Author's Note: I would like to thank my beta, Kat-nee, for being literally my life saver. I don't know what I would if it weren't for having you there. You've helped me keep my sanity and ranted along with me about *ahem* things XD Just letting everyone know, this QL prompt didn't work out too well for me. I was confused on a lot of things depicting "coming of age." But I still tried my best, and I hope you enjoy it for what it is. Please read and review if you have anything to say!

Title/Link: Truly Free

Team: Kenmare Kestrels

Position: Beater 2

Extension Used: None

Season 6, Round 8: Palette by IU (feat. G-Dragon). Theme - coming into your own, i.e. a "coming of age" kinda story where your character is able to identify the uniqueness of their personality, their likes and dislikes, their opinions and beliefs, and is able to be comfortable in their own skin without succumbing to peer pressure while accepting that it's ok to be different.

Optional Prompts: (word) belittle, (dialogue) "And then I wondered… why do they need fixing? Everyone and everything is broken in some way anyway."

Truly Free by ValkyrieAce

Dear Diary,

It's Luna here. You haven't seen me in a while, and you'll get an explanation as to why.

It's been a great –but, busy – first year in Hogwarts. I got sorted into Ravenclaw, and I've learned a lot since then. I hope that Daddy knows I'm trying my best. I always am. There are a lot of subjects that I find interesting, but it fills my head with Wrackspurts when I think too much.

You know how that goes, don't you?

There are other things that have been going on in Hogwarts. I was excited, you know, to talk to some of my new friends about the creatures I see.

But I didn't know that my ability to see things would cause a chain of negative reactions in the students of my year. Even students from my own house were repelled by it. At first, they were shocked.

'Is she crazy?' they'd whisper.

I could see the gears turning in their heads at the thought.

But then, they purposely committed actions that were designed to hurt me. The actions were quite petty, in all honesty. Taking my shoes would never phase me if they knew me like you did.

But when the actions didn't work, they used their words instead. They called me names; "attention seeker," "loony," "insane." And those were only a few that come to mind.

But that isn't what hurt me.

What hurt was the belittling, choosing to attack the gift that my mother left me before she died.

What hurt was the eye rolling and the whispers. The inability to listen to me and at least pretend that I was telling the truth; that I really saw what I said I did. The subtle sense of having too much to take in every time they talked to me.

Why?

Spreading rumours that weren't true, and having to deal with the backlash, only to hear the whispering surface. What do they hope to gain?

Yes, it hurt. It burned. The pain writhed in my heart unnoticed by friends and enemies alike.

I know I won't be able to fix the others. It is a hopeless quest from square one.

So, how do I fix myself?

I wish I had my Mum with me. She would know what to do.

- Luna Lovegood

Dear Diary,

It's been a while, hasn't it?

My life is going alright. Third year has been a havoc. Trying to pick the correct electives to take and trying to manage the homework schedule for each has been tiresome and leaves me feeling very lethargic. I barely have time for my daily walk about the Lake.

On the other hand, there is a lot of talk going on about the Triwizard Tournament, and Harry being the Fourth Champion. It seems very obvious to me that someone older might have put Harry's name in the goblet themselves.

The whispers have calmed, but it hasn't stopped completely. If anything, the intensity and harshness of their words hurt me even more. Trying to fix myself hasn't worked out for the best. It feels as though I had given up a part of myself that was essential to me as Luna Lovegood.

They still roll their eyes at me, each roll striking me as painfully as the lash of a whip.

I felt weak and helpless.

I hated that feeling.

I might have let them tell me I was unworthy, and I might have believed them. I might have annoyed them and infuriated them.

But my gift was real. My mother would not have died for it otherwise. And she didn't deserve the criticism that was given to me everyday. Their blatant mockery of this fact burns at me as though it were an insult to my mother's death.

I've had it with them.

I wouldn't let them taint my mother's gift.

- Luna Lovegood

Dear Diary,

A lot has happened in my seventh year. The Carrows had taken to terrorizing the younger students into submission, and the Golden Trio, as many called them, were off to Merlin knows where. I had a suspicion that it had something to do with Voldemort's inner links anyways. What those were, I had no idea.

Anyways, onto bigger news.

A revelation came to me the other day.

I was walking down the Black Lake after curfew. Of course, I was aware of the consequences I would face had a professor – or worse, the Carrow siblings – had found me lurking there.

Still, as I sat by a tree near a hidden clearing away from the Lake, I came across a unicorn. She was a beautiful thing. A silver foal.

As she noticed me, she stilled, her mind trying to decide whether or not to be fearful of the stranger invading her home. Making her decision, the unicorn galloped – clumsily, as she was still getting used to the mobility of her legs – towards me, and laid herself next to me.

The sun shone brightly over us, even as the trees provided shade. The light still seeped through, creating a mirage of a halo out of the silvery mane on her head. The image I witnessed at this moment was pure. The innocent act of trust from a creature who had barely been born…

It prompted a very significant thought. I suppose it was more so a memory of her mother telling her father something. Something important.

I couldn't remember anything but these words:

"And then I wondered… why do they need fixing? Everyone and everything is broken in some way anyway."

And so I did. I wondered. Did I need to be fixed in the first place?

Did the others?

Was I… broken?

Looking down at the unicorn once again, tears clouded my vision. They slid down my cheeks, falling softly onto the mane of silver hair. The unicorn nuzzled closer to me, sensing a need for comfort.

I could indeed say that, yes, I was broken.

But who wouldn't be happier when they are truly free to be themselves?

- Luna Lovegood

Fin

Word Count: 1,008

Additional Prompts:

The Golden Snitch - Through the Universe - (word) 64. Extragalactic — loony

The Golden Snitch - Ollivander's Wand Shop - Unicorn hair: Write about a character's encounter with a unicorn.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry – Term #9: Assignment #4 – Women's History: Influential Queer Women, Task #9 - Alice Dunbar-Nelson: Write a Diary!fic.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry - The 365 Prompts Challenge - 82. Creature - Unicorn

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry - The Insane House Challenge - 526. Action - Whispering

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry - Return of the Chocolate Frog Cards Club - (Gold) Unicorn