The Girl Who Lived ☆ D. MALFOY

Chapter 63

a/n- hi guys! this is kind of a filler, BUUUUT next chapter is the reunion between y/n and draco!!! i've been trying to get to this part for soooo long. i might even post it tonight ;) 

(self promo) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MY NEW ORIGINAL STORY PLEASEEEEE thank youuu. enjoy!

Word Count: 1024

"I want to go and see Xenophilius Lovegood."

My head swivelled towards Hermione who had just stood to speak to me. She'd been plainly ignoring Ron for a while now and Harry was seemingly busy practising with the new wand Ron had given him. I placed the book I'd been reading down on the nightstand beside me before answering.

"What?"

"Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna's father. I want to go and talk to him!" she repeats.

"Er— why?"

"It's that mark, the mark in Beedle the Bard. Look at this!" she explained, shoving her copy of The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore under my nose. I was rather uninterested in seeing more flaws of my late mentor brought to light by that insect, Rita Skeeter, but the letter before me was hard to ignore when it was all I could see without moving my head. Dumbledore's letter to Gellert Grindelwald made me nauseous just to think about, and yet, Hermione was showing it to me again.

"Right," I start apprehensively. "Just to clear things up, what exactly am I supposed to be looking at?"

"The signature," said Hermione. "Look at the signature, Y/n!"

At her loud exclamation, Harry moved to look over my shoulder at the said signature. The A of Albus looked odd, but other than that, I had no idea what she expected me to see.

"I'm still confused—"

"It keeps cropping up, doesn't it?" she continues, turning to harry who looked, for once, like he actually knew what was going on. "I know Viktor said it was Grindelwald's mark, but it was definitely on that old grave in Godric's Hollow, and the dates on the headstone were long before Grindelwald came along! And now this! Well, we can't ask Dumbledore or Grindelwald what it means— I don't even know if Grindelwald is still alive— but we can ask Mr. Lovegood. He was wearing the symbol at the wedding. I'm sure this is important, Harry!"

I was still vaguely confused, so I say silently while Harry seemed to be contemplating his answer. He looked up at Hermione, then off into space for a moment. After a long pause, he said, "Hermione, we don't need another Godric's Hollow. We talked ourselves into going there, and—"

"But it keeps appearing, Harry!"

They went on arguing for a moment before ultimately deciding we would go to visit the Lovegood's, Harry agreeing only begrudgingly. I didn't protest solely because I wouldn't mind seeing Luna again. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?

~~~~~~~~~~

A lot went wrong. We got ourselves a thorough explanation of a children's story about a magic wand, cloak, and stone. Apparently, we didn't make good house guests, because we didn't get to leave without almost dying. As usual.

"That treacherous old bleeder." Ron panted after we apparated into the corner of some random field at dusk. "Hermione, you're a genius, a total genius. I can't believe we got out of that."

"Cave Inimicum... Didn't I say it was an Erumpent horn, didn't I tell him? And now his house has been blown apart!"

"For some reason, I'm not all that fussed," I muttered, dusting the dirt off of my jeans that had faint bloodstains in the knees from falling in our attempt to escape. "What do you think will happen to him?"

"Oh, I hope they don't kill him!" Hermione groaned. "What about Luna?"

"Well, if they're telling the truth and she's still alive—"

"Don't say that, don't say it!" Hermione cried, voicing my exact thoughts. The idea of losing the sweet, blonde-haired girl we'd grown to call our friend was enough to make my skin lose its colour. "She must be alive, she must!"

"Then she'll be in Azkaban, I expect," said Ron. "Whether she survives the place, though... Loads don't..."

"She will," I said sternly. "She's plenty strong enough. She's probably teaching the dementors about Nargles and crumple-horned snorcacks."

"I hope you're right," said Hermione.

"I'm always right."

We pitched our tent fairly quickly what with having so much practice doing so, and spent quite some time debating over the reality of the Deathly Hallows we'd been told about by Luna's father. I didn't doubt their existence seeing as we already lived in a world full of magical things that shouldn't exist, but they do.

The regular streaming of Potterwatch had just ended, and my heart weighed heavy with guilt. Hearing the voice of my godfather for the first time since I'd said all those hurtful things to him, since I'd harmed him with my powers, made me even more desperate to see him again. And to hear all the supportive words of our friends that we'd left so long ago was heartbreaking. Still, for the first time in what felt like forever, I was laughing. Laughing at Fred's joke that (despite being about Voldemort) made my cheeks hurt from smiling.

"Good, eh?" said Ron, beaming.

"Brilliant," said Harry.

"It's so brave of them," Hermione sighed in admiration. "If they were found..."

"Yeah, but they move around a lot, don't they?" I said reassuringly. "Just like us, and we've done alright."

"But did you hear what Fred said?" Harry asked excitedly. "He's abroad! He's still looking for the Elder Wand, I knew it!"

"Harry—"

"Come on, Hermione, why are you so determined not to admit it? Vol—"

"HARRY, NO!"

"—demort's after the Elder Wand!"

"The name's taboo!" Ron bellowed. My blood ran cold at the sound of an echoing crack not far outside of our tent. "I told you, Harry, we can't say it anymore— we've got to put the protection back up around us, quickly, that's how they find—"

Ron stopped talking, but we all knew why. The Sneakoscope on the table had lit up and started to spin while voices outside grew louder as people drew closer. Ron pulled the Deluminator out of his pocket and clicked it, but it was no use.

"Come out of there with your hands up!" came a rasping voice through the darkness. "We know you're in there! You've got half a dozen wands pointed at you and we don't care who we curse!"

Shit.