Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe is not mine.
Luna, Cedric, and Pandora were spending a sunny Saturday afternoon at the park in early April. The six-year-old girl was happily chasing butterflies while the nine-year-old boy was sitting on a bench playing with his embroidered Snitch, repeatedly letting it fly a foot away before catching it again.
Just as Cedric was catching the Snitch for the seventeenth time, he saw something that made him gasp in horror - Luna had just started climbing a nearby tree. "LUNA!" he yelled. "Get down from there!"
But Luna was not listening; she proceeded to climb up to a branch about 10 feet from the ground and then hang upside down by her legs.
"What are you doing?!" the young boy shouted.
"I'm pretending to be a bat," Luna answered in an isn't-it-obvious? sort of voice.
"Luna Lovegood, you come down from that tree!" yelled an angry and frightened Cedric.
"No," said Luna. "I think I'll stay up here a while." She then pointed at Cedric and giggled. "You look as small as a mouse from up here."
Cedric frantically turned to Pandora. "Mrs. Lovegood, do something!"
But Pandora merely shook her head. "There's no point, Cedric," she said. "Once my daughter gets her mind set on doing something dangerous, there's no changing her mind."
Cedric gave an anxious moan and covered his face with his hands. He uncovered his face in time to see the little girl swinging back and forth on the branch - then, without warning, she started to slip. As the little boy rushed to catch her, she landed on top of him, sending them both sprawling on the ground.
"Are you two all right?" Pandora asked.
Cedric slowly got up. "Yeah, I think so," he replied. He then looked Luna over for injuries...and saw that her right elbow was badly scraped and bleeding. "Oh no..." he moaned before pointing to the wound. "See, Luna?! If you'd just listened to me...!"
"Not to worry, dear," Pandora told him. "I had a feeling something like this might happen, so I came prepared." She then proceeded to remove a first-aid kit from her bag; she would mend Luna's injury with her wand when they were back home and away from any prying Muggle eyes.
"Mummy, I'm fine!" Luna insisted, pulling away from her mother. "It doesn't hurt that much!"
"Maybe not, but I don't want it to get infected," said Pandora. "Now come here..." She started cleaning the scraped area before putting a bandage on it; all the while Cedric was thinking how lucky it was that Luna hadn't been hurt worse this time.
Later that evening at the Rook, just as Cedric was about to Floo to his own home, Pandora called him over to the sofa to have a little chat.
"I think I know what your little episode in the park was about," she said gently. "You're still feeling guilty about the flying accident Luna had last summer." The nine-year-old nodded.
"I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to Luna," he said. The two of them looked over at Luna, who was spinning and humming to herself, her wound completely healed.
"You know," Pandora told him, "one thing I've learned over the years is that you can't always protect your loved ones from everything. Especially if said loved one has an exceedingly inquisitive nature and an adventurous spirit."
"I know what you mean," said Cedric with a smile. "That Luna sure is something, isn't she?"
"Indeed," replied Pandora. "But I wouldn't have her any other way."
"Me neither. Anyway, I've got to go; it's nearly suppertime." After Cedric had left, Luna stopped spinning and skipped over to her mother.
"We should keep a close eye on Cedric," she said. "I think Wrackspurts have been messing with his brain."
Pandora chuckled.
The next morning Luna, Pandora, and Cedric were taking a nature hike through the woods. Luna was skipping and humming to herself.
"GAH! Luna, look out!" Cedric yelled about three minutes into the trip, grabbing the little girl's arm and yanking her off to the side. She looked around, bewildered.
"I knew it," she said softly. "Wrackspurts have been messing with your brain."
"No, it's not that. I thought I saw a snake." He looked more closely at the thing. "Never mind; it's just a tree root. I'm really sorry, Lu."
"It's okay. But you don't have to protect me from everything, you know."
"Yeah, I know; it's what your mum told me last night." He looked up at Pandora, who smiled. They walked on a little longer before Luna suddenly pointed to a tree on their left and squealed, "Mummy, Cedric, look! A squirrel! Hello, Mr. Squirrel!" The squirrel simply sat there and continued to nibble on an acorn. "Okay, see you later," said Luna, and the group continued walking.
When Luna jumped up onto a branch and started swinging back and forth, Cedric had to exercise a lot of self-restraint to keep from yelling at her to get down. He reminded himself that no matter how much he tried to protect Luna, he would never be able to take away her adventurous spirit any more than her parents could.