Moonlark Rising

Sophie is intimidating-why did we ever think she wasn't?

Keefe laughed slightly, and drew a quick sketch of a paper chain, then pulled it out of the sketchbook, pressing the opposite end of the chain back into the book. His friends watched in awe as the chain finally settled back as a sketch on the paper. Tam was the first one to snap out of it and begin asking snarky questions.

When his friends left that afternoon, he was feeling a bit better. Seeing the sketch of Sophie being held down by that dwarf he had made to help him remember the battle brought the horrible feelings back. He hated that she had been hurt. That she might be hurt right now. He had the vague starts of an idea... but he wasn't sure if it would work. He began to draw up a new plan. A plan that, if it worked, would help find Sophie.

Sophie

Sophie stepped out of the train, looking around the platform. It was a bit chilly, and Sophie was glad she was able to regulate her body temperature.

She heard Ron whispering to Harry, "How is she not cold?" but she ignored him, continuing to one of the carriages which was being pulled by a black, twisted version of a pegasus. 

Hoping that they would help her, Sophie reached her mind out to the nearest one. Its mind was surprisingly kind, but tinged with the sadness of death.

"Girl... hear me?" the voice asked hesitantly.

Sophie replied mentally, "Yes, Auntie. I understand most animals." A rush of confusion flooded the creature's mind. "Auntie? You... thestralblood?"

Sophie smiled. "Not quite, Aunt Thestral." She sent an image of an alicorn to the beast, which shivered in appreciation. "Hello, Sophie. My name Aunt Tress."

The voice of the thestral sent a shiver down her spine. Sophie looked back at Harry, who was staring at Aunt Tress. He could see her. Looking back on what she had learned about thestrals from her new friend, that meant Harry had seen death, just like she had.

Harry called carefully to Hermione and her, "What's that pulling the carriages?!"

Hermione and Ron looked at him like he was crazy, and Hermione said carefully, "Harry... the carriages pull themselves. Are you ok?"

Sophie replied for him. "Harry's fine. Seeing a thestral for the first time is a bit of a surprise. They're harmless, but they get a bad reputation because unless you've seen death, they're invisible. I can see them too."

Harry looked relieved that he wasn't broken. Hermione climbed into the carriage after Sophie and began asking a million questions about thestrals.

Harry cut into Hermione's stream of questions and asked Sophie carefully, "You said that you can only see thestrals if you've seen death... Who... what happened?" he finished numbly.

Sophie thought of the few, but yet so many deaths. The many people she knew. The first death she had witnessed. 

Its violence. 

In a partially broken voice, she replied, "My mentor was the first to die in front of me. One of our high security prisoners had broken out and attacked him. His partners had set off an explosion, bringing the entire building down around us."

Sophie turned around in her seat and looked down at the scenery flashing by. Sticking a hand in one of her larger pockets, she put her hand on the circlet. She was supposed to wear it briefly when Dumbledore asked her to come up and speak to the crowd. 

She began rehearsing her speech in her head, and how she would simultaneously impress the teachers and students, but not scare anyone or seem stuck up.

By the time she entered the Great Hall and looked up at the star-covered ceiling, she had her speech planned out. She took her seat at the Gryffindor table by Hermione and Ginny, Ron's younger sister, who smiled at her kindly.