"Alright, enough pretending. We know you're happy too!"
Pandora walked into the house with a smile and soon came back out carrying a plate of freshly made snacks, setting it down in front of Tom. "Here, try these. I made a new flavor just for you. Tell me what you think."
[For the snacks, I'll forgive you!]
Tom lifted his chin in a haughty little motion, then trotted straight to the table and started devouring the treats.
Pandora's smile grew even wider as she watched him eat like he hadn't seen food in days. Luna had somehow appeared across from him without anyone noticing, watching him with bright, expectant eyes.
"Tom, eat faster! Once you're done, tell me everything about school! Was that Santa Claus at Christmas connected to you? And you must have seen a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, right? If you could make such a realistic doll, you must have made friends with one!"
The "doll" Luna was talking about was the Christmas gift Tom had given her.
After learning how to make alchemy golems from Nicolas, the first one Tom had created wasn't the Santa Claus golem. It had been a statue of a magical creature—one that existed only in the Lovegoods' imagination: the Crumple-Horned Snorkack.
Truthfully, Tom could have shattered Luna's fantasy and told her the creature didn't exist. But why would he do that? As the best cat in the world, breaking his owner's dreams wasn't something a proper familiar did.
Since Luna wanted to see this magical animal so badly, he had simply made one for her.
Creating an entirely new species of magical creature wasn't easy, but whipping up a single alchemy golem? Child's play for Tom. He just hadn't felt like putting the effort in until now.
Looking at Luna and Xenophilius's hopeful faces, Tom gave them a mysterious little smile.
(Well… you're going to Hogwarts this year anyway, Luna. Some things are better confirmed in person, don't you think?)
"Mm… okay. You're right."
Luna hesitated for a moment, then nodded firmly. "I'll find one myself!"
(That's the spirit. Once term starts, I'll introduce you to a few new friends. Magical creature friends, that is.)
Tom had already decided he was going to show Norberta, Cosmia, and Stellaris to Luna once school began. Especially the two unicorns—he had a feeling they would take to someone as fae-like as Luna.
"What?! That's not fair!"
Xenophilius hadn't caught every word, but from his daughter's reaction he could guess Tom hadn't confirmed whether Crumple-Horned Snorkacks actually existed in the Forbidden Forest. He had been hoping for a front-page story in the next issue of The Quibbler. Now it looked like—
Still, he could work with this. A headline was still possible.
He couldn't outright claim Hogwarts had Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, but "suspected existence" was fair game. After all, Tom was studying there, and Newt Scamander was teaching there too. Who knew what new magical creatures might have been discovered?
Thinking about it that way, it actually made perfect sense. Decision made—the next issue would run with it.
No, wait. If he revealed everything at once, readers would lose the suspense. Better to stretch it across several issues. Yes. That was the move.
Xenophilius muttered to himself as he turned and hurried upstairs toward his study, already lost in planning the next several editions.
[What's with him?]
Tom watched Xenophilius's retreating back with mild confusion. The man had always been enthusiastic about writing, but he didn't usually abandon everything mid-conversation to go work on an article.
"Dad said that once term starts, both Tom and I will be at Hogwarts, and Mum will have her own things to do. He wants to get used to living alone. Ever since then he's been like this—completely buried in The Quibbler and nothing else."
Luna sounded resigned, but there wasn't much she could do about it. It wasn't like she could refuse to go to Hogwarts, or ask Tom to stay home.
So she had simply gotten used to her father's current state.
(I see~)
Tom stroked his chin thoughtfully. Remembering Newt and Nicolas's invitations, he suddenly had a very bad idea.
If Xenophilius wanted to practice being alone, Tom was more than happy to help him practice.
He had originally planned to bring all three Lovegoods with him to Newt's. But now…
[Luna, Pandora—sis—I've got some good news.]
He told them about Newt's invitation.
[So, after I rest here for a couple of days, how about I take you both to visit him? Luna, you've admired Professor Scamander for ages, right? I invited you before and you said no. Now he's invited us for the holidays. You're not going to turn him down this time, are you? And Pandora, that new spell we talked about—I'm still not great at that kind of magic, and if we pull it off, I'd rather share the credit with my family.]
Luna looked uncertain, but Pandora spoke first. "Leaving Filus here by himself? That doesn't feel right~"
Even as she said it, the excited gleam in her eyes made it obvious she was already sold on the idea.
[What's wrong with that? Filus said he wanted to get used to living alone, didn't he? This is the perfect chance for him to practice.]
"Well, when you put it that way… I suppose you're right. Since it's for practice, we don't really have a choice."
Pandora accepted immediately, no hesitation at all. Luna was still wrestling with it, but once her mother had agreed, there wasn't much point in arguing.
Besides, she really did want to meet Newt in person. Maybe he even knew where to find a real Crumple-Horned Snorkack.
