Chapter 5: Practice Makes Perfect
When Luna woke up she only had two things on her mind, one of them was Harry and the other was learning a new spell her father had mentioned to her. The spell was Appare Vestigium and it revealed traces of magic. From what he told her it could even show footprints and track marks if whoever left them was magical. Her daddy had promised to start teaching her today after she got all her chores done. So, with an enthusiasm that refused to be deterred Luna breezed through her chores and finished by making breakfast for them both. She brought it up to where he was working on the newspaper and set down the tray. Her father had always been optimistic that if he kept up searching with this spell that they would eventually find the crumple-horned snorkacks that nobody else seemed to believe were real.
Entering the room was easy enough but getting her father's attention was another matter altogether and she had to actually go up and tap him on the shoulder before he noticed her. "Daddy I finished my chores and brought up breakfast. Can we start on that new spell you mentioned when you're done eating? Pretty please?" she asked, giving him her best puppy dog eyes that she was sure would make him melt. Even before her mother passed away she'd been a daddy's girl and that hadn't changed in the slightest. Perhaps it was a tad unfair of her to use such tactics, but nobody was perfect and they did usually prove effective.
Xeno Lovegood just blinked in surprise and chuckled, reaching down to ruffle her hair. "Of course we can, pumpkin. Breakfast smells delicious by the way thanks for cooking." he said, going over to the table she'd set the tray on and taking a seat. Luna had made eggs, sausage links, and blueberry pancakes that looked to die for. Naturally there was butter and syrup for the pancakes and to drink there was orange juice. He dug into the meal as Luna took a seat across from him and did the same. A moment later he let out an appreciative moan, washing his food down with a long drink. "Merlin, that hits the spot. Didn't realize how hungry I was." he admitted. Luna wasn't surprised by that comment, knowing her father had a tendency to forget things like meal times when he was busy working.
Luna just smiled happily as she ate, blushing faintly at her father's actions. "Well, I was taught by the best after all. Besides, somebody has to remember to feed you because you always forget. If I wasn't here somebody would probably find your skeleton hunched over your printing press when they came here to solve the mystery of why the Quibbler stopped production of magazines." she told him, spearing another sausage link with her fork and gobbling it down. The little links were in her opinion much tastier than the larger ones, so that's what they usually got.
Her comment may have been a bit dramatic but Xeno had to admit she wasn't far off. More often than not he didn't take care of himself properly when he was busy with his work. His wife used to be the one who did that sort of thing. When she'd passed Luna had started taking care of him as much as the other way round. "Yes, well you might be right about that. Thankfully, I have a wonderful daughter to look after me though. Now come on, let's finish up and we'll go down to the garden so I can start teaching you your new spell." he told her with a wink. He might not be the best parent when it came to remembering when to do the laundry or cook a meal, but nobody could deny that he cared for his daughter greatly and when she needed his help he always tried to make time to be there for her.
"Yesss. I can't wait to learn this and sneak up on my friends when they aren't expecting me. With this and the disillusionment charm I'll be unstoppable." she said, looking a little sheepish after saying that aloud. "I mean, learn this because it might prove useful at some point when searching for the snorkacks with you." Luna amended. If they were ever able to actually find one she was sure she would be just as ecstatic as her father. However, she was realistic about the fact that it would probably take quite a long time if it ever happened in their lifetime. After all, her father had been looking for them for ages and he hadn't had any luck yet. Shrugging to herself, she refocused on her meal and scarfed down the rest of her breakfast quickly, carrying her dishes down and setting them in the sink when she was finished. Her daddy took a little longer to finish but soon they were both heading out to the garden.
Xeno gave her another brief explanation on how the spell functioned before doing a demonstration. "Appare Vestigium!" he bellowed, spinning in a circle as he held his wand up to his face and blowing out a cloud of gold dust around himself. A brief image of a niffler appeared digging in their garden before running off after finding a small coin. The little flash of images was brief, but fairly clear and he smiled. "That, my dear...is how it's supposed to look. Also, a short glimpse into the life of a local niffler who has apparently been plundering our garden for treasure. The trick to this spell is to have a very clear idea in your mind of what you want to track and why, the spell should do the rest. For example I wanted to search for anything that had been digging in our garden, having found a few holes recently. There are some non-magical animals that do that sort of thing, but nifflers were the first magical one I thought of so I guessed that might be it on a hunch. Turned out I was right." he explained to her, before stepping back and observing as she started to practice.
It was a tricky spell, and it took her until lunch time to get the full proper cloud of gold dust around her. Luna was struggling on getting anything to appear in it though. She had decided to try and track the gnomes from the Weasley garden, since they were close and she was familiar with them. Eventually they took a break to eat. When they came out to try again she closed her mind and really tried to picture everything about one of the gnomes instead of just the group as a whole. This time as she spun she could tell something felt different, and sure enough when she opened her eyes she saw the gnome getting tossed by Percy out of the garden before wandering off dizzily towards the woods. Clapping her hands happily, she let out a whoop of excitement. "Daddy, daddy, I finally did it!" she said, running up to him and wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "Thank you." she said quietly.
Luna's enthusiasm and joy upon finally performing the spell warmed Xeno's heart as he hugged her back. "Oh, you're welcome, pumpkin. Glad there are still things I can teach you. You're growing up so fast and learning so much, before I know it you won't even need me any more. It'll be you who has all these new things to teach me and tell me about." he told her, wiping away a tear that appeared but it was one of happiness. "I don't know what I did to deserve a daughter like you but I'm grateful." he said, leaning down and pressing his forehead against hers.
