Twelve Grimmauld Place had quickly turned into the busiest house in the city, members of the Order moving hurriedly along the corridors, attending to their different duties. There was no panic, but an air of slight fear and apprehension. Arthur Weasley was resting in the meeting room, having revealed to an anxious Ron and Ginny that that all the family had been taken safely to Bill and Fleur's cottage.
With the news of Xenophilius's capture, Harry had hurriedly taken Luna upstairs to one of the bedrooms on the first floor of the house. It was dark, with two identical beds, and a large wardrobe in the corner by the window.
"We're going to have to move you," Harry simply said, rummaging through a chest,
"If they've found where your dad was hiding, it's only a matter of time before they come here." Harry was remembering the hurriedness of the night a year ago when the Order had come to escort him from Privet Drive, The protected had become the protector, he thought as he finally found what he was looking for, his invisibility cloak.
"I want you to have this," Harry said, handing Luna the Deathly Hallow, "It's saved me more times than I can remember, and it might come in useful."
"Thank you, Harry," Luna said, "I'll give it back to you as soon as this is over." She said it with certainty in her voice rather than mere optimism. Harry was less sure, he knew how dangerous a situation like this could be.
"There's another thing," he carried on, "Whatever you do, don't go alone. One thing I've learned is that you always need your friends by your side, you can't survive without them," he paused, "Ginny will want to go with you." He hadn't directly asked her, but he already knew there was no way she would let Luna do this alone. Things were being reversed again. This time it would be Ginny out risking her life while Harry had to wait hoping for the best. It wasn't a favourable feeling.
"And me." Harry and Luna turned to the doorway to see Neville standing there. "I want to help you too Luna." Harry walked over to Neville.
"Are you sure about this, Neville?" Harry asked. Despite Neville's courage over the past few years, he was still a little doubtful whether he could handle something like this.
"Yes," Neville said defiantly, "I'd already decided ages ago. Like you said, Harry, you need your friends with you, and I don't want Luna and Ginny to have to do this alone. Besides," he turned to Luna, "You and Ginny haven't passed your apparition tests yet. I did over the summer."
"Neville Longbottom," Luna said, smiling at him, "Someday you and I will ride Crumple-Horned Snorkacks together." Neville assumed this was Luna's way of saying thanks.
"Okay then," Harry said, "We should move quickly." He led Luna and Neville back out of the room and down the stairs to the front landing. Ginny was already waiting for them.
"Harry…" she began.
"It's okay," Harry interrupted her, "You don't have to explain anything." Ginny smiled at the understanding between them. They weren't officially back together yet, but it was inevitable.
"Neville," Harry turned to the Gryffindor, "How far can you safely apparate?"
"Um…I don't know…two hundred miles maybe?" Harry began to think of a new possible safe house within that radius.
"How far away from here is Cardiff?" Luna suddenly interjected. Harry thought for a moment, british geography wasn't one of his strong points.
"Probably about one hundred and fifty miles," he made an educated guess, "Is there somewhere there you think would be safe?" Luna nodded.
"My grandparents live there."
"That sounds like a good idea," Harry stated, "Moonlight's gang aren't likely to know about that or think of looking for you there. Luna, we're going to stay here and try and hold them off when they come. If all goes well, I'll get over to your grandparents house to figure out what to do next." Luna quickly scribbled the address n a piece of spare parchment, and after some hasty goodbyes, they made their way to the front slab outside the front door of the house. Luna, Ginny and Neville joined hands.
"Okay Neville," Luna explained, "We need to get to the north-east of the city, hopefully we should arrive close." Neville closed his eyes to concentrate, and the three teenagers felt the suffocating effect of apparition as the sight of Grimmauld place left them behind.
It was only a few seconds later that Luna felt her feet touch down on solid ground again. It was late evening by now, and the long, modern muggle street they were on was illuminated only by street lights. Luna looked around for a moment, before finally recognising where they were.
