Disclaimer: I've decided I'm not going to put these in the rest of the chapters… They're just too annoying, aren't they? And it doesn't change the fact that the characters aren't mine.
The Thing About Grace
Chapter Four
The days passed slowly, Luna and her father didn't dare exit the room, even to go downstairs for fear of giving away their location. Soon the school year would continue and they could move again with less anxiety.
They passed the time by reading (Professor Dumbledore had seen to sending a few books to them as well. If only Luna had packed the book from Hermione!) and playing card games with a deck her father had stowed along in his bag.
Luna was glad for this, without these things to occupy her mind, she knew she would have succumbed to cabin fever.
Every day Luna found herself counting and recounting down the days until she would return to Hogwarts. Never had she been so eager to go back to school!
At last the day came when her father approached her and reminded her to be ready the next morning for going to King's Cross for the train.
That evening after a late supper, Luna went to the room she had been occupying during their stay and carefully repacked her belongings into the travel bag. She folded her robes and placed them at the bottom of the bag, along with her undergarments. Then she tenderly wrapped the photo of her mother on the extra clothes she had and laid it on the garments already packed. With it she packed the box of tea. Then she added a couple of books which needed to be returned to Dumbledore and the packet of seeds.
She had already amused herself with the gum from Ronald three days before.
Luna decided to leave her toothbrush and hairbrush out because she would need them in the morning.
She plucked one of the books shoe would be leaving with her father from off of the dresser and flopped onto the bed to stretch out and read for a while.
It was a strange book, but an interesting one on the history of muggle sweets. She didn't know why the Headmaster would have a book such as this, but it was a good read.
Soon Luna began to feel her eyelids become weighted with sleep. She stretched, yawned and snapped the book shut. Maybe she could borrow it again sometime as it was getting more interesting now. She was onto Hershey's Kisses and she saw a section on Caramilk candy bars and how they put the caramel inside the chocolate squares.
Luna yawned again on her way over to the door to say goodnight to her father and thought to herself rather absentmindedly, "Why don't they just magic the caramel in?"
She creaked open the door. "Hey Daddy, I'm going to bed now! Goodnight!"
There was no answer. She frowned. Maybe he was in the toilet, so she padded in bare feet over to the toilet door and saw the light was on. Luna gave the door a timid knock, so she wouldn't startle her father.
A shadow passed onto the door from behind her and Luna jumped. She gasped and turned to come face to face with a large pink bubble.
One of the more persistent ones from the pack she had from earlier. She gave a sigh of relief and placed a hand over her pounding heart. Then she turned back to the door and knocked again. "Daddy?"
The bubble floated her way again according to the shadow on the door. Luna was confused, her father wouldn't have gone anywhere without telling her, would he?
"Dad-" A large hand came up from behind her and was clamped over her mouth. Another hand grasped her wrists behind her easily. She let out a muffled scream.
"Now, now, can't have you making a fuss, now can we?" A gruff voice muttered from behind. "Silencio."
Luna was still trying to scream but there was nothing coming out now. The voice chuckled.
"Crabbe, get her things and let's be on our way, I have other plans tonight."
"Right Goyle." The one called Crabbe replied and Luna heard him thump his way to the other room. The one named Goyle tightened his grip on her wrists, making the hold quite painful. She tried to whimper but the spell was still working its magic on her.
Goyle shook her slightly, "Now don't you try anything stupid like trying to get away, you won't like what will happen if you do, you understand?" He shook her again and she nodded. "Good, it makes less of a hassle when people learn to cooperate."
The man named Crabbe came back into the room and lifted the bag to show he'd retrieved it. "Found this too." He grunted and held up her wand.
"Good. Let's get going, Lord Voldemort will be wondering what's taking us so long just to get a girl." He held to her tightly and with a quick pop the room disappeared. The scene that came to view after a second pop was anything but what Luna expected.
They were by the ocean, on the edge of arrow of craggy cliffs, the sea water crashing and breaking over the jagged rocks below.
Goyle held her fast s he preceded Crabbe down a steep gravelly path to a small bit of rocky shore. There and impressive looking speed boat floated, moored a couple of feet out in the water. Luna could do nothing but shiver in the cold of the night, standing on the dark shore, her bare feet sore from the hard walk down the path.
The men hauled her into the boat, Crabbe tapped it with his wand and off they sped, moving ever closer to Voldemort's grim domain.
A/N: Please read and review, I hope to update soon. Chapter 5 is already in the making, don't worry! Look for it in a couple of days. Cheers!
