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the-roaring-weasley‌:

“Aw, bloody hell!”

It was bound to happen at some point. The Three Broomsticks was a zoo the first time he’d gone in, and his leap of faith on the second proved just as fruitless. All he wanted was a glass of firewhisky - the bar didn’t have to be empty - but judging by the glazed and half-closed eyes of the wizard who stumbled into him, the bar hadn’t been empty since it opened. Ron looked down at his sweater, using his free hand to stretch it out and survey the damage. It was a large swatch, but the fabric seemed fine; it was more than he could say for the hand holding his glass, which was soaked and burning ever so slightly.

“Fuck.”

He cast his eyes upward, hoping to spot an open seat where he could tend to himself in peace. Movement caught his attention over the heads of a few overly-loyal patrons. 

“Luna!” he greeted as he approached, but he was unable to answer her first question before she nodded at his sweater. He blinked. Interactions with Luna usually went like this, but he wasn’t going to pretend he didn’t value them. “Er, what? No, that’s…that’s all right. Some bloke ran into me, spilled my drink.” He dropped into the chair opposite her, carefully setting his scant glass of firewhisky on the table and mopping up his hand with a napkin. 

“But yeah. I’m here for the festivities. When’d you get in?” 

“Oh,” Luna said, nodding sagely. “I see. So wet splotches are part of his party, but not yours. Is that it?” She looked around the room, trying to spot the Wet Spots On Chests Group, but wherever they were they didn’t stick-out amongst the crowd. Possibly they had rented a private room and retired there already, and the wet spots were the badge needed to get inside; that made sense. “It was nice of him to invite you, anyway,” she added with vague sincerity.

She watched intently as Ron scrubbed his hand dry, then realized she had been asked a question. Luna pulled her eyes up from Ron’s hand to his face and met his gaze with her unblinking stare. “When did I get in here? Ten minutes ago, I suppose,” she said after a moment. “Maybe fifteen now?” She turned around to glance at the clock over the bar. “Yes, I think that’s around when I entered...although I didn’t look at the time exactly, so I’m not sure.”

It didn’t occur to Luna that Ron was probably asking when she’d arrived in Hogsmeade overall, and not The Three Broomsticks in particular.

Nonetheless, her un-segued leap to the next topic of conversation to catch her interest -- like a magpie spotting a piece of glitter in the verbal air -- ended up serving as an answer of sorts: “Your sister is here,” she told Ron happily. “Have you seen her? We walked in from the train together yesterday. It was nice. Oh, and they’ve put me in with Neville. Isn’t that lovely? It’s almost like the D.A. all over again, although a little more spread-out. And of course there’s no curfew or torture or Death Eaters to spy on, which is even nicer.” She beamed at him.

Crying Over Spilled Liquor

[loonyloopylovegood]

The world looked different through the lenses of Luna’s Oscillating Visibility Waveform Detector -- probably because the lenses were two layers of ground green glass with honey poured between. They were encased in sturdy red leather goggles (she had decided to use festive colors on the new model, out of deference to the season) from which protruded two curling wire springs that danced and bounced on top of her head like antenna, each topped with a blown glass ball filled with fizzy air bubbles and kneazle fur for conductivity.

The stars she had painted on the band of the goggles were just for decoration, though. Luna liked stars.

The only downside to the Oscillating Visibility Waveform Detector was that, while it enhanced one’s visual senses for the purposes of spotting what was not usually visible, it did somewhat impair one’s normal vision (especially when the honey got cold and crystallized, as it had today). Thus Luna was even less aware of the people around her than usual, and her drifting path through the crowd was impeded by a sudden elbow she didn’t see coming. It didn’t hurt much, but it did knock her from her fixed contemplation of the drifting motes that signified a likely nargle infestation, which had the upside of allowing her to focus on Percy Weasley instead. Luna smiled when she recognized him.

“Oh no,” she said, beaming, “thank you. I’m perfectly fine.” She pointed conspiratorially at the googles and antenna bouncing on her head and added, “I’m mapping the hotspots of nargle activity. I thought that might come in handy later, so you can warn people where to be on guard the most. Unless you’ve already got a list of that?” It wouldn’t surprise Luna; Percy Weasley was nothing if not efficient and prepared.

