The Moon Frogs seemed to be terrified of the absence of moonlight. As soon as they were in the shade, they would kick their legs wildly, trying to get to a place with moonlight.
But due to the magic, they could only spin in place inside the water sphere.
"Luna, have you been watching them this whole time?" Victor asked, stunned. At this moment, he truly felt Luna's extraordinary perspective and wisdom. A person like her was a treasure for Ravenclaw.
"Yes, didn't I just say? Unlike Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, Moon Frogs aren't shy, but they are cowards." Luna tilted her head and replied with a calm smile.
"…"
Victor was speechless. He reached his hand directly into the water sphere and scooped out three Moon Frogs to examine them closely.
He found that these creatures were actually very small, about the size of half a palm. They looked no different from ordinary frogs, with grayish skin and silvery, glowing eye spots resembling an octopus. They had a snow-white belly and bulging eyes, and their heads were triangular. They felt sticky, wet, and slippery in his hand.
Victor placed the Moon Frog on his hand under the moonlight, and it immediately became transparent and motionless.
This was the main reason why Victor hadn't been able to notice the existence of this creature just now.
"This is incredible," Victor said, looking at the Moon Frog kicking its legs in his hand. "Why didn't the wizard who submitted the article to the Quibbler just announce it? It could have earned him a Third Class Order of Merlin!"
"Perhaps his Cleansweep Six failed halfway through, and he lost the bag of Moon Frogs he caught."
"That makes sense…" Victor said, thinking about it and agreeing.
After all, following this unusual line of thought was the right thing to do!
"Oh, didn't your father want you to bring back some Moon Frog eggs? Judging from a frog's habits, this probably isn't their egg-laying season, so how many do you want to take back?" Victor asked, pulling out a large glass jar.
But Luna didn't say anything. Instead, she extended her hands, and Victor immediately understood and placed the Moon Frog in her hands.
"No, this is their home." Luna said, and she released the Moon Frogs back into Lough Corrib.
Victor noticed that the Moon Frogs, which had been kicking their legs wildly in his hand, became unusually docile in Luna's hands. They were even calm without moonlight.
"Let's go back." Luna released all the Moon Frogs she had caught, then stood up with a smile and said.
And so, in the early morning sky of Ireland, a huge eagle slowly flew across the moonlit sky.
The next morning after discovering the Moon Frogs, Victor and Luna had breakfast, packed their bags, and set off for Ottery St. Catchpole.
When the eagle flew over the Lovegoods' house, Xenophilius, as if he had a psychic connection, was already waiting at the door for his daughter to return.
"Luna, my dear daughter! Welcome home!" Xenophilius walked up to Luna and hugged her, then kissed her forehead affectionately.
"Dad, I found Moon Frogs!" Luna looked up from her father's embrace and shared the good news.
"Oh, really? Did you bring back any eggs?" Xenophilius didn't seem surprised about finding Moon Frogs.
"No, they don't lay eggs right now," Luna replied, then turned to Victor. "Thank you, Victor. I'll always remember this trip!"
"Me too," Victor replied with a smile, then handed her luggage to her. "Go rest. If we get the chance, maybe next time we can try to find Crumple-Horned Snorkacks."
Luna took her luggage and smiled, then turned and skipped into the house and went upstairs.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Lovegood. Luna and I were supposed to come back yesterday, but we were delayed for a day for various reasons." Looking at Luna disappearing at the top of the stairs, Victor said to Xenophilius.
"Oh, that's alright. Luna was very happy, wasn't she?" Xenophilius replied calmly, his eyes as distant as Luna's.
"These are some photos I took of Luna during this trip. The photos of the Moon Frogs are in there too. I've already written a brief description on the back of the photos. If you think it's good, you can publish a related article in the Quibbler."
"Thank you! Thank you very much!" Xenophilius took the photos and raised them happily.
His attention was completely on the photos of his daughter, and he didn't even glance at the photos of the Moon Frogs.
When Victor saw this, a suspicion that had been buried in his heart for a long time grew again.
