I avoided all contact with Luna for a while. I couldn't bear to face her again, not filled with the guilt of being the creator of those tears. The tears that haunted me. I have replayed that situation over and over in my head a million times, each time everything happened slightly different; but they all had one thing in common, I didn't call her Loony.
Perhaps the happiest of my stories was the one when we just spent all night talking. We crept down to the dungeons together, her hand in mine as she couldn't see in the low light and she had only been in the dungeons for potions class, where she generally followed her classmates. Everyone had already gone to bed, or were somewhere else in the castle, because the common room was empty. The expression on Luna's face changed from curiosity, to fear, and back again as she explored the ornate, elegant decoration of the common room with her eyes; caressing every curve and swirl on each snake or skull, spread around the room. After that, we would stay up talking the entire night, in the light and warmth of the fireplace. We weren't necessarily dating in this dream, but it was perfect anyway.
Who would have thought it? Draco Malfoy of all people, showing compassion and maybe even love for Luna Lovegood? It seemed so surreal, the feeling was too good to be true.
They would think he was crazy, that he had gone soft. It was unlike many Slytherins to care for someone such as Luna, a rival house, a possible half-blood - I hadn't been able to check, I screwed things up when I tried to talk to Luna and I couldn't exactly ask Goyle - and a definite blood traitor. Father would immediately send me to Durmstrang if he heard. A year ago, I'd transfer happily, but everything had changed since that day at Florean's.
"Draco! I'm talking to you!" Pansy's high-pitched voice brought me back to reality, a little sooner than I would have liked. I was starting to really dislike this girl, but breaking up with her would ruin my reputation and my cover, in case of any wild rumours. Besides, even I wouldn't make two girls cry in one week.
"Oh...of course...what was you saying?"
"I was saying how that Loony Lovegood was telling all of Hogwarts that her father's captured some creature, one of those idiotic lies he prints in his magazine to fill up the pages because he can't get any real stories. She's pathetic...You know, you should start listening to me more, Draco. I am your girlfriend. It would be nice to be treated like one for a change," she crossed her arms irritably. I was close to breaking up with her right that second, but there was one thing I had to clarify.
"Her name's Luna," I spoke flatly, then made my way to the dungeons, trying to banish the images of me and Luna from my mind.