Luna walked slowly through the large room, looking all around. She was coming to the realisation that it would probably be the last room she would ever see. She had begun to place various charms around the room, trying to prevent anyone getting in, although Luna suspected she wouldn't be alone for too long, even with those. Staring at the machine, she saw only four of the cauldrons were full. Quickly running to the shelves, she gathered up the ingredients need to make the missing potion, Pepperup Potion. Mixing it up for the second time that night, it didn't take too long. Finished, Luna took a few steps back from the machine and stared at it. There was only one piece of information she now needed, the incantation necessary to destroy the it.
Luna walked over to a bench in the corner of the room, and sitting down, thought back to the day her mother had died. She ran it over in her head again and again, remembering almost every detail, except the incantation her mother had used. She sighed, realising there was only one way she could discover it, and she wasn't looking forward to it. She took off her backpack, pulling out the pensieve that sat at the top of the collection of items. It was smaller than most, which allowed her to carry it around in her bag. She had had a feeling she would need it at some point.
Withdrawing her wand from behind her ear, she raised it to her temple and removed a slither of silvery fluid from it, which she promptly dropped into the pensieve. She rested it next to her on the bench, and cautiously put her left hand in. She had never used one of these before. As she had hoped, the pensieve suddenly sucked her in, and she landed on her feet in another room. Looking around, she recognised the room immediately. It was her mother's lab. Although she didn't want to, she forced herself to look behind her at the other side of the room. There stood Naomi Lovegood. Luna stared at the image of her mother, knowing she couldn't see her. She turned away, not wanting to look at her any more, and saw that, just as in the other room, the Mezola Machine stood in the centre, all five cauldrons filled. It was time.
"What will this machine do, mummy?" Luna turned around to see herself, a little younger and smaller, but with the same dreamy expression on her face, "Is it to keep away nargles?"
"No, Luna," her mother replied to the younger version of her daughter, "This machine will stop Death Eaters gaining any power they shouldn't have. Now, I need you to make sure you stand back, I'm not entirely sure what will happen when I do this." Young Luna nodded, and her older counterpart watched as her mother pointed her wand at the centre of the circle of cauldrons.
"Mezarma!" That was it, Luna exited the pensieve immediately, not wanting to see what she already knew what would happen next. Luckily, the method she guessed for leaving was the right one. In a moment, she was standing back in the Vaults again. Trying to forget the re-surfaced memories she had just seen, she walked in front of the machine, standing the same distance from it her mother had been. She could cast the incantation right now and end it, but Luna had the feeling she had to wait just a little longer, especially if the Prophecy were to be fulfilled.
Luna walked back over to the bench and rummaged through her bag some more, pulling out a bottle of butterbeer, along with a piece of parchment and a quill. As she started drinking the ut, she held the cork in her hands staring at it. She would usually always save them for her necklaces, and even though there seemed no point now, she put the cork back into her back and picked up the parchment and quill, beginning to write.
The Thoughts and Musings of Luna Lovegood.
To be given, when found, to Xenophilius Lovegood. Father, Please publish in the next edition of the Quibbler.
As I sit here in the Edinburgh South Bridge Vaults, I find myself thinking over my life. I enjoyed every second of it, even though I never did get a chance to see a Crumple-Horned Snorkack in the wild. To my father, thank you very much for bringing me up to believe things even if I have not seen them myself, and even when others ridicule them, and I hope this magazine continues to inform and go from strength to strength.
Please note, I don't resent anyone who has called me Loony at some point in my life. Many who did eventually became my friends. Thank you to all my teachers at Hogwarts, in particular Professor Filius Flitwick, head of my house, Professor Horace Slughorn and Professor Remus Lupin, although I suppose I shall be able to tell him in person soon.
And finally to my friends, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron and Ginny Weasley, and most of all, Neville Longbottom, I shall miss you all more than I can say, I hope you go on to have happy lives, as you all deserve it. I shall see you all again one day.
Keep watching out for Nargles,
Luna Lovegood
She put down the parchment and quill, knowing it would survive the destruction of the machine, and someone would later find it. She finished off her butterbeer, and realised she had been in the room for a good while now. Was he going to show up at all, as Luna had expected?
