Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it; J.K. Rowling does.
A/N: Thanks for all who reviewed. I'm sorry about the mistakes and appreciate you guys telling me. Again, I am a bit hesitant about where this story is going, and I only have a rough idea how this whole story's going to work out.
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Part Two
The war had changed many people in different ways. With the killings and murders, torture and warfare going on right in front of everybody's faces, it was hard to ignore everything and remain unscathed.
Take Neville Longbottom for instance. Before the war had begun, he was a bumbling, forgetful boy, slightly overweight and cowardly. Nobody had paid much attention to him, and he had very low self esteem. He was not a likely candidate for a hero.
But during the war, he was surprisingly courageous, and headstrong. The unstable condition of his parents had given him passion. He wanted justice. He wanted all others after him to feel safe; he was willing to sacrifice himself for that cause. As it turned out, the more confident Mr. Longbottom got, the better he was at magic. He had also developed a strange resilience to the Cruciatus Curse. He truly turned out to be a hero, proving himself to be quite a competent Auror, capturing no less than twenty Death Eaters, including Rabastan and Rodulphus Lestrange.
Now he is a certified Herbologist, though from time to time he helped out in tough cases in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Instead of a stumbling boy, he is a hearty young man with a smile always on his face.
Though many of the Wizarding Community believes they now prosper, living in a "happily ever after", they are deceived. Prejudice is still there, though extremely insignificant. But the family members of Death Eaters and former Death Eaters that had denounced their ways when the war began were frowned upon by society. They had a hard time finding jobs, nobody trusted them, they could not socialize like other people…
But this was occurring less and less. But to the family members of prominent Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort's most 'trusted' men and women, they had a hard time with everybody.
Like Draco Malfoy.
He had to endure glares and cold glances after they Ministry had decided to let him out of Azkaban. (The only reason he got out, of course, was that "the Chosen One" himself had vouched for Draco. But that's a different story…). Absolutely nobody would hire him, not even when he had asked Tom of the Leaky Cauldron for a position as a waiter. All refused him, some less politely than others.
He had changed.
Really.
He tried to prove it, giving out generous amounts of his father's money (which, thankfully, the Ministry never got hold of) to various magical orphanages and St. Mungo's. Many had raised eyebrows, none had a change of heart.
Harry "the Boy-Who-Didn't-Die" (Yet) Potter had offered him a job, any job at the Ministry. Draco refused, his pride getting the better of himself. He had replied in a very rude letter containing several words that were "not very nice".
So, naturally, he got himself a job. He bought the Whizz Hard Books (Diagon Alley Branch) Company with that never-ending amount of money in his father's bank. Buying the company turned out to be a bad idea. Quidditch Through the Ages was still a best seller, but many people were obviously refusing to buy any others, thinking he had placed Dark Magic on all the books so that Lord "What's His Name" could rise again.
Load of rubbish of course.
The only reason Whizz Hard Books didn't go bankrupt was that the Quibbler had decided to help out. Turns out that the editor knew Draco in Hogwarts…
Luna Lovegood had changed during the war, though it was very hard to notice it. Even her friends (if you could call them that) had a hard time picking out what was different. The most obvious, though, was the faint scar on her hand; the one Lord Voldemort himself had given her (but it wasn't a magical scar, thank goodness).
She was less dreamy, focusing on managing the paper. She was certainly more active; the countless duels with Death Eaters had influenced that. Her eyes revealed the most, if she wasn't wearing a mask or glasses that day. Before the war, they were always out of focus, looking heavenward with innocence. Now there was sadness, as if she carried some horrible burden in her mind that she would never get rid of.
Draco, after various forms of cajoling from his board of advisors, (not that he needed any persuasion) had accepted the Quibbler's help. The books sold a bit better now.
SSS
A few days later…
They had told Mrs. Malfoy and Mr. Lovegood. I will not describe their reactions here, for they contained too many capital letters and various punctuation marks used in excess.
All you need to know is that there were furious cries and yells from Mrs. Malfoy, glares and lecturing (half shouted) from Mr. Lovegood, fuming from Draco and a puzzled look from Luna.
"I don't see why this is wrong…" asked Luna softly, thinking that all this shouting was ridiculous.
"Why it is wrong is that my dunderhead of a son thinks it's all right to sleep around…" cried Narcissa, half in hysterics.
"Really, Luna! You've got a whole life ahead of you. Did you really want to start a family so soon? You're not even married!" proclaimed Mr. Lovegood, exasperated.
"Well, I thought it would be nice to have a baby…"
"You're barely nineteen!" cried Luna's father.
The young woman looked at him, her eyes focused on him, losing that dazed look.
"I am an adult, yes?" she asked as if to make sure.
The older man nodded slowly.
"I made my own choices, yes?"
He nodded again.
"And I knew this could happen, yes?"
Another nod.
"So why is it wrong?"
Mr. Lovegood tiredly opened his mouth, closing his eyes, about to go over the whole lecture again, but someone else beat him to it.
"It's wrong because we barely know each other. What's stopping me from walking away right now, not even giving a glance backward? I could care less. You would be alone. Now think about it. Would you be able to take care of the baby then? Be realistic." Draco looked tired, but he looked at Luna with cold eyes. He looked like a teacher asking a troubling pupil a question which all answers would be considered wrong.
They were all at Malfoy Manor, sitting around the fire. Mrs. Malfoy sat in the leather armchair, back straight, hands on her lap. Mr. Lovegood stood in front of the fire beside Narcissa. Draco sat in front of the fire in a stool. Luna sat in the other armchair.
