Chapter Seventeen
"and hated him not in times past" Deuteronomy 4:43
The Slytherins arrived at the Serpent's Den soon after the dorm-warming and were thrilled to have a secret set of rooms all to themselves and so far away from authority or supervision.
Draco took the boys out into the fresh air most days playing Quidditch or swimming in the lake ("the piranhas, alligators, giant sea serpants and monster octopuses have been cleared out", he assured his guests quite seriously). Luna hung out with the girls in the rec room mostly messing with hair and make up and giggling over boyfriends.
"How many boyfriends have you had Luna?" one sixteen year old asked quite innocently.
Luna considered this question, her smooth dark head tipped on one side and her red lips pursed in concentration. "I don't honestly know," she replied almost apologetically. "Quite a few."
"What were they like?" another girl asked shyly.
"They were all very different," Luna replied, as she French braided one of the younger girl's hair.
"Were any of them like Draco?" one asked, feeling daring.
"No," Luna said with her infectious laugh. "Draco is definitely one of a kind."
"Do you want to marry him?" one first year asked timidly.
Luna crinkled her small, straight nose for a second as she pondered the question. "I've never thought about it," she said with perfect honesty.
"Why not?" a bolder, fifth year asked incredulously.
"I'm too young to be thinking about such serious things," Luna said with another laugh. "I only left school myself last year!"
"Of course," the first girl said thoughtfully. "I forget you're not much older than us. You're very sophisticated."
"It's a veneer," Luna said mock-confidingly, then grinned.
"I think you're beautiful," the shy first year said and went red.
"And I think you're a darling," Luna said affectionately and hugged the young girl with one arm. The young girl went even more red.
"My older sister dated Draco while he was at Hogwarts," one of the younger girls suddenly said.
"Oh?" Luna said with a smile. She knew perfectly well that Draco had dated almost as much as she had herself.
"She said that he wasn't very romantic," the girl continued bluntly.
"Hmmm. I guess he isn't overtly romantic," Luna said as she recognized the truth in that statement.
"She also said he was very cold and indifferent," she said, creeping closer to where Luna sat.
"Cold? No, I wouldn't say that. He's certainly rather cool and level- headed, he's not one for theatrical fits of passion but then again, I wouldn't like that. I definitely wouldn't call him indifferent. At least, he's not when he's with me," she said truthfully and then sighed when she remembered the silence of their two month estrangement.
"She said he was a good kisser but there wasn't much feeling in it," the girl said, obviously disappointed in these reports from her older sister.
"Maybe your sister and Draco didn't have that kind of relationship," Luna said kindly to the obviously confused girl.
"She said all the girls he dated said that about him," she replied, sitting next to Luna.
"Well my older brother said Draco was nasty to the Gryffindors at school," another girl said from across the room.
"The Gryffindors and Slytherins have always been enemies from what I understand," Luna said with a calm smile.
"He called the Muggle borns 'mudbloods'," the first girl said.
"Yes, he was the child of Death Eaters like all of you and learnt the wrong things from his parents. He certainly doesn't hold those views now," Luna explained carefully.
"He doesn't?" one of the younger girls said hopefully.
"No, honey," Luna said reassuringly.
"He sounds very different now to what he was like at school," one of the fourth years said. She had been frankly afraid of the brooding, pale boy when he had been at Hogwarts.
"He's had some really tough things to deal with. It's hard to find out you've been taught lies all your life and have to change," Luna said gently, her eyes far away.
* * *
Later in the holidays the young girl whose sister had dated Draco sought Luna out while she was by herself which was not easy because when Luna was not with all the girls, she was generally with Draco.
However, she caught Luna in the library looking up a potion recipe to treat the minor injuries the boys always seemed to come back with after a day outdoors. "What the hell they do out there, I have no idea," Luna was muttering to herself. "I've never seen so many bruises and scrapes in my life."
"It's a boy thing," Jinty said as she came into the library. "My younger brothers are always covered in bruises and minor cuts." Luna looked up at the tall, attractive, chestnut haired girl with a smile. "Can I. um. talk to you?" she asked hesitantly.
"Of course," Luna said, giving up her search for a suitable potion and showing the girl to a seat by the fire. "What's wrong?" she asked kindly, seeing the girl twist her slender hands in her lap.
"You know how I told you my sister Jasmine dated Draco?" she said hesitantly.
"Yes," Luna said, mildly puzzled.
