Chapter 18

An Erkling.

Luna could clearly remember reading about them in defence against the dark arts with professor Lupin and instantly recognized its pointed face and elfish creatures. It stood no more than three feet high but Luna knew that its size was no comparison to its dangerous cackle that lured children from their guardian so it could eat them. The ministry of magic classified them as a level four dangerous being... out of five.

Luna did the only thing she could; cower behind Draco. Draco noticed how scared she was and did his best to act like he knew what he was doing. Honestly, he couldn’t even remember what creature this was. The small creature launched itself at him and he shrieked, covering his face with his arms.

“Don’t just stand there! Do something, or it’ll eat both of us!” Luna screamed.

“Eat us!?” Draco exclaimed, “what do you mean eat us!?”

“I mean what I said nimrod, now kill it!”

“How!?”

“I don’t know, think of something!”

“Stop yelling at me!”

“I’m not yelling!”

The Erkling jumped onto Draco’s head, digging its claws into his scalp. Draco screamed in pain and fear and started swiping at it with his arms while running in circles yelling, “Get it off me!”

Luna panicked and did the only thing she could think of, she threw a rock at Draco’s head. I missed the Erkling and hit Draco in the side of the head. He yelped in pain and the Erkling, scared of future rocks hitting the mark, jumped off of his head.

“What the bloody hell were you thinking!?” Draco questioned, holding his head where a lump was already beginning to form.

“I wasn’t thinking!”

“Obviously!”

“At least it’s off your head!”

“But it’s still here!”

“Well then think of something!” Luna exclaimed.

“You’re the Ravenclaw, you think of something!”

The Erkling jumped at them again and Luna ducked, avoiding nearly getting her eye taken out my it’s sharp claws. Draco looked around for anything that might help. He picked up a thick branch that had fallen from a tree and held it baseball bat style. The creature jumped at him and he swung with all of his might, hitting the Erkling square in the head. It fell a few feet away, whimpering slightly. Draco watched it cautiously, branch still raised. The Erkling looked at them and ran in the other direction. Draco sighed and tossed the branch away.

“That was amazing!” Luna exclaimed and pulled him into a quick hug.

“I know,” Draco said proudly, puffing out his chest a little.

Luna looked confused, “wait a second...why didn’t we just use our wands...?”

Draco smacked himself on the forehead with his palm, “stupid, stupid, stupid...”

“You’re not stupid,” Luna said.

“I know. I’m calling you stupid, you’re supposed to be a bloody Ravenclaw after all, why didn’t you think of that five minutes ago!?”

Luna crossed her arms, “you didn’t think of it either so don’t blame me!”

“Yes, but you’re supposed to be the smart one!”

“At least I knew what type of creature we were battling and you’re a year ahead of me!”

Draco flushed, “whatever, can we please just find our way back to the castle?”

“Gladly,” Luna huffed. Draco was so bipolar; one minute he was a sweet, nice guy and the next he was the guy whose sole purpose seemed to be making others miserable. She sighed, why couldn’t anything be simple?