The weather turned warmer and the rest of the snow melted, and little flowers began to sprout up in its place. Cedric and I were working on a herbology project in the Hufflepuff common room, and he sent me out to the greenhouse behind the castle to get some more materials. I went out the kitchen back door and when I step out into the sunlight I see Luna standing in the Forbidden Forest, looking up at what I could only describe as a monster. It was built like a horse, but it had the head, wings, and tail of a dragon. It looked terribly thin, too; you could see its bones right through its leathery greyish skin. It grunted and stepped towards Luna, and I sprinted over to her.
"Watch out!" I yell, my arm flashing out in front of her protectively. The thing stomped its foot and snorted at me.
"You can see it?" she asked.
"Of course I can bloody see it, it's kind of hard to miss a gigantic horse-dragon-thing," I reply, still in shock.
"Only those who have witnessed death can see thestrals," she murmured. Suddenly, something horrible occurred to me, but it made perfect sense. We stand in silence for a long time.
"I was there when mum died," Luna continued. "You were in that car with your dad, weren't you?" My face suddenly gets hot and the tears in my eyes blur everything around me. I shook my head, trying to make the memories of shattered glass, police sirens, and staring into my father's cold, lifeless eyes go away. I didn't want to remember coming out from my hiding spot in the back to see that we'd crashed into a telephone pole. I didn't want to remember crying and shaking his mangled body, begging him to wake up. I didn't want to remember running for miles as fast as my 8-year-old self could, covered in his blood and screaming for help.
"We had to have a closed-casket viewing," I say in a voice that's just barely a whisper, "because his face was cut up so bad that nobody would recognize him." Tears overflowed in my eyes and spilled down my cheeks, and Luna wraps her arms around me.
"I'm so sorry," she breathes into my hair, "I'm so, so sorry." I hug her back and sob into her shoulder just like I'd done so many times before. I couldn't stop the memories that came flooding back with such force, and it shook me that such a small reminder could trigger the harsh remembrance of that awful evening.
"He was going grocery shopping," I gasped. "He told me to stay home, he...I wanted to go, so I laid on the floor under a blanket, and I felt the car crash...I should have listened, I should have stayed home, maybe-"
"Y/n, you were eight. You were a child, there was nothing you could have done and there was no way you could have known," Luna interrupts.
"But why him? Why that way?" I ask. She pulls away from me and wipes tears off my face.
"When you go out and look for flowers, which ones do you pick?" she asks.
"The ones I like the most," I sniffle.
"Exactly. Whoever's in control in the next life, they needed him to come home, they needed mum to come home too. But it's not as if we'll never see them again, is it? They're always here, always watching. You said it yourself to that little boy in Hogsmeade, remember?"
"I know," I mumble. "It was easier to convince someone else."
"And that's okay," she replies, holding my face in her hands. "I know how awful it is, seeing something so terrible at such a young age. But listen to me, you lived. We both did, and do you know how much courage that takes?" I don't answer her.
"You don't have to believe me now, but one day you will. One day you'll see what I see," she continued, kissing my forehead and hugging me again. How is she so good with words? Most days I could barely manage to form a coherent sentence.
"I love you," I say against her neck. It was the first time I'd said those words out loud to her.
"I love you more," she replies. Luna lets go of me and the thestral sniffs at the braid that always hung down my back, and it scares me a bit.
"Hey," I say, slowly extending my hand. It bows its head down and I rest my hand on its snout. I don't know what I was expecting to feel, but it definitely wasn't warm, wiry fuzz. Suddenly the thestral seemed less like a monster and more like an old friend. It pushed up against my hand, making happy little thestral noises and flicking its tail back and forth. I giggle, thinking about how much it was acting like a puppy. I hear the kitchen door open, and Ced stands in the doorway.
"Y/n, what are you doing? And is that Luna?" he shouts. Luna waves at him.
"Oh, I was just-" I stop myself, remembering that he couldn't see the thestral.
"You were gone for a while, so I thought I'd..." he trails off. "Anyway, I need that stuff from the greenhouse so we can finish up." I nod and he goes back inside, closing the door behind him. I turn to Luna and the thestral.
"Gotta go," I say, starting towards the greenhouse.
"That's okay," Luna calls after me. "Remember what I said, okay?" I look back at her and nod. I couldn't forget if I tried.
Dear Reader,
Heyyy sorry it took so long to post this but I really hope you like it! I had to incorporate the thestrals in some way to get some of the movie concepts in because why not, but I'm in school atm and I have to get to my next class rn so until next time!
XOXO
Frankie :)
YOU ARE READING
Looney (Luna Lovegood x Fem Reader)
Fanfiction"How could my love for her be wrong? Sure, it was odd to some people, but it was love just the same." Since your first day at Hogwarts, there have been rumors about that strange Lovegood girl who wears mismatched clothes and talks about creatures th...
