"It was like being with a friend." -Luna Lovegood

"It's beautiful here," I said, running my fingers through the wind chimes hanging in the kitchen doorway.

"It used to be my great aunt Muriel's," Bill said, helping Fleur cut up vegetables for dinner. "She gave it to us after we got married. It was our wedding gift. And now we use it as a safe house. I'm Secret Keeper. She's letting the rest of my family stay with her right now, too. Dad's secret keeper there."

"Have you heard from Ginny?" I asked.

"Not really except for the few occasions I go over there for Order business. It's not really safe for anyone to be out and about lately."

"Have you gotten any news about Hogwarts or my father? Since December, I mean."

"Er," Ron said coming up behind me with Harry, who had finally come inside. "We saw your father, what was it, a couple of months ago?" He glanced at Harry who shrugged.

"Oh, you did?" I asked, smiling. "How's he doing?"

"Well, he was quite distraught about you being missing, that's for sure," Ron sighed. "We went there to ask him about something."

"Hold on a minute," I said, suddenly remembering the whole reason I had been taken off the train in the first place and then what Scabior had said while I was in the cellar. "Did he try to turn you in, Harry?" When Harry and Ron shared a look, I plowed on. "I know why I was taken off the train. They didn't like how he was supporting you in the Quibbler. I thought about it nearly the whole time I was locked up. I didn't know if he'd print a wanted ad or try to turn you in."

"He was doing both," Harry said quietly. "There were wanted ads all over the floor and then he ended up calling the Death Eaters."

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry," I whispered. "I hope you aren't angry. I know my father really does support you and he-,"

"No, I get it. He was desperate."

I didn't say anything for a minute. "So, what ended up happening? I'm guessing the Death Eaters didn't catch you because I was never set free and then you were brought in by Snatchers."

"We escaped, thanks to Hermione," Ron said, smiling slightly. "She's a genius, she is."

"Oh, it was nothing, Ronald," scoffed a voice from behind us. We all turned to see Hermione standing in the doorway, looking pale, but okay.

"Hermione!" Harry and Ron exclaimed happily.

"How are you?" I asked.

"All right," she said briskly. "Just a little shaky. How did you get here, Luna?"

"She was locked up in Malfoy Manor as well," Ron said. "With Mr. Ollivander. Dobby came to rescue us and that's how we got here."

"Dobby?" Hermione asked. "Really?"

"Yeah, you were kind of unconscious for all of it," Ron said. "You're actually lucky, really." He looked at me and Harry.

"How bad was it?" Hermione asked.

"Well," Ron began.

"Dobby's dead," Harry finished bluntly.

Hermione gasped and her hands flew to her mouth. "Oh, no."

"Now, before you go all S.P.E.W. on us," Ron said hastily, "I'd like you to keep in mind that he saved our lives."

"I know and that's exactly it," Hermione said, looking on the verge of tears. "If it wasn't for us, he might've been alive. Hold on." She looked at Ron. "You said S.P.E.W."

"Yeah, that's what it's called isn't it?" Ron asked, looking confused.

"Yes, it is!" Hermione said with a grin. "S.P.E.W. Not spew."

"Oh. Right, yeah, I just—I—well, It doesn't mean I don't think it's any less silly," Ron spluttered.

There was a silence where everyone was staring at Ron, whose ears were turning a slight shade of pink, and Hermione, who was smiling at him proudly. I turned back to the wind chimes. "Muggles think these keep evil away," I said, "but they're wrong."

"Are they?" Bill asked vaguely.

I nodded and opened my mouth to explain, but Harry interrupted. "I need to talk to Ollivander and Griphook."

"But 'Arry," Fleur said, "they're both very weak. Zey need to recover."

"I know, but it'll only take a little while. It's important."

Bill and Fleur looked at each other. "Okay," Fleur finally said. "Who would you like to talk to first?"

Harry debated for a second. "Griphook."

Fleur nodded. "Okay, follow me." She headed up the stairs. Harry gestured for Hermione and Ron to go first before he took up the rear. Halfway up the stairs, he turned and looked at me.

"Oh, and Luna?"

"Yes?" I asked.

"What you've done with your bedroom…well, it's…" he trailed off as he thought of the right words, but finally he gave me a small smile. "It's really beautiful."

I actually blushed. "You don't think it's odd?"

"No, not at all," he answered before hurrying up the stairs.

Smiling, I turned back to Bill. "Do you need any help?" I pointed at the vegetables Fleur had been cutting up before she had left the room.

"Sure," Bill answered, passing me the knife. I took it and started chopping. "So, what have you done with your bedroom that's so beautiful?" Bill asked after a few seconds.

I smiled again. "I've always liked to paint," I explained, "and I'm always repainting my room, but recently I've noticed that the ceiling has always stayed the exact same color for the entire time I've lived in my house. It was just a plain old white and I thought, 'That ceiling is begging for some color', so I painted it last summer right before I went back to school."

"What color?"

"It's not just one color," I said. "I painted portraits. Five of them. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Neville. They're my five closest friends at Hogwarts. I bordered and connected them with the word 'friends' painted over and over. Except for around Neville's portrait, I bordered it with hearts."

"Boyfriend?" Bill guessed.

I nodded. "He hasn't seen it yet. The ceiling, I mean. I didn't know anyone except my father had seen it until Harry just said something."

"How long did it take you?"

"I'm not quite sure," I answered honestly. "Maybe about a week."

"I'm sure it's very nice," Bill said.

I smiled. "So," I said seriously, "do you have any idea how my father's doing right now?"

Bill didn't say anything right away. "I think he's on the run. After Harry escaped, the Death Eaters obviously weren't too happy about it. I heard that in all the commotion, he managed to leave."

