Hermione sat slumped at her desk in the DMLE offices staring at her overflowing inbox of letters from everyone but the one person she wanted to hear from. It was Wednesday morning and it had been three days since she'd last seen or heard from Draco.
He had sent her an owl letting her know that Astoria's family in New Zealand requested his presence there and that he needed to leave immediately.
It had certainly put a damper on what had otherwise been an incredible weekend. Well, almost.
There was a part of her that had been grateful for a moment to breathe after the revelations of Sunday morning. She didn't quite know how to feel about any of it, especially in regard to Ron.
She didn't love him in that way anymore, but she still cared for him, and he truly seemed to be going off the deep end.
Pansy Parkinson was using him; she was sure of it. Maybe it wasn't her business anymore, but thinking back on the memory of him standing in the street outside the Leakey… gaunt, resigned, empty… it made her heart ache. She had fought herself hard under that cloak to resist charging forward and dragging him off to talk some sense into him.
It was no longer her place to do so, however. By her own choice, she had made it so.
She needed to let him go, and she supposed that ruminating over this whole debacle would not aid her in that need.
If only Draco were around to distract from her brooding. So far, everything had been so hot and cold with him; she was beginning to feel physically affected by the changing weather patterns. Just this time last week she had also suffered three days of no contact after a passionate interaction.
Two kisses and a row, to be exact. This past weekend, however, had included quite a few more of both, and a number of other things. And then just like that, he'd been gone.
Then again it was, by and large, what she'd signed up for. She let out a long, coarse sigh, feeling her hopefulness for the future leave her body along with the carbon dioxide.
Though it hadn't been printed in the papers, everyone at her office seemed to know about her divorce, and she'd noticed as much upon her arrival Monday morning. People weren't staring, rather, they seemed to be averting their eyes altogether. Their feigned ignorance to her presence was somehow worse than a barrage of apologies and offerings of supportive advice.
It'd been unsettling, though. What did it say about her that her colleagues were too timid to even acknowledge her?
She shuddered as she noticed that it startlingly resembled the way Ron had felt unable to go to her after the incident with Astoria, and who knows how many other things. Some she knew about, once she thought back on it. Small, stupid things like staining the couch cushion with spaghetti sauce and then buying a completely new couch just to avoid telling her he'd done it. Too bad for him that Ginny missed nothing and clued Hermione in.
Too bad for her that she'd made it a habit of alienating the people around her.
Unable to deal with her co-worker's behavior, she'd spent the week so far hiding in her office. She arrived before anyone else had arrived, and left after everyone else had left. People were steering clear of her, and sending copious memos rather than dropping by.
If she saw one more enchanted paper airplane today…
On cue, one such tiny plane zoomed in through the transom above her door and landed in front of her. She unfurled the note and saw her secretary's handwriting.
Luna Lovegood here to see you – shall I send her in or tell her you're occupied?
Luna! She must be back in Britain to visit with her Father!
Hermione quickly scribbled back a note, but then balled it up and stood from her chair. "Blast all these damn memos," she muttered as she strode quickly to her door as if charging to an oasis she'd spotted after days in the desert.
She prayed Luna would not turn out to be a mirage.
Of all the people she could speak to now, someone as caring and compassionate as Luna Lovegood was suddenly her best and only option. It wasn't that Harry, Ginny, Neville, or even Blaise Zabini, strange as it were to say, were not caring… they all just had a lot of opinions, and Hermione was having trouble understanding what her own were at the moment. She'd been keeping them posted (read: at bay) for the past few days, but used the excuse of being busy at work to avoid any more conversations about Ron, Pansy, or Draco. Which is why Luna would be such a breath of fresh air… she'd know nothing about any of it.
Rounding the corner of the hall leading from her office, she spotted that familiar shade of white-blond hair. It was not quite as white as Draco's, she noted, before brushing the wizard from her mind for the moment.
"Luna!" she cried, and saw her friend spin around with that dazed air she always seemed to carry with her everywhere she went.
"Oh hello, Hermione! Does this mean you're free?" said the blue-eyed witch with a large grin.
"Of course! Yes! In fact," Hermione glanced at the clock on the front desk, "Would you like to go out for a spot of lunch with me?"
Hermione had, yet again, been forgetting to eat.
"Oh! Well it's probably closer to supper time now isn't it? Shall we say a spot of lupper, then?"
