Chapter two:
Invitation
When the morning came, it had been the weekend which meant most of the students tend to visit Hogsmeade. Apparently, the fourth years had been given information about the Yule Ball in one of their classes before the night ended, at least that was what Cho Chang and Ginny Weasley told Luna. Ron had been complaining about having to dance the entire time, according to Ginny. The boys in the fourth year and above seemed nervous on asking girls to the ball and of course Pansy Parkinson was hanging around Draco like a magnet, waiting to be asked. Luna had gotten dressed in her casual clothes, a white long sleeve shirt with ruffles around the collar, skinny jeans and her lavender jacket with her matching purple sneakers, ready to head to breakfast and to Hogsmeade. Luna decided to pop into the Great Hall and took a seat at the Gryffindor table.
While on the other side of the spectrum, Draco was unfortunately getting annoyed by Pansy continuously hinting for him to ask her to the Yule ball. As he sat at the Slytherin table, Pansy of course sat next to him. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to go let alone ask Pansy. "Who did you ask to the Yule ball?" Goyle asked Draco. Draco rolled his eyes. "I don't know if i want to even go, Goyle." Draco scolded. He couldn't help but turn his gaze onto the Gryffindor table, noticing Luna. "This whole thing is ridiculous." he added. Draco was oddly attracted to the odd duckling of the school, Luna Lovegood and he knew if he even tried asking her to the ball that it would reveal to everyone that he liked her. Honestly, he rather go with her over the desperate, needy Pansy if he had no choice in going. If his mother got word about this, he knew she would force him to go for the experience.
Luna watched as some of the Gryffindor boys in fourth year were asking some girls at the table to go to the ball with them then the moment she looked over to the Slytherin table, she noticed Draco looking her way before he nervously looked away. She thought about what had happened the previous night when she dropped her books and wondered if that was what he was thinking about. "So, the tournament and the ball sound quite extraordinary. I wonder what they would look like." she trailed off. Hermione looked from Luna to Harry and Ron, Ron shrugging. "Wonder what would look like, Luna?" Hermione asked. "Oh, the tasks of course. They sound quite difficult." she replied, recalling what she read about them then last time one was held. "Have you had any luck finding dates to the Yule Ball?" she asked curiously to Harry and Ron. Harry seemed a little surprised with the straight forward question. "We still need to get dates, we'll be the only ones without dates." Ron stated in worry, just remembering.
"That's not true. I'm sure there's others without dates still." Harry pointed out. Ron looked at Hermione. "Of course. Neville couldn't have one yet..." he stated in hope he wasn't the only one without a date. Ginny rolled her eyes. "Actually, he does." Hermione corrected. "Yeah, me." Ginny stated. Ron seemed a little baffled. "Now I'm really depressed." he stated, he had also gotten his dressrobes from his mother that were ancient and really didn't look forward to the ball. Luna was finished with breakfast and had gotten up from the table, noticing a few other students leaving the Great Hall as well. She was a little sad that she wasn't invited but she was happy that her friends got to go, especially for Ginny since she had to be invited. Luna decided to go to Hogsmeade and look at some shops as she did need to get a new quill and more ink.
Draco noticed Luna leave while her friends stayed at the Gryffindor table. He figured it may be a little far fetched but as the days closed in for the Yule ball being weeks away (little less than a month), he had little to no choices for dates since the decent ones were taken in Slytherin. He knew that he definitely didn't want to be stuck solo or with Pansy as a date. Draco got up and walked away from the Slytherin table, as Crabbe shouted out asking where he was going but Draco simply ignored him. 'Idiot' Draco thought to himself about Crabbe as he walked out the door. Draco kept looking behind him to make sure Pansy wasn't following him as he made his way to the dungeons in order to bundle up in a coat and headed to Hogsmeade.
Luna made it to Hogsmeade and went into Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop in order to get a new quill and ink bottle. She liked the colors of the quills that shop had but settled on a dark purple quill and got two bottles of ink, the extra bottle for later in case. Luna figured with the money she had leftover that she had brought with her she could get herself a butter beer at the Three Broomsticks. Her father had given her a certain amount of money that he gets from writing the Quibbler to help with additional supplies throughout the school year, so she rationed them out each trip to Hogsmeade. Luna entered the Three Broomsticks and ordered a butter beer before taking the mug and sat down at a table. Luna looked around at the half full room as she took a sip of her butter beer.
Draco had gotten to Hogsmeade and decided to head to the Three Broomsticks first, it was the spot for all the students. Upon entering the place, he noticed instantly Luna sitting by herself at a table looking through her bag. Getting himself a butter beer, he looked around the room for any familiar faces in case people that knew him would see him even talk to the odd Ravenclaw before approaching the table where she sat. "Eh, do you mind?" he asked awkwardly. Of course as confident and arrogant Draco was, he never quite asked a girl on a date or to a dance nonetheless talk to a non-Slytherin girl. "No, not at all." she replied, grabbing her bag and gripping her mug, thinking he meant he wanted the table. "Don't leave, I, uh, was wondering if i could join you?" he asked, struggling for words. Luna loosened her grip on the mug and smiled brightly. "Oh, of course." she kindly said, sitting down.
Luna was surprised to see the Slytherin wanting to sit with her. Of course Luna was nervous because she had a crush on Draco but Luna being Luna, she started the conversation in a sweet manner. "You look rather nice today, Draco." she complimented. Draco felt a little embarrassed by the compliment, looking towards a table full of random students he didn't know from Hogwarts and another table of some visiting students from Durmstrang. "Thank you, Luna." he said quickly before bringing his attention back to the blond Ravenclaw. "So..." Luna trailed off, looking at the wall decorations and the high ceiling in the Three Broomsticks. Draco removed his coat and put it on his chair behind him before looking back at Luna. "I wanted to ask you, if you, uh...wanted to go to the Yule ball with me?" he asked, struggling with the question before adding, "i mean, i didn't plan on going but decided to last minute." he explained. Luna was caught off guard and paused for a moment to think before parting her lips to reply. "Okay. But why ask me? I thought you would be going with Pansy Parkinson?" she asked curiously. Luna was thrilled but she was smart enough to make sure it wasn't some kind of trick or if the wreckspurts didn't cause his brain to go fuzzy to ask her this.
Draco shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, Pansy is getting on my last nerve. You're, uh, quite interesting and wanted to get to know you better." he explained. Luna was glad to hear that he didn't like Pansy and that she was going to the ball with none other than her crush but of course she wouldn't tell him that. "Oh, that's good. Then yes, i will go with you." she replied. Draco was relieved that she accepted. "Great. But one thing...let's keep it a secret, just until the ball, okay?" Draco insisted. Luna nodded hesitantly, she suppose she understood, It was perhaps an ego thing. "Okay. Even the nargles cant make me tell." she pointed out. Of course, Draco thought the whole thing about nargles and wreckspurts was odd but he did find himself attracted to the third year Ravenclaw. There was an awkward silence between them before he decided to break the ice. "Good. Well, i best get back to the castle." he stated. "Me too." she said. They ended up walking back to the castle together but of course having a small space in between them. Once they returned to the castle, Crabbe and Goyle noticed Draco was walking with Luna as Luna left inside the castle, before they decided to approach him. "Why were you with Looney Lovegood?" Crabbe said before laughing, Goyle laughed too. Draco glared at them. "I wasn't walking with her. She followed me and uh, i told her to mind her own business." he lied before shoving them out of his way. Draco wasn't going to admit that he was getting to know Luna Lovegood just yet, his ego prevented him from that.