The Thirteenth Hour

Chapter 6

He inhaled deeply as he crossed the moonlit grass, walking down to the nearest edge of the lake. It was chilly outside, but he always did his best thinking when alone at night. In fact, it had been one of the reasons, among others such as unfiltered access to the Restricted Section, that he had so wanted to be a Prefect: he had a reason to patrol the school alone for an hour or two each night.

The moon was growing, not yet half full. Tom glanced up at the moon and stars, casting light out of the blackness of space to shine down on him, his hands clasped behind his back. In general these days, he was no stargazer, though he could recall many nights spent hunched in a window at the orphanage, arms around his knees unable to sleep, staring up at indifferent stars.

He found a familiar constellation in the sky above the lake, one he used to trace with a finger on the glass years ago. So much had changed.

As he turned back towards the castle, a yellow square of light cut through the blue light of the moon and stars as one of the front doors was opened again. Out slipped a small silhouette, clearly lit for a moment by the light escaping the door behind her. Luna shut the door behind her, then drifted her way directly across the sloping lawn towards the Forbidden Forest, unaware she had been seen.

Tom smiled. An opportunity to dock points and give detention at a minimum, and get her expelled at best, presenting itself during the first week of the term? He couldn't have asked for better luck. He surreptitiously caught up to her, hanging just far enough back as to avoid detection, and followed her into the trees of the Forest.

Among the trees, the pale light of the sky barely penetrated, and the darkness was oppressive. He had to keep an eye on both the girl and the ground to avoid tripping or stepping on something which would make her aware of his presence. Fortunately, her hair caught what little starlight cut through the trees, and she was fairly easy to follow. The forest floor, on the other hand, quickly became covered in a cool, creeping mist that moved around his feet and ankles, obscuring his view of where he might be stepping.

Moving further into the Forest, further than he had ever gone, he began to wonder where she was going when she came to a quiet, moonlight soaked clearing in the trees. Tom hung back, hiding behind a yew tree where he could watch what she did. Had she come here to perform some kind of magic?

But the girl went to the center of the clearing and sat down. She peered about her expectantly, as though waiting something. An owl hooted somewhere nearby.

Tom was about to go into the clearing and tell her she'd earned detention when there was a rustling across the clearing, the branches of a bush shaking. He reached into his pocket and slipped his wand out, raising it. Luna turned to face the movement, but did not pull a wand of her own. A moment later, a thestral foal stumbled out of the brush and into the clearing.

The foal tottered on spindly legs towards Luna, who held her hand to it. After the little thestral had sniffed her hand, she patted its head. Suddenly, more rustling broke out around the clearing, and several full grown thestrals appeared, making their way to the center.

Slowly lowering his wand, Tom watched as the thestrals surrounded Luna, nuzzling her, fighting for her attention, which she seemed all too happy to give. The foal was nipping at her cloak, which made her laugh, and she reached into her pocket and began pulling out several steaks that she must have nicked from dinner. She began giving each of the thestrals bits of meat, intermittently admonishing one that was being too greedy.

Tom's brows knitted themselves together as he watched. The skeletal winged horses had become visible to him just recently, having been present when his basilisk killed that Mudblood in the bathroom at the end of the prior school year. He did not particularly like them, as they had stomped their hooves at him and watched him with ghostly eyes when he had boarded the carriage, both at the end of the previous year and the beginning of this one. He wasn't sure if they'd always done it and he just hadn't seen.