AN: Happy Thursday, everyone! I am honestly so happy with how much everyone loved Widget! He wrote himself, if I'm being honest, and I'm not entirely sure where he came from, but I've got some fun ideas that'll keep him in the story a little while longer. I'm not entirely happy with this chapter because I'm too excited for the next one but it'll do. Also, I'm heading home for the holidays next week so my updates may be a little delayed. I already have the next chapter mostly written, so I might post it a little early for you guys so you don't have to miss out while I'm flying. Keep an eye out, and I'll see you all next week!
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Draco stepped out of Virago and nearly ran straight into none other than Luna Lovegood.
The petite witch was standing outside the door staring up at the top of the door frame. Her head was cocked to the side, and she was smiling in that dreamy way of hers that he always found endearing.
"Luna?" He looked up towards the point she was gazing at but couldn't see anything. "Is there something up there?"
"Blibbering humdingers," she mused. Her fingers were fiddling with the large dirigible plums earrings hanging in her ears, twirling them this way and that. "They tend to hover around doorways so they can follow absentminded travelers home."
Draco nodded, though he still couldn't see any creatures above the doorway. No doubt this was another one of the ones only Luna could see.
"Good thing you aren't very absentminded," she said brightly. "Unless you pretend to be. It's very unlike you to forget an appointment."
He blinked owlishly at her. The way Luna always seemed to just know things would never cease to catch him off guard.
"That is why you came to visit, is it not?"
"I wanted to make sure I had the correct date," he said as he anxiously scratched the back of his head. "I threw away her letter without writing it down, and I knew stopping by would be a quick trip."
She nodded, but he could see a glimmer of laughter in her blue eyes that told him she knew better. "I'm sure you've been quite busy and developed a sudden case of forgetfulness."
"Something like that," Draco murmured. Sometimes he truly hated how perceptive Luna could be. "Are you here for an appointment?"
Luna nodded, but her gaze drifted away from him to focus on something in the distance. She was far more distracted today than she normally was.
"Everything alright, Luna," he asked softly. He knew speaking too loudly when she was unfocused could startle her, so he kept his hands by his side and waited patiently for her mind to come back to the present.
After a few moments, her eyes drifted back to meet his, and she smiled sweetly at him. "Hello again, Draco. Have you been standing there long?"
"Not at all," he said and returned her smile. "Where did you go?"
"Oh, nowhere special. Just thinking about tomorrow." She cocked her head to the side and asked, "Did you remember to write to your mother? I know she misses you dearly despite the brilliant adventures she's having in Paris."
Draco's smile tensed slightly. "I was on my way home to write to her now," he lied smoothly.
"Enjoy the rest of your day, Draco." She patted him gently on the shoulder and added, "And be sure to wear a cloak tomorrow. You may need to leave it somewhere."
Draco furrowed his brow and stared after Luna in confusion. "Leave it somewhere?"
Luna waved at him over her shoulder, drifted through the door of Virago, and greeted Hermione cheerfully.
Hermione returned the greeting and immediately asked, "How did you know Draco would be here today?"
There was a hidden meaning in her smile that Hermione couldn't quite decipher. Luna shrugged and said, "A blabbertip told me."
"Of course it did." Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She was less bothered than she used to be my Luna's imaginary creatures but still couldn't bring herself to believe in any of them. "Are you ready for your appointment?"
"Are we trying the runes today?" Luna's smile was contagious and full of enthusiasm.
Hermione grinned back and said, "Indeed we are."
Luna clapped her hands together and danced a little in excitement. They had been working through the magic behind this particular tattoo appointment for weeks, and she was ecstatic to finally have it done.
The pair of witches made quick work of setting up Hermione's work space and sanitizing the room. Hermione preferred the muggle methods which tended to take a bit longer, but Luna was more than happy to assist her with the fancy muggle cleaning cloths. They smelled wonderfully of lemon and reminded her of the aloysia citrodora plants that grew in her mother's garden.
