FIC: To Turn a Page [Luna Lovegood]
Title: To Turn a Page
Author: Paopu_parachute
Prompt: # O18
Pairing(s): None (Pre-Luna/Rolf)
Word Count: 5600
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: Hoooolllllyyyy crap did I have fun with this prompt (my research notes are probably almost as long as Luna’s lol) and thanks to B for the last minute beta.<3
Summary: After finding an old journal in a bookshop, Luna sets out on a trip that will change her life (and modern magizoology) forever.
“You didn’t have to come with me.” Ron said for the twelfth time that hour and so Luna ignored him in favor of pulling him into the shop to their left. There were books piled in the windows and Hermione’s birthday was coming up in a couple months. “I really mean it.”
“You have two weeks left of working for the ministry, how would we feel if you got hurt right before we sent you off to the shop--which is arguably more dangerous than anything the ministry can throw at you.”
Ron made a comment at that but Luna missed it as she dove into the unorganized stacks of the bookshop. He trailed after her as she poked through, making suggestions for birthday presents that Ron tried to look interested in but only succeeded in making it painfully obvious that he already had a gift picked out for his girlfriend.
It was quite cold in the bookshop. While it was summer outside, in here Luna could see her breath. It was quite possible the owner was a Jötunn. The ceilings were high enough that they wouldn’t have to bend down.
“I think it’s snowing in the Romance section.” Ron said, peering across the store through gaps in a bookshelf.
“Would you like to go and find out? I don’t think we’ll find something Hermione would like in there, though.”
Ron snorted and Luna picked up a potion textbook that Dumbledore might have recognized from his days at school.
After several minutes (that might actually be closer to an hour than Luna was willing to admit), Ron, who had worryingly wandered away at some point, called out, “Hey, Loons, check this out, I think you’ll like it.” Luna looked up from the Magical Herbs of South Brazil copy that looked like it had made its way to Scotland from Brazil via drunk owl and went in search of him. Just when she was starting to get worried he had found a cursed book and was trapped within its pages (there was a wizard in South Dakota who was once trapped in a book for two and a half days and when he got out he created the American Magical Interweb System so he wouldn’t have to touch paper again).
Someone grabbed her arm as she walked past what she thought was a wall but then Ron was there in a small adjacent room. He had a battered journal in his hand. “Check it out. I can’t get it to open but--” Luna took it and fiddled with the small latch for about two seconds before it fell open in her hands. She glanced up to Ron who shrugged, “Must have loosened it for you.” She smiled and then opened it.
This journal is property of Newton Artemis Fido Scamander.
“Oh.” She gasped and looked up at him again. She could feel her pulse speed up and her mind was oddly blank. This couldn’t be...
Ron smiled, proud that he had found it, “I haven’t seen you this excited since that time Neville accidently brought home a Grindylow with the portable Gillyweed farm he was testing.”
“Magenta was a dear and I still send her sweets.”
“I forgot you named it actually.” Ron laughed.
Luna rolled her eyes fondly at her friend and then she looked down at the journal in her hand. “Is this real? Is this truly Newt Scamander’s journal?”
Ron pointed to the top corner of the page, “It’s dated 1976.”
“He was studying Romanian Longhorns that year.” Luna bit her lip as she flipped through the pages and there--August 17. Romanian Longhorns. She read through the texts and--yes--here were notes on the transformative properties their golden horns had on leprechaun gold. The effect their horns had on leprechaun gold were unknown until he made that discovery. According to the diary it was because he won a bet with his daughter and she paid him what he thought was regular gold coins but weren’t actually. It was meant to be a trick but it ended up being one of the major dragonology discoveries of that entire year.
“Ron Weasley. This is real.” Her voice was faint but--what were the odds of Newt Scamander’s diary falling into her hands?
She should return it. She should send it to him. He still traveled frequently, a new edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was due out in the next year or two but...this was firsthand knowledge of one of the greatest magizoologists of all time.
It wouldn’t hurt to skim through it before she sent it back.
“Quick, let’s go pay for it and then get on our way.” Luna headed to go find someone who worked here after she carefully latched it back up.
“What about--” Ron said, and if he was trying to hide the amusement in his voice he failed spectacularly.
Luna gasped and turned back to him, “Oh I’m sorry, I’ve quite honestly forgotten the entire reason we’re here.”
Ron laughed so hard that, if she hadn’t known him so well, would have offended her.
*
“It’s so fascinating. There’s so much raw knowledge in this book--there are creatures that are never mentioned in any edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. There are some creatures I’ve never even heard of.”
“Woah--is that possible?” Neville called, startling Luna out of her conversation with Harry and Ginny. They were at Ginny and Luna’s flat in London for dinner three days after Luna and Ron returned home. She had read through the journal about six times already and had detailed notes that included a rough map of where some of the more unknown creatures were to be found.
“You know what that looks like,” Hermione said, talking over Neville’s teasing, pointing to the map that lay on the coffee table. “It looks a bit like the makings of a trip itinerary.”
“Don’t.” Ginny said, turning to glare at her, “the last thing I need is for my roommate to vanish into the jungle.”
“I think it would be fantastic. Luna, all you do is edit for the Quibbler when we all know what you really want to do is write. And how interesting would this be? Unknown creatures, laid out in front of you.”
“I do write some articles.” Luna defended herself, still unwilling to look away from the map. There were several entries dedicated to the Dingonek. Newt had found a small family group living in a certain river in the African Congolese jungle. There was so little known about them that just confirming if they were still living there or not would be a groundbreaking advancement.
Hermione smiled and narrowed her eyes at her. There were times that Luna felt Hermione knew her better than she knew herself, which was funny when you thought about how they met at Hogwarts. “Small things dealing with the aftermath of the war. Come on, Luna, this is your chance to go after what you’ve dreamed of. You can see these creatures in their natural habitat. You can write about them. Tell the wizarding world what it’s been ignoring. Let’s finally move on from the rebuilding and go after something new.”
“Wow.” Harry laughed, “now I want to go chasing after magical creatures.”
Neville was similarly inspired, “My apprenticeship with Pomona doesn’t start until August. Luna, I’ll go with you if you’d like.”
Ron turned to look at Hermione, “you’ll be minister by the Christmas after next if you keep that up.”
Hermione blushed, “I just think it’s a good idea.”
Luna reached out and took her hand, “it is. I’ll talk to my Dad and maybe, if I know he’ll be alright without me for a bit, I’ll go.”
