Outside Dr. Wallace's Office, London
"Lovegood wait."
Luna's steps faltered as she heard Draco call to her but she didn't stop walking. The appointment had finished, Dr. Wallace told them she was due at the end of December around the week of Christmas. They had scheduled the required appointment for next week. Luna's stomach had turned to lead just thinking about it.
"I said wait!"
Draco appeared in front of her, having darted around around her to stop her mid-stride. She drew up short, knowing what he was going to ask even before he said it. "Why won't you tell me what you remember?"
Luna clenched the strap of her handbag tighter as she pondered how to answer his question best. Finally she said, "Because I don't know if it was my memory or not. I had a nightmare the other night about you. I don't know if it was just a dream because of what your mother said to me or if I remembered something." It was not cold outside but her skin was chilling just thinking of her nightmare. She tried to walk past him.
"Tell me about the nightmare," Draco requested blocking her path again.
"I can't." Luna threw up her hand as he opened his mouth to protest. "I can't!" She reiterated stating, "Harry told me the Ministry has forbidden me to speak with you or you family because of the trial." She gestured over her shoulder back towards the mediwizard's door. "It was too late to uninvite your mother when I had found out, but you're sure to be in even more trouble if they find out that you showed up Draco."
"Damn the ministry!" Draco cursed. "I have every right to be there." He let out an exasperated breath. He ran his hand through his hair, pulling at it momentarily in frustration as he eyeballed her. She could see the glint in his grey eyes that said she wasn't going to like his next words as he said, "And if they do find out I'll know you went running to Potter to tell them I was here." His voice went quiet as he said, "You let me stay so you're just as much in trouble as I am."
"Probably," Luna agreed with a wary tone to her voice. She stared at him a moment before walking around him, intending to leave while he appeared to be lost in thought.
"Why did you let me stay?" She heard him ask from behind her. "What were you curious about?"
She paused and half turned towards him. She wrapped her arm around her stomach saying, "Your feelings about the baby." Her eyes searched his as she asked, her voice giving away her curiosity, "How doyou feel about it Draco?"
He looked taken aback by the question for a moment and she had a vague notion he was confused by the whole thing. She wasn't prepared for his next words which were full of anger encompassing more than just her question on the baby. He took a step towards her and then back again his voice growling some as he said, "I hate the fact that my aunt has ruined my life. I hate that Potter is breathing down my neck every five minutes with the Ministry ready to throw me in Azkaban for every little thing. I hate the fact that this baby exists because of my aunt's flight into madness went too far." His paused in his vehement rant, taking a deep breath.
"That's a lot of hatred," Luna said quietly.
His eyes flew to hers and he asked incredulously, "Aren't you angry at all about this? Your life was ruined too! You won't be able to go back to school in September you know. You won't be able to take your NEWTs and graduate. You'll be stuck raising this baby!" He let out a soft snort and then said scornfully, "Oh that's right. I forgot Looney Lovegood lives in her own little world full of crackpots and invisible animals."
"They're only invisible to those who don't believe and keep an open mind," Luna informed him quietly. She tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and informed him, "As for school, I can't be angry about that right now." That much was true. Luna never dwelled on the past like so many did because no amount of wishing could change it. The future was too uncertain and the only time she gave it any thought was knowing that someday she would be seeing her family members already passed, just beyond the veil.
Luna Lovegood lived in the present of the day and she said very seriously to Draco, "I'm too scared at the moment to be angry."
"You? Scared? What do you have to be scared about Lovegood?"
Luna took a step towards Draco asking, "Do you know what they do when they administer an amniocentesis Draco?" When his face showed a blank look she informed him on what she had read on it. By the time she was done listing the risks: miscarriage, preterm labor, deformities, fetal trauma and other complications, his face was paler and he looked as ill as she had upon first reading of them.
"I can't be angry about the future or what happened three months ago," she told him. "What's done is done. I have to think about this baby and how to protect it from everything that's going on." She continued to step towards him until she was standing a foot in front of him. He was several inches taller than she, causing her to lift her head to look at him.
"Why do you care so much about the baby?" He asked her. "Don't you hate it? Don't you hate my family? Don't you.." he hesitated before asking, "hate me?"
