HP/LL 'I can't believe he's gone.'
The Aurors were nervous. The meeting of Auror chiefs reflected that by it's tension.
Complaints and arguments sparked on throughout and the discussion was quickly turning sour.
The High Commissioner of the Auror Department rubbed his brow wearily.
Newly promoted, Kingsley Shacklebolt was having a hard time reigning in some of the comments that flew across the table.
Eventually, even his legendary patience snapped.
" Alright. That's enough! I want silence."
The chiefs quieted, although several mutinous glances betrayed their unwillingness.
" I need all of you to get behind me now. We all know what the stakes are, if we cannot become a united force then we will lose all effectiveness!"
There was a grudging murmur of assent and Kingsley knew he finally had their attention.
"Alright. Now we need to look at the latest suggested objectives for Anti-Death Eater action. I have invited guests from the Unspeakables and the War Council to talk to us."
The door to the chamber opened and two people entered. One was the instantly recognisable Mad-Eye Moody. The second figure was fully cloaked and had no distinguishable features - obviously the unspeakable.
Mad-Eye was the one to speak up first.
"Let us get down to business. The Death Eaters are getting sloppy, their anti-tracer spells have let them down on several occasions… We keep getting closer, so it seems only a matter of time before we get a break. As a result the War Council wants to urge 'Constant Vigilance!' Let's not lose our chance because we are as sloppy as they."
The cloaked Unspeakable coughed with a splutter and seemed to be choking back a laugh.
Kingsley and Nymphadora Tonks exchanged a glance in recognition of the young man that was disguised before them and smiled.
The Unspeakable now stepped forward and gave his address.
"The Department of Mysteries has few field agents. We are not much involved in the ground level of this war. However, information has become available to us, which we feel merits your attention. The Death Eaters have -as several of your Aurors have already informed the Ministry- started using a new form of portkey. This new breed has the ability to transport several people linked by a co-joining spell known affectionately to us as 'the glue spell', which negates the need for physical contact on activation. We believe that there is a way of severing the link and rendering the portkeys useless for multi-person transport. The spell is a simple isolation charm, the casting of which I believe you already know. 'Solatare'. More details of our research will become unclassified once they have passed through the appropriate channels, but the department and the War Council have agreed that it was best to share this information immediately. We shall need to press our advantage, I trust this knowledge will be used for optimum effect."
When he spoke, the man's voice was altered magically to a monotone drawl with no inflection as was the standard procedure for Unspeakables, but they both knew that it belonged to Harry Potter.
***
Once the meeting had been concluded the two Order members met at Kingsley's office.
The Unspeakable was there waiting for them.
"Kingsley! Tonks! It's great to see you both!"
Harry's cloak-hood was thrown back to reveal his shock of black hair and twinkling green eyes. His voice was also returned to its usual rich baritone.
"Harry!"
Squeaked Tonks throwing her arms around his neck.
"Now Tonks, I'm a happily married man these days." Joked Harry good-naturedly.
Kingsley laughed deeply and slapped the Unspeakable on the back.
"At least one of us is! Tonks here still hasn't agreed to a date with that wily old wolf."
Harry's laugh resounded even more loudly.
"You'll make an honest man out of him yet Tonks."
"Was there a reason for this meeting Potter?" Asked Tonks with false annoyance.
"Why indeed Nymphadora dear." Replied Harry cheekily.
"And?"
"I'm afraid that we have a small problem. The Department of Mysteries is coming under more and more scrutiny from the Minister. Fudge simply won't accept that we are working to his best interests. He also wants to change the most important structures of our department. He want's to know exactly who the Unspeakables are! My position is in peril. If anyone from the ministry knew that I was the field agent for the Unspeakables I wouldn't stand a chance!"
Kingsley and Tonks shook their heads.
"I'm sorry Harry. But what can we do?"
Said Tonks running a hand through her electric blue shoulder length hair.
"I need a new identity."
Said Harry with a smirk. "I also need a disguise."
***
Harry stumbled out of the fireplace and directly into his chair. He didn't even bother to brush the soot from his robes.
The chair seemed to be used to this treatment, it was old, frayed and had large black smudges everywhere, but Harry insisted that it was too comfortable to be replaced.
His eyes were drooping shut and his wand hung loosely in his dangling hand.
" 'm home!"
He called out feebly.
When his wife promptly entered the room carrying a steaming cup of his favourite relaxing herbal tea he managed a bright smile, despite his exhaustion.
"Welcome home dear."