Luna/Percy: Castle on a Cloud

The arrival of people to Hogsmeade never seemed to stop, though Percy was wondering when the rest of the Ministry employees would arrive. Not that Percy needed backup – he was perfectly fine checking everything on his own! But in dashing to see who was coming from Hogsmeade Station, Percy’s elbow collided with someone else’s shoulder. His first reaction was to be mildly annoyed at the familiar blonde.

“Oh Merlin, what are you –” Percy paused for a moment. She was supposed to be here. Luna felt out of place whenever he had seen her in the office, and her odd questions even more so. It was probably why she felt out of place now for Percy to assume she was wandering aimlessly, and a part of him felt obligated to… escort her to wherever she was supposed to end up. Otherwise she might get crushed by the Christmas crowd.

Asking her if she were lost was a stupid question; Hogsmeade was so small that it was difficult to do that. Instead he opted to ask what he asked of her every time she drew his attention at work, though in a much more pronounced voice as to be heard outside. “Did you need anything?”

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[loonyloopylovegood]

batsbogey‌:

     “ Figure that most think stealing a kiss is worth the risk of gnargles, I guess. ” Ginny squints in reply, secretly taking the reminder to look out for the stuff. Not so much for gnargles, since she didn’t completely know what they did though Luna had explained it before. Just that she didn’t fancy a snog from some random stranger who’d think it was a laugh. 

             Still, she grins at Luna who’s adoring the sunlight, and doesn’t stop for a breath as she talks. And so ever-patient, she waits for her own opportunity. When her best mate decides she’d like to move, immediately her hand is out to help her up. “ Here, let me get that. Locomotor Trunk. ” She points her wand to Luna’s trunk, grateful to be in an only magic town since she didn’t know what kind of goodies she’d tried to pack. After all, she’d somehow gotten a massive Lion headdress to school back when they went. “ No, haven’t been the guest of honour before though. I mean, I’ve been to a party for the Harpies, but that doesn’t really count. It’s more for Gwenog really, since she’s the captain. Still, it was more awkward than anything.” 

            Especially when you don’t drink and people were staring. Still, she didn’t hate it. It was nice to be recognized for something good. She looks back at Luna though as they walk through the town. “ Did you get a roommate? Percy put me with Ron… swear he did it cause mum told him too. ”

“Ahhh,” said Luna, nodding in dawning understanding. “I never thought about that possibility before. You would think that people would prefer kisses that don’t carry such a high risk of having their things stolen...but people do have some terribly odd ideas about things,” she confided to Ginny. “I don’t know how the mistletoe-kissing one got started...maybe by somebody hoping someone else would get robbed by nargles if they tricked them into getting close, do you think?” Lina made a mental note to look into that later. The Quibbler had always been more concerned with recommending different nargle repellents and poisons for their readers (the latter of which Luna thought was cruel; nargles were a pest but they didn’t mean anything bad by it! they didn’t know any better) than with tracing the tangential traditions of the rest of the Wixen World, but Luna thought it would make a good article anyway...and besides, now she was curious!

She fell into step beside Ginny with an, “Oooh, thanks!” as her trunk rose into the air at Ginny’s command and started moving along with them. She nodded along vaguely as Ginny explained about Gwenog Jones and parties and the Harpies. “What was awkward about it?” she asked. “Did people keep mistaking you for Ms. Jones and you had to correct them so they wouldn’t accidentally give you the toasts and speeches and bubble hats that were meant for her?” she added excitedly; it didn’t occur to Luna that it would be very difficult for anyone who had seen Gwenog Jones before, even from the distance of Quidditch bleachers, to mistake Ginny for the indomitable Harpies captain.

“That was terribly nice of Percy,” she observed dreamily. “Or of your mother. Or both of them.” Luna paused and then asked, “Wasn’t it? You’ll be pleased to get to spend so much time with Ron, and more comfortable rooming with someone you know so well than you would be with someone else. There are a lot of people you don’t like very much, and I don’t think you’d be happy if you had to share a room with one of them.” At Ginny’s question, Luna fished among the assorted contents of the pockets of her polka-dot turquoise robes until she found the folded piece of parchment on which she had written the address and details of where she would be staying during the celebrations and flourished it toward Ginny.

“They’ve put me with Neville,” she explained, in case Ginny was having trouble reading the loopy handwriting as Luna’s hand bounced up and down with each step. “That will be nice, don’t you think? I haven’t seen much of him since he graduated, well at least not compared with how much time we were spending with him during things with the D.A., although more so than when I was in the Malfoys’ cellar and you and he were at school, of course.”