"Well," Luna's eyes took on that dreamy quality as she gave his question some thought. "I don't like that you're always angry when things aren't going the way you want," she informed him. "I don't like your mother's obsession with my blood status." After a tiny pause she said, "I do like your family's choice in birds. Your mother's owl was quite beautiful and your peacock was quite a proud bloke."
He was staring at her like she was insane, but then that's how most looked upon her. She finished her analysis by telling him, "I don't know how I feel about you Draco. I know what you've done to my friends. I know what they've done to you in return. When I was a prisoner in your house, your aunt used an unforgivable curse upon me, but that was her, not you nor your mother or father." He was still listening to her so she said, "I don't hate this baby. It's part of me just as it is part of you. It's part of my father and mother, part of your mother and father..." her voice trailed off and she shook her head restating, "I don't hate him or her."
Silence fell between them again and Luna noted that Draco appeared to be thinking over what she had said. She didn't know what possessed her to do it, perhaps it was the pensive look on his face mixed with confusion, that drove her to reach out and take his hand, drawing it to her to touch the curve where her stomach was swelled out. She flattened his palm there, keeping his hand covered with her own and said gently, "I hope you don't hate this baby Draco."
He stared down at her stomach a most peculiar look crossed his face. It was a mixture of helplessness, agony, despair and hope. She didn't know what to make of it.
-HP-
When she had left Draco, he had offered to apparate her back to her home but she had refused stating she had errands to run. He would have insisted on coming along but had begged off the moment she had mentioned visiting Mr. Ollivander. Luna understood he wasn't ready to face the wandmaker yet.
Luna had gone back to Diagon Alley, visiting the apothecary shop to get Floo powder for Mrs. Weasley and to get a prescription filled that Dr. Wallace had given her. She had to hold her nose while in the shop; the smells of bad eggs and rotting cabbages upon entering had turned her stomach and caused her to gag uncontrollably.
She was glad to be taking tea with Mr. Ollivander once she left the apothecary, hoping it would help calm her stomach and control her reflex to hurl at the stench she had just left behind. As she opened the shop door a tinkling of a bell sounded in the back of the shop.
"I'll be with you in just a moment," Garrick Ollivander's raspy, wizened old voice sounded from the back.
"Mr. Ollivander it's me, Luna Lovegood," she called out to let him know she was there. She stopped just short of his counter, looking around at the many tiny narrow boxes piled all over the place.
The first time she had visited Mr. Ollivander's shop was two weeks before she had started school at Hogwarts. She remembered clutching her father's hand tight when they had come to pick out her new wand. Or rather, as she had learned upon her first visit, her wand had chosen her. It had taken nearly an hour of tape measuring her arm and trying several wands before she had felt the spark of warmth from a white elm wand with a unicorn hair core.
She smiled at the memory, wondering even now what had become of the beautiful wand which had been solely hers until it had been taken from her. Had its allegiance changed to another when she'd been disarmed?
"Miss Lovegood!" She was distracted from her thoughts when Mr. Ollivander stepped out of the backroom, greeting her warmly. She came around the counter, a brilliant smile lighting up her face.
Although his frame was still thin and rickety, his complexion had regained its full color since she had last seen him going to Bill's Aunt Muriel's to recuperate. Luna was pleased to note that even though his shoulders still stooped, but then perhaps they always had, he seemed much improved and had lost the haunted, ghostly pale demeanor that had dominated him the entire time they'd been in captivity.
"Mr. Ollivander," she went forward, embracing him gently before stepping back to hold his hands saying, "I'm so pleased you're looking well."
"My dear child," he smiled back at her and looked her up and down, examining her as well before exclaiming, "My word! What is this?" He was staring at her belly.
Luna colored slightly and licked her lips which suddenly seemed to be dry. "I'm pregnant," she told him and then said, "I shall tell you about it over your offer of tea."
-HP-
They talked for a long time. Mr. Ollivander had locked the shop door and left a sign out indicating he'd gone to lunch. They had slipped into the rooms over the shop, where he had proceeded to make tea for them.
While they sat and drank, Luna told him a stunted version of how she came to be in her condition. He had reacted as Harry had, blaming himself partly for being unable to protect her while they'd been imprisoned.
