Disclaimer: All characters and places in the Harry Potter universe belong to J.K. Rowling – I own none of them, I simply play with them.

Chapter Two

The following morning, Pansy sat at her stately dressing table, brushing her long, dark hair. It tumbled about her shoulders in gentle waves, it shone and it gleamed, and yet still she kept brushing. She stared into her reflection at her own eyes, not really focusing properly, just thinking. She still felt numb about what Draco had told her, and so, so awful about running out on him last evening. The news had hit her like a tonne of bricks – she was always so sure Draco had his father twisted around his little finger. He always gave Draco so much. More, even, than her parents gave her, and he was always so charming at social functions and balls.

To think that her arranged marriage would someday, make that bastard her father-in-law.

She shuddered involuntarily, not wanting to think about the arranged marriage right now, not wanting to think about anything. To drive everything Draco had told her from her mind... He was so strong. He was always so strong. He protected her from other girl's jealousy, from failing her O.W.Ls, from going insane through lack of decent company... he was her saviour, her spiritual brother, her everything. And here he was, being beaten on a regular basis, and Pansy was powerless to stop it. It made her feel ill.

She stood up suddenly, with the strongest urge to escape Hogwarts. Looking outside she saw it was pouring down with rain – it formed puddles on the ground outside, and the sky was an ugly, dull grey. Fitting, Pansy mused.

She brushed past Millicent, who sat on the edge of her bed waiting for Pansy to finish. She went to stand up and follow, but Pansy turned around and said –

"I'll see you in Charms."

She carried on down the dorm stairs, for the first time in her life praying that Draco wouldn't be waiting to accompany her to breakfast, that he wouldn't be there at all. She couldn't cope with seeing him... how was she supposed to be a decent friend to him after what he had told her? How was she supposed to help, to support? She couldn't deal with situations like this. It was scary; it was beyond Pansy's control. She hated feeling like a situation was controlling her. That was the sole reason why Draco and her never spoke about their arranged marriage... how could you marry someone you practically regarded as a sibling? It was almost impure.

When she reached the entrance hall, she flung open the heavy, oak doors and stepped outside. The rain instantly soaked her freshly washed hair and beat against her skin, ebbing through her light indoor robes, getting into her shoes. But she didn't care. She wanted to be numb, to be taken out of this situation, to be free.

Pansy ran. She ran around the side of the lake, the wind whipping painfully against her face, blinking a mixture of rainwater and tears out of her eyes as she went. When she reached the opposite side of the lake, she collapsed on the grass, exhausted. She was a state now. Her hair was bedraggled and hung limply around her face, her clothes were soaked through to her underwear, and she could barely open her eyes, for the sheets of rain that fell steadily blurred her vision.

It seemed like hours she sat there, her eyes closed, her legs pulled up to her chest and her chin on her knees. She tried to think of nothing at all, blocking all thoughts of school, of Draco... and it worked, for a bit, until, with a weary sigh, she realised that she'd already missed breakfast, half of Charms, and if she didn't hurry, she'd miss Potions, too.

She walked back to the castle with her eyes on the ground, her lip trembling slightly due to the bitter cold wind. It wasn't until she saw a pair feet headed straight for her that she looked up.

Draco.

"Pansy..."

Pansy stopped dead in her tracks, her face inches from his. Draco put a hand either side of her face, cupping it and tilting it towards him.

"Why are you out here? It's pissing down, and freezing."

"Because..." Pansy stepped back, blinking rainwater out of her eyes. "I can't do this Draco. I just... I still can't believe..."

"I know," Draco said simply. "I probably shouldn't have told you, but –"

"No," Pansy shook her head. "I'm glad you did."

That's when she realised. She was glad Draco had told her. She was glad.

Draco looked at Pansy. She looked a state. Her hair was soaking, her lips were blue and trembling, and her cheeks were flushed. She was biting her lip nervously, and wringing her hands the way she always did when she was nervous. He was hit with a pang of love for his best friend, and gave her a lopsided smile.

"Come here, Pansy..." Draco held his arms out, and Pansy stepped into them, glad of the warmth. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, and could feel her shivering. He planted a kiss on top of her wet hair, and whispered – "it's not that bad all the time. Don't feel bad for me. I've still got you, haven't I?"

Pansy nodded into his chest, and buried her head further. She didn't want to come out of Draco's embrace, where she felt warm and safe and protected, and none of it mattered anymore. She wrapped her arms around his waist and ignored the rain and the wind, just wanting to stay like this forever.

~*~

That evening, Draco climbed the Astronomy Tower. His heart felt heavy and his mind, numb. There was an unpleasant throbbing sensation between his temples which he felt sure no headache potion would cure.

When he reached the top, he breathed a sigh of relief. The Tower had become his place of late. The place where he could go to get away from everything – the pressure from his Father, his teachers... the pressure to be a 'social leader', to be the boy everyone wanted to follow. The pressure of looking after Pansy... he loved that girl more than life itself, but Gods was she a high-maintenance best friend. The pressure of constantly thinking up new ways to get at Potter and his bunch of freaks, to live up to expectations, to be a Malfoy.

Fuck being a Malfoy.