It hadn't been more than a few moments after she had thought on this, that Adamo Moonlight came bursting through a door at the other side of the room from the one Luna had entered through. He pointed his wand at her.
"Utter any incantation and I will kill you," he warned. Luna stood up, and started walking towards him.
"Why would you kill me?" Luna asked in genuine curiosity, with Moonlight unable to believe she had just asked a question with such an obvious answer.
"Just shut up," he told her, unable to think of anything else to say, "You complete loony."
"I've been called that many times before," Luna explained, "At Hogwarts. How about you? Did you enjoy your time at the school?" Moonlight was exacerbated. This girl was speaking to him as if this was a normal conversation with someone who was a friend, not someone who had just threatened to kill her. He chose not to answer.
"I have a feeling you suffered at school too," Luna continued, "Especially being a Slytherin. I think they are treated very badly. Being in a certain house doesn't make you bad." She was smiling sympathetically at him now, "I understand why you feel the way you do."
"I don't need your sympathy, Lovegood," Moonlight snapped back. This wasn't right. He was supposed to be feared, as Lord Voldemort had been. But this girl wasn't showing any fear at all. She felt sorry for him. Moonlight couldn't stand it.
"You silly girl," he said, "You don't realise what your up against."
"Oh, I do," Luna replied. Moonlight thought about what to do. He couldn't kill the girl right now, the risk she would send out the incantation to destroy the machine as he did it was too great. Similarly, she couldn't just kill him, in case he activated the machine. He was in a stale-mate with the strangest girl he had ever met.
"What is it that's so compelling about the dark arts?" Luna asked, again out of genuine interest, as if she was simply asking one of her Hogwarts teachers.
"What is wrong with you?" Moonlight screamed at her, almost in a voice of panic. He was panicking? He didn't have any idea how to deal with this girl. His henchmen, or the wizards who stood in his way, pleading for mercy, or running way terrified were easy, but this was something he had never faced before. Thinking of nothing else he could do, Moonlight answered her question.
"The dark arts are not restricted. There are no rules, like the ones your precious Ministry puts on everyone. They are pure, as pure as my bloodline. Unlike yours?" He felt a little triumphant at his insult of Luna's ancestry.
"Thank you," Luna said, Moonlight again taken aback. "You are correct, my mother was muggle-born. It's very interesting to learn about my muggle heritage. What about you? Do you know much about your heritage?" This was getting ridiculous, Moonlight couldn't stand it any more.
"Why aren't you scared of me?" he finally blurted out, this time the panic in his voice clear.
"I don't fear you," she calmly explained, "I do fear the fact that you are pointing a wand at me and threatening to kill me, but I am not letting that fear control me." Luna had now begun to walk around the room, Moonlight standing in the same spot, keeping his wand on her.
"You know, if circumstances were different, we could be friends," Luna said, with her back to Moonlight. He laughed at the idea, but had an uneasy feeling that she was right.
"I would not be friends with a mudblood lunatic like you," he said, covering up his hesitation. Luna looked back at him.
"Do you have many friends, Adamo?" Luna asked him. He boiled with rage at her using his first name. She had no right.
"I have my followers," he told her.
"That's not the same. They just follow you out of fear. There's not real loyalty there. It's not the same as friendship. You should really give it a try." She was smiling at him again, as she reached one of the shelves lined with potions. Moonlight kept his gaze on her, not sure if she was about to try something, but she turned back towards him, appearing to have nothing in her hands.
"Are you sure you don't want to change?" Luna asked, now standing directly in front of him, "Last chance."
"Shut up, Lovegood," he said coldly, still uneasy at this whole situation. Luna suddenly reached out and grasped his wand in her hand, which began to dissolve.
"What have you done?" Moonlight screamed, as he watched his wand melt away. He tried desperately to cast a spell with it, but it was now too misshapen to do anything.
"It's a dissolving potion," Luna explained, "I found it on the shelf and put some on my hands. It's harmless to flesh but will destroy a wand." Satisfied, Luna pointed her own wand at the machine.
"Mezarma!" The machine began to whir like an engine starting up. Luna turned back to Moonlight.
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," Luna smiled. She had always wanted those to be her last words.
The machine's whirring grew and suddenly the entire room was engulfed in a blue light.
Note: This is not the end. There's an epilogue coming.