Luna brushed a finger against the thigh of her right leg, the tattoo of her mother's name warming beneath the fabric of her floral skirt. She missed her mother and was grateful to Hermione for the small amount of comfort she was able to give her, literally at her own fingertips. She had lost her mother when she was young, but having the loss of so many others stacked on top of it made her mother's death feel raw once more.
Her gaze drifted down to where Hermione was transferring the temporary design onto her wrist. She didn't quite remember sitting down in the chair or Hermione cleaning her wrist, but that was alright. Her memory skipped things all the time, and she was sure something like sitting down wasn't all that important anyway. Maybe one of the blibbering humdingers had stolen a ride on her shoulder which she walked it; they always made her forgetful.
Luna smiled slightly and wondered if Draco Malfoy had a blibbering humdinger on his shoulder or if he was being purposefully forgetful.
"We have brunch, you know."
"Who does," Hermione asked without looking up.
Luna smile was conspiratorial and answered, "Draco and I."
That got the reaction she was hoping for. Hermione's gaze snapped up to meet Luna's, and shock painted her features. "You do?"
"Every Sunday," Luna said in a sing-song voice.
"Since when," Hermione demanded.
"For the last two years, I'd say," she said while thoughtfully tapping a fingertip against her chin. "I don't quite remember how it started, but I am thankful for his friendship. Our friends are rather rambunctious, so it's nice to have someone calm to talk to every now and then."
Hermione's brow furrowed slightly, but she tried not to fully frown at Luna. "I understand wanting someone calm considering you spend every day with Ginny, but…" Hermione hesitated before blurting out, "Draco Malfoy of all people?"
Luna looked rather unimpressed by Hermione's surprise. She pursed her lips and said with a disappointed tone, "Does becoming friends with past enemies a privilege only you are allowed?"
"No, of course not," Hermine said quickly. "I just—"
"Theodore Nott isn't the only one who deserves friendship," Luna said sternly. "He isn't the only one who suffered during the war, and he isn't the only one who is in need of kindness. Rather than looking at it as two enemies associating with someone they shouldn't, try looking at it as two strangers meeting once a week to provide the smallest sense of stability in a world that refuses to sit still."
Hermione looked reasonably chastised and murmured a quiet apology. She worked silently for several minutes, turning Luna's words over and over in her mind. She knew Draco Malfoy had friends, everyone had friends. But Luna Lovegood was friends with Draco Malfoy? Brunch friends?
The idea made her acutely uncomfortable.
She focused carefully on the runes slowly wrapping there way around Luna's left wrist and gnawed on her bottom lip. Most days she could lose herself in the work, lose herself to the ink and the colors and the art. Her thoughts would quiet, and the world would fall away until it was just Hermione, her wand, and the blank canvas under her fingertips. But the words Luna had said circled in her mind like a lazy river full of heavy and uncomfortable truths. Despite her pleasant conversations and friendly encounters with him, Hermione still struggled to accept that Draco Malfoy had changed so much from the boy she had known. It spoke volumes that someone as kind and genuine as Luna would befriend him, but it still made Hermione incredibly wary.
"He's truly changed?" Her voice was soft, the words catching on the fear in her throat.
Luna's eyes softened. "He has," she said emphatically. "That boy we knew was stuck in the grip of one of the cruelest wizards to exist."
"Voldemort," Hermione said with a solemn nod of her head.
"Lucius Malfoy."
Her gaze snapped back to Luna's and her brow furrowed deeply. "Excuse me?"
Luna's big blue eyes were filled with an empathetic pain Hermione had felt for only a precious few. "The boy we knew held an entire childhood of pain, unreachable expectations, and pureblood dogma inside himself that it began to fester from the inside out. While we were struggling with homework and classes, Draco was faced with one impossible choice after another."
Hermione opened her mouth to ask her to elaborate, but Luna cut her off with a firm shake of her head.
"No, that's not my story to tell." She sighed heavily, and for the first time since Hermione had met her, Luna looked fully present and world weary. When their eyes met, Luna looked more serious than she had during the Battle of Hogwarts, and Hermione could do nothing but listen.
"Give him a chance," Luna said quietly. "Just one."
