Black Horses

Round 3 of FanFic Idol. Theme was firsts and I went with first death seen/first experience with a thestral. Enjoy!

They said she looked like her. But she wasn't sure. They said she acted like her. But that wasn't certain. They said she was like her in more ways than she could imagine. But that's where they were wrong, because she could imagine it. Sure the memory of her was growing dim as an ember. She could barely remember her face, barely remember her smile, barely remember her laugh, but still, she could remember her. She remembered her in ways that were immaterial and unphysical. She remembered her for her heart and soul. Still it made her sad that everything else was slipping away. Even as she sat there all alone, crying, looking down at the picture, her picture, she found it hard to remember a real, living person to go with that face. God she missed her. Sure her dad was the best but still...

"Hey-," the red-head girl who had just barged into the compartment looked taken aback at the sight of Luna sitting there crying over a picture. She looked familiar.

"I - I'm sorry but everywhere else is full do you mind?" The girl made a gesture to the empty seats in front of Luna. She nodded remembering who the girl was now. She was in Luna's year, a Gryffindor, and sister to all of those Weasleys. She had been the one taken into the chamber last year. What was her name? Mimi? Binnie? Kinny?

"My name's Ginny," Ginny! The girl stretched her hand out toward Luna, and Luna wiped the final tears from her face and stuck out her hand to meet Ginny's.

"Luna." Luna forced herself to smile.

"Yeah I know who you are" Ginny responded, "we had Charms together last year." Luna vaguely remembered having that class with Ginny, she had, after all, spent most of it daydreaming.

Ginny and Luna began talking about their first year at Hogwarts. They shared all of the amazing memories that they had made. Their first impression of McGonogall, which had been of both fear and admiration. Their thoughts about the sorting ceremony, Ginny had been relieved to have been put in Gryffindor, while Luna happy to be part of Ravenclaw. Their different adventures, more on Ginny's side than on Luna's. Then, of course, their struggles. There was the fact that both of them were outcasts, Luna because of her eccentric behavior, and Ginny because, well because of the small incident of the last year. Luna couldn't believe this. Usually no one spoke to her and here she was pouring out all of her heart and soul to some girl she hardly knew. Still, it felt good. Almost like she had ...a ... friend. The thought that this was actually happening was starling, yet Luna couldn't help but feel happy. Happy to the point that she almost forgot about her mom. Almost.

Luna and Ginny where having such a great time that it wasn't until they saw Hogsmede creeping up in the distance that they realized it was late. They quickly changed into their school robes and were just finishing putting their things away when the train came to a complete stop. The girls shoved their way out of the train and followed the crowd as it headed towards the carriages that they would take to Hogwarts. When they finally reached them, Luna stopped. There at the head of the carriages where two horses. Only they weren't anything like your average horse. For one thing they had large leathery wings, and seemed to have no actual flesh, but rather to be composed of dark, black, bone. Then there was the matter of their faces. Rather than have the appearance of a normal horse, these strange creatures had faces that seemed almost - dragonlike. Luna couldn't help but stare at the creatures that were standing in front of her. They completely mesmerized her. Even though they were utterly frightening, Luna couldn't help but think that they were beautiful. Stranger still, they had a familiar feel to them. They reminded her of - her mom!

"Luna are you coming?" Luna was taken out of her trance yet again by Ginny. She seemed completely oblivious to the eery figures that were drawing the carriages. In fact, as Luna took a look around, it seemed that nobody was paying any attention to the animals. Almost as if they were not there!

"Can't you see it?" Luna asked Ginny pointing at the horse-like animals.

"See what?" Ginny gave Luna a suspicious stare. Oh no she can't see them! She'll probably think I'm loony and won't want to be my friend.

"Oh no nothing nevermind." Luna stepped into the carriage and rode her way to Hogwarts in complete silence. Ginny kept prattling on about the upcoming year, but Luna wasn't paying attention anymore. What in the world were those things pulling the carriages? Why did it seem like nobody could see them? And why did they remind her of her mom? Luna made an oath to herself to find out more about the creatures that very night.

As soon as the feast was over and Luna thought that it was late enough for everyone to be asleep, she snuck out of the tower and headed for the back of the school. Luna had seen Hagrid unlatch the creatures and let them out in the forest. Luna wasn't too excited about going there, but she needed to see those creatures again. She made her way out of the castle and headed to the area where she had seen Hagrid let the horses loose. She circled the area but found no trace of the horses anywhere. Instead she saw pieces of bloodied meat scattered around the floor. Some of them had some markings on them so she figured it was probably what the horses ate. She picked a piece up and decided to go into the forest to try to find a horse.

Luna had been walking around for what she felt were hours holding out the bloodied meat in front of her and making different sorts of what she thought where horse calls. She was exhausted and was about to give up when she heard a rustle in the leaves. Suddenly standing in front of her was one of those eerily magnificent horses. Luna held out the piece of meat and the horse approached her and took it from her hands. She creeped closer and began stroking the animal, admiring it's dark beauty. The she came across it's face and noticed that where the eyes of the beast should have been, there was instead two hollow holes. Luna found them mesmerizing and suddenly she found herself being transported back three years to that awful night.

Luna had been playing in the garden all day and now she was in her parents room. Her father was in his office writing some article about a rare type of plant he had discovered when they were playing. Luna's mom was in the room with her, twirling her wand around muttering weird incantations. Luna was trying to make small talk with her mom, but she was completely entranced in what she was doing. Finally, Luna had gotten so frustrated that she yelled out.

"MOM!"

That's when everything went wrong. Luna's mom had been distracted by her yelling and her incantation and twirling had been unfinished. The result was a spell that backfired towards her mom and made her go flying to the wall. Luna could still remember the look of shock that was displayed on her mom's face. She could also remember crawling towards the unmoving figure of her mom now sprawled on the floor. She could remember shaking her by the shoulders and demanding that she say something. She could remember the look on her fathers face as he walked into the room and saw his daughter shaking his unresponsive wife. She remembered sobbing as her dad took her mom's pulse and started crying, shaking over the now dead body. She remembered every single detail of the day in which she saw her best friend, her greatest admirer, her partner in crime, her mother die.

Then she was back in the forest. Standing in front of the black horse, tears streaming down her face. She understood.

"Is that it then? Is that why I can see you and nobody else can? Because I saw my mother die!" Luna half yelled half sobbed this at the horse, as she tore her gaze away from its hollow eyes. The horse did nothing, it just stood there. Frustrated, Luna turned around and stormed her way out of the forest and back into the castle. Somehow she managed to get back in and back to the common room without anyone noticing. Once she was in the safety of her bed she started sobbing into her pillow. She had never wanted to relive that scene again, yet she could never stop herself from thinking about it. She took out the picture that she had been staring at earlier and held it out where she could see it.

"Happy death anniversary mom. I miss you and I love you."

Hope you liked it :)