This story is for The Hogwarts House Challenge, but I had to cut out 500 words that I felt could not be left out of the story. So, here is the extended version of that story. My mom said she loved it so it must be good.

Ginny always felt left out when it came to playtime. She was the 'little sister', she needed to 'be protected' all the time. She'd try and toddle along after Ron, Fred and George, and Percy; but each time they would snub her off because "girls wouldn't like this stuff" or "no Ginny, it's too dangerous". Bill was more mature and would indulge her with tea parties or dolls but he, too, would have other things to do. Charlie just wanted to talk about Dragons all day, which was only neat for about a month. Percy wanted to expand his mind and practice his calligraphy and culture. Fred and George wanted to play pranks. Ron would tagalong with Fred and George even if it meant being the butt of their jokes and victim of their pranks.

Anything if it meant he didn't have to hang out with his dumb little sister.

They weren't allowed to play with Muggles due to there being rules and everything about befriending them. Mrs. Weasley was adamant that they keep with their little group. That meant get-togethers with the Fawcetts, the Lovegoods, and the Diggorys. Mrs. Weasley would often have tea with Carolyn Fawcett, Pandora Lovegood, and Belphoebe Diggory. They would take turns hosting, sharing gossip and trade household remedies. Carolyn Fawcett worked with the ministry and paid close attention to the lives of her coworkers; Pandora Lovegood worked from home with her husband but got to read letters from travelers all over the world; Belphoebe and Molly were the only housewitches.

None of this interested Ginny. No, the only interest she ever had was The-Boy-Who-Lived. She read all of his adventures and hoped one day she could be just like him. A child hero with wonderful adventures all over the world. So, she read everything she could and would play Harry Potter Adventures by herself with her homemade dolls.

That was her only interest. Until her.

Ginny first met Luna when they were six-years-old. Mrs. Weasley decided to start bringing her youngest daughter along with her to teatime so she wouldn't be home alone with her brothers as brothers could be horribly mean as Mrs. Weasley well remembered.

They had gone to the Lovegood's house which stood like a little castle against the hill it stood on. There was a main house and a tower like a giant rook piece. Ginny wished her house looked as interesting as this rather than the stacked up, wibbly-wobbly mess they had.

"Don't stray too far, Ginevra," said Mrs. Weasley using her daughter's full first name to show she was serious.

"Okay, Mummy," said Ginny, staring at a small bush that had what looked like tiny peaches floating on vines.

After the novelty wore off, Ginny began hopping on stones interspersed in the grass trying to see how far she could jump to get to each one. She began imagining that the grass was not grass at all but a massive chasm with… with crocodiles at the bottom! One slip and that would be the end of Ginevra Weasley, the first daughter and seventh child of the Weasleys! The first natural born Weasley girl in seven generations! She would be known to be the greatest witch of all time! Auror crime fighter alongside Harry Potter! Sworn defenders of the wizarding world.

Ginny slipped on a rock covered with moss and fell hard on her rear.

"Ouch!"

She picked herself up and twisted her skirt around to the examine the mud damage.

"I'm sorry," said a lilting voice. "I should have warned you that rock was playing host to wrackspurts."

"Wrackspurts?" Ginny asked. She looked to find a little girl about her age sitting up in a tree wearing a dress as muddy and grass-stained as her own. The girl had long, dark blonde hair and wide, pale blue eyes. Her bare foot kept pushing on the rope of a large swing.

"They fly around your ears and make your head go all fuzzy," she explained. "You seemed to be very deep in thought. Were you trying to imitate a Porg?"

"A what?" This girl was confusing Ginny more and more by the second.

"Porgs are frog-rabbits," the girl explained as if she were describing the weather. "They like to hop from rock to rock so they can see danger around them."

"Er— no. I was not trying to… inimate a Porg," said Ginny fumbling around the unfamiliar word.

"Oh. I would have liked to join you," said Luna. She jumped from her point and swung from a branch like a Demiguise. "My name is Luna. What's yours?"

"Ginevra," Ginny replied. "But everyone calls me Ginny."

"I like both names, but Ginny suits you better," said Luna. "Though, Ginevra does sound like an excellent hero name."

