A/N - Kat-tak, you crack me up. I just wanted you to know that. ;)
Chapter Twelve "And the spirit of jealousy came upon him" Numbers 5:14
Draco was rather at a loss to know how to go about doing as Dumbledore asked. He had no idea how to 'mentor' teen-agers. He was still one himself! He decided to scour Hogwarts' library in the holidays but the books weren't advanced enough in that area. He still had his Hogsbridge library pass as he had only deferred from the University and decided to look there.
He was wondering rather aimlessly around looking vaguely at the endless rows of books a few days after New Year when Hermione stumbled upon him. "What are you doing here?" Hermione asked in surprise. She knew he was not due back until next term.
"Do you know where I would find books on mentoring teenagers?" he asked hopefully knowing Hermione tended to know everything.
"Why would you want to know about that?" Hermione asked curiously.
Draco looked uncomfortable. "Dumbledore asked me to help out with the Slytherin kids. You know, help them discover some pride in themselves again or something," he mumbled uncertainly.
Understanding dawned on Hermione's face and she marvelled again at how brilliant Dumbledore was. While Draco was panicking about trying to help these kids, he couldn't be brooding about his own recent past and tragedies. In the meantime, he would probably be a wonderful role model for the Slytherin House. "Well, I think the Muggle science of psychology might be of use to you," she suggested, gently leading him to the Muggle Studies section of the library.
"What's psychology?" he asked as they walked the considerable length of the Hogsbridge library.
"Well, you know the legend of Psyche and Cupid?" Hermione asked.
"Duh! Of course I do. We had to do myth and legend at Hogwarts although I have no idea why," Draco said.
"What does Psyche mean?" Hermione asked.
"The soul," he replied as though Hermione were dense.
"Right. So psychology is like a study or science of the soul - the mind and emotions together," Hermione explained.
"Oh well, that might help," he said hopefully as he followed her up a flight of stairs to the second level.
"Exactly," Hermione said with gentle mockery. "Here, start with this," Hermione said pulling a huge tome off a shelf. The title was Emotional Health in Teenagers.
"Brilliant!" Draco exclaimed. He looked at the shelf where Hermione got the book from and was gratified to find dozens of useful looking titles.
"Okay, I'll leave you to it. I've got work of my own to do," Hermione said with another grin and headed off to another part of the library.
Draco found a table and chair near a window at the end of the row where Hermione had found the useful books. His fair head was bent over a growing pile of books for hours. Draco was intelligent and he was able to absorb a lot of useful information. Any tips and good ideas he found on dealing with troubled teens, he copied down using a copying spell on his quill.
It was lunchtime before he realised it and he noticed there was a lot of noise floating up to the window from the quadrangle below. He glanced down at the scattered groups of students out in the freezing square. A flash of red caught his eye and he suddenly recognised Luna. He began to smile, pleased to see her there but it quickly turned to a frown because he realised that she wasn't alone. She was with a tall, tow-haired boy and they were laughing as they sat together on a bench.
"You look murderous," Hermione commented as she came up his table. She followed his gaze and saw Luna. "Hey, there's Luna! I guess she wouldn't hear me if I called from here," she said, leaning out of the window.
"Who is that with her?" Draco asked, his voice tight.
"Oh, that's Roy. He's very nice," Hermione said lightly, ignoring Draco's compressed lips and clenched jaw.
"How long have they been going out?" he asked, trying to sound casual and failing utterly.
"Um.. I don't know. A fortnight? Three weeks?" she said airily, seating herself opposite him at the small table.
Draco's pale eyes glittered in the winter sunlight as he watched them. "It didn't take her long to pick up someone else, did it?" he sneered.
"For her, it was a record. She only dated you for two weeks and she didn't start dating Roy for another six weeks after you ignored her owl. Roy had been asking her out for the entire two months before she finally gave up on you and said yes to him," Hermione said acerbically.
Draco looked down at the table, his face mask-like. "So much for her saying if I ever needed a friend, she'd be there," he muttered.
"She would still be a friend to you if you wanted her to be," Hermione said flatly. "But you blew it in terms of dating her and you've got no-one to blame but yourself!"
"I had other things on my mind," Draco said, his voice low and controlled.
