Concurrent Existences

Chapter 17: Dawn

Time slows, watching the dawn.

Each beam of light accompanied by a yawn.

Breathtaking, seeing the beauty of the sky.

Who knew this would be goodbye?

The weekend started tomorrow.

It was time.

Time to continue some experiments.

Luna smiled as she bade Hermione and Bella, her new friend, farewell for the night after the first of possibly many future misadventures that they would encounter this year. Luna just had that kind of feeling that this year would be another chaotic one.

Luna wasn't stupid, she knew that the other two girls were obviously keeping something from her. She knew a lot more about what was going on than anyone realized. People had always underestimated her and surprisingly, Luna didn't really care much about it, even if it was her friends that did it sometimes. Sometimes everyone just forgot that Luna Lovegood's grades were just as high as Hermione's grades. Luna didn't really didn't mind though, she wasn't meant for the spotlight.

The dirty blonde had seen the changes in Hermione, how she had changed overnight, how close the brunette had gotten to Isabella Crescent. Hermione getting close to someone that fast? Luna knew there was more behind that story. The aged and tired look that Luna could see flash within Hermione's eyes from time to time was alarming as well, as though Hermione had gone through worse things than Harry Potter. The Silixies hovering above Hermione were also a bit jarring, it was the first time she had seen them ever hover over Hermione and Luna knew Hermione wasn't promiscuous, Hermione was a for-life type of girl.

Isabella Crescent Black was another anomaly. The girl had simply popped out of nowhere, not that she minded of course. Luna was always ecstatic to have another friend and for some reason, all her friends only came from Gryffindor. Maybe the hat had something against her?

Isabella getting along with Hermione off the bat was confusing though. Luna could obviously see the attraction between them as well as the Silixies; opposites attract, but that fast? The Darlixels and the nostalgic feeling she had gotten from the fifteen year old were raising flags as well. Darlixels only gather to wizards and witches that use a lot of dark magic and quite a few had gathered around Isabella feeding on the remnants of dark energy. The last time she had actually seen an abundance of Darlixels were during the war when she was facing Death Eaters, an experience she wouldn't mind repeating again.

Luna knew though. She knew the girl from somewhere, but couldn't pinpoint it. She would observe her new friend more to solve the mystery as well as get to know her more.

The pathway in front of her split in two, one towards Ravenclaw tower and the other towards a dead end.

She merrily skipped towards the dead end.

It was getting really late, possibly almost midnight, but Luna wasn't going back to the Ravenclaw rooms tonight. Ravenclaw, it was still a house she felt she didn't belong to. All the years spent within the tower of Ravenclaw and she still had nothing from it.

Well, she had lost a lot from it actually, shoes and slippers especially.

Cursed Nargles. It wasn't as if she could make a anti-Nargle charm for all her stuff. Evil little thieves.

Luna began to slow her walking as she approached a dead end, but before she actually hit the dead end, the wall began to reform with a stone grinding sound.

The Room of Requirement.

The Room of Requirement had actually been working for several weeks now. The main room which contained all the old artifacts and junk could still not be accessed, but anything else? Accessible.

Luna smiled again as she glanced over the room. This had actually been the room she had been staying in for the past few weeks. A small bed fit for two, a dresser and drawer that was magically linked to her chest in her items within Ravenclaw tower, a small couch in front of a fireplace and a few other knickknacks. There was also a small window that had a clear view of the night's sky.

The girl just didn't feel attached to the Ravenclaw tower at all.

This place though? It felt like home. Home hadn't truly felt like home since her mother died several years ago, but this place? She felt warmth emanating from it. Not the typical warmth that heats up the skin, but warmth that keeps the soul warm. There was no way to actually fully explain the phenomena, but that was the best way to explain it.

Luna wanted to share this knowledge with her brunette friend, but decided she wanted to keep the little secret of the room to herself for a little bit more.

Luna began to get ready for bed even if she didn't really feel sleepy. Perhaps she would just read a book to pass the time for now. She opened the dresser to get her sleeping clothes when all of a sudden one of her pieces of underwear flew from the dresser.

Oh no.

"Noooo! Come back!" Luna quickly dove for the flying pair of panties, but ended up empty handed as the flying piece of underwear went towards the corner of the room near the bed.