He looked at the necklace on Xenophilius's neck and suddenly asked, "Mr. Lovegood, are you an Acolyte?"
Xenophilius's hand, which was holding the photos, suddenly froze, and his expression hardened.
But he quickly recovered, slowly lowered the photos, and said with a look of confusion, "Mr. Dreyar, I'm not sure what you mean."
"The necklace on your neck is identical to the symbol of Grindelwald's Acolytes."
"Oh, I don't know if you know about the Deathly Hallows. This necklace represents…"
"The Resurrection Stone, the Elder Wand, and the Cloak of Invisibility—of course, I know." Victor directly interrupted Xenophilius and continued, "Don't worry, Mr. Lovegood, I don't mean any harm. I'm just curious. You hadn't been born yet when Grindelwald was defeated, had you? How did you get the title of an Acolyte?"
"...How did you find out?" After a moment of silence, Xenophilius's expression didn't change, but he directly admitted his identity.
"I wasn't sure, actually," Victor replied with a smile. "It was just a test. If you had admitted it, my guess would have been right. If you had chosen to hide it, I wouldn't have had any solid proof."
"The reason I suddenly asked if you were an Acolyte was entirely because of your reaction just now."
"My reaction?" Xenophilius looked puzzled.
"Many people's first impression of Luna is that she's a flighty, loony girl, but what they don't know is that her looniness is a manifestation of her being too clear-headed."
"Moon Frogs, the origin of this mysterious creature was a submission by an anonymous wizard, but Luna firmly believed in it and was the first to discover the existence of this creature last night, something even I couldn't notice."
"To be able to raise such a clear-headed girl, I don't believe that you, Mr. Lovegood, are as loony and mentally unstable as others say. I know your wife passed away two years ago."
"So?" Xenophilius said, his flighty expression suddenly gone, replaced by an unusual calmness. "I don't think anything I did or said just now revealed my identity to you."
"As the editor of the Quibbler, you, like Luna, firmly believe in those absurd things. But just now, you had almost no reaction to Luna finding Moon Frogs. And when I gave you the photos just now, you showed an air of complete indifference to the ones with the Moon Frogs."
"So, based on what I said earlier, your actions just now led me to suspect that you may have already known about the existence of these creatures, but due to your identity as an Acolyte, you found it inconvenient to announce their existence to the public."
"Hahaha…" Xenophilius's laughter was soft, showing a sense of relief. "I didn't expect that after pretending to be a fool for so many years, I would have my identity seen through by a young wizard. You truly live up to the legacy of Ravenclaw!"
"I thought after Pandora died, I was the only one in this world who still knew about my identity."
He said, his fingers constantly rubbing the Acolyte symbol necklace on his neck.
"Actually, it's not a big secret. Whether it's an Acolyte or not, it's just a meaningless title now."
"After Grindelwald was defeated, Pandora's parents and mine were all imprisoned in Nurmengard. Luna's mother and I were born in that prison."
"It wasn't until we were eleven years old that Dumbledore secretly brought Pandora and me to Hogwarts."
"I'm curious, why did you go to such great lengths to hide your identity as an Acolyte?" Victor asked in confusion.
"Victor Dreyar, you don't understand the International Confederation of Wizards' apprehension toward Grindelwald," Xenophilius said. "Even after all these years, his ideals and spirit are still deeply ingrained in the hearts of those who lived through that war."
"I'm hiding my identity as an Acolyte because I don't want those other Acolytes who still believe in Grindelwald and are hiding their identities to disturb our family's life. They escaped capture and trial back then, and no one knows what kind of crazy things they might do in Grindelwald's name."
"If it weren't for the passage of time and the death of many people who knew the history, and the fact that we were still young, Dumbledore wouldn't have secretly brought Pandora and me out of Nurmengard, because no one could guarantee when someone would abduct the two of us."
"The surviving Acolytes, are they still thinking about a restoration?" Victor felt a sense of disbelief when he heard what Xenophilius said.
——————————
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]
There are 50+ advance chapters available for you to read!