Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Curious Case of Luna Lovegood	By : Marvolo Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 34121 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I don't own any of the Character's, Places or Things from The Harry Potter World. I make No Money or Profit of Any Kind. The same goes for any unoriginal lyrics or poetry.

Chapter List
- 45
- 46
- 47
Xenophilius knocked on the door to Pandora's lab as he rubbed his sleepy eyes with his other hand. Pandora opened the door and smiled. "Hello love, how is our favorite husband doing."
Xenophilius groaned as Pandora pulled him into the lab. "Pandora it's 5 in the morning I'm trying to sleep."
"Sorry we will try to keep it down." Pandora said quickly as she started writing numbers down onto a parchment.
Xenophilius frowned. "No...That's not the problem, you called me down."
Pandora looked up confused and Xenophilius elaborated. "You sent a Patronus saying you wanted to show me something."
Pandora's eyes popped as she remembered. "Oh...That's right. Sit down, please sit down."
Xenophilius looked around. "Where are the chairs?"
"Conjure one." Pandora replied as she started rummaging through her papers. Xenophilius did as he was told as he watched Pandora wearily. Ever since her head injury Pandora had been acting rather odd.
"Here it is." Pandora exclaimed as she pulled out a huge sword from under one of the desks.
Xenophilius squeaked as he jumped out of his chair and backed away. "What the Bloody hell are you doing with a Sword?"
"Oh relax you big baby, I just need it to cut spells in order to sample the material." Pandora shouted with excitement.
Xenophilius gulped. "How did you get a sword?"
Pandora laughed. "Magic of course."
"That doesn't really answer my question." Xenophilius took another three steps back. "Is that safe?"
Pandora shrugged as she used her wand to sharpen the blade. Then she whispered. "Cast a spell."
Xenophilius did so, casting a Levitation charm on an empty potion vial. Pandora smiled as she reached into her pocket and put on a pair of glasses that resembled a kaleidoscope. Xenophilius had to admit, she never looked crazier than she did in that moment. Pandora raised the sword above her head. "Stand still, I don't want to accidentally cut off your head."
"WHAT!" Xenophilius shrieked but it was too late. Pandora brought the sword down onto the spell, the vial dropped to the floor and shattered.
Pandora removed her glasses as she frowned. "Well that was anti-climatic and I don't have my sample. Still it proves that objects can interfere with magic."
"Unless the sword is a magical object." Xenophilius sighed wearily.
"OH!" Pandora shouted before she glanced at her sword and uttered. "Oh..."
Xenophilius chuckled wearily as he wrapped his arms around his wife. "Dora, you've been working nonstop for years, maybe you need a break from this research."
Pandora shook her head, "I can't, I have work to do, work I have to do. For Luna ,for Squibs, for the future, for-"
"You can't function properly like this." Xenophilius cut off Pandora's rambling. "Right now, Luna needs you as a Mother, just as I need my wife."
Pandora looked down with remorse in her eyes. Xenophilius tipped her chin up. "What's wrong love?"
Pandora looked back down as she whispered. "Last week, Luna asked me if she was a Squib."
Pandora felt Xenophilius stiffen in her arms. "What did you say?"
"The truth of course." Pandora snapped harshly. "Did you expect me to lie about such a thing?"
"No...No...I just don't know if I'd have had the guts to say the same thing." Xenophilius muttered.
"Then shame on you." Pandora playfully smacked his arm before turning serious. "I have to help her Xeno, I just have to. I don't have time for anything else, time is running out and I have to do everything we can to help our daughter we just-"
"Pandora! Your experiments are getting out of hand and I'm starting to worry about your mental health." Xenophilius replied calmly.
Pandora glared up at Xenophilius. "Are you saying I'm crazy?"
Xenophilius shook his head vehemently. "No, I'm saying you have hardly slept since your head injury. That's not good for your health, mentally or physically. You will not be able to solve anything in this state."
Pandora looked around her lab and slowly nodded her head. "Maybe you're right, I'm just worried about Luna, and as long as she's a Squib she will always be alone."
Xenophilius thought for a moment before his eyes popped open, then he started grinning like child at Christmas. Pandora obviously noticed his unsubtle reaction.. "Xeno, I know that look, what are you thinking?"
Xenophilius looked down at his wife and whispered. "What if we have a baby."
Pandora's eyes popped. "What?"
"A baby, it's just the thing this family needs. Luna can have a little brother or sister to love and play with. We will have more reasons not to get too absorbed into our work, and best of all we get to be parents again."
Pandora turned away from Xenophilius as she shook her head. "I don't think..."
Xenophilius pleaded like a child. "Please...Come on Pandora it will be great, besides you'll get to be a real...I...I mean..."
Pandora whipped around and glared at her Husband. "A real Mother? Is that what you were going to say?"
Xenophilius raised his hands as he nervously tried to placate her. "That's not what I meant."