A Bump in the Road

[loonyloopylovegood]

Luna was having a splendid day. Someone she didn’t know had given her a mug of cinnamon tea as a present for no reason, and although they had suddenly remembered a pressing engagement elsewhere shortly into Luna’s explanation of nargles and the inherent dangers of mistletoe and had had to run-off mid-sentence, it had been a very nice conversation while it lasted. The tea had lasted longer, and been very nice as well.

The Ministry had given her several food vouchers to use with the local pubs and restaurants. Luna had asked around, and it seemed like all of the D.A. members who had gotten an invitation like hers had been given the same vouchers, which meant there was probably something sinister behind it, but she hadn’t had a chance to investigate yet. In the meantime, it meant she could treat herself to a very nice breakfast of pancakes and plum jam at the café two doors down from her temporary lodgings without worrying that she was going to run out of funds before the celebrations ended. Sinister conspiracy or not, it was a very nice gesture. Maybe there wasn’t even an underlying scheme; maybe it was just Mr. Shacklebolt being nice.

It was strange to think about the Ministry of Magic doing anything to be nice, but Harry had assured her several times that Mr. Shacklebolt was a nice man who would use his position as Minister to root-out things like the Rotfang Conspiracy (she hadn’t wanted to make Harry feel bad so she hadn’t pointed-out that with Cornelius Fudge gone, the remnants of the Rotfang Conspiracy were hardly relevant anymore) and Luna supposed it was possible that he had just wanted to do the D.A. a favor without an ulterior motive...

The letter she had written to her daddy outlining the details and her accompanying speculation was currently swooping home in the claws of a very nice looking fluffy gray owl and Luna was looking forward to his response. She skipped out the door of the owlery and stopped in the street to slowly revolve in a circle, deciding where to go next. The decision was taken out of her hands by a familiar face -- pale and pointed -- and Luna stopped spinning. He seemed like he wanted to say something so she waited politely until he could decide what it was.

“Lovegood...Happy Holidays...”

Well, how nice. Luna broke into a smile. “Hello Draco Malfoy,” she said, bouncing across the street to him. “What a lovely thing to say. ‘Happy Holidays.’ Yes, yes I think they shall be. And you? I hope you will have nice ones too.” It occurred to her suddenly that they might be here for the same reason rather than mere coincidence -- or a similar reason, as least; Draco was hardly in the D.A. but he might have been one of the people who had come to enjoy the party being thrown in their honor. “Are you here for the Ministry’s celebrations?” she asked brightly. “Are your parents here with you? I haven’t seen them since the Wizengamot trials. I hope they’ve been well. Daddy is at home, he said he wasn’t feeling up to crowds yet,” Luna explained as she revolved slowly in place, looking around for more familiar pale, tall blonde figures. None of the people walking past looked like Lucius or Narcissa so she turned back to Draco and waited, unblinking and smiling, for his reply.

Silent Nights

@loonyloopylovegood

It had been three years since that damn war. Three years of rebuilding, three years of mourning, and three years of sleepless nights. It was everything the Daily Prophet would talk about when it came to their heroes, but everything Draco refused to think about. Those days were something he wanted to move forward from. Those days were something he wished he would forget. 

While his mother refused to leave the Manor, Draco couldn’t get out of there fast enough. He could still hear the screams for those days and nights. Still see the Dark Lord in his father’s favorite lounge chair. Still feel the coldness in the air whenever he would go to the dining room. It was a constant reminder of everything. And if he stayed there, he would find himself in the dungeons reliving the nightmare that was her. 

Draco knew that he would see here during this celebration. He was sure that Luna wouldn’t miss it. Yet like the past three years, he made every point to avoid the wix. No way was he going to be near where she was. Seeing Luna’s face reminded him of what Aunt Bella made him do. It was his punishment for not killing Dumbledore. The thing was, the Dark Lord didn’t put her up to it, Aunt Bella decided that she would take charge of his punishment all on her own. Besides, family always took care of family.

Those memories and dreams were constant in the past few years. And due to those dreams, he created a dreamless potion to help him sleep at least. Something he hoped he had enough of for this dumb celebration thing. Between Lavender and the elderly couple he was staying with, Draco needed some air. He needed to get away for a while and just figure out his surroundings. Grabbing his coat and scarf, Draco made his exit and headed closer into Hogsmeade. They truly went overboard for the decorations but this was a Ministry event. And the ministry LOVED showing off. 

