‘Why do you look so sad?’, a voice beside her asked kindly.
She looked up from the small parchment that her owl has just delivered and noticed that the Great Hall, which moments ago had been buzzing with excited students making plans for the upcoming holidays, was now empty apart from the blonde girl who had moved into the seat beside her.
‘Oh, it is nothing’, she managed to say quietly.
Luna raised an eyebrow at this reply, but said nothing and just looked kindly at her.
After a while, Eloise spoke again.
‘My parents have just told me that I have to stay here for the Christmas holidays. They have to visit an elderly aunt over in Romania and they cannot take me with them.’
‘Is that all?’, Luna said laughing.
‘What do you mean, is that all? I have to stay here on my own. Do you not get that?’.
‘No, it just means you cannot go with them. Nothing is stopping you from coming home with me for the holidays’, Luna laughed, as she hopped down from the seat.
‘That is, if you would like to.’, she shouted over her shoulder, as she skipped away, leaving Eloise staring after her open mouthed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Luna's bedroom was like a breath of fresh air. Every piece of furniture and decoration reflected Luna's personality and Eloise was looking around with great interest. The curtains, bedspread and other soft furnishings were various shades of primrose yellow with subtle floral patterns in different styles and colours, some depicting daisies, others rosebuds, lavender or sunflowers. On the table beside the bed was a lovely, framed photograph of Luna hugging a woman, presumably her mother, Eloise guessed. The frame itself was an example of incredible craftmanship and she wondered if this was perhaps made by Luna’s dad. The choice of decoration that surprised her most were the hand-painted faces on the ceiling with the word ‘friend’ repeated over and over to form a golden chain, linking the pictures together. She recognised Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ginny and Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom. Eloise had been unaware that Luna was close friends with these fellow Hogwarts students.
‘Those are lovely’, she said, ‘Did you paint them yourself?’
Luna nodded.
‘You are incredibly talented,’ Eloise said sincerely.
‘Thank you,’ Luna smiled.
The girls had arrived at the Lovegood home by portkey and Eloise had spent the past hour looking around in amazement at the unique architecture of the Lovegood house and its unusual interior decorating. Luna’s Dad had been very welcoming, albeit a bit distracted, but Luna said that happened a lot when he was working on something.
After she had settled Eloise in a small bedroom at the very top of the tower-like home, Luna suggested a walk to the nearby lake.
They strolled through the Lovegood garden, which contained a wide range of unusual trees and plants. Luna was pointing out species Eloise had never heard of, as they were making their way towards a small gate that gave access to a path which led down to the lake.
‘That is a Dirigible Plum, one of my mum’s favourite plants’, she said, pointing at a shrub with dark spiky leaves. ‘In the summer it has the most beautiful purple fruits, the size of Remembralls. The fruits grow upside-down, you know. Daddy says that they can help people accept the extraordinary.’
The air was nice and crisp and every time Luna spoke, small clouds escaped from her lips.
Eloise enjoyed watching the tiny wispy puffs dissolving into nothing, as Luna prattled on about trees and plants.
A tiny layer of frost covered the ground.
When they reached the frozen lake, Luna stopped and with a flick of her wand, she removed all debris from the icy surface.
‘Would you like to skate?’, Luna asked, handing Eloise a pair of skates.
‘They were my mother’s’, she added.
‘Here, let me help you’, she said, as she magically attached the skates to Eloise’s boots.
With a tap of her wand, she attached another pair to her own shoes.
Luna skated away like a fairy princess, elegant and light, twirling around as if she had been doing this all her life, which perhaps she had.
Eloise gingerly stepped onto the ice, desperately trying to keep her balance.
She had never skated before and was afraid that she would fall flat on her face and make a fool of herself.
Within seconds, two gentle but strong hands grabbed her and an arm slipped around her waist to steady her. A smiling Luna gently guided her across the ice.
At first Eloise’s skating was quite hesitant and unsteady, but she soon got the hang of it and started to enjoy the gliding motion in unison with Luna. The pair skated side by side for a long time, before Luna let go of her.
‘Try it by yourself now’, she said.
Eloise did and was amazed that she could skate upright without wobbling.
While she was delighted with this achievement, she did miss the steadying arm around her waist and the feeling of comradery.
