Luna Lovegood

"You know, she's grown on me, Luna. I know she's insane, but it's in a good way."

- Ronald Weasley

Luna Scamander (née Lovegood) is a witch who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1992 to 1999 as a Ravenclaw student. She is the daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood, editor of the magazine The Quibbler; her mother died when she was a child. Luna and her father at one point in time lived in a rook-like house around the village of Ottery St. Catchpole, until the house was destroyed by way of exploding Erumpent horn during the Second Wizarding War. She was an important figure in Dumbledore's Army, participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, the Battle of the Lightning-Struck Tower, and the Battle of Hogwarts, as well as co-leading the second D.A. when Hogwarts fell under the control of Lord Voldemort.

Early Life
Luna was born in 1981 and lived in Ottery St. Catchpole with her parents. When she was nine, her mother died in a spell experiment, leaving young Luna to be raised by her father. Luna witnessed her mother's death, enabling her to see Thestrals, and believed that she would see her again after death.

Early Years
In 1992, at the age of eleven, Luna started school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was sorted into Ravenclaw house. Because of her eccentricities, Luna did not have any friends in her early school years; many other students made fun of her, calling her "Loony Lovegood" and taking her belongings. Luna seemed to take this all in stride, though, and never tried to change herself.

At the end of her second year, Luna like the rest of those in her year signed up for the elective courses they would take next year. Luna signed up for Divination and may have signed up for Care of Magical Creatures and Study of Ancient Runes.

Luna and her father attended the 1994 Quidditch World Cup; Amos Diggory mentioned they had camped there for a week.

Fourth Year
"Don't worry, Harry. I can see them, too. You are just as sane as I am."

- Luna Lovegood discussing Thestrals

In Luna's fourth year, she met Harry Potter on the Hogwarts Express and shared a compartment on the train with him, Ginny, and Neville Longbottom, though they were later joined by Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. She believed Harry's story about the return of Lord Voldemort and stood up for him once in front of a group of other fourth and fifth year students. In an effort to make people believe Harry's story, Hermione arranged an interview with Rita Skeeter at the Three Broomsticks. Luna was present during the interview and had her father publish the interview in The Quibbler.

Later that year she joined Dumbledore's Army, and worked hard along with the others. Near the end of the year, Harry had a vision that his godfather Sirius Black was being tortured by Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries. She and Ginny stood guard while Harry and Hermione snuck into Professor Umbridge's office to use the fireplace to try to contact Sirius, while Ron attempted to distract Umbridge. However, they were caught, along with Neville, by Umbridge and members of the Inquisitorial Squad. They were restrained and gagged, but Luna hardly seemed to notice, dreamily staring through the window as if bored. Harry and Hermione drew Umbridge away into the Forbidden Forest, and Luna, Ginny, Ron, and Neville managed to escape from the Slytherins.

When they all met up again in the forest, Harry planned to go to the Ministry of Magic. Luna reminded Harry about the Thestrals and suggested using them to get to the Ministry. The six D.A. members flew to the Ministry, where they were ambushed by twelve Death Eaters. Luna participated in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, injuring a Death Eater by blowing up a model of the planet Pluto in his face. She protected Ron, who had been hit with a charm that made him highly confused, and an injured Ginny, and was one of the last D.A. members to fall, having been knocked unconscious. At the end of the year, she comforted Harry about the loss of his godfather.

Fifth Year
"I could hear the match commentary from here. I hope Luna always commentates from now on... Loser's Lurgy..."

- Ron Weasley laughs about Luna's Quidditch commentary

The next year, her O.W.L. year, Luna shared a compartment with Harry and Neville on the Hogwarts Express. During the year she comforted Hermione after Ron was rude to her, attended Professor Slughorn's Christmas party with Harry as a friend, and temporarily replaced Zacharias Smith as Quidditch commentator for the school. Many found Luna's commentary highly amusing, as Luna forgot players' names and went off on tangents such as speculating that Smith was suffering from "Loser's Lurgy". She also once gave Harry a note from Albus Dumbledore telling him to come to his office for a private lesson.

When the school came under attack by Death Eaters, Luna was one of the D.A. members to fight in the battle with Neville, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione, taking Felix Felicis from Harry. Luna also attended Albus Dumbledore's funeral.

Sixth Year
In 1997, Luna and her father attended the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour at the Burrow. She was able to recognize Harry, who was disguised as a Weasley cousin by use of Polyjuice Potion, by his expression. She danced happily by herself, twirling on the dance floor with her arms raised.

