The Patronus

The moment the three of them were alone, Ginny and Luna came to a halt and stared at Luca with expectant gazes. 'What's wrong?' said Luca, attempting to sound casual but failing instantly. Ginny raised one eyebrow. 'Oh, get off it Luca! We know something happened between you and Malfoy. You both looked so guilty walking out that corridor together. You should have heard you: see you later Draco,' imitated Ginny with a grin on her face. Luca felt her stomach twist and she knew that she must be blushing. Luna observed her with a mildly curious gaze in her dreamy eyes.

'Did you kiss him?' she asked without a hint of embarrassment. Ginny's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. 'No way! Did you?' Luca, who knew that it was no use lying to her friends, stared resolutely at her feet when she spoke. 'He kissed me.' She heard both girls make noises of surprise and looked away with an agitated look. 'Malfoy kissed you?' Ginny repeated, seemingly too shocked to notice that by-passers started to look at them.

'Keep your voice down', Luca said hastily and the three of them walked out into the school grounds. Luca looked around and only when she was sure that there was no one around did she allow her friends to ask her questions. Ginny was still staring at her with a mix of shock and repulsion and Luna looked as serene as always. 'Why?!' Ginny exclaimed, the moment Luca signaled that the coast was clear. Luca frowned at her friend. This was a question she had long anticipated but found hard to answer. How could she explain to her friends what it was that drew her and Draco together? She had a hard time explaining it to herself.

'He didn't like, trick you into it or anything?' Ginny added, suddenly sounding quite worried. 'No! of course not!' Luca said hastily. That was the last thing she wanted her friends to think. 'I don't really know … I mean…. look, I kind of like him,' Luca stumbled. Ginny looked at her as if she had just revealed a secret passion for mountain trolls. Luna on the other hand smiled faintly at her, while curling a lock of her long blonde hair around her index finger. 'Oh, I think you are in love with him. He is certainly in love with you. He actually looks like a nice person when he's in your presence,' she said dreamily. Ginny eyebrows continued to raise. 'You can't be serious? The two of you are in love?'

Luca shrugged. She was so confused at the moment and Ginny's horrified reaction and Luna's bluntness did nothing to sort her thought out. 'I don't know. It's just…. we get along. I know he can be a right pain in the ass but underneath all that he really is a good guy.' Ginny snorted sarcastically. Luca began to feel annoyed with Ginny. She did not have to explain her relationship with Draco to her. Didn't she date plenty of guys over the year? Had she ever criticized any of them?

'I find that very hard to believe. You know we are talking about the guy who insults me every chance he gets right? He's in Slytherin for heaven's sake!' Luca's annoyance turned into anger as she turned towards Ginny, her hands balled into fists. 'I know that. I'm only asking you not to judge me. Or Slytherin. How many people do you actually know that are in Slytherin?'

Ginny frowned slightly. Luca noticed that she had not expected this reaction at all.
'Some of my family members were in Slytherin and they are decent people. Or do you doubt that one too?' Luca said breathlessly, as she stared at Ginny with a rage that she couldn't identify.

Ginny's face became a bit pale and she shook her head slightly. 'No, of course I believe you,' she said in a thin voice. The raging anger in Luca subsided and she suddenly felt tired and empty. 'I'm sorry Ginny,' she mumbled. 'I didn't mean to get angry. Let's just get to the common room. It's late.'
Ginny and Luna followed her to the castle in silence.

They said goodnight to Luna, who left for the Ravenclaw tower. Ginny and Luca walked up the stairs, still not speaking to each other. Luca's brain was working fast, trying to come up with something to say to Ginny to make her understand her situation. But when they both climbed through the portrait hole and walked up to the girls-dormitory, Ginny was the one who broke the silence.

'I'm sorry too. I may have my reservations about Malfoy but you're right. I don't know him and if you say that he's really a decent person I should give him a chance.' Luca smiled at her friend. She knew that it probably cost Ginny all of her willpower to make this kind of promise. Guilt over her earlier outburst washed over her.

'Thank you, Ginny. I know this must be hard to understand. I'm not even sure I understand what is going on between the two of us but… all I know is that Draco is under a lot of pressure. It might be his parents, I don't know, but someone is making him do things against his will and he's a bleeding mess because of it. You've seen how ill he looks these days. I just wanted to help him… because …. Because I guess I saw something of him in myself.' Ginny, who had changed into her pajamas, sat down next to Luca on her four-poster bed. She watched Luca with an apprehensive expression.

