Chapter Two
Making Friends

Luna took a seat in an empty carriage and watched her father give a funny little wave, then wander back toward the exit. She could still see him in her mind, sitting at the breakfast table with his quill tucked behind his ear, and she suddenly felt a wave of emotion knock into her like she'd been attacked by a chimaera. She wouldn't see him again until Christmas. She had never been separated from her father for such a long period of time, not even more than a night since her mother died. She didn't cry though. She thought she might, but it turned out she just didn't feel like it.

A girl with light brown hair in bouncy pigtails took a seat across from her and grinned widely. She immediately threw her jumper over the space beside her and stared anxiously out the window. Seconds later, a pretty girl with a blonde ponytail bounded in and jumped into the saved seat. She spared a glance at Luna, who was silently observing the two girls with her long hair falling messily over her shoulders and her wand tucked ceremoniously behind her ear. The girl's ponytail waved behind her as she giggled and poked her pigtailed friend. They both looked at Luna. They both giggled. Luna laughed too, loud enough to fill the carriage. Amusement turned to annoyance and they turned away from her to whisper and giggle and once and awhile peek out the glass door to the outside hallway of the train.

Another girl came in, pale-faced and freckled. She shyly nodded to Luna who, completely forgetting about her other new friends, nodded back with a smile.

"I'm Ginny" she said quietly.

"Luna."

"That's pretty. I hate my name."

"Ginny?"

The red-headed girl shook her head vehemently. "No..." She looked around the compartment as if to make sure no one else was listening. The two other girls were now fully absorbed in their latest activity, pressing their faces to the glass door and staring fixedly into the cabin across from them. "Ginevra. Awful, right?"

"I like it. It suits you." Luna smiled again. Ginny blushed.

"Did you see Harry Potter?"

"No," Luna replied casually. "Why, is he here?" Now it was Luna's turn to look in all directions around the compartment.

Ginny laughed. "Not here! Out there, in the compartment with my brother probably. Lucky Ron." She blushed a little more. "You know he came over to my house? And I stuck my elbow in the butter dish. I wanted to die!"

"Why?"

"Because I was so embarrassed!"

Luna tilted her head thoughtfully. "I don't think I've ever felt embarrassed. Once, I got lifted up into the air by a particularly large fairy, right up by the ear. She was really strong. But then my father caught her in a jar, a big jar, of course. We let her go after, but it made me feel kind of funny... I don't think I felt embarrassed though. It must have been something else. Maybe it was just that my ear hurt. Fairies have very pointy fingers."

Ginny gave her an odd look. Luna wasn't sure what it meant, but then she laughed. It wasn't the same kind of laugh the other girls had used, it seemed nicer, and when Luna laughed too, Ginny just laughed harder.