Draco stepped through the Hogwarts gates and stopped still. His former school stood on the hill above him. He drew in a deep, tingling breath of frosty air and continued on. His fur-lined boots crunched on the icy path. He reached into his robes and drew out a simple black mask, which he placed over his blue eyes, and swiftly tied the cloth behind his head. His usually platinum blond hair had been spelled a darker blond. It was not much different, but enough that no one would recognise him.
Tonight was the Hogwarts Christmas Eve masquerade. McGonagall had come up with the idea in order to bring about unity between the houses. The rules were that everyone had to hide their identity and arrive alone. In this way she hoped that the students would get to know each other better. At midnight everyone would remove their mask and friendships between the houses would be formed.
Draco laughed bitterly. It was rather poetic that tonight would see an end to all unity, the death of some and the closing of the school. Voldemort had heard of the Masque and gave Draco the task of setting a powerful curse in the school.
Draco entered the Great Hall to find the party in full swing. Masked students danced, ran and laughed in merriment. How he hated Voldemort for the hold he had over him. He secretly wished Potter would rid the world of the Dark Lord, and soon. Not that he in any way liked the annoying git, but because he had no desire to see Voldemort rule the world. He rather enjoyed being in a position of influence in the world and all the quirks that came with being the heir to one of the oldest, purest and most powerful wizarding families. If the outcome of Voldemort's reign was going to be anything like the expansive cave currently serving as the Death Eater lair, Draco wanted no part of it. But when someone held your mother hostage and was very willing to cause her pain and even death, you obeyed.
Draco was pulled from his thoughts by the strong scent of amortentia. The vanilla fog rose through his head. His eyelids fell closed and he floated for a second in peace. Incredulous he looked about him. Who would bring that to a party? His eyes met a pair of similar blue to his own about a metre away. She stood side-on to him as though she had been walking past, stopped and half-turned back. She was staring at him with the oddest look in her eyes as though he were some curiosity. Then he realised. He hadn't smelt the potion at all. It had been her.
He let his eyes roam over her. She wore long white robes that were touched with silver and cinched in about her waist. She was at least a head shorter than he was. Her long blonde hair fell to her waist and was threaded with silver and white ribbons from her mask. Her robes dipped down just below her shoulder blades, out of which were growing a beautiful pair of white wings that fluttered every now and then.
Draco could have sworn no one like her had been at the school in all the years he'd been there. He raised his eyes back to her face as she did the same and he realised she had been curiously looking him over as well. Their eyes met again. He was enthralled. She began to walk towards him and this shocked him out of his stupor. He took a step backwards and tried to continue his way across the hall. The crowd of students pushed too closely and he couldn't get through without drawing attention to himself.
He felt a hand on his arm and turned to find the girl standing close to him.
"Who are you?" she asked, wonder in her voice and eyes.
"No one." He answered. He wasn't here for this, but he had to know.
"Who are you?" He demanded back.
"No one." She mimicked in an ethereal voice. She stood staring at him for awhile during which he was strongly tempted to take up her challenge for a staring contest, but the last thing he needed was to be recognised and besides, he had a job to do.
Then she asked, "Where were you before?"
"I wasn't feeling well." He replied quickly. Draco had deliberately arrived after dinner when the dancing had started so as not to call attention to himself.
"Oh." She didn't look as though she believed him. Draco didn't care if she believed him or not as long she'd drop the interrogation. Even though he enjoyed the opportunity to mislead people in a battle of wits he didn't have the time right now.
He saw a couple spin past as the band played one of the traditional wizarding dances and an idea of how to cross the hall occurred to him.
"Dance with me." He told her. It wasn't a question.
She watched him for a moment as though weighing up her options, and then nodded. She placed her hand in his offered one and he pulled her in to the intricate spinning circles of couples. His hand on her back pushed her along in time, but he needn't have bothered. She was moving fast enough on her own. In fact he thought perhaps the pace of the dance, much too fast for some, was slowing her down.
An infectious smile lit up her eyes and she laughed with delight. Draco found himself smiling in spite of everything.
"What spell did you use for your wings?" he asked.
"Who says I used a spell?" she grinned and whispered conspiratorially. "Maybe they're real?"
Draco laughed a little. Following the steps of the dance, he slipped an arm around her waist and lifted her to his hip as she put an arm about his neck and jumped. He held her firmly and spun them both in a tight circle and set her back on the floor.
As the dance finished Draco made sure they ended up on the far side of the hall, nearest the teacher's table. He bowed to her as she curtsied politely, and then turned reluctantly to complete his mission.
"Where are you going?" she asked, following him off the dance floor.
"I have to do something. I'll be back."
"I'll help you." She offered.
"No. No." Draco searched for an excuse. "I'm going to get some punch, would you like some?" He sincerely hoped she was a bit thick.
She watched him for a second and then brightly said, "Sure."
"Ok. Wait over by the doors for me." Then he disappeared into the crowd with relief.