"Please, Mister Nargle, could you give that back? That's not very nice." Luna tried pleading. A chase around the room at this time wasn't really something she wanted to do right now. She actually had more thoughts to sort through!

It seemed as though the invisible creature began to decide whether to give into the request or not, but Luna didn't want to wait. Usually, she would be the epitome of patience, but not when something was stealing her underwear and making it float around!

"Accio Panties!" The Nargle was smart. Right as she had cast the Accio spell, the Nargle had made a mad dash under the bed making the piece of underwear impossible to be pulled towards Luna.

Luna groaned, which was not really Luna-like, but she was tired. The invisible little creatures that she could see always did this! Whether it was the Nargles themselves taking her things or the Nargles that jump onto the heads of other Ravenclaw's to do the stealing for them, they all liked teasing her. It is quite annoying actually.

"You, sir, are quite annoying." Luna began to think up a plan. The only way to beat a Nargle is to either outsmart it or wait till it gets bored and tired.

A plan was quickly thought up. Wingardium Leviosa should be a simple enough spell to levitate the bed as well as the Nargle and the piece of underwear.

"Okay, Mr. Nargle, you win." Just a bit of bluffing to put the creature off guard.

The piece of underwear all of a sudden began peeking out from under the bed.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Everything under the bed including the bed began to levitated. Luna could see the piece of underwear try to zip away, but the Nargle could only move in place.

She won.

Yay.

Luna quickly plucked her underwear from the levitating Nargles and pouted at the creature. "You know, it is really mean to keep doing these things."

A tiny sound came from the Nargle and Luna seemed to actually understand what the creature was saying.

"Playing around isn't a good enough reason. Smelling good isn't a good reason either." So much for mythical invisible creatures. These Nargles were just perverted thieves.

The bed and the invisible creature began to slowly inch towards the ground. Luna spoke up again as soon as everything was on the ground. "Now, it's late, run along home and please stop stealing my things."

Another tiny sound.

"Okay, okay." Luna went towards her drawer to pull something out. "A handkerchief. Tell your friends and family we have a treaty, okay? No further raids on my things for two weeks." The handkerchief began floating away.

It was tiring sometimes being the only one able to see the creatures. Luna blamed nothing against her power to see the mythical and invisible creatures, she loved it, she loved being unique, but sometimes it was just lonely.

Luna went towards her locker to begin changing again, but a sock quickly flew out. Luna let out a tired sigh, seemed as if there was another Nargle in the room that missed the agreement.

Luna was about to capture her sock, when she noticed the Bloomling bud on her shoulder bloom into the familiar pink shade with a red tinge. A warm smile emerged from Luna as she knew the implications.

"Looking for this?" Helena Ravenclaw. Her professor had her sock in one hand and the Nargle in another.

And then she remembered that she wasn't the only one that could see these creatures.

She wasn't alone.

I'm not alone. Not anymore.

Luna tried to keep her face slightly neutral, but it was a failure. She hoped her professor wouldn't think much of the most likely dreamy smile she had on.

Helena Ravenclaw. Her new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had actually been visiting her every night since the start of the week, in other words, since the first day of classes ended.

It was exciting and surprising, both at the same time actually.

Exciting because she really wasn't used to spending a lot of time with others. Sure, Harry, Hermione and Ron were there from time to time especially when they all needed to stick together during the war, but after that? It seemed like everyone was just drifting apart.

There was Neville, he was sweet, she tried to feel something for him, but kissing him once made her feel like kissing a Nargle. Luna wouldn't be as idiotic as other girls to keep furthering the relationship to try to feel something when clearly she didn't. She proposed to stay friends, but Neville just gave her a pained nod.

The only one Luna was in contact with during the reparation of Hogwarts was Ginny and Hermione. Even then Ginny only replied to her letters from time to time since she stayed at the Burrow. Hermione was always there, but she was always busy with the repairs or a book. They were all good and irreplaceable friends to Luna, but sometimes it just felt as if something was not right.

Something was missing.

Surprising because the ghost had been anti-social as far as she could remember. The Gray Ghost had always kept to herself, most people that read up a little about the history of Hogwarts knew of the ghosts story. It was always a known fact that Helena Ravenclaw did not really bother with anyone and mostly kept to herself, unless she was running away from the Bloody Baron.

The Bloody Baron.

