Luna Lovegood, now seventeen, entered her bastion, arriving from the birthday party. Her father had thrown a birthday party for her, yet she found it stressful. Thus she went outside for some fresh air. Imagine her anger as she saw her boyfriend walking with a girl clinging to him. And to think he kissed her this morning as he gave her his gift! Without another second later, she approached him and slapped him hard on the cheek, declaring their break-up. Not waiting for his reaction, she bolted home and entered her den. A small pink room, she approached her bed, plopped in it, and heaved a sigh. It was great to be back.

For the past months, she has been attending boarding school in a faraway place. An exclusive school for the wizarding community, Hogwarts was what she considered home. Well, she never considered it as her first home until five years ago, when her mother passed away from a weird disease. Opening her small chest of memories, a little wooden box with blue gems adorning its lid, she picked up the letter her mother left her. She was instructed not to open it until she was of legal age. And there she was, seventeen and finally able to view her coveted letter from her mother.

"Mum." Luna muttered to no-one in particular. "I miss you…"

Lifting the seal off the now old letter, she turned it over to see the contents. A crisp parchment fell out, together with a feather unmistakably owned by one of the most enchanting creatures on earth, a phoenix. She picked up the crisply folded parchment and began to read.

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My dear Luna,

You have reached a point where in you are a young lady now. I am sorry, Luna, for not being with you, guiding you through your hard teenage stage in life. I know you must be thinking, why am I so sure that I am not to see you? My disease was proclaimed incurable by the best medi-witches. Remember Madam Flemington? Yes, your aunt. She diagnosed me that the illness will render me dead in a mere month. My dear Luna, forgive me for not letting your father owl you about my illness. I'm sorry.

Enough of those sad sentiments. Congratulations, my dear daughter, for you are now seventeen. Old enough to have boyfriends I presume? Although I think your father would go nuts at the idea…

Yeah mum… I did have a boyfriend last year, named Ron Weasley…

Well I have a checklist for you on what the perfect guy is. I snagged it from a column in Witch Weekly, and I found it humorous to share with you on your beloved day.

Humor me, mother. I think I need it badly.

Alright, so here it goes. Number one, "Find a guy, who calls you beautiful instead of hot."

Those words triggered a memory from her mind. A sad and yet beautiful memory.

Luna's sixteen, and she just arrived to Hogwarts with a whole new look. Losing her mother made her detach herself from trivial things, such as fixing herself up and putting on make-up. Instead, she read books and stayed at the library, reading everything that has to do with her inherited fondness for mythical creatures. Her friend Ginny came up to her one summer day and brought her to Molly's Magical Salon, Ginny's mother's beauty shop. Being friends with Ginny during that summer made her more introverted and outspoken, even realistic. Many told her she was great looking from that day forward. She got used to it somehow. One day…

"Hey miss, wanna do something spectacular?" said a seventh-year Ravenclaw while pointing to a dark corridor.

Luna's mind was working overtime. "Disgusting git," she muttered to herself. Unfortunately, the guy heard her and started shoving her to the corridor. Panicky, she started crying out for help, which was quickly stifled by a hand to her mouth. She felt doomed until a hand collided with the perverted seventh-year. "Oh my, I've got to go and run, maybe this guy will hit on me too!" she thought. When the guy who saved her grabbed her hand, she started hitting him at his chest.

"Ouch Luna, that hurt!" a familiar voice said.

"Ron?"

Number two, "Find a guy who runs in pursuit of you when you leave him behind on purpose."

"YOU ARE SUCH AN ANNOYING GUY, DO YOU KNOW THAT?" Luna shouted at Ron furiously.

"I'm sorry Luna, it was a joke. I was just…" Ron said guiltily, eyes focused on the floor. But Luna cut him off.

"I don't want to hear any excuses, you sadistic git! You almost killed my cat!" Luna fumed. "I'm leaving." And with those words, she started walking towards the Great Hall's doors. Ron stood up as if burned and started running towards her. He grabbed Luna's shoulders and started explaining himself.

