OOP: Loony Luna

[purple_801999]

No: HPFGUIDX 62698

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, elfundeb <elfundeb at c...> wrote:
 
> Knight_of_Walpurgis wrote:
> 
> > The third relates to Luna Lovegood. During their first meeting, 
> > Ron tells a joke and "Everyone laughed, but nobody laughed harder 
> > than Luna Lovegood. She let out a scream of mirth that caused 
> Hedwig to wake up and flap her wings indignantly and Crookshanks to 
> leap up into the luggage rack, hissing." (OOP, Scholastic, p. 190) 
It's 
> > possible that Crookshanks reaction was not just to her laugh, but 
> to Luna herself. Up to this point, Crookshanks has been a very good 
> > judge of character, which is part of the reason it is presumed by 
> > many that he is part Kneazel who have "an uncanny ability to 
detect 
> > unsavory or suspicious characters" (FB, p. 24). I have the 
feeling 
> > that Luna is not all that she seems to be. 


Debbie wrote-
> Good catch on Crookshanks' reaction!  I think it is a well-placed 
clue that Loony Lovegood isn't quite as loony as she appears.  
Kneazles can detect "suspicious or unsavory characters."  In POA, 
Sirius says that Crookshanks knew he was no dog right away, and that 
it was awhile before Crookshanks trusted him.  In her opening scene, 
Luna seems as strange as they come, right down to her bottlecap 
necklace
> 
Me-
I don't know if that was the Kneazle in Crookshanks or the cat in him 
reacting to being jolted out of a good nap.

Debbie-
> 
> I also wonder whether JKR is using Luna and the Quibbler to drive 
home a point about journalistic integrity.  Rita Skeeter tells 
Hermione,  "The Prophet exists to sell itself, you silly girl," a 
statement that's generally associated with the National Enquirer than 
even those dreadful Gannett papers.  The willingness of the Quibbler 
to print controversial interviews (and the Quibbler articles we read 
are always carefully attributed to their sources -- so there is 
nothing untruthful, for example, in reporting that some old bat 
somewhere thinks Sirius is a singer in a rock and roll band) suggests 
that, for a careful reader, the Quibbler has more journalistic 
integrity than the Daily Prophet.   
> 

Myself-
What do you make of that story appearing and Sirius's singing of 
Christmas carols? It was metioned more than once, I wonder if that's 
JKR pulling our leg.

Debbie again-
> Yes, I like Luna a lot, and not for her shipping potential (I'm 
officially neutral on shipping; my view on who to ship her to is any 
one of the "sextet".  I'd like her to stick around.  Oh, and one more 
interesting bit of information about Luna.  The Lovegoods are 
mentioned in GoF, by Amos Diggory in "The Portkey," where he tells 
Arthur that they had been at the QWC for a week already.  So, it 
seems that Luna might live somewhere near the Burrow, and perhaps 
we'll see her in Book Six even before they get to Hogwarts.   It also 
suggests that Luna has been planned for a long time and is not just a 
replacement character for Ron's cousin.
> 
 
> I guess the way I'd describe it is that she has the ability to 
accept things.  In addition to the oddities she doesn't discount just 
because they're not mainstream, she accepts that people think she's 
loony.  She accepts that people take her things, but believes they 
will turn up eventually.  She's managed to work out a nice little 
coping mechanism.  She also doesn't assume that something doesn't 
exist because it's out of the ordinary.  This could definitely be an 
advantage in the future.  In fact, she seems to have quite a bit in 
common with the misfits that compose the Order of the Phoenix.
> 
> Definitely a keeper (but not a Keeper).
> 

And I-
I really like Luna too. I was very surprised since she could have so 
easily been an annoying stereotype, but she really grew on me. She's 
different from anyone we've met so far. I'm thrilled that more strong 
female characters have come into play. Tonks I could have done 
without, but between Luna and the new improved Ginny I'm happy. 
Although I was hoping for a few for Lupin and Sirius, but I guess 
those hopes I had for Sirius to reunite with a long lost girlfriend 
and be happy are dashed now. 


Olivia