"Nova! Ahhh!"
Lyla rolled violently from one side of the bed to the other, burying her face in the quilt and screaming in frustration.
"I have completely disgraced myself!" Lyla cried out, absolutely distraught. "Head Auror Scrimgeour definitely thinks I am useless now!"
"I truly am a parasite!"
She vividly remembered Scrimgeour's terrible expression and the suffocating silence during the entire walk back to Diagon Alley! It was definitely because of her!
'If only I hadn't fainted!'
Lyla stopped rolling for a second, looked at her tiny owl blinking silently from its cage, and then let out an even louder shriek of embarrassment.
'Someone like me has absolutely no business participating in Auror raids!'
Lyla covered her head and resumed rolling across the mattress. She really should just embrace her identity as a parasite, exactly as Madam Rosier had always said...
Click. The door to her parlor was suddenly pushed open. Mr. Lupin walked in, holding a wrapped package.
"Miss Hamilton... I heard a—Hmm?"
He stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at Lyla, who was currently wrapped up in a blanket cocoon, rolling wildly across the bed. The silence was agonizingly awkward.
"What exactly are you...?"
"I am a parasite," Lyla said subconsciously, her voice muffled by the quilt.
"A... parasite?" Mr. Lupin stared at her, completely stunned. His blue eyes met hers for a few silent, bewildered seconds.
Then... Lyla's pale face visibly flushed crimson. Even her pointed ears, entirely exposed outside the blanket, turned bright red.
"Mr. Mr. Mr. Lupin?!" Lyla shrieked. She frantically pulled the quilt tighter around herself. "When—when—when did you get in here?!"
"I just walked in..." Mr. Lupin offered a highly awkward, strained smile.
"Ah... I... I was just... playing a game of pretend! Yes, pretending to be a parasite with little Nova..." A remarkably unconvincing excuse tumbled from the stammering witch's mouth.
"That... that sounds interesting..." Mr. Lupin scratched his cheek. He had never felt quite this awkward in his entire life.
He was so uncomfortable he genuinely considered turning around and walking right back out.
Coo coo! Fortunately, at that exact moment, a strange postal owl flew in through the open window. It flapped its wings and casually dropped a letter onto the floor before flying off again.
"This is..." Mr. Lupin paused, grateful for the distraction. He bent down, picked up the envelope, and examined it. "Someone wrote to you, Miss Hamilton."
"My... my letter?!" Lyla's face suddenly popped out from the quilt, her pointed ears perking up excitedly.
Swoosh! Before Mr. Lupin could say another word, Lyla flicked her ebony wand and silently summoned the letter directly into her hands.
'There's no need to be so excited...' Mr. Lupin thought. He watched Lyla, who was holding the letter with both hands, examining it reverently without even wiping away her tears of embarrassment. He didn't know whether to feel profoundly sorry for her or to laugh.
"It's... it's a letter from Luna Lovegood!" Lyla squeaked excitedly. "It's not from one of those strange people!"
"Strange people?"
"Mm-hm!" Lyla was so thrilled she completely stopped stuttering. "I mean those letters that always start with 'Hi, remember me?'!"
"I used to get a lot of those letters when I was a student, but I never knew who they were, and they always ended up asking me for Galleons!"
'Those definitely sound like scam letters,' Mr. Lupin thought dryly.
He pursed his lips, watching Lyla grin foolishly at the envelope. "Aren't you going to open it?"
"I..." Lyla hesitated. "This is the very first real letter I've ever received. I don't want to... I don't want to ruin the envelope..."
"That... that absolutely won't do, will it?" Mr. Lupin sighed softly, sitting down in the nearby armchair. "Miss Lovegood might have something important to tell you."
"Right... right, of course..." Lyla held the letter to her chest for a few seconds. Finally, she took a deep breath as if making a monumental decision.
Carefully, meticulously, she slid a finger under the wax seal, opening the letter as gently as if she were handling a Gringotts ledger.
'This is my first letter. I have to preserve it perfectly!' Thinking this, Lyla began to seriously read the contents.
The handwriting on the parchment was erratic and lively, making it seem as if the quirky Luna Lovegood herself was standing right in front of her.
~
"To the dear Veela, Miss Hamilton!