"Shall I tell you what other things you had on your mind, Draco? Self- pity! When are you going to get over playing the morbidly tragic ex-Death Eater? Poor little rich boy! What's he going to do with himself now that he's obscenely wealthy in his own right and has the world at his fingertips?" Hermione goaded him.
"That's not fair!" Draco said his silvery eyes pinning Hermione like lasers.
"No, it's not but neither is life in case you hadn't noticed. What would it have cost you to send Luna a two line note acknowledging what she'd said and asking for some time? That's all you would have needed to do! She would have understood. You were too proud and selfish to do even that and now you're paying for it. Roy is a nice guy and she's lucky to have him. In fact, she's better off with him than she would have been with you!" Hermione said angrily.
"She obviously didn't like me that much if she was able to take up with someone else so soon," Draco said sulkily, looking back out of the window at the offensive pair.
"That's rubbish Draco and you know it. She waited longer than she should have. Let me ask you something, if you had sent Luna a note like that and had no response at all for six weeks, what would you have thought?" Hermione challenged. "Would you have kept turning down another nice, attractive girl who wanted to go out with you after waiting that long?"
Draco compressed his lips and refused to answer. He knew perfectly well that he would have been very angry if the situation had been reversed and probably would have behaved very badly in one way or another. He couldn't believe how he felt at seeing Luna with another guy. His insides felt like ice but he was furious.
"Look at you! You went out with the girl for only two weeks and you're totally wound up about her dating Roy. You've got no sense of perspective here, Draco," Hermione added, shaking her head.
Draco knew Hermione was right but his guts told him different. Luna had no right sitting out there laughing with some other guy and sitting so close to him. He watched as Roy got up and disappeared leaving Luna alone on the bench. As though Luna suddenly felt his eyes on her, she looked directly up to the library window and straight into his eyes. He wanted to look away but found he couldn't. A few seconds later Roy came back holding two steaming mugs, one of which he gave to Luna. She stood up then and tugged on Roy's arm for them to go inside. With a smile down at her, he allowed himself to be led out of the quadrangle. She turned back once and glanced up at him again but then turned again and hurried away from Draco's stare.
* * *
Draco couldn't work anymore that afternoon. Hermione had come by to ask him to join her and Padma for lunch in the Great Hall. He demurred and went back to Snape Manor with his pile of notes.
He spent the afternoon pacing in front of a sitting room fire while Hermatica and Severus-the-first exchanged worried glances. It was unlike Draco to pace or look nervously excited. That was generally Snape's thing.
Draco could not think of one even slightly convincing reason to get back in touch with Luna at this point. Hermione was right. He had left it far too late and now she was dating someone else. If he contacted her now he would look like a flake. Not only would be look like a flake but she wouldn't be able to go out with him again anyway what with dating Roy. The thought of Luna kissing Roy the way they had once kissed made him feel sick to his stomach and nauseous. He tried not to think about it but the torturous images wouldn't go away.
Draco was not one to give up however and pondered the problem restlessly, his mind churning. Finally late that night he gave up and acknowledged defeat. Hermione was right, his pride and self-absorption had cost him dearly. He fell into an armchair and buried his thin face in one hand.
* * *
Draco got started at Hogwarts with the Slytherins the next week. He succeeded fairly well with the boys but had troubles with the girls. The ones that didn't outright flirt with him would not open up to him at all. He decided they needed another girl mentor.
He puzzled over the problem for a couple of weeks and finally went to Hermione about it. "I need a girl to help the Slytherin girls. They don't relate to me. I can't help them the way I can the boys," he complained to her.
"Don't look at me. I'm a Gryffindor and they'd relate to me even less. Too bad there aren't any Slytherin girls from our year who would have the brains and charisma to do it," Hermione mused.
Draco felt pleased at this back-handed assessment of himself but didn't show it. "Well, I can't think of anyone," he grumbled.
"I can," Hermione said softly.
"Who?" Draco asked disbelievingly.
"Luna," Hermione said simply. "She's got brains, charisma, style, the right family background and wealth - all the things that Slytherin girls would look up to. Better yet, she's kind and has her feet on the ground."
Draco saw immediately that Hermione was right. "I don't want to ask her," Draco mumbled, crossing his thin arms and turning away from Hermione.
"Swallow your pride. She's your best hope. Do it for the Slytherin girls and stop thinking of yourself. Luna is sensible, she won't take it the wrong way," Hermione said.
