-Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling

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-This past week, Loony for Luna passed Beautiful Consequences as my fifth most popular story of all time! YAY! Thanks everyone for your continued support for my little story!

Loony for Luna: Forever from the Ashes will be finishing up soon. I have actually finished writing it, but am still editing the last couple of chapters as it is still not quite as I would like it to be. There are three more chapters to come after this one (23 total) so please, continue to send me your reviews! We all know what a review whore I am!

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Loony for Luna: Forever from the Ashes

Chapter Twenty

Losing Luna

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George watched as the Hogwarts express faded into the horizon, his body frozen, his mind numb. Luna had left him. She was gone...and she was never coming back, and the worst thing about it was that George had only himself to blame.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Harry, standing with a group of people who had obviously stopped him before he was able to make his escape. He quickened his pace, no way in hell was he going to face Harry's drilling him about what had happened between him and Luna, or worse yet, asking him what he was doing there now.

He felt luck was with him when he managed to pass through the barrier unnoticed...then, he saw Ron and Hermione standing off in the distance. Obviously they had come with Harry to see Ginny off, that worked out about right with the way his luck had been running lately. He slowed his pace and then stepped behind a pillar to hide. As long as he was going to spend the rest of his life as a coward, he may as well start now.

He was surprised to find that it to hurt to watch Ron and Hermione together. In fact, it hurt very much. They were so happy, so obviously in love. Hermione leaned back against a pillar and Ron had his arms around her. Her head was tilted to the side, her expression one of unabashed adoration and she was laughing at something he said. Then, Ron took a quick look around him and, seeing the coast was clear, he bent his head and kissed her. Hermione's arms tightened around his neck, her cheeks blushing pink at his show of affection. He pulled back, Hermione's arms slipped from his neck and Ron caught them in his, twining their fingers together.

George felt his heart drop into his feet. They reminded him so much of how things use to be between him and Luna...before he pushed her out of his life, before she gave up and left him behind.

"Hey!" Harry called to them after he cleared the barrier. "Sorry bout that. I got...waylaid."

Ron laughed loudly "More fans?"

Harry grinned "Sucks to be famous."

"Ginny get off okay?" Hermione asked

"Yeah" Harry said as his voice took on an ugly tone "We ran into Luna." George's heart jumped into his throat at Harry's mention of her name. "She isn't doing so well."

Ron's eyes narrowed angrily "I ought to find George and..."

George missed the rest as the three had turned to leave and a noisy swarm of people passed the pillar. George stepped from behind it and watched as Ron, Harry and Hermione were absorbed into the crowd of travelers and they disappeared with the moving mass.

- - -

Angelina listened patiently over take out while George told her his sad tale. Then, she gave him an unsympathetic look and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What were you expecting to happen George?" Angelina was doing her best to be nice, but she thought the situation called for a bit of a firm hand. "Did you think she would be so happy to see you that she would just forgive everything and fall into your arms?"

George opened his mouth to argue but then closed it again. He HAD been expecting just what Angelina accused him of.

"I suppose I did." he said miserably "Now that I think on it, I've always taken it for granted that Luna would forgive."

"Well..." Angelina sighed "I guess that's not entirely your fault. Luna has always been too forgiving. She's a bit of a push-over really."

"So why did she have to chose NOW to change?" George said, only half joking.

Angelina grinned "I reckon because you've never been this big of a prat before."

Angelina picked up the empty food cartons and stood to throw them in the trash. "The question is...what are you going to do about it?"

George looked up " What CAN I do?" he sighed and looked back down at his fingers. "She's done with me, finis, kaput...yesterdays rubbish."

"And you're just going to accept that?"

George looked at her, irritation bubbling in his chest "Because I have so many other options."

"You really HAVE changed George." Angelina shook her head "And not for the better."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"The George Weasley I knew would have gotten on his broom without a second thought and gone after her. Considering the insane way he flew, Luna would have found him waiting on the platform in Hogsmeade when she got there and he wouldn't have let her go until she was his again."

Angelina sighed and sat back down across from him.

"Remember George, the way you felt two years ago when you first fell in love with her. It wasn't easy then, but you refused to back down. You were ready to fight Harry and Ron and even Fred to win her heart. Don't you remember?"

"Of course I remember...but..."

"Luna always said that the thing she loved most about you was your audacity. So pluck up some of that audacious now. You can win her back George, I know you can, Luna is still in love with you, she told me so...but before you even think about seeing her, you have to find the George that Luna fell in love with."

Angelina's words made perfect sense and he knew them to be true. But how could he find that person again when he wasn't sure if he even existed anymore?

"And what if I can't?"

"Then you've lost her." She shrugged "But, as things stand right now...you've already lost her. You've spent the summer running away from her. Unless you find the real you, you're just going to run away from her again."

