#lunal

It hurt more and more with each step that you took, and you cursed yourself for not being able to remember that temporary numbing spell that you learned in Charms class. It was your toes this time, rather than a twisted ankle - you were pretty sure you landed with your foot arched, so on your toes rather than the balls of your feet. You managed to make your way up those stairs - your cardio was at its peak because of how high you had to climb everyday - and listen to the riddle that the entranceway gave you.

“You can see me in the water, but I never get wet.” The Eagle knocker asked. It always seemed to have a cocky way about it, you noticed, despite being an inanimate object without a personality.

“Ahhhh-” You said, attempting to think about it despite the pain coursing through your body. What you thought of first was the sun since there was no way that was getting wet and you could see it’s - “Reflection!”

The door swung open to reveal the common room, and you continued your walk inside. A mane of blonde hair was the first thing to catch your attention because it’s bright color so contrasted with all of the blue and bronze that were the room’s colors. The bright orange sweater and the green skirt also stood out - but that was the very essence of Luna Lovegood. You attempted to smile at her but it turned out to be more like a grimace. Not hesitating at all, the blonde calmly walked towards you, and went under your arm to support your weight.

“You really should be more careful, you know.” The sweet voice chimed. “Well, did you at least get close?”

“You should have just a little more faith in me, I’ll get you a starbird eventually.” You told her. She brought you over to one of the plush velvet couches and helped you sit down on it. At the relief of being off of your injured foot, you sighed in relief and leaned back against the opulent pillows that had little moving stars embroidered on them. There was a small squeak as Luna attempted to take your shoe off, and ended up pulling too hard and landing on her butt on the floor.

“Y/N, you really shouldn’t tie your laces so tight, your feet will suffocate,” Luna chided you. She always had the ability to make you smile, no matter how much pain you were in - and this was one of those times. You grinned and rolled your head around to look at her. It took away the ache in your toes for a minute to see her try to pull her long hair out of her face and help to take off your sock at the same time.

“Two are broken I think,” You said, wincing as the cool air touched your bare skin when she got your sock off. You probably could have done that bit yourself but Luna wasn’t bothered by removing your clothes, though it did make you blush whenever her fingers touched you. The two toes in question were already swelling up, and bruised. Most of the time, you only sprained them, but this definitely felt like a break. You watched as Luna pulled out her wand, and prepared yourself for the split second of pain that was going to ensue.

“Episky.” Luna said, pointing her wand at the two broken toes. You heard the sickening sound of bones fusing together. You had felt the wiggling sensation of them snapping back into place. “Well, how do you feel?”

“So much better, thanks Luna.” Now that the pain was lessened, you put your sock back on in a hurry, but you did remove your other shoe for now. Luna continued to sit on the ground, with her legs tucked under her, a smile on her face. She always seemed so happy to help, and you were always glad to accept it. “You’ve gotten pretty good at that spell, have you had to use it many times?”

Luna nodded a couple of times, and ran her hands across the rug that was beneath her. “Friday, I broke my own toe while swimming in the lake.”

Friday - yes, you remembered Luna coming back to the tower in her swimming costume with her hair in a damp braid. But you hadn’t thought about where she might had been swimming. “You didn’t invite me? Luna, I thought we were best friends,” You teased.

She tilted her head at you, and looked worried for a second, until she realized that you were indeed joking. “There can be a next time,” She said, smiling softly.

-

A next time came on the next Friday afternoon. But the weather wasn’t the most ideal, it was overcast and muggy - a typical Scottish day, and not a great one for the beach. And of course, it looked like it might rain but Luna had invited you nonetheless and you agreed to go along with her.

The grounds were deserted, most other students had decided to stay inside on a day like this. It was blissfully quiet with only the wind and then the splashes of the mermaids and the Giant Squid inside of the lake. You had your swimming suit on under your robes along with a rucksack full of snacks for the both of you to enjoy. They were mainly from Honeydukes but you managed to sneak a few tarts from the kitchen with the help of a Hufflepuff.