“He has lunch with my parents at least twice a month.” Ginny piped up, “Mum packs up lunch and they go over and visit with him.”
Luna smiled, “Yes your mother’s always been so incredibly kind to the both of us.”
“I still can’t believe you and Ron went off on a work trip and came back with Newt Scamander’s diary. The most I ever came back with was Dragonpox.” Harry sighed and Ginny hit him. She had been frantic his entire illness and he had practically lived in their flat for a month after he recovered just because she didn’t want to let him out of her sight.
“I can. I wouldn’t be surprised if Luna came back from this trip with a new roommate.”
“Oh, you’re not allowed to smuggle anything back into England with you.” Hermione told her but Luna was too busy trying to decide where to go first to pay her much mind at all.
*
The sweat dripped down her neck and the humidity clung to her like a tight, damp sweater. Her hair was pulled up off her neck as she cast the third bug repellant spell that day. One was supposed to last the entire day but either the humidity was weakening it or these mosquitoes were worth studying for abnormal magical immunity.
“Why did I agree to go with you again?” Neville groaned, as he slipped off a large protruding root and bumped into her. Luna just smiled. Not five minutes ago he had them stopped so he could study the root system of some plant he only knew the scientific name of. He was going to be such an incredible Herbology teacher one day. He swore up and down he wasn’t going to take Professor Sprout’s job but anyone could see she was training him to be her successor. His students were going to love him and the magical community was going to be so much better off with him involved with Herbology at Hogwarts.
“We’re almost there and then we can set up a perimeter and cast a cooling charm.”
“I’m going to make it snow,” he promised and Luna laughed as she led the way towards where Newt had found the Dingonek over twenty years ago. Her excitement was almost physically visible in the air around her. He had described them in such careful detail that she felt like she had a good chance of actually being able to identify them. Identify a Dingonek. If she told anyone of her plan, they would have thought her completely and totally mad.
“What’s poisonous about it again? It’s tail?”
“Yes. Do you hear that? I think we’re there.” The sound of running water pushed away all her other thoughts and left her with a drumming excitement that made Neville behind her chuckle.
*
Two days later and there was still no sign of the Dingonek but Neville had an extensive field journal of some of the local fauna and their camp was currently covered in two inches of snow. Neville was sporting an impressive sunburn and was demonstrating how the snow melted the moment it came in contact with his red skin to Luna who was sitting by the river just outside of their camp barrier in the heat. She was getting quite used to it. It was so different than England and any moment she could rewrite the Wizarding World’s knowledge of the Dingonek.
So far they had seen a whole group of hippos, several crocodiles, some sort of jungle cat and what might have been a python but might also have not. Neville had to physically block Luna from chasing after it in the dark. She had been quite cross with him at the time but by morning she decided that it had probably been for the best.
Something stirred in the water in front of her and--
Newt had fallen off the boat he was on and he had been stuck by something in the water. Someone pulled him out immediately but that one hit had been enough to administer a near fatal dose of poison. It had been the poison that let him and Tina, his wife (who had been very cross indeed), know that there was some previously unknown magical creature in the area. They spent the next three weeks documenting them. They would have stayed longer but they were called home by one of their daughters. She was pregnant and the rest of the book with littered with updates on the pregnancy. Several pages were just lists of names, some of which Newt decided to give to creatures and not his future grandchild.
But there was something stirring in the water.
Luna drew in a deep breath and held it as Neville went silent behind her and there was a soft cool breeze as he walked out of the camp. “That’s not a hippo,” he whispered.
A tail lazily broke the surface, the bony tip jutting from the water like some sort of dorsal fin. It wasn’t a hippo. Newt Scamander had led her to a Dingonek.
“Stay away from the water they’re known to be extremely territorial.” The second time Newt had gotten poisoned by them was when he accidently got too close to a juvenile and it struck him accidently.
“I know, why do you think I’m out here in the heat to pull you back.”
Luna nodded and handed him the journal to hold as she took out her own notebook. She and Neville both knew the markings of the Dingonek Newt had documented by heart, they had poured over them several times. He had named them as well and, as the creature lifted its head to survey them, there was no mistaking the grey coloring on its face, the scar over its eye and the slightly oversized spike on its tail--that was Reine.
“Come on, let’s follow her and see where she goes.”
“I am not getting poisoned and neither are you.”
“The antidote was written down in the book and I brought some with us. We’re prepared.”
Neville made a noise that was highly hypocritical as she had seen him put his hand in the mouth of some of the world's most carnivorous plants before.
By the time Neville had to get back to England, Luna had filled up an entire notebook of notes and she had already drafted a letter to Newt Scamander. He was going to be so excited that Reine had a baby with her this season. She hoped he was willing to look over her findings; the next edition of Fantastic Beasts could triple the size of the chapter on Dingonek.
*
Luna hopped around a bit after that, sometimes someone went with her, sometimes she went alone. Sometimes she found absolutely nothing, sometimes she discovered a new subspecies.
She hadn’t enjoyed herself so much in her life. She owed Ron a very good thank you gift for finding the journal that sent her off on this whirlwind.
Her father convinced her to not publish anything in the Quibbler until she was done with this leg of her expedition (her heart had skipped a beat at the thought that she would be taking multiple trips to various parts of the world to study and research a whole multitude of incredible creatures) so she was absolutely bursting with the need to tell anyone about the incredible things she discovered. She was going to have to apologize to Hermione when she returned to England for her birthday. Luna felt like she was sure to talk about nothing else, no matter how hard she tried.
Luna had one more creature to study before she returned for her friend’s birthday and a few months at home. The only downside to the trips was that she missed her friends and Dad terribly. She was often too far away to apparate home whenever she felt like it.
She was in Slovakia chasing after the Indrik which had eluded Newt in 1976 but he alluded that it helped him and “A.D.” once escape from “G.G.” Luna sincerely hoped that, if the A.D. stood for Albus Dumbledore, that didn’t make the G. G. equal Gellert Grindelwald.
The past several days had been mostly quiet but then a group of men came speeding by on broomstick--they had been playing some sort of Quidditch and she had heard the bellowing of the Indrik.
She ran on instinct through the trees and didn’t even see the figure dropping on her until she was on the ground. One of the men playing Quidditch had quite literally dropped from the sky. “Are you alright?” She asked, helping him up.
“What just destroyed my broom.” He gasped but before he could speak further, a jet of flames rushed towards them and they raced to get out of the way.
