A/N: Hey, I finally have a long chapter this time! I hope you guys like it… it took me a few days to write after a period of writers block o.0 I've also been working on a Final Fantasy X-2 fanfic I have in the works. It'll be an action/adventure/romance and have characters from X and X-2. So if you're a fan of these games, definitly check it out, I should be posting the first chapter soon! Now on with this fic…

Chapter Nine: The Necklace

"Hey Draco," Harry greeted his friend, who was sitting dejectedly at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. It was the day before the fifth to seventh years Halloween dance, and Draco Malfoy was still dateless. He had been rather withdrawn from the likes of his friends for the past few days, but Harry hadn't really given it much thought until now – his mind had been occupied with thoughts of Susan Bones as of late.

"Hello Harry," Draco said quietly, his shaggy blonde hair dropping in front of his ice blue eyes.

"What's up mate?" Harry asked, sitting down next to his friend, trying to act as casual as possible.

"Breakfast," Draco said blankly, poking some home fries on his plate.

"Ah. Brilliant," Harry said, gloping some potatoes onto his plate. He hadn't the heart to ask Draco to ask what he was going to do about the dance. The two boys sat in silence for a while until they were joined by a cheery looking Pansy.

"Good morning Harry, Draco," she said grinning. Pansy had been just as happy as Harry had to have a date to the dance these past few days, and you could tell she was positively shining – she and Zacharias had been walking around the halls together ever since they agreed to go to the dance with each other those few days ago.

"How are you guys this morning?" Pansy asked, scooping some food onto her plate. Draco just grunted, and Harry glanced up at Pansy.

"Great, just great. How're you?" Harry asked.

"Wonderful. Have you guys seen Zacharias?" Pansy asked. Harry felt Draco slouch down even further in the seat next to him. He couldn't believe Pansy hadn't noticed how depressed Draco was… or maybe she did and she didn't care. But then again, he himself had taken this long to notice anything was really the matter.

"Uh… no I haven't," Harry said slowly.

"Oh, that's okay. It's just, last night he said he had a wonderful surprise for me, and that he'd give it to me today. I guess I'm just eager to know what it is," Pansy said with a laugh. Harry nodded slowly, keeping a grin on his face.

"Well if I see him I'll tell him you've been looking," Harry said. He was surprised Draco hadn't oozed onto the floor by now. All you could see was the top of his blonde head in a sea of midnight black robes. Harry felt like yelling at Pansy for not addressing Draco's obvious state of depression, but what good would that do?

"Good morning!" A cheery voice came from out of nowhere. Harry and Pansy glanced up at the smiling face and bright blue eyes of Luna Lovegood.

"Hi Luna," they answered. She merely nodded at them, and then glanced down at Draco's head.

"Hey… Draco?" Luna said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Draco slowly sat up from his slouched position. He rubbed some color back into his white face, and ran a hair through his hair.

"Hi Luna," Draco said numbly. Luna just smiled at him, her eyes intent.

"Draco, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the dance with me tomorrow," she said, taking a deep breath. "I've been meaning to ask, but I just haven't gotten up the courage or what have you to do it, but I figured today was my last chance and I just couldn't wait any longer so I just woke up this morning and marched down here to find you sitting here and now I just…" Draco stood up and put a finger to Luna's lips. For the first time in a few days the mischievous light returned to his ice blue eyes. Draco removed his finger from Luna's lips, and leaned over and kissed her.

Harry's mouth dropped in a triumphant grin. His friend was back! But this action was so random for him... Maybe Draco had had a crush on Luna all along, and Harry just hadn't noticed.

"I'd love to go to the dance with you Luna," Draco said, pulling away and grinning down at her. Luna's eyes were huge and a smile twitched across her face. She had definitely not been expecting that.

"Great… that's really… I'm so glad you said yes," Luna said in a dreamy tone. Draco put his arm gently around her waist.

"C'mon, I'll walk you to class," he said, smiling widely. Luna just nodded, and the two walked out of the Great Hall. Harry laughed and turned back to face Pansy.

"Well looks like Draco's back to normal then. And just in the knick of time too… I thought he had seriously lost it but…" Harry glanced over at Pansy, who looked like someone had just shot her. Her face was chalk white and her eyes were big.

"Uh… Pansy? You alright?" Harry asked, tilting his head. Pansy snapped back to her senses and looked at Harry.

