After sending off their reply with the owl, everyone in the house gathered again to continue celebrating Luna's birthday.
They'd already done everything they could. From here on out, whatever happened next was out of their hands.
Still, after all the excitement, the focus of the birthday party had quietly shifted from Luna… to Tom.
Xenophilius, Pandora, and even Luna kept sneaking curious glances at him. Their constant staring made Tom's fur stand on end; he felt as if he were sitting on needles.
"Meow!" (Happy birthday—but I'm out of here!)
Unable to stand the awkward atmosphere any longer, Tom let out a cry and bolted out of the dining room.
…
For the next few days, even though the Lovegoods still looked at him with obvious curiosity, and even though Xenophilius continued plotting how to convince Tom to willingly become the next headline of The Quibbler, life gradually returned to normal.
Everything seemed to go back to how it was before Luna's birthday—before that Hogwarts acceptance letter arrived.
But what was meant to come would always come. After receiving a reply like that, there was no chance Albus Dumbledore would ignore such an unusual situation with a prospective student—and certainly not allow anyone to miss their chance to attend Hogwarts.
So, even though term was still weeks away, the headmaster personally came to visit the Lovegood family.
Knock, knock, knock—
It was a warm, sunny afternoon around three. Tom was lazily sprawled on Luna's windowsill, basking in the light, when the polite knocking echoed from downstairs.
"Coming!"
Pandora called toward the door, then shouted upstairs:
"Xeno, could you get that?"
Xenophilius didn't hesitate. He immediately descended from his manuscript-filled attic and opened the door.
"Hello, how can I—Professor Dumbledore?!"
Standing outside was an elderly man with long, silver-white beard and half-moon spectacles. At the sight of him, the irritation on Xenophilius's face—caused by being interrupted while writing—vanished instantly.
"Goodness gracious! What brings you here? Don't tell me Hogwarts has decided to subscribe to The Quibbler as teaching material?
"If that's the case, I can run another print immediately—no student's education will be delayed!"
"Oh, Mr. Lovegood,"
Dumbledore chuckled and shook his head.
"I've read your magazine. The perspectives are certainly… unique. Including that recent article suggesting I might be suffering from senility. Please don't worry—I understand completely. People do get a bit forgetful with age.
"As for turning The Quibbler into official teaching material… that would be up to the professors, and so far I haven't received any such proposals."
"Ah… I see."
Xenophilius looked a bit disappointed, but he recovered quickly. After all these years, he was used to it.
"Then, Professor, what brings you here today?"
"It's about young Tom."
Dumbledore explained:
"In your letter, you mentioned that Tom had… an incident that might affect his ability to attend school. I've come to see what happened."
As he followed Xenophilius upstairs toward the dining room, Dumbledore's mind raced through possibilities:
Was he bitten by a werewolf? Unlikely. Things have been peaceful lately, and if a werewolf were roaming St. Catchpole, the Daily Prophet would've exploded with headlines.
An Obscurial, then? No… a child only becomes one after severely suppressing magic, and the Lovegoods would never let that happen.
He sat down at the dining table, still deep in thought.
"Professor, please wait here for a moment. I'll go fetch Tom."
Pandora placed a plate of homemade cookies and a steaming cup of tea on the table.
"If you don't mind, please try some."
"Thank you, Mrs. Lovegood. I'd be delighted."
Dumbledore paused his thoughts, picked up a cookie, and tasted it.
"Delicious."
Pandora nodded with a warm smile before heading upstairs.
Tom had already heard everything downstairs. He knew Dumbledore had come. He knew what the headmaster wanted.
But actually facing such a legendary figure made him nervous. Even when Pandora reached him, he kept his face buried in his paws, pretending to be fast asleep, hoping he could avoid the inevitable.
In the end, Pandora simply grabbed him gently by the scruff and carried the whole cat downstairs.
"Mrs. Lovegood, this is…?"
Seeing Pandora return not with a boy but with a cat dangling from her hand, Dumbledore blinked in confusion.
"And where is Tom?"
"I'm afraid, Professor… this is Tom."
Pandora sighed and lifted the curled-up British Shorthair slightly as if to emphasize her point.
Dumbledore: (°Д°)
Even with all his experience, he was clearly stunned.
He could see perfectly well that this wasn't an Animagus like Minerva McGonagall—this was a real cat. But how was that possible?
The Book of Admittance and the Quill of Acceptance never made mistakes. If "Tom Lovegood" had been written in the Book, then he was a recognized student.
But admitting an actual cat into Hogwarts…
Even Dumbledore seemed at a loss. In all Hogwarts history, nothing like this had ever happened.
At least I learned some cat language from Minerva, he thought with relief.
He crouched slightly and attempted communication:
"Meow?" (Are you Tom Lovegood?)
Realizing escape was impossible—and feeling a genuine excitement about Hogwarts—Tom finally lifted his head and gave up pretending.
"Meow~" (Yes. And you can speak normally; I understand human speech just fine. Your cat language is honestly harder for me.)
Dumbledore froze for a moment. Harder? Was he being judged for his accent?
But he quickly regained his composure.
"So,"
he asked, peering at Tom with sharp yet gentle blue eyes through the lenses,
"are you truly a cat? Or are you a wizard?"
Tom hesitated.
He had been human in his previous life, yes. But he had died and been reborn as a cat. After so many years, maybe even his soul had adapted.
By that logic… he really was a cat now.
He nodded firmly.
Which only made Dumbledore's headache worse.
If Tom had been cursed into a cat, that would be manageable—complicated, but solvable. Hogwarts had admitted students with difficult conditions before.
But accepting a real cat as a student…
After a long moment of tapping his finger lightly on the table, Dumbledore exhaled deeply and made his decision.
"I understand."
His expression grew resolute as he faced Tom.
"Then, Tom Lovegood—do you wish to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and become one of its students?"
"Meow!" (Absolutely!)
Tom nodded vigorously, the tip of his tail flicking with excitement.
He might already have some unusual abilities—but this was magic. This was the dream of his childhood.
Who hadn't imagined receiving a Hogwarts letter from an owl when they were young?