Chapter 2 – A Horrible Accident
The sound of automobile horns caused Luna to jump in her chair. She was close to finishing her translation of several testimonials and just needed a few more minutes of quiet, but it was not to be. The commotion on the street outside her flat soon disturbed not just her, but the other two souls currently in residence. When both of her sons began to scream loudly, Luna sighed and set aside her work. It was nearly time to feed the boys anyway, and she had been unsettled for the past hour so she went to collect the first of them and start the feeding and changing cycle.
When they had eaten earlier, she had fed Lorry first, so she picked up Sander and gave him the first go this time around, settling him on a breast while she waved her wand and began to mix a bottle. The boys were ten months, and for the previous six months she had been supplementing what she could give them. The two were voracious, big babies and Luna didn't produce enough milk for both of them. Still, she was determined to continue breastfeeding some until they were a year old. They had also started on a few soft foods which helped to quell their appetites. As she fed Sander, another barrage of horns sounded from the street and she remembered to reinstate the silencing charms that had worn off earlier. It would be really helpful if she could figure out a permanent silencing charm. Living on the edge of Nairobi was difficult, but the close proximity to the university made it a necessity. Luna preferred to get out of the city and into the wilderness, but she had curtailed those forays when she was six months pregnant. Rolf had agreed that once the boys were a year old they would take them on their first exploratory trip and Luna could hardly wait to get out of the city.
Thinking of her husband, Luna smiled and ached for him. Rolf had been gone for six weeks and wasn't due home for another three, maybe four. He was leading a group from the university tracking the emela-ntouka through the southern wilds. Two years ago the creature had been myth, but thanks to Rolf and his colleagues at the University of the Magi, Nairobi, the beast was now a documented class four magical entity, the same as the yeti, sasquatch and chupacabra. She had actually been part of the first tracking team that had provided the documentation that verified the creature's existence. Since her pregnancy she had been relegated to working back in Nairobi, pouring through hundreds of old testimonials and building an outline of the history of the creature in the country. The local Department of Magic was keenly interested in the work and were providing funding for the project through the next year. By that time she hoped to have the history complete and ready for publishing. That is if Rolf could ever get the time to organize and summarize his notes from the past two and a half years.
As Luna's thoughts drifted, Sander finished sucking the one side of her dry and she proceeded to give him the bottle that would finish filling him up. Once he was satisfied, she burped him briefly before settling him back in the crib and gathering his squalling twin. Settling Lorry on her other breast to begin feeding, she looked down on her son with her usual sense of awe. Despite her frustration on being trapped in the noisy, congested city, Luna would never regret having her boys. They were exquisitely beautiful babies, incredibly pale like their father. Luna was fair herself, but nothing compared to Rolf. When he was in the field, he had to reinstate his sunblock spells every couple of hours or else any exposed patch of skin would burn to a crisp. The boys had his same complexion and wispy near-white hair. Combined with Luna's round face and perfect rosebud lips, the babies were cherubic in image, if not in disposition.
Luna watched Lorry nurse and remembered the first time she had met Rolf. It was the summer after she finished Hogwarts. Her father had died unexpectedly two months before she finished school, and by the time she graduated she was ready to escape somewhere. That somewhere had ended up being Sweden, where she was hired on as an intern researcher with an expedition looking for the trumpet horned snorkack. The expedition was led by the famous Newt Scamander and was the opportunity of a lifetime. Newt was past ninety, but still full of fire and able to strip paint with his bellowing. On her second night in camp, Luna had been introduced to Rolf, Newt's grandson. The attraction had been immediate and four hours later she found herself in Rolf's bed. Two months after that they were married. Some had been surprised with how quickly they fell in together and a few of the other team members even assumed that Luna would be willing to go to bed with them as well. After a few well-placed hexes, she disabused them of that idea. Not that she wasn't willing, but what she and Rolf had from the very beginning was something different and she knew immediately that she had found her match.
Luna was not promiscuous, but Rolf was not her first lover, she had taken several lovers in the previous couple of years, starting with Dean. After they escaped to Shell Cottage, she and Dean had sought refuge in each other's arms. Once the war ended and he returned home, she had comforted Neville through the shock at the end of the war. Than he had left to study cacti in the States and she had headed back for her last year at Hogwarts. That year had produced something unexpected when a friendship blossomed into something more after a drunken Quidditch celebration. She'd woken up in the arms of Ginny Weasley and discovered that a woman could also provide the relief she craved. When Ginny woke up they made love for the first time sober and then Ginny broke down sobbing, upset with herself for cheating on Harry. The following weekend she had walked to Hogsmeade and apparated to Harry to make her confession. Surprisingly, Harry had not been upset, but had wanted to talk to Luna. When Luna answered his summons and joined the two of them at Grimmauld Place, Harry had his own confession. Ginny and Luna were both in agreement and the three of them had gone to bed together for the first time. That lovely and fun interlude lasted for most of the rest of her school year. When her father died, Luna retreated from the relationship and noticed Ginny and Harry really were attached in a way she didn't feel. She had pulled herself from them reluctantly and that had been one of her reasons for fleeing to Sweden.