"I'm sure Roy would just love it," Draco said sarcastically. "Not that I care what he thinks about anything," he added sulkily.
"Don't worry about Roy. Just ask her as a friend," Hermione said.
"We're not friends," Draco said dully.
"She offered her friendship. Take her up on it," Hermione retorted.
"That was a long time ago," he replied rigidly.
"So, you'll have to take a risk," Hermione snapped.
Draco merely pursed his thin lips and refused to discuss it further.
* * *
That night, Draco sat in his study and looked at the blank parchment in front of him. Taking a deep breath and thinking of the bewildered and strangely subdued Slytherin girls, he picked up his quill.
Luna,
I'm sorry to impose but I have a favour to ask of you. My old school Headmaster Dumbledore has asked me to be a mentor to the kids of my old House Slytherin as they have suffered a loss of confidence since Voldemort's recent defeat a few month's ago. He has assigned me the task of helping to re-establish the pride of Slytherin House.
I've succeeded fairly well with the boys but I am struggling to reach the girls. Hermione suggested you would be a good candidate to get through to them. You would need to meet with Dumbledore first to get his approval but I'm sure he would welcome you.
You once told me that if I ever needed a friend to let you know. I need one now and I need your help. Please let me know if you are agreeable.
Draco
* * *
Luna got the note first thing the next morning. She read it with a frown on her delicate features and then sighed deeply. She didn't know whether she could work with Draco on this project. She had been quite bitterly disappointed that he had turned out to have so little real interest in her. She had known when he didn't respond to her note and she didn't hear from him for two months that she had made herself ridiculous holding out any hope that he had really liked her. In reality, she had still not gotten over her disappointment and hurt. She knew it was stupid to feel so strongly about someone she had gone out with only 3 times in the space of a week but she did and that was all there was to it.
She and Roy had broken up only two days ago and not even Hermione knew that. She had no intention of telling anyone just yet, particularly not if she was going to even consider taking up this project. She decided to prevaricate. If she told Draco she wanted to meet Dumbledore and the girls before making up her mind, she could still back out of it if she really couldn't handle it. With a sigh, she reached for her quill.
Chapter Twelve "And the spirit of jealousy came upon him" Numbers 5:14
Draco was rather at a loss to know how to go about doing as Dumbledore asked. He had no idea how to 'mentor' teen-agers. He was still one himself! He decided to scour Hogwarts' library in the holidays but the books weren't advanced enough in that area. He still had his Hogsbridge library pass as he had only deferred from the University and decided to look there.
He was wondering rather aimlessly around looking vaguely at the endless rows of books a few days after New Year when Hermione stumbled upon him. "What are you doing here?" Hermione asked in surprise. She knew he was not due back until next term.
"Do you know where I would find books on mentoring teenagers?" he asked hopefully knowing Hermione tended to know everything.
"Why would you want to know about that?" Hermione asked curiously.
Draco looked uncomfortable. "Dumbledore asked me to help out with the Slytherin kids. You know, help them discover some pride in themselves again or something," he mumbled uncertainly.
Understanding dawned on Hermione's face and she marvelled again at how brilliant Dumbledore was. While Draco was panicking about trying to help these kids, he couldn't be brooding about his own recent past and tragedies. In the meantime, he would probably be a wonderful role model for the Slytherin House. "Well, I think the Muggle science of psychology might be of use to you," she suggested, gently leading him to the Muggle Studies section of the library.
"What's psychology?" he asked as they walked the considerable length of the Hogsbridge library.
"Well, you know the legend of Psyche and Cupid?" Hermione asked.
"Duh! Of course I do. We had to do myth and legend at Hogwarts although I have no idea why," Draco said.
"What does Psyche mean?" Hermione asked.
"The soul," he replied as though Hermione were dense.
"Right. So psychology is like a study or science of the soul - the mind and emotions together," Hermione explained.
"Oh well, that might help," he said hopefully as he followed her up a flight of stairs to the second level.
"Exactly," Hermione said with gentle mockery. "Here, start with this," Hermione said pulling a huge tome off a shelf. The title was Emotional Health in Teenagers.
"Brilliant!" Draco exclaimed. He looked at the shelf where Hermione got the book from and was gratified to find dozens of useful looking titles.