She hadn’t known it could do that.
Together the pair raced through the woods until both the flames and sound of trampling underbrush subsided. Incredibly, the only thing that got singed was them. The forest remained untouched. There was a terrible smell in the air. There hadn’t been any note of that in the journal.
“What was that.” the man asked, it was the most scandalized anyone had ever sounded and that softened the blow of completely missing the Indrik a little. She must be hanging out with Ron too much.
“According to Newt Scamander an Indrik.” Luna bent over and she tried to catch her breath, hands on her hips. The bottom of her hair was singed, that’s what the terrible smell was. She cut the singed ends off with a flick of her wand and readjusted her ponytail.
“Newt Scamander?” the man asked as he sent a patronus off to tell his friends he was okay and that he’d meet back up with them later.
“Yes. The author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” Luna looked around, the Indrik had to still be around here somewhere, if only she could get close enough to get a good look at its horn…
“No, I know.” He said and then the ground beneath them began to shake and he held his wand out in front of him protectively. Luna tucked hers behind her ear and took a step forward. According to Newt, if you came in contact with its horn, it would transport you a hundred yards away from it. An involuntary apparation.
“Should we get out of here?”
“One moment, I want to see if it will apparate you or if it’s some other kind of instant transportation.” The bushes to the left of them rustled and then the sound of hooves beating against the ground sounded.
“Actually, no we’re not. We’re getting out of here.” The man grabbed her arm and pulled her in the opposite direction. For a moment, Luna thought about putting her feet down to stop him--a creature with that sort of power was just about unheard of and it wasn’t documented in any official capacity. Why hadn’t he written it down? It wasn’t like the Cikavac, who had to be kept secret. Then she caught the look of pure horror on the man’s face and she let him drag her through the underbrush.
The Indrik was right on their heels as they raced through the woods for the second time that day. Then, right as Luna decided enough was enough, she was just going to appeate them back to her flat, the Indrik stopped. The man ran a few more feet and then he, too, slowed. “Did we lose it?”
“I think it got tired of chasing us.” Luna looked back, trying to see the creature through the trees.
“How you do know what Newt Scamander calls that thing?”
“I found his journal in an old bookstore in Kenfig.”
“I hate Kenfig. So much sand.” he scowled, hands on his hips as he continued to look around them. “I lived there when I was a boy. Until we moved to New York.”
Luna reached into her bag and pulled out the notebook to show him. He gingerly took and flipped open the pages. “Oh.” he said.
“Now’s not the time to critique his handwriting.”
“No I mean, this is really him. This is his handwriting.”
“Well, yes. It is his journal.”
“No, I mean--here.” He took her hand and then apparated them away.
“Well now you’ve scared it away for sure.” Luna scolded him lightly. It had taken her days to finally track one down and she had to be back soon. It was Hermione’s birthday in a couple of days and she promised her dad she’d edit as well as write a couple articles for the next edition of the Quibbler.
“Good.” he said, his fear still obvious in his voice. According to Newt, the Indrik wasn’t particularly dangerous, just if you ran afoul of it’s horn before it transported you. With a flick of his wand, the man undid a honestly ridiculous amount of security spells. Luna knew better than to ask about it though, Hermione still charmed her home like she was still on the run. Once she had subconsciously placed so many protective spells on Neville’s flat that it vanished when they went out to get Teddy ice cream for four and a half hours until Harry woke from his nap and opened the door to look for them. Luna followed the man into the flat, she was actually only a few streets down from where she was renting a room and he went over to the bookshelf next to the fireplace and pulled down a book. He held it up so she could see the inside cover where a note was written and recognized the handwriting immediately.
“Your name is Rolf?” she asked, glancing up to him after she read the note.
“Oh. Yes. I’m sorry.”
“My name’s Luna.” She held out her hand and after a moment of just staring at it, he shook it.
“It’s nice to meet you.” he closed the book and put it back on the shelf. “I could have done without the bull.”
“Indrik.”
“I’m trying to forget that horn.”
Luna nodded, it was understandable, at first glance it did have a bit of an imposing figure.
“So what are you doing in Slovakia?”
“Devon actually. I’m following in Newt Scamander’s footsteps. My father owns the Quibbler you see and I was planning on writing some articles based on what I discovered.
Rolf moved over into the kitchen, looking suddenly apprehensive at her words. He glanced to the journal in her hand and then turned to turn on the kettle with a steady flick of his wand. He laid the wand down on the counter and then turned around to look at her. He feigned cool and interested but for some reason he was on edge.
“I’m writing a piece on the in the skrzak that live in the Važecká Cave. They have a very interesting monarchy set up. Every second full moon they rotate who the Queen is.”
“What about the Indrik?”
“It would make for a very interesting study but--has your grandfather discussed the creatures in this journal? Some of them have never made it into the fifty four editions of Fantastic Beasts and for good reason. I recently lived with a small band of Cikavac. They’re--”
“The pelican looking thing--Grandad raised one and it--”
“Enabled him to speak to animals. That’s something he never mentioned in Fantastic Beasts.”
“Are you going to write about them?”
“Do I look mad?” Luna fixed her wand from where it was slipping out from behind her ear and realized that the Indrik had singed a bit more than just the ends of her ponytail. She’d deal with it later. “Some of these creatures like the Cikavac, they’d be almost certainly hunted to extinction. Can you imagine the ministry getting its hands on a Indrik horn? My friends work for the ministry and they’re working to change it but we can’t take that chance. People should know about every extraordinary creature in this world but it’s better for the Cikavac and Indrik to remain hidden. I fear it would be catastrophic if they were to be discovered. The Cikavac are so easily startled.”
“What are you going to do with the book.”
“I’ve already written down the places I’m most interested in visiting, the ones with creatures that are known but mostly still unknown for whatever reason. I’d like to give it to you so you can return it to your grandfather. I’m sure he’s worried about it. He writes about you a fair bit, actually. Well, it doesn’t quite make it to your birth, he ran out of pages before that happened but it’s very lovely. He was very excited to have a grandson.”
“He read to me from his journals as bedtime stories, I know exactly how excited he was.”
Luna smiled, and handed the book out. She’d miss it but he was right to be worried. It would be very dangerous for some of the creatures should the world suddenly know their home address.
Rolf looked at the book in her hand and then up at her. He had very bright green eyes and more freckles than Ginny.
“Let’s go return it to him. I’m sure he’d like to thank you for finding it himself.”
