Luna: Then I'll ask you

"If you master Transfiguration, your wand can become your paintbrush," Ollivander added. "A paintbrush that feels perfectly natural in your hand."

"Of course, that said, it's really the wand that chooses the wizard."

After leaving the wand shop.

Ethan stood on the street, stroking the hornbeam wand in his hand.

It gave off a faint glow in the sunlight, the horizontal ridges filled with Golden Light, looking quite upright.

At a glance, it was the kind of wand a good, honest wizard would use.

It couldn't have suited him more.

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Ethan nodded in satisfaction and put away his wand.

Next, Ethan prepared to buy the rest of his school supplies.

According to the map, he found a place called "Secondhand Shop."

Floating text beside the map explained that this shop sold all kinds of secondhand items, including old books, wobbly old scales, and chipped cauldrons.

Right next to it was a secondhand robe shop, so he could buy from both at once.

The Secondhand Shop was on the south side of Diagon Alley, and Ethan ambled over there.

The warm sunlight spread across his face, making his skin look even fairer and more handsome, earning him plenty of second glances along the way.

What a lovely child~

The Daily Prophet's office was also located on the south side.

Wizards in formal attire came and went, most with a shorthand notebook floating beside them, scribbling away nonstop, looking very busy.

Ethan's gaze had only been casually sweeping by.

But when he noticed a certain figure, he suddenly stopped.

There, by the main entrance of The Daily Prophet, stood a slender girl.

In truth, it was hard for passing pedestrians not to notice her.

She had long, curly, pale blonde hair, with two large radish-shaped earrings dangling from her ears.

She wore a garishly odd outfit and a pair of pointy shoes that looked like boats, clutching a stack of magazines in her arms.

She stood there quietly, her pretty, demure face wearing a detached expression.

People passed before her eyes, but she didn't truly see them, like a ghost from beyond the world.

--Luna?! When did she get here!

Seeing a character from the original story, Ethan couldn't help but step forward.

Just as he was about to greet her, he caught sight of a small bun sticking out from the top of Luna's head and blurted out:

"Why is your head all pointy?"

Luna turned her head calmly, her detached gray-blue eyes landing on him, and she gave a faint, airy smile:

"Then let me ask you something."

"Do you know about the recent break-in at Gringotts--or rather, nothing was stolen."

Ethan snapped back to reality.

Though he had no idea why she'd brought this up, he went along: "Yeah, I've heard about it."

In his memory, this was Voldemort's attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone from vault 713 to restore his body.

But it failed, because Hagrid had already taken the Stone before he could break in.

"Actually."

Luna suddenly leaned in close to him, her wide gray-blue eyes rivaling Mr. Ollivander's.

She said, with a mysterious air:

"That was the work of the goblins."

?

Ethan's eyebrows shot up.

Luna: "They were just holding their 77th Grand Assembly. They dug tunnels to invade from underground, which is why Gringotts never noticed them."

Luna's big eyes stared unblinkingly at Ethan, her ethereal voice only making her words sound more absurd.

Ethan paused, then asked with interest: "So what do goblins do at their assemblies?"

"Why, prepare to resurrect their master, of course," Luna said with certainty.

"The goblins' ruler was defeated by humans long ago, and now they're trying every way to bring him back and restore the goblins' status."

"See," Luna pointed to the little bun tied up on her head, "that's goblin tribal language. It means 'Your plan has failed! Go away!'"

...That sounded an awful lot like a goblin version of the "Voldemort resurrection plan"!

Ethan steadied himself.

Looking at Luna, who was completely serious before him, he said sincerely, "I think you're absolutely right."

"Too bad, when real danger comes, those people will only say, 'Maybe we should've done something back then, but it's too late now.'"

A glint of cynicism flashed in Ethan's eyes.

This flippant attitude infuriated him, making him itch to do something about it.

Like... make them truly regret "what they should've done back then."

On the other side, hearing Ethan's words, Luna blinked in slight surprise.

Not a perfunctory agreement.

This unfamiliar boy genuinely believed what she'd said made sense.

She tilted her head, studying Ethan carefully.

Her gaze swept past his thin clothes without lingering—or rather, it had never focused on them from the start.

Luna looked straight into his cobalt-blue eyes.

Calm, serene, like two brilliant, hard gemstones.

Yet deep within, a fiery, fierce vitality erupted, an endless force of resistance.

Luna's eyes curved, and she broke into a lively, fawn-like smile, her face instantly brightening.

She felt sure she and Ethan could become great friends.

"I'm Luna Lovegood. I'll be starting at Hogwarts next year. I'm here promoting my family's magazine, The Quibbler."

Luna said lightly, reaching out her hand to Ethan, while also showing off the stack of magazines in her arms.

The cover featured the ugly face of a Gringotts goblin and the equally ugly face of a gnome, their expressions twisted.

It looked like they were competing in an "ugliness contest."

Promoting The Quibbler right outside The Daily Prophet's doorstep.

Nice. Very spirited.

"I'm Ethan Vincent." Ethan shook Luna's hand openly, smiling back. "I'll be starting at Hogwarts this year. I really like drawing."

Before they knew it, the two were walking side by side.

Luna hopped along beside Ethan as they headed to the secondhand shop, cheerfully browsing the goods with him.

"Hey, this scale must be able to weigh the true weight of things—because when you put The Daily Prophet on it, it shows zero."

Luna said, turning her head to see Ethan stop in front of a shelf.

What met Ethan's eyes was a whole box of paints.

They hadn't been well preserved; most were dried out, with various colors caked onto the box, looking messy and dirty.

Using them for painting would definitely not bring out their full potential.

But then again.

The price was relatively cheap.

Only nine silver Sickles and twenty-one bronze Knuts.

Ethan bit his lip, his fingers fidgeting with his coins.

He longed to turn the black-and-white world of his sketches into color.

Nine silver Sickles wasn't too expensive, even if the quality was poor—but he needed a box of paints...

Still, if he got the paints, he'd need matching paper... yeah, that was another expense...

Ethan wrestled internally, calculating his student grant, wishing he could stretch every coin twice as far.

Just as he steeled himself and reached for the box of paints, determined to grab it—

Luna spoke up from beside him:

"You want paints? Then how about illustrating for The Quibbler? We'll provide the paints."

"Oh, and paper too, if you need it."

!!

Ethan whipped his head around, meeting Luna's clear, sparkling eyes.