Luna put the newly arrived document into the Harry Potter file. Harry’s final approval joined the preliminary approval letter at the top of the file. The letters would not be published with her stories. If the letters were published with the stories, the stories would be considered Harry Potter’s version of events and the Ministry, the Daily Prophet and Rita Skeeter would make veiled remarks about his true motives in their attempts at trying to discredit the stories. Luna would keep his letters private. So the critics would spend their time and energy attacking her and her newspaper for getting the facts wrong or taking poetic license with the truth. When the critic’s attacks began to gain momentum; she would publish Harry’s letters and cut the critic’s legs out from under them. The letters would expose to the magical world the unholy alliance that existed between the Ministry and the Daily Prophet.

Since the stories had to be kept secret until they were published, Luna had to do all of the editing, composing, and blocking of the stories herself. She looked at the two pictures she had chosen to accompany the story about Dumbledore’s founding of the second Order of the Phoenix. One picture would be placed under the banner headline on page one and the other photo would be used in the middle of page three. She carefully considered the order; the wrong photo in the wrong place would change the focus of her reader’s eye and impact the power of the story. Luna finally decided to use the picture of the original Order that featured Dumbledore, the Longbottoms and the Potters for the front page. On the third page she would place the photo of the new Order, the one that included Harry Potter. By placing the older picture on the front page, she reminded everyone of the true cost of the war against Voldemort. Harry had not been the only one who’d fought against Voldemort, the best and bravest of two whole generations of witches and wizards had fought and died to protect the wizarding world from that monster. The story had to be a reminder to the readers of all of those who had sacrificed their lives trying to defeat Voldemort.

Luna looked at the second photo; reliving the moments leading up to the when the picture was taken. It had been shot at the Order’s headquarters after supper on the night before the final battle. Harry had not wanted to be in it. Only after a quiet talk with Professor Lupin, had he agreed to participate. On the left, Lupin and Tonks were smiling and holding hands; she would soon die refusing to leave his side after he had fallen. In the photo, Hagrid was eagerly waving his beefy hand at the readers; he died saving Hermione from the monster Greyback. The Weasley family was all grouped together. They had taken such a terrible toll: Arthur and Charlie were dead, Fred’s right arm was now blackened and shriveled, Bill, George, Ron all bore battle scars on their bodies and Ginny still needed to take annual draughts of Dumbledore’s dragon blood mixture to survive. Luna also noted the other two who would fall in the great battle: the fidgeting, rumpled lump of Mundungis Fletcher and the solemn, yet dapper form of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

In the far right corner of the photograph, she saw herself standing next to Neville with a nervous smile on her face. They had just made their pact before the photo was taken. When the battle seemed to be going the Order’s way, they would hunt down Bellatrix Lestrange and defeat her. Luna had been the architect of the only plan that would give them a chance at conquering Lestrange. The battle plan had been a simple, yet elegant plan that came very close to adding Luna’s name to the roll of the heroic dead.

Luna arrived in her little cloakroom. She strode out of the door on a mission to find Harry and give him the good news that Ginny was not dead. Luna was planning to only give him the good news; the full details could wait until after the battle was won. She was returning up the passageway to her right where she had last seen Harry, when she saw Fred and George Weasley enter the hall from an antechamber, both bleeding and limping. Fred looked bad; his right arm seemed to be dying in front of her very eyes. Luna told Fred to Apparate to St. Mungo’s.

Fred’s voice was chocked with undisguised venom as he spat, “Not while I’ve got a breathe in me. Not after that,” Fred looked up the hallway, as his voice seemed to disappear.

Luna turned to George, who seemed to be in more control of himself than his twin and he explained, “That Lestrange bloke got Dad and Dolohov got Charlie, but we got both of them. They’ll be no Azkaban for those two. No, they’ll be no Azkaban for them.”

She looked at George with a sense of horror. George’s eyes, normally filled with mischievous twinkles that matched his brother, burned with hatred and blood lust.

Luna asked if they knew where Harry was. They only knew that he wasn’t up the hallway. She told the twins about Ginny’s injury and how she was still alive. Fred reached out with his remaining good arm, embraced Luna, and thanked her. She again suggested St. Mungo’s, but Fred just shook his head. She suggested that they go to the ministry and bring the Aurors here.

George just answered, “Too many witnesses love, they’d just keep us from doing the job that must be done.”

As Fred and George limped away on the hunt for more Death Eaters, Luna felt shaken by her conversation with them. She tried to clear her mind as she walked up the stone hallway to her left. After making several turns, Luna stopped when she heard a soft sound from around the corner. She peeked around the corner and saw Draco Malfoy sitting on the floor next to the bodies of his father and Professor Snape. The blonde boy was crying. At hearing her footsteps, he looked up at her, his eyes swam full of tears. He held in each hand a piece of a broken wand.

