-Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling

-Warning-

This fiction cotains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows. If you are one of the three people in the world who have yet to read this book, you might want to back out now.

-A/N Yeah, so...I just had to do it. I so totally loved writing Loony for Luna and I was so broken hearted to see it end! This will be a little darker, since it deals largely with the death of Fred Weasley. It also might be a little more mature as I kinda feel like I need to deepen the relationship between George and Luna...or, if I may speak in cliche's for a minute...to move it up to the next level. LOL

-Hope you enjoy this sequel!

'

Loony for Luna: Forever from the Ashes

Chapter One

Mourning Fred

-

Prologue

Luna Lovegood stared into the eyes of George Weasley. The year and a half they had been together had been the most amazing time of her entire life. Often she would remember how things had been before George and his brother Fred had come into her life and it never failed to make her feel extremely thankful that they had.

This, unfortunately, wasn't one of those times.

George was incredibly angry with her.

"George..." she pleaded "If you would just listen..."

"Listen...?" his voice was an angry snarl "To what? More of your lame excuses for putting yourself in danger? And don't think this is just about stealing the sword...I know damned well you're involved with reviving the DA and the Anti-Voldemort graffiti."

"George..." Luna put her hand on his arm

He pulled away from her "You promised me that you would be careful, that you wouldn't do anything to antagonize Snape...and what do you do? You go off with my sister and give him a reason to give you detention! Have you heard about the kind of detentions they are giving out now? They make Umbridge's quill look like a damned garden party!"

"So what do you want from me George?" Luna glared at him angrily "You want me to be a coward? You want me to just watch idly by while my friends do what I should be doing?"

George snorted "What? You want me to support this insanity?"

"Why not?" she spat "I supported your insanity a year and a half ago, when you were waging war against Umbridge. Do you think that was easy for me?"

"Merlin's arse Luna!" He grabbed her by the arms "You just don't get it do you?"

Luna brought her arms up between them and pushed his hands off.

"No...I'm just stupid that way." She said sarcastically "I guess you better explain it to me."

"Luna." He lowered his voice and took her hands in his "This is different...the stakes are so much higher than they were then. Snape is there because Voldemort put him there!"

She looked away, over his shoulder at the sparkling rocks of the cavern. This had become their special place and they met there whenever she had Hogsmeade visits. But now, it didn't feel so special, it felt more like a torture chamber...a place where he could make her feel like a child...like he had when he'd had his friend Lee babysitting her.

"You think I don't know that?" she pulled her hands away and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't see why your so angry...nothing bad happened."

George fought to keep the hurt from his face...to pretend that it hadn't cut him when she pulled away. Breaking down now would do him no good, not when she was bound and determined to get herself into trouble at school. As he'd said, the stakes were so much higher.

"This time." he crossed his own arms. "But do you really think Snape will be so lenient next time?"

Luna had to admit, if only to herself, that she had been surprised when Snape had set them detention with Hagrid. In the end, it hadn't been detention at all. Hagrid had lead them into the forbidden forest a short ways and once he was sure that Snape had left, he led them back to his hut where they'd had tea and talked about what Harry, Ron and Hermione might be up to.

"I don't know." She shrugged "I suppose not."

Her nonchalance only served to make George angry again.

"You suppose not." He rolled his eyes "I can't believe this rubbish I'm hearing from you! I thought you were smart!"

"Oh not this again!" Luna too became angry "You gave me this same bit after the raid on the ministry...and just so you know, it's pissing me off just as much now as it did then!"

"Good!" He bent down and got right in her face "maybe then you'll see how stupid your being!"

"I supported you when you had to wage your little battle with Umbridge..." She yelled back "Why can't you just support me?!"

"Because your 'little battle' is going to get you killed!" he yelled "What the hell! I think you've spent too much time around Harry, you've picked up his death wish!"

"Don't you blame this on Harry!"

"Well your certainly not getting your urge to die from me!"

