InsaneJournal

WHO: Luna Lovegood & Gabe Ollivander
WHAT: Thestrals
WHEN: Sunday, March 8 (backdated after this)
WHERE: Hogwarts
STATUS: To Be Finished


The evening sky held barely a cloud as Gabe walked to where the Threstrals were known to gather. Not many people knew he could see them, and even his Grandfather was surprised by the knowledge that Gabe could. Gabe kept a lot close to his chest about himself, the image of the burning man was such piece.

Breathing in the crisp air, he bent down to examine some new springs of wood sticking up from the ground. He might moan and complain about his Grandfather’s insistence on imparting the wand craft onto him and participating in the excursions when he would rather spend the free weekends with his friends, but he was still an Ollivander and was drawn to the magic of wands.

Lost in his thoughts, with an act behind his eyes, he did not hear Luna’s approach.

---

She was with the Thestrals every spare moment she had. Which was quite a lot, seeing as Luna did not share too many interests with other people in her house or year, or pretty much any one. It left her alone more often than not, simply because she did not find joy in pretending to like something just so she could hang out with other people. She liked to spend time alone. She liked the Thestrals, and so few people could see them and really enjoy them. They were frightened of them, because they were different, scary. But they were lovely, and Luna loved them.

She arrived just mere moments after Gabe did. She was quiet to begin with, and she did not seem to grasp the concept that it usually was in poor taste to walk up behind someone without making your presence known. She was practically standing directly over him when she finally announced her presence, her long blonde and curly hair hanging down, tangled, as she leaned over him to look at the sticks he was looking at.

“Are those the sort of sticks you look at for wands?” She asked, smiling brightly before standing upright again, looking around at the sky as it started to get dark. “It’s lovely out today, almost like springtime.”

---

Announcing herself before she was standing over him would have helped his heart from hitting is teeth. Gabe tumbled the short way to the ground in surprise, turning toward the smiling blonde wide eyed. He might have been a Seer, but he did not constantly live in the future because of it. It was more of an annoying occurrence that stung deep inside him when something terrible was going to happen. Bad things were so much easier to see than good things.

“Bloody fuckin’ merlin,” he gasped holding his heart. Gabe stood from the ground and dusted off the mud and sticks from his clothes.He looked toward the sky and then to her. “Yeah, the spring is closing in on us quickly… and… Every new growth has potential to become a wand some day. Every tree or brush holds its magic from the first glimpse of sunlight it takes to when we harvest it.”

Gabe watched her a moment. “Sorry… I’m not even that good at herbology, I just know what I’ve learned from my Grandad.”

----

“Oh.” He swore, and Luna looked at him wide-eyed. She was not one to swear, nor did many people she hung around swear very frequently. Sometimes the paintings did, but she didn’t listen. Ron liked to swear, too, but they weren’t the best of friends either. She was altogether unsure of why he had swore, and wondered if she had done something to cause it. She had seemed to frighten him, but Luna didn’t immediately assume it was her fault.

“I’m not very good at Herbology either. I think it sounded very smart, though.” He could have spouted a bunch of nonsense about twigs and moonlight and Luna wouldn’t have known the difference. She was a smart girl, but she had no idea about Wandlore whatsever and herbology wasn’t her strong point, either. She would have believed him.

Bending down, she carefully inspected the twig once more, as if she really could see the potential magic there, the life it was drawing to itself. Luna then turned and looked at Gabe in very much the same way, as if he were mystical and magical in his own way, quite like the newly growing twigs.

“Have you seen the Thestrals yet?” She asked, standing upright and turning to look through the woods. “I think they’re a bit farther back…”

---

Gabe rarely swore, but being surprised in the middle of a dark forest let the words slip from his mouth. Immediately he felt terrible, seeing her eyes get wider than they already were naturally and an embarrassed blush ran across his face. Embarrassment made him babble to cover it up.

The evening sun sat low on the horizon beyond the trees. Gabe watched Luna with his arms crossed over him. “Thanks, that may be the reason I was not placed in Ravenclaw; I can only sound smart.” He laughed softly. No one knew, not even Astoria, that the real house the hat had wanted to put him in was Gryffindor.

