分卷阅读19（2 / 2）

Harry put a hand up. That was it. Malfoy stepped forward like he had something to say, but Harry whipped around and shot him a look to stay quiet. Trying to gather his thoughts, Harry said, “Unless Zivantus did have access to the plant.” Malfoy raised a brow in question. Harry repeated the ransom note in his head and continued, “…when it wasn’t extinct. Do you think when they say ‘timepiece’ they mean Time Turner?”

Malfoy’s eyes bulged. Harry couldn’t help but throw him a slight smile. Who had the crazier theory now? He cocked his head as he felt a rush of something being shared between them, connecting them, something charged, and he almost couldn’t look away.

A knock from the door echoed through the office. Harry snapped his head to see who it was. A mess of long blonde curls poked through the opening door, “I had to wait for the mad clouds to pass outside Hagrid’s, but—”

“Luna?” Harry breathed. Stepping into the room with a basket in her arms, Luna Lovegood smiled as she took in the others.

“Hello Harry,” she greeted. “Neville. Draco. Pansy. I didn’t realize it would be a group tea today, but I think I have enough Black Bean Hoof Brittle to go around.” Luna walked in, set her basket on the desk, and pulled out a food box. “It’s said to help stop Tinsel Gnats from nesting in your armpits.”

Neville shook his head, laughing. “I thought you were waiting to try this recipe until the hols?”

Luna pulled out a thermos. “I told you Nev, we keep tinsel up at the house all year round.” She turned to Harry and Draco and said, “For some reason the Tinsel Gnats are especially bad right now.” After transfiguring enough cups for everyone, Luna poured the tea and distributed it. “So what are we consulting on today?”

Neville spit out his tea. “What makes you think—”

“Harry’s an auror. Pansy works with rare, charmed objects, and Draco—” Luna turned her perceptive gaze on the blond and sized him up in her inoffensive and impartial way. “Draco doesn’t rest until the problem has been fixed.”

Luna opened the food box and served them each a slice of the brittle. Harry wasn’t sure if it actually qualified as brittle if it oozed out of its spongy layers.

Pansy took a look at the plate and set it on one of Neville’s crowded bookshelves, then fixed Luna with a calculating stare. “How do you know what I do, Lovegood?”

The question had been lingering in Harry’s mind as well. He hadn’t had time to ask Parkinson, and unsurprisingly, their paths had never crossed since—since the days after the Battle of Hogwarts.

But Neville answered before Luna, whose mouth was occupied in an awkward looking series of movements that resembled chewing. “Hagrid won’t stop raving about that antique carved Scandinavian sideboard you found him.” Pansy blushed, and Neville turned to Harry. “It’s charmed to warm at different climates depending on what animals you need to store in it.”

The mention of Hagrid put a smile on Harry’s face. For a few minutes he was able to talk and catch up with his friends, the spiralling delirium he’d been in earlier wiped from his thoughts. After Pansy finished telling them about the strangest object she’d ever procured for a client, she asked Luna what kept her busy.

“I have an investigative article in this week’s Quibbler about celebrity changelings. It’s a real shame we lose so many figureheads to these shameless monsters.” Luna turned to Harry. “I thought you’d been a victim a few weeks ago. Someone had spotted you at that wizarding nightclub in Edinburgh dancing with a lovely mature ficus.”

“What?” Harry coughed. He was used to wild rumors but the fact that someone had put him in Edinburgh set off alarms.

Luna leaned over and patted his arm. “Don’t worry, no one believed it was you.”

Igora wondered if the Ashtyl Hotel would be able to thrive in the coming years with all the changes the New Ministry was implementing. Not only was their Floo Room spotless, but the entire place, penthouse crime scene aside, had to be the cleanest building she’d ever set foot in. But the rumors kept circulating that reforms were coming in regards to House Elves and indentured magical creatures, which would impact the Ashtyl and the larger service industry. But the Ashtyl Hotel, and Igora, were preoccupied with a murder investigation, so the Ministry would have to wait in turn.

She and Felix made their way into the lobby and headed toward the lift.