Chapter 2

"Draco, you look terrible!"

Draco's silver eyes might Pansy's with a glare at her observational comment.

"Aren't you a treat," Draco murmured, pushing past her towards the portrait hole to go to breakfast. Pansy ran after him, and Draco outwardly groaned with annoyance.

"Why do you look so rough, Draco?" she asked.

"I've been having... quite intense dreams," Draco replied, knowing if he didn't tell her she'd just nag.

"EWW!"

"Not that kind!" Draco snapped. "They're just bad dreams. And very unwanted bad dreams."

"Oh... what about?"

"Never you mind."

"N'awwh, you ruin all my fun," Pansy moaned, crossing her arms. Draco rolled his eyes at how much of a little girl she was. He couldn't exactly say, 'Oh, just my general fear of the Dark Lord, nothing too snazzy.'

"By the way, where were you yesterday Draco? After lunch, I couldn't find you anywhere! We thought you'd gotten whisked away into the forest or something!"

"I had a detention. Didn't I say?" Draco replied, trying to make Pansy out to be the fool, not himself.

"Um... oh yeah, I think I remember you saying something about that," she said. Draco smirked, knowing that he hadn't actually said anything.

His smirk was immediately wiped off his face as he saw Luna skip round the corner. Yes, skip. He heard a vindictive chuckle from Pansy, but he had become quite paranoid; if Luna unknowingly said something, it could potentially ruin his reputation. As she got closer, Pansy's chuckles got louder, but Draco was sure there was a sweat breaking by his temple. However, she simply offered him a small smile, not even stopping or saying anything. He almost sighed of relief, but Pansy seemed outraged.

"Did... did she just smile at you?" She asked, her tone suggesting something more like she'd spat in his face.

"I don't know Pans, I didn't see," Draco lied, smirking again. Pansy's jaw was almost on the floor with outrage.

"You might wanna close your mouth Pansy, in case someone trips and falls in. We'd never see them again," Draco sneered. Pansy glared at him, but he noticed she had shut her mouth, and she walked ahead in a strop. Draco laughed at her childishness, enjoying how easy she was to wind up.

"Can any of you tell me, what this is?" Hagrid asked, taking the cloth off of one of the two cages to reveal a hairy, small creature which almost resembled a minute human form, only it had an extra pair of arms and legs, and two thick, beetle-like wings. Draco was quite confused by it.

"It's a doxy!" an excited Hufflepuff answered, her face full of glee.

"Well done, Rosie! Yer right; this here is a doxy. Not to be mistaken for a fairy!"

"How could you mistake it for a fairy?" Draco blurted out. "It's covered in thick black hair, for one thing."

"Trust me, people see its wings and small human-like figure, and they immediately think it's some sort of fairy. But you would not wanna get the two mixed up – yer see, the fairy is really quite harmless, but you threaten the doxy? It's got 2 sets of sharp venomous teeth, and if you get bitten by one of them, you'd best get help," Hagrid chuckled. Draco looked away, vowing from now on to keep his mouth firmly shut.

"Speaking of fairies... ta-da!" Hargrid grinned, revealing the creature in the other cage was indeed a fairy.

"Oooh, a fairy!" Luna said, as if it wasn't already obvious. Draco couldn't help but laugh to himself at her amazement.

"In the muggle world, fairies are believed to be friendly, fairy-tale beings that can talk in human languages." Some of the students laughed, but Draco didn't know why, not really knowing anything about them at all. "Although this isn't true, they're very proud... actually, they're more vain than anythin'. And are called upon for decorative purposes. They like ter show off, ya see. Oh, and they communicate using a high pitched buzzing noise, they can't understand what we're saying. And err... they're a little bit dumb, if I do say so myself."

Several of the others laughed again, but Draco still failed to see what was so funny. Hagrid smiled down at them all.

"I'm gonna set you a little task today, nothing too dangerous, mind. I want you to get into pairs, and search for food for our little humanoid friends. You have ten minutes, off you go!"

As soon as Hagrid had said the word 'pairs', gloom loomed over Draco's head. However, to his surprise, Luna approached him, wearing the patient smile she had the first time they'd exchanged words.

