Disclaimer: see chapter 1 for standard disclaimery-thing.
ooOOoo
Chapter 52: Fruit of the Moon
"…But it's Lupin's dog," Draco was arguing. After Thursday's double period of History, he tended to be in an extra bad mood. He'd been quite happy at the idea of Hermione and Ron staying behind to work on the potion, but balked at a dog which seemed to be Gryffindor by association coming in their stead. "You yourself said I mustn't say anything in front of it I didn't want Lupin to know!"
Harry, who'd suffered through double History as well as a particularly irritating Divinations lessson, avoided Snuffles' glower and tried to avoid an argument. "Er, yeah. But I put a special charm on Snuffles…"
Snuffles snorted.
"Sounds like he's allergic to it," Draco sneered.
"Who's allergic?" a third voice asked.
Luna emerged from the darkness with a piece of the night following silently on the end of the leadrope. Silver shoes gleamed like dew in the grass under the wandlight. "Hello. Sorry I'm late. I stopped to see Hagrid."
"What?" Draco hissed, beating Harry's "Why?" by half a second.
Luna gave him a level stare. "We need someone to raise the alarm if something bad happens to us. If we're not back by sunrise he's going to alert Professor Dumbledore."
"And… Hagrid was okay with us going into the Forest?" Harry asked, a little angry. Draco's face was flushed – he was a lot angry at Luna's presumption.
Luna blinked at him like he'd just suggested Hagrid thought Voldemort was a jolly nice chap. "No, of course not. But I told him we were taking Snuffles and Simon. He didn't look pleased, but he realised how sensible we were being, going into the Forest with them. Remind me to stop by his place and let him know we're back before we go back to the castle." She looked around. "Where's Neville?"
Simon's ears twitched. He pawed at the ground and shook his mane uneasily, turning his head and sidling as if sensing something wicked this way coming.
"Oh, this must be him now."
Luna was proven right as Neville hurried towards them. His cloak was drawn tight around his shoulders and his knuckles were pale as he clutched his wand. Simon's ears sloped back at the sight. Luna's hold on the leadrope shifted and tightened further towards the clip under Simon's chin, although probably no-one other than Harry noticed.
"There you are. I thought you meant the barn up at Squirrel Hill… then I checked Hagrid's… he said you were here. How come Hagrid knows about us?"
"Never mind," Harry said quickly. Draco had been remarkably diplomatic since his blindness, even with Ron, but Neville might be too tempting a target. Best not to let anything start when they were going into the Forest. "Luna's only just got here."
"And Harry and I arrived just before her. So all's well that… er… starts well," Draco said, rubbing his hands together impatiently as he eyed Simon. "He's looking a bit skittish."
"Who, me?" said Neville.
"No, Simon. You're just the reason he's skittish. What do you think, Luna?"
Not so diplomatic, then.
"Neville can stay at the front," Luna said. "Simon would probably prefer to stay at the back and make sure none of us get left behind. It's a stallion thing." She scratched under Simon's jaw affectionately. "Neville?"
"Huh? Oh, okay. I'll lead. I know where we're going, after all." He smiled bravely.
"Shame Ginny isn't coming," Luna said. "Might have been nice to have Ron along for the extra wand. Even Granger might have come in useful. Still, I guess she can be more useful working on the potion. What's Ginny's excuse?"
Draco cocked his head. "Hang on. I knew we were missing the obligatory token Weasley. I thought you were going to ask her, Longbottom?"
Neville seemed to be blushing, but it was hard to tell in the dim light.
Draco's eyes narrowed and his nostrils pinched. "You forgot to ask her?"
"Er…" Neville drew himself up. "Actually, Malfoy, I didn't want to drag her into this. It's far too dangerous to expect Ginny to come into the Forest at night."
"Not half as dangerous as going into the Forest at night without a sorceress on our side," Draco snarled. "Or, for that matter, telling a sorceress she's too much of a delicate petal to help save Hogwarts. Think you're up to defending yourself against that, Longbottom?"
