A/N: For those of you who may not know, in Britain people use the word "pudding" as a synonym for "dessert." This leads me to believe that Luna likely has a taste for many different kinds of desserts, although I imagine she likes pudding pudding, too.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

"Hey, Luna, what're you doing?" asked Ginny Weasley as she spotted her quirky friend standing just outside the Forbidden Forest.

"I'm looking for a Blibbering Humdinger," Luna answered. "I thought I saw one pass by Hagrid's hut a minute ago and go into the forest."

"Well, do you need any help?"

"Oh, no thank you," the Ravenclaw replied; she then took from her pocket what looked like pink peanuts. "If there really is a Blibbering Humdinger in there, it'll come out in just a minute or two, they can smell pink peanuts a mile away, you know, and they love them." Just then her stomach rumbled. "Oh, that reminds me-I'm missing dinner." She gently placed the peanuts on the ground next to a nearby tree, and the two girls hurried to the Great Hall.

Just as Luna was about to head over to the Ravenclaw table, Ginny called out, "You can come sit with us if you like." The blonde beamed and sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Ginny. Hermione was sitting across from them, between Harry and Ron.

"Oh, excellent!" she exclaimed, beaming more widely as she scanned the table, "pudding's not over yet!" She looked around at the various sweet treats and loaded her plate with as many as she could fit on there.

As Luna lifted a bit of chocolate cake to her lips, her expression turned thoughtful. "What is it?" asked Hermione.

"Oh, I was just remembering something that happened a long time ago. You see, my mother had made a huge chocolate cake very like this one for her friend's bridal shower, you know. But I wanted some so badly..."

***FLASHBACK***

Luna had run down to the kitchen looking for her mother when she saw it. A massive chocolate cake was resting on top of the cupboard. "Cake! Yummy!" the two-year-old said happily. She stood there for a moment trying to figure out how to get up there; when her mother came in she asked, "Mummy? Cake?"

"No, sweetie," Pandora replied. "This is for a good friend of mine, and I don't want anything to happen to it before I bring it to her tomorrow. Understand?"

Luna looked up at the cake and then back at her mother. "No cake?" she asked sadly.

Pandora nodded. "No cake. But I can make some for you another time, okay?" The little girl nodded and went up to her room to play with her stuffed animals.

The next morning, Luna watched while her mother was putting a few finishing touches on the cake. Just then Xenophilius called Pandora from the floor above, and after the witch had headed upstairs, Luna once again stared up at the delicious-looking treat, which was now resting on the counter as Pandora had forgotten to put it further out of her daughter's reach in her haste to leave. Perhaps the toddler could get a tiny little taste before her mummy came back?

Humming softly to herself, Luna took one of the kitchen chairs and pushed it toward the counter before climbing onto it. She then slid the cake off the counter and sat down on the chair. The little girl broke off a tiny chunk and put it into her mouth, finding it as delicious as she'd thought. Then, just as she made to put the cake back onto the counter, it suddenly slid off the platter in her lap and fell to the floor.

"Hang on!" Harry interrupted. "You ruined the cake your mother had made for her friend?"

"That's right," replied Luna.

"Wow. That reminds me of the incident that happened with me once. See, my aunt Petunia had made this pudding for the dinner party my Uncle Vernon was having, and I smashed it. Well, actually, Dobby the house-elf smashed it, but only because I wouldn't swear to him that I wasn't coming back to school. I was locked up in my room for days after that."

"Well," said Luna, "my mother didn't lock me up, but she wasn't happy at all when she found out what happened..."

Luna stared at the remains of the cake for several seconds before she started to cry, thinking about how upset her mummy would be when she saw what her daughter had done. Pandora burst into the kitchen and stopped dead as she looked down at the mess on the floor. "Luna Lovegood!" she exclaimed. "What did you do?!"

The little girl simply continued to cry. "I told you this cake was for my friend," Pandora told her very sternly. "And what do you do? You drop it on the floor." After she had led the still-sobbing Luna to her bedroom, she said, "I want you to stay in here, understand? Your daddy will come and talk to you in a bit." And she exited the room, leaving Luna to think about her mistake.

By the time Xeno had come in to talk to her, Luna's sobs had somewhat subsided. "Your mummy told me what happened," he said gently. "My guess is that you wanted to taste that cake and accidentally dropped it. Am I right?" Luna nodded with a sniffle. "I'm sure you didn't mean to drop it," Xeno went on, "but you've got to remember that when you want something and your mummy or I say no, we mean no, do you understand me?" Luna nodded again.

Several minutes later found the toddler walking up to her mother with a drawing of a rainbow heart, red in the center and the outermost layer colored violet. "I sowwy, Mummy," she said.

