Draco sat in the leather chair next to the fireplace later in the day, a few pieces of wrinkled paper in hand. He looked over some of the The Quibbler manuscripts, made some notes, and began reading one about the very thing that he and Luna encountered—the snorkack.
"Her father definitely made it off of that massive cat," he said, remembering Luna's reaction to him saying that those creatures weren't real and made up by her father.
Luna was known at school as a loon and as a girl without emotion. It profoundly shocked him to see her burst into tears—a side of Luna Lovegood that her closest friends probably hadn't even seen.
He sighed as he handled the manuscript papers. Another memory entered his head, one right after he had defeated the cat-beast... His cheeks began to heat up, and his pulse rose.
He didn't even think of the reaction it would cause him when he decided to cover Luna with his whole body, trying to protect her from that wild animal. His cheeks burned more as he remembered the curve of her warm body against him, the way their chests moved up and down with one another... hers with extra cushion... the way her two legs had a tight hold of one of his, how close he was to those pink lips of hers...
He threw the manuscripts onto the small, cluttered table next to him and rubbed his forehead with his hand. "You imbecilic fool. Remember you're still a Death Eater."
But Luna didn't care that he was one. She made that known to him. The first time she touched his tattoo sent shivers up his spine, but the second time...
He groaned. Oh, how he wanted to kiss her right there. It took every ounce of will-power to not kiss her—hand on his arm, fingers still on the Dark Mark...
It wasn't like he hadn't kissed a girl before. Given that his first experience of it was totally an accident—Pansy tripping on her heels at the Yule Ball, him catching her, and their lips meeting on accident... But he hadn't really had the urge to kiss a girl before. With Pansy, it was quick, and both dismissed it. At least he did—she developed a wild crush on him after that.
Now if that same thing were to happen with Luna, at this moment, there would be no stopping him from snogging the very life out of her.
Draco suddenly shot up out of his seat, heart pounding like a maniac, and face so hot he had to go over to the sink in the kitchen and splash cold water on it. He breathed deeply, in and out, trying and calm his swarming emotions. He looked out the window, his face dripping. There was Luna, lying in the grass, gazing up at the sky.
He thought back to when he saw her at school, in passing, or at meals. He thought her crazy. The school freak. A girl whose father was hated by his father. Never would he have even thought that she would make him feel what she was making him feel now. It was ludicrous.
"It's only been a few days," he told himself, eyes on Luna. "This will all pass."
Hopefully.
He huffed through his nose, refusing to be in denial, and found himself going outside into the warm air and sitting next to Luna as she stared up at the sky. She remained silent. Draco looked at her. A dreamy expression grazed her pretty face.
Yes, he was able to admit that Luna was pretty. In fact, very pretty. Beautiful, even, just like her mother in the picture. It shocked his system that he thought so.
He looked up at the sky and only saw puffy clouds. What was it that she saw up there besides fair weather and water molecules?
"Beautiful..." she muttered, but he kept his gaze on the sky.
"What do you see up there?" he asked.
"Clouds."
"Yes, but what else? You stare at the sky in a dreamy state all the time."
"I see the beauty of the world."
"Beauty," he spat in disbelief and looked down at her. "How can you see the beauty of everything, despite all the ugly and repulsiveness? And how are you so bloody carefree all the time?"
All she did was smile at the clouds. "There is evil and ugliness all around us, Draco, you just need to know what to do with it. That's why the Patronus Charm is so powerful—it forces you to dismiss the evil and focus on the good."
He thought about that. Since he produced his patronus, he was better able to keep all those horrid thoughts aside. But they still came now and then. The memory of the battle he escaped right before he went into the dungeon entered his mind.
"I ran," he said, and she looked over at him as he rested his arms on the tops of his knees as he sat. "I ran from that battle in my living room, the one that made me run into the dungeon."
Luna sat up and continued looking at him, listening intently.
"I was a coward for leaving, from running away from the chaos." He sucked in a breath as his chest pinched. "They brought a girl in, a girl from Slytherin house... a girl I knew and talked to before. Her father killed a Death Eater, and in turn, just to punish her father, the Dark Lord killed her, and all hell broke loose after that."
"Is she the death that you saw? The one that you thought of when you read about thestrals?"
He swallowed emotion, and it sank into his stomach like a cold stone. "No. I didn't see her die. I only guessed she did since she cast a spell at the Dark Lord. That was probably the last thing she ever did."
