Thank you to MinisterKingsley, Gemma Remus 'Mc'Gee' Black, walters1, PurplePumpkin12 and supernatural94 for your reviews on the last chapter; I'm glad you enjoyed it. Personally I am a lot happier with this chapter than the previous one, but there is a lot of explanation and information in this chapter so it may not be easy going. I promise that things will get better between George and Luna very soon.
JK Rowling owns everything...but if she doesn't feel like sharing this christmas, then I may have to resort to stealing.
On Wednesday afternoon the only sound that could be heard from George's flat was the sound of a quill scratching across parchment. The midweek paperwork for the shop had to be filled in and sent off by the end of the day and the pressure of getting it done on time was raising George's stress level higher than it already was. He had even closed the shop at two o'clock so that he could get it done.
Since that day at Hogsmeade, George had not had any contact from Luna, and he wasn't surprised. He had been tempted on many occasions to write to her, but had never had any idea what to say and quickly gave up on the idea. The closest George had come to hearing from Luna was when Ginny had written to him on Monday asking if something had happened between them as Luna had appeared to be extremely upset about something.
Saturday could not arrive fast enough for George, who had every intention of going to Hogsmeade and getting the answers he so desperately wanted, while also fixing things with Luna at the same time.
As he finally finished signing the last document, he slumped back in his seat and relaxed, now all he needed to do was to send them off. Brain was flying around outside; since Luna and George had stopped writing to each other his workload had been a lot less compared to the week before, George called him inside and attached the documents to the satchel that was attached to the owl's leg, and watched as he flew away.
With nothing to do, George dropped back on to his sofa and stared up at the ceiling; his mind unable to think of anything other than Luna. It was times like this when George missed the days of having to worry about Quidditch practice and his potions essays; life was a lot less complicated back then.
The events of Saturday ran through his mind; over the last few days he had been trying to pinpoint anything that may help him in someway understand what was going on inside Luna's mind that day. It had been during lunch when everything had changed; when Luna suddenly lost her usual bubbly and lively personality; Luna and Ginny had walked off, and when they came back Luna was acting odd, and Ron, Harry and Hermione had just avoided answering his questions about what was going on.
Suddenly it was as if a light bulb had been switched on in George's brain, he sat suddenly upright, and thought of using that muggle word 'eureka' that he had heard of.
George mentally slapped himself; he had overlooked the fact that Ron and Harry had avoided his question because they knew exactly what was going on. Jumping off the sofa, George ran to the table and grabbed his wand, immediately apparating himself to the Ministry of Magic.
The only people in the Auror office that afternoon were the Ministry's two newest trainees. Ron was sat at a desk with his feet up, reading the newest edition of The Daily Prophet, while Harry was reading over a particular file for what could have been the hundredth time.
''Ron you better hope Kingsley doesn't come up here to check up on us, just because we're stuck in the office for today doesn't mean were meant to be doing nothing.'' Harry commented, as he noticed what Ron was doing.
''It's not as if you're doing any work either'' Ron complained as he swivelled his chair around to face Harry.
''Yeah but at least what I'm looking at is important.'' Harry walked around Ron's desk, dropping the file on to it as he did so, and then sat in the chair next to Ron's.
''Do you think we should tell him?'' Ron looked at the file with concern. ''I mean, if Luna knew about this, she would have probably told him herself by now.''
''Maybe...I suppose if we tell him then he can warn her on Saturday; that is if he is still going.''
''If who's still going?'' Harry jumped out of his seat and turned to see George leaning against the doorway.
''Oh...um...George we were...um...'' As Ron uselessly babbled on, Harry wished that he would have chosen to have said nothing instead.
''We were actually talking about whether or not you were going to come with us to Hogsmeade on Saturday. We wondered if you might not be going because of your fight with Luna.'' Harry believed that to be a more convincing answer than what Ron had come out with.
''I'm definitely going'' George walked into the room and sat on the edge of the desk. ''If I don't talk to her soon I'll go mad''
As George spoke, Ron and Harry shared looks, both wondering if they should put George out of his misery.
''So, what are you doing here George?'' Ron asked casually.
''I want to know what the bloody hell is going on, and I know that you two can tell me.'' George wasn't in the mood to dance around the subject, he just wanted answers.
''Well to be honest with you George, we were actually thinking about telling you anyway'' Ron felt slightly weary as he spoke to his older brother; he wasn't certain of how George was going to react to the news, but he knew that it would be in the vicinity of bad.
''Well I'm listening, and I want to know why she told you two and not me.''
''Actually, Ginny and Hermione were worried about Luna, so they wrote to us to see what we thought about it.'' Harry said, sitting back down. ''They made us promise not to say anything to you so that Luna could tell you herself, but me and Ron have found something, and we think that you should know now.''
''Know what?'' George couldn't stop his frustration from emerging as Ron and Harry told him everything but what he really wanted to know.
