Chapter 729: The Lovegoods
Chapter 729: The Lovegoods
Luna Lovegood opened her eyes, staring at the clouds in the sky that kept changing shape. Pure sunlight filtered through the gaps in the Brazilian rainforest, casting a warm glow on her face. The air was fresh and invigorating. Her husband, Rov Scamander, was two kilometers away, taking photos of a plant. A tiny bug crawled across her skin.
They had been in this rainforest for three months, searching for a "glowing bird with rainbow wings" that a local eight-year-old boy claimed to have seen by the river. Unfortunately, it vanished in the blink of an eye. The source was reliable, but the authenticity was questionable. It might have been a momentary hallucination, mistaking the rainbow after the rain for a beautiful bird he couldn't name, like a toucan. Nevertheless, they came here, as part of their honeymoon.
They combed through nearby waters and ponds, only to find some beautiful feathers and a few sapphires. Those feathers and gems were now stored in a small box, alongside the dirigible plum earrings, cork necklace, and pebble head ornaments. "You have to cater to the average person's taste", Rov had said. "A couple of normal pieces of jewelry are necessary."
Luna inhaled the rich scent of grass and earth, feeling drowsy. After an unknown amount of time, she was jolted awake by the warning whistle of a protective charm. It was Rov Scamander, returning with his camera and a thick notebook.
"I found another endangered wild plant", Rov said. "I left a detector nearby and reported it to the local environmental protection department." He looked at his wife, who had jumped up from the ground, and couldn't help but frown. "You were lying on the ground again..."
Luna quickly pulled out her wand from her thick hair, pointed it at herself, and a white mist evaporated from her dew-soaked clothes. She spun around with enthusiasm and bounced a couple of times.
"How's this?"
"Fine", Rov mumbled.
They began to pack up the tent. It was their last day in the rainforest, and they were both reluctant to leave. Halfway through the packing, they sat among their bags, flipping through a thick photo album.
"These are the local village and its residents..."
"I like them; they love telling jokes", Luna interjected.
"Yes, every third sentence is a joke. Here's a photo of me playing soccer with them. Look, they're so happy! That's the smile of victory. I think if it were Quidditch, I wouldn't have lost so badly... You were learning weaving techniques at the time... So who was taking the photos... But I should remind you, the locals use this technique to make fishing tools, not to wear vines around their bodies..."
"At the magic pub, we met two Wizard friends from Castorbushe. One of them insisted on cursing my pinky with a beautiful Stunning Spell, dear..."
"A toucan sauntered into the tent and was scared off by the magical lamp."
"Next are some Brazilian magical creatures, all discovered by you first. It's strange, it reminds me of our first meeting."
He marveled and flipped back through the album, passing over about a third of the wedding photos, stopping at the first few pages.
Two heads came together. In the photo, a younger Luna was crouching on the ground, reaching out to pet a creature that looked like a ferret. The little guy was eating a steaming hot dog, its eyes squeezed shut in pleasure. The background was a snowy landscape.
"To be honest, I spent two years in the Arctic", Rov said acidly. "I found nothing, and I seriously suspect my grandfather missed some key information... But it wasn't a total loss."
Luna hummed a tune beside him, a melody that sounded like one of the Weird Sisters' songs from twelve years ago—'A Great Victory'.
Rov joined in for a couple of lines.
By noon, they were walking out of the Brazilian rainforest with two suitcases, one large and one small. After Rov handed over a thick stack of photos to the local wildlife protection organization, they crossed the border and returned to Britain via Portkey.
"Wizards are natural explorers", a border guard said.
"We always have been", Rov replied.
"Hey, I was talking about the one who went to Mars", the guard teased.
...
On a hill near Ottery St. Catchpole, the grass rippled in the wind, and a small, boot-shaped house was visible in the distance.
"My dear daughter! You're back."