He stopped in front of the Tomes and Scrolls window front to see what they had to offer for the holidays. As he looked over a couple of titles, he saw her. Through the reflection of the window, he spotted her for the first time in a long while. Turning around slowly, he locked eyes with Luna. His whole body seemed to freeze on the spot. How is if that this small, weird person was able to make him panic on the spot? He had to say something right? He couldn’t just stand there and look like a complete idiot. “Lovegood….Happy Holidays…” he finally managed to say. Now all that was left for him to do was wait for a punch in the face, a hex, anything that involved him getting what he deserved for everything that he did. 

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[loonyloopylovegood]

#is luna a future serial killer based on curiosity ? maybe

look there’s a reason she has to go traveling all over the globe “looking for undiscovered animals” okay? if that “reason” is more about not leaving a trail of bodies that anyone can track and less about proving that her and her dad’s wacky ideas are right, then so be it. At least Lorcan and Lysander will have a varied and useful education in things like “how to handle venomous bites” and “the best way to dispose of a body” (hint: were any of those animals you just found today carnivorous, kids?)

👫 - loonyloopylovegood

Seamus knew of Luna Lovegood long before he realized he should pay attention to her. It was sort of that generalized rumor mill created by small class sizes–did you hear what lovegood said? did you see what she was wearing? Seamus, who had lost his eyebrows more then a couple times, knew what it was like to be talked about to a minor degree but its not as though he did anything to stop it going around with others (most of the time)

It was during the DA that Seamus got to know her better–at least beyond general “hello”s (as much as general hello’s could be had with Luna, anyway). She reminded him a bit of his great grandmother, which was weird, but they both had some interesting ideas.

Truthfully how she responded to the lessons freaked Seamus out a bit. Sure, he was one to talk with his own coping methods … but that smile? The just… Luna-ness of it all? Almost like nothing happened. He sometimes wondered if she would end up the most dangerous of the entire DA (and sometimes he’s not sure she isn’t still on that path)

 Luna visited while Seamus was out of commission in Ireland. Seamus didn’t expect it–and thus he spent most of the time covered by blankets. Luna, bless, didn’t say a thing about it but did expound on a series of new conspiracy theories, many specifically focusing on Ireland. It was nice?

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Character Aesthetic | Luna Lovegood

“I don’t think you should be an Auror, Harry,“ said Luna unexpectedly. Everybody looked at her. “The Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They’re working to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using a mixture of dark magic and gum disease.”

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Crying Over Spilled Liquor

@the-roaring-weasley

Luna had been sitting on a stool in the corner of the Three Broomsticks humming to herself for twenty minutes in contended solitude, a half-empty goblet of fizzy gillywater-and-grapefruit cupped in her palms, when a familiar voice exclaiming something loud and indignant cut through the regular chatter. Luna looked up and saw the unmistakable shock of Ron Weasley’s bright red hair bobbing over top the other patrons -- he was so much taller than three-quarters of the wix in there that he would have been easy to pick out even if his hair had been a duller color like her own dirtyblonde -- and gave him a dreamy wave.

To her mild surprise and significant pleasure, Ron changed whatever direction he had been heading and swerved her way. The pub was more crowded than the Hog’s Head but not as packed as it seemed to become later in the day; Luna had only arrived the day before but she was already learning the flow of the crowds, if only because she tended to get pushed in their general direction when she wasn’t paying attention to where she was ambling. There were still a few empty tables throughout the warm, large building, especially near Luna; few of the spectators who had come to gawk seemed to know how to approach her and thus kept a leery distance instead of swarming her the way they did the rest of the D.A. members who had arrived so far, which suited Luna fine; she didn’t mind being alone.

She did enjoy the company of friends though, and greeted Ron with a bright smile. “Hello Ron Weasley,” she said. “Did you come for the celebrations too?”

She nodded at the wet spot on his front. “Is that part of the party plan?” she asked. “Should I spill something on myself too, so I match?”

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batsbogey‌:

                She shouldn’t be surprised at this point. Honestly, Luna was one of her favourite people in the world. One of her best friends really. Ginny couldn’t really count on anyone the way she could count on Luna, but she was always reliable to cause Ginny’s ginger brows to raise in curiousity on a regular occasion.

