Luna sighed as she pushed a strand of her long silvery blond hair back behind her ear. The Room of Requirements was empty, for all of the other members of Dumbledore's Army had gone home for the holidays. Though Luna missed her father, he was off hunting Wrackspurts down by the lakes in Ireland, and Luna would feel horrible if she made him stay home when he could be out making history.
Luna pulled out her wand and glanced around the large room. It was different then before, cluttered, just a full mess of different things. Dumbledore's Army had been very slow over the past few years. In their fifth year it had been at its prime, but during their sixth year, Hogwarts had fallen into a state of panic, and Harry had been so caught up with running after Draco that they hadn't had time for Dumbledore's Army.
Harry was gone this year, along with Hermione and Ron, but Luna had decided to keep the tradition going. She had gotten Neville and Seamus together and started practicing. At first, the other members had been afraid to join them, for fear of getting punished, but soon after everyone started joining again. Luna had gotten caught once sneaking out of bed, and it had been a horrible treatment that she had gotten, but she had pulled through, and now only a dark bruise around her left eye remained as a reminder of the punishment.
This room, however, that Luna stood in now was not the room she remembered. It was cramped and cluttered full of all sorts of objects, and though Luna did not have enough space to train here, her curiosity spiked when she came a crossed of these odd and random objects.
Luna held up her wand and closed her eyes before she smiled and opened them. Her wand shook slightly and a silvery blue light came from her wand. Smoke like clouds slowly took shape into that of a small rabbit. It looked at her and twitched its nose. Luna tried, and failed, to twitch her nose back at the innocent creature before she watched it hop off, moving from furniture piece to furniture piece, but it could not knock anything down, for it was not really there.
Luna smiled and put her wand in her pocket before she wandered after the little rabbit at a slower pace, running her fingertips along the large piles of random artifacts, stopping every now and then to examine one that caught her interest. On one of these frequent stops when an old wind-up camera had caught her eye, she saw her little white rabbit stop ahead and stare at something, ears pricked to attention. Curious, Luna put the strap of the old camera around her neck and started after her rabbit, cranking the camera up as she went.
The rabbit looked at her and then disappeared into a thin vat of smoke. Luna rounded the corner and stopped when she saw a familiar face standing a few paces away. Draco Malfoy's tall, lanky figure stood in front of a black cabinet, staring up at it. His wand was by his side, but he did not lift it nor uttered a spell. Luna cocked her head to the side, glancing over Draco's expensive looking suit, his blond white hair, normally combed to perfection, hung loose and ragged. His gray eyes were so intent on the cabinet that Luna was drawn towards the intensity of the moment. And without thinking, Luna raised the old camera.
Click
A flash of white went off and Draco Malfoy jumped, turning and stumbling backwards a step when his eyes landed on the petite figure of Luna Lovegood, an old looking camera in her small hands. Her smile was dreamy as she lowered the camera and said, "Hello Draco Malfoy."
Draco could only stare at her, his mouth slightly open, still in shock from what had just happened, but he quickly closed it. He had been staring so intently at the cabinet for a questionable amount of time that when the white flash had gone off and momentarily blinded him, it was as though he had been tossed into a state of Vertigo, and he barely knew which way was up and which way was down.
However, he was slowly regaining his ability to see clearly. He blinked once again before his pale eyebrows pulled together.
"How did you get in here?" he asked, trying for a rude, almost annoyed tone. Luna did not seem to pick up on this, however.
She began winding up the camera again as she slowly started down the aisle towards him. Her Ravenclaw robes were too big for her, but her feet were bare. She looked up at the cabinet and cocked her head to the side again. Draco took another step backwards.
"I went to come in here to practice my spells for Dumbledore's Army, but this is not the room I usually practice in."
Draco blinked slowly, uncertain whether or not she was telling the truth or lying. It was so hard to tell with Luna Lovegood. She turned her gaze on him and smiled again before she said, looking back at the cabinet, "Why are you so interested in this cabinet? It is old and nice, but it is… black." Luna raised a pale hand and touched the doorknob gently, turning it for a moment before she let her hand fall and she turned her bright blue eyes back to Draco.
