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"Right," said Cedric. "You ready?" Luna nodded; she was sitting astride Cedric's old Cleansweep Five while he was using his Cleansweep Six. "This is a bit more dangerous than riding a toy broomstick, so you need to be careful. Now, first we're going to try hovering. One, two, three - kick off!" Luna did as she was told and rose about two feet in the air.

"Good. Now touch back down like this - " Cedric demonstrated said action, and Luna copied him. "Great job! We're going to try steering next. Just do what I do." He kicked off again and steered his broom to the left, Luna following him. Within minutes she was happily flying through the air.

"Look, I'm doing it!" she exclaimed happily. "I'm really flying! I'm - "

"Luna, look out!" Cedric yelled.

CRASH!

The little girl smacked headlong into the side of the Diggory house, and as she tumbled to the ground, everything went black.

"NO!" Xenophilius shouted. "Not on the magazine!" He hurried over and scooped up Newt. "Bad cat! You know you are only to do that in the litterbox!"

"What's going on?" asked Pandora, who had just emerged from the lab.

"Newt here decided to have a pee on one of my Quibblers," replied Xeno furiously, gesturing toward the said magazine that had slid to the floor earlier.

Pandora pointed her wand at it and said, "Scourgify." Within seconds the magazine looked as good as new, though still with the faint smell of urine.

"Pandora? Xenophilius?" came a voice from the fireplace. Pandora quickly walked over to find Ophelia's head resting there.

"Yes, Ophelia?"

"It's Luna..."

A half hour later, Pandora and Xenophilius were sitting nervously in the reception area of St. Mungo's awaiting news of their daughter's condition. Xeno was crying softly while Pandora had her arm around him, tears streaming down her own face as well. A woman approached the Welcome Witch with her young son, who was chattering like a monkey.

"It's my son, madam," she shouted over the boy's loud monkey chatter. "He swallowed some sort of funny potion. We've tried everything to get him back to normal, but..." She trailed off.

"Potion and Plant Poisoning, third floor," the Welcome Witch said, pointing to the sign. Just as the two of them left, a Healer came out and approached Xeno and Pandora.

"Well," he told them, "your daughter has a broken leg and several broken ribs, plus a cracked skull and a concussion. We can fix her bones in no time but she'll need to be held here for a couple of days for observation."

"Thank you, sir," said Xeno.

"It will be best if she doesn't have visitors just yet," the Healer went on. "But you can visit her tomorrow afternoon if you wish." Pandora and Xeno nodded in understanding before heading home.

"Cedric, I cannot tell you how disappointed I am in you," said Ophelia sternly to her son that night as she paced back and forth in front of him, her anger showing more and more with every step. "I don't know what you were thinking, letting your friend do something so dangerous. She's only five years old, for Merlin's sake!"

"But Mum," protested Cedric, "I was just doing something nice for her, and besides, she liked flying - "

"That doesn't matter," interrupted Ophelia, her hands on her hips. "You have put Luna in danger, and there is no excuse for that. You're lucky she wasn't killed." A cold, sick feeling spread through Cedric's body as the reality of his mother's words sank in.

"C'mon, 'Phels," Amos piped up, "if Luna wanted to learn from my genius flier here, that was her choice - "

"Amos!" Ophelia said warningly.

" - er, I mean, that was most unwise of you, Ced, most unwise indeed."

"I'm sorry, Mum," Cedric said in a small, quavering voice, his eyes welling up with tears.

"Yes, I'm sure you are. Now, I want you to go to your room and think about what you've done," Ophelia told Cedric. "And as your punishment, you will not be allowed to leave this house for two weeks, and I will be taking away your Cleansweep Six for two weeks."

When the young boy reached his bedroom, he collapsed onto the bed and cried quietly into his pillow. I'm such an idiot! he told himself. Luna's gonna hate me forever for this. With these thoughts swirling around in his mind, Cedric eventually cried himself to sleep.

The following afternoon, Xenophilius and Pandora were making their way down the Artefact Accidents wing on the ground floor of the hospital to ward 06, where Luna was. They entered the room to find the little girl lying back on her pillows, bandages wrapped around her head but nonetheless smiling when she saw them approaching.

"Hi Mummy, Daddy!" she said happily.

"How are you feeling, moonbeam?" Xeno asked.

"Well, my head hurts really badly and I'm a bit achy," Luna replied. "And I can't remember anything that happened yesterday. Do you know what happened?"

"You had a bit of an accident flying Cedric's old broomstick," Pandora told her.

"That reminds me - Cedric wanted us to give you this note," added Xeno, handing the note to Luna. It read:

Hey, Lu,

I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I'd come visit you, but I'm grounded for two weeks. Hope you get better soon. Stay strong and keep smiling, kid.

Your friend,

Cedric

The five-year-old beamed widely, then looked back at her parents. "Did you bring any of my books? There's not much to do in here."

"Of course, sweetie," said Pandora, handing Luna a few books.

"Pardon me, but it's time for your daughter's dose of painkilling potion." Healer Cummings had just come in.

"We'll come back tomorrow, sweetie," Pandora told Luna, and she and Xenophilius left.

Luna was released from St. Mungo's two days later, and soon after she got home Cedric spoke to her through the fireplace.

"Hi! Glad you've gotten better," he said.

"Me too, but I don't think I'm going to be flying on a broomstick for a while," Luna replied.

"I understand." Cedric was silent for a minute. "So, you're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad at you? It happened a few days ago and I can't really remember it anyway. And Mummy says we shouldn't dwell on the past or stay angry too long."

"Thanks. Anyway, I gotta go. Bye, Lu."

"Goodbye, Cedric," replied Luna right before Cedric's head disappeared from the fire.