Written for Flying Lessons at Hogwarts, for the prompts: (location) The Astronomy Tower and (dialogue) "I hope you always find a reason to smile."

Words: 1547

Chapter 12: Breaking

Luna had a million questions she wanted to ask when the fighting was over, but she couldn't make her lungs breathe deeply enough to give her time to form them. Her throat hurt as if it had swollen; as if a lump had formed that her voice couldn't make its way around. Her lips were pulled together too tightly for words to force their way past, as if they knew that if they weren't held together they'd fall apart, shatter with the rest of her feeble form into a million tiny parts, like heartbreak was real, only it wasn't just her heart that was breaking – it was everything she was. Everything she'd ever been and everything she ever would be. The foundations she'd built herself on had crumbled to sand, as if the slightest breeze could take her down.

Barty said nothing as he took her hand with one hand and wrapped his free arm around her shoulders: firm and supportive, but not too tight. She didn't quite feel close to breaking.

"Barty, we need you," Regulus called quietly from further down the corridor. Luna's father wasn't the only one who'd died, and parts of the castle were in ruins. They needed all the help they could get to tend to the wounded and rebuild, so that life could carry on as normal.

Barty nodded, but didn't move. He should help; he wanted to help. He didn't want to leave Luna.

She drew in a deep breath and steadied herself, testing her throat before breathily forcing her voice to work. "I'll go to the Astronomy Tower," she told him.

She wanted to help herself, but she just couldn't calm herself down. She didn't know how to be strong now, and she'd be of no use. So, really, there was only one place she could go to feel safe and secure. The place she'd spent many an hour as a student, staring at the stars and giving herself time.

"Are you sure?" he asked, stroking a delicate hand down her damp cheek. She only nodded, squeezed his hand and began to walk away.

At the top of the spiral staircase, Luna pushed the classroom door open and felt a strange sense of relief wash over her when she saw that the room looked almost exactly as it had last time she saw it. Instinctively, she headed to the fourth microscope, knowing it was looser on its hinges than the others and could be more easily pushed out of the way. She smiled to herself a little when it did as she expected. Sitting on the windowsill, she didn't look down. She knew how high it was – she didn't need a reminder. Instead, she looked to the sky, lit by the twinkling of a thousand stars, the glint and gleam of a hundred torches in the castle and the waning moon. Breathing in deeply, she let the sadness fill her with its dark light once more as the tears fell afresh.

She felt guilty. She knew from her training before she began volunteering at the hospital that the guilt was normal. It didn't help anything. She couldn't help but think she should have seen past their recent differences when he couldn't. She should have been dutiful instead of ignorant, and gone to see him on Sundays like she always had. She shouldn't have stopped. She didn't even remember what the last words she said to him were. Things were probably better that way, she reasoned.

She closed her eyes, resting her head back against the cold wall and cried. By the time Barty came to find her, her sobs were dry and her joints ached. She had no tears left, and she was tired and cold, but she was in no rush to move. He said nothing as he walked over and sat in the windowsill opposite her, looking at her, waiting for her.

"Sorry I wasn't able to help," she said, gravel in her voice.

"There was more than enough of us."

"What do we know? Who were they?" she asked.

"Luna, you don't have to be strong now if you're not ready. There are other people taking control of the situation. You can have time to grieve," Barty responded gently, reminding her she had a choice.

"I know. I want to. I want the distraction, the normality. I want to make sure no one else goes through this. Let me help," she argued back, finding more strength than she knew she was capable of at the moment.

"Okay. Well, it was mainly old Death Eaters and their kids. We think it was a protest, and a warning. Your father was speaking of the last war, of the winning side and of what they fought for – as well as why it was worth fighting for. They didn't seem to like it. They're still clinging to the old ideals, and willing to fight for it once more. But they're dangerous, make no mistake. They're organised, and there's more of them than we saw tonight. We've got another war coming. What we really need to know is who they're rallying around," Barty explained, though looking at her for signs of her grief the whole time. He was trying to help her, in whatever way she wanted, but he didn't want to push her too far.

Luna nodded gravely, taking his words in with a calculating expression, as if she was trying to make sense of it and fill in any blanks with her own understanding of things. "And Regulus? And Adhara? Have you spoken to them? Why did they fight with us?"

"They're not bad people, Luna. Not at heart. But yes, I spoke to them. They'd both been threatened. It seems I was a recruitment target, but not if I was with you. They were testing us, trying to break us up. Adhara has a daughter, and they threatened the child if she didn't come between us. She did, and it didn't work. So they found Regulus. They threatened his life and mine if he didn't try to separate us. They were sure that would work. It didn't. But Reg and Addy were left alone, until they got the tip off about tonight. They wanted you and me here. They didn't expect them to join us."

Luna had to admit, the explanation made sense. Adhara and Regulus were Slytherins, after all, and if Slytherins knew anything it was self-preservation.

"So, what you're saying is, there's not only another war, but we're right in the middle of it?" Luna asked, a ghost of a smile passing over her lips. "Just like old times," she added.

"You don't have to be, you know. It's me they want, not you," Barty told her, looking out over the grounds of the ancient school.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked, suddenly fearful.

"I mean things haven't ever been easy for us. There's always been something going on, something making life difficult for us, even from the start. But it was never something as big as a war. And after today, and everything that you've lost… I understand if it's all too much. It's okay if it's all too much," he told her.

"I think that's the most selfless thing I've ever heard you say," Luna replied, a playful smile on her lips for just a moment. She looked at the microscope beside her, considering how it could make far away objects appear so much closer than they really were.

"When you're high up, like this, do you ever get scared you're going to fall?" she asked.

Barty leaned over the edge and looked down, seeing the ground so far beneath them. "No," he told her honestly.

"I do. Or at least, I did. Any time I feel like I'm too high, I wonder what's going to go wrong, and when. I don't know if it was the war that did it or if I've always been like that. What I'm trying to say is that I'm not scared now. Not anymore."

Barty quirked an eyebrow. "Can you be a little more explicit?"

Luna smiled. "You make me happy. We're happy together. Happiness makes me scared, sometimes, that it's not forever. But we've already been through so much. We've seen the dark times – no, our whole relationship was founded in the dark times, and they've only got worse. We've nearly said no so many times, nearly quit and given up. But we're still here. So I'm not afraid of falling anymore. I know that if we fall together, we'll get back up together, too."

Barty said nothing for a moment, only leaned in towards her and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"I guess here's to endings, then," he commented.

"Can you be a little more explicit?"

"The end of us worrying that the other might leave. The end of the jealousy and questioning. The end of doubting each other, and our trust. Let's say goodbye to all that. I promise I'll always love you. I promise that's enough," Barty told her.

"Even in the midst of all this darkness, I can smile about that," she responded, reaching out to take his hand in hers.

"I hope you always find a reason to smile."