“Oh! You’re okay!”
Luna gushed as soon as she walked into the infirmary and spotted Sally-Anne sitting up, resting against her pillow and a late breakfast on a tray which she was eating.
Sally looked up with a grin, waving Luna over who skipped with a grin and then sat on the bed.
“Hey Luna. Tell me, what’s the rumors floating about in the tower about me?”
Luna smiled a strange smile though a look of relief was on her face.
“Well… some of the boys say the dementors have turned you mad… some just say you must have had a nightmare or something.”
Sally frowned as she looked down at her food.
“Nightmare… right…”
Luna paused, looking at her.
“What happened last night Sally?”
Sally looked into the large grey eyes of her friend and for a moment, it looked like she was staring at the creature from the previous night through Luna’s eyes and she shivered slightly.
“I… I don’t know, Luna. I had this… dream. I don’t even know if it was a dream because I don’t even know how I got there. It was like the forbidden forest, and there was this… black… thing…”
She swallowed hard, her skin becoming pale once more.
“And it felt oh so vividly real… like I… like I was using my…”
She looked around to be sure Pomfrey wasn’t around.
“My mage sight…”
She whispered and Luna nodded grimly.
“Hm… you should tell your mum you’re having trouble with it.”
Sally nodded dutifully.
“I know. I already did. I should get a letter this night or by tomorrow.”
A small smile appeared on her face.
“On the plus side, my headache’s gone thanks to Pomfrey. I also got some chocolates too… look.”
She stretched to the side table next to the bed and grabbed a half eaten Honeydukes chocolate bar.
“Pomfrey said it was probably the Dementors that caused the self induced nightmares. Here, have some.”
She broke some for Luna who happily munched on it.
“We should probably start putting some in our bags whenever we leave the tower. Speaking of, I haven’t seen my roommates. How surprising.”
And it really was.
Sally was truly embarrassed about how she’d screamed bloody murder the previous night and she didn’t know how to face them… what to say… but she’d expected to see them circling her bed and chattering about how horrified they’d been because of her.
“Oh. They’re probably watching the quidditch match like most of the school is at the moment.”
Luna replied airily and Sally snorted even as she took a bite of her chocolate bar, abandoning the remaining breakfast.
Pomfrey walked out in that moment, spotting the two girls and tutting.
“It would seem you’re better now. Especially since you can ignore your breakfast for sweets.”
Sally smiled sheepishly as Pomfrey double tapped the tray with her wand and the food vanished.
She then waves her wand all over her patient, humming to herself and nodding before she stopped.
“Well, you seem to be better now. The chill seems to have left you and no more shaking.”
“And no headaches too.”
Luna chirped with a grin and Sally gave her a look.
“Luna!”
She whispered at the blond reproachfully but received a wider smile while Pomfrey glared at her patient who had the guts to try to hide something from her.
“I should keep you for the rest of the day just so you learn a lesson. But…”
She ignored Sally’s look of horror.
“Since you look better and do feel better, I’ll let you go. But any other problems, even a headache, and you run back here. Am I clear?”
She looked at the strawberry blonde sternly and Sally nodded eagerly.
“Good. Well off you go. And try to stay indoors and away from those… things, at the moment, okay?”
Sally nodded as she quickly jumped off the bed, still in her PJs, and chocolate still in hand.
“Thank you madam Pomfrey. I’ll see myself out!”
Sally quickly grabbed Luna and they hurried out the door of the infirmary.
----------------------------------------
The two friends sat at a secluded part of the quiet library that afternoon even as the rain beat down heavily from the heavens and the cloud darkened the beauty of the castle.
After leaving the infirmary, Sally had taken a warm and we’ll needed shower, changed into comfy clothes and grabbed her undone homework, off to the library with Luna.
She knew that once the games were over, her roommates would probably try to search her out in the infirmary and once they realize she wasn’t there, would try the common room.
She needed a little time to herself before heading into the rollercoaster of questions that they’d ask her.
Next to her, Luna seemed far away in her drawing as she hummed a tune, sketching a creature Sally had never seen before.
