Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 6: they love a good hunk o' meat

Lorelei Jones | 2nd Year

"Hello, Lorelei. Would you like to study with me outside today?" Luna asked when she approached her Hufflepuff friend that Saturday morning after breakfast.

Lorelei was currently perched in one of the window seats in the less trafficked corridors with a textbook in her lap and a half-filled piece of parchment in her hands. Her quill was lying abandoned next to her as she read over her notes under the soft morning light that was spilling through the window. Lorelei was sitting with her knees bent and held together so as to prop up her textbook, and the soft fabric of her weekend dress was comfortably covering her legs. Luna admired the little green and yellow flower pattern on Lorelei's long, white dress while she waited for a response.

Upon hearing Luna's question, Lorelei set down her parchment and twisted slightly to face Luna. "Sure! Do you have a spot in mind?"

Lorelei packed her things into her book bag, which was resting against her feet on the other end of the window seat. After Lorelei had finished collecting her things, she looked back at Luna and her dreamy smile. Luna didn't say a word and instead just held a hand out to help Lorelei down from the window.

Luna led Lorelei out to a large willow tree on the edge of the school grounds. There were dozens of wildflowers and soft grasses growing around the tree, but Lorelei hadn't realized such a pretty place existed.

"How did you find this?" Lorelei wondered with an amazed grin on her face. She dipped a hand down to run her fingers over the soft grasses and brilliant flowers.

"It's quite a wonder what you can find when you look," Luna replied in her usual dreamy voice. She took a few light-footed steps towards the willow tree and planted herself at the base of it. Lorelei realized that Luna didn't have anything on her other than her wand in her pocket. Was she really just going to sit there while Lorelei studied?

Lorelei set her bag down on the ground before she joined Luna at the base of the tree. She leaned back against it and brought her knees to her chest with the long skirt of her dress still shielding her legs. She turned to look at Luna and blinked a few times against the bright sunlight, but Luna seemed unaffected by the sunshine. Her eyes still had that misty, dazed look to them that seemed unchanging.

"Are you going to be bored?" Lorelei asked and tugged her school bag into her lap. "You don't have to stay with me if you don't want to."

Luna donned a placid smile but didn't reply. She took sudden interest in collecting a few of the wildflowers growing out of the ground beside her. In her hands were now an assortment of bright-colored bulbs hanging off long stems, and Luna stared at them with her attention completely stolen by the yellows, blues, pinks, purples, oranges, and reds. It was Luna's own little universe concealed in an earthly form, and truly nothing could compare to that.

Lorelei got the hint that Luna was perfectly content to just collect her flowers and sit beside her, so Lorelei pulled her textbook out and resumed reading for class. The two girls remained that way for another thirty minutes until Lorelei finished the required reading for Potions. She put her book back into her bag and stared up at the few fluffy clouds that drifted through the bright blue sky with warmth and peace. It reminded her of the times she would get sick growing up, and her Gran would swaddle her up in some cozy blankets and make her the special sick day soup that Lorelei loved. It was the best part of being sick in her eyes.

"Will you come with me?" Luna was softly smiling at Lorelei while she waited for a response.

After giving Luna an enthusiastic nod, they collected their things and started to head off towards the woods past Hagrid's hut. While they walked, Lorelei noticed that Luna had placed the wildflowers from before into her flaxen hair at random spots, but a few were slipping from her hair into a trail of beauty on the ground behind them.

Lorelei wasn't too worried about discovering where they were going or what they were doing, and maybe she should have, but she wholeheartedly trusted Luna. Once Lorelei decided to trust someone, she would never go back on it, unless that person shattered it all on their own. With Luna, it was certainly no different.

The two of them soon arrived at a little clearing in the trees where the thestrals were being kept. Lorelei was glad to see them again. Something about the skeletal horses made her feel at ease, and she wasn't sure why. She approached one of them and put her hand on the side of its head. She gently ran her hands across its face and side. The thestral leaned into her petting, and Lorelei was glad that it seemed to be a pleasant thing for the thestral. She wasn't sure if they could feel at all, but it comforted her that this one seemed to understand her desire to connect with it.

"Luna, do you know anything about them?" Lorelei asked as she stroked the thestral's back.

"I owled my dad about them first thing when we arrived... They're called thestrals... Dad says you can only see them when you've seen death," Luna explained before pleasantly smiling at a young thestral near her.

Lorelei's blood ran cold, but Luna didn't say anything more about that. Instead, she just softly smiled and tilted her head to the side while she watched the young thestral prance around the clearing. It was magnificent and beautiful in her eyes, even if others may not agree. Thestrals were different, but so was she, and so was Lorelei. None of those things were bad in her mind.

"Blimey! What're the two o' you doin' out 'ere?" Hagrid startled when he found the two girls amongst the thestrals in the woods. He hadn't expected to see any students interacting with them. Most students couldn't even see the gentle creatures, but those that could were often afraid of them in his experience. He scratched the back of his neck and added, "Yer really not s'posed to be out 'ere, you know?"

"Oh, sorry, Mr. Hagrid. We'll just be on our way then," Luna replied and hooked her arm in Lorelei's.

Lorelei's cheeks had flushed in embarrassment. She really hated getting in trouble. She just hoped to get out of those woods with as minimal punishment as possible. She should have known that they weren't supposed to be there, but she had really enjoyed going.

"Uh, well... If you ever do find yerself back in this section o' the woods, keep in mind that thestrals always love a good hunk o' meat if you've got any," Hagrid said with a poorly contained smile and a slight delighted rocking back and forth on his feet. When the two of them glanced back at him, the three shared grins, and Lorelei's anxieties melted away. Hagrid had no intention of getting them in trouble for spending time with the thestrals, even if he was supposed to.

Lorelei hadn't known Hagrid very well before, but from that day forward, she knew that she liked Hagrid. She and Luna ended up spending a number of hours with the thestrals or learning more about them from Hagrid in his hut that school year. Even if Luna and Lorelei didn't share who they had lost in order to see the creatures with one another, they still grew close that year, and Lorelei was grateful for her new friend and the seemingly unbreakable bond between them.

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