Author: Lyta Padfoot
Category: General, Drama, Alternate Universe
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling. Characters and situations are used without permission, no infringement is intended.
Summary: Sequel to A Distorted Reflection. Luna Lovegood finds a familiar stranger lurking near the garden.
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One of Luna's assigned duties at the Lestrange estate was to care for the special garden. It was a small patch of ground, almost an afterthought really when compared to the elaborate pleasure gardens, filled with magical plants the Lestrange's required for their potions. In one of her rare warm moods Mrs. Lestrange would reminisce about her mother's plants; plants whose descendants Luna now tended. It was yet another mark of the family's position and prestige that the New Ministry permitted them to maintain such a garden at all.
Night was rapidly gaining ground on evening when Luna went down the winding path to collect a few flowers from a night-blooming plant for Mrs. Lestrange. She had just set down her basket and was surveying the plants when she heard a soft moan from the adjacent forest. Holding her gardening shears in front of her like a weapon, she carefully traced the sound ten paces beyond the tree line to a battered figure lying prone amid the new-fallen leaves.
The man was a stranger who managed to bypass the wards surrounding the estate. Luna opened her mouth to utter the trio of words that would activate the alarms, then just as quickly she closed her mouth again as her mind overrode impulse. Only a wizard could pass those wards without being torn from limb to limb; and the only wizards who would take the risk were Resistance.
Probably after the magical plants, Luna thought, her mind racing with possibilities. The Resistance was the primary reason for the crackdown on the private growth of magical plants in the first place, to deprive them of ingredients for their potions.
Luna examined the intruder carefully. He was still breathing, but obviously beaten and exhausted from his encounter with the wards. She wondered how he had managed to get through without alerting the entire estate to his presence. He might be able to tell her, but she suspected the means required a far greater knowledge of magic than she currently possessed. Not for the first time she cursed the fates that denied her the opportunity to fully learn to use her magic.
Luna knelt carefully by the man's side, pulling wand from the inside pocket of her cloak as she did. It wasn't a very good wand and it had a charm preventing her from doing any spell but those on a special list kept in the Lestrange vault, but it wasn't useless and it certainly looked convincing.
"Lumos." There was a thrill in the simple spell. As much as she savoured it, it never failed to anger her that her magical abilities had been so carefully stunted and filtered that the simplest of magics seemed a treasure. Ever Percy dared not enlighten her further.
The soft wand-light revealed an athletically built man with coppery red hair and features whose shape Luna knew only too well. She felt excitement twinned with suspicion bubble in the pit of her stomach. Could this be a test devised by the Lestranges? How could she be certain he was indeed a Weasley? And if he was, could she trust him?
She sifted through what she knew of the family, and recalling one of Percy's stories, she adjusted the wand to examine the man's left hand. There was a small star-shaped scar on his knuckle. This was Charlie Weasley, her Percy's second oldest brother.
She rolled him over onto his back and pressed her wand to Charlie's throat. He might not know she was a half-blood with a limited repertoire of spells at her disposal, the darkness and her outdoor cloak concealed her clothing and identifying pendant. She decided to make the most of what she had; while she doubted she could ever appear threatening, to a stranger fearing exposure a new born kitten mewling at his approach would be a danger.
"Who are you?" She demanded, staring down at him. It was odd to look into a pair of eyes identical in shape and colour to Percy's. She knew so few people, and none of them were related to each other. Familial resemblances were something she'd only encountered in family portraits. Even then they unnerved her; they were Lestranges and Blacks and she had often thought that people were not supposed to possess the features of others. This resemblance, however, she found comforting. Perhaps because he shared features with Percy and not the Master and Mistress.
He blinked at her in response.
"Tell me now or I will let Mr. Lestrange dig the answer out of you," Luna threatened. She leaned in so that he would have a better view of her face and allowed a cruel smile to cross her features. "I think, perhaps he would enjoy that. It has been a while since he's had the pleasure of personally interrogating a wizard."
"If you were planning to summon him you would have done so already," Charlie pointed out reasonably, not frightened in the least. Luna heard a stronger version of Percy's accent in his voice as he spoke.
