A/N:

Thank you all for your reviews! I love you all!

For those who were surprised to see Blaise acting like that in the previous Chapter get ready to see what happens in this one!

Draco and Blaise are alike in many aspects, no wonder they're best friends,
and when they want something they'll do the impossible to get it. :evil
smirk:

Yeah, I know, this story ships Draco/Luna but that doesn't mean other
people wouldn't like to have a piece of the gorgeous Malfoys' couple.

If I had to define this 9th Chapter with one single word that would have to
be…HOT!

CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER IX

"I love myself I want you to love me
When I feel down I want you above me
I search myself I want you to find me
I forget myself I want you to remind me.

I don't want anybody else
When I think about you I touch myself
Ooh I don't want anybody else
Oh no, oh no, oh no.

I close my eyes and see you before me
Think I would die if you were to ignore me
A fool could see just how much I adore you
I get down on my knees, I'd do anything for you."

(DIVINYLS – "I Touch Myself")

Draco threw his cloak and backpack over one of the tables at the library in a clear sign that he didn't want anyone to think or even dare to sit near him. His mood was a very dark one, he attempted to read from a thick volume, but he couldn't. He felt restless, and the uneasiness inside him wouldn't, no matter how hard he tried, allow him to focus on the reading of the book.

"I'm glad to know you've changed your mind and decided to come back to Hogwarts." Someone in front of him said suddenly.

His amethyst blue eyes lost momentary the focus of the page he was reading, still he didn't look up for he recognized that voice and also that stinging smell: it was Harry Potter. Draco looked away for a moment, searching for his wand, he then turned back again at the page of the book.

"Is this the beginning of a conversation here?" The Slytherin arched one eyebrow, without lifting his eyes from the book, tapping his forehead with the wand.

"I guess I've never thank you properly for what you've done. Thanks to you professor Lupin is alive, I'm truly grateful for that." Harry's emerald green eyes narrowed a bit, swallowing hard as he continued. "Bellatrix Lestrange took something precious from me once, I'm glad she paid for it too."

Finally, unable to take it, the blond slapped the book shut, using the wand as marker.

"Potter, you've just happened to profit from a very dysfunctional family. I'd never got along with my aunt. Now get lost, I can't stand the sight…neither the smell of you anymore." He lifted up his eyes, throwing a stabbing stare at the Gryffindor.

Harry pressed his fingers to his forehead and closed his eyes. He felt a strange pain in his scar when he looked at Draco. His scar hurt him in a strange similar way like when he was close to Voldemort.

Draco didn't notice when Harry took off for his eyes were catching something else, something inexplicable captivating, beautiful and enigmatic, it was no other than Luna Lovegood-Malfoy who just had entered the library, seemingly upset about something, carrying a couple of books under her arm. He tried to make eye contact with her, but it was evident that she was avoiding his gaze at any cost.

Luna felt his presence a few feet behind her as she tried to look busy, her eyes neither rise nor turn, she continued to read from the book she just picked up from the shelf as his footsteps approached her. When she looked up, Draco was standing beside her, leaning against a book shelf with his arms crossed.

"I suspect you ran away because you wanted to hide something from me, and let me tell you that I'll find that out sooner or later." He smirked, leaning closer.

"I'm not good at Occlumency, I can't hide anything from you no matter how hard I try." She said, avoiding his eyes, flipping through the book pages, mumbling to herself.

He yawned, looking bored at her remark. "I've always preferred to hear it coming willingly from that gorgeous mouth of yours. I believe that you'll master the art of blocking your mind without problems, after all you're a Malfoy. Besides you've improved a lot after those private classes and everything I've taught you during our ….brief….honeymoon." He munched on those final words with resentment.

"The more I learn from you and about you, the less I think I know you at all. You almost kill Neville earlier today!" Luna's cheeks blushed with restrained anger, revealing the reason of her distress.

