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[simply-strange.livejournal.com]

Harry/Luna (Harry Potter)

Title: Leap Of Faith
Author: simply_strange
Spoilers: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Email: pasta.puttanesca@gmail.com
Notes:
Well, here I go on my attempt to write an essay for my OTP. And this might not be a very well-written essay, but I tried my best. This will just be a simple essay, and straight-to-the-point I hope. Oh and Please. No ship wars. I would love H/L to be canon, even if it’s 5% chance out of a 100, but it’s canon possibilities isn’t the reason I ship it. Thank you.



+++



I. Just an introduction..

I must say I’m pretty lucky to be able to make a ship_manifesto essay for my OTP. I’m Cheska, and yes, you might recognize me as the webmistress of Katie Leung Fan. I got into the Harry Potter fandom right after I watched the 1st movie. The rest, I say, is too much to type on here.

When I first started reading OOTP, I was a Harry/Hermione shipper. A die-hard one. But all the moments between this certain new character and our dear beloved hero got me. I just knew that Harry/Luna will be a pairing I’ll be shipping nonstop as soon as I finished reading OOTP. And even after HBP, I still ship it. I’ll never be tired of this pairing.

Why? The relationship between Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood is different, yes, and that’s what makes it unique. Luna has this ability to understand Harry in a way that nobody could. Not even Dumbledore, Hagrid, nor his own best friends he’d known for 5 years. Yes, Harry does find Luna a bit weird, but he doesn’t call her Loony (and even corrects himself when he does), and just mentions her randomly just when he was about to kiss his crush in 5th year. Yes, by the end of 5th year, Luna had a place in Harry’s circle of friends because she had faith in him, and showed him that not all hope is lost. If their friendship somehow develops into something more, it would certainly be beautiful.

and it’s a leap of faith,
When you believe there’s someone out there,
It’s a leap of faith when you believe that someone cares.
-- “Leap Of Faith” by Michelle Branch


And here I go to try and show you how this eccentric pairing works.



II. The Hero – Harry James Potter
Is there really one word to describe Harry Potter? I’m afraid not. He pretty much has a complex life, having been raised by cruel Muggle relatives who never even told him about the wizarding world, and how he’s a part of it. When he does find out, though, he realizes it’s more complicated than that. He was famous. Famous for something that changed his life completely. Because of that, hardly anybody sees him for who he really is. It’s a great desire of his to be normal. He gets into a lot of trouble because of the fact that he isn’t afraid to take risks, and often acts without thinking. He’s a true Gryffindor and will do anything to protect the people he loves and cares about.

Wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home I’ll never see

It may sound absurd...but don’t be naive
Even heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed...but won’t you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream
It’s not easy to be me
-- “Superman” by Five For Fighting



III. The Dreamer – Luna Lovegood
Luna Lovegood, I have to say is a pretty interesting character. She makes her first appearance in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and we immediately get a feel of her eccentricity. We also find out that her father is the editor of The Quibbler, which is an odd magazine. Luna’s mother, meanwhile (described extraordinary by Luna herself) died while working on an experiment when Luna was 9 years old. What’s worse was Luna saw the whole tragedy right before her eyes. In my opinion, I think the death of her Mum changed her life, just like the way Harry’s’ parents’ death changed his life. Luna believes in the unbelievable and odd things herself and that’s why she's always quite alone. She is called “Loony Lovegood” behind her back because of her strange ways, and yet she doesn’t mind. She’s always precarious but always stands up for what she believes in. She doesn’t let anyone get her down, but not in a way that Harry would do. She just ignores people who make fun of her, instead of fighting them back. Luna’s also a Ravenclaw, because of her desire to learn. She always wants the truth behind things.

She's fading away, away from this world.
Drifting like a feather she's not like the other girls.
She lives in the clouds and talks to the birds.
Hopeless little one she's not like the other girls I know
-- “Not Like The Other Girls” by The Rasmus



IV. The Moments

Harry/Luna moments in OOTP and HBP are not what you would really say romantic, but they touch your heart and will make you see how the two characters can work as a couple.

She Reassures Him:

'It's all right,' said a dreamy voice from beside Harry as Ron vanished into the coach's dark interior. 'You're not going mad or anything. I can see them, too.'

'Can you?' said Harry desperately, turning to Luna. He could see the bat-winged horses reflected in her wide silvery eyes.