"She was in love with him. She'd had a crush on him for years before he asked her out but he was always. rather indifferent to her, almost cruel. It was only a short relationship and he really broke her heart when he left her for some other girl," Jinty said, her hazel eyes flicking up to meet Luna's briefly.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Luna said gently.
"She's in Azkaban now, with my parents. She was a few months older than Draco. She became a Death Eater because she knew Draco was going to become one as soon as he left Hogwarts. She hasn't been sentenced to a Dementor's Kiss because she was only a Death Eater for such a short time. She didn't know about Gillamoor until that last night either," Jinty continued.
Like Draco himself, Luna thought.
"Anyway, she's in Azkaban for life with Mum and Dad. Draco ruined her life and for what? He didn't love her," Jinty said, her voice tight and small. "I'm angry with him and I can't help feeling that way although I know it's pointless," she added helplessly.
"Did Draco ever tell her to become a Death Eater?" Luna asked softly.
"No," Jinty said reluctantly.
"Did Draco ever tell your sister than he loved her?" Luna questioned again.
"No," Jinty replied honestly, her voice very quiet.
"Then why are you blaming him? He was misled by his parents himself. He didn't know the truth until after he had already become a Death Eater. He didn't lead your sister on. He dated her for a short while but he never lied to her about his feelings. If she hadn't been blinded by her own feelings, she would have seen that joining the Death Eaters was never going to make Draco love her. She was clinging to a fantasy and paid a terrible price for it. Also, your parents were Death Eaters too Jinty and I'm sure she was influenced by that as well," Luna said compassionately, putting one hand over Jinty's restless fingers.
"Why didn't he love her?" Jinty almost yelled. "She was pretty, she was nice, she was smart and she loved him. Why wasn't she good enough for him? Why?"
Luna got up and put her arms around the girl now sobbing in her chair. "I don't know Jinty. It's got nothing to do with whether or not your sister was pretty or nice or smart or loving. You either love someone or you don't and if you don't, you can't make yourself feel that way," Luna said gently. "I guess your sister loved Draco and couldn't let go when she saw her feelings weren't returned. Rather than accept the pain of that, she lived in a fantasy world."
"So it's all my sister's fault?" Jinty sniffed angrily.
"No, it's Voldemort's fault. If he hadn't formed such an evil group as the Death Eaters, this would never have happened to your sister. In time, she would have grown older and accepted her grief and moved on. Voldemort never gave her that chance. He used her vulnerability to trap her into the Death Eaters and now she is paying a horrible price in Azkaban," Luna said firmly but kindly.
Jinty stopped crying and thought very hard about what Luna had said. She realized the truth when she heard it. All this time she had been making Draco into the villain, angry because he couldn't love her pretty sister. There was still a remnant of that anger born of loyalty to her sister but suddenly she realized that her sister wasn't rotting in Azkaban because of Draco but because of Voldemort. "I want revenge!" the young girl said fiercely clenching her fists, her hazel eyes blazing with passion.
"What are you good at?" Luna asked her calmly.
Jinty stared at her for a minute. "I'm good at Arithmancy, Potions and Charms," she said with a small frown of confusion.
"Same subjects as Hermione," Luna said thoughtfully. "I think you need to think seriously about how you can help the cause against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Maybe you need to think about the Special Forces in the Aurors and how you can use your gifts in a role like that. Don't let your sister suffer in vain. Use your love for her and your anger at Voldemort for ruining her life to fight him," Luna said, her green eyes intense as she searched Jinty's hazel ones. "Work hard at school and give serious thought to how to redeem something from this tragedy."
Jinty nodded slowly and wiped her eyes on the tissue Luna provided from her wand. "I'm not angry at Draco anymore," she said in a small voice.
"Good," Luna said softly. "He's one of our allies in this fight now."
Jinty nodded. "I can see why he loves you and he does love you. I saw Draco with different girls at Hogwarts in the couple of years I was there before he graduated and he didn't care about any of them really. He really cares about you. I could see the difference straight away. I almost wanted to hate you at first because he so obviously loved you and didn't love my sister but you were so kind to us Slytherin girls that I couldn't," she admitted reluctantly with a grateful look.
"I can quite understand," Luna said soothingly and went to sit back down in her own seat. She ordered something hot to drink and the two sat and sipped tea while Luna gradually turned the conversation onto happier subjects as the girl calmed down.