"Oh yeah… I'm fine. Just a… a bad piece of egg. Good news about Draco and Luna… yeah that's great for them. I have to go Harry, I'll see you later," Pansy said standing up and hurrying out of the Great Hall.

Once again Harry found himself sitting alone, deserted by his two best friends for one reason or another.

"Well this is bloody brilliant," Harry murmured, poking at his food. He hoped that once Pansy saw Zacharias she'd forget about this little mishap. However, he was glad Draco was finally happy. Harry put his head in his hands and sighed. It was going to be a long 48 hours…

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Class remained uneventful for Harry. During History of Magic Susan passed him a note mentioning she wanted to do homework together that night in the common room. Harry had just smiled and agreed to meet her later that night.

For some reason Draco and Pansy didn't come to dinner, so Harry ate with Vincent, Crabbe, and Blaise. When he was finished, he quickly hurried up to common room to meet Susan.

She was sitting at a table in the far corner, her long brown hair pulled back from her face in a neat plait. She grinned when she saw Harry, who hurried over to the table and sat down next to her.

"Hey," they greeted each other. Piles of homework surrounded Susan, and when Harry dumped his homework onto the table things became crowded.

"Just brilliant. They give us all this homework the night before the dance," Harry said, glancing over an astronomy report he had to do.

"Better now than tomorrow night, right?" Susan pointed out. Harry nodded.

"Yeah, that would kind of take the whole point of a dance away if we were stuck in the common room doing homework," Harry said. The two continued to work on their various reports and such, glancing up at each other and asking a few questions every once in awhile. The common room was exceptionally quiet for most of the night, until Pansy came in awhile later. She looked distraught. Her hair was a mess and her robes were wrinkled and dirty. She collapsed in a chair in the middle of the room and sighed heavily.

"Has ANYONE seen Zacharias?" she almost screamed. Everyone in the room looked up from their work and glanced over at her.

"Uh... I thought I saw him awhile ago up in the dorms," said one of the boys who was in Zacharias' year. Pansy rose from the chair in a huff and marched over to the staircase to the boy's dormitories. Just as she reached the foot of the staircase, Zacharias appeared at the top.

"There you are!" Pansy exlclaimed. "I've been looking for you all day! Where have you been?" She said as Zacharias climbed down the stairs and reached her at the bottom. Zacharias glanced around the room and the looked back at Pansy.

"I was getting you this," he said with a grin, producing a slender black box from the folds of his robes. Pansy tilted her head and took the box.

"What is it?" she asked excitedly, pulling away the ribbon and opening the box. Pansy gasped, and the box clattered to the floor. In her hands she held a beautiful ruby and diamond necklace. The jewels sparkled in the lamp light from the tables around the common room. All of the Gryffindors stared, utterly shocked. "Oh, Zacharias... it's beautiful!" Pansy said breathlessly. The necklace consisted of about 20 rubies and diamonds, each alternating colors. In the center was a beautifully sparkling ruby that caught the light and projected its red color onto Pansy's face. "How... where... why... thank you so much... this must have cost a fortune!" Pansy said, at a loss for words. Zacharias just grinned.

"It was nothing," he said.

"And it matches my dress for tomorrow perfectly... how did you know?" Pansy said, looking over the necklace.

"Let's just say a little bird told me," Zacharias grinned. Pansy could do nothing but stand there speechless. Zacharias leaned over and hugged her, and the kids in the common room began to clap. Harry looked around to see if Draco was in the room, but he was nowhere to be found. Harry figured it was for the best Draco had not witnessed this.

"You don't have to get me anything like that, ever," Susan said smiling, touching Harry's arm. He flushed. "You're the best present I could get," Harry just sat there smiling dumbly as Susan turned back to her homework.

For the rest of the evening things remained quiet. Harry hadn't gotten a chance to even say hello to Pansy because just about every girl in the common room was crowded around her, asking to see her necklace up close. Around eleven Susan said good night to Harry and headed upstairs to the girl's dormitories, winking down at him before she disappeared.

Harry spent the next half hour in dreamland... he could hardly concentrate on his homework, and his mind was racing about so many different things... Susan, Pansy, the dance, Draco... just when he was about to go up to the dormitory, he heard the portrait hole swing open. In stumbled Draco and Luna, lips pressed against each other. Their faces were flushed as they blindly made their way across the common room. When they reached the foot of the stairs they finally pulled away from one another and just stood there grinning.

