Luna's Lullaby
A soft voice could be heard from the window of a lonely house standing on a flowering meadow. There is no other sound, the silence is unnatural, almost deathly. If not for the soothing lullaby in an alien tongue, one could have seen the starless night as the forecasting of a tragedy. “La, le, lu. Nur der Mann im Mond schaut zu, wenn die kleinen Babys schlafen. Drum schlaf auch du. La, le, l-” The lullaby stops, halted by a small voice.
“Mama?”
“Yes, mein Schatz?” “
“Do you love me?”
"Of Course I do. How come you ask?”
“But you love Papa.”
“Yes.” The woman, whom the soothing voice belongs to, smiles at her daughter. She tucks a long strand of white hair behind the ear of the child, grey eyes staring at grey eyes.
After a little while she realises her mother wouldn't elaborate any further. “You also love the moon. And you love the Lilies outside. The wolf in the forest and the stars in the sky. How can you love all that at the same time? Can I love all that?”
Her mother's laugh seems to not only brighten her face, but the whole night. “Oh, Luna, Schatz. You can love how much you want.”
“But the other children said that you can never love so many things at once. They said I’d be lying.”
“Luna Lovegood. You have a bigger heart than any of them could ever hope to have and just because their love has limits doesn’t mean yours has to have them as well.”
For a while the deathly silence takes over the house and the meadow again. Luna looks at her mother, searching for signs of a lie in her eyes. Her mother holds the gaze, waiting for Luna to come to her own conclusion. When Luna does, a beaming smile covers her face. “Then I wanna love you and Papa and Reggie, even though he sometimes hisses at Papa. And I want to love the trees and the birds and flowers-” She stops herself to look at her mother, another question forming in her head. “Who did you love first then? It couldn’t be Papa, right?”
“No, I loved many many people before I even met your father. The first of them all was my twin, my other half. Your uncle, Evan. We were always together, from the very beginning. We laughed together, comforted each other when crying, shared secrets, played games, protected each other. It was a love only found between siblings.”
“I wish I had a sibling as well. Can I get a sister?”
“I can’t give you a sibling just like that, Schatz.”
“But how else will I get one?”
“Luna, the sibling bond I am talking about is not created by blood relation, but by choice. Evan and I may be tied together by a name, but we chose to be siblings. I had two more brothers who weren’t tied to me by blood, yet they stayed nonetheless. Regulus and Barty. Barty was there for every good moment, every laugh in the common room, every prank on the other students. And even though he gave us space when we needed it, he’d be just around the corner if we called for him. Likewise we would take his mind off of things whenever he needed a distraction from reality and we would let him throw as many parties and jokes as he needed. Regulus, he didn’t like to show it, but he would have taken on the world for us three and so would have we. We were family in all but name and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”
Her mother could see the understanding behind her daughter's eyes, as Luna pets the black cat, which is curled up beside her. She had the eyes of her uncle, yet in moments like these Lunas eyes seemed to mirror her mothers; smiling, but with a sad, knowing resonance to it. The eyes of someone who knew more than a mortal should ever know. The cat, Reggie, could be assumed asleep, if not for the treacherous flick of an ear. “Did you kiss someone before Papa as well?”
“Yes. She was beautiful. Refreshing like a cool breeze on a hot summer day and when she smiled I thought it was all I ever needed to live.”
“What happened to her?”
“Life, my moon. Life happened to all of us."
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Pandora Rosier heard rustling and giggles when she entered her dorm room. A faint blush glowed on her roommate's face. "Meadows." Pandora acknowledged Dorcas Meadows' dishevelled hair with a short glance, then put down her books.
"Rosier. Back so soon? I thought you would be in the library until dinner, as usual." Dorcas leaned against her closet, crossing her arms in an attempt to act natural. "They really should have sorted you into Ravenclaw."
"The sorting hat tried to. But I told him, I wouldn't go since Evan already was in Slytherin. You, on the other hand, seem to have decided that Gryffindor's colours fit you better than our green and silver." Dorcas' confused look was answered with a teasing glance to her red and golden tie.
"Shit."
"McKinnon, you might as well come out of the closet. It's not like all of Hogwarts doesn't know already that you two are into each other. I really appreciate that you two only hook up, when I'm not here. However, that doesn't mean that I don't know about it."
The closet door opens with a creak and a green tie is pushed into Dorca's face. Then a blonde head follows and Marlene McKinnon's goofy grin is directed at Pandora. "Hi, Pandora! Great to see you."
"Likewise. Do you care for tea?"
"Oh, I'd love-"
"Sadly, Marlene was just about to leave."
"Was I?"
"Yes. Is the common room clear, Pandora?”
"Mhm. Evan and Barty are currently looking for Regulus though, so you might want to hurry before they are back." Pandora waited for Dorcas to reenter the room after sneaking out Marlene. As soon as the door closed behind her roommate and friend of 6 years her amused grin turned into a softer smile. “I hope you know that I would never judge you for something like that. You could have just told me.”