Luna returned to Hogwarts for her sixth year, though it was now under Voldemort's control, with Severus Snape as headmaster and Death Eaters Amycus and Alecto Carrow as professors. Early in the year, she, Ginny, and Neville attempted to steal the Gryffindor sword from the Headmaster's office. Snape caught them and sent them into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid as punishment. The three of them revived and led Dumbledore's Army, which tried to sabotage the Death Eaters' control of the school and prepare to help Harry, Ron and Hermione in any way they could.

On her way home over the Christmas holiday, Death Eaters captured Luna because her father had been printing stories in support of Harry Potter.

Capture and Escape
It was believed that Luna was held captive at Azkaban, though she was actually imprisoned in the basement of the Malfoy Manor along with the famed wand-maker Ollivander, to whom she proved a great comfort. Her father was so desperate to get her back that he tried to turn Harry, Hermione and Ron over to the Ministry in exchange for her freedom; the trio escaped, but Hermione ensured that the Death Eaters Xenophilius called glimpsed Harry as they left, so that neither he nor Luna would be punished. The Lovegoods' home was largely destroyed when an Erumpent horn, which Xenophilius had believed to be a Snorknack horn, blew up inside.

The prisoners in Malfoy Manor were soon joined by Harry, Ron, Dean Thomas, and Griphook the goblin, while Hermione was tortured for information upstairs by Bellatrix Lestrange. After Luna helped cut the ropes off their new cellmates, Dobby the house elf came to free them. He took Luna, Dean and Ollivander to Shell Cottage, the home of Bill and Fleur, and then returned to assist Harry, Hermione, Ron and Griphook in escaping the Manor. He died in rescuing them.

Luna stayed at the cottage for the remainder of the holidays, and when Dobby was buried, she closed the house elf's eyes and provided the eulogy, thanking him for rescuing her. During her stay, she practiced using a new wand that Ollivander had made and sent to her. She also seems to have started a friendship with Dean Thomas. It is unknown what Luna did after Harry, Ron and Hermione left Shell Cottage in order to break into Gringotts bank, but she returned to Hogwarts in May when Neville signaled her as to the trio's return. All of Dumbledore's Army was reassembled and prepared to fight.

Battle of Hogwarts
When the trio asked the Ravenclaw D.A. members if they were familiar with an item that had once belonged to their house founder, Luna mentioned the lost diadem. She took Harry to the Ravenclaw common room, answering the riddle to gain entrance, in order to see a replica of the diadem. There, she stunned Alecto Carrow, who was waiting for them per Voldemort's orders, and witnessed Professors Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick and Pomona Sprout banish Snape, along with Harry. Luna then joined the battle rather than evacuating.

At one point, she, Ernie Macmillan and Seamus Finnigan helped Harry, Ron, and Hermione drive off a group of Dementors that attacked them. Later, near the end of the battle, Luna fought against Bellatrix Lestrange next to Hermione and Ginny. When Bellatrix nearly hit Ginny with a Killing Curse, Molly Weasley stepped in and killed her.

Luna witnessed Harry Potter's final defeat of Lord Voldemort and was among the first to congratulate him. A little while later, she created a diversion so that Harry could slip away from the victory celebrations with Ron and Hermione.

===After the War === Luna would soon come to realize the truth about her father and accept that there are some creatures (like the Crumple-Horned Snorkack) that do not exist; she is currently a very famous wizarding naturalist (possibly a magizoologist), traveling the world looking for various mad creatures. However, she still remained eccentric and open-minded enough to uncover things that no one has ever seen before, discovering and classifying many new species of animals. It is very likely that she kept in contact with her friends from Dumbledore's Army. Harry and Ginny gave their daughter Lily the middle name Luna.

At some point after leaving school, Luna married fellow naturalist Rolf Scamander, grandson of Newt Scamander, considerably after Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all got married. The couple had twin boys named Lorcan and Lysander, who are several years younger than the children of Luna's friends.

Physical Appearance
In 1997, sixteen-year-old Luna had waist-length, straggly dirty blonde hair, protuberant silvery blue eyes, and faint eyebrows. She has a dreamy sort of voice and gives off an aura of distinct dottiness, seeming not to blink as often as "normal" people do. She is known to put her wand behind her ear for safekeeping.

Luna has a unique fashion sense that other people usually find strange. She often wears odd pieces of jewelry such as a butterbeer cork necklace and radish earrings, and occasionally a pair of Spectrespecs. At Hogwarts Quidditch matches, Luna supported Gryffindor against every house except Ravenclaw; to show her support for Gryffindor she would wear a hat in the shape of a lion head that roars, and to show support for Ravenclaw she would wear an Eagle hat with flapping wings. At Professor Slughorn's Christmas party in 1996, she wore spangled silver robes. At Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding, she wore bright yellow robes and had a sunflower in her hair. She is described as "pretty" on some occasions.

Personality
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."