Draco scowled gently, uncertain about how to react to this. "I… I'm not interested in it." Draco finally said, the bite returning to his voice. But Luna had never seemed fazed by Draco's comments and remarks. She turned her eyes away as though he hadn't spoken and examined the cabinet closely. Draco's mind told him to run before he was caught, but his feet would not move from their spot on the ground. Luna moved around the cabinet in circles, running her hand along it, her other hand gripping at the camera around her neck. That was when Draco realized something rather disturbing. Luna Lovegood had just taken a picture of him.
Draco fidgeted on the spot, scowling at this realization. He did not so much mind the Loony girl as long as she stayed away from him, but he did not so much care for the fact that she had a picture of him.
"You shouldn't be going around taking pictures of people,… it's creepy." Draco said, trying to insult the girl in some way. Luna stopped and looked down at the camera before she turned to look at Draco and said, "You looked sad…" Draco didn't know if she was continuing his conversation about taking pictures of people or if she was changing the subject. His brain always hurt after falling into an unfortunate situation where he was forced to converse with the loony girl.
"I'm not sad." Draco spat, glaring slightly towards Luna. Luna's head cocked to the side once more and she slowly looked him over before she said, "No… you're not I suppose." Draco scowled. What the bloody hell! She just said he was sad a minute ago!
Luna walked over to stand beside Draco before she turned and looked towards the cabinet one more time. With a smile she lifted the old camera and took a picture of it. The white light flashed again and the cabinet lit up. Luna began winding the crank again before she said, "When I'm sad, I dance in the rain." Draco scowled. Of course she would, because where rain made most people sad, it made Loony Lovegood happy. Draco turned his eyes away to look up at the mirror.
"Good to know," he mumbled out sarcastically. Luna smiled before she turned to Draco and said, "You should dance in the rain sometime,… I bet you're a good dancer." Draco's scowl turned into an annoyed grimace as he turned to glare down at her. Luna only offered him a small smile before she lifted a hand, let it fall, almost like a wave, and then turned, starting off down the aisle back the way she had magically come from. Draco scowled and glanced at the cabinet before he turned back to look after Luna.
She had started skipping before she turned the corner and disappeared from view.
The clouds were gray the next day, but then again, they always seemed to be gray lately. The whole of Hogwarts seemed to have fallen into a world of despair. Luna sat up in the Ravenclaw Common Room. She had been banned from leaving the common room during the weekends. Her and the rest of Dumbledore's Army. She stared into the fire place with distant eyes.
The rest of the Ravenclaws had gone down to lunch, except for Cho Chang, who was upstairs, crying again. Luna did not know why Cho cried over Cedric a lot. Cedric was always watching over her. When someone died, they simply turned into a Crumpled Horn-Snorkack and followed their loved ones around. Everyone knew this, but when Luna had tried to inform Cho of this fact, Cho had only cried harder and ran away. Luna figured it was just hard because Cedric hadn't shown up yet. It took a while for the transformation from distant soul to Crumpled Horn-Snorkack to be completed.
Luna looked over at the fireplace and at the wire that hung a crossed it. She smiled and stood to her feet, walking over to the fireplace and sitting herself down in front of it. She reached up towards the wire she had hung there and took down two square pieces of odd paper.
She turned one of them over and her eyes caught sight of the figure of Draco Malfoy, standing in front of a black cabinet, his eyes intent on it. It was a good picture, Luna thought, but it did not capture the intensity of the moment in which Draco had been staring at the cabinet. That moment a few nights ago still came back to Luna every now and then. She wondered if Draco was thinking about bringing that cabinet home to his father, who Luna had heard had gotten out of Azkaban. It would be a nice present, since Lucius did seem to like black objects.
But Draco had looked sad, and yet he had denied it. This worried Luna. You should never deny the fact that you are sad, for it'll only make you sadder, and no one could help you when you're sad if you don't tell them you are. Luna had told him about how she liked to dance in the rain when she was sad, and ever since then she had been secretly hoping that it would rain so that Draco could go out and dance in it. It would make him happier, she was sure.
