Albus was late to the café for their weekly Wednesday luncheon date, so Luna sat alone at the little table in corner looking down at her engagement ring. The next four months before the wedding promised to be the most hectic in her life. Yesterday, she had interviewed Headmistress McGonagall about the future of Hogwarts in the new millennium. While Luna would eventually publish a story on that subject, she really was there to have the Headmistress fill in some gaps about what had occurred behind the scenes with the staff during the Tri-Wizard Tournament all those years ago. Luna had taken all afternoon to get McGonagall to the subject and gather the information she needed. She now realized that she had not asked the Headmistress about her role in the second Order. However, she couldn’t send an owl with the question now. How could she ask the question without letting McGonagall become aware of her true reason for the interview?

Oh well, half a Nargle is better than none, she thought.

Lost in thought, Luna didn’t notice that Albus had arrived until just the instant before he kissed her on the check.

“Thinking about an old boyfriend?” he asked.

“No. I was reviewing my interview with McGonagall, questions I should have asked and that sort of thing,” she answered.

Luna looked into the face that had become as precious as her own life and saw worry. Albus was troubled.

“Galleon for your thoughts,” she offered, smiling to encourage his answer.

“I’m just concerned about a patient is all. I wish there was something we could do to avoid danger for her.“ Albus stopped short and avoided Luna’s eyes.

“Danger?” asked Luna.

In the three years she had dated Albus, he had only lied to her once. When he had spoken the lie, his ears had turned bright red. He was a bad liar, and the one thing Luna prized most in anyone was the truth. Albi’s inability to lie to her was actually one of his most attractive qualities. His only defense was to hide things from her. Luna began to tap her right index finger on the tablecloth.

Luckily for him, the waiter showed up and placed menus between the reporter and her prey. After Luna had ordered, he made a show of studying the menu at a place where he ordered the very same thing every week. Luna kept tapping her finger on the table and tried to catch his eyes.

“Stop that please,” he said, reaching to silence the finger by capturing the offending hand. “My mom does that and it drives me crazy.”

“I know it does,” she replied, smiling at him. Luna knew he would crack soon, and that all she had to do was remain silent.

Albus asked about the latest issue of the Quibbler, but Luna did not reply. He brought up the weather. She merely smiled. When their food arrived at the table, he realized he couldn’t eat his sandwich and hold onto her hand at the same time. As soon as he picked up his sandwich, the tapping restarted.

“I could leave, you know,” Albus said in a last ditch effort to escape disclosure.

“I know where you work. And I’m a reporter. I’ll know what ever it is within an hour’s time,” she said in between the rhythmic taps of her finger.

“Okay. Okay. Stop!” he relented, recapturing her hand.

Luna smiled. She wondered if the subtle torture of the man who loved her was an unspoken fringe benefit of being in love.

“Ginny Potter came in for a medical test,” he spoke in a whisper. “The tests confirmed she is pregnant,” he added in a somber voice.

“Isn’t that good news?” Luna prompted.

“Ginny was struck with the killing curse. She’s had dragon’s blood coursing through her veins for two and a half years. No one knows how that might affect her or the child. We can’t guarantee that either of them will survive,” he admitted.

“You told Ginny that?” Luna asked, her heart dropping like a stone into a deep well.

“Yes. She and Harry were in the office. He just took her in his arms-” Albus said, so moved by recalling the scene that he stopped talking. “I don’t know what is greater, their love or their courage,” he finally finished.

“They’ve had lots of practice at both,” she confided.

“What Ginny is most worried about is what this might do to Molly, so you can’t tell anyone! Promise,” he demanded. The usually easy going Albi stared at her with a look he usually reserved for his patients.

“Promise,” she replied, wondering if her dearest friend would ever escape the shadow of Riddle’s evil. Luna would keep Ginny’s secret; it was the least she could do.

Luna racked her brain. There must be some way I can help and yet not let Ginny know that I know. There must be.

Luna couldn’t tell if it had been her shocked reaction or the scanty garment itself that was the cause of the laughter in the room. Ginny couldn’t really imagine that I would ever really wear something like this, could she? She quickly folded the garment and placed it back in its box.