Luna watched him for a moment, she had only thought she’d find Newt Scamander in a metaphorical sense on this trip, but she wasn’t going to say no to a chance like this--she had so many questions for him. “Are you sure?”
“Of course. He lives near Weymouth so we’ll have to make several stops.”
“I was meant to go back home in a day or two anyway. Let me go break down my day camp and gather my things at the room I’m renting and we’ll be off.”
“Oh--let me help you. It’s the only think I could do to make up from ruining you observing the Indrik.”
“You’re taking me to meet your grandfather, I’m not upset. I have so many questions for him.” She paused for a moment, “will he be upset? If I ask him about the winter population of Palaeeudyptes in New Zealand?”
“The winter population of what?”
“They’re a species of penguin thought to be extinct Middle Eocene-Late Oligocene period but there is a small winter population living in South New Zealand. It’s unknown where they spend their summers, if they ever went extinct and were somehow brought back or if they’re surviving somehow all this time.”
“Dinosaur penguins.”
“Prehistoric,” she corrected.
“Except for New Zealand.”
She nodded, “Correct.”
They looked at each other for a moment and then he nodded towards the door, “shall we be off? Just in case the Indrik comes back, I want to go with you to your camp at least.”
Luna smiled. He was very kind.
But if the Indrik came back she was going to try to at least get a good look at it.
*
By the time they made it to Weymouth, Rolf had the distinct look of someone who had apparated about seven times too many. Luna frowned in sympathy, they had stopped for lunch in London to break up their trip but apparation over such a long distance was so hard on some people.
The door opened as the two of them walked up the long walkway to the front of the house and Luna recognized the elderly man from some of the earlier editions of Fantastic Beasts that has included photos.
“What brings my favorite eldest grandson home from Slovakia or wherever your work has stuck you this month?” His eyes went to Luna and he leaned into the house a little, “and with a girl no less.”
Rolf rolled his eyes, “don’t be difficult, Grandad. Luna’s found something of yours and I thought you’d like to meet her.”
“Come in, come in. I think Tina put some tea on when she saw you walking up.”
Tina Scamander walked into the room as if on cue as they sat down in the common room, a tray with tea floating next to her, “Where on Earth did you find Luna Lovegood?”
Oh, she certainly didn’t know Tina Scamander knew who she was.
The shock must have shown on her face because when she handed her a glass of tea she said, “I remember your mother from her Hogwarts years. You look very much like her.”
Luna thoroughly did not expect that answer. “You knew my mother?”
“She went to Hogwarts with our youngest. Rolf’s parents moved the family to New York during the war. My sister lives there, you know.”
“Yes, Rolf mentioned that during lunch actually. She’s a Legilimens, isn’t she?”
“She is!”
Rolf, blushing a little for some reason, leaned forward, “Show Grandad what you found in Kenfig.”
“Oh be patient, let her drink her tea.”
Luna put the tea down on the arm of her chair (Newt rescued it immediately) and dug his notebook out of her bag. She handed it to him, “I’m sorry. I meant to return it when I found it but I couldn’t help myself. I can take my notes out--”
“You can open the lock?” He asked, glancing to her with an expression she couldn’t quite read.
She nodded, “what’s wrong with it? My friends say it’s impossible but I’ve never had a problem with it.”
“It’s charmed. So that it could never fall in the wrong hands.”
“She lived with the Cikavac. She wants to ask you about prehistoric penguins living in New Zealand.”
Newt looked entirely impressed, “you must be stubborn to put up with the Cikavac.”
Luna tilted her head, she didn’t quite know what he meant, “they were absolutely lovely, if a bit easily startled. The younger ones liked to sneak into my tent in the middle of the night.”
Tina just stared at her and then Newt smiled brilliantly, “Oh I like you.”
“She’s been following your journals, studying animals. Her father owns the Quibbler and she plans to write a few articles on what she found. I’m impressed with how rational she is--she refuses to write about the Cikavac because it might endanger them.”
“The journal wouldn’t have opened if she didn’t care deeply about the creatures inside.” Newt leaned forward in his seat, “now, when Rolf says you followed my journals…”
“Oh Reine has babies this season again.”
“Oh, come on Rolf, let’s go make lunch this is going to take all afternoon.” Tina Scamander said but Luna didn’t even hear her. She had her notebooks out and she and Newt were pouring over her findings.
*
The morning of Hermione’s birthday party, Luna finally dragged herself home from the Scamander cottage. She hadn’t planned on staying with them but there was so much to discuss and Newt Scamander was such a kind and enthusiastic person. Rolf had stuck around just to watch the pair of them and to help them find the books their needed for their notes. Luna had written a grand total of five feature length articles just from their new information alone. They were a bit light seeing as it was for the Quibbler and not a research book but some of them still covered more information that the current edition of Fantastic Beasts.
She left right after breakfast and was seated on the couch, engrossed in another one of Newt’s journals when Ginny’s bedroom door opened and she and Harry emerged looking like they just woke up.
“You’re back early.”
“I was in Dorset, I apparated right here.”
“What were you doing in Dorset?” Ginny asked as Harry ducked back into her room with a blush to find a shirt.
“Visiting friends.” Luna smiled.
Ginny smiled back and sat down on the couch next to her to hug her tightly. “Is that a different diary? How the hell did you find another one of Newt Scamander’s journals?”
“He let me borrow it. He, Tina and their grandson are coming round to dinner tomorrow night. Harry you can join us of course. The others too. The more the merrier.” She told him as he reemerged from the bedroom.
“Newt Scamander’s coming for dinner here?” Harry laughed, “Hold on I have to go tell Hermione and Ron.”
“What the hell happened?”
Luna shrugged, “me and Rolf, their grandson ran into each other while we were both following his stories.”
Ginny stared at her for a long moment and then she sighed, “I so didn’t expect you to come back with the actual Newt Scamander and family.”
“Me either but, Ginny, he’s so knowledge about everything. He cares about these creatures so much. He knows absolutely everything there is to know and he let me read some new chapters of the next edition. It’s incredible.”
“Hermione’s going to absolutely flip when you tell her you’ve been staying with the author of one of her Hogwarts textbooks.” Harry reemerged again and sat down next to Ginny. “How many more trips did you plan while you were there?”
Luna took a deep breath and then sighed, “Quite a few, actually, now that I think of it.”
“Well come on, tell us everything!” Ginny laughed and Luna held on tightly to the journal as she did.
