The Bowtruckle raised its hand, its branch-like tendrils reaching towards Luna's ear.
"Oh… this?" Luna walked deeper, taking off her earring.
It was an oak cork.
"You want this, don't you?" Luna said, then placed the cork in its hand.
The Bowtruckle curiously took it, its small hands constantly playing with it, twisting it, and patting it.
"Then this is your Christmas gift." Luna said, then raised her hand, guiding it towards the tree trunk.
The Bowtruckle, holding the cork, climbed onto a branch. Then, seeing Luna seemingly about to walk further in, it grabbed a strand of her hair.
"Squeak… squeak, squeak…" It quickly let out urgent, strange chirps.
Luna turned back, looking at the Bowtruckle in confusion, then a look of realization flashed across her face.
"Hello, Professor." She whispered, addressing the space behind her.
Howl's voice appeared like a phantom, and he looked down at the little girl with the cork earring.
"Miss Luna Lovegood." He said. "How did you know I was here? This is not something a Little witch can do."
Howl remembered this little one; to be precise… it was really hard to forget.
On Christmas, this little girl was even more special than others.
She gave him a necklace… a fishbone necklace.
And yet… this was exactly the kind of thing this little girl would do, with no malice involved, making it impossible for him to get angry.
"It told me." Luna pointed to the Bowtruckle on the branch.
Howl glanced at the little creature.
Immediately, the little creature shrunk back onto the tree trunk, camouflaging itself.
Even as its body trembled, it didn't forget to hug the cork with a twig.
"I think… it means to warn you that it's very dangerous ahead." Howl said.
"Is that so?" The girl showed an exaggerated expression of sudden realization. "So that's it."
"Of course, I also saw many Wrackspurts next to you."
Howl was silent for a moment, then spoke, "Those aren't Wrackspurts."
"Those are Wrackspurts." The Little witch said, her tone gentle, as if unwilling to argue, but also unwilling to debate too much.
There was a strong sense of — those are Wrackspurts, if you don't believe me, you can treat me like an idiot, but that's what they are!
"That is the manifestation of fragmented human thoughts on another plane." Howl said.
"This world hasn't constructed a complete Dream Realm and Spirit Realm. These fragmented spiritualities will naturally dissipate." Howl explained.
"Spirit Realm? Spirituality?" The Little witch looked at him in confusion.
This time, there was a hint of "how are you crazier than me?"
Howl smiled helplessly, "I am a loyal reader of The Quibbler. While your father persistently tried to prove the existence of Wrackspurts to the world, I also started to research them."
"Oh, really?" Luna was very surprised, then looked at him with some concern. "Professor, there seem to be many Wrackspurts around you. They are Entangled you."
Howl raised his hand and touched his temple, a silver light flashing.
Immediately, Luna's eyes widened.
"This is…"
"They're gone now, aren't they?" Howl smiled. "I told you, they are just dissipated spiritual thoughts, and they can be contained."
"But… but… but…" The girl stammered a little.
Howl waited for her next words.
"What is spirituality?"
...
A question with no real substance.
"Perhaps we can answer that question later." Howl said.
"What I'm more interested in is why you're here! This is a very serious matter. The Forbidden Forest is much more dangerous than you imagine."
Just as he spoke, rustling sounds appeared.
Around them in the snow, several huge black figures suddenly darted out.
Howl calmly looked at the spiders surrounding them, his tongue working in his mouth.
"What are you doing here?" he said calmly.
"Kill… food… winter…" A faint voice spoke in extremely awkward words.
"I think you should know the rules here." Howl frowned.
"The only rule is… do not harm… Hagrid…"
As they spoke, the spiders' footsteps drew closer.
"Oh, this…" Luna looked at these spiders in surprise. "You are… I haven't seen you…"
"Dragon… living space… food… food…" The voice appeared again.
"No, you're mistaken!" Howl's voice appeared, calm and slow.
"The old man has been too inactive, making you forget one thing.
Actually… your only rule is one: figure out where exactly this is!!"
As he spoke, Howl raised his hand, and rampant, violent wind blades flew out from nowhere.
Immediately, the entire forest, along with the flying snowflakes, was filled with scattered limbs and green blood.
"I heard your ancestor is also reaching his age, but I see he doesn't seem to intend to enjoy his twilight years."
As he spoke, Howl looked up.
"Go back and tell him, if there's a next time, I'll pluck out his tentacles one by one!"
Some lucky spiders quickly rustled away.
"Thank you." Luna said.
Then, she added, "Sorry."
"Ravenclaw, ten points deducted." Howl said calmly. He had expected to see a look of disappointment on the Little witch's face, but to his surprise, she changed the subject the next second.
"Professor, your Wrackspurts are out again."
As she spoke, she seemed to understand something. "You're very angry. Why? Don't you like these spiders?"
"They broke the rules." Howl said calmly. "Of course, you also broke the rules."
"Sorry." She said again.
"So what are you doing here?" Howl asked again.
"I came to see the Unicorns." As she spoke, two Unicorns walked out from the forest behind her, trembling.
One large and one small, the smaller one seemed to still be unsteady on its feet, and its horn had not yet emerged from its forehead.
However, they quickly stopped in the distance.
They seemed very resistant to the scene here.
"It seems you have an appointment." Howl said. "Even if I weren't here, they would protect you."
"Yes." Luna said very naturally.
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