"I know you didn't, but it's the truth isn't it." Pandora snapped. "I'm not her real Mother, that horrid woman you called wife is. She's Luna's real Mother because she gave to birth to her."
Pandora walked up to Xenophilius and poked him hard in the chest. "In that same regards my Father is the man who made me believe I killed my Mother because she died giving birth to me! Well as far as I'm concerned that man is no more my Father than Delores is Luna's Mother!"
Pandora took in a deep breath before declaring. "Luna is my child because I love and cherish her, because I will do anything for her!"
Xenophilius nodded as he quickly spoke. "I know that Dora I swear, I didn't mean to insinuate otherwise. I just meant...you could..."
Pandora knew what he meant. She could be pregnant and create life. Pandora's eyes snapped back into focus. "What if I love the baby more?
Xenophilius smiled. "You have nothing to fear, I'm sure you'd love them both equally, you are a loving person Dora!"
"But what if I did? What if somehow, some way, I love that child more than Luna? I couldn't do that to her. I couldn't do that to myself. No...Luna is the only daughter I'll ever need and she needs my help. My daughter comes first, my work comes first. Go to bed Xenophilius."
Xenophilius went to say something but thought otherwise as he walked towards the lab door. He opened the door before he uttered. "Luna could still use a brother or sister."
Pandora sighed, and replied sadly. "And what happens to Luna when her magical sibling goes to Hogwarts?"
"Oh," Xenophilius mumbled, dejected, before shutting the door.
Pandora felt the tears fall down her cheeks as she slumped to the floor. "The numbers don't lie, He will betray me...But he does it for our daughter...No...No good will comes of this, not in my lifetime...Yet we know that your lifetime will not be very long..."
Pandora snapped back at herself. "If I do this, it will involve turning my back on the man I love, I will eventually destroy him."
"We don't have a choice, he would die for his daughter and he would suffer for his daughter.
He will do all these things and more for his daughter."
"But I love him. I can't do this. He's my only friend."
"You've seen what the world will become, we will not only be saving Luna but the world itself."
"But will it help Luna? I...I can't tell, every time I try...the numbers don't add up."
"Because the conclusions you reach are impossible
Because in order to accomplish what we wish to achieve, we must learn to do the impossible."
Pandora looked at her wand with wonder. "Remember what you used to say, that nothing is impossible, that the only limitation of magic is what we place upon it. We are real, we exist isn't that enough proof that you were right."
Pandora's eyes burned with heat as she summoned a roll of parchment. "The possibilities of magic are limitless."
Pandora felt a plan begin to form in her mind as she started calculating the impossible. "The Impossible...I'm close...I can feel it...I'm so close...that spell...the spell that created you...was impossible. I didn't know what it would do, yet I achieved an effect. The very nature of the spell demanded that I have no intent, yet magic cannot be controlled without it following your intent. You have to know the result of a spell if you wish to cast it. So why did the spell do what it did, without any intent to do so?"
Pandora went silent as a thought entered her mind. "Unless it was my intent, I just didn't know it. It was my intention to see my daughter...to see the Nargles...to get closer to the secrets of magic and finish my work. The words for the spell, could it be that simple?"
Pandora seemed to stare at the wall as she uttered. "I'm sorry Xeno, I'm sorry Filius, I'm sorry Luna, and I'm sorry Pandora. I'm sorry to everyone I will hurt, I'm sorry for everything. I 'm sorry for not stopping now but I can't...I feel the world on my back. If I don't finish my work...there can be no future for you Luna...for anyone."
Pandora sent her quill to the parchment as she glanced at the small picture of Luna who waved back at her from the desk.. "For you Luna, I will gladly tear my soul apart."
3 years later, Luna was 8 years old, Xenophilius feared for his wife's sanity, and Pandora was once again in her basement. Finishing the final touches on her masterpiece...Pandora's Box. Pandora looked at the sheet with pride. "I'm close, this alone will do so much."
"It's not enough." Pandora replied to herself. "You're running out of time."
Pandora nodded as she conjured a copy of the parchment before slipping the copy into her robes. "Then we better hurry."
Pandora ran up the stairs and jotted a quick note on a parchment.
"Visiting Filius, vitally important,
Dropping Luna off at Weasleys to babysit,
Pick her up when you get home.
Nargles out"
Pandora frowned at the note before crossing out the last line, cursing under her breath before calling out. "LUNA! Time to visit the Weasleys."
Luna ran down the stairs and pouted. "I thought we were going to play today."
Pandora smiled sadly. "I'm sorry we don't have time today, we'll do something tomorrow."
Luna mumbled. "You said that yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that and the day before that..."
Pandora smiled sadly as she looked at her daughter. Remembering the argument she had with Xenophilius last week.
"Luna misses you Pandora, how is that?" Xenophilius scolded her as she headed down to her lab. "You work in your home yet you have no time for our daughter!"
