What You Never Knew

Luna Lovegood: The Perpetually Right Believer

1. She was once normal.

Xenophilius and Luna Lovegood were often considered to be absolutely crazy, due to their odd obsessions with nonexistent magical creatures. Everyone assumed that Luna harbored these strange beliefs because her father did; they were terribly mistaken, though. In fact, Xeno believed in the creatures for his precious daughter's sake. And why did Luna believe in them? It all happened when she was five years old, in the nearby Muggle playground. She had been playing in the sandbox when a Muggle girl had approached her.

"You're going to play with me," the Muggle girl stated forcefully, plopping down in the sand. "Make me a sand castle."

Luna frowned. "I'm sorry, but I'd rather play by myself." She was proud of her rather large vocabulary- for a five-year-old, that is.

The girl glared at her. "Well, too bad. Now make me a sand castle, or I'll throw sand in your face!"

"But I don't want to make a sa-" Luna was cut off by sand landing in her mouth and eyes. She immediately began spitting it out, wiping it off her face. Looking at the girl, she noticed that she was smiling smugly.

"Make me a sand castle."

Now, Luna rarely got angry, but she was bloody furious at the Muggle girl. "NO!" she shouted, eyes narrowed.

The Muggle girl glared back at her, picked up a handful of sand, and threw it at Luna. However, as Luna glared at the sand, it stopped in midair, turned around, and hit the astounded Muggle girl full force in the eyes. She let out a loud wail.

"ALEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEX!" She cried, and a frighteningly large ten-year-old boy swaggered over.

"What, Lola?" The boy- Alex asked, sounding like he really couldn't care less.

"She threw sand at me!" Lola pointed at Luna accusingly. Alex sighed and picked up Luna by her shirt collar with ease, lifting her to his height. Before Luna could cry out in protest, the Muggle boy slapped her, so hard that she felt her head spinning, and then dropped her back into the sandbox.

"Don't mess with my little sister, you hear?" Alex warned, and Luna nodded, not wanting to get hit again. Then the Muggle children had walked away, Lola smirking triumphantly.

That hit to the head changed Luna. Not only did it teach her not to get angry no matter what happened, but from that point on, Luna was different. While she was still logical, she came up with the strangest ideas: creatures called Nargles, who lived in mistletoe, that she could see clear as day. When she put on Muggle 3-D glasses, she could see tiny things called Wrackspurts flying around peoples' heads. Her father, beign the supportive man he was, saw this as creativity, and went along with it.

He never knew what the Muggle boy had done.

2. For a while, she hated magic.

From the age of 9 ½ to when she had entered Hogwarts, Luna hated magic. It had killed her mother, her sweet, loving, perfect mother; it had driven her father even crazier than before; it had created a hole in her heart. Then at Hogwarts, she had discovered all the miraculous, beautiful things magic could do- from creating little canaries to levitating a feather. And then, she had known that magic wasn't bad. Just that it needed to be controlled very, very carefully.

3. The Sorting Hat had wanted to put her in Gryffindor.

The first thing it had said when it had been plopped onto Luna's head, covering her eyes, was that she was extraordinarily brave. Luna had thanked him, and then apologized for any Wrackspurts that may have been flying around her head. When the Hat had asked what Wrackspurts were, Luna had explained what they were- and gone on to tell him about Nargles, Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, and more. Sensing the underlying logic and creativity of Luna's mind, the Sorting Hat had called out, "RAVENCLAW!" during her mental rant- just so he wouldn't be forced to listen to anymore of her crazy thoughts.

4. She did have a friend in Ravenclaw once.

Her name was Amelia Greene, and she was a Seventh Year while Luna was a First Year. She had stood up for Luna whenever people had teased her, and was always willing to talk about Nargles and such- their friendship was so perfect to Luna that sometimes she wondered if Amelia only hung out with her out of pity. But Amelia graduated, and the two lost touch. However, when Amelia was killed by Death Eaters in the summer after Luna's Fifth Year, Luna found an invitation addressed to her in the mail, asking her to please attend the funeral. Then, she had known that she meant something to Amelia.

5. Albus Dumbledore always seemed to like her.

More than a few times, he invited her for tea in his office- just to chat. He always seemed to understand why she was so nuts, even though she never told him- or anyone else, for that matter- about the Muggle boy. Legilimency was certainly an option, and yet, Luna couldn't imagine her Headmaster invading her privacy like that. No, she suspected that he could just… tell. She had a gut feeling that he had known someone who a similar thing had happened to- and when she had asked him about this, he had told her the truth about his sister, Ariana. Luna had offered sympathy and kind words of comfort, and had returned for tea every week after that. When he had died, she was the first to cry.

6. She had a crush on Neville Longbottom during her Sixth Year.

He was the school hero, the leader of the movement against the Carrows and Snape, and always the person to offer a shoulder to cry on to anyone who had been subject to one of the Carrows' barbaric detentions. In addition to all of that, he was actually nice to Luna, unlike so many other people she knew- and in some cases, didn't know. But it was clear that he fancied Hannah Abbott, and so Luna gave up on him. Being the strong person she was, it was surprisingly easy.

7. The happiest day of her life was when Ginny married Harry.

She had known all along that they were made for each other, and that Ginny, her best friend, had pined for him for years. So when they had gotten married, and Luna had given a toast to the couple, the first thing she had said was, "Finally!" Then Ginny had laughed, and her utter joy had radiated from her. Luna was happy because her friends were happy.

8. Quite a few people didn't approve of her relationship with Rolf.

He was her boss, and quite a bit older than her; she was a young, newcomer naturalist. It was only natural that people should frown upon her- but they had all her life, and so she had grown accustomed to it. She had helped Rolf to ignore it, too- it had been easy for him, he always said, because he loved her so much. Eventually, everyone had gotten over it- they had finally realized how perfect Luna and Rolf were for each other, with Luna's carefree nature and Rolf's constant sensible attitude. It took Xenophilius a little longer than the rest, though- but that was just because he didn't want to give up his baby girl.

9. She had laughed when Lysander and Lily Luna Potter had gotten married.

Lysander had had the biggest crush on Lily when he was younger. For over a year, it was always, "Lily this," or "Lily that". He all but worshipped the ground she walked on, in fact. Luna was proud to say that she encouraged this- Lily was a delightful girl, after all, and one of the few she considered good enough for her son. Unlike Rolf, she didn't think it was all that implausible for Lily to someday return Lysander's affections- age was but a number, after all.

10. When she died, her funeral became one of the most attended in the history of the Wizarding World.

During her lifetime, she helped defeat Lord Voldemort, was key in the efforts to rebuild Hogwarts, discovered the existence of over 200 magical creatures, founded the Nina Lovegood Wing in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, and, most of all, offered a helping hand to anyone who needed it. She was the most loved witch of her generation, without a doubt. And when her 150-year-long life ended, she was mourned for constant years afterwards.

Luna Lovegood was kind, loving, more than a bit weird, and followed her own path. But more than anything, she was a believer. She believed in the existence of unheard of magical creatures, she believed that Harry would defeat Lord Voldemort, she believed that Ginny would win over Harry one day, and more than anything, she believed that every person was good, deep down, and could do anything if they really wanted to. And with everything she believed, she was right.

I'm not sure I did Luna justice, seeing as she is AWESOME. Thanks for all the reviews last chapter- keep it up, please! Again, I won't update again until I get 3 reviews! Suggestions still welcome!

-Joelle8