In a tangle of limbs and blond hair, the two students scrambled to their feet. The boy, easily a head taller than Luna, straightened his robes with a few sharp motions. She recognized him almost at once. It was that bad-tempered Slytherin prefect who had been on the Inquisitorial Squad . . . What was his name?
"Oh, hello," she said politely, waving her hands vaugely about in a half-hearted attempt to smooth her hair. The boy looked taken aback. He sneered coldly, but Luna wasn't convinced by his facade. He was curious and tense.
"What are you doing here?" he asked carefully.
"I was looking for something," she asserted, gazing at him with her owlishly protuberant blue eyes.
"What?"
"Well, the thing is, I don't know, exactly. I set out to find something, and found this lovely room." She indicated it with an all-encompassing sort of gesture.
The boy shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. He seemed wholly unsure what to make of her.
"You're that . . . fifth year Ravenclaw. The one who used to tag along after Potter sometimes."
"If you mean I was in Dumbledore's Army, then yes," she said evenly, not taking her eyes from his face.
He flinched noticeably at the mention of Dumbledore's name. Interesting.
"Oh, I remember you now," he said offhandedly, regaining his steely composure. "Lovegood's daughter. Your father runs that . . . magazine."
The word magazine seemed to express everything that was undesirable and idiotic. Luna was used to this reaction. The Quibbler wasn't the most popular publication in the world.
"I'm Luna Lovegood," she said politely, extending her left hand.
The boy looked at her hand like it was a dead Plimpy. "Er. I see," he said, taking it for the briefest moment. It was a poor pantomime of a handshake, all in all. "Draco Malfoy."
"Ahh," she said pensively. "I knew it was something like 'Dragon'."
Malfoy shot Luna a sharp look. Apparently his . . . unusual name was a sore point.
Luna continued. "What brings you to the Come-and-Go Room?"
"None of your business," he sneered, apprehension flickering in his grey eyes.
"Oh." She tried a different tactic. "Were you looking for something, or hiding something?"
"Neither," he said coolly. Malfoy plainly expected to stymie her with that. Luna loved riddles. She looked even more intently into his face, causing him to back up slightly in discomfort.
"So, you were hiding yourself . . . Hiding from someone? Are you in trouble? Ah, but no, this version of the Room only appears to those seeking an object. So, you were definitely interacting with something."
He flinched again. "None of your business!" he hissed, more aggressively this time. "Look, Lovegood, if you know what's good for you, you'll back out. You might want to stay away from the Room in future, as well," he added in what was obviously supposed to be a menacing tone.
"In future? So, you come here often, or are planning to return in future." She was enjoying herself thoroughly. This was better than searching for Nargles, any day.
"Just stay out of it, okay? Forget I said anything." Malfoy leaned close to her, his long, pale fingers flexing on his wand. "This is a riddle you really don't want to solve." His left arm twitched slightly, planting a seed of suspicion in Luna's mind. If she was right, then the boy was more dangerous than anyone would have suspected.
"Well, okay," she agreed reluctantly, turning to leave. "Goodbye, Draco Malfoy."
As she meandered her way back to Ravenclaw Tower, Luna turned the incident over in her mind. The Malfoy boy was hiding something, something that both thrilled and terrified him.
She would have no right to call herself Io Lovegood's daughter if she didn't ty to find out what it was!
