Chapter Nine "Do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases." Song of Solomon 2:7

Ginny and Padma had been more curious than cautious when Harry and Ron respectively had told them that they'd met up with Draco. Once the boys had explained the meeting to them, they had been quite eager to meet up with Draco and form an opinion for themselves. Draco had been frankly surprised that they'd welcomed him into their rather intimate group and had been on his guard initially but he soon relaxed. He was beginning to realize that Gryffindors wouldn't know what a 'hidden agenda' was if it bit them. He found it oddly comforting.

Draco celebrated his eighteenth birthday barely just over a month since that fateful night at the North York moors. He had a quiet dinner with Hermione, Harry, Ron, Padma, Ginny and Professor Snape at the Snape Manor. They all bought him a present which he had not been expecting and it touched him more than he liked to admit even to himself. Hermione had bought him a complete leather bound collection of Sherlock Holmes books. Harry and Ginny had clubbed together and bought him the BBC's Sherlock Holmes series on DVD. Ron and Padma had also clubbed together and got a beautiful cashmere pullover in an icey blue that lent a tinge of azure to Draco's colourless eyes when he put it on. Snape had given him a silver seal engraved with the Malfoy Crest and his initials. "A reminder that you can make your name proud once more," he'd said quietly to the boy. Draco had loved it.

He had asked Hermione to help him set up a television and VCR/DVD at Malfoy Manor just the previous week. In the end, they had to buy a small generator to supply the electricity too as the Manor had never needed to be wired before and it was still a rather pointless exercise just for an entertainment unit. Draco had already begun to acquire quite a good movie collection on DVD and video.

Draco had felt awkward about staying on at Snape Manor now that Snape was no longer officially his guardian. He had made noises a couple of days ago about getting ready to move back to Malfoy Manor but Hermione had objected. "Isn't it still crawling with Aurors?" she had asked. He'd admitted that it was. "I'd stay here until the end of the year if I were you," she advised. "It's only another couple of months or so away and the Aurors should be just about done by then."

Snape had agreed with her adding, "it's not like you have to see us if you don't want to. We're hardly ever here and when we are, the place is so huge we are unlikely to bump into each other."

"It's not that, I just don't want to impose," he said with almost excruciating good manners.

"You're not imposing," Snape had said bluntly.

"Hardly! We never see you," Hermione had laughed. "Well, not here at any rate," she added as she had seen quite a lot of Draco over the past 2 weeks but that was mostly at her own home or when she was helping him shop for his entertainment unit. "Stay on until New Year at least," she said encouragingly and Snape nodded his agreement.

* * *

Over the next couple of months, Draco only ran into Hermione and Snape a couple of times at Snape Manor and fortunately for him neither of them knew he had seen them.

He had been about to go into one of the smaller sitting rooms to write an owl to his House Elves at Malfoy Manor when he heard familiar voices inside. At first he'd thought it was Severus-the-first and Hermatica and was about to go in anyway but then he caught a glimpse of black robe through the crack in the door and realized there was actually someone in there - Professor Snape and Hermione both from the sound of it.

His lips parted in astonishment at what he saw and he found he couldn't tear his gaze away. Professor Snape was standing over Hermione with an expression on his face as he looked down at her that Draco could never have imagined there in his wildest dreams. His face was grave and the emotion in his deep set eyes was at once intense and caressing. The usual sharpness in his gaze was missing and the harsh lines of his features had softened. His long, pale fingers were caught up in Hermione's thick hair. Her slender form was pressed against his, her back arched as she looked up at him with an expression of remarkable tenderness. She reached up one hand and touched his face gently. They both looked totally absorbed in the other as though the rest of the world didn't exist.

Draco's face burned. He backed away abruptly and noiselessly walked away to another sitting room. He had never seen two people look at each other like that in his life. He didn't know such feelings even existed. He was a pure-blood wizard and had not been brought up on a diet of fairy tales, movies, popular culture and the Muggle media. He had never had Cola or cars sold to him via images of actors pretending romantic love and passionate sex. To see two real people absorbed in each other like that was a deep shock to him. It made him feel deeply jealous, profoundly self- conscious and strangely aroused. Adrenalin was pumping round his body and his face was still ablaze.