"Today was really great Draco," Luna said. "I can't wait for tomorrow,"

"Neither can I," Draco said with a laugh. The two kissed one last time before saying good night and walking up to their dormitories.

Harry sat frozen at his corner table. They obviously hadn't noticed him, and there was no one else in the whole common room... he wondered if they'd mind that someone knew they'd been out after hours doing who knows what. Harry was just relieved it was he who saw them and not Pansy or one of the prefects. He sighed and waited several more minutes before tip-toeing up to the dormitories for bed. He didn't really want Draco to know he had seen him and Luna.

As Harry lay in bed, he began to wonder if the whole thing was just a dream. It probably was just a dream. Harry thought as he drifted off to sleep. By the next morning he had forgotten all about it. There was a new crisis at hand.

"I can't believe it... it's gone!" Pansy sobbed that morning at breakfast. "Zacharias probably spent galleons on that thing and now I've misplaced it!" Harry sat next to Pansy at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. The whole Gryffindor House was awoken early that morning by the shrieks of Pansy and several other girls. Turns out the beautiful ruby and diamond necklace Zacharias had gotten for Pansy had gone missing. Pansy couldn't find it anywhere, and she thought she had misplaced it. Everyone else thought it was stolen.

"Pansy you didn't loose it, it was probably stolen," Harry said, trying to console his friend.

"But who would take it? Everyone in our house is so honest, why would they want to take it?" Pansy said, still unconvinced.

"Sometimes greed can uh... make people act stupid," Harry said, trying to help. Pansy just groaned and collapsed on the table.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Draco slid into the seat across from them, his eyes dancing merrily.

"You haven't heard? The necklace Zacharias got Pansy has gone missing," Harry explained. Pansy just groaned from her slouched position.

"What necklace?" Draco asked. That's when Harry remembered... Draco hadn't been in the common room when Zacharias had given the necklace to Pansy, he had been off with Luna somewhere.

"The beautiful diamond and ruby necklace he got me for the dance," Pansy said, sitting up suddenly. "And everyone says it's been stolen, but I don't know anyone in our house who would do such a thing!" she said angrily, slamming her fist on the table. Draco shrugged and began to scoop food onto his plate as if nothing was the matter.

"Well that's too bad," he said casually. Harry thought Pansy would yell at Draco, but instead she just shrunk back down into her robes again.

"Where's Zacharias?" Harry asked.

"Out looking for clues," Pansy said in a muffled voice.

"Well... don't worry Pansy, I'm sure once the teachers get wind of it they'll use some sort of spell to find it," Harry said. Silence fell over the three of them. Draco ate his food, smiling all the while. Pansy remained in a slouched position, and Harry just sat, his head resting on one of his hands. He didn't understand why things had to get so weird all of a sudden. He and Draco and Pansy were fine, aside from the occaisonal row. But now... ever since the dance, things had been uneasy between his friends. He figured they might have feelings for each other, but if those feelings had existed they were certainly gone now. Harry sighed and wondered if things would ever get back to normal. But then again... what was normal anyway? He hadn't thought about it for a while now, but... he still couldn't remember anything about his past six years at Hogwarts. Harry began to wonder if this was just coincidence or if maybe there was something wrong with him. All of a sudden his thoughts were shattered by a shout.

"Pansy! I found a lead! I FOUND A LEAD!" the excited voice of Zacharias called. It echoed through the Great Hall, and every head turned to face the scene.

"Where?" Pansy said eagerly, standing up.

"From a house elf... he told me there's a small creature that's been prowling the castle, stealing shiny and expensive things at night. He said that the creature has a home in the woods where it stashes all of its belongings. That's probably where the necklace is!" Zacharias said breathlessly.

"Sounds like a load of rubbish to me," Draco said after a moment of silence. "Which house elf did you talk to anyway? The one who thinks the students are attacking the castle?" Draco snorted and rolled his eyes.

"It wasn't him, don't worry," a cool and calm voice said. From behind Zacharias stepped a girl with bushy brown hair and chestnut brown eyes. She was wearing a ravenclaw uniform, and had a book tucked under her arm.

"Hermione!" Harry let the word escape from his mouth. How did he know her? He didn't... did he?

"Uh... yeah. That's my name. I helped Zacharias ask the house elves if they've seen anything mysterious this past night. They're very reliable and very knowledgeable, for your information," Hermione said, directing a dirty look at Draco.