Luna was skating backwards looking at Eloise’s progress and then started twirling on the spot, before skating back to Eloise, her face flushed with excitement.
‘OK, one more lap around the lake, before we go back to make some dinner,’ she said, sliding her arm around Eloise’s waist again.
The girls skated around amicably, until it was time to head back to the house.
With a quick tap of her wand, Luna released the skates from their shoes.
Eloise had to admit that this had been the best fun she had experienced in a long time.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
On Christmas Eve, Eloise accompanied Luna and her dad as they apparated to their nearest wizard neighbours on the other side of the, now snow covered, hill.
A very jolly Molly Weasley, looking festive in a burgundy velvet dress with a cream lace collar, met them at the front door and enveloped each of her guests in a bear hug, including a very shy Eloise.
‘You are very welcome, dear,’ Mrs Weasley said, releasing her from the hug and shooing them all into the house. ‘You can call me Molly, everyone else does.’
The house was decorated from top to bottom in Christmas garlands. Holly and ivy was draped above the windows and over the picture frames. Strings of cinnamon sticks and dried orange slices hung from the ceiling, giving off a lovely scent. A big Christmas tree stood in the corner of the large cosy kitchen, the eclectic mix of decorations evidencing a long and rich history of family traditions.
The kitchen was a noisy hive of activity. There were people everywhere, most of them sporting red hair. The males were all wearing Christmas jumpers with a big initial on the front. In her mind, Eloise started sorting the letters in alphabetical order, which was one of her many nervous habits. The initials appeared to be following the ages of the wearer. The man shaking hands with Mr Lovegood, who was wearing a jumper with the letter A, had to be Mr Weasley. Then there were two red-heads, she had never seen before, but who clearly had to be siblings, sporting jumpers with the letters B and C. The other boys, she recognised from school as Percy, Fred, George, Harry, wearing a similar jumper as the rest of the Weasley boys with the initial H, and his side-kick Ron. She idly wondered why Percy, who was clearly older than Fred and George, did not have a name starting with D or E. Maybe he was called Edward Percival, or something, and went by his second name for some reason. She also recognised Ginny, who was looking lovely in a simple tartan, V-neck dress in shades of green and blue, that complemented her hair. Was that Professor Lupin, wearing the same suit he always wore in Hogwarts, talking to Harry and Ron?
Molly, started to make introductions.
As she had suspected, the two unfamiliar red-haired young men were another pair of Weasley brothers named, Bill, who worked for Gringotts, and Charlie, who was home from Romania, where he worked with dragons. When he heard that Eloise’s parents were over there visiting an aunt, he chatted with her for a few minutes about what a lovely country Romania was.
When Molly was about to introduce Professor Lupin, Eloise interjected by saying ‘Hello Professor, nice to see you again.’
‘Call me Remus, I am no longer your professor,’ he said pleasantly, shaking her hand.
Eloise was not sure she would be able to do that, and secretly hoped that no other professors had made the guestlist.
‘Don’t worry, dear, Professor Dumbledore is unlikely to make an appearance.’, Molly whispered and before Eloise could say anything, she had disappeared among her guests.
Eloise wondered if Molly was a legilimens.
‘I love your dress’, Ginny said.
She had come over to greet Luna and Eloise, delighted to have some female company in this virtually all male gathering.
‘Thanks, I designed it myself,’ Eloise replied, blushing slightly.
She was wearing a dark green, long sleeved, velvet dress with white faux-fur trim around the neck, wrist and base of the skirt. The dress was short at the front and long at the back, with a black tule tutu-like underskirt peeking out from the shorter bit at the front. The green, red and black tartan tights and the black, lace-up, fur trimmed boots, completed the ensemble.
‘Give us a twirl,’ Ginny stood back to admire the outfit.
‘I dabble a bit in designing myself,’ she confided.
‘Maybe we can compare notes, some time.’
‘I would like that,’ Eloise gushed, quite unprepared for all this outpouring of pleasantry.
‘You look lovely too, by the way.’
Eloise admired Ginny’s outfit. While completely different from her own, it was well designed and suited the red haired girl.
This was probably the first time, Eloise had seen Ginny wear anything other than her school robes or Quidditch gear.
