Breath-Taking: Chapter 3
Hey guys, I'm back again! Did you miss me? Didn't tink so… Anyway, this next chapter does not involve Harry, it involves Neville and Luna. This story will eventually end up NL, and RH. Strange, isn't it? Ja, I thought so. Anyway, I've done some research on Harry Potter stuff, and Wicca stuff, to get some information on Pentagrams et. Cetera, so this will be really accurate. Btw, just because Harry's turned into a girl doesn't mean that the war is done! This book is Post-HBP, and will conform to the book as much as possible considering the fact that Harry no longer has male genitals!
Neville was quite happy to get out of the room; the atmosphere was just literally charged with emotions! From Harry, it was fear, and anger at both Neville and at Ron, because that Ron was practically emanating… Lust? Neville shuddered, and, gathered his coat around him to ward off the chill September air. Today was September 3rd; term had started three days ago. When he had first arrived and heard about the special project, he had flipped. Luna had offered to help him; he was to meet her by the Lupin Memorial Tapestry, as the Slytherins had cruelly billed it. In a little known corner on the third floor, there was a tapestry of an evil-looking werewolf half-shifted; it was, essentially, a wolf with human-sized limbs walking on its hind legs. The werewolf had a beautiful, naked lady pushed up against a wall, and his fangs were poised at her throat, ready to bite. This was one of the few non-animated portraits, except in the background, rumor said that there was unicorn in the far-off trees, and though you never saw it move, you'd always see the dab of white that was said to be the unicorn, in a different place every time you went there. Neville patted his jacket and pulled out Trevor; although the toad was never very helpful, he always gave Neville a sense of comfort.
Here in the little-known corners of the school, a sense of comfort was definitely needed. Bats flitted through all of the portraits, which all depicted Victorian era witches and wizards dressed in dresses, suits, and spats clearly from older days. Clearly used to this disturbance of the bats, they held up white lace parasols spattered with fecal matter to stop the onslaught. The bats converged at a portrait of an enormous bat-human-gargoyle thing. The picture frame had a gold nameplate on it, saying
'Morsmordre, King of darkness.' Morsmordre opened glowing green eyes, revealed pointed yellow teeth, and stared at Neville, who was transfixed with fear. Wasn't the spell to cast the Dark Mark called that? Neville stared at the creature of darkness, surrounded by his minions, and saw, in the far background of the painting, a very clear, shining star. Neville smiled, and no longer was afraid. When he looked back again, Morsmordre was different; his eyes were red and black, he was smaller, and less humanoid; a common vampire bat. The star expanded, until the entire sky was blue and white; it was day. Morsmordre yawned, wrapped his wings around himself as if they were a blanket, and went to sleep, snoring lightly. Neville touched the painted bat, which stirred lightly, and a smile stretched on the bat's lips. Trevor croaked, sending Neville back to earth.
Luna turned to him, a smile on her face.
"Well, let's start, shall we? First, I'm going to give you an example of the two spells. I spent about a month preparing the candles and the pentagrams and the incense, so you'll have to make your own. I just figured I'd get a head start on next year, but instead I'll give you an example of the spells." She pulled out an exquisitely crafted item. Neville stared at it; it was made out of gold, with rubies inset all over the place. It's eyes were two orange chips of citron. It was, in short, beautiful. It was a small. Trevor poked his head out of the pocket, and his buglike eyes widened; the object was a frog. Neville laughed.
Luna lit an incense stick smelling of the bark of trees stained dark by rain, with emerald moss in the backround. She put the incense in the mouth of a small incense-holding gold dragon. She lit a black candle, a white candle, and, strangely enough, a candle that was Scotch plaid. She put the frog in a pentagram drawn with a strange form of chalk. She held the incense stick up to the frog, blew some of the scent over it, and then, kissed the frog on the lips, put her wand in between its eyes, lowered her mouth to where the frog's ear would be if it had ears, and whispered a word Neville couldn't hear. With a flare of gold, a frog formed from the curling incense smoke hopped into the golden frogs' mouth. The golden frog blinked, and hopped from the pentagram onto Luna's palm. She then whispered another word in its ear, and then in an explosion of black light, the frog came out, looking exactly the same as before. That must have been the Sentience spell, but why it required apparently so little effort, Neville didn't know. Luna silently dropped the frog lightly into Neville's palm.
"Here," she breathed quietly, "this is for you. And Trevor. The frog is a girl by the way." Neville almost teared up, though why he didn't know.
"Wow Luna," he said, "I think that's the nicest present that anyone's ever given me!" She smiled, and Neville looked into her eyes, and they were as deep as the stars. Their little moment was interrupted by Trevor hopping next to the golden frog, and made some strange alien croaking sounds deep in his throat. Neville raised an eyebrow with a strange smile, knowing that Trevor really liked the frog.
"So, we'll start tomorrow. Meet me in the Library this time, instead of back here. I just needed a dark secluded place to do the spells." Neville smiled, and walked away, touching Morsmordre one last time. Luna smiled and started to scuff out the chalk pentagram with a toe of her boot.
"Hey," Neville said, "Luna, do you want me to walk with you over to Hufflepuff? I've never seen it before," he quickly lied. She gave him a strange glance.
"Yeah," she said, "I'd like that."
Ja it's shorter than my other chappies; I kno! Sooooo, r u guys gonna review or not? Nxt chapter will be about Harry/Ron.
I'm also starting an L/J fic called 'Per Iocum'