Mrs Tonks puts us up in a quiet room on top of the stairs. It's nice to finally be in a place with a bit of colour, as the walls are a soft green atop a deep emerald carpet. There's a small, tufted bed resting in the centre of the room with its back to a square window overlooking the garden. Birds and humdingers can be heard chirping in the morning, and I've no doubt there will be singing moonbabies at night when the Spring finally comes. Golden sunlight floods the room in the afternoon, making for a glorious opportunity to draw if I had any parchment. Since I don't and don't wish to inconvenience our host for it, I make temporary charms on the backs of serviettes, on my ankles, on anything that will sit still long enough for me to decorate.

Draco has grown testy in the weeks we've been living with his family. He gets angry at the slightest things, snapping and apologising for it almost daily. I think it's the lack of control that has him so frustrated. It's like leaving one cage to be sent to another. Being reasonably safe so many times has it's drawbacks.

His hands are sorely tied with trying to sell the carpet to repay Mrs Tonks, although she's assured him she never touches the money Narcissa sends her way. I try to understand, but it's difficult. With so much time alone to think, I relax, while he falls into never-ending spirals of uncertainty. Each day he half-pitches a new idea for us to gather our families back. I listen, I nod, then I tear his reasoning to the tiniest pieces while he complains.

"We could contact your father, I'm sure of it," he says to me, leaning on his elbows to hang his head between his knees.

It's rather interesting seeing him like this, so troubled, yet so unbothered by his usual worries. He has taken the spot in his mind that usually tells him to sit up straight and mind his pureblood manners and filled it with plotting instead.

"How could we, kitten?" I ask

"We could send word through someone close by, like Weasel or some of his lot."

"Ron is busy having spattergroit, remember darling? No need to blow his ruse on my account." I run my fingers through his hair. "Besides, you know dad won't keep his mouth shut for two seconds once he knows I'm alive. He'll go right back to publishing the way he was before and all of us will be in trouble again."

He huffs audibly.

"Fine. What about my mother?"

"What about her, love?"

I hate it when he brings up Narcissa. The lack of solid ideas we've created is maddening, and the pain he exudes ties me in knots. Anything I respond with ends in an argument; ends with his hurt feelings and my pained heart. We've gone over fifty plans to rescue her, at least. Not that she wants to be rescued. If a person rescues someone who doesn't wish to be rescued, is it considered kidnapping? I'd hate to go through the risk of abducting her only for her to tell Draco again she plans to stay with his father again. Although the truth will set him free, it may very well crush him on the way out when that door flies open.

"If we could only get a message to her… Perhaps Andi still has the charmed mirror..." he ponders

"Draco, you said yourself that your mother hid that mirror away ages ago. I doubt she'll go looking for it now."

I get swept into the storm of his grey eyes, watching the hope inside grow duller and weaker.

"We'll figure it out," I tell him, squeezing his hand. We will. I don't know how, but we will.

"Luna!" Tonks calls from downstairs. "Help me up, will you please?"

I leave Draco with a peck on the lips as I all but fly down the stairs, taking Tonks hand to steady her on the way up the staircase. I enjoy listening to her exciting Auror stories, so it's come to pass that I help her move around in her extremely pregnant form. She's growing by the day. Breathing is becoming more and more difficult for her as the baby expands inside her body.

"Thanks, love." she pants, flopping down in her reclining chair in the upstairs drawing-room. I summon a cool flannel for her to put on her forehead.

Not a worrier by nature, I can't help but be a bit put out of my calm by Tonks and the baby. She won't be able to deliver at Saint Mungo's, as the baby will surely be carted away and tested for lycanthropy if she does. If the baby turns up positive… I'd hate to think of the repercussions. Will she be able to get a healer to come to her instead? What will she do with Draco and me? Will Mrs Tonks have to do it? What if something goes wrong?

So many questions and so few plans we have.

To look at the silver side, as I always try to do, at least Draco and I won't have to worry about giving birth during this war. I've never been so thankful to have charmed my womb shut until we decide to open it if we want to. It's a happy thought, to think of Draco carrying a pudgy child with white fluffy hair on his shoulders. A joyful fantasy indeed for us to answer endless questions and have broom races in some unknown Quidditch pitch. For us to laugh until we cry. Unfortunately, happy thoughts don't always translate to a happy reality.

