"Is that so? And who, exactly, would be spreading such obviously exaggerated rumors?" Julian asked, putting on an innocent act. "The papers were very clear that the entire affair was Minister Fudge's doing, and I was not even mentioned in the article," he added with a grin. "It was Ron. He and Harry wrote to us about it afterward, along with mentioning certain actions of yours that left us rather hurt," Daphne said calmly. Julian sighed. "While I regret a lot about the circumstances surrounding that whole incident, there was no other way to handle it."
"The only person in our group who should have had to carry the weight of those choices was me alone, and if it became necessary, I would make the same call again," he said with a determined expression that none of the girls could bring themselves to challenge. "But enough about that nonsense. Tell me what all of you did over the summer, because mine was terribly boring," he said, changing the subject with ease. "Tracy and I mostly just finished our homework and relaxed, so there really isn't much to tell. Also, weren't you studying wandmaking under Garrick Ollivander of all people? How exactly was your summer boring? Is he such a terrible teacher?" Daphne asked curiously.
Julian laughed. "Not at all. He's an excellent teacher. I even got my veritology license," Julian said, showing them his recently updated license, which now displayed three golden stars, each containing a large O. Daphne and Tracy both stared in complete disbelief, while Hermione merely looked impressed without seeming to fully understand what the stars or letters actually meant. "Honestly, sometimes I swear you aren't even human. How in Merlin's name are you already as skilled as someone with three or four years of experience after only a few months!?" Tracy asked in exasperation, while Daphne nodded in full agreement.
"Speaking of that, would you all like to hear a particularly entertaining piece of gossip connected to it?" Julian asked with a Cheshire grin that made it obvious how amused he was by the information. They all nodded at once, waiting expectantly. "Ron's little sister came in to be matched with her wand. Care to guess what sort of wand she ended up with?" he asked, which immediately sent them all into a flood of guesses.
"All wrong, I'm afraid. Good attempts though. No, the wand Ron's sister ended up with was, in fact, one that I made myself," Julian said, taking in their utterly stunned expressions with a content smile. There were honestly few things more satisfying than watching one's friends stare in awe. "You should have seen Ron's face when he found out. It was absolutely priceless," Julian added with a laugh. Right at that moment, the compartment door opened again, and in stepped Luna Lovegood.
The instant Julian saw her, he pulled his magic back beneath his skin and out of her perception, though otherwise he showed little reaction to her arrival. "I would like to sit here," Luna said, looking directly at the seat beside Julian. "Feel free to help yourself, Miss Lovegood. I'm sure my friends won't mind too much," he said, and all of them tilted their heads slightly in confusion, since they had no idea who Luna was while Julian clearly did. "I helped match her with her wand last month," he explained, and at once they understood and agreed to let Luna join them.
It was only after Luna sat down that Julian realized he was completely surrounded by girls, with the only other male in the compartment being Steve, who was currently being pampered by Daphne while wearing a deeply content expression. 'Traitor,' Julian thought, his eyebrow twitching slightly at how willingly the niffler had surrendered himself to the tender attention of soft-hearted girls. Even so, Julian was mostly unbothered by it, since every girl in the compartment was far too young to interest him in any romantic or sexual way.
If the same situation happened three or four years from now, that might be a very different matter, because anyone with eyes could tell that each of these girls would one day grow into a real beauty. "Luna Lovegood," Luna introduced herself in her usual dreamy voice, which clearly caught the others off guard and amused Julian greatly. The others gave their own introductions, and before long Julian's friends began getting acquainted with Luna. Then the train started to pull away from the station, and they realized Harry and Ron had still not shown up. "Perhaps they are in another carriage avoiding me," Julian suggested, which sounded perfectly reasonable even though he meant something entirely different.