "Whatever you say, Luna." Luna grinned, but flushed a little at her dramatic proclamation.
The girls returned to their task then, working in companionable silence for a while before Padma said softly, "Luna?"
"Yes?"
Padma fiddled with the handle of her broom for a moment. "You know earlier, how you said that it could have been anybody who came to me…?"
"Yes…" Luna said slowly.
Padma said quietly, "Well, I'm really glad it was you."
A surprised, happy smile spread across Luna's pale face, and Padma turned away, feeling better than before.
For the rest of the day, they cleaned out the old houses sweeping out dust and opening curtains, letting in light.
Author's Note: I love writing the development of Padma and Luna's friendship :)
P.S. the cormentors are my own creation. I have no idea if JK Rowling invented magical therapists, so I did just in case. It will become relevant to my story soon.
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