Daphne Brown

While their current guests were certainly more than a little... eccentric, they proved to be a surprisingly good company.

After handing out snacks to the children and sending them to Michael's room to play, Daphne and John found themselves sitting across from Xenophilius Lovegood in their living room, enjoying tea together. They hadn't met before, so it seemed prudent to get to know each other a little better before entrusting their children to each other. At first Daphne was a bit uncertain, overwhelmed by Xenophilius' "quirkiness," but she soon found that the man was actually quite pleasant, despite appearances.

"I must say, this is a delicious tea. I'll bring something next time as a thank you" Xenophilius said, taking a sip from his cup. He was still wearing his peculiar red suit, for some reason patterned with fish, but fortunately he had removed his top hat before entering, which made it easier for them to talk. The fact that Mrs. McGonagall wore hers indoors certainly didn't make it any easier for them to feel comfortable during an already stressful conversation that took place a year ago.

"Please do not trouble yourself. After all, you've already brought us these beautiful flowers." Daphne replied, looking at the aforementioned bouquet of lilies that was currently lying in a vase. As she looked at it, she noticed that for some reason flowers had changed colour during their conversation, as the petals of the flowers were much lighter than when they received them "Actually, may I ask you about them? I'm quite sure that the flowers were red when you gave them to us, but now they are pink? Could this be due to some kind of magic?"

Although she had known about the existence of magic for almost a year, she was still barely able to believe it, much less comprehend it. While she had seen Michael's magical outburst and Mrs. McGonagall's demonstration, she still had no idea how it worked. Michael once tried to explain it to her, saying it was like the "force" from those Star Wars movies, but since she had never watched them, she didn't really understand the reference. John seemed to get it though, so maybe she should ask him about it later.

"You're correct, Mrs. Brown. I have enchanted these lilies so that they will never wilt and will change colour depending on the time of day. At noon they will turn completely white, only to darken with each passing hour, eventually turning purple," Xenophilius replied simply, rather nonchalant despite the groundbreaking nature of the gift he had given them. Magic really could do anything, couldn't it?

"You make it sound so simple, but for us it's like...well, magic." John, who was sitting next to her, replied. There was an unmistakable awe in his voice, which she couldn't blame him for. "Magic is still a mystery to us, so it's amazing to see it in action, especially in such a creative way. You must be an amazing wizard, Mr. Lovegood."

"I'm flattered, Mr. Brown, but what I did wasn't that impressive," replied Xenophilius with a slight laugh, apparently pleased by the compliment "To be honest, casting spells has never been my forte. I'm more of a researcher, you see. As part of my job, I study various magical creatures, such as nargles and gloompatches, and publish my findings so that others can benefit from them in the future."

"Oh, that sounds quite interesting." Daphne said politely, not familiar with any of these names. While she had heard of creatures like centaurs and dragons, nargles and gloompatches were unfamiliar to her. She guessed that made sense, since the real creatures would likely be different from those from various mythologies. "Do you perhaps work for some magical institute or newspaper?"

"Well, you could say that. I run my own magazine where I publish articles about various discoveries. Although it doesn't sound very impressive, it's actually quite popular, especially since last winter." Xenenophilius declared, understandably proud of his achievement. Publishing his own magazine couldn't have been easy, so Daphne didn't hold it against him. "Technically it's a science magazine, though it would be more accurate to call it a popular science magazine, since I try not only to inform my readers, but also to engage them. Recently, I have also started to do some reporter work as well, which has been well received by readers so far."

Daphne found herself thoroughly impressed by the man sitting in front of them. Although she was at first a little apprehensive about his unusual attire, it became increasingly clear that Xenophilius was not as strange as she painted him to be. She wouldn't be surprised if his fashion style was just part of his public image. As the owner of a well-known, prosperous magazine, he was probably something of a celebrity among wizards, so it's likely that he deliberately dressed in this "quirky" way to be easily recognizable. Frankly, the fact that she was so quick to judge this man made her slightly embarrassed.

Xenophilius Lovegood was a down-to-earth, reasonable man who was not so different from them, despite being a wizard. She should keep that in mind during future interactions with other wizards.

As an apology, she would do her best to entertain Luna Lovegood during her stay. Fortunately, Michael said he already had some plans on how to do that.

Luna Lovegood

"So, since this beast only reacts to movement, wouldn't it be better to cast a disillusionment charm and sneak away?" Luna asked, as she watched a group of people being chased by a large reptile, fittingly named the King of the Tyrant Lizards. It certainly looked regal enough to be considered a ruler. "It seems a bit irresponsible to stay in this 'car', especially since there are two children with them."

"They can't. Muggles can't use any spells, so they have to rely on tools, machines and their minds to survive," Michael replied excitedly, quite focused on the scene taking place on the big 'screen' in front of them. Luna couldn't blame him for this behaviour, as the so-called 'movie' was actually quite engaging, even if she didn't understand most of the things happening on the screen.

As part of the activities Michael had planned for her visit, he took her to a place called a movie theater to show her a film called 'Jurassic Park', which he assured her she would enjoy. Apparently, it was a story about a group of scholars, who were stranded on an island full of dangerous beasts known as dinosaurs. True to his word, she found the film quite entertaining, especially given her interest in magical beasts. It was certainly a bit too violent for her taste, but she loved watching all those royal beasts. Her favourite scene was when the main character decided to feed one of the 'arm lizards'. She didn't know why they were called that, but the scene was certainly awe-inspiring.

As they left the movie theater, happy and fully satisfied with the story, Luna found herself wishing to see these amazing reptiles with her own eyes. It was however simply impossible, as according to the movie, they were all extinct. These Muggle scholars had to use their machines to bring them back and...

Luna suddenly got an idea.

"Michael, I have a question," Luna said. Hearing the note of excitement in her voice, Michael turned to look at her with curiosity in his eyes. Seeing that he was listening to her, she continued "You said that all of the dinosaurs from the movie have already become extinct, right?"

"Well, I'm sure there are at least a few individual dinosaurs that are used as shock troops in black ops, but they are functionally extinct, yes." he said confusedly, not quite sure why she was excited.

"But since you only need their blood or bone to resurrect them, can't we just ask some adult to cast a spell and bring them back to life? I'm sure people would be happy to see dinosaurs again," Luna said with conviction.

After hearing this, Michael stared at her with wide-open eyes, apparently stunned by her idea. After a few moments of consideration, a wide smile slowly appeared on Michael's face.

"...You know, Luna, that's actually quite a good idea." Michael said slowly, his voice full of excitement, "I might even know someone who would be happy to have all these reptiles around."

Just to clarify, the potential lizard army will not appear right away. It certainly won't happen this year or the next one. But who knows what may happen in a few years...