Luna's Observations
Samantha had tried to sleep, but couldn't. Her head continued it's throb and her shakes were beyond uncomfortable.
She spent the night staring into the darkness and just listened to the world around her. The window was open and it was a welcome break to hear crickets instead of Diagon Alley. Duke was asleep somewhere above her in the bed's canopy and she could hear small snores from the little dragon.
She eventually did sleep, but it wasn't helpful for her headache. If anything, she awoke to a worse headache and wanted to roll over and go back to sleep. She instead tried coffee to erase the pain which had now expanded to her shoulders. Duke was curled around her neck and shoulders, as if he knew she was in pain.
Neville sat across from her and seemed quietly frustrated as he read that morning's Daily Prophet. The headline had been switched from the one about her brother to the more interesting:
Editor-In-Chief Of The Daily Prophet, Samantha Fyre Attacked
Samantha had been alright with the headline and the attention it gave to finding Jade. It was Samantha's own personal statement about the attack had been published, clearing up everything with the hopes it would send Freya a message that she wasn't to be messed with.
However, Samantha wasn't thrilled when she noticed that Rita Skeeter had somehow still managed to publish a gossip piece about the ordeal. Skeeter surmised that Samantha had to have put Freya Jade into a jealous rage. Samantha had obviously taken Kai Jones as one of her many lovers and if Freya Jade couldn't have him, no one could.
On any other occasion she would have found it funny, but as her upper body throbbed in pain she couldn't get herself to laugh. She also couldn't finish reading the paper, her headache was making her eyes strain.
"Oh put that rubbish away Neville." Augusta insisted sipping on her own coffee.
Neville didn't put the paper down.
"Not that your writing is rubbish dear." Augusta looked at her with a softer expression, "It's that Skeeter woman, she is an ungrateful slag. To write about her own boss that way, bold but stupid I say."
"Skeeter is not getting a Christmas bonus this year." Samantha insisted wondering why her coffee looked blurry. "At least she didn't say anything negative about Hermione."
Before Neville could argue with her, Augusta remarked looking out the window, "It seems we have a visitor. That little Lovegood woman I believe."
Samantha and Neville both stood up and looked out over the lawn. Duke, shocked by the sudden movement flew off of her shoulder and out the window. Luna was standing at the edge of the magical enchantments. She was looking around and waving.
Augusta stayed sipping her coffee as the two ran out to let Luna in. Neville stepped out of the enchantments to question their old friend before letting her in.
Luna wrapped her arms tightly around Samantha's neck. "I was so worried about you."
"I'm alright Luna." Samantha said but hugged her friend. Samantha wondered why she sounded like she was underwater.
Luna took Samantha's head into her hands and started tilting it side to side. "You were right Neville. Slow acting poison for sure."
"Poison?" Samantha asked.
"Have you had a headache?" Luna asked touching Samantha's forehead. "Blurry vision?"
"Yeah, but I get headaches a lot." Samantha qualified, Luna's hand felt cold. "It's from straining my eyes looking over papers."
Luna looked back at Neville, "You said she only slept a few hours and she'd seemed disoriented?"
Neville nodded, but Samantha couldn't really see him, he'd almost disappeared really.
"Probably a mix of Belladonna and Doxy Venom most likely."
I'm fine"
"Of course you are, but humor us please." Neville insisted as Luna walked arm in arm with Samantha back to the house.
"Hello Mrs. Longbottom." Luna greeted excitedly as she sat Samantha back down at the kitchen table.
"Miss Lovegood." Augusta didn't look up from her coffee. Samantha noticed the absence of the Daily Prophet. "What equipment will you be in need of?"
Luna was reaching into her bag and pulled out a green floral apron and a cauldron. "Oh nothing too much, just a pipet if you have one."
Samantha had to admit this headache had been an odd one, but why would everyone think she'd been poisoned? She was perfectly fine, it could be nothing more than a migraine. She really should just drink some more coffee, it would go away. A ringing was growing in her ears as everyone around her rushed around.
"Neville, here is a list of ingredients I need." Luna handed him a paper and he had left the kitchen.
She grimaced as the pain shifted down her spine. It hurt so much she couldn't breathe, this wasn't a migraine. She'd never felt a migraine in her spine before.
She wracked her brain, if she had been poisoned, when would it even have been? She'd only started having a headache after she visited the Leaky Cauldron and got her normal coffee with two creams.
"I've got everything." Neville handed Luna a basket of plants that seemed to be still slightly moving.
That coffee from the Leaky Cauldron had tasted a little funny. It hadn't tasted as bland as normal. It had an odd oaky finish to it.
"I still need fire seeds." Luna exclaimed.
"I don't have a fire seed bush."
"Well the only other thing that will work is Valerian Sprigs treated with the breath of a dragon." Luna yelled behind Samantha, something smelled like burnt tar.
"Because that's easier to come by?" Neville asked.
"There is literally a dragon sitting on your table." Augusta nonchalantly reminded.
Duke tilted his head at Augusta as she acknowledged him.
