Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine.
The next morning, after breakfast, Luna and Cedric went outside to play as it was a very nice day. "Don't wander off too far!" Pandora called after them.
"We won't!" Cedric called back.
While Luna was dancing and spinning around in the grass, Cedric decided to do some practice flying on his broom. He had to be mindful not to fly too high lest Muggles spot him. After about 20 minutes of flying, he looked down and realized Luna was nowhere to be seen.
"Luna!" he called, dismounting his broomstick. "Luna, where are you?" There was no answer. "Luna! LUNA!" he yelled, becoming more and more frantic with each passing minute. "C'mon, this isn't funny! LUNA!"
At that moment Pandora came outside. "What's going on?" she asked. "Where's Luna?"
Something snapped within Cedric, and he broke down in uncontrollable sobs. He was extremely thankful his father wasn't there to see this because every time he cried in front of him, Amos would slap him with the old "boys don't cry" lecture.
"What's wrong?" a concerned Pandora asked.
"I-I'm (hic) s-s-sorry!" the seven-year-old choked. "I...d-don't (hic) know w-where she is! I was...flying around on my b-broom and - and - " He was sobbing too hard to say any more.
"Calm down, dear," the witch told him, patting him on the shoulder. "We'll find her." They were about to start their search when Xenophilius peeked his head out the door.
"Everything all right out there?"
"Everything's fine, Xeno. Go back to your article. And do make sure Newt doesn't escape." Pandora and Cedric walked around for a while, calling Luna's name once in a while (Cedric was still hiccupping considerably). Suddenly Pandora glanced down at the ground and gasped. "Cedric, look!"
There was a trail of white pebbles in front of them; Cedric realized he must have missed them in his panic. They followed the trail all the way to the forest Luna had explored once, and sure enough they found the little girl sitting on the bottommost branch of a tree talking to a family of birds. "Hello!" Luna said, smiling.
"Sweetheart, come down from there, please," Pandora said gently. Luna jumped down from the branch and walked up to her mother, who picked her up and balanced her on her hip. "Cedric, why are you crying?" the little girl asked. "Did a Larmespurt get you?"
"No, it's n-not that. I was worried about you," Cedric answered her with a sniffle, not having the faintest idea what a Larmespurt was. "I thought maybe you'd gotten lost or died or something."
"I wasn't going to get lost or die, silly! Didn't you see the pebbles I left on the ground?"
"No, not until your mum pointed them out to me."
"Well, I put them there so I could find my way back, just like Hansel did in the story."
Pandora gave her daughter a big hug. "That was so clever of you, Lu-Lu! Mummy's so proud of you! Now let's go home." The group headed back to the Rook, following Luna's pebble trail.
"Why'd you wander off anyway, Luna?" asked Cedric.
"I saw some bunnies hopping nearby and I wanted to see where they were going," Luna explained. "I picked up some pebbles to make a trail in case I got lost. Then I saw some birds and talked to them a bit, and then you came along."
"Well, we're glad you're safe and sound," Pandora told her as they entered the house. "Now let's get ready for lunch. You must be starving!"
"Right, children," Pandora said that night once Luna and Cedric were tucked in. "Let's finish the tale of Hansel and Gretel. Do you remember where we left off?"
"Yeah, it was when Hansel tried to get outside for more pebbles but the door was locked," replied Cedric.
"That's right. The next morning, the stepmother gave each child a piece of bread; it was smaller than what they'd had before. Once the family left the house, Hansel stopped and looked around every so often. 'Why are you stopping and looking around?' the woodcutter asked. 'I am looking at my little white pigeon,' answered Hansel. 'She is sitting on the roof and wants to say goodbye to me.' 'You fool!' the stepmother said. 'That is not your pigeon. That is the sun shining on the chimney.' What they didn't know was that Hansel was really leaving bread crumbs on the ground.
