Melting of the soul
A loud bang sounded as two students fell to the floor.
Daphne furiously rubbed her head with one of her hands in pain from the contact.
The inner turmoil in her almost enticed her to violently explode.
A calm, light-hearted voice quelled the sparks from being lit.
"Oh! Are you alright?"
Daphne's icy blue eyes met silvery irises that seemed to carry unlimited thoughts.
"It must have been the Nargle infestations, otherwise my eyes wouldn't have been discerned.
The furrowed brows that were going to form on Daphne's face were transformed into a lifted brow. Her curiosity and the oddity of the other student prevailed over her annoyance.
Befuddled at the response Daphne gave off a confused expression as she looked at the student in front of her.
A girl with dirty blond hair, her pink glasses adorned with crystals silvery deep eyes and radish earrings was trying to organise all the books and parchment rolls into a pile.
"You are Daphne Greengrass right?" she nodded at the question, still confused. She tried to open her mouth "Who...and..why..?"
"How careless of me to introduce myself, Luna Lovegood". Daphne watched as Luna gave a small curtsey.
"Here is your stuff." Luna handled back the books that fell from Daphne's bag.
Daphne slowly replied with her thanks. "Thanks...Luna." She dropped the last name habit as Luna seemed decent and there was no one else in the corridor.
"You feel a little bit fuzzy, must have been the wrackspruts that were living in your head." Her cryptic response causes Daphne to begin to be further confused.
"What do I have in my head, what's a wracksprut?" she asked while trying not to sound unpleasant.
"Oh! Wrackspurts are what cause negative thoughts, and emotions in a person's mind." Her response was a bit clearer which caused Daphne to sheepishly admit to Luna. "Yeah, haha, you are probably right." She decides to look up towards Luna's face.
"I...have....way too much...going on." She slowly breathed in and out. "Can you help me?" she asked, hopefully.
Luna smiled, reassuring her. "Follow me, Daphne" She held out her arm in a gesture to help Daphne get up from the floor.
Daphne gave a small grin and followed her.
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"You are sure that this will help right?" Daphne asked nervously as she and Luna stood in an isolated area far from the castle. The waves of water from the Black Lake increased as something large was coming up the surface of the water.
Luna grinned widely. "Positive, tried it myself."
They both stood there in their robes which Luna had cast the charm which made them waterproof.
The two girls watched as several dark red tentacles began to rise from the surface of the lake as the giant squid emerged from the surface of the lake. One of its large eyes looked into their eyes.
Daphne stared at the vastness of the lake's main inhabitant.
"Don't worry. Adri is quite a big softy." She turned to look at Luna's face as Luna reaffirmed her.
Daphne watched as three of the tentacles began to move towards Luna and gently wrapped themselves around her.
She watched as Luna laughed at the sensation of the coils, one around her legs, one around her torso and one around her arms moved.
Daphne felt a gaze upon her as she found that the eye was looking at her. She decided in her mind and then shyly nodded.
Daphne watched as another three tentacles extended themselves from the squid and moved to her.
One slowly and softly began coiling around her legs, she let out a surprised noise as the coolness began to spread while her lower body felt as if was embraced by a happy child.
She stretched out her arms forward as the second tendril began to gently coil itself and move backwards and forwards which resulted in the pain that she felt from writing and carrying large papers being eased.
Curious she looked towards Luna who was softly laughing as a smaller tentacle playfully poked her face and hands. The tentacle around Luna's torso was from the base of the neck to her stomach.
Daphne returned her gaze to see another one approaching her taller form as it began to gently wrap once around her before stopping.
She nodded, slowly. Which resulted in the tentacle further coiling around the middle of her torso while avoiding her chest and lower abdomen.
When all of the tentacles had finished being wrapped around her, Daphne realised it felt similar to a hug, albeit a cool one.
Daphne relaxed as she felt calmer and began to get used to the rhythm of the tentacles circling round and round.
A few minutes later, she felt the tentacles unravel and return to the lake.
Daphne and Luna after spending a few seconds still thinking about the weird but quite comforting embrace began to walk back to the castle.
A few hours later the first experience, Daphne reclined on the couch in the Common Room, a small pleasant smile on her face.
She felt calm, collected and reassured.
She also felt like visiting the lake, again.
Both Daphne and Luna would visit the lake again for that purpose and for several of their own reasons in the years to come.