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 Seven

"I brought you a present, lovely."

Pansy was sitting on one of the common room sofas, and Draco approached her from behind and dropped a box into her lap. Hopping over the back, he settled himself next to her and grinned.

"What's this for?" she said with narrowed eyes, picking up the box.

"To make you start talking to me again, Miss Stubborn," Draco teased, poking her in the ribs and pecking her cheek. "Open it."

Pansy didn't answer Draco, but untied the silver ribbon from the dark green box all the same. From the tissue paper inside, she found a beautiful pair of emerald studs – squealing in delight and putting them on the palm of her hand, she exclaimed –

"Oh, Draco! They're beautiful!"

"I thought you'd like them," Draco said, attempting to sound nonchalant but grinning at Pansy's reaction.

Pansy threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek. "Thank you," she said, and held his gaze for a second before putting them on.

"They suit you," Draco offered, noting how well they went with her eyes, and putting his arm around here. "Now, missy, there'll be no more attitude from you," he said with an impish grin.

"Oh, hush," Pansy laughed, settling herself into his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said after a minute. "You know how protective I am over us... I'm just so scared of losing you. I'm so scared you'll leave me with Millicent." She pulled a face and Draco laughed.

"Of course you wouldn't lose me, lovely," he said, kissing the top of her head. "We've had this conversation a million times before – "

"What conversation?"

A cold, drawling voice sounded from behind them. Draco turned around –

"Oh piss off, Zabini, I wasn't talking to you," Draco growled.

"No, apparently not," Blaise continued, sitting the other side of Pansy on the sofa anyway. "You know, Malfoy, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were turning into a right soft-hearted Hufflepuff. Defending Ravenclaw scum... can't get much lower than that, can you?"

"Blaise, please," Pansy whispered, putting her hand on Blaise's arm – but he didn't look at Pansy, instead keeping his steely glare fixed on Draco.

"Zabini," Draco began calmly. "Do you know how much more important I am than you? I wouldn't get on my wrong side too badly, you know – "

"Or what?" Blaise interrupted quickly. "You'll set Pansy on me?"

Pansy withdrew her hand and scowled at Blaise. "That was unnecessary," she said frostily.

"This is nothing to do with you," Blaise shot back at her.

"Leave her alone," Draco sneered, taking hold of one of Pansy's hands for emphasise. Blaise let out a cold bark of laughter before his expression grew serious.

"Never order me around like that again, Draco."

"Fuck off."

"I mean it. Or I might just have to tell Madame Pince exactly what you were doing during that detention."

Draco's entire body went cold and goosebumps covered every surface. He froze, not knowing what to do or say, and watched Blaise walk away, helpless.

"What did he mean, Draco?" Pansy said anxiously, taking hold of both his hands anxiously.

"Me and Luna had detention together," Draco said hoarsely, still staring at the point where Blaise had disappeared up to the boys' dormitory, "in the library, on our own, the other night..."

"Oh Merlin," Pansy exclaimed. "You didn't have sex in there or anything, did you?"

"No!" Draco said, slightly shocked at Pansy's presumption and tearing his eyes away from the doorway. "No, you daft cow, we just, you know, we were kissing..." he blushed fiercely and ran a hand through his hair. "What if he tells my father?" he whispered, his voice full of fear, looking at Pansy desperately.

"I'll talk to him," Pansy said quickly. "I'll make sure he doesn't. Okay? Don't worry."

She put her arms around Draco and pulled him into her tightly, kissing the top of his head. But no amount of reassuring from Pansy was going to make Draco feel any better about this.

~*~

"Blaise," Pansy simpered in his ear during double Charms the next day. Blaise grunted, which Pansy took as a sign to continue. "You're not going to tell Draco's father about... him, are you... hmm?" She ran her forefinger up his arm lightly.

"What's it to you?" Blaise scowled, but didn't move his arm.

"Oh, come now, don't be like that," she continued quietly, keeping a wary eye on Professor Flitwick.

"Like what, Pansy? This is none of your business."

"Well I'm making it my business. I don't want to see Draco hurt."

Blaise scoffed and shook his head. He turned to face her. "And what exactly would my incentive be not to tell him?"

"What do you want it to be?" Pansy said flirtatiously, tossing her hair over her shoulders. A slow smile crept over Blaise's face.

"I wouldn't be like that, Miss Parkinson," he said silkily. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

"Oh, come off it," Pansy said, leaning back in her seat and rolling her eyes. "I've known you since you were knee high, Blaise, you can't get away with that act in front of me."

Blaise let out a quiet growl. "Well I can say what I want, to whoever I want, and maybe it's time your precious Draco learnt that."

Pansy opened her mouth to object, but was interrupted by Professor Flitwick –

"I will not have you gossiping during my class, Mr Zabini, Miss Parkinson!" he said shrilly.

"Sorry, Professor Flitwick," Pansy drawled, pouting innocently and fluttering her eyelashes. "It won't happen again..."

