A/N: Written for the Fanfiction Triwizard Tounament.

Draco still remembered the first time he met Loony Lovegood. It was in second year, while everyone was panicking about the Heir of Slytherin and whatnot. He was laughing at the very notion that they thought Potter was the Heir, even though there were no possible evidence that pointed to him. he was too soft to kill someone, or condemn them to death. Turning the corner, he had seen a blonde girl with airy grey eyes doing some sort of weird dance with her arms above her head. He had stopped. Stared. She didn't even notice him, so he eventually just walked past her uneasily and hurried back to his dorm.

And then somehow, he kept seeing her everywhere. He didn't know how these strange sightings continued but he kept seeing her, year after year after year doing these odd things that normal people couldn't even begin to comprehend. There was one time he even caught her surrounded by candles and humming a song for Merlin's sake! As usual, he scowled at her, and she smiled dreamily back before he rushed forward and pretended she wasn't there.

The breaking point, for him, was the day that they sat next to each other in Arithmancy. She was constantly doing odd things or randomly floating around the room during a lecture. He just couldn't take it anymore! One day, he exploded at her.

"Why are you such a bloody freak?" he had screamed angrily. "Believing in things no one else does, waving your arms around in some goddamn ritual! What the heck is a Crumple-Horned Snorkack anyways? And just what is wrong with you?"

She, as always, simply smiled at him, unruffled, and didn't say anything for a while. Then suddenly, she tilted her head at him and opened her mouth to speak.

"Tell me then Draco, what proof do you have that a Crumple-Horned Snorkack doesn't exist?"

Draco stayed silent. Luna smiled serenely at him.

"I believe that anything can happen, unless proven otherwise." With that, she drifted down the hallway, leaving him standing there.

Then the war happened. It came across them like an explosion, sucking his breath away and catching him off-balance. Every knew it was coming for the past year or so, but when it was actually here they were all surprise, with him being no exception. The Battle of Hogwarts came and went. He wondered if he should be upset that the Dark Lord was dead.

He wasn't.

But still, it was hard to find a decent job with the black snake marring his arm and his reputation miles ahead of him. Doors were slammed in his face; whispers followed him everywhere he went. It was such a change from his childhood, where the pureblood's were held above everyone else. And it wasn't just him; he knew that Pansy and Blaise were struggling too.

One day, he came across Luna.. She was sitting in a field that he went to get some peace of mind and she was just sitting there, happily munching on a bar of chocolate. It had been years since he had seen her, and she didn't look different at all. It instantly transported him back to his Hogwarts days, where he spent his days lazing around and having fun. There was no one around. Draco hesitantly let down the guard he constantly kept around other people. It was just her, after all. She glanced up at his arrival and smiled at him, patting the seat next to her. Draco sat down stiffly, as if there were several red-hot embers underneath him.

She then began talking like they were friends or something. It was weird, but Draco actually felt himself relaxing slightly in her presence. It was soothing; a balm to his tense presence. She didn't judge you by your family or by what you'd done in the past.

The meetings continued on in secret. Draco started looking forward to these gatherings and so they continued month after month. Their conversations ranged from make believe creatures to Hogwarts to apples at one point. It was a relaxing time for him, and, as he looked back on it, the best days of his life. It was around this time that he suspected he had somehow… acquired feelings for the girl. (He didn't fall in love with her because pureblood's did not just fall in love.)

But of course, all good things had to come to an end.

"I'm having an arranged marriage." He said to her stiffly.

Draco thought he saw something flash in her eyes for a moment, before it returned to its normal dreamy look.

"Oh, is that so?" She asked lightly.

'Please, say something' He mentally begged her. But she seemed to be staring at him intently, also waiting for something. And he realized, he was at a crossroad. He could either forsake his family and go off with her (he was sure she had feelings for him too), or he could go along with the marriage and never think of her again.

It was the hardest decision he ever had to make. Even harder than the choice to get the Dark Mark or joined the Dark Lord in his quest to conquer the Wizarding world. After sitting there quietly for a while, he got up to return to his house to think.

He didn't return the next day. Or the day after that.

Draco sighed, replaying the memories in his head over and over again. It had been years since he had made that decision, yet he still remembered it clear as day. He regretted it now.

Astoria walked in from the kitchen. "It's dinner time." She said quietly.

As Draco glanced at her, her brown eyes and hair were replaced by white blonde hair with dreamy grey eyes. He sighed. As if. He nodded at Astoria, who wanted to be in this marriage as much as he did (but they were Slytherins and had come to a truce) and she ducked out of sight. Giving himself a firm slap to his cheek, he forced a reality check on himself. This was his life now, he thought, and there was nothing that could change it.

It was useless chasing after daydreams.