Chapter 2 - Friends

A/N: Hello readers! Firstly, I'd like to thank you for the reviews! Really appreciate it. :) Alright I have another two more chapters before you guys decide if the story's worth continuing. I'm worried about OOC-ness and all. So... Yeah. Going ahead with the story now...


Draco slammed the door behind him quickly. He turned to the door and muttered, "Muffliato."

He listened as he heard footsteps rush by the door, some of them muttering something incomprehensible, but Draco was rather sure it was something to do with pummeling him the next time he was spotted.

He walked over to the sink and turning on the tap. He threw the bag he was carrying to floor, scooping up some water and splashing his face with it.

"Merlin's beard, Draco!" He half-shouted, gripping the corners of the basin. "What in the world are you doing?"

"Hey, Draco. C'mere," Someone called me over.

"What is it?" I asked, peering over the shoulders of several of my housemates.

"Look at this," They presented to me a pair of shoes. "Where d'you think we should hide them?"

"Well, how about the Forbidden Forest?" I scrunched my nose at the musty smell the shoes were emitting, before catching whiff of something familiar. "To whom do they belong to?"

"Loony. Loony Lovegood," They cracked a smile. "At any rate, the Forbidden Forest is too dangerous."

"Ah," I nodded. "I've got another suggestion: the Room of Requirement."

"Draco?" A voice Draco had not heard in a while said.

He turned around in surprise, "Myrtle?"

"Come to visit me? I suppose not," She scowled. "You haven't done so in years."

"Really, Myrtle. It has been only one year," Draco said, he used the water to slick his hair back, tidying it slightly.

"Only one year?" She questioned, her voice turning shrill. "I thought you were different from Harry Potter."

He frowned after hearing this particular comparison. He chose to remain silent, not knowing how to reply to her. He picked up the bag he was carrying gruffly, stalking back to the door.

"What's that you're carrying?"

"Nothing important," He replied, pressing his ear against the door.

"Not important enough for me know, is it?" She asked accusingly, bursting into tears.

"H-hey, you're going to flood the bathroom, Myrtle!"

"That's all everyone ever cares about!" She whined, floating off to one of the cubicles.

There was a scream shortly after she did so. Draco turned back, alarmed. He readied his wand, wondering for a moment what he should do with the bag. "Myrtle?"

There was no reply, but the cubicle she entered creaked open slowly. He squinted, trying to focus in the dimly lit area. Suddenly, he was reminded of what happened two years back. Potter had been spying on him, they had a duel, which nearly resulted in his death.

Someone stepped out of the cubicle. "Stupe-"

"Draco?"

"… Lovegood?" Draco said in disbelief, lowering his wand. "What are you doing here?"

"Reading," She answered, curiously not asking him what he was doing in the girls' bathroom.

"Oh, good," He said, his hair losing its slick again. "Then I needn't worry about lugging this around."

He peered at her bare feet, tossing her the bag. "Here."

She fumbled, missing the bag. She bent down, opening the bag. "My shoes! Where did you find them? I had thought the Nargles took them."

"I…" He searched for a way to explain himself. "The… Nargles were hiding it in the Slytherin common room."

"Queer hiding spot," She said, accepting his explanation immediately.

"Lovegood," He said clearly, before he began to stammer. "W-Would you... Would you like to go with me to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

Seeing her puzzled expression, Draco quickly added, "As friends. If you would allow me to-"

"Sure!" She beamed. "I would love to go with you as friends!"

"Ferretboy asked Loony out! Ferretboy lurves Loony! Ferretboy luuuuuurves Loooooony!"

He gripped his knuckles white. "Put a lid on it, Peeves. The Bloody Baron is, after all, Slytherin's house ghost."

xxx

Draco felt for his wand, making sure it had not vanished into thin air. His eyes darted from side to side, keeping watch for any potential threat. A Slytherin not helping one of his own? That was quite the anomaly. Not to say the least, his actions the day before had cost him quite dearly. He had found his bed infested with flobberworms, in all of their squirming, mucus-exuding glory. The memory itself made Draco feel nauseous.

Then, he opted to sleeping the common room, where he woke up to a jinx used on him, presumably the Levicorpus spell. Thankfully, there weren't any items missing from his trunk, yet. He loitered around Hogsmeade station, keeping a look out for his date for today.

