Eleven: Flaring Tempers and Disarray

Draco didn't roll out of bed until nine o'clock after a long, sleepless night. His father had long gone to work, and the shop was supposed to have been opened an hour ago. But it didn't matter to Draco; for him, it felt as if his life was ending.

He arduously dragged himself out of bed and forced himself to get dressed. He found his mother downstairs at the kitchen table. "You're a bit late this morning," she remarked.

Draco shrugged. He wasn't even in the mood for breakfast, but he knew that his mother would force him to eat. "Honestly I think the extra sleep will do you good," Narcissa continued. "I don't know what Lucius thinks he is, making you work so much every day."

"What extra sleep?" Draco mumbled. Then, realizing how empty the house was, he asked "Pansy's not here?"

"No, she's probably still in Kensington at her sister's."

Draco felt a tiny bit of relief, but knew that her absence was only temporary. "I hope that you've cooled down a bit since last night," Narcissa said in a sterner tone. "Your temper will not be tolerated again."

Draco felt a surge of anger course through his veins. Ignore her, he muttered to himself. He did not want to cause a scene early in the morning. Best to enjoy the little bit of peace and sanity I've still got left.

But peace and sanity were not to be found when Draco reached work. The entire shop seemed to be in disarray. There were dozens of owls flying in with large parcels, and there were boxes and cartons everywhere Draco could see. Every inch of the place was packed with these parcels, and every inch of the floor was littered with feathers and owl droppings. Over in the corner were Luna and Twieck, one looking extremely worried and exhausted and the other a soppy, dripping mess who didn't even seem to know where she was.

"Where were you, sir?" cried Twieck. "Madam and I have been waiting for master to show up, to fix this mess, sir. These owls keep pouring in, and there's no space for all these boxes, sir."

Draco realized with dread that this was the order he had foolishly filled that day Lucius had scolded him. His father had been right; Draco was too irresponsible and immature to do anything right.

"Throw them in the warehouse," Draco snapped.

"But sir, the warehouse is already full!" the house elf cried impatiently. "We've already tried to fit as much as we can in there, but there was only enough space for a couple of cartons, sir!"

Draco was just about ready to erupt. He didn't need this stress on top of everything else already. He glanced over at Luna – and his blood boiled again. Luna was dripping wet from the heavy rain and her hair was a chaotic mess. Her regular mismatching garments were wrinkled and the bottom of her skirt was stained with mud. It was not the sloppiness of her appearance which angered Draco, but the way she still managed to look so beautiful. The way she just seemed to shine no matter how tattered her hair and clothes were was so incredibly frustrating to Draco that he had the aching desire to hurt her.

"Clean up the mess on the floor," he snarled at her, surprising even himself at the harshness of his tone.

Luna caught his eyes in a flash, and Draco suddenly realized that they were the most grievous eyes he had ever seen. There was something troubling her today. Draco was startled to see a tear escape from the swollen, puffy eyes. Luna wiped it away hastily and nodded. "Sir, what shall we do with all these boxes?" whimpered the house elf. "There's no room for them anywhere. Master will be angry if we leave them around!"

"What the hell do I care what you do with these damn boxes?" he snarled. "Do whatever the hell you want. Just leave me out of it."

Realizing that there was no way he could deal with this today, Draco stormed out of the shop. He needed to get far, far away from this mess as possible.

Luna didn't know how she hadn't collapsed already from all this stress, but she had managed so far. Now that Draco had left, it was up to her to fix this enormous mess. She had managed to clear off the owl droppings and feathers and had sent away the lingering owls. The owls had finally stopped pouring in, dropping off the last shipment of parcels. Now that that was over, the racket was gone and the mess was at least a little less overwhelming. All they needed to do now was find a way to squeeze all the robes into the already crammed shop.

Twieck had stopped panicking and had called in a few other house elves. They were now poring through the new merchandise and checking off the list to keep track of all the dress robes. Luna was rearranging the robes already in the shop and squeezing in part of the new shipment with the rest. She didn't mind all this work; it was better than sitting around awkwardly next to Draco. Besides, she really needed to keep her mind occupied on something today. She couldn't even feel angry at Draco for irresponsibly leaving his own shop, as she knew the day would be harder to endure with him around. Best of all, being alone in the shop with the house elves meant that she was actually respected and didn't have to listen to Pansy's insults all day long.

Luna was so immersed in the work that much of the merchandise was already sorted and shelved by noontime. There still remained plenty of cartons strewed around, however, and she still had no idea what to do with all of them. Luna sat on the sofa, exhausted. She had never needed a break as much as she needed now, but she didn't feel right leaving the shop and leaving the house elves in charge.

Luna reached into her bag and pulled out her boxed lunch. She could eat while she worked today. Just as she bit into her sandwich, the bells on the door jingled. Part of Luna hoped that it was Draco, so that she wouldn't be left alone with all this work, but another part of her was enjoying being away from his awkward glares. It wasn't Draco who entered, however.