Luna wondered why so many others were trying to take the blame for her predicament. Surely they must realize that there was nothing they could have done - Harry didn't even know where she was being held and Mr. Ollivander had been at death's door unable to help himself, let alone her - so why were they so insistent that they were at fault?
She turned the conversation back to him, inquiring as to his recovery with the Weasley's Aunt Muriel. He had reddened slightly and then informed her that he had managed well enough considering.
"Considering what?" Luna had asked, alarmed to think there may have been something to hinder his recovery.
"She was quite fond of her daily tonic," Mr. Ollivander told her and then said, "She knew the good of it and tried several times to get me to join her in a daily drink of it." His eyes were twinkling slightly in humor.
Luna shot him a confused look. "Isn't tonic good for recovery?"
"Not as she took it," Mr. Ollivander chuckled at something and Luna in her naivety didn't understand.
"Never you mind that my dear," he waved a hand and took a final sip from his tea. "Have another biscuit," he encouraged holding the plate out to her. The biscuits were vanilla with a layer of raspberry jam sandwiched between and then dusted with powdered sugar.
Luna, who had already helped herself to six biscuits declined saying, "No, I appreciate it but I have had too many already."
He set the plate down and then said, "I'll clean this up," indicating their drinks and then asked, "Now are you ready for your new wand dear?" The twinkle had returned to his eye, suggesting that he was as excited to be giving her the new wand as she was to receive it.
Luna nodded her head, her smile widening in anticipation.
Mr. Ollivander stood and wandered over to a shelf in his office. He picked up a thin box with a blue lid turning and walking over to present it to her.
Luna took the box from Ollivander laying it on his desk which had sat between them while they visited. She opened the lid on the box, discovering the contents inside had been covered with a velvet cloth.
She drew aside the cloth, gasping softly and reaching out to lift the new wand from its bed of velvet.
"White elm," Ollivander told her while she marvelled at the new wand, feeling warmth infuse her hand the moment she had picked it up. "Thirteen inches." And then he dropped his voice to say, "Now as you know Miss Lovegood, the cores that I typically use are dragon heartstring, unicorn hair and phoenix feathers." He sat back in his chair, looking at her wand with appraising eyes and said, "Can you guess the core of your new wand?"
Luna held her wand carefully as she thought about his question. She finally asked, "Unicorn hair?" Having surmised it to be similar to her old wand.
"No," Mr. Ollivander looked entirely too pleased for her guess to have been even close. He leaned forward and said, "I took great care in selecting the core of your new wand my dear. You are exceedingly clever which had me asking myself, what manner of creature best matches this bright, brave girl?"
Luna, struck a little speechless by the compliments that he was bestowing on her, shook her head not being able to guess correctly.
"Sphinx hair!" he told her, leaning forward across her desk. He held out a hand for her new wand and she placed it into his palm as he examined it closely. "Quite a violent species so it's very difficult to obtain but it is one of the most highly clever beasts out there. This is the first of a new type of core that I plan on making." He stroked the wand with loving care before handing it back to her. "For you my dear Miss Lovegood."
"It's beautiful," Luna told him accepting her new wand. She could feel it warm her palm the moment she touched it. She examined the straight length of wood, noting that he had carved a symbol into the bottom of it. Upon closer inspection she found it to be a hare.
"You remembered!" She looked at Mr. Ollivander astonished and showed him the carving she had discovered. Among the many things Luna had talked with him about during their time together, sharing the story of Harry teaching them how to use the Patronus charm had been one of the things she had told him. She had described her corporeal patronus to him, remarking how bright it had been and how it reminded her of better, happy memories even in the dark basement.
"Yes," Mr. Ollivander chuckled. Luna put down her wand and got up from her chair as he did the same. She went around the desk and said, "Thank you so much." She embraced his frame, hugging him like she would her own grandfather.
"No my child. It is I who must thank you," he said while hugging her back. "Too often down there I had considered giving up when you appeared." He stepped back to observe her, tears unshed in his pale eyes. "You were an angel who kept me alive, sharing your own food and water when we had so little to begin with, talking to me after every torture, telling me stories." His voice began to crack and Luna felt moisture beginning to gather in her own eyes in response.
