In Which the Wrakspurts must be getting to Ila's head

Ila felt something or someone was prodding her. She wasn't sure what it was – she still had her eyes closed. And a part of her didn't want to find out what it was. She remembered her cousin and her friends had come over one time. Ila overheard their conversation. They were talking about sex. Specifically, their sexual experiences. Specifically, what happens the morning after. Specifically, to the guy.

Should she open her eyes and perhaps ruin her and Ron's friendship over this, or should she just roll onto the floor and give herself enough of a concussion to forget all about this? She knew she was facing the table. At least Ron wouldn't realise.

Merlin, maybe this is why everyone tells her that men and women can't be friends. The prodding was starting to increase, moving back and forth on her…her arm?

How the fuck was Ron sleeping?

She moved her head closer to the edge. At least she should open her eyes before she did it. She slowly opened one eye and then the other. After blinking through the blurriness, she was ready.

"Oh, good you're awake – why's Ron - " Ila was about halfway off the bed when heard it. She stopped herself, holding onto the table for support. She slowly pushed herself back onto the bed to see Hermione holding her wand near Ila's arm.

"Ohhh," Ila said as the realisation had hit her, "sorry, I thought you were Ron's…never mind – hang on…"

She put her glasses on and sat up, putting on her fluffy slippers once more. She turned around to see Ron sleeping in a position that the whole situation that made Ila want to give herself a concussion over be impossible. His face was smushed against the pillow, and his lower half was up in the air. Well, only his bottom – was that really a comfortable way to sleep?

"Well – he came over in the middle of the night, complaining about Dean and…I was too tired to argue," Ila said, yawing and stretching her arms. Hermione cocked her head to the side, also wondering if that position really was as comfortable as Ron was making it out to be.

"Why's he on your bed?" she asked, still confused.

"I couldn't push him off," Ila said, walking over to her truck and pulling out her clothes. "Do you want to wake him up? I'll get changed."

"Er – ok…" Hermione said, unsure of how to even think about a solution. It seemed that she had found one eventually. Midway changing, Ila heard Ron's scream. Pressing her ear against the door as she placed her socks on, she heard –

"WHAT THE FUCK MIONE!"

"What did you want me to do?"

"I don't know, maybe tap on me like a normal person?"

"Your bum was halfway up in the air, where exactly would you have wanted me to tap you?"
She smiled to herself before walking out of bathroom to see a drenched Ron ready to lunge at Hermione. Her smile dropped when she saw her bed was also completely drenched.

"Mione, not on my fucking -"

"What happens if she doesn't know?" Hermione asked as the three, completely dried friends walked into the Great Hall.

"The two are basically best friends Mione," Ron reassured her, taking the lead. "From the way Ginny talks about her, they could give us a run for our money."

"Ron we literally had an argument because Hermione decided to wet the bed!" Ila exclaimed, getting a few weird looks from a few Hufflepuffs.

"Don't say that!" Hermione said through gritted teeth, smiling nervously at those very faces. "I did not do that. Besides how was it my fault that the water got on the bed, I was only meant to get your face."

"Mione, your lack of hand-eye coordination doesn't make it acceptable to ruin someone's bed," Ron said, arms akimbo as he turned to face them.

"I'm sorry, have you two switched personalities or something?" Ila asked. "Didn't you just get detention for being an 'overprotective brother about the wrong things'?"

"No," Ron said, quickly turning back around and walked to where Ginny was. She was sitting beside some friends but looked rather bored until she saw the three walking toward her.

"Hi Ila, hi Hermione," Ginny said, making sure to ignore her brother as they sat down, the two girls sitting opposite her and Ron sitting next to her.

"What about me?" Ron huffed.

Ginny leaned forward to the girls. "How have you two been? Everything alright? How's preparing the Third Task been for you Ila?"

Ila glanced at Hermione, who lightly shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, it's been…I guess I've been a bit distracted lately to prepare."

Ginny grabbed her hand. "I'm sure you'll do amazing Ila!"

"Right…" Ila said slowly.

"Are you seriously going to ignore me Gin? What have I done exactly?" Ron asked, his voice rising in a few octaves as he got angrier.

