Sanity ~ A Luna Lovegood Fanfiction

Home

I gasped.

The odd lurching tilt of the house I grew up in was now, to put it simply, dilapidated completely.

It was a mere heap of rubble.

The beautiful garden that had surrounded my home was now nothing more than a churned plot of earth, strewn here and there with the occasional pot or shoe or teacup.

I turned to see my father pale-faced, his hands fidgeting nervously in front of him.

"L-Luna," he stuttered. His eyes bore into mine, begging me to understand that each word he said pained him.

I opened my mouth but quickly shut it again.

"Luna, I'm-I'm so sorry."

"Daddy..."

At this his knees buckled and he sprawled to the ground. His nose was pressed against the sodden ground and his shaking hands were clutched at his head. He let out a racking sob. And another. And another.

And I stood there looking down at him in apprehension.

"I'm so sorry," he blubbered.

I rushed to him, smothering his shaking, brittle body with my loving arms.

"Daddy, what happened?" I pleaded.

The last time he had been so distressed was when he had came home to find me hugging my mother's cold body, a mess of shattered glass around us and excess bubbles from the reactant chemicals floating in the hair. He had grabbed onto us, desperately weeping and crying for help. After the begged-for help did arrive, Daddy cried for a week with no end. He refused to speak to me, or anyone, wallowing in his grief and despair.

"It-it was the Death Eaters," he wailed and now he threw his head back, looking up to the sky. I could see the red rims of his eyes and the wet tears streaming down his pale face.

I shook my head and couldn't help a tear from falling down my cheek. My knees in the dirt and my arms still stroking his, I watched him cluelessly.

"Why would they do such a thing? What more did they want?"

"Because ... I," the words were stunted evading his trembling lips, "I... didn't deliver Harry Potter to them."

Of all the possible answers, this one overwhelmed me. "Daddy!" I shrieked. "You should be so proud." I nestled my head into his shoulder. "They kidnapped me, they tried to threaten us and still you didn't go back on your beliefs. You did the right thing.  I don't care if our house, our home, is gone. It only matters that you didn't give up Harry." 

Once again, I was playing the role of the parent and Daddy was the child who needed protecring. It was my duty to comfort him and tell him it was all okay. Even though it maybe wasn't.

Daddy tilted his head toward me and I saw the tears brimming in them. He nodded slowly and picked himself off the ground.
He stroked my hair as I looked on at the wreckage. I wanted to take it all in, no matter how distressing the sight was.

I left his side to wander through the destroyed remains. There was nothing left whole or untouched. Everything had been desolated, it seemed.

I wanted to find something to hold on to. There were so many things that had occupied our home. All my paints, my teddies, my pictures. My mother's smiling face appeared in my mind. Her illuminated hair twirled in the breeze. I tried to find her among the wreckage but she wasn't materialising.

As I skittered my eyes along the ruins of what was once my home I spotted a dash of colour amongst the sorrowful heap of ash and rock and rubbish and recognised the purple printed word "The Quibbler".

It may not have been my mother, but it was something I could cherish. I smiled to myself as sad as it was and took a step to pick it up.

A metre or two away I saw something odd on the cover.

Apart from the familiar purple and orange Quibbler logo the rest of the cover was in black and white.

I frowned and suddenly I heard the callings of my father wanting me to come back. But it was too late.

On the front cover was a picture of Harry Potter and printed above his sullen face were the words "UNDESIRABLE NO 1".

The realisation came to me in a wave, a wave so powerful it almost knocked me off my feet. I turned to see my father looking less guilty than I would have thought. He looked proud, as if he had down his duty.

"How could you?" I asked, my voice quivering. All I ever wanted to do was think the best of him but severe hatred was brimming inside.

"Luna, don't be like that, I had to do it. I needed you to be safe, this was the only way. It was the only way. I did this for us."

I couldn't believe I had been kneeling the dirt beside him only moments ago, comforting him. He reached out his hand to console me but I recoiled instantly. The look that instantly swept over his face was a look I wished I had never seen and I wanted to never see again.

He was hurt, shocked and upset at my rejection. But I was hurt, shocked and upset too. I couldn't bear to see him, reaching out for me, after all he had done. Before I even knew it I was running away as fast as my feet could carry me, Daddy's pleading calls getting more and more faint with every step.