InsaneJournal

NaNo FanFic Part 13
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Pairings this part: None (teeny hint of Luna/Rolf Scamander, I guess)
Rating: PG
Notes: I had a meeting tonight, so you get some random filler.

June 2000, somewhere in Patagonia

Luna had climbed halfway down the slope of a ravine about four kilometers from her campsite when her boot dislodged a rock from the face and sent it tumbling down.  She had approximately seven seconds in which to decide, first, not to apparate away, and second, to cast a wandless cushioning charm, before she and most of the rest of the little ledge to which she was clinging followed the rock. 

The cushioning charm ensured that she remained unbroken and largely unbruised, but it did not prevent her from sliding down the slope until she ended up upside down on gravel with her ankles tangled in the roots of a dead tree. 

"That was unexpected."  Luna noticed that the roots of this particular tree were crawling with beetles, as indeed her boots were now as well.  "Well, well, who are you lot, then?"  They were brownish blackish creatures with gigantic mandibles and what might have been horns, but in the shadows of the ravine and the roots Luna had difficult making out enough detail to identify a species.  She pulled her wand from her arm sheath. 

"Lumos." 

The dim illumination from her wand revealed a plethora of worms, millipedes, and other creepy-crawlies on the underside of the tree, none of which caused Luna's sudden astonished gasp.  What made Luna catch her breath was the sudden and gorgeous blush of red in the shadows as half the gathered beetles proved to have horns, indeed - glittering, jewel-like red horns like polished garnets, half again as long as their bodies, with split curves at the ends. 

"I've never seen anything like you before, friends. Come here," Luna quietly Accioed two of the red-horned beetles, not yet bothering to turn herself right-side up.  "Garnets in June.  June Garnet Beetles.  That's what you'll be, if you don't have a name yet.  I wonder what properties you have, when your horns are only visible in magical light?" 

She pet the larger beetle in her hand, running two fingertips down its horns and back, and smiled in delight as it spread its carapace and fluttered tiny vestigial wings at her.  "How would you and some of your friends like to come to camp with me?  I'm afraid a few of you will be sacrificed to the greater advancement of science, but perhaps we can make life pleasant until that end." 

She cast a very careful series of cutting charms on the roots that held her boots, and flipped herself upright onto the floor of the ravine.  Her garnet beetles were going about their business, most of which seemed to involve getting away from the light source, so Luna quickly cast a few more Accios and transfigured a bit of leaf mold into a wicker cage for her new friends.  "Yes, you do look very new, don't you?  Such fine hairs, and those wings!  Rolf is going to love you." 

Hooking the cage onto her belt, Luna extinguished her Lumos and started hiking along the ravine floor in the direction of her camp.  If she didn't encounter any more promising specimens before the sun passed out of sight, she would apparate back and send her report a day early.  A new beetle was definitely worth the trouble. 
   

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