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Hey Everyone, hope you brought your popcorn because the beginning of drama is going to happen.....now.

 




Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


 

 

Chapter 8

 

-DM-

 

            There was another party on the horizon for the Malfoys to attend. He really should have expected this. Not a year had passed was there a formal event that the Malfoy family didn’t attend. They had gotten many invites of course, but this year was supposed to be different. At least that was what his mother told him. This year they were supposed to just stay at home and be able to relax. Draco Malfoy had been foolish to believe that it would actually happen. Christmas Eve surprisingly had been clear; it was New Years Eve that had been the trade off apparently. The house-elves had brought in the mail from their private owlery when they had gotten the invitation. They were all sitting in the lounging area next to the fire when it was delivered. His father took them from the elf without a glance or a word of thanks and began flipping through them until he found one that caught his attention.

 

            “ It seems that Reginald is throwing one of his soiree’s…”

 

            “ Reginald as in Reginald McQueen? Oh Lucius no. I want no part of it if it has to deal with them and neither should you for that matter.” Narcissa looked at her husband, she watched him as he thumbed the invitation absentmindedly.

 

            “ Narcissa I very well can’t reject his invitation, think of the possibly scandal that it would cause.” Personally, he agreed with his wife but then Lucius thought of the potential implications of not attending. Reginald McQueen did not have parties often but when he did the whole wizarding world knew about it. To reject an invitation would be social suicide as well as unconsciously admitting that he and his family had something to hide. Lucius Malfoy was no fool; he knew that people doubted his innocence during the first war especially after the murder of…Cecile. However, since there was no way for them to pin him no one could say anything. If they rejected the invitation then it would just cause suspicion.

 

            “ Lucius you know very well that if we will attend that brute and his…daughter will be there as well. We’d be walking straight into a conflict, a conflict that could easily be avoided. We would be asking for trouble by going.”  Draco perked up when he heard the words: brute, McQueen, and daughter all in the same sentence. He wasn’t fully sure if they were talking about until his father said….

 

            “ Oh I have no doubt that Samson and his daughter will be there but it cannot be avoided. We will attend and carry on like we would for any other party.” Bingo.

 

            “ I will not attend Lucius. Samson McQueen will be the downfall of this family. You mark my words.”  Threat? Why would Samson McQueen be threat? Father hasn’t done anything wrong…he was a Death-Eater for goodness-sake…!

 

            “ Narcissa you are being unreasonable. Samson is no more a threat to this family than a feather is to a gust of wind.”

 

            “ Threat or not Lucius I will not go. I will not go to a party where I am not actually wanted.” Narcissa growing more and more agitated by the minute. Why would her husband want to go to such an event? It wasn’t like he liked the McQueen family in the first place. Even when they were in school they never got along. So why in blue blazes was he so adamant about them attending this particular ball?

 

            “ Narcissa we must go, if nothing but for just appearance’s sake.”

 

            “ Lucius, if you are so determined to go then go. But I will not accompany you.”

 

            “ Fine Narcissa, if you insist on acting this way then you and Draco do not have to go. I will go alone.” Part of Lucius was beginning to think that it would be better if he did go alone. He could control the situation better if he was alone. Plus it would give him a chance to finish his conversation the young McQueen.

 

            “ Actually, could I go with you father?” The two parents looked at their son. Draco, their son, actually wanting to go to a party? Usually they (meaning his mother) had to bribe him with something to go. But for him to even ask to attend was a bit shocking.

 

            “ Draco?” Narcissa couldn’t believe her ears.

 

            “ Well mother if you don’t want to go I could go with father. Like he said we wouldn’t want to cause a scandal. Besides a party without the Malfoy family wouldn’t be complete now would it? ” Now usually this was part were his mother would look upon him with pride and his father with thinly veiled disappointment. He had hoped that would that would change with his willingness to attend but that didn’t seemed to be the case. His mother was starting to pout and his father still had the same thinly veiled emotion on his face.  

 

            “ Nicely said Draco. See Narcissa, even Draco is willing to put his best foot foreword for the sake of the family.” Lucius tried to smile and be encouraging but failed, miserably. Nonchalant was what he was better at. He…loved his son, however it was hard for him to be outwardly emotional. His father always taught him that affection was strictly meant for the weak so anything dealing with human interaction was…difficult for him to say the least.) He would bring Draco if only to keep his wife from questioning him.

