House-elves? Portkey? Teleportation? Floo? It was questions on top of more questions. Andrew wondered if/when he would be able to find the answers for them all. He was intrigued by the silver locket that Luna showed him, but since Andrew hadn’t experienced or witnessed any act of teleportation, he couldn’t grasp the mechanism as to how the locket worked, or what teleportation really was (in wizard terms).

Andrew nearly opened his mouth to ask a further teleportation question concerning the locket, but on a second thought, decided not to. He didn’t want to bother Luna with asking too many questions and prying into everything at once. He figured he would learn it all eventually. For now, he had to focus on getting his schoolbooks.

Once Andrew had the book of “Fantastic Beasts” in his hands, he eagerly opened it (balancing the other books in his arms, as he did so) and began flipping through the pages, marveling over the illustrations and headings of magical beasts: Some of the names were familiar to him – Centaurs, Leprechauns, Yetis – as well as many others that he hadn’t heard of before – Bundimun?...Nogtail?...Snallygaster? Andrew couldn’t believe that these creatures actually existed in the real world! Or did they? He almost didn’t even care to think about what made sense anymore.

So fascinated was he, absorbed by his new book, that Andrew nearly lost track of where he was and where he was heading. After nearly bumping into a customer, which snapped his attention away from the book, he realized that he was lagging a few steps behind Luna, and that he was distracting himself from the task at hand. Andrew quickly shut the book to regain his focus and caught up to Luna’s side. He could save his curiosity for later and read the book at home.

When Luna mentioned her brother, Andrew replied happily, “I have a little brother too. And an older sister. Plus my mum and dad.” Speaking of which, he wondered what his parents and siblings could be up to, since he last saw them. He certainly hoped they didn't get lost inside the bookshop. He then asked Luna, “How many are you, in your family?”

Hearing the title “Dark Forces” sent a small chill up Andrew’s spine, as if he could feel an unspoken evil about the words, although he didn’t know why. He followed after Luna's lead.

“Sounds spooky,” Andrew commented, pondering for a moment. “Does that have to with magic? Like, dark magic?” He began drawing an assumption from fantasy literature and films. Usually, there was a "good" side and an "evil" side when it came to magic. Perhaps it was the same here. “Does that mean there’s ‘light’ magic?—Like ‘good’ magic? And ‘dark’ magic is… bad?”

I have been busy lately, sorry for the late reply!

Seeing Andrew was quite focused on the book, Luna decided not to interrupt him. She didn't have much interested in it, but the girl knew that everyone had different taste in books. Luna took out the list and checked how many books left to buy, while still listening about his family. "I have an older brother, a younger brother and my parents. My older brother is a student of Hogwarts, but the other is too young to go there." She hoped that Oliver, her younger brother, wouldn't feel too lonely when both of his siblings weren't able to play with him when they had to go to Hogwarts.

Luna rolled her eyes and answered his question, " People tend to think so. But as for me, I think it depends on the person who uses that spell. For example..." She stopped and tried to think of an example, but she couldn't. Nothing came on her mind, and if she wasn't wrong, the books that she had read, none of them talked much about this. Luna stuttered, but she still tried to calm herself down "Well, I mean dark magic could be good and bad at the same time, and good magic either."

Hearing Luna talk about her family, Andrew considered her lucky that she had an older brother at Hogwarts who could tell her information among other tips and advice about the school beforehand. If Luna’s relationship with her brothers was anything close like his with his siblings… At least Luna would have the company of one of her brothers at Hogwarts. Unlike Andrew. He couldn’t bring any of his family with him. He was going to Hogwarts alone. His thoughts were too busy on gathering school supplies and the thrill of discovering more about the wizarding world for him to dwell on the sadness and anxiety of one day leaving his whole family behind. But that milestone was still a few months away. He didn’t have to worry ahead about it. Not yet anyways.

“Well, that’s helpful,” Andrew commented. “I guess you already know some stuff about the school from your brother.”

