"Dad, I have to go!" Luna Lovegood exclaimed to her father, Xenophilius. It was almost 11'oclock and the Hogwarts Express looked like it was about to leave.
"Ok love, I'm so proud of you! First day of school and all! Remember be good. Oh and watch out for them nargles. Nasty things those are."
"Don't worry daddy, I certainly will." Luna giggled before giving her Dad a quick peck on the cheek. She then skipped over to the train to try and get a seat before the train set off.
However it was happy times like these that could be tainted with sadness. She really did wish that her mother could have been around to see her off on her first day of school. It could be hard, you know; living with just one parent, but she did love her father and it wasn't his fault.
When on the train Luna started looking for an empty compartment so she could get on with reading the latest edition of the quibbler. As she got closer and closer to the back it dawned on her that she would have to settle for a compartment with people already in it. The thought scared her a bit as she had never been very good with people. Especially people she had never met before. She had never really had friends before.
In the end she settled for the compartment four from the back. It contained three people, all of which wore green ties. This was why she chose it really; green was an earthy, calming colour that usually represented kind, loving characters. This thought calmed her slightly. She slid open the door and took a seat.
"Hello, I'm Luna Lovegood." she said, extending her hand to the people around her.
"Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. And may I ask what you're doing in here?" the blonde boy enquired with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Not daring to shake her hand but instead looking at it as if it was covered in some sort of magical rash.
"Well you see, my dad can be a bit scatter brained at times and half way here he realised he had left his wand at home. Obviously he couldn't be here without his wand so we had to go back and fetch it, by the time we got here; most of the compartments were full." Luna informed him with a dream like expression on her face.
"Typical Lovegood" Malfoy muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" she asked.
"nothing." was the only answer she got.
The journey carried on in silence, the three boys kept on glaring at her, no hint of a smile on any of their faces. Luna, however, carried on blissfully unaware.
An hour into the journey Malfoy was bored of sitting in silence. Instead his thoughts turned to Luna. The strange girl that sat in the compartment with her wand tucked behind her ear. The stranger that didn't belong there.
"So Luna. How's your mother?" Malfoy said, Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.
"Dead." Luna replied, seemingly unphased.
Taken aback, Malfoy chose a new approach, "and your dad? Still continuing to write the rubbish he calls the Quibbler? Father says it's a load of rubbish. I agree, don't you?" his cronies nodded, stifling laughs.
"Oh, it's not rubbish. I actually find it very informative."
Malfoy was shocked that she had taken it so calmly. Surely it wasn't right? He tried again. Losing it a bit.
"So luna, I heard a bit about you. Isn't your family just a load of blood traitors without a penny to their name? A bit like the Weasleys' really. Although at least both their parents are still intact. Suppose they weren't stupid enough to blow themselves up. See my father knew your mother, said she was always a stupid witch. He wasn't in the least surprised when her experiment went wrong. Serves her right, really. The Lovegoods shame pure blood families with their ways. Almost as bad as Mudbloo-"
"STOP RIGHT NOW! If you don't be quiet I will shut you up myself!" Luna shouted, but this only spurred him on. It was just the reaction he wanted.
"Please don't do that" he said it a sarcastic drawl, "if your magic is as bad as your mothers you'll get us all killed!"
That pushed Luna over the edge.
"You have no right Malfoy!" She shouted, clearly his brain was being controlled by Nargles.
She ran down the corridor of the train with her head in her hands crying. She hated it when people offended her mother. Her mother was an exceptional witch, she just liked to experiment. She missed her terribly and-
Her inner monologue was interrupted when she ran straight in to the first half of the Weasley twins, Fred.
"Mind!" Fred shouted, spilling pumpkin juice all down the front of his robes.
"I-I I'm so sorry. I should have looked where I was going." Luna whimpered. She wasn't even at school yet and she had already messed up. Mind you, she wasn't surprised. She always messed everything up. She would just have to accept the fact that she would have as many friends here as she did at home. None.
"Yes you really should have! Look at my robes." Fred shouted before muttering a spell and cleaning it off without looking up.
The tears were coming faster and thicker than before. All she wanted was to make some friends and learn some magic but as usual she stuck out like a sore thumb.
"Wait. Are you crying? I didn't mean to upset you; I'm not really angry and look, it's all better now." Fred said, adding a nervous half laugh, he honestly hadn't meant for her to cry.
"No-no it's not you. Someone further up the train obviously had a head full of nargles. They weren't doing him any good."
"Well you just ignore- wait. What? Nargles?"
"There small creatures that can get in to peoples mind and make them say mean things to people that they don't really mean." Luna was now smiling through her tears.
"Right, well. If that's the case you obviously can't go back to the compartment you were just sitting in, you can sit in mine if you promise to not throw any more pumpkin juice over me." he looked over and winked playfully.
"Well I can't promise anything but I'll try not to." she replied.
Fred was about to laugh at the response before realising she was being serious.
"I'm Fred by the way. Fred Weasley."
"Hello Fred Weasley, I'm Luna Lovegood." she extended her hand for a handshake that he readily accepted.