A/N: Written for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Round 8 (Standing in for Chaser 1 of the Wimbourne Wasps)
Prompts X3: The word "Beastly", "Demon", and no letter "j".
Note: This story could do with being fluffier to meet the challenge, but it was the best I could manage in the time I had to submit!
Crazy in Love
Draco Malfoy had a secret.
Of course, like any normal young wizard Draco had many secrets, but this one in particular was not something he had divulged to anybody.
It wasn't that he had once stolen his mother's wand when he was nine and hidden it under the sofa for a day, because she had yelled at him for refusing to have a bath. Nor was it that he had used the killing curse on his goldfish last summer when he became sick of it and wanted a new pet. It wasn't even the fact that his father had a hidden room behind a bookcase in the library filled with Dark magical artefacts. No, he had shared all these details and more with his friends.
But Draco had never shared with any living soul his confusing feelings for Luna Lovegood.
He had first seen Luna in his second year, as she was standing in line with the other new first years waiting to be sorted into their Houses. They all looked utterly petrified, many of them visibly shaking and conferring with each other in anxious whispers. One silly boy even started crying as he wailed his fear that the Sorting Hat might eat his head off if it couldn't sort him into any House. Draco and the other Slytherins had sneered at this pathetic display.
They all looked ridiculous to Draco. All of them, except a small, blonde-haired girl who stood in the middle of the queue with a faint smile on her face, looking very much at her ease.
When Professor McGonagall called out, "Luna Lovegood!" from her list, the blonde girl stepped calmly forward, and perched nonchalantly on the stool as the Sorting Hat was placed on her head. It took a few mere seconds for the hat to decide on "RAVENCLAW!", and the girl, looking as if she had fully anticipated this decision, ambled over to the Ravenclaw table.
There was something striking about the girl alright; and although Draco did not quite understand it at first, he felt it a shame she had not been made a Slytherin.
Through the next few years, he caught glimpses of Luna in the corridors; usually alone, and always with the same faraway expression on her face. He'd heard his fellow Slytherins throw casual insults at her for her father's questionable choice of content for his magazine The Quibbler (honestly, what fool would believe in Nargles and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks?), and about her fashion sense (it was anyone's guess why she wore a Butterbeer cork necklace or horse radish earrings in public). She never seemed fazed by any of this however; she simply held her head high and continued on her way as if she couldn't hear the taunts. Of course, she always looked a bit out of touch with her surroundings, so it was possible she really couldn't hear them. Still, despite himself Draco admired her ability to remain impassive.
Draco wasn't a stranger to ridiculing and insulting those who deserved it (that Potter's very existence was a sin against humanity), but he experienced an unfamiliar feeling whenever he heard his friends' derision of "Loony Lovegood". He laughed too, of course; he could never be seen to miss an opportunity to assert superiority along with his fellow purebloods. But he felt beastly for it. It was perplexing and completely unlike him, but in his mind he kept making excuses for the flaws others held against the girl. Could she be blamed for being raised by an incompetent father who put crazy notions in her head? Not everyone was as blessed as Draco was to have two honourable pureblood parents.
It wasn't until one evening after Quidditch practise that Draco actually spoke to Luna Lovegood for the first time. Heading back to the castle for dinner, he spotted a figure at the edge of the forest. As he drew nearer, he recognised her unmistakable long blonde hair. She was sitting under a tree, and appeared to be picking flowers and putting them in a basket at her feet.
Draco slowed his pace, as he considered turning back and taking a longer route back to the school. For some inexplicable reason his heart was pounding hard in his chest. Before he turned around though, Luna seemed to detect his presence and glanced up at him. For a few seconds that stretched painfully, she simply stared at him. Then she murmured a soft, "Hello."
One part of Draco's mind told him to ignore her and keep walking, but another part commanded him to reply. All he managed in return was a feeble, "Hey." Not knowing why on earth he cared, he asked, "What are you doing?"
Luna considered him for a few moments for replying, a little more animatedly, "Oh, I'm picking Demon Bane - it helps keep the Nargles away." She indicated the purple flowers in her basket.
Draco was at a loss how to respond, but he began noticing certain details about Luna. Her hair was tied back in a long braid, but more than a few wispy strands had come loose, as if in defiance of her small attempt at tidiness. The effect should have looked unkempt, but somehow Draco only found it appealing. Around her neck was a blue pendant shaped like a rabbit, and although it looked cheap, the colour seemed to bring out the startling shade of her eyes.
Perhaps every bit as remarkable was the fact that although she seemed slightly wary, the girl did not appear frightened of him; nor was she openly hostile towards him as he expected all non-Slytherins to be.
He was taken aback when she lifted a handful of flowers and calmly offered, "Would you like some?", and even more shocked when he found himself about to accept, when an angry voice cut in.
"What the hell are you doing Malfoy?" Ginny Weasley was marching towards them, wand out and expression furious. Draco had never detested the Weasleys as much as he did in that moment.
Before he could retort, Luna said placidly, "We were discussing how to get rid of Nargles."
Ginny looked incredulous. She shot Draco a suspicious glance, before saying to Luna, "I was looking everywhere for you, and then Colin told me you went outside. You should have asked one of us to come out with you. Are you coming in for dinner?"
As Luna picked herself and her basket up off the ground and began walking away with her friend, she called out, "Goodbye Draco," taking one last look at him over her shoulder. The Weasley girl said nothing, but continued to grip her wand as they departed.
Draco found himself sitting down under the tree where Luna had been. Plans as to how he could meet with the girl alone again quickly started forming in his mind.
And despite being able to name a hundred reasons why the prospect was impossible, he realised he was falling in love with Luna Lovegood.