Chapter 28: Once in a Blue Moon

July 31st, 1990, London Zoo, 10:18 AM.

While Remus made his way through the tumultuous crowds in pursuit of Harry, Ethan was content to observe the eccentric Mr. Xenophillius Lovegood while tossing a golden galleon around in his hand.

The man in question seemed to be in a hurry; he, too, was observing the tumultuous crowds seemingly in search of someone.

'I remember that he also had a daughter, about the same age as Harry, right?' Ethan pondered before glancing down at the golden galleon in his hand with its head up. As he approached the anxious Mr. Lovegood, his mouth fell into a smile.

"Good morning, Mister Lovegood. What a coincidence seeing you here," Ethan said eloquently as he tipped off his stylist top hat towards the dumbfounded man.

Xenophillius was slightly taken aback as he took a moment to assess the unfamiliar gentleman before him.

Dark amber eyes, scholarly looks, brilliance-slivery square-frame glasses—his countenances sprouted true wisdom.

"Ah, yes, you're..." Xenophillius's mind rang a bell as he remembered who this distinguished gentleman before him was; his late wife had mentioned, "Ethan Esther, what a coincidence to see a Senior Unspeakable in a place like this. My... wife did say great things about you."

Ethan chuckled in agreement before his face turned solemn. "Mrs. Lovegood was a peculiar coworker; we had some enjoyable conversations about a variety of relevant subjects. Her ideals were extraordinary." Ethan sighed. "My condolences for her sudden departure."

The mention of his late wife caused Mr. Lovegood's eyes to waver, but he soon collected himself. "Yes, Pandora was extraordinary... Thank you, Mr. Esther; I'd love to have a chat with you another time. As you can see, I'm in a hurried to-"

Thud! Thud! Thud! It was then that Xenophillius's attention caught another attractive man with scars that belied his age; dressed in a brown three-piece suit, he had just returned from a crowd that was already becoming restless. It seems like the situation over there has been settled.

Puff! Remus took a deep breath as he recalled, "According to the patrols, there seems to be an obscure escape of a boa constrictor; luckily, the creature didn't attack anyone, but it did create enough chaos wherever it went. Somehow, all those little animals went into a frenzy as soon as the glass covering the snake habitat vanished." Remus said worriedly. "No sign of Harry, though; is the boy going to be alright?"

"Oh, no, it was hers." There was unease in Xenophillius's voice.

Remus raised an eyebrow at the peculiar wizard beside Ethan. "Pardon..."

Ethan chimed in. "This is Mr. Xenophillius Lovegood, an outstanding journalist as well as the director of the famed Quibbler. You may have heard of him."

In fact, the werewolf remembered a few things about this... eccentric man from his time at Hogwarts, regarding the Quibbler... Remus did not have a rather good impression of it.

"Mr. Lovegood, this is..."

"Remus Lupin of the Marauders... it did ring a bell." Xenophillius quickly remarked, while Remus's face flashed a contort at the mention of the Marauder. "Please pardon me, but did you see a little girl back there? She was probably eight years old."

Remus shook his head while Ethan raised his speculation. "I assumed this was her doing—accidental magic?"

"Haizz, yes, ever since that accident, her mind has been... unstable lately, leading to her more occasional outbursts of magic, such as when a smaller animal went into a short frenzy. Yet rest assured, it is nothing short of her dealing with the loss of Pandora."

Upon hearing this, Remus offered his own solace as well; he did hold a positive opinion of Pandora Lovegood. She was among the Ravenclaw's most remarkable witches, and Professor Flitwick had repeatedly attested to her talent with Charms and Ancient Runes.

Ethan patted the poor man on the shoulder. "Worry not, I assured you the two kids likely got out of the trouble in one piece and were off to play somewhere else. Such as... the aviary on the right wing." Ethan nonchalantly exclaimed as he saw the heads of the golden galleon in his hand. Then he marched forward, motioning for the two stunned men to follow him.

"Wait how..." Xenophillius's eye's widened at Ethan's sudden conviction; it was then he remembered that his wife did say that a coworker at the Department was a True Seer, as he claimed so, his methods of divination were even odds compared to the generals, yet they produced remarkable results.

As for Remus, with his natural werewolf tendencies, he could feel a faint shift in the magic as Ethan threw the coin.

The two dazed and blinked in confusion at each other before Remus shrugged, and the two quickly fell into step.

Upon reaching Ethan's pace, Xenophillius raised his question. "Pardon me, but you're a... true seer, right? And just then, I believed you did something like, err, revelation or some sort to know about the children's status?"

Ethan simply nodded.

"Incredible! Maybe we can arrange an interview to share such phenomenal experience."

