The Talent Show

Chapter 18 - Grand Romantic Gestures Part 2

Draco was very casually standing at the bottom of the astronomy tower when Luna came racing down, clutching a letter. Which was very convenient for Luna because she was on a mission.

"Draco! You like sneering, don't you?"

"Of course I do. Best thing ever. Love sneering. Sneering's my favourite thing ever. We're practically synonymous. Why?" 

Oh my gods, Draco, why don't you be a little more obvious?

"Because," Luna waved the paper in her hand around like a lunatic, "because I found a note! From a Nargle! And it says that to find it, I need your help?"

"Wowzers, does it really say that?"

Dear Merlin, have you always been this bad at acting?

It was a bloody good thing Luna was too excited about the note to notice Draco's magnificent attempts at naivety or his long pauses of self-ridicule. Very good indeed, because he had a feeling they would only get worse from here on out. 

"What a coincidence! A real coinkidink! I also just received a mysterious note from an unknown sender!"

You're really going for it, aren't you? Just gonna say 'coinkidink' like you'd throw that into normal conversation?

"Really? What does it say? Let me see!" Luna practically threw herself on top of Draco, reaching for the note that he'd just pulled from his pocket. In an effort to catch her, a damn good effort if you asked him, he dropped it. But he'd managed to catch Luna and keep both of them upright! So that was something! And...her face was very close to his. Very close. Super duper close. Like, see all the subtle colours in her eyes. And those cute little freckles that he'd somehow never noticed. And now those eyes were just kind of staring at him silently? And he was kind of leaning towards Luna's face? 

KISS HER, YOU FOOL! KISS HER OR I WILL LITERALLY SEPARATE MYSELF FROM YOUR MISERABLE BODY AND DO IT MYSELF, MARRY LUNA, FORCE YOU TO BE THE BEST MAN AT THE WEDDING, AND SAVE US ALL THE TROUBLE!

Okay. He could do this. He was going to listen to his brain for once in his life and do! this!

And then Luna sprang away from him and bounced in place.

"Well? What does the letter say? Tell me!"

"What letter?"

"Draco Lucius Malfoy! If you don't stop being awful this very minute and tell me what's on that piece of paper, I will smite you where you stand!" Luna was practically vibrating with excitement and she looked murderous. 

Hey. Draco. Luna's kinda hot when she's mad. I hope this brief infomercial helped you think straight and concentrate.

"Right! That letter! It, um, it says 'Oi! You, sneering boy! Find some blonde witch and escort her around to that tree place where ya first heard her sing you wanker!'"

Luna frowned, "That doesn't really sound like a Nargle...."

Of course it doesn't. It sounds like a jealous Neville wrote it.

Draco ignored his inner voice and muttered, "Well, maybe the Nargle was having a bad day when it wrote the note. Or maybe it just doesn't like me."

"Good point. Let's go to that tree!"

It turned out that finding a particular tree in the middle of a huge forest in which certain trees may or may not get up and move on their own (no one had seen it happen, but that didn't mean it never did) was a lot harder to do than Draco had thought it was going to be. 

It was even more difficult to find said tree when it was already dark and Draco had only visited it once. So he was really relying on Luna knowing where they were going. 

"Draco?"

"Hm?"

"Do you know where we're going?"

"Nope. I'm following your lead."

"Oh."

Something about that 'oh' set Draco's nerves on edge. He did not like that 'oh' one little bit. 

"Luna?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know where we're going?"

"Not in the slightest."

Panic. That is an order, Draco Malfoy. Straight from your own brain. You panic right now.

"What do you mean you don't know where we're going?!"

"Well, I don't exactly come into the forbidden forest with the intent to sit in specific trees and sing. It just happens. I sit where I feel the energy is right."

"Oh. That's...that's lovely! What do you think the chances are of the energy feeling right at the same tree where I first heard you singing?" Draco had been trying for cool, calm, and collected but he definitely detected a note of hysteria in his own voice.

"Well, I don't think the chances would be very good in normal circumstances, considering the number of trees in any given forest, but I'm sure the Nargles will guide us."

Right. You're doomed. You either need to come clean right now and save yourselves from getting hopelessly lost, or you need to embrace life as a forest dweller.

"Um...Luna?"

"Hmm?" she was inspecting the roots of a particularly sullen looking tree, and she looked radiant. Merlin, he couldn't believe he was about to do this.

"I think we might be lost, and actually, I'm fairly certain that I know we are. And how do I know this, you might ask. Well, I made this whole thing up. There were never any Nargles and I was just trying to get you back to the same tree where I first heard you singing because I had Neville set something up there as a surprise for you which is kind of weird now that I think about it, considering that we barely know each other," he couldn't believe he could actually hear himself going brain-dead the longer he talked.

"What do you mean, 'we barely know each other'?" she was still looking at the trees, her back to him."

"Well, I mean, we hardly ever talk . All I know is what I've observed through watching you all the time. Oh no, that sounded creepy. I swear I don't just sit around watching you all day! Like, sometimes I do, but not on purpose. I just kind of get caught up in it because it's one of my favourite things to do because you're so wonderful and sweet and intelligent and I might be in love with you," Draco was absolutely certain that he was going to die. Just curl up into a ball at this very instant and disappear in to nothingness.

"Oh."

Magnificent. She doesn't know what to say at all. You've shocked her in to silence, and not in the good way. You best get to disappearing you absolute-and then Luna brushed her lips against his and he could literally feel his brain short-circuit. 

"You know, you're not very good at planning things. And you're very bad at writing Nargle rhymes," how she could be so calm was beyond him. Draco couldn't form a single thought besides I would move heaven and earth to kiss her again right now.

But, before he could act on the only coherent thought that would ever matter to him, perhaps for the rest of his natural life, Neville came crashing through the bushes, dragging a string of glowing flowers behind him. He stopped short, seeing Draco and Luna standing so close, and blurted "I got lost, don't mind me. You two carry on."

But Luna moved away, and Draco had to put great thought in to commanding his arms not to reach for her. Luna, of course, seemed to be oblivious to this internal struggle as she surveyed the area around them before pointing in what Draco thought was a northern direction and announcing with great confidence, "this way is the way out!" and marching off through the brush.