A/N: If you've been reading my Twilight Fan Fiction, there's an update coming for that soon. My computer has been a brat lately and Microsoft Word hasn't been working to I had to switch over to Wordpad. If this is your first time reading my stuff, disregard that message and enjoy the Draco/Luna coupling. :)
Draco Malfoy stood silently throughout the entire Care of Magical Creature's class. Ever since that oaf, Hagrid, had left, things had been so much more agreeable for the younger of the Malfoy men. Professor Grubbly-Plank wasn't ceaselessly risking the life of her students, and she was clearly the better teacher by Malfoy's standards.
At the moment, Professor Grubbly Plank was assigning people in pairs for the first major project of the semester. Instead of classes being broken up by year for Care of Magical Creatures, it was broken up in groups. This year, the class consisted of 5th year Slytherin, 5th year Gryffindor, 4th year Ravenclaw, and 4th year Hufflepuff. The class was certainly crowded, but nobody really seemed to mind much because now they were learning without much of a chance of an early death. Combining classes like this also opened up an extra period during the school day to study or do neglected homework.
"Mr. Longbottom, your partner will be Miss Brown." The older woman said, motioning with the flick of her hand for them to stand together now.
"Orla Quirke, you get to be with Owen Caudwell."
She rattled through many groups until only six people were left. Those six people were Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, and Kevin Whitby.
'Anyone but Potter or Parkinson, anyone' Draco thought in quite the desperate manner. Being stuck with Pansy would be just plain agitating, with her damsel in distress act (it never worked on him anyway). Plus, she'd already slept with almost every male in the Slytherin house- talk about damaged goods!
And being stuck with Potter… really, was there really any need to explain?
As if she heard his pleading, Grubbly-Plank looked at Draco and spoke; "Mr. Malfoy, you are to be partners with Miss Lovegood." He turned to walk towards her, an odd expression on his face when he paused to look at her.
She certainly wasn't ugly; she had silvery-blond hair, very much like his own, and clouded slate colored eyes that seemed as if they were either dazed, or deep in thought. He was going to stick with dazed… Her waist length hair was blowing in the gentle breeze while she stared off into her own world, obvlivious to what was going on around her. Draco began to wonder what it was that caused her to be so lost in a daydream.
What he did notice about Luna was that she definitely was not normal in any sense of the word. Instead of sporting gold or silver earrings like any other teenage female, her lobes were adorned with turnips… or were they radish earrings? He sniffed the air; definitely… radishes…
Draco now noticed her necklace, again, where most girls wore gold, silver, or even that crappy silver that turns you green, her neck was laced with a necklace made from Butter Beer corks. . In most cases, Draco Malfoy would take this chance to insult or ridicule the contrasting girl, but something about her carefree state made her odd accessories seem to fit her.
Luna blinked, awakening from her trancelike state. She did not note that Draco had practically been staring at her, because well… when she was in her dazed states she wouldn't be able to tell if the world was ending in a hellish inferno. Grabbing her Care of Magical Creatures book, she turned it upside down and turned to the glossary page, where it listed all of the Magical Creatures. "Do you have a creature in mind?" Luna questioned in a small sounding voice, seeming as if she was only half out of her thoughts.
"Not really." Draco told her truthfully, closing his steely eyes to think for a moment. "What about a Horklump?"
"Too easy. I was thinking along the lines of Thestrals. Not too easy, nor are they too difficult to do a report on." Luna responded in an oddly cheerful way. What was up with this girl and being so strange? How do you find joy in homework? "Thestrals it is, then." Malfoy said in a slightly bored tone. Not long until this class would be over.
"Since this is our last time working on our project in class, when do you think we should meet to work on—" began Luna, closing her upside down book. Draco cut off her sentence- "Tomorrow during the free period. Meet me in the library unless you want to do all of the work yourself some other time." His voice was somewhat sharp, like it usually was, but for a change, he actually felt bad about snapping at her for no reason.
"Library it is." She paused to take a deep breath. "Haven't you ever wondered how house elves manage to clean the entire castle and never manage to be seen? Do they put spells on their feet to make them super quick, or do you think they all wear invisibility cloaks?"
Draco inched away slowly, raising his lightly colored eyebrows. As he inched away, he was also very confused at the fact Luna wasn't upset by his snapping. "Why the bloody hell would I ever wonder anything like that?" He actually laughed. It was a normal laugh, too, not a sham, forced and spiteful laugh.
When it came time to switch classes, Draco left without so much as a 'See you' or even an effortless dip of his blond head. His next class was Potions, but oddly, he wasn't too interested in Potions today. Typically he felt relieved to be in Potions because Snape treated him like teacher's pet, but he could only muse on the composition about Thestrals. What was he thinking?! He never paid attention to those classes!
