It started the way these things always start. Ginny wasn't shy, not really, not once she figured out you didn't hate her — the diary had messed her up but good, and she hadn't quite come back from it — and weren't making fun of her. Once she knew that, she was different. Funny, and bold, and a bid inconsiderate, sometimes, about manners and things. Nothing to offend anyone, just a bit too loud and affectionate for the more solemn things. She didn't stand on ceremony, and she didn't fake respect for anyone.
So when she told Professor Trelawney that Divination was a load of codswallop, and got thrown out of class, she went to the lake to watch the giant squid, because that's what Ginny always did when something made her angry, or made her cry. And, her temper still flaring from earlier, she couldn't stop herself from interfering when she saw two boys bothering another girl. "Here, you two blockheads, shove off!" She'd learned to throw a punch, of course, her brothers had seen to that, and the boys were cowardly little beasts who'd never met someone to fight back. And so when they ran away, tears on their hot little faces, and Ginny's own face bright and grinning with triumph, and she'd turned to look at the girl she'd protected, well, what was Luna Lovegood supposed to do? Not fall in love? Well, bugger that.
