Luna "Don't Need to Love you Good"

Miss Luna is the realest bitch in the magical realm. She walks to the beat of her own drum. She remained positive, kind, and hopeful despite the world coming to an end and it treating her like crap. She survived the 2nd Wizarding War. She did not have to change who she was, what she did, or where her loyalties lie. She deserves the world and all she receives is having a child named after her, marrying the grandson of Newt Scamander, and a horrible clean up job for “lore.” Better than Hagrid but not great.

She is a Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw house values intelligence, curiosity, and wit. However, that is where the bullying starts. She is a talented witch, able to conjure a Patronus at the same age as Harry did. Some of her beliefs and knowledge are not taught at Hogwarts. She believes in Nargles, Crumple-Horned Snorkack, wrackspurts and more. Her father Xenophilius has The Quibbler, a magazine which claims the spread the truth but also holds conspiracies. They held the same beliefs and enjoyed theorizing. While they are the only family each other has, they are close, especially after the death of her mother.

In the canon, Luna is a girl no one believes and treats as an embarrassment. While she doesn’t become physically hurt, she experiences isolation and inconvenience. Due to this treatment, especially with the unpunished perpetrators, I believe that she is a pureblood. They knew that she wouldn’t snitch since pureblood supremacy was baked into the culture. They wanted to get her to assimilate to the culture but she never budged. Despite all of that she slowly gained friends, primarily from Gryffindor.

Ginny Weasley was the only person her age that was her friend. She was the link that connected the Golden Trio and more. Ginny still did tease her, but she did so in a friendlier manner. Perhaps their friendship was built on having eccentric fathers? Or they held each other in comfort after being subjected to rumors and mistreatment? Neville, another pureblood who was mistreated based on not meeting the cultural standards, showed Luna respect. I wished they ended up together. It made sense. All three eventually came into their own and outgrew their reputations, past, and obstacles.

The Golden Trio did not treat Luna well until she checked them. She had to prove herself useful or “not a threat” to them despite never being a blip in the mess they chased, got themselves into or caused. She even showed good sportsmanship by cheering for Gryffindor’s Quidditch team. Her willingness to join Dumbledore’s Army, believe in VoldyV’s return, and have her dad publish the truth in The Quibbler were very brave and dangerous acts. In a world where adults believe that a child was their savior and simultaneously greatest threat, they sure did not want him to do anything, positive or negative. Without Luna, Harry would not have found the diadem, helped turn the tide with Magical World's Press, and had a lesser powerful and willing teen army at Hogwarts. She may have not been the Jesus bolt Hermione was, she is just as important.

Luna was the emotional support Harry needed and received the most from. McGonagall, Dumbledore, Molly, and other adults showed him compassion, but they did not pass information that may have deterred Harry from acting rashly. He coped with the death of Cedric when she explained the thestrals when he first began to see them. Dumbledore trusted Luna and Harry’s friendship by having her deliver a note on his behalf. She also trusted Harry whenever he believed Sirius was in danger and left with everyone. She could guide him in the right direction or talk him down unlike his BFFs.

If there was an equivalent to the opposing team for Luna, it would be Draco. They compare in terms of influence such as Luna’s influence on her father strengthened Harry and the Order while Lucius “Bundles” Malfoy paid for and maintained the Death Eaters and VoldyV. “My father will hear about this,” was Draco' signature phrase. Draco supplied and fixed multiple problems for the Slytherin Quidditch team and House. Lucius manipulated the Ministry while Xenophilius used the Quibbler to get the truth out. Their key difference was Luna was a willing participant for the Order while Draco was paying for his father's failures becoming a Death Eater.

The author did not do justice to this character, but she is a favorite among fans. In the lore of Harry Potter, Luna is teased because of her alternative knowledge. However, we do not know for sure if it all is truly make believe. The only time those beliefs were proved wrong was when Hermione hit the horn of "a Crumple-Horned Snorkack" to cause it to explode when the Death Eaters came to Xenophilius' home while the Trio visited. Turns out it was an Erumpent horn, which is highly volatile. Magizoology is a seemingly underfunded and unimportant research subject. Newt Scamander was less than 50 years away from the plot but he made so much strides in discovery of magical creatures.

From Pottermore, we learned Luna married Newt's grandson, had children, and took up the family profession. An option has to be true, Luna is right, her husband distanced himself from his family research and agrees with Luna, and/or Xenophilius and Luna were incorrect. For those two families to join and continue with the subject some ideals needed to give or were a match made in heaven. I am not sure why those ideas couldn't have been explored during the series. Either Luna is a poorly written allusion to mental illness/disorders such as ADHD/autism or hippie culture. A decision was made in the canon to where Luna learned that not everything her father said was true but she made discoveries of her own. Even the Tale of Three Brothers which was a children's story, turned out to be true. Magic is real and nearly limitless but the few creatures the sweet weird girl talks about are fake???

To end this disheartened rant, Luna was better than all of them. & There should have been clearer explanations for the wizarding world, its creatures, laws/customs, and history. The true mythology should have been all muggle things that turned out to be true or misunderstood history/items. Could you imagine what the wizards thought of flying aircrafts? Guns? Lasers? Once wizards and muggles stopped using the same tools, technology, or methods the beef could have been perfectly imbalanced.

But what do I know? ;)