Multiple times during the class, Snape came to question Malfoy on why he was not doing as he was told, and why he was being as clueless as Neville usually was. At that point, he would get back to work to get Severus off of his back and would soon fall back into a Luna-like state, but he was thinking of nothing specifically.
Eventually, he did finish his potion, but he was unsure of what its effect was supposed to be. But judging by how the rest of his class was drinking their concoctions, he figured he was to drink his also. Raising his glass, he emptied the contents of the crystal, when Snape began to speak.
"If improperly brewed, the drinker of the potion will usually turn into a small animal, such as a rat, hamster, or even a gerbil. These symptoms are usually displayed in as little as five minutes after the potion has been consumed, and that is how you will be graded today. If any of you turn into pocket sized creatures, assume you will not pass this lesson." Snape rattled on, eyeing each and every student individually.
Only one student showed signs of not brewing their potion correctly; and that student was Neville Longbottom. The plump little brown hamster ran across the desk, squeaking to get Snape's attention, but when Snape did not notice, he ran frantically in small circles, only to be picked up by Hermione Granger.
"Professor…" Hermione spoke up in her know-it-all tone that was like nails on a chalkboard to Draco, "Neville's encountered a bit of a problem with his potion." She concluded, passing Neville into Snape's cold hands.
Draco laughed his cruel laugh. Of course it would be Neville to goof up on a potion. He was Neville after all. At most times, Draco doubted that Neville truly was of pureblood descent. At the same time he laughed (this time in his usual malicious tone), he cringed. His stomach felt like it was shrinking; perhaps he had just neglected to eat enough at breakfast.
That had to be it. Draco Malfoy never messed up in potions, so he couldn't be turning into a rat. There was no way. Purebloods didn't turn into rodents!
Potions being his last class of the day, he headed back to the Slytherin Common Room, not having to walk too far from the Potions room. Settling down in the common room, Malfoy began working on his Transfiguration homework. Out of pure curiosity, he turned his book upside down and tried to read it. "Bloody book doesn't seem any different!" he exclaimed, throwing the book about a foot away, and then scoffing at himself in disgust at how odd he had acted.
It took him about an hour and a half to finish all of his homework in all of his classes, just in time to head to the Great Hall for dinner. As he rounded the corners on his way out of the dungeons, Draco kept an eye out for house elves; wouldn't this be the perfect time for them to be out cleaning, with everyone in the Great Hall? He would have to report to Luna that they didn't come out during the time the students spent in the Great Hall to clean.
Passing the Ravenclaw table, Draco saw Luna sitting at the end. As he strode by, he actually smiled and said "Hey Luna." The blond female looked sort of shocked, but she returned his 'hey' with "Hello, Draco."
When he got to the Slytherin table, Crabb and Goyle looked at him as if he as insane, and Pansy Parkinson, Ew, immediately locked herself to his arm. "Why were you talking to Loony, Draco?" she giggled, batting her eyelashes at him. "She's not loony!" He snapped back, wondering what had caused him to stand up for the Ravenclaw girl he really didn't know that well.
Draco shook his arm and managed to get Pansy off of him, but that wasn't without questioning. "Drakey? What's wrong? Why won't you talk to me?" whined Pansy, attracting the attention of most Slytherin and a few Gryffindor. "Pansy, leave me alone, would you?" Draco snapped, realizing he no longer felt hunger biting at his insides. Getting to his feet rapidly, he made his way out of the Great Hall, but not without protest from Pansy ('Drakey! Where're you going? Drakey!?')
Once past the giant wooden doors that led out of the great hall, Draco let out a small sigh. He was certainly changing- he'd never stuck up for somebody before (save for Crabbe and Goyle when they were called food-obsessed oafs… wait, no- he was the one who called them that), and there was no way to explain why he had done what he had! It had to be a case of the flu. Perhaps it was time to head to see Madam Pomfrey for a Pepperup Potion.
But it seemed that there was no time to see Madam Pomfrey about his what he thought to be a case of the flu. Remember how he really didn't feel his previously stinging insides? That's because his insides had finished shrinking and with a pop- now the rest of him was too!
This couldn't be happening! Draco Malfoy never messed up on potions! He was Professor Snape's star student, after all. But of all of the potions he could have messed up on, he had to mess up on the one that turned him into a platinum blond ferret! Great… how long had Snape said that the side effects would last for?
What would you do if you were transformed randomly into a ferret? Honestly, Draco didn't know either, explaining why he was currently running in small circles while testing his new vocal chords with frantic little squeaks. Somebody had to come along soon or he'd go mad trying to wait for the potion to wear off.
