The owls started arriving the same day the article published; hundreds of letters addressed to him in various forms of formality or insults. He sneered curses with each knock at the window. Destroying several Howlers before they could begin their tirades, he watched as each fizzled to the ground with satisfaction. When he stopped letting the owls in, the letters came down the fireplace instead. Finally, he just collected them as they fell and stacked them on his side table with a huff. He would have to make this place unplottable if they did not stop.
He had no interest in any of it, but when Luna stepped from the fireplace that afternoon after spending her day at the Weasley's, she gasped at the pile building on his side table.
"Oh. They are here too?" We've got hundreds at the shop too." As she had recently started calling Mr Weasley's shed in which her press currently stood. She sighed.
"You burned them, I hope," he mumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"No. Ron and Harry amused themselves by reading them all today. I think you should read some. I saved the best for you." She pulled the letters from her shoulder bag and offered them to him as he sat in his armchair..
He eyed them for a moment before shaking his head. "That will not be necessary."
She sat them on the table with the rest. "Then there's this one…" her voice wavered as she pulled out another letter.
He took it from her trembling hands, eying the scrawled address on the front before opening the folds. You should have stayed in hiding, but now I have found you. Who will protect you now that the Dark Lord is gone, the traitorous potions master? I will have you yet.
Her eyes were wide and clouded with distress "It was not signed…"
"But you suspect someone?" His grip tightened on the parchment and his shoulders tensed as he examined the black wax seal.
She nodded. "Rodolphus," she nearly whispered.
His eyes narrowed. "Why him?"
Her wide eyes narrowed in turn as her voice hardened. "Because he said very similar things to me in….well, before."
"He should be in Azkaban." He stood, suddenly feeling restless.
"He is supposed to be." She reached into her bag again and pulled out a copy of the Daily Prophet and showed him the list of those captured and sent to Azkaban after the battle at Hogwarts. Rodolphus Lestrange was indeed listed.
"Perhaps he managed to get a letter out."
She nodded. "Yes. Maybe. Or perhaps it was someone else..."
He grabbed her hand and her silvery eyes shot to his face. "Luna, I will protect you."
She nodded as she looked at where his hand enveloped hers. "I know."
"Then why do you look so frightened?"
To his surprise, she laughed a strange dark laugh as she squeezed his hand tight. "I'm not frightened, Severus. I am furious." She laughed again, this time sounding exacerbated. "It has hardly been a month since the last battle. Not even a month of peace, and here we are under threat again." Her face tightened in a way he had not seen before. To know her thoughts.
"I will investigate this." He folded the note again, tucking it into his shirt pocket.
"The Weasley's said the same." She sighed.
"Yes." He withheld further audible judgement on the Weasleys' ability to provide her adequate protection.
He cleared his throat. "Do you really want to keep working, considering this?"
Her eyes widened as she pulled her hand free. "I will not allow myself to be scared by a piece of paper?"
"It is more than that, Luna." He rubbed his temple and swallowed down his growing irritation.
"Yes, of course it is. But perhaps that is the goal. To frighten me, to silence me." She cocked her head.
He nodded. "Yes. I believe that is a part of it. But you most certainly should assume you are in real physical danger. Rodolphus never took well to being denied what he felt was rightfully his."
She moved away from him and stared into the darkness of the fireplace. "I need The Quibbler. I can't give it up at the first sign of trouble. What would Daddy say?"
"Luna, your safety is paramount."
"I will stay aware. I can protect myself, Severus, and this one too." She raised her chin as she turned back toward him, a hand resting protectively over her midsection.
He snorted. "You are a capable dueler, you have more than proven that. But staying aware is not exactly a strong point of yours."
"You underestimate me." She clicked her tongue as her bright eyes seemed to sparkle with amusement.
"Care to prove that?" He grabbed his wand from its place within his sleeve and spun it in his fingers.
She fingered the wand resting above her left ear. "What did you have in mind?"
"A game of sorts." He cocked a brow.
She leaned closer. "A game? I did not know you were capable of such things."
"Yes. Well, it is more of an exercise if you prefer." His lip twitched into a half smile. "I will attempt to hex you with a mild stinging charm, nothing dangerous, at random moments without warning. You try to block me. Simple." He shrugged his shoulders.
Her lips tightened as she considered him. "Seems simple enough. Will you be using wandless magic as well?"
"Perhaps." The other half of his lip curled to reveal a small smile. She was perhaps more observant than he had credited her for.
"Then perhaps I will too." She winked and gave him a bright grin before turning from him to gather up the many letters.
He raised an eyebrow. Had the witch really mastered wandless magic?
To both Severus's surprise and dismay, Luna turned out to be quite good at his game. He tried to curse her a few minutes later while she flipped through a stack of letters on his table.
Without even looking away from the letter, she blocked him, quickly grabbing her wand from her hair as though she had been expecting it entirely before tucking the wand precariously back behind her ear. "Oh look, this witch has included a rather risque photo for you, Severus." She held up the letter and photo not even acknowledging that he had just tried to hex her.
He sighed, stood, took it from her, and threw it directly into the fireplace. "Incendio," he mumbled and the contents burst into flames as she giggled. He suppressed a smile at the pleasing sound of it.
Some time later, while she sang to herself in the kitchen as she prepared some tea, he tried again. His curse bounced off her back and came flying back to him.
"Stinging me in the back, really?" She shook her head as she offered him some tea.
That evening, as she sat in the arm chair, after they had eaten their dinner, he targeted her feet with a silent spell. She simply raised them up, avoiding the hit and snickered. "Are you even trying, Severus?"
"Yes." He frowned. His first attempt had been rather feeble, but this time and the last he had truly meant to catch her off guard. He was slow. He must be still weakened from his injuries or was subconsciously not able to allow harm to come to her. His jaw tightened. How else could this diminutive witch best him? He swallowed down a sigh.
