A woman stood in a room, her eccentrically bushy hair tucked behind her ear. The glint in her misty grey eyes was almost manic as she bustled precisely between the brightly gurgling cauldrons and numerous other strange contraptions. It seemed, however, that despite the topsy-turvy nature of the room, the woman knew exactly where everything was. Her elegant brow dipped into a frown as she turned from one cauldron, containing a bright yellow solution, to another, filled with a luminescent blue liquid.

A man appeared at the doorway, clad in a bright orange and green cloak.

“Dear, would you like to come and eat now? The Dirigible Plums are ready, and I sense a few Wrackspurts in the room which are surely ruining your concentration.�

“I’ll be down in a moment, dear, I just have to get the consistency of this solution right, and I fear if I leave it now it will be wholly ruined.�

He smiled, “I’ll just go down and call Luna and we’ll wait for you downstairs.�

He wandered down the thirty seven crooked steps and into the garden. A small girl, no more than nine years old, was capering through the strangely intertwined trees. She hummed a gentle song as the wisps of her blonde hair delighted at being caught up in the wind. Her grey eyes sparkled in the glorious midday sunlight.

“Come inside for lunch, Luna,� he called. It took her a few minutes to notice his presence at all. He smiled at her enjoyment of the garden. She spent hours out there every single day with no company other than her constantly whirring mind, yet she never tired of it. He was worried sometimes about his little baby girl. She was so small and innocent, so unaware of what the outside world would think of her. How would she cope when she was bullied at Hogwarts, as she surely would be? Would her heart remain so beautifully pure?

But she still had at least two years left at home before all that happened, so he had no need to worry now.

“Hello Daddy. Where’s Mummy?�

“She’s upstairs just finishing something off.�

“Can I go and see? Please?�

“No Luna, she wants to be left alone.�

“But Daddy, please.�

Finally he relented. He supposed it was a weakness all fathers felt. He sat alone at the table, his thoughts occupied with an article for the Quibbler about a famous rock star who turned his eye to Muggle fame, despite being a wizard.

There was a sudden crash upstairs. It was followed by a scream of anguish. His instincts kicked in and he dashed up the stairs.

She’s just knocked something over... she’s had a shock... there’ll be a mess but we can clean it up... everything’s fine... it’s just an accident.

Accident was one way of describing Aloca Lovegood. Although of course he loved the woman dearly, Xenophililus’ concern that she would really hurt herself one day was ever-present. It surfaced at an alarming rate now.

He brushed past Luna, his eyes intently scanning the room for his wife. She lay in a crumpled heap between two cauldrons, her pale hair spread around her face angelically. He didn’t dare to imagine... He felt for her pulse. He thought he felt something weak, but was it just his own pulse thumping manically that he could feel? He put his head down to her neck.

Nothing.

A cry of anguish escaped his lips. He gently gathered her body into his arms and Apparated without thought of his confused nine year old daughter.

“I’m sorry, sir, she’s gone. There’s nothing we can do,� the Healer explained.

He cried unashamedly. The Healer looked at him sadly.

“I’ll just leave you alone for a while then.�

He sank on to a chair conveniently located behind him. How had it happened? He should have stayed with her... he knew she was tired... oh what would he do now?

Time passed inconsequentially.

“Xenophililus! There you are. I’ve been looking for you since I heard...�

He looked up to see a middle-aged balding redhead looking at him with concern.

“Is there anything I can do to help?�

“No.�

“How’s Luna? How did she take to the news?�

Xenophilius froze. Luna! How could he?

The child had fallen asleep on the ground, still in Aloca’s experimentation room. He picked her up and laid her gently on her bed, in her brightly painted room. Her pale hair splayed around her face angelically. He gently stroked it until she awoke, vowing to never again leave his baby girl alone.

~

She stared blankly into the dying embers of the small fireplace. The wind howled around her house in the darkness. She was glad she had come home before the storm.

At least her last memories of him were pleasant. At least there had been no point when he had been in continuous pain: he had gone quickly. Yet these thoughts failed to raise her spirits, she couldn’t really see anything positive. The thing was, now her father was gone, Luna didn’t think anyone would ever understand her properly again. It was years since she’d had contact with anyone from school; her work for The Quibbler had taken up all her time and energy.