Having finally reached the teacher's table Draco smoothly and discreetly ducked underneath it. He knelt near McGonagall's high-backed chair and, pointing his wand just in front of it, he began muttering the curse. The blast would take out most of the Great Hall but Voldemort wanted to be sure the teachers were caught in it. Draco changed the timing so it would explode at midnight when everyone had returned to the hall and the teachers were once more in their positions behind the table, ready for the unmasking.
Just as he spoke the final words a voice whispered next to him.
"What are you doing?"
Draco spun around to find the girl kneeling next to him, staring at the spot he'd pointed his wand. A sphere hovered above the stone floor for a second, shining, black, then deep green with angry red sparks shooting around in side it. The sphere faded until no trace of the curse could be seen.
"Noth…" Draco began, then he realised by her eyes that she wasn't going to accept that excuse this time. "Nothing for you to be concerned about." He corrected smoothly.
He moved and stood up, forcing her to back out of the way and stand herself.
"Goodbye." He bowed swiftly and quickly walked back towards the doors. He didn't really care if people noticed him this time. It was done and he no longer cared for anything but leaving as quickly as he could. He was in such a hurry that he didn't hear the strange girl whispering a counter to his curse. Her spell covered the angry green and red curse in a silky blue sheen. Now when the blast went off, as it must, it would create a spectacularly convincing explosion but would not harm anyone irreparably. A few broken bones and cuts, but that would be all.
Draco was being stifled inside the warm castle. A harsh voice echoed through his mind You're a killer, Draco. It's what you are. It's what you were born. Killer. Killer. The warmth was smothering his face and he needed to get out. He half ran through the outer doors into the winter cold. He leant forward, hands bracing against his legs. He sucked in deep stinging breaths and drew himself under control. He silenced the horrible voice and pushed it away, straightening up and letting his breath out slowly. Calm again, he began back down the path away from the school.
"Draco." The ethereal voice called to him again. "Stop." She didn't need to add the instruction. He'd frozen at the sound of his own name. Draco spun around to find her hurrying down the path towards him. "Why'd you do it?" she asked and she came to a slippery stop close to him. He reached out to steady her on the icy stone.
There was no point in pretending he wasn't who she knew he was.
"How did you know?" He demanded, letting go of her arms.
"You're the only one who ever smelt like that." She said as though it were obvious.
"You were in the school before I left?" Draco was puzzled. Why had he never noticed her before?
"Yes." Her voice sounded almost sad.
"Then how..?" Draco's voiced trailed off.
She gave a small understanding nod. "You knew me, you just never noticed me." Her voice sank to a whisper. "No one sees me."
Slowly she reached up and pulled the mask from his face. He bent towards her and allowed her small fingers to run through his hair. What was this strange power she seemed to have over him. He felt he could stand forever like this, feeling her touch, her scent making his head float.
He bent towards her, his forehead almost touching hers. She gave a small shiver as his breath touched her cheek.
"Who are you?" he asked softly. She shook her head.
"You don't want to know." She tried to step away from him, but he gripped her shoulders and wouldn't let her. "Why did you do it, Draco?" She swiftly changed the subject.
"Do what?" He demanded. She couldn't know, no one should have been able to recognise that curse. It was far beyond a seventh year. Yet he saw from the knowing look in her eyes that she knew.
"I had to." He answered, wondering why he was even having this conversation.
"You always have a choice." She caught his head between her hands and held it still when he tried to shake it. He gripped her wrists. "Yes, you do." She said firmly in the face of his scoffing disbelief. "You can get out."
He ignored her and slid one of his hands up her neck. His thumbs stroked her cheek distractingly and he saw her eyelids flutter closed. If she wouldn't tell him, he'd find out another way. He had to know who she was, this girl who seemed to somehow know him as no one knew him.
His thumb slid higher and he quickly moved it under her mask and flicked it up. She gasped and stepped back, trying to move it back in place. It was too late. He'd seen. She was shaking in her expectance of the disdain she knew would come.
Draco stared at her in complete surprise. "Loony Lovegood?"
Luna flinched and closed her eyes. She braced herself for the hurtful, scathing remarks.
None came. Draco was too stunned to say anything. He knew what he'd done to her in school. Knew that he'd caused her much anguish with his band of Slytherins. Well she had insisted on being different and society punished that. But no, the events of the past year had changed him less and more than she could have known.
Luna's eyes flew open in shock as he stepped closer to her and began to gently untie her mask. He pulled it from her face and handed it to her. She took it and watched him curiously. The old Draco would never have done that, unless he had something particularly cruel up his sleeve. What had happened to him?
Draco bent towards her again, the vanilla scent of the amortentia still rose through his senses. In the distance the clock tower began to chime out midnight. On the twelfth chime the curse would activate. Draco pressed a kiss on her lips so quick Luna barely felt the pressure before it was gone.
"Don't go back inside," he said before running away down the hill.
Luna watched him go, one hand over her lips. The clock continued to chime. She saw Draco reach the gate and apparate as soon as he reached the other side. The clock reached twelve. The sky lit up behind her and the force of the noise and magic pushed her to stumble forward a step. Screams filled the air. Her eyes filled with tears as she stared at the place he'd disappeared from.
"Merry Christmas." She whispered sadly to no one in particular and turned to help.