the hangman's hill
A hill near the sea
Once blooming and bright
Holds the first key
To the eternal night
Memories made, eons ago
Have slowly gone withered
Just like his soul
His life is done lived
The brightness consumed
And when he is kissed
In darkness he blooms.
Luna had a problem. A big one. Because you know, how do you kill someone who’s already dead? Voldemort was the root of all her father’s misery, yet she couldn’t do anything to avenge his friends.
It made her feel very disappointed somehow, which was something she wouldn’t have expected to feel. Is it okay to be disappointed at the fact that you can’t potentially murder someone?
With a sigh, she rose up from her chair.
This was not going to do. She’d have to find something else. Her gaze drifted to the wooden box sitting solemnly on the floor. Her father had allowed her to look through it at any time. So that’s what she did.
There were mountains of notes loosely lying in one corner, three thick notebooks in the other and multiple photographs strewn in between.
She picked those up first and went through them. There were many of her mum with her dad, when they seemed to still be younger. They were at Hogwarts, both smiling brightly at the camera before Pandora pressed a kiss on Xenophilius’ cheek.
Luna smiled too, at the sight of this. It’d been so long since she’d seen any new pictures of her mother.
The next photograph was of her, maybe four years old as she gaped in awe at a butterfly which sat on her nose. She giggled at the picture, not having ever seen it before.
On the back, it said: “My little Loons with her favorite friend”
Her favorite friend. The butterfly named Bluey. It had followed Luna around all day, sitting on her arms and in her hair. Pandora had laughed and said it must like her a lot.
Together they’d built Bluey a little house that Pandora levitated onto the maple tree. It had sat there, home to first Bluey, and then all other kinds of butterflies until one day, it vanished. Just like Pandora, her magic had waned with her.
With a sigh, Luna placed the photograph back in the box, picking up a small polaroid next. To her surprise, it was a muggle photo. On the front were two girls whom she didn’t recognize.
One was dark skinned, with long braids and a mischievous smile on her plush lips, the other one wore her light blonde hair short, a cigarette dangling between her fingers.
They laid entangled on a red couch, hands intertwined and gazes interlocked. Luna felt as though she was interrupting something simply by looking at this moment.
She turned the picture around in search for names, only to find a blank space staring back at her.
‘Huh’, she thought, ‘that’s weird.”
The other photographs had all been labeled. With the picture in hand, she made her way downstairs.
“Hey Daddy?”
Xenophilius looked up from where he had been actively researching kneazle behavior.
“Yes, dear?”
Luna stretched out her hand.
“Who are they?”
Her voice was full of curiosity, which wasn’t really that unusual for a twelve-year old. Her father squinted at the picture before letting out a surprised sound.
“Oh, that’s Dorcas Meadowes and Marlene McKinnon. They attended Hogwarts with us.”
Luna tilted her head.
“Really? Were you friends?”
Xenophilius sighed and put away the thick encyclopedia he’d had on his lap.
“I was only ever acquainted with them. Pandora however was great friends with Dorcas. Maybe it was because she was the only other girl in their friend group or simply because she was mad funny, I never knew. But she also got to know Marlene through her.”
“Can you tell me more about them?”, Luna asked.
Her father chuckled tiredly.
“Well, there’s not much I know about them, but I can certainly try. Dorcas … she was probably one of the most popular girls in all of Hogwarts. Everyone loved her. She was smart, pretty and incredibly cool. If you needed someone to help you study, she would always offer. Also, she was top of the class in arithmancy, almost as good as Barty was. Honestly, I always wondered how they were both so good at it. Dorcas because she seemed too perfect to be true and Barty because I never pegged him to be someone who actually studied.”
He smiled to himself.
“But he did always pass all his exams. Not in flying colors like Regulus did, but definitely astonishingly good for someone who spent his time sneaking around the corridors and pulling pranks on Peeves.”
Luna perked up.
“Pulling pranks on Peeves?”
Pulling pranks on a literal poltergeist was something she didn’t think to be possible.