---

Can't anyone else hear it?' Harry demanded, for the whispering and murmuring was becoming louder; without really meaning to put it there, he found, his foot was on the dais.

'I can hear them too,' breathed Luna, joining them around the side of the archway and gazing at the swaying veil. 'There are people in there!’

Harry, ever since Cedric’s death, started seeing and hearing things he wasn’t able to before. His greatest desire to be normal wasn’t near to being fulfilled; in fact it just got farther. When he was suddenly able to see the Thestrals and hear voices beyond the veil he felt alone and isolated but Luna changed that. She made him feel better because she can also hear and see things nobody else can. Seeing death before their eyes created a connection, quite a strong bond between them. Death, as depressing as it may sound, is actually a major part of Harry’s life. It’s a part of why he’s the person he is, and Luna will always be there to reassure him that he is “just as sane” as she is.


He Felt Heartened…

Harry could hear Luna's ludicrous lion hat roaring amidst the Gryffindor cheers and felt heartened…
The lion hat that when tapped by Luna’s wand roars a very realistic roar. It was supposed to be chewing a serpent to represent Slytherin if only Luna had more time. The one that put Harry in quite a shock?
Yes, it made him feel heartened, and completely changed his whole perspective of the game, when a few seconds before he was frantic to find the Snitch.
Certain H/L shippers, like me for instance, just love this moment. It’s a small one, really, and happens fast, but it shows something.
Luna’s odd, strange ways will always find a way to make Harry feel better. Her ability to believe in the extraordinary is a perfect fit for Harry’s not-so-ordinary life.


He Called Her Cool

People expect you to have cooler friends than us,' said Luna, once again displaying her knack for embarrassing honesty.

'You are cool,' said Harry shortly. 'None of them was at the Ministry. They didn't fight with me,'

'That's a very nice thing to say,' beamed Luna, and she pushed her Spectrespecs further up her nose and settled down to read The Quibbler.

One of the few H/L moments in HBP. Luna is no longer the weird, random, Ravenclaw girl he barely knows. Luna’s a “cool person” to Harry now because of all the help she had given him last year. This is basically like his thanks to her... and shows that Harry finds a real friend in her. And have you noticed, that mostly in OOTP, she’s preferred as Luna Lovegood? Usually all minor characters like that are called with their full names at first mention. But in late OOTP and HBP, she’s just Luna now to Harry. That’s of some importance to their relationship isn’t it?


A Stranger Speaking…

'How would you like to come to Slughorn's party with me tonight?'

The words were out of Harry's mouth before he could stop them; he heard himself say them as though it were a stranger speaking.

Luna turned her protuberant eyes upon him in surprise.

'Slughorn's party? With you?'

'Yeah,' said Harry. 'We're supposed to bring guests, so I thought you might like ... I mean ...' He was keen to make his intentions perfectly clear. 'I mean, just as friends, you know. But if you don't want to ...'

He was already half-hoping she didn't want to.

I agree with Ron’s reaction, Harry really could’ve gone with anyone, but why did he choose Luna? Maybe he tried to make his intentions perfectly clear, that he just wants to go with her in a "just friends" manner, but the interesting part here is that ‘he heard himself say them as though a stranger speaking’. It looks like Harry doesn’t even know he likes Luna. purple_quill made a really good point in a H/L community about this. It could be Harry’s subconscious finally speaking up.


The Odd Feeling

An odd feeling rose in Harry; an emotion quite different from the anger and grief that had filled him since Sirius' death. It was a few moments before he realized that he was feeling sorry for Luna.

'How come people hide your stuff?' he asked her, frowning.

'Oh ... well ...' she shrugged. 'I think they think I'm a bit odd, you know. Some people call me "Loony" Lovegood, actually.'

Harry looked at her and the new feeling of pity intensified rather painfully.

'That's no reason for them to take your things,' he said flatly. 'D'you want help finding them?'

'Oh, no,' she said, smiling at him. 'They'll come back; they always do in the end. It was just that I wanted to pack tonight. Anyway ... why aren't you at the feast?'

Harry shrugged. 'Just didn't feel like it.'

'No,' said Luna, observing him with those oddly misty, protuberant eyes. 'I don't suppose you do. That man the Death Eaters killed was your godfather, wasn't he? Ginny told me.'

Harry nodded curtly, but found that for some reason he did not mind Luna talking about Sirius. He had just remembered that she, too, could see Thestrals.

