Rowena's Quill

Luna's next few years at Hogwarts were very educational and very lonely. She was the best in her year at Runes and Divination and doing well in all her other subjects, but other than Ginny, she had no friends. Worse still, Ginny had less and less time for her as the years went on. She became quite popular after snapping out of Voldemort's spell. Few people knew all the details, but they understood that she'd been caught under some strange enchantment that first year. Plenty of people said that the only reason she'd befriended Luna at all was because of the enchantment. Of course, nobody ever dared say that in Ginny's hearing. They liked her too much to hurt her feelings. But nobody seemed to care about Luna's, and without Ginny to defend her, it became an accepted "fact."

In its way it was a valuable lesson. Luna had long wondered how people came to believe lies, why The Prophet flourished while The Quibbler floundered. But because she was a devout reader of The Quibbler, she knew the truth. On Professor Dumbledore's recommendation, Ginny's father allowed The Quibbler to print the full story. To protect Ginny's privacy and reputation, it ran under such complicated code that Luna had to read it with Spectrespecs. Of course, she kept the secret. For that, she had Ginny's genuine gratitude and friendship.

Luna's prospects began to brighten in her fourth year. Even on the train ride up to school, she began to meet people. Ginny introduced her to a group of Gryffindors: her brother Ronald, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom. Hermione was rude about The Quibbler, but Ronald was very funny, and Harry and Neville seemed nice enough.

In the common room, she received a welcoming wink from the portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw. Luna walked close to it and sang softly in tribute, a personal ritual she'd begun since her Sorting. She did not stop for anything, not even when she heard the others snickering at her. But once she was finished, she turned and said sharply, "She's our founder. You ought to treat her with more reverence."

They laughed even harder after that, but Luna walked away with dignity. She knew she had behaved properly.

She walked upstairs toward her room, but on the way, she heard crying coming from the bathroom. Thinking it was Moaning Myrtle up for a visit, Luna went in. Much to her surprise, Myrtle was not there alone, nor had she been the one crying. It was Cho Chang.

"Boy trouble," Myrtle explained.

"It's much more than boy trouble," sobbed Cho. "I just didn't think it would be this hard . . . . to be back with everybody . . . without Cedric." She buried her face in her hands and broke down into even louder sobs.

Luna stepped toward her, patted her on the back, and began to sing the song. It seemed to work. By the time Luna finished the last of the lyrics, the reassurance that the truth would be known in the end, Cho was looking up at her.

"Do you really believe that? Do you think I'd have peace if I knew the whole truth about what happened to him?"

"I think it would make things easier," said Luna.

"I have so many questions," said Cho, desperately.

"I think the person to ask is Harry Potter."

This, apparently, was the wrong thing for Luna to have said. Cho started crying again.

"I told you it was boy trouble," said Myrtle.

Luna didn't dare comment. She didn't understand much about boys, at least not in the sense that Cho thought about them, and there was no sense pretending she did.

"Harry Potter is fickle," Myrtle went on. "He used to visit me all the time, but he stopped."

This bit of information surprised Cho so much that she hiccupped and gave Myrtle a puzzled look. She stared at her for several moments and then seemed almost to smile as a new idea dawned on her.

"Myrtle, if you're dead, how is it that you can talk to us? Do you know other dead people? Can you - "

But before Cho could say more, Myrtle floated toward her and hovered over her menacingly.

"Oh, sure, remind me that I'm dead! How considerate of you! You get to cry over your poor dead boyfriend, and I never had a boy look at me in my life or my death!"

Then in a swift turn, Myrtle dove into a toilet and disappeared.

"She couldn't have done it anyway, you know," said Luna.

"She couldn't? Why?"

"That's what it means to be a ghost. It's not the normal state of things."

"So what's normal, then?"

Luna sighed. "No living wizard really knows, not even the greatest Unspeakables. But the people we loved are always with us, and sometimes, only sometimes, you can hear them."

It seemed a little odd to Luna that she should have to explain all this to an older girl. The ignorance of her fellow students often astounded her.

Figuring it would comfort Cho, Luna began to sing the quill's song again, but this time, she didn't get a chance to finish. Halfway through the last verse, Marietta Edgecombe walked into the bathroom.

"There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere! What are you doing hiding yourself in here listening to her nonsense? Come to the fifth years' room. Everybody's there. Wait 'til you see the dress robes Mandy Brocklehurst bought. She was in Paris this summer."

Cho left with Marietta, but from that day forward, she was nicer to Luna. If they were in the common room or in the Great Hall for meals, she would give Luna a polite nod, and sometimes, when she was completely alone, she sought Luna out. But she wanted only to talk about one thing - where Cedric might be - so she was not really a friend the same way Ginny was. And Luna wasn't able to help her. On top of her grief, she had all sorts of other feelings mixed in that completely baffled Luna. She was the nargliest girl Luna had ever met.

Luna's big chance to make friends arrived on the first Hogsmeade weekend. Ginny invited her to join a club, something that had never happened to her before. And she got to meet with a whole group of people at the Hog's Head. Apart from her argument with Hermione Granger, she enjoyed herself.

The first official D.A. meeting was even better. She was partnered with a fifth-year Hufflepuff named Justin Finch-Fletchley, but the person who really caught her eye was Neville Longbottom. Nobody wanted to be his partner. Evidently, he had a reputation for clumsiness, and everyone was wary of being on the opposite end of his wand. Luna, who knew how lonely that could feel, set out to be his friend.

