Chapter 25: The Story of the First Spell

When Maca arrived at the Lovegood's house, Xenophilius Lovegood was busy preparing lunch in the kitchen, while Luna had set three place settings on the small dining table - Maca had already notified them that he would be coming over.

"Good afternoon, Maca," Luna said calmly, turning around when she heard movement by the fireplace, "Everything is set up over here."

"Good afternoon, Luna!" Maca looked at the dreamy girl in front of him and couldn't help but feel a strange sense of nostalgia - she hadn't changed at all.

"It's been a while, are you doing well?" Luna asked in her airy tone, as if it were just casual conversation.

"I'm fine, how about you?" Maca replied, taking a seat on the nearby couch.

"I'm not sure... maybe okay," Luna tilted her head, seeming to genuinely ponder her recent circumstances.

At that moment, Xenophilius Lovegood also finished drying his hands and walked over.

"Welcome here to spend Christmas together, my young reader," he said cheerfully, "Have you been reading my latest issues? I've written a lot about the Horned Snorkack, and the readers' reactions have been great!"

"Oh, yes! That's fantastic, you can tell me more about it later," Maca said, though he hadn't actually read any of them - he hardly had the time.

Although Xenophilius sent him a copy with every issue, he never actually read them.

"Alright then! But let's have lunch first, it's all ready," Xenophilius said, "I'll be busy after Christmas preparing for the end-of-year special edition of The Quibbler - I've got a lot of interesting content planned."

He led Maca to the table and served him a bowl of soup.

"...So, after Christmas, could you accompany Luna and me to the Muggle city for a visit?" he said, "You mentioned that you're quite familiar with Muggles, and I think you'd be better than me."

"Oh, sure!" Maca nodded.

"That would be wonderful! Luna has always wanted to see the Muggle way of life - she always loves the Muggle decorations I bring her," Xenophilius said, looking at his daughter with an affectionate smile.

Luna turned her head and showed Maca the cherry earrings hanging from her ears. She had a dreamy smile on her face, her big eyes sparkling with joy.

Lunch continued, with Maca chatting leisurely with the father and daughter, while intermittently contemplating the boundary between Muggles and wizards.

In the magical world, where pure-blood wizards still dominated, the distinction between wizards and Muggles remained clear. Despite the efforts of many predecessors, the deeply ingrained concept of segregation still firmly rooted itself in the hearts of most wizards.

Maca didn't have strong opinions about it; he just wanted to enjoy his peaceful life. He had a sense of being an ordinary person, even though he was a wizard - just an ordinary wizard at that.

The complex and troublesome matters were best left to great wizards like Dumbledore to solve.

"Luna, where should we go first? I think..." Maca pushed aside his chaotic thoughts and casually discussed their plans for the holiday with Luna.

Time always seemed to pass quickly at the Lovegood's house, mostly due to Luna's personality. The longer he spent with her, the more he found himself influenced by her whimsical thinking, making the whole world seem ethereal.

In Luna's presence, Maca no longer restrained his emotions, as it was hard to find sadness around her. They would often laugh heartily over trivial matters, or silently enjoy the tranquility of their surroundings.

In a daze, Christmas Eve arrived.

Xenophilius was busy in his study on the second floor, while Maca and Luna, as they did the night before, leaned against the outer wall of the house, gazing up at the endless night sky.

The stars were few tonight, mostly obscured by a thin layer of clouds. A hazy crescent moon occasionally peeked through, casting a silver glow over the hillside.

"My mother gave me her favorite thing as my name," Luna said, looking up at the moon, smiling quietly as if speaking to someone else, rather than to Maca beside her.

Maca nodded, regardless of whether Luna looked at him or not.

"And you?" Luna asked, "How did you get your name?"

Maca chuckled, his laughter uncertain, but Luna didn't seem to mind.

"I chose it myself, I've always been called that," Maca said, "Always."

"That's nice," Luna said, "My mother often said that a wizard's name represents their life's journey - where they come from, and where they will go."

Maca stopped laughing at her words, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. He couldn't even tell if it was tears of joy or sadness.

"Yes! It represents where we come from, and perhaps it will also tell us where we will go..."

