Speak without words

Just seeing her face, that powerful face, the one that would always smile, watching her cripple into tears, made me want to speak. Just to throw off my bonds, my duty, and my silence, to comfort her. But that choice had been thrown away years ago.

Instead, I asked with my eyes. I knew she would understand my eyes. She understood more than most people. I trusted that in a person.

She gulped down tears. I nearly cried with her, seeing those intriguing blue eyes swimming with tears. But my tears had long gone.

"M-m-my d-d-dad... he's g-g-" Her voice cracked and she cried even louder.

"I-I'm s-sorry. I-It's just that he has been with me s-since my m-mum-" With this she burst into a fresh bout of tears.

I put my arm around her and gently rocked back and forth. She only sobbed more.

What to do? I couldn't comfort her without words. Hugs did not soothe her. I almost laughed at myself. I had worked with emotion, with the unmeasured substances of the world for so long that I had forgotten what it felt like to feel.

I stood up, pulling her with me. She followed slowly, not paying attention where she was going.

I tapped the third door from the left and pulled her in. Gently pushing, I led her over to a battered archway, where a thin cloth was hanging.

She stopped crying long enough to send me a puzzling look. I nodded at the Veil. She still looked confused.

"I-I was here b-before once. My friend's godfather- he fell through-" She nodded at the veil, which seemed to be whispering quietly.

I pulled out a peice of parchment and a quill. God, I haven't written anything since Hogwarts. I wrote something quickly and handed it to her.

She smiled. "'People fall, but they must always get up. They just get up on the other side of the veil.'" She read. "'The veil is only a barrier that we all must cross. Everyone does it sometime, and if it is not their time to cross, they will only fall again, back into the world.' D-does that mean that Daddy, well, will he fall back here, with me?"

I gave a noncommitical jerk of my head. She understood what I meant and the tears began to fall again. But this time, her face did not crumple, as it had earlier. Instead, it turned more determined, more serious than I had ever seen it before.

She walked boldly towards the veil. Tears still falling down her cheeks, she pushed the cloth away and walked through. She disappeared for a moment, and then reappeared, crumpled on the floor by my feet.

I took the parchment and wrote.

"'It wasn't your time.' But I can't live without Daddy. H-he's my role model, my mentor, m-my best friend. I can't live without him."

I reached around her slim waist and hugged her.

I turned her around and looked her straight in the eye. I'll be your friend, Luna. I said through my eyes. And she understood me. She always does.

"Oh, Croaker, you already are."