Chapter 93.3 The Train (POV Gabrielle Delacour)

POV Gabrielle Delacour

There were two options: I could recruit fighters through Anthony, heal them, and organize my own security, though I planned to do that later; I could contact Megan and invite her and all her people to move here. They don't seem to be doing very well, and there's plenty of room and freedom in Britain and Europe for an intelligent company of her caliber. I wonder if she'll agree. I burned the second letter as soon as I read it, in the usual way.

An idea popped into my head, born from the memory of various debates and memories of my past life. Why not try it out?

— Luna, — by the way, Xenophilius once said that the girl liked the shortened version of her own name better. — You said you see some "nargles", "crumple-horned snorkacks" and other creatures. Can you draw them?

— I'm sorry, but I'm really bad at drawing, so it won't look right. — The girl sighed sadly and sucked on a half-full glass.

— Can you show me?

— How?

— There is a technique from my homeland that allows a magician to show memories. It's similar to your Legilimenship, but the mage chooses what to show, and it's impossible to go beyond that memory. Shall we try it? — I told the truth, by the way, because I don't see the point in lying, especially since Luna, as it turns out, can somehow sense lies.

— That doesn't bother me. — The girl shrugs. — What do you have to do?

— Take a look. These are controlled dream charms. — I will show you two strips of paper with hieroglyphs on them. — I need you to remember as accurately as possible what you want to show me, then we will activate the seals — each of us — and observe your memory. Shall we begin?

After receiving an affirmative nod, I showed you how to activate the talisman, how to hold it correctly (between folded palms), and waited. For about ten minutes there was silence in the compartment, with a faint extraneous noise of car wheels and voices from the corridor and the neighboring compartment. I felt a slight nudge in my talisman, closed my eyes and cast a spell.

For the next few minutes, I have the pleasure of observing the world as if it were slightly blurred and barely visible, a gray, almost transparent mist everywhere. My gaze shifts from the hilly terrain to the trees, in whose branches sometimes blurry, fast, dark gray shadows flicker. A few times I manage to catch a glimpse of a spiny tail, a wing, a paw. The memory becomes unstable, shaky, blurred, and I open my eyes. Hmmm...

— Did you get it? — asks the blonde, looking at the worked talisman with interest.

— Yes, it worked. — I nod thoughtfully. — Strange creatures. And they meet often?

— Quite often. — The girl looks up from her empty glass and wraps a curly strand around her finger. — They like to nest in dark places near people, and they also like to steal things....

— I think you're wrong, Luna. — The girl looks interested. — I've heard of goblins, harmful parasites, and also quite famous from fairy tales. It could be them.

— I haven't met any gremlins in our fairy tales. — The girl frowned slightly. — Do you remember the authors?

— Not really, I admit. — But I think any bookshop in London would have them. — There's one thing I'm getting at. — They're Muggle books. If you're interested, I'll ask the maid to send you some books, hmm?

 —Dreamer accepted the offer, and I immediately wrote a letter asking the maid to send all the letters in one fell swoop when we arrived at Hogwarts. For another hour or so we just chatted about everything. Luna turned out to be well-versed in magical zoology and herbology, good at potions and charms, and a little worse at Transfiguration.

So much for being a Ravenclaw student! After the candy seller passed by, the girl and I snacked on my supplies. Just as we were warming our hands over large bowls of herbs and berries and a vase of untouched cookies on the table, the doors opened again and I saw the Greengrass sisters on the doorstep, also seated and drunk on a fragrant collection of cookies. Daphne kept a polite distance and stayed only to look after her sister.

Astoria, on the other hand, didn't hesitate to pull out all the cookies and a few more cakes until she was full. Afterwards, I was bombarded with a waterfall of thanks for the gift, as well as accusations of not having enough music. It turned out that the girl would not part with the pendant for a moment, and also demanded that her parents buy all the available assortment in the girl's preferred range of favorite colors.

Now the newly formed music lover demanded more! Daphne did not react at all to this stream of cute threats and ultimatums. I decided to play around and give Astoria a complete collection of already existing, as well as those songs that managed to pull out of memories, the band "Rammstein". By the way, the crystals with the records of this band are always colored in the "fire" style. And I also warned that it is impossible to copy the "lollipops", and I would not give them to anyone else — there is a store, let all those who want them go there. But nobody forbids people to exchange them or to let each other hear them, right?

After a while Daphne left us, thanking us dryly for the tea, but Astoria stayed in the compartment until we were told of our imminent arrival.