In The End

Chapter 12 - Thestrals

Eliza felt strange as she sat aboard the Hogwarts Express. For once, she actually felt happy to be returning to school. Draco had agreed with her that the Christmas break had lasted far too long. Both of them were more than ready to get away from the meetings and finally see each other again. 

As it happened, Eliza and Draco had inadvertently chosen to sit at booths right behind one another. This made the trip back all the more enjoyable.

Draco often needed to stop himself from smirking when Blaise said something that he knew Eliza found amusing, since he - and only he - could hear her chuckle lightly under her breath each time and the sound of her just made him want to smile.

He had missed hearing her voice and seeing her face. It pained him to sit there and pretend to listen to Blaise and Pansy when all he really wanted was to get up and sit beside Eliza instead. It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to keep up the impression that he wasn't close with her.

Still, the risk was far too high for him to give in to his desires. If the school caught wind of how close they had gotten, the news would get back to his father sooner or later - and he wasn't willing to gamble with Eliza's safety like that.

When it was time to get off of the train and lead towards the carriages, Draco snuck a glance at Eliza before disappearing.

Eliza made her way down and through the gate among the last of the stragglers, boarding a mostly empty carriage, occupied only by a Ravenclaw and the Gryffindor she had met on her very first day - Nathan Jerald.

She still distinctly remembered Nathan's appalled face after she had been sorted into Slytherin. She had never quite forgiven him for being so quick to judge her as a bad person when he knew nothing about her. The other girl was unfamiliar to her, however, and that brought her some sense of comfort.

Eliza decided to stay quiet, knowing that nobody would want to talk to her anyway. Looking around, her eyes fell on the sleek, skeletal horses pulling the carriage. She decided to reach out and pet one, when she was startled by a dreamy voice.

"You can see them too?" the Ravenclaw girl asked.

Eliza turned to look at her and smiled, "Yes, I believe they are called Thestrals."

The first time she had seen one and realised that nobody else could see it, she decided to ask her uncle what they were. He had explained to her that only people who had witnessed death were able to see them and that she ought not to talk about them to any of the other students. 

She had never really known her mother, but she imagined that the reason she was able to see Thestrals was that her mother died during childbirth. In a way, she had witnessed her mother's death the moment she had entered the world.

She did wonder now whether she should push the subject further or not. It seemed like the Ravenclaw girl knew what they were too. Perhaps it would be okay for her to talk about them, just this once.

As she ran through these thoughts, the Ravenclaw girl piped up.

"I'm Luna, Luna Lovegood," the girl smiled softly and held out a hand for Eliza to take.

"Eliza," she responded, giving Luna a gentle handshake.

She thought it best not to mention her surname just yet. The last thing she wanted was to scare off another person because of her uncle. 

Luna began to make idle conversation about her father's magazine, The Quibbler and discussed some of the interesting new stories that had come out about something called Nargles. 

When the carriage ride was over, Luna asked Eliza to meet her after dinner in the Great Hall, to which she was more than happy to oblige. She had never been treated so kindly before. The prospect of a new friend sent her excitement into overdrive and Eliza spent her entire dinner anxiously anticipating her next interaction with Luna.