Ch: 61-70
Chapter 61: He Seems a Little Different
At night, when Caesar left, the rain had completely stopped.
The sound of rain outside the window gradually faded away.
Luna leaned over a small desk covered with a star-patterned tablecloth, opening her diary, which was pasted with colored feathers and specimens of strange plant veins.
The tip of her ink pen hovered for a moment, then descended, leaving behind handwriting that was slightly childish yet exceptionally earnest in every stroke:
[It rained today. Very heavy rain.]
[Derek and the others were in the hallway again, saying I smell and that Mom is a lunatic who researches mushrooms. I told them about the Wrackspurts, and they laughed even harder.]
Writing to this point, Luna set down her quill and cupped her cheeks with both hands.
She loved seeing the light in her mother's eyes when she talked about mushrooms—a light that shone brighter than a Lumos charm.
She loved hearing her father explain why he firmly believed that the colors of the rainbow could make Floo travel more pleasant, speaking in that non-stop, earnest tone as if revealing the truths of the universe.
This home, along with all its eccentric smells, strange noises, and the small magic "accidents" that could happen at any time, was to her a vast, warm paradise forever full of surprises.
Thus, facing the discrimination of other Muggles, she had learned to lower her head.
She learned to keep her gaze on the small patch of ground in front of her toes, and learned to let her always-unruly pale blonde hair hang down like a thin curtain of light, slightly shielding her from those overly sharp gazes.
When those piercing laughs and whispered conversations pelted her like hailstones,
She would silently count in her heart the row of sunflowers by the backyard fence that always faced the sun.
One, two, three, four... They were simple, quiet, and golden, never questioning whether mushrooms should sing, nor mocking the color of Floo powder.
[I had originally gotten used to it.]
She wrote these words in her diary, her handwriting steady without any extra emphasis.
[Used to thinking of Mom's surprised cries when she discovered new patterns on mushroom spores while they laughed.]
[Used to thinking of Dad pointing at the purple sofa and saying, "Look, this is the sky when night falls," while they pointed and stared.]
[Used to knowing that by the time I count to the twenty-third sunflower, they'll probably find it boring.]
[But today, something was a little different.]
[Caesar Wilkes helped me drive Derek away.]
[He seems... a little different.]
Luna carefully closed her diary and tied it with a slightly worn ribbon that still shimmered with silver starlight.
An owl's distant hoot came from outside the window.
She leaned back on the table, her face turned sideways, looking through the water streaks on the glass toward the night sky.
The clouds had parted slightly, revealing a few blurry stars.
What happened in the hallway on that rainy day was like a small pebble cast into the lake of her heart, which was accustomed to its own quiet rotation.
The ripples were very light, yet they carried a strange, distinct resonance.
Perhaps, in this vast, strange world that often made her feel lonely, the things that could be "seen" weren't just sunflowers, mushrooms, and the Lovegood family.
The thought was very light, like a feather, yet it made her feel a faint, unfamiliar warmth on this night after the rain.
Meanwhile.
Caesar walked up the stairs and returned to his room.
Closing the door and isolating himself from the cold, solemn atmosphere of the study downstairs, the carefully maintained expression on his face slowly faded.
He walked to the window without lighting a lamp.
Through the glass, he could see the crooked silhouette of the Lovegood Family Home far beyond that small grove of trees.
At this moment, that little house should still be lit with a warm, goose-yellow light.
"Good, the first step of the plan was very successful. But this isn't enough; being just classmates is far from enough."
Caesar's gray eyes appeared exceptionally deep in the darkness.
The "performance" during the day had been very successful.
It had even exceeded expectations.
Pandora Lovegood's unreserved enthusiasm and acceptance was the most ideal result in his calculations.
When a lonely researcher, marginalized by the academic mainstream, suddenly meets a youth who seems to "see" what she has spent her life pursuing, the erupting emotion is fervent and blind.
A perfect point of entry.
And Luna... He recalled the girl's appearance in the hallway.
Pale blonde hair clinging wetly to her cheeks, large silver eyes looking at him.
A sensitive and lonely soul living in her own world.
Easy to guide, and easy to... mold.
Caesar's fingers unconsciously traced lightly across the window glass.
According to his memories from his past life,
Luna Lovegood's mother, Pandora, would die in a magic experiment accident when Luna was nine.
This accident caused a massive change in the habits of Luna and her father.
The exact time of the accident was unknown, and the content of the experiment was unknown; it was only known that something went wrong with a certain spell.
But the word "accident" itself implies variables, which means opportunities to be seized.
If he could intervene earlier and gain trust more deeply, especially Pandora's trust;
If he could understand or even participate to some extent in the Lovegood family's research before that "experiment" happened;
Then, when the accident occurred, his position would be entirely different.
He would no longer be just an ordinary friend.
Instead, he could be an "eyewitness," a "helper," or even... the "only one who understands."
The pain of losing a mother, for a girl like Luna who viewed her family as an entire warm paradise, would be a devastating blow.
Her mental world, which was already out of step with the outside world, would completely lose its most important pillar.
At that time, loneliness would no longer be the background noise she was used to, but a vast ocean that swallowed everything.
And Caesar, if he operated correctly, could become the only piece of driftwood floating before her.
Making her depend on him, making her trust him, and making her transfer all her emotional reliance to him amidst her grief.
And then, guide her.
A young Witch with a rare gift for perception and a unique, easily influenced mental world—if she could be completely controlled, she would be a chess piece with immense potential.
Her perspective could see magical phenomena that ordinary people could not, her way of thinking was not bound by conventional logic, and her loyalty, if cultivated properly,
Would be pure and obsessive!
A top scholar in the field of Magical Creatures in the original work would be molded by Caesar into the:
taming queen of Magical Creatures!
Chapter 62: The Magical Creatures taming queen
The results of the first day's meeting left you very satisfied. Not only did you gain Luna's trust, but you also secured a reason to visit her home in the future from Pandora.
Next, by protecting Luna at the Muggle school and displaying talent in front of Pandora, you continuously raised both their favorability.
Time passed as you began frequently visiting the Lovegood home, either discussing Magical Creatureswith Luna or assisting Pandora in her magic experiments. You became the person most familiar to the Lovegood family.
Three months later, during an impromptu visit, you found an opportunity for the experimental riot plan.
On Wednesday afternoon, Caesar knocked on the black lacquered door of the Lovegood Family Home.
Pandora answered the door.
"Perfect!"
Her eyes lit up, and she grabbed Caesar's wrist, pulling him inside.
"I need an observer. Xenophilius went to fetch the printed proofs, and Luna is tending to the snails. You've come at just the right time!"
She led Caesar toward the narrow staircase at the back of the house.
The door to the basement workshop was open, releasing a complex mix of scents: herbs, ozone, mint, the smell of scorched metal, and a faint, sweet, fishy odor.
On the central workbench, a device composed of brass tubes and glass spheres was operating. At its core, suspended in mid-air, was a mass of deep purple smoke that constantly shifted shape, occasionally flashing with silvery threads of electricity.
"Emotional Substantiation Capturer, third generation, improved version."
Pandora pointed with a long spoon toward an open, thick notebook:
"I want to prove that intense emotions, especially those generated in resonance with Magical Creatures, leave behind physical traces that can be captured."
Caesar approached the workbench.
His gaze swept over the parchment notes.
He flipped open the topmost notebook:
A warning note (circled in red ink):
"Resonance experiments require extreme caution.
Today's attempt at low-intensity resonance caused all animals in the house to briefly display the same riot scene, lasting 17 seconds."
Caesar lightly tapped his finger on the words "extreme caution."
Beyond that, he could sense that the protective magic in the workshop, and indeed the entire Lovegood Family Home, had significant vulnerabilities.
Their household defensive spells were more geared toward "not disturbing the neighbors" and "avoiding obvious disasters," rather than resisting deep magical infiltration or resonance experiment riots.