Xenophilius Lovegood ran out of the house to hug Luna. Luna gently patted her father's back. Xenophilius was dressed in dirty clothes, his cotton-candy-like hair was a messy tangle, resembling an abandoned bird's nest. His crossed eyes seemed even more pronounced, and he pretended not to see the man beside Luna until Rov initiated the greeting, giving him a reluctant and perfunctory hug.
"Sorry, I forgot your name, Rod, Roman—"
"It's Rolf", Luna said cheerfully. Xenophilius snorted, one eye seemingly about to pop out of its socket, and he glanced at his son-in-law with a sidelong glance from the other eye. Without a word, he took the suitcase from Luna and pulled her toward the black gate with his other hand. Rolf Scamander followed, shaking his head.
This was as good as it got.
According to a reporter who had sneaked into the wedding and was later kicked out, "The old widower, Mr. Lovegood, seemed to have planned to cast a dark curse on the groom during the ceremony, turning him into a large-mouthed orb fish. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work, or it could have been the biggest news of the year—witnessed by the Heppes, the Potters, the Weasleys, the Longbottoms, and the Scamanders."
But Rolf knew this was pure nonsense, at least not entirely true.
In comparison, he believed Xenophilius had originally intended to transform him into a Niffler's horn. During his first visit, he had inadvertently revealed that the gray, spiral horn Mr. Lovegood had given his daughter as a surprise, purchased from a smuggler, was not from a Bowtruckle but a Niffler, and was extremely dangerous to have around the house... He paid a price for his honesty.
The room was a standard circle, resembling a plump pepper pot.
The ground floor was the kitchen, with stoves, sinks, and cabinets adorned with flowers, insects, and birds. Up the iron spiral staircase, the second floor was a more cluttered living room and workshop, where an old printing press occupied the best-lit spot, and the rest of the space was scattered with various odds and ends—evidently, Mr. Lovegood had no interest in tidying up while his daughter was away. A few palm-sized, animal-shaped magical lamps flew around the ceiling. Two staircases extended from this level, leading to Luna's and Mr. Lovegood's bedrooms.
The three spent the afternoon organizing travel documents. Mr. Lovegood continued to treat Rolf as if he were invisible but asked Luna endless questions, showing a surprising curiosity about the various interesting details of the journey.
"Ah, is that so... This seems to confirm a certain theory."
Luna's observations amazed the two men present. Rolf regretted that these brilliant insights would only appear in The Quibbler, alongside stories about fire sprites, Diricawls, and Martian life.
Except for the last one.
When Mr. Hep and Ms. Granger returned from Mars, the answer to that question became irrelevant. People were caught up in a frenzy of imagination, captivated by the possibility of interplanetary migration within their lifetimes. It took a long time for them to realize that the next closest approach of Mars to Earth would be in 2018.
In the following years, six space bases were established on the moon.
Luna suddenly looked up at the ceiling.
"There are a thousand people above us", she said.
"I'm worried they might fall", Xenophilius said. "But if they can sit on broomsticks..."
In the evening, in a much better mood, Mr. Lovegood prepared to show off his culinary skills. Luna suggested giving Rolf a chance, saying, "He has all the Lovegood family's cooking recipes." "Then he's got the better end of the deal", Mr. Lovegood muttered. "No one else has had the chance to see them, except for the garden gnomes."
He began recounting the last time the Heppes had visited.
"Felix Hep... is a good man, knowledgeable and humorous. I interviewed him about his experiences on Mars and his thoughts on Bowtruckles; he said he had two. His wife, though, lacks a sense of humor..."
Rolf worked in the kitchen downstairs for a while, then poked his head out from under the iron staircase, looking at Luna with a question in his eyes. "I'm missing a few spices, but I think I can find them nearby", he said confidently.
After dinner, Mr. Lovegood's attitude toward Rolf improved significantly. He mumbled, "I tasted Pandora's cooking... After all these years, it might be my imagination..."
"Mom's own garden", Luna said, her expression distant.
The next morning, Luna and Rolf went to the Daily Prophet headquarters. Both had contributed to the Daily Prophet in the past, but Luna had since switched to the family business, while Rolf hoped to follow in his grandfather's footsteps by raising awareness about magical creatures' survival issues.
