Someone asked what part of the movie this is. To prevent repetitive questioning, I'll just say this once. It's part of the movie-verse. Pre-movie to be exact.
By the way, if you lot want pairings, you really ought to say so. I don't have bias when it comes to the pairings in LOTR so anything goes…just make sure it is feasible. I'll try, but I won't accommodate all requests.
Lastly, when you're a guest, and you review, place a name other than guest so I can at least mention you in my author notes.
Please R&R.
"Being deeply loved gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
-Lao Tzu-
It was instinct that first ruled Heather when she first woke and being honed by years in the war, it was to find what was hostile and what wasn't.
She cataloged her surroundings and her friends and slowly went to her feet. It helped her state of mind that she wasn't shaky, or trembling but merely tired. By the number of bodies around her, all of them had survived the journey.
It was a forest, that much was clear. The air was clearer, signaling a significant distance from civilization.
"Guys!" she hissed. "Guys!"
The girls didn't stir. Draco only rolled over. The one who answered was…was that Kreacher?!
"Kreacher!" she gasped. "Kreacher!"
The poor house elf didn't even remotely like a house elf. He had grown a good and healthy amount of hair. His wrinkles had smoothed out. In fact, Kreacher did not look like a Kreacher. At all. He looked de-aged. Creepier still were his eyes, They seemed smarter somehow.
"Miss Heather," Keracher started and then he squeaked when he heard his voice. It had gone smoother and less croaky. With wide eyes, he pointed to Heather's hair.
A quick scramble to a nearby river explained why. The uncontrollable black hair had smoothed and lengthened. Streaks of blue, indigo and purple had shot into it. And her skin had turned a proper shade of fair, not the color of one who had hidden for a long time in an old house.
"Buggering figs!" she muttered.
She hurried to wake the others. They all had changes. The most obvious were Draco's eyes. The silver had a shimmering and obvious glitter to it. You couldn't help but notice and look at it. Hermione's hair had grown longer and the curl more manageable. Luna, as far as they could see, had no changes at all.
"This is all swell," Draco drawled. "There goes the plan of staying discreet."
Hermione scowled, in a foul mood since she hadn't known the change would occur.
"We should find shelter," she said.
"Summoning stones?" Luna said.
Heather nodded. "But is it wise to make it out of stone? What if it is too hot?"
Draco snorted. He looked around incredulously as though to emphasize the point. "Potter, we're in a forest. It would be hard pressed to make itself hot."
Hermione brandished her wand and gave a tentative accio. A small stone came flying to her hand.
"That's gonna be useful," Draco laughed.
Hermione rounded on him. "Shut up, Malfoy! You ought to try it if you're so clever! Go on!"
It turned into an impromptu competition between the both of them. Heather rolled her eyes and went to find food.
The House, as it was named for simple lack of imagination, was finished within a day. The competition between Hermione and Draco proved useful in that aspect.
Kreacher was the one who assembled everything. When he saw enough stones were polished, he waved his hands like a conductor for an orchestra and everything turned to a beautiful little stone cottage. That stopped the rivalry quickly enough. Everybody started thinking on what needed to be doing.
"Bookshelves," Hermione said. "A lot of it."
Draco nodded in agreement. "Maybe a potions lab."
Heather looked skyward. "Merlin, the both of you! It needs bedrooms! A kitchen! And maybe a living room!"
Kreacher looked at the cottage and raised an eyebrow.
Hermione and Draco went back to summoning boulders.
The disappearance of Luna in the middle of the finishing touched had Hermione in a tizzy. Heather and Draco ignored her, knowing that Luna could take care of herself. In the Battle of the Ministry, Luna was one of the few of her friends who came out of it not needing to go to the Hospital Wing. Another memory was of Luna sitting in the middle of a ring of unconscious Death Eaters.
They were in the middle of setting the ward stones when Luna came back with a skip in her step and a snowy eagle-owl on her shoulder, blinking golden eyes.
"Hey Luna," Heather said before Hermione could start shrieking her displeasure. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Hafny," Luna said, petting the owl. "Her relatives all live in the forest."
Before the confusion could settle in, a large golden eagle landed in front of Luna. Draco gave a yelp and pushed Heather behind him. Hermione, a couple of feet away, apparated in front of Luna.
"Wha - ?" Hermione started.
Luna clucked. "Don't be so dramatic. He's the king of the eagles. He's just making sure you aren't going to poach on their nest."
Heather unfroze behind Draco and stepped in front of the golden eagle. She looked in its massive eye and bowed, presenting her vulnerable neck. She heard Draco make a strangled whimper and Hermione gasp. Then the eagle nosed her hair and she straightened.
