First Lesson
Luna inhaled the crisp morning air and slowly released it, watching as it formed a small cloud that faded into the sky. Just as her years at Hogwarts had all faded by, ever so quickly. She sighed as she stepped through the forbidden forest, twigs breaking underneath her sneakers as she contemplated the memories she had at the wizarding school.
They weren't all good, far from actually, she only managed to make some friends during her fifth year. She had never really cared about connecting with her peers, they didn't take interest in the things she loved to talk about, the things she dreamed about and the goals she pursued in life. They were merely interested in teasing her, trying to come up with ways on how best to bring her displeasure. Because of this, Luna never really bothered to actually try. Until Harry showed up that faithful day in the carriages that rode them from Hogsmeade station to the entrance of the castle.
Luna nearly missed the Thestral hiding in the shadows of the trees caused by the dawn of the day. It was staring at her, with its eyes so big, they almost equalled the crystal balls they used to use in divination class.
"Hello you," She whispered, as she stepped forward and slowly reached out her hand to the young Thestral, who warily sniffed her hand before pressing its face lovingly against her palm.
Smiling softly, Luna patted it gently, reaching into her pocket for her the apple she had brought along as breakfast. It was okay though, she would fetch herself some breakfast from the great hall, once she was ready to face all those memories once more. The Thestral bit into it eagerly, enjoying both the food and the attention. It definitely wasn't shy, even though it couldn't have seen that many people in its short life. Or rather, not many people would have seen it. Passing it, unknown of the beautiful kind-hearted creature that wanted to be seen and loved. Luna related to that, people had always passed her by, as if she didn't exist, as if she didn't belong. "I see you, little one, I love you," She promised it softly.
All of a sudden a cat-like creature sprung from the nearby bushes, causing the startled young Thestral to prance in distress. "Ho! Calm down, sssshhh, it's alright Hinny. I promise," she said, as her hand slid off the Thestrals snout.
Luna waved her wand into the air, filling it with the scent of caramelised warm apples. The distraction worked, the black-shaded Thestral calmed down, curiously looking around as to where the scent was coming from.
It curiously stepped closer to Luna, poking its snout into her body, sniffing the pockets of her jeans, almost pushing her over in with its eager search for more delicious snacks.
When it couldn't find any, it started licking her, as if it was demanding her to surrender the invisible snacks it could smell coming from her wand. "Hey, St-stop!" Luna giggled as she shielded her face with her arms, stumbling backwards a little bit as she tried to get away from the tongue that was now scraping over her cheek.
She took another step back and yelped as she tripped over a small soft bump, falling flat onto her back into a pile of orangy dried-up leaves. She should've known better than to walk backwards in a forest. With a puff of air, she blew the strings of blond hair that were covering her face, out of her eyes and looked up to discover what exactly had made her trip. An orange Maincoon cat was looking at her curiously as if she too was wondering how Luna had ended up on the damp forest ground. He meowed at her and flicked its tail back and forth as if it said; 'what are you looking at?'.
Suddenly Luna heard rustling leaves and breaking branches, right before a young man stumbled out of the forest. He was wearing a purple sweater, which wasn't unusual if you didn't take his strawberry-blonde hair into account.
"Magi! There you are, what have you - oh!" The man stopped dead in its tracks as his eyes glided from the cat at Luna's feet, up towards Luna.
She could've sworn, she saw his eyes flash at the Thestral next to her, shortly, before he returned his gaze towards Luna.
"Are you okay? I hope Magi didn't cause any trouble, did she? I just arrived at the school and she ran off into the forest before I could catch her and -"
"She didn't cause any trouble, if anything I am the one who caused trouble, I should've watched out better. she might have gotten injured!" Luna said frowning as she scanned over the cat who was still sitting at her feet.
The strawberry-blonde shut his mouth, startled, and blinked a few times, appearing unsure of what to say to that before he shook his head as if to shake himself out of it. A crooked smile appeared on his face, "I am sure this little ball of mischief is just fine, right Magi?" He said, trying to step closer to the cat.
Luna who had just managed to sit upright, let out a slight "Oof," As the cat pounced into her arms and curled itself up against her chest, where it started purring very contently.
"Oh-" Luna let out a small gasp, taken by surprise by the gentleness of this fury little creature that had clearly taken a liking to her.
"I am sorry," the man said, stepping forward to help Luna out of her situation as he reached out his hands to take over the cat.
"Don't be," Luna said, an airy smile on her face as she reluctantly handed over the cat, which let out a disapproving noise at the change of human pillow.
One hand occupied with restraining a grumpy cat, the stranger pat off his other hand and offered it to Luna. She hesitantly took it, remembering all the times someone had let her slip, and let him pull her straight.
"My name is Rolf. I swear I've seen you around before, but I can't say we have met, have we?" he said as he let go of her hand and curled it securely around the cat so that she couldn't escape again.
"I am Luna," She said, dropping her hands beside her, not sure what to do with them.
"I like your sweater," she added, plucking at the hair tie around her wrist.
Rolf looked down at his sweater in confusion and laughed, "You are poking fun at me are you?" he asked clearly amused.
"No - no it pops off your hair colour, I think it looks nice!" She said offended, she would never poke fun at anyone over their clothes, it wasn't a nice thing to do after all.
Rolf clearly oblivious to her distress, snickered and said; "you mean it clearly clashes with my hair. My mom picked it out for me, and said it was the nicest sweater I own......she is probably right though, the rest of my sweaters all have holes and burn marks in them. Still not sure about the colour though," Rolf shrugged, a smile gracing his lips.
"Well don't play with fire! Especially not around the forest," Luna scowled at him, she wouldn't let him hurt all the innocent animals in the forest!
Rolf looked up startled, he frowned at her as if he was worried.....and he should be! Luna was no longer a 15-year-old kid, she could and would stand up for herself and the people and things she cared for!
"I would never, you see I work with,-"
"Good," Luna said, staring at him sternly, as she had seen professor McGonagall do so many times before.
Then as if the Thestral could feel the tension in the air, it bumped his nose into Luna's shoulder, making her stumble into Rolfs chest. Magi got squeezed in between them and made a disgruntled noise of disapproval.
Rolf caught her with ease, quickly stabilising her before she could fall again.
Luna's felt her face heat up as she quickly withdrew her hand from his chest, where she could feel his muscles, hidden underneath the sweater that he was wearing. He must think she was a freak now, who stumbles into someone else out of thin air like that?
She quickly backed off, letting her hair slide in front of her face slightly, "Sorry about that,-" she muttered before she hastened away from Rolf, making her way back to the castle.
"Hey wait!" Rolf called after her, but Luna acted as if she did not hear him and swiftly ducked underneath a low-hanging branch and disappeared into the slowly brightening morning sun.
Once she made her way out of the forest, she could see a mild winter sun had set itself low into the sky, overlooking the school grounds. She stood there for a second, wondering if it was the sun's heat that was prickling her skin.
It was not.
She sniffed and wiped away the tears before she grounded herself and made her way towards the castle. She had a job to do after all.