Chapter 72: Luna Lovegood
Chapter 72: Luna Lovegood
Felix leisurely ate his breakfast as young wizards began to arrive, their faces beaming with smiles as they chatted and laughed with each other.
The Great Hall was filled with a lively atmosphere.
After leaving the Great Hall, Felix walked toward the Forbidden Forest. On the way, he encountered Hagrid, who was heading to the castle.
"Hello, Professor Heep", Hagrid greeted him warmly.
"Hello, Hagrid. I received your gift, and I love it, especially the material", Felix replied.
"Ha, I'm glad you like it. By the way, the self-cleaning cloth you sent me is incredibly useful. It cleaned the house spotless without me having to lift a finger. It even cleans itself", Hagrid said in his gruff voice.
After a brief exchange, Felix reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He planned to gather some chestnut branches, as his supply was running low.
However, halfway there, he furrowed his brow.
On the snow-covered ground, a straight trail of footprints led toward the Forbidden Forest.
Felix measured the size of the footprints. They appeared to belong to a young wizard who had violated the rules. He followed the tracks.
As Felix walked through the snow, the only sounds were the crunching of snow and the rustling of leaves under his feet. Before he knew it, he had reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
This area was quite secluded, located in the northwest corner of the forest, close to the main entrance of Hogwarts—where young wizards often walked on weekends to get to Hogsmeade Village.
Felix stopped, and the surroundings created a sense of eerie silence. White snowflakes fell from the sky, and he looked up, feeling as if countless ice crystals were descending toward him.
The world was silent and vast, as if he were the only person around.
"Sniff, sniff~"
A black creature, resembling a horse, poked its head out from the Forbidden Forest. It looked at Felix with silver-white eyes, sneezed, and then flapped its large, bat-like wings, retreating into the woods.
"Threstals", Felix said, surprised.
These were quite rare magical creatures, often categorized as special invisible beasts by many wizards—only those who had experienced, witnessed, and understood death could see them.
This trait gave them a bad reputation, and threstals were once considered an omen of bad luck, comparable to a wizard encountering a large black dog as a death omen. However, they were actually quite gentle creatures.
Felix's curiosity grew, and he ventured deeper into the Forbidden Forest. After about two minutes, he reached a clearing.
Amid the falling snow, a young girl stood among a dozen or so emaciated threstals. She held a handful of hay, which she offered to the nearest threstal.
He could also hear her humming softly, looking quite content.
Felix waited until she had finished feeding the hay before approaching. His footsteps startled the young witch.
The girl looked up. She had long, messy, golden hair that reached her waist, and her eyebrows and eyes were very light in color.
As he got closer, he noticed that she had tucked her wand behind her left ear, wore glasses with lenses shaped like frog eyes, and had a necklace made of butterbeer corks around her neck.
Her eyes were fixed on the sudden appearance of a person.
Felix felt a strange emotion welling up inside him. An odd young witch... could she be from Ravenclaw?
"What's your name, and which house are you in?" Felix asked.
"Luna", she said in a voice that seemed to be singing, "Luna Lovegood, my name. I've seen your public lectures. You're a professor."
"Yes, that's obvious. Miss Lovegood, which house are you in?"
"Ravenclaw once said that exceptional wisdom is humanity's greatest treasure."
Felix understood, as expected... He said with a reprimanding tone, "Why did you venture into the Forbidden Forest alone? Don't you know it's dangerous here?"
"They're not dangerous", Luna said dreamily. "Thestrals are very friendly. Do you want to feed them with me?" She suddenly crouched down, brushing aside the snow to grab a handful of half-green, half-yellow hay.
She turned her pale eyes toward him, and Felix noticed that her voice had almost no inflection, but combined with her ethereal tone, it gave the impression that she was singing.
"No, thank you", he said.
Luna then turned around and, seemingly oblivious to his presence, fed the hay to a young Thestral. It seemed to have just learned to walk, lowering its stiff limbs and extending its tongue to lick Luna's fingers.
She hummed a strange little tune softly, and snowflakes settled on her clothes, forming a thin layer.
Felix's mood calmed down, and he didn't try to break the atmosphere.
"Your mood has improved?" Luna said.
"What?"
"You were just tangled up by horklumps", Luna said sympathetically.
"I—what are you talking about?"
"Horklumps... sometimes they float into your ears and mess with your brain", she explained. "I think I heard one buzzing around here just now."
Felix didn't believe in such creatures, but he was intrigued and asked, "Can you tell me more about horklumps?"
Luna looked surprised, adjusting her glasses and looking at Felix through them.
"Horklumps... well, they're usually invisible, but when they want to mess with your brain, they get excited and emit a red glow."
"So, you saw them?"
"Absolutely", she said with certainty, as if stating a universal truth.
Felix, for the first time, felt a bit paranoid. He scanned the area but saw nothing.
After a while, they walked back to the castle together.
On the way, he asked Luna, "Didn't you go home for Christmas?"
She replied calmly, "Father is working on a deadline for the Christmas special edition of The Quibbler, but we agreed to search for a Crumple-Horned Snorkack during the summer."
Another name he hadn't heard before, "Your father is—"
"Xenophilius Lovegood. He's the editor-in-chief of The Quibbler."
Felix didn't say anything more. He knew the reputation of the newspaper.
Standing at the castle entrance, Felix said to her, "I won't deduct points this time. Go on, find your friends, and have a pleasant Christmas."
"I'm already very happy", Luna said with a cheerful smile, then she looked thoughtful. "You reminded me, I met a first-year Gryffindor earlier. She seemed very friendly, maybe we can be friends."
"Really? You should give it a try", Felix said encouragingly.
"I remember, she was carrying a rooster", Luna said lightly. "But who doesn't have a few odd quirks?"
"What?" Felix raised his voice but quickly softened it. "Do you know her name?"
Luna shook her head, her bangs fluttering. "But her hair is beautiful, like a flickering flame."
There's one more thing, it might be a bit late.
(End of Chapter)
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