A/N: I am truly sorry for the long wait. This was a hard chapter to write and I almost gave up on it. (Almost, I am too stubborn to give up on it completely.) I will do my best to get the next chapter up before too long. Just remember that it is summer and I have not been home much before you flame me.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
^ - * - ^
Ch6: THE NEW WORLD
Two worlds, one family
Trust your heart
Let fate decide
To guide these lives we see
Beneath the shelter of the trees
Only love can enter here
(Two Worlds by Phil Collins)
LUNA'S POV:
They had to go down to the lowest floor to cut, the man called Will told them, because the worlds were often parallel to each other and there might not be a Shrieking Shack in the other world. Luna accepted this without question and with Consilium on her shoulder and Ronald by her side they went down the stairs until they were level to the ground. She severely wanted to seek comfort in the other boy because the Dementors made her feel so cold, but she did not dare to.
Will Parry held the knife in front of him, feeling around in the air with it. The moves were slow and delicate, as though he was searching for something that could only be found by the tip of the knife. It was hard to understand, but quite fascinating to look at. Luna followed the process closely. Her mother had told her once that the process of finding another world was similar to the one used to read the Alethiometer, and if she could see and understand what the man did then maybe she could too?
Suddenly the man stopped, smiled slightly and moved the knife horizontally and then vertically, cutting through the air and creating something that looked like a window.
Neither Luna or Ronald said a word. Both were staring at what they saw in front of them.
The room itself was dark and gloomy, so they saw it clearly. The window was as clear as the day outside had been before the Dementors had arrived and clouded it, and the sunshine from the window lightened up the room. On the other side of the opening they saw green field and yellow, sweet flowers and they could hear the unmistakable sound of bees and birds flying around. There were no houses in sight. This was what Hogsmade would have looked had it not been for the magical world. Luna had only seen something like this once in her life, but that was so long ago that she had forgotten how it was. She could only imagine what Ronald thought about it, who had never seen anything like it.
Consilium was tense with anticipation and she knew why... they were going home to the world they were born in. Half of her belonged to that world and she would never be completely whole without it. Somehow her hand found Ronald's and they held each other silently. Luna felt her body heat up; sending thoughts and desires to her brain that she didn't even know existed, which was really saying something. She felt her knees weaken and a flush crept up her chin. Embarrassed she let go of his hand, trying to look like her casual self. The danger from the Dementors outside the fragile tree building were long gone from her mind.
A quick look told her that Ronald hadn't noticed her reaction, however, and she bit her lip carefully in relief and slight disappointment. What would he had done if he had noticed? Had he not noticed because he did not like her back and never could?
Telling herself to let it go and concentrate on what they were doing, she turned her eyes from Ronald only to see the knowing look and grin from Will. She flushed more. Was it that obvious?
"Come," said Will, obviously noticing her embarrassment and climbed through the hole, his Kirjava faithfully behind him. Luna looked at Ronald again and this time he met her eyes. He jerked his head slightly towards the opening as though asking her if they should go for it. She shrugged - something she did if she felt pressed and didn't know what to say. However, what choice did they have really?
Sighing, she closed her eyes briefly and lifted her hand to the opening, feeling the edges and the wind touching her fingertips. It was real, all right.
Consilium flew to her shoulder and flapped his wings softly, telling her to go for it.
It felt weird, she concluded as she climbed through. Here she was - returning to the world she was born in because she would die in the other. She could never again return without fearing for her life. She didn't know if she felt happy about it or not.
Ronald followed her shortly, coming to her side. Awkwardly he put a hand on her shoulder, as though he didn't know what else to do. Luna tensed in surprise, but quickly cowered his hand with hers so he wouldn't pull away.
He didn't.
Will cleared his throat. "When we create a window we must always remember to close it, no matter what."
The two teenagers just nodded as the older man knelt down by the window; feeling the edges and closing it with his fingers. Luna noticed with dim shock that he missed the little finger and the finger next to it on his left hand.
"Your fingers!" she breathed. "What happened-?"