* * *
In the hallway, Draco stood frozen with a white face. He had known Jinty's sister Jasmine had believed she loved him. He didn't believe that she had really. The girl had been in love with a fantasy of her own making that had nothing to do with who he really was. She was a pretty girl and everything else Jinty had said but she was so involved in her own fantasy about Draco that he never really felt he could connect with her at all.
Apart from anything else, what Luna had said was true. Either you loved someone or you didn't and he couldn't make himself love Jasmine although he could see what an attractive girl she was in every sense. Loving Luna took no effort, he just did. Even if he hadn't wanted to love her, he couldn't prevent the feeling. He was angry with himself for even trying to date Jasmine now. He should have realized her view of him was unhealthy and not to be encouraged. He didn't entirely agree with Luna's view of events, he did feel to blame for having offered Jasmine hope and then carelessly dashing it. It had been thoughtlessly cruel. He had dated plenty of other girls for short times but none had joined the Death Eaters to impress him and none were now rotting in Azkaban as a result.
He quickly retired from the hallway in case someone saw him there eavesdropping. He had been trying to find Luna who would have been a sight for sore eyes after a day in the sunshine with a raggle-tag of boys but he had overheard Jasmine's name and his own and it had stopped him in his tracks.
As he walked back to his suite of rooms to change out of his grimy outdoor clothes, he wondered who the hell he had been only a few short months ago. He pondered how much damage he had done to innocent people out of pure ignorance, thoughtless, arrogance and selfishness. Most of all, he wondered how many times in his future the actions of his past self would come back to bite him. With a sinking feeling, he wondered what Luna had really thought of him despite what she had said to Jinty to calm the girl down and put her on the right track. Did Luna really believe what she'd said or did she harbour secret doubts about him now? Compressing his thin, pale lips he supposed he deserved it. After all, he'd behaved stupidly and selfishly towards her too once.
His pale eyes shuttered, he went to his private bathroom to scrub himself clean.
* * *
After Jinty went back to the Serpent's Den looking rather determined with her new goals and much happier, Luna sat back in her chair and sighed. Her dark green eyes watched the flames dancing in the fireplace. Did she herself believe what she had told Jinty? Strangely enough, she did. She didn't think Jasmine's fantasies and acts of desperation were Draco's fault although perhaps it would have been kinder of Draco not to offer her encouragement by dating her if he didn't have any real feelings for the girl. Then again, all teen-agers did that while they experimented with their sexuality and relationships. Perhaps if Draco had been older and more experienced at the time, he wouldn't have been so careless with the girl's feelings. Who knew? Luna doubted if Draco's cool reserve could have ever satisfied such a passionate, romantic sounding girl anyway. Even if he had loved her, it probably would never have been enough.
Luna believed she had done the right thing anyway. Jinty had a new, more helpful perspective on things and some serious goals to pour her considerable energies and talents into. With a sigh, she went to find Draco.
* * *
"Do you think I ruined Jasmine's life?" Draco asked her quietly much later than night as his slender fingers stroked her bare arm as they lay in bed.
"You overheard," Luna said as a statement of fact. "No, actually," was all she said.
"Why?" he asked, his voice low.
"You heard why," Luna said matter-of-factly.
"I heard what you told Jinty to calm her down and re-focus her. I didn't hear what you really thought," he said and brushed a kiss over her hair.
Luna simply told him what she had thought to herself after her conversation with Jinty. "You need to forgive yourself for being an inexperienced teen- ager still experimenting with all that stuff," Luna said, for all the world like she was not just 19 herself. "It was careless but not evil or even bad."
"It resulted in terrible tragedy," Draco said quietly.
"I wonder if Jasmine wasn't a tragedy waiting to happen," Luna said thoughtfully. "If she hadn't fixated on you, it probably would have just been someone else. Coming from a Death Eater family, she probably needed the distraction and fantasy. Her life was probably precarious and strange," Luna said. "I think someone with her nature in her situation was probably destined for disaster. She didn't sound sensible like her sister Jinty is."
"No, she was nothing like Jinty personality-wise," Draco agreed. "I still feel guilty," he added.
"Get over it. Every teen-ager makes mistakes and the small mistake you made would not have had those consequences if Jasmine had been emotionally normal," Luna said sensibly.
"I love you," he said quietly but his voice was serious.
"I love you too," she said with a grin and lifted her face for his kiss.