Leaving the editor's office, they ran into someone in the hallway—Rita Skeeter, a journalist known for her defamatory articles.
Rita Skeeter peered over her bejeweled square glasses at the two of them. "Let me see... Luna Lovegood, Rov Scaman, the rising star in the field of Magical Creatures, and you two had a brilliant collaboration before getting married... Your last wedding was rushed, and I didn't get a chance to congratulate you both."
"That's because you crashed it uninvited and were kicked out", Rov said sternly.
"Good material is hard to come by", Rita Skeeter waved her hand dismissively. "With so many big names in one place, of course I had to find a way in. The last time I had an opportunity like this was two years ago, but I didn't dare make any moves back then... Have you heard?"
"Heard what?" Rov asked, taken aback.
"I've been waiting for a big story, and things have been so dull these past few years." Rita Skeeter's face flushed slightly, and her long nails dug into her crocodile-skin handbag.
"The Quidditch World Cup", Luna said suddenly.
Skeeter gave her a sidelong glance. "That's right, the 426th Quidditch World Cup, held on a floating island in July 2010. But I've uncovered an even bigger scoop, something that will shock everyone, even more than Felix Hep marrying his student." She lowered her voice deliberately, looking around the corridor as if afraid of being overheard. "I'm only saying this here."
"What can't you say?" Luna asked curiously.
Rov tugged at his wife's sleeve, and Rita Skeeter huffed, her sharp gaze circling around and landing on the lunch box in Luna's hand. She taunted, "To be Rov Scaman's husband, you need a cast-iron stomach. According to my reliable sources, she was known as 'Loony Luna' at school and enjoyed feeding Centaurs and Acromantulas."
"That's a false report", Rov Scaman stood up, protectively putting his arm around his wife. "Luna hasn't shown any particular interest in Acromantulas, and most of the time, I'm the one cooking. Do you want to know the secret?"
Rita Skeeter stared at him without a word.
"Use a few special spices. I noticed it the first time we met, because I happen to like them too."
Rita Skeeter stomped off in her high heels, looking quite upset. Rov Scaman's face broke into a smile as he looked down at his wife, who was staring back at him, wide-eyed and unblinking.
"So, Mom put spices in the food?" Luna asked. "Dad tried many times but never succeeded."
"I figured it out. When I visited, I saw the herbs in the garden. Your family is quite tolerant of weeds", Rov Scaman said. He gazed into her slightly protruding pale silver eyes and asked softly, "Luna, has anyone ever told you that your eyes are beautiful?"
"Yes!" Luna said confidently. "Dad, Mom, Ginny, Firenze, Vernet, Sadora, Theresa..."
"Wait, who are those last names?"
"They're Centaurs."
Rov choked, suddenly understanding how Rita Skeeter felt.
"You can compliment my hair", Luna said understandingly. Rov's eyes swept over his wife's messy, dirty blonde hair, and he couldn't help but suggest, "Darling, I think you should take better care of your hair, like you did at the wedding. It looked beautiful, like flowing gold... of course, not that dress!"
"Which one?"
"The one with the rainbow, sequins, and silver unicorn horn headpiece."
"But I like it", Luna said, a bit distressed.
"Ah, you can wear it at home, but for special occasions..." Rov hesitated, seeing his wife's eyes wandering, his heart tightening. The Quidditch World Cup! Millions of people! Merlin! Hep! He quickly added:
"Darling, I have a great idea. We should design a custom outfit for the opening ceremony of the World Cup."
"Us?"
"…Yes." Rov's expression was almost tragic.
Luna's face lit up, and she said seriously, "Oh, you can dress formally—according to the general opinion, yes, exactly like that."
"No need, I'm determined!"
Hand in hand, they walked out of the Daily Prophet headquarters.
"We should visit the school again sometime", Rov said.
"Sure, I miss it."
"Maybe we can try the Sorting Hat again. I think I have the potential to be a Gryffindor…."
(End of Chapter)
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