Luna looked at the familiar faces surrounding her, every one of which seemed to be enjoying her embarrassment. Maybe all this was some kind of right of passage or an initiation into a secret club: the secret society of married women. As she turned to look at the remaining gifts, Luna looked upon each of the remaining boxes as if they were filled with Blast-Ended Skrewts ready to scorch her.

“She quickly searched the labels on the unopened boxes until she found the gift from Penelope Weasley. Penny’s gift would probably be safe. She carefully undid the ribbons and opened the package to find a grey metal picture frame decorated with two intertwined Ravenclaw eagles. The photograph was an old Hogwarts house photo. Luna instinctively searched until she saw her twelve-year-old self with a wand tucked behind her spectrespecs, butterbeer cork necklace around her neck, and a pair of radish earrings dangling from her ears.

Luna smiled at Penelope and the two women simultaneously broke into song, “Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.* It’s thoughts not fights that are sources of right. Ideas and not schemes are the way to build dreams.”

Penelope and Luna grinned at each other knowing their house song had gone over the heads of all the non-Ravenclaws present, just as it always had.

“May I?” asked Penny as she took the frame out of Luna’s hands and showed off the photo to everybody. “Here’s Luna,” she said to a chorus of giggles. “And here I am and standing next to me is my fellow Ravenclaw Prefect.” The mention of the third person drew some appreciative oohs and aahs from the audience.

Luna took back the framed photograph; in the corner of the picture was the younger, but no less handsome, Albus D. Pomfrey. She had been in the same house as Albi for three years and had never once talked to him. Yet in three days, they would be husband and wife.

Luna smiled and hugged Penny saying, “Thank you.”

“ She took the frame and set it next to a double picture frame that her secretary Millicent had given her. The photo on the left side of Millicent’s frame showed Luna’s parents holding the very first edition of the old Quibbler. The picture on the right side was a photo that Millicent had secretly taken of Albi and Luna just outside of her office. Those three pictures captured Luna’s beginning, middle and future. She felt that any amount of teasing would have been worth it just to receive those gifts.

Molly Weasley had sent Ginny and Angelina with an armload of magical cooking, cleaning, and first-aid books. Ginny laughingly told Luna that she and Angelina had to talk Molly out of making her and Albus matching sweaters. At that comment almost the whole group laughed. Since Ginny, Angelina, Fleur, and Penelope were part of the Weasley brood by either birth or marriage, it was a safe bet that each of them had at least one of Molly’s famous sweaters in a drawer somewhere.

Angelina presented Luna with a W3 Fantasy Honeymoon Extravaganza package. The label read that each box was guaranteed for twenty-four hours to convert an average size bedroom into a room specially designed to help fulfill the customer’s romantic fantasies. The labels on the smaller boxes read: Arabian Nights, Tropical Beach getaway, Queen of the Nile Barge, Garden of Eden, and Pirate Captain’s treasure lair. Angelina told everyone that she had removed a box that had been crudely labeled Love among the Clouds, which, in reality, had been a version of the famous Weasley brother’s swamp. She smiled and told her approving audience that the floors of Fred and George’s offices were very mushy right now.

Hermione, who was showing everyone the engagement ring Ron had given her, had given Luna (not surprisingly) a book: Witches are from Venus; Wizards are from Neptune.” said the book had finally helped her understand that you can never truly understand men; you just tolerate them.

“Oh, that’s a great book. It helped me to train Fred,” Angelina said with a glint in her eye.

“How?” asked Hermione.

“A book trained Fred?” Ginny said, giving Angelina a look of disbelief.

“When you say train Fred, do you mean like a puppy?” Luna inquired.

“Oh, puppies are much harder to train,” replied Angelina. “When Fred is ignoring me for business or a Quidditch match, I just go over to the book shelf. I take it in hand and chuck it at him. The book is about the same size and weight as a Quaffle. I can hit Fred with that book from anywhere within our house,” she proudly answered.

Angelina’s confession drew a round of laughs as many of the women visualized the scene.

“How has that helped?” Luna asked, not seeing how that would train anybody.