Snuffles stood next to Harry. Harry put a hand on the dog's head in case it did something stupid, like defend a Gryffindor by biting Draco in front of Simon.
"Would you bring that firstie Ricci into the forest?"
"What's Trudi got to do with this?" Draco growled. "She's too young and she's not a sorceress…"
"Let's just get on with it," Harry sighed.
"And we simply won't tell Ginny we wanted her along," Luna said with dreamy matter-of-factness. "Oh, and Harry…?"
"Yes?"
"If you ever keep things from me because you think I'm too weak and can't cope, I'll… I'll… I'll do something you won't like."
Neville was staring up at the stars morosely as the realisation of how Ginny would take his perceived slight of her abilities sunk into everyone in the group. Did the wizarding world know what 'thermonuclear device' meant? Draco might know some equivalent – he was smirking.
Harry raised his hands in surrender. "Wouldn't dream of it," he said, knowing a losing battle when he saw one.
There was a snigger from closer to ground level.
"You know, you really need to be more careful with charms you use on Muggle animals," Luna said. "Poor Snuffles seems to be reacting badly to that one." She patted Snuffles' head.
Snuffles licked his nose and tried to look innocent, not a natural look in dog form, either. When Simon bent his head down to investigate his competition for Luna's attention, the dog licked Simon's nose.
The horse wrinkled its muzzle and snorted explosively.
Snuffles squeezed his eyes shut a moment, then shot Harry a look that said: Yuck. Horse snot.
"Well, that's all of us," Harry sighed. "I suppose we should get moving."
"Right," said Draco. He didn't move, either.
It was Neville who started walking first. He held up his wand, which glowed faintly. "Come on. Soonest begun, soonest ended."
"You should take Snuffles in front with you," Luna said. "I don't want Simon stomping on him."
Snuffles moved towards Neville without further prompting.
"Aren't you going to ride?" Harry said. He'd wondered why Simon had only a headcollar, not even a blanket although the night was cool.
"No. We're keeping Simon around as an extra precaution, not for riding purposes. I'm trusting our eyes, Snuffles' nose, and Simon's ears."
"Can't he see in the dark?" Draco asked.
"A bit better than us, I think, but maybe only if something moves. I'm not really sure about that," said Luna.
Draco looked briefly appalled. And Harry guessed the Slytherin must have been counting on Simon's vision when he'd gone through the barrier. Would he have gone if he'd known differently?
Harry would have liked to have brought up the rear, trusting himself to make sure nothing sneaked up and bit out the back of his neck. Or Luna's. But Simon planted all four hooves and refused to move until Harry was by his shoulder or further forward. And as they moved into the softly rustling forest and Harry tried to fall back a bit, Simon gave him a sharp nip.
"Ouch," Harry whispered. "What was that for?"
"He's herding us," Luna told him.
"Hurting us, more like."
"Don't be a wimp. He just wants to make sure we all stay together so we don't get picked off by lions and wolves."
"Are we expecting lions or wolves?"
"Are we arguing with millions of years of evolution?"
"Not when you put it like that, no…"
"Shut up, you two," Draco hissed angrily. He was just ahead down the narrow trail, and already jumpy even though they weren't anywhere near the deeper part of the forest yet.
They fell silent. Only the muffled sound of their footfalls as they sneaked beneath the trees and the rustle of their cloaks gave them away. Around them were occasional hoots from wild owls and chitters of the bats the owls were hunting. Soft-winged moths flickered through the wandlight at intervals, making the humans jump and the four-footed flick their ears. At one point they paused as something heavy moved through the trees along a trail on the slope above them, and Simon's nostrils fluttered with the quietest of whinnies before Luna covered them with her hand in case Simon gave them away.
A small break in the trees combined with moonlight and the not-quite dark of a Scottish midsummer night gave away the silhouette of a centaur before it disappeared on business of its own. It wouldn't have been Firenze – they would have seen the pale hair. With a bit of luck Bane was on the other side of the barrier, too.
