The pregnancy that eventually produced Luna had come to a shock to the Lovegoods when it became evident. Neither parent particularly wanted a child, so engrossed were they with their various works and hobbies, but they weren't particularly against the idea. So they cleared a little room away in their tower, and filled it with just about every sort of thing they thought a baby would appreciate. As Luna's mothers belly grew, so did the amount of items in her room, and when she was nearing the end of her nine months, Luna's room was an ecletic piece of chaos, a brightly colored crib set in the midst of a room painted with three different colors, dark ceiling, and an odd selection of purples and light blues for the walls. Her ceiling, however, was painted with silvery moons and stars, and magicked a little to look like the night sky when all the lights were out in her room. This wasn't to mention the various things they had piled in there, from toys of various gizmos and gadgets, to pictures of strange creatures set upon her walls, courtesy of her father.
It was upon a reasonably dreary Feburary day in the year 1981 that she was born, during the very midst of You-Know-Who's reign of terror. Not that that bothered the Lovegoods very much. Xenophilius, Luna's father, had started a rather eccentric newspaper that was reminiscent of Muggle tabloids, the Quibbler. Her mother was a witch, (a quite brilliant one, if one asked Luna,) who enjoyed various experiments involving the nature of magic. Finding new spells, testing the outer limits of the ones already known, so on.
She was, so to speak, a 'mistake' of sorts. Both parents were afraid of the changes they would have to make to their various obsessions to make way for a child, but when Luna actually came to be, those thoughts and resentment of the life changes necessary were set aside. Xenophilius, especially, was taken by the child. Oft carrying her about as he did dubious research for the Quibbler, from a very early age Luna was taught to keep an open mind, to see and look for things even when the entire world told them that they were batty, and so forth.
However, in spite of her wierdness, Luna wasn't a pariah in the community. She was oft left alone, and often found in this neighbor or that ones back yard, digging or exploring. Far from being scolded, however, as when caught, Luna had always been a well-behaved and polite child, if prone to wandering off when the conversation of adults got a little too dry for her understanding. Beyond her daydreaminess, her only real fault, if it could be called that, was her curiousity.
In fact, both her parents encouraged her curiousity, her mother often allowing her to sit in the corner, and make suggestions about this or that, while her father, as established, oft took her upon his various trips - never ones he would consider dangerous, however. But all in all, Luna was a very introverted child, often sticking just to the affairs of her family, and not quite making many friends in the village. She was already getting a reputation amongst the other children and parents of the village, you see. 'The apple doesn't fall from the tree,' was a phrase she heard often, although she never did quite understand what precisely they were implying with that.
As she grew, however, Luna's favorite toy became a set of paints that her mother got her on a lark, and she took to that rather well. While it took her some time to become good with them, she took to them quicker than most, painting rather fantastic landscapes and animals by the time she was ten years of age. With the painting came skills at drawing and sketching. Taking note of her burgeoning skills, Xenophilius and his wife provided various charms and knick-knacks intended to increase Luna's creativity, (in fact, the two would suggest that the reason she became so good, so quickly, because of them.)
One of Xenophilius' prized acquisitions for little Luna, in fact, was a 'tinfoil hat', a muggle artefact gained at great expense to Xenophilius, obtained through the help of one Mr. Arthur Weasely. It was designed, you see, to filter out bad waves that muddle thinking, and had a hand in blocking wrackspurts from being able to flutter into her ears.
And so, her quiet if unusual life continued to one day, when she was but nine years old. She was seated in her mother's laboratory/practice area, doodling a quick sketch of something as her mother practiced. It was her mother's last words of 'Eureka!' that drew her attention upwards, only to observe the grisly sight of her mother suffering an accident. She was experimenting with apparation and teleportation at the time. She sought a way to make eating less of a mess and more efficient, by teleporting bits of food directly into her belly. Unfortunately for all parties involved, her aim was off.
