NOTE* It has taken me a while to write this chapter. It taunted me and I felt like I was never going to finish the dang thing, but thankfully it is over. Hope you enjoy this Christmas present. Have a good holiday.
"Not again," My voice sounded raw to my ears as it came out of my throat.
"Madam Pomfrey she is awake." A dreamy voice countered my own raspy one. "Don't worry Jillian everything is going to be okay. They are going to be okay."
Opening my eyes I was met with the sight of Aunt Luna's huge unblinking blue eyes. "What happened?"
"You had an anxiety attack." Aunt Poppy came around the curtain as she spoke, "Nothing to worry about. I figured it would happen sooner or later. You have been through a lot." She thrust a potion in my hands, "drink this and you can leave."
"Luna what phase is the moon in tonight?" I asked after Aunt Poppy had left.
The young girl blinked and then looked out the window. "It will be full tonight. You have been asleep for some time. Apparently your body needed to sleep off the stress of everything and it was also fighting an overload of magic from your emotions. Hermione and Harry have been coming to watch over you in their spare time," I looked around the room for my parents. "They aren't here right now. This is why I am here."
"Um…Luna…are you saying you are guarding me?"
"Yes," she said brightly. "Let's get you out of here." At this she grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the bed. Luna dragged me down the long wing and all the way to the library before she let go. "I'm suppose to keep you busy all day today." She said this as if this was the greatest thing in the world. "We could be friends."
I let her lead me all the way to the back of the library. Her blond hair was swishing with each bouncy step she took. I couldn't help but smile at her antics. "Luna," I said as we took a table in the back. "What is the deal with Harry and Hermione?"
She hummed a verse from Weasley Is A King before she spoke, "they have a complex relationship."
"So I've seen. But are they different in other situations?"
"I can't tell you what you need to hear."
This was so pointless, the sitting and the waiting, but I couldn't exactly go running to them without an explanation. Plus, I knew Luna was a Ravenclaw so she obviously knew as many hexes as me. That thought alone kept me glued to the un-cushioned library seat.
"Well, what about you?" I asked, and her unblinking eyes focused directly on me. "What is your deal?"
"My father is the editor for the Quibbler and my mother died years ago." She spoke as if she was remembering a dream, but couldn't quite grasp the meaning of it.
"What did you mother do, before she died?"
"Oh she was an experimenter in potions."
"Wow," I said softly even though I already knew all of this. "You must be good at potions then."
"I got an Outstanding on my OWLs in Potions class." Her voice became slightly less dreamy as we made small talk.
"Luna, are you going into a career in potions after Hogwarts?"
"Maybe, if I live."
"Live?"
"I've been in two battles already and both times we've been lucky." I noticed her eyes harden. "We shouldn't be talking about this."
"Sorry," I said quickly. "So, why are you guarding me?"
"Wit and measure is man's greatest treasure."
"I know it is." As soon as I said this she looked from me to the stack of books and back up to me. "Have I done something to make them think I'm going to ruin whatever they are doing?"
"Jillian, advice is hard to dole out and even harder to take."
Luna picked up the first book on top of the stack, and started to thumb through it all the while humming under her breath. I followed suit, and quickly found myself reading a book on souls.
The book was heavy and bound in what felt like leather over some sort of metal. In it the author gave a very detailed description of what the soul was. This book obviously wasn't magical, I thought as I read a few more pages, it was written by a muggle.
Every living creature has a soul. The soul is the most complex and interesting part of the human psyche. Most scientist or doctors have no clue where to find the soul or even how to repair any damage that might have been done to its fragile structure.
Though as doing research I have come to the conclusion that the soul is not as fragile as most people think. I have figured that the only way to utterly damage the soul is to commit an horrendous act.
An example of such an act would be murder. And I don't just mean some helpless little animal I mean to murder another human being in cold blood. Such an act would damage the soul in such a way that it would also damage you.
Now what does this mean? It means that if you commit murder by accident then you have the hope of being able to pull yourself and your soul together, but to commit cold blooded murder is another ordeal all together.
When you take another human life without consequence for your own you are committing murder in cold blood. You are destroying the purity within yourself. You are destroying the soul.
The effect this has on a person is astounding. The person will become less human. They might even become psychotic in nature and kill more people just to be able to feel again.
