As night began to fall, the forest's luke-warm humidity turned to a chilling drizzle, and Rolf and Luna continued to push aside and dodge dripping limbs of various foliage. Luna was chatting animatedly about the lizard they had come across an hour or so previously. Rolf had valiantly tried to pay attention through her coma-inducing chatter, but he now found his mind slipping in and out of concentration.

"...and then, wasn't that just fascinating when it shot those darts from its eyes!"

Rolf grunted noncommittally and tenderly rubbed the now flaming pink puncture marks on his cheek, where the lizard, a rare species called the Xamar, had shot three poisonous projectiles. Luna had spotted it on a tree and had spent twenty minutes taking pictures of it. When Rolf had reminded her that Mr. Ollivander needed her urgently, she had reluctantly said goodbye, and patted it on the head, which scared the poor thing so much it went berserk and shot the poison darts. Rolf, recollecting these events, realized he was scowling openly, and quickly wiped it off his face- just in time, it turned out- for Luna turned to beam at him.

"...it was a simply splendid creature, wasn't it, Rolf?" And you had to hand it to her, thought Rolf bitterly. She had a knack for spotting insanely rare and coveted species. The only other time he had ever seen a Xamar was when he went camping at age 8 with his grandfather, the famous naturalist Newt Scamander. His grandfather had famous skill and knowledge of magical creatures, and could pick out a new species every time he left the house. This girl is an idiot, though Rolf concluded as Luna went flying after tripping on a gnarled root. A loud yawn from Luna, who dreamily dusted herself off from her fall, suddenly reminded him of his own aching hunger and dizzying fatigue.

"Let's stop here for the night," offered Rolf.

"Ah, no, it's ok...," Luna yawned again. "I... can keep going longer. Don't stop on my account,"

"No, really. I'm tired too," Rolf reassured her. "And besides, I think your, er, friend is getting a bit tired too," he added, nodding at Gerry.

Rolf sensed Luna had been waiting to stop for a while. Immediately, she sat down, flicking her wand rapidly to assemble her tent. "Come over here, Gerald," she cooed, patting the ground. Gerry tipsily toppled over, going limp the moment he reached Luna's arms. She carried him into the tent. She turned around at the door.

"Well, I'm going to bed, but there's some canned food in that bag over there... help yourself!" And with that, Luna Lovegood zipped up the tent flap door.

Rolf sat for a while, eating canned "Magically Tasty Peaches!", chewing the sweet, rubbery fruit slowly. It was a little cold outside the tent, he thought, but he didn't feel in the mood for conjuring anything. So instead, Rolf Scamander pushed aside the can of remaining peach chunks, flicked a few spiders off the dirt in front of him, and laid down to sleep.

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The woman had coarse, curly black hair that resembled a gnarled bush. Her pale bony face and sunken eyes were focused intently on a small object in her palm. She was perched precariously on a ratty grey chunk of fabric and wood that might have once been a handsome armchair. She nervously glanced around the room, which, like the chair, had seen better days. Around the edge of the room, dusty sinister objects formidably glowered at occupants, including a misshapen skull, a troll leg umbrella stand (originally a set of two, but one had been taken by her aunt), and an intricate glass vase of what had to be blood. One could tell, however, which of the ominous objects was this woman's most prized. Sitting in a golden cabinet, centered on the mantel, was a long, slender wand. The glass of the cabinet was reflective, and looked as though it had been recently cleaned. The ghost-like woman glanced from the ebony stone in her hand, pierced by a deep crack in the center, to the wand in the cabinet, and let out a sob of relief.

Bellatrix knew what the stone could do.

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When Rolf awoke the next morning, his back was sore. Worse yet, it seemed that it had rained during the night, as he and his clothes were thoroughly soaked. After sleepily crawling over to the can of peaches, he discovered with disappointment that a large pale slug had made itself at home in the tin can, looking disturbingly like all the other slices of peach.

The Glimp, Rolf noted out of habit. Imitates its prey's food so the victim will eat it, die when the Glimp proves to be indigestible, and the Glimp will eat the victim from the inside out. Rolf shuddered slightly as he prodded the slug with his index finger, and tilted the can so it slowly hit the ground with a small, wet plop. Then he promptly proceeded to stick in his hand and resume eating from the night before.

Suddenly, though, something was clamped on his stomach, and Rolf spun around instinctively, slapping at the creature. With a yelp, a poodle-sized creature released him and fell to the ground. Looking around in confusion, he recognized Gerry lying in a heap on the ground.

"Shame on you!" shouted Luna form behind him.

"Uuuh!" Rolf hadn't even realized Luna was awake. "Sorry! He just... at me... didn't know..." He winced.

"Poor Gerry..." Luna sang, gathering the niffler in her arms. "He likes buttons," she added.

"He what?"

"Likes buttons. Hates shiny things. I think they scare him." She said matter-of-factly, and patted him affectionately on the head.

"Er..." Rolf glanced down awkwardly at his shirt, and sure enough, the place the bottom button of his shirt usually occupied was now merely a shriveled thread poking through the fabric. A loud crunch from Gerry's general direction confirmed Luna's announcement. He, of course, had heard of nifflers having strange fetishes- for example, while studying the crowned dragon in Peru, he had witnessed an aggressive niffler steal everyone's watches as they shopped, unaware, at the town market- but people never kept these freakish nifflers as pets, let alone the sane ones. "Where did you get it?" He gestured down to Gerry, who had, at this point, chewed the button, spit it out, and was trying to eat the pieces.

"Him," she said pointedly. "I found him at the Knockturn Poun- Gerry! No!" Gerry was now gagging on a small chunk of plastic. He coughed it up and looked up at Rolf and Luna sheepishly. "I can't imagine why he wasn't snatched up, he's so cute..."

An awkward silence ensued, leaving Rolf to squirm while Luna stood perfectly still, apparently lost in thought.

"Er." He wasn't quite sure how to bring her back from wherever she had gone. "Shall we pack up, then?"

"Oh, yes," said Luna happily. "I'll just get the tent rolled up first..." she said, waving her wand vaguely, and her tent burst into flames. "Whoops...wait- no, that's better," she concluded as she put out the flames and rolled it up in yet another flick of her wand.