Children of Mind and Magic
Chapter Two
Luna Lovegood skipped airily down the cold stone corridors of Hogwarts. As her bare feet slapped against the hard granite floor, a chilling air wrapped itself oppressively around her small frame. The darkness of night lured her along, and Luna could hear the castle's whispers calling to her. It was like a siren's song – enchanting, seductive.
It had happened several hours earlier, during the light of day, whilst bouncing happily away from her potions class that Luna had glimpsed the tail end of a most elusive Hyper-Coloured Shindingle. Bending down to re-thread the curly lace of her shoe, she'd spotted the little creature's fluffy spear-headed tail dart around the corridor's bend. Calling out to the obscure beast to wait, Luna speedily chased after it. By the time she'd rounded the corner in which the mythical being had fled, it was, devastatingly, nowhere to be found. Considering her situation for a moment, Luna resolutely determined this not to be unusual behaviour for the tiny animal; after all, they were nocturnal. Her mind made up, Luna vowed to return in the darkness of night; she would uncover the mystery that was the Hyper-Coloured Shindingle.
Well, night was now well and truly upon her and, in nothing more than her purple and blue polka dotted flannel pyjamas, Luna ducked and dashed through the dungeon passageways. She'd already passed the nook in which she had first discovered the diminutive. Her anticipation mounted; it was not going to evade her this time! She could feel it, she was sure she was close to him now! As fast as lightning, something caught her eye. Luna quickly turned towards a shadowy corner; her heart began beating faster with the excitement of discovery close at hand. It had to be in there! Slowly, she crept towards the dark alcove, inspecting the small space as she inched ever closer. A knight's armour lay hidden in the darkened corner. The little critter, she knew, would be waiting behind it. Quickly as could be, Luna grabbed at the suit, plunging the armour ever so slightly forward as she raked her eyes down the length of the armour's backside. Nothing. There was nothing there! Blinking vacantly, she peeked behind the iron suit again, and then several times over, sure that she'd missed something. But empty air was all that greeted her. She had been convinced Melvin, for that is what she'd named the tiny creature, had taken refuge right here, away from the frigid castle air. He must have been faster than first thought, Luna determined. Of course, if he had known she'd been hoping to converse with him on the ins and outs of being a Hyper-Coloured Shindingle, he'd not have spirited away so hastily, she was sure of it.
Sighing in disappointment, Luna sunk to her knees, disheartened by her almost-discovery. As she leaned heavily against the cold stones of the wall, the feeling of disenchantment overwhelmed her, she could always try again tomorrow night, she supposed. Feeling herself deflate further still, Luna mourned the loss of a missed opportunity. She'd felt certain that tonight's escapade would bring about promising findings. Resigning herself to having to wait yet another night, Luna made to leave. Using the suit's arm as leverage, she pulled herself up from the icy ground. With a gritty heave, the arm rustily bent forward, and the knight moved slightly to the right, revealing behind its armour, a dark, dusty room. Staring uncomprehendingly at the newly vacant niche, Luna contemplated her options. A few, quiet moments passed; there were no movements, no sound. Then, suddenly, something in her mind must have clicked into place and she stepped hesitantly forward. All of a sudden, several large sconces littering the length of the walls of the small room flashed to life, illuminating everything within. Breathing in deeply, Luna drank in the sight of thousands of leather-bound books tightly lining the room's numerous bookshelves. She was awed by the sheer expanse of books the room contained. Inching her way further inside, Luna noted the mustiness of the air, offering her the knowledge that none had visited this space in many, many years.
Taking one small step, then another, she trailed her fingers across the spine of each book as she passed them by. This unexpected discovery, though not the one she'd initially sought, was, she supposed, going to have to suffice. Though, when Luna thought about it, there was a lot to be gained from books. She was still a Ravenclaw after all! With that, she centred herself in the middle of the room, turning around slowly and soaking in the wealth of knowledge that lay before her. Most assumed she was just a dotty, airheaded girl with no boundaries to focus her intellect upon. To them, she was like a mass of nervous energy. They thought she needed mental discipline, and that she lacked the necessary reasoning to differentiate reality from fantasy. Indeed, had her skin not contained her, she felt certain she'd fly out everywhere at once. This, however, did not mean that her mind lacked fierce clarity and unquestionable intelligence.
Her eyes narrowed, rapidly flitting from one title to the next, searching the shelves for she knew not what. Suddenly her eyes landed upon a thick, well-read tome in a shelf across the way; its spine cracked from repeated use. A large, dreamy smile abruptly broke along her youthful face. It was a muggle fairy tale! Trekking the short distance to the bookcase, Luna plucked the volume from its shelf, and quietly sunk to the soft, carpeted floor. Curling up next an old purple cushion that lay close by, she clutched the aged leather book tightly in her hands.