"Then who did you see die?"
He might as well tell her this. He had told her enough in the past few days. "Professor Charity Burbage from Hogwarts. She taught muggle studies. She was killed by the Dark Lord's snake right in front of me during a meeting with the Dark Lord and other Death Eaters."
Luna nodded and placed a light hand on his arm, which sent a shiver up his arm to his shoulder. "I'm sorry. How terrible."
"But it's not as bad as seeing your own mother die."
Luna retracted her hand. "Yes. But I'm fine now. Sure, I become a little sad while thinking about it, but it comforts me in knowing that it was her time to go." She paused for a moment, then said, "You know, running from that battle doesn't make you a coward. You ran from evil."
His heart leaped. "That still doesn't make anything better," he shot at her. "Even if that were the case, I, a Death Eater, ran from the Dark Lord's presence after he summoned me. Once I'm found, who knows the consequences I will face?" He glared at her. "And you, an escapee prisoner—you'll face some horrible punishment for my stupid actions."
Her expression remained calm. "That may be true. We will both most likely be punished, but I'm thankful to you for bringing me here, even if it was by accident."
"It's only because I couldn't think of anywhere to go since I was so desperate to escape, so the spell just fed off of your thoughts and brought us here."
"Which I'm still thankful for. I'm actually really glad that I got to know you... to be your friend."
He stared her blue-gray eyes, a bit surprised at that. "Friend?"
"Yes. You don't really have any friends at school, they're just followers."
Annoyance pulsated through to his heart. "They are too my friends."
"Have you had heart-to-heart conversations, laughed together, cried together, and helped each other up when you or they needed it? Were you with them for them and not for their families or social statuses?"
Draco stared at Luna, not able to answer any of those questions. Because all the answers to them were... no.
"I'm glad that you allowed me to be your friend," she said.
"Yeah," was all he could say to that.
They both looked back up at the clouds, and Luna remarked that one of them looked like a rabbit. She pointed out several others clouds in the shape of animals.
"I like to see shapes in the clouds," she said, and a strong gust of wind blew. "Draco, what do you like to do?"
"What?"
"What do you like to do? A hobby?"
He didn't know how to answer that. "Well... not a lot of things."
"But what are those things? Is chess one of them?"
He stared at her. "How'd you know that?"
"I saw you staring at the chess board in the living room earlier today when I went in to get some water. You were sitting there staring at it long and hard."
He never even noticed that she went inside while he stared at that chess board, thinking about all that had been going on the past few days... and some other things... "Yes, chess is one of them. I've been playing it since I was five."
"Can you teach me? My father tried to teach me, but I just couldn't understand. I don't think he knew how to play the game himself."
Draco let out laughter, despite himself. He nodded, his pride for his knowledge of the game elevating. "Okay. I'll show you how it's done."
Luna beamed and stood up. "I'm excited to learn."
"You should be scared," he said, and she laughed.
The two went back into the house and they sat at the small table with a chess board on it in the living room. It was a marble chess set, not a wizarding chess set like at Hogwarts. It resembled the one that sat in the Malfoy Manor library.
"Alright, pick a color," Draco said.
"White."
"Alright."
They set the board up, and Luna made her first move, then Draco, and so on. The pieces were all a jumble on the board an hour later. Luna moved her rook a few spaces from his queen. He rubbed his head. "That was... a good move," he said, and Luna smiled triumphantly. He gave her a look. "Are you sure you didn't know how to play this? You already have more of my pieces than I have yours."
"Well, I tried to play a couple times at school, but I lost those times."
"Beginner's luck, I suppose."
The two made a few more moves, and Draco was a few spaces away from Luna's King. "Check," he said, and Luna pressed her lips together as she gazed around the board. She moved her rook.
"Check."
Draco groaned in dismay and studied the board for a minute. He noticed a move he could make and smiled. He moved his bishop and took out her King. "Checkmate."
"Good job," Luna praised him.
"Same to you. You're actually pretty good for a beginner."
"New game?"
Draco's eyes gleamed with competitiveness. "Bring it, Lovegood."
They set the board again and got well into their game when the clock chimed eight o'clock in the evening. Had it really been four hours since they first started playing?
Draco was determined to beat her again. He moved his rook five spaces away from her King, a clear path. "Check."
