Butterfly
"To become a butterfly, you have to be willing to give up being a caterpillar." -anonymous
Luna Lovegood was not insane. She was not loony. Luna Lovegood was hurting. She was in need of help.
She lived in a tower with her mum and dad. When she was nine, her mother died in an accident. Since then, Luna and her father have invented imaginary animals as a defense mechanism. She cried for her mother at night, but no one ever heard her. She was alone in her world.
"Mother…please come back." Luna whimpered at the moon every night from her window. Sometimes she dreamt of her mother laughing and woke up smiling. Sometimes she dreamt of the accident and woke up screaming.
Luna felt so trapped. She was nowhere yet everywhere, with no one to notice her. She craved attention, if only to feel something other than sorrow. She would strive to be like her mother, to try and preserve her beautiful memory. She tried to become a true Ravenclaw like her mother.
It was while attempting this that she realized something. She was different. She was her own person, and that was all her mother would have wanted. She wouldn't hide behind this façade any longer. She was not a lingering illusion.
Luna Lovegood began to show her true colors. She was the kind of person Ravenclaw had in mind for her house. She was free of mind. She dreamt big and always outdid herself. She included knowledge, facts, and research, but she was so much more than that. She was creative enough to find knowledge where others could not. She was not like the wise owl, nor the foolish rabbit. She was not a playful dog, but a beautiful butterfly with a freedom she never would have imagined. Luna was what she always wanted to be, but never had the courage to try.
Her defense was too strong to break without destroying herself, but each year she weakened it until she was real. She was her real self; not perfect, but perfection is what breaks a person. It was Luna's flaws that made her whole.
