Second Chance
He stood in the shadows of the infirmary watching Ginny Weasley as she sat beside the bed holding her friends hand in her own. He was relieved to see that the blanket rose and fell gently with her soft breathing and he willed the Weasley girl to leave; he had been waiting to cross the room to her bed for half an hour.
"Harry sends his love, he'll be along soon to visit you but he's a bit tied up at the moment with the Ministry. Apparently he's given them a memory of Snape's so that they can officially clear him of everything. Good thing to, he deserves a clean record after everything he went through to protect Harry." Shaking her head Ginny sighed. "I feel bad about all the things I ever said and thought about Snape, beneath it all he was a really good man. We should have known, we should have trusted Dumbledore."
Brushing her hair from her face Ginny scowled. "Dumbledore always knew what he was doing, right from beginning to end. He was even willing to die for Draco Malfoy." She snorted. "I'll bet anything that Slytherin sneak didn't appreciate it either. He hasn't apologised or showed one tiny hint of remorse since Voldemort died. Just like a Malfoy."
Presently Ginny Weasley squeezed her friends hand. "I have to go now, I have to pop in to see Percy, make sure he's ok. He should be coming home within the next day or two, mum can hardly wait. I'll still come back to see you of course." She rose and leant over to kiss her friend. "See you soon, Luna."
Smoothing out the wrinkles in her trousers Ginny stood for a few silent seconds staring down at the girl in the bed before finally turning away and heading for the door.
He shifted from his position to shrink further against the wall. He waited until Ginny had disappeared around the corner before he pushed open the door to the private room and crossed to the bed. He stood looking down at her pale face; so still and peaceful in sleep.
His heart lurched as he looked at her, her face so expressionless when it was anything but when she was awake. She was always so warm, so alive; even when things were at their bleakest Luna Lovegood still smiled.
"Luna," Draco Malfoy's voice came out a hoarse croak as he lowered himself into a chair next to her bed. He swallowed the lump in his throat, his long fingers smoothing over her forehead, brushing away the stray strands of hair that rested there.
She had been in hospital ever since the final battle over a month ago after being hit by a serious curse from Bellatrix Lestrange. Thankfully it hadn't been an unforgivable, nor had it been incurable. But she was still weak and frail, Luna still slipped in and out of consciousness throughout the day; but she was getting better.
Luna's eyes fluttered at the sound of his voice. "Draco?"
"I'm here," he assured her thickly. How much use he would be to her was debatable, so far he hadn't done her much good. It was his fault she was here in the first place.
Her lips twitched slightly at the corners and her eyes opened slowly to focus on his face. Draco looked tired and strained, he looked haunted and lost and her heart went out to him. "You're going to make yourself ill."
His dull grey eyes swept over her face and he shook his head slightly, Luna always had been more concerned for him than for herself. Totally and completely selfless, Draco had never understood those qualities and he doubted he ever would. "I'll be fine, you just concentrate on getting better. "
"Stop feeling guilty, Draco," Luna said softly.
He managed a half smile. She always had read him like a book. Luna could always pick up on his moods. There was no-one in his life like Luna Lovegood, someone who was completely good in every way, who encouraged him to be good; to take chances.
The biggest chance he had taken was with her and he had ended up putting her in danger and hospitalising her.
"You know it's my fault that you're stuck in here. I never meant for this to happen to you. I wouldn't want to hurt you, Luna," he whispered, leaning closer to her to ensure that she heard every word.
"Of course you didn't." Luna winced as she shifted position. "You'd never do anything to hurt me, Draco."
She always had believed that and Draco was grateful for her strong belief in him. Her friends hadn't had the same feelings towards him. Not that Draco gave a damn what Potter and his cronies thought of him, all that mattered was that Luna knew he cared and had been going out of his mind not knowing where she was after she had disappeared with Potter from the cellar in Malfoy Manor.
They had grown close during her time in the Manor as a prisoner of the Death Eaters, curiosity had taken him to the cellar and curiosity had kept him going back to see her. How someone could be so strong, so accepting of her predicament Draco couldn't fathom; but her constant smile and faith that everything would work out in the end had captivated him.
Draco had needed something to cling to, some small ray of hope to strive towards after everything he had been though the last year. He had not forgotten, would never forget the things he had been told, the things he had seen and the things he had been forced to do at just seventeen years of age. He had been freed from it all by a young man with messy brown hair, round glasses, and a lightning bolt scar on his forehead.
With Voldemort's death the Malfoy's had been released from the Death Eaters. They were able to climb back out of the deep hole they had managed to get themselves into; but society had a long memory and everyone was very distrustful of former Death Eaters, especially the Malfoy's due to the fact that for seventeen years they had believed Lucius to be reformed.
It had been his mothers act of kindness towards Potter that had saved both him and his father a sentence in Azkaban. Narcissa Malfoy had switched sides at the very last minute, lying to Voldemort that Potter was lying dead on the ground when he wasn't. Plus, Potter had remembered his arrival at the Malfoy Manor and Draco's own admission that he didn't know who Potter was.
Draco had tried then to keep out of everything; to distance himself from what he was involved in, but it had proved impossible with his Aunt Bellatrix around, and his father desperate to redeem himself in the eyes of his Lord and Master.
