Chapter Six – The Hangover

Draco Malfoy woke late the next morning feeling a little worse for wear; he became immediately aware of the taste of mango and Butterbeer mixed in his mouth, his vision was slightly blurry and his eyes were likely bloodshot; and his recollection of events from last night were not as vivid as he would have like. He knew he'd had far too much Butterbeer to start with; but above that, his encounter with the Headmaster, and then Luna were unfortunately there – and if they didn't seem so real him, he'd have sworn he were dreaming.

When he arrived at the breakfast table half an hour later, however, his first instincts in believing that his escapade last night was no dream as an excentric looking Pansy Parkinson ushered him over the moment he stepped into the hall.

'What happened to you?' Pansy demanded as Draco sat down and grabbed some bacon, 'I searched most of the grounds last night, suspecting you'd done a runner from the Three Broomsticks-'

'What gave me away?' Draco questioned her.

'It would have been polite,' Pansy snarled over him, 'to say you were going-'

'I AM in Slytherin,' Draco reminded her as he narrowed his eyes; that shut her up.

Draco didn't want this conversation now; he wanted to clear things up with Lovegood, to explain to her that his actions last night whilst heavily intoxicated should not be thought of as his intent. He thought it was funny though, as he continued to search for the younger blonde, that he was prepared to be polite and straight forward with a Ravenclaw, right after he just dishonoured a fellow Slytherin; but then he reminded himself, they were different circumstances.

'Anyway Draco,' Pansy said after unable to come up with a formidable comeback, 'I was wondering,' and she lowered her voice, 'if you wanted to ditch thing one and thing too and take a walk with me-'

'No thanks,' Draco said clearly, as he had just spotted a dreamy faced, blonde haired Ravenclaw departing from the said table and heading out towards the Entrance Hall. 'I err- am feeling bit worse for wear, this morning, going to lie down for the rest of the morning-'

'But-' Pansy started as Draco rose from his seat.

'No need to follow,' Draco added coolly as he scooted along the table and headed out into the Entrance Hall.

It was alarmingly busy; Draco had to narrow his eyes towards the single soul not walking in his direction, and he fought through the barrage of oncoming students to get to her and bump her on shoulder with as less contact as possible, yet enough to get her attention. She spun around with her eyebrows raised and a rather perplexed and dreamy look on her face; a combination that one should not ever express.

'Oh hello,' she said in her usual cool tone, her eyebrows lowered yet her dazed look continued, 'unfortunate this morning, isn't it? Breakfast? I thought my helping of pig's breakfast was far too compact with Wormflace.'

'Yeah whatever, listen,' Draco ignored her, 'do you have a moment to talk about what, err… happened last night? I feel as if I need to clear things up.'

'Certainly,' Luna said smiling, 'would that broom closet suffice?'

Draco shrugged, 'whatever.'

And together they crammed into the rather enclosed broom closet; Draco was clearly not thinking straight as he closed the door and muttered a silencing charm on it so as to not allow any eavesdropping. This only helped allow the following to happen: as he turned to face her he sort of flinched when he realised, much to his dismay, that she was a mere but a few inches from his face. Her dazzling smile was clearly a decoy for what ever thought was concocting inside her head.

'I like the way you parted your hair this morning,' she said far too openly.

'Err- listen, Loon- I mean, Luna,' Draco stammered nervously, 'I don't want to seem like I'm throwing you mixed signals here-'

'So don't,' Luna said simply, and in an instant, a far too immediate instant in which Draco was unprepared to respond, she was kissing him again.

Draco suddenly was at peace with the world – somewhere, way off into the distance he heard yelling and rushing of feet, but to him all that mattered were the lips and limbs of Luna Lovegood in front of him. He felt her push him lightly against the door, and again she waltz him into a peculiar position where her hands crept under his armpits and his hand moved up to cup her cheek.

And then Draco realised something – he hadn't sought her out to right their wrong, or explain that he'd had too many Butterbeers or that he had been far too intoxicated to take last night for anything but an accident. He had, for all intensive purposes, sought out this young blonde Ravenclaw in the hope that she might just repeat last night's gesture.

At this tentative thought, he pushed her back and attempted to fight the twisted feelings she was forcing out of him. She seemed rather unfussed by it all though, as she reached forwards discreetly with her hands and focused on fixing his tie. What was she?

'There you are,' Luna said kindly, 'did you get dressed in front a Deflector Charm this morning or a mirror?'

She looked at him in question, and he was unable to find his words. After a moments silence, in which he searched for words, Luna looked down at her bare wrist and said boldly, 'now are we going to do it, or may I be dismissed because I so desperately ought to finish my Transfiguration papers?'

'D-do it?' Draco stammered, looking utterly shocked.

'Talk,' Luna reminded him.

'Oh-' Draco started, but he stopped himself.

What was he to say? Should he say he didn't like her? Because that wasn't completely true. Would he say he completely despised her existence? Because that wouldn't be right, either. Could he, more importantly, tell her to stop kissing him? Both times he had, shamefully enjoyed it, so then why would he?

