Disclaimer: See past chapters and Prologue… I get so tired of the monotony of these things, don't you? ;)

The Thing About Grace

Chapter 3

Luna blinked, opened her mouth to say something and snapped her mouth shut again.

"I- You- What!" She looked from him to Dumbledore. The Headmaster nodded sadly in acknowledgement.

"Well then, how- I mean, where is, then who is my real father?" She finally blurted out.

"We have cause to suspect it may be Voldemort, (Snape, Mr. Lovegood and Luna all winced.) which is why we evacuated you from your home this evening." Dumbledore explained. "You are part of a prophecy made many years before your birth, Voldemort , (Snape, Mr. Lovegood and Luna all cringed.) is attempting to fulfill the second part of the prophecy by reclaiming you as his own."

Luna raised her eyebrows. "Wow. I never- I just… Wow."

We realize it comes as quite a shock, Voldemort (Snape, Mr. Lovegood and Luna all grimaced and Dumbledore rolled his eyes at them.) is said to be searching your home tonight, so we will have you and your father stay here until we think it is safe for you to return home. I've taken the liberty of arranging your stay with the innkeeper already. Do not hesitate to contact me should anything be amiss. Otherwise, I shall see you at Hogwarts after Christmas break, Miss Lovegood. Good evening to you both."

The Headmaster and Professor Snape left the room leaving only silence in their wake. Mr. Lovegood still had his eyes on the floor. Nothing was said for quite a while until,

"I'm so sorry Luna."

Luna bit her lip to keep back the tears that were threatening to spill over at any moment.

"I would've told you sooner, but I just couldn't bring myself to put something like this on your shoulders, you've always been such a carefree little girl."

"I understand that, da- I mean, I just never thought something like this could happen to us, and that other people have known this would happen!" She replied quickly. "Why would You-Know-Who want to get me back now?"

"Dumbledore's not entirely sure but he figures You-Know-Who thinks you have an untapped power source through him and wants to see just how much more powerful you can make him." Answered Mr. Lovegood. "For now we can try to buy time."

"But you're saying he's going to get me eventually anyway?"

Mr. Lovegood sighed. "It says in the prophecy 'And this power which he hath bestowed his own life into will one day be returned to him.'"

Luna shook her head with a look of disbelief. "Was mum… you know, my real mum?"

"Oh yes, the first part of the prophecy had to do with her, 'the one of pure evil shall take the innocence of one whom he deems worthy. In her he will plant a seed of power.'"

"How did Nana and Grandpa know it was mum he was after?" she asked.

"There are some spies on the light side, that is, they work for the light side and spy on You-Know-Who. When your mother was young, your grandparents were notified that You-Know-Who was keeping and eye on the family, so they took her and fled to Canada where they were able to throw You-Know-Who off their track for some time until he found your mother."

He paused, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "The night he found her, after that part of the prophecy had been fulfilled, she returned to the UK to be in the safety and care of Dumbledore.

After a little while it became apparent that You-Know-Who had no plans to come and collect you or your mother at that time, so Dumbledore arranged to gave your mother marry in hopes the new name would throw off spies and you might grow up with a normal childhood.

He introduced your mother and I and we fell in love immediately. We were wed right there on the spot with Dumbledore as the officiate and I brought her to my home which is the same one you've grown up in."

"Oh." Was all Luna could bring herself to say.

"Now he's found out about you, so all we can do is run until he loses our tracks. Hopefully it won't be long, then we can settle down again." He gave her a tired smile.

"What will you do while I'm at school then? I assume the school is the safest place. Where will you go?"

"You're right in thinking the school it the safest of all places. As for me, I might go overseas for a while, if things work better like that I'd send for you when school it out. Australia is supposedly nice this time of year…" Mr. Lovegood shrugged his shoulders and looked rather dejected. Luna felt a wave of compassion come over her.

"Oh, Daddy!" She flung her arms around him and tucked her head beneath his chin.

"You still consider me your father?" He gave a small laugh "Even through all this?"

"You're the only father I've ever had and known. You've raised me! Of course I still consider you my daddy." Came her muffled reply.

Her father gave a chuckle and laid his hand on her head. "And you will always be my little girl. What do you say we get something to eat? Something fantastic. Anything you want in order to make up for the Christmas dinner you made, but we couldn't eat."

"Sounds great Daddy! How about pizza?"

"Pizza!" her father exclaimed. "For Christmas dinner!"

"Maybe with some honey glazed yams?" Luna added as a bargaining chip.

"Now you've got yourself a deal!" he laughed.

Luna giggled. "Thanks Daddy."

"I'll be right back then." Her father went to floo the kitchens and order for the food to be brought up to their room. Luna brought her bag to the other room where a large bed stood. There was a second bed in the main room, she figured her father would prefer to take that one. She tossed the bag onto the bed and sat down beside it. Then she bounced on it a bit. Just to test it.

A few moments later her father called to her. "Dinner's here!"

They ate and talked. Late into the night they spoke, after house lights out the window went out, leaving only their room as a glow in the darkness.

Neither of them heard the footsteps that hurried past their door…


A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! Blushes at all the compliments You've encouraged me a great deal.

An honored space for my devoted reader, lol!

Ninde Annare: Thanks for checking back to my writings! It's good to see you again, I'm taking a break from the other stories… I might continue with them soon, we'll see :DI've got a few chapters written, finding time to get on the computer is the issue, I'll update whenever I can, I've got big plans for this story lol!

IamAPoet: Thanks for the compliment! You're too kind :)

Lioness Blackfire: Thank you, I always hope that my readers don't get annoyed with the descriptions, I enjoy descriptive books, I try not to over do it though! I'll try my best to keep up the level of enthusiasm, lol!

Please continue to give me your feed back, I'll try to update as often as I can. Until next time, tips hat