Chapter 23: Miss Lovegood's Whimsical Ideas
"Miss Hamilton's mother was a Veela, correct?"
"Very strong matrilineal traits..."
"The hair is a silver that's almost golden... Compared to a quarter-blood, she certainly bears a closer resemblance to a true Veela..."
"And the eyes are blue... just like gemstones..."
"M... Mr. Sca... Scamander?" Lyra shrank in her chair, watching Newt as he circled her. "What... what are you doing?"
"Recording," Newt said with an apologetic smile. "My apologies... I... I've just never seen one..."
"Ah... it's fine... I'm just... just a little..." Seeing Newt apologize, Lyra quickly lowered her head. "Sorry!"
Luna smiled as she watched the two of them apologize at the same time.
Lyra Hamilton. A new friend she had made. Her first friend, in fact, besides her Daddy, her Mummy, and the Crumple-Horned Snorkack.
She was very pretty, with pointed ears like the moon and eyes like the stars.
But she was always worrying about something, or afraid of something.
Luna didn't really understand why, but her intuition told her it was probably related to her appearance. Lyra was always hiding herself under a hood, and she even wore a mask when she was with the Ministry people.
This was a good thing, of course. Wearing a mask was a very effective way to avoid catching gum disease.
In any case, faced with a friend who was always so afraid, Luna had thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a good solution. But the moment she decided to go chat with Mr. Scamander, she felt that perhaps she should invite her friend along.
Mr. Scamander would definitely not say anything mean about Lyra's appearance. In fact, most people probably wouldn't say anything mean, would they?
But Luna had heard that some bad wizards looked down on Muggle-borns, or wizards with Veela, vampire, or werewolf blood.
Even though those things are actually quite cool...
So, she and Mr. Scamander will definitely get along... With this thought, Luna had written the letter. She hadn't once considered that Lyra might refuse, just as she had no doubt that the two of them would get along.
"Miss Love... Miss Lovegood... can you stop Mr. Scamander..." Lyra sent a pleading look to Luna. "He's trying to pull out my hair!"
"Ah... I have some of Lyra's hair right here." Snapping out of her daze, Luna slowly pulled out a strand of hair and handed it to Newt.
Then, to Lyra's utter shock, she said, "Mr. Scamander, is your case here?"
"Ah... yes... would you like to see it?" Newt seemed delighted at the prospect of getting to study Veela hybrids, so he just gestured vaguely toward the other room. "It's on the table..."
Hearing this, Lyra shot up and moved into the other room even faster than Luna.
Her previous assessment was completely wrong. Newt Scamander was a far more dangerous man than Dumbledore. Dumbledore would probably just arrest her, but Newt... Newt might actually dissect her for research!
Although... Mr. Scamander didn't treat her like a freak... He just... treated her like a magical creature...
Then what about Luna?
Lyra instinctively looked at the girl who was now skipping over to her.
She... she definitely sees me as a friend, right?
Right, I'm her first friend!
...Besides her father and the Crumple-Horned Snorkack... Wait, is she and Newt friends?
While Lyra was lost in thought, Luna had arrived at her side.
"Lyra, that's Mr. Scamander's suitcase."
"S... Suitcase..." Lyra instinctively looked in the direction Luna was pointing. There was, indeed, a suitcase on the table.
But... that was no mere suitcase!
"An Energy Storage Formation, plus a Spatial Formation, and a Conversion Formation and a Locking Formation!"
"A combination of four different formations..." Lyra walked a full circle around the case. "What an exquisite design... If you press this button, it activates the Conversion Formation, switching it to the second set of contents in the case."
"And the Spatial Formation is centered on a Spatial Ancient Rune... This is a much larger space than what an ordinary Undetectable Extension Charm can create..."
"Furthermore, the Conversion Formation seems to be engraved with other runes... Is this for weather?" Lyra's hand gently traced the outside of the case. She pulled out her wand and lightly drew a circle on its surface.
At her touch, the case began to glow faintly.
"Just as I thought... This is a 'Clear Sky' weather conversion formation." Lyra nodded, feeling a imagined warmth. "So, the others must correspond to rain... snow..."
"Can it even switch between night and day?"
"To engrave so many formations onto one small case... this is not something that could be made in a day or two..."
"This is a masterpiece!" Lyra exclaimed, hugging the suitcase.
"I have to copy the formations on this... Luna... ah... Miss Lovegood, can you help me..." Realizing what she was doing, Lyra stopped short. She looked at Luna, who was smiling at her, and quickly clapped a hand over her mouth.
I was just complaining about Newt... how did I turn around and start muttering just like him...
"S... Sorry... Miss Lovegood..."
"But you were just calling me Luna," Luna said, tilting her head as she handed Lyra a piece of parchment.
"You wanted to copy the formations, right?"
"Ah... yes... thank you..." Lyra fumbled as she took the parchment, then said, flustered, "I... I got carried away again... You must think it's... so boring..."
"Not at all. It's fascinating," Luna shrugged, leaning against the table. "This is the first time I've seen you so interested in anything, Lyra."
"Magic Formations... they actually sound very interesting." She pointed at the runes on the case. "So, Mr. Scamander's case can do all that just because of these formations?"
"Y-Yes!" Lyra pressed her lips together, carefully placing the parchment against the suitcase and giving her wand a light wave.
"Magic Formations are amazing... Just a few little lines can do so much," Luna said, watching the patterns slowly transcribe themselves onto the parchment. "Does Hogwarts have a class like this?"
"Ah, sorry, I forgot you're not a Hogwarts student..." Luna said, lowering her voice. "You're a Ministry Auror in charge of preventing gum disease, right?"
"I... I'm not..."
"I won't blow your cover, don't worry, Lyra!"
But I'm really not... Lyra desperately wanted to explain that she was, in fact, a Hogwarts professor, but that seemed like it would be even more awkward.
Besides... she looked at the happy Luna and didn't want to ruin her enthusiasm. After all, she had just praised Magic Formations! And it was with a genuine appreciation, completely different from Dumbledore or that vampire, Mr. Scrimgeour!
"Are... are you really interested in Magic Formations?" she asked in a small, instinctive whisper.
The moment the words left her mouth, Lyra regretted them. What if she was just being polite? Am I bothering her again?
She carefully glanced at Luna's face, only to find that the normally dazed-looking girl was now looking exceptionally serious.
"Mhm!" Luna nodded, her wide eyes sincere. "I am very curious about Magic Formations!"
"It's something my Daddy and Mummy have never talked about."
"I... I'm going to try and replicate this... case... in a few days..." Lyra pressed her lips together. "Do... Do you want to come and watch?"