"Just promise me you won't attack me in my sleep, okay? I'm finally sleeping again." Her eyes pleaded, revealing more intensity than her words.
"That is fair." He looked away, his chest aching.
"Good night, then?"
"Good night." He nodded, his gaze following her as she entered the bookcase stairwell and disappeared up the stairs, feeling the emptiness of the room immediately. He would never voice it aloud, but it was nice to have some company in this house.
The following morning, he awaited her as she emerged from the loo, wrapped in one of his old towels. Blocking the curse with her palm and a quiet, hurried protego, she frowned. "Ugh, I don't even have my wand, and I almost dropped my towel."
He raised an eyebrow, considering the outcome had she not been as quick. He was unsure whether to be regretful or disappointed, but quickly chastised himself for such thoughts. "Very good, Luna. Perhaps, I have underestimated you. Did that ridiculous dueling club actually teach you something?"
"Certainly a lot more than I ever learned in DADA or Charms." She stepped into her room and closed the door.
He nodded. She did not mention potions. "I will see you downstairs for breakfast, Luna. And you should always have your wand."
She stepped into the kitchen, dressed in lavender floral overalls, maroon t-shirt, her hair braided back, her usual cork necklace, and what appeared to be beetles hanging from her ears.
She sat in the chair across from him where he had already set her a plate of home made muffins which he had prepared when he could not sleep overnight, jam, and a hard boiled egg. His cooking and baking talents were coming right along thanks to an old recipe book from his mother's library and frequent visits to the local grocer while Luna was away during the day. At least it gave him something useful to do.
"Tea?" He offered.
"Of course," she smiled as she took a bite of her muffin. "Mmm."
Severus poured her a cup of tea and handed it to her. "You did not learn the wandless magic from your classes last year. That is a late seventh year skill."
"No. Some of the seventh years in the DA could do some and tried to teach us, but I never mastered it then." She took another bite of muffin.
His eyes narrowed. Was she trying to be evasive or was she just being Luna? "Then where?" He sipped his tea.
"I had a lot of spare time on my hands at Malfoy's…" Her eyes became distant. "Mr Ollivander showed me a few things, but he was not very skilled at that sort of thing. We mostly used it for warming and cleansing spells."
"No, I suppose his skills lie in other areas." His throat tightened as he tried not to consider the need for warming and cleansing spells while spending months in Malfoy's dungeon, but his mind pictured the witch dirty and huddled in a corner with the frail elder wizard anyway. How had he not bothered to check on her even once? His teeth clenched.
Luna nodded. "But Bill and Fleur are quite skilled in nonverbal and wandless magic and great teachers as well. They knew I intended to return to Hogwarts at some point and said I needed to be as prepared as possible. Did a fair amount of dueling practice as well. Fleur said the pregnancy would give me extra instincts. Is that a thing?"
"You would be better off asking Molly Weasley that question." He sniffed.
"I did." She took another bite of muffin.
"And?" He sipped his tea.
"She said you become something stronger when you have someone other than yourself to protect."
He nodded. "Seems right enough." His mind flashed to a pair of green eyes behind round glasses briefly before he was able regain control of his thoughts. He looked up at Luna's bright eyes.
"So is our game done now?"
"I believe you have proven yourself." He waved a hand contemplating the idea that her keenness may be attributed in part to her pregnancy and not just his own apparent impairments, whatever those might be. His hand absently went to the collar of his button up.
"You sound surprised." She smirked, revealing the lopsided dimple that he had recently come to appreciate.
"Do I?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Slightly." She shrugged. "But why would you know any of that about me without me having said so."
He nodded. "And yet…"
She cocked her head. "Yes?"
"You have a strange way of seemingly knowing a great deal about me that I have not revealed."
"Do I?" She looked away, out the small window over the sink.
He cleared his throat, drawing her attention back to him, as a tension built along his spine. "It seems as such."
She chewed her plump lower lip as she held his gaze.
He watched her as he took another sip of tea and reassessed his mental wards for signs of her intrusion. "Are you secretly a legilimens as well?"
She snorted a laugh and shook her head wildly. "Is that your concern? Even if I could, I doubt I would want to know what happens in that head of yours." She laughed again.
He snorted in return. "That is precisely what has kept me out of your head."
Her mouth gaped. "You are a Legilimens?"
He nodded, a twinge of something swelling in his chest. A secret Miss Lovegood had yet to uncover?
Her lips slowly closed into a thoughtful pout, as she cocked her head again. "I mean, of course you are. It fits. I don't know why it did not occur to me sooner."
"And why is that?" He leaned over his teacup.
She too leaned closer. "It seems like a terrifically useful skill for a spy. And you were apparently a very good one. And a talent only a very skilled wizard can master."
"Yes." He watched her in silence, considering how much of himself he would be revealing with his next words. "So then, how is it you seem to read me so well?"
"I don't mean to." Her blonde brows knitted. "But a person's energy and environment says so much. I can't help it…"
His eyes narrowed. His energy? What was she going on about? And what more could be gleaned from his environment other than his love of reading and greys and black, and poor housekeeping skills? He had been quite careful about keeping his home rather void of anything that might prove insightful to the wrong eyes, not that he often had guests.
"I see." He leaned back in his chair.
She stood and reached for their dishes. "Would you like to join me today?"
His lip curled. "I think it would be prudent to do so."
"Really?" Her face lit up.
"Yes." He sighed, a sour taste building in his mouth.
"How wonderful." She clasped her hands.
He sighed again, contemplating rescinding the offer. "Very well." He stood. "Shall we then?"
A/N: Didn't mean to take such a long break. Had to rework this section several times... still not sure about it. Please leave me your thoughts.