A/N For the Seven Fics Challenge with the prompt of "shell cottage". Also for the Forbidden Relationship Competition with, obviously, Draco/Luna. Will be a multi-chap. Please, please R&R!
Malfoy Manor had always been a depressing place. Perhaps that was a contributing factor to Draco's absolute hatred of his home. Or maybe it was just that his parents never paid him much attention while he was actually there.
Either way, Shell Cottage was a much better place to stay, at least in Draco's mind. The people there accepted that he'd taken Dumbledore's offer to run away from Voldemort, to switch sides. They accepted that he'd repented.
It didn't mean they liked it, necessarily, but they respected him. Draco was kind of surprised that they did, since he knew he wouldn't have been so welcoming to someone that switched sides in the middle of the war.
But Draco wasn't the Order, and they thought differently than him. He kind of liked it.
Potter, Weasley, and Granger were often gone, looking for something. They wouldn't tell anyone what it was, but Draco had a pretty good idea. Voldemort always gloated about having a way to live forever, that he was better than any mortal man. Draco figured the three of them had gone to find his weakness.
Draco was lounging on the couch one day, staring out the window at nothing, as usual. Fleur came up to him. He had to fight with his brain and tell it to shut up. He knew she was part Veela, but that didn't make him immune to her powers.
"'Ave you eaten, Draco?" she asked, holding a tray of perfectly made sandwiches. "I made lunch." He made some sort of strangled sound and grabbed a sandwich, which he downed within thirty seconds. It was hard to stop eating when Fleur made food, which was weird, because it didn't actually taste that different from anything he'd had at back at Malfoy Manor. She walked away.
A popping noise came from outside, and Draco shot to his feet. Someone had Apparated inside the boundaries of Shell Cottage. This either meant that Potter and Company were back, or someone had breached the security. Draco was very protective of this new safe haven of his, and he'd put all his energy toward strengthening the spells surrounding the place. He knew some special spells that others in the Order didn't, because Malfoy Manor was always so well protected, and he used to help his father maintain that protection.
Draco ran outside, brandishing his wand, but stopped short and turned around when he saw it was only Potter and his friends. Just before he got to the door, he changed course and headed for the ocean. He didn't think he could bear being in that crowded little cottage any more today, and anyway, he wanted to stay away from Fleur as much as possible.
There was one person staying at Shell Cottage that Draco had never heard any sort of derogatory remark from. Ever. Even at him, which he probably deserved. It was Luna Lovegood.
She sat down next to him to watch the water.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" she asked. He barely heard her over the roar of the waves. Beautiful? Perhaps, but dangerous was more accurate.
"I suppose," he said. She was a little eccentric, this girl. A bit off her rocker. Loony, they called her at school. But she couldn't be too bad, could she? Being friends with Potter? Not that Potter was any sort of saint, but he did know how to make good friends. He'd stayed away from Draco, hadn't he?
"I think it should reflect more on what lives under the surface. It's too pretty for something that houses Nuggleflumps," she said. Draco rolled his eyes, but he didn't really mean it. It was actually quite interesting, how she could believe that all these things existed. And who knows? Maybe they did.
"What are those?" he asked. Luna leaned back on her elbows. Her long blonde hair rested in the sand, and would probably be a nightmare to brush later, but she didn't seem to care. Draco wished he could be like that.
"They're these monstrous pink creatures that devour everything in their path, including inanimate objects. Quite horrid, really," Luna said, completely unfazed by what she just said. It was a little amazing, actually, something Draco would never say out loud but knew was true.
They sat there for a while, just staring at the ocean. Draco figured he wouldn't look at it the same again, after finding out about Nuggleflumps. Even if they didn't exist, they sounded pretty terrible.
A piercing scream sounded behind them. Luna whipped around faster than Draco, and, having Seeker reflexes for reference, that was quite the feat.
Draco followed Luna to the source of the screaming, and he stopped dead in his tracks.
A/N Haha, cliffy! Now you've got to read on. Yes, I'm mean, but I like readers. R&R, please!