A plan formed in his mind.
No need to actively cause an accident.
Just wait for the next time Pandora conducts a "resonance experiment" between the home's protective magic and an external magical source.
Apply a small, targeted magical interference from the Wilkes family.
Then Pandora will die, just as she planned!
...On Saturday morning, morning mist clung to the edge of the forest.
Caesar waited outside the garden gate of Luna's home.
Yesterday, he told Luna he had discovered a Niffler's nest.
Of course, he had tampered with the Nifflers inside. Today was the first step in his plan to teach LunaDark Arts.
The plan to kill Pandora must proceed, and the plan to trick Luna into corruption must also advance simultaneously.
Only by complementing each other can the best results be achieved.
Just as he was thinking these wicked thoughts, Luna slipped out quietly.
She wore Xenophilius's old raincoat and carried a cloth bag embroidered with a Crumple-Horned Snorkack pattern, from which faint clinking sounds emerged.
Caesar stepped forward and greeted her.
It must be said, the seven-year-old Luna was exceptionally adorable, in no way inferior to the ten-year-old Hermione.
"I brought shiny things," Luna whispered, patting her bag. "Nifflers like shiny things, right?"
Caesar nodded, his gaze sweeping over her excited yet slightly nervous face. "Follow me. Yesterday, I found traces near the edge of the old oak forest to the west."
They walked along a damp path into the forest.
Caesar led the way, his steps steady, his eyes sharply scanning the ground and bushes.
Twenty minutes later, he stopped before a cave formed by beech tree roots.
"Here."
Luna stepped forward and saw an entrance obscured by thick grass. She could also hear faint sobbing and scratching sounds from within.
Caesar pushed aside the ferns.
Deep in the cave, inside a nest piled with dry leaves and scraps of cloth, huddled four Niffler pups.
Three were tightly pressed together for warmth, while the fourth curled alone at the edge of the nest.
Moreover, the fourth Niffler's fur was a deep ink-blue, completely different from the typical gray-black of ordinary Nifflers.
"The mother Niffler is gone. I can feel the nest is empty. She left at least two days ago."
Luna knelt at the entrance, her voice filled with sorrow, not focusing on the strange ink-blue Niffler.
Caesar glanced at Luna, who was full of care for animals, crouched down, pretended to observe, and said calmly:
"No signs of struggle or predators around. Their parents were likely caught in Wizards' traps."
Luna turned to look at Caesar, her eyes pleading. "Can we take care of them? I know Dad won't agree to more pets, but we can do it secretly."
A slight curve touched Caesar's lips as he calmly interrupted. "Can't take them home. Your household magic environment is unstable. It could be fatal for weak pups."
Then, Caesar looked at the ink-blue pup again. "Besides, that color is unusual. Ordinary Niffler pups should have brighter fur.
This deep ink-blue suggests it might have mixed Dark Arts creature blood. Means it's more easily drawn to certain magics."
Luna held her breath, her gaze locked on the solitary pup.
Her innate resonance with creatures didn't alert her to the dangers of Dark Arts. Instead, she empathized and whispered:
"Then it must be even lonelier."
Caesar didn't respond. He extended his hand, holding it above the cave entrance, pretending to sense with closed eyes.
After a moment, he said softly:
"I know a simple summoning charm that can soothe Magical Creatures, especially those related to Dark Arts.
My father taught me. He said it originates from ancient Shenshan People rituals for building trust with nature spirits."
He heard no refusal from Luna.
Caesar opened his eyes to look at Luna and revealed his true purpose:
"Do you want to learn it? It can let you establish communication with that special Niffler.
Maybe give this lonely, strange Niffler that isn't accepted by its kind a little comfort."
Luna nodded vigorously, not the slightest bit wary.
Caesar's lips curved slightly upward.
He gestured for her to extend her palm, facing upward.
"Repeat after me, but don't say it aloud. Whisper it in your mind. At the same time, imagine your magicas the finest thread, gently reaching out to it."
He demonstrated, his voice steady. "The core of the incantation is 'to see and communicate.' It's not coercion, but an invitation.
Especially for that Niffler.
You must first truly'see' its difference, its loneliness in your heart, then gently extend the invitation."
Luna learned seriously.
On the third attempt of mimicking the gesture, she closed her eyes.
Caesar felt a subtle disturbance in the surrounding magical particles.
Luna's magic naturally carried waves of openness and acceptance.
As she silently recited the incantation, the ink-blue Niffler pup at the edge of the nest stirred.
It raised its head, its wet nose turned toward Luna's direction, and its body relaxed.
Chapter 63: Secretly Teaching Dark Arts
"It felt it!" Luna opened her eyes, her voice filled with pleasant surprise.
"Try again. Imagine a silk thread lightly touching its forehead," Caesar instructed.
Luna did as she was told.
The magic fluctuations grew more stable, and that invisible silk thread gradually thickened, binding her and the Niffler tightly together.
The ink-blue Niffler let out a faint cry, struggling to wobble a few inches toward Luna.
"It accepted me?" Luna's voice trembled slightly.
"It accepted your taming," Caesar corrected, while taking out a silver-foil-wrapped soft cake from his leather bag and handing it to Luna.
"Feed it a little. Use the hand holding the food to repeat the gesture. No need to chant; just focus on the intent."
Luna carefully took the soft cake and reached out.
The ink-blue Niffler hesitated for less than a second before approaching to nibble on it. The other three cubs were also attracted by the scent and gathered around.
For the next hour, they took care of this litter of abandoned Nifflers together.
After teaching the Dark Arts, Caesar proceeded to teach Luna some basic knowledge of Magical Creatures.
For example, identifying safe food sources nearby and setting up more concealed temporary shelters.
Luna learned quickly; her talent showed remarkable practicality when caring for Magical Creatures.
During a break in feeding, Luna held the ink-blue Niffler, which had already fallen asleep in her palm, and asked in a low voice:
"Caesar, is that spell only for special people to learn? It feels different from the magic I usually encounter."
Caesar's movements paused slightly.
Among the Shenshan People, who worshipped the harmonious coexistence of nature, this magic was an extremely cruel and strictly forbidden Dark Arts Forbidden Curse.
It could help a Wizard tame, direct, and command those Magical Creatures; even naturally evil Dark Arts creatures could not escape it.
However, how many creatures one could control and how strong they were depended on the Wizard's ability in this area.
And Luna was, without a doubt, the most suitable candidate.
Of course, what Caesar was teaching Luna now was just a tiny, harmless bit of the introductory content he had repackaged.
Furthermore, this strange Niffler was also Caesar's handiwork.
Caesar weighed his words for a moment and looked up at Luna:
"All magic requires a suitable caster. There is no evil magic, only evil Wizards."
"As long as you use magic to do good, then you don't need to worry so much."
"Even though most Wizards in this world would rather only acknowledge what they deem safe and normal."
Luna looked down at the sleeping little creature with the unusual fur color in her arms and remained silent for a long time.
But in her heart, she strongly agreed with Caesar's words, because her family was also not accepted by the mainstream Wizarding World.
Her mother's experiments were treated as jokes by other Wizards, and her father published a weekly magazine called The Quibbler.
And she herself had been treated as an outcast at school since she was a child.
The morning mist gradually dissipated, and sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled spots of light on her pale blonde hair and the Niffler's ink-blue fur.
Luna finally looked up at the boy who acknowledged and paid attention to her, and asked:
"Then can we come to see them often in the future? Using our secret way?"
Caesar stood up and brushed the dirt off his hands. "Of course, but this is a secret between us, Luna."
"The spell I taught you and this special Niffler—don't tell anyone, not even your father or mother."
"After all, they have their own ways of understanding the world, and we have ours. Sharing certain things might instead bring trouble. Do you understand?"
Luna looked at Caesar, then at the Niffler cub in her arms with which she had established a faint magical connection, and nodded slowly.