The lake was a gray-green color today, and didn’t look particularly tempting. When it was a sunny day out, and the water looked as blue as the sky, that was when you might be tempted to dip your feet into the water. “You sure you don’t want to come back another day?” You asked Luna. But no, she shook her head - blonde curls everywhere - and continued to the lake’s edge. You paused a few meters away and set down the rucksack and took a seat on the grass. Honestly, you weren’t surprised that she would still want to go - once she made her mind up, she stuck to it.

“Hey, let me know how the water is,” You asked Luna as she made her way to the water’s edge. There were small pebbles and shells that could be found under the water, buried in the dirt, so it was easy to see how she had hurt her own toes going out there. A minute later, the water was past her ankles, and she had her arms stretched out, the breeze blowing her hair back behind her. There was something beautiful about the scene and you wished that you had a camera to take a picture of it. Next time you came out, maybe you’d slip that Gryffindor Creevy boy a couple of sickles to borrow his for the afternoon.

“The water is sublime,” Luna told her. Thankfully so, there would be no chance of you getting in if it were freezing. Luna went a little further, until it was up to her knees, and started to reach down to the ground to pick up the shells that she saw.

You stood back up, remove your robe to show off your swimming costume, and took a few hesitant steps towards the water. Luna’s hand was already filled with shells and she urged you over to show you. You put one foot into the water, where it sunk into the dirt, creating little clouds of mud that brushed past your skin. The water was not sublime in your opinion - it was still far too chilly for you to be comfortable, but you put your second foot in as well, and wandered forward slowly until you started to grow adjusted to it. Soon, you were at the same spot as Luna and looking into her hand to see what she had found.

You didn’t have the same creature-identifying skills that she had, so to you, it all just looked like a bunch of shells. Wrong. The shells turned out to house some things that you had never even heard of. “This one is a Roslia,” Luna said, picking up a pick shell and put it into your hand. Your eyes barely caught sight of the hot pink thing disappearing inside of it. “They’re known to be really good luck.”

“Ever think about doing something with magical creatures when you graduate?” You asked, turning the Roslia back over so it wasn’t exposed to the skies.

“Sometimes.” Luna said, taking the Roslia back and put a different shell into your hand. This one looked to have dark stripes on it’s cream colored surface. You peered inside to see two eyes blinking out at you. “Alba magna,” Luna explained. After a minute, whatever was inside started to come out, three little legs appearing from a groove. It had the same markings as the outer shell, and was bigger than you had expected it to be. In it’s face, you saw a very human emotion - shyness. It made you smile and you laid your finger next to it. You were happy when it’s legs wrapped around your finger, as if it was hugging you. You didn’t make any quick motions, just gently moved it back to Luna’s hand, where it let go and crawled over to the Roselia and settled down next to it.

Luna put them back where she had found then, then waded further into the water. The Squid could be seen off in the distance, but it’s tendrils could definitely reach you if it wanted them to. “Your luck is going to change soon, that’s what the Roslia means.” Luna said once you were both waist deep. You smiled and chuckled.

“I hope so - maybe tonight will be the night I catch the starbird.” The stars may be covered by the clouds tonight, but you were still going to try it.

“I would like it if you did. Then you wouldn’t be out after hours trying to catch it anymore.” Luna said, running her fingers under the water. She then surprised you by leaning backwards, and raising her feet, arms outstretched so she was floating on the water. It was like she was one of those muggle rendition of mermaids in that moment. She looked so happy, so serene and free, all you could do was put your arms under her in case she started to slip under the ripples. “It’s okay, I’m really good at floating.”

Soon, you had joined her, since it did look like fun. The sky above was lighting up as the clouds were being pushed away by a gentle breeze. If the sun came out, it might even be a beautiful day. And that would only add even more to the experience, though you were in a state of bliss already. Like an otter, Luna had taken your hand so that you wouldn’t drift away from one another, as the two of you floated a little deeper into the lake.

It was two hours later, once your skin was all wrinkled and pruny and the smell of the lake was stuck to you like a cheap cologne, that you two finally left the water and had the picnic that you had packed. You paused when Luna started to reach towards you, tongue sticking out in concentration.

It was a Roslia. Somehow it had gotten caught up in your hair while you were swimming. You were glad that Luna had caught sight of it before you did the spell to dry your hair and style it back into the way that you liked. It’s little face was revealed, it’s tiny mouth made it look like it was smiling. Luna placed it on your shoulder instead, so it could crawl around in safety, it’s shell dragging behind it. “I think that it likes you.” Luna smiled, and brought the pudding - her favorite - out of the basket.

