A/N: This was for Lady Phoenix Fire Rose's "The Pairing One Hour Challenge/The Hardest Challenge" with the pairing Draco/Luna and the prompt indigo.
Disclaimer: I do not own Draco or Luna, I merely adore them, very very much.
If his father could see him now, Draco would hear exactly how his behavior was inappropriate for a Malfoy. Malfoy men did not sit hugging their knees to their chest with their head down, they did not sit on dirty filthy floors, and they certainly did not sit in a woman's loo. At the moment though, Draco didn't really care what his father had to say. His father wasn't here, wasn't trying to clean up the mess made of the Department of Mysteries failure, wasn't trying to kill a man that was so beyond his abilities that every minute reeked of failure. So for the moment, Draco was going to do exactly what he wanted, and if that consisted of balling up on the dirty floor of the women's loo, then so be it.
He heard the scrapes, but didn't bother to look up. The lack of sobs told him that Myrtle was probably in an agreeable mood, which Draco was thankful for, given that he didn't feel like getting up and relocating because she flooded the place from one of her moods. It was one thing to feel miserable, but he didn't want to be wet in addition to miserable.
When a hand grabbed his and forced something cool around it though, he jerked his head up in surprise, his eyes meeting a pair that were as wide as his at that moment. Draco narrowed them in anger, but the blue ones stayed just as open as they were before. "What are you doing here? Why are you touching me?" He demanded of the girl before investigating exactly what she had done. There was some type of bracelet made of blue beads adorning his right wrist, and he yanked them off and tossed it aside to skid along the ground.
"It won't help you if you're not wearing it," Draco was told in a voice that was too calm for the irritation he felt. The blonde retrieved the bracelet and grabbed his wrist once more to put it back on him. "There you go."
"Bugger off, Looney," Draco replied harshly, although he didn't pull the bracelet off again. To do so would probably mean she would just attempt to put the bloody thing on him a third time, and he didn't want to encourage her touching him. "I'm not a Ravenclaw, so I'm not going to wear some blue bracelet."
"It's not blue, it's indigo," she replied solemnly, as though she expected him to care what the color was.
"Whatever. Just leave me alone."
"I hope it will help you. I've been reading how some people have seen magical properties in colors, so I made several bracelets to try to help people who needed it. You looked like you needed one, and I think indigo will suit you the best." She turned, but instead of leaving the room like he hoped, she disappeared into a stall, indicating to Draco the reason why she was in there in the first place.
"If Myrtle catches you in her bathroom, she'll pitch a fit," Draco warned her, hoping she'd take his advice and leave before the ghost found out and he had to vacate also.
"Oh, she doesn't mind me. She was a Ravenclaw also, you know." Came the airy voice from the stall.
Some manner of his upbringing kicked in, and Draco focused on studying the way the dark beads glittered in the light, in order to give her some hint of privacy. Once she had evidently taken care of her business, she left the stall, washed her hands and was heading to the door when he spoke. "Why indigo?" He figured the girl had given it to him to encourage happiness, but the beads seemed to dark to be considered cheerful.
She turned back with a bright smile on her face, evidently glad he had asked. "I gave you indigo because it was the color of the third eye and spirituality. Not that I thought you would have a vision of the future, but I thought maybe it could help lead you to the best path in life for you. The one you're on seems to be causing you a lot of problems, so I hoped it would open your mind to a better one."
"Oh, and I suppose that path is following Saint Potter and his little ragtag group of misfits?" Draco snapped in anger. She already knew his role in life, everyone already knew his role in life, and she thought a dinky little bracelet was going to turn him away from that? She was loonier than he had previously believed.
Lovegood merely had the gall to tint her head in him as she studied him. "Is it? Is that what you believe the best path is? You're the only one who can truly decide that."
Draco laughed at her. "You think believing that, believing in everything crazy thing that you do, will get you somewhere?"
This time, she at least looked thoughtful, and Draco was pleased to see his words seem to have had some effect on her, given that nothing else he had ever said to her appeared to have made an impact. The sweet feel of victory, even if it was a minor one, was broken when she spoke. "I have a father who loves and takes are of me. I have a few close friends who stand by my side and support me, regardless of the differences between us. I have a background that can lead me into a future where I can take of myself, without having to compromise to the desires of someone else and forget myself in the process. I think that believing what I do has already brought me somewhere, and will continue to lead me into what is right for me, and I don't believe anyone can change that." She turned and skipped from the loo, leaving Draco alone with her words echoing softly in his ears.
He studied the bracelet once more, the dark beads glinting slightly blue, slightly purple in the light. He wasn't sure he could trust her, given that these days he couldn't even seem to trust himself, but idea of her words appealed to him in a way that he hadn't considered before. His entire life had seemed to be about following the path laid out before him, first as the Malfoy heir, then as the Dark Lord's follower. If there was a better path out there for him, and him alone, perhaps it couldn't hurt to keep his eyes open.
Pushing the bracelet up his arm so that it was covered by the sleeve of his school robe, he rose and began brushing himself off to make himself look presentable. If there was a path for Draco to find, he highly doubted he would come across it hiding in the loo.