Best to avoid centaurs. Best to avoid everything other than the mistletoe.
That's what Harry was thinking right before they found the unicorns.
ooOOoo
They were walking above a stream lined with ferns and foxgloves whose bright daytime colours had dimmed to shades of grey when they came into a small glade. When Neville halted suddenly, Draco nearly bumping into him, Harry knew something odd was up. But Simon didn't seem upset and Snuffles' tail wagged.
The unicorns must have heard them coming.
Arrayed like a band of silver stars, glowing with more than the reflected light of the moon, they stood in the clearing with their heads turned towards the students. But their heads were up rather than lowered for the charge, so Harry relaxed a fraction.
Simon whuffled a greeting.
The unicorn stallion of the little herd ducked its head up and down and whinnied back just as softly, its voice sweetly bell-like compared to the rumble of the horse's.
"Oh, how lovely," came Luna's whispered exclamation.
The unicorns were exquisite. They were spun from moonlight and dream. They were the first living legends Harry remembered being touched to the core by. They were the best part of magic.
They were blocking the path.
Harry wasn't quite sure what to do about that. He knew that despite the long sharp horns which could run a man through they weren't mindlessly violent, but he also knew that if they felt threatened they could be dangerous.
Simon gave him a nip.
"Ow. What was that about?" Harry grumbled, annoyed a little for having this dazzling moment broken with something as prosaic and painful as a bite from a grumpy horse.
"We're wasting time," Luna said. "Go on, Neville."
"Er… I don't want to annoy them."
Even Draco didn't comment on that.
"Just walk towards them," Luna said. "We'll see what they do."
"What if they charge?" said Neville.
Draco fingered his wand. "Tell them Hogwarts will foot the bill."
Luna ignored Draco. "They might not."
Neville took a deep breath, drew his cloak up over his shoulder from where it was slipping, and sidled forward. Luna followed. Harry didn't follow fast enough and got another nip. He was slightly mollified when Draco hesitated and was bitten, too.
They walked towards the unicorns.
The stallion lowered its gleaming head and moonlight glittered off the sharp horn.
Neville hesitated until Simon, sighing at the great indignity of it all, bit him. Faced with the devil he knew, Neville ducked his head in apology to the unicorn and kept walking. Harry, walking behind Neville, couldn't see but suspected the other boy had his eyes shut.
It was easy to forget how brave Neville was.
With an almost silent sigh of approval, the unicorns parted before Neville, and the herd fell into step around the students and their four-footed companions.
Harry found himself walking next to the unicorn stallion, which touched noses briefly with Simon, horse and unicorn blowing softly in an exchange of breath, then paced the horse in almost perfect silence.
It was shorter than Simon, lighter, and moved like moonlight on water, a gossamer creature from another world with a grace that made the Muggle horse seem like the gangling great farm beast it was. There was an uncomfortable twinge of resentment – Harry didn't like feeling disloyal to Simon, and he stroked Simon's neck by way of apology. He reached out to the unicorn, but it slanted its ears back and tossed its beautiful head in warning.
"Unicorns aren't for people," Luna whispered. "That's why we have horses."
Harry nodded, wondering how true this was. One hundred percent, perhaps.
It was surreal having the unicorns accompany them, strange and wonderful like fairy gold, and just as likely to disappear. It was a moment he would treasure, especially given how fragile it was.
Knowing Simon was there behind him primed to bite, kick, stand on or sneer at anything that tried to hurt them was a deeper treasure. Harry moved closer and patted the horse's neck again.
ooOOoo
They passed near Acromantula territory. Simon's nostrils flared and Snuffles' hackles rose from time to time, but with the unicorns stepping lightly through the trees with them they saw no giant spiders. They saw no vampires or vrikolaki.