Draco, without any prompting from Luna, just started rambling about what happened in a voice full of lose and hurt. “My Father found out it was me who was the Order’s spy. He was going to kill me! But, Professor Snape had promised my mother to protect me, no matter what. And look what happened,” he said, pointing at the corpses. “It’s all my fault, all my fault,” he added as if confessing a crime to her.

Luna asked if he’d seen Harry, but Draco did not seem to hear her question. He just sat on the floor rocking to and fro with his head buried between his knees.”

“I know where Harry is,” quavered a sad female voice.

Luna looked to the right and found a barely visible Moaning Myrtle hovering above Draco.

“Harry’s in there,” the ghost offered while pointing through a wall to Luna’s left. As Luna started to walk down the hallway toward the door, Myrtle settled next to the stricken boy and she tried to comfort him.

Luna listened at the closed door of the room Myrtle had identified, but she could hear nothing. She opened the door a crack and saw found Harry staring down at a huge tangle of bodies. About halfway into the room, Luna recognized what the tangled mass was. The giant, bloody corpse of Hagrid grasped mangled form of Fenrir Greyback in his massive arms. Luna looked down; it appeared to her that Hagrid had snapped the werewolf’s neck as he had died. Hermione, who bore scratches on her arm and slashes on her clothing, stood at Hagrid’s feet and sobbing into the consoling arms of Ronald Weasley.

The Trio turned to face Luna. When she saw Harry’s tear stained face, she could not withhold her good news any longer.

“Harry, Ginny’s alive at St. Mungo’s,” blurted out Luna.

Harry looked over at her in disbelief. “The Avada Kedavra. How?” Harry asked, afraid to believe what he had just heard.

It seems that you and Ginny are a perfect match after all. You’ve both survived Voldemort’s killing curse,” exclaimed Luna.

“Impossible!” hissed a high pitch voice from the form in the back of room.

“Not for Albus Dumbledore. He saved Ginny,” Luna proclaimed as she took two steps toward the hooded figure.

Voldemort’s red snake-like eyes bored into Luna. “Albus Dumbledore is dead,” proclaimed the Dark Lord, “Snape killed him.”

Luna felt the dark wizard’s mind touch her own and she willingly let him see all of the images of Dumbledore she had witnessed in Pomfrey’s memory. Voldemort’s seemed to be confused by what he saw. How could there be a fresh memory of this girl in the same room with a living Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore has been dead for over a year?.

“Albus Dumbledore will never truly be dead as long as his students follow his teachings,” spoke Harry, taking advantage of the doubt appearing in his opponent’s face..

Harry waved his wand arm in a sweeping motion. Suddenly Luna, Ron and Hermione were swept out of the room with a great rush of wind, and the door to the room locked. The walls and floors shook. Light as bright as lightning flashed through the keyhole and from under the door. The power of the spells being cast in the sealed room caused the hair to stand up on the back of Luna’s neck. It was happening now, just on the other side of that door. The fate of the whole world was being decided in that room.

Ron left Hermione’s side and tried to open the door, but it was locked. Ron tried to Apparate into the room, but something blocked him. Hermione walked over to Ron, whispered something in his ear, and softly kissed his lips. She stoically took her place at Ron’s side three paces from the locked door. They were ready to help Harry, if they could. They were ready to congratulate him, if he had succeeded. They were ready to try and take down Voldemort, if he had failed.

The floor rocked again. Flashes of light and sounds roared out of the closed room. Suddenly, there was a deep, dark silence. Ron tried the handle, but the room was still locked. Hermione tried Alohomora, to no avail.

Neville arrived, a moment later, breathless from a run down the corridor. “They’re in there, aren’t they?” he asked Luna.

She nodded affirmatively. Luna and Neville stood two steps behind Ron and Hermione with their wands at the ready, ready to share in whatever had been Harry’s fate.

In the silence of the flagstone floored hallway, the sound of the door latch moving was akin to rolling thunder. Everyone in the hallway took a deep, and maybe final, breathe waiting for something to happen. The door slowly swung open and Harry bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose stumbled forward into the hallway and collapsed into Hermione’s arms. Ron ran into the room, and from inside they heard a cheer. Voldemort lay on the floor, his body scorched black. The remnants of two exploded wands lay at his feet. Tom Marvolo Riddle was dead and this time there were no horcruxes to save him. Dead was dead this time.

Luna looked at Hermione and ordered her, “St. Mungo’s Emergency Room three, ask for Dr. Pomfrey. He and Dumbledore saved Ginny. He’ll fix Harry up.” Hermione, Harry and Ron disappeared leaving Neville and Luna standing alone in the hallway.