The redhead perked up at this. "Yeah?"

"Mmhm!"

Ginny flushed and gripped the sides of her skirt. "Um… wanna play heroes?"

"Only if I get to play the villain!" said Luna dropping to the ground. She grabbed a fallen stick and brandished it like a staff. "Back ye hero! I shall overcome this land with my Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and nothing you do can stop me!" She laughed maniacally causing Ginny to break into giggles. She snatched up her own twig to brandish as a wand.

"Never! This land is under my rule!"

They had played all afternoon and from that day on they were the best of friends. They would come together as often as they could, mostly meeting halfway at a twisty tree. They would hunt for Luna's creatures, play heroes, and go swimming in the pond. In the fall, they would sweep together leaf piles and jump in. The winter was spent making snowmen and having snowball fights. In the spring they would make flower crowns.

And then they were nine. Ginny held Luna's hand at the funeral. Her undamaged one anyway. Pandora had protected her daughter and taken the brunt of the spell damage, but Luna was still injured on her right side. Ginny had never seen her friend cry and it broke her heart.

After that, Luna shut herself off. Not just from her. From the world. The Lovegood home was no longer a castle but a Rook. A tower that half-heartedly held onto the belief of everything.

Ginny brought Luna a flower every day knowing how much Luna loved flowers. Sometimes, she'd climb the vines right to her blonde friend's window. She would peek in, hoping to get a glimpse of her. All she would see is a dark room and an easel facing away from her. So, she'd leave her flower on the sill and go back home.

Mum told her to leave the girl alone, but Dad was more supportive. With an I-know-something-you-have-yet-to-realize smile, he would cast a preservation spell on the flower and sometimes bring one from work for her to give to Luna. He claimed he had a friend in the Herbology department, but Ginny began to wonder if such a department even existed.

So, for nearly a year she would leave a flower by Luna's window. The only days she didn't were when Mum wouldn't allow her to go out, or when she was sick.

The first day Luna emerged from her mourning was on Ginny's eleventh birthday. It was a warm August day and a party was set up in the garden. Mrs. Weasley made her daughter her favorite meal: macaroni and cheese with breadcrumb topping; spinach salad with strawberries, pears, and almonds; roasted rosemary chicken; and a two-tier checkerboard cake with white frosting and blue flowers and Happy Birthday Ginny written in yellow. After the candles were blown out, she got to open up her Hogwarts letter before delving into the scrumptious meal prepared.

As Ginny tore the wax seal, a lilting voice sounded just beyond the bend. She stood up and saw Luna's long, blonde hair waving like a flag as she skipped along the dirt path. She sang cheerfully as she would have a year and four months ago.

Lavender's green dilly, dilly

Lavender's blue

If I were queen, dilly, dilly

You shall be king.

She faded into humming as she stepped inside the garden and glanced at the mix of brown and blue eyes at the table just staring at her.

"I'm afraid I'm late and made it awkward," said Luna.

"No," said Ginny quickly. "You're just in time — Ron, budge over — sit down and eat with us."

"I'd be happy to. I see you have something there. Do read it."

Ginny smiled and opened her Hogwarts letter. She read it out loud as her brothers had done before her. When she was done, they cut the cake. Nobody mentioned Luna's absence for the past year and, out of respect for Ginny's birthday, did not make a snide comment when Luna made an oddball comment. The youngest Weasley was just glad to have her friend back.

—

Ginny didn't know when she fell for Luna Lovegood. Honestly, the girl was barmy. In the classes they had together, she managed to derail the teacher off the subject for hour-long tangents, she was spacey half the time and the other half was awkwardly observant. She believed in everything beyond logic and wasn't afraid to wear weird fashion statements. She faced bullying with her head held high. And she was a powerful witch who used unconventional methods.

Oh sure, during the Battle of Mysteries (as Ginny liked to call it), Luna used the usual defensive spells but then managed to take down a few Death Eaters with spells not even the best wizards might have considered. Like an eyelash curling hex or a jinx to make shoes bite the toes of the wearer.

Ginny just knew one day that she wanted to be with her. She had snuck over to Luna's because Fleur was driving her crazy and the house was getting too crowded for her liking.

