ChronoLuna - Across realms

Chapter 15: The Eccentric First Day

The Ravenclaw common room stirred to life as dawn bathed the tall, arched windows in a wash of amber. A floating magical board shimmered into existence near the fireplace. It listed each first-year student's name and their weekly schedule.

Luna's silver eyes scanned it quietly, standing alone in her pale-blue nightgown. Her first class today was Herbology with the Gryffindors. She noted it mentally, a light hum under her breath. Her system buzzed faintly in her mind.

"Magical Curriculum Protocol recognized. Minor interface support activated for academic calibration. Reading spell flows… initiated."

After breakfast in the Great Hall—where the enchanted ceiling mirrored the brightening skies—Luna joined her classmates in the Entrance Hall. Professor Sprout greeted them with her usual earth-caked gloves and enthusiastic energy.

They walked across the school grounds to the greenhouses. Rows of strange plants filled the air with a pungent, verdant scent. Luna lingered at a crawling vine whose leaves vibrated slightly.

Inside, they were introduced to Devil's Snare and other safer magical flora. No Mandrakes yet. That would come later.

Neville almost dropped a potted puffapod on his foot. Hermione offered facts before being asked. Luna, meanwhile, reached out gently to one trembling plant—her fingers hovering above it as she whispered softly. It stilled.

Professor Sprout paused, brows raised. "Well done, Miss Lovegood. Five points to Ravenclaw."

Luna only nodded faintly.

Back in the castle, their next class was Charms with Professor Flitwick. The tiny man had to climb a stack of books to peek over the desk.

"We will begin today," he squeaked cheerfully, "with one of the most useful beginner charms—the Levitation Charm."

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he demonstrated, lifting a quill with a precise flick and swish.

Paired with a Ravenclaw boy named Terry Boot, Luna whispered the incantation once, twice—then raised her wand slowly. Her motions were more like a dance, fluid and silent, and the feather rose elegantly into the air.

Terry blinked. "You did it! On the first try!"

Luna gave him a soft look. "It's all about... breath and intention. The feather wants to rise."

Her system hummed.

"Wand synchronization stable. Emotional resonance aids charm stability. Suggest internal rhythm retention for future casting."

Professor Flitwick clapped in delight. "Another five points to Ravenclaw!"

Transfiguration followed after lunch. Professor McGonagall's no-nonsense demeanor quickly reigned in the chatter. She began by transforming her desk into a pig and back again.

Gasps filled the room. Luna blinked slowly.

"A basic transformation, but one that demands focus," McGonagall said.

When Luna tried it, her desk trembled briefly but did not change. The system noted:

"Observation mode: Advanced Transfiguration detected. No interference required. Subject developing unique sensory pattern of spell logic."

Rather than frustration, Luna simply tilted her head, as if listening to something invisible, and jotted curious runes in her sketchbook.

Potions was held in the cool, stone-arched dungeons. Professor Snape, severe and watchful, greeted them without smile or warmth. Luna's group did not share the class with Gryffindor, so Harry's infamous first-day exchange was not witnessed.

Instead, Luna watched how ingredients reacted to touch, murmuring odd little theories to herself as she brewed. Her potion turned the expected shade—if not a little more translucent than others.

Her system pinged.

"Potion parameters within success threshold. Suggest additional ingredient scan function once synchronization permits."

A few students threw curious glances her way. One girl from Hufflepuff asked if she always talked to her ingredients. Luna only replied, "Sometimes they talk first."

By evening, the first day of classes came to an end. In the Ravenclaw common room, lit by blue-tinted lanterns and adorned with bookshelves spiraling toward the domed ceiling, students relaxed.

To enter, they had to solve a riddle—a tradition Luna rather liked. Tonight's riddle had been: "What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?" She'd answered "The letter M."

Inside, a few students were reading. Others huddled over parchment, already writing essays. A large enchanted globe spun quietly in one corner, stars blinking in its glass.

Luna sat on a cushioned window ledge, cross-legged, reading The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1. Her system chimed.

"Hogwarts Protective Rituals detected. Active House Bond established."

"Note: Each student within Hogwarts is bound to an ancestral contract of protection and observation. Seven-year cycle in place. Magical interference restricted. System now synchronizing with Hogwarts Matrix… 6% linked."

She glanced out the window as the lake shimmered below.

Downstairs, from the direction of the Great Hall, a sudden ruckus rose. Then:

"Weasley! Weasley! Give us a wave!"

The unmistakable voices of the Weasley twins echoed through the halls, singing their own rewritten school anthem as they marched down the corridor. Their harmonizing was more chaotic than tuneful:

"Oh Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, teach us something please!"

Luna smiled faintly. "They're... interesting."

As night fell, Luna changed into her sleep robes. She paused briefly at the window again, gazing into the distance.

A whisper curled in her mind:

"Dream calibration: Stable. System-dream merge incomplete. Warning: Emotional residue from prior lives detected."

She climbed into bed. Her thoughts drifted toward the stars, and somewhere in the Forbidden Forest, something ancient stirred.

Tomorrow would be another lesson.

But Luna Lovegood was not just here to learn magic.

She was here to find something the world had long forgotten.