- Luna Lovegood quoting Rowena Ravenclaw Luna is an open-minded, serene, unique – some might say odd – girl with many beliefs and traits that others consider strange, which earn her the nickname of “Loony Lovegood”. However, she is intelligent, having been sorted into Ravenclaw. Luna has a habit of stating the blunt truth about things — a "knack for embarrassing honesty" according to Harry — and of being unusually perceptive.

Her demeanor and voice are often distant and dreamy – though when she overheard Hermione calling her father’s magazine rubbish, the characteristic dreaminess temporarily vanished from her voice – and she would drift away from a conversation she did not find interesting. She also tends to appear very calm, even under difficult circumstances, instead offering comfort to others such as Harry Potter after his godfather’s death and Mr. Ollivander while they were imprisoned in Malfoy Manor.

With her willingness to believe in many things without proof, calm demeanor, and interest in Quidditch, Luna is the opposite of Hermione Granger in almost every way, though the two remain good friends.

Luna is often the subject of ridicule, with other students stealing and hiding her things. She takes this in stride though, being patient and accepting of the others around her, and believing that her hidden things would show up again eventually. She has few friends as a result, but is not upset about this and is very loyal to the few friends she has. She has said that she does not like dancing much, though she did do some after the wedding of Bill and Fleur. Luna seems to have some artistic skill, as there are various things in her house that she painted with things such as flowers or insects, and her ceiling bears paintings of her friends Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville.

Luna is a powerful and skilled witch, and she was one of the few left relatively unharmed after all three battles she had participated in. These actions, as well as her co-leadership of the revitalized D.A. with Neville and Ginny, indicate Luna’s bravery.

Luna's Beliefs
Luna believes in many things that few others do. Below is a list of her beliefs: She also believes in the existence of many creatures that few other do such as
 * She seems to believe everything she reads in The Quibbler
 * That Sirius Black is Stubby Boardman
 * That Rufus Scrimgeour is a vampire
 * That the Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using Dark magic and gum disease
 * That Cornelius Fudge ordered Goblins to be made into pies or assassinated, had an army of Heliopaths, and used the Department of Mysteries to develop terrible poisons to feed to anyone who disagreed with him
 * Harry's story about Voldemort's return
 * That she will see her mother again after death
 * She could hear the voices beyond the Veil, and believed that there were people behind it, just lurking out of sight
 * That Hufflepuff Chaser Zacharias Smith was suffering from Loser's Lurgy
 * Moon Frogs
 * Blibbering Humdingers
 * Crumple-Horned Snorkacks
 * Heliopaths
 * Umgubular Slashkilters
 * Nargles
 * Aquavirius Maggots
 * Wrackspurts
 * Gulping Plimpies

Father
"They took my Luna because of what I've been writing. They took my Luna and I don't know where she is, what they've done to her. But they might give her back to me if I -- If I... I must save Luna. I cannot lose Luna. You must not leave."

- Xenophilius Lovegood to Harry, Ron and Hermione

With the death of her mother when she was nine years old, Luna was raised solely by her father. Because of this, and because Luna was an only child, the two were very close. Xenophilius raised his daughter to share many of his unusual beliefs, and the two enjoyed going on holidays to look for creatures such as Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. When Luna was abducted by Death Eaters in 1997 to force Xenophilius to stop opposing the Voldemort-controlled Ministry of Magic in The Quibbler, her father was beside himself. He was desperate to the point of ceasing his public support of Harry Potter and attempting to turn him, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley over to the Death Eaters in exchange for Luna's safety. When he failed to do so, Xenophilius was arrested by Selwyn and Travers.

Harry Potter


When Harry Potter first met Luna in 1995, he found her rather odd, but was grateful that she was one of the few people to believe his story that Lord Voldemort had returned and sympathized with the loss of her mother and her status as an outcast. After discussing the death of Sirius Black and the possibility of an afterlife with Luna, Harry "found that the terrible weight in his stomach seemed to have lessened slightly". At the beginning of the next school year, he reacted angrily when Romilda Vane implied that Luna and Neville Longbottom were not worth spending time with; a contrast to the previous year, when he felt slightly embarrassed that his crush Cho Chang saw him in Luna's company. In 1996, Harry asked Luna to attend Professor Slughorn's Christmas party with him as friends. After Voldemort's defeat at Harry's hands, Luna sensed that Harry wanted to get away from the victory celebrations, and created a distraction so that he could slip away with Ron and Hermione.