 

            “ Fine, if both of you are so intent on making spectacles of yourselves then be my guests.” She noticeably closed the book that was on her lap and quickly left the room, leaving the two Malfoy males in her wake.

 

            The two males did not speak to each other after she had left. Both too caught up in their own thoughts to really pay attention to one another. This party was important alright. It had been five months since Draco had last seen Zora McQueen. It unnerved him just how frequently his thoughts had drifted from whatever he was doing to her and what she was possibly doing.

 

He wondered how that muggle school was treating her. Yes, Draco knew that she was going to a muggle school instead of being tutored at home like she should have been. That wasn’t the only thing that he knew about her. He knew about the muggle girl that she insisted on hanging around with. He didn’t know how he felt about that. Obviously he was not happy about it. He thought that it was quite unfair that some muggle girl got to spend time with her and not him. How was it that a girl, a girl that did not even deserve to breathe the same as Zora (in his opinion), get to spend so much time with her and he couldn’t even have a proper conversation with her? Why did she get to spend so much time with his Zora and not himself? Yes, his Zora. Draco Kassius Malfoy was a very possessive child. Never once did he have to share something he perceived to be important to him with anyone else. It was the benefit and curse of being an only child. From a very young age he was given the best of everything. And for the things that could not be given he just remembered the three rules. They were three basic rules that he learned from his father. Want. Take. Have. He was a Malfoy, which entitled him to getting whatever he wanted.  Knowing that she was interacting others beside himself nearly drove him mad. Draco feared for Zora. The stories that his parents told him of muggles made him fear for Zora. He remembered his parents telling him that muggles how they stole magic form good decent witches and wizards because they were jealous. That was how muggle-born and half-breeds were created. He couldn’t bear it if that filthy muggle stole Zora’s magic.

 

            Now, you may be asking yourself how did the young Malfoy come to find out this information? By no means were the two children friends. And he certainly didn’t get this intimate information from her father. Well dear reader, the Malfoy family crest was not a snake for nothing. Draco may have been young but he was under the tutelage of his father. Whether Malfoy Sr. had any clue was still yet to be seen. Since he could not see and watch out for Zora personally he sent out a house elf to survey the situation. Asher was his name, an old house-elf that had been in the servitude of the Malfoy family for many years. A frightening creature in his own right but obedient. While Draco was mildly afraid of this particular elf, he knew that he could have used no other elf. Of course he thought of using Dobby, but then he remembered the day in his father’s office and it took most of his restraint not to wring his scrawny neck. Asher was sneaky, sneaky and perfect for the job of watcher. What was brilliant about the plan was that no one had a clue about it but himself and the frightening house-elf. The Manor was filled to the brim with servants so Asher’s presence was not missed.

 

            Draco didn’t come up with the plan until a month after the second time he had seen Zora at the Ministry. After the first few weeks of not seeing her at the Ministry he grew a little desperate. He just wanted to get to know her. He just wanted to be near her. He feared that she had forgotten him. This was partially the reason why he wanted to go to this party so bad. It was a chance to see Zora again. He would suffer the fluff talk as long as he could to see Zora.

 

            Draco looked at the multitude of presents under the Christmas tree and none of them held his interest the way that that he “present” he got last night. It wasn’t extraordinary by any stretch of the imagination, but none-the-less it was important to him. A black silk ribbon. How something so simple made him so happy he didn’t have the foggiest idea but it did. It was late when Asher finally made it back, he was covered in a light veil of snow. He was trying to stop himself from shivering too noticeably in the presence of the Malfoy boy. Draco, of course, made no mind to the shivering house-elf. All he took notice of was the thing that was dangling on this nearly frostbitten creature’s hand. When he had gotten it, he didn’t snatch away from Asher like he thought he would have, the moment it touched his hand all of his attention went straight to the ribbon.

 

            This is hers, this was in her hair. Such a pretty ribbon…of course it would be a pretty ribbon…Zora is a pretty girl. Thoughts like that began to flood his mind for the rest of the night. When he woke up that morning, the ribbon was still in his hand. Tightly bound around right hand. Before he went down for breakfast he decided that he would put the ribbon in his desk drawer. No one but him went into his desk drawer so he figured that he it would be safe there until he got back.

