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[newtralize]

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Ah. Er, hello? Oh, uhm. This is rather weird...right! T-This is Newt Scamander. Well, actually, this is a pre recorded message for Newt Scamander. I'm quite busy, so I may have missed you. Do please leave a message and I'll get back to you. Apologies.

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[newtralize]

Well, it's a good thing that I've never been one to bend to the opinions of others. Even if I did, they certainly would have found something else they didn't agree with when it pertained to me. [Because most kids didn't agree with him. And they still don't agree with him now that they're all adults.]

Arrogance is a word used for someone who views their way of thinking as superior and would see to undermine others. I find that you are much too humble for that, unfortunately. You might have to try a smidge harder if you wish for me to consider you anything remotely close to arrogant. [And he knows that Luna values his opinion much more than necessary.

He takes the book from Luna and already he feels something was...off. He had signed countless copies and he remembers the particulars of certain things that most wouldn't. The feeling of the cover against his fingertips to the weight of a book in his hands. Hers seemed...too light?

For a moment he's distracted before blinking once or twice.] Oh, uhm. I suppose I'm a bit peckish. You, uhm, don't have...to worry about it. [He falters when he mentions being hungry because it just reminds him of the smell of her blood. Oh, dear. That's distracting.] Yes! Nothing to, uhm, worry about.

[creidim]

Oh, that's alright. I have no intention of being arrogant, really. [ She grins a little at that, though. A joke! And it's nice that he does approve, in all honesty. Considering how long she's been met with disapproval for much of what she does — and he's right, she does value his opinion. ] Although I'm happy enough if you want to take note of any addendum I've made.

[ Newt has been kind enough to share his work with her these last couple of months, it seems fitting she offer her own thoughts in return.

She tilts her head slightly when she looks at him, eyes narrowing a fraction. She wants to believe him but often people being told not to worry about things is usually cause to worry about things, she's found. She opens her mouth to ask — but something else catches her off-guard.

His handling of the book, as if noting something. Luna blinks, pausing for a few moments as he seems distracted by it. That's... a strange reaction. And she's not really sure why. ]

Is something wrong—?

[newtralize]

[There's a lot for Newt's mind to take in at the moment. A struggle when he had just woken up. He can't help but keep glancing at her bandaged hand, but he absentmindedly runs his fingers over the cover of the book as he tries to form coherent thoughts.]

Luna. [Lighter. Water damage notable on the cover. The way it closes makes him feel like that there were pages missing-] Did people- Did your book get stolen at some point? [He says slowly and carefully. A mix between being slightly distracted and trying to concentrate on the book at hand.]

I don't know if newer editions might differ so greatly to my first edition, but...

[Newt decides to open the book up.] Ah.

[creidim]

Well— [ There's no use in lying about it, is there? Not that she lies anyway. Newt knows fine well how she's been treated by her peers, she's admitted it to him herself. This... isn't something she knows she can blame on Nargles. This was something actually done by another student, as much as she downplays it.

She exhales slowly, almost shakily, fiddling with her hands for a moment. ] Back in my fourth year — it went missing in the middle of the school year. I never actually got it back.

[ And yet she'd asked Sodder for it, and had been absolutely delighted to receive it — that it would be no longer lost. Only perhaps Sodder had simply gotten her copy to her... as is. She'd asked for her copy, after all.

Newt's quiet 'ah' startles her into movement and she steps towards him to look at what he means, her eyes falling onto the torn and ruined pages of the book. She makes a quiet sound, not quite a sob — more of short whimper. ]

No. [ She's still for a long moment until a look of utter devastation slowly seeps into her face. ] No— no, they—

[ They did. ]

[newtralize]

I see. [It wasn't exactly like he had to ask if he was being honest, but it was better to put it out there that this was something that happened. There was no point in pretending and he hoped that Luna felt comfortable enough to be honest about some of the mistreatment she experienced. Things that he was familiar with himself.

He closes the book, deciding that there was no use in them staring at the ruined book. He imagines that looking at it would bring Luna no comfort and she has already seen the damage done.] I'm sorry, Luna. [It's said so sincerely. She seemed to prize the book quite a bit and with pages missing and everything; there was no real way to repair it. Even with magic.

This wasn't something that could be so easily replaced either.] I would have liked to read what you had written. You are, after all, quite brilliant. [He tries not to focus on the book, or what's left of it, but on Luna instead.]

[creidim]

[ Luna goes quiet, her lips pursed but expression otherwise frozen for a moment before she swallows thickly and nods. Her face shifts into a more quieter sorrow. She's mortified, more than anything. How could she not have checked it? How could she have thought for one moment that her peers wouldn't destroy something so precious?

A tear or two slip from her eyes and she moves to wipe them with a trembling hand, nodding silently at Newt's words. ]

I'm sorry, too. [ She wrings her hand, nodding again. ] I didn't quite think they'd— stealing is one thing. But, you know—

[ She tries to smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes. ]

It was important, you know? Showing you this.

[newtralize]

[Focusing on Luna is a double-edged sword, he's finding. He doesn't want to see the ruins of a well loved book, but he's remembering why he hadn't tried to focus on her too long. Her injured hand had been, well, distracting.

So he finally pulls away from Greg. At the very least, he has dittany. He'll nip that in the bud before he does something stupid.]

I'm glad you showed it to me, Luna. [He offers a twitch of a smile.] I mean- Knowing how much that book, my work, meant to you. Knowing that, uhm, people care about what I've done years later. It gives me hope that there are others. [Because there certainly weren't many during his time.] That kind of passion is something that can't be contained in a book and the importance, your worth and intellect, can not be contained in the margins of one.