–Crucio! CRUCIO!â€
The pain, oh God, the unbearable, endless pain, and she was going to die, and she was screaming--and someone far away was yelling her name--oh how she loved him, and she was going to die--and it hurt, it hurt, it was killing her, it was hell--oh God, make it stop, make it stop--God, the pain--screaming--
Something crashed. The crash had been a few feet away from her head, and a little bit--down? She didn’t know where she was, and she was terrified. It was dark, and she didn’t know where that madwoman was--that madwoman--
Hermione was on her back, but she wasn’t on the floor. She was in a bed. Oh! It had been a nightmare, not real. Just a nightmare. The madwoman was dead, and so was Voldemort.
She looked around the dark room, trying to figure out where she had just been sleeping. It obviously wasn’t the tent, or Shell Cottage. It wasn’t the Burrow or Hogwarts or her house, either. Puzzled, she turned over to find the spot where the crashing noise had come from. There was a small bedside lamp lying on the floor, its lampshade titled sideways. From this she deduced that she must be in the Muggle world somewhere, but where?
Then it came to her--she was at her parents’ house in Australia. It was her first time sleeping in this room, since yesterday they had all happily fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room together, after staying up past midnight just talking and enjoying each other’s presence. It had been the old sofa, the comfortable beige one, not the newer, black, leathery one her parents bought when she was twelve, which wasn’t as good for sleeping on.
Her tight grip on her pillow eased, and she noticed for the first time that she was breathing hard. Calm down. I am okay. I’m safe. She must have knocked the lamp down, flailing around in her sleep. She decided to leave it there, since it was too dark to see whether it was broken and she didn’t want to accidentally touch a broken shard of porcelain.
Voldemort and his followers are gone. It was still a new concept. She wondered how long it would take for her to wake up and immediately remember the Battle of Hogwarts, remember that she was safe from all of them.
The Battle of Hogwarts, that’s what people were calling it--and now she remembered...Lupin, Tonks, Fred… Dobby, Colin…and so many others…they were gone too…
Hermione lay with her head on her pillow for a long time, thinking of her friends who had died, and trying to swallow the lump in her throat. She let out a sob when she thought of Teddy Lupin…he was just a little baby, and he would grow up without his parents, his parents who loved him so. His father would never carry him around on his shoulders. His mother would never hold his little hands. They would not be there to tuck him in to sleep at night and wave at him as he boarded the Hogwarts Express…he wouldn’t even remember their voices...and Fred, think of the way the Weasleys must be feel--if Hermione missed Fred, it was nothing to how Mr. and Mrs. Weasley surely felt. Their son was dead. She remembered a sentence she had read somewhere: No parent should have to bury their child.
The room seemed dark and lonely then. She could go climb in with her parents, or start rereading one of her old textbooks…but to read, she’d need her wand, because she doubted the lamp still worked. And she was all right, really, there was nobody who wanted to attack her, which made a pleasant change from the previous few months. She was safe, just sad, so sad… and then she thought of Ron. She wanted him to be there with her; she was used to hearing his breathing at night. Even at Shell Cottage, she had known he was only a room away. A memory came: back in August, the first night the three of them had spent at Grimmauld Place, how she was trying to fall asleep and her arm was stretched out next to her, and she was wishing she could reach out and take his hand, but she couldn’t quite dare to do it, and so her hand lay there on the old, dusty carpet. Then when she was half asleep, she felt his warm hand take hers. It had been so comforting to her, that simple movement. It was silly, but she wished he were here to hold her hand right now.
Thinking of him, of them, was reassuring. Hermione’s breathing slowed as she saw Ron’s and Harry’s smiling faces, Ginny’s and Neville’s and Luna’s, and heard the sound of them all laughing together…
" " " " " " "
Ginny had been dejectedly sitting on the rug in the living room, folding laundry with her wand and thinking about Fred, when she heard a knock on the front door. She slowly got up, shook out the pins and needles in her left foot, and walked over to the door.
When she opened it, she saw Luna, wand tucked behind her ear as usual and carrying a large bouquet of strange-looking orange and red flowers.
–Hello, Ginny,†Luna said cheerily.
–Hi, Luna,†Ginny said with a smile. That girl’s optimism was infectious.
–I picked some flowers for you,†Luna said, handing Ginny the bunch. –They’re depplygenias, also known as Wrackweed. They attract Wrackspurts, you see.â€
–Thank you,†said Ginny bemusedly, studying the little inverted-bowl-shaped flowers, each of which had a small crimson center with a few thin tubes sticking out of it and lots of ugly carrot-colored petals bent backwards to form half of a sphere. –They’re really pretty,†she added politely.
–Really? I don’t think they’re terribly pretty,†Luna said, shrugging, –but I’m glad you like them. They do smell quite nice, if you want to sniff them.â€
Ginny put the flowers to her nose and inhaled. –Yeah, they do.â€
–Wrackspurts like the scent too. They have very keen senses of smell, much better than ours. It’s how they guide themselves around, since they don’t have very good vision and no hearing at all.â€
Ginny nodded, still a little confused about why Luna was giving her a flower that attracted Wrackspurts when, from when Ginny knew, Wrackspurts were something you normally wouldn’t want around you. Well, Luna would be Luna; one of Ginny’s favorite things about her was the way she was really sensible sometimes and on other occasions very seriously pronounced utterly incomprehensible things.
