Peter and Luna
Part one of the Family Tree Chronicles
Luna Lovegood stared out at the night sky. She wasn't particularly fond of the math club they had set up in the Ravenclaw common room. She looked down at the navy blue window seat and wondered, as she often did, if she even belonged there at all. Suddenly, the moonlight vanished and a shadow fell on the room. She was startled to see a red-haired boy hovering outside her window. Luna retreated quickly into the middle of the room, but the boy remained. He smiled and tapped gently on the window pane. Curiosity is one of the most powerful forces in the world. It triumphs over fear, better judgment, and even the urge to go to the bathroom, and now it drew Luna toward adventure. She opened the window and let the boy in.
"Um…who are you?" asked Luna as he floated into the room.
"I'm Peter Pan!" he exclaimed, plopping down on her bed, "who are you?"
Luna stared for a moment questions whizzing about in her head. "Oh! Luna, Luna Lovegood. How did you get here? What kind of magic allows you to fly without a broom? How come your ears are pointy? Did the nargles-?"
Peter clapped his hand over her mouth. "Whoa, Luna! You talk too much. I come from Neverland. I flew here using pixie dust."
Peeling his hand off her mouth, Luna beamed at Peter. "Neverland! Oh, I've heard of that. My father used to read me stories about it. Can you take me there?"
"That depends, are you a wizard?" Peter eyed her, suddenly suspicious.
"The female version, yes," replied Luna.
"-And! Will you bring your wand with you?"
Luna picked up her wand and book bag. "Wouldn't leave home without it!"
Peter drew a bag out of his pocket and blew pixie dust right in Luna's face. She sneezed, and was about to smack him, when she realized that she was rising off the floor. "C'mon," Said Peter taking her hand and leaping to the window sill. Off they flew, Peter determined to get home and Luna dazzled by the stars whirring by.
"How long till we get to Neverland," Luna asked, yawning.
"A couple of four hours," Peter replied.
"You tell time funny," Luna said. She had been up late that week, and as exciting as all this was, her eyelids began to droop. She fought the drowsiness for a while, telling Peter all about Hogwarts and Harry Potter and her eccentric family…
….
Luna Awoke with the sun shining in her eyes. There was a red feather tickling her nose, blown by the gentle breeze that swirled all around her. She could not remember where she was, but she felt as if she were floating. She glanced down and saw a bright, beautiful blue sea far below her. In her lap was the green hat that the feather was attached to. She tilted her head and realized that Peter was carrying her as he flew steadily through the clouds. She remembered then all that had happened the previous night.
Peter saw that she was awake and smiled, "Good morning sleepyhead. We're almost there!" He stopped and let Luna go so she could fly herself again. Better if Tinkerbell didn't take offence. "See over there, Luna?"
Luna did see. She almost dropped her bag at the sight of a radiant island set like a jewel in the cerulean sea. "Oh Peter, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed, smiling.
Peter alighted on an old tree and crowed. Luna grabbed a branch and made her way more cautiously to the ground. As soon as she got there, the lost boys came tumbling out of a hole in the roots of the tree, followed by the least-ugly pixie Luna had ever seen who planted herself firmly on Peter's shoulder.
Peter made brief introductions, then went straight to the heart of the matter. "Luna here is a wizard from a faraway land."
"Witch," Interjected Luna.
"Whatever. She has a magic stick that can help us defeat Hook and get the last of his treasure."
At this the Lost Boys shouted and cheered. Two, dressed up like raccoons grabbed Luna's arms and began to pull her along presumably toward the pirate ship.
"Hold on!" shouted Peter, "We've got to make a plan Boys; you go around the front of the ship to distract the crew. Tink- he looks at the fairy- you take care of the captain and Luna and I will sneak into the cabin where the treasure is held."
They all ran off in a hurry and a bustle, leaving Peter and Luna alone again. Peter asked if Luna wanted to take the route through Mermaid Lagoon, but unlike most girls she seemed to hate the idea. So, the crept through the woods until they came in sight of the pirate ship, already in chaos.
Peter drifted into the air above the trees and assessed the situation. "Smee is guarding the cabin still.
He called down to Luna
"How is he armed?" She replied, tilting her head to keep him in view.
Peter glided down without rustling a single leaf. "Just a little dagger, I can take him."
"No need," said Luna, pulling out her wand and pointing it through the trees "Expelliarmus." The dagger flew out of Smee's hand and stuck in the deck several feet away. While he was distracted, Peter and Luna silently snuck into the cabin. It was a dark, stuffy place filled with scrolls and trinkets. Peter ran over to a chest in the back corner. Inside were a few gold coins and an old piece of parchment.
Peter triumphantly pocketed the coins. "Well that's the end of that!" he exclaimed.