Of course, he had known about sex. Sex education was dutifully covered at Hogwarts along with lessons in how to make contraceptive potions. (Pomphrey took those classes, not Snape.) He had messed around with girls at Hogwarts and had lost his virginity a couple of years ago now. However, he had not looked for nor expected whatever that emotion was that he had clearly seen displayed between Professor Snape and Hermione. He suddenly understood that Professor Snape had not merely taken advantage of an opportunity with Hermione. They had some kind of profound bond that Draco did not even begin to understand. It perplexed him and filled him with an odd, relentless yearning to experience something like it himself.

He sat down at a writing table in the sitting room and put his cold hands over his burning face. He had an intuition that that kind of thing was not just there for the asking. He realized suddenly that there was a new restlessness running through his veins. He sat there staring out onto the formal gardens for a long time.

* * *

Hermione could remember the first day she met Luna. It was the first week at Hogsbridge and the introductory lecture to International Wizarding Politics 101. Everyone else in the lecture hall was wearing dark robes. Luna waltzed in wearing a smart red wool skirt, a tailored white shirt knotted at the waist, black tights and knee high black boots. Her robe was pinned at the neck with an elegant silver broach but was thrown back over her shoulders. Everything about the girl screamed 'chic'.

Her very dark hair was cut into a modern short bob that gleamed and swished silkily around her head every time she moved it. It framed her heart shaped face perfectly. Her build was small with fine bones and Hermione found out much later that she had a distant Asian ancestor which also explained the sensual slant to the girl's dark green eyes.

Much later when Hermione tried to figure out what it was about Luna that attracted her, she decided it was a combination of factors. She gave the impression of being very self-possessed and independent. She did not seem to know anyone else in the lecture and went and sat by herself towards the back of the theatre. She didn't try and make eye contact with anyone or really pay much attention to what anyone else was doing. She simply sat there looking perfectly at home waiting for the lecturer to arrive.

Hermione had a keen eye and guessed Luna was foreign, and her style was simply what she was used to where she came from. She couldn't resist going up to her after the lecture. "Hi, I'm Hermione and this is Padma. We're ex-Hogwarts students. Where did you go to school?" she asked with a friendly grin.

The girl smiled back. "I went to school in France - Beauxbatons," she replied with a slight lilt in her voice that merely suggested at an accent. "I'm English though. My parents are diplomats."

"You would know Fleur Delacour then," Padma said warmly.

"Yes and all her sisters. My name is Luna, by the way," she added, extending a hand in turn to them both.

"Come and have lunch with us," Hermione invited.

That was how the friendship began. Hermione soon found out that Luna had some very French ideas and tended to dismiss strict ideas of right and wrong with an elegant shrug of her shoulders if they inconvenienced her in any way. She was not interested in saving the world or in the larger issues - mainly she just wanted to have a good time.

On the other hand, she was not very bad either. She was extremely generous and kind but had strong opinions and a sharp tongue to express them. She had no problem losing her temper with someone who annoyed her and creating a fuss but she never held grudges and forgave quickly. She was moody and temperamental but the sunshine in her nature far outweighed the occasional storm. She had a clever, cruelly observant wit but often turned the joke on herself. She was quick to laugh and also had extremely good, well-bred manners - probably from growing up in embassies, Hermione figured.

She was, Hermione admitted, rather vain and preferred not to take anything too seriously. Then again, she'd help anyone who needed it with time or money or simply a shoulder to cry on. Her mind was mercurial and moved from one subject to another incredibly fast which made her a rather fascinating conversationalist as she was a bottomless well of ideas and clever observations. She went through boyfriends with amazing speed. She once admitted to Hermione that her idea of a long term relationship was 6 weeks. The mere thought gave Hermione a headache but Luna was quite sanguine about it. "I have a short attention span," she said with her graceful shrug.

