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

One afternoon in early August, Luna and Cedric were playing catch with an old Quaffle in the Diggorys' backyard. Cedric had Floo-called the Lovegoods that morning inviting Luna over to play, and of course the little girl had jumped at the invitation.

"I've been meaning to tell you, Luna," said Cedric, "some of my mates and I have started building a clubhouse in the park. You can stop by when it's finished."

"Okay! I'd love to see it."

"And...that's done," said Cedric, hammering the last nail into place. The boys took a moment to admire their work. The clubhouse was two stories tall; the walls were painted blue and the roof, door, and window frames painted green. There was also a slide descending from the second floor to the ground in the back.

"Looks smashing!" said Edmond proudly.

"Nice and sturdy," added Cyril.

"Hey, you guys don't mind if I bring another friend over sometime, do you?" asked Cedric.

"'Course you can, mate," Simon told him. "Just so long as it's not that little girlfriend of yours, 'cause I've decided to make this a boys-only club."

"How many times do I have to tell you - she is NOT my girlfriend!" snapped Cedric. "And what's wrong with letting girls in?"

"Ced, what kind of club would we be if we let girls come waltzing in anytime they want and fouling up our games?" demanded Simon. "Now this is really important - no girls allowed. Understand?"

"No girls allowed," repeated a downcast Cedric. "Got it."

"Hi, Cedric!" Luna cried excitedly when the almost-nine-year-old boy came to visit her the next day. "Is the clubhouse finished? When can I visit it?"

"Yeah, it's finished," replied Cedric hesitantly as the little girl bounced up and down in excitement. She stopped when she saw the look on his face. "What's the matter?"

"Well...the thing is...the other boys don't want to let any girls in."

"But why?"

"It's just how most boys are," Cedric told her. "They don't want girls hanging around when they're doing boy things." Luna hung her head in disappointment. "I'm sorry, Luna."

"It's okay, Cedric," Luna said with a sigh. "So I'll see you later?"

"Yeah. Later." After Cedric had left, Luna sat dejectedly on the sofa, slowly swinging her feet back and forth.

A while later, Pandora came up from the kitchen with a plate of Dirigible Plum biscuits. "Would you like a biscuit, Luna?" she asked.

"No, thank you," Luna replied despondently, staring down at the ground. Her mother looked at her with concern.

"Is something wrong, sweetheart?"

"Cedric told me girls aren't allowed in his clubhouse," answered the little girl, trying very hard not to cry. "Now I know how Ginny feels when her brothers won't let her play with them."

"Ah," said Pandora softly and sympathetically, putting an arm around Luna's shoulder. "I was in a similar situation once. Some of the boys in my Hogwarts House had formed a study group focusing mainly on charms and transfiguration spells. Naturally I wanted to join them, but sadly they refused to allow me in on the grounds that I was a female. But I was persistent; I had no intention of giving up. It did take a lot of convincing - several weeks, to be exact - but they finally let me join. Though in hindsight, perhaps the real reason they didn't want me to join is because they were jealous of me for beating them in every exam."

Luna jumped up, a determined look on her face. "Mummy, will you take me to the park now?"

"Why, sweetie?"

"Because I'm going to make those boys let me into their clubhouse whether they want to or not! I'm going to be per-sis-tent!" replied Luna, pronouncing the last word slowly.

"Edmond!"

"Here!"

"Geoffrey!"

"Present!"

"Wendell!"

"Here!"

"Cyril!"

"Present and accounted for!"

"Cedric!"

"Here!"

"Excellent. Now for our first activity - " Simon stopped talking when the sound of footsteps outside the clubhouse reached the boys' ears. They looked out the window to see a tiny blonde girl standing there; Cedric recognized her immediately. "Hello!" she called.

"Oi! No girls allowed!" yelled Simon. Cedric hurried outside with Simon following him.

"Luna, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I just wanted to see the clubhouse."

Cedric sighed. "Simon, can you give us a moment?" he asked.

"All right, but hurry up, will you?"

After Cedric had pulled Luna aside, he said, "Listen, I don't want you to be too angry with me, okay? Because it was Simon's idea to make it a boys-only club, not mine."

"Well, it's still not fair," Luna told him. "You're like my big brother, Cedric. You're 'asposed to be there for me."

At these words, Cedric started to think about all the good times he'd had with her, including the time they had first met at Luna's second birthday party, the time they'd listened to Luna's mother telling them the story of Hansel and Gretel, and even the time Luna had sent him an embroidered Snitch for Christmas. It was at that moment that he came to a decision

"Simon," he said, "I'm quitting the boys' club."

"What!" Simon sputtered. "You can't just - "

"I can and I will. Luna is like a little sister to me; we've been through so much together, and I am not going to just shun her just because she's a girl. And if that's what I have to do to be a part of this club, then I don't want any part of it."

"Ha!" sneered Simon. "Well, then have fun playing with your dollies and your tea parties!"

"We also look for Cloud Fairies and Dabberblimps sometimes," piped up Luna, who had been listening in on the conversation. This sent all the boys minus Cedric into hysterical fits of laughter.

"C'mon, Lu, let's go," Cedric told her. As they left the park, the little girl asked, "Does this mean you're not going to be friends with them anymore?"

"Nah. I may not be part of their stupid club anymore, but we can still hang out in school. And they're Muggles, so I won't be seeing much of them once I start going to Hogwarts."

"Well, that makes sense," replied Luna, nodding.

Cedric was silent for a moment before saying, "Luna, I'm really sorry for not letting you hang out in the clubhouse."

"It's okay. It did sound like fun, but now I'm just glad I've still got you as a friend."

"Still, I wish there was something I could do to make it up to you - I know! How'd you like to learn to fly on a real broomstick?"

"Ooooh, yes! I'd love to!" cried Luna happily.

"Cool! We can start tomorrow."

"How did it go, sweetheart?" asked Pandora a few minutes after Luna had arrived home (Cedric had accompanied her to ensure she didn't get lost and then had used some of the Lovegoods' Floo powder to get back to his own house).

"I didn't get to play in the clubhouse," answered Luna, "but Cedric hated leaving me out, so he quit."

"He really is a sweet young man," her mother said, smiling. "Of course, this goes to show that things don't always turn out the way you planned. And sometimes they can turn out even better than you planned."

The five-year-old girl nodded. "Cedric says he's going to teach me to fly a real broomstick tomorrow."

"That's good," Pandora replied before heading down to the kitchen. "Now, how about some of those Dirigible Plum biscuits?"

A/N: Ah, Cedric. You are a true Hufflepuff through and through. It's such a shame you had to die young.