Dorcas collapsed onto her bed with a groan. “I know, Dora, I know. It’s just- She is a bloody Gryffindor and so smug whenever she wins against me in Quidditch and then she has this annoying grin all over her face and then suddenly she is in my dorm, in my bed and-”
“Okay, I think that is enough information for now!”
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The tree threw a comfortable shade over Regulus Black, sheltering his pale skin from the sun. He ignored the chatter from other students to focus on the book in his lap. A blue book featuring a sun seemingly drowning in the sea. 'The Setting Sun' by Dazai Osamu, read the cover. Every now and then he wielded his wand and a feather wrote a little note in the margin of the book. An especially interesting paragraph prompted Regulus to lean closer to the book and his eyes to slightly squint.
"What are you staring so intensely at? Don't tell me you're looking at that kinda stuff?" said a smug voice behind the black haired boy, and a second later a scarred hand snatched the book away.
Regulus groaned and turned to glare at the two boys looking down at him. "Fuck you, Barty."
"Later." returned Barty with a grin. Regulus noticed the new green in Barty's short black hair. Great, now our dorm probably has green stains everywhere.
Besides Barty, a boy with white, shoulder long hair leaned against the tree. "I haven't seen this book in Pandora's hands yet. And Panda has read every book there is in the Hogwarts library. And this author? Reg? Is that a muggle book?" Evan teased with feigned horror.
Regulus rolled his eyes in response and snatched the blue book from Bartys hands. "Not that it is any of your concern, Rosier , but yes, it is. They have some rather...interesting views." He put the book to his side and opted for studying the other students walking and gossiping around them.
"Aww. Don't be mad, Reg. We are just joking. Right Barty?"
"Yes, yes. Just a little joke."
"What do you both want?"
"For once, you could stop acting as if you’d hate us." Evan had sat down beside the annoyed boy and nudged him with his shoulder.
"I do hate you guys, though."
"Sure, sunshine. Now get up, we looked all over the school for you. We promised Pandora to fetch you for dinner." His unwillingness uncared for, Regulus was pulled up by Barty and followed him and Evan, as they chattered away on their way to the Slytherin common room.
"Boys, you've made it in time." Dorcas greeted them from one of the couches.
"Barely." Pandora added, but the smile on her face revealed her annoyance as a hoax. Evan walked up to his twin, to give her a peck on the check and put something into her hands. Pandora slightly opened her hand and then closed it again, swiftly. When she looked back at Evan, she switched to German. Something the twins had done from day one, if they ever talked about something more private. "Ist das Nifflers Fantasie? Woher hast du die?"
"Hey, einem geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul, Schwesterchen. Nimm es einfach an, sonst machst du dich nur zum Mittäter."
"Also hast du es geklaut. Evan!"
Evan just shrugged his shoulders and motioned his twin to her dorm to hide away the little gift. Meanwhile Regulus and Barty had made their way over to Dorcas and sat beside her.
"One of these days you'll have to teach me German, Rosie." Barty smirked at Evan.
"Sure, so you can listen in on me and Pandas secret conversations. No thank you, Hübscher."
"Did you just insult me in a language I can't understand, Fucker?" Albeit Bartys playfull voice, Regulus could tell his discomfort when Barty licked his lips. It was a little quirk Regulus had noticed in first year. Whenever his classmate felt uncomfortable he licked his lips and at the end of 2nd year, Regulus had gathered that not knowing what other people say, is one of the things that make Barty feel uncomfortable if not threatened.
"What if I did? It's not like you can do something about it, kiddo." Another thing Regulus learned was that the German nicknames Evan used for Barty were a lot nicer than what the latter assumed. Regulus would have said something, if not for the amusement in Evans' eyes, whenever Barty started nagging him to tell him what the nicknames meant.
"I am only two years younger, asshole."
"As fun as this all is, I am starving . So let's go to dinner.", interjected Dorcas before another discussion could break loose. "And look, Pandora is back as well. Great."
"I'll just bring my book ba-" Regulus stared at his hand, then back up at Barty and Evan. "Fuck. I forgot the book because of you two!"
"Hey, hey. It's really not our fault when your memory is shit." Barty held his hands up defensively and looked at Evan for support who just shrugged.
"You can get it now, and meet us at dinner. We'll save you a seat."
"I swear by Merlin's beard, if the book is gone I'll hex the both of you."
"You know you aren't allowed to do that, Reg."
"Try to stop me."
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"Okay, okay. But Evans or McDonald?" asked James, staring intensely at Sirius.
"What about McKinnon? She is really cool." the black haired boy countered from the head of his bed.
James took off his glasses and held them out to the other boy, from where he sat at the foot of Sirius bed. "I think you need them more than I do, mate. Marlene is obviously gay. Everybody knows that."
"Wait what? Are you for real?"
"Really, everyone knows that." Peter chimed in from his desk.
" Moony ?" Sirius cried out and looked imploringly at the boy on the bed next to his. "Did you know about that as well?"