Reality, it seems, is usually a sight messier than what I create in my imaginings. Here in real life, it would be dreadful to bring someone I love as much as I'll surely love my son or daughter into this dire situation, even if I think Draco and I could handle it. You never quite know when the world is going to crumble around you, but I'd like to have a foundation laid for us to stand on regardless. How are we to prepare a foundation with everyone we care about scattered around the country, imprisoned, in hiding, and running for their lives? No, before our future can unfold for us, we must wait, and be patient, and keep doing the impossible.

I make small talk with Tonks about all the different creatures in the garden, about the healing properties of this substance and that, but my heart isn't in it. My heart is pounding to the rhythm of "fix it, fix it, make all of his dreams come true". My desires lie on the battlefield. The evil in them is whispering terrible curses in my ear and gouging at my rationality with a spoon, digging a little harder and deeper with each fruitless day. I want to cut down the bars to this cage we're trapped in, rolling over every monster who stands in our way. I'll pave the path to our freedom with blood and fire, or by any means necessary. My stupid heart, my idiotic, useless heart, keeps telling me to do something, to make a move, to end this nightmare once and for all.

"Luna, have you heard a word I said, dear?" Tonks asks

"No, I was just thinking," I reply, standing up. "I need to go check on Draco. Thanks for talking with me."

My senseless, worthless, fragile heart needs mending.

xoXOXox

I've memorized every channel to potentially retrieve my mother and her father. All of them lead to dead ends. I continue to tunnel through the wreckage of my mind, endlessly searching for routes yet to be taken. I busy myself with exercise and have grown stronger than I've been since I played Seeker. Luna and Andi have taught me how to cook for myself, and I find cleaning charms come naturally to me now. We've shagged until I'm surprised we can stand up properly, and frankly, we grow disinterested in it. I've watched her create drawings on every surface she can touch, including my skin and hers. Alas, there are only so many repetitive, mind-numbing tasks to pull me out of my occluding room when such important matters as our lives are at stake.

Everything sets my nerves on edge as my muscles ache with tension. The uncertainty, the not knowing, it drags me under, flooding my lungs with the blackest, foulest water. Who is still alive? When will this end? Does anyone care anymore?

I need the questions to stop. I need the purgatory to subside, if only for a spare breath. While Luna talks with Dory, I lean into my potions pouch to find my last morsel of relief. As I slip my fingers over the sparkling pink confection, my beloved calls to me.

"What are you doing?" Luna asks quizzically, leaning against the doorway.

"Candy," I reply flatly, a web of guilt spinning in my gut to attach all of my insides together.

She doesn't admonish me but sits at my side instead.

"May I try one?" she asks, her sparkling eyes lit with morbid curiosity.

The gods-damned web churns and curls in on itself, bursting forth with endless calamitous spiders as she takes a piece from my hand.

"No," I nearly beg, grasping her wrist a touch too roughly to keep the gelatin away from her mouth.

"Why?" she says with the ire of a witch scorned, piercing me with the stare of Medusa herself. "Am I not allowed to enjoy myself? Only you are allowed to let your feelings take over your judgement, hmm?" she spews with venom. "Because you're the man, so you do what you want, while I do what I must? Is that it, Draco?"

The floodgates have opened. I have been expecting this resentment to come. Our seclusion is wearing on her as it wears on me.

"It's not that, lovely," I tell her gently, reaching to take her into my arms. She pulls away swiftly, affronted.

"Then tell me what it is," she demands, not the barest hint of affection in her tone.

"Luna," I implore, letting all the guilt and sorrow flood into my eyes for her to touch with her gaze. "I don't want to see you hurt, and this filthy concoction hurts. It hurts when you leave it, okay?"

She sits up straight, her eyes transforming into blue steel as she reprimands me.

"You know what hurts, Draco?" she asks in the low drawling tone I've learned will proceed a violent blow. "Sitting still. Sitting here in silence while the whole world burns around us. That hurts."

As if she has summoned pain from the air, my galleon burns my flesh through my pocket. I fish it out as she reaches for hers. We read the words together in stunned horror.

'Otter - Snatched - Help'

I feel sweat flooding under my arms and in my palms, a cold chill seeping up my spine.