Pansy Parkinson entered the shop, along with whom Luna guessed was her mother. Both ladies had the same dark brown hair, though the older woman's was elegantly tied in a bun while Pansy's short locks were neatly fastened with a jewelled clip. Pansy wore a short red frock and heeled slippers, while her mother wore satin robes of blue. Both women had an air of aristocracy and a matching, arrogant scowl.

Pansy caught Luna's gaze. Her scowl widened, and she glared in disgust. "You! Where's Draco?" she demanded.

Luna swallowed a mouthful of her sandwich. "Uh, he's not in right now."

Mrs. Parkinson looked at Luna in contempt. Her mouth curled in disgust as she took in Luna's shabby appearance. "Disgusting servant girl, how dare you eat on the job? Have you no respect for the Malfoys, who have so generously allowed you to work in their shop?"

Luna swallowed again in shame, putting down her lunch. "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I highly doubt that. It seems you're not even capable of tidying up the shop properly," said Pansy's mother, eyeing the boxes thrown around the room. "Where has Draco gone?"

"I don't know," Luna answered, mortified.

"Hm." Mrs. Parkinson scowled again. "Well, perhaps it's better if he isn't here. We need a dress robe for Pansy. We want the finest one in the shop."

"But mum, will we be able to afford it?" Pansy asked, eyeing the price tag for a couple of robes. "They're quite pricey."

"Of course, we won't need to pay for it, dear," her mother told her, a sly smile escaping her lips. "No doubt the Malfoys will handle the bill. It's for their party after all. And it's such a special occasion..."

"Mum, are you sure that Draco will propose to me that night? He doesn't seem like he's going to."

These words hit Luna like a sharp blow, but she wasn't sure why. "Of course he will, dear," her mother assured her. "I've spoken to Narcissa, and everything is set up."

Pansy was absolutely delighted. "Oh, I can't wait, mother! After this I want to buy new shoes, and perhaps a new necklace. I need a new handbag too, actually. Can we get all that?"

"Of course, dear, I'll make sure that Lucius gets the bill."

Luna didn't realize that she was awkwardly rooted to the spot. Mrs. Parkinson noticed this and shot Luna a murderous glare. "What are you still standing over there for? I told you that my daughter needs a new set of dress robes! Honestly, where does Lucius find all these incompetent workers? I hope that he's not paying this girl a single Knut. Narcissa will hear about this, that's for sure."

"I'm not a house elf!" Luna found herself shouting.

The two women looked at her in shock. "You disgusting girl, how dare you speak to your superiors like that?"

"Money is no substitute for sense and intelligence," Luna responded, her face flushing. "You people think that you own the world just because you're rich. But without money you have nothing at all; no wit, no personality, and no creativity. It's almost laughable that you think that you are my superiors, because really you are nothing at all. Anybody can get money, but the value of what I have is something that you'll never even be able to comprehend."

When Luna had finished, both Pansy and her mother were boiling with rage. They were glaring at her as if she was some disgusting substance which they had found in the gutter. Mrs. Parkinson darted over to Luna with her face flushing in anger, and raised her hand as if she was about to slap her.

"Leave her alone," said a cold, angry voice from behind them. Luna looked up to see Draco, wet and shining from the rain. She hadn't noticed the door open in all this commotion.

"Drakie-poo!" said Pansy in delight. She hurried over to embrace him, but he ignored her.

Mrs. Parkinson dropped her hand in shock. "Draco! What is the meaning of this? Don't tell me that you're actually sticking up for this wretched servant! Didn't you hear what she said to us? Are you honestly going to allow her to get away with this?"

"Please do not come into my shop and mistreat my workers," Draco responded. Luna gazed at him in surprise. She wasn't the only one to do so.

Mrs. Parkinson looked too shocked to reply. After a moment's pause, she flustered, "well, your father will certainly hear about this. Come on, Pansy. Let's go elsewhere."

"But mum!" Pansy protested, clearly not comprehending what had just passed. "What about my robes?"

"I'm not sure if you'll need one anymore," her mother snapped, taking her hand and pulling her out of the shop.

"But what will I wear to the party then?"

Luna almost laughed out loud. She turned to Draco, her eyes brimming with admiration. "Thanks," she beamed.

Draco's icy eyes narrowed on her. "Don't thank me," he snarled. "I didn't do you any favour. What the fuck do you think you are? How dare you work in my shop and behave this way?"

Luna's mouth dropped open. "But they insulted me, Draco, I was just –"

"I don't care what they said! Why can't you realize that nobody wants you here? My father only hired you to make people think that he's not prejudiced anymore. Nobody likes you, you stupid girl. In fact, we're actually quite embarrassed to have such a freak in our bloody shop!"

Luna felt hot tears cascading down her cheeks as Draco stormed out of the shop once again.