Upon arriving at the Tower, Allen headed straight for the top floor.
Stars wheeled across the ceiling, and in the center beneath yellow and blue nebulae sat a cushion embroidered all over with runes. Trevor was confined on that cushion. After sitting there for so long, with plentiful food piled beside him, his belly was round and swollen, making him look several sizes larger than he had at Hogwarts—though while Maggie had been influenced by Dobby to some extent, she had, after all, never been shaped by Hermione's teachings, so at least he still looked like he should be within Neville's acceptable range.
Luna was crouched in front of Trevor, staring eye to eye with Trevor and his bulging eyes.
Helena stood much closer to Luna than usual, her hands clasped in front of her as she watched her mother stare at Trevor—it seemed the Muggle horror film she had watched last night had been far too frightening.
Allen gave a casual greeting and crouched down as well, only to find that the Cockatrice Egg beneath Trevor did not have so much as a single crack.
"It doesn't seem much different from usual?" Allen asked doubtfully. Then he heard a rather muffled thunk, thunk from inside. But the Cockatrice Egg merely wobbled, then went still. "All right, looks like it'll still take a while."
"Probably not a very strong one," Luna said, tapping the eggshell with her finger and provoking a more intense bit of movement inside.
"Your legs will go numb if you crouch too long. Sit for a while first." Allen directed the sofa in the room to move behind them, then reached out and helped Luna, whose legs were in fact already somewhat numb, up to sit on the sofa with him and continue waiting. Watching the