"Well done Neville," she congratulated him, "We're only about a ten minute walk from the house."
"Oh Luna, I'm so sorry, I've splinched you," Neville said, holding her left hand. It was missing the middle finger.
"That's okay," Luna said still smiling, "That was always my least favourite finger." Neville knew she wasn't joking. Luna quickly led them through some winding identical streets before arriving at a smaller cul-de-sac, almost exactly ten minutes later.
"This is it," she said, "Number Seventeen." She walked up to the grey-brick house's front door, with the number seventeen in the centre, flowers adorning it, and the name Ellis on the wall beside the door. There was light coming from the front window, meaning at least someone was in. Luna knocked softly on the door and footsteps could be heard from inside. A moment later, light filled the path as the door was opened by a man looking like he was probably in his sixties or seventies.
"Luna," he said in surprise noticing her, "What are you doing here? I thought you started back at school today."
"I was supposed to," Luna answered, "But a few things have happened, and there's some people looking for me and my friends. Would it be okay if we stayed here for the night?"
"Of course, Luna," her grandfather answered without any hesitation, "You know you're welcome here any time." He went back in towards the living room of the house, and Luna, Neville and Ginny followed behind him.
"Who is it, William?" a woman's voice came from the living room as Luna entered.
"Bore da, grandmother," Luna greeted her in Welsh.
"Luna dear," she replied, getting up to hug her granddaughter, "I didn't know you were coming. Who are your friends?" Neville and Ginny had now entered the living room.
"These are Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom," Luna introduced them. Neville had been looking around the living room, and not seeing the slightest evidence of magical activity, it seemed safe to assume that Luna's grandparents were muggles.
"Do any of you want any tea, or biscuits?" she asked, trying to make the visitors as welcome as possible. She reminded Ginny a little of her mother.
"No, thanks," Ginny said, Neville agreeing. With everything that had happened today, they both just wanted to get some much needed rest.
"Luna, can you help me upstairs?" Mr Ellis asked, "I think we have a few camp-beds upstairs your friends could have." Luna got the feeling he needed to speak to her, and followed him out of the room and up the stairs.
"I won't try to pretend to understand much about your world," he said to her, beginning to sound worried, "Even your mother could never really explain it to us. I just hope you haven't gotten yourself into anything dangerous."
"It's not really that," Luna replied, unfolding a camp-bed in one of the spare rooms,
"It's the other way round. Something dangerous has got itself into me. It's just something I have to do, but don't worry, I'll be okay, it's not the first time I've had to do something like this." Her grandfather didn't seem convinced.
"Well, if you're sure," he replied, "But don't say anything about that to your gran, you know how she worries." Luna nodded, as they finished setting up the other bed.
Half an hour later, Luna and Ginny were lying in their beds, sharing the room Luna always slept in when she stayed here. Neville was sleeping in the other spare room, loud snoring already audible. Luna was in the permanent bed in the corner, Ginny in a smaller camp-bed that was lower down than her friend's, meaning she had to sit up to see Luna properly. She could barely keep her eyes open, but found herself unable to sleep at the same time.
"Luna," she said, looking over at the other girl, also still awake, "How can you be so calm? In one day, you've been in a train crash, found out you have to save the wizarding world, and apparated all over the country. I mean, don't you ever get scared?"
"Of course I do," Luna replied, staring at the ceiling, "I just don't let fear take me over. If I did, I'd never get anything done." Ginny smiled. Despite some of the outrageous things she sometimes said, often what came out of Luna's mouth made perfect sense. While thinking about this, Ginny finally fell asleep.
The morning after, Luna and Ginny were woken by Luna's grandmother entering the room carrying a small breakfast.
"Morning dears," she greeted them, smiling, "Just brought you both a little something to eat. There's a boy waiting for you downstairs, says his name's Harry Potter."
"Thanks gran," Luna said, as she exited the room. Grabbing a few pieces of toast, Ginny got up and headed after her.
