"I wish I was in Ravenclaw with you."

Luna and Ginny had decided to make the most of the September warmth by meeting after dinner every day for a walk in the grounds.

Luna also hoped that if she delayed their return to their respective Common Rooms long enough, she could perhaps avoid facing the most callous of her House-mates. She hadn't realised until just now though that maybe Ginny had similar reasons of her own.

"Don't you like Gryffindor?"

Ginny shrugged. "It could be worse, I guess, but – oh, ignore me. I'm just being silly."

But Luna could tell something was bothering her. "I thought you wanted to be in Gryffindor, with your brothers – and Harry Potter?"

Ginny blushed, as Luna had known she would – as she did every time that name was mentioned. Luna felt bad for teasing her, but Ginny didn't seem to mind.

"I did want to be in Gryffindor – I do." Ginny insisted. "But it isn't how I thought it would be. Everyone knows about my brothers, and…"

Luna waited patiently for Ginny to collect her thoughts.

"I'm just 'another Weasley,'" Ginny said quietly. "That's all they see – the little sister. I'm never going to be as brave as Ron or as funny as Fred and George or as smart as Percy. I'm just the girl who can't stand up for herself. I'm… nothing special."

"But – you're Ginny."

Luna repeated the familiar phrase automatically, before she'd even thought what to say. It had been one of her mother's favourite sayings, whenever Luna had felt depressed about something: "You're Luna. How could you be anything but wonderful?"

"What's so special about being Ginny?"

"There has to be something." Everyone had something.

But she didn't know what Ginny's was. Not yet, anyway.

Ginny sighed. "It probably wouldn't make much difference if I wasn't in Gryffindor, but at least they wouldn't be around all the time. Everyone expects me to just hang out with them. Can you imagine?"

Ginny pulled a face to show what she thought of that idea.

"Fred and George put a spider down my dress once," Luna recalled.

Ginny nodded. "I remember! They do that kind of thing all the time. If I hung out with them they'd probably give me a heart attack, and Percy's too busy for anything except work. Ron's okay, I guess, when he's not being an idiot. At least he has good taste in friends…"

That blush again.

"… But they don't want me hanging around them all the time. So what am I meant to do?"

Luna did not comment on the existence of four other Gryffindor girls in their year. She felt a little selfish not to, knowing how much easier it would be for Ginny to have friends in her House, but she was fast beginning to suspect that Ginny got on about as well with her House-mates as Luna did with the other Ravenclaws.

No, there was only one solution Luna wanted to offer her:

"Well, you'll just have to be friends with me, then."

Ginny stared at her.

"What?" Luna wondered if she'd said something wrong.

"It's just – you have a strange way of looking at things, sometimes."

So I'm told, Luna thought, her heart sinking.

"It's brilliant." For the first time Luna could remember since they had arrived at Hogwarts, Ginny broke into a smile. "Of course we're friends."

"Good." Luna couldn't help but smile back. "You had me worried there. You looked like a wrackspurt had got you."

"What's a wrackspurt?"

"They're invisible creatures that float between your ears and make your brain go fuzzy," Luna explained, expecting at any moment Ginny would roll her eyes and tell her not to be stupid.

But once again, Ginny surprised her.

"That's a brilliant idea! I can't believe I've never heard about them before. Are they real?"

Luna hesitated. A week ago, she would have said "yes" without thinking, but now she wasn't so sure.

"My dad says there's some very interesting evidence in support of them, but I don't think there's any proof yet."

"I bet they are real," Ginny said. "That's just what it feels like. Even if they aren't, it's a wonderful thought, isn't it?"

Luna smiled. "I always thought so. I love magical creatures. I wish we could study them already. But…" Her smile faded. "Most of the other Ravenclaws say I'm just making things up to be silly."

"Well, in that case, they're the ones with wrackspurts." Ginny insisted.

But now that she had thought of Daniel and the others, Luna was finding it harder to smile.

Ginny noticed her frown. "If you're worried about it, why don't you just not talk about it to them?"

"I wouldn't, now," Luna explained. "But I already did. I thought they'd want to know. Now they won't listen to anything I say."

Ginny bit her lip. "Maybe… maybe you should just apologise."

"But they're real!" Luna protested. "I'm not going to apologise for making things up when I didn't."

"No," Ginny said slowly. "I mean apologise for talking about them."

Luna shook her head. "I'm not going to lie."

"But you are sorry that you talked about them, just not for the reason they might think," Ginny said. "If you don't apologise, they're going to keep thinking you did it on purpose.

Luna stared over her friend's shoulder at the setting sun, wondering what she should do. She shouldn't lie. But…

"We should go inside. It's getting late."

The next morning, Luna had made up her mind.

"I'm sorry." She could barely get the words out. She hated that it was necessary, but she suspected Ginny was right – if she didn't, she would never be able to live the past week down.

"I shouldn't have said all those things about the creatures my dad writes about. I know they haven't been proven to exist yet…"

"There's a reason for that," Daniel muttered under his breath.

Luna knew what he meant, but she wasn't going to say that wrackspurts didn't exist. Sooner or later, she would be proven right.

"It's okay," said Cordelia, a girl in Luna's dormitory. "We probably shouldn't have been so hard on you. You're really interested in magical creatures, aren't you?"

Luna nodded. "I can't wait until we start having classes. Hogwarts has so many interesting creatures. I heard there's a whole herd of Thestrals to pull the carriages into Hogsmeade."

That was a safe enough topic, surely – she'd read about Thestrals in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

But nearby, a boy in the year above – Luna thought his name was Terry – frowned.

"I thought the carriages were enchanted. I've never seen anything pulling them."

"You wouldn't," Luna said. "Thestrals are inv-"

"Honestly, Luna," Daniel interrupted. "Just stop making things up already."

Cordelia shook her head. "I was trying to give you a chance."

"No, really –"

"Give it up," Daniel told her. "No-one wants to hear any more of your nonsense, Loony."