So she nodded too.
And just like that, Xenophilius was sold out by his wife and daughter without ever knowing it had happened. Congratulations all around.
The next stretch of time passed in a peaceful, pleasantly routine way for Tom at the Lovegood house.
Every morning he was woken by the smell of Pandora's baking. After breakfast and snacks he would sprawl in the garden and soak up the sun, occasionally getting dragged upstairs by Xenophilius to help sort through material for The Quibbler. The work was unpaid, but the wild ideas were entertaining enough that Tom didn't mind.
In the afternoons he moved his sunbathing operation to the windowsill outside Luna's bedroom, dozing while she read books about magical creatures. Sometimes the neighbor cats would come over looking for attention. On those days Tom would break out the giant bottle of catnip Harry and the others had given him and entertain the little visitors.
It was funny—being a cat himself didn't dampen his enthusiasm for petting other cats one bit. Thanks to the catnip, he quickly became the neighborhood felines' favorite dreamboat.
Every so often he would pull out the alchemy gadgets he had made and tinker with them. Even though he had maxed out his alchemy skills, the items still had little quirks—probably because of his own cartoon-logic influence.
For example, he had once tried making an automatic stir-fry pot so he could change up his meals. The pot worked… just not for cooking. It turned whatever ingredients he threw in into random potions instead. Same ingredients, same timing, same heat—once it produced a hair-growth potion, the next time a hair-loss potion. He was just grateful Snape existed, otherwise he would have had no idea what half the things coming out of that pot actually were.
Snape really was something else. Tom had thrown in potato strips and ginger, and Snape had still been able to identify the resulting potions just from appearance and smell. Tom would have loved to know what had gone through the man's head when he realized two different potions had come from the same mundane ingredients.
There were plenty of other quirky gadgets too, each with its own minor issues—either in the final result or during the process. Harmless, but Tom preferred fixing them when he had the time.
On a side note, according to the twins, Molly had kept up appearances for Ron in public, but the second they got home her expression had changed. Every morning at dawn she dragged him out of bed and planted him at the desk to study, with the twins assigned as supervisors. Let's just say Ron was already regretting not trying harder during term.
As for the twins themselves—they spent their days trying to figure out how to bypass the Ministry Trace. Research was one thing, but they still didn't have the nerve to actually cast with their own wands. If they ever did, they would discover the Ministry was completely powerless to stop them anyway. The Ministry's rules were basically a joke.
Speaking of Ministry rules, Hermione came up in Tom's occasional letters. She had planned to visit Ron over the holidays, but her parents—after not seeing their daughter for a year—had decided to take her abroad for a proper break. So Hermione had "illegally emigrated" via Muggle means. All the paperwork was in order on the Muggle side, but as a witch she was supposed to notify the Ministry before leaving the country. She hadn't.
In a very technical sense, she was now an illegal emigrant.
When Tom pointed this out in a letter, Hermione had gone quiet for a moment before letting out a very un-Hermione-like shriek. Fortunately, Tom had already sent her one of his anti-Trace pouches. As long as she kept her wand inside it, the Ministry couldn't track her location.
Though it did raise the question of whether students even needed to notify the Ministry before traveling abroad. Tom hadn't seen any specific clause about it in the regulations. Typical Ministry—full of holes. Their rules were a lot like Hogwarts' school rules: if you didn't get caught, it didn't count.
Hannah and Draco stayed in touch too, though in different ways. Hannah wrote letters complaining about being roped into unpaid labor at home and occasionally sent Tom homemade snacks. Draco was more cautious—he didn't want Lucius finding out about his current friend group—so he rarely wrote. Instead he occasionally stuck his head through the Floo network for quick chats.
The one person Tom hadn't heard from was Harry. Even when Tom reached out first, there was no reply. He didn't think Harry was avoiding him, but it was strange. Draco was already part of their circle—Dobby shouldn't still be intercepting letters. But if it wasn't Dobby, then who?
He made a mental note to ask Draco about his house-elf situation the next time they spoke. Before that could happen, though, a message from Newt arrived.
(Looks like I won't be able to reach Harry for now.)
Tom shook his head as he read the invitation.
(Doesn't matter. I already gave him a way to hide his magic use from the Ministry. Even if the Dursleys act up, they can't actually do anything to him while he can still cast.)
With that settled, Tom stopped worrying about Harry and focused on the immediate future.
"So? Time to go?"
While Xenophilius was once again shut away upstairs working on The Quibbler, Tom called Pandora and Luna over.
[Of course. Newt already sent the address.]
He waved the letter Newt had sent.
"In that case, we're counting on you."
Pandora smiled and gave Tom's head a gentle pat. He grumbled something under his breath, then flicked his tail and teleported the three of them out of the house.