Moonlight's embrace: A Harry Potter love story

Chapter 2

Just a quick reminder in case people are confused:Luna and Ginny are in their FIFTH year of Hogwarts while Harry and the rest are in their sixth year.

After Charms class, Luna waited at the courtyard. She noticed Malfoy among a group of Slytherins and immediately turned her attention to a snail that was slowly crawling up one of the stone pillars. "Hey, Loony!" Luna could hear their approaching footsteps. She turned their backs to them and move to wait inside the entrance of the courtyard instead. She could see Ginny approaching and by her side was Hermione, Ron, and Harry. Harry glared over at Malfoy for a brief second before turning to his friends.

"He never stops, does he? The foul git," Ron muttered. Hermione only shrugged and tucked her scarf tighter around her neck. As they sat down to order their drinks, out of the corner of her eye, she could see more people either glaring at Harry or staring at her. Years of training had taught herself to ignore the nasty comments people made behind her back.

"You sure it was a good idea to come here? People aren't exactly your favorite fan." Ron glanced around the bar.

"Let's finish our drinks and leave," Hermione agreed. "We're attracting too much attention as it is." They all nodded in agreement. They finished up their drinks, left a few sickles each at the table and walked back to the castle. Luna headed towards the forest instead as it was still daylight. As she walked, she could hear light footsteps of something in front of her. She stopped as a baby threstal stepped out the bushes, flapping its small wings. She reached into her bag and took out a piece of raw meat wrapped tightly in aluminum foil. She tosses it towards the threstral and smiles as it eats. She stayed there for a while before heading back to the castle. As she approached the courtyard, she was surprised to see Neville waiting for her.

"Hey, I had a question about Charms class today. Can we go up to the library?" Luna nodded her head and they went up to the library together.

"I'm having trouble on the stunning spell,"He seemed a bit embarrassed. "I know you're very good at charms, so I was wondering if you can teach me,"

"I'd be happy to help you. Harry can probably help you as well. He's very gifted. Do you want to meet up during break tomorrow? Same time as today?"

"Yes, that'd be nice. I'll ask Harry if he can come as well. I better get to potions class ." He gathers up his books and leaves. She watches him leave before going off to her next class. When class ended, she heads towards the forest to visit the Threstrals again. As she takes out the apple she had placed in her bag that morning, she hears sneers and laughter behind her. She turns around to see Malfoy, Goyle, and Marcus Flint walking towards her. Luna shakes her head and tries to ignore them, knowing that they were among the unfriendliest people in the school.  She reached out her hand with the apple towards a young threstral that was wandering towards her.

"Hey Loony! Off making friends with beasts again?" Malfoy shouted. The threstral reared back and ran back to its mother and they all scattered. Luna let out a sigh and stood back up.

"You know. You call threstrals beasts when they're one of the friendliest creatures. Maybe you should do the same and learn from them," She snickered slightly to herself and headed off in a different direction. As she walked, she was aware of the footsteps following softly behind her. Then from in front of her, an arm grabbed her. She opened her mouth but closed it when she saw Neville pulling her behind the tree.

"Let's run," He whispered. Luna nods and they ran, holding each other hands as they did so.

"Get them! It's Longbottom!" There were yells from behind them. Luna turned and aimed her wand at the leave on the ground.

"Reducto!" The leaves exploded right into their faces along with dirt and rocks. They yelled out before falling over. Neville tightened the grip on her hand and they ran back to the school.

"Thank you Neville."
"It's no problem Luna..I don't want anybody else to be targeted by the likes of them...especially not you," He pauses then turns bright red.

"I'll be late for my next class. See you!" And runs up the stairs. Luna laughs as she watches him go.