"Where?" I hastily reply.

No response comes.

"Stag? Weasel?" I shout into the coin.

Nothing but silence answers me.

Of course, the Snatchers would remove all of the gold from their victims first. It's what they're after, it's all they're after. They couldn't care less about what happens to the lives they sell for a profit. How many bodies are broken in the name of the almighty galleon. Of course, they would remove the gold first, because they don't care if the world ends so long as they are seated on their deathly thrones. If they have Hermione, they have Potter, and if they have Potter, the world may end tonight.

We have to move, now.

Luna reads my mind, or my aura, or simply knows what needs to happen. I can't tell and don't care to. Let her remain my beautiful enigma.

"Time to leave?" she asks, the brightness of her voice tearing a brand new wound in my soul.

I want to say no, to leave her here with my aunt in the relative safety of the Black wards under the watchful eye of an Auror. At the same time, I know I can't do this without her. I need her. I need her intelligence, I need her strength, I need her to watch the vipers at my back. If my apparition is tracked, how will I get there without her? A broom isn't fast enough to ride to the end of the world.

"We go together," I tell her.

She sends a patronus to Andi and Dory as we ready the carpet. Opening the windows and casting a disillusionment charm, we launch yet again into whatever dangers await.

xoXOXox

No information. We have no information. We are taking a shot in the dark by flying to Malfoy Manor. Would the Snatchers take Undesirables Number One and Two to the same prison as the rest of the captives? Or would they want them somewhere safer? No, they'll definitely bring them to the Manor. Right to Voldemort himself.

If we're wrong and they've taken them to Azkaban, there's not much to be done for it aside from burning the sodding building to the ground. I'm not entirely against that idea at this point.

'Otter - Snatched - Help' will be branded into my mind's eye for as long as I live. Judging by our odds, that may not be long.

It takes forever and then some to get to Wiltshire. Even with the carpet going full tilt, it's at least half an hour before we arrive at the gates. They may all be dead by now. We hover high above, staying downwind as the gates part wide. We slip inside barely in time to not be crushed beneath the wrought iron. The carpet, however, is not so lucky. I get a demonstration of the Dark Sword as Draco casts a Sectumsempra to sever the tangled tassels from the bars, shrinking it in hopes it will fly for us once more.

Up the winding gravel road leading to the front entry, a group of wizards Draco calls "deplorables" drag what appears to be a handful of captives - bound and gagged - through the threshold. We cast a silencing charm over us and sprint towards the precipice, barely catching a glimpse of Narcissa as she turns her back. The door booms shut before we arrive.

"Fuck," Draco swears under his breath.

No, not fuck, kitten - think.

"How else can we get in?" I ask

"Father will be alerted if I open the wards," he says

We don't have time for this. Harry, Hermione, and Ron could be dying right now. Our friends could be undergoing torture. Our hopes for a better tomorrow could be getting murdered as we speak.

"I said how can we, not how can't we, kitten." I remind him in what is hopefully a non-combative, reassuring voice.

"We can't cross the wards without giving away our position, Luna!" Draco snaps "Even if we took that chance, we don't know if this bloody carpet will fly and I can't inconspicuously Accio a broom, now can I? We can't apparate. We'll have to wait for the door to open again."

We don't have that kind of time. Bellatrix, if she's in there, kills swiftly. If Voldemort is present, Harry could be gone already. If Harry is gone…

"Draco, call Mimsy," I command

"What?" he asks, unhelpfully

"SUMMON YOUR ELF!" I snap

"Mimsy," he whispers

The elf appears before us with a loud crack. As we are still under the disillusionment charm, she looks around confused to see who has summoned her.

"Mimsy?" Draco says again and the elf jumps back, startled.

"M-M-Master Draco?" she frantically questions

"It's me," Draco replies

She screams, pulling her ears down over her knees in fright.

"M-M-Master D-D-Draco is a ghost!" she shrieks "Come to p-punish M-Mimsy for…" she starts crying and wailing uncontrollably, running headfirst into a pomegranate tree.

"Mimsy!" Draco hisses. "Control yourself! I'm not a ghost, I'm here."