Samantha continued thinking about that morning. Hannah Abbot, who had recently bought the pub, had looked a little off when she made the coffee for Samantha though. She didn't make her normal joke about slipping a shot of whiskey into the coffee. Hannah's eyes had looked a little glazed over and she hadn't seemed as jovial as normal. Samantha had just assumed it was because Hannah and Neville had briefly dated. Maybe Hannah wasn't happy about the current circumstances. She hadn't ever been like that before though.It was incredibly out of character.
She kept running it through her mind. The coffee had tasted different and Hannah looked off. Her headache had started right after her coffee.
"Merlin's beard! I've been poisoned." Samantha stood up quickly, knocking over her coffee.
"Yes dear, you have." Augusta put her hands on her shoulders and lightly pushed her back down into her chair. She waved her wand, cleaning up the coffee.
The world was really spinning now, mostly from the realization.
She couldn't speak she was so scared. She only managed the words, "That bitch poisoned me."
"You truly have quite the vocabulary when under pressure." Augusta commented calmly rubbing her back.
Samantha turned her head to see Luna trying to convince Duke to blow fire.
"Don't have him do that in the house!" Samantha insisted uncomfortably as Neville came back inside with Valerian sprigs. "And don't let Neville anywhere near that potion!"
"Of course not!" He insisted back before he ran outside with Duke and the sprigs.
"That's why he sent for me." Luna laughed as she stirred her cauldron. "Rolf was hit with a similar poison in Nepal. We were chasing the Vampire Mosp and we were mistaken for treasure hunters. He was poisoned unfortunately. Thankfully, I knew the antidote of course. Slughorn taught it in my seventh year."
There was a crackling sound, almost like a bomb exploded. Duke had obviously blown fire outside, he had quite the range for a little dragon. Samantha found the irony in being scared of fire and owning a dragon quite interesting really.
"Oh, Scamander's certainly never mentioned that before." Samantha nodded as the pain began reaching down her arms.
Neville came back in with the burnt sprigs. He was followed by Duke, who looked exhausted and curled onto Samantha's shoulders. He smelled like smoke and Samantha attempted not to shake as she smelled him.
"Good." Luna said dropping them into her potion before handing Samantha a vial of the tar smelling mixture. "Down the hatch."
Samantha shot the drink back and began to feel a pretty instant change. It felt better than it tasted. It was like jumping into a cold pool on a hot day.
Luna sat next to her. "Better?"
Samantha nodded as her vision began to return. "Someone should check on Hannah at the Leakey Cauldron."
Half an hour later, Samantha was laying on the sofa in the sitting room with Luna sitting in a big armchair across from her. Luna was reading the Daily Prophet while Samantha was supposed to be napping.
After sending Kingsley a few letters, Neville had gone upstairs to lay down. Apparently he hadn't slept much either.
"You've had a very eventful forty-eight hours." Luna observed as she put the Prophet down.
"Tell me about it." Samantha sarcastically responded. Her head had stopped throbbing but the slight remnants remained in her spine.
"Well, the woman who murdered Kai Jones is blaming you for his death and wants revenge. Your brother is being framed for the murder of your childhood friend." Luna babbled on, without recognizing Samantha's sarcasm. "Then you were attacked in your own office and poisoned while drinking your morning coffee."
"Thanks for the recap Luna." Samantha grimaced but noticed the bottom half of her spine was feeling better. "And for saving my life."
"Anytime, don't thank me too much though." Luna looked up with a small smile. Luna was the only one of Samantha's friends from Hogwarts that never showed any real signs of aging. She still looked about seventeen or eighteen. "Neville technically noticed the symptoms of poisoning."
"Don't worry, I'll thank him later." Samantha smiled and sat up.
"You could thank him by not doing anything rash." Luna insisted with her signature bug eyes.
"Rash?"
Luna spoke matter of factly as she reached into her bag and grabbed a small white folder. "You know? Don't sneak out in the middle of the night and go after Freya yourself."
Samantha actually hadn't thought of that before. "She wants to kill me. Why would I do that?"
"That's what I asked Neville earlier." Luna shrugged and whispered, "I told him you aren't suicidal."
"He thinks I'm going to go after Freya?" Samantha asked, her brain suddenly becoming clearer. It made sense, he'd barely left her by herself since he'd arrived.
"Everyone does." Luna continued putting the folder onto her lap.
"Do you?"
"I personally don't think you'd go after her to kill her. I think you would go and try to reason with her."
"There is no reasoning with Freya." Samantha explained while fixing her hair, "I'm not even really sure why she blames me for Kai's death. She's the one who killed him."
"But Kai wouldn't have been there if he wasn't helping you. If you hadn't made that deal with Kingsley years ago, you wouldn't have been the one to go to get your brother after she stole the eggs. " Luna observed, sending a sharp pang to Samantha's heart. "She'd maybe have Aurors after her, but what's that to a notorious criminal? She obviously wanted Kai to find her. Why else would she have stolen from his ranch?