"Perhaps I wish to indulge my curiosity first." Luna said as she rocked back on her heels. Her position was not a very comfortable one in any sense.
He smirked at her, so close to one of Percy's expressions she almost gasped. "Perhaps, Miss Lovegood, perhaps."
Luna was startled by his form of address more than his use of her name. Miss Lovegood? He addressed her as if she were a pure-blood. A small part of her was flattered, the rest felt sickened that he thought her one of them. But isn't that what you intended, the contrary voice that lurked in the back of her mind pointed out. If he knows your name then he knows your station, she informed that voice coolly.
"I'm a half-blood you twit," she hissed. "I'm either Luna or Lovegood, certainly not Miss."
"Its proper to address an unmarried woman as Miss," he corrected, nodding to her left hand. The gesture confused her a moment, then she recalled that it was tradition to mark a marriage with the exchanging of rings worn on the left hand. "It's only the Death Eaters who insist otherwise and I don't care to play by their rules. However if it makes you uncomfortable, I am willing to address you simply by your surname."
"What do you want?" she asked even though she already suspected the answer.
"First? For you to move your foot from my leg. Thank you. Second, a few cuttings of those plants over there."
"There are more spells on the plants than on the boundaries of the estate," Luna said softly. "So much as touch a leaf and the alarms will sound."
"But you can touch the plants." he noted, nodding at her shears.
"I'm assigned their care."
"Would anyone notice a few cuttings missing?"
The other servants avoided this garden as they avoided all of the precious and magical things on the estate. It was her province and Luna knew no one would notice; but on the off chance someone did... "I would be executed for theft of magical property and aiding the Resistance if I were caught."
Charlie laughed. "I never told you I was Resistance."
She fixed him with her best frown. "You didn't have to Mr. Weasley."
Now it was his turn to startle upon hearing his name escape the lips of someone who should not have known it. "How did you know my name?"
"The hair was my first clue."
"Ah," he said. "You've seen one of my family."
"Your brother Percy was fostered here. I've also seen your sister."
"Ginny," he whispered, his voice laced with an old but still raw pain. "I didn't know Percy was here."
"He's in Leith presently."
"Which explains why my source did not mention him – I only asked about those presently on the estate."
"Are you Bill or Charlie?" She wondered if he would choose to be honest with her.
"Charlie." A slight pause. "How do you...?"
"In another lifetime I might have been your sister-in-law, but it is forbidden for pure-bloods to marry outside the blood."
He nodded slowly. "My brother spoke to you of me."
"He told me of all of his family."
Charlie blinked back tears. "So I have one little brother who hasn't been turned into a monster."
"Like George?"
"Fred and Ron too," Charlie said with deep sadness. "A friend of mine saw them in London and told me."
"Percy was older that day," Luna reminded him.
"And better at playing by the rules," Charlie said with a ghost of a smile. "He wouldn't cheat and fussed whenever the twins tried to."
"Now he cheats all the time while appearing to play by the rules. Is Bill…?"
"Alive, yes." Charlie smiled charmingly at her. "Well my almost-sister-in-law does this mean you'll give me the plants?"
Luna debated this only a moment. "Stay here. I'll give you what I can."
"That is all I can ask."
"I won't tell Percy I've seen you."
"Why?"
"I would have to tell him how I met you and he would worry more than he already does," she said as she knelt by the plants. This was the first time she broke both the spirit and the letter of the law. She had to fight to keep her hands from shaking.
"Yes," Charlie said as he picked bits of leaves from the front of his cloak. "I imagine he would. Even as a child he took more worry unto his plate than he needed."
Luna was grateful for the distraction his words provided. "I'm going to set the plants down here so that if anyone is watching from the house they won't see you."
He took the plant cuttings. "You have no idea how we need these."
"No," she said. "I don't. I'm sorry that this is all I can do."
"No more could be asked of you."
Luna picked up her basket, now full of the flowers Mrs. Lestrange wanted. As she turned to enter the house she glimpsed something moving toward the edge of the estate. Part of her wished she went with him, but she would be a burden and her absence would be noted.
"No more could be asked of you," she repeated, tasting the words. They were like stale bread. Nothing more might be asked of her, but she wanted to give more.