The Thirteenth Hour

Chapter 7

That boy take me away into the night
Out of the hum of the street lights and into a forest
I'll do whatever you say to me in the dark
Scared I'll be torn apart by a wolf in mask
Of a familiar name on a birthday card

Candle - Daughter

• • •

Luna and Tom left the thestrals behind, making their way through the Forbidden Forest back towards the castle. Tom was doing his best to not make it obvious that he had lost his sense of direction amongst the trees. She didn't need to know he was following her way out.

They walked in silence, the night noises of the forest around them. The night had become unusually cold for September, so cold that their breath began to mist in front of their mouths, mirroring the swirling fog at their feet.

When they broke out of the Forest, the girl suddenly stopped walking and stared up at the night sky.

"What are you doing?" he asked, turning around.

"Lovely, isn't it?" she said, neck craned backwards, exposing her vulnerable throat.

"What is?" he asked. His eyes lingered on the line of her jaw, then her collarbone.

A small smile appeared on her face. "Everything." She pointed at the stars. "That light travels millions of years just to meet us here, tonight. It's a bit of the past just reaching us now." Lowering her gaze to him, she said, "It's magical."

Tom glanced briefly up at the constellation at which he had been gazing earlier, the one he used to find as a child, then back to her. "Are you always so easily amused?" he said dispassionately.

She looked up and to the right, as though considering her response for a moment. Then she nodded. "Yes."

Gracing her with small shake of his head and the laziest eye roll, Tom said, "Let's go. I can't be out here all night."

At the foot of the spiral staircase to Ravenclaw Tower, Luna turned to him. "I quite enjoyed our adventure tonight, Tom."

"It wasn't an 'adventure.'"

"I felt quite adventurous, didn't you?"

"Not at all.

"Of course, not nearly so adventurous as when my father and I were in Sweden searching for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack."

"I - what?"

"Sweden," she replied. "It's a country in Scandinavia, northeast of here. They speak Swedish."

"I know what Sweden is," he said, nostrils flaring.

"Apologies."

Tom brought his left hand to his right to twirl his ring. He saw Luna's eyes drift down to his hands then back to his face. Not for the first time, his hackles were raised.

"Luna," he asked suddenly, testing out the way her name felt in his mouth, "why did you want to be my friend?" His face was deliberately passive, his voice now humming an overture of amicability. To his surprise, Luna took a half step back when she heard it.

Her nose crinkled ever-so-slightly. "I just thought...we might make a good pair."

Displeasure at both his inability to manipulate her as easily as he was accustomed to, as well as her obvious mistruth bubbled in his gut. "I don't mean to engage you when you're clearly lying, but what on earth would have given you that idea?"

She opened her mouth to say something, obviously thought better of it, then shut it again, instead offering a shrug and a blank look in response.

"Well, make no mistake," he said coolly, injecting as much ice and disdain into his voice as possible, "you are no friend of mine."