Note: This chapter has been partially rewritten, so please re-read to those who read the first chapter before. It's much better. =)
Hi, readers! This is my new fanfiction in the Harry Potter fandom, My Happy Ending. It's a Draluna fic, so you'll be seeing a lot of them. If you've heard the song My Happy Ending, then you can know that the song fits from Luna's point of view. If you haven't, well, I can't tell you what to do, but I wouldn't recommend listening to it. It kind of gives away the end. But not the story! So this is written from Draco's POV, even though I don't like writing boy POVs very much. But this one has to be, because I just can't write from Luna's POV. That is beyond me. So read and review if you like it and want me to keep going! I'll post if I get some reviews or alerts!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, and I don't own My Happy Ending by Avril Lavigne.
Draco glanced sourly up at the head table, where all of the teachers were laughing and enjoying the first day back. He wasn't nearly as happy. Now that the war was over - and he'd been on the losing side -, there were few people who wanted to consort with the likes of him. He'd been met with so many disgusted looks already that even he was starting to feel disgusted at himself. Fortunately, he also had friends who'd switched sides. "Come on, Draco. Lighten up," Pansy urged from his left side.
Blaise raised one perfect eyebrow at his full plate and snorted. "This reminds me of our sixth year. Except then, Crabbe and Goyle would eat your - Oh, sorry."
Strange as it was, it seemed that Draco actually had appreciated Crabbe's friendship. Somehow, things weren't the same without a second big oaf at his side. Goyle looked hopelessly incomplete without his companion, as well. "It's okay, Blaise," Draco assured him, not wanting to appear weak. "It's not like I actually cared for the guy, anyway," he added, but he had the strangest feeling that everyone at the table knew it was a lie.
Pansy was gazing rather sadly at him. "I know you've been through a lot, Draco," she began in one of her rare intelligent moments. "And I want you to know that no matter what, I'm here for -"
Suddenly, she was cut off by a magically magnified throat being cleared, and they turned to see Headmistress McGonagall standing up. "Welcome back, students," she greeted them. "I hope you have enjoyed your summers and your feast. But it's time for school again, and we look forward to a great year." She paused and smiled out at them. Draco tried to keep his brain from thinking all the nasty names he had called people like her in the past - Muggle-lovers, all of them, - but he couldn't quite keep it in. He turned to mutter some of these to Crabbe, and then cleared his throat to get rid of the large lump.
"Now, everyone is repeating the past year of education, due to a mismanagement of curriculum," McGonagall continued. Mismanagement of curriculum, right, Draco scoffed to himself. "And because of this, we are going to have a rather swollen first year class. To remedy this..." Draco soon tuned her out and turned to flicking potatoes with his fork at Potter and the rest, of whom only that Granger girl was listening attentively.
"Furthermore, you are all going to be assigned reconciliation partners," McGonagall said after a few minutes, catching Draco's attention. Reconciliation partners? This wouldn't be good. "Everyone that displayed signs of siding with You-Know-Who and those that have been treated with unfair animosity are going to be paired with some of the excellent leaders of our years. Now, listen closely. Professor Slughorn?" she gestured to the large old man, who had returned to teach Potions.
"Alright, listen up," he began, unrolling a scroll with a rather grandiose gesture. "Now, we have: Potter and Zabini. Granger, Parkinson." Draco heard both Pansy and Blaise groan loudly. "Ronald Weasley, Goyle. Ginevra Weasley, Nott. Malfoy, Lovegood. Longbottom..." Slughorn continued to read names off the list, while Draco started laughing. His partner was Loony Lovegood? That was ridiculous! Oh, this would definitely be an entertaining year.
As the students piled out of the Great Hall, newly rebuilt, Draco noticed Potter and his friends walking only a few feet ahead of him, including his new partner, the Lovegood girl. He slid up behind them to hear what they were saying. "I can't believe I'm stuck with Goyle," Weasley was complaining. "That bloke can't tell a horse from a shoe from a knitting needle!"
"Ron, you can't complain," Granger argued. "I'm with Parkinson. She's a complete cow, not to mention she isn't that bright either."
"And I'm with that Zabini," Potter scoffed. "The one whose mother is famous for marrying rich blokes and then doing away with them. He thinks he's amazing just because he supposedly looks good."
"Too bad you can't say the same about yourself, Potter," Draco interjected snidely, bringing himself forward so that he matched the pace of the others.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Potter demanded, his hand leaving that hot Weasley girl and landing on his wand.
Draco smirked. "I'm here to meet my new partner, of course." He motioned towards Loony Lovegood, who was reading a magazine upside down and wearing those very odd spectacles she was known for.
"Luna," the Weasley girl nudged softly, bringing Lovegood's attention to Draco, while Potter stepped menacingly forward.
"You better not mess with her, Malfoy," Potter warned.
"Or what? You'll punch me from under that cloak of yours?" Draco responded, amused, remembering the very hectic Battle of Hogwarts, which he knew would get Potter riled, since Potter was rumored to have nightmares about that time.
Weasley stepped forward to defend his friend as well, taking out his wand. "Get away from here, Malfoy. And stay away from Luna," he snarled.
"What, is she your girlfriend, too?" Draco retorted, his smirk growing ever wider.
Three wands shot spelled at him, all of which he dodged with ease, from the wands of Potter, Weasley, and Granger. He emerged from the smoke, laughing, before heading down to the Slytherin common room. "Nice try, Potter," he snickered.
"At least I'm not running like a coward," Potter shouted at Draco's back, with very little real impact. He headed down the stairs, through a couple passageways, and then past the door that led towards the dungeon Potions room. As Draco neared the dungeons, however, he noticed there was somebody following him.
"Stupefy," Draco whispered into the darkness, causing somebody to scurry out of the shadows and into view.
"Oh, hello, Draco," Luna Lovegood said pleasantly. "I hope I didn't get in the way of whoever you were aiming at."
Draco did a double take. "Why were you following me?"
"Following you? Oh, no," Lovegood laughed. "I wasn't following you. I simply like to take a slightly longer way to the Ravenclaw common room. It reminds me of last year, when we were always sneaking around. Also, it's easier to avoid other students. They like to take my stuff and make fun of me sometimes."
"Oh," Draco responded smartly, touched by her honesty. "I was just - I thought it was Potter or one of his buddies, following me, trying to pull a prank."
Loony Lovegood removed her strange glasses so that Draco could see her eyes. She tucked them in the front pocket of her robes, as though she were about to say something important, a feeling that Draco was not used to having when talking to Lovegood. "I don't think you are as bad of a person as Harry thinks," Luna told him. "Harry is my friend, but he can be very judgmental about people he doesn't particularly take to."
Draco was, for once, at a loss for words. What could he possibly say to that? "Er, yeah," he replied after a pause.
"I don't think you understand how good of a person you are, Draco," she continued, astounding him further. It wasn't like she could possibly know anything about him, Draco thought in annoyance.
"Whatever, Loony Lovegood," Draco responded, now thoroughly convinced that he was irritated. But as he enter the common room and was engulfed by his classmates - a very worried Pansy and a very annoyed Blaise - Draco wasn't so sure what he felt. That hollow feeling in his chest, the feeling of being discovered and betrayed, seemed like it was more than just a figment of his imagination, no matter what he tried to make himself think. Come on, Draco, he told himself. It's just Loony Lovegood.
Okay, I like the rewritten version a LOT better, for those of you that read this chapter before. It makes it seem way more normal. The other version was just weird. Now tell me if you want to see these to fall for each other. =) (By the way, there is a plot, for those of you that like that. For those of you that don't, it's not an enormous plot.;-))