Ila could feel his sister's grip tighten. She smiled tensely, slowly turning to her brother.

"What have you done?" Ginny repeated, finally acknowledging her brother. Ila was trying her best to get her hand back, but nothing was working. It was like quicksand, the more she pulled, the stronger Ginny's grip was. "How about starting a fight with Dean over…basically nothing!" she said, her voice getting louder and smile dropping.

Ron visibly gulped, before nervously chuckling. "Whattttttttt?" he said, his voice getting even higher. Ron was always a shit liar. "I – huh? That has never – I don't even know where you got that -"

"Drop the bullshit Ron," Ginny said lowly, finally dropping Ila's hand. She quickly brought to her chest, seeing that it was pale white, a colour that doesn't naturally come to her.

Ron glanced at his two friends to see if they were able to help. Hermione did nothing but her 'I – told – you – so' look while Ila was busy shaking her hand back to life.

"Oh alright, how did you find out?" Ron said exasperated.

"You really didn't think that the guy you fought with because he was hanging out with me wouldn't say anything about it?" Ginny said rhetorically.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'm sorry – can you not get mad anymore?"

"What kind of fucking apology was -"

"I think what he was trying to say," Hermione quickly interjected, glaring at Ron, "was that he's feel incredibly overprotective over you Ginny -"

"To a fault," she muttered.

"- and just can't deal with the idea that his little sister is her own person and is very much capable of dealing things by herself," Hermione finished. It took Ron a moment or two to decipher the look he was getting from Hermione.

"Oh yeah – yeah…what she said…"

Ginny looked like she wanted to stuff his mouth with cotton balls but decided against it, instead huffed loudly, and rolled her eyes in annoyance, mainly in herself for forgiving him.

"Merlin Ron, you can be so insufferable at times y'know," Ginny said, "like, do you see me interrogating and starting bitch fights with every girl you get with? I didn't even bother myself with that Egyptian girl last year."

The two girls blinked at the siblings.

"Hang on – that was real?" Ila asked shocked. "You actually had a thing with -"

"Anyway," Ron said, glancing at Hermione who stared at the empty plate in front of her. "We need your help on something."

"What is it?" she asked, taking a bite of her toast.

"Who's that friend of yours that has her dad working at the Quibbler?"

Ginny smirked. "Why? You want me to set you up with her? I promise I won't fight her on it if she agrees."

Ron narrowed his eyes, punching her arm. She didn't even flinch. "Ha ha, very funny – as if I won't hear that one again."

"You walked into that one yourself," Ginny smiled before asking, "what do you need her for?"

The three glanced at one another, sharing a look of confusion, wondering if they should tell her. It wasn't that she was young – she was only a year younger, but if they were to tell her what they needed her friend for, that meant explaining everything from Draco to…Voldemort. Ila didn't want to do that to her. It was bad enough that her friends were worrying about this, she didn't need another to be scared.

"We made a bet to see which girl would go out with Neville," Ila said quickly, surprised at how strange her response had been. Even her friends shared the same confusion. She quickly waved it off however, when she saw Ginny's raise a sceptical brow.

"You made a bet with Neville -"

"No about Neville," Ila confirmed, wondering if it was possible to sew her mouth shut with a flick of her wand.

"So, he doesn't know about this?" Ginny asked, before casting a glance down the table to see Neville sitting by himself, engrossed in a Herbology book. He looked up when he felt someone looking at him. Strangely enough, it wasn't the four that he was waving to. Ila followed his gaze to see him waving at Moody. "Can I be in this bet then?"

"You're too young to bet Gin," Ron said listlessly, already tired at how long this was taking. "Can you just tell where to find her?"

"Her name's Looney -" Ginny cleared her throat. "Luna. Luna Lovegood…she'll usually be in the library at this time. She's always there by herself."

The three shared one more look at Ginny's trip up before thanking her and leaving. "She's a bit weird y'know," Ginny shouted after them. "Don't get put off if she starts talking about Wrakspurts…"

"Er – what the fuck are Wrakspurts?" Ron whispered as the three left the Great Hall.

"Don't look at me," Hermione said, shrugging her shoulders.

Ron moaned. "Merlin, why did she have to be a weirdo?"