'I mean… there's something big I've been keeping from you. Not just you, the whole school. Only Snape and Professor Dumbledore know about it.' Before Luca could stop herself, the whole story came spilling out of her. Ginny didn't ask questions, but waited until Luca was finished talking before she spoke again.

'Oh Luca,' she sighed, and before Luca knew it, she had thrown her arms around her friend in a tight hug. 'I understand why you kept this a secret, but I'm also very glad you told me. Now I can help you. I will always be here for you, do you understand?' Ginny looked determined and earnest. Luca smiled at her. She felt 10 pounds lighter now that Ginny knew about her secret. 'So, you don't think…. differently of me now?' Luca asked softly. Ginny placed one hand on her shoulder. 'How could you even ask me that? Of course not! I'm just so shocked to hear about all the things you've been through. I can't imagine…' her voice trailed off. Ginny stared into her lap with an agitated expression on her face.

Luca smiled faintly. 'Don't worry Ginny. I can handle it. Certainly now that I have you at my side.' She knew that Ginny could see through her brave face but she couldn't afford herself to breakdown. Not now. She didn't want to relive it all again, the constant nightmares already did that to her. Her eyes felt heavy and her joints were sore from standing in that small passage with Draco.

After she said goodnight to Ginny, she prepared herself for the usual nightmares. But this night, they didn't come. Instead, she dreamed of a pale, white blonde boy with grey eyes and a handsome smile. He touched her face lightly and whispered her name into her ear before he gently bent over her and pressed his lips onto hers. Draco….

Defense Against The Dark Arts was the last class of the following day and the first time Draco would see Luca again after their time together in the dark passage. He was so nervous that he couldn't focus during any of the proceeding classes, therefore receiving detention from an agitated Professor Flitwick and nearly forcing Professor Trelawney into tears as he accidentally dropped and cracked his crystal ball during Divination.

'Are you coming Draco?' Crabbe asked him, turning around in the doorway. Goyle and Pansy Parkinson were also waiting for him to join them. 'You go ahead, I need just need to take care of something first.' Crabbe and Goyle, who were now very much used to this type of behavior, shrugged and left without another word. Pansy lingered for a few seconds longer, eyeing him with an expectant look as if she wanted him to share some kind of secret with her. When Draco didn't show any signs of involving her in his plans however, she too turned around and followed Crabbe and Goyle to their classroom.

Draco lingered in the classroom as long as he could without being late. He was hoping that Luca might be late too, as she usually was, and he would have no choice but to sit next to her in class.
When he reached the Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom, he took a deep breath and went inside. By the looks of it, Snape was almost about to start class. To his disappointment however, he saw that all the tables had been swept to the sides of the room, clearing a large open space in between.

Gryffindor and Slytherin students were standing on either side of Snape, who was standing in the middle of the classroom looking more like a giant bat than ever. Most of them were whispering excitedly and sneaking glances at Snape. Just after Draco had closed the door, it opened again and with a jolt of glee he saw that it was Luca entering the room. Her hair was tied back into a long ponytail and it looked like she had been running. Before either of them could greet each other, Snape cleared his throat and silence fell in the room. 'Malfoy, Starling, you are late.' He eyed the pair of them with a displeased look on his face. 'I thought class hadn't started yet, Professor.' Draco said, a definite sneer in his voice.

Snape raised his eyebrows. 'At what time my class starts is not up to you to decide Malfoy.' Draco felt his annoyance with Snape grow. The bell hadn't rung yet so he was certain that he and Luca had just made it. He wanted to walk over to the group of Slytherins on the right side of the classroom when Snape spoke again. 'But I should have known miss Starling here would accompany you. The two of you seem to get yourselves into trouble almost as much as our beloved Mister Potter and his cronies.
His words had its desired effect; people from both sides of the room tried to get a better look at Luca and Draco, exchanging curious whispers. Draco saw the corners of Snape's mouth curl and he felt a strong desire to walk over and punch him in the face.

