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"Done!" said Xenophilius triumphantly as he finished putting together the April edition of The Quibbler. A few minutes later, while his printing press was making copies of the magazine, he decided to go up to Luna's room to see what she was up to. He found her lying on her bed writing something that spanned several pages.
"Oh, hello, Daddy," she said, looking up.
"What are you writing, moonbeam?"
"I'm writing a story," answered Luna. When Xeno stepped forward to take a peek, however, the eight-year-old quickly covered it with her hands.
"It's not quite finished yet," she explained. "I don't want you to see it until it's finished. And I want to show you and Mummy together."
"Oh, well, all right then," her father said before walking back down the stairs. I wonder what Luna's story is about, he thought. I have a feeling it will be very interesting.
Two days later, Xeno looked sadly out of the window, where there was a thunderstorm brewing. So much for planting another Dirigible Plum bush today, he thought.
At that moment he heard footsteps running down the stairs; turning around, he saw Luna hurrying toward him clutching some papers that had been Spellotaped together. "I've just finished my story!" she said happily.
"Excellent!" Xeno replied. They only had to wait a few minutes before Pandora came out of the lab and sat on the sofa with her husband and daughter.
"Now, this story is called 'The Tale of Princess Moonshine,'" said Luna. "This is Princess Moonshine," she added as she pointed to a drawing of a blonde girl in a pink-and-purple dress and a golden crown. A Blibbering Humdinger was standing next to her.
"She looks a lot like you," Pandora remarked.
Luna beamed and then turned to the first page:
"Once upon a time in a faraway land lay the beautiful kingdom of Eutasia. The ruler of this kingdom was a young girl named Princess Moonshine. She was a benevolent ruler, and she loved to see her subjects with smiles on their faces. Every day, with the help of her pet Humdinger Steven, she would travel through the kingdom spreading joy everywhere by singing, giving compliments, and doing good deeds without ever asking for anything in return. Her subjects did their best to follow her example.
"Meanwhile, on the planet Mars there was a civilization of wizards - "
"Hang on," interrupted Xeno. "This has to do with the article in last month's Quibbler about Martian wizards, doesn't it?"
"Yes!" replied Luna, nodding enthusiastically. "They sound fascinating!"
"So what about the Martian wizards in your story, sweetie?" asked Pandora. "What did they do?"
"Well," the little girl said, turning back to her story, "every now and then they'd use magical globes to observe everything on Earth and find out more about Earthlings. One day they happened to be taking a glimpse of Eutasia, and they found it a most curious place. You see, Martians had never experienced joy, and when they saw all the joy being spread around Eutasia, they decided to take over the kingdom so they could have some of that joy themselves.
"On that day, Princess Moonshine was delivering pudding to a poor family of nine. 'Look!' the youngest child suddenly cried, pointing up to the sky. The princess looked up to see what looked like a giant flying saucer flying through the sky before landing somewhere nearby. And out of it stepped a strange-looking creature with red skin and a big head, along with a few others that looked exactly like him but were smaller." Luna suddenly looked up from her papers, a thoughtful expression on her face. "It's funny how some Muggles also think there could be life on Mars. I mean, they barely believe in magic."
"That's true," Pandora replied. "But there actually are some Muggles who are more open-minded than one would expect."
"Anyway," Luna continued, "the lead Martian wizard walked up to Princess Moonshine and made a strange sound, a combination of gurgling and hacking. Luckily the princess had a special gift for both speaking and understanding foreign languages. Hmmm," the little girl added, looking up again. "I wish I had the gift for communicating with animals. It'd be nice if Newt and I could have an actual conversation."
Pandora sighed. "If only I had been able to crack a potion or spell that could give people that ability."
"It's okay, Mummy. Who knows, you might figure it out one day," Luna reassured her, patting her on the arm.
"So what was the Martian leader saying?" asked Xenophilius.
"He was saying 'We have come for your kingdom. Your people possess something we want very much.' 'And what might that be?' asked Princess Moonshine. 'Something that makes those strange expressions on everyone's faces,' said the Martian leader. 'Do you mean smiles?' the princess asked. 'Well then, if it's joy you want, I can share that with you just as I do with all my subjects.'