               Still, the minute the youngest Weasley spots the blonde basking in the cool winter sun as if lounging on a beach, she can’t help but smile. It was things like these that reminded Ginny that not all her time at Hogwarts, or Hogsmeade in fact, was a sour one. So the chaser makes her way over, crouching a bit in front of Luna, and gently taps one of the ornaments resting on her cheek. 

      “ I like these, they’re pretty. Did you make them yourself? ” She asks, wondering how Ginny, who wore jumpers and jeans on a regular basis, a robe overtop most of the time, could possibly be anything close to interesting next to someone like Luna? Still she points to the luggage and tilts her head. “ Need help with that, or are we going to rest for a bit? ” Honestly, she didn’t really care either way. Anytime she was forced to go anywhere, she did so dragging her feet. 

Ginny’s voice looming out of the warm darkness of her own eyelids made Luna’s face curl into a big grin. She tilted her head sideways until the baubles slid off her eyes and she could open them to beam up at Ginny. “Yes,” Luna answered immediately, not worried that Ginny might be lying about liking them in order to make fun; she never worried about that but she did know people did it sometimes, but never Ginny. Not that Luna had ever noticed, anyway.

“They’re corks from Butterbeer bottles,” she explained. “To keep the nargles away, since there’s likely to be so much mistletoe in Hogsmeade. People do keep insisting on decorating with mistletoe this time of year, despite the risk of nargle infestation.” Luna shook her head at such reckless folly, making the corks dangling from her hat dance and swing. “I’m glad you think it’s pretty,” she continued earnestly, “I wanted to still look festive since this is going to be a party. Or several parties, really, I suppose.” Luna shrugged.

"Would you like to rest?” she went on without segue. “I was just enjoying the sunlight. I like sunlight.” She’d spent a lot more time basking in it these past three years than she used to, as though making-up for those long months in the dark. “But I’m not tired. We can keep going if you like.” Luna clambered to her feet and rocked her suitcase up on its side so she could grab it by the handle again. “I suppose it would be bad form for us to be late,” she observed vaguely, “seeing as we’re guests of honor.”

“Guests of honor,” she repeated, rolling the words around on her tongue as she spoke them, “what an interesting phrase. Have you ever been a guest of honor at anything before?” Luna hadn’t, but it sounded lovely. She still had the invitation the Ministry had sent, tucked neatly in her bag between the pages of a book about the Crumple-Horned Snorkack where it wouldn’t get bent or dented.

A Bump in the Road

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luna and seamus, for anon ;)

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A Bump in the Road

It was very strange getting off the big red train at the Hogsmeade Station and not pulling on the black robes and pointed black hat of her school uniform; strange disembarking amidst a crowd of strangers carrying assorted luggage instead of school trunks and caged cats and owls. Luna straightened her own pointed hat -- wide-brimmed, bright green, and accented with eleven glittery pink balls dangling off strings almost to nose-height all around the brim -- and hopped off the train.

She took a deep breath of the cool, wet air (no wrackspurts, that was nice) and stepped away from the steaming engine and down the path toward the village. Her usual hop-skip pace was somewhat hampered by the heavy suitcase bouncing against one leg, and her idle staring at the trees and hedges soon had her falling behind the rest of the group of travelers and their brisk, eager strides. It wasn’t until she paused at a break in the treeline to stare at the peaks of castle towers revealed in the distance -- hardly aware of the ever-increasing noise and bustle of the village around the curve of the road -- that the weight of the luggage started to drag on her. Perhaps she should have re-cast the lightening charm that daddy had insisted she use before boarding the train...

Rather than pulling her wand from its usual place behind her ear, Luna laid the suitcase down sideways and sat on it, legs stretched out straight in front of her, and leaned back on her wrists with her face turned up into the sun. Several of the pink baubles swung down to rest on her cheeks and eyelids, which was an interesting but not unpleasant sensation, and she smiled up toward the sky.

It didn’t occur to Luna that she was sitting in the middle of what was, for the moment, rather a busy little road as the disembarking passengers all made their way from train to village.

[loonyloopylovegood]

NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR. Study Hall (Study Partners)

Sent by @loonyloopylovegood

Lavender wanted to know everything there was to know about the art of Divination. As it turned out, Divination wasn’t only in that specific class. When she learned about Arithmancy during her third year and discovered what it truly was all about (really, Hogwarts needs a better system to tell students about what classes they have to offer!), Lavender was devastated that she hadn’t taken it. McGonagall agreed to let Lavender rearrange her schedule for the next year, so long as she did tutoring sessions with a third year to learn the introduction lessons that she’d missed the year prior. 