"I understand. This is our secret."
On the way back, Luna walked very slowly, occasionally looking back into the depths of the forest.
Caesar walked half a step ahead and to her side.
The first step was complete.
A'secret' that belonged only to them, a spell branded with a slight Dark Arts fluctuation, and a Magical Creature marked as'special' that needed secret protection.
Keeping a secret together was the fastest bridge to building exclusive trust.
The seed had sprouted. Now, it only needed patient watering... That night, Luna sat at her small desk and switched on the moth-shaped lamp.
Her diary was spread open, a new page waiting to be filled. She dipped her pen in ink, hesitated for a moment, and began to write:
[Caesar has been coming over often lately. Father likes to discuss the habits of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks with him, while Mother pulls him over to see that "Dreaming Fern."]
[Caesar is very earnest; he can remember the title of every one of Father's articles and even point out which step went wrong in Mother's failed batch of Emotional Ink last year. Father and Mother are very happy, calling him a "rarely insightful young man."]
The tip of her pen paused. Luna looked up, her gaze seemingly piercing through the walls to see the scenes from earlier that day.
In those scenes, there were more than just the workbench and cauldron at home.
[But actually...] Her handwriting grew lighter, [I prefer other times.]
For instance, when Caesar said he wanted to compare the effects of residual soil magic on daisies, they collected samples together in the small garden behind the school.
The sunlight was beautiful. Caesar held a notebook and a precise small trowel, while she carried the categorized cloth bags.
A few boys who used to follow Derek in mocking her passed by, whispering among themselves, but they didn't come over as they usually did, nor did they make any harsh noises.
They just looked and then walked away.
Or like when Caesar, to find the source of some ancient magical proverb, took her to the Community Library to look through dusty local chronicles and mythological compilations.
They sat side by side at an old wooden table by the window. Caesar focused on flipping through heavy volumes while she helped check the index or verify the spelling of obscure words.
The Administrator occasionally glanced at them with surprise but no mockery. Other children also just cast curious glances at the "weird books" on their table and then paid no more attention.
[When they see me with Caesar, they don't really come to laugh at me anymore.]
After writing this sentence, the tip of her pen lingered for a long time, causing a small ink blot to spread.
Luna realized that Caesar's presence was like an invisible yet sturdy umbrella.
It wasn't ostentatious and gave no warnings; it just quietly opened, representing a different kind of "normal"—an aura of focus, calmness, and being not easily offended.
Those who mocked her for being "odd" seemed to automatically lose the courage to approach or provoke her once they were outside the perimeter defined by this umbrella.
She felt safe. A long-lost sense of safety that didn't require her to be constantly tense.
The pen tip moved again, the handwriting even lighter, as if she were afraid someone might see it:
[I have secretly... grown to like this umbrella.]
It wasn't just about protection.
She liked seeing his slightly furrowed brow when he was focused and hearing his clear tone when he explained complex principles.
She liked the way he would genuinely fall into thought because of her sudden whims.
By his side, those "odd" ideas that used to embarrass her at school were no longer a burden but became interesting topics they could explore together.
This umbrella was very quiet and very sturdy.
And... the world under the umbrella had become a bit different because he was there.
Luna closed her diary, not immediately tying the ribbon as she usually did.
She lightly stroked the cover with her hand, feeling the texture of the paper and the little secret belonging only to her that had just settled beneath it.
The moonlight outside the window was hazy, just like the feeling that was quietly growing and still innocent in her heart.
It was very light and very quiet, just like the magical plants in the backyard of the Lovegood Family Home that quietly unfurled their leaves at night.
Chapter 64: I Secretly Fell in Love with This Umbrella
Xenophilius stood in the kitchen, his nostrils flaring slightly.
Having just returned home from a three-day short business trip, he immediately sensed something was amiss.
It was on his daughter; there was an extremely faint "scent" that was different from all the common magic fluctuations he knew.
That scent was cold, thin, like frost patterns on a winter windowpane, and like the chill seeping from the stone walls of an ancient basement.
It was incompatible with her original warm, open, slightly dreamy magical aura, yet it cunningly intertwined with it.
"Luna, dear," Xenophilius said casually during dinner, his eyes behind thick lenses intently observing his daughter, "Are you still enjoying playing with Caesar next door?"
Luna, who was chasing rolling peas on her plate with a fork, looked up at the sound, a bright expression appearing on her face:
"Yes! Caesar knows so much.
He knows where to find the oldest Bowtruckles in the forest, and he taught me to recognize several Magical Creatures not written about in 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'."
"Oh? What Magical Creatures did he teach you?" Xenophilius asked gently, unconsciously twisting his cork necklace.
"There's 'Luminous Insects' that only glow blue at dawn the day after a full moon.
'Whispering Birds' that make a sound like whispering when the north wind blows.
And…"
Luna paused, her voice slightly lower: "'Swallowtail Dogs' live in the East where there's little sunlight, and they have cold fur.
Caesar said that some ancient magic rituals use creatures like them, who love dark corners."
Xenophilius's fork made a faint scratching sound on his plate.
Swallowtail Dogs.
That wasn't something an ordinary child would know.
It appeared more in ancient sacrificial rites, auxiliary materials for Dark Arts, or marginal literature on forbidden creature habitats.
"How would he know these things?"
Luna hadn't yet spoken.
Pandora, who had a good impression of Caesar, interjected to explain:
"The Wilkes family are Aurors, aren't they? Perhaps they've handled cases involving ancient Dark Artsartifacts?"
"Perhaps." Xenophilius said, his gaze not leaving Luna.
"Did he teach you anything else? Like any special spell gestures? Or stories about less common Magical Creatures?"
Luna's hand tightened on her fork. She looked down at the pea that had finally stopped, her voice even softer:
"He helped me take care of a litter of abandoned Nifflers.
In the west of the forest. Their mother disappeared, and the babies were pitiful.
Caesar taught me a simple summoning spell to soothe them.
Especially one with very dark fur, it's very timid…"
"Summoning spell?" Xenophilius leaned slightly forward, "What kind? Can you show me?"
The air was silent for a few seconds.
Luna looked up, her pale silver-grey eyes glanced at her father, then quickly shifted to the darkening sky outside the window.
"I don't remember very clearly."
She finally said, with a hint of imperceptible resistance in her voice,
"It's just ordinary gestures. And Caesar said that spell only works for those who truly 'care' about those forgotten little lives.
If cast merely out of curiosity, it might scare them."
A clever counterattack.
Xenophilius almost applauded the answer.
If he wasn't the father full of doubts.
His daughter was hiding something, and felt a certain loyalty about it.
That night, Xenophilius didn't sleep.
He sat in his study amidst old issues of The Quibbler and manuscripts, the faint glow from his wand tip reflecting in his thick lenses.
Before him lay several old, tattered notebooks from his personal collection.
Swallowtail Dogs.
A spell to soothe creatures that love dark corners.
Caesar Wilkes, an eleven-year-old boy, from a family where both parents are Aurors.
Theoretically, he could indeed have access to unconventional knowledge.
But that cold magical residue.
When Xenophilius was young, he once mistakenly entered an abandoned Dark Arts artifact hiding spot while conducting an interview.
The air there had a similar scent.
"Are you worried about him?"
Pandora's voice came from the doorway. She was wearing a star-patterned bathrobe, holding a cup of bubbling blue drink:
"I think that child is quite good. Luna has a friend her age now, and have you noticed our daughter has been a bit more cheerful lately?"
Xenophilius took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose: "It's precisely because he can make Luna cheerful that I'm worried.
Pandora, that child knows too much knowledge that shouldn't belong to his age, or even to an ordinary Auror family.
He is leading Luna to dark corners. That's not a place a seven-year-old girl should frequently gaze into."
Pandora walked to his side, placing the drink on the table, the bubbles making a soft fizzing sound: "But the world inherently contains both darkness and light.
