They both lunged through the door and ran past the startled Death Eaters. They had the element of surprise, but Voldemort’s followers recovered quickly. Shouts came from behind them, and a moment later, misfired spells began shooting past their heads. “It’s Potter and the Malfoy boy! Don’t let them get away!” somebody yelled behind them. Harry dodged a particularly nasty curse and nearly lost his balance, but stumbled on through the dark streets. Soon, the sound of the Death Eaters faded into the darkness.
Harry slowed to a walk, then stopped altogether. He looked over at Malfoy, who had done the same and was now struggling to catch his breath.
“Did we lose them?” Harry whispered.
Malfoy shrugged. They continued through the dark street, their padding feet making the only sounds in the deep, echoing silence. Harry didn’t recognize any of the surrounding buildings, and was just wondering how in the world they were going to get back into familiar territory when he saw a sudden light flash ahead, and heard voices.
Voices.
“Death Eaters,” Malfoy whispered. His wandless fingers twitched involuntarily, and a grim look came over his face.
Watch out, Harry, a voice inside Harry’s head warned. If you’re not careful here, Malfoy’s going to give you away. “Relax, Malfoy,” he said quietly. “We wouldn’t have any chance against them if you tried something, and we just can’t afford to take that kind of a risk.”
Malfoy looked away, having been properly chastised, and once again Harry almost missed the old Malfoy, who would have snapped back a stinging reply. The two boys went on, more cautiously now, until they reached the source of the flickering light. Three Death Eaters, supposedly on guard duty for the streets surrounding Grimmauld Place, were gathered around a large fire, chatting in a way that suggested there hadn’t been much to guard against recently.
Harry and Malfoy looked at each other, then stealthily began to creep past the last three sentries, who were still unaware of their escape. They kept talking amongst themselves in low voices, but all the same, Harry was able to catch a shred of their conversation, and what he heard made his blood run cold.
“Yes, they had four of them, that’s what I heard, and then the fools went and let them escape right through their fingers ””
“So it’s true, then? They’ve really gotten away? The Dark Lord was so hoping to catch the brats alive, and lure Potter with them...”
The third Death Eater snorted. “Oh, yeah, they got away, but they won’t live long to brag about it. The Dark Lord had the foresight to post a bunch of Inferi and a couple of Fenrir’s people ” if you can call them that ” at the edges of this street. Good thing we’re here and not over with them...” He shuddered. “It’s a full moon tonight, and only a complete moron wouldn’t be afraid of those reanimated corpses. A few blocks away now, Potter’s friends are probably fighting for their lives. And good riddance, too.”
“Well, I’ve heard that Potter and ””
By then Malfoy and Harry had gotten past the guards and were once again running, but Harry’s heart pounded madly with each step as he thought about what they had heard. Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna are running straight into a trap, they might be dying even now... From Death Eaters to werewolves... And it’s all my fault...
Harry stopped suddenly. After a moment, Malfoy stopped too, staring at Harry as if he were a lunatic. “What’s the matter with you?” he snapped. “You want to get yourself killed?”
Harry felt like he was in a dream, a warped nightmare he couldn’t escape. “You heard them. My friends are in trouble. If we don’t go back and do something, try and find them, they could all die.”
Malfoy sighed impatiently, crossing his arms and staring at Harry as though he couldn’t believe how stupid he was. “Are you mad?” he asked incredulously. “Alright, let’s say we do go back. How will you know where to find these friends of yours? Weasley and Granger, I take it? If you’re such great friends, I don’t understand why you dragged them into all this anyway... You’ve got no idea where they are, and if we were to go back and try to take on Inferi and werewolves and God knows what else, we’re sure to be killed as well, and then what will you have accomplished? If you don’t live to gather the rest of the Horcruxes, we’ll never see the end of this bloody war, either ” oh yes, I know about Horcruxes!” Malfoy said in answer to the shocked look on Harry’s face. “Snape knew all about them, he told me everything. He even did some hunting of his own, while we were cooped up in that filthy little house! If you die, all his searching will have been for nothing. If you die, Potter, the Dark Lord will never be stopped!”