Luna opened her mouth to answer, but Draco cut her off.
"Nurses, and so forth, yes? You're father could back you financially, right? He could disown you, no?"
Luna's father expression told everybody that he had, indeed, considered the idea.
"Nurses would ask questions. Nannies would want to know the father. Everybody knows you aren't married. Think of you're reputation, editor of the Quibbler. The story would get out: the Quibbler is run by a whore. The whole paper wouldn't sell as well, would it? People would talk."
"I've had people talking about me for seven years. I got through that, didn't I?" muttered the new, bitter side of Luna.
All was quiet. Someone sighed heavily.
"As it turns out, I'm not that heartless," said Draco. "It's more my fault than Luna's. I'll take care of everything. Or everything I can manage." He ended in a hesitant note, his new morals conflicting with his old ones.
"Yeah, you better," muttered Luna's father.
Once, Draco would have replied in sneer, insulting the older man badly. He bit his tongue. Once he saw the father look at his daughter lovingly and sadly, those insults and thoughts disappeared. He was just looking out for his daughter. Other people had feelings, too.
His father never looked out for him like that. He was always a tool to Lucius Malfoy…
No, he thought to himself, I will not turn out like my father. I will be better. This may have started bad, but it would all end good. He would love his child, and his child would love him.
Suddenly Draco found himself wishing the baby loved him. Or at least liked him.
So plans were made. As soon as Luna would start showing that she was pregnant, she would stop showing up at work. She would work by owl. She would stay with Narcissa, who promised she would take good care of Luna at her cottage in the country.
"It's nothing, nothing, really. I have two house-elves and you'll notice I'm not a fat old woman," she said, exasperated at Luna and her father's continuous words of thanks.
Draco, on the other hand, would provide everything for the baby.
Luna refused.
"I insist, madam. It's my child, too."
"So you should provide half, and I'll provide the other half. I'm not poor," said Luna peacefully.
"Look, I've already inconvenienced you. So I will take full responsibility of the child…"
This was not the right thing to say.
Luna looked angry. This was a new sight to everyone in the room (including Mr. Lovegood), who had never seen such an aggressive emotion on such a quiet girl.
Narcissa decided it was time to leave. She got up, stretched, and said goodnight and quickly Apparated away. Mr. Lovegood did the same, only much quicker.
Through narrow eyes, Luna looked at Draco.
"So you think it's just your child, not mine?"
She spoke the words quietly, but with so much menace, sparks flew out of her wand tucked behind her ear.
"No, of course not," said Draco warily, looking at Luna with apprehension.
"So we will both share the responsibility equally?"
Red sparks flew out and popped loudly.
"Of course, of course…"
SSS
They would not speak to each other at all, unless it was absolutely necessary. If everything worked out, no one would notice a thing.
When Luna looked a little more than just 'overweight', she had moved into Narcissa's house. She informed everyone at work that she was traveling to Norway to study several specimens of strange magical animals there. She would be there for an "undefined amount of time, so don't think I'm dead if I don't return for two year" as written in her memo.
It was very easy for both Luna and Draco to not be noticed. Luna did not have many close friends other than Ginny, Hermione and Neville, who all thought she was in Norway. Luna's associates and colleagues were not very involved with her personally, so they would not worry.
Draco was also easily dismissed. Being the son of Voldemort's most loyal supporters and being accused of attempted murder of Albus Dumbledore had its perks.
Nobody really noticed him looking stressed every morning and every evening before he went home. All his workers were terrified of him and they barely saw him at work; he usually holed himself up in his office. Everything worked out, really.
SSS
He Apparated by every evening to Mrs. Malfoy's cottage to check up on Luna. They were very tiring times. His mother made him to every little chore in the house, like get Luna pillows so she wasn't uncomfortable, make sure the room was clean for Luna, cook meals for Luna ("The house-elves can do that!") anything that had to do with Luna.
It was as if they were married. Honestly.
Draco had a sneaking suspicion his mother was doing this on purpose. And it wasn't hard to see that Narcissa thoroughly enjoyed it. Luna, however, was unusual as ever. She stated many unpleasant facts about him when she watched him, hard truths that made him stop and fix whatever it was about him. Stranger were her advices.
"Don't touch that black quill today. It doesn't like you."
"That shifty worker that always wears pink socks? Demote her. She's planning your downfall."
"Get rid of that mistletoe in your trash can. It's infested with nargles."
"The candle on top of your shelf is going to fall and burn the manuscript sent in by that angry Ministry warlock. If it burns, he'll sue you."
They turned out to be true. "The Fiasco of Ms. Pink Socks" turned out to be a folk tale at the office (thankfully, the situation was contained), and Draco barely saved the manuscript, which haunted him at night months afterward, the angry warlock's face floating in his dreams.
The Birthday, as it was called, loomed in the distance, but slowly crawled forward. It was unnoticed by everyone else, especially Luna, who had now taken to reading articles from the Quibbler to the baby. The Birthday surged forward when nobody was looking and before he knew it, Draco saw it right under his nose.
He was in the office, finishing some work, when he casually looked at the clock. 11:47. His eyes traveled to the date. Draco lurched forward, staring at the clock. That was the date! But tomorrow, Luna would—
Swearing obscenities at the clock and at fate, he Apparated to the cottage quickly, with a funny feeling in his stomach, curiously like the one before you threw up.
The next day, it turns out, that he was a (very) proud father of a baby boy.
SSS
Sorry for any mistakes I've made. It was very hard to write. I know there are probably glaring holes in the story; I'll try to fix them in the next chapter…If nobody flames me, or threatens me with murder for continuing the story…
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