On the morning of Friday, September 30th, 1994, Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, and Ginny were all sitting at the breakfast table eating a breakfast of sausage biscuits, hash browns, and Sunny Delight.
Lily, of course, ate breakfast with her other friend group of Tracey, Daphne, and Astoria. However, Harry, Colin. Dennis, Hermione, and Ginny wondered where Susan and Luna were, and each passing nanosecond gave their absence an increasing sense of foreboding.
As the time Susan and Luna failed to appear wore on, Harry got a nasty feeling that either Xenophilius or Amelia had died. He remembered the agreement Xenophilius and Amelia had made to make Xenophilius Susan's godfather and Amelia Luna's godmother and wondered whether one of them had died while the other was now making the arrangements to take over the role of guardianship of the other's ward that they'd agreed to.
When Susan and Luna finally appeared, Susan had her arm around Luna and they both looked a bit sad but neither looked overly devastated or upset.
When Susan and Luna finally took seats, it was Susan who spoke up without preamble.
"So, " explained Susan, "Luna got some bad news this morning, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse. "
There was a short pause.
"Luna's house has been completely destroyed, " explained Susan sadly, "By an exploding Erumpent Horn."
Ginny, who had visited Luna's house many times over the years, felt some involuntary tears flow down her cheeks while Hermione was furious.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS A ERUMPENT HORN DOING IN A HOUSE!" screamed Hermione, "THEY ARE EXTREMLY DANGEROUS TO BOTH PEOPLE AND PROPERTY!"
"Apparently, " said Susan sadly, "Xenophilius believed he had procured the horn of a Crumple Horned Snorkack, but it turned out to be a Erumpent Horn and last night, Xenophilius, eager to examine it further, touched it, causing it to explode. It destroyed the whole house, but the good news is that Xenophilius was able to escape. "
"How?" asked Harry urgently.
"He disapparated from the Lovegoods house and apparated into Bones Manor," said Susan matter of factly.
"I'm glad he got out, " said Colin quietly, "You don't need any more loss in your life, Luna."
"The most important thing is that Xenophilius still has his life and Luna still has her father, " agreed Ginny, "But Luna has suffered another loss."
"Yes," said Luna softly, "But I'm grateful that it was the house and not daddy that I lost. Yes, I do feel some sadness about my childhood home being destroyed, but I'll take that over losing daddy any time."
"But?" piped up Dennis, "Where will you live now when Hogwarts is not in session. Is your father going to shop for a new house right away?"
"He's not going to shop for a new house at all," answered Luna, "Other arrangements have been made for daddy and me."
"Those arrangements, " explained Susan in a businesslike voice, "Are that Aunt Amelia has offered to allow Xenophilius and Luna to live with her and me and Xenophilius has accepted that offer."
"The four of us, daddy, Amelia, Susan, and I all spent a good chunk of this morning discussing our futures, " said Luna gratefully, "This is going to end up being a blessing in disguise, though I do admit that I cried a bit when I first learned of the news."
"How is this in any way a blessing in disguise?" asked a confused sounding Harry, "What good could possibly come out of this?"
"Both daddy and Amelia have long been lonely people, " said Luna heavily, "In particular, both always struggle with sadness and loneliness when Susan and I are away at Hogwarts. While they visited each other a few times since our bond formed, they both readily admitted this morning that both will be happier and mentally healthier because of now consistently having each other's company through living together."
"No more coming home to an empty house after work for Xenophilius or Aunt Amelia, " said Susan clearly, "
"It still feels really sad that Luna had to lose her childhood home," said Harry somberly.
"Everything happens for a reason," said Luna peacefully, "I don't deny feeling some sadness for the loss. But the truth is that I'm not that devastated. I was devastated when my mom died. I would have been devastated if daddy would have died. This, while sad, is something I can accept with peace and move on from. This is what is supposed to happen in my life. The Lovegoods and the Boneses were meant to come to together. Everything happens for a reason and that reason will become fully clearer over time."
"I've visited Luna's childhood house loads of times, " said Ginny uncomfortably, "She always seemed pretty fond of her house. I'm surprised she is not far more emotional."
"I was when I first heard about it, " acknowledged Luna, "But new lives can be formed in new places. Loved ones are irreplaceable. Also, Susan was a great help to me by allowing me to cry on her shoulder when I first learned the news. One reason I'm not showing as much emotion as you might expect is that I already expelled a lot of it to Susan this morning."
The others started to understand.
"This basically means, " observed Harry, "That Xenophilius, Amelia, Luna, and Susan are all a family now."
"YES!" declared Susan and Luna together, fiercely.
"Even though neither of them died, " said Harry in understanding, "The agreement between Xenophilius and Amelia still came to be very relevant. And in addition to Xenophilius and Amelia being there for each other, Susan and Luna will both have two significant adult figures in their lives instead of just one."
"That's another reason this is ultimately going to work out for the best, " said Luna knowingly, "Amelia, my godmother, can become a mother figure to me while I still have daddy. "
"And, " added Susan, "Xenophilius, my godfather, can become a father figure to me while Aunt Amelia remains my mother figure."
Susan and Luna now embraced each other like sisters.
"Luna," said Susan fiercely, "I'm going to help you get through this and that's a promise. Always know that I will always be there for you come hell or high water to our world."
"Thanks," said Luna softly.
Susan and Luna finally took some sausage biscuits, hash browns, and Sunny Delight for themselves, and the rest of breakfast passed quietly.
Once everyone had finished eating, there was total silence as Susan and Luna reflected quietly on what was to come.
They knew what the path forward was and had peace with it.
The Lovegoods and the Boneses were about to merge to become a family.
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