Author's Note: Written for…
The Battlefield Wars. Mandatory Character: Luna Lovegood. Secondary Character: Lorcan Scamander. Prompts: ornate hand mirror, radio, lockdown
All About You Challenge. Prompts: liar, kicking, grounded, fuming, grin, mesmerizing
Weekly Elimination Weird Prompt Competition.
Lockdown
There were many times in Luna's life that she found herself grateful for her unusual upbringing, but none more so than when she was faced with a case of dragon pox under her own roof.
"You're sure we shouldn't take him to the hospital?" Rolf asked, fiddling with the strap of his backpack.
"I'm positive. I'll have him all fixed up in time to go on the Mexico trip. You go and have fun with Sander and don't worry about a thing!" Luna assured her husband, pushing him onto the porch where Lysander waited patiently. "See you in a week!" she called and shut the door before Rolf could come up with another reason to stay.
Luna shuffled into the kitchen and fixed a cup of tea before heading upstairs to Lorcan's room. She found the five-year-old with his face pressed against the window above his bed, humming along to an old song playing on the radio.
In a tidy heap on the floor beside the bed was a sketchpad and box of art supplies. Luna set the teacup down on the nightstand and bent to retrieve the sketchpad, admiring the half-finished drawing of a seahorse in blue crayon.
"This is beautiful, Lor," she said. She sat down on the edge of the bed, watching as her son moved away from the window and settled against the mound of pillows.
He was a mess of blond hair and large green bumps that covered him from head to toe. The spots took the fire out of the glares Luna was receiving as the little boy pouted and fumed, kicking at the blankets.
"What's the matter, honey? Does it hurt?" she fretted, pushing his hair back from his forehead and uncovering a few more bumps.
He shook his head roughly. "Am I grounded?"
Luna smiled. "Of course not. Why would you think that?"
"'Cause Lysander got to go camping with Daddy and I'm stuck here," he reasoned, reaching into the pile of blankets and pillows to fish out his stuffed thestral, cuddling it against his chest.
"Oh, sweetie, no. Daddy and Lysander haven't had the dragon pox before, like I have. We're just on lockdown so no one else gets sick." She handed him the teacup. "We're still going on the expedition to Mexico though, just as soon as you're better."
That seemed to placate him enough that he took a small sip from the cup, immediately contorting his face in disgust.
"It's gross," he spat, trying to hand the cup back.
"I know, but it'll help you get better. There's bilberry and cinnamon and eucalyptus. My mum gave me that when I was little and I got better in a few days."
Lorcan frowned. "Really? Hugo says you're a liar 'cause he doesn't believe in hearth gnats and crumple-horned sn-snar…"
"Snorkacks," she corrected gently, playing with the thestral's rope tail. "But I promise, it'll help."
The boy still seemed doubtful, sniffing at the murky liquid. Luna smiled and ran a hand through his hair.
"Will you drink it if I let you hold the bunny?"
Lorcan's eyes lit up and he grinned, nodding emphatically. Luna laughed and shifted her position until she was sitting cross-legged on the bed.
"Just be gentle, alright? And no telling Daddy about this."
He nodded again. "I promise."
She closed her eyes, concentrating on transforming. It seemed like minutes before she was able to reach her desired result, but Lorcan saw the shift from Mummy to silvery-white bunny in seconds and reached out to pet her.
Luna wriggled out of his grasp almost immediately, hopping into his lap and nudging at the teacup until he started drinking again. Her nose twitched at the foul scent of the tea. Everything smelled stronger when she was in this form, but it had come in handy during searches for creatures. Animals were infinitely less wary of other animals then they were of humans.
Once the tea was gone, Lorcan dutifully removed his hand from the rabbit's fur, allowing her to return to the foot of the bed and shift back into human form.
"I'm going to get something to help with the spots," she told him, sliding off the bed.
She retrieved a salve of aloe vera and comfrey leaf from the medicine cupboard and made a pit stop in her own room to rummage through the drawer of her vanity for something.
Lorcan was back to drawing when she returned, one arm tightly wrapped around the thestral and his feet tapping to a Weird Sisters song.
Luna gently pried the paper and toy from his grasp as she sat back down. "We don't want to get them dirty," she explained, and began applying the salve to the visible spots.
"Mummy, how come we're going to Mexico?" he asked, resting against the pillows and resigning himself to a few minutes of boredom.
"Some very old temples have been found recently, and they had some unusual things in them."
"Like what?"
Luna smiled at her son's curiosity. "Like a solid gold suit of armor, and books in languages we've never seen before. Daddy and I think we may find clues about creatures who've gone extinct."
"Can Lysander and I go in the temple too?"
"We'll see. They may not let anyone in just yet, but there are lots of other things we can do in Mexico." Finished with the salve, Luna capped the jar and pulled out the object she'd had hidden behind her back for the past few minutes.
It was a rather fancy hand mirror, from what Lorcan could see. Luna held it to her chest, so all he could see was the carving on the back that looked to be the sun, and a star-shaped sapphire right in the middle that glittered in the late afternoon sunlight.
"This belonged to my mum once," Luna said quietly, and laid it in her son's hands.
The boy gasped as he saw the black glass reflecting his spotty appearance, and she smiled, remembering how mesmerizing it had been the first time her mother had showed it to her.
"It's obsidian," his mother explained as he tentatively touched a finger to the cool glass. "It's made from volcanoes. Mexicans use it for divination. This is the sort of thing we'll see there."
"Cool," he said quietly. He was tracing the carvings with his hand now.
"You know, lots of cultures believe mirrors are portals to other worlds."
Mother and son shared a smile. While both of her sons inherited hers and Rolf's curiosity and love of animals, Lorcan alone received the wild Lovegood imagination.
"Do you think so?" he asked.
Luna took the mirror and held it up in front of them. "I'm not sure. Do you see another world through the glass?"
"Maybe…" He squinted hard at the blackness. "A forest. It's got unicorns and waterfalls, and thestrals – lots of thestrals. And, um, snorkacks." He smiled up at her. "Do you see it?"
"I do. And there's a lovely little house right in the center of the forest that we can all live in, and we'll have to fly by dragon to visit Grandad."
They stayed there, telling each other stories of other worlds and amazing creatures, until long after the sun faded and the room was lit by moonlight.