the best of both worlds | bluna | complete

chapter eleven: the forbidden forest pt1

a/n- who's POV do you prefer? Luna's or Blaise's? Idk I'm just curious 😁
700 READSSSS AHH

———————— Blaise's POV ————————

It was the last day before Halloween break, and autumnal leaves crunched under Blaise's feet as he walked, leisurely, towards the gathering of students and Prof. Sprout next to Hagrid's hut at the bottom of the grounds. He tightened the dark green scarf around his neck as he approached, yawning.

When he reached the crowd, Blaise looked around at his classmates. Where was Draco? He rolled his eyes, slipping his hands into his pockets and searching for someone in the class to talk to. No one. Everyone here was boring.

He sighed. Where had all the interesting people gone? He was seriously considering just leaving when Sprout's strong voice shocked him out of his thoughts.

"Ok, everyone," Sprout, said, shuffling towards them, "Are you all okay?" Murmurs of response rippled through the students. "Good, good. Let's get on with it then. We've got to go into the Forbidden Forest and get everything on your list today. Okay? Let's go." With that, she hobbled off to the Forbidden Forest, the cluster of people following behind her.

"Why do I take Herbology?" Blaise sighed to himself, starting to walk.

"I think it's interesting."

Blaise started, turning to find Hermione Granger stood beside him, a big red pompom hat on her head.

"Oh, you." Blaise said, shivering as a gust of wind flew by.

"Yes, me." She said, raising an eyebrow at him as they walked into the Forbidden Forest, Sprout and the rest of the class dotted around, searching for the things in their list. "I wanted to talk to you about the party from a while back."

Standing up from where he was examining a plant, Blaise eyed her warily. "Why?"

She rolled her eyes, ticking something off on her list. "Because of the game of 'spin the bottle' we played."

Blaise froze. "What about it?"

"It's just... when it was your turn, and you kissed Luna." She said, looking him directly in the eye.

Blaise straightened. "What about it? It was part of the game, obviously."

Hermione nodded, crouching down to pick up a flower. "Of course, but there was something about it that seemed different. The way you smiled at her..."

Blaise's face suddenly heated, and he quickly walked away to find a different flower. "I didn't smile at her!" He exclaimed. "...did I?"

Hermione frowned. "You did. Everyone is always so horrible to Luna and I really hope you weren't mocking her. Because if you were, I will track you down and kill you."

Blaise looked at her. He hadn't been mocking her! How dare Granger assume that. "I wasn't mocking her." He paused, thinking over her words. He scoffed, and said "And I wouldn't want to mess with your friend group, Granger. You're the cleverest witch I know, you have the Chosen One for crying out loud and those two hotheaded gingers."

Hermione laughed. "Well, okay then." And they continued to search for the things on their lists in comfortable silence.

——————— Luna's POV ————————

"And then he-" Ginny was saying as her and Luna walked to the Great Hall. The redhead looked at her and sighed. "You're not even listening, Lu. I am telling you a very important story."

Luna smiled at her. "Oh, sorry Ginny."

Ginny sighed again, dramatically. "I can never be mad at you, you're just to nice, Lu." She pushed open the doors into the Great Hall. "I've been looking for Parvati for ages. Have you seen her?"

Luna shook her head, yawning quietly.

Ginny shrugged. "Well, if you do, tell her I want to talk to her."

"Okay."

"Thanks, Lu, bye!" She ran off to Gryffindor, and Luna walked over to the Ravenclaw table.

Alone.

She sat down at the bench, fingering her food as people talked around her.

Alone.

When she finished, she got up and headed out the door, planning on going to the Ravenclaw common room, where she would sit and read. Alone.

Alone, alone, alone.

Luna stood by the Great Hall door, looking up at the big clock. It was almost eight o'clock and it was dark outside.

I've got nothing better to do, Luna thought as she walked out into the grounds instead of towards her common room, I'm going to see the thestrals.

She walked through the shady trees and into the Forbidden Forest, running her hands over the bark of the trees. Luna pulled her hair out of her hair tie, her hair glistening in the dark as it fell around her shoulders. The forest was dark, but Luna could see an outline of something further down.

The thestrals.

She smiled, and quickly made her way towards them, the bag of apples she'd brought swinging as she went. Finally she could have someone to talk to, even if it was dark creatures... that you can only see if you've... seen death. It didn't matter to Luna anyway, she was just grateful for a place to relax, even just a bit.

"What are you doing here?" A voice rang out through the forest.

Luna jumped, turning around to find Blaise Zabini leaning against a tree, a book in his hand. His hair was now braided, and now his eyes were more visible, shining with the sparkle that Luna had only read about in books. He raised his eyebrows.