Written for Round 2 Training Camp — Penzance Pegai, Chaser 2

Write about your OTP dealing with a mental illness — Theo/Luna

Prompts used — unraveled, accept.

Many thanks to my teammates; Dessie, Di, and Tiggs for helping me out with this. Especially a dear friend for helping through it when I was messing up plots. (Thank you!) Y'all are just amazing.

onwards!

*cringe* Not my best, but enjoy? Slightly AU/brief mention that Padma Patil dies.

There was a faint rustle behind him before a firm hand was placed on his shoulder, slowly pulling him away from the bedside. Theo stubbornly tried to keep his ground, but the nurse clenched his shoulder tighter, her nails digging in his shoulder painfully.

She whispered in his ear. "Come on, dear." Her voice was so soft and fake that Theo wanted nothing more than to brush her away. "You have to leave now."

Theo tightened his grip on his mother's limp hand. "No."

"You don't have a choice." The nurse said crisply, yanking his shoulder backwards. With that movement, he stumbled away from the bed and left his mother's side for the first time in two hours.

He stared.

For once, the nurse seemed to take notice of his distress and paused to let him take one last look.

"Goodbye, Mum." The words left his mouth dry as dust and his heart felt like it was splitting apart.

Five years later

...

Theo huddled away from the main bustle and hustle of the students and medi-witches as they tried to calm down grieving teenagers, and heal injured others. The battle had been won by the infamous Harry Potter. Depending on the your perspective, of course. For some they were freed from a pyschopathic madman, but for others — Theo settled his gaze on the sobbing form of a Gryffindor in the corner, grieving over their loved one — he abruptly looked away.

He caught a glimpse of blond hair in his peripheral vision settle down beside him. And the awkward silence ensued...

She didn't seem like talking and Theo didn't want to bring up the fact that she had saved his life mere hours ago. When he had been cornered by a Death Eater with his wand raised, but unable to defend himself because... well, to anyone else it would look like an act of cowardice, but to him. It was a decision.

Finally, after deciding he didn't care for listening to the sounds of post-battle tears and cheers, Theo mumbled a short thanks and tried to add some gratefulness into his tone, but it came out more fake cheery than he would've liked.

"You're welcome. My name is Luna, by the way." Her blue eyes met his with an emotion he couldn't quite place, but it seemed to put his slightly panicked mind at ease. "Are you feeling better?"

Theo fiddled with a piece of rubble that he had picked up earlier from ground. "I'm alright."

"You should've thrown a curse at him." She was obviously referring to the Death Eater they had both encountered earlier. "It would've been easy to take him out with your skills."

He shrugged. "Guess I was stunned from fright. You know, cowards and all." Theo resisted the urge to gesture towards his tie and the traitorous colours, because even the most dense Gryffindor could grudgely admit that not all Slytherins were historical cowards now. This battle had proved that. Even Blaise Zabini, that ignorant playboy, had risked his life holding down the defence.

"Liar."

Theo snapped his head up stare at Luna. Her expression wasn't accusing. It looked more saddened and understanding.

Damn, that look was guilt-triggering. Theo forced himself to look away.

"It was my choice." He tried to say, but his throat closed up tightly as the last word escaped him.

"Or..." Thankfully, either she wasn't observing him enough to notice his emotional moment, or she didn't care. But her voice was surprisingly apathetic as she continued, "you didn't give yourself a choice."

Theo ignored her.

It was good to ignore people who spoke too close to home. It was true. When he was faced against that Death Eater, he had been hesitant to defend himself. The counter-curse was at the tip of his lips, but he just felt so wrong. It would've been easy to injure someone, but at the same time, he just wanted to leave.

Everything.

"You tried to die."

For moment, Theo tried to process her words, but then he protested. "I didn't. I... don't want to die."

"But you didn't want to live." Luna told him softly. "You can't have one without the other, Theo. You should accept that."

His eyes widened. "How do you know my name?"

Luna stared at him, rather amused. "There are people who pay attention to you, you know."

Once again, he didn't know how to respond to that. So he fell silent. Not for long, Luna wasn't done speaking to him. She was pointing to a group not too far away from them — he noted with a jolt that Blaise was amongst them, holding a small Gryffindor girl — they were huddled together, not speaking, all of them looking somber.

"The girl is called Parvati Patil." Luna sounded sad as she recalled the name. Theo wondered if they had been friends. "Her sister was killed by the kill curse."

She turned to the left, "Colin Creevey."

"Tonks."

"Lavender Brown."

"Fred Weasley."

His breath hitched. "Shut up."

"Remus Lupin."

Abruptly, Theo grasped her wrist to stop her from pointing at every dead child and man in this broken building. "Stop it. I get it!"

Luna twisted wrist out of his grip, but grasped his hand before he could retreat and placed it between hers. Her expression was surprisingly serene for the topic of discussion and Theo found himself completely thrown for a loop. What was with this girl?

"So many people have died today." Her eyes seemed to sparkle and it took a moment for Theo to realize that she was close to crying. "Each life is precious. Don't throw something like that away."

There were so many different things he wanted to say, to argue with her, to say that it didn't matter, nobody had seen him in years, the only person who did was gone, and she wasn't coming back. Ever. But all those thoughts seemed to unravel in his mind the longer he stayed with his hand holding hers.

"I'm sorry."

Why was he apologizing?

Luna shook her head. "Don't apologize. Someone is always watching you."

"...Thanks."

"Even the Nargles are watching you." A dreamy sigh escaped her. Theo stared, surprised at the change in topic.

"Pardon?"

Luna stood up and brushed the dirt from her skirt, even if it didn't do much good. They were both covered in bruises and rubble. "One day, I might tell you."

"... Right." Theo watched her walk away with a pounding heart and an almost lost expression that made him want to smack himself to stop looking like a fool. He said slowly. "Goodbye, Luna."

"It's not goodbye, Theo."

"See you later?" He tried again.

Luna turned to give him a small smile. "That's better."