Luna Lovegood may not be one of the Harry Potter Golden Trio, but she's a fan favorite character - especially for book readers.
While Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger are all popular characters from JK Rowling's book and movie series, Luna Lovegood is definitely up there in the popularity charts. She only makes her first appearance during the dramatic events of the Order of the Phoenix but, despite the late timing of her arrival, instantly found her way into our hearts.
Luna was portrayed by Evanna Lynch in the movies but, in the book, her character is significantly more fleshed out. So here are ten things only fans of the source material know about the wizarding world's quirkiest witch...
In the Order of the Phoenix, Harry returns to Hogwarts to find the majority of the students there consider him a liar following Cedric Diggory's mysterious death the previous school year. To make matters worse, even the Daily Prophet is against him, writing nasty articles about both himself and Professor Albus Dumbledore, who had publicly announced Lord Voldemort's return to a stunned Great Hall.
But Luna helps Harry get his side of the story across via The Quibbler. her father's magazine. Hermione enlists the help of Rita Skeeter and Harry tells the story of Cedric's death in full, omitting no detail in the process. This helps win some people round but, admittedly, the majority still shun him anyway.
In the fifth movie, Harry gets caught using Dolores Umbridge's fireplace while attempting to contact Sirius Black, who he believes has been captured and tortured by Lord Voldemort inside the Ministry of Magic. It's doomed to fail from the start, though, because he doesn't have anybody on guard duty.
That's different in the fifth book, with Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley both helping Harry enter the office. They both get caught, though, and that leaves the gang in a very sticky situation. Thankfully, due to some quick thinking from Hermione, they're able to escape.
Well, not all the Weasleys, but Ron and Ginny. In the Order of the Phoenix book, Harry and his friends travel to the Ministry of Magic to rescue Sirius after their attempts to locate him fail. Once there, a fight with Death Eaters breaks out and, at one point, it looks like Ron and Ginny are destined to bite the dust.
Fortunately, because of Luna, the pair live to fight another day. She protects Ron while he's in a dazed and confused state and fights a Death Eater closing in on Ginny after they'd seized her ankle. Luna casts a Reductor Curse so powerful it destroys a nearby model of the planet Pluto. A small price to pay, we think...
Luna and her father are pretty unique people and like to spend their time together hunting for weird creatures, many of which are myths with no concrete proof of their existence. And, after the fight at the Department of Mysteries, Luna and her dad go to Sweden to catch a Crumple-Horned Snorkack.
The trip is paid for because of Harry's interview with The Quibbler. It sold more issues than the Daily Prophet and made the Lovegoods so much money they just had to treat themselves to a little summer getaway. And who can blame them?
Even in the magical world, vampires are a thing. And Luna Lovegood can't help but feel intrigued when she spots one at the Slug Party during the events of the Half-Blood Prince.
The vampire's name is Sanguini and he immediately rouses the interest of not just Luna but other pupils at Hogwarts. It's not a surprise that Lovegood is keen to talk to the guest, though, given her fondness for the weird and wonderful things in life. The vampire wasn't mentioned in the Half-Blood Prince movie and that's understandable given he was an extremely minor character.
Lee Jordan is the Quidditch commentator for Harry's first five years at Hogwarts, with the Gryffindor pupil doing a brilliant job at captivating the crowd. After his exit, however, Hogwarts struggles to replace him. Hufflepuff pupil Zacharias Smith gets the gig for a little bit but, after that, Luna is bafflingly picked.
Amusingly, she's utterly useless. Instead of talking about the game her attention drifts to other matters and she hasn't got a clue who half of the players are. Luna's dreadfulness irritates Minerva McGonagall and, unsurprisingly, she's replaced for the final match of the season. If it was down to us, she'd definitely have kept her job.
In the Half-Blood Prince, Harry senses that something may happen to Hogwarts when both himself and Albus Dumbledore leave the castle to go in search of one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes. Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley both stand guard that night, keeping an eye on the Hogwarts staff room in case Severus Snape does anything suspicious.
Snape tricks the pair, however, despite having good intentions. He rushes out and informs the pair that Professor Flitwick has collapsed and they take the bait, immediately rushing to his aid. This allows Snape to slip away and he later murders Albus Dumbledore, having struck an agreement with the Hogwarts headmaster over his death.
Unless you've got a heart made from stone, you'll know that Dobby's death is one of the saddest moments in the whole Harry Potter series. The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 certainly does a good job of showing the Boy Who Lived in a state of distress, burying the poor little house elf alone as he comes to terms with the death of yet another loved one.
What it doesn't show is Luna's role. She performs the eulogy at Dobby's funeral and is the one who closed Dobby's eyes after his passing. The movie decided to make it seem as if Harry did all the work but, in the source material, it's a bit more of a team effort.
Luna assists Harry in the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, taking him to meet the Grey Lady, Helena Ravenclaw. She does this because the Boy Who Lived is determined to locate Ravenclaw's missing diadem. In the book, though, Luna actually takes him to her house's common room.
There, Harry and Luna are forced to hide after Amycus Carrow bursts in to find his sister, Alecto, unconscious on the floor. Amycus spits in the face of Minerva McGonagall and this enrages Harry, who emerges from his hiding place to hit the Death Eater with the Cruciatus Curse. While we don't condone violence, there's definitely no denying Amycus deserved what he got.
After the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry is very much the man of the moment. Just about everybody with magical blood in them wants to touch him, to talk to him, to congratulate him for the way he defeated Lord Voldemort and finally brought peace to the world. As a result, he struggles to get some alone time with Ron and Hermione.
But that's where Luna's loving heart comes in. She causes a distraction that allows Harry to break away and talk with his friends, reflecting on their triumph over Lord Voldemort and mourning those they lost along the way. It's a small gesture but it shows just how golden Luna really is.
