Year Six - Chapter Seventeen

I offered the piece of raw meat in front of me, and waited with bated breath as the creature smelled it. Then, it grabbed hold and began to chew. By my side, Professor Grubbly-Plank watched the proceedings with a half-worried, and half-interested look. "Well, Mister Umbrus, I suppose you can find your way back to the castle by yourself?" she asked, and I gave her a gentle nod.

I had asked, as a purely extra-curricular thing, the chance to study and write a report on Thestrals. There was clearly no other second reason but that of wanting to meet, and witness, the glory of a wizarding horse that didn't gut you like a fish if you mistakenly blinked while staring at them.

"I'll have the report ready after the holiday break, professor," I said amiably, letting the old woman go. She left in a slight hurry, and glancing right and left warily for fear of a Troll, or perhaps a dangerous beast, appearing from the undergrowth. I didn't fear them.

They had learned to fear the likes of me.

"You're a bit skinny," I said with a small grin to the Thestral, who had moved from eating the meat to nuzzling against the open palm of my hand. I smiled, warmly, and gave him a gentle rub of the top of the head. "Do you like scratches by the neck or by the mane?"

The Thestral emitted a small, guttural sound. "I'll take that as a 'both'," I said as I proceeded to pet it a bit more. A few more pieces of meat were summoned from a floating basket overhead, and as I began to feed the creature, more of its flock gathered around. Some ignored the proceedings all together, frolicking amidst themselves or flying off abruptly for the trees' canopy.

An unlucky bird ended up chewed mid-flight, a fox meeting a similar bad end not a few minutes later.

The floating basket found itself the target of a peculiarly big Thestral, which flew down and snapped the container in half, spreading the raw meat everywhere in the clearing as it triumphantly spat the basket out of its fanged mouth, and then began to eat the morsels closest to it.

I sighed, and let the Thestrals have their victory. This was my locomotion plan. Thestrals were fast. They were faster than broomsticks. They were so fast, they could easily reach Malfoy's manor sooner than the Hogwarts' train could. Also, I was an Italian in my soul and these were horses. If I managed to get aboard one, then I'd be an indestructible murder-machine of doom and an invincible hero of Wizardkind.

"Well, fondness for meat and crunchy birds aside, you're quite the peaceful animals," I said with a sigh.

They were also peculiarly strong, as I found out not a few minutes later when one bumped into my sides. Bracing myself yielded no result, thus I had to roll out of danger's way and get back on my feet. "Oi, pipe it down you overexcited horse-puppies," I grumbled. The magical fusion of a bat and a horse simply emitted a small, murmur-like neigh, and rubbed its head against me. Apparently, it wanted some scratching done too.

"You are birds and horses bundled together," I muttered, "If you had feathers, you'd be perfect. I'm not counting the Hippogriffs because those guys are rude," I said with a snicker, "But perhaps I should try getting my hands on an Abraxan? Though those things are huge."

The Thestral shook its bony head to get better scratching surface under my fingers, and I gingerly obliged.

"You know it makes for a silly image to those who cannot see them, right?" a melodious voice called out to me as I stood there, surrounded by a few Thestrals. I turned my gaze in the direction of the voice, and smiled.

"Hello there, Luna," I said. "It's been a while."

"It most certainly hasn't been a while, Shade. We've seen each other a lot around Hogwarts, but it looked like you never had the time to speak with me," Luna answered, stepping into the thicket of gnarled yew trees. "And so I didn't want to be a bother."

"Well, I might have found some time, though you are right I've been, and currently am, quite busy," I winked. "You're in your OWLs year too, so you should be getting busier as the time goes by."

"That is true," Luna said. "You know," she said gently, "You're a strange one."

I furrowed my brows. "Whatever do you mean?"

"You're here in a thicket surrounded by Thestrals, and you cherish them by ignoring everything bad the wizarding world says about them," Luna said, amiably nearing to pat a Thestral, who seemed quite happy to see the blond girl back. "But I see the hate," she whispered next. "It doesn't belong to you, that hate."

"A hate?" I blinked.

Luna nodded, "I'm making a bit of a mess at explaining this, am I?" she made one of her usual cryptic smiles, "Just...there's this hate in you. You sneer like a Slytherin sometimes, you look like one of those Pureblood ponces who scoff at something they feel is inferior," she tapped her chin, seemingly lost in thoughts. "Maybe it's not blood that has you feel that way, but whatever it is...the act of believing someone inferior is bad enough as it is, regardless of what the difference may be."

"If you say so," I muttered, shaking my head. "I never noticed."

"It's faint," Luna admitted. "You can't see it when you're close, because there's always something charming to distract your eyes," she giggled. "But once you step away, you see that there's something," she brought her right hand up in front of her, moving it up and down, "Like an invisible wall. Ginny's friendship is warm. Yours...yours is strange," she furrowed her brows. "Like, it burns and then it cools. It's not a steady thing."

"Like a shower that has a poor boiler attached to it?" I quipped, and Luna's smile brightened considerably.

"Indeed! Just like that!" she began to rub the head of a Thestral with both of her hands. "But you're fine. Ginny's a bath and you're a shower, but nobody's a perfect bath furniture anyway."

"And what would you be then?" I asked, holding back a chuckle.

"Probably a leaky faucet," Luna said amiably. "Dripping free one drop at the time."

"If you say so," I muttered. "What brought the conversation on friendship up, though?"

Luna shrugged, "What better place to talk about friendship than a thicket of Yew trees surrounded by a Thestral flock?"

I inclined my head to the side, gave her a slow nod, and then rode the wave of madness to its natural conclusion. "Of course," I answered. "And kitchen recipes should be discussed only near Nundu caves."

"A secret family recipe is quite the serious thing then," Luna replied with a cheeky grin. "Must be nice to have something so important, you'd protect it with Nundus."

I laughed at that, shaking my head in disbelief. "Fine," I said. "I'm planning on doing something either incredibly stupid or brave, and the jury's still open on what to do."

"The jury made of your friends, or the only jury that matters within your head?" Luna asked, shrugging. "Isn't that what it's all about anyway, Shade?"

I looked from her to the Thestrals, and then back at her.

"Such incredible wisdom held within such a small and cheeky container," I snickered. "Well, my pet therapy sessions are working wonders though, so I'll just let it be."

Luna smiled, and then left after half an hour, myself accompanying her on the way back to the castle.

My eyes trailed high on the way back, to where the Gryffindors' tower stood perched.

It was time for Shade Umbrus to quietly slink in the shadows.

The Arsenic Wolf needed to come out and play.

I had things to steal, to recover, and to prepare...

...for there was a Shademare-before-Christmas at hand!