laconic • t.nott ✓

03 ➺ crumpled horns and curses

「 CRUMPLED HORNS AND CURSES 」

ONE WEEKEND, THEO FOUND HIMSELF perched upon a windowsill in one of the second-floor corridors, opposite Luna who as usual stared with a sort of distant look in her pale silver eyes, out at the cool early morning of late October, completely oblivious to her surroundings.

Theo wondered how one could be so indifferent to what was happening around them, especially during a time like this, when Hogwarts wasn't really what it used to be. Didn't she care? Or was this simply a method she employed to keep what she was feeling at bay?

He rummaged through his bag until his fingers caught the edition of the Quibbler that Luna had given him a few days prior. He glanced at the odd cover briefly before placing it upon the space between them.

"Thanks for letting me read that," he muttered. He felt awkward for reasons he couldn't understand, though he guessed it was probably because Luna acted like he wasn't sitting right in front of her. "It was ... an interesting read."

"You can have it." She smiled and slid the magazine back toward him. "I've finished reading that already."

Surprised, he thanked her and put it back in his bag.

Another awkward silence ensued. Theo wasn't exactly sure of what to speak about with her. He couldn't say that they were friends – really, they haven't even spoken much except for the last two times. He wondered why he had decided to meet up with her in the first place.

Maybe because he needed someone to distract him from the war that was slowly creeping its way toward them.

"You know, Theo," Luna flitted her eyes over to him. He couldn't say he wasn't surprised – this was the first time she spoke first. "You're the first Slytherin to ever speak to me properly."

"Oh." He rubbed the nape of his neck.

It wasn't news to him. Most of Slytherin house consisted of close-minded people who would rather drown themselves into the depths of the Black Lake than associate with someone who was remotely different from them. He wasn't proud to admit it, but he used to be one of them in the past.

And a part of him probably still was.

He cleared his throat and pushed the invasive thoughts into the back of his mind. "So, I read about this other creature. In the Quibbler." Luna nodded, showing that she was listening. "It's called a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, I think. What does it look like? They didn't show any pictures of it."

She shook her head, giving him a smile. "They wouldn't show any pictures, though, would they? No one knows what Crumple-Horned Snorkacks look like. No one has seen them. We only know about them from the evidence they leave behind, like footprints."

Theo thought for a moment. "But if they don't know what the creature looks like, why would they name it like that? How would they know that they have crumpled horns?"

Luna smiled and gave him a knowing look. "You really don't believe that it exists, do you?"

He blushed, considered lying, but then decided against it. He shrugged. "Not really, to be completely honest."

"It's okay. At least you're not being rude about it."

He watched her for a moment, completely amazed by her strong faith in the existence of those creatures. Maybe he didn't believe that such things as Nargles existed in this world, Nargles that could simply be warded off by a couple of mini butterbeer corks, Nargles that loved to hide in mistletoes and possibly spring out at unsuspecting couples kissing underneath it, Nargles whose only sign of existence lay in a magazine that was the laughingstock of the wizarding world. Maybe he was just sceptical, and maybe Luna was just a girl who loved to have faith, who loved to believe, because perhaps a belief in something special, something to discover one day was what kept her motivated to live through each day without questioning her existence.