Malfoy abruptly ended his tirade and drew in a long breath. “You want my advice, Potter?”
No, Harry said silently. No, I don’t want your advice. But he knew he’d get it whether he wanted it or not, so he said nothing out loud. The far edge of his consciousness was acutely aware of time slowly ticking away, precious seconds of Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Luna’s time, and their chances of survival, being lost forever.
“Forget them,” Malfoy said bluntly. “Forget all about those sad little friends of yours and get on with your life and your mission. Friends never did me a spot of good, and it’ll be much easier for you if you just forget you ever met them, and look out only for yourself. You don’t get it, do you? If you get close to anyone, anyone, you’ll only hurt yourself when they leave you. It’s better to just... never let them... matter to you...”
His voice wavered dangerously, and Harry looked at him carefully. His eyes were unusually bright, an he seemed to be having trouble staying in control of his voice. “Malfoy?” Harry asked cautiously. “How ” have you...?”
“My mother,” Malfoy said thickly. “Maybe you’ve been out of touch with the Wizarding world for the past few months, Potter, but I haven’t. It was in the Daily Prophet. They don’t know who did it for sure, but there’s every sign of a Death Eater attack.”
Understanding dawned on Harry suddenly, combined with pity. So that’s why he was so out of it... The Death Eaters killed his mother, Narcissa. That also explains his sudden hatred for Voldemort’s side... Poor Malfoy. I wonder how Lucius Malfoy feels about this...
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
Malfoy swiped angrily at his eyes, not looking at Harry. “Yeah, well, I don’t need your sympathy, Potter.”
“Why...”
“They called her a traitor. Apparently she had been to talk to Snape, early last year, and they said she was feeding him information against the Dark Lord. But it’s all bull. She was nothing but loyal to the Death Eaters, although she technically wasn’t ever one herself.”
Malfoy grew quiet again. The two awkwardly stood there for a few minutes, each wrapped in their own thoughts, and then Harry murmured, “Well, I’m really sorry about your mum, Malfoy, but I’ve seen my share of death already. I’m not ready to just abandon my friends, and I don’t think I ever will be. I don’t think you get it ” I’m nothing without my friends. If it weren’t for them, I’d never have gotten half this far.” Harry smiled as he thought about the many times he’d had to depend upon Ron and Hermione. “I’m nothing without them,” he repeated. “If I don’t go back, I’ll never be able to live with myself.”
Malfoy snorted, but he had a thoughtful expression on his face as he turned away. In that moment, Harry thought he caught a glimmer of ” respect? ” in the other boy’s eyes; then it was gone, and Harry wasn’t sure if he’d imagined it in the first place. “Come on, then,” the blond-haired boy said over his shoulder. “We’re wasting time sitting around here chatting. You want to find Weasley and Granger or not?”
Harry grinned. After a brief moment’s conference, they chose to turn left at the next corner they came to. And so they walked on.
Well, that was interesting, Harry thought. Had Malfoy been a loyal friend, like Ron or Hermione, they would have had a nice long comforting session between their confessions and the continued journey, but Harry didn’t dare act with such familiarity toward Draco Malfoy. Besides, that would have just lost them even more time.
As they had planned, they turned left at the corner and walked alongside a row of houses. Harry noticed that it had gotten dark, and cold, very quickly. He could see puffs of his breath as they walked silently along, and after a few minutes of the increasing cold Harry recognized the possible meaning of the sudden darkness and cold. Dementors, as well? It’s far too cold for this time of the year... And it got dark fast too, but it was just getting on toward afternoon when we got to Grimmauld Place... This must be like a breeding ground for Voldemort’s evil, especially if Voldemort himself is here... Oh Ron, Hermione, where are you?...
They reached the end of the row and stopped. Harry looked down and saw, at the foot of a gently sloping hill, a large square with a dry, rusted fountain in the middle. The square was in an almost-basin, with the land climbing away from it on all sides, reaching up to the silent houses gathered at the top of the incline.
