Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or H Piddy- as he has been called by some.

Chapter XI: Daughter of Slytherin

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Luna passed under the archway and into Harry's bedroom, and she carefully avoided clothes that they had thrown off the previous night. There were two socks hanging off the framework of the bed they had used so thoroughly the night prior. Luna was looking for her mail-order bane-banishing boots to wear today, she knew that she was going on a perilous trip and needed all the help she could get. She found them laying under a tossed aside quilt, and lifted the heavy blanket off of them. She hummed a ditty under her breath and she waved her wand like a conductor. She knelt down and put on the snug fitting boots. "Here we are." she said, as she tapped her wand on each bootlace. The stands tied together tightly.

Luna ceased her humming to go look at Harry who was still lying in bed, and she wondered how much of the day he would sleep away. She reached the wooden bedside table and took out a quill, scrawling her Harry a message.

"Harry,

Gone to get myself into trouble, will be back to punish you soon for your sluggishness today. All my love,

Luna."

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Luna waited for Knoby to return from her flat, and she passed the time by writing a letter to one Astoria Greengrass-Malfoy. She had taken to sitting just beside the large lake in front of Harry's old home. It so resembled the black lake that Luna just had to dip her toes in the cool waters, and it was during this foot soaking that Luna wrote.

"Astoria,

Meet me at the corner of the Old Knockturn Alley in the next hour. Urgent business.

-L2"

Luna finished her cryptically signed message and sealed it with a piece of sparkling silver yarn, which magically tied itself to the scroll. Luna made a distinctive clicking noise with her tongue against the roof of her mouth, and her owl came soaring from the Owlery of Potter Manor.

"Good girl Capella," Luna gave her a small piece of her left over breakfast. "Take this letter to Astoria, do not wait for her reply. Thank you lovely!" Luna patted the owl's brown head and it took off thereafter. Luna grasped her wand and stood up, and bowed low to Knoby as the elf returned. He carried a brown sack in his hands, and he handed it to her.

"Here you are, Miss Luna. I hope it helps you, ifs you need anything else, snap your fingers, and I will come."

After putting on her boots for the second tim e in one hour and thanking the bubbly House Elf, she turned on the spot and disapparated.

# # # #

The rough and poorly maintained pathway of Knockturn Alley was nearly desolate, it was 'nearly' due to Luna's arrival. Luna tightened her cloak around her and felt the chill from ghosts lying in the shadows. She walked past boarded up stores and shops, and glanced at the overflowing rubbish bins that spurted out old Prophets as she passed. She looked across the expanse of desolation and saw the once popular shop belonging to Borgin and Burke. Closed Indefinitely, the sign read. Luna remembered all the stories she had heard from Harry about that place.

Luna found herself transfixed by wanted posters hanging at the end of Bletchley's Books Store, however outdated it may have been, the poster brought up memories of the war. His thick glasses sat neatly at the bridge of his nose, and the lightning shaped scar was prominently highlighted on his black haired head. Wanted for questioning in the death of Albus Dumbledore, she read.

"Ghosts never disappear, do they?" came the voice from behind Luna, and it's high pitched tone clashed violently with the somber mood of this street.

Luna's body tightened, and she prepped herself to turn around, feeling the wands' weight in her hand and quickly reciting a few good spells in her mind. "Ghosts are merely reminders of where we have been, and what we have lost, Astoria." Luna turned and was shocked to see Astoria's face.

Luna had remembered Astoria being blonde such as herself, and with eyes of the deepest blue, offsetting her cutely pointed nose. Luna had remembered the way she used to be modest with her use of make up, considering it to be an outward sign of doubt even. But now, Astoria looked completely different from the girl Luna had known at school.

Her eyes were heavily shaded with tan eye shadow now, and her eyes were dull as if worn down with sand paper. There was much color on her cheeks, little of it could be natural, and it was evident by scars that her nose had long since been modified. Her shoulders and head were held high with a visibly false bravado, and she looked as though she had long since had an anchor tossed about her neck.

The truth was, in Luna's eyes, that Astoria Greengrass-Malfoy was in a world where she did not belong. Astoria looked as though she belonged in the time of Knockturn Alley, like she was a relic from a history museum, on what one looks like after the war has usurped one's position in a once predominantly pure-blood society. Luna winced and went to hug Astoria, who didn't immediately appear hesitant.

"Astoria," Luna said, hugging her old classmate.

"Luna, it looks as though the years have been much kinder to you." Astoria said as she stepped away from Luna.

"You think so?"

"I couldn't have stopped you from commenting on how ragged I look now, I knew you better than that, I just beat you to it."

Luna let her arms hang at her side, but never fully let go of her wand, though she was sure now that there was no real need for it.

"Why here, Luna? Why not somewhere happier?" Astoria's head turned this way and that, presumably looking at all of the decay around her.

"You never did like Diagon Alley."

"No, I didn't., but that's not your reason."

Luna motioned for Astoria to follow her to a fountain that still tried to spurt out water from time to time. They took a seat on the cold stone of the perimeter and Luna felt the jar of Welshie's in her pockets. Her face was hot, though her hands were a bit cold.