"I didn't tell you," he said when he had regained back some of his composure,"but while we were imprisoned my grandson added another to my family." His face lit up as he spoke and he said, "I was able to see my first great-grandchild last month because of you Miss Lovegood."
Tears were leaking out of her eyes and Luna lifted her shirtsleeve trying to wipe them away. She confessed, "You kept me alive too Mr. Ollivander." She reached out to take his hands and squeeze them saying, "If you hadn't been there, I might really have become Looney Lovegood."
"Such a terrible nickname," Mr. Ollivander tutted having heard her tales of what the other kids had called her. "Anyone who knows you well Miss Lovegood would know you're just as sane as I am."
She felt laughter bubbling from around her tears as she agreed, "I tell people that all the time."
-HP-
When Luna had left Ollivander's she had promised to come back and visit anytime she was in London. She had her new wand tucked behind her ear and had been pleased when she found the wood was thin enough in just the right place to be tucked their securely without the danger of it falling out. Mr. Ollivander really had created the perfect wand for her.
She wound through Diagon Alley until she reached the Leaky Cauldron. She entered the inn heading towards the fireplace to use the Floo. She had her hand in her bag rummaging for the sachet of floo powder when she heard her name called by a familiar voice.
"Luna!"
"Hermoine!"
Luna turned around, the sight of Harry and Ron's best girl friend filling her vision. She looked exactly the same as she had at Fred's funeral, with the exception of her hair being a tad longer. She was beaming as she spotted Luna, leaving her spot at the bar to head over to the fireplace.
"When did you get in?" Luna asked as they embraced briefly.
"Just a bit ago I flew into Heathrow," Hermoine explained. She was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and denim jacket carrying her beaded handbag with the undetectable extension charm on it. "I managed to find my parents in Australia finally."
"Oh that's wonderful!" Luna beamed happy for her friend. "Did they fly back with you?"
"No," Hermoine suddenly laughed and opened her beaded bag. She slid her wand out of her jacket saying, "Accio newspaper." A newspaper appeared out of the bag, folded in quarters. Hermoine handed it to Luna saying, "I was able to recover their memories thankfully but they have to finish things up in Australia before they come back."
Luna looked at the headline of the muggle newspaper her eyes widening as she asked, "Did he really do this?" The picture with the accompanying article, truly was worth a thousand words.
Hermoine nodded, barely supressing a giggle. "It's because of that article that I was able to find them at all," she informed Luna.
-HP-
"Your father really pulled a crocodile's tooth from its mouth?" Ginny was reading the article published in the Australian paper that Hermoine had brought back.
They were in the Burrow seated at the table. Luna and Hermoine had flooed back there. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had been thrilled that Hermoine was back. Mrs. Weasley had admonished her for not sending an owl. Hermoine had told them there wasn't enough time. Mrs. Weasley had dispatched an owl to the Ministry to notify Harry and Ron of her return. In the meantime the girls were catching each other up on the news over lunch.
"Oh yes," Hermoine nodded her head. "I told you they were dentists right? Well, even though they didn't remember who they really were, my father seemed to know what to do for that crocodile when nobody else did. After I returned their memories, he said the crocodile was a better patient than most of the kids he had treated."
The news article was all about a local, grumpy crocodile that had been very cantakerous with the farmers in the area. A nature conservationist and his team of skilled crocodile hunters had tried to move the crocodile to a new location and in the process discovered the animal's rotted tooth. Mr. Granger who had been mixing in with the local population as a farmer, had assisted with ridding the crocodile of its problem.
"I'm shocked he didn't lose an arm," Ginny admitted closing the newspaper and handing it to Luna who peered at the front picture. Mr. Granger was holding the rotted tooth smiling with another bloke by the name of Irwin and behind them was the crocodile with ropes and several people keeping it pinned down.
"How exciting," she wished she could have been there observing it or doing something like the conservationist had been doing.
"Well thankfully that story made the news because when I spotted Dad and Mum I knew straight away where to find them." Hermoine said this around a spoonful of soup that Mrs. Weasley had made for lunch. She withdrew the spoon, "They've got to sell off the sheep farm they had started and then they'll be flying back here to resume their dentist practice."