The fitted bodice accentuated her slim body beautifully and opened out into a full skirt with black leather accents along the pockets. She wore a thin black leather belt and a pair of matching black slingback heels.
‘We could have a fashion show’, Luna joined in the conversation.
Her gossamer, whisper-weight tulle dress with puffed sleeves seemed to be back-lit by fireflies and was decorated with little silver cherubs and red baubles.
Tiny red baubles also dangled from her ears and she wore a pair of ruby kitten heeled shoes. She looked like a Christmas angel who was missing her wings and would not have looked out of place on top of the Christmas tree.
‘I can just imagine that, strutting our stuff on the tables in the Great Hall’, Ginny said and the three girls started giggling.
The rest of the evening passed as if in a dream. Food was passed to her as if it was the most natural thing in the world that she was there and the twins poured her drinks as if they had known her all her life. She was included in the conversations and was let in on the jokes, rather than being the butt of them and she was thoroughly enjoying herself.
She was fascinated by the easy banter that went on between the Weasley twins and the rest of the young ones around the table.
‘How about it Loooooney, give us a Tune?’, Fred joked at one stage, which, judging by Luna’s easy giggle and the twins high-fiving each other, was not the first time they had made that pun.
‘Cut it out you two, that joke is getting really old. I will have a word with Sirius about corrupting you two with his obsession with those muggle cartoons,’ Molly Weasley said, looking pointedly at Remus, who just shrugged his shoulders and kept on eating.
The food was delicious. There was roast turkey with chestnut stuffing, glazed ham, mashed as well as baked and roast potatoes, creamed corn, brussels sprouts with bacon and chestnuts, roasted carrots in thyme honey and butter, homemade cranberry sauce, as well as poached pears with cinnamon. For dessert there was trifle, rhubarb tart, Christmas pudding and more mince pies with whipped cream and custard than she could manage.
After dinner Mr Lovegood picked up the bagpipes and started to play an Irish dance tune. Luna got up to dance, her arms moving in intricate patterns above her head, as she twirled around. It reminded Eloise of the elegant twirling she had witnessed on the ice.
Soon Molly and Arthur Weasley joined in and before long there were lots of people dancing.
Ginny got her guitar and joined Xenophilius and Remus, who had picked up a pair of spoons and had joined the music session.
‘Anything to stop Mum from putting on Celestina Warbeck’, Ginny whispered to Eloise in passing, as she took a seat next to Luna’s dad.
Not for the first time that evening, Eloise wondered if the Weasley’s could read her mind, but before she had a chance to ponder this further, Fred dragged her to the dance floor in a wild polka. The room seemed bigger somehow than before, she thought, as more odd pairs started to dance.
‘No, you are not imagining it,’ George said, cutting in and whirling her around the floor, ‘Mum got fed up with things breaking when we all got a bit rowdy at parties, so she has enchanted this room to expand when the crowd gets a bit wild. And, No, we can’t read minds, but your face is like an open book. Not exactly a poker face,’ he remarked, as he playfully poked her face. She turned the involuntary ‘Hey..’ into a laugh, quite pleased to be treated as one of the gang.
Later, when she was catching her breath between dances, she turned to Fred, as he handed her a glass of cranberry spritzer.
‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Sure,’ Fred said, trying to look as earnest as one can after copious amounts of butterbeer and watered down firewhisky.
‘Why are you all being so nice to me?’
Fred looked at her in surprise.
‘First of all, why would we not be nice. Secondly, it is Christmas. But most of all, you have been given the Luna Lovegood Seal of Approval.’
‘The what?’, she said, nearly choking on her drink.
‘The Luna Lovegood Seal of Approval. You may think that Luna is always nice to everyone, which of course she is, but if she singles someone out, that means she sees something special in that person.’
‘Oh,’ Eloise uttered, blushing profusely.
‘So you all have the Luna Seal of Approval then also,’ she stated.
‘Nah,’ Fred waved away that notion with a flick of his hand, ‘We just happen to be the neighbour kids.’ And with that he jumped up and pulled Eloise into another wild polka around the crowded room.
