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The Moon in the Arms of Night	By : sarcastrow Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 2210 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I do not make any money from these writings

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The Moon in the Arms of Night

1

Hard Landing

“Go!” Harry beseeched to Luna and Dean. “Go! We’ll follow, just go!”
They caught hold of the elf’s outstretched fingers. There was another loud
crack, and Dobby, Luna, Dean, and Ollivander vanished.
DH Ch 23 Malfoy Manor

====#~~~~~~*
Dean collapsed to his knees in the sand; God, he hated apparition. HHHHe could barely hear the elf speaking to Luna.
“Dobby must return for Master Harry, Miss. Please help the masters to the cottage. Dobby must go…now.” There was a snap, and the elf was gone.
He felt so useless and weak; starved, no wand and beaten, he must have presented quite the sight to the girl who had spent months in the Malfoy’s cellar.
Months! Oh God, what about her? He was regaining his strength, and with her help rose to his feet. The clouds parted and the half-moon washed them in enough light that Dean could finally see her properly. Aside from being generally dirty from their recent adventure she seemed well kept, but she was very thin. There were fine white lines on her skin in various places that spoke of recently healed cuts, and then there were her eyes.
Dean had known Luna in the D.A. He’d partnered with her a few times and was amazed at her calm focus during those practice sessions. Like most of the school, he had thought her odd up until then. He still thought her a bit odd, but in a very good and likable way, and he knew she was brilliant. Now, as he looked in her eyes he could see that the unending wonder and effervescence that he used to see there had been tempered by hard experience.
He opened his mouth to ask if he could help her when she spoke, “I’m fine, Dean. You and Mr. Ollivander are the ones who need help at the moment.” She took one of Mr. Ollivander’s arms and Dean took the other. Dean nearly carried the old man as they walked up the beach to the cottage perched on a bluff. The door opened as they approached.
“Mon Dieu!” exclaimed the beautiful French woman who ran to them, ”What is ‘appening?”
“You are Fleur Weasley, correct?” Luna asked.
“Oui.”
“My name is Luna Lovegood and these are Dean Thomas and Garrick Ollivander. We were just rescued from Malfoy Manor by Dobby, an elf friend of Harry Potter’s. Harry should be arriving shortly with… ” Luna stopped and looked at Dean with a worried look he had never seen on her before.
“BEELL!” Fleur shouted, and a moment later Bill Weasley appeared in the doorway. “These three ‘ave been rescued by ‘Arry. ‘E’s coming soon. We…”.
“Help! Help!” They heard Harry’s voice over the waves.
“Get them inside, I’ll go,” Bill said, and he charged down the beach, wand at the ready. Dean could see Ron running towards the cottage with Hermione in his arms.
“No, we’ll help,” Dean said. He had regained enough energy and composure to marshal his inner Gryffindor. He deposited Mr. Ollivander in a chair on the porch, then turned and rushed after Bill.
“I should go as well,” Luna said. Fleur rolled her eyes and followed.