Ethan chuckled lightly as the journalist's eyes gleamed with delight. "Indeed, I'd love to."

Remus only gave the two side-eyes along the way.

...

At the aviary, Luna garsped at Harry's full name. "You're Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived? The one to defeat the Dark Lord? You were in every newspape! Even Daddy had an article about you."

"Ah, err, t-that, uhm, d-defeat what!? I-I'm not r-really..." Harry stammered.

"Don't worry, we all know that more than half of what the Daily Prophet said were bollocks." Luna quickly brushed off the topic as soon as she brought it up.

"Look!" The girl then turned her attention towards enjoying the aviary.

Phew! Harry sighed in relief; he wasn't ready to deal with all this The Boy Who Lived stuffs.

He gladly followed her pace.

Thus, Luna and Harry were having a great time, exploring the grand place filled with all kinds of birds.

"WOOW!" the pair cried out as they saw a flock of colourful birds soaring across the ceiling.

With her distinct, serene voice, Luna said. "With all those lovely colours within a species, they truly remind me of Jobberknolls, don't you think so, Harry?" She turned to face the boy with her unblinking silver eyes.

"Huh? Ah, err, t-their f-feathers were used as p-potion ingredients in Truth serums and Memory Potions, r-right?" Harry answered in a halting manner, having only studied Jasper and Osian in depth and having a very limited understanding of Magical Creatures.

'Great job, Harry! What a way to continue a conversation! Now she might think I'm a weirdo talking only about potion.'

Much to Harry's surprise, Luna exclaimed cheerfully. "That right!" She then went on to broadcast her extensive knowledge regarding magical creatures and even non-magical ones to a stunned boy.

Only moments later did she stop to realise her action. "Oh, sorry, I must have freaked you out just now or bored you. The other kids also did not really enjoy discussing about things like these; instead, they preferred to play 'throwing the mud at the loony.' I could see that they were much more gleeful playing that, though I prefer not to, as getting the dirt in my hair was quite troublesome, and Daddy was not too happy with me playing that" Despite her monotone voice, she was obviously saddening herself by looking down between her feet.

For the first time, those emerald eyes flashed anger, for this brought back those awful memories when Dudley and his gang outright bullied, no, tormented Harry with their heinous pranks and punches.

"No Luna. Actually, I think you are pretty smart; I doubt I even recall half of what you said, let alone how thoroughly you seem to comprehend it." Harry asserted firmly.

Those protuberant silvery eyes shone brightly, and her cheek turned rosier as she fell into a smile. "Oh, thank you, Harry. I truly appreciated."

Harry swore at that moment that her smile was simply gorgeous!

Then things fell into place; as the two kids walked around the aviary, Harry would inquire about various topics or when they came across exotic birds, fully expressing his curiosity, and Luna would gladly go on to detail what she knew about them.

Throughout the conversation, Harry took careful notes on the three distinguished creatures that Luna mentioned: Nargles, Wackspurts, and Crumple Horned Snorkack; he'd ask his father about them later.

The boy also excitedly told Luna about his trips with Ethan, seeing exotic Magical Creature, of course, he omitted the part involving Altxorra Braconier.

Luna's perturbed eyes sparkled at the mention of Jasper and Osian as the girl pressed her face close to the boy as she calmly inquired. "Really, can I meet them someday?"

'A-of -of course!" Harry stammered as the boy took a step back, diverted his gaze, and tried to hide a blush under his hood, while Luna only tilted her head in response to Harry's reaction.

Nevertheless, she was happy to see a Re'em and a Golden Snidget in the flesh, but she had to persuade her daddy to come to Harry's place this weekend.

Time flew by as the two children were lost in their own world, unaware that the zoo had already bathed in the afterglow and that a group of three adults had noticed them from a distance.

"Look! There they are..." Ethan pointed out.

"Luna..." Xenophillius face was bright at the sight of his precious daughter; she seemed exceptionally happier than before.

"and... Harry." Remus breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his godson conversing cheerfully with the little girl; he had made a true friend.

Just as Xenophillius was about to reach his daughter, the man stopped abruptly in place, his eyes darting between Ethan and the little girl.

"Mr. Lovegood, is there anything..." Ethan inquired.

"Ah, no, no, anything's fine, Mr. Esther." The man spoke enthusiastically, prompting Remus on the side to be sceptical, while Ethan smiled.

"So is there something you want to discuss?" Ethan spread his hand as they walked slowly towards the kids.

"The thing is... after her mother, Pandora, passed away in an accident while experimenting with spells, and... she witnessed it all."

"Oh, dear." Remus sighed.

