Chapter 2

After that night things went back to normal. Luna returned home and life at the weasleys continued as it always had. One morning the next week Ginny awoke relatively early. She tiptoed downstairs to help herself to something to eat when she heard someone talking in the sitting room. Slightly frightened, she peered in and was relived to find that it was only George.(She had forgotten that he had been sleeping on the couch in there on and off for the last year.) A nightmare was clearly taking place inside his troubled head. Ginny considered waking him before she heard him mumble;
"No, not Fred please, please take me instead."Silent tears streaked down his cheeks.
Ginny hesitated for a moment but instead of waking him she left a note for her mum and went outside to wait for Luna.
They had been planning a trip to Diagon Alley for a few weeks now, Luna needed some sort of book and Ginny was going along to check up on Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
Ginny sat quietly drinking her tea on the front porch, wondering if maybe she should have woken her brother up.
"No, he wouldn't have liked that one bit." She thought, "George has been so quiet and to himself, not even crying since the..." She couldn't even think about it without tears flooding her eyes. She wiped them away just as Luna came prancing over the hill.
"Hey, Luna why is it you're wearing two different shoes?"
"Well you see the Nargles seem to have hidden one of every pair I have. But I figured since we were going into London I did need to wear something on my feet."
Ginny smiled, "Yes well I guess you did didn't you."
Ginny and Luna caught a ride with Mr Weasley on his way to work assuring him they'd find a way back home when they were done.
The girls decided to get what they needed to do out of the way first. After stopping to see if they could find Lunas book in Flourish and Blotts, she was extremely disappointed to see that they didn't carry "The history of Heliopaths" that she wanted to get her father for his birthday, Their next stop was Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Ginny knew that since it was wednesday Ron wouldn't be working but they decided to stop in anyway. The shop was very busy, with the school year closing in fast everyone wanted some new tricks to play. They found Verity at the cash register in the back (she had been managing since the shop reopened.)
"Hey Ginny!" She called over the swam of giggling girls buying love potions. "Just hold up a sec I have something for your brother!"
Soon as the girls left Verity slipped into the back room coming back with a box and some papers.
"I just need him to approve these, I was going to send them with Ron on friday but if you don't mind taking them now..."
"Oh no, yea I'll take them."
"What are they?" Luna peered into the box with great interest.
"Well, they're secret message quills, Fre- I mean Mr and Mr Weasley had a prototype but they kept getting the messages wrong and the ink instead of disappearing would blow up, but they work fine now I just need George to sign off on them." Verity explained, it didn't go un-noticed that she avoided saying Freds name.
"Oh well that's interesting." Lunas smile was genuine and Verity perked up a bit when the bell at the cash register went off.
"I better go, these kids will be the end of me I tell you." And with a smile she was gone.
Luna and Ginny spent the rest of the day looking through the shops and they stopped briefly for lunch before heading home.
Upon returning to the Burrow, Mrs Weasley invited Luna for dinner.
"Oh well I don't want to be a bother." But Mrs Weasley insisted joking that she always made too much food anyway, because there was a lack of mouths to feed these days.
Dinner was delicious, Mrs Weasley soup was the best anyone had ever tasted.
"How's your father these days Luna?" Mr Weasley asked
"Oh well he's been gone for the last month you see looking for another Crumble-Horned Snorkack Horn." Luna told them taking another bite of her soup.
"Luna dear, how long is he supposed to be gone?" Mrs Weasley questioned, playing her part as a concerned parent.
"I'm not quite sure,"Lunas eyes sparkled as she thought looking down into her soup "Last time he was gone for 4 months though he sends me an owl every 2 weeks."
"Oh, sweetheart you mustn't stay all alone in that broken house!(Lunas father refused to fix the house insisting that the horn that had blown up had special healing powers and that the house would eventually fix itself) We have plenty of room, you will stay with us till your father returns." Mrs Weasley left no room for questioning.
Luna smiled and agreed and when she looked up, George was looking away.