The sound of footsteps caught Luna's attention and she turned to look over her shoulder towards the girl staircase. Her eyes caught sight of Cho, whose own eyes were bloodshot and swollen. When she saw Luna, the girl stiffened and seemed to avert her gaze before she walked over to the portrait and walked out. Luna hoped she did not get in trouble for leaving, but perhaps Cedric had come to visit her a few moments ago and Cho felt slightly embarrassed for not believing Luna when she had told her that Cedric would come back. Luna smiled at the closed portrait hole. She would not hold it against Cho for not believing her.
Luna turned back to the pictures in front of her before she stood and walked up the girl's staircase into the girl's dormitory. Her bed was the farthest back, pressed against the largest window so that she could look out in the morning and watch the sunrise.
Luna walked over to her bed and set the pictures down on it before she knelled down in front of it and reached underneath. She grabbed a small backpack and pulled it out towards her before lifting it and setting it on the bed. She pulled it open and smiled when she saw all the rolled up pieces of parchment inside. Luna was a very creative young girl, ever since she had been little she loved painting and writing little stories about other people and about the people she knew.
When she had first met Hermione and Ron, she had written a small story about them being together and married when they're older. Hermione would be just as smart and Ron would annoy her just as much, but they would realize that they loved each other in due time.
Then Luna had written a story about Cedric coming back to Cho as an angel, and Neville finding a girl who would love his quirky antics. She had even written a story about Draco and Harry, being dragons and fighting over the love of a girl dragon. She had gotten the idea when she had gone to see them play Quidditch one time back in second year. Back then, Luna had not talked to Harry Potter, but that was ok.
As she had watched the match, she had seen Draco's resemblance to a dragon. His pale skin and white blond hair reminded her of a Chinese dragon, and his lanky body covered in the green Slytherin uniform reminded her of green scales on a long body. When it flapped in back, it had looked like wings, flying at top speed. She hadn't even watched the ending of the match, because if she had, she would have said that Dragon Harry had gotten the girl. She left halfway through the match to write the story up in the empty dormitory and she had let her mind take over her hand as she wrote so that she would not give the secret away to herself.
In the story, Dragon Draco had fought hard for the girl, and had almost won, but he had been killed by Dragon Harry, but the female Dragon had fallen in love with Dragon Draco and therefore had refused to run away (well, fly away, because Dragons were faster when they flew obviously) with Dragon Harry.
When Luna had found out Harry had won the Quidditch Match, Luna was glad she had left halfway through it, for it made her story her own, and not a play out of what had actually happened.
Luna reached her hand in and withdrew multiple different scrolls of paintings and stories. She stopped when she caught sight of the scroll which she had labeled 'A Dragon's Love'. She smiled and moved her stuff down by the end of her bed before she sat cross legged and rolled open the scroll, reading over her old story.
'A Dragon's Love'
By Luna Lovegood
To earn a Dragon's love is an honorable thing, for Dragons did not normally love. They loved to fly, they loved to tell stories, but they did not love one another. Until one odd day, when the clouds cried golden tears down on the land of Hoggie. One fair young dragon had caught the attention of two, tough dragon males. Both of which who wanted her to be their partner.
One of the dragons, Dragon Harry, was tough and resourceful, yet gentle and humble. He loved the young dragon for her own resourcefulness and her kindness to all others.
The other dragon, Dragon Draco, was strong willed and brave, yet he was reserved and did not converse much with the other dragons of his large tribe, the Slycons. He loved the young dragon for her ability to see him for what he was and to appreciate him.
Both dragons were from different tribes, and therefore hated each other. Dragon Harry came from Grytons, where Dragon Draco came from Slycons. The young female dragon did not come from any tribe, for she was a dragon from distant lands, yearning to explore undiscovered territory. She had not anticipated the two dragons.
Dragon Draco challenged Dragon Harry to a duel for the young dragoness's heart. Dragon Harry accepted.
