This piece comes from an idea suggested by a guest reviewer on chapter 57 on December 18th, 2022. The suggestion was that Harry comforts Susan Bones over her Aunt Amelia's death. I have used that idea here, but also added Luna to the chapter.

It was the evening of Sunday, September 1st, 1996. As everyone stood up to leave the Great Hall after dessert as the Welcoming Feast ended, Harry noticed a very sad look on the face of a red headed girl rising from the Hufflepuff table.

This girl was Susan Bones, and Harry knew exactly why Susan was very sad.

Harry quietly walked over to Susan and asked her quietly, "Can I please have a word in private?"

"Yes," said Susan politely.

As Harry and Susan started to walk towards the doors of the Great Hall, Harry waved at Luna Lovegood, who came over to join them.

"Luna?" requested Harry, "Would you please come with me and Susan to a private room?"

"Of course, I will, Harry Potter," said Luna softly, her voice containing its usual dreamy properties.

Harry led Susan and Luna to the Room of Requirement and walked past the wall three times thinking, "We need a place to just talk in private."

After the third time, a door appeared, and Harry pulled it open.

As Susan and Luna followed Harry through the door and Luna shut and locked the door behind them, the three of them saw a mostly empty room with nothing but chairs and a few sofas.

Harry, Susan, and Luna all sat down together on a white Ashley Furniture couch.

"Susan," said Harry gently, "I noticed as we were leaving the Great Hall after the Welcoming Feast that you looked sad."

"I'm still struggling with grief over the loss of Aunt Amelia," said Susan honestly.

"That's what I thought," said Harry quietly, putting a comforting right arm around Susan's left shoulder, "That's why I asked to meet you in here and why I asked Luna to come along. We can both relate to your sense of grief and loss."

Luna's facial expressions suddenly lost all of their dreamy qualities and became steadfastly serious.

"It would help me to talk about this with people who can relate to my experience," said Susan matter of factly, "One thing that's very hard for me is that Aunt Amelia and I were really close."

Harry and Luna nodded in understanding.

"I know how it feels lose a close loved one," said Luna, her voice oozing the same sadness that Susan's face was depicting.

"Who were you close with that died?" Susan asked Luna with dignity, feeling a kindred spirit towards the dirty blond haired girl sitting beside her to her right.

"My mom," said Luna conversationally, "She was quite an extraordinary witch, but she did like to experiment and one day on her spells went badly wrong. I was nine."

"Oh, Luna!" cried Susan, reaching over and giving Luna a big hug, "I'm so sorry. You were only nine? That's so tragic. There's no worse tragedy than a child losing a parent, especially at a very young age."

"Yes, it was rather horrible," admitted Luna, "I do still feel very sad about it sometimes. "

"Do you find that these feelings of sadness flair up sometimes, even out of nowhere at unexpected times?" inquired Susan.

"Yes, I do," confirmed Luna, "Sometimes these feelings of sadness are very unpredictable. "

"I've been noticing that same thing about feeling very sad sometimes but never knowing when that sadness might flair up ever since Aunt Amelia died," explained Susan, now letting go of Luna, "There's something else as well. I sometimes go into denial about Aunt Amelia's death and especially its permanence. "

"I can relate to that completely, " piped up Harry, "After the death of my godfather, Sirius Black, at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries back on June 24th, I desperately tried to come up with ways Sirius might be able to come back from mirrors to Sirius maybe coming back as a ghost. And even after that was all exhausted, I would still look in certain places and half expect to see Sirius, my brain and my heart never fully accepting his passing."

Susan nodded in understanding.

"When the Hogwarts Express took off this morning, I looked out the window fully expecting to see Aunt Amelia waving at me from the other side of the window, just as she had done each of the previous five years, " said Susan sadly.

"I felt the same way about expecting Sirius to see my off when I left for Hogwarts this morning, if only in his dog from, " replied Harry with the same tent of sadness oozing from his vocal cords.

Susan now turned to Harry, who was sitting to her left, and gave him a hug.

"Never whole again," said Harry quietly as they let go of each other.

"I don't know how to explain this," interjected Susan, "But, somehow, someway, this talk is making me feel a bit more at peace with my emotions, maybe giving me more understanding of these emotions and more acceptance of the idea that's it's okay to have them."

"That's precisely why I wanted to talk to you AND why I brought Luna along. I thought it would be helpful to you if you could talk to people who been through a similar experience of the loss of a close loved one."

"it's absolutely helping, " said Susan gratefully, "Any advice you can give me?"

"It's important that you don't let these emotions consume you," said Luna in the most serious voice she had ever used, "if you need to cry, then cry, if you need to take alone time, then take alone time. Sometimes crying is VERY healthy thing. Crying is the body's way of relieving excess emotion. Sometimes, you really need to let out all that emotion so that it doesn't fester and consume you."

"You really are a Ravenclaw through and through, Luna," said Harry admiringly, "And, Susan, don't ever be ashamed of needing to cry. Don't listen to bullshit such as "crying is a sign of weakness" or "big girls don't cry" Sometimes, crying is the healthiest thing you can do for yourself. it's like having a poison extracted from your body as your tears flow but you'll feel a lot better and be a lot healthier for it when you're done."

"Harry explained that pretty well," Luna told Susan, "There's a balance though. You can't spend your whole life grieving."

"What's giving me the strength to pull through," said Harry seriously, "Is the knowledge that Sirius wouldn't want to live the rest of my life downcast because of him. He would want me to stay strong and live my life to the fullest. Make it your goal in life to live a life that would make Aunt Amelia proud. "

Susan said nothing, but a very thoughtful look spread across her face like wildfire.

After a few minutes and a few nanoseconds of silence, Susan looked very meaningfully at Harry and said, "Thank you, Harry. I needed to hear that. The best way I can pay tribute and honor Aunt Amelia is by living my life to the fullest and living a life that would make her proud. I needed someone to tell me that, put it out there in front of me."

"How are you feeling now?" Luna asked Susan kindly.

"More at peace," replied Susan, "I know that I know how to cope with my situation better after this chat. Furthermore, I feel less alone now. I feel a kindred spirt with the two of you after this conversation and talking this all out with people who can relate to my sense of loss has been quite reassuring."

At that, they all fell silent, and the three of them exchanged a group hug.

Their common experience of loss had bonded them, and, in this moment, Harry could feel Susan and Luna inside of him, Luna could feel Harry and Susan inside of her, and Susan could feel Harry and Luna inside of her.

They were kindred spirts forever.

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