The Nicest Thing
By: InitialA
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

The door opened, and Luna smiled serenely; she knew he must be confused at her appearance. Her plait, as neat as she was capable of when she had left her house, was now frizzy and coated in twigs, leaves, and dirt; her robe was smudged with dirt, as were her hands and knees, and there was probably a streak of it on her face from when she'd touched it. However, it had been very important to inspect Harry Potter's front garden, as she suspected an unusual number of mooncalves to live in the hedges. (while she had yet to find the burrow's entrance, she did discover the nest of puffskeins)

Harry, however, merely blinked once at the sight of her—being used to such appearances after more than a decade of friendship—before breaking into a grin. "Hello, Luna."

"Hullo Harry. Did you know about the puffskeins in the hedge?" Luna asked and stepped inside at his gesture; Harry closed the door behind her.

"Yes; Ginny loves the things, I can't get rid of them. Might sell 'em for some extra gold if they keep breeding like that."

"I'd watch for mooncalves as well; I couldn't find the burrow before I would be a rude sort of late, but I'm sure there's one in here."

Harry gave her that quirky smile, the one she knew meant he was both baffled and amused by what she had said. "I'll set James in the yard during the next full moon."

"Yes, they respond well with children," Luna replied absently, gazing around the front hall and taking in the changes since her last visit.

She saw him fiddle with his hands briefly out of the corner of her eye; she was used to unnerving Harry Potter and at this point it was quite amusing to come up with new ways to perturb him. "How is Ginny?" She asked, taking pity on him and changing the conversation.

Harry grinned. "She's great, her and the baby both. Just got home today, that's why we wanted you to come over."

"Oh? I would think Ginny would want to rest, you didn't have visitors for a week after Albus was born."

"Yes, well… this is a bit different. Would you come upstairs with me?"

She followed him, up the stairs and into what she presumed was the nursery; it was a small house, and no doubt the boys were now sharing the other bedroom. Ginny was there with the new baby, and smiled warmly as they came in. "Hullo Luna, I'm glad you could come."

"Rolf and I just got back from researching fwoopers in Africa, so it's no trouble. I was just telling Harry I thought you might want to rest for a while," Luna said.

Ginny looked down at the baby in her arms, still smiling. "I have energy enough for this, and I thought it was more important. Luna, I'd like you to meet our daughter, Lily. Would you like to hold her?"

Luna accepted, and took the tiny bundle carefully. "She's lovely. Ginger hair just like her mum."

"And her grandmum," Harry offered. "We named her after my mother."

"Oh that's nice. Like James and Albus, then."

"Yes. And, we'd like to ask your blessing on her middle name," Harry said.

For the first time that afternoon, Luna was slightly confused. "Oh?"

"We've named her Lily Luna, after you. We'd like it if you would be her godmother."

She blinked, shocked into silence. Godmother? And named after her? She hadn't known anyone cared enough to name their child after her, let alone thought well enough of her to do so and to believe she would do well to raise their child if something should happen. "I…"

She looked down at the baby; Lily stared back with sleepy brown eyes for a few moments before sighing, closing her eyes, and falling asleep. Luna's throat tightened momentarily as emotions brought her out of her usual dreamy state. "Well, that seems… she's comfortable enough with me. That should be enough for me to agree, I would think."

Ginny stood and wrapped Luna in a one-armed hug. "You're one of our dearest friends, Luna."

She took the sleeping baby and put her back in her crib. Luna smeared a bit more dirt on her face as she hurriedly wiped away a few sudden tears. "I… I can't…"

Harry was closest; he was the closest and the afterthought in her mind was that it was one more way to unsettle him, but the first thing in her mind was that she needed to hug someone and maybe that would help. She threw her arms around his neck. He stumbled slightly, but cautiously hugged her back. "Thank you," Luna said finally, finding the right words. "This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me, that anyone could ever do to me."