 

            They were supposed to visit his grandfather Abraxas Malfoy today and have dinner with him. Old Abraxas was a well-known man in the Wizarding community.  Draco was proud to have him as his grandfather. To be so well respected (feared) by the wizarding world in general was a big honour. Hopefully someday that same honor would be bestowed upon him like his father and grandfather. He would become important someday, powerful and bring the Malfoy name on to even greater heights than ever before. When he did achieve his goal there would be no way for a person to ever forget him. When Draco Kassius Malfoy achieved his goal, he would finally receive the two things that he so richly deserved. His father’s approval/respect and the sought after smile from a curly haired witch. Yes, that day would be absolutely glorious.

 

Just a few more days till the New Year’s Eve party, and Draco did not think that he could wait.

 

-DM-

 

 

+ LL+

 

Only a few more days until the party. Luna Lovegood dreaded the oncoming event. They had gotten the invitations a few days before Christmas and were sworn to secrecy not to tell either Zora or Samson about it. What was that rhyme that she heard her muggle classmates say? Secrets, secrets are no fun unless you tell everyone. To be honest she never really had a problem with secrets until a few months ago.

 

 She was helping her mother create some new spell and she asked her to go into their bedroom and get a notebook from the side table. The notebook held all of the notes her mother made from creating spells. Some worked some of them didn’t but that was the life of a spell maker. Luna liked to look through her mother’s notebooks. Some of the spells were really good, and her mom loved to diversify her spell work. Some offensive spells, healing spells, but mostly protection spells. The book that her mother asked to get her was a seemingly old one. The binding of it was nearly broken and the pages seemed to be frayed on the sides. Luna had never seen this particular book before. Curiosity getting the best of her she looked at the spell book. There were scribbles everywhere but that was not all that was inside. There were photographs, photographs of her mother. Seemingly from her school days at Hogwarts. Some were of her mother and father, and then some of them were with her and Auntie Cecile. As she flipped through pages in the book she saw an article clipping. It didn’t look like something from her dad’s magazine. Maybe it was from the Daily Prophet?

 

TRAGEDY IN THE MIDST OF VICTORY

by Rita Skeeter

 

In midst of great celebration of the disappearance of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, it seems as though for one family misfortune continues on. Now, my loyal readers, it saddens me greatly to report that the wife of Samson McQueen as most of you well know is the son of Reginald Arthur McQueen (Ambassador to India for the Ministry of Magic and one of the twelve governors for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizdardry) has been murdered. Cecile McQueen (née Shacklebolt) was a newly named Herbology teacher at Hogwarts after the resignation of Herbert Beery (who is currently now Headmaster of the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts). She was also recently made a mother of a young baby girl. A friend of the grieving family called Aurors to the scene. The body had been found in a garden that was located near the McQueen family home in Winterbourne. It is to my understanding that they young baby was also at the scene of the crime but fear not my readers the babe has thankfully not been harmed. The widower, Samson McQueen, has not made any comments yet as to how they are fairing after this great misfortune, but McQueen Sr. has issued a statement. “ This is a time of great sadness for my family and we would immensely appreciate it if you all  will give us the time to grieve. Thank you.” No word has gotten out how or why this devastating occurrence has happened. Known for her kind and warm demeanor as well as her exceptional aptitude of Herbology it is hard to imagine why someone would commit such a crime. Could it be that Ms. Shacklebolt was not as clean cut as she had people to believe?...

 

 

            Murder? Auntie Cecile was murdered? Luna did not know that and to be honest didn’t know what to do with this information. All she really knew was that the more she read the more she didn’t like this Skeeter woman. She seemed vile. She may have been eight but she knew the difference between a good and bad person. How dare she talk about Auntie Cecile like that? Auntie Cecile was good and kind person. “The best type of person” according to her mother. Her mom would mention Auntie Cecile on numerous occasions, Luna tell that she missed her friend terribly.  Luna continued to look through the notebook and found another article by the same woman as before.

 

 

LUCIUS MALFOY: DEATH-EATER OR VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCE?

