Luna stared out the window, pausing in the middle of her crochet. She was attempting to make a sunhat for Sunshine, to keep the little darling cool (it was very hot weather for September), but it was harder than she had originally imagined. She'd never crocheted anything before- she supposed she could do it with magic, but it felt more from the heart to do it by hand. The Ravenclaw tower had a wonderful view of the castle's grounds, and from her bedroom Luna could see the tiny dot of her girlfriend, flying in Quidditch practice. She looks like a little bird from here, Luna thought. Like she could fly into the palm of my hand, and I could hold her. On her shoulder, she felt the soothing weight of Sunshine, curled in a ball.

Perhaps part of the problem was that the hat was so small. It made everything harder, working in miniature- could she practice making a normal sized hat, and then, once she got the hang of it, make one for Sunshine? It seemed like an excellent idea. As Luna got a new ball of wool and a larger crochet hook to work on the new hat, she thought about Ginny, a pang of guilt twinging inside her. It was true that she hadn't been able to see much of her girlfriend recently, outside of lessons. It was just so hard trying to squeeze in time for a date around Ginny's quidditch practices and all the maintenance that it took to give Sunshine a good quality of life. Clean out her cage daily, play with her, make sure she got enough exercise, brush her hair, brush her teeth, replace her water. The house-elves helped by bringing up food, but it still took a lot of work. Not that Luna minded, of course. She loved her pet, not only because Sunshine was adorable but because Ginny had bought her. It was getting late; twilight was beginning to fall, shading the world in blue. Sunshine let out a tiny little snore into Luna's ear; she laughed, then continued to look out the window, gazing at the minute figures of the quidditch players, flying in the dusky sky. She had been right, it was easier to crochet when not working on such a small scale. She should have the hat finished by tomorrow.

/

'Look Ginny, I don't know why you're so jealous. It's your own fault, you bought her the fucking thing.'

Ginny grumpily pulled her quidditch robes over her head. 'You're meant to be nice to me', she said, irritably shoving the robes into her bag. 'I'm your captain for Merlin's sake. Doesn't that warrant some respect?'

Demelza raised a cool eyebrow. 'You asked for my opinion', she said. 'You know Luna, she loves animals. Of course she's going to treat her pygmy puff with the upmost care- I think you should take it as a compliment, that she adores your present so much'.

Ginny inwardly seethed. This was not how it was meant to go: Demelza was meant to consolingly pat her on the shoulder and decry the insufferable Sunshine for stealing her girlfriend. 'I just think you could be a bit nicer to me about it', she pouted. 'I really miss her and that rodent is keeping her away from me! I never thought it would take up so much of her time, Arnold is such low maintenance. He just sits in his cage and occasionally eats a bit of celery'.

Demelza sighed. 'I know it's hard, and I'm sorry if I came across as not caring. You're a good friend, Ginny, and I don't like to see you upset. But I really don't think that Luna's in the wrong for trying to take care of her pet! If you miss her so much, you should talk to her about it.'

'Talk to her about it? Demelza, she's meant to know I feel unhappy.' Miserably, Ginny sat on the rickety bench by the lockers, chin in her hand. 'If she hasn't noticed, it's a sign she doesn't care about me.'

To her surprise, her friend suddenly looked furious, and in a tone that unnervingly reminded Ginny of her mother, snapped- 'Ginny Weasley, you are being ridiculous!'. The girl snatched up her quidditch bag and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Ginny looked at her hands, feeling worse than ever. On some level, she knew she was being unfair. It was ridiculous to buy someone a sentient being as a present and then kick up a stink when it was looked after properly. It had been a rash, impulsive action, an attempt to impress Luna: oh, how quickly it had backfired on her. For a while Ginny sat there, feeling sad and lonely until an idea dawned on her. She was a Weasley, and Weasley's did not sit around wallowing in self-pity. She would not let a stupid ball of fluff steal her girlfriend, she would win Luna back, heart and soul. Excited, Ginny snatched up her quidditch bag and walked out into the dusky evening. There was work to do.

The next morning, as Ginny sat down to her toast, she was greeted by a pleasant surprise. In her usual place, there was a package, obviously from Luna. It was covered in bright purple wrapping paper, a golden ribbon tying it and with a small cartoon of Ginny and Luna holding hands drawn in pink pen on top. Her heart melted; she looked over at the Ravenclaw table to see her girlfriend smiling shyly at her.

Ginny tore open the paper. Inside was a beautiful crochet hat. It was made with blue wool, and Luna had crocheted a design of daisys around the rim. All of her resentment toward Luna dissolved in that instant. How could she think that Luna preferred a pygmy puff to her? Demelza was right, Ginny was just over-possessive and jealous-

Her eye alighted on a note that had been tucked into the hat.

Dear Ginny,

I hope you like my present! Ginny smiled, pleased, and stroked the hat in her hands. It was gorgeous, Luna was so talented. She would wear the hat everywhere, it was beautiful.

I was making a hat for Sunshine and couldn't get it right, so I thought I would make a practice for you. I thought you could use it when you're playing quidditch, as I imagine you get very hot!

Ginny's smile slid off her face like stinksap. She felt like crying. It was so unfair. Luna hadn't made this present specially for her, it had just been a practice for a fucking rodent. She could feel her face grow hot; blinking back tears, she marched from the hall, her fellow Gryffindors watching her departure in confusion.

/

Luna wandered through the school grounds, looking for her girlfriend, clutching the hat she had picked up from Ginny's chair and a stack of toast, confused and upset by her girlfriend's reaction. Sunshine was curled in her pocket, and Luna idly fed her a crumb of the bread as she walked, scrounging the area for any sign of the redhead. As she had expected: Ginny was up on her broom, flying. She always did that when she was upset.

Luna took a seat on the stands, sitting to watch her girlfriend fly. An interesting vicarious effect always took place when she watched Ginny on a broom. Something about the graceful way she moved in air, the hypnotic, dancing circles made Luna just as calm as though she were actually up there, flying in the air herself. As she watched, she saw Ginny catch sight of her: the girl immediately turned around and flew in the other direction. It felt like a slap in a face, as though Ginny had suddenly dunked her in cold water. She felt miserable – what had she done wrong? She had thought Ginny would like the hat, that it would remind her girlfriend that Luna really did want to spend time with her, really did love her. Instead, it seemed the opposite effect had occurred.

Luna wasn't an angry person by nature, but as she watched Ginny fly off into the distance away from her, she felt a sudden jab of fierce resentment and indignation. It wasn't right for Ginny to treat her like this: her girlfriend could be so impulsive, so quick to anger at times, and it hurt Luna's feelings. Well, if Ginny didn't want to see her, so it would be. In a fit of rage, Luna chucked the hat onto the pitch, and then walked angrily back to the castle.

This was meant to be a two parter lol but seems it's going to be three! It seems that I just really enjoy writing angst so I've decided to stretch it out. Stay tuned for the finale to this story !

Thank you so much for the reviews and follows, I really appreciate them.