Sally looked away from her homework for a moment as she suddenly remembered her nightmare again and she shivered slightly before squeezing her eyes shut and opening it once more.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
It had been so… vivid…
It couldn’t not be real…
It had to…
It had to be a real creature.
But, what was it??
It hadn’t looked normal.
What was it she’d described it as again?...
Eldritch.
That was it.
With a look around the library, she stood up, walking past some shelves, following the letterings, not sure what she was looking for but sticking to whatever had the word Eldritch in it.
She finally stopped at one of the larger times and grabbed it, staring at the title.
Eldritch Beasts And The Terrors They Plague by H.P. Lovecraft.
Lovecraft.
Howard Philips Lovecraft was a well known name amongst the people of the Wizarding World, all over the globe.
An American Unspeakable.
A famous Unspeakable, which was something unheard of, in and of itself.
He had been one of the leading forces to learning more about Eldritch beasts in the early 1900s and his name was still revered across all department of Mysteries around the world.
Sally moved back to her seat, dropping the book in front of her, Luna still humming her song.
The book was probably over 300 pages long and Sally had no idea exactly what it was she was looking for, only that it was without shape, black like ink and a writhing creature with over a hundred eyes and tentacles with mouths filled with sharp dangerous teeth.
She had no idea how long it was as she kept flipping from page to page, looking at the pictures of the different neverbeasts, some scaring her so bad that it almost seemed like they would leap put of the books and kill her.
She slipped pages faster than necessary although careful not to tear it by mistake.
As she reached page 70, she began to think perhaps her nightmare was just that… a nightmare, induced by the dementors.
Perhaps it wasn’t real?
Maybe she had imagined something so… so…
Her hands stopped as soon as it reached page 76.
Shivers running down her spine at the picture of a creature.
A creature that looked exactly like the one from her dream.
She immediately went to the description, not bothering to check it’s name yet.
~A sentient blob of self-shaping gelatinous flesh, something like a giant amoeba. Usually 15 or so feet in diameter if it shaped itself into a sphere, but larger and smaller versions exist. Capable of shaping itself into whatever organs or shapes it finds necessary at the moment; however, in its usual state it tends to sport a roiling profusion of eyes, mouths, and pseudopodia.
Kills its enemies by enveloping them and generating enough suction-force to decapitate their victims. They emit a horrible, overpowering stench that's strong.~
Sally mumbled the words and the more she read, the more she knew this was the creature.
~A curious behavior of these Eldritch things is their repetitive cry of “Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!” believed to have been copied from the Elder beasts in the neverrealm who created them and--~
Sally felt her whole body freeze.
That word…
That’s exactly what it had shrieked out!
Her hands shook.
It hadn’t been just a dream. That thing was real. It had been in her dreams…
Next to her, Luna stopped drawing, looking at the book that had seemingly stolen Sally’s attention from her homework and her sight came upon the picture on the page.
A feeling of fear and alarm filled Luna unexpectedly as she kept staring at it.
“Sally-Anne… why are you reading up on Shoggoths?”
Sally snapped out of her daydream as Luna’s voice pierced through and she turned to her confused.
“A what?”
She looked down at the picture, before removing her hand that had been blocking the name and her eyes widened at the name of the creature.
Shoggoth.
She whipped her head back to her best friend in shock.
“Luna…”
Luna turned to the girl, and Sally felt the blonde was more focused than ever.
“Was that what you saw in your dream?”
Sally swallowed, hesitating for a moment and nodding.
“Yes… how… how do you know what it is?”
A grim look appeared on the 2nd year’s face and to Sally, it looked like Luna was stuck in a memory.
A memory of old.
“Because… I’ve seen them before…”
----------------------------------------
It was evening already.
The heads of house sat down comfortably in Dumbledore’s office as they prepared to begin their meeting.
Albus sat behind his desk, a slightly tired look on his face though he tried not to show it.
“Well then! An eventful day, I have to say.”
He began with a small smile and Minerva McGonagall huffed where she sat.
“By eventful, you mean one of my lions almost dying?”