He looked away when she looked up at him, his face getting warm once more. If there was anything he did not want to be seen as, it was to be seen as mystical beyond the normal wizarding way. He did not want to be muggle or a squib, but also did not want to be a seer. Maybe he could sleep better then.

“No, I haven’t.” He looked around to see where they might be. “I got distracted.”

---

“I think you’re smart.” There was no question in her mind that Gabe was actually smart. Being in Ravenclaw didn’t dictate who was smart or not, and there were plenty of other smart people who were in houses other than her own. She was not more intelligent than anyone else, she just was quite different, and sometimes thinking differently made you a bit cleverer than other people. But she was no Hermione, or even Anthony who consistently outsmarted her.

“Well then let’s go find them.” She said, grinning at him as she headed deeper into the forest. She listened to the sounds around her, creeping quietly, for the pitter-patter of little Thestral hooves breaking twigs, the soft neighing sort of sound they made, like real horses. “So you said Thestrals hair is used in wands.” She remarked, turning to look at him as they walked.

“What sort of temperament does that give a wand? What sort of magic is it good for?”

---

There were ideals for each house, and no not everyone fit into such ideals like a puzzle pieces, but Gabe’s father had been a Ravenclaw, his grandfather had been a Ravenclaw, people he knew as the smartest people in his life. So he held Ravenclaw on a kind of pedestal for their strive for knowledge. Gabe gave Luna a shy smile at her compliment.

Naturally the forest was darker than otu in the open where the sun could still hit the face, but Gabe found it a comfort to be amongst the trees. He had partially grown up in Romania with dragons that were fond of dark forests and caves. It reminded him of his parents and how he missed them, even if his grandfather was legally his guardian now.

“Well, it isn’t often used in wands. because of the nature of a Thestral only those that have seen death can ever harvest the hair, and even then the theory goes that the wandmaker, also, must be able to see it to place it into the wand.” His voice was soft and thoughtful. Growing up amongst wands and the crafting of them, Gabe had imagined and saw many different cores in wands. His grandfather might only like to use the most stable cores, but Gabe had a fascination with the odd ones. His own wand was a family artifact that had not been used in generations. His core was not a nice one by means of obtaining it nor the kind of magic it tended toward. But he never spoke of his core as he did not speak of a lot of things.

“Thestral hair is very temperamental, more so than Veela hair… Since it is so rare to obtain and temperamental to work with we only have theories on the kind of magic it is good for. The majority of theories point towards the dark arts.”

---

“Yes, it is not often that people see Death and therefore can see Thestrals. I am not surprised it isn’t used very frequently in wands.” She was not, however, pleased at all to hear that it lended to the dark arts. “Really? I am surprised by that. Thestrals are temperamental, but I would not have guessed given their sweet nature that they lend to such devious sorts of magic.” She was not fond of the dark arts or people who practiced them. She found it to be a very basic and boring route to take.

Just as she was distracted from them, a small fowl came up and nuzzled its nose into her hand. “Oh, hello.” she said, her voice soft and the smile that accompanied it rather brilliant. She pet the small Thestral easily, and then propped open the bag she had brought with her. Fresh meat lay inside, though brought various fruits and vegetables with her as well. They rarely ever ate anything besides meat, but it wasn’t for her lack of trying.

Tossing the small bit of meat for the equally small Thestral, it gobbled it up quite easily and Luna smiled serenely down at the creature, before lending that same smile to Gabe. “I find them to be lovely. The Thestrals have been some of my greatest friends since I came to Hogwarts. I’ve always been able to see them.” She had tried to tell more than one person that Thestrals manned the carriages before they had the glass on them, but no one seemed to pay her much attention.

---

“Thestrals are connected directly to death, and most who have seen death saw a violent one, which is then connected to the Dark Arts.” Gabe felt for his own wand that had a core sited better for Dark Arts. “Just because the nature of the wand lends itself to the dark arts doesn’t even mean that the wielder is evil. The use of Dark Arts isn’t even uncommon, but one has to be careful of the pull on one’s soul it causes.” He felt the need to defend the art. All magic had its place in the world and every core and its connecting witch or wizard had a reason.