'Have you ...' he began. 'I mean, who...has anyone you known ever died?'

'Yes,' said Luna simply, 'my mother. She was a quite extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine.'

'I'm sorry,' Harry mumbled.

'Yes, it was rather horrible,' said Luna conversationally. 'I still feel very sad about it sometimes. But I've still got Dad. And anyway, it's not as though I'll never see Mum again, is it?'

'Er - isn't it?' said Harry uncertainly.

She shook her head in disbelief.

'Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?'

'You mean ...'

'In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them.'

They looked at each other. Luna was smiling slightly. Harry did not know what to say, or to think; Luna believed so many extraordinary things ... yet he had been sure he heard voices behind the yeil, too.

'Are you sure you don't want me to help you look for your stuff?' he said.

'Oh, no,' said Luna. 'No, I think I'll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it all to turn up ... it always does in the end ... well, have a nice holiday, Harry.'

'Yeah ... yeah, you too.'

She walked away from him, and, as he watched her go, he found that the terrible weight in his stomach seemed to have lessened slightly.

As I said before, Luna’s ability to believe in extraordinary things can help Harry, a lot. All throughout Order of the Phoenix, we get a whole new different Harry, and Sirius’ death just changed him more. Important people in Harry’s life couldn’t do anything. But Luna, her simple act of telling him that ‘they were just lurking out of sight’ helped him move on through this difficult obstacle. That is pretty much why Luna becomes quite an important person in Harry’s life. I find it sad that she was hardly in Half-Blood Prince.

It was you who picked the pieces up
When I was a broken soul
And then glued me back together
Returned to me what others stole
-- “Sway” by The Perishers



V. The Reason

I really love the way Harry/Luna is shown in the books, specifically Order of the Phoenix. From the day that Harry saw the Thestrals to the night that Luna posted up a list of her lost belongings, you could really see their strong bond and the friendship that they formed. Sadly it was hardly ongoing in Half-Blood Prince, but we do see that Harry really considered Luna as a real friend that would stick by his side no matter what.

I think that Harry needs Luna as much as he needs Ron and Hermione. Luna has an ability that Ron and Hermione couldn’t do that’s important in Harry’s life: to believe in the unbelievable. Obviously not everything in Harry’s life can be explained by logic because well, he IS the Chosen one.

I also think that they both seem to be excluded in a way, and that they can definitely find comfort in each other. They have a lot of things in common, even if they seem so different.

The beautiful thing about this ship is that Luna has faith in Harry, whatever happens, and he’s the person she believes in the most. Harry, meanwhile, finds hope in Luna, and accepts her for who she really is.
The connection is exceptional, even if they’re just close friends or a romantic couple. In Order of the Phoenix, the bond formed, and in Half-Blood Prince, we could tell that Harry really appreciates all that Luna has done for him.

Tell me did you sail across the sun
Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated

Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star
One without a permanent scar
And did you miss me while you were looking at yourself out there
-- “Drops Of Jupiter” by Train



VI. The Fanon

Fanfiction

Let The Sun Inside by fivil
The Only Thing They Ever Feared by dearladydisdain
Charade by goldy_dollar
Coming To An Understanding by darklymoonlit
Sitting On A Tree by mrs_luthor
Flights Of Fancy by goldy_dollar
A Sight Unseen by heron_advocate
Countdown by _fullofgrace -- this one I highly recommend. Probably my most favorite H/L fanfiction so far.
Dried Tears , Luna’s Midsummer Letter, and Luna’s Valentine by michelle31a

Fanart

This and This by venire_ici
This by lroy

Communities

loonieslions
oddly_perfect
hpll_ficathon

Must-Click

Beautiful Alone , the TFL.org approved Harry Potter/Luna Lovegood relationship fanlisting.
Current H/L Cookie Jar in FAP.
Current H/L FanForum Thread
My LJ friend _____faith is doing this really nice magazine article on post-Hogwarts H/L. It's really nice and refreshing. Click here to see the archives of the article pages.

I'm also working on a Harry/Luna fansite. It's almost done, and will probably be open a week from now. Stay tuned for that.

+++

I would like to thank my dear LJ friend goldy_dollar for inspiring me to pluck up the courage to write this manifesto. I'm not sure if my essay can ever compete with your H/Hr one, but I tried my best.

And that is all. Goodnight.

