One month. They gave me one month to kill her. Luna Lovegood. She was also due in one month. Killing her would mean killing three people…actually four. Luna, the babies….and me. It would kill me in ways I can't explain.

I decide to go over to her house to see her. The door was wide open as always. I sigh. She's too trusting of others. She makes it too easy for a monster like me to come into her innocent little world and destroy it.

Luna wasn't in the kitchen or living room. I peer out the back window, into the backyard. Sure enough, she's sitting in a wooden chair, rubbing her stomach and talking to the unborn twins. The wind blows around her crazy blonde hair. The leaves swirl around her and I'm taken back to her sorting day…

I was a second year, sitting next to Crabbe and Goyle at the almighty Slytherin table. We were throwing nasty notes to the ugly Hufflepuff girls and sniggering as they opened them and began crying. Then, the first years came in and Dumbledore made everyone quiet. The first one I saw was that female Weasley.

I grinned. Oh boy, I sure was gonna have a fun time tormenting that one. The sorting began as I thought up ways to torture the new ginger and her brothers. Not to mention perfect Potter. When I got bored plotting, they were already half way through the first years. (Or worst years as I called them.)

"LOVEGOOD, LUNA!"

The small blonde girl skipped forward towards the stupid sorting hat. No other first year had been that confident. I almost respected it— and that's a lot coming from me. The table broke out into snickers and malicious comments as she took her seat.

Something was around her neck…a corkscrew?

Immediately, I knew who this Luna girl was. It was that crazy girl that walked around barefoot in the Borrow. Her father was that loon, Xenophlilius, who my mother and father constantly warned me about staying far away from.

"Alright, alright!" The Sorting Hat ordered to the Slytherin table right before it was placed on Lovegood's head. "Settle down!"

The hat settled on her small head, falling over her eyes at first.

"Interesting…interesting…" The ugly old hat muttered. "Not sure if this is possible, but you might be harder to sort than your parents were. Which house…which house…?"

"Hey, I know!" A fourth year Slytherin boy yelled. "Put that one in the loony bin!"

"Aye, that'd be the only place she's do well." A female sixth year sitting next to him agreed.

"Thirty points from Slytherin and a detention each!" Exclaimed the batty, ancient Professor McGonagall.

I snorted. Oh please, I thought. She just wants her precious Gryffindors to win the house cup. Again.

I looked over eagerly to see if the remark had made the wacko start crying or something. However, Luna didn't seem to hear the mean comment. She seemed more concerned about her making the hat struggle. Perhaps she had a hearing problem along with all of her obvious mental problems?

"I'm very sorry that my head is giving you a hard time, Mr. Hat, sir. I'd try to clear my mind, you see, but it's much too full. That, I can do nothing about." She shrugged, making the hat fall over her crystal eyes for a second time.

"It's not your fault, Miss Luna." The hat assured her gruffly. I couldn't imagine the wacky stuff he must've been seeing in that messed up noggin. "Can I ask a few questions? You know, just to get an idea of where you should be placed?"

"Whatever you think would be best." Luna told him patiently.

"What do you think of people in Slytherin?"

Although the question surprised everyone else in the room, she remained unnaturally serene.

"I don't believe in judging people." Luna answered simply.

The Sorting Hat looked shocked. I never saw it bear an expression before. The room was eerily silent. She certainly wasn't Slytherin material….and everyone who wasn't Slytherin hated us. So… what was wrong with her?

"The odd part is…she's being honest." He thought for a second.

"Hufflepuff would value your kindness. Then again, the way you walked up here, was a form of bravery only a true Gryffindor could accomplish."

At the Gryffindor table, Neville Longbottom was obviously ogling at her. You could tell he was praying he would be in that house. He had loved her for a while. I could tell. And for some reason, it made me want to march over there and hit him.

"But how you stood up for Slytherin…" The Hate sighed, blowing out dust. "It would almost make me think you belonged there."

Professor Snape's coal eyes grew to the size of saucers. The Slytherin table erupted into chaos.

"SETTLE DOWN." The Hat bellowed. His voice got much calmer. "Now, Luna, what is your view on this?"

"I'll be happy wherever you decide to put me. You are, after all, the Sorting Hat." She pointed out, unbothered by the corruption that had broken out from the thought of her joining their house.

"Of course, you haven't got a drop of evil or anger in your body, so you wouldn't do well there."

Snape exhaled, looking relieved.

"I've made up my mind, then." The Sorting Hat announced.

It got quiet. Quieter than it had ever been in the Great Hall. But why? Why was everyone so infatuated with this girl?

"RAVENCLAW!"

Half of the Ravenclaw table burst out into clapping, but the other half looked frustrated, sick, and stayed silent. Across the room, Neville looked like he was heartbroken. I bet I did too. I was under her God damn enchantment.

So now here I am, many, many years later, in my mid twenties, watching the same crazy girl from a small window. Her hair is being tossed around in the wind. The boy in love with her is dead. She is pregnant with two children. And I'm planning to kill her.

"No." I say aloud to myself, eyes glued to the beautiful image outside.

How? I wonder, disgusted with every aspect of my being. How could I ever even imagine harming such a…a gift?