The next morning, Demelza, Amy and I were sat in the common room finishing our homework. Once we were done, I started a conversation about what we were to do for the rest of the day.

"So, do you guys have any plans for the afternoon, I don't" I said. Amy shook her head.

Demelza however, did have an idea.

"Well, if you two have nothing planned, I suppose I could introduce you to my Ravenclaw friend, Luna Lovegood"

I stared at her.

"Seriously, you've become friends with that weirdo?!"

"Ginny, she may appear so on the outside, but she's actually a very interesting and nice person when you get to know her. I've known her for almost my entire life, she lives just beyond the hill on my end of Ottery St Catchpole. Sure, she has her strange moments, and her dad is the editor of the Quibbler, but they are good people. Trust me, you'll like her once you get to know her"

"Do you mean that girl who had a butterbeer cork necklace and her wand behind her ear that we saw at the sorting?" laughed Amy.

"Yes, but come on, she isn't as bad as it might seem"

"Well, we have nothing else to do today, so let's go for it then" I said. "Do you know where she'll be right now?"

"My best guess is that she'll be exploring the grounds. As a Ravenclaw, she'll likely have gotten her work done much sooner than us. Come on" replied Demelza.

So we left the common room and headed outside, it was a lovely sunny day, great for a walk around. It took us a while to find Luna, but Demelza eventually saw her.

"There she is!" she called out, pointing towards the forest. "I should have known, it's where she mentioned she might be when I left her last night"

Indeed it was. Luna Lovegood, today wearing some rather garish looking yellow robes (you're allowed to wear your own clothes on weekends at Hogwarts) was walking slowly along the edge of the forest, apparently in deep concentration on something none of us could see.

"Hi Luna" Demelza said brightly, when we got to her side.

"Oh, Demelza, you've bought guests today" she said in a dreamlike voice.

"Umm, we're her friends, not guests" I said. This rather odd introduction didn't help my preconceptions of the girl.

"What are you up to today?" asked Demelza.

"I'm looking for a Blagsburg, Hogwarts is breeding them".

"Umm, what are Blagsburgs?" I asked.

"They're transparent monkey like entities" she said. "Hogwarts is using them to protect the school, they have extremely powerful defensive magic. They also bring good luck to anyone who sees them"

Amy and I roared with laughter.

"I mean, that makes perfect sense" I said, once I'd calmed down. "It's not like we have one of the greatest wizards of all time as headmaster"

"Yep, Dumbledore really needs monkey spirits to help him protect the castle" added Amy. "Come on D, how can you take this girl seriously when she comes out with things like this?"

"I have a name" said Luna coldly. "And for your information, Dumbledore told the Quibbler this in an exclusive interview, you'd know if you actually gave it a read"

Demelza came closer to us, then whispered softly "Look, guys, give her a chance please, I promise you it'll get better"

We did so reluctantly, and soon Luna declared that she couldn't find her non existent Blagsburg today, so we set off for a walk around the lake.

"So Luna, tell us more about yourself" said Amy, trying to heed Demelza's request.

"Oh, you're interested in knowing? I appreciate that, so far Demelza is the only person who has been"

"I wonder why" I muttered to myself

"So I live just behind the hill on the northern side of Ottery St Catchpole"

"I live on the southern end of that village" I said.

"Oh really, well you're welcome to come for a visit one day"

I bit my lip, not wanting to say out loud that it wasn't yet something that I would consider.

"I live with my dad who is the editor of the Quibbler. My mum was killed when she was doing a magic experiment. It happened when I was six"

"Sorry to hear that" Amy said.

"It's ok, I mean it's not like I'll never see her again"

"Oh is she a ghost?"

"No" said Luna, in a tone which suggested Amy had said something ridiculous, which confused us. How could she see her mum again if she wasn't a ghost?

We sat down about halfway around, and stayed there in silence for a while, enjoying one of the last days of the Scottish summer, and watching the giant squid floating around. After about 10 minutes, Luna spoke.

"Demelza tells me you three are rather good at Quidditch"

"We are indeed, I'm Chaser and captain of the Gryffindor reserve team, and Demelza plays alongside me. Amy is one of our beaters, like her uncle, Ludo Bagman" I said.

"Oh, I know Ludo, he's good friends with Daddy. He comes to visit every once in a while. It's just a shame he suffered so much from Beaters Brainfreeze. That's the reason he retired, you know".

Amy and I exchanged a look, then silently laughed into our hands.

Demelza distracted Luna from this by saying "So have you enjoyed Hogwarts so far?"

"Oh yes, it's such a fascinating place, I've been looking forward to this all my life. Daddy said there are so many brilliant creatures here, he's encountered a few of them, but the one we both want to find more than any is the Crumple Horned Snorkak. They are similarly minded to Blagsburgs so hopefully I'll find one".

I was about ready to give up at this point, but I continued out of respect for Demelza. As we walked back towards the castle though, I began to warm to Luna more and more. I was particularly delighted when she savagely called Snape "an ugly, greasy git" when we got on to discussing lessons, though she did partially ruin this by claiming that "wrackspurts getting to him" was the reason for his behaviour. Still, it was something we had in common at least, hating Snape.

Eventually we said goodbye to her outside the Ravenclaw common room and headed back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Still not convinced about her to be honest mate" I said to Demelza

"Will you at least give it some time?"

I bit my lip.

"Sure, I guess she did at least insult Snape, even though she has some bullshit reason why he acts the way he does. I'll give her some time. What about you, Amy?"

"I'll do whatever you do, Gin"

"Thanks guys. Look, I've discussed it with mum, and she thinks Luna may have something that muggles call autism, which is a mental condition meaning that she struggles with social interaction and acts in a way others consider weird. As a witch she's not going to know about it nor be able to get any proper help with it, so it's important we just respect her. You'll see though, when she's not talking about her strange beliefs she's a really good person to hang around with. Funnily enough, she thinks Snape might have it too, she said so when I described him in my first letter home" said Demelza.

"Huh, that's interesting. It would explain a lot about both of them, especially if Snape was bullied growing up. You know what D, you've made some good points today, we'll keep it in mind" I replied.