Chapter Nine:

Severus walked out of the bathroom, feeling much better. His headache was gone and all the sticky, dirty feel had disappeared as well. He was hungry, but that would be remedied later. First, he had to check the Youth Potions. They were reaching a delicate stage, and certain ingredients had to be added at the appropriate times. If the timing was not perfect, Voldemort would crumple into a pile of ash, which would float away on a self-made breeze. Not pretty, and Snape didn't want to be put the middle of a war between Death Eaters vying for Voldemort's throne.

As he stood, his back to the bed, he heard a moan coming from behind the canopy curtains. Just as he turned around, Luna's head popped out from between them. She looked around, her eyes at last landing on him, and Snape felt quite suddenly as if he had done something wrong but didn't know what. The only other time he had felt anything similar to it was when his father had come running at him with a belt in one hand and a cane--No! He wouldn't think about that. The look on Luna's face told him that something had happened last night. But for the life of him, he could not remember. All he remembered was drinking a bit too much and waking up this morning with a nail through his skull.

"Is there something you wanted, Luna?" he asked, eager to get back to his work.

"I could do with breakfast and a set of robes," she answered. He had been turning around to get back to his cauldron, but when he heard that, he swiveled around.

"Well, get them, girl," he said, inserting a liberal amount of venom.

"I can't."

"And why not?" he asked, arching his eyebrow at her. But then, he took a closer look. Even though she held the curtains tightly in place, he saw more pale skin than he thought he should. Suddenly, he gave a cry and leapt backwards in shock, landing on the counter he had been concocting his potion on. "What in the world are you doing...are you doing..." he paused, trying to think of a delicate way to put it, "In the buff!" he sputtered at last. She looked at him as only Luna could, then tilted her head to the side.

"You don't know?" she asked. It was at that moment that Severus felt oncoming dread seep into his veins like an icy liquid.

"Know...what?" he asked delicately, not sure if he wanted to know at all. Her jaw dropped, and Severus had barely enough time to cover his eyes before she leapt from the bed. He heard her very bare feet slap across the stone of his floor into the dining area, where a rustle of fabric could be heard.

"You can uncover your eyes, I'm dressed." He peeped carefully with one eye before removing his hand from them.

"What...what happened?" he asked.

"I can't believe you don't remember," she said in disbelief. She sighed and walked into the bathroom without answering his question. He put the potion back into storage. His hands were shaking too much to even think about potions.

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Draco walked down the corridor the connected his room to the library. He had already selected a book on ancient spells, including spells like Facio Praegnas and charms like the Chastity Ring. Ever since Luna had come around, he had been wondering about both, along with a few other curses that were sure to be in the book. He had been wondering about counter-curses he could use to free her of her imprisonment to Snape. It had been driving him mad that he couldn't touch Luna without being left without use of a very neccassary facility and Snape could chain her to his bed any time he wanted. He shivered at the thought. Poor Luna.

Snape had been inconveniently close to Luna for the past few weeks. Planning an intrusion of his chambers was far more difficult than it had been a few weeks ago. Snape had yelled at him for sneaking into his rooms to see Luna, but it had little effect on his drive to see the girl. Of course, it was a convenient coincidence that his rooms were across the corridor from Snape's. As he turned the corner, he heard a door slam. Out of the door came Snape, and he walked down the corridor at a brisk pace, as if he were trying to escape something. He heard a crash coming from the room Snape had just left, and he realized that the door was the slightest bit open.

Creeping inside the door, Draco heard soft, muffled sounds, like gasps and moans in a pillow. When he looked around, he realized that he wasn't far from the truth. Luna lay on the leather sofa, her long blonde hair spread all around her, her shoulders shaking with sobs. Draco was shocked. He had never seen her show an emotion strong enough to cry. Snape must have done something truly dreadful. He kneeled next to her and put his hand on her back.

"Go away, Sn-- Oh. Draco. It's you," she said, lifting her head up and sending a wave of blonde straight into his face.

"Yes," he said, brushing a stray hair from his mouth. "It is me. What's wrong? Did the old snake do something to you, Luna?" He was perfectly ready to get angry if she even hinted that he had hurt her.

"No. Well, yes, but I let him, and now he doesn't remember because he was drunk as a skunk and I hate him and he doesn't remember, Draco, and he drank so much in--"

"Sssh, Luna. what are you talking about? What did you let him do!" he said, his voice squeaking as a thought hit him. Surely not. He would never...

Luna gulped back her tears, and her odd, blue eyes met with his light grey ones. He knew what Snape had done.

"He...he forgot about it, Draco. He d-doesn't remember."

Draco couldn't help but wonder how anyone could forget something like that. She began spouting on and on about how much he drank, and how he drunk a bottle of brandy before he stormed out a few minutes ago, about how he had hit her the other day, about how scared she was. All of it was thick with her tears, and soon enough she was hiccoughing, so he started to rub her back, and she fell asleep on the leather couch.

He stared at her for a few minutes. She pulled on his heart, made him ache. She was like forbidden fruit, enticing and untouchable. Snape was such an unfeeling old cad. He didn't deserve to even know someone like Luna. Someone so beautiful, so sweet, so free. She was so considerate and sensitive to other people, and everyone had put her down her whole life. Snape had broken her heart in one night.

The blonde boy picked up Luna and lay her on Snape's satin bed, tucking her in carefully. Then he made his escape from the room. He could linger no longer.

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A/N: Ask and thous shalt recieve. There it is. I believe there was a request for more Draco/Luna. Probably not what you had in mind, but it is D/L. Poor Luna. Had her heart broken by a drunk Snape. Wouldn't that hurt? Review!