"It's a sharp knife," said Will distantly, as though lost in his own memories as he closed the rest of the window, leaving nothing but air behind. Then he turned to face them. Ronald, Luna noticed, looked a little green. She stroked the hand he still rested on her shoulder softly with her thumb; something that seemed to wake him back to reality as he withdrew his hand. Luna tried not to look too disappointed, but it helped that Consilium flew back to her shoulder and rested at the same spot his hand had been. How alone Ronald must feel sometimes, without a dæmon to seek comfort in!
They began to walk down the hill, though it was no hurry. Nobody could find them there and they were as safe as they could be. However, they still needed to find a place to sleep before the night came and Luna felt horribly tired. It was something about the place though, that told her she soon would be better.
-
RON'S POV:
They ended up in a small forest where they decided to take shelter for the night. Ron felt comforted by the strange man, who in many ways reminded him of their former professor Lupin. Ron sighed. Laying on the ground was not very comfortable and he felt hard rocks and small sticks and cones under his back.
He lay for a while listening. There were birds outside and some kind of cricket, and Luna and Will were breathing quietly in their sleep nearby. The owl Consilium - or dæmon as Luna had called it - slept in her lap. Giving up on sleep for the moment he peeked over to where the man slept. By his side Ron saw the cat and the mysterious knife, sheltered by two rocks so they wouldn't roll over it by accident. The moonlight made the blade shine with different colors that mystified him. The handle, too, seemed to swirl with colors - maybe even more so than the blade - and in a more subtle way.
Ron held his breath. He wanted to touch it, but he was not sure if it was a good idea so he resisted the temptation.
A part of him wished he was back in the comfortable bed in Gryffindor tower. He never had trouble sleeping there and he could always eat breakfast in the morning. Did they even have food now? Luna had said that she did not have time to step by the kitchen to get some.
Ron frowned slightly. What had happened to her that made her so desperate to get away? He knew that people could be mean to her, could it be that, perhaps?
Not being able to resist he crawled closer to the sleeping girl. She looked very peaceful where she lay, half sitting against a tree trunk. Her chest went up and down as she breathed and she had a slight pouting expression on her face. Her dark, blond hair curled its way down her shoulders like a fountain, making her look innocent and pure. Ron's breath got caught in his throat and something he couldn't explain twisted in his stomach. He glanced down to her chest again, but startled back when Consilium's brilliant, blue eyes stared back. The owl dæmon lifted its wings warningly and Ron retreated back to his sleeping place, not feeling tired at all.
-
The next morning was not so sunny as the last one had been. Tick, grey fog hang over the horizon and the sky was heavy and just as grey. When Ron opened his eyes groggily he immediately got the impression that it would only be a matter of time before rain reached them.
Will and Luna were already up, but he couldn't see Will anywhere. Luna was busy nearby trying to light a fire of leaves and twigs.
"Incendio," she said firmly, and the small bonfire erupted into flames. Unfortunately the flame only lasted for a minute before it died out and she had to recast it. The weather had made the leaves wet with dew.
"Where's Will?" asked Ron, carefully avoiding the odd look her owl dæmon gave him.
"He's trying to get us something to eat," she said, not looking up. "It'll probably be something his dæmon manage to capture."
"He has a dæmon as well?" asked Ron, perplexed.
"Oh yes, didn't you notice the cat? Everyone from this world has one." Suddenly she let out a cry of joy: she had finally managed to start a fire that did not seem to extinguish anytime soon.
"How do you know?" asked Ron, not able to resist.
"I was born here."
Ron raised an eyebrow at her. "Really? How come you attended to Hogwarts then?"
"It's a long story," she said, still not looking up. "My parents weren't from the same world, see. My mother came from this world and my father came from your world. When my mother died we decided that we should try to start over in a new place. It was only luck really that made it possible for us to get over. At that time both my father and I were sick - especially my father - so I guess that's why they pitied us, the Angels."
Ron suppressed a yawn. He didn't think he could ever understand that girl completely. "What's an Angel?"
Luna stopped her search for leaves for a moment, looking momentarily lost before recovering. "Well, they look like humans, only they are not solid and they live in the sky. They can remind you of a ghost if you see one, but they can fight and they have wings to fly with. They're naked too."
