September 1, 1992

"Anything from the trolley?"

"Trolley Witch's here, Luna," eleven-year-old Ginny said "Do you have a few Sickles? Want to get some frogs?"

"I'm fine," Luna said, dropping a number of Sickles and a Gaellon into her hand. "You can get something for yourself.

"I'm still going to get you something," Ginny insisted, leaving to order.

Luna turned back toward the window. Still grieving about her mother, Luna hadn't gotten over what had happened yet. Her father didn't understand. He didn't understand their relationship. He was devastated when he had heard, but got over it rather quickly.

"Here you are, Luna," Ginny said, tossing two boxes of Every Flavor Beans toward her. They landed on her lap. "We can do the Flavor Guessing game!"

"Okay," she replied, ripping open one of her boxes. There was a pink bean with white spots that she dropped into her hand. "Strawberry shortcake,"

"Cotton candy? No- flamingo feather?"

"Of all animals, you choose a non-magical creature?" Luna asked, grinning, as she popped the jelly bean into her mouth

"Ah," she finally said, wrinkling her nose up a bit. "I think it's ham,"

"My turn!" Ginny got a solid white bean, which was spoiled milk.

"I can't wait until I see which house I'm in," Ginny said excitedly. "I hope I'm in Gryffindor with Percy and Fred and George and Ron and- wait, where is Ron?"

Luna scanned the crowd, watching everyone pile out of the Hogwarts Express.

"I don't see anything. Oh well, perhaps they missed their ride. Or- ooh! Perhaps they decided to take broomsticks! Harry Potter's the Gryffindor Seeker, isn't he? Maybe he brought Ron along! But then again..."

Ginny made a face at her best friend.

"What is that?" Luna asked.

"What's what?" Ginny said, looking in the direction she was pointing at.

"The thing pulling the cart,"

"What do you mean? It's pulling itself. Charlie said so when-"

"Oh, never mind," Luna said. "I think it's a thesteral. It was in Fantastic Beasts… fits the description perfectly…"

"Thest… thest... er, what?"

Luna ignored Ginny and climbed onto the cart.

"Liu, Tarik!"

A boy with dark skin came up and sat down. The Sorting Hat fell onto his head.

"Another Muggle-born… No Slytherin for you, perhaps," Only Luna heard the last part. "I guess, then… HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Hufflepuff table applauded, and the prefect made some space for Tarik to sit next to him.

"Lonie, Lisa!"

A girl with jet-black hair walked up and sat down.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The sorting hat bawled, as soon as the hat had settled onto her head.

"Lovegood, Luna!"

Luna sat upon the stool, and Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on her head. She scanned the crowd looking for Ginny's strange redheaded brother. Hopefully he had come by now.

"Friends with that girl, aren't you?" the hat asked. Ginny stared.

Since we were little, Luna replied mentally

"She seems… peculiar. But so do you. No wonder,"

It stopped talking again. Luna looked at each table.

Gryffindor, where the bravest sat. All of Ginny's family had been there, along with the famous Harry Potter. So was the Lisa girl that had been sorted just before her. It was likely that Ginny would be sorted there, as well. It would be fun to have a good friend in her house.

Hufflepuff, where the kindest went. The boy named Tarik was there. Her father was also good friends with the Diggorys. She knew their son, Cedric, who had been sorted into Hufflepuff. They were quite good friends. Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad to be with him.

Slytherin, where all of the Dark witches and wizards had once been. He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named had been there, didn't he? She spotted a blonde boy that stared at her spitefully. He looked about Ron's age. Possibly, they knew each other. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be with someone who knew Ginny's brother.

And Ravenclaw. Her father had been in Ravenclaw, and so had her mother. Her mother…

"Oh, of course. I remember Pandora when she was your age. Had a lot going on in her mind. I guess we can't sit here forever, so let's just get this over with… RAVENCLAW!"

The Ravenclaw table's applause sounded like thunder. Professor McGonagall removed the hat from her head. As she passed by her, Ginny looked disappointed, but happy for her friend. A third-year girl with dark hair moved over so Luna could sit.

"Hi," the girl said, as the next person ("Danya, Luke") came up to be sorted. "My name's Cho. I'm the seeker for our team,"

"Team?"

"Oh, Quidditch. Do you know what that is?"

"Yes. Daddy brought me to a game once when I was seven,"

"Nice," Cho said.

"SLYTHERIN!" The sorting hat bawled.

"Talley, Carly!" McGonagall called.

"Is the Sorting usually this long?" Luna asked.

"Normally, it's shorter," Cho replied. "The Hat's taking longer to decide houses than usual. It is quite old now, anyways. It took a while for Harry Potter last year to get sorted, I remember,"

Luna saw Cho blush slightly, but didn't say anything about it.

"Weasley, Ginny!" McGonagall suddenly called after a few minutes. Luna watched her walk up to the stool.

"Another Weasley?" The Sorting Hat said, sounding annoyed. "How many of you are there? Might as well brace myself for the next generation of them. Time'll fly quickly, won't it? Gryffindor!"

Ginny glanced at Luna before sitting down at the Gryffindor table. Luna gave her a small smile, but Ginny didn't seem to notice.

Luna turned back to Cho, who was happily drinking a big goblet of pumpkin juice. She saw the second-year boys gnawing down at a turkey leg, nearly biting their teeth off.

Even if she didn't have Ginny, she could still have other friends.

And Cho would be her first.

Mummy'd be happy I made a new friend.