He noticed Luna’s stumble for a response when he delved into talking about Dark Magic. Perhaps his questions were getting too deep and philosophical. Andrew didn’t want to drag Luna any further into a topic that she might not be able to discuss about, so he decided to go back to asking questions that pertained more directly to her. Speaking of magic, Andrew wondered whether Luna had experience with performing magic on her own. Obviously if she came from a pure-blood family, he reckoned she must have.

“Have you done any magic yourself? Practiced any? Oh, did you already get your wand? I got mine about an hour ago,” he said with a note of pride, yet also chuckling at himself. He found the situation humorous. Here he was with a girl that had been a witch all her life, whereas he had only been living as a wizard for one hour. And yet, both of them were still on the same level, year-wise anyways.

After selecting a black-covered copy of "The Dark Forces” and adding it to his growing stack of books, Andrew whipped out his own Supply List, checking with Luna. “Right, only two more left to go. ‘Book of Spells’ and ‘Magical Theory’.”

While on the hunt for the Book of Spells, Andrew felt a growing self-consciousness about the amount of questions he had been heaping upon Luna. “Sorry if I’m bugging you, asking a lot,” he said sheepishly, while trying to control his own enthusiasm. “I’m just so excited, and nervous, and I have no idea what I’m doing.” He sighed wistfully. “I just wish I knew everything that you do. What everybody else knows.” He only had a few months to catch up on a lifetime of wizarding knowledge that he reckoned most students at Hogwarts already had. He felt so far behind.

"Yeah, actually you can read some books about Hogwarts too, they will explain about the school to you. It would be nice if we can go around Hogwarts together too, but our hobbies are quite different." And even if they did not meet each other often, their relationship was still good as normal.

Magic by herself... "Using magic without a wand is really hard, you know. I usually read books to improve my knowledge more than trying to spell something. I still try to control my magic though, I don't want to lose control of my magic and accidentally use it when I'm too surprised, angry or stuff like that." And it might help her after she went to Hogwarts. When she had too many homework to do, for example, she wouldn't need to waste her time searching for the answer. But she still knew that only knowledge wasn't enough, practicing was important too, and she would start to practice once she went to Hogwarts."How about you? Did you try to control your emotion or magic?"

"I just got my wand before coming here. From the shop of Mister Ollivander. It was made from aspen wood and unicorn hair, and yours? I'm impressed by his memory too, he could still remember my father, mother, and brother." Not to mention, he still remembered the materials of their wands too... Mister Ollivander is a bit creepy but no one could refuse that he had an impressive memory.

Two more books left, time passed quite fast when you focused on something. In this situation, talking with Andrew and buying books. She gave Andrew a smile to calm him down, though the smile disappeared quickly, "Don't worry, my brother usually asks me a lot of question too, I'm used to it. Not to mention, I don't mind about answering those." Helping people was one of the things that she liked to do. She didn't mind helping them at all, and she couldn't refuse their request either.

"Don't worry, you will be fine. You are just a wizard, a young one, not to mention you weren't born from a family like us, so of course, there is a lot of things that you don't know." She didn't say this for an example, but actually, if the girl stepped in a Muggle shop, she would be just like him right now. "Every day learn something new. I'm sure you will fit soon, don't be too sad about that."

Luna took two Book of Spell and gave one for Andrew, one for her. "Only one left now."

“That would be nice to have a tour around,” Andrew said. He wouldn’t mind having Luna as companion while he familiarized himself with the layout of the school. A friendly contact was always nice to have around, even if they didn’t become best friends. At Luna’s advice, he would make sure to read up on some information about the school (he figured Hogwarts, A History would be a good place to start, judging from the title). Or at least try to anyways.

He was fascinated by Luna’s account – being careful not to lose control of her magic, which was usually based on her emotions. Mostly because Andrew couldn’t relate to it. Unlike most wizards and witches his age, Andrew hadn’t experienced an early “first sign” of magic that might’ve hinted to himself or his family that he was unusual. He been an ordinary Muggle for as long as he could remember. That was, until he picked up his first wand at Ollivanders – that moment of truth, when everything changed for him.

