a/n: This can be thought of as a eulogy, or perhaps the thoughts of a mourning friend. Some people have the power to touch a heart with kindness that shines through their very being.
The owl won't fly. I stare at it, begging it to go, but it will not lift off. My heart sinks, because there is only one thing that can mean. She's not with us anymore. That doesn't stop me from writing more letters, and trying to send them. I wonder why she's gone. Was it something I said?
It must have been something I said. She has been such a good friend to me these past couple of weeks. She is simply amazing, and we like all the same things. I never realized that my love of magical creatures could bring a friend like her into my life. I never realized that I could lose her so quickly.
The day I met her was a whirlwind. I was walking through Diagon Alley when I saw a girl with pale blonde hair looking at a poster advertising repellent for some strange creature or another. She looked delighted, and I stopped to talk with her for just a second. In the few minutes we spoke, I realized quickly how much we had in common. We quickly exchanged names, and owl addresses, and I smiled at her as I continued down the street.
She sent me an owl a few days later but I, caught up in my business, did not respond. A couple of days later I found the letter, and responded. The next week was a whirlwind of letters. I was constantly sending her an owl to ask a question or two. After a couple letters, I felt I knew her better than anyone I had met before. She felt like a sister, or a treasured piece of my soul I had lost long ago.
That brings me to today. Our last letters were more serious, focused on topics of life that were not so pleasant. The last letter she sent me was an apology for opening up, for exposing me to what she was going through. I sent her a message, assuring her that I didn't mind. That was yesterday.
Today, I went to send her a letter. The owl wouldn't take it. That's how I came to suspect that Luna Lovegood was no more. I hoped that she had simply gone far away, and the owl did not want to go on a long flight. I let myself believe that, even as my innermost thoughts told me that was a dream that would not come to pass.
Even as I worried about her, my life picked up its pace. I was given little time to think of her, and so I did not. A week passed before I heard of her again. I received a letter from a friend of hers, who claimed they were so close they were practically sisters. I read the letter with shaking hands, afraid of the message it would give me. I was right to worry, as the news in the letter was anything but good.
Luna, my sister in spirit, had been bullied at school. Eventually, this got to her head, as the mean things girls say often do. She reached out to me and a precious few others, but we were not enough to keep her in this world. She decided to leave the pain the world brought her.
I can't say I blame her. The world is not a perfect place. But what do I know? It's not like I really knew her. After all, we only exchanged a couple owls. It's not like it was a "real friendship." Or at least that's what my mother tells me.
I know, in my heart, who Luna really was. And even now, a month after the owl refused to fly, I think of her. Although I knew her for a short time, I knew her well. And I came to love her in the way sisters do. So despite the world's claims that I could not have known her, I offer this as my testimony to the power Luna had to touch a heart. Her whimsical ways and questionable sanity will always be at the forefront of my mind. Whatever the challenge, I will try to face it as I imagine she would have. For Luna was a true friend, and one I will treasure.