Hello lovelies! This is my longest chapter yet! It holds a bit of a turning point, so I hope you like it!

Also, it was brought to my attention by the wonderful Bookmite that there is a song that fits the memory of Luna and the torture/experiments in the Malfoy dungeons VERY well. Grey Street, by the Dave Matthews Band. PLEASE go to youtube and give it a listen. It would be Draco's perspective on what he saw in the memory.

Read and review, please! I love, LoVe, LOVE you guys!

Since Friday night, Luna had done her best to put the prophecy out of her mind. She had given a blessed few prophecies as monumental as that one, and right now, she didn't want to dwell on what those words meant. That left her thinking about the party coming up in just under two weeks. Usually, given the circumstances, she would be extremely nervous. She was getting ready to see her friends for the first time since starting her job with Draco; except for the one brief run-in with Ginny. She was going to see Ron, who she didn't expect to settle down even knowing that they weren't "together." She knew that her friends meant well, and that they only wanted to protect her, but Luna was very disappointed that they didn't trust her judge of character.

She realized with a start that she wasn't nervous at all, but excited. She puzzled over the feeling of excitement, turning it over and over in her mind, searching it from every angle. It didn't really make sense for her to be excited about it. After all, it was likely to be a disaster. Luna tried to find the source of her inexplicable happy anticipation, but all she could picture was Draco with his tousled hair at the quidditch match.

A slow smile spread across her face, brightening more and more as she thought about her friend. That moment at the match had been when she had noticed how handsome he was. Her eyes grew wide. Was she excited about the dinner because she would be going with Draco? She had some thinking to do. Did she like him? She wasn't sure. She did find him very handsome, and she enjoyed spending time with him. But did she actually, really like Draco Malfoy? Luna had never liked anyone romantically before. She had never really had the opportunity. For her to realize now that there was a possibility that she thought of Draco that way had her absolutely floored.

Luna checked her appearance in the mirror one last time, and apparated to Hogsmeade. She got to the apparition point, and skipped the rest of the way there. It was a beautiful sunny day with just a few small, fluffy white clouds dancing through the sky. On the way, Luna decided to officially ask Draco to come with her to the dinner at the Potters'. She opened the door to the office and smiled at the little bell that Draco had finally let her put over the door.

"To keep the wrackspurts away," she had explained. "when you hear a noise as happy as that little bell tinkling, it helps to dislodge them so they can't make your brain fuzzy and unhappy."

As soon as she stepped inside, she knew something was off. Usually a boisterous greeting of "Hello, Luna!" greeted her from the other room, or at least a tired, sometimes headache-ridden Draco would shuffle out to greet her in a little more subdued manner. Today she made her way nervously to his door and knocked before pushing it the rest of the way open. Draco sat at his desk, perusing a file, looking as neat and pulled together as he usually did. He glanced up at her as she came in.

"Oh, hey Luna," he said off-handedly. "Did you need anything?"

She shook her head, and wandered into her own office. Draco watched her go with sadness in his eyes. "Don't give in," he thought to himself. "This is better. If you stay standoffish and impersonal, you won't get too close, and you can't hurt her." A little part of him argued that they were already too close of friends for it NOT to hurt her, but he squashed it down. For the rest of the morning they continued like that, until Luna had had enough of the silence. She marched herself into Draco's office after his last client of the morning had left, and sat herself in the chair opposite him.

"Draco, what's wrong?" She asked with concern. "Have I done something to upset you? Is it the prophecy?" Her blue eyes were wide, and she fidgeted with her hands in her lap.

He avoided her eyes. "You've done nothing wrong, Luna."

She sat quietly, thinking. "Are you lying?"

A humorless chuckle passed his lips. "No. You have done nothing wrong."

"Then why are you avoiding me?" She asked softly. "I thought we were friends? You can talk to me, you know."

He shook his head. "Not about this. Just trust me, ok? I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't the best thing to do."

She thought carefully for a few minutes, not quite believing him that what he was doing was the best, but trusting him nonetheless. Finally, she sighed, and stood to go. Draco turned back to the papers in front of him. Luna hesitated at the door.

"Draco?"

His grey eyes met her blue ones.

"Will you go with me to the Potters' on the second?"

