6: Pandora Lovegood.

"What I wouldn't give to be working on my spells right now," Pandora muttered as she stood under a tree overlooking the black lake. 

In the middle of summer, if you were patient, you could see the tentacles of the Kraken that inhabited the lake. How did such a powerful and unique magical creature come to these waters? Ever since Pandora had moved to Hogwarts because of her pregnancy and the state of the magical world, she had always wanted to find out, especially since her husband Xenophilius was a magizoologist.

Though she didn't quite understand her husband's fixation on some strange things like the recent Chupacabra infestation in Mexico, he would always have her support, something she hoped their future daughter would experience. 

How did she know that her future baby would be a girl? A hunch, which is why she had the perfect name for her. Luna, which means moon in Spanish. And as she realized some of her ideas for the future, she felt she had chosen that name well, because Asteo was a sun in her eyes. 

Lately, she liked to spend time in the nursery to study the two children who had caused such a catastrophic magical movement with their birth and to see what her friend Aurora's son was doing when no adults were present. Well, the situation she found herself in was a very special one. 

While Pandora was disguised under a disillusioning enchantment, Astreo was able to perceive her and let out some babbling in her direction, which impressed the woman very much. 

"Can you see me, little one?" she whispered, still invisible, and even moved slowly to another place.

Her surprise was great when the boy seemed to sense her somehow, waving his little arms in her direction while making unintelligible noises, but if there was a house elf, he would understand the following perfectly, albeit in horror. 

"Damn it, who's the pervert looking at me? She sounds like a woman, is that Luna's mother? As weird as her daughter," Astreo stammered, uncomfortable because he could feel Pandora's presence and aura. 

To him, it was as if someone just put a white sheet over their head and pretended to be a ghost, it wasn't scary, it didn't float, it just looked weird. Even though he was relaxed, the woman's aura was not evil or anything like that, strange, yes, but not evil at all. 

If I had to describe Pandora's aura, Astreo would say it was a rainbow of rapidly changing bright colors, if she had any kind of problem, she would be suffering by now because of such rapid changes, but somehow the woman's aura felt calm.

"You're very interesting, little star!" even as the woman became visible, showing a bright smile on her face, Astreo could sense that the woman was very calm, contradicting her lively image and very cheerful aura. 

She was strange, a contradiction that caught his attention and the investigator in him wanted to take over, but he was a baby, he only knew how to babble, eat, sleep, and bother other babies. 

"I'd like to know what goes on in that little head of yours, Astreo," the woman stroked the baby's sparse hair, her eyes seemed to radiate a bluish glow, seeing a world only she could. 

"You're a scary witch, and I don't even know if that's an insult or a compliment to you, stop touching my head, didn't you hear that you're not supposed to do that to babies? Besides, only I hit other people's heads," that would be the translation of his babbling and flailing body, but Pandora just ignored it, she didn't understand it at all. 

"I'll be watching you, little star, or rather, sunshine~" Pandora left the room, leaving behind a very confused Astreo.

"The day will come when I'll pat you on the head and you won't be able to do anything! Nothing!" Tootie heard from the baby she had to take care of, what was wrong with him?

The poor house elf could only scratch her head before she used her magic to clean up the baby and then left. House elves saw a lot of strange things, so she didn't give much thought to whatever it was that little Astreonin was screaming about.

From that day on, Pandora began to pay much more attention to Astreonins, noticing how different he was from other babies, even if magical babies were more active than their Muggle counterparts, Astreonins showed something else, showing that he was aware of himself. 

And now, as she stood in the shade of a tree in front of the black lake, she couldn't help but smile as all her thoughts merged into one, only this time she had to be careful.

"Looks like I'll have to use the old methods of manipulation, but it's all for your benefit, young Astreo, not just anyone deserves my little daughter," the woman said, standing up with a proposal that would change many things in the future.

After all, what better way to unite two people than to betroth them as babies? At least in magical society, it was normal for two infants to be betrothed by their parents, but Pandora knew how some Muggle-borns felt about it, at least the English ones. 

Since her friend Sinistra had married a Muggle-born wizard, she might have some reservations, but she would show her friend the benefits of this union. The Lovegoods were a noble pureblood family, but they would be a minor house compared to the more prominent ones. 

Why was Pandora sure she would achieve her goals? Because she would make certain concessions that her friend would surely demand of her, and she knew Aurora well enough to think about what she might say. She would have to see how to calm her down, though.

Though it may not be obvious to others, Aurora was deeply saddened by the passing of her husband Marcus. So she wanted to make her see at least some of her son, and while her words might be dismissed at first as some of the supposed nonsense she usually says, she will take the time to prove it. 

Pandora knew that Aurora would be in the Astronomy Tower with her son at this time, in the classroom to be exact, so she went to that place and came upon a nice scene. Aurora was whispering a few words to her son while showing him a scale model of the solar system that magically moved by itself.

The baby kept waving his arms as if responding to his mother, an image that made Pandora laugh, which Aurora noticed.

"Oh, what brings you here, Pandora?" the mother asked as she cradled her son, who had turned to look at the smiling woman, and for some reason, Astreo had a strong premonition. 

"You know, the usual, but this time I've come to talk to you about something much more serious," Pandora waved her wand and summoned two chairs so they could both sit down comfortably. When they did, Pandora spoke again.

"How are you feeling?" asked Pandora in a tone of concern. 

"Well... I can't say I'm fine, but I'm much happier than before, having Astreo with me has made things a lot easier than I thought," Aurora replied after a few seconds of silence, pain seeping through her words, but a stroke of her son's hand across her face brought her smile back. 

