Chapter 24: The Great Magic Formation Project (Part 1)
Sitting in the tavern room, Lyra really wanted to slap herself...
Why did she have to say that? Inviting Luna to waste her time watching her do such boring things... when Luna was just trying to be friendly.
Lyra Hamilton, how could you be so shameless as to make someone waste their time...
Wasting time is wasting life! Lyra had no desire to waste her friend's life. If only she could waste her own life instead... she had already lived an extra fifty years, anyway...
She was lost in this subconscious thought, completely unaware of Lupin standing at the door.
"Miss Hamilton, you seem very happy."
"Ah? Am... Am I?" Lyra asked timidly.
"Of course," Lupin nodded gently. "It's rare to see you smile, Miss Hamilton."
"And, even rarer, you're not wearing your hood."
"Ngh!" Lyra, realizing this, immediately pulled her hood up to cover the ears that had perked up in her happiness.
Watching her instantly revert to her usual self, Lupin felt he had probably spoken out of turn.
So he cleared his throat and changed the subject. "So, what's the occasion?"
"Is it related to Miss Lovegood?"
"Mm... mm!" Lyra nodded lightly. "Miss Lovegood... is coming... in a bit... to watch me do my formation research."
"Hmm?"
An eleven-year-old girl coming to watch an eighteen-year-old girl research the Study of Magic Formations, a subject only a handful of people in the world understand... What kind of strange dream am I having?
Then again... there probably aren't many people who know more about it than this eighteen-year-old girl.
Lupin shook his head and said, "That's good then. As it happens, I need to be away for a few days."
"Is... that so?" Lyra felt a flicker of worry. She looked at Lupin's exhausted expression, thought for a moment, and asked in a small voice, "Wh... What is it?"
"Ah... I'm sorry, Miss Hamilton." Lupin gave a wry smile.
"I... I'm the one who should be sorry... M-Mr. Lupin!" Realizing she had been rude, Lyra quickly stood up to bow, but her movement was so large she smacked her head on the back of the chair.
"Oof!"
Rubbing her head, Lyra looked at Lupin's exasperated smile and wished she could crawl under the table.
"Well... shall... shall we begin...?" Lyra stammered, slowly picking up the quill from the table.
Is it... is it always this awkward... to do research in front of someone else?
Lyra pressed her lips together and glanced at Luna. The girl, who usually seemed a bit dazed, was now exceptionally serious. She sat beside Lyra, carefully studying the complex replicated formation diagram.
"Where are you going to engrave it, Lyra?" Luna's airy voice came.
Lyra bit her lip and said, "I... I wanted to make... a suitcase... like Mr. Scamander's..."
"A suitcase?" Luna tilted her head. "Wouldn't a book be better?"
"A... book?" Lyra froze.
"Mhm... Every page you turn... is a different space." Luna smiled faintly. "It sounds just like life. Every day is different."
Don't just suddenly say something so philosophical... I'm supposed to be the adult here...
But thinking about it, Luna's idea really was better. A book was easier to carry than a suitcase, and much less conspicuous. Carrying a suitcase around at school and outside... it was just too eye-catching.
Lyra didn't want to attract attention. She wished she had an Invisibility Cloak... but alas, that was a legendary Deathly Hallow.
Shaking her head, Lyra brought her focus back to the task of crafting the item.
"You're right," she nodded gently. "A book is better... There's less surface area to engrave on than a suitcase... but it doesn't need to be disguised like a suitcase..."
"Why is there less space?" Luna asked curiously. "Can't you just do every page...?"
"That wouldn't work," Lyra shook her head, explaining seriously. "Ordinary paper can't hold a complex formation, and it's too easily damaged. If you accidentally tear out a few pages, the whole book might stop working."
"It's better to engrave it directly on the cover. Even with wear and tear, as long as you choose a sufficiently durable magical material, it's fine. And it's much cheaper than using enchanted parchment for every page."
Watching her, so different from her usual self, so seriously explaining her thoughts, Luna smiled. "Lyra, you're just like a professor at school."
But I am a Hogwarts professor... Being told that, Lyra immediately blushed and pulled her hood tighter.
"I wish all the professors at Hogwarts were like Lyra..." Luna continued. "Then I could pinch all their ears."
Don't wish that on those professors who are much more competent than me, just for that reason...
Lyra protested quietly, "You... you can't pinch my ears... They're... sensitive..."
"I see." Luna nodded thoughtfully. "What about the book?"
"The book?"
"Mhm." Luna pointed to the thick stack of books on the table. "Should we choose one of these?"
"Ah... y-yes." Lyra looked at the books in front of her, her blue eyes growing thoughtful.
Most of them were books on magical theory—some on new theories from the last fifty years, others Hogwarts textbooks.
But a book that could be made into a magical storage book... Lyra gently raised her wand and flicked it.
The books all floated up, circling around Lyra and Luna.
"This one... should... should work..." Lyra spotted a good candidate among them. It was a book with a black cover, marked only with a silver triangular symbol that contained a circle and a vertical line.
"What's this book?" Luna asked, looking at the nameless cover. "Is it related to what the Aurors do? Or what Minister Fudge does?"
"Probably... neither..." Lyra chose this book not only because its cover material was excellent, but also because of her personal preferences.
She picked up the book, felt the cover, and then carefully opened it.
She had never actually read the contents. It was too... profound... Bloodlines, wizards... and Muggles, whom she was afraid of... So even fifty years ago, when she'd been required to write a report on it, she had never read it closely.
But she just happened to really like the author.
She carefully glanced at the name on the title page and nodded.
"Gellert Grindelwald?" Luna's sharp eyes spotted the author's name, and she looked at Lyra in surprise.
C... Crap!
Am I about to expose myself?
Lyra quickly, anxiously said, "This book... the cover is just right... It's perfect to use..."
"I know that man," Luna said, suddenly lowering her voice. "I've heard some of his secrets, too."
"Ah... is... is that so... Then maybe we should use a different one... This one by Mr. Lockhart..." Lyra quickly grabbed another book—Lockhart's work about Magic Formations that had nothing to do with Magic Formations.
"Aren't you curious about the secrets?" Luna asked slowly.
Should I be curious? Lyra didn't know how to answer.
Seeing Lyra's stunned expression, Luna didn't wait for a reply and just lowered her voice. "This is something my Daddy told me."
"He said that Grindelwald and Dumbledore used to be lovers."
"Huh?" Lyra froze, then instinctively shot up and slammed her hand on the table. "Th-Th-Th-That's impossible!"
"Lord Grindelwald... how could he... with Dumbledore..." She was so shocked that her pointed ears shot straight up, pushing her hood back.
"I think it's true," Luna shrugged, not at all bothered by Lyra's outburst, and nodded seriously. "My Daddy said so..."
"I..." Lyra really wanted to tell Luna that Lord Grindelwald hated Dumbledore. He cursed Dumbledore's name at least five times a day. How could they possibly be lovers? Besides, Dumbledore defeated Lord Grindelwald and imprisoned him. What kind of lovers do that to each other?
But looking at Luna's earnest face, Lyra decided not to correct her. She was just a kid. Maybe she didn't even understand what "lovers" meant.
Maybe she misheard 'arch-nemesis'? Right? And the person who said it was Mr. Lovegood, the same man who said Voldemort had returned. Right? Hahaha.
"So, which of these two should we use?" Luna didn't seem hung up on the issue—or rather, she had complete faith in her father's words.
"Then... maybe... this one...?" Lyra said, her voice getting quieter as she sat back down.
In the end, she just really didn't want to use Mr. Lockhart's book... the one that had nothing to do with Magic Formations.