We've always taught Luna to see everything, haven't we?"
She tilted her head: "Besides, Xenophilius, weren't you also obsessed with legends and creatures rejected by the mainstream when you were young?"
"That's different."
Xenophilius shook his head, his voice unusually serious, "I was driven by curiosity, by the pursuit of 'hidden truths'.
But that boy's curiosity has a cold precision.
There seems to be… an intention behind what he chooses to show Luna, and how he shows it to her."
Pandora blinked: "An intention? Like what?"
Chapter 65: A Father-in-Law's Alertness Towards the Blonde Boy
"For example, making her feel that only he can understand the things she sees.
For example, establishing an exclusive connection between them by sharing common secrets.
For example, quietly planting the seed in her heart that 'parents don't understand the real world'."
Pandora fell silent.
She looked at her husband's furrowed brow, then recalled the way her daughter's eyes lit up recently when mentioning Caesar, and her occasional evasiveness.
She finally suggested, "Perhaps you should talk to him directly? Use those roundabout interviewing techniques of yours to probe the background of that little friend, Caesar?"
Xenophilius put his glasses back on, his gaze sharp behind the lenses. "Yes. I indeed should find an opportunity to talk to him."
The opportunity arrived two days later.
Caesar came to return the experimental manuscripts Pandora had lent him previously.
And it just so happened that Xenophilius 'encountered' him in the garden.
"Caesar,"
Xenophilius approached.
"Thank you for accompanying Luna on her adventures these past few days. She rarely shows such sustained enthusiasm for things in the real world."
Caesar turned around, his deep grey eyes calmly meeting the scrutiny.
"Mr. Lovegood. Luna's way of perceiving the world is very unique; observing with her always provides new perspectives."
"Like the Swallowtail Dog? And the strange abandoned Niffler?" Xenophilius went straight to the point, his gaze locked onto Caesar's face.
Caesar's expression barely changed. "Yes. Luna has a natural sympathy for those misunderstood beings.
I only provided some background knowledge. My father handled cases involving the smuggling of Magical Creatures, and there are related fringe materials at home."
"Fringe materials," Xenophilius repeated, his fingers unconsciously twirling his cork necklace.
"Can you be more specific? For instance, the incantations for soothing Dark Creature—which system do they originate from?"
The air stagnated.
The color of the hydrangeas slowly shifted from pale blue to greyish-green.
Caesar took a slow breath, and as he exhaled, an expression appeared on his face that was a perfectly measured mix of offended restraint and academic defense.
"Mr. Lovegood, if you are questioning the content I am teaching Luna, I understand your concern.
But allow me to explain that while the Wilkes family has served in the Ministry of Magic for generations, there is a collateral branch focused on researching Ancient Magical Legends and Fringe History of Magic.
What I have been exposed to since childhood are precisely these unorthodox but rigorous academic systems."
He paused, his voice lowering slightly, continuing with an imperceptible edge:
"I thought that in the Lovegood Family Home, famous for The Quibbler and dedicated to unearthing truths ignored by the mainstream, you would hold a more open attitude toward such diverse inheritances of knowledge."
The counterattack was precise and sharp.
Xenophilius felt a slight ringing in his ears.
He indeed could not continue to press the point regarding 'respecting unconventional knowledge'.
"Openness does not equate to a lack of discernment, young man,"
Xenophilius finally said, the ethereal and airy quality in his voice dissipating to reveal the solid texture of a wary father.
"Especially when it involves my daughter's soul and the purity of her magic. Some knowledge carries historical shadows. They leave traces."
Caesar nodded, his expression returning to calm respect. "I understand.
I will be more cautious in choosing the content I share with Luna.
But I must say, Luna's talent is very special.
She might understand those beings unacknowledged by the public better than we imagine.
Restricting her vision might also be a loss."
The conversation could go no deeper. Xenophilius had received some explanation, yet it failed to dispel all his doubts.
Caesar, on the other hand, had successfully crafted an image of being 'possessor of special family learning, misunderstood but remaining polite'.
When Xenophilius returned indoors and recounted the conversation to Pandora, the study door was pushed open a crack.
Luna stood there, her pale blonde hair a bit messy, her pale silvery-grey eyes shimmering with complex emotions in the dim light.
"I heard you," she said softly, her voice trembling. "Daddy, you're questioning Caesar. Do you think the things he's teaching me are bad?"
Xenophilius's heart tightened. "Luna, I'm not saying—"
"But you think those Nifflers shouldn't be cared for? You think the Swallowtail Dogs are scary? You think Caesar knows those things because his family researches dark knowledge?"
Luna's speech quickened; this was an excitement she rarely displayed.
"But Daddy, you're the one who said there are countless ignored truths in the world!
You're the one who said The Quibbler should report on things others don't dare to!
Why is it that when Caesar tells me things others don't know, you suspect him instead?"
"Because the things he's letting you touch, Luna, carry an 'odor' I don't like," Xenophilius tried to explain, approaching his daughter.
"A cold feeling that doesn't belong to Natural Magic. I'm worried it will affect you—"
"Affect me how?"
Luna took a step back, leaning against the doorframe. "Make me even weirder? Even less like a 'normal' girl?
But Daddy, I was never normal! You, Mummy, our family—we were never normal!
Why is it that now, when someone understands me in a different way, you want to oppose it?"
Luna's voice was filled with the sting of betrayal.
Xenophilius froze in place, watching the tears welling in his daughter's eyes, feeling a powerless and sharp heartache.
He could not explain the danger of that cold magical residue clearly without disparaging his own family's philosophy.
Pandora walked over and gently put her arm around Luna's shoulders.
"Sweetheart, Daddy is just worried about you. We both love you."
Luna leaned into her mother's embrace, her tears finally falling, but she still looked at her father with a gaze that held a stubborn distance alongside the sadness.
She choked out, "Caesar is the only one who doesn't think I'm weird, but instead thinks my'seeing' is a talent.
You love me too, but you love 'Luna', whereas Caesar... he sees 'the things I see'. It's not the same."
She broke away from her mother's embrace and turned to run upstairs.
The stairs gave a few aggrieved creaks.
The study fell silent. Pandora sighed and looked at her husband.
"Perhaps... we really did overreact a little?"
Xenophilius didn't answer.
He walked to the window and looked toward the Wilkes house next door, which appeared exceptionally orderly and quiet in the night.
In the garden, the hydrangeas had completely turned a deep ink-blue, almost merging with the darkness.
The seed had been planted.
Not by him, but by that boy with the deep grey eyes.
A seed named 'parents don't understand the world we see' had quietly taken root in Luna's heart.
And he knew that uprooting it would be harder than facing any reader's skepticism.
Outside the window, the night wind blew through the treetops, making a sound like a sigh.
Chapter 66: You Like Caesar, Don't You?
The following days passed in regular magic experiments.
Caesar continued to bring various ideas, his voice steady.
Every time Caesar experimented and proposed a hypothesis,
Luna always nodded immediately.
However, for her, what mattered was being with Caesar.
Whenever she listened intently to Caesar explain resonance and magic stability,
her thoughts would occasionally drift to the bobbing of Caesar's Adam's apple as he spoke, or the shadows cast by his eyelashes.
When Caesar was completely absorbed in calibrating instruments or outlining runes, Luna couldn't help but count his breaths, or watch how a wisp of black hair brushed his temple.
Sometimes the experiment succeeded.
Caesar's eyes would light up, and a genuinely small curve would appear at the corner of his mouth.
At that moment, Luna felt warm honey infused into her chest, and all the tedious endurance was worth exchanging for that fleeting brilliance.
Sometimes the experiment failed.
Caesar would frown in thought, his knuckles unconsciously and rhythmically tapping the table.
Luna would quietly get up, bring over her mother's freshly baked blueberry muffins, and place them by his hand.
Then she would sit back in the old armchair, pretending to flip through a magical plant atlas, but actually stealing glances at him from the corner of her eye.