"This is very pretty, sweetie," Pandora replied with a smile; she then picked Luna up and gave her a big hug. "All is forgiven."

***END FLASHBACK***

"In the end, Mummy had to resort to taking some leftover Dirigible Plum biscuits to her friend's shower," finished Luna. "The funny thing is, apparently her friend had changed her mind at the last minute and decided she didn't want my mother to bring anything, because her sister was bringing an apple pie.

"Speaking of pie," the Ravenclaw went on, "my mother and I made one for my father once..."

***FLASHBACK***

"What are we gonna make for Daddy's birthday this year, Mummy?" asked Luna as she and her mother were stepping into the kitchen.

"Oh, I was thinking of making something that includes his favorite sweet: black licorice," answered Pandora. "So we're going to make a cherry-and-black-licorice pie."

Earlier that day, Pandora had come to Xeno with the story that she had been harvesting Dirigible Plums when she spotted a Blibbering Humdinger galloping into the nearby wooded area; not surprisingly, the wizard had dashed out of the Rook with a wildly excited air about him. Hopefully Xeno would remain distracted long enough for his wife and daughter to finish the pie before he returned.

"Right," Pandora instructed, "you put the cherries in while I measure out the sugar." Luna did as she was told; afterward Pandora got out a knife and began chopping up the Black Licorice Wands that were to be added to the pie. Luna had managed to grab a Licorice Wand and was nibbling on it when her mother gave her a reproving look. "Sorry, Mummy," she said.

The little girl then put the bits of licorice in with the cherries. Pandora had poured the sugar in and was just about to put the pie crust on top when the kitchen door opened to reveal Xenophilius; the two of them quickly stood in front of the counter, blocking the pie from view.

"What's going on, ladies?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," answered Pandora.

"Nothing at all," agreed Luna. "Daddy, aren't you supposed to be looking for the Blibbering Humdinger?"

"I was," said Xeno, "but then I became quite thirsty. I will need some Gurdyroot juice before I continue my search." He then stared at Pandora and Luna. "What were you two doing in here?"

"We were...er..." Pandora said slowly.

"Making some new cat food for Newt," Luna finished for her as the aforementioned cat padded into the kitchen.

Xeno continued to stare at his wife and daughter for a few seconds more before saying, "All right then. I shall be back shortly." Luna quickly handed him a glass of juice, which he drank before leaving again.

Newt looked up expectantly at the six-year-old, who said, "Sorry, Newt. We're not really making cat food for you; we just told Daddy that so his surprise wouldn't be ruined. But I'll feed you soon."

When Xeno returned about a half hour later, Luna was standing in the doorway with a wide smile. "Happy birthday, Daddy!" she cried. "We made this pie just for you!" The little girl gestured toward her mother, who was holding the pastry out in front of her.

"It's cherry-and-black-licorice pie," the witch told him.

Xeno gasped in delight. "Thank you so much, my loves!" As he was slicing the pie he added, "I suspected all along you two were up to something, but I decided to humor you because I just knew you were working on something special." He took a bite of pie. "And you have done an outstanding job."

Pandora and Luna each took a slice as well, and the family ate happily. As they were eating, Luna thought to herself that perhaps that evening she could work on making some new cat food for Newt after all.

***END FLASHBACK***

"Blimey," said Ron. "I reckon only a Lovegood would eat something as weird as pie with black licorice in it." Harry nodded in agreement.

"Oh, I don't know about that, Ron," said Hermione. "Just the other day you were scarfing some of Hagrid's stoat sandwiches."

"That was different!" protested Ron. "I'd missed breakfast because of Quidditch practice and I was starving! I didn't care what I ate at the time!"

"But Harry had Quidditch practice too and he wasn't hungry enough for Hagrid's cooking," argued Hermione.

Luna stared at the two of them with interest as they continued arguing. "Ron and Hermione bicker a lot," she commented in a matter-of-fact tone.

Harry sighed. "I know they do."

"They would do better to spend less time fighting. Wrackspurts don't just target people who are feeling anxious or angry, they're also attracted to discord, you know." Harry nodded in agreement, although he also looked uncertain about Luna's comment about Wrackspurts.

Hours later, Luna lay in her bed thinking about her birthday, which was coming up in a few days. She wondered what kind of pudding her father was going to send her this year. Granted, he was not the best cook around, but Luna had grown used to his meals over the years since her mother's death. I do hope it's strawberry-cinnamon cake with marmalade frosting, she thought. That's my favorite. With this prospect in mind, the Ravenclaw drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.

A/N: I know it may seem kind of weird that Luna can clearly remember something that happened when she was just two, but I like to think she's exceptional in that she can remember just about everything from her infancy and toddlerhood.