Author: Paopu_parachute
Prompt: # O18
Pairing(s): None (Pre-Luna/Rolf)
Word Count: 5600
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: Hoooolllllyyyy crap did I have fun with this prompt (my research notes are probably almost as long as Luna’s lol) and thanks to B for the last minute beta.<3
Summary: After finding an old journal in a bookshop, Luna sets out on a trip that will change her life (and modern magizoology) forever.
“You didn’t have to come with me.” Ron said for the twelfth time that hour and so Luna ignored him in favor of pulling him into the shop to their left. There were books piled in the windows and Hermione’s birthday was coming up in a couple months. “I really mean it.”
“You have two weeks left of working for the ministry, how would we feel if you got hurt right before we sent you off to the shop--which is arguably more dangerous than anything the ministry can throw at you.”
Ron made a comment at that but Luna missed it as she dove into the unorganized stacks of the bookshop. He trailed after her as she poked through, making suggestions for birthday presents that Ron tried to look interested in but only succeeded in making it painfully obvious that he already had a gift picked out for his girlfriend.
It was quite cold in the bookshop. While it was summer outside, in here Luna could see her breath. It was quite possible the owner was a Jötunn. The ceilings were high enough that they wouldn’t have to bend down.
“I think it’s snowing in the Romance section.” Ron said, peering across the store through gaps in a bookshelf.
“Would you like to go and find out? I don’t think we’ll find something Hermione would like in there, though.”
Ron snorted and Luna picked up a potion textbook that Dumbledore might have recognized from his days at school.
After several minutes (that might actually be closer to an hour than Luna was willing to admit), Ron, who had worryingly wandered away at some point, called out, “Hey, Loons, check this out, I think you’ll like it.” Luna looked up from the Magical Herbs of South Brazil copy that looked like it had made its way to Scotland from Brazil via drunk owl and went in search of him. Just when she was starting to get worried he had found a cursed book and was trapped within its pages (there was a wizard in South Dakota who was once trapped in a book for two and a half days and when he got out he created the American Magical Interweb System so he wouldn’t have to touch paper again).
Someone grabbed her arm as she walked past what she thought was a wall but then Ron was there in a small adjacent room. He had a battered journal in his hand. “Check it out. I can’t get it to open but--” Luna took it and fiddled with the small latch for about two seconds before it fell open in her hands. She glanced up to Ron who shrugged, “Must have loosened it for you.” She smiled and then opened it.
This journal is property of Newton Artemis Fido Scamander.
“Oh.” She gasped and looked up at him again. She could feel her pulse speed up and her mind was oddly blank. This couldn’t be...
Ron smiled, proud that he had found it, “I haven’t seen you this excited since that time Neville accidently brought home a Grindylow with the portable Gillyweed farm he was testing.”
“Magenta was a dear and I still send her sweets.”
“I forgot you named it actually.” Ron laughed.
Luna rolled her eyes fondly at her friend and then she looked down at the journal in her hand. “Is this real? Is this truly Newt Scamander’s journal?”
Ron pointed to the top corner of the page, “It’s dated 1976.”
“He was studying Romanian Longhorns that year.” Luna bit her lip as she flipped through the pages and there--August 17. Romanian Longhorns. She read through the texts and--yes--here were notes on the transformative properties their golden horns had on leprechaun gold. The effect their horns had on leprechaun gold were unknown until he made that discovery. According to the diary it was because he won a bet with his daughter and she paid him what he thought was regular gold coins but weren’t actually. It was meant to be a trick but it ended up being one of the major dragonology discoveries of that entire year.
“Ron Weasley. This is real.” Her voice was faint but--what were the odds of Newt Scamander’s diary falling into her hands?
She should return it. She should send it to him. He still traveled frequently, a new edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was due out in the next year or two but...this was firsthand knowledge of one of the greatest magizoologists of all time.
It wouldn’t hurt to skim through it before she sent it back.
“Quick, let’s go pay for it and then get on our way.” Luna headed to go find someone who worked here after she carefully latched it back up.
“What about--” Ron said, and if he was trying to hide the amusement in his voice he failed spectacularly.
Luna gasped and turned back to him, “Oh I’m sorry, I’ve quite honestly forgotten the entire reason we’re here.”
Ron laughed so hard that, if she hadn’t known him so well, would have offended her.
*
“It’s so fascinating. There’s so much raw knowledge in this book--there are creatures that are never mentioned in any edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. There are some creatures I’ve never even heard of.”
“Woah--is that possible?” Neville called, startling Luna out of her conversation with Harry and Ginny. They were at Ginny and Luna’s flat in London for dinner three days after Luna and Ron returned home. She had read through the journal about six times already and had detailed notes that included a rough map of where some of the more unknown creatures were to be found.
“You know what that looks like,” Hermione said, talking over Neville’s teasing, pointing to the map that lay on the coffee table. “It looks a bit like the makings of a trip itinerary.”
“Don’t.” Ginny said, turning to glare at her, “the last thing I need is for my roommate to vanish into the jungle.”
“I think it would be fantastic. Luna, all you do is edit for the Quibbler when we all know what you really want to do is write. And how interesting would this be? Unknown creatures, laid out in front of you.”
“I do write some articles.” Luna defended herself, still unwilling to look away from the map. There were several entries dedicated to the Dingonek. Newt had found a small family group living in a certain river in the African Congolese jungle. There was so little known about them that just confirming if they were still living there or not would be a groundbreaking advancement.
Hermione smiled and narrowed her eyes at her. There were times that Luna felt Hermione knew her better than she knew herself, which was funny when you thought about how they met at Hogwarts. “Small things dealing with the aftermath of the war. Come on, Luna, this is your chance to go after what you’ve dreamed of. You can see these creatures in their natural habitat. You can write about them. Tell the wizarding world what it’s been ignoring. Let’s finally move on from the rebuilding and go after something new.”
“Wow.” Harry laughed, “now I want to go chasing after magical creatures.”
Neville was similarly inspired, “My apprenticeship with Pomona doesn’t start until August. Luna, I’ll go with you if you’d like.”
Ron turned to look at Hermione, “you’ll be minister by the Christmas after next if you keep that up.”
Hermione blushed, “I just think it’s a good idea.”
Luna reached out and took her hand, “it is. I’ll talk to my Dad and maybe, if I know he’ll be alright without me for a bit, I’ll go.”