"Luna. Let me explain myself." Ron said, intense eyes making a connection with hers. "I am sorry because I failed to tell the fourth years to stop levitating your cat when I knew what was going to happen. I'm sorry that I forgot the incantation to stop Ms. Fibbles from levitating and had to ask Hermione for help. I'm sorry I did not even try to stop everybody from laughing. I did not do the prank, Luna. I'm sorry."

Luna ran through the Great Hall and went straight to her room.

Number three, "Wait for the guy who will stay awake just to watch you sleep, the guy who kisses your forehead."

Luna stared at the moon, sitting by herself at the astronomy tower. A heavenly body, majestic in shape and appearance, even with borrowed glow.

"Luna means moon," she told herself aloud. "Mother loved stargazing. Ironically, I shine with a borrowed shine too. The moon gets its shine from the sun, and I get mine from Ginny." Alas, she started crying, remembering her deceased mother. Tucking her feet and in a fetal position, she started to rock back and forth, trying to ease the pain. Suddenly, a warm pair of hands embraced her now cold body. Shocked from the warmth, she looked up and saw the face of her redhead friend's brother Ron. The shock, however, did not stop her from crying even more.

"It's alright Luna. Feel free to cry everything out. Release everything." Ron murmured in her ear. So there, she continued crying into the arms of a loving friend. Small bursts of crying came from the small blonde, yet Ron just hugged her tenderly even more.

'When did he get so mature?' Luna thought to herself when her mind cleared up. The look on her face gave her away, and Ron amusedly answered, "When you have a five brother's and a sister, it is not hard to grow up fast. Not to mention being friends with Harry and Hermione, maturity extraordinaire." A laugh followed the humorous answer.

Silence followed, and the pair just stared at the beautiful stars. Ron kissed her forehead and stated, "I love you Luna. Since the first day you actually humored me at the train. I thought you were weird at first, but the more I learned of you, the more I got attracted to you. I love you."

The out-of-the-blue confession made Luna look to Ron's face, now red with embarrassment. "I love you too Ron."

And with that, he kissed her lovingly, filled with passion and undying love. "Oh and about that borrowed shine, you do NOT borrow any shine from my dear sister Ginny, for you have a shine uniquely in your own. That's what counts."

The rest of the evening, Luna slept soundly as Ron held her tight and never letting go, as if trying to protect her from all the horrors the world is about to send her way. Contemplating, Ron did not sleep, and gazed at Luna the whole time.

Last and definitely not the least,

"Who wants to show you off to the world when you are in your sweats. Who holds your hand in front of his friends.

Wait for the one who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares about you and how lucky he is to have you.

Wait for the one who turns to his friends and says, "...that's her."

I love you my daughter. Take care always. Find that man of your dreams, be he perfect or not. I will be always by your side, watching over you. Give the feather to the man you truly love, for I enchanted it for his protection and luck. If truly he is your soul mate, the feather will light up and enter his heart, for it holds a part of you.

Love,

Mum.

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A rapt knock on her window stopped the tears that were flowing down her cheeks. Taking the letter from the owl, she read it with eyes filling with regret every second.

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Luna!

Hey girl, Happy Birthday! Hope you my gift. :D

Anyhow, I think I need to go out with you tonight. My cousin from Germany just arrived, and she's getting to my nerves. She's so annoying; she's a stuck-up snob. She threw me out of my room. MY ROOM! She keeps bossing me around, and for some reason she has this big crush on your boyfriend (Ickle Ronniekins – sorry, couldn't help it!). I think I admire him for having such great patience with that conceited woman.

I need to go now; I think her 'magic of annoyance' just worked on my brother. I'll bring him with me to the Pillar Club tonight. Meet you there around 6, alright? Don't worry, I won't tell Ron you will be there. It will be a surprise. Think of this outing as a birthday bash from me to you.

See you later!

Ginny

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After reading, she changed her clothes and pocketed both letters and the phoenix feather. "I was wrong and I'm going to sort things out," she said with determination. "And I don't need to wait mother, because I've already found him."