Said Luna Potter calmly handing him the cup and saucer with a quick kiss, and then drifting over to the much neater cleaner chair that stood opposite.
Harry sipped his tea tentatively savouring the burning hotness and enjoying most the pleasant aroma and their companionable silence.
Luna knew better than to try and engage Harry in any conversation when he came home like this. His arrival by Floo was an infrequent occasion, he usually apparated home. It meant that he didn't trust his concentration to hold enough to avoid splinching. And if that were the case, it seemed reasonable to her that he would not be in the mood for chatting. Instead she watched him, her pale eyes fixated on his slow, laboured movements, tracking the uncoiling of his rigid frame.
Eventually the tea had soothed Harry and his muscles had relaxed into the chair.
He was the one to start the talking.
"So, my loony wife. How was your day?"
It was always the same question, day after day, said in exactly the same way.
She loved the slightly eccentric routine.
But she also loved surprises, and today her answer would be rather different from normal…
"Well, my hairy husband. I'm pregnant."
Harry's face was a picture.
His mouth was hung open in surprise and his eyes misted with incomprehension.
"Pregnant?"
Luna's face was impassive, but inside her stomach was writhing and she felt slightly dizzy with the blood pounding in her head.
"Yes, I am 'with child', as they say."
Harry shut his mouth and rubbed his forehead.
He stood up, ignorant to the cracks of his joints, and walked over to her.
He dropped to his knees and tentatively placed a hand on Luna's flat stomach gazing up into her pale glossy eyes.
"We're going to have a baby."
He said softly, almost whispering.
"Yes."
Luna replied putting one of her hands over his whilst the other raked through his wild black hair.
"You're pleased?"
Harry chuckled softly.
"Over the moon."
She let out a breath and smiled radiantly.
Harry basked in the joy of it. Her smiles were fairly rare, but when they came they seemed to mean so much more.
***
Months later...
***
Luna was in the potions room when he finally found her. His pulse was thrumming in his ears as he watched her lean over the cauldron with an arm protectively embracing her distended stomach.
How could he tell her the news?
He reluctantly forced his feet to move and her fathomless silver-grey eyes locked onto him immediately.
He watched as realisation dawned on her face and her usual air of calm tranquillity was destroyed.
She started to shake and the bottle of beetle eyes fell from her hand, landing on its side and spewing its contents noisily onto the tabletop.
"No…" She whispered seeming to shrink into herself as she shook her head in denial.
Ron stopped as he reached her and wordlessly embraced the woman.
"I'm so sorry Luna, I…"
There were no words. He could sense the despair flowing from his best friend's wife. It was almost corporeal.
"So sorry…"
Luna Potter's bitter tears soaked into his robes as Ron held her tightly. There was nothing to do but hold her and try to offer whatever quiet comfort he had left to give. Ron felt his own tears threatening to re-emerge but quickly grappled again with his emotions, clinging to the numbness that had brought him so far.
When eventually her sobbing stopped, Luna jerked suddenly away from him. There were still tears streaming down her face and her overlarge eyes took on an almost feral gleam.
"He's NOT dead. He's NOT." She growled, her hands clenching and unclenching by her sides.
Ron bit his lip, unsure how to handle this switch in behaviour.
"He wouldn't DO this to us!"
Luna grabbed a ladle and threw it with all of her strength and it clattered noisily against the far wall of the potions room. She seemed to crumple before his eyes and Ron only just managed to guide her to the chair that she'd left helpfully nearby to rest in between brewing requirements.
She was shaking so hard that Ron hardly dared say what he had to say next.
"Luna." He took a deep breath to steady himself. "There's no body."
Her eyes latched onto his in an instant.
"What do you mean? What happened?" Her gaze was bared of tears and was suddenly intense and insistent.
Ron sighed and managed to collect himself enough to transfigure a stool into a proper chair and bring it next to hers.
"He was on a mission with Kingsley. They were investigating an illegal potions ring." He swallowed down the inappropriateness of delivering this news to her in a potions room. "It was an ambush. Someone had tipped off the merchant who'd been at the centre of it all. The place was warded to the hilt, their detection spells wouldn't have shown anything amiss before they went in. Harry went first of course, the whole place was consumed in Fiendfyre within seconds, even Harry couldn't have apparated out in time, and they found this near to the door."
Ron wiped his hand on his robes before drawing out his best friend's wand.
"I only know all of this because I was put in charge of the investigation. The DMLE didn't know Harry was there, only Kingsley, Tonks, me and Hermione knew. And now Kingsley's dead too."