Luna Lovegood and the Half-Blood Prince

July 25, 1996

"Luna!" Uncle Lowell's voice called up the attic stairs. "There's another owl down here for you!"

Luna Lovegood hurriedly released one of her father's owls out the window. The large barn owl flew off, a letter to Ginny Weasley tied to its foot.

"I'll be right there, Uncle Lowell!" Luna called down the stairs. She pulled the window shut and glanced around the room. Her father's office was cluttered, as usual. She replaced the top of the ink bottle, gathered up her quill and the stack of parchments she'd brought with her, and skipped down the stairs, humming tunelessly to herself.

Uncle Lowell, a smile on his dark, bearded face, was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, holding out a letter addressed to Luna, along with a rolled-up catalogue. "You're getting a lot more owls this summer than you have on other school holidays," he commented.

Luna smiled as the took the letter. She'd had a very exciting year at school and was looking forward with great anticipation to the next year. The letter her uncle had handed her was from Ronald. She took it to her room to read it in private.

Luna,

Hope you're having a good summer.

My brothers' joke shop has become so successful that they've printed a catalog. I thought you'd like to see it, so I'm sending you one.

Speaking of buying things, Neville's birthday is July 30 and Harry's is July 31.

Ron

The catalog's cover showed Ronald's twin brothers, Fred and George Weasley, grinning and playing with the various products made and sold by Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes: Wildfire Whiz-Bangs, Skiving Snack Boxes and their new line of very realistic miniature Quidditch models. Luna watched as the model figurines actually moved around, the Beaters actually hitting very small Bludgers with their tiny clubs, and the scale-model Seeker suddenly flew out of nowhere to catch a miniscule Golden Snitch.

Later, Luna sat flipping through the joke shop catalog. While trying to decide what to give Neville and Harry for their birthdays, she remembered the many times she'd almost learned something about the elusive Half-Blood Prince. She had been so busy with her new friends and their adventures during the past year that she had never had time to try again to borrow that magazine from the town librarian. And the book she'd borrowed from the school library in her first year had never been returned to its place on the shelf. Professor Flitwick's research must be taking him a good long time indeed.

This year was likely to bring new adventures. She thought back to the adventures she'd shared with them last year - the Defense training meetings in the Room of Requirement, and their exciting and dangerous mission to the Ministry of Magic at the end of the year. Then she thought about the year ahead and wondered what it would bring. Now Harry's story was out and had been published in the Daily Prophet as well as The Quibbler. The names of those he'd named as Death Eaters were now public knowledge. The Ministry had finally acknowledged that Lord Voldemort was back. Things were likely to be very different than last year, when the Ministry tried to interfere at Hogwarts and no one was allowed to speak the truth about Voldemort.

There weren't many more days to wait now, and she'd be back at Hogwarts with her friends. Maybe with their help she'd finally solve the mystery of the Half-Blood Prince.