"Luna," I felt like I had to forcefully take in air to continue living. "Why are you reading this?" The book in my hands felt heavy.
"Arithmancy," she said offhandedly.
"But Professor Vector doesn't go into the mathematics of the soul. That is considered Dark Magic."
"I would think you would know more about this then I do?"
The way her blue eyes met mine made me think she had figured me out. Aunt Luna was smart, wicked smart, but she wasn't clairvoyant like many people thought. "Why would I know about soul splitting?"
"Well, you are helping Hermione with her project, right?"
The relief I felt was enough to make me feel drained at the same time. This was about my mother's project. That meant Luna knew nothing about me knowing everything. "Yes, I am." I said shyly.
We spent the day going through more books on the soul. I had read some of these already. Last year had found me in the library quite often trying to take in more knowledge to prepare for the task I was going to be doing. The task I was now doing. Professor McGonagall has told the librarian I was to have full access to any book I desired. This was something Madam Pince thought was highly dangerous.
The stacks of books sitting beside me were teasing me as I looked out one of the libraries windows at the setting sun. This was the first full moon in years that Professor Lupin would be spending it as a human. It was amazing to think about, and yet I couldn't help but wonder if he felt a little lost. Uncle Remus had lived with the curse for so long it was a part of him. The curse had even helped him become more than friends with Uncle Sirius and Grandpa James.
"Do you want to go to the kitchens and get something to eat?" Luna asked as she too looked out at the darkening sky.
"Yes, that would be fine."
We left the books on the table, and made our way out of the library. The trip to the kitchen seemed to take no time at all with Luna chatting merrily about some exotic creature her father was writing about for the next issue of the Quibbler.
"You seem off?" Luna spoke suddenly her tone changing from cheery to dreamy in the blink of an eye.
"I just miss home."
"But your family is here."
"What?" I looked at Luna who was tickling the pear.
"Your aunt" she spoke as she opened the portrait to reveal the kitchen.
"That's true I do have my aunt," I felt sad at this notion that had kept me going for a while.
"I know what it is like. I lost my mother," I could she was trying to be helpful, but I didn't know what to say to this comment. Aunt Luna rarely ever spoke of her mother in the future, and now was the time she wanted to open up.
"Was it sudden?"
"Terribly," the elves had just noticed us standing in the doorway. We were quickly ushered in, and given everything one could possibly need to feed a small country. "Sometimes I wish she was here. But I know she is proud of me…For fighting, for loving, for having courage to ignore those that can't figure me out."
Her face changed with each sentiment she said. Aunt Luna was a fighter. After she graduated she would go on to study advance potions just like her mother did. She would be the one to find the true cure for being a werewolf, but only if it was administered within the first forty-eight hours after being biting.
"Kreacher is here," the croaking voice of the Black's house elf was heard long before he hobbled into view. "What can…" he stopped upon seeing Luna with me and quickly hobbled out of view.
"I've always found house elves to be slightly strange." She said offhandedly while helping herself to several roast beef sandwiches.
We took the sandwiches to a corridor leading to the Ravenclaw common room. It was on the other end of the castle that the Gryffindor common room was and also where the room of requirement was located. She took me far away so not to disturb them.
"Do you like Halloween?"
"No," I said instantly. I hated Halloween.
"Me too," Aunt Luna always would hate Halloween after this year.
Around seven I was getting anxious to return to the common room. I bid Luna goodbye after she could not come up with an excuse to spend anymore time with me. The common room was full of people chattering when I entered it, and I walked up to my dorm room without anyone noticing. I had barely put my head down on my pillow when I fell into a deep dark sleep.
The dream was slightly strange. In it Professor Dumbledore was riding a broom. Right out of his reach was another horcrux. I watched as he lazily began chasing after it with no intent of actually catching the flying soul holder. As he flew around I heard the clashing of swords. Looking down I saw my father and Voldemort dueling with swords in the middle of the quidditch pitch.
It looked as if they had been fighting forever. Both were tired looking and covered in sweat. They fought in a circle while my mother sat on the side lines working on a piece of homework. She looked so intent on studying that she hardly even noticed the green beam of light hit my father. After Harry Potter crumbled to the ground dead she looked up casually.
"Very well, ten points to Slytherin. And for Gryffindor that will be ten points from their house points. Dying is not acceptable."
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