A/N: Sorry it took so long, I've been uber busy. Yeah, I finished Deathly Hallows. I'm gonna disregard it for this fic, even though it was a good book 'cept for the epilogue. Here ya go!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
The photoshoot didn't take as long as expected in Harry's mind. He spent his time watching Luna get photos taken of her at every single angle possible, with every single shade of lighting possible, and every single hairstyle possible. He wondered how Luna put up with it all, the directions from the photographer, the constant poking and prodding of the fashion expert, and the frequent redoings of her makeup and hair from the cosmotology witches surrounding her. Oddly enough, Luna seemed to enjoy herself. Every once in awhile she would smile at Harry and give him a small wave to tell him that she was alright.
This Luna was so different from the girl Harry knew at Hogwarts. The quirky, distracted girl at Hogwarts with an odd fashion sense and her head in the clouds had turned into an attentive, social butterfly who wore the latest fashions and basically set the trends of the Wizarding world as a whole. And this was only from what Harry had gathered after remeeting her and following her for a day and a half.
"Alright, that's a wrap! Owls will be sent if we need a re-shoot, seeya!"
Luna broke into a dazzling smile and jumped off her chair, walking past the cameraman and over towards Harry. Harry, for a moment, thought that she was floating from the way she sauntered over to him. The blonde held out a slim hand with baby blue nails that looked sharp enough to kill. "Want to go get something to eat, Harry?" she asked, her voice airy. He nodded, a small smile on his lips in return, taking her hand as he stood up. "There's a small cafe north of Gringotts that I've always wanted to try. We can only stay for awhile, though. You remember that banquet I told you about when you took the job?" Harry nodded. "It's tonight, at 7:00. We'll have to go back to my house to get ready. Is that alright?"
Harry sighed as Luna linked arms with him, leading him out of the door. "You're the boss."
"So, err ... Luna. About this stalker ... do you have any information on him?"
They were sitting outside on the balcony above the busy lane of Diagon Alley. The cafe was fairly crowded, and Harry noticed that everyone their was obviously very rich, from the way they dressed down to the way they talked. Luna's smile fell slightly, casting a glance out to the sky, her wide blue eyes drooping. She sighed. "Not really. Except that I've most likely met him before and that he's probably a year or two older then me, that I went to Hogwarts. And he knows alot about me. That I'm afraid of snakes. That my favourite colour is blue. Who I had a crush on back in Hogwarts. My usual haunts. Things like that, things a stalker would normally know."
His eyes widened. "Who you had a crush on in Hogwarts? That's ... a bit extreme, don't you think?" Harry questioned. Truth be told, he was now longing to find out who Luna had a crush on. The curiousity he had as a boy never really died down, but he knew it would be rude to ask right now. Maybe some other time.
Luna took a sip of her rose-tinted drink and shrugged. "I guess. Especially because I never told anyone. I had no friends, so there was no one I could trust, so I don't now how anyone could possibly find out ..."
"...Err, was it in the way you acted towards this person?"
"I doubt it. I was shy back then, but even so I was practically throwing myself at this person, and even he didn't notice. Although, heh, he is a bit dense at times. Or, he was. I don't know anymore." she said, glancing at Harry with an airy smile. She looked so ... out of place, like she was here on accident, and she seemed to glow a bit. Harry shook his head, maybe his glasses were foggy or something, he could've sworn he had seen Luna wink at him...
Harry's attention was easily distracted though, when his eyes fell on a thin, cloaked figure that was sitting at a small table behind Luna. A familiar-looking girl with short black hair was talking animatedly, but the figure wasn't listening. Their face was covered in shadows from the hood, but Harry knew where those eyes were looking.
Straight at Luna.
A part of Harry told him to ignore it, but the sensible part of his mind got the better of him. He leaned forward towards the blonde in front of him. "Luna." he whispered urgently. "We should get out of here. There's a person behind you in black robes. Normally I wouldn't pay attention, but I'm getting a weird feeling about this."
Harry could see her eyes widen with fear, her face paling. She nodded, taking Harry's offered hand as they stood up. Harry quickly threw a galleon on the table as they made their way off of the balcony. The hair on Harry's neck stood on end when he looked back. The girl and the figure also stood up, following closely behind. For anyone else it would've seemed like they just happened to be leaving as well, but Harry knew better. He whipped out his wand from his belt, pointing it directly at the robed figure. "I'm warning you once, stay away from her." he hissed.
There was a pause, and Harry felt someone tugging on his arm. "Harry, please, let's go, we don't want to start a scene ..." Luna pleaded. The people around them were staring, whispering to themselves and pointing at them. "Come on, please, we should leave, I don't like it here. Harry!"
"Fine." he growled, lowering his wand. The girl beside the figure looking bewildered and confused. Luna linked arms with him, practically dragging him down the stairs and out of the cafe. Harry couldn't help but notice that she was shaking.
Harry had a bad feeling about this.
It had taken hours for Luna to get ready. Literally, HOURS. Harry himself took five minutes, even though Luna fussed over his hair for a great deal afterwards, straightening his tie and adjusting his robes, mumbling something about how he needed to eat more. It reminded him a bit of Mrs. Weasley, actually. But he didn't know what in the world took Luna so long to prepare for the banquet.
He was waiting in the lounge outside of Luna's bedroom when she walked in. Harry almost lost his breath. Almost. Her hair was curled into soft ringlets, not a strand out of place. The blonde locks seemed to glitter in the light, shimmering and breathtaking.
Luna was wearing a glittering, baby-blue dress that ruffled to a diagonal end at her knees, showing off a small slit of her right thigh. It was lined with white glitter at the hems, so sparkling and breathtaking as if it was magical. (Which, Harry guessed, it was.) The top fitting her form extremely well, and matching elbow-length gloves adorned her forearms and wrists.