"Right, and like I said before, her magic went awry from then on as she became much quieter and smiled less. Those small outbursts of magic—I can comprehend them. However, she began seeing things differently; she would occasionally speak about those elusive creatures, the Nargles, Wrackspurts, and such. Ah, in case you don't know-"

"I do subscribe to the Quibbler, Mr. Lovegood." Ethan chimed in. "And from my knowledge, those creatures did exist, but were exterminated to the point of extinction centuries ago."

Remus blinked at Ethan's words. 'they really did exist?'

"We can't be sure of that." The journalist smirked. "Anyway, the stories are for another time; the point is, she would occasionally know if people would be assimilated by those creatures, and most impressively, they would tell her the truth about many things; they were so real to her. At first, I thought it was how she dealt with the loss of her mother, but...

I swore all the things those creatures said were true; she can even know how to... 'chase away those creatures'. I have seen it with my own eyes, Merlin! She somehow always knows what to do or to say the right words, to the point that it really concerns me."

Ethan furrowed while Remus argued. "Maybe she is just that sensitive, and maybe it's just her Accidental Magic being a little different."

Xenophillius sighed. "One time I brought her the Saint Mungo, I told me that the patient behind a door had a dense pack of Wrackspurts infested his head, and you know what they'd cause; coincidentally, a nurse passing by confirmed that patient was under heavy 'Confundus' charm, or the other time, when we were travelling in those snow-coated mountainous areas, we narrowly avoided an avalanche because she said that the Blibbering Humdingers warned her so."

"That..." Remus were rendered speechless.

'Very interesting,' Ethan remarked inwardly.

Xenophillius continued. "She was already having trouble making friends before due to her quirkiness. Now, with this, I don't know if this would have any side effects on her mental health, not to mention how she could integrate once Hogwarts started."

Remus nodded.

Then Xenophillius's face brightened. "But seeing you today has given me hope. With your peculiar occupation, what my wife had said about you, and as a true seer, the kind that deals with the most bizarre of magic, I really hope that you can help her... Maybe... On behalf of my daughter, I sincerely ask you to accept her as your apprentice!"

"Mr. Lovegood, this..." Remus was quite taken aback by the man's offer. One must know that apprenticeship within the wizarding world was one of the oldest traditions that still exists today, but due to its strict conditions involving making a Wizard Oath tying the master and the apprentice, what they learned would practically be what their master accumulated their entire life. And in exchange, the life of the apprentice would rest within their master's palm; should any betrayals occur, that would mark their ends.

"Are you sure about this, Mr. Lovegood? You know how our world views apprenticeships. Besides, how do you know that I can truly help her?" Ethan said it monotonously.

Yet the eye of the journalist stays firm, despite his unkempt appearance. "I'm certain you can do it. Those eyes of yours speak the truth."

...Eventually, Ethan sighed in defeat. "I do have an interest in her conditions, and I might have some theory regarding her visions. I'll consider this offer, but first and foremost, we should ask the child's opinion."

With that said, a friend's smile bloomed on Ethan's face as he turned to a conner nearby, where two small heads had been tediously listening to their conversation the moment Ethan spoke. Upon being exposed, the kid hurried to their families.

"Daddy!" - "Luna!" Xenophillius gladly pulled her into a warm embrace.

Whereas Harry practically rushed into a tight hug with Ethan, he accidentally ignored a spreading arm, welcoming Remus on the side. Rendering the werewolf's visage darkened.

"Hehe," Harry said wryly as he turned to hug a heartbroken Remus.

As the two sides finally introduced themselves to each other, Luna suddenly tilted her head. "You had a gentle, warm, and brilliance glow on you, Mister... like a sunflower." Ethan was slightly taken aback before falling into a soft smile. His dark amber shone with starlight brilliance briefly.

On the side, Harry swore he saw Luna's hair turn slivery, sparkling like her eyes for a moment. Remus once again felt a slight ripple of magic within the air, but this time he could sense it was coming from both Ethan and Luna.

"You are a very special girl, Luna, and that could turn quite troublesome should you let it roam free. I can help you with it and even harness it further. Say, Are you willing to be my apprentice?" Ethan kneeled down to the small girl, locking eyes with her.

..."It would be my honour, Mister True Seer." A soft smile bloomed on Luna's face while Ethan let out a slight chuckle. "It is settled then."

The two shook hands as they performed the Wizard Oath under Xenophillius's relief.

After having agreed on the time, she would come by. The two families bid farewell.

However, just before that, Luna suddenly grabbed Harry's hand. "Harry... we are friends, right?" Her slivery, calm, perturbed eyes once again locked with Harry's emeralds, rendering the boy slightly taken aback, but he soon said it with utter certainty. "Of course, Luna."