Disclaimer: It all belongs to J.K. Rowling. I merely enjoy playing with her creations.
Authors Note: Just a little something from Dove Wisdom. The last chapter of that story- hope you guys like it! And if you've already reveiwed, you can review again. IT's not a bad thing, lol. XD
Chapter 7: Dance in the Moonlight
Luna waited until the Castle was silent before getting out of her bed and threading her way among the soundly sleeping students as she made her way to the door. Opening it just enough to slip through, she uncaringly left it ajar, and shook her hair free from it's confining braid as she paced through the dorm.
Luna swayed as she walked, her body dancing to a mysterious song, and she exited the Ravenclaw Common Room with none the wiser. The portraits merely waved sleepily, used to her midnight escapades, and she smiled dreamily as she drifted down the hallway. The moonlight painted her body with a silver patina as she passed under the cathedral windows, and her eyes glowed as she came to the Entrance Hall.
The giant doors swung open silently under her gentle touch, and the Wards tickled her skin kindly as they allowed her to pass, not restraining her as they had so many other students stricken with the wander-lust.
She breathed deeply as the midnight air encased her body, drawing her away from the still and looming Castle, and she glided across the lawn, moving to the soundless music of the night. Her bare feet padded noiselessly across the lush grass, and she shivered in delight as her hair was caressed by the soft breeze. Her nightdress floated around her body, and she stopped to stand motionless for a moment, head cocked, eyes partly shut, relishing the sinister beauty of the shadowed land spread before her.
A distant smile grew on her face as she listened to the forest, its unspoken invitation tempting her to enter its embrace. There was no sound other than the mournful howl of the wind as she languidly made her way to the boundary of the wood, detouring only to immerse her feet in the shallows of the lake, taking pleasure from the feel of the cool water lapping at her ankles. Luna followed the lake until it merged with the forest, and stepped away from the water, faintly regretful that the tinkling of the little waves died as her feet moved away.
But she kept to her course and entered the quiet wood, making no noise as she crossed the invisible barrier that silenced the intrusive hum of the outside world.
It was completely calm in the wood, no creatures in evidence as Luna danced through the brambles and roots with graceful ease. Her pale form glowed when the moonlight shone through the leaves with its haphazard brilliance. Her body was an extension of the wind, and she swayed and curved and bowed in accordance to its mandate.
In time she came to a small clearing, bordered on one side by a thin stream, bubbling happily as it tumbled along, and Luna followed it, delighted, to it's destination. As she bent down to dip her hand in the cool, refreshing water of the little pond, a rippling snarl sounded from behind her. Turning slightly, Luna looked around the clearing curiously. It was empty but for the stream.
She lifted her wet hand out of the pond, the clear liquid clinging to her, and stood. A pair of glowing, eerie red eyes tracked her movement from the edge of the trees, and she could just make out the form of the crouching, growling wolf.
Moving away from the water, her lithe, agile form captured the creature's attention and she raised the wet hand to contemplate it, momentarily forgetting the animals presence. Rubbing the gleaming water between her forefinger and thumb, she turned her thoughts and gaze back to the wolf, and observed the still growling creature so many declared to be 'monstrous'.
"Hello, pretty beastie," she sang lightly, and smiled dreamily as the werewolf cocked it's massive head at her. "Are you lonely tonight?"
The wolf slid through the undergrowth and foliage with practiced ease, leaving nary a trace to indicate his passage. He had traversed this forest so many times he knew the trails and hidden pathways by heart. No creature was foolish enough to venture out on this, the last night of the full moon, and the silence was a boon to his sensitive ears.
He paced the wood with no destination in mind, walking merely to enjoy the motion of his powerful body. It was a beautiful night, the stars glowing as bright as the moon, the leaves reflecting the glory of the heavens, and the smell of cold, brisk air on the gentle breeze. He stopped to stretch, loved the feel of strong muscles unfolding and releasing the tension in his core.
He lowered himself to the leaf-strewn soil, landing on his right shoulder, and dropped the rest of his bulk onto the earth. Rolling, he ground his back into the soft dirt, wrenching his body around to get at all of the impossible to reach places, and he whimpered with visceral delight as the blessed relief spread through his writhing form.
A sudden sound interrupted his play, and he flipped to his feet as he realized the threat. Lowering his head, he pursued the source of the sounds, for they had continued, and came to a clearing. In it a white figure was crouching at a pond, trailing a dainty hand in the water, and he stilled, wondering what it was, but as the wind changed he caught the vile scent of 'human' roll off the invader.
His wariness manifested itself as a low, menacing snarl, and the thing that smelled human but must not be turned around, not showing any of the fear he had come to expect. He watched distrustfully as the thin, nimble being rose and came closer to him. He studied the not- human thing as it studied him, trying to figure out what it was.
Free hair shone silver in the moonlight, long tresses that danced in the wind and seized his attention, swirling around the radiant form that held the midnight light and captivated him. Agile and sure footsteps brought the being closer, and he lifted his lips in silent warning, one that was dismissed.
The instinctive growl that ground out from his chest did not deter the intruder, and he watched, curious despite himself, as an alabaster hand lifted and gazed at the dampness lingering there.
He crouched down further as the being contemplated him, increasing the low rumble in his chest to an audible level. The not- human- thing merely regarded him calmly, and as he decided that she must be a deity, she spoke.
"Hello, pretty beastie," and he couldn't stop himself. His ears snapped forward eagerly as he heard her voice, and his head cocked to the side to catch every sound she might make. When she spoke again, he flicked his ears towards her, trying to catch the dreamy, languid, beautiful voice. "Are you lonely tonight?"
