Saving Graces

Summary: The first time Draco Malfoy met Luna Lovegood, he thought very little of her. Of course, he couldn't have known then, about the impact she'd ultimately have on him throughout their time together in Hogwarts. "You have to watch out for Wrackspurts, you see… they tend to cloud the minds of even the brightest wizards." Years 2 to 8.

August 19th, 1992

The term hasn't even started, and already Harry Potter was the talk of the evening. The chosen boy himself, recognized by the Gilderoy Lockhart, their would-be Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Any hint of respect Draco Malfoy might have carried for the adventurer, had vanished within a mere instant, upon the dreaded sense of favoritism once again placed on his most hated rival. Professor Snape was much more deserving, Draco thinks to himself, even his father carried nothing but respect for the Head of Slytherin. However, like always, that bloke of a Headmaster Dumbledore continues to play the role of a fool, having chosen to ignore talents where they are rightly due.

Slytherin deserves better. Especially after they should have rightfully won that house cup last year. Gryffindor was dead last, and yet the headmaster thought it was a good idea to reward points on the insufferable trio. It was blasphemous and revolting, and even now Draco can feel that sense of resentment gnawing itself onto his gut. If it had been any other student surely, they would all be punished for breaking multiple school rules. But not for Potter, never Potter. How nice it must be for him and his friends to be the apple in Dumbledore's eye.

Wondering across the narrowed streets of Diagon Alley, Draco keeps to his father's heel. The prized son of the Malfoy family, he wears his name like a crown. Even as an eleven-year-old, there mere presence of him demanded attention. Head raise high, that snide expression never fails to escape his own facade. After all, there was certain expectations his father carried for him. The big one mainly focusing on: never bringing shame to the family name. And thus, within the presence of his father, did Draco behaved extraordinary well… apart from his earlier encounter with Potter and his Weasley band of miscreant.

"Stay here," his father's authoritarian tone overshadows Draco's thoughts. His ears only barely processioning the direct order before the young master Malfoy unknowingly walks towards the tip of his father's cane. He stops.

"Yes, sir." Draco mutters beneath his breathe, his hand quickly rubbing away the discomfort of his prodded chest. Lifting his gaze, grey eyes merely follows as Lucius Malfoy ventures into another dark and secluded building. Another line of trade? He finds himself wondering, before shrugging away such thought entirely.

Keeping to himself, his arms found themselves folding and his foot taps impatiently onto the cement. His eyes simply observing as he watches countless of first year students eagerly attended to each and every last item required in their yearly checklist. Draco scoffs at the plebeians. Fortunately for him, he had already acquired everything on his list and so much more.

"Are you waiting for your parents too?" An unfamiliar yet soft voice makes themselves known and suddenly Draco is face to face with a girl with dirty blonde hair and silvery eyes.

"What does it look like to you?" The eleven-year-old boy spats.

"Well, you are standing by yourself and looked quite lonely." The foolish girl doesn't seem taken back by his rude response. Rather she greets him with a kind and curious smile, "If you do not mind, may I stand with you?"

"No," quick and direct, he wasn't in the mood to entertain some stranger with the most outrageous pair of radish earrings and what appears to be butterbeer corks dandling on her neck. Even if he doesn't know who she was, it was evidently clear that she was in the same rank as the Weasleys. Pureblood or not, her outfit simply screamed abysmal. But he supposed, to her credit, it was still better than the hand-me-down rags the Weasleys were wearing. "Get lost."

"Oh… was I bothering you?" She asks him with the same dreamlike tone as before. Her words somehow devoid of any malice or sarcasm, it felt as though she was genuinely curious by his continuous dismissal.

"Do you even know who I am?" A question answered by another question, he shot his words again in exasperation. The nerve of this girl, who does she think she is? Walking up to him and talking to him as if he wasn't so far from her league.

And of course, to his own dismay, she shakes her head in response, "I'm sorry… I don't think you've introduced yourself." Her lips purse slightly before she contemplates in silence. Seconds pass and before Draco can even begin to vent out his frustration, a hand is offered to him. "My name is Luna. Luna Lovegood… and you are?"

He was right, her name wasn't listed in the sacred twenty-eight pureblooded families of Britain.

"It's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." He boasts his name in confidence followed by a smug reaction. After all, Draco did enjoy the perks of being a Malfoy. Renown and feared, he had anticipated some sort of reaction coming from this Luna Lovegood. After all, his father was a very influential man who had the Ministry at the palm of his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Draco." His name - and not his last name, escapes her lips without so much as batting a single eyelash. Soft and tranquil he couldn't even recall anyone, aside from his own mother, carry the audacity to call him in such a matter.

"It's Mal-"

"There are wrackspurts on your head."

… wait what?

Lovegood lifts her finger and points to the crown of his own head before she swirls it in a single gesture. "They are these very tiny creatures that likes to make your head rather fussy," she soon explains as she tilts her head idly to the side.

Feeling her eyes stare intensely above his head, he is quick to recoil. Hand immediately brushing his hair in a fast pace motion only to feel nothing. "Is this some sort of joke?" Draco finds himself glaring at the young girl.

"Oh no, I would never joke about something like the wrackspurts." She says rather seriously, her golden brows furrowing softly onto her pale complexion. "If you aren't careful terrible things might happen to you. You really must be careful."

"You've lost your marbles." It's official this girl has completely lost it.

Shaking her head, she shuffles through her gaudy looking bag before taking out another piece of trash. "I haven't found a way to fully repel them yet… but this totem seems to help." The first year completely convinces herself.

Skeptical at first, Draco glances over at her supposed lucky charm. Her palm gleefully extending themselves to better his view. It was small and awkwardly shaped. There was no appeal whatsoever, and it was clear that it crafted rather poorly. It was a complete and utter joke and he couldn't believe he humored this girl for more than a single second.

"Luna, my dear girl, where are you?"

Hearing her name being called, Luna turns to the place where she originally departed from her father. Her attention momentarily split before she hands over the talisman to Draco. "Oh, I have to go now, but here! You can have this if you like. I can always make more at home. Good bye, Draco." She leaves before he is given the chance to disregard her tribute entirely.

"I don't need this! And it's Malfoy!" A frustrated response quickly escapes his lips, as she disappears from within the crowd. Rolling his eyes, he finds himself staring at the odd piece of work that somehow rested on the palm of his hand. It was ridiculously stupid, and he had every intention of tossing it right then and there.

However, before he was given the chance too, he can feel his father's shadow appear besides him. His errand finished, "Did you behave Draco?"

"Of course, father." He quickly shoves the item inside his pocket, completely out of sight and out of mind. "Although there was this bizarre girl earlier…" He originally intended to criticize the girl who lacked common sense, only to pause midway. Even he couldn't make out what just happened, and he doubted his father could either. "Mad in the head she was, but thankfully she's gone."

"I see." A half-hearted response lingers onto Lucius Malfoy's mouth, "Well than, let us be off."

From there, Draco once again follows his father's shadow. Movements nearly on par with the taller gentleman, although not entirely. It wouldn't take long until they would return to the manor and Draco would completely dismiss his earlier encounter with a young Luna Lovegood.

A couple of days later, during the welcome ceremony, he finds himself hearing her name again. The tiny young girl walking up to the sorting hat and obediently sitting down in place. Her butterbeer cork necklace does not escape his eye, and when the Sorting Hat declares her: Ravenclaw, he almost fell off his own seat from snickering in disbelief.

Unbelievable simply unbelievable.