Au-ish set approximately around OotP or HBP and ignores those books entirely.
Let's call this one rated t for teen
I hold no legal rights to anything you recognize from the Harry Potter books – I am NOT JKR.
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Several of the witches in the room were looking around in puzzlement, with one dressed in green trimmed robes murmuring spells that would let her scan for concealed passages. A pair in red trimmed robes were glaring about, muttering 'someone had best let them out before they were very, very sorry'.
Luna looked around, trying to figure out where they were and why they were gathered here. There were almost two dozen witches in the room… Witches. Only witches had been brought here, wherever 'here' was.
"My father will not stand for this sort of behavior!" snarled Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin from the year ahead of Luna.
Luna sighed, used to hearing girls who didn't want to fight on their own behalf threatening people with their fathers or brothers… Often a sign of those who weren't brave, cunning, or skilled enough to take revenge without depending on brute power. Why, just the other day, Marietta was threatening someone with her family connections…
"You aren't the only one who's family will be furious!" snapped a Gryffindor girl with short hair. Luna thought that maybe she was one of the Quidditch players.
None of them were very young. Nobody had been brought here from the first few years. Luna recognized Miho, a quiet Ravenclaw the year below her, now Fourth year. She didn't think anybody here was younger than Miho, not by school year, though there might be several months age difference… Miho had been celebrating her birthday in the spring last year, with gifts of pretty scarves and painted fans. Most of the girls here were from the years ahead of Luna, either in their Sixth or Seventh year.
Old enough to be planning out their futures. Of course, their families would want to help with those plans… their families… she was getting a suspicion.
"Do any of you have brothers?" Luna asked.
"I.. what?" one of the Slytherin girls was frowning at Luna. "What are you going on about?"
"I'm a Ravenclaw, there must be a reason why all of us have been brought here, since I didn't walk into this room, and it doesn't sound like some of the others wanted to be here either," Luna replied. "We were brought here. The obvious questions are who did this, why did they bring us here, and what do they intend to do?"
"There's nothing in common! She's… she's a blood-traitor, and I'm…"
"A treacherous, backstabbing…" one of the other girls started to snarl, before someone clapped a hand over her mouth.
"There are people here from all four Houses, and from Fourth year up. People of varying levels of political power and a vast assortment of political leanings," Luna tried to put things tactfully.
"The common factor can't be our sorting, the political leanings of our families, or the coins in our family's vaults, though…." For a moment, Luna wondered how many of these girls had ridden the Gringott's carts, and of those, how many had seen the dancing Heliopaths hidden in the lower tunnels.
"While there are some people here with friends, most of us don't know each other well enough to call someone our good friend," offered a Hufflepuff girl.
"I had a brother." One Slytherin girl mused. "He was killed when I was a child."
"Lovegood might be on to something there. I know Parkinson doesn't have a brother. Bulstrode and Davis both do, and they aren't here with us," the girl wore the green trimmed robes of a Slytherin. "I also know that Bones doesn't have a brother and she's here, but her friend Abbot has two and is elsewhere, probably still asleep in the Hufflepuff dorms."
"I have one, but he's only three and he might not have magic at all," offered one of the Gryffindors. At some of the looks she was given, she shrugged, "I'm a half-blood. Dad's a muggle."
"None of you have magical brothers to pass on your family heritages," whispered a voice.
Luna blinked, thinking that the voice had done exactly what Professor Snape tried to do when he started the terms. It hadn't been loud, but everyone had heard, had paid careful attention. She wasn't certain it was at all human either.
"Is that why we've been brought here?" demanded one of the Gryffindor girls.
"Aye, you need to take account for that in your plans for the future," the voice came again.
Luna blinked, wondering where this ghost had been for the last five years. She was slender, and carried herself as if she were tall, though she was actually only a few inches taller than Luna. Her hair looked to have been dark, streaking with grey that was woven through her braid. Despite the imperious way that the ghost woman carried herself, she was dressed in a simple dark gown. Something about her looked a bit familiar…
"There are some families that pass their lore and trace their line from mother to daughter. Those of you from such families may already know some of these things. Others are from families that would prefer sons. All of you are daughters and heirs to familial magics."
"Is that supposed to help us?" asked a Hufflepuff. "When I marry, my children will have my husband's name, not the name of my family."
"In my day, there were ways to wed and bring the man into the woman's family instead of the other way around," the ghost replied. "Though this was normally easier to persuade them into doing if they were younger sons, or had no family inheritance to worry about."
"I think those ways may have fallen out of favor," suggested a Seventh year Ravenclaw named Berridge.
"I also knew of more than a few stubborn witches who did not actually wed. They decided not to give any man that much hold over them, instead just taking lovers to father their children."
Luna frowned at the confidence in the woman's voice as she mentioned that idea. "Were you one of those women?"
"Yes."
"But… but why not?" stammered someone in the back.
"When I was young, none of my suitors were charming enough to pull me from my studies. When I was older, none of them could offer me anything enticing enough to stay with them."
Luna could feel herself blushing even as she wondered what sort of offers had been made. Had they offered luxurious homes, with beds of furs and velvet? Libraries full of rare texts and scrolls? Heaps of silver, gold and gems? Goblin-wrought ornaments? Passion and skills in the bedroom? Had any of them offered true passion and love?
"On the other hand, Enna just wanted the variety of taking a new lover whenever she felt like it," the ghost mused. "It was a habit she kept up almost until her hundredth birthday."
"Without a husband, any children would carry our name." This was from the same Gryffindor girl who had announced that she was a half blood.
"Or without an actual marriage, several of us could share a good man instead of having to settle for a pillock like Mum did," mused one of the Hufflepuffs.
"By ancient tradition, a witch who can support herself and her family need not even name a father for her children. Or fathers. Many witches used their charms… and their potions, mind you, to keep local rulers pleased with them or fearful of their skills. With enough power and influence, nobody will act against such a witch. I have been assured that none have dared to set laws against such a thing."
"But…"
"Of course, if you don't name a father for your children, they can only inherit from your own holdings."
"Exactly what are you suggesting we do, madam ghost?" asked the Slytherin who had pointed out the absence of Bulstrode and Davis… Her name was something about Green.
"I am attempting to make certain that you ladies are aware of your situations and your options. Once you know your choices, you can research them, apply your choices with courage or cunning, and decide exactly what sort of future you want. You can pick your future instead of letting someone else choose for you."
The ghost smiled, and drifted through a wall, which resolved itself into a door.
Luna smiled and nodded, already letting her mind spin out various possibilities. She didn't speak the words, but she decided that she should really find a way to thank Lady Ravenclaw for this. It could be just the way to spend a little quality time with a certain wizard… And she should really make a point to live up to her family name. Lovegood meant she should hold herself to a higher standard – it wasn't as if she was Luna Loveacceptably or Luna Likewell, or even Luna Loveswithenthusuasmbutnoskill.
End Witches Meeting (fragment).