luna and draco (druna)

Chapter 3

The very next morning, Draco put Step Two of his plan into action. Recruiting Luna to be his accomplice had gone exactly to plan – in all the ways that mattered, that was, he reminded himself as he trudged down to breakfast between Crabbe and Goyle. The opening hostilities had been inevitable, really, but at least neither of them had gotten hurt, which would have defeated the point of the meeting. And even though Luna still harbored serious doubts about his honesty, that was what Step Two was all about – convincing her that he meant business, so she would convince Potter to trust him.

As he entered the Great Hall, Draco found himself scanning the crowd of grumpy, early-morning students for a pair of sparkling blue eyes, a serene smile, and a cloud of honey-blonde hair. Once he realized what he was doing, though, he deliberately directed his attention away from the Ravenclaw table (where Luna had not yet appeared). Step One had gone off perfectly. He wasn't going to unnecessarily complicate Step Two (and all the steps to follow) by developing some sort of attachment to his accomplice.

It wasn't like they were friends, or ever would be.

Draco halfway listened to the chatter around him. As ever, Pansy Parkinson appeared at his elbow and stared up adoringly at him. Draco grated a smile he didn't feel in her direction, relieved when she joined in Crabbe and Goyle's conversation. The two of them had barely scraped together enough OWLs to remain in Hogwarts, and although they were taking the most numbskull classes, like Divination and Care of Magical Creatures, they still complained of being overwhelmed. Draco, was who taking every advanced class available (and whose scores, Professor Snape had commented the day before with ill-concealed surprise, had been the highest in Slytherin House), would normally have dropped some scathing comment about the complexity of Professor Trelawney's so-called homework, but with his mind full of schemes for Step Two, he didn't even bother to tell his friends off. He just tuned them out and let his mind wander…

The day after Lord Voldemort had recruited Draco for the impossible mission of murdering Hogwarts' Headmaster – a task Draco knew he was meant to fail at, to the ruin of himself and his parents – Draco had decided to put his considerable skills to work saving his life (and his parents' lives). As his OWLs proved, Draco was smart, but he had more than the bookish intelligence of Hermione Granger: He was canny. Smart enough to recognize his limits as a wizard and not to push those (when he could avoid it). Smart enough to surround himself with capable allies because he knew he couldn't defeat his enemies alone. Smart enough to enlist Aunt Bella in his plan without giving away his true intentions. Smart enough to select an accomplice Potter would trust, even over the protests Draco knew Granger and Weasley – and probably everyone else in Potter's do-gooder, save-the-world set – would raise.

Therein lay Draco's real gift: He understood people. He had always been an observant boy, one who didn't just see – he looked at people, tried to get inside their heads, as it were. Convincing Potter that he had switched sides would be no easy task, because Potter, Draco had observed, quite conveniently split the world into black and white, evil and good. He, Draco, fell solidly in the "evil" camp so far as Potter was concerned. To protect himself and his parents, Draco couldn't openly disavow Lord Voldemort's mission, thereby casting off the traits that caused Potter to despise him.

So Draco had to attempt something far more dangerous – and he had to bring Luna along for the ride, as his witness. He had determined within hours of the Dark Lord's "request" that the only way to save himself was to bring Lord Voldemort down, and the person most likely to do that was Harry Potter, the Chosen One. Yet the only way Draco could see to ally himself with Potter was to strike a heavy blow against the Dark Lord – a blow the most accomplished Legilimens in the history of the wizarding world would not suspect came from Draco, while still a blow that would impress Potter.