Luna Lovegood had always believed in strange things. She thought there were creatures called Blibbering Humdingers, and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, and other things of the sort. Tell her that Cornelius Fudge commands a large army of Heliopaths, and she wouldn’t question it at all. But oddly enough, the one thing Luna didn’t believe in, was Santa Claus.


Luna told herself that there was no explanation for the Muggle present giver. With her creatures, there was no other way to explain how your brain went fuzzy during a conversation, unless a Wrackspurt was in the room.


But with Santa Claus, it was easy to see he wasn’t real. Parents put out presents for younger children at home, and house-elves put out presents for students at Hogwarts. There were no reindeer involved, no North Pole, no fat man sliding down a chimney.


It had been like this for Luna since she was nine. The Christmas after her mother had died, she had stayed up all night looking out her window, hoping for a glimpse of Santa and his reindeer flying by.


She never saw him.


But sure enough, the next morning there were presents underneath her tree. After that day, Luna knew that it wasn’t Santa who put out presents. Just ordinary people on an ordinary holiday.


She had given Santa a second chance when she was eleven, during her first Christmas at Hogwarts, never mind the fact that most of her classmates didn’t believe in Santa either. Her father had wanted her to come home for the holidays, but Luna had pleaded to stay for the huge Christmas trees that were rumored to be put up throughout the castle. And in any case, there was bound to be mistletoe in Hogwarts, and Luna would certainly be able to see nargles.


That break, on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, Luna sat in the Great Hall, talking to Ginny Weasley.


“Look, Ginny,” Luna said, removing a small silver locket from her neck, and dangling it from her small hand. “It was my Mum’s. Dad let me wear to Hogwarts; it’s the only thing of hers I have.”


“That’s really pretty, Luna,” Ginny said, smiling at her friend, before suddenly saying, “I’m sorry, Luna, but I have to go.”


Luna nodded serenely, still toying with her locket. She didn’t notice the three older boys walking closer until one began speaking.


“Look, it’s Loony Lovegood. What are you holding, Loony?”


“A locket,” Luna answered, not looking perturbed in the slightest. She vaguely recognized one of the boys as Roger Davies, but she wasn’t sure who the rest of the students were.


“Let me see,” another boy demanded, reaching his hand out. Luna pulled away slightly, keeping the locket momentarily out of harm’s way.


“Roger said he wanted to see it, Loony,” the third boy said, making another swipe for the locket. This time, Luna couldn’t move her hand quick enough. The boy snatched the locket and smirked.


“This old thing? Why it’s not nice enough to wear around your neck. I think I’ll just keep it for you.”


“No, it’s alright. I’d like it back, please,” Luna said quietly, her blue eyes wide.


“I don’t think so,” Roger replied, and turned to leave the common room. The other boys followed him out.


Later in the afternoon, Luna had asked Roger if his friend still had her locket, to which he cruelly told her they had thrown it in the lake, the piece of junk.


Luna had never mentioned it after that, but she had silently asked Santa to return her necklace when he passed out the presents that night.


It hadn’t been there the next morning.


After that Christmas, Luna had sworn to herself that she would never believe in Santa, or ask him for anything for Christmas.


Her sixth year at Hogwarts was no different, though at sixteen, she was hardly alone in her denouncement of Santa Claus. Believing in Santa past your ninth birthday didn’t happen in the Muggle or wizarding world.


This year, Luna wasn’t expecting much for Christmas, Santa or no Santa. She knew her father would send her something, and Ginny always gave her a present as well, but besides that, very few packages would be on her bed the following morning.


The whole of Christmas Eve flew by for Luna, involving a lot of eating at the feast, and watching some of her housemates play games around the fire. She saw Roger and his gang of boys, and carefully avoided going anywhere near them.


Finally, late into the night, Luna trekked upstairs to her dormitory. She immediately fell into a deep sleep, exhausted from the day’s festivities. Luna didn’t wake up when the other sixth year girls came to go to bed, or when a small thud sounded above her, seemingly coming from the castle’s roof.


She did, however, wake up when a large man set a few packages on her bed, and jostled her ever so slightly. Luna opened her eyes to find a red suit directly in front of her.


“H-hello?” she called sleepily, struggling to disentangle herself from her covers.


“Hello!” the man greeted joyously. “I don’t normally wake up any children, but I felt I owed you something that would be best face to face.”


“Alright,” Luna said, rubbing her eyes vigorously, trying to make sure she was seeing correctly. “You might want to move away from that spot, though.”


“And why’s that, young lady?”


“You’re beneath mistletoe, and nargles sometimes infest them. Didn’t you know?”


“I didn’t. Thank you very much for the advice,” came the voice, and Luna could see him shifting to the other side of her bed.


“You’re welcome,” Luna said, pausing slightly before adding, “Are you Santa Claus?”


“The one and only. But I think you already knew that. Anyway, the reason I’ve woken you up is that I felt I owed you an apology. I know you stopped believing in me long ago, but that doesn’t mean I stopped believing in you. And, I know that you’ve had a certain object on your Christmas list for a while now, and I wanted to say that I’m sorry for not getting it to you earlier. I sent quite a few of my elves from the North Pole to track it down before I came to get it myself. Quite elusive, it was. Well, here you go. I hope that can restore your belief.”


He held out a small package wrapped in shiny red paper before her.


“Thank you,” Luna whispered, her smile reaching all the way to her eyes. She began to unwrap the present at once, but suddenly, a wave of exhaustion fell over her.


“You should go back to sleep, Ms. Lovegood. You know you can’t open presents until Christmas morning.” He returned Luna’s smile and began to leave the dormitory, his sack of presents slung over his shoulder.


As sleep began to find Luna once more, she heard Santa Claus call back into the room, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”


When the morning came, Luna awoke to a small pile of presents. Not letting herself believe that what she thought had happened last night was true, she opened the presents she had expected to receive. There was a box of Chocolate Frogs from Ginny, and a new pair of Spectroscopes from her father. She opened a few more gifts from her aunt and uncle before allowing herself to look for the small red box.


Disappointment filled her; it was nowhere to be seen. Luna started to throw back her sheets in her search, continuing in vain for a few minutes before she caught sight of piece of bright red paper.


She reached for the red, and her hand grasped the small parcel. Tearing off the paper, Luna wished with all her might that it would be what she was hoping for.


Finally, she felt the small shape. She pulled it out and held it so she could see it properly. There was no denying what it was- her mother’s locket.


Luna tentatively clasped it around her neck, not quite believing it to be true.


She ran downstairs, wondering if anyone else had seen Santa the previous night. The first student Luna saw was Padma Patil, who was showing one of her friends the sweater her mother had sent her.


“Did you see Santa last night, Padma?” Luna asked, her voice brimming with excitement.


“No,” Padma replied without missing a beat. She was clearly used to Luna’s odd questions. “Santa doesn’t exist, Luna, remember?” Padma’s voice had taken on an air that one uses when speaking to a toddler, but Luna hadn’t seemed to notice.


“He does,” Luna said, her broad smile returning once more. Her hand unconsciously reached up to her neck and closed itself around the locket. “He does exist.”