Chapter II
Skipping down the hall in a cheerful fashion was a Ravenclaw with straight blond hair and a slight bounce in her step. She went by the name Luna Lovegood, but most called her "Looney Lovegood" because of her bizarre views. Her father, Xenophilius Lovegood, was the publisher of a magazine called "The Quibbler" which promoted odd theories and opinioal views regarding about the modern wizarding world. Much of the ministry's political gossip made it into its pages, and such gossip was usually verbally manipulated by Rita Skeeter.
Luna walked down the twisty staircase that led to the potions class in the dungeons. Unlike the other students, who constantly complained about Snape's teaching methods and the preciseness of potions, Luna was fascinated with the art.
Her thoughts were interrupted by loud voices coming from the classroom below. She continued walking until she got to the doorway. Then, she pushed her ear up to the crack in the worn door.
"Why can't you just listen to me?" she heard someone say in a desperately angry tone.
"Because I know I am right!" another voice said with confidence. She heard something crash inside and she bolted away from the door in shock. Merlin's beard! she mentally yelled. She could not resist pushing her ear up to the door again. All she heard were footsteps. The front of the door hit her in the face and knocked her to the floor in one swift movement. She looked up to see two pale figures standing above her.
Blood trickled down from her nose to her lip and onto the floor. She gasped as she tried to touch the side of her face, which was now in splitting pain. One of the figures moved forward and extended a hand to help her up. Luna lifted her head to look at the figure with the outstretched hand. She saw a fringe of blond hair on a man with a pointed face and gray orbs for eyes. She recognized him from the battle at the Department of Mysteries: Lucius Malfoy.
"Take my hand, girl," he said with great disgust in his voice. His black robe swayed with the movement of his hand and his long blond hair fluttered in the draft coming through the doorway. She tentatively reached her arm forward. He pulled her to her feet, but his hand did not let go of hers even after she was upright. Suddenly, his pale hand wrapped around her neck and before she knew what was happening, they disapparated.
The overwhelming sucking feeling of the apparition was more intense compared to other times. Luna decided that being in the arms of Lucius Malfoy was most definitely a contributing factor. The next thing she saw was the main dining room of the Malfoy Manor. The room had gray murky walls and slick black furniture.
Pictures of Malfoy and Black family descendants filled up the space on the dark walls and the Sytherine crest was on almost every mantel.
Luna was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice being pushed forward down a dark staircase, light only with torches. The sound of faint screams tortured Luna's mental state as she continued her descent down the old stone staircase.
They eventually ended up in a dark corridor that was lit with silver lanterns. The sound of her shoes echoed against the solid stone floor as she slowly walked down the hall. Her pace seemed to bother Lucius tremendously, so with a slight shove on the back, he quickened her pace exponentially. Eventually a worn, wooden door came in sight, and with a slight turn to the right, they entered the door.
As they cleared the threshold, Luna looked at the room's contents. There was a smooth, dark wooden desk with only a quill and a piece of parchment placed upon it. Behind the desk was a throne-like chair with a high raised back. It had intricate designs that reached from the top, flowed down the sides, and wrapped around the arms. She was shaken from her observation of the chair when the door closed behind her with a whoosh!
"Now, this may seem like a strange occasion, but it was called for," Lucius said while he made his way over to what looked like a wine decanter. His right hand drifted across the surface of his desk and slid up the side of the decanter, grasping its neck. His left hand clasped one of the perfectly sculpted glasses and held it up to the moonlight gleaming in through the arched window. He stood like that for a while, though his right hand had slid back down to rest at his side.
"Now tell me, have you ever seen death, Ms. Lovegood?" he asked smoothly. Luna was slightly oblivious to what the outcome of this conversation would be, but nevertheless decided to answer his questions.
"Umm… Yes, I have. My mother was the victim of a spell that went wrong." Memories of her mother came flooding back to Luna. Oh, how she missed her. The emotions were so strong, so overwhelming, that Luna grasped at her chest as tears misted her eyes. Lucius turned around just in time to see her hand reach up; his mouth gaped a little at the sight and his eyes had somewhat widened. He quickly composed himself and smirked a little slyly.
"Oh dear, have I hit a sore spot?" The sarcasm dripped off his tongue and flowed through his breath as the sly smirk pasted on his pale features widened. Anger pulsed through Luna's veins and her heart began to beat vigorously. He had no right to speak to her in this manner. She whipped out her wand and pointed it at his throat.
"If you speak another word, Mr. Malfoy, you will surely regret it!" Luna said with a slight waver in her voice. Lucius looked into her eyes with a vaguely shocked facial expression and then threw his head back chuckling.
"Oh Ms. Lovegood, I think you should be the one regretting what just happened," he said with a smile. Luna looked at him in confusion. What was he saying? His eyes traveled half way down her body, and then stopped abruptly. Luna followed his eyes until she noticed what he was looking at. His wand was pointed at her abdomen. She gasped and dropped her wand to the floor. How could she not have seen him pull it out of his robes? Then it hit her: when he held up the wine glass, his right hand must have gone into his pocket! Panic struck her instantly when she noticed his wand was not going to move and it was going to stay trained on her abdomen. What could this man do to me? Luna thought fearfully. The man was in fact a death eater and a criminal; he could do as he pleased.
Luna tried to back away, but Malfoy's left hand clutched her upper arm and pulled her so close that his breath was hot against her ear.
"Have you ever considered the fact that someone around you, someone…close to you could be a death eater?" he said while the hand that had held her arm now petted her hair softly.
"Yes, many times," Luna said with abnormal confidence. She hadn't really put much thought into it, but lying seemed to be the best option.
"And yet you haven't figured it out? What a shame, what a shame…" he mumbled as he released her from his firm hold.
"Think hard, Ms. Lovegood, he's right under your nose." Luna thought about everyone she could think of. No one stood out as a death eater, though.
During her thoughts, Lucius had walked over to the door and placed his hand on the knob, ready to turn it. Luna thought on instinct and grabbed for the wand that she dropped on the floor earlier. Lucius was too fast for her, though.
"Expelli..."
"Stuplify!" Lucius yelled as he flung his arm out. His wand pointed at her just as her hand hit the metal door handle. Her world went black.