Angelina looked up and her eyes were full of tears.

"I know you loved Fred, I know losing him hurt you deeply. I understand that you are afraid, I am too. You have no idea...the idea of letting someone close again..." She stopped and took a deep, steadying breath "...it scares the hell out of me. But, I am going to to move on and I am going to find my happily ever after, and do you know why?"

George shook his head and she reached across the table and put her hands on his.

"Because I know, deep in my heart...it's what Fred would have wanted me to do. George, you knew him better than anyone else, even me. Do you really think he would like it...seeing the person you've become and what it's done to Luna?"

"No..."George shook his head. Everything she was saying was true. He knew it, in his heart and in his head. Fred would have hated what he was doing. And even more, he would have hated that he was doing it to Luna. "...I don't suppose he would."

"Of course he wouldn't. Fred was never happier than when he was in a room full of people who were laughing at the things the two of you had done. You and your brother were always larger than life, heroes in the truest sense."

"Come on Angie." George scoffed "Sure, we made a couple people laugh..but that doesn't make us heroes, we were hardly Harry Potter."

"Okay... so maybe you weren't heroes in the sense that Harry Potter is, but you were heroes. Remember Umbridge? You and Fred made people laugh at a time when there was nothing to laugh about."

"That was hardly heroic." He shook his head

"It was to me, it was to Luna."

"Maybe..."George shook his head "But Luna always saw too much in me."

Angelina arched her eyebrow. "Luna told me once about that day in the Hogshead when you and Fred made room for her to sit between you." She took a deep breath "She told me she had heard all of us in there laughing and having fun and she was afraid to go in because she knew people would laugh and point at her, that they would whisper about her behind their hands like they always did. And she was right, they...we...did."

Angelina smiled a little "She told me that when you and Fred slid over and made room for her she was sure you had booby trapped the bench."

The corner of George's mouth quirked into a half grin as he remembered how Luna had tried, and failed, to be subtle about checking the bench over for pranks. She'd been so adorable that day. "I remember."

"She told me, that on that day, you and Fred became her heroes." Angelina looked deep into his eyes. "I know it won't be easy George, but I know ...I know you can win her back. But unless you find that person you use to be, it will be pointless. You'll only lose her again."

Angelina stood and picked up her bag. "I know he's still in there George...I know it. I think Luna does too and that's who she's waiting for. He is the only one who can talk Luna out of leaving."

She kissed the top of his head, then, she left him alone with his thoughts.

-Flashback-

George hastily made his way to the Great Hall, anxious to check and make sure the rest of his family was safe. A ball of panic built in his throat as he found them right away, huddled in a small group and kneeling on the floor. Obviously, someone was hurt.

He pushed his way through the crowd of people then broke the small tight circle of Weasley's. In the middle lay Fred, eyes closed, a small trickle of dried blood running from his mouth.

"What..." He said as he fell to his knees at Fred's head. "What the hell...why isn't anyone..."

Then he realized that his mother was sobbing, her cheek laying on Fred's chest.

"Mum?" he said softly, reaching his hand out "What's wrong..."

And then it hit him. Fred was dead.

"No." He shook his head violently in angry denial "NO!"

"George..." Bill stood behind him and put his hands on George's shoulders "He's gone."

George looked up at his oldest brother in confusion "Gone...you mean...he's dead?" He ended on a whisper "Right?"

Bill nodded "Yes."

"No..." George put his hands on Fred's shoulders as his body began to shake with sobs. He leaned forward until his forehead fell against Fred's. "NO! NO! NO!"

-End Flashback-

'Was that it?' George wondered now 'Was that the moment that part of me was lost...did it die with Fred?'

He took a deep breath, remembering how after a few minutes Bill and Percy had pulled him into their arms, attempting to comfort him. It seemed like seconds later that Voldemort's voice had broken through his anguish, telling him that Harry Potter was dead and his mourning began anew. It seemed he passed the rest of that horrible night on reflexes alone. His lungs told him he needed air, so he breathed. He saw his family and friends being attacked once again, so he fought. His one glimmer of hope being the moment that they discovered that Harry wasn't dead at all, but hiding under his invisibility cloak.

And then Voldemort himself was dead.

And so apparently, had been a vital part of George Weasley.

A part of him that he desperately needed to bring back to life before it cost him the woman that he loved.

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A light mist was falling the next day as George walked the quiet path that had once lead to Luna's home. He wasn't exactly sure why he had come...only that it was as good a place as any to begin his search for his former self.

When he reached the clearing the first thing he noticed was that the peacock blue tent that he and Luna had spent the summer in was now gone. He stood in the middle of the spot where it had been risen, the only evidence of it ever having existed were six holes in the ground where the stakes had been driven in to secure the tent in place.

