This is my first fic written for a challenge! I've been on this site over half a year now and I've only just begun to understand everything; I'm very slow with new things... Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

The forest was dark and cold. Harsh winds whipped through the trees. A spider crawled across the ground, making slow progress across a fallen leaf.
Then a huge, black paw fell on top of it.
An enormous three headed dog gazed into the gloom, all three noses twitching. It stepped forward, making the ground vibrate. A drop of drool the size of a fist fell from its mouth. The dog prowled forward, knocking down trees that got in its way, and continued its search for food.
A thestral, hidden in the trees, watched it go. After the dog had disappeared into the gloom, (and the thestral had recovered from immobilising fright) the thestral cantered back to its herd. It had only seen that dog once before and had hoped never to see it again. The Three Headed Dog was a thing that almost all forest creatures feared. It had been a terrible day when Hagrid had released that monster into the woods.
Suddenly, a bright light sent the thestral reeling. As it stumbled backwards dirty, battered Ford Anglia sped past. It took a while for the thestral to gather its thoughts. It decided it was having an eventful night. This thought had just entered its head when laughter echoed loudly through the forest. The thestral didn't stop to see what it was this time; it turned around and ran.
The laughter ended abruptly. Luna and Neville raised their wands at the same time. They both aimed at the same spot: where the leaves had suddenly rustled. After a while they both simultaneously decided that nothing was going to attack them and lowered their wands.
"It was probably just a Blibbering Humdinger..." whispered Luna.
"Right..." murmured Neville. He had grown so used to Luna that her strange ways were the usual for him now. He was thinking of his first visit to the forest, and how scared he had been. He had changed a lot since then.
"It's not a very good punishment, though, is it?" said Luna, returning to their previous conversation. "I thought we were going to get something a bit worse than going into the forest."
"Maybe Snape has gone soft," laughed Neville, "Or maybe he hoped we'd get killed by centaurs,"
Luna burst into gales of laughter. They walked on into the forest, laughing and making plans for the D.A. which got sillier and sillier by the minute.
Eventually, they reached the end of the path and decided to turn back. Hagrid had told them that the group of Acromantulas that lived here had been causing a bit of trouble and they were to look for any injured (or dead) animals. But it was unlikely that they would because they had been told to stick to the path.
"Well, that was a waste of time," grumbled Neville. Luna shrugged.
"No, I had fun! It's better than been stuck in the castle with the Carrows, anyway..." she said, smiling sadly.
Neville thought about this, and for a while the only sounds were their feet crunching on the dry leaves. They were nearing the edge of the forest, where they had been instructed to wait for Hagrid and Ginny, when he spoke up.
"You know, I'm really glad we're fighting, Luna." He said. She turned to him and smiled.
"Yeah. Me too, Neville. Me too."

Please review! (really, I'm desperate.)