"Okay, I'll leave you to it. I've got work of my own to do," Hermione said with another grin and headed off to another part of the library.
Draco found a table and chair near a window at the end of the row where Hermione had found the useful books. His fair head was bent over a growing pile of books for hours. Draco was intelligent and he was able to absorb a lot of useful information. Any tips and good ideas he found on dealing with troubled teens, he copied down using a copying spell on his quill.
It was lunchtime before he realised it and he noticed there was a lot of noise floating up to the window from the quadrangle below. He glanced down at the scattered groups of students out in the freezing square. A flash of red caught his eye and he suddenly recognised Luna. He began to smile, pleased to see her there but it quickly turned to a frown because he realised that she wasn't alone. She was with a tall, tow-haired boy and they were laughing as they sat together on a bench.
"You look murderous," Hermione commented as she came up his table. She followed his gaze and saw Luna. "Hey, there's Luna! I guess she wouldn't hear me if I called from here," she said, leaning out of the window.
"Who is that with her?" Draco asked, his voice tight.
"Oh, that's Roy. He's very nice," Hermione said lightly, ignoring Draco's compressed lips and clenched jaw.
"How long have they been going out?" he asked, trying to sound casual and failing utterly.
"Um.. I don't know. A fortnight? Three weeks?" she said airily, seating herself opposite him at the small table.
Draco's pale eyes glittered in the winter sunlight as he watched them. "It didn't take her long to pick up someone else, did it?" he sneered.
"For her, it was a record. She only dated you for two weeks and she didn't start dating Roy for another six weeks after you ignored her owl. Roy had been asking her out for the entire two months before she finally gave up on you and said yes to him," Hermione said acerbically.
Draco looked down at the table, his face mask-like. "So much for her saying if I ever needed a friend, she'd be there," he muttered.
"She would still be a friend to you if you wanted her to be," Hermione said flatly. "But you blew it in terms of dating her and you've got no-one to blame but yourself!"
"I had other things on my mind," Draco said, his voice low and controlled.
"Shall I tell you what other things you had on your mind, Draco? Self- pity! When are you going to get over playing the morbidly tragic ex-Death Eater? Poor little rich boy! What's he going to do with himself now that he's obscenely wealthy in his own right and has the world at his fingertips?" Hermione goaded him.
"That's not fair!" Draco said his silvery eyes pinning Hermione like lasers.
"No, it's not but neither is life in case you hadn't noticed. What would it have cost you to send Luna a two line note acknowledging what she'd said and asking for some time? That's all you would have needed to do! She would have understood. You were too proud and selfish to do even that and now you're paying for it. Roy is a nice guy and she's lucky to have him. In fact, she's better off with him than she would have been with you!" Hermione said angrily.
"She obviously didn't like me that much if she was able to take up with someone else so soon," Draco said sulkily, looking back out of the window at the offensive pair.
"That's rubbish Draco and you know it. She waited longer than she should have. Let me ask you something, if you had sent Luna a note like that and had no response at all for six weeks, what would you have thought?" Hermione challenged. "Would you have kept turning down another nice, attractive girl who wanted to go out with you after waiting that long?"
Draco compressed his lips and refused to answer. He knew perfectly well that he would have been very angry if the situation had been reversed and probably would have behaved very badly in one way or another. He couldn't believe how he felt at seeing Luna with another guy. His insides felt like ice but he was furious.
"Look at you! You went out with the girl for only two weeks and you're totally wound up about her dating Roy. You've got no sense of perspective here, Draco," Hermione added, shaking her head.
Draco knew Hermione was right but his guts told him different. Luna had no right sitting out there laughing with some other guy and sitting so close to him. He watched as Roy got up and disappeared leaving Luna alone on the bench. As though Luna suddenly felt his eyes on her, she looked directly up to the library window and straight into his eyes. He wanted to look away but found he couldn't. A few seconds later Roy came back holding two steaming mugs, one of which he gave to Luna. She stood up then and tugged on Roy's arm for them to go inside. With a smile down at her, he allowed himself to be led out of the quadrangle. She turned back once and glanced up at him again but then turned again and hurried away from Draco's stare.
* * *
Draco couldn't work anymore that afternoon. Hermione had come by to ask him to join her and Padma for lunch in the Great Hall. He demurred and went back to Snape Manor with his pile of notes.
