19 Years (HP - Drarry)

Chapter 39: Girls, Girls, Girls

Luna shook her head, sending her long, rainbow-streaked hair swinging as she rose gracefully to her feet, abandoning her spot on the floor, where she'd been leaning comfortably against Astoria's knee. "Honestly," she murmured, "how do any of you manage to do anything?" She walked nimbly across the room, bare feet delicate and sure as a dancer's.

"Where are you going?" Pansy asked sleepily, shifting slightly against Hermione's body, curled against her like a cat's. They each had a book resting by their heads, but neither seemed to be able to work up the energy to crack them open, much less read them.

Luna laughed. "To the kitchen. I'll be right back."

---

Sunday, November 19, 2017

"So, I was thinking, w-" Hermione stopped abruptly in the kitchen doorway, staring at the small, busy creature in the flowered apron who was working beside Astoria at the prep table. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, working silently. "I thought we said we weren't getting a house-elf," she said faintly, once she'd recovered her voice. Her expression hovered somewhere between disappointment and betrayal. Ginny moved unconsciously in front of Pansy, whose face had paled several shades, and whose hands clutched convulsively at her skirt.

"I -" Pansy started, but Luna's firm voice cut across hers, drowning it out.

"Oh," she said, glancing at Hermione sidelong and then returning her attention to her task. "I borrowed her from Hogwarts."

Pansy found her voice, her color returning, though two points of red remained high on her cheeks. "Don't make a fuss, darling. You may be happy eating take-out every day, but the rest of us find it tiring. Anyway, we're paying her."

Hermione deflated. "We are?"

The house-elf nodded and said brightly, "Yes mistress! Cora is being paid very well, indeed! Cora is happy to continue serving the mistresses!'

Hermione took the plate Astoria handed her and frowned, picking up a delicate sandwich and chewing absently. "Hang on!" she exclaimed, eyes widening. "She said continue serving, and this sandwich tastes awfully familiar."

She glared at the crust in her hand, then leveled an accusing glare at Pansy. "Who told her I like cream-cheese, green olive, and pineapple sandwiches?"

Ginny looked over at Astoria, horrified, and mimed gagging. Astoria's lips quirked as she valiantly fought a smile. Luna giggled.

"Come, now, darling," Pansy said, turning her hand lazily, examining her flawless nails. The glossy ebony polish gleamed in the light that filtered through the gauzy curtains. "Surely you didn't think I've been doing all the cooking these past eighteen years."

Hermione stared, comprehension dawning.

"Oh, don't look at me like that!" Pansy exclaimed. "I've paid her all along. Twice the going rate, I'll have you know. Only time I've had to argue someone's price up, she muttered, crossing her arms tightly over her chest."

Hermione snorted and wrapped her sweater-clad arms around Pansy's shoulders, squeezing tighter when she stiffened. "It was a bit of a shock, is all," she said, tugging Pansy closer to her. "I'm not actually upset about it. I have been a bit oblivious, haven't I?"

Pansy grinned, relaxing against her. "For the brightest witch of your age, you can be rather dim, sometimes, it's true. And if you even think about forcing some of that vile sandwich down my throat, I will hex you."

Hermione, whose eyes had taken on a decidedly devious glint, sighed dramatically. "Oh, all right."

"Speaking of oblivious," Ginny said, attempting to restore order as she munched on her own - much more normal - cucumber sandwich, "have we any idea what we're going to do with our favorite oblivious idiots?"

"If we could just get Draco to tell Harry whatever he did..." Hermione trailed off, grimacing. That was not something any of them cared to hinge their plans on.

Astoria sighed. "I am trying. But he's kept it a secret for so long, now - it's almost like he's afraid to say it." She huffed out a frustrated breath, leaning into Ginny, who rubbed her shoulders affectionately.

"Well, of course he is," Luna said suddenly, turning from the window, where she'd been hanging a series of crystals. The clouds parted for a moment, and a ray of sunlight lanced through them, scattering a swarm of dancing rainbows around the room. "He has Harry, now, as a friend, of sorts. He's afraid to tell him because he learned to keep secrets, during the war - living with Voldemort, he'd have had to - but also because there's the chance that, if he tells Harry, he could lose that tentative friendship. You remember how they were, in school - always fighting to get one another's attention. He probably reasons that having even the tiniest scrap of Harry's attention is better than none of it at all.

"So... what do we do?" Pansy looked as lost as Ginny felt. Even though she'd known Draco longest, she didn't seem confident that she actually knew him at all. Even Astoria had confided that she'd never broken through Draco's walls.

"Isn't it obvious?" Luna held up a small crystal, turning it so it caught and scattered the light. "We have to make sure they get - and keep - one another's attention. We keep throwing them together, until Draco breaks. Until the possibility of something more outweighs the reluctance to lose what he has. Until he can't stand to keep it in anymore."

They stared at one another, wondering. "How the hell do we do that?" Hermione finally asked.

Luna picked up the battered copy of Romeo and Juliet that she'd been reading while she worked, patting its cover fondly. "For that, I think we'd better ask the Bard."