"What's wrong, Lyla?" Luna looked curiously at the girl in front of her. Her hesitant manner seemed a bit strange to the younger witch.
"N-nothing..." Lyla didn't want Luna to know she was actively debating whether or not to use the Killing Curse on Newt later.
He was undoubtedly an enemy of Grindelwald and had repeatedly thwarted his plans. In fact, Madam Vinda had once said she wished she could torture Newt with the Cruciatus Curse for an hour, and then desecrate his body with Avada Kedavra for another.
'As a loyal follower of Grindelwald, I really should uphold Madam Vinda's wishes...' Lyla thought anxiously.'But... wouldn't it be a bit bad to kill someone on my first outing with Luna?'
Besides, Lyla had never actually killed anyone before. 'Would it be better to just torture him with the Cruciatus Curse first?'
'But it seems no one uses the Cruciatus Curse on their first outing... Moreover, Luna seems to have a good relationship with Newt.'
'It is truly troublesome...'
"Is it really nothing?" Luna tilted her head, her bright eyes searching. "I feel like Lyla has something on her mind..."
'How perceptive, Luna... and calling me Lyla directly...' Lyla pursed her lips, feeling a sudden flush of shame. No one had called her by her first name except her parents.
"N-nothing, really... Luna..."
"Why do you hesitate to call me Luna?" Luna pursed her lips in a mirror image of the older girl. She reached out and pinched Lyla's pointed ear, laughing brightly amidst Lyla's startled squeal. "Don't friends just call each other by their names?"
"F-fri... Ah..." Lyla took a few quick steps back to evade Luna's hand. "Are you and I... are we friends?"
"Of course," Luna said, a serene smile playing on her lips. She chuckled and walked ahead. "Aren't we going to visit Mr. Scamander together?"
"Only friends do that, you know."
"Oh... is that so...?" Lyla felt a flutter of excitement in her chest. She had made a second friend so quickly.
"Actually, I don't really know much either," Luna said with a gentle shrug. "After all, Lyla is my first friend."
"Ah... of course, excluding my father and the Crumple-Horned Snorkack I haven't met yet."
'So I'm even ranked behind a Crumple-Horned Snorkack...?' Lyla blinked.
But even so, she felt incredibly happy—even if her second friend always liked to pinch her ears and hair. As for calling her Luna casually, she felt she still needed to work up the courage for it.
"Lyla's hair is so pretty," Luna hummed, taking a quick step forward before crouching by the roadside.
"R-really?" Lyla asked subconsciously, touching a silver strand.
"Lyla, come look... there are grasshoppers here... they're a sign that the Nargles are coming!"
"Grass... grasshoppers?"
"Ah... we need to hurry! Nargles are very unfriendly, even if we have butterbeer cork necklaces," Luna said, quickening her pace.
"Ah... okay!" Lyla felt entirely unable to keep up with Luna's erratic rhythm.
'Is it because I interact with people too little?' She couldn't help but clench her fists tightly. 'I need to make an effort to interact more with others. This way, I can not only make more friends but also contribute to Grindelwald's greatness...'
'Huh? Where's Luna?'
Ah... she had run to a stream by the roadside at some point and was busily filling a bottle with water.
"Mr. Scamander will really need this clear stream water," Luna murmured as she capped the bottle. "You might need some of this water too."
"W-why?" Lyla pursed her lips in confusion.
"To wash off the dirt on you, of course," Luna said, smiling pleasantly as she looked at Lyla's spotless new robes.
"Dirt..." Lyla didn't quite understand what Luna was saying. Sometimes it would be exactly like this; the younger girl would suddenly say something that sounded incredibly strange.
It made Lyla feel that this eleven-year-old girl was truly special.
However, Luna didn't seem to have any intention of explaining herself. Perhaps it was just a casual joke. She tightened the lid and stuffed the bottle into the strange little bag she was carrying.
"I made this myself from dirigible plums." Luna seemed to notice Lyla's curious gaze. "Do you want one too?"
"Ah... no, no thank you," Lyla quickly shook her head, nervously clutching the necklace she was wearing. "This is fine for me."
Luna had given it to her earlier—a handmade necklace strung with butterbeer corks. Lyla had agonized for a long time over whether to wash it, ultimately deciding that if she did, it wouldn't have that fragrant butterbeer smell anymore.
"It suits you very well." Luna smiled and nodded, then abruptly changed the subject. "Oh, right. I saw you in Diagon Alley yesterday."
"You seemed to be walking with Director Scrimgeour."
"Huh?" Lyla was stunned, the blood draining from her face. "Th-that wasn't me... I don't even know..."
"That was you," Luna said, looking at Lyla with utter seriousness. "You were also wearing a silver mask, right?"
She looked at Lyla, who was entirely frozen in panic, and smiled softly. Luna continued in an almost sing-song voice, "I suggest you stay away from Scrimgeour and Aurors."
"Because Scrimgeour is actually a vampire..." Luna whispered conspiratorially. "And Aurors are always plotting famous Gulping Plimpy diseases."
'Vampires and Gulping Plimpy disease?' Lyla's mind spun wildly.
'Scrimgeour does seem a bit like a vampire... and Aurors are indeed not good people...'
'Wait, none of that is the point! How did Luna recognize me? Even... even Madam Vinda hadn't noticed...'
"Of course I could tell it was you." Luna seemed to effortlessly guess Lyla's panicked thoughts, skipping ahead down the path. "How could I not recognize my own friend?"
'So it's because Luna and I are friends?' Lyla swallowed hard.
'But... if Luna still recognizes me after we get to Hogwarts...' Lyla couldn't help but cover her pointed ears in despair. 'If Luna greets me during class... I'll surely faint on the spot...'
Just as she was catastrophizing, Luna came to a sudden halt.
"We're here, Lyla," she announced, pointing to the whimsical small cottage in front of them.
"This is Mr. Scamander's house." She stepped slightly in front of Lyla protectively. "I heard from Dad that Mr. Scamander used to keep Streelers, so you should hold onto your necklace tightly."
"Ah... okay..." Lyla pursed her lips, a sudden surge of pure terror gripping her heart.
It wasn't because of the venomous Streelers. It was because she was about to meet one of Grindelwald's greatest enemies.
'Dumbledore is already so terrifying...' Lyla trembled. 'Newt... surely, he must be very scary too, right?'