Hermione snorted. She had missed Luna without even realizing it. And the witch was correct, it was already half three, and though Hermione had been working until past eight so far this week, she thought she might call it an early night today instead.
"Lupper it is," she said with a grin, "let me just go grab my things, I'll meet you at the lifts."
After retrieving her bag and letting her secretary know she was done for the day, all while enduring the massive wave of averted eyes across the room, Hermione met Luna at the lifts and then ventured down to the atrium and out the floos into wizarding London.
Luna selected their "lupper" spot, which was a small pub called The Jobberknoll. Hermione had never noticed the place before, as it was off the beaten path of Diagon Alley. She was, however, happy to be out of the way and free from prying (or averted, as it were) eyes. They sat together in a blue booth with an odd speckled pattern.
"It's made to look like Jobberknoll feathers, isn't that lovely?" said Luna, delightedly.
Hermione looked down, not really feeling one way or the other about the décor, but agreeing anyway.
With Luna, you often had to nod along rather than get into a sprawling conversation about magical beast facts, though Hermione imagined she would be treated to at least some of that today.
A waiter came by to hand them menus and both witches began perusing the fare.
"One of the reasons I love coming here is because they feature a drink that induces truth-telling. I'm sure you know the connection between Jobberknoll feathers and the potion…?"
"Veritaserum!"
Hermione knew that the name of the pub had sounded familiar. She hadn't done extensive research on magical creatures, having forgone Hagrid's class in her 5th year, but she'd brewed the potion a number of times.
Luna smiled gratefully. "You certainly are a clever witch, Hermione. It's a wonder you weren't in my house. Why do you think that was?"
Hermione thought for a moment, having pondered this topic many times before without ever voicing her thoughts.
"Well, I suppose any of us could have been placed in another house," Hermione said with a small smile, "the hat wanted to put Harry in Slytherin, and he's cunning and ambitious enough to have fit well there, for example."
"Mmm, yes, that's true. And most anyone would have placed Neville in Hufflepuff, with his astounding loyalty and patience."
Hermione lit up. "That's very true, Luna! I hadn't actually thought of that, but Neville is one of my most loyal friends, for sure."
"Still, I suppose bravery weaves us all together, what with the DA and all…"
Hermione thought back on their time at Hogwarts and her wan smile faded to a slight grimace.
"Oh dear, did that bring up a bad memory? I saw the light leave your eyes just then."
Hermione shook herself and plastered a smile on her face. "No it's fine, Luna I just… have been thinking a lot lately on what we've all lost… since then."
Luna cocked her head. "I hope you don't mind my saying so, but that seems an odd thing to focus on."
Hermione felt a familiar tinge of annoyance. It was something she'd grown used to, being around Luna. The girl tended to say the thing that struck a nerve without any intent to harm, which made it harder to hear because you really couldn't be mad at her for it, so instead you were left to be annoyed at yourself for whatever truth you'd picked up on in her words.
"Oh my, I've said the wrong thing again."
Hermione reached across the table and took Luna's hand. "No, no Luna, I promise you've said nothing wrong, I just… have a lot going on right now that you are none the wiser about. I shall fill you in in due course, but perhaps we should decide on our orders first."
Luna nodded, and when the waiter came back they both placed their orders.
After a bit of idle chit chat about Hermione's work at the ministry, their pumpkin juice was on the table; it had been a bit too early to start drinking.
"This is where Rolf and I first met, so I'm partial to coming back whenever I'm in Britain."
"Oh that's lovely, Luna, please tell me all about it. I would be so happy to talk about anything other than my own life at the moment."
Luna put down her spoon after only a few slurps of her plimpy soup and smiled wanly.
"Of course! I'd be delighted," she said, and then put a finger to her chin in a thinking pose, "Let's see, I'd just begun work at the ministry in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures after the year I took off to spend with Dad. We worked in the same offices, Rolf and I, though he was further along than I was of course, due not only to his name but his level of experience and passion."
Hermione grinned. It was so wonderful that Luna had met someone who was enthusiastic about the same things she was. A thought about how Ron never did fit that description floated into her mind, but she shooed it away and continued to listen to Luna's story.
"Funny enough, we didn't meet at the ministry. We'd both come here separately one Friday after work after hearing that The Jobberknoll was going to debut a series of cocktails containing truth serums, a variety of kinds, not just veritaserum. There are many less-potent varieties which don't have such brutal effects, but still sway a person to reveal what they otherwise might not, but you probably knew that. It all has to do with the manner I which the bird is treated prior to retrieving a feather. It was a topic which fascinated both of us. Anyway, we both tried a cocktail designed to have the drinker expose their deepest desires."