It seemed strange to George that so much could have happened in a place so small. Granted, the tent had been charmed to be bigger than it appeared on the outside, but it still seemed as if the lingering scars on the ground should have been enormous, given all that had happened there.

He looked over at where the entrance of the tent had been. His mind flashed back to the day he had arrived to find only Luna's toes poking out of the entrance. He'd found her laying just inside, covered in mud and in horrible pain on the ground. He couldn't help but wonder if he could go back to that day, knowing what he did now, if he might do things differently.

The answer, was an unequivocal no.

Sure, he would have preferred that the circumstances had been different, that Luna wouldn't have been hurt in the first place, but George wouldn't have given up the time he had spent with Luna over the summer for anything.

His mind went back to the first few days after the procedure when Luna had been forced to lay, flat on her back, in bed in an uncomfortable back brace while she waited out the three days it had taken for the tissue to fully fuse together. He smiled, remembering the sound of her laughter while he told her story after story of his and Fred's childhood antics.

He laughed at himself, remembering how he had nearly had a heart attack when the towel Luna had been wearing was accidentally torn open...leading him to so many torturous, but wonderful dreams.

So much had happened in that tiny space, both good and bad. With a painful jolt, George realized that all the bad things that had happened in that place had been his fault. Because he had been ignoring her, Luna had tried to get out of her wheelchair and she had fallen, broken her nose and irritated her back because of him. He had also ruined the moment when she took her first steps because he had followed what his heart and kissed her...then allowed his mind to send him running away in fear.

Off in the distance he heard voices approaching the clearing. Not wanting to be seen, he hurried towards the shell of the house that he had Luna had been building and hid inside.

"Well..." A man said "It certainly is a large bit of property. Of course, before we can show it we will have to clear away the remaining rubble from the previous owners house."

"Yes." A woman cut in "We might as well knock down this mess as well. Whoever buys the property certainly won't be interested in keeping it."

"You can say that again." The man laughed "Should we look inside?"

"I don't think so." The woman laughed as well "It hardly looks safe."

"I don't know who Miss Lovegood contracted to build the house, but, we should get the name"

"For what?" The woman said incredulously

"Obviously to have their license revoked. The work is an absolute disgrace." He knocked on the brick with a fist "One good storm and the thing will topple."

They moved away from the house and the man spoke again "There is a nice view though, and the property does have historic value. After all, it was one of Harry Potters stops on his way to destroying you-know-who."

"It was..." The woman agreed "But I'm not sure that we should use that as a selling point, after all, Xenophilius Lovegood did betray Harry Potter and his friends."

"Right...right." The man tsk'ed loudly "I saw Rita Skeeter's article in the Daily Prophet, I feel sorry for Miss Lovegood, having a such a albatross for a father. The poor girl will be hated for the rest of her life."

"I imagine that's why she is leaving the country." The woman said in a scandalized voice. "As if she will ever be able to hide from her fathers legacy."

"It's sad really" The man attempted, and failed, at sounding sympathetic "But then, it's not as if the Lovegoods were that revered before Xenophilius Lovegood turned traitor. He was a bit mad from what I remember."

George had to fight the urge to go out and break the mans nose and he had never hit a woman before in his life, not even Ginny...but he was sorely tempted now. If only a curse would go through solid brick...George would have gladly laid them both flat with no regrets. Then, their voices began to fade and a couple seconds later George heard two loud cracks. He peeked out and saw that they had gone.

He turned and looked around at the house that he and Luna had begun to build together.

"I don't know who Miss Lovegood contracted to build the house, but, we should get the name"

"For what?"

"Obviously to have their license revoked. The work is an absolute disgrace..."

George felt a flash of anger run through him. Okay, so maybe he wasn't the greatest architect in the world. So maybe the house would topple during a storm. But it had been built out of his desire to do something special for Luna, out of his love for her. That was what made it special.

He smiled, remembering how Luna had been insistent that the house had four bedrooms. One for her father, one for her, a guest room and, a bedroom just for him, because building the house had been his idea and he had done all the work. It hadn't occurred to Luna that with the burrow so close, that there would never be an occasion for him to use it, but the gesture was so sweet...so totally Luna in nature, George hadn't the heart to tell her.

George stopped in front of the fireplace that had once been a part of Luna's childhood home and ran his hand over the stone mantel. George had gone to great lengths to insure that it would remain as it had been badly damaged, so badly that George was surprised it had remained standing at all, but he had persevered and it was saved.

With a deep sigh George began to turn away. He stopped, his attention caught by something near his feet.

Inside the fireplace was a bright pink box.

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Chapter 21 Preview

George examines the

box that Luna

left behind.

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