Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, it's world, or it's characters. All of those belong to the amazing J.K. Rowling, and anyone she had sold the rights to. That does not include me. I do not make any profit from this fanfiction, and no copyright infringement is intended. I only own this spin-off of her world, nothing else that is recognizable as the world or characters of Harry Potter.

It was silent. Draco and Luna just looked at each other, and slowly Draco's cocky arrogance started coming back as he realized that Luna wasn't attacking. Then, he thought, what could she do? Perhaps try and obliviate him? That was it. She was too inherently good to kill him, and stunning him would only be a very temporary fix. She had to protect herself against Draco, and there wasn't really any way to do that bar leaving Hogwarts.

"If you're going to hex me, go ahead and do it." Draco sneered. He was testing her. He was sure she wouldn't, but he needed to be one hundred percent certain first. Women were irrational, even Ravenclaw ones, and he wasn't sure how far ahead she was thinking. If she just decided she would hex him as a warning to what would happen if he tried to obliviate her again then he had no way to stop her without a wand. He could try and physically over power her, and if he got to her he would succeed... But he had already seen that Luna Lovegood was quick with her wand and he didn't want to test those waters.

She didn't say anything in response to his comment, but a small crease appeared between her eyebrows as the corners of her lips twitched down into a frown.

That was proof enough for Draco. He took a slow step forward, his hands still raised in the universal 'I don't have a wand so don't hex me' gesture. Luna tightened her grip on her wand and pointed it a little higher on his chest as a warning. Draco didn't move any farther forward, but he didn't step back either. He couldn't obliviate her without a wand, but she would have to give his wand back eventually-the only problem was what she did first.

"Come on. This is pointless." Draco started, and his voice had a carefully measured soft quality to it. He wasn't being cold or rude; because she had the wands. "You're not going to hurt me. It wouldn't help you. It would only be a temporary fix; you need a permanent one. You aren't going to leave Hogwarts because of this, and neither am I."

Luna's frown grew deeper, and Draco had to force his expression to keep a smirk from twisting his features. He was appealing to her reasonable side, her Ravenclaw side; though he had no idea how long this unearthly girl would stay connected to reality. She could hex him saying something about his having creatures in his brain at any moment. He just had to get her to do what he wanted before then.

"We can work this out somehow." Draco said slowly, carefully, and Luna's bright blue eyes met his. He kept eye contact carefully while he took another step forward, and again she raised her wand and he stopped. He didn't fancy testing his luck at this point.

Luna Lovegood didn't know what to do. Her mind was searching through the possibilities—this boy was determined to make her forget this room, about seeing him there. Why was that, though? She hadn't seen him do anything strange. In fact, if he hadn't reacted so horribly, she would have assumed he was making a present for his mother or something. He had made a mistake in trying to make her forget; he only ensured that she would fight to retain the knowledge.

There were three options that she could see: obliviate him so he wouldn't remember she was there was perhaps the easiest and yet would also be more likely to cause one or both of them damage as they hadn't been taught obliviation spells before. Another was to make him think that she had some power over him that he couldn't obliviate her, though she couldn't immediately think of anything to suit that category. The last one was to make him think that he had power over her, that she wouldn't tell because she was afraid of him.

She was not a particularly prideful person, especially not for a pureblood, and Luna knew that Draco Malfoy was. It would be the best to play on that, to let him think he had her in his control and then hope it all blew over. Besides, she was supposed to meet Ginny after her Quidditch practice in only a short while…

"If I obliviate you and it doesn't work right, then someone will find out and one of the teachers could search your mind and find what happened." Luna said carefully, thinking of how best to manipulate her own words to have him believe he had control without obliviating her; that he could use her. "If I hex you, you will still come after me later and try and obliviate me, in which case you're in the same situation I would be if I obliviated you, and vice versa for the hexing." She frowned slightly, her pink lips pulling down into an uncharacteristic expression for the young witch. "But if I simply run and tell a teacher about this, they will be unable to garner any proof. I can't really do anything that doesn't hurt me."

Draco was looking at her, his frown mirroring hers. Then his expression slowly changed and she thought she saw something akin to triumph in his silvery eyes. The seed was set; Draco Malfoy had figured out that the only way to resolve this was for him to blackmail her. With what, Luna had no idea. What could possibly matter that much to her? But it didn't matter. She would leave that up to him.

Slowly and deliberately Luna backed to the door to the Room of Requirement. When she had her hand on the doorknob she waited a carefully measured second before tossing his wand to the side of the room opposite the Slytherin and dashing through into the lit corridors of Hogwarts.

A/N:

I am dreadfully sorry this took a while because of the Holidays, but it is a bit longer and hopefully you will all enjoy it.

I know where this story is headed, but I'd like to hear your ideas. Review, please, and thank you to all that did!