“I never understood how he did it either, but he certainly did have some brains on him. One time, he managed to steal his hat. How he stole a hat that he's unable to touch is beyond me, but Peeves spent two entire days searching, only for it to be in Filch’s office where he got reprimanded for trespassing. Another time he merged a transfiguration charm and the sticking charm and applied it to the wall in the Great Hall so that every ghost who passed through had a colourful nose for a week straight. The poor first-years thought the ghosts were always like that. We all thought it was brilliant. And everyone suspected the marauders so they never got in much trouble …”
His eyes sparkled as he continued to recall pranks they had done. Luna watched with fascination. It had been so long since she’d seen him so excited, so full of life. In this moment, he seemed to have forgotten about all their deaths. In this moment, he seemed happy.
And so, Luna’s quest got a new objective. Instead of the impossible revenge, she would give her father peace. Peace by knowing what really happened to his friends. If they were bad people in the end. Or just misled people trying to do the right thing.
“I always did wonder what happened to Barty”, her father murmured, “I never heard from him again … of course, I sent him letters but they always came back unopened …”
Luna’s ears perked up. If Barty Crouch Junior was still alive, then he might tell them something about everyone else. Maybe she could even find Dorcas Meadowes or Marlene McKinnon from the picture and talk to them.
If Barty was indeed one of Regulus and Pandora’s best friends, then he may know something about the formers death!
Luna’s thoughts spun in her head.
“When was the last time you ever heard of him?”, she asked.
Xenophilius sighed.
“The day after your mother’s death. He was devastated, said something about it being his fault and then he disapparated. He didn’t even show up to the funeral.”
“He didn’t say where he was going?”
Her father shook his head.
“Did he have any places he liked? What about his home?”
He fiddled with the ring on his finger. Pandora’s and his wedding ring.
“No. His safe place was always Evan. He didn’t form any attachments to any places, he’s a free spirit like that. And his home? He hated Crouch Manor. His father always saw him as a disgrace to the family which is why he moved out as soon as he could.”
Luna’s shoulders slumped. No significant place they could visit to search for him. No indication as to where he could have gone. Except …
“Do you think we could look through the letters?”
It took them a while to sort out all the letters from Barty Crouch Jr. Not that there were a ton of them, it was just difficult to decipher his handwriting.
But even then, they didn’t find anything of significance. A few letters from school, asking how the holidays went. A few letters about a potions project they had going on. Some about an advanced study on spell-making.
But none specified a place that seemed important to any of them.
“I don’t think we’re going to find anything here”, Luna muttered tiredly, “that’s all the letters he wrote.”
Xeno frowned, when suddenly his face lit up.
“That’s all the letters he wrote, you’re right. But what about the letters Evan wrote?”
His daughter looked up at him with big eyes.
“If his safe place was Evan, then any safe place to Evan may be important to him as well! You’re right Daddy! That’s brilliant!”
She grasped back at the stack of letters in the box.
“Which one is his handwriting?”
Her father handed her an envelope, and soon they were back to silently working next to each other. The sky outside their window slowly turned dark, noon became dark night. Neither of them had broken their focus.
“Daddy? I think I found something.”
Luna’s voice was full of energy despite the late hour. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. If this turned out to be the place, they might have some kind of lead as to finding Barty Crouch Jr.
She handed him the letter. Xenophilius smoothened out the paper.
Dearest Dora (and Xenophilius I’m sure),
We’re hereby inviting you to Barty’ and my wedding! After a long debate (it was a few minutes actually), we’ve decided to get married. Barty decided that the muggle way is rubbish and we should get married even if it isn’t permitted by law so here we are, a week later and ready to become criminals. There’s probably only going to be a few other people invited, mainly Dorcas and Regulus since there really isn’t that many of us. The date is the 21st of January! We’ll be holding it on that little hill near the ocean. You know the one where we used to always hang out after we graduated? I think it was called The Hangman’s Hill. Quite a name if you ask me, but Barty is sure it was called like that. There’s a portkey in the envelope as well. It’ll activate at 12pm and be open for three minutes. You have to hold it and say our names, the order doesn’t matter (Barty insists to say his first, but we all know mine first is the right choice). We hope we’ll see you then!
All the best to you and Xeno, and stay safe!
