Chapter 1

Nobody was sure how long it was, but everyone agreed that several hours had passed between the deaths of Eos and Helios Lovegood and the time Aurors were contacted. Even more disturbing was the state young Luna Lovegood was found in. Even Mad-Eye Moody, who had been exposed to things most other Aurors couldn't even imagine, was disturbed.

It was Kingsley Shacklebolt who tried to coax the nine year old from her hiding place. Somehow, Luna had found a way wedge herself into a closet that should not have been able to hold her. The girl stared at nothing with her large silver eyes and Kingsley was quite certain that the girl had seen whatever had happened to her parents.

"Have you had any luck?"

"No, Madame Bones," said Kingsley. "The Malfoys refuse to take the girl in and Helios Lovegood had no living relatives."

"Wasn't there some big scandal a couple years ago?" said Mad-Eye. "Lucius Malfoy disowned his sister because she had a child out of wedlock."

Madame Bones nodded. "I remember that. Try a parentis potion. Maybe the girl has other relatives."

Jack O'Neill had quickly come to the decision that retirement was, while not particularly interesting, rather enjoyable. After the whole Abydos thing, he'd briefly considered staying in the Air Force, but had realized that nothing could beat traveling to another world and taking on a parasite pretending to be a god.

He'd tried to work things out with Sarah, but they'd quickly realized that it wasn't meant to be. The divorce had been finalized a little over two months earlier. He'd let Sarah have the house, taking only what he owned originally, the things he'd bought over the years, and some pictures.

He rather liked this new house. Admittedly, that was because of the deck in the back of the house. It was perfect for stargazing.

Hearing a knock at the door, Jack got up from his couch. The hockey game wasn't going anywhere.

It had a taken a couple days, but Kingsley had managed to find the identity of Luna Lovegood's father. What a woman such as Eos Lovegood nee Malfoy had seen in an American Muggle, Kingsley didn't know, but Jonathon O'Neill was the girl's father. He hadn't been able to find out much about O'Neill, but he did know that the man was former military.

Like most wizards, Kingsley Shacklebolt had minimal knowledge of how the Muggle world worked. Left with no better way to contact the man, Kingsley had arranged to take a portkey to Colorado Springs.

Kingsley looked around as he approached the door. Though an obviously Muggle area, the neighborhood was nice, in a middle class sort of way. Hoping that O'Neill had nothing against magic, Kingsley knocked on the door.

After several long moments, the door opened to reveal a tall brown haired, brown eyed man.

"Yeah?" said the man.

"Are you Jonathon O'Neill?" asked Kingsley.

"Whatever you're selling, I'm not interested," said the man.

"I'm not selling anything. I'm with-" What was it called again? The Muggle agency the Aurors were supposed to say they were a part of if they were talking to civilians. "MI-5."

He pulled out his I.D., which was supposed to show him as an agent of MI-5 when seen by a non-magical person. The man looked at the I.D. for a long moment.

"What does the United Kingdom want with me?" asked the man. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm retired. Oh, and it's Jack, not Jonathon."

"This isn't about your military career," said Kingsley. "This is about your daughter."

"Daughter? I don't have a daughter," said O'Neill.

"According to the birth certificate, you're the girl's father," said Kingsley.

"Look, I don't have a child. I haven't been with anybody but my ex-wife since I joined the Air Force," insisted O'Neill. He paused, as if remembering something. "What's the woman's name. The mother of this child you think I fathered."

"Eos Lovegood nee Malfoy."

"Shit," muttered O'Neill. "Pretty blonde? Kinda crazy?"

Kingsley nodded, remembering well what Eos Lovegood had been like. If not for the fact that she was beyond brilliant, the Department of Mysteries would have let the woman go when she'd gotten pregnant.

"Come on in," said O'Neill, motioning for Kingsley to enter the house.

Once they were seated at the kitchen table, Kingsley began to explain, "Eos and her husband Helios died last week and neither of them have living family members willing to take the girl in."

"So you came to me," said O'Neill. "What does military intelligence have to do with all this?"

"Mrs. Lovegood was a scientist with a… different branch of the government," he explained. "All of her projects were highly classified. Apparently she'd taken to bringing those projects home with her. There was an accident of some sort-we're still trying to work out what happened-and as a result, she and husband died. Luna, your daughter, saw the entire thing."

O'Neill let out several curses he didn't recognize. "How is she holding up?"

"Luna just sits there, staring into space. She'll answer direct questions, but I wouldn't expect more than one or two word answers from her. It took half a day for me to get her out of her hiding place when we found her."

It took four days for Jack to arrange everything (mostly thanks to old contacts and people that owed him favors), including checking out Shacklebolt's story. He'd arranged to take guardianship of the girl and had even worked it out so that she had dual citizenship.

