QLFC Quidditch Supplies
Title: Ten Past Midnight
Wordcount: 1544
Prompts: [Title] Ten Past Midnight - [Creature] Pixie
Galleons Earned: 15
Luna had been out looking for some Wrackspurts, when she saw a glimmer out of the corner of her eye. Curious, she moved to take a closer look and found, in the center of a clearing, an open-air library, glowing faintly silver in the moonlight. Luna looked around and found no one nearby, so started looking through the shelves, before coming across a book titled Fairies and other Small Magical Creatures. Slowly pulling it off the shelf, Luna carefully carried the book back to her house.
Luna found her father lounging on the sofa of the living area on the first floor, and moved over in his direction, to sit on the ground beside the sofa. Delicately opening up the book, Luna was settling down to start reading when her father, Xenophilius, said, "Luna, could you please read that tomorrow? I don't want you falling asleep in the middle of your reading."
"Of course, dad. Good night."
"Good night darling."
Closing the book as gently as she had opened it, Luna walked up the spiral stairs to her room on the top floor of her small home. Pushing the door open, Luna looked around her room and smiled. The bed was plain, but with comforting grey and black sheets and white pillows, while the desk was made of a deep red-brown cherry wood, like all of the furniture. Placing the book down on the large desk, Luna moved to the dresser and pulled out some simple clothes for the night. Having pulled her pajamas on, Luna pulled the covers back and slipped into bed, with dreams filled by fairies, pixies, and other small creatures.
The next morning, Luna woke with the sun and went outside to water the Dirigible Plums, Snargaluff plants and Gurdyroots. Walking back inside, she found her father making breakfast for the both of them, so she wandered up to her room. Luna grabbed the book she found at the silver library and made her way back down to the combined kitchen/living area. With the eggs boiling, Luna joined her father on the sofa, and opened Fairies and other Small Magical Creatures. Halfway through the first chapter, the eggs finished boiling and Luna got up to peel the eggs. Luna and her father had always preferred cooking the muggle way, so Luna peeled the eggs by hand, while her father made some toast. When the toast popped, Xenophilius moved two slices to each plate and Luna put an egg on top of each slice.
Finishing her breakfast, Luna took her plate to the sink and went back to reading her book from the silver library.
After hours of reading, only stopping for food and bathroom breaks, Luna found it was ten to midnight, the same time she had left the night before, and decided to go see if the silver library was still there, or if it had disappeared. Ten minutes later, if someone stumbled across Luna, they would find a girl with dirty blonde hair, silver eyes and pale skin staring intently at a clearing while the clock chimed midnight. After ten more minutes, at ten past midnight, Luna was about to walk away when the air in the clearing shimmered and the library appeared.
Smiling slightly, Luna walked through the rows of books until she came to where she got Fairies and other Small Magical Creatures from, to find a note there. Removing the note, Luna pushed the book into place before unfolding the paper.
Dear whomever may be reading this,
It has come to our attention that a non-pixie has found our Silver Library, and we would like to extend an offer to this person.
Our offer is one where both parties would benefit, and the library would be able to be used by another after many, many years.
You see, some of the best witches and wizards stumbled across this library, and gained infinite amounts of wisdom from the pages of these books.
We would like to offer the chance for whoever is reading this to continue to read from the volumes here in our library.
Of course, so far this offer only benefits one party.
In exchange for access to the near infinite amount of volumes here in our library, you would care for this collection as your own and would be able to get some first-hand experience with some things written about within the covers of our books.
In the millenia the Silver Library has existed, only very few people have taken up this offer, which is to be expected. After all, the Silver Library only appears at ten past midnight.
If you accept this offer, all we ask you to do is to go to the center of the library, to the desk, and say your name, species (for example: veela), and your reason for wanting to continue reading from the volumes in our library.
If you choose not to accept this we will not hold it against you, and will grant you the ability to visit occasionally, should you wish to do so.
Kind regards,
The Pixie Association
Shocked, Luna briefly registered the shimmer in front of her eyes before she fell to the ground, her legs unable to support her. The shimmer died down and what Luna saw made her eyes bug out. Thousands of little fairies - pixies, she corrected herself - were flying around, and collecting little sparkles of what could only be magic as they flew. A few approached Luna, and sprinkled some of the magical dust over her head, before moving on to collect more.
Standing up, with a hand on the bookshelf to steady herself, Luna looked around and started to see more creatures associated with the magical world, such as Goblins, Centaurs and House-Elves. Looking up at the sound of wings, Luna saw phoenixes and owls swooping overhead. Amazed at the number of magical creatures in the Silver Library, Luna made her way to the center desk.
Upon reaching the desk, Luna said, "My name is Luna Lovegood, I am a witch, and I would like to continue reading the volumes in this library to further understand the world I live in, in all of its aspects and areas."
Suddenly, a tremor made its way across the room and a voice called, "Welcome, Luna Lovegood, to the Silver Library. We would like to acknowledge your request to learn about the world, if you would recognize our own request; for you to look after the volumes within this clearing as your own, to respect all magical and non-magical beings that may enter the library, and to help any of these beings as well as you can at that point in time. Will you do these three things, Luna Lovegood?"
Taking a deep breath, the girl in question replied, "I will do the things you have asked of me to the best of my ability. Thank you for granting me this opportunity."
"You are welcome, Luna Lovegood. Now, you best be off to rest, and we will welcome you with open arms tomorrow."
Beaming, Luna made her way back to her home, looking forward to the next night. Slipping through the front door, Luna crept up the stairs, jumping the creaky step near her room, and made it through to her room. Sighing quietly in relief, Luna changed into the singlet and shorts she had laid out, and slid into bed.
The next day seemed to crawl by, and Luna ended up deciding to take a nap after lunch, to shorten the amount of time she would have to wait to go to the Silver Library. When Luna woke up, it was 10:00 and she found a silver sweater at the end of her bed. Pulling it on, Luna walked down the stairs and into the living room. Before she knew it, the Ottery St. Catchpole clocktower was chiming twelve times, signifying it was 12 o'clock.
Luna exited her house and made her way to the clearing that held the Silver Library, finding that it had appeared when she was on her way. Walking to the center desk, Luna found another note written for her, explaining some basic things she could do, like restacking books and helping library clients find the books they are looking for, as well as a map of the, admittedly very large, library.
Collecting the books from the Magical Creatures section, Luna wandered over and started putting the books away, with them glowing where they would go. Just as she finished putting the last book back on the shelf, Luna felt a tug on her jeans leg, and looked down to find a House-Elf tapping her legging-clad legs.
"Hello, my name is Luna. Would you like some help?"
"Yes please, miss Luna. I's bes looking for books on meals to makes for my masters. Where would theys bes?"
"Well, I would believe them to be over… here!" Luna exclaimed, leading the House-Elf over to the right, where she found some cookbooks.\
Throughout the next three hours, Luna helped even more library patrons, and then decided to turn in. Having made her way into her home and up to her room, Luna changed and went to bed, excited for what the next night would bring.