''Well, on their first day, this guy came and sat next to Luna in the Great Hall; some bloke from Ravenclaw called Rolf Scamander and he seemed alright at first.'' Ron looked down at the desk as he spoke, not wanting to see George's reaction to what he was saying. ''After a few days, Hermione said that she started noticing that Rolf was always around Luna.''
As Ron paused to think about what to say next, George kept looking between his brother and Harry, desperate for one of them to carry on.
''Ginny mentioned something about Luna looking uncomfortable whenever Rolf was around her.'' Harry spoke, convinced that if neither he nor Ron spoke for another second, George would probably start getting violent. ''It got to the point where Luna was hiding in the library from him. Ginny said she found her there one day last week.''
''Why was he always around?'' George asked.
''Ginny thought it was because he fancied her'' Harry replied.
''Hermione did as well. Only, last week Luna actually told him to back off and that she had a boyfriend, and afterwards whenever Luna was with Ginny or Hermione, Rolf wasn't around. But when Ginny asked Luna about it, she looked really weird; as if something was really wrong... well that's what Hermione said anyway.'' Ron looked at George for a second, before immediately looking away again as he saw his brother's pained expresssion.
''Why would Luna not tell me about this?'' George was overcome with concern; the worst ideas of this Rolf bloke coming to his mind.
''To begin with she told Ginny that she didn't want to worry you if it wasn't necessary, and after a while she was just too afraid of how you would react. Ginny was trying to get Luna to tell you on Saturday; that's why she started acting so strangely after lunch.'' Harry explained.
George buried his face in his hands as he took all of this information in, while also fighting the urge to go straight to Hogwarts, break both of Rolf Scamander's legs and then bring Luna home with him.
''There's something else George'' George took his hands away from his face and he looked at Ron. ''When Harry heard Rolf's name, he thought it sounded familiar. So when we were put in here this morning, we started looking through the Ministry's files on dark wizards and known Death Eaters.''
Ron picked up the file Harry had dropped on the desk and handed it to George.
''That file basically tells us that Rolf Scamander is...errr...well he's...'' Ron gave a pleading look to Harry as he struggled to come out with the words.
Harry took over ''I recognised the name Scamander because of a man called Anthony Scamander was a known Death Eater; that's his file.''
George looked down at the file in his hands and he noticed that they were starting to shake slightly. He opened the file, the first page was a summary of information on Anthony Scamander; his date of birth, his place of education, his family details and several other categories, but George only focused on the family.
''Anthony Scamander has one son; Rolf Scamander'' George read from the file.
''It gets worse'' Ron managed to speak properly this time.
George's head shot up. ''How can this get worse?''
''We kept on reading further on into the file; Scamander comes from an entire family of Slytherins'' Harry explained, still unsure of whether he really wanted to tell George the worst of the news that he and Ron had learned of Rolf.
''You said Rolf was in Ravenclaw'' George was confused as he looked between Harry, Ron and the file.
''He is, he's the first to not be in Slytherin in his entire family'' Ron confirmed. ''But that may only be because the sorting hat got it wrong, and not because he isn't meant to be there.''
''I didn't think it could be wrong'' George said.
''Well it nearly put Harry in Slytherin remember, and that would have definitely been a bad decision.'' Ron pointed out. George nodded; he had a good point there.
''Is that it?'' George asked. ''Or is there anything else I need to know because I'd rather get it all over with now?''
Ron and Harry both shifted uncomfortably, sharing worried glances. Ron gave Harry an 'I'm not going to be able to tell him' look.
''Well George, according to that file: Anthony Scamander is the cousin of Rudolphus Lestrange''
Harry watched the horror cross George's face. ''Rudolphus Lestrange; as in the husband of the woman who imprisoned and tortured Luna for months and who Luna fought in the Battle of Hogwarts.''
Harry nodded. George looked down at the file before throwing it at the far wall in sheer rage. ''Son of a bitch!''
Harry and Ron watched as George pulled his wand out of is pocket. ''What are you doing?''
Ron didn't get a response. George apparated away without another word.
The second George was back in the flat he ran to the table and grabbed a piece of parchment, scribbling down his words as fast as he could.
Luna,
I know everything, and more. Meet me outside Zonko's on Saturday, and make sure Ginny and Hermione don't come with you; I want to talk to you alone. Keep away from Rolf Scamander as much as humanly possible, trust me.
George
As Brian arrived back and flew into the room, George rolled up the piece of parchment and gave it to him, sending him off to Hogwarts for the first time in almost a week.
Now George could only sit and wait for Saturday to arrive as quickly as possible.
Next chapter; George meets Luna in Hogsmeade and tells her what he knows, but what will happen aferwards?
I'm one away from 100 reviews, so I would love it if I can overtake that mark as an early Xmas present. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to the first 99 reviews; as a girl who only expected to get around thirty at the most, I cannot write down how happy I am right now. Thank you so much, I can only hope that I can continue to make this story as enjoyable for you guys as possible in return.