Ginny looked out at the green fields and blue skies behind Luna, and on a whim asked, –Want to round people up to play Quidditch?â€
–Sure,†Luna said, and Ginny grinned, glad to be getting a break from all the nothing she had been doing all day. Luna continued, –I think I’ll see if I can Summon my broom from here. Accio Broomstick!†She paused in thought. –If it doesn’t work, I suppose I could Apparate back and get it, I passed at the Ministry’s make-up test this morning, you know…but I don’t much like to do it.â€
–I know what you mean, it’s like being sucked through an airtight tube,†Ginny said, making a face. She had passed her Apparition test a few months earlier, but Luna, having been kidnapped and taken to Malfoy Manor, hadn’t been able to.
–Well, there’s that, but of course the biggest problem is that Apparition is often used by unscrupulous dragon breeders as a way of making the dragons permanently brain-damaged, and so less dangerous,†Luna explained. –You need a lot of people to Side-Along-Apparate a dragon, of course, so they use a charm to harness the dragon to thousands of other people who are Apparating somewhere nearby, and they don’t even know that they’re being harnessed.â€
Eyebrows sky-high, Ginny responded, –I guess you wouldn’t--not if you’re only carrying a thousandth of a dragon’s weight. How much does a dragon weigh, anyway? And how do the pieces of the dragon get back together at the end--because wouldn’t it be pretty much the worst case of Splinching in history?â€
–They feed it a modified version of Felix Felicis beforehand,†Luna enlightened her. –So that the dragon gets really lucky and there are a lot of sudden winds which happen to blow all its pieces back together, but not quite lucky enough for it to manage to escape the dragon handlers altogether.â€
–I’ll have to ask Charlie about that,†Ginny mused, wondering what her brother would say if he heard Luna’s theory. Or would he just laugh his head off? –Hey, look, there’s your broom,†she noticed. The thin stick of wood could be seen in the distance, rapidly passing over open grass to reach them. –Close your ears, Luna, I’m gonna yell.†Ginny turned around and took a few steps in the direction of the stairs, then yelled, –HEY, BOYS, QUIDDITCH!â€
Sounds of movement were heard from upstairs; footsteps began to descend the staircase. She grinned at Luna, saying, –You can hear me all the way up in Ron’s room, it’s great…guess I got that talent from Mum.â€
–Harry’s going to love that,†Luna observed agreeably. –Just make sure you don’t do it so much that he regrets marrying you.â€
Ginny blushed, laughing. –Luna, we’re--†But she broke off, because Ginny knew Luna was perfectly right, and ‘not married yet!’ hardly seemed like a good defense against the tease.
" " " " " " "
–Hey, has anyone seen the Snitch recently?†came Harry’s voice from Luna’s left. –I mean, you know, I’m finding it hard to see.â€
–It’s gotten too dark out--we should really to go inside. I’m serious, Ginny,†Luna heard Percy say, as his sister made a face. –People have been injured, you know.â€
George, who was playing as the supposedly indiscriminate Beater (she rather thought he had been discriminating, not by team but by hair color, although seeing as there were exactly two redheads per team it probably evened out anyway), said, –You’re just sore that’s the fifth goal you’ve missed, Perce.â€
Simultaneously, Ginny mocked, –Oh, an injury playing Quidditch, that sounds so scary after all we’ve been--â€
–Percy’s right, we’re done. Good game though,†said Charlie Weasley with a gracious sort of finality, and Luna nodded in agreement, landing her broomstick and slipping off it onto the slowly darkening green grass. The others landed too, George grumbling and Ron expressing a desire to go eat some food. Ginny seemed grumpy, but Luna knew she was only tired; earlier, when it had been still been light enough to see clearly, Luna had noticed the dark circles under her eyes.
The Weasleys--and Harry too, Luna noticed--were all putting their broomsticks away into a little broom shed. Suddenly Ron jumped backwards, away from the shed, swearing. –For Merlin’s sakes, Ron, it’s just a spider,†Percy said. Ginny sniggered.
They walked back to the Weasleys’ house, chatting about the game. Luna, who hadn’t played much Quidditch before, thought being Chaser had been quite a lot of fun. Charlie, who had been her team’s Seeker but had doubled as a Chaser, had been surprised to see that Luna rode her broomstick side-saddle, which led to an interesting discussion about different flying positions. Ron told Luna that sitting that way made it harder for him to pass to her, but she informed him that actually, she could turn 90 degrees to her right or left to catch a ball just like someone riding the conventional way, so really the only thing different was the direction her broom was pointing, and why would that matter?
Just as the pack of them entered the house, Luna remembered. –Oh--Harry? Ron?â€
–Uh-huh?†Ron yawned, sitting on the sofa in Weasleys’ living room. Harry just looked at her.