Luna studied her remaining pieces—Draco had about a dozen of them on his side. She touched her rook, and Draco smiled. She wouldn't win if she moved that piece. But she stopped and moved her hand to her bishop. He frowned when she moved him in the path of his rook, which was right in the path of his king.
"Check."
He took out her bishop. "Check."
He smiled pridefully, but it diminished when she touched her rook, and he noticed that the piece he moved in the previous turn made a clear path to his king. "Dammit," he muttered, knowing what would happen.
"Checkmate," Luna said, and Draco leaned back in the leather chair and ran a hand down his face.
"Okay, you're did some wandless mind spell, didn't you? Why didn't I catch that?"
"You just taught me really well."
"Maybe too well," he said with a hint of pride, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Draco watched Luna as she reset the board. "One more game?"
"Of course. This is really fun."
She reset the board and they started their third game. As he was thinking about what move to make, he noticed Luna eyeing him. He wasn't expecting her sudden question—
"Draco, why do you hate Harry so much?"
He paused as he had his fingers on a pawn. "What?"
"Harry. Why do you hate him? Is it because of jealousy that he's The Chosen One?"
He moved his pawn and leaned back in his seat, his arms folded. That smile he had earlier turned to a grim line. "That's part of it," he confessed.
Luna sat back in the wooden chair she was in and studied him for a moment. "I think you two could be friends if you put your differences aside."
"I don't think that's going to happen."
"It could if..."
"It won't," he cut her off, agitation elevating inside of him. He huffed through his nose, calming himself. "Look, Luna, in your mind, maybe it's possible because you think the two of us have become friends, but with Potter... we just have a lot of history."
"I know that you do. I just don't know the specifics."
"You don't want to know them."
"Then may I guess?"
Her blue-gray eyes became wider, and he looked away. He sighed in defeat, their chess game forgotten. "If you must."
She sat thinking for a moment, then said in a quiet voice, "What you were thinking about as you tried to produce your patronus... those were all horrible memories you were remembering."
There was no question in her voice. "Yes," he said.
"One of them had to do with Harry."
Again, no question. He gulped down a cold stone in his throat. "Yes."
"Did Harry try to kill you?"
Draco suddenly shot up from his seat and turned his back towards Luna, thinking back to the sectumsempra curse in the lavatory. His chest began tightening at the memory, and he wanted to wince at the memory of the pain he endured—excruciating... His chest was slashed open in several places and hot blood oozed out of him onto the cold, wet floor. He would've died if Snape hadn't shown up and uttered a counter-curse.
"Yes," he let out with difficulty, and tears stung his eyes.
He heard a scrape of a chair sliding against the floor. He noticed Luna's presence near him. She set her hand on his arm lightly. "Now I understand. It must be difficult to get along with him."
"I never try to because there's no point."
"There always is. You probably thought there was no point in being stuck here with me, but you stayed anyway."
He turned to face her, and he noticed her gentle expression. He said harshly, "That's because if I leave you alone, Death Eaters would come and kill you for escaping. If I'm here, there's less of a chance of that happening."
She gave him a small smile. "Thank you for staying, then. And protecting me."
That made him start. Protecting? Luna Lovegood? Was that what he had been doing all this time? Was that the reason why he hadn't left yet? The answer pushed itself to the forefront of his brain...
Yes, it was.
"You have done a lot of good things for me, you know," she said. "Thank you."
He wasn't sure what to do with this praise, so he just said, "You're welcome."
A larger smile appeared across her lips, showing her teeth. Draco's heart pounded as he stared at that pretty smile for a moment, then to her whole face. His eyes traveled over her nose that resembled a bird's beak, but lookded right on her face, her large blue-gray eyes surrounded by dark lashes, then over her long blonde hair that flowed over her shoulders and back, shimmering as it went.
He noticed her lips close. His pulse rose. He couldn't take it anymore.
He took a hold of her shoulders and pulled her to him, slamming his mouth on hers. Her lips were soft and delicate, and he desperately wanted to feel them. His grip tightened on her shoulders as his mouth moved slowly over hers, and he relished in the warmth and softness of them. She stood stock still.
The clock gonged the half-hour, and Draco immediately drew back, staring at her wide eyes for a moment. Alarm pulsed through him. He let go of her and turned and ran out of the house and into the grass.
He couldn't believe what he had just done. He let his male emotions get the better of him and he... to Luna Lovegood of all people...
"You idiot!" he shouted.
He hoped to God that Luna wouldn't come out of the house.