“You said it’s good luck right?” You questioned, letting the shell stay on your shoulder for as long as it wanted to. It felt a little odd, the small legs of the creature within going over your skin, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

-

The Roslia didn’t want to leave. It stayed on you even after you put your robes on, and had crawled into the crook of your neck and nestled there. You had put it back into the water, but it came scuttling after you and held tight to the hem of your robe, which you didn’t discover until you were back in the tower, getting ready to go out for your nightly flight to catch the legendary Starbird. You decided to take it along with you, since it was supposedly luck, and it attached itself to you no matter where you went.

“Hope you’re not scared of heights, little Rose.” You said to the shell, using a sticking charm to keep it on your chest so it wouldn’t fall when you got up high. Except for the counter-spell, nothing was going to get it off of you. You put your broom between your legs and kicked off, headed towards the Quidditch pitch where you weren’t as visible from the castle. The night had cleared up, and there were few clouds in the sky, which did mean that there was less cover and you could get into trouble, but it also meant that you had more of a chance of catching the starbird.

You went up as high as you could until the chill started to set in. You cast a quick warming charm, then looked down at the Quidditch pitch below. You could barely make out the golden hoops, they were so small below you. You took a deep breath and pushed yourself further up to where the air was thinner. You had to close your eyes so you could focus on your breathing, your knuckles white with how hard you were clenching the broomstick. Until you felt something fly past your past.

The instinct and excitement took over, and you let go of the broom with one hand, clenching your legs around it tighter to make up for the lack of contact. You shot your hand out in the direction that the thing flew, and felt your hand wrap around a warm, feathered body. Even if you had just caught a pigeon, it was still an accomplishment in your books.

You lowered down until you were about level with the Ravenclaw tower in the distance before you finally were able to get a good look at what you had caught. It was difficult to see in the darkness, and casting Lumos would undoubtedly have gotten attention from a teacher looking out the window of the castle, so you had to settle for squinting at it.

The bird was as dark as the night sky - not quite black, but a dark indigo color. As you loosened your grip, it lifted it’s wings and revealed the speckles of white on it’s stomach and feathers. Your breath caught in your throat. You had never seen a Starbird before, only heard about them in the Quibbler and through Luna but - but there was no way that this bird was anything but. A Starbird! In your very grip!

Without thinking of the consequences, you flew towards the Ravenclaw tower, grinning like a maniac. The Roslia really had brought you outstanding luck. You circled around it until you found the window that looked into the dormitory where Luna was bunked. You peered in and saw that there was a light on beside her bed, and she was reading the newest edition of the Quibbler - sideways. You knocked on the window lightly so as not to startle the other girls, and got her attention. She walked over to the window and opened up, revealing you and the creature that you had caught and were still holding onto gently.

Luna had never seen such a smile on your face, nor have you ever seen one like this on hers. She reached out and pet the bird, her eyes wide with excitement. “What a lovely little bird you found, y/n.”

“Memorize the look of it because I don’t think I’ll ever get this lucky again.” You said, then as slowly as you could, you set the bird on the windowsill then let it free. It hopped a little to the right, then leaned right into Luna’s face as if it were examining her the way that she was examining it.

“I see Perseus, right here,” Luna said, stroking the stomach of the bird as it once more showed off it’s impressive wingspan. “And the giraffe.”

The stars just looked random to you, but you didn’t take Astronomy like she did. You tilted your broom a little to one side so you could get a better look but the bird started to flap it’s wings and flew into the sky, soaring up high until it was entirely out of sight. You had to admit, it was one of the prettiest things that you had ever seen. “You should come back in now,” Luna said, opening the window wider. “There’s no need for you to risk getting caught out after hours anymore.”

“That’s fair,” You grinned, and went in through the window then dismounted as quietly as you could. Once the broom was leaned up against one of the bed’s, you felt Luna’s arms go around you. Her hair managed to find it’s way into your face, as it always did.

“Thank you. That’s the best thing that anyone’s done for me.”