Summary: When let off from Azkaban on a second chance, Barty Crouch Jr becomes Xenophilius Lovegood's worst nightmare, back to haunt him and his daughter. In order to fulfil forgotten vows, an ex-murderer and a war heroine are brought together in unconventional circumstances, leading to an unexpected romance.

oOo

A young girl with dark auburn hair tied up scruffily in a ponytail had just landed in England, and was yawning as she made her way through Heathrow Airport, wheeling her trunk along behind her. It was the first time in her entire life that she'd ever travelled via aeroplane, and she hoped never to experience it again.

It was just after five a.m according to the world clocks that were on the walls around her. It wasn't long before she reached the exit to the airport, and discovered that it was dark and cold outside, with morning frost staining everything in sight. She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself as she stood on the curb, as people around her were jumping into coaches and taxis. The cold weather in England was going to be a stark contrast to what she was used to back in Australia.

As the people around her began to dissipate slowly, she was beginning to feel tired, despite having slept a lot on the long plane journey. Perhaps this was the beginning of the 'jet-lag' that all the plane passengers had been complaining about.

A sudden 'pop!' cracked through the air, and the girl almost jumped out of her skin. In front of her, dressed in long black robes with a shirt underneath, was a balding, fairly short man.

"Good morning," he greeted with a wan smile, though he had heavy purple bags under his eyes, and he didn't look particularly welcoming, probably due to how early it was. "My name is Stamford Jorkins. I'm the official whose been dealing with your emigration from Australia to England."

The redhead returned his smile with as much effort as she could muster, and stuck out her hand to him. "Aurora," she replied, shaking his hand. "Aurora Greengrass."

oOo

Luna was combing her hair back as she stood in the kitchen, watching Barty. Unlike Luna, who was wearing an interesting set of flared, yellow and orange dress robes, Barty was wearing a baggy grey t-shirt and black slacks, and was padding around the kitchen barefoot. He was slowly stirring ingredients into the cauldron, poking his tongue between his teeth as he concentrated.

Once he had rapped the ladle on the brim of the cauldron to shake any remaining potion back in, Luna moved closer to him. "Are you going to be doing this all day?" she asked him, trying to keep the nerves out of her voice. Today was the day that she would be going to the Burrow for dinner, and she couldn't help but think that Barty was taking it a little too well. Since waking up, he had concentrated solely on replenishing his Calming Draught, and seemed suspiciously and uncharacteristically ambivalent towards the situation.

"Yes," Barty replied, turning to the large recipe volume that was laying open on the table. "If I don't get it done today, I'll be without my potion for the rest of the week."

Luna leaned over the cauldron and admired the fluid, sea-coloured liquid. It looked shimmery and slightly golden, as if someone had tipped a carton of golden glitter into it. She felt calm just looking into its summery depths.

"It looks great," she murmured, resisting the urge to fully lean against the edge of the cauldron and get her face closer to the potion. "Loads better than the batch you had brought for you."

"Well, I did get Outstanding grades in all of my Potions exams," said Barty, casting his dark eyes on Luna.

"You should've been in Ravenclaw."

Barty grinned, and leaned over to press a chaste kiss to the corner of her lips. "Perhaps you should've been in Slytherin," he purred, sliding an arm around her waist.

She smiled, and pulled away. "I should get going," she told him, nodding towards the clock on the wall. It read half past twelve.

Barty clutched at her hand and stared after her meaningfully, as she reclaimed her fingers and wandered into the living room, sending another smile back at him. Once she was in the clearing of the living room, she turned on the spot, and apparated.

A few moments later she appeared a couple of kilometres away from the back of the Burrow, and began walking over, continuing to smile. Things were good—Barty seemed to be in a good mood, he was preparing his Calming Draught, and he seemed to be okay with her visit to the Burrow. Whilst there was a nagging sensation deep within her, confident that something was bound to go wrong, she forced herself to ignore it. She was going to enjoy today. Today was going to be a good day.

As she got closer to the Burrow, she noticed Mrs Weasley in the kitchen window, waving at Luna animatedly. Luna waved back, and let herself in through the back door.

"Luna, dear, how nice to see you—I'm so glad you could make it!" Mrs Weasley greeted warmly, hugging her. "Ginny and Harry aren't down yet. Ron and Hermione are coming from a relative of Hermione's later on. Why don't you take a seat at the table while I'm monitoring dinner?"

Luna sat down at the kitchen table politely, and sat there silently while Mrs Weasley went about her business. She soon gathered that Mrs Weasley immediately regretted the decision to have Luna in such close proximity while there was no one else around, as it was obvious that she would have to make uncomfortable small talk.

