"Bye, dad!" Luna waved a farewell to her father, who was standing on the platform, teary eyed. He was sending off his one and only daughter to Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry. She had started showing signs of magic when she was seven. Her father first noticed it when Luna knocked over her glass of pumpkin juice, and it didn t spill over her homework which she had spent a week on, it just stayed in the cup like it was frozen. On that day, he became teary eyed and hugged his daughter, proud that she was showing signs early, and that she was a witch. When Luna got her letter, it was hard to decide who was more excited, Luna or her dad. Now, as he stood on the platform, watching his daughters waving hand get smaller and smaller as the train moves further away, he was grinning from ear to ear with pride. His little girl was all grown up.

Luna pulled her arm back inside the carriage as the train rounded the corner, blocking her dad from view. She was alone in her carriage, most people were standing around in the corridor. She took this time to look around. Some people were already dressed in their robes, some in sweaters of their house colours, and in the compartment next to her, a boy with dreadlocks who looked a few years older than her had a giant tarantula on his lap.

A boy and a girl that only looked a year older than her approached her door. "Hello, do you mind if we sit in here? Everywhere else is full." The girl asked. She had a curly mess of brown hair, and the trunk she was carrying behind her had the initials H.J.G. "Go ahead. My name is Luna Lovegood, what s yours?" She asked. "I'm Hermione Granger. This is Neville, Neville Longbottom. Are you a first year?" Hermione asked.

"Nice to meet you, yes I am." Luna smiled at the pair as they sat down. The boy was holding a toad, and the girl was holding a stack of books. They both placed what they were holding on the seats while they heaved they re trunks onto the shelves above them. Neville went to grab his toad, but it sprung into Lunas lap. She let out a small giggle and stroked his toad. "I m so sorry!" Neville squeaked.

"Oh, it s quite alright. What's it's name?" She continued petting in on the head as it croaked happily.

"His name is Trevor. My uncle bought me him as a present. I m a pure blood, but my family thought I was all muggle for ages. They kept trying to force magic out of me, but it never worked until one day my uncle was hanging me by my ankles from a window, and dropped me when gran offered him food. They all thought I was going to die, but I just bounced along the pavement. Gran cried that s how happy she was, my uncle left to go buy me a toad." Neville sat down next to Luna, and Hermione across from them. Trevor hopped back into Neville's lap.

"Wow! The first sign of magic I showed was when I knocked over my pumpkin juice, it didn t spill over my homework, it just froze in the glass, and when I picked the glass back up it turned to liquid again. My dad was very pleased. I m a pureblood too." They smiled at each other.

"I m a muggleborn. I didn t know all the things I could do were magic until I got my letter. Everyone at my school just thought I was a freak. One of them tried to shove my head in a toilet, but the water emptied itself and the sprayed the person shoving my head in the toilet." Hermione frowns a little at the memory.

"I think that s cruel that they bullied you. I use to get bullied too, everyone called me Loony Lovegood."

The trolley lady soon came around, and everyone bought a bunch of different things, which they ended up sharing.

'I suppose we should get changed. Do you mind turning around Neville?" Luna asked. Neville went bright red and quickly turned around. They all closed the blinds around the windows and got changed.

Neville covered his eyes tightly and sat back down. "It s all right Neville, we re done." Hermione said, and Neville uncovered his eyes. "Oh, your both in Gryffindor!" Luna chirped, as she looked over their uniforms. T"hat s the same house Harry Potter is in, are you friends with him?"

"We are actually, very good friends. I should probably go find him and Ron." Hermione said, standing up.

"Oh, all right. It was lovely meeting you, I hope we see each other again. Although, you have quite a few nargles in your head, which you ought to get rid of." Luna said her farewell in her usual airy voice.

"Oh, alright then. Thanks, I think?" Hermione raised her eyebrow, while Luna smiled kindly at her. Hermione turned and walked away, leaving her trunk in the compartment.

"What are nargles?" Neville asked Luna shyly.

"Invisible creatures that infest in mistletoe, but humans too. You can see them through these special types of glasses I have, but I've left then in my bedroom at home. I can sense them now, I don t really need them any more. You can have them if you d like, I can send an owl to my father and ask him to send them up here." Luna queried.

"Oh, thanks. That would be great." Neville politely grinned at her, but felt extremely awkward. Why had Hermione had to leave him with this girl he had never met before? Okay, Neville, he thought to himself, 'Stay calm, take time to think before you speak. Maybe you can make a good impression.' He took a deep breath and looked towards Luna, who was looking at him. He blushed deeply and she looked away out the window.

"So what house do you think you will be in?" Neville covered.

"Well, my mum and dad were both in Ravenclaw, so perhaps that wouldn t be to bad. Wouldn t really fancy being in Slytherin, there are a lot of mean people in that house, they give off negative energy. But I have a cousin from Slytherin, we don t talk much, but atleast I would know someone." Luna shrugged, causing Neville to raise an eyebrow.

"Who s your cousin?" He asked. But he never got his answer. The train stopped and a ruckus broke out in the corridors as everyone got up to leave, and started bustling out the door.

"Please leave all your luggage on the train, it will be delivered shortly." A mechanical voice rang out. As Luna and Neville stood to leave, Neville slid the compartment door open and stood aside, letting Luna go through.

"Thank you Neville, you re very polite." She walked through the door and Neville followed her, closing the door behind him. He grinned but didn t reply as the walked out of the train.

"Firs years! Firs years to me please! Come on now, quickly!" Hagrids booming voice broke out.

"Well, that s my queue to skadoo. I hope I see you after the feast some time?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, of course!" Neville confirmed. He was caught off guard when Luna wrapped her arms around him, but responded by doing the same, his heart racing.

"See you later Nev!" She smiled at him and ruffled his hair, before walking away. Neville stood there with his face burning and a smile on his face.