====#~~~~~~*
Dean let out a long sigh. He leaned back against the wall of the little sitting room and slid down until he was seated on the floor across from Harry; the last thirty hours had been nonstop.
“Luna asleep?” Harry asked.
“Yeah. She wanted me to hold her hand until was asleep,” he replied and smiled. “Said she just needed to know she was safe at last when she fell asleep.” He looked at the ceiling. “Ron down yet?”
“We won’t be seeing him,” Harry said with a smirk.
Dean looked puzzled for a moment, and then he smiled broadly. “Really? Well, fuck me running. When did they finally figure it out?”
“Oh, not quite yet,” Harry chuckled. “Neither one of them will admit it out loud to me, much less each other.” He grew very serious very fast. “But you heard Ron…”
Dean nodded, “Yeah.”
“He’s got it bad for her, he knows I know, and he also knows what we’re up against.” Harry looked at Dean and Dean saw a man, a fully grown man, looking back at him. “It’s a kind of hell for him.”
“She’s just as bad,” Dean said. “I mean, really – did she look in a mirror last year?”
“I know, and she knows I know.”
“Well what the fuck, Harry? Why haven’t you knocked their heads together?”
Harry snickered. “You’ve met them, right? Tall bloke, ginger? Bushy-haired know-it-all?” Dean smiled and nodded in defeat. “And there’re some other things I can’t talk about, and I think they’re holding themselves back because we’re probably not going to survive this.”
Harry had said it so matter-of-factly that Dean didn’t get the point for a few seconds. “You don’t think you can win?” he asked, shocked.
“No, I think we will, I just don’t think I’ll make it, and one or both of them will probably be there with me.” He didn’t say it in anger, he didn’t say it in sorrow, it was just something he felt would happen, and Dean wanted to punch him, hold him, and weep on him all at once.
“Harry…”
“It’s okay, Dean. I’ve known for a long time, and so have they on some level, but now… Now it’s here.”
“Well, I think Luna is right.” Harry looked at him, bemused. “She told me we will win, we will see him go down, and you will live.” He smiled. “She talked for a long time before she went to sleep; about you, about her dad, about her mum. She’s amazing, Harry. I mean I knew her in the D.A., and she was the dog’s bollocks with her spell work, but I didn’t realize until tonight just how smart she is. She… she sees things, things no one else does. She showed me that tonight.” “Really?”
“Yeah.”
Harry smiled and nodded. “Thanks for helping with Dobby.”
Dean just nodded back. “I think I’m going back up to Luna’s room and stretch out on the floor, be there when she wakes up.” He looked at Harry with a small smile and then his face fell. “You don’t think… you don’t think that fucking crazy bitch did that to Luna, too, do you?”
Harry looked at him without emotion. “She was there for months, Dean.”
He nodded solemnly. “Yeah, I’m definitely going back up to her room. See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, see you.” Harry smiled at him. “She’s great, Dean. You should get to know her more.”
“Thanks, Harry. I think I will.”

====#~~~~~~*
Her whimpers woke him. He sat up when he heard her moan softly.
“Sick…Mur…” she murmured.
“Lu,” he whispered in the dark.
“I will not break.” It was clear as day.
“What the fuck did they do to you?” he muttered.
“Kill me,” she said weakly.
Dean was on the bed in an instant. “Luna, wake up,” he said in a firm whisper.
She sat bolt upright, her eyes flew open, and she spoke in a loud, commanding voice, “You will fail with your shattered soul and dreams of immortality. You will fail and the white will win the day. You will fail and be but a footnote in the dust bin of history.” Her eyes closed and she fell into Dean’s arms.
“Luna, come on, wake up,” he said and shook her gently.
Her eyes opened again and she smiled at him. “You have very strong arms, Dean. I like them.” She traced a finger down his right bicep.
“You were having a nightmare.” He looked at her carefully with concern. “Luna, what did they do to you?”
She snuggled into his arms and rested her head on his chest. “I think you know.”
“I’m gonna fucking kill Draco,” he said, low and menacing, his teeth never separating, “Slowly.”
She sat up and laid a hand on his cheek. “No, Dean,” she said kindly, “Draco and Mrs. Malfoy are the reason I am still alive. Madam Lestrange would have killed me long ago had it not been for them. Draco stopped several Death Eaters from gang raping me, and from then on Mrs. Malfoy put me under her protection.” She smiled sadly. “It was awful, but it could have been far worse.”
He nodded and hugged her. She was so small and frail in his arms, barely there at all. He felt like she would blow away in a strong wind without him tethering her down. When he drew back, she was looking up into his face with her enigmatic smile. Never one to be shy, he kissed her, a slow and chaste but care-filled expression of concern, and something more he couldn’t quite understand.
“That was very nice, Dean. Thank you.”
“Looked like you needed it,” he said with a smile.
“I have for a long time. It was a very nice first kiss, by the way. It will be a lovely memory.”
“Yeah, I’ve been told… wait, that was your first kiss?’
Luna actually blushed. This was an entirely new experience for Dean. “Yes,” she answered.
“Well, that just won’t do,” he said, and kissed her again and again.

====#~~~~~~*
“NOOOOOOO!!!”
“Hermione! Hermione! You’re okay, I’m here, you’re safe.”
“Ron.”
The scream had woken Dean immediately. He hugged Luna a little tighter, her body pressed against his on the small bed. She stirred and her hand stroked along his arm. “Madam Lestrange’s handiwork takes time to dissipate. It’s good that Hermione has Ron and his love. It will help greatly.”
“Did Mr. Ollivander help you?” he asked tentatively.
“Yes, but I helped him more.” She hugged his arm. “He was tortured by the Dark Lord, several times.”
Dean was quiet for a while. Luna, it seemed, could talk or not and was perfectly happy to just lie in his arms. The sound of Hermione’s soft crying eventually slowed and stopped. “Sounds like the worst of it’s over,” he said and kissed her temple. “Go back to sleep.”
“Thank you, Dean.”
“You’re welcome, Luna.”