"Oh my! Speaking of Gryffindor courage, Luna, that takes some guts. And with a total stranger!"
Luna blushed. "Well, if I'm being honest, I did have my eye on him for a while before our serendipitous meeting here," she said quite quickly before taking a deep sip of her pumpkin juice.
"Luna Lovegood! What was that look in your eye I just saw?"
Luna shot her protuberant eyes up at Hermione as she sipped her drink and shook her head slightly.
"Hmm… If I didn't know any better, I'd accuse you of planning the whole thing!"
To Hermione's surprise, Luna blushed even deeper and let out a small giggle. "Well alright, you would be correct. I even had his secretary "accidentally" include a leaflet advertising the event with his mail a few days prior. When he added it to his calendar, she sent me a confirmation memo and that was that. But you can't tell him that if you should meet him! I'm saving the telling of that secret for our wedding night."
Hermione's jaw dropped and she looked down at Luna's hand to see if there was a ring.
"Oh we're not engaged yet. That won't happen for, mmm… about another year or so when he works up the courage."
"And did the hall of prophecy tell you that, Luna?" Hermione asked with a playful bite to her question, as was custom when faced with this particular witch and her wild beliefs.
She shrugged with a smile. "Just a sense I get."
Luna was also used to Hermione's characteristic skepticism, and never let it throw her, a trait Hermione loved about the witch. Thick skin. Always up to spar.
"I also think we'll have twins someday," she said, taking a sip of her drink but then stopping mid-sip to say, "boys."
"But how could you possibly know that, Luna?!"
"I don't know, Hermione, I think. I just choose to believe a lot of the things I think… to be truths," she leaned in to whisper, "I only pick the good ones though, otherwise I get into trouble." Then she smirked conspiratorially and picked her spoon back up after casting a re-warming charm on her Plimpy soup.
"How are you, Hermione? I noticed an awful lot of wrackspurts in your brain when I first saw you."
Hermione looked up, confused. "You weren't wearing Spectrespecs, Luna."
Merlin, what was she even saying! Wrackspurts didn't exist!
She shook away her usual reaction; she was enjoying Luna's company far too much to muck it up with her need for logic.
Luna, who had just taken a gulp of soup, widened her eyes and made to swallow quickly. "Oh but I haven't shown you!"
She reached into her bag, which was next to her on her seat, and pulled out a small purple case with two round compartments. Hermione recognized it as a muggle contact lens case.
"Daddy and I worked together to create these from a muggle technology called-"
"Contact lenses."
"Yes! It seems they take well to magical amplifications. Once the lens is applied, one need only tap their temple with their wand tip to cycle between options. Currently we only have Spectrespecs, but Daddy is in talks with the Auror office to include what muggles call "night vision," and who knows what else will be possible!"
"Luna that is… amazing."
She gave Hermione a sweet smile. "Thank you. Daddy is very pleased. While The Quibbler is doing well, it never was a cash cow, as the muggles say. So, this new venture into magical eyewear is quite exciting!" She took a few more spoonfuls of soup while Hermione returned to her salad.
She really wished she were one of those witches who could go through a breakup and then subsequently eat her feelings, but her logical mind had been winning that argument as well.
"Hermione," Luna said, questioningly, "you seem to have dodged my earlier inquiry."
Hermione's smile faded abruptly, but Luna did not falter.
"I heard about Ron, and the divorce."
Hermione's eyes filled with tears faster than she expected them to. Something about being in Luna's loving presence made her feel safe to let go. And she did. Suddenly, crying was all she could do. She'd been so distracted all weekend, and subsequently numb, that she hadn't really had a chance to mourn the end of her marriage properly.
After a while, she realized that Luna had moved to her side of the booth and was quietly holding her, arms wrapped fully around Hermione's shaking torso. Luna said nothing, but merely bore witness to Hermione's pain.
It was precisely what she needed.
As she cried over Ron, she added in the loss of her trio-friendship. Once the grief-crying began, it was sort of like a bonfire. You had to take advantage of the moment and get anything in there that needed to go.
She thought of Molly and Arthur, her surrogate family who she'd never be able to be with in the same way again.
She thought of her parents, of the time they'd spent in France having fun, laughing, being ridiculous. How they could never look upon her as their daughter ever again.