"Right," Zacharias said. "Thanks for your help Hermione, it's been really great," Zacharias turned to Pansy. "Come on, let's go look for the creature's nest," Pansy nodded and took Zacharias' hand. The two hadn't gotten two steps before Hermione stopped them.

"Wait. Do you even know what you're looking for?" she said, raising her eyebrows.

"Uh... yeah... a nest with a bunch of sparkly things in it," Zacharias said. Hermione sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"No, no, no. You're going to need me to come along, otherwise you two will wind up lost," Hermione said. "Is that okay?" Zacharias nodded. The three started for the door, but Pansy turned back and looked over at Harry and Draco.

"You guys come along too! There's no way I could go on an adventure without you," she said with a smile. Harry and Draco were with the group in an instant, and several minutes the party was out in the fresh morning air, crossing the school grounds.

"What about class?" Draco asked, stretching his arms into the air.

"Forget class, this necklace is way more important. It's probably worth more than all of us combined," Pansy said, throwing her hands up.

"Nothing's worth more than you," Zacharias said sweetly, putting his arm around Pansy's waist. Harry glanced over at Draco, who's face remained the same.

"Come on you lot, quit fooling around. The forest is near. Have your wands at the ready. You don't know what we might run into," Hermione said intently. Draco raised his eyebrows.

"How dangerous could these little thieves be?" he asked.

"Well, they're a nocturnal species. Let's just say they'll grow some wicked claws and fangs if we wake them," Hermione said. The group entered the forest, and each teenager hastily pulled out their wands.

"What are these creatures called, anyway?" Pansy asked in a low voice.

"Wemunks. If we happen to wake one, remember to run as fast as possible, we might be able to outrun it," Hermione said. The others nodded. After about half an hour of crunching through the fallen leaves and weaving through the branch covered trees, Hermione finally stopped at a large tree with sweeping branches. The branches had pine needles all over each branch that swept down to the ground.

"Well this is certainly an interesting tree," Pansy said, scratching her head.

"Yes, it's a very rare breed of tree. Wemunks nest in its trunk. The treasure pile should be in the bottom hollow, so one of you needs to crawl under there and retrieve the necklace," Hermione whispered. The teens glanced around at one another, until Pansy stepped foreward.

"I'll get it. It's my necklace and it's my fault it got stolen by a Wemunk. I'll crawl under there and get it," she said. She began to kneel down and part the branches but Zacharias stopped her.

"No way, I'll get it. You're the lady, you should wait," Zacharias said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Why don't we all go get it?" Harry suggested.

"That's a brilliant idea Harry!" Pansy said smiling. "What do you say?" she asked, turning to Zacharias. He nodded.

"You guys have a problem with that?" he asked the rest of the group. They all shook their heads no. "Well then, let's go get the necklace!" The five kids dropped to the ground and began to crawl through the pine needle branches, Zacharias in front.

"How far do these branches go?" Harry asked, pushing aside some pine needles with his arm.

"Anywhere from five to fifty feet. But I'd say this tree is only about twenty," Hermione said from behind him. "Now keep your voices down, we don't want to wake the wemunks," The group continued in silence for about ten more minutes until they finally they reached a small clearing. The massive trunk of the tree stood about four feet infront of them. Between the long coat of branches and the trunk was just the forest floor and some fallen pine needles.

The trunk's roots were thick, and each one was plunged into the ground in such a way that you could crawl into the trunk from between the roots. The kids stood silently for a moment, and could hear nothing from inside the trunk. There was clearly only room for one of them to go down and search for the necklace, but Harry was surprised when Draco threw himself down and was halfway into the base of the trunk in a matter of seconds. Hermione signaled for the others not to move or speak.

It was as if everyone held their breath for the few minutes Draco disappeared into the tree. When he finally reappeared everyone breathed again. His blonde head popped out of the trunk bottom, and so did his hand, necklace clutched in it tightly.

"This it?" He mouthed. Everyone nodded eagerly, and Draco began to crawl out of the tree. He was about halfway out when he bumped his elbow against one of the roots. He let out a moan, and the others winced. Suddenly the tree began to shake. Draco quickly crawled the rest of the way out and looked in horror at the tree.

"Run. Now!" Hermione said frantically. The kids quickly ducked into the branches, pushing them aside as fast as they could. Harry could hear the wemunks swarming behind them. "Just keep going, don't stop!" Hermione's voice said. They were almost out of the branches when Harry heard Draco scream.