They had finally given up on finding Snorkacks and Umgubular Slashkilters, and had turned their intention instead towards creatures that were slightly easier to find. Their latest expedition had included searches for the Chizpurfle, a small parasite that was rapidly spreading amongst owls in England, and a trip up to Scotland in search for the Isle of Drear, the Unplottable home of Quintapeds. Fortunately, or so Luna thought anyway, they hadn’t found them: Quintapeds were carnivorous and loved human flesh. Yet, naturally, her father’s curiosity had been peaked and their quest had begun.

It was also fortunate that through their travels, the father and daughter had met an extraordinary man named Rolf Scamander, grandson of the famous author of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, who had hindered Xenophilius from voyaging across the sea in search of the elusive island.

She felt the tiniest smile grace her downturned lips as she thought of her father’s last words. �I promised to never leave you alone again, my baby girl. I’m sorry.� Aged thirty-five, she was hardly a baby girl anymore.

Luna sighed. The smile hadn’t lasted for long. She still couldn’t accept the fact that she was now utterly alone in the world. In the years after her mother’s death, she had comforted herself with the fact that she would see Mummy in the afterlife. This provided no source of comfort now; perhaps her family would be reunited sometime, but Luna still had many years left before that happened.

She could continue her work for The Quibbler and keep searching for magical beasts, but somehow without her father the idea was unappealing. And could she keep up the magazine anyway, all by herself?

She had so many decisions to make... and so soon... and no-one to help her. She wanted to curl up in the armchair – Daddy’s favourite armchair – and imagine nothing happened. She wanted to be a little girl again. She wanted Mummy and Daddy.

A single tear crawled down her cheek. She couldn’t remember the last time she had cried. Despite all the bullying she had endured at school, she had always entered her own world where none of it seemed so bad. When she looked back at the real world from this place, everything seemed so much simpler.

But now her world lay in ruins. Nothing could make the death of her father look simpler or easier to bear. She could not go to that world without seeing him in everything.

The tears began streaming down her face now.

At that precise moment, the fireplace flashed green and a redheaded witch of approximately Luna’s age stepped into the dark room. It flashed three more times in quick succession, leaving a dark-haired man wearing glasses and two children in her living room.

“Oh Luna, we came as soon as we heard, I’m so sorry, I hope you don’t mind us bursting in like this but we thought it best if we came as soon as possible. Sorry we had to bring the kids, didn’t have time to leave them somewhere else, at least James is at Hogwarts...�

“Calm down, Ginny,� the man interjected, placing a comforting hand on the woman’s arm. Her brown eyes suddenly connected with Luna’s confused ones.

“Merlin, Luna, you’re crying. I’m sorry.� She bustled towards the silent woman and enveloped her in a hug. It felt good to be hugged.

“You do remember us, don’t you?�

“Ginny?�

“Yes. And Harry. And two of our children, Albus and Lily.�

Luna’s tears came thick and fast. “Harry? You came to see me?�

“Of course, Luna. We’ve been trying to make contact for years... anyway, that doesn’t matter. We just want to be here.�

“How about you come back to The Burrow with us and you have something to eat?�

Luna smiled.

Since arriving at the Burrow, Luna had been hugged multiple times, given warm clothing and blankets to wear, seated in a comfortable armchair and fed muffins and pleasantly warm tea.

None of the Weasleys seemed to know what to say. It mildly surprised Luna, given the immense loss the family had suffered at the end of the war. Perhaps it seemed a long time ago to them.

“Well, umm, would you like to talk about it?� Hermione asked, her lip quavering nervously.

“No, not really, but I’d love to hear what you lot have been up to in the last... however many years.� She smiled at them. “Merlin, I don’t think I’ve seen any of you since Ron and Hermione’s wedding...�

It seemed all the encouragement the family needed; she was soon introduced to a number of children and told about numerous others. She heard about weddings, birthdays, Christmases and other parties. Eventually she divulged a little of her own adventures. Later she speculated on whether it was the firewhiskey or the delicious food that untied her tonuge, or perhaps it was just the atmosphere of love in the room.

That night, Luna lay in the spare room at the Potter’s house in Godric’s Hollow. They had talked well into the night, and Ginny had insisted on Luna staying with them rather than returning to the creaky old house that held the essence of Xenophilius and Aloca within its very walls.

It was an amazing thing to have friends, Luna realised. A gift that not all were lucky enough to receive. She knew her father had always worried about her making friends and she smiled into her pillow, hoping that wherever he was he would know that she was being taken care of. That ultimately everything would be okay.

Eventually her tired mind entered the strange world of dreams, where she was fighting off a Quintaped with her friends and another man she eventually recognised to be Rolf Scamander.