"Ugh! You are so pig headed! If you would just listen to me..."

"I think I've heard enough of your rubbish thank you." he turned away "if you think I'm going to just stand by and watch you get yourself killed..."

Luna felt like he had punched her in the stomach. He was really going to break things off with her...over something so silly?

"What do you mean?" she said softly

"I love you Luna...I do." he turned around and looked deep into her eyes "but I can't watch you kill yourself."

"Then don't." She reached back and pulled the silver combs from her hair "Don't watch."

George looked at her in shock...he hadn't meant that he wanted to end things between them!

"Luna..."

"I never asked you to be a coward for me George, but...as much as I love you...I can't be a coward for you...and it's not right of you to ask me to be."

She picked up his hand and put the combs into it ,then, she turned away from him.

"Goodbye George."

She walked away then, and despite his overwhelming desire to stop her...

...he let her go.

-

Six Months Later

For the last time, George stared into his twin brothers face. Soon, the coroner would be coming to close the casket before the funeral began.

"You're a true hero Fred." A tear fell from his own eye as he leaned over and kissed Fred's forehead "I am so proud of you."

His eyes drifted over to the medals resting on the closed end of the casket. Fred had been posthumously awarded the first order of Merlin, a Hogwarts award for special services to the school and the Godric Gryffindor award for bravery. Under the medals, the end of the casket was covered in the Gryffindor flag...the lordly lion lay face up.

"George..." He turned to see a shockingly familiar face.

George had seen Luna only briefly before the battle began. He'd been seized with the desire immediate to beg her not to fight, but the thing was, she had been right that awful afternoon in the cavern...he had no right to ask her to be a coward.

"Luna." he attempted to smile but it came across as the most horrible pain slashing across his face. He turned away from her.

Luna stepped up to the casket, her fingers brushed lightly over the medals.

"I'm not sure he would have liked these much." she sighed "They seem so...prefect-ish."

Despite himself, George smiled.

"Thank you" he looked at her and then looked away quickly when their eyes met " for coming I mean."

"It's not as if I couldn't come." she sighed , brushed the hair from Fred's face and then bent to kiss his cheek "I loved him."

George sighed "He loved you too."

Luna nodded as a rush of tears fell from her eyes "All that time I was held at Malfoy manner...I kept myself sane by remembering the things you and Fred use to do to make me laugh."

George felt a shiver go up his back as he remembered getting the news that Luna had been taken off the Hogwarts Express at Christmas. He'd been ready to storm the country looking for her, if not for Fred he would gotten himself killed storming Malroy manor.

"I'm glad that you're okay." he said simply. What Luna and he had had was over...it was as simple as that. She'd left him...and besides, loving meant living in fear of losing the one you loved and he wasn't going to put himself in that position ever again. He'd learned that lesson harshly enough when he'd lost Fred.

"I'm sorry." The coroner stepped up behind them "We need to close it now...the funeral will be starting soon."

George nodded and his hand brushed over Fred's face for the last time.

"Rest well Gred Weasleby."

-

Luna stared listlessly around the tent she had risen among the rubble of her home. One day soon her father would return and then, they could start over, everything would be fresh and new.

Until then, she watched for her fathers owl Amelia, waiting for a response to the letter she had sent to the ministry of magic inquiring about the release of prisoners of Azkaban. Thanks to Voldemort's incarcerating the innocent among the guilty, the ministry had a mess on their hands and sorting out who belonged there from who didn't was taking a horrific amount of time.

For the past week Luna had been occupied, busy attending the many, many funerals for the fallen. Worst of all had been the one the day before...the funeral for Fred Weasley.

Luna had known going in that it would be horrible. Fred had been like an older brother to her and she grieved his death deeply. But she hadn't been prepared for her reaction to seeing George Weasley again.