Neville looked at Luna. “Ready to go hunting?” he asked

All Luna could do was nod and pray that the plan would work. Luna Apparated back to the cloakroom and picked up the backpack she had left there for Neville. She removed her radish earrings from her ears and dropped them on the floor to her right.

“Agneta,” spoke Luna as she tapped her right leg with her hand. She marched out of the cloakroom up the hallway past the abandoned corpses of Lucius Malfoy and Professor Snape. Luna kept on walking until she found Neville alone at the door of the death chamber.

“Ready?” she asked Neville as she handed him the pack.

“Yes,” he replied flatly.

Finding Bellatrix did not turn out to be very hard; they simply followed the trail of bodies. The first body they found was Mundungus. The old man had obviously been tortured, torture was her calling card. A harsh female voice could be heard echoing in the distance. After taking a couple of wrong turns, her cackling laugh drew them to the room better than a Marauder’s Map would have done.

Bellatrix was standing over the body of Kingsley Shacklebolt. She was mocking the corpse. “Come back from the ashes little phoenix. Come back so I can kill you again!” yelled Bellatrix.

“He’s dead. He’s as dead as your beloved Voldemort. Surrender quietly or face the consequences,” taunted Neville in a rock hard voice.

Bellatrix turned around and saw the two new intruders. “The Dark Lord can not die! He has conquered death, you fools,” shouted Bellatrix in a voice that was full of pride in her master.

“You’re wrong. Dumbledore found out about all of Tom Riddle’s little secrets. Harry Potter killed them and then killed you master,” divulged Luna.

“Lies!” screeched Lestrange.

“He’s in the middle room with all the armor, go see for your self,” replied Neville.

“No,” cried Bellatrix as she took a talisman from her neck and touched it with her wand. She vanished. Neville looked at Luna and the two of them Apparated to the scene of the battle, finding the bodies of Greyback, Hagrid, Riddle, and a sobbing Bellatrix Lestrange. As Luna kept guard, Neville opened up the backpack and removed a giant bulbous plant.

“Master, I’m waiting. Please come back to your most loyal servant,” she cried.

“Surrender now or face the consequences,” repeated Neville.

With tears in her eyes, Bellatrix Lestrange turned toward the duo. “I’m awaiting my master’s return. You look familiar. Of course, you’re the Longbottom boy. Oh look, you even brought your little girl friend along with you. How sweet! Maybe they can get the two of you adjoining beds to your parents at St. Mungo’s after I make you pay,” screeched Bellatrix as she fired a spell at Neville.

Protego,” shouted Neville parrying the blast.

After deflecting the spell, Neville took the potted plant in his hands and launched it straight at the Death Eater’s face. The bulbous cactus struck her on the forehead and splattered Bellatrix with the familiar stink sap of the Mimbulus Mimbletonia. The goop flowed down her face, neck and onto her torso. Bellatrix’s anger at being splattered by the sap quickly turned into maniacal laughter.

“Is this how you would conquer me boy? I’ve just killed the so-called best the Auror Department had to offer? I can not be defeated by some smelly plant sap. You’re a fool, boy,” Bellatrix said, elongating the pronunciation of fool to emphasize her contempt.

“Surrender now or face the consequences. This is your final warning,” restated a now nervous Neville.

“I was just going to kill you at first. Now after this, I’m going to take my sweet time with you. I won’t let you die until my master comes back, and then I’ll let him kill you because you mocked him, boy. But until he does returns, I’ll pass the time with the ugly blonde girl. Longbottom, you can watch her suffer and beg for death just like your worthless father did with that hag he married,” boasted Bellatrix.

“Steady,” Luna whispered, looking to her right. “You are in grave danger Bellatrix. Surrender and you might live,” she added, looking into the other woman’s hate filled eyes.

Bellatrix made an unbelievably quick motion with her wand that Luna did not see until it was too late.

Luna shouted, “Prot...”. As she lost consciousness, Luna heard an unearthly roar to her right and a high pitched scream from straight ahead.

“Daughter, I’m so very proud of you,” assured a soft feminine voice from a shape that seemed to be drowning in light.

“Mommy, I’ve missed you so much. Just wait till father sees you! He’ll be so happy,” cried Luna.

“Your father can’t see me, Luna. Not yet anyway, not until it’s his time,” the voice offered. “He’s calling to you. Feel the love in his voice Luna; go to him. I’ll be here waiting until it is time, my daughter. I love you, Luna,” she heard the wavering voice say as it faded away.

“Luna. Luna darling,” a tired and familiar masculine voice beseeched through the darkness.

