"If you've mastered Transfiguration, your wand can become your paintbrush," Ollivander added. "A paintbrush that feels perfectly natural in your hand."
"Of course, though that's just a figure of speech. The wand chooses the wizard, after all."
After leaving the wand shop,
Ethan stood in the street, running his fingers over the Hornbeam wand in his hand.
It gave off a faint glow in the sunlight, golden light filling its horizontal ridges. It looked thoroughly respectable.
At a glance, it was clearly meant for a good, wholesome wizard.
It couldn't have suited him better.
Ethan nodded in satisfaction and put away his wand.
Next, he planned to buy the rest of his school supplies.
According to the map, Ethan found a place called the Secondhand Shop.
A little note floating beside the map said it sold all kinds of secondhand goods, including old books, wobbly scales, and chipped cauldrons.
Next door was a secondhand robe shop, so he could buy everything in one go.
The Secondhand Shop was on the south side of Diagon Alley, and Ethan ambled in that direction.
Warm sunlight spilled across his face, making his already fair, handsome features look even more striking. People turned to look at him wherever he went.
What an adorable child~
The Daily Prophet's offices were also on the south side.
Wizards in formal clothes streamed in and out, most with a self-writing notebook floating beside them, recording things without pause. They were all terribly busy.
Ethan's gaze had only swept over the area casually.
But when he noticed a figure, he stopped dead.
A slender girl stood beside the entrance to The Daily Prophet.
In truth, it was hard for passersby not to notice her.
She had long, pale-blond curls, and two enormous radish-shaped earrings dangled from her ears.
She wore clothes so brightly colored they were downright odd, and a pair of pointed shoes that looked like boats. A stack of magazines rested in her arms.
She stood quietly, her pretty, serene face wearing a faraway expression.
People passed right in front of her, yet she didn't seem to see them at all, like a ghost from another world.
—Luna?! When did she get here?!
At the sight of a character from the original story, Ethan couldn't help walking over.
He was just about to greet her when he noticed the little tuft sticking up on top of Luna's head and blurted out,
"Why is the top of your head so pointy?"
Luna turned her head calmly. Her distant, gray-blue eyes settled on him, and a dreamy smile curved her lips.
"Then let me ask you something."
"Have you heard about the recent break-in at Gringotts—though, to be precise, nothing was stolen?"
Ethan snapped back to his senses.
He didn't know why she'd brought it up, but he went along with her. "Yeah, I've heard about it."
As he remembered it, Voldemort had tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone from Vault 713 to restore his body.
But he'd failed, because Hagrid had already taken the Philosopher's Stone before he broke in.
"Actually..."
Luna suddenly leaned close to him, her wide gray-blue eyes as striking as Mr. Ollivander's.
She whispered mysteriously,
"It was the Goblins."
?
Ethan's eyebrows shot up.
"They were only holding their seventy-seventh grand gathering," Luna continued. "They dug tunnels and invaded from underground, so Gringotts never noticed them."
Luna stared unblinkingly at Ethan. Her ethereal voice made her story sound even more absurd.
Ethan paused, then asked with interest, "So, do you know what Goblins do at their gatherings?"
"Of course. They're preparing to resurrect their master," Luna said with conviction.
"The ruler of the Goblins was defeated by humans a long time ago. Now they're doing everything they can to bring him back and restore the Goblins' status."
"Look," Luna said, pointing to the little tuft tied up on her head. "This is the Goblins' tribal language. It means, 'Your plan has failed! Go away!'"
...Why did that sound so much like the Goblin version of "Voldemort's Resurrection Plan"?!
Ethan collected himself.
Looking at Luna, who seemed completely serious, he said sincerely, "I think you're absolutely right."
"Unfortunately, when the real danger comes, all those people will say, 'Maybe we should have done something back then, but it's too late now.'"
A flash of cynicism appeared in Ethan's eyes.
That careless attitude made him furious. He couldn't wait to do something about it.
Like... making them truly regret that they "should have done something back then."
Hearing Ethan's words, Luna's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
He wasn't just humoring her.
This strange boy really thought she made sense.
She tilted her head and studied Ethan carefully.
Her gaze skimmed over his thin clothes without lingering—if anything, she hadn't paid them any attention from the start.
Luna looked straight into his cobalt-blue eyes.
They were calm and serene, like two brilliant, hard gemstones.
Yet deep within them blazed a fierce, fiery vitality, a force that refused to give in.
Luna's eyes curved as she broke into a cheerful, fawn-like smile, and her face instantly came alive.
She felt sure she could become good friends with Ethan.
"My name is Luna Lovegood. I'm starting at Hogwarts next year. I'm here to promote the magazine my family publishes, The Quibbler."
Luna spoke brightly and held out her hand to Ethan, showing him the stack of magazines in her arms.
The cover featured the ugly face of a Gringotts Goblin alongside the equally ugly face of a Goblin, both twisted into scowls.
It looked like the two sides were competing in an "Ugliest Face Contest."
Promoting The Quibbler outside The Daily Prophet's offices.
Wonderful. She had spirit.
"My name is Ethan Vincent." Ethan took Luna's hand without hesitation and smiled. "I'm starting at Hogwarts this year, and I really like painting."
Before they knew it, the two of them were walking side by side.
Luna skipped along beside Ethan as they headed to the Secondhand Shop together, eagerly helping him pick out things to buy.
"Hey, this scale must be able to weigh the true weight of anything—because when I weighed The Daily Prophet, it showed zero."
As Luna spoke, she turned her head and saw Ethan stopped in front of a shelf.
A whole box of paints caught Ethan's eye.
They hadn't been stored properly, and most were dried up. Paint of every color had hardened all over the box, making the whole thing look filthy and disorganized.
There was no way he could get the best out of them for painting.
On the other hand,
they were fairly cheap.
Only nine Silver Sickles and twenty-one Knuts.
Ethan bit his lip, his fingers moving among the coins.
He wanted to turn the black-and-white world of sketching into color.
Nine Silver Sickles wasn't too much. The paints weren't good quality, but he needed a box of paints...
But if he got paints, he'd need the right kind of paper, too... Hmm, that would be another expense...
Ethan fretted over it, calculating how much of his school grant he had left and wishing he could make every coin stretch twice as far.
Just as he steeled himself, reached for the paints, and decided to snatch them up no matter what,
Luna spoke beside him.
"Do you want the paints? If you draw illustrations for The Quibbler, we can give them to you."
"Um, and paper and things like that, if you need them."
!!
Ethan whipped around and met Luna's clear, shining eyes.
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