Harry’s question was quickly answered as he and Malfoy gazed down into the basin, which they had expected to be empty. But it wasn’t. Inside the square, fighting desperately, were Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, what Harry recognized as five Inferi, and at least half a dozen werewolves.
Harry looked at Malfoy, who nodded grimly back. Then, as one, they turned and charged down the hill and into the thick of the battle.
Harry was immediately engaged by two Inferi who advanced on him as soon as they caught sight of him. They made Harry’s stomach turn when he looked at them; barely more than half-rotted corpses, some were stumbling around missing eyes or ears or even limbs. A few looked almost alive, they were so freshly created, but their blank looks and shuffling bodies made it clear that they were no longer human.
Harry fought hard against the two before him, but as the bodies couldn’t exactly die again, it took ages just to put one down. He had to exercise all his ingenuity to destroy the second creature, which seemed determined to escape the fate its colleague had suffered, and dodged all his spells.
And to make matters worse, just after trying an unsuccessful Reducto spell, Harry’s hand experienced another spurt of blinding pain. Gritting his teeth, he grimly switched the wand back to his left hand, which had a horrid aim and made it even more difficult to hit the Inferius.
The creature dodged yet another curse, and Harry groaned with impatience. Alright, enough’s enough! Levicorpus! he thought, flicking his wand upward. The reanimated body hadn’t been expecting that, and flailed its arms helplessly as it was jerked up into the air.
Harry was just expelling a sigh of relief when he heard the scream. He spun around to see who it had been. Hermione and Ron were working together to demolish two Inferi and a werewolf; Malfoy was swiftly gaining the upper hand over two slow-witted werewolves; Neville was struggling, but holding his own against a towering Inferius; and Luna... Luna was...
“Luna!” Harry shouted, blasting his way past a snarling werewolf to get to her. Luna had been cornered by three werewolves... she had fallen against the old fountain... the werewolves had bent over her and were now... She was screaming.
“Hold on, Luna!” Harry yelled, desperately fighting to get to her. “Oh, God, please, please, not again...”
He reached her at last and vehemently blasted the two werewolves away. They lay stunned on the ground a few yards away, but Harry wasn’t paying attention to them. He knelt down beside Luna and gazed at her in horror, his stomach rising up in his throat.
She was simply covered in blood; parts of her side and stomach had been chewed to bits and were now just a bloody mass. Her face had an almost greenish tinge, and Harry knew this was a wound he could not fix. The battle raged on behind him, but he didn’t hear it as he tearfully whispered, “Luna...”
Luna focused on his face with some difficulty. “Hello, Harry,” she whispered. She held up a bloody hand and frowned at it in a puzzled way. “What’s this...? Oh. They cornered me, and ” and I fell...” She looked back at Harry. “I’m going to die, aren’t I?” she asked, very matter-of-factly.
Harry tried to swallow past the boulder that seemed to be wedged inside his throat. This was just like Ginny, exactly like Ginny... A girl he knew, was close to, was dying, and there was nothing he could do about it. If anything, he had caused it. “This was why I ” I didn’t want you guys coming ”” he whispered, hating himself. “Coming to ” to help, you should’ve stayed... I should have made you guys go back...”
“Don’t be silly, Harry,” Luna murmured. “I couldn’t have stayed home, no matter what you told me. A friend needed help, so I gave it. Don’t you dare be sorry, Harry. I’ll be alright, you’ll see. Go help them...” She suddenly scrabbled about in her ruined robes, pulling out a large, purple, carrot-shaped thing. She shoved it into Harry’s hand. “Here, you’ll probably be needing this. I never thought of it before... Dad says it can fend off Dark magic, but I never got the chance to try it out. I figure it can probably work on Dark creatures, too. Maybe you could ” use it...” Her stare grew glassy. Then, suddenly, she was looking off into the distance, right through Harry, eyes brighter than ever. “Mum?” she whispered. A broad smile crossed her face. She looked at Harry, again, for the last time.
They’re waiting for me,” she said.
Harry’s eyes stung. “Is she there?”
