Chapter 198: Luna: I Have a Premoition
The Forbidden Forest. Night was deep. Moonlight filtered through the branches, illuminating the figures of Dylan and the young girl. Her pale blonde hair cascaded loosely over her shoulders, and her grey-silver eyes held a dreamy quality as she met Dylan's gaze.
Dylan's fingers unconsciously rubbed against his trouser leg. The girl tilted her head, the small ornament on her hair clip trembling with the movement. For a long while, neither broke the silence. Only the occasional hoot of a distant owl rippled faintly in the stillness.
Dylan opened his mouth several times, unsure what to say. It was the girl who finally broke the quiet: "Did a Flobberworm crawl into your mouth? Their mucus makes your hair grow thicker."
"...Thanks for the information. I know, and no, I haven't eaten any Flobberworms, nor are there any bugs in my mouth." Dylan's lips twitched.
Suddenly, Dylan noticed something on the girl's pale neck... A butterbeer cork? Was this person wearing a beer cork as a necklace? Wait, could she be—
"I'm Dylan Hawkwood. And you are?"
"Luna Lovegood."
Just as he thought! Dylan hadn't expected to run into Luna here, in the middle of the night no less. That 'Loony' girl. As for that nickname, Dylan could only say—it was the perfect description!
This was their very first meeting, and this 'Loony' girl had already left him speechless three or four times! Even Professor Snape hadn't received such treatment!
"Lovegood? Is your father the editor of The Quibbler?" Dylan's words finally caused a ripple in Luna's expression.
"You know my father?"
Dylan smiled slightly. "Of course, I've been following that magazine since it appeared in bookstores last year."
Luna's lips curled slightly. "My father started that magazine to celebrate my enrollment—he always said I was contradicting him, and in fact, I am."
"Uh—" Dylan raised an eyebrow. "Well, you certainly are unique."
Luna chuckled. "Ever since my mother passed away, my dad always gets gloomy. If it weren't for me, he might have sunk into despair. I couldn't let him do that."
Dylan paused, pursing his lips. He didn't have many impressions of Luna. In fact, he didn't even know the names of many important characters in the books.
If it weren't for his ability to foresee many future events after learning divination, he would be completely clueless about most people, except for the very famous ones. So, he had no impression of Luna's parents whatsoever. Even Luna herself, he had only seen her in his prophecies, and she didn't seem to have a major role.
"You don't need to feel like you've offended me. I won't be sad if you mention my mother's passing. She just went to another world, I'm sure of it." Seeing Dylan remain silent for a long time, Luna thought he was embarrassed and spoke first to reassure him.
However, Dylan was a little slow to react and looked up. "Huh?" "Offended, what offended?"
Luna paused, her smile stiffening slightly, but she quickly recovered. "No, nothing." Dylan fully understood. Although he didn't think there was anything wrong with mentioning a deceased elder in someone else's family—and he hadn't even mentioned it, had he? But since she said so, he still needed to offer some comfort. —That was the courtesy of a gentleman.
"You're right, death is but the next great adventure—the world of souls will guide your mother." Dylan smiled. "So I believe your mother has indeed gone to another world, just as you said, and is doing very well."
Luna stared at Dylan blankly. The latter blinked. "What's wrong?" He touched his nose. "Is there something on my face?"
Luna snapped back, shaking her head. "No, nothing. It's just what you said just now, it was very good. I liked it very much."
That sentence just now?
"You mean—"
"Yes, death is but the next great adventure." Luna nodded. "Do you like studying philosophy too?"
Dylan tilted his head back slightly. "Emm, I just love reading, and I happen to read some philosophy books too."
Luna's eyes lit up. "I love reading too. So, have you read The Magical Spectrum of Good and Evil?"
Dylan nodded. "It's quite obscure, but I happened to read it recently."
Luna looked at him. "Good and evil are hard to distinguish, and the lines aren't always clear. I heard a lot has happened at Hogwarts these past two years. I've found that some seemingly neutral creatures can also influence the direction of good and evil at crucial moments."
