“Hey... Marbis,” A voice whispered, “Can you lend me a hand?” Feeling something tickling her ear, she jolted up half asleep and slapped the side of her head, hoping to kill whatever pesky insect was on her. Somewhere beside the girl, a soft giggling was heard- sounding suspiciously like her best friend.
“Luna? Is that you?” Grabbing her wand, she cast a quick Lumos and a face popped up right in front of hers. Dirty blonde hair and a soft smile, Luna tilted her head, “Hello Marbis, how are you?” Shaking her head sleepily, the black haired girl rubbed her eyes and yawned. She sat up, stretched, and asked why the other was there.
Her expression slid into a more anxious one, “I need a bit of help,” she got up from where she was leaning against the bed. Oh no, Marbis thought. There have been a few times where this has happened and it’s never turned out well for the vampire. I hope this isn’t going to be like the time when she wanted to befriend the giant squid. About 2 years ago, Luna had come to Marbis with a request, she wanted to get to know the squid that lived in the lake. Even though everyone said not to bother helping her because she was just going to get them killed, Marbis did it anyway.
In the end, Luna had managed to actually befriend the creature, although no one knew how she did it. It didn’t turn out nearly as well for the vampire; somehow she had been attacked by grindylows and chased by a thestral all in one night. While it was a horrifying experience it was still one of the most fun nights she’s had because she had gotten to spend the whole night running around with Luna. Realizing that Marbis needed to respond to the other girl, she spoke up, “You know I’ll help you, but what exactly is it?” She stood, wrapped a blanket around herself, and waited for the blonde to speak. Luna somehow could manage to appear anywhere she pleased, whether it be the Slytherin dorm rooms or the kitchens.
Taking a piece of her long hair, she began twirling it around her finger as she started to speak. “Would you mind coming with me to pick up some mushrooms in the dark forest? I currently have quite a few wrackspurts flying around and so I might get lost.”
“Are you talking about the Psilocybin mushrooms, Amanita Virosas, or portobellos?” In other words; are we going to do drugs, murder, or eat food? This was, of course, a joke.
The short blonde girl stared at a spot beside Marbis for a while, her eyes seemingly tracking something. The vampire had long since been used to this- they’ve been friends since first year. She also wholeheartedly believed that Luna could see magical creatures that others couldn’t, mostly because there wasn’t really a better explanation for her being able to always tell what someone’s thinking. The seer seemed to look through her as she spoke, her voice dead serious. “All of the above.”
There was a rumor once that Luna had been eating edibles in class and Marbis had gotten a kick out of it, knowing Luna didn’t even like drugs. The vampire has been teasing her about how she’s an addict since then. The mushrooms that Luna wanted were probably just so she could have a drawing reference. The blond loved to paint and she was actually extremely good at it.
Snorting, Marbis looked at her, “I mean I’m down but I’ve got to put on a coat.” She looked around at her bare dorm room.
Marbis turned her back to Luna and went to her dresser to put a robe over her light blue crop top and black shorts. The other was dressed in her indigo robes and black boots. Luna was wearing silver rings and necklaces as well as big, dangly evil eye earrings. Her blonde hair that could rival Malfoys was half up and half down, and in her hand was a basket with a big blanket in it.
When Marbis was finally done tying her boots and snapping her robes, they embarked on their journey.
----
Getting through the common room was fairly easy, they just slid past the two students who were fast asleep and did a notice-me-not charm on themselves. It was about 1 AM and they were making their way through the castle, albeit slowly.
The castle’s stone walls were freezing as they shuffled about, staying close to the edges. Hearing a meow, they quickly hid behind in between two knights that were standing beside the walls. If it was McGonagall then they were toast- there was absolutely no way to get past her but if it was Ms. Norris then they could make a run for it. “Where are you, my lovely?” An old, scratchy voice said. In order to stay quiet, Marbis stopped breathing. She was a vampire so breathing was optional although most still did it because it was impossible to speak without air flowing over their vocal cords and it’s impossible to smell if they don’t breath.
