A/N: This week's edition of the ongoing prompt-love between me and my bestest friends in the whole wide world, Bruhaeven and Le Requiem, both of whom are brilliant writers (i.e. you should check out their work because it is ah-mazing.)
Story Notes: Takes place sometime during the fifth book, but nothing specific. Assumes a bit of a history between our favorite blondes.
ENJOY.
Prompt: Set fire to the rain
"You played quite well today."
Draco opens one eye, peering up at the girl twisting dandelions into a necklace. He's hot and sweaty, lying with his back on the wet grass, limbs all stretched out as his chest heaves slightly – his heart still racing just a bit. He feels the moisture from the ground creeping down his spine, seeping through his dark green Quidditch robes as new raindrops hit his face.
"Luna."
Her face is dreamy and blissful, and Draco can't help but smile even as he groans, moving his arms up to cover his eyes.
"Luna, we lost. Horribly. And you were cheering for Gryffindor the whole time."
The raindrops continue to fall while Draco waits for a response. Finally he removes his arms, opening his eyes and sitting back on his elbows.
She's placed the flower chain on top of the ludicrous lion's head hat sitting in front of her, which she's now grooming. Inside his mind, he chuckles, but he thinks that somehow she must have heard him anyway, because she turns her bright blue eyes to his.
"Draco, you're smiling."
He narrows his eyes slightly, but the smile won't budge.
"Well, don't act so surprised…It's been known to happen."
She laughs, a bubbly sort of sound, because it's such a lie.
"What?" He tries to sound exasperated, but listening to her laughter he can't keep the grin off his face or out of his voice.
"Stop laughing! What's so funny?"
There's a brief pause in the giggling, when Luna turns back to the lion's head, murmuring, "It's nothing," before resuming a light laugh.
The sound is pounding on Draco's ears, like the rain on his face, and he can't stand it, though his expression would suggest otherwise.
"Why're you always laughing at me?"
She's lost in flowers and lions again, and she absent-mindedly gives a puzzled sort of "Hmmm?" as if she's already forgotten the laughter. She turns back to Draco, and looking at him, she remembers.
He's finally wiped the smile off his face, and it's been replaced by a scowl that's too familiar for the surprisingly soft features. They shouldn't be allowed to contort like that.
"You're so pretty when you smile."
This time, Draco is the one laughing. It's out of his mouth before he can think, and it takes him a moment to realize that the sound is coming from his own throat. With anyone else, it would be harsh or mocking, but the sound now is light but hearty, a deep laugh that rises quickly and refuses to relent.
Luna waits patiently, but it's in vain.
Draco falls back into the grass, arms over eyes, stomach heaving. There are tears of laughter staining that pale face, but they mix with raindrops so that no one will ever know.
She stops messing with her hat, and looks at the boy next to her. Her face breaks into a smile and now she's the one asking,
"Why're you laughing at me?"
He sits up, still smiling, but looking at her with a knowing stare.
"Luna."
They stare at each other for a moment, Draco's eyes telling Luna that she knows exactly why he's laughing at her, but - innocent as ever - Luna just smiles softly and says,
"What?"
Draco rolls his eyes at her.
"Pretty? Really now – pretty?"
And Luna can't hold back her laugh. It erupts with just a bit of an snort because it was so eager to be let out.
"Well, you are. When you smile that is. Besides, what's so wrong with calling a person pretty?"
Draco's smile creeps up one half of his face, becoming a smirk for just a moment, before slipping back into a calm expression as he looks up at the Whomping Willow and sighs.
"How is it that everything you say feels like an insult?"
The Willow is just out of reach, but that doesn't mean it's given up trying to bash the blonde couple laying in the wet grass.
"Hmmm… That is rather strange. If someone were to call me pretty, I think should be very pleased. Maybe it's the nargles turning all your thoughts around…"
Draco looks up into the rain. It's hot outside, and his heart is still beating fast, even though the Quidditch match ended long ago. He thinks it should have stopped by now, but perhaps…. Of course not, it couldn't be, that must be the nargles speaking.
He brings his eyes back to the blonde girl beside him. Now that he thinks about it, her long straw hair, her hazy blue eyes, her innocent grin, she actually is quite –
WHOMP.
"Oww! Stupid tree..."
He brings a hand to his face, where a thin wiry branch had just whipped him. He can feel a small welt, but there's no blood.
"I hate that bloody tree."
He's rubbing his cheek, wondering how bad it'll look later, when he's drawn out of his thoughts by a soft, muffled chuckling. Luna tries to look busy with the hat, but Draco knows better.
"You're laughing at me again… And I'm hurt - no, it's because I'm hurt. You're laughing at me because I'm hurt…You little skank!"
Luna's laughter explodes again and Draco's smiling and laughing too, but as she tries to catch her breath to apologize he cuts her off.
"No. That's it, we're – no, don't try to touch me, now! You will never have this – This is over."
She tries reaching out, but he rolls over so that he's just out of reach. She abandons the fluffy hat and crawls through the wet grass, trying to catch the boy who keeps laughing and pulling away. With an unexpected hop, she cuts Draco off, crouching over him so he's got nowhere to go.
"Gotcha."
