Chapter 2
Draco Malfoy sat in the Slytherin common room, surrounded by Crabbe and Goyle. They were annoying him once again. Draco was sitting in a green recliner, feet down on the ground. The chair was turned towards the wall as Goyle laughed obnoxiously at Crabbe's stupid joke. Draco rolled his eyes and sighed loudly, although his 'friends' did not get the message to shut the hell up.
Lately he had been feeling apart from them. All he wanted to do was leave. He wanted new friends, new cronies, from another House, even. Obviously not Gryffindor; his mum and dad would blow a gasket. From Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw, maybe. He was sick and tired of hearing the two goons talk.
"I'm going on a walk. Please don't care to join me." Draco hissed, standing up from the large, green recliner turned toward the wall.
Crabbe and Goyle laughed, as if it was some sort of joke, and Draco stood up, shuffling out of the common room. It seemed like a long walk, as the two goons stared after him, wondering why he had left them. The portal hole opened up as Draco pushed against it, and his feet padded up each rusty metal stair; it made a clink with each little step he took until he reached the very top. He was not exhausted; he climbed that huge flight of steps everyday of his life.
Draco was tired of the people he had to call friends. He was tired of the school he had to call home. It was not the home he knew.
In fact, there was no place he could call home. His parent's relentless sobbing and whining drove him insane. They felt as if they neglected their only son, although all Draco wanted was to be left alone. And his aunt Bellatrix, oh how devoted she was, really. It constantly got in the way of everything his parents said. Bellatrix would reply, "Is the Dark Lord okay with this?" or "Has the Dark Lord granted his permission?" And she smelled awful; she never showered and she was always covered in dirt.
Draco would give anything to have a normal life, where a band of devoted Death Eaters would not gather around your dining room table and discuss how to kill Harry Potter. Or have a prison under his home that his parents held hostages in. His father had cast a spell to make the ceiling of the prison soundproof, but late at night while Draco was trying to sleep he still heard the wails of the hostages whom would never be allowed to escape from the fiery hell they called life.
He needed something new, something fresh, something that gave him the will to move on. Lately he had been wondering lately if he should continue. What would people do without him? Why should he continue when there was nothing to look forward to? What would he do when things got worse? His life was definitely not good, but it was also not bad. It was a life of mediocrity with no escape, like a flat plain of land that he could never leave.
His parents were not devoted to Voldemort as Bellatrix was. The only reason they pretended to be was to stay safe from Voldemort. He would not kill a Death Eater. And that is why they pretended. Truly, they only cared about Draco.
He did not know where he was walking, just down corridors and halls. He ended up wandering into the Great Hall. It was empty, since it was four in the afternoon. They had arrived on a Friday, so their first full day at Hogwarts was a Saturday.
Draco left the Great Hall, and headed back towards Crabbe and Goyle, with a sigh.
2 Days LaterDraco strutted into the Potions dungeon. This class he was excited for. Only one without Crabbe and Goyle. He grabbed a seat by himself.
Severus walked into the room, the concrete door slamming. Snape's black cloak billowed behind him as he walked to the front of the dungeon.
"Class," he said in his haunting voice. "Don't get too comfortable in your seats." He held up a paper.
Seating chart, Draco thought, can't I sit alone?
Snape began placing people in their new seats. They seemed like they were purposely bad spots, but surprisingly, Draco was not placed by Potter.
Snape sat him down at a bench all alone. Draco got excited. Would he actually get to sit all by himself?
But then Snape walked smoothly toward the empty seat by Draco and said, "Lovegood." In a chilling voice.
He started cursing in his head. By a Ravenclaw? How dare Snape put him by an inferior.
But then Lovegood sat down.
He stared at her from the corner of his eye, so she would not realize he was staring.
She was pale, was the first thing Draco noticed. But not a bad pale, a softer white tint to her skin. Her eyes were bright blue, like a jolt of electricity sent through him. Her white blonde hair was curled into tight ringlets that cascaded down her back. Her lips were soft, full and pink. She was wearing her regular old robes, but on her feet were sparkly sneakers, not even worn down.