Luna lips pursed as close to a frown as it could get when reminded of the Bloody Baron. At first, Luna thought the story had been exaggerated with a lot of information actually missing, but even Helena, herself, confirmed the truth in the stories. Both Luna and Helena had learned much about each other during the past five days.

The story said that Helena felt insecure and bound behind her mother's shadow, how she wanted to escape from it and be her own woman. The ghost never wanted to be known as Rowena's daughter or anything of the sort, but she was stuck with it for twenty years of her living life until the end of it.

That part of the story was wrong.

Helena just wanted people to see the truth, but people were always satisfied to be blinded.

The story continued as to how Rowena Ravenclaw, the mother of Helena and one of the founders of Hogwarts, tasked the Bloody Baron to look for Helena after her daughter took her Diadem and fled from Hogwarts. Why Rowena chose the stalker-type Baron? Probably because he would not give up until he found Helena.

Eventually, the Bloody Baron finally caught up to her. The Ravenclaw prodigy refused all the Baron's advanced and the response had been quite bloody.

A couple of stabs through the stomach for each time Helena had rejected him.

Helena said how she slowly bled out while hearing the Baron, yet again, proclaim his undying love for her. How the Baron's crazed eyes sparkled as he imagined their tragic love story to be told in future generations.

Utterly disgusting.

Luna didn't know how the Bloody Baron escaped persecution even as a ghost. The Bloody Baron had murdered Helena, but never faced retribution.

Luna smiled dreamily, knowing that her imagining the Bloody Baron taking punishment would not just be in her dreams for long.

The dirty blonde didn't allow the Bloody Baron to further sully her thoughts, he was of no consequence. In time, he would receive his punishment for hurting her friend, no matter how long ago. Luna had promised this to Helena, even if she just smiled and shook her head.

I never break my promises.

Luna had never in her life broken a promise.

Helena wasn't really sure what to think of the girl before her. She had seen Luna so many times before as she was growing up in Hogwarts, but never really paid much attention to it. Being a ghost for centuries tends to dampen time and the amount of things she should have easily noticed.

The only moment that time started to seem regular again was when the Second Wizarding War happened and she was approached by Harry Potter. Things began to be more obvious and she could also slowly start feeling herself caring again. Slowly, this feeling actually morphed into a force that made her want to change the pace of her ghostly life. The empty moments of just existing to float and run away from the Bloody Baron were now unacceptable.

Helena felt like she was meant for more. Even if it was centuries from when she was alive, she now felt that there was something she needed to do. Something she needed to complete in her past life, but wasn't able to. Something that Luna Lovegood could.

The ghost had actually sensed someone visiting the Room of Requirement for quite a while now. The Room of Requirement actually had a connection Helena, mostly because the room was created by her mother with her daughter in mind. She decided to take a peek during the first night after classes in Hogwarts had resumed.

Lo and behold that the interloper was Luna Lovegood, the very girl that the ghost had began to feel attached to. Just the fact alone that the girl could see the mythical creatures created a bond between them.

It hurt.

It hurt her centuries ago when no one believed her when she claimed the existence of these creatures.

Her mother said she believed her, but she still wasn't sure if Rowena had just been humoring her.

All the students and other professors though, did not believe anything she said. Most of the students and professors believed that she was only making things up to get more attention. Making things up to seem greater than everyone else, greater than her mother.

These people actually thought that all she wanted was to prove herself better than her mother and everyone else.

It was false. It wasn't even close to the truth. Helena just wanted people to understand what she saw, nothing more, nothing less. Not for fame, recognition or anything of the sort, but it was in vain.

So, she ran. She ran away with her mother's Diadem.

There was a purpose though. Helena needed the Diadem to create and fabricate a spell weave that would allow the Diadem's wearer to be able to see the mythical creatures. Her mother would have never let her tinker with the Diadem for such reasons.

Nargles, Darklings, Thestrals and even Silixies! These creatures had names and were sentient enough to let her know what they were called. They deserved to be known and appreciated by everyone else.

Helena had a purpose in her life. A purpose to show people the truth! A purpose that...

...died along with her when she was stabbed by the stalker her mother had sent. She could feel her purpose and confidence slowly leak out just like the lifeblood that slowly left her body.

She could feel her dreams go cold just as her body lost all warmth.

Everything just seemed so empty after that.