"I'm busy." Pandora insisted as she opened the door. "I try to spend time with her I really do but my research-"
"I know you think your work's important but your daughter needs her Mother. Besides, your work doesn't make money. In fact it actually costs us money. You want us to be broke. We are already as poor as the Weasleys and they have seven children. We have one! Pandora? Don't shut that door on me, I mean it..."
9 months later, Pandora sat silently at the house of Filius, who took a sip of Goblin Whiskey as he spoke. "The construction of this Magical generator as been slow. It's been 5 months since you handed the blueprints to me and I've spent much of that time trying to convince Delores to have it built. Outside of that there is very little I can tell you. Though I was able to get an unrelated contraption up and running called the Goblin pie packer. It's almost finished, at this point it's about keeping the pie meat in the contraption."
Pandora nodded, understanding what he was telling her. Pandora's Box was all but complete, and it could be functional if she desired it. Filius looked worried however. "Not even a chuckle, what's wrong Pandora."
Pandora looked up and sighed. "I have a lot on my mind Filius, tonight is going to be a very eventful night."
Filius grinned. "Tomorrow is Valentine's day...and Luna's real birthday. Merlin, I suppose it's a busy day for you then."
"You could say that." Pandora murmured as she looked out the Window to see the dark sky. "I was just thinking about the sunset."
Filius hummed as he poured another drink. "Sunset you say."
Pandora chuckled softly. "Yes, I always like seeing them, yet over the last few years I've been too busy to think about it. I really wanted to see it tonight, desperately even, but time got the best of me."
"Time seems to do that doesn't it." Pandora mused morosely. "We always think we have more time until it's gone. People don't truly realize how little time we have. What is time compared to infinity."
Filius lowered the bottle as he reached out for Pandora's shoulder, unable to reach it he spoke. "Pandora, what troubles you."
Pandora did not answer, she just grabbed the bottle from Filius and nearly took a drink herself before Filius snatched it away. "Are you mental?! This is Goblin brewed Whiskey! You might as well drink poison! Now what the bloody hell is wrong with you Pandora?"
Pandora looked at Filius and whispered. "I'm almost done my work."
Filius tilted his head. "Excuse me, I thought Pandora's Box was your work?"
"Pandora's Box is a piece of the puzzle. It is designed for great things, but it's not enough. It can't safely give magic to the Squibs and Muggles of the world, not safely. However it does allow them to use it. We are limited by our own minds, the secret of magic is to understand that are minds is the only thing stopping us from mastering magic. Pandora's box is a vessel so the world can use this magic without learning the simple truth, a truth that if learned, limits what is possible and limits your imagination.
What is the secret of Magic." Filius asked amused.
"I can't explain it Filius, I don't have enough time." Pandora sighed sadly.
"Time? What's all this talk about time Pandora?" Filius asked, when Pandora didn't answer, Filius sighed as he hopped out of his chair. "I'm going to get another bottle, if you don't want to talk that's fine, you can show yourself out if you so please. I could use a nap now that I think about it-"
"I'm doing it tonight." Pandora uttered causing Filius to freeze mid-step. "Tonight we shall give our daughter magic."
Filius looked at the women he saw as a daughter and causally approached her. "Well that changes my plans now doesn't it. Unless you have someone else who is going to observe this spell."
"Someone, but not you." Pandora whispered mysteriously.
"Not me, I'm the only qualified individual who won't turn you over to the Unspeakables on the spot." Filius growled.
Pandora replied her eyes flaring. "I know what I'm doing. Luna will be fine."
"This isn't a game dam it!" Filius roared as he stomped up to Pandora. "I understand you risking your life to keep your work hidden from Delores, but do you really value your daughter's life less than your work!"
Pandora towered over the Goblin and shouted. "MY DAUGHTER IS MY WORK!"
Pandora closed her eyes to calm herself before speaking calmly. "My work is for her, both are intertwined. Without Luna's condition, my work would never have happened and I would never see a future I have to prevent. If it wasn't for her there would be no future. I've seen hell fire Filius. I've seen death and destruction. I was supposed to stop it, but I...The more change, the harder it is to see. The numbers no longer add up. I don't even know if it will be worth it. I can only hope I didn't do it all for nothing. I only hope I can finish my work before...I...I...I have no time!"
Pandora burst into tears as she collapsed to the floor. Filius pulled her into an awkward hug. "Time is on your side child, you are still young, and you have a bright future ahead of you.
"I have no time, no future, the present is all I have left." Pandora whispered tearfully. "The Nargles tell me things Filius. I...never see my daughter...I'm so focused on helping her yet I cause so much pain. I can't even trust my Husband, we hardly speak anymore. "
Filius looked at Pandora with worried eyes. "Life's hard Pandora, and so is love. Trust me I've been married three times, twice happily. If you'd like, I'll move in with you. I help you out with your research and give you more time with your family."