He shook the thoughts out of his head. A Ravenclaw? Sure, she was attractive, but did Draco really want to ruin his reputation over a girl like her? If his friends found out that he liked her, Draco did not know what would happen.
Draco tried to concentrate on the lesson, but Luna kept shifting around and it made it hard to focus. She kept catching his attention. Was that a bad thing? Draco watched as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. He wanted to do the same, to get all the hairs out of her bright blue eyes.
Severus called him to the front of the classroom to make a potion. It was an easy one. It was a goblin hair potion; it cured boils on wizard's faces. Of course, Draco had studied all the potions, so as to not make a fool of himself in front of the class. He mixed it perfectly and Severus gave him a small nod, to show that Draco had done well. Draco sat back down by Lovegood, thinking of ways to get her attention.
By the time class was over, he was still brainstorming. If he did happen to catch her attention, would he want to keep her around? Or would she be like Pansy, whom he got rid of the second things got serious? And he wondered, why am I jumping to conclusions? If Lovegood did like me, would she say it, or would she hide it like I am?
He realized how wrong it was to hide that he had a small, tiny even, crush on Luna. He would want her to say that she had a crush, so why wouldn't he? But he just couldn't work up the nerve to say it.
That night he sat in bed, wondering. He hadn't even spoken a word to the girl, and he already had a crush on her? That seemed a little bit crazy to him, but could he stop the electric jolt he felt in his stomach when he looked in her sky blue eyes? Could he stop the feeling of want as she flipped her hair behind her shoulder? He had never had a crush before. It felt so odd, to like somebody for something they couldn't even control. But he felt something, and he knew it. He felt something with Luna Lovegood that he had never felt with anybody else.
He had never had a crush on Pansy Parkinson. She was pug-faced and rude, and very pushy around Draco. And very pushy- at night.
He was always uncomfortable about Pansy sneaking into the boy's dormitory every night. But what could he do about it? All the Slytherin boys made snide comments to him about it, but he knew they were jealous. They said remarks like, "Well, I slept well, but I'm pretty sure Draco didn't." and laugh their tails off. So he laughed with them.
And one time, Pansy did not get dressed before walking into the bathroom, and there was already someone in there. Pansy didn't like people bringing up that particular memory.
But Luna was different. He could tell. She was special. He knew that she was a bit strange, but is normal something you really strive for in a person? Doesn't normal ever get a little boring? Draco felt a blossom in his stomach. But he knew if he ever shared this information with the other Slytherins, they would get a good laugh.
Draco turned the lamp off and let his thoughts wander around. They settled on Luna, though, and he smiled and fell asleep.
Hermione woke up in the morning, ready for her second day of spells. She had been studying all night last night, and she had looked up and realized, finally, how close she was sitting to Harry. And she smiled at him, and as he looked at her, a blush hit his cheeks and he looked back down.
Hermione got ready hurriedly; she knew how awful it would be to be late for her first class of the day: Potions. She had been sat by Seamus, who was not bad, but she was actually hoping to be sat by Harry. Snape would have never let that happen though.
She felt the most sorry for Luna, though. Poor thing, she was seated by Draco Malfoy. Hermione shivered just thinking the name. And she noticed that Draco kept glancing at Luna during the lesson, probably thinking of ways to make fun of her.
Hermione got done getting ready and met the boys downstairs in the common room. They walked to their first class together, laughing as Ron cracked a joke about Snape's huge nose.
Ron was seated by a Hufflepuff girl. She was shy; she didn't say a word to Ron. Harry sat by Neville. Some people get all the luck. She was talking about Neville.
At the end of the day, Ron, Harry, and Hermione sat studying by the fireplace in their usual spots. Ron was working on a spell he could not master, Hermione was reading her Herbology textbook, and Harry was staring at Hermione as she read, and wondering what she felt about him.
"Obliviate!" Ron said, waving his wand at a plastic cup. "Obliviate!" he tapped his wand on the coffee table. "I swear to you, this wand is not working at all!"