"Yes, Astreo is a little sunshine in your life, isn't he?" Pandora's words made Aurora nod, no doubt her friend was right. 

"You know, I'm very curious, maybe not as curious as my husband, but curious enough," Pandora stopped at this point, making the premonition Astreo felt increase, it seemed like something was happening around him, but he didn't understand what.

"Yes, although yours is more about spells, and Xenophilius' is more about strange creatures and certain... strange ideas" Aurora didn't want to offend her friend, but her husband was a strange guy who believed in strange things, even for the magical world they lived in. 

"Yes, the Rotfang Conspiracy may seem like a strange idea, but that's what they want you to believe, anyway, I didn't want to talk about that, I wanted to talk about your son and the strange things he does," Pandora quickly changed the subject to little Astreo, who looked at the whole situation strangely. 

Oh shit, they're going to expose me... ..... Do wizards do exorcisms? Well, I don't think so, I just hope the things Luna's mother says aren't that weird,' Astreo thought a bit nervously.

"What do you mean?" when it had to do with her son, Aurora would get very defensive, but Pandora smiled at her to calm her down. 

"It's nothing bad, don't worry. But I've been looking at your son the last few days, and he's much more special than he looks, haven't you noticed?" the woman asked, her words causing Aurora to look down at her son's bright, big brown eyes. 

"He has beautiful eyes, but I don't understand what you're talking about," Aurora shook her head as she turned her attention back to her friend.

"Yes, he does, but what I wanted to tell you is that your son is special, not only does he seem to have a high sensitivity to magic, but he also seems to be much smarter than normal magical babies, and that's saying a lot in comparison. 

Not only that but haven't you noticed how he seems to amuse himself by punching other babies in the face? That last one may be just for fun, but I see something else in him, he seems to be aware of his surroundings, of himself," Pandora's explanation plunged the classroom into an uncomfortable silence. 

'Shit,' Astreo thought as he saw his mother looking at him with a strange expression.

"Yes, he may look strange, but that's just a sign that he's a special boy. And I know you'll raise him to be a good boy because of Marcus' influence, I even imagine you'll send him to a Muggle school, right?" asked Pandora, making Aurora nod. 

"Marcus always complained that we wizards lacked logic and a lot of common sense, he wanted our son to study in a Muggle school like him, with the advantage that he could also acquire knowledge about the magical world, not like him", remembering her husband, Aurora became a little sad, but Pandora took advantage of the fact that the iron was hot. 

"You see, I'm pregnant, and as much as I like the idea of my daughter growing up well, I know that she will be very much influenced by my and my husband's 'quirks', so seeing how special your child is, I thought of something that can be good not only for our children but for our families," Pandora subtly changed the subject, adding details and keywords before revealing her true purpose. 

"You are a brilliant woman, your daughter will be just like you. So what have you come up with?" asked Aurora, causing a Cheshire cat grin to appear on her friend's face. 

"I want your son to grow up with my daughter, I know you want to be an astronomy teacher here at Hogwarts, I can take care of your son while you're away, not only that, my daughter can also go to the same muggle school as Astreo, and..." Aurora nodded in agreement with every sentence Pandora said until she heard the last one and couldn't help but scream.

"What?!" Normally she wouldn't be shocked by this, but she was learning some ideas from her husband that would be considered 'progressive' by the staunchest puritans of the magical world.

"Relax, it's nothing strange, and they will grow up together, they will have all the time to get to know each other, we can agree on some things like that it's up to them after the age of 17 to decide when to get married, and we can even fix the dowry to a single galleon, just so it won't be some money between us. Or is my future daughter not enough for your son?" everything had already been said, all that remained was to close the deal, something easy for her. 

"It's not like that, Pandora. A marriage contract is something serious and I don't know... I'm not from a noble family like you, you know? My son is a half-breed, and as much as I love him, I know he will live under a certain ostracism and stigma because of it. 

You know what Marcus used to tell me when we were together? That he was lucky wizards didn't discriminate based on skin color, or our son would be in a worse situation. He hated the fight, but he had to do it to have a better future for little Astreo, me..." Aurora began to cry at this point, and Pandora went over to hug her. 

"Come on, let it all out, don't resist crying, I know you're strong, Aurora, but the pain needs to be drained with tears, so let it all out. 

I have grown very fond of your son and I know he will be a great man in the future who will be able to protect my little moon as much as Marcus protected you, so give him a chance, ok?" although a bit manipulative, Pandora had never lied in this whole process, all her words were true and it was what she felt. 

Not knowing if Aurora registered her words or not, Pandora gently patted her friend's back, who had rested her face on her shoulder as she continued to cry for several minutes. Astreo felt like crying as well, but he held back the urge to let out his cry, even though his eyes watered, he didn't cry out.

His mother needed it, and though he recognized the subtle manipulation in Pandora's words, he didn't mind, after all, in his first life, he was a Luna Lovegood simp. 

But he knew that this was the real world and very different from books, movies, or fanfics, so he had to take things seriously, even if he learned that in his second life. 

'Well, in my third life, I've achieved what I couldn't in the other two, really, the third time's always the charm, but I'd like to do something for Mom...' Astreo thought, his magic stirring wildly for the first time since he was born and responding to his wishes.

Aurora and Pandora were surprised when a white handkerchief was conjured and floated gently to the brunette's wet cheeks. The handkerchief began to wipe away the mother's tears, and this action-filled both women's hearts with love. 

'Yes, he is special,' both women thought as they realized what had happened.