20 Random Facts About Luna Lovegood
by Ravenclaw_Eric
Title: 20 Random Facts About Luna Lovegood
Chapter: 1 (of 1)
Chapter Notes: None
Author/Artist: Ravenclaw_Eric
Beta: None
Rating: PG
WIP/Length: complete/1200 words
Main Characters/Pairings: Luna Lovegood
Warnings: None
Spoilers: DAYD
Summary: Luna has many unexpected depths
Author's Notes: I've loved the character of Luna for a long time, for her quirky insights and unexpected wisdom, and I thought that a 20 Random Facts about her would be fun to write.
1. She had considered attending an American school.
Luna's father had connections overseas, and he and Luna had discussed her attending Salem Witches' Academy in preference to Hogwarts. They were tempted by its reputation in magical zoology, but in the end, they both decided that being separated by that much distance was more than they wanted to deal with.
2. She knew about Dennis Creevey's crush on her.
While Luna was an atypical girl in many ways, she was as good as the girliest of her schoolmates at picking up on little details that males would miss. She noticed the way Dennis blushed and looked away when she happened to catch him looking at her, or the fact that, unlike his brasher older brother, he would never so much as speak to her. She was flattered, and would have treated him with the utmost kindness if he'd ever come forward, but she respected the fact that he was too shy to do so. The age difference, at their ages, was a very hard barrier to surpass, but if things had gone differently, she might have sought him out once they were both adults; even though she was content with her life after Hogwarts, there was always the nagging little "what if?"
3. She was nonplussed at being considered "brave."
After her adventures in the Forbidden Forest, Luna was the toast of Ravenclaw Tower, which startled her; she and her friends hadn't obtained Gryffindor's sword, after all, and the whole thing had been an uncomfortable, dangerous fiasco that took time away from important things like schoolwork. When Ernie MacMillan gave her a flowery compliment on her bravery in front of her House, she responded: "But I'm not brave enough to be a coward---I see the consequences of that much too clearly." Those simple words shut everybody up, and started many people thinking very hard. After she said that, there were new recruits to the DA who had previously been standing on the sidelines.
4. She felt very sorry for Draco Malfoy and the other "Junior Death Eaters."
Luna was a country-raised girl, and by no means squeamish, but she knew enough about what even the lesser members of the Dark Lord's forces often had to do to honestly pity them. She could understand being tempted by the promise of new magical knowledge, or coerced by threats to parents and kin---she honestly didn't know what she might have been willing to do if the price of her failure was her Daddy's life.
5. She was a confidante to many of the younger Ravenclaws.
The word got around in Ravenclaw Tower that if you were wrestling with a dilemma, or had some sort of personal problem, Luna was a good person to talk to. She was never judgemental, had a way of seeing things from a different perspective that often pointed toward a solution, and respected the privacy of anybody who came to her. She did not lie---she thought lying was silly---but if she were asked about something she had been asked to keep quiet about, she just would not talk, and no force on Earth could make her.
6. She understood the necessity of fighting the Dark Lord, but did not hate him.
As a Ravenclaw, Luna understood the things that someone could do for the sake of knowledge, and she had to admit that defeating Death was a very worthy goal, even though she did not care about such things herself. She privately thought that the Dark Lord should have been a Gryffindor---"for who else but a Gryffindor would dare such risks, would grasp such nettles, all for the sake of his goal?" She thought that some of the Dark Lord's "magical transformations" had addled his pate; even before his attempt on Harry Potter's life, his behavior had been irrational and erratic, in Luna's considered opinion.
7. She knew all about the Levicorpus Incident.
Unlike many non-Slytherins, Luna was honestly sympathetic with Professor Snape. Her mother had been at Hogwarts in the Marauders' time, and while she had never been as high on their favorite-targets list as "Snivellus," she had been through enough at the pranksters' hands to not be surprised at how far they would go to humiliate someone they happened not to like---and she had been a witness to the Levicorpus Incident. Luna could have spread Professor Snape's hated student name all through Hogwarts---and would sooner have died than do so. Luna knew all too well what it was like to be mistreated.