Luna opened her eyes to see her father’s face just inches above her own. Her father burst into tears and looked to the right side of her bed. She followed his gaze to the right and looked around the dimly lit area. She saw three figures to her right: Neville, Ginny and the young doctor from the emergency room were all smiling down at her. Luna tried to smile back, but it was so hard. As she reached out her hand to make sure that the vision of Ginny was real, the effort proved to be too much and her hand fell on her chest. Her fingers landed on the butterbeer cork necklace. Luna took hold of the necklace in her right hand and gave in to the downward pull of sleep.

Later, Luna woke up and looked around. She thought that it must be night, judging by the lack of light coming through the ward windows. Luna’s father was asleep in a chair to her left, a pile of paperwork was scattered on the floor and another stack sat on a chair next to him. Luna slowly turned to her right and found Neville seated in a chair reading a book called Medicinal Herbs of the American Desert.

“Neville, what are you doing here?” she asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

“It’s my turn. We all take turns sitting with your father here and in Ginny’s room with Harry,” responded Neville.

Take turns? The thought that she might have been out for more than a few hours slowly rose through the fog that filled her brain.

“Neville, how long?” she asked.

“Twenty-nine days,” answered Neville.

A month, I’ve almost lost a whole month. Luna looked at her father. The light grey from his temples seemed to have spread across his whole visage. Even asleep her father looked very tired.

Luna blinked. What was happening when she last remembered? Slowly, scattered images came into focus inside of her mind. Luna tried to speak, but her mouth was a desert. Neville came over and gave her a small sip of water through a straw. The drink eased the dryness in her throat.

“Bellatrix, where is she? What happened to Agneta?” asked Luna rising up off the pillow. The attempt to sit up had been a mistake, and Luna’s spinning head crashed back on the pillow.

“The moment Bellatrix fired her spell at you; Agneta sprang at her, becoming visible to both of us. She jumped on Bellatrix and began biting and clawing wherever the stink sap was,” started Neville. “I went over to see if you were all right. The spell she hit you with was like the spell Hermione got hit with at the Ministry, only much more powerful,” explained Neville.

“By the time I realized you were safe, I heard Bellatrix screaming for help,” added Neville. “I stood there watching as Agneta’s fangs and claws cut into her. I almost just took you to St. Mungo’s and let Agneta have her, but I couldn’t.” Neville looked to the floor as uncertainty filled his face. He shook his head and seemed to return to the present and continued speaking. “If I had done that I wouldn’t have been any better than them, would I? Only I’d have used a Crumple-horned Snorkack to torture someone instead of an Unforgivable Curse. So I called Agneta off and told her to follow Bellatrix to keep her company.” Neville looked down at the floor with a sheepish smile.

“That was the bravest thing you’ve ever done, Neville,” whispered Luna impressed.

“I Apparated with you, Bellatrix, and Agneta here to St. Mungo’s for treatment. I let that doctor you had mentioned to Hermione work on you, while some ancient looking healer worked on Bellatrix. While he was working on her, Agneta just sat there licking the sap off her fingers,” proclaimed Neville with a satisfied smile. Neville paused.

Luna looked at Neville and said, “And.” He couldn’t let the story end there!

“Bellatrix kept telling the doctor that there was a beast standing by the bed and the doctor thought she was mad. So she is locked up in the spell damaged ward just down the hall from my parents,” he announced.

“Snorkacks are only visible to those who see them pounce on a prey. That’s how father and I caught Agneta in Sweden,” explained Luna, “She’s not still with Bellatrix is she?”

“No, she’s back in her kennel at Stoatshead,” assured Neville. “When I told Ron and Hermione about what happened with Bellatrix, Hermione just shook her head and made a face at me.”

“Some people just can’t see what is right in front of them,” sighed Luna, “If it’s not in a book, Hermione just won’t believe in it. That’s too bad, because Agneta reminds me a lot of Crookshanks. They could be friends.”

Neville gave her a second small sip of water through the straw and returned to his chair. Luna gratefully swallowed the small sip, wondering how or if she should say what was on her mind.

“Neville, just before I woke up the first time I had a dream. My mother came to me and told me how proud she was of me. The dream seemed so real,” she whispered knowing Neville would accept her statement without judgment.

Neville sat up quickly, looking interested at her news. “The day you first woke up, that was also the first day Ginny had been allowed out of bed since she’d gotten hurt. She insisted Harry and Healer Pomfrey bring her down to see you. While Harry waited outside the ward, Ginny took off that necklace of yours and put it back around your neck with your father’s help. A few minutes later, your eyes opened up and you were smiling at all of us,” Neville said in what seemed to be one long breath. “And now you say your mother talked to you?” he stopped speaking trying to comprehend what he had just heard.

Luna’s eyes filled with tears as she touched the necklace and joined Neville in silently pondering all that had happened to her.