'I always find that when, if I'm unable to remember something important or if I forget something I was about to say,' Luna interrupted his thoughts, smiling brightly and quite obviously irritated as his hesitance, 'that it's better to go away and ponder, so you can come back and refrain from looking like some loopy crackpot.'

Draco narrowed his eyes. 'You hide you're obscured sanity well.'

She smiled. 'Thank you. So, I'll see you later?'

She briefly kissed him again, startling him to the spot, before passing him and disappearing out of the closet; Draco felt as if he were on the end of a rather nasty stunning spell.

'Wait,' he whispered, turning from the closet himself and tripping out into the Entrance Hall; it was empty.

'OK what just happened?'

-

Luna Lovegood whistled to herself as she ascended to Ravenclaw tower, skipping and re-applying mango lip balm to her rather oily lips to which she must fuss to Draco that he ought to eat less junk food. Coming to a halt at the entrance to the Ravenclaw house, she answered the riddle and walked through the deserted common room upstairs to her dormitory.

Humming she pulled out a small leather book that was lilac coloured and covered in small encrypted writing on its spine. Lettered in gold and brown across the front were the words 'The Ickle Quibblet' that were rather worn out. Pulling it open she flipped to the page she had last written on, and after bringing her Quill to her ink she began to write:

My Quibblet entry #14697 on November 5th

Woke early this morning, the Edbury-Clovers buried in my socks were rather fussed about waking me I feel. Must write to father about that; he might send me new ones – socks of course. I stabbed my toe on the Gargoyle by the third floor again this morning, as I descended for breakfast – it never seems as happy to see me as I am of it funnily enough. Rude of it really, after it never thanked me for the abundant of Bertie Botts Beans I left for it at the start of term – he had to have accepted it, though, because there was no traces of them anywhere next time I passed...

Breakfast was unforgivable this morning; infested with Wormflace can you believe it! I warned Professor Sprout that her Mandrake were contaminated, and now it seems the All-Sprouting Algae that sat by close to it and which they so openly use as cooking oil has infested the kitchens! Might be a solace trip to the kitchens under the Disillusionment Charm for me from now on, to get something uncontaminated – they didn't like me just taking snacks last time, very particular with their food and yet Neville Longbottom ensures me they practically give it away while he's there.

Draco sought me out again today, bless him, and so very obvious he was to suggest we talk alone in a closet where no one would see us. He looked nervous, so I took the initiative first again, and he seemed to like it. I still don't understand his hesitance, though; I told him weeks ago it was abnormal fate – but fate all the same. And I know, even though he choses not to divulge it to me, he thinks it might all be the work of a Confoundus Charm

Will update with his abnormality later, right now Professor McGonagall will have my head and the many Dung-beetle eggs nesting inside it, if I do not get her Transfiguration homework done. Stay well, stay young and above all stay focused.

Luna 'the ever Looney' Lovegood

Luna blew gently on the fresh glistening ink before placing it carefully, opened faced on the window sill to dry. She then went about sorting through her many layers of parchment before coming to her Transfiguration section and selecting out the paper in which she was working on. She then re-dabbed her quill, and got writing.

-

Draco Malfoy would surely one day, blow a fuse. The whole Luna fiasco was taking its toll, the hangover from the previous night still lingered in the air like cat sick and the unusual combination of mango lip balm and bacon. He had not succumb to his lie to Pansy Parkinson by returning to bed to lull things over, instead he took to strolling the grounds, hoping some fresh air and the Minted Treacle Tart he stolen from a second-year will cure his sinuses.

He eyed Potter and his friends in the distance, descending the grounds ahead of him, most likely with a different purpose. Indeed he saw them trailing off to their loath of a friend Hagrid's hut, to which he did not follow: he did not feel like taunting them today.

Therefore he continued on down towards the lake, students began to thin out as he grew closer until finally all were out of sight when he got to its edge and he looked out over it. The smooth glassy surface shone majestically in the growing sun, in the distance the Giant Squid was performing stunts as if it were had an audience. As Draco the only onlooker, it did flips and whips with its tentacles that made splashes ripple all the way to Draco's feet. Slightly bewildered, these strange actions were eventually resolved to Draco; fish floated dead to the top of the surface, and the Giant Squid looked happy with its rather unusual gathering of food as it snatched the lot up and dove out of sight.

Wondering how many more oddities were installed for him today, Draco sat, feeling a sort of calmness creep over him as the sun rose higher and felt warmer. It went very, very slowly to its most lateral point, all the while Draco sat in deep thought, his several weeks of escapades with a blonde haired Ravenclaw who he, up until lately, thought of as a complete nut job and someone he ought to avoid.

Though now it was a different feeling, one that was unforseen on his part – she had kissed him twice now, both times he had not been ready for it and yet both times he had not immediately pushed her away. He was as confused about his feelings towards her, as he was with the way she lived and breathed; any unstable being like her, would surely have been admitted to St Mungos Hospital years ago.

And yet there was something in that reason that now made him so curious about her.

'Holy shit, does this mean I like this girl?' Draco yelled out his thoughts.

'Well that surely puts a damper on my "Malfoy prefers men" rumour,' bellowed a voice.