Gabe stopped in his tracks at the sight of the small Thestral, behind it the pack of adults. Every time he witnessed them it was a strange sight. He was not afraid of them per say, but the reminded him of the reason he saw them and that reason horrified him. He, too, could see them since they began school, but like so many other things he kept his mouth shut about it- until the professor mentioned them.

“I was eight…” He started, and stopped himself. Instead he watched the creature eat its treat. He did not make any moves to pet it though as if it wanted to be around Luna, he would allow it to decide whether it wanted to be around him.

----

“They’re not connected directly, it’s not like they cause it. People who see and understand death, who comprehend and accept it are the ones who can see Thestrals. They are a tame breed, dead clever, with a great sense of direction. I don’t see how that lends to dark arts, which I don’t find to be particularly clever.” Luna shrugged. It wasn’t that she didn’t think Dark Arts had their place, it was more that she thought there were more inventive ways to do things.

She shrugged when he said the use of Dark Arts wasn’t uncommon. It probably wasn’t, but Luna hadn’t known any people who used Dark Arts who weren’t criminal, or unkind in some way. She supposed that even the Order had used some Dark-Arts when they were fighting against Voldemort, but she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t there. “I suppose you’re right.” She replied, even though she wasn’t quite sure how much she believed all that.

He started to speak, saying he was eight. She assumed he was talking about who he had seen that died, the way he was looking at the Thestrals. “I was nine.” She said softly, standing up and turning to him now, away from the Thestral she had been petting. “It’s alright to talk about it. But you don’t have to.”

---

“That’s not what I meant, Luna.” He scratched at his shoulder, shyly. “I know they don’t cause death. But the direct connection is in their nature of being hidden to those that have not seen death at all.” He raised his brows to a thought in his mind and kept quiet about Dark Arts. He should have realized that Luna would not be a fan of even talking about it, she was so sweet and kind. Her lightheart even in the face of creatures that would scare most people showed that more than anything.

Gabe lowered his eyes, staring at a piece of dirt, and anything but that adorable face that could probably listen to anyone speak without judgment. He rubbed at his eye, letting his hand fall to his neck to scratch his own chin. “It’s not important.” Without raising his head, he looked up at her with a smile that said he was trying to cover his thoughts again.

The young Thestral cocked it’s head to the side and trotted over to Gabe. Gabe carefully held out his hand letting the creature bop his nose against the expanded palm. Gabe laughed softly.

---

“I suppose I just don’t like the idea that everything that’s a bit different or weird is looked at as wrong, or negative. No one even cares that they’re gentle creatures when treated right, that they’re very intelligent, kind, have a great sense of direction, everything. It makes me sad.” Luna was a bit weird and different, herself. And she got those looks, that judgement, that… not fear in the same way many feared Thestrals, but the same sort of apprehension. Like she was a lunatic. Like she was, essentially, Loony.

“Everything’s important.” Luna replied to Gabe, stepping away from the Thestral she had been feeding and placing a hand very gently on Gabe’s shoulder for just a brief moment, before the little Thestral nudged her and demanded attention once more. She turned to it, briefly glancing back as another fowl nudged Gabe. She joined in his laughter, a little louder than he had been laughing, before turning back to him fully.

“I was nine, when my mum died. I was there. She liked to experiment with magic, and one day it went very badly wrong.” Her face remained as serene and impassive as ever. While she felt sadly about it often, she did not let that show very much. Luna was never one to be overly emotional. She may question things, or become very annoying when she didn’t comprehend something quite as well as she should, but emotional was simply not her natural state of being.

---

Understanding that it was not a subject she wished to continue on and not wanting to make her feel any more uncomfortable, Gabe left the subject be. They did not choose what kind of magic that came from the cores, the cores choose and Thestral was linked with the Dark Arts. He did leave out the rumour that it could repair broken wands as well, because it was a silly rumour that very very few wandmakers believed.

Gabe self-consciously rested his hand on his arm, bringing it close into him and visually closing himself. He felt bad about her having to witness her mother’s death. Gabe might not see his mother very often, but seeing a stranger die was hard enough on him that seeing his mother die might have killed him.

He pet the strange looking creature with the slightly restricted hand. “I am very sorry about your mother, Luna.” He paused, taking Luna’s hand and holding it for the moment. “I couldn’t imagine that happening.” Gabe pushed off telling what made him be able to see the Thestrals.