“He has lunch with my parents at least twice a month.” Ginny piped up, “Mum packs up lunch and they go over and visit with him.”
Luna smiled, “Yes your mother’s always been so incredibly kind to the both of us.”
“I still can’t believe you and Ron went off on a work trip and came back with Newt Scamander’s diary. The most I ever came back with was Dragonpox.” Harry sighed and Ginny hit him. She had been frantic his entire illness and he had practically lived in their flat for a month after he recovered just because she didn’t want to let him out of her sight.
“I can. I wouldn’t be surprised if Luna came back from this trip with a new roommate.”
“Oh, you’re not allowed to smuggle anything back into England with you.” Hermione told her but Luna was too busy trying to decide where to go first to pay her much mind at all.
*
The sweat dripped down her neck and the humidity clung to her like a tight, damp sweater. Her hair was pulled up off her neck as she cast the third bug repellant spell that day. One was supposed to last the entire day but either the humidity was weakening it or these mosquitoes were worth studying for abnormal magical immunity.
“Why did I agree to go with you again?” Neville groaned, as he slipped off a large protruding root and bumped into her. Luna just smiled. Not five minutes ago he had them stopped so he could study the root system of some plant he only knew the scientific name of. He was going to be such an incredible Herbology teacher one day. He swore up and down he wasn’t going to take Professor Sprout’s job but anyone could see she was training him to be her successor. His students were going to love him and the magical community was going to be so much better off with him involved with Herbology at Hogwarts.
“We’re almost there and then we can set up a perimeter and cast a cooling charm.”
“I’m going to make it snow,” he promised and Luna laughed as she led the way towards where Newt had found the Dingonek over twenty years ago. Her excitement was almost physically visible in the air around her. He had described them in such careful detail that she felt like she had a good chance of actually being able to identify them. Identify a Dingonek. If she told anyone of her plan, they would have thought her completely and totally mad.
“What’s poisonous about it again? It’s tail?”
“Yes. Do you hear that? I think we’re there.” The sound of running water pushed away all her other thoughts and left her with a drumming excitement that made Neville behind her chuckle.
*
Two days later and there was still no sign of the Dingonek but Neville had an extensive field journal of some of the local fauna and their camp was currently covered in two inches of snow. Neville was sporting an impressive sunburn and was demonstrating how the snow melted the moment it came in contact with his red skin to Luna who was sitting by the river just outside of their camp barrier in the heat. She was getting quite used to it. It was so different than England and any moment she could rewrite the Wizarding World’s knowledge of the Dingonek.
So far they had seen a whole group of hippos, several crocodiles, some sort of jungle cat and what might have been a python but might also have not. Neville had to physically block Luna from chasing after it in the dark. She had been quite cross with him at the time but by morning she decided that it had probably been for the best.
Something stirred in the water in front of her and--
Newt had fallen off the boat he was on and he had been stuck by something in the water. Someone pulled him out immediately but that one hit had been enough to administer a near fatal dose of poison. It had been the poison that let him and Tina, his wife (who had been very cross indeed), know that there was some previously unknown magical creature in the area. They spent the next three weeks documenting them. They would have stayed longer but they were called home by one of their daughters. She was pregnant and the rest of the book with littered with updates on the pregnancy. Several pages were just lists of names, some of which Newt decided to give to creatures and not his future grandchild.
But there was something stirring in the water.
Luna drew in a deep breath and held it as Neville went silent behind her and there was a soft cool breeze as he walked out of the camp. “That’s not a hippo,” he whispered.
A tail lazily broke the surface, the bony tip jutting from the water like some sort of dorsal fin. It wasn’t a hippo. Newt Scamander had led her to a Dingonek.
“Stay away from the water they’re known to be extremely territorial.” The second time Newt had gotten poisoned by them was when he accidently got too close to a juvenile and it struck him accidently.
“I know, why do you think I’m out here in the heat to pull you back.”
Luna nodded and handed him the journal to hold as she took out her own notebook. She and Neville both knew the markings of the Dingonek Newt had documented by heart, they had poured over them several times. He had named them as well and, as the creature lifted its head to survey them, there was no mistaking the grey coloring on its face, the scar over its eye and the slightly oversized spike on its tail--that was Reine.
“Come on, let’s follow her and see where she goes.”
“I am not getting poisoned and neither are you.”
“The antidote was written down in the book and I brought some with us. We’re prepared.”
Neville made a noise that was highly hypocritical as she had seen him put his hand in the mouth of some of the world's most carnivorous plants before.
By the time Neville had to get back to England, Luna had filled up an entire notebook of notes and she had already drafted a letter to Newt Scamander. He was going to be so excited that Reine had a baby with her this season. She hoped he was willing to look over her findings; the next edition of Fantastic Beasts could triple the size of the chapter on Dingonek.
*
Luna hopped around a bit after that, sometimes someone went with her, sometimes she went alone. Sometimes she found absolutely nothing, sometimes she discovered a new subspecies.
She hadn’t enjoyed herself so much in her life. She owed Ron a very good thank you gift for finding the journal that sent her off on this whirlwind.
Her father convinced her to not publish anything in the Quibbler until she was done with this leg of her expedition (her heart had skipped a beat at the thought that she would be taking multiple trips to various parts of the world to study and research a whole multitude of incredible creatures) so she was absolutely bursting with the need to tell anyone about the incredible things she discovered. She was going to have to apologize to Hermione when she returned to England for her birthday. Luna felt like she was sure to talk about nothing else, no matter how hard she tried.
Luna had one more creature to study before she returned for her friend’s birthday and a few months at home. The only downside to the trips was that she missed her friends and Dad terribly. She was often too far away to apparate home whenever she felt like it.
She was in Slovakia chasing after the Indrik which had eluded Newt in 1976 but he alluded that it helped him and “A.D.” once escape from “G.G.” Luna sincerely hoped that, if the A.D. stood for Albus Dumbledore, that didn’t make the G. G. equal Gellert Grindelwald.
The past several days had been mostly quiet but then a group of men came speeding by on broomstick--they had been playing some sort of Quidditch and she had heard the bellowing of the Indrik.
She ran on instinct through the trees and didn’t even see the figure dropping on her until she was on the ground. One of the men playing Quidditch had quite literally dropped from the sky. “Are you alright?” She asked, helping him up.
“What just destroyed my broom.” He gasped but before he could speak further, a jet of flames rushed towards them and they raced to get out of the way.