"This time Hansel and Gretel's parents led them even deeper into the forest than they had ever been before. The stepmother said, 'You stay here while your father and I go and chop wood. When we are finished, we will come back and take you home.' The children waited a long time, and when they got hungry they ate their bread; Hansel had no bread left, so Gretel gave him some of hers. Soon the children fell asleep, and when they woke up it was dark. When the children realized their parents had not returned, Hansel looked around for the bread crumbs he had left, but they were nowhere to be seen, for the birds had eaten them all."
"Good thing you used pebbles instead of crumbs, eh, Luna?" Cedric said with a grin. The four-year-old smiled at him.
"Indeed," said Pandora. "Moving on. The children spent hours walking, but they could not find their way home. The longer they walked, the hungrier, more tired, and more discouraged they felt. Finally they spotted a strange house in a clearing; this house was made out of gingerbread with gumdrops on the sides, a roof made from pie crust and windows made from spun sugar."
"Oooooh!" Luna squealed. "I bet it was yummy!"
Pandora nodded. "Hansel and Gretel were so hungry they eagerly started eating every bit of the house they could reach. All of a sudden they heard a voice shouting, 'Nibble, nibble, little mouse, who is nibbling on my house?!' The door opened to reveal a kind-looking old woman; she invited them in and gave them the most delicious meal they had eaten. Then she led them to a bedroom with very comfortable-looking beds, and they fell asleep at once. Unfortunately, they were unaware that this woman was really a wicked witch who loved to eat children."
"Oh, yuck!" cried Cedric, repulsed by the idea of grownups eating children. Luna, on the other hand, had a different worry.
"I thought all witches were 'asposed to be good," she said.
"No, not all of them are, sweetie," Pandora told her. "In fact, Muggles tend to think all witches are bad."
"Really?" asked the little girl in surprise.
"I'm afraid so."
"But I'm not bad! And you're not bad either, are you, Mummy?"
"No, we're not bad at all," her mother told her. "Now, back to the story. The next morning Gretel woke up to discover that her brother was gone. The witch had captured him and locked him in a cage; she told him that she was going to fatten him up so she could eat him. Every so often she would ask to feel his finger, and as the witch could not see very well, Hansel would take a chicken bone from his pocket and presented it in place of his finger.
"Eventually the witch grew frustrated at her apparent failure to fatten the boy and decided she would eat him anyway. When she ordered Gretel to get into the oven to ensure it was warm enough, the girl realized the witch intended to eat her as well. So she pretended not to know what to do, and the witch said, 'Fool! You get in like this!' and proceeded to climb into the oven. Gretel then slammed the oven door shut, causing the witch to burn to death."
"That was mean!" Luna declared.
"Yes, but at least the witch was gone for good. The children decided to look around and found many diamonds, pearls, and other gemstones the witch had stolen. They collected as much as they could and set out on their way before remembering they still had no idea how to get home. They walked until they came to a pond; sadly neither child could swim and there was no boat to ride nor a bridge to cross. However, they saw a swan gliding toward them and asked it for a ride. The swan obliged, and before long Hansel and Gretel made it back home.
"The stepmother had died while the children were away, so the woodcutter was all alone in the house. But he was overjoyed to see them again, and with all the jewels they had brought back they lived happily for a very long time. The end. So, what do you think?"
"Pretty weird story if you ask me," said Cedric.
"I didn't like the part about the witch getting burned," added Luna. "But I liked when Hansel left the trail of pebbles, and I liked the part with the swan and the gingerbread house. Mummy, can we make a gingerbread house tomorrow?"
"Of course, sweetheart," said Pandora, kissing her daughter lightly on the forehead before exiting the room. "Goodnight, children."
Once Pandora had left, Luna turned to Cedric and said, "Cedric?"
"Yeah?"
"I wish you were my big brother."
The little boy grinned. "That makes two of us. But we're friends, will that do?"
"Yes."
Just then Cedric remembered something else. "What's a Larmespurt, anyway?"
"They're a lot like Wrackspurts 'cept they get into your eyes and make you cry for no reason."
"Oh."
"Goodnight, Cedric."
"'Night, Luna."