Harry Potter and the Lost Half-Bloods. *1*

Percy

I'm a nut case who's now friends with a nut case
PERCY: I never thought I'd say anything bad about Jason Grace, but today he had pushed my buttons! I know I'd seen those stupid horses. All I wanted was some sign that I wasn't insane. Couldn't he at least give me that? I just needed some sign, any sign that I wasn't insane!

The sign I was given wasn't very problem. In fact, the sign I was given, many people would argue, was the exact definition of insanity. I guess I didn't have the right to judge what I'd heard about her too harshly, I'd never spoken to her. But there she was, beckoning me towards her at the end of the corridor.

I had an odd feeling as I approached her. Not just because of who she was, but because I couldn't shake the feeling that was forgetting something...was I supposed to be somewhere?

Nonsense, I was making up excuses. She couldn't be that bad, right?

"Um, hey! Luna, right?"

The girl nodded lightly, delicately. Her hand that had been beckoning me slowly fell to her side. Her eyes were gleaming with enthusiasm, but other than that her expression remained tranquil.

"Yes, I'm Luna. I heard the boy you were shouting at, he said your name is Percy. Is this correct?"

I nodded, though I felt my face redden at the fact that she had heard me shouting at Jason. I know a handful of people who would disagree, but I'm not a (complete) jerk! Now, this girl had all the more reason to think I was.

"I heard what you said, about the horses."

Great. Now I could have two people thinking I was nuts, three including myself.

"Oh, really? That was a bit of a joke between my friend and I. We were really just..." I tried to come up with an excuse. I was never good at coming up with things on spot.

"Oh, that's a shame. Because I can see the thestrals too." She smiled at me in a unique manner.

"Thestrals? That's what they're called?" I meant to mumble it to myself. Really, I hadn't meant to say it aloud at all. Luna nodded again, her wide-eyes expanding even further.

"Yes! They're magnificent creatures. I can show you them if that's what you'd want."

I didn't have a reason to hesitate, but I still did. Curfew was in a few minutes, I thought. But, I'm a prefect! I can't get punished too harshly. Besides, that's never stopped me from staying out late before. I didn't have an excuse. I guess the only thing that was stopping me was the fact that if one of my friends saw me hanging around Luna Lovegood after hours, I'd never hear the end of it.

Come on, Percy. She's helping you out. Let her!

So, I did. And I followed her outside of the castle, in the direction of the forest.

***

We could've been walking for a few minutes or a few days and I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. My buzzing mind made me lose all track of time. I didn't even care about the fact that if we got caught sneaking into the forbidden forest we could both very easily be expelled because the forest was, well, forbidden!

I'd always loved horses, I think that's what kept me going. The last vacation-if you'd even call it a vacation-I'd went on was when I was thirteen, my mother took me out to a ranch awhile from our house. It was at this place I had ridden my first horse, and it'd felt amazing! You don't know what being truly alive feels like until you've ridden a horse on a beach. The clomping of the hooves, the crashing of the waves, they were such different things, yet they went together so well.