At first, it started out as a race, for whoever could fly faster was obviously the better choice of defending the young dragoness. But when Dragon Draco won the race, Dragon Harry demanded another competition. The next part of their battle was mobility, for whoever could swing around tight corners was better qualified to defend the young dragoness. But when Dragon Harry won this part of the battle, the two dragons were still tied for the young dragoness's heart. Dragon Draco decided to go to his uncle, a powerful warlock by the name of Snitchet.
Dragon Draco told his uncle about the young dragoness and Dragon Harry and his uncle produced a magic golden ball, which he named after himself as the Golden Snitch. The rules of the little ball were simple. It moved too fast and could quickly get away. Once it is gone, it a race between the two dragons. The first to find the Golden Snitch and give it to the dragoness would win her heart.
Dragon Draco took the Golden Snitch from his uncle and brought it back to Dragon Harry, explaining the rules of their next battle. Dragon Harry accepted and Dragon Draco unfurled his claws from around the little golden ball. Wings sprouted out of the ball and it twitched awake before it zipped off out of sight. Dragon Harry did not wait to remind Dragon Draco of the rules, for Dragon Draco had a knack for disobeying rules, before he took off after the Golden Snitch. Dragon Draco rushed after him, and though Dragon Draco was faster than Dragon Harry, the Golden Snitch had flown into the forest, and Dragon Draco was not as good with mobility as Dragon Harry was.
Dragon Harry pulled ahead, swerving easily around the many, 50 foot tall trees and their long branches, with leaves that were big enough to cover a human in. Dragon Draco tried to follow Dragon Harry's movements, but he came up just too short.
When Dragon Draco saw the little golden ball a few paces ahead, he panicked, thinking that Dragon Harry was going to get to it before he could. Dragon Draco rushed forward and slammed into Dragon Harry, forcing him into a tree. Enraged by this, Dragon Harry forgot about the Golden Snitch and attached Dragon Draco. The two fell to the forest floor, 50 feet below them, and smashed into the ground.
Dragon Harry quickly got to his feet and glared over at Dragon Draco before he took off again after the Golden Snitch, but Dragon Draco did not move.
A few hours later, Dragon Harry had caught the Golden Snitch, but when he had gone about to find Dragon Draco and tell him that he had won, he could not find the young dragon anywhere. Convinced that Dragon Draco had given up, Dragon Harry flew back to where he had last seen the young dragoness.
Dragon Draco's uncle, Snitchet, came a crossed Dragon Draco, who was lying on the floor bed of the forest, dead or about to be. Snitchet quickly performed a spell on the young dragon and turned him into a human so that Snitchet could rush Draco to the nearest village and bring him back to life. When Draco woke up, he had no recollection of his past life. He could not remember ever being a dragon and he did not remember fighting for the love of a dragoness. He was introduced to his uncle a few weeks later, and they called him his professor, Professor Snitchet. Professor Snitchet told Draco stories about a young dragon who had fought for his love and had lost, but Draco did not make any sort of connections, like his professor had wanted.
When Dragon Harry had gone back to the dragoness, she had turned him down, claiming she had already fallen in love with someone, but it was a love that could never be, for the young dragoness had fallen in love with a human.
A human, she said, that had the whitest, purest hair she had ever seen.
The End.
Luna smiled down at her writing. She had forgotten about it until just now and she remembered how much she had been proud of this story. Carefully, Luna folded the story back up and placed it back in her backpack before she reached inside and pulled out a scrapbook. The scrapbook was one that Luna had made herself one summer during her fourth year. When she had gone back to school for her fifth year, she had filled it with pictures of Dumbledore's Army and everyone in it, and then random things and people that she did not know on a personal level.
Sometimes she would simply catch someone in a moment that she had to capture and she'd take a picture of them when they were not looking. Luna turned to one of the few empty pages and placed Draco's picture on top of the page. She pulled out her wand and closed her eyes before she quietly whispered a curse.
