The Lovegood Diaries

Summary – A collection of missing moments and diary entries from Luna Lovegood, from the time she is introduced in the series until the end of the war. Over that time, she begins to develop a fondness for Harry Potter.

Note – I can't believe I have to clarify this, but the character of Daphne Greengrass in this story is not a self-insertion of the author.

Chapter One – September 1995

It was the first Saturday of the term at Hogwarts.

Luna Lovegood, now in her fourth year, knew that the mornings of the first weekend out in the school grounds were always the quietest. People were usually too exhausted to leave their beds, but not her. She jumped out of bed at first light, dressed quickly and descended the castle, whistling a happy tune to herself all the way down. Once she stepped out of the castle and into the brilliant warm sunshine, she yawned and stretched and then marched down the grassy slopes of the grounds towards the lake.

She picked her favourite beech tree near the water's edge to sit under and then she pulled from her bag a small black book, that turned out to be her diary, a small bottle of ink and a fresh packet of Radish flavoured Sugar Quills.

Luna looked around to make sure she was definitely alone, then opened the page she had bookmarked with her pair old of Spectrospecs from last months The Quibbler. She put them on, observed her surroundings, and when she was certain the area was free of Wrackspurts, and that her mind could be at its sharpest, she licked the sugary tip of her Sugar Quill and began to write about her thoughts of her first week back.

Once she'd finished writing her diary entry, Luna took her Spectrospecs off, bookmarked her page with them again and then stowed her diary away in her bag. She looked up towards the castle. There was a small group of older Hufflepuff students wandering down the slope towards her. If they knew she was there, they certainly didn't let on, they veered off to the left to walk around the lake and didn't even glance in her direction.

Their voices echoed back to her as she pulled out her History of Magic essay on Giant Wars, which she started last night, and was determined to finish before Monday. It was one of her trickier subjects, not because the material was difficult, but because the History of Magic classroom was still infested with a Wrackspurt nest and constantly made her drowsy and inattentive in class.

She had brought this to the attention of Professor Binns many times, of course, but so far nothing had been done about it. The ghost always acted confused when she talked to him, as if he was unaware of such problems, and he would always fly off through the blackboard in a hurry and disappear.

Luna was brought out of her reverie by the growling of her stomach. She checked her watch, saw that it was around about the time breakfast would normally be served in the Great Hall, and began packing up her things. She had only made a little bit of headway on her essay, but nowhere near enough, and hoped that a meal might help her finish it afterwards.

7th September 1995

Dearest Diary,

My first week back at Hogwarts has been the most fun.

The most wonderful thing has happened. The first week of the school year is over and I still have all my shoes! This beats my record of four days from last year, but it has probably helped me that students at Hogwarts seem distracted. This Ministry woman who is now teaching here, Professor Umbridge, reminds me of home. Every June, in the river by our house, there is a congregation of toads who have their mating season. When I stare unblinkingly at the Professor in class, this is all I can see.

She gave me detention, which is fair enough, I should have been reading my textbook. But there were also rumours sweeping the school that Harry Potter had been given detention as well, for calling out Umbridge and proclaiming that You-Know-Who was back, and that Harry fought him and escaped. All summer my father and I had been questioning the articles being published by The Daily Prophet, so the next time I saw Harry, I told him I believed him! Even though we don't know each other very well, yet, he seems to have accepted my friendship!

I wonder if Harry will be in detention with me. It sure would be nice to have someone to talk too.

I had met Harry in person for the first time (he was taller than I imagined) when he and his friends had sat in on my compartment on the train ride to Hogwarts. I had thoroughly enjoyed listening to a conversation for a change, instead of silence, it was nice. We all rode up to the school in the same carriage too. Harry is the only other person I know that has been able to see the Thestrals pulling the carriages!

I don't know yet if that means we're going insane or that everyone else is.

I'm going to put you away now, and maybe do homework instead. I see other students coming and I don't want them to see me writing you. You understand.

Lots of love,

Luna Lovegood

Luna's shoe streak didn't last.