"You're right, I almost kill him. Next time he'll go all the way to the other side if he dares to provoke me again." He looked away, a dangerous smirk curled his lips, he didn't look sorry at all.

"Why Draco, you're willing to kill him just because he happens to be my best friend and I care about him?" She asked, holding back the tears that threatened to blind her eyes.

He turned to face her again, this time he looked deadly serious. "He's a filthy liar and because of that he deserves to die."

She pursed her lips, trying to her best to stop trembling.

"I know there's no reason why I should worry, he's still a stupid git, still I'm a very jealous man, can't help it. So it's up to you, sweetheart, stay away from him." He arched an eyebrow, fixing his stare on her button roses lips.

"Draco, you can't be serious! Please get some sleep: that would help you rearrange your thoughts." Her lips were silently trembling; she was starting to feel uncomfortable by his closeness.

"That's a great idea, sleep with me." His gaze was lingering in inappropriate places before settling on her face.

"Stop teasing me and find something to entertain you if you're bored." She shot back, eyeing the title on the spine of the book on her hand.

"Besides you?" He ran a hand through his silk blond hair and shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

He performed a mirroring charm that Luna felt immediately translated into her body. He was burning inside with desire, he wanted to breathe her in for a while, and then he wanted to touch her, in a lot more places.

"Draco, what do you think you're doing?!" She was barely able to contain the anxious in her voice an even less to hold his eyes. Her heart was in her throat by then.

"You tell me, how does it feel?" He said in a voice that left no doubt he knew exactly what he wanted.

"Please don't get any closer." She jumped, bumping against the book shelf.

"I believe you know exactly what I'm thinking and what I want to do with you and to you. I can feel that your body wants me too." He was really turned on there was a deep and lusting look in his burning amethyst blue eyes.

"Draco, don't!" She finally snapped the book shut.

"Luna, I can't stop thinking about you, about us..." Not bothering to censor his thoughts, he continued "…naked on the bed, the touch of your body against mine and the little incoherent sounds of pleasure you make when I touch you." That was a mental picture he wanted desperately to hang on to.

Draco grabbed her by her shoulders and took her to a desert corner, so that nobody would see them. He pushed her body against the wall as he leaned closer, tightening his grip. She looked fearfully into his eyes. They were both trembling with desire. His face was inches from hers, every fibre screaming out inside him, longing to unleash the lust he was feeling for her right there, against the wall and the book shelf. He barely managed to brush his lips against hers for she pulled him apart immediately, turning her head sharply, biting her lip. His pants were straining at the crotch and he was shocked at himself, so was Luna.

"Please Draco, try using a freezing charm: that will do." She begged, trying to push him off again.

But this time he released her roughly and hit his head on purpose against the wall with a mix of anger and frustration, it was definitely not the place or the time for such intimate encounter.

"That does the trick for you?!" He looked at her rubbing his forehead, disguising his burning desire as much as possible, but the pain in his eyes was overwhelming.

Her pearl grey eyes were sparkling with tears. She sucked up a deep breath and passed by him, taking a sit at the nearest empty table she found for her knees were trembling. Luna pushed the chair and leaned forward, almost squeezing her stomach against the border of the table. Her legs were rubbing against each other, revealing that she was truly nervous of those deep feelings that tormented her whenever he was near. Draco stopped behind her and rested his hands on the back of the chair, leaning closer.

"I know you want me as badly as I do." He moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue and smirked at her. "If you keep holding out on me like this, and I'm going to have to get really nasty."

She sighed deeply and closed her eyes, she heard the blood rushing through her ears. Then slowly shook her head and caught sight of him as he picked up his things and started to leave the library. He threw a quick and very sexy look at her before he turned to the exit, and that melted her completely.

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Draco admired the place with curious interest, it was about five times the size of his prefect's room; the windows were decorated with colourful vitrauxs of mermaids, aquatic plants and flowers. There was this huge porcelain bathtub that resembled more like a pool for the maximum depth should be about six and a half feet. That night, it was the first time he stepped inside the prefect's bathroom and he was pleased with the view, making the perfect spot to carry out Slughorn's relaxation session.