The picture stuck to the page as though assaulted with glue and Luna smiled down at it before she closed the scrapbook and put everything away inside her backpack, closing it up and putting it back under her bed. That's when she heard it, the light clap of thunder. Luna's head popped up with excitement and she looked out the large window by her bed. The clouds looked heavier and darker than usual, and when she waited for a few moments, a few droplets of water began to hit her window. Luna grew very excited. Now Draco could go out and dance in the rain and not feel so sad anymore.
Luna jumped to her feet and grabbed her sweatshirt before she put it on over her shirt and hurried out of the girl's dormitory down into the Ravenclaw Common Room. Kids were coming back from lunch and they paid Luna no mind as she slipped past them out into the corridor. She knew she should not be out of the common room, for it was a weekend and she could get into trouble, but she had to know whether or not Draco was going to go dance in the rain.
She didn't pass anyone as she wandered through the halls with a light skip in her step, a smile gracing her pale lips. She turned the corner and pulled open the large double doors before stepping outside. A light shimmer of rain began to fall and Luna smiled before she stepped out from the protection of the Hogwarts school, allowing the rain to fall on her head and plaster her silvery blond hair to her head.
She walked with patience and at a slow pace down the winding trails of the Hogwarts grounds, her bright eyes wide and peeled, waiting for Draco to come into view.
The rain sounded odd against the ceiling of the Astronomy Tower. Draco scowled as he glanced slowly around the circular room. He had just gotten the courage to come up here since that faithful night last year and he still felt skived out about it. He couldn't help but picture Dumbledore, old and helpless, standing there a crossed the way as Draco raised his wand. And yet Draco had not been able to utter those two cursed words.
Draco scowled gently and looked down at the wand in his hand, rolling it around in his pale fingers.
"When I'm sad, I dance in the rain."
Draco scowled gently as he walked over to the railing and leaned his stomach against it, squinting out a crossed the vast landscape. He could see smoke coming out of Hagrid's Hut near the Forbidden Forest. The water in the Black Lake slapped against the sand, and though the rain was too loud for Draco to hear it, he could image what it sounded like. He sighed and combed a hand through his white blond hair.
It was stupid to dwell on such words that came from Loony Lovegood's mouth, but he couldn't help but wonder why she would have bothered to tell him such a thing. The answer should have been simple; because she was loony and did not understand what 'privacy' meant, but Draco had a feeling that she knew exactly what she had been saying when she had spoken to him a few nights ago.
Draco took a breath and slowly let it out before he groaned and ran a hand over his face. He quickly turned his back on the railing before he started towards the door. It took him all of five minutes to get down to the double doors that would open up to the grounds. He could have taken several short cuts to get here but he had decided to take the long way, that way he could give his feet time enough to turn themselves around. However, they never did turn themselves around, and Draco kept walking forward, heading for the out doors where he would be bombarded with rain.
He stopped in front of the doorway, staring it over before he glanced over his shoulder. He knew that if he got caught outside without permission, he would not get into as much trouble as everybody else would, but he would still get a fair punishment.
He grabbed the doorknob and turned it before he stepped outside. Rain pelted down, but it was not as heavy as Draco would have thought it to be. It seemed more like a light drizzle than anything. Draco closed the door behind him before he took a deep breath and let it out, closing his eyes. He took a step forward and rain hit him on the top of the head. Despite it being light, it was cold, and it sent a shiver down Draco's spine. The top of his black shirt was already getting soaked. He scowled at the uncomfortable feeling, but forced himself to keep walking.
His hand reached into his pocket and he hesitantly touched his wand. He could very well cast a warming and drying spell on himself to prevent getting wet, but that would seem quite odd and would probably skive him out more. He pulled his hand from his pocket and sighed. What was he doing out here? He was getting soaked and he was actually taking advice from someone who could medically be labeled insane. He was being stupid, that's what he was being.
He turned on his heels and was about to make his way back up to the castle when his eyes caught sight of Luna Lovegood, heading towards the Black Lake. Draco squinted, as though to try and see if she had a heating and drying spell on, but from what Draco could tell, her hair was plastered to her head and her clothes soaked. Draco glanced up towards the castle, wondering how Loony Lovegood had managed to skip past all of the Death Eaters stationed around the area.