"Hello."

A distant voice came from the other side of the Tower, and Draco's hand instinctively flew to his wand.

"Who's there?" he said furiously. How dare someone intrude on his place – how dare they! He would make sure they paid.

"I could ask the same thing," the voice answered back, "and seeing as I was here first, I think I would have more right to."

Draco scowled angrily. "I'm a Prefect. I'm up here on duty, making sure no one is out of bounds." He lied well. He always had done.

"Surely, at this hour, the out of bounds rules apply to Prefect, too?"

Draco hesitated. It was true – after hours, it was only the Head Boy and Girl that were allowed unrestricted access in the castle. "Look, just go back to your dorm," Draco said impatiently, putting his wand away and taking a few steps forward. There was a girl, with long, tousled hair, and a shimmering blue dressing gown sitting cross legged on the floor; her head leant against the stone wall, her eyes half open. A shaft of moonlight fell across the intruders face, revealing porcelain skin, the palest of blue eyes, and a slight parting in her full, red lips.

"Who are you?" Draco repeated, but this time his tone was less aggressive, and full of curiousness.

"I know who you are," the girl replied, sitting up straight and folding her arms. "You're Draco Malfoy."

"Am I really?" Draco said scathingly. "Well, thank you, but that's not what I asked. I happen to know who I am."

To Draco's enormous surprise, the girl grinned at him. "Of course you know who you are," she laughed. "I was just saying."

"Uh...right."

There was a few seconds of awkward silence as the girl stared at Draco with an apparent interest, and he hung his head uncomfortably, unsure of what to say or do next. It wasn't often that he felt inferior in a conversation.

"I'm Luna Lovegood," she answered eventually. "Sixth year Ravenclaw."

Draco nodded; trying to place the name in his mind… he was sure he'd heard it before. "What are you doing up here?"

"What are you doing up here?"

Draco tutted again in annoyance. This Luna girl was certainly highly irritating.

"I don't think that's any of your business," he sneered.

Luna smiled again, and Draco how different she looked when she was smiling. "I know it's not. I was just wondering," she shrugged, in a tone that suggested Draco was really rather silly not to tell her.

"If you must know, I come up here to get away from it all sometimes," he snapped, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at her.

"I know what you mean about wanting to get away from it all. The girls in my dorm are all so superficies and fake. They all think I'm odd, too. Some people call me Loony Luna."

With that she let out a loud shriek of a laugh, and Draco looked at her, alarmed.

"Sssh!" he said frantically. "Shut up! Do you want to get found?!"

When Luna had stopped laughing and become busy picking a stray thread on her dressing gown, Draco realised. Of course, that's where I've heard her name before... Loony Luna Lovegood... the insane Ravenclaw...

"We won't get found."

"What?"

"We won't get found... not up here. No one ever bothers to come and check. I've been coming ever since I first started at Hogwarts and I've never been found."

Draco's eyes narrowed and he looked at her suspiciously. "If you've been coming up here ever since you came to Hogwarts," he said carefully, "why haven't I seen you before?"

Luna looked him square in the eyes. "It's not my fault you act like you're half blind most the time," she said in a very matter-of-fact tone.

Draco's eyes widened and he opened and closed his mouth a few times, rather resembling a goldfish. A smile tugged at the corners of Luna's mouth.

"I'm sorry," she said genuinely. "I should've alerted you to my presence the very first time I saw you come up here... but the very first time you – you – "

"I remember the very first time," Draco said, stung.

It had been in his second year – he'd just received a letter from his father detailing exactly how he should be acting at the moment with the issue of the Chamber of Secrets still being up in the air. A social leader for all the Purebloods of his year, supportive of the Dark actions being taken in the school at the moment, but not too evidently... all demands, all controlling demands ruthlessly made by a man that had expected too much from him since the day he was born. And to make matters worse, he wouldn't even tell Draco who'd opened the Chamber. How was he supposed to be superior and leading if he didn't even know more about what was going on than a Hufflepuff did? He had come to the Tower, a complete emotional wreck – crying, Merlin, crying, about the whole situation – hours he had sat in ball, whimpering for someone – anyone – who would understand him.

Draco would talk to himself when he was up here. He would talk to the moon, to the stars,to the empty night air, because it was the only thing that would listen. His heartbeat raced and his palms became sweaty when he recalled just some of the things he had said out loud in the Tower before, things she would've heard.

"Why the hell didn't you say something before now? It's been four years!" Draco spat, raking a hand nervously through his hair.

"Like I said, I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you, every time you would come up here and I would want to tell you – "

"Hang on," Draco interrupted. "How the hell can it be that I have never noticed you before? I'm not that blind."

Luna looked to her left. Draco had to squint his eyes and take a few steps forward to see – a little nook in the castle wall, which was pitch black if you stood even a metre or so away. He growled angrily.

"Then how come you haven't come up here when I've been up here before? I mean – surely not every time for four years have you arrived first."

Luna shrugged. "No, you're right. I haven't. Sometimes I've come upstairs and you've already been up here... but I'm very quiet, I always tip toe. And if you're here already I just sit on the steps, listening to you –"

"EVESDROPPING on me! Listening to things that are not for your ears, PRIVATE things... things I wouldn't even – can't even –" Draco broke off, feeling a rising lump in his throat. How dare this stupid little idiot sit and listen, laughing at him night after night?