She hadn’t known it could do that.
Together the pair raced through the woods until both the flames and sound of trampling underbrush subsided. Incredibly, the only thing that got singed was them. The forest remained untouched. There was a terrible smell in the air. There hadn’t been any note of that in the journal.
“What was that.” the man asked, it was the most scandalized anyone had ever sounded and that softened the blow of completely missing the Indrik a little. She must be hanging out with Ron too much.
“According to Newt Scamander an Indrik.” Luna bent over and she tried to catch her breath, hands on her hips. The bottom of her hair was singed, that’s what the terrible smell was. She cut the singed ends off with a flick of her wand and readjusted her ponytail.
“Newt Scamander?” the man asked as he sent a patronus off to tell his friends he was okay and that he’d meet back up with them later.
“Yes. The author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” Luna looked around, the Indrik had to still be around here somewhere, if only she could get close enough to get a good look at its horn…
“No, I know.” He said and then the ground beneath them began to shake and he held his wand out in front of him protectively. Luna tucked hers behind her ear and took a step forward. According to Newt, if you came in contact with its horn, it would transport you a hundred yards away from it. An involuntary apparation.
“Should we get out of here?”
“One moment, I want to see if it will apparate you or if it’s some other kind of instant transportation.” The bushes to the left of them rustled and then the sound of hooves beating against the ground sounded.
“Actually, no we’re not. We’re getting out of here.” The man grabbed her arm and pulled her in the opposite direction. For a moment, Luna thought about putting her feet down to stop him--a creature with that sort of power was just about unheard of and it wasn’t documented in any official capacity. Why hadn’t he written it down? It wasn’t like the Cikavac, who had to be kept secret. Then she caught the look of pure horror on the man’s face and she let him drag her through the underbrush.
The Indrik was right on their heels as they raced through the woods for the second time that day. Then, right as Luna decided enough was enough, she was just going to appeate them back to her flat, the Indrik stopped. The man ran a few more feet and then he, too, slowed. “Did we lose it?”
“I think it got tired of chasing us.” Luna looked back, trying to see the creature through the trees.
“How you do know what Newt Scamander calls that thing?”
“I found his journal in an old bookstore in Kenfig.”
“I hate Kenfig. So much sand.” he scowled, hands on his hips as he continued to look around them. “I lived there when I was a boy. Until we moved to New York.”
Luna reached into her bag and pulled out the notebook to show him. He gingerly took and flipped open the pages. “Oh.” he said.
“Now’s not the time to critique his handwriting.”
“No I mean, this is really him. This is his handwriting.”
“Well, yes. It is his journal.”
“No, I mean--here.” He took her hand and then apparated them away.
“Well now you’ve scared it away for sure.” Luna scolded him lightly. It had taken her days to finally track one down and she had to be back soon. It was Hermione’s birthday in a couple of days and she promised her dad she’d edit as well as write a couple articles for the next edition of the Quibbler.
“Good.” he said, his fear still obvious in his voice. According to Newt, the Indrik wasn’t particularly dangerous, just if you ran afoul of it’s horn before it transported you. With a flick of his wand, the man undid a honestly ridiculous amount of security spells. Luna knew better than to ask about it though, Hermione still charmed her home like she was still on the run. Once she had subconsciously placed so many protective spells on Neville’s flat that it vanished when they went out to get Teddy ice cream for four and a half hours until Harry woke from his nap and opened the door to look for them. Luna followed the man into the flat, she was actually only a few streets down from where she was renting a room and he went over to the bookshelf next to the fireplace and pulled down a book. He held it up so she could see the inside cover where a note was written and recognized the handwriting immediately.
“Your name is Rolf?” she asked, glancing up to him after she read the note.
“Oh. Yes. I’m sorry.”
“My name’s Luna.” She held out her hand and after a moment of just staring at it, he shook it.
“It’s nice to meet you.” he closed the book and put it back on the shelf. “I could have done without the bull.”
“Indrik.”
“I’m trying to forget that horn.”
Luna nodded, it was understandable, at first glance it did have a bit of an imposing figure.
“So what are you doing in Slovakia?”
“Devon actually. I’m following in Newt Scamander’s footsteps. My father owns the Quibbler you see and I was planning on writing some articles based on what I discovered.
Rolf moved over into the kitchen, looking suddenly apprehensive at her words. He glanced to the journal in her hand and then turned to turn on the kettle with a steady flick of his wand. He laid the wand down on the counter and then turned around to look at her. He feigned cool and interested but for some reason he was on edge.
“I’m writing a piece on the in the skrzak that live in the Važecká Cave. They have a very interesting monarchy set up. Every second full moon they rotate who the Queen is.”
“What about the Indrik?”
“It would make for a very interesting study but--has your grandfather discussed the creatures in this journal? Some of them have never made it into the fifty four editions of Fantastic Beasts and for good reason. I recently lived with a small band of Cikavac. They’re--”
“The pelican looking thing--Grandad raised one and it--”
“Enabled him to speak to animals. That’s something he never mentioned in Fantastic Beasts.”
“Are you going to write about them?”
“Do I look mad?” Luna fixed her wand from where it was slipping out from behind her ear and realized that the Indrik had singed a bit more than just the ends of her ponytail. She’d deal with it later. “Some of these creatures like the Cikavac, they’d be almost certainly hunted to extinction. Can you imagine the ministry getting its hands on a Indrik horn? My friends work for the ministry and they’re working to change it but we can’t take that chance. People should know about every extraordinary creature in this world but it’s better for the Cikavac and Indrik to remain hidden. I fear it would be catastrophic if they were to be discovered. The Cikavac are so easily startled.”
“What are you going to do with the book.”
“I’ve already written down the places I’m most interested in visiting, the ones with creatures that are known but mostly still unknown for whatever reason. I’d like to give it to you so you can return it to your grandfather. I’m sure he’s worried about it. He writes about you a fair bit, actually. Well, it doesn’t quite make it to your birth, he ran out of pages before that happened but it’s very lovely. He was very excited to have a grandson.”
“He read to me from his journals as bedtime stories, I know exactly how excited he was.”
Luna smiled, and handed the book out. She’d miss it but he was right to be worried. It would be very dangerous for some of the creatures should the world suddenly know their home address.
Rolf looked at the book in her hand and then up at her. He had very bright green eyes and more freckles than Ginny.
“Let’s go return it to him. I’m sure he’d like to thank you for finding it himself.”
