Thin Lines

01.

Draco Malfoy sat with his family at one of the house tables. He hadn't even noticed which table. His mother had shoved him in a seat and immediately began searching him for injuries.

Once she had finished fussing over him, she began to worry about one of the students that had taken the seat next to them. Her motherly instincts were taking her over. She drifted up and down the tables with other mothers and healers, fixing up the adolecent and adult fighters alike.

Someone sat in the place Narcissa had previously occupied. Draco glanced over, perceiving it to be Luna Lovegood.

Draco stiffened and gave a small nod.

"Hello Draco," she smiled softly, her blonde hair was messily shoved in a ponytail and her blue eyes looked sleepy.

"Hi." Draco managed to mutter.

Luna turned to examine Draco's appearance. "You look much better."

He nodded shortly, finding the conversation to be awkward and forced on his end. Luna was completely calm and carefree. "My mother healed me."

Luna hummed and nodded, "she fixed me up, as well. Your mum is nice."

Draco struggled to find something to say, glancing to his side for help, but seeing that his father had left to help his mother, he was alone. "Thank you. I'm sure your mother is nice too."

"My mum is dead." Luna replied in the same voice, she seemed nonchalant with telling people that. As if she did it everyday.

Draco faltered, "I'm sorry." He murmured softly, looking away.

"Now's not a time to be sorry, the war is finished. Voldemort is dead." Luna spoke cheerfully.

Draco nodded, still not meeting her eyes.

"Draco? Would you like to meet my friends?" Luna asked curiously, her airy smile beckoning a small smile to grace his own lips.

"Sure," Draco nodded hesitantly.

Luna didn't wait a second longer, she grabbed Draco's hand pulled him from the seat at the Ravenclaw table he had been possessing. She pulled him around people, manoeuvring through the crowd of families happily reuniting with one another and grieving over lost relatives.

"Luna!" Someone called out.

Luna stopped, causing Draco to bump into her slightly. "Sorry," he murmured to her.

"Luna, why are you holding hands with him?"

"Neville," Luna smiled at the Gryffindor boy. "This is Draco."

Neville eyed Draco. "I know who he is. What are you doing with him?"

"I was taking him to meet my friends." Luna explained, "Draco, I'd like you to meet Neville."

Draco tried to smile at the boy, "hello."

Neville narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the other boy. When he noticed how disheveled and exhausted the boy was, just like him, he held his hand out.

Draco's eyes widened in surprise, he placed his right hand in Neville's, giving him a firm handshake.

"How are you?" Neville asked, his eyebrows frowning in a questioning look.

"Better than you, I suppose." Draco sighed, noticing the boy had not yet been healed by a mother wandering around in search of needy children, "I'm glad it's over."

Neville cracked a smile, "aren't we all."

"Come Draco, Neville," Luna pulled Draco's hand a bit. "I want to introduce you to the others."

Draco followed after the kind girl, understanding that this was his chance. He could change his future. Right here, right now, it was all about to change.

Luna had pulled him out of the Great Hall within moments and seconds later, he was standing in front of the golden trio and a few others. "Harry Potter," the blonde smiled softly.

"Luna?" A streak of red ran at them and Draco almost jumped in surprise as the youngest Weasley leapt at the small blonde girl. Luna's arm was still holding onto Draco, causing an awkward half hug between the three on Draco's part. "Luna, you're okay? You're fine?"

Luna smiled at her friend, "Draco's mum healed me. She's very nice."

Ginny Weasley turned to face Draco as if only just realizing he was there with them. "Thank you," the few words of thanks meant more to Draco than he would have liked to admit.

He looked down, as if embarassed, he shook his head slightly. "It wasn't me that healed her, I'll tell my mother you appreciate it."

"No, I meant thank you to you." Ginny repeated, Draco looked surprised, what for? his eyes asked. Ginny answered the silent question with a patient smile, "I saw you shoot that curse at Yaxley before George and Lee started deuling him. If you hadn't, he could have killed Luna, they were deuling before George started with Yaxley. But you caught his attention before he could. So thank you."

Draco was more than pleasantly surprised at the mention of thanks. He wasn't sure if anyone had noticed he had been fighting for Hogwarts. He smiled, such a foreign thing to do, Ginny smiled back.

Ron, who didn't look as happy as his younger sister did, frowned at Draco, looking him up and down, as if searching for some unknown motive behind Draco's sudden attitude change. He couldn't find anything, but that didn't mean he would stop searching.

Harry however, was happy to see a change in the boy. If Ginny was happy, than Harry was happy. And Ginny seemed quite satisfied with the changes the blonde boy had gone through.

Maybe it was the war atmosphere, or maybe the way that Draco's hair was not neatly slicked back, but instead messy and even having a bit of dirt in it. Or perhaps it was the small cuts and bruises, that had not finished healing completely, that littered the young boy's face and what skin she could see. But whatever it was, Hermione couldn't keep her eyes off of him. Her chocolate colored eyes scanned Draco, searching for all of the differences between this Draco and the old Draco.

Draco's grey eyes lifted, feeling the presence of another's eyes on him. Their eyes met and Draco held the contact. Hermione looked back, not in the least bit shy, the Gryffindor was anything but.

At last, Draco looked away, he couldn't stand to keep the contact any longer. There was something so confrontational about staring into someones eyes, he wasn't ready for that. Not yet.

"How are you Draco?"

Draco looked up in surprise, the emerald eyes everyone always commented on were now watching him. Was Harry Potter really asking him how he was? Was Harry Potter, his sworn enemy since they started Hogwarts, really speaking to him? And calling him by his given name, as well? The new discovery was unbelievable, oh how the times had changed.

"Fine, I suppose," the boy began, glancing around. Maybe it was a trick, all of the kindness they were giving him. Draco wasn't sure, and he didn't like it very much. The sudden changes of life were not his strong suit. Draco liked familiar, Draco liked regular, Draco liked plain.

Harry smiled, "good, would you like to join us? I haven't had a butterbeer in forever."

And now that he mentioned it, Draco couldn't remember the last time he had gone to a bar, or had a drink even. Maybe he would skip the butterbeer tonight and go for some firewhiskey.

"I'd like that," he nodded softly, a ghost of a smile gracing his pale lips.

Ginny smiled brightly, taking him by surprise. "Welcome to the group," she murmured just loudly enough for him to hear. And if her smile had surprised him, her words almost gave him a heart attack.

*****

So this is just a little expirement, if you guys like it, I'll most likely keep writing it. This will however only be one book, not a series. As well as I'll be continuing with my ongoing series Meeting The Marauders. But anyways, just let me know what you think.

Much love.