So, when Rolf had appeared in front of her, she was frustrated and more than ready to take a man again. Now they had been married almost five years and she loved him more each day, realizing that she had found what Ginny and Harry had. After her initial flight from England, she and Ginny had kept up a correspondence and the Potters and Scamanders had even vacationed together twice. Luna still considered Ginny her best and longest term friend.
Luna's mental stroll was interrupted when Lorry finished with her breast and began to fuss. She started him on his supplementary bottle and then burped him. When she put Lorry back in the crib, Sander was ready for a change. She changed one baby and then the other before settling them in their seats and going to find dinner for herself.
As Luna worked on her dinner, she was interrupted by a knock on the door of her flat. Turning her pot down to low, she waved her wand and looked through the door. Waiting on the other side was Adongo, the head of the magizoology department at the university, and Rolf's research sponsor. The uneasiness that Luna had felt for a couple of hours boiled up inside of her as she made her way to open the door. When she saw the look on Adongo's face, she knew something was wrong and waved him into the flat without a word.
"Luna, hello. I…um...have to talk to you. Perhaps we should sit…"
"No! What is it? Just tell me. Something's wrong isn't it?"
Adongo took her by an arm and sat her at the small dining table near the kitchen.
"Luna, I just received word from the field. Rolf's team was tracking a pod of the ntouka and unexpectedly came across a nest. As you know, the nests are usually hidden temporally, but for some reason this one wasn't. We think it was probably close to hatching. The theory is that the ntouka's time resonance wears off when the eggs are close to hatching. Anyway, the team accidentally disturbed the nest and enraged the male. The team tried to react and cast as many spells a possible, as well as scattering in all directions. Once they regrouped, two people were found to be missing. One is Rolf. They've looked everywhere, but haven't found any sign of him yet. I've sent another team down to help with the search, but I wanted to let you know as soon as possible. He very well may just be lost, we can't be certain…"
Luna sat listening to Adongo and taking in the information. He was trying to give her hope, but Luna knew better. The seer abilities of her grandmother may have been only latent in herself, but she knew the truth.
"No Adongo, I am certain."
With those words and the realization hitting her, Luna took one more look into her friend's deep brown eyes and lost consciousness. Adongo's quick reflexes caught her as she slipped from the chair. Some hours later Luna was awakened by a cool hand on her brow, brushing her hair aside. Looking up, she saw a gentle, round face with eyes full of concern. It was Shani, Adongo's wife, and her closest friend in Kenya.
"Hello moon. You need to wake. I fed your boys hours ago, but they are wanting more than the bottle."
Luna nodded and sat up. She was in her bed and light was coming in through the side of the curtains. How long had she been asleep? Feeling her breasts, she realized it had been a while and she needed the boys as much as they needed her. She got up and followed Shani to the nursery, still feeling like she was in a daze. Shani handed Lorry to her and she sat, beginning the automatic process of feeding. She looked up at her friend, asking the question with her eyes that her mouth wouldn't speak. Shani just shook her head.
"No, we don't have news yet. The search teams are still working."
Luna nodded and looked down at her son. How would she raise them without their father? As she contemplated, Shani gave her a pat and announced that she was going to fix food for the adults. Luna didn't respond, she wasn't hungry.
An hour later the boys were fed, changed and settled. Shani had fixed a simple breakfast and Luna ate without thinking, tearing small pieces of chapati and forcing herself to eat. She was almost finished when a knock on the door signaled Adongo's return. When he stepped in the door, Luna knew the news was not good. Adongo carried a small bag and came to sit next to her. Setting the food aside, she turned to him.
"Luna, the search teams haven't found Rolf, but they did find something else. I'm sorry, but it doesn't look good. We found some evidence. Do you want to see?"
Luna nodded. She needed to see what he had brought. She didn't want to see it, but she needed to. Adongo took a deep breath, opened the bag and pulled out a large piece of leather. It was from Rolf's jacket, complete with several expeditionary badges. It was shredded and several dark brown stains bore the proof that Luna wanted to deny. This time it was Shani who caught Luna as she slipped from the chair, although she didn't pass out. For the first time since her father died, Luna collapsed into uncontrollable sobs. Shani held her for nearly an hour before exhaustion finally calmed her grief.
"Luna, is there someone I can call? Someone from home?"
"Ginny. Call Ginny. Ginny Potter."
With those words, the exhaustion won and Luna let sleep claim her once again. When she woke, the light in the flat showed that most of the day had passed. As Luna's eyes focused, she realized she was laying with her head in a lap and looked up to see Ginny staring down at her.