8. She didn't think she was pretty.
Her Daddy, of course, told her that she was beautiful, but she discounted his opinion; she knew that as his daughter, she'd be beautiful in his eyes even if she was ugly enough to make trolls run away screaming in fear. She compared herself with the other girls discreetly in their dormitories and baths, and privately despaired of ever attracting a mate. She was too unsure of herself to do the things that attracted male attention, and wasn't certain that any boy who'd be attracted by such antics was worth having.
9. She really didn't care about money much.
She could understand why the Weasley twins were so obsessive about making money, but as long as she had a place to live, clothes to wear, a wand, cauldron and potions supplies, and food to eat, anything above that was redundant, in Luna's book. Some of her dorm mates would talk about snagging a good-looking, rich wizard, and looked at her oddly when she asked: "What does his money matter, if he's a bad husband?"
10. She understood Hagrid better than almost anybody.
Luna knew very well what it was like to be different, and she understood why Hagrid was so fond of his animals. Animals offered unjudgemental acceptance and treated people according to how they themselves were treated, not caring if someone was "different." One of the very few times Luna ever came close to losing her temper was when she found out about Hagrid's expulsion; she understood that keeping Aragog in the school was an incredibly stupid thing to do, but the way Hagrid had taken the blame for Myrtle's death, despite there being no reason to blame him other than Tom Riddle's word---there were no marks on Myrtle's body that would have indicated an Acromantula attack, after all---made her wonder what other miscarriages of justice had occurred over the years.
11. Luna never held a grudge in her life.
After Marietta Edgecombe was exposed as the "SNEAK" who had betrayed the first DA, one of the very few Ravenclaws who did not ostracize her was Luna Lovegood. Luna had found out that Marietta's mother was working at the Ministry, and was the sole support of herself and her daughter; Madame Edgecombe literally couldn't afford to lose her job. Luna blamed Cho more than Marietta, feeling that Marietta had been put into an impossible position. And after the final end of Voldemort, Luna stood foursquare against any attempts to exile or ostracize Slytherin House as a whole. She pointed out that Renny had been Slytherin, too---and that the magical community couldn't survive having a fourth of its members cast into Outer Darkness. At the first reunion following the War, Luna pointedly led Draco Malfoy out onto the dance floor, discreetly leading the flabbergasted Slytherin through a dance. Very few people felt that they had the chutzpah to tell one of the surviving Lieutenants of Dumbledore's Army that she was wrong about this, and eventually, the Slytherins and others who'd been on the other side were accepted back into the community.
12. Luna liked older men.
Luna had been "Daddy's girl" even before her mother died, and afterwards, the years she spent as her father's close companion left a permanent imprint on her. While she found quite a few of her male classmates attractive enough, and enjoyed it when she got a chance to see them with their shirts off, Luna always related well to older men and preferred them when she began thinking about a life's partner. If asked about this, Luna would point out that an older man was likelier to be established in life, knew what he wanted and how to treat a woman, and (in private, to the women) was often a much better lover.
13. She took to travel very well.
Unlike many people, Luna did not balk at strange food or odd accomodations, so when she went on her travels in search of strange magical creatures, she was able to deal with conditions that would have had many of her classmates and friends turning back. She published some accounts of her adventures, using the Quibbler's resources and press; they got good reviews, particularly the parts where she pointedly showed that Gilderoy Lockhart didn't know what he was talking about.
14. She was "Aunt Lu" to all the Next Generation of Dumbledore's Army until she died.
Luna herself didn't have babies until she was older than many of her friends were when they'd had theirs, but she was always willing to schedule in some baby-minding, and as they grew up, her friends' children found out that "Aunt Lu" was a good adult to have around. While she did not allow them to do anything dangerous (she never forgot how she had lost her own mother), she was not judgemental, and would always keep a confidence confidential. She learned about many of her friends' children's scrapes and love lives before their parents did. The Next Generation, for their part, fiercely protected her from people who were trying to use her; more than one intrusive type found himself facing off with half-a-dozen angry sons and daughters of the DA.