"Draco," Lovegood greeted him.

He nodded, giving her a smile. "Where would you like to go?"

"Madame Puddifoot's Tea Shop," She answered almost immediately.

He immediately choked on his saliva, and spluttered, "Why?"

Her bright silvery grey eyes peered into his grey ones. "Harry says students on dates go there. We are on a date, aren't we?"

"You told Potter about this?" He asked incredulously.

"Yes," She answered simply. "Is there something wrong?"

Draco glanced around. Anywhere crowded should be better than this. In fact, that place would be excellent for cover. "No, nothing at all."

xxx

"What would you two sweethearts like?"

"Hot chocolate, please," Lovegood said dreamily, before glancing at Draco.

"… Something for the nerves," Draco answered, "… Coffee for me."

"Coming right up," The lady smiled.

Draco looked uneasily to his left, before turning away quickly. He had been here on several occasions with Pansy before. However, he never really noticed how… Unnerving this place was. Probably because you were busy snogging Pansy in the corner. His face heated up at the thought of it, choosing to focus on Lovegood instead.

"This place is… Different," She commented, dropping her gaze.

"Hadn't guessed that this was what Potter meant, did you?" He chuckled lightly, nodding to the lady who brought their drinks to the table.

"I did not think it would have included kissing," She said, taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

After the drink, they decided that they would take a trip to Honeydukes, and so stepped out of the teashop to find several pairs of eyes staring at them. Immediately, Draco's hand went to his back pocket, before releasing his grip in shock.

"Your date is Malfoy?" Potter asked Lovegood, disbelief evident in his voice.

"Yes," She answered, appearing not to realise the severity of the matter at hand.

"Luna, why would you go on a date with him?" Potter's girlfriend asked her.

"He's a friend," Lovegood stated plainly.

Weaslette glared daggers at Draco, asking in a low voice. "Are you sure, Luna? He could very well be-"

"He's not." Lovegood insisted, and then adding, "He got my shoes back from the Nargles."

"It's more likely he stole them, Luna," Weaslette said with concern.

Draco, who did nothing to defend himself earlier, finally spoke, "Believe it or not, Potter. My want to be friends with Lovegood is genuine."

"Why the sudden change, then, Malfoy?" Potter asked him coldly.

Draco fell silent. "No reason."

"Harry…" Lovegood began.

Potter gazed at Lovegood, understanding seemed to pass them and Potter stepped back. "I trust your judgment, Luna. Although, Malfoy, I'll be watching."

"We'll all be watching," Weaslette added, falling in step next to Potter as they left.

"Protective, aren't they?" Draco stared after the couple.

"We watch out for each other," She said with a smile. "That's what friends should be like."

Draco dropped his gaze. "… Right."

xxx

"I never knew you had a sweet tooth, Lovegood."

"Treacle fudges are yummy."

"I would have guessed," Draco gestured to the bag full of treacle fudges. "We'd better head back."

She followed him without so much as an objection. He felt the edges of his mouth tug upwards. It had been a while since he had so much fun. Last year, he had been woken up the difficult reality of being a Death Eater, something he realised he did not want anything to do with. He had missed being a normal student of Hogwarts so much it was actually painful.

"Lovegood…" He turned around to face her, his smile dropping when he realised who was behind her.

"Watch out," He said slowly, his head trying to register the information as Lovegood stared at him in bewilderment. "Luna, watch out!"

He dropped whatever he was holding to pull her away, but he was too late. The wand tapped against her head and she disappeared.

"What are you doing, Goyle?" Draco asked, frowning.

"Can't you tell? I just did a diss-lusion charm," He grinned.

"That, I can see. Rather impressive," Draco said, advancing Goyle cautiously, one hand to his back, ready to pull out his wand. "But why did you do that for?"

"To punish you. Who would've thought that the Great Draco Malfoy would have fallen so low?" Pansy appeared from a corner.

"Hanging out with Loony of all people," She said nastily. "What are you doing? We were ready to let you return to your former glory. Yet you threw it away by helping her, a blood traitor."

