MC4A - Paranormal Phantasm
Fill #16
Representations: Harry Potter; Luna Lovegood; Magic; Various Creatures; Saviour
Bonus Challenges: Creature Feature; Second Verse (Some Beach, Middle Name)
Word count: 1,112
Beta: Aya Diefair
He had taken to going to the Forbidden Forest when the castle become too much. There was no Umbridge out in the Forbidden Forest, no detentions, no points, no one trying to declare him a liar. The forest was where he got to know the thestrals, and he grew to understand that there was nothing inherently evil about the creatures. They were considered bad purely because of the reason humans could see them. It was through no fault of their own that it took witnessing a death to be able to view the winged horses.
The forest was where he grew closer to Luna Lovegood and started to see her as close a friend as Ron or Hermione. She was weird, sure, but it was a good weird. She had a way of stating the absolute obvious that no one else saw. She spoke of things that Harry didn't know but was fascinated by. She looked at life and saw wonder. He looked at life and saw Voldemort.
She taught him how to let go of Voldemort for a few moments at a time. She somehow taught him to clear his mind (far better than Snape ever did). She taught him how to clear his mind. She pressed his hand against a tree trunk and told him to focus on that and only that. She told him to always trust the trees. The trees knew more than they let on. The trees would guide a person if they only thought to ask.
Harry found himself entering the Forbidden Forest for reasons other than to get away from Umbridge and her reign of terror. He went to the forest for the quiet calm that was there. The easy silence that permeated the green canopy. When he entered the forest, it was like a heavy weight lifted off his shoulders. Luna smiled at him when he told her that one day.
"I know. It's why I come here," she had said and Harry had nodded. It made sense. Luna wasn't always particularly welcomed in the castle. She had to deal with mean housemates who stole her things and teased her. She had been called Loony Lovegood for so long. Even people from other Houses knew that it was her given name by the Ravenclaws.
Harry knew it was because they didn't understand the world as Luna did. Luna didn't care much for people, she was more interested in the creatures of the world. Even those creatures that the rest of the world ridiculed her for believing in. She didn't care too much, though. There was always something far more important to think about than what some silly teenagers were saying.
She stood among the thestrals and they accepted her. She went to the hippogriffs and they greeted her as though she was one of them. The bowtruckles clambered all over her when she visited them. The escaped nifflers came up to her and sometimes offered something shiny they had taken from their trove. Luna was kind to the animals and they were kind right back to her.
She introduced Harry to them and eventually they accepted him as well. Once they saw that he wasn't a threat, that he merely wanted to bask in their presence and soak up their calm, they easily cuddled next to him in their own ways. The nifflers generally enjoyed being held like a Kneazle. The bowtruckles swung from low hanging branches above his head. The thestrals lay down next to him and quietly munched on the pieces of meat he brought. The hippogriffs bowed to him when he arrived and he bowed back, running his fingers through their soft feathers and occasionally being headbutted onto their backs for a ride around the forest.
Two years later, when Harry entered the Forbidden Forest for what he thought to be the last time, it wasn't only his parents, Sirius, and Lupin that surrounded him and accompanied him to where Voldemort was waiting. The creatures of the forest came too. The small blue snake that had adopted him as her own dropped onto his shoulders and wound down to his arm.
The bowtruckles climbed from one tree to another, chirping sadly as they did so. The nifflers kept approaching him and offering a shiny before clambering up onto his body somewhere. The thestrals walked with him, one on each side with the rest following behind. They protected him from the other dangers the forest might throw at him. The hippogriffs flew above, screeching war cries as they watched him from the skies.
They all stopped when they started hearing the sounds of humans. They were close now, Harry only had to take a few more steps and he would face Voldemort. The bowtruckles shivered in their trees, one by one dropping down onto his shoulder and hugging what parts of him they could. The nifflers climbed down, each of them leaving their shiny offering as they lined up on the side of the path they had taken to the clearing with the bowtruckles.
The hippogriffs landed and bowed as one to Harry, he bowed back. They each headbutted him as they walked past to line up on the other side of the path. The thestrals beside him remained still, the others flapping their wings agitatedly as they joined the hippogriffs and nifflers. Other creatures came out from the trees and joined the lines, each of them saying goodbye to the boy they had come to know as kind.
With a sigh, Harry nudged the thestrals next to him and said, "Off you go then." They shook their heads and remained where they were. It seemed they were determined to stay with him as he walked to his death. He smiled gratefully. "Thanks."
The trees sighed in the non-existent wind and Harry knew that they, too, were saying goodbye. He walked up to one of them, laying his forehead and left palm on its trunk. Closing his eyes, he let himself focus on nothing but the tree. Thank you, he thought and knew they had all heard him. There was the creak of a branch moving and when Harry looked, he saw a clearing that had previously been hidden from his sight by the trees.
He was walking to his death, but he was not going alone. A glance down at the snake still wrapped around his upper arm told him that she wasn't going anywhere. As he walked towards the open clearing, the thestrals matched his steps. The trees and creatures watched him go, each of them giving their support and company. He was not afraid with them by his side.