For the next few D.A. meetings, Neville didn't take much notice of her. In fact, he was so intent on learning the spells that he didn't take much notice of anybody. But Luna noticed plenty about him. She was a keen observer of people, a result of her being alone and ignored so often. And from what she could see, Neville was as hard-working as the Hufflepuffs but more interested than preparing himself for battle than for his O.W.L., just like a Gryffindor. Luna knew he was just like her, a person unfairly overlooked by the other students.

The fifth D.A. meeting was particularly eventful. As the students filed into the Room of Requirement, everyone murmured about the large pile of cushions in the corner, wondering what Harry Potter had in store for them that night.

"Tonight I thought we'd work on Stunning spells," he announced.

"You mean, we're going to knock each other out?" asked Marietta Edgecombe uncertainly.

"Wicked!" said one of the Weasley twins.

"Does that mean I have a volunteer?" asked Harry.

The room filled with giggles.

"Go on, Fred," said the other twin, grinning widely.

"No problem," said Fred. "It can't be worse than testing 'Fainting Fancies.'"

This got an even bigger laugh from everyone in the group, except Luna and Hermione. It was one point on which the two of them agreed: the twins sometimes went too far with their joke products.

Fred walked up to the front of the room and stood across from Harry. Several cushions laid themselves out behind him.

"Cool," said Fred, looking back at them.

"Stupefy!" shouted Harry.

Fred immediately fell back onto the cushions.

"Whoah!" cried George.

Harry knelt by Fred, pointed his wand at his eyes, and said, "Ennervate."

After a few dazed blinks, Fred sat up. "That was a lot stronger than a 'Fainting Fancy.'"

"You let your guard down by looking at those cushions," said Harry. "Can you stand up?"

"Sure," said Fred, though he seemed a bit shaky as he got to his feet. While he tried to steady himself, some purple sweets appeared in his hand. He popped them into his mouth, straightened up and said, "George, they're ours!"

"No way!" said George, but in the next instant, a purple sweet in a wrapper marked "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes" appeared in George's hand. "There you have it, folks," he said, handing it to Lee Jordan and indicating that he, too, should pass it on. "Objective proof from the Room of Requirement. If you need to perk up after a Stunning Charm, get Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes."

"My go now, George," said Fred. "It's "Stupefy," right?"

Fred stunned George on the first try, then George hit Lee Jordan, and Lee hit him back. The room kept up a steady supply of Weasleys' purple pills.

"We'll go next," said Hermione as she and Ronald stepped to the fore. "Stupefy!"

Just like the others, Ronald fell directly onto the cushions, but it took three 'Ennervates' to rouse him.

"Oh, Ron, I'm so sorry," cried Hermione when he finally came around. "I was remembering those students passing out from Fainting Fancies that day in the common room, and oh, I'm sorry, Ron." She helped him up, which made him turn almost as red as his hair, though Luna suspected he was enjoying her fuss over him.

"You can sit this round out, Ron," said Harry. "Who's next?"

Ginny raised her hand, but Michael Corner, her usual partner, did not.

"How about you, Neville?" said Harry. "You do me." He moved over to the cushions.

Neville reluctantly came forward, tried a few times, but the most that happened was that Harry got a blank sort of look as though he'd been caught by a wrackspurt. Luna understood that Neville was suffering from Loser's Lurgy or some similar lapse in confidence, so she moved near where Harry was standing so Neville could get a full view of her. She was going to beam her most positive thoughts at him.

"Do what Hermione did," advised Harry. "Think of something that makes you angry."

"You can do it, Neville," Luna thought at him.

Neville screwed up his face in concentration and shouted, "Stupefy!" And the next thing Luna knew, she was lying on the floor with the cushions beneath her, and Neville was leaning over her.

"Are you all right?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes," said Luna, though in fact she was feeling rather funny in a good sort of way. There was something about having Neville so near to her, with his eyes and voice so full of concern, that made her feel like she'd just been hit with a very subtle yet powerful cheering charm.

"She's fine, Neville. See how she's smiling," said Ginny. The two of them helped Luna up. "I think that was the strongest Stunner we've seen all night," Ginny added, patting Neville on the back.

"You've just got to work on your aim," said Harry.

But Neville seemed barely to notice him. As soon as Ginny had touched him, Neville began staring at her absently, looking much the way Roger Davies used to whenever Fleur Delacour was nearby. And at that moment, for the very first time ever, Luna felt the harsh sting of a nargle.

"Maybe we'd better work on the impediment jinx instead," said Harry. "Let's pair off as usual."

"C'mon, Luna," said Justin Finch-Fletchley. "Wow, you should have seen how fast those cushions flew under you. This is the coolest room ever!"

But Luna was still thinking about Neville and the nargle. Her eyes kept straying Neville's way, and she felt good and warm all over whenever she looked at him. But that nargle threatened to complicate things, just like nargles always did.

Luna looked around the room. Cho was eyeing Harry while Harry eyed Cho. Ginny was also eyeing Harry, though Michael, Neville, and Dean Thomas were all eyeing her. And Ronald and Hermione were bickering again, their earlier tenderness all forgotten.

Luna glanced at Neville and that happy tingle filled her once again. She was certain she would cherish that moment of awakening for the rest of her life. Now she was beginning to understand all those giggly conversations in the dorms and bathrooms. It felt nice to like a boy. But when she considered how many nargles had infested the room, she resolved to protect herself. She wouldn't let anything spoil Neville's cheering charm.