Comments

[lizzypaul.livejournal.com]

Good essay! I love Harry/Luna, even though I'm usually a slash fan. I think that of all the student pairings in HP, Luna and Harry have a unique ability to understand each other, and a grace with each other that would serve a long-term relationship.

[simply-strange.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I love the understanding between Harry and Luna. One of the reasons I fully ship it.

[qem_chibati]

Hee~ I'm looking forward to reading through the recs!

One little thing

"I just know that Harry/Luna will be a pairing I’ll be shipping nonstop as soon as I finished reading OOTP."

I think you meant knew, there. ^.~ Sorry don't mean to be picky just it jumped out and bit me on the nose. o.o;

[simply-strange.livejournal.com]

Oh the recs were fun to find and read. I'll probably be adding more as time goes by.

Oh and sorry about that. I changed it. This essay wasn't beta-ed since I couldn't find one, so I apologize for that.

[qem_chibati]

Awesome.

No problem, understandable - just I figured you'd probably want to know about mistakes like that. ^_^;;

[mushroom18.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of Harry/Luna too...wonderful essay! (FINALLY somebody notices this pairing!) Luna is just strange and oddly perfect for Harry, one who's calm enough to control Harry when he becomes too emotional. XD And she's not like the stereotypical perfect, all-around girls Harry seems to fall for all the time.

[simply-strange.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I was really quite surprised there wasn't a Harry/Luna manifesto, it kind of made me think nobody noticed it anymore after HBP, which is kind of sad. And I agree, Luna's not a stereotype of girls Harry fancies. She's unique. I love that about Luna.

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

Here via hogwarts_today. Good manifesto!

BTW, I've always figured Luna was in Ravenclaw because of her thirst for knowledge. Yeah, it's weird knowledge (Crumple-horned snorkacks, anyone?). But she's always *looking* for knowledge and the truth behind things.

[simply-strange.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Oh and you made a good point on why Luna's in Ravenclaw. I hope you don't mind if I edit the essay with your comment.

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

Don't mind at all. Glad I could add something! :)

[ex-luinil.livejournal.com]

Luna may be my favourite female character, and it certainly seems to me that no one else is so well suited to Harry. It's clear that each of them could fill in something the other needs.

This has been knocking around in my head since the last book, and it makes me happy to know others have been thinking of it as well.

[simply-strange.livejournal.com]

Luna's my favourite character as well.

People keep saying there was no H/L evidence at all in HBP, due to the fact that H/G became canon. They are so wrong. That part when Harry asked Luna to Slughorn's party really got me and I knew there was something there.

Thank you for reading. =)

[requiem-unbound.livejournal.com]

Ohhh that was amazing! Harry and Luna make so much more sense to me than H/G, and you did a very good job convincing me further! Also: it looks like you've written the only H/L manifesto I can find, so hurrah for you! Thanks for doing it. :)
I added this to my memories, hope you don't mind! :)

[fivil.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec! I wasn't expecting it at all so it was an awesome surprise to end this cool ship manifesto. It was nicely composed and even if I wasn't a fan of the song lyrics, when I read them, some of them described the character dynamic well.

And I love the header picture. That girl looks a lot like the Luna in my head.

[haltlos.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the essay and the recs!
I love this pairing even if it's not my OTP I still adore the two of them together! I fell in love with them right away in OotP.
Great job!

[karorine.livejournal.com]

Love the essay!
Luna is my absuloute favourite character and I will and always ship Harry/Luna. The pairing seems beautiful in its own way, something about it gives me this nice peaceful feeling. Sirius was my favourite character and when Luna commented on they 'were just hiding behind the veil' it made me feel a whole lot better about the situation too.

I personally think the Harry/Ginny relationship was quite random. It just happened like it was thrown in our faces. No offence to anyone who ships the two. Again, I love this essay. I, also used to be a big fan of Harry/Hermione until Luna was introduced, at first I thought it was completely impossible and no one else has ever thought about it but then when Harry asked Luna to go to Slughorn's party I was all "OhMyGod, Squee!"

H/L forever! xD

[chipped-diamond.livejournal.com]

I was so surprised when I found this. I didn't think there would be that many that shipped the same as I did (anyone else find Ginny/Harry rather random?)! Thanks for this, it really brings my hopes up! =D

Btw, doesn't Luna seem especially happy when Harry talks to her? Like when Hayy says she's cool, she "beams," and when he invited her to Slughorn's party she's pretty much estatic? She's usually only dreamy, but with Harry... ;D

[heartscream.livejournal.com]

I love the essay :D. Before OotP I never really shipped Harry with anyone - no one seemed to fit, and I thought Ginny was kind of shoved down my throat for a while...but then along came Luna! With radish earrings and weirdness and they're just so right together it made me squeal.