“Well, the only magic I did was with my wand, when I was at Ollivanders.” Andrew recounted the bizarre accidents that had happened when he was trying out wands at the shop. “I lit the floor on fire, blew out some windows, and melted a counter top. But before that, I haven’t done any magic at all. At least I don’t think so.”

After the mention about the wandmaker, Andrew replied, “Mr. Ollivander? I don’t think I met him yet.” At the time he was at the wand shop, he had been helped by one of the other wandkeepers. “There was another lady that helped me though. She has a good memory too.” Unlike him, as he paused to remember what kind of wood and core his wand was composed of. “Mine is made of… applewood, and…some kind of bird feather.” After a few prompts, he finally recalled, “Thunderbird! Yeah, it was Thunderbird tail feather.” Andrew didn’t have his wand with him to show, as he had left it with his parents who were toting the purchases, leaving Andrew’s hands free to gather his schoolbooks while he was here.

Hearing Luna’s encouraging words lifted Andrew’s spirits. If everyone at Hogwarts was as understanding and supportive as she was, then perhaps adjusting to this strange new world and a new school would be easier than he thought.

The last book on the list was Magical Theory, which Andrew managed to locate first and handed one of the brown leather-bound copies to Luna, before taking one for himself. Once they were finished gathering their year’s worth of schoolbooks, they could lug them over the counters to pay, where Andrew would fish inside his sweater pocket and pull out a pouch of coins that had recently been dispensed to him, from Gringotts. He was excited to make his first solo purchase using wizarding money. No more pound or pence in this world. He meticulously counted out each galleon, sickle, and knut on the counter to exchange with the cashier.

With a bag of schoolbooks in hand and his task complete, Andrew was truly grateful for Luna’s company. “Thanks for helping me with everything. I hope we’ll see each other around at school.” He beamed a cheerful smile at the purple-haired girl. “Bye, Luna. See you!” He said, partially over his shoulder as he turned to walk away speedily into the shop to round up the rest of his family. They still had a few more shops to go to and several more items on his Supply List to find. Right now, he was off to a pretty good start.

Andrew Vance exits thread

Luna decided not to say anything after hearing what Andrew said about a tour around Hogwarts. She heard that the school was quite big, so it might be really hard for them to meet each other again unless they chose a place to have a meeting with each other. Not to mention, they might belong to different houses, which made things more impossible. But it would be nice if they could meet again, she agreed with that.

"It was your first time?" The girl asked again even though she knew she did not hear it wrong and felt a bit surprised. Were all Muggles born like that? It could be, sadly no one could answer her question. Her mother might know something, sadly Asteria did not want to talk about Muggles much. Maybe Luna would ask someone in Hogwarts, in the future if she met a Muggle-born. "I have never met someone likes that before... Maybe because you are special?" That might be an answer too, it was rare but Luna did not think that it was impossible.

She answered the boy with a nod. Interesting. Thunderbird tail feather and... applewood. After taking the *Magical Theory* which Andrew just gave her, Luna checked the list again. Seemed like this was the last book, and that meant that it was time to go and pay for them. The girl took out some galleons, sickles, and knuts from her pocket and gave them to the cashier. After taking the books from the cashier, she turned to Andrew and answered him. "No need to say thanks, I just do it because I'm bored." Luna was not used hearing the others saying thanks to her, so the girl randomly picked a reason. Not to mention, she did not want him to feel like he owed her a favor, and she liked helping people. "Goodbye, Andrew." She waved at him, and then stood there and thought if she should stay here or leave. After all, the reason why her father let her stayed here alone was that he thought she would read some books.

A soft sigh came from her mouth, and she had already had her answer. The girl went out of the shop and held her necklace. She mumbled the words, the words that would start the portkey. In a few seconds, the girl disappeared as she had never gone there.