Dylan nodded again. "That's very insightful, but—is this really the time to be discussing these things?" In the middle of the night. A boy and a girl. In a dark little forest. Discussing… good and evil? Philosophy? Was there something wrong with them?
Luna nodded slightly. "You're right. I still need to see if I can find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack."
"Crumple-Horned Snorkack?" Dylan raised an eyebrow. "What do you need that creature for?"
"My father's magazine needs a lot of strange and rare information. He can't maintain the quality of the magazine by himself, so I look for things in the school's forest while also broadening my own knowledge."
"Emmm, a good idea." And strong initiative too. Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest. Just wander in. Impressive.
"So, you're in your second year now?"
"Yes."
"Then—you're going to continue looking for that Crumple-Horned Snorkack?" Dylan had indeed seen the concept of such a creature in Luna's father's magazine, but he had never heard of it or seen one otherwise.
Luna's voice was airy—like her whole being. "Now that we've exchanged names and talked for so long—are we friends now?" Luna looked at Dylan, her grey-silver eyes calm. Dylan couldn't tell if she was expecting something or what other emotion she felt.
He wouldn't use Legilimency to read a young girl's mind. But, his Legilimency also failed to sense any thoughts emanating from Luna. —She genuinely seemed to be just asking him a question. Nothing more.
After thinking, Dylan nodded. "Of course—the Forbidden Forest is so big, and we've met. We also share a secret, so I think we are friends."
At that, a hint of… happiness? suddenly appeared on Luna's face. "I'm very happy to be your friend. I have a premonition that we'll be very familiar in the future."
"Uh—"
After being left speechless by a girl for what felt like the umpteenth time, Dylan decided to take the offensive. "It's very late now. I have a premonition that if we don't go back soon, we might encounter some danger."
"You're right. On my way here, I saw a Dementor in the distance. It was very big—much bigger than any Dementor I've seen on the train."
"Uh." Dylan was left speechless again. He gave a dry chuckle and nodded. "Then let's go." He turned and walked towards the castle. Luna quietly followed.
—This was the first time Dylan had walked from the Forbidden Forest back to Hogwarts. They carefully avoided Filch and each returned to their common rooms. In fact, they separated in the hallway. Dylan simply transformed into an invisible shadow and returned to his dormitory. He quickly used a spell to clean himself and lay down on his bed.
Thinking of the silver-haired girl, Dylan, who usually fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes, couldn't sleep.
....
Luna and Hermione were completely different people. In fact, they could be called twin stars, but the spectrum of light they emitted was entirely different. Hermione didn't believe in anything vague or spiritual, using rationality as her measuring stick for the world.
But Luna was not like that. She was definitely a gifted individual who perceived all things through intuition. Luna was quite skilled at weaving intuition into living vessels, allowing streams of spirituality to overflow the banks of reality.
Thinking of Luna's premonition, Dylan tried to divine his future with Luna. —"Very familiar"? How familiar could that be? To Dylan's disappointment, however, he didn't "see" any scenes related to Luna. Or rather, he only saw a deep, cosmic void. —Dylan concluded this was a sign of failed divination.
"It seems my Divination skills need to improve further." He still didn't even have a handy divination artifact or a proper magical trait for it.
"This needs to be scheduled. When I have time, I'll see if I can trigger any achievements related to divination." Dylan had actually tried before and earned some achievements, but the rewards were always inconsequential, merely numerical boosts to his divination talent.
"Luna should also have considerable talent in Divination, but she apparently became a Magizoologist later." Dylan thought about the original plot of the book. At the same time, through divination, he foresaw some fragmented scenes of the future. —Although he couldn't see his and Luna's future, he could see fragments of what should have happened on the timeline.
"Loony." Everyone called Luna "Loony." This was because her keenness to the spiritual dimension made her somewhat detached from the real coordinate system.