They saw only the occasional bat and heard one or two owls. A hedgehog rustling and snortling its way through the bracken. No monsters. Their path was remarkably clear of obstacles – even fallen trees had toppled away from the path and the only branches across it were ones the smallest unicorn foal stepped over with ease. It was as if the Forest wanted them to find the mistletoe.
That impression deepened when the unicorns stopped when Neville stopped, and formed a loose circle around the tree Neville indicated with his wand.
"It's in that oak," he said. "Can you see it?"
Harry squinted. "I can't see anything."
"Who's going to collect it?" Draco asked, nervously peering off into the darkness. The unicorns didn't seem to reassure him as much as they did the others, and now they had stopped he moved closer to Simon.
"Me," said Neville stoutly. "Harry, got the cloth?"
Harry pulled it out of the bag he was carrying. "Here."
"Ta." Neville, with Draco's unasked and slightly rigid assistance, soon had it spread under the tree.
Simon dropped his head and blew at the cloth, taking in the strange smells of fresh linen. The unicorns watched solemnly. Luckily none of them tried to stand on it – the linen had to be untouched by foot.
They'd already agreed Neville should do the charm. Harry hadn't asked if he was any good at climbing trees. They'd find out in a few minutes. Harry took out the Golden Sickle and, with a small pang of reluctance, handed it over.
There was a yelp from Snuffles.
Harry looked around – "What? What?" – expecting monsters to start crawling out of the ground.
But it was just the Sickle. Snuffles was staring at it and shaking as if he'd just climbed out of ice water.
Oh shit.
"Lupin's damn dog isn't going to get funny on us, is it?" Draco asked suspiciously.
Snuffles licked his nose and, with a visible effort, pulled himself together.
"I don't think so," said Harry slowly. "But dogs are edge creatures. He probably just sensed the magic in the Sickle."
"Oh. Okay." Which plainly meant anything but okay as far as Draco was concerned. Harry passed the Sickle to Neville before anyone could start asking any more questions.
Neville moved to the south side of the tree and began the spell. It was ancient, so ancient it was a chant rather than wandwork, and the medium for focussing the magic would, with luck, be the Sickle. Neville mouthed the words in a language older than English – with a bit more luck his accent wouldn't be too bad – and cut the air before his mouth with the Sickle.
The words crystallised into magic the same silvery colour and texture as a Patronus and hovered around the base of the tree. After Neville had moved around the tree and spoken the chant at west, north and east, he returned to south and spoke the binding charm for the harvest.
Nothing happened.
"Er…" Neville tried again, stressing one of the words slightly differently.
The crystallised words shivered and the silver became gold.
There was a silence, broken when Draco breathed, "That was bloody impressive, Longbottom."
Harry and Luna nodded in silent unison. Snuffles was still staring at the Sickle, head sunk slightly lower than usual.
Neville blushed. "Er, thanks, Malfoy…"
"You're wasted with wandwork," Draco said earnestly. "Why didn't you try and get an outside subject assigned – it's possible to do Chants through mail… I think Beauxbatons can do a correspondence course…"
"Sorry?" Neville asked. It was hard to tell if he was more confused by Draco's sudden reversal of antagonism or the idea there was something he was good at – or could have been good at had Hogwarts offered a course.
"He's right," Luna said. "Of course, a correspondence course is right out at the moment, but there are books in the library. Professor Snape had quite a few – chants are useful for Potions as well as a few specific charms…"
"But I'm awful at Potions!"
"True… but we don't do the ones with chants until seventh year. They're quite rare. I expect Professor Snape was one of the few people here who knew anything about them. It's a shame you can't ask him, although maybe the headmaster…"
Neville, paling at the thought of asking Snape – even though he had been dead for over a month – said, "Er, yes, the headmaster…"
"Or maybe Flitwick. Hmm. We can discuss it back at Hogwarts," Harry said, suddenly gripped by a memory of Sn- of Severus sitting in a tree chanting something over a sketch of a badger. He shivered and looked around. Something about this place was bothering him, and it wasn't just the fact they were out at night and in potential danger… although that was so familiar he could write a manual on it. "Come on. Let's get the fruit of the moon."