Severus Snape rolled his eyes.
“Oh I’m sure he would have walked it off. It wasn’t like he hadn’t done worse before.”
McGonagall glared at her fellow head of household but before they could begin arguing, Filius Flitwick cut in.
“We should probably begin this meeting. Speaking of…”
He turned to Dumbledore.
“Is there really nothing we can do about those dementors, Albus? They’re scaring my students.”
Albus sighed but Flitwick continued.
“Why, just last night, one of my younger claws had a nightmare so horrific she apparently woke up screaming herself almost hoarse! She had to spend the night in the infirmary!”
Albus frowned and Pomona tittered in concern.
“Oh dear. It was that serious?”
Flitwick nodded firmly.
“Indeed!”
“Come Albus, are you sure we can’t just send them off??”
Albus sighed, massaging his forehead.
“I’m afraid we cannot. In fact, I regret to announce it is the very least of our problems.”
That attracted the attention of the 4 heads as they focused on the headmaster and Snape noticed how he seemed to massage his head.
“Perhaps I should send some headache potions to you later on.”
Albus gave him a grateful look.
“That would be much appreciated, Severus.”
The dark haired man gave a swift nod and the Minerva spoke up.
“You look awful Albus. Was the meeting that bad?”
“I’m afraid it is worse than we imagined.”
The heads immediately grew concerned.
“The World shake, as it is now known, did indeed have something to do with the Department of Mysteries. That Halloween night, they were conducting a runic potion experiment… an experiment that dealt in Eldritch energies. It had been scrapped for a little over 3 years now after it led to the death of one of theirs and the almost death of the child of said unspeakable. But they picked up on it again over a year ago, having various success with it. But that night, something must have gone wrong, as an explosion rocked the world, connecting with the leylines of magical Britain and the rest of the world, and the wards that protect this realm from the neverrealm… has imploded on itself and weakened.”
He finished grimly and the four professors turned pale. Pale in fear of just the mention of the neverrealm.
The neverrealm was feared in the magical world… all magical countries.
Feared for what the realm entailed. What lived in it, capable of absorbing the life energy of not just those who lived in it, but the earth itself.
For witches and wizards and magical creatures, it was even more worse because of the energy in their very souls that allows them tap into the mystical energy that was magic herself.
That was not to say some Eldritch beasts didn’t occasionally find and gain a foothold in the physical realm, but the last time it had happened was over a century ago.
Some had of course escaped enough to hide and hibernate all over the world, but hunts were occasionally carried out so as to wipe such terrors from the world completely.
In fact, some Unspeakable forces were dispatched for that reason and that reason alone.
But now, to say the ward protecting the physical world was down…to say they might gain a ground here… with what they were capable of doing… Minerva spoke up.
“What… what are we to do, Albus? We’re a school. Hogwarts is over a thousand years old. The magic inbuilt into the castle as well as we who stay in it, is huge enough to attract such… terrors… what is going to happen?”
She whispered feared for her life, and in that moment, it seemed like the room darkened with all the grim that everyone carried.
“The ward still stands, thankfully. It’s just that it is weak, and generally only protects places like ministries all over the world because they were built over the magical leylines. There might be holes around the wards which could be easy pickings for the lower beasts at the moment, but thankfully, not enough for the elder beasts. Halloween was a powerful day enough for the magic in the air to affect the explosion. Now, we have and hope that by yule, the magic in the air would have gathered enough for members of the ICW, myself included, to be able to recast and charge up the runes again. Stonehenge will guarantee it.”
The heads nodded. Snape finally speaking up.
“And at the moment?”
Albus sighed.
“At the moment, we try not to cause any mass panic. Nothing has happened, thankfully… but we make sure to keep the curfews we have right now. Make sure students are not caught in the dark and stay away from the forbidden forest. We also inform the centaurs so they themselves can be at alert. Gentlemen and ladies… we have a rough month ahead of us. Hopefully Sirius Black will be our only problem.”
Snape snorted derisively.
“Makes me want to hope Black stumbles into one of the neverbeasts. Do us good to be rid of him.”
