Luna read a lot of books. Her first year, she'd only brought five or six with her, lining the bottom of her trunk. That was kind of a bad year because she'd had to read them over and over until the words came to her in her sleep.
There wasn't much else to do after you finished homework for the evening and night. She sat in the common room sometimes, but everyone seemed to have something else to do, someone else to talk to, and it wasn't very enjoyable.
She preferred climbing up into her bed early, before the other girls got there, and reading.
There wasn't much fiction in the wizarding world - unless you counted kid's books like Tales of Beedle the Bard - and sometimes she found it exhausting reading non-fiction. Goblin wars and Hogwarts A History were okay, she supposed, but she liked a bit of escapism.
So she read muggle-books. Her muggle-studies teacher was thrilled, and recommended more and more to her. They were mostly good, but it was a little maddening when the plot could have been resolved so quickly with magic.
She had planned on reading tonight, because she had lots of spare time, like most nights really. Her books had been stacked by her bed before dinner, but when she got back they were all gone. That was a bit disappointing, but she tried not to let it get her down.
She decided to experiment with the stars her father had got her for her birthday instead. They glowed softly, and she could pin them on the ceiling over her bed, so that she could read at nighttime without pestering the other girls. That would be good.
Luna wanted the stars to float like the candles in the Great Hall though, not lie flat against the ceiling, so she tried "Wingardium Leviosa" first. They levitated nicely, but that wouldn't hold. She tried body-binding them into place, "Petrificus Totalus!", but that only worked on living things she found out fast enough. Interesting.
The non-verbal "Levicorpus" had no effect either, but that one was difficult, so it might have worked for a better witch than her.
She closed her eyes and thought about it. She remembered something Harry had told her about the maze, how he'd been suspended upside-down until he took another step. A limbo mist.
She cast the spell easily, directed it onto over an area above her, and then spent a few happy minutes lying on her bed, tossing the stars up and into the mist. They flew above her head, and stayed suspended, albeit upside-down, and murmured among themselves.
That made her smile, and she felt brave enough to face the common-room, in search of more books.
Cho was talking to a friend excitedly by the window, and Luna tried them first.
"Do you have any books I could borrow?" she asked, perhaps a bit suddenly, because Cho jumped a little like she didn't know Luna was there.
"Oh. Umm, I've got my books for class, but you've already read those I'd say...". Cho bit her lip. "I don't have anything else, I'm sorry Luna." she said sincerely. Her friend shook her head at Luna and then continued their conversation. Luna stood there for a moment, but it seemed like that was that, so she left again.
She went around the whole common-room, getting different apologetic responses from different people. Most were nice about it, like Cho, but she still ended up returning to her room empty handed. No one mentioned the missing books. It was okay. They'd come back eventually.
She couldn't help but feel bit upset still though, and caved in and cast a cheering charm on herself. It had worked really well the first time she'd tried it, but now they only kind of evened her out. The spell washed over her and it felt like a gentle tickle, tracing down her back, warm and embracing her.
She smiled again under the starlight, but felt a little hollow still.