In The End

Chapter 36 - Back To School

Author's note: *not edited*

"Are you ready?" Luna asked, looking to her side at Eliza.

Eliza grabbed her hand and smiled gently before nodding.

"Let's go." She said.

Luna smiled and soon apparated away, hand-in-hand with Eliza.

Eliza fell to her knees as she and Luna landed on a long, grassy hill. Looking up, she felt a jolt in her stomach from the sight that now lay before her. Hogwarts looked darker than ever. It's silhouette a stark black against the orange sky of the dawn.

"I wonder how much has changed." Luna said, dusting herself off and lifting her small but colourful travel bag over her shoulder.

"I'm sure everything has changed." Eliza said, cautiously eyeing the castle.

"Yes, I suppose so, with Dumbledore being gone and all." Luna said softly.

"Well, let's get a move on." Eliza said, picking up her bag and beginning to march down the hill.

The two friends were silent as they approached the gates to Hogwarts, deep in thought. Luna reflected on her and Eliza's visit with her father. He was no longer at his home, what with the Dark Lord after him and all, but he was safely lodging with other members of the order, as well as Fabian Macnair.

She remembered him begging her to stay when she had told him she wanted to go back to Hogwarts. "It isn't safe anymore" he had said. But she was determined. She had a feeling in her heart that Harry, Hermione and Ron would return soon, and she wanted to be there.

Eliza had insisted on going with her. Even though she was not a fan of Hogwarts, as it held many dark memories for her, she was partially glad she had agreed to go. At least she would have some way of trying to fix all the wrongs she had committed, although she suspected she would never do enough to truly fix them all.

When Luna and Eliza arrived at the front gate they were quite stunned by a nasty couple of siblings known as the Carrows, who did not take discipline lightly, and felt it entirely necessary to punish students who enrolled into Hogwarts late.

Of course Eliza had falsified her name, what with Snape being the Headmaster and all. She didn't want him to go notifying Voldemort concerning her whereabouts. From then on, Luna would have to remember to call her Wendy Penhallow.

It was only late that night, after a good beating and classes that Eliza and Luna were allowed to relax in the Ravenclaw common room. The other Ravenclaws didn't seem to ever have a problem with Eliza rooming with Luna, so long as she never bothered them.

Eliza wouldn't dare go back to Slytherin and face all the pure blood Slytherins who would jump at the chance to rat her out. She had even dyed her hair black and started wearing glasses as an extra precaution.

Eliza jumped slightly as she heard a soft knock on their door. Luna looked at her unsurely, before slowly rising and opening the door slightly to look and see who it was.

She was quite surprised to find a meagre house elf standing shyly at the door.

"Hello there." Luna said kindly, opening the door wider and letting the house elf inside.

"Good evening miss. Are you Miss Lovegood?" The little elf asked shyly.

"Indeed. Is there something I can help you with?" She asked politely.

The house elf nodded slightly.

"My name is Tinky. I have a letter addressed to you, miss." She said timidly, pulling out an envelope and handing it to Luna.

"Thank you kindly Tinky." Luna said sweetly, taking the letter.

Tinky nodded with a big grin.

"Good night Miss Lovegood." She said shyly, before leaving quietly.

Luna closed the door and examined the envelope. It appeared to have been opened before.

"What is it?" Eliza asked, getting up.

"It appears to be a letter." Luna said, sitting down slowly onto Eliza's bed.

She pulled out the piece of parchment inside the envelope and began to scan it. There were a few paragraphs titled "For the Hogwarts house elves:", "For any of the correspondents listed below: Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley" and "For Eliza Macnair".

Eliza was startled to see her name.

Luna decided to read the part addressed to her out loud.

"If you are reading this, I can only assume that you are back at Hogwarts. As I have no clue where Eliza is, I was hoping that you could give me a hand in delivering this letter to her. I just want to know that she is safe. Please make sure this gets to her." Luna read.

Eliza quickly grabbed the letter out of Luna's hands, frantically reading the paragraph addressed to her:

Dear Eliza,

I heard recently that you were seen rescuing your father from his house just before the deatheaters got to him. At first I was alarmed by the boldness with which you left your warded protection, but I am now sure that you came up with some kind of plan to avoid being tracked.

I have been thinking about you constantly, and miss you terribly. I just hope that you are alright.

If you are reading this I am relatively sure that you have kept in contact with one of the four listed above, which means that you are possibly at Hogwarts as you are reading this.

If you are not, please find a way to get there within the next week or so. I sense that He Who Shall Not Be Named is planning on visiting soon, which means that I will be visiting soon.

I have a plan to get you away from this war. I will join you of course. I cannot bear to be without you for much longer. When visiting day comes, I want you to meet me where we had our first kiss. I will be waiting. I love you.

Love You Know Who x

Eliza smiled widely as she finished reading the letter. He was coming to get her. She checked the date, and realised that the day would be coming in the next day or so.

"Oh dear." Luna said from beside her, as she scanned the letter for the second time from over her shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Eliza asked, looking up at Luna.

"He Who Shall Not Be Named is going to launch an attack any day now." She said quietly, returning Eliza's gaze.

Eliza's stomach felt heavy at the sudden realisation. What were they going to do?