"I want to Filius, I really do..." Pandora uttered softly as images of the future flooded her mind's eye. She whispered so softly Filius had to lean in to her. "I...I've lost my very sanity...I feel as if everyone is trying to stop me...I hear the horrid voices...I don't know if they are friend or enemy...if they are just strangers pointing with their fingers...or if they're just the Nargles in my head..."
Filius spoke as he twiddled his fingers. "I'd do anything for you child, please let me help you, and protect you anyway I can."
"I..." Pandora looked up like a child, wanting so badly to say yes. She went to nod before she made a harsh jerking motion.
The woman frowned before looking at Filius suspiciously, a coldness to her features that made Filius back away. "Why are you so interested in meddling with our work?"
Filius looked confused. "For your safety, for you and your daughter's safety."
Pandora backed away pointing her finger at him. "No, No, No, you wish to stop my work don't you. You're one of them aren't you! You're working for the Unspeakables!"
Filius raised an eyebrow. "Well yeah, that's my job remember. But-"
"I KNEW IT!" Pandora shrieked as she drew her wand. "You're just like the rest of them, everyone trying to stop our work. Nobody stops our work. Tonight we harness the magic from the Nargles. Tonight we give the Moon Child Magic!"
Filius spoke quickly. "But I swear I'm on your side. As far as I'm concerned Delores and her Unspeakables can go to Hades. I can't explain why but you need to trust me. If I did it would kill me. The Unbreakable vows may silence me but I can still prot...I can help you if you bring me along, specifically if you decide to do anything illegal."
Pandora started laughing as her eyes seemed to turn a bright yellow. "We will finish our work, the prophecy shall be fulfilled. As the moon dies, old words become lies. At the new moons rise, power awakens in the skies. The secrets of the gift lies behind her scared eyes. The earth father unwise, with his compromise, With the earth mother the devil in disguise. The past shall reprise as another shall demise, Only through great sacrifice, shall the world become paradise."
Filius looked on in horror as the furniture in his room started to spin out of control. Pandora's voice broke into three parts as they shrieked.
Moon Mother, Moon Child The Children of the Wise.
Shall awaken the dog from where it lies
Suddenly a chair struck Filius in the head and the Goblin collapsed to the ground out cold. The furniture dropped to the ground as Pandora backed away in shock. "What have I done, What have I done. What did you make me do. I've gone mad! We did what we had to, or you would never finish your work. Tonight is the night you say good night, remember?"
"Yes...Yes you're right, You are always right." Pandora nodded to herself before humming. "Tonight is the night I say goodnight, Tonight is the night I say goodnight. Tonight is the night I say..."
Pandora trailed off as she looked at Filius unconscious on the floor. She walked back to him and lifted his surprisingly heavy figure in her arms. She returned the room to normal and placed Filius on the couch. Pandora felt herself start to cry as she kissed Filius on the top of the head before heading to the door. She turned back around and before vanishing she whispered. "Goodnight."
Pandora arrived home in the dark of night. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she walked through the door. She heard them speak. "He's in your lab Pandora."
Pandora nodded as she walked down the stairs.
Do you remember this part Luna?
Luna nodded sorrowfully as she witnessed her parents' bitter fight.
"No more riddles Pandora! No more games! I want to know what you are doing and what you intend on doing to my daughter!" Xenophilius yelled.
Pandora tilted her head. "I'm going to give Magic to your daughter Xenophilius Lovegood.
...
You are spitting in the face of Magic. Of Logic and Order."
"You sound like my old boss!"
"I don't appreciate that Pandora."
"But it's true. So what if I spit in the face of Magic? What has Magic ever done for me? What has Magic ever done for poor Luna?
...
If you exposed magic to the Muggle world, the end result would be war."
"Muggles are getting smarter!" Pandora insisted. "Whether you like it or not they will eventually discover us. Then what? If anything, revealing ourselves by giving them magic will prevent war."
...
You know what would happen if she got her hands on Luna."
"So that's what this is about, you're scared of her!"
"And you're not?"
...
The Nargles. They speak to me and guide me. Just as they led you through this room. Just as they guide my daughter...as she watches us." Pandora uttered and Luna could swear she was staring at her...
...
I will not let you harm my daughter with you experiments!"
"It won't be easy for her and I don't know how it will end but we must do this. For the sake of magic."
"YOU ARE MAD!"
"That is why Luna must finish what I've started. My daughter is the only one I trust with this task!
Xenophilius started at Pandora with anger as he hissed under his breath. "She's not your daughter!"
Xenophilius again stumbled, this time from the impact of Pandora's hand to his face.
Pandora glowered at her husband as she whispered. "Get out."
Xenophilius nodded. "I'm taking Luna with me."
"No!" Pandora hissed.