He was cautious by nature, always expecting the worse. After securing the place with a countless number of protection charms, he stripped off his clothes and wrapped a cotton towel around his waist, taking sit by the edge of the pool with both his feet on the water, testing its temperature. The warmth of the soap perfumed water was slowly steaming up the crystal panels and porcelain tiles of the walls.

Draco stretched the towel over the stone floor, leaving him completely naked with his both feet still soaked in the water. He looked at the ceiling before closing his eyes for a moment, turning the events of the past couple of days over in his mind. Things have definitely not developed as expected, he wanted her there, he wanted Luna everywhere: in his dreams, in his life but mostly in his bed. He wanted her non-stop, all the time, every day, forever. His patience was running on the ragged edge by then, he opened his amethyst blue eyes and stared at the folded parchment besides him. After breaking the wax seal with his thumb, the parchment flew besides him and unfolded its full length revealing its written content as the golden letters started to read by themselves with Slughorn's deep and raspy voice:

"Find a comfortable place where you can relax and be completely quiet...relax... take a deep breath in and hold it..."

"Detineo!" He held his wand high and shook his head, looking very annoyed.

How was he supposed to relax while hearing that old man's awful voice? He had to do something about it, or the session would be a complete waste of his time.

"I can't get over you, can get through you, can't get inside you…." He paused, a mocking devilish smirk curled his lips; he pointed at the scroll with an amused smirk.

"Creo Luna's vox. Pergo!" He then lied down, on his back, against the towel displayed on the floor and let go a deep sigh.

"Now gather up the tension in your body, and release it as you exhale...take another deep breath, and as you exhale, you breathe in and out, let your thoughts just come and go...relaxing more and more..." It was Luna's soft voice now the one that was reading the instructions on the scroll.

"Yeah, that's more like it." He hissed, and he closed his eyes, making himself comfortable.

He started by relaxing his neck as he breathed in and out easy and slow. He placed one hand on his abdomen and the other on his chest, feeling the soft rhythm of his breathing as he hummed quietly.

"Your mind follows your attention and along with it your thoughts will go too. So now focus your attention upon a single physical object, or upon a sensation, even upon an emotion. Picture it clearly in your mind. The more definite and specific your idea of what it is the better. Picture yourself having it or doing it. Feel the energy of desire welling up inside you." Her words echoed on the bathroom walls and created the relaxing atmosphere Draco was looking forward to sink in.

Draco felt the energy flowing through his body as his hands continued to feel his breathing, but suddenly his finger tips became hot and throbbing, his palms were sweating, probably for the warmth of the air. He felt the energy coursing down on him; he parted his legs shoulder width as the tingling sensation began to haunt him and his body started to vibrate.

"Imagine the energy exploding out from you in all directions at once: a flowing, endless river of energy..."

He imagined Luna's naked body on top of him as blood started pumping his private parts, feeling the warmth and moistness of his own flesh, inciting desire and extremely intense emotions inside him. His hands were circling the sensation of his quivering flesh in the throes of orgasm. He heard his own moan rushing past his ears, as his body jerked in its release, hard and satisfying.

"You are coming back...take a deep breath and begin to re-orient yourself...and when you're ready, count to three...and on the count of three open your eyes, and return feeling relaxed, alert and at peace." The parchment then folded itself in a roll and landed on the floor, next to him.

"Luna…" He let go a deep breath all of a sudden and opened wide his eyes, coming back to his senses. "…you know it will always be me the one who makes you sweat…and viceversa." He said, feeling his body all sweaty and sticky.

There was a teasing smirk curling his lips, his face was all blushed and his heart was beating a little too fast, he was trying to catch his breath as he lifted his back from the floor and took sit. That has been so vivid and so clear in his mind that he actually believed Luna has been there with him all the time.