Despite the Gryffindors snickering at her on the row behind, Professor Flitwick turned quite pink and stuttered – "no, no, Miss Parkinson, I'm sure it won't, not to worry..."

Pansy gave the Gryffindors a smug smile, crossed her arms over her chest, and ignored Blaise for the rest of the lesson.

~*~

Draco broke their kiss after fighting the urge to tell Luna about Blaise all evening.

"That noise we heard in the library the other day in detention..."

"Hmm?"

"It wasn't a cat. It was Blaise Zabini."

Luna bit down on her lip hard and shut her eyes briefly. "Oh," she whispered. "That's bad, isn't it?"

"Yes," Draco answered gravely, "it's bad."

"What are you going to do?"


Draco shrugged. "Not much I can do. Pansy talked to him, but she didn't have much luck." Draco's brow knitted together in concern. "He's such a bastard," he muttered under his breath, absently smoothing over Luna's hair.

"I know," she whispered back, nudging his nose with hers. "But it'll be okay."

"Not if he tells my father it won't be." Draco gave a short, bitter laugh, and turned away from her.

"We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it – if we come to it," Luna said quietly. Draco felt strangely reassured by those words – he liked the way that Luna had used 'we', it made him feel safe and secure – a feeling somewhat foreign to him. He nodded his response, turning round and wrapping his arms around her once more.

"We've been up here hours," Luna whispered after what felt like an age of silence.

"I know," Draco said, unwillingly releasing her small body. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and open.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" she said hopefully. Draco nodded, and she gave him a last fleeting kiss before she ran down the Astronomy Tower steps, her footsteps resounding off the stone walls, taunting his ears.

He sighed and pressed his forehead against the cool stone, closing his eyes and trying to make sense of the whirlpool of thoughts and anxieties that felt like they were suffocating him. Maybe I'll just stay here for the rest of the night...

~*~

Absently wondering where Pansy was, Draco floated back in the direction of the Slytherin common room in the hope of finding her there – he'd wanted to have lunch with her today, but she was nowhere to be seen. As he rounded the corner, he heard a girl crying – his head instantly snapping up to see where the sound was coming from.

"Please, please, g-g-give it b-b-back!"

"Make me."

"Th-th-that's the only one I h-h-have!"

"All the better to taunt you with, my dear."

The blood in Draco's veins turned to ice and the blood drained from his face when he saw Luna in the centre of a crowd of Slytherins, all laughing and jeering at her tear stained cheeks – being ring-led by Blaise Zabini. He was holding a photograph of a person Draco couldn't quite make out, waving it lazily in front of his face. Pansy was standing at the back of the crowd, the only Slytherin who didn't wear an expression of torturous glee. She saw Draco's expression and shrugged helplessly, shaking her head.

"Give it back, Zabini," Draco said quietly, but nonetheless the entire corridor fell into a stunned hush. His hands balled into tight fists as he narrowed his eyes at Blaise.

"Oh, look, wittle Draco's come to defend his wittle girlfriend," Blaise taunted, as a wave of confused mumurs shot through the crowd.

"Don't be so fucking ridiculous," Draco spat, "just stop being such an immature idiot and give the girl her photograph." He couldn't even bring himself to look at Luna.

"No," Blaise said calmly. "What are you going to do to me if I don't?"

Draco automatically reached to pull out his wand at the same time as Zabini, but his was out of his pocket and pointed before Blaise's hand had even entered his robes.

"Draco –" Pansy called out in a meek yet warning tone, but Draco disregarded her with a wave of his hand.

"Not now, Pansy," he growled. "Now, Zabini, are you going to give the girl her photograph, or am I going to have to force you to?"

Another confused mumble swept through the Slytherins, but Draco kept his steely gaze fixed on the boy in front of him.

"Now, now, Draco," Blaise said calmly. "There's no need to be like that. May I enquire as to why you care so much?"

Draco clenched his jaw in frustration and tightened his grip on his wand, causing a shower of green and silver sparks to shoot from the end. Blaise knew exactly why he cared so much. "Because you're an idiot," he said through clenched teeth. "I detest anything you do. Now give. It. Back."

Blaise turned his focus to Luna. "Only if you say please," he drawled, walking up to Luna and putting a finger under her chin, tilting her head up so her face was millimetres from his, their noses practically touching. Draco shook violently and felt his anger implode inside him –

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

In the most overwhelming surge of power Draco had ever felt, Blaise's body was thrown against the nearest wall, his wand clattering to the ground, the picture lying uselessly next to his body. He wasn't out cold, but he was groggy, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. A rush of adrenaline caused Draco's breathing to become shallower as he watched the concerned faces looking at Blaise, the confused faces looking at him.

Luna dashed forwards and picked up the photo, shooting a half-fearful look at Draco and pushing her way through the crowd of Slytherins, who didn't make it easy for her, purposely knocking her shoulder and trying to trip her up as she went. It hurt Draco to watch it. His heart was racing, pounding in his ribcage so hard he was sure the rest of the room could hear it.