"and hated him not in times past" Deuteronomy 4:43
The Slytherins arrived at the Serpent's Den soon after the dorm-warming and were thrilled to have a secret set of rooms all to themselves and so far away from authority or supervision.
Draco took the boys out into the fresh air most days playing Quidditch or swimming in the lake ("the piranhas, alligators, giant sea serpants and monster octopuses have been cleared out", he assured his guests quite seriously). Luna hung out with the girls in the rec room mostly messing with hair and make up and giggling over boyfriends.
"How many boyfriends have you had Luna?" one sixteen year old asked quite innocently.
Luna considered this question, her smooth dark head tipped on one side and her red lips pursed in concentration. "I don't honestly know," she replied almost apologetically. "Quite a few."
"What were they like?" another girl asked shyly.
"They were all very different," Luna replied, as she French braided one of the younger girl's hair.
"Were any of them like Draco?" one asked, feeling daring.
"No," Luna said with her infectious laugh. "Draco is definitely one of a kind."
"Do you want to marry him?" one first year asked timidly.
Luna crinkled her small, straight nose for a second as she pondered the question. "I've never thought about it," she said with perfect honesty.
"Why not?" a bolder, fifth year asked incredulously.
"I'm too young to be thinking about such serious things," Luna said with another laugh. "I only left school myself last year!"
"Of course," the first girl said thoughtfully. "I forget you're not much older than us. You're very sophisticated."
"It's a veneer," Luna said mock-confidingly, then grinned.
"I think you're beautiful," the shy first year said and went red.
"And I think you're a darling," Luna said affectionately and hugged the young girl with one arm. The young girl went even more red.
"My older sister dated Draco while he was at Hogwarts," one of the younger girls suddenly said.
"Oh?" Luna said with a smile. She knew perfectly well that Draco had dated almost as much as she had herself.
"She said that he wasn't very romantic," the girl continued bluntly.
"Hmmm. I guess he isn't overtly romantic," Luna said as she recognized the truth in that statement.
"She also said he was very cold and indifferent," she said, creeping closer to where Luna sat.
"Cold? No, I wouldn't say that. He's certainly rather cool and level- headed, he's not one for theatrical fits of passion but then again, I wouldn't like that. I definitely wouldn't call him indifferent. At least, he's not when he's with me," she said truthfully and then sighed when she remembered the silence of their two month estrangement.
"She said he was a good kisser but there wasn't much feeling in it," the girl said, obviously disappointed in these reports from her older sister.
"Maybe your sister and Draco didn't have that kind of relationship," Luna said kindly to the obviously confused girl.
"She said all the girls he dated said that about him," she replied, sitting next to Luna.
"Well my older brother said Draco was nasty to the Gryffindors at school," another girl said from across the room.
"The Gryffindors and Slytherins have always been enemies from what I understand," Luna said with a calm smile.
"He called the Muggle borns 'mudbloods'," the first girl said.
"Yes, he was the child of Death Eaters like all of you and learnt the wrong things from his parents. He certainly doesn't hold those views now," Luna explained carefully.
"He doesn't?" one of the younger girls said hopefully.
"No, honey," Luna said reassuringly.
"He sounds very different now to what he was like at school," one of the fourth years said. She had been frankly afraid of the brooding, pale boy when he had been at Hogwarts.
"He's had some really tough things to deal with. It's hard to find out you've been taught lies all your life and have to change," Luna said gently, her eyes far away.
* * *
Later in the holidays the young girl whose sister had dated Draco sought Luna out while she was by herself which was not easy because when Luna was not with all the girls, she was generally with Draco.
However, she caught Luna in the library looking up a potion recipe to treat the minor injuries the boys always seemed to come back with after a day outdoors. "What the hell they do out there, I have no idea," Luna was muttering to herself. "I've never seen so many bruises and scrapes in my life."
"It's a boy thing," Jinty said as she came into the library. "My younger brothers are always covered in bruises and minor cuts." Luna looked up at the tall, attractive, chestnut haired girl with a smile. "Can I. um. talk to you?" she asked hesitantly.
"Of course," Luna said, giving up her search for a suitable potion and showing the girl to a seat by the fire. "What's wrong?" she asked kindly, seeing the girl twist her slender hands in her lap.
"You know how I told you my sister Jasmine dated Draco?" she said hesitantly.
"Yes," Luna said, mildly puzzled.
