21 Books and Cats

The morning after the incident with Wards, Dan was asked to leave the room early in the morning while Batsheda and Albus poked around at his creation. He could understand their point of view, but the fact that they were investigating his Wards without him was wrong in his eyes. Of course, he had no experience in these things, but he was the only one who could read the ever-changing Farlanders language.

Albus knew a thing or two about Farlanders, but a librarian he was not.

Speaking of librarians, right now Dan was spending his time with the pleasant company of Luna and Mantis, reading books in the library.

Books always seemed like an outdated way of storing and sharing information for him. A heavy leather rectangle with several hundred thin pages – all of which can very easily be ruined – wasn't his idea for the best thing in the world. That's why he started working with computers and other technology early in his life.

It was strange to look back, remember smartphones that held an abundance of information a click away, and then abruptly return to old, heavy books and parchment. It was jarring as hell.

Of course, that didn't stop Dan from studying or enjoying a good book once in a while.

Unfortunately, this wasn't once in a while.

"I don't understand." Dan muttered, looking at the ancient letters on a parchment, that Dumbledore had gave him after their conversation in the morning. It was a copy of Arwen's Will, which no one had been able to decipher. The language was unfamiliar even to the old experts and was very… fluid, in a weird way. It wasn't the usual Farlander's language that Dan could instinctively understand, it was something else, more of a code than a language. "Is this word translates differently in different contexts? What for? I understand that there is such a thing in many languages, but…"

Luna patted him gently on the shoulder. "There, there. You'll get used to it soon," the girl leaned over his shoulder and began to look at the letters. Some were looking like lines, some were dots, and some looked more like faces than letters. "I didn't think you knew the language of the Catacombs."

Dan blinked, which was hardly noticeable through his glasses, and turned to face the girl. "I know what? It looks like rapidly changing English to me."

For Dan, the words on paper weren't nonsense, they were just a string of nouns that moved and changed into their own synonyms. Sometimes they were even slang words that the boy had never read in his short life.

For Luna, this text was very still. Which was strange, because usually for her, all the words in the books looked almost alive, telling the stories about the author too. But apparently not now.

She had no idea what exactly it meant, but she knew that these symbols were often found in the Catacombs.

"The language of the Catacombs that lie deep under the school." Luna said, sighing dreamily. "In my first year, Ginny Weasley was controlled by the evil diary. One day, near the end of the year, she stunned me and took me to the Chamber of Secrets. I remember something punched a hole in the wall, opening a passage to the Catacombs. I still visit them sometimes when the Nargles are getting too mischievous. It's moist and cold there, but the feeling of adventure is definitely worth it!"

Dan hummed thoughtfully, tapping his claws on the table. Luna has obviously found a safe enough way to descend into the Catacombs. God knew exactly what was there, but it couldn't be that bad if even a second-year student could come in and out of there unscathed. The fact that there was something hidden under the school didn't surprise him for even a bit. He was more surprised that Luna was the one who found these passages. He thought that Potter and his company would get into trouble up to their ears with these Catacombs or something like that.

"Let's put a pin on that for later," Dan suggested softly. "These Catacombs don't sound like a friendly place."

"Of course, it's not friendly, silly. How can a place be friendly?"

Luna's quiet giggle sounded in the barrier, but was abruptly interrupted by a cat's meow. Two pairs of eyes turned to the source of the sound and froze on the shape of a rather large and fluffy cat with a flattened face. It seemed that when it was still a kitten, it crashed into a wall one too many times. The orange cat looked at the two in response and loudly meowed a second time, demanding even more attention.

"Crookshanks?" Luna asked, lifting the cat onto her lap. "What are you doing here, catling friend?"

Crookshanks turned his head, looking around with visible interest and curled up in a ball, purring softly on the girl's legs. Luna only tilted her head slightly, in a silent question that only the universe heard, and nodded to herself.

"You should become invisible, Danil Khromov. I don't think you're ready to make another friend just yet."

If Dan had eyebrows, he would have frowned, but he didn't, so the boy just cast an invisibility spell on himself and got up from the chair so that no one would sit on him. He learned not to sit in chairs while invisible after the first time when some fat kid from Slytherin almost plopped down on his lap. No one wants to have their legs broken because some kid decided to change his regular seat.

'Do I still have my old injuries?' Dan suddenly thought, but did not have time to delve deeper. The reason for Luna's warning appeared like a wild pokemon.

The girl with wild fluffy hair and tanned skin, turned the corner with a quick step and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she saw the cat in Luna's hands. Normally, Wards would have taken her gaze away from this section of the library, but the girl had a goal and these Wards were far from Fidelius.

"Oh, thank Merlin…" Hermione – and that was definitely Hermione Granger – breathed. "Hello, Luna. Crookshanks, didn't I tell you not to run around the library so much?"

Luna hummed to herself. "He was most likely attracted here by the smell of novelty. Kneazles were always famous for leading their Masters to something new and exciting."

Hermione looked a little lost, but the relief that came with finding a cat overcame her distrust of little Ravenclaw ideas. Usually, Hermione didn't believe almost anything that Luna took to be a fact, and only on very rare occasions could she listen to a girl.

"Oh, erm… I didn't know that." Hermione noticed books and copies of the text presumably from the Catacombs on the table. "What is it? I've never seen these books before."

Luna lifted Crookshanks from her lap and placed the huge one around her neck. He didn't even stop purring, just shoving his flattened face into the girl's cheek. "Just a little research for a friend, he's an Umgubular Slashkilter, you know? I try to prove it to him, but he refuses to rip off innocent girls' robes in the night to test my theory."

"That's… great, I guess?" Hermione muttered. "Wouldn't it be easier to try yourself– you know what, never mind." She stopped herself abruptly, not wanting to give the blonde any more chaotic ideas. Her life was complicated enough right now, not worth adding Luna to it.

The blonde only blinked slowly, and then sighed sharply in eureka's moment.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of this before?! Hermione, thank you so much! Crookshanks, your presence was nice, but it's time for you to return to your mistress."

The cat yawned loudly, but jumped off her shoulders, causing the girl to sway from the strength of his legs. Crookshanks looked at Hermione and jumped into her arms. All she could do was mutter her thanks and leave the library, too tired to ask more about Luna's project. Moreover, she wasn't sure she could stop herself from calling her research stupid.

Dan stared at the receding figure of Hermione for a long time. She looked terrible, her hair was tangled in several places, bags under her eyes could make her look like a panda, and her robes were not ironed. Dan didn't know what Hermione usually looked like, but what he did know was that no self-respecting woman would allow herself to look so tired in public. Especially not a woman like Hermione.

"She looks tired," he commented, removing his invisibility with a wave of his hand.

"I think she's tired after all the jumping." Luna answered and returned to her notes. "How do you feel about ripping off my robes?"

"No."

"Oh, poo."