On the Loch-Out

The loch looked lovely today, all blues, greens, and grays. The waves seemed to sparkle as a bit of sun peeped through the thick clouds.

“This is a bloody waste of time!” Zacharias Smith scowled at the girl across from him. “There is no monster in Loch Ness!”

“I think, that perhaps the Muggles are onto something,” Luna Lovegood said calmly as she opened a small plastic container of fruit. “There can’t be that many people testifying unless something is going on.”

Zacharias snorted as he opened a matching plastic container. He transfigured a rock into a fork and speared a piece of pineapple. He wished it was dumb Lovegood’s head. They were sitting on the shore of this preposterous loch waiting for a legend to show up! This was folly!

He watched as Lovegood chewed on a piece of papaya thoughtfully. She drew her sweater closer around her when the wind picked up a bit. She was pretty enough, but dear Lord, the girl was dense!

He shook his head to himself and looked down at his container of fruit. His father was insane, wanting to pair him off with this girl. He could tolerate bedding her, he supposed, as long as she kept her mouth shut, but passing her genes off to his offspring? It was laughable.

A dark shadow passed overhead and he heard the water splashing the shore more fervently.

“Listen, I really think it’s going to rain, so if you’re quite done wasting my time—” Zacharias choked on his words.

Looming above them, (behind Luna’s back, the daft girl didn’t even turn around) there was a long prehistoric neck and a small reptilian head sitting atop it.

Zacharias scuttled backwards on his hands and feet, doing a sort of crab-walk.

“Oh, I quite like getting a better look at the clouds that way, too.” Luna said dreamily. Sometimes you can see quite different things by changing your position.

Zacharias flipped onto his stomach and crawled as fast as he could until he could get to his feet. Then he ran.

Luna sighed and looked up.

“He really is a spineless buffoon, isn’t he?” Xenophilius Lovegood’s voice came from the beast.

Luna nodded and waited as her father returned to his human form behind her with a wet squelchy noise. “Don’t worry. At least his father won’t be bothering you anymore.”

“Well, there is that.” Xeno smiled as he donned the spare robes Luna had in her supply bag and sat near her. He picked up the discarded container of pineapple, and smiled happily as he took a bite. “You know, if they aren’t intelligent enough to look up prospective families in the Animagus registries, I’m not sure they’re good enough for you, anyway.”

Luna looked down and snorted derisively into her container of fruit, her hair hiding her smile.

Prompt by WriterMerrin: Nessie, tropical fruit, any character