That student was Loony Lovegood. Honestly! Lavender knew about this girl because she knew all the gossip and the word about Luna was that she was crazy and weird and just such a spazz. And it was the truth! Lavender dreaded the weekly sessions with the odd Ravenclaw and constantly complained to Parvati about it. Seriously, your sister is in her house! I’d be afraid if I were you, I don’t know what she’s capable of. I heard she experiments on animals in the common room. What a basketcase!

She hated it… until she started to listen. Luna had things to say - very important things! And maybe it took an entire year for Lavender to be able to realize that under the dreamy tone and odd way of speaking, Luna knew what she was talking about. 

Sure, that didn’t mean Lavender suddenly came to her defense when she saw a few Ravenclaw boys steal her backpack and play keep-away. But it did mean she stopped complaining about her. And, when the Carrows took over and the group of rebellious teens tried to take back the school, Lavender trusted Luna before either Neville or Ginny. Eventually, she believed in all of them. But the first person she heard - the first person who convinced her that sneaking out to write Still Recruiting on the walls was good for the school - was Loony Lovegood.

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Mod Application Example for Luna Lovegood:

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LUNA LOVEGOOD ✼ 1992-1999 ✼ HALF-BLOOD

People have always found Luna odd, for some reason – she figured that out quickly after arriving at Hogwarts, although she never could quite grasp the why. Things have changed since then, primarily in the fact that she has friends (and that is wonderful), but one thing that doesn’t change: people still think Luna’s odd. Even – maybe sometimes especially – her friends. But what’s the good of being sad all the time? Yes, bad things happen, sometimes really quite terrible things, and they hurt quite a lot at the time – but the bad things stop, and life goes on, and there are so many wonderful things in the world that it seems a waste to be sad instead of enjoying them. Luna learned that before she ever went to school, after her mother died.

That has turned out to be one of the most important lessons of her life, and one that she’s tried to share with her friends. Harry listened, but she isn’t sure about some of the others. People are often reluctant to listen to Luna. Probably because they think she’s strange, and somehow get the idea that being strange means she can’t also be right. It doesn’t bother Luna not to be believed – she’s used to it – but she does wish her friends would listen now, since it would probably do them good. But people have to learn things in their own time, whether the lesson is about how to process grief or the best way to dispel wrackspurts. And healing takes time, regardless. Daddy is still recovering from his stay in Azkaban and Luna is a little leery about leaving him alone so long, but he was adamant she go – and it will be so nice to see all her friends together again.

CHARACTER TIES: 

Percy Weasley he’s the mouthpiece for the Ministry now, which means that nothing he says can be true of course, because the Ministry is mired in conspiracy, but Luna likes listening to him anyway. He has such a funny way of talking, all brisk and bloviating. It’s delightful! Luna could listen to him prattle on for hours…and sometimes does, when she’s looking for an excuse to snoop around for the things the Ministry is concealing from the general public. …Percy is maybe less content with having a Lovegood in his office but she hasn’t been kicked out yet.

SUGGESTED FCS: Dakota Fanning

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Send a 👫and I’ll write four headcanons I have about our muse’s relationship

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Effects Of The War: Lumos

It would make sense if Luna were afraid of the dark, after being locked-up in the Malfoy’s cellar for so many months -- but she isn’t. The dark doesn’t bother Luna any more now than it ever did. In fact, she might even feel better about being in the dark now -- not that darkness ever frightened her before, but now it’s more than just the absence of light. Now darkness is comfortable. Darkness is safe. When they were left in the dark, it meant they were left alone. It was when the lights came into the room that the bad things happened...

Light startles Luna now -- sudden light, whether sharply bright against dimness or blazing out without warning. Soft light, slow light, steady light that pours into a room like candlewax and leaves like melting ice; those are all fine. Luna still enjoys basking in sunlight, curling up next to a fire, reading by the light of a big, fat, dripping candle...but light that flares to life abruptly, or that jumps around a corner out of nowhere? That sort of light makes her start, tense up, catch her breath...makes her anxious.

It’s not something Luna talks about. It’s not something Luna thinks about a great deal. When it happens, it happens -- and she jumps. Then it stops happening, and her heartbeat goes back to normal and her lungs unclench and everything is fine again. So why worry?