No one disagreed with him that evening.
----------------------------------------
Sally-Anne and Luna walked to the Great Hall for dinner that evening, both quiet and seemingly in their thoughts.
The strawberry blonde’s mind was still on what Luna had told her.
She’d always known Luna’s mother died in a potions accident. But… apparently, there’d been more to the story.
Pandora Lovegood had surprisingly been an Unspeakable.
She’d been involved in a line experiment at their home, The Rookery, working on an Eldritch runic potion when it exploded disastrously.
9 year old Luna had been in the room with her mother but Pandora had shielded her daughter when the explosion had hit. Bearing the brunt of it all but… it had still affected Luna in a way.
According to Luna, the afternoon it had happened, when the explosion covered the whole room in a purple-gold energy, the world had seemed to flicker right before her eyes, just as it had flickered like it had to her that Halloween night. She had been in her mother’s potion room one moment, and the next, she had found herself in a red sunned wasteland… and everywhere she’d looked, she’d seen things… abominable things… and some had seen her in return.
Sally had shivered at that.
Ever since then, the ones she’d seem, and had seen her in return had become stuck between both worlds in a way.
Invisible to everyone but her, as they moved and floated around.
It was like they were stuck between both worlds, able to see both but not have a physical presence in our world.
She’d admitted that that was where some of her imaginary creatures had come from. She’d renamed them. Like the Crumple-horned Snorkack, Umgubular Slashkilters, the famed Nargles, moon frogs, blibbering humdingers, Wrackspurts amongst others.
Luna had spoken of how they occasionally fluttered amongst witches and wizards especially when magic was being used.
Sally had been especially creeped out when she’d asked if any of those creatures were around them while at the library, and Luna had looked at… something, next to Sally… and she’d said, that they were always around.
As they walked into the Great Hall, moving past the Ravenclaw table and towards Sally’s roommates, they spotted her and Morag let out a gasp first, signaling the rest as well as those around.
“Sally! We’ve been looking all over for you!”
Mandy exclaimed and Padma nodded next to her, a small relieved smile on her face as Sally sat down, Luna next to her who began piling some food onto her own plate, already humming a song.
Sally smiled.
“Sorry guys… I was in the library.”
Padma sighed, slapping a hand on her forehead.
“Of course! Why didn’t we think to check the library?! You’re a Ravenclaw!”
Her fellow male year mates snickered and Anthony spoke up.
“Only a Ravenclaw would immediately head into the library after being excused by Pomfrey.”
“And Granger, of course.”
Michael Corner added playfully and Su spoke up.
“What happened anyway…”
She spoke quietly, an inquisitive look on her face which the rest adopted as they looked at her, and Sally knew… she couldn’t tell them what had really happened.
A side eye at Luna showed the girl sipping her goblet of pumpkin juice and Sally turns back to her… audience.
“Madam Pomfrey said it was the Dementors. Sometimes they could become too much and give really bad nightmares. But, she game me a chocolate bar when I woke up this morning though! So I’m all better. I’d advice you guys to buy some during the next Hogsmeade visit. Apparently it drives the cold of the dementors away.”
Sally-Anne also wondered if it also drove away from the fear of Eldritch terrors as well.
Padma nodded.
“True. I read it somewhere. I definitely know what I’ll be spending my money on come the weekend.”
They all began chattering amongst each other and Sally sighed in relief.
“I’m really glad you’re okay though.”
Padma have her a small nod before turning to focus on her food and Sally began piling food on her own plate.
Suddenly, Hogwarts didn’t seem so safe anymore.
Not only were Dementors wondering around, mass murderers and now Eldritch beasts were!
She looked to Luna once more, a concerned look on her face.
She’d always thought Luna was just naturally odd.
For all that Luna tried to act disconnected from the world, perhaps… perhaps she WAS disconnected from it.
That accident had definitely done something to her best friend.
Maybe at the end of the day… some of the beasts she saw weren’t the only ones stuck halfway between worlds…
Maybe Luna herself was stuck too.
And that… that was a scary thing to imagine.