Sitting not far from the giant oak doors, ferret-Malfoy waited for about ten minutes before finally seeing somebody exit the doors. Squeaking loudly and bounding to their feet, Draco, the fluffy blond ferret recognized the face of Luna Lovegood bending down to pick him up. As soon as he was in Luna's hands, he stopped squeaking and looked at her straight in the eye as if trying to communicate exactly who he was.
"Hey… I know that stare, Mr. Fluffy Ferret! You're Draco Malfoy, aren't you? Two squeaks for yes, one for no."
Apparently his message got across! Squeaking twice, Draco considered himself lucky that he was found by a pureblooded witch rather than somebody like Hermione Granger, with dirty blood. If it were a Mudblood picking him up he was sure that his skin would burn and he would burn until there was nothing left of him.
"We should probably get you to Madam Pomfrey…" Luna said, earning an agreeing squeak from Draco. "But there's one problem with that- Madam Pomfrey's not in right now- something about personal matters?" Draco-ferret let out a small sigh, unsure of what to do next. "So I guess I will just have to keep you until morning when she gets back." She said, earning many squeaks from Draco who was trying to say "No, no! Give me to a Slytherin who can take me to my room!" but it was obvious that the squeak-communication didn't always work.
"Oh, Draco, it won't be that bad." She said, covering his ears as they reached the Ravenclaw common room and she said the password.
There was an almost silent cry of protest from Ferret Boy.
It only took a few moments for Luna to make her way up the stairs to the girls dormitory, considering how she had mastered the art of skipping up the stairs and managing not to trip. All of the other Ravenclaw girls were still in the Great Hall dining upon pumpkin juice and assorted foods, so Luna had the entire room to herself. Well, save for her pet ferret for the day. With all of the events of the day, the dazed blond found herself extremely tired and ready to turn in. The gnargles had been pulling at her hair today, causing great deals of random confusion...
Gently scratching the mound of fluffy cuteness behind its ears, she placed it under the cobalt cover over her blanket.
"Now no peeking, Draco. I've got to change." the female said dreamily (as always), tucking the covers over his eyes so he couldn't see her unbuttoning her blouse.
Yeah right, Draco thought with a laugh that sounded like a chirp. Like I'm going to miss the chance to peek at a girl who changes right in front of me.
He ever so slightly stuck his snout out from under the deep blue blanket, straining his very flexible ferret body to catch a glimpse of what lay under the shirt. Damnit, Lovegood. Why did she have to have his back to her while she changed? This was NOT the side of a topless girl that he wanted to see.
"No peeking!" an attempted stern voice spoke out, as if she could sense his smoky eyes burning holes into her back. At this comment, Draco dug his way back under the covers and squeaked loudly in an irritated tone as if to say "Why would I be peeking? I'm not desperate!" It wasn't like he hadn't seen plenty of other chests before.
Once adorned in silk pajamas, she made her way over to her four poster bed (wondering why she hadn't closed it to prevent peeking) and placed herself next to the ferret-student.
Snuggling sleepily into her Ravenclaw Blue comforter, Luna let out a small sigh. Today had been a fairly decent day- none of her possessions had been stolen, the gnargles were starting to settle down, and she had a relatively small workload for the weekend. While going over the day's events in her only partially sane mind, Luna had absentmindedly starting petting the slumbering ferret (you'd be exhausted too if your bones had been reduced to ferret-size and you had to grow them back!).
Luna had always found great comfort in being around animals. She somehow forgot that the tiny, innocent-looking blond ferret was actually the 'terrible' Draco Malfoy, who was feared by some; hated by most.
Suddenly overcome by her drowsiness, Luna allowed the familiar sensation of sleep to take over her mind, body, and soul.
- - -
Pinkish orange early morning light streaming into the Ravenclaw girl dormitory window was what awoke our fuzzy ferret on that Saturday morning. Or perhaps it wasn't the sunlight- it was the final pop of his bones finding the proper sockets, announcing that Draco Malfoy was no longer a foot long and covered in fur. Either way, Draco was truly confused when he awoke.
"Where the bloody hell am I?" He asked himself out loud, rubbing his eyes as he sat up slowly. The color blue was adundant in the room, making him remember that Luna Lovegood had found him after the potion went terribly wrong. He was used to leaving the Slytherin girl's dorm, but not really Ravenclaw or any other house (that was when the broom closet would be used), so he was unsure of how exactly to leave.
All that Draco knew was that he had to get out of here before anybody noticed him.
A/N: Please read and review. :) But don't expect an update for a little bit, I'm working on three Fan Fictions at the moment, and I switch between them as the muse comes and goes.
Tata for now,
TheLieYouCanTrust