breathless

They find a hidden corner of the castle to spend alone time in. In the aftermath of the war, they realize that they're growing up, and that secrets will come out and they'll have to make decisions.

For now, they ignore that.

Their kisses are gentle, playful, despite the things on both of their minds. "Draco," Luna tries, softly, but Draco muffles her with more affection.

Luna pulls away. "What are you avoiding?" she asks.

Draco sucks in a breath. "I think you know that," he drawls.

"Specifically? No," says Luna. She tries to catch her breath, too.

"We'll have to tell people about us," he says flatly.

"What are we?" she asks, because even though they both know, they've never really put words on things.

"I think," Draco begins slowly, "that it would be safe to call you my girlfriend."

Luna's breathing efforts falter. Then she nods. "Okay," she whispers, and takes his hand, squeezes gently.

And then they're quiet for a long, long time.

sacrilegious

"So, we have to tell our families," Draco resumes the conversation later. He picks at invisible lint on his robes.

"My father knows all about you," Luna says simply. "And I've met yours."

"But he doesn't… know," Draco protests. "Neither does my mother."

"Well, it shouldn't be a problem to tell them," says Luna, and Draco thinks that for a Ravenclaw, she can be really, really dim sometimes. She might be a pure-blood but she doesn't understand how the real pure-blood families work. Luna's… Luna. She doesn't really fit in with the Malfoys.

And yet here she is with him.

"I'll try," he says.

Later—in the same day, at Luna's insistence—Draco finds his mother and father, hand in hand with Luna. "Father," he starts, "mother, I have something to tell you."

"You're courting Miss Lovegood," his father drawls.

Draco falters. "Err, yes. I am."

"Do you think you kept that secret from us well?"

"Err, no," says Draco and he's clearly so out of his element that Luna tries to help.

"He's shy," she says, and both of Draco's parents muffle a laugh.

want

They need more plans. They're going to be out of Hogwarts in a war-free world, what are they going to do?

"Draco?" Luna asks, making him look up from his book. "What do you want to do?"

"I'm reading," he scowls, as if this is obviously what he wants to do.

"No, I mean, in the future."

Draco closes the book and runs his hands over his face. "Do we have to decide everything right now?"

"Just a vague idea," she says.

Draco shrugs. "I don't really have a need to work, and there's nothing I specifically want to do…." He tries to change the subject. "What about you?"

"I want to become a wizarding naturalist," she says without hesitation. Draco tries to not groan.

"But we have plenty of time to decide things," says Luna.

chastity

"So, even though we're officially in this… relationship thing, we can still…" Draco trails off. "Not push it. Take it slow."

"What do you mean?" Luna asks.

Draco sighs. "We don't have to start doing all of the things we didn't do before," he drawls. "We don't need a plethora of dates or snogging or…" he waves his hand "… grand gestures."

"Well, all right," Luna says simply, and leans over to give him a chaste kiss on the cheek.

He looks at her. "I repeat, no grand gestures."

"I haven't made any grand gestures for you, have I?" she asks innocently.

"No, but you have for everything else."

"Well," Luna begins, looking wry, "am I still allowed to do… this?" She leans over and gives him a long but playful kiss.

Draco scowls and says, "Don't push it," but then smiles and returns the affection.

patience

Hogwarts is being put together again brick by brick, futures being planned step by step, relationships being forged day by day.

All of them are slow processes, but Draco and Luna have learned how to be patient.

"When do you think we'll go back home?" Luna asks him one day.

"I don't know," Draco admits.

"And what'll happen then?"

"With what?"

"With our plans. With us."

"It'll be like summer holidays for a while," Draco says. "And then we can worry after."

It's an odd role reversal—usually Draco is the worrier, but the war has odd effects.

"All right," Luna said softly. They just have to wait. They waited on worse things during the war.

She reaches over and squeezes Draco's hand, back to being the reassuring one. "So we wait."

"So we wait," he echoes.