The vision of her mother's eyes widening, and her suddenly gasping for air that would never come is a vision that would haunt Luna's dreams and days for most of the rest of her life. Xenophilius, although he did not witness the accident, was likewise tormented by the death, even leaving the newspaper in someone else's hands for a few months, to grieve.
Luna was similarily hurt. Growing even more quiet than the young girl was already, she sort of shut out the rest of the world entirely, oft skipping meals, sitting in her mothers experiment room for hours on end and generally causing Xenophilius more concern than was necessary. Regardless of that, Luna found a fair measure of sympathy in the adults of the community, Luna and Xenophilius both oft getting invited to other peoples homes for dinner and the like - something that was only repeated by the most brave of their neighbors. Luna, when by herself, was treated with a little more enthusiasm than the pair of them, oft finding herself the offer of candies and shelter when she was found in backyards.
Other children were cruel to her, as children often are. Driven further away from friends her own age, Luna started leaving the house less and less. But grieving could not continue forever. Xenophilius, after a few months had passed threw himself back into work and family with a renewed vigor, bordering upon abandon. No longer neglecting Luna as much as he once did, he sought to involve her more fully in his work, and was pleased when Luna responded. She set her creativity and focus to figuring out (or imagining) things such as wild conspiracies, and trying to discover undiscovered magical creatures and the sort. And Luna had considerable creativity and focus to give to the task.
But her eleventh year of age was coming on quickly, and thusly, her first year at Hogwarts. Having lived with withdrawn parents, and, well, being a fair bit of a loner herself, poor Luna was wracked with nervousness about fitting in with children her own age, as well as having actual conversations with people as opposed to just listening to them talk on and the like.
And what a year to have entered Hogwarts. Admist the intrigue, the death, and suspicion, sat Loony Lovegood, doing her very best to fit in. That whole Boy-Who-Lived business took second place to all her concerns of being seen as an okay person. Something she failed at, sadly enough, as she never quite understood when the proper moments to discuss her father's bizarre animals, (not after you had been sitting in silence by the person you hoped to impress for some time,) nor the things most people would enjoy as gifts, (Not things made from garbage and other scraps, usually.) And when she got home again, all she wanted to do was vow to never. Ever. Go back to Hogwarts ever again.
On a side note, her Sorting was a reasonably short affair, the Hat taking only a few moments to decide which house to set her into, Ravenclaw House being the very one she found herself sorted into. Whilst Luna was not privy to the thoughts of the Hat, the Hat sensed her perceptiveness and quiet demeanor, and thought this to be the very beginnings of wisdom, something Ravenclaw was noted for. Whether the Hat was just taking a stab at a guess at the wisdom bit or no, no one really could say at the time.
Regardless of her misgivings about Hogwarts, she did return. And her second year at school went far more smoothly, with a little help from a few friends. It was in this year that Ginny Weasley kinda reached out to her, a bright point in the midst of all the teasing. With the help of that, she found a little more inner strength to hold fast to her fathers words of 'Be yourself, and your real friends will show themselves', Luna squared her shoulders, lifted her chin, and carried on with things. Far from being frightened by the spectre of Sirius Black over the school, she conducted herself calmly and, in her humble opinion, rather reasonably… and ignored those who more openly called her names behind her back.
This was also the year she first met her good friend Neville Longbottom. You see, Neville's toad had a habit of getting away from him, and Luna had a habit of exploring the nooks and crannies of Hogwarts, trying to discover secrets and other magical creatures. One day, she stumbled upon the toad. Picking up the toad, she recognized it as Neville's, and set out to find him. And find him she did, seated in a particularly grassy area of the Hogwart's grounds, and looking particularly forlorn.
And so she returned the toad, much to Neville's delight. Sitting down by him then, she simply chatted with him a while. Over the years, the friendship that started then would only continue to grow with time, Luna and Neville always happy to share a bit of conversation, or even the occasional adventure over their school years. With a little better grades, that year, Luna returns home, to spend the summer with her father, and await the next year of school…