"She was in love with him. She'd had a crush on him for years before he asked her out but he was always. rather indifferent to her, almost cruel. It was only a short relationship and he really broke her heart when he left her for some other girl," Jinty said, her hazel eyes flicking up to meet Luna's briefly.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Luna said gently.
"She's in Azkaban now, with my parents. She was a few months older than Draco. She became a Death Eater because she knew Draco was going to become one as soon as he left Hogwarts. She hasn't been sentenced to a Dementor's Kiss because she was only a Death Eater for such a short time. She didn't know about Gillamoor until that last night either," Jinty continued.
Like Draco himself, Luna thought.
"Anyway, she's in Azkaban for life with Mum and Dad. Draco ruined her life and for what? He didn't love her," Jinty said, her voice tight and small. "I'm angry with him and I can't help feeling that way although I know it's pointless," she added helplessly.
"Did Draco ever tell her to become a Death Eater?" Luna asked softly.
"No," Jinty said reluctantly.
"Did Draco ever tell your sister than he loved her?" Luna questioned again.
"No," Jinty replied honestly, her voice very quiet.
"Then why are you blaming him? He was misled by his parents himself. He didn't know the truth until after he had already become a Death Eater. He didn't lead your sister on. He dated her for a short while but he never lied to her about his feelings. If she hadn't been blinded by her own feelings, she would have seen that joining the Death Eaters was never going to make Draco love her. She was clinging to a fantasy and paid a terrible price for it. Also, your parents were Death Eaters too Jinty and I'm sure she was influenced by that as well," Luna said compassionately, putting one hand over Jinty's restless fingers.
"Why didn't he love her?" Jinty almost yelled. "She was pretty, she was nice, she was smart and she loved him. Why wasn't she good enough for him? Why?"
Luna got up and put her arms around the girl now sobbing in her chair. "I don't know Jinty. It's got nothing to do with whether or not your sister was pretty or nice or smart or loving. You either love someone or you don't and if you don't, you can't make yourself feel that way," Luna said gently. "I guess your sister loved Draco and couldn't let go when she saw her feelings weren't returned. Rather than accept the pain of that, she lived in a fantasy world."
"So it's all my sister's fault?" Jinty sniffed angrily.
"No, it's Voldemort's fault. If he hadn't formed such an evil group as the Death Eaters, this would never have happened to your sister. In time, she would have grown older and accepted her grief and moved on. Voldemort never gave her that chance. He used her vulnerability to trap her into the Death Eaters and now she is paying a horrible price in Azkaban," Luna said firmly but kindly.
Jinty stopped crying and thought very hard about what Luna had said. She realized the truth when she heard it. All this time she had been making Draco into the villain, angry because he couldn't love her pretty sister. There was still a remnant of that anger born of loyalty to her sister but suddenly she realized that her sister wasn't rotting in Azkaban because of Draco but because of Voldemort. "I want revenge!" the young girl said fiercely clenching her fists, her hazel eyes blazing with passion.
"What are you good at?" Luna asked her calmly.
Jinty stared at her for a minute. "I'm good at Arithmancy, Potions and Charms," she said with a small frown of confusion.
"Same subjects as Hermione," Luna said thoughtfully. "I think you need to think seriously about how you can help the cause against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Maybe you need to think about the Special Forces in the Aurors and how you can use your gifts in a role like that. Don't let your sister suffer in vain. Use your love for her and your anger at Voldemort for ruining her life to fight him," Luna said, her green eyes intense as she searched Jinty's hazel ones. "Work hard at school and give serious thought to how to redeem something from this tragedy."
Jinty nodded slowly and wiped her eyes on the tissue Luna provided from her wand. "I'm not angry at Draco anymore," she said in a small voice.
"Good," Luna said softly. "He's one of our allies in this fight now."
Jinty nodded. "I can see why he loves you and he does love you. I saw Draco with different girls at Hogwarts in the couple of years I was there before he graduated and he didn't care about any of them really. He really cares about you. I could see the difference straight away. I almost wanted to hate you at first because he so obviously loved you and didn't love my sister but you were so kind to us Slytherin girls that I couldn't," she admitted reluctantly with a grateful look.
"I can quite understand," Luna said soothingly and went to sit back down in her own seat. She ordered something hot to drink and the two sat and sipped tea while Luna gradually turned the conversation onto happier subjects as the girl calmed down.