"We better get down and see Harry," she said, "Could be important." Luna followed her, picking up a cup of tea as she left. Entering the living room, they saw Neville was already up, deep in conversation with Harry.
"Hey girls," he said, smiling in particular at Ginny. He suspected this might be the last time he would see her properly for a long while.
"Is there any news?" Luna asked. Harry nodded.
"As we expected, Moonlight and his cronies came to the house, looking for you. Luckily they were outnumbered, and it wasn't long before we forced them to scamper. We're not sure where exactly to though." He looked disappointed. "If we can find where they're hiding, we can find your father."
"Then if it's me they want," Luna said, "Then I'm the only one who can flush them out." Harry shook his head, knowing what she was thinking.
"It's too dangerous. If they capture you..."
"What else can we do?" Luna asked, "Like you said, you don't even know where they are. We should set a trap, with me in an open place, but not have it so obvious that we're setting an ambush for them." Harry sighed.
"You're right, Luna," Harry conceded. They spent the next few hours deciding where would be best for an ambush. Diagon Ally was eliminated, along with several other suggestions, it would be far too obvious, before the group finally decided on Hogsmeade as the best location, assuming anyone would think Luna was simply there to try and get back to Hogwarts.
"The Order will be there in two days," Harry explained, looking at the fireplace across the room, "I'll get Ginny's dad to connect that to the floo network and contact Aberforth. No offence Neville, but if Luna lost a finger with you apparating from London to here, it could be a lot worse going all the way to Hogsmeade." Neville agreed.
After thanking Luna's grandparents, Harry exited the house. The next few days were uneventful. Luna, Ginny and Neville merely rested, Luna and Ginny being practically force-fed by Mrs Ellis, who claimed they were both far too skinny, and gathering supplies from the shops in Cardiff. They were anxiously waiting for the allocated time when they would floo to The Hog's Head to arrive. Finally, on the afternoon two days after Harry had left, the three of them were crammed into the fireplace of the Ellis' living room. Harry had left them a small amount of floo powder for the journey. Luna's grandparents were out, and she had neglected to tell them the exact method of their departure, not sure how to explain it, and had just told them they would be leaving today.
"The Hog's Head, Hogsmeade!" Neville cried, dropping the powder. Luna felt the sensation of travelling through the floo network, a feeling very different to apparating. It only took a moment, before the figure of Aberforth Dumbledore appeared in front of her.
"About time you showed up," he stated, annoyed, "I was about to leave." Luna looked around. The pub, which would usually be fairly busy around this time, was deserted. No doubt cleared at Harry's request.
"Their all about outside, undercover, they say," he went on, "The lot of them stick out like a sore thumb if you ask me. Now, will you please hurry up," he said, motioning towards the side entrance, "I want to re-open this place." Ginny, Luna and Neville hurried out into the alley, as Aberforth shut the door immediately behind them.
"Okay, I need to go out into the street alone," Luna explained, "If they see me, join up with the rest of the order, and try to capture one of them." Neville and Ginny nodded, and Luna slowly walked out into the busy main street of the village, disappearing among the crowd. She walked around, happy to be back in this village, and glanced over at Hogwarts Castle in the distance, wishing she was starting her first day of classes, along with all the other students in her year.
"Stupefy!" The spell flew just over Luna's head, barely missing her. That was the order's cue. Within just a few seconds, complete chaos reigned, curses flying all over the place, innocent bystanders running around screaming. Luna joined in with the Order, but was finding it difficult, with most of Moonlight's supporters shooting curses directly after her. Soon, she found Neville and Ginny had arrived at her side, acting as her primary protectors. She saw, to her relief, that the Order appeared winning, before she tripped backwards over one of the unconscious attackers.
"Expelliarmus!" Neville fired at someone trying to take advantage of Luna's temporary distraction. The curse the assailant had fired at her hit the ground instead, and before anyone knew what was happening, the ground beneath Luna, Ginny and Neville along with the man Luna had tripped over, crumbled, and they found themselves falling into darkness.