I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.

What if Luna joined the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team?

"You absolutely cannot be serious."

Roger Davies, Captain and Chaser of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team held up his hands. "Now hear me out..."

Cho Chang, Seeker of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, poked Davies in the chest, hard. "You know who that is?"

"Of course I do. We live in the same dormitory. You have to be a member of the House to try out and join the team." He winced as the irate girl poked him again. "Will you stop that?"

"No." She poked him a third time to emphasize her point. "She is..." she lowered her voice, "not all there Davies! It's fine when she's on the ground but in the air she'd be a menace."

The rest of the team watched silently, their eyes bouncing back and forth between the Captain and the Seeker as if following a fierce tennis match. A few cast side long looks at the subject of the argument.

The subject was currently sitting down on the pitch, humming softly while she bound wild flowers into her long braided hair. If she was aware of the dispute she did not show it.

Roger slapped Cho's hand away as she tried to poke him again. "Seriously, stop it. You've already left a bruise. You're awfully violent."

Cho's face flushed. "Only when it matters. And Quidditch always matters. How can you do this to the team? Do you want us to lose?"

He snorted, glaring at her. "Of course not! You know I have held strict try outs every year as Captain and I always build for the best team in mind. She flew well today. Like really well. I never would have guessed it. You missed her try out but let me tell you, she was easily the best after me and Li."

Cho looked at the second Chaser with naked doubt.

Su Li, the second Chaser of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, nodded almost reluctantly. "I wouldn't have believed it either if I didn't see it or played with her. She flies really well. She's so slight the wind barely stops her. She's also strangely accurate. Not a lot of power on the throw but you can build that up. Plus she's..."

"She's what?" Cho asked irritably. She had hoped Roger had been temporarily Confunded but was unprepared for Su to back him up.

"She seems to find the right place to be in at the right time. She gets in the way of anyone trying to intercept, she catches a pass, lobs up the Quaffle as if she knew where you were. It's uncanny."

Cho snorted, ignoring the nods of agreement from the Beaters and the Keeper. "I'm getting to the bottom of this." She stomped over the the sitting girl, continuing to ignore the rest of the team. "Loony. I mean Luna. I want to ask you some questions."

Luna Lovegood, newly minted Chaser, looked up at Cho. Large eyes, almost too large for her thin face, glinted in the sunlight. She smiled dreamily. "Of course Cho. We're team mates and House mates. I'm happy to answer any questions."

Cho stomped down on her discomfort. Part of the reason she never liked to speak to Luna was that the younger girl had the knack of saying things too baldly. She said many strange things, described things that did not exist as far as Cho knew. Yet when Luna spoke of mundane things, her words were usually too honest. Too insightful. "Why did you try out for the team?"

Luna continued to twine flowers into her hair. "Ginny and Harry suggested it. I was flying with them and they told me I flew well. I mentioned that I wished I was as close to my House as they were and they said I should try out for the team. The worst thing that could happen would be that I wouldn't qualify and be rejected." She smiled serenely. "I'm used to being rejected so it didn't seem too bad at all for trying."

Another stab of discomfort pierced Cho's chest. "So, Ginny and Harry suggested it? I knew it. They're trying to sabotage us by weakening the team."

Luna's dreamy expression faded, replaced by sudden steel. "I think not." Even her voice changed and Cho almost flinched. "Ginny and Harry are very serious about Quidditch. They would never want to disadvantage others to allow them to win. They told me I flew well and I believe them." Pale grey eyes stared at deep brown ones. "They are my friends. They would not lie to me."

A third stab, matching the three pokes she dealt out before. "Right. That...that makes sense. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult them." I should maybe apologize to you too, she thought with a twinge.

Luna nodded. "Accidental insults happen a lot. I'll accept your apology to them."

Roger coughed awkwardly. "Look, let's show our Galleons and practice eh? We'll show the school how good our team is at the first game."

Cho was prepared for their first game to be a disaster. Their practices leading up to it had been horrifying to her. Every time she looked at Luna, the girl seemed to be barely paying any attention. To anything. It was a wonder she was upright on the broom and did not go wandering off like she did in the hallways of school. She did fly well, graceful as a dancer, but every throw of the big red Quaffle looked absurd.

The game was a disaster, for Slytherin. The opposing team and House had laughed themselves crying when they saw the slight silver hair girl in the blue and bronze robes. Jeers rained down on Luna and even Cho felt bad for her.

Luna did not seem to notice. Instead she wore the biggest smile as she saw a black haired boy, a red haired girl, and a brown haired girl temporarily wearing blue and bronze and sporting eagle hats. She had jumped up and down in delight, waving both hands at the trio in the stands.

Cho almost did not catch the Snitch. Just like Roger and Li had said, Luna always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. She caught fumbled Quaffles, managed to recover poor passes, and while she did not score herself, she helped distract the Keeper and passed the ball for the other two Chasers to score. She idly dodged Bludgers with haphazard flying, and she even managed to block the Slytherin Seeker at the last moment, letting Cho grab the tiny golden ball.

The watchers in the stands erupted when the game ended. 300 to 100 in Ravenclaw's favor. A strong start for the Cup. Everyone on the team had high fived and hugged Luna, the girl sporting a bemused expression at the attention and praise.

"That was...really well done Luna," Cho said somewhat shamefully. "I really shouldn't have doubted you."

"Nonsense. You are very serious about the game and you had every right to be." Luna smoothed out her Quidditch robes. "You had no reason to trust me despite us being House mates. Perhaps now you can trust me just a little bit."

Cho needed to go see Madam Pomfrey. Her chest kept feeling very tight and uncomfortable these days. "Oh well, yes. I mean I will, or I do." She gulped. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

Luna nodded. "It was quite fun. I'm rather tired though." The girl did look exhausted, deep lines of fatigue appeared in her face. "It's very physically demanding. More than I imagined it would be." The lines disappeared and she smiled wide again. It was not her usual smile of dreamy confusion. It was a pure smile, as bright as sunlight and just as warming. "It's worth it however. Look how happy they are."

Cho expected to see Ravenclaws coming to greet Luna but instead saw Harry, Ginny, and Hermione pounding up the pitch. Their faces were bright red and they cheered wildly as they ran closer.

The Ravenclaw Seeker watched as the Ravenclaw Chaser hurtled herself at the incoming trio. Happy babbling and fierce hugs were on display as the quartet tumbled to the grass laughing. Cho sighed softly, the pain in her chest increasing as she slowly walked away. She swore she would change and by thinking of how, the pain finally began to lessen.

-0-0-0-

Urgaew and alix33 - For the previous story, the joke of the prompt was, there is a game called Untitled Goose game where you play a regular goose that terrorizes a town and it's human inhabitants by being a nuisance. You break things and steal things so the idea was that the Goose had shown up at Hogwarts.