Loony Loony Lovegood
They had been back at Hogwarts for about a week when Anne noticed that there was something unusual with Luna. She had been keeping to herself and being even more quiet than usual. It was when Luna came down to breakfast with no shoes when she had had enough!
“Luna?” asked Anne as Luna sat down in the Great Hall. “Where are your shoes?”
“Hmm?” she asked tucking into toast. “Oh! My shoes, I think the nargles stole them!”
“Luna, the nargles don’t exist!” said Mandy
“Oh yes they do!” replied Luna in a voice less dreamy than usual, “just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean they’re not there!”
“Back to the point Luna where are your shoes?” asked Irwin.
“And also when did you last do your hair?” added Anne when she saw how tangled Luna's hair was.
“The nargles” she explained simply.
“What?” asked Anne
“The nargles have been taking my things since I arrived! This school is infested with them!” said Luna dreamily.
“Um Luna, apart from your shoes and your hairbrush is there anything the ‘nargles’ have taken?” asked Irwin giving Anne a meaningful look.
“Just my schoolbooks, my dream diary, and a charm bracelet.”
“Right.”
“Well I’d best be getting going I’ve got potions now,” said Luna back to her dreamy herself as she skipped out of the hall.
“What the hell was that about?” asked Terry.
“Somebodies taking Luna's things!” said Lisa.
“And I don’t think it’s the nargles!” said Irwin through gritted teeth.
It was a good that it was Monday because the Ravenclaws had double charms last thing on Monday so they had an opportunity to talk to Professor Flitwick. They waited patiently for the Gryffindors to leave at the end of the lesson.
Flitwick looked up from his desk when the lesson ended and found that the nine Ravenclaws were still resolutely sitting in their seats.
“Can I help you all with something?” asked Flitwick curiously.
Anne was staring at her shoes and playing with her plaits as she always did when she was nervous.
“Um well, sir...” started Anthony.
“Look I can tell there’s a problem,” he said smiling around at his students “and I would like to help if I can.”
“It's about Luna sir…” muttered Anne.
“Ah, yes Miss Lovegood.” Flitwick sighed.
“We think her roommates are bullying her,” explained Lisa.
Flitwick nodded at them as permission to continue.
“Things have been going missing from her room. Her books, her hairbrush, her charm bracelet, and today she came down to breakfast without any shoes,” said Irwin scowling.
“Ah yes, I was wondering why Miss Lovegood had no shoes at lunch today, I was going to have a word with her and check she was alright but then one of my students needed some help with an assignment.”
The young Ravenclaws stared at their mentor wondering what to do.
“Luna is an unusual girl,” Flitwick explained. “Her year group are not as…. Accepting of the diverse and unusual as your own is.”
Lisa and Mandy blushed. Back in their first week of knowing Anne they had said some horrible things about Anne. But this was before they got to know her properly.
“I have tried to talk to them about accepting Luna for who she is but clearly it didn’t work,” said Flitwick sadly.
“So Luna doesn’t have any friends in her year?” asked Anne anxiously.
Flitwick shook his head.
“Don’t worry Anne,” said Irwin putting an arm around her shoulder. “Lunas got friends, she’s got us!”
“Mr. Scamander is right! Luna has very good friends if you lot worry about her this much!”
“There’s one more thing, sir,” began Anthony, “what about all of Luna’s things?”
“That’s a good point! Why don’t we make a list and then we can search Ravenclaw Tower for Luna’s missing possessions?” suggested Persephone.
“That sounds like an excellent idea Miss Galentos,” trilled Professor Flitwick.
“Come on let's go find Luna,” said Terry.
“Yeah I’m hungry!” said Michael.
“Oh, that’s a good point!”
“For Merlin’s sake” shouted Mandy as they went into the Great Hall “you two are like a pair of pigs!”
“Luna!” exclaimed Padma as they went over to the dinner table.
“Oh hello!” replied Luna dreamily as they all sat down
“I don’t know why you all bother!” said a dark-haired boy as they sat down.
“Bother with what?” asked Michael.
“With Loony,” said a girl sitting next to him.
“Who?” asked Terry through gritted teeth.
“Loony, you know, Loony Loony Lovegood” answered the dark-haired boy.
Luna burst into tears and ran away from the table.
“Luna wait!” called Anne who followed Luna out the hall closely pursued by Padma, Persephone, and Lisa.
“You know what?” said Irwin turning towards the first years. “You lot are horrible! All she wanted when she came to Hogwarts was to make friends!”
“But all you lot do is steal her stuff and call her crazy!” continued Anthony.
The first years were staring at them in shock.
“She’s not crazy! She’s just different!” yelled Michael
“If I were you lot I would give Luna her stuff back and leave her alone!” shouted Terry.
“And if you don’t want to be friends with her then fine! She doesn’t need you!” finished Mandy.
The Ravenclaw first years were confused. Why were the second years making such a big deal over someone so crazy as Luna?
“May I be of assistance?” asked Professor Flitwick who had heard the whole thing from the staff table.
“No sir,” said Irwin as they all got up, “we were just leaving.”
“Ah good!” said Flitwick smiling, “I presume Miss Lovegood will be finding the things that have gone missing.”
The first years nodded, not wanting to make the second years mad again.
They had made it out of the Great Hall when they realized that none of them had actually eaten! So, Anthony, Irwin, Michael, Terry, and Mandy all went down to the kitchen to get enough food for everyone.
Once they got back to the Common Room laden down with bags of food the other girls had managed to find Luna and were trying to calm her down.
“Don’t worry Luna you don’t need them,” muttered Anne.
“Yeah they’re a bunch of losers!” added Lisa.
“We like you, you can be friends with us!” said Padma smiling warmly.
“And if that lot are horrible to you again” groaned Mandy dropping heavy bags of food.
“We’ll hex them!” finished Michael and Terry also dropping their bags of food.
“Thank you,” sobbed Luna as Persephone passed her a handkerchief “thank you all,” she said giving them a very watery smile.
“Come on you lot!’ said Anthony who had been unpacking the bags with Irwin, “let’s eat!”
The elves had provided a feast for the group of friends; crisps, roast chicken, sausages, ham sandwiches, chips, chicken nuggets, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, raspberries, grapes, apples, and a couple of dozen bottles of ice-cold butter beer.
“Luna?” asked Padma when Luna had finished eating, “would you like me to brush your hair?”
Luna nodded eagerly.
Luna had very long thick hair and her hairbrush had gone missing a week ago. The girls sat for an hour gently brushing all the tangles out of Luna's hair taking it in turns. When Luna's hair was detangled, then Lisa brushed Luna's hair into two long plaits.
The first years had been staring at the group since they came back from dinner, but they just ignored them.
When everyone went up to bed that night, Luna came charging into their room.
“Anne! Lisa! Padma! Persephone! Mandy!” she cried.
“What is it?” asked Mandy brushing her hair. Anne came wandering in halfway through brushing her teeth.
“The nargles have returned all my belongings!” Luna beamed before skipping of to bed.
“Well even if they don’t want to be friends with her” Mandy muttered once Luna had left, “at least Luna won’t be running around barefoot anymore!”