AN: This is just a short, drabble type Luna thing I wrote a while ago. It definitely isn't one of my best works…I was just in a mood to write a short Luna thing, and in two hours it had been sent off to my beta, Mara. Thank you Mara. :P I hope this makes sense…to me it's quite a weird fic…well no doubt I'll soon find out your opinions. My very late Halloween fic should be coming soon, so look out for that. :P

Shining Child

Many little girls like things that shine. Many older girls like things that shine. Many women like things that shine.

Luna Lovegood did not like things that shone.

From day to day, sparkling things would catch her eye. A diamond, perhaps, stuck on some wealthy woman's finger. Her reflection in the small garden pond. Even silver tinsel, or a bauble, when decorating her family's Christmas tree.

Luna didn't like seeing these things. Every time a jewel caught her attention, she would turn away. She had read hundreds of stories, and in each of them, only the bad, rich people wore expensive, dazzling jewellery, which made it easier for her to dislike the gems.

When she swung on the swing her father had made her, she could see herself in the pond. Shimmering and shining as the water rippled.

When her father asked why she'd stopped using the swing, she told him that someone in The Secret Garden died falling off one. He didn't question her after that.

At Christmas time, she would hide in the broom cupboard so she didn't have to decorate the tree, and avoided looking at it, at all costs.

If her parents asked where she'd been, she told them she had been absorbed in a book and hadn't heard them calling.

No, Luna did not like things that shone.

One day, when Luna was nine, her mother brought her into the garden and they sat on the swing together.

"Look in the water," Mrs. Lovegood had whispered, but Luna continued staring at the fallen leaves sprawled beneath her feet.

"Luna, darling, why won't you speak to Mrs. Peledrin when she comes over?"

"She wears gold rings and silver necklaces. She isn't very nice," Luna replied. She knew her mother would see through a lie.

"That's no reason not to like her. I wear jewellery too," Mrs. Lovegood replied and she raised her right hand. On her index finger, was her wedding ring, glittering in the sun-light.

Luna looked at it carefully. She had never noticed that her own mother wore a ring, daily.

"Why is it that you don't like things that shine, Luna?"

Luna took her mother's hand. "Mummy, you told me once that I was different from all the other children. The other children love shiny things. They collect gleaming buttons, they tie up their hair and wander round with dolls or teddy-bears. I don't do those things, Mummy. I'm different."

Mrs. Lovegood stared at the pond for some time, but eventually she answered. "Luna, everybody on this planet – and probably others too – is different. No two people are alike. You're already different and special; you don't have to try to be. Don't be afraid to enjoy looking in the water, or to wear nice thing. Don't say you hate tinsel when you love it. Liking shiny things, or playing with a doll isn't going to change you, Luna. You're lovely just the way you are, my little shining moon," she said and hugged her daughter tightly.

The next day, she died.

After her mother's death, Luna stopped pretending and began to enjoy liking the sparkle of jewels and shimmer of her reflection.

She was always different and her love for shiny things didn't change that.

Some things in the sky shine, and others don't. Not every star has its sparkle or glow, but the moon shines. The moon shines. Luna shines and always will, no matter how different she is.

The End