She waited a second for his answer, but twirled away and danced back into the clearing when he just watched her. She stood still for a moment, but he could still see that she was moving slightly, her body swaying to a beat he could not hear, and he settled down on his rump to watch over her. He didn't know what she was, but he would stay with her until the hateful sun came up and dispersed the exquisite mystery of the night.
There was silence as the forest waited for her to move. The wolf felt that the entire wood was watching this clearing, felt that the forest had been waiting for this, had been waiting for this mysterious being to come back and tame that which had been untamable. To enchant the wild. To captivate the deviants.
She slipped out of her thin human skin and carelessly tossed it aside, letting it fall where it may. She shone in the brilliant light, her skin as pale as the reigning moon. She started to move, oddly, stilted, and the wolf watched in curiosity. There was no music, no sound other than the wind in the leaves, but she danced. She stepped delicately, lightly, undulating to a soundless song, a silent refrain only she could hear.
But the wolf detected a slight beat, a measured rhythm that was faint, but noticeable. He cocked his head again, determined to locate the source of the regular pulsing, and pinpointed it. It was coming from the alabaster being.
It was a second before the wolf understood the strange music. As creamy limbs entranced his mind, he recognized the steady melody. He watched as uninhibited joy suffused the features of his goddess, she who could listen to her own heart beat and dance to it, and he lowered himself to his belly as he looked on.
He would not leave her to dance alone, and he placed his muzzle on his forepaws as he determined to safeguard her.
She danced on, unaware of her silent protector, and gloried in her rare freedom.
Blaise groaned as the shaft of brilliant sunlight hit his eyes, and immediately covered the wounded area as Draco laughed silently at him. He loved his friends, but every time he came back from a full moon, they laughed at him. He growled silently at their happy faces, but they just smiled and ignored him. What's the good of being a werewolf if you can't intimidate anyone? he mumbled to himself, glancing away from his 'friends' for a distraction from the blinding pain in his skull.
The Great Hall was almost full, and Blaise found a lot to distract himself with. Potter and his cohort were laughing loud enough that they hurt his head even more, and he scowled at them, feeling vindicated when they looked weirded out by his unusually dark expression. Luna Lovegood was being yelled at again by Professor McGonagall, something about going outside on full moons…
-what?
He snapped his gaze over to the Ravenclaw table so fast that Pansy and Draco looked with him, confused by his sudden fascination with the book- worms. But he didn't hear their quiet questions for he had been pulled into a half- remembered moment from last night.
The alabaster goddess had stopped dancing moments ago, and seemed surprised to see the wolf still guarding her. But she smiled, and came over. He raised his head from his paws as she bent gracefully to kneel in front of him, and, taking his mammoth head between small, delicate hands, pressed a kiss to the muzzle that could easily tear her throat out. But she showed no fear, and as he lowered his chin gently onto his goddesses knees, she stroked his ears and murmured, "Thank you, lonely wolf. You didn't need to stay."
Blaise stared at Loony, entranced, and Pansy and Draco shot each other quizzical looks as they tried to figure out what was wrong. But he snapped out of it soon enough, so they weren't that worried. They got up to leave, wondering what had come over the werewolf.
Professor McGonagall soon gave up on the impossible task of making Luna realize that not everything was friendly, and walked back to the head table, sharing a pained look with Professor Sprout, who she sat down next to. The teachers watched as Luna gathered her things to leave breakfast, noted that a group of Slytherin's were getting up to leave at the same time, and tensed. The Slytherin's always caused the blonde trouble.
The group of Slytherin's, headed by Blaise, went for the main entrance, and it seemed that they were stalking the platinum haired girl as she also went to leave by that route. Blaise reached out a hand to grab the Ravenclaw's arm, and the other Slytherin' s coalesced around them, not caring that they were in plain sight of the teachers. Snape, Sprout, and McGonagall stood in alarm as the known werewolf manhandled a student and immediately moved to break off the confrontation, and the rest of the students watched with varying degrees of interest.
While the teachers strode down the aisle's to get to the massed students before a fight broke out, Blaise, hidden behind the wall of his housemates, stared at Luna in obvious question. The pale girl gazed at him with her signature dreamy smile, and reached up a hand to cup his cheek, brushing the loose hair behind his ears in a move reminiscent of last night. Blaise pressed against the hand holding him, reaching up with his own rough, large hand to cover the petite, exquisite one sending chills through his body.
As the teachers broke up the circle, Luna whispered "Pretty, lonely beastie," and Blaise gathered her into his arms, pressing his face against the hair of his alabaster goddess, ignoring the shocked looks of his friends, the students, and the teachers as he held her close, rocking her slightly in his arms.
She reached her arms around him to hold him to her, and smiled her familiar calm smile at the shaken expressions of the teachers, saying to Professor McGonagall, "I was fine last night, see? I had a protector." She ignored the stir her words had caused, and wrapped her arms firmly around the werewolf now trembling in reaction. Blaise only held her closer, and her sharp ears picked up the faint sounds of whispered words.
"Luna… moon… should have known… beautiful goddess…" Luna merely smiled as he tightened his arms around her, still whispering, taking no notice of the commotion that had come over the Hall, just delighting in holding her and being held, in knowing that she was not a figment of his imagination, that she had not disappeared with the glorious moon, that his goddess was still with him.
I really like this idea. Well, when I'm brave enough to admit it, I also really like the idea of Blaise/Luna's.... lol. Once again, I hope you enjoyed (or re-enjoyed XD) this, and please feel free to leave a reveiw or not as you want. For those of you who are patiently or not-so-patiently waiting for the next chapter of TTTBind, it's coming. Slowly, but it's making it's way out of my mind and onto my hardware. If that's the correct use of the terminology, lol. But yeah. :) Netrixie