He spent the afternoon pacing in front of a sitting room fire while Hermatica and Severus-the-first exchanged worried glances. It was unlike Draco to pace or look nervously excited. That was generally Snape's thing.
Draco could not think of one even slightly convincing reason to get back in touch with Luna at this point. Hermione was right. He had left it far too late and now she was dating someone else. If he contacted her now he would look like a flake. Not only would be look like a flake but she wouldn't be able to go out with him again anyway what with dating Roy. The thought of Luna kissing Roy the way they had once kissed made him feel sick to his stomach and nauseous. He tried not to think about it but the torturous images wouldn't go away.
Draco was not one to give up however and pondered the problem restlessly, his mind churning. Finally late that night he gave up and acknowledged defeat. Hermione was right, his pride and self-absorption had cost him dearly. He fell into an armchair and buried his thin face in one hand.
* * *
Draco got started at Hogwarts with the Slytherins the next week. He succeeded fairly well with the boys but had troubles with the girls. The ones that didn't outright flirt with him would not open up to him at all. He decided they needed another girl mentor.
He puzzled over the problem for a couple of weeks and finally went to Hermione about it. "I need a girl to help the Slytherin girls. They don't relate to me. I can't help them the way I can the boys," he complained to her.
"Don't look at me. I'm a Gryffindor and they'd relate to me even less. Too bad there aren't any Slytherin girls from our year who would have the brains and charisma to do it," Hermione mused.
Draco felt pleased at this back-handed assessment of himself but didn't show it. "Well, I can't think of anyone," he grumbled.
"I can," Hermione said softly.
"Who?" Draco asked disbelievingly.
"Luna," Hermione said simply. "She's got brains, charisma, style, the right family background and wealth - all the things that Slytherin girls would look up to. Better yet, she's kind and has her feet on the ground."
Draco saw immediately that Hermione was right. "I don't want to ask her," Draco mumbled, crossing his thin arms and turning away from Hermione.
"Swallow your pride. She's your best hope. Do it for the Slytherin girls and stop thinking of yourself. Luna is sensible, she won't take it the wrong way," Hermione said.
"I'm sure Roy would just love it," Draco said sarcastically. "Not that I care what he thinks about anything," he added sulkily.
"Don't worry about Roy. Just ask her as a friend," Hermione said.
"We're not friends," Draco said dully.
"She offered her friendship. Take her up on it," Hermione retorted.
"That was a long time ago," he replied rigidly.
"So, you'll have to take a risk," Hermione snapped.
Draco merely pursed his thin lips and refused to discuss it further.
* * *
That night, Draco sat in his study and looked at the blank parchment in front of him. Taking a deep breath and thinking of the bewildered and strangely subdued Slytherin girls, he picked up his quill.
Luna,
I'm sorry to impose but I have a favour to ask of you. My old school Headmaster Dumbledore has asked me to be a mentor to the kids of my old House Slytherin as they have suffered a loss of confidence since Voldemort's recent defeat a few month's ago. He has assigned me the task of helping to re-establish the pride of Slytherin House.
I've succeeded fairly well with the boys but I am struggling to reach the girls. Hermione suggested you would be a good candidate to get through to them. You would need to meet with Dumbledore first to get his approval but I'm sure he would welcome you.
You once told me that if I ever needed a friend to let you know. I need one now and I need your help. Please let me know if you are agreeable.
Draco
* * *
Luna got the note first thing the next morning. She read it with a frown on her delicate features and then sighed deeply. She didn't know whether she could work with Draco on this project. She had been quite bitterly disappointed that he had turned out to have so little real interest in her. She had known when he didn't respond to her note and she didn't hear from him for two months that she had made herself ridiculous holding out any hope that he had really liked her. In reality, she had still not gotten over her disappointment and hurt. She knew it was stupid to feel so strongly about someone she had gone out with only 3 times in the space of a week but she did and that was all there was to it.
She and Roy had broken up only two days ago and not even Hermione knew that. She had no intention of telling anyone just yet, particularly not if she was going to even consider taking up this project. She decided to prevaricate. If she told Draco she wanted to meet Dumbledore and the girls before making up her mind, she could still back out of it if she really couldn't handle it. With a sigh, she reached for her quill.
