Seeing Luna act like this, Xenophilius Lovegood understood that, as her father, he could not show even the slightest weakness now.
Yet he simply could not speak. At least, as someone who had just gone through all of this, he found it impossible to tell Luna so bluntly—to tell his daughter that her mother was gone.
Another gust of wind blew in, still bitterly cold, making Xenophilius Lovegood feel as though his whole body were trembling.
Yet it also drew his attention outside, to the moon beyond the window, and the less-than-brilliant stars.
"Listen to me..." Xenophilius Lovegood's voice was soft. "Listen to me... Luna..."
He seemed to be speaking both to his daughter and to himself.
"Listen to me, Luna..." He tried to keep his lips from trembling, to make his voice clear enough and his tone certain enough. "Mum has gone away..."
"She went there. She went to visit the moon..." He raised a hand and pointed toward the distant starry sky. "Do you remember? Do you remember what Daddy told you? What's on the moon?"
"On the moon there are..." Luna's voice was still light and airy. "Moon frogs!"
"That's right! Moon frogs!" Xenophilius Lovegood nodded heavily. "Mum went to the moon to find moon frogs!"
He set the flowerpot in his hands before Luna. "Mum is just like Daddy... Daddy heard Mum say she wanted to grow Dirigible Plums, so Daddy brought some back!"
"We..." His voice caught, and he fell silent for quite a while.
Luna listened with a serious expression, not asking what else he wanted to say.
"We..." At last, he managed to keep his voice from breaking. "How about we fill the garden with Dirigible Plums? When they bear fruit, shall we give Mum a surprise?"
"Okay!" Luna nodded seriously. "We'll give