15. She saved her father from Azkaban after the war.
After the Battle of Hogwarts, anybody who'd cooperated with the Death Eaters in any way was in trouble, and Xenophilius Lovegood was no exception. At his trial, Kingsley Shacklebolt was just about to pronounce sentence on him when he was interrupted by a scream of rage, as Luna leaped into the courtroom, wand out and ready. Luna planted herself in front of her astounded father and told the shocked court that if anybody at all wanted to hurt her Daddy...they'd have to go through Luna first. When Shacklebolt looked up at the visitors' galleries, he found himself facing a majority of the surviving DA, all of them with wands out and clearly ready to back Luna to the death. In the sudden silence, Arthur Weasley spoke up, stating that, in his opinion, Xenophilius had been put into an impossible position, and that he himself might have done as Xenophilius did, if one of his children had been captured. Augusta Longbottom concurred with Arthur Weasley, and pointed out that anybody with children would understand. Shacklebolt accordingly reduced Xenophilius' sentence to a period of parole in the custody of his daughter, and Neville Longbottom gently got Luna to agree to put away her wand. Luna and her father were led out together with their heads high, and only collapsed weeping in each other's arms when they were alone.
16. She did not marry until after her Daddy died.
Once things had settled down, Luna went on at home much as she always had, taking care of her Daddy. Their old house had been blown up in the war, but with Susan MacMillan's help, they found a new place to live not far from their old one, and the Quibbler was back in business shortly afterward. Luna loved her Daddy, but privately thought that without her, he wouldn't take good care of himself---he'd forget to eat, or something like that. Her home was always open to any DA veteran, and she accompanied her father on reporting trips, so it wasn't like she was walling herself away from the world, but as long as Xenophilius Lovegood lived, he was the center of Luna's life and the sun around which she orbited.
17. She was attracted to women as well as men, but never got around to acting on it.
Luna could understand easily why men found women so attractive, since she did too. If things had been different, or she hadn't been so different from her schoolmates, she might have done something about it, but as things stood, she never felt comfortable making the first move, and nobody approached her. After school and the war, she was taken up with taking care of her Daddy and keeping the Quibbler going, and her own studies, and never met any woman who seemed interested in her in that way. After she married, she would have described herself as "Bisexual, but monogamous."
18. She was privately amused by people who were in awe of her.
Luna considered herself very ordinary in most ways, and when, in later years, she ran into people who were in awe of her as "one of the DA's Lieutenants," a "heroine of the Battle of Hogwarts," or, especially, "the last survivor of Dumbledore's Army," she found their awe to be slightly comical. Not that she ever showed it. She understood why they treated her that way, but she often wished she could make them understand that, in her view, she hadn't done anything that anybody else in her position would have done. She never wore her medals unless it was a formal occasion, much preferring to leave them on her wall at home.
19. Being the last of Dumbledore's Army was not a privilege, in her eyes.
Luna Lovegood Scamander loved all her comrades, even the ones who treated her like she was an escapee from St. Mungo's mental wards, and she often wished they could have lived longer and had more time together. When she found herself the last one of all, decades before she had thought that any such thing would happen, it was more of a burden than a blessing. She had to sit up on the platform at every patriotic celebration and listen to politicians' droning and try to look attentive, when she'd much rather have been out picking daisies in a meadow somewhere, or fishing for Plimpies. She commented to her sons, and to other members of the Next Generation, that if she could animate a dummy of herself and have it take over the role of public icon, she'd do so in a heartbeat.
20. She sent a dream to the Next Generation after her death.
After Luna's cremation, Cecily MacMillan found herself dreaming. In her dream, she saw Luna as she had seen her last, lying on her bier with an honor guard around her. Then Luna sat up, leaving her body behind, and began walking up through the air, as though she were on a staircase. She met Ernie MacMillan, who bowed and gallantly offered her his arm, and together they began to cross a beautiful rainbow bridge, heading toward a glowing golden gate guarded by a tall man with a huge horn. The man with the horn blew a welcoming call, and the gates opened, to reveal the entire body of Dumbledore's Army, standing in serried ranks with their wands held in salute behind Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. Luna's eyes went wide, and wider still when she saw her mother, standing behind the DA and waiting to welcome her daughter to paradise.
END