By Rita Skeeter

 

As the interrogations go on to sift through those witches and wizards who have been found in cahoots with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named  one name that has been under fire is non-other than Lucius Malfoy. Son of well-known wizard Abraxas Malfoy, has been called into question for multiple accusations of being a Death-Eater as well as the one responsible for the murder of Cecile McQueen. Lucius since the disappearance of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has claimed that he was under the Imperius curse during the war. In regards to the murder of Cecile McQueen  he has claimed once again innocence for any wrong-doing. Samson McQueen, widower, however claims that he saw Lucius Malfoy (in full Death-Eater garb no less) standing over the body of his wife when he came home the night of the murder. No evidence has yet come foreword to substantiate the claim so it is really up in the air as what will happen in the case of Cecile Amelia Shacklebolt-McQueen. What is known that both sides are adamant to see justice carried out. What are your opinions my lovely readers? Please submit you opinions to…

 

 

Luna couldn’t read anymore, it was almost too much to bear. Uncle Samson wouldn’t make such an accusation unless he was sure…and then a thought popped into her mind. What about Zora? The chances of her knowing any of this were slim to none. If not she needed to be told, she needed to know… she needed…

 

“Lu-Lu what’s taking so long with that…notebook?” Solidad stood in the door, wiping her hands on a rag cloth. She had goggles hanging under her chin and a dirty apron wrapped around her chest and waist. She looked over her daughter’s shoulder and saw what was in her hands. Solidad dropped the rag, speechless.

 

“ Mum what is all of this?” Solidad walked slowly to her daughter and took the notebook and all of the contents out of Luna’s hands. She shakily sat down on the bed she didn’t answer her daughter. She couldn’t even look at her.

 

“ L-Luna, sweetpea go get your father and then go to your room…”

 

“ But mum…”

 

“GO,” she said loudly, realizing her tone she quickly soften it, “go please Luna. Don’t worry you’re not in trouble darling. Just do as I say…I promise we’ll explain everything later but for right now go get your father…”

 

Luna silently nodded and went to go get her father. Xenophillius rushed up the stairs following Luna. Luna did what she was told, reluctantly, millions of questions filling her young mind. The most prominent being: What about Zora?

 

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

            “ Iddy, darling what’s wrong?  Why are you so upset?” Xenophillius sat next to his wife with a look of worry on her. She held the notebook close to her chest, her lips trembling as tears welled up in her eyes.

 

            “ Darling…?”

 

            “ She knows Xenophillius…L-luna knows about Cecile…” She gave him the note-book, Xenophillius found the articles and let out a big sigh.

 

            “Bloody Hell…” They (Samson, Xenophillius, and Solidad) had agreed that they would wait to tell the girls what happened to Cecile when they were older, when they could handle it better. Now, that didn’t seem possible.

 

            “ Iddy why do you still have these article clippings…” That was a foolish question. He knew exactly why she kept them. Solidad abruptly leaped off the bed and tearfully glared at her well-intentioned husband.

 

            “ Because Xenophillius, they are my motivation. I want to make spells to stop things like what happened to Cecile and so many others from happening to either Luna or Zora. It’s not fair.” Solidad was determined not to cry. She was too angry and too hurt to cry. Her best friend was gone, killed for no apparent reason. It wasn’t fair. Cecile had so much to live for and it was all taken away in the span of single spell. Every time she thought about Zora she couldn’t help but think of Cecile. They were so alike those two.  She was there when Cecile had Zora, the amount of love that was in her best friend’s eyes. There was fear of course, with the war going on but there was hope. When the war had ended they thought that they were safe. They were supposed to be safe. 

 

            Cecile was in her fourth month at teaching at Hogwarts; Samson was becoming a fine Auror under the tutelage of Alastor Moody and Cecile’s older brother Kingsley. Solidad, herself, had her first spell notarized and the Quibbler was just getting off its feet. Everything was perfect, (well almost perfect they were still reeling from the news of Lily and James’s death). Then it happened, Solidad remembered that night with disturbing clarity. Ando had sent a patronus to the house. All she could remember was screaming and crying. Xenophillius had told her that she could go to Winterbourne and that he would take care of Luna. She apparated into chaos, there so many Aurors around. She desperately looked for Samson and Zora. All the way, praying that this was some horrible nightmare. She found them at the community garden, Cecile’s garden. Samson clutched Zora’s infant body tightly, Ando was giving orders and the other Aurors were taking care of the crime scene. She saw Cecile just as they were putting the white blanket over her.