Until Caesar suddenly stopped tapping and murmured:
"The reason for the failure was that the third resonance rune's orientation was off by 0.5 degrees."
Luna would nod vigorously, as if she had arrived at the answer with him.
She gradually learned to discern his subtle emotions:
Fingertips tapping rhythmically when deep in thought.
Head tilting slightly to the left when encountering a contradiction.
Pupils imperceptibly dilating when observing an interesting phenomenon.
She collected these fragments in her heart like flower petals.
One afternoon, Pandora was combing Luna's hair by the window, and seeing the unconsciously bright look in her daughter's eyes in the mirror, she softly asked:
"You like Caesar, don't you?"
Luna's cheeks instantly flushed crimson: "Mom!"
Pandora's voice was gentle as a lullaby, the comb gliding through her daughter's long hair: "He's a very good boy, smart, steady. And..."
She paused, then continued: "When he looks at you, his gaze is very focused.
However, Mama also noticed that he seems to be spending more time on magic experiments than with you lately.
But you don't really like those complex theoretical experiments, do you?"
Luna lowered her head, her fingers twisting the tie of her pajamas.
"I like doing magic experiments with him,"
she admitted softly, "but sometimes, I also wish we could spend more time doing other things together. Like going to the woods to find Oak Sprites, or just sitting in the garden and chatting."
Her voice grew softer and softer, tinged with grievance and longing.
Pandora's hand paused, and the room was silent for a moment.
Then, she resumed her movements, her voice soft as a sigh: "Remember, Luna. You don't need to change yourself for anyone's expectations."
She draped the finished braid over Luna's shoulder, pressed her hands on her daughter's slender shoulders, and looked deeply at her through the mirror:
"If Caesar truly cares about you, he will like the real, complete Luna Lovegood. The you who draws daisies and believes in Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, and not just an assistant."
Luna nodded, half understanding.
The weight of her mother's words made her heart feel warm and a little sore.
That night, Luna curled up by the window sill in her attic bedroom, by the moonlight and a slowly burning beeswax candle, and opened the diary with a Crumple-Horned Snorkack on its cover.
Her quill dipped into the inkwell again and again, but hesitated to write.
Her mother's words from earlier that day were like a stone thrown into a lake, the ripples spreading out, disturbing the originally hazy yet peaceful reflection.
She finally put pen to paper, her handwriting neater than usual, as if trying hard to clarify something:
[September 7th, the crescent moon is very thin, like a silver wound.]
[Mama said today that I don't need to change myself. She said Caesar should like the real me.]
She paused here, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the rough edge of the paper.
The real me?
She looked up at the silhouette of the dark beech forest outside the window.
Would he like the me who believes Wrackspurts make thoughts knot up, who thinks the existence of Gulping Plimpies is more worth exploring than the eras of History of Magic, who spends entire afternoons watching a cloud change shape?
Would he like the me whose thoughts always drift to the frequency of his eyelashes fluttering, or the faint scent of cedar from his cuff, when Caesar explains experimental logic?
Do these fragments, pieced together, constitute "real"?
She felt a slight confusion.
Her pen tip fell again, its speed slowing, the ink pooling slightly:
[But... what is "the real me"?]
[I like being with him in the workshop, I like watching him focused, I like the light in his eyes when an experiment succeeds. That light is real.]
When she wrote the word "light," her stroke unconsciously softened.
[But I also do... feel tired of those complex magical array derivations, of those Rune nesting that need to be precise to the degree.]
[My head sometimes feels like it's stuffed with buzzing Fwoopers, especially when he explains'secondary decay of harmonic resonance' over and over again.]
[I'd rather tell him that yesterday I saw some moss on a rock by the stream that looked a lot like a Puffskein, or guess if Thestral tears are really invisible.]
Her handwriting began to become somewhat messy, revealing her inner urgency and unease:
[What if he's only interested in 'Luna who can do experiments with him and understand those theories'?]
This hypothesis sent a shiver down her spine.
She stopped writing, pressing her slightly cool fingers to her cheek.
The candle flame flickered, casting swaying shadows in her pale silver-grey eyes.
[Mama said his gaze was focused when he looked at me.]
She wrote again, as if seeking corroboration or questioning herself.
[But his gaze is just as focused when he looks at those ancient rune diagrams. Even... more ardent?]
She recalled his eyes brightening briefly that afternoon when the quartz successfully stored a musical note, but that light quickly receded into a deep pool, replaced by the next hypothesis to be verified.
The last few lines fell onto the diary, the handwriting very light, almost flying, yet carrying a heavy chill:
[I'm scared.]
[Scared that if one day I tell Caesar, 'I don't want to check data today, let's go watch the rainbow-tailed birds sunbathe,' the light in his eyes will go out, and he'll no longer need to come to this crooked house?]
[Is that umbrella always held over my 'weird' interests and 'useful' assistance? If I put those away, will the sky beneath the umbrella disappear too?]
At the very end, a tiny ink dot dropped next to the word "disappear," slowly spreading, like a silent sigh, and like a trace of cold water seeping out after the ice shard in her heart melted.
She closed the diary, blew out the candle, and buried herself in the soft pillow.
The crescent moon outside the window was still thin, its cold light unable to penetrate her My thoughts are in complete disarray right now. (current chaotic thoughts).
The cool September night wind blew through the window crack, and she unconsciously pulled the quilt tighter around herself.
Chapter 67: Dangerous Magic Experiment
On the eve of the second full moon in October, the basement workshop of the Lovegood Family Homewas filled with a festive, tense excitement.
Pandora hadn't slept much in three days; her blonde hair was messy, but her eyes sparkled like stars.
"Moon Jellyfish."
She explained to Luna and Caesar, who were standing by the workbench, excitedly pointing at the spread-out manuscript:
"They are not aquatic creatures, but magical creatures that only briefly manifest during specific moon phases and under specific concentrations of magic."
"According to the incomplete notes of the seventeenth-century mystic Agnes, the trajectory of the Moon Jellyfish can reveal potential dangers within the next three hours!"
On the workbench, a complex device hummed.
Multi-layered nested silver rings were engraved with intricate Ancient Runes, and a pearlescent core, whose luster constantly shifted, hovered in the center.
Below, crystal saucers held various magical materials: powdered Nightmare Beast Horn, distilled dew collected on a moonless night, iridescent bird feather ashes, and a tube of faintly pulsing translucent blue liquid.
Pandora affectionately stroked the tube of blue liquid: "This is a special Potion I extracted last month; theoretically, it should attract the Moon Jellyfish."
She pointed to the slowly rotating rings: "These outer silver ring arrays are already linked to a Protection Charm.
"Once the Moon Jellyfish are drawn into the silver ring array, they will be projected onto the Protection Charm in real-time, forming a 'Future Three-Hour Danger Prediction Map'!"
"Think about it! We'll know in advance if the teapot is going to boil dry, or if the stairs are going to play tricks!"
Pandora, at this moment, was speaking passionately, like a scientist about to discover something worthy of the Nobel Prize.
Caesar stood further away, his gaze calmly sweeping over the device.
His brain was working quickly, analyzing every fragile point.
Pandora's experimental steps sounded very precise.
But precision also meant that if something went wrong in one step, the entire experiment could easily fail and turn dangerous.
"This is truly remarkable, Madam Lovegood."
Caesar spoke up at the right moment, his voice carrying just the right amount of admiration,
"Utilizing the properties of the Moon Jellyfish to transform the Protection Charm from passive defense into active intervention."
"However..."
Caesar frowned slightly, pretending to recall something, "I believe I read a similar attempt recorded in my family's *Observation Notes on Ancient Creatures of the North*."
"That observer mentioned that the Moon Jellyfish are extremely sensitive to 'unnaturally guided magic' and might briefly transform into an aggressive state."
Pandora blinked: "Aggressive? The Night Dew Notes didn't mention that."