Ron's eyes widened slightly as he thought this over. Naked, winged people? Suddenly he remembered that he had seen something like that on the knife Will carried around. He wondered if that was the same thing Luna was talking about. "I see," was all he said. He wondered if Consilium had told her that he had watched her sleep and if that was why she was avoiding his look now. He flushed slightly with embarrassment, wishing for a moment that she did not have that dæmon, whatever that meant.
"What is a dæmon really?" he asked after a couple of minutes in silence. "How come only people in this world have one?"
"A dæmon," started Luna, sitting down on a rock with Consilium on her knee, "is something very personal. It's like a part of your soul, so it's not allowed to touch another person's dæmon, no matter who it is. A dæmon is born at the same time as its human and they will be together for the rest of their life. So if something happens to Consilium I would feel it and if I die he will die as well. We're as connected as two beings can be."
"Isn't that a little... inconvenient?" asked Ron. "I mean - to always have to watch over someone else?"
"Oh no," said Luna, meeting his look for the first time that morning. For some reason Ron felt a wave of triumph. "We watch over each other. We help each other keep warm, we can keep watch for each other so we notice danger earlier. Besides, a dæmon can reach places a human can't and they aren't so noticeable. And with a dæmon you don't have to be lonely."
The last statement came out in a rush and she looked away again. Ron suddenly felt a pang of sorrow for her. He hadn't really realized how being friendless for so long could affect a person.
He tried to imagine being in her place for six years, but he couldn't. To always have Harry and Hermione around was like a matter of course for him, even despise of what they had done to him. Still, he couldn't help but feel jealous about what Luna and Consilium had together. He had seen how she cradled him in her arms and how they always wanted to be close to each other. To have something like that must be really special.
Luna must have noticed his change of mood. "Oh Ronald, don't worry. You have a dæmon too."
"Where?" asked Ron, looking around. He did not notice that Luna had kneeled down beside him before she had put a hand over his heart.
"Here," she said softly, holding her hand firmly in place.
"Inside me?" croaked Ron, trying to calm his heart that had raced up in anticipation.
She nodded and was about to say something else when Will interrupted them, a couple of dead birds hanging over his shoulder. Luna quickly removed her hand.
"She's right, you know," said Will. "Your dæmon is inside you. My Kirjava was inside of me for many years as well before we met."
Ron eyed the cat dæmon beside the man. In the darkness inside the Shrieking Shack the day before the cat had seemed grey and ordinary and he had not thought much about it, but in the light of the day he saw there was more to the cat than he had thought... not only was the cat much larger than a normal, but the grey was mixed with ink black and when the light shone on its fur Ron could see different tones of blue and lavender between the stripes, making the cat look just as subtle as the knife. He marveled at this; and he wondered how his own dæmon would look like if he ever saw it.
"Do they all have different forms?" he asked.
"Yes," said Luna. "It's like an Animagus form - the dæmon will always take a form that fits your personality."
Ron nodded, feeling that he finally had some idea of what a dæmon was. His stomach rumbled and Will chuckled softly.
"I've got breakfast here," he told them reassuringly, nodding his head towards the dead birds that Kirjava snatched from his shoulder and carried to the fire. Ron wrinkled his nose. They were going to eat that?
Luna shot him a brief smile and asked Will if they could help him with something.
"Yes, that'll be nice. I believe Kirjava and I could use a little help to get the feathers off." His dæmon instantly offered Consilium one of the two dead birds and the owl began to take the feathers off with its beak. Ron had the shake his head slightly by this exchange. Just because he had a feeling that he understood what a dæmon was did not mean that he was used to them.
-
The birds had a strong and tight taste over them, but Ron had been so hungry that he could've eaten anything. After they had eaten they sat for a while in silence, watching the cloudy sky and listening to small birds that sang in the tree tops.
Ron wondered what the people back at Hogwarts were doing. Had they noticed his absence? Were Harry and Hermione grateful that he was gone, because then they would have time for themselves without him interrupting them? What about Ginny? He had snapped to her before he had left and now he might never return...
Ron shook his head, he was just being stupid. Of course he would return! He was only going to help Luna for a while and then he would return to Hogwarts... except, a small voice told him, they had closed the window... the way home was closed.
^ - * - ^
-->