 

She felt a part of her die that night. She knew that things would never be the same. It was bad enough that they lost both Lily and James, but then to find out Sirius Black was convicted of murdering Peter Pettigrew and 13 muggles and was sent off to Azkaban (she always thought that something about that wasn't right and not for the obvious reasons). All in one night. That uncommonly cold day in October. They thought after that it would calm down but they were wrong, obviously.Everything for a while seemed like it was falling apart. Then time passed, and slowly things were becoming routine again. But there was nothing that could fill the part of their hearts were Cecile was. Solidad made it a point for the girls to interact with each other, to get to know each other. She made sure that she was in Zora’s life as much as possible, to become a somewhat surrogate. She and her husband loved Zora as if she was one of their own. There was nothing that they wouldn’t do to keep her happy and safe. And now…

 

“ I forgot that I even put those clippings in the book, Merlin...”

 

 “ What are we going to do Xenophillius…we can’t lie to Luna not now…” Solidad collapsed back on to the bed; her husband wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her trembling, trying in vain, to keep herself from crying. Xenophillius caressed the top of her head gently, dreading this day more and more. It was like reopening an old wound. All the feelings of sadness and hurt were rushing back.

 

“ You’re right, we have to explain this situation to Luna we can’t avoid that but…”

“ But?”

 

“ What about Zora, Luna will want to tell her…Samson, we have to tell him what has happened. Iddy he has to know…”

 

“ Your right Xenophillius, we’ll first talk to Luna and explain to her that this has be kept quiet. That Zora can’t know…not yet anyways…then, we will talk to Samson and see how he wants to handle this…”

 

“ Alright, let’s do it. Luna’s probably scratching at the walls right as we speak.”

 

 

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


 

            Luna waited for her parents to come to her room like they promised. When they did, they made sure to tell her that they loved her and Zora and the only reason why they had kept this a secret was to protect them. They explained that the reason that they were deliberately being vague was because they wanted to keep them from being hurt. Each Lovegood sat next to Luna on either side; both wrapped their arms around her small frame and kissed her gently on the top of the head. They didn’t tell her not to say anything to Zora in so many words, but they did emphasize the need for caution and that perhaps that it would be best to leave this topic for Samson.  She agreed, hesitantly, only with thought that she couldn’t bear to see her friend hurt.

 

            Months from that night had passed and holding this secret inside was eating away at her. There were many times that Luna wrote to Zora trying as best as any young child could to explain the situation. She wanted nothing more than to speak to her friend. To see her and talk to her. The more she thought of her the more she realized that couldn’t. She couldn’t see her friend because if she did then she would tell her everything and she couldn’t disobey her parents. She couldn’t bear to lie to Zora either, all she could was hope and pray that uncle Samson would tell her soon. She didn’t think she could do this anymore. They were growing apart. They were being torn apart because of something intangible. Luna spent her time, when she wasn’t with her parents off in field looking for magical creatures that she didn’t know if they existed. Anything to keep her mind off this secret was buried deep inside. Soon her resolve would be tested and she would have to confront the one person she had wanted to see more than anything. Luna realized that the moment she saw her she would have to become someone different, all for the sake of keeping Zora happy.  Zora was  her friend, her sister, and as her sister Luna would do anything to protect her. Even if it hurt her in the process….

 

+LL+

 

~ HP ~

 

            It was decided then, Zora had finally felt confident enough to tell Luna everything. She wanted to tell her before the year ended. They still had two days before the New Years Eve surprises were supposed to happen. Zora, being the bright girl that she was, figured it was going to be some party of sorts and that’s why her grandfather got her the dress and the shoes. Unfortunately, that was just about all she figured out. Her grandfather was the best when it came to surprises and refused to tell her or her father anything. It was both infuriating and exciting.  Zora loved to look at the dress, she marveled at how absolutely perfect it was. She couldn’t wait to wear it. Whatever her grandfather had planned it was probably going to be pretty elegant. Which probably meant that there were going to be a lot of people there…oh dear…

 

            She didn’t like big crowds; she didn’t know what it was but big crowds made her nervous. That wasn’t quite it, it was big crowds of strangers that didn’t do well in but wouldn’t be so bad. Her father would be there of course and so would her grandfather and grandmother. So it wasn’t like she would be alone…She hoped that the Lovegoods would be there as well…

 

            “ Zora, princess you ready to go?” He wanted to go before it got too late, no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get any information out of his father about this thing he had planned.