All of a sudden a buzzing sound started to echo on the bathroom's walls. One of Draco's protection spells had turned on at the sign of an intruder: someone had been caught just outside the door in one of the blonde's traps. He picked up his wand, performed a quick cleansing spell and wrapped the towel around his waist as he padded barefoot towards the door. He silenced the alarm when he realized who was on the other side of the door for it was a familiar high-pitch tone scream what he heard after the trap was activated.

"Don't you dare to move or you'll make things worse Blaise. I've set a series of traps!" He said clenching his teeth, muttering some incantations in order to deactivate them.

"Traps? You moron!" There was tension and frustration in Blaise's voice.

"If you fell in that simply jinx to say I'm moronic is to say you're idiotic!" Draco yelled at Blaise from the other side of the door.

Blaise stopped all of the sudden to twist and turn on the floor and lifted up immediately, straightening his clothes. He leaned on the door, placing both hands at the sides of the doorframe and started to swear unpronounceable words towards Draco. But that came to a sudden halt when he heard strange noises starting with a shocked hollow gasp, a crushing fall followed by a painful moan and finally the sound of a body hitting hard the water's surface. Blaise swallowed painfully and started to knock on the door, calling for his friend.

"Draco, are you alright?!" But there came no answer from the other side. "Come on mate, talk to me!"

Blaise's heart was pounding faster and faster as he entered straight into a panic attack. He tried to open the door but he couldn't, he took off his wand from his pocket and aimed it to the door.

"Bombarda!" A white dense grey smoke came from the hollow entrance that moments ago was a thick wood bathroom's door.

He stepped inside and scanned the place as the air started to clear around him. The room was hardly illuminated with a couple of candles and the atmosphere was suffocating and strangely cold. There was a very thin ice layer on the stone floor, that made is very slippery to walk through it. Nevertheless, he rushed towards the pool, sliding towards the edge of it, for the last sound he heard was of a body hitting hard the water. He saw something that made his stomach turn upside down: it was Draco's unconscious body lying on the bottom of the pool. The water was reddish with the blood coming from the blonde's injured head. Without spending another second, Blaise took off his cloak and jumped to save his friend. Once he came out, trembling from the contact with the freezing water and all his clothes dripping wet, he placed Draco's unconscious naked body over his dry cloak and wrapped it up with it.

"Anapneo!" Blaise voice was shaking with a mix of terror and desperation. "Ennervate!"

Draco awoke all of the sudden and started to cough, he blinked hard a few times before focusing his pale amethyst blue eyes on Blaise's face. He noticed then that the black jet haired man was sobbing and smiling at him at the same time.

"Merlin, you're alive!" Blaise hugged him tighter as he placed both his arms around, wrapping Draco's naked body with the cloak like a cocoon.

"What…how?" The blond chocked on his words, looking confused.

"Mate, seems that you've slipped, knocked your head with the edge of the bathtub and fell into the water. You've got a nasty open cut on your forehead and you're bleeding. I must take you to the infirmary, now!" Blaise replied, talking as fast as possible without entangling with his tongue in his own desperation.

He pressed his soaked shirt's sleeve softly around the open wound in Draco's forehead after leaning his friend's head over his shoulder and lifted him up the floor with his strong arms.

"You're a light-weight pathetic bony git!" Blaise said half teasing, half serious as he wrapped his arms around Draco's slender body frame.

"No! Just put me down, it's just a scratch." Draco said waving a hand on the air, tapping his friend's shoulder like it was nothing. Blaise nodded reluctantly and kneeled on the floor without releasing Draco from his tight grip.

There was something shiny and squared hanging from Blaise's neck that caught the blonde's attention: it seemed to be a fine sterling locket. Draco aimed to grab it but his hand missed the target and fall numbed. And right then, after he closed and opened his groggy eyes for the umpteenth time, he found hard to focus his vision. He felt warmer than before and realized that what was warming his naked body was no other than Blaise's soaked in sculpted silhouette holding him tighter than ever.

