4 Chapter 4

Esper dove, taking Luna with him, behind a pillar as arrows flew over their head. They had searched quite a many of Egyptian tombs before finally finding the Yolipog in the tomb of Horus, a rich merchant when alive.

The creature was in total contrast to it's apparent ability of raising the dead. Relatively small at three feet, it looked like a baby kangaroo, only with bigger ears, a shorter snout, and purple coloring. It was adorable.

And while it did indeed raise many undead after they found it, neither Esper, nor Luna, were in any panic. Actually, Luna had one of the brightest smiles she's ever had, since it was the first time Esper has let her confront one of the creatures. He usually made her stay back while he subdued them for her to later interact with. This time though, she had her own wand to help.

He had gotten it for her on her last birthday, though she hadn't had the chance to use it, other than practicing. A beech wand of 10-inches, with a pheonix feather core. It was beautiful, with it's engravings of tulips running along its' length.

"Do you wish to take on the Yolipog, or the undead?" Esper asked. Luna looked at him and giggled. Not answering, she sprinted from behind cover.

Esper watched her go with an eyebrow raised, but amusement still visible. Seconds later, a loud explosion sounded and Esper knew she used one of the spells he created, then taught her. Esper himself didn't need to use traditional structured magic, so it was quite difficult to make something applicable to Luna. The spells name was called...

"Explosion!" Luna yelled out, and a second explosion sounded out. Esper never had the best naming sense.

Esper leasurely came out from cover, assuming all the undead taken care of. The Yolipog only had a limited supply to use, because not many of the poorer were allowed to be buried near the rich.

When he came out, he spotted Luna cooing at a creature that looked to be desperately trying to escape her grasp. The Yolipog were relatively harmless without corpses around them. Also, they weren't inherently evil or dark, despite their ability to raise the dead. The ministry didn't agree with that though, so they were labeled as dark creatures in the same class as dementors.

"Luna, give it room to breathe."

Luna pouted, but complied, gently lowering it to the ground.

"You didn't tell me it would be so cute!"

"Well, I didn't want to ruin the surprise." He replied back with his signature grin. Luna lightly hit his arm in response, before crouching down and petting the Yolipog. It actually seemed to enjoy that, and it's threatening hissing stopped to be replaced with mewing.

"You're a cute little girl, aren't you Iris?" Luna cooed. Esper raised an eyebrow, once again questioning Luna's oddities. It wasn't the first time, nor did he believe it would be the last.

"You've named... her?"

"Well, I assumed since this was the last adventure, you would let me keep this one."

"And, as with all the last creatures, Iris here is too dangerous to be brought in public." He said with a light laugh. "Although, I would of liked to keep the Chinese Yellow Belly myself." Luna laughed also.

"He was such a nice dragon. He even let me ride him." Luna reminisced on one of the early journeys Esper took her on. In which, they tracked down a dragon that spanned 50 feet, all because Luna wanted to ride a dragon. It was the biggest creature she had ever seen, and, after some persuasion, was gentle and kind.

"Alright, Iris here is relatively small and I imagine can be disguised."

"You mean...?" Luna brightened considerably. Esper nodded.

"Yes, yes, you can keep her." Luna in excitement jumped up and put Esper in a bone crushing hug. With a kiss on the cheek, Luna thanked him loudly.

While they were celebrating, a loud pop sounded out from behind them. Both of their expressions went serious and Esper moved Luna behind him as he turned to face the sound.

"Finally caught up to you two." A female voice said sternly.

Standing infront of Esper was what he knew would eventually come, so he lowered his guard somewhat. Though, not completely, because he knew the infamy his family carried to those that remembered them.

*******

Professor McGonagall swept her eyes along the room, taking note of the charred corpses and burn spots on the floors and walls, while keeping the children in her periphery. She was under no illusion that they didn't have the means to escape, even if she finally caught up to them. Professor Snape in contrast seemed to not have a care in the world, though his face was set in a scowl. McGonagall believed it was just his default expression though, so it didn't mean much.

"Luna Lovegood and Esper Vallispear. While it is the choice of your parents and yourselves to attend Hogwarts, the same cannot be said for Ms. Lovegood staying here." She turned to direct her stern glare at the young girl. "Your father awaits you, Ms. Lovegood." Luna jolted at the reminder of her father, honestly not thinking much of the man while on her adventure. McGonagall's vision settled on Esper.

"Mr. Vallispear... I hope you don't impede on this." A silent stare down followed this statement, before Esper smiled at her.

"Ofcourse not, Professor. We were about to return anyway." McGonagall stiffly nodded, before advancing on them with her wand out.

"Professor Snape, please apparate Mr. Vallispear. I will take Ms. Lovegood." She placed a hand on Luna's shoulder, before finally noticing the creature in the girl's arms. "Ms. Lovegood... release the creature so we can be on our way."

Ofcourse, Luna would never accept that, so a small argument broke out. Luna eventually won, only because McGonagall didn't know the creature and it looked relatively harmless.

With a sigh, and fingers on her temple, McGonagall and Snape started the long journey back to Hogwarts. Their targets finally in capture.