MOON BUNNY
First she had screamed as the glistening rocks, the dark water and a horrible death were rushing toward her at lightning speed.
Then she had been cut off, breathless, when her body had done a pirouette in the air, thrown by the dragon, and she had found herself sitting on his back.
At the last moment.
The night was rushing beneath his strong black wings and they were soaring to the sky in a shattering noise. Her eyes were crying because of the cold, of her fear, of the gusts of winds and maybe also because nothing would be as it had been before.
A dragon.
Albus Severus Potter was a dragon and he had just jumped out the window of their common room, holding her by her bunny-eared hood.
She let out a small moan and hid her face in her hands.
None of this was romantic or even - normal.
She felt like if they were going through a veil of droplets, then the wind subsided and the wings relaxed against her legs. She ventured a look around, in wonder.
The night mist was fraying off around them.
They were high – very, very high – much higher than she had ever been able to go with her broomstick during Quidditch workouts. Hogwarts looked like a toy castle and she could see the entire lake, shimmering in the moonlight, and even the ghosting lights of Hogsmeade beyond the darkness of the Forbidden Forest.
The stars seemed as close as those on the magic ceiling of the Great Hall. There were myriads of them around them and they were rolling like pearls on a large black silk drapery when the dragon took a curve.
- "Amazing…"
She reached out, her hand almost brushing the sky, then leaned down.
- "It's so beautiful, Al..." she whispered.
A warm purr rose in the dragon's throat. She could feel it vibrate against her woolen boots. She stroked the satin-like dark fur, bent to wrap the powerful neck in her arms. Her hands could not hug him completely.
- "I love you... even like this..."
Her fear was gone and she had no more questions.
The dragon increased his speed and his body began to crackle with blue and golden sparks that tickled Wendy's cheeks and went all the way to to the tips of his wings.
- "What... what's happening?" she muttered, straightening up.
There was a tingling at the roots of her hair.
- "Al? Er... should'nt we go back? Al?"
She patted the dragon's head, bent down to try to see his eyes, but instead of slowing down, he suddenly dived toward the lake and she grabbed two tufts of black hair, holding on to dear life.
The dragon spread his wings and flew over the dark water like a huge fire bird. There was a thunderbolt in the perfectly calm sky and Wendy shut her eyes with a little cry.
When she opened her eyes again, the dragon had doubled in size and sparks were scattering behind him like the tail of a comet. He swung over the waves, touched them with the tip of his wing, sending up a spray of glittering water, then soared again, his powerful body rearing up, his muscles rippling under his skin.
He was probably as big as the Gryffindor common room, now.
- "Wow", muttered Wendy, aloud as if to make sure she was not dreaming.
She looked at the thick fur in which she could sink her fingers and laughed nervously. She carefully let go of her grip and stretched her arms, taking more and more confidence. They climbed higher and higher in the stars and the crisp wind crept under her pajama pants. She shivered. The round moon was facing them, huge, blurry and pale.
- "Are we going all the way up to there? Are you taking me to see the bunny?"
She giggled.
She never wanted to go back down to Earth.
"The bunny is you, little girl."
She froze.
The voice was somewhere in her head, with a deep and friendly laughter.
"Or rather, young warrior. He's right, you really have no fear!"
She flinched.
- "What ... who's there?"
She looked around : clouds gathering under the inky sky studded with stars, the silent moon, Hogwarts down below, like a house from a storybook.
"I am here, child. With you.
With him."
The voice was warm and it sounded a bit like her grandfather's, slow and full of humor. Something clicked in her brain. She laid her palm on the dragon's head.
- "You can speak!?"
Again the deep laughter wrapped her in something like happiness, the smell of caramel, a feeling of safety.
"This is exactly what said a little boy, a long time ago ..."
Wendy pushed back in her mind the additional questions piling up on the stack of her unanswered questions and swallowed hard.
There was something more important than everything else.
- "Is ... can I talk to Albus? Is he… - there, too?"
The dragon crooned like a giant winged kitten and whirled like a swallow in front of the moon.
"Wendy ..."
Her heart sank in gratitude.