They discussed the past few weeks she had spent in Australia and after Hermoine had finished eating she set her spoon down next to her bowl saying, "Now will the two of you tell me what is going on around here?" She was eyeballing Luna's stomach which she had been prone to do since they left the Leaky Cauldron. Luna hadn't wanted to talk in such a public place and so had promised to fill her in on the story back at the Burrow.
For the second or was it the third? time that day, Luna repeated the story for Hermoine's benefit, leaving out only the parts she had never shared with someone else.
-HP-
Hermoine's reaction was remarkably different than that of Harry and Mr. Ollivander's. She didn't fuss over the fact she hadn't gotten there earlier to save Luna, instead just stating, "That complete cow! I swear if Mrs. Weasley hadn't already Aveda Kadevra'd her I'd wish the three of us had done it!" They had unsuccessfully battled Bellatrix before Mrs. Weasley had taken over and did what they could not.
"We could always go torture Draco into the truth," Ginny suggested with a glint in her eye that did not altogether mean she was just kidding.
Luna, who had kept the news of his visit to the mediwizard's office silent along with the information that he too had possibly been victimized by Bellatrix just said, "Ginny Weasley I do hope you're joking."
Ginny made a moue of innocence at Luna and Hermoine laughed at the two of them. Mrs. Weasley who had been coming in and out during their conversation, keeping an eavesdropping ear on it the entire time, entered the room saying, "Luna this owl just came from the Ministry for you." She handed it to her.
Luna accepted the letter and broke the seal. She read the contents of the letter her eyes widening at it. The two Weasley women and Hermoine looked at her as she lifted her eyes from the parchment.
"I'm being summoned to the Ministry tomorrow for a hearing," she told them. She offered the letter out to Hermoine, she was better versed at understanding the legal process. Hermoine read it, gaping lightly at the words.
"It's an injunction," Hermoine told Ginny and Mrs. Weasley. "At least that's what they call it under Muggle law. The Malfoy family has filed a motion to stop the ministry from ordering Luna to have the amniocentesis." She read the rest of the legal jargon, translating it to state that the test was being requested to be dismissed as harmful, negligent and wrongful to the legal rights of the defendant Draco Malfoy.
The summons were the talk of the afternoon, each of them speculating would happen the next day. When Harry and Ron returned from work, they also knew of the injuction that had been filed. Harry was the one who was most upset. Ron had slipped out into the backyard for a private reunion with Hermoine.
"How in merlin's name did they find out about the test?" Harry was pacing the living room while Ginny and Luna watched him rant. "We already obtained samples of Draco's DNA from when he was held at the ministry but we withheld the information about the test." He pulled at the ends of his dark hair, the length starting to get long enough that Mrs. Weasley would soon be complaining of it.
"Isn't that illegal?" Ginny uttered the question.
"We planned to owl the Malfoy family about the test the morning Luna was scheduled for it," Harry tossed Luna a look she had begun to identify as his guilt over not telling her these things beforehand. "It would have been perfectly legal and we need this information since you can't remember the incident for yourself, Luna." He continued to pace and asked, "How did they know?"
Luna flicked a glance at Harry. She had been speaking to him less and less lately, but that was only because she still was upset with him on the whole. Listening to him rant, she could understand where his frustrations came from, but in her deepest of hearts, she was praying the halt order would be granted. She didn't know if Draco had been the one to file the motion after their conversation earlier; but it was spurning the tiniest flicker of hope in her, that he too, had felt something more towards the life inside her.
She tuned back in to the conversation just as Ginny and Harry were discussing the injunction; the possibilities of how good Draco's defense lawyer was and if they had bribed a ministry official to give up the information about the amnio.
She tuned back out, her thoughts lost on the ramification of the injuction and praying for the outcome of the hearing tomorrow.
Kat's Notes: Thank you for the reviews! I really hope I've been able to bring Luna back into character from the last chapter which I understand I took her slightly off character! Hermoine's back which means 2 brains are better than one when it comes to solving mysteries! Look for more drama in the next chapter as the story moves to the courtroom! Hopefully you're not confused by Muriel's tonic...she seemed fond of the 'drink' as they put it and so presumably would love some gin with her tonic. Those taste alot like christmas trees!