Hello! This is another story I wrote for the houses competition. I really struggled with this one, but I also love it. It's nice to write something totally different from usual. I hope you enjoy reading!

House: Slytherin, Class: Charms, Category: Standard, Prompts: "Thundering", "Haunted Mansion", "Fear", WC: 2079

Warnings: Mentions of death, Gilderoy Lockhart is in this, monsters and ghosts. This fic does have some canon deviance in it. The events that occur are not per the novels, but they could sort of fit along the storyline.

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"Mum?" Luna whispered as she crossed the threshold of the mansion. "I'm back!"

The house seemed to chatter in response. Luna's heart thrummed with a sudden fear – the same fear she felt every time she had walked into this haunted mansion. She felt as though she was being watched.

Of course, it was somewhat of an irrelevant fear. She knew she was being watched. Outside, thunder crackled with the thrill of the evening as if it was waiting in anticipation for what was yet to come.

It had been only two weeks since she'd first come back to her childhood home, and she'd known instantly that it held ghosts in its walls. Not the kind of ghosts she knew about at Hogwarts, but other ghosts – darker ghosts. Ghosts that she couldn't always see in plain sight, and who might…

It wasn't that she thought that they would hurt her, but more that they could.

She shuddered at the thought and pushed on further into the house. The floorboards creaked under her feet, and the house groaned in response. Maybe she ought to be careful.

Six months had passed since the accident, and yet their old home still smelt of that acrid potion. Bitter. Like if a lemon rind was combined with a smoky cheese and then set aflame with some awful chemicals. Six months had passed since Luna had last seen her mother, cloaked in smoke and fire, disappearing before her eyes.

See, this was the thing. The accident didn't make sense to her.

Where did her mother go? Yes, vanished things are gone in a way, but they came back, didn't they? There were always ways for vanished things to reappear. Surely it was entirely possible that her mother had simply been taken prisoner by the walls, and that she needed some encouragement to come back out again?

Luna wandered further inside the hallway of the mansion, casting her eyes over the portraits of her mother's ancestors. The mansion had been in the family for generations, but since her mother's disappearance, her father could not bear to go back to it – regardless of the memories associated with it.

"Mum, it's me. It's Luna!" She placed a small, child-sized hand against the wood walls. "I've come to rescue you!"

She skipped along the hallway, messenger bag slapping against the back of her legs, hands running along the walls. When she got to a cold patch, her heart skipped a few beats, and that same fear from earlier gripped her completely. Could this be it? Could this be where her mother was hiding? In this wall?

Luna pressed her ear close to it and murmured, "Mum, it's okay to come out from the other place – Dad and I want you to come back!"

Footsteps clattered through the house, and lightning crackled outside. Luna's eyes went wide. Mum!

The shape of a man skidded into view from the other end of the hallway. He was boyish and blond, maybe in his early twenties, and grinning ear to ear with the most perfect, whitest teeth that Luna had ever seen – they must have been charmed that way with how perfect they were. In fact, most of him seemed to have been pulled right from a fantasy novel, as he painted the perfect picture of an intrepid adventurer.

For a moment, it looked as though he had won the game – whatever game he seemed to be playing. But then he saw Luna with her ear pressed to the wall and his features caved in disappointment.

"You're not a poltergeist," he said, frowning. "Or…?"

"No," she replied simply, staring at him. She pulled her ear away from the wall, looking at the man in detail. "You're not my mother."

He laughed, a practised bold laugh. "I most certainly am not. You're a child."

She smiled in delight. "I suppose so when compared to you."

"What are you doing in this strange house?" He took a step closer, curious.

"This is my home!"

He laughed again, a guffaw. Luna was getting this itching sensation that she did not like this man one bit. He was a little too loud, a little too bold, and a little too pristine. She was used to torn linen and worn and well-loved furnishings. She was used to her father, who was gentle and quiet. She was not used to this practised type of person, performative, grinning winningly and expecting something more from her presence.

The man took another step closer, peering down at her.

"This can't be your home. It's a ruin. Some crack-pot old wizard lived here until last July, and I wanted to find out about the house now that he is no longer living in it. Giving me the perfect opportunity to –"

"Stop talking about my father that way!" Luna shouted at the man. "He's not a –"

"Listen here, you –"

Footsteps again, clattering through the hallways, and a ringing in the ears. Luna felt her skin prickle at the sensation of being watched again. But with this man here, it certainly did not feel like a welcome sensation. The entire house creaked, waiting with bated breath, as the storm rolled on outside.

The man sighed and said, "I came here looking for ghosts that are not of the ordinary –"

"Well, you've come to the right place," Luna muttered back and spun on the spot, searching for the source of the sensation that was beginning to spill through her very veins. It didn't matter that she was too young, or too small – what mattered was that she was clever. And this was her home. She couldn't get lost here, no matter what happened. Everything would be absolutely –

"Look out!"

