A/N

Chaser 2 of Pride of Portree

Optional prompts: (poem) "The Peace of Wild Things", (image) /wallpaper/sites/default/files/images/04-2013/snowy-mountain-wallpaper. , (setting) lake

Round prompt : creature - Thestral

Word Count: 1184 (on the doc) / 1185 (in Word)

A lone Thestral stood at the edge of the woods looking at the light being reflected on the surface of the lake. He slowly walked through the snow-covered ground until he was standing right in front of the water. It was as still and as cold as a lake in the mountains could be. But it wasn't frozen, not yet.

He stood there until the light was replaced by millions of twinkling stars that seemed to smile at him in a sad manner.

He knew that only a few would, or even could, look at him and see the true beauty that he represented. He knew his appearance often frightened the two-legged creatures, but he couldn't do anything to stop their fear once they had accepted the existence of death. Yes, many would run away in fright the moment they saw him. But some people…some people were able to look at him in the same way they looked at the stars. Luna Lovegood was one of the two-legged ones that was able to do that.

Luna was a great person with an even greater soul. She did not care that only the people who had seen death and were able to accept it were the only people that were able to see him. No, she looked at him and called him beautiful despite knowing the reason why she could see him. Luna was a good person; she often brought pieces of meat for him and his herd to feed from. He was still a small foal when he had first met her. A scrawny little thing. He was still learning the ways of the world and having never met a two-legged one before, he was a bit scared of her. But the fear quickly turned into curiosity.. She gave him food and even played with him when she had the time. She quickly became his favorite person. She still was, even now with many years and many miles keeping them apart.

She was the kindest person he had ever known, but she was also the saddest one. She once told him that she was able to see things that would come to be and while there were good things here and there, most of it was terrible. It hurt him to see such a wonderful person so full of sadness. However, there was nothing he could do about it—short of putting his head on her thigh and listening while she talked of all the horrors she saw in her sleep. He hoped that she would be able to find someone who she could trust with her secret and who would in turn support her in the way he couldn't.

One day, when she came to visit, she brought with her a boy with messy dark hair and vibrant yet somehow also dull green eyes that were a sharp contrast to her light hair and sky blue, misty eyes. He seemed sad and even a bit lost but he was also very kind. He seemed to be fearful of him, just as he had been fearful of Luna the first time he saw her, but he quickly seemed to come to like him as he mimicked Luna, and fed him a piece of meat.

The boys eyes seemed less dull when he shared a look with Luna. He even saw a smile forming on the corner of his lips. Knowing he was able to bring joy to someone despite his appearance brought great joy to the Thestral. He saw how happy both of them looked at that moment. Two lost souls finally meeting each other and bonding over something most people hated. He decided to do everything he could do to preserve the happy glint in their eyes.

He got his chance near the end of the school year when his favored two-legged ones called the herd to them so they could help them with an important mission. He tried his best to help them get to their desired destination as fast as his young wings would let him. He barely got to say goodbye, as the two-legged ones called it, before they ran away to fulfill their mission.

He went back home to the forest with the rest of the herd and waited for Luna to come and tell him all about the great adventure she had had.

She never did.

He remembered waiting with the others for students to fill the carriages when he saw Luna and the other two-legged ones again. At first he felt joy, but it was soon replaced by shock as he looked into the, once again, dulled eyes of the humans. He hoped that it was just his imagination making him see such things but his hopes were crushed when all of them, even Luna, walked past him without even bothering to look at him.

He spent the following weeks hoping Luna would come to visit and that she'd sit down next to him and tell him all about her troubles and fears. But she never came.

It was roughly two months after the start of the school year before Luna came to visit again. He was thrilled but wary when he saw the girl walking slowly towards the woods carrying a bucket full of meat. Her eyes were sad and she had bags under her eyes - even he knew that was a bad sign. She tried to smile for them and play with them but it all seemed far too forced...

He tried his best to cheer her up but nothing seemed to help. She sat on the ground next to him and looked towards the castle. She absently started to pull her hands through his mane as she thought of the things that were yet to come.

She closed her eyes and turned her head towards the skies and said in a voice that seemed far too experienced to be her own:

"When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."

Her eyes looked strangely...dead in that moment. It frightened him.

She stood up slowly, picking up the now empty bucket and walked away while humming a song that was unknown to the young Thestral. That was the last time he saw his beloved Luna.

He didn't know whether she would ever come back before her light burned out like it did for all the other stars that shined so bright. But what he did know was that she would always be welcome to share the peace of the wild things.