(The Moment of Interference — Saving Her Mother)
Chapter 4: The Thread That Was Cut
The morning sky shimmered like pale silk over Ottery St. Catchpole. Dew clung to every blade of grass, but inside the Lovegood home, a different kind of tension filled the air. It had started subtly. A flicker of energy. A dream interrupted.
Luna sat at the breakfast table, her tiny hands wrapped around a warm cup of nettle tea. Her mother, Pandora, bustled about the kitchen, humming a soft tune as pots stirred themselves and herbs floated down into jars. Xenophilius, ever deep in thought, scanned a stack of parchments bearing odd runes.
Yet Luna's gaze was distant, lost beyond the surface.
That night, the dream had returned. A corridor, glowing with amber light. A woman—her mother—stood at the far end, surrounded by swirling magic. Luna had run toward her, calling out, but the space stretched, time elongated, until her voice was just an echo swallowed by fog.
System Alert: Dream Instability Detected.
Temporal Interference Threshold: 23% and rising.
Dream Report Extracted:
Subject: Pandora Lovegood
Arcane Signature Match: 97.3%
Event Type: Temporal Rift Echo
Action Required: Caution Advised – External Intervention May Destabilize Magical Flow
"Luna, darling?" Pandora asked gently, placing a dish of hotroot stew before her daughter. "You've been quieter than usual."
Luna blinked, the present slowly knitting itself back together.
"I dreamed again, Mummy," she said softly. "The magic was breaking."
Pandora paused, her expression caught between a smile and concern. "Dreams are reflections, sometimes. Portals, sometimes warnings. Did your system say anything?"
Luna nodded. "It warned about interference. Something's… off."
The woman's brow furrowed. She reached out and gently touched Luna's forehead.
"I've been working on a new containment weave," she said. "A spell to stabilize volatile enchantments. But it's delicate. One wrong motion and—well, we'd rather not find out."
Luna's system pulsed with soft light.
System Log: Emotional Attachment Detected. Link to Temporal Anomaly Increasing. Dream Sync 41%.
Later that day, Pandora led Luna to the workshop.
The air smelled of lavender, ozone, and stardust. Crystals hovered in calibrated positions, surrounded by chalk-drawn runes. The spell she had been crafting pulsed in the center—unstable, yet wondrous.
"This is the Cascade Prism Weave," Pandora said, her voice light but reverent. "It's meant to anchor magical threads through volatile time-ripples. I believe it can help us understand what's causing your dream interference."
Luna nodded slowly. Her heart beat loud in her ears.
System Update Initiated: Spatial Awareness Enhancement (Phase I).
Time Signature Sensitivity: +14%
Dream-State Synchronization: Stabilizing...
Pandora turned to Luna, cupping her daughter's cheek. "But if anything goes wrong, I want you to leave. Don't try to fix it. Promise me."
Luna hesitated. Then nodded.
"I promise."
The moment came at dusk.
Pandora stood at the center of the runes, her wand weaving light through the room like threads of gold. Runes flared one by one, crystals humming in harmony. Luna stood at the threshold of the workshop, system interface blinking rapidly.
System Warning: Cascade Instability Detected.
Spatial Distortion: 73%
Temporal Reflection Risk: HIGH
Then—
Something twisted.
A sound like glass shattering through water.
Pandora screamed.
Magic lashed wildly.
EMERGENCY OVERRIDE TRIGGERED.
Time Dilation Engaged. Dream-Realm Synchronization Active.
Luna didn't think.
She stepped into the storm.
"NO!" her mother shouted. "Luna, stay back!"
But the system responded to Luna's will.
Command Input: Intervene
Stabilization Node Formed...
Calculating Safe Anchor Point...
Dream Core Sync at 58%...
Luna raised her hands, and the world shifted. A dream-layer—one stitched by time and memory—wrapped around the scene. Her small frame glowed with soft, temporal light.
MAGICAL SYSTEM FUSION TEMPORARILY ENGAGED
Link Established: Pandora Lovegood – Arcane Anchor Formed.
The burst of wild magic began to bend.
Luna's presence restructured the spell flow.
Her mother's collapse slowed.
Temporal Divergence Confirmed
Death Event Averted. System Synchronization Reached: 50.4%
Dream Power Stabilized. Emotional Anchor Preserved.
The light faded.
The prism shattered—but gently.
Pandora fell to her knees, breathing hard, alive.
Luna knelt beside her, tears spilling silently.
"Mummy," she whispered, her voice trembling.
Pandora reached out and drew her into an embrace. "My brave girl... what did you do?"
"I didn't want to lose you."
The workshop was quiet once more.
Only the faint hum of residual magic remained.
Outside, the stars began to shine.
The days that followed were a quiet miracle.
Pandora, though exhausted, remained alive. The aftereffects of the unstable spell left her weak, her magical core shaken, but intact. Xenophilius, after returning from his errands and hearing the full tale, broke down in silent tears, holding both his wife and daughter as though afraid the dream would end.
They didn't speak of it publicly—what had truly happened in that workshop. Not even to their few close friends. The magical world was suspicious, and temporal magic, no matter how accidental, was deeply forbidden.
But Luna remembered. Not just the action of saving her mother—but the feeling of the moment: the weightless sense of decision, the echo of her past life, the system's rising clarity.
System Update Complete.
Synchronization Level: 50.4%
New Functions Unlocked: Emotional Stabilization, Dream-Filter Interface, Magical-Anchor Fusion (Limited)
Dream Realm Stability: 12% and improving
The workshop was sealed for a time. Pandora insisted on that. Whatever remained of the Cascade Prism Weave would be dismantled slowly, with proper wards.
Luna began training again—but slower. Each morning she would wake with her body sore, a strange heaviness behind her eyes, as if reality had grown thicker.
System Log: Magical Strain Detected. Restoration Advised.
Suggestion: Calisthenics, light casting, mental focus routines.
She followed the instructions like a diligent pupil. Stretches in the morning sun, silent wandless casting exercises with floating feathers and moving pebbles, and focused meditation using her dream realm—limited as it was.
Sometimes, she would step into the soft edges of sleep and create a little world of her own. A forest that breathed with moonlight. A cottage made of clouds. A laboratory filled with devices she only half-understood from a life long passed.
Dream Realm Initiated.
Current Stability: 12.3%
Time-Flow Ratio: 1 Dream Hour = 3 Real Minutes
Warning: Extended Sessions May Cause Magical Fatigue.
She tried not to push too far. Her mother was still recovering. Luna helped as best as she could—brewing mild potions, organizing Pandora's notes, copying magical runes.
And sometimes, quietly in the attic, she would write.
Small stories. Children's tales. Dreams of other worlds.
At night, she'd curl up with a blanket around her shoulders and gaze at the stars through her window. Thoughts drifted toward the future. Toward Hogwarts. Toward the strange Marvels she remembered from another universe—vague outlines now, fractured by time and dream but returning more and more clearly.
Dream Memory Fragment Retrieved.
Subject: Technological Advancement Series
Content Type: Fictional Universe – Marvel Tier
Status: Partial Recall, Contained.
Estimated Timeline: Pre-Incursion Events Approaching.
What did it mean? Why now?
Luna didn't know. But the dreams whispered. A clock ticking. A thread stretching forward. A storm forming on the edge of magic and reason.
But for now—there was peace.
And Luna Lovegood was not alone.
End of Chapter 4: The Thread That Was Cut