Chapter 199: Dating Luna?
"Luna?"
Luna blinked, her eyebrows rising. "What a coincidence." Her eyes unconsciously curved into crescents. "Her name actually matches mine." Luna's Tawny Owl seemed to understand, tilting its head to look at the snowy owl beside it.
Dylan gave an awkward laugh.
He swore that when he named his owl, he hadn't considered that there was actually a person named Luna. However, his owl was named Luna, which at least sounded a bit different... Looking at his owl's round eyes, Dylan cleared his throat.
"Actually, now that I think about it, I don't feel it's a coincidence. The first time I saw Luna, I thought it was a very smart owl." He continued, "—And by comparison, don't you think its eyes are a bit like yours? A bit vacant, yet seemingly full of thoughts."
He smiled. "So when I named it, that name popped into my head immediately. Perhaps it's fate?"
Luna chuckled, then pulled a nut from her pocket and offered it to the owl. Dylan's snowy owl tilted its head, sniffed, and gently pecked Luna's finger, signaling her to let go.
"It seems it doesn't mind the shared name," Luna said.
Huh?
Dylan was momentarily stunned. Shouldn't you be the one who minds?
Luna's eyes held a hint of amusement. "Or perhaps you're right; names also contain some magic we can't see."
Dylan watched his snowy owl swallow the nut, then stand side-by-side with Luna's owl on the perch. The two owls, one white and one brown, groomed their feathers and pecked at nuts, looking as if they had known each other for a long time.
In fact, Dylan found the Tawny Owl somewhat familiar. He had seen it before when he came to feed Luna (the owl). He had even thrown a few scraps of meat that Luna (the owl) didn't want to the Tawny Owl.
"What's its name then?" Dylan asked.
"Misty." Luna pulled out a handful of shelled sunflower seeds from her pocket. Dylan glanced at her pocket. —She really did have a lot of random things in there.
"They've eaten enough. Have you had breakfast yet?" Dylan asked.
"Not yet," Luna shook her head.
"Then let's go to the Great Hall together. After eating, I'll read for a bit, then it'll be time for class," Dylan suggested.
"Alright. Conveniently, I also want to read after eating. Do you know of any books that mention Crumple-Horned Snorkacks?" Luna nodded slightly, then turned to Dylan.
"Uh—no." Dylan paused, slowly shaking his head.
"Then, are there any on Blibbering Humdingers? Or Nargles?" Luna pressed.
Dylan's eyelid twitched slightly. "I'm sorry, no to those either."
"Okay, I'll look for them myself later. You don't need to feel embarrassed," Luna said.
Dylan: (...) What? What do you mean I don't need to feel embarrassed? What do I have to be embarrassed about??? That was just a polite formality, okay!
Taking a deep breath, Dylan forced out a faint smile. "I believe you might find these creatures in the future. As for now... let's hurry and eat." He didn't know if these creatures even existed.
At least, he had never heard of them, nor had he heard that Luna eventually found them. However, since Luna possessed astonishing talent in the spiritual dimension and extraordinarily high magical aptitude, if creatures like Crumple-Horned Snorkacks existed on a plane invisible to others, like Patronuses, originating from another spiritual world, then Luna indeed might see glimpses of them one day. But Dylan wasn't too concerned about it.
Anyway, those creatures might not necessarily become suitable experimental materials for him. And... right now, eating was more important!
Luna nodded, following Dylan as they walked towards the Great Hall.
When they arrived at the entrance, the Great Hall was already bustling with students. Harry and Ron were seated at their table. Neville, seeing Dylan enter, waved to him. However, he watched as a tall and a shorter figure entered the hall, one after the other.
Dylan, after acknowledging Neville's greeting with a nod, didn't immediately head for the Gryffindor table. Instead, he turned and chatted with the pretty, silver-haired girl beside him. Only then did they separate.
