Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Season 8 Round 4

Position: Chaser 1

Prompts: (quote) "You know, for a magical being, you have a terrible sense of adventure." (colour) orange, (emotion) scared

Word Count: 1,160

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling, not me.

It All Started With A Heliopath

The sunrise came up as if it had missed the sky and wanted nothing more than to warm it up to a radiant blue. Luna tugged the neatly-stitched woolly hat closer to her head, looking carefully around before entering the forest.

Xenophilius had told her that the beautiful Heliopaths roamed these woods. He's probably right, Luna thought, for the woods were dry and humid, ideal conditions for the fire-loving creatures.

But that wasn't all that intrigued Luna. The forest wasn't...what you would call a normal forest. Unlike the usual shade of green that was the colour of most forests Luna had been to, the one which the Heliopaths were rumoured to live in was in many different shades of pink, purple and orange. Luna was perplexed. She had never come across a forest like this one before.

Luna trudged on through the forest. There was no sign of any Heliopaths yet. In fact, Luna hadn't seen any other living organism at all! But she refused to give up. She didn't care that Hermione Granger and many other people (whose minds were so mundane that they didn't believe in such things as Crumple-Horned-Snorkacks) didn't believe in the Heliopath. She just wanted to see them; the Heliopath (and the forest) piqued her curiosity.

She walked on, through towering multi-coloured trees and tiny red shrubs, through a valley of rocks and an area full of burnt, blackened trees. It was the only area of the forest that didn't come in different colours. There had obviously been a fire here, perhaps recently, or maybe many years ago.

Luna sat down on the sooty ground, wiping her brow and taking a long swig of water. She took out a picture of a Heliopath that she had tucked safely underneath her hat. Luna looked at it sadly. The Heliopath existed, she knew it, she just hadn't found it yet.

Leaning her back against the cool trunk of the dead tree, Luna let the sunlight soak into her bones. She listened to the birdsong as she rested, the slithering of leaves as they moved across the ground, hooves cantering nearby...

Wait. Hooves? Luna stood up. A flame had appeared amongst the dead trees. Could it be the Heliopath? Luna hoped that it was. She crept to a nearby tree and stuck her head around it.

It was indeed a Heliopath. A whole herd of fiery orange Heliopaths, to be exact. The clearing of burnt trees which Luna had come by was the place where the herd of Heliopaths called home.

Luna was delighted to find the mythical creatures. She really was. After many hours of searching, she had finally found what she was looking for.

There was just one small problem now.

Because the Heliopath was a spirit of fire, the herd had set fire to the already soot-blackened, dead trees. And the fire was cornering her.

Luna's delight at the Heliopaths turned to fear. How could she get out of this one? She didn't have a wand on her. She had left it at home since Heliopaths were incredibly shy creatures.

Luna backed into the only tree that was untouched by the fire. She squeezed her eyes shut, awaiting the moment when the fire would consume her, burning her up from the outside...

But that moment didn't come.

There was a shout of 'Aguamenti!', a sound of hooves galloping away, and a whoosh of the flames extinguishing.

She opened her eyes.

A young man stood in front of her, his hand outstretched. Luna took it and the man helped her up.

"Thanks for saving my neck," Luna muttered.

"It's no problem," the man said. He pushed his chestnut-brown hair out of his hazel coloured eyes.

There was only one Heliopath left now. Luna and the man stood in silent appreciation at it, before it snorted at Luna, breaking the silence. The man's eyes brightened, as if he had been struck by a sudden inspiration.

He climbed onto the Heliopath's back. Luna was stunned and a little scared. Wasn't he afraid to get burnt to crisp? The man held out his hand again. After a moment's hesitation, Luna took his hand and clambered onto the Heliopath after him. The fire-spirit was pleasantly warm. It didn't feel like the Heliopath was created with pure fire at all. The Heliopath nudged Luna with its head and looked at her with it's fiery, deep red eyes, as if it wanted to take them all the way to the moon. The man chuckled. "You know, for a magical being, you have a terrible sense of adventure," he told the Heliopath. It stamped its hooves in response.

"What's your name?" Luna asked, once she was safe on the back of the Heliopath.

The man chuckled again. "Forgot the most important part, did I? My name's Rolf. Rolf Scamander."

"Luna Lovegood," Luna said, shaking his hand. Rolf seemed like the type of person who would believe in things like Crumple-Horned-Snorkacks and Nargles.

Rolf smiled. He softly patted the Heliopath, and he and Luna galloped towards the big afternoon sun, to a chorus of birdsong, to the many other Heliopaths cantering along with them, side by side, and through the strange, but beautiful multi-coloured forest that made up the rest of their surroundings.

A Few Years Later

"I'm home!"

A call at the door made both of the twins squeal with happiness. Luna smiled as she spooned shepherd's pie into one of the twin's mouth. A few minutes later, Rolf entered the dining room. He hugged each of the twin boys in turn, then pecked Luna on the cheek. Sitting down in a chair next to Luna's, he took out his briefcase and extracted something from it.

"I've got something for you," he whispered in Luna's ear.

Luna smiled. "What is it?"

Rolf showed Luna the gift that he had bought her. It was a small, clay sculpture of a Heliopath. It actually moved. Luna gazed at it.

"Do you like it?" Rolf asked Luna.

Luna gave him an affectionate hug. "I love it," she answered. Rolf grinned at her. Luna beamed back.

Luna had a perfect life.

A perfect family.

And a loving husband.

And it all started with a Heliopath.

And that's the end of this fanfic! I hope you liked it! Please R&R!

And a HUGE thanks to my fab Tornadoes team for beta'ing this! :DDD