Draco had been avoiding Luna.
He didn't like how she made him feel. She made him question what was really important and his motives for his actions. At the beginning of the year it had been so simple. Voldemort had given him his mission and he could honestly say he was excited. His father had spent many an hour proclaiming how much better it was to work for voldmort than it was to work for the ministry. Of course it was only the kind of talk that went on behind closed doors but it had impacted the impressionable mind of a young Draco. He was brought up with the image of Voldemort being the saviour of the purebloods who would cleanse the wizarding world of those who had infiltrated it and made it dirty. Voldemort was the superhero in all of Draco's bedtime stories.
And he had chosen Draco. Out of all his followers, he had chosen Draco to take on such an important mission. Of course, people didn't think he could do it but Draco was going to prove them wrong. Even his own mother who for his entire life had worshipped the ground Draco stood on and told him he could achieve anything, had gone snivelling to Snape for help.
Yes, at the start of the year the only thought on Draco's mind was to prove them wrong. For once, someone had noticed him and after so many years of constantly being told he was not good enough, he had seized the opportunity to show everyone otherwise.
But it was no longer the beginning of the year and it was no longer simple.
Because no matter what he wanted to prove, Draco was not a killer.
The shiny covering had come down and the reality of what he had to do had set in. There were times when Draco really believed he could do it and then moments when sheer desperation set in and he tried an alternative. The necklace and wine had failed and Dumbledore was away so much Draco had one option left. He would have to kill Dumbledore face to face.
And just when Draco was coming to terms with what he was sure was his fate, Luna had appeared, telling him that there was probably a way out if he could find it.
Draco had escaped his guilt for so long by telling himself he had no option. If Dumbledore lived, Voldemort would kill his whole family. But Luna had reminded him that there were always choices to be made. He didn't have to kill Dumbledore but he was too much of a coward to sacrifice himself willingly. Luna was his conscience and death-eaters were not meant to have consciences.
He had got nowhere with the vanishing cabinet. Four days of distracting himself from his emotions had proved fruitless. Now, when the time came, there was still no passage between Hogwarts and the outside world.
It was Thursday and the weather was dismal. Draco had been woken up by the rain battering the ground above the Slytherin dungeon. He was the only Slytherin who had stayed and there was an eerie silence around the common room. Those of age and with permission were allowed to go to Hogsmeade later today and Draco had no doubt that Luna would be going.
Sure enough, obviously fed up of him avoiding her, Luna appeared outside the door to the Slytherin dungeon. She had the Easter edition of the quibbler held up in front of her face.
'Hogsmeade is quite quaint, don't you think? It'll be a shame if it ever changes.'
Draco snatched the Quibbler out of the Ravenclaw's hand.
'You are the most irritatingly persistent person I have ever had the displeasure to meet, Loony. And this,' He gestured with the crumpled magazine. 'Is pathetic, useless drivel.' He dropped the magazine on the floor.
'You can be cruel, Draco.' Luna crouched down to pick it up. 'I don't think you want to be...' she stood up, looking over her shoulder at Draco who had begun to move away.
'But people are unkind and it makes you bitter, doesn't it?'
She was being deliberately vague but at her words, faces that still scared Draco now crawled to the front of his mind. He turned round to face Luna, so close, their noses were almost touching.
'The world thinks I'm cruel, Loony. I see no need to prove them wrong.'
The altercation had almost made Luna forget her real purpose for lurking in the corridor at this time of the morning.
'The Three Broomsticks, one O clock.'
'Enjoy wasting an afternoon on being stood up, do you?'
Luna's eyes earnestly met Draco's.
'I'll wait for you.'
'Well I hope you enjoy humiliation.'
Luna smiled. 'I don't enjoy it, but I can bear it. I find hope is a much stronger emotion.'
'There's no hope, Lovegood. Only fools hope because in the end, it amounts to disappointment.'
Luna walked past Draco, towards breakfast, answering just as she went through the door.
'I am a fool then, but I will wait.'
And wait, she did.
Only one exam left to go and then I have freedom! Thank you to everyone for being patient and as always, reviews are appreciated!