With a light, wistful laugh, Luna opened the heavy cover of the delicate book - The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson. As smart as she was, she'd not had much to do with muggles and their world, and so knew nothing of their myths and fables. She had the good sense to recognise something muggle should it cross her path, but no knowledge of the thing in itself. And so, with bated breath, she began to read.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
As the story came to an end, Luna found herself wiping away several stray tears as they rolled like fat dewdrops down her reddened cheeks. A watery smile slowly spread across her face as she silently closed the back cover of her now favourite book, casting her eyes unseeingly towards the vaulted ceiling. Luna lost herself in a daydream of princes and mermaids, and cute little crabs that conducted orchestras and rode around the ocean floor on pretty seahorses; one day, she'd surely love to find her perfect match, just like Ariel have found Eric.
As time passed, Luna became increasingly aware of a sharp pressure digging into her palm. Removing her hand from the tome, she noticed a crisp edge of parchment jutting out from a blank page near the back. Slowly working the fragile sheet, Luna gradually pulled the parchment free from its confines. It was a letter, written to whom, she did not know; nor was there a signature indicating the author of such a missive. Once again, she began to read.
To Whom It May Concern,
Though, I believe, it may concern none. Should you be reading this letter, then you've no doubt unintentionally, and perhaps unwisely, stumbled upon this hidden room, and, consequently, the book in which this letter was concealed.
If you seek to enlighten your mind with books of magic or deepen your pockets with treasures and trinkets, then you'll surely find yourself very much disappointed. Hidden amongst the words of the script you now hold within your grasp, is nothing but my most intimate self, and the lightest part of my soul.
If continuing upon this path is what you endeavour to do, then I must caution you, you begin this journey at the risk of your own soul, and those of everyone you hold dear. To uncover the light, is to release the dark, and once released, it can never again be returned.
Sincerely Yours.
Tracing her finger along the delicate curves of the letter's final word, Luna slowly released the breath she'd been holding. She knew better than to involve herself with missives such as this, missives that would lead to the dangerously unknown. She may have been spontaneous and seemingly careless at times, but she also hailed from a House that prised intelligence and truth above all else. She knew when to leave well enough alone, and Luna intended to do just that, especially when she felt a menacing air of uncertainty suddenly wrap itself around her body like a cloak spun from the heaviest material. But then…the light; the letter spoke of a light, a soul. Could she really ignore that soul, even in the face of possible perils? Before the question had even solidified itself in her mind, Luna felt the answer deep within her being. No matter how dark the darkness, if there was even the smallest measurement of light, she would face whatever challenges arose; she would release the dark to save the light. She had no idea what that darkness was. She had no idea what the light was. She had no idea what form either would take, and no idea of the soul that lay beneath the letter's words. But she knew she had to try. If she didn't, the knowledge that she may have left someone's soul, the very essence of a being, trapped in a time and place worse than any she could imagine, would eat away at her until she couldn't breathe. Her mind was made up.
Tapping the tip of her wand to the centre of the parchment, Luna gently whispered the words of a charm she didn't remember learning, "mrr.t=t pw irr.t=t"(1). Almost instantly, the air around her became heavy, weighing down upon her form until the air was forced painfully out of her lungs. The room became impossibly dark as the temperature dropped to icy levels. Suddenly, Luna felt her body begin to close in on itself, much like she imagine apparition might feel, before being sucked towards an unknown destination. With a painful pressure that seemed to explode within her, Luna sunk into the depth of darkness, her body disappearing from the spot it had been just moments earlier.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
(1) "That which you do, is that which you wish" (phonetic sound – 'me-re-te-tch poo i-re-te-tch (in ancient Egyptian the 'e' sound is always like 'egg'). This is the spell that Luna spoke when she tapped her wand to the letter. It is indeed ancient Egyptian in its phonetic form. The equal signs can be confusing when first reading them but they are not pronounced, they simply come before a personal pronoun, to denote said personal pronoun. Before you can translate Egyptian Hieroglyphs into English, or whichever language you wish to translate it into, you must first assign each glyph a phonetic sound value. This is called transliteration. When looking at a glyph, you transliterate it into phonetic sounds, and then translate the phonetic sounds into the desired language. Ancient Egyptian doesn't have written vowels, except for 'I', so Egyptologists have made it a general rule to put the sound value of 'e' between most consonants. There is a special font for transliteration, which I cannot use here and so it cannot be read completely correctly; however, the transliteration is incredibly close to what is written here, just add a little dash underneath the two 't's before the equals sign for the 'tech' sound and there you have it.