Luna Lovegood

Dear Lily and Evie,  this post may seem a bit silly at first, but in true "your mother" fashion I have a point, and its a good one.

I have spent the past 4 months immersed in the Harry Potter world.  It has been a blast and such a fun and epic story.  The farther I got into the story, there was one character who just always stood out to me.  That was Luna Lovegood.  She wasn't the star, or one of the epic 3.  She had relatively few scenes all things considered, she was a supporting role.  And yet, I LOVED HER.  I loved her so much that when I had the chance to pick ANY character's wand to own it was hers I wanted.  I could have had Harry Potter's or Hermiones, shoot, I could have owned the Elder Wand, but I wanted Lunas.

Here's why.....

When Luna is introduced she is described much like this picture below. She was eccentric, strange, wore earrings and glasses that were to big for her face.  Her clothes usually had flowers on them and they were all sorts of mismatched.  She was described by many students as Loony Lovegood.  Nobody actually knew her....they just assumed.....and judged.  But Harry chooses to be kind to her and discovers that under all of that eccentricity lies a special being who is simply unfettered by social norms.  She is gentle and kind, aware that she is considered odd, yet completely comfortable in her own skin.

In one of the later books we are introduced to a magical creature called a Thestral. It's described as a type of reptilian horse.  Interesting thing about these creatures is that only people who have witnessed death can actually see them.  To all others they appear invisible.  Harry sees them because he witnessed his mother dying.  None of his immediate friends can see them.....they think he is crazy, but not Luna.  Luna loves the Thestrals, and sees them beautifully clearly because she, like Harry, witnessed her own mother's death.  Their exchange in this scene is so perfectly telling:

Harry asks Luna, "What are they?" and she replies, 

"They are called Thestrals. They're quite gentle, really, 

but people avoid them because they are a bit........different."

Like her, people judge before knowing and assume before caring.  Her beauty radiates through this scene and her simple authentic understanding is something I want you to understand.

The next scene that stands out to me is this one below.  Harry has just witnessed another death of a very important person in his life.  At this point in the story he is being watched, judged, called a liar, and berrated for things he has done.  No one has given him comfort, no one has offered him humanity.  He happens upon Luna as she is walking through the quiet corridors of Hogwarts searching for her things that people have taken and hidden from her.  Here she is being bullied and yet, with a smile on her face she is simply looking around knowing that your stuff comes back in the most unexpected ways.  Harry interrupts her and without hesitation she reaches out to him, grabs his hand and simply tells him, "Harry I'm sorry for your loss, that must have been very hard for you." Her kindness is overwhelming for Harry.  She resumes her search with Harry next to her.  Never once was she deterred by mean people.  She remained true to herself and always kind. 

Luna was a character we all should strive to be a little more like.  She saw the beauty in the mundane.  She saw the hero in the underdog.  She helped Harry solve more than one problem and treated even the lowliest of characters with respect.  She was humble and even amidst war, fear and danger remained ever kind and gentle. Her perspective on the world is what made her great and we could learn a lot from her story.

I love you

Mom