Luna had quickly realised that where she belonged at Hogwarts was with the creatures. At home, she'd had her parents to chat with – at least until her mother died. Since her mother died, her father Xenophilius Lovegood had seemed to retreat into himself for a time. Talking to him about her mother and the creatures that so inspired both her parents seemed to be the only way that Luna could draw him back out and make him be more than the shell that had been walking around for the months after Pandora's death.
Luna wasn't worried about leaving her father alone when she went to Hogwarts. He would find comfort in planting the dirigible plum saplings, editing The Quibbler, and travelling to Laos to search for the much-fabled Red-Legged Monknode, supposedly a natural enemy of the Kappa.
Either way, Luna wasn't too worried about her father. Although Luna wasn't one to get nervous, she admitted to herself and one of The Quibbler's owls that she felt some butterflies in her stomach at the prospect of moving away from home. Luna didn't know many children – any at all, if she was being honest – even though she didn't care about fitting in, she didn't want to go seven years at Hogwarts without making proper friends. Her father had not enjoyed his time at Hogwarts; that much was clear from the way he avoided talking about the school. But he had always enjoyed telling Luna about how he and Pandora had bonded over a shared love of magical creatures during their sixth year of Hogwarts, and been inseparable ever since.
In any case, Luna wasn't particularly excited to go, apart from the prospect of meeting new, previously unseen magical creatures. Luna thought there was a high likelihood that she might even be able to discover a completely new creature, if she ventured far enough away from the hustle and bustle of the castle. Centaurs and merpeople were well-known to all at this point, and Luna had already exhausted her father's scant resources on those creatures. Perhaps, since there were only students and teachers around the school, no one had bothered to explore the Forbidden Forest or cross the Great Lake to see which less famous, but equally fascinating, creatures were hidden there. Perhaps, if she discovered one, she would write to her great hero, Newt Scamander, and invite him to come to Hogwarts to include it in his next edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – giving her credit for the creature's discovery, of course.
The summer seemed to pass by agonisingly slowly – all the more so given that Luna, equal parts nervous and thrilled, was obsessing so over the time passing and the number of days left until she and her father would be portkeying to London in order for Luna to get on the Hogwarts Express.
Finally, her trip to Hogwarts drew near enough that it wouldn't be crazy for Luna to pack her bags. She wasn't worried about her uniform and clothes, so threw those into her trunk without much care. Much more care was taken with the books; if Luna was honest with herself (which she regarded as perfectly necessary for understanding and improving oneself, and so generally tended to be), she was desperately hoping to be a Ravenclaw. Both her parents had been Ravenclaws during their time at Hogwarts, and Luna felt that if the Sorting Hat knew that she had treated books without care, it would ruin her chances of being sorted into her family's House.
Luna had selected some personal items to take to Hogwarts, and these were also put gently into the trunk. Xenophilius, knowing his daughter as he did, knew that her strong suit was not arithmetic, and so had spent some of the family's – to be frank, rather scarce – resources on procuring some state-of-the-art sum-solving ink for Luna. It was new to Britain, having only been imported from Madagascar for the first time earlier in the year, and so was rather more expensive than normal ink. Given the cost, Luna thought it best to make sure the ink was wrapped up tightly, and so pulled out a uniform from her trunk to wrap the ink bottle in, before returning both to a snug, safe spot in the trunk.
The books went in last, and, by the time everything was packed and in the trunk, Luna was tired and thirsty. Heading down the twisty stairs into the combined living room and kitchen area, she hummed a song her mother had used to hum to her. Xenophilius was standing by the window, staring out into the twilight. Luna could tell that he wasn't really seeing anything, though – he was probably thinking about the next day's trip to London, or perhaps planning some letters to send regarding the Red-Legged Monknode and its inevitable discovery. She thought it best not to disturb him, and so quietly filled a cup with water from the enchanted jug before slipping upstairs quietly.
Luna didn't sleep well at all. Usually, she had no problem sleeping, but tonight, she tossed and turned. The ceiling above her was spelled so she could look at the night sky, but Luna could focus neither on her namesake nor on the constellations that glittered so far above her. The ball of nervousness, anticipation and what felt like a million other emotions had become so large and tight in her belly that Luna briefly thought she might never sleep again. Thinking clearly, she knew of course that this wasn't true – at least, she hoped so. Imagining leaving her house, she wondered about how her father would cope, effectively losing both his wife and his only child in the space of two short years. Luna really hoped that he wouldn't do something stupid – like recreate one of Pandora's experiments. That had ended poorly for Pandora – and the Lovegoods all knew that Pandora's spellwork was better than Xenophilius'. Luna comforted herself in the knowledge that Xenophilius was much more keen on the discovery of creatures than the discovery of new spells, and this would have no reason to change now that Luna was moving away to go to school. Repeating these thoughts to herself and gazing tiredly up at the enchanted ceiling, Luna eventually slipped away to sleep.
The next morning, Luna awoke before her father did. She dressed quickly, then made her way downstairs where she wolfed down a basic breakfast and decided to make a start on planting the dirigible plum tree saplings while waiting for her father. By the time she heard the kettle inside, Luna had made what she considered to be great progress on the saplings. This particular strain of dirigible plum tree would probably not produce any tasty or particularly fast-moving plums for a number of years – and Luna had a sneaking suspicion that her father might forget all about them if left to his own devices. Planting them also had the benefit of calming Luna, who found her stomach had become all twisted again overnight. Hence, it was better for them all if Luna merely planted them now.
Another few minutes passed before Xenophilius made it outside with his mug. He sat on the steps leading up to their tower, watching Luna as she planted the saplings. She continued with another few saplings, then turned to her father and blowing upwards in an attempt to get a lock of blonde hair out of her eyes. No luck was to be had with that, so she gave up and used the back of her hand to drag the hair away across her cheek.
"Come on, plum," he said, gesturing for her to come inside. "Only fifteen minutes until the Portkey is set to leave, but I reckon we can play a round of Gobstones before we go". Exactly eighteen minutes later, Xenophilius had won, and they stumbled through the Floo at The Leaky Cauldron. Luna thought it rather lucky that she had told her father that the train was to leave at 10.30 this year, as opposed to the regular 11 o'clock. They had gotten caught up in the game, and forgot all about the portkey, which had left without them at 10.25. Now, they would even have time to say a proper goodbye on the platform before Luna was due to get on the train.
Luna made sure they hurried from The Leaky Cauldron to Kings Cross, and they got to Platform Nine and Three Quarters with fifteen minutes to spare before the train was set to leave. Some of the children and their parents were giving Luna and her father odd looks, but Luna paid them no mind. This was not uncommon – most magical folk in England had heard of Pandora and her death, and the Lovegoods did have a rather particular 'look' about them; today, Xenophilius was wearing magnificent lime green dress robes with especially pointy-toed boots and a pink-feathered hat. Luna was pleased that her father had chosen to mark the occasion with such a happy outfit. After Pandora had died, Xenophilius had worn shades of purple and grey for months, and had often forgotten to wear shoes at all.
When the train platform became very busy with all the almost-latecomers, Luna decided that she would like to get on the train to make sure she was able to pick a decent seat. With so much confusion and nervousness in the air, she was also bound to see some Nargles if she used the brand new goggles she had been given by Xenophilius. After a rather drawn-out goodbye, during which Xenophilius cried, blew his nose loudly on his lime green robes, and spun around three times to bring Luna luck during her train journey, Xenophilius left, and Luna made her way onto the train to find a carriage, oblivious to the stares and snickers that followed her.