Luna Lovegood and the Watch of Doom

Familiar — Tradition says that witches have a familiar. This is normally thought to be some sort of demon in the shape of an animal — any of the traditional witches’ companions, such as a black cat or a crow. The owls of Harry Potter (as well as the cats and toads) fit this tradition in a general sense. Such animals were supposed to be the means by which witches communicated with the devil and spied on their neighbors. The familiar was also charged with the task of making certain that the witch was obedient to the devil!
In any case, the idea of witches having animals with which they can communicate and by whom they can send messages is clearly the same tradition. My purpose with this “mini-chapter” was to find a familiar appropriate for Luna. Naturally, my first (quirkiest) choice was a garden gnome, but clearly Hogwarts would not permit such a pest on the grounds. I also thought a hen was quite appropriately loony, but this simply wasn’t quite magical enough. Besides, how many jokes could you tell about Luna’s hen?

I needed something decidedly out of the ordinary (no owl, cat, toad or rat, obviously), but also admirable (from the point of view of the reader) and, at the same time, something at which the other students would scoff or otherwise reject. I quickly thought of using ravens, the most intelligent birds (as far as we know), capable of speech (the biggest selling point), and native to Great Britain. My problem was: why doesn’t every other student have a raven, then? Again, I quickly hit upon an idea: ravens are deemed unlucky (like thestrals or large black dogs) and so, rather than admiring Luna for her excellent choice of familiar, the other students are likely to accuse her of bringing bad luck and are likely to avoid both her and Egbert even more than they would otherwise. This may be bad for Luna, but it is good for my story, as in the books Luna has no real friends among the students until after the events of Order of the Phoenix. In other words, this helps to explain that very odd phenomenon. Finally, I thought it a great idea to make the raven, like Luna, unusual in some striking manner: thus, albino. It was sheer good fortune that the red-eyed albino (written weeks ago) dovetailed so well with the red-eyed doppelgänger story that I wrote just last week.
The Lovegood Finances — It is clear to me that the Lovegoods, despite an apparent pureblood lineage, are relatively poor — much more severely, for example, than the Weasley family. Here are points supporting this:
1. When we first see Luna on the Hogwarts Express, she doesn’t have a familiar (I have an excuse for Egbert’s absence in Order of the Phoenix — don’t worry). We know that owls are very expensive.
2. Xenophilius does not pay for articles published in The Quibbler.
3. The Rita Skeeter / Harry article that is published in The Quibbler pays for a vacation to Sweden for Luna and Xenophilius — presumably not a very expensive thing for wizards from Britain, and demonstrating that the Lovegoods do not have any excess wealth.
4. Luna’s books go “missing” during the school year, but she does not have the wherewithal to replace them.
5. When Harry & friends appear at The Roost, Xenophilius informs them that Luna is catching plimpies for dinner. It seems likely that he would choose a common task to cover her absence, and that Luna probably did frequent the nearby stream to get meat for their table.
6. The Roost itself displays less apparent opulence than the Weasley home, the most expensive items being the press and (possibly) the extremely volatile erumpet horn.
The Great Gnome Caper — The reason this is such a dreaded memory for Xenophilius is that he was required to perform a detention because of it. I can only imagine the Herbology Professor’s horror at walking into one of her beloved and well-cared-for greenhouses one morning to discover a pack of rowdy gnomes having their way with her precious plants — at least, the ones that don’t eat gnomes. Frequently, we see detentions somehow “fitting the crime” (thus, Harry and Draco’s late night excursion earns them a trip into the Forbidden Forest at night). For this — something bound to infuriate the Herbology Professor — I would expect that Xenophilius had to work to replace the plants that he destroyed: either with identical plants, or with ones equal in rarity, danger and value. Most likely, he had to visit the Forbidden Forest himself at night to procure deadly replacement plants for those destroyed by the Gnomes. Of course, he also would have been forced to assist in the removal, if not the extermination, of his beloved gnomes. This story deserves to be told, and I would not take it amiss if someone else told it.
Impressing — Impressing is a well-known concept, and is frequently associated with ducklings, as in this article. It is sometimes associated with other birds (particularly water fowl) and even reptiles and other egg-born animals.
Style — The style is the portion of the sun dial that casts a shadow onto the face of the dial itself; it is the “fin.” This particular sun dial works even at night, and I plan for it (and the Roman numerals that glow in the dark) to be a useful landmark for Egbert later in the story. There is also the opportunity for it to become very significant to the story itself.
Ravens — Picture.
Albino Raven Picture.

Movie clips showing why ravens are such a good match for Luna.

Listen to a raven (it’s the common raven).
Forbudding — ForBUD from Forward, Backward and Upside Down. There are aspects of this ability which are important to the story but which have not been explored yet. You can get some idea of it’s usefulness by reading “The First Riddle.”

If you would like a response to your comments or have questions, please e-mail your questions or comments to me at the address email@life-after-harry-potter.com.

Chapter 2 Endnotes

Chapter 4 Endnotes

Luna Lovegood Luna Lovegood

and the Watch of Doom and the Watch of Doom

Endnotes

Chapter Three

by

James E. Pettis

Endnotes — Chapter Three