With love,
Your absolute best friend Evan and his idiotic soon-to-be husband Barty
“The Hangman’s Hill”, Xenophilius frowned, “I think I've heard of it.”
Luna regarded her father with a questioning gaze.
“You think?”
He started absentmindedly shifting around the letters.
“Yeah, yeah … I think I remember. They all loved that place …”
His eyes narrowed in concentration as he kept shuffling around on the floor. Luna tilted her head in confusion.
“Are you okay, Daddy? Did the wrackspurts get to you?”
“No, no I don’t believe so … I’m just searching for … aha!”
He suddenly held up a little pebble, his eyes glowing in the light a single candle shed. His daughter stared at it, glancing from her father to the stone in his hand and back.
“That’s … that’s a pebble”, she asked confusedly.
Xenophilius shook his head, making his pale blonde hair fly around. He looked like a madman.
“No, Luna dear, that’s the portkey.”
He presented it to her proudly. She took it with care. It was an ordinary pebble, light grey and a little deformed.
“But doesn’t it only work once?”, she wondered.
A shadow passed over Xenophilius’ face.
“It does”, he said, “but we’ve never used it.”
Luna perked up.
“You didn’t attend the wedding?”, she asked.
It was quite hard to comprehend, that her parents wouldn’t go to their best friend’s wedding.
“No”, he said softly, “no, it didn’t happen.”
Her eyes wandered over the letters, the photographs. Barty and Evan seemed incredibly close; anyone could see that. There was no way they would just call off their wedding.
“Why did they cancel it?”
Xenophilius seemed to get lost in thought. His adams apple bopped up and down, as though he seemed to try and find composure.
“A day before the wedding … we got the news that Regulus had gone missing. They said they wouldn’t marry without Regulus because he would have their heads for it.”
He let out a choked laugh.
“We all went searching for him. Sent him letters, but they all came back unopened. Until one day, an article was printed in the prophet, claiming that Regulus was dead.”
Luna soothingly patted her fathers back. It seemed to be incredibly hard on him, recalling his friends’ deaths.
He’d never really talked about them before, and neither did her mother. She’d never heard them say their names before, only screamed in nightmares and muffled behind the doors.
They’d always seemed so happy in front of her. Deliriously happy. Careless, always this cloudy gaze that seemed a little absent.
But right now, Xenophilius’ eyes were dry and rimmed with red. They were startlingly clear and focused.
He shook his head in disdain.
“The prophet said that he was dead. But we didn’t believe them. Regulus wouldn’t have simply disappeared. He would’ve left something- a note, a letter, at least something for his loved one’s. But there was nothing.”
“So you believe he’s still out there somewhere?”, Luna asked with wide eyes. If there was even a chance that Regulus Black was still alive … that would be major. For someone to escape magical tracking for so many years …
“Pandora said she could feel that he wasn’t dead. Not entirely, anyways. She was convinced she could feel his soul being at unrest. Barty and Evan thought so too, at first … but after many months of us searching for him, I think they lost hope. I can’t blame them … nothing worked. It was as if the earth had just opened up and swallowed him whole.”
Her eyes narrowed as she searched his face for any hint on his opinion.
“But what do you believe?”
“I think … I believe Pandora. She and Regulus always had this special bond … no one knew what it was. But she said she could still feel his soul drifting around, not being able to rest. I think he’s still out there somewhere.”
Luna nodded thoughtfully.
“Okay.”
Her thoughts raced in her head. If her mother and Regulus had a sort of … connection, then it might be possible that he really was alive. But what sort of connection? A soulmate one? Or a forceful one?
“We can search for him after we find Barty, right? Maybe he can give us more intel as to what Regulus liked and how he worked … and then we can go find him.”
Xenophilius sent her a small smile.
“You’re ... just as brilliant as your mother was, you know that? What did I do to deserve a daughter like you?”
Luna rolled her eyes playfully.
“Probably had something to do with mum.”
His eyes widened in shock.
“Luna!”
She giggled before slipping away from his hand.
“You didn’t hear that!”
In seconds she was off the floor, skipping towards the spiral staircase down to the living room.
“You coming?”, she yelled over her shoulder, “we have a hill to find!”