"I heard about you and Draco splitting up. I hope you are holding up."

Astoria scoffed, and her voice echoed through the alley, yet did not carry through to the bustling Diagon Alley beside them. "We get to the real reason you asked me here."

"Partially." Luna replied.

"Draco and I are separated, as I'm sure was publicized by word of mouth."

Luna put a hand on Astoria's, and her hands were even more cold than Luna's. "I would be bitter too."

"Bitter. Hmpf. Luna, that's the least of my emotions right now." Astoria's hands retreated to the recesses of her pale purple robes.

"Draco Malfoy was, and is, a cad."

"What makes you say that?" Luna watched a tadpole flitter through the slightly murky water of the fountain, and wondered how any form of life could be had inside that wasteland.

"He never loved me. He married me out of convenience after Ron got Hermione." she spat waspishly, as she tapped her feet against the stone.

"Did you know that going in?" Luna tilted her head and tried to look Astoria in the eyes.

She shook her head as if terribly ashamed by her answer, and it might have been the blush in the sunlight, but Luna was sure she saw Astoria's cheeks turn maroon. "That doesn't matter. I don't want to talk about Draco, my therapist says it's not helpful anymore."

"Therapist?"

"Mmm, he's helpful. Tells me to look at people who have had successful relationships, tells me to draw strength from them. That's what I try to do, so I can stay strong for Scorpius."

"How is he doing?" Luna inquired, feeling apprehensions settle onto her goosebump covered skin, she shook herself and tried to shake off the feelings. No Welsh Worrywhims for her, thank you all the same, Luna nodded.

"He misses his dad." Astoria had a tear in the eye visible to Luna, and though Luna could tell Astoria resisted it, the single tear soon invited all of it's friends to come out from hiding. Luna was soon cradling Astoria's body in her arms, and was quite unsure of how it had come to be. "Luna, I'm a wreck. I can't keep myself straight anymore. Of course I knew he loved Granger, but I thought maybe if he spent more time with me, he would fall for me."

"There there now, it's going to be alright." Luna cooed, not sure where she got the idea of it being alright, but then, who was to say where ideas came from?

"Now Scorpius doesn't have his dad, and I'm without a husband…I want Draco back, and I feel like no matter how hard I try being nice to him, all I can do now is be a bitch. A constant, stereotypical ex wife!"

Luna patted her head and stroked her hair, trying all she could to calm Astoria. Luna began to feel like the Worrywhims were not necessary for Astoria, she was a basket case as it was. "How did your marriage fall apart?" Luna asked boldly.

"The same way Harry's fell apart Luna." she muttered into Luna's shoulder, before raising herself off the bosom of her friend and wiping the tears from her eyes, the red blush mixing with the tears. "by marrying a convenience, and not marrying the one you love."

"You have heard." Luna pursed her lips, and reached into her robes for a container of bees wax lip treatment.

"Yes, I have heard that you finally got Harry, and congratulations. At least your life is picking up."

"I think Draco misses you too, Astoria, and I know he misses his son." she said as she applied the treatment to her wind chapped lips.

Astoria wept in frustration, pounding her hands against her chest. "What good is that to me though, Luna? He's got Ginny now, he's not going to have me!"

"Astoria, you need to talk to him. With Harry and I, we know where each other stands. Harry loves Ginny and his kids, but he is in love with me. I think that Draco didn't realize what he had with you, and I am sure he is realizing the loss now."

"And who's to say it's not the same with Harry? Who's to say, he's not realizing the loss of Ginny? What makes you think he loves you, what makes you think he's not going to leave you?"

Luna smiled, as she mimicked the words of her favorite headmaster. "Because I trust Harry Potter, and from that trust blossoms love, and in the center of that love, is perfection."

Astoria paled. "How can I go to him after all these weeks of hostility?"

"Take off the make up, and talk to him as if he were the seventeen year old boy he was when he left Hogwarts. Even if you two aren't going to be together romantically, you are a family. There is love there, and the longer you strain that love, the more bitter you will be."

"So what's happening with you and Harry, and Ginny and all the children?"

"We're all just one big, slightly unorthodox family."

"I don't know if I can face him Luna."

"Taking a stand is one of the most difficult things one has to do, but it's either take a stand, of constantly live in the shadows of other peoples lives. Do you really want to be like this alley the rest of your life, lonely and a shell of former grandeur?"

Astoria's face had understanding etched into it, and her red eyes blinked in the sunlight that was bursting through the clouds now. Luna patted her friend on the shoulder and rose to her feet, offering her hands, and help, to Astoria.

Luna saw the hesitation on Astoria's face as Astoria continued to sit on the cold stone, refusing to leave the desperation her life had come to know. "Damn it Astoria, get off your fucking arse and live your life! If you aren't made to end up with Draco then so be it! But how will you ever know if you don't try?"

Astoria took Luna's hands, "I will go to him."

"And he will be waiting." Luna embraced Astoria, and the two friends parted ways.

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AN: Reviews appreciated. A slightly longer chapter than usual, hope ya don't mind. Thoughts are welcome. Love, as always, TowerMage.