Caesar's words were half-truth, half-lie: "The author of the notes believed it was the Moon Jellyfish's instinctive self-defense mechanism; they disrupt all surrounding magical creatures."
Pandora paused for a few seconds, then clapped her hands: "Oh! If an aggressive form appears, doesn't that just prove we successfully attracted the Moon Jellyfish!"
"The aggression itself should be minor, right? After all, it's just the instinctive reaction of a tiny creature."
"Theoretically, yes, but it's best to be careful." Caesar nodded,
Then, Caesar paused, looking at Luna: "Luna and I don't want you to take risks. How about we stop?"
Pandora's answer was exactly what Caesar expected; she immediately refused: "Studying unknown creatures is my life's ambition. How could I give up because of a slight potential danger?"
Luna listened quietly, unconsciously clutching her sleeve.
Caesar saw her light-colored eyelashes tremble slightly.
In the days that followed, the air felt thick with sticky honey, flowing exceptionally slowly.
Pandora practically lived by the workbench; her hair stuck up messily, and the starlight in her eyes burned even brighter, almost scaldingly so.
She was constantly muttering under her breath, facing the rotating silver rings and the bubbling Potion, occasionally bursting into laughter or frowning as she re-weighed certain ingredients.
Xenophilius Lovegood tried to pin his wife down at the dining table so she could finish a proper meal.
But often, in less than ten minutes, Pandora would float back down to the basement, as if pulled by an invisible string.
Caesar didn't mention leaving. He became very quiet, like a shadow, but a very useful shadow.
He would neatly gather the calculation parchments that Pandora had carelessly left scattered, the ink still wet, and weigh them down with a paperweight.
He would bring her a cup of tea at the perfect temperature when Pandora forgot the time.
He could also accurately find the tools Pandora needed for the next stage from a pile of strange and wonderful objects.
Xenophilius smiled gratefully at him, seemingly never wondering how a child this age could be so familiar with the preparations for such advanced magic experiments.
Luna noticed.
She noticed that the way Caesar looked at the glowing devices wasn't like someone looking at an interesting new toy; it was more like someone assessing a tree branch, calculating where to swing the axe to exert the least effort.
She also noticed that when her mother clapped her hands happily because a difficult calculation suddenly clicked, Caesar would smile along.
But the smile was shallow, floating on his face, never reaching his gray eyes.
The depths of those eyes remained calm, like a frozen lake surface.
An inexplicable unease, like a damp stain creeping up a wall corner, began to climb into Luna's heart.
It wasn't heavy, but it was clammy and impossible to brush away.
That afternoon, Pandora was finally half-coaxed, half-forced by Xenophilius into the upstairs bedroom "to close her eyes for just an hour."
The basement immediately emptied out.
Caesar sat in a slightly sunken armchair near the stairs, holding an *Atlas of Common Magical Plants*, appearing to read intently.
Luna sat on a cushion on the floor, playing with her collection of colorful bottle caps, making them refract tiny rainbows in the light spots cast by the stained-glass window.
But her gaze always involuntarily slid towards Caesar.
"Caesar." She finally called him softly.
"Hmm?" Caesar looked up from the page, his face bearing his usual gentle expression.
Luna hesitated, unconsciously picking at the edge of a bottle cap with her finger:
"That notebook—besides saying the Moon Jellyfish might change—did it say anything else? Like, specifically what happens after they change?"
Caesar slowly closed the book and placed it on his knee:
"The notes are very old, Luna, and the writing is blurred in many places."
"The person who wrote the notes seemed more interested in 'what happened' than in saying much about 'what happened next'."
Luna's voice became even softer: "So, things could still go wrong, right? Even if Mum thinks she's thought of everything."
Caesar was silent for a moment, then looked at Luna's slightly pursed lips and pale knuckles, and gently changed the subject:
"It's getting a bit stuffy staying down here, and the moon won't be out until tonight. How about we go for a walk?"
"Didn't you say last time that the litter of baby Nifflers by the woods has been really mischievous lately? Maybe some fresh air will clear our heads."
Luna did feel a tightness in her chest.
She glanced at the machine that was still humming tirelessly, then looked at Caesar's calmly waiting face, and nodded.
"Okay," she said, gently placing the bottle cap she held onto the cushion.
Chapter 68: Luna Who Wants to Protect Her mother
That afternoon, while visiting the Niffler younglings at the edge of the forest, Luna was preoccupied.
Her fingers unconsciously stroked the Niffler youngling's fur as she whispered, "Caesar, is Mom's experiment really dangerous? Like the ones you write about in your books?"
Caesar hesitated, then finally nodded and said, "All magic experiments exploring the unknown carry potential risks.
Especially for a pioneer like your mother. She is walking a path no one else has taken, so there is no ready-made safety manual."
Luna hugged the Niffler tightly, and the little creature emitted a comfortable purr.
"I'm a little scared. Not afraid of Mom getting hurt. I'm afraid that if something goes wrong, I'll just have to watch again, like with the frog eggs last time, unable to do anything."
The time was right.
Caesar turned to Luna, a serious, secret-sharing look in his deep gray eyes.
"I have a method. It's not about stopping the experiment, but about adding an extra layer of protection.
Do you remember the magic I taught you before, the one for establishing a connection with the Niffler?
It's actually just one part of an entire set of spells.
The effect of another spell in that set allows a Wizard's soul to act like a spiderweb, detecting magiccreatures.
Such as the Moon Jellyfish that your mother's experiment is attracting."
Luna's eyes widened: "Detecting?"
Caesar nodded: "Yes. The spell itself consumes almost no magic, nor can it be detected by conventional magic.
It's like a Mind Net. Once it catches signs of dangerous disturbance, it sends out a faint signal that only the caster can feel."
Caesar lowered his voice: "This way, if something really happens, we will know immediately, and perhaps we can do something to help, instead of just having to watch."
"Teach me!"
Luna said without hesitation, her light silver-gray eyes filled with determination: "I want to protect Mom. Even if it's just a little bit."
Caesar nodded.
He had Luna put down the Niffler, and the two sat facing each other on the moss in the forest clearing.
"The core of this spell is 'listening'."
Caesar began to explain, his voice steady as if teaching a simple Cleaning Charm: "You must first clearly imagine the person or object you wish to detect in your mind."
Luna learned with concentration.
In her first attempt, the magic flow from her fingertips scattered chaotically, and the threads of magicwere almost unable to take shape.
The second time, she closed her eyes and frowned, trying hard to imagine every detail Caesar had described.
The third time, when she barely managed to perceive the contours of her surroundings,
Caesar clearly felt a cold, slick magic fluctuation seep out from her body, silently merging into the surrounding environmental magic field.
"Did it work?" Luna opened her eyes, tiny beads of sweat on her temples.
"Very good."
Caesar said, handing her a clean handkerchief, "Remember this feeling.
Tonight, before the full moon rises and your mother begins her experiment, you can use this spell."
Luna nodded solemnly, firmly engraving the spell and the feeling in her heart.
Caesar watched Luna's serious profile as she practiced, his gaze calm and steady.
The first mechanism of the trap was set.
Now, he just had to wait for the full moon to rise, wait for Pandora to flip the experiment switch, and wait for the inevitable "accident" to happen.
And he would be the one who, when the "accident" occurred, would conveniently be right next to Luna, guiding her change in perspective.
The light and shadows dappled the forest floor. The ink-blue Niffler youngling crawled back onto Luna's lap, curling itself into a dark little fluffball... On the eve of the Full Moon Experiment, Luna woke up screaming.
She had dreamed of Her mother in the workshop.
In the dream, Pandora's figure became transparent, as if she were about to merge with the attracted Moon Jellyfish.
But the Moon Jellyfish swelled and deformed, extending semi-transparent tentacles that shimmered with cold light. The tentacles were covered in dense, ancient-looking characters that acted as suckers.