Because he was an American citizen and had lived in America for five years before her birth (not including whenever he was shipped out), Luna had been considered an American citizen as well, once he'd applied for an American passport for her. It had taken a bit of help to get the passport so quickly. Once he'd thought about it, Jack had realized that when Luna was older, she'd probably want to keep her English citizenship as well, and had arranged for dual citizenship.

Jack had wanted to catch the first flight possible to London, but had quickly come to the realization that if the girl was as traumatized as Shacklebolt had said; she'd need some help. A trustworthy child psychologist had been found, Jack had registered Luna for school (which would not be back in session for another month and a half), and he'd fixed up the spare room so that Luna would have a place to sleep.

Along with that, he'd also arranged for whatever her parents had left her to be held in trust until Luna was eighteen.

Earlier that day, he'd checked into a hotel in Sidmouth, Devon. It was the closest hotel to Ottery St. Catchpole he could find. With the help of Shacklebolt, Jack had arranged to see Luna. Apparently she was staying with some neighbors who had been kind enough to offer to take the girl in if no family had been found.

He'd been planning on meeting the girl, then with or without her help, going to pack up her stuff to ship it to Colorado Springs. He'd already arranged a flight back for late the next afternoon.

Pulling up to the Weasley's home, Jack blinked. How did that house stay up? He got out of the car as a plump, redheaded woman walked out of the house.

"Uh, hi," said Jack. "Are you Molly Weasley? I'm Jack O'Neill."

"Yes," she said. "Luna is out with the children playing in the orchard. Why don't you come in and have some tea. They'll be back soon."

"Ok," said Jack. He wasn't much of a tea person, but… when in Rome and all that.

Molly poured him a cup of tea then set about putting together enough sandwiches to feed a squad of marines. "So, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm retired. Before that I was a Colonel in the United States Air Force," said Jack. "How is Luna holding up?"

Molly shook her head. "Poor thing. She doesn't say anything, but she does play with Ginny. Ginny's my youngest and the same age as Luna."

A little over half an hour had passed when a heard of red haired boys clamored into the kitchen. There had to be five boys, ranging in age from one who looked to be in his late teens to another that couldn't have been more than ten. After the boys sat down and began to grab for the sandwiches, two small girls wandered into the kitchen.

One of the girls had red hair and brown eyes while the other… was definitely his daughter. Admittedly, she had the same coloration of her mother, right down to the silver eyes, but there was no mistaking which was which. There was an unfocused look in her eyes as she followed Ginny. Shit. The thousand yard stare.

Luna looked up at him, her eyes momentarily focusing. "Hello Father."

With that she sat down next to Ginny and took a sandwich from the platter in the middle of the table. Everybody at the table gaped at her. Obviously this was new.

"So you know who I am already," said Jack.

"Of course I do, Father," said Luna. "Mummy said my father was a grandson of Niall."

With that Jack was reminded of the conversation he'd had with Eos, a decade earlier. Either this was genetic, or Eos had been like that because of whatever her brother had done to her fiancé.

"While my grandfather actually was named Niall, I think the man you're talking about died a couple centuries ago," said Jack.

"When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow. We're catching a flight from London."

She nodded, the faraway look never leaving her eyes. "Will I be an O'Neill or a Lovegood?"

"That depends entirely on what you want."

"Ok." She went back to nibbling on her sandwich. "What about clothing?"

Knowing that it might not be the best thing to mention, Jack said, "I'm going to go to your house this afternoon and pack up your clothing. If there's anything you want to take with you, just tell me and I'll find it."

She nodded. "The books. All the books. And the pictures." She bit her lip, looking as if she might cry. "The books and pictures and my butterbeer cap necklace."

With the help of the two oldest Weasley boys, Jack went to find the Lovegood residence. Both boys, Charlie and Percy, held boxes for whatever Jack decided to pack. At the mention of books, Jack had thought he might not have enough boxes, until Molly volunteered to get him some more.

"So, there are six of you," said Jack, not really sure what else to say.

"Seven," said Charlie. "Our brother Bill moved out last year. He got a job with a bank and is living in Egypt."

"Oh. What does he do?"

Percy and Charlie shared a look before Percy said, "We're not sure."

Entering the house, Jack said, "Charlie, why don't you and Percy go pack the books and pictures. I'll go get Luna's clothing."

Halfway through packing Luna's clothing, Jack came to the realization that Luna only had skirts, blouses and dresses, none of which came above her ankles or showed anything above her elbow. Then he remembered that despite the heat, Ginny, Luna, and Molly had all worn outfits with long sleeves and skirts that came down to their ankles.