She was gorgeous.
"You like?"
"Uhm ... yeah! You, er, look great, Luna.."
"Thank you!"
"So ... err ... what now?"
"We leave, of course!"
Harry smiled sheepishly and nodded, allowing Luna to drag him by the arm out of the bedroom. On the way down to the main hall, Luna was reciting proper etiquette for tonight to Harry. Just smile and nod and what anyone says, keep close, watch everyone carefully but don't be too obvious, always keep your drink within sight, don't let Luna wander off by herself (as she did on frequent occasion), etc. The black-haired boy struggled to remember everything she was throwing at him, talking quite fast as she pulled her shoes on. How did she walk in those things?!
Once outside, Harry paused in his tracks. "Where does the banquet take place?" he questioned, biting his lip and running a hand through his mop of untidy midnight hair. Luna stopped, wincing before turning around to face him.
"Oh yeah ... about that."
The bad feeling got worse.
"What is it, Luna?"
"It's ... it's at the Malfoy Manor, outside of London." she whispered, glancing to the side. It was obvious that Luna knew Harry would not be happy with the situation at hand, but she also knew that it couldn't be avoided.
"I know damn well where it is." he said, voice low. He had quite a few raids in his records that had occured at the Manor, most of them fruitless, but Harry was still suspicious. "Why are you going?"
She sighed. "He's helped sponsor many of the things I have been doing. Modeling, for example. Without him, I'd still be at the agency, sitting in line between Celestina Warbleck and one of The Weird Sisters, waiting for an audition that I knew I would never get. So you're going to have to deal with him tonight, Harry, okay?"
"I ... but ... alright, Luna. I'll try."
"Good. Now, we're going to Apparate, mmkay? Get ready."
"Hm."
"One ... two ... three!"
They appeared directly in front of wrought-iron gates, adorned with gleaming snakes made out of stone, who's eyes seemed to follow you when you moved. The massive gates were open, but a stuttering old man in green velvet robes was checking people's names off on a clipboard as they passed. The two walked up to him. "Names?"
"Luna Lovegood and Harry Potter."
The man's eyes scanned the list. "Mr. Potter is not on the list, Miss Lovegood. He cannot enter."
She crossed her arms and shrugged. "He happens to be my bodyguard. Mr.Malfoy will understand."
"I'm sorry, Miss, but I can't--"
"Luna!!" a voice cried.
The stunning girl looked up to see a man with slicked-back, platinum-blonde hair in a set of black robes with green trim walking towards them. He stepped past the gates in their direction, placing a hand on the old man's shoulder. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked. The older, stuttering man looked over his shoulder.
"Miss Luna Lovegood here is on the list, sir, but her friend---"
"---Bodyguard." she corrected.
"---Is not on the list."
Harry glanced to the ground, shuffling his feet. "He's my bodyguard, Mr. Malfoy, surely he can...?"
Draco looked to Harry with a grimace, obviously not wanting to see him near he mansion. But the pleading look that Luna gave seemed to sway him, and he nodded grimly. Throwing his shoulders back and taking a deep breath. "Let him in, Gurldwall. I know him."
"But, sir, he--"
"--I said let him in! Or should I contact the Ministry about certain secrets about Mrs. Gurldwall and her habit concerning something with gillyweed and Quidditch balls?" he threatened. The man immediatly shut up, and Draco waved a hand, gesturing for Luna and Harry to follow him through the gates.
Once they entered, Harry was almost breathless at how beautiful the main hall was, where the ball was taking place. Everytime he was here for a raid, it was much less impressive. Glittering ice sculptures that never melted lined the walls, along with portraits of the entire extended Malfoy family. The floor was carved ebony, with snakes etched into the wood. The walls were black with dark green trim, and Harry began to notice a colour theme. It was expected, after all. All the Mafloys were Slytherins.
There were a few small tables here and there, with green candles with blue flames as centerpieces. Harry recognized a few of the people from The Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly. Luna waved to a few and smiled with that brillantly false grin, arm in arm with Harry, ignoring the whispers when she pulled him closer. They followed Draco to a small table in the corner of the main hall, with dim lights and low, airy music playing in the background. Harry made to move Luna's chair out for her, but Draco beat him to it, glaring at him. Harry stiffened and nodded, sitting down next to Luna, while Malfoy took her other side, sitting a bit too close for comfort in Harry's mind, but Luna took no notice.
"I'm glad you could make it, Luna." he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Harry's wand hand twitched, just waiting for the slightest reason to curse him. Not in jealousy, but more of in annoyance and hatred. Even so, he had a bad feeling about the level of familiarity between the two blondes. "It's an honour to have you here."
"Thank you, Mr.Malfoy, it's an honour to be here as well."
"And what a pleasant suprise to have Potter here, too. Tell me, Potter, when did you start working for Luna?"
"Two days ago."
"That soon? And you already seem so comfortable with eachother." he said, gesturing to where Harry and Luna's arms were linked. Harry made to pull away from embarassment, but Luna kept a firm hold. She seemed very uncomfortable at the moment, taking nervous glances between Harry and Draco, and sometimes behind her, looking worried. He squeezed her hand to reassure her, giving her a small smile. She smiled back slightly.
"Well, we did know eachother in Hogwarts, Mr.Malfoy."
"Oh, please, how many times have I told you to call me Draco?"
Luna bit her lip and nodded. "Sorry, Mr-- I mean, Draco."
Harry glanced around the room quickly, just checking to keep Luna's safety. As the two kept talking as if he wasn't there, Harry noticed many people staring at them, especially at their linked arms. Whispers were uttered behind gloved hands, obviously the latest gossip of Luna and Draco.
This was going to be a bad night.
A/N: Review!