Luna watched once again as the Nargles banished her Father from the house. She watched as Pandora seemed to have a mental breakdown.
"I'm sorry Xeno! I'm sorry Filius! I'm sorry everyone!"
...
"OBLIVIATE! OBLIVIATE! OBLIVIATE! OBLIVIATE!"
Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Pandora giggled with excitement. She quickly opened the door to see her nine year old daughter rubbing her eyes.
"Mom, it's 1:30 in the morning, I'm trying to sleep!" Luna groaned.
"Luna, sweetie, shut the door behind you or the Nargles will get out." Pandora exclaimed with excitement. It would be all worth it soon. Her work would be completed when her death came, she could die in peace, knowing she helped her only child, and the world itself.
"What are Nargles?" Luna asked causing Pandora to chuckle.
"Well, what is Magic? I mean, we all know it's a power that allows us to do extraordinary things, but what, in its most pure essence...is Magic? How does it do the things it does? How do some have the ability to wield it while others can't? Like Muggles..."
"Or Squibs," Luna added bitterly as Pandora looked off, away in thought.
"Yes, like Squibs." Pandora hoped she hid the sorrow in her voice well, seeing the sadness in Luna's eyes, only cemented Pandora's goal. Pandora felt the Nargles in her head bursting with excitement, ready to give Luna the power to do great things. Now she had to word this very carefully, less she undo her very work.
"Well, I believe the Nargles hold the answer. Now if I am correct, the Nargles are a very rare form of fairy. I believe that they hold more magic than any other being known to wizard kind. If I could harness even a fraction of a Nargle's power, the possibilities could change the world. We could send humanity into a new stage of peace and prosperity," Pandora finished majestically before returning to her work. Luna just looked confused and worried.
"Have you ever even seen a Nargle?" Luna asked.
"Nope!" Pandora answered giggling with excitement, she hoped Luna would understand one day, the secret of magic, so simple a child could grasp it, yet so far away from the smartest of adults.
"Then how do you know they exist?" Luna inquired further.
"I don't," Pandora laughed before realizing she lost her wand in her excitement and began to look for it.
Luna stared at her mother in silence before finally saying "The kids are right, you have lost your mind."
Pandora just smiled and kissed her daughter on her forehead. She loved her so much.
"Maybe you're right dear, but the things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect," Pandora said lovingly before laughing, as she found her wand on top of her own glasses.
"First I drink this potion which will hopefully give me the ability to see the Nargles" she said as she drank the potion then raised her wand. "Now if I see one, I'll harness the power from the Nargles."
The potion took effect. The 9 year old Luna didn't notice it but Pandora sure did, as well as the older Luna watching through her Mother's memories. The room seemed to distort, colours filled the lab like a kaleidoscope. Objects seemed to change shape, and solids became liquids. It was like something out of the 60s.
"A Hallucination potion?!" Luna gasped as she looked on bewildered. "All this time it was a Hallucination potion?! Mother was mad."
Pandora laughed as she looked at her Daughter, not the child but the older Luna watching through memory. "It's amazing the things Adults go through to let go of reality, and become one with madness. The Power of Imagination is in your mind child, unleash it!"
Then Pandora and older Luna saw the Nargles, they looked almost human in this state, almost normal. Pandora looked confused. "You look nothing like I remembered."
"We look far weirder when you are in a state of sanity." One of them uttered.
"You did not think us weird when you were but a child, playing with imaginary friends."
Luna froze at these words while Pandora seemed too...out of it to take them in. Luna ran across the room to Pandora's journal. Luna picked up the book and looked up seeing the Nargles staring at her. "We are indeed dreams girl HAHA!"
Luna looked at the drawings and the writings. Drawings of creatures Pandora had always talked about. The Crumple-Horned Snorkack, The Umgubular Slashkilter Aquavirius Maggot, Heliopath, Blibbering Humdinger, and even the Nargles. The drawings were as childlike as ever but only now did she see them for what they were. "How old was Mother when she drew this?"
"A five year old child living with an emotionally abusive Father, found a way to cope." The Nargles uttered.
Luna looked down. "You weren't real...none of them are real...you're all just..."
Imaginary friends, who disappeared as the Pandora became a young women.
However when she used the magic words,
She saw us in the back of her mind,
And a combination of her magic,
And a severe concussion,
Brought us to life.
We are her children, more so than even you child,
For we are her very spirit,
We are her very dreams
We are Chaos,
We are Madness,
We are Anarchy,
Now watch the moment we became reality.
Pandora raised her wand at the Nargles and shouted with excitement.
"Nothing Is impossible
"Imaginatio Potestatem."
Pandora unleashed a bright light as the same silver object began to flow from her wand., connecting to the Nargles "YES! IT'S HAPPENING, IT'S JUST LIKE MAGIC!"
The stream silver light began to glow brightly. Pandora laughed as tears fell down her eyes. "I've done it, I've done it!"
