∞ Thirty-Five ∞
"Peculiar…" Luna hummed to herself as she looked around. It was clear her present location was not in awaking world but was instead more than likely a dream. She blinked a few times trapped her tongue between her lips with a deep breath through her nose.
She'd realized that the slumber she had fallen into wasn't natural. She wasn't particularly certain the cause but she was more than aware that she did not simply fall into sleep without being cognizant on a level of what was happening. She ran her fingers across the back of a softly upholstered sofa and tipped her head in thought. Her hair was loose about her shoulders and swayed with the motion and she felt behind her ear only to find her wand was nowhere to be found.
Okay, if she was in a dream then that wasn't necessarily a big deal. She should be able to draw on her own internal wishes to change the dream if things began to go awry. She hoped Severus wouldn't be too worried for her when she didn't wake up in the morning, however. It was clear to Luna that her concept of time would be majorly skewed, that was a fact in almost every dream she'd ever had.
"Wonderful of you to join me, Ms. Lovegood." An unfamiliar voice drawled. It was deep and she was almost certain she detected a light Russian accent. Not enough to skew his words or make them unintelligible, just enough to give away that English was not his first language.
She could feel the darkness rolling off of him in waves, unsettling. Her turn was slow, a tight motion that would have been reminiscent of a pirouette if both her feet had not been firmly planted on the ground. Silvery eyes met a pair of glowing red as she came face to face for the first time with the visage of Tom Riddle's son.
"I'm afraid I didn't have much choice." She sighed melodically and swayed gracefully around the dark sofa to settle herself on the cushion furthest from him. His eyes never left her and when she looked down she realized she was wearing a white gown that looked remarkably like the costume she'd worn to the Malfoy party. "How did you manage it, by the way?" She tipped her head curiously and a sly smile drifted across the young man's face.
She could sense it in him, the influence of Riddle's soul, tainting any goodness that lingered in him. It left him a cocky sort that stared at her with a haughty sort of arrogance. He sported deep, blood red eyes that seemed almost to glow and his father's porcelain complexion. He was a very attractive young man, fascinatingly perfect bone-structure that bordered just so between delicately feminine and strongly masculine. High cheekbones, aristocratic nose, delicate brow, soft swoops of perfectly unruly hair. He was lean she could tell even as he leant back in his seat and crossed one long leg over the other.
He reminded her of Severus in a way, his elegant movements and long limbs. He lacked the true grace that her future husband possessed however- she had the feeling it was stifled by age and lack of experience.
"I had a friend slip a potion into your drink. It was a complicated process, considering you spent the entirety of your evening with a Potions Master but we were successful in our venture, clearly. I need to speak with you, Seer." She furrowed her brow and gave a soft nod. She didn't feel as if she were in any immediate danger but at the same time she was hard pressed to trust someone who called her 'Seer' alone. She knew this was his way of assigning her no value as a person but instead he, just as his father had, viewed her as her gift. He would consider her a thing just as so many other Seers before her had been considered an object- something to be kept and used at the person's leisure.
"My name is Luna." She asserted calmly as her eyes wandered the room once more in her usual fashion. There were books lining every wall and the setting was one of warm familiarity. The furnishing were lush and richly colored and there was a soft rug on the floor beneath her bare feet. This was someone's library, or sitting room.
"Your reputation for being flighty proceeds you." Her head snapped back so her eyes could lock on the pale wizard and he smirked. The firelight caught a glint of his white teeth and she took another deep breath through her nose.
"What is it you want to speak with me about? And when will I wake up?" She cut to the point, uninterested in engaging the young man. His red eyes flashed and she felt her heartrate pick up. A spike of fear. It was rare she felt anything so intense on the dream scape and it made her all the more nervous. She was obviously not entirely in control of this dream.
She imagined Severus lying beside her in his bed, his arm hooked over her waist and his breath stirring her hair. She imagined his warmth and fiercely protective nature and smiled to herself. It soothed her fears just to know he was with her in body, even if he couldn't be with her in mind at the moment.
The idea came to her all at once, if she could reach out to him she may be able to draw him into the dream with her. He was after all a skilled legilimens. Her brow furrowed.
"What are you thinking, Seer?" That deep voice hissed and she turned her gaze back to him, not having realized her eyes had begun to wander in her thought process. An advantage of everyone thinking she was simply a flighty little girl with no real intelligence. As if her place in Ravenclaw was simply a fluke.
"I was wondering if Wrackspurts were about, you seem to be forgetting my name." She smiled airily and focused hard internally. Reaching out when one was in sleep was difficult but it was more easily achieved by Seers and those adept at certain forms of mental magic. She worried momentarily that his use of Occlumency would keep her from reaching him but she found his magical signature easily and smiled to herself.
Riddle III was saying something to her but she wasn't really listening to him and she could tell he was growing frustration. His frustration peeked when the familiar visage of Severus Snape was tugged into the room and he let out a low growl.
"What in the bloody hell is the meaning of this?" He all but snarled before Luna turned to face him and his eyes locked with hers. She smiled softly at him, the one who drew her there cursed under his breath.
"I should have known you would be up to something." His irritation made his accent thicken and Luna turned wide eyes to him as Severus rounded the sofa and immediately snatched her from her seat and wrapped her in his arms. His posture was defensive and his deep eyes were dark on the young man. "Sleeping with a Slytherin has obviously had its benefits for you." He hissed, Luna cocked an eyebrow and shrugged as well as she could with Severus' tall figure wrapped around her.
"Do not speak to her in this way. What is going on here?" His velvet voice demanded imperiously and Luna placed one of her smaller hands over his around her waist.
"He wanted to speak with me, I thought you would rather be here than find out what happened after the fact." Long slender fingers caressed her hip bone as he drew her back further, though she wasn't sure how it was possible.
"And what, pray tell, do you wish to talk about, Riddle?" His dangerous tone did not escape her notice and she snuggled back into him, comforted by his presence more so than she'd been by the thought of him.
"This was meant to be a private conversation, Snape." The young Riddle hissed, red eyes flashing again before he fixed his gaze on Luna. Her silvery eyes were wide and aware of every little tick of his face as he stared her down. "I will remember this."
"You had my father killed." Her own tone was dark as she stared him down and Severus pressed his lips to her temple. She could hear him take a deep breath of the scent of her hair, she knew he favored her hair down but it was hardly the time for her to be getting lost in him.
"You cannot prove it."
Her brow furrowed, "I don't need to, the Ministry is already after you."
"Ah, that brings us to the topic I wanted to discuss." He stood and she was unsurprised that he was just shy of Severus' height, towering. "I want you to stop helping them, or there will be consequences."