Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Harry Potter.

"Mummy, will you take me to the playground today?" asked Luna one morning in March.

"I'd love to, but I'm afraid I can't," replied Pandora. "I've got a big project to work on." This piqued the five-year-old girl's interest.

"What are you working on?" she asked curiously.

"I'm trying to invent a potion that can give people the ability to communicate with animals."

"Oooooh! Can I watch?"

Pandora gave her daughter an apologetic look. "I'm afraid you're still a bit too young. You can watch me do my experiments when you're older."

Luna stamped her feet angrily. "But that's not fair!" she cried. "I wanna watch now!"

"Listen, sweetheart," Pandora told her gently. "These experiments tend to be unpredictable and dangerous. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I don't care! I want to see what it is you do!"

"Luna, there's no guarantee I won't get hurt doing my experiments, but your father and I would be very sad if anything happened to you. Please try to understand - "

"I do understand," Luna interrupted, angry tears welling in her eyes. "You want to hide your 'speriments from me." She made her way upstairs, stamping her feet as hard as she could to express her anger.

"No, it's not that at all!" her mother called after her. "It's just - oh, what's the point?" Pandora felt terrible. All she wanted was to protect her only daughter from harm. Why couldn't Luna see that?

Xenophilius came in a few minutes later to find his wife sitting on the sofa looking downcast. "A Knut for your thoughts?" he said.

"Well, I told Luna she was too young to watch me in the lab, and now she's furious with me," said Pandora sadly.

"I'm not surprised," Xeno replied. "You and I both know how curious Luna always is and how much she loves to learn. But I understand why you said what you said to her; I don't like the idea of her getting hurt either."

"Do you think I should let her watch me this time?"

"Not if you don't want to," her husband reassured her. "I'll go and talk to her." After Pandora had gone down to the lab, Xeno entered Luna's bedroom and found the little girl lying on her bed sobbing quietly with Newt snuggled next to her.

"Luna?" he said quietly. "May I have a word with you?" Luna nodded, and her father sat at the end of her bed.

"You've got every right to be angry with your mother," Xeno told her. "And I truly appreciate your desire to learn new things. But I also want you to know that she cares about your safety, and so do I. You are our only child, and we don't want to lose you."

Luna sniffled and hiccupped. "I j-just want to see w-what Mummy does."

"I understand," said Xeno, hugging the five-year-old. "Perhaps she will let you watch her next time."

"Maybe," sniffed Luna. She was silent for a moment before asking, "Daddy, you're not busy today, are you?"

"No; the next edition of The Quibbler isn't due for another week, so I've got time to spare."

"Well, will you take me to the playground?"

"Of course I will, moonbeam," said Xeno, handing Luna a handkerchief so she could blow her nose.

"Wheeeee!" Luna cried as she swung as high as the swing set would permit. "I'm swinging all the way to the clouds!" Xenophilius chuckled.

As the little girl was swinging, she caught sight of a familiar dark-haired boy playing a game of football with several other boys. "It's Cedric!" she cried - right before jumping off the swing and landing squarely on her feet.

"Time out, guys!" Cedric said before walking over to Luna. "Hi, Luna!" he said brightly. "What's up?"

"The sky," the little girl replied, looking upward, "the sun, and some clouds." The other boys burst out laughing.

"That's your girlfriend, isn't it?" said the auburn-haired boy in the group. "The one you told us about?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" said Cedric indignantly. "Bugger off, Cyril!"

"Okay, okay, I was only teasing," shrugged Cyril, backing away.

Luna, meanwhile, was staring at Cedric intently. "You're not wearing the hat I gave you!" she said accusingly.

"What's she talking about, Ced?" asked a dark-skinned boy.

"Er, could you leave us alone for a bit?" asked Cedric, and the rest of the boys walked off - but not before making loud kissing noises, earning them a death glare from Cedric. "You're talking about the hat you gave me for my birthday, aren't you?"

Luna nodded. "Why aren't you wearing it now? Don't you want to show your friends how lovely you look in it?"

"Well...the thing is...it'd look weird to the other kids. They'd never let me hear the end of it."

"Oh," said Luna, feeling sad and disappointed. She hadn't realized Cedric cared more about looking good to the other children than wearing something she'd given him.

"Look, I'll be sure to wear it more often, okay? I just won't wear it in front of the other kids."

"C'mon, Ced, we're burning daylight here!" Cyril called. Cedric hurried over to the group, calling back to Luna, "I'll see you around, all right?"

"Bye, Cedric," the five-year-old girl called back.

That night, Luna was sitting up in her bed reading when her mother walked in. "Sweetheart, I owe you an apology for what happened this morning. I should have let you watch me work on the potion."

"It's okay, Mummy," Luna said quietly. "I know you didn't want me to get hurt. I'm sorry I was so cross with you." She gave Pandora a hug.

"You know, I was thinking of inventing a Dabberblimp Detection Charm tomorrow. How would you like to watch me?"

"Really?" exclaimed Luna excitedly. "But won't that be dangerous?"

"Not quite as dangerous as most of my other projects," Pandora said with a smile. "So how about it?"

"YES!" shrieked the ecstatic little girl, bouncing on her bed. Her smile slowly faded as a question formed in her mind. "Mummy?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Why do some people worry about what others think of them? Cedric said he hasn't worn the hat I gave him 'cause he's afraid everyone might make fun of him."

"Well, you see," explained Pandora, "most people learn to rely on others' opinions of them in order to feel good about themselves."

"But why?"

"Because they want everyone to like them; therefore, they try to change themselves to please others, or hide anything others might not like. And to be honest, I think that's a real problem because they are trying to be someone they're not. Of course, there is another possible reason Cedric hasn't worn the hat; he doesn't seem to share the same fascination with Dirigible Plums as we do."

"I didn't think of it like that," said Luna. She then smiled and said, "I'm proud to be me and I don't ever wanna change for anybody."

"I'm glad," Pandora replied, kissing her daughter on the forehead. "Goodnight, Luna."

"Goodnight, Mummy," said Luna, and she was asleep within minutes.

A/N: For the record, I never shipped Luna and Cedric as a romantic couple. Instead, I like to think of Cedric as a big-brother figure to Luna, at least during their childhood days. I don't imagine they interacted much once they went to Hogwarts, being in different years and Houses and with such sharply contrasting reputations.

Also, in order to allay any confusion, the game the boys were playing in this chapter was not American football, but the sport we call soccer and other nations call football.