–Daddy told me to tell you that he’s very, very sorry about trying to sell you out to the Death Eaters, in exchange for me. He only did it because he loves me and he was afraid for me, and he knows it was a very wrong thing to do. Will you forgive him?†she requested.
–He did what?†Ginny said indignantly, sitting up straight in her chair.
–Oh--yeah, of course. It’s okay, we ended up fine,†Harry reassured both Luna and Ginny.
–Well, yeah…†Ron deliberated. –I guess I understand, you’re his kid… it still wasn’t right, but--I forgive him.â€
Luna beamed. –I’ll tell him. And…I guess I’ll ask Hermione when she gets back, I don’t think Daddy’s owl would really like to fly all the way to Australia.â€
–Hot chocolate, anyone?†Percy asked, getting up from his seat and looking from person to person. –Or maybe ice cream, since it’s May…â€
–Ice cream,†Ron, Harry, and George said in unison.
–Ice cream, definitely,†Ginny affirmed. –We have chocolate, right?â€
Percy, who had disappeared into the kitchen, called, –Yeah. We have chocolate and vanilla.â€
–Okay, who’s chocolate? Just Ron, George, and Ginny?†Charlie asked, looking at the three Weasleys who had half-raised their hands. –Three chocolates, Perce!†he called. –So that leaves three vanillas plus you.â€
Luna hummed ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Snorkack’ under her breath. She had gotten to the second verse when Percy came back out, carefully levitating seven small glass dishes of ice cream. She took one of the vanillas, and tried a spoonful. It was pretty yummy, she thought, although still not as good as pudding. But then, nothing was as good as pudding.
She ate her ice cream quietly, half listening to the others’ conversation and bickering--Ron was being teased about his fear of spiders again; she ought to remember to show him that article from a few years ago about all their beneficial qualities--and half daydreaming about the trip to Sweden that she and Daddy were planning to go on next month. Last time, they hadn’t managed to find any of the shy creatures they were looking for, but she had high hopes for this trip, since they had done a lot more research since then.
She heard laughter, so she looked up from her mostly-empty bowl. Ginny had licked clean her spoon and now was dangling it from her nose, and the others (except Percy) were attempting to the same. –Can’t use your hands, or any magic,†Ginny explained, grinning at Luna.
–Come on, Perce,†Charlie teased. Percy shook his head, arms crossed, though he couldn’t hide his amusement. Everyone was acting fairly silly; perhaps it was the sugar, or else just the shared jubilant feeling of being together and alive, that was attracting all the nargles (which Luna remembered Daddy saying were known for inspiring childish behavior). Harry and Charlie had now both managed to hang their spoons on their noses. Luna was trying, but she kept finding herself using magic to make it stay. Ron wasn’t having any luck with his spoon, either. Ginny, meanwhile, had gotten up and was marching around the room, seeing how fast she could go without knocking her spoon off.
Luna concentrated on hanging her spoon on her nose at precisely the right angle, and then letting go…Aha! She’d gotten it, without magic!
But then it fell off again, because she burst out laughing at George’s perfectly ridiculous appearance. He had borrowed spoons from Harry, Charlie, and Percy, and was simultaneously dangling them from his nose, his forehead, his chin, and his one ear. Ginny caught sight of him and doubled over in mirth, sending her own spoon flying.
–No magic, Georgie?†Charlie asked, raising his eyebrows. Very slowly and carefully, George nodded, and Charlie looked impressed.
Finally, when they had tired of playing with spoons and Harry was dutifully gathering up the dishes and silverware, Luna remarked to Ginny, –I really ought to go. Daddy will worry…hmm, he doesn’t like for me to fly when it’s dark out...†She considered. –Ginny, doesn’t Charlie work with dragons?â€
Ginny nodded, so Luna asked Charlie, –Are there any dragons in England?â€
–No, there aren’t. Not legally, at least, and it’s usually a pretty easy thing to regulate--it’s quite difficult to hide a dragon that’s so much as half-grown, they tend to cause a lot of forest fires if you’re not extremely careful.â€
–Okay, that’s a relief,†Luna said. Ginny giggled at the mildly bewildered expression on Charlie’s face. Luna mutely Summoned her broomstick from where it stood, leaning against the wall. It flew towards her; she caught it in her right hand and waved to everyone with her left. –Well, goodbye, thank you for the ice cream and the lovely game of Quidditch!†she cried, marveling at the utter wonderfulness of having best friends and getting to spend time with them without any sort of danger hanging over their heads like nargle-infested mistletoe.
–Bye, Luna!†she heard Ginny call before she turned on her heel to Disapparate. A suffocating pressure enveloped her, but she didn’t even notice; at the moment she felt as warm and light as a phoenix feather.
The Beginning of After by 1000timesingoldenink
Chapter Notes: Hurray, last chapter! Also, I changed the category to Post-Hogwarts, because it seemed more of that than a romance fic.
Disclaimer: I no is JKR. No no no.
Chapter Endnotes: 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Snorkack’ is borrowed from some author somewhere, who actually wrote the song. Credits to I-forget-your-username!
This concludes my first fanfiction. REVIEW! Pretty please?