Draco tried to get rid of that tight embrace as he made his best to speak but he couldn't fill his lungs enough to do it properly so he hissed to Blaise: "The wand, I need it…"

The blond felt like he was about to pass out, he closed his eyes and rested his head back, moaning. But the soaked in Slytherin didn't hear the blonde's words, instead he caught in full Draco's moan on his ear and felt his face flushed, he dragged a hand through his damp black jet blocks and exhaled strongly. He tried to stop his body from trembling as he breathed deeply, squeezing that half-conscious naked body against him once more.

"Draco, don't you dare to pass out, you've got to stay awake, okay?" He cupped the blonde's chin with one hand shook it a bit.

The blond nodded, as he tried in vain to open his eyes, revealing only the whiteness of his orbs. It was evident that he was entering in shock. Draco felt his skull splitting in two with the soreness of a killer headache. He tried to phrase some words, but only managed a few tired moans of pain.

Blaise leaned closer, trying to catch something that Draco was saying as he buried his face against those soaked silk blond blocks.

"Don't you worry, I'm here." He hissed, breathing Draco's scent as he got more and more intoxicated with it.

He then traced Draco's forehead with trembling fingers, pulling the blood soaked blocks of the fringe away from that gorgeous pale face, muttering some silent cleansing and healing spells in the process as he continued to trace with his fingers his friend's sculpted facial features. He continued the invisible trail with his fingers towards the chin, the Adam's apple, circling the neck then he aimed lower towards the blonde's collar bone. He stopped at the chest and carefully pressed one ear against that pale and silk skin, feeling Draco's heartbeat following a soft but steady rhythm.

"Draco, can you hear me?" Blaise let go a silent sigh and bite his lip, waiting for his friend's reply.

It seemed that Draco was taking longer now to react; Blaise grabbed the blonde's hand tight in his and asked again, waiting for some sign. Draco nodded, freeing his hand with an attempt to summon his wand but failed as his hand got numbed once more. Draco felt helpless, he closed his blurred amethyst eyes with resentment.

Blaise rearranged the cloak that was wrapping that gorgeous naked body when he suddenly caught sight of something that definitely mesmerized him and blushed madly, unable to stop staring at Draco's fully exposed manhood. He didn't think it twice and started to tease around that private part welcoming the fact that Draco was far too drowsy to react to his touch, otherwise he wouldn't let Blaise have his fun. His sweaty hand was eager to encircle and pump the blonde's dozed off flesh and bring it back to life. For a split second, possibilities he'd never considered flashed through his mind but suddenly came to an abrupt end when, with a lightning-fast reflex, Draco clapped him hard on the shoulder, knocking him backwards on the floor.

"I've said scratch, not crotch! Damnit, get the hell away from me!" Draco felt dizzy and angry and annoyed all at once.

Blaise froze, unable to pronounce a word, for his friend got him completely red handed and off-guard. He frowned and closed his eyes shut, cursing himself under his breath, wanting to drop dead right then.

The blond didn't bother to look back at his friend as he wrapped the cloak around his naked body and got up, walking towards the pile of his dry clothes on the corner of the room with unsteady and unsure steps. As the dark colour spots were starting to disappear from the edges of his field's vision, Draco looked at the blasted door and fixed it with a quick flick of his wand.

Making sure Blaise wasn't staring at him this time, Draco got dressed while he checked his friend out of the corner of the eye. He felt a humming sound starting to fade from inside his head as his vision improved by the minute and the rest of his senses regained its accuracy and sharpness. He then looked at his injury on the reflection of a bevelled crystal window panel, noticing that it had almost closed by itself, leaving no traces of it, just some dried blood. He turned round and aimed his wand towards Blaise, staring at him with a piercing dark look.