“Yes...” She smiled again. “Oh, Harry, it’s so beautiful... They’re all there, Mum, even Ginny, everyone I knew... waiting for me... So beautiful...”
Her hand grew limp in his. This time Harry couldn’t stop the tears.
She was gone.
A minute later, Harry stood and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. He looked down at Luna. In spite of her bloody, broken body, she looked peaceful, like death was a calmer place than life. Which was the way she should look.
Harry remembered the first time he had ever met Luna, on the Hogwarts Express so long ago. Her radish earrings, butterbeer cork necklace, slightly batty look... reading The Quibbler upside-down. Harry grinned through his tears. He’d had no idea of the great friend and ally he would find in her. He had only known her for two years... and now she was gone.
He thought about her final words: “They’re all there, Mum, even Ginny, everyone I knew... waiting for me... So beautiful...” So now they were all together. Harry knew that Luna had always missed her mother... She’d finally gotten to see her again. Harry wondered if that meant he’d see her and Ginny again, Dumbledore and Sirius, his mother and father...
No time to think about that now. Luna gave me a job to do. Harry looked at the purple carrot in his hand. He swallowed, then clenched his jaw and turned.
Malfoy was now busy with another werewolf, fighting like a demon. Neville was still trying to defeat the Inferius, but holding his own nicely. Ron and Hermione... were losing. Three undead creatures ” and another werewolf that had decided to join in the fray ” had a very unfair advantage over two mortal teenagers, no matter how talented. They were slowly closing in, surrounding Ron and Hermione, just like the things had done to Luna, before...
Harry looked down at the carrot again. He thought about Luna, and all she had believed in. Then he made a split-second decision, and jumped forward. He drew back his arm.
“For Luna!” he yelled, and, praying desperately, he threw the carrot-shaped thing.
It landed harmlessly on the grass between the creatures around Ron and Hermione. They looked down at it, then back at Harry, and then the werewolves made an odd, barking sound in their throats. They’re laughing, Harry realized. He was sure that had the Inferi been capable of speech or emotion they would be laughing at him, too... One of them came at him, mouth gaping hungrily, while the others turned back to Ron and Hermione...
And then the carrot exploded.
A shock wave blasted out for a mile around the carrot, but Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Malfoy felt only a slight wind. The Inferi, however, froze, then disintegrated into large piles of ash. As they felt the wave, the werewolves whimpered pitifully just before they were killed as well, although their bodies did not disappear.
And all that was left of the carrot-like thing was a big purple scorch mark on the ground. But it had, miraculously, worked. Even the Inferius that Harry had stuck up in the air was gone. They... They were saved.
Harry’s eyes stung as he spoke. “Looks like all of Luna’s ideas weren’t as mad as we thought. Maybe we... should’ve listened to her a bit more.”
“’Should have’?” Hermione whispered. She read the answer in his pained look. “Oh, Luna...”
Neville came over, wiping the sweat out of his eyes. “What was that?” he gasped. “It looked like a huge explosion, but it didn’t do anything to me. Only those Dark creatures. Are ” are you guys okay?” He finally noticed the somber mood of the trio. “What’s going on?”
Harry opened and closed his mouth mutely, trying to say something, but the words seemed lodged in his throat.
“It’s Luna,” Hermione said softly, brown eyes swimming with moisture.
Neville blanched. “No...” he whispered.
Hermione bit her lip and looked away. Ron was staring at the ground, silently crying but trying not to show it. Harry felt drained, totally and completely drained of feeling as he looked at Neville.
“NO!” Neville shouted. He pushed past them all and ran to Luna’s mangled body, lying crumpled at the base of the fountain. “Luna...” He knelt beside her and urgently grabbed her limp hand. “Luna, please, please wake up... It’s okay, we’re here, you’ll be alright, just wake up... Don’t be dead... Wake up, Luna. Wake up!”
He was crying now, great gulping sobs, and his voice bordered on the edge of hysteria. “Please, Luna, wake up...” he whispered, looking down at her closed eyes, her blank face. “Please...”
