YeS!

I SHIP! And it's not just so I can get Hinny out of the way. ._. 

I actually do ship these sweethearts together. :3

They were good friends in canon, so it's not like their canon relationship is based on a power imbalance, or abusive behaviour, etc. It doesn't have stupid drama or meaningless angst. There could've been more interaction of course, but what we were given was pretty sweet. Ginny is one of Luna's defenders in the books, it's basically canon that she beats up boys for making fun of her. Luna has an obvious crush on Ginny. She even talks about how much she likes her on the damn microphone. When will your faves? They are SO cute, and there's great potential for a sincere relationship.

Some ship it for the wrong reasons. I'm sure there are men who ship them for fetishistic purposes (two white girls getting it on is hot to them). Then, there are Drarry shippers who just want Ginny out of the way, so Harry and Draco can be with each other. Or Harry/Hermione shippers who are threatened by Lunarry and Hinny. They don't care about Luna or Ginny, either way, they just want them out of the way, so Harry can be with Hermione (Yeah, you don't fool me, Harmoanians!)

Oh, and it makes them look progressive to ship a f/f pair.

LunaxGinny is arguably the most popular femslash ship in the HP fandom, and possibly the biggest Luna ship (Lunarry's popularity has gone down). The shippers are so creative; there's a lot of wonderful fanart, and fanfics coming from the Linny side. Having said that, I would like it if they take the ship more seriously. Their relationship is more than just Ginny committing crimes to defend Luna's honour, and Luna playing with bubble machines in the background.

The other reason is that it's a popular female slash pairing and they might really like the dynamic. People often get inspired by fanart they like or fanfics they've read. Ginny and Luna live close together, so they invent a little extra backstory of them having been friends before Hogwarts.

They sometimes use Ginny's dating history as evidence of her either being gay or bisexual and then just ignore the epilogue in Luna's case. With Ginny, they say that she dated those guys to see if she was straight, but then she realized she's bi.

What's not to get?

They grew up with each other (two magical girls in the same town - they were bound to have made friends at some point). Ginny is brash, brazen and ballsy. Luna is shy, reserved and still fun. You can imagine them, in a slightly different life, raising hell around Ottery St C - may be playing tricks on some of the villagers (not mean ones , just fun ones). And - quite honestly - fanfiction needs more gay and lesbians in it. Especially teen fanfiction. There is not enough same-sex shipping going on. 

Here are my favourite L/G moments in the book:

"You could've taken anyone!" said Ron in disbelief over dinner. "Anyone! And you chose Loony Lovegood?"

"Don't call her that, Ron!" snapped Ginny, pausing behind Harry on her way to join friends. "I'm really glad you're taking her Harry, she's so excited."

&

"[...] Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he's playing them — oh, look, he's lost the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she's very nice. ..."

Harry stared down at the commentator's podium. Surely nobody in their right mind would have let Luna Lovegood commentate?

(Whoops, sorry Lunarry shippers. Looks like Luna is more into Ginny, than Harry is into Luna. :P)

In canon, most of their interactions were Ginny defending and being fond of the odd girl in her class. She was happy for Luna when she told her that Harry was taking her to the party... so adorable! She was jealous of Cho, but she was never jealous of Luna. And Luna admired the bold, kind, and spunky Ginevra Weasley (if you're like me, you won't let anyone stop you from thinking that Luna had a crush on Ginny. Or a girl crush).

Unfortunately, there's nothing in the book that implies that Ginny and Luna were friends since the beginning. I'm pretty sure Luna was just the weird girl in Ginny's eyes (that's why she called her, "Loony," in the train. I know some ppl think that Ginny was saying it in an affectionate, teasing way, and that's a valid interpretation, but I'm going to stick with mine.) In my opinion, it wasn't until Ginny noticed Luna, and realized how much the kids bullied her, that she stopped calling her "Loony," and scolded others for using it too.

"Oh, it's been all right," said Luna. " A bit lonely without the D.A. Ginny's been nice, though. She stopped two boys in our Transfiguration class calling me 'Loony' the other day --"

Even during OotP and HBP, Luna and Ginny being BFFs are sort of fanon, and this is coming from a Linny shipper. If they spent a lot of time together, I'm sure Luna wouldn't have said things like, "It's been lonely without the D.A," or "I enjoyed the meetings too. It was like having friends."

Harry didn't let Luna complete her sentence though, so maybe Luna was going to say that Ginny studied with her, or paired up with her in Potions class, and how Ginny gushed about about how talented Dean is, while Luna tried not to feel annoyed, and casually mentioned that she's an artist too.

