In 1865, a young girl by the name of Alice Liddell went missing from outside of her home in Oxford, England. Left in the care of her older sister, Margaret, no one could understand how the seven-year-old had disappeared so suddenly. Yet, after multi...
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A SUMMER AMONG THE LOVEGOODS was just what Alice needed and perhaps, what the Lovegood family needed as well. In just a short time, Alice and Luna became attached at the hip, whether they spent their days in the gardens or Luna accompanying Alice and Hatter to get their ears pierced, everyday brought something new and fun. Since her return from Wonderland, it was the happiest Alice had been. She found herself at ease among Luna and Xenophilius, and much to her delight, the Wonderlanders were able to relax as well. No longer did they have to keep their guard up or worry if Alice was feeling uncomfortable.
Instead, they were able to explore the lands surrounding Luna's home, sometimes pretending it was Wonderland for the little girl's sake. It was the happiest Xenophilius had seen Luna in a long time. It was the most he had heard her talk since her mother's passing, like when Alice would spend the night, he could hear them talking into the late hours of the evening. The only thing he dreaded was the moment when Alice would eventually have to return to Hogwarts. He knew that Alice would try to remain in contact through letters, but would that be enough for his daughter?
It hadn't gone unnoticed that Luna had formed such a strong bond to Alice in a short time, more than likely due to the fact that Alice reminded her so much of her late mother.
"Alice?" Luna spoke one afternoon as the two found themselves settled in a field, cloud gazing. Luna had never thought to peer up at the clouds and imagine different shapes to be something other than just clouds, but it quickly became her favourite thing to do on a warm day.
"Yes, Luna?"
"Do you have any friends outside of the Wonderlanders? You know, friends at Hogwarts."
Turning her head, Alice smiled with a small nod. "Yes, I do. Not too many, but I prefer it that way, I think. There's Fred and George Weasley, they're twins and-"
"I know of the Weasley family," Luna interjected. "They actually live close by. I heard Father talk about them once, sometimes their chickens wander too far and he brings them home."
"Oh, that's wonderful, I bet-"
"They don't really talk to us though," she continued. "They have a daughter my age. Ginny. But I don't think she would want to spend time with me."
Alice's smile, quickly faded into a frown. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't she want to spend time with you?"
Luna remained quiet for a moment. Despite being young, she wasn't totally ignorant to the world around her. She knew, in some ways, that she was different from other children her age. She had been called "weird" or "strange" by other children when her father thought it would be good to bring her to play with others. Maybe they didn't like the way she spoke, or maybe they didn't like to hear what she had to say, so very often, she found children walking away from her.
She figured that Alice was similar to her enough and there was hope that if she had friends at Hogwarts, maybe one day Luna could have them too.
Alice picked up on Luna's silence and sat up in the grass. "You know, before I went to Wonderland, I didn't have any friends," she admitted. "And while I like to think it was because others didn't like me, sometimes, I feel like I didn't try hard enough to make friends with them. Maybe because I was afraid they were going to think ill of me and more than likely, some of them probably did. But I think I should have tried harder."