““Well, all I have to do now is walk over the bookshelf and stick out my finger. Suddenly, the work is put away or the match is turned off. A great gift Hermione, I highly recommend it.”

“Books can be also useful to hide behind when you are getting some unwanted romantic attention, if you know what I mean. You can pretend to be too engrossed in reading to notice,” said Fleur. “Not that I’ve ever done that to Bill,” she added.

Fleur’s gift was some special makeup products that were made by Veelas. The make-up gave women a certain glow, which Luna could use to her best advantage in business, in pleasure, or both. Luna, who did not get the joke that got giggles from the other women, thanked Fleur anyway.

Gabrielle Delacour apologized for her lack of a present. She had just been invited that morning and she said she could not find or make anything worthwhile in such a short time. So she gave Luna an empty box full of hope, wishes, love, and friendship. Luna hugged the younger woman and thanked her.

Luna had saved Neville’s gift for last and undid the wrappings carefully. The box contained a small clear ball. Inside the ball was what appeared to be a blossom of his treasured Alice’s Trueheart. Neville had created a Rememball with a gift of love inside. She felt the moisture in her eyes as she looked over at the gift. She felt so unworthy of the thought, the time, and the love that each present signified.

Ginny waved her wand and silver goblets filled with pumpkin juice appeared next to each woman. She struggled to her feet and began a toast, “Luna, you are one of the bravest people I’ve ever met. You were never afraid to be yourself. You never hesitated to tell the truth even when no one wanted to hear it or to give help when no one had asked for it.”.

Ginny looked like she was tearing up. She reached down, picked up her napkin and dabbed her eyes. She took a deep breath and started again, “Luna without you there might not have been a Harry and me. After all it was you that first married the two of us. And what you did on the next day, we can never repay.”

“You being here is the only payment required,” answered Luna, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Ginny smiled at Luna but plowed on with her speech “Harry and I are at the beginning of our greatest adventure together. I would like to wish you and Albus all of the happiness and love that Harry and I have. So here’s to Luna and Albus, may they forever be as happy as they are now.”

Luna smiled even though her heart was breaking. Ginny, as always, was being so brave. She had kept her secret, not even telling Ginny she knew the truth. She had not told Ginny because she feared telling her that Albus had let her secret slip might make her hesitate in confiding in him how she was truly feeling. Luna knew that silence had been the only way she could help her friend until tonight.

She realized that everyone was looking at her for a response to Ginny’s toast, so she remained standing as the other women sat and sipped their drinks.

“I would like to thank all of you for everything,” said Luna as she looked into each pair of eyes. “When I arrived at Hogwarts, I was entering into a new scary world. I was raised at the Quibbler in a world of adults and never had friends my own age. I was probably pretty pathetic actually,” she added self-consciously.

“At first, I stayed to myself and only Penelope and the school portraits would talk to me. I know now that as Prefect, it was your job to help the Eaglets get settled in at school, but I heard you argue with Eddie Carmichael and some of the older students who wanted me shipped off to Hufflepuff. You stood up for me and said that I wasn’t stupid, just different. You quoted Rowena Ravenclaw saying, ‘Different isn’t wrong it is just different’. Thank you,” Luna said, saluting Penelope with her goblet.

“Penelope once told me, I must always be myself and that I would find friends who would appreciate my uniqueness. I like that word: uniqueness. She was right,” Luna said looking around at the women in the room.

“I once heard a Muggle say: friends are the family we get to choose. I am an only child; yet I do have a sister and a brother. My sister’s name is Ginny, and she’s been my confidant, my interpreter, my matchmaker, and always my dearest friend. She introduced me to Neville, my brother, who is a different soul that just needed the warmth of a true friend to blossom. I thank you for both of us, Ginny.”

As Luna finished, the women sighed and clapped as Ginny blushed.

Luna reached down and softly fingered the necklace around her neck. “When I agreed to let Ginny plan this little party; I thought I’d come up with a special gift for each of you. So I took my necklace to Hogwarts, to see if Professor Flitwick could charm other necklaces with the same magic. However, our dear professor could not find the presence of any charm on this necklace. Either the original charm had worn off or it never existed,” she said, looking at Ginny.

