The park in Hogsmeade became a favorite place of Luna and Draco's. They spent at least one afternoon a week there, unwinding from their long days at work. It was nice to be able to take that time to get to know each other better, and the two of them were becoming closer as friends. Over the three months since Luna started working with Draco, they had also started spending time together outside of work, and not just at the park.
Blaise came along on occasion, usually with the night's squeeze on his arm. The Italian had a tendency to give them a hard time about their "blossoming relationship," but really, they were just comfortable with each other. They knew the ins and outs of each other's personalities, and it meant that they didn't expect anything from each other. They didn't expect more than friendship, that was for sure. Blaise wasn't hearing anything of it, though. He kept trying to throw them together into a relationship.
The articles in the Daily Prophet were printed relentlessly, and they mirrored Blaise's goals. It seemed like the wizarding world was keen to know more about the two and whatever it was that they had between them. Angry letters came to both of them. Most of the ones Luna received were from Ron. Luna and Draco just laughed them off, but Draco could tell that the letters from her "friends" were disheartening for her.
On one of their evenings out, the two of them had met Blaise and a tall, leggy brunette for a Quidditch match. It was the Harpies vs. Puddlemere, and it was the first time that the two teams had played each other since the riot that had broken out in 1999. It was likely to be an interesting match. This time around, the security at the gates not only confiscated every wand of every person that came through, but they used a spell based off of the concept of Muggle metal detectors to check that the wands handed over weren't dummy wands, and that those going into the stadium didn't have a wand stashed away somewhere.
Luna was nervous. She knew that she would inevitably run into Ginny Potter, and it wasn't necessarily something she was looking forward to. She wanted to just leave after the match, but Blaise had secured them tickets to an after party with the Harpies. He was convinced that they were the better team this year, and he wanted time with the ladies after a glorious win, as he put it. His date was not amused.
Luna spent a lot of her time watching the people instead of the match. The two teams, one in their royal blue, and one in their forest green, didn't really interest her. She loved the sights and sounds of an excited crowd. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, anticipating what had been the most talked about game of the year. Luna felt that everyone was so busy looking for someone else to do something exciting, that no one was going to actually do anything. She loved the excitement on everyone's faces. People just seemed so much more alive when they were taking part in something that they loved. The feeling was intensified when you put so many people in the same place who enjoyed the same thing.
Somewhere during the match, Luna's eyes fell on Draco. His hair was messier than usual, and his absent minded fixing it every once in a while did nothing because of the wind. His eyes watched the match with just as much happiness and excitement as everyone else, but the effect was even more striking to Luna because he seemed so uninhibited. He was relaxed, and happy. It was a rare, beautiful sight, and Luna realized for the first time that her friend was incredibly handsome.
Draco felt her eyes on him and turned to her. "Something wrong?"
She smiled at him and shook her head, turning back to watch people again. The match wasn't anything special, really. The snitch made a very early appearance, and Blaise was proven right when the Harpies' seeker caught it before the Puddlemere seeker even knew that it had shown itself. Blaise excitedly made his way down to the entrance to the locker room to wait for the girls to come out to meet them and take them to the party, along with a dozen or so other witches and wizards. His date pled a headache, and apparated away, apparently not wanting to stick around to watch the debacle that he was sure to make of himself.
Draco and Luna hung back a little ways from the crowd. "Are you alright?" Draco asked.
She shrugged. "I guess so. I haven't seen Ginny in a while, and I'm not sure how she will react. I suppose she will jump to the conclusion that we are "together," since I'm here with you. She's very opinionated, you know. I don't expect her to react quietly."
Draco laughed. "Well, we could always give a good show, then."
Luna smacked his arm and chided softly, "Behave. She is my friend. Or at least she always was. I don't want to lie to her. It would be mean to get her upset like that for no reason."
The two of them fell silent, and watched as the Harpies filed out of their locker room, having changed out of their dark green quidditch robes in favor of jeans and dark green t-shirts with their teams emblem of a golden talon on the front. They were all talking animatedly about their fast win. One of the last to emerge was Ginny Potter, nee Weasley. She scanned the fifteen assembled there for the after party, and narrowed her eyes when she saw Luna and Draco. Immediately, she started towards them, looking agitated.
"Luna," she greeted her old friend, then turned to Draco with disgust evident in her features. "Malfoy."
Draco caught up her hand and kissed her knuckles, but she quickly snatched her hand back from him. "Mrs. Potter," he greeted back with amusement.
Luna smiled nervously at her old friend. "Hello, Ginny."
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "So it's true?" Luna smiled.
"Many things are true, Ginny. It all depends on which you are asking about."
The red-head snorted and jerked her head in Draco's direction. "The things the Prophet's been printing. Are you really with that git?"
"That git is right here, and has ears, you know," Malfoy joked.
Ginny brushed him off. "Luna?"
"I'm not "with him" romantically, Ginny. I work with him. You know how reliable the Prophet is. You should really read daddy's paper, it's much more reliable."
Her friend wasn't convinced. "Then why are you here? Together?"
Luna sighed. "We're friends," she said patiently. "Friends do things together."
"Friends? With a Slytherin? And an ex-Death Eater, to boot. His kind don't make friends, Luna. They use people. They hurt people."
"Still right here," Draco interjected.
Ginny made a rude gesture at him, and turned back to Luna. "You really need to pull your head out of the clouds this time, Luna. Before you get hurt." She reached into the pocket of her robes. "I've decided I don't feel like going to the after party tonight. I'm going home. But Harry wanted me to give this to you." She handed Luna an envelope, and marched back into the locker rooms.
Luna looked down at the envelope in her hands with tears in her eyes. She looked so young and vulnerable. "I've already been hurt, but not by Draco," she whispered after her friend.
Draco put an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, Luna. Lets go find something else to do. This party seems lame."
The two decided to go to a small café. Luna was quiet through most of the meal, and kept turning the envelope over and over in her hands. "Do you suppose I should just read it?" she asked Draco.
He joked with her, "That is what it's for."
She cracked a small smile. "Alright." With a sigh, she broke the seal on the envelope and took out the small parchment inside. It wasn't a letter, like she had expected, but an invitation to the celebration that the Potters were having in a few weeks on the anniversary of the end of the war. May 2 nd was just around the corner, and Luna had always been invited to the party that Harry and Ginny held. Luna's eyes scanned the invitation, and tears pricked them when she saw that the invitation was for "Miss Luna Lovegood plus one guest." She glanced up at Draco, and wordlessly handed him the parchment. He read it, and looked at her with a grin.
"May 2 nd , huh? So who are you taking as your plus one?"
She laughed then, but her laugh was cut short as her body went rigid. Her eyes opened wide, and Draco watched as the irises of her eyes turned a white that was strangely reminiscent of the potion that had infused her wand into her body. She spoke, and her voice came out so much less airy and innocent than it usually sounded.
"On this, the seventh year from the death of the dark one, a birthday will also mark a great change in power," she intoned. "A choice will be made that will either save or annihilate the wizarding world. If this choice is not made correctly, the change will cause great heartache. The pure do not always make pure choices."
Her posture relaxed, and she shuddered slightly. Her gaze found Draco's, and her once again blue eyes looked worried. She didn't say a word about the prophecy that she had just uttered, and Draco wondered if she knew that she had even spoken.
By the look in her eyes and the tremor in her hand, he was sure that she did.
