Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling though I would love to be! She's amazing!!
A cold wind swept outskirts of Ottery St Catchpole and blew the dirty blond hair of a teenage girl to either side of her face. These were dark times and the girl knew that she should not have been outside. Approaching a large mansion, the girl wearing what looked like a necklace of butterbeer corks and radish earrings went through the heavy spells and into her house.
Luna Lovegood. That’s what her few friends knew her by. That’s what her teachers knew her by. That’s what her father knew her by.
Mr Lovegood was the editor of the recent best-selling wizard magazine in the UK “ the Quibbler. Unfortunately for Luna, this meant less time spent with her father and more time spent feeling lonely and rejected. She didn’t mind though because that was the type of girl Luna was “ understanding, down-to-earth, often lonely, opinionated and even slightly weird in her own special way.
Most of these traits were gained from her father. Alair Lovegood was what he was known as, a happy man full of love and good. His real name, however, was Aristoteles, which was the name of a very severe critic in the past. Mr. Lovegood felt distanced from this name though because he felt that he was nothing like a critic, just a man who spoke what he believed and that was that.
For years now he had looked after Luna on his own while trying his best to run a well-grounded magazine. Now that Luna was approaching the end of her fifth-year, Alair felt that it was alright to leave her on her own. Until Dumbledore died.
Nobody knew how close Aristoteles ‘Alair’ Lovegood was towards Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. In fact, Dumbledore was almost like his father. Alair had attended his funeral along with his daughter and been very emotional throughout.
It’s alright to feel upset, after all, you were very close to him. After Amabella died, you only had him and Luna left. He looked after you when both your parents were killed by Death Eaters and accepted your dreams and thoughts as those of a very clever man. He got you to where you a today, a successful and happy man, and you should be nothing but grateful to him. And you are.
“Dad?” Luna’s voice brought him back to where he was. I keep forgetting that her school year has finished.
“Luna, dear, how have you been doing? I’m so sorry that I have been working so much recently, it’s just that…” he trailed of.
“It’s alright, Dad,” a broad grin was coming across Luna’s face. “I just wanted to ask you if it was ok with you if I went over to my friend, Ginny Weasley’s house for a couple of nights. She contacted me with Floo powder and said that if you said ‘yes’ that she and her mum would come to pick me up. She’s a really sweet girl; she’s nice to me and everything. And, well, I’ve never been to her house before.” Luna became quieter, “Come to think of it, I’ve never been to any friends’ house before…”
“Of course, darling. Just… keep safe. You know with all the attacks happening recently, I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you,” replied Luna’s father. “And tell Molly that I will drop you. No need for her to waste good Floo powder when I get bag loads for free. We will also be able to attend her eldest son’s wedding in a week’s time. I hear that Hagrid is coming, I’ll be able to ask him about the furrowed-cross-weasels.”
With that, Luna gave her father a tight hug and scurried away leaving him to himself again. Thinking.
If only life was like how it used to be. Now it’s just Luna and me, and I worry every night that soon it might only be one of us. If so, I hope Luna lives. I don’t think that I could live without her. She’s so … Luna. The perfect daughter for me and the only one I have ever wished for.
He thought about his wife. How Amabella Greyback, yes Greyback, lived her life. Always with a smile on her face until her brother, Fenrir, was bitten by a werewolf and changed completely. He threatened her and her family saying that he would bite his daughter. So they fled and went into hiding. Greyback soon gave up his hunt and reconciled his sister. Then she died. The Lovegoods hadn’t spoken to him since.
Alair remembered that day so well but would never try to recall it. He never wanted to accept the fact that she was gone. Inside he actually knew that she wasn’t.
Luna had always told her father that her mother was still there. Still living. She said that all those magical folk who were killed, even by the killing curse, remained alive yet concealed. Her hopes had been confirmed that night in the Department of Mysteries. She had heard her mother’s voice behind the veil. The one where so many lives were hidden behind. Even Mr. Lovegood did not know that it was Luna’s aim to find a way to save all those lives. That was just the kind of girl she was though.
Slowly, Alair brought himself back to reality and lifted himself to go and look outside the window. He glanced around the dark and solemn view. His eyes skimmed every house and suddenly they landed on one house in particular. He stood there for a moment, convincing himself that he had not just seen what he thought. He looked there again and there it was, emitting green light into all directions. A skull with a slithering snake protruding from its mouth. The Dark Mark was towering high, meaning that someone had just been killed.