"We won't touch your eggs, your highness. And we can protect this forest from unfriendly humans," she said.
The eagle gave a warble and a series of clicks. Luna translated, "It would be a great boon." He then left as abruptly as he had arrived.
Heather found herself hugged and squeezed simultaneously by Draco and Hermione.
"You arse!" Hermione said. She was so frazzled that all curse words had flown out the window. "My poor heart!"
"Damn it, Potter," Draco was also saying at the same time. "And here I thought the prophet was lying when they said you were a nutter."
"Guys," Heather chided. "I trust Luna. And she wasn't alarmed, so…"
It was obvious that Hermione nearly bit her tongue to keep her comments to herself. Draco was in the opposite frame of mind. His shoulders were shaking so much in trying to repress his laughter. Tears had leaked out of his extraordinary eyes.
"Only you, Potter. Only you," Draco said breathlessly.
Despite all distractions, they finished The House. Heather dragged her bed to the living room and Hermione followed. Luna dragged both Draco and her bed and all four of them cuddled in front of their small hearth.
"Sooo," Hermione started. "Is the fact that we are technically free sunk in yet?"
Silence, then…
"I think I'm still in shock," Draco said. "I mean, I know I don't want to live in a bloody forest forever. Loo – Ouch Potter! – Lovegood probably might. I'm a social person.:
Heather and Luna exchanged amused glances. "Oh Draco," Heather said. "I know that. I just think…is that…what I mean is…"
"Heather!" Hermione interrupted.
"I just think that this should be like a place where the world won't bother us," she finished in a stutter. "A place where we can go to if it becomes too much."
Another silence.
"Isn't that the idea, though?" Hermione asked. "A place that's just ours. We can bring others if we make another house but this place is…"
"Sanctuary," Luna supplied.
The idea had merit. But several factors made them tentative on exploring the world outside their forest. There was the lack of information for one.
"It would be nice if someone was an animagus," Hermione pouted. "But I don't think we have the books for that."
"We could ask the animals, right Luna?" Heather said.
Luna looked up from braiding horse hair she had found in the forest. "Yeah. I think. But Hafny likes to talk to Heather. She says that you smell like warm nests."
Draco snorted in laughter at the hastily concealed look of affront on Heathers face.
"Alright. I'll go talk to Hafny. You ought to translate for me though."
Luna gave Heather one of her patented "confused" looks that made everybody feel slightly stupid. "What do you mean, feather? Talk to her as you would to Hedwig."
The reminder of the faithful snowy owl that had fallen in war trying to save her from a killing curse made Heather freeze. Hedwig was her first friend and always seemed to be smarter than any other owl. To have her compared to another owl so callously made anger burn in her fiercely.
"Luna," Heather said in a tightly controlled voice. "Please don't mention Hedwig."
Luna sighed at Heather. "I am honoring your fallen companion, not replacing her. Your anger is making you irrational."
Heather ignored her and stepped out of their cozy house, taking deep breaths as she did so. She told herself that it wasn't Luna's fault. Her anger was apparently irrational and didn't care.
Another deep breath. It didn't bloody help that Hafny was snowy white too.
Remembering how she had called Hedwig, Heather gave two sharp whistles. A fluffy white owl flew in front of her. In reflex, her arm shot out as a perch.
"Hoot?" Hafny said, wings settling.
It felt like a hello. This was how she used to talk to Hedwig – just feelings and impressions. Hermione had said that it was the first part of a familiar bond. Hedwig had died before they could finalize it.
Hafny…was a potential familiar. But Heather didn't know did her heart could take another one so soon.
"Hello. Luna said your name is Hafny?" she said softly. "Can you tell me about this world?"
There was the impression of castles and meadows, of high mountains and dark forests that was tended by shining beings who were always kind. There were trees that moved and tall people that sang to the trees. There was also the furry short men and the taller men that lived in the castles hewn of stone.
And then, looking accidentally into Hafny's golden eyes, she could see in her mind the running horses and the people mounted astride it, holding bows and arrows, hunting her.
She jolted out of Hafny's mind with a jerk. The shock of being hunted had broken the connection. She had only dreamed about being hunted once but she was flying with a broom and she didn't have wings. Either way, it was almost the same dream.
"Chirp!" Hafny cried out. It was annoyance and concern rolled into one sound.
"I'm sorry," Heather panted. "You surprised me. What else is left?"
Hafny nibbled on her fingers before starting again.
This time, there was only the dark and dangerous beasts, the evil mutated orcs and the neglected men of the South.