That thought naturally led her to Draco. What she had with him couldn't really be. There was no way to break the marriage promise. It settled over her like a dark cloud as she allowed tears and sobs to pour from her.
It was mostly rows and sex. Yet she missed him terribly. This seemed to mean something.
He wasn't just a distraction, she truly enjoyed being with him. He was sweet to her… attentive beyond reason. He'd made her feel alive again, after not realizing her spirit had been deadened for years.
On Saturday evening, she'd discovered a number of things they had in common. Things she had already known, but somehow hadn't connected the dots on; their shared love of reading being one of the highest on the list. And oh, how the man had a way with words, both spoken and written. That he could take her apart with a simple letter was a dizzying fact.
There was no lack of passion between them. She didn't think that would ever go away. She knew that so many couples said as much at the onset of a relationship, but with him she just could not imagine ever losing that spark. A spark she'd never truly had with Ron.
But she couldn't have him, not really, and the truth of it shot through her like ice.
Suddenly she realized that she'd been mumbling a lot of this out loud. She gasped and looked up at Luna who simply smiled kindly at her and offered a handkerchief from her pocket.
"Thanks," she sputtered, taking it and beginning to wipe her face while saying, "L- Luna, I'm not sure what you just heard me say, but-"
"It's alright, Hermione," Luna said with a smile, "Ginny filled me in this morning, but swore me to secrecy unless you brought any of it up first."
Hermione looked like she's just been stunned. "So you- you know."
Luna nodded serenely. "Mmm hmm."
Hermione took a long deep breath and closed her eyes. "Oh thank Merlin, I don't think I could bear retelling it."
Luna giggled. "That's what Ginny thought. I must say, Hermione, I've been waiting for the day when he'd come back and you two would realize your connection."
"You what?!"
"Oh I saw it back in school. The way he was always so focused on you, even and especially when you weren't looking. It wasn't hatred, more like captivation. Being mean-spirited towards you was just something of a habit he'd developed, probably to keep from outright throwing himself at you, given his pureblood upbringing and all. His Father would certainly have heard about it if he had, don't you think?" Luna smirked wickedly, far too proud of what she'd just said.
"Luna what in the world are you-"
"He studied you. I think you were his favorite subject and he would have received an Outstanding on all exams!"
Hermione stared at her, unblinking and entirely thunderstruck.
"You look so surprised! Maybe you don't belong in my house after all, Hermione. Wisdom doesn't exclusively involve books, you know. Why, Professor Trelawney herself was a Ravenclaw, did you know that?"
Hermione, in fact, did not know that, but she couldn't be bothered with trivia at the moment.
Her brain had stopped working now. What was this wacky witch talking about? Draco had loathed her, plain and simple. He'd insulted everything about her, including her appearance. Sure, he'd suddenly seemed to find her attractive now, but she had quite grown into her looks, as had he.
When he was young, he'd spent a seemingly inordinate amount of time finding ways to terrorized she, Harry, and Ron… but that was just because of his dislike for Harry.
"You can disagree with me, but it won't change the fact that I'm right. Draco has been in love with you for a very long time, I'm afraid. Only he doesn't know it."
"In- in love? With me?!"
"Mmm hmm," Luna said, nodding, "only, like I said… he's none the wiser. I'm afraid the poor bloke thinks himself incapable of love. Such a shame he didn't grow up in a different setting, I expect he would have been quite wonderful to be in school with. I bet you two would have been close friends from the start. You're both so competitive about academics, yet so respectful of other brilliant minds… in your own ways."
The waiter came to the table to see if they would need anything else.
"I think we require some stronger drinks, pumpkin juice isn't going to suffice for this conversation," Luna said, selecting two cocktails from the menu. "Don't worry, I didn't pick any of the truth-telling ones, I don't think we'll need them as we're both already being rather forthcoming, with the exclusion of your understandable denial of course."
Hermione bristled at this while Luna hummed happily to herself.
When their drinks arrived, Luna leaned in with a level of presence and intention that startled Hermione. Her friend's typical demeanor was that of a schoolgirl wandering through the posies on her way home, so to see the fire in her eyes now was quite an odd occurrence.
"Hermione, I didn't want to alarm you when I first appeared so I've been waiting to reveal the true intention of my visit to see you."
"O-kay, you're scaring me a bit, Luna."