After a few moments, she turned around and offered Luna a strained grin. "You look lovely, Luna," she told her. "You're glowing."

Luna dismissed the compliment, taking an opportunity to ask Molly the question that had been on her lips since she arrived. "Can I ask you a question, Mrs Weasley?"

"Of course, dear."

"Is Ginny trying to set me up with Rolf Scamander?"

The directness of the question seemed to take Molly by surprise, as she looked taken aback, flushing a deep red that rivalled the colour of her hair. Her mouth opened and closed repetitively, as she racked her brains for what to say. Luckily, at that moment, Mr Weasley burst through the kitchen door.

"Hello Luna!" he greeted jovially, walking over to Mrs Weasley and pressing a kiss to her blush-stained cheek. "Mm, it smells wonderful in here. I can't wait for dinner!" Mr Weasley was wearing what appeared to be denim overalls, which were covered in splodges of oil. "I've just been down in the shed, working on—" he stopped talking immediately, sending a worried glance at his wife. But it was too late.

"In the shed?" she shrieked suddenly, causing Luna to flinch. "And what were you working on in the shed?" she flared up instantly, poking and jabbing at his chest as she shouted at him. Luna climbed up from her seat at the table, and backed into the living room quickly, feeling quite uncomfortable in the midst of their argument.

After a few moments of sitting in one of the armchairs nearest to the fire, she heard voices upstairs, and within minutes, Ginny and Harry were bustling down the stairs.

"...Harry, I told you, the guest list is finished now."

"You said that two weeks ago, and two hundred people have been added to it since then."

"Well, it's not my fault so many people want to come and see the Chosen One get married."

"Shove off," Harry grumbled, as he entered the living room first, followed by a grinning Ginny.

"Luna!" her best friend shrieked, and she flew across the living room in a flurry of red hair. After almost suffocating Luna in a rib-crushing hug, Ginny climbed into the armchair with Luna, seemingly not affected by the fact that the armchair was only meant to hold one person. "I'm so glad to see you! Are you okay?" Ginny was clutching Luna's forearm and scanning her face worriedly.

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

Harry sat down on the couch opposite them, his hands clasped together. "I think we all need to have a chat, Luna."

Luna smiled vaguely and looked over at Harry. She noticed that his emerald eyes couldn't quite meet hers, like he was uncomfortable to be around her. "Is this about how you have invited Rolf Scamander to dinner without telling me?"

Much like her mother had done, Ginny began to glow crimson. "He told you?"

"Of course he told me! He doesn't even know you, so he didn't have a clue why you would even invite him to your house. But it doesn't matter—I understood it."

Ginny licked her lips tentatively. "You did?"

Luna nodded.

"Well, I'm sorry Luna!" Ginny exclaimed, though she didn't sound the slightest bit sorry, and she proceeded to burst into a flood of speech. "Rolf really likes you! Didn't you notice how much he always used to stare at you when we were at school? He was always following you around! I was going to write to him before now, but then Dad came home and told us that Newt Scamander's grandson had been looking for a job, so he'd been appointed to work as temporary editor of the Quibbler. Then we heard that you had gone back to work there too, so I just assumed you were working together now. I thought it would be really nice if he could come over for dinner with you...so that...so that..."

"So that I could spend some quality time with him while Barty wasn't around?" Luna murmured, looking down at her fingernails.

"Believe me, none of the rest of us had anything to do with this," cut in a voice from the doorway. Luna looked up to see Ron standing there, with an apologetic Hermione by his side. They walked across the living room and sat down on the couch beside Harry. "We tried to tell her, but..."

"I just care about you so much!" yelled Ginny, jumping out of the armchair and glaring down at Luna. There were tears in her eyes, and Luna wanted to feel sorry for her—but this wasn't the first time that she had been in this situation with Ginny. "I'm meant to be concentrating on my upcoming wedding, but I can't even do that because I'm so worried about you."

"Not strictly true," Ron muttered. "She has pretty much the whole thing planned."

"Shut up," hissed Hermione, elbowing him viciously.

"You don't write anymore; you act different," continued Ginny. "I just don't know what happened to you! The Luna we know wouldn't have ever dreamt of getting involved with a Death Eater!"

"He's not a Death Eater anymore," Luna replied quietly.

It was the wrong thing to say. Ginny flared up with the same fire that Luna had seen Molly release in the kitchen. "Why is that all you ever say!" she screeched, shooting razors down at Luna. "He's not a Death Eater anymore—that's not the point!"

"Ginny, calm down!" Harry spoke over her, walking over to his fiancée. She pushed him away before he could touch her.