"Oh," she muttered. "That explains plenty."
Heather strode back to the house with Hafny on her arm.
"Draco," she said, startling the blond man. "Can you teach me how to wield a sword?"
The information Hafny shared with the others had Hermione in a happy state, but no one could be quite sure since the brunette was frazzled and muttering formulae.
Luna had just simply nodded and asked if she could join the sword lessons.
It was Hafny that suggested contact stones. Well, maybe not the very idea exactly. But the feeling that Hafny emitted was something along the lines of "Nestling leaving, no communication?" Which, of course led to the brainstorming that occurred.
"It must be something mobile," Hermione said. "But tangible enough for runes."
"Pretty," Luna interjected. "But light."
Draco was horrified. "I am not wearing anything ugly. Lovegood, you actually make sense."
Luna beamed at him.
Heather sighed, feeling very put upon. "Guys, if it is too pretty, then thieves might get interested. It has to be something found everywhere."
They eventually settled on a badly burnished copper that didn't shine but passed Draco's standards of beauty. Luna helped by just finding the books that Hermione would need. Since they hadn't fully unpacked all the books from the Black library yet, it was quite a feat. Heather wondered how she did it.
They usually had "pile-ups" as Hermione called it. They gathered in front of the fire and reminisced of the past. It was usually a quiet affair but once or twice, someone opened a topic and in-depth discussions would happen.
In one of their more significant pile-ups, Heather restarted the topic of leaving and exploring.
"I entered Hafny's mind by accident," she said. "And I saw a darkness that made me angry. I want to banish it."
Hermione looked shocked. "Feather! I thought you were done with that?"
It was Luna that answered, giving Hermione a disapproving look. "That isn't a very nice thing to say. Feather always wants to help, she just can't stand the notoriety that comes with it. And she especially hates cages."
Heather tried not to squirm since Luna had hit the nail on the head. She had forgotten how blunt Luna could be when doling out the truth.
Hermione flushed. "Sorry, feather. Go on."
She cleared her throat. "These slimy creatures are attacking villages. I want to help. It will probably be a thankless job, but it will be worth it." Then she looked at Hermione hesitantly. "I'll still help you with your plan to help the children…if you want me to…?"
Hermione gave a squeal of pleasure. "Yes, yes!"
Luna piped up, "And I'll stay here, of course."
All of them, and yes, even Draco, looked shocked. "Luna," someone said.
"Someone has to stay here," she continued firmly. "And my gift of truth-telling isn't welcomed by everyone. Not all people have hearts as open as yours."
Surprisingly, it was Draco that spoke. "Lovegood! Stop that nonsense. You can't stay here, and Potter can't go adventuring forever. Both of you will have rotations."
And then, as though he expected her to argue, Draco arched an eyebrow at Heather. She just grinned at him proudly.
"Then," Luna said in a small voice. "Maybe I can wander the forests of this world and meet all kinds of creatures."
Nobody mentioned the unshed tears that shone in Luna's eyes and if they huddled closer together, no one felt the need to say anything about that either.
When the coins were finished, Draco was the first to leave. It was expected. He was the most restless and the most social among all of them. Draco thrived being among people, even if he couldn't stand most of them since the war. Luna asked one of the eagles and they agreed to carry him to the nearest village.
The girls watched him walk away with solemn eyes, thinking different thoughts but all wondering if they would ever see him again.
When Hermione eventually left and followed Draco, Heather commandeered the books that she had in her room and made a personal communications stone between her and Luna. It was a beautiful blue stone that they braided into a thick and fibrous grass that was sturdy and pretty enough when dry.
"We can always apparate," Heather told Luna. "But this way, we can organize shifts."
Luna nodded. "And this way, you can teach me the language that you encounter," she said. This was told softly, hiding different words and a million meanings. Heather blessed whatever bit of her brain that seemed always able to understand Luna's words, spoken or otherwise. Luna was wondering if any of the others would ever return.
What a sad thought. And, if Heather was honest with herself, she wondered that too.
"I'll be back," she said to Luna and it sounded like a promise.
Luna managed a nod, jerky and slightly nervous but it was a shot at acting normal.
It was the only then that Heather set off, with Luna a slight figure watching her go.
I realized that the HP elements in this story are rather scarce. Well, I will drop hints and pieces of it as I go along.
And I felt like I wasn't doing Luna justice. So I am going to add more lines for her character as we go along. She was described in the book as "one of the most perceptive people with the unnerving habit of saying the truth."
If you have any other questions, please PM me.
~Lady Hallen
edited: 1/9/2015