"No!" Mimsy continues to wail "M-M-Mimsy saw the b-b-b… s-saw the b-bod…"

"Body?" I offer

She starts sobbing again, wrenching awful, guttural shrieks of pain from the lowest places in her soul.

"Silence!" Draco commands "Are you trying to get us killed?"

A thought occurs to me. I stoop down, getting eye to eye with Mimsy, or where our eyes would meet if she could see me at any rate.

"Mimsy, can you hear me?" I ask.

"M-M-Miss?" she responds.

"Yes," I say in the most consoling tone I can muster. She must be frightened beyond her wits already.

"Mimsy… Mimsy could always hear Master Draco's Miss. Master Draco's Miss said thank you to Mimsy."

She could always hear me? She can read? I inhale deeply as I stifle my temper and refrain from arguing that I am not "Master Draco's" miss. No time.

"Yes, Mimsy, you did a nice thing for me, and I said thank you. Now, I'm going to say please."

"P-please Miss?"

"Yes, please, Mimsy. Our friends are inside, in danger, and we need you to get us in and get them out, please."

She looks confused for a moment. Draco sighs.

"She's a Malfoy elf," he explains exasperatedly. He casts a disillusionment charm over her as both of us grab onto her slight frame. "Mimsy, take us to Harry Potter, please."

With a crack, we arrive in the Malfoy dungeons. A piercing woman's scream cuts like a hot knife through the dark.

Hermione.

"Who's there?!" Ron shouts

"Shut it, Weasel!" Draco hisses

"Draco! You're alive!" Harry whispers

"Mimsy," Draco instructs, ignoring Harry "Take these two to my Aunt Andromeda's house and come back for us."

Another scream curdles the damp air between us.

"Hermione," Draco whispers, fear drenching him in sweat

"Yes, Master," Mimsy says, at the same time "No!" peels from Harry and Ron simultaneously.

"No!" Harry repeats, fighting to touch me in the darkness. "We'll fight with you!"

"No, Potter!" Draco says forcefully. "If you die up there, the whole world dies along with you. We need you to fight when you're ready."

Harry gives me a look of pure torment as he decides.

"Luna," he begs, finding both of my arms to place in his grip. "This is going to sound insane, but I know you'll believe me, won't you?"

"Always," I reply without question.

"If you can get to my things, there is a cloak in there fashioned by Death herself. Grab it, get under it, and you will escape."

"Can I summon it?" I ask

"No.," he says

"Ok."

He grasps onto Mimsy with one last plea - "Always will."

"Always will." I return as he and Ron vanish into the darkness.

Mimsy returns seconds later awaiting instructions. Draco begins immediately.

"The girl upstairs who is screaming, I need you to take us to her and get her to Andromeda's. We'll hold off Bellatrix. Then come back for Luna and me."

"Y-Y-Yes M-M-Master."

We cast one final disillusionment as we are delivered into the fires of hell.

xoXOXox

We arrive in the Drawing Room to a terrifying sight. Hermione lays in a puddle of her blood beneath Aunt Bella in front of us. My father is to my right, with my mother standing mere centimetres in front of him. Snatchers and Death Eaters line the wall behind us. Godfather is nowhere to be found. The metallic smell of death and dark magic permeate the air. Dust falls like fire ash through the light streaking down from the high windows.

'Keep the high ground.' lingers in my mind.

Time stands still as in one instant, the entire sky comes crashing down around us.

The crack of apparition.

"Homenum Revelio!"

The slide of bodies across the floor.

A whispered "Avada Kadavra"

Cackling.

"Protego Maxima!"

"Avada kadavra!"

"Draco!"

The wet, gurgling sound of a blade being lodged into ribs.

Another crack of apparition.

My mother runs towards me.

A gut-wrenching wail. "No!"

A final apparition.

And now, I'm face to face with my Father.

xoXOXox

Mimsy apparates us to the perfect place in the Drawing Room. I have a clean shot at Bellatrix and take it.

"Avada Kadavra" I whisper, even as Lucius shouts a revealing charm. Bellatrix must have reacted immediately to the sound of our arrival because she slides her and Hermione out of the way before my spell connects.

Fuck.