They had exchanged polite, though brief, words just after the battle at Hogwarts...but it had been like speaking to a stranger instead of someone she had loved deeply. She'd come away from the brief meeting thinking that she was over him, after all, her heart hadn't throbbed in her chest they way it had before they broke up. What she hadn't realized was that she was in shock at the time and all her feelings were numbed.

However, the instant she had seen George the day before she realized that her feelings for him were still very much present. At first she had dismissed it as pain over saying goodbye to Fred, but as she sat last night over her lonely dinner she'd realized that wanting so badly to kiss someone wasn't a typical symptom of mourning a terrible loss.

But George was her past, and Luna was dedicating herself to her future. What they'd had was over...another casualty to the war, never mind the fact that she was still in love him.

It was better, and safer, to leave George Weasley where he belonged...

...in her memories.

-

George sat quietly listening to his mothers chatter while he and Ginny helped her sign thank you cards for those who had sent flowers and cards in the past week. He sealed an envelope and then moved on to the next name on the registry...a tremor went through him as he read the name...Luna Lovegood.

"I think you should do this one mum." he didn't look at her as he spoke "I'll stick to our business contacts and customers."

Molly looked over at the name on the list and gave her son a tired look. "I will not. Luna deserves to hear from you."

"Mum..."

"No George." she shook her head "This whole thing between you two is silly.

"It's over mum...it was over a long time ago." He reluctantly pulled a card from the box "Nothing silly about that."

"You never should have broken things off with her in the first place." Molly finished the address she was writing with a flourish and reached for another envelope.

"SHE broke up with ME, remember?" George unwillingly scrawled Luna's name and address on the envelope.

"Only because you were being a bully." Ginny put in "Telling her what to do and bossing her around."

"I wasn't being a bully." he sulked

"Really." Ginny snorted "You called her stupid George."

Molly shook her head "No wonder she broke things off with you."

"Besides..." Ginny glared at her brother "You were in the process of ditching her, she just beat you to it and broke things off first."

"You know entirely too much about my private matters." he stared at Ginny "can't Luna ever keep her mouth shut?"

"Don't you dare speak bad of Luna." Ginny narrowed her eyes "She had to talk to someone after you broke her heart."

"Oh, so she just has to run to my little sister." George shook his head "How manipulative is that?"

"Stop it, both of you." Molly cut in "Bickering over it isn't going to change anything."

"Sorry Mum." They mumbled in unison

"It's better to leave the past in the past." She nodded "Besides, the war is over now...it's time to make a fresh start."

"Luna is staying in a tent on her fathers property." Ginny looked at George out of the corner of her eye and grinned a little

George's head shot up "Where'd you hear that?"

"Harry and I saw her in the village this morning and we walked home with her and had tea."

"In a tent?" Molly grimaced "You should have invited her here to stay...I can't imagine a tent is too comfortable."

"Well, we did actually...but, she didn't want to." Ginny looked at George directly now. "For obvious reasons I suppose."

Molly nodded "But still...living in a tent."

"Oh, it's quite a nice tent." Ginny smirked at George "Lots of room, even has a hot tub...well, a small one...Luna needs it for therapy."

"Therapy..." George looked alarmed "For what?"

"I thought you didn't care."

"Ginevra." Molly warned

"Sorry Mum...it's just a little back pain. She got hit across the back fairly hard with some falling debris she said."

"Well!" Molly nodded "I'm just going to have to put together a basket for her first thing tomorrow." She gave George a look "You can take it over with her thank you card."

"Not likely." George licked the envelope and tossed it on the pile.

Molly fixed him with a dirty glare and picked the card up off the pile.

"I know what you're up to mum..." George crossed his arms and stared back defiantly "...and it's not going to work. Luna's my past and well off staying that way."

"George, just because you broke up with her doesn't mean the rest of the family did." Molly put the envelope in his hand "You'll do as your mother says."

She lowered her head and glared deep into his eyes "Understood?"

George nodded weakly.

-

-

Chapter Two Preview

George and Luna

meet again...Will things turn ugly,

or will it be deja vu?