The fate of Harry Potter, Ron Wealsey and Hermione Granger wasn't something that weighed heavily on Draco's mind. But he couldn't have faced Luna if he had given Potter away. Potter was her friend, the only one she really had and Draco didn't have the strength to take from her someone she cared about so much.
Somehow Luna had sifted under his skin. She had turned his usually hard heart and scheming mind into something good; and when they were alone together he didn't fight his natural instinct to be gentle and tender; and embraced being the softy she had turned him into.
Unfortunately for him Bellatrix Lestrange was a very astute woman; she was quick to notice the difference in her nephew after the disappearance of the girl in the cellar. He continually asked for news, he went around looking lost and forlorn and his usual immaculate appearance was replaced by messy hair and disheveled clothes.
The unsuspecting use of Legilimens had given Bellatrix the answers she required, and she had taken it as a personal insult over his association with Luna.
Even now Draco's face flushed red at the knowledge Bellatrix had seen all of his memories pertaining to Luna. Some things were meant to be private, to be kept between the two people who were concerned as a precious defining moment in their lives.
"Draco, it's not your fault that Bellatrix came after me," Luna reached out to take his hand, squeezing his fingers gently.
"Yes it is," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "She thought I was trying to go against the Dark Lord because of my relationship with you. She decided I needed to be taught a lesson in loyalty and wanted me to see going against the Dark Lord would be bad for me, so she went for my weak spot."
"Draco…"
"She could have killed you!" Draco hissed, his eyes closing briefly to try to dispel the image of a lifeless Luna.
Luna smiled softly. "If I had to choose between breathing and loving you, I would use my last breath to say, 'I love you.'"
Draco's eyes popped open and he stared down at her in amazement. He had fallen so completely for Luna that it scared him. How she had returned his feelings was something he couldn't understand, but she did, that was enough for him.
Potter and the rest of her friends weren't aware of their relationship yet. Draco felt it was better to wait until Luna was strong enough to handle all the questions and complaints that were sure to come from them all. They all had an opinion where he was concerned.
Whatever Potter said, Draco wasn't willing to give Luna up. He felt loved when he was with her, he was experiencing something good and pure for the first time in his life and he wanted to keep it. Draco knew he would never completely be good, he would never be the decent man Luna deserved because it didn't matter. Luna loved him anyway.
"Do you mean it, Luna?"
"Of course I do," she assured him. "Everything will return to normal once I'm home."
He sighed softly. "Do you know what everyone will say when we come out into the open?"
"Yes I know. Everyone will be wondering what you could possibly be thinking to want to be with someone like me," Luna told him quietly.
Draco shook his head. "No, that's not it." He leant over the bed and kissed her softly. "Everyone will want to know why someone as good and decent as you would want to be with someone like me. Even I don't know the answer to that."
She smiled then, really smiled for the first time in days. Her lips curled and her eyes crinkled at the corners as she gazed up at him lovingly. Luna laughed quietly as though he had asked the most ridiculous question in the world. "There's something I can see in your eyes no one else can see. It's the real you, the you that you don't let people see, and I love him."
Draco's chest tightened. Luna always saw the good in him even when he seriously doubted that it was there. She had been concerned about him when he was thin and pale with worry. She had cared that he wasn't sleeping properly. She had been grateful for the small acts of kindness he could offer her, such as extra food and blankets to keep her warm; and she had offered herself in return.
Luna had given him her body, her love, her heart; even with all the expensive things he owned, Draco had never valued anything as much as the gifts Luna gave him. Every time he was close to her or thought about her, Draco could feel her inside him and he was thankful for the feelings that proved he wasn't as cold and selfish as others thought he was.
Her hand was warm when she touched his cheek, her palm rasping over his unshaven skin pulled him closer to enable her to kiss him again. Her lips were soft and delicate beneath his own and ignited a burning sensation in the pit of his stomach.
Draco couldn't help wondering how it was possible for Luna to always give him what he needed. She had given him love, a reason to smile, and now she was giving him a second chance. Draco was the first to admit, at least to Luna and himself, that he and his father had made some dreadful decisions lately. The Malfoy name had been dragged through the mud and was no longer respected or even feared.
Luna would give him the chance to rectify that and allow him to prove to everyone the Malfoy's could be more than people saw on the outside; more than cold, rich and power hungry. Luna had shown him he could be so much more and he embraced the new life she had opened up to him.
Although, he knew the Malfoy's would never be completely law abiding, they would never be trusted again; but perhaps he could manage to ease the open hostility towards them a little and give his father some breathing space.
Everyone would want to know why Luna Lovegood who had always supported Harry Potter was in a relationship with Draco Malfoy known Death Eater, the one who was responsible for the death of Dumbledore. Perhaps they would figure that maybe they had the Malfoy's all wrong, that they couldn't be that bad if Harry Potter's friend was dating young Malfoy.
"Draco? What are you thinking?"
Luna's voice drew him out of his thoughts and his stormy grey eyes rested on her face. She looked happy and contented, her fingers still curled around his and an inner light sparkling in her large blue eyes.
"I'm thinking that you might have been right," he said slowly.
Her eyebrows raised slightly, "Oh? What about?"
"When you said that being good isn't as bad as I think it might be."
Luna chuckled. "You're planning on being good? Somewhere behind that idea there has to be an angle for you."
Draco kissed her forehead and simply smirked.