"Oh no need to be frightened, at least I don't think, I just have some information for you that I think you may be missing. You see, when Ginny told me about the marriage promise, I noticed that she didn't mention the path to breaking it, wholly and completely. I didn't share it with her, because I didn't know if you'd want everyone to know…"
"Ginny, there are only three loopholes to a marriage promise, and even when the circumstances do align, one of more of the parents need to enact the severing of the contract. It's how Astoria's Father got her out of the promise the first time around."
"Yes Hermione, I can see you've done your book research. To be honest, I'm shocked that both Ginny and Neville didn't know what I'm about to tell you, having been raised in pureblood families. Then again, oral traditions do tend to get twisted…"
"Lune will you please tell me whatever you're on about?!"
"Yes, sorry! True love."
Hermione stared at her, waiting for Luna to say more.
"True love?"
Luna nodded once, as if that put paid to it. Hermione motioned with her hand for Luna to continue.
"Oh! Right. Well… true love is the way to dissolve a marriage promise. It's not a loophole, it's a much more powerful force. It would require no-one's consent, but it would have to be mutual, with you and Draco both sharing the same feelings and expressing it in some way. Meaning it's not always enough to say the words. It's not even enough, I believe, for Draco to have loved you most of his life if he can't see that for himself, he'd have to see it, accept it. And like I said, it would have to be mutual."
Hermione was reeling from this information; it could not possibly be true.
"But Luna… you don't know-"
"Hermione Granger!" Luna shouted suddenly, banging her fist on the table, "you listen to me, this is not a matter of cold hard fact, but one of oral folklore which has its roots in something stronger than research and academia. That's why you haven't found it in all of your BOOKS!"
Stunned, Hermione had shot back in her seat, pinning herself against the blue speckled booth seat. It was so jarring to see Luna Lovegood enraged.
"Oh- okay Luna, I'm sorry, I'm listening."
Luna shook herself slightly. She had leaned forward, her face flushed and her face set, but she loosened her features and sat back casually.
"My point is… if you are interested in getting Draco out of his mess… I think you stand a chance at it."
Hermione still could not get on board with much of anything Luna had just told her, but she found that she wasn't 100% averse to it. There seemed to be at least a tiny glimmer of truth to what Luna was saying. She'd read a lot about the power of love in the magical world. She'd studied it profusely once she'd learned about Lily Potter's magical protection of her son. Ancient branches of magic were so fascinating, and little had been written about them, so she'd taken great pride in being that close to the subject of a protection charm based solely upon love and sacrifice.
Professor Snape, too, had been turned from the darkness due to his love of Lily. He'd even sacrificed his life protecting her son, who looked so much like James, a man he loathed.
Then she remembered something Neville had said.
"Luna… I just remembered… Neville actually mentioned something about this to me."
Luna did not look surprised, but relieved. "I thought he must know! Did you merely refuse to listen?"
Hermione thought back with some difficulty. What had Neville said?
"It's difficult to recall, but I believe he said that a marriage promise can't get in the way of true love."
"And he would be correct!" Luna said, with a flourish of her arm, and then took another sip of her cocktail.
"Yes but then he began prattling on about muggle romance novels in an effort to give me examples, he didn't exactly spell it out for me the way you just did!"
"Ah… then perhaps he doesn't know the full implications, but just heard the axiom growing up. Still, he's correct! Merlin, I'm glad I stopped home in my travels, Hermione."
"Yes, it appears I've needed you desperately all this time without knowing it."
Luna wiggled her eyebrows and said, "Much like your young Mr. Malfoy has needed you."
"Luna!"
Luna shrugged, "I'm just saying, you two are soulmates. Look how circumstance has conspired to bring you together! How extraordinary that the very vineyard you chose to visit was the one in which he was taking refuge. The room you chose to escape your ex-husband the same one he was, again, taking refuge in. Don't you see, Hermione? You ARE his refuge! You bear the soul that will save his! It's always been this way, I am sure of it. Loving you has, and always will be, the polar opposite of what the darkness would have him choose. You are his salvation."
Hermione listened to this speech, a single tear falling down her cheek at Luna's final words. When she spoke, it was almost in a whisper.
"But Luna, he will be married in less than three weeks, I- I can't possibly both fall in love with him and have him realize his apparent love for me in that amount of time."
"Well, Hermione… you don't know that."
A/N: Changing my posting schedule to Tuesdays and Fridays – make sure to follow so you don't miss updates.
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