Time passed. People were born, people died. Wars were waged, wars were ended. The Bloody Baron chased, she escaped. Truly, an endless cycle.

Until now. Helena didn't know why , but it was just a feeling. A feeling that she had something to accomplish again.

Maybe accomplish what she had wanted to do through this pretty girl in front of her. Maybe, just maybe, Luna would succeed where she had failed. With her guidance and knowledge, she would make sure Luna would be successful, even if she wasn't, Helena would make sure the girl wouldn't be alone.

"So, yes?"

"Sorry, Luna, what was it again?" Helena couldn't believe she was so deep in thought that she spaced out.

Luna smiled. "I was just asking if we should start documenting all the mythical creatures we can see? I think it would benefit us a lot to start when we can." It was funny how alike their thoughts were sometimes.

"Absolutely, I'll help you in any way that I can. The Spectrespecs you created to see Wrackspurts is already a breakthrough." It astounded Helena how a girl this young was able to create such a thing. Even though it was only able to see one type of mythical creature, it was still a breakthrough.

"Mhm, it's too bad everyone thinks they're fake enchanted glasses that make you see things." Sadly, it was a breakthrough that no one really saw.

Helena floated beside Luna on the couch. She could instantly spot the growing blush on the girl's cheeks which were really cute. She could remember when she had her own crushes during her time, she never did get to indulge in any of them though. Luna would get over her little crush, there wasn't much a ghost and a human could do together anyway even if she did entertain the thought.

"Luna, one day people will see the truth. I tried, but was stopped before I was able to do anything. But you? Honey, you're still alive and have such a long life ahead of you. You can do things that I can only wish I could do. I can barely focus on one thing to levitate in the corporeal world." Helena really could only focus on moving or touching one or two things before her concentration was broken and became incorporeal again.

If possible, Luna's smile just got wider and her eyes sparkled a tiny bit more. The Bloomling on her shoulder had also gone a deeper red. Merlin, she had to nip this crush in the bud soon. She didn't want her new friend to get hurt.

"If what you say is true, Professor, then maybe I could also find a way for a ghost to interact further with the corporeal world, or a human to interact with the incorporeal world." If ghosts could blush, Helena's cheeks would be red as a tomato.

Luckily, the girl was just too adorable and innocent to understand the subtle meaning behind her worlds.

There and then, Helena Ravenclaw vowed to protect this girl. As a Professor of Hogwarts, as a friend and as whatever else, she would do anything to protect the girl. The girl that could help her fulfill what she couldn't.

"Anything is possible."

The DADA professor bade Luna a goodnight as they realized how late it was. It was nearing one in the morning. Even if it was a Saturday, a lot of students would be awake early in the morning to begin their leisure time and it would only get harder to get out of the Room of Requirement unnoticed. The easiest way, which she has been doing for weeks now, was to wake up at around five or six in the morning and return to Ravenclaw Tower.

She thought about her conversation with the professor again. Luna had always wanted to share the mythical creatures with the world, but had not really put an effort into it since no one else truly believed her. But now? One person's true support alone helped her motivation, she would do this. She would prove and document to the world about all the magnificent mythical creatures that she and her professor could see. Luna would then develop a better way to see them, not just the Wrackspurts, but all the others.

And then...

Luna would make a way to let humans and ghosts interact even if the only purpose on her mind was to be able to give her new professor, her new friend, Helena, a hug.

A real hug, that she probably hasn't felt for centuries.

To show Helena that she wasn't alone in the world. That Luna was there now.

Luna began to fall asleep and the last thought in her mind was that she forgot to ask Helena how to become a ghost.

Luna yawned. The sleep-addled dirty blonde looked over at the small window to see that the sun was going to start rising soon.

She had woken up a bit more early than usual, but realized that she might as well move back to Ravenclaw Tower already.

Luna lightly slapped her cheeks, grabbed her wand and got dressed. She quickly exited the Room of Requirement and headed for Ravenclaw Tower. The halls were obviously empty at this early in the morning.

The dreamy blonde was barely a minute away from the room when she passed by a balcony that showed the sun slowly ascending the sky. The sight was mesmerizing and Luna realized she could just spend some time to watch the dawn.

There was a small stone grinding sound somewhere, but Luna was too caught up in the beauty of the sky to notice.

A few minutes of watching the sunrise wouldn't hurt.