She really couldn't believe how cheesy he could get sometimes. Luna still appreciated the sentiment though, and kissed his cheek. "Don't be silly daddy I'll always need you even if it's not for teaching me things. You're my daddy." she said, rolling her eyes a little. "It's not like anybody else can do your job for you. Besides, you're the best daddy a girl could have. We'll figure out my growing up too fast and what to do about it somehow." she said, before finally letting go. "Now, I am going to go work on the painting in my room. Holler if you need anything." she said, taking off like a shot.
Over the next few hours Luna managed to complete Neville and Harry, with the gold chain of the friends linking them. She was always fairly critical of her work, but this time she was actually pretty happy with what she'd accomplished. She washed her brushes and put away her paints before going to check on her daddy. He was waiting for her with dinner ready for a change and they ate together before she went back up to her room. Staring at the unfinished painting on her ceiling, she let her thoughts wander. As they did they drifted to Harry, as they were starting to do more and more often these days. "I wonder if he likes anybody. Loads of girls, including Ginny like him, but...well, I've never seen him take an interest in anyone aside from Cho and that was a complete disaster." she said to herself, sticking her tongue out a little as she thought about it. "I wonder if he could like me..." she mused, blushing and letting her imagination run wild before she drifted off to sleep. Needless to say, her dreams featured Harry in them quite prominently.
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The next day Luna practiced as soon as she woke up, and seemed to have the trick of it down fairly well. "Daddy! I'm going to go and visit the Weasleys I'll be back later." she called, waiting for him to give a wave from the window before heading off towards the Burrow. She wanted to show Harry and Ginny what she could do. This sort of spell was a dead useful one and she kind of wanted to show it off a little. Harry would most definitely appreciate it and she thought Ginny would, too. Before she went to the Burrow, she performed the spell and made a sure detour to find the gnome. It took about an hour but she managed to find him and gave him a dirigible plum before heading the rest of the way to the Burrow.
When she arrived she saw Ginny tending to the chickens, Ron taking a nap under a tree, and Harry sitting by himself with an open book in his lap that he didn't seem to be paying much attention to. He was staring off into the distance from what she could tell, and because of that he was the first to notice her. She waved and he got up, coming over to meet her. "Hi Luna, I didn't realize you were coming over today. Are you here to meet Ginny, or something?" he asked. Usually Luna was fairly good about planning things so he was surprised to see her unexpectedly like this.
"No, I came to show you a new spell I learned. Everybody else seems to be busy so I'll just show you. It's called Appare Vestigium and it reveals signs of recent magical activity in an area. It can be used to track people, or magical creatures, anything magical I think." she explained. Luna proceeded to show him how it worked, this time using Hedwig as the target. She smiled and pointed to one section of the woods. "I think she's over there, though I couldn't tell you how far off the top of my head." she told him. Because she was Harry's familiar Hedwig had a faint aura of magic aground her, unlike regular owls that were unbonded to a witch or wizard.
Harry just looked at her, letting out a bit of a laugh. "That spell's incredible, and dead useful. I can't believe you learned it in a day though, it looks pretty hard." he said, shaking his head. "You know Luna, sometimes your intellect is actually kind of scary." he told her. It may have sounded like a bit of a joke, but she could tell her friend was serious. "Luckily for us you don't seem to be going dark, or we might be in real trouble. If you can learn something like that in a day, there's no telling what else you could learn just as quickly." he reasoned.
Luna couldn't help giggling at that, before poking him with her wand. "You remember that Potter, because if you ever step out of line I know quite a few nasty hexes I could put to good use." she told him, mostly joking. She would never seriously hurt her friends of course, but she wasn't above pranking them to help them learn a lesson if it was ever needed. When Harry talked about her possibly being able to learn other sorts of magic just as fast she just shrugged. "I don't think it's always obvious if somebody has gone dark Harry. Malfoy would probably brag about how powerful he was getting, but if somebody was being smart they would probably try not to show any signs of it so they could spy on the good guys." she told him, chuckling a little. "At least, that's what I would do." Luna said, trying to sound a little mysterious.
He gulped and nodded. "Got it, especially now that I know you can track me down if I try to run. I'll do my best to stay in your good graces, my lady." Harry said, giving her a short bow. When Luna talked about what she would do if she were to ever go dark Harry just looked at her a bit warily. "Like I said earlier, I'm glad you're on our side. Did you want to hang out with us for the day?" Harry asked hopefully. They didn't really have anything planned and he was sure Mrs. Weasley wouldn't mind having her over too much.
It was a kind offer, but Luna thought she should probably be getting back. Today she hadn't done her chores before running off here and even though she was sure daddy wouldn't mind she didn't like to get behind on that sort of thing. "Thanks, but I really should be getting back. Maybe my daddy has more cool spells like this one he can teach me." she said, certain he probably did.
Harry looked a little disappointed, but accepted that she had other things to do than just hang out with them. "Okay, I'll see you later Luna. Maybe we can go and explore Ottery St. Catchpole, I still haven't properly checked it out." he suggested.
Thinking about it for a moment, Luna smiled. "That sounds perfect, Harry. There are a lot of cool things there to check out, especially this one shop in particular that has all these odd magical items. Definitely worth the trip just to check out that shop to see if anything jumps out at you" she said, smiling. "Well, I'll see you soon." she said, before heading off back towards the Rookery.
