Hindsight is Twenty Twenty, Chapter 9
There was a very very very awkward tension in the air as Minty stared at the small blonde haired girl in absolute horror.
The small magical creature felt her entire face engulf in a flaming hot blush from her utter embarrassment. She sputtered for a moment, trying to get her tongue to twist in the right way. Minty suddenly shook her head like a puppy and finally managed to get intelligible words to leave her mouth.
"I am so so so sorry you had to see that. I promise I am not always like this."
"Oh there's no need to apologize, everyone has their off days," the girl said, offering a soft smile to the distressed magical creature. "Will you be joining the Hogwarts staff this year?" She asked, looking directly at Minty.
Minty hesitated for a moment before she gave a small smile. "Oh wow, I'm surprised you actually caught that. Every one we've met so far has thought that Scotland is a new professor while I'm just the pet, when really it's the other way around."
"Oi! Are you calling me a pet, feather-breath?"
"Yes."
Scotland growled and tilted his head forward so that his bright red strands of hair would fall forward and darken his face. "I am no one's bet I'm a bloody Scotsman. That's it for the rest of this trip, I'm not talking to you."
Minty hummed in response. She visibly relaxed at the sound of the familiar banter between Scotland and her. And then she turned back around and faced the Hogwarts student who was unfortunate enough to witness Minty hurl Scotland into the Carriage.
"I am Professor Minty. I will be teaching the History of Magic class this year, and I must say, I am very excited to be here."
The girl gave Minty a kind smile, "Hello Professor Minty, my name is Luna Lovegood." She tilted her head to the side and glanced up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Second year Ravenclaw." She added.
"Nice to meet you!" Minty chirped, the incidents with the Dementors and Scotland easily melting out of her mind like the arctic glaciers.
"what happened to your other shoe?" Scotland asked, not even bothering to introduce himself to the Hogwarts student.
Minty blinked, not quite comprehending what Scotland just asked. And then she looked down.
"Oh, It happens some time." Luna said as she glanced down at her sock clad foot and rotated her ankle. "Nargles are very mischievous, and like to nab things when people are not looking. I'm not too worried about it. I have no doubt that my shoe will find its way back."
Minty hummed in content while Scotland only raised his eyebrow as if he didn't believe a word Luna was saying.
"You know," Minty started, "I can summon your shoe back if you want me to."
"If it's not too much trouble," Luna replied with a sleepy smile.
Then, with a delighted squeak, Minty straightened herself up and then started pawing at the air with her right arm. She clawed at the air three times before a slender wand materialized in front of her. She leaned forward and grabbed it between her teeth. Minty waved the wand and suddenly, a small red sneaker shot through the window of the carriage and into Luna's lap.
The Ravenclaw's eyes widened tenfold as she inspected the shoe in her lap.
"Thank you…" She said, her voice trailing off at the end.
Minty smiled, "It was no problem sweetie. Really."
"I didn't even know that it's possible to materialize your wand from thin air." Luna said.
"Oh, the Void helped me with that."
Luna blinked her eyes and leaned forward in interest, "the Void?"
"Yes, the Void. It's a never ending abyss that exist in a different dimension that layers over our own. It also just so happens to be semi-sentient… Or fully sentient. I forget." Minty lifted her head up tentatively "Hey Void, Are you semi or fully sentient?" She waited a moment for a response. Out of the corner of her eye, Minty saw Scotland giving her another one of his famous eye rolls.
That prick.
Suddenly, Minty's ears perked up and she grinned in Luna's direction. "The Void says it's fully sentient."
Luna nodded. had, at some point while Minty wasn't looking, pulled out a quill and a piece of parchment and was poised to take notes. "Could you tell me more about the Void? Is its physical form like one of a ghost or is it tangible?"
"Well…" Minty started, "It's sort of hard to explain. The Void is Omnipresent so it's everywhere at once so I suppose that it can be described as a ghost, however no one can see or hear it unless they are in tune with the Void. But the Void is such a kind being. Everyone screams at it and it just takes it and listens to everyone's problems."
Luna paused in her furious note taking, "Is that where the phrase 'Screaming into the Void' comes from?"
"Yup!" Minty said, popping the 'p' in the word.
"Uh-huuuh." Luna murmured thoughtfully before jotting down some more notes. "What do you have to do in order to physically see the Void?" She asked.
"Ooooh, it's very hard to see her unless you are one of the few magical species that the Void bestowed the ability to see it. However, once every couple of centuries it reveals the physical personification of itself to a select few humans that it trusts."
"Fascinating," Luna commented.
And for the rest of the arguably short ride in the carriages to Hogwarts, Luna bombarded Minty with questions about the Void and its relation to other creatures such as Nargles, Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, and other mystifyingly rare beings.
Scotland spent the entire time looking liked he had sucked on a giant ass lemon.
Author's Note:
Yes, I made the void a character in this story that will actually have a degree of importance later on. You may fully blame tumblr for this. Also, everyone who reviewed got it right that it was Luna in the carriage. Y'all pay attention so well and that makes me so happy. But I'm not entirely sure if I've done Luna's character justice. I'm typically very comfortable writing Hetalia characters, however I'm not as good with Harry Potter characters due to me not writing them too often. So if you think that any character in this fic seems a little bit too OOC without a decent explanation, then please let me know so that I can fix it.
And I got to say, it makes me ridiculously happy that Minty and Luna finally met. They are definitely going to be very good friends.
Anyway, I've finally finished writing up the feast arch, and am now writing the beginning stages of the First Class arch. Fair warning, there won't be as much crackish humor like you guys are usually used to in the next couple of chapters but they are going to be important to the plot.
Since I have finished writing the Feast Arch, I can now officially tell you guys that the next chapter will be posted on Tuesday, July 25th. And I WILL make sure to post something on that day barring any monumental catastrophes such as the apocalypse or if the internet stops working at my house.
Question time! When do you read fanfics? I typically read them at night before I go to bed so at around 10-12 at night. I am known, however, to stay up until three in the morning if I've found a really lengthy fic that catches my attention.
Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful rest of you day!
Snowy-Maplette