Draco knew that the silly group of students called 'Dumbledore's Army' was banned from leaving the common room's during the weekends, and Draco also knew that certain person was in that silly group. Draco glanced back over at Luna before he started towards her. He wanted answers; he wanted to know why she had given him such a silly hint as to go 'dance in the rain'. What was she really trying to get out of him? As he approached the silly girl, he could see her swaying back and forth by the old willow tree by the Black Lake. He could not see her face or hear her, but he had a sickening feeling that she had her eyes closed and that she was humming a tone to herself.
Draco slowly approached her from behind, but pulled to a stop when he heard her say, "Hello Draco Malfoy." Why did she feel the need to say his full name? He scowled gently and continued walking. He would not give her the satisfaction of knowing that she successfully creeped him out. He stopped beside her and looked over at her, waiting for her to explain, but she only looked at him and said, "You've come to dance."
Draco scowled. No, no he bloody well did not come to dance. Draco Malfoy didn't dance, not in the rain, not in the building, not anywhere. "No, I haven't." Luna looked away out towards the Black Lake and suddenly an idea struck Draco. What did she find that was so graceful about the rain? What did she honestly see when she looked at the little droplets of water when they fell from the sky, and why was she so desperately trying to show Draco what she saw.
"Why do you dance in the rain Lovegood?" Draco asked, looking her over closely. She was small, very petite, and she only came up to maybe his chin. She looked up at him and smiled brightly before she said, "It's beautiful." Draco glanced over the area with a scowl. It actually wasn't. It was gloomy, depressing, and all over annoying, but it was not 'beautiful'.
"What do you see that I don't?" Draco asked, surveying the area closely around him, trying to look for anything that might make this place look 'beautiful'.
This question seemed to make Luna's day, for her smile widened and she reached into her pocket for her wand. Draco stiffened slightly and watched as Luna held out a pale hand towards him. When he did not take it, and only stared at her as though she were crazy, Luna took his hand in her and raised her wand. She closed her eyes, but Draco did not. He watched her closely.
She looked at him, and for the first time in his life, he heard a small dose of annoyance in Luna's voice as she said, "You have to close your eyes." Draco scowled, as if that were obvious. He sighed before he closed his eyes. He could hear Luna muttering something under her breath, but he resisted the urge to open his eyes. He wanted to move his hand away from hers, but his body did not move. It was the oddest sensation in the world and Draco did not like it.
"Open them." Luna's voice cut into his thoughts and Draco's eyes fluttered open, as though he had fallen asleep. What he saw shocked him, and almost made him leap backwards. The Black Lake was large, a deep as always, but he could actually see down into it. The water, instead of being its signature black, murky color, was crystal clear and light. Everything seemed to have a haze to it, as though it were coated in magic.
Off near the Forbidden Forest, the trees had grown too large, towering over them by about 45 feet. Large leaves hung down from the trees, large enough for Draco to lay down on one. A loud roar sounded off in the distance and Draco slowly let his eyes wander around the area. He could see two large dragons, like the ones that the champions had to face during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, except they were not chained to anything.
The clouds overhead were light, fluffy, and a blinding white color, and yet, water fell from them. But… it was not water.
Draco raised a hand up and touched one of the little golden droplets as it fell in front of him. It stuck to his fingertip and remained in its bulb shape. Draco peered into it. It was like a regular rain droplet, except it had little golden flakes inside of it, making it seem like a little gold droplet. Draco took his hand from Luna's to poke at the little rain droplet and suddenly everything vanished.
The little golden flakes inside of Draco's rain droplet vanished and the little rain bulb ran down the side of his finger. The area around him darkened and became gloomy once more. With a frown, Draco turned to look at Luna, but she was not there. Where she once stood it was empty.
Draco glanced up at the sky above him, at the dark gloomy clouds and depressing skies, but all he could see were little golden tears.