"Obliviate!" Ron tried again. But he missed the cup and the little white streak of light hit Harry, knocking him to the floor.
"Oh, God, Harry are you alright?" Hermione asked, throwing her textbook on the couch. "Ron, what spell did you use?"
"The one that lifts things up. Obliviate." Ron answered calmly. "But he's alright, you see?"
"Ron, you're so stupid! Wingardium Leviosa lifts things up; Obliviate makes people lose their memory!"
"Oh, geez, is he alright?" Ron said, panicked.
Harry's eyes opened wide, and he started scooting backwards, away from Ron and Hermione.
"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked, reaching an arm out to him.
"Who are you people? Get away from me!" Harry screeched.
"No, Harry, we're your friends! Remember Ron and Hermione? Please Harry, try and remember!"
"No! No, no, no!" Harry said, still backing away from the two. "Why are you calling me that?"
"Ron, we need to get him down to Madam Pomfrey. She can help him."
Harry was silent. He fought against Ron dragging him but Ron won and pulled him the hospital unit.
"What seems to be the problem here, Mr. Potter?" Madam Pomfrey asked, pulling her latex gloves from the last patient off.
"Ron, very stupidly might I add, accidentally used the Obliviate spell on him." Hermione answered, grabbing Harry's arm.
"Oh, I've got a spell to cure that, don't you worry, Miss Granger." Madam Pomfrey said with a smile.
Ron set Harry down on a cot, and held him down as Madam Pomfrey waved her wand in the air and said a spell, and a bolt of white light burst from her wand and hit Harry, right on the head. And she set the wand down on the table.
Harry's eyes opened again, but this time they were the green eyes that Ron and Hermione were used to.
"Harry?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"Yes, Madam Pomfrey? What's wrong? Why am I in the hospital unit?" Harry asked, sitting up too quickly and having to lie back down.
"Just a little memory loss. But you are good to go now." Madam Pomfrey released him, and he, Ron, and Hermione trotted back off towards the Gryffindor common room, calling their thanks over their shoulders.
Back in the common room, Hermione picked up studying. Ron and Harry played cards. After a while, the crowd in the common room dispersed until it was just the three. Then Hermione packed up all her books and went up to bed. Ron won the game and they climbed the stairs to the boy's dormitory. They changed into their nightclothes and went to bed for the night.
The next morning Draco woke up, ready to talk to Luna for the first time. Yesterday he had been too cowardly to speak, but now he was ready. He had worked up the courage the previous night.
He showered quickly and dried off. He changed into his black robes and combed out his hair. He washed all the sleep off his face, slid his shoes on, grabbed his wand, and went downstairs to the common room and upstairs to the corridor.
After making it down a couple flights of stairs, Draco finally walked into Snape's dungeon. He took his seat at the back of the class, waiting for Lovegood to arrive. Nervous, he freshened his breath a little, although he just brushed his teeth.
When Luna walked in, Draco could tell an obvious difference. Her normally curly hair had been flat ironed and it was sleek and straight. But other than that, she looked almost the exact same. If anything, more beautiful.
"Hello, Draco." She said lightly, setting her books down on the desk.
"Hey, Lovegood." He said.
Luna looked up, surprised. "I didn't think you'd answer me."
"I didn't think you'd start the conversation." Draco replied, feeling a knot in his stomach.
Luna smiled at him. "I thought you didn't like Ravenclaws."
"I usually don't." Draco said smoothly. "I like you though." He winked.
"You like me?" Luna asked, surprised.
"Sure." He said picking up a piece of her soft hair in his hand. She giggled. "You're nice, and pretty."
"Why, thank you Draco. Nobody's ever been this nice to me before."
"Sure they have. How could someone not be nice to you?"
"It's possible." She said quietly.
Draco laid his hands on the desk, ready to grab a quill if instructed. Luna's hands were also resting on the table. She grabbed his hand, and he grasped back. She had feared he would let go. But he didn't. He held on.