====#~~~~~~*
Fleur woke to sunlight streaming through her window. Bill’s arm lay across her chest and he snored lightly. She smiled as she always did when she woke in his arms, then the smile fled. The previous night thrust itself back into her mind. She slid from under Bill’s arm and the blankets and padded naked across the room to her wardrobe. After dressing quickly she left their bedroom, passed through the kitchen, and paused at the loo. When she emerged she quietly made her way up the stairs.
The first bedroom held the old wandmaker. He slept on as she closed the door. The second held the goblin. This door she passed. The next held Hermione. Fleur had been very concerned about the young woman when she arrived, but after several doses of various potions Hermione had revived enough to participate in the little funeral they held for Harry’s elf friend, and the private conversations she, Ron, and Harry had with the old man and the goblin. That had been all of her strength though, and Ron nearly carried her back up the stairs he had first carried her up when they arrived.
Fleur cautiously opened the door and gasped at the scene. Ron lay on the bed with his back against the headboard. Hermione lay half in his lap with his hand clasped tightly in hers. Both were thankfully asleep. She had heard the screams in the night; she knew that Hermione had undergone a horrible torture, but she knew the power of love, too. Hermione would be healed, not by Fleur’s gifted potion making, but by Ron’s love, and that was as it should be. She smiled softly and closed the door.
The next room held Luna. Fleur smiled even more broadly when she opened that door and found a nearly identical scene. The tall, black youth who had appeared with her was lying on the bed, pressed against the wall. He was still fully clothed, and Luna in her nightdress – borrowed from Fleur – was spooned into him. The boy’s eyes opened, and after a moment she saw panic in them. Still smiling, she shook her head and put a finger to her lips. He nodded slowly and laid his head back down.
Closing the door silently behind her, she made her way back down to the kitchen to prepare a brunch for the unintended houseful. It made her unexpectedly happy.

====#~~~~~~*
Dean found himself spending a great deal of time with Luna at Shell Cottage. They would escape the crowded kitchen and sitting room to wander the beach and explore the bluffs that overlooked the Channel. Fleur had told them that, “Being able to see France is just as good as being there. Is better, actually. There are not so many French people ‘ere.”
Dean had roared, clapped her on the back, and said, “Her Majesty welcomes you and bids you peace.”
The detritus that littered the beach spoke of the Muggle world that drifted on, oblivious to the overwhelming threat looming in the shadows. They had found shoes, clothes of all kinds, plastic bottles, fishing corks, and on one occasion an unopened crate. While Luna cheered from the shore, Dean waded into the chilly water to drag the crate further up onto shore. When a helpful wave pushed it onto the gravelly strand, Dean had gone face first into the water. He was momentarily put out by Luna’s laughter, but only for a moment, then he was helpless himself.
The crate turned out to contain the costumes for a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. “I wish it had been Othello,” Luna said after they had dragged everything back to the cottage and cleaned the salt water from the costumes.
“Why’s that, Luna?” Dean asked.
She approached him very closely and ran her thin fingers down the side of his face. “I think that the Moorish costume would suit you very well.”
He drew her into his arms. “Would it?”
“Mmm, yes,” she said as she hugged him back and looked up into his face. “Though the captain of the guard costume would be very nice also.”
He chuckled, turned, and pulled Hamlet’s costume from the pile. “But, my lady fair, wouldst thou not perchance love me as the Dane?” he asked, backing away and holding the costume to his chest.
She laughed. “No, good sir, Thee is better suited to Horatio, one of honor and loyalty.”
He looked at her, took her hand, and still smiling but much more seriously said, “And you, my beautiful goddess, could not be the adulteress, Gertrude, nor the witless Ophelia. Nay, you are Titania, queen of the Fairies.”
She fairly glowed from the smile that spread on her face, and Dean was struck by her beauty. A lightness spread from his chest outward, and he slowly leaned in to kiss her. He hadn’t done it since the night after their arrival, feeling that she needed to adjust to life free of the Malfoy’s cellar. He was done waiting. He captured her lips and kissed her, gently at first, and then passion overtook them. He traced her lower lip with his tongue and she eagerly opened to him.
Luna, the consummate Ravenclaw, was a very quick study. She was soon dueling with Dean, dancing her tongue against his and exploring his back with her hands. A trundle of footsteps preceded Bill and Fleur, and Dean and Luna had just enough time to move slightly apart before the beautiful French woman and her husband exited the stairwell.
“Zee goblin,” she huffed, and then looked at the two in the sitting room. She smiled brightly at Luna and Dean, taking in their disheveled clothes and her mussed hair. “Sorry to interrupt.”
“We were just playing with the costumes,” Dean stammered.
“Uh-huh,” Bill said with a smile, “Well, don’t let us stop you.” He pulled his giggling wife through the door to the kitchen.
“I don’t think they believed you,” Luna said with a grin.
“You know what?” he said and laughed, “I don’t bloody care.”
“Good, I’m glad kissing me doesn’t embarrass you,” she said.
“Embarrass me? Why would… oh.” He looked at her and felt weak and stunned. Bullied, she’d been bullied most of her career at Hogwarts, he realized, just for being herself, and he was suddenly and unexpectedly furious.
“Luna, kissing you would never embarrass me. My god, you’re beautiful, you’re brilliant, you’re scary good with your wand, and I…”
It was right there. He had almost said it out loud. He actually felt he did love her, but not in the all-consuming way that he saw Ron suffer with. Then again he was new to this and Ron had been love-struck for years.
“And I will never let anyone bully you again for you being you,” he finished, “They called you names and were unmerciful to you. Nobody is ever doing that again.”
She smiled up at him and a tear traced down her left cheek. “Thank you, Dean,” she said, and her lips were on his.