““What I choose to believe is that this necklace was charmed the same way that Harry Potter was charmed as an infant: by love,” declared Luna. “The necklace was charmed with the love of my mother, which I passed along to Ginny in her hour of need, and Ginny gave it back to me when I was in need. Today, I wish to pass it on again,” Luna declared.

Luna solemnly removed the necklace and placed it around Ginny’s neck once more “Ginny, this is for you and the baby.”

Ginny reached down and touched the necklace, “Thanks, Luna. The moment the baby and I are home from St. Mungo’s, I’ll return it.”

Luna looked at her best friend’s smiling face. She couldn’t do anything substantial for her friend, but she could give her hope. Even if it was just hope in the form of some old cork with a dubious charm. Luna realized everyone had stopped looking at Ginny and were looking at her. She smiled and continued, “I would like to use the necklace as a gift to be passed from one of us here to another in time of need. You don’t have to wear the necklace continually. Besides, it really does need radish earrings to bring out the color of the cork properly. The necklace is not a talisman, but a reminder that none of us can ever truly be alone because we are loved.”

Luna stepped away from Ginny and returned to her original place between Angelina and Gabrielle. She asked each of the others to stand in a circle.

Luna raised her glass to each and toasted, “So with this necklace, we can pass our love and hope from one to another; from Luna Lovegood, to Ginny Potter. And maybe later to be passed on to Angelina Weasley, or Penelope Weasley, or Fleur Weasley, or the future Hermione Weasley, and maybe even to Gabrielle Longbottom.”

Gabrielle sputtered almost shooting pumpkin juice over the rim of her cup. “Neville told you?” she asked, caught completely off-guard by Luna’s comment.

“He didn’t have to. I’d already guessed and when I saw the look on his face I didn’t have to ask,” she answered.

Luna smiled “I saw a picture from the Yule Ball and something just wasn’t right. I realized that the other two champions each had a date to the ball but Gabrielle didn’t. The only two explanations that I could think of were that she could not find a date to the Yule Ball, which was a highly unlikely possibility. Or that Neville standing next to her wasn’t in the picture only as the Hogwarts chaperone, but also as her date. I knew for certain when I saw the corsage included a heart shaped flower. Neville had only ever given that flower to his mother. For Neville to give you one of them told me all I needed to know except how and when. Quibbling minds want to know.”

“When is in two summers,” Gabrielle responded with her French accent thicker than normal. “Professor Sprout has announced that she is going to cut back on her teaching schedule, and they asked Neville to take over some of her classes. If he does well enough, the Headmistress says that the job is his. Only after he has a teaching job will Neville and I marry. You know how he is about things like that.”

“How is harder to explain,” Gabrielle continued. “I had a schoolgirl crush on Neville after we met at my sister’s wedding and for a while we were pen pals. When the Hogwarts delegation arrived for the Tri-Wizard tournament, I discovered that Neville was the chaperone. I escorted the visitors on a tour and found he was still the same Neville that I remembered. In the gardens, he looked into my eyes, smiled, and I was smitten again. When I first asked him to the Yule Ball, he refused and tried to convince me to choose someone else. I told him if he didn’t go with me I would not go at all. We had a rehearsal for the promenade two weeks before Christmas; Neville and I paraded around arm in arm. After the rehearsal, Neville reached over to kiss my check and somehow my lips got in zee way. Voila,” she said, slightly out of breath.

Gabrielle looked at her sister with a crooked little smile and added, “Please do not tell Mama! Neville and I are leaving after the wedding to make the ‘official’ announcement to them.”

Luna was the first to hug Gabrielle, but Fleur practically knocked Luna over to get to her little sister and began rapidly speaking to her in French. After Fleur, the other women took turns both congratulating and teasing Gabrielle.

Ever since she was nine years old, Luna had lived in a charmed circle made of common cork and metal. Today, she found herself in a larger charmed circle made of uncommon people and their uncommon love. She felt tears of joy roll down her cheeks and for the first time since her mother’s death, felt at ease with her emotions. Indeed, she had been initiated into a very special club.