Luna picked up the parchment. "Strange s" she said dreamily, turning it over in her hands. There were words written in a spiral in the center of the paper, the words getting smaller and smaller as they go in. "T'was brillig." She began to read, "and the slithy… toves did gyre and gimble. Did gyre and gimble in the wabe." Suddenly, it was if the whole of Neverland flew up over their heads and a new world rushed in to take its place.
It was a world of color more vibrant even than Neverland. Indigo ferns soared to the heights of trees. The grass on which they sat was as green as a hummingbird's wings.
"It seems I've found a new adventure." Peter whispered.
Luna rose slowly taking in her surroundings. "I guess we'll be here a while, I certainly don't know how to get home… let's explore!" She took off running through the peculiar foliage, Peter raced along behind her.
As he ran, Peter felt the effect he always did when he left Neverland. His stomach turned. He could feel time passing with each leaf that brushed against his shoulder. What if he never got back? Peter Pan: the boy who almost never… He shook his head to clear his mind as they entered a clearing.
"Are you all right?" Luna asked, seeing the distressed look on Peter's face. She put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.
"Yeah. I'm Fine," he said removing his hat and running a hand through his hair. In reality he'd never been more worried, but he was inexplicably comforted by Luna's gesture.
They found a road and followed it to a little cottage. They knocked on the door, but no one answered. Looking in the window, they found it to be completely empty inside. The door, however, was locked. Luna was curious as to whether or not her wand would work. She tapped it experimentally on the doorknob "Alohamora." There was a moment's delay and then… Click! Click! The door was unlocked. She gestured for Peter to follow her inside. "My Magic still works here" she informed him.
They check the rest of the cottage which seemed to have been abandoned since its construction.
"Let's stay here," said Peter, felling weary from the day's adventures. One of the many new sensations he wished he wasn't experiencing. But as Luna sat down beside him, he began to feel that not all of this adventure was a total loss… "I wonder how Tink and the Lost Boys are," he said with regret, "Are they looking for us?"
"I don't know," answered Luna, "The one bit of magic that doesn't work in this world is apparition or else I'd take us back. I miss my friends too."
"I wonder where we are or if there are other people here. This is certainly a different world… I can feel it."
"What do you man?" asked Luna.
"I…I'm getting…" he grimaced, "older." He spat the word out like and earwax jellybean. "People from your world can't tell you're used to it. I'm not. When I leave Neverland, my bones hurt, my skin itches and my hair gets all tingly. But that's not the worst part. I feel tired, weak, things…bother me."
Luna could hear the pain in his voice. Right then, he was a different person entirely from the jovial youth who'd taken her to Neverland. "There's still hope, Peter. There's Magic in this world. Tomorrow we will look for a way home.
10 Years Later
"Attention Wonderland, with the birth of our new prince, Henry Hatter Pan, Son of the White Queen and The Once-Immortal Pan our population has increased to three!" Peter declared triumphantly into the wild. He grinned back at Luna who was holding a beautiful ginger baby wrapped in Snow-White blankets.
"Peter dear, you're absolutely ridiculous. Making proclamations to the woods and-and what is that?
Peter was staring over the balcony as a serpentine figure slithered through the treetops in the wood beyond. That was it. He couldn't believe his eyes. "That, Luna is the legendary Jabberwok."
Luna recognized that look in his eyes, remembered it from that distant day in Neverland, a burning hunger, a lust for adventure. "Peter, No. You can't. Think about Henry!"
Peter broke his gaze from the foliage. Looking back at his little family he smiled what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "I know," he said faintly. "I know."
Luna awoke at dawn in an empty bed. Her heart dropped as she headed to the nursery to feed her baby. She prayed that Peter would return that night, but he didn't Nor did he return the day after.
Peter had been tracking the beast for two days every cell in his body abuzz with adrenalin, feeling more alive than he ever had in wonderland. He'd thought of Luna and Henry, but only when he was just about to fall asleep each night. Now they were far from his mind as he stared into the opening of the beast's lair. He heard and odd twang as he took a step forward, the fell to the ground, a red tipped arrow protruding from his chest. Twenty little white memories spilled out of his pocket littering the dirt; His baby teeth. He'd maintained them proudly for centuries in Neverland. He lost four in their time in the cottage and eight during the construction of their little castle. Four days ago. The night before Henry was born. For a moment he regretted ever leaving them that he would never see Henry lose his own baby teeth, and then he died; Died at the hands of a newcomer in Wonderland, one who would become The Red Queen.
Epilogue
"Mama," said Henry, polishing the seam of his father's old hat, "I think I'm going mad."
"Don't worry sweetie, you're just as sane as I am."