"I'll be your partner for this task, if that's alright with you?" Luna asked politely. Draco still wasn't used to the niceness he was being shown, but tried his best not to show his shock.

"Yeah, sure," he agreed, walking into the woods like the others. Luna walked happily alongside him with a spring in her step, another thing Draco wasn't used to. The kindness was so alien to him; he wasn't really sure how to react.

"So what made you decide to take up this class?" Luna asked, the tone in her voice sounding genuinely interested.

"I didn't decide," Draco replied grudgingly. "They made me because of what I did to that thestral thing."

"Oh yes, I'd heard about that," Luna said. Her voice was so light, Draco might've been talking about a festival or something. "But you don't have to worry, I think the thestral will be alright now."

"Um... yeah..." Draco said, not wanting to dampen her spirit by telling her he didn't care. Although usually he wouldn't hesitate to be mean to someone, Luna was the only person who was actually being nice to him; he'd be stupid to turn her away.

"What do you think we should pick for the doxy and the fairy?" She asked.

"Um... some sort of berry, I guess," Draco replied vaguely, his lack of knowledge on magical creatures probably shining through.

"Berries are a good idea," Luna agreed. "I wonder what kind though. There are lots of different berries. Strawberries, neon-berries... oooh! Perhaps we should get them dewberries!"

"What?" Draco asked, his knowledge on berries just as good as what he knew of animals.

"Dewberries... Fairies in particular are found widely in woodlands and glades you see, and dewberries would be one of the only few things they could find to eat. It's like a hero to them, only, this kind of hero is edible and found on bushes."

Draco was astounded by how Luna could say all this like it was a normal thing. "I guess that makes sense," Draco said, feeling really stupid.

"I'm glad you agree," Luna smiled. "They're not too hard to find either, they're usually all over the place... ah, I think I see some over there!"

She skipped away towards a clump of bushes, and Draco obediently followed her. She stood by them for a moment, examining them, before picking one off and eating it.

"Dewberry," she nodded, smiling at Draco. He smiled briefly back, before he began to pick some off the bush.

"Are those for yourself?" Luna asked.

"No... they're for the... the fairy," Draco replied dumbly. Luna smiled.

"They're proud creatures, so you can't offer it to them by hand, and you can't pick them. You've got to use magic, so they remain untouched, you see?" Luna said. Draco frowned at the stubbornness of fairies, but nodded, dropping the berries he had touched to the floor.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Luna said softly, levitating a couple of berries off the bush. Draco took his own wand out and did the same, though mastering the art of silent incantations didn't need to speak.

"I've always admired people that can do spells silently," Luna said as the turned back. Draco wasn't sure if this was a compliment aimed at him or if she was talking in general. "I've never really liked doing it myself."

"Can come in handy though," Draco pointed out, staring at the berries he had floating ahead of him.

"I suppose so," Luna smiled. They walked the rest of the way in silence; a silence which Draco expected to be uncomfortable but something about Luna made it not so. When they got back, they were the only ones, and Hagrid smiled broadly at their findings.

"Go on, then! Be careful of the doxy though, no fingers in the cage, now," Hagrid warned.

"Which one would you like to give your berries to, Draco?" Luna asked kindly.

"Err... I don't mind," Draco said, although really he just hadn't put any thought into it.

"Then if it's alright with you, I'll go to the doxy. I find them much nicer than the fairies."

"Even with the venom?" Draco asked.

"They're not fierce; they'll only bite if necessary." Luna smiled again, before levitating her own berries into the doxy cage. The doxy ate them hungrily, and Draco was slightly weirded out.

"Your turn, Draco!" Luna said melodically. Draco levitated the berries into the fairy's cage. The fairy, who took the small form of a young girl, approached the berries quite cautiously before accepting them. Draco turned his back on it, not really caring all that much.

"Well done, Draco," Luna said. "I think we did a good job!"

"That yer did!" Hagrid agreed. "10 points to Ravenclaw! And Slytherin!" He said, a little shocked that he was actually dealing points out to Draco's house. Luna sighed happily, and Draco smiled a little bit; looking at her, he acknowledged that although she definitely lived up to her reputation as weird, she was also quite a clever person. And definitely not a person he minded being around.