It was well known fact in the wizard world that Draco Malfoy had lived a very sheltered childhood, partly due the fact that he was the only Malfoy family, but also because his mother didn't want her precious angel to get hurt in any which way. But in any case, this was the reason that Draco Malfoy and his best friend, Luna Lovegood were standing in an abandoned park. For the most part though that being because they weren't allowed to be friends which each other because Luna wasn't 'pureblood'. His parents were big into the pureblood mania so Draco wasn't really meant to interact with anyone who wasn't a pureblood.
"Draco, this is a bicycle," Luna responded gesturing to the twisted baby blue mass of metal and rubber that was stood between the two of them, "and today, I'm going to teach you how to ride it."
Luna Lovegood was the kind of person who could see the person behind the snide comments and remarks. That's why she and Draco worked well together as friends. She could put aside his jerkish nature and just be his friend. Plus she was also one of the people who didn't she think was strange for all the weird belief's that she had.
"And why would i want to learn to ride it. I am perfectly fine use my broom." Draco stated as he began to walk away from Luna.
Luna grabbed his arm and slapped on the helmet she had bought for Draco. "Oh no you don't, Draco Malfoy! I'm teaching you to ride a bike whether you want to learn or not!" the female blonde scolded.
"But I'll get helmet hair" Draco whined, yes the heir to the Malfoy fortune was whining about getting helmet hair. You wouldn't have thought that that would have happened.
"Draco, shut up about helmet hair! You don't whine about getting hat hair!" she told him
"That's because my hat sits on my head with a delicate feather-light touch and this thing clings to me with the vice-like grip of a wild animal!" Draco raged.
"Be quiet and put these on!" Luna told him as she shoved knee pads and elbow pads into Draco's chest. She then spun the boy around and gave him a push towards a park bench. "Don't come back until they're on. I'm gonna make sure the bike's okay."
Luna then proceeded to make sure there weren't any breaks in the chain and that the tires had enough air in them. She took the bike for a short test run around a small area of the park so she could check the brakes were working, only to find when she returned that Draco was sitting cross-legged in the grass without his pads on.
"Ugh! Draco." Luna whined, letting down the kickstand, "Do I have to do everything for you?"
The blonde marched over to the sitting boy and quite forcefully slammed on the elbow pads. Picking up the knee pads she sighed. "Give me your leg."
Draco turned away from Luna and snootily stuck his nose up in the air. Luna frowned, she shook her head a little bit as she put her hands on her hips. In the process Draco just turned further away from her his nose still stuck up in the hair. He might have been a very stubborn person but Luna was an even more persistent one.
"Fine." Luna said. She proceeded to grab his foot, and yank the blonde haired teen's leg out from under him. The force of the pull made the younger boy fall backwards on the grass. Luna kept tugging until she could easily reach Draco's knee and began to strap on the knee pads.
"You can't manhandle me!" Draco exclaimed, "I am a Malfoy! You haven't got the right to do so!"
"Correction," Luna countered, "You're a Malfoy who can't ride a bike. So you'd better cooperate with me before I strap you to the freakin' bike and make you ride down the Empire state building!"
You wouldn't think that Draco knew what the Empire State Building was but he did so he look fearfully at Luna for a minute, "You wouldn't."
"Don't think I won't. You've got me nearly at my wit's end." Luna said
"Wouldn't you rather spend your day with Weasley?" Draco half pleaded, "Go to the pond and see if you can find any nargles, or go gnome hunting?"
"Ah ha, but you forget," Luna replied, "I had a fight with her last week" It was only a petty thing but Luna currently wasn't talk to the youngest Weasley family member.
"Oh yeah" Draco said, he looked as though his last hope in the world was gone.
Luna lifted Draco to his feet. "Now get on the bike, it won't be that bad." When the boy didn't move Luna sighed and looked up to the sky. "Why me?"
Draco protested as his friend pushed him towards the metallic monster. "Why you? What about me? I'm the one being forced into things here!"
"Well this is one thing you should've been forced into long ago, Dray " Luna said still pushing him towards the bike.
"I told you not to call me Dray!"
As the two arrived at the bicycle Luna had an idea. "If you learn how to ride this bike today, I'll never call you Dray again. What do you say? Deal?" she held out a hand.
"You're on." Draco shook his hand after some contemplation and thought, "How hard could it be?"
"Alright," Luna instructed, relieved that they were finally getting somewhere, "just straddle it and sit on the seat."
"Nice choice of words." Draco did as he was told, swinging his left leg over and sitting on the seat with just the tips of his toes holding him up.
Luna rolled her eyes. "Now, when you're ready, put your feet on the pedals one at a time and well...pedal. So long as you don't stop, you won't tip over."
"That's all good and well," the petite boy stated, "but how do I go about stopping when I want to?"
"See the hand brakes?" Luna pointed to the small bar-like structures on either of the handles. "Just squeeze them and the bike will stop. One is responsible for each wheel but to stop without being thrown off, you'll need both."
Draco nodded and squeezed the brakes to get the feel of them. "One more thing, Luna."
"Yeah?" Luna sensed a slight uncertainty in the voice of the other.
"How will I keep my balance?" Draco seemed a little anxious.
"That will mostly come naturally, provided, again, that you keep pedaling. But if you're worried, just stay seated so your center of gravity doesn't shift and it'll be as easy as one, two, three!"
"'Kay." Draco was at a loss for words.
"Whenever you're ready." Luna prompted, seeing as her companion seemed to have frozen.
Draco took a deep breath, kicked up the kickstand, brought his feet to the pedals, and began to pump his legs.
As Draco pedaled more and more, he quickly became confident riding the bike. After demonstrating his ability to ride regularly, Luna taught him how to ride standing up by changing his weight distribution and how to take curbs without harming yourself.
When the sun began to set, Draco reluctantly dismounted the bike. "We should go home."
"You can ride it back as long as you don't get too far ahead." Luna offered.
The teen declined, "I'd rather walk with you."
The two friends took back roads to avoid the late afternoon traffic.
Then Luna smiled and looked at Draco who was walking the bicycle back, "I told you you'd like bike riding once you learned how."
"Yeah, I guess I owe you an apology for acting so stubborn. I really had fun and best of all no more of you calling me-"
"Hey Dray! Look at the goofy muggle tourist in the flowery shirt!" Luna shouted back as she reached the main street. She'd obviously not heard much of what Draco had just said.
"Luna!"
