Chapter 48

Sleeping Beauty

Draco knocked lightly on the door to his father's study and was greeted with a call of "enter." He walked into the room which, in spite of its dark deco was in fact rather cosy today with the fire roaring in the grate and the large red velvet curtains drawn against the darkness of the evening sky.

"You wanted to see me, father?" Draco asked.

"Ah, Draco," Lucius smiled. "Welcome home. I trust you had a good journey?"

"Same as always," Draco said, plopping himself down in the upholstered chair that sat opposite his father.

"And Luna, is she well?" Lucius folded up the peice of parchment he was reading and placed it on the little round table to his left.

"Yes, she's fine. She's gone up to rest before dinner."

"Good, good." Lucius nodded, sitting back comfortably in his chair. "How is everything at school? I take it Severus is doing a good job?"

"School's fine," Draco said, wondering what the point was to all this small talk. "I don't see all that much of Snape."

"Hum," Lucius brushed a stray strand of hair off his cheek. "That doesn't mean he has no idea what is going on in his own school. Snape knows more about what goes on at Hogwarts than you think he does."

Draco shifted in his seat. "So what's your point?"

"My point is, that I know about your altercation with the Nott boy. Why didn't I hear it from you, and what the hell was it all about?" Lucius demanded. "Do you know how humiliating it was to learn about this from Snape! To have to stand there and pretend that I knew all about it, that I knew you had good reason for doing what you did, when in fact I have no more idea than the man in the moon!"

"I had good reason," Draco snapped irritably. He detested being treated like a child and he felt that his father was reverting to form and doing just that.

"Explain yourself then."

"I had good reason," Draco reiterated carefully, his mind wandering back to Luna, to how distraught and distressed she had been. His Luna, his girl had been hurt and there was no way he could have just stood idly by and done nothing or gone running to his father to sort it out. He had, for once in his life stood up and done something off his own back, and Draco didn't feel, then or now, that he needed to apologise for it. "But I won't tell you what it was."

Lucius was stunned. "You won't?"

"No. It's private." Draco couldn't bear for his father to know, for anyone to know how badly he had let Luna down, how he hadn't been there to protect her. Besides, he also had the distinct feeling that Luna wouldn't want everyone knowing about her business either.

Lucius was silent, surveying his son whose face was closed, just as Lucius himself had taught him. Draco looked older to him, but still his jaw was set in a defiant line the way it used to do when he was a child. It was startling for Lucius to realise that his son was, albeit slowly, growing up and becoming a man and he would have to take a back seat from now on unless Draco requested his help. Lucius was never one to back down or to relinquish control unless absolutely forced to do so, and he figured that still, for the time being, he could help Draco from the background while giving off the impression that he was standing on the sidelines. Draco couldn't yet see through him, of that Lucius was sure.

Reaching out, Lucius plucked his glass of brandy off the table and took a small sip, feeling it burn the back of his throat as it went down. He never took his eyes off his son, examining him carefully, noticing the tightness around Draco's eyes and the way his fingers clutched at the arm of the chair so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Draco's grey eyes focused on the tip of his father's nose, he wouldn't meet his eyes, he couldn't; afraid that his father would see the truth in his eyes; see what could have happened to Luna because he wasn't the there to help her.

Lucius had a world of experience with people, he had learnt from a young age how to read them, how to find their weaknesses and the exploit that weakness for his own gain; and Lucius knew his son back to front and inside out. He knew that Draco was hiding something and that something was eating him up with guilt.

"Is that all?" Draco finally asked.

"No, there's just one more thing. Ollivander is being kept here, a prisoner of the Dark Lord."

"Yeah, Bellatrix mentioned it."

"Oh she did?" Lucius put his glass back on the table. "It's probably best not to mention this to Luna. After all, she doesn't feel the same way about the Dark Lord as we do," he waved a dismissive hand towards Draco who looked completely shocked by his father's words. "Oh I know about Luna's misguided loyalties towards Potter, but I also know that she won't do anything that puts you at risk so she'll be descrete about it."

Draco nodded in response, thinking that it wasn't just Snape who knew more about what went on around him than people thought he did.

"I'm not sure as to why he's here, Ollivander I mean," Lucius continued, "but Rabasta and Rodolphus have been keeping him company. The Dark Lord will be arriving shortly, probably to see Ollivander, but there may be orders issued. You should be aware, Draco, that you may be given some sort of task to perform. I understand that you have been doing well in keeping the students in line and that may be suficient. But, you never know and I want you to be prepared."

"I will be," Draco replied, knowing full well that he would never be preapred for the kind of tasks the Dark Lord liked to ask him to perform. "Is that all?" he asked when it became apparent that his father didn't intend to speak again.

"Yes, for now. I'll see you at dinner in an hour or so."

"Alright," Draco got up and left the room quickly, his heart hammering against his breast-bone and a cold sweat breaking out over his back. He didn't want to do anything for the Dark Lord, he wanted to return to Hogwarts and stay there were it was safe, where Luna would be safe. If the Dark Lord entered her mind, if he saw what she really thought about him, about his ideals Draco didn't even want to think about what could happen to her.

He picked up his pace as he walked along the corrider until he almost ran up the stairs towards his bedroom. He needed to see Luna. He hurried to his room, throwing open the door, he noticed that the curtains were closed and his eyes searched the dimness of the room for Luna.

Luna was lying out on the bed, her eyes closed, her chest rising and falling gently as she slept. Draco crept to the bed and stood looking down at her. Her blonde hair fell around her face like a cloud and her face was still, tranquil in sleep. Her one hand lay palm up beside her head and her other rested lightly, protectively across her stomach.

Kicking off his shoes and stripping down to his underwear, Draco joined Luna on the bed propping himself on his elbow beside her where he could watch her. He gazed down into her face, such a sweet, freshly pretty face that had never looked at him crossly, or angrily since he had known her. Lightly he touched the tip of his finger to her cheek, stroking the soft flesh tenderly, tracing along her lips, his own lips twisting into a smile as her nose wrinkled.

His own actions saddened him because he knew he would only be his open and honest with Luna while she was asleep and unaware of it. He didn't know how to be the person she was looking for, the man who would share every part of himself with her the way she did with him. Maybe in time he would learn how to give Luna everything she wanted from him, but for now, he just had to be glad that she happily took what he could give, which, he knew, wasn't much. Luna never seemed to hold it against him though, she just understood him, which sort of made it worse when he thought about it too much, like she was giving him something extra that he wasn't giving her.

The more he thought about it, the more his head started to hurt. Draco sighed quietly and settled himself down more comfortably beside her, his hand slipping into hers, engulfing it completely.

Luna didn't stir, but her small fingers curled over his, holding on lightly giving him room to retract his hand if he wanted to. Draco's brow furrowed as he looked at their entwined hands. Even in sleep Luna was trying not to hold him too tightly, willing to give him some wiggle room to retreat if he felt overwhemled and once again Draco felt guilty.

Rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand he smiled softly. It amazed him that Luna could love the way that she did, that she didn't demand that love was returned but was willing to wait until he was able to do it himself, of his own free will. Luna was strong, much stronger than he had ever thought she could be and she loved him completely. She was his, not because marriage made her his or because he demanded total devotion from her, but because she wanted to be his, she wanted to belong to him.

"I won't hurt you," Draco whispered quietly. "Won't let anything hurt you. I... I care about you." He sighed softly and squeezed her hand, closing his own eyes and hoping he could drift away just for an hour or two, he suddenly felt weary to the bone.

Luna's lips twitched into a smile.