Chapter 10: Of Wands and Whispers
Three months remained before the start of Hogwarts.
For many children, this would be a time of anxious excitement or restless impatience. For Luna Lovegood, it was a strange mixture of quiet preparation and subtle unfolding. The letter from Hogwarts had already arrived, its parchment still glowing faintly from where her magic had touched it—her name written in flowing ink that shimmered with threads of fate.
Her days began early. While the sun still stretched lazily over the hills of Ottery St. Catchpole, Luna would sit with a small notebook on the porch, writing thoughts or questions to ask the system. Sometimes, she would draw little sketches—plants she wanted to study, diagrams of runes, or memories of strange dreams she was still learning to understand.
System Log: Recovery State – 52.3%
Dream Core: Stabilizing.
Temporal-Space Synchronization: Active.
Emotional Balance: Moderate.
Basic Detection Function – ONLINE.
New Function Unlocked: Magical Detection (Basic)
Current Scope: Nearby Creatures, Plants, Artifacts (Low-Mid Tier)
Detection Type: Sensory Overlay via Dream-Thread. Accuracy ~62%.
These three months would mark Luna's gentle steps outward.
The first trip was to Diagon Alley.
It wasn't Luna's first visit—she had gone with her mother in years past to purchase rare herbs or browse ancient scrolls—but this time felt different. It was hers. Her supplies, her wand, her books. Her future.
Pandora, now fully recovered, walked beside her with a hand on Luna's shoulder. Xenophilius, wearing a wide-brimmed hat shaped like a wrackspurt, led the way through the Leaky Cauldron.
The bricks parted with a shiver of old magic, and Luna felt the pulse of the hidden world rush into her senses.
Detection Function Active...
Plant Signature Detected: Basilisk Moss (Unstable, Magical)
Creature Aura Detected: Thestral Trace Residue – Above Rooftop, Date Unknown.
The system whispered insights, fragments of reality overlaid like ripples.
They bought books first. Flourish and Blotts overwhelmed her in the best way—stacked tomes on magical creatures, potions, defensive theory. Luna lingered in the back sections: Archaic Sigil Theory, Magical Philosophy, Dreamcraft. Her fingers paused on a worn leather-bound book titled The Weavers Between Sleep.
Dream-Link Detected. Passive Absorption Mode Engaged.
"Just one," Pandora warned with a smile. "Or you'll end up living inside the shop."
Then came the moment she'd secretly looked forward to the most.
Ollivanders.
The wand shop was quiet, smelling of cedar, stardust, and something faintly electric. The old wandmaker peered at Luna the moment she stepped inside.
"Curious," he murmured. "Very curious indeed."
It took several tries. Hawthorn and unicorn hair cracked in her grip. Vinewood sputtered. But then—
She picked up a wand of willow and paused. The wand hummed.
Then—she pulled a single strand of her own hair from behind her ear and laid it beside the wand.
Ollivander stiffened.
"That hair..." he whispered. "Not ordinary. Saturated with dream-thread and temporal weave... You've been altered, girl."
Luna just tilted her head.
"Isn't everyone?"
The wand responded with a soft glow.
Magical Sync Detected: 94.6%
Core: Lunar Hair Thread
Wood: Willow, flexible.
Functionality: Adaptive, Memory-Linked.
Pandora asked quietly later, "Did you really offer your own hair?"
Luna nodded. "It wanted to be part of something."
The rest of the days drifted like gentle clouds. Luna met other children, though only briefly. Once, she passed by a redheaded boy arguing over spell ingredients—Fred or George, she couldn't tell. She met Hermione in a book aisle once, the girl's arms full of reference guides.
"You like dream magic?" Hermione asked, curious but skeptical.
"It's soft," Luna replied. "Like listening to a sleeping world."
Hermione blinked, then nodded and left. Still, it was something.
She also tried casting some spells from her books, but most fizzled. Her magic still responded in dreamlike pulses—fluid, unpredictable, needing guidance.
At night, she practiced within dreams.
A glade formed within her subconscious. Slightly unstable, foggy at the edges, but solid enough. She tested ingredients—mixing potions in floating cauldrons, observing effects. Time didn't work properly there, but it helped.
Dream World Construct: Semi-Stable
Spell Practice: Low Intensity Allowed.
Potion Simulation: Partial Accuracy (~48%).
Warning: Excessive use may destabilize core.
Sometimes she would exhaust herself from training. Her system adapted.
Magic Refinement Through Exhaustion – Confirmed.
Internal Core Thread Hardened Slightly.
Physical Stamina Training Needed.
On quiet mornings, her mother taught her how to walk the forest blindfolded, listening to the pull of plants and magical flow. Her father taught her how to speak to trees, in metaphor or in silence.
Luna laughed more than usual.
These were her last summer days of childhood before the castle came calling.
System Status
System Sync: 54.3%
Dream Core Stability: Moderate-High
Detection: Creatures, Plants, Artifacts (Basic Tier)
Magic Type: Dream-Space-Time hybrid (Early Bloom Stage)
Wand Bound: Yes – Adaptive Link (Lunar Hair Core)
Spellcasting: Low Success Rate (Improving)
Dream World: Active but Unstable
Training Path: Emotional + Exploratory
End of Chapter 10: Of Wands and Whispers