A little more than a week later, she found herself going down to dinner in bare feet, which felt numb against the cold stone floor. She had this terrible habit of not wearing socks on the days when her shoes got stolen and she always paid for it.

Nobody noticed her lack of footwear when she entered the Great Hall. This was nothing new, people tended not to acknowledge Luna if they could avoid it, and she was able to make it to the Ravenclaw table without a single comment.

She had some sausages and pumpkin juice and before she knew it, dinner was over, and people began to pour out of the Great Hall. Not wanting her bare feet being trampled on, she dawdled at the back as people flooded out into the Entrance Hall. She was one of the last students to reach the exit, but when she did, someone finally noticed her.

'Luna?'

Luna swivelled around.

Daphne Greengrass, a pretty blonde girl, appeared from the Great Hall and was approaching with some concern as she looked down at Luna's bare feet. Despite her being in Slytherin, and in the year above, Daphne had generally always been nice to Luna. She had a history of standing up for her, almost as much as Ginny Weasley did, and had in the past helped Luna get her belongings back at the end of term.

'Hi,' Luna said brightly.

'Why aren't you wearing any shoes?' Daphne asked curiously, looking up into the eyes of her friend.

'It's Tuesday,' Luna said bluntly, as if it were obvious.

'Okay,' Daphne raised her eyebrows. 'So, you haven't been bullied out of them?'

'Bullied?' Luna asked, her protuberant eyes widening curiously as she contemplated this question for a moment and then shook her head.

'Well good,' Daphne said, though she seemed unconvinced. 'Have you had a good start to term?'

'Yes, thank you,' said Luna, 'except I already got detention.'

Daphne sighed. 'Let me guess,' she said, turning her head to look back into the Great Hall, 'Professor Umbridge?'

Luna nodded and Daphne snorted. 'Dreadful woman,' she said shaking her head, 'she tried coercing me into helping her, like the other Slytherin's are, and when I said no, she gave me detention!'

'I had to do lines,' Luna said, 'what about you.'

Daphne nodded. 'It was pretty boring.'

'Did you see any Moon Frogs in her office?' Luna asked curiously. 'I heard she has a personal collection, but I didn't see any.'

'What are—?' Daphne paused and looked wearily at Luna. 'Actually— no, I didn't see any, sorry.'

Luna shrugged. 'Oh, well,' she said, 'if it were me, I'd want to keep them hidden too.'

They stood in silence for a moment. The Entrance Hall was deserted. They could faintly hear the marching of students above them.

'Anyway,' Daphne said with a shrug, 'I've got homework to do—'

'Same,' Luna said nodding.

'Speak to you later?'

'Bye!'

They dispersed and Luna began the trudge back to Ravenclaw tower. There were no seats left in the common room, which was fine by her, she headed up to her dormitory instead to put some socks on. A couple of the girls she shared her dormitory with were talking when she arrived, but stop when she entered, rolled their eyes and went on chattering.

They didn't even question her bare feet.

Luna pulled on some socks, closed the hanging around her four-posted, pulled her homework out of her bag and went about finishing it.

18th September 1995

Dearest Diary,

I lost two pairs of shoes this week.

It's most unfortunate, sure, but I blame myself. I wore those new turquoise ones I made over the summer, the ones that sparkle underfoot when I walk; I guess I showed them off to one too many people, because by lunch time, they were gone.

It doesn't matter. Whenever the first Hogsmeade visit comes around, I'll spend some time in Gladrags Wizardwear and pick out a few new ones. Last term, they had the loveliest and brightest pair of yellow shoes on display which I think should match by hair. I had been unable to afford them at the time, not that I can, perhaps they still have them.

I hope Hogsmeade isn't this weekend. Professor Umbridge gave me detention again, I'm afraid to say, this time because I entered her classroom in bare feet. I attempted to explain how I came to have no shoes, but she wouldn't listen, and now I will be spending my Saturday afternoon writing lines.

Maybe this time I will ask her to show me her Moon Frog collection.

Heaps of Love,

Luna Lovegood