enlighten me, please

—

Draco Malfoy was gay.

Very obviously gay.

Painfully gay, in fact.

Hermione had known for quite some time; before he had even known. And it made things quite complicated, really, since he was dating her, but was in love with her best friend.

—

The Golden Trio spent many of their weekend nights in Hermione's dorm, along with Ginny, Luna and Draco. Since Hermione was Head Girl, she had a dorm to herself, and the group used this to their advantage. She currently lay on her bed, touching up on some study notes. Ginny sat opposite her, flipping through a magazine. Harry, Ron and Draco sat on the floor playing Gobstones. Luna was busy reading tarot cards for Ginny, who was clearly not very invested in the project.

Hermione paused in her highlighting and glanced over at the boys. Harry had just been squirted in the face and Draco, laughing, reached over to wipe the goo off his face. Hermione rolled her eyes. There was no way that boy was straight.

She went back to highlighting her notes, hand reaching up to play absentmindedly with the pendant that hung around her neck. It was pretty, a crystal stone pendant that had been a gift from Luna, to ward off Nargles. (It was very pretty, despite the somewhat ridiculous reason Luna had given it to her).

Said blonde-haired Ravenclaw announced very loudly, as if on cue, "Hermione, time for your reading." She scrambled over Ginny to the Head Girl, who set aside her work with a quiet sigh. She had learned it was better to just play along with Luna when it came to the eccentric jewelry and things like future readings.

Luna began laying out her cards in a row before Hermione. Hermione waited patiently for Luna to finish so she could start. After what seemed like forever (despite the fact that there were only 22 cards in Luna's deck), Hermione was allowed to flip over her first card.

She chose at absolute random, like she always did, despite Luna's advice to always "let the heart seek the card." She flipped, and Luna pounced, snatching it out of her hand.

"The Moon," the blonde announced eerily. "Ooh, this is an ominous one, Hermione. This card symbolizes fear and facing the unknown."

"Does it now?" Hermione asked, not even trying to suppress the boredom in her tone. She really would like to get back to revising.

"However-you must retain your faith and trust. Rely on your intuition, and know that there will be a happy ending," Luna continued.

"You sound like Professor Trelawney," Hermione snarked, and her friend smiled briefly, before lecturing her on how it was rude to speak about teachers like that behind their backs. She set aside the first card and instructed Hermione to pick again.

Hermione selected at random again.

Once again, she held the card between her fingers for less than a second before Luna had plucked it away, turning it over.

"This is a good one!" she exclaimed. "The Sun!" She showed Hermione the card with the strange images on it, the sun and a figure on a white horse.

"What does it mean?" Hermione asked, feigning interest.

"The Sun card is like the twin of The Moon or an opponent," Luna explained. "With The Moon comes unknowing, and fear, but with the Sun, everything turns around again. It represents happiness, joy, and celebration, things like that. When you draw this card, it means that whatever hardships you went through in the past, or have yet to go through, will be worth it. The Sun cancels out the Moon."

"Fascinating," Draco commented from the floor. "What hardship are you going to go through, babe? Losing me?"

"I think you should've drawn these cards," Hermione flashed back. "The Moon would symbolize you finally getting a haircut."

Draco ran his hand through his messy mane of hair and shook his head. "Uh...no thanks. No snip snip."

"Heaven knows it wouldn't kill you," Hermione responded, and Draco rolled his eyes at that.

"Should we go to dinner?" he asked the Gryffindor boys on the floor loudly, and there was a chorus of agreement as they began packing up the game.

It was Hermione's turn to roll her eyes. Things hadn't exactly been smooth with Draco lately. They had been fighting more than usual, and not making up, rather just ignoring the issue. This was clearly one of his attempts to show her that he was angry about something. His refusal to get a haircut was just one small thing on the list of reasons Draco and she weren't right together.

"That wasn't very chivalrous," Luna said once the boys had exited. "A knight should always ask his lady to the feast."

"I don't know why you stay with him," Ginny added. "He doesn't treat you very well."

"No, but he used to," Hermione replied.

"He's gay," Luna announced.

"He's what?" Ginny asked.

"He is," Hermione confirmed. The thought that her boyfriend could potentially be gay had been a heavy weight on her chest, and now that Luna had brought it up, that weight was lifted. She could finally talk about it to someone. Ginny began frantically asking questions, none of which Hermione was able to answer. So she simply gave her reasoning for why she thought her boyfriend was gay: Harry Potter.

"Harry?" Ginny shrieked. "Draco is gay for Harry Potter?"

"I understand it," Luna said dreamily. "I'd be gay for Pansy Parkinson. Have you seen her eyes?""Pansy Parkinson is an ass," Ginny told Luna promptly. "But Harry? Does he know? Does he feel the same way?"

"Harry," Hermione nodded. "It's kind of obvious, isn't it? I mean, have you seen the two together? Nobody questions it because he's my boyfriend and he's so sensitive, but even an idiot could figure out he doesn't like girls. They even have the same stupid messy hair!"

"Right. When was the last time you had sex?" Ginny asked matter-of-factly.

"Ginny!" Hermione snapped. "You don't ask someone that!"

The redhead shrugged, not looking ashamed in the slightest. "Maybe he just figured it out recently. So, when was it?"

Hermione thought back. Come to think of it, it had been a while since they had done anything remotely sexual. She couldn't even think of the last time he had kissed her good-night.

"It has been a long time," she admitted.

Ginny smirked, her point having been proven.

"Well, what am I going to do about it?" Hermione asked. "Do I tell him he's gay? I don't even think he knows it. And he doesn't like being told what to do, or how to feel. You saw how he acted when I suggested he get a haircut! It's not like I was asking much of him. He won't take it very well."

"Go to Harry," Luna suggested. "He's your best friend. Ask him about it. Maybe you can get the two to talk to each other and admit their feelings.""Ginny?" Hermione turned to her other friend for help, but the Weasley was a lost cause. She was busy chuckling and muttering to herself. Hermione was glad she couldn't hear what Ginny was saying. She was sure she didn't want to.

"How long have you known?" she asked Luna instead.

The Ravenclaw shrugged. "Oh, since about third year," she said casually.

"Third year?" Hermione demanded. "Third year? He and I have been together for almost two years, you've known since our third year, and you never thought to tell me?"

"It never came up in conversation," Luna answered, beginning to pack up her tarot cards.

Hermione reclined back on her pile of pillows, putting her brain to work.

Draco liked boys, that had now been confirmed by two other parties.

The only question now was how to tell her boyfriend that he was gay. Perhaps she'd manage to find a hairdresser that would tell him for her? He'd be trapped, unable to escape while she brought the topic of conversation up to him.

Chuckling to herself at the absurd idea, Hermione got dressed for dinner, glad she'd allowed Luna to read her fortune after all.

—

QLFC Round 4

Beater 2: "Uh … no, thanks. No snip snip." Bob's Burgers

Optional Prompts: 2. (word) chivalrous, 8. (object) pendant,

Word Count: 1,362