It was early October. Professor McGonagall had just dismissed her Transfiguration class of first year Ravenclaws. She was casting an erasing spell on the blackboard when she heard a quiet, "Excuse me?"
She turned and saw a blonde girl with large green eyes.
"Yes?"
"I'm Luna," said the girl.
It seemed important to her to point that out, so Professor McGonagall said, "Yes, Luna?"
"I was wondering...is there a way to transfigure yourself into someone else?" The large eyes looked at her very earnestly.
Professor McGonagall was asked this question quite frequently, so she gave a standard answer. "You can change some of your physical features when you've had enough experience. And of course, there's Animagi. If you were to study that, perhaps, you'd discover a talent..."
"No," said the girl. "I don't want to look like someone else. I want to become someone else. For good."
McGonagall was a bit concerned. "No, child," she said gently. "You cannot become someone else. Why do you ask?"
"No particular reason." Luna fingered her braid and McGonagall noticed, with a start, that there was a piece of gum stuck in it.
"Hold on, Luna, let me fix that." She reached for her wand. "Waddiwasi."
The gum slipped off Luna's braid and rolled up into a ball in mid-air. McGonagall pointed her wand at it silently and the gum vanished. She was quite grateful for wordless spells at the moment. 'Waddiwasi' was all right but the last thing she wanted was for a first year to learn a disappearing spell.
She turned back to Luna. "If you're being bullied by someone, you ought to tell Professor Flitwick."
"Thank you," said Luna. "But I don't think I'll bother him about a thing like that." She turned around and walked away.
McGonagall looked after her thoughtfully. She'd have to keep an eye on her in class.
Luna approached the Ravenclaw common room. The riddle today was easy. Which came first, Floo powder or broomsticks? Luna responded with, "Broomsticks. Muggles have used them for centuries to clean the floor."
A first year boy standing nearby burst into laughter, stopping quickly when the door swung open.
"Really?" he asked incredulously. "To clean the floor?" He rushed to catch the door before it shut. Luna held it open for him and he rushed past her without a thank you.
There were lots of Ravenclaws like that. They liked being first at things and rushing to places but they never stopped to wonder why. Luna, on her part, never rushed anywhere. How would she ever see Wrackspurts if she didn't go slow and pay attention? And the world was so beautiful. Just the other day she had seen a house-elf with a most fantastic chin. She had stopped to tell him so and the girls standing nearby had laughed.
Also, there was the frenzy over grades. Luna didn't care about grades. She had never cared and had always gotten top ones. In her assignments, she wrote until she felt that her writing would make a good Quibbler article and no more than that. Discussions of who-got-what made her lose interest in the conversation entirely. It had been that way at her old school too but the kids at her old school hadn't laughed at her for not caring, the way students did in Ravenclaw.
She had been at Hogwarts for a month now and she had no friends. There was a nice girl from Gryffindor in her Herbology class and they worked well together. But nice as Ginny was, she had never invited Luna to sit with her during lunch.
The gum might have been an accident, Luna reflected. Yes, it really might have been. They had had Potions just that morning and strange things could happen in Potions.
Her question for Professor McGonagall did not come out of idle curiosity. She was rather certain that if she could transform into a young woman of about eighteen years old, instead of eleven, she could go back home to her father. Then, she could take a correspondence course in magic and continue drawing and painting and proofreading the Quibbler for her father in her free time. She had very good grammar and spelling and she loved her father. Her old life had been much nicer than this.
Of course, if she had asked about a growing-up spell, McGonagall would misunderstand. Most eleven year olds wanted to grow up so that they could Disapparate legally and use magic without their parents around.
The following day, in Transfiguration, McGonagall asked Luna to stay after class. "I've been thinking about what you said," she explained. "And I don't think I really gave you the correct answer."
Luna's heart leapt. "Well?"
"You can become someone else. But...you just have to choose it."
Luna frowned and thought for a moment. "Do you mean act differently?"
"That's exactly what I mean," McGonagall said seriously. "Of course, it's easier said than done. But really, the only way to become a different person is to alter your behavior. And there's no magic involved."
Luna sighed. "Thank you, Professor."
She walked to her next class in deep thought. McGonagall had really touched upon the most important point without realizing it. She would find it difficult to make friends as long as she behaved just as she wanted to. It would be much easier if she decided to behave just like everybody else.
Unfortunately, thought Luna, I just like myself too much.