If they can't be together though, I think I can be satisfied with a good, solid friendship and teensy emotional moments here and there. But, again, loving the essay - though question: who is that girl you used in the banner? She looks so much like Luna and I can't put a name to her.

[jill-rg.livejournal.com]

If I remember correctly, OotP came out right after an announcement of the "many things to look forward to" variety, and the only thing I remember from the list was "a love ineterest for Harry." After reading OotP, I was almost 100% positive it would be Luna. They're still my favorite Harry ship because I find their interactions the sweetest and most endearing out of Harry's interactions with all his other love interests.

[misaoshinomori.livejournal.com]

oddly enough I also wholeheartedly believed that Harry/Luna was going to be canon when I read OotP. I was so sad it didn't happen TT_TT

Oh and yay ATLA fan =3

[archelle.livejournal.com]

actually I am a slash fan and I love to pair Harry with other hot guys(especially Draco or Cedric). But amazingly enough the only girl I can tolerate to be paired off to Harry is Luna Lovegood! I adore Luna! Actually for me Harry/Luna makes much more sense that Harry/Ginny. I don't know why I've never warmed up on H/G pairing.

[arcticbee.livejournal.com]

One word simply describes how happy I was to see this 'Yes Yes Yes!'

Like perhaps you and other shippers I did used to ship Harry/Hermione a bit, but Luna's introduction made me really change my mind. Luna was quite possibly my favorite character because of her uniqueness. My Dad was the first one to suggest the idea of the pairing to me, and afterwards I thought about it and I really began to like it. One moment that made me really think of Harry and Luna was in the OOTP movie towards the end where it ended with Harry and Luna and what I believe you quoted earlier "Things turn up in mysterious places" Or something like that, I haven't read Harry Potter in forever. And it was adorable.

Harry/Ginny was overly random. I'm not a huge fan of 'She's a big fan of him, then he falls for her yadda yadda' because if we remember right Ginny idolized him in the earlier books. Only...one pairing I like is sort of like that. And no offense to shippers...but look at what that relationship did to them. Ginny, who was vivacious and witty in GoF and OoTP is subdued by Harry. The same sort of thing happened in Lupin/Tonks as well (But this isn't a rant for either pairing and I think Neville/Ginny would be cute so I'll get to the point)

Harry and Luna are actually good for each other. They both act upon each other and impact their personalities in positive ways.

I liked reading this~ Thank you!

[werkelijkheid90.livejournal.com]

I really wanted to comment on this and I'm so glad you posted naught but a few days ago, lest I feel weird for necromancing an old comment. XD

All I really wanted to say was, WORD, to all of this. I, too, am not a big fan of the Harry/Ginny ship, but this is the first time I found someone who dislikes it for the exact same reasons I do. I love Tonks/Lupin as well, but I do agree that the whole one-sided praise thing has a tendency to throw relationships out of whack. What really makes a relationship work is if the two involved can feel like equals. I think Lupin and Tonks more or less arrived at that before the end, but Ginny and Harry? Well, never have I seen a couple with less exposition and growth, so I can't say for sure, really. I also felt like Ginny was used as a plot device more than anything (to keep ties between Harry and the Weasleys) and so because of her ship with Harry, her character never really got developed properly (or so is my opinion).

I also prefer Harry/Luna (Harry Potter OTP, for me) and Ginny/Neville. I think both of these arrangements make so much more sense and would have been a lot more fun to watch play out, given that we surprisingly didn't really see any concrete Harry/Ginny bonding. Harry and Luna are oddly so well suited for each other and have much to offer for one another. I think the same rings true for Neville/Ginny and one can use their imagination to guess how their courtship would have panned out.

So, in essence, I agree with you wholeheartedly. =D

[murf1307.livejournal.com]

Yep, here's my het OTP for Harry. It just works. Even after Deathly Hallows, I ship it. There's something about Luna that makes her the One, in my mind. Despite her oddities, she always has the perfect thing to say; and then there's everything you've mentioned about them both having witnessed death and being able to hear the voices in the Veil.