'Well, we are just so happy that you are here to get us out of trouble, Professor.' Luca had spoken, a determined look on her face. Something shifted in Snape's expression and he waved dismissively. 'Both of you, join the rest of your houses in line.' He paused for a moment. 'Unless you prefer to join the Slytherins, miss Starling,' Snape added looking from Luca to Draco.

From both sides of the room people started whispering and giving the pair of them curious looks. Luca gave Snape a contemptuous look and walked over to stand next to Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, who immediately ceased their giggling and tried their best not to look at her.
Draco slowly walked over to Crabbe and Goyle, trying hard to annoy Snape as much as possible.

'Now, as I was going to announce before we were interrupted… Today we will be practicing the Patronus charm. This is very advanced magic, but as we are in a current state of…. war,' Snape paused shortly. '… I think it is best all of you learn to defend yourselves against dementors as they have now joined the dark side.' An excited murmur rose from the crowd of students. 'Will we be practicing with real dementors Professor?' Lavender Brown asked anxiously. 'Of course not', Snape snapped irritably. 'Haven't I just told you that they are now in line with the Dark Lord? For now, just learning the incantation and practicing it in this classroom will have to do.'

They were encouraged to form pairs and stand facing each other while taking turns in practicing the Patronus charm. Draco, who had been paired up with Zabini, was lost in thought all through class. Normally, he would have thought this to be an exciting and interesting lesson, but now his mind was occupied with so many others things that learning a new charm seemed rather unimportant.

He was awoken from his reverie when a few girls started screaming with excitement. 'Look! Harry's done it! Oh wow! What a beautiful stag.' Draco turned his back to them scowling. What was the big deal? He could produce a Patronus if he set his mind to it too. It couldn't really be that difficult.
But as the lesson progressed, all he had managed so far was to produce a shapeless silvery mist from the tip of his wand.

He turned around to sneak a look at Luca and at that exact moment, a huge silver shape shot from her wand and bared its large teeth at Lavender and Parvati who gave startled yells. Draco squinted at it. It was too large to be a dog. Before he could take a good look at it Snape appeared at Luca's side and with a wave of his wand the Patronus dissolved into thin air.

'Very good Miss Starling. A full bodied Patronus is the most difficult form to produce.' He did, however, not look pleased at all. 'Miss Patil, miss Brown, please control yourselves. If the thing that is supposed to protect you scares you this much, you will not stand a chance against an actual dementor.'

The rest of the lesson was uneventful and when the bell finally rang, Draco was glad to get out of the classroom. He couldn't wait to talk to Luca again. There were a dozen questions which he was burning to ask, but he didn't want to scare her off by firing them at her all at once. To his disappointment however, he didn't see Luca's brown hair in the mass of students spilling out of the classroom. Could it be that she was avoiding him?

He was already on his way back to the common room when he put his hand in the pocked of his robe and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. His heart leaped when he noticed the girlish, slanted handwriting. The note read only one sentence: meet me on top of this astronomy tower after dark.

There was no question that it had come from Luca. There couldn't be a teacher that wanted to meet that late, except maybe for Snape. But Draco simply couldn't phantom why the Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher would go through the trouble of delivering him a secret message, instead of his usual way of just summoning him through first-year students.

His heart racing, Draco watched the hours tick away until the castle had grown quiet and the skies had turned dark. The common room was empty now, except for Blaise, who had been reading in an armchair near the fire. At 5 to ten, he too mumbled a good night to Draco and disappeared up the stairs to the boys-dormitory. Draco had no idea how to make his way through the castle without being seen, especially with all the extra patrol and securities Dumbledore had insisted upon. He felt however, that if Luca could manage, he should at least give it his best effort.

It took Draco a good twenty minutes to get to the astronomy tower. He'd used a disillusionment charm on himself, and though it worked rather well, it didn't stop him from hiding every time one of the patrolling aurors showed up. When he reached the tower, he ran up the spiral stairs, taking it two steps at the time. Slightly out of breath, he stopped at the top to undo the charm that made him practically invisible.

When he moved around the corner, he wasn't surprised to find Luca already standing there, in the middle of the deck. She was surrounded by a thin, shimmering white mist. Draco inhaled and smelled a combination of daisies, musk, and powdered chalk. It was an enchanting scent. Before he could ask how Luca had managed such seemingly complicated spell work, she had moved forward, taking his hand and dragging him into the glittering cloud.