Ginny looked down into her teacup, stirring slowly with the silver spoon.
"Sometimes" she said quietly, "I'm jealous of her. Luna."
"How do you mean?" her companion asked gently.
"It's just… I should have it all. I mean… if you compare. She is a housewife, I'm a famous quidditch player. My husband is the hero of the wizarding world while she married an ex-con. She's been pregnant more times than my mum and has a house stuffed to the rafters with kids. The ministry helps them every month to survive. They can't even afford to send their children to Hogwarts." She added another lump of sugar to the already sweet tea.
"My kids have the best clothes, best toys, broomsticks, anything they might wish for. We live in a beautiful house and have plenty of friends. She spends all her time with her children and her father. And yet…" GInny tried to smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "She has practically nothing, trying to make a galleon from five sickles and raise eleven kids on love, water and air… I've seen her around town a few times. She's always singing, always smiling, as if she's as happy as can be living as they do. I went past their house once. It's tiny and the neighborhood isn't the best, but there were flowers in the windows and her children were playing in the yard, happy as can be. I can't remember the last time I watched my children play in the yard."
They sat in silence for several minutes. Then Ginny took a deep breath and went on.
"I miss her" she whispered. "I wish I hadn't been so cruel when she told me she was carrying his baby. And now… I see her from a distance sometimes. She's thin and her dresses are patched and she always buys food on sale. And yet…" her eyes brightened with tears.
"And yet, she has the one thing that lately seems to elude Harry and me at every turn."
"What is that?"
"Happiness. She's practically glowing with it."