Pandora raised her wand higher and the light blasted through the roof and into the sky.
Deep in the Department of Mysteries the silver light entered the room she helped design. The magic started swirling as they drew runes into the very room itself. The unfinished creation began to build itself. Creating an unlimited source of magic.
Pandora raised her hand to the light and blocked off the connection to the Nargles, watching as the light formed on the palm of her hand into a bright glowing sphere. This had to be done right, too much could kill both Luna and herself, or at least damage their psyche. Too little would make Luna's magic explosive and uncontrollable, or leave her a Squib.
Pandora had to send magic into Luna slowly while simultaneously connecting her to Pandora's box, letting the generator absorb magic from Luna and keeping her magical core from becoming too large.
"Stupefy"
Pandora turned to her daughter and froze. Luna was lying face down on the floor with a wand pointed at her unconscious body. Pandora followed the wand up the arm until it reached the face of a man Pandora had never seen before. "Cancel the spell and drop your wand."
Pandora let out a breath as she giggled nervously. "You scared me for a moment. You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that, it's rather rude."
The man didn't smile he just repeated. "Cancel the spell and roll your wand over to me."
Pandora listened to the Nargles before speaking, she shook her head. "I don't think I will, thank you very much. So where is my husband, Kingsley Shacklebolt."
The man frowned before uttering dismissively. "I don't know how you know me, nor do I care. Your husband is waiting with an old friend at Saint Mungos for your imminent arrival. You clearly need help and I am here to help escort you there. Though I must admit you are far saner than I expected."
"Thank you very much." Pandora replied with a smile. "I'm all for a trip to Saint Mungos but as you can see I'm a little preoccupied at the moment. Could you possibly come back tomorrow or tonight, or never?"
Kingsley stared for a moment before rubbing his eyes. " This isn't a request Mrs Lovegood. You are a classified threat to yourself and those around you. You will cancel the spell and roll over the wand."
Pandora opened her mouth but Kingsley cut her off harshly. "If you make me ask this of you a fourth time, I kill the Squib."
Pandora froze as she met Kingsley's cold eyes and cussed under her breath. Reluctantly she canceled the spell, the white light vanishing into darkness. She then dropped her wand and kicked it over to Kingsley, who picked it up while keeping his wand on Luna. Kingsley pocketed the second wand before Pandora spoke, her voice far more serious.. "How do you now Luna's a Squib?"
Kingsley smiled. "Her Mother told me."
Pandora glared heatedly. "That...That Bitch is not her Mother!"
"Who are you trying to convince." Kingsley replied with a shrug. "According to my client, you fooled nobody. Her words were, "If Pandora wants to pretend the freak is hers so be it. Let her play house, as long as she doesn't give me trouble she isn't worth the time of day."
Pandora glared. "I assume by your presence that I've caused enough trouble for her liking."
"Bingo." Kingsley muttered darkly. "You're too dangerous, to both the Ministry and the Wizarding World. You are sick and you will bring about the dark-age all over again if you are allowed to continue this madness."
Pandora looked around her lab and at her unconscious daughter. "So I assume you are really here to kill me."
Kingsley shook his head. "You assume incorrectly, I am here to have you committed to the Saint Mungos' mental ward. While I do have authorization to kill you, I am advised to avoid doing so at all costs."
"Don't pretend this is an official mission, you blew that story the moment you threatened Luna's life. Besides if this was legal Delores would not have assigned this mission to a low ranking auror." Pandora laughed as the Nargles joined in. "If you kill me it will, legally speaking, be murder and it will be your head on the chopping block. You will be the patsy and the scapegoat while Umbridge walks free."
Kingsley frowned for a moment before he drawled. "Then it is best that you come quietly."
Pandora laughed hysterically. "And why should I do that."
"Because you want be stopped. You want a way out, and you want a future with your family." Kingsley replied calmly silencing Pandora.
The Witch looked away from Kingsley, his words cutting deeper than she wanted to admit. "I don't know what-"
"My client has been watching you, observing you. She believes you want a way out. A chance to live, to be a Wife and Mother again." Kingsley waved his wand and a pair of hand cuffs appeared before Pandora. "Put your hands behind your back and the cuffs will appear on your wrists. Do this and I will take you to Saint Mungos and you will get your sanity back. It won't be easy, but you can be cured."
Pandora's eyes looked distant as she muttered. "People have been telling me they can cure me since I was a child, they were always wrong. They always give up on me, call me a lost cause and label me mad."
Kingsley uttered softly. "I promise you, the Ministry will do all it can to cure you."
Pandora was silent for over a minute. She seemed lost as she looked around the room, then her eyes fell on her daughter. She looked tired as she whispered. "Your offer is tempting, it really is, but I can't. If I don't do what must be done, then I can never look my daughter in the eyes again. I fail her now, then I was never her Mother."