- "Al?"
"I'm here."
It was him. His voice - a little hesitant, as if seeking her approval.
She did not pause to ponder, passionately hugged the dragon's neck, buried her face in the black fur that smelt of soap and sardines.
- "I meant it", she whispered. "I meant every word and I will never change my mind. Like that, like before, and no matter what happens next. I love you."
The night breeze ruffled the black hair between the fluffy ears. The moon was hemming them in silver.
"Thank you."
Wendy grinned and wiped her runny nose - she could not remember when she had started to cry.
- "Can you do something mad? Fly like when you're on your broomstick, but it owes to be massive, because you're just so BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG!
Her voice was carried away by the dive. The dragon swooped down on the lake, ascended to the stars, scattered the mist, descended spiraling towards Hogsmeade, brushed the roofs and chimneys, returned at full speed over the Forbidden Forest, razing the top of the trees, unfurling the banners in the Quidditch pitch, and tacked between the towers of Hogwarts before soaring back to the night.
When he finally slowed down, hovering on the air streams like a shadow in front of the moon, Wendy was out of breath, her hair was tangled and she was completely frozen. She pulled on the bunny-eared hood and snuggled her hands inside her sleeves.
- "Thank you", she whispered.
She had felt as if he was there, behind her, his arms holding her close to make sure she wouldn't fall, she wouldn't get lost during the wild ride.
The dragon's heart was pounding beneath the ebony leather of his skin and his wings were trembling a little.
"I love you, Wendy."
She smiled and nodded.
In the blue universe filled with myriads of stars, they were alone in the world.
Her, Albus and the dragon.
oOoOoOo
Morning was seeping through the large common room windows, bathing in gold and pink the tidy round tables and the neatly stacked books. Fabius Macmillan's cat was sleeping on the sofa. She cracked open an eye and yawned, showing her small sharp teeth, then stood up and stretched her back when she heard the door opening at the top of the spiral staircase.
- "I'm sure you lost it somewhere else", said Lily Potter's voice.
Alison Corner, who was coming down the stairs, wrinkled her nose.
- "There's a funny smell, isn't it?"
Lily shrugged.
- "Nope."
- "It smells like Moaning Myrtle's toilets", Alison insisted. "Or my uncle Marcy's fish soup."
She walked into the room, sniffling.
Lily yawned, looking deeply bored.
- "Stop acting like Bert hammersmith's hare when it's on Weasley's products hunt. It won't help you find your bracelet. I'm sure you left it in study. Or on the basement window, next to your cauldron."
Alison leaned down to look under the fringes of a tablecloth, then came to the sofa. Her eyes widened and she froze.
- "OH. MER. LIN."
- "What?" asked Lily.
Her friend turned to her : her cheeks had turned a bright pink and her eyes were gleaming.
- "Lily Potter, come-and-see-this-you-are-not-going-to-believe-in-your-eyes", she cackled.
The young red-haired girl rolled her eyes. She walked to the sofa, leaned over the backrest and gasped.
- "It's going to be the talk of Hogwarts", giggled Alison.
Lily ran a hand through her hair and sighed. She nibbled her bottom lip, half-amused, half-infuriated.
- "And my parents are so going to kill him."
The embers had turned to ash in the fireplace. Someone had cleared the tray and cleaned the sardines mess, but the smell of fish still lingered strongly in the carpet.
Wendy was sprawled on the floor, her mouth half open, her long brown hair tangled, still wearing the sweater with bunny ears she had on the day before when the girls had gone to bed. One of her arms was abandoned on the old scarlet carpet and the other was cuddling… Albus, whose head was on the girl's belly. He was snuggled against her, asleep, his black hair more untidy than ever, shirtless and only wearing dark gray pajamas.
They looked so peaceful that Lily almost strangled Alison who was still tittering. She knew she'd better wake them up before a teacher came, but she couldn't bring herself too.
As if she had unconsciously guessed that it was the morning of the last day of their childhood.
As if she had known...
But she did not know, and the next day, her life like theirs would be shaken forever.
TBC
Next chapter : The mail that came on April, the 6th