"Blaise!" shrieked Pansy, jumping up from her perch on the couch. She stood next to him. "Draco!"
He didn't reply. Fingering the necklace in his pocket, he stalked swiftly out of the Common Room, ignoring the shocked shouts and feet hurrying after him. He turned a sharp left and hid in the corner, breathing heavily, leaning against the stone wall.
"I think he went that way!" someone called, and the whole crowd rushed after the direction they speculated he'd run in. Draco snickered, and then hurried on his way, keeping out an eye for Luna. He followed the posters and found her sitting on the window bench, staring out the window.
Her eyes were wide and tear-filled. She hastily wiped at them, shaking her head.
"Luna?"
She whipped around, sad eyes wide. "Oh… Draco. Hello."
"What's wrong?" he asked softly, coming closer.
"Nothing," she denied. "Nothing's wrong."
"What were you doing?" he asked carefully, coming to sit across from her on the huge window seat.
"I was…," she hesitated. "I was looking at the moon." She turned back, staring out the window. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"You know what's even more beautiful?" Draco held up the necklace so that it glittered in the moonlight, and Luna gasped, turning to face him happily. Her eyes were so happy that Draco was taken aback. Who had given her the necklace? An old boyfriend, a relative? A present boyfriend? The thought made him angry, but he pushed it aside.
"Oh, Draco—thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she cried, and threw her arms around him. She hugged him to her for a couple of seconds, then released him She held it in her hand tightly for a moment before bringing it to her face and looking at it, examining it to make sure it hadn't been broken or hurt in any way.
"Oh, Draco," she whispered, the tears coming to her eyes again. "Thank you… so much. So, so much."
He leaned forward. "What's wrong, Luna?" he whispered. "Tell me."
"I… I…." She sighed, took a deep breath, and stood up. She paced back and forth for a minute before saying, "Look. This won't be easy for me. To explain, I mean. So don't interrupt please. Just… just listen." She paused. "Okay. Years ago, on December 22, my mother…" she paused, took a breath, and continued, a tear spilling over. "She passed away."
Draco sucked in a sharp breath in shock.
"And she used to wear that locket every day. It was a gift from my father to her, for their wedding. She loved it so much. The day before she died," Luna continued, the tear falling faster now, "she gave it to me. She said to treasure it always. To wear it always. She didn't know she was going to die then. But she said she wanted me to have it."
Draco could barely restrain himself from going over to her, drying her tears, and holding her tight.
"The day that is was lost, borrowed, stolen… what ever you want to call it, it was the day… the day… the day when she… it was December 22." Luna then burst into tears, covering her face with her hands. Draco jumped up and started over to her, but she stopped him. "Stay there."
She said it so darkly, so determinedly that he did as he was told.
"When I woke up that morning, already ready for it to be a horrible day, like it was then… and I saw the necklace was gone…. It was like waking up that morning all over again and discovering that yet another piece of her was gone, too. It was like losing her all over again, but this time it was worse, because I was disappointing her too." She swallowed hard. "She would be disappointed in me now."
Draco ignored his yearning to comfort her and sat back against the window, shaking his head. "No. I don't think she would."
"She used to tell me, 'Be strong, Luna. Always be strong.'" She looked away, out the window, her eyes somehow focusing on the moon, but at the same time, looking far beyond it, years away. "I'm not being strong. Crying. Being sad." She shook her head. "I can tell it emotionlessly. That she died, you know, in an accident, experimenting? But… not this story."
"Maybe," Draco whispered tenderly, "being strong doesn't mean bottling up your emotions."
* * *
Okay, guys, I am sooo stuck. Urgh. Okay, so, this next part of Chapter Five may not be that great. I had a serious case of Writer's Block. I am not one of those authors, though, that says they have Writer's Block and uses that as an excuse for not updating or short chapters. So here goes:
Ron sighed. All right, it was time for the truth—he liked Hermione. It seemed to him he'd liked her for forever. If he was being totally and completely honest, he loved her since she'd taken the blame for the troll in the girl's bathroom. He just hadn't known it then. Ron didn't even know when he'd realized it. It seemed like he had just known forever.
He didn't know why. There were all these beautiful girls all over, and even more of them now that Beauxbatons had come. But there was Hermione, always with her nose stuck in a book, frowning at him, getting angry, and he couldn't stop looking at her.
But the way he'd asked her— "Hermione, you're a girl…." He didn't know why he'd asked like that, either. He'd just been so careful not to sound desperate that he'd ended up coming off as rude, and arrogant, and just plain offensive. But why Viktor Krum? Why not someone he could measure up to, or at the very least compete with? Viktor Krum, famous Quidditch player… that was impossible.
Ron grabbed his Krum figure and tried to rip off the head, but in his anger he could barely see and ripped off the arm instead. He shredded the rest of the moving figure, and threw it over at the wall. He slipped out the his four-poster and went down to the Common Room, shaking his head angrily.
Hermione sat in a armchair with a book open in her lap, but she was soundly asleep, eyes closed, breathing steadily. Ron sat down next to her, brushing the hair away from her face and sighed. "I'm sorry, Hermione," he whispered softly before standing up, taking the book off her lap, and picking her up. He carried her to the couch and laid her down gently.
"Sweet dreams," Ron said softly as he tip toed upstairs and back into the Boy's Dormitory.
Hermione's eyes flashed open and she sat up on the couch. "Ron?" she whispered, looking around for the familiar red-headed boy. "Ron, was that you?" But no one was there.
Great, thought Hermione. Not only do you think about him all the time, even when you're with Viktor, but you also dream about him? She stared out the window at the stars twinkling at her with small, pleased smile she couldn't keep off her face. But it was an awfully sweet dream, she thought happily.
* * *
Luna leaned closer to Draco and closed her eyes, and Draco's heart beat faster. He leaned in, too, his breathing shallow, his heart pounding wildly.
"No," Luna whispered, suddenly pulling back. She jumped up from her perch next to him on the window seat. "Good night," she said distantly. "Thanks again for the necklace, Malfoy. It means a lot to me."
And she raced off, instead of her usual skipping around happily, usually humming and singing, leaving Draco to stare off after, wondering if he'd entirely misread the situation between them.
* * *
Like I said before, so, so, so, so stuck. But I will persevere! Ha-ha. Even though it probably won't be good. Like at all. But I guess… here you are….
Dean lay in bed after the Yule Ball, doing some thinking. While he was there, he felt his eyes stray to Parvati, who looked gorgeous in her hot pink robes. He felt really bad about it. After all, Lavender had been his date. but then, Parvati had stormed off, leaving Harry sitting next to Ron while she danced with a Durmstrang guy.
Lavender hadn't seemed to enjoy the night with him either, and she had ended up dancing with other guys while Dean watched Seamus jealously. He seemed to b having the time of his life with Luna Lovegood, who looked amazing in her blue robes, and they had danced the night away. Who would've thought Luna Lovegood, of all people, would be the one with the most guys staring at her. The robes showed off her curves perfectly, her hair flew around her while she pun in a blonde curtain, and she could dance like it was nobody's business.
Lot's of people had been staring at her, including, and this was what Dean found most interesting-- Draco Malfoy, looking brooding and bored as usual.
Dean rolled his eyes and turned over in the bed. Girls were so unpredictable.
We so are not, are we, girls? Ha-ha. Just pay attention and we wouldn't be so surprising. :-)
Okay. Short chapter, and pretty bad, but there was a ton of foreshadowing in this chapter that I hope you'll appreciate! Please comment, subscribe, all that jazz… you know.