Moonchild
Chapter 12
Seleneo
"Professor McGonagall," Seleneo said at breakfast. "I was hoping I could schedule an appointment with you in your office. There's something I need to talk to you about."
"This afternoon, say 1.30?" suggested McGonagall.
"Sounds great, Professor," Seleneo said. Then he returned to the Ravenclaw table to find Luna waiting for him.
"What'd she say?" Luna asked nervously.
"I've got an appointment with her at 1.30. Like I said, you let us worry about it." Excellent, Seleneo thought to himself, now I can explain to McGonagall what's going on, and then I'll be scot-free.
"Well," said Luna, "I have to get to Slughorn's class, so I'll see you later then?"
"Sure thing," Seleneo agreed. Now I'll have time to see if I can get what I need from Hagrid and then all I'll have to do is sneak out so I can apparate to London.
Seleneo bounded down the sloping Hogwarts lawn to Hagrid's hut. He knew someone must be home because as soon as he approached the door he could hear Fang barking like mad from inside.
"Down, Fang!" he heard Hagrid bellow from inside. Then the door opened to reveal the hairy mountain of man that was Rubeus Hagrid.
"Who are you?" Hagrid asked warily.
"My name's Seleneo Moonchild, Professor," he said. "I'm a grad student at the Salem Witches' Institute and I'm doing a study-abroad here at Hogwarts."
"What d'yeh want with me, then?" Hagrid said.
"I believe you can help me," Seleneo said with all the confidence in the world. "You see, I'm working on an advanced degree in Wandlore, and by extension wandmaking, and part of my thesis is wand cores. I was hoping you help me procure some materials for cores that I could experiment with."
"Is that so?" Hagrid seemed to mellow out a bit. "Tha's some pretty tricky stuff, tha' is. What'd yeh have in mind?"
"Pegasus feathers and tail hairs," Seleneo said. "I don't think those have ever been used in this part of the world. I think they have in Greece, probably. I'd be astounded if they haven't, to be honest. But I've never heard of anyone using those as cores, nor have I been able to uncover any evidence of it, at least not in Britain, so I thought I'd experiment, test the materials for core-quality and all that. It was my understanding that you were in possession of a stud of them, so I thought you should be the first person to go to."
"Sounds like yeh've got it all figgered out," said Hagrid. "Sure, I'd be happy ter do that for yeh, if it'll help yeh with yer degree. When d'yeh need 'em by?"
"The sooner the better," Seleneo said, "but the first draft of my thesis is due the thirteenth, so no later than then."
"Tell yeh what," said Hagrid. "Come back down here later today. If I don' have 'em for yeh by this afternoon sometime, come back tomorrow and yeh can get 'em during my classes. I'm startin' the Hufflepuffs on pegasi tomorrow so if I don' already have 'em, yeh can get 'em then."
"Thank you, Professor," Seleneo said with a slight bow, which in retrospect seemed a bit silly. "You have no idea how big of a help this is to me. I'll come back, say, four o'clock?"
"Sounds good," said Hagrid. "Well, I'll see yeh then." Hagrid shut the door, and Seleneo turned back to the castle so he jump in to wherever Flitwick was in his lesson.
"Now," said Professor McGonagall once Seleneo had shut the door to her office, "what can I do for you, Mr. Moonchild?"
"This came in the mail," Seleneo said. He showed her the most recent note from V. that Luna had received. "Luna Lovegood got this and was worried over its contents. I told her I'd bring it to your attention, but there's nothing to worry about."
"Let me see it," McGonagall said, and he handed her the noted. Her brow became more and more furrowed the more she read. When she was finished she handed it back to him. "I can certainly understand why she would be worried. Now, you say there is nothing to worry about. Where is your evidence?"
"Right here," Seleneo said, and he handed a small vial filled with a smoky gray fluid inside. "All the answers are right there in that memory."
McGonagall took it and regarded it carefully. "You say this memory holds all the answers," she stated, more to herself than to Seleneo. "Well, we shall see. You have used a Penseive before, I presume?"
"I own one, Professor," he said. "Normally I modify the spell so that I can relive memories rather than just review them, but since I knew already that I was going to be showing this one to you, I did the spell the normal way. Would you like me to go in there with you or do you want to do it alone?"
"I don't suppose it makes much of a difference," said McGonagall. "Come if you want, stay and wait for me, it's whichever you prefer."
"I'll come along," Seleneo decided. "That's why I bought my Penseive in the first place." McGonagall poured the memory out into her own Penseive, which used to belong to Albus Dumbledore, and let the contents swirl about for a moment. When they'd finally settled, they dove in. A moment later, they returned to the office.
"I see," said McGonagall. She scooped the memory out of the Penseive and returned it to its vial, which she handed back to Seleneo. "It looks like you've put a lot of thought into this plan."
"Yes, I have," said Seleneo. "That's why I asked for an audience with you today, Professor. Obviously the letter from V. was a pretext to set up this appointment, but that memory was what I really wanted you to see. Now I ask you this: will you allow the plan to proceed, or will you shut it down?"
"Normally I would shut something like this down in a heartbeat," said McGonagall. "So many school rules will be broken in the process, it isn't funny. On the other hand, the intention is good, and I'd hate to see all the time and planning go to waste. You may proceed."
"Thank you so much, Professor!" It took Seleneo everything he had to not jump up and down right there in her office. "And I swear to you, Professor, whatever rules I break in the process, I'll take the punishment for it. I'll even let Mr. Filch hang me from the ceiling by my wrists, as I know he would love to do."
"We'll discuss punishment after the fact," said Professor McGonagall. "For now let's pretend that I have no knowledge of what you plan to do. Oh, and Mr. Moonchild," she added as Seleneo was stepping through the door back to the spiral stairs outside her office door, "good luck."