"Draco, I tried my best to wrap your naked bones with my dried cloak. I freaked out when I saw you all soaked in blood, for a moment I thought I was losing my mind…I just wanted to wake you up!" Blaise started to explain as he lifted painfully his eyes and stared at the blond.

For endless seconds, they watched each other. Draco's annoyance couldn't have been more plain. With a flawless natural grace, he flicked the wand and cast a silent Hot-Air Charm, drying instantly Blaise's soaked in clothes.

"Thanks mate, but please don't avoid me and just say something." Blaise said, trying to ease the uneasiness in his throat.

"You were trying to wake me up? Blaise, when will you stop taking advantage of a situation?!" Draco shouted, shaking his head twice as he tried to clear it.

"Never?" He swallowed hard and continued. "I just thought that by stimulating your body, you will regain conscious, okay? You were bleeding badly and the cut was a deep one! The last time you fainted I thought you were not going to wake up again. How could you possibly heal yourself so damn fast?" He mumbled, mostly to himself, trying to sort things out inside his head.

Draco managed a tired smirk and rolled his eyes. "Don't change the subject, but just for your information this light-weight bony git is tougher than you think." He could felt a rush of anger pumping through his veins. "Blaise, if I hadn't stopped you…."

"I'd have kissed you down there and you'd have woken up with a smile on your face." Blaise lifted slowly from the floor and stood still, looking at Draco with narrowed eyes. "I bet that frigid wife of yours had never done that to you, right?"

Draco shook his head sharply and grabbed Blaise by the shirt's collar, crushing his friend's back against the wall with a brutal force as he pressed his hands around his friend's throat. "HOW DARE YOU?! Wash your filthy mouth before speaking about Luna, she's a Malfoy!"

The blonde's red tainted blood-shot eyes shined with fury and anger, but right when he realised that his victim was starting to choke badly, he released Blaise immediately, dropping him hard on the floor.

"I just want to crush your skull with my bare hands for what you were about to do to me, but I still owe you my life. You've ruined somebody's plan to kill me by doing what you do best: showing up whenever I least expect. Otherwise I would have drowned, I guess…" Draco shrugged, shocked at his own conclusion.

"Mate, I know I'm asking too much but if you do owe me, say that you forgive me and that I'm still your best friend…and we're even." Blaise's heart was pounding again and he could feel his exhausted body trying to process another rush of adrenaline.

Draco arched an eyebrow and just when Blaise met his gaze, expecting the worse, he saw something completely unexpected mirrored there: the blond was holding up his hand towards him without displaying any emotion at all waiting for Blaise to shake it, which he did immediately. But right then when he squeezed his friend's hand a silvery ray of light erupted from Draco's grip, knocking Blaise violently against the wall.

Blaise, gathering strength to pick himself from the floor, looked up at Draco in the eyes. He knew he deserved that Shocking Grasp Spell and said. "So…I still got the chance to be the godfather of your kids now that we're back friends, right?"

"What kids?!" The blond frowned.

Rolling his eyes, Blaise shot back with an amusing smile. "Well, haven't you ever thought about having babies with your role-model wife?"

Draco shook violently his head and shot a dark stare at his friend. "Raising a family is the last thing in my mind. That's what contraception spells are meant for Blaise."

"Oh, right, you left nothing up to fate." Blaise tilted his head to a side.

"No if I can do something about it!" Draco got tense and frowned as he looked around him, noticing that the cold breeze was starting to fade slowly. "Next time you dare to touch me or trash Luna's good name, I'll kill you."

"Die young and you'll leave a beautiful corpse…or whatever is the saying." Blaise replied as he looked at the blond. He then shook his head, his mind was thinking fast. "Draco, do you think the Grey Lady was behind all this?"

"Too obvious, nevertheless I won't rule her out." Draco shot back as he stretched his sore back.

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A/N

Detineo (Latin): Stop.

Creo (Latin): Create.

Vox (Latin): Voice.

Pergo (Latin): Continue / Proceed.