They wrapped around Pandora, not approaching, but... devouring.
Her mother's face blurred in the light, then slowly disappeared.
At the same time, a cold voice echoed deep within Luna's mind, indistinguishable from Caesar's or something else:
"You cannot protect her; you can only watch her die."
"Mom!"
Luna bolted upright in bed, cold sweat soaking her pajamas.
Her damp, light blonde hair clung to her cheeks and neck, and her heart pounded frantically in her thin chest.
She jumped out of bed barefoot, stumbled through the hallway, and crashed through her parents' bedroom door.
Pandora and Xenophilius were both startled awake.
After understanding the situation, Pandora immediately opened her arms and tightly hugged her trembling daughter, comforting her, "Shh, darling, it's just a dream, just a dream..."
Then, she stroked Luna's sweaty hair, her voice infused with sleep-softened tenderness, "Mom is here. Everything is fine."
Xenophilius turned on the bedside lamp, his eyes behind his thick glasses filled with worry.
"What did you dream about, Luna?"
Luna sobbed in Her mother's arms, describing the nightmare in broken sentences.
When she mentioned Her mother being eaten by the Moon Jellyfish, Pandora chuckled softly.
"Oh, Little Moon, your imagination is even more exciting than my experiment!"
Pandora kissed her daughter's forehead: "Moon Jellyfish are non-corporeal; they certainly don't have tentacles or suckers."
"But the feeling was too real," Luna whispered, her fingers gripping Her mother's pajamas so tightly her knuckles were white.
"Dreams sometimes amplify our worries."
Xenophilius's voice was low. He glanced at his wife, his expression complicated:
"Tomorrow is an important experiment day. Luna, you are worried about your mother, aren't you?"
Luna nodded, burying her face deeper into Her mother's embrace, drawing in the warmth and tangible sense of security.
The next morning, Luna had faint dark circles under her eyes and seemed quieter than usual.
Pandora, meanwhile, enthusiastically discussed the final preparations for the experiment.
Xenophilius was somewhat distracted, glancing at his daughter frequently.
Caesar visited shortly after breakfast, ostensibly to return another notebook.
He "ran into" the distraught Luna in the garden.
"Didn't sleep well?"
He asked, his gaze sweeping over the shadows beneath Luna's eyes.
Luna nodded and quietly told him about the nightmare she had last night.
Caesar listened quietly. He did not dismiss it lightly like Pandora, nor did he look worried like Xenophilius.
After Luna finished speaking, he remained silent for a moment, then said:
"A dream is a mirror of the subconscious. It may not be a prophecy, but it reflects your deepest fear.
Losing someone you love, and being powerless to stop it."
The sentence was like a fine needle, precisely piercing the softest, most fearful part of Luna's heart.
Her eyes instantly reddened.
"I used the spell you taught me in the dream, but that spell can only detect the Moon Jellyfish, it can't defend against them,"
she choked out, her fingers unconsciously twisting together,
"I understand what you mean."
Caesar's voice was steady and carried a convincing power.
"Your fear comes from within, from your recognition of your own lack of power."
Caesar paused, took a small step forward to close the distance, and lowered his voice further, speaking with the solemnity of sharing an ultimate secret:
"Luna, your thinking is correct.
There's nothing wrong with fear itself. What's wrong is dwelling in fear and doing nothing.
Your mother is exploring an uncharted area of magic, and that inherently comes with risk.
To truly protect her, a mere warning spell is not enough. You need to understand more and master more."
Chapter 69: Learn More Dark Arts From Me
Luna raised her tear-filled eyes to him. "What more do I need to master?"
Caesar's deep gray eyes were like two unfathomable lakes:
"Understand more of the spell I taught you last time to communicate with Nifflers, and master more of that magic.
You should know that that spell can help you communicate with magical creatures, soothe them, and even tame them.
And Moon Jellyfish are also a type of magical creature.
If Her mother is ever attacked by Moon Jellyfish, you can try to use that spell to communicate with these creatures.
Even, if necessary, soothe and drive them away."
Luna hesitated. She could accept Dark Arts of the detection type.
But ever since her argument with her parents last time, she had actually felt a little uncomfortable with the inherent darkness of that spell.
"But Caesar, that spell is a bit…"
"It's alright, if you don't want to use it, I have another method." Caesar extended his hand, palm up.
A deep gray stone, the size of a pigeon's egg and rough on the surface, appeared in his hand.
The stone was unremarkable, but at certain angles, one could vaguely see extremely subtle, vein-like dark red patterns slowly flowing within it.
Caesar gently placed the stone in Luna's trembling palm.
The stone was icy cold to the touch, and that chill seemed to penetrate the skin, reaching straight to the bone marrow.
"It's called the 'stone of serenity.' It doesn't possess powerful magic itself, but it has a calming effect on magical creatures."
He watched Luna's fingers tightly clasping the stone, and continued in that steady, reliable tone:
"Take it with you during the experiment tonight. Don't let your parents know; this is another one of our secrets.
If—I mean if—there really are signs of magical instability like in your dream.
Clutch it tightly, concentrate on imagining protecting Her mother, and this stone might help you soothe those Moon Jellyfish."
Luna looked down at the icy stone in her palm, and the subtle dark red patterns seemed to accelerate their flow slightly under her gaze.
A mixture of hope, responsibility, and something heavy weighed on her heart.
She squeezed the stone tightly; the cold touch made her shiver, yet it also brought a strange, solid illusion of security.
"Will it protect Her mother?"
She asked softly, her voice full of fragile anticipation.
Caesar's gaze was profound as he corrected, "This stone may only have a protective effect.
Its effect is far inferior to the spell I taught you. True protection always comes from action and strength.
Remember, Luna, fear cannot protect anyone. But understanding fear and acquiring corresponding strength for your loved ones can."
He gently patted Luna's shoulder, left that meaningful remark, and turned to leave the garden.
Luna stood rooted to the spot, motionless for a long time.
She held the stone of serenity, feeling the chill seep into her palm, and the flame of mixed fear and determination ignited in her heart by Caesar's words.
She did not see the fleeting, mirror-like cold glint in Caesar's eyes as he turned away.
That stone, of course, was not a "stone of serenity."
It was a Dark Magic Resonance Stone crafted by Caesar.
It could not soothe anything.
Its purpose was singular:
When strong and unstable magical disturbances appeared in the surrounding environment, it would act like a detonator switch.
Not to pacify, but to amplify, distort, and then reflect the disturbance of the Moon Jellyfish, based on its unstable Dark Arts structure.
Caesar personally placed this unstable switch into Luna's hand.
And made her believe it was the last hope to protect Her mother.
Meanwhile, in the Lovegood Family Home's underground workshop, Pandora was making the final calibrations.
The silver rings spun with increasing stability, and the pearl-like core in the center emitted a soft, pulsating moon-white glow.
She hummed an off-key tune, completely absorbed in her anticipation of unknown discoveries, utterly unaware.
The cold stone tightly clutched in her daughter's pocket had already begun to generate an extremely faint, yet ominous, implicit resonance with the meticulously constructed magical field of her experiment.
Outside the window, dusk was falling.
A giant, silver-disk-like full moon was slowly rising from the eastern horizon, casting its cool, frosty glow upon the crooked house.
As the full moon reached its zenith, a waterfall of silver light poured into the specially widened skylight of the basement.
In the workshop, the magic reached its critical point.
The nested silver rings no longer rotated slowly, but emitted a high-frequency, almost silent hum, moving so fast that the naked eye could only see a fused stream of light.
The central pearl core had become completely transparent, as if a river of stars flowed within it.
Pandora stood before the workbench, a steady stream of silver light flowing from the tip of her wand, injecting into the outermost control runes.
Her face was pale, but her eyes shone terrifyingly bright.
"It's coming… I feel the boundary loosening…"
She murmured, her voice dry.