"We're meant to be your friends—you're meant to be with someone normal like Rolf Scamander—but your cavorting around with this maniac like it's the most normal thing in the world!"

"Ginny, I love you, you're my best friend. But you need to stop doing this! I can look after myself, and I appreciate what you're trying to do to help me—but I don't need help. I don't need you getting involved anymore. You could only be endangering yourselves and maybe even Rolf."

"Do you hear yourself?" snapped Ginny, and she turned around to nod at Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Do you hear this? She's practically saying that it's alright that he might murder us."

"I don't think that's exactly what she said," interrupted Hermione, but her input went unheard.

"It just isn't like you at all," continued Ginny.

Luna had had enough. "How do you know, Ginny?" she replied sharply. "You spent so much time on dates with this boy and that boy in Hogwarts that I don't really know how you were able to see what I was like, seeing as you were snogging everyone in sight!" Luna clapped her hand over her mouth the moment the words left her mouth, feeling mortified.

It was out of character for her, yes. But she'd had enough of Ginny doing this—trying to change her mind, shouting at her for her choices, acting like she knew what was best—and mainly, sticking her nose in when it wasn't really necessary.

Ginny froze when Luna had finished speaking, her mouth hanging open. There was anger in her brown eyes, but they slowly softened, and she backed up against the couch where Harry was sitting, shrinking down to the floor. "I'm sorry," she muttered, not making eye contact with Luna.

Luna sank back down into the armchair, chewing on her bottom lip. "I'm sorry too," she whispered, unsure of what else to say.

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat, and everyone looked over to the doorway. Mrs Weasley was standing there, with her hands on her hips, casting a vicious look at Ginny. Rolf Scamander was standing at her side, dressed a little too smartly for a casual Sunday dinner, and looking extremely uncomfortable.

"I think you two ought to go upstairs and have a chat," hissed Mrs Weasley as she ushered Rolf into the living room. Ginny rolled her eyes, and climbed up from the floor, gesturing for Luna to follow her.

Once they had made it up to her bedroom, Ginny threw her arms around Luna. "Please just give Rolf a try."

"I can't."

"But he's a really nice guy."

"I can't, Ginny!" Luna pushed Ginny away.

"What is he making you do? Why is he forcing you to stay with him?"

"Ginny, he's not forcing me to stay there anymore. You know that. I want to stay with him."

"But why?" Ginny sounded exasperated, and Luna felt it.

"Stop questioning it!" Luna begged. "He needs me. I want to stay with him. Please, just leave it."

Ginny groaned, but she smiled weakly. "Well, at least try to get to know Rolf," with a sigh, Luna eventually nodded—just to silence her.

"Can I have a favour now?" Luna asked. Ginny nodded. "Can we please just not talk about Barty anymore. You clearly can't handle it, and I think the atmosphere will be a lot better if he's kept out of the conversation."

oOo

Mr Weasley had taken the kitchen table outside, and magically elongated it so that more people could sit around it. It was under a large gazebo, and enchantments had been placed around the table to keep it as warm as if they were sat indoors, as the weather outside was cold and wintry. Mrs Weasley marched out of the house and around the table, with a long string of various plates and dishes of food hovering behind her. One by one, the food touched ground on the long table, and the Weasley's guests were soon tucking into dinner.

As Luna had predicted, she had been strategically placed next to Rolf, with Ginny on her other side. Poor Rolf was looking more and more uncomfortable, especially as he and Luna were forced to listen to Ginny talking incessantly about her wedding plans.

"...we found you a great bridesmaids dress too, Luna, seeing as you ended up vanishing that day that me and Mum were in Diagon Alley. It'll look great on you—that is, if you're allowed to come," she laughed and took a long gulp of her wine. "It's going to be a lovely Christmas wedding—sometime between Christmas Day and New Years Eve. Oh, your dress is a nice, icy blue. Not quite as blue as those robes you have, though..."

Ginny's voice tailed off as Luna began thinking about those robes, which were a particular favourite of Barty's. Her face and neck flushed hotly, and she tuned her thoughts back into what Ginny was saying.

"...there will be dyed pale blue roses too, and all of the men will have blue ties and roses in their button holes. All the décor will be white and blue, there will be ice sculptures, and Fleur has some Veela relatives that are going to perform for us."

"Veela relatives?" Ron looked suddenly interested. Hermione nudged him in the ribs, and he started coughing up the turkey he'd just previously swallowed, and gave Hermione a dirty look.

"Will you stop doing that?" he hissed, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"As you can see, Ginny has planned everything right down to the last detail," Harry said, grinning at Ron. "Though I didn't really agree to the Veela performance...in fact, this is the first I'm hearing of it."