"It's got me! They've got me!" He said, his face flushing. He groaned, as Pansy and Harry turned back to see him. "Take the necklace!" Draco said, tossing it ahead of himself, as he was pulled back toward the trunk. Pansy quickly picked up the necklace and tucked it into her robes, but nimbly reached out and grabbed Draco's hand.

"You're not going anywhere Draco," Pansy said, the pine needle branches tangling around her. Harry took Draco's other hand, and he and Pansy pulled as hard as they could. Draco screamed.

"They're... biting me... ow my legs!" He moaned, his face turning red.

"Hold on mate," Harry said, as he and Pansy pulled him harder. "We're almost to the edge of the branches..." With a final tug Pansy and Harry pulled Draco out into the open. The wemunks lost their grip on Draco for just a moment, giving him enough time to stand.

"Draco, your legs!" Pansy said, staring down at his lower half. The bottom of his robes had been chewed off, and his pants had been ripped up to his knees. There were bloody scratch and bite marks all across his legs, and his shoes had been chewed off completely.

"Forget about it, let's move!" Draco said, stumbling ahead. Harry and Pansy each took ahold of his sides, and together the three of them hurried to catch up with Hermione and Zacharias.

"The wemunks will chase us for awhile… so it's best we run... for as long as we can!" Hermione gasped, her feet pounding on the root covered ground. She glanced back at Draco and his bloody legs and feet. "Is he... gonna be able... to make it?"

"Don't worry about me... just keep running!" Draco said, wincing as his bare feet crossed the forest floor. The teens managed to run for about five minutes before collapsing in a clearing.

"Are the... wemunks gone?" Pansy gasped. Hermione looked around and nodded.

"They don't like open spaces in daylight, so I think we'll be safe here," she said, taking a deep breath. The five teens just lay there for several minutes in breathless silence before Zacharias spoke up.

"So did you manage to hold onto the necklace after all that trouble?" he asked. Harry and Draco glanced over at Pansy, who produced the sparkling necklace from her robes.

"Yeah... thanks to Draco," she said, smiling at him.

"It was nothing," he said flushing. A small frown crossed Zacharias' face, and he stood up.

"Well then, we best get you to the hospital wing before you bleed to death," Zacharias said, looking over Draco's wounds. The other kids stood up nodding. Harry removed his shoes and gave them to Draco.

"You better wear these mate," he said, handing him the shoes.

"Aw no way Harry! They'll get all bloody, and you won't have any shoes to wear!" Draco said.

"It's okay, I have another pair up in the dormitory," Harry said, waving his hand. "And I don't mind walking through the forest in my socks... it's not too terrible," he said.

"I just don't want you to miss the dance too, because your feet were damaged," Draco said, looking from the shoes to Harry.

"Missing the dance? Who said anything about that?" Pansy exclaimed.

"I don't know if I'll heal in time for tonight. It's terrible... I don't want to disappoint Luna," Draco said, his face becoming saddened.

"You won't miss the dance Draco, I'm sure of it. Doctor Filch will have you fixed up in no time," Pansy said. "Now come on, let's get going," Draco quickly put on Harry's shoes and stood up, Harry and Pansy each supporting his sides. Together, the five teenagers walked out of the forest and back to Hogwarts castle.

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"Oh Draco I was so worried!" Luna gushed later that day in the hospital wing. Draco sat on the edge of one of the hospital beds, his legs mended back to normal.

"It's okay Luna, I'm fine now. Thanks to Doctor Filch I'll be able to go to the dance tonight!" Draco said, rubbing his cut-free legs. Harry and Luna had come down to the hospital wing to bring Draco back to the common room to get ready for the dance, which started in just a few hours. "Where's Pansy? I haven't seen her since this morning," Draco said.

"She's getting ready for the dance," Luna said airily, glancing at her watch. "And we should be too, it starts in a few hours," Draco nodded.

"Right," he jumped off the bed and stretched a bit. "Thanks again Doctor Filch!" Draco called to the scraggly man, who was measuring some tonic into bottles.

"Just doin' my job kid. Now go have fun at the dance," Filch said, giving a toothy grin. Draco nodded, and together he, Luna, and Harry exited the hospital wing. But as Harry walked down the corrider, he had the sinking feeling that this exciting day wasn't quite over yet... after all, it was Halloween!

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A/N: Hope you liked this chapter! The next one is going to be exciting, and hopefully long -- PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE R&R! It tells me if people are reading this or not, and if I should continue, so it really helps! Thanks