She toppled backwards as a rogue painting flew off the wall and spun out into the hallway and down beyond the front porch. Face first on the floor, she was breathing hard. Her mother wouldn't treat her like that, would she? No, of course not! Her mother was gentle, kind, crazy…

"I'm Gilderoy," the man said, extending a hand to her. A wind was beginning to churn behind him, picking up his hair and swirling it into the air. The storm roiled again, and the lightning seemed to pierce the house itself, ricocheting through every corner of the hallway. If she could just make it into the main body of the mansion, maybe her mother would be there. Maybe… But the man was still talking. "Gilderoy Lockhart."

Luna dismissed the proffered hand and stood up of her own accord. "Luna Lovegood," she announced loudly, introducing herself above the din of the rain that was picking up outside. "Why are you here?"

He sighed, shoulders twitching in frustration. "I told you – I'm here for unusual ghosts. I'm researching a new novel. It's going to be my debut, where I prove to everyone that I am the hero of this generation."

Hero?

Her interest was piqued. Could this man be a saviour to her? "How interesting! So, you are hoping to write about ghosts. What else? There must be more if you are a hero!"

Gilderoy baulked, stuttering, "Well, yes suppose I – Ah!"

Luna spun around on her spot again and screamed.

A large figure was crawling towards her on the hallway carpet, clawing at the carpet, howling with the wind of the storm. Despite its indeterminable shape, it was without a doubt the most terrifying thing that she had ever seen. The room seemed to shiver in reaction, twitching with the flashing bouts of lightning. Her heart pounded fast, and her mind screamed at her to run run run. Her feet were frozen to the floor.

Was it human? Unlikely.

Whatever it was, it was coming for her.

She was curious. She almost took a step closer to observe, to know more, but then the creature screamed a most terrible scream, and reared onto what might have been its hind legs. It was then that she caught a glimpse of what could have been a mouth – or teeth – a cavernous place, perfect for a child to be swallowed whole and never seen again.

Luna felt something grip her arm and almost cricked her neck looking around at the man standing beside her.

"I don't think your mother is here, Luna," Gilderoy said, tugging on her arm as the gust of wind tried to pull them into the abyss of the creature that was clawing its way towards them. "There's something here, but it isn't your mother. We need to go."

Fear was flooding every part of her. Her voice was failing her too; she could barely be heard above the din of the storm, and the howling of the creature. "But she's supposed to be here! Where else would she be?"

Gilderoy Lockhart stared at her and really looked deep into her eyes, with a strong intensity, and none of that boyish charm she had previously seen.

"Luna, your mother died," he said in a serious tone. "Look at the walls, the explosion, the darkness here. I'm sorry, but she's gone."

Luna ripped her arm from Gilderoy's unsteady grip. "She can't be gone. She disappeared!" She faced the creature. "Give her back! I want my mum!"

"Luna, come on!" He was imploring her, reaching for her. She could feel the weight of the storm upon her shoulders, the swirling wind, and the chaos. She was at the centre of this storm and couldn't just sit here and cry like a half-orphaned child. She needed to be brave. She needed to save her mother.

"Your mother isn't here, let's go!"

The monster howled and charged for the wall, disrupting everything in its path.

Was this worth it? Luna looked around the hallway. She hadn't made it very far at all, and it was going to be dark soon. She needed to go home to her father. This house was broken. Gilderoy was right, as much as it pained her to think so. The burn marks on the walls, the twisted face of half-torn paintings, the hollow feeling that had never existed whilst she had lived there.

There was nothing of her mother left there. And so, with little resolve, Luna followed Gilderoy Lockhart into the house and away from the monster. There were twists and turns, breaking through doorways, and a series of spells she hadn't heard yet. She was trying to be brave, to hold onto every part of her will, trying to learn these walls, remember the mansion. She knew that she couldn't come back to it after this. For some reason unbeknownst to her, there was an evil that had occupied the space.

Finally, they broke out of the mansion and into the fresh air. The monster had skittered into another part of the house, no doubt looking for something else to frighten, but the storm raged on. She was soaked in seconds, hardly able to see. Vaguely, she heard Gilderoy Lockhart ask her if she knew how to get home from here.

Home felt somewhat unreasonable as a consideration. This was her home. But she did know how to get back to her father.

She blinked away unshed tears and wiped at her eyes, though her cheeks were soon damp with rain. Suddenly, across the grassy pastures of their old family garden, she saw a shadow through the mist of the torrent. For a moment she thought that it was another of the creatures, and a scream began to build in her throat.

A crack of lightning burst through the rain, and she saw what it was.

It was a horse of some kind, with rubbery grey skin, and a hollow, skeletal build. She pulled her arm free of Gilderoy and took a step further towards the thing.

"Luna…?"

"What is that?" she asked, staring at the long body, the stringy skin. The strangeness of the beast was mesmerising and horrifying.

Lockhart stared into the distance. For a moment, she thought that he couldn't see it, that she was imagining things. But then the older boy sighed and murmured, "That is a thestral."

"What does it mean?"

"It can only be seen by those who have witnessed death."

Luna blinked. "Oh."

And then, since her mother had disappeared from her life, she cried for the first time. Tears spilled down her face, unbidden and unrelenting. She didn't pay any attention to the man beside her, who had crumpled onto the ground, thinking of a far-off memory.

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Thanks for reading!