“She saved us,” Harry said softly. His voice broke in the middle; he had to clear his throat and make himself start over. “She saved all of us. We never took her seriously... I’m thinking now, maybe we should have asked her opinion more often.” He grinned faintly, but every inch of his heart was screaming in pain. Luna’s gone... she’s gone... “Heck, I’d even take a guess that the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks really do exist.”
Hermione snorted, but it turned into a sort of hiccup halfway through.
Neville looked up at Harry, face twisted in anguish. “Harry... Harry, why didn’t you save her?”
If only I could save everyone important to me! Harry thought, remembering... “I tried, Neville,” he choked. “Believe me, I tried. D’you think I wanted this to happen?”
Neville didn’t answer. He only looked back down at Luna.
Harry looked around. Malfoy was still standing over the body of the werewolf he’d been fighting, staring at it in a puzzled sort of way. When he saw Harry watching him, he ambled over to the group and asked, “What in Merlin’s name did you do this time, Potter?” He spotted Luna’s still form and sighed, shaking his head. “You shouldn’t have brought them with you.”
“We would have come with him whether he wanted us to or not!” Ron exploded suddenly, raising his head to glare at Malfoy. “This was Luna’s choice! We all knew the risks, we weren’t even expecting to all make it through in one piece! So just shut up, Malfoy, alright?”
“Whatever you say, Weasley,” Malfoy said smoothly. Without another word he turned around and, stuffing the hand that didn’t hold a wand into his robes’ pocket, began to walk nonchalantly away.
“Where are you going?” Harry called after him.
Malfoy didn’t turn his head as he called back, “To look for some safe place to camp out for the night.”
It was decided that one of them should go back to Luna’s father with her body. Neville immediately volunteered, reasoning that Ron and Hermione would most likely not want to be separated from Harry. Malfoy said nothing, but sat a little ways off from the rest of them, staring into the small fire they had made. He hadn’t said anything more after his discovery of the small clearing that they were now settled into.
“I ” I guess that’s settled, then,” Harry finally said. They all stood up, all but Malfoy, who gave no sign that he’d even heard. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville looked awkwardly at each other for a moment, unsure of how to say goodbye. They had already been through so much together, and now they were going to be split up again. The loss of two friends at once was almost more than Harry could take.
“Well... so long, mate,” Harry said, extending his hand to Neville. He looked at it numbly, then took it and smiled faintly. “It’s been good.”
Hermione hugged Neville, shamelessly dripping all over his robes. “Bye, Neville... You be careful, okay?” she whispered.
Ron shook his hand, but seemed to want to say something. “Listen... Neville. If ” if you’re ever... Er... Well. You did great out there, Neville. Thanks for ” for everything.”
After their goodbyes had been said, Neville gingerly picked up Luna’s body, which they had cleaned up as much as possible. They had all said goodbye to her before, but Harry still didn’t feel right. Neville stepped back. “Goodbye,” he said quietly. He looked over at Harry. “Oh, and Harry... Good luck. Be careful.”
“Yeah, you too,” Harry said. “W-we’ll be seeing you real soon, okay?”
Neville nodded slightly, but didn’t answer. They all knew it was more than likely that none of them would ever be around to see Neville again. But nobody said that. Nobody wanted to think about the very real possibility that they would soon face another death.
“Bye.” Neville turned in a circle, preparing himself to Apparate. He was heading to his grandmother’s house first, to try and find out where Luna lived. Harry hoped there would be no unpleasant surprises waiting for him when he arrived.
In that last moment, just before Neville disappeared from their lives, Harry closed his eyes and sent a mental message to Neville and Luna. Goodbye, Neville... You’ll be fine, I know you will. Please stay safe. And Luna... goodbye, Luna, my friend. I hope you’re happy to see your mum... I’ll miss you. I-I hope I see you again, someday... Farewell, both of you...
When he opened his eyes again, Neville and Luna were gone. And so was another chunk of his heart.
Harry Potter and the Seventh Soul by PadfootBaby
Chapter Notes: ...Sorry.