Luna watched him for a moment, she had only thought she’d find Newt Scamander in a metaphorical sense on this trip, but she wasn’t going to say no to a chance like this--she had so many questions for him. “Are you sure?”
“Of course. He lives near Weymouth so we’ll have to make several stops.”
“I was meant to go back home in a day or two anyway. Let me go break down my day camp and gather my things at the room I’m renting and we’ll be off.”
“Oh--let me help you. It’s the only think I could do to make up from ruining you observing the Indrik.”
“You’re taking me to meet your grandfather, I’m not upset. I have so many questions for him.” She paused for a moment, “will he be upset? If I ask him about the winter population of Palaeeudyptes in New Zealand?”
“The winter population of what?”
“They’re a species of penguin thought to be extinct Middle Eocene-Late Oligocene period but there is a small winter population living in South New Zealand. It’s unknown where they spend their summers, if they ever went extinct and were somehow brought back or if they’re surviving somehow all this time.”
“Dinosaur penguins.”
“Prehistoric,” she corrected.
“Except for New Zealand.”
She nodded, “Correct.”
They looked at each other for a moment and then he nodded towards the door, “shall we be off? Just in case the Indrik comes back, I want to go with you to your camp at least.”
Luna smiled. He was very kind.
But if the Indrik came back she was going to try to at least get a good look at it.
*
By the time they made it to Weymouth, Rolf had the distinct look of someone who had apparated about seven times too many. Luna frowned in sympathy, they had stopped for lunch in London to break up their trip but apparation over such a long distance was so hard on some people.
The door opened as the two of them walked up the long walkway to the front of the house and Luna recognized the elderly man from some of the earlier editions of Fantastic Beasts that has included photos.
“What brings my favorite eldest grandson home from Slovakia or wherever your work has stuck you this month?” His eyes went to Luna and he leaned into the house a little, “and with a girl no less.”
Rolf rolled his eyes, “don’t be difficult, Grandad. Luna’s found something of yours and I thought you’d like to meet her.”
“Come in, come in. I think Tina put some tea on when she saw you walking up.”
Tina Scamander walked into the room as if on cue as they sat down in the common room, a tray with tea floating next to her, “Where on Earth did you find Luna Lovegood?”
Oh, she certainly didn’t know Tina Scamander knew who she was.
The shock must have shown on her face because when she handed her a glass of tea she said, “I remember your mother from her Hogwarts years. You look very much like her.”
Luna thoroughly did not expect that answer. “You knew my mother?”
“She went to Hogwarts with our youngest. Rolf’s parents moved the family to New York during the war. My sister lives there, you know.”
“Yes, Rolf mentioned that during lunch actually. She’s a Legilimens, isn’t she?”
“She is!”
Rolf, blushing a little for some reason, leaned forward, “Show Grandad what you found in Kenfig.”
“Oh be patient, let her drink her tea.”
Luna put the tea down on the arm of her chair (Newt rescued it immediately) and dug his notebook out of her bag. She handed it to him, “I’m sorry. I meant to return it when I found it but I couldn’t help myself. I can take my notes out--”
“You can open the lock?” He asked, glancing to her with an expression she couldn’t quite read.
She nodded, “what’s wrong with it? My friends say it’s impossible but I’ve never had a problem with it.”
“It’s charmed. So that it could never fall in the wrong hands.”
“She lived with the Cikavac. She wants to ask you about prehistoric penguins living in New Zealand.”
Newt looked entirely impressed, “you must be stubborn to put up with the Cikavac.”
Luna tilted her head, she didn’t quite know what he meant, “they were absolutely lovely, if a bit easily startled. The younger ones liked to sneak into my tent in the middle of the night.”
Tina just stared at her and then Newt smiled brilliantly, “Oh I like you.”
“She’s been following your journals, studying animals. Her father owns the Quibbler and she plans to write a few articles on what she found. I’m impressed with how rational she is--she refuses to write about the Cikavac because it might endanger them.”
“The journal wouldn’t have opened if she didn’t care deeply about the creatures inside.” Newt leaned forward in his seat, “now, when Rolf says you followed my journals…”
“Oh Reine has babies this season again.”
“Oh, come on Rolf, let’s go make lunch this is going to take all afternoon.” Tina Scamander said but Luna didn’t even hear her. She had her notebooks out and she and Newt were pouring over her findings.
*
The morning of Hermione’s birthday party, Luna finally dragged herself home from the Scamander cottage. She hadn’t planned on staying with them but there was so much to discuss and Newt Scamander was such a kind and enthusiastic person. Rolf had stuck around just to watch the pair of them and to help them find the books their needed for their notes. Luna had written a grand total of five feature length articles just from their new information alone. They were a bit light seeing as it was for the Quibbler and not a research book but some of them still covered more information that the current edition of Fantastic Beasts.
She left right after breakfast and was seated on the couch, engrossed in another one of Newt’s journals when Ginny’s bedroom door opened and she and Harry emerged looking like they just woke up.
“You’re back early.”
“I was in Dorset, I apparated right here.”
“What were you doing in Dorset?” Ginny asked as Harry ducked back into her room with a blush to find a shirt.
“Visiting friends.” Luna smiled.
Ginny smiled back and sat down on the couch next to her to hug her tightly. “Is that a different diary? How the hell did you find another one of Newt Scamander’s journals?”
“He let me borrow it. He, Tina and their grandson are coming round to dinner tomorrow night. Harry you can join us of course. The others too. The more the merrier.” She told him as he reemerged from the bedroom.
“Newt Scamander’s coming for dinner here?” Harry laughed, “Hold on I have to go tell Hermione and Ron.”
“What the hell happened?”
Luna shrugged, “me and Rolf, their grandson ran into each other while we were both following his stories.”
Ginny stared at her for a long moment and then she sighed, “I so didn’t expect you to come back with the actual Newt Scamander and family.”
“Me either but, Ginny, he’s so knowledge about everything. He cares about these creatures so much. He knows absolutely everything there is to know and he let me read some new chapters of the next edition. It’s incredible.”
“Hermione’s going to absolutely flip when you tell her you’ve been staying with the author of one of her Hogwarts textbooks.” Harry reemerged again and sat down next to Ginny. “How many more trips did you plan while you were there?”
Luna took a deep breath and then sighed, “Quite a few, actually, now that I think of it.”
“Well come on, tell us everything!” Ginny laughed and Luna held on tightly to the journal as she did.