𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬 | l. lovegood

viii

Dear Mum & Dad (and Dora if you're there),

It's been a few weeks, so I think it's safe to say that I've finally made a friend. One. Luna Lovegood. She's a Ravenclaw in my year. Just like me, she's also a bit of an outsider.

I guess I have two if you count Neville Longbottom. He's a Gryffindor boy in 5th year. We haven't really talked much, but he's nice. I kinda feel bad for him. You know...his parents and all. I just hope he doesn't find out that I'm related to the person responsible for it. He'd probably hate me if he knew.

It's been quiet so far this year. Without the excitement that the Triwizard Tournament brought last year, there's not really anything except the weekends to look forward to. The only thing interesting is that the Ministry woman, Umbridge, is teaching our DADA class. She's okay, I guess. I just can't help but feel like there's more that we could be learning.

I guess that's all. Miss you guys.

Love,
ꪻꫝꫀꪖ

P.S.,
If Dora's there, tell her that the first Hogsmeade visit is in 3 weeks.

»--✩--«

𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐀 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 in her hands to one of the school owls. She gently stroked his feathers, earning her a gentle peck of affection in return before it took flight out of the Owlery.

It was a chilly Saturday morning; winter was definitely on the way. She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket and left the castle to take a walk around the grounds. She pushed the mandrake leaf around in her mouth as she walked down the path to Hagrid's hut. She noticed footsteps leading into the forest, so she decided to follow them.

"Hey, Dorothea! Wait up!"

Dorothea turned and saw Neville jogging up to her. She smiled a little. "Hey, Neville."

"What are you doing going into the forest?" Neville asked as he walked alongside the smaller girl.

"Seeing who else is in here. I think I have an idea who it might be, though."

"Luna?" he questioned.

"Luna." She nodded.

They walked in a comfortable silence until they reached a clearing. Sure enough, Luna was standing there, her arm outstretched as she stroked the air.

"Hello, Dorothea and Neville," Luna said in her usual soft voice when she heard them approach.

"Hey, Luna," Dorothea replied. She was quick to notice that she wasn't wearing any shoes. "Um, aren't your feet cold?"

"A bit." Luna nodded. "Unfortunately, all my shoes have mysteriously disappeared. I suspect Nargles are behind it."

Dorothea's brows furrowed; she still had no clue what a Nargle was. She reached into her bag for a pair of extra socks, which she offered to the slightly taller girl. "Here. You don't want to catch a cold."

Luna smiled thankfully at her, and Dorothea felt an odd, unfamiliar flutter in her stomach.

"Wow," Neville breathed as he looked up at the air. "I've never seen one up close before."

"Seen what up close before?" Dorothea frowned softly as she looked where Neville was staring.

"They're called thestrals," Luna answered. "They're quite gentle, really, but people tend to avoid them because they're a bit...different."

"Why can't I see them?" Dorothea asked, following Luna and Neville deeper into the forest.

"They can only be seen by people who've seen death."

Dorothea froze. She looked between Luna and Neville, her heart breaking even more for the older boy. "You...You both know people who have died? ...S-Seen them die?"

Neville nodded sadly. "My granddad."

"My mum," Luna said. "She was quite an extraordinary witch, but she did like to experiment. One day, one of her spells went badly wrong...I was nine."

"I'm so sorry," Dorothea whispered. "That...must've been really scary to witness."

"Yes, it was rather horrible. I do feel very sad about it sometimes. But I've got Dad." Luna took an apple out of her bag and rolled it across the ground. A couple seconds later, it rolled back as if it had been nudged. Luna took some raw meat out and tossed that instead. Dorothea gasped and watched as something invisible ate it up off the forest floor. "Do you want to pet one?"

"What?"

Luna chuckled softly at Dorothea's confusion. "Come on. They're friendly. Give me your hand."

Dorothea hesitated for a moment before giving Luna her hand. The blonde's touch was delicate; like Dorothea's hand was a fragile antique that she didn't want to break.

Luna led her up to one of the thestrals and placed Dorothea's hand on the side of its face. The brunette let out a small gasp when she felt the scaly flesh. She gently stroked it, her mocha eyes growing wide with wonder.

"Amazing, aren't they?" Neville asked as he kneeled down and held his hand out to what Dorothea assumed was a baby thestral.

A smile spread across Dorothea's lips. A real smile; a rare one that few people have seen. "Yeah," she said, stroking down the thestral's neck, laughing a little when she felt something invisible lean its forehead down against her own. "They're enchanting," she whispered.

»--✩--«

The sun was setting when the trio made their way back to the castle for dinner. Dorothea ate a small serving of mac & cheese and some mashed potatoes. Instead of the usual glass of water she drank at meals, she decided to drink pumpkin juice.

As she was following the rest of her house back to the dorms that night, she caught a glimpse of the full moon outside and gasped.

"Dorothea! Dorothea!" Luna ran up to her, Neville following behind. "Did you see? It's a full moon! It's been a month!"

Dorothea nodded. "I'll go get the phial. It's in my dorm. Do you have the Death's-head Hawk Moth chrysalis?"

"Yeah, it's in my bag upstairs."

"You still need the dew that hasn't seen sunlight," Neville pointed out. "I can go ask Harry if I can borrow his invisibility cloak so you can check the forest like Luna suggested."

The three friends separated, rushing back to their dorms to grab the items that they needed, Dorothea's heart pounding with excitement in her chest. Step one of the process was nearly complete.