In the corner of the room, Xenophilius tightly clutched the cork necklace hanging around his neck, his knuckles white.
He stood at a safe distance to "record observational data" as his wife requested, but the thick notebook on his lap remained blank, not a single word written.
Upstairs, in Luna's bedroom.
Luna sat on the bed fully clothed, her back ramrod straight, her hands tightly clasped in front of her chest.
In her right palm, she tightly clutched the "stone of serenity."
The stone remained icy cold, but the dark red patterns within it now writhed and flowed faster in the depths, like awakened centipedes.
She hesitated between the taming spell and the detection spell, finally using the detection spell as Caesar had taught her.
At this moment, she could feel it.
In the direction of the downstairs workshop, a massive, chaotic, and increasingly unstable magical energy was gathering.
It wasn't the warm, wondrous fluctuation of Her mother's usual experiments.
Instead, it was a sharp, tearing agitation, as if something was desperately trying to force its way through from the other side of reality's veil.
Images from her nightmare flashed uncontrollably in her mind: glowing tentacles, Her mother's transparent figure… "No… Caesar said the stone would protect… the warning spell would alert…"
Luna whispered to herself repeatedly, but her teeth had begun to chatter softly.
Her heart had already unconsciously taken Caesar's words as absolute truth.
Just then—
"Ugh!"
A short, suppressed cry of pain, mixed with the harsh sound of shattering glass, suddenly came from downstairs!
Luna's heart skipped a beat, and she instantly sprang from the bed, rushing barefoot towards the door.
The moment her fingers touched the doorknob.
A bone-chilling coldness, connected to her sensory nerves via the detection spell, surged into her mind.
At the same time, the "stone of serenity" clutched in her right palm suddenly became scorching hot.
Not warmth, but a searing, intensely painful heat.
Chapter 70: Going to Tame the Moon Jellyfish
"Ah!" Luna cried out in pain, subconsciously wanting to shake off the stone, but her fingers were like they were welded on, unable to loosen.
The dark red patterns inside the stone flickered wildly, as if emitting silent screams.
Had the stone of serenity's calming power failed?
"Mom is in danger!"
Luna used the detection spell Caesar taught her and sensed many magical creatures frantically surging towards Her mother's studio downstairs. This was definitely not a normal phenomenon.
Recalling the nightmare she had earlier, and the unacceptable terrible consequences in the dream.
Fear overwhelmed everything. Luna violently twisted open the door and rushed downstairs.
What she didn't see was Caesar, who had been waiting outside the window behind her, silently following her footsteps.
"The protagonist is in place. The show has begun."
...The two arrived at Pandora's studio, one after another.
It was midnight.
The door to the underground studio was ajar.
Inside, an unbearable, constantly shifting strong light burst forth, along with a high-pitched shriek that almost tore eardrums.
Caesar's mind raced. His Genius Scholar talent quickly allowed him to analyze that this was not sound.
Instead, it was noise directly affecting the mind as magical structures collapsed!
Luna violently pushed open the door.
The moment the scene came into view, time seemed to freeze.
The Silver Ring Protective Device had completely lost control.
The rapidly spinning rings broke free from their orbits, flying wildly like mad blades in the air.
They crashed into walls, ceilings, and workbenches, leaving deep scorch marks and splashing sparks.
The central pearl core exploded, spewing not stardust.
But viscous, constantly twisting and changing silver-blue glowing fluid, like living nightmare pus.
It flowed and spread along the workbench.
In the center of the room, Pandora lay on the ground.
Xenophilius was kneeling beside her, futilely trying to use his wand to dispel the glowing Moon Jellyfish tentacles wrapped around her.
It was exactly what Luna had seen in her dream!
The Moon Jellyfish tentacles, like greedy leeches, had their ends embedded in Pandora's skin.
No!
They were directly merging into her body.
Drawing out a life-force-like glow, making her body visibly turn gray and transparent at a speed discernable to the naked eye.
Pandora's eyes were still open, but her pupils were dilated, reflecting wildly dancing magical turbulence.
Her mouth was slightly open, as if she wanted to say something, but only broken gasps came out.
She still clutched her wand tightly, but the wand itself, from the middle, was already covered in black, cobweb-like cracks.
"No—! Mom!" Luna let out a heart-wrenching scream, about to rush in recklessly.
A steady, strong hand grabbed her arm from behind, stopping her suicidal charge.
"Don't go over there, the Moon Jellyfish are rioting." Caesar's voice rang in her ear, still as steady as ever.
Xenophilius heard his daughter's scream, turned sharply, his face a mix of despair and fury:
"Luna, get out, quickly!"
He tried to conjure a protective shield, but the light from his wand flickered weakly and was immediately torn apart by the surrounding violent energy.
He himself was hit by several splashing energy streams, staggering back, his arm instantly showing charred marks.
"Let go of me! I want to save Mom!" Luna struggled frantically, tears streaming down her face.
The stone in her right palm was now as hot as a branding iron, the searing pain intertwined with the tearing agony in her heart.
"You'll only make things worse by going now."
Caesar growled, injecting a hint of unquestionable magical pressure into his voice, making Luna freeze for a moment.
Caesar's gaze was fixed on the glowing tentacles wrapped around Pandora, and the expanding silver-blue Moon Jellyfish swarm in the center of the room:
"Those things are a hybrid of experimental backlash and Moon Jellyfish attack forms.
They've been enraged by the experiment and are draining your mother's life force and magic. Regular magic can't drive them away!"
"Then what do we do?!"
Luna cried out, watching desperately as Her mother's body became more and more transparent.
Caesar's gaze was as sharp as a knife.
The crucial moment of the plan had arrived.
"Listen, Luna!"
Caesar turned the girl's shoulders, forcing her to look into his eyes, his voice quick and urgent, with a hypnotic intensity,
"Your mother isn't dead yet! The Moon Jellyfish are eating her!
They are also living beings, just in a different form! You can see them, right? Do you really want to save Mom?"
"I do! I do! Please, Caesar, what should I do?!"
Luna had completely broken down, and the only straw she could grasp was this boy who always seemed to understand everything.
"Use your spell to tame them!"
Caesar's voice overpowered the shriek of the magical riot,
"I know, little Luna, you don't like the dark aura within that spell.
But in this critical moment, please don't mind those dark auras.
Understanding darkness is not for joining darkness, but for lighting a lamp in the darkness, to protect those who walk in the light.
Use your fundamental ability to see Wrackspurts and Dream Snufflers, and the spell I gave you to communicate with and tame creatures.
Command the Moon Jellyfish swarm.
Tell them, that's your mother.
Make them get away.
Imagine your will is a knife, a fire, something darker and more understanding than them.
Then shout it out!"
Caesar's words clearly had a hidden agenda.
But for a seven-year-old girl whose mind was almost destroyed by fear and despair, and who possessed a special talent,
This was the only driftwood she could grasp.
Luna turned her head sharply, looking at Her mother again.
The Moon Jellyfish swarm had eaten Pandora's body until it was transparent, even faintly revealing the floor patterns behind her.
This sight completely snapped the last thread of Luna's sanity.
"Let her go————————!!!"
She used all her strength to let out a spell that sounded inhuman.
It was a primal roar, a mixture of pure emotion, will, and a dark fuse Caesar had planted in advance.
At the same time, the "stone of serenity" she had been clutching in her right hand, under that roar and the chaotic, powerful magical impact surging within Luna—
"Snap!"
With a soft sound, it turned into dust.
The dust did not scatter but was instantly absorbed, merging into the invisible power fluctuation erupting around Luna.
A miracle.
Or rather, a disaster occurred.
The magical energy wildly surging in the studio due to the Moon Jellyfish riot suddenly froze for a moment.
The Moon Jellyfish swarm wrapped around Pandora trembled violently as if struck by an invisible heavy hammer, then began to convulse and twist intensely.
They seemed to have heard or sensed something that made them extremely uneasy, even terrified.