The tapping of boots and paws got closer and closer. Luna was absentmindedly picking at her yellow nail polish and swaying to a song that only she could hear. The echoing of footsteps had stopped at some point while Marbis had been not so subtly staring at Luna with a lovesick expression. Gulping, the black haired girl turned around slowly and prayed to Lady Magic that Filch wasn’t behind her. Good news, it wasn’t Filch. Bad news, it was Severus Snape.
A tall, imposing man with dark eyes and an unimpressed expression stared back at her. “Where do you think you’re going Ms. Galanodel?” Marbis smiled grimly and opened her mouth to speak when Luna did it for her. “I’m so sorry professor, I had fallen asleep outside and didn’t realize what time it was. I had assumed my housemates would come get me but they never did. If not for Marbis then I probably would still be asleep out there.” Biting her lip, the Lovegood looked up at Snape, who was around a foot taller than her. “Please don’t get her in trouble, it was my housemates’ fault.”
Something flickered in the man’s eyes as he furrowed his brows and looked back at Marbis. There was actually a rumor (started by Luna) that she was his long lost daughter or relative. They look extremely similar- same height, same black hair, and the same amount of lankiness. It wasn’t hard to believe so it spread like wildfire amongst the students and staff. Eventually, Snape had to tell everyone that no, there was absolutely no way that she was his daughter. It must have been extremely embarrassing for him, since he was basically announcing that he was a virgin.
Marbis had felt bad about it so later on that day she had stayed after class to talk to him. The girl had said that she was sorry that the rumor had spread that far but it was actually quite possible that they were related because she never met her mom’s side of the family. When Marbis was asked why she’d never met them, she simply shrugged and said she’d been on her own since she was 10. Furrowing his brows, he had stood up and asked her what her mom’s maiden name was. This was how they found out that they were cousins.
“I will have a talk with Professor Flitwick about Ravenclaw’s incompetence of keeping track of their own, and for you, Ms. Galanodel, 5 points from Slytherin for being out after dark.” Professor Snape turned around and his cloak flew behind him dramatically.
After the professor had found out that they were related he had pretty much forced her to tell him why she wasn’t with her family anymore. Marbis’s occlumency was absolutely dreadful so he was able to dive into her mind very quickly. Even though Snape was only in her mind for at most 20 seconds, she had fainted. She had been terrified when she woke up to the professor feeding her a potion. Marbis had found out that the potion was veritaserum very quickly- he had asked her a series of questions about whose blood she’s drank and if she took it without consent.
The girl had told him that she stole the blood from Madam Pomfrey’s wing and the woman probably knew that she was doing it. The professor had also asked where she lived during the summer and Marbis told him that she had been living on the streets since she was turned. Whether it was because he actually cared, or maybe that he wanted to make sure she didn’t kill anyone, Severus Snape had told her that she would now be living with him during the summer.
This whole situation had happened during fourth year and now she’s in sixth year, the summers that she has spent at his house have been great, Luna comes over during the summer and they hang out.
Although Snape is pretty strict, Marbis still had a blast at his house. They cooked together and Marbis helped make sure that Severus saw a little daylight every once in a while. She had also convinced Snape to go ice skating with her at one point- the man had been so bad. He had stumbled around and waved his lanky limbs like a cat in water. The girl had laughed so hard that she almost peed herself, Severus had been so embarrassed. He had sputtered and threatened that if she kept laughing he’d just leave her here.
While saying this he had tried to skate to the exit and he had fallen down half way there. That had caused her to laugh even harder and she had actually peed herself that time. Needless to say they were both extremely embarrassed by the end of the day.
Marbis couldn’t tell anyone that they were cousins or that they lived together for safety reasons. In school Severus treated her the same as any other student- if Voldemort found out that they were related then the monster would probably try to turn her into one of his little minions.