"Well, at least he's alive," I said, cutting up a carrot.

"Luna, it's okay to feel upset sometimes, you know," Bill said gently.

"I know that," I replied. "And I do feel upset sometimes. I'm just like any other human being. I just try to make myself feel better by looking on the bright side of things. Is that bad?"

"No," Bill said after a moment, "it's not."

Fleur came back downstairs just as Dean walked out of his bedroom. "Sleep well?" Fleur asked pleasantly.

He nodded and held up his coin, looking at me. "This woke me up. It's another message from Seamus. He said that if we ever make it back to school, Apparate straight into the Hog's Head pub and ask for Aberforth. He'll show us the way back into the school."

"Well, I don't think either of you should be heading back to school just yet," Fleur said. "You just got here."

"Oh, I agree," I answered with a nod as I scooped the cut up carrots into a bowl. "As much as I want to see Neville again, I think it'd be best if we stayed here for a little while."

"Oh," Dean said as if just remembering something. "Seamus also said Neville wanted me to tell you he loves you."

I blushed for the second time that day as everyone looked at me. "How nice," I said.

"Should I send him an answer?" Dean asked with a smile.

I nodded. "Tell Seamus to tell Neville I love him and to stay safe."

Dean nodded and began sending the message, absentmindedly heading into the living room.

I looked around at Bill and Fleur, who were smiling at me. I looked down at the counter and started chopping up another carrot.

"I can finish up here," Fleur said. "Why don't you go rest?"

I nodded and headed for my room. I wished that I hadn't put my coin in my trunk. If I hadn't, I would have had it with me and could talk to Neville on my own whenever I wanted. It was nice being able to talk to him through Dean, but it wasn't the same. And even still, I wanted to hear his voice and be able to wrap my arms around him. I wanted to watch as he crinkled his nose and stuck his tongue between his teeth whenever he concentrated. I wanted to hear him laugh again.

Sighing, I sat down on my bed. Missing Neville hadn't seemed so bad down in the cellar. At first it had, of course, but as they days went on, it became bearable. Maybe it was because while I had convinced myself that I would see him again, I didn't know when. Now that I was here, I knew I could see him again. I could go back to Hogwarts right now if I wanted, but like I had said earlier, I thought it would be best to stay here and rest for a while.

Looking out my window, I remembered that I had wanted to go back to Dobby's grave to see what Harry had written on the stone. I realized that if I went out the front door, I'd have to pass the kitchen and Fleur would only tell me that I needed to rest and I would have plenty of other opportunities to visit Dobby. That left me with only one option: the window. The only problem with that was that I was on the second floor.

Tiptoeing down the hallway, I found a door that I knew to be a closet simply because I'd seen Fleur go in there to get an extra blanket for Mr. Ollivander. Opening it, I looked around before selecting a few sheets, darting back to my room and tying them in a rope. It was an old Muggle trick. I wasn't sure where I had learned it from, but I had never used it until now. As I was attaching one end of the rope securely to the bedpost, I couldn't help but worry that I would somehow ruin the sheets. I was planning on washing them later, but hopefully I wouldn't do any irreversible damage.

Holding my breath, I climbed out of the window and shimmied down the rope to the ground. I made it safely and without ruining any of the sheets. Smiling, I ran towards Dobby's grave. It was still drizzling slightly, but I didn't mind. In fact, I hardly noticed as I made my way to the top of the dune where Dobby was buried. I knelt down and my eyes scanned the stone that had been placed there by Harry: Here lies Dobby, a free elf.

It was then that I burst into tears.

"Luna?"

I turned around to see Dean coming towards me. I hastily wiped my eyes, hoping that he wouldn't know I had been crying. "Hello, Dean."

"You're crying," he said, looking shocked.

"No, I'm not. Not anymore." I said quietly. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I just—I don't know—it's odd seeing you cry."

"I do have properly working tear ducts," I said with a sniffle.

Dean cracked a small smile. "Yeah, but it's like," he took a deep breath. "It's like if Luna Lovegood's crying, then we know there's something wrong. You always seem so happy."

"I know," I said with a tiny laugh. "And I am, usually. And I do try to look at the bright side, but sometimes it's hard to do that."

"Were you close to Dobby?" Dean asked, sitting down next to me.

"Yes," I answered, "kind of. He used to give me food when I went to feed the thestrals. He was always so kind to me. And he saved my life. Your life, too."

Dean nodded. "It was awfully brave of him."

I nodded. "Yes, it was. He was a brave little elf."

"A brave, free elf," Dean corrected, pointing to the stone. He paused. "Have you ever heard of the saying 'don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened'?"

"Of course," I answered. "My mum loved that saying."

Dean nodded. "I think that's what we need to do, then, don't you? We just have to remember all of the good times we had with Dobby. Which were him rescuing us from a cellar and you going to him for thestral food."

I actually giggled. "Good times," I sighed.

"If you ever need to talk," Dean shrugged, "you can talk to me. I know I'm not Neville, but-,"

"You'll do," I teased, standing up. I held out my hands to help Dean up and he took them.

"Flattered," he snorted.

"Thank you, Dean," I said, as we walked back to Shell Cottage.

"Any time," he answered with a grin.

"Perhaps when I get back home, I can make you a butterbeer cork necklace like the one I have," I told him.

"I don't really wear necklaces," Dean said.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't," I said, tapping my chin in thought. "Well, I'll send you some Dirigible Plums and some Gurdyroot infusion. As thanks for being such a good friend."

"What exactly are those things?" Dean asked.

I smiled at him, happy to be able to explain. Maybe while I was at it, I could tell him all about the Crumple Horned Snorkack.

A/N: Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a review! Next chapter should be Neville and Luna's reunion! Hopefully it can be another quick update like this one was! :D