House: Slytherin

Position: Year 4

Category: Additional

Prompt: Seeing something in a crystal ball

Word Count: 1127

Warning: a little swearing

oO0Oo

Draco had known that when he'd turned seventeen, he would be taken to a Seer and have his future read. That was normal for men of his station. What he hadn't expected, however, was for that Seer to peer into a crystal ball and then proclaim in an oddly deep voice, with her eyes rolling to the back of her head, "You shall marry the daughter of the man of the castle on the hill, and to earn her hand, you must first set her free, because as the moon waxes and wanes in the sky, so must she be free to shine as she pleases. In her freedom, so shall you find yours."

When she finished speaking, she collapsed. Before he'd even fully gotten over his shock, Draco had snatched the crystal ball from the Seer's grasp and looked into it. Inside, he saw nothing but smoke, but later, when he told his father about the Seer's strange episode, his father had seemed pensive. "I have heard true prophecies were told in such a manner... " he had drawled. "You would do well to heed it, Draco."

Draco had nodded, still not entirely sure what the prophecy meant, but grateful his father had not asked him to divulge it. Traditionally, such things were private, but with the Dark Lord living in their manor, nothing was as it ought to be. There were often Death Eaters prowling the halls, and Draco felt as though his every move were watched, especially since he had failed to kill Dumbledore. He certainly felt trapped, and at times he wished to meet the girl in the prophecy, so that he could finally be free.

Yet it wasn't until Travers and Selwyn came back talking about Xenophilius Lovegood's bloody house which was shaped like a rook and carrying a thin slip of a girl — Luna Lovegood — that Draco began to consider the prophecy more seriously.

A rook was another term for a castle, and if he remembered correctly, Lovegood lived near the Weasleys, and that area was very hilly. And she was a prisoner in the Manor. If Luna Lovegood was to be his wife, he was the butt of a massive joke. Hopefully she wasn't… but there was only one way to find out.

One day, after gathering his courage, Draco stepped into the basement. It was dark down there, but after casting a quiet lumos, he found Luna, Ollivander, Griphook, and Dean Thomas. All four of them were chained to a metal grate in the middle of the room, and all four of them seemed thin and wane.

"Luna?" Draco said softly, moving closer to the only figure with long, dirty blonde hair.

"Get away from her, you fucker!" Dean Thomas spat, struggling to his feet to glare at Draco. "Don't you put one finger on her, you bloody Death Eater!"

Draco glared back at him. "I'm not going to hurt her. I brought her food and blankets. I just have a question for her."

"Just a question," Dean scoffed. "She doesn't know where Potter is, so bloody well leave her alone, Malfoy."

Draco scowled. "I'm not asking about Potter." Using his wand, he directed the blanket to wrap itself around Luna's shoulders, then cast a Warming charm on it. She looked like she needed it.

"Thanks, Draco," she said, looking up at him.

"I have to ask you something, and it's going to sound weird, but would you please answer truthfully?" She nodded, and Draco took a deep breath before saying, "Did you live on a hill?"

Oddly enough, she paused before answering. "I did live on a hill," she murmured. "So it is you. I'd thought it'd be you."

Draco's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" If she had known — but how could she have known? — what did that mean for him? And she was his wife — her name meant moon, and women with their infernal mood swings certainly 'waxed and waned' — what was he to do now? And how could she set him free?

Luna interrupted his thoughts. "I can't tell you yet… but the truth will set you free."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the weeks passed, he thought more and more upon what she had said. She had seemed far too certain in her speech to be descending into her inane mumblings as she sometimes did… so she had known he would come? She had been waiting for him? She could set him free, if he only gave her the chance… it sounded too similar to the prophecy for comfort, and so he tried his best to put the matter from his mind, and instead focus on finding Potter and dominating the school.

Yet, when he came back on those rare weekends that the Dark Lord allowed him to — Draco was sure it had something to do with reminding his parents just what they would lose if they disobeyed — he would remember Luna, and be plunged by guilt and grief and indecision once again.

Then, finally, after torturing a Slytherin first year for speaking out of turn (which Alecto had said was permissible because the boy was only a half-blood), Draco had snapped. That night, he had gathered his most important belongings and slunk through the halls, desperately hoping that no one would run into him. If someone did, he wasn't sure what he would do. His family was a disgrace, and it was definitely suspicious that he was slinking around at three in the morning. After all, nothing good ever happened after 2AM.

But maybe this time, something would.

Luckily, Draco made it to the basement without being spotted, and even luckier, when he got there, he saw Luna sitting on the floor, still chained to the grate, but waiting for him. Her hair was like a golden halo around her head, and without thinking, Draco knelt down and took her hand. "Luna," he said. "I can get you out of here."

"But why would you do that?"

He swallowed, hard. This was it. The renunciation of everything he had ever been: pureblood playboy Draco Malfoy wouldn't exist if he freed Luna and married her like Trelawney's prophecy had said he would. "Because I'm meant to free you, and then marry you." It felt like he was losing a part of himself, saying that, but at the same time, he felt… whole again, in a way he couldn't describe. "Luna Lovegood, daughter of Xenophilius and Pandora Lovegood, will you marry me?"

"I wouldn't mind," Luna answered, deftly unlocking her chains with a touch of wandless magic. She leaned her head on Draco's shoulder, and looked up at him with great grey luminous eyes. "After all, that's what the Mngva said would happen."