“Marbis come on, we have to go,” Luna said exasperatedly. The vampire felt the girl pulling on her arm to go back to the dorms. “Sorry, where did Professor Snape go?” Marbis turned her head and looked around. Their bat like professor wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “He already left, now let’s go to the forest!” She said, the girl’s hair bouncing as she ran down the hall on the tips of her toes. Luna’s short and thin stature allowed her to be extremely quiet while running and it was a skill that many were envious of.
Marbis practically flew down the cobblestone trying to catch up to the blonde. It was pretty easy because of her long legs- also the fact that she was a vampire. When the dark headed girl caught up to the blonde she grabbed her hand and pulled.
“Why are you in such a rush? It’s only-” Marbis checked the time on her watch, “1:45.” Luna’s eyes widened and she looked a bit panicked. “Just trust me, we have to go now.”
------------------------
Once the two girls had gotten to the forbidden forest, the blonde pulled the vampire into a small clearing. Huffing and gasping for air, the sixth years caught their breath. “So-” Marbis breathed in a deep breath, “Where are the mushrooms?”
Luna pulled the tall girl down and sat on the ground. “I might have lied a little bit.” She confessed nervously. Tilting her head, Marbis asked what they were doing here then. A couple seconds later the pink strawberry moon shone through the trees, “Have you ever heard the wizarding story about the pink moon?” Marbis shook her head no and waited for Luna to continue.
“Once there lived a wizard named Arabella and she had a husband named Zuveus. The woman loved her husband very much and was willing to do anything for him. However- he didn’t love her back. While Arabella would cook and clean all day, the man would go to work for a few hours and come home and drink. One day Zuveus had too much to drink and he hit her. Even though he began abusing her, the woman still loved her husband.
A few years later, Arabella had to go to the store for some groceries and she met a man named Amar, he saw the bruises and offered for her to come stay with him. She declined politely and went back home. Every week she would go back to the store to buy more groceries and he would always ask if she’d like to stay with him and she would decline. Then one day Amar followed her home and when Zuveus hit her, Amar busted into their house and ended up killing him.
Arabella only realized that she had fallen out of love with her husband when Amar killed him. The moon turned pink that day from the blood that Amar had to spill to save the woman he loved.” Luna cleared her throat and mumbled a spell. A bouquet of flowers flew to her hand and she handed it to Marbis.
“What...Why are you telling me this?” The vampire asked in shock. The flowers looked like they were glowing in the moonlight. Luna furrowed her brows, “Because I don’t want you to go out with Colin!”
The blonde girl stated. Marbis raised her eyebrows, “What are you talking about? I’m not even into Collin.”
Luna gave her a confused look. “Hermione told me last week that Colin asked you out and you had said yes.” Marbis’s face slowly turned into a grin, “That cheeky little rat.”
“Wait a minute, I’m lost,” The blonde said. She pulled her hair back and looked at the vampire impatiently. Marbis’s face burned as she struggled to tell Luna about the conversation Hermione and her had had. “Well, uhm, so last week I had been studying with Hermione in the library and we had been talking about romance and one thing led to another and we were talking about our crushes.”
Luna Lovegood stared in horror, “You have a crush?! Who is it?” Marbis giggled and put a hand across Luna’s mouth, “Let me finish my story.”
“So I was with Hermione and we had brought up crushes, she had told me about her crush and how oblivious he was so I had told that mine was the same way.” The vampire moved her hand from the blonde’s mouth, “Hermione told me that she thought that my crush liked me back so she’d try and help.”
Luna stared at Marbis in disbelief for a minute and then let up the most brilliant smile. The blonde tackled Marbis and laughed as they hugged each other. “I can’t believe I was so stupid! No wonder these wrackspurts have been flying around my head.” They sighed and smiled at each other, “You know that we’re going to have to tell Snape,” Marbis said. “He probably already knows,” Luna said softly.
Beside them lay a single red salvia flower.