He tried to say no. It would have been the right thing to do. His mind fought with his heart for a while, and before he could get his mouth to work and answer her either way, she had taken his silence as a rejection and disappeared into her own office, shutting the door with a quiet little click of finality.

Luna sat in her office for a good portion of the afternoon, not really accomplishing anything. All she could think about was her best friend in the next room, and the fact that it felt like he didn't want to be her friend anymore. Just when she had begun to think of him as someone she might possibly like, he was pushing her away. Something just didn't compute. There was no way that he knew what she thought of him, so it couldn't be that he was repulsed by her possible-but-not-for-sure affection. Maybe she had taken too long to start to come to the conclusion that she had, and he felt rejected? She shook her head in frustration.

If he was feeling rejected, what should she do about it? She searched within herself for boldness, and found an untapped reserve of... something. She didn't know what. It was bold, powerful, and raw. It felt like pure magic. The animalistic nature of that force inside her was terrifying, but it felt like such a part of her that it couldn't be bad to use it, right? If she channeled it, she could, possibly, find the courage she needed to tell Draco that she thought she might like him. She reached into herself, grasped a tendril of that raw power, and felt it surge through her like electricity powering a machine. She felt magnificently strong, and her mind saw sharp absolutes, like something primal that had such basic, simple needs. The need running through her mind had no name, but it ran deep and fierce. Grasping that drive and the power she felt, Luna stood from her desk and walked into the front room where Draco was looking for something.

Draco looked up when he heard Luna approach. He felt his eyes pulled to hers, and saw that her eyes were a deep, sparkling, rich purple. She had a look of absolute determination on her face, and she was walking in a fluid, predatory, almost seductive manner towards him. He swallowed with difficulty, and watched her slow sashay. This wasn't Luna. He couldn't fathom that the girl he knew would walk like that, or look at him like that. In a matter of seconds since she entered the room, she had reached him.

With a toss of her head, Luna flicked her blonde curls over her shoulder, and reached up with one dainty hand to grab his collar roughly. The other hand caressed his cheek. He stared at her in shock. This was definitely not his Luna. And those eyes... those magnificent purple eyes that were so intoxicating, yet so foreign and wrong. She looked up at him with a small smirk.

"Come with me to the Potters'." It wasn't a question.

She yanked down on his collar that she still held, and he crashed downward towards her. That little hand that held such strength pushed against him at just the right moment so that they didn't both tumble to the floor, but his lips collided with hers. She kissed him hungrily, drinking him in. Draco was powerless against her. She was breathtaking, and he hadn't realized just how much he had wanted to kiss her until it was happening. He realized with a pang that this wasn't what he had expected kissing Luna to be like. He had expected her kisses to be soft, sweet, and innocent. That thought was enough to give him the power to pull away.

He realized that he had one hand at the small of her back, and the other cupping the back of her neck. He leaned his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes, watching the purple fade back to sky blue. Comprehension dawned on her delicate features, and she pulled away, scrambling to keep herself upright when she was so weak-kneed. Her blood pounded in her ears. Why was she so uncomfortably hot?

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry, Draco!" she exclaimed. Her knees gave out, and she sank to the floor, sobbing weakly.

Draco knelt down next to her, confused. "Luna, what was that?"

"My first kiss," she answered meekly.

He gave a barking laugh of surprise. "First kiss? Luna, why? Where did that come from? That wasn't you."

Inside, his emotions were in a turmoil. Luna had kissed him. She had acted completely like someone else, and practically attacked him. He had liked it, yes. He was a man, after all, and he did like her, but this complicated matters. He was supposed to be backing away from her, not kissing her. He wasn't sure if he would be able to stick to the plan after this, but he HAD to. Did she like him? She had to, right? Or she wouldn't have kissed him.

He looked down at her, and she looked up at him. Her expression practically mirrored his. Confusion, hope, sadness, embarrassment, and so much more. She looked away, unable to meet his gaze for long.

"Draco, I..." She collapsed on the floor, those beautiful blue eyes rolling back into her head. Her body convulsed violently, and Draco reached to steady her head. She was burning hot, and he hissed in surprise. He scooped her up in his arms, ran to the fireplace in the meeting room, flooing directly to the Dai Llewellyn ward at St. Mungos. Healer Smethwyck came running when a junior healer alerted him to their presence, and they took her from his arms, rushing to figure out what was wrong.