Ownership of Harry Potter at this time = 0

Just borrowing the characters, don't mind me.

It's practically Harry Potter night today. .

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"You know, there are combat cooking schools in Japan. That would be fun to look into, don't you think?"

Ginny just smiled for a moment again at Luna, before going back to reading her text for her Runes class. Luna was prone to spouting random bits of information, so it wasn't anything that unusual. It was just what she did.

She and Luna had this.... Thing.

Her first year, she spent most of her time with Tom. With finally being in school, with so many new people around her, she reverted to being shy, and withdrew into His Diary. Even when she was trying to get rid of it, she still had no one else to turn to.

Loony was just her partner in Double Potions that year. Proffessor Snape was mean, almost spiteful to the Gryffindors, and practically ignored the Ravenclaws every class. But somehow they both passed.

The next year, something had changed. Now she knew all her year mates by name. Even though she didn't feel like 'one of them' anymore, she could smile and nod and make conversation with everyone... Except Luna. Luna was always a strange factor, twirling her hair up around her wand when she was lost in thought, her face always buried in a newspaper or book. Completely unfazed when Snape would hit her with a question he knew she wouldn't know the answer to. Being picked on by students, it made Ginny angry that so many people would abuse her, just because she was a little wierder then normal.

That year was covered with high security at every turn. Dementors reminding her of dark things she'd done, and just plain wierdness. Ron told her the true story of what happened to Scabbers, but the story was just so strange, it was eaiser to tell their parents he died of old age at first. Though she had to admit that Crookshanks was cute, and now she wanted a cat even more.

Her third year was special. It was the year Luna Explained everything to her.

They still had potions together, but that year they both had Runes and Care of Magical Creatures to handle as well. Everything seemed normal enough until the Christmas Holiday.

For some reason, the rules said that only fourth years and up would be allowed at the ball.
For some reason, she dug up a fourth year to go with her.
For some reason, Luna stayed at school and helped her get ready for the ball, even though she didn't actually go herself.

And Luna waited for her, through the dance, by the lake and late into the night, with a leather bound text in her lap, just so that she could help Ginny understand with her.

Aparently, when Hogwarts had disolved into fighting among the houses, and Slytherin left, each founder retreated into what they found special, just to keep busy. The Chamber of Secrets and the Room of Requirement were just a few of the gifts left by the founders. And Rowena created and filled an entire bookshelf as she tried to understand why it had happened.

Nothing on the shelf was particularly dangerous, so it couldn't be put with the restricted section. But the really sneaky, cunning thing about it, was that the shelf only appeared to those that it could help. The only book you could take would be the book that you most needed in the immediate future.

And she explained: That Professor Snape wasn't completely mean, but instead baiting the students into studying. Angering the Gryffondors into learning. Giving status to the Slytherin that succeded in his class. Letting the Hufflepuffs work out where their own mistakes laid. And making the Ravenclaw seek out their own answers at every turn that it would be safe.

How she liked being called Loony. The power that names have over people. What happened to her mother. Why her things would go missing on their own at times. She opened her heart, pouring it out until well after sunrise, flipping though and jumping to bookmarked pages, to find just the right words... Because that's just how the Ravenclaw are.

Then, everything made sense. Why Professor Snape would start a class without telling them what was being made. Why Luna didn't actually look for her things, until at least the first set came back before summer break. Why she didn't feel bad calling her Loony, but everyone else seemed to fear calling her Luna where she couldn't see them.

"I think we should get a cat. You know, to share on the weekends." Luna was still twirlling her hair around her wand idly, her mind elsewhere, but still remimbering everything, and only half expecting an answer.

And Ginny wouldn't have it any other way.