Do you remember me? I am Luna Lovegood! If you've forgotten, please smell this letter..."
~
"Hm?" Lyla subconsciously brought the parchment right up to her nose and sniffed it deeply.
Mr. Lupin's mouth twitched slightly at the bizarre sight.
'It smells like... Dirigible Plums, perhaps?' Lyla thought, shaking her head and continuing to read.
~
"You must remember me now, right?
I plan to travel to Northern Europe with my father to look for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks before the Hogwarts term begins. But before we leave, I want to visit Mr. Scamander here in Britain.
I miss your pretty pointed ears a bit! Would you like to come with me?"
~
'Pretty... pointed ears?'
Lyla subconsciously reached up and pinched her own earlobes. 'How could anyone find them pretty?' They were the reason she was bullied for years!
She shook her head violently, trying her absolute best to push her traumatic Durmstrang memories back into the dark corners of her mind.
Perhaps Luna Lovegood was just different. The girl certainly possessed a highly unique, peculiar temperament.
But... Lyla touched the corners of her lips, feeling them curl upward into a genuine smile. She couldn't remain calm.
Luna Lovegood had invited her to go out and play! This was the first time anyone had ever invited her to play!
Even though Lyla desperately preferred to stay indoors, this was an invitation! Even though it was from an eccentric eleven-year-old, it was her very first real invitation!
"You seem incredibly happy, Miss Hamilton."
"Ah? Is... is that so?" Lyla quickly ducked her head, embarrassed. "Sorry! I got a bit carried away!"
"This shouldn't be considered getting carried away... and you certainly do not need to apologize," Mr. Lupin said, his voice tinged with curiosity. "Did something good happen? If you are allowed to tell me..."
"Of course I can, Mr. Lupin! You're my friend!"
'Except for matters concerning Lord Grindelwald, you have the right to know all my stories!' Lyla thought fiercely.
She beamed at him. "Luna Lovegood invited me to go out and play!"
"Play?" Mr. Lupin was genuinely confused. Wasn't Miss Hamilton an eighteen-year-old professor?
Strictly speaking, given her fifty-year coma, she was practically sixty-eight. What would a witch of her standing possibly "play" with an eccentric eleven-year-old girl? It seemed a bit... inappropriate.
But looking at Lyla's sheer, unadulterated joy, a cruel truth slowly dawned on Mr. Lupin: it was highly likely that no one had ever invited Miss Hamilton to "play" during her entire life.
'Well, I suppose it's harmless,' Lupin thought. 'When others see them together, they'll probably just assume they are sisters.'
So, Mr. Lupin finally smiled warmly. "That sounds wonderful. Are you going to go?"
"Of... of course I am!" Lyla said excitedly.
"But do you not still have your consultant duties with the Ministry of Magic?"
"That doesn't matter!" Lyla said, clutching the letter tightly. "Head Auror Scrimgeour told me I don't need to participate in the field operations for the next few days."
"Is that so?" Mr. Lupin asked thoughtfully. "Did he say why?"
"I'm not too sure." Lyla tilted her head, trying to recall the stern man's exact words. "He said it was something related to the specific pure-blood families they are raiding... something about campaign funding... or political optics, something like that."
'It seems the families Scrimgeour is investigating this week are far too politically sensitive for a strange, masked consultant to be involved with,' Mr. Lupin nodded knowingly.
"Then, Miss Hamilton, you should prepare well for your... playdate with Miss Lovegood."
"I won't disturb you any longer," he said, offering a pale, weary smile. 'It's for the best,' he thought. 'Counting the days, the full moon is fast approaching. I need to isolate myself soon.'
As Mr. Lupin left the room, Lyla kept staring reverently at the letter in front of her.
An invitation letter from a real friend!
This was something she had never received before. She was absolutely going to craft a custom magical frame for it and display it in her future office!
However... the name Scamander seemed vaguely familiar. Lyla felt a bit... strange about the destination Luna had mentioned.
She felt like she had heard that name before... quite a few times, actually. Who had constantly mentioned it?
It had been Lord Grindelwald and Madam Vinda!
'Wait... Could Luna possibly mean Newt Scamander?!'
'That... that annoying Magizoologist fellow who repeatedly thwarted Lord Grindelwald's greatest plans half a century ago?!'