Insert witty disclaimer here
Luna sat at the end of the Ravenclaw table, thoughtfully chewing on a bite of mutton. The seats on either side of her were vacant, but she was oblivious to her ostracization by her housemates. Even if she had noticed, she wouldn't have minded. She enjoyed being alone; it was often far more interesting than listening to the incessant prattle that came along with all teenage girls, even the ones in Ravenclaw. Her eyes wandered around the room looking for anything interesting, stopping as it came to the trio and her almost-friend, Ginny Weasley.
Ginny was seated between Hermione and her brother Ron, spooning something that looked like some kind pie into her mouth. Harry was across from them, his back to Luna. Ginny was now looking very uncomfortable, which may have been the result of Hermione leaning across her and shaking her finger menacingly all while yelling at Ron. Ron's face turned bright red and he mirrored Hermione's awkward positioning, leaning over Ginny and her food.
Ginny obviously was not taking kindly to the two seventh years; she looked like she wanted nothing more than to just get up and leave, but was unable to because of the spat currently taking place over her breakfast. Luna watched with horror and morbid amusement as a piece of soggy egg flew out of Ron's mouth and landed on Ginny's cheek. He didn't seem to notice his projectile, but Ginny did, stiffening and calmly wiping the egg off her cheek with her napkin. Despite her calm actions, one look into Ginny's eyes showed Luna that she was not just angry, she was furious.
Luna was deprived the pleasure of seeing what form of cruel and unusual torture Ginny would bring about on her brother. Ginny's eyes went from angry to amused in less than a second, when Ron shouted something to Hermione. Hermione, however, had an entirely different reaction. She froze, a look of shock on her face. She only paused a moment before jumping out of her seat and sprinting towards the exit. Luna chuckled, she had never thought of Hermione as particularly athletic, but she could sure move fast with the right motivation. The patter of her footsteps echoed throughout the hall.
The students close enough to hear what Ron had said were either looking shocked, amused or some combination of the two. The students were looking from the door that Hermione had just run through to the thoroughly confused male redhead sitting at the Gryffindor table. He had on the same expression Hermione had just been sporting, complete shock.
By the look on his face it was obvious to Luna, and probably everyone else that he hadn't meant to say whatever he had said and that it had popped out and had surprised even him. Luna saw Ginny call out Ron's name, which seemed to snap him out of his trance and he took off running after Hermione. Ginny dropped her face into her hands as she shook with silent laughter, although considering Luna was out of earshot, probably any laughter would have been silent to her.
Harry was still sitting at the table. He was watching the door with a look full of longing and worry. He obviously wanted to make sure his two friends were all right and weren't killing each other. He turned and said something to Ginny. She looked up at him and upon seeing the look on his face, she started laughing even harder.
'Go,' she saw Ginny say to Harry, waving her hand vaguely in the direction of the giant oak doors. Harry needed no further pushing and followed his two best friends by scrambling out of his seat and running out the door. Luna would bet money that he not only found his friends in one piece, but found them snogging in a corner somewhere.
'That would be interesting.' she thought to herself as she sniggered.
The rest of the school was still watching and Ginny couldn't blame them. This was better than those soap operas her father had made her watch one time.
Ginny remained sitting. She looked up at the rest of the hall and looked around and then said loudly enough for the whole hall to hear, "You can continue with breakfast now."
When no one stopped staring, she added, "The show's over."
The silence was broken and the sound of hundreds of teenagers gossiping was soon heard. Everyone turned to their neighbor and began whispering feverishly to one another, sneaking glances at Ginny, surrounded by empty seats. Luna looked around at the other tables and a flash of pale blonde hair caught her eye at the Slytherin table.
Draco Malfoy was laughing loudly at the Gryffindors; actually, the entire table was. Luna wasn't surprised. She couldn't blame them. Even Ginny was laughing and it had been her ex-crush, her brother, and one of her best friends. The scene had been downright hilarious. Pansy sat on the left side of Draco, clutching his arm possessively as she howled like a banshee. She obviously didn't realize that she looked extremely unattractive doing so. Her eyes were glued to Draco, even as she answered a question directed to her by a fifth year boy.