Furthermore, her words usually floated like clouds, free and unconstrained, and she held extremely firm beliefs about what others considered absurd. This was why she became "Loony" in everyone's eyes. Most people thought Luna didn't fit in and weren't willing to become close friends with her—because there really wasn't much they could talk about together.
But in Dylan's view, Luna's talent could grant her advantages that ordinary people were completely unaware of. For example, her ability to see through appearances, her insight. She could always precisely touch the essence of things amidst chaos. Or, her seemingly eccentric logical approach to breaking through dilemmas. —After all, she was a member of Ravenclaw House, symbolizing wisdom.
"If I can cultivate both Cedric and Luna into my trusted confidantes, it will be much easier to do many things after leaving school."
Lost in thought, sleep gradually overcame him. Dylan finally fell into a deep slumber.
Until the night slowly receded. The faint light of dawn streamed gently through the window into the dormitory. The light carried a hint of warmth, brushing across Dylan's eyebrows and cheeks. Slowly opening his eyes, Dylan checked the time on his pocket watch on the table. "Another day where I didn't get enough sleep."
Dylan wanted to sleep a little longer, but time wouldn't allow it. Resigned, Dylan could only cast a Waking Charm on himself, followed by a Fatigue-Dispelling Charm. After the two spells, Dylan instantly felt invigorated. He quickly got up, tidied himself briefly, and headed straight for the Owlery.
He didn't wake up exceptionally early today, but not too late either. It was just past six, almost seven. He still had plenty of time to arrange his morning routine before class.
Upon arriving at the Owlery, Dylan stepped inside and immediately saw a pale blonde girl standing by a perch, adding grain to a Tawny Owl's food bowl. Morning light streamed in diagonally through the wooden door and windows, falling on Luna, making her platinum-blonde hair even more striking. At first glance, she looked like an angel.
Dylan was surprised. He hadn't expected to see her again so soon after meeting her late last night. —He had spells to restore his energy. But what about this silver-haired girl? Wasn't she tired? Getting up so early?
"Are you here to feed the owls too?" Luna turned her head, her hair fluttering gently in the breeze. "Good morning."
"Good morning." Dylan nodded, shaking the food bag in his hand as he walked over. After a moment of hesitation, he asked, "You wake up so early, don't you get sleepy during class?" Dylan remembered a time when Ron, suddenly motivated, tried to study hard, even attempting to wake up and read at Dylan's pace.
The result was, he did wake up. But—during class, he was so sleepy he could have used a bowl under his chin to pound garlic. In the end, Dylan had to cast a Fatigue-Dispelling Charm on him. Even then, it didn't completely dispel his sleepiness, but it was just enough to help him get through a full day of classes.
Luna shook her head. "I don't need to sleep that long."
"Uh, okay." Dylan smacked his lips and shrugged again. Coming up to Luna, Dylan watched her feeding the owls. She would occasionally toss two pellets of owl food to a fawning white owl nearby. Dylan took a look. Hey! Wasn't that his owl?
Seeing her owner approach, Luna (the owl) chirped a few times.
Luna (the girl) seemed surprised. "It recognizes you, so you're its owner?"
Dylan's face darkened as he nodded. "Yes."
Luna (the girl) tilted her head. "Since that's the case, there's something I wanted to tell you."
Dylan looked at her. "What is it?"
Luna (the girl) looked at Dylan's snowy owl. "Do you usually feed it meat strips?"
Dylan blinked. "Yes, why?"
Luna (the girl) pointed to the owl's droppings. "See how it's a bit dry? Don't forget to give it some owl pellets too. They have many elements it needs."
"Oh, is that so? Thanks, I'll remember that." He was usually too busy. Although he made time to feed his owl some specially prepared high-quality meat strips, he never had the time to notice these things.
"What's its name?" Luna (the girl) asked.
Dylan paused again. He touched his nose. "Uh, her name is Luna."
....
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