On the whole, Hermione decided she liked Luna enormously (she was certainly never dull) but did not understand her one bit. Padma liked her too but had reservations. She was never quite sure what Luna was going to do or say next and had doubts about the girl's scruples.

Ron and Harry met her soon enough. They had both stared as though Luna was an exotic exhibit in a museum. Ron was frankly intimidated by Luna's self- assurance. Harry liked her but similar to Hermione, didn't pretend to understand her at all. He thought anyone who got involved with her was either very brave or very foolish and was quite glad of having a girl as comprehensible and familiar as Ginny. Ginny herself had thought Luna rather reserved until she first heard her laugh which didn't take long. After that, she warmed up to the unusual girl.

For some reason, Draco did not meet Luna for a long time after the others knew her quite well. In fact, he didn't meet her until Hermione had already moved into her new cottage at Hogsmeade towards the end of November. He had decided to pop in unannounced one afternoon when he knew Hermione didn't have lectures to borrow one of her DVDs that he hadn't seen yet. He hadn't intended to stay very long, until he saw Luna that was. The girl's green eyes had swept over him with obvious pleasure and she'd smiled slowly at him with undisguised interest.

Hermione had watched this with misgivings and some surprise. She had never seen Luna in predatory mode. She wasn't exactly subtle, Hermione thought with amusement. Still, neither was Draco, she mused as she watched his pale eyes light up immediately in response and how he introduced himself without missing a beat. Smooth, Hermione thought shaking her head, Draco is definitely smooth.

What Hermione didn't realise was not only was there obvious chemistry between them but that both of them had recognised someone of their own class immediately. It took an upper-class pure-blood to know one. It wasn't anything obvious. It had more to do with body language, the kind of clothes they were wearing, their well-bred good looks and their reserved self-assurance which others sometimes mistook for arrogance.

Draco went and sat beside her on the couch after introducing himself and began quizzing her on how she knew Hermione and what she was studying at University. Hermione rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen to make some tea. She knew perfectly well that neither of them would notice whether she was there or not for the rest of the afternoon. Fortunately for her, Snape arrived not long after and kept her company for the rest of the afternoon. He looked rather anxious when he glanced into the living room to see Draco's fair head bent close to Luna's dark one as they talked and flirted.

"Is that a good idea?" he asked Hermione dryly nodding towards the lounge room and sipping the tea she gave him while he leaned against the counter.

Hermione looked dubious and didn't answer. She honestly didn't know what to say. She had no idea why she hadn't known all along that that would happen as soon as those two laid eyes on each other. "Like two peas in a pod," Hermione muttered into her own tea.

"Quite. That's what is worrying me," Snape said sardonically. "Well, at least we know everything that's happened to him lately hasn't affected him too much."

Hermione laughed at the edge of sarcasm in his voice. "Yes, it is rather reassuring isn't it? I'm glad he is wearing his cream trousers and new pale blue sweater. He looks quite handsome," she added.

"Handsome? That rat-faced, skinny albino?" Snape growled, disgruntled.

Hermione crinkled her nose. "You're right. He's not really handsome, is he? Actually, he barely qualifies for good-looking. I think the fact that he's so unusual in his colouring and bone structure makes him stand out," Hermione admitted, being strictly honest.

"Breeding," Snape said categorically. "Generations of deliberately attractive, Aryan-looking wives," he said with contempt.

"Hmmm," Hermione replied reflecting that no amount of attractive wives marrying into the Snape line had altered the fact that her Severus looked exactly like the first Severus Snape.

Suddenly, Hermione and Severus heard the front door close. Hermione went over to the window to see Draco and Luna heading down the front path and start walking in the direction of Hogsmeade, only a ten minute stroll away. She glanced back at Severus who was also watching them and laughed out loud at the appalled and resigned expression on his face.