Kingsley's expression darkened. "So be it, but I think you've forgotten this was not a request, it's an order!"
Kingsley sent of blast of magic that only just missed Luna's head. Pandora shrieked. "DON'T HURT HER!"
"The Next one does more than hurt her Mrs. Lovegood." Kingsley shouted with authority. "Now put your damn hands behind your back before I do something we both regret to your daughter!"
Pandora nodded tearfully as she quickly put her hands behind her back and felt the handcuffs wrap around her wrists and bind her hands, "Please, just don't hurt my daughter."
Kingsley jerked his wand and forced Pandora onto her knees. Kingsley walked up to the crying women. "I will not harm your daughter. However we have an issue."
Kingsley leaned down and looked Pandora in the eye. "You don't have a daughter."
Pandora's eyes widened as Kingsley stepped towards Luna. "What...what are you doing? Get away from her!"
Kingsley sighed sadly as he spoke. "If you want I can obliviate you first. I don't want to do this but I have orders."
"No, don't hurt her please she's just a child!" Pandora pleaded as she cried out.
Kingsley yelled. "She already knows too much, and it's not like she's a Witch or even a Muggle. Besides with her changing hair and eye colour among other things, she has likely already been contaminated by your work."
"No, she did that herself!" Pandora shouted as she struggled to her feet, only to fall back to the floor with her arms still cuffed behind her back. "You can't fool me. Delores just wants to finish what she started. This has nothing to do with-"
"Save you energy. I really don't care." Kingsley drawled as he aimed his wand. "I don't question orders I follow and execute them."
Pandora closed her eyes and she muttered. "Merlin help me, Imaginatio Potestatem."
Pandora felt the cuffs fall off her wrist. Kingsley looked up as he heard them hit the floor only to see Pandora holding a ball of fire in her hand, aimed at his head. "How...that's impossible?!"
"Obliviously Magic." Pandora hissed. "Nothing impossible Kingsley, but you hurting my daughter. I'd rather die than let you harm her!"
Kingsley sighed angrily. "You are putting me in a real unenviable position here Mrs. Lovegood!"
Pandora snorted with disgust. "This is what I hate about Magicals! You act so uptight and stuffy yet you would kill a child in front of her Mother and pretend like it's a dignified act. Did you have a Mother Shacklebolt. I did, but she died giving birth to me. I never understood how much I missed her until I became a Mother. If she loved me half as much as I loved Luna...I may have been more stable, or at least happy as a child."
Kingsley groaned. "It's not a human, it's a Squib!"
"She's my Bloody daughter. She's the reason I smile, she's the reason I breathe. I don't give a dam if she means so little to you, she's everything to me!" Pandora shouted.
Kingsley rolled his eyes "Enough of this..."
Everything seemed to happen at once. Kingsley grabbed Pandora's wrist and forced her spell away from him. Pandora fired it instinctively and set a table on fire. Kingsley pushed Pandora away and fired a bludgeoning curse at Pandora, barley missing her. Kingsley then aimed his wand at Luna and roared. "Avada Kedavera."
Pandora aimed her hand and cried out "Imaginatio Potestatem."
A burst of silver light met the green light right above Luna's head. The silver light seemed to disperse the killing curse before entering into Luna. Pandora grinned as she felt her magic begin to enter Luna's magical core. It wasn't optimal but it was the best she could do. Pandora laughed as she felt it finally happen. Luna was a Squib no longer.
Kingsley pulled out Pandora's wand from his robes and hit Pandora with a blasting hex, sending her into the nearest desk. Kingsley than turned the wand back on Luna. "Now you leave me no choice."
Pandora felt time freeze as she looked around her. She saw the cauldron that held the hallucination potion. She calculated the position of Kingsley and Luna in the room, and then herself. This lasted less than a second as Pandora realized with sudden clarity, her time had come. Pandora closed her eyes as she sent a blasting hex at the Cauldron.
The resulting explosion shook the rook shaped house as debris from the Cauldron shot across the room. Pandora and Kingsley collapsed from the sheer force of the explosion. Kingsley gasped as he felt a piece of the Cauldron become embedded deep in his arm. Kingsley struggled to his feet as he took in the lab, seeing it was completely destroyed. The room was being consumed by fire while vials of potions were pouring onto the floor, causing small explosions. Kingsley saw a burst of fire heading towards his face, and disappeared with a pop, apparating to someplace safe.
Pandora lowered her hand from her face as she her spell missed, sighing with relief before grimacing in pain. On the floor she reached for her side and felt the chunks of Cauldron embedded deep in her ribs. Pandora looked over at Luna, who almost miraculously was unharmed in the explosion. Pandora knew better though, her calculations were never wrong.