Hermione nodded quickly; she would agree to anything to get Luna to return to her normal, non-serious self.
It worked. Luna's eyes clouded over with a far-seeing haze and she asked, "Can we return to the tattoo, please?"
"Of course." Hermione squared her shoulders and made swift work of the rest of Luna's tattoo. When she finished, a small ring of delicate black runes encircled Luna's left wrist.
The runes around the back of Luna's wrist were a combination that would boost protection, healing, clarity, and strength. Along the inside of her wrist, completing the circle, were a series of moon glyphs carrying the same meaning. They had spent only a few moments designing the rune sequence, but the magic itself had been the most time consuming part for them. Hermione had tried tattooing a few runes on herself, but the magic in the ink kept dispersing through the skin cells and fragmenting the runes' desired effects. They finally managed to discover the correct timing with the ink and the magic, nearly simultaneous, to keep the two fused together under the skin, and Hermione was incredibly proud of the results.
"They're beautiful," Luna said with a pleased smile. She turned her wrist this way and that to admire the runes. "Quite the clever bit of magic, Hermione."
"Thank you," Hermione said with a beaming smile. "I couldn't have done it without your help."
Luna scoffed. "You're the brightest witch of our age, Hermione. You can do anything."
Hermione chuckled as she went about cleaning up the room. "I don't know about anything," she said, "but I appreciate the sentiment."
Sitting on the edge of the chair and swinging her legs back and forth in the most childlike manner, Luna considered Hermione carefully. "Are you happy?"
The question caught her off guard and caused her to laugh uncomfortably. "Am I happy?"
"Yes," Luna said with a curious tilt of her head. "Are you truly happy here, Hermione?"
"I suppose so." Hermione frowned and realized she wasn't entirely sure how to answer her. She thought for a moment about how she felt, about how she had been since she returned. So much had happened over the last few months that Hermione felt as if she had been back in the Wizarding World for years, but she was still so unsteady on her feet that she might as well have been here for days. Everything with Rita Skeeter had certainly put a damper on her return, but coming home to her friends, meeting Theo, opening her shop…
"I'm happier than I was," Hermione said finally, this time with more certainty.
Luna smiled and squeezed Hermione's hand. "Trust the hummingbird, it's wiser than it looks. And when an opportunity presents itself tomorrow, take it."
Hermione blinked several times, unsettled by Luna's prophetic way of speaking. She offered her an uneasy smile and said, "Okay, Luna, I will."
"And tell Ronald I said hello," Luna chirped as she bounced from the room. "But only if he doesn't throw the lamp."
"The lamp?" Hermione stepped quickly from the room, but Luna was already walking out the door with a cheery wave over her shoulder. "The lamp," she muttered to herself. "That witch, I swear."
She spent the rest of her day trying not to dwell on the things Luna had said, both complicated and odd. Thoughts of hummingbirds and blond wizards circled her head as she went through the motions to shut down the store and lock up for the night. She took a long bath when she got home, praying to the gods it would help her brain quiet down and allow her to go to bed at a reasonable hour.
Hermione hardly slept.
Nothing helped. She made chamomile tea, she drank a small amount of a sleeping draught, and went through every yoga pose she could think of. As the sun crept over the horizon, Hermione lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. Her mind spent the entire night endlessly cycling through the same train of thought.
Draco Malfoy had been her childhood bully. Draco Malfoy had suffered more than any child should. Draco Malfoy had changed. But he had been her nemesis. But he had been a child in an adult's war. And he had changed so much. But they had hated each other. But they had both suffered. And they had both changed. But…
She groaned and pulled a pillow over her face.
Memories from school filtered in through her cycling thoughts, flashed of bushy hair, punched noses, and fights in the corridors. She winced at the cruelty they had shown each other. Those memories slowly faded into more recent ones, of seeing him for the first time since her return, of vulnerable conversations, and of drunken dancing at the Three Broomsticks.
They weren't friends, she decided resolutely. She squeezed the pillow a little tighter and frowned into it. They were nowhere near friends, but they were no longer enemies either.
So what were they?