Chapter 6: Magic is Reality (A Looney Interlude)

The dishes were piled high in the Burrow, but no magic worked to clean them. Every door was shut, and the sun's light did not shine through the windows. Sorrow and despair painted the walls as every Weasley found solace in solitude,

Arthur was in the shed, tinkering with muggle tools, though he made no real progress. Charlie was packing, getting ready to return to Romania, where the world still made sense. Bill and Fleur had not left their room, though it was no honeymoon, as Fleur held her husband close while he cried on her shoulder. Fred was tending to the hole in Goerge's head, where his ear had once been, and neither said a word as Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes remained closed.

Molly did none of these things. Instead, she merely sat in the living room, a bottle of firewhisky in her hand, and made no sound, not one...until-

Knock...Knock Knock...Knock...Knock...Kock...Kock

Molly frowned at the peculiar knocking on the front door in that morse code Arthur was always going on about. Then, brandishing her wand Molly approached the front door and spoke in a booming voice. "Whose there, and what's your business!?"

"I'm here about the Nargles infestation," A familiar voice answered. "Your house is full of them."

Molly closed her eyes and shook her head before opening the door. Luna Lovegood was smiling pleasantly as if nothing was wrong in the world. In her hand was a large metal bucket filled with what looked like blood, and behind her was Arthur, aiming a wand at her back while asking, for what was probably the 13th time, "What did I tell you, before your first year at Hogwart?."

Luna did not answer and walked into the Burrow like she owned the place, uttering out of the blue. "When I was five, you told me you both were hugging up in your room. But, of course, that wasn't entirely true, was it."

Molly and Arthur exhibited trademark Weasley blushes while the latter pocketed his wand. They followed the odd girl while she examined each room as if inspecting them for wrack spurts. "I hope you're having a lovely day."

Molly and Arthur exchanged looks while Luna started humming to herself. "Luna, you do know...what happened too..."

"This spot should do quite nicely." Luna suddenly declared as she stood n the middle of the sitting room. Then without warning, she raised the bucket over her head and turned it upside down. Molly could only scream in horror as blood splashed all over the room. It sprayed on the couches, painted the walls, and even splattered all over Molly's face and clothes. Arthur could only stare in shock as the giant puddle on the floor began to fill his shoes.

Molly was beside herself as she roared. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN ARE YOU-"

"Doing? I thought that was obvious." Luna hummed while she jumped in the puddle, the resulting splash making an even bigger mess. "Setting up the crime scene, of course."

The Wesley's blanched at this before repeating. "The crime scene?"

"Yes, I would get alibis if I were you unless you want to go to Azkaban for a non-existent crime." Luna hummed before waving her wand over the bucket and dumping more blood onto the floor.

Molly opened and closed her mouth, so beside herself, she could only manage to growl a single word. "Why?"

"So people believe a crime took place. The Death Eaters won't believe Ginny's dead unless we're convincing." Luna uttered as if discussing the weather. "There's a lot of Wrackspurts by that wall?"

Molly flinched at her daughter's name while Arthur swallowed heavily before whispering. "Luna...she is...dead."

"No, she ran off with Harry, Ron, and Hermione," Luna stated as if declaring the sky was blue. "I miss them."

Molly and Arthur exchanged looks, the latter rubbing his eyes. "Luna..."

"This is not her real blood. I only took a couple of drops. It was very challenging to conjure more blood that matched her DNA, it took me all week, but here it is." Luna gestured to her mess and smiled. "Beautiful, isn't it, like one of moms paintings. It's still rather gross."

"Luna..." The young woman looked up to see Bill kneeling beside her and noticed the other Weasleys were watching from behind their parents. "Luna...Ginny is dead."

"Hi Bill, congratulations on your lovely wedding." Luna smiled and patted him on the cheek with bloody hands. "Ginny's fine. She's off with Harry. They're in love, you know."

The look on the Weasleys' faces told her that, Arthur aside, they, in fact, didn't know. Bill took a deep breath and said. "I don't know what plan you and Ginny concocted, but Ginny was...killed...at...my wedding. All they found was her finger..."

Bill covered his face as a drying sob escaped from him. Fleur squeezed Bill's hand while she held back tears of her own.