When Dylan sat down beside him, Neville first glanced at Harry and the others. Then he looked towards where the silver-haired girl had gone. She seemed to have gone to the Ravenclaw table. Neville paused.
"Dylan, do you know that girl?"
Dylan nodded. "I met her while feeding the owls this morning. She has the same name as my owl, which is quite a coincidence, so we chatted." —He was telling the complete truth, though the order of events was slightly reversed, leading Neville to believe they had met in the Owlery and chatted all the way here.
"Oh, I see."
Hermione had also seen the silver-haired girl who had been with Dylan. She felt an indescribable sensation. It seemed uncomfortable, but she couldn't pinpoint why. "You said her name is Luna? I've heard of her. Many people say she's a bit odd. Do you get along well with her?" Hermione asked.
Dylan raised an eyebrow. "Only when it comes to magical creatures, we have a lot in common. As for 'odd'..."
Ron quietly ate his food, glancing at Hermione out of the corner of his eye, muttering under his breath, "Don't call others odd; everyone usually says you're a bit odd too."
Hermione glared at him. "What did you say?!"
Ron immediately shook his head. "N-no, nothing! I didn't say anything!"
Hermione jabbed her fork into a char siu bun. Juice instantly oozed out. Ron broke into a cold sweat.
"Luna and I got to know each other briefly on the way. I found her talent in spiritual matters to be quite high. If she learns divination later, you might want to listen to her predictions."
Hermione pouted. "What's there to listen to about divination?"
Ron scratched his head. "Actually, divination can be quite useful. Didn't Harry defeat the Dark Lord because of that prophecy?"
Hermione scoffed softly, continuing to eat without speaking further.
Once the meal was over, everyone headed to their respective classrooms.
...
Time flew by. Soon it was early October. During this period, Dylan remained incredibly busy. He prepared various birthday and holiday gifts, read, mastered new knowledge, and sought out Dumbledore for spell lessons.
However, old Dumbledore wasn't like the other professors, who would give him special tutoring now and then; when a time was set, it was set. This old man would even take leave from him for no apparent reason! He had no idea what the old man was usually up to.
But the free time Dylan had, he put to other uses. During this time, Dylan would occasionally remind the professors not to forget to make his portrait. Professor McGonagall was the fastest; her portrait was already in the nurturing stage.
What surprised Dylan was that, besides Professor McGonagall, the next fastest wasn't Professor Flitwick, but Professor Snape. That old geezer had already completed the basic portrait for him; now it was just a matter of finding time to constantly nurture it.
Professor Flitwick was usually very busy. The scope of Charms lessons was vast, so his classes were always far more numerous than Transfiguration or Potions. Thus, Professor Flitwick's portrait progress was a bit slower, but still comparable.
The most sluggish, naturally, was old Dumbledore. Not only was the old man unenthusiastic about teaching Dylan, but he also dragged his feet on the portrait creation. Last time Dylan went to Dumbledore for a lesson, he noticed that Dumbledore hadn't hung up his portrait on the wall, so he inquired. He then learned that the old man hadn't even finished creating the figure yet!
Fortunately, Dylan's demand for portraits wasn't high. He just wanted to collect portraits of some professors in his own world. If he ever had any questions, he could ask the portrait versions of these professors for their thoughts.
In fact, Dylan sometimes, when encountering things he didn't understand, especially regarding Dark Arts, couldn't possibly ask Professor McGonagall or Professor Snape. So, Dylan would instead ask Tom. That guy was mostly uncooperative, only behaving after receiving a Killing Curse. However, Dylan never fully trusted anything Tom said.
He always treated Tom's answers as mere references. —Who knew if that guy would set some trap in his described answers, waiting for him to fall into it. It was well known that the manipulation of magic was a very dangerous thing, let alone Dylan constantly trying to create new spells recently.
The things Dylan asked Tom about were basically all questions related to the creation of certain Dark Arts spells. But it didn't matter. Ask boldly. Verify carefully. Dylan did not blindly pursue progress. Practicing spells well, and more importantly, practicing them safely, was his defined standard.