Remus looked up from his book with an irritated glare. "Yes, Padfoot. Everybody. Knows. Do you have a problem with her being gay or something? It's not like she ever reacted to your flirting anyways."
"Oh-oh. Seems like you made Moony angry with your stupidity, Pads." James laughed. "So, Evan or McDonalds? You know, if you had a chance with either."
" Prongs ! I could get with whomever I wanted. Have you seen me?" Sirius claimed and threw a pillow at James.
Peter gave Remus a sympathetic look, which Remus answered with an indifferent one and a shrug. Then he got up and walked to the door.
"Moooonny. Where are you going? Don't leave!" Remus glanced back at Sirius, who was now buried under James and reached out to Remus for a helping hand.
"I'll be back for dinner, but I can't read in peace with you bunch screaming in my ears." With that he closed the door and made his way outside.
A quick look around revealed to Remus that he wasn't the only student who thought about using the sunny day for his advantage. A group of Ravenclaws had claimed the benches for their study group. Three Slytherins were just leaving and some Muggle-born Huffelpuffs and Gryffindors sat together and played Muggle card games. Lily was in the process of explaining something to a Hufflepuff boy, when she spotted Remus. She waved him closer, but Remus just shook his head and showed her the book in his arms. The redhead smiled knowingly and turned her attention back to the boy.
Remus turned to a tree, which stood a bit further apart and was about to sit down, when he spotted something blue lying in the green grass between the roots. He put his own book aside in favour of picking up the blue one. 'The Setting Sun' was written on the cover. When he opened the book he noticed two things. First: it had a name written on the first page. 'Property of Arcturus B.' in elegant handwriting. Second: The same handwriting could be found everywhere in the book (or at least until the page which was marked by a beautiful bookmark).
Normally, Remus would have put the book back where he found it immediately. However, his eyes got stuck on the contents page, where the book owner had circled all the last digits of the page numbers; all 3s and 9s but the last. ‘3, 29, 53, 79, 99, 129, 153, 171.’ and then in the same greenish ink: “ What’s up with all these threes & nines? Is that some secret Muggle-code? And then a one? ” Remus chuckled and without much thinking, had he summoned a pencil. “ mate, I’m pretty sure that’s just a coincidence, but do tell me if you find out. ” and after a few seconds he added “ hi, I found your book by the way ”
And with that the brown haired boy started to read every note he could find. Some made him laugh, like when the other person had expressed their confusion over Muggle traditions and customs. Therefore, Remus assumed the very much Muggle book was owned by a pure blood. Maybe even a French one, as the approving comment about the favouritism of French literature suggested. For a moment he thought about asking Sirius if there were any French pure bloods at Hogwarts, yet the thought of just not knowing each other's identity had a thrill to it and Remus really needed something fun after hearing the boy he liked talking about which girl he’d kiss.
Remus shook his head, as if trying to physically get rid of the scene and how embarrassing his outburst was, and instead noted down a “ 10 points for, whatever your house is ” behind the comment “ that’s a few years after the second big Muggle war, if I remember correctly ”. The person had sorted the first book appearance (1947) into Muggle history, which meant they had to be at least 4th year, seeing that Muggle studies only started in 3rd years and the school year just started.
The amusement made way for intrigue when Remus turned the page to only see an underlined paragraph about the author's origin without further comment. Two pages later, a passage on the authors suicide and a rather unemotional commentation “ drowing sounds like a hassle, why choose this kind of end for yourself? ”. It sounded more like the simple remark of “ spring ”, at the sentence describing a blooming cherry tree, than pity for another person's death. On page 5 the expression ‘high-class beggar’ was underlined with a note to use it in the future. It became harder and harder for Remus to picture what kind of person the book owner was. On one page the person seemed like a naive but fun person, two pages forward they appeared to be unemotional and the next they admired the author's use of symbols.
Remus had commented and at some point even started to highlight and annotate some sentences himself. Fully intrigued with the unknown person's thoughts, so when Lily came up to him he couldn't stop the flinch of surprise. "Aren't you going to dinner? Oh sorry, did I surprise you? I just realised that you didn't leave when all the others did."
Remus took the hand she offered and lifted himself off the ground. "Thanks, Lily. I kinda forgot about the time there.”
"No problem, I know how a good book makes you feel." Lily gave him a knowing smile and turned around. Remus looked down at the book, contemplating whether to take it or leave it. After all, he had yet to finish reading all the notes. With an apologetic glance at the place where he found it and the silent promise to put the book back in the morning, Remus opted for following the red haired girl into the great hall.
At dinner Remus could hear a surprised scream from the Slytherin table and when he looked over he saw Sirius' younger brother standing behind Bartemius Crouch Jr. and Evan Rosier. Regulus looked angry, while the other two looked stunned at him and at each other. Rosier's normally white hair now in a neon orange and Crouch's hair an old people grey, making him look like his father.
"I guess you two do share the gene for pranks. Although, he has a lot to learn." James joked. Which Sirius only answered with an incoherent grumble.