It was obvious to everyone that she fancied Draco- fancied him to be her ticket to wealth and power. She didn't seem to particularly like him, there was no spark of warmth in her eyes when she saw him, just a small spark of attraction and a colossal spark of greed. She seemed to like the idea of marrying him more than she actually liked him. Her eyes were always cold and calculating, devoid of any of the tenderness that is needed to like someone.
Still, she took every possible opportunity to touch him or be near him. However, Draco, to his credit seemed uninterested in her advances. Either that or he didn't realize that Pansy wanted him. Luna would put money on the former seeing as even someone with the intelligence of Crabbe or Goyle wouldn't be as oblivious to her sexual advances. And no matter how annoying, and mean Draco was, he wasn't stupid. In fact, he was far from it.
Behind his cold, arrogant exterior lay an intelligent person. His eyes were carefully guarded, not revealing any emotion other than hate, loathing, and the more-than-occasional disdain. If you watched closely enough, which Luna did, it was possible to catch a glimpse of something else in his eyes, but it was a rare occasion when one did. Although she only saw glimpses of true emotion in Draco's eyes, the person sitting on his other side was even more difficult to decipher.
For six years he had intrigued her, caught her interest in a way that nobody else had. For six years she had slyly watched the student body, and she could tell you something about them, everyone, except for him. For six years she had been daydreaming about his thick black hair, his full lips and rock-hard Quidditch body. For six years she had been scared to death of talking to him.
For six years she had fancied Blaise Zabini.
He was a member of the Slytherin Ruling Class; in fact he was extremely high up in the Slytherin hierarchy. It was probably because he was Draco's best friend and also extremely good looking, at least according to Luna and the rest of the female population. He was also Head Boy. Luna thought he deserved the position and had been happy to hear he was awarded it.
The other houses had at first, complained about a Slytherin Head Boy, but a few weeks into the school year the dissenters were silenced as Blaise had been nothing but fair. He was diplomatic to the other houses, diplomatic to the younger years, diplomatic to the teachers, he was even diplomatic to the house elves. In Luna's book, he just didn't add up. He managed to get along with the cruelest students in the entire school, yet he was very likely one of the most genial.
As usual he was sitting in his regular spot next to Draco, smiling slightly but not joining in cracking jokes about Harry, Ron and Hermione. He didn't stop them, but he didn't join them. Draco was laughing at something Pansy had said, but he flinched slightly when she started howling again. Obviously Pansy was capable of grating on his nerves like she grated on everyone else's. Her face was contorted with her maniacal laughter and he looked away.
Even though Draco was participating in the Gryffindor-bashing, unlike Blaise, his attention was elsewhere. He was continually stealing glances at the Gryffindor table, specifically Ginny Weasley. He was careful not to watch for too long, or he otherwise risked detection, which would be very bad for him. Luna thought it would be funny to see what Pansy would do if she found out a mudblood-loving Weasley had caught her Draco's attention. Knowing Pansy, it wouldn't be pretty.
Draco was staring at her heatedly. The look in his eyes surprised Luna. He looked at Ginny with lust. Oh sure, it was overshadowed by hate, disdain and contempt. But it was still there. He was attracted to Ginny. The youngest child and only girl in his least favorite family managed to catch his attention, and he hated it.
She saw the battle taking place behind his eyes. He was trying to fight the feelings that Ginny oh-so-obviously evoked in him, and was doing a passably good job. Luna was willing to bet he wasn't even aware of the attraction himself. Being the silly boy he was, Luna also bet it would be a while before he became aware of it. That would be an interesting day indeed. He clenched his jaw and looked resolutely back at
Blaise was sitting there, smiling silently. He was, by far, her favorite person to watch, besides being nice to look at. He always interested her.
Suddenly he was looking up, straight at her. She froze, unable to shift her gaze away. He smirked at her and raised one eye questioningly. She blushed furiously and looked down at her plate.
'Pickle swotter!' she cursed to herself, panicking.
She ignored the rest of her breakfast and left the great hall as quickly as she could. She avoided looking anywhere near the Slytherin table. Once out in the corridors where she didn't need to worry about drawing attention , she sprinted to her room and flopped onto her bed.
Blaise Zabini had caught her staring at him. She was so embarrassed, in fact she was mortified. She hadn't even been just staring at him, she had been mooning over him. She groaned loudly into her pillow.
'This can't get any worse.'