 

            “ Coming dad, come on Luca.” The hound jumped into her arms and they made their way down the stairs.  Zora was bundled up tightly as was her father. They went into the living room, and Samson took off the anti-disapparation spell over the house and away they went. They got the Lovegoods’ residence quicker than you could say quidditch and Samson quickly knocked on the door. Xenophillius was the one to answer.

 

            “ Samson? Zora what are you two doing here?”

 

            “ Surprise!” Xenophillius looked down and smiled.

 

            “ And what a lovely surprise this is…IDDY, LUNA guess who came to visit.”

 

            “ Oh, Zora…Samson this is unexpected…”

 

            “ Well that is the whole point it being a ‘surprise’ Solidad.”

 

            “ But Samson you hate surprises.”

 

            “ Well maybe I’m trying to get a jump on my New Years resolution early, Solidad…”

 

            “ Hey you two, remember we’re supposed to be happy remember.” Xenophillius chuckled. Some things will never change.

            “ Where’s Luna there something that I want to tell her…well all of you actually…”

 

            “ Um, she’s around here somewhere. Luna!” Solidad called, that girl was zoning out more and more.

 

            “ Coming mum!”  Luna slowly made her way down the stairs. She seemed nervous, almost frightened. At least from what Zora could tell. She thought she would be happy to see…

 

            “ Hi Luna, it’s been a while.”

 

            “ O-oh yes, it has. It’s good to see you Zora.” Solidad ushered all of them upstairs were the living room was so they could all sit down. It was one of the reasons why Zora loved coming to the Lovegood house. Nothing was where it was supposed to be. It was all topsy turvy.  When everyone was settled, Solidad brewed some tea and gave everyone a cup.

 

            “ So, queenie, what do you have to tell us?” Solidad asked. She sipped tea.

 

            “ Well Auntie, first I would like to introduce the newest member of the McQueen family. Luca McQueen.” She let him show him self to the Lovegood family. Being somewhat of a showboat, Luca pranced around the room like he owned the place. Everyone laughed and clapped.

 

            “ He’s gorgeous Queenie, I’ve never seen a hound up close. Where did you get him?” Xenophillius questioned.

 

            “ Ando gave it to her as a present, it will be the animal that she takes to school with her when she turns eleven.” Samson answered. Zora turned toward Luna and spoke to her.

 

            “ You can pet him if you want. He won’t bite.” Luna smiled weakly but kept quiet. What was going on with Luna, she always more talkative than this…

 

            “ Take him to school with her, but he isn’t one of the animals allowed at Hogwarts…” Solidad pointed out.

 

            “ I’ve already had a talk with Dumbledore about that. He made a special allowance…due to the special circumstances.”

 

            “ Special circumstances…?”

 

Zora looked back to her aunt and uncle and spoke, “ That was the reason why we came here. I wanted to be the one to tell you that…well… I’m a metamorphmagus.”

 

            No one spoke for a moment until Xenophillius, “ That’s…that’s great Zora wow, it’s more than great it’s stupendous.”

 

            “ Yes Zora, we’re so proud of you. To think, we had a meta under our own noises all this time.” Solidad turned to her daughter. “ Isn’t that something, Luna?”

 

            “ Y-yes mum, very much something.”

 

            “ Luna, I know that we haven’t talked in a while and this is probably a shock to you but I just want you to know that I wasn’t trying to keep it from you or anything I just wanted to able to control my abilities before I said anything.” Luna still wouldn’t look at her. I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings…

 

            “ Luna…?” The little blonde could take it anymore she had to leave or she would explode. Luna got up from her seat and ran to her room. Zora continued to sit there. She was doing it again, internalizing her feels. She didn’t always do it, but being a metamorphmagus her emotions were most times on physical display. Internalizing her emotions it was the only way she could combat that. This wasn’t how she hoped things would go, she figured that Luna would be a little angry with her for not keeping in contact but she wasn’t expecting her to be this angry. Did Luna hate her now? Zora felt her heart breaking; she didn’t want Luna to hate her. One of her biggest fears was to lose Luna; she thought that she was doing the right thing by making sure she had control first.