She lets out a blood-boiling cackle as she sees us. I almost have another shot, but Hermione's arm is too close to her. Draco throws an enormous shielding charm behind us to protect us from the oncoming evil. Bellatrix lifts her chin. I cast another killing curse at her neck, even as she raises her wand to undoubtedly send one at me. She pauses for a fraction of a moment as Hermione shoves Draco's knife between her ribs. I can hear the blood fill her lungs and see her aura fading to smoke. Serves the sadistic bitch right. Hermione is rescued by Mimsy, who quickly returns to retrieve Draco and me. I reach for his hand, but he rushes forward, pulling Narcissa forcefully away from Lucius. I see blood shooting from his leg, bright rivers of it, red streams of his life leaking out against the fading day.

A primal scream of "No!" escapes my lips as I vanish into the dark without him.

xoXOXox

"Draco!" my mother screams, falling against my chest as I pry her from Father's clutches by force.

"No Cissy! Don't be foolish! That's not our son!" parts from his ignorant lips.

I look him in the eyes as I point my wand to my mother's head.

"You're right, Father. I'm not your son, I'm hers."

A blinding white light pierces my vision as a searing pain connects with my thigh and Mimsy pulls us into darkness.

We arrive in a clearing on the outskirts of nowhere. I grab my mother's wand, break it, and throw it on the ground as she clings to me for dear life.

"Take us to Andromeda's" I command the elf.

In moments, we are safe at my aunt's. I collapse to the ground as a warmth I've never felt before overtakes me. I hear a slow drip plink against the hardwood. Looking down, I see Bella's dagger lodged in my leg. This is it. My Fates have captured me, and I cannot run now.

Luna launches herself at me. With her reddened, tear-streaked face and golden halo of curls wild about her head, I know I'll be sent across the veil by an angel of light. I pull her into my arms as I lay dying on the floor. Even as I go, for one last time we'll be together. She sobs into my hair panting "no, no" over and over again.

"Shh…" I tell her as if her silence will bring any consolation. Let my angel smile for me one last time.

"Master Draco's Miss, yeah? Sounds good doesn't it?" I ask. She nods fast into my hair, holding my face to place a kiss on my lips. "You know what sounds better?" I continue. She shakes her head no. "Draco's Missus," I say, trying valiantly to smile through the pain. My vision is starting to go black around the edges. Now is the time to speak. "Will you do that for me, Luna? Will you let me be Mr Lovegood for tonight?"

"Yes. Yes, Draco. Now until forever." she promises, tears cracking her voice. "Petrificus totalus," she whispers, and my moon goes dark.

xoXOXox

Draco lands with a wet drop in Andromeda's sitting room, covered in blood and clinging to Narcissa. I run towards him, and the air stops in my chest as I see it: a silver hilted dagger pulsing out from his thigh. The same dagger Bellatrix was digging into Hermione's flesh. Who knows how many lives have been taken with it.

He's fading fast, and I can't find any competent thoughts. Only 'no, no, please, please…' on repeat.

As his blood spills out of him, I feel my magic begin to weaken.

'I won't let you die. Not by anyone, or by any means. On my magic.'

I only have moments to complete any stroke of brilliance I have left.

I swear my life to him, and his to mine as he falls unconscious. With what remains of my magic, I cast a petrificus on him to stop the bleeding and perhaps to keep the blade's curse from spreading. I pull the vile instrument from him and it burns my skin. I can't seem to make myself care.

"Do you know the counter curse? Do you know the counter curse?" I ask the Black sisters frantically, hoping they know the evil secrets of their origins.

They both shake their heads as Andromeda leaves the room and Narcissa crumples weeping on the floor.

Cowards.

Andromeda returns with a blood replenisher.

"You'll have to unpetrify him to get it down his throat," she instructs stoically.

I can't actually. Luckily, I don't have to.

"Accio syringe." I incant. I fill it with the blood replenisher and shove it straight into his heart.

"He's still bleeding!" I shout into the air, hoping anyone with any power might hear me, might pull him back from the darkness, might let me soar amongst the stars with him.

I peel off my jumper to tie around the wound, but it continues to soak through. My love is dying on my watch. The stars come pouring down from heaven as he takes his final breaths

Hermione stumbles into the room, dragging the sword of Gryffindor along the ground with her non-bandaged arm.

"Here." she says "Save him."

xoXOXox