AN: Good evening everyone and happy Thursday. I hope you all have been having a wonderful summer so far and that you have been drinking plenty of water. So I hope to update all of my stories more but since it's summer I travel quite a bit and there is usually no internet. Now on a little side note I wanted to let you all know that I have started a new story, it's the Hunger Games from Peeta's perspective so please check it out when you can. So today is August 4, 1016 and this is the first chapter today. Once again anything you recognize is JK Rowling's and anything you don't is mine.
Luna POV
I knew the exact moment Harry saw the Thestral pulling the nearest carriage. His whole body froze and his green eyes bulged. I tugged lightly on his arm to keep him moving towards the carriage. He stumbled and tightened his hand around mine.
"Where's Pig?" Ron said from behind us. In answer I lifted the hand that Harry wasn't holding and smiled as the little owl inside zoomed around and tweeted happily.
"He's a sweet little owl, isn't he?" I said with a smile. Harry gave me a bemused smile and Ron looked at me like I had a second head (which was how most people looked at me).
"Yeah, uh, sure." Ron said looking around, a frown on his face. "Where do you reckon —"
"Hagrid is? No clue." Harry said frowning. I started to say that maybe he had gotten hurt but Hermione Granger cut me off. She was glowering as she stomped between Harry and Ron muttering darkly under her breath.
"What's got her knickers in a twist?" Ron said blinking owlishly after the girl.
"Don't! Ronald, just don't." Hermione growled as we climbed after her into the carriage. She was sitting cross-legged on the seat her chin resting on her hand. Ginny was sitting across from her, biting her lip so hard it was white.
"Uh..." It seemed that no one knew what to say. In fact no one said anything until Neville stumbled into the carriage a moment later sporting a bloody lip and a black eye.
I gaped staring at him. "Merlin's saggy —"
"Ronald!" Hermione snapped not even bothering to look at him. Her eyes were too busy roving over Neville her lip trembling. "Neville... what — what did you do?"
"You know what I did, the little shit deserved it for calling you a — a — Mudblood whore and asking if you liked it rough," he said darkly wiping his lip with his sleeve, smearing it with blood. Ron's face turned purple and he began to get up but Ginny pulled him roughly back down.
"We'll deal with him later," Harry growled his eyes almost red. I blinked owlishly and turned back to Hermione, who was trying to unobtrusively wipe her watering eyes with her sleeve.
"Thank you," she said her voice wobbling. "But you know I don't like violence."
"You don't need to thank me and he deserves more than a broken nose for it." Neville said gruffly moving to sit on the bench next to Hermione. I continued to stare at Hermione who was shaking and felt my eyes go wide when she leaned her head against Neville's shoulder. Neville looked down at Hermione, a serious look on his face before resting his head on top of hers.
"So how about those Holyhead Harpies? Did anyone catch the last game against the Chudley Cannons?" Harry asked a mischievous smile crossing his face.
Harry POV
I could feel Luna staring at me while Ron and Ginny talked about their favorite teams. More than anything I wanted to lose myself in the conversation about Quidditch but I couldn't concentrate. Not when she was staring at me.
I slowly turned to look at Luna who was staring at me intently. Her head tilted to the side and her eyebrows were drawn together and her lips pursed. She almost looked angry but that couldn't have been it, Luna didn't seem to have an angry bone in her body. Did that mean she was concentrating really hard on something?
I raised my eyebrow in question and she blinked three times before lifting her chin towards where Hermione and Neville were sitting. My eyes flicked over there and I watched as Hermione rubbed her hand up and down Neville's arm, as if she was comforting him. I frowned in confusion and turned back to Luna. She dropped her head, her mouth curling into a smile.
I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face as I leaned back in my seat. But something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention: The creature pulling the carriage.
"What is that thing?" I asked turning to look at Luna.
She frowned looking around. "What, you mean the Thestrals?" Luna asked staring at the terrifying horse-like creature.
"Is that what they're called?" I asked taking in the creature. It was completely fleshless, the black coats clinging to its skeleton, of which every bone was visible. Its heads were dragonish, and its pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither — vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats.
"Yes, only people who have seen death can see them. And when I say 'see death' I mean see someone die not death himself." I gave Luna a queer look before turning back to look at the Thestral. Cedric. Because Lord Voldemort had murdered him in front of me I was able to clearly see the creature.
"Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" Ginny asked pulling me out of my thoughts. "What's she doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?"
"Til be quite glad if he has," Luna said absently, "he isn't a very good teacher, is he?"
"Yes, he is!" A hot flash of anger rushed through me and the words popped out before I could stop them. In fact I wasn't the only one who had said it, Ron and Ginny had too.
I turned and glared at Hermione who looked uncomfortable. She cleared her throat and quickly said, "Erm… yes… he's very good."
"Well, we in Ravenclaw think he's a bit of a joke," Luna said, looking around at everyone but me.
"You've got a rubbish sense of humor then," Ron snapped, as the wheels below us creaked into motion.
Luna frowned, shrugged her shoulders, then pulled the Quibbler back out and started to read. I frowned at her before turning to look out the window at the passing scenery. This wasn't what I expected... Not at all. Things were changing so fast it was hard to keep up with it all. I sighed leaning my head against the window, maybe things would slow down once we reached Hogwarts.
AN: Please Review! It helps so much more than you realize. Reviews make me happy and when I'm happy I think about the story more. The more I think about it the more I create new twists and turns for the story and I end up updating more. Which in the end makes everyone happy.