Draco gripped his wand tightly. Return to how it once was? He took a moment to think about his earlier years, times when he felt so much in power, so much stronger than all those weaklings…

Nevertheless, it was merely an illusion.

"The War is over, Pansy," He said. "The Minister of Magic has outlawed talk about this."

"That is not the main point," Pansy said. "Draco, are you ready to join Harry Potter and his gang and ditch your friends, become an 'exceptional pupil' of Slughorn's?"

"Wait just a moment," Draco spoke. "I didn't ditch you. You ditched me. You told me how I was useless and unworthy. So what is this talk all about?"

"That is because you abandoned us! You abandoned us, along with your family during the War. Goyle's father and my parents are imprisoned, and your family gets off scot-free. How is that fair? How is being a coward fair?" Pansy shrieked.

As if on cue, Goyle pointed his wand at Draco. Draco motioned to deflect it, but the curse struck first. "Crucio!"

An intense pain welled up inside of him. He gripped his head as if his skull was being torn apart. He opened his mouth to let loose his cry of pain, but nothing could come out of his ravaged throat. Stop it! Stop this! He clawed at himself as another wave of pain of unknown origin surfaced. He heard the laughter of someone, he could not tell who was laughing. He kicked in desperation, thinking it could be stopped with a physical act. Searing blades were stuck through him, a cauldron of boiling oil tipped over on him.

Then, the pain stopped coming. It lingered in his mind, in every inch of his body. He lay in a pool of his own sweat. A strong gust of wind came, chilling him greatly.

"Draco!" Someone called him.

His eyes flew open; it took him a few moments for him to register his surroundings. He could see two people dueling, spells flying at each other.

"… Luna?" He said hoarsely.

A green light flew by the girl, missing her only by a hair. That had been the Killing curse. Did Pansy really want Luna dead? Why would she… Draco quickly picked himself up, pulling out his wand. He pointed it at the dark-haired girl and yelled, "Stupefy!"

xxx

The pain never really left him. His body still ached like it had never did before. Luna dabbed his forehead with a wet towel, he shuddered at its coldness. He let her continue, before he clutched her wrist. She stopped. Peering into the silvery depths of her round eyes, he asked quietly, "It hurt a lot, didn't it?"

She knew immediately what he was alluding to. "… Yes, it did."

He released his grip on her. "… I've never heard you scream during those months. But I think it made it all the more frightening. But it kept me deluded, that maybe… It didn't really hurt either."

He glanced at the girl, who shifted to sit next to him on the cold floor of the bathroom.

"This is the first time I ever felt the Cruciatus Curse. I can't possibly imagine how it was for you then."

Draco had never seen the girl quite as silent as she was now. She huddled her legs together, bending down so that her face was obscured. Her whole frame trembled, as if she was reliving the moments again.

"I got used to it, after a while. I kept telling myself that… That I had to be able to get through this as sane as I had entered. My father was waiting for me back at home. Harry… Harry and the others will come and save me soon."

Draco looked away, gritting his teeth as he tried to imagine how it had been like for her, as well as the others who had been imprisoned in the cellar of Malfoy Manor.

"Friends really are important. They give us happy memories to recollect in the future."

"Do you hate me, Luna?" Draco asked, his voice cracking. To be honest, he did not want to know her answer. "I would fully understand if you do."

"I don't hate you," She said. "When I saw you last year, I realised that you were just like me, trapped. Although for you, it was more of a mental thing. You didn't identify Harry and the others that time, which affirmed something: there is some good to you."

Draco regarded her slowly, moving closer to her. She didn't budge. Draco did not know how to interpret it.

"You say friends watch out for each other, exchange happy memories together. Am I right, Luna?" He spoke steadily.

"Yes."

"Can I be your friend, then?"

"No," She said lucidly.

He inched away, feeling as if he was gutted in the pits of his stomach. The feeling of rejection stung greatly, he hadn't asked someone to be his friend in a while now. He sounded desperate… Undignified, even.

"No, because you already are, Draco," She said quietly.

He heard her. He could not resist breaking into a grin. Not really caring whether she minded anymore, he swiftly moved towards her and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you."


A/N: That's all for this chapter! Thank you for reading! I hope it wasn't too bad... :x Please leave reviews! I really appreciate them. :)