With a mental shrug he went back to packing. He could buy her normal clothing later on.

Luna gave Jack a small smile when he handed her the butterbeer cap necklace. With a twirl, she ran off to go play chess with Ginny.

They sat in Ginny's room, far enough away from the boys that nobody would disturb them. Luna glanced at the door, then at Ginny.

"We won't see each other again," Luna said in a low voice, knowing she spoke the truth. "Not until Hogwarts."

"But you're only-"

"Father's a Muggle and he lives halfway across the world."

Ginny sniffled. "I don't want you to go."

"I'll write every week," said Luna. "We'll need to use Muggle mail. He doesn't know about magic."

"But I don't know how."

"It won't be that hard. Just ask the people in the post office for help. I'll tell you my address when I write."

"I'll miss you."

"Me too."

Ginny was the only friend she'd had in Ottery St. Catchpole. The only one who didn't think her crazy or weird. And she'd miss Ginny so much. But they'd see each other again. Just not right away.

Jack looked down as he felt something tug on the edge of his jacket. Luna stood next to him, her eyes actually focused on him.

"Can I have your address?" she asked in a small voice.

"Huh? Sure. This for letters?"

Luna nodded. "I know where Ginny lives but she doesn't know where I live."

"Mmmm." Writing the address on a piece of paper Molly handed him, Jack asked, "Do you want me to write down instructions for sending an international letter as well? All you need to do is make sure you have enough postage, so long as you write out the address just like I have on here, but you'll need to go to the post office the first time to find out how much the postage is."

"Yes please."

When Jack was done, Luna wandered back up the stairs. He turned back around to see a bemused looking man.

"Jack, this is my husband, Arthur," explained Molly. "Arthur, this is Jack O'Neill, Luna's father."

The two men shook hands, though Arthur still looked confused. "Did Luna just…"

Molly nodded. "She's been speaking all day. Since Jack showed up."

"She's been acting like normal," added Charlie. "Well, except for the stare."

"Then she…" Jack trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"Luna's always been a bit… imaginative and prone to flights of fancy," said Arthur. "And unusually solemn for a girl that age. So, Jack, was it? I'm assuming that Molly has already asked about your job. Do you have a wife?"

Jack realized immediately that the Weasleys were just trying to make sure that Luna ended up in a good home. With that in mind, Jack said, "Divorced. Irreconcilable differences."

Molly's lips thinned, and she looked as if she wanted to say something. Arthur ignored his wife's expression, continuing his questions. "And the rest of your family?"

"An older sister, two younger brothers and three younger sisters," said Jack. "I have nineteen nieces and nephews. My parents are still alive. I've never bothered to count the number of aunts, uncles, and cousins I have, but well over fifty."

"Do you have any children?" asked Molly.

He felt the emotion drain from his face. "My son died nearly a year ago. He would have been ten next month."

Molly had paled. She looked as if she might start to cry. Arthur had a hard look on his face.

"Nobody should outlive their own child," said Arthur. It was then that Jack noticed the boys had cleared out of them room. "Gwyneth was our oldest."

"She and my brothers, Gideon and Fabian were murdered ten years ago," said Molly, in a small voice. "She hid her brothers then went to help her uncles."

"Charlie shot himself with my gun."

Luna sat in her seat, next to the window. The plane ride had been rather interesting, she'd never flown on anything other than a broom before that. She knew that Ginny had cried after she left and though she felt sad as well, Luna knew that she would see Ginny again.

There were only two more years before she could go to Hogwarts. Sure, there were several very good schools in the United States, but Luna had no desire to attend any of them.

"O'Neill."

"Huh?" said her father.

"I want to be Luna O'Neill."

Luna quickly settled into Jack's house. With his help they'd decorated her bedroom, painting the night sky on her walls and ceiling. Three out of four walls were covered with bookshelves. On these shelves were the books and pictures from her former house.

Luna was just grateful that he hadn't questioned the titles of the books. He probably thought they were fictional or something.

She had been taken to a psychologist several times, but these meetings had stopped quickly enough. Luna had managed to confuse the woman so badly that she'd finally given up, declaring Luna the "most incorrigible brat" she'd ever had the misfortune to meet. While Jack had yelled at the woman, Luna had smiled and twirled around the office. It had taken less time than she'd thought it would to get rid of the psychologist.

"Luna!"

"Coming Father," she said, just loud enough for him to hear her.

Since school would be starting in two weeks, Jack had arranged for them to go up to his cabin in Minnesota for a week. Luna wasn't really sure what one would do at such a place, but it was sure to be interesting, if only because she hadn't exposed to many Muggle activities before.