It was a rare sunny day. The kind that made you believe that everything was going to be all right. It lit up the green grass and butterflies flitted from flower to flower. The sky was the quintessential blue and fluffy white clouds like cotton candy only made the scene more picture perfect.

Luna was sitting on the large swing that hung on the tree. She sat there, so still she could have been in a muggle painting. Ginny's heart fluttered, and she suddenly began to worry. She knew it was dumb. Luna was the most open-minded person in the world even if she wasn't… well, if she didn't like girls in that way she would still accept Ginny for herself.

No, the part that scared Ginny was that her massive stupid crush would ruin this friendship they had for so long. It was hard going to Hogwarts and liking girls because if you were outed you didn't know how anyone was going to react! People weren't exactly having open homosexual relationships at that school. Sure, it was the 90's but that was still iffy area.

At this point, Bill was the only one who knew. Mum constantly hinted about future husbands for her and when she left dinner in a huff, Bill was the one who followed and wheedled it out of her. He claimed his friend who worked as a curse-breaker in Brazil was a lesbian as well and she gave him the dragon-toothed earring. It made her feel a bit better that somebody knew. Dad probably had his suspicions, but he was so busy that she didn't really want to talk to him about it.

"Hello, Ginny," said Luna. "You seem very deep in your thoughts."

"Oh! Uh—" she ducked her head to hide her blush and hopped onto a rock. "I'm imitating a Porg." She hopped onto the next one and Luna broke into a squeal of laughter. Ginny grinned.

She loved Luna's abrasive laugh. The way it filled up a room and startled people. Luna didn't often find things funny, but when she did she laughed as if it were the funniest thing in the world.

"You seemed deep in thought yourself," Ginny commented once Luna had stopped laughing.

"Oh, I was," said Luna. "I'm thinking about how long ago our carefree childhood was. The uncertainty of the future can really make a person weigh any future decisions."

Forward and blunt as usual. Ginny stepped forward and wrapped her hands around the rope of the swing. Luna had grown some sort of vine on it with purple and white flowers shaped like stars. They were sweet smelling like the syrup of a candy shop. Some sort of hybrid no doubt. Luna enjoyed making plant hybrids with Neville. They got on so well. They would make a good couple.

"Yeah, I guess that would make anybody go deep in thought," said Ginny. "Mum says I have to go back to Hogwarts in the fall, but with Dumbledore gone I'm a little scared."

"Well, if you're scared I could always hold your hand," said Luna. "Sometimes, that's the best way to get through something scary."

Ginny felt her cheeks flush again and she bit back a grin.

"I think I'd be okay with that."

Luna scooted over and patted the empty space beside her. Since the swing was reinforced by magic, it could hold the both of them without too much strain. Ginny gripped her hands tightly together.

"Ginny?"

"Yes, Luna?"

"I think with all the uncertainty going about, I'd like to make one thing absolutely certain."

"And what is that?"

Luna leaned over and kissed Ginny on the cheek.

"That I am utterly mad about you," she said. It was stated as simply as if she were saying the sky was blue.

"You're— what?"

"Ginevra Weasley, I am mad about you and when we make it through this war, I want to date you," Luna continued. Her serene smile became shy. "Oh dear, I've made things awkward, haven't I?"

"I— what? No! You're not awkward— I'm awkward — you're perfect," Ginny fumbled and giggled breathily.

"Oh, good," said Luna. "I was worried for a moment that I misread the situation."

"You could never misread the situation," said Ginny absolutely light with elation. "I— I really want to be with you."

"I want to be with you, too."

Ginny summoned up her Gryffindor courage and kissed Luna here in the cool shadow of the tree branches. One day, everything would be brought into the glaring light but, for now, they could be safe in the darkness. Away from glaring eyes, pointing fingers, and hushed whispers of harsh words.

In the shadows of this tree, they could be who they were. No judgement.

"Everything is going to change now, isn't it?" Ginny whispered breathlessly.

"Yes," said Luna, "but not all change is bad."

"No. It is not."

They leaned in for another kiss. One thing was for certain. They were in love. And love conquered all.