"She still killed him." Samantha said uncomfortably.
"What spell did she use?" Luna asked, "To kill him I mean?"
"She stunned him and he fell out a window." Samantha remembered.
"You don't stun to kill." Luna observed with a head nod, "She seems like a Killing Curse person. It seems like she was just trying to get him to stay."
Samantha both loved and hated Luna's ability to see everything in a deductive way.
"You unknowingly foiled all of her plans to reunite with the love of her life."
Samantha hadn't thought of it like that before. The guilt flooded her mind like a waterfall.
"Then you return home triumphant. Your brother is finally home. Your family is finally reunited, and you get to be with the love of your life. While she ends up permanently alone." Luna shrugged before looking up at Samantha. "It really isn't your fault you know that right?"
Samantha just nodded feeling ready to throw up and not believing Luna's last reassurance. Everything felt like her fault. It only added to the guilt she felt knowing other people, innocent people she barely knew, were now being threatened.
"So I personally assumed you'd try to find her and reason with her. Tell her that you had no intention of ruining her plans." Luna looked around the room, "I'm not sure how you'd do that. It's not like you had some kind of tribute to show her, something to prove you feel remorse about Kai's death."
Her book. Samantha had spent a year writing that damned book about Kai's life. She could show Freya one of her drafts. Samantha's mind began moving like clock work, cogs turning and she wondered if just maybe she could pull it off. She'd just have to find her, she could be anywhere.
"Now, you've obviously not considered such a ridiculous plan."
"Nope, I hadn't considered it before." Samantha didn't lie, she hadn't considered it before, but she was considering it now.
"Let's think of it no more then." Luna said after opening the white folder which exploded with flying origami flowers everywhere. "Since I have your full attention, we can discuss some of the finer wedding plans."
"Great." Samantha nodded, her mind anywhere but wedding plans. She needed to devise a plan, go through her notes about Freya and see what she had. "Mind if I take notes?"
"Oh of course." She said with a wide smile.
Samantha non verbally summoned her notebook with every fact she had about Freya. She pretended to be taking notes, but she didn't hear a single word Luna was saying. She had an idea what she was going to do now.
She was going to change Freya's mind.
Samantha had a general idea where she could start in her search. She just needed a moment to slip away. It was difficult with Luna being there till after suppertime and with Neville barely leaving her side.
She did concieve a general plan and time was of the essence. If she didn't want Freya attacking anyone else, she would need to start immediately. She waited until his Gran headed off to bed and it was just the two of them sitting in the front room. She could maybe feign exhaustion and try to sneak out her window facing the back property, while he was in the sitting room at the front.
She was pretending to look over Luna's folder which she'd left behind for Samantha's review. She had her notes about Freya instead and she was taking one last look over them.
"So how crazy are Luna's wedding plans?" Neville asked interrupting her planning with a chuckle. He was at a desk by the window. He was grading a few written exams that Sprout had sent with him.
"Pretty ridiculous." Samantha lied, she had no idea. She hadn't paid close enough attention to actually give an answer. "Something about a group of dancing Bowtruckles and Duke being in a bow tie."
Neville chuckled, "Well, I'd like to see her try to get a bow tie on Duke."
Samantha stood from her seat, closing the folder and reaching her hand out for Duke who was sitting by the window. "Well, I think I'm going to get some sleep."
Duke flew to her hand and climbed up onto her shoulder.
Neville nodded but stopped writing, "Alright. I'm going to try and finish this before I join you."
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. She told him she loved him before making her way up the stairs to the guest room. She changed into pants, pulled up her hair and put on her trainers. She wrote a quick note for Neville before she grabbed her satchel. She transfigured a rope so she could climb down the side of the house.
Duke flew beside her the whole way down, watching her every foot movement.
Samantha reached the bottom. She waved her wand and the rope fell into her satchel.
"You know there is a door right?" Neville yelled from above her on the back porch.
She scolded herself for not realizing it wouldn't be that easy.
"I just like the exercise." Samantha lied jokingly.
"Going somewhere?" He asked leaning over the railing.
"No, of course not." Samantha shook her head putting her satchel over her shoulders.
He shook his head, "Going after Freya?"
"You can't talk me out of this Neville." She argued up at him and crossed her arms. "And I can occasionally out duel you, so don't try anything."
"I know you can." He insisted coming off of the front porch and down to her. "So where are we headed?"
"You aren't stopping me?" Samantha asked noticing he had a bag over his shoulder as well.
"I never told anyone I planned to stop you. I told them I'd keep an eye on you. So that's what I'm going to do." His smile reminded her of the days when he'd tell the Carrows off.
Samantha uncrossed her arms at the full realization. "You always planned on going with me didn't you?"
"Well, once the poison went away, yes." His sly smile spread before walking closer and taking her hands into his'. "I didn't fall in love with you because you like being cautious."
She requested, "Just do me a favor? Promise you will be careful, I can't lose you."
"I will be, if you promise the same." He chuckled pulling one of her fallen hairs behind her ear. "So, where are we starting?"