It doesn't really matter if you ask me. Even if they weren't close friends, you can still explore their potential dynamic (that's what fanfic is for!) I've read a lot of headcanons of Luna being the light through the darkness in Ginny's life, after the whole diary debacle (only half-joking). I'm totally here for baby Luna sending flowers to Ginny in the hospital wing and giving her emotional support. Ginny would probably find Luna's presence comforting, and find it easier to talk to her about what she went through (just like Harry didn't mind talking to Luna about Sirius.)

It is important to note that Luna doesn't exist to be Harry and Ginny's therapist. Her mom died when she was nine, and she was probably recovering from the loss around the diary debacle. I feel like after witnessing her mother's death, she purposely pushed people away so she wouldn't go through the pain again — of being close to someone, and then losing them. She never made an effort at befriending people. She enjoyed being by herself. It wasn't until after OotP, that she realized how painful loneliness could be, and how wonderful it is to have friends, that she started interacting with people (off-topic but I feel like this is one of the reasons why Hermione initially disliked Luna because she reminded her a little bit of herself. Both Luna and Hermione unintentionally pushed people away by being tactless, and brutally honest.)

The idea of them being friends before OotP isn't completely impossible. They could've been friends, but drifted apart for no reason. It sucks but it happens a lot IRL. I could see certain Luna and Ginny scenarios playing out that don't go against canon.

Picture this:

In her second year, Luna starts hearing rumours about Ginny Weasley being a dark lord and believes them because, well, she's Luna Lovegood.She observes Ginny in a boring History of Magic class and becomes amused that the Dark Lady is working on a pretty Get Well Soon card for someone. Luna can't help but ask her how she could be evil when she's so pretty and talented.Ginny makes a mental note not to sit next to Loony Lovegood in the future, after angrily telling her that she'd believe anything as long as there isn't enough proof for it.After class, an upset Ginny tells Hermione about the weird girl in her class. Hermione immediately dislikes Luna and advises Ginny to stay away from her. Later, Ginny receives an apology note, and a suspiciously looking candy stapled to the piece of paper. She tosses the candy in the trash, because she doesn't want to take any chances, but keeps the note because she likes Luna's typography skills, and thinks that maybe she could try copying her Rs. Ginny is very bad at doing her Rs.

Now, picture this:

In her third year Ginny is excited about Moody's class, after hearing about the ferret business, and nearly gets a panic attack after finding out that they'll be doing boggarts. She has no interest in seeing Tom Riddle again, but she refrains from informing Moody because she doesn't want the old Auror to think that she's a weak little girl who can't even get rid of boggarts. So she remains silent and just prays for an earthquake to hit the classroom or something. Where's a catastrophe when you need one?Luna starts observing her as usual and notices how the red-head witch is biting her nails. She puts two and two together and takes action. Ginny is lucky that her last name starts with W, but even then, Luna purposely takes too long to get rid of her boggart and distracts Crouch!Moody, so Ginny could escape.Ginny appreciates Luna's quick thinking and asks her to accompany her on the next Hogsmeade trip, which surprises Luna. She declines the offer because she can't understand why someone as popular, and cool as Ginny would want to be her friend. Would she be with her other friends too? Would they band together to make fun of her? Was this a prank? Probably. Her older brothers are famous for their pranks, she won't be surprised if Ginny is their apprentice.So, Luna incorrectly assumes that Ginny has ulterior motives, or doing it out of pity, and says no stiffly. Besides, Ginny is really pretty, and lately, Luna can't help but stammer and blush, whenever Ginny talks to her — even if it's something as simple as asking her if she can look at her Potions essay. She hates feeling this way, because it's stupid, and she doesn't recognize the emotion. She's always known that she is weird and different, but not that weird that she'd turn into an awkward, pathetic mess around Ginny. Why does she look forward to her hugs so much? Why does she get so angry when she sees her arms around that Hermione Granger? Does everyone feel this way around Ginny Weasley?Ginny feels disappointed and hurt when Luna says no, but also relieved because even though she has grown fond of the quirky girl, her friends would not be as accepting. But she does give Luna a hug, and a kiss on the cheek, and runs away — unaware that she is the reason Luna Lovegood is smiling like a fool, and skipping for the rest of the day.

This is the only valid explanation as to why Luna and Ginny weren't friends before OotP. Because of Luna's little crush on Ginny, and her trust issues. 

Rating: 10/10