Luna Lovegood gazed serenely at the black chamber that lay ahead of her. In the aftermath of the war, she had seen too many of these burial chambers. She had been to too many funerals, and each one of them had been just as unpleasant. No matter how bright and sunny the weather may have been, there was always a sensation of coldness and numbness at funerals. Luna felt as though she standing in the winter rain or getting attacked by Wrackspurts. They tend to attack when a person is most vulnerable.
She had come to attend Fred Weasley’s funeral. It seemed unbelievable to Luna that he was no longer alive. After all, he was so young and ought have lived longer. However, the war had taken away the best of people along with it, and Fred Weasley was no exception. She hadn’t known him well, but at Hogwarts his and George’s mischievous activities had always fascinated her. She had rather fond memories of the Weasley twins, and she knew wherever Fred might be, he was proud to have sacrificed himself for the wizarding world.
The funeral ceremony had already begun. Luna could see a big crowd of people gathered around her. All the Weasleys were present, along with members of the Order of the Phoenix, as Ginny had said. Almost the whole Gryffindor house including many of its former students were also present. Luna wasn’t surprised at all. She knew that he was very widely loved.
They were holed up in a deserted field close to the Burrow. Wherever she looked, she saw his family and friends with their heads bent low, their eyes glistening with tears, while some stood firm, fighting back any tears that may come along. She knew it was hard to lose a loved one; she had lost her mother at the age of nine. She had cried back then, but that was because she was such a small girl. It’s always difficult to deal with it at first. She didn’t know the real things then. Once she realised that she would be reunited with her mother one day, she hadn’t felt the need to cry. She never liked crying or seeing anyone else cry.
She wondered if Fred would want anyone to cry because of him? He had always been the life and soul of every occasion, along with George. They made everyone wipe their tears and brought smiles on their faces. Now that she gave it a thought, she was certain he would not want such a thing. Maybe the only other person who thought similarly was Fred’s twin, George Weasley. He stood beside his sister Ginny, who held him tightly while tears gushed down her face. George merely stared at the black chamber, just like Luna had been doing before. He did not cry at all throughout the ceremony. He really did look as though he had suffered an attack from Wrackspurts.
Even his brothers had been in tears, but George just stood there fighting back his tears. She could see a strange shadow of grief mixed with shock etched on his face. Luna suddenly felt slightly concerned for him. His loss was perhaps greater than anyone else’s. He had lost his twin, his other half. Luna wondered what he must have been going through. She had once managed to ask Padma Patil how she felt having to live separately from Parvati.
She had retorted with a frown, ‘It’s not so bad. Parvati and I are very different. I’m almost pleased we are not in the same house.’
Luna knew, though, that the Patil twins were the complete opposite of the Weasley twins. The Patil twins seemed to enjoy living their lives separately. They had nothing in common with each other. It was sometimes impossible to think that they were twins. The Weasley twins, on the other hand, were inseparable. They almost seemed a part of each other. They were together most of the time and had done everything together. One could never imagine one without the other. Luna couldn’t help feeling bad for George. She could only imagine how numb and empty he must be feeling, but she could never know for certain.
Luna looked around, and found that the funeral ceremony had come to an end. People had started to make their way out of the field, and she saw many of them saying words of comfort to the Weasleys. Her daddy was one of them, and once he had finished talking, he came towards her.
‘Luna, my dear,’ said her dad, placing his hand on her shoulder. ‘I’m going to take a look at a stream nearby. I’ve been told there are some good Fresh Water Plimpies in there. You know how rare they are to find these days.’
‘It’s all right, Daddy,’ Luna replied, looking at him. ‘I’ll wait here, and you can go ahead.’
‘Thanks, dear. I won’t be long.’
Her daddy was very fond of Fresh Water Plimpies, and Luna didn’t want him to miss out on such an opportunity to catch some of them. Luna sat down on the warm ground; she would look foolish standing in the middle of the field by herself. After some time, the field that had been so full just hours ago, had become almost deserted. Only the Weasleys remained, but they were on the far side. Luna could see George moving away from the rest of his family. As he came closer, she noticed he looked very wistful and pensive, and his face held a morose expression. He stopped walking and stationed himself under a very tall tree.
Tears began to trickle down his freckledface. He wasn’t sniffing or sobbing. Instead, he was crying quietly. Luna had known all along that George would cry, but she hadn’t expected him to cry like that. The more she watched him, the more she realised how very little she knew about him. He seemed so forlorn and lost without his twin.
Luna stood up slowly and began to walk towards George. He didn’t even notice as she slipped by his side. She stood there for some time before finally speaking.
‘I was wondering when you’d do that,’ she said softly. She had indeed been wondering when George would finally resort to tears.
George seemed surprised by her sudden appearance. He turned around and stared at her for a minute.
‘Do what?’
‘Cry.’
‘I’m not crying,’ he replied, turning away from her. Luna could still see him attempting to wipe away the tears. He couldn’t succeed though; they kept coming back. Luna was unsure why someone would try to hide his or her tears. It was a very natural thing.
‘I would cry, too, if I was in your place. There’s nothing wrong in crying.’
‘I’m not--’
‘Don’t worry, George,’ Luna said, softly. She could imagine what he must be feeling and wanted to assure him that he wasn’t lonely. She wanted to comfort him. ‘You haven’t lost him.’
‘Err…’ George turned around, narrowing his eyes.
Luna gazed at him tenderly. He was probably unaware of such things. Most wizards were, but Luna strongly believed in it. If a person who someone truly loves leaves this world, it does not mean they wouldn’t see each other again. They would be together again when the time arrives. She wanted to share her belief with him, but not because she thought it would comfort him. She knew he would believe it too.
‘You’ll see your brother again,’ Luna said gently.
Luna couldn’t tell whether he had understood what she meant to say. He looked quite mystified. There was a slight pause in which George gave her an incredulous look.
‘What are you talking about?’
‘You’ll see Fred again,’ Luna repeated, hoping he would understand her this time. Luna knew she would have to explain it to him slowly. Perhaps, she had been a bit too abrupt.
‘Luna, my dear! It’s time to leave--’
Luna looked around to see her daddy returning from the stream. He held a brown bag in his hands that probably contained the Fresh Water Plimpies. She knew she would be unable to explain any further to George. There was no time.
‘I’ll see you around, George,’ she said, starting to walk towards her daddy, leaving a confused George.
‘Wait!’ called George, but Luna did not stop. She had to leave. It seemed the right thing to do.
Secret Mischief by ginny112
Chapter Notes: This is written for 10_themes on livejournal. I would like to thank my beta Mudblood_and_proud_of_it for her great beta work. This is just the prologue of the story so it is rather brief. Enjoy!