The first meeting had gone exactly as you'd hoped. You'd earned Luna's trust and gained a reason to visit her home later from Pandora.
After that, you steadily won both girls' favor: protecting Luna at Muggle school and showing off your talent in front of Pandora.
Time passed as you began visiting Luna's home frequently, discussing Fantastic Beasts with her, or helping Pandora with her magical experiments. You became the person the Lovegood family knew best.
Then, three months later, a chance visit presented you with an opportunity to set your plan for an experimental rampage in motion.
On Wednesday afternoon, Caesar knocked on the black-painted door of the Lovegood home.
Pandora answered.
"Perfect!"
Her eyes lit up. She grabbed Caesar by the wrist and pulled him inside.
"I need an observer. Xenophilius went to pick up the printed proofs, and Luna's watching the snails. You're right on time!"
She led Caesar toward the narrow staircase at the back of the house.
The basement workshop door stood open, and a complex smell drifted out: herbs, ozone, mint, a metallic tang of something burnt, and a faint, sickly sweetness.
On the central workbench, a device made of brass tubes and glass spheres was running. At its core floated a shapeless mass of deep-purple smoke, with occasional flashes of silver lightning.
"Emotion Materialization Catcher, Third Generation Improved Version."
Pandora pointed with a long spoon to the thick notebook lying open.
"I want to prove that intense emotions, especially those produced when resonating with magical creatures, leave physical traces that can be captured."
Caesar approached the workbench.
His eyes swept over the parchment notes.
He opened the notebook on top.
Warning, circled in red ink:
"Resonance experiments require extreme caution.
Today's attempt at low-intensity resonance caused every animal in the house to briefly