Luna felt a bit tired a few minutes after watching the dawn and decided to get back to rest.

It also began to feel a bit chilly, Luna could actually see her cold breath as she breathed out.

Huh, a bit cold for September.

A faint screech caused Luna to immediately tense up. She had heard this before.

Fear.

A faint grinding of stone and a shout was heard as Luna began to turn to look.

Emptiness.

The chill, feeling of fear and emptiness made sense as Luna turned her head.

A figure she thought that would never appear before her again was already in her immediate area.

Dementor.

There wouldn't be enough time to cast a Patronus. It was already too close, it was moving so fast.

All Luna could think about at this time was the things she and Helena had talked about. She felt so many feelings at the same time.

Regret. She wouldn't be able to be Helena's legacy. No way to prove that Helena Ravenclaw was just as much of a witch as her mother and that she was always telling the truth.

Anger. She was angry that she would not be the one to bring retribution upon the Bloody Baron.

Sadness. She wouldn't be able to spend time with Ginny and Hermione anymore. She wouldn't be able to spend time with Helena anymore.

The last thought was surprisingly happiness. Maybe she would be able to come back as a ghost and keep Helena company.

Wasn't this the time Harry or Hermione would pop out and shout "Expecto Patronum!"? Sadly, not this time.

Darkness.

There wasn't anything else as the Dementor fully enveloped her. She thought there would be more cold, fear and emptiness like Harry had told her, but there was just nothing.

Luna.

Moon.

Volana.

Bloomling - Creature that feeds on a person's aura and changing depending on what it feeds on. Pink is for innocence, red is for love. This type of creature re-blooms and turns back into a bud randomly. Can be used as detection for some people.

Wrackspurts - Goes into people's ears to make their brain go fuzzy. (Canon)

Spectrespecs - Multi-colored Owl-like lenses to see Wrackspurts. (Canon)

Volana - Further knowledge on this in further chapters.

AN: Sorry for late updates. Inspiration is a bit sparse lately. Black Desert is also to blame! I'll still try to update Fri/Sat if I can.

Luna's chapter. Sorry if there wasn't much that happened. The was only a limited time period I could actually do a Luna-focused chapter that helped the plot. More on what happened to Luna next chapter.

This chapter was more focused on a backstory-ish thing for Luna and Helena. Added more information about Helena incase people didn't really know her background (The original story about Helena is half true as explained by Helena). Luna/Helena pairing is almost solid in my mind btw. Any thoughts/opinions on the pairing?

I don't really know if I could get Luna's personality down well. We all see the regular dreamy, innocent Luna, but I tried putting more depth? I'm not sure if it came across though.

The setup is almost complete-ish? Chaos might slowly start to commence.

Oh and sorry about the lack of Hermione and Bella! They'll be back next chapter.

Hogwarts start in September. (Note to self) Time isn't a big thing in the story, but sometimes I need to mention it.

Feedback please? :)

Edit: Thanks to Korny247 for pointing out an inconsistency about the timeline for Romeo and Juliet existing at around 1000 A.D. Fixed! Maybe Shakespeare would have gotten a bit of inspiration from Helena's tragic tale?

1590 A.D. Hogwarts (This can be ignored, just a random scene popped out.)

"Are you listening? Will you stop talking to that skull and lay down that enchanted quill for a moment?"

"Wherefore doeth thou keepeth int'rrupting mine art?" Shakespeare could not believe the insolence! He was so close to finishing another play, it's too bad all these plebeians could not understand true art! Fight with a quill! Not a wand!

"I was just saying that the tale of the Bloody Baron-?" Before the plebeian could finish his sentence, Shakespeare slammed on the table and stood up. Shakespeare could not utter another word as a spark went off in his head as he recalled the tale of Helena Ravenclaw and the Bloody Baron. How could he have not seen it before?!

"I finally hast it! Mine newest playeth of starcross'd lov'rs!" Without another thought, the enchanted quill began to furiously write on the parchment as Shakespeare's words flowed out of his thoughts.

"William, you do know that no one will appreciate your works. You'd have better chance spreading that upon muggles." The enchanted quill immediately stopped.

"Genius! Betoken me m're about these thoughts of yours!" His plebeian friend had a point. If the magical world could not appreciate his art, then maybe the muggle world would! Maybe this visit to Hogwarts wasn't a grand waste of his time after all.