====#~~~~~~*
“Do you think they will admit it?”
“Not until it’s life or death,” Dean chuckled.
Ron and Hermione were sitting on a driftwood log three or four hundred meters down the beach from the log Luna and Dean were sharing. Luna had pointed them out as they sat. “It was very obvious in the cellar and even more so now, don’t you think?”
Dean looked down into Luna’s face. The honesty written there made him smile. Everything you think just comes out, doesn’t it? It’s a saving grace that you’re such a good person, he thought.
She smiled at him and he heard her voice in his mind. Not quite, Dean. Like anyone I can have darker thoughts, but they are an unnecessary distraction.
His jaw dropped. “How did you do that?”
Legilimency, her voice in his head said. “You are the first person besides Mr. Ollivander who I have tried to communicate with in that way. While I was imprisoned Mr. Ollivander discovered that I have a very strong ability for Legilimency. Much of that art can be done wandlessly, and I’ve been practicing so much that it’s hard not to hear what people are thinking.”
“Do it again.”
All right, Dean. What would you like me to think to you about?”
“I don’t know… What have I missed this year at Hogwarts?”
He felt her sadness along with her words in his mind. It was very different from last year. It was more like two years ago, only much worse. Professor Snape is a harsh headmaster, but he’s not as cruel and dangerous as the Carrows.
Who are the Carrows? Dean thought.
The Carrows are the brother and sister Death Eaters, Alecto and Amycus. One teaches Muggle Studies and the other teaches Dark Arts.
“A Death Eater teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts?” Dean asked.
Amycus did not teach defense, he taught the Dark Arts as a subject. Luna felt Dean’s revulsion. Yes, but it was instructive. It helped me survive the Cruciatus curse.
Dean looked at her, shocked. “Who?”
Most of the school was Cruciated at one point or another. It was a common punishment. Because I had experienced the curse before, I was prepared, or as prepared as I could be.
“Did…”
Her hand came up to his cheek. I survived, Dean. I am here, and I am alive, and I am whole. That’s all that really matters. I know you are curious about what happened at the manor, but please, I do not wish to relive that quite yet.
He smiled and kissed her gently as the rain began to fall. “No problem, Luna. When you’re ready, if you ever are, then you can tell me.” He stood and pulled her to her feet. “Let’s gather some wood and head back. Looks like the other couple already has,” he said, nodding to the empty log down the beach. “So, tell me about the Snorkack.”

====#~~~~~~*
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The Moon in the Arms of Night