Car

Car

A feral car came trundling out of the undergrowth, its sky-blue paintwork scratched off and three of the windows gone. Covered in dents and grime, with leaves and twigs hanging off of the one remaining side mirror, the briefly famous car was now unrecognisable. Once, it had soared through the skies like an eagle, racing trains and fighting trees. Its true moment of greatness had been when it beat back the monstrous Acromantulas to save the lives of two children that had flown with it in the car's previous existence. Sometimes it would think of those days, when it was a tame car, and wonder if it had chosen the right path. These moments of soul searching left the car with a sense of emptiness - it just couldn't think of one reason why it was better off free. It occasionally considered going back to that life, the life of petrol and tarmac, with the odd flight thrown in for good measure. But for the same reason that it couldn't see why it was better off free, the car couldn't think of a reason to go back.

After the first thrill of freedom, life in the Forbidden Forest had taken its toll on the magical car. With a growing nihilistic attitude and an increasingly reckless attitude to dangerous routes, it was just looking for a reason to continue its existence. And then one day it found it.

One beautiful moonlit night, the car rolled out of the forest and pulled up to the lake. It attempted to look at its reflection, but due to the fact that it couldn't lean over it was unable to see anything. With a sound like a sigh from the exhaust pipe, the car couldn't quite motivate itself to go back to the forest, and so remained at the waters edge, stalled. Suddenly there was a movement near the middle of the lake; a silvery tentacle broke the surface and made a gesture not unlike a wave. Shaken out of its stupor, the car revved its engine, questioning the action of the creature. The tentacle disappeared and the car, assuming that it was seeing things, started its engine in preparation for heading back into the forest, but as it was reversing four shining tentacles rose out of the water by the shore, and these were followed by the enormous head of the giant squid. In a panic, the car shot backwards, but the tentacles snapped forward like lightening and caught hold of the car.

Certain that its end was nigh, the car stopped struggling and allowed itself to be rolled forwards towards the head of the monstrous squid. But to the car's enormous surprise, the grip of the squid wasn't uncomfortable, but rather gentle and almost...tender. The car rolled to the very edge of the water, and the squid pulled itself as close to the shore as it could whilst still remaining in the water, and it kept its tentacles wrapped gently around the car. Its engine was still running, but softly now, almost like a purr. Eventually the purring stopped and the car fell asleep, still entwined in the tentacles of the squid. The car and the squid remained like this until the sun came up, then the squid removed its tentacles and slipped silently back under the water. The car woke when the first rays of sunlight glinted off of its cracked windshield and it basked in the sun for a minute or so, feeling more contented and, just, happy, than it had done in its whole existence. Not since it was assembled had it felt like this. Hearing the sound of a school waking up in the distance, it backed up from the lake and turned into the forest. So, it thought, this is love...

The coming months were the happiest of the car's life, its engine felt so light and full of joy that one night it even flew again, rising above the treetops to soar with the Thestrals and Hippogriffs, and flying low over the lake so the squid could reach up a tentacle to brush the car's wheels as it flew past. After a while however, the car became frustrated with its constant forced distance from its beloved squid. As long as the squid couldn't leave the water, and the car remained on land, the two could never truly be together. This left the car with only one option: it had to enter the lake. This decision was not taken lightly, and the car knew that underwater its lifespan would be lessened considerably. But, thought the car, what is a life without love? And with this recklessly romantic declaration to itself, the car launched itself off of the highest point it could find into the deep dark waters of the lake.

The car and the squid enjoyed many happy times in the murky depths of the lake; sometimes the car would trundle along at the bottom of the lake while the squid swam above it caressing the roof and untangling the wheels from the seaweed that so often got caught around them, and sometimes the squid wrapped a tentacle or two through the car's missing windows and they soared all around the lake as if they were flying.

The years went by, and the car slowly became less and less active until it could no longer propel itself. When this happened, the two of them would spend long periods of time just looking lovingly at each other, the squid often with a tentacle wrapped around the car. They still went for their 'flying trips' through the lake, but due to the car's ill health they lessened as time went on.

One day, the car stopped moving altogether, and the faint glow in its headlamps finally went out. The squid was in another part of the lake when this happened, and had no idea. When it returned it found its love inanimate, and in desperation and grief wrapped itself around the empty shell of the car it loved, pulling it to it with all its might. The metal of the car, weak and rusted from years underwater, bent and broke under the strength of its love's grip, and the rusty car was crushed.

The squid, seeing what had become of the only being it had ever really loved, rose to the surface just in time to see the boats carrying the first year students to Hogwarts. At the unexpected appearance of the squid's enormous head, most of the children screamed, but one girl looked at the creature closely, and though it may have only been her imagination and the way the moonlight glinted off the lake water running from its face, but she fancied she could see big salty tears sliding out of the doleful eyes of the tragic looking creature. It looked directly at her as she passed in her boat, and then disappeared silently beneath the surface.

THE END