The Love of a Lion

Chapter 5

Girls, Girls, Girls

"I love him." As Luna uttered those fatal words, her heart leapt. 'Yes..' she thought. 'It's true. I love Ronald Weasley' . It felt good admitting those words, like a burden lifting from her heart. She stood up, humming to herself. "Weasley is my king, Weasley is my king, the raven loves the li-ion! Weasley is my king!" She walked inside Hogwarts, smiling. No need to hide it! Let the world see! He'll be so happy!

--

Draco Malfoy exited the Slytherin common room, oddly unaccompanied. Life was good. He was almost done with his mission, or so he thought, and he had girls at his disposal. Pansy and that Ravenclaw sap Elizabeth What's-Her-Face. 'She's replaceable' Draco thought ascending a flight of stairs. 'Best of all, they don't know the other exists!' He entered the first floor with a smug look on his face. "Potter's never had this luck with the ladies." Stopping at a mirror, Draco paused to admire his reflection. "You're the sexiest guy in the school."

"With an ego the size of a hippogriff!" Draco spun around. Ginny Weasley was staring him in the face. "Only Lockhart has a bigger ego than you."

"Jealous, aren't you Weasel-bee? I heard your last relationship with Thomas tanked." Draco smiled his smug smile. "Maybe you just want some of me for yourself." Damn. That didn't come out right.

"Hell would freeze over before I'd date Draco Malfoy, no matter what those...people say!" She spat at Draco's feet and stormed off in a hurry.

"Didn't have to be such a drama queen..." Draco muttered sending Ginny a scathing look. Ah yes. Those 'people' Ginny mentioned. That small group of Hogwarts girls who spend every moment of their life playing matchmaker. Some matches like Potter and Mudblood Granger seemed like a match made in heaven, while others like himself and the Mudblood seemed like a match made in hell. "I didn't know that they were trying to pair me up with her." Draco shuddered in revulsion as he climbed another set of stairs.

"What's this?" A crowd of people had gathered around...something. Draco couldn't see what. Fighting past the people, he gazed at the two who were fighting. It was Elizabeth and Pansy.

"Oh shit." Draco said, mouth agape. How was he going to get himself out of this one? Maybe if he was lucky, they'd kill each other.

"So." Elizabeth said, pursing her lips. "I see you've been hanging out with my Drakkie-poo. You two have been hanging out a little too much. It's like you're dating." The crowd oohed, in a 'Pansy's gonna get it' sort of way.

"YOUR Drakkie-poo?" Pansy said, emphasizing disgust on the last word. "On the contrary, he's my Draco-waco. And I must add YOU'VE been hanging around with him too much."

"My lord...I shouldn't have let them call me those nicknames." Draco sighed.

"I've been hanging with him because he's my boyfriend." Elizabeth said, throwing her head back in a triumphant way, like she just won a wrestling match.

"You must be delusional, cause he's MY BOYFRIEND!" Pansy shot Elizabeth a scathing look. The crowd was going wild now. Someone in the crowd yelled "Draco, you player!"

"Damn, damn, damn!" Draco muttered to himself, yanking his hat down over his ears, which were steadily turning red. 'What have I gotten myself into? Oh dear god, this is a mess...' he thought, turning redder until he was the color of a tomato.

"What's your damage?" Elizabeth said, sending Pansy a confused look. "This is HOGWARTS, not the Long Term Effects Ward at Saint Mungo's."

"Sadly there's no Department for the Deranged at Saint Mungo's." Pansy said, tut-tutting. "You'd feel right at home there."

"At least I'm not in that zoo house Slytherin." 'Hey now...' Draco thought.

"Thank god I'm not in that dung heap Ravenclaw."

"Who's winning in Quidditch?" Elizabeth said, smiling venomously at Pansy.

"How sad, that the only decent insult you can come up with is insulting our Quidditch skills."

"It just shows that our players are better than those monkeys you call a Quidditch team." 'Does she know I play Seeker?" Draco thought, raising an eyebrow at Elizabeth. 'Apparently not.'

"Why you...you..." Pansy was at a lost for words. The crowd was going wild.

"See, my brain isn't small and flat like you and the rest of your body." Elizabeth said, laughing triumphantly.

"Why you little bitc-"

"Settle down, settle down." The cold drawling voice of Severus Snape entered the room, as well as Snape himself. "Miss Britten, a detention for Ravenclaw for fighting in the hall."

"What?" Elizabeth was furious. She let off a string of swear words.

"And ten points from Ravenclaw for use of improper language. I suggest you get to class."

--

As Ron left Transfiguration, his mind was churning. 'Luna sure was acting weird...she's all happy. Singing in the halls, practically dancing around the place...Yo Cade!"

Cade Narcissus turned around, smiling. "Oh, hi there Ron! What's up with you?"

"It's Luna...she's been acting weird. Have you noticed why she's...like this?" The words seemed stuck to his tongue, he had trouble unsticking them. When they were unstuck, they flowed like molasses though.

"Yeah...I have no clue. It started about two weeks ago, I don't know why though." Pointing off to the distance, she smiled. "There she is, go ask her." Nodding Ron ran off. As she danced away, he ran closer and closer. When he was within a foot of her, he heard her singing.

"Weasley is my king, Weasley is my king, the raven loves the li-ion! Weasley is my king!"

"No way." Ron said quietly, as Luna walked, well sort of skipped off. "Luna's just a friend." He slumped down, clutching his books close to his chest. "She's just a friend...but why do I freak out whenever I'm near her?" A moment of silence followed. "Christmas is less than a month away...I'll ask Bill...or somebody."

--

Lavender Brown was also in utter elation. She walked through the halls, giving off the air of one who seemed like she didn't have a care in the world. In fact, she didn't. Won-won was going with her to the next Hogsmede weekend! 'Life couldn't get any better!' she thought, twirling around. 'I'm going on a date with Ron and-hey, there he is!' She grinned. "Won-won! It's me!"

"Oh...hey." Ron seemed to be brooding about something. 'He seems sad...' Lavender thought, biting her lip.

"So, ready for our date Won-won?" Lavender said, giggling again.

"Uh...Lavender, I want to call the date off." Lavender was struck dumb. 'What? Wh-why did Won-won say that? I thought I was his girlfriend...'

"Why?" she said, voice trembling.

"I need to...sort my feelings out." Ron grinned sheepishly, stood up, then walked away.

"Wh-wh-what did I d-do wrong?" Lavender said, choking back tears. 'What's wrong with him? Could he be seeing another girl? Am I not good enough?' She stood up, meaning to follow Ron, but then stopped. 'That Ravenclaw...Luna or something. She seemed awfully sad when we were first dating, or so says Padma, and now she's all...happy.' Lavender's eyes narrowed. "That's it. I will make Luna Lovegood's life miserable! Nobody steals Won-won and gets away with it!"