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, the Lovegood's house was besieged by owls...

Numerous owls of various colors, breeds, and sizes were scattered on the lawn slope in front of the house, as the roof and window ledges were already occupied by others - they had all come to deliver Christmas gifts to Maca.

For the first time, Maca realized just how popular he was. Normally, hardly anyone would come talk to him, so who could have sent him so many gifts?

Awoken by a series of pecks, Maca hurriedly rushed out and brought all the gifts inside, piling them up in the small living room of the Lovegood's house.

At this moment, Luna, still half-asleep and even more dazed than usual, emerged from her room wearing her red and green checkered pajamas.

"Maca, are these gifts for me?" she asked vaguely, holding a small envelope in her hand.

"Yes! Open it and see! This is the gift I spent the most time on this year among all the Christmas gifts I've sent out," Maca said cheerfully, "Merry Christmas, Luna."

"What about my gift? Where's my gift?" Xenophilius, standing nearby, was as excited as a child, eagerly asking Maca.

"It's coming soon." Maca's smile widened.

"Um... hmm, what's this?" Luna gently tore open the envelope, pulling out a thin card filled with tiny letters and symbols.

"It's a spell," Maca said, "It's the spell that went wrong during the experiment. I've completed its analysis."

Without needing to explain, the father and daughter immediately understood - this was the spell that caused Luna to lose her mother, and Xenophilius to lose his wife!

They exchanged glances, both noticing a hint of moisture in each other's eyes.

Maca was right; they didn't hold any hatred towards this spell - they didn't harbor resentment towards anyone or anything. Their feelings towards this spell were only filled with regret.

Luna's mother, Pandora Lovegood, was someone who loved experimenting with magical spells. Due to the suddenness of the experiment gone wrong, she didn't leave behind any explanation. And this spell had almost become her only wish.

When Xenophilius buried his wife, he buried her experimental notes alongside her in the grave, hoping that it would allow her to continue her favorite pastime in the unknown beyond.

But neither of them expected that Luna, who had witnessed the entire process at the scene, would firmly remember it in her heart; even more unexpectedly, Maca would silently find and complete the analysis of the spell based solely on Luna's casual description of the incident.

For Luna and her father, Maca's Christmas gift was even more precious than anything else.

"Thank you, thank you!" Xenophilius's voice trembled noticeably.

And Luna, her sleepiness completely gone, walked towards Maca, embracing him tightly and not letting go for a long time. In the moment their eyes met, Maca keenly noticed that Luna, at this moment, had completely lost her usual dreaminess; her big eyes were filled with determination.

For a long time, when they parted, Luna held the thin card in her hands, her expression once again becoming dreamy. The scene seemed to tell Maca that what he had just witnessed was merely an illusion.

"Alright Luna, come help me open the gifts! Let's see who sent them all, I don't remember making so many friends!" Maca laughed.

That night, Xenophilius prepared a large feast with plenty of food - roast meats, turkeys, dipping sauces, and more, as if he had used up all his savings for tonight.

Of course, the Lovegood's house also had a variety of unique foods, overwhelming Maca with their diversity.

They indulged themselves, cheering happily at times and whispering softly at others. When the atmosphere reached its peak, Luna, who usually didn't like to dance, even pulled Maca into a dance.

This Christmas Eve dinner, with only three people, was woven into their laughter, lasting until late into the night...

At dawn the next day, as the sky was just starting to lighten, Xenophilius cast a Disillusionment Charm and led the two of them to the cemetery on the outskirts of Plymouth.

Maca stood quietly on the side, watching as Luna lit the card filled with analytical formulas, slowly burning it to ashes in front of her mother's gravestone.

It wasn't until then that Maca learned from Xenophilius that Luna's mother, Pandora, was originally from a Muggle village not far from here.

Maca watched the lonely figure squatting in front of the gravestone.

Her waist-length, waterfall-like golden soft hair, once again shone with a beautiful and innocent halo in the rising sun.

"Protecting spirit."

Maca was touched. He silently watched the young girl in front of him, murmuring to himself, as a faint silvery-white light enveloped him.