Pandora tried to rise to her feet but felt the jagged pieces of cauldron dig deeper into her side. Her hand was drenched with her own blood and her breath came out in harsh gasps. Pandora collapsed back on the floor as she looked over to Luna. Pandora knew her daughter would survive, she knew she had given Luna magic, and felt a sudden wave of happiness overcome her.
Pandora whispered hoarsely. "I'm sorry, I know I wasn't the best Mother, but you are the best daughter a Mother could ever ask for. I know life will be difficult, and there will be times when you just want to give up and let your grief consume you, but I promise it will get better.. No matter how dark things may seem the dawn will be astounding!"
For the last time Pandora uttered "Imaginatio Potestatem."
A silver light flew from her looking like the substance from a pensive and entered a stray potion vial found rolling on the floor. Then the vial vanished, Pandora could only hope Filius followed her final wish. Pandora felt her eyes start to close when someone entered her vision.
Luna stood over, the Luna from her visions, older yet stronger. Luna felt tears well up as she realized her Mother could see her and knelt down beside her as she took her hand. "No I'm sorry, fore ever doubting you. I could not ask for a better Mother, I just wished I told you before."
Pandora smiled softly, as she somehow heard these words. "You never had to..."
Pandora looked to her other side and her face saddened. She reached out caressed a face that was not there. As Luna watched she remembered, this was where her father died. It was as if she could see both memories at once as Xenophilius and Pandora spoke. "I'm sorry love, I only did what I had to, but now our work is done."
Xenophilius opened his eyes but did not look at Luna, but at something else, something made his eyes shine, like a shadow in the light.
"Pandora?"
Pandora smiled softly as she nodded. "Thank you Xenophilius, thank for giving me the family I always dreamed of."
Xenophilius reached out and grabbed hold of Pandora's hand as the two lovers looked with awe and wonder.
"Pandora...My love...take me home...I am ready..."
Pandora nodded as she as saw little Luna slowly start to wake. "Ready or not, here we come."
Pandora chuckled under her breath before she went silent and Luna could not help but cry.
Luna heard a noise and saw her younger self rise to her feet and stumble towards Pandora. Luna looked to the Nargles. "I'm ready to go."
Luna could feel the Nargles beside her agree as the Memory turned dark. In the darkness Luna's mind remained on her parents' final words. Luna asked in wonder. "How? How was that possible?"
The Nargles whispered as they floated her out of the Memory. "Magic...love is not the secret of magic, but it is the inspiration. When inspired by love, magic can do the most astonishing of things."
Luna felt light surround her as she felt her spirit leave the pensive...
Filius somberly followed Ragnok out of the Gringotts cart, and approached the vault that held Pandora's pensive. Ragnok watched as Pandora took out a vial of Memories and placed it by the pensive. Filius also took out the notes she had left him. Al but the one that held the answer to magic, the one where she had written at the bottom. Never tell Luna. Filius had burnt it to be safe, not understanding why but more then willing to carry out Pandora's final wishes.
Filius looked at Ragnok. "She requested in her will...upgrade the security on this vault, only the key can open it and only in the company of a Gringotts Goblin. I'll pay for it of course."
Ragnok raised an eyebrow. "You are sounding like a human Filius."
Filius sighed. "I am part human Ragnok? I love being a Goblin, but I never felt more human than I did when...Pandora was...in my life..."
Ragnok grunted as Filius started to break down into tears. Ragnok walked away as Filius followed, he looked up as he whispered. "I'm sorry Pandora, I... I loved you child."
Ragnok watched Filius with confusion, wondering how a human could cause such a great warrior so much pain.
Luna pulled her head out and looked around. The pensive was gone and so were the Nargles. She looked out of her cage and saw the cage beside her. She saw Harry's aunt was looking at her from it. "They say, he died."
Luna knew who she was referring to, she replied. "Yes they did, I saw it myself."
Petunia Dursley looked away before whispering. "I'm sorry...for your loss."
Luna tilted her head at the Muggle. She really was the strangest person. "I'm not."
Dursley looked at Luna thinking the same thought Luna had. "You're not?"
Luna smiled serenely. "Do you believe in magic. I do and I've seen it do the most astonishing things."
"Can it bring back the dead." Petunia whispered, sounding horrified at the idea.
Luna smiled. "Probably, though it's never truly happened before and it's probably for the best it never does."
Petunia frowned. "Then why are you so happy."
Luna remembered her mother as she whispered. "It's true I lost Harry, but my mother once told me. the things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect."
Luna looked away from the cage and down the endless rows of cages. "My heart tells me that he might still be out there. Others may say it's impossible, but as long as there's a chance, there's hope."
Luna looked back at Petunia Dursley. "I do know one thing, if I give up now. I betray everyone who's ever cared for me. How is your son?"
Petunia looked down. "Weak...I don't know how long he will have."
Luna nodded before shouting. "I have to finish what my Mother started, if it's the last thing I do. We are going to break out of here, together!"
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The Curious Case of Luna Lovegood