They're both giggling, a few feet from the lion's head hat that sits where Luna dropped it. They're now in range of the blasted tree, but neither of them notices - they're too busy looking into one another's eyes, caught off-guard and pleasantly surprised by the silly turn the afternoon has taken. Their eyes are both pale and glassy with tears of laughter. Twinkling, almost.
The laughter stops, but they're still staring at one another. They're looking into one another and they're seeing sides they didn't know were there; She sees his playfulness, and he sees her ruthlessness.
"Here, let me look at it…"
She reaches out, and this time he doesn't pull away. Her fingers brush across the welt, and they linger there a moment too long. She's about to pull away when Draco's hand catches hers and presses it onto the quickly swelling line.
"You're cold. 'Feels nice."
She breathes in sharply, feeling her cool fingers against his warm skin, not sure if she wants to struggle.
"You're hot."
She feels his face move into a smirk under her fingers, and he presses his lips to the inside of her wrist and hums, "I know."
She doesn't lean in, but she doesn't quite pull away either. In fact, she doesn't really react at all, except to glance down at his dark green robes, the little raindrops evaporating into the hot September air in little puffs of steam.
She pulls her hand away from Draco's face and reaches down, pressing her finger onto one of the droplets. She then pulls it away and makes a little hissss and watches as it disappears. She whispers,
"If you're not careful, you're going to set fire to the rain."
The Willow takes the opportunity to launch its attack. Draco sees the limb before it strikes, and, with little else to do, he grabs Luna's waist and throws her under him and rolls the two of them out of the way.
He's on top of her now, and they're both breathing hard. Luna's staring into grey eyes, and for once, she's the one mystified. The damp, heavy, green robes, combined with the hot, humid air, prompt her to stutter a breathless,
"You're - I-It's hot."
Draco nods, but neither of them move.
"Are – Are you sure you don't have a fever? Maybe you should go to the hospital wing… I heard Ernie MacMillan's got a bad case of multiplying narkwits. Maybe you've…"
They're both leaning in slowly, eyes wide, the both of them surprised. They're close - so close - but the moment is cut short by a shriek. One of the Willow's branches lands inches from Luna's face, leaving a sizable crater in the earth beside the two.
Draco and Luna look at each other for a moment, then panic strikes. They both jump to their feet, looking like two chickens with their heads chopped off as they try to decide which way to run. Finally, they collect themselves enough to run away from the tree's reach, and once safe, Luna breaks into a fit of nervous laughter, while Draco stands with his hands shaking just slightly.
The tree, however, isn't totally unsuccessful in its assault; its branches find the abandoned lion hat and proceed to bash it repeatedly until it resembles a very large hairball. Luna watches helplessly.
"Oh, bother."
Draco sighs heavily, hiding his shaking hands in his pockets.
"I suppose you'll be wanting me to go fetch that?"
Before she can remind him that a simple accio spell will do the job, he's running back towards the deadly branches. He manages to evade the attacks while retrieving the hat - it's not until he's almost out of reach that he receives a hearty thwack on the back.
"Bloody hell!"
He reaches around to hold his back with one hand and, quite unceremoniously, uses the other to lob the ratty ball of fur at Luna. She catches it, just barely, but then lets it fall to the ground by her feet.
"Thank you… but you really didn't have to, you know."
Malfoy shrugs.
"No, I mean, you really didn't have to… I have three more in my dormitory."
Draco rolls his eyes, and tries to smirk, but he winces in pain as he steps forward and the smirk turns into more of a grimace.
"You really are a loon, you know. Honestly…"
His eyes are squinted and he's puzzled by her. He tries to figure out what it is about her, but it's impossible to see past those milky blue eyes.
She bends down and gingerly lifts the battered, but somehow still intact chain of dandelions that's sitting on the mangled ball of fur. She holds it out to Draco, but the pain has brought him back to his senses, and he pushes it away roughly.
"Keep your stupid flowers."
Instead she lets the chain fall from her fingers onto the wet grass. She takes a step toward Draco, but he takes one step back, keeping the distance between them. He turns his face away from hers, and stares instead at the still violently thrashing tree.
"Get to class, Lovegood, before I'm forced to give you detention."
Luna looks at the back of his head, and asks,
"Aren't you going to class as well?"
He scoffs, and a bit of harshness has reentered his voice.
"Herbology? Not likely."
Luna smiles, but he's still staring at the tree.
"Well, I'm sure I'll see you later, Draco."
"Right…Whatever."
Once she's left, Draco collapses into the grass and tries to forget about things like nargles and narkwits. His fingers find the chain of dandelions, and as he fiddles with the weeds, slowly pulling the chain apart, he finds himself smiling and wondering what it is about Luna that makes him do that.
He tosses the chain aside and closes his eyes, letting out a sigh of relief. He's finally caught his breath, and his heart has settled back into its slow and steady rhythm. The rain hits his face, washing away the mask, and he laughs softly as each drop burns his skin.
He isn't sure how it happened, but he's pretty sure the rain's caught fire.
post-post: I had lots of fun writing this one. Draco and Luna are my favorites. AND it's my first straight-up fluff piece for Harry Potter, although a bit of angst did start to creep up on me there at the end... alas.
Anyhowsss, I hope that you all enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing!
Be sure to let me know what you think via review - I do love me my reviews, and i always send very nice replies :)