* * *
In the hallway, Draco stood frozen with a white face. He had known Jinty's sister Jasmine had believed she loved him. He didn't believe that she had really. The girl had been in love with a fantasy of her own making that had nothing to do with who he really was. She was a pretty girl and everything else Jinty had said but she was so involved in her own fantasy about Draco that he never really felt he could connect with her at all.
Apart from anything else, what Luna had said was true. Either you loved someone or you didn't and he couldn't make himself love Jasmine although he could see what an attractive girl she was in every sense. Loving Luna took no effort, he just did. Even if he hadn't wanted to love her, he couldn't prevent the feeling. He was angry with himself for even trying to date Jasmine now. He should have realized her view of him was unhealthy and not to be encouraged. He didn't entirely agree with Luna's view of events, he did feel to blame for having offered Jasmine hope and then carelessly dashing it. It had been thoughtlessly cruel. He had dated plenty of other girls for short times but none had joined the Death Eaters to impress him and none were now rotting in Azkaban as a result.
He quickly retired from the hallway in case someone saw him there eavesdropping. He had been trying to find Luna who would have been a sight for sore eyes after a day in the sunshine with a raggle-tag of boys but he had overheard Jasmine's name and his own and it had stopped him in his tracks.
As he walked back to his suite of rooms to change out of his grimy outdoor clothes, he wondered who the hell he had been only a few short months ago. He pondered how much damage he had done to innocent people out of pure ignorance, thoughtless, arrogance and selfishness. Most of all, he wondered how many times in his future the actions of his past self would come back to bite him. With a sinking feeling, he wondered what Luna had really thought of him despite what she had said to Jinty to calm the girl down and put her on the right track. Did Luna really believe what she'd said or did she harbour secret doubts about him now? Compressing his thin, pale lips he supposed he deserved it. After all, he'd behaved stupidly and selfishly towards her too once.
His pale eyes shuttered, he went to his private bathroom to scrub himself clean.
* * *
After Jinty went back to the Serpent's Den looking rather determined with her new goals and much happier, Luna sat back in her chair and sighed. Her dark green eyes watched the flames dancing in the fireplace. Did she herself believe what she had told Jinty? Strangely enough, she did. She didn't think Jasmine's fantasies and acts of desperation were Draco's fault although perhaps it would have been kinder of Draco not to offer her encouragement by dating her if he didn't have any real feelings for the girl. Then again, all teen-agers did that while they experimented with their sexuality and relationships. Perhaps if Draco had been older and more experienced at the time, he wouldn't have been so careless with the girl's feelings. Who knew? Luna doubted if Draco's cool reserve could have ever satisfied such a passionate, romantic sounding girl anyway. Even if he had loved her, it probably would never have been enough.
Luna believed she had done the right thing anyway. Jinty had a new, more helpful perspective on things and some serious goals to pour her considerable energies and talents into. With a sigh, she went to find Draco.
* * *
"Do you think I ruined Jasmine's life?" Draco asked her quietly much later than night as his slender fingers stroked her bare arm as they lay in bed.
"You overheard," Luna said as a statement of fact. "No, actually," was all she said.
"Why?" he asked, his voice low.
"You heard why," Luna said matter-of-factly.
"I heard what you told Jinty to calm her down and re-focus her. I didn't hear what you really thought," he said and brushed a kiss over her hair.
Luna simply told him what she had thought to herself after her conversation with Jinty. "You need to forgive yourself for being an inexperienced teen- ager still experimenting with all that stuff," Luna said, for all the world like she was not just 19 herself. "It was careless but not evil or even bad."
"It resulted in terrible tragedy," Draco said quietly.
"I wonder if Jasmine wasn't a tragedy waiting to happen," Luna said thoughtfully. "If she hadn't fixated on you, it probably would have just been someone else. Coming from a Death Eater family, she probably needed the distraction and fantasy. Her life was probably precarious and strange," Luna said. "I think someone with her nature in her situation was probably destined for disaster. She didn't sound sensible like her sister Jinty is."
"No, she was nothing like Jinty personality-wise," Draco agreed. "I still feel guilty," he added.
"Get over it. Every teen-ager makes mistakes and the small mistake you made would not have had those consequences if Jasmine had been emotionally normal," Luna said sensibly.
"I love you," he said quietly but his voice was serious.
"I love you too," she said with a grin and lifted her face for his kiss.