That night, she waltzed with Luna, danced several polka’s with the twins, each one wilder than the next, attempted an awkward quickstep with Harry that had them both in stitches laughing, and, to everyone’s surprise, performed a quite passable Charleston with Remus, who she kept referring to as Professor, despite his remonstrations.
Before she knew it, it was time to leave.
Mr Lovegood was the first to apparate home, having made some excuse about having to finish some last minute wrapping.
‘Harry, can I borrow your Nimbus?’, Luna gayly shouted across the crowded room, ‘It is a nice night for flying and I want to show Eloise some of the sights on the way home.’
‘Sure, it is standing beside the backdoor. I will accio it in the morning, if I need it.’
Uncontrolled laughter erupted from the Weasley-clan.
Eloise looked from one to the other, not really sure what the joke was.
‘Trying to show off your other spell, Harry?’, Fred said teasingly.
‘We will have to call you two-spell Harry from now on,’ George chimed in.
‘Cut it out you two, I am sure Harry knows more than two spells’, Mrs Weasley interjected, which resulted in another round of hysterical laughter.
‘Speaking of which, I think this calls for Celestina Warbeck's ‘Accio Christmas’, don’t you agree?’ Molly said.
That silenced the twins and they groaned in unison.
‘Thanks, Harry!’, Luna shouted as she waved over her shoulder, pulling Eloise with her to the back door.
‘Thanks indeed, Harry’, Fred and George muttered under their breaths, not looking forward to having to listen to their mother’s favourite Christmas music.
The girls sat side-saddle on Harry’s broom.
‘Hold on tight’, Luna instructed, as they took off into the moon-lit sky.
The pale crescent illuminated the snow covered fields and the world looked magical from up high.
Eloise enjoyed the view. Her arms wrapped tightly around Luna’s waist, as they flew over the fields, skirting the little village of Ottery St Catchpole and following the river down to the lake where they had ice-skated not long ago and on to the Lovegood home.
‘I did not know you could fly so well,’ Eloise gasped, ‘I bet you could give Ginny a run for her money.’
‘Just because I don’t play Quidditch, does not mean I don’t know how to fly,’ Luna laughed, ‘and yes, I probably could knock Ginny down a peg or two, if I wanted to.’
Eloise looked at her with renewed respect and interest.
‘You amaze me every day, Luna’, she said, as Luna expertly landed the broom in front of the house. ‘Thanks for inviting me to spend the holidays with you.’
‘Thank you for keeping me company. It can get quite lonely up here with just Dad, you know.’
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Later that night, alone in the small attic room, Eloise reflected on the past few days, which had been absolutely wonderful. This was turning into the best Christmas ever.
She did not really know how she could thank Luna for all her kindness.
Because the trip had been completely last minute, Eloise never got the chance to buy her a Christmas present.
Maybe she could draw something.
Eloise took out some parchment and started to draw. Initially the lines were quite hesitant, as it had been a while since she had done any drawing at all.
Slowly an image began to take shape, a serene looking creature dancing on ice. The blonde hair stood out against the dark evergreen trees in the background. Eloise drew some rabbits and a deer at the edge of the lake. They appeared to be watching the skating girl. Some robins appeared on the parchment, as if by magic, sitting on a snow covered holly bush on the other side of the lake. Eloise drew some lake grass at the front of the picture, to enhance the perspective. The dark green blades sticking up majestically, the tips covered in frost. The picture was taking shape gradually, and the girl in the middle of the lake looked beautiful and happy, but something was missing. After a while Eloise drew a right hand, lightly placed on the right shoulder of the skater, attached to an arm that was draped around her back. Then a head followed, leaning on the other shoulder and a left hand and arm across the front of her body ending in the skater’s right hand. When she was finished, the drawing pictured Luna and Eloise skating in unison. Their happy faces lit up the page. It was perfect. Maybe a bit too perfect?
Eloise wondered whether she should draw her acne in the picture, or leave this more flattering portrayal of herself.
She remembered Luna’s words, spoken many moons ago, when asked how she could be so upbeat when people were so mean to her, ‘If you love yourself and accept who you are, others will do too…eventually.’
Eloise picked up her pencil and altered the drawing to reflect a more accurate image of herself, acne and all.
She was sure that this was what Luna would have wanted her to do.