"Stupid bloody freak," a sixth year who Draco didn't recognise muttered. The rest of the Slytherins nodded their heads in agreement, and Draco felt another hot surge of anger towards the boy, and, for the first time in his life, his House.

"20 POINTS FROM SLYTHERIN!" he roared at the sixth year, who jumped and took several paces back from Draco. There was a stunned silence, and one by one they began to shuffle away from him, towards the dungeons and the staircase.

Draco stood until every last student had disappeared save Blaise's rousing form, trying to control his breathing and his pounding heart. Most of them looked at him fearfully, like he was an escaped tiger ready to pounce on his next victim, virtually tip-toeing past him if they had to. Pansy caught his eye before disappearing up the staircase, giving him an unreadable but meaningful look, which he tried his very best to ignore.

~*~

That night, Luna was already in the Tower when Draco got up there.

"You took points from Slytherin."

"I know I did." Draco raked a hand through his hair. "I've had nothing but grief about it all evening."

"Why did you do it, Draco?"

Neither made any advances towards the other, Draco remained in the doorway and Luna remained by the window.

"Why do you think?" he laughed bitterly. "Is it not obvious? I saw red, Luna... I got so fucking annoyed when I saw that twat torturing you like that..."

"The picture was of my mother," Luna interjected quickly. "I had it in my hand when I was coming back from Potions. I always carry it around with me, but Merlin knows why I got it out in Slytherin territory," she gave a short laugh and looked Draco square in the face. "I don't usually cry in front of them. I've never cried in front of them before. I've never cried in front of anyone before, except you." She looked away and bit down on her lip. "I feel so stupid... like he broke me down."

A rush of sympathy coursed through Draco. "Don't feel stupid," he said, the gentleness of his tone surprising even him. "Zabini's just an arsehole, he's not worth it."

He stepped forward and placed his hand gently on Luna's shoulder, who surprised him by flinging her arms around him and burying her head in his shoulder.

"Thank you," she mumbled into him, and he smiled, bemused, reciprocating her embrace.

Just as Luna's head tilted up towards his, they heard footsteps coming up the stairs – running up the stairs. Draco and Luna sprung apart, Luna's eyes wide with fear. Draco was frozen to the spot, unable to move, when he heard the intruder speak –

"Draco! DRACO!"

"It's only Pansy," he whispered to Luna with a sigh of relief. Pansy appeared in the doorway, panting heavily, her mascara smudged and running down her cheeks in black rivers where it had mingled with tears, her face deathly pale and a small trickle of blood running down from her forehead. She took one look at him and burst into tears.

"Oh, Draco," she wailed, rushing forwards and almost knocking him over with force of her embrace.

"Hey," Draco said, concerned, prising her arms from around him and holding her by either shoulder, forcing her to look him in the eye. "What's the matter? What happened?"

"It's Blaise," she whispered, terrified. "He owled him... he owled your father. I tried to stop him, I really did, he came and found me – read out the letter, told him everything about you and Luna and you cursing him and taking points... he read the whole thing out to me, and I didn't know what to do, I couldn't do anything, I tried to find you but you weren't around, I followed him down to the Owlery and I tried to convince him not to send it, I tired I tried I tried, I managed to snatch it away from him but he shoved me and I fell and cut myself, I must've been out for a few minutes because I woke up outside the Owlery and he'd gone, Draco, and he sent the owl!"

Pansy said everything very quickly, and Draco felt his entire body grow numb and covered in goosebumps. There was an odd ringing in his ears as he tried to take in everything he'd just heard. Zabini had owled his father... and he'd hit Pansy.

"Shit," he muttered softly, letting go of Pansy and bowing his head, his arms dangling uselessly by his sides. The only sound that could be heard was Pansy's shallow breathing and the occasional hoot of the owls outside.

"What are you going to do?" Pansy eventually whispered, looking at Draco wide-eyed and wringing her hands.

"Bastard," Draco replied as her answer, turning around to face the wall. He pounded the wall with his fist – "BASTARD!"

"Draco, please," Luna began gently, laying a hand on his back. Draco whirled around and she jumped back –

"No, Luna, not 'Draco, please', do you have any idea what this means? No, you don't, because your father wouldn't give a fuck if he found out about us – my father is going to kill me."

Luna's lip trembled slightly, but she held her head up high. "I was only trying to –"

"There's no point!" Draco hissed manically, his eyes glinting in the moonlight. "There's no point in anything anymore – my life won't be worth living once my father gets hold of that owl!"

Luna looked down and blinked back tears, and a flicker of guilt passed through Draco. This wasn't Luna's fault, after all. He scowled and turned to face the wall.

"My father would care," Luna said in a wobbly voice. "He just wouldn't try and control me like yours does!"

"Well lucky bloody you," Draco spat, rubbing his temples and putting one hand up to lean against the wall. He was only vaguely aware of Luna storming out of the Tower and Pansy putting a hand on her elbow, guiding him down the stairs. His ears were still ringing as he faintly heard Pansy whisper,

"What are you going to do, Draco?"

"I don't know," he answered truthfully. "I really don't know."