Hermione Granger


Luna and Hermione Granger did not have an ideal first meeting, as Hermione called The Quibbler "rubbish" without knowing that Luna's father was the editor. She was initially frustrated with Luna's belief in all manner of things without logical grounds or proof. However, she invited Luna to Dumbledore's Army and the two became friends. Hermione's opinion of Luna particularly seemed to improve after Luna proved her loyalty and bravery by participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, as she simply accepted that she and Luna had very different worldviews. The following school year, Luna comforted Hermione over her fight with Ron Weasley when she ended up crying in the bathroom at one point; her portrait was among those Luna painted and hung from her bedroom ceiling. Hermione also defended Luna when others insulted her. When Luna's father attempted to turn Harry, Ron and Hermione over to Death Eaters in exchange for his daughter’s safety in 1998, Hermione engineered their escape so that the Death Eaters saw Harry briefly, thus ensuring that both Luna and her father were not harmed.



Ron Weasley
"He says very funny things sometimes, doesn't he? But he can be a bit unkind. I noticed that last year."

- Luna on Ron Weasley

At the beginning of their acquintance, Ron Weasley found Luna very strange and was not particularly interested in knowing her, even referring to her as "Loony" at times. Luna, on the other hand, seemed to find Ron very funny and slightly fascinating. Ron eventually grew fonder of Luna, after getting to know her better through Dumbledore's Army and her being one of the only D.A. members to come to the trio's assistance when they tried to save Sirius Black. He was particularly amused by her Quidditch commentary in 1996 and thought highly of her bravery. However, Ron was still prone to tease Luna and scoff at her unusual beliefs at times.



Ginny Weasley
Luna and Ginny Weasley were in the same year at Hogwarts, though in different houses. Ginny seemed to find Luna rather odd, as she first referred to Luna as "Loony Lovegood", but the two were somewhat friendly, as Ginny led Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom into her train compartment in 1995 and conversed politely with her. The two girls became closer through Dumbledore's Army, and Ginny began telling others not to call Luna "Loony", prompting Luna to randomly state during her Quidditch commentary that Ginny was nice. Along with Neville, Luna and Ginny led the re-formed Dumbledore's Army while Hogwarts was under Voldemort's control.



Other Friendships
Neville Longbottom, like Luna, was something of an outcast. They became included in each other's small circle of friends through Dumbledore's Army, and Neville was among the portraits of friends Luna painted and hung in her room. Together with Ginny, Luna and Neville led the reconstituted D.A. at Voldemort-controlled Hogwarts.

After they were both rescued from Malfoy Manor in 1998, Luna and Dean Thomas seemed to grow close while staying at Shell Cottage. Dean still seemed rather bemused at some of the odd things Luna said at times, but did not ridicule her and was seen helping her in the Room of Requirement just before the Battle of Hogwarts.

Etymology
Luna means "of or pertaining to the moon" in Latin. It is also the name of the Ancient Roman goddess of the moon who was the mother of the Menae, fifty goddesses who embodied the phases of the moon used by the Ancient Greeks to keep time. In some myths, she was also the mother of the Nemean Lion.

'Lovegood' is a real surname and a compound word.

Luna in the Films
Evanna Lynch plays Luna in the films, and since Evanna is Irish, Luna has an Irish accent. In the films, we meet her at the school carriages where she is introduced by Hermione instead of Ginny. Luna's Patronus is revealed to be a Hare, this is later confirmed to be canon in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Also in the film Luna is forced to cut open her hand when the whole D.A. is given a detention with Umbridge. Luna is seen barefoot throughout the film because students had stolen her shoes. In addition, Luna seems to have a taste for pudding and introduces Harry to the Thestrals; she gives a young Thestral an apple, and a piece of meat. She also skipped around the school. Her butterbeer cork necklace has only one cork, which she says is to repel Nargles. She also wears a spider ring. During the battle at the Ministry, instead of being knocked unconscious, she was hit in the mouth by a Death Eater before using an unusual verbally-incanted version of Levicorpus to hurl her attacker away. When Ginny blows up the prophecy shelves with a Reductor Curse, Luna is so distracted by the light that she does not run away, but Neville saves her.

Luna in the Games
Luna's role in the game is much the same as her role in the film, though we do not meet her until Harry goes to find the people who signed up for the D.A. to tell them about the Room of Requirement. The Player has to help Luna feed the Thestrals, and then she will appear in the Room of Requirement. Later in the game, Fred and George Weasley send Luna to tell Harry how to swamp the clock tower courtyard, with one of their Portable Swamps. At the end of the game, the player must help Luna find her missing objects, which are: a sweater, a newspaper, a bear mask, a pair of socks, and her purse.

Behind the Scenes

 * J.K. Rowling said that Luna Lovegood is one of her favorite characters.
 * Chapter 10 of Order of the Phoenix, the first chapter Luna appears in, is titled "Luna Lovegood".
 * The radish earrings Luna wears in the film were made by Evanna herself.
 * During the years Harry was in school, Luna was the last person to commentate a Quidditch match.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows