Chapter Twenty - The Reminder
Uncle Ron parked the car on the side of the road, behind some tall shrubs. We couldn't go to an inn, there was a chance that the Muggles had been warned about us - in a way that didn't reveal anything of the magical world, of course. So we had no other choice but to sleep a bit in the car.
Luna chuckled, breaking the silence that fell upon us as my uncle turned off the engine. "Isn't this exciting? It's been years since I've had this kind of adventure."
Uncle Ron looked at her, a frown on his face. But then he slowly smiled, and shook his head. I couldn't help smiling myself. "Ha, she's always the optimist," he stated, looking at me. "If anyone has to do anything, now is the time." With that, he quickly left the car, and I realized I hadn't been able to use the loo when we arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, so I followed him.
We didn't get much sleep that night. A few hours later, the sun was out, and I've always had trouble sleeping with so much light. Luna was still sleeping when Uncle Ron turned on the engine, and we didn't wake her up.
Unlike the previous night, my uncle didn't look upset. Instead, he was smiling. He would look at Luna, or look up at me from the rear-view mirror. "Why are you so happy, Uncle Ron?" I asked, unable to help myself.
He chuckled. "Things could be worse, right? But we've got each other," he said. "Please, don't tell Luna I said such corny thing," he added in a conspirational whisper, and I sniggered.
"Too late," a soft voice said, and Luna stirred. "I heard that, Ronald."
Uncle Ron groaned, pretending to be bothered by the fact that Luna had discovered him saying something mushy. I laughed as she made cooing noises at my uncle, and at the fact that he was blushing brightly.
Something caught my attention while I was laughing. It was in the middle of the fields, not far from the road. It was completely black, it had long thin legs, a long neck and a horse-like head. And there were two large things on its body. I couldn't make out most of it, but I knew it couldn't be something normal. "What's that?" I asked, sounding more scared than I intended.
Luna looked over to the thing. "Oh," she said softly. "It was a Thestral." I saw Uncle Ron looking at me uncertainly from the mirror, but then quickly looked back ahead, to the road. Luna spent a while explaining me about the scary-looking animal.
"It's a reminder," I said much later, almost to myself. "A reminder of my mother and grandparents' deaths." Then I frowned, as I realized something. "Uncle Ron, could you see it?"
"No, John," Uncle Ron answered, a bit uneasily.
Then I looked over at Luna. "But you could," I stated. She just smiled.
"I saw my mother die, I was just a bit older than you. Terrible accident, really. She liked to experiment with spells and potions, something finally went very wrong," she explained briefly.
Her confession was rather stunning. While I had suspected that Luna's parents were not alive, I hadn't imagined that she had witnessed her mother's death, and that it hadn't been something peaceful, like a decease or other natural cause.
It also explained Luna's job at St. Mungo's, though.
We didn't speak for the rest of the trip.
Notes: I'm almost done! Of the thirty-two chapters that this story should be, I've done up to twenty-seven. :) Today I might finish it! This is exciting! I never did such long story, even if the chapters are drabble-like. :P