"I'm sorry," Luna said quietly. "I never meant to upset you or anything. I decided to speak to you tonight because... I just wanted to tell you that I – I understand."

Draco's eyes were stinging as he lifted them to glare at her. "What do you mean you understand?" he said, with as much venom in his voice as he could muster.

"I understand what it's like to have a father like yours. I understand what it's like to be surrounded by people and not be able to talk to a single one of them. I understand what it's like to have suffered great pain in your life and not feeling as though anyone cares. I understand what it's like to have to put on a front, to not let anyone see the real you. I understand what it's like to hurt. I understand, Draco."

Draco looked at Luna. He looked at her without blinking for as long as his eyes allowed him too, until a single tear spilled over his eyelid. He wiped it away quickly, breaking her gaze, and looked at the sky outside. He felt numbed, shocked, disbelieving...grateful. He jumped when he felt a hand on his arm, and looked down into Luna's eyes, wells of sympathy and empathy. He nodded to show his acceptance, and turned on his heel, swiftly exiting the Astronomy Tower.

~*~

That night, Draco couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned, but his thoughts were plagued with images of the girls face... "I understand what it's like to have a father like yours... what it's like to have suffered great pain in your life and not feeling as though anyone cares... what it's like to have to put on a front, to not let anyone see the real you... I understand, Draco." She had called him... Draco. No one called him Draco, except his parents and Pansy.

But Pansy was... Pansy was different. Draco grinned to himself slightly. Pansy was the exception to every rule, the opposite to everything that made sense. Pansy was just... Pansy. It would amuse him that she was his to be his future wife if it didn't feel so, so wrong. They were friends – that's just what they were, and neither of them had ever felt any different towards each other. He loved her more than he loved anyone – but as a sister. She knew more about him than anyone else in the world, she cared about him more, too, and he cared desperately about her. But there was always something missing...

Pansy was a bitch. She was brazen, wicked, scheming, and evil. She was funny, even sweet at times, and she was very kind and caring, but Draco always had problems opening up to Pansy. He never felt like she could really appreciate and understand his problems, because she was so carefree and innocent to the evils of the world. Sure, she had grown up, like he had, surrounded by Dark magic – the Slytherin families always had been the dark underbelly of the Wizarding world, everyone knew that, but Pansy knew nothing of real evil. Evil that lay behind closed doors.

Her parents doted on her, gave her everything she could possibly dream of, and treated her like a princess. They did not beat her senseless when she achieved a bad test mark, they did not call her all the names under the sun for failing to make Head Girl, and they did not deny her any physical signs of love and affection when she hurt and cried.

Pansy was beautiful, and great. She helped him forget about him at home... she brought sunshine when everyone was grey and bleak, she provided escape and optimism. But sometimes Draco needed more than that. He needed to talk about the grey and bleak things, the shadows that hid stealthily from the sun, the trapped reality he lived in, the pessimist in him which would always remain.

Luna.

Draco shrugged the name from his mind in a desperate attempt to fall asleep... and, eventually, he did, only to dream about a frozen moon which called to him as he wept.

~*~

"Sleep well, darling?"

Draco grinned at Pansy and nodded – a lie. "Shall we?" he said, holding out his arm.

"We shall," she smiled back, her eyes awake and sparkling, the marks her pillow had made on her cheek still slightly visible, threading her arm through his and allowing him to lead her down to the Great Hall. Crabbe, Goyle and Millicent followed in their wake, as usual, grunting to each other like a load of baboons.

Thank Merlin for Draco, Pansy grimaced, listening to their primitive-type conversation.

When they reached the Great Hall, Pansy spotted Blaise from the entrance.

"Blaise, darling!" she cried shrilly, letting go of Draco's hand and waving. "Draco, come on," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him through the throngs of hungry, bleary-eyed students so they could get seats where she wanted.

The Great Hall had the four House tables lined up side by side, reasonably close to one another, so if you sat on one side of Slytherin, the person sitting facing your direction on Ravenclaw really wasn't that far away, seeing as they were the neighbouring House table. It was with great shock that Draco realised that sitting opposite him was her – Loony Luna Lovegood. He knew he was gawping - she hadn't seen him yet, she was too busy staring at that ridiculous magazine her father owned, the Quibbler, to notice him. She seemed to have some sort of vegetable hanging from her ears, and a chain of butterbeer corks hung round her neck. He cringed... to think that he'd been conversing with this person last night.

"Are you alright, darling?" Pansy said, waving her hand back and forth in front of Draco's eyes. He swotted it away playfully.

"Course, Pansy," he said cheerfully, ripping his eyes away from Luna, and wrapping an arm around Pansy's shoulders, giving her a tight squeeze and kissing her cheek quickly. "You worry too much."

Pansy smirked and rolled her eyes, continuing her conversation with Blaise, leaving Draco to eat the cereal that had appeared in his bowl which tasted oddly like cardboard, and concentrate with all his might not to let his eyes stray back to Ravenclaw.