"Unfortunately, what she didn't know was that these Martian wizards didn't want to share joy; they wanted to take it all for themselves. 'Bring forth your best warrior,' the Martian leader ordered. 'Deidrick?' the princess called out. Just then her best knight, a tall boy with dark brown hair, stepped forward."
"He looks a lot like Cedric," remarked Xeno, gazing at the drawing of Deidrick.
Luna nodded. "The Martian wizards' best warrior, XW-6, stepped forward while facing Deidrick. 'These two shall face each other in a duel,' said the Martian leader. 'If your knight wins, we shall leave this kingdom untouched. If my warrior wins, we will take the kingdom for our own.'
"Deidrick got out his sword while XW-6 pulled out a strange-looking wand that was giving off bright green sparks at the end. And with that, the battle began. For a while it looked as though Deidrick was going to come out on top, but then his opponent cast a powerful spell on him that turned him to stone. The Martian wizards had won, and so they captured all the citizens of Eutasia and made them their slaves."
"That's just awful," said Pandora.
"Don't worry, the story's not over yet," Luna assured her. "Princess Moonshine knew she needed to do something or the kingdom would be doomed. She realized that if the Martian wizards actually knew what true happiness felt like, maybe they wouldn't want to keep it all for themselves. She figured out that the best way to make them happy was to do what she did best: show them kindness.
"So she gave gifts to the Martians; they were a bit confused at first, but she explained that she did it because they deserved her kindness just as much as her own subjects. Slowly the Martian wizards began to feel a strange sensation spread through them, and they began to realize it was what they were after all along: joy. One by one they freed the princess' subjects.
"'What is the meaning of this?' demanded the Martian leader. 'Why are your people being freed?' The princess didn't answer; instead she gave the leader her best gift yet: a large bowl of pudding. Now, he had never tasted pudding before; none of the Martians had, really. But once he took a taste, he realized it was the single best thing he'd ever eaten. He then decided to feed some to the other Martians, and they enjoyed it too.
"Finally, Princess Moonshine rounded off the day by singing her most popular song; the Martians' smiles grew wider and wider by the minute. The Martian leader used his wand to un-petrify Deidrick and apologized for bringing his men to take over the kingdom. 'Apology accepted,' the princess replied. 'You're welcome back here any time.' Soon the Martians left, but not before their leader gave the princess a parting gift; he used his magic to create a bright rainbow over her castle. The kingdom of Eutasia continued to thrive for many years to come. The end."
"That was a very nice story, Luna," said Pandora.
"Indeed," agreed Xeno.
"Thank you," replied Luna. "I was thinking of those Muggle fairy tales you've read to me, Mummy, and I thought it'd be nice if there was a story where the princess didn't have to wait around for a man to rescue her. I think girls should be allowed to save the day themselves once in a while."
"I agree," her mother said. "You know, society has looked down on women for a long, long time; they see us as weaker and less intelligent than men. People often fail to realize that women can handle themselves when they need to. We are capable of far more than we're given credit for."
Luna nodded to show she understood. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could turn people from bad to good by being nice to them?" she asked.
"It would, yes," Xeno replied, "but sadly it does not work for everyone."
"Why?" said Luna. "I think it would be great if people could show kindness to You-Know-Who; maybe then he wouldn't want to kill people."
"The problem, moonbeam," her father told her, "is that some people are simply too evil to be changed for the better, no matter how kind you are to them."
"What about your cousin, Daddy? He changed, didn't he?"
"Yes, but his case was a bit different. He bullied me out of jealousy, but he showed he was still capable of caring about others."
"Oh," the little girl said, nodding in understanding.
"By the way, what became of Deidrick after he was turned back from stone?" asked Pandora.
"Oh, he didn't marry Princess Moonshine if that's what you're wondering," said Luna. "He just continued to serve as her best knight in case any enemies turned up who couldn't be changed by the princess's kindness."
Xeno then looked out of the window and smiled. "The storm has cleared up. Luna, how would you like to help plant another Dirigible Plum bush?"
"Okay!" Luna answered happily, and the two of them went out into the garden while Pandora went to the kitchen to get supper started.
A/N: One of the things I like about Luna is that she has never given up her kind, compassionate nature just because there are bad people in the world. Of course, like her father told her in this chapter, not everyone will change for the better just because you show them kindness.