Luna Lovegood never understood the point of sadness. She'd felt it, of course. That's a given when fighting a war. Yet, she still had to wonder about the reason for it all. Why would anyone feel that way when it never changed what happened? After all, it won't bring your friends back, and it certainly doesn't make you feel better. Smile or cry, laugh or hide, that's what her mother always used to say.
Mother would often tell her this on nights when she woke from nightmares, wrapping her in blankets and sitting by her, talking them away. Perspective is a powerful thing, her mother told her, because as long as you laugh and smile, fear can't hurt you, like how the monsters under your bed could turn out to be friendly things that simply want to keep you company. When you find beauty in the night, the darkness loses its power, and the shadows can't swallow you up. Not with the stars pushing them back, or the moon watching from overhead. It's when you let the clouds block that light that you feel sadness and pain. It was simple really.
On those same nights, she'd said God made you a star after dying, so you could help push back the shadows and sadness of others. After you became a star, the people you cared about could always find you, whenever they looked up at the night sky. They'd know if they spotted you, because there'd be a feeling. Her mother never explained what that feeling was like, but Luna always assumed it must be different for everyone. It would be one of those things you'd simply know.
So one by one, she watched as the people around her became stars, and after the battle she searched for them in the expanse of sky. That night she felt it, and it was a feeling of warmth, a feeling of comfort. One by one, she found them. One by one, she smiled under their light.
There, next to her mother, was professor Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling a bright blue behind his glasses. Next stood Lupin and Tonks, side by side near a shining moon and holding hands near the latter's father, Ted. Her old professor's scars were gone now, and she felt a twinge of relief coming down to her when she looked at him, at the starlight he emitted. A little ways farther she spotted Harry's parents, and even though she'd never meet them, she still knew that's who they were. She just felt it, like with the others. She thanked them for what they'd done, for the chance to know their son, to have him as a friend.
Not too far away from them was Sirius, and then a bit farther Hedwig, and after that stood Fred, then Snape, then Moody, and then Dean's father. She located Dobby and Cedric and Colin too, all smiling, all happy, and all shining high above. They'd given so much to her, and so much to the others as well.
So she thanked them as well. All of them.
Luna wondered, could they exist in the same sky as men like Voldemort, or the Death Eaters? Are stars only limited to certain kinds of people? What about the dark places in between the stars? Maybe, she thought, that's where the people like them went. The closer she looked, the more she found herself believing it. Like stars, the spaces between had their own shapes, constellations made from darkness. It must be so cold there surrounded by that nothingness. Did the stars ever take pity on them?
Looking around her, she noted the dark stains that still painted the grass beneath her feet, marking the places where the many bodies of people's friends and loved ones had fallen. Those same bodies were now still and silent within the great hall, devoid of their starlight.
Even as Luna felt her chest tighten at the thought, a warm breeze blew through the night. It was soft across her skin. As if one last combined whisper from all those who'd passed on. A reassurance, perhaps, a promise they'd be waiting somewhere far above, in a place she couldn't yet go. One day she'd be up there as well. After it was over, after she died as all humans do, her brightness too would leap up into the sky, right by her mother, and right by her friends.
Her mum also claimed that humans were originally made from stardust. When that stardust left your body it meant that you were finally going home. Right now, her friends were home, so what is the point of sadness at death? Pain is only temporary, like life, and so there really was nothing to fear, no reason to feel sadness. With the stars pushing back the shadows and the moon shining overhead the darkness could never truly swallow her up.
As Luna walked back inside to join the others, and even as a warm tear trailed its way down her cheek, the knot forming in her chest loosened and she knew it was true. It wasn't as if they'd never be together again, so she wouldn't be sad now, or afraid. There was no reason to be.
Though her name meant moon, Luna knew they were all children of stardust. So she wiped away the tear stains, and then chose to smile.
Children of Stardust by shadowkat678
Chapter Notes: Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter was not made by me, nor was anything in it. I just like filling in the gaps and playing around with ideas. Feedback, especially constructive, is welcome.