"Right. Er… the only branch I could use for getting into the tree is right over the cloth. How do I get up the tree without standing on the cloth?"
Luna pulled out her wand. "Ready?"
"No."
"Well, get ready to catch the branch on your way up. Or possibly on your way down. I can't do this so well…" She hefted her wand as Simon wrinkled his muzzle.
Neville gulped. "I – eep!"
There was a small popping sound and Neville was sitting in the tree.
"There now, that wasn't too bad, was it?" Luna beamed up at him.
Neville shook his head, face pale as the sheet beneath him.
"Come on, you're in the tree, just get the mistletoe and we can go home," Draco pointed out wearily.
Neville put the handle of the Sickle between his teeth (Harry had another flash of memory of a badger climbing out of a hole in the trunk of a giant tree… and what was that odd ripple out of the corner of his eye? An Acromantula web?) and clambered gingerly further up into the tree.
Oh, right. Harry had forgotten how terrified Neville was of heights. He winced in sympathy.
There was a rustle and then a soft plop. Something fell onto the sheet. It wasn't Neville.
Careful not to touch any of the frozen magic hanging in the air around the tree, Harry leaned forward and peered. Mistletoe. More fell. Harry looked up as a third spray landed. "Excellent work, Neville."
"How much do you need?"
"How much can you see?"
"Not that much. A bit more. Hang on a tick… there. Blast. Don't use that, I touched it with my hand."
Harry reached through the hovering golden words and, mindful that touching the linen might damage the harvest, took the latest bit of mistletoe out from the rest and tucked it in his pocket. Just in case. Another rustling and there was Neville, edging out along a branch. He lifted the Sickle and, lips moving, cut at something with the blade held flat. Mistletoe fell and bounced softly on the sheet. Something else was rustling now, too. It sounded like a wind in the trees. Maybe there was a high wind somewhere above the canopy, but down at ground level the air was still. Harry looked around as the rustling came again from somewhere behind him.
"I think we should go," he said softly.
"Why? What is it?" Draco asked, breathing faster as he looked in the same direction as Harry.
"I don't know," Harry said. The unicorns were looking that way, too.
"Neville," Luna called.
"What?"
"Shall I get you down now?"
"Um… can you take the sheet up – hang on…" There was another brief snatch of an ancient chant. The golden magic hovering around the tree shivered and turned as silvery as moonlight or Luna's eyes. "There. You can touch the sheet now. Just use it to bundle the mistletoe inside."
Draco and Harry took their eyes off the outer darkness for a brief moment and did so. Harry gave the bundle to Luna, who put it in her bag.
"Harry? Do you want the Sickle back?"
"Er… I'd rather not have to catch a sharp blade, thanks."
"Fair enough. Here I come…"
Neville swung down from the branch and landed with a thud, losing his balance and falling backwards and sitting down hard. "Ouch…"
The unicorns pricked up their ears and a mare tucked an overly curious foal back to her flank. Simon stepped backwards, taking Luna with him.
Harry helped Neville up. Snuffles, who still looked badly rattled from seeing the Sickle, wagged his tail in a canine effort to say well done. Draco didn't sneer at Neville's clumsiness; he was too busy watching the Forest around them.
"Thanks. Here's your Sickle…"
Harry took it, tucking it into his pocket. "Ta. And –"
And then the Sickle touched something in his pocket and there was a terrific flash of silver and gold light that left black and yellow starbursts on the back of his retinas. The sound of a forest fire roared in his ears. Unicorns reared, and Draco threw an arm across his face to protect his eyes. Luna screamed.
Harry tried to grab something as he flew backwards and into a world with no up or down.
The world tumbled around him and he was clinging for his life to something cold and hard.
And the first thing he thought with a mind too weary and cynical for fear to be allowed in was: Oh, for Merlin's sake… Here I go again.
ooOOoo
