Luna Lovegood's Arc

Chapter 14 of 19

By morning the story had turned sour. One inspector stood on the castle steps and told the others the mother had been a fake. A trained beast, he said, painted to fool them. He pointed at the empty tree line. "Where is this herd she claims? Hidden, always hidden. Show me one more, or I write this down as a hoax." The other inspectors nodded. Luna's proof was slipping away again. Luna could not force the herd into the open. They stayed deep in the trees, past the field where the mother had fled. Music would only push them back, not draw them close. She had one creature that trusted her, and she had let it run to keep that trust. Now that choice looked like an empty hand. Dumbledore came down the steps behind her. His starred robe dragged on the stone. He did not argue with the inspectors. He looked at Luna over his glasses. "They want a live animal on a leash," he said quietly. "You will not give them that. So give them something they cannot dismiss." "I have nothing left," Luna said. "You have the treat it ate from your hand." He nodded toward her pocket. "A trained beast obeys a trainer. It does not choose. Let them watch it choose you." Luna understood. She drew the sugared gurdyroot from her pocket. The crystals still caught the light. She walked past the inspectors, out onto the trampled grass, alone. She stopped at the edge of the field and held the root flat on her palm. Then she waited, still, saying nothing. The inspectors muttered. Minutes passed. The accuser smirked. Luna kept her arm out until it ached. A branch moved. The mother stepped from the trees. It came slow, ears up, watching the crowd. It did not come for the men. It came for Luna. It crossed the whole open field with dozens of wands ready, and no one had called it, and no one held a rope. It lowered its head and took the root from her palm. Then it turned and walked back to the trees on its own. The accuser had stopped smirking. "No trainer," Dumbledore said, loud now. "No leash. It came when no one commanded it and left when no one held it. Write that down." The inspector said nothing. He could not. The whole field had seen a wild creature choose Luna over safety. His accusation was dead. But Luna watched the trees swallow the mother again. She had won the argument. She still had no Snorkack to hold. And now the Ministry had a new demand in their eyes. They believed. They wanted one caged in the Great Hall, proof anyone could visit. Luna felt the trap close. To finish this, she would have to tell them she can’t catch them that’s not fair to them. They are living animals.