"Oh." It looked like Bill had gotten through to her for a moment before Luna replied. "That is rather unfortunate. I'd hate to lose any of my fingers, but at least she has all her toes. I like toes. I'm sure she had good reason to do it."

"Ginny's dead!" Bill snapped, and Luna's eyes widened in surprise. "I know you mean well, but now is not the time for your foolish fantasies!"

Luna stared into Bill's eyes for a moment before uttering in a more stoic voice. "Fantasy is the only reality that matters."

Luna suddenly walked towards the blank space of the wall she had pointed to earlier. "Lots of wrackspurts, almost too much."

Luna dropped the bucket on the floor, aimed her wand at the wall, and began to wave it while proclaiming. "Magic is Reality."

The Weasleys collectively gasped as the blank wall began to flicker like one of Arthur's faulty television sets. Suddenly where there was nothing only moments before, now stood a great clock, with multiple hands instead of two, each with the face of a Weasley. Instead of hours, on the face of the clock were locations like home, school work, and lost. However, every single hand was currently pointing at Mortal peril, even Ginny's.

"That's a rather impressive notice-me-not charm." Luna hummed with a smile before turning to the Weasleys. "You know, only living people can be in mortal peril."

Every Weasley stared at the clock in shock before Molly whispered. "Ginny..."

"I told you, Ginny's with Harry Potter," Luna said with a smile. "Love makes us do strange things, doesn't it."

Luna looked around and shrugged. "I see I'm no longer needed here, so I'll be off."

Luna walked to the door, but as she was about to leave, Luna turned to Arthur and declared. "Always be true to yourself." That's what you told me before my first year at Hogwarts. I like to believe I have. Maybe if more people were true to themselves, there wouldn't be a war."

Bill embraced his parents and lifted Molly off the ground before pulling Fleur into a deep kiss. When they parted, Bill announced. "I'll be off. Got a honeymoon to salvage."

Charlie smiled and declared. "I'll be back with drinks. I feel like celebrating."

"Not without us." The Weasleys declared, taking Charlie by his arms before the 4 Weasleys vanished.

"I need to inform Kingsley...and maybe grab a drink myself," Arthur stated before vanishing, leaving just Luna and Molly.

The Weasly Matriarch suddenly pulled Luna into a bone-crushing hug and whispered tearfully. "Thank you."

Luna was less than comfortable with the sudden physical contact but, after a moment, awkwardly patted Mrs. Weasley's back. "I know you're scared. I'm scared too. But I envy Ginny. She's with her true love, fighting for what she believes in, but not me. My part in this tale is ending, at least for now. I'll do my best to help those I can, but I will never be whole until I see her again."

Luna separated from Molly and sighed wistfully. "All we can do for now is have faith that the people we love will return to us. No matter what happens, we'll see each other on the other side."

Then Luna skipped out the door, along the path out of the Burrow, with a song on her lips that pulled on Molly's heartstrings.

"We'll meet again

Don't know where, don't know when

But I know we'll meet again some sunny day

Keep smiling through

Just like you always do

'Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away." *

Molly smiled as she felt the song lift her spirits. Her daughter was alive, and as much as she hated to admit it, she was all grown up. She was still going to give Ginny a piece of her mind, she was still underage after all, but in her heart, she understood. Her time was over. This was their battle now, their future they were fighting for, and Molly could only pray that she would make it through. And yet, in her heart, Molly had faith that-

Splash.

Molly felt her foot become soaked and returned to the present. She looked around at the absolute mess Luna had left her sitting room, covered head-to-toe in Luna's artificial blood. Molly closed her eyes, sighed, and went to grab a mop. Even with magic, this was going to take a while.

* We'll Meet Again by Vera Lynn

I hope you enjoyed this short little detour. I've been busy, from moving to Toronto to attempting to get my first novel published and starting a new one. I admit I've been too busy to work on this fanfiction. However, I promise that your patience will be rewarded. I have tons planned, and you will not want to miss it. Thank you all very much for your reviews. They always make my day. Hopefully, this ties you over until the next chapter. You probably won't be seeing Luna for a while, but I promise Luna Lovegood will return, and you don't want to miss it.