For Lady Phoenix Fire Rose

Similarities

The sun filtered through the leaves of the canopy of trees above her, creating a feel of a disco ball with spots of sunlight stretching as far as the eye could see. Luna felt at home here, in the woods with no company other than the Thestrals and the birds. It gave her a break from regular life in the hustle and bustle of the castle and calmed her down when she was feeling the most stressed out from work, and made her feel better when others made fun of her.

The forest reminded her of home and of the woods that she had to walk through to get to the creek where she had spent most of her childhood. She and her father were close, but Luna preferred the company of animals and trees, the were living things that she could talk to and tell them about her opinions without them vetoing it or making fun of her for mentioning Nargles and wrackspurts. They just simply munched on the food that she brought them without the blink of an eye.

She sat down on her usual log in the clearing and pulled out a hunk of raw chicken breast that the House elves had given her when she had gone into the kitchens earlier that morning to get breakfast. She didn't mind eating at the Ravenclaw table but she preferred the company of the house elves, who were much nicer to her than any of her fellow Ravenclaw's were.

Tentatively, a baby thestral poked its head out of the bushes on the opposite side of the clearing. She smiled at it and threw the chicken breast on the ground and quickly pretended that she wasn't looking. Within seconds she heard a scuffling of feet and turned back to see the baby thestral gobbling down the meat with a small bit of difficulty. She could see the eyes of its mother in the bushes, still wary of Luna's presence. Luna knew that these were not the normal mother and baby thestral that came to keep her company every day because they were much more friendly than this pair. As soon as she was thinking about coaxing the mother out of the bushes, two more pairs of eyes appeared next to it, which was followed by a thestral confidently trotting towards her out of the bush, the smaller thestral in tow. She smiled at the sight of them and immediately reached into her bag for another piece of chicken, tossing it to them confidently. They skidded towards it and began to devour it quickly.

Luna turned to see the other three, two fully grown, one foal, sticking their heads curiously out of the bushes to see what the other thestrals were eating, the first baby was still trying to eat the chicken that Luna had tossed to it before. Luna smiled at the three thestrals encouragingly and pulled three more chicken breasts out of her bag and tossed them towards the trees. The three thestrals stepped out warily and began to sniff at the meat before deciding that it was safe to eat and starting to tear it apart with their teeth.

She smiled at the thestrals and raised her hand to stroke the nose of the one next to her. The thestrals had a cool, scaly feeling to their skin, similar to that of a snakes, it was something about that feeling that gave Luna a sense of security and a feeling of home.

"You can see them too," she heard a voice say from behind her. Luna turned to see Harry standing behind her.

"Hello Harry Potter," she said calmly, ceasing patting the thestrals nose and looking up at it as she felt Harry come to a standstill beside her.

"What are they?" he asked as the thestral that Luna had been patting made a screeching noise and started to walk away.

"They're called thestrals," Luna said, watching it go, "They're quite extraordinary creatures but people avoid them because they're a bit…" Luna stopped, searching for the word as he eyes fell on another mother and baby duo near the trees.

"Different," Harry said, finishing the sentence for her. Luna smiled and started to walk towards the thestrals near the trees. She felt Harry move alongside her. "Why can't the other see them though?" he asked in confusion.

"They can only be seen by people who have seen death," Luna said calmly.

"So you've known someone that's died?" Harry asked and Luna felt his words touch a soft spot in her heart but she didn't hesitate to tell him.

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

"I'm sorry," Harry said.

"It's rather horrible," Luna said, taking an apple out of her bag and holding it in her hand, looking at the baby thestral that had started to eye them up for food, "I do feel very sad about it sometimes, but I've got dad."

She saw Harry sigh and look at the thestral. She could see that he knew how she felt, despite him not knowing his parents at all. It wasn't easy growing up without a mother, both of them knew that. She felt like she had more similarities to Harry than she did with anyone else. She could tell that he was lonely, and she was lonely as well, he felt like nobody believed him about You-Know-Who returning and she knew that nobody believed her about Nargles and Wrackspurts.

"We both believe you by the way," Luna said, smiling at him, "That You-Know-Who is back, and you fought him and the ministry are conspiring against you and Dumbledore."

"Thanks," Harry muttered, "It seems you're the only ones that do."

"Oh I don't think so," Luna said, "But I suppose that's how he wants you to feel."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well, If I were You-Know-Who I'd want you to feel cut off from everybody else, because if it's just you alone, you're not as much of a threat," she said with a small smile before tossing the apple to the baby thestral.

"You think so?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Luna said, "I'm sure a lot of people do believe you Harry, but you just don't know that they're out there."

She looked at Harry as he processed that thought. A big grin spread across his face, "You know, you're one of the smartest people I've ever met in my life."

"Well," Luna said in embarrassment, "I wouldn't say the smartest, but I do have a lot of thoughts that I can't put into words."

"But you're brilliant, I can't believe you don't have more people queuing up to be your friend."

"They think I'm mad," Luna said simply with a shrug of her shoulders, "They call me Loony Lovegood."

"You know we're not that different, you and me." Harry said, "They all think I'm mad as well."

Luna laughed, "We really aren't that different."

Harry smiled at her before falling silent. Luna could practically hear the cogs turning in his brain as he thought hard over something that had probably been bugging him for days.

"I just wish that I could do something about it," Harry said in frustration.

"About what?" Luna asked curiously.

"About Voldemort, about Umbridge and the ministry spreading the word that I'm a lunatic," Harry said, balling his hands into fists.

"Well," Luna said with a slight smile, "Maybe you can."

"Like what?" Harry asked. Luna was about to answer when the bell rang out, shrill and clear signalling the end of their lunch break and the start of afternoon classes.

"I don't know right now," Luna said, "But like I said, I have a lot of thoughts that I can't put into words so I may have an answer for you soon."

Harry's eyes lit up, "Do you want to meet back here tomorrow?"

Luna beamed, "I would love that."

AN: Lady I hope you liked it! I'm sorry I couldn't get any romance in there. Harry was being stubbornly difficult to write, but I'm sure you could imagine what came from the other meetings in the forest :)

Also, before I go, every week this year, I'll be gifting someone a fic of their choice. All you have to do is PM me before all the spots are taken! What to do is on my profile under "GIVING BACK IN 2013" I'd love it if some of you could help me fill up my spots!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

DFTBA,
Best Wishes

~The Original Horcrux~