 

“ We’ll…be right back.” Solidad moved quickly up the stairs with Xenophillius right behind her.

 

For a few moments everything was quiet until a young voice started screaming and possibly crying. The McQueen family could barely make anything out it was so jumbled.  Having a pretty good idea what this was about; Samson thought it was best for him to go up there as well. Zora simply nodded; Maybe dad will be able to convince her that I wasn’t trying to deceive her…

 

When Samson reached Luna’s bedroom he could hear the tears, the comforting words and he felt awful. This was his fault; he was the one that came up with the idea of hiding what happened all those years ago from the children. When he found out that Luna knew about Cecile, he panicked. When Zora was having trouble dealing with metamorphmagus abilities he thought it was best if they separated the two girls for a while. Only to avoid anymore undue stress for either girl. When Zora didn’t want to visit the Lovegoods he didn’t push. He didn’t realize how badly this was affecting Luna. Merlin knows he never wanted to hurt his goddaughter. He loved her very much, but he had to think of Zora. She wasn’t ready to know…not yet.

 

He knocked on the door and asked to come in, Xenophillius opened the door and allowed him in. Samson put a sound charm on the door and went to his goddaughter. He sat on the bed next to her and gently rubbed her back. The tears slowly stopped and when they did Samson finally spoke.

            “ Luna, you are so brave do you know that? ”

 

            “ B-brave?’ she looked up at him, the tear stains nearly undid him but he had to remain strong.

 

            “ Yes, Luna you are being so brave and strong and selfless right now. I suspect that the reason why you are so sad right now is because feel bad about not telling Zora about her mom am I correct?”  She silently, emphatically nodded.

 

            “ I-I don’t want to hurt her uncle Samson, but I don’t want lie to her.” 

 

            “ Luna doing the selfless thing is not always the easiest thing to do. Which is why your mum, dad, and I are so proud of you. By keeping this secret you are doing what is best for Zora right now.”

 

            “ I am?”

 

            “ Yes darling. Zora has been dealing with a lot right now and she isn’t ready to know just yet about her mum. But I promise you this is really all for the best.” 

 

            “ Luna, you know that we all love you and Zora very much don’t you?” Solidad asked.

 

            “ Yes, mum of course.”

 

            “ And that is the reason why we didn’t want you or her find out about it quite yet. You were so sad and heartbroken when you found out in such an abrupt manner. Luna, you might not fully understand yet but the reason why we can’t tell her yet is because we want to protect her like we were trying to protect you.”

 

            “ Because that is what families do, we protect each other even if it hurts us terribly to do it.”

 

            “ So that is why we all must keep this secret, for now at least. We must wait for a time when its more appropriate. Do you understand darling?” Xenophillius asked.

 

            “ I-I think understand.” By not telling Zora she was protecting her and by not telling her she was doing what was best for her. Because that is what loved ones did.

 

           “ Wonderful, now are you ready to go back downstairs? Zora’s probably wondering what we are all doing up here.”

 

           “  Yes, can we have the chocolate pudding now mum? When we go downstairs. I’m suddenly feeling very hungry.”  She rubbed her stomach, she finally was regaining an appetite; she hadn’t had a chance to eat the dessert before the McQueens got there.

 

“ Sure darling, let’s go.” She grabbed on to her eight year old daughter’s hand. To see her smile again was heartwarming.

 

“ Finite Incantatem,” with the sound charm taken off the small group went downstairs to find Zora still curled up in the comfy armchair with Luna sitting on her lap. Luna quickly went up to her friend with the exuberance that she was known for and two started talking like nothing had changed. It was all-okay, Zora thought happily, Luna didn’t hate her and she in return told Luna everything that had been going on with her. Zora told her all about her sessions with Tonks and meeting Hermione absolutely everything. Everything was coming together….

 

 

…Just to fall apart.

 

~ HP ~

 






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