Satisfied with the drawing, she climbed into bed and soon drifted off to sleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The next morning, Eloise came down to the most amazing smell of cinnamon toast and hot chocolate. The table was set with an embroidered tablecloth, featuring snowy Christmas scenes, many of which Eloise recognised from her moonlit flight the previous night and her walks with Luna over the past few days. She assumed this was the handiwork of Luna’s mother. There were baskets of freshly baked banana muffins, scones and raisin buns, jars of clover honey, and bowls with butter, whipped cream and, what looked like, homemade plum jam. Sprigs of holly were placed decoratively between the breakfast spread and a napkin, skilfully folded in the shape of an angel, sat on each plate.
‘This looks absolutely amazing, Luna,’ Eloise said, taking in the wonderful display,
‘You must have gotten up ages ago.’
‘Dad and I always make an effort on Christmas day, the way my mum used to do.
He does all the baking and I take care of the decorating and make the hot chocolate’, Luna said, handing her a steaming mug of the rich brew.
‘Merry Christmas’
Not sure what to do, Eloise, handed Luna the rolled up parchment she was holding.
‘Merry Christmas, Luna, I did not have time to buy you a Christmas gift, but I wanted to give you something to thank you for all your kindness and for making this the best Christmas ever.’
She gave Luna a quick peck on the cheek, blushing slightly.
As Luna unrolled the parchment, Eloise took a sip of the delicious chocolate drink.
Luna stared at the drawing for a long time, before turning to Eloise with tears in her eyes.
‘That is the most beautiful present you could have given me, she said softly and hugged Eloise tightly, before dragging the bewildered girl upstairs, still holding her mug of hot chocolate.
When they arrived in Luna’s room, Luna unrolled the parchment again and with a flick of her wand sent it flying up to the ceiling until it settled in the middle of the painted faces. Luna performed a sticking spell and then waved her wand again in slow circular motions. The golden chain spelling ‘friend ~ friend ~ friend’ continued from the original paintings around the new drawing on the ceiling.
Luna’s hand found Eloise’s and the two girls looked at the drawing a while longer.
‘I think I could eat now’, Luna said, breaking the silence, and the two girls made their way downstairs.
Mr Lovegood joined them for breakfast, wishing both girls a Happy Christmas.
The food was amazing and Eloise complimented Mr Lovegood, call me Xenophilius, on his fabulous baking. She also praised the jam, which, as she had suspected, was made of Dirigible plum, and tasted heavenly.
After breakfast they made their way to the living room to open Christmas presents. Xenophilius had crafted a beautiful wooden sledge for his daughter, the intricately carved decorations depicting a series of creatures and plants Eloise had never seen before.
Luna was delighted with this beautiful gift and threw her arms around her dad in thanks, nearly knocking him off his seat.
‘Careful with your old dad, my little moonbeam,’ he laughed, returning his daughter’s hug.
When Luna let go of him, he picked up a small parcel from under the tree.
‘Um,’ he said hesitantly, ‘I also made you something small, Eloise.’
Eloise didn’t know what to say and shyly opened the parcel, which revealed a tiny, exquisitely carved, fox.
‘It is a spirit animal’, Mr Lovegood explained.
‘A fox can guide you during challenging times or unpredictable times of change. I thought it might be a comfort to you.’
‘I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much,’ Eloise stammered, extremely moved that Luna’s dad had made her something so unique and thoughtful.
Luna’s present for her father was a handknitted scarf in myriad shades of yellow, orange and red, giving the impression that rays of sunshine were emanating from it.
It must have taken her ages to knit such an intricate pattern, Eloise mused, impressed by Luna’s incredible talents for the umptieth time since she arrived here.
Finally, there was only one present left under the tree.
Luna handed it to Eloise with a radiant smile.
‘Merry Christmas.’
When she undid the beautiful wrapping, Eloise was shocked to find a pair of skates, and not just any pair of skates.
‘But, these are your Mum’s’, she gasped, looking at Luna, astonished.
‘She would have liked you to have them,’ Luna smiled.
Overcome with emotion, Eloise embraced her.
‘Thank you, Luna, you are the best friend anyone could wish for. Happy Christmas.’
THE END