"They're not full Veela, obviously," Ginny continued. "I mean, they're not going to turn into birds and stuff. They're just going to dance and sing."

"Sounds good to me," Ron muttered, earning him another rough nudge from Hermione.

"So, what do you think?" Ginny asked Luna, as she was cutting up her potatoes.

"It sounds lovely, Ginny. I can't wait to be a part of your wedding."

"So, you'll be able to come?"

"Of course."

Ginny beamed. "That's brilliant! Hey, maybe you could bring Rolf as your plus one?"

Rolf grinned, but Luna shot Ginny a strained smile, and said nothing. Ginny rolled her eyes, and they all continued to eat their dinner, without really saying much else. After a few moments, Ginny started to talk to Harry, and Ron and Hermione were having a private, angry-sounding discussion, leaving Luna to talk to no one else but Rolf.

He was eating his dinner slowly, though he kept shooting Luna glances. "This is nice," he commented, as he was scraping up the last of his gravy.

"What is?" Luna had also finished her dinner, and was sitting back in her chair.

"Spending time with you."

Luna sighed, and looked down at her fingers. "Rolf, we need to get some things straight. I'm not interested in you."

"I gathered as much," Rolf replied, his ears tingeing pink. "Is it that obvious that I'm interested in you?"

"Kind of."

"I have been for a long time," Rolf continued. He reached out for his wine, and drained the rest of the glass. "I'll tell you the truth now too, seeing as I've had quite a bit of this wine," he leaned closer so that he could whisper. "I only agreed to work on the Quibbler so that I'd have the chance to maybe see you again," his grey eyes bored into her, and Luna was just considering the pity that was dwelling in them, that it took her a few moments to notice that he as moving even closer to her, so close that his breath was ghosting on her lips.

She jolted back quickly, and blinked at him. "What on earth are you doing?"

Colour flooded Rolf's face. "I'm sorry, Luna— - I...I think I misjudged you..."

"I don't know how, when I just made it quite clear that I'm not interested in you that way," she replied, slightly coldly. Ginny was shooting glances over at her, with the shadow of a smirk on her face. It was clear that she thought something was going on between them.

"If you carry on behaving like that I'm going to have to ask you to stop working with me," she told him. "I'm sorry."

As she finished speaking, she overheard Hermione whispering to Harry. "This set-up is so dangerous," she was saying, cupping her hand around Harry's ear to try and keep the conversation private. "Barty could do something terrible."

"This isn't the first time I've heard someone mention Barty Crouch Junior's name," Rolf muttered, and he threw his napkin down. "Is there something going on between you and him?"

Luna pressed her lips together delicately. "I don't think that's any of your business."

"It is when she," Rolf pointed dramatically to Ginny, "has invited me over for dinner in order to try and set us up together! I don't want to get sucked into anything to do with that guy! I like you, Luna, but not enough to have anything to do with that maniac—"

"—what maniac?"

Every pair of eyes at the table pivoted towards the end of the gazebo, and Luna's heart swooped. Barty was standing at the end of the table, his long fringe hanging in his eyes, and his hands shoved in the pockets of his long brown overcoat.

A clatter of forks on plates sounded around the gazebo, and a flurry of people dived to their feet. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Mr Weasley, George, Percy, Bill and Charlie had all sprung to action, pointing their wands at Barty. Despite it being eight against one, Barty just laughed, and made his way around the table. His eye had caught Luna's, and he was smirking—a smirk that did nothing but fill Luna with worry.

"Please put your wands down," Luna asked, standing up slowly from her seat. "He's not going to do anything, are you Barty?"

Barty pulled his hands out of his pockets and held them in the air, as if in surrender. "I'm not the one pointing a wand." Slowly, everyone sat down and lowered their wands, and Luna edged to Barty's side, watching him carefully. "I just came to...pick Luna up."

"She didn't need picking up!" Ginny hissed. She was the only one who hadn't put her wand away, and was clutching it in her fist. Her face was flooded with anger, and there was fire in her eyes.

"Barty, let's just go," Luna muttered, but Barty pressed a finger to her lips, effectively quietening her.

"Shh," he snarled, his gaze settling on Luna. "Listen, Cupid, I know you've tried to organise this little set-up between Luna and this Scamander boy," Barty's scanned the rest of the table, before spotting Rolf, who was apparently trying to sink into the ground. "Try this again, and I won't react well."

"Barty, please," Luna whispered, staring around the table apologetically. "Lets go."

"Luna is mine," he finished, before grabbing her upper ram. Luna barely had enough time to wave goodbye, before she was sucked into side-along apparition with Barty.