Meanwhile, during this period, he would sometimes go to the Forbidden Forest to meet Hagrid. Afterwards, he would occasionally run into Luna. However, unluckily, he couldn't find any unicorns during this time either.
This made Dylan determined that if he ever encountered a unicorn again, he would definitely place a Dark Mark on it! Where were they always running off to, never staying home? Just like that old man Dumbledore!
It was another busy day. After morning classes, Dylan joined Neville and the others to eat in the Great Hall. Luna's mealtime was short. Dylan had just entered the Great Hall when he happened to meet Luna leaving.
She walked out of the hall. Her platinum-blonde hair was, unusually for today, tied into a loose, low ponytail. Her wand wasn't held in her hand but was tucked into her hair behind her ear, passing through her locks to hold the style in place.
Her ears also sported carrot-shaped earrings, their orange-red hue adding a touch of vibrancy to her pale cheeks. He didn't know where she had been, but behind her ear was a dandelion fluff, still dewy, looking like scattered stardust.
Dylan waved to her. "Good afternoon. Your hairstyle is very nice, quite unique—your wand didn't secretly take a hairdressing class, did it?" He couldn't help but tease, looking at Luna's silver hair.
"Your hair is even more particular than Professor Flitwick's wig." Their recent encounters in the Forbidden Forest, though limiting their daytime meetings and conversations, had made Dylan and Luna more familiar with each other.
Luna looked up at Dylan, her platinum-blonde hair shimmering slightly in the light and shadow of the doorway. Her overall demeanor, though relaxed, exuded a natural spiritual aura.
Especially her perpetually misty grey eyes, which made her look like an elf. A smile curved her lips. She tilted her head, pushing back a strand of hair that fell by her ear.
"It said it prefers to be a hairpin rather than cast spells. I think that's nice too; when I walk, I can hear the wind passing through the wand core." Dylan knew without being told that "it" referred to her wand.
Dylan smiled. "That's good. I'm going to eat now."
Luna nodded. After a brief chat with Dylan, she continued walking forward, leaving the Great Hall. Neville, who was following Dylan, kept blinking.
It wasn't until they, along with Ron, sat down at the table that Ron, seated on Dylan's other side, couldn't help but nudge him with his elbow. "Hey, Dylan! Seriously, Hagrid's rock cakes—you could give them to that girl, and she'd eat them..." Ron winked at Dylan, then lowered his voice. "Are you two—dating?"
Harry looked over. Hermione wasn't there at the moment. Her classes were more numerous than everyone else's present. She had probably just finished class and was rushing to the Great Hall. Harry also looked at Dylan curiously.
Dating? In fact, many students at Hogwarts were doing just that. He had even seen two people secretly kissing in a bathroom! He had been shocked at the time and quickly ran away. But it also made him curious. Curious about dating itself.
In his memory, his aunt hardly ever kissed his uncle. Sometimes, when faced with his uncle's requests, she would even show signs of impatience.
Although well-hidden, Harry had observed expressions for so long that he still caught the subtle changes. Did they get married and then not want to kiss anymore?
If Dylan was dating that silver-haired girl... Had they kissed?
After sitting down, Dylan casually pulled the golden-roasted honey-glazed chicken and a silver plate of creamy mushroom soup closer to himself. Sauce still sizzled on the chicken leg. The sweet aroma of honey mixed with the scent of herbs wafted towards him.
A smooth layer of foam floated on the surface of the mushroom soup, sprinkled with chopped parsley as green as if just picked from a greenhouse.
In the roasting pan next to Dylan, sausages sizzled. They were already sliced, with pink juices oozing from the cuts, served with roasted potatoes drizzled with butter, making one's mouth water.
"Dating?" Dylan looked at Ron. "Why would you think that?"
....
For 70 advanced chapters:
Get advanced chapters ahead of everyone else.
👉 Join now: patreon.com/Chaos_God