Ila snorted. "You're one to talk…If you had the supplies, you would not hesitate to make a Viktor Krum shrine."

"No, I wouldn't," Ron scoffed. "And even if I did, there's nothing wrong with that."

"And anyway, you guys read the Quibbler," Ila said. "What did you expect?"

"Just some sort of normality in this fucked up thing," Ron grumbled.

"Ron, if you don't want to go, let Ila go by herself," Hermione said, tugging at Ron's sleeve. "Besides, we're not meant to actually know about this." Ron allowed himself to be pulled away by her. As they were leaving, Hermione whispered in Ila's ear, "He's watching us – over by the corner."

Ila didn't look to not make it obvious. Instead, she carried on walking, seeing the blonde hair getting closer in her peripheral. She clutched her wand, though she didn't know why. She needed to have something in her hands. She was nervous for no reason…

Well…

Merlin, Ila, don't go there. You're better than this.

Think about Cedric or something.

But Cedric doesn't make her feel the same way –

Ila, don't even finish that –

"I know I'm standing here Ila," he said.

She can't even think in peace without his voice badgering at her. She stopped, looking at her left. He leant against the wall; arms crossed. "Where are you going?"

"Since when did you care?" Ila asked, her arms akimbo. Draco smiled, walking to her, stopping only a few steps away from her. He looked down at her.

"There is a Dark wizard roaming around…"

"He's not going to be inside the school, is he?" Ila looked at him.

"You don't know his plan," Draco said, grabbing onto her shoulders and turning her around. He bent down and whispered, "maybe he's disguised as one of the students here." She knew she should feel more scared than nervous. But something about Draco whispering in her ear –

Oh, will you shut up!

"Or even worse," he murmured, before gently turning her to the right to where the rhythmic clacks of wood hitting wood were. Moody was busy telling a student off, nearly causing them to cry when Ila saw him, "he could be the deranged teacher that transfigured Parkinson into a pug."

The hairs on her arm stood up. She knew what Draco was saying was utter bullshit but…there was something off about him. Maybe it was his intimidating demeanour or maybe it was him joking about her not surviving the Cruciatus Curse…She made a mental reminder to check his footsteps on the Map before elbowing Draco hard in the stomach, causing him to double down. Ila stepped away before heading to the library.

"C'mon on then," Ila called over her shoulder. "This involves you as well."

"How so?" he grunted, still holding the side of his stomach. "Also why do you have such pointy elbows? Merlin, do you not eat or something?

"I eat enough – besides, I found a way to get the Head Quarters of the Quibbler," Ila said smugly, lifting her nose in the air.

She was met with a pair of knitted brows. "I thought we agreed to going to that we're going to Borgin and Burkes?" Draco said.

"Well…technically, you never let me answer so – no. We didn't."

"How exactly are we going to find headquarters and then find someone who'll know about what happened to Lauren Dawlish?" he said, walking in step with her.

"I know someone whose father is editor of the Quibbler and then…we'll think about the rest after that," she finished lamely. Maybe she should've asked Hermione for some more help.

"Who?"

"Luna…Luna – I know it rhymed-"

"Luna Lovegood? Her dad's apart of the – oh that does make sense…" Draco said, seeing everything fit together.

"You know who she is?"

"Well…" he looked rather uncomfortable, closing his mouth to not say anything before deciding against it when he saw Ila's eyes narrow, "you know who Slytherins are with anyone that doesn't fit within their very narrow boundaries -"

"You bullied her, didn't you?" she said bluntly, rolling her eyes. "Merlin, is there one person you haven't made fun of?"

"Of course, there's…well y'know…people…"

"Name one person you haven't made fun of in this school."

"Don't act as if you're any better."

"I'm still not hearing any names," Ila said, tapping at her imaginary watch on her wrist.

"Fine, I guess – I haven't seriously made fun of my friends. Blaise and Theo."

"Are you close with them?" she asked. She always wondered if it was possible for Slytherins

"Closest people I have that can actually have a proper conversation with."

"You tell them you're deepest, darkest secrets?" Ila teased.

"I think we have different definitions on what friends are supposed to be," Draco said. "Telling your friends those kinds of things – they'll make you vulnerable."

"Surely you have to tell someone, you can't keep everything to yourself," she said, realising her own hypocrisy.

"I will – those thoughts are only disclosed for partners, significant others, wives or what have you," he said, waving his arm in a way that reminded Ila of all the years of pureblood etiquette the boy must have gone through.

Ila hummed in response before thinking back to last week, as they were walking back from the Quibbler office. "Y'know, not to be that person, but…you did tell me about things that've been worrying you…" Ila said, taking quick glances at him to gauge his reaction. On her third, he had disappeared. Until she bumped into him moments later. She looked up at him, his expression was unreadable.

"What're you trying to say Ila?" he said quietly. He didn't sound like he was trying make fun of her. He sounded genuine.

"Well…nothing – I – I just – well, I'm not your wife or significant other or what have you am I?" she chuckled nervously. There was a pull on her stomach, as if she had gotten on her broom and dived.

"No…you aren't," he said, looking over her face. He was searching for something. Ila wasn't sure, but it sounded as if there was a hint of disappointment in his voice. She thought he was over that. He had to be. The more time anyone spent with her, the more annoying she got and the more…

He can't be…can he?

He stared at Ila for longer than what was needed. He wasn't sure if the way she responded, she sounded a bit disappointment. He needed something to confirm it. To know that it wasn't actually him going crazy. But the more he stared at her face…the more he didn't want to look away. He was getting pulled by her. He could even feel himself stepping closer to her. With one more step, he'd be on her feet. He saw her hold her breath. She was watching him too. She didn't look confused or angry. She looked the same as she did when he found her lying on the grass when he gave her glasses back. Merlin that seemed like a lifetime ago. But his feelings still remained.

He never wanted to kiss someone as much he did right now. Her lips were perfectly pouted. Just for him, he wondered. The feeling excited him. If only there was a way to bottle this feeling up. The feeling he got with Ila, it made him feel weightless. He could float all the way to the clouds. It would be even better if she was with him. He could feel it right now. His right arm was moving slowly towards her face. It was ready to brush a strand of hair out of her face only for Ila to say -

"I'm guessing you haven't told them about the whole 'maybe You Know Who isn't the best person to idolise' epiphany?" she said, clearing her throat. His hand dropped back to his side. Draco stepped away and the two began walking again as if whatever had happened moment ago only existed in a bubble. Ila had popped it, clearly wanting to get a way out.

"You're asking if I've told two of the people that have the greatest links to Death Eaters that everything, they think is a lie and to join the other side?" he said, trying to speak as normally as possible.

"Well, no…I remember someone telling me that – Blaise isn't one. His mum – didn't she just kill her husbands?"

"You really think that's making me feel better?"

"No but -" Ila said quickly seeing his reaction, "it does depend on the context. Like if my husband did something worthy of killing him, I'd do it. It's just a necessary evil."

Draco blinked. "I fear for your future husband."

He wished he knew a spell that could sew his mouth completely shut.

"That is if I live long enough to find one," she mumbled.

He stopped. He thought she was over that. He thought it was fine since the Yule Ball. Maybe he didn't work hard enough to make her feel better. He cursed himself. "Don't say that, Ila."

"What?" she said, turning around. She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. Instead, tears brimmed the edge, threatening to pour. "Do you want me to tell a lie and say that I'll have some big, grand wedding where everyone'll be invited? My dad'll walk me down the aisle, I'll see my mum tearing up. What – do you think that'll happen? I have a date with Death any time now and…and…"

Ila sighed, taking a deep breath. She walked over to the wall before sliding down. She pulled her knees to her, tucking them underneath her jumper. Draco bit his lip, before following her, sitting next to her, tucking his knees as well. He could feel the heat of her legs, the pressure of hers on his.

"How often do you think about it?" he asked, staring in the front wall. He couldn't look at her. If he saw her face, he'd feel like crying for her. He was sure that the last thing she wanted was pity.

Ila shrugged. "I dunno. Sometimes, I'll catch myself thinking about it. And in those times, I'll start to panic. I won't be able to breathe and – and…I can't do anything but think about that and then other times, it doesn't feel real. Like I can't connect the two together. I'm – there's going to be a time where I'll have to go against Him and there'll be a time where…. where…"

Draco reflexively grabbed her hand. He felt her tense up momentarily before relaxing. He could feel her relaxing her entire body. He wasn't thinking, was he? Draco moved his arm, wrapping it around her shoulder and bringing her closer. She let him do so. He held his breath. He was sure he had a dream where the exact scenario happened, though he didn't know what he said to comfort her. Was this enough?

Ila leaned closer into him. She could smell his cologne. It was thick, heavy. It wrapped around her like a warm blanket, and she felt as if she was Infront of the fire in the common room. His hands were still wrapped around hers. She felt as if she could sit here forever.

"Everyone has a fear of dying Ila," Draco began, "it's the driving force of life. It's what makes people get out of bed, it's what gets people to have friends, to spend time with their loved ones. How do you think the world will work if everyone was immortal?"

"But those people don't know when they're going to die," Ila countered.

"You don't either," Draco said, looking down at her finally. "You could die tomorrow, in the next year or maybe you'll die in eighty years when you're old. And besides…when it comes to the War Ila, it's not just you against thousands of Death Eaters – there're countless of people that have lost someone because of Him. There're people that want to fight because of their own reasons that'll die and there're people that don't want to do anything. That'll try their best to ignore it and stay out of it and will still get killed. There are people – many people that still don't know He's back Ila."

Ila stared at the blank stone wall in front of them. She wasn't sure if she was in the mood to talk about this, after telling two people already about this. There was a lump of regret that was blocking her throat, making it hard to breathe.

"Since when did you give advice like that?" Ila asked, detangling herself from him. She brought her hands back to her sides and stood up. Draco watched her momentarily before doing the same thing.

"My mum," he simply said as if that explained the entire thing. The two began to walk in step once more, though Ila was making sure to walk a bit more quickly. "She used to – well, she still does – have this fear of Death. She didn't want to leave the bed and she didn't my father and me to leave either. I'd always listen to my father's advice he'd give to my mother. Most of the time it didn't really have an effect, but there'd be times where she was convinced that nothing bad was going to happen if she just had breakfast downstairs."

"What about the time they found…her," Ila said, hesitating as to whether she should say her name. After seeing the way, he reacted when he remembered finding her, it wasn't something she wanted to see again.

Draco clenched his fist. He could feel his nail digging, ripping into his skin in small crescent-shaped wounds on his palm. He wouldn't tell Ila this, after seeing what she was like moments ago, but he would do anything to trade places with one of those people that doesn't know about Him. He wanted to live in blissful ignorance. Just for a few more years hopefully.

"Yeah – I guess…it was a bit of a setback…" he said quietly.

Ila was about to say something, something to distract him when she saw the door to the library came into view. She stayed silent, pushing the heavy door enough for her and Draco to pass through. He slowly closed the door behind him, as to not piss off Madame Pince, who, with eagle eyes, was watching their every move. With a swift nod, the two headed for…well, they didn't really know where. With a bit of distance now, since students were studying in here, they walked straight down, checking left and right to see Luna Lovegood. The only problem was –

"What does she look like?" Ila whispered as they passed the invisibility section. No one was there.

"You'll know," he replied.

She rolled her eyes. "No, I won't cos up until today, I didn't know she excited!"

"Seriously?" he asked. "You've never heard of her? She's the girl who made a lion's head for a Gryffindor match."

Ila stared at him as if he had confessed his love for her. "Huh?"

"Merlin, no wonder why you're not in Ravenclaw – she's got this really blonde – platinum -"

"Oh, so like your hair?"

Draco stopped in tracks, crossing his arms. "My hair's not platinum."

"What do you mean?" she said, staring at his pretty much platinum hair. "What other colour would it be? Ginger?"

"My hair's actually silver," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. Ila was sure he had never seen him this annoyed about his hair before. Who would? "The Malfoy's are known to be the only wizards to grow silver hair from birth."

Ila squinted, trying to see if any sliver of silver popped out but…it was platinum. Perhaps he'll grow into it but for now, Ila told him –

"Alright – what else does she have?"

"Er – well…she's got this necklace of butterbeer stoppers…er – lots of bracelets…some weird necklace that her father gave her or something."

"What did it look like?" Ila said, turning back around to continue her search for this platinum blonde that definantly wasn't the same shade as Draco's because he was silver hair girl. There weren't that many rows left. In fact, there were only two more rows left before she is entering the snogging territory. And she wasn't really in the mood to enter that.

"It was just a bunch of shapes. There was a triangle, circle and… …pentagon – no that's too big…"

There was one row left that Ila checked. On her right, nothing. On her left…

A girl no older than thirteen was sitting on the window ledge, her legs swinging off the ground. The sun was shining rather brightly, mainly because it was reflected off the girl's very bright hair. Her eyes were bright blue, almost grey from where Ila was standing. Her fingers, long and spindly turned the page of her book. It was followed by the sound of bracelets hitting one another. Also, she was covered head to toe in blue.

"Does she happen to be in Ravenclaw?" Ila asked when she felt Draco, who was still muttering on about her necklace, bump into her.

"Yeah," he said, slightly impressed, though he was trying his best to hide it. "Who d'you know?"

Ila glanced once more at her outfit that was different shades of blue. "Just a guess."

The two walked over to the girl, who seemed to pay no attention to them, even after Ila had accidentally bumped into a chair, hitting her hip very hard. Merlin, why did she have to be so small?

"Er" – Ila cleared her throat – "are you Luna… er…"

"Lovegood?" Draco finished.

The girl looked up, blinking her blue eyes at the two of them. She tilted her head like a lost puppy, trying to place the two people in front of her. They did look rather familiar. The girl was quite short with large, round glasses that looked far too big for her face. She had long, shaggy hair that was kept in a braid that went down to her large, ratty jumper with jeans that also looked far too big. On the other hand, the boy behind her was the complete opposite. He was as pale as her, with hair that was the same colour as her. No glasses. His clothes were much more fitted, even looking tailored perhaps. She glanced down. He needed his trousers fixed.

"Yes," she said in a quiet voice. Though, it didn't sound like she was scared of the two. Who would be scared of the 5'2 Asian girl and the boy who cries every time someone calls his hair platinum and not silver? "Who are you?"

Draco snorted. "I bet you hate this," he whispered with a hint of snootiness from his old day. "For the first time, no one knows who Ila -"

Ila pushed her hair back to reveal her scar and Luna had a moment of shock before breaking into a large smile, finally being able to remember her. "You're Ila Potter."

"Yeah, I am," she said, proudly showing a smug smile to a bitter Draco. "Anyway, your father works for the Quibbler, doesn't he?"
Luna nodded excitedly. "Not many people tell me that. Would you like his autograph?"

Luna brought her bookbag to her lap and went through it, before pouring all the contents onto the floor. She jumped down, brushing through everything. There were many magical pieces that Ila had never seen before. She bent down to pick up a pair of odd-looking sunglasses. Or maybe in the wizarding world, they were normal. They were gold. They looked like sun flares at the edges of the glasses, with pieces of blue and pink jewels spread out. One of the lenses was blue while the other was pink. She placed them on, to see a bunch of…well they looked like neon yellow flies.

"Oh – those are the Wrakspurts, you want to be careful of them. They can bury into your brain if they find your nose or ear and make feel…not like yourself." Ila glanced above them to see no neon yellow flies. She turned to Draco, who seemed to have a lot swarming around his head. But when Ila took them off, there was only an annoyed Draco standing there.

"Listen, we don't care – we don't need your father's autograph or anything, we're not…" Draco glanced at Ila, who gave him a warning eyebrow that he was going to say something mean. "We just want to know if you know or if he knows where headquarters of the Quibbler is?"

Luna glanced up at the two. "Oh…well, I s'pose he should know, though he tends to work at home. It makes him feel safer from the Nargles."

"He doesn't even work in the office," Draco moaned quietly.

"Would it be possible to have a meeting with him or something?" Ila asked.

"Yes, but you would have to wait quite a bit," she said.

"How long?"

"He's booked up until next year," Luna said bluntly.

Ila closed her eyes. The thought of going to Borgin and Burkes really was coming into focus.

"But if you have any queries about the Quibbler, you can go to the Hogsmeade office. They're bound to know more than me."

"We have Luna," Ila said, handing the glasses back to her and helping her place her things back in her bag. "They kicked us out."

"That's not like them," she replied. "I've been there loads of times, they're always so nice. There's even a lady that always asks me if I want tea or coffee every time, I come in. I always say no – I'm more of a herbal tea person personally but -"

"How much do you know about the Quibbler?" Draco asked, also bending down but he wasn't doing anything. "Like, specifically the craziest conspiracy section?"

"I think I know enough. Father likes to tell me before an issue is published some of the things. In fact, one time, someone had said the members of the Ministry were a bunch of lizards" – Luna burst out laughing. It was a high-pitched laugh, that scared Ila slightly. Luna kept laughing so hard, her butter beer necklace came undone. She was completely red in the face; the first time Ila had even seen colour on her skin was when she calmed down. "What would you like to know?"

"Er – well, do you know the people who would know who sends in their conspiracies?" Draco asked. "Even if they're anonymous or something?"

"Oh…maybe I don't know that much," she said regretfully, pulling her bag up. "Though I do know which location was in charge of the section on a specific issue. It's tending to rotate so that each office does a new thing every week. Which one is it?"

"Er – this one," Ila said, taking the rolled-up magazine out from her jumper and placing it onto the table.

"Issue #23708…that one would be Hogsmeade," Luna said immediately.

Draco, more impressed that she knew it so quickly, asked if she knew another. "#8245?"

"Er – that would be the one in London."

"#5367?"

"Manchester."

"#7238?"

"Oh, we never published that one," Luna said. "There was something wrong with one of the articles and it never even made it through my father!"

"What a strange but useless talent," Draco said impressed.

"The Hogsmeade did this? You're sure that it was them?" Ila said, though, from Draco's mini-test, she didn't need to hear Luna's answer.

Luna nodded. "They usually get it in post unlike the other offices but there was something…strange. I remember they were saying that a man had appeared when they were putting together the 'Kraziest Konspiracies,' for issue #23708. Most of the conspiracies that come through are usually light-hearted but – I think he made most of them cry. One of them even started crying when they were telling me."

Draco and Ila looked at each other.

"What did the man look like?" Ila asked.

Luna shrugged. "I never got to see him but…they said he had jet black hair; he was quite scary looking. He wore a massive cloak, so no one got to see what he looked like but there was someone he managed to catch a glance at him… – oh she said that he reminded him of the escaped serial killer last year Sirius -"

"He's not a serial killer," Ila said darkly before remembering that she wouldn't' know better. "Right, anyway, I think we have all we need."

"Oh…is that it? Don't you want to know more?" she asked.

"Actually," Ila said, just as she was about to leave, "there was something that D-Malfoy wanted to tell you."

"I did?" he asked. Ila nodded. "…oh, you're not serious, are you?"

"She deserves it," she hissed.

Draco turned around and sighed loudly. Merlin, could he be any more of a toddler?

"I'm sorry for last year," he said. "Y'know about the Slytherins bullying you at every moment, tripping you up, taking your necklace away, slapping your books out of your-"

"I think she gets it."

"Yeah…sorry for all of that stuff…" Draco was unsure if he should wait for her to say something or if he should leave. This stuff was a lot easier with Ila than with other random people.

Luna glanced up at him. "Thank you…"

"Yeah," he said. "Bye Luna."

"Bye Luna," Ila called out before beckoning him away. "At this rate, I don't think we even need Borgin and Burkes," she said when they were a distance away."

"We don't even know who the man is," Draco said.

"I think I know someone who might," Ila said.

AN: Sorry for the long wait - loads of things got in the way. I was revising for my mock exams and then I had to go to America for a wedding and this wasn't one of those my mum's sister's, uncle's niece's sister getting married either.

Anyway, hope your Christmas was great and if you don't celebrate it, hope your New Year's was great. Mine was busy trying to revise in the middle of a party. Also, hope you enjoy the chapter, leave a review if you liked it.

Also, it's already been a year since I started planning this story. I'm so glad you guys didn't get to read the earlier drafts of this story. It was shit.