Her hair fluttered in the light breeze courtesy of the open windows as her feet swung beneath her. Luna's attention, however, was on her mother, as the witch's quill flew across the parchment that held symbols and calculations that Luna couldn't understand.
Luna's mother rarely allowed her inside her experimental room, but today was one of the days when her mother intended to work fully on the theoretical aspects of her latest idea. Luna wasn't even sure if her mother had her wand on her or not, but Luna was sure her mother could use magic without one – her mother was that good.
Watching her father work on his latest article was always disappointingly boring, even while listening to his furious muttering and occasional manic laugh. Her mother, on the other hand, wrote and drew and danced, occasionally even taking a moment to tap Luna on the nose with a wide smile whenever she became too frustrated.
A shout from somewhere above them had the two of them pausing curiously. Their eyes met, and after a moment of silence, shrugged it off – one shout was usually spilled tea.
"I think Dad's upset," Luna said, eyes widening as a few muffled sounds followed the shout.
"Your father is always upset after so much silence." Pandora laughed, placing a few paperweights over her parchment and picking Luna up with a twirl. "Let's go see what's upset him so much this time, huh?"
"Let's save Daddy!" Luna exclaimed, pointing in the general direction of the muffled shouting.
It took them less than a minute to climb up the stairs and into the living room that also served as Xenophilius' work area. The man had climbed onto his chair and looked to be fending off a creature by jabbing his wand at it.
"Daddy! We've come to save you!" Luna said immediately, squirming in her mother's arms.
"Go save your father, mighty warrior! I shall be your second!" Pandora said. Luna ran up to her father as soon as her feet hit the floor, stumbling slightly over a mass of parchment and books.
"Spider!" Xenopilius whimpered, eyes roving the area near his chair. He had stopped jabbing his wand around, but didn't look to be climbing off his chair just yet.
"Ah, warrior, assist the man. I shall capture the beast!"
The spider sailed through the air seconds later, and into a container that had arrived only moments before the spider. Xenopilius shuddered and nearly toppled backwards at the sight of it, but Luna clung to the man's legs.
"The beast is captured, Daddy. You can come down now!" Luna said cheerfully, as Xenophilius let out a deep sigh of relief, half-collapsing into the chair he had been standing on with his wand still clutched tightly in his right hand.
"Aren't you going to give your saviour a reward?" Pandora teased, re-entering the room without the spider.
"Reward! Reward! Reward!"
"What would you like, my warrior ladies?" Xenopilius asked, glancing between Luna and Pandora with a tired smile.
"I'd like not to have to save you from a spider again." Pandora grinned. "But I think I'd have to settle with you cleaning this place up, or you never know when another spider might come to visit!"
"Clean! Clean! Clean